The Equus Club

by Sharp Spark

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash splashed water on her face from the sink, the coldness causing a sharp intake of breath. She shook her head, water droplets flying in every direction, and swung one hand to the side to grope for a paper towel.

Wiping her face dry, she took a long moment to stare at herself in the bathroom’s large mirror, her eyes narrowed and intent, even as she lightly chewed on her bottom lip.

The sound of the door behind her opening was quiet but unmistakable, and Rainbow’s gaze flicked from her own face to see the reflection of Rarity entering the bathroom. Rainbow remained silent but her eyebrows furrowed as she watched in the mirror, Rarity walking across the room to grab a broom leaning against the other wall. The girl carried the broom back to the bathroom’s door and shoved it through the handle, effectively blocking off entry or exit.

Rainbow whirled around. “What are you doing?”

Rarity’s eyes glittered. “I thought we could have a little girl time,” she said in a sing-song voice. Her hands dipped to her side and when they came back up, she was holding a hairbrush in one and lipstick, nail polish, and eyeliner in the other.

“Oh, no.” Rainbow backed up, bumping into the cold stone of the sink counter. “No no no.”

Rarity halted her advance and tilted her head, her lips pushed out in a pout. “But Rainbow, darling… I know you don’t care for this sort of thing, but have you ever even tried? You would look so beautiful.”

“I don’t… do… feminine.”

Rarity leaned forward, looking up at Rainbow Dash with her big blue eyes. “Just this once? No one will have to know except us.”

Rainbow swallowed.

“For me?”

Rainbow Dash’s shoulders sagged. “Okay. But no one else hears about this. Ever!”

Rarity brightened immediately into a wide grin, and Rainbow’s felt a rush of warmth in her face.

“Eee! This is going to be the best makeover, I promise!”

Rarity pounced, and Rainbow Dash grimaced as she got pulled into a confusing swirl of action. She winced as she felt the brush being pulled through her hair, but before she could complain she felt the light touch of a finger on her lips.

Rarity’s face was only inches from Rainbow’s own, and Dash’s eyes bounced around, trying in vain to find something to stare at other than the girl in front of her. It was the makeover. That’s why she was so uncomfortable, of course. Nothing else.

Something pressed against her lips and Rainbow froze at the strange feeling. After a moment, Rarity pulled the tube of lipstick back and murmured, “Press your lips together.” Rainbow complied, her face burning. “Now eyes closed.”

Rainbow stood frozen, afraid that she was going to screw something up somehow as a variety of foreign sensations played across her face.

“Open.”

Her eyes flew open and she started to turn around to look in the mirror, but Rarity held her shoulders firmly. “Not quite yet.”

Rarity stepped back and tapped a finger against her chin as her eyes swept over a fidgeting Rainbow Dash. “Idea!” Rarity’s grin returned in full force and she raised one hand to her own hair, pulling out the triple-diamond-bedecked hairpin that rested there. She shook her head lightly and her dark purple hair fell in delicate waves, the curves partially covering one eye.

Rainbow realized that her mouth had fallen open and she quickly shut it, her teeth clicking together. But Rarity didn’t seem to notice. She leaned forward again, her hands running through Rainbow’s hair as she snapped the hairpin in.

Rainbow felt hands rest on her shoulders again. “Ready?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t manage any more than a nod, but that was enough. Rarity twirled her around to face directly into the bathroom’s mirror.

What Rainbow saw caused her mouth to fall open again. She was expecting super girly, or heavily made up. Something that made her look utterly ridiculous and un-Rainbow.

But it was her. A… better her.

The makeup didn’t stick out. It only accentuated the natural colors of her skin, making her face look livelier, her ruby eyes stand out, and her lips appear more defined. Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, with the hairpin in the front providing a splash of blue across the red, yellow, and green in front.

She wasn’t girly, but she was unmistakably a girl. Her hand reached up to lightly touch her cheek.

“How did you…?”

“I told you, Rainbow Dash. I’d never change who you are. I just want to show you how beautiful you can be.”

Rainbow felt her heart beating faster and faster. “Beautiful?”

“Yes, of course!” Rarity chirped. Rainbow Dash tore her eyes away from her reflection and turned, staring at Rarity. “Every girl has beauty, it’s just a matter of accentuating—”

Rarity’s words cut off. It was hard to talk with Rainbow kissing her.

Rainbow pulled away. She spun back to the mirror, eyes screwed shut. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” Her hand slammed into the counter. “Ow. Fuck.”

Rainbow’s teeth clenched and unclenched. She forced her eyes open, and saw Rarity’s reflection in the mirror. The other girl stared back at her, mouth still hanging open slightly.

“I’m sorry, Rarity,” Rainbow said, her voice pleading. “That was stupid. A mistake. I didn’t mean to. Well, I did but… It was just a— I’m not gay!”

“Rainbow…”

“I’m…” Her eyes met Rarity’s in the mirror. “I’m not… I swear.”

“Neither am I, darling.” Rarity still sounded a bit breathless. “Why, can you imagine the scandal that’d cause?”

“Then…”

“We’re just two straight girls. That’s why…”

Rainbow involuntarily shivered as Rarity’s hands slipped around her waist, the other girl pressing up against her from behind.

“This.”

Rarity’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Doesn’t.”

Dash felt hot breath against her ear.

“Count.”

A pair of teeth lightly closed on Rainbow’s earlobe and she couldn’t help but moan.

---

Applejack stared down at the blank sheet of paper in front of her. She picked up her pen, tapping her lips with it.

Her eyes darted to look around the room. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were still gone. On one side, Fluttershy was hard at work writing her own essay, the scritching of her pencil on paper loud in the quiet library. And on Applejack’s other side, Pinkie Pie was folding her paper with a matching intensity of expression.

Applejack set her pen down again and rested her head on a hand as she watched Pinkie Pie. The poofy-haired girl worked quickly, hands contorting as she made one crease, then another, all of her motions purposeful but with no pattern that Applejack could discern. But she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Pinkie off in her own little world.

Pinkie suddenly stopped, grinning at the densely folded shape in front of her before grabbing her pen to color in some dots and lines. It still didn’t look like much to Applejack, sort of a flattish blob, but then Pinkie reached forward to carefully pull at one tab.

The shape popped up, taking the form of an origami duck, two big round eyes drawn on what would be its head and a smile on its beak. Applejack suppressed a laugh, and kept watching as Pinkie began pushing it around the desk, smiling brightly.

“Quack, quack, quack, qua—”

Pinkie looked over and caught Applejack looking at her, and abruptly stopped, blushing. She folded her hands together and looked at the ceiling, not meeting Applejack’s eyes.

Applejack stared back down at the sheet of paper in front of her, still as blank as ever. She picked up her pen. Then she snuck another glance at Pinkie and set it down again, sighing softly as she stood up.

Applejack didn’t look directly at Pinkie as she walked over to her, and she sat down on the table’s surface facing away from the other girl. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, before she closed her eyes and sighed again.

“Hey Pinkie,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you not like me?”

Applejack’s head dipped slightly as she waited for a response, the moment stretching out.

“Why would you say that?” Pinkie’s voice was quiet, lacking its normal enthusiasm. “Why would you ever say that?”

“Everyone in school knows you. And I’m sure you know everyone in school. Somehow. But before today, you hadn’t said so much as two words to me.”

Silence fell again, and Applejack fingered the brim of her hat. She snuck a glance over to see Fluttershy peeking at the two of them, but the girl immediately looked away and started writing again.

“Did I do something to make you mad?” Applejack asked. “I didn’t mean to.”

“No!”

Applejack leaned back. “What then? I don’t understand.”

“I told you.” Pinkie said. She remained quiet for a long moment, and Applejack was about to speak up when Pinkie continued. “Whenever I spend too much time with someone, if I get too close… they get sick of me. I didn’t want that to happen.”

“So you didn’t talk to me at all?”

“That way you’d never want to stop being my friend.”

“Only ‘cause you’d never let me be your friend in the first place!”

“I’d rather be nothing than have you hate me.”

Applejack took a deep breath. “What— Okay. Is that… Why do you watch me?”

The sounds of Fluttershy writing ceased again. Applejack glanced over to see her stand up stiffly. “Um. Uh. I think there’s a book over there I need,” she said, scurrying off behind a shelf.

As soon as she was gone, Applejack was about to repeat the question when she heard a soft answer, carefully neutral in tone.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Applejack frowned. “You said it yourself, earlier. And... I catch you looking sometimes.”

“I look at everyone. People are interesting.”

“An’ you talk to everyone. Everyone except me.”

Pinkie didn’t say anything. Applejack waited and waited before finally looking over her shoulder at the other girl. Pinkie’s hair sagged low as she stared down at the origami duck in front of her, her face blank.

“See?” Her voice was tired. “I told you. This was why. You hate me now.”

“I don’t,” Applejack said, but Pinkie wouldn’t meet her eyes, still staring downwards.

Applejack took off her stetson and held it in her hands, considering it for a long moment. The briefest of smiles crossed her face, and then she sat the hat down on Pinkie’s head and turned forward again, where Pinkie couldn’t see her expression.

“You know,” Applejack said. “Now that harvest’s mostly passed, we have a little more time ‘round the farm than normal. You should come over sometime. I could show you around.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I’m sure Granny an’ Apple Bloom would think you’re just the cat’s pajamas. Might even get Big Mac to say more than a few words.”

“Applejack,” the voice behind her said. “Are you trying to set me up with your brother? I hear he's pretty cute, after all.”

Applejack whirled around with blazing eyes. “Now wait just one second—”

She saw Pinkie grinning widely from beneath her stetson and the words caught in her throat.

“Kidding!” Pinkie chirped. “You sure are protective of him though. Or maybe it’s something else?”

Applejack turned away and stood up. “He just don’t need no pink-haired varmint making his life all confusing.”

She heard a giggle behind her as she walked back to her table where her still unstarted essay awaited.

“Applejack?” Pinkie called out.

Applejack looked back, but Pinkie had disappeared. She blinked, looking around the library for the missing girl. Not seeing her anywhere, she took a moment to walk over to take a peek behind the horse-head statue at the center pedestal of the room. And she wasn’t hiding behind the shelves. Applejack could still see Fluttershy through the gaps in the books, standing around with her back to them.

She frowned and walked over to sit down at her table, when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She saw Pinkie crawl out from underneath the table to sit back at her previous spot, still wearing the stetson, and she smiled and waved.

Applejack’s eyebrows scrunched together but she waved back.

Sighing one more time, she picked up her pen and looked down, only to find that her blank piece of paper had been folded up into an origami apple.

Comments

[salemkarr]

I have a pretty good idea for what rainbow and rarity are doing

[Crimson Dawn]

So Pinkie are you actually into AJ or Big Mac? Lol maybe the world will never know.

[The Princess Rarity]

*pulls up in a FedEx truck* Aaaand the shipping begins! Who ordered RariDash and ApplePie?

[The_Pinkster]

Love this story!