The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

May We Go Round ? (Part 2)

Texted by his little sister, Big Macintosh had joined the group a bit after they’d arrived. And so, Zephyr’s dream seemed to have completely drowned into the depth of earth.

Yet, determined not to let go, he decided that the fact he wasn’t alone with Rainbow Dash shouldn’t be an obstacle to his plans. He would prove he was worth her attention, and this, following her wherever she went and whatever she did.

It included any roundabouts she wanted to climb into. After the first one, that Pinkie Pie and her had spotted, he already was heartsick, but they both decided to do a second one of the same type after the other, a very high pillar which chairs got down abruptly.

During the rides, they lifted their hands in the air, screamed on top of their lungs and laughed as loudly as they could. While he was hanging on tight to the safety, and tried hard not to pour the content of his lunch on the passersby and curious ones a few inches down.

There was no way he could speak to Rainbow Dash while the rides were on. And in-between, another problem occurred. His little sister Fluttershy also climbed with them, and was obliged to keep the bunch of flowers he had given to her. Because of this, the teenage girl he was in love with couldn’t even align three words without sneezing or complaining.

Now he was angry against himself for not asking his little sister what Rainbow Dash’s favorite flowers were. If he had done it, she would have told him about her allergy and he wouldn’t be where he was now.

After quite violent a roundabout, a portion of group parted. Twilight was feeling bad, and Rarity proposed to bring her somewhere she could rest. Applejack had spotted a mechanical bull that had everyone trying to tame, and Sunset Shimmer had to go to the toilets.

This could have been an advantage for Zephyr, who then could take back control of his special day. Although Pinkie Pie stayed with them, he didn’t regard her as a real obstacle to his little scheme. He even thought that talking her into eating somewhere could send her away for some time. Unfortunately, Big Macintosh was determined to stay with the group, which meant Fluttershy stayed as well… and her bunch of flowers.

When they all decided to go to a ghost train that was known to be the scariest of the world, he didn’t hesitate long and took the seat next to Rainbow Dash. Obviously, she’d preferred to be with Pinkie Pie, whom she had kept the spot for… However, now the damage was done, she agreed Zephyr to stay by her side, more excited about the prospect to start the ride than to spend it with him.

The contrast between them both had something striking… While he displayed a strange greenish complexion, she still was as fresh as when they’d arrived, except for the tip of her nose, and her red eyes.

“Hey, do you like scary movies?” he asked her, thinking he held in his hands the start of a good conversation.

She shrugged, not even looking at him, all eyes only for the entrance that was coming closer.

“Nah, it depends. Some are amazing, but others are crappy.”

“What’s your favorite one?”

“Don’t have one.”

How could he bounce back and forth with such answers, Zephyr had no ideas. Nothing happened the way he had planned, to be honest. He really had thought it would be easier to talk with her, to ask her the hundreds of questions he had imagined, about her tastes, or what she thought about him.

Everything wasn’t over, nonetheless. If this ghost train really was as scary as the legend said, it meant he would undoubtedly gain many points by the end of the ride. Nothing felt like a little thrill to create connections. It wasn’t for no reason so many boys brought their girlfriend to horror movies.

Zephyr had no idea what was this damn “Obsession” movie Soarin had seen with her yesterday. He had been way too excited by the prospect of this day to get informed as he had first planned… What he was sure of in his mind was that it mightn’t be the kind of stuff where a trembling girl would snuggle against the boy with her. He who laughs last laughs longer.

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It was exactly what the various boys around had thought when they saw Applejack appearing in front of the mechanical bull none of them had been able to tame. There was no way this cute blond girl with her hillbilly accent would manage to do it, no matter the hat she wore.

Their mouths came off their jaws as soon as she had climbed on the beast. The agility with which she undulated, her body firmly assembled with the leather saddle, the strength of her arms… She could even take off her hat and scream “yeehaw” and she never fell down.

Quickly, however, jealousy turned into some kind of admiration, and screams of support took place of the catcalls.

Buoyed by such a success, it was nothing special she was offered to participate to the contest that was going to take place. Into the bargain, there was nothing but a fake trophy that was far from being in competition with those she won as a professional of rodeos, but if she did participate, it was only for the pleasure of the win.

Her fondness for victory would never equal Rainbow Dash’s, almost unbeatable as a poor loser, yet Applejack also displayed a certain pride in her physical strength, and enjoyed to be number one, on top of a podium.

Before agreeing, she first had to warn both Twilight and Rarity, back from the toilets to encourage her, and she told them they weren’t obliged to stick around. If they wanted to do something else, they were completely free to go. She didn’t want to impose her impulses on her friends.

“You must be kidding, darling… We won’t miss it for anything in the world. Show them you’re the best.”

“According to a fast calculation, you have around eighty percent of probabilities to win”, Twilight finished, with what she thought was a wonderful compliment.

And for someone who knew her right, it truly was one. A compliment to the measure of the remarkably intelligent person that was Twilight Sparkle.

After she thanked them, Applejack returned to the enclosure where the contest would take place. They were many brave ones who wanted to take their chance, and on some of them, she could perceive some kind of scorn towards her, as if they were convinced what had happened earlier was nothing but good luck.

She would adore to win the jackpot right under their nose. She even exulted in advance.

While she was waiting for the contest to begin, the young woman had enough time to spot the Crusaders among the crowd. The three preteenagers were equipped with a camera and notebooks to write down things, and immediately, Applejack knew they were busy rummaging through for their newspaper.

However, Middle School was over for them, and next year, they would start together at CHS. So, why did they still care of this silly Kid Free Press? It made no sense. Unless… No, they wouldn’t dare.

A few weeks back, Apple Bloom had submitted the possibility to create their own celebrity newspaper, called Canterlot Weekly, which wouldn’t in fact speak about celebrities, but of average inhabitants of the city.

The worse was that: they had dared. Determined to become journalists, since their other hobbies usually ended up disastrously, they had thought this funfair would be the perfect place to start gathering Canterlot’s latest rumors and gossips.

Of course, the fact Apple Bloom’s big sister was taking part in a mechanical bull contest, she decided, was of a crucial importance, even able to be their first front page. And of course, Scootaloo preferred to focus on her idol, but it seemed that Rainbow Dash refused to appear in her field of vision.

In fact, they barely were here since ten minutes.

“What if I was trying to find Rainbow Dash?” she suggested. “It isn’t Applejack’s turn yet; I’ll have time to be back.”

“But we said we’d do everything together”, Sweetie Belle said with her sweet puppy look. “We’ll lost each other if we part.”

“Are we going to stay here for a whole hour, waiting for her turn? We could be collecting much juicer news meanwhile…”

“Hm. Not stupid.”

Apple Bloom was rubbing her chin, pretending to think hard when suddenly, Scootaloo thought she heard someone say Rainbow Dash’s name. She turned around, and noticed no one she knew. She could have ignored this if Sweetie Belle didn’t hear someone as well, a girl, saying Rarity’s name.

Not even talking to each other, the two young girl decided to follow this lead, before they might lose it. Their friend complained, screaming she didn’t want to miss her sister’s turn.

Despite it all, she slipped away too in order to follow them, when she saw Rarity who seemed to have spot them – in reality, they had settled beside her and Twilight, unconsciously.

She found Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo crouching behind the pillar of a dodgem’s track. Obviously, they were spying on a bunch of people, but Apple Bloom was unable to spot who was in their line of sight. The crowd was so thick…

Immediately, they pulled the hem of her jeans, and forced her to crouch as well.

“What’s happenin’?”

“This bunch of three girls, over here… We heard them”, Sweetie Belle started.

“They talked about Rainbow Dash, and the fact she had allergies”, Scootaloo followed.

“And that it was the best moment to strike!”

Apple Bloom opened her bicolor eyes wide, unable to believe it. Something horrible was going to happen. It was, undoubtedly, one piece of information the Crusaders had to dig in. It was about Canterlot’s safety.

Although it was a bit scary.

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Sunset Shimmer looked all around her. She couldn’t remember whether or not she had taken that way earlier. To be honest, even if she remembered, it was very unlikely to help her much. She doubted her bunch of friends to be at the same spot as when she left them.

Her only certainty was that if she wanted to find at least one part of it, she had to look around thrill rides. The problem? There were many, and visiting them one by one would probably have her wasting more time. Plus, nothing indicated her they wouldn’t try to go into another roundabout while she was scanning the patrons of one of them.

It felt so complicated she could tear out her hair. She needed a plan… In her mind, she calculated a few simple probabilities, in order to visualize her chances best, depending on what of the solution she’d decide to choose.

Maybe it wasn’t written all over her, but Sunset Shimmer had always loved mathematics. All these numbers, these possibilities… She had the feeling that she could never examine the topics from all sides. It was many years now since she envisioned to study upper mathematics, in order to become a teacher, or maybe to calculate trajectories.

And the conclusion she drawn from all this was that she’d probably have more chances to find her friends by calling them on the phone. With such a noise, they would perhaps not pick it up at the first shot, but if she insisted, one of them would certainly end up answering. She imagined that Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight wouldn’t bear with being head to the ground for so much time.

She had barely grabbed her phone out of the small cross-body bag she’d taken for the occasion that she heard three familiar voices calling her from behind.

Sunset Shimmer turned around, and her wide smile fell down like petals of a withered flower… This was none of her friends. At least, none of her real friends.

Sonata, Aria and Adagio were standing a few inches behind her, and she felt her heart racing with an incredible swiftness. It was only a few months now since she wasn’t afraid anymore to meet them accidentally in the streets, and now she was expecting it less, her guard down, they reappeared in her life.

She wasn’t sure whether it should reassure her that the reunion happened in the middle of a thick and dense crowd or if she should be even more scared.

By instinct, she stepped back when Adagio, her long red-blond hair swinging against her frail shoulders, went in her direction with an arm stretched out.

Last time she had seen each other, the three girls had copiously insulted her, swearing to bump her off next time they would meet, amongst other sweet things.

The temptation to run away as fast as she could was huge, and too bad if she appeared a bit coward. With what they had done to Rainbow Dash, only by spirit of revenge, only because they had thought her able to snitch on them if she had recognized them, Sunset Shimmer had no doubt they could follow through with their threats about her.

“Don’t come any closer!” she dared to intimate them.

“We mean no harm, we promise”, Sonata answered, stepping in her direction as well.

Out of the three, she had always been the one Sunset Shimmer thought was the most harmless and benevolent. Sonata rather had the soul of a sheep than of a tough cookie, and often, she had incurred the wrath of one of the two others, because of the way she thinks, a bit simple-minded and ingenuous.

It was the reason why Sunset Shimmer let them approach her, though she remained wary, and at a reasonable distance from Aria, and especially from Adagio – who behaved as if she was the leader of their group.

“What do you want from me, then? I don’t have much time…”

“In fact”, Aria started, twisting her fingers together. “We’d like to apologize.”

“Yes, we’ve been horrible with you last year. As far as libeling another student and putting the blame on you… We deserved our hours of community services.”

“Would you accept to make peace?” Adagio finally asked, stretching another hand towards her.

If Sunset Shimmer didn’t know them that well, she would say they were of a disarming sincerity. Nevertheless, she knew perfectly how they worked. In the past, a certain number of times, they arrived at school with faces of a puppy who’d lost his masters, and declared they would do their best not to behave like bitches with her anymore. And once she told them she accepted their apologies, they would laugh in her face and behave even more unkindly.

This serenade had an unpleasant rotten aftertaste from the past. Something told her bad habits never vanished in the air by magic, just because a spell had been broken. Some would find redemption in repentance, but others used it to feed their hate.

She had no way to know whether the three girls were bluffing, or if they really wanted to let the past where it deserved to be: behind.

Suddenly, she remembered she’d been a part of their group for a reason. She too had been a little hoodlum, trying to humiliate the others, in the hope it would give her importance and inspire respect. Those she now regarded as her true best friends had been able to go beyond this past full of ugly ink stains. They had given her a second chance, and every day, she was doing her best to show she was glad they had.

There would always be a small part of her to be suspicious of the three girls, yet, she decided to give them this second chance, as it had been applied for her own case. Everyone could feel overwhelmed by remorse one day… There was this thing, called maturity.

And, it was nothing but a handshake. There were no obligations, and it didn’t mean that they would start to hang around together again tomorrow.

“Alright”, she sighed. “You’re forgiven, don’t worry.”

Sunset Shimmer hesitated for a second, then put her hand in Adagio’s. Her heart was still racing with fear, and she thought for a very short while the girl would take an advantage from it to pull her hand and push her to the ground, or something like that.

Instead, her former classmate shook the hand she gave, and she felt as if both Aria and Sonata were satisfied with her decision.

Something vibrated in her bag, and Sunset Shimmer grabbed her phone. She had a message from Twilight telling her she and Rarity attended a mechanical bull contest Applejack was taking part into, and she invited her to watch the show with them. She answered “ok”, along with a smiling emoticon.

When she looked up, she noticed with surprise that the three girls were still standing in front of her. The crowd of passersby went all around and between them, but none were moving in order to allow them to move with more fluidity. It seemed like they were expecting something from Sunset Shimmer. Anything.

“Well… I… I must meet with my friends somewhere else, so…” she mumbled, her throat dry.

“Could we see each other again after you did? To take everything up again, you know”, Sonata asked.

“Yes”, Aria continued. “It’s been ages. We got things to say.”

“You just can’t leave us this way, Sunset. Not after you forgave us.”

In all honesty, she would have preferred to let things this way. They were fine the way they were now. She now had a group of friends whom she was feeling good with, and although she didn’t have the bracelet she’d been yearning for months, she was finally feeling like being one of them. It was not to take the risk to fall back into some unfortunate quirks…

“We do know it’s going to be difficult for you to trust us again, but please, let us a chance.”

“All we’re asking for, is half an hour of your time. Just so we could chat around ice-creams.”

Something told Sunset Shimmer refusing wouldn’t be a good idea. The part of her still wary was wavering between two options, and none of them seemed to be judicious. Because if refusing didn’t look quite enlightened, accepting didn’t seem quite safe neither.

She had to hurry taking a decision, or she would miss Applejack’s turn. Maybe the best left to do still was to give in to their whims. They had seemed sincere to her during their apologies, after all, so giving them a second chance around ice-creams couldn’t be such a bad idea. If she refused, she could appear as the heartless one.

“Alright. Half an hour. For an ice-cream.”

“Great!” Sonata got enthusiastic. “It’s going to be fun.”

“Yes… If you say so”, Sunset Shimmer mumbled to herself.

Two minutes later, she was going on the run to the enclosure where the rodeo contest had taken place, hoping she would be there on time to see Applejack’s turn. The three teenage girls had set a time and place to meet, in something like thirty minutes, on her own, of course, at the ice-cream maker near the West exit, in front of a very famous candy stall.

The fact they should meet somewhere with a lot of people around, she decided, was somehow reassuring. They never been the type to plan their schemes for an audience. No, generally, they always did their best for it to be her, Sunset Shimmer, who seemed to be the bad girl.

Behind a pole appeared three other faces, famous too, since it was The Crusader’s. They’d been hiding here for a while now. They’d followed Aria, Adagio and Sonata, and knew exactly what kind of surprised they planned for their ‘precious friend’.

It was so nice they decided to inform their sisters immediately. Problem… How would they do that if Sunset Shimmer was with them all along? Should they inform her as well, in order to avoid any kind of scandal?

It was a very complicated question which deserved a quick council of war.

Author's Note:

Yes, now the Dazzlings' officially are Sunset Shimmer former group of friends

Also, I'm moving to a new apartement where my internet connexion has to be created and they told me I'd get no appointements before the beginning of August, so... unless they find a way for me to have a connexion, I'll be obliged to publish chapters from my mother's house, which means the publication time and days could be odd and random for something like three weeks

Pray that they'll find me another solution

Comments

[PinkDiamond67]

8275373
I agree

[Midday Giggle]

Mysteries, mysterious things happening 'round.

Keep dreaming, Zephyr. There's no way Dash will snuggle against you.

[Dusk_Writer]

Zephyr is still sad…

Wherever the Crusaders are, there's trouble...