“What do you mean you two were already married?!?” Pinkie yelled as she jumped up and pointed an accusatory finger at Applejack. “Was there a party? Was I not invited?!”
Applejack was shaking as she tried to hold back the laughter that was building inside of her. “Nah Pinkie.” she said. “There wasn’t a party, but it was supposed to be a surprise. Ah guess Dash never remembered to tell ya’ll though.”
“Well do tell darling!” Rarity said, failing to hide her excitement.
“It’s not really that big a deal. It’s not like we’re in some crazy romance story where Dash and ah went on a big adventure or something.” Applejack said with a shrug. “We were in Manehattan, she was helping me with a Cider delivery.” she paused and smiled softly. “She didn’t really help much t’be honest, she mostly drank the extra cider ah packed. Anyway, we took a walk around the city after the delivery. Y’all know how Dash was, making decisions on the spot and never thinking twice about ‘em.” The group nodded in agreement, aside from Twilight. “So when she saw one of those fancy love chapels, she pretty much dragged me into it and that’s the end of that story.”
“Wait, then why did you have a big ceremony if y’all was already married sis?” Applebloom pipped in.
Aj sighed. “That was all Dash again. She had this idea that, since our family is pretty old fashioned, ah’d want a big ol’ wedding with a flowing dress and all the family around. Funny thing is, ah couldn’t care less. Ah just...ah just wanted to be with her.”
The feeling in the room suddenly became very melancholy, frowns adorning everyones face and Pinkies hair becoming a bit less poofy.
Suddenly Scootaloo got a look of extreme happiness on her face. She stood up suddenly and yelled “Applebloom!” before jumping at the other girl, pulling her down into a hug.
“Aaaah!” Applebloom yelled as she was dragged down onto the floor and squeezed. “What? What is it?”
Scootaloo pulled back enough to look the girl in the face but never let go of her. “Don’t you get it? If they actually did get married, then that means we’re sisters!”
It took a moment, but everyone could see the girls eyes widen in realization as she hugged her new sister back and squealed in joy.
“Aww, I wish I had a sister.” Sweetiebelle said from her seat on the floor, receiving an nudge from Rarity who cleared her throat annoyingly. “Oh, right.” Sweetie said nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.
Applejack smiled at the events. “Ah thought you all knew, or at least you Scootaloo. Ah thought that’s why you kept visiting.”
Scootaloo, who had now released Applebloom from her arms, shook her head in the negative. “Rainbow Dash never told any of us. I kept visiting because Applebloom was one of my best friends.” she suddenly got a thoughtful expression. “And, well, I liked being around you too Aj. You were always really nice to me when I was a kid. You and Rainbow Dash were like two halves of the same person, the same big sister. Rainbow Dash was there to root me on whenever I tried to do something, and you were there to pick me up when I fell.” She paused as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. “I already lost one of my sisters, I didn’t want to lose the other.”
The other six people in the room watched as Aj suddenly grabbed Scootaloo in a hug, similar to the one she had just given Applebloom. “You have no idea what that means to me.” Applejack said, her voice quivering slightly.
The group let the two comfort each other for a bit longer, until Twilight broke the silence.
“Aj, there’s been something I wanted to ask you since I first learned about Rainbow Dash.” Twilight asked a bit shyly.
“Shoot Twi.” Aj said.
“Well, first off. you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.” she started, causing everyone to feel a sense of curiosity towards her question. “Like you said, your family is very old fashioned. How did they react to you wanting to be with another girl?” she finally managed to ask.
From the corner of her eye, Applejack saw the frown form on both Scootaloo and Appleblooms faces. She wasn’t exactly smiling herself. “Twi, that’s not really something ah like to talk about. But let me tell you, it wasn’t easy on either of us.”
Twilight couldn’t imagine what the two had to deal with. Ponyville was a small town filled with a lot of old fashioned people. Sure, they were generally open-minded, but if the media was any indication, same-sex marriages were a sore topic in many places recently. “Well, I’d just like to apologize for anything that might have transpired back then. If I were here, I’d have done nothing but wish you the best.”
Applejack smiled at her friend. “C’mere Twi.” she said as she waved the book worm over. Twilight stepped over to the girl and was immediately grabbed in one of the hugs that seemed to be so prevalent in this sleepover. “Ah appreciate what you’re saying, but don’t think ah haven’t noticed how you keep bringing up the fact you were gone when everything happened.” Applejack said knowingly. “Nothing would have changed if you were here Twi, not to sound rude or anything.”
Twilight frowned. “I know that, but I would have liked to have been there for you.” She looked around to all of her friends. “Any of you. Any problems any of you have had, I wish I would have been here to help you through them. I was gone for eight years! I missed seeing the girls grow,” she said, referring to Applebloom and Sweetiebelle. “for fucks sake, I missed seeing one of my best friends find the love of their life! What makes it all worse is that I couldn’t even be bothered to send a lousy letter or make a call!”
Twilight ended her little outburst with a sigh. Fluttershy was the first to speak up, surprisingly.
“Uhm, Twilight? It’s true that I could have used a bit more help when I first opened my shelter, I wouldn’t have wanted you to stop doing what you were doing to help me.” she said softly.
“Yea!” Pinkie pie exclaimed loudly. “When the Cakes had their babies and I had to run the store by myself for a while, it was hard and I could have used help, but it also made me really really happy that they trusted me so much.”
“I agree Twilight.” Rarity said with a flick of her hair. “When I opened my boutique, it was a bit hard getting customers. Ponyville is such a small town after all. I would have loved if I had more help spreading the word around.” she said before pulling Sweetiebelle into a soft hug. “But young Sweetiebelle here helped in a big way. Telling all her friends at school about her sister being a fashion designer seemed like such a small feat at first, but she caught the eye of a certain regular client of mine during career day, and I couldn’t be more grateful.” The fashionista then let a devious little grin spread across her face. “Of course, if you hadn’t have gone to Canterlot, that would also mean I wouldn’t have met my darling Spikey-Wikey.” she cooed while Sweetiebelle made a face of disgust.
Twilight giggle a bit at that. She couldn’t deny that she had always felt a bit guilty about leaving her friends behind, but it seems like they did just fine without her. From behind her, Twilight could hear Applejack clear her throat.
“Now we won’t say that we didn’t miss you Twi, ‘cuz that’d be the biggest lie ah ever heard, but we were happy when you left. You were always the smart one, nose stuck in a book all day. It was nice to see that pay off. You left for Canterlot and we knew you’d do great things.” Applejack said with the most sincere smile that Twilight saw on her face since she arrived. “Why, ah still remember one of the letters you sent me. You said you were studying to be a teacher. Ah tell you Twi, we couldn’t be more proud of you. Don’t feel guilty about nothing.”
Twilight laughed, remembering when she wrote that letter to Applejack all those years ago. It was one of the last letters she had sent to any of them, and she was so excited to tell people what she had decided she wanted to do with her life after being so confused about it for so long. “I’m so glad to hear that from you all.” she said as she felt like a weight was lifted off of her body.
Sweetiebelle spoke up after so long. “Wait, Twilight, you were studying to be a teacher?” she asked, receiving a happy nod in response. “Since you moved back to Ponyville, does that mean you’ll be our teacher?”
Twilight took a moment to think about it. “Hmm let’s see. You girls are going into the seventh grade, right?” Twilight asked the girls now intently staring at her.
“Eyup.” Applebloom stated with a proud smile.
“Well in that case, starting next year, I’ll be your new English teacher!” Twilight exclaimed.
All three girls started cheering and giggling with happiness, liking the thought of being personal friends with a teacher.
“Hey wait.” Sweetiebelle said as she stopped laughing suddenly. “Scootaloo, what are you so excited about? Your school is in Cloudsdale.”
The girl in question quickly covered her mouth and looked to Applejack with eyes that read ‘help?’
Applejack laughed. “Can’t keep a secret huh?” she mocked the girl who only angrily blew some hair from her eyes. “Scootaloo over here will be moving back to Ponyville when school finishes. Her old man is retiring and wants to relax in the place that means most to him.” she said solemnly, knowing first-hand why the small town meant so much to the man.
Twilight knowingly placed a hand on Applejacks shoulder as the younger girls all began to hug each other and speak in, what to Twilight sounded like gibberish. She was able to make out that they were making plans to start a band and they needed a name. The older girl only rolled her eyes. ‘We weren’t anything like that growing up right?’ she asked herself.
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. All attention was drawn to Spike, who had come down in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else.
“Can you girls keep it down a bit? I’m pretty tired.” he said.
Most voices rang out in a “Sorry Spike”, but one distinct voice was missing.
Twilight looked to see Rarity staring, open mouthed, at her friends body. “Rarity, heel.” she said demandingly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the house and causing the fair-skinned beauty to blush a deep red.
They all had a laugh at Raritys expense, except her, and Spike who was too tired to really understand what was happening. He shook his head and turned to walk back up the stairs, giving the fashionista a look at the toned back you couldn’t tell he had with his clothes on.
Rarity began to fan herself with her hand. “I believe Spike is right, I’m sure we are all pretty tired, maybe we should go to sleep?” she asked, getting laughs from her friends and curious looks from the younger girls.
“Alright, ya’ll heard Rarity.” Applejack said “It’s time for bed, so get back upstairs and sleep tight.”
The three girls were about to argue about how they weren't tired, but a yawn from each of them destroyed the argument before it began. With sleepy waves, the pre-teens walked upstairs to Twilights room while the other five friends wished each other a good night and finally reached the ‘sleep’ part of the sleepover.