Rose of the Desert

by La Samu-El

Chapter 1

The multiple loud intolerable clangs of the school bell rang and instantly the growing chatter of students were echoed throughout the many halls of Canterlot High School. Students were walking by the dozens with wide smiles as they made their way to the single cafeteria. The cafeteria was noisy and bustled with everyone either lined up for their mid-morning lunches, or searching for an empty table or a table with their friends to sit alongside. Among the commotion was a young girl with pink puffy hair and an overhyped energy who appeared to be narrating a tale to the other five who sat with her as they listening attentively while leaning on the table towards her.

“And then when I took the first bite it was so hot that steam was coming out of my ears and fire flew out of my mouth when I took a deep breath out,” the pink girl demonstrated her exhaling breath before she continued, “it was as it was trying to burn me to death so I said, “Oatmeal, are you crazy?!”.”

This was followed by intense laughter from the other five girls.

“Oh Pinkie darling,” a girl with blue, curly hair giggled while trying to swallow a forkful from her plate of salad, “you should have placed the bowl of oatmeal next to a fan to cool it.”

“Yeah but I don’t have a fan, Rarity.”

“You could have placed it next to the AC vent,” another girl with a multicolored hairdo was twirling a soccer ball with her index finger while eating a sandwich and drinking a bottle of Apple Cider, “that would have made it at least twenty percent cooler.”

“Hmm,” Pinkie shifted into her thinking pose, her eyes were squinted as her head rested on her palm. She then burst a smile. “I guess I should have thought of that. Thanks Rainbow Dash!”

“No prob,” Rainbow Dash began to take another sip from her bottle of cider but none poured out. She peered into the bottle, then turned it upside down but not a drop poured out. “Hey Applejack, do you have any extra Cider on you?”

“No ah don’t,” another girl with a southern accent, and a combination of blonde and sandy brown hair, who wore a stetson folded her arms as she narrowed her eyes toward Rainbow Dash. “That was the fifth bottle you drank. The rest of us haven’t even finished our first one.”

“But they’re so good,” Rainbow Dash stared with glassy eyes at the empty bottle on the table. “Don’t you have any extra? It’s you and the rest of your Apple family that makes those stuff. You should have a couple of stashed in your bag.”

Applejack hesitated, then sighed as her hand reached deep into her sandy yellow bag which lay beside her chair and pulled out another bottle. With a swift motion she threw it to Rainbow Dash who, with wide open arms, eagerly caught it. with care, as if it was presented to her by a divine deity, she twisted the cover, brought the rim to her lips, and as the liquid poured she savored every single drop.

“That was Sunset’s share,” Applejack leaned back, having finished her lunch. “But she’s not here, so, have at it.”

“Where is Sunset anyway?” Pinkie asked, “I haven’t seen her today. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her since Monday. And today’s Wednesday.”

“Ah don’t know where that girl is,” Applejack frowned as she responded, “since Monday Sunset’s been acting weird. This morning during class she kept writing on a small piece of paper. Ah couldn’t get a full view when I tried to peak but it kinda looked like some kind of list. When ah asked her about it she just quickly shoved it in her pocket and said that it was nothing important.”

“Well I’m sure that Sunset will tell us in her own time,” Rarity paused, “although it does sound a mighty bit suspicious.”

“Um,” another girl with long, pink hair who kept slowly sneaking bits of her salad into her slightly open bag, which in turn was collected by a puffy white rabbit. “Maybe the list has something to do with Sunset Shimmer not being here.”

“Maybe Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash casually responded as she placed her bottle of Cider on the table, “but what’s she hiding that she won’t even tell us? Or eat with us?”

“Ooh ooh maybe she’s planning something for all of us,” Pinky jumped up and down as she shared her idea, “maybe a fun party.”

“No Pinkie. A party would be the last thing she would plan.”

Pinkie sat down. “Well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I wonder what she’s doing now?”

Everyone else at the table shrugged their shoulders and glanced at each other.

“I don’t know what she’s doing now,” Rarity responded, “but yesterday when I saw her she was checking her account balance. Those were some six figure digits I saw there, and that was just in the spending account. Who knows how much money she has properly saved up.”

“Um,” Fluttershy spoke quietly, “how did Sunset even get all that money?”

“She writes songs and sells them. She told us all that five months ago. You were in Maine camping. I guess we forgot to tell you, darling,” Rarity let out an awkward giggle. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay.”

The school bell rang which signaled the end of the lunch period. Everyone in the cafeteria rose from their tables as they grumbled, grabbed their backpacks, pushed their chairs forward, and walked out of the cafeteria to their fifth period classes. The five girls also shared a quick yet friendly ’see ya’ as they followed suit and went their separate ways. All except Rainbow Dash who was still seated as she finished her bottle of Apple Cider

“I have Calculus and I didn’t do my homework.” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she rose from her empty table, grabbed her soccer ball and her blue rainbow-branded backpack, and slowly walked out of the cafeteria. “I’m not going there. I think I’ll go to the soccer field.”

In an empty hallway, one lone figure leaned crosslegged adjacent an open, rusty locker. She wore a black jacket which partially covered a t-shirt with an emblem of a red and yellow yin-yang symbol embedded in a surrounding sun. Not heeding immediately to the school bell, she scribbled in a checkmark motion on a slip of paper.

“I got my luggage all packed up,” she muttered to herself, “I got new sheets, new curtains, I’ve got a new vacuum, I have everything else all loaded up, just need groceries, and then I’m pretty much good to go. Can’t wait.”

She shoved the paper in her pocket and was about to close the locker when someone called out to her.

“Hey Sunset,” Rainbow Dash ran up to her, “What’s up?”

Sunset Shimmer turned her head to see Rainbow Dash stop in front of her. “Nothing Rainbow, everything’s fine.”

“You didn’t eat with us just now, what’cha doing?”

“Uh, I wasn’t doing anything, just getting rid of some junk inside my locker. Yeah.” With a clang and a click Sunset Shimmer closed her locker door shut and locked it. Rainbow Dash could not help but squint her eyes as she looked at Sunset Shimmer’s face as she searched for any hints of deception.

“Well, if you’re not doing anything, how about we head down to that smoothie shop after school?”

“Uh, no thanks, I’m kinda busy. Still have those Finals to study for.”

“Oh, okay,” Rainbow dash was in the process of continuing to the soccer field when she stopped. “Is it because of the finals that you’ve been avoiding us all week? Or is it something else?”

Sunset Shimmer raised her eyebrows as she looked at Rainbow Dash. “What are you talking about?”

“So it is something else. Since Monday you’ve stopped sitting with us at lunch, Applejack told me that you’re busy writing on some silly piece of paper, and Rarity told me that you had a lot of money in your spending account.”

“What’s wrong with writing and checking my account balance, Rainbow Dash?”

“Is your music making and the amount of money that you get more important than us? Your friends?”

“N-no,” Sunset Shimmer slowly backed away as Rainbow Dash grew upset, “Rainbow, stop yelling, you’re scaring me.”

“I am not, Rainbow paused as she realized that she really was yelling. She took a few breaths to compose herself. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you, it’s just that you seem distant from us. It looks a bit suspicious. And I’m just also afraid that your music career might be making you forget about us.”

Sunset Shimmer pulled Rainbow Dash into a tight hug. “Rainbow, nothing’s more important than you guys, it’s just that a little space every now and then helps me think better.”

“This is about Pinkie distracting you isn’t it?” Rainbow dash laughed as Sunset let go of the embrace.

Uh, no.”

“I know, just kidding. Well if it’s just a little space you need then I’ll leave you to it. See ya Sunset, I’m heading to the field now.” Rainbow Dash turned the corner of the hall and walked away.

“See ya Rainbow,” Sunset Shimmer began to to walk off in the opposite direction but stopped and turned around. “Wait, don’t you have Calculus now?” She asked Rainbow Dash, or rather the empty space where she stood.

“Bet she forgot to do her homework again. Typical Rainbow Dash.” She chuckled to herself as she made her way to a nearby classroom labeled Physics.

After school the group of five met in a nearby smoothie restaurant. They were seated adjacent the panorama window which exposed the outside streets. Each had a tall, frosty glass of a purple-colored grape smoothie. While she drank Rainbow Dash was conversing with the others.

“She said that she had Finals and she wasn’t coming here,” Rainbow Dash said as she gulped her smoothie not bothering to use the straw provided.

“Well, maybe she does,” Applejack said, “a lot of us has.”

“Yeah I know but the way she said it, it was as if she was really hiding something from us, Just like you said Applejack,” Applejack raised her right eyebrow as she listened attentively. “I saw that piece of paper stuck in her pocket. I didn’t see much but I saw a date and time on it. It’s the day after school at eleven o’clock.”

“But what is she planning at that time?”

“Ohh ohh ohh,” Pinkie Pie raised her hand excitedly, “maybe she’s meeting someone, you know, like a date with a special someone she has.”

“If it really was a date,” Rarity said while she occasionally took tiny sips from her smoothie through her straw, “then Sunset would have been smart enough to ask me to make a new dress for her. And she didn’t, so it can’t be that.”

“Then what could it be?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out. On that day after school I’m going to do stakeout. I’ll just need someone to come with me.”

“And who’s that person gonna be?” Applejack placed her hands under her chin as she leaned inches closer to the table. “It can’t be all of us because we’ll get noticed. Plus Pinkie Pie would give us away.”

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie glared at Applejack.

“I was thinking that Rainbow Dash should tag along with me,” Rarity calmly made her choice as she took a sip of her smoothie. Rainbow Dash almost choked on her drink.

“Wait why me?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Because I just said that I wanted you to come with me,” Rarity then asked the others, “didn’t you girls hear me say that?”

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy nodded their heads.

“Rainbow Dash would be the right person to go,” Fluttershy said, “c-cause Applejack has chores at the farm, Pinkie Pie would give the position away, and I have my little critters to take care of. Rainbow dash doesn’t have anything to do, so she is the ideal person. If that’s okay with you guys.”

“See? Even Fluttershy agrees with me. So it’s settled,” Rarity rose from her seat and walked behind Rainbow Rash and she placed her hands on her shoulders. “Rainbow Dash, I’ll pick you up on the day after school at nine, we’ll stop for some takeout, and then we’ll park somewhere near Sunset Shimmer’s house where she won’t see us. And bring that tracking device that you have, it might come in useful.”

Rarity pulled out a black leather purse from her matching handbag and retrieved a five dollar bill. She placed it next to her now empty glass. “I got to go, the waitress can have the remaining three dollars as tip. See you girls.”

A chorus of goodbyes came from the table as Rarity exited the smoothie shop.

“Ah gotta go too,” Applejack stood up, pulled two dollars from her jeans’ pockets and placed it next to her glass in the same manner as Rarity. “Got the evening chores to do.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie also followed Applejack and placed their money next to their glasses.

“Bye Applejack,” they chorused, “Bye Rainbow Dash.”

As the trio left Rainbow Dash was still seated as she casually finished her smoothie, her eyes slowly darted back and forth, left and right as she scanned the background activities inside the shop and the busy streets outside.

“Why do I have to be the one paired with Rarity?” Rainbow Dash sighed as she placed her feet on the opposite seat. “I wanted to spend that whole day at the tennis court in the country club.” Minutes later she left two dollars beside her glass as she left the shop.

Comments

[Awesomo3000]

Is Sunset planning to leave? Judging from how she said "NEW curtains", "NEW groceries" and was checking her account, maybe that's the case.