//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Magic of Friendship Grows // by anonymousponywriter //------------------------------// Rainbow couldn’t help but stare at the steady stream of steam that floated from the Apple family bathroom window. She was supposed to be keeping an eye on the three younger volunteers who were currently filling a large bucket with ice water to keep the bottles of apple cider cool, but her mind couldn’t stop imagining what was happening in the bathroom. This wasn’t the first time she’d found herself lost in an Applejack induced daydream, in fact, Rainbow had found this kind of predicament becoming almost a daily occurrence in the past few weeks. At first, Rainbow had put it down to her pain medication driving her hormones wild and since Applejack was visiting her daily in the hospital, the farmgirl was the first thing that came to mind. She had felt guilty at first, especially when her thoughts would turn from admiring the farmgirl to thinking about touching her, kissing her...and other stuff that Rainbow wouldn’t dare think about in the presence of the young girls. But she couldn’t help but find the farmgirl attractive. “How much longer you got that thing on for?” Scootaloo spoke up, tearing Rainbow Dash’s attention away from the cloud of steam and back into the small barn. “Another few weeks, kiddo.” The rainbow-haired girl shrugged, letting her eyes fall to the blue cast that Applejack had insisted she rested on a nearby box. “I’ll be back to my usual awesome self by the time the soccer season starts.” “If you say so. When I broke my leg a few years back it took forever to get back to normal.” The younger tomboy shrugged before running back to her friends at the other side of the barn. Rainbow Dash sank into her seat, Scootaloo’s words echoing through her head. This wasn’t news to the athlete she’d had the same conversation with her Doctor the day before. But it was news that she wasn’t ready to accept or even entertain. Sports were her life and without them, Rainbow Dash was unsure who she'd be. She wasn’t an egghead like Twilight or great with animals like Fluttershy. Sure, she enjoyed a good party, but not to the same extent as Pinkie Pie and she didn’t even want to acknowledge what fashion designer Dash would look like. She’d worked the farm before with AJ, but even that would be ruled out because of her leg. She had nothing else going for her. “It’s sure lookin good in here!” Applejack smiled brightly as she walked into the modestly decorated barn. Rainbow Dash’s mouth went dry as she looked up at her friend. Her golden hair was tied up in its usual braid and thrown over her shoulder, but with the tips still damp her white t-shirt was starting to become see-through just above her breast, allowing Dash the perfect view of her white bra with little apple designs scattered. “Y-yeah, we’ve been hard at work. Yep.” Dash sputtered nervously as she tried to look anywhere but at her friend, afraid that Applejack would catch her staring at her chest. “More like we’ve been workin’” Sweetie Bell corrected, thankfully drawing Applejack's attention away from Rainbow. “Hey! I gave instructions.” Rainbow shot back, not wanting to seem completely useless to Applejack. “Yeah, when you weren’t staring at the clouds.” Scoots added jumping to her friend's defense. “I’m sure it was a group effort all the same.” AJ chuckled as she walked over to retrieve a red button-up shirt she’d left in the barn and quickly threw it on, much to Rainbow Dash’s relief. “I’ve got some cookies left for you lot in the kitchen, shake a leg littlens.” “Thanks, Sis!” Applebloom called out as the three excited girls ran towards the Apple home, leaving the two best friends alone once again. “Hope they weren’t too much trouble, for ya.” The taller girl mumbled as she moved the last few boxes to the far corner of the barn. “Nah, I can take it.” She laughed in response, her body still on fire as she carefully studied her friend. “Let me help ya with-” For a split second Rainbow had forgotten about her leg and moved to stand, only be reminded by a scream-inducing pain shooting up her leg, that sent her flying back into her seat once again. “Easy there Dash.” AJ ran to her side and knelt to face the squirming girl. “Yer gonna do more damage than is if yer don’t stop!” She warned, but when she received no response from Rainbow Dash she feared that the shorter girl might have hurt herself even more. “Hey…ya alright sugar cube?” She gently stroked her fingers through the messy rainbow hair, her voice as soft and sugar-coated as she could manage. “I’m fine…just hurts.” Rainbow finally responded as she raised her head and met Applejack's worried gaze. Her eyes were red and strained, filled with tears that she wouldn’t dare release. Applejack kept her hand in place as her fingers rubbed soothing circles into Rainbow Dash’s scalp. “I hate this.” Rainbow let her head fall once again as she whispered so softly that she didn’t even think that Applejack heard her, it wasn’t until AJ hooked her finger under the shorter girl's chin forcing her to meet her gaze to meet again. “You’ll get through this, RD and I’ll be right by yer side.” Dash could feel her cheeks begin to burn up again as she relaxed into Applejack’s touch pushing her fingers to thread deeper into her messy hair. The air around them grew thick and Rainbow slowly began to inch herself closer to the farmgirl, but she stopped short when she saw a look of confusion fall upon AJ’s face. “I...umm...I better finished gettin’ set up fore the girls get here.” AJ pulled away, letting her hand weave out of Rainbow’s hair gently before she went back to setting up the barn. Rainbow Dash spent the rest of their alone time together in complete silence, mentally kicking herself for trying to make a move like that. She worried that she’d messed things up with Applejack, she prayed that this wouldn’t put an end to their friendship and that Applejack would laugh it off at any minute and it’d be forgotten about. But as the time ticked on, Applejack didn’t laugh, in fact, she could barely look at Rainbow Dash. Applejack’s moment with Rainbow Dash played on repeat in her mind as she tidied up the barn. She’d never thought of the rainbow-haired girl like that, heck she’d never thought about any girl like that. But there was something about the way Dash had looked at her, the way her eyes would flicker between her green orbs and her lips. And when she started to inch closer, AJ could see what was about to happen, what she was about to do...what she wished she’d done. Applejack had only ever kissed one person before when she was eleven at Young Farmers Camp. He was her biggest competition for camper of the year, and surprised her with a kiss to try and throw her off her game...it didn’t work. She wasn’t even sure that counted as a first kiss, she hadn’t asked for it and she definitely didn’t want it. But as Rainbow’s face moved closer to hers, she wouldn’t have complained if the sports star were to steal a kiss or two. “RD, about before-” She started, but was quickly cut off by Rainbow’s nervous ramblings about how she was only fooling around and that she’d wish Applejack could take a joke. “If that's what yer want, I’ll drop it.” Applejack swore she heard Rainbow mutter the word ‘safe’ under her breath, so she added, “For now, anyway…” *** Finally, Fluttershy was on her way to Sweet Apple Acres, but the words of the letter she’d found swirled around her mind on replay. Three months. That's how long she had to make things right, how long she’d have to save the animals and their home...she just needed to figure out how she was going to do it. As she pulled up the dirt road that led to the Apple family home, she was surprised to see that she had managed to beat everyone else to the farm. This helped ease her anxiety ever so slightly, as she grabbed the spare blankets Applejack had asked her to bring. Fluttershy had always loved the quietness of the farm, that and all the different critters that tended to frequent the area surrounding the apple orchard. Looking around she was surprised to see the farm so empty. Usually, she could see one of the Apple siblings out and about the large farm, or Granny Smith on the porch with her knitting in hand. But that was not the case as Fluttershy locked up her car and followed the dirt path up to the Apple Family home. She took the isolation of her surroundings as a chance to ground herself and try to clear away her worries for the animal shelter when suddenly she was startled by the loud crash of glass bottles coming from the barn. Peering towards the red building, Fluttershy could hear her heart thumping in her ears. As she rounded the corner she was relieved to see the oldest Apple sibling, “Oh, hello Big Mac.'' She sent a small wave to the tall man who had been carrying a crate of Apple Family cider to his truck. “Fluttershy.” He blushed slightly as he looked over at the shy girl. Applejack had often taken great pleasure in teasing her big brother when it came to his crush on her friend, but she wouldn’t dare do it in front of the pink-haired girl, not knowing how the already shy girl would react. Big Mac lifted his hand to wave back at Fluttershy, forgetting for a moment that he had a crate of cider in his grasp. “Oh fiddlesticks!” He muttered as a few of the bottles fell to the ground and smashed. “Oh dear. Let me help you with that.” Fluttershy quickly set her blankets down on the bonnet of his truck and knelt to help clear up the broken shards. “T-thanks...ah guess ah didn’t havea good enough grip on em.” The taller boy’s blush intensified as Fluttershy moved closer to him, her sweet perfume sending his senses wild. “It was kinda my fault, I shouldn’t have been distracting you from your work,” Fluttershy mumbled as she tried to hide behind her hair. “Ah distraction like ya, why ah’d take it any day.” Big Mac plucked up the courage to say before his own shyness took over and he quickly tried to stand only to hit his head on the edge of his truck bed. “Oh, are you alright Big Mac.” She asked as she reached over to check Big Mac’s head for any bleeding. “Feels like just a bump.” Fluttershy’s fingers softly danced over the growing lump on his head, before she pulled away to check for any signs of blood. “I...umm-” “Are we interruptin’ something?” Big Mac jumped away from Fluttershy’s touch, only this time he made sure to avoid injuring himself anymore. Looking up he saw his sister smirking down at him with an equally amused Rainbow Dash by her side. “Fluttershy er’ was just helpin’ me with da…nnope.” “Party’s this way Flutters. If you can tear yourself away from Big Mac, that is!” Rainbow teased, earning a playful slap from Applejack before she picked up an extra crate of cider for their party, seeing how Rainbow Dash had already worked her way through half a crate on her own. “Leave her be,” Fluttershy heard Applejack scold their cocky friend as they headed over to the unused barn a few yards away from the main house, Rainbow Dash struggling to keep up with Applejack. “I should…” Fluttershy kicked the ground nervously, her eyes avoiding Big Mac’s. “Eeyup.” He muttered as he felt the back of his head wincing as his hard hands found the lump. “A few ice cubes should help.” She mumbled with a shy smile as she grabbed her blankets and ran to catch up with her friends. “Eeyup.” *** “And then we went down to the lake and it was really, really dark. But I didn’t mind, because there were all these little fireflies zooming around and then…” Sunset looked up from her phone as Pinkie Pie paused the extremely long retelling of her time at Camp Everfree. “And then?” Sunset questioned as a lovey-dovey look fell onto Pinkie’s face for the second time that day. “You didn’t...did you?” “I DID!” Pinkie cheered letting go of the steering wheel for a millisecond, Sunset Shimmer had predicted this kind of outburst so she calmly reached over and steadied the steering wheel. “It was...magical, Sunset.” “Woah, who have thunk that you’d be the first.” The taller girl teased playfully as Pinkie took control of the wheel. “So, when do we get to meet the lucky guy?” Pinkie’s smile disappeared as Sunset’s words sank in as the memories of their painful parting played behind her eyes, like an old school romantic movie, the ones that always end in heartbreak. “Pinkie?” Sunset reached over and gently rested her hand on the unusually quiet girl’s leg. “Hey, where’s all that first love excitement gone?” “It wasn’t the fairy-tale ending I thought it’d be…” Pinkie whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she thought back to a few days before. The Last Day of Camp Pinkie had spent the morning helping the campers under her supervision pack up all of their stuff, said their goodbyes, and piled onto the buses heading out of state. As for the kids from Canterlot High, they had volunteered to help with the basic cleanup duties, earning them a few more hours at camp. When Pinkie had told Cheese Sandwich about her cleanup duties, the fun-loving teen had offered up his own services wanting to spend as much time with Pinkie as he could. As they finished up with their cleaning duties, the young couple managed to sneak away from the group of campers and the last few counselors. They walked hand in hand to their spot, the big oak tree tucked away deep in the forest that had an amazing view of the Everfree lake. Cuddling up under the tree, Pinkie relaxed into Cheese’s arms, wishing that her magical summer with him didn’t have to end so soon. “This has been perfect…” She whispered, content in their relaxed state. “I wish that we could stay like this forever.” “Me too...but, we can’t Pinkie.” He mumbled, forcing Pinkie to look up at his frowning face. “This...us...we were only meant to last the summer. But the summers over now, so-” Pinkie jumped out of Cheese’s embrace and took off running towards her cabin, the tears falling at a rapid speed. The entire drive back to Canterlot was spent in complete silence for Pinkie, a silence that the students of Canterlot High noticed almost instantly, but any questions or attempts at raising her spirits were ignored by the pink-haired girl, who spent the whole time snuggled up to her Gummy plush as the memories of Cheese Sandwich danced in her mind. “That asshole!” Sunset swore as Pinkie finished her story. The pair had pulled over, Pinkie knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get through her story without shedding a bucketload of tears. “He doesn’t deserve someone as amazing as you, Pinkie Pie.” The taller girl smiled softly as she laced their hands together. “Thanks, Sunset,” Pinkie sniffled as she used her free hand to wipe away the mixture of tears and snot running down her face. “I really needed to get that off my chest.” “That’s what I’m here for, Pinkie.” The two shared a loving embrace. Pinkie’s mood quickly shifted as she pulled out of Sunset’s arms. “Time to get this party...STARTED!” Pinkie went back into overdrive, removing any signs of feeling upset, and while Sunset didn’t agree with her friends burying their feelings, she knew that a party would be the perfect thing to lift Pinkie out of the dumps. “Turn up the music, and let's go! Full speed ahead!” Sunset shouted trying to match the pink-haired girl’s enthusiasm. By the time the pink mini had pulled up at Sweet Apple Acres, the sun had started to begin its set. Excitedly, Pinkie honked her horn as she pulled up to park next to Fluttershy’s car, her singsong horn sound drew the attention of the youngest Apple sibling and her two friends. “Hiya Pinkie Pie! Hiya Sunset!” The country girl waved from their place on the porch, their faces covered in different shades of chocolate. “AJ an the others are in da barn over en the east.” She directed, earning her keep for the night, as Applejack had put it to her. “Hello, Darlings!” The duo turned happily to find Rarity and Twilight walking up the dirt path, with a trailing Shining Armour following close behind, his arms filled with Rarity’s dress bags. “Rarity! Twilight!” Pinkie cheered and quickly ran to engulf her friends in the same bone-crushing hug as Sunset received. “It’s been so so long!” Sunset smiled sheepishly as she walked over to join the trio. “Three months of distance shouldn’t be allowed. Ever.” She added as she joined the group hug, all four girls neglecting to pay any attention to an inpatient Shining Armor. “Ahem, ladies.” He coughed, catching the attention of the girls. Shaking her head in amusement, Sunset volunteered to take over Rarity’s manual labor as she scooped the seven dress bags from the blue-haired man. “Do ya need me to pick you in the morning, Twily?” He asked, before placing a small kiss on his sister's blushing head. “I’ll be fine.” She mumbled, as her brother gave the girls a quick wave and headed down the dirt path. “I can help with those..if you’d like.” The bookworm offered, as the girls began to walk towards the barn. “It's cool, months of flipping burgers and opening pickle jars has done wonders for my biceps.” Sunset half-joked as she tried to flex as best she could with the clothes in her arms. “At this rate darling, you’ll be giving Rainbow a run for her money.” Rarity added, making the red-headed girl blush as she reached over to squeeze her biceps. “Definitely bigger, don’t you think Twilight.” The fashionista teased as she bumped her hips with Sunset, pushing her slightly towards the purple-haired bookworm. “I’m sure that the daily exercise you go through at work, has certainly helped to improve your muscle mass.” “Aha…” Rarity rolled her eyes at her friend’s awkward attempt at flirting. “Pinkie, darling. You must fill me in on all things Everfree.” She quickly hooked her arm around the Pink haired girls and zoomed away, leaving Twilight and Sunset alone. “So, how was traveling?” The red-haired girl asked after a few moments of unsettling silence. Sunset had been daydreaming about seeing Twilight again, and so far things hadn’t gone as smoothly as she’d like. Something about Twilight just seemed to turn her brain to mush, and suddenly she didn’t know how to speak or act normal. “It was amazing, Sunset!” Twilight’s eyes lit up as she thought back to the months she’d spent in all the different countries. “There was this one place, where the grass was so green and the sky was so blue. We took a picnic to the seaside and there was this field of little calves, and Shining Armor got stuck in the fence. You should have seen his face, Sunset!” She stopped and looked over at the taller girl, who had been intently listening to her speak and had begun to chuckle gently at the thought of her friend’s brother. Her mind went back to the words that her brother had spoken earlier that day, “Don’t wait around forever, Twily.” “Is everything alright?” “Yeah...I was just thinking…” She trailed off as she stopped walking and turned around to look at the sun setting on the orchard. “It was all so beautiful…” “I bet. Beats plain old Canterlot.” Sunset muttered as she looked sidewise, watching as Twilight sighed heavily. “For the most part, but something was missing.” Twilight could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she turned to face the intrigued girl, she had never planned on making ‘a move’ as her brother put it, but standing there looking up at the night sky...it just felt right. “I didn’t have you there...and…” She gulped, “And, that’s all I wanted. All I want.” Twilight shut her eyes tight, afraid to look at the reaction on Sunset’s face, but what she didn’t expect was for a soft pair of lips to brush gently against her own. “You can open your eyes now,” Sunset whispered, as a stunned Twilight obeyed, and met her excited gaze. “I want you too, Twilight.” She smiled brightly, as she dipped her head and stole another kiss from the bookworm, a kiss that they both fully embraced as Rarity’s dress bags were dropped and Sunset wrapped her arms around Twilight’s waist. “That was...perfect.” She dazzled, her arms now wrapped around Sunset’s neck, their current position coming so natural to them. “Umm, Sunset?” “Aha…” “As much as I want to stay like this forever...I’m afraid that if we don’t get a move on, there’ll be a search party sent for us.” Twilight pointed out, snapping Sunset out of her Twilight induced haze. “Think it's too late to slip away?” Her grip tightened playfully around the shorter girls waist, and while Twilight had been tempted to take Sunset on her suggestion - both of them wanting to make up for lost time - she also didn’t want to let her friends down, so she begrudgingly pulled herself away from Sunset’s touch. “Come on you.” She smiled brightly as she picked up Rarity’s dresses and handed half of them to Sunset. Together, they happily walked hand in hand towards the barn.