Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Orchard

"Doesn't that girl look familiar?"

Lemon Zest followed the direction of Indigo's eyes with her own. "The green one?"

"No, not her. The one next to her, with the hat."

"Oh. I don't know, maybe? We should ask her."

"Lemon, you can't just-"

"Hey, you! With the hat!" Lemon Zest shouted towards the opposite side of the road. "Do we know each other?"

Applejack turned to stare at the opposite sidewalk, and there saw a girl excitedly waving at her while next to her another covered her face with her hands, distinctly showing the signs of wishing the ground would swallow her. A few more people turned as well, and the blue-haired girl took a step back.

After taking a moment to assess the weirdness of the situation, Applejack realised she did actually recognise the pair. "Crystal Prep? Friendship Games? Twilight almost destroying the world?" she shouted back, regretting it a moment later as most eyes turned to her.

Lemon Zest snapped her fingers. "Applejack! Of course!" She turned to Indigo. "See? We did know her. We just had to ask!"

Indigo moved her fingers just enough to uncover her eyes, and threw the most piercing glare she could muster at her friend.

Lemon ignored it as she turned back towards Applejack. "What brings you here?" she yelled yet again.

Nervous, Applejack pointed to the nearest crossing with her eyes, hoping the duo would catch the hint.

Lemon Zest did not. Fortunately, Indigo did, and she dragged the other girl by the back of her shirt up to the crossing and to the other side of the road, as Applejack walked there too. They all moved to stand aside, as to not stop in the middle of the sidewalk while talking.

Applejack pointed a finger at the girls. "Lemon Zest, right?" she asked, receiving a nod in response. "And you are..." She turned to Indigo. "Uh... Blue Fast? Something like that."

"Indigo Zap." The girl put forward a hand to shake Applejack's, who did the same.

"So, what brings you here?" Lemon asked, swaying back and forth with her arms behind her back.

"Well, I sort of live here now," Applejack said, looking towards the ground.

"Cool. Same," Indigo replied.

"Won't that hurt the band?" Lemon asked.

Applejack flinched at that. "Yep. Yes it will. They're looking for a new bassist now." Then she frowned slightly. "Wait, you know about the Rainbooms?"

"Of course I do!" Lemon replied. "How could I not know about the band Twilight sings in?"

"Twilight is in a band?" Indigo looked at the other two, surprised.

Lemon rolled her eyes. "How do you not know that, Indy? I've told you about it at least five times."

"Lemon, living with you is already hard enough. If I actually had to pay attention to all your unending music rants I think my brain would melt and leak out of my ears." Indigo turned towards Applejack. "She thinks three in the morning is an appropriate time to blast music. She almost got us kicked out of the place. Twice."

Applejack felt a small chuckle rise to her lips. "So, why are you two living here on your own? University?"

"University is for nerds," Lemon replied.

"Which admittedly includes all of our friends, and it's the reason almost all of them are around here too," Indigo added. "But no. We're just taking a year off, deciding what to do. Having fun, you know?"

"Almost?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Both Lemon and Indigo looked to the side. "Sugarcoat is still stuck at Crystal Prep," the latter explained. "Things have been rough for her after the Games."

"What about you? What are you here for, studying?" Lemon stepped in.

"Work, actually," Applejack answered. Then she glanced at her phone. "Speaking of which, I better get going if I want to be there in time."

"We were going that way too, we can come with you if you want," Indigo offered.

Applejack pondered her options. "Sure. Why not?"

And with that, the trio began to walk down the sidewalk again.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, that's certainly one way to keep Applejack from spiralling further into her own regrets. Now to see if Lemon's incessant Lemoniness (similar to but distinct from Pinkiness) can get AJ to open up.