Applejack sat at the table, food suntouched, as everyone in her family seemed to be staring at her.
“What?” She finally asked her family. “I can’t be late for dinner for the first time in...” When had she even been?
“No, no!” Applebloom shook her head and went straight for her peas.
Granny Smith just chuckled. “Well it’s about time you shook things up a little, girl.” She paused to stab a piece of pork. “That said, what’s got you to break your, oh so precious, routine for the first time in years? Must be something really special.”
Applejack lowered her face. “Eh... Nothing. I was just... Just,” she swallowed at all of the attention. “Just... Was thinking about the party I promised Applebloom on Sunday.”
Grannies eyes widen. “What now?!”
Applebloom coughed. “What? No! You’re not going to make me cancel?!” She batted her puppy dog eyes at her grannie.
“Oh put those away,” Granny Smith waved off. “Just surprised me. A little fun and stepping out there,” she eyed the older sister, “is just what a girl your age should be doing.”
For once, Applejack found herself pleased to have her grandma hints being brought up. If at the very least it would direct her away from saying she had meet a mermaid, who was camped out in the barn. All alone, so pretty-
“Maybe I should look over it,” Applebloom said, referring to said building. “Get some ideas, go in and-“
“NO!” Applejack shouted as she realized where the conversation had drifted off too. “I mean,” thinking quickly, she came up with a lie that would buy her, hopefully, some time with that problem she now realized she had. “You got me! That’s what I’ve been doing all day. I’m fixing up the place, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Really messy. Even have a family of skunks that are probably still there. So just let me deal with it for a few days? You’ll still get your party.”
The idea of getting skunked seemed good enough to sway all of their interest in investing. Although for good measures;
“So, Granny,” Applejack swallowed a lump in her throat. “You... Really think college be right for me?”
At that, everyone dropped their forks.
“Just as a curiosity. Never said I would!”
With that, Granny Smith rambled on about the days of her father and son going to college. All it could offer, why she should go, and all the other things Applejack hated thinking about. At least it didn’t lead to any questions about her meeting anyone or lead to suspicion. Except for her brother. All through the rest of the evening, he kept giving her a look she couldn’t shake off. A look that she confirmed later that said, I don’t know what, but you’re hiding something else big.
“What?” Applejack asked, ready for bed, brushing her teeth after dinner, as he stood behind her. Waiting his turn.
He simply shrugged. “I didn’t say nothing.”
“Well I don’t know what you’re thinking, but whatever it is, it isn’t.”
“E’yup.” He said. “I bet you had a fun day, all by yourself.”
The way he empathized, self, made Applejack’s skin shiver. “Yeah, just me, myself, I!”
This time, he chuckled at her attempt of lying. “Sure thing, sis.”
She pushed him aside and made her way to her bedroom.
*****
3:02 on the clock, unable to sleep, Applejack continued to look at her ceiling, constantly thinking about the mermaid in the bathtub.
“Sure that would make for one hell of a saying,” she mused to herself. Looking to her clock, she saw that it was now 3:04.
“That’s it!” she declared, sitting up from her bag. Her morning routine be damned. If she couldn’t sleep, she’d make sure she’d catch up on chores Rarity had put her behind on. She threw on her work clothes, grabbed a flashlight, and stuffed her backpack with some books, magazines, as well as sewing needles for Rarity. While she doubted the mermaid would be awake, she figured it would do to make sure the poor girl had a way to entertain herself when she woke up. She then climbed out her window, not wanting to trouble her family, and made her way towards the barn. Opening the door, she saw the lights were still off, and Rarity;s tail still hung out from the side of the tub. She nodded, and quietly made her way over to the tub. She set her present next to the tub, not saying a word, expecting that to be that, when a hand shot out of the water and grabbed her by her shirt collar.
“Who are-“ Rarity started, only to pause as she looked into Applejack’s startled face. “Oh, AJ! Is it morning already.”
“Well, um, I, um, er,” she stammered, staring deep into Rarity’s bright blue eyes as she held her in place.
Rarity soon realized this, and released Applejack from her grip. “I’m terribly sorry, dear! I heard someone come in and may have acted rash.” She looked over Applejack’s shoulder before continuing. “So, how’d you sleep?”
“Um,” Applejack blinked, once her face wasn’t inches apart from Rarity’s. “Oh, um. Couldn’t sleep.” She bit her lip. “Wanted to make sure you were fine.”
Rarity giggled. “Oh. Aren’t you caring one? What’s in the bag?”
“Huh? Oh! I was thinking you were still asleep, so I was going to leave these for ya to avoid cabin fever.” She rummaged through the bag. “Couldn’t sleep either?”
“No, I slept fine. Until I was woken up.”
Applejack flinched. “Sorry about that. I was trying not to wake you.”
“Well,’ she smiled, looking at the magazines, “I’m certainly not going back to sleep now.”
Applejack smiled. “Yeah… I don’t suppose you can read English thou?”
“Afraid not,” Rarity sighed. “Hard to have paper underwater. Although these pictures are more than I could ask for.” She rubbed her chin. “Actually, the more I think about it, the more surprised I am we even speak the same language.”
“Huh.” Applejack pondered that for only a minute. “Guess I can't complain. Inmagine what a headache that would have been to get around!” She chuckled of asking her friend Twilight if she would know. Not that she planed to, but it was sure to leave the bookworm scratching her head.
With that, Applejack was about to get up, leaving it at that. However, clenching her fist, her mind screaming at her all she had to get done, she said, “I could, maybe, read for ya out loud what you want. Maybe even get you started on how to read human while at it.”
Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Applejack smiled. “Sure. Least I could do for having the luck of not needing either of us to learn a new speech.
With the fate of Applejack’s morning sealed, she settled back down, reading magazines with her new friend. Once again, even as the sun had risen, minutes before she had to leave for school, she found her time had hardly been wasted. While it would take more than a morning, she found Rarity to be a fast learner. Or perhaps it was just a mermaid who was fascinated with humans type thing.
“So that word is…” Rarity squinted her eyes at the word.
“Is-“ Applejack started.
“No no! Give me just a second. I think I actually got this one.” She rubbed her chin for a bit, before saying. “The… fishion line?”
Applejack laughed. “Fashion. Still, give it a day or two, and you could probably pass for a regular teenage girl.” She eye’d Rarity’s tail. “Few other details aside.” It was then Applejack noticed the sun reflecting off of Rarity’s purple scales. “Oh shoot!” She cursed herself. Pulling out her cell phone, she mouthed, “I gotta get going! Will you be okay without me?”
Rarity lowered her eyes. “Do I have any other choice?”
“Eh, hehe… Right.” She shook her head. “Well, I’ll be back. See ya then!” With a wave and a smile, Applejack raced out the barn door, leaving Rarity to her thoughts, magazines, and fabrics to experiment with as she waited.
For the first hour or two, things were fine. Although she soon realized that she hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday. Which she could understand because of all the excitement, but couldn’t really do anything about it until Applejack came back.
“Should of offered me something,” she muttered, flipping through her current magazine page. Not that she minded with all Applejack had done for her so far.
‘More than anyone back home would of.’ She thought bitterly.
However, it was upon her next turning of the page that she realized that the water she was sitting in had grown increasingly dirty. Another oversight she couldn’t blame Applejack for, but still. How many hours did Applejack say she would be gone for? She couldn’t recall. Just as she was about to groan about having to stay in dirty water for the rest of the day, she happened to noticed the hose Applejack had used to fill the tub with wasn’t that far away. Thinking she could reach it to get some fresh water, she started to stretch her arm out as far as it could go. Which still wasn’t quite enough. Licking her lips, and being too stubborn to give up, she pushed herself right over the edge, and all her troubles began. The weight of her body caused the tub to fall onto its side, emptying I’s entire content within moments. Rarity flopping to the floor as she and the water raced towards the center of the room, where a drain pipe took all of the liquid away.
“Uh-oh,” Rarity mouthed, pushing herself up. “Well at least that takes care of the dirty water problem.” She made a beeline for the hose, and while slow going, she was able to reach it. However, she then realized one very important detail she hadn’t considered when she was just trying to reach the hose while she still had, while very dirty water, some water all the same; she didn’t know how the thing worked. Let alone how to turn it on. For lack of a better word she tried. Tried twisting it, shouting at it, even breaking it, but no water came out as hard as she tried. Finally, with a frustrated grunt, she gave up, and tossed the human contraption to the side, and laid on her back.
As she laid there, the minutes ticking by, she could feel her tail ever so slowly drying up.
“Oh well,” she sighed as the last droplets of water started to evaporate. “Maybe death won’t be so bad. Can’t be any worse than what I left behind.” She smirked evilly. “They’ll probably dissect my body. Then, once those land dwellers know mermaids are real, they’ll tear up the entire ocean to find those brutes- Oh wait, then there’s my sister.” She frowned. “I mean… I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s good at hide and seek. Still,” she closed her eyes, picturing Applejack, “wish I could of at least said thank you and goodbye too-“ She let out a high pitch scream, back arching, as if her tail was currently on fire as it dried out completely…
*****
Applejack continued to stare at her lunch as her friends chatted around her. Ham and cheese, peas, and a chocolate chip cookie. She narrowed her eyes as it crossed her mind that she hadn’t given Rarity any food at all since she found her. In that case, she’d have to prepare something extra special for when they next meet. Maybe lobster? Nah, too expensive. Well, she did mentioned something about baked good earlier. Wouldn’t that be something to see the-
“Hey!” Applejack shoot out of her stupor as Rainbow Dash attempted to still her cookie. “What do ya think your doing?!”
Rainbow pulled her hand back and raised her arms up. “Whoa there! You just said I could have it when I asked you.”
The devilish smirk made Applejack uncomfortable, as all eyes were on here. “Eh… did I?”
“Told ya she wasn’t paying attention,” Rainbow retorted with a snort.
“Yeah,” her other friend, Pinkie Pie, nodded. “You totally missed out all about the plans I had for the cookoutI’m planning for the beach party. I thought there was something wrong when you just keep saying, uh-huh, sure, at everything recommended.”
Applejack blinked twice at that. “Well, sorry there… What you offering?”
Next to her, her friend, Twilight Spakel, has lifted her head from her book to see what was going on.
“You okay, AJ?” Twilight asked, closing her book. “Cause even I noticed that you’ve see to be out of it a lot today.”
“Gezz,” Rainbow commented. If the eggheads noticed, something must me be up.
“Actually,” Pinkie Pie added, cutting off any remark Twilight was about to make. “She has been like this all day.” She went on, unaware of Applejack’s growing discomforts. “Now that you mention it.”
Rainbow Dash patted her Pink friend’s shoulders and shook her head. “Oh, Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie. I know what’s going on.”
“You do?” Applejack asked, beads of sweat running down her neck.
“Yes,” she frowned. “You’ve meet someone, and didn’t tell me first like you promised!”
At first, Applejack eased up at the fact that, somehow, Rainbow Dash hadn’t figured out that she was hiding a mermaid in her barn. On the other hand-
“Wait, what?! I-“ she looked around at her wide-eyed friends. The implications sinking into them, and to her as well. If not the way they may of inmagined. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about.” She took a forkful of peas.
“Right.” Rainbow nodded, hands on her chins.
No one spoke for a moment, but then Pinkie broke the awkward silence by asking, “So, who is he?”
“Pinkie!” Twilight hissed, as Applejack coughed on her sandwich. “That is none of our business if she doesn’t want to tell us.”
“There ain’t nothing to tell!” Applejack protested, after gulping down some juice.
“Sure,” Rainbow mouth, going back to her own lunch. “But you promised you’d tell me if you meet anyone. Don’t forget!”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” Needing to change the subject, she added, “So Zephy ask you to the party yet? Or he just waiting for the right moment to pounce?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “What! No! He would-“
“He would!” Pinkie sang merrily.
“Shut it!”
“Aw,” Pinkie moaned as Twilight laughed loudly. “I think you two would make a great couple.
“What, no, neigh, never!” Rainbow shuttered.
“Sure,” Twilight placed a hand on Rainbows shoulder, and took her revenge for the ‘egghead’ remark. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your wedding runs smoothly.”
As Rainbow Dash fumed, Applejack let out a breath, and distracted herself with teasing for the rest of the lunch period. However, once that distraction was over with, her mind was on Rarity more than ever. Which was hard enough when she was just thinking about her interesting friend as… Well, just that. She had a mermaid in her barn. Anyone would only have their mind on that all day if they were her! Why wouldn’t anyone have their minds on a girl like Rarity? They way she rescued her, hadn’t judged her despite, accidently, hearing all her yard ramblings. Or the way she smiled… The more she thought about all the thoughts she had about Rarity that say, and from how she acted when they called her out on it, she thought. She thought a lot throughout most of her classes. Trying her best not to be too noticeable distracted as before. It was hard when she eventually had to ask herself; ‘Do I actually like this girl?’
Applejack shook her head as the bell rang for the last class of the day. Making her way to her truck without any trouble.
The honest answer, she had to admit, was yes. Not that she paid no mind to if she either liked boys, or girls. Once she discovered, quite by accident, what asexuality was. She had thought that would be the end. It sure made a lot of sense to her. As all the girls in class were saying how hot an actor who played a vampire was, but she just couldn’t see it. Yet, being full asexual or such still didn’t quite fit. Because she did from time to time find herself aroused. Usually thou, it was for a brief period with a friend, and especially with romantic couples she may read about. Although only if they seemed to have a good, and believable, chemistry. It was then she stumbled onto the word, Demisexual. Which short version; no sexual attraction without romantic or strong connection. Ever since, she just didn’t bother with romance. Or figuring out if she may have had found one gender more attractive over the other. And yet, now she found Rarity as just that! Plus only after a few conversations.
“Figures the first person I’d fall for not be either a boy, or girl.” She laughed to herself as she pulled up to the barn. “Still doesn’t explain how come I can just have a few conversations with her, and fall almost immediately in love. Yet all the years I’ve known Rainbow, Pie, and Twi; nothing? And I should probably stop talking before a unicorn or something hears me.” She turned from heading straight to the barn, to head towards the house. “Speaking of which.”
Heading inside to get some food first, she took those last couple of minutes to figure things out. What she was supposed to do now? It was clear she was developing some romantic feelings towards her guest, but...
Okay! She wasn’t going to fight it, as she figured she’d start out with some bread and sweets, and go from there on what Rarity would like, or just couldn’t eat. Being a mermaid and all. Which also brought up the issues of being different species. Or rather, the issues of them being the same gender. Could mermaids even be gay? Before she headed out, a thought crossed her mind as she fiddled with her phone. On one hand, she had promised to tell Rainbow if she meets, or feel for anybody. Then again, she hadn’t specified mermaids. Still, she really wasn’t sure what to-
“Oh would you snap out of it!” she told herself. Removing her hand from her phone. “So I think she’s pretty? So what?” She picked up the food and headed towards the barn. “You’ve been getting along just fine as it is. Why should it be any different now?” The short answer was she may of said she had a crush on Rarity, and she didn’t like her back.
“So…” she took a deep breath, and moved forward. “You just got to be yourself. Relax.” Before she opened the door, she said, “Just act like everything’s normal. Maybe inquire if she’s dating anyone? No, to per- Nope!” she mentally slapped herself. “Just, let what happens happen. Just got to not think about it like everything else.” That thought in mind, she freed one of her hands to open the door. “Hey, Rare. I got some-“
Her words, and the food she had been carrying, dropped to the floor. Standing (yes, standing!) in front of her, on a pair of wobbling legs, was Rarity. She had currently been looking down at her feet, arms swaying, trying to get a balance. When the door opened, she stood as upright as she could, in full display, nothing covering herself from her belly button down, and the now very red faced Applejack.
“Oh thank goodness you-“ Before she could finish, Applejack had slammed the door shut.
Breathing much more heavily than before, she leaned against the door. Mind racing a mile a second as the only thing her brain could think of was the half naked, human form, of her, previously, possible crushing on, mermaid friend.
“Applejack ,” said friend responded. Her voice causing Applejack’s heart to beat faster. “Are you still there? Applejack. Jackie! What are you doing!”
“Just give me a sec, Rares!” Applejack answered, her body, mostly her face and core, suddenly feeling very warm.
Rarity continued pounding the door. “Applejack I’ve been waiting all day. You Can’t leave just me!”
“I said just give me a minute, Rarity!” Looking around, she saw the outhouse where it always was, not to far from the barn. “Just, I… Let me process this, okay!” with that, she raced off to the toilet as Rarity continued to protest.
*****
Six minutes later, Applejack emerged from the stall, much more relaxed. Straightening her hair, she made her way back to the, thankfully, silent barn.
“Right,” she told herself, trying to seem professional, and tried to say, as casually as possible, “she’s a human now. Alright. Just… Take it as it comes.” Laughing to herself, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she walked into the barn and Rarity had become a centaur. As she was about to open the door, the, half naked part, which had been the breaking point, flashed in her mind. A part of her had just wanted to open it, in the prevented hopes that she hadn’t cover up. The more decent part of her won out.
“Hey, Rarity?” she knocked.
Rarity gasped, and answered through sniffles, “Aj?”
Applejack gulped. “I’m sorry, just a lot to take in. Course, I figure this is probably just as much a surprise to you?”
“What gave that away?!” Rarity said with a huff.
Applejack cringed. “I’m sorry, alright? Let’s just move on. You decent?”
“Decent?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, De-“ A thought crossed Applejack’s mind. “Um, by chance are all mermaids modest when it comes to nudity? Or is clothing on your human half just an optional thing where you come from?” She had thought they had been with Rarity having worn what could best be described as a strapless shirt the whole time. Still, now that she thought about it-
“Is it different for you? You know, I was actually just thinking that sometime ago when going through those magazines. All the humans always had something on.”
Applejack slapped her face. “Er… Yeah. Kind of is.”
“Oh…. OH! Oh my.” She heard Rarity stand up and look around. “I’m terribly sorry! I hadn’t realized. I didn’t mean to offend you with these hideous things!”
As Rarity looked for something to cover up, Applejack paused to think on what she meant by, ugly things. It made her wonder if, Rarity had thought her legs made her look ugly. Far from it, of course! Still, if that had been the reason why she thought she had run away-
“Alright,” Rarity said. “I’m decent now.”
Applejack chuckled. “Well now, I didn’t mean to say-“ she paused to see Rarity had only covered up her feet with a pair of towels. Sitting on the floor, her legs were spread, still leaving everything else below exposed. Applejack, wide eyed, started to close the door again, when she noticed Rarity’s distraught face. Sucking it in, she pulled back open the door, walked inside, and did her best not to stare. “Um, that’s not quite what I meant. But good effort!”
They spent the next ten minutes sitting down talking about the birds and bees before she got Rarity to understand the human definition of modesty. Blushing bright red as she figured it out, she quickly used her towel to cover her waist as Applejack tried to lighten the mood by comforting. Rarity, for her part, tried to stick her nose up in disapproval. Which made her look more funny, which made Applejack laugh harder, which eventually broke down rarity as well.
Once the laughter and awkwardness had passed, Applejack got down to business. “Right then.” She looked down at Rarity’s gorgeous feet. “I didn’t know you could do that!”
“Oh believe me,” Rarity answered, examining her own feet. “This was just a surprise to me as it is to you.”
“Well, what happened?” she asked, just noticing the tangled up hose and tipped over bathtub.
“Um,” Rarity hesitated. “I was thinking I could use the hose to get some clean water. Ended up falling out and unable to work your contraption. After that, I just laid on the floor for a while, drying out. Once my tail had completely dried out, I felt a sharp pain, and there was a flash of white light. Next thing I knew,” she wiggled her outstretched toes, “this happened. I spent the rest of time seeing if I could stand before you showed up.”
“Huh,” Applejack rubbed her chin, before noticing something. “Hey!” She reached down to Rarity’s ankle. “Looks like your injury didn’t come with the change.” She commented, and started to run over it before rarity jerked her leg away.
“How rude!”
“What? Oh! This coming from the girl who didn’t know what modesty was!”
“Well that doesn’t mean you can just-“ Rarity blinked and looked away. “Never mind.”
Applejack frowned. “Oh, um, sorry there. Sensitive topic I guess?”
Rarity had crossed her arms, but turned back to face her. “It’s nothing.” She looked to her own ankle now. “You suppose it’s all healed up? The mermaid part too? Or is that just a transformation thing?”
Applejack shrugged. “Could be.” She pulled herself up. “One way to find out.”
She started to walk towards the hose, only for Rarity to grab her wrist and shout, “NO!”
Applejack flinched in surprise.
Rarity chuckled nervously, before adding. “I mean… who’s to say this isn’t a one time deal.” She started to play with her hair. “Um, by that I…. Well, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.” Still holding onto Applejack, she flashed her eyes. “And, before we find out if I can change back, maybe… You could, maybe, show me around your world?” She let go to fiddle her fingers. “I mean, if you’d want to, of course?”
As if Applejack’s mind wasn’t in overload enough. Was this, mermaid, trying to get her to take her out on a date? No! Any mermaid in her situation would be curious of the human world, Applejack reasoned. Not that she didn’t think the transformation could only work once. Still, aside from the fact Rarity’s reaction seemed out of fear, if it turned out she was still injured as a mermaid, it would also be easier to keep her hidden as such.
No, wait, there was also the chance she was being, possible, asked out. “Well, I- suppose so. If you don’t mind me getting caught up on my chores and-“ she paused as Rarity went from happy to sad. “Um… Ah hell! The farm can survive if I take a day off. Sure thing?”
“Really? Oh, I mean! I’d hate to be a bother.”
“Nah, it’s okay,” she offered a hand to help Rarity up. “It ain’t the busy season yet, and it might make my family bug me less if I took a day off to show such a pretty girl around town.” Her eyes shrunk as she realized what she called Rarity.
Although, however she took the compliment, To Applejack’s relief, Rarity replied with a giggle. “You’re too kind, my dear.” Slowly, she started to rise. “Now let us, whoa!” she shrieked as she toppled forward, landing into Applejack’s arms. Looking up, she came, once again, inches from Applejack’s face.
To keep things from getting awkward, Applejack nodded to the towel that had fallen to the floor. “First, maybe we should get you into some human clothing?”