//------------------------------// // Here Comes the Sun // Story: Hey, It's Me // by TwilightUCrazy //------------------------------// Rainbow awoke to the lingering smell of green apples, cinnamon, and a faint hint of morning breath. Her magenta eyes cracked open as the sun started peering in through the closed shades, speckling the far wall with morning’s light, and breaking the dark gray monotony of the room. Thin traces of color became visible as day returned again. For Rainbow, it could have stayed night forever if it meant the cowgirl laying in her embrace, arms wrapped around her shoulders, would stay sleeping there like the princess from the stories. She felt her cheek against her neck. Her hands clutched at her t-shirt. Her bare leg brushed past her thigh and made her shiver. She loathed that she had to watch the day unfold. Seconds turned into minutes, and Applejack was still fast asleep, or at least showed no signs of waking. She rested her cheek against her blonde hair and softly nuzzled the soft, sweet-smelling locks with her nose. “Why’d you have to be so pretty?” she whispered above the silence, gazing affectionately at the smaller girl. She brought up a hand and gently ran it through the blonde tresses, carving small swaths through the golden terrain and eliciting a pleasant smile. A chuckle shook Rainbow by the belly, and she wrapped her arms protectively around her, becoming her human fortress. It disturbed the blonde and caused her to stir. Her green eyes opened as the sun rose higher and caused a ray of light to brush past the corner of her eye. Her brow wrinkled as she tried to block out the unwelcome intruder of her dreams, and buried her head deeper into her neck, trying to return to sleep. Knowing, however, that she couldn’t count on her friend to just happily sleep there all day, no matter how badly she wanted her to, she softly shook the farmgirl in attempt to rouse her. “C’mon, Tig Bitties,” she whispered. “Up and at ‘em.” Rainbow felt a bit queer having woken up before the crack-of-dawn Applejack. Not that she could rightly blame her. Alcohol could do that to a person. And given how hard she tended to work, there was no shortage of sympathy on her behalf. She knew if anyone deserved a rest, it was her AJ, but she knew she’d be mad at her if she let her sleep in too long. A glimpse at the clock. 7:09. Applejack stirred again and yawned, and her eyes suddenly darted wide open. Her green gaze swiveled rapidly around the room to give her her bearings. A quick sigh escaped her lips when she remembered where she was. “Morning, Sunshine,” she said cutely, squeezing the smaller girl in her arms. Applejack grunted uncomfortably and wiggled for a moment. “How the blue hell didja wake up before me…?” she grumbled, nuzzling back down into the crook of her neck. “The prize at the bottom of every bottle of liquor,” Rainbow said, grinning widely. “A sucky morning after. Trust me, I know.” “You probably do…” Applejack muttered, closing her eyes again as if to sleep more. “God, my head is killin’ meeeee…” Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash softly rubbed the back of her neck. “Want some Tylenol or something? Glass of water would probably help the most…” “Sleep…” she said with her eyes shutting tight insistently. “Just need sleep.” “Well, you can laze around if you want to,” she said, feeling a bit giddy to be the one to say that for a change, “I’m gonna go make some coffee.” Her remark earned her a scowl as she rose up from the bed and crossed over to the door. She paused there and turned back towards the bed. “You sure you don’t want any-?” “Coffee. Lots of it. Black. Nothing else. Just black.” She paused. “With extra blackness.” Rainbow grinned. “Ah, going over to the dark side on me, huh?” Her friend said nothing and lowered her head into her arms so that only her eyes showed. “Hey AJ,” she said, prompting the farmgirl to open an eye, “you sure you don’t want some milk with it?” she asked, groping her fingers suggestively. Applejack raised her hand from the bed, and the middle finger from her palm. She cackled as she ran off to the kitchen. Yanking open the pantry door, she pulled out a light-feeling container of coffee grounds and blinked, popping open the lid. There was enough for two, maybe three cups if she made it a light brew. Scowling at the prospect of going grocery shopping on a Sunday, Rainbow loaded up the coffeemaker and leaned back against the counter. The idea didn’t strike her for several moments as she rested her head against the hanging cupboards, softly pounding her head back against the wood. Thoughts last night had been all about what she and Applejack could do today. This would be her one good day this weekend to do all the crap she had wanted to do, and all she wanted to do was get an afternoon in with Applejack, preferably just the two of them. Rainbow’s mind percolated alongside the coffee. Just how was one supposed to make shopping fun, anyway? Buying a tub of coffee wasn’t exactly a thrill-a-minute endeavor. Then it came to her. She blinked and a small smile graced her lips, just as the aroma of Folger’s penetrated the last of vestiges of the apartment. “Now, that’s an idea,” she said aloud, grinning. “What’s an idea?” Applejack asked grumpily behind her, scratching her frumpy mess of hair. If there was one thing Rainbow could appreciated, it was how beautiful her friend looked in the morning. If anything, her hair was more uncontrollable than hers was, and she certainly didn’t envy the blonde for its length. It must have been a nightmare to get it in a ponytail every morning. The farmgirl scuffed her feet against the carpet and slapped against the tile floor as she immediately grabbed a mug from the cabinet. “You don’t have ideas,” she sassed. “I do too!” Rainbow jabbed back. She bit her lip. “They’re not always good ideas, but I do have ‘em.” “That’s the problem right there,” she said, leaning her skimpily-clad (and adorable) butt against her countertop. “You ain’t never got any good ones. So by extension,” Applejack smirked playfully, winking at her, “you don’t have ideas.” “A bad idea’s still an idea…” she muttered. “Besides, my idea is to go shopping and get some stuff.” Her friend glimpsed to the empty container on the counter. “Oh, this Ah gotta see…” Rainbow blinked and scowled her direction, heart skipping a beat. “What?” “You… havin’ responsibilities…” Applejack grinned at her. God, she loved it when she grinned. “Hey! I’m responsible!” She paused. “Usually…” “And when’s the last time you went to the store?” the farmgirl asked, taking a sip of her mug as she stepped over to the fridge and yanked it open. “Uhh…” The milk was spoiled and separated, there were hardly any slices of cheese or good fruit left, something rotten sat in the container near the back, and all the veggies in the crisper were starting to invade the rest of the icebox with the mold they’d cultivated. So it wasn’t exactly a prime situation… “Mah God, Rainbow!” her friend gaped. “A dog wouldn’t take a crap in this fridge!” “Well, duh,” she shrugged. “Fridges are cold. They’d probably rather crap where it’s warm…” Applejack craned her neck and frowned at her, taking a long drink of her coffee and finishing it before running some water over it and depositing it in the sink. She went off towards the bathroom. “Hey! Where are you goin’?” The blonde shouted, “Ah can’t rightly let you live like this, Rainbow.” *** Applejack sat back on her haunches with a sigh and ran the back of her arm through her sweat-soaked bangs. Rainbow sat somewhere behind her off to her side. The bad contents sat in a pile all around the two, and the farmgirl reached into the back for the container containing what turned out to be old orange chicken from a Chinese place. Her friend scowled at it and pitched it straight into the garbage. “Hey, I coulda picked at that!” Turning her head towards her, Applejack gave her a look. “You must have a cast-iron stomach or somethin’, sugar…” she grunted as she scraped away at the spot the container had been seated on with the bleach-soaked pad. “Actually, that’s how I come up with some of my absences…” Rainbow grinned. “You serious?” she asked, throwing the pad into the bucket sitting next to her, blowing her blonde bangs out of her eyes. “Yer the only person Ah know who would eat rotten food rather than go to class.” “Eh, usually only when I really, really don’t wanna go.” Applejack grimaced. “Yer disgustin’.” “Ah, that’s nothin’. You wanna know what I do when I run out of toilet paper?” Her green eyes bulged and she made an apprehensive sneer as she finished her last sweep of the crisper. “Ah think Ah’ll pass…” “What? I use Kleenex!” she grinned evilly. “What’d you think I was gonna say?” “Somethin’ gross and childish.” Applejack slid the crisper shut and sighed, pitching all the bad stuff and finally bringing the fridge door to a close. Rainbow pouted and leaned up against her friend. “You know, now I owe you something.” Her friend leaned her head back and looked up at her with a twisted smirk that spoke of equal parts annoyance and amusement. “You don’t owe me nothin’,” she said. “Just consider it payback for lettin’ me stay the night and keep from getting’ in trouble.” “Are you sure?” she asked, frowning at her friend. “That doesn’t sound right.” “Trust me, sugar, if’n Ah just wanted to put ya in a bind, Ah woulda done something a lot grosser than this.” Rainbow smiled sweetly as she could and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl just beneath her chest. “So we’re even?” she asked, perking an eyebrow. “Reckon so.” “Then let me do something for both of us…” she said, gently bouncing her friend’s chest beneath her arms. Applejack smirked and glanced back. “This got anything to do with yer idea?” she asked playfully, poking her in the ribs with her elbow “Shopping,” she said suddenly. Her friend blinked and looked over her shoulder at her. “Beg pardon?” “Let me take us shopping. Come on. You and me. Up to the city for a few hours. I need to get groceries, anyway,” she said through her most charming smile. “We could grab some lunch together, look at things – y’know, do stuff.” Applejack furrowed her brow. “Rainbow, Ah really should be gettin’ home and helpin’ around on the farm. “Awww, come on, AJ,” she whined pitifully, squeezing her close. “How long’s it been since we got to hang out alone together?” A pause. “You mean besides the dance and last night?” “You were drunk, so last night doesn’t count!” she huffed. “Ah dunno, sugar,” the farmgirl smirked, reaching up and ruffling her multihued hair, “Ah’d say me bein’ drunk still counts fer somethin’, even if ya didn’t get me in bed the way ya wanted,” she teased. Rainbow made a face to disguise the blush creeping into her cheeks. “Now you’re just being a smartass…” “One of us has to be at all times, darlin’,” Applejack winked again. She could feel the chuckle in the farmgirl’s belly through her arms. “AJ…” she whimpered, resting her cheek against her shoulder. Her friend looked back at her and bit her lip. Rainbow wore her saddest expression she could manage without going full-blown pitiful. Don’t make me do pitiful… “Rainbow, quit lookin’ at me like that. Ah’ve got stuff Ah need to do. Maybe next time.” DON’T make me do pitiful… Rainbow quivered her lip. “Oh, c’mon, sugar. Don’t do that… you know Ah would if Ah could…” her friend begged. Applejack must have known what was coming the way she flinched away, trying not to look at her. Oh, she made me do pitiful. Rainbow jutted out her lower lip and narrowed her eyes to give the appearance she could break down and cry at any moment if she didn’t like the next words she heard. Her crying, while rare, was a terrible and deadly thing to behold. Applejack sighed and leaned back in her arms, smiling sadly at her. “Alright… fine,” she muttered. Her own smile returned the next instant and she glomped her friend to the floor. “Good choice!” “Ah’m gonna kind of need somethin’ to wear though. It ain’t like Ah brought sleepover stuff with me,” she said, elbowing her softly in the stomach and stealing the wind from her lungs. “No problem!” Rainbow chirped, pulling herself off the floor and walking over to the dryer. She dug into the machine and held up an old, familiar set of clothes. Applejack frowned. “Found ‘em, huh?” “Yup!” “And how long’d ya leave ‘em in there?” she asked, grabbing them from her hands and holding them up in front of her. “They’re all wrinkled.” She glared over them at her. “And Ah’m guessin’ you don’t have an iron.” Rainbow fidgeted nervously. “And they shrunk!” “Eheheh… yeah, sorry about that,” she lied.