Three Worlds- Chapter Seven
"Cupcakes and Clubhouses"
Author: Blue Eyed Melloon
MLP- Hasbro
The classroom was quiet except for the scraping of pencils across paper. One foal paused to scratch his eraser across his forehead in thought before scribbling something down quickly before the answer escaped his grasp. The air was stuffy despite the open window on the left side of the room; the curtains barely fluttered with a late autumn breeze to counteract the thick sunlight. The teacher was a mare colored a bright shade of purple. The three smiling flowers from her flank lent cause to her name. Cheerilee carefully walked up and down the aisles, patrolling against cheaters among her honest students. The clock ticked slowly, the second counting hand lazily strolling from one dash to another around and around in an endless cycle. She eyed one student across the room.
This one was staring off at the wall next to her, counting the lines she could see in the wooden structure of the schoolhouse through half lidded eyes. Her cowpony hat was hung off the side of her desk, covering up the saddlebags that everypony brought their school books in. The gathered blonde tail swung from side to side in time with the tick, tick of the clock, and she ignored the fly that waddled across her paper under her orange hoof.
As Cheerilee rounded the front of the aisle, she tapped a hoof on the floor, saying “Alright my little ponies, time’s up! Please hand in your paper as you walk out of the door.” The filly started, raising up off of her hoof and staring at the before her as if she was seeing it for the first time. The fly as startled into flight, and she swatted at it in irritation. Fillies and colts began to slide from their desks, pulling their saddlebags off of the hooks and dropping pencils into pencil cases for the trip home.
Cheerilee placed a basket on the floor, and the students shuffled past, dropping their paper into the wicker basket and bidding their teacher goodbye with various levels of enthusiasm. The classroom silence was replaced with student jabbering away about the quiz.
“What did you get for number four?”
“32. But I think I carried it over wrong.”
“I got 75.”
“Oh man, I’m gonna ace this thing!”
Suddenly the sunshine was no longer a distraction. It was welcomed by the released foals as they parted ways to go home or clumped together to visit Sugarcube Corner or to gaze at the pretty new dresses from Brass Button’s boutique.
Applejack stumbled to the basket, placing her sparsely written paper in the basket with the others. Cheerilee eyed the paper disapprovingly and said “Applejack are you alright? You seem distant. Is everything ok at home?”
Cheerilee hated to think that the Apple family was running into trouble. Applejack looked up at her concerned teacher with forced enthusiasm and said “Oh Miss Cheeriliee, I’m fine! I jus’…didn’t get much sleep last night. Yeah, that’s it. Big Mac has a cold an’ he’s been coughin’ up a storm all night.” The filly grinned sheepishly, and the adult mare gave her a disbelieving look. This was obviously a lie. Why, she had seen Big Mac in Mrs. Rose Hip’s class just yesterday and he looked as healthy as….well, a horse!
She let out a sigh, scratching a leg with the opposite hoof. “Well..alright Applejack, I believe you.” Applejack sighed in relief, then pushed the smile back onto her face when Cheerilee’s face drew close.
“Just know, if you need anything you can always talk to me.”
“Thanks Miss Cheerilee! I’ll see you on Monday!” Applejack sprinted for the door, almost losing her hat in her haste to escape the mare’s claustrophobic attention. She watched the filly run away over the hill back to her farm. Cheerilee sighed, shuffling the papers in the basket together to form a more orderly stack. The teaching mare wasn’t the only pony to see the orange apple filly run away. A certain bouncy shadow appeared from underneath the window and, with surprising stealth considering her over abundance of enthusiasm; she tailed the farm pony home.
Applejack wasn’t exactly going home. Sure, she was running down the road that lead straight to her front door, but at the start of the apple orchards she turned into the forest of fruit, galloping in between rows of trees toward the clubhouse. It looked the same as it always had; beaten up. The window panes were in shambles; the paint was discolored and faded. The door was the only new piece on the exterior of the clubhouse. After an incident involving a young friend of Big Mac, he and his younger sister decided that a lock was necessary to hide their secret.
The filly traipsed up the ramp to the clubhouse door, and kicked at it gently. Once, twice, three times. There was a shuffling sound, and metal sliding on wood as the latch was undone. Applejack pushed the door open, and smiled at Fluttershy as she kicked the door shut again.
The inside of the clubhouse was considerably nicer than the outside. Pale blue paint had been hastily tossed on the walls to give it a more home-like feel. Along with the bookshelf, a rough, low table and a slightly discolored rug had been added. The sleeping bag that Fluttershy received on her first night was supplemented with multiple pillows deftly swiped from the guest room and closets as well as an additional blanket incase it started to get cold. They were neatly stacked in the corner by one of the windows. Curtains were hung slightly lopsided on the windows. All in all, it was pleasing to the eye.
Pleasing, considering it was essentially a prison.
Applejack waved to the Pegasus that occupied a portion of the rug. She was reading a book, pink mane cascading over her shoulders and obscuring one eye. Fluttershy had spent the better part of a month living in Applejack’s clubhouse, but it honestly felt like a lot less to the grounded Pegasus. After Applejack and her brother had explained the feelings of earth ponies toward pegasi, all three parties agreed that she would be safest if she stayed in the clubhouse at all times. But after two weeks of being cooped up in one room save for the trips to the outhouse some yards from the front door, Fluttershy felt like she was going to lose her mind. Big Macintosh had found her curled up in the corner of the room sobbing, and he decided that as long as she was careful and wore a pony jacket over her wings, she could wander the area around the clubhouse.
So Fluttershy began to explore the apple orchard, calming herself among the trees and enjoying the feeling of the wind on her face again. The next two weeks were uneventful. Big Mac brought her books to read, and at least one of them visited her every day. When a storm hit, Applejack braved the rain to make sure that the shutters were secure so that Fluttershy wouldn’t get soaked. She was continually amazed at the kindness of the two foals. They didn’t treat her like a fugitive or a monster because of her wings. These two were just like..friends.
Fluttershy looked up from her book and smiled, saying “Oh, hello Applejack. How is your day going?” She flipped the book closed, and rose to her feet, stretching stiff muscles. Applejack sat next to her and said “Ah, it’s goin’ ok. How about you sugarcube? Are you alright?”
Fluttershy’s smiled faltered for just an instant before it returned. “Oh, I’m fine. This place is…nice.”
Applejack stared at her friend. “Are ya sure you’re alright? You don’t…miss home or anythin?”
The yellow pony shuddered, thinking once again of her cloud home. She missed her parents dearly. She imagined her mother would have stopped wondering if she was coming home by now. Her dad would be back at work in the Weather Factory. There was no way they would let him take a month off of work, even if his daughter was missing. Life would return to its routine in her cloud home, her part in it would just…disappear.
Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes, but she quickly lowered her head to hide her eyes with her soft pink mane. Applejack saw this as a sign of distress, and placed a hoof onto the other’s shoulder. “Aw it’s alright Fluttershy. You can be sad if you want to. Why, if I was away from my folks for as long as you have been I’d be fit to be tied.”
Fluttershy didn’t really understand the cowpony’s figure of speech, but she assumed that it had to do with being upset over losing family. She let the barrier fall, and with it came the tears; slowly as first, but gathering speed as they traced wet lines down her lightly furred cheeks. Her hoof ran across her cheek, smudging the lines into an overall damp face. Applejack smiled, drawing Fluttershy close. It was difficult considering the Pegasus filly was slightly larger than she, but her foreleg could still make it around her back in a sideways hug. The butter colored pony sniffed, and gazed at the orange filly next to her with tear stained eyes.
“I’m sorry.” She said softly, shuddering. “I just….I miss my home. I wish I could fly better so I could go back. Not that this place isn’t wonderful though! You and Big Mac have done so much for me.” She backpedaled over her words, feeling as if she had slighted her two earth pony friends. Applejack smiled, and released her side, saying “Naw it’s natural for you to want to go home. And as soon as me an’ Big Mac can figure it out, we will getcha back to yer house as quick as can be.”
A crash interrupted their conversation. Fluttershy jumped nearly a foot into the air while Applejack leapt to her feet. A shadow outline appeared on the curtain of the window next to the ramp. Two filly hearts beat wildly as the shadow disappeared behind the solid mass of the door.
Oh no, I forgot to lock the door!
The same door banged open, revealing the sun and a figure. Fluttershy noticed that the pony was rather small, and practically vibrated in their spot. Applejack saw the wild mane and stamped her hoof, practically shouting “Pinkie Pie! What in the hay are you doin’ here!?”
The figure moved, and Fluttershy saw that this Pinkie Pie was indeed very pink. Her mane and tail were tossed and twisted with wild abandon, but the thing that held her attention the longest was that she had her mouth open. Not just open, but open enough that the Pegasus was sure she could sit comfortably inside without having to duck.
“HHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The gasp was loud, almost annoying so. The open mouth was closed and replaced with an equally impossible grin that made her eyes crinkle up into almost nothing, and she seemed to levitate off the ground to where Fluttershy sat cowering. Pinkie Pie completely ignored Applejack’s question, choosing to flicker from place to place, picking up Fluttershy’s hoof or playing with her long tail. All the while, a stream of chatter clattered from her smile.
“Ohmygosh ohmygosh who are you!? Look at your mane! It’s so soft and pink! And how do you keep your hooves so clean? I guess you wash them but still! They look like they could sparkle in the sun.” the hyper filly considered dragging the yellow filly over to the window to test whether or not her hooves would shine in the sun before her eyes fastened on the pair of wings at her back.
Those blue eyes practically exploded into firecrackers and she roughly pulled one wing up, despite Fluttershy’s stammered protests and squeaks. Pinkie Pie flexed the wing and blew on the feathers, causing Fluttershy to squeal and attempt to pull her wing back under her control. Applejack stamped her hoof again, flustered, and tried to gain control of the newcomer by pulling on her fluffy tail. Pinkie Pie allowed herself to be dragged away, talking all the while until Applejack shouted “PINKIE PIE will you shut yer trap!?”
The filly froze mid sentence, and straightened her body into a military stance. Her left hoof went to her head in a salute, but she didn’t call out. Her mouth remained in a serious straight line. Fluttershy was concerned. Pinkie Pie went from so….happy to serious in a split second. Was this normal? What if she had some kind of personality disorder? She took the moment of silence to mentally check herself over, making sure every part of her was intact even as her entire body shook with nerves.
Applejack sighed, facehoofing. This was just great.
“Pinkie Pie, what are ya doin’ here?”
Pinkie Pie took a minute to answer, preferring to relax her military stance. Instead she sat sloppily, stretching her back legs out in front of her and grinning wildly.
“Well I saw that you were talking to Miss Cheerilee, and you sounded like you were lying to her about everything being ok. I was worried about you, so I went all super secret ninja pony and followed you here!” She lowered herself closer to the ground as she spoke to mimic being a super secret ninja pony. Fluttershy fought the urge to laugh at her ridiculous pose. Applejack wasn’t as amused.
“Pinkie, you can’t tell anypony about Fluttershy. She’s not supposed to be here. It was an accident and we have to find a way to get her home before the grown ups find her.”
Pinkie nodded sagely, eyeing Fluttershy like a new toy that she really wanted to play with. Fluttershy smiled, causing Pinkie to smile even wider. How did her face do that?
“I Pinkie Promise that I won’t tell anypony about Flutteshy.” Pinkie said, shaking Applejack’s hoof so hard that the cowpony’s entire body shook with it. Applejack stammered a weak protest, and lay flat on her stomach when she was finally released. Pinkie Pie scooted over to Fluttershy, who shivered and offered the wild filly a tiny “Hello.”
“You won’t believe this!” Pinkie said, alight with glee. “But I know someone else who is lost too!”