Chapter 1: Realization
*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
Rainbow Dash shifted uncomfortably on the edge of her bed. The loud yet familiar tone from the alarm on her blue nightstand triggered an itching urge for her to scream – a desperate attempt to overpower the annoying noise – but since it was early morning, she was way too tired, and just the thought of opening her mouth was enough to leave her panting in exhaustion. Instead, she decided to be a functional human being and simply sat up to turn it off. With a heavy sigh, she planted her head right back down on her fluffy pillow where it belonged. So much for a functional human being.
"Another morning. Just like every other morning," she complained to herself, followed by a huge yawn.
It took her what felt like five business days before she finally gathered enough energy to get up and get ready for school.
—
Rainbow Dash walked into the classroom and was greeted by her five friends: Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Applejack. The last name made her grin widely. She took her seat and turned around, facing Applejack and the other girls.
"Hey," she said simply, traces of the grin still visible.
She noticed Applejack opening her mouth to reply, but the blonde was quickly interrupted by the sound of the classroom door opening. Rainbow Dash turned around and spotted the teacher trotting her way to the front of the classroom. She veered around once again and shot Applejack a quick smile before turning back, facing the teacher.
—
Class was over and the students started packing up their books and heading to their lockers. As Applejack stood up to do the same, she noticed how a quick movement was heading right towards her head. She instinctively looked up and caught the ball that was aiming straight at her face with ease.
"Nice catch!" she heard a familiar voice yelling, and she knew exactly who it was.
Applejack let the soccer ball rest under her foot as she glanced up at Rainbow Dash. The girl had a small smirk on her face.
"Very funny, Rainbow. I could've gotten hurt, ya know?" AJ said with a slightly annoyed tone. She passed the ball back to the girl in front of her.
"But you didn't." Rainbow's smirk grew wider as she picked it up.
Applejack rolled her eyes as she grabbed her stuff, aiming for the door. The two girls walked out of the classroom together, not really paying any attention to the other four walking behind them. As the six girls got to their lockers and put their bags in, Rainbow quickly checked the time.
"9 am. Next class doesn't start until 9:30. What should we do in the meantime?"
The girls exchanged glances. Pinkie Pie almost immediately started jumping up and down in excitement, which could only mean one thing: she had an idea. A ridiculous one at that.
"I know! What about we bring balloons and blow them up so that they fill up the whole school! Then we'll have a balloon school and that never existed before so we'll be the first one to have one and our school will get really super duper popular and then we can throw a p-"
"Um no Pinkie, I don't think we should." Fluttershy surprisingly managed to cut her off with her low voice.
"Awww... But at least a par-"
Rainbow quickly put a hand on Pinkie's mouth and shot her a glare. That seemed to do the trick; Pinkie pried the hand away from her lips and muttered that she'd be quiet.
"Well, I'll go to the library then. I heard there are some new books there, and I really wanted to check them out. See you guys in class!" Twilight said happily as she started walking off.
"Twilight, would you mind if I came along? I've been wanting to read this new book about bunnies," Fluttershy said with a soft voice. "I mean, if that's okay with you of course," she added sheepishly.
"Sure, let's go!" Twilight said with a huge smile. She grabbed Fluttershy's hand and started running down the hallway with the poor girl behind her, desperately trying to keep up. After a few moments of staring at the two girls disappearing down the hallway, Rarity finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Since we don't have many options at the moment, I'll be heading to the library as well then." She made sure to flip her hair before walking off.
"WAIT FOR ME, I'LL COME TOO!" Pinkie shouted after her. Rainbow shot her another glare.
"Oh, right. I mean, I'm coming too," she whispered before giggling. She started skipping after the purple-haired girl who was already halfway down the hallway.
Left were Applejack and Rainbow Dash, standing by their lockers as silence took over. It took a few seconds before Rainbow, who was growing impatient with the awkwardness, decided to break it. She threw the ball at Applejack once again. The only difference was that this time, the poor girl didn't have enough time to react, and it hit her head. Hard.
"Ouch! Rainbow! I told ya I could've gotten hurt!" She said and pressed a hand to the side of her head, a useless attempt to ease the pain.
"Oops... Sorry?" Rainbow said as she stifled a laugh. Applejack glared at her. The rainbow-haired girl easily ignored the dirty look she received and swiftly changed the topic.
"Hey, you wanna play a game?" she asked as she picked up her soccer ball and shoved it back into her locker. Applejack stared at her, unamusement evident.
"If ya are talkin' about somethin' like a battle, then no. I'm the winner and ya know it," she said as she crossed her arms. The two always battled to prove who was the fastest, bravest and strongest girl and Applejack was growing tired of it.
Rainbow Dash chuckled.
"No, I'm not talking about a battle or whatever."
"Then what is it?" Applejack said and stared blankly at her.
"It's called the 'you chase me and I run around like an idiot' game," she said with a wide grin. Applejack frowned.
"There's no such thing as the 'you chase me and I run around like an idiot' game. Ya jus' came up with it."
"Well, it's a game now. If you lose, you'll have to be my slave for an entire week," Rainbow said, a big smirk making its way to her face.
"What? No way!" Applejack argued.
"Less talking, more running!" Rainbow said and started running down the hallway. Applejack stood there for a while, contemplating her options, until she finally gave in and started running in the same direction as Rainbow was. She kept her speed up until she found herself standing outside. Applejack quickly looked around and spotted Rainbow Dash sprinting across the soccer field. She smirked and started running after her, picking up her speed for every second that passed.
Applejack's smirk grew even wider as she got closer to the target.
"Gotcha!" she exclaimed as she reached out to grab the rainbow hair in front of her.
But then, all of a sudden, Rainbow Dash stopped running and went to a halt. She turned around and saw Applejack coming right at her and with little time to react, the blonde hit her hard as they both yelped in surprise before hitting the ground. Rainbow groaned before carefully opening her eyes. Magenta met emerald, and neither moved, their faces just inches apart.
Right there and then, Rainbow Dash finally let herself accept the fact that she indeed didn't like Applejack just as a friend.
—
A/N: There you have it. I know it's not that great, but it's just the beginning. It'll get better later, but I hope you liked it so far anyway! :)