Tell me again why exactly these two are along?" Applejack tossed a sharp nod toward the back of the van.
I peered over the driver’s seat at my friends.
Lyra was plopped down on a pillow, leaning against the side of the van and holding a stack of takeout boxes in her magic. She seemed just shy of thrilled to be doing so. Vinyl, on the other hoof, was uncharacteristically high-strung; her forehooves were on either side of my head, and she was leaning forward at a dramatic angle to observe my driving.
I swallowed hard. "Well… they live here?" I suggested.
Vinyl nodded. "We're a package deal, AJ."
"That's true!” Lyra giggled, a sound which bubbled up easily. “We kinda are."
Applejack slid down a little in the passenger seat. I couldn’t help but notice how huge she was compared to the rest of us-- she dwarfed the interior without even trying. “Course. Shoulda figured.”
“This is also very much my van,” Vinyl pointed out, more to me than to Applejack. “And, as much as I love Twilight, I do not trust her to drive without my supervision.”
“Hm?” Applejack shot me a look. “I thought you said you could drive.”
“I can!”
“She can,” Vinyl agreed. “Kinda. She can drive, like, a working vehicle.”
“I thought you said this thing was good to go!” Applejack spat, her voice rising in volume as it dropped into her chest.
I spluttered, hooves pawing uselessly at the steering wheel. “I-it is! It is!”
“She’s good to go!” Vinyl chuckled nervously, pushing her glasses up on her snout. “She’s just a little… persnickety. Nothin’ Twi can’t handle. I just…”
Applejack’s gaze hardened as her gaze turned to Vinyl. “You just what?”
“I just wanna be here in case something goes weird,” Vinyl said, as casually as she could muster. She threw in an uncertain sort of shrug, which only served to make her look more nervous and uncoordinated.
Lyra craned her neck forward slightly, trying to join the group. “Say, Applejack?” she murmured.
“Oh, what now?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “We ain’t even left yet, for pony’s sake.”
“I was just wondering: is your cutie mark an apple wearing pants?” Lyra asked, beaming genuinely.
Applejack clucked her tongue so forcefully I could see the drops of spittle flying from her mouth. “That’s it!” She reached down and started prodding at the belt release. “This was a stupid idea. Just plumb stupid!”
I watched for a moment as Applejack continued to struggle against the seatbelt, her massive hooves not quite dextrous enough to release the mechanism. Though she tried to maintain an air of dangerous anger, she looked kind of helpless. I almost wanted to laugh, but I knew better than that.
“Twilight, would you--!” Applejack managed to get out, still wrestling with the thing.
“No way!” Vinyl reached out to smack my hoof away as I reached towards Applejack. “We promised you delivery, and you’re gonna get delivery. Right, Twi?”
“Uh…” I looked over at the steering wheel, practically a foreign object. “R-right. Sure!”
Applejack gave me her trademark suspicious glare. She had this very particular way of looking at you which made you feel like you had to defend yourself as quickly and pathetically as possible, even when you hadn’t done anything wrong.
Of course, being caught in a lie was very much something wrong, and so it had an even greater power over me.
“I promise!” I said, lifting one hoof in a gesture of goodwill.
“Fuch yeah, y’do,” Vinyl agreed, giving me a reassuring (and overpowered) smack on the shoulder. “Punch it, Twi.”
“Do not punch it, or I swear to--”
I punched it.
The van made a horrific coughing sound--a little too equine in nature, if you ask me--and lurched forward, belching out a cloud of black smoke that I could see in the rearview mirror.
After recovering from the initial shock, Applejack reached out the passenger-side window to adjust her own mirror.
“Is it meant to be doin’ that?” she demanded, whipping around to look at Vinyl.
Vinyl shrugged. “It’s, uh… well, you know how you have to piss right after you wake up?”
Lyra gave her a light smack.
Applejack made a low grumbling sound and hastily clicked her seatbelt back in.
Though the van certainly didn’t offer the smoothest ride, it also didn’t go very fast. I think most ponies could have outpaced it at a brisk canter. It was something of a relief to be all but crawling along the pavement-- I’m not sure I would have handled a full-speed vehicle with any amount of grace.
That said, I wasn’t exactly chill about this situation. I kept myself hunched forward, eyes flicking desperately from mirror to road to dash, hoping to be the first to catch any sign of trouble.
“What’s our first stop?” Lyra chirped, cheerful as ever.
Applejack unfurled a crumpled list which she had tucked under the band of her mane net. “Uh… 223 4th street.”
“Aw, what a fun address!” Lyra commented.
Applejack gave me a funny look, and I had to try not to snort. “Sure… they’re gettin’ a dozen bagels, mixed.”
“Perfect!”
Applejack gave me another look, though this one merely asked ‘why?’
Vinyl scoffed. “Why is that perfect?”
“It was on top.”
“Y’know, it occurs t’me that this would be a mite easier with only one pony in the van,” Applejack announced, loud and important, as she tucked the list away once more. “Y’all are pretty good at distraction’ one another. Dunno how you get anything done as a band.”
“Well, see, in the music biz they call that ‘songwriting’,” Vinyl replied, equally authoritative.
“Do they, now?” Applejack grumbled.
"They actually call it 'noodling'," Lyra corrected. "But we usually get a song out of it eventually."
Applejack did something of a double-take, and twisted to look into the back. "Wait… y'all actually write songs?"
I couldn't see Vinyl, but I could picture her tipping her shades up onto her forehead. "Yeah, dude. What'd you think we were doing, exactly?"
"Uh… I dunno," Applejack admitted. "Guess I thought you were playin' other folks' music."
"Nope! They're all originals!" Lyra proudly told Applejack. "Well. Except for wonderwell. That one's just a classic."
"Debatable," Vinyl said.
"Nuh-uh!" Lyra gave Vinyl another smack.
"Uh, girls? Let's watch the food, there--"
"What does that song even mean?" Vinyl asked. "I don't understand a single lyric. Go ahead, explain it to me."
Without thinking about it, I began to tap my hooves on the steering wheel in time to the beat of the song. It wasn't long before a little bit of humming followed along with it. Just sort of sneaking out.
It was a catchy little song. Impossible not to sing along with if you knew the words.
"Not everything needs an explanation," Lyra argued back. "You're such an elitist sometimes."
The van rolled down a slight hill, and I jammed my hoof on the breaks as we came up to a stop sign.
I leaned forward, peering down the road to the left. "And ev'ry role we have to play is endless," I mumbled as I did, right on the edge of timelessness. "And ev'ry box they the put us in is senseless."
Lyra perked up at the sound of it--though I have no idea how she managed to hear it over the popping and squealing from under the van's hood--and began to sing along: "There are many things that I--"
"Oh, c'mon, don't make this a--"
"Would take the time to do!" I added.
"If I knew how!" Lyra and I belted together.
Lyra swung the note up a few steps, the a few more, and a beautiful harmony filled the van.
"For the love of…" Vinyl muttered. Then, with great gusto, she sang: "But baby!"
"The world could never venerate me!" the three of us sang together, Vinyl and Lyra splitting off for their own unique harmonies.
And then, most surprising of all:
"Until I fell!" Applejack crooned, her accent more pronounced than ever. She held one hoof over her chest, eyes closed, face in the fresh air from the open window.
I was so starstruck that I couldn't even finish the chorus.
"Into this wonderwell!" the rest of the van sang, their notes twisting and bending around one another.
Save for Applejack, who held steady.
They seemed to disagree on the end of the note, and all faded out when the feeling struck them. Applejack hung on the longest, a little smile curling over her lips.
Soon, it was the gentle and steady clicking of the van's turn signal that filled the cockpit.
Applejack opened her eyes and looked over at me. I instantly felt stupid for staring, and shifted my gaze back to the steering wheel. Applejack's facce went beet red, too, though she held her ground.
"What? I agree!" she argued, though nopony had questioned her reason for singing along. "Don't have to mean anything to sound good."
"Ha! Applejack agrees," Lyra taunted.
Vinyl clucked her tongue. "Whatever."
There was a long silence. Without looking, I presumed that Vinyl and Lyra were making faces at one another in the back.
Applejack folded her hooves over her chest and threw herself back into her seat. Her cheeks still burned in embarrassment, but I snuck a glance at the private smile which caused her lips to waver ever so slightly.
It made me smile, too, and I similarly did my best to hide it.
"Uh… Twi?" Lyra whispered.
I stiffened. "Yeah?"
"Were you ever going to make the left?" she asked. "Or… are you seeing something I'm not seeing?"
"Oh!"
I punched it again--this time a little less voluntary--and the vehicle hiccuped its way into the intersection. It fought me the whole way, but I managed to guide it through an exceptionally wide turn.
Applejack braced herself against the door as I did so. She sure wasn't shy about expressing her distrust in my driving ability. I tried not to take that to heart.
Without warning, Lyra flung herself forward and into the back of Applejack's seat. "Hey, AJ!"
Applejack yelped, and a hoof flew to her chest in terror. "Holy horseapples, what?"
Lyra giggled a bit. "Sorry. I was just wondering if you knew about any good places to celebrate Summer Sun!" she said with a smile. "Y'know, in the city."
"Uh… gee, I dunno. I don't tend to go out for Summer Sun myself," she explained, scratching at her temple with one hoof. "It's all a little-- Twilight, right!"
I squeaked and whipped the wheel in the direction Applejack was pointing. The tires squealed against the pavement as everypony was thrown to the left.
"That's too bad!" Lyra said, undeterred. "Do you do anything? Have anypony over?"
Applejack cleared her throat. "No. It's… just me," she said carefully. "And, uh… I invited Twi, too. Seein' as she doesn't know anypony around here."
I cast a glance in Applejack's direction, searching for a hint of excitement in her eyes. Unfortunately, I only turned about a moderate anxiety.
"Why?" Applejack managed to ask.
I furrowed my brows. "Hey, yeah. I thought you two were going back to Canterlot for all the… y'know, the stuff."
"Yeah, we were going to…" Vinyl said. "But it is sort of a long drive. Plus, we figured there was probably cool stuff happening in the city, right?"
Applejack chuckled. "If there is, I sure don't know about it."
"Aw, boo." Lyra flopped back into her seat.
"You're still holdin' onto the food, aincha?" Applejack asked, doing her best to twist around and peer into the back. "'Cause some a'those dishes really weren't built to be all jostled and--"
"I got 'em," Vinyl said.
Lyra chuckled sheepishly. "Oops."
Applejack heaved a sigh and settled in once more. "Look, I'm sure there's all sorts of things going on around town that might be fun to do," she said. "We ain't got Celestia, I guess, but we got food 'n' games 'n' such."
"Yeah…" Lyra sighed wistfully, slumping forward onto the seat and tucking her face up beside Applejack's. "But it would be way more fun if we, like, knew the ponies we were hanging out with."
Applejack grimaced in Lyra's general direction, tossed me a look of confusion, and shimmied to the far side of the passenger seat. "Uh-huh. Sure."
"Lyra, you are not subtle," Vinyl muttered.
"Why don't you just go home?" I asked. "Everypony you know is there… right?"
Lyra fell back from the seat and onto the floor of the van, now splayed out like a starfish. "Ugh, but it's so far!" she whined. "Don't you guys have any friends here we can hang out with?"
Vinyl made a small sound, something weary and amused, and buried her face in her hooves.
"Not unless you count my kitchen staff," Applejack said.
"You don't know anypony doing anything fun?" Lyra pressed.
"Nope."
"Or… not fun?"
"Not really."
"Or boring, even?"
Applejack tossed her a look. "Now, why would you wanna go and do something boring on a holiday?"
"This is getting too cringey, Lyra," Vinyl commented, doing her best to hold back embarrassed laughter. "Let it go."
I whipped my own head around to look at them. "Guys, come on--"
"Can we come to your place, too, AJ?" Lyra blurted out.
The van hit a rather deep pothole, and everypony was thrown in the air for a second. The axle squealed its disapproval.
Once she regained her seating, Applejack twisted around to glare at Lyra. "What? Are you even listenin'?" she barked. "I only invited Twilight because she-- she's got nowhere else to go! It ain't a free-for-all party!"
Lyra threw back her head and groaned. "But now we don't have anywhere to go!"
"You do, too!" Applejack spat back. "Drive home to Canterlot!"
"See?" Vinyl said, reaching out to nudge Lyra with one hoof. "I told you that--"
"You were in on this?!" Applejack interrupted. "Is this why you two insisted on coming?!"
There was a long silence.
I snuck a peek at Applejack. Her cheeks were so red-hot they were practically glowing, and her whole face was scrunched in such a way that made her look… I dunno. Sort of baby-faced, actually. Her mouth was a tiny, puckered thing, her eyes squinty and dark.
Like a foal before a tantrum, really.
I decided to keep that little nugget to myself, and turned back to the road.
"No!" Lyra protested.
Another long silence.
Somehow, Applejack managed to scrunch even harder.
"Uh… yeah," Lyra admitted meekly.
Applejack turned her head, slowly and minutely, to stare down Vinyl.
"Hey, not me," she said casually. "I'm here in case the van catches fire."
Applejack continued to glare.
I did my best to navigate the city streets, but I was feeling less and less confident about where exactly I was. I mean, who decided to make all the streets numbers, anyway? How is that memorable?
Damn it was quiet.
Except for all the sick sounds the van was making, of course.
The van rolled up to another stop sign, and I did my best to bring us to a slow stop. Unfortunately, the brakes were… not exactly shot, but also not responsive? I held onto my gentle approach as long as I could before finally jamming my hoof down with enough power to rattle my bones.
Everypony lurched forward at the sudden stop.
I had to lift my butt off the seat in order to even catch a glimpse of the street signs, but nothing seemed familiar.
Resigned to my fate, I dropped back down into the driver's seat and looked over at Applejack for help with directions-- but I couldn't quite get the words out once I got a look at her face.
Her glare had softened.
It wasn't… not a glare. It certainly retained some strong, glare-like qualities.
It was more suspicious than angry. No, not suspicious… analytic? I don't know what the word is, but she seemed to be trying to read Lyra and Vinyl. As if, given she looked deep enough, she might uncover something unsavory. Perhaps a selfish ulterior motive? Who knows.
But it was softening. The longer I looked, the more it turned to confusion.
As if she couldn't understand why somepony would want to spend time with her.
That couldn't be right… right?
"Uh… Applejack?" I murmured.
Applejack seemed to snap out of her thoughts as she looked over at me, and her trademark stony face returned. "What?"
"Can you…?" I gestured to the road.
"Oh, for the love of-- right," she instructed.
The van didn't really want to go right, but I wrestled it into agreement.
Applejack flopped back in her seat, forehooves folded over chest. She did that thing where she tucked her hooves into her pits, which made the whole thing seem less domineering and more vulnerable.
"Fine," she barked.
There was a light scrambling sound in the back.
"What's that?" Lyra asked.
Applejack rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. "I guess y'all can come."
Lyra drew in a deep gasp, and once again threw herself into the back of the passenger seat. It only caused Applejack a moderate level of distress this time.
"Really?!" Lyra asked, all but rattling the seat.
Applejack rolled her eyes, being sure to catch mine on the way down. "Yeah, really."
"Oh, yay!" Lyra thundered her hooves on the back of Applejack's seat, and she weathered the blows valiantly.
I looked over at her. "You really don't have to do this," I said gently.
Applejack sighed. "Nah. I already invited you. Your friends should get to come along, too," she said. There was a quality of joy to her voice that I couldn't quite define-- not the average happiness, but rather a begrudging thing. "Y'all are a package deal, after all."
"Heck yeah, we are!" Lyra cheered.
Applejack, at long last, smiled. "Plus, no offense or nothin' but this van is…" she trailed off, trying in vain to find the right words to describe the experience. "Y-you deserve some time indoors. With walls. And air conditioning. And… less smells."
"Hey," Vinyl piped up. "Offense."
"Oh, shush," Lyra said, giving her friend yet another friendly whack on the shoulder. "She's right, y'know."
"Is not!" Vinyl argued. "I mean. Maybe she is, but she doesn't have the right to say it. Only I do."
Lyra and Vinyl continued to bicker back and forth about the state of the van, though their now private conversation was lost under its squeaks and groans.
I looked over at Applejack.
"Hey," I hissed.
Applejack looked sidelong back at me and arched a single brow.
I quickly flicked my eyes back to the road. "Thanks."
She shrugged. "It's a holiday, ain't it?"
The words were nonchalant, but the tone strangely… wasn't. There was a warmth of sincerity in her voice that I didn't quite grasp.
I mean, maybe it was pity. Maybe she felt bad that I was such a mess, that I only seemed to have two friends in the world, and that they seemed to like each other more than they liked me.
Not that any of that was accurate. But I'm sure all of this painted a very vivid picture in Applejack's brain.
"I told you to clean this place out months ago," Lyra continued. "You didn't do a thing."
Vinyl snorted. "In my defense, you say a lot of things a lot of the time, and I forget stuff. A lot."
Applejack turned to look back at them. They didn't seem to notice her, and just kept on squabbling.
The seat squeaked against her as she turned to face forward once more. "I'm gonna regret this, huh?"
I nodded. "Yep."