Chapter 6: Monochrome Rainbows

"So we're going to see Twilight Sparkle first thing today, correct?" Luna asked as Tyr made breakfast.

"Why are you guys going to see Twilight?" Sherry asked.

"We… have some questions for her," Tyr said. He had told Luna the details about what had happened last night, but not Sherry. He set out the plates as usual so they could eat.

"Hm… okay. I was going to go by the cake shop after school, is that okay, Dad?"

Tyr and Luna shared a look. "Um… Pinkie said she wasn't feeling well last night, so she may not be there."

"Oh… I guess I could ask Mrs. Cake to let me help out then…"

"Ah, you'll be late, Sherry," Luna said.

"Oh, darn!" She rushed to the door. "Having Luna over is making me have to rush every day!"

She ran out the door. "We should go too," Tyr said.

"You're right."

"You want to ride, or…"

"We can walk. It isn't that far, right? Plus, it's actually a beautiful day."

They left the house arm in arm. Luna was right, it was a beautiful day. But Tyr felt like the girl on his arm didn't feel as comfortable during the day as during the night. Guess that's what comes with being Princess of the Night. As they walked, Tyr could see a lot of people looking their way. A human/Equestrian couple was probably still a bit of a rarity, so it was to be expected. Tyr was still getting used to feeling Luna's tail swish against him as they walked.

"Tyr. I have something I want to ask you."

"Go ahead, you can ask me whatever."

"…Would you let me move in with you?"

Tyr tripped, but caught himself at the last second. "You… you what!?"

"I was… thinking about it last night. Whenever I'm in my apartment, I always feel alone…" She looked down at the ground. "It seemed easier… you wouldn't have to worry as much, and we could… you know… be together whenever we wished…"

"Wow. Luna, I…"

She blushed furiously, color quickly rising to her pale cheeks. "It was a strange request, forget—"

Tyr kissed her. "Luna. Nothing would make me happier than to have you move in with me."

"Tyr…"

"So affectionate even this early, hm?"

They cut their embrace short, and turned to the voice. It was Celestia. To Tyr's surprise, she was dressed in a formal white blouse and pink jacket with a matching pencil skirt. "T-Tia!" Luna exclaimed.

"Celestia!" Tyr blinked. "You… why are you here?"

"I've decided to move to this town," She said. "A large portion of my people are here, and this town is… much quieter than Canterlot was. Plus, I think I'll enjoy having Twilight, her friends, my dear sister, and her boyfriend nearby to spend time with."

"If you're that interested in me," Tyr said. He had felt nervous, but Celestia's voice had that calming quality to it. Celestia simply smiled.

"So, where are you two off to?"

"We are going to go see Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. "We require her help for a… problem we have found."

"I see. As it stands, I was on my way to visit my faithful student as well. We can walk together."

"That's alright with me," Tyr said, not realizing what was about to happen. As Celestia moved to join them on their walk, he noticed something.

She placed herself on the side opposite her sister, putting Tyr in the middle. "Oh the looks you'll be getting now," Celestia whispered, loud enough for only him to hear.

"You sly devil," Tyr whispered back. Celestia giggled.

Celestia was pleasant company, Tyr realized. She was both serious and silly, and Luna seemed happy to have her around. Like the sun and moon, he thought to himself. The walk to the library went by a lot quicker than usual. "Twilight!" Tyr called, heading into the library.

"Tyr!" Twilight looked up from her book to greet him. She smiled. "Here for a book?"

"More of a personal visit," Celestia said, coming inside.

Twilight's smile persisted for a moment as she processed the woman before her. Then, her jaw dropped. A moment later, her mouth snapped shut, she squeezed her eyes closed, then screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Did I surprise you?" Celestia said with a small laugh.

"Surprise me? Of course you did! I wasn't prepared…!"

"Twilight Sparkle." The voice was gentle. "You don't always have to do anything big for when I come to visit."

"Yeah, considering you're moving into town," Tyr said.

Twilight looked from Tyr to Celestia. "You're… moving here? But… your diplomatic duties…"

"Can be handled from here," Celestia assured her. "Plus, I was hoping my sister would care to help me?"

"Of course, Tia," Luna said. She thought for a moment. "But on one condition."

"A condition? You know I would not refuse you anything, Luna."

"I would like for Tyr to become my body guard."

Celestia nodded. "I will allow that as long as you do one thing for me."

"What is it?"

"Tell me what happened with your job at the club."

Luna froze up. "I… very well. Tyr, present our issue to Twilight. I will speak to my sister in private."

As the two sisters moved off to a side room, Tyr moved over to Twilight. She seemed confused. "Luna wanted to talk to me about something?"

"We both did. It's… about Pinkie and Rarity."

"Pinkie and Rarity?" Twilight frowned. "I thought it was AJ and Rarity?"

"AJ and… What?"

"I saw Applejack and Rarity arguing this morning on my way here," Twilight explained. "It looked pretty bad, but before I could do anything, AJ said something and left. Rarity looked pretty broken up about it and locked herself in the Boutique."

"This is starting to fall apart faster than I thought," Tyr murmured. "…So you haven't seen Pinkie?"

"No… What exactly happened?"

"Well…" They were interrupted by the front door slamming open. "The hell—Fluttershy?"

The timid girl looked rough. Her pink hair was disheveled, there was a bruise on her cheek, and she was panting heavily. Dark lines ran down her face where she had been crying. "Flutter…shy?" Twilight said, rising from her seat. "What happened to you?"

Fluttershy dropped to her knees, sobbing loudly. "I can't do this anymore," She cried. "I can't. I won't!"

"Fluttershy…" Tyr was paralyzed with concern.

"Shy," Twilight went over to her. "What happened?"

"We broke up," Fluttershy said quietly. Sobs still racked her body, and she lurched with each sniffle.

"You broke up? With who?" Tyr frowned. He hadn't even realized Fluttershy was in a relationship.

"I'm done," Fluttershy said. She wiped her face. Then, in a voice no louder than a whisper, she said, "I broke up with Rainbow Dash."

"What!?" The exclamation of surprise came from Twilight. "You and… and Rainbow Dash were together…?"

"I'm sure you all must be disgusted with me…" Fluttershy mumbled. "Loving another girl…"

"If you love someone, that's all that matters," Twilight said, coming over. She knelt next to the distraught girl. "Cadance explained that to me. But obviously, in your case, it was one sided?"

Fluttershy seemed unsure. "At least… I hope it wasn't one sided… at some point…"

"You need to tell us what happened," Tyr said as gently as possible.

As Fluttershy began to speak, Tyr leaned back against the main desk. Fluttershy and Rainbow were gay? That was… surprising. Even more so that they were dating. They just didn't seem… compatible.

"I told Dash I was jealous of Tyr and Luna," Fluttershy was telling Twilight. "You two were happy and affectionate and I wanted that too. Dash didn't. She only wanted me when it was convenient and… we had an argument and she hit me."

"She hit you?" Tyr narrowed her eyes.

"She was angry! I… she didn't mean to, and she started to apologize…"

"That doesn't forgive what she did."

"Tyr," Twilight said evenly. "Fluttershy is distraught."

"I… I apologize."

"When I said I wanted to break up, she got all funny," Fluttershy said, continuing. "And then she said it was fine, she didn't love me anymore." As she said those words, she burst into sobs again.

"I didn't ever realize you and Dash were together," Twilight murmured, putting her arms around her. "I thought it wasn't that strange since you two were childhood friends. Guess I need to be more attentive to my friends…"

"We were trying to keep it a secret that we were… um… gay." Fluttershy admitted, rubbing her eyes. "We didn't want you guys to hate us…"

"Hate's a strong word, sugarcube."

Everyone looked up to see AJ standing in the doorway. "My, the surprise visitors keep coming," Tyr murmured.

"Applejack?" Fluttershy jumped. "When… how long…"

"Since ya said you didn't know if Dash loved you." AJ sighed. "I'm… just surprised. I didn't know y'all two were like that."

"Well, we aren't together anymore. Just… poof. Over."

Twilight stood to face her southern friend. "AJ, I need to know. What did you say to Rarity?"

AJ's face fell. "…I dun wanna talk about it. Shouldn't we be focused on Shy?"

"Applejack!" Twilight frowned. "Four of our friends are hurting, and I need to know why!"

"I told little miss prissy that the reason no one will be her 'knight in shining armor' is that she's setting her standards too damn high!" AJ snapped. The sudden sharpness made Twilight flinch back. "I told her that Pinkie might be too far gone for us to get her back now because of her. That she killed her own friendship. That she… killed our friendship."

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"She let Pinkie be badmouthed by all those fancy types! If it wasn't for Tyr those stuck ups would a kept talking bad about us all night!"

"But Rarity wasn't trying to be mean…"

"Twilight Sparkle. For someone so smart you sure are dumb as a doornail." AJ's expression darkened. "That Rarity may be generous, but she's willing to hurt her own friends for herself. She's still just a stuck up, selfish—"

"Applejack!" Twilight said sharply. "I'm not condoning what Rarity did, but there is no reason to talk about her like that!"

"You know damn well Rarity would leave us all behind if she could have that fancy life she always wanted!" AJ was furious. "And now I gotta find out that Dash had gone and broken Fluttershy's heart? What do you want me to feel here!?"

"Feel some sympathy! Rarity doesn't have it easy either!" Twilight was just as angry. "None of us have had it easy at all since the Merge!"

AJ stared at Twilight for a long moment. When she spoke again, it was in an even tone. "…I see. So I'm supposed to just excuse what Rarity did just cause 'she has it hard'? I'm just supposed to talk to Dash all normal like when I know Shy is like this? Just because the world decided to screw with all of us? I'm sorry Twi, but that ain't happening. I ain't about to lie just cause you—"

The slap that Twilight gave her was sharp, punctuated, and left a red mark on AJ's skin. "…Get out of my library, Applejack."

AJ was silent. Then she gave a curt nod. "Eeyup." She growled out, tipping her hat as she walked out. Twilight watched her go. She glanced down at her throbbing hand, and suddenly she realized what she had just done.

"Oh dear Celestia, what have I done…?" She slid to her knees.

Celestia and Luna came back. Both looked concerned. "What happened? We heard a loud sound," Luna asked.

"AJ was here," Twilight said softly.

Celestia frowned, not understanding. "What? Where did she go?"

Twilight hugged herself. Her voice was soft and threatening to break. "I don't know. I don't know, and that scares me."

"We need to go after her," Tyr said. "We can't just let AJ leave like that!"

"After what I just did? I can't face her right now," Twilight murmured.

Luna looked to Tyr for an explanation. Before he could say anything, Fluttershy stood up and turned to him. "I'm going with you," She said softly.

"What? But…"

"I want to help Applejack. She's my friend. And… I want to apologize to Dash as well."

"You will not be leaving me behind," Luna pointed out.

"Alright then," Tyr said. "Let's hurry. She can't have gotten too far."

-x-

There were too many thoughts running through AJ's head as she walked away from the library. Twilight had actually hit her. Two of her friends were locking themselves up, while two more were avoiding each other. And now she and Twi were at odds. "What happened to all of us…"She muttered ruefully. As she rounded a corner, she came face to face with the last person she wanted to see.

"Oh," Rainbow Dash said. "Hey Applejack."

"Dash." AJ said curtly.

"So what's up? …You haven't seen Fluttershy, have you?"

"…I have."

Dash sighed. "You want to hit me, don't you?"

"Eeyup."

"You know I'm gonna hit back, right?"

"I'm counting on it."

They stood there in each other's faces for a long moment. Then, without warning, AJ grabbed Dash's collar, held her out at arm's length, and punched her square in the face. Rolling with the blow, Dash broke free and hit AJ in the side. The blow barely fazed the country girl, and she struck again, attacking Dash with cold fury. To her credit, the athlete fought back, and even got a few hits in. But where Dash was fast, AJ was strong. In a stand up slug fest, Applejack was going to win. A barely missed punch sent Dash staggering back, and she tripped over the back wheel of her bike. She sat down hard, and AJ leapt on her, pinning her to the ground. Unable to move, Dash tried to protect herself and take opportunistic shots up at her attacker. But with AJ holding her down, there was nothing she could do.

"Applejack!" A male voice cried.

A particularly brutal punch caught Dash along the side of her jaw, dislocating it. "How dare you!" AJ was yelling. "She was the sweetest one outta the bunch, and you broke her heart! How! Could! You!"

Dash blacked out for a split second as a fist hit her in the forehead. She was so dazed at that point that she couldn't even defend herself. AJ hit her one more time before another voice called out. "Applejack!"

That made AJ pause. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths, and blood flowed from a cut above her eye. The girl below her was worse off, with a black eye in addition to all the other bruises. "God, what did you do to her face…?" The first voice murmured.

AJ got up, and found Tyr, Fluttershy, and Luna standing there. "Were you planning to kill her?" Luna asked.

"…Not at first," AJ said. "I… when I thought about what she did to you, Fluttershy…"

Tyr knelt beside Dash. "…She's out cold. I figured you were strong AJ, but this was… brutal."

"You didn't have to do this, Applejack…" Fluttershy said. "Dash and I… we probably are better off just as friends. I loved her, and I believe at one point she loved me too. But… it's over."

"But, Fluttershy…"

"I don't want to lose my friends," Fluttershy said quietly. She began to cry. "I hate this…!"

"I… I'm sorry sugarcube. I let my feelings get the best of me. I just couldn't stand seeing you hurt."

Fluttershy went over to her and touched her face with one delicate hand. "You've endured a lot of pain today…"

"I… I have to go." AJ shook off Fluttershy's hand and took off running.

"AJ, wait!" Fluttershy cried, but it was too late. "She's… gone."

Tyr lifted up Dash in his arms. "We need to get her to a hospital. We'll have to chase her later."

"But… but!"

Tyr didn't respond, instead heading towards the hospital. Today had really gone all wrong from the beginning, hadn't it?