~Heartbeat~

"Ughhhh! Come onnnn, why are you making me do this!" Aria protested loudly in minor annoyance as she was dragged forcibly along the sidewalk.

"Because! It's time you start hanging out with us crazy girls and getting to know everyone better!" Syntax replied, unfazed.

"I hate you for this! I despise such levels of niceness!"

"I know, it's pure hell for you." Syntax deadpanned.

"Exactly! I'm a notorious mean girl, not some stupid ass nicey nice, happy to chat loser!"

"Uh huh."

"Give me two good reasons why I should go through with this!!"

"One, you like me and will do pretty much anything I ask. Two, you can't pass up a chance to potentially be a bitch to them in a setting where they know you're totally joking because deep down they actually interest you and you'd like to get to know them."

"Damn you, stay out of my head!"

"No can do." Syntax paused outside the Pie residence. "You ready?"

"No! And I don't have to like this! I hate it! I protest! And you're an ass for dragging me into it!"

"Did I ever tell you you're an absolute Tsundere?"

"...Shut the hell up." Aria muttered, but offered no denial.

Snickering, Syntax knocked on the door, and it opened a second later to reveal a grinning Pinkie Pie.

"Ohhhhh you made it!!" She squealed, before tackle-hugging Syntax.

She let go after a second and unceremoniously did the same to Aria, the siren trying to squirm out of her tight grip.

"I hate you all..." She muttered sullenly when her efforts failed.

Syntax giggled at the girl's reaction and Pinkie released her captive before dragging them into the house.

"SARIA IS HERE!!!!" she screamed happily, her declaration leading to the sound of hurrying footsteps as the remains girls appeared from various rooms.

"The hell is Saria?!" Aria demanded, scowling.

"Shh, don't question it." Syntax locked her arm through Aria's. "She's trying to give us a ship name."

"But we're not-"

"Shhhh! It's Pinkie, don't even try to stop this. I already have, and I failed."

"You have such weird friends."

"No weirder than you!" Rainbow piped up, hearing the comment.

Aria glared. "I know multiple ways of kicking your ass."

"Oh yeah?! You wanna tangle?! I'm game!"

"Not advisable." Syntax said with a smirk. "I can match her pretty well but she still can beat me, so you don't stand a chance. No offense, Rainbow."

"WHO WANTS CUPCAKES?!!" Pinkie yelled, ending the discussion for the time being.

As they settled down to munch on cupcakes and got to talking, Syntax noticed that Aria slowly started to loosen up a little, even exchanging playful and creative insults with Rainbow. At one point, she looked at Syntax and smirked.

"I was wrong. Your friends are kinda alright. I like them, they interest me."

"Told you so!"

"You're not so horrible yourself." Sunset told her, earning a glare followed by a snort of laughter.

"I am. I'm a mean girl. I gotta keep up my reputation."

"Nahhh." Syntax booked her nose and grinned. "You're just a cute and funny girl."

"Shut up!" Aria said, blushing as she flung a napkin at her. "I'm not cute!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not! You're the cute one!"

"No you!"

"No you!!"

"You're both cute!!" Pinkie shouted.

"Noooooo!" Both girls wailed in unison.

"Syntax is cute. I am not." Aria insisted indignantly. "And I swear if you deny it one more time, Syntax...!"

Syntax studied her, weighing her options. And then she grinned impishly.

"I'm not, and you can't make me say I am!"

It was probably not the best decision. Aria's eyes narrowed as an evil grin formed on her lips.

"You really shouldn't have said that. But since you did, I'm going to enjoy this."

"Shit." Syntax replied, before shrieking and scrambling to escape as Aria lunged for her.

"Ooooh!!! Run Syntax! Don't let her catch you!" Pinkie yelled in encouragement.

"Well this should be good." Rainbow commented as they settled back to watch the scene unfold.

"Come here!" Aria ordered, chasing Syntax around the room.

"Nope!" was the reply. "You're not catching me!"

"Oh I'm not, huh?" Aria snorted and leaped over a chair with ease, landing directly in Syntax's path.

"Ahhh!" the younger girl promptly tried to backpedal, only to fail as she crashed into Aria.

"Gotcha!" Aria shouted in triumph, arms circling her waist and holding her fast.

"Noooo! Nononono! Let go!" Syntax yelled, struggling. "You'll never make me admit anything!"

"Never say never!"

Aria lifted her with ease and carried her back to the others, placing her on her back on the floor before rapidly straddling her body and pinning her down so she couldn't escape.

"And now!" She grinned wickedly. "I'll be nice. I'll give you one final chance to admit your cuteness or, well, I will have to get drastic!"

"Oh dear." Fluttershy said in worry from the sidelines. "You won't hurt her?"

"Of course not!" Aria retorted indignantly. "What do you think I am, a monster?"

The girls exchanged glances and Aria huffed. "Don't answer that. But no, I won't hurt her."

She looked back down at her captive, who didn't seem to be too horribly traumatized by her predicament.

"I'll never admit it!" The girl vowed firmly.

"Fine, you asked for this."

Aria snickered and attacked with both hands, viciously tickling her stomach and sides. Syntax shrieked in protest, squirming and wriggling in a vain attempt to escape even as she succumbed to hysterical laughter.

"Aww yeah!" Rainbow yelled enthusiastically with a grin. "Get her, Aria!!"

"Tickle torture! Tickle torture!" Pinkie cried, before throwing herself on top of Rainbow and tickling her mercilessly.

"Ahhh! Pinkie! Get off! Nooo!" Rainbow howled, trying to shove the hyper menace off of her.

The others looked from Aria and Syntax to Pinkie and Rainbow, amused and concerned.

"Should we help?" Twilight asked.

"I'll help." Sunset returned, smirking before tackling her.

"Gah! Sunset, no! Not what I meant!" Twilight yelled, before she was subjected to violent tickling. "Stooooppp! I meant help them!"

"May as well join in." Applejack looked at Rarity with a smirk.

"No! Applejack, don't you dare!!!" Rarity yelled, but her protest was ignored as her girlfriend attacked anyway.

Fluttershy looked from one to the other, wide eyed. "Oh dear, oh dear..."

She made an attempt to slip away to a safer room, only to shriek as the breathless Rainbow nabbed her and dragged her down next to her.

"No, Rainbow Dash, no!" She squeaked, before her girlfriend's fingers found the most ticklish spots on her ribcage.

The room was filled with shrieks of laughter as well as desperate pleading from the victims being tickled, and gradually the mass tickling died down til only Aria and Syntax were left. Completely out of breath and sore from all the laughter, Syntax decided to be smart and finally waved her hands in surrender.

"Ok! Ok!! I give up! I admit it! I'm cute!"

Aria stopped and grinned down smugly while everyone else laughed. She got off of her prisoner, letting her sit up, and patted her head.

"Good girl. Next time I won't go so easy on you."

"Yeah yeah." Syntax inhaled deeply. "You didn't go easy on me this time!"

Aria snickered and reached for another cupcake, Syntax inching up to sit directly next to her and also reaching for a cupcake.

"I gotta say, Aria, you're pretty awesome after all." Rainbow told her.

"You guys are tolerable." Aria replied. "Syntax might be able to force me to hang out with you more."

"Right, yeah, of course." Syntax said drily. "Because we all know you hate it so much you'd never willingly agree to do this again."

"If this gets around, I'm gonna bust your asses." Aria threatened in a very much non-threatening tone.

"Duly noted." Syntax returned. "Now here, have this."

She nabbed Aria's cupcake and shoved it into the siren's mouth, prompting everyone to explode into laughter as the girl wiped excessive frosting off her face with a mock scowl at the girl by her side.