Obnoxious laughter shattered the once peaceful breeze, which carried with it the calming brittle noises of rustling leaves and cicadas singing. The crunching of still moist grass beneath running feet scuttled over the field, and huffs of exhaustion rolled out of fewer mouths than did the ridiculing guffaws. Despite the usual focus displayed on the field, the girls who occupied it had their fickle amusement set on that which was not out in the bright sun at all. Beneath the shadow of the massive, looming branches of a winding old beech tree, the subject of their attention lay, portraying a similar expression of disdain scrawled across her face that mirrored their own.

Taunted by the thrum of the round football gnawing through the freshly cut turf, Rainbow Dash glared at the dichotomous orb that she was not permitted to knock about. She could see the blending tones—turning the black and white to a neutral tone each time the object was kicked, be the strike inaccurate and poor—clearly as she lay, propped up on her elbows and sprawled out on her rear over the gradually shifting shade-cast of the swaying leaves. Instead of joining her usual extracurricular team in a match of practice football, she had been cast beneath the grandmother beech.

The golden sun had, by then, crept over her feet and left her alone in the shadow, though she had been certain she had laid half under its rays when her practice had begun. She expelled an aggravated breath of air for perhaps the hundredth time, scornfully watching her fellow team members play on without her. She had been the captain of their squad for years, guiding them through the form-level teams as they advanced and aged. Yet suddenly, she was discarded to the sidelines, a mere spectator.

“We can't have her out here kicking about with us, the rugger-bugger's a delinquent,” was among the drifting excuses that reached Rainbow Dash's ears, and she continued to listen as if it didn't bother her. “No wonder she always plays sports, to get close to us all.” And, “Do you think she got the hint?”

Yes, Rainbow Dash had received the message clearly. She had approached the change room after school as usual, always the last one to get there. It wasn't as if she intended to be late every time, but it sure worked in her favour when she wanted to stay away from idle locker room gossip that may have been flung her way. That day, however, she had arrived to find the door locked on her. After knocking and kicking at it several times—which infuriated her since she could hear the stifled giggles and snickers from inside—she noticed that her team had removed her duffel bag from its usual location in her team's cubby, leaving it instead in a heap outside the change room door.

While first she had opted to ignore their discriminatory razing and change in the supply closet instead, she quickly found that such a thing would be futile. Once she crammed herself into the already cluttered closet, she tugged apart the sides of her knapsack to gather her clobber, only to find her football kit had been altered. Holding her fitted jersey out in front of her, she found that the back of it, which prior had displayed her name, now read 'Sappho'. Besides the reference to the ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos, she noticed that her uniform shorts had been torn in the front, and the addition of a sports box was found, something that might have protected her masculine parts, if she had any of those. Though she had to admit the jests were somewhat clever, she was too insulted and frustrated to do much else but storm out and haunt her team's football practice.

Dropping her elbows out from under her, she laid flat down on her back and stared up at the copper-turning leaves that glistened in what few specks and shards of sun squeaked through the upper branches. Though the loose blades of grass tickled at her cheeks and ears, Rainbow Dash did nothing but lay still, looking past her tipped black dress shoes at something she had lost. There was a time when her team loved her, when she was the best of them, and they would never dream of playing without her. But it appeared that time had passed.

The wind kicked up her loose black tie just a flick, and it snatched her attention. She took it in her hands and looked at it, the dark colour contrasting the bright, sun-speckled daylight around her. Pulling the thinner, hidden end of the tie from under the larger part, she tightened it around her neck significantly, feeling her undone collar squeeze her throat. She made a face in response to the slight choke, but did not release the tension. Instead, Rainbow Dash took the tie in one hand and held it straight above her, perpendicular to her lazy position. Closing the one eye that caught the glare of the sun, she stared at the noose-like article yearningly. Pulling slightly more, she felt the tug at her neck that stalled her breath at the tie.

“That ain't how you're s'posed t' wear it,” a casually throaty voice told her, and Rainbow reopened her one eye to catch sight of the girl who had spoken.

Upon spying her, Rainbow's heart jumped up into her throat—which was troublesome, given that her tie was nearly choking her already. She swallowed hard, the saliva hardly passing the knot over her neck, and stared reverently at her friend. With stray beams of sunlight tangling into her loosened, brilliantly blonde hair, her stunning freckled face appeared to be framed by gold. Her glistening emerald eyes reflected the lively charm of the old beech tree, and her crooked, dimpled smile seemed affixed by the heavens. Despite all this, Rainbow tried to appear unaffected.

“Applejack,” she managed to growl out in a rasp, choking on the hard consonants that concluded the girl's name. As she set to tugging her tie out from under her chin, she tried for more words, “And who are you to delegate, exactly? All you tie is that simple four-in-hand knot.”

“Does th' trick, don't it?” Applejack replied with another intoxicating smile, shrugging at the easy tie that hung around her own neck. Waiting until Rainbow finished harrumphing and fixing her collar, Applejack casually nodded at the vacant space beside her. “This seat taken?”

“Yeah, the whole school's lined up across campus for a turn to sit next to me.” The eccentric girl opened her palm towards the stretch of unoccupied space beside her, and Applejack paused for a real response. “But they can wait.”

“I'll take that as an invitation,” the blonde agreed, stepping to the spot and turning around. Rainbow tried not to watch as Applejack reached back and pressed her skirt against her rear, holding it there as she sat down on the grass beside her friend. “So, why're you sittin' out today? I thought y'were the captain of the soccer team.”

“Nah.” Ignoring the unusual way that Applejack called the sport by its foreign name, Rainbow reached over and dug around in her duffel-bag until she grasped her old football jersey, pulling it out and holding it up for Applejack to see. “That'd be some dame named Sappho.”

Applejack took the article and pulled it open, reading the not-too-poorly stitched name that lined the back of the captain's jersey. With a chuckle, she lightly teased, “Sappho? That's kinda clever.”

“I know, it drives me right mad,” Rainbow Dash agreed in a groan, snatching the jersey back and jamming it into her bag. “I used to be the one who pulled pranks.”

“Well, at least this way, y'all won't be th' one getting' in trouble all the time, right?” Applejack tried to find the silver lining, but Rainbow scoffed at the attempt.

“Guess again, the teachers are out to get me more than ever, I swear. If I snap back or retaliate, I'm the berk to cock-up.” She let out a sigh and fixed her dull stare on some imagined point in the tress. She couldn't keep her eyes to herself forever, though.

“Yea', I can relate,” Applejack murmured wistfully, a small smile defying her solemn and pensive eyes.

Wondering what she could have meant by that, Rainbow patiently listened for more, her amaranth eyes sneaking over to peek at her friend. The light breeze snagged some hanging pleats on Applejack's skirt, ruffling and knocking it up just enough to reveal her tanned thighs to the attentive young girl beside her. As the sun skipped and pirouetted over her freckled arms and dove into her gently blowing locks, Applejack took in a full breath before standing up. Rainbow nearly jumped to see her move, afraid she was about to leave, and hurriedly propped herself back up on her elbows once more.

“Where are you—?” she could hardly bring herself to ask, and never thought up an end to the sentence.

As Applejack stood up, she was bordered by the many weaving branches. The sprawling tree hung above them with open arms, letting the seasons do their worst with no qualm or query. Few fluttering leaves broke from their roosts and flipped around in the air, catching on what seemed like just a breath of wind and twirling down to the golden-haired girl beneath. Their hazy andesine or citrine hues danced around her, their honey-soaked skin nearly matching that of the bronzed blonde. Even as her straw-coloured hair braided with the wind, Rainbow could not bring herself to think for an instant she looked anything less than gorgeous.

“As much as I love a nap out in th' sun, autumn's comin'; don't wanna be buried under the fallin' leaves,” Applejack made an excuse, glancing up at the dying foliage and hearing it rustle around. “Sure is beautiful, though. All golden an' orange an' all.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed softly, absently watching the fragmented spessartine shards of the sun sway over Applejack's toned body. She flinched, though, as the blonde girl turned to face her.

“Well, how's about this,” the blonde girl pursed her lips as she thought something up. “You an' I head on over t' th' library, maybe have a look-see at some o' Sappho's poems. I bet if you learned one or two, that joke o' theirs might not bunch up your boxers s' much.”

“You think?” Rainbow contemplated the idea with a tilted head.

“Yea', an' I'll bet it'll turn them jerks off 'o callin' you that, y'know, spinnin' their joke right back at 'em and all.” Applejack explained with a wider smile. With that, she extended her hand right out in front of the rainbow-haired girl, palm-up and waiting for her to take it.

“Yeah, I like that,” she agreed with a firm nod, accepting the gesture by clasping her thin hand in Applejack's strong one.

Lifting Rainbow to her feet with relative ease, Applejack dusted some stray grass off the girl's shoulder as she patted down her own slacks. Rainbow bent over to grab her duffel-bag, and upon standing, felt Applejack's hand slide under her elbow. She was about to speak up when she felt a firm tug, pulling her into a stumble and guiding her in the right direction. It had been Applejack of course, leading her into the sun despite the way it may have stung their eyes. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, though the thing was large and bulky and awkward, Rainbow Dash willingly followed her new friend, feeling nothing short of warmth and acceptance from her touch.

In contrast, however, such a gesture was easily misconstrued, “Looks like Dash is on the pull, the randy little devil.” Rainbow heard, and glanced to her right to see one of her former team mates chuckling at the prospect. “Think she fancies Applejack?”

“I think Applejack's the one who fancies her,” another player stifled behind giggles, and Rainbow Dash noticed Applejack slow down significantly, having heard the remark.

The blonde girl glanced back at their connection, the way her hand held Rainbow's arm so tenderly. Normally she would have had no second thoughts about it, such a friendly gesture, but now it seemed criminal. Rainbow Dash pulled back and allowed Applejack's hand to release her, parting the two with something so insignificant as a step or two of empty space. The two girls looked at each other knowingly, and compliantly understood the need for distance, though neither seemed to like it, nor the fact that they obeyed potential trivial rumours.

She hated to admit it, but Rainbow noticed the bashful or shameful way in which Applejack hung her head. She gulped stale saliva, though her tongue felt rough in her mouth, and realized that perhaps Applejack would be sacrificing more than she had wagered by staying at her side. Seeing the charming girl seeming so uneasy, Rainbow realized that she had never felt quite so guilty.

From the field to the library, nothing rung louder than the quiet, mocking giggles and sniggers that followed them around. Though at first the pair strode by with barely a batted eye, it soon became clear that not one girl in the rest of the school seemed to sympathize. Applejack had always known better than to listen to idle prods or jests, but the more frequent they came, the more she questioned the value of her supposed good deed.

“Here comes Sappho and her lap-stamp,” was among the taunts, and Rainbow Dash had to try very hard to resist the urge to start a physical confrontation. “I saw them snogging under the beech tree,” escalated to, “I bet they're having it off in their dorms when the nuns are out.”

Rainbow Dash let out a low grumble as she pulled a chair out at some spare table in the library, ignoring what few other whispers sifted about. She gestured for Applejack to sit down before going around the table to her own seat, plopping down leisurely in it. It was clear that Rainbow Dash had rarely spent any spare time in the library, as she had no idea where to start looking for any books. It had been Applejack who sorted through the categories to find what they were looking for, and brought the ancient poetry book to their table.

Though Rainbow had no intention of flipping through the book, it seemed that Applejack needed such a thing to do to keep her mind off the wandering comments encircling her. Finding the correct pages and primary sources, she spun the book around under her fingers and slid it across the table, letting the multi-toned girl have a gander. She was never very good with source material, so Rainbow settled for skimming over the translations of a few of the poems, catching the themes of most. Applejack patiently let her read on, and listened carefully as the girl opened her mouth.

“I have not had one word from her. Frankly I wish I were dead, When she left, she wept a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly." ” Rainbow recited quietly, her lips curving around the words fondly.

“My, that's somethin', ain't it? Real lovely, but sad,” Applejack praised in a sigh, leaning back in her chair. She would not get a chance to hear much more, unfortunately.

“Listen to that angsty lesbian codswallop, those two are heathens,” hushed about the library, stomping on perceived literature.

The two girls at the table hardly pretended they did not hear such things, and silence screamed between them. Rainbow noticed the way Applejack's hands folded in her lap like she was holding herself in her seat, and Rainbow herself could feel her hands shaking the text under her thumbs. Suddenly, the words on the page seemed far less significant than those uttered or those racing through nearby minds.

“Applejack?” Rainbow spoke up in a squeaky, repressed way, a way that made the girl in question pay special attention.

“Hmm?” the blonde hummed her acknowledgement.

“You know, things are only going to get worse for you if you stay around me,” Rainbow admitted in a solemn tone, meeting her friend's comfortable gaze. “I dug my own grave around here. But you don't have to.”

“What d'you mean?” Applejack innocently inquired, her alluringly round eyes blinking once or twice.

“You'll be nothing but unhappy if you hang about, trust me,” she tried to tell the girl, whose expression softened worrisomely. “You're a good friend, Applejack. And as such, I can't be the one dragging you down. You understand, don't you? I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I'm the cause of any trouble for you.”

“You're not,” the girl denied, though her voice faltered. “This stuff'll blow on over, it's just schoolyard bullyin' and—”

“It's not,” Rainbow Dash cut her off abruptly, the speed and truthfulness of which seemed to silence Applejack's protests. “It'll be like this forever, you and I both know that well. Your support means a lot to me, honest. I just can't shoulder both this interminable torment and my guilt over you. I'd be gutted; it's selfish, really.”

“Dash, I—” she was interrupted by a much more feminine and gobsmacked voice.

“Applejack, darling,” a hurried whisper hissed between the two girls, and their attention shifted to the girl who stood before them yet leaned away as if one of the pair was about to combust. She was immediately recognized as Applejack's room mate, Rarity, who clutched a pair of books in one arm. “What in Heavens are you doing? Dallying about with this blooming punk, again? No offence, dear.” She added as if it was some concession.

“Taken.” Rainbow growled back at her, narrowing her eyes irritably as she turned slowly to face the well dressed girl.

“Err, yes, well,” Rarity merely shrugged off her concern and turned back to her room mate. “Listen, darling, if you set to spending so much time with this, uh...” Rarity looked at the girl up and down, and Rainbow merely raised an eyebrow, wondering what she would come up with. Finding nothing, she set to continuing her sentence anyway, “Anyroad, well, then people will talk.”

“People always talk,” Applejack tried, but neither Rainbow nor Rarity seemed at all eager to agree with her.

“I don't think you understand, 'jackie,” Rarity tried to make her point as quietly as possible, noticing the librarian eyeing the lot of them up from across the room. “Think of your reputation! Of my reputation, being associated with you.”

“She's right, you know,” Rainbow concurred with the much more feminine girl, who was astounded to hear it.

“I am?” accompanied Applejack's own statement of, “She is?”

“It's not just students who'll condemn you, Applejack. If the nuns think that you're anything at all like me, well,” Rainbow glanced over at some authoritative woman, whose gaze all but crushed them. Knowing what was best, she went on with, “You could be putting your grades—your education—in jeopardy. I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that.”

“That ain't—” Applejack tried to speak up once more, but Rarity grabbed her by the collar of her blazer and yanked her out of her seat.

“It's not like you'll never see me again,” she told her as she flipped her multicoloured hair, playing it cool. “Trust me.”

“You'll thank me for this, darling,” Rarity hissed in a low voice, dragging Applejack towards the library door.

“Uh, well, see y'later then, Dash,” Applejack called back, her expression worrisomely pinned to the nonchalant girl growing farther away.

She hadn't wanted to leave, but she knew that both girls had been right. They were both just trying to protect her, to keep her out of trouble. Still, she felt guilty and shallow for having listened. Frowning so deeply even her freckles seemed to drop, Applejack watched Rainbow Dash until she was no longer in sight. The last thing she saw was Rainbow casually looking back down at the book in her hands, and her lips quietly moving to recite the next verse.

“I said, "Go, and be happy, but remember (you know well) whom you leave shackled by love.”” Rainbow made a scrunched face at how the text read, and snorted rudely at the message. “Oh, brother.”

Rainbow clapped the book closed, glaring at the blank cover, one so old it seemed to peel at each edge. The rough fabric had runs in it, and she could already smell the dust on her fingertips. Still, as she looked at it again and again, she couldn't resist the urge to open it once more. Plucking between the pages, Rainbow drifted along the passages and verses in swoons, searching for something that stuck.

As her eyes shifted over the thick pages, the rest of the library seemed to go dark, unnoticed. That is, until a pair of hands slammed down on the table across from her, though not particularly loudly. Rainbow's dull eyes lifted as she met two, amethyst coloured orbs. With a wearisome raise of one eyebrow, Rainbow waited on the impending statement, which presently always came with some prod about her outburst.

“Are you that poofter?” the girl wondered in a curious whisper, her eyes wide and focused beneath her straight-cut bangs.

“No way, my hair's way poofier, Twilight,” another girl chirped up, poking at the voluptuous tumble weed that bloomed from her head.

“Not poofier, Pinkie Pie, poofter. You know, she's a gay,” the first girl clarified, poking her glasses up her nose with her index finger. Rainbow Dash scoffed at the way she used her sexuality as a noun, but didn't mention it.

“Ooh! You're that girl who was shouting in Mass, right?” The second girl, Pinkie Pie as she was named, bounded up and down to recall, pointing a finger into Rainbow's aggravated face. “That was so funny, I thought that was a joke!”

“I'm just jubilant that you find my circumstance so hilarious,” Rainbow grumbled lowly and sarcastically, flipping another page with a flick of her wrist and acting disinterested.

“Huh?” Pinkie quirked her head and made a confused face, stalling in her bubbly behaviour.

“My, my...” The first girl, Twilight, chuckled a bit in some incredulity. With a simple smile, she added, “Here I thought you were kind of daft.”

“What, is there some correlation between being gay and possessing lesser intelligence?” Rainbow Dash curmudgeonly asked, her raspy voice growling out.

“No, no, it's just,” Twilight hurriedly tried to correct her unintended insult, but in her nervous state, couldn't think up the right words. Pinkie Pie, however, had no such problem.

“You're a prank-pulling jock!” Pinkie squeaked, and the three of them flinched as they heard the librarian shush them from across the room. Following a few stifled giggles from the frizzy-haired girl, Rainbow decided to respond.

“... Uh, thanks?” she was unsure if that was a compliment, as it clearly didn't sound like one. “Look, I know I'm probably the most interesting gossip burning around school, but please try and contain yourselves and your intrigue by staying across the room like the other blokes, okay?”

“Oh, well I didn't mean to offend you,” Twilight tried to defend herself, holding up her hands. “I've just never met anyone like you before.”

“Well, you've met me. Fact, you met me before you even knew about my... gayness.” Rainbow waved her fingers around like it was some kind of taboo magical spell to say the word. “Are you satisfied? Because I've always been this way, nothing's changed and nothing will.”

“Oh Dashie, you make it sound like you can't be cured!” Pinkie giggled louder, and both Twilight and Rainbow looked over at her incredulously.

“Cured?” Rainbow repeated scornfully. “What do you mean, cured? I'm not ill.”

“Well, a sickness of the mind is still a sickness,” Pinkie Pie all but sung, twirling around Twilight, who did not protest. “Girls are supposed to like boys, silly. That's how it is. But don't worry, we'll find a way to straighten you out, Pinkie promise!”

“I don't want to be straightened out!” Rainbow shouted, standing up so forcefully she knocked the chair out from behind her and sent it tumbling to the floor. The rest of the library went quiet, including the now stunned Pinkie Pie. “There's nothing wrong with me, and it's none of your business even if there was!”

“Dash, be quiet!” the librarian called as she, too, stood up and glared at the lot of them.

"I was just trying to—" Pinkie tried to apologize, not realizing her attempt at help would be taken so offensively.

“Stay out of my life, both of you,” Rainbow looked around, noticing the expressions of contempt, disgust, but worst of all: sympathy. Condescending sympathy. That was when she truly realized it: her peers didn't just detest her, they pitied her. With a growl, she raised her voice even louder, calling, “All of you! Stay away from me, I'm not just some sinner waiting to be saved, all right?”

“Rainbow Dash, if you don't calm down, I'll—” the black-clad woman tried to intervene once more, but Rainbow's vicious temper boiled in her direction.

“You'll what? What could possibly be worse than what I already have to tolerate?!” Throwing her arms out wide, Rainbow glowered at the authoritative force.

With another resonating groan, which reverberated through the ascending staircase in which she stood, Rainbow Dash knocked her head against the old wooden wall. Her eyes opened slowly as she replayed the events in the library over and over, trying to convince herself that, were she to do it all over again, she would have remained calm. It didn't seem plausible.

“Why did I have to ask?” Rainbow grumbled into the corner, which she was confined to until supper time for her mouthing off earlier.

A calming sigh did little to sooth her pounding heart, which beat against her wrinkled dress shirt. She could tell the sun was nearing the horizon, as the sky darkened through the high windows and the light that did pour in was tired and caught on stray flecks of floating dust. The whole place felt so warm and lively, a stark contrast to the lonesome, discriminated way that Rainbow felt. Her eyes blurred on the siding as it was built before her; old, warped and knotted as it was, yet so brilliant in hue.

The tip of her index finger was dwarfed by the size, expert elegance and curvature of the wall, but she touched them together anyway. The stained and rustic wood felt so very rough to the tender flesh of her hand, which became increasingly apparent as she dragged the fleshy digit along the grain. Naturally vibrant and optimistic, the light brown of whatever wood—she didn't know enough on the subject to identify it—lined the stairwell.

The tolling of bells could be heard all across campus, and they echoed through the stairwell that Rainbow stood in. She glanced up as if she could see the instruments, though she could only audibly recognize them as the dinner warning bell. Her eyes clenched up and her head fell back in impending agony, knowing that the main stairwell was the route most all students followed to go to the mess hall to begin preparing for dinner.

“Bleeding hell,” she hissed exasperatingly, knowing just what ridicule awaited her.

It was a custom in the boarding houses for a girl who was being punished to be sent to stand in a corner of the stairwell. It was also customary that each passing girl either would ignore the punished delinquent or poke fun at her, so that she might learn her lesson. Being kind or sympathetic to the girl in such a condition could merit the same fate for one of the other girls, and knowing that Rainbow Dash was already a target, she could imagine just what was about to befall her.

As the doors throughout the levels of the stairwell swung open, muffled buzzing rolled down each step, swarming around Rainbow Dash. Fellow students flooded into the room, trampling about and sharing warm and friendly jokes. That is, until they spotted the corner-forced Rainbow Dash, whose punishment had just begun.

A few hushed jests and prods could be heard slipping through fingers and behind ruffled collars, things like, “What'd she do this time?” And, “Crazy bounder's in the time-out corner again?”

As Rainbow tried to strictly glare at the wall she was forced to stare at, her fists clenched up to hear, “I bet she tried something on her room mate, that's why they don't share a room any more.”

“Bite me,” Rainbow snapped back, narrowing her eyes over her shoulder.

She could make out many recognizable faces: those of friends, teachers, acquaintances, and among those who kept their heads down, she could even see Applejack. Their eyes met briefly, but they said nothing in accordance. Applejack swallowed anxiously, clutching her satchel against her as she nervously adjusted the strap and kept quiet, which is what Rainbow had told her to do.

“Maybe an exorcism would save her,” some worried voice called, and Rainbow made a disbelieving face. “She needs Jesus.”

Feeling her temper boiling up, Rainbow sucked on her teeth and tried to keep quiet. The constant ridicule seemed merciless and cruel, yet Rainbow was determined to endure it. Standing in that corner, she had never felt quite so alone and judged. Her sorry, solemn eyes softened on the hard wood, the only thing that consoled her.

“I hope she stays there forever,” another comment or two in that regard had Rainbow darned near in tears, but before that could happen, someone else intervened.

“Oh hush up, all o' you,” a familiar tone silenced several others, and Rainbow perked up to hear it. “Y'all're just jealous you don't got the courage t' admit what y'all're hidin'.”

“Applejack?” Rainbow glanced back at the girl, her watering eyes shining in the evening sun. “Applejack, you shouldn't—”

“I know what I'm doing, Dash. Now, the rest o' you. Y'all should be ashamed, I don't know one passage where Jesus ever insulted those he didn't agree with, no matter what sins they'd done,” Applejack, indeed. She stood next to Rainbow and glared at those around her, standing strong even as a nun descended the stairs and looked at her. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Peter, 2:23.”

“Miss Applejack,” it was a nun who uttered her name this time, and she twitched and stood straighter as she heard it. “Second flight corner. Now.”

“Gladly.” Applejack agreed, turning on her heel so swiftly her skirt kicked up at the back. Rainbow smirked as she watched, having to admit that she found Applejack's determination and defiant audacity quite admirable.

Peering over her shoulder, Rainbow Dash observed as Applejack stormed past a nun and found herself a corner of her own, just one flight above Rainbow's and in the same stairwell. She stood there adamantly, her tall posture holding her resolve up like a pillar. Soon enough, the rest of the girls cleared out of the stairwell, leaving the two delinquents standing alone, their backs almost facing each other. Even the nuns had gone to set up for supper, and until the bell for the meal rang, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were confined to their posts.

“That was rather bold,” Rainbow spoke in a low yet amused tone, raising her eyebrow over her shoulder at the girl who stood a little ways above her. She heard Applejack crack a chuckle before replying.

“Sorry, I didn't mean t' embarrass you 'r nothin',” she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, and Rainbow found the habit kind of cute.

“Oh, I'm plenty used to chagrin by now.” The rainbow-haired girl cheekily grinned, shrugging about it. “But no, you didn't embarrass me. I thought it was kind of... valiant, of you.”

“Yeah?” Applejack's voice raised in wonder, glancing down at the other girl.

“Yeah.” Rainbow repeated, a more friendly smile melting over her features.

“Y'know I was picked on quite a bit when I moved here, don't you remember?” the blonde recalled, teetering from her heels to toes casually. “We were jus' little kids back then o' course, but this accent o' mine is plenty enough to spur on some teasin'.”

“True,” the other girl agreed, and admittedly, she added, “And if memory serves, I was just as bad as the rest of the girls, wasn't I?”

“Yea'.” Applejack nodded a few times, thinking it over herself. “S'al'right though, I don't hold it against you. We all grow up an' get past it, y'know?”

“So... why'd you do stand up for me, then?” Rainbow wondered aloud, staring at the girl who stood steps above her. “I thought you were a respectable girl, not one to go around stomping on her own reputation.”

“I don't really know what kinda girl I am,” the blonde murmured pensively. Looking over at Rainbow Dash with those gleaming green eyes, she admitted, “But I know I ain't the kind to leave a friend hangin', or the kind t' let somethin' go on that I don't think is right.”

“You're a really remarkable woman, you know that?” Rainbow Dash told her, reverently gazing at the charming young woman who stood above her.

“...Shucks,” Applejack shyly brushed off the compliment.

Flattered, Applejack's usual dimpled smile spread across her honey cheeks, shining brightly in the cast sunbeams that slid over the high windows. In the setting sun, her tanned skin appeared a persimmon orange, a colour which seemed so mature and optimistic against the judgemental blacks and whites that stained the rest of the boarding school. Rainbow's expression melted as she looked up at the girl before her, a fondness in her heart becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Shortly thereafter, the supper bell rang through the stairwell, and both the girls were released from their punishment. Following a curt and uneventful dinner, which went that way due to the presence of overbearing nuns in the mess hall, the girls went back to their dorms. Rainbow swaggered up to her own room alone, having lost Applejack to some appointment with the headmistress that evening. All the way up the main stairwell, she had this goofy grin on her face, quite pleased by what the vacant room had done for her. As she made her way up to her floor, she ran her hand along the umber-coloured wood.

She arrived at her old dormitory door, pausing at the knob to wonder if she would be alone again another night. Opening it up slowly, she noticed the darkness that lay inside. As she stepped inside and flicked on the light, she noticed just how empty the place had become. Her chest tightened as she realized that Fluttershy, along with all of her things, had left. The room was all hers now. She closed the door behind her, standing still in the silence that occupied her room mate's old space.

As she turned towards her own bed and sighed, she caught sight of a small book atop her wrinkled covers. She faintly recognized it, but had to reach down and pick it up to be sure. Turning it over in her hand, she glanced over the ripped fabric, letting a grateful smile creep over her face. She opened the book at once, running her fingers over the printed parchment gingerly.

Reading along the title on the first inside page, she identified it as, “Sappho: Collected Works.”

Smirking, she sat down on the end of her bed, crossing her legs and opening the book over her lap. She flipped through the poems once more, even the fragments, and tried to figure out the meaning of all of them. As her fingers flicked the parchment over, she stalled one one particular poem. Reading it over and over, another smirk sharpened the edge of her lips. Before she could read it aloud, a knocking came at her door. She raised her head and waited on another, wondering if she had heard it right.

“Dash?” it was Applejack's voice, and Rainbow perked up to hear it. The door swung open, and the girl in question leaned in, her golden hair falling over her shoulder, loosened casually. Her old pyjamas hung too long over her feet, Rainbow could tell, but found it just another cute quirk about the girl. In fact, all of her pyjamas seemed too large on her, and clearly old and well-worn. She didn't get much of a chance to keep observing, as the girl spoke, “Hey, you busy?”

“No—well, I'm just...” Rainbow stopped, merely holding up a smile and showing Applejack the book in her hands. “You know.”

“Oh, you're readin' it?” the blonde smiled hopefully, and if Rainbow didn't already think it was Applejack's doing, she knew then who had left the book on her bed. “Well, any who, I, uh, actually came here t' ask you somethin'.”

“Inquire away,” she rainbow-haired girl told her, nodding for her to go on.

“You wouldn't think it terribly forward—or, odd, maybe—if I, maybe... move into the free bed in here?” Applejack asked, and Rainbow Dash's expression shifted to surprise and disbelief. Hurriedly explaining her reasoning, she went on, “It's just that, well, Fluttershy an' Rarity have gotten real close, stayin' up late an' yammerin' an' all, I can hardly get a wink. So I thought, since she's movin' out... I'd just switch her beds. That's okay, ain't it?”

“Yeah—of course, yeah, go ahead, I don't mind,” Rainbow tried to act indifferent, but she was sure her excitement seeped out just a hint. “It'd be nice to have an ally nearby.”

“Well, good, then,” Applejack lent her another charming smile, drumming her fingers over the door. “I'll go get my stuff.”

“Excellent,” Rainbow replied calmly, forcing her smile to tuck under her pursed lips as she looked back down at her book, giving Applejack time to duck out.

Rainbow glimpsed again the ragged old ends of Applejack's pyjamas and smirked, shaking her head with a chuckle. Her expression lightened again when she was alone, and she felt a warmth she had not felt since she had once believed her friends were true. Yet, staring at the book in her hands, she couldn't help but realize the inkling of perhaps something more. After a pleasant sigh, she read aloud the poem on the page.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter so fast, and right after a Barmaid update? Who else could pull it off, but Ezrienel!

*ahem*

So? Responses?