//------------------------------// // A very eventful lunch pt. 1 // Story: In the wake of Anon-A-Miss // by General Alduin //------------------------------// Apple Bloom grumbled as she sat down, grabbing a wad of napkins and cleaning what was to be her lunch off her shirt. “Hi Bloom!” Scootaloo said as she dropped her lunch off. “Bye Bloom!” Apple Bloom looked up, confused at her friend's chipper attitude. She watched Scootaloo run up to the Rainbooms. Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy immediately got up to block her, but seemed equally taken aback by Scootaloos enthusiasm. Apple Bloom watched with interest before her attention was taken away by Diamond Tiara sitting next to her. Diamond huffed indignantly and tiredly began eating her sandwich. “Uh… Diamond?” “Hey.” Diamond Tiara turned towards Apple Bloom with a small smile. “So uh, you tell your family about... you know?” “Ah did.” Apple Bloom said with a bright smile. “And Ah wasn’t disowned. In fact, they already knew.” “Really?” Diamond seemed shocked by this. “How did they know?” “Ah used to maybe talk about how pretty yah were.” A bright blush appeared on Apple Bloom's face. “Wasn’t exactly subtle apparently. They’re ok with it though.” “Well, that’s… good.” Diamond said with an unsure tone, perplexing the farm girl next to her. “Yer not as happy as Ah thought yah’d be.” Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Is something wrong?” “It’s nothing.” Diamond sighed. “Just… I told my parents about you and me and my mom wasn’t very happy about it, I can’t tell if it’s because I’m gay or if she wants me to be with someone of higher status. My dad was cool with it, so the two of them got into a fight and, well, things are kinda awkward right now. I’m pretty sure this’ll be the straw that breaks the camel's back, they’ve already had a lot of relationship issues lately. I’m afraid they might divorce over this.” “Well, that’s good right? Yer mom’s not that nice anyway.” “Yeah, but she’s still my mom you know? She hasn’t been a great mom, but I still love her… mostly. Plus, if they divorce, she’s probably going to take half my dad's money, which isn’t fair to him.” Diamond got angry and her hands clenched into fists. “She hasn’t lifted a finger for that money and suddenly she can take half of my daddy’s hard work? Why did he ever marry her?” She looked at Apple Bloom. “I bet she’ll get the minimum amount of custody of me she can get away with. Not that I’d want to stay with her or anything, but she’ll just dump all the work on daddy.” “Your dad didn’t make her sign a prenup?” “Didn’t need to, daddy wasn’t as rich as he is now. He used to bag groceries himself at Barnyard Bargains before I was born.” Apple Bloom momentarily gawked at the mental image of Filthy Rich bagging groceries, but she shook her head to rid herself of this disturbing thought and placed a comforting hand on Diamond's shoulder. “Ah’m really sorry Diamond. Ah didn’t know yer parents had such… issues.”  “It’s alright, it isn’t your fault. Mom’s always getting bent out of shape about everything.” She turned to Apple Bloom and placed a hand on top of hers. “I don’t give a shit what my mom says. I like you.” Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile. “So, we like dating now or what?” “I-I don’t know.” Diamond admitted as she looked away. “I’m not sure now is the right time. What with my parents, the fact I’m still kinda mad at you for Anon, people hating because of Anon, the fact you were Anon-A-Miss… seems it’s mostly Anon-A-Miss related.” “Story of my life…” Apple Bloom said with a tired sigh. “But I’m not against it per se.” Diamond looked back at Apple Bloom. “I don’t know what dating looks like, but we can give it a try. Maybe incorporate It into your ‘redemption quest’ I have planned for you.” “Damn, my girlfriends planning my own redemption for me? Ah need to pick up the slack.” Both girls felt their heart flutter when Apple Bloom referred to Diamond Tiara as her girlfriend. “We should probably tell your friends before we make it official, I’d hate to get between you three.” “Don’t worry, it seems one of my friends already knows.” Diamond Tiara swiveled her head to where Apple Bloom was pointing. There we found Scootaloo a few feet away with a smug grin on her face. She swiveled around, hugged her shoulders and began mock making out.  “Beat it Scoots!” “That is so immature!” “We’re having a private moment here!” “Go creep on someone else’s relationship!” Scootaloo swiveled back to face them, pulling out both her hands and flipping the two girls off as she ran away. Applejack hurriedly took her lunch tray and made her way to the Rainbooms table. She took out her phone and looked over her texts with Sunset. Uh, sorry Sunset! Classes are starting.  Let’s talk about Starlight later k? Ponygirl: Don’t you dare! I need to know what’s going on! AJ! What did Twilight mean!? What’s wrong with Starlight? AJ! AJ! AJ! Stop running you coward! Ok, maybe it was rather cowardly to turn tail when Sunset demanded answers about Starlight. But what was she supposed to do? Tell Sunset her brother's friend might be a psychopath? She needed time to figure out what to say to Sunset, she’ll just sit down with her friends and they’ll all discuss it togeth- “Explain.” Applejack suddenly had a book shoved in her face, making her take a step back to see who it was, not that she needed it. She looked over and saw Sunset with a very angry expression on her face. She was holding the journal up, opened to the latest page, waiting for Applejack to start talking. “Ah… can’t read Equish.” She offered lamely. She was the Element of Honesty after all. “You went through the portal, you can read and write Equish as well as I can.” She shoved the journal back into Applejacks face. “Explain.” “Alright alright! God.” Applejack pushed the journal out of her face. “Can we sit down first?” Sunset rolled her eyes but nodded, following Applejack as they sat down at an empty table. “So, yah know me and Twilight talked-” “Uh huh.” “-so while me and Twilight were talking-“ “Ok.” “-we got to discussing why she needed to catch the train-“ “Yeah.” “-and she told me-“ “Right.” “-that-“ “Yep.” “Can yah not?” Applejack asked with an annoyed look. Sunset pouted but zipped her mouth closed. “Thank yah. Now, as Ah was saying: she told me she needed to report to Princess Celestia about Starlight Glimmer. Ah remembered yah talking about her before and asked Twilight about it.” “... What’d she say?” “Not much, Ah don’t know what she did or what’s going on. All Twilight told me was that she was a unicorn mare with a light purple coat and a blue streak in her mane and tail.” Applejack jumped when Sunset immediately shot up and looked away. “Ah take it that’s her?” “It has to be. Those were Starlights exact features.” Sunset placed a hand to her mouth. “My memory’s foggy, but I know that’s what she looked like. It... It doesn’t make any sense.” “Maybe it was a different Starlight Glimmer with those exact markings?” Applejack offered with a nervous smile. “That’s a pretty big fucking coincidence.” Sunset turned back to Applejack. “Why is she doing this? Or better yet, what did she do? Does my brother know? They’ve got to be married by now!” “Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch-” “He loved her! I could see it in his eyes!” Sunset replied angrily. “Those two were inseparable, they did everything together! Why would- I don’t- ugh!” Sunset sat back down. “Faust, was I really so selfish to not see them drifting apart? I thought they kept in contact when he moved to Canterlot for school but… maybe they didn’t. I never really checked up on Sunburst during those days. I thought she’d take good care of him while I was gone but… fuck.” Sunset rubbed her temple. “If she’s a criminal now, he might’ve been alone all this time. He might’ve lost his sister and his best friend.” “Hey.” Applejack hugged Sunset from behind. “Yah don’t know that. Twi probably doesn’t know what happened either. Maybe they are married. Yah can’t stress about it right now, Twilights still looking for her, and Ah’m sure yah can go ask Starlight yerself when she's eventually caught.” “I guess… I’d have to go back home to interrogate her though. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.” “Just have Twi do it, Ah’m sure she won’t mind asking some questions on yer behalf.” Applejack huffed Sunset a little tighter. “Ah’m really sorry Sunset.” “... What about? Anon? Starlight? You being a coward earlier?” Sunset asked half jokingly. “All of the above.” Applejack chuckled lightly. “Look, how about we put this Starlight business behind us and eat? Ah don’t know about yah, but Ah’m starving!” “I would, but it seems they’re taking away all the food.” Sunset cursed herself for not getting lunch before she interrogated Applejack as she watched the cafeteria staff take all the food away. “That’s fine, we can split.” Applejack pushed her tray between the two of them. “Ya can’t have my apple though. That’s mine and mine alone.” “Do you ever get sick of apples? It’s like half of what you eat.” Sunset began pilfering food from Applejacks tray. “One day, I’m going to get you to eat a pear.” “Like hell yah will!” Applejack growled. “Pears are the devil's fruit!” “Does that make yah half devil?” Sunset challenged. “Considering your mom’s origins?” “Make me less of a devil then yah.” Applejack said with a teasing smile. “No offense.” “Oh, I’m definitely sneaking a pear into your food for that.” Applejack yelped in pain as Sunset jabbed her elbow into her side. “None taken by the way.” Applejack playfully glared at Sunset for that. “Bitch.” “Hick.” “Slut.” “Inbred.” The two traded insults the entire lunch period, having to come up with wildly creative and mean insults to fling at the other to fill the time up until the bell rang.