//------------------------------// // Waiting around // Story: Where'd you go? // by sonaria //------------------------------// Applejack lied awake in her bed, staring into the darkness of her room. There was a faint light coming in through the window that barely illuminated her room. Sleep wasn't going to come easily to her, her brain didn't want to shut off for the night. Her thoughts varied, from her personal views on same-sex relationships to the way Rarity made her feel sometimes. She thought about Rarity, how eligant and pretty she was. How passionate she was about her work and her fashion. She thought about her voice, how it was just as beautiful as she was. A small smile found its way onto the blonde's mouth; she thought about how Rarity would hum while she worked on her clothes. It was a small thing Applejack noticed once modeling for her friend. Her brow crinkled and her smile transformed to a frown. The farmer knew why she was having thoughts like this. She knew why she had been stealing more glances and she had an idea of why she couldn't truly bring herself to "clear things up." And she hated it. To her, a homosexual relationship was something she wanted to avoid being apart of. If her friends were like that, she would love them regardless. Being gay herself though? That was a very different story. There was something alluring in the fear and resentment of it. Maybe part of her didn't hate it as much as she would care to admit. She closed her eyes. Why me though? Why'd she hafta fall for me? Why'd she hafta go and tell me? To be honest, Applejack always thought that if any of her friends liked her it would have been Rainbow Dash. Not that she thought about it often, it was just something that crossed her mind once or twice. And she always figured that, if anything, Fluttershy and Rarity had a thing together. They were pretty close, it just made sense. bzzzt The sound of her phone vibrating on the side table next to her bed made her eyes shoot open. She leaned over and grabbed it to find that one of her more brash and outspoken friends had texted her. "Hey i know it's sort of late but i just wanted to see if you were okay. You seemed sort of out of it today" It's started. The blonde thought to herself when she finished reading the text. She glanced up at the small numbers reading the time at the top of her screen. 11:27 The green eyed girl stared at her phone trying to think of something to reply with. Rainbow Dash clearly knew the answer, and probably wouldn't accept the "everything's fine" bit. And she couldn't just come out and say she wasn't fine because that would just lead to more questions. Ignoring the text was a possibility, she could just explain she was asleep, but the farm girl was honest and hated to lie to her friends. "Just got a lot goin on," she finally replied. Hopefully it would suffice as a good enough answer and Rainbow would leave it alone. A few minutes passed and AJ felt her phone vibrate again while lighting up. She unlocked it and opened the new text. "Rarity?" Weird how one word-one name-could leave someone with so many different feelings. Rarity? she thought to herself, how in the world.. "Howd you know about it?" She sent immediately. There wasn't any reason to deny it, if Rainbow Dash knew, she knew. After thinking it over, she realized there was a really obvious answer: They both acted the same. They both were distant and upset. Anyone could have put two and two together to figure it out. Another text arrived from Rainbow, and again, Applejack opened it. "AJ cmon we've been friends for how long? Weve all noticed" They all know? A familiar feeling swam through AJ's stomach: worry. All of her friends knew, but how much did they know? Did they know what happened over the weekend? or whatever happened earlier that evening? Before AJ could reply Rainbow sent her another text, "Look its not like its a big deal or anything. I get you don't like gays but that doesnt give you a right to treat one of your best friends like shit" She re-read the text a few times and let her friend's words set in a little. After reading it a last time, she locked her phone and laid it on the small table beside her. She didn't feel like getting into an emotional conversation with Rainbow Dash, and she didn't know why it made her feel so much worse. Well, maybe she did. Her rainbow haired friend was right. Letting your beliefs and feelings come before your best friends is wrong, but it was something she was doing involuntarily. Leaving her in the hallway must have looked pretty bad, the farmer thought as she began to reflect on the events of the previous day, and even if Ah didn't mean to, cuttin' her off mid sentence was a little rude.. The blonde turned to her side, and stared out her window. She stared out to the dirt road in front of her house and went over Saturday in her head. The way Rarity's voice quivered and cracked was still so clear in her mind it made her chest hurt. Maybe if she closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep, she would eventually fall asleep. Unfortunately, that method didn't work. She lied awake for an hour more before sleep finally greeted her. An alarm broke through her sleep and eventually woke her. Falling asleep so late resulted in her being unusually groggy and irritable. She rolled to her back and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands before making her way out of bed. Sure, the moring held less conversations from her and she was a bit more irritable, but she followed her regular routine. Applebloom usually got up on her own, but her older sister always liked to make sure. Their brother needed a little help getting up, so Applejack would need to wake him up a few times while she got ready. Granny Smith always had a nice warm breakfast for her grandchildren to start their day off right. They didn't always want to sit down to eat, but it really wasn't a choice for them. One by one they finished getting ready and came down stairs to eat. Their plates had been made already and sat neatly on the table. "Oh! Granny, Scoots and I are gonna go to Sweetie's after school," Applebloom stated as she sat down at the table. Applejack sat down across from her and observed her food, getting lost in her own problems. The plate was hidden by eggs and sausage with a biscuit on the side. In fact, it was one of AJ's favorite breakfasts but she didn't feel like eating. Along with the anxious feeling in her stomach, she was just too tired to eat. Then again, not eating will just make granny give her a long speech about how they never wasted food when she was a child. Or ask questions. Or both. And Applejack really wasn't in the mood to hear a speech or get asked questions. She reluctantly ate her breakfast and listened to her family, mainly Applebloom, carry on conversations. It was pretty hard actually. The blonde loved her younger sister to death, but for some reason, she wished she would stop talking for the rest of the day. "And then ah was wonderin', maybe we could come back here and have a slumber party," Applebloom finally finished. "Ya can't have friends over on a school night, Applebloom," AJ answered for her. "Ah wasn't askin' you. Ah was askin' Granny." "Granny would say the exact same thing." "How would you know? You ain't granny." "Wouldja look at the time?" Big Mac butted in before anything could get heated, "we're gonna be late if we don't get movin'." The sisters dropped their argument and grabbed their things. "We'll talk about it later, Granny," the youngest Apple said as she went out the door, earning a groan from her older sister. The walk to school was cold and bitter and quiet. Applejack normally road with her brother and sister to school, today though, she decided to walk. It wasn't easy, her brother held up a brief fight against it. The freckled girl understood why he protested, but she didn't care about being late today or walking through the cold. All she cared about at the time was to be alone for a little bit. The usually punctual teen was going to be late, and to her surprise, she didn't care all too much.. She was in no hurry to get to school and see her friends-and see Rarity. Dry and dead leaves crunched under her feet. It was a satisfying sound that gave her some comfort. She tried using the sound as a distraction from her thoughts, as a distraction from the anxious feeling building in her stomach, and, most importantly, as a distraction from her infatuated friend. They hardly did just that, but it was much better to at least try and focus on something else. She checked her phone for the time. She had received a few messages from her friends, each wondering if she would show up to school. She sent one of them a simple "yup" and pocketed her phone. There was no need to reply to all of them, considering they were probably all together. The first bell would be ringing any minute now, which meant the girls wouldn't be at the statue. A wave of relief passed over the teenaged girl as she realized she wouldn't be seeing them all at once right away. Her pace quickened slightly. School was just a few more blocks, if she hurried she wouldn't be in too much trouble. Applejack finally ended her journey to school. She slowed from her quick jog as she neared the wondercolt statue, then stopped completely. Sitting at the base of the statue was a teenage girl with indigo hair that turned to look at the freckled girl. "Rarity?" Applejack said quietly. They were the only two outside. Everyone else was inside, where Rarity should be. Where Applejack wished she was. The blonde, again, didn't feel like dealing with drama today, and she didn't feel like talking to Rarity one on one right away either. What in tarnation is she out here? Her anxious feeling was returning along with a few others. Mainly confusion and worry, and surprisingly, solace. "I was waiting for you," Rarity said with a soft and faint-hearted tone as she stopped in front of her green eyed friend.