//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: ...It Can't Have 
// Story: Never Grow Apart 
// by New Canterlot 
//------------------------------//

	Dash had her headphones in her ears, jamming out to a new rock single she had discovered the night before in bed. Sleep was hard for her last night. She kept thinking about how awesome this new soccer season was going to be, and her excitement carried over to the morning as she walked down her street towards school. Her arms made a loop as she spun the soccer ball she was carrying up and down her body in crazy little tricks. Instead of going the usual way to the street corner where she and Fluttershy would usually meet, she turned directly towards town. If she hurried, she might be able to catch Sunset walking from her apartment. Dash had only been there one time with the rest of her friends, but it wasn't too hard to forget since she lived almost right next to their usual coffee shop. 

A streetlight in the middle of the busy city flashed with a stop hand, telling her that the street was not safe to cross. With a stoke of luck however, she saw Sunset across the street in her usual flare colored dress and leather jacket. "Yooo!" Dash shouted loudly, making many pedestrians jump in surprise.

Sunset didn't care that Dash was so full of energy today. She herself felt just as invigorated now that she was part of the team, and for the very first time since coming to the human world, she actually felt like a big part of something other than trying to prevent some magical disaster. Once the light turned green, Dash hurried over to her and tossed her the ball. Sunset bounced the ball off her chest and balanced it on her foot before holding it against her side. "Hey Dash."

"What up?" Dash nudged her shoulder as they began to walk to school together. She wore a sporty track jacket and very form fitting running tights with a long yellow stripe down the seam and a big bolt of lighting on the front thigh which made Sunset a tad jealous. Sunset herself wasn't much of an athletic apparel type girl, but this outfit was actually pretty cool. "Nice catch by the way."

"Thanks." Sunset giggled and blushed just a tiny bit. It was high praise coming from such an experienced player. "I like those pants."

"Yeah? I was kinda worried they looked too flashy, even for me. But...I gotta wear them sometimes. If I don't, it'll be a total waste of money."

Sunset nodded. "I know the feeling. Money in this world is difficult to wrap your head around."

"What do you mean?" Dash bounced the ball against her wrists as they walked. 

"Well..." Sunset sighed. "...I had to set up this thing called a checking account to qualify for the apartment I'm staying at. I'm not paying for it or anything though. The school has a program for girls like me, but I've never had to sign so many pieces of paper in my life."

"Wow....that suuuucckkkks." Dash laughed "That sounds totally lame. I bet you had to hang out in a bank for like, hours."

"Right?" Sunset giggled again. "It was really boring. Hey did you see the game last night? I usually don't get many chances to watch sports, but I was out buying dinner last night and saw some highlights on this TV sitting behind a store window."

"No...I didn't." Dash growled. "I had to shower last night right when I got home, but it's recorded on my computer for later."

"You can do that?"

"Sure. It's pretty easy. Want me to show you sometime?" Dash asked as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. 

"That would be cool, but I don't have a computer." Sunset shrugged. "Don't have the money for it."

"That sucks." Dash bit her lip and thought for a moment. "You know, I got an old computer at my house you can have. It's not fancy or anything, and it's a few years old, but you can totally have if you want."

"Are you sure?" Sunset put her hands up. "You don't have to do that just for me."

"And just let it gather dust in my garage?" Dash laughed. "Come on. I need to get rid of it anyways. You'll be doing me a favor."

"That....is really nice of you." Sunset wrapped her arms around Dash's shoulder and hugged tightly. "Thanks so much!"

Dash narrowed her eyes and growled with the same face she always made when Pinkie would hug her for no reason. "Yeah yeah...whatever."

Sunset let her go and laughed. "You are pretty awesome, you know that?"

Dash giggled and held her head up high. "Oh I know. Trust me. Oh yeah!" Dash suddenly remembered the bracelets she had in the pocket of her jacket. "Here, this is yours." She said as she handed the flaming haired girl one of the rubber bands.

Sunset looked it over and noticed the words 'GO TEAM' and a soccer ball cut into the side of the band. "This is pretty cool. Is this for me?"

Dash nodded and held up her wrist to show a matching bracelet of her own. "Yep! Since we're soccer buddies now, I thought you and I could match."

"That's so cute!" Sunset gave her a nudge on the ribs and giggled.

"Cute?" Dash gasped. "N-No, it's cool! What are you talking about???"

"I'm just giving you a hard time." Sunset put it on and smirked at her. "It is pretty cool. Thanks for this."

Dash grinned back. "You're welcome." She shrugged in a bit of embarrassment as they rounded the corner with the school in view way down the street. It was weird for her to be showered with so many thanks in one morning. In order to keep away from all the mushy stuff, Dash spent the next few minutes walking to talk about the whole paper football incident from yesterday. Much to her delight, Sunset was responding with a lot more laughter than when she tried to tell this story to Fluttershy the day before. Dash felt she finally had a friend who truly related to her and could share a laugh about something like this. 

"I was wondering something." Sunset spoke up after the story. "I'm kinda new to soccer, so do you have plays or something you like to run?" Sunset asked. "As team captain, I'm sure you have a bunch of different strategies."

"Uh, not really." Dash pounded a fist into her palm as she said, "Just one: to kick butt!"

Sunset laughed hard for a moment. "You are pretty good at that."

"Always am." Dash let her hands fall to her sides as they entered the school grounds.

Pinkie Pie had been waiting for them by the school gates to ambush them both with big good morning hugs. Sunset was her first victim. "Morning!" She squealed as she hugged her. 

"Good morning, Pinkie." Sunset returned the hug and giggled.

Pinkie turned to Dash, and the rainbow hair on Dash's head nearly stood straight up. She knew that a Pinkie hug for her was way bigger than a Pinkie hug for anyone else. "Oh no you don't!" Dash threw the soccer ball at Pinkie, but the throw went straight over her head. Dash began running up and down the courtyard as Pinkie chased her with arms stretched out. "Pinkie! Knock it off!"

"I'm gonna get you!" Pinkie snorted with a giggle. Her quick and erratic zig-zag lines she made across the courtyard gave her an opportunity to tackle Dash to the grass and begin tickling her. "Coochie coochi coo!"

Dash erupted in fits of laughter, kicking her feet up and down in the air. It was getting hard to breathe, so she hugged Pinkie as tightly as she could before bouncing up to her feet. "Now I got you!" She screamed as she began tickling back "How do you like that?"

Pinkie made loud snorts and giggles as she squirmed like a worm on a hook. Her ambush plan had backfired, but she couldn't have cared less. "Dash! Ahahahahah! Dashie! I'm gonna sneeze!" Dash got up off of her and put her hands on her hips. Pinkie's hair was completely frazzled as she stood, but her demeanor didn't change at all. She pulled a small notepad from her hair of all places that came equipped with a small pencil. She made two check-marks on the open paper. "Sunset and Rainbow, check!" She smiled innocently at them both. "That just leaves one more person. Has anyone seen Fluttershy?"

Dash shrugged. "I didn't have a chance to see her yet, but I'm sure she's coming." She commented, completely forgetting about meeting her earlier. "She's usually never late."

"You two live near each other, right?" Sunset asked as she smoothed out her hair.

"Sorta." Dash picked up her soccer ball. "Same neighborhood, but on total opposite sides."

"Well what am I supposed to do now???" Pinkie sounded amusingly angry. "I have this checklist of all my friends that get a morning hug, and the last person isn't even here!" She made a dramatic sigh. "Plan B it is!"

"Wait." Dash giggled. "So you ambushed Applejack and Rarity too?"

"And Twilight." Pinkie looked over her checklist again. "Yep! Twilight too."

Dash laughed hard, wishing she had shown up earlier to see Rarity's reaction. "Oh man, I bet Rarity threw a huge fit."

"You should have seen her!" Pinkie sounded proud. "I messed up her hair so bad she had to break out her emergency makeover kit."

"That's hilarious!" Dash put her hands on her knees and started balling up from painful fits of chuckles.

Sunset put her hand on her back, trying her best to sound serious as she fought the urge to laugh with Dash. "Are you ok?"

Dash took a moment to breathe and nodded. "I'm cool." She nudged Pinkie's shoulder. "Next time, you have to record that."

Pinkie smirked and giggled once, pulling her hair to the side to reveal a small camera phone. "Done and done! Phase two of operation hug-attack, post to the interwebs!!"

Dash began laughing again so hard that she actually had to cough, making Sunset giggle as she helped Dash stand up straight. "Ok, Pinkie. I think you might break our team captain. Go wait in the bushes or something for Fluttershy. I'm gonna take her inside."

Pinkie saluted her sharply and stood straight and tall. "Yes sir, ma'am, sir!" She tip-toed towards one of the decorative bushes by the courtyard entrance and crouched behind it. She was definitely a strange sight to see. There wasn't any need to tip-toe or crouch since everyone walking up to the school doors could see her the whole time, but that didn't stop her.

When Dash and Sunset got inside, Sunset asked, "You good?"

Dash gulped air down hungrily and nodded. "Yeah, I'm cool. Thanks."

"Pinkie...is full of surprises, huh." Sunset said in more of statement than a question.

"Totally. Sometimes she can be kind of annoying, but it's stuff like that I can't get enough of. She's pretty cool sometimes." 

"You do know that you pick on her just as much as she picks on you, right?" Sunset raised on eyebrow at her.

"What? No way." Dash huffed. "That's crazy." The bell signalling the start of class sounded through the halls, and they both jumped. "Class! See you at lunch?"

"See you at lunch!" Sunset took off down the hall and Dash the opposite way.

Pinkie was still outside hiding in the bushes. She didn't move from her poor hiding spot even though class started. Instead, she sat motionless with her poofy hair standing out like a sore thumb while narrowing her eyes at the entrance gate. "I'm gonna get you, Fluttershy, even if it takes alllllll day." She knew that she had all her bases covered. Missing class wasn't going to be a problem. In her seat was a tube sticking out of her desk with a big cloud of pink cotton candy, two googly eyes stuck to it just in case. It was the perfect disguise for the perfect plan.

-o0o-

When Fluttershy began walking towards school, she felt pretty depressed. Her phone told her she was already fifteen minutes late, and she still had another fifteen minutes of walking left to go. Each time she came across a pebble, she would kick it across the sidewalk. One of those pebbles decided that being kicked wasn't on today's agenda, and Fluttershy clumsily tripped over it. She fell to her knees, scrapping her delicate skin, and a round of tears began streaming down her face from the sudden burn.

It was silly to think Dash would meet her this morning to walk together. It's not like Dash did that everyday...But at the very least, she would have liked to know.

She had hoped that this morning she would have a chance to say something that had been on her mind all night. Sleep had also been hard for her to achieve since Dash was all she could think about while laying down in the late hours of the previous day. 

She wanted to make a desperate request to hang out more. It was a silly little thing to ask, but it would have made her even the tiniest bit happy to hear Dash agree. However, she accepted that her luck would just not let her even have a chance to glimpse her dear beloved before the busy day began.

Fluttershy eventually picked herself up off the ground and wiped her face angrily. Red bruising marks were beginning to form against the bottoms of her knees, and streaks of dirt covered the front of her pale green skirt. Maybe Rarity could help her freshen up a bit at lunch. She sighed heavily at the sight of the school down the street. In truth, the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was go to class late and have to explain herself to her teacher. "What am I supposed to say?" She asked herself. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was waiting for my friend, but she never showed up..." She bit her own lip to keep herself from crying again. "...I can be so pathetic..."

Her pace quickened when she saw Vice Principal Luna closing the school gates, only reaching the courtyard just in time to get scolded and hurried off to class with a stern warning. Fluttershy bit her lip again as she realized the only silver lining of her entire morning was not getting detention. 

When she entered class, she had her whole speech prepared in her mind, but not a single student even turned their head to look at her when she peeked her head inside. The teacher was already in the middle of her lesson, giving Fluttershy a chance to take her seat quietly. The class moved painfully slow as she jotted down bits of information from the lesson into her notebook. The clock seemed to move so fast when she was walking over here, but now time seemed to inch along at an almost unbearable pace. With still a half hour left, she put her pencil down and laid her head down in her arms to shield her face. Tears began to trickle down from her eyes onto her desk when she noticed a pink piece of paper sticking out of the bottom of her desk. 

The paper was covered in stickers when she gave it a closer look while holding it below the desk so the teacher wouldn't notice it. It read, "From commander Pie to scout Fluttershy. Stop. I didn't see you this morning. Stop. Are you ok? Stop." Fluttershy muffled a soft giggle as she kept reading. "You owe me one big hug. Stop. Please destroy this letter upon reading. Stop." 

First the first time that whole day, she actually cracked a small smile. It warmed her heart to know that one of her friends cared enough about her to actually notice her missing and even went out of the way to write such a goofy letter. Instead of destroying the letter like it asked, she folded it up and put it into the pocket of her skirt. When she'd get the chance, she would give Pinkie the hug she wanted. With some sense of happiness, she picked her pencil back up to write down the rest of the notes on the whiteboard before class ended.

-o0o-

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were the first to sit down at their usual lunch table. As usual, Pinkie had an enormous amount of food, and Applejack couldn't help but giggle at how jealous Rarity would get each time she had to eat her salad and stare at the mouthwatering goodness of high calories. "Hi-ya, Pinkie." Applejack greeted her warmly in her usual country flare. "Ah see ya'll got everythin' on the menu."

"Mhm!" Pinkie bit into a piece of garlic bread. She waited until she swallowed to speak only because the bread was so dry. "I bought enough food for Dash and Sunset today. I would hate to think my friends went hungry at lunch."

"That's mighty nice of ya." Applejack wondered how incredibly forgiving this girl was, even after how Dash stole her chicken the day before. "So, did ya get a chance to hug everyone this mornin?"

Pinkie shook her head. "No...I sure didn't." She made an adorably sad frown. "Fluttershy never showed up."

"Is she ok?" Applejack asked, scooting over so the approaching Rarity could sit next to her after she had gone to go buy a salad.

"I think so. I waited and waited outside school for her, but Vice Principal Luna caught me hiding in the bushes and sent me to class." Pinkie took a deep breath to prepare for the amount of words she needed to say. "I tried to explain to her that this was super duper important, and that I had to be there! I even showed her my checklist of allllll my best friends, and she didn't even bother to read it! I told her that Fluttershy was the last one on the list for a super duper hug of the day, but I was sent to class! Then when I got to class, someone had eaten my cotton candy disguise so the teacher noticed I wasn't there so I had to go get a late pass from the front office but the secretary was in the bathroom so I waited even more and then when she finally came out she said go to class and don't bother me! Can you believe it???"

"Uh.......no, Ah sure can't." Applejack shook her head slowly, her mind only fitting together a few pieces of the pointless puzzle.

Rarity just sat there and gave her a look of unbelievable incomprehension. She shook her head and gave up on ever trying to understand what Pinkie ever said or ever would say starting now. "Quite." Was all she could contribute to the conversation.

"I know, right???" Pinkie sighed. "They act like I was up to no good or something!" She took another deep breath and completely changed gears. 

"So...What's this about Fluttershy?" Rarity asked, trying to lead the conversation as far away from silliness as possible. "Did something happen to the poor darling?"

"I dunno. I didn't have a chance to ambush her, so I left her a note."

Rarity sighed. "PUHLEASE don't do that again." She pointed at Pinkie. "It took me nearly three minutes just to finish fixing my hair."

"Aww...but it was fun!" Pinkie sounded defensive. "Plus I already got a thousand views!"

"Uh, what's that now?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Instead of explaining, Pinkie pulled her phone out to show the video she took that morning through her hair. The edges of the video were tinted pink, no doubt from the hair which hid the camera. In the video, Rarity had dropped her purse as Pinkie appeared to be running up to her, and she began screaming loudly as if her toes had been stepped on. "Unhand me, you crazy ruffian! AHH! My hair!! My beautiful hair! You're ruining my perfectly ironed one-of-a-kind blouse! MY NAILS!" She shrieked. "Stop it this instant!" Applejack began cracking up, remembering the whole scene that morning. 

"I call this one the Fashionista Freakout." Pinkie put her phone away. 

"Call it whatever you like." Rarity growled in such a way that Pinkie's mouth formed a scrunched expression. "I hold you personally responsible for any damaged strands or split ends."

"It ain't a big deal, Rare." Applejack shrugged and whipped Rarity's hair to the side teasingly with her hat. "Ya'll got plenty more a those pretty lil' hairs on yer head."

Rarity cooed softly at her. "You mean that, dear?"

"Course Ah do." Applejack nodded. 

Pinkie reached over to Rarity's blouse and picked a stray hair off her shoulder. "Like this one?"

"AHHH!" Rarity screeched and began combing her fingers through her hair. "I'm losing hair! You're going to get it, Pinkie Pie!"

"Whoopsie!" Pinkie snorted with a giggle. "Here, let me put this back for you." She reached over and placed the hair on top of her head. 

"EWWW!" Rarity jumped up from the table and began tossing her head back and forth. "Get it off me! Get it off of me!" She whined loudly, making many of the other cafeteria patrons turned to look at her.

"What's going on here?" Twilight giggled as she walked up to the table clutching her notebook. "Did a fly land on your head, Rarity?"

"FLY?" She screeched with an incredibly strong crack in her voice before running clear out of the cafeteria towards the bathroom. "FLLLLYYYYY!!!"

Pinkie had already pulled her phone out and began recording right after she gave Rarity back the hair she took. "I'm calling this one the Fashionista Freakout Frenzy!"

Twilight sat down next to her to watch the video in curiosity before putting her notebook down. "Wow...All of this over a hair?"

Applejack chuckled. "Sure looks that way." 

After a long moment of considering how unprofessional it would be to ask, Twilight gave in. "Can you send that to me?" 

"No problemo! I'm gonna save this as my ringtone!" Pinkie stuck her tongue out thoughtfully while fiddling with her phone.

Sunset had just been nearly knocked over in the hallway by a screaming girl before she entered the cafeteria. Once she walked up to the table, she asked, "Was Rarity just in here?"

Twilight and Applejack traded smirking faces. "She sure was, sugarcube." Applejack tried to say through a giggle.

"What happened to her?" Sunset asked. "It's like she saw a ghost or something."

"Pinkie was just teasin' her." Applejack scooted a bit for Sunset to sit down. "Ah'm sure she'll calm down 'n 'bout a week 'er two."

"Oh-kayy..." Sunset shrugged. "So...How's everyone doing?"

"Pretty good!" Pinkie held out a bowl of spaghetti and a piece of garlic bread for her. "This is for you!"

"Me?" Sunset took her food. "Wow, thanks! This is really nice of you." She looked back up at Pinkie from her new meal, but she was playing airplane with a spoon and a fork, completely lost in another world.

"So how're thing's goin' bein' the new member of the team?" Applejack asked. "Ya'll aint get'tin' stressed out now that yer on the team, are ya?"

"Nah, I'm good." Sunset shook her head. "Rainbow Dash has been really great helping me out. She's even giving me an old computer for school and to watch soccer games."

"That is really nice of her." Twilight smiled and looked up at Sunset when she finally heard something she could actually talk about. "What kind? Is it a laptop, or a desktop PC?"

"I honestly have no idea." She turned to Twilight. "Hey, you know a lot about computers, right?" Twilight simply nodded and adjusted her glasses. "Then I was wondering if maybe you could show me how some of that stuff works. I would ask Dash, but she's already doing so much for me on the soccer team."

"Sugarcube, ya don't gotta feel bad fer askin' yer friends for help." Applejack patted her back. "And Ah'm sure Twilight would jump at the chance to help a friends learn somethin."

"She's right. I would love to help you learn about computers. It would feel nice to help a friend out too." Twilight flashed her a cute dorky smile.

"You girls are the best." Sunset nodded her head. "Thanks."

-o0o-

Now that she was feeling a bit better after class, Fluttershy decided to go to the gym's locker rooms to look for Dash instead of heading straight to the cafeteria. She knew that there was a good chance Dash wouldn't be there since she usually ran around the school in a hurry all the time, but it was worth a shot. At the very least, she wanted to make sure Dash was ok. She didn't have a chance to even say hi to her once today, and not seeing that gorgeous face made Fluttershy long for her. 

The gym class that ended right before the lunch bell meant that there was going to be a large number of students clustered in the locker rooms. She didn't know a single person in there since she tried to avoid taking gym classes all together, but rainbow hair stood out easily in a crowd. Before she even had a chance to step inside the locker rooms, a flood of students piled out in a big storm, leaving her pinned up against the wall, her eyes scanning each person that past by. 

Not a single rainbow hair in the entire crowd showed, and Fluttershy sighed when she realized she may have missed her. However, there was still the sound of a couple people left inside the locker rooms, so she took a careful step through the door. "R-Rainbow?" She asked in a quiet voice while peeking her head around the corner.

To her enormous surprise, Dash wasn't even half dressed yet. All she wore was a tight fitting sports bra and a red pair of spandex panties adorned with a sport's company symbol on the butt. Fluttershy gasped and felt a strong heat rise up in her chest, suddenly feeling guilty for unintentionally spying on her. 

Fluttershy waited outside the locker room doors while leaning up against the wall, feeling very nervous and excited. That image would never leave her mind for the rest of her life, and seeing that perfect body so suddenly had been to much for her to handle all at once. 

Dash came out of the locker rooms and nearly jumped back in surprise after almost bumping into the very flustered girl. "Fluttershy?" She asked more defensively than what was called for. "What are you doing here?" 

"I-I...um...I was....looking for you." Was all she could manage. "I didn't see you this morning...and I was worried about you."

"Oh...right." Dash sighed. "Yeah, I walked to school with Sunset."

So she walked to school with Sunset. A small flame of anger crept it's way past Fluttershy's neck up to her ears as she realized that all she had gone through that morning was because Dash blew her off. She wanted to explain to Dash how much that hurt, but she just nodded her head and said. "I..see..."

"Are you ok?" Dash asked as she walked down the hall, Fluttershy skipping a step to follow her. "You look kinda...scraped up."

"I...fell down earlier." Shy looked down at the floor as they ventured away from the gym.

"Yikes. Well, it doesn't look too bad." Dash shrugged it off. "You'll be fine."

"Y-Yes...I'll be fine..."

"Hey, so remember how we were talking about soccer bracelets yesterday?" Dash asked absentmindedly.

Shy couldn't forget about that. It was one of the biggest reasons why she had screamed into her pillow the night before. "I do..."

"Sunset tooootally loved it! She did tease me about it for a second, but I knew she would be on board. How awesome is that? Seriously, I never thought Sunset would have so much in common with me."

Fluttershy squeaked very quietly and bit her lip. "...That's nice."

"She's so cool. After our first game, we're probably gonna be like, best friends or something! I haven't had a friend like this since I went to Junior Speeders Camp in second grade!" Dash grinned and put her fist into the air. 

"Best friends..." Fluttershy just repeated those words to herself as she realized that coming to see Dash had been a huge mistake. All the abandonment and hurt she had felt that morning was now being validated by Rainbow's offhanded comments. Her hopes of asking Dash to hang out with her more would probably be a bad idea too. The possibility of being told no right to her face made her realize how close to crying she was for the second time that day. 

"So are you going to lunch?" Dash asked as she stretched an arm over her head. 

"N-No..." Fluttershy shook her head. She had planned on it at first, but now all she wanted was to be left alone. Pinkie's hug would have to wait. 

"Ok, well I'm gonna go." Dash began picking up the pace to run down the hall. "See you later or something!"

With a small wave that Dash didn't even acknowledge, Fluttershy stood in place in the now empty hall by herself. She turned towards the doors toward the school fields and began walking slowly, thinking about that special spot of hers under the bleachers where she would sometimes go just for times like these. 

The sunlight was bright outside as many students were eating and laughing in the fields and on the bleachers, all enjoying their perfect school day. It pained Fluttershy to see how great everyone else was doing when her heart just wanted to shrivel up and crawl under a rock. When she did take a seat under the bleachers, she hugged her knees and scooted herself under the shade of the stands to plant her face on her arms. 

She wanted to cry, but after everything so far, she felt tired. Crying would actually take some energy she just didn't have at the moment, and her mouth felt dry from the crying earlier that morning. With a heavy sigh, she leaned against one of the support pillars under the bleachers and closed her eyes, hopefully wishing for a small nap to pull her away into an escape from her reality. 

-o0o-

Pinkie had a couple clues to go on when school ended. At lunch, Dash had informed everyone that she had in fact seen Fluttershy, so she had to be at school. The second clue was the most obvious: no one else had seen her anywhere, so she must be by herself. The third clue was something she knew from experience. Fluttershy sometimes went to her alone time place, and that was the only place on campus she could think of to find her. With Applejack as backup, the two earth pony counterparts made their way around the school to the bleachers. 

"She's not here!" Pinkie whined and sighed as they peeked under the stands.

"But, look." Applejack pointed to a small blanket and a backpack. "Looks like somebody set up camp here. Probably Fluttershy. Ah'm sure if we wait, she'll come back 'round eventually."

"Hm...You may be right, my dear Applejack." Pinkie examined the area as if piecing together a puzzle. "If we wait long enough, Fluttershy will have to come back for her things, and then we will find her!"

"That's what Ah said." Applejack groaned. "I just told ya that."

"Don't be silly." Pinkie contradicted herself in multiple ways.

Instead of fighting her on this, Applejack sat down on the blanket and leaned back on her arms. "So, where do ya think Fluttershy's off to?"

"Probably the bathroom. If it was me sitting outside all day, I would want lots of snacks and fruit punch, so she's probably making room for more."

"That's..." Applejack cleared her throat. "...gross, but Ah guess ya do have a point. Missin' lunch sure can make a person hungry."

Pinkie crouched down behind one of the support pillars as if she was hiding, but she looked ridiculous since the pillar was only half a foot wide. "Now we wait." They didn't have to wait long. Sure enough, Fluttershy had come back holding a small carton of milk and an apple. She saw Pinkie and stood still right before getting pounced with a massive hug that squeezed the air out of her. "Fluttershyyyyy!" Pinkie squealed as she half strangled her victim. "We were so worried about you!" 

Fluttershy gasped for air awkwardly as she felt the hug loosen. "P-Pinkie...Applejack."

The country gal got up and put a hand on her shoulder, pushing Pinkie back with the other arm. "Are you alright, sugarcube? Everyone's been worried sick 'bout ya."

"I'm...ok." Fluttershy did her best to sound cheerful. "I just...forgot about meeting for lunch when I...saw this cute squirrel over here."

Pinkie Pie instantly bought the fib and then some. "Oh! Is he still here?" She asked, making a squishy cheeked squirrel face.

Applejack just ignored her. "So, yer alright then? Nothin' wrong? It ain't like you to be sneakin' off all 'n yer own."

Fluttershy surprised Applejack by giving her a gentle hug. "I'm ok." She nodded, actually feeling a little better knowing that at least some of her friends cared enough to come find her.

"Do you get my letter?" Pinkie asked. 

"Oh, um, yes I did. It was very...nice." Fluttershy poked two fingers together. "But there wasn't really any way for me to reply to it."

Again, Applejack ignored this. She knew that whatever letter Pinkie Pie had written probably wasn't too important to pursue a conversation about. "Listen, sugarcube." She sat Fluttershy down on the blanket and sat next to her. "Ah can tell when somethin's botherin' one of my friends, 'n right now, somethin's botherin' you. Ya'll can tell me yer ok as many times as ya want, but Ah ain't as dense as all that."

Pinkie sat across from her and nodded her head. "Spill the beans, Fluttershy."

Applejack took her hat off and covered Pinkie's face with it while growling softly. She turned back to Fluttershy and rubbed her back. "Ya'll ain't gotta tell us if ya don't want. All Ah'm sayin' is, we're here for ya, 'n you can tell us."

Fluttershy sighed softly and looked down at the ground. She wanted to say exactly what was on her mind. She wanted to tell her friends everything that was bothering her and all that had happened to her that day. While her mind processed how to speak, she failed to notice a couple tears make their way down her cheeks.

"No no no no no.." Pinkie got up and threw her arms around the small girl's shoulders. "Pwease don't cry... You're gonna make me cry!"

Applejack rolled her eyes and decided to just give her a hug as well, letting Fluttershy cry until she was ready to speak. "It's alright, sugarcube....it's ok..."

Fluttershy sniffed a couple times as she regained some of her composure. "Sorry..." She whispered. "....I just had a bad morning."

Pinkie began brushing her hair away from her face. "Oh you poor wittle Fwutters..." She reached into her pocket and fetched out a small lolipop which Fluttershy gratefully accepted. 

"You wanna talk 'bout it?" Applejack asked as she pulled the small girl against her chest.

"Nothing...really happened..."Fluttershy took a deep breath. "I was just waiting for Dash this morning to walk to school...but she never showed up. I was running late and tripped....and after that...I felt stuck in a bad mood." All of this was true, but she left out the important parts like how hurt and abandoned she felt by the one person she loved the most.

"Awwwwww..." Pinkie gave her a soft little peck on the cheek. "Dashie can be big meanie-head sometimes." She didn't know it, but Pinkie had actually hit the nail on the head.

"Well shucks. Ya should've said somethin. Ah'm sure me 'n the rest of the gals coulda pulled ya out a yer funk." Applejack scolded her. "We're yer friends, right? It's our job to help ya feel better."

"I know....I just didn't want to bother anyone. It's just silly little stuff."

"Maybe." Pinkie shrugged and shook her head. "But that's no reason to go hiding all day. You made me super duper mega worried!"

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, no more a this sorry nonsense." Applejack began packing up her bag and blanket off the ground. "Ah'm gonna treat ya to a nice big 'ol mug a hot chocolate."

"Oh, and some cake? Please say some cake!" Pinkie clapped her hands together.

"Sure. Some cake. How's that sound?" Applejack slung Shy's bag around her shoulder and smiled.

"I...would really like that." Fluttershy smiled up at them both. "Thank you."

"Cake!!!"