• Published 9th Apr 2017
  • 3,734 Views, 106 Comments

Terrors of the Town - AJtheRaven



Before the CMC, there was another group of troukblemakers around town - and it was made up of our very own AJ, Dashie, and Rarity. What if the CMC's big sisters were even worse than they were as fillies? Ponyville, look out. (FEATURED 4/9/2017)

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Chapter Four

"So what story are you gonna tell us today?" The front porch of Sweet Apple Acres creaked as Scootaloo leaned forwards to grasp her big sister's hooves with shining eyes. "Are you gonna tell us about mischief and adventure and laughter?"

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow at her. "Huh?"

"You don't remember? When we were at Sweet Apple Acres two days ago, you said - " Scootaloo struck a dramatic pose and cleared her throat. "My little fillies, you are about to hear a tale of mischief and adventure and laughter and... okay, I'm out of ideas. Anyway. You're about to hear a tale full of good stuff. You're about to hear how the most infamous band of rogues who ever roamed Ponyville was created. You're about to realize just how awesome I was when I was a filly." She sat back down at Rainbow's hooves again. "Remember?"

"U-um," she stuttered, her mouth hanging open, "right. Good memory." To her amazement, Scootaloo had, indeed, quoted her word-for-word. "Well, um, no, I was thinking I would tell you about something a little different - a little more, uh, less focused on my own mischief. I don't want to spoil my image by telling you about how dumb I was as a kid."

"Image," Applejack snorted under her breath, clearly amused by her friend's pride in herself.

Dash narrowed her eyes at her. "Pardon?"

"Nothin'," Applejack answered with a grin that was much too wide, as Rarity, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle snickered. "Carry on."

"Hmmm." Rainbow sized her up for a few more seconds, internally debating whether or not to call her out on her obvious lie, and then gave up. "Anyway. Today, I'm going to tell you about..." she paused for dramatic effect. "The Fluttershy Incident."

"Oh, goodness, no, Dashie!" Rarity held her hoof to her forehead, her eyes sorrowful. "If you don't want to ruin your own image, why must you ruin ours?" Applejack looked similarly embarrassed.

"The Fluttershy Incident?" Sweetie Belle queried perplexedly. "What's that? Did you two do something to her?" She eyed Applejack and Rarity in bewilderment, and they shrank beneath her gaze. "Did you terrorize her? Did you make her cry? Did you kill her?!"

Everypony stared at her.

Sweetie Belle blushed and lowered her head. "Sorry. Got a bit carried away."

Applejack cleared her throat. "Anyway." She placed a warm hoof on Rainbow's elbow and batted her eyelids at her in an attempt to garner sympathy. "Dash, do ya have t' tell 'em about that? Surely y'all can find a diff'rent story?"

"Nope." The pegasus crossed her arms and looked pointedly away, ignoring the friendly touch. "I want to tell them about this one."

"What did ya do that was so bad, Applejack?" Apple Bloom queried, a good deal more reasonably than Sweetie Belle. Her eyes shone with curiosity.

AJ offered her a sheepish smile. "Well... let's put it this way, little sis. It wasn't me an' Rarity's finest moment." A faint blush tinged her cheeks.

"You can say that again," Rarity chimed in, idly using her hoof to fan her forehead. Although there was a gentle breeze whispering between the columns of the front porch, stirring everypony's manes around their foreheads, the air was hot and humid. "We were absolutely despicable. Which is, of course, exactly why Dashie wants to tell you three." The alabaster unicorn shot the pegasus in question an evil glance. "This is one of the only stories we have to tell you where the two of us, rather than Rainbow, were... well, mostly... at the heart of the trouble."

"Hey! Not cool." Rainbow stuck her tongue out at her friend. "And not true! We were all in the mischief together." She reached out towards the coffee table and scooped up a tall glass, tipping her head back to drink. "Aww, ponyfeathers. I'm all out of cold apple cider. Jackie? Can you get me some more?" She gave the farmpony a winsome smile.

Applejack gave her a sharp swat upside the head with her Stetson. "Don' call me that, ya daft pegasus. Ya know Ah hate it."

"That's why I do it," Rainbow replied cheekily.

Applejack drew her lips back in a snarl. "Then no, ya ain't gettin' any more cider."

The pegasus's demeanor changed instantly. "Aargh! No! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I take it back!" Distraught, she threw herself at Applejack's hooves. "I need more cider!!! ... and some more of that apple salad wouldn't hurt either?" Her ears drooping, she raised her head to look Applejack in the eye and wrapped her hooves around the farmpony's powerful orange ones. "Please?"

Rarity facehoofed. "Rainbow Dash, you're hopeless. A lady does not beg in public."

However, the apology was good enough for Applejack. Her gaze softening, she raised the pegasus to her hooves and gave her a firm pat on the back. "No need t' fret, sugar. Ah'll get ya yore snacks... if only cause Ah'm happy t' see ya eatin' somethin' green fer once," she added acerbically. "An think it's been five years at least since Ah last saw ya eat a piece o' lettuce. Anypony else want more drinks or salad?"

Everypony chimed in with their requests, and Applejack dipped her head in assent and trotted inside the farmhouse. She returned a few minutes later, her strong tail firmly wrapped around a jug of frosty cider and her front hooves encircling a wooden bowl of the fresh apple salad she had made earlier that morning. "There y'all go. Dig in. An' by that, Ah mean leave some fer everypony else," she added crossly to Rainbow Dash, whom she had seen hungrily eyeing the cider.

"Like there was ever any danger of me doing anything else," Rainbow snorted - a blatant lie. However, she attempted to assuage Applejack's concerns by gallantly allowing Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to serve themselves first, brushing off their thanks with an insouciant shrug.

Finally, after everypony had filled their plates and glasses, they settled back comfortably into their various positions - the Crusaders sitting cross-hooved on the rough wooden slats that comprised the porch floor with their legs entwined, Rarity in a cushy chair with her face carefully turned away from the sun (sunburn is never attractive), and Applejack and Rainbow Dash lazily reclining sideways on the couch with their hooves and tails brushing each other. The wind chimes attached to the ceiling murmured softly in the wind, lending the atmosphere a peaceful air. Out in the fields, Big Mac could be seen steadily bucking a row of trees in the East Orchard - he'd kindly offered to take on Applejack's chores for an hour so that she could spend some time with her friends.

Rainbow took a long drought of cider and heaved a sigh of contentment, wiping her mouth with her hoof and ignoring her friends' looks of disgust. "Aaah. That hit the spot. Okay, are you three ready to hear the story?"

"YES!" the Crusaders chorused eagerly, their muzzles breaking out into large grins.

"Awesome." Rainbow gave a wicked grin. "'Cause you may never be able at look AJ and Rarity the same way ever again."
***

It was a dark and stormy -

***

"Rainbow, there wasn't a cloud in th' sky," Applejack interrupted with a pronounced eyeroll, swishing her tail against the pegasus's. "An' it was broad daylight. If Ah catch ya fudgin' th' truth again, missy..." She let the threat hang unfinished.

"Fine." Rainbow returned the eyeroll. "You're so boring. Everypony knows 'it's a dark and stormy night' sounds way cooler." She warded off another tail swat from the cowpony by flicking her wing at her. "Okay, okay! I'll start over."

***

It was a bright and cloudless day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Rainbow Dash was gone.

"Where is she?" the young orange Earth pony demanded, her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful -

***

"That ain't what Ah said," Applejack interrupted again, much to the Crusaders' amusement.

Rainbow shot her a severe glare, her face contorted with annoyance. "Do you mind?" she snapped savagely. "I'm trying to tell a story here!"

"Well, Ah'm sorry!" the cowpony protested, vehemently wringing her hooves. "It just ain't what Ah said, that's all!"

"And what did you say?" Rarity prompted with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, uh - er -" she stammered, her eyes darting back and forth shiftily. "Ah don' remember, but it wasn't that," she eventually reiterated with a stubborn pout, trying to make up for the lameness of the excuse by sounding firm.

She failed.

Apple Bloom snickered. "Ya don' sound too sure t' me, sis."

"Yeah. AB has a point," Rainbow snorted. "Ever heard of storyteller's license, Applejack? I can embellish a little along the way."

"Y'all just made that up right now," she countered dryly.

"Nuh-uh! I read about it in one of Twilight's -" Rainbow's lips paled and she hastily tightened her lips, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

"Dashie's been borrowing books again," Rarity teased in a sing-song voice.

Even Scootaloo had to hold back a snicker at the fiery shade of tomato red that flared over the pegasus's cheeks. "S-shut up! It was just one! No biggie! A-and I thought I was supposed to be telling a story right now! Why are we talking about this?"

"You tell me, sugarcube," Applejack said with a languid smile. "More talkin' an' less blushin', if'n ya please."

"R-right..." The pegasus cleared her throat, refusing to meet Rarity's gaze. "Anyway."

***

"Where is she?" the young orange Earth pony demanded, her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful frown. "She shoulda been here half'n hour ago. We're in th' right place, aren't we, Rares?"

Rarity dipped her head in an affirming nod beneath the large, floppy-brimmed hat she was wearing to protect herself from the sun. "Dashie did say to meet her right underneath Clousdale, next to the oak tree." That description perfectly summarized the two fillies' location. Clousdale loomed above their heads, a veritable mountain of cloudy spires and rainbow bridges.

Applejack stomped her hoof petulantly, the ground quivering faintly beneath the firmness of the ensuing thud. "Well, we're here an' she ain't, an' Ah'm gettin' antsy! Granny said Ah have t' be back at th' farm in an hour, an' that silly pegasus is wastin'. Mah. Time!" Each word was punctuated with another stomp of her hoof.

"I agree. This behavior is really unacceptable. She may have all the time in the world, but we certainly don't. Say, how much money do you think we would have to pay Rainbow Dash to wear a watch?"

Applejack smirked and started to answer, but the words died on her lips. "Hey, there she comes now."

Sure enough, a cyan blur was hurtling down from Clousdale, a rippling polychromatic con trail in its wake. With a whoop of glee, Rainbow Dash flared her wings out for landing and screeched to a rapid stop in front of Applejack and Rarity. She gave her windswept mane a casual flick. "Wassup, peeps," she drawled, arching her eyebrows.

"Yore late," Applejack snapped, neither deterred nor impressed by the young pegasus filly's dramatic entrance.

Dash's grin faltered. "Um - I am?" Her gaze swept over to Rarity, who looked even more unamused than Applejack, if that was possible.

"Yes, you are," Rarity responded dryly. "Being late by five minutes?Excusable. Ten minutes? Fairly acceptable. But half-an-hour? Rainbow Dash, that is simply rude."

To her credit, the pegasus appeared to be ashamed of herself. She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry," she faltered. "I was just a bit busy up there..." She weakly indicated Cloudsdale with the tip of her wing.

"Busy doin' what?" Applejack inquired sharply.

"Just... you know... hanging out."

"With whom?" Rarity demanded, narrowing her eyes skeptically.

"My friend Fluttershy." Rainbow's eyes lit up and her posture suddenly became more animated at the mention of her friend. "She's so cool! I mean, she's a little bit, er, wimpy. But she does everything I tell her to and watches all my tricks and - um, you know, other... normal... friend stuff too, like make me laugh and invite me over to her house," she hastily added. "She's really nice."

Applejack and Rarity cast each other a glance of surprise. "You mean, you have other friends besides us?" Rarity queried, genuinely shocked. Rainbow had never mentioned this... Fluttershy before.

The pegasus instantly went on the defensive. "Of course I have other friends!" she spat venomously, her fur bristling. "I live up there! How could I not have friends? What do you think I am, some kind of hermit?" Clearly, she had thought that Rarity was questioning her social skills.

The two other fillies drew back in shock; Rainbow had never snapped at them like that before. "Calm down, R.D.," AJ attempted to placate her, stepping forward to place a soothing hoof on her shoulder. "Rarity didn't mean nothin' by it. Now, can we get back t' our Daredevil stuff? I gotta get back t' th' farm soon fer chores."

Relaxing a little, Dash reached up to pat her friend's hoof. "Sure. Sorry I yelled. And sorry I was late. It won't happen again."

It happened again.

The second time it happened, Applejack and Rarity were able to forgive their friend again, albeit with increasing annoyance. The third, fourth, and fifth times they treated with similar patience. But by the tenth time, the two fillies were thoroughly irritated with Rainbow's behavior. She had never yet forgotten to show up to one of the get-togethers that she planned, but she consistently arrived more than fifteen minutes late, often leading Applejack and Rarity to get scolded by their family for staying outside too long. And every time they asked Rainbow where she had been, her answer always seemed to involve the name of a certain new pegasus friend. Even just hearing the word 'Fluttershy' was sickening - when Rainbow finally did turn up, she never had anything else to talk about except Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy.

To put not too fine a point on it, Applejack and Rarity were fed up.

On the eleventh day of Rainbow's tardiness, Applejack could take it no more. She got to her hooves and tilted her head back to stare at Cloudsdale above them, shading her forehead with a hoof. "Ya know what, Rares? This has gone on far enough. Ah'm gonna give her a piece o' mah mind th' minute she gets her sorry flank down here."

"Quite right," Rarity sniffed. "I except she's busy with Fluttershy again." The name curled off her tongue with the kind of disdain that she usually reserved for the lowliest insects and the (even lowlier, in her opinion) ponies who misunderstood fashion. "What can she do that we can't, anyway?" Her eyes flickered with jealousy.

Applejack's eyes darkened at the name, and she bared her teeth in a snarl of anger. "Ah dunno, but Rainbow's gettin' on mah nerves."

Rarity scarcely had time to agree before she was cut off by a loud whoop. "Hey guys! I'm here!"

"Well, finally," Applejack muttered acidly under her breath. "What do ya mean by..." She faltered, suddenly realizing that Rainbow was not alone.

Trailing next to her was a tall but slender butter-yellow pegasus with bashful turquoise eyes. She landed next to Rainbow and curled her wings to her sides, hunching her shoulders shyly and looking anywhere but at Applejack and Rarity. "Check it out!" Rainbow Dash announced proudly, drawing the new pegasus over to her side with a friendly hoof. "I brought my friend Fluttershy!"

AJ's and Rarity's eyes widened simultaneously. So this was the famed Fluttershy. She looked kind of cute, actually - not quite as nefarious as they had been expecting.

Still, she had stolen Rainbow away from them, and they were not about to let her get away with it. "Howdy," Applejack spat coldly, her usual convivial warmth gone, her eyes two green points of flame.

Fluttershy shrank beneath Applejack's icy gaze. "H-hi," she squeaked out, scuffing the ground with her hoof as though she were trying to dig a hole for herself to hide in.

Rainbow, oblivious, did not seem to notice the tension that hung in the air. "This is gonna be so awesome! The four of us can do all sorts of cool stuff together! Hey, maybe we can even make her a Daredevil!"

Rarity growled low in her throat. Rainbow's sharp ears picked up on the noise and she stared at the young unicorn in bewilderment, her ears drooping. "D-did I do something wrong?"

"Could we speak to you for a moment?" Rarity hissed. "Alone?" Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Rainbow by the ear and stalked off, ignoring the pegasus's perplexed yelp of pain and shooting Fluttershy a venomous glare for good measure. Applejack trotted over to follow, her tail whipping sharply around her hindquarters as it always did when she was agitated or annoyed.

Rarity dragged Rainbow to the foot of a small hill that was out of Fluttershy's view and, more importantly, hearing range, and then released her. Rainbow stumbled backwards, massaging her ear, and glared hard at her friend. "What is your problem? What was that for?"

"Dashie, you're being obtuse!" Rarity growled at her. She'd heard that word from her parents, and although she didn't quite know what it meant, she knew it wasn't anything good. "The Daredevils is our special club! Why would you ask somepony else to join? Did you ever think about how that might hurt our feelings?

"Yeah, 'cause we do have feelin's," Applejack interjected angrily, her jaw set menacingly. "An' ya seem t' have forgotten all about 'em, these past few days."

"What are you talking about?" the polychromatic pegasus cried.

"Y'all have been completely ignorin' us!" the cowpony snapped, finally arriving at the crux of the matter. "Runnin' off with that Fluttershy an' leavin' us t' wait like we don' mean anythin' t' ya!" How do ya think we felt, knowin' ya cared about some new friends more'n us? Huh? Ya think it felt good?" Her legs were trembling in her anger.

"Stopped caring about you?" Rainbow echoed. "That's not true. I brought Fluttershy down here to -"

"Oh, save it for somepony who actually cares," Rarity interrupted bitterly, tossing her rich purple curls. "Why don't you go back and talk to Fluttershy. After all, she's your new best friend."

Her words, filled with the pent-up irritation that she had been carrying around for the past several days, were perhaps a little harsher than she had intended. Rainbow's hurt demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by cold anger. "You know what?" she said coolly. "I think I will. I don't want fair-weather friends like you guys anyway."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Applejack and Rarity stormed off back in Fluttershy's direction. Fuming, Rainbow stuck her tongue out at their receding backs and galloped away in the opposite direction, so angry that she had forgotten that she could fly. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears, but she dashed them away with her hoof, refusing to admit to them.

Applejack and Rarity slowed their furious pace somewhat as they approached Fluttershy, who was examining with interest some flowers by the roadside. At the noise of their approaching hoofbeats, she straightened up and blinked at them in embarrassment, casting around for something to say. The three of them engaged in an awkward staring match for a while, Fluttershy desperately wanting to fall through the floor and Applejack and Rarity trying to think of a way to politely express their annoyance, if such an oxymoronic event was even possible.

"W-where's Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked softly after a few minutes, deciding that awkwardly saying something to break an awkward silence was better than maintaining the awkward silence.

"Gone," Applejack replied shortly, in no mood to be chatty, especially not with the friend of her used-to-be-friend.

"Oh..." Fluttershy drooped, wondering why Rainbow would have abandoned her but far too polite to question it. "Okay." She subsided into silence again, scanning the two ponies in front of her as much as she could with her eyes bashfully downturned. The white one - Rainbow had told her her name; it was Rarity, or something like that - looked like she could be nice if she weren't frowning... why was she frowning... that was scary...

Gulping, Fluttershy turned her gaze to the strong-looking orange one. Her eyes brightened as she beheld the apple-patterned cutie mark and remembered what Rainbow had told her about the farmpony. "Oh, your family owns Sweet Apple Acres, don't they?" She tried for a hopeful smile, praying that she would be able to get a conversation going. Anything was preferable to another awkward silence.

Caught off guard, Applejack blinked and scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah, that's right," she responded slowly and suspiciously, wondering if this was some kind of trick.

Fluttershy sighed wistfully and licked her lips. "Oh, I love your apples," she gushed. We don't get shipments in Clousdale very often, but Daddy always brings me some when we do. I tried to start farming myself, you know, we have a little cloud garden, but... I was never very good at it."

The suspicion clouding over Applejack's gaze faded away. Despite herself, a grin broke out on her muzzle. "Ya like farmin'?"

"Oh, yes," she said wistfully. "Well - I liked the idea of it. But it's much harder in practice..." she twisted her lips sadly. "I should just stick to my animals."

Applejack mulled something over for a minute before coming to a decision. "Tell ya what, Ah don' know much about cloud farmin', but Ah reckon Ah can teach y'all 'bout some earth pony farmin', if'n yore interested."

"Really? I would love that." Her eyes crinkled as she bestowed a gentle smile on the farmpony, which then wavered with hesitation. "T-that is, if you don't mind."

"No, Ah' don' mind. It's rare Ah get t' meet someone who likes farmin'." And Applejack returned the smile, her eyes a lot warmer than they had been when she'd first met the shy pegasus.

Put at ease by the earth pony's welcoming grin, Fluttershy looked up at the white unicorn, a newfound boldness shining in her eyes. "And do you think you could maybe teach me to sew? I've always wanted to learn how to make pretty dresses."

Rarity's own annoyance fell away in an instant. "Why, of course!" she cried, beaming widely. She had already forgotten her previous irritation with the pegasus - anypony with an interest in fashion was worth getting to know, in her book. "It would be my pleasure." Her smile quavered somewhat as she realized that something wasn't adding up. "Fluttershy, how did you know that Applejack was an apple farmer and that I like sewing?"

"Rainbow Dash told me. She told me about you two just a few days after we met. She said you two were her very best friends." Fluttershy glanced over to Applejack. "She said you were going to grow up to be the best farmer in Equestria and that you were the only pony who could keep up with her in a race... and that you were the nicest, loyalest friend a pony could ask for. And she said you -" Fluttershy's gaze swept over Rarity - "were already better at making dresses than some of the best designers in Canterlot, and that she thought you were more caring and generous than anypony she had ever known. In fact, she never really stopped talking about the two of you. That's why I was so excited to come down and meet you..." Fluttershy let her voice trail away, pink in the face from the exertion of talking so much. That may have been the longest monologue she had ever made in her life.

"She... she said all that?" Rarity whispered, her eyes wide. Applejack looked similarly stunned. The two of them shared a long, horrified stare, suddenly realizing how badly they had messed up. So Rainbow Dash hadn't been forgetting about them - she had been trying to stimulate friendship; to get a chance to proudly tell the few ponies who would listen how awesome her friends were.

And Applejack and Rarity had just sent her off in a fit of tears.

They had to put things right. Applejack cleared her throat. "Fluttershy, sugarcube? Would ya mind waitin' here fer jus' a tad? Ah think Rainbow went home a little too early."

"Of course." She obediently curled up by the roadside, her eyes riveted on the same flowers that she had been staring at earlier.

Applejack and Rarity nodded firmly to each other and then broke into a gallop, running as fast as they could back towards the place they had dragged Rainbow to earlier. They had a pegasus to catch.

Much to their dismay, when they reached the hill there was no sign of Rainbow Dash at all. They had been hoping she would have chosen to remain nearby in case they came to apologize.

Or perhaps she had. Rarity nudged AJ and pointed to a tree several yards away, in which the tiniest hint of a rainbow tail could be seen poking out from the foliage. Applejack nodded and trotted over to the tree, biting her lip anxiously as faint sniffling sounds emanated from it. "Uh... Rainbow Dash? Y'all up there?" It was a rather redundant question, but she was desperately casting around for something to say to break the ice.

The sniffling stopped. "Go away," a small, scratchy voice mumbled. The rainbow tail swished around a couple times before being hastily withdrawn into the leaves.

Rarity eyed AJ anxiously. This conversation was getting off to a bad start. "Dashie, we're here to apologize," she attempted to explain.

"I don't wanna hear it." Rainbow's voice shook a little but remained, for the most, controlled.

Applejack set her jaw. She'd been hoping it wouldn't come to this. Not allowing herself to hesitate, she marched over to the tree, turned around, and delivered a powerful buck to the trunk that would have made her family proud. With a startled yelp, Rainbow fell out of the tree... and into Applejack's waiting hooves. The young earth pony's eyes widened as she realized that the pegasus was far heavier than she'd been expecting. She dropped her with a grunt of exertion. As soon as she hit the ground, Rainbow tried her best to skitter away, but Rarity prevented this from happening by launching herself onto Rainbow's back and sitting there until she stopped squirming.

Applejack walked over, dusting her hooves. "Now will ya stop squigglin' around an' listen? Please?"

"Fine," Rainbow grunted. "I'll listen."

Not that she had much say in the matter, considering that she was pinned beneath the full weight of a unicorn filly who was slightly heavier than she would have liked to admit.

"Good." Applejack sat down on her hind legs and sighed, her ears drooping miserably. "Well... we messed up, R.D. Me an' Rarity messed up real bad. We thought ya abandoned us. That ya didn't like us anymore. But really, it was th' exact opposite. Fluttershy told us what ya did up there." Her voice was quiet and faltering, lacking its usual friendly charm. "Jus' like ya were tellin' us all about her, ya were tellin' her all about us." She sighed again, twisting her hooves. "An' here we thought ya weren't our friend no more."

Rarity cleared her throat and took over from AJ. "It's not something I'm proud of, but... we were jealous. We thought you'd replaced us. But...I think we've learned our lesson now. It's okay to have other friends. And it's not okay to behave like the two of us did."

"We're real sorry, Dash," Applejack finished sadly, sweeping off her Stetson and bowing her head. "Can ya ever forgive us?"

Rainbow was quiet for a long moment. Finally she raised her head and cracked a crooked smile. "Of course I can. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

Applejack's face broke out into a grin of relief. "Yore th' best, R.D.!"

"I know," she wisecracked, turning away to subtly wipe away the last of the redness from her eyes.

With an affectionate eye roll, Applejack threw herself onto the pegasus's back and wrapped her hooves around her neck. Then the widened the embrace to include Rarity as well, and for a while the three friends just lay there holding hooves, content in each other's company.

Eventually, Applejack, always the sensible one, pulled away and stood up, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hat. "Well, Ah guess we better go apologize t' Fluttershy now. Ah think we scared her when we first met."

"Yes, the poor thing must have been terrified," Rarity agreed, clambering to her hooves. "Oh, I feel so horrid about the whole thing now!"

"Well, it all turned out okay in the end," Rainbow promised.

"Yep. An' Ah hereby promise never t' doubt ya again," Applejack said firmly.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Never?"

"Well, okay, maybe sometimes," she conceded with a smirk. "But Ah can say one thing. Rainbow Dash, yore th' best friend we could ever ask for. An' Ah promise, never, ever t' doubt our friendship again." With her typical warm smile, she bent down and stretched out a hoof to help the pegasus up from the ground. "Friends?"

Slowly, Rainbow returned the smile and accepted her outstretched hoof, giving it a warm squeeze. "Friends."

***


"And there you go, kiddos," Rainbow Dash finished, grinning down at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "That's the story of how your big sisters messed up big time."

"Whoa," Apple Bloom breathed, turning to stare hard at Applejack. "Sis, you were mean!"

"I-it was a long time ago!" Applejack protested embarrassedly. "An' we learned our lesson, anyways. We never had a fight like that again. An' we became real close t' Fluttershy. She came down t' visit us all th' time after that, an' we couldn't've been happier when she finally moved down here."

"Yeah, 'Shy's a real sport," Rainbow chuckled fondly. "And, you know, I was too awesome to really get mad at them for being so mean."

"Sugarcube, y'all were practically snortin' steam outta yore nose," AJ reminded her dryly.

She flushed a little. "Yeah, okay. I was kinda mad. But, you know... I was just as embarrassed as you two were. And you know something else? I don't think I ever actually apologized that day. I... I was kind of a jerk too. I mean, it was still mostly your fault, don't get me wrong. But I definitely had a hoof in it too." She fiddled with her hooves, refusing to meet anypony's gaze. "I may not have actually abandoned you, but I still showed up late and left you hanging and generally made it look like I didn't care. So... I'm sorry. Heh, little late now, but... you know, better late then never, right?"

She looked up hopefully, only to find both Applejack and Rarity standing before her. "You have nothing to apologize for, Dashie," Rarity assured her with a tender smile. "This time, it was all on us." She wrapped her in a gentle hug.

"Hey, wait fer me." Applejack came up and threw her hooves around the both of them, almost lifting them off the ground in her powerful embrace. "Ah love ya girls."

"Awwwwwww!" the Cutie Mark Crusaders cooed rapturously.

Rainbow, who had been enjoying the hug, suddenly dropped her hooves to her sides, remembering that they had an audience. "Yeah, oaky. That kinda ruined the moment." Shading her eyes from the sun, she peered up at the clouds. "Yeesh. It's getting late. I gotta back to work."

"Awwww!" Scoots whined, kicking her hooves against the wooden slats of the porch. "But we wanna hear about how you pranked the town and stuff! You said everypony knew your names 'cause you got into so much mischief! Can we hear about that tomorrow?"

Rainbow flashed the three of them a devilish smile. "You know what? I know just who to ask."

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait. That was ridiculous. Anyway, hopefully y'all enjoyed the chapter. The idea was actually given to me by TheManehattenite, so thanks!! :)

And now, it's poll time.
Go vote on who should tell her next story!

This will probably only be a one- or two-time thing, unless it's ridiculously popular for some reason. Just thought it would be interesting to see what you guys wanted. Fluttershy and Pinkie are not options because they haven't moved to Ponyville yet. I included some young characters and some old ones, for variety.
Enjoy. And thank you!

Comments ( 24 )

What about Derpy? Or would she also be living up in Cloudsdale at this point? In that case, I'd like to vote Bon Bon.

Derpy was on the list for voting;)

Rarity facehoofed. "Rainbow Dash, you're hopeless. A lady does not beg in public ."

So she begs in private? :trixieshiftright: Welp, there goes my mind, taking a swan dive straight into the gutter.:scootangel:

"She's so cool! I mean, she's a little bit, er, wimpy. But she does everything I tell her to and watches all my tricks and - um, you know, other... normal... friend stuff too, like make me laugh and invite me over to her house," 

:trixieshiftleft: Uh-huh. Of course. :ajbemused:

Hmm, Fluttershy for the win with two sentences. But yeah, old friends and new friends is a tricky business.

8228798
:rainbowlaugh:

Indeed. Old friends and new friends is... frankly... just painful.

I think you keep changing their name

I'm thinking that Applejack and Rainbow Dash and Rarity are the original Filly Terrors and I love the story. It shows what they are like as fillies and that should be a episode.

You're welcome and I guess you can call those 3 the Original Filly Terrors.:heart:

8229834
Applejack, Rarity and Rainbows group. First it was RADs now it's daredevils, could've sworn there was another name in there somewhere but I can't find it

8231396
Oh. Well, RADs is short for really awesome Daredevils. They call themselves daredevils for short.

Ironic that in the actual Ponyverse, only Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had a young history together.

"There y'all go. Dig in. An' by that, Ah mean leave some fer everypony else," she added crossly to Rainbow Dash, whom she had seen hungrily eyeing the cider.

Then it's a good thing Pinkie Pie isn't there.

8443257
Eager for another part.

8508724
Thanks! Heh sorry I've been so busy lately. Hope I can find some time to update soon.

Is this story dead?

8590086
Sigh... I don't know. I have ideas for more chapters but I'm so busy... i hope to finish it someday.

8602942
I hope you do too. I'd hate to see such a wonderfully written story die

8602942
Well, I don't know if they can go up to Cloudsdale. Even a flightless Pegasus is a Pegasus and won't fall through the clouds.

Any update coming soon?

9696133
Can't be over yet!

8084250

Rarity... well, we don't know where she comes from

Where did Rarity come from? It's obvious, her mothers a-

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