A morning light entered the cottage through Fluttershy's slightly opened window. Still tired, the yellow pegasus slowly sat up in bed. She wondered for a brief moment, as she always did on these lonely mornings, if one of her old friends may visit her. No, she answered herself solemnly, They've all moved on. That's the past. She dragged herself out of bed, and stopped to look in the mirror. She combed through her mane,took off her robe and walked down the steps. She hated mornings and slow days such as these. She had way too much time to think. Grabbing the sack of pet food she kept in her cupboard, she walked over to the dishes. Her mind drifted into a memory, a thought that she had tried to push away a long time ago.
"Who needs you guys anyway!" Rainbow Dash called angrily, glaring down at all of the five ponies surrounding her. Applejack met her glare. "Element of loyalty, my ass!" She yelled, looking up at her supposed friend. "Girls..." A quiet voice called from the corner of the room in Twilight's library. The voice was quickly drowned out by the other mares. Rarity sat by the stairs, talking with her new boyfriend,Fancy Pants, and not doing anything to help with the fighting going on around her. A distraught Pinkie sat in the center of the room, her flat hair covering one of her eyes. Twilight Sparkle glared at the others and cleared her throat, beginning to speak. "You all are the worst friends-" "Twilight! Please..." Fluttershy tried to interrupt to no avail. "I have ever had. You can just leave right now and I wouldn't care! Who needs the elements of harmony anyway?!" "Fine by me!" Rainbow replied, storming out the door. "And me!" Applejack left the library, pausing to glare at the ponies behind her. Rarity and Fancy Pants got out after her, with Pinkie following. "Twilight, can't you see-" Fluttershy began timidly. "Just go..."
Fluttershy shuddered at the memory. It was going to be a long day.
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This was the last house to visit. Everypony else had shoved her away and shouted insults at her. Hopefully Fluttershy won't hate me... Then again I haven't seen her in a year or so... The pink earth pony thought as she sadly made her way down the trail leading to Fluttershy's cottage. She couldn't bear the thought of Fluttershy hating her too. When did it all go wrong? She kicked up dust with her hooves as she walked. Why does everypony have to be so dang stupid? Don't they know it's stupid and useless to fight? Pinkie Pie was sick of all of the hate. She paused her a moment. Her cheek still stung a little bit from where Rainbow Dash had hit her. Pinkie had been a bit shocked by it at first, but didn't care anymore. Dash had moments when she could be a jerk, even when they were friends.
"Here I am.." Pinkie whispered to herself. Come on Pinkie, Fluttershy won't be as cruel as the others... she can't be She raised her hoof, lowered it. Thought of the pros and cons of knocking on the door. And finally, she used her trembling hoof to knock carefully on Fluttershy's door. A creak, and the door slowly opened to reveal a familiar yellow pegasus.
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Fluttershy's thoughts swirled around her like a cloud as she saw her old friend. She tried to think of something to say. "O-oh P-Pinkie... Hi. I mean come in, you know, if you'd like." Pinkie nodded gratefully and approached the timid pegasus. Fluttershy felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. She returned the hug, noticing a bruise on Pinkie's cheek. "Oh my, what happened Pinkie?" She asked. "Oh this," Pinkie said, pointing to her cheek. "I was going to try and talk to the other elements and it didn't go so well. They all yelled at me and well... Rainbow Dash hit me." Her friend replied, sitting down. "How awful! I can't believe she'd do such a thing!" Fluttershy responded. "It's okay. I'm fine, really." Pinkie said. "I'm just glad you aren't angry with me." Fluttershy's face changed to an expression of concern. "Oh how could I Pinkie? So, any reason you wanted to visit us?" She asked. "I just wanted to try and spend some time with you guys." Pinkie said. "I'm glad you're here." Fluttershy spoke, and smiled. Smiled because now there was some sign of hope.
"I know you guys have a history and all, but for Celestia's sake will you stop staring at her table all the time!" Caramel said angrily to the orange mare beside him. "What?" Applejack said, breaking her gaze from the table at which a rainbow-maned pegasus was sitting. Caramel let out an annoyed sigh. "O-Oh." Applejack blushed a bit, and pushed her hat down so that it covered more of her face. Still, she couldn't help glancing at her past friend again. She was sitting by Soarin. Applejack frowned at a feeling in her stomach. Why was Soarin there? She shook the thought from her head. It didn't matter, did it? A white pony carring a notepad approached. "Now what would you like to e-" She stopped taking their order upon noticing Applejack. "Oh my! It's another element of harmony!" She squealed, ripping out a sheet of paper from her notepad and holding it out to Applejack. "Could I have your autograph?" Applejack reluctantly signed it. She didn't like reminders of the past. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Now I have all six autographs!!!" "Lady, are you going to take our orders or not!" Caramel said, growing frustrated. "Oh, yes, what you like?" She regained her composure. "A hay salad." He said. "And you, Applejack, the element of honesty?" Applejack sighed. "Water. I'll take a water." "Are you su-" "WATER DAMNIT!" The waitress looked hurt, but pushed it away and scribbled 'water' on her pad. Caramel gave a confused glance towards Applejack. She shrugged, embarrassed. Shit, I didn't mean to say it like that! I should apologize...
Applejack's eyes wandered upon another table. Two mares sat there, looking totally lost in each other. In love. Applejack's stomach burned. Get a hold of yourself, AJ. She wasn't disturbed at the thought of them together, no, it wasn't that. She wanted what they had. Wait- I have Caramel. I shouldn't be jealous of anypony... She looked at Caramel. Why does he feel... wrong? You have him as a special somepony, you don't need a different one. She thought, looking back up at the table with the two mares. It wasn't fair. Applejack let out an annoyed sigh and got up. "Where are you going!?" Asked Caramel, looking at his marefriend. "Home. I'm going home. I feel sick." And with that, the farm pony turned tail and fled the scene.
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Pinkie Pie sat with Fluttershy in her small, humble little cottage. "I'm so glad you let me come in." She said, looking up to meet Fluttershy's eyes. Wow. Fluttershy has beautiful eyes. Wait- did I just.... No.. I couldn't have. "Pinkie? Is something wrong?" The pegasus asked, blinking at her obliviously. "Um... I gotta go to bed, sorry." "Wait!" Pinkie turned to face her friend. "Yes?" "Maybe you could um... spend the night." Pinkie smiled, revealing a bit of her old self. "I'd like that."
And so it was the Pinkie slept on the couch that night. The pink party pony lay stretched out across the furniture, drifting into sleep. A short-lived sleep. "Um... P-P-Pinkie P-Pie?" "Huh.." She looked at the pegasus in front of her and became more alert when she saw tears in Fluttershy's eyes. "What's wrong?" Pinkie asked, sitting up. "W-w-ell I-I h-had a-a d-d-dream and-" Fluttershy's sentence was broken by sobs. Pinkie scooped the lightweight pegasus into her lap and stretched her arms around her. "There, there..." She said, gently stroking her friend's mane. They sat there like that for awhile, with Pinkie comforting the distraught pony. When Fluttershy finally calmed down, she blushed a bit. "I'm sorry." "What in Equestria could you be sorry for?" Asked Pinkie, looking at her friend with concern and some other emotion. "Well... I-I just.." Fluttershy stuttered. "Now what was this dream about?" "It was horrible. Could I just tell you tomorrow, if that's alright?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah. That'd be fine." Fluttershy turned to get up. "You could stay with me.." Pinkie said, looking at her friend with hope in her eyes. "Oh um, sure." The pegasus responded, climbing in beside her and finally getting some well-deserved sleep.
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Twilight knocked on the door of Fluttershy's cottage, and when there was no answer, she slipped through the doorway, as it was always unlocked. She entered with a scowl on her face, to be replaced with an expression of surprise upon seeing Fluttershy and Pinkie curled up on the couch together. Whatever, let's just get this over with. Who cares what they do in their free time? She nudged Fluttershy. "What? What are you doing here Twilight?!" Fluttershy asked, glancing at Pinkie and blushing lightly. "Listen, there's something Princess Celestia needs the elements for. We need to meet her in Canterlot right away. I want to spend as little time with this as possible, so if you could please just cooperate-" "Fine." Fluttershy said, looking at Twilight sadly. What happened to the friendship? "Oh. Then be at the library by twelve." The unicorn said. "And bring Pinkie." "Will do." Fluttershy responded, a bit bewildered. What could Celestia want them for? With that, the unicorn left. Fluttershy sighed, looked at the sleeping Pinkie Pie, and sat down. She had a dreadful feeling this wouldn't end well.
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Sleeping. Rainbow Dash definitely enjoyed sleeping, or that feeling in the morning, when you weren't quite awake or asleep and you could just enjoy the feeling of being in bed. So, you can guess, she wasn't exactly thrilled when she heard a hollering from below her house in the sky. " RAINBOW DASH! Get the hay down here!" Groggily she stood up, but stopped in her tracks. That voice sounded familiar. She could almost put her hoof on it. Then she realized with cold anger who it was. That stupid egghead. She flew through the door and hovered above the ground, narrowing her eyes at the unexpected visitor. "I thought I made it very clear that I didn't want to see you again." The unicorn, Twilight Sparkle stood before her, rolling her eyes. "As if I came here because I wanted to. Listen, Celestia needs the elements for something she says is important, and you need to be at my library by twelve." Dash's anger rose a little at this. "And what if I don't want to. What then Sparkle?" Dash said, landing on the ground with a light tap and still staring at the pony with a hostile look. "You will Dash, she's the princess damnit!" "And what should I care?! She may be royalty, but that doesn't mean I need to kiss her ass like you do!" Dash responded, trying to hold a smirk back. She knew just how to upset everypony. Twilight suddenly became mad, trying her best to hold back. "I treat her with respect, like you should." Rainbow had thought of a really good reply, but decided not to say it. She tended to go too far sometimes, and that often led to huge arguments, which she didn't want to have right now. It was too early, anyways. "Fine, I'll be there. But only because Soarin is busy today, and I have nothing better to do." She said, relaxing a bit.
Rainbow Dash watched the purple figure move away. I can't believe I agreed to that. I have to see everypony I hate now. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack- wait, is AJ gonna be there? She felt the need to ask. "WAIT!" Dash called out to the purple figure in the distance."What?" The unicorn responded, still irratated. "Will... Will Applejack be there?" She said, waiting for a response. "Yeah. I just talked to her. Why?" Twi responded, a bit thrown off by the question. "Um, no reason." Twilight shrugged and carried on her way. The pegasus watched the purple dot go farther and farther into the distance. She silently questioned herself. That was a stupid question. I shouldn't even care if she's there or not. She's just as stupid as the others!
Dash stumbled in through the door. She didn't want to see them again, she desperately wanted to stay. She knew excatly what would happen once she was there. She would run off her big fat mouth again. Hurt somepony more than she meant to with her insults. She was fully aware of the fact she could be an ass at times, but that's one thing she wasn't going to change. There was however, one thing she would never do again. She would never, never touch alcohol again. Suddenly, a memory played through her mind. One she couldn't stop, despite how much she wanted to.
Applejack sat in her barn, sorting through the money she had earned that week on apple sales. Rainbow was supposed to meet her about an hour ago to help her, but had been running late. Suddenly, the door to the barn swung upon and a clumsy Dash stumbled through, her breath smelling of alcohol. Applejack immediately sensed this, and backed up a bit. "Rainbow? Y-You've been drinking again." Dash had a bottle clutched in her mouth, which she let drop on the floor in order to reply. "What should you care?!" Her speech slurred a bit. "I'm your friend, I'm going to care." AJ replied, growing a bit angry and forgetting that Rainbow was violent when intoxicated. "Why do you have to go out and drink every night!" She continued. Dash became infuriated. "My life isn't any of your business." And that's when it happened. She had approached Applejack and proceeded to buck her in the face. Hard. And all she heard was a cry of pain from the orange earth pony, who had stumbled into a bale of hay nearby. She wished she had stopped there. But she didn't. Rainbow grabbed the still intact glass bottle she had been carrying and broke smashed it on the floor close to AJ, sending shards into her friends stomach and face. Watching a bit of blood coming from the cuts, she had said "Clean this up." Then the pegasus walked out.
Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear the memory. What she hated most was that Applejack had acted like nothing had happened the next day. Why couldn't AJ have just hated me for being a jerk? I didn't deserve being her friend. Rainbow didn't understand it. At all.
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Pinkie Pie looked at the salad that Fluttershy had made for her breakfast. She took a bite, looking over at Fluttershy, who had been acting odd ever since Twilight's invitation. "What's wrong?" Pinkie Pie asked, knowing how Fluttershy would respond 'nothing' and try to change the subject. "Nothing. So what have you been doing lately?" Didn't even need Pinkie Sense to see that coming. She sighed. "Fluttershy, if something is wrong, please tell me. I can't stand seeing you upset." "Really it's nothing, nothing." Pinkie sighed. She suspected it was the dream, but whenever she tried to bring that up, Fluttershy would immediately get upset, so Pinkie wasn't going to talk with her about that for awhile. "Are you nervous?" Fluttershy asked suddenly. "About what?" Pinkie asked, confused by the question. "Meeting... with the others." The earth pony thought a bit. "Well yeah. I mean, I just don't feel like fighting anymore. I'm sick and tired of it." Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "So am I. And thank you... for visiting I mean." "I'm glad to." Pinkie said, smiling at her friend. Fluttershy looked up at the pink pony, her flat hair covering her eyes. "Hey. I need to talk to you about something, could we take the long way to Twilight's?" Pinkie wasn't expecting that, but nodded. "Of course."
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"I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?! I treat you like the most amazing mare in the world and you're sorry you're leaving me! That's bullshit! I- I can't believe you, Applejack!!" Caramel said, his voice wavering with disbelief. "I just need time, I can't do this anymore." Applejack said, her voice very unlike her usual cheery self. "You've been acting stupid ever since you saw that stupid pegasus at lunch yesterday!" Applejack's head shot up at Caramel's comment. "She's not stupid..." "She hates you, can you just get over it! You too aren't friends anymore! It's the past." Applejack looked surprised. "Sure, we're not friends anymore, but she doesn't hate me." She couldn't, could she? It was impossible for her to understand. "Whatever. You've been acting crazy lately." He spat angrily. "Just call me when you stop acting stupid." I haven't been acting that strange. Have I? The farm pony watched as he walked away angrily. She thought it would be harder to break up with him but oddly enough she felt a lot better.
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"Pinkie Pie, you won't leave anytime soon will you?" "No... What is this about, Fluttershy?" The yellow pegasus stopped walking. "I... I just don't want you to go." Pinkie Pie was confused. "What do you mean Fluttershy?" She asked, puzzled. Fluttershy resumed walking. "Everything's gone." "What?" "EVERYTHING'S GONE! Everyone's gone. Rainbow Dash is in the wonderbolts and is too absorbed by Soarin to care about anyone, all Twilight does is spend her time in Canterlot, Rarity only spends time on Fancy Pants and dresses, even AJ doesn't give a flying feather about any of us any more! We all hate each other and never talk! And all I wanna know is what the hay happened?! I mean it all happened so fast, and we haven't talked for over a year and it isn't fair! I can't lose you too!" Pinkie Pie was, for once, at a loss of words. All of this coming from Fluttershy? They walked in silence for a while, and eventually Twilight's library stood before them, calling for them to enter. "Fluttershy?" "Yes?" She responded, a bit embarrassed from her rant earlier. "I'm never going to leave. Never." And with that they proceeded into the house.
Author's note: the chapters to come will be done in third person, but focusing on one pony's perspective. The pony in question will alternate, however. For example, this chapter focuses on Twilight, while the next could be more centered towards Fluttershy or Pinkie.
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Twilight sat in the library, trying desperately to read over the sound of her rushing thoughts. She hadn't been able to
concentrate on anything for a while after she stopped talking to the other elements. In fact, she hadn't even sent a letter to
Celestia in at least three months. And the last one she sent was a lazily written piece of junk that she regretted sending at all. She let out a small sigh and used her magic to levitate the book back into its proper spot on the shelf. Her ears perked slightly when she heard on knock on the door. Biting her lip nervously, she walked over to the door. I really hope we can get this over with without killing each other in the process. The lavender unicorn slowly opened the door, revealing a yellow pegasus and a bedraggled, pink earth pony. Twilight waved her hoof. "Come in." She said, when suddenly a flash blue shot past the three ponies and into the library.
It was none other than Rainbow Dash. "Your lives just got better everypony, I walked in the room!" The blue pegasus declared. This earned a small eye roll from Twilight, who was not interested at all in Dash's cocky attitude. "Yeah, it got so much better." Twilight said, voice flat. Suddenly, a purple and green dragon began walking down the steps. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of the ponies in the house. Sure, he had known they were coming, but seeing them together again was a tad weird for him. "Spike, why don't you go do some grocery shopping for me?" Twilight said, trying to get him out of the house and avoid any more awkwardness. Grabbing her saddlebag , she levitated a small scroll, which was most likely a grocery list. He looked like he was about to protest, but grabbed the scroll and started for the door.
A few moments had passed when yet again there came a knock at the librarian's door. Twilight trotted over to the library's door, pausing for a moment before finally opening the door with a small creak. Applejack stood there, a white unicorn not too far behind her. "A'hm sorry for being late, Twilight." The orange pony said. Her words may have been polite, but the lavender unicorn in front of her could tell that they were forced. "No, it's not a problem." The two found a spot in the library. "Alright, now that we're all here, are we ready to go?" Twilight asked, glancing as the room as if to dare anypony to say anything other than 'yes'.
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The walk to the train station was quiet, save for the occasional talk between Pinkie and Fluttershy or the bickering of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. It had passed almost without event until a young filly called out to the passers-by. "Look, it's the elements of harmony!" She said, excitement brimming at the edge of her voice. She ran over to them excitedly, her mother trailing behind and looking slightly embarrassed. Oh great. We don't have time for this, the train leaves really soon! Twilight thought, biting her lip. "I'm really sorry." The older mare said. "My daughter's a really big fan of you guys." "It's fine, but we've got to g-" Twilight started, but was quickly interrupted by the rainbow-maned mare beside her. "Say no more! Of course you can have my autograph!" The pegasus proclaimed. The filly looked thoughtful for a second, before replying. "But I don't have any thing to put it on, or a pen." At this, Rainbow reached inside her saddlebag, pulling out a pen and a notepad, tearing out a piece. We don't have time for this! Twilight shot a quick glare at the rainbow pegasus, tapping her hoof impatiently. After what seemed like an hour, the six ponies rushed into the train, barely a minute to spare, if that.
Twilight let a sigh of relief when they made it on the train, then remembering that the ride to Canterlot took at least a day. A day.. with the very ponies she couldn't stand the sight of. Twilight's self pity was interrupted by two angry voices. "Ah can't believe you almost made us late! Just for a stupid autograph!" "It's not my fault!" Rainbow replied. "Um... girls, please stop arguing." A quiet voice requested to no avail. "You're always so cocky! You act as if yer greater than Celestia herself!" Applejack responded to the blue pegasus. "Oh yeah?! At least I don't live on some run down farm with an old hag, who may as well be dead by now!" Dash yelled. Even Twilight cringed a bit at the harsh words. Applejack looked a bit stunned, then ran down one of halls of the old train, leaving the rest of the elements to sit in silence.