//------------------------------// // The Belle on the Hill // Story: She Rings Loudly for an Audience Of One // by Duskwingmoth //------------------------------// It might have been late spring, but it was still a bit too cold to be wearing skirts that April. Sweetie Belle squeezed the plunger on her inhaler and felt it empower her body.  Too bad she had wanted to wear one anyway.  Her legs were just going to have to deal with it. She was sitting under the sunset-streaked sky in the south orchard of Sweet Apple Acres, on a hilltop right next to a sapling apparently called Bloomberg II.  Not on the grass, obviously; Rarity would kill her if she got her skirt dirty like that.  No, there was a pink plaid picnic blanket insulating her from the tingly green blades, much to her present company’s dismay. Red was currently in his own world, observing a ladybug, lying on his side and idly fiddling with his hoodie zipper. Red sighed.  “Buzzer…” Sweetie grunted in agreement.  “Bored.” He sat up, legs crossed.  “Re-bellion!” She couldn’t help but laugh.  “Charging.” “Uuugh!”  He flopped back onto the blanket. Sweetie Belle flopped down in solidarity.  “Seriously.  What’s taking her so long?” Learning to communicate with Red had been one of the more interesting things that she’d been learning to do.  With games (specifically Bittybeasts) as common ground to start with, their conversations probably sounded obnoxiously nerdy and strange, exchanging singular words for which only they and their mutual friend were privy to the meaning. She’d gotten very much comfortable with it, and so it had been a surprise when Red had struggled out a few full sentences a couple months ago during Christmas break.  Even more so what he had to say that was so important he didn’t want to risk being misinterpreted.  He was a boy, he didn’t want to be called Scootaloo anymore, and he really looked up to Sweetie Belle for being brave enough to say she was a girl back then. That had filled her with a new kind of warmth, one she had trouble describing.  Rarity said it was probably pride.  Applejack thought it was kinship.  It made her happy, either way.  For all her recent surplus, she cherished that happiness, and so she didn’t really mind being stuck waiting with Red. Sweetie Belle rocked back upright, and stared out over the blooming orchard.  She really had been quite a bit happier lately, despite a lot of things. Her days had certainly been… eventful since those two weeks, some months ago.  One day a boy named Starsong had been taken to the emergency room for medicinal overdose, and he never came out.  Sweetie Belle did in his place (with asthma as a battle scar), and her parents were still having trouble wrapping their head around that. They weren’t the only ones.  Rarity had stumbled, at first.  She still didn’t seem sure if her sister actually enjoyed their time together (which had grown more frequent regardless).  Maybe it was her new aesthetic.  People in general didn’t seem to think goths enjoyed anything.  But honestly?  Sweetie Belle just loved black.  And piercings, but she wasn’t allowed those, yet. But Rarity had, nonetheless, been so much nicer and willing to listen since then, and she didn’t slip up when she addressed Sweetie Belle anymore. She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of hearing people say that name out loud.  It’d just be nice if more people did. School had been another matter entirely, and after the semesters she’d had, Sweetie was very much relieved that she’d be starting middle school next year.  She already had two friends who were going to be in the same school. “C’mon Pinkie!  Ah can move mahself around way faster than this!” She smiled.  Well, one friend and one girlfriend. “AJ says you can’t go racing up and down hills anymore, Applebloom.  And your Auntie Pinkamena Diane Responsibility Apple Pie is gonna make sure you don’t!” Sweetie Belle craned over her shoulder to see Pinkie wheeling Applebloom up the slope, bickering the whole way. “That don’t change the fact that Ah could probably wheel mahself up there in half the time with mah eyes closed!” “Safety fir~rrrrrst~!” Even with how heavy that wheelchair was (both her and Red had been allowed to try it out before, so she was pretty well aware) Sweetie Belle didn’t doubt it.  Turns out Applebloom was actually pretty strong for a girl their age, and this hill?  Probably nothing to her. They did eventually crest the hill, and Red scrambled to his feet to meet them halfway.  “Late!” Applebloom huffed.  “Ain’t mah fault; blame slowpoke here.” “Yeah, that was my bad.”  Pinkie knocked her knuckles lightly against her own skull.  “But Fluttershy’s brought this super cool girl to the slumber party named Rainbow Dash who just moved back to town and you know what?  I think I’m in love…”  Sweetie Belle wasn’t sure how it was possible, but the party girl had turned several shades pinker as a dopey grin stretched across her face.  “And well, you girls know how that feels, right?” “Pinkie!!”  Applebloom was turning pink, herself.  Sweetie’s ears were growing hot, and it wasn’t because of the sun -- her hair was getting long enough that it covered them now. Pinkie snickered and snorted that laugh she always seemed to make when she’d gotten one over on somebody.  Teasing her and Applebloom still had yet to get old for the older girl. She clearly wasn’t done, either, as once she’d finished wheeling Applebloom to the blanket, Pinkie stepped out from behind her and gave a bow.  “Any further accomodations I can provide the lovely budding lovebirds this evening?”  She said this in her most snooty voice possible, even as she ruined it with her continued giggles. Applebloom crossed her arms and pouted as her blush deepened.  She mumbled something too muddied to discern. Pinkie leaned in closer with a pearly-white grin on her face.  “My apologies, madam, could you repeat that?” “Ah said Ah wanna be in Sweetie Belle’s lap!” Ears were definitely on fire.  Hell, her entire head was probably on fire with how hot it was. Without a word, Pinkie locked the wheelchair and hoisted Applebloom out of it, cradling her like the princess she deserved to be.  Nobody heard that, right?  Only Applebloom was allowed to know that Sweetie Belle had started thinking of her as a countryside princess.  Pinkie was certainly smiling at her like she had. Hard to breathe again.  She fumbled for her inhaler and shot more treated air into her lungs.  It didn’t make her chest feel any less tight. Pinkie carefully set Applebloom down such that she was leaning back into Sweetie Belle’s chest before squealing in gay excitement.  She pulled an entire picnic basket out of her mess of tangled curls (nobody in the Apple family ever questioned this, for some reason) and set it down next to them.  Red pounced on the thing, rummaging around for his prize. “If you ladies (and gentleman) have no further needs, then I shall take my leave to give you privacy.”  Pinkie bowed again, her veritable mane of curly hair tickling Sweetie Belle’s nose as it cascaded forward, and she turned away, descending the slope significantly faster than she and Applebloom had come up. Sweetie was unamused when the sound of footfalls on grass suddenly stopped once Pinkie was out of sight.  “You’re still here.” “Shhh!!  That’s a secret!!” “Don’t let it get to ya,” Applebloom’s voice reverberated through Sweetie’s chest, “she starts actin’ extra Pinkie when her gaydar is goin’ off.” “Currently we’re looking at a 189.5 LesboRad reading on the Gayger Counter on account of literally every girl on Sweet Apple Acres that isn’t Applejack.  Very large amounts of homo energy.” Applebloom was perplexed by this.  “Even Granny?” Pinkie’s head popped up.  “Ask when you’re older.”  She descended from view again. Sweetie was incredulous.  “My sister isn’t into girls!” She popped back up again with a sly lopsided smile.  “As far as she knows…” She did not want to think about that, actually. “Get out of here, you big fat weirdo!” She shooed the Biggest Lesbian In the Room away with fervor. Pinkie’s smile only became more sly.  “You mock my size because you’re jealous of the power it affords me.  It’s okay, I understand.”  She blinked, and her face returned to its usual cheer.  “I’ll come get you three after sundown!”  Pinkie descended below the swell of the hilltop again, and a mere second passed before Sweetie saw her running back in the direction of the farmhouse. Only to dive into a bush.  And for the glint of binoculars to pop out of it. Sweetie sighed.  “She’s still watching us.” Applebloom’s crimson hair rustled against Sweetie Belle’s shirt as she looked up.  “It’s what Applejack told ‘er to do.  We got as good as we’re gonna get.” “Sandwich!”  Red triumphantly pulled a plastic bag containing a crustless peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich from the basket. Sweetie met her iridescent gaze, eyebrow raised.  “Does your sister think I’m gonna break you or something?” “Ah do wish she’d stop babyin’ me; Ah can’t get into a whole lot o’ trouble like Ah used to anyway.”  A blush made itself visible across her sun-colored face.  “Besides, Ah got mah lucky charm with me; Ah ain’t got nothin’ to worry about.” Her heart fluttered at the pet name, and she couldn’t help but smile.  “W-whatever.”  Sweetie Belle’s arms wrapped around Applebloom as she willed herself to forget they were being observed.  “At least she can’t hear us.  Probably.” They sat in silence for a moment, the only sounds (other than how increasingly loud Sweetie Belle’s own pumping blood sounded to her) were the crickets, and Red happily wolfing down his sandwich. Applebloom broke the peace.  “Are yer parents still givin’ ya grief?” “No so much, lately.”  Sweetie’s thumbs swirled around each other.  “Dad still seems sad that I don’t want to come watch football practice anymore, but it’s off-season, anyway.” “Always kinda wanted to be a quarterback mahself.  Can’t now, o’ course.” “I bet he’d be happy to hear you say that.  You two could nerd out on football together like he tried to with me.” She felt Applebloom’s hands lie on top of her own.  “Ah guess Ah should give ‘em a chance; still sore about them callin’ you the wrong gender last time Ah saw ‘em.” “It hardly ever happens now.”  She rested her chin on Applebloom’s head.  “Actually the day after, they said they scheduled me for some kind of shot that would stop me from going through puberty.” “Really?  Well, pickle mah cucumbers, they’re finally doin’ what Applejack said to!” Sweetie Belle snorted.  “‘Pickle my cucumbers’?” Applebloom chuckled.  “Granny says stuff like that all the time.” Red gagged in disgust.  “Bluh!  Pickles…” “Same.  Ick.”  Sweetie stuck out her tongue. “Y’all are nuts.  Pickles’re the best!  Dill pickles most e-specially.” “Pickles!”  Red all but spat the loathsome word out of his mouth, before returning to devouring his sandwich. “Well, yer allowed to be wrong, it’s fine.”  Applebloom’s thumb traced slow circles atop Sweetie Belle’s hand.  “Pinkie likes to sully pizza with pineapples, an’ we ain’t disowned her yet.” “Don’t make me come back over there, Applebloom!!”  Pinkie’s voice reverberated furiously from the bush, and all three of them laughed. Sweetie laughed hard enough that she was short of breath yet again, so she freed her left hand to remedy that. “You been usin’ that thing a lot.” Applebloom looked up at her with concern.  “Ya sure it’s gonna get better?” Her chest full of air again, Sweetie Belle brought her arm around Applebloom’s chest, above the other.  “The doctor said cold air is thinner, whatever that means, so I’ll have a harder time breathing in winter and spring.” “But it’ll get better, right?” “She said growing up usually helps make it less of a problem.”  She turned her head to rest her cheek on Applebloom, feeling the silky red hair against her skin. “That’s good t’ hear.  Sure wish it’d happen faster, though.” Weight began to pull down on her heart.  “It wouldn’t be a problem at all if I wasn’t so stupid.” Applebloom reached up and poked Sweetie Belle in the cheek.  “You quit talkin’ like that.  Ah wouldn’tve met you if ya hadn’t been in that hospital.  And we told ya, it ain’t yer fault nobody saw you were a girl before.” She sighed through her nose as she eyed the yellow hand lightly pressing into her face.  A thought crossed her mind, and before it could make her smile devilishly, she acted on it, licking at Applebloom’s finger. “Gah!”  The offending hand flinched away in surprise, retracting from view, and Sweetie started laughing again.  “Yeah, yeah, ya gremlin; you laugh away.” She restrained her mirth before it left her breathless again, and tightened her embrace.  “Not enough people believe me, still.” Applebloom petulantly wiped the saliva onto Sweetie Belle’s sleeve.  “Well, ya just gotta get some o’ that, uh, what’s it called again…  the girlifyin’ juice, y'know...” “Estrogen!” “Thanks, Pinkie!,” Applebloom shouted over Sweetie’s shoulder.  “Yeah, that stuff.  Step two after stoppin’ yer body from goin’ through the wrong puberty is helpin’ it go through the right one, remember?” “Yeah, but my parents said they want me to be 100% sure, even though I already am.” Red had finished his sandwich and was rifling through the picnic basket again.  “Juice.  Juice.  Juice.”  It didn’t take long for him to find his quarry, hoisting the amber and green carton of apple juice over his head.  “Juice!”  He blinked, and then grabbed another from the basket before presenting them to the girls.  “Juice?” “Juice.”  Sweetie Belle nodded and accepted one as Applebloom grasped the other. “Juice!”  Red grabbed his own, once relieved of the others, and eagerly stabbed the attached straw into the top.  He scooted closer to the two of them as he sipped. Once she had done the same and taken a maiden taste of the kid-friendly ambrosia, Sweetie Belle thought to ask a question that had been burning in her mind.  “How come Applejack hasn’t gotten girl juice?” Applebloom stopped her own loud drinking.  “Ah actually asked her that a few days ago.  Said she was waitin’ to be done with school before, but now she’s gonna wait ‘til she’s got somebody else to help with the farm, since Ah can’t do any more grunt work.” “Why?” “Somethin’ about bein’ afraid of losin’ too much muscle.” “Hmm.”  Sweetie took another draught of apple blood (‘it totally is fruit blood’ having been a silly argument they had gone over before, and were likely going to have again), and felt the familiar snake squeezing her heart.  It never left her, it just wasn’t coiled very tight most of the time. She wouldn’t suffer it in silence, and dared to make her fears real by uttering them.  “What if I just end up being ugly…?” “Not happenin’.”  Applebloom shifted her gaze back up to the pale girl’s face.  “More likely you’ll get even prettier than you already are.” Her heart skipped a beat, and shook the snake loose in the process.  “I-I’m not pretty.” “Like heck you ain’t!”  Sweetie Belle, face burning again, met Applebloom’s eyes.  Her face was turning pink again.  “Y’all are pretty as a pear!  Ask anyone!” “I-I…”  Sweetie’s tongue decided to turn into mush in her mouth as she tried to respond.  “Are you allowed to say pears are pretty?” “First of all, yes.  Second, don’t ya try to throw me off like that!  Ah ain’t seen a prettier sight than you in all mah life.  ‘Specially with that make-up ya got on!” Sweetie’s brain was getting fuzzy.  Rarity had insisted that black wasn’t a very cute color for her lips, likening it to the face-paint of a mime when paired with their skin color, but hadn’t stopped her.  “You… you like it?” “Heh.  Reckon Ah do.  And uh...”  Applebloom rubbed the back of her neck.  “Aw, screw it; Ah’ll put one in the swear jar.  Ah think it makes ya look badass, too.” While that had been part of her intent, Sweetie Belle certainly didn’t feel very badass with Applebloom turning her insides into warm jelly like this.  Suddenly her mind was screaming at her with every synapse firing like a gamma burst as she really studied how beautiful Applebloom was. Kiss her!  Kiss her, you coward!  KISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Her lips pressed against Applebloom’s forehead for a brief instant before her nerves caught up to her, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she pulled her head back up.  “IthinkIloveyouApplebloomI’msorry!” At first she only heard a dazed, throaty giggle below her.  “Well… shucks…” Sweetie Belle wrenched open one eye to peek down at her, and sputtered out a laugh.  Applebloom’s eyes were half-lidded and glossed over, and she had the dumbest open-mouthed smile on her face; the black mark her lipstick had left on her girlfriend’s forehead absolutely completed the image. Eventually those beautiful red-orange jewels rolled back into sync with each other and found focus on Sweetie Belle.  “Ah’m pretty sure Ah love you too.” All the tension that had gathered in Sweetie Belle’s body begged to dance and sing until dawn the next morning, because there was so much it was leaking out of her eyes in tears.  She held her country princess tight and didn’t ever want to let go. As much as she liked being the designated lucky charm, Sweetie Belle knew it had to be the other way around.  Applebloom was her good fortune made manifest, and she never wanted it to end. “Gay.” Applebloom found herself again and scowled at Red.  “You hush, mister.” Red just smirked.  “Gay, gay; homo-gay!” “Yer just jealous.” Red blew a raspberry at his best friend.  But then he rested his head on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, slurping away at the apple juice. Sweetie Belle didn’t even care that she could hear Pinkie Pie squealing at the upper limits of the human voice behind her.  She was too happy to care about being teased, or her father growing distant, or any of the bad things her classmates would have to say when spring break was over.  Her asthma didn’t bother her, her body didn’t bother her, the cold definitely didn’t bother her. With these two by her side, she felt invincible.