Pillow Thoughts II

Pillow Thoughts II

Chapter 1
Are you a spy?

The sun shined through the window, filling the little chamber with warm, playful colors. A distant bird was chirping happily, announcing the beginning of spring as the wind kindly caressed the tiny new-born leaves that were decorating the old apple trees.

Apples...

The blue pegasus lazily opened her eyes, slowly looking around the room. The wooden walls reflected the orange light of the sunrise, as if they were quietly chanting to the rhythm of the clouds, slowly waking up along with the entire farm. A table with a small mirror was resting in a corner, along with a chair and a simple red chest. Rainbow looked at the white, transparent curtains that were swinging slowly, embracing the gentle breeze, as her gaze fell upon the orange pony that was lying next to her, still asleep.

She’s so beautiful...

Rainbow let out a small sigh as she looked at her marefriend. It felt so good to finally be able to admit all these thoughts and to freely allow herself to think and explore her own feelings.

She had been working on the farm all winter, helping out with the usual chores to the delight (and surprise) of the Apple Family. The weather was bad for exercises anyway and she would’ve rather spend time with Applejack as much as she could. At first, it wasn’t so difficult to hide their relationship. They did discuss it over and over, if they should reveal it to the Apple Family or not, but ultimately decided that it was best to keep it to themselves. For now.

Both ponies worked hard to keep the farm in shape during the harsh season, each cold day being endured with thoughts of warm embraces at night. Thus, the winter days passed, with Rainbow exiting her room every night, tip-hoof-ing towards Applejack’s chamber and spending the night with her. Then, each morning, before the family members woke up, she would’ve had to go back to her own room and wait to be called down for breakfast. Nopony suspected anything.

Most of the times, Applejack would wake her up. She felt so happy knowing that her own simple presence there was fulfilling the orange pony’s dream of waking up to somepony she loved. This morning, however, she was the one enjoying the benefits of watching her marefriend sleep peacefully. They both worked hard the day before and needed their rest.

Gosh, I love how she looks with her hair untied...

She giggled to herself as she remembered how long it took to reach this point. Not to mention how Applejack reacted back then. It didn’t seem so long ago and it really wasn’t... but, at the same time, it felt like an entire era had been left behind. She placed a foreleg on the earth pony’s waist and snuggled in close to her. The faint smell of apples was now so familiar to the pegasus. She could hear Applejack’s heartbeat as the orange mare was breathing calmly, her dreams not roaming far away from home.

Rainbow was happy and she just wished that she was making Applejack happy too. She wasn’t as good as her marefriend when it came to hard work, but she did her best every time. Besides, after all they’ve been through, one would think that—

“What are you guys doing?”, asked Applebloom as she, apparently, entered the room unnoticed.

***

Rainbow jumped on the bed, covering herself with the blanket (as if that would help the situation).

“Uh, nothing! We’re doing nothing! Nothing at all!”, she quickly responded.

“Uhhh, why are you in mah sister’s bed?”, continued the filly, tilting her head to the right, a gesture that could be found at most Apple Family members.

“I, ummm, I uh...”, started Rainbow, while nudging Applejack.

The orange pony woke up and lifted her head off the pillow: “Huh? Wha? What’s the matter?”

“Hey, AJ, morning! Heh, funny thing happened, Applebloom wants to know what I’m doing in your bed! Haha, funny, huh?”, the pegasus replied, waving her hooves around.

“Ah dunno... tell her...whatever, just....”, Applejack yawned and continued, turning to one side, with her back at Rainbow: “Just don’t tell her we’re bucking or something... ya know...”

Rainbow’s face fell with a loud THUD.

The little filly frowned a bit, trying to understand what was going on.

“Applejack... she is right here, in the room, with us!”, the pegasus said, through her teeth, faking a fake smile (if that is possible, under stressful conditions).

“Trees!!”, yelled Applejack, lifting her upper part of the body at ninety degrees. “Bucking trees! Yeah, you can’t buck trees in the bed! Cause, ya know... bed’s fer sleepin’! Nothin’ else!”

Thank Celestia, she finally got it!, thought Rainbow as both ponies turned towards Applebloom.

“Ooookay... but what are y’all doing then?”, asked the filly.

“Nothing! I, uh... I fell!”, said Rainbow, trying desperately to come up with an explanation. “I just came here, in this room, this morning and wanted to wake up AJ... when I tripped, on the floor... and fell in the bed!”

To their surprise and half-relief, the young filly started laughing: “Haha, you’re funny Rainbow! Nopony is that stupid!”

“Hey! ‘tis true!”, said Applejack, frowning. “That’s how I landed in Rainbow’s bed at her place last time I visited!”

“AJ, you’re... not... helping!”, replied the pegasus through her teeth again, then turned towards Applebloom. “Heh, of course we’re kidding... truth is, AJ and I just had some fun last night—“

She paused, thinking that was the worst choice of words possible... but continued nontheless, hoping that the young filly’s mind would see and understand the “innocent” version of the story.

“—uh, sharing stories and such! Yup! We talked and talked until we felt sleepy and I don’t even remember when I fell asleep. Haha! Imagine my surprise now!”, she concluded, looking at the orange pony for support.

“Uh, yeah... what she said!”, replied Applejack, promptly.

Applebloom smiled happily: “Awesome! I can’t wait to be old enough to have my own slumber parties!”

“You already had slumber parties!”, replied the earth pony.

“Oh, that wasn’t a slumber party. The Cutie Mark Crusaders worked all night long to find their cutie marks”, she paused, remembering why she was there in the first place. “Oh yeah, breakfast’s ready! Hurry up or we’ll eat all the grilled cheese!” And with that, the filly ran down the stairs, towards the kitchen.

Both ponies let out a loud sigh as they dived back into the pillows.

“That... was freaky”, said Rainbow after a while.

“Ah’m sorry ah overslept. Should’ve woken you in time”

“Nah, it’s alright, no harm done. Besides, I did wake up early, sort of... I just thought I had more time to... watch you sleep”

Applejack turned on her side, towards her pegasus.

“You’re so beautiful, AJ”, said Rainbow, softly.

The orange pony blushed and caressed her marefriend’s hair: “Thanks, sugarcube... but not as beautiful as you”

With the ears pricked and ready to catch any sounds (like hooves coming up the stairs and invading their privacy), they shared a quick kiss. “We’ll just be more careful next time”, said Rainbow as she got out of bed and headed towards the door.

She then quickly turned towards Applejack and asked, alarmed: “You don’t think Applebloom will tell anypony, do you?!”

***

“And then you know what Ah saw?”, said the filly, continuing her story as she chewed on another piece of grilled cheese. She didn’t have time to swallow the bite as Rainbow was already hovering above the table, talking loud and waving her hooves around, as if she was trying to direct traffic.

“Hey, Big Mac, good morning, wonderful morning isn’t it? I love mornings! So, what’s for dinner? I mean, breakfast, you know...food! I love food too! Let’s talk about food!”, she blurted out and quietly took a seat at the table once she was satisfied with her interruption.

Big Mac raised an eyebrow... and that was his only contribution to the discussion. He then returned his gaze to the plate in front of him and continued eating. It wasn’t that he didn’t listen... he just replied only if he had something relevant to say. As the case was, the plate needed much more attention than the actual table conversation.

Granny Smith was outside, sweeping the porch, not really paying attention to anything else, humming a little song of her own.

Applejack grabbed a chair and sat near Rainbow, with an expression-less face: “Y’all sounded like Pinkie Pie for a second. Which reminds me, I invited the girls over today. We don’t have much to do on the farm so Ah figured we could all use some time well spent together”

Rainbow swallowed a bite of grilled cheese and cringed.

“Rarity... too?”

“Rarity too”, sighed AJ as she poured herself some apple-cider.

Rarity was their only friend, besides Twilight, who knew about them. Ever since that night when she found out about their relationship, Rarity started surprising them with certain... unexpected presents. From matching tiaras to matching bracelets, from matching galoshes to not-so-matching-unless-you-look-at-them-from-a-certain-angle earrings, all hoofmade from various semi-cheap materials... these presents were a real pain for the couple, especially since they had no use for all this “frou-frou” stuff, but didn’t want to hurt Rarity’s feelings either. At the same time, they had to be discreet about their relationship, so they asked Twilight to keep all those things at her place, at least for now. The last thing they needed was for Applebloom to find matching lingerie in her sister’s bedroom.

And, yes, they received three pairs of... that.

It was understandable, in a way. One of Rarity’s dreams was to work her hoof on couple-oriented designs and it just didn’t feel right if she didn’t work on an actual couple. She understood the entire “be discreet” thing, but how could one support that when the latest design always looked so—

“Gorgeous!”, the white unicorn shouted as she just tied the two cape-like-thingies to the necks of Rainbow and Applejack.

It was around 1 PM and their friends entered the main gate. Before anypony could say anything, Rarity was already checking various angles.

“Um, what exactly are these?”, asked the orange pony.

“I’m not exactly sure”, replied Rarity, as she hovered some weird sparkly thingies in the air. “I’m experimenting”

“Could we do this later? We really just wanna hang out with you guys”, intervened Rainbow as she took off her cape. “We just wanna relax and have some fun. Besides...”, she continued, approaching the white unicorn and whispering into her ear: “...we shouldn’t do this in front of Pinkie and Fluttershy. We haven’t told them yet, remember?”

Rarity nodded and smiled. Even so, Rainbow could’ve sworn that she was just thinking of another dress or... “experiment”. The group slowly started walking around the farm and towards the apple trees. The sun was shining and it was a truly beautiful day, perfect for taking long walks or simply relaxing on a bench somewhere and reading. Applejack pointed towards her trees, proudly.

“Yessir, this new batch will be full o’ apples in no time!”, she said, smiling and trying to ignore the fact that Pinkie was tying balloons to the branches.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?”, asked the blue pegasus, being slightly less patient than her marefriend.

“Balloons make anypony happy, so I’m making the trees happy so they give us big juicy yummy apples! A happy tree is a... happy tree!”, she replied in her usual cheerful voice. “Besides, they’re so bare right now... balloons make them look prettier!”

As the ponies giggled their way through the trees, both Rainbow and Applejack were thinking the same thing. They felt that the situation has changed slightly since they admitted their feelings to each other. The gang was no longer... the gang. Sure, they spent time together, they had fun, nothing changed in the dynamics of the group itself. Still, the way the couple saw the group was now a bit different. It was no longer “Me and my friends”... it became “Us and our friends”.

The mares didn’t feel like they were being treated differently. Well, except for the whole “Rarity-is-experimenting-again” part. Still, there was something different about the situation. They wanted to stick together, to go to various places together... if one of them was called for something (for example, when Fluttershy asked Rainbow to help her clear out the sky above her hibernating animals’ homes, on a bad snowy day) the other wanted to go too (despite the fact that Applejack can’t fly)... and that was a new feeling for both of them.

They felt a certain... need to be around each other, along with a hint of possessiveness towards one another. They talked about it, they shared their feelings directly, with honesty, and figured out that things will balance themselves out in time. After all, they spent just two or three months together. They felt more and more comfortable discussing things that were related to their relationship and, overall, they were both doing quite well, despite all the new ways of seeing things. At least, they thought they were doing well.

Twilight was always there with a good advice or opinion.

“Every couple is different”, she told them, whenever they stopped by her treehouse (and there was nopony around). “You just have to figure out, together, what works and what doesn’t work for you two”

She also offered them, as usual, a few books on the subject. But where’s the fun if you don’t experiment yourself? “Besides”, she told them, smiling, “you’re doing great”. Even if it was just a small, polite, reassuring thought... it was really helpful for the couple, since this was all a new territory for them.

Regarding Pinkie and Fluttershy, they both agreed that it was best to postpone the “news”. Fluttershy was very sensitive and they needed to figure out if something like that would’ve bothered her or not. As for Pinkie, well, they just didn’t want the entire population of Ponyville to find out if she “accidentally” threw a party in their honor and invited half the town. They will tell her... eventually.

The mane six spent their day together, laughing, enjoying themselves and getting up to date with everypony’s lives. Nothing interesting really happened lately, but it was always fun to talk about silly little insignificant things with friends. As the sun was slowly setting, they waved goodbye to the group and started walking towards the farm.

“Hey, AJ?”

“Yeah, sugarcube?”, replied the earth pony as night crickets started their tiny symphony around them.

Far away, small groups of fireflies began their nightly routines, as if responding to the sight of the first evening stars that were lighting up the horizon.

“I feel kind of bad that we still need to hide from Fluttershy and Pinkie. And from your family. And from Ponyville. I know we’ve talked about this... but I’m starting to feel a bit like a spy or something, you know? It’s like I infiltrated your house.”

“Ah know how you’re feeling right now, but all Ah can tell you is that mah family welcomed you with open arms. They can easily pick a good apple from a bad one and, to be honest, ah never saw them being so welcoming to somepony from outside the family. It’s almost as if they see you as part of us... and that’s no small thing, Rainbow”, replied Applejack.

“I know and I’m grateful for that... but it still feels like I’m lying to them... and that you have to lie too because of me.”

“Hey, we ain’t lying... we’re just postponing the truth until they’re ready to hear it. It’s the right thing to do. Honesty and Loyalty are at their best when they’re used to protect the ones you love... As for Pinkie and Fluttershy, Ah’m sure they’ll be even more understanding than mah family. We just need time, Rainbow... we’ll figure this out. We won’t be hidin’ forever”

The pegasus smiled at her marefriend. She changed so much, for the better, since they started talking about all their doubts and fears. They both have changed.

Celestia should make a seventh Element of Harmony... Communication.

As they approached the kitchen entrance, they resisted the need to share a kiss, holding it for later.

***

The family already set up dinner. Things were calm at the farm, so the dinner was calm as well. Nopony really said anything and they all enjoyed their meals and each-other’s company.

“Ah think I’m gonna hit the hay”, said Applejack, patting Rainbow on her back. “G’night, Rainbow. G’night, everypony”

Everypony wished her “sweet apple dreams” and soon, one by one, they all went to their rooms, except for Granny Smith and Rainbow, who was just finishing up her cup of hot chocolate, as she usually drank every night.

Granny smith cleaned up the last plate from the dinner table and then, with a soft sigh, she turned towards the pegasus.

“Ah’m mighty glad, Rainbow dear, that you are helpin’ us with the work around here. Applejack sure is lucky to have a friend like you!”, the old mare said, looking directly into the pegasus’ eyes.

“Eh... heh... I know, Granny Smith. You already told me that several times”, she replied, politely.

“And Ah’m gonna tell you that for as many times as it’s necessary. This ain’t no easy thing to find... friendship like that. Even so... there is something that I’d like to talk to you about”

Rainbow pricked up her ears. Granny Smith usually told them stories about her youth and funny tales that she heard from other ponies... but she never “talked” about ...”something”.

The old mare grabbed a chair and sit down at the table, calmly, while looking straight into the pegasus’ eyes. It almost seemed like she didn’t blink at all, just to make sure she gets her point across. Granny Smith leaned over the table, placing both her front hooves firmly on top.

Rainbow already forgot about the hot chocolate she was drinking and started wondering if she did something wrong or broke any plates lately. She knew that sometimes she was clumsy but, as far as she remembered, everything was fine. No accidents, no clumsiness lately. Nothing.

Granny Smith squinted her eyes a bit and her smile faded away.

“I heard y’all been sleepin’ around with mah grand-daughter”

-End of chapter 1-