Chapter Text
Applejack was so damn tired of sitting in a classroom that by the time the lunch bell rang, she nearly sprinted to the cafeteria. She picked up a soggy burger that promised to have a "special sauce", a mildly squished packet of grapes, and a box of pineapple juice that tasted strongly of piss, before she rushed back to meet her friends by a shady tree at the front of the school.
It was surprisingly cool for late August—AJ only mildly felt like shedding off her entire skin—enough so that the girls decided it would be worth it to sit outside instead of fighting for a table in the lunchroom. Even so, Applejack's legs felt like they were sweating oceans under her bell bottom jeans and boots, while her cowboy hat was doing nothing to relieve the sun's rays. And even though her tank top should have kept the worst of the heat away from her upper body, it was somewhat counteracted by the fringe vest she had decided—and now regretted—to wear as a little something special for the first day of school.
"AJ!" Pinkie Pie squealed, bouncing up at her and latching onto the other girl's shoulders, even though they had seen each other earlier that morning. "I'm so excited! Isn't this exciting! Wow, it's my first day of high school." She stopped bouncing for a moment and sat down on the ground, a comically morose look on her face. "I feel old."
The other three burst out laughing as Applejack patted Pinkie on the shoulder and plopped down on the grass. "It's alright, sugar cube. You've still got the rest of your life for that."
"Today is a day of celebration, not sadness," Rarity agreed, sticking her nose up in the air and fluffing up her ruffled skirt.
"If anyone should feel old here, it should be me," Fluttershy offered with a soft giggle. "And I don't feel old quite yet, so you shouldn't either."
"Thanks guys," Pinkie said, her grin returning as she started describing her day in wildly animated gestures, sending the girls into Fits of laughter that had them choking on their food. Pinkie had, of course, eaten in her morning periods and then scarfed down the remainder of it the second the lunch bell had run, now only occasionally stopping her chatter to pop a piece of candy in her mouth.
Then a girl with an athletic build walked past them from the direction of the front office, her back a bit hunched over. Applejack didn't recognize her, and she tried her best to know everyone's faces in their school of hundreds of people, even if they didn't know her. The girl was a stranger though. AJ had never seen her at school nor in town.
Her hair was so dark brown that it was nearly black, although that was only visible at the roots. Most of her hair, cut jaggedly and with rat tails, was fried and bleached blond, hanging stiffly at her shoulders. She had on a cropped, baby blue hoodie over a white shirt that clung to her sides, paired with black running shorts and platform converse.
Pinkie stopped pacing to look at the new girl, perking up. "Is she new? I don't remember seeing her around Ponyville before."
Rarity and Fluttershy looked up to see who the other two were focused on, and Fluttershy gasped. "I know her! We grew up in Cloudsdale together, and she always stood up for me."
Raising her hand to wave excitedly, Fluttershy called out in what could only be described as a yelled whisper, "Rainbow Dash!"
To Applejack's surprise, Rainbow Dash managed to hear Fluttershy's call and turned around in confusion before she spotted the other girl. Her face lit up. "Fluttershy!" she yelled, running over to greet her. "I haven't seen you in ages. How've you been?"
Standing up, Fluttershy leaned in to hug Rainbow Dash, her gangly arms wrapping around the other girl's small frame. "I've been doing great. How was Cloudsdale this past year?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Terrible. I kept having to teach those damn bullies a lesson nearly every week! When will they learn?"
Pinkie Pie ran up to greet them as Fluttershy giggled. "Oh, and these are my friends. I met them here and they're really nice. Do you want to sit with us?"
Something flashed across Rainbow's face as she accepted the offer with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, like she was doing them a favor by sitting with them. Applejack couldn't resist a smile as Pinkie hurried to introduce everyone. "I'm Pinkie Pie, that's Rarity, that's Applejack, and you already know Fluttershy!"
Rainbow continued to have a cocky smirk plastered onto her face. "Hiya! I'm Rainbow Dash, and I just moved her from Cloudsdale."
The rest of the lunch period was spent with all of them comparing their classes and collectively sighing when none, or nearly none of their classes matched, as was customary in a school of their size; Applejack and Fluttershy also offered advice and commentary on teachers they had had the previous year.
"OMIGOD!" Pinkie shrieked as she saw Rainbow's schedule. "We have Honors Biology with Mr. Heavyhoof together for sixth period! Yay!" After taking another look at Rainbow's schedule, she added, "Oh, and I think you and Rarity were in the same English today."
"I do believe you're right," Rarity agreed, nodding at Rainbow. "Ms. Word wind is so intense that I hardly noticed anyone in the class."
"Yeah, she'll do that to you," AJ nodded, leaning back onto her elbows as her hat slipped down her brow. "She's real nice though, if you put in the time and effort into her class."
Applejack and Fluttershy shared no classes, as could be expected from their course lists, but as the lunch bell rang, Rainbow and AJ saw that they were heading towards Mr. Radius's Math 2 class.
Applejack felt a twinge of embarrassment that a freshman was in the same level of math as her, but only a little. It wasn't like she was behind on math or anything; It just felt like everybody was trying to speed through their education as fast as possible while she was happy to be barely keeping up.
As the two entered, AJ asked, "So where do you wanna sit?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes and tapped Applejack on the rim of her hat. "In the back, obviously. Come on, cowgirl, do I look like a teacher's pet to you?"
AJ chuckled, but as the two settled in the very back row and everyone else started filing in, Rainbow turned to face her again.
"Are you in any sports?" she asked. "You look like you do wrestling."
Something twinged in AJ's stomach as she tried to sit straighter but hunch over at the same time. "Why does everyone always assume I'm in wrestling?" she muttered in indignation.
"Sorry, you've just got the muscles for it," Rainbow noted, nodding at Applejack's biceps with a grin.
AJ rolled her eyes, but was pleased with the compliment. She'd worked her ass off on the farm for these muscles. "I do cross country in the fall and track in the spring."
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, looking dangerously close to tipping over. "So you're a runner. I bet I could beat you in a race."
"I bet you could barely even keep up," AJ countered.
Rainbow's smirk widened as she offered her hand for a deal, and AJ shook it, even though she was somewhat surprised that the girl had made the bet seriously. She had the look of someone who was all bark but no bite.
"You got anything outside of your little cross country running that would make a good race?" Rainbow asked, her voice dangerously sweet. "Since I'm already booked with flag football for the fall season."
Applejack mused for a second. "Well, there's the running of the leaves. It's a 5K."
Rainbow's grin didn't falter as she finally let go of Applejack's hand. "Well then, cowgirl, I bet that I can beat you in the Running of the Leaves thinga-ma-jig. In fact, I can beat you so hard that I'll leave you gasping in the dust."
AJ gave her a bemused look. "You sound awfully confident for someone who's never seen me run. We betting on anything in particular?"
Rainbow shrugged, and leaned back until her chair was fully tipped into the wall. "Just the boost it will give my ego."
And AJ had to roll her eyes again.
The first few weeks of school passed by in a blur of rushing to clashes, finishing the start of the year busywork, and continuing to sweat even as the summer sun let go of its intensity by the start of autumn. By the time Friday's lunch rolled around, AJ felt ready to collapse, but in a pleasant sort of way.
"Guys, is there anything actually interesting to do in this place?" Rainbow asked, lounging on the grass in her vibrant tank top and denim shorts. "Cause I've only been in this town for like three weeks, and I'm already bored with it."
"There's plenty to do in Ponyville," Applejack said defensively as she leaned against the tree. While the heat had discouraged her from wearing her usual jeans—she had reluctantly switched to jorts after the first day—she refused to give up her cowboy hat and boots. "You're just too used to the flashy stuff."
"Rainbow has a point though," Pinkie piped up as she paced around them. "We've already done all the usual things together, like going to Sugarcube corner, sitting around the lake, going to get food in other places... there really isn't that much to do."
"Guys, I have an idea!" Rarity announced with a dramatic swish of her arms. "Let's go to the mall!"
"The abandoned one that's right outside of town?" Pinkie asked. "I love that place!"
"It's not abandoned," Rarity huffed. "It's just... a little out of sorts."
"Oh, I hate the place," Fluttershy mumbled. "It gives me the creeps."
"Creeps or no creeps, I'd do anything to get out of here. I'm so bored," Rainbow groaned, stretching up her arms until her shirt rode up to reveal her toned stomach. "What do you say we meet there tomorrow afternoon? To celebrate surviving another week of school."
"Sounds good to me," AJ nodded, and looked towards Fluttershy. "And Fluttershy, we'll be with you the whole time, so you don't have to go in alone."
"Thanks guys," Fluttershy smiled, pulling her hair over her face.
"Of course, darling! It's settled then."
"I'm so excited!" Pinkie giggled, just as the bell rang for the last class of the week.
It wasn't that deep. AJ should not have been stressing out so much over what clothes she was going to wear to the mall with her friends.
She finally decided that she was fine with her jeans—which were bell bottoms as usual but had apples embroidered along one leg—even though they sat a little tight on her waist and she knew she would regret them in the heat. But what in tarnation was she supposed to do about her shirt?
Her T-shirts looked frumpy, her tank tops showed too much of her shoulders, it was too cold for a camisole, and she had suddenly decided that she hated everything she owned. Finally, after what felt like hours of deliberation, she settled on her white t-shirt, but cinched it up by tying a flannel button up around her waist. She was going to be sweating like mad, but at least she finished off somewhat pleased with her look.
AJ didn't usually spend this much time being fussy about her clothing. That was Rarity's thing. She could just throw on a top and jeans and be nearly positive that they would match in some way, especially when paired with a cowboy hat.
But even her hats were giving her trouble as she tried to figure out if her signature look was worth matting up the crown braid she had spent all morning working on. In the end, she decided against it; they weren't going to spend enough time in the sun to justify wearing a hat anyway.
Finally, just as her friends began to text that they were arriving on their various modes of transportation, Applejack made her way to the somewhat beaten down red truck that Granny Smith had just gifted her for her 16th birthday.
Applejack loved it, and she was excited to rub the fact that she was the first of her friends to get her license into their faces. She texted:
I'll be there in five minutes.
And set her truck roaring down the dirt road leading out of her farm, out of the town, and to the only slightly abandoned mall that was settled on the outskirts of Ponyville.
Even though it was mildly creepy that half of the mall's stores were permanently shut down and its only customers were teenagers who had nothing better to do with their lives, it was one of the few places it was acceptable to park anywhere and anyway one wished without people so much as blinking an eye.
Unlike the people who took up two or three spaces with their deliberately sloppy parking jobs, AJ parked like the well-bred person that she was, and managed to fit her truck into a singular parking spot. As she got out and looked at her phone, she could see that her friends were spamming her with texts about how late she was. AJ sighed. She was usually better at this sort of thing.
Sorry for the hold up.
Just parked. I'm coming over.
She typed, and then began walking towards the center of the mall at a brisk pace, where she could already see Pinkie's hot pink, curly head of hair bouncing around a bench.
"Darling, I love your hair," Rarity called from her spot on the bench as Applejack came closer to them and Pinkie Pie bounced over to give her a tight squeeze. "You should wear it like that more often. It suits you very well."
AJ blushed and brushed her head gently. "Awww, thanks Rarity."
"You guys are making me feel underdressed," Rainbow muttered, stuffing her hands into her pockets.
It was true that she was dressed in a baggy hoodie and cargo pants both in shades of blue, but she had so many accessories—rings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, earrings, hair clips, even the beads on her converse—that it took Applejack a second to see what she was talking about.
"It's 'cause you don't need to dress up, sugarcube, what with all those accessories of yours," AJ commented good naturedly, earning her a smug smile from Rainbow as the girl swung an arm around AJ's shoulders, having to stand on her tiptoes to be able to reach.
"Shucks, AJ," Rainbow said, flashing that cocky grin she always did. "You're gonna make me blush. So, I heard from Pinkie that you drove here yourself..."
"I sure did!" Applejack grinned as she showed off the car keys she'd attached to the carabiner on her jeans. "But why didn't you know that yourself? I texted the group chat."
Rainbow waved her concerns away. "Phone died. So does that mean you can drive us places?"
Her eyes lit up at the thought, and soon led to all of AJ's friends bouncing on her, begging for rides to different places.
"Now, I ain't gonna give any of you rides until I'm seventeen, no matter how hard y'all keep insisting," Applejack protested.
"So law abiding," Pinkie teased, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Anyway, let's get ice cream first, and then we can let Rarity drag us to whatever stores her heart desires."
As Rarity pretended to protest, the five of them continued onward to the ice cream store, and they all felt a little awestruck as they stepped in, no matter how many times they had seen it before.
It was quite an overwhelming ice cream store. There were too many flavors to count, as well as a small pile of cakes that sat in a separate corner. But the main shocker was the explosion of color that wound its way around the store, from fluorescent orange ceilings to vivid violet booths, the place made one's eyes go a bit wild at the psychedelics, especially the first time around.
It was one of Pinkie's favorite places in the world.
"Help, what do I order," Rainbow whispered in AJ's ear as Pinkie and Rarity lined up to order and Fluttershy clung on to Applejack's side.
"I dunno. Just pick two flavors and stick them on a cone. It ain't rocket science, Rainbow," Applejack muttered with a bemused grin.
"Well yeah, duh, I know how to order ice cream," Rainbow grumbled. I wasn't born yesterday, you know. But what flavors do you recommend I get? Or don't?"
"Hell, I don't know! They change half their flavors every couple of months and it's enough to make anybody lose track."
Rainbow sighed, but when AJ pushed her towards the counter, she hurried to order a large cone with birthday cake and PB&J ice cream. AJ had to smile at that; it was something that a little kid would order.
"Sorry for bothering you, Applejack, but could you place my order for me again. it's just...just that this place is always so overwhelming," Fluttershy whispered. "I would like a cup of strawberry and watermelon ice cream."
Placing a comforting arm over her shoulders, AJ smiled. "Of course, sugarcube."
AJ placed Fluttershy's order for her, along with her own—a small cup of pumpkin pie ice cream—and the five of them made their way to a corner booth, with Rarity, Rainbow, and Pinkie Pie squishing into the cushions while AJ and Fluttershy sat in stools across from them.
"So, Rarity," AJ said. "Where are you dragging us this time?"
"Well," Rarity began, immediately forgetting about her ice cream. "I wanted to start off by visiting the jewelry store because I am in dire need of something sparkly. Then, we can look at some dress boutiques for inspiration, although I refuse to buy anything in them. If we feel like it, we can stop by the nice coffee shop before we go to shop for shoes, and to round it all off we must go and buy some makeup."
"And how long is this all gonna take exactly?" Rainbow asked, her cone already half eaten.
"I need at least five hours to achieve my maximum potential," Rarity declared. "But I know you guys get bored with it, so I'll try to be quick."
"I don't get bored with it!" Pinkie said. "I love trying on all the pretty dresses."
"I quite like it too," Fluttershy noted.
AJ shared a look with Rainbow Dash.
Rarity saw it and smiled. "it's alright. I know that you two especially tire of me, so feel free to go gallivanting off on your own adventures."
"We'll stick around for the jewelry store, then see what happens," Rainbow answered for the two of them.
The five friends hurried to finish their ice cream and headed off to find some accessories. Even though Rarity wanted to pull them all into an expensive store with real diamonds, the rest of them had to settle her on a store that had cute but somewhat reasonably priced jewelry.
"Alright, I'm off to find the sparkliest necklace I can get my hands on," Rarity declared, flouncing away. As Pinkie Pie dragged Fluttershy away to compare earrings, Rainbow hit Applejack with an appraising look.
"You need a belt, cowgirl," she told her, and snatched one from the stand. It was a brown, woven belt with a golden clasp, that Rainbow insisted AJ try and loop around her jeans. AJ bit her lip as she looked at herself in the mirror. It was a good belt; it accentuated her waist and matched her general aesthetic, but...
"I dunno, Rainbow," AJ murmured as she looked at herself from all directions in the mirror. "It's nice and all... I just—"
"Come on, AJ. Don't be lame. Every cowgirl's gotta have a belt like that," Rainbow insisted.
AJ sighed, but unclasped the belt to buy it. It was cheap, and perhaps it would suit her when paired with the right top.
As the two wandered along the store together, AJ caught sight of a chunky silver chain with a rainbow ring attached to it. Grabbing for it, she held it out in front of Rainbow. "Look, it matches your name."
The girl rolled her eyes, but wound the chain around her fingers in silent agreement. When they reached the brooch section though, she repaid the favor by grabbing a beaded one shaped like an apple and attaching it to the top of AJ's shirt. Applejack felt the back of Rainbow's fingers brush her collarbone as she tugged at the neck of her top.
"And this one suits your name," Rainbow grinned smugly once she'd pulled back.
In return, AJ punched her lightly on the shoulders and grabbed hold of a cat-ear headband, shoving it on Rainbow's head. Of course, this led to the two of them scuffling lightly, shoving headbands and hats on and off of each other, leaving their hair tousled and matted.
Once AJ found a mirror, she burst out laughing at the sight of them. While Rainbow's hair looked slightly tousled and stuck up in random places, Applejack's own braid had become a massive ball of frizz that had strands falling out of it.
With a sigh, she started unbraiding her hair, letting her long, loose strands hang in waves down her back as she gently ran her fingers through them to get rid of the worst of the frizz. IN the meantime, Rainbow started aggressively shaking her head in an attempt to make it more artfully disheveled, but only succeeded in making her look like a wet dog shaking water off of its fur.
"Guess we got a little too rough," Rainbow grinned, lowering her voice and wiggling her eyebrows at AJ. Applejack shoved her.
"Girls!" Rarity's voice cut through the store, raw with desperation. "I need help!"
Rushing to her side, AJ and Rainbow both rolled their eyes when they saw that the only thing she needed help with was picking what expensive and shiny necklace to buy.
"Oh, don't roll your eyes at me," Rarity huffed, catching their gazes in the mirror. I need advice! These are both lovely, but one screams 'Gold digger married to an eighty-year-old millionaire' and the other screams 'would drop out of high school but her parents are bribing the principal.'"
"Those are awfully specific," Rainbow said, shoving AJ with her shoulder.
"Sugarcube, why would you want a necklace that screams any of those things?"
"I don't think necklaces should scream," Pinkie cut in with a deadpan. "It's unnatural."
This caused all of them to burst into a fit of laughter, even Rarity. "Darlings, you don't understand. It's for the aesthetic. The drama."
"I like the gold digger one better," Pinkie put in. "It has more flair."
"Right you are," Rarity agreed, and flounced off to pay for it.
"I've been telling her that for the last half hour," Pinkie loudly whispered to them once Rarity's back was turned.
As AJ followed Rarity to pay for her own belt and brooch, she saw Fluttershy showing off a matching set of pink butterfly accessories that she had already gotten, with Rainbow nodding in appreciation and Pinkie leaning in close to admire the shimmer of the pendant.
"Sorry this took so long, darling," Rarity told Applejack as they waited in line. "But I was having such a crisis narrowing down all of the necklaces, that I fear I have to scrap shopping for shoes from our itinerary!"
"Rainbow and I will probably skedaddle for the dress part," AJ warned her. "But are we meeting at the coffee shop afterward?"
"It depends on how much my ideas are flowing," Rarity said haughtily, tossing her hair from side to side.
As soon as they finished paying for their accessories—and Rarity admired how well the things that AJ had bought fit her style—Applejack grabbed Rainbow by the elbow and dragged her off from the group.
"I do not want to look at dresses with Rarity for an hour," AJ said, good-naturedly teasing. "Once she sees something that she likes, she will analyze it until paint dries."
"And we're not even going to buy anything," Rainbow added. "I like looking at dresses as much as the next girl, but I want to see that the effort on my eyeballs wasn't in vain!"
AJ gave her a look. "Do you need anything for your sports?" she asked, as she led them to the only sporting goods store at the mall.
Rainbow sighed. "Probably. But who knows anymore."
"And why's that?" Applejack said, looking at her as they entered the store. "Is the team not treating you nice?"
"Nah, nothing like that," Rainbow waved her concerns away, her usual cocky grin returning. "They just don't appreciate my awesomeness!"
Rolling her eyes, AJ led them to look at different parts of padding. She didn't need it for sports—she didn't faint from her cross country meets enough times to justify getting knee pads—but sometimes farm work was brutal on the skin.
"It's just so annoying!" Rainbow burst out, and it took AJ a second to realize that she was still hung up on their previous conversation. "I'm one of the best people on the team, and instead of appreciating that—like my coach who's never here does—my stupid captain only finds things to critique me for. I could flawlessly execute a play, especially when compared to the other girls, and all she would tell me is 'Rainbow, you need to keep working on your footwork. It's getting sloppy.'"
"Maybe she's just trying to make sure you improve?" AJ said with a noncommittal hum. "But I can see how that's a might annoying, especially when you're doing good.Does she do that to your teammates? Or when your coach is around?"
"She barely does it to my other teammates," Rainbow muttered, throwing her hands in the air. "Or when she does, it's not nearly enough times as she tells me. And when our coach is there, it gets even worse." Rainbow shuddered. "She won't do anything while Spitfire is watching, but as soon as practice lets out—and I'm feeling super awesome from all of Spitfire's compliments—she'll corner me in the parking lot and just fucking insult me. It stops being constructive criticism at that point!"
Rainbow's voice continued getting louder as she narrated her story, her arms moving in wild directions to express her frustrations. "And she tells me all these things after practice, when I'm all sweaty and tired and planning to take a shower. What am I supposed to do about that? I didn't know those were my problems during practice when I could have actually fixed it, and it's pointless to run drills against myself. I don't even have anywhere to do it!"
"Well, if it's bothering you this much, you could always come over to the farm with me," AJ offered as they continued on perusing the sporting goods. "I'm only one person, but it's probably better than practicing by yourself. And we could rope Big Mac and Apple Bloom into it too, if you wanted to."
"Really?" Rainbow's eyes lit up. "That'd be—I mean, it's nice of you to offer."
AJ bit her lip to keep from grinning, and continued. "We don't have a lot of grass to practice on, but dirt's nearly as good if you don't mind getting stains on your clothes."
"It's fine. When are you next free? This can be my big shot to get back at Lightning Dust by being better and better until she's got nothing, and I mean nothing, to criticize."
"I'm free all day tomorrow, if you're willing to help me with some chores in the morning. Otherwise, stop by in the afternoon; I should be done with most of the farmwork by then."
"I can't wait to see that little smirk fall right off her face," Rainbow mused as she started punching the air. Then, when she turned back to AJ, her expression softened a bit. "Thanks AJ. This really helps."
After continuing to browse about the stoore, Applejack felt a message buzz in her phone. It was a text from Rarity, telling them that they were at the makeup store.
"And here I was hoping that they would stop by for some coffee," AJ muttered, relaying the message to Rainbow. "I could really use some right about now. Do you wanna go meet up with them?"
Rainbow hesitated. "I mean...we're basically done looking at all the goods here, and I'd like to hang more with the girls..."
AJ laughed, slapping an arm around Rainbow's shoulders. "OK, sugarcube. Let's go get you some makeup."
Rainbow huffed, but didn't wriggle away.