“Hey girls!”
A young woman with prismatic hair strode up to a familiar horse statue where five other girls stood, her voice cracked as she greeted them. Among these girls stood a messy, pink-haired, and blue eyed, ball of energy. She perked up immediately when she had seen her rainbow haired friend and ran to hug her.
“Rainbow Dash!” she squealed as she hugged as tight as she possibly could.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie...” Rainbow Dash strained and struggled against Pinkie, “Kinda..need..to..breathe.”
Her blue face became paler than usual and her magenta eyes seemed to dart in different directions.
“Oh yeah..right!” Pinkie Pie giggled and put her friend down, who now seemed to be gasping for air, “Sorry Dashie.”
Pinkie Pie had always forgotten that her energy could be too much for others to handle at times, but she didn’t mean to cause any harm. She had grown up always wanting to spread cheer and make people smile, and of course she made no exceptions for her five friends.
“Don’t sweat it, Pinks.” Rainbow said as she finally caught her breath.
Suddenly, a softer voice spoke up.
“Rainbow, you’re early again! Wait, not that it is a bad thing of course...you just caught us by surprise!”
The voice belonged to a taller girl named Fluttershy. She and Rainbow Dash were known to be the closest out of the six girls gathered together, as they had known each other the longest. Fluttershy had light yellow skin, soft pink hair, and beautiful teal eyes. She was known to be quiet, kind, and just as her name states; shy. Even with her reputation of being so sensitive and fragile, Fluttershy could do very well on her own. She knew that sometimes she couldn’t let others treat her any way they wanted and she had to be assertive.
Rainbow scoffed at her friend’s nervousness.
“Relax, Shy. I just thought you’d have been used to me being early by now. I haven’t been late to class since like last week!”
“Exactly...that’s why it’s weird.” another girl with a heavy southern accent spoke up with crossed arms.
Applejack wore a large Stetson hat that went well with her blonde hair and green eyes. Her tanned orange face was spotted with freckles all over, and she was known for her brutal honesty towards others. Applejack hated when people lied to her, and she sensed that she was being lied to at this very moment. A frown etched her face as she stared at Rainbow Dash.
You see, the girls had always gathered in front of Canterlot High School almost a half an hour before classes began. They would all be gathered around the infamous horse statue, which also happened to be a magical portal, in front of the school. However, the girls gathered around the statue would only usually consist of:
Applejack herself, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight Sparkle. Notice how that lineup does not include Rainbow Dash at all. It wasn’t because the girls were excluding her, but only because it wasn’t normal for her to be there that early in the morning.
Rainbow Dash was a confident, energetic, and loyal friend. She was on, and the captain of, most of the sports teams at Canterlot High, however, her main focus was always pointed towards soccer. Rainbow had always thought highly of herself; always calling herself awesome; and was very competitive. She cared a lot about her reputation and how people saw her. Despite all of this, Rainbow cared very much for her friends as well. Whenever they needed her, she was willing to drop everything to help them and get them whatever they needed.
When it came to school however, Applejack knew that the only reason Dash had shown up was because she had to. Applejack would always find Rainbow popping in halfway during their first period English class every morning, looking tired, bored, and miserable. The teacher would normally reprimand her, she’d obviously not care, and take a seat next to Applejack before falling asleep not even five minutes later. Now, that was normal for Rainbow Dash.
However, now on this cloudy morning in Canterlot High, just as Rainbow said, she began meeting up with the girls in the morning before school began. It was a shock and a pleasant surprise the first time she had come before class, but now, she hasn’t been late at all lately. Perhaps the most suspicious thing out of all of this is that Rainbow seems almost happy to be there with her friends. Of course this isn’t a bad thing, but Applejack expected that Rainbow would show up looking as if she had just rolled out of bed. She wasn’t grumpy or showing any signs of unhappiness.
Rainbow was genuinely cheerful, and ready to take on the day. Not only that, but Dash had been much more cheerful and generous throughout the day as well. She wasn’t snapping at Pinkie bothering her, or Rarity playing with her hair. She hasn’t been bothering Twilight or Sunset when they went on their rants about their grades or their lessons. Heck, Applejack thought that Rainbow has been letting her win their past few competitions! There was something going on here, and Applejack didn’t like it.
“What is going on with ya?” Applejack pointed a finger at Rainbow Dash.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked looking confused.
“You never were this early to class before...well Ah can’t even remember! You are up to somethin’, and Ah’m gonna find out ya hear?” Applejack walked slowly towards her friend, who seemed to be growing more confused with each step she took.
“Hey! Is it so bad that I might actually want to get to school on time?” Rainbow defended herself.
“Of course not! But, you’ve been acting weirder than usual. This ain’t the only thing I’ve noticed.”
“AJ, I’m sixteen, almost seventeen years old. We are almost done with high school, and I realized that not only is all of my lates affecting my grades, but that I’m also missing this time to spend with you guys in the morning! This isn’t going to last forever, and I don’t think that getting a few extra minutes of sleep is worth losing memories with my best friends..I’m so sorry if what I’m doing is wrong.” Rainbow crossed her arms and looked down, “I have to go get my things anyway. I’ll see you guys later.” Rainbow said dismissively.
With that, Rainbow sped off inside Canterlot High. Applejack turned around to meet the disapproving looks on her friends’ faces. Rarity, a girl with curled, deep purple hair, spoke up.
“Applejack darling, we’ve all noticed the change in Rainbow’s behavior! That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing.” Her disapproving blue eyes met Applejack’s.
“Exactly. I actually think that it is a good thing. It’s about time she learns to take school seriously.” Twilight stated, pushing up her glasses and pulling her navy blue ponytail, “Sunset Shimmer would say the same. Too bad she want back through that portal to meet that pony princess.”
“It’s okay Applejack...she’ll probably cool down by lunch.” Fluttershy said suddenly, putting a hand over Applejack’s, referring to Rainbow Dash.
“Thanks Fluttershy, Ah didn’t mean to say anythin’ wrong, Ah just think that somethin’ is goin on, that’s all.” Applejack smiled as the first bell rang.
Applejack went throughout her day as normal, with the exception of Rainbow throwing sarcastic and snarky comments at her occasionally. Other than that, Rainbow was still in a fairly good mood just as she had been lately.
Applejack decided to head home as soon as the final bell rang. As she turned into the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres, she wondered why Rainbow was still so upset with her. Applejack stopped suddenly as she realized: she never really apologized or had given Rainbow any explanation as to why she blew up like that! She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she struggled to figure out what to do next. She thought that it would be best to get her chores done before anything else, and that by the time she was done, Rainbow would be done with soccer practice. She’d head back over to Canterlot High just before she left to talk to her.
AJ then went inside the barn to find her brother, who was just two years older than her, putting his equipment away. Big Macintosh was a light skinned, orange haired, and strong young adult. He, like his sister, had freckles that were spotted all over his face, and large green eyes. He was very tall, strong, and had a deep voice. Despite that, Big Macintosh was very quiet, shy even, but was a very hard worker. Applejack raised her eyebrow at the fact that Big Macintosh seemed to be putting everything away, as if he were done for the day.
“Mac? Are ya done?” Applejack asked simply.
“Eeyup!” he answered with a smug smile.
“But, don’t you always say that ‘A farmers’ work is never done’?”
“Eeyup.”
“But you’re done?”
“Eeyup.”
“I thought that ya always do extra work on the farm even after you’re done. Isn’t that what ya always do?”
“Eeyup.”
“But today you’re not gonna do the extra work?”
“Eenope.”
“Why? Are ya sick?”
“Eenope.”
“Are ya tired?”
“Eenope.”
“So why do ya suddenly wanna change things up out of nowhere?!” Applejack exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.
“Ah got plans.” Big Macintosh said, without looking at his younger sister.
“You.”
“Eeyup.”
“You have plans?”
“Eeyup.”
“What kinda plans?”
“The special kind.”
“Gosh darn it, Mac! Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what’s goin’ on!” Applejack tossed her book bag on a bale of hay in frustration.
“Ah have things Ah have to do this afternoon. Is that a problem for ya, AJ?” Big Macintosh raised his eyebrow.
“Why you little- Of course it ain’t a problem! It’s just weird for ya to suddenly have special plans! You are always puttin’ your farmwork first and now all of a sudden this thing is causin’ ya to put everythin’ aside?”
“Eeyup.”
Applejack clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth. Why isn’t her brother telling her anything? What could be so important that would make him want to ditch his chores?
“Hey AJ? Is Apple Bloom usin’ this?” Big Macintosh’s voice brought Applejack out of her thoughts. In his hand was a dirty old soccer ball that was found in the corner of the barn.
“Uh..no, I don’t think so.” Applejack replied slowly.
“Alright then. I’ll see ya later lil’ sis.” Big Mac nodded with the soccer ball tucked underneath his arm. He messed with his hair a bit before walking out completely.
Applejack was baffled. Her eighteen- year old brother had just ditched the rest of his chores and took a soccer ball out of the barn for “special plans”?
“What in the actual hay is goin’ on here?” Applejack whispered to herself, as she picked up an empty bucket and headed out towards the apple orchard.