"Um...Pinkie? Is this really necessary?"
Flash's dismay at his situation would have been apparent to all, not that it would have taken much imagination to understand his concerns. With the eyes of more than a few intrigued onlookers upon him, the boy was right in the middle of being dragged by his wrist by Canterlot High's most notorious party-planner, Pinkie. However, for Pinkie's part, she saw no issue with this at all, and simply kept on smiling as she happily skipped along the street, with Flash in-tow.
"Aww! Come on, Flashy! You just gotta meet my sisters! We're friends, remember? And if there's one thing I like doing with my friends, it's introducing them to my family!"
The boy let out a sigh.
"I appreciate that, Pinkie, but...could you at least let go of my wrist? We've been doing this for a few blocks now and I'm starting to lose all feeling in my hand."
Pinkie stopped, looking to him with confusion for a few moments before regaining her earlier smile.
"Okey-dokey-loki!"
And with that, she let go, leaving a very-surprised Flash nursing his wrist while looking to her with confusion.
"All you had to do was ask, silly!" she explained.
But Flash raised his eyebrow to this.
"My look of discomfort wasn't enough?"
Pinkie shook her head, maintaining her wide grin as she did so.
"Nope!"
Flash sighed, but nevertheless gave a brief chuckle.
"Right...should've expected that."
The party girl giggled to this, before merrily skipping on ahead. Flash looked on in amusement, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he started walking alongside her.
"So...these sisters of yours. I know Maud already, but what are the other two like?"
Pinkie turned to him as she skipped.
"Oh You're gonna love em! They're like the bestest sisters in the whole wide world! I mean, aside from Maud of course...not that I play favourites or anything !"
Flash couldn't help but give another brief laugh to this.
"Relax, Pinkie. I've had meetings with families before. I'm pretty sure I can handle this one."
Pinkie seemed pleased by that, only to stop and squeal with glee as she pointed enthusiastically to something ahead of them.
"We're here!"
Flash turned to where she was pointing, and found himself rather surprised by what he saw. With a girl like Pinkie, most would probably assume that she lived in a house that reflected her personality. A home that just screamed of parties and bubbliness. But this house was, by contrast, rather ordinary. The kind of place Flash probably wouldn't have paid much attention to had Pinkie not pointed it out to him. But this wasn't exactly a disappointment on his part, so he gave his companion a brief nod, prompting her to rush ahead. She knocked excitedly upon the door, and as Flash caught up to her, he arrived just in time to see that door open. On the other side was a face that could not have been more removed from Pinkie's if you tried. Blank and emotionless, she stared at both of them before settling on Pinkie.
"Good to see you made it," Maud said in her usual monotone.
Pinkie let out a squeal of joy, rushing forward and embracing her sister in a tight hug, which the latter returned. Flash scratched his head nervously from being present during this tender family moment, but he was brought right back into it when Pinkie suddenly grabbed hold of his shoulder, shoving him forward so that his face was barely an inch from Maud's.
"You remember Flash, right, sis?"
Flash gulped, offering an awkward laugh as he tried giving his greeting.
"Um...hi?"
But Maud simply nodded.
"Good to see you again, Flash. Welcome to our home."
The boy nodded, watching as Maud stepped aside. It was a clear invitation, and one that Flash gave her an appreciative smile to, before actually entering the place in earnest. Standing in the hall, he paused for a moment as Pinkie came in afterwards, with Maud closing the door behind them. With that done, the elder sister started to walk past them both, heading elsewhere.
"Follow me. They're waiting in the kitchen."
Pinkie giggled to this, gladly following her sister, leaving Flash to start walking behind them. It didn't take them long to reach their destination; a modest kitchen with a nice view of garden out back. But it was what lay at the centre of the room that caught Flash's attention. There was a large round table there, presumably where the family ate their meals, and around it sat two girls, whom Flash guessed were Pinkie's sisters. One looked to him with a look of shyness that would not have looked out-of-place on the face of a certain animal-lover Flash knew, while the other looked about as unwelcoming as you could get, folding her arms and keeping her eyes locked onto the boy as soon as he'd arrived. After standing in the kitchen for almost a full minute of silence, Flash watched as Pinkie stood beside the table.
"These are my sisters!"
She pointed to the shy one.
"Marble..."
Then she pointed to the aggressive-looking one.
"...and Limestone Pie!"
Flash smiled to this introduction, taking a step forward and reaching out his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both.
Marble, seeing the offered hand, suddenly gained a fierce blush, looking away from him as if simply looking at him was some sort of crime. As for Limestone, she stood up, reaching out her own hand and never once losing that edge in her expression.
"Nice to meet you too."
The tone in which she'd spoken made it very clear that "nice" was not a word she was likely to be thinking right now. But Flash had other concerns besides false courtesy at this point. For while the girl was at least willing to take his hand and shake it, she did so with such force that, for a brief moment, the boy was honestly worried that she might break some of his fingers. Thankfully that didn't happen, and when she let go he simply maintained his warm smile, with all the other girls oblivious to his pain. There was no outright malice in Limestone's actions, that much Flash had to concede, but even so, it was small comfort. So, after another long silence, he sat himself down.
"That's quite a grip you've got," he said to Limestone.
The girl nodded, though continued to speak in a somewhat harsh tone.
"If you think that's a tough grip, you should count yourself lucky you're not meeting Maud for the first time today."
Flash's expression was a mix of both confusion and concern, which Pinkie was quick to pick up on.
"One time, she actually broke a rock in her hand without breaking a sweat! Can you believe it?!"
The enthusiasm in her voice was clear, but as Flash looked from her to the rest of her family, all he could do was let out a dry chuckle.
"Actually...I think I can."
Pinkie's smile widened, and she leapt out of her chair.
"I'm gonna get some drinks. Who wants what?"
Her sisters looked to her.
"Coffee for me," Maud started.
"Same," Limestone added.
"Um...mmm-hmmm," Marble mumbled.
But Pinkie simply giggled to this.
"Soda it is, Marble!"
She then turned to Flash.
"How about you, Flashy? Coffee? Or maybe tea?"
The boy considered this for a moment.
"Well...some tea would be nice, thanks."
Pinkie beamed, before then spinning around and getting down to the business of preparing everyone's drinks. This left Flash largely alone with her sisters, and after tapping his fingers against the surface of the table in a nervous manner, he eventually worked up the courage to actually say something.
"So...Pinkie said a lot of good things about you."
Marble, of course, said nothing, simply looking away with that now-constant blush of hers. Maud gave a nod, acknowledging Flash's remark but not really responding to it. Which meant that, to Flash's dismay, it was Limestone who once more took up the job of speaking to him openly.
"The same can be said of you. She keeps going on and on about you and how great you are...kind of like she does with all of her friends really."
Flash offered a genuine laugh to this.
"Well...I think she's great too. If nothing else, Pinkie always manages to bring a lot of...energy wherever she goes."
Limestone nodded.
"Yeah...she's always been like that."
Flash nodded back, but was kept from saying anything further when Pinkie finally returned. She was carrying a tray, containing all of their requested drinks, including a soda for herself. As she gently placed the tray down upon the table, she offered both Flash and her sisters their respective beverages, smiling widely as she did so. When it was all served out, she took the tray away, before finally sitting down herself. As many of the others started sipping their own drinks, Pinkie just took a massive gulp of hers, before continuing to smile at them all.
"This is great, right? My sisters meeting up with one of my friends!"
Flash couldn't help but smile at her.
"So you've introduced your family to all of your friends?"
Pinkie turned to him and nodded.
"Yep!"
A brief laugh escaped the boy.
"You have a lot of friends, Pinkie. I imagine that'd be quite a few meetings."
But the girl simply snorted to this.
"Pfft! What's a few dozen introductions? What matters is that you get to see how great they are, and they get to see how great you are!"
Flash considered that for a moment.
"Hmmm...fair point...I guess."
He took another sip of his tea, only to be halted from taking a second when Limestone spoke up again.
"So...how close are you to my sister, exactly?"
Although taken aback by the question, Flash quickly composed himself.
"Well...we first met a few years ago, back when we both started Canterlot High, right along with Applejack and the rest of the girls. We've spoken a few times since then, but it hasn't been until the last couple of years that we've become full-on friends."
Limestone nodded to this, her sour look never changing.
"So what kinds of stuff have you two done together? Some parties with friends? Maybe going to the movies together?"
Flash opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted when Pinkie, having finished her drink at last, looked to her sister and answered in his stead.
"Well, there was that time him and me were naked in a hot-tub together."
Immediately, a silence fell over the room, and Flash's face became as pale as a sheet. Ever so slowly, he turned, looking upon Pinkie as if she had just uttered something blasphemous, to which she was, of course, as oblivious and giddy as ever. Eventually, he managed to draw his gaze back to her sisters, and there saw the mix of emotions they all had. Maud was as stoic and unreadable as she usually was. Marble now had a blush so prominent that it made her face look like a tomato. But as usual, it was Limestone that truly concerned Flash right now, as she looked to him with pure venom in her eyes.
"Would...would you care to explain that last part, sister?"
Flash gulped, completely terrified of whatever might come out of Pinkie's mouth at this point, and he turned just in time to see her take in a huge gulp of air, finally letting out her response to her sister's question.
"Well...about a year ago, Twilight, you know, from the other world? She wanted to figure out why she liked Flash, so she got me and the other girls to get together and basically spy on him a whole bunch. One of her tests was to watch him to see if he was gonna be faithful to her and stuff, so I volunteered to try him out. We tricked him into going to the local spa, and while he was in the hot tub, I snuck in to join him."
She had spoken all that very rapidly, and while Flash looked on in awe at this, she took in another deep breath before continuing.
"I tried everything while we were in there together, but he didn't budge. He didn't even look at me most of the time. Too shy or something. So, the whole thing ended and we proved that he wasn't gonna cheat on Twilight."
Pinkie's smile widened.
"Pretty neat, right?"
Another silence followed, during which Flash looked to her and took in a lot of what she'd just said, eventually breaking the silence himself.
"Huh...now that you've actually said all that in one burst...it kinda sounds like a pretty weird series of events."
Pinkie looked to him with an uncharacteristically sly smirk.
"Trust me, Flashy...you had no idea."
However, the boy had other concerns on his mind right now, as he once more turned to look upon Limestone. The sister continued to stare at him, her gaze practically piercing his very soul as she mentally weighed him. She was clearly taking in everything her little sister had said just now, and in the end, after taking another sip of her drink, her expression softened just the tiniest bit.
"...Okay then."
To that, Flash was naturally taken aback.
"O...okay?! You're just...okay with that?!"
Limestone nodded.
"Sure. Pinkie explained the whole thing. You weren't at fault and you respected her modesty by keeping your eyes off her. There was no touching, no over-stepping your place. So I'm...okay."
Flash was about to let out a massive sigh of relief at that, only to be halted when Limestone added something extra.
"...For now."
Naturally, the boy froze, letting out another nervous chuckle at this, which he attempted to quell by taking up his drink again. As for Pinkie, she was just as bubbly as she always was during this.
"Great! Now that we've cleared that up, how about some games? I think we still have a Monopoly board somewhere."
Flash, as was customary at this point, turned to reply to her, only to be stopped when the girl leapt out of her chair, clasping her hands together as she began to run off out of the room.
"Awesome! I'll go get it!"
Before Flash or anyone else could stop her, she was off, now gone from the kitchen entirely, leaving a silent and rather awkward crowd behind. The boy sighed, sitting back into his chair as he regarded her sisters. After a few seconds of silence however, Maud, after having spent much of this conversation utterly quiet, finally spoke up.
"There's no need to feel nervous around us, Flash."
He offered her a small smile.
"I know but, honestly, I kinda get the impression that making a bad impression with you three probably isn't all that good for my health."
A giggle was heard, much to the surprise of all of them, and they turned to look upon the one who had let it out; Marble. Naturally, the girl blushed again, turning away so as to not be looking directly at anybody. Rolling her eyes to this, Limestone looked back to the boy.
"Don't take all this personally. We'd probably be this way around any boy Pinkie brought back."
There was an implication behind her words, Flash could feel it. Even so, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But then again, he was yet further prevented from enquiring when Limestone continued.
"Besides...from what I hear, those girls have put you through enough paces already."
To Flash's shock, the girl actually cracked a smile to that, the first one he'd seen on her since arriving here. Although, in truth, it was really more of a smirk than anything else. In spite of his earlier discomfort, he actually let out a laugh, albeit a brief one.
"Yeah...I guess so."
Limestone set her drink aside, leaning forward and regarding him carefully.
"So...Pinkie and her friends were spying on you, eh?"
Flash nodded.
"Yep, pretty much. It was fine though. Me and Twilight sorted out everything by the end."
He looked down at his drink, bearing a somewhat nostalgic look over the issue.
"And it wasn't just Pinkie getting hands-on in all of that. For that whole thing, each of the girls had some kind of one-on-one time with me, all without me even realising..."
Flash stopped, and his smile faded, which caught the interest of all three of the Pie sisters. He gained a look of thoughtfulness, though what he was thinking about, none could say. Limestone looked over to Maud and Marble, though neither of them had any more insight into the matter than she did, and in the end, she cleared her throat, gaining Flash's attention.
"Yo! Flash? You okay there, buddy?"
The boy shook himself out of his state, returning to his previous smile.
"Oh, sorry about that. I was just..."
He paused again, only to let out a brief chuckle.
"...nah! Never mind. I'm just...imagining things."
Limestone opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when, at last, Pinkie returned, triumphantly holding up the promised Monopoly board.
"Who wants to go first?!" she squealed.
Leaning back into his chair, Flash grinned.
"Only if I get to be the dog."
