Sunset Shimmer at the Spring Fling

Rarity was putting the finishing touches on Sunset Shimmer's dress as her friend, Coco Pommel, was styling Sunset's hair. "Darling, you are certainly going to be the belle of the ball in the ensemble I have chosen for you! You'll look absolutely stunning!"

Coco nodded in agreement. "Oh, yes! Rarity is possibly the best fashionista in the whole school!"

"Oh, don't be silly, darling. I've seen your dresses, and they're absolutely fabulous!"

Coco blushed at the compliment as she finished Sunset's hair. Rarity pulled the dress off of the dress dummy she had it on. "There. It's finished." It was a strapless gown covered in sparkles. It was purple at the top, and faded to the bottom to a light pinkish orange. It came with a purple choker and silver jewelry.

"Rarity... It's... Beautiful. Oh, thank you so much! Sunset said, giving Rarity a hug.

"Oh, also, there's one more accessory!" Rarity said, pulling a mask out of her bag. It was a purple mask with red around the eyes and a red and yellow sun in the middle. Along the top was a fringe of white lace. "This year's theme is a "mask party"! Oh, everyone is going to look fabulous in these!"

"Rarity, Coco, I can't thank you enough! I bet with the spring fling coming up, you two are very busy."

"It's nothing. Just helping a friend." said Coco Pommel.

It was three hours until the dance would start, and Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Coco, Sunset, and Applejack were all at Rarity's house, getting ready. Each of them were in a different room, getting changed. Rainbow Dash was first to emerge from the changing room, dressed in a casual dress with a white top and rainbow-colored bottom. Her hair was in a loose braid tied with a gold hairband and she had a simple, gold, mask. "Do we really have to dress up? This dress is itchy." she complained.

"Well, a certain blue-haired, green-eyed track runner might be there," Rarity teased.

Rainbow blushed at this. "Who, Soarin? We're just friends, that's all," she said with a hint of nervousness.

The girls giggled and Pinkie Pie entered, wearing a poofy, yellow and blue dress with a hot pink bow in the back. She had a headband with a mad-hatter style miniature, blue hat. Her mask was pink lined with blue and yellow balloons. "I'm ready! I'm so nervous-cited! I bet Cheese is going to be there! It'll be so much FUN!"

"Darling, you look simply adorable!" said Rarity. "I think it's time me and Coco got into our dresses," she said and the girls went into the two now-empty changing rooms.

Applejack emerged in a dress, if you could really call it a dress, that was a red plaid on top and a denim skirt. Her hat had a rose in it and she adorned her hair with apple hair clips. Her mask was simple and brown. "Is she gone? I don't want her to make a fuss about everything that's "wrong" with my outfit again," she said in her southern accent.

"Nope! She's gone!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully as she straightened her headband.

Fluttershy came out wearing a simple, flowy, light green dress with blue trimmings. In her hair was an assortment of small flower clips. Her mask was pink and in the shape of a butterfly. "You look great!" Applejack said. "I'd bet so many guys would want a dance with ya, there'd be a line across the entire gym!"

"Oh, well, I'm kind of expecting someone there," she said, drawing circles on the floor with her foot.

Before this could go on further, Rarity and Coco went out of their dressing rooms, Rarity in a deep blue ball gown with silver linings and a silver tiara on her head, with an elegant silver and blue mask. Coco wearing a simple but elegant red and gold dress with a matching flower in her light blue hair and a gold mask. They were all ready. They all piled in to Rarity's car and drove to Canterlot high, where the dance would take place.

Sunset Shimmer was nervous, to say the least. The last time she went to a school dance, she turned into a raging she-demon and almost destroyed the school. Not to mention turned everyone into her own zombie army to invade Equestria. There was a winter dance, but she declined her friend's invitations to go. They just let her be for the winter waltz, but now they dragged her along to go to the spring fling. What made this even worse was that everyone would be there! All of the students knew what happened at the fall formal! Sure, she showed everyone she had redeemed herself at the battle of the bands when the sirens attacked, but there were still a few people just a little weary of her. "We're here! Masks on!" Rarity exclaimed as they pulled up into the school parking lot.

The girls put their masks on, straightened their hair and dresses, and piled out. As expected, Rarity made a huge fuss about Applejack's outfit choice. "Honestly, Applejack, plaid? Denim? What were you thinking?!"

Pinkie Pie immediately raced for the dessert table and started stuffing her face with cupcakes. Coco Pommel went over to Photo Finish to talk about her next fashion shoot. Rarity went on to the dace floor, searching the room for Fancy Pants. Scootaloo raced up to Rainbow Dash and they started talking about sports and things of that sort. Fluttershy went off somewhere near the back of the school, near the courtyard, leaving Sunset Shimmer alone. She saw she had three choices; go inside and stay safely in the corner near the snack table, she could go in there with her head held high as if the incident with the portal never happened, or she could stay safely in the car and wait for the dance to be over. She decided to go with the third option, and was about to comply when Pinkie Pie sped up to her, talking so fast she was practically inaudible. "Sunset! Don'tyouwantsomecupcakesthey'rereallyyummytheyprobablyhaveazillionpoundsofsugarinthem,butthat'swhatmakesthemsoyummy!" she took a moment to breathe. "So, don't you want to come in and party?!"

Sunset giggled at her pink-haired friend. Pinkie Pie had that effect on everyone, always making people laugh without even realizing. Before she could object, Pinkie steered Sunset into the gym, gripping her wrist with an iron grip. Vinyl Scratch was being the DJ of the party, and was bobbing her head to a dubstep tune as students swarmed around her, making song requests, or in Octavia's case, trying to get her off the DJ booth and onto the dance floor. Lyra seemed to be talking Bonbon's ear off. "Bonbon, you know they're real! didn't you see what happened at the fall formal and the band competition?! They turned into human/pony hybrids!"

Bonbon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and they totally did that just because Twilight is a unicorn princess from pony land. Sure."

"But it's true!"

Sunset shook her head at Lyra's obsession with ponies. She could tell her everything she knew about them and that she was actually, in truth, a unicorn from Equestria, but that could have very unpredictable effects. Sunset went over to the snack table and found Berry Punch drinking an alarming amount of apple cider. Sunset went over to the desserts and started munching on chocolate chip cookies, when she heard a voice saying "Psst! Sunset Shimmer!" It was Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be hiding from something.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah, it's me. I need your help!"

"With what?"

"I was going to ask Soarin to dance with me, but I don't have enough courage, and Pinkie Pie told me that Vinyl Scratch was going to play a slow dance pretty soon, and I saw him and Lightning Dust talking, and I don't know what to do!"

"Well, in a time like this, what you need to do is suck it up an ask him anyway. You're Rainbow Dash, for crying out loud! You're the most courageous girl I know!"

"But if he says no, I'll be absolutely humiliated! I'll be a laughable conversation piece for the Wonderbolts to make fun of!"

"Look, you like this guy, right?"

"Shh! How did you know?!"

"It's about as obvious as the sky being blue. Everyone knows."

Rainbow Dash gulped. "Yeah?"

"So, go ask him! You don't have all that much time until the dance is over!"

"Thanks, Sunset. Um, do you think... You could come with me? For moral support? Not that I'd need it, but..."

"Sure. Anything for a friend," Sunset replied, happy that this night wouldn't be a total disaster.

Rainbow Dash walked up slowly to where Soarin was standing. "Um... Hi, Soarin."

"Hey! 'Sup Rainbow?"

"I was wondering... um..." she looked to Sunset, who nodded for her to continue. "Uh.. Do you... maybe... want to... dance?"

Soarin smiled in relief. "I was going to ask you the same thing! But, I was too scared, I guess." As if right on que, the music changed to a slower, more romantic tune. Actually, it might have really been qued, because it started right in the middle of the last song.

Soarin bowed and Rainbow Dash blushed, and they both headed for the dance floor. Sunset Shimmer, looking satisfied, walked back to the dessert table to observe her friends. Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich were sharing a cookie with each other, Applejack was trying desperately to get Berry Punch to stop drinking all of the apple cider, Rarity was enjoying a dance with Fancy Pants, and Fluttershy was still in the courtyard for some reason. She turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash, who mouthed the words "thank you" to her as she danced with Soarin. Now, this night didn't turn out so bad, she thought to herself.

After that song, Vinyl Scratch announced, "Okay, everyone, that's it for tonight! Oh, and could someone please give Berry Punch a ride home? I don't think she's very suited for driving right now."

"I-I'm peeerfectly fiine, I-I prom-I promise," Berry Punch slurred.

The other students giggled and all of them headed home. The group of friends, minus Coco Pommel (who lived very close to the school and could just walk home) and Fluttershy, all went to the parking lot where they all got into Rarity's car. "Where's Fluttershy? She was supposed to meet us here," said Applejack.

Sunset Shimmer looked to the place she had seen Fluttershy run off, and saw her, along with a figure in the shadows. She seemed to be saying her goodbyes to the figure, and Sunset could see that its hands seemed to be an eagle claw texture for one, and the other seemed to have fur. Fluttershy quickly pecked the figure on the cheek and ran to the car. Sunset tried to take a closer look at the figure, but it seemed to have vanished. "Fluttershy! You were supposed to meet us a little while ago! And where were you, anyway?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just talking to a friend," she said, blushing as she got into the car.

"Seemed pretty friendly to me," said Sunset, quiet enough so no one but Fluttershy, who was sitting next to her, could hear.

Fluttershy's blush deepened so her face was a bright shade of red.

When she got home, Sunset got her journal to Twilight out and started to write.

Dear Princess Twilight,

It was the spring fling today, and at the beginning, I thought it would be a disaster like the last time I went to a school dance, but it wasn't! When I helped Rainbow Dash get the courage to dance with Soarin, it made my day to see that it actually worked! And if it wasn't for Pinkie Pie, I would have been stuck waiting in the car for the whole dance! I guess that what I learned was that good friends can brighten up any day, even a highly dreaded one. I hope you are doing fine and that I will see you again soon.

Your friend, Sunset Shimmer

P.S. I saw Fluttershy walk out to the courtyard at the beginning of the dance, and at the end, I saw her talk with (and kiss) someone. I didn't see his face, but his hands looked like one of them was an eagle claw and the other a lions paw. Remind you of any pony? Or rather, any draconocuus? ;)

P.P.S. Rainbow Dash and Soarin are together, now! Along with possibly Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, and Rarity and Fancy Pants. Is this possibly the case back in Equestria?