Tick. Tick. Tick.
The clock always goes slower when you look at it, but Rainbow Dash didn't care. It was 2:27, just three minutes to freedom. The teacher was rambling on about the progress reports mailed out to everyone. Dry. Dull. Monotone. And sooooo boring!
It didn't help that the walls were painted beige, or only one of the three lines on each fluorescent light was on, or that the air conditioner had broken a month prior, or that there were a bunch of squiggly lines and letters on the front board that were supposed to be solving the quadratic formula or something, or that it was still only 2:27, come on!
Rainbow glanced to the front of the room where Twilight sat, fully rigid and bolt upright, deigning to take notes even though the lesson was officially over and the teacher was only talking about how everyone needs to study hard for the next month so they can do well on the exams. Thbbbpt. Exams are dumb.
It's finally 2:28. Two more minutes to the beautiful outdoors!
Rainbow thumped her head on her desk, turning her head slightly to try to make eye contact with Pinkie sitting immediately next to her. She was folding a little piece of paper in what seemed like random directions until suddenly the piece of paper looked like a little bird. She grinned and shoved the bird into her fluffy hair.
Rainbow turned her head to the other direction to Applejack, who was click-clacking away on her flip phone reserved solely for business. Must be real important if she's on it during school hours. AJ was a real stickler for school rules no matter how dumb they were. She used to be a fellow rebel like Rainbow when they constantly dress coded her for wearing her hat on school grounds. When Celestia became the new principal, however, and was significantly more relaxed on rules and such, Applejack started being more heavy on Rainbow when she broke the rules as long as they were ones that the farmer had no trouble following.
Hey, it isn't Rainbow's fault that she broke the trophy case while skateboarding through the halls, she wasn't the only one who tripped on the extension cord that day!
Still 2:28. Will this day ever END!?
Rainbow turned back forward to face the board, or what she could around the bulky frame of, well, Bulk. It looked like the teacher was writing something but it might as well have been in an alien language for all she could tell. Oh well, it wasn't really a big deal.
Her thoughts absentmindedly wandered to what the other girls were doing. Rarity and Fluttershy were in home economics, Sunset was in machine shop, Juniper went to work at the start of seventh period, and Starlight had gone back through the portal, because apparently there was some invasion going on or something in Equestria. Rainbow wished she was there, it sounded way more exciting than sitting in drudgery. Plus there was apparently another Rainbow Dash over there too. Double awesome!
Rainbow reached into her bag and grabbed her book, only to remember she'd finished it during history. She inaudible groaned and thumped her head on her desk again. The incessant droning of the teacher practically bored holes into her ears and through her skull, embedding itself so deeply into her brain that she could literally taste the annoyance.
Another chance glance at the clock. 2:29? Yes! Only one more minute before these walls were nothing but a distant memory, forgotten for the two and a half glorious days that were the weekend, left behind in the caffeine and alcohol induced haze of blaring rock and roll in AJ's truck going way past the speed limit on the dusty country roads, pulse pounding action movies with a surround sound system so powerful it rattled the windows, and, oh yeah, there was Fluttershy's thing at the animal shelter in the morning on Sunday. Can't forget that.
Rainbow slung her messenger bag around her neck, slipped her feet out from under the desk, and made a mental beeline for the door as she stared at the second hand. She watched as it moved from the 6 to the 7, the 7 to the 8, and so on. When it was at the 10 she glanced at the teacher and accidentally made direct eye contact. He sighed before turning to make final remarks to the class.
3... 2... 1...
RING!
By the time the second hand had reached the 1, the only sign that Rainbow Dash was ever even there was the papers slowly fluttering to the ground. Pinkie and Applejack exchanged a look before shrugging and joining Twilight on a much more normal pace on their way out of the school.
/x/x/x/
You're such a beautiful fish
Floppin' on the summer sand
Lookin' for the wave you missed
When another one is close at hand
/x/x/x/
Rainbow was having trouble getting her dollar to actually go into the vending machine when she felt a gentle yet hearty thump on her back.
"Hey Rainbow!" cried a chipper voice.
"Hey Sunset," Rainbow responded. "Do you, uh... have any change?"
Sunset nodded, pulled her wallet out of her purse, and proceeded to deposit the proper coins. Rainbow pressed the neon green button labeled "Electric Fizz" and reached down to grab the bottle of liquid sugar out of the receptacle before she handed Sunset the useless bill.
"Thanks, man!" she cried before depressurizing the bottle. "Want any?"
Sunset simply waved her hand, rejecting the foreign chemicals, and merely watched as Rainbow shrugged and chugged. The last time Sunset had eaten anything that wasn't organic vegetables she was sick for an entire week. Living entirely on food fit for horses for your entire life doesn't exactly bode well for being suddenly deposited in a world where ponies didn't even talk.
Once the bottle was empty, Rainbow let out a satisfying "Aaahhh" before turning and shooting it at a nearby trash can as if it were a basketball and the garbage was a hoop and the cafeteria was a gymnasium and all the loud voices running into each other were all the screaming cheers of a loving crowd. It bounced once before spinning in the air and falling straight into the bag. Rainbow gave jazz hands and said "Ta-da!"
Sunset rolled her eyes and chuckled a little as she turned and walked to the parking lot. Rainbow jogged for a moment to catch up to her before falling into stride.
"So what'd I miss in shop?" She inquired. Rainbow hadn't been able to take it this year because she had to retake algebra for missing credits, unfortunately leaving Sunset alone in a class full of students who were still wary of her after the whole awkward turning-into-an-evil-demon-and-almost-killing-and-enslaving-everybody fiasco.
"We're just doing midterm reviews," Sunset replied with a shrug. "Nothing big."
Rainbow nodded. "Cool."
"How was math?"
"Ugh!" Rainbow cried in disgust. "It was horrible! I was so bored that I think I would honestly rather have been trapped in the magic mirror again, and there was literally NOTHING to do there."
"That bad, huh?"
"It's fine though, it's over now." Rainbow cracked her knuckles before resting her hands behind her head. "Time for a kick-ass weekend with some awesome ladies and even awesomer movies!"
Sunset smiled as she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets. They were heading down the hallway that lead to Rarity and Fluttershy's lockers, hoping to meet up with the duo on their way out to figure out transportation. There was no point in everybody driving their own vehicles, after all. Fuel economy and whatnot. Gas didn't grow on trees, you know? Although... Fluttershy's car did run on vegetable oil, so it technically doesn't grow on trees but- oh, you know what I mean.
Luckily the two were still chatting by the time Rainbow and Sunset approached. Rainbow stepped up behind Fluttershy and draped her arms over her friend's shoulders. "Sup Shy. Rarity."
Everyone exchanged hellos before Fluttershy turned around to give her oldest friend a proper hug. She had a few years of affection to catch up on, thanks to the Shimmer Schism. After they pulled away, the four walked to the school's rear doors towards the parking lot.
They weren't met with the trio they expected to.
"Hi sis!" Sweetie Belle cried. She was flanked on either side by Applebloom and Scootaloo, who gave a shy wave to Rainbow (who then returned it in kind). "Can I carry your bags for you?"
"Sure, Sweetie..." she said, placing her own messenger bag into her little sister's waiting arms. "But you're still not coming with us."
The beaming grin on Sweetie Belle's face melted along with her confident posture. She turned her face back up with the strongest puppydog eyes that she could muster. Everyone stared expectantly at Rarity, who looked at each and every single pair of eyes before she hesitatingly answered.
"No."
"Eh, worth a shot. See you later sis! Love you!"
"Love you too, Sweetie."
Fluttershy let out a small 'aaawww' as Rainbow let out a small 'gaaaay'. I'll give you two guesses as to which one Rarity glared at for a moment before the four began giggling amongst themselves as they walked outside.
Awaiting then in the parking lot were Applejack, who was still texting, Twilight, who was reading something, and Pinkie, who paused from blowing bubbles to wave at the incoming quartet.
"Y'all was in a real hurry, huh Rainbow?"
"Were." Twilight subconsciously uttered, unaware she'd even said it. She adjusted her glasses before slipping a bookmark into her book: Withering Widths, it was titled. "Are you as excited as the rest of us about this weekend's planned activities?"
"Heck yeah I am!" Rainbow cried, emphatically raising a fist in the air. "This is gonna be so awesome. Dibs on shotgun in AJ's truck!"
Nobody was particularly disappointed. The only ones who actually enjoyed riding in Applejack's car were Applejack herself and Rainbow Dash. It smelled like diesel fuel, rumbled hard enough to loosen any fillings in your teeth, and it either turned like a zeppelin with the lines cut, or like a pretzel stick being snapped, depending on how fast it was going, and the way Applejack drives it is very very fast. The music that the duo loved was also a few shades different than what the rest enjoyed, and it was enjoyed at a much higher volume than everybody was comfortable with. Although, to their great surprise Starlight Glimmer had really liked it too.
"Dibs on the backseat in AJ's truck!" cried Pinkie, much to everybody's shock. Then again, after thinking about it for a moment, everybody gave a collective shrug. It made sense if you didn't really think about it, like most of the energetic girl's zany antics.
The four who weren't going with Applejack and Rainbow piled into Fluttershy's car, Rarity taking the passenger seat. Since Sunset had a motorcycle, Twilight used public transportation or own her legs, and Rarity adamantly refused to drive her own vehicle on any road that wasn't pavement, that left Fluttershy's little yellow 'vegan cruiser', as Rainbow put it.
When the timid girl turned her own key, the engine slowly began to hum. When the farmer turned her own key, however, the horrible grating screech of metal scraping metal was drowned by the engine roaring to life like a great mighty dragon of legend. If one was looking carefully, they'd have seen Fluttershy's car tilt slightly from the pressure differential.
"I'll see y'all at my house!" Applejack cried.
"WHAT!?" cried Rarity from the passenger seat of the significantly smaller car.
"I'LL SEE Y'ALL AT MY HOUSE!" Applejack screamed, hoping she could hear this time.
"I'm sorry darling, I can't hear you!" Rarity mouthed. Or maybe she spoke it, but Applejack couldn't hear. AJ rolled her eyes and tapped out a quick text to her fashionable friend on her personal phone. After a moment she saw Rarity check her phone, then gave a thumbs up and turned to speak to Fluttershy.
Applejack threw the gearshift into reverse, carefully backed out so as not to crush any unaware teenagers who spent their time laying down in parking lots. Once she was clear, she cranked the stick into first gear and stomped on the gas. Almost instantly she hit the clutch and shifted into second, continuing to apply throttle. She let her foot off the gas for a brief second as she turned onto the main road, before slamming down again and shifting into third. Soon enough she found herself cruising comfortably in fourth gear.
It was when she ceased acceleration that the engine became quiet enough (or at least not as loud) to let the two girls in the front seat hear Pinkie yelling "Whee!" at the top of her lungs with her arms in the air.
/x/x/x/
She's going away, she's going away,
what's wrong with my life today?
/x/x/x/
Rainbow's mp3 player sat on the dashboard, hooked on the auxiliary cord that lead into the truck's tape deck. She and Applejack were howling on to the incredibly high-volume music of some indeterminable genre. If in the backseat Pinkie had deigned to call it something it would be rock and roll but louder and way angrier. Broken glass in a blender? A definite departure to the type of music they themselves played.
Whereas Pinkie had a bit of trouble figuring out what it was the clearly troubled about something or another singer was saying, the girls in the front seats seemed to know every single word and were even harmonizing together. Applejack's right forefinger tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel as the fingers on her left hand seemed to dance in a very specific pattern that only made sense to herself. Rainbow had her feet up on the dashboard and was doing a lot more accurate of an air guitar than most non-musicians would attempt. Pinkie felt her foot tapping in line with the thump-thump of the bass drum and her hands tapping on her thighs with the clicks of the snare and the crashes of the various types of cymbals.
It was loud, fast, and chaotic, but there was a method to the madness.
Eventually the song ended and another one was about to begin. However, after Applejack turned into a familiar street, Rainbow paused the music and brought her legs back down to a normal position.
"Takin' a shortcut, AJ?" she asked, curiously. "Because I'm pretty sure you just turned west... and your house is to the east."
Applejack raised her brow and met Rainbow's eyes. "Y'all stayed the night at my house yesterday, remember?" she said. "We got progress reports in the mail this mornin' so I'm rollin' by your house so y'all can pick it up."
Rainbow's eyes darted back and forth and she sat up in the seat. This wasn't the plan! This weekend was supposed to get AWAY from the evils of public education! And then she remembered.
Twilight- the one from this world- thought it would be a cool idea for everyone to unveil their grades to one another before the party proper started. She would have been a nervous wreck constantly thinking and worrying about whether she had her perfect 4.0 or not, and having a nervous Twilight around typically didn't ever end well for anybody involved. Rainbow reluctantly agreed, loosely throwing together a plan to spare the public humiliation of reading off her own grades to everybody else. Unfortunately she'd forgotten about it until now.
"I mean, you don't have to do that!" Rainbow exclaimed, hoping to convey the message 'please don't do this to me' without actually saying it.
"I know." Applejack retorted, promptly. "But I wanna do it. Yer my friend, Dash, and I ain't gonna letcha miss out."
Rainbow began chewing on her lip. Applejack glanced over and read her nervousness.
"If yer worried about gettin' embarrassed by Twilight's As, I'm gonna be there too and we all know how much trouble I have with school."
Applejack had trouble reading. She could read books just fine if she had a piece of paper and slowly went down a line at a time, it was just when it came to nonlinear stuff like math. The lines and stuff all just sorta squiggled together, so she had to write formulas and such in very specific ways for her to be able to go back and read it. But even with all of the setbacks, she still always managed to get flat Cs in at least every class.
"And we're not gonna be a bunch of big ol' meanypantses about it!" Pinkie chipped in from the back. "We're your friends, Dashie!"
Rainbow turned her head to face the window, down the street of her childhood home. Up ahead in the distance she saw it: her family's mailbox. Sky blue with white trim. "The Hotfoot Residence" it said.
The gears in Rainbow's head began to spin, panic setting in and churning her mind into overdrive.
"My parents probably already took it in and framed it by now," she said, with a fake air of calm that only she herself could see through. "You guys know what they're like. We might as well just go ahead and turn around now, we don't want Fluttershy to beat us there!"
A bark of laughter from Applejack cut her off at the mention of Fluttershy. "Yeah, okay Dash," she said sarcastically. "I'm real sure Fluttershy's gonna break the speed limit as much as I did an' get to my house before I do."
"And aren't your mom and dad out of town, Dashie?" Pinkie asked after Applejack's laughter faded. "It's probably still there so there's nothing to worry about!"
Rainbow cursed herself for letting that piece of information slip yesterday. She'd needed a place to keep her pet tortoise, Tank, during the weekend since otherwise he'd be alone for a couple days. Rainbow asked Pinkie if Tank and her toothless alligator Gummy could cohabitate for a little bit, and after a brief consult with both Fluttershy and Twilight to make sure it was biologically safe, they arranged to pay Pinkie's roommates to feed both animals during the weekend.
Rainbow internally slapped herself for digging herself into this inescapable hole of inevitable despair. She glanced back at the mailbox, now too close to conceivably push off anymore. Applejack was braking.
"If it's there it's there, an' if it ain't it ain't," she said. "But it'd be a real bummer if y'all missed out just cuz we didn't check for ya!" Her smile conveyed nothing but friendly compassion but Rainbow still couldn't help but feel a pit in her stomach.
The truck had stopped, right in front of her house. True to form the driveway was empty, family station wagon gone from its usual spot. They'd left the decals for the Canterlot Wondercolts up though, proudly emblazoned on the living room window. Rainbow ground her teeth together as she gingerly reached out to the mailbox. She glared such fierce daggers into it that she hoped literal lasers would appear from her eyes and make the mailbox explode from sheer willpower. Unfortunately that was Pinkie's specialty; all she could do was run really fast.
That actually gave her an idea and she gently fingered the necklace hiding under her shirt...
"What, worried it's gonna bite ya?" Applejack asked as Rainbow hesitated.
No, she couldn't just run away from her problems. Besides, she was looking forward to this weekend since the last weekend, like five whole days. Maybe a brief period of shame and humiliation could be easily forgotten about and never mentioned again, right?
...Right.
Rainbow opened the mailbox only to behold... it. The solitary piece of evil paper that was dead set on ruining her life. Or at least just the next two days. She slowly crept out to pick it up, grimacing as though it was drenched in acid or lava or Zephyr's equally as noxious body spray.
In the end it was just a piece of paper, and she pulled it out of its dark blue home. She stared at it for a moment, and she briefly contemplated tearing it up there and then, or throwing it into the storm drain, or crumpling it up into a ball and eating it. Instead, she folded it up and slipped it into her pants pocket before leaning back, defeated.
She lost.
"By the way, is there anything y'all need from yer house fer the weekend?" she asked, blissfully unaware of the ideas rushing through her friend's head. "You've got clothes and stuff already but I just wanna make sure yer fine on the other fronts."
Rainbow nodded her head no. "It's all cool, I'm set."
"Cool," Applejack responded. "Odds are we ain't gonna be sober enough to drive back here for a while, so I'm just makin' sure."
Rainbow continued nodding, hearing Applejack's voice but not her words.
The envelope burned a hole in her jeans.
/x/x/x/
It doesn't matter if she dyes her hair
Or the color of the shoes she wears
She's the worst thing in this world
/x/x/x/
Applejack pulled into the gravel driveway leading up to her house. Listening to thrash and groove metal on the country roads distracted Rainbow entirely from the inevitable awkwardness that was sure to ensue. On the way she'd concocted another plan, this one fully foolproof.
She'd just distract everyone from the fact that she didn't read off her own grades! It was indestructible, incorruptible, clearly one of the greatest and most airtight of plans she'd ever concocted in her entire life!
Her mental self-pat on the back caused her to only catch the second half of Applejack's sentence.
"Huh?" She asked, still processing what she'd heard.
"I said I told ya Fluttershy woul-"
"Wouldn't beat us back here, yeah, I don't know what I was thinking there," she said, laughing only a little nervously. "Silly me, right?"
Applejack closed her mouth, slightly put off by Rainbow's... to quote Pinkie, her brief un-rainbow-ness. Speaking of Pinkie, she'd somehow ended up on the front porch, texting. The back doors didn't open. Weird.
'Damn it!' Rainbow cursed inwardly. 'I need to keep it cool if I have any chance of this weekend not blowing up in my face! Just chillax, Dash. Just. Chillax.'
Rainbow was awoken from her inner monologue by Applejack shutting the truck door with a mighty thwumpf, almost knocking the truck to its side before panicking and grabbing it before it turned all the way over. She gently set it back down, coming face to face with Rainbow who currently had one hand on her chest and the other on the roof.
"Sorry!" She said, sheepishly. "Must've accidentally hit my geode!"
"No shit!" Rainbow cried, still trying to regulate her heartbeat. "Why is it even on your key ring in the first place!? Wear a necklace like normal people!"
"Normal people don't have superpowers, dum-dum!"
DON'T CALL ME THAT
"I know you are!" Rainbow volleyed back. "But what am I?"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Okay, Pinkie," she said before heading up to the house. When she stepped on the porch an excited barking began and she gave a fake gasp. "Is that my favowite Wynona?"
Rainbow unplugged her phone and slipped it back in her pocket. She craned her neck, feeling two of the vertebrates slide back into place with a satisfying *cra-ack!* before she hopped out of the car. Applejack had unlocked the door and been met with a face full of sloppy dog kisses. She and Pinkie were showering the furry little puppy with love and affection when Rainbow came up. At least, that's what Applejack called Wynona despite the fact that she was nearly Applebloom's age. Still, a puppy is a puppy no matter how old it is; that's what Fluttershy says, anyway.
Rainbow stepped past the duo and into the house proper. She wasn't a big dog person. Tortoises were cooler.
The house was build a hundred or so years ago, and definitely looked it. The amenities were all modern: the fridge, sink, oven, tv, and thankfully the showers. However, the musty furniture and the tacky wallpaper and the creaky floorboards and basically everything else was about as old as AJ's granny Smith. Maybe even older, hard as that is to imagine.
Rainbow logged into the internet on her phone and checked her messages. Her parents had sent her some embarrassing selfies while on their business trip, one of which was almost entirely covered by her mom's thumb. She lightly smiled and nodded at her parents' antics. Sometimes they were too much, but they were great parents. Her smile faltered. Then why is it so hard to ask them for help...?
She shook those thoughts out of her head. Now now. This was a sacred place. This was a place of a 65" flat screen decked out with every major video game console of the past five years and one of the highest end green-ray players on the market and the most intense surround sound system that money could buy. It was really cool of Applejack's brother to give her full unfettered access to it all: Mac had saved his cash for years saving up for all this stuff. You really make a lot of money doing private landscaping projects for the richest man in the entire county.
The rapid thumping of little feet came charging in, swooped around Rainbow's legs, and launched themselves onto the couch. Pinkie came in and followed suit. Then Applejack, delayed for a moment for stopping by the refrigerator, tossed Rainbow a bottle and cracked her own open.
Hard cider.
"Drink up, Dash," Applejack promoted, tossing Pinkie her own bottle. "I think it's time for a little fun."
Rainbow grinned and opened her own before taking a long, satisfying swig. It burned, slow and sweet, and beckoned the tongue to taste more. Pure golden apple-y perfection.
By the time Fluttershy had arrived, the trio had downed two bottles each and were currently on water. They weren't getting smashed, they were getting buzzed. Besides, the cider is enjoyed for its taste, not its alcohol content. That's what the moonshine is for.
The girls shuffled in, giggling about one thing or another. Rainbow had already expected them before she heard or saw them, as they smelled very strongly of a bit of a special green surprise courtesy of Fluttershy's stoner friend, Tree Hugger. Fluttershy herself was leading the pack, stride confident as if she owned the place. Rarity had taken off her infinity scarf and the several accessories that tied her outfit together; Twilight had her arms wrapped firmly around Sunset's hips, and she was blushing heavily. Sunset was grinning and her eyes were unfocused. Clearly they had smoked at least a little bit on the way here.
"Applejack. Darling. I need empty calories and I need them now. Please and thank you." Rarity delivered, deadpan, while Twilight kissed Sunset on the cheek. Sunset didn't react, and Fluttershy had gone immediately into the bathroom without even asking Applejack if it was okay first.
Okay, so maybe it was a lotta bit.
Applejack gave Rarity a knowing nod and slipped into the other room. She came back out with a basket full of goodies: chips, cookies, crackers, candy bars, and fruity gummies: the communal partying snacks fund definitely got cracked into for this one. Rarity clapped her hands together and squealed in delight before asking "May I?" and reaching for the basket, grabbing it upon confirmation in the form of Applejack nodding.
The horde descended upon the basket and within minutes there was a box or bag of snacks everywhere within arms reach. On the tables, the chairs, the bookshelves, everywhere in the living room that wasn't in danger of making a mess on, near, or around the tv. Fluttershy, who had come out after food got spread amongst everywhere, sat next to Wynona (who was waiting patiently) and fed her a treat from her bag, and began scratching the dog's belly. The puppy wouldn't be getting into anything she didn't need that day as long as Mama Fluttershy was around with her magic bag of infinite treats.
Applejack opened a chest in the next room and pulled out a stack of blankets, setting them on the floor. She also collected the jackets, purses, and... a pair of pants? Oh, good, Twilight was at least wearing gym shorts underneath; mandatory phys ed. Anyway, Applejack took everything and set them on Granny Smith's bed. She and Mac were on a business trip, and Applebloom was staying at Scootaloo's parents' house, so it was fully empty for the whole day and most of tomorrow.
Pinkie had turned on the television and set up a music player; she settled on a nice mix of ambient electronica and trance music, which she knew the names of because of her friend Vinyl. The music was high enough that it could be heard, but still low enough that one wouldn't have to strain their voice to carry on a conversation. She then sat upside down on the corner of the couch, legs rested up against the back and head sitting over the edge, hair floofing to the floor.
Rarity was ravenously digging into a bag of thin wheat crackers, paying no heed to the crunches, lunges, and situps she would need to do at her next gym session in order to work it off. She didn't care about the plights of Future Rarity, and Future Rarity was currently cursing the sky. For the future. Or something. It makes more sense if you're high.
Twilight and Sunset were cuddling on the couch. Well... Twilight was cuddling Sunset, and Sunset was snoring. They both lay in blissful contentment, entirely unaware of the mess and the noise.
Rainbow simply sat back, observing. Applejack handed ciders to the new girls who were awake, and they gladly accepted. In exchange, Fluttershy handed Applejack a freshly-rolled blunt, "So you, Dashie and Pinkie don't feel lefted out," she said, hiccuping over the grammatical inconsistency. Now, she may have had a high tolerance for the herb, but the girl could not hold her liquor to save her life.
Applejack took a hit before passing it to Pinkie, who followed suit. The joint passed its way down the line, being rejected by Rarity, accepted by Twilight, and ignored by Sunset on account of she's asleep, and it found its way to Rainbow. She shrugged and took one before taking it over to Fluttershy. Rainbow decided to sit next to her oldest friend, and draped her arm over the no-longer-timid girl's shoulders. She reached into a box of mini chocolate chip cookies sitting on the coffee table in front of her, pulling a half dozen out, and sat back, slowly eating the cookies.
This is SO much better than school!
/x/x/x/
A/N
Originally this, the next chapter, and the next chapter after that were all uploaded together as one chapter. A criticism I received was that for this type of story a 13K word chapter was a slog. I disagreed with the sentiment but decided to separate it up for uploading on here, since it was almost perfectly divisible at the 33% and 66% sections. Another criticism I received was from my sister who said that joints and blunts are two completely different things but Artistic License: Recreational Drugsā¢. The main part of the story begins next chapter. The lyrics are from songs titled "Stupid Girl" by Neil Young, Rolling Stones, and Cold. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were listening to Pantera. I'm gonna keep this short so I'll stop it now. Lemme know what you think if you want to.
