In the second largest bedroom of the cloud-house which was floating above the western side of Ponyville, Cloud Kicker, now sixteen years old, was sound asleep on her bed, delicately snoring while probably still in the world of dreams. Her massive curtains were drawn, leaving her room in a nearly total darkness despite the unusually clear, blue sky of that particularly hot Saturday of November. Cloud was in the perfect condition to sleep in for the rest of the morning.
But, that was without taking in consideration the small, purple haired girl with translucent, pale yellow wings, hovering a couple of feet above that sleeping mass which Cloud was. The little girl managed to to contain her evil giggles with her hand, before ceasing to flap her wings, thus letting herself drop on the still asleep Cloud.
The poor victim snapped awake when she felt something landing heavily on her stomach, sputtering a few choked grunts. The impact half-buried her in her cloudmade mattress, making her unconsciously conjure her feathery, dark fuchsia wings which flapped uncontrollably, as if trying to keep their owner in the air. Cloud looked at what had fell on her before glaring angrily at the snickering girl on her belly.
“Good morning, Big Sis!” the little girl said innocently.
“Alula....” Cloud growled in anger while lifting her little sister by grabbing both her wings with her hand. “Why did you do that?”
“Mommy asked me to wake you up,” Alula replied with a pained voice. Jupitarian wings were very sensitive for a little girl, and Cloud’s grip on them was far from being gentle. “Cloud, you’re hurting me.”
“Maybe that will teach you to not jump on me while I’m asleep,” Cloud explained coldly before letting go of her sister, making her land butt first on the puffy mass which the house’s floor consisted in.
“Why are you so mean to me?” Alula asked with an angry put, flaring her tiny wings in a gesture of defiance.
“Why are you so annoying?” Cloud retorted.
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“CLOUD!” Nimbus shouted from outside the room. ”Be nice with your little sister!”
“Why am I the one being told off?” Cloud asked in anger. “She’s the one who jumped on me while I was asleep!”
“It was probably an accident,” Nimbus stated in annoyance.
“Sure it was,” Cloud muttered while glaring at Alula who stuck her tongue out at her sister, thus confirming her culpability to Cloud. “Next time, I’ll throw you out the window. Am I clear?”
“I can fly back up, dummy!” Alula replied with a smug grin.
“Not if I tie your wings up first,” Cloud whispered in a low, threatening tone.
“Then, Mommy will punish you for the rest of your life!”
“She already did when she gave birth to you!” Cloud retorted before standing up to reach for the bathroom’s door.
“MOMMY! Cloud said that she wanted to throw me out the window!” Alula shouted while following Cloud into the bathroom.
After that shout, it took Nimbus only a split second to join her two daughters in the second floor’s corridor. She immediately cast a dark glare at her eldest while said eldest was doing the same to the youngest who was faking tears since the moment their mother came in the corridor.
“Cloud, is that true?” Nimbus asked in a ice cold voice.
“I wasn’t serious about it....” Cloud muttered, still glaring at her little sister.
“Apologize to her!” Nimbus ordered.
“Absolutely out of question!” Cloud replied. “Not until she apologizes first for jumping on me while I was sleeping.”
“You know that she probably just lost control of her wings while flying above you,” Nimbus stated.
“While I know that’s not true at all, why would she even need to fly above me to wake me up?” Cloud asked angrily.
“I was just practicing my flying,” Alula said with a sugary, apologetic tone. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry, Cloud,” she said with small tears in her blue eyes.
Cloud had to give something to her sister: she was a damn good actress for an eight year old. Their mother kneeled down to hug her youngest daughter, before returning her attention to her eldest.
“Well?” Nimbus asked matter-of-factly.
“Well what?” Cloud asked back.
“She apologized. Now it’s your turn.” Cloud answered by an unintelligible grumble. “Cloud Kicker, you will apologize if you want to go to today’s party!”
“Fine!” Cloud sighed in defeat. “I’m sorry for what I said to you, Alula. It won’t happen again...” Nimbus nodded before going back downstair with Alula in tow. “... as long as you don’t push it,” she added in a whisper before entering in the bathroom.
Later that day, Cloud was flying toward Sweet Apple Acres when she spotted two familiar girls who were walking along the path to the farm with a few bags levitating in a mint green aura behind them. She waved at them when they noticed her before flying above the fence of the southern orchard. Cloud quickly spotted the large pond next to which a few tents were set up.
She grinned when she saw a tall blonde girl wearing a worn out, brown stetson. She nose dived toward the blonde with a high pitched whistle. She was about to tackle her friend with a surprise-hug when she was suddenly stopped a few inches away from the blonde, her entire body surrounded by an electric blue aura.
“You’re no fun, Vinyl.” Cloud pouted for two seconds before smiling widely at her blue haired friend.
“I wasn’t gonna let you break yourself trying to tackle AJ, was I?” Vinyl asked with a chuckle.
“Can you put me down?” Cloud asked casually. “So that I can give a proper hello to you birthday girls.”
“Hmmm, tough call, Sis,” Jacquelyn chimed in, grinning at the pose their levitating friend was currently posed in. “Ah think she looks nice like that.”
“In that case, neither of you two will get your present,” Cloud replied with a smirk.
“Ok, I’m letting you go,” Vinyl excitedly said, quickly dissipating the magic aura around Cloud’s body.
Cloud flapped her wings a couple of times to land safely on the ground. Then, she pulled her two friends into a strong embrace which they both returned eagerly.
“Happy birthday, girls,” Cloud said cheerfully.
“Thank ya kindly, Cloudy,” Jacquelyn whispered with a happy smile.
“Thanks, CK,” Vinyl said, before tightening her grip on her winged friend. “Now, you mentioned presents,” she added with an expecting glint in her eyes as she broke the hug.
“Don’ ya remember Papy’s lessons on patience, Sis’?” Jacquelyn casually asked with a chuckle, before freezing with a slightly worried expression, her gaze focused on her blue haired.
Cloud winced at that remark as well, albeit internally, as it remembered her the most somber part of the Apples’ life. It was three years and a half ago, a few weeks after their mother, Ariane Apple, had died while giving birth to AppleBloom.
The death of their mother had been even harder for Vinyl to cope with than it had been for Macintosh and Jacquelyn. As her friends needed all the help they could have, Cloud had spent as much time as possible at Sweet Apple Acres to comfort them. Cloud was even present when Vinyl had snapped at Jonah when he tried to comfort her one morning two weeks after that fateful incident.
*****
“It was your fault, Dad! You just had to make a fourth child! Mac, AJ and I weren’t sufficient, were we?”
“Vinyl, that’s not true!”
“Or, maybe I wasn’t sufficient. After all, I’m not real Apple! I’m just the package AJ picked up on the road! No wonder you and Mom tried to have a real third child!”
“Vinyl....how ...how can you even think something like that? Ariane loved you like her own flesh and blood..... I love you like my very own child. Just like I love Macintosh, Jacquelyn, and Appleblo...”
“DON’T SAY THAT THING’S NAME!”
“She’s not a thing, Vinyl. She’s your little sister!”
“That’s not my little sister! It’ll never be! That’s just the thing that took Mom away from us.....From me....”
After that, Vinyl ran away from the farmhouse, rivers of tears flowing out of her eyes, leaving the rest of her family in the living room. Jacquelyn had locked herself in her room while her brother and grandmother were trying to console her sobbing father. Cloud had wanted to fly after Vinyl, but Granny Smith said that she need some time alone, and that Jacquelyn probably needed the support of a friend at that moment. Cloud had spent the rest of the day comforting her distraught, blonde friend.
Later that day, Jonah took his horse to look for Vinyl when they noticed she wasn't anywhere on the farm’s grounds. Her father suspected that she was at her secret spot in White Tail Woods, and rode over there to get her back home.
After a hour long wait, the rest of the Apple Family and Cloud heard an incredibly loud explosion accompanied by a bright flash of blue light coming from White Tail Woods. Within a minute, Macintosh and Jacquelyn had prepared their own horses before galloping at full speed toward where the explosion had occurred, with Cloud flying a bit ahead of them.
Quickly enough, the trio was joined by a squad of Jupitarian Guards who had seen the explosion back in Ponyville. Around a quarter of hour later, the group arrived to a clearing in which Cloud saw the most disturbing scene she had seen in her life.
Jonah’s horse laid on the ground in a large pool of blood next to a rather large crater, a great deal of his throat ripped off from its neck. A few meters away from the crater, a couple of trees had fell, the base of their trunks crushed as if something heavy had landed on them, a dark crimson bat wing crashed into the bark of one of the trees.
“Dad.... Dad... please... please wake up...”
The whole group turned to face the source of the quiet, shaken voice. The guards, the Apples, and Cloud’s gaze fell on a crying Vinyl, with blood coming out of her right ear, gently hugging her father while he laid unconscious on the floor, a large scratch on his right arm.
“I’m sorry, Dad... Sorry for what I said... I take it all back.... But please wake up.... We need you .... Please, Daddy, please.... I beg you … Don’t leave us too.”
*****
A small part of the Guards squad had flown Vinyl and Jonah to the hospital while the rest searched the area for the beast responsible of the attack soon after Vinyl had mumbled something about a manticore. The squad came back later at night. They had tracked the beast until the trail lead deep within the Everfree Forest. Despite most of the Guards being willing to bring the responsible beast down, none of them volunteered to venture in the Everfree Forest for that.
The damage to Vinyl’s ear, caused by the magic explosion she had instinctively created to chase the manticore away, was healed easily thanks to a spell of a Titanian doctor, normally without any consequences for her daily life.
Jonah’s condition on the other hand was far from being good. While his only wound was a large scratch on his arm, the issue was that it had been caused by the manticore’s stinger. Manticore’s venom was extremely hard to collect, only major city hospitals, like in Canterlot, or Manehatten, had access to it in order to synthesize an antidote.
They had sent Ponyville’s fastest Jupitarian, Ditzy Doo the newly hired post-woman, to get the antidote from one of Canterlot’s hospitals. Despite having made the round trip half a day faster than planned, Ditzy had arrived too late. Jonah had died a couple of hours before Ditzy crashed into the hospital’s lobby, a large bottle of antidote in her hand, not without having a serious conversation with his three children before his passing. What exactly had they talked about, Cloud didn’t know, and she never pried her friends into speaking about it as it wasn’t her business at all.
It took a few months, but life had taken back its course in Sweet Apple Acres, with a few changes here and there. At Cloud’s great surprise, Vinyl had taken upon herself to take care of their newly born sister with the help of Granny Smith. It might have been by guilt more than anything else at first, but the most genuine love and affection quickly took over the blue haired Apple’s guilt as the main reason for her to take care of AppleBloom.
In the end, no one in the Apple Family blamed Vinyl for what happened, despite her claiming otherwise during the first weeks that followed. And those in Ponyville who had dared to say otherwise had been put silent with the only time Granny Smith had told off some worm tongues who had whispered something nasty about her blue haired granddaughter. Needless to say, the naysayers turned mute after the Matriarch’s outburst.
Still, speaking about Jonah Apple, or mentioning him, was something that people avoided to do in Vinyl’s presence, fearing that it would upset her like it used to three years ago. And, her own sister brought it up by accident.
“AJ, Cloudy...” Vinyl whispered softly. “I’m not gonna start crying like a baby. You can stop looking at me with those worried expressions,” she said with a short smile that looked a little bit forced to be completely genuine.
“Are ya...” Jacquelyn began in a whisper before Vinyl pulled her head close so that their foreheads could touch.
“Applejack, I’m fine. I have you and Cloudy by my side, the cousins are here too and the rest of our friends are on their way. Now, it’s time to have fun, not to be sad!” Vinyl said with conviction.
“Alright, Sugarcube!” Applejack nodded before gently pecking her sister’s forehead.
“Not that that sweet sisterly bonding session is making me jealous or anything,” Cloud said with a chuckle. “But you want your presents now or later?” she asked, her hand playing with the buckle of her bag.
Vinyl let out a small whimper while focussing her pleading, red eyes on her sister who stared at her for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.
“Ah can’t say no to that,” Applejack admitted sourly. “Ah suppose that now is as good as later.”
“YAY!” Vinyl shouted while happily raising both arms in the air. “What have you got for us?”
Cloud chuckled as she pulled a thin squared package out of her bag. “That’s for you, Vi’.”
Vinyl excitedly ripped the wrapping off, revealing a record holder with a purple musical clef on the cover. The blue haired scanned the cover with attention.
“Mmmm, Octavia Philharmonica...” she whispered with a reflective frown. “Where have I heard that before?”
“It’s the first record of an upcoming cellist in Manehatten,” Cloud explained. “The guy had the record shop said that’s she isn’t really well known as a musician at the moment, but she’s going to make it big in a year or two according to him.”
“Oh yeah,” Vinyl said with a short nod. “I’ve read a small article about her in the newspapers last time I spent a weekend at Uncle Orange’s house. Apparently she’s the daughter of a High count or something...”
“Some prissy princess who’s born with a golden spoon in the mouth, surely,” Applejack muttered sourly.
“Even if that’s the case, as long as she plays good music, she’s fine by me. It’s not like we’re ever gonna meet her,” Vinyl replied, rolling her eye at her sister’s remark. “Anyway, thanks for the gift, Cloudy.” she gave her friend a nearly bone crushing hug.
“Don’t thank me before you listen to it.” Cloud pulled out a large package she offered to Applejack. “Here you go, AJ.”
“Ah’ll be... New gloves!” Applejack commented happily as she saw the brand new, orange boxing gloves out of their wrapping. “Thanks a lot, Sugarcube. Ah needed a new pair.”
“Yeah, Big Mac told me you broke the old ones while sparring against him,” Cloud explained casually. “They should be tough enough for you, though I suggest you go easy from now on... If not for them, do it at least for Mac’s sake.”
“Are ya implying that I hurt ma big brother during practice?” Applejack asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t know since I don’t watch you practice,” Cloud replied with a shrug. “But, I suppose there’s a good reason if people don’t bother Mac because they fear what you’ll do them, and not the opposite like it used to be.” Cloud let out a good hearted laugh, soon joined by Vinyl.
“Very funny,” Applejack muttered sourly before noticing the huge shadow covering the pond and its surroundings. “Ah thought it was supposed to be sunny today,” she commented as she spotted huge dark grey clouds hiding the sun.
“And to make things better, it’s starting to rain,” Vinyl said as she felt a few drops falling on her arm. “So much for a ‘beach party’ by the pond,” she added sourly.
“Give me a minute!” Cloud said cocky before taking off.
“What do you know, presents and a show from Cloudy.” Vinyl watched her Jupitarian friend fly up to the clouds’ level.
“She’s sure as sugar spoilin’ us today,” Applejack commented cheerfully.
Cloud had landed on top of the largest rain cloud in the sky. She rolled her wrists and shoulders before focussing her weather magic in her hands which were now surrounded by a light, white haze. She halfway pushed her fingers into the cloud, and closed her eyes in concentration, her wings widely spread behind her back.
The cloud started to deform itself; slowly forming tentacle-like extensions which merged with the other rain clouds as soon as they came in contact with each other. Within the next thirty seconds, sky was occupied by one enormous, compact rain cloud.
Cloud snapped her eyes open while giving a powerful flap of her wings before making her hands do a quarter turn. The few inches around her hands suddenly passed from dark grey to pure white. In a matter of seconds, the white patch grew larger and larger, soon occupying the entire surface of the cloud before it started to dissipate itself into the air, just like when someone popped a soap bubble, letting the sun shine all over Sweet Apple Acres.
Satisfied with herself, Cloud flew back to her friends as their cousins were applauding her for saving the outdoor birthday party. She landed next to her friends, before making a short, reverential bow.
“This beautiful, sunny day has been given to you by the Amazing Future Weather Manager Cloud Kicker,” she said in a bragging tone.
“So much modesty in yer words, Cloudy,” Applejack commented.
“You’re settled on following your parents’ ‘wingflaps’ then?” Vinyl asked with curiosity.
“Ok, first of all, that’s a really bad wordplay coming from our class’ top student.” Vinyl childishly stuck her tongue out at her. “And, to answer your questions, it’s not like I could do something else with my abilities,” Cloud said matter-of-factly. “...or with my current GPA,” she added on a sourer note.
“It’s still higher than mine, Sugarcube,” Applejack stated casually.
“Yeah, well, your dream is to run Sweet Apple Acres,” Cloud pondered for a few moments. “Or to become the best rodeo woman in Equestria. Both of them don’t really require outstanding academic performances.”
“Anyway, Cloud, you could always become an escort,” Vinyl suggested with a devious grin. “Since you change dates as often as AJ breaks sandbags.”
“Hey! Ah don’t break sandbags as often as that!” Applejack shouted in offense.
“I don’t change partners as often as that, do I?” Cloud calmly scratched her chin in reflexion. “You know? Maybe I do...” She made a casual shrug. “Anyway that’s not important. Let’s focus on this party!” Cloud shouted excitedly.
“Good idea!” Applejack nodded before narrowing her eyes toward something behind Vinyl. “Ah think Bonnie and Lyra just arrived...”
“Uuurrghhh... I don’t have any strength left to finish that pie...” Bonnie leaned lazily on the back of the couch, her hand resting on her stomach with a nine tenths eaten slice of pie lying on a plate in front of her.
The double birthday party finished about an hour ago. Most of Applejack and Vinyl’s cousins took the train to get back to their homes, while the concerned party had moved to their barn-lounge with Cloud, Bonnie, Lyra and their older cousin, Fiddlesticks, to have an after party followed by a sleepover.
Vinyl and Lyra were enjoying the cello’s melody on the Apple’s new record in the corner of the barn while Applejack and Fiddlesticks had gone to look for blankets. Bonnie had decided to finish one of Granny Smith’s remaining apple pies, something that turned out to be too much for her to handle.
“Here, let me help you with that, Bonnie.” Cloud took a forkful of Bonnie’s pie before putting it in the concerned party’s mouth. “Now, chew!” Cloud chuckled while making her friend’s jaw move up and down with her hands.
“Ffankff...” Bonnie said, smiling through her mouthful. “You’re a real pal, Cloud.”
“Good to know ya consider a good friend whoever feeds ya, Bon,” Applejack chuckled as she walked back in the barn/lounge, her arms full of blankets she tossed on the nearest couch.
“Jealous much, AJ?” Cloud suggested playfully, still making Bonnie chew her pie with her hands.
“Hardly,” Applejack replied with a shrug. “Ah ain’t keen on being fed like a baby,”
“Hey! I’m not a baby!” Bonnie shouted.
“Great, you’re happy now, AJ?” Cloud asked playfully. “Now, she’s gonna be cranky all night long because you’ve upset her. It’s gonna mess up her sleep pattern.”
“Girls!” Fiddlesticks called as she entered the barn with a large case containing a lot of bottles and glasses, interrupting Bonnie’s retort. “Ah found the booze! Now, we can have fun!”
At that claim, Vinyl and Lyra quickly turned off the record player, and dashed on the nearest couch. Lyra chose to sit upside down, next to Bonnie, who just had to turn her head to have a pleasant conversation with the teal and white haired girl’s knees.
“Can’t you sit normally?” Bonnie asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“I didn’t come here to hear the same things my mother says all the time,” Lyra replied with a shrug. “Let’s drink!”
“Sure thing, Sugar, but first.” Applejack passed her hand under Lyra’s shoulder. “That’s ma spot.” Applejack suddenly lifted Lyra’s upper body off the couch.
“WAHAAAAA!” Lyra screamed in surprise as she was tossed over the couch’s back, landing behind it with a small thud. “Owwwie!”
“Did you have to do that?” Vinyl asked as Applejack sat in Lyra’s place next to Bonnie who was checking to see if Lyra was ok.
“It’s ma spot, and Ah like it,” Applejack explained with a shrug.
“You do know that only dogs have designated spots like that, right?” Cloud asked jokingly.
“Bon’, get down a little bit,” Applejack demanded softly.
Bonnie obediently lowered her head just enough to allow Applejack’s arm to extend above it. The blonde farm girl pushed Cloud’s face with her hand with a sufficient strength to make the Jupitarian to pass over the couch’s back. Another soft thud was heard from behind the couch, soon followed by two pained yelps. Apparently, Cloud had fallen on top of Lyra.
As soon as Cloud and Lyra recovered from being flipped over the couch by Applejack, Fiddlesticks started to serve some hard cider for the small group. As the alcohol started to be effective on the girls’ mind, except on Applejack who had a clearly superior tolerance to alcohol than the others, the drinking games began to replace the casual topics of conversation. Now the five girls were busy playing Never Have I Ever.
“Ok Bon-Bon, yer turn,” Applejack called after filling everyone’s glass.
“Bon-Bon?” Bonnie asked, tilting her head with curious frown. “That’s new....”
“Who cares about that?” Cloud asked impatiently. “Hit it, girl!”
“Alright, alright...hum... Never have I ever...” Bonnie’s eyes lit up with a malicious glint. “...made out with a girl.”
Without much surprise, Cloud swigged down a good portion of her glass. What took the other by surprise was Lyra doing it as well after casting a knowing smile at Cloud. A detail that didn’t go unnoticed.
“I sense there’s a story behind this,” Vinyl said with a devious grin.
“Not much of a story,” Cloud explained casually. “Lyra wanted to experiment, and I was willing to be her guinea pig.”
“Though, I’m a bit mad at her because of that,” Lyra said while badly faking her anger toward the blonde Jupitarian. “Now, I can’t kiss anyone without thinking about her,”
“Aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Cloud playfully ruffled Lyra’s teal hair. “I wasn’t that good.”
“Cloudy, you rocked my entire world with that kiss.” Lyra’s cheeks, already pink because of the alcohol, took a deep shade of crimson.
“Aww, come here, Sweetie!”
Cloud pulled Lyra into a deep and passionate kiss. The young lyrist’s face became even more crimson before she completely gave into the kiss, rolling her eyes with a long, pleased moan. When the contact with Cloud’s lips broke, Lyra mumbled a few incomprehensible words before she leaned back on the couch with a blissful smile.
“Hmmm!” Cloud licked her lips sensually. “Minty! Just like I remember.”
“If you want to take it further, CK, there’s another barn about two hundred meters away to the South,” Applejack suggested with a smirk.
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary. In my opinion, Lyra’s out of commission for the rest of the night,” Bonnie commented while poking at Lyra’s face, earning no reactions whatsoever.
“She must be rather impressionable for turning like that with just a kiss,” Fiddlesticks commented with a pinch of smug disdain.
“You can say that only because you haven’t tasted the huge blob of the sexiness that is our Cloud Kicker,” Lyra drunkenly affirmed before returning to her groggy state.
“I would have preferred another choice of words, but I get the compliment. Thanks!” Cloud remarked with a short chuckle.
“Anytime! Anytim....” Lyra muttered before instantly falling asleep on the couch, her high alcohol level and her grogginess from kissing Cloud having taken her last sparks of energy.
“Ok, hit me!” Fiddlesticks demanded to Cloud with determination. “She thinks no one can resist you, Ah’m gonna prove her wrong!”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Fiddle,” Vinyl warned with a knowing smirk.
“Yer bitin’ off more than ya can chew with her,” Applejack added, bearing the same smirk as her sister.
“Ah had ma share of experiences, girls,” Fiddle remarked boastfully. “It ain’t gonna be a youngster like her who’s gonna make me dizzy,”
“Your funeral,” Bonnie joked while tenderly putting a blanket on top of Lyra.
“Doesn’t that break the promise I made you two about me never doing things with your relatives couple of months ago?” Cloud asked to the birthday girls.
“Does she look like Big Macintosh to you?” Vinyl asked back. “Because that promise mainly concerns him.”
“Definitely not!” Cloud said with a low hungry tone as she gave a fiery glance at Fiddlesticks’ features.
The concerned party tried to hide her growing blush as the younger girl came closer, her confidence was rapidly falling apart under the burning purple gems that were Cloud’s eyes. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like a nineteen year old woman with experience. There was something about Cloud that made her feel like a first-timer. Maybe it had to do with the fact it was her first time with another girl. She didn’t get the time to think about it as Cloud’s lips locked hers.
The simple peck on the lips quickly become a very passionate French kissing session. Fiddlesticks completely lost it. Cloud’s lips and tongue were like a drug, she couldn’t get enough of them. All too soon, Cloud pulled her lips away, only to have Fiddlesticks grabbing the back of her head to pull them back. That didn’t seem to bother Cloud much though.
Their passionate kissing lasted for a minute or two before it was interrupted by a loud stomp that startled them both. They looked at the rest of the group, finally remembering they weren’t alone, to see Applejack’s booted foot on top of the coffee table which had now short cracks on its surface, much to Vinyl’s displeasure.
“Rude much, AJ?” Cloud asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“Well, excuse me for stopping ya two on yer road to bangin’ right in front of us,” Applejack replied with a chuckle, ignoring Vinyl’s complaints about the state of the coffee table.
“Come on, I know you have zero experience in that domain AJ, but seriously, HOW can you mix up kissing and banging?” Cloud asked in disbelief.
“Ah ain’t mixin’ up things.” Applejack shook her head. “Ah’ll say the fact that Fiddle’s hands are under yer top makes it pretty obvious of what would have happened if I hadn’t interrupted y’all.”
“Her hands?”
“Ma hands?”
They both looked down and noticed with surprise that Fiddlesticks’ hands were indeed under Cloud’s t-shirt, her right at the level of her breasts and the left on her lower back. Fiddlesticks, her face now bright red of embarrassment, backpedaled away from Cloud, eliciting the drunken laughter of the other three.
“Well, well, well, you sure are a stealthy, horny type of gal.” Cloud stated with a chuckle while replacing her t-shirt normally. “We’ll see the extent of the horny part a bit later in the barn AJ mentioned earlier,” she whispered to Fiddlesticks’ ear in a low, sensual purr.
“...O..Ok!” Fiddlesticks nodded slowly.
The group, minus Lyra who was still sleeping like a log, went back to the game with, as sole difference compared to before, Fiddlesticks holding onto Cloud like a needy cat. That didn’t faze the other three at all. It had been a bit weird when Cloud started to occasionally bring her dates along whenever they went out, or whenever they had a get-together, but it stopped bothering them quickly enough.
The two Apples didn’t mind their cousin’s behavior. They knew better than to question the attitude of those who had been exposed to their friend’s weird, sexy, magical aura, -Applejack had found that name- and on top of things, Fiddlesticks was three years older than them. Granny Smith had always taught them to not mingle into their elders’ business, Macintosh being the only exception they ever made to that rule.
The game continued for about an hour. And with what Cloud had done to Lyra and Fiddle, the game quickly changed to a kinkier version. At some point, a rather annoyed Applejack interrupted the game.
“Can we stop with those ‘first times, lovers and all that’ type of questions?” she asked angrily. “Ah’d like to drink at some point!” She pointed at her glass which had been left untouched for about forty minutes.
“It’s not our fault if you’re way more prude than everyone of us, Sis,” Vinyl mocked her sister.
“Ya, ah ain’t speakin’ to ya no more!” Applejack affirmed with a pout.
“Tone it down a notch, you’re gonna wake Lyra up,” Bonnie quietly warned.
“What did I do so that you don’t want to speak to me anymore?” Vinyl asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“How come ya never told me that yer first kiss was with Neon of all people?” Applejack asked with an offended tone, referring to one of the earlier revelations that had occurred because of the drinking game.
“Because I knew you’d freak out like that, maybe?” Vinyl suggested with a roll of her eyes.
“Called it would have happened by the way!” Cloud said to Bonnie. “Send me the money you owe me, Bon-Bon!”
“I’m liking this nickname more and more,” Bonnie said casually before opening her bit bag. “We had said fifty bits on Vinyl’s first kiss or sixty? I don’t remember well.”
“Lyra!” Cloud called to the sleeping mass at her right. “Vinyl’s first kiss: fifty or sixty bits?”
“Sixty!” Lyra grunted in a sleepy whisper before instantly retreating in the arms of Luna.
“So much for not waking her up,” Bonnie muttered angrily as she started to count her bits for Cloud.
“Thanks, Lyra.” Cloud noticed Fiddlesticks’ puzzled look. “Lyra’s sorta the bookie of our little group,” she explained matter-of-factly.
“How could you have kissed him? He was such a bully when we were kids!” Applejack shouted.
“Yes, he was! WAS, AJ, as in ‘the simple past of the verb to be’!” Vinyl explained angrily. “He apologized for his past behaviors many years ago, and I forgave him.”
“Maybe, but how did y’all end up kissing?”
“We became friends when I started to get interested in music, and he must have developed some sort of a crush on me after that,” Vinyl supposed. “As for the kiss, he told me he might have feelings for me before he had to go to Trottingham with his family. I wasn’t sure about what to do, so I kissed him to figure his and my feelings out, end of the story!” Vinyl explained matter-of-factly. “Since he told me in his latest letter that he had found a girlfriend over there, you can guess what was the conclusion of that kiss.”
“You’re not jealous?” Bonnie asked with curiosity.
“Not one bit,” Vinyl replied honestly. “There wasn’t any … I don’t know... magic in that kiss we shared. It was just not bad. I’m actually glad he found someone who likes him like that. He deserves it.”
“Bon-Bon, it’s Applejack who’s the jealous one because she hasn’t had her first kiss yet.” Cloud said jokingly.
Bonnie, Fiddlesticks and Vinyl giggled at that statement while Applejack’s ears became bright red of embarrassment.
“So what? Ah’m waitin’ for my special someone instead of rushin’ it like y’all,” Applejack defended herself uneasily. “Beside, Ah got time! Big Mac’s three years older than me, and he never had any girlfriends.”
“Well, no offense, cuz, but yer big brother ain’t really a model to follow in that regard,” Fiddlesticks chimed in casually.
“True,” Vinyl admitted. “He’s all quiet and shy... Not exactly the lady killer type of guy.”
“Though he’s quite fetching,” Bonnie commented casually. “Big, strong, rather well endowed.... I’m talking about his muscles,” she added quickly when Vinyl and Applejack glared at her. “I couldn’t possibly know what his…thing’s size would be.”
“I know someone who should know!” Lyra emerged from her sleep, though her gaze was still sleepy and unfocused. “Cloudy should know, since her first time was with Big Mac!”
“WHAT?!” Vinyl and Applejack asked simultaneously, staring at Lyra in disbelief while Cloud froze with her eyes wide open in shock.
“Well, I saw them going out of one of the barns the day after we celebrated the end of the school year and Cloud’s birthday,” Lyra drunkenly explained. “She had Mac’s shirt on because she couldn’t find her top anymore. She saw me and we talked for a bit... But I don’t remember if she said anything about his size though.... You should ask her, Bonnie, but don’t say anything to Vinyl and Applejack!”
Lyra waved her finger as a warning gesture, not realizing she was waving at Fiddlesticks instead of Bonnie, or that Vinyl and Applejack were just a meter away from her. The next things that happened were a feathery, purple blur that flew through the barn’s door before closing it, only for it to be broken open by an angry Applejack with Vinyl right on her heels.
The sounds of the crashing door, angry shouts, pleas for AJ and Vinyl to calm down and a small boom characteristic of Vinyl’s Applebucking spell were more than enough to sober and completely wake Lyra up. Bonnie slowly clapped her hands with a dark stare directed at her teal and white haired friend who looked at the ground in shame.