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// Thumb 
// Story: You Can Lead Your Bacon Horse to Water... 
// by shortskirtsandexplosions 
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	"Good news, y'all!"  Applejack sat down at the cafeteria table, a smile plastered across her freckled face.  "Granny Smith gives it the green light!"

"Mrmmmfff?"  Pinkie Pie looked up while munching through a mouthful of salad. "Griff whdff dff greef liffd?"

"The sleepover at my place, ya silly varmint!  We talked about it yesterday after class.  I told y'all I'd get right on it, remember?"

"Oh!"  Rarity clapped her hands together.  "That's absolutely splendid, Applejack!"

"Hey!  Awesome!"  Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Oh yay!"  Fluttershy looked at the others.  "Applejack has such a big house at her ranch, too!"

"Darn tootin'!"  The blonde winked.  "With plenty of land for Rainbow Dash to practice soccer and a whole bunch of livestock for Fluttershy to pet."

"That's right!"  Fluttershy cupped her hands around her rosy cheeks.  "You're always talking about the lovely horses you have stabled there, Applejack."

"Heheh... right on."  Rainbow Dash smirked across the table.  "Bet you'll get a chance to catch up with your own kind."  A wink.  "Eh, Sunset?"

Sunset Shimmer looked up from a sheet of math homework she was working on.  "Heheh... very funny, Rainbow."  Nevertheless, she smiled at the rest of the table.  "I think that's great, Applejack!"  She tucked a luscious lock of shiny red hair behind her ear.  "It's been so long since we had a sleepover."

"Indeed!"  Rarity nodded, casually touching up her eyeshadow.  "And the last time we did, it was in the middle of a crisis."  She clasped her compact mirror shut.  "A siren crisis."  Her eyes rolled.  "Oh, what a relief it will be to just relax together without some impending magical doom scenario..."

"Ulp!"  Pinkie Pie swallowed her last bite of salad and blinked at the others.  "Aren't we forgetting a really big thingy?"

"Big Macintosh?" Fluttershy said.  Upon an emerald death glare, she sank deeper in her bench seat.  "Erm... or not..."

Pinkie waved her hand wildly.  "This will be Twilight Sparkle's very first time doing a sleepover with us!  I mean our Twilight Sparkle!"

"Oh hey!"  Sunset's turquoise eyes widened, bright and glistening.  "You're right, Pinkie!"

"Why,"  Rarity stammered, a hand over her chest.  "I cannot believe I hadn't thought of that!"

"Of course yer invited too, Twilight," Applejack said.  "Assumin', of course, that yer up for it."

Twilight Sparkle sat pensively at her bench.  Her food remained untouched.  All the while, the girl's four-eyed stare rested on Sunset Shimmer's hands... at the yellow-toned fingers that were grasping the notebook paper and pen.  Twilight bit her bottom lip.  A slight shiver rolled through her as she clasped her own delicate fingers together and—

"Twilight, darling?" Rarity spoke.

"Uhhhh!"  Twilight jolted so hard that her thick-framed glasses nearly flew off her nose.  She pushed them back into place, grimacing slightly.  "Huh?  What?"

"My my... so skittish."  Rarity smiled.  "You don't have to feel obligated if you're uncomfortable with it, darling."

"I'm n-not uncomfortable with it!" Twilight blurted.  A beat.  She blinked.  "Uhm... uncomfortable with what?"

"Didn't you hear a single word that was said?" Rainbow Dash droned.

"Erm... so s-sorry.  I was... uhm..."  Twilight's eyes traveled back down to Sunset's wrists across the table.  "...fiddling... mind fiddling..."  She grimaced again, suddenly sitting on her own hands.  "Sorry."

"You don't have to keep apologizing, Twilight," Fluttershy said.  "You're not doing anything wrong."

"We know you're very new to this school," Sunset Shimmer said, her voice like church bells breathed over shiny satin.  "As well as to having lots of friends.  But, even still."  A hint of a giggle escaped the corner of her smooth lips.  "We would love to have you join us."

Twilight's lungs emptied instantly.  In place of oxygen, there was a pounding heartbeat, shaking the tonality of her dainty voice as she squeaked.  "Really?"  She smiled, feeling the pulse in her own hands from the pressure of sitting on them.  "You... you would love to have m—?"

"WAIT."  Pink skin and even pinker fuzz suddenly exploded in Twilight's face.  Pinkie's bright blue eyes blinked, reflecting a new student's frightened expression.  "Have you ever... ever been to a sleepover before?!"

"Uhhhhhh..."  Twilight leaned back.  "...no?"

"Omigosh omigosh omigosh!"  Pinkie yanked Twilight's hands out from underneath her.  "Thisissomindexplodinglyincredible!"  She looked over her shoulder while she squeezed Twilight's reddened fingers.  "Applejack!  We absolutely positively have to make Twilight's first ever slumber party beyond fantastic!"

"Ow ow owwwww..." Twilight winced, squinting one eye shut as her wrists trembled.

"Pinkie..."  Sunset frowned.  "Take it easy.  Her hands."

"Ahem..."  Applejack reached over, pulling Pinkie Pie back so that she released her grip of Twilight.  "Of course we'll make it a real whizz-banger of a get together for ya, Twilight."  Applejack smiled.  "So long as yer willin' to tag along."

"Oh do say 'yes,' darling," Rarity said.

"We would very, very much like for you to join us!" Fluttershy said.

"Oh please oh please oh pleeeeease!"  Pinkie squealed.

"Uhm... so long as I can still get my homework done in time for Monday morning..."  Twilight Sparkle nodded while rubbing her hands.  "Sure thing!"  She smiled rosily.  "I'm... as one would say... 'game!'"

"Woohoo!"  Pinkie Pie pumped a fist in the cafeteria air.

"Fabulous!" Rarity cooed.

"Cool beans!"  Rainbow Dash smirked slyly.  "You're totally gonna dig it, new Twi.  Heck... maybe I'll get to test your skills in soccer."  She yawned lazily.  "The old Twi wasn't so very good at it.  But that's probably 'cuz she's used to having hooves."

"Uhm... sure."  Twilight continued rubbing her wrists, wincing slightly.  "Soccer is the game where you kick things, right?"

"What's the matter, Twilight?" Sunset asked.  She cocked her beautiful head to the side.  "Are your hands aching?"

"Oh... uhhhhh..."  Twilight breathed evenly, fighting the urge to blush.

"My goodness!"  Sunset leaned across the table.  "They're red as beets."  A hand lifted up from where she sat.  "Maybe you should have those looked at."

"Well... th-they're just a little bit sore, I guess."  Twilight exhaled.  Something twinkled between her eyes and her glasses.  "But st-still..."  She reached one wrist out, trembling slightly.  "If... if you want to look at them..."

Sunset's hand raised towards it.

Twilight held her breath—

BRIIIIIIIIING!  The bell sounded off the end of lunch.

"Yo!"  Rainbow Dash shot out of her seat, bumping into Sunset.  "Fourth period!  Time for P.E!"

"Ooomf!"  Twilight careened sideways, her violet tresses flouncing.  "Uhm... g-good luck?"

"Fourth Period?!"  Sunset Shimmer suddenly gasped.  "Ah jeez!  I forgot!"  She threw her things into her bag.  "I've got to meet up with my study group and compare notes for debate class!"

"You..."  Twilight sat up, adjusting her spectacles.  "You h-have a study group?"  A blink.  "Sunset?"

She was gone—along with half the students who had been sitting in the cafeteria.

"See ya later, Twilight!" Applejack waved from a distance.  "Oh!  And we'll be meetin' up on the front lawn of the campus at the end of sixth period!  Friday afternoon!  My big brother's gonna drive us to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"Uhhhh... s-sure thing!  See you all..."  Twilight shuddered, sitting alone at the table.  "...there."  She gulped, then picked her bag up.  As students continued clearing out around her, she paused where she stood, glancing down at her fingers.  With a sigh, she wrung her hands together while shuffling out into the school hallways.