Cherry Jubilee hummed to herself as she inspected the cherry she held in her hoof. Noticing a dark dent on it, she tossed it into the bin marked as ‘fertilizer’. But suddenly she was interrupted from her work by a high-pitched squee, followed by a loud splat. The sounds seemed to have come from the barn where her employees were working. Worried that an accident might have happened, she rushed over and saw Applejack, covered in cherry juice, leaving the barn in a huff.
“Whatever has happened? Are any of you girls hurt?” the owner of the ranch asked anxiously.
“No one was hurt, Miss Jubilee,” the orange earth pony answered. “But some of your cherries were ruined, and I’m mighty sorry.”
“No, that’s alright Applejack, I’m just glad nopony was hurt.” Cherry Jubilee looked kindly at the cowgirl. “Now why don’t you go get a shower while I check up on the other girls? You can help me buck the trees when you’re done.”
Applejack nodded and trudged off. The mare with a cherry cutie mark then entered the barn, and saw that the other ponyville folk had already started cleaning the cherries that were splattered everywhere.
A purple pony with a pink stripe in her mane hurried up to her. “We’re terribly sorry, Miss Jubilee, for this to happen on our first day here.”
Cherry Jubilee waved a hoof with a motherly smile. “It’s quite alright girls, everypony makes mistakes. And after you finish the cleaning you may take the day off, as there are no more cherries to be sorted today.”
------ ------
Their first attempt failed, the five ponies decided to proceed with another plan to wring the truth out of Applejack after they finished cleaning the barn.
Rainbow Dash flew over the farmland cautiously, feeling the soft wind like a caress under her wings. She scanned the ground for Applejack. Usually the cyan pegasus would have soared at a speed that would make the air whoosh, but her present mission was to discreetly find the runaway mare without her knowing. Finally spotting the earth pony, she lightly glided back to the other ponies. “She’s in that direction, bucking some trees.”
“Lead us there Rainbow,” said Twilight. “And everypony, no more sound when we get there. Pinkie, you know what to do. ”
The five ponies quietly made their way to where Applejack was working. Finding suitable hiding places, Twilight winked at ponyville’s top party pony, and mouthed the words, You’re on. She then nodded a signal for the others to put on their earplugs.
Applejack’s friends watched in glee as Pinkie forced her to take one step back, then another. Most of the time the pink hyper-pony was fun to be around, but when her mouth was gabbling nonstop… it could be torture. The cowgirl clenched her jaw and braced a hoof against a nearby tree trunk, shivering in annoyance.
The spying ponies tried not to snicker when Applejack finally threw herself on the ground and clapped her hooves to her ears. She appeared to be shouting; Twilight guessed it was something along the lines of ‘NOOO make it stop!’ judging from the movement of AJ’s mouth.
The element of magic waved her hoof at Rainbow Dash, who rushed from her hiding place and placed a hoof on Pinkie’s mouth. “The only way to make it stop is for you to spill the beans!”
“Never!” was the defiant response.
Rainbow let go of the party pony’s mouth, and this time, the threat worked. Seeing Applejack throw her hooves up in defeat, the remaining three ponies stepped out from behind the trees, and the resigned farmpony made a Pinkie Promise to tell them everything the next morning at breakfast.
------ ------
Twilight polished off the last bite of her cherry pie and wiped her mouth with a napkin. Around her, the rest of her friends had likewise finished their supper, with the exception of Applejack, who hadn’t showed up; Cherry Jubilee had told the ponies that the cowgirl had turned in early. This worried them, but if the orange mare needed time to herself to think, then it would be best to give her some peace and quiet.
“Girls, all done? Then I’d better show you to your rooms!” came the cheerful voice of their supervisor at the ranch.
“Come on everypony, let’s go.” Twilight led her friends out the dining room.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a room that can fit all five of you at once, but I’ve asked a farmhand to move an extra bed so three of you can share a room and the other two can share the other,” said Jubilee, as she directed the ponies to two neighboring doors. “Here we are! You’re free to do whatever you want now, and if you can’t remember the way back to your rooms, you can find me at the main cabin.” She then left the five friends to make their rooming arrangements.
The mares opened the two doors and looked inside: one had a queen sized bed, and the other had the same, plus a single bed.
“So, um-” Twilight was cut short by Pinkie Pie.
“I want the single bed!” she sang out shrilly, throwing herself on the bedspread. Noticing everypony’s less-than-amused expressions, she narrowed her eyes in a defense. “What? I roll around too much; I would kick you in your sleep!”
“Not to mention you’d probably bounce around in your dreams.” Rainbow Dash chortled. “Can I sleep with you, Fluttershy? I don’t think the other two are used to bunking with a pegusus.”
“Oh… okay.”
“I think that would be the best. I wouldn’t want to wake up with a mouthful of your ‘rigid wing’, Rainbow Dash,” sniffed Rarity. “Although if it were Fluttershy I wouldn’t mind, of course,” she quickly added, not wanting to hurt the feelings of the shy pegusus. She was quite pleased with the turn of events indeed, and almost bit her lip to stop herself from smiling too widely. Oh, my! Bed with Twilight!
Twilight finally spoke again. “Well, that’s settled, then. I’ll sleep with Rarity in this room, and you two can sleep with Pinkie in that one.” Her face was quite smooth as she said this, but like Rarity, she had a hard time controlling her facial expression.
“Cool! You two can come over if you want to!” Rainbow zoomed into her room.
“Sure, we’ll go over to chat! But we’ve got to go to bed early, remember? Working on a farm means having to get up when the sun rises,” said Twilight as she and Rarity trotted into theirs.
“So,” said the purple unicorn, shutting the door.
The fashionista looked at her expectantly. “This’ll be our first time sleeping together, aren’t you excited?” she teased in a seductive whisper.
“Well, uh, um…” it suddenly seemed as if Twilight’s knees couldn’t hold her weight anymore. “I mean, eek… yeah,” her voice coming out in a squeak.
Rarity kissed the purple unicorn briefly but deeply, and gave her a loving look. “Twilight darling, are you… nervous?”
The studious mare flushed, her face heating up at a disturbing rate. “Can I ask you something, Rarity?”
“Why, of course, my dear.” Twilight’s abrupt uneasiness was alarming to Rarity, and her eyes widened in worry, afraid she had said something wrong to the bookworm.
“Uh, when you said sleeping together, did you mean, um, like, as in sleeping sleeping or just… plain sleeping?” Twilight squirmed; she thought the heat that was radiating from her body could set the house on fire any second.
“Darling! I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to make you so uncomfortable.” Rarity took the other mare’s face in her hooves and nuzzled her. “I assure you, I am not in a rush for that.” She then brought Twilight’s face up and looked her tenderly in the eyes. “But I do need to tell you something… I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Oh, um, yeah… right.” Twilight looked instantly relieved, and she felt her chest loosen up, letting go of the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“So… why don’t we stop by next door for a while? We can have our… private time later.”
Twilight nodded, and the two mares left their own room and went over to where Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy were already having a rather loud discussion about Applejack.
“If she doesn’t have a good explanation tomorrow, I’m going to whack her in her stomach!” came the raucous sound of the athletic pegasus.
“Oh, no, please don’t do that… I’m sure she has her reasons,” murmured the timid mare.
“I want to eat cherry changas!” Pinkie bounced on her bed, almost bumping the roof. She then noticed Twilight and Rarity entering. “Ooh! They’re here! Ooh, they’re here!”
“Hi, girls!” the two unicorns greeted the three ponies.
“I still think there’s something fishy going on with Applejack!” Rainbow Dash folded her hooves, her eyebrows narrowing.
“She made a Pinkie Promise, if she breaks it, she’s doomed!” A hard gleam flickered for a fraction of a second in the pink earth pony’s eyes. “So I know she won’t break it!” Pinkie smiled as she finally sat down properly on her bed. “Besides, Applejack’s our friend! We’ll forgive her if she really is hiding something!”
Twilight and Rarity joined in the conversation, and after half an hour, the ponies decided to call it a night so as to get up on time the following morning. They took turns brushing their teeth at the sink at the end of the corridor; Cherry Jubilee had provided them all with toothbrushes. The five friends then said their goodnights and headed into their respective rooms.
The door clicked shut, and Twilight and Rarity grinned sheepishly at each other. Wordlessly, they walked to their bed, taking a position on both sides.
“Aren’t you going to get in?” Rarity raised a delicate eyebrow at Twilight.
The other unicorn smiled dorkily and lifted the opposite corner of the sheets with her magic. “After you, milady,” she said, almost rolling her eyes at her cheesy line.
Rarity gave a small sign of resignation and slipped between the covers, feeling Twilight’s weight shifting the mattress as she got in as well. They lay side by side, face to face, not speaking, simply gazing serenely at each other.
“Hey,” Twilight broke the silence with a whisper. “You’re really beautiful, Rarity.”
Rarity’s eyes were sparkling as she reached for the mare lying beside her and pulled her into a close embrace. Running her hoof over Twilight’s coat, she moved her muzzle under her marefriend’s ear and gave it a gentle flick. The other pony giggled, nuzzling Rarity in return. It was getting a bit warm, their body heat rising with their affectionate gestures.
“And you’re the most dazzling unicorn I've ever known,” breathed the white mare.
Twilight felt her breath catch in her throat. She was getting quite swoony, and the only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat and their breathing. Almost dreamily, she bought her mouth to Rarity’s. The sophisticated unicorn matched her every movement as their lips pressed together, again and again.
------ ------
A rooster cock-a-doodle-dooed in the distance as the morning sun bathed the land in its warmth.
Applejack pawed nervously on the train station platform. Her friends were bound to have found out that she was gone, and were possibly searching for her already.
A distorted roar rang out, making her jump. “Applejack! You! Pinkie Promised!”
Applejack broke out in a sweat, seeing the other ponies charging toward her. She spotted a stagecoach and leapt into it frantically, snapping the reins. Ha! They can’t catch me now! She looked behind her triumphantly - and was terrified to find that her friends had somehow located a pull cart and were fast on her heels.
Rarity felt every jolt and bump of the cart, sometimes painfully. The wind was whipping her mane in all directions possible, and she watched worriedly as Pinkie threw herself in the air, landing beside Applejack. The wind ripped their conversation away, so Rarity couldn’t quite make out what words had exchanged between the cowgirl and the pink pony before Pinkie suddenly launched herself back in the air again.
The fashionista gasped as the earth pony slammed into her, knocking the wind out of her. A whoosh of air followed, and Rarity realized that she had left the cart, Pinkie on top of her. The ground came up to meet them, forcibly.
The cloud of dust caused by the collision with the soil billowed, then slowly settled. Rarity picked herself up, and spat out a leaf. She checked herself for injuries; there seemed to be none, but her mane was ruined, her coat dirty and matted. She glared at Pinkie, who was grinning guiltily beside her.
“Sorry Rarity, I thought you would catch me!”
“Humph! You jumped too fast for me to react! And it seems they have decided to abandon us!” Rarity craned her neck, trying to spot their friends, but in vain.
“I heard Twilight telling Rainbow to get us, but she didn’t want to!” Pinkie’s voice was as perky as ever, for reasons unknown to Rarity.
The fashion designer was in a darkly bad mood at their misfortune. Stranded out in this barren place of nowhere, covered with filth! The only comfort in this situation was knowing that Twilight had not wanted to leave them here. “I certainly do not want to be stuck here, Pinkie Pie. Let’s at least find someplace with shelter, I am sweating, this place is so hot.” Rarity shivered with disgust at the thought of perspiration.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie did her signature bounce. “But how are we going to get back? There’s like, nothing but rocks and sand and rocks and dirt and no cupcakes!”
“Urgh,” mumbled Rarity. “I’d like to know the answer to that question as well.”
Pinkie flashed, and appeared somewhere in the distance. The indigo-maned mare shook her head. How on Equestria did that earth pony manage to move like a teleporting unicorn?
The energetic pony reappeared beside Rarity, holding a strange piece of machinery with wheels in her hooves. “I found it!”
“Found what? This? And what is this thing anyway?”
“Found the answer to my question, silly! You see those train tracks? We go there, you stand on this end, I stand on that end; you push, then I push! Easy as my last name!”
------ ------
Twilight’s legs worked furiously, her lungs struggling to reach their full capacity. She had taken a train straight back to Dodge Junction after sending Applejack back to Ponyville, and was now galloping along the route that the orange pony had taken when fleeing her friends.
I hope Rarity isn’t mad at me for not coming back for her sooner, thought Twilight, a drop of perspiration gathering on her brow. Billows of dust swirled around her as she ran at her highest speed. The studious mare had never been an athletic pony, and her chest was soon heaving, her throat turning parched and dry.
But Twilight did not permit herself to stop until she reached the place where Pinkie had knocked Rarity out of the crude coach. Or, rather, where she hoped was the place. The rugged terrain seemed to stretch out infinitely, making it difficult to judge whether this was the exact spot or not. She was panting hard, and tried to slow down her breathing as she squinted, trying to judge her distance from the railway tracks where they had caught Applejack. Oh, no… how am I supposed to find them? And of course they couldn’t have just sat here all day, they must have moved somewhere else.