AppleDash Group Collab

by DbzOrDie

Soup/Exams - Tyro

Exam week was starting tomorrow at Canterlot High. With their futures hanging in the balance, students everywhere were busy hunching over text books, revising year’s worth of notes or goofing off while trying to ignore the feeling of guilt in the back of their minds.

Twilight was naturally having a study session at her house and had eagerly invited all her friends to come and join her. While less excited at the prospect as she was, they had agreed and now all of them were gathered in her bedroom eating pizza and giving each other quizzes.

Well...almost all of them.

Applejack had been happy enough to accept Twilight into the group of friends when she had transferred to their school. But if there was one down side to hanging out with a nerd with a near genius level intellect, it was that you tended not to look so smart by comparison. And being less...academically inclined than her friends, A.J was starting to gain a reputation for being the “dumb one” of the group.

Applejack’s pride would not allow her to take such an insult lying down, especially once Applebloom caught wind of the rumours and had gleefully started joining in.

Forcing her to muck out Prince Oinkens, the slobbiest pig on the farm, had quickly put a stop to that.

But more importantly, she had decided to do everything she could to pass exam week without any help whatsoever from Twilight! And so while the others were off having fun with each other, Applejack was alone in her room, pouring over her science notes, desperately trying to make sense of the words in front of her.

Suddenly the door slammed open with a deafening bang.

“Soup’s on!” A certain rainbow-haired girl brayed, brandishing a tray that carried a bowl of soup and a plate of buttered bread rolls.

“Consarn it!” Applejack roared. The shock of the loud noise had caused her pen to slip and gouge a hole right through her notepaper. “What the heck are you playing at Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow placed the tray down on A.J’s desk, covering up half her notes. “What? Granny Smith caught me coming in, she asked me to bring this up to you. You’re welcome,” she added, in a tone of voice that suggested the whole thing was Applejack’s fault.

Applejack lifted the tray up enough to rescue her notes. “That don’t mean you couldn’ta knocked!”

“Oh what’s the big deal? It’s not like you were naked or anything.”

“I coulda been!”

“...”

“Dash?”

“...”

“Dash!”

“Oh!” The smaller girl jumped. “Sorry, I was just...thinking about...stuff...”

Applejack growled, but returned to her notes. “So why are you here? I thought you and the others were all over at Twilight’s place.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow replied dismissively, stuffing a bread roll into her mouth, “but I had to get out of there. They were doing English revision and Fluttershy started reading out poetry she'd been writing. If I staid any longer I would have thrown up.”

“It’s just poetry Dash,” A.J poked her teasingly in the stomach with her pen, “it ain’t gonna bite you.”

“Whatever. I figured even whatever you were doing couldn’t be as boring as being there.” Dash slurped down a spoonful of soup. “So whatcha doing?”

Applejack let out a groan, now reminded of the task at hand. “I’m tryin’ to figure out this science stuff. I really hate magnets.”

“What’s wrong with magnets?”

“It’s this whole bit about the north and south poles. It keeps yammerin’ about how opposites attract.”

“Uh huh.” Rainbow dunked a roll in the soup.

“That don’t make a lick o’ sense! How can opposites attract?”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow let out a small belch.

“Why would two things that are totally different ever be attracted to each other? Wouldn’t it make more sense if they were the same?”

Rainbow snickered.

Applejack glared at her. “What’s so funny?”

“This isn’t about magnets, is it?”

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

“This is totally about last week when Snips and Snails spread that rumour about you having a crush on Rarity!”

Applejack spluttered as Rainbow laughed out loud, clutching her belly and doubling up. Even being hit in the face by A.J’s hat didn’t stop her. She was tempted to flick a spoonful of soup at her in revenge though. She resisted however. This was good soup.

“That ain’t funny Dash!”

“It was though...”

“It just makes sense when two things have something in common! Like you and me.”

The last chuckles halted as Dash turned red at A.J’s comment.

“Um...” Her voice was suddenly very quiet. “Are you still...talking about magnets, or...”

“I mean you and me hang out all the time!” Applejack ranted on, seeming to not hear Rainbow’s question. “We like the same things and it’s great! So why’s it such a problem when two north poles get put together?”

Rainbow fought to catch her breath. It couldn’t be...was talking about...was this about the rumour or those stupid magnets??

A sigh stirred her and she dared to look over at the farm girl. Applejack was leaning over the desk, her head resting in her hands. Rainbow forced herself to push her own feelings aside for the moment. Getting A.J to chill was more important.

“Well...” she struggled to put her thoughts in to words, “I mean...if you think about it...you and me aren’t exactly alike.”

A.J raised her head up. She looked tired. “What’s that now Sugarcube?”

“I mean sure, we like the same stuff, but maybe that’s like how the north and south poles are both part of the same magnet. But...well...we are different in some ways...”

“Such as?”

Rainbow’s lips peeled away from her gritted teeth. She didn’t want to say it. But she had to ignore her pride for a moment. “You’re...better than me.”

Applejack’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“O-only in some ways!” Rainbow was quick to verify. “I can still beat you in any sport you want to name!” That felt a little better. “But...I’m lazy. You know it, I know, everybody knows-you don’t have to nod so much y’know!”

Applejack’s head stopped moving. “Sorry.”

“So yeah, I’m lazy. But you’re not. You’re moving all the time. And...you help me. I may be the best at sports, but you’re the one who pushes me to train when I’d rather goof off. You get on my nerves when you do it, but...I wouldn’t be the best if you didn’t make me the best.”

Rainbow kept her eyes planted firmly on the desk. She didn’t want to see how A.J must be reacting to all this mush. Among A.J’s notes, a diagram of a magnet caught her eye. There were lines drawn, marking out a magnetic field. Along each line was an arrow, pointing away from the north and towards the south. She snatched it off the desk and held it up.

“It’s like with these magnets, you see? All of this energy goes from the north pole to the south pole. That’s what makes it all work. That’s us. We’re both part of the same magnet. And you’re the north to my south.”

She allowed the diagram to drop from her hand. Oh jeez, after all that mush she really was about to throw up. Heck, A.J would probably throw up first. Probably all over Rainbow. Still, at least it would end the awkward sile-

Suddenly she felt a number of strange sensations. Eyes blinking open, she saw Applejack right in her field of view. She felt Applejack’s rough hands gently grip her shoulders. She felt Applejack’s warm breath on her face. And then she felt Applejack’s lips against hers.

After taking a much needed moment to let all of these sensations sink in, she wrapped her arms around A.J’s back and leant in for more.

For Applejack, there was one sensation that stood out more than any other. As she gently pushed her tongue into Rainbow’s accepting mouth, she tasted something. It was strange. Rainbow did not taste like she had expected. She tasted like...like...

Minestrone...

Applejack pulled away, despite the small whine that escaped Rainbow’s lips.

“Did you eat all my soup?”

“...No?”