The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

Applejack's Secret Admirer (part 2)

Their training had been intense this afternoon. Because she was the captain of her team, their coach asked Rainbow Dash a stronger commitment than what was expected from the other lacrosse players. In the run-up of a match of a higher-importance, all the odds had to be stacked in their favor in order not to miss out on victory. And although her and Pinkie Pie were first-class recruits, it didn’t go the same way for the whole team.

Twice a week, she had lacrosse, basketball and athletics, where she was a runner. Sometimes one of her discipline came after another. The other students, most of the time, didn’t accumulate extracurricular activities but she liked being busy and not only because it gave her a reason to go home the later she could.

Out of the lacrosse team, Pinkie Pie took part in the cooking club, where she specialized in pastry. Twilight Sparkle only dedicated herself to the Students’ Board so she would have more time on her hand to work. Too shy, Fluttershy had subscribed to no activities at all, but spent a lot of her spare time trying to raise awareness among the others to the animal cause.

As for Applejack, since she was a professional athlete, her status was particular. She was allowed to use some of the sports equipment as she wished, though most of her training happened at home, under her brother, little sister and grandmother’s caring gazes, in a room that was made for that…

These activities let them have additional free time that they liked to spend together.

When Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had left for lacrosse, and they had asked Fluttershy and Applejack to wait for them so they would hang around in town after that, where they were almost sure to meet Rarity and Twilight, Sunset Shimmer had been surprised to hear them ask her to come as well.

She took part in no clubs and was used to go back home immediately after class since she had got back on the right track. Today, she had sat behind the bleachers of the school’s stadium, where the little bunch liked to gather, and she had chatted during the whole hour and a half with her brand new friends.

However, the young girl had not helped but noticed there were something tensed about Applejack that she had never caught a glimpse at before. Her phone couldn’t stop vibrating and she never checked on the messages, and unceasingly watched behind her back at the least suspicious noise.

Now, she was walking by her friends’ side, who all had changed into civil outfits, and she was acting in a more casual way, and it perturbed Sunset Shimmer a little. For this reason, she said nothing of what she had noticed.

After all, she didn’t know them so well. There was a way for her to be mistaking about her impressions.

“Do you always leave your cars and all at the school’s parking lot when you’re going downtown?”, she asked, curious.

“Yeah”, Rainbow Dash answered while stretching out. “Because it feels like hell to try to park in there. I can’t feel my muscles anymore; I hate the coach!”

“Really? I’m still full of energy”, Pinkie Pie said bouncing.

“But you, you got an ultra-long-term solar battery connected to your veins that’s hidden in your hair, it’s not the same.”

Her friend replied with a little high-pitched laugh, not the least bothered by the analogy she was a victim of. It felt as if there was nothing that could ever spoil Pinkie Pie’s cheerfulness. Always, she smiled, bounced, got enthusiastic. Yet, she had confessed Sunset Shimmer that she had done nasty things as well in the past. It was hard to imagine, that this adorable pinkish energy ball could ever harm anybody.

“T’would be good if we speed up cuz there’s Twilight gettin’ overexcited on da phone.”

“That girl… She’s as impatient as can be!”

For certain kind of things, Twilight Sparkle could reveal rock solid placidness, but sometimes, she got carried away by her anxious and nervous character. They all knew her very well, and knew very well the way she worked, but for those out or new to their circle, this dichotomy was a bit unsettling.

Indeed, it had seemed to Sunset Shimmer that the young girl was calm and collected… that the water never overflowed the cooking pot.

The small bunch had stepped in the Grand Rue, aiming for Sugarcube Corner where Twilight and Rarity were waiting so they would share an after-school snack and help Rainbow Dash with her mathematics exercises, when they were called out by a male voice.

Big Macintosh and Zephyr Breeze were positioned at their favorite spot, where they stopped young trendsetters of Canterlot in order to take a picture of them. They had just photographed a couple with matching outfits, which look was a mix of modern and vintage, all peppered with homemade items. It wasn't Applejack’s older brother who spotted them but Fluttershy’s, who hadn’t lied about his expertise to recognize the most attractive styles.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash… Dya still want to appear on the site? Ah could take care of dat right now if ya like.”

As extraordinary as it seemed, since Canterlot Street Style’s resurgence, the teenage girl’s occasions to pose behind “Big Mac” lenses were rare, and she hadn’t had this chance yet – it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The origin of the problem? The girls nicknamed the Flower Trio who couldn’t stop following Zephyr Breeze around and who always mistakenly thought she was trying to get closer to him by this way.

They weren’t there today. Probably for the same reason why there were no many girls in the streets this afternoon. The latest fashionable boysband was performing at Canterlot’s Olympic Stadium and most of them females had been able to buy a ticket.

It was now or never if she wanted to take an advantage of it. She wasn’t going to deprive herself, now she finally had the chance to give her reputation the publicity she thought it deserved.

No need to check out whether or not her style was good enough in the whole to appear on the pages of a fashion site. No matter what she wore fitted the bill, and anyway, she had no time to go and change her clothes.

Without hesitation, she positioned herself in front of the lens, not without wrapping her arms around Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie and Applejack’s neck – Fluttershy had rushed to meet her brother behind the camera.

“If that’s the way it is, let’s go… But not without my best friends!”

It wasn’t that she didn’t regard Fluttershy as a good friend, but she knew that because of her shyness, she wasn’t about to accept to pose and to be likely to be exposed, and so judged, on the web.

It was a pleasant surprise for Sunset Shimmer. Rainbow Dash could have not included her or could have rejected to be seen with the one who almost gave her real troubles with justice. Perhaps that she had offered that comment not to be mean and not meaning it. It didn’t matter. She had said it anyway, and in front of witnesses.

The three girls had already started to strike a pose yet they saw Big Macintosh lowering his lens.

“Sorry… Ah can’t photograph ya with my lil sis. Ah don’t want to be said to play favorites.”

“What? It makes no sense. Everyone knows Applejack’s my best friend; it amounts to the same things at the favorites level.”

“Everybody knows she’s my lil sis as well and she’s already famous.”

“Say it dat yar scared fellas would eye me up. Ya know it’s moronic… They already eye me up in the ads on TV!”

Applejack hadn’t made that comment to her brother for no reason and her friends knew. As a little girl, she had promised her parents something she wanted to keep whatever the cost, in memory of them, and because of this promise, her older brother often made remarks about what she wore. He feared some boys would try to take advantage of her…

Yet, he knew very well she was endowed with an iron will, and not the kind to give in easily. But he just couldn’t help it, he had to let his protective older brother instinct going up to the surface and she judged it as unbearable. How many times did she need to tell him? She was old and strong enough to defend herself.

“Now it ain’t the same if am the one takin’ the picture, AJ… It’s worse.”

“Tsk! Ya know what? Drop it! Ah don’t wanna be on yar damn site. Ah got more important stuff to do. No offense, Dash.”

With that, without another word, she picked up her bag and her hat dropped when Rainbow Dash had grabbed her neck, and went to climb back up the Grand Rue on her own at full throttle.

After a few seconds of wavering, when they all tried to take in what had just happened, her friend apologized, picked up her things as well, and went away promising she’ll take a raincheck. Yes, she really wanted to appear in Canterlot Street Style, but she cared about her best friend even more, and regarded as more urgent to comfort her than to pose for the web.

As for Pinkie Pie, still holding Sunset Shimmer by her neck, she regarded as possible to have a cake and to eat it too. She made a victory sign with her fingers, displayed her brightest smile, and with a folded leg, struck the pose – along with her classmate.

“Pictuuuuuure!”

Luckily, Big Macintosh was quick enough to take the shot on the spot, before the teenage girl to pick up her things as well, bringing Sunset Shimmer with her, holding her by her hand.

He couldn’t help an amused smile. The young girl was permanently dynamic, and full of drive, and he liked this energy, him who was of the shy kind in everyday life. A bit like his coworker’s little sister, Fluttershy, standing by his side – but to a lesser extent.

The teenage girl sighed deeply, and started to go in order to catch up her friends… if she could. Of course, she adored them, and would always be glad they stopped her from doing a horrible mistake, but sometimes, it was difficult to follow. Everything moved very fast when she was with them and it sometimes was trouble for her to keep up with what was going on.

She registered a little jump when Big Macintosh softly held her by the wrist, while Zephyr Breeze had gone to approach new girls, after he had cried for the rushed departure of his heart’s desire – a one-way heart’s desire – that was Rainbow Dash.

“Ya can stay with us if ya want. We’ll drive ya home as soon as ya decide. Am not bothered”, he said anticipating an eventual refusal from her under this excuse.

As her only reply, Fluttershy nodded with a slight smile, her cheeks suddenly warm. It was more than she ever hoped for, and she couldn’t hope for even more. And yet…

-------------------------------------------------

In a sense, Rainbow Dash was rather glad Applejack never wanted to join the athletics team. This way, she remained the unquestioned star of it. She had to admit it – her friend was gifted for races. She had sped by so fast it had been more difficult than expected to catch her up.

She wasn’t the kind to make sensational and a bit dramatic outbursts, which rather were Rarity’s privilege. Generally, once she had said what she had to say, she felt it was her inalienable right to stay where she was if she liked that. For her to leave a place this way, it meant there really was something going on.

Right after the Grand Rue, overhanging by the Royal Palace, there was a park liked by nature’s lovers, seeking for a green spot in order to escape noises and restlessness of the big city. This place also was a favorite of lovers (period), who had dates and rendezvous here for a romantic picnic on the lawn, or a little walk on the banks of the artificial lake where ducks and swans grew up.

As the resident of the only farm of the surrounding area, raised in a family of agricultural origins, Applejack really enjoyed to go under one of the trees of the park when she needed to think something through sheltered from the rest of the world.

There was one tree in particular that she liked the best, an apple tree known for it no longer gave fruits but kept on flowering in Spring. It was naturally the place where Rainbow Dash found her, a bit out of breath and whom cheeks had taken a few colors, her whom skin very thin and pale had to be protected by the least rays of sun.

Applejack had sat under the tree, looking in the opposite sense of the park’s entrance, and had put her school backpack between her back so she could lean against the trunk and not get too much uncomfortable.

“A bit more and ya’ll look like a Red Delicious.”

“It’s not funny, AJ! You’ve made me trudge through all Canterlot.”

Raise of eyebrow. Like often, Rainbow Dash had ways and means to exaggerate her statements. Downtown was quite much more immense than their usual link of Grand Rue-Sugarcube Corner-police station-Canterlot High-Carrousel Boutique but it was rare they ventured beyond these parts of the city. It would have been like trying to be allied with Crystal Prep, the eternal rival.

“Well, I’ve found you, that’s what matters”, she said sitting by her side.

During a few seconds, they both remained silently looking at walkers and a bunch of friends playing soccer. Applejack knew what her friends wanted to say to her, and at the same time, she also knew she had things to confess, something she hadn’t told anyone yet but which had taken incredible proportions in only one day.

To be perfectly honest, she was really starting to feel scared.

“I agree with you that Big Mac sometimes has excessive reactions when it comes to boys, but well, you won’t remain upset…”

“Dat’s not only becuz of dat, Dash. Feels like he doesn’t trust me. Plus, it’s only a picture, what’s the big deal?”

Obviously, it wasn’t Rainbow Dash who was going to answer her question in any other way than “yeah, what’s the big deal?”. She had had a few boyfriends, and even already had ‘taken the plunge’, as they say, but in that matter, a lot of details were beyond her. In her mind, this thing called sex was a notion a bit strange which she couldn’t understand the enthusiasm of most of the population, and in a certain extent, she was way too naïve to imagine what was going through the minds of the other teenagers of her age.

Like Applejack expected, she shrugged.

“I don’t really know. What I know is that family, when you got the chance to have one still standing, it’s important. You must tell your brother how you feel, so you both get along together again.”

“Don’t worry, we ain’t goin’ to be in a huff forever if dat’s what’s scarin’ ya. Just, on the moment, it upset me stiff.”

Since they were at confidences, it was the right moment to confess to Rainbow Dash what had been bothering her lately. The solution to her problem, she realized it now, she wouldn’t find it on her own. With her friends by her side only would she be able to go through this trial.

In the distance, the two friends heard Pinkie Pie’s sometimes ear-splitting voice calling Rainbow Dash. When she turned around, she saw the young girl waving like a sailor on a boat in the middle of a shipwreck, with Sunset Shimmer next to her, always looking all around her with a forced smile.

Rainbow Dash got up, after she told Applejack she would go and get them, and she walked in their direction. Why they didn’t meet them straight, she didn’t know. It wasn’t always easy to follow Pinkie Pie’s very personal logic, and though she knew her well now, at times it still was complicated for her to understand her reactions.

The rainbow-haired girl felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, and took it, still waving at the two girls. At the end of the line, a Twilight between anxiety and impatience asked her what was taking them so long and why Applejack no longer picked up her own phone.

The latter watched them from afar, then grabbed her bag. The best would be for her to meet them there, now that she felt a bit soothed. They were expected by their other friends since quite a long moment, after all…

But before she could have made one step, she felt someone grabbing her wrist and pulling her. Surprised, she lost her balance for a few seconds, and had to lean against the person who’d stopped her from meeting her friends. When she turned around, and she saw a tall boy with hair so fair it almost looked white and glasses, she understood, even before he uttered a word.

“Applejack, finally, we’re alone. I’ve been waiting for so long.”

---------------------------------------

“Don’t you worry anymore; we’ll be here in something like ten minutes… I’ve spoken to Applejack and I think she’s feeling better.”

She had to comfort Twilight. The young girl perhaps was used to the unexpected developments punctuating their daily life, at times her anxiety took over, and she was scared something really horrible would happen to one of her friends. Of course, by dint of seeing no one coming to Sugarcube Corner and Applejack – that she regarded of the most reasonable one – not returning her calls, panic had started to win her over.

Now, Rainbow Dash thought, there will be no more problems… She even was convinced their friend was right behind them, at a few inches away.

When her and her three other friends turned around to see her progression, what a surprise they had to see an unknown boy, wearing Canterlot’s uniform, having a firm grip on Applejack.

“Haw, Applejack’s being assaulted by some guy! Got to hang up!”

“What? Applejack’s being assaulted?!! Rainbow Dash?!!”

She already had thrown her phone in Pinkie Pie’s hands and rushed at full throttle to the place where the young girl was. Her bag and hat had dropped on the floor, and she looked like struggling.

Applejack was stronger than some of the boys, by dint of working at the farm and training and competing for rodeos. For this one to be able to hold his grip without her capable of getting out of his clasp, it meant he probably was more robust than his slightly feeble appearance could make believe.

It didn’t matter. Rainbow Dash, always sure of herself and her abilities, was convinced that she would be able to make him let her friend go. It was hazardous, but it also was her only chance.

As soon as she was near them, she soared up and was able to kick the assailant’s face… not without hurting her thighs, but of this, of course, she didn’t utter a word, acting as if it all had been very easy for her and deprived of consequences.

Moreover, she was proud since her strike had made the boy let go of Applejack, who fell on her back by dint of being pulled back and forth. She was red all around her wrist, which seemed to be pulsating like a crazy heartbeat.

No need to precise to Rainbow Dash who was the person who had tried to abduct her best friend. She had understood instinctively.

“You, get lost!”, the boy ordered her. “You have no right to take me away from my Applejack…”

“Your Applejack? Applejack doesn’t belong to anyone except herself.”

“Would be a surprise if someone like you could understand this kind of things. You know nothing about love.”

“Someone like me? Why does everyone assume things like that about me?”

“Because you’re dressed like a slut!”

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and fists. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to make him understand how these kind of clichés about her were starting to push her on the edge. But it wasn’t about her today. It was about Applejack, her friend, even the first friend she ever made when she had arrived in Canterlot.

“You’re right, I don’t know a lot about love but among what I know, there’s the fact that feelings cannot be forced. If you really love Applejack, you’ll have to care about how she’s feeling as well.”

Now she was back to her senses after she had been forcefully dragged while struggling, and that she knew she had her friends to help her in case of a misbehavior, the person in question could allow herself to meddle with this conversation, which, after all, particularly was her business.

“It’s true… Ya don’t know nothing ‘bout me. Not what Ah like to do when alone, ma favorite dish or the books Ah like to read… For example, dya know Ah promised ma parents Ah’ll never sleep with a boy until Ah get married? Would ya be ready to love me knowing sumethin’ like dat? In reality, yar in love with an illusion. Not with the real Applejack.”

The latest revelation from his heart’s desire seemed to be a shock for the young man, who didn’t dare to answer. What the two teenage girl had said was pure truth, there was no doubt. He had no idea about who Applejack was in everyday life. All he knew about her was the image of the girl praising the goods of apple-flavored drinks and pastries on a TV screen or in the pages of the magazines.

“If you really want to date Applejack, you’ll have to know all this first… And you have to accept the fact she probably wouldn’t be able to reciprocate your feelings.”

“Are you kidding me?”, he answered with a strange smile on his face. “Who would like to date an abstinent bigot? I let her for others without regrets!”

Without further ado, the young man left running the patch of lawn on which they stood.

His statement left the five friends flabbergasted for a few seconds – Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer, as well as Twilight still out of breath from her race through the Grand Rue, had arrived in-between and attended a part of the conversation. Here was someone about to abduct a girl he supposedly loved with all his heart, all this to repudiate her at the first deception.

Unnoticing, he had proved right the arguments the two teenage girls had said, demonstrating their speech wasn’t deprived from truth.

It left that a lot of harm would have been saved if Applejack hadn’t kept to herself the moral and sexual harassment she had been a victim of. Rainbow Dash turned around to look at her, both hands on her hips.

“Did this moron pursued you a long time?”

“Eeyup. I’ve hid it to ya, am sorry but Ah thought it would calm down after a lil while.”

“This kind of thing never calm down; it escalates very quickly. We could have helped you…”

“It’s true, Applejack”, Twilight said getting closer as well. “Whatever happens, even if it’s very serious, we’re here for each other. We’d never let you settle something like this on your own.”

“Yes. When we’re together, we can go through anything”, Pinkie Pie added.

“Am sorry, really… Ah won’t do it again. From now on, if Ah get all worked up ‘bout sumethin’, Ah’ll tell you right away.”

“Would be a good idea. Or else, I’ll kick your butt.”

Sunset Shimmer remained a bit in the background and didn’t dare to take part in anything. She wasn’t close enough of the group yet to think she could deserve to be included in such a friendship confession. Deep inside, she hoped she would be integrated for good one day, and to have her own friendship bracelet. It was a thin silver chain each of the girls under her eyes wore at their left wrist – Fluttershy didn’t seem to have hers yet – at the end of which hung five small items supposed to represent each of the five friends.

“Do you know what it means?” Pinkie Pie chanted enthusiastically. “Group hug!!!”

She grabbed all the girls, even Sunset Shimmer, and they all held each other tight, the famous bracelet clicking at their wrists. In view of how much they were, their so-called hug only had the name of it, but it was some kind of tradition they never tried to escape from, even when it happened in front of the others and could go against the dear reputation of some of them.

Something, suddenly, struck Pinkie Pie, and she opened her mouth wide in order to take a long horrified gasp.

“Where’s Fluttershy?!! We’ve lost Fluttershy!!!”

Caught in the action of what had happened to Applejack, they hadn’t noticed the shy young girl hadn’t followed them and only now did they realized she was the great absent one… None had noticed she had chosen to stay with her brother and Big Macintosh. Everything would get back to normal once they would call her and learn the truth, but for now, panic prevailed.

At a less than a mile from here, at Sugarcube Corner, it was a danger of another kind that was about to begin. Applejack’s secret admirer had taken refuge in the tearoom hoping he would escape the ones he called now ‘the bunch of lunatics from Canterlot High’ and had met what he called ‘a divine apparition’: Rarity, sitting at the group’s favorite table, busy talking on the phone with a supplier.

The week had only begun…

Comments

[flutterdashXD]

Nice chapter, wonder what that kid's name is though.......