“Fluttershy darling, this is the Best. Possible. THING!” Rarity twirled as she entered her seat at the local tea café she and her friend frequented before their spa dates. Fluttershy smiled back as Rarity brandished the sheet music in her hands, giving it a little shake.

“Goodness Rarity, I haven’t seen you this excited since they mislabeled the silk taffeta as being 50 cents a yard instead of 50 dollars,” she put her hand to her mouth and giggled at the memory of needing the entire group to push the cart her friend had left with, “What’s this? A Paula Abmule track? I never knew you enjoyed her music!”

“Yes, my dear Fluttershy! A Paula Ab-whatever her name was. I admit I’m not quite familiar, but the exciting thing isn’t the track itself, but who gave it to me.” She put her hands under her chin and flashed a different trademarked smile of hers, the one in which she looks sideways at the receiver, “Our very own Twilight Sparkle has invited me to play alongside her and Pinkie Pie in the upcoming talent show! I can see it now!! We perform this track about magnetism or whatever, win the show, and she realizes we are perfectly compatible and we hold the trophy together and our hands meet and we kiss on stage and become the darlings of the school, voted cutest couple by all!” She leaned back in her chair, hands raised above her head as she threw her head back on the last phrase.

“Oh? Pinkie Pie or Twilight?” Fluttershy smirked.

Rarity gave a false laugh in kind, “Now darling don’t tease! It’s unbecoming of a lady of your stature. Just look at the music with me.”

Fluttershy looked past the title on the sheet she had been handed now and gave a start. As a tambourine player most sheet music seemed far more complex than it was worth, but this was on a new level. She wasn’t entirely unconvinced that Spike hadn’t been given a crayon and told to go to town. “Rarity, the talent show is only a week away. Are you sure you can manage this?”

“That’s just it Fluttershy! I shall work harder than I ever have before, and in doing so Twilight will finally notice my devotion to her and fall as hopelessly in love with me as I am with her.”

Hopeless is right, Fluttershy kept that thought down low, choosing instead to say, “If you’re already going to all this trouble, why not just tell her? I know I couldn’t, but you’ve always been so much more sure of yourself than I am. Not to mention she didn’t get the hint when you found a way to dye fabric in two-tone swirls without any bleed or mixing and ‘just so happened’ to pick colors that matched her hair stripes. Why would you risk being missed again?”

“My dear, I know you have not branched out into this sector yet and I of course respect that you haven’t done so. But you simply do not understand how it feels to be in this situation! I can’t just lay out my feelings as is, for if she doesn’t feel the same then I simply couldn’t move on. I need to show her my affection while earning hers in one fell swoop!” Rarity gave a large swoop of her arms for emphasis, inadvertently knocking some hairs loose from her curls. Fluttershy smiled sympathetically at her friend, and moved to tuck them back in.

“I know you think I don’t understand Rarity, but being nervous is one thing I definitely get. I’ll help you out however you need, I just think-” She was cut off by Rarity grabbing both her hands and clasping them together.

“Brilliant, darling! I know the first thing I need to get through this plan, a nice spa day with you.” Rarity removed one hand to dig in her purse and drop payment for the tea (generous tip included) and then ran with Fluttershy in tow off to the spa for their appointment.

Twilight fell face-first into the floor while Pinkie Pie laughed maniacally.

“Pinkie, could you stop reading Oatfield and help me with this choreography!!” Twilight definitely didn’t yell or sound even a little frustrated at her friend.

“Oops, sorry Twi! He just hates Mondays so much...” She grabbed her friend by the forearm and helped her to her feet from the carpet in Pinkie’s room, adjusting her glasses for her, “besides, the whole idea is that you’re gonna be need to be able to do this on your own, cause we don’t have time to get any moves planned for Rarity.”

“And we can’t just improv it because?”

“Because you and the other you both dance the same way; like a jellyfish who was given bones and then tazed. Twice.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be good at making others feel good?” Twilight shot a glare Pinkie’s way as she moved back to her starting position.

“Yes, yes I am. And imagine how ‘good’ you’ll feel in that little anatomically correct heart of yours when you groove so right that she joins you for the night.” Pinkie punctuated the last clause with a smolder combined with a kissy face and hand resting flat under her chin.

Twilight spluttered, “Kguh, Pinkie I’m not expecting to get anywhere near that far from one performance together!!” Pinkie tilted her head quizzically, “What? I meant like you’ll go out to Five Stallions after for dinner, what did youuuuu- oh you are down BAD girl!!”

That netted Pinkie a pillow in the face, but the momentary blockade couldn’t hide the blush on Twilight’s face. “It’s not my fault!! These dance moves are all body-rolly, and hip-shaky, and sensual!! Do I have to do these in front of the whole school?”

“Twi you barely shake your hips once, there’s no body rolls, and the closest to sensual it gets is that you get kinda close to Rarity and put your hand on her arm while going behind her to pop out the other side. It’s more stomp based than anything. But regardless!! This is gonna work, and you may not even have to do it if she catches the meaning in the lyrics!! I mean the song literally says it’s a ‘love science’, she can’t miss it!!”

“Yeah you’re probably right. I just hope it’s in that ‘Always-seem-to-know-a-little-more-than-you-should’ way like when you predicted my brother and Cadance having that baby.”

“Sorry girl, no such guarantees this time. This is jut pure-Pinkamena-Dianne-Pie confidence!!” Pinkie’s phone buzzed, “But if that isn’t enough, Fluts just texted me that Rarity is gonna use some of lunch to practice, so you can ask her about the lyrics then!!”

“Does Fluttershy know about your plan? I thought I asked you to keep it secret.”

“Well, duh, clearly Rarity told her about the performance while they went to the spa, and they read the lyrics while in the mud bath and realized what they meant, and now she’s hoping to meet with you tomorrow, so she had Fluttershy text me so that I could tell you that Rarity told her about the performance while they went to the spa and they read the lyrics wh-” Sensing the loop Twilight had thrown another pillow at Pinkie.

“Any chance that’s the ol’ Pinkie Sense?”

“Not a bit!! Just -fidence, not Sense!! Now back to the top, I don’t believe I’m wrong but it’s best to be prepared.”

Author's Note

So this was initially a 3 chapter fic but after getting this all done I think it's gonna be closer to a 4 chapter one!! Which hopefully will allow more time to breathe and, hey, more to read!! Yay!! I really hope you're liking this so far, especially now that the Fluttershy tag has been fulfilled (she's in all of my fics, go back and check if you don't believe me.) I wrote her a little snarkier than I might usually think of her, but she's always had a decent ability to fire little shots, and she's so close with Rarity I can't imagine she holds back as much as she does with the rest of the world. Not to mention she's seen as much from Rarity and Twi as Pinkie (and the rest of the girls) have, so a little frustration at the missed connections is due. Slow burn is nice in fics, but irl in your friend group? Maybe not as much (not to say this fic is slowburn. Not by a longshot) But anyways that's enough of a note, tune in hopefully before Wednesday for Chapter 3 where we get into the meat of it!!