Monday dawned with clear skies and sunshine. Applejack lounged outside the school, on the far side of the Wondercolt statue, away from the construction going on. Rarity joined her first with a warm hug, and both of them took the few extra seconds of contact to enjoy the feel of the embrace. The farm girl offered over a steaming cup and a paper sack. “Got yer favorites. Granny bakes ‘em special, ya know.”

“Granny Smith has been trying to fatten me up for years, darling. Still, who am I to refuse one of her breakfast pastries?” She accepted both items, sipping from the drink first and sighing in contentment. “You are far too good to me, Applejack.”

Her lover winked at her. “Only the best for ya, Rares.” She glanced around. “The others should be here soon. Ya ready fer this?”

A soft laugh tickled her ears. “You mean, ‘Can I put on a convincing show to lessen Rainbow Dash’s inevitable protests?’” Blue eyes locked on green. “My love,” she murmured in a breathy whisper. “You should know by now that I am very good at what I do. Just do be prepared to catch me if it comes to that?”

The eye roll and half smile carried years of shared secrets behind it. “Ah’d never let ya fall, Rarity.” One hand moved to pat her pocket, where the barest hint of pale blue fabric could be seen. “Ah promised ya that when ya gave me this.”

Rarity’s eyes softened, and it took most of her control to not kiss the blonde; what was left went into schooling her features to not give too much away to anyone besides her green eyed lover. “You still carry it with you? Applejack…its been almost six years…”

“Everyday, everywhere.” A thumb stroked the soft fabric before the farmer moved the hand to Rarity’s forearm, squeezing gently. “…Means a bit o’ ya is with me where ever Ah go, an’ that makes me happy. Bein’ with ya always has, even before Ah knew Ah loved ya.”

The fashion designer blinked back tears, trying not to ruin her makeup, the other girl watching her with a knowing expression. “…We will continue this discussion later, Applejack. Somewhere where I won't be left in a state, when we aren’t waiting for our friends to arrive.”

“Speakin’ of friends, ya might wanna put yer game face on. There’s Dash.” Applejack moved her hand back to her own personal space bubble, pulling a warm pastry from the paper sack on her far side and nibbling on it. Rarity took a breath, sorting her emotions and letting her expression fall into one of puzzled detachment, enjoying her beverage as the athlete came thundering up.

“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash gave them brief smiles before her face fell back to a somewhat tired irritability. “Why the hell did I have to show up to school this early? No one else is here, and I could have slept in for another half hour! What’s the emergency?”

“Sit down, Dash, an’ have a fritter an’ some cider. Gotta wait on the other girls.”

It wasn’t a long wait, but that didn’t keep their colorful friend from vocalizing her displeasure in between bites of food. By the time the last two members of the group arrived, Rarity’s mask of detachment was hiding her annoyance for Rainbow Dash instead of her love for Applejack.

“Okay, we’re all here, so spill it, AJ!”

“Hold yer horses, Dash.” A heavy sigh, and Applejack adjusted her hat. “It's about what happened at the dance. We were all there…but so was more’n half the school. Sure, most of ‘em spent the fight as brainwashed zombies, but they all saw Sunset Shimmer turn inta a demon, an’ they saw us after, as magical pony girls with ears an’ sometimes wings.”

“Yeah?” Dash crowed, looking pleased. “And we were awesome! We’re heroes—everyone saw us punch Shimmer with a rainbow laser!”

Rarity wrinkled her nose. “….While I don’t agree with Rainbow Dash’s particular vernacular, she is right, darling. We were responsible for stopping Sunset’s reign of terror in the school. Unless you’re concerned we’re going to be mobbed like celebrities?”

Fluttershy let out a distressed noise, clutching her bunny tighter to her chest. The small creature, to his credit, nuzzled her affectionately. “…I don’t want to get mobbed…” she said softly.

The farmer shook her head. “That’s not what Ah’m worried about. Ah’m more worried about folks talkin’ about what happened. Like ta cops an’ stuff.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oooooooh! You’re afraid that people will talk about all the magic and she-demons and zombie kids and some super secret government agency is going to hear about it and sent agents to come investigate and they’ll learn about the magic and the pony land and Princess Twilight and Sunset and us and then drag us all in for questioning or freaky experimentation!” Her brows furrowed and she wilted slightly. “…That wouldn’t be any fun at all.”

Her words had made Fluttershy curl even further in on herself, her whole body trembling. That seemed to cut through Rainbow’s impending rant, and she scooted closer to the animal lover, resting a hand against her upper back. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. I’m sure that’s not going to happen. We won't let it. Pinkie’s just…jumping to conclusions…right, Applejack?”

“…Not this time, Rainbow. Ah’m afraid that Pinkie got part an’ parcel o’ the idea. We don’ want folks talkin’…”

Rarity observed the defensive posturing from the normally emotionally stunted athlete, filing the knowledge away for later….perhaps when she invited Fluttershy to the spa with her? She had so enjoyed talking with the pink haired girl in their freshman year on their spa trips; it really got the girl to come out of her shell. Giving an internal head shake, she pulled a frown. “And just what do you suggest we do about it, Applejack? Sunset Shimmer didn’t exactly endear herself to a lot of people—I can imagine a lot of them would be excited for any way to get back at her. Blabbing about her turning into a monster and getting her taken away would certainly sit highly at the top of revenge schemes if it were me. Even I find something like that to be a form of poetic justice, and I absolutely abhor the thought of acting like a bloodthirsty savage.”

“Yeah! Shimmer’s the freaky she-demon! Princess Twilight went home, so what could anyone lose by telling people? It’d serve her right if she had to sit in a cage and got treated like a freak!”

Fluttershy shivered, and tugged on Rainbow’s sleeve. “…What about us, Rainbow? We used magic too, just as much as Sunset. If they come after her, they’ll come after us too. Take us away and ask questions…”

Blue eyes continued to observe. Fluttershy had been an unexpected boon here—Rarity had fully expected having to make a bit of a spectacle to distract Rainbow Dash from digging her heels in like a stubborn mule, but Fluttershy’s reaction was taking the blue skinned girl’s attention instead. She looked at Applejack, and nodded, dropping her mask away. “…Then we have to do some form of damage control, and I suspect I know where you’re going with this, darling.”

“Damage control?” Rainbow looked back at them, squinting.

“Eyup. We gotta talk ta folks an’ convince them ta keep magic a secret, ta go along with whatever the Principals made up fer that there hole. Figured we got three things goin’ fer us. One: We’re the heroes here, like ya said, Dash. Princess Twilight brought everyone back together, against Sunset, an’ we were right there with her. We were the ones who stopped her. An’ people protect their heroes.” She raised her two fingers. “Two: This whole thing reawakened Wondercolt pride and solidarity… ‘Wondercolts stick together,’ and ‘Once a Wondercolt, always a Wondercolt’ are part of the school…” A third finger came up. “Three: Teenagers hate authority and bein’ bossed around an’ controlled, especially by adults.”

Rainbow Dash was nodding now, starting to piece together the plan. “And each of us has different groups in the school who talk to us. We can start heading people off, spreading the idea, get everyone on board. I can talk to all the teams easy—morning meeting before class anyway to talk fall tryout schedules and game schedules.” She nudged Fluttershy. “See? It's going to be fine. We’ve got this. We’re awesome!” She punched a fist in the air.

It was a complete reversal from her earlier stance, as if she’d been in agreement with her companions all along, something that baffled Rarity. However, the designer was not about to question the good fortune of Rainbow Dash agreeing to the decision, since it meant less time and energy wasted on convincing her it was a wise idea—energy and time that would be better served enacting their plans, and coordinating with the administration.

“Then I propose we get started…I’ll also make a point to stop by Principal Celestia’s office and find out the official story about the dance and the damages. I’ll text it to you girls as soon as I know. We have a great deal of work to do.” Rarity stood up, dusting off her skirt and shouldering her bag. “I’ll see you at lunch, darlings! Phone is on, do keep us all in the loop!”

Her purposeful trip away from the statue didn’t stop her from sending a single heartfelt text message. Applejack’s phone buzzed a minute later, two sentences illuminated on screen. -I love you, too. From always to forever.-

While Sunset is the primary focus of the story--particularly in the first arc of the tale, I also don't believe the other characters are just "set dressing" to facilitate Sunset's story. As a result, part of the world-building I've worked on is complex histories, rich personalities (crafted by pouring over a lot of the actual material ad-nauseum and extrapolating and mapping psychology based on what we see) and interpersonal relationships between a lot of the secondary main characters as well as characters in the background, some of which may eventually be written and posted as side stories within the same universe. These Interlude chapters, while focusing on portraying things that are plot relevant but that Sunset is not present for, also offer glimpses and insights into some of those other characters and their personalities.

One of these days, I'll get around to writing out the rest of "From Always to Forever", the amusing Rarijack backstory for this universe. Main story first though.