Pen pals

SECRETS AND LIES

Applebloom's eyes fluttered open to once again find herself looking into the face of her lover.

“It's amazin how all this began”, she thought to herself in awe of the recent events that have occurred in her life. “A simple white lie turned into a love that almost passed me by. Ah wonder what would have happened if Ah had told her the truth from the moment she got here? Would she still feel the same way she does now? Would Ah feel the same?”

As these thoughts and more went through the filly's mind, Babs’ eyes fluttered open themselves and stared back at her.

“Mornin’, Applebloom”, she greeted her, sensually running a hoof through the farm pony's mane.

“Mornin, Babs”, Applebloom replied sweetly and turned her gaze to the doorway, for a fleeting moment expecting her big sister to come walking through it. But then she recalled the deal they had made the day before. “Guess she's stickin’ to her word”, she remarked and turned back to Babs, with a nervous yet naughty feeling starting to swell up inside of her.

Without another word, the two fillies began to make out in her bed, with the blankets still covering them. They did make sure to keep their voices down as they spoke though.

“How long do ya think we have?”, Applebloom asked between kisses, running her hooves across Babs’ mane and body.

“Not long enough”, Babs replied between kisses as well, also running her hooves across the filly's mane and backside as she continued to kiss her passionately.

“Ah know the feelin’”, the farm pony replied with a smirk before resuming the making out session with her lover.

“I thought you would have stopped me already.”

“Ah said that Ah'm feelin’ braver lately, didn't Ah?”

“Brave enough for this?”, Babs asked, running a hoof down Applebloom's back, resting it at the base of her tail and rubbing it sensually while continuing to make out with the filly.

“Didn't Ah say not to try anythin’ on me till tomorrow?”, Applebloom reminded with a slightly annoyed look on her face between kisses. She moaned during one of them, feeling her body grow hotter by the second as her cousin continued to rub the base of her tail. “Oh buck it, go lower”, she said, the pleasure audible in her voice.

Just as Babs’ hoof trailed under Applebloom's tail and over her mound, a trotting could be heard, closing in fast. The two snapped away from one another and quickly jumped out of the bed, frantically attempting to catch their breath before whoever it was showed their face.

Applejack walked by with a passing glance at them, walked back, and did a double-take at the two, who looked a little sweaty and their manes completely frazzled - thanks to their make-out session, which almost turned into love-making.

“Are y'all okay? You're lookin’ a bit sweaty by the looks of it”, Applejack remarked curiously.

“We're fine!”, Applebloom answered angrily, thoroughly annoyed by her sister's intrusion. “Ah thought ya said you wouldn't be comin’ to wake us up for at least three days? How's this holdin’ your end of the bargain?!”

“Ah wasn't. Ah was simply passin’ by on mah way to mah bedroom to get mah hat. No need to be gettin’ hostile with me, sis”, Applejack replied defensively, looking at the two more clearly now. The more she did so, the more she wondered what exactly the two fillies were up to before she managed to walk by their room.

Applebloom's expression became guilty upon hearing this.

“S-Sorry, big sis. Ah guess Ah'm a little frazzled this mornin’”, she said, doing her best to calm her nerves.

“It's alright. Well, Ah'm gonna go get mah hat now. See ya downstairs”, Applejack replied, turned about-face, left the room, and walked down the hall.

“What a buzz-kill”, Babs said dejectedly as she sat on her rump and sighed.

“The day's far from over”, Applebloom remarked with a grin.

Unknowingly to the two fillies, Applejack was standing barely within the earshot of these statements, looking both confused and worried.

“What the hay are those two talkin’ about?”, she asked herself quietly.

* * *

Breakfast came and went, and the two fillies quickly left the house to go outside and “play”. They were unaware of a certain farm pony who was following them in secret... or so she thought at least.

“Is the apple still rolling?”, Babs asked curiously as the two walked across the vast front yard.

“Yep”, Applebloom replied with an eye-rolling gesture and a sigh, taking a note of a certain tail which was barely visible behind a tree.

Despite the filly’s previous statements about waiting ‘till tomorrow, she found herself wanting to experiment with her cousin today rather than tomorrow night. She wasn't sure why though. Maybe it was the fact that before a day ago, she didn’t know was true pleasure was. Or maybe it was just her inner curiosity getting the better of her.

Regardless of which of these reasons were true, she was hell-bent on doing something with her cousin before the day was out. Even if it wasn't full-out sex. However, the fact that her sister was following them all over Sweet Apple Acres was both annoying and worrisome to the filly.

“Maybe we should wait ‘till the apple stops rolling before making apple juice?”, Babs asked, using the best clever code wording she could without confusing Applebloom.

“Yeah, Ah think that may be our best bet. Let's go see if Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are at the clubhouse”, the farm filly replied and sighed dejectedly. The two then made a turn towards the orchard and their clubhouse.

“Apple rolling? Apple juice? What in tarnation are those two up to?”, Applejack asked herself and sighed. “Maybe Ah'm overthinkin it. Ah mean come on! Applebloom and Babs makin’ out? What a load of horsefeathers...”, she said aloud, dismissing the majority of her suspicions for the time being as she walked back to the house.

* * *

“Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?”, Applebloom asked curiously as the two walked into the seemingly empty clubhouse.

“Looks like they aren't here”, Babs remarked, looking around for sometime... only to hear the door swing shut behind her. “I bet you counted on that, didn't ya?”, she asked with a sly grin, seeing an equally sly grin on the farm pony's face as she slid the wooden lock on the clubhouse’s door in place.

“Darn tootin’”, Applebloom replied, walking up to her lover and locking lips with her.

“So, you wanna go all the way?”, Babs asked between kisses.

“Ah'll go as far as you’re willin’ to go. How long do ya think we have before Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo show up?”, Applebloom asked, just before the two comically fell to the floor, not missing a beat as they ran their hooves along each other, each hoof trailing down each other’s undersides respectively.

“Not long enough”, Babs replied, her hoof finding its way over Applebloom's mound and beginning to rub it gently; it earned a sharp moan from the filly, with Babs doing the same when Applebloom's hoof trailed over hers.

“Ya always say that”, Applebloom replied with a smirk.

She was just about to edge her hoof inside of Babs’ flower, when the door suddenly erupted with a loud knocking sound, causing the two fillies to sit up and look at the door.

“Applebloom, Babs? You guys in here? Applejack said you were here”, Scootaloo's voice could be heard from the other side of the door.

“Oh, for the love of Luna and Celestia!”, Applebloom groaned under her breath, slamming both front hooves on the wooden floor in frustration.

She then stood to her all fours, walked up to the door, unlocked it, and opened it to see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's smiling faces.

“Hey, Apple...Bloom?”, Sweetie Belle began to say happily, only to trail off upon seeing their fellow crusader’s ticked off expression, and the fact that she was looking a bit sweaty.

“Did we come at a bad time?”, Scootaloo asked curiously, looking past the filly to see Babs still on the floor, looking as sweaty as her friend.

“Nope, your timin’ couldn't have been more perfect”, Applebloom replied, sarcasm in her voice so thick it could be cut with a knife if it were possible.

“So why was the door locked?”, Sweetie Belle asked.

“Oh, dat was me”, Babs piped up. “See, I wanted to show Applebloom somethin’, but then I remembered that I left it at the house. We were here talkin’ and forgot I locked the door”, she finished, much to the relief of Applebloom, who was at a loss of words for how to answer this question.

Sweetie Belle seemed happy with their answer, but Scootaloo's expression said she was far from convinced.

“Okay, well, that explains a lot”, the latter said. “Oh, Applebloom, wanna come outside and check out the new design I put on my scooter?”, she asked, allowing a smile to wash over her face as she asked this.

“Sure”, the farm filly replied. “Wanna come and check it out as well, Babs?”

“Actually”, Scootaloo spoke up, “I think Sweetie Belle wanted to chat with her. Didn't ya, Sweetie Belle?”

The white-furred filly seemed clueless at first at this question, but caught on quickly.

“Oh yeah! I wanted to show her a neat magic trick I can do now with my horn!”, she declared enthusiastically.

“I hope dat magic trick doesn't include me in any awkward situations...”, Babs said with an uneasy look on her face. Applebloom and Scootaloo facehoofed and groaned at this.

“Ah highly doubt it, cuz”, Applebloom remarked with an eye-rolling gesture.

She then followed Scootaloo out of the clubhouse and over to her scooter. As soon as they were out of Sweetie Belle and Babs’ earshot, Applebloom spoke up:

“Okay, Ah ain't dumb. This is about me and Babs, right?”

“Quick as a whip, aren’t ya?”, Scootaloo remarked sarcastically and sighed. “Are you sure this is still just an act? I'm no expert, Applebloom, but if I had to place a bet on whether or not you were making out with Babs in the clubhouse, I'd put my bits on you doing it.”

The farm pony’s expression became nervous upon hearing this.

“It's not like Ah have a choice. Ah have to keep this act up ‘till she goes back to Manehattan”, Applebloom replied defensively, even though this was an outright lie and she knew it.

Scootaloo walked past the farm pony, stopping just short of her hindquarters... and then she lifted her tail, much to the embarrassment of Applebloom. The farm pony nearly bucked her upside the head, whirling herself around with a crimson red blush.

“Wh-What the hay you starin’ at?! Ya gosh darn pervert!”, she flustered and sat firmly on her rump.

“On second thought, I'd say it was a little more than making out”, Scootaloo remarked thoughtfully. “Geez Applebloom, how far are you going to let this act go? That is, IF it's still an act”, she said, giving her friend a suspicious glance.

Applebloom’s chest went ice-cold in response. She thought how to answer this question for a longer while. Eventually, she sighed heavily.

“As far as it takes to make her happy”, she finally said and turned her gaze to the ground.

“Applebloom...”, Scootaloo attempted to respond.

They stayed like this for a moment in silence, with the pegasus giving the farm filly a thoughtful look, and the latter not able to look her in the face. Eventually, Scootaloo sighed too and sat next to her. She looked at her and let a smile creep onto her face.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I'm behind you no matter what choice you make”, she said in a comforting tone.

Hearing this, Applebloom looked up at her friend and stared at her with tears in her eyes.

“Thanks. It means a lot hearin’ that from ya”, she replied.

She then stood up to her all fours. She had a feeling Scootaloo knew more than she let out, but she wasn't ready to tell her just yet. Knowing that she had Scootaloo’s full support the first time this relationship began started to quell some of her lingering fears, though.

Suddenly, the pegasus looked with a panicked expression at the clubhouse, much to the confusion of the farm pony.

“What's wrong?”, Applebloom asked.

Without another word, Scootaloo got up and ran up quickly to the clubhouse.

“Sweetie Belle, wait! Don't tell her!”, she yelled as she reached the door and swung it open.

“Don't tell her? Don't tell her what?!”, Applebloom exclaimed as she ran up to the door...

...only to see Babs in tears.

“Oh Luna, she didn't!”, Applebloom thought to herself and her chest grew ice-cold.

Her cousin walked up to her. Her eyes were streaming with tears as she stared at her with a hurt expression.

“So the truth comes out...”, she said, her voice cracking as she spoke and then walked past her.

“Babs, wait!”, Applebloom exclaimed.

She tried to put a hoof out to stop her, only for the city filly to swat it away, turn around, and glare at her with the same hurt, tearful eyes.

“You never loved me”, Babs said in a barely audible voice, as if she was struggling to speak. “You only acted like you did so I wouldn't feel bad. How could you? This is a goodbye.”

These words froze the farm pony in place, the memories of her nightmare flashing through her mind. Her pupils shrunk to their smallest size in the realization.

“I don't want to see your face for the rest of my stay here”, Babs said, her voice sounding resentful and shaky as if she was holding back tears. She then turned around and broke in a gallop, the faint sounds of her sobs audible over the trampling of her hooves.

“You were never going to tell her... were you?”, Scootaloo asked, walking up next to Applebloom and staring at her.

Applebloom's expression, however, still remained frozen. Tears were now flooding from her eyes, as if somepony had left the water running in them. Her mouth was making barely audible whimpering sounds for a time, until she fell to the ground without a warning and began to sob loudly.

Sweetie Belle tried to place a hoof on her back in an attempt to comfort her.

“Applebloom, I'm--”, she started.

“Don't touch me...”, Applebloom cut her off between the sobs.

“Applebloom, listen, we didn't--”, Scootaloo attempted.

“Ah said, don't touch me!”, Applebloom yelled, batting the hoof away and flashing the two a hateful, tear-filled glare. “Y'all ruined everything! Everything! Ah hate you both! Ah hate you!”, she shrieked at them before burying her face back under her hooves and sobbing loudly.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at her for a few moments longer, stunned by the farm pony's hurtful words. They were both wondering what they could do in this grim situation, but neither of them could come up with anything. Eventually, Scootaloo spoke:

“Come on, Sweetie Belle. Let's leave her be”, she said solemnly and began to walk away from the sobbing filly.

Sweetie Belle hesitantly followed, only to stop soon after and look back at Applebloom.

“Shouldn't we do something?”, she asked softly, unable to avert her gaze from the sobbing earth pony.

“We've done enough damage already”, Scootaloo replied, giving her a tug on the tail before turning to walk away.

Sweetie Belle stood there for a few moments longer. Eventually, she turned around and walked away too, catching up with the pegasus and following her closely.

* * *

Applejack's exclamations sounded like nothing more than muffled words to the farm filly that evening, when her older sister tossed the photographs in front of her, looking shocked, stunned, and upset. Big Macintosh was busy filling in the hole in the guest bedroom.

“Y'all are both confined to yer rooms ‘till Babs goes back home, are we clear?!”, Applejack exclaimed as she looked at the stonewalled expression on Applebloom's face, seemingly unaware of her emotional pain.

Without uttering a single word, Applebloom walked upstairs to her room, climbed onto her bed, and lay there silently. Maybe she didn't have any more tears left to shed, maybe her emotions shut down completely, or maybe she was trying to figure out how things turned out this way. Regardless of any of these reasons, she lay there silently while the sun set...