School of Hard Knocks

Chapters

Revelations
Meanwhile
Disguises
Interlude
Alcohol
Fallout
Stirrings
Contentment
Endings
Introductions
Beginnings

Revelations

Fluttershy was sitting in the eating area. She had, indeed, enjoyed a juice box and was now watching Rainbow intently. She wasn't entirely sure when all this had started but she had taken to following Rainbow around of late. From a distance of course, not wanting to be seen. There was just something about the way she spoke, moved, laughed. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

“Hey, Fluttershy.”

She shook her head and tore her gaze away from Rainbow. “Hmm? Oh, hello Derpy.”

“You should talk to her.”

Fluttershy blushed. “I couldn’t, you know that.”

“Oh, what’s the worst that could happen? You haven’t been able to take your eyes off her for a week now. Don’t you think it’s about time you said something?”

Fluttershy smiled. “I’ll talk to Rainbow when you talk to Twilight.”

Derpy matched her, grin for grin. “Good luck then, I just talked to Twilight Sparkle this morning.”

Feeling her curiosity peek, Fluttershy enquired, “Really? What did you say?”

“I just introduced myself; it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. That’s why you should talk to Rainbow.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “I don’t think so. Why would she want to talk to me?”

Derpy shrugged. “Well after her outburst in class today I don’t think she’s going to say you’re not, ehem, her type.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile at that. “That was pretty funny.”

“Go on,” Derpy encouraged. “You know you want to.”

Steeling her resolve, Flutteshy got to her feat. “You’re right.”

Rainbow was walking along a corridor, on her way out for some flying practise when she heard a very gentile sob. She looked around, wondering if she was hearing things but there it was again. She looked around, searching for the source. At last her gaze came to rest on the girl who Applejack had bumped in to not twenty minutes ago. She looked around to check if anyone was watching and then crouched down beside the girl.

“Um, are you alright?”

The girl jumped and looked up. When she saw Rainbow her eyes widened even further and she crouched down again, putting her hands over or face. Rainbow thought absurdly of the childish logic that if you can’t see someone then they can’t see you. She didn’t know why the thought crossed her mind but it made her smile.

“Look, I won’t bite I promise. My name is Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?”

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said, quietly.

“Nice to meet you Fluttershy. Mind if I ask why you were crying?”

Fluttershy’s lower lip wobbled at the reminder but she managed to hold back her tears. “It was nothing.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” said Rainbow, dryly. Fluttershy didn’t respond so Rainbow sighed and gave up. “I’m about to head outside for some flying practise, if you wanted to come with me then you’d be welcome to.” She got up and continued on her way. A few seconds later, Fluttershy also stood and followed her.

Rainbow listened intently as she walked beside Fluttershy. She felt something strange but it only just hit her what it was. Around Fluttershy, silence became a sound. It was in the girl’s peaceful nature that the everyday noises of speech and movement became unimportant. To those who did not spend enough time to notice the silence would have been extremely awkward but Rainbow was listening. It had a strange calming effect that she very much enjoyed.

At last the two reached the door that led out in to the large school oval. Because Omnes Mannis attempted to cater to all students, there was, outside, a flight training field and a magic practise room. Instead of heading to the flight aria, Rainbow stopped and looked over at Fluttershy.

“So…” she said, breaking the silence at last. “Are you going to tell me why you were crying?”

Fluttershy looked up, as though shaken from deep thoughts. “Oh… um…”

“Come on, it will help, I promise.” This felt strange. Normally Rainbow didn’t connect well with strangers but here she felt right at home, like she was talking to someone who she had been friends with for years.

“Well… I was just upset about…” she trailed off and looked across at Rainbow. “I don’t, um, I don’t usually talk to people, very, uh, very easily that is…”

“Ok…?”

“Well, you see, there was this… person I wanted to talk to… and I, um, I chickened out at the last second.”

“And that’s why you were upset?” Rainbow tried hard to keep the tone of incredulity out of her voice. Fluttershy must have heard it, though, for she flinched.

“I know it doesn’t sound important.”

Realizing her mistake, Rainbow quickly backtracked. “Oh, no I didn’t say that. I was just thinking, you know, you can always try again. It’s not like you only get one shot at these sorts of things.”

Fluttershy smiled a grateful little smile that caught Rainbow completely off guard. She looked in to those deep teal pools, seeing the unshed tears just at the corners. She felt her heart flip over. All at once her wings shot straight out as she made ready for flight.

“Eeep,” squeaked Fluttershy.

Rainbow looked at her again, a question on her face. “What?”

“Oh, um, it’s just, you know, why did your wings just…” she trailed off awkwardly.

“Um, because I wanted to fly?” Rainbow said, quirking her eyebrow.

“It’s just that, um, when-when a pegasus’s wings…”

Rainbow scoffed. “Oh, that. That’s just a myth.” She snorted “Probably one Pinkie Pie started at that. Seriously though, I didn’t think any pegasi would believe that kind of nonsense. The wings are for flying, Fluttershy, nothing else.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks were glowing like a signal beacon. “Oh… ok.”

Rainbow’s smile turned cheeky. “Why do you ask?” she said, winking.

If Fluttershy had been blushing before it was nothing compared to now.

Rainbow just snorted again. “I’m just messing with you, jeez.” With that, she leaped in to the air and began to flap furiously, striving for height.

Fluttershy stood there for a moment, completely paralysed. At last she realized what had happened and hastened to follow Rainbow.

As she flew, Rainbow Dash spent several minutes contemplating all the myriad stupidities of the term “wingboner.” After all, what if a pegasus was to see another really hot pegasus whilst in flight? She chuckled internally, death by indecent exposure. That’d be one hell of a way to go she thought, smiling.

It was roughly at that point that she realised she was starting to climb too high, the air was becoming colder and when she glanced down she saw the ground hundreds of feet below. She smiled, what the hell. She flapped harder and harder, gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Climbing faster and faster, the world beginning to blur, faster, faster as the land dropped away like a wet towel, faster, faster and then, stop. Rainbow Dash folded her wings and gazed up at the sky with dreamy eyes. She looked down and couldn’t see her school. She couldn’t see Fluttershy or anything other than acres of green. At last the speed of her assent petered out and she reached the highest point of her journey. She hung for a moment as the force she had generated and the force of gravity were perfectly tied.

After what seemed like minutes gravity inevitably won and she began to descend. Slow at first then faster and faster. Her head tilted down and she was diving towards the rapidly approaching ground. Closer and closer, wind rushing in her ears. Had her eyes not been blurred with tears from the wind she would have seen her school as a tiny dot, then getting bigger as she drew closer.

She wiped her eyes and focused. She could see Fluttershy, drawing closer. She would have to time this just right. Her wings snapped out and she turned all her downward speed in to upward thrust doing a hairpin turn right beside the stunned pegasus and flipping back in to the air. She closed her wings and dropped the remaining thirty feet, landing on a cloud to quiet applause.

“Wow, that was incredible!” Fluttershy flew over to Rainbow and looked at her with new awe. “I couldn’t keep up so I just decided to wait here. How high did you go? Goodness, you’ve got ice in your hair.”

Rainbow smiled as she fought for breath. In her excitement, Fluttershy’s quiet attitude seemed to have dropped away. “I don’t know, a few hundred feet?”

“Really? It looked higher than that.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something but then dropped back on to the cloud she had landed on. Her eyes were closed and her chest heaved.

“Rainbow Dash! What’s wrong?”

“Don’t… worry… this… always… happens,” said Rainbow, between breaths. “It’s a little… taxing… getting up that… high.”

Fluttershy settled herself beside Rainbow and made herself comfortable. “Well it was amazing,” she said quietly.

Rainbow looked up at her and smiled, perhaps it was just Fluttershy but it looked as though there was something more in that smile. “Thanks.”

The two sat in that strange silence that seemed to gather around Fluttershy. After a while, a small bird flittered over and landed gently on her outstretched finger. It looked up at her and chirped. She giggled and said, quietly, “Hello there.” She reached up and stroked a finger along its head. The bird chirped contentedly and, after a moment, flittered off again.
“Well that’s quite a trick,” said Rainbow, mildly.

Fluttershy looked across at her and smiled, shyly. “Nothing compared to your trick.”

Rainbow brushed this aside with a wave of her hand.

Another comfortable silence ensued but surprisingly, this time it was broken by Fluttershy. “Rainbow…?”

“Hmm?”

“Um, I was just wondering, if you don’t mind telling me, what’s with that girl you’re always hanging around?”

Rainbow raised her head and looked at Fluttershy quizzically. “You mean Pinkie Pie? What about her?”

Fluttershy flushed a little but persisted none the less. “She’s just so… eccentric.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow said innocently, a little too innocently.

Fluttershy sighed and gave in. “Is she your girlfriend or not.”

Rainbow smiled deviously. “Why do you ask?”

Fluttershy turned bright crimson and looked intently at the cloud she was perched on. “Never mind, it’s not important.”

Rainbow laughed. “I’m just messing with you. In answer to your question, though: no Pinkie is not my girlfriend.”

Fluttershy looked up, confused. “Really? But-but everyone saw you after, um, after… well… she-she kissed you, that-that doesn’t seem…” She trailed off, scuffing at the cloud with her toes.

“She likes to pretend we’re together. It’s complicated.”

“Oh, um, ok…” Fluttershy looked so downcast.

Rainbow sighed. “She’s jealous, ok? Ever since we met she thought it was super cool that I’m gay, to be honest it’s a little offensive at times, it’s not some kind of fashion choice but whatever, I know she doesn’t mean anything by it. Anyway, she truly is the straightest girl I’ve ever met but she doesn’t want to be you see? So she likes to pretend like we’re together. Mostly I just play along for the fun of it.”

“I see…” said Fluttershy, nonplussed but pleased that she’d gotten an answer.

“Enough about me, though, I’ve been going to this school for years and I’ve never seen you around before, are you new or just inconspicuous?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, I’m new here if by new you mean have been coming for three years.”

“Wow, my pride in my powers of observation just dropped by about a hundred and fifty points. Who are your other friends?”

“Friend,” she corrected, “Non plural, just me and Derpy, I met her on my first day, it was her first day too and we were both really nervous and we kind of just… had a lot in common I guess.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something but at that moment the bell rang. She flashed a half grin at Fluttershy. “Come on, we’d better get to class.”

Authors notes: hi everypony. As you may have notices a few changes have been made, first of all, I now have the coolest cover art ever thanks to BronyInvestigator, and second of all, the comedy tag has been removed. Saying why would count as spoilers but rest assured that I still intend to make the occasional wise crack but I don't really think this counts as a comedy any more. Hope you like it.

Meanwhile

Pinkie Pie was staring blankly in to space, idly bumping her heels against the ground. It was official; she was bored. This wasn’t your average garden variety of bored, though, no, this was serious. This was best-friend-is-off-swooning-after-some-cutie-patootie kind of boredom that only stems from extreme resentment at someone else’s relationship potentials.

Pinkie sighed and flipped herself gracefully off the seat, it was one of those movements that probably looks a lot more graceful in the mind of the person executing it, but in her mind, Pinkie was Angelina Jolie and she was back-flipping over flying bullets.

Pinkie was pretty sure that she had seen that girl Rainbow had seemed so interested in walking with some blondie with slightly funny eyes, if she could find this girl then she might be able to clue in on what was happening. It wasn’t much but it was a lead. Pinkie would grudgingly agree that it was good for Rainbow to be slightly less pathetically lonely but it would also mean Rainbow would have to give some of her time to someone else who she would probably think had more right to it.
Now, Pinkie wasn’t feeling in a terribly good mood so it’s probably important to note that, while she skipped down the hall, searching for her target, she was not terribly enthusiastic about it, and it was mediocre skipping at best.

Derpy was walking along the passageway that lead to the library when she was suddenly the proud owner of a miniature heart attack thanks to a short, grinning girl with offensively pink hair.

“Hi there! What’s your name?”

“Um, hello, my name’s Derpy. Who are you?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie stopped and sniffed the air a couple of times. “Ooh, you got muffins, freshly baked too, with strawberry and banana.” She sniffed a couple more times and grinned. “Rosewater and a touch of vanilla, nice combo, extra sweet so not a conventional sweetener like sugar, smells like, ooh, agave nectar, posh stuff and top of the line butter. Who’s the special someone?”

Derpy grinned widely, “You’re a baker too. I like to use agave nectar when it’s in anything particularly special, it’s more expensive but definitely worth it.”

“I agree although there’s always something to be said for sugar, it’s cheap for one thing. Have you considered cupcakes? They seem more traditional as a love gift and using sugar in cupcakes is way better than using it in muffins.”
Derpy shook her head. “Only muffins, I don’t do anything else. I could bake anything in theory but somehow, every time I go to bake something else this little voice whispers ‘Derpy, seeing as you’re baking, why not make muffins.’ And so I say to the voice, ‘But I want to make something else.’ And the voice says, ‘Yea, but, you wanna bake muffins don’t you?’ I always just end up with more muffins.”

Pinkie Pie nodded sagely. “Don’t get me started on voices in my head, girl. Over the years it’s been quite hard to hang on to my sanity with all these voices in my head telling me what to do. There’s even this one that keeps saying something about Rainbow Dash and ‘Cupcakes.’ But one day I shouted at the voices in my head, ‘If talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, what’s the second?’ and you know what they answered? ‘Answering yourself’.”

Derpy was just looking at Pinkie, her brain had started churning when the girl had mentioned Rainbow Dash’s name. It was when that the image clicked. “You’re the girl who’s always hanging around Rainbow Dash.”

“Yup, me and Dashie go way back. Anyway I completely side-tracked. Who are the special muffins for? Pretty romantic if you ask me.”

Derpy blushed a little. “What do you mean?” She said it a little too innocently.

“Oh come on, dear Derpy. One does not simply put rosewater and agave nectar in muffins they’re giving to someone who they aren’t hoping to get in the good books of.”

“Well whether or not that’s true, I only just met you.”

Pinkie smirked a mischievous smirk. “Yea but you really wanna tell me anyway, don’tcha?”

“Well…”

“Besides, if you can’t trust a fellow baker who can you trust?”

Derpy smiled. “You seem ok. Alright, do you know Twilight Sparkle?” A thought seemed to Cross Derpy’s mind. “Oh, oh, goodness, please don’t tell anyone? I mean, oh wow, um…” She flushed a deep red and looked around.

“Cool it will ya? Jeez, tell anyone what? That you’re about as straight as a pretzel? It’s kind of obvious but if it’s that important to you then your imaginary secret is safe with me.”

“What do you mean imaginary?”

“If anyone cared to look they would spot it, don’t worry about it so much. Anyway, the name Twilight rings a bell but I can’t place it.”

“Oh she’s very clever, she’s always in the library, I was on my way there now to…” Derpy gave a shy smile. “to give her these.”

“She pretty?”

Derpy’s smile became even more shy but there was something else in her eyes, it was in the way they glimmered, just a little, with heart felt sincerity. “She’s really pretty… and… she smells like books…”

Pinkie smiled. “Good luck with that. Mind if I tag along? Just to see how it goes, I promise I won’t be there when you give them to her.”

Derpy grinned. “I’ve only made one other friend since I’ve been here.”

Pinkie flung an arm around Derpy’s shoulders. “That settles it, come on, friend.”

Rainbow was sitting in the middle of the class. Sitting right beside her to the right was Fluttershy. They hadn’t spoken on their way to the classroom but had both simultaneously sat at the same desk, no questions asked.

The class was just beginning to reach that point where it was becoming a strain for Rainbow to consistently not pay attention to the teacher. Bits of the lesson were filtering through her mental buffs and she was beginning to feel a new dreaded understanding of algebra creeping in to her head, despite her desperate bids for ignorance.

All at once, like a breath of mercy from a compassionless creator, came a small paper ball landing expertly in the small gap between her wings. Deftly, she shrugged her shoulders and adjusted her wings as if merely finding a more comfortable position, the movement sent the ball of paper flipping in to the air and landing in her hands. She unfolded the piece of paper and instantly recognised Pinkie’s handwriting, “Hey there, how’s it going? Wink, wink. Are you two playing footsy?”

Rainbow grinned and quickly jotted down a note on a blank piece of paper. “Doing just fine, I’ll tell you about my flight practice after class. Sorry to disappoint you but definitely not footsy.” She casually flicked the scrunched up ball behind her without even looking, she knew that it would land dead in Pinkie’s hair.

She heard a supressed giggle behind her and then the scratching of a pen. She felt another note hit her wings and with the same practised ease, flicked this one in to her hands as well. “Shame I’m not sitting beside you, footsy would be fun.”
Rainbow just grinned and replied. “Do you ever stop flirting?”

The reply came quickly. “With you? Never.” It was at this point that Fluttershy caught on to what was going on. She looked across at Rainbow and glanced at the screwed up notes sitting on the desk in front of her. Fluttershy smiled weakly and looked at Pinkie who gave a ridiculous little half wave causing Fluttershy to blush.

After math, Fluttershy headed off saying something about homework. Rainbow was fine with that as it gave her a chance to talk with Pinkie. As she was passing her friend in the hall, Rainbow grabbed her by the harm and began to steer them quickly towards the oval.

Once they were seated on sufficiently secluded grass Pinkie spoke while rubbing her wrist pointedly. “You didn’t have to drag me like that, I would have followed you anyway.”

“Sorry about that,” said Rainbow, a little sheepishly.

“Meh, not important. So, what’s the scoop? How’d things go with Fluttershy?”

“She’s really nice I— Hang on, how do you know her name?”

“Hmm? Oh, I got talking to her best friend while you two were off playing in the flight practise aria. Derpy’s her name, cute as a button I am telling you. Eyes of a bush baby, a slightly cross eyed bush baby, but you get the idea.”

“Slow down there, girl,” said Rainbow, smirking.

“Don’t freak out on me, she’s not my type. Besides, she’s already got a crush and one I intend to help her got closer to. Anyway, I digress, how did it go with Fluttershy?”

“Well I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I really like her.”

“Well, yea, that was kind of the point wasn’t it? That’s why you wanted to hang out with her.”

“No, I mean I really like her. I’m really scared; I don’t want to screw this up.”

Pinkie giggled. “Are you telling me that a passing admiration for her appearance has, through the catalyst of time and experience, developed in to a full-fledged crush?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that I want her to hang with us more often, are you cool with that?”

“Sure thing, sweetie, it’d be cool to have some more friends to hang out with than just Jackie and miss pricy princess pants.”

Rarity sighed. This always happened, she swore that whoever designed pullover shirts did not do so while thinking of unicorns. She looked hard at the long tear in the t shirt and sighed again. This was going to be tricky but her ensemble really didn’t work without it. She concentrated and after a few seconds, her horn glowed with a blue nimbus. The tear in her shirt began to close over. The irony of this was most certainly not lost on Rarity.

“You done in there Rarity?”

“In a minute, darling, I just—” she was cut off by the bathroom door opening. Rarity huffed. “You could have at least asked if I was decent.”

“But I knew the answer was probably no.”

Rarity smiled but continued to focus on the shirt. “I swear, you have it so easy. Do you have any idea how inconvenient horns are?”

Applejack wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and looked at the shirt. “Oh yea, must be a real burden being able to do magic, I just don’t know how you get by.”

At last the tear was gone and Rarity turned to face Applejack. She was wearing a tank top and scruffy, denim jeans. Her arms were well muscled and she was just a little taller than Rarity. “Really, darling, you might at least try not to look like a ruffian.”

“Oh stop it you. You know the others have started calling you ‘pricy princess pants’.”

“Let me guess: that would be Pinkie Pie?”

“Yup. I don’t know, I think it’s kind of cute.” She grinned.

“Humph.”

“Aw, don’t look so down.” Applejack leaned over and kissed Rarity tenderly on the cheek.

“Stop it you,” she said, playfully batting Applejack away.” Rarity turned her focus back to her costume, this was her favourite part of the weekend; picking out the outfits she would be wearing all week. After a while she became aware of something, she looked over at Applejack. “Is something wrong, dear? You seem listless.”

“Yea, I don’t really like the weekends. Want to play x box?”

Rarity sighed. “I’ll give you two options, we could play x box, or we could make out, your choice.”

Applejack looked incredibly thoughtful. “Hmm.”

Rarity smacked her girlfriend lightly around the head.

“Ow, I was just kidding with you, yeash.”

“Come here you.”

Quite a lot of authors notes here, first of all, I hope you liked this chapter but that goes without saying. There were actually two jokes in this chapter that I had to cut out for reasons of appropriateness but if you want to see them then contact me. The gag involving Rarity's shirt was thought up when I read one of the comments on the first chapter. The comment was by Mazamba, who pointed out that the human version of unicorns would loose a lot of shirts. I'm sorry for the lack of Flutterdash in this chapter but there will be more in the next chapter.

Disguises

Laughter: that is when you truly see someone. You can be good friends with a person for years and never see them really laugh. There is something about the simple act of laughing that removes all trace of disguise.

It was once said that life is a stage and we all actors, but what of these actors? For an actor implies a character; a falsehood or pretence. What about when that mask slips? It’s only when you have seen that mask slip, and seen, not the character laugh, but the actor, that all pretence is gone, only then can you truly see the person standing there and not be caught up by this character they chose to play, no matter how much that character is influenced by them. No matter how much that actor may seem like their character, you will never know who they really are until you see them truly laugh. A laugh on stage occurs when an actor has a moment of realising the absurdity of what they’re doing. When a person sees the absurdity of life, all that person can do is laugh and hope that there will be a person present who sees, who understands and who will laugh right along with them.

This night was another bad one, Rainbow Dash lay on her bed, tossing back and forth, trying to find a position in which she could rest peacefully. This happened to her a lot, although it was happening more and more, lately. She would lie awake all night for no good reason. Her thoughts seemed to turn on her, attacking her consciousness. It was nights like these that she would squeeze the pillow around her head and whimper in to the softness like an infant. Rainbow hated being reduced to this and would never tell anyone of how she crumpled under the weight of her own mind, of memory and thought. She had told her mother she was having trouble sleeping but all her mother had to offer was that it was common among teenagers to go through bouts of extreme insomnia.

Rainbow flipped over and sat up. This was ridiculous, she reached over and picked up her phone. She opened the chat room she and Pinkie sometimes used and saw that Pinkie was online as well. This wasn’t uncommon but Pinkie never seemed to suffer from the lack of sleep, perhaps it was all the sugar that gave her the energy to bounce through her days without sleep.

“Hey Pinks, what are you doing still awake?” Rainbow had gotten very fast at typing on the small touch screen and, in fact, held the record for most words typed in a minute on touch phone, this achievement probably would have felt more impressive if it weren’t for the fact that Pinkie was the only other contestant.

“Uh, morning Dashie, I could ask you the same question.”

Rainbow smiled. “Ah, I’ll take it that means you are up early not late?”

“*Shrugs* what can I say? I like to get up early. Am I to take it that means you’ve pulled an all-nighter again?”

Rainbow’s smile was somewhat sheepish this time, although she was well aware that her friend couldn’t see her face. “Uh… kinda?”

“Tut, tut, you really need to stop doing this Dashie, it’s bad for your health.”

“Yea, yea, could you pontificate later? I need to ask you a favour.”

“My, my, Dashie, a ‘favour,’ at three o-clock in the morning? I could be there in about twenty minutes.”

Rainbow sighed but supposed that she had left herself open for that one. “Stop that. No, I mean something else; look I need some advice on Fluttershy, do you think you can help?”

“Uh, Dashie, last time I checked I was single, why on earth would you be asking me? I don’t know how to woo girls, that’s supposed to be your aria of expertise.”

“Oh, come on, you must have something.”

“Well, what do you want from her?”

“I don’t know, a kiss?”

“Careful, you’re beginning to sound like me. If you really want my advice then I’ll give it to you straight (no pun intended): work out what you want from her first, best case scenario; you ask her to be your girlfriend, what do you want from her? Do you want to strut around school holding hands? Do you want to be that cute couple always making out in the background? Do you want a completely secret relationship that no one will ever know about? Do you get what I’m saying here?”

“I think so, so what do I do when I work it out?”

“Talk to me again, but in the meantime; get some sleep, your typing is slow and you probably look like a wreck.”

“Yes boss.”

“Good, I’ve gotta run, there’s something muffin related that Derpy asked me to test out.”

“Why would she need you to test it? Can’t she test it herself?”

“For some reason she thought it was too dangerous for her kitchen, I’ll keep you posted, ciao.”

Rainbow tossed her phone on to her bedside table. …muffins… Was all she thought before, at last, sleep engulfed her.

Rainbow walked through the doors of Omnas Mannis, wondering for the thousandth time what the name of her school actually meant. It was probably something really boring but still, it would be kind of cool to know.

Rainbow wandered through the corridors, not really noticing the other students, she was on a mission, objective: find Fluttershy. This objective turned out to be a little harder than she had thought. Fluttershy was a small girl and seemed to try extra hard to be inconspicuous. At last, Rainbow found her intended who was currently engaged in the process of rummaging in her locker.

“Hey Fluttershy.”

“Eep.” Fluttershy flinched back and looked as though she had briefly considered trying to hide in to her locker.

Rainbow smiled, that had to be one of the cutest things she had seen in a long time. “Don’t freak out, I’m not going to eat you.” Rainbow Dash tried very hard, in that moment, to dispel a mental image of roast Fluttershy and was only partially successful.

“Rainbow Dash, you look awful, I mean, um, no offence, are-are you alright?”

Rainbow waved a hand in dismissal of Fluttershy’s concern. “I’m fine, trust me; I look better after I sleep.”

“You had trouble getting to sleep last night?”

Rainbow flashed a mischievous grin. “Trouble implies that I succeeded in the end. No, I couldn’t get to sleep last night, I ended up catching one hour at about five when I actually passed out from exhaustion.”

Fluttershy’s face clouded with concern. “Are you alright? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, I’m fine. How are you this morning?”

“O-oh, I’m fine, it took me a while to finish that homework.”

“Oh damn, I forgot we had homework. Yet another marvellous grade for my parents to be proud of.”

“Will you get in a lot of trouble?”

“Nah, my parents don’t really care how well I do.” She paused and when she next spoke her words contained a trace of bitterness. “Too busy fighting…”

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say to that so she said, as tactfully as she could, “Well that’s good at least, if I came home with anything less than Bs my parents would probably explode.”

Rainbow grinned. “You ought to try it sometime, only, if there’s going to be exploding parents, I’d like to be there to see it.”

Fluttershy gave a small smile. “We should probably head to class, you’re a bit late, class should be starting soon.”

Fluttershy headed off towards the classroom, a slight bounce to her step. She seemed happier. Rainbow smiled, it was nice to see her happy.

Class passed uneventfully, unlike Rainbow Dash, who failed miserably and got given detention.

When class ended and all the students were filing out, Rainbow chased after Fluttershy.

“Hey, you want to go for a walk?”

“Ok.”

The two set off for the oval. Most of the students liked to have lunch out in the fresh air. After finishing their meals, some would even go to work training in the flight aria or the magic corner. Rainbow was vaguely aware that there was even a gym, somewhere, with weights and exercise machines. She supposed these were for the students without wings or horns although, presumably, she was free to use them as well.

As they walked, Rainbow became aware of a different texture to the silence. She looked across at Fluttershy, who seemed to be deep in troubling thoughts.

“What’cha thinking about?” Rainbow asked, cheerfully.

“Hm?” Fluttershy looked up, as though awakened from a deep sleep.

“I asked what you were thinking about, you looked like you were a million miles away.”

“Oh…” A look crossed the girl’s face, as though she was carefully weighing up whether or not to say something. “It’s nothing.”

“Ok," said Rainbow. She didn't know how she knew but she just knew that if she waited, Fluttershy would elaborate.

More time passed in silence. At last, Fluttershy spoke. Her tone was measured and careful, as though she had carefully chosen each word. “When… when did you know?”

Rainbow shrugged. “You’ll have to be more specific.” She feigned ignorance although she suspected she knew what this was about.

“You know, that you’re… gay…” Fluttershy flushed and looked away.

Rainbow thought for a while. “I’ve always known.” This was her blanket response and one she had perfected long ago. It wasn’t true but it saved trouble.

“Really? You just always knew?” Fluttershy sounded so dejected.

Rainbow sighed. “No, not really, I just don’t like to go in to details.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t think… I just thought… since… you know… your outburst… I didn’t think you were sensitive… I’m really sorry.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t be, I’m not sensitive I just don’t particularly like talking about it.”

“Oh, ok.” Fluttershy looked away again, she looked like a puppy that had been given a harsh telling off. She just looked so sad and put out.

Rainbow sighed again; this girl could drag secrets out of her that she had sworn to take to the grave. “It started at a friend’s place, this being back in the good old days when I had more friends than you could poke a stick at. Anyway, I was at a sleep over, we had played all the fun games; pillow fights, spooky stories, truth or dare that kind of stuff. This was at the house of a girl called Daisy, she was my best friend before I met Pinkie. We went everywhere together. I had never been much in to guys but Daisy was always beside me.

“Anyway, so we’d run out of games and none of us were tired, so Daisy suggested we play spin the bottle. A few rounds passed and a few awkward kisses, I was kind of relieved, at the time, that it kept not landing on me. We had all kissed before, including me, but this was fairly strange as we were all girls.

“At last it was Daisy’s turn to spin the bottle again and it landed on me. I’ll never be able to fully explain how I felt in that moment but it seemed like time sped up and slowed down all at once. I can’t really remember either one of us moving but I do remember, to this day, what her lips felt like, how long it lasted, how warm…” Rainbow trailed off, staring back at the past with glazed eyes. “Like I said, I’d kissed guys before but it never felt like that.”

Fluttershy gave a half smile. “Then what happened?”

Rainbow shrugged “Not a lot; she pulled away and giggled, I nearly passed out and if it wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done to keep my head together in that moment then I don’t know what was. It felt like every nerve in my body was tingling with electricity.” Rainbow flashed her usual devilish grin. “It felt so wrong it felt so right, don’t mean I’m in love tonight, I kissed a girl and I liked it.”

Fluttershy gave a quiet laugh. “Did you have a crush on her? I mean… if you don’t mind telling me.”

“You know; I don’t think so, I don’t really know. We drifted apart anyways. I considered asking her out but it was still pretty strange and I didn’t really know what to think. In a way it seemed so right that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t worked it out before but on another level it was also really scary.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“Yea, they were really cool about it, turns out mum’s bi anyway so she was really supportive.”

“Really?”

“Yea, I don’t know why anyone who was impartial would choose men but I guess that’s just a perspective thing really. I suppose I should be happy she chose to be with dad; otherwise I wouldn’t exist…” Rainbow grimaced. “Mind you…” She left the sentence hanging and Fluttershy didn’t press her. “Anyway, why do you ask?”

Fluttershy was silent for a while. When she spoke, it was only a mark of how hard Rainbow was listening that she even heard Fluttershy’s next words. “I tried to come out to my parents once…”

Rainbow tilted her head to one side. “When you say ‘tried’…”

Fluttershy just looked at the ground, scuffing the grass with a shoo.

“What happened? Were they mad?”

Fluttershy still didn’t make eye contact but she continued quietly. “They didn’t exactly get mad, well, they did, kind of. My dad told me that I shouldn’t say that kind of rubbish, that I was normal and I had just picked up this crazy idea from bad influence friends. They wouldn’t hear a word of it, they grounded me and told me that I wasn’t allowed out until I saw how stupid this all was. They don’t think that being gay is even possible; they think it’s just some sort of stupid new trend.”

Rainbow lowered her voice. “How long did it take for them to let you out?”

“Until I did what they told me to do; five days.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment. She was aware that this was a pretty big thing and wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed. “That… that really sucks.”

Fluttershy stopped and turned to face her. “You’re… you’re the only person I’ve ever told.”

Again, Rainbow felt as though she was losing control of the situation. She opened her mouth to say something but then Fluttershy was hugging her and sobbing in to her shoulder. All Rainbow could do was wrap an arm around the sobbing girl and hold her until the sobbing slowed.

“Are you ok?” In retrospect, Rainbow realised that this was a really stupid thing so say, of course she wasn’t ok.

“I, um, oh g-goodness… I’m-I’m sorry I just, um, I th-thought I had this under control, I’m so sorry , I didn’t mean, uh, I didn’t mean to break down like that I- oh goodness.”

Rainbow lay a finger across Fluttershy's lips, silencing her. “Relax, it’s alright. I probably wouldn’t be looking so good if my parents did something like that.”

Fluttershy only looked at the ground and scuffed her shoo against the grass some more.

“Why haven’t you told Derpy, though, I thought you guys were really close.”

“Oh, we are I just… I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t really want to talk about it, we don’t usually talk about this kind of thing. I guess I just wanted to tell you because I thought it was pretty cool when you came out in front of the entire class.” Fluttershy managed a watery smile.

Rainbow laughed lightly. “The class was nothing, my favourite part was Mister Johnson’s reaction.”

Fluttershy giggled, and then she was laughing and Rainbow was laughing as well. It was unclear who moved first but the two were suddenly hugging each other tight, laughing and heaving for breath. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for the mask to slip, but it always does.

Authors notes: First up; yes I know there is an actually authors notes section but I don't really like the way it looks so I'm going to keep just putting the authors notes like this. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it took so long but I've had a nasty case of writers block for ages. I hope you think it was worth the wait. Oh, also; the song Rainbow Dash quoted was "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry.

Interlude

Hey there, just me, you know, the person who writes these. Anyway, I know you were probably expecting me at the end of this chapter but don't fret; I will be cropping up again later. The point of this forward is the tag I wish had been invented to stick on chapter that just don't make sense. I've used something like this before on the second chapter of A Strange Conundrum. The point I'm failing to say very succinctly is that this chapter is from Pinkie's perspective and, well, just be prepared for fourth wall shattering and general strangeness. If it will bother you too much then you can actually skip this chapter provided you read maybe just the last paragraph. I promise to start writing normally again on chapter seven. Hope you enjoy.

All was quiet in the small dark room. Pinkie Pie was asleep and dreaming of things that would make a physicist’s head spin right around. All that could be heard was her gentle breathing and the ‘tick, tock’ of a clock on the nightstand. Silence prevailed for a blessed while as, slowly, more seconds wound on to the spool of infinity.

All at once, the sleeping figure on the bed sat bolt upright. Pinkie Pie sniffed the air a few times. Something had changed, something big. After a few seconds of deep thought, she grinned. “Fuck yea!” Pinkie said, enthusiastically fist pumping. “POV shift, baby!” and with that despicable shattering of the fourth wall, Pinkie flopped back down on her bed, still grinning. Tomorrow was going to be fun.

A skip and a slide the passages wide as through the gates she hops,
A girl of pink hair and physique quite fair, keeps moving and nary stops
For Pinkie Pie, with glint in her eye, had got what she had craved,
A point of view shift, a promising lift, a chance to be badly behaved.

Pinkie Pie grinned as she skipped through the hallways of Omnas Mannis. She worked her way through the corridors, creating other various little ditties. They seemed to come naturally when she was in a good mood.

As she worked her way through the hallway, she noticed Derpy and Twilight, walking side by side, heading towards her. She smiled, there it was again, that strange feeling like butterflies in her stomach. It tended to happen whenever… she was around. Pinkie had been truly delighted to find that she actually had a crush on a girl.

“So then you add the oil to the water and stir until combined…” Derpy was saying, while thinking kissmekissmekissmekissmekissmekissmekissme

Whilst Twilight nodded and said, “I see, but what about…” while thinking, this is fascinating, she just doesn’t realise how many ground-breaking discoveries she’s made purely for the sake of making nice cupcakes, what an amazing girl, I wish she’d kiss me.

Pinkie had to grin at the different levels of sophistication in how these two were totally crushing on each other, but then she frowned. Of course she knew that there was a chance that they’d get together. She had helped in a not insignificant way, but she had to confess to jealousy. True, she hadn’t known the girl for long but she’d never felt this way before. Any boy or girl she had admired for their physical beauty before seemed on a completely different scale. Whenever she was around her, her heart rate would flutter and her breathing would feel a little constricted.

“Oh, hey there Pinkie, I was just telling Twilight here about a new recipe I wanted to try.”

“I still think you’re going to have trouble, I’m not entirely sure you’ve done the math right.”

Pinkie was getting used to the heart flutters by now. She turned to Twilight, “I wouldn’t question her if I were you, this girl can do things with muffins that you wouldn’t think possible.” She added to herself, seriously, you should see some of the fanart, that stuff is disturbed.

Derpy blushed a little. “I just like muffins…. Hey, Pinkie, have you seen Fluttershy?”

Pinkie snapped herself out of her momentary stupor. “Hm? Oh, no. Don’t worry, she’s probably off pashing Rainbow.”

Twilight tilted her head on one side. “Pashing?”

Pinkie giggled. “kissing, making out, sucking face, snogging, playing tonsil tennis, tongue tango, soul meets soul on lovers lips—”

“I think I get it,” Twilight cut in, blushing furiously.

Pinkie grinned wickedly. “I could do this all day.”

Derpy was biting in to the palm of her hand, shoulders shaking with supressed laughter.

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Well, as lovely as it was enlightening you about the suave and swell joys of saliva sippy straw sucking and the salvation of salivation during a successful sensation of lips on lips causing celebration, although slightly more sedate when sober, and how it can be simple and sweet when sincere, I must depart, I have a lot of sense not to make.”

Although she knew it was a little crass, Twilight had to hand it to Pinkie for that sentence. Alliteration level; Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie smiled and skipped away again, humming a little tune and smiling to herself, probably at a hilarious joke that no one would ever understand.

The day passed slowly and without much ado,
Rainbow showed up for class but didn’t give a screw,
For her eyes were for one girl, and one girl alone,
Without fail, she gazed at Fluttershy, the seed had been sewn,
There was a spark between the girls, that most anyone could see,
And while she wasn’t staring, Dash was scribbling on her knee,
It was probably initials, or a heart and little arrow,
But she kept to her word not letting Fluttershy ever know,
Pinkie sighed a pain-filled sigh, in sympathy for her friend,
She knew what it was like to have a crush that had to end.

The bell rang, signifying the end of class for the day. Tomorrow would be another day and another opportunity but Pinkie knew that it wouldn’t be the same. She knew that tomorrow, the POV would shift back and she wouldn’t have another chance like this. She took a deep breath, it was now. She refused to think ‘now or never’ as, in her mind, she needed to believe that there was no ‘or’ about it; she was going to tell Derpy.

Pinkie straightened her back. Tummy in, tits out as my dear old mum would say. When Pinkie saw her intended, she walked up to her boldly. “Hey Derpy, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure Pinkie, what’s up?”

Pinkie took another deep breath, it was time, she had admitted it to herself and now she had to admit it to Derpy. “Derpy… I… kind of… maybe… have a crush… on… Twilight.”

Ok, so I should probably explain this chapter: I haven't been feeling much up to writing lately so I figured this brief little interlude would just help me get in to the swing of it, also I thought this story could do with a lighter chapter before I continue. I hope you don't decide to walk away in disgust at how blatantly I broke the fourth wall here. Hope you enjoyed this chapter (or, alternately if you skipped it, that you don't feel too cheated)

Alcohol

Hey there diary, it’s me, Fluttershy. Today school was nice again. I still don’t do that well at science but I got to hang out with Rainbow Dash a lot today. She seems distracted lately. She looks at me funny. I don’t really get it, diary, I’ve been swooning after her for weeks but now that I’m close to her I can’t seem to take that final step. Perhaps it’s that I don’t quite feel ready but I’m not sure. Anyway, the reason I’m writing is because I managed to convince my parents to let me go and help Rainbow settle in to her new place, squee. The day before yesterday was Saturday; Rainbow’s birthday. I didn’t get to see her but I will tonight. She told me today that she’s only got the very basics so far. The landlord is a friend of her parents so she gets a very reasonable rent. All the others went to see her the day she moved in to help out but I was totally swamped with homework. Oh diary, I know they only want the best for me but I really wish my parents weren’t pushing all this extra tuition on to me. I look forward to seeing Rainbow tonight; maybe if I see her again I’ll be able to work out what to do about whatever this is that I’m feeling. I don’t think so, though. I’d better go get ready, I’ll tell you how it went when I get back.

Fluttershy stood and stretched. She removed the yellow pony ears from her head and walked out through the open doorway. Once outside she took off, heading in the direction Rainbow had described after school had finished that day.

“Fluttershy, come in.” Rainbow smiled and held the door open. From inside came the sound of loud, blaring music.

Fluttershy walked inside and looked around. In the corner was a large amplifier. Fluttershy didn’t recognise the song.

“Show me how to lie, you’re getting better all the time,
And turning all against the one, is an art that’s hard to teach,
Another clever words sets off an unsuspecting heard,
And as you step back in to line, a mob jumps to their feet,
So dance fucker dance, man he never had a chance,
And no one even knew it was—” Rainbow held up a small black remote and pressed a button, cutting the amps off mid song.
“Sorry about that, it’s my action music, if that makes any sense. I like to listen to it when I need to get stuff done.”

Fluttershy looked Rainbow up and down. She was wearing a pale blue tank top and short denim pants. There were slight sweat stains under her arms and in the corner of the room was a tacky set of cupboards halfway in to what looked like a decent position.

“Do you need any help with that?” Fluttershy asked tentatively.

“Nah, I’ve got it.” Rainbow paced over to the cupboards and, with one great heave that demonstrated her much higher than average strength, moved them fully in to position. She opened one of the doors and withdrew something. “Have a seat.” She said, back still turned.

Fluttershy saw two old, dusty looking couches, a stubby coffee table between them on which sat two glasses. She sat down.
Rainbow walked over and flopped down on the other seat. She leaned across and poured a golden liquid in to both glasses. She picked up her glass and motioned for Fluttershy to do the same. “Here’s to freedom.” She took a long draft from the glass and hissed between her teeth, grinning. “Wow, forget a penny, you could probably dissolve a diamond in this stuff.”

“I’ve never drunk alcohol before.”

“Then you’re missing out,” said Rainbow, confidently.

Fluttershy raised the glass to her nose and sniffed it. It smelled slightly of apples. She tried to take a long drink as Rainbow had but when the stuff hit her tongue like liquid fire, she choked and almost spat it out. She managed to swallow it and felt the slow burning as it worked its way in to her stomach.

Rainbow cackled at her companion’s reaction. “Applejack’s idea of a combination housewarming and birthday gift."

“It’s strong stuff,” said Fluttershy, her voice still a little croaky.

Rainbow stood and walked back over to the cabinet. “Well I’ve also got vodka, that was from Pinkie, sherry, that was from Derpy who Pinkie brought along, didn’t talk to each other much, though, think they might have had a bit of a tiff, and,” She grinned. “cabinet sauvignon nineteen-ninety-eight, guess who that was from.”

“Which is the mildest?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

A tiny little evil thought occurred to Rainbow at that moment. It had been a trying few days and she felt in need of a good laugh. Besides, it had been weeks since her last really good prank, the opportunity was just begging to be taken. It would all be alright, she wouldn’t let it get out of hand. “Well, vodka is pretty weak stuff; you’d have to drink quite a bit of it before you get too silly, even if it’s your first time.” Rainbow fought to keep a straight face and succeeded.

Fluttershy smiled, unaware of her friend’s deceit. “That sounds good.”

Rainbow returned with the bottle and poured a decent slosh in to Fluttershy’s glass. Fluttershy lifted it to her lips and drank. She smiled when it didn’t cause any immediate flaming insides. She sat back and relaxed against the chair, sighing contentedly. “So why did everyone get you alcohol?”

Rainbow shrugged, relaxing as well. “I dunno. Well, Pinkie was never going to get me anything else and Applejack believes that a good stiff cider fixes everything but I don’t know about Rarity. Perhaps she knew what Applejack was getting and wanted to, I dunno, make a point about fancy wine or something.”

Fluttershy smiled and drained her glass. “It doesn’t look like you’ve got that much stuff to move, it wasn’t too bad was it?” Fluttershy held out her glass and Rainbow, laughing wickedly on the inside, refilled it.

“No, it wasn’t too bad. Applejack is seriously strong, I swear she spends all her free time at the gym.”

“So does this mean that you’re parents have split up for good?”

Rainbow Dash was beginning to sense something was amiss. She began to keep a mental count of how many drinks Fluttershy had drunk. “Yea, I’m not too worried though, dad never really had much time for me anyway.”

As she refilled Fluttershy’s glass, Rainbow thought, two.

“Work related?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ve just never really felt like he was actually very concerned with my life.”

“That’s sad. I thought you said he was pretty cool when you came out to him.”

“Yea, I guess. Really it’s always been mum I lean on for support. When I came out to dad what he actually said was ‘Remember that having sex with girls doesn’t mean you can’t get sexually transmitted diseases. Always make sure anyone you sleep with has been tested.’ Which I think technically counts as cool but he hasn’t really mentioned it since.” Three. Rainbow was vaguely aware that her head felt a little addled and fuzzy from the drinks she had consumed.

Fluttershy blushed a little but smiled as well. This reminded her of a question she’d wanted to ask Rainbow for a while now. “Have you ever actually, you know, had a girlfriend before?”

Rainbow frowned distractedly. She picked up the vodka bottle and examined it closely. She wouldn’t have put it past Pinkie to drink the vodka herself and then refill the bottle with water just to mess with Rainbow. She sniffed the contents; it smelled like vodka, she sipped it; it tasted like vodka, she looked at Fluttershy who was now blushing. “Sorry?”

“Is everything alright?” Fluttershy asked, draining another glass and passing it to Rainbow, who refilled it dreamily.

“Oh, um, yes, everything’s fine. Um, sorry, girlfriend.” Rainbow managed to pull her focus back together. “No, I haven’t.”

“You said you’ve kissed boys, though,” Fluttershy persisted.

Rainbow snorted, finishing her fifth glass of the stiff apple cider before she replied. “Yea, just because all of my friends were and I wanted to fit in. It was always unpleasant and… wet” Yes, she was definitely starting to feel the effects of the alcohol now.

“But how did you do it? You know, just waltz up and kiss them?”

“Oh, you know men.” Rainbow was slurring her words slightly, the five cups of cider queuing up to impair her cognitive functioning. “Any girl halfway pretty who tries to kiss ‘em and they’re sold. To be ‘pletely honest with you Shy, keeping ‘em off was the real hassle.”

Fluttershy smiled as her friend became noticeably less sober. “I hope they didn’t do anything inappropriate,” she said, earnestly.

“Oh, no. I would’ve kicked them in fork so hard they’d suddenly go deaf if they’d tried any funny business.” In fact what Rainbow actually said hasn’t been directly quoted here as it was vulgar and likely to cause offence. Be assured that, were Rainbow sober, this would be the version she would say.

Fluttershy held a hand over her mouth, shocked at her friend’s language. “Rainbow, I think you should probably slow down a little, or maybe switch to the vodka.”

Rainbow smiled slightly and tried to remember how many drinks Fluttershy had now drunk. Five? It’s either five or six. “Wouldn’t want to deprive you,” she said, kindly.

Fluttershy shook her head and tried to bring her attention back to the conversation. “So what you’re telling me is that you just waltzed up to a boy and kissed him? Didn’t he object?”

“Like I said; keeping ‘em off was the trouble. I had plenty of boys who would have kissed me.” Rainbow frowned in to her glass. “No girls though.... I was the only person I knew who was gay up until I met you.”

“But I thought Pinkie was bi.”

Rainbow waved a hand a little unsteadily. “Pah! Bi! Being bi is like- is like- is like playing football but not actually choosing a side. You just run around the pitch, see, kicking the ball in whatever direction takes your fancy. Sometimes you kick it to someone from one team, then you kick it to someone on another team. It’s disloyal and awfully fucking confusing.”

Fluttershy looked at the cider bottle sitting on the table, it was nearly half empty. “Rainbow are you feeling ok?”

“I’m fine. How are you holding up?”

Fluttershy thought for a moment. Vodka must be really weak stuff, of course, she’d never had alcohol before so she didn’t exactly know what it was supposed to feel like. “I don’t feel anything yet.”

Rainbow shook her head. This was incredible. “Not any… sort of… oh fuck it.” she shrugged. “s’probably not impor- impor- im- it’s probly nothing.”

A brief silence followed in which Rainbow finished off another glass. At last Fluttershy broke the silence. “What’s it like? Kissing I mean.”

Rainbow looked thoughtful. “Kissing boys or kissing girls?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Kissing girls,” she said, meekly.

“Well I don’t speak from ‘great deal of s’perience but…” She paused, thinking or at least, coming as close to thinking as she could have given her blood alcohol levels. “S’like, um.” All at once she leaned forwards and captured Fluttershy’s lips in a gentile kiss. It was soft and sweet, tasting lightly of apples. Fluttershy’s heart felt like it was doing a tango in her chest, time seemed to stand still, all there was, all there ever would be, was this moment, this shining, beautiful moment. After what was both an eternity and a few seconds, Rainbow pulled away. She considered for a moment, then said quietly and tenderly, “It feels like that.”

Fluttershy was completely caught off guard, her heart was thudding and her chest felt a little constricted. She sat in shocked silence for a while. When she spoke, her voice was awed and filled with certainty. “I want to do that again.”

“So do I, Shy, so do I. kissing is pretty awesome.”

“Then kiss me,” said Fluttershy, almost too quietly to hear.

Rainbow leaned forward hovering close enough that Fluttershy could smell the enticing scent of apples that hung tantalisingly on her friend’s breath. “Fluttershy… I think…” At that moment, something bobbed to the surface of Rainbow’s brain. It was a tiny little thought that whispered to do something sensible. “Maybe in the morning, right now drunk both we’re excessively…” Rainbow moved her lips thoughtfully. “Or you are at least and I don’t want you annoyed at me later when I let you do something stupid while you were drunk that I was shober enough to prevent.”

Fluttershy looked thoughtfully at the empty bottle of vodka on the table. Her head did feel a little fuzzy but it wasn’t effecting her thinking. She was still absolutely sure that she wanted to kiss Rainbow again. She did, however, have to consent that Rainbow was at that stage of being drunk where anything seems like a good idea and the phrase ‘You’ll regret it later.’ holds absolutely no sway.

“Alright, I’ll head home.”

“Oh no you won’t, missy. You’re way to fly to be drunking. You’re going to sleep here tonight and head home in the morning once you’ve shobered up.

“Alright, if you say so.”

“Bed’s this way. You’ll have to share with me tonight. It’ll be a little cramped but you’ll survive.” Rainbow walked off without checking if Fluttershy was following.

Fluttershy smiled and got to her feet. She didn’t know why but the thought sharing a bed with Rainbow made her very happy. She didn’t like to think of what the morning would be like, but between that moment and having to deal with what had happened, was a night in Rainbow’s bed. Things were looking up.

Authors notes: Yay for drunken Flutterdash kiss! *Does drunk ponies dance.* I hope this chapter doesn't come off as too cliche as I've been planning it ever since I had the whole, 'Fluttershy doesn't get drunk' idea. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yea, I might kinda have stayed up late and wrote this whole chapter in one go... by the end I don't care to think how much I probably sounded like Rainbow. Anyway, sorry to pull an IMBTFOLPO on you but I promise it won't happen again. I just liked the idea of having Rainbow listening to that song ever since I saw a youtube called "Gonna go far kid Rainbow Dash." The song is called "Gonna go far kid." and it is by "The Offspring." Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Fallout

“Holey mother of Celestia shouting fus ro dah.” Rainbow tried to let go of life and let the crushing oblivion take her, anything to be rid of this infernal headache. Her mouth tasted like something yellow and distinctly hairy found lying at the back of a disused cupboard. Her head felt like it had been repeatedly bashed with a sledgehammer and then injected with cotton wool. She groaned and wished a pox on Applejack and her cider. She cursed and cursed but it didn’t help.

There was a thunderclap from overhead that sent shooting pains through Rainbow’s skull. Upon reflection, it was actually someone saying something. Rainbow raised a hand and waved it unsteadily. “Shhh, not so loud,” she whined, pitifully.

“I brought you some water and honey.” Fluttershy spoke even quieter than usual, making her the best person in Rainbow Dash’s, rather muzzy, world.

Rainbow managed to push herself in to something like a sitting position. The expected jolt of pain from the light glaring through the windows did not come. Rainbow looked around and saw that Fluttershy had already drawn the blinds. Rainbow thought for a long moment about what to say, considering the most eloquent way she could sum up how she was feeling right at this moment. “Ouch,” she decided.

Fluttershy smiled kindly. She held out a teaspoon with something golden on the end. “Suck on this, it’ll make you feel better.” Rainbow took the spoon and sucked the honey off the end. She handed the spoon back to Fluttershy who took it and handed her a glass of water.

Fluttershy didn’t speak much until Rainbow had polished off several more spoons of honey and another two glasses of water. When she did speak, she spoke hesitantly, as if not sure she should be saying what she was saying, but saying it regardless. “Rainbow… what do you remember of last night?”

“Fluttershy,” Rainbow was still groggy, but felt a bit better now. “It’s a myth that people who get really drunk forget what happened. Mostly people just say that they can’t remember anything that happened the night before because it’s too embarrassing. For example, if I was the dishonest type I might pretend that I don’t remember kissing… you… um… oh fuck.”

Fluttershy blushed a little. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let you, it’s just, you took me by surprise and, well, it was so nice and I, um, oh goodness.”

“Fluttershy, do me a favour would you?” Rainbow said, wincing as Fluttershy’s voice rose in panic.

Fluttershy nodded.

“Just, shut up for a minute.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond but then closed it and nodded again.

“Good.” Rainbow carefully ordered her thoughts before she spoke again, something wasn’t right here, she was missing something. “Hang on a minute, did you say, ‘It was nice’?”

Fluttershy squeaked.

“Are you saying that you’re actually happy, despite being kissed while you were in a drunken stupor?” Yes, something was definitely wrong.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I wasn’t drunk, Rainbow. Turns out I have a stronger stomach than you thought, besides, it’s not like you gave me anything too strong.” To emphasise the point, Fluttershy knocked hard on her head, causing Rainbow to wince. “See? No hangover.”

Rainbow tried not to reflect on how Fluttershy had drunk an entire bottle of vodka and survived let alone stayed sober. It didn’t work.

“How the hell are you still alive?”

Fluttershy smiled cautiously. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Never mind. Look, could we talk about this whole thing later, once I’ve decided whether or not to kill myself?”

Fluttershy frowned, trying to believe she had heard sarcasm in Rainbows tone. “So… you’re not mad?”

Rainbow looked a little surprised. “Mad? Why would I be mad? That was the best kiss I’ve had since…” Rainbow flopped back onto her bed, muffling a cry of both frustration and pain. She sat up and sighed, obviously this couldn’t wait. “Could I have more honey please? Also, there should be some pain killers in the top draw in the kitchen, if you wouldn’t mind grabbing them for me. I think if I tried to stand I’d probably pass out.”

Once the second most effective relief from the headache that threatened to blind her had been ministered (the most effective being arsenic) Rainbow took a deep breath and spoke. “You know how me and Pinkie are always flirting?”
Fluttershy looked mostly nervous but there was something else there as well; hopefulness? “I think you mean ‘Pinkie and I,’ but yea?”

Rainbow waved a hand in dismissal of grammar on the whole. “Well, she also kisses me sometimes… quite a lot actually.”
“But I thought you said you haven’t kissed that many girls.”

“Yea, I don’t really count Pinkie. It’s nice and everything…” Rainbow thought for a long moment, staring off in to space. “Always tastes like sugar.” She flushed slightly and cleared her throat. “Anyway, I don’t really count that because she kisses me as a friend, she’d probably kiss the principle if the whim took her. The point is, that it’s just another level of the friendly flirting to her.”

Fluttershy nodded, unsure. “And, what does this have to do with me?”

“Nothing, really, just using an example. Point is; we can just say we got blind drunk and started being a bit too friendly. Nothing else needs to be said. We can effectively remove the last-” she glanced at the clock on the wall, “-fourteen hours from our memory and—” She looked back at the clock. “Shit!” she said, with great feeling. “We should both be at school!” Rainbow stood up and began to bolt around the room, too frantic to remember to be in crippling agony.

Fluttershy stood too. She was thinking hard. It was the logical thing to do of course. She and Rainbow had only been friends for a short while; things could get really uncomfortable if they weren’t careful. It made sense; people could do practically anything under the influence of alcohol and then get away with just saying that they were drunk and didn’t really mean it. Fluttershy disapproved of this mentality when it was applied in the context of ‘My housebound is a good man, really, but he was drunk.’ But in this context she should wholeheartedly approve… then why am I trying to convince myself? Why do I keep coming up with logical reasons why we should forget about this when all I really want to do is kiss her again?

“Come on, move it.” Fluttershy was snapped out of her reveries by Rainbow waving a hand in front of her face and shouting. “We are currently running so late for school that, if you don’t move you’re sorry arse, we run the risk of being early.

Fluttershy resolved to think about this later. Rainbow was right, she needed to move.

“This is way unfair, Pinkie. When I told you how I felt, you said you would help me ask her out, not start going after her yourself! How could you do this?”

“You’re acting like I chose to feel this way! I know how much she means to you, do you think for one moment that I wanted this?”

“You promised to help! What if she likes you back? What then? Are you just going to say yes?”

“Well that hasn’t happened yet, has it?”

“But what if it did? You know how much it would kill me.”

“I can’t stop feeling this way and I’m bloody well sure that if she asked me out, then there is no chance in hell that I would say no.”

“You bitch! I thought you were my friend! You said you would help, not steal her from me!”

“You stop talking about her like she’s some object! I can’t steel her because you don’t own her! If you two were already together that would be a different story, but you’re not. You have no right to stop me from asking her!”

“That’s not what friends do!”

Pinkie opened her mouth, as thought about to speak, but then she closed it and walked away.

Derpy stood in the oval, tears still burning in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks. After a minute, she walked away too, intent on finding someplace where no one would see her cry.

Fluttershy wandered through the oval, on the lookout for her friend. She was thoroughly confused and felt in need of someone to talk to who wasn’t Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy paused in her searchings when she heard a small sob. Coming from a hollow in a nearby tree. Fluttershy walked over and peered inside to see Derpy, curled up in to a little ball and sobbing hard. Within seconds, Fluttershy was crouched over, cradling the sobbing girl in her arms. “What’s wrong, baby?”

Derpy looked up to see who it was. “H-h-hello F-F-Fluttershy,” she managed between her tears.

“Deep breaths,” said Fluttershy, soothingly. “It’s ok, whatever happened, you can tell me about it.”

“It’s-it’s-it’s-it’s.” She gave a huge sob and gave up.”

“Shh, it’s ok, just take a deep breath.”

Derpy managed to take a shuddering breath and then another. Once her crying had eased off a little, Fluttershy sat back. “Now, tell me what happened.”

Derpy wiped her eyes and sniffed. “P-Pinkie Pie… has a crush on Twilight. She-” Derpy sobbed, “she said that she was going to ask her out. And-and now… who would chose me over Pinkie? Why would she do this to me? I thought we were friends.” Derpy wailed pitifully and began sobbing again.

Fluttershy rubbed Derpy’s back comfortingly. She felt lost for words, what was she supposed to say in a situation like this? “You’re very sweet, Derpy, I’m sure you stand just as much of a chance as Pinkie.” Even to her the words sounded false.
Derpy looked at her with tear filled eyes. “Look at me, F-Fluttershy. I n-n-never stood a chance, I’ve just been kidding myself this entire time.”

Fluttershy cradled the girl in her arms as the sobbing continued. There was nothing else she could say to that. There was no consolation for the truth.

Rainbow was all but running through the halls of Omnas Mannis in search of her salvation. At last she came upon the one person she could always count on to be there.

“Pinkie, we need to talk, come with me. I think I screwed up big.”

Pinkie smiled widely. “I heard Fluttershy went to visit your place last night. Now, Dahsie, what could have possibly gone wrong with a mad crush and a bottle of vodka?”

“Just come with me.”

Once the two were out of earshot of anyone who might wish to listen in, Pinkie piped up. “So what did you two do last night?”

Rainbow blushed. “Um…”

Pinkie gasped and hugged Rainbow tightly. “You two hooked up last night?”

Rainbow blushed even more and said, quickly. “No, no, no nothing like that. I got really drunk, and I maybe sort of kissed her.”

Pinkie frowned. “Wow, Dashie, the drunken kiss? Why were you even drinking when you knew that Fluttershy was coming over? Surely you’ve heard of this concept called drunk people do the things that their sober selves wouldn’t consider for two seconds?”

“I had a hard day and you were all kind enough to give me alcohol, I just… I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t think.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, looking rather sheepish.

“So anyway, you kiss her, fall to a mad passionate make out session and wake up with your mouth tasting like the bottom of a birdcage, what happened then?”

“Well, something kind of strange happened. Fluttershy’s never had alcohol before so I decided to pull a bit of a prank.”

Pinkie was practically grinning from ear to ear. “Dashie… what did you do?”

“I… um… told her that vodka is really weak stuff and she drank a whole bottle.”

Pinkie doubled over laughing. “And you’re feeling guilty for killing you girlfriend?”

“No, that was the strangest part, she didn’t even get drunk. No hangover, no tipsiness, no nothing. I actually wanted to ask you if that was really vodka.”

“Yup, that was the real deal. So let me get this straight: you kissed a sober Fluttershy whilst you were pissed out of your mind… and she isn’t mad at you?”

“Last night is a little fuzzy but I distinctly remember her saying something strange. She-she asked me to kiss her again.”
Pinkie considered this for a moment. When she spoke, her tone was thoughtful. “So you kissed a sober Fluttershy who asked you to kiss her again. What did you say?”

“I realised I was drunk and so I put us both to bed.”

“Well, if I were you right about now, I’d be asking Fluttershy how she felt about me.”

“I can’t just ask her,” said Rainbow, indignantly.

“Well you can hardly ask me how she feels. Look, I’ve got things I need to deal with and you have kissing to do.” Pinkie leaned forward and gave Rainbow a brief kiss. Rainbow couldn’t help but think of what it had felt like to kiss Fluttershy. Pinkie winked. “Go get her.”

Rainbow shoved Pinkie away, playfully. “Oh, and, if you find the time, could you ask Twilight if she might be able to explain why Fluttershy is so alcohol resistant?”

Pinkie waved that away with one hand as she headed off on her own unfathomable mission. “Yea, yea, I’ll do that.

Pinkie Pie was lucky, she supposed, being able to hide her emotions so well. The whole time she had been talking, she had half hoped that Rainbow would see the very definite way in which her friend wasn’t crying. Pinkie knew this wold never happen, though, it never had. She never let anyone see her sad, but every time she put on the mask, she would wish, deep down, that someone would see, and let her cry.

Author's Note

Ugh, fine, I give, I'll use the actual authors notes section. Happy now? *Sigh.* So yea, fallout, really not a lot to say about this chapter. One thing that is worthy of note is the fus ro dah reference. (Had to rewrite that sentence about five times before I got a version that wasn't totally inappropriate... I seem to be editing a lot of dirty jokes out of this story... hmm...) Yes I do now have Skyrim, I got it for my birthday and played it for hours on end which is not very conducive to writing. If you're interested, I've written a full review and posted it on my blog, the link to which is on my user page. *Shamelessly self promotes.* Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Stirrings

Rainbow was standing in the oval, watching Fluttershy. She sighed.She knew Pinkie was right; this was something she had to do.

“You know, standing there isn't going to help much.”

Rainbow jumped at the sudden interruption. She turned to see a nice looking girl with purple hair and a book clutched to her chest. She was a unicorn and, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice, she was also extremely cute, one might go so far as to say adorable. Rainbow thought for a moment, taking in the girl’s appearance. Then it clicked. “Ah, you would be the infamous Twilight Sparkle.”

“I note your use of ‘would,’ with confusion. You state my identity as though it’s optional. While I might not, from your point of view, be Twilight Sparkle, you have stated that I would be and haven’t given me a circumstance in which I wouldn’t be, in other words, an incomplete sentence. To make it complete or correct you would have to either give a condition under which I wouldn’t be Twilight sparkle or drop the ‘would,’ from your sentence making it ‘Ah, I assume that you are the infamous Twilight Sparkle’.” Twilight flashed a winning smile. She didn’t actually make a habit of talking like this, but she had been spending increasing amounts of time with Pinkie, which was beginning to bring out her inner prankster.

Whatever Twilight had been expecting, it wasn’t for Rainbow to think for a moment, then say, “True, but there are ways in which it could be correct. For example; if I were giving you a chance to present a circumstance under which you could not physically be Twilight, such as, if I had been told by someone that Twilight was a pegasus and had forgotten, then you could say, ‘Except that I have no wings and am, in fact, endowed with this rather spiffy horn,’ thus completing the sentence. If you chose to look at it that way then it is you who was in error, not me.” Rainbow flashed an even more winning smile. The two held their gaze locked for several long moments. After some time had passed, Rainbow, very slowly, extended a hand which the girl shook. “It’s very nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle.”

The two girls burst out laughing. Rainbow fell to the grassy ground, tears of mirth leaking from her eyes.

Twilight lay beside her, also wiping away tears of laughter. At last, she managed to sit up. “Ok, now I get why you’re such good friends with Pinkie.”

Rainbow also sat up and brushed herself off. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this ever so grammatical of encounters?”

“Pinkie told me about what happened.”

“Ah, that would explain the whole ‘Standing there isn’t going to help,’ thing.”

“Well it’s true.”

“So what you’re telling me is that there is yet another student in this school who is not even the slightest bit hateful towards me for being gay?”

Twilight snorted. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Look, I’m friends with Pinkie so I thought it was about time I met you. That’s not the real reason I came here, though. Pinkie also told me about Fluttershy’s little alcoholic resistance thingy.”

As curious as she was about Fluttershy, something else in that sentence caught Rainbows attention. “Which are you the pot or the kettle?”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” said Twilight, getting side-tracked.

“Who is it, Derpy?”

“I’m not sure I…”

“Look, aside from Pinkie, I have the best gaydar you will ever encounter in your entire life. Not to mention that I can spot a girl with a crush a mile off. So go on, tell me, is it Derpy?"

Twilight sighed deeply. “It’s not really important. I did some research in to the effects of alcohol and how your… friend… might be immune.”

“And?” Rainbow asked. She knew Twilight was avoiding the question but she was just curious enough about Fluttershy to let it slide.

“Fucked if I know,” said Twilight, cheerfully. "You mad?" She grinned, doing her best impression of a trollface.

Rainbow snorted. “Well if you’re quite done correcting my grammar, telling me how to get a girlfriend and telling me you don’t have a clue why Fluttershy’s immune to alcohol, then perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I went and actually talked to her?”

Twilight jumped lightly to her feet. “Ok, ttyl,” she said, brightly, before wandering away.

Rainbow shook her head. She sighed when she saw that, while she had been talking, Fluttershy had wandered away.

After a few minutes of searching, Rainbow found Fluttershy standing by a tree and gazing at a butterfly that had landed on her hand.

“Hey Shy,” said Rainbow, nervously.

Fluttershy turned and smiled worriedly. “Hey Rainbow, how are you?”

“I’m fine. Look, we need to talk.”

“Um, about what in particular?”

“You know, the kiss. I shouldn’t have just blown it off.”

Fluttershy blushed a deep scarlet. “Um, c-could we talk about this later? You know, when there aren’t so many people around. Perhaps I could come over to your place after school.”

“No, that didn’t go so well last time. Remember I’ve still got a cupboard full of alcohol and now I have even more incentive to drink it.” She thought for a moment. “How about your house, I haven’t seen it yet and it seems only right. You’ve seen where I live after all.”

“Um, alright, I guess.”

Rainbow brightened. “Excellent. Well I’d say we’ve got-” she glanced at her watch which was not made of graphite, “-two classes left until school’s out. Shall we get going?”

Despite herself, Fluttershy giggled at the way Rainbow offered her arm like a gentleman in an old TV show. The two linked arms and headed off towards class, skipping and singing quietly, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..."

“Here it is,” said Fluttershy, motioning down to a nice looking house with a red tiled roof.

Rainbow folded he wings and dropped fifteen feet to the ground, snapping her wings out at the last second to slow her decent. Even so, she was still traveling quite fast. When she hit the ground, she rolled to reduce the impact and sprang to her feet.

Fluttershy landed lightly beside Rainbow. “Very stylish.” If it had been Pinkie saying it, it would have sounded like a jibe for showing off, but this was Fluttershy, sweet, genuine Fluttershy.

Rainbow looked at the house she had landed in front of. “It’s nice.”

Fluttershy led Rainbow inside and down a flight of stars. “Why is your room underground?”

“When we moved in I asked if I could have this room, I don’t know why, I guess I just like it being sort of tucked away.”

Rainbow nodded, absently.

Before she let Rainbow in, Fluttershy said, nervously, “I’m sorry, I don’t often have people over and, um, it may be a bit of a mess and, uh, there might be some—” she was stopped by a finger pressed against her lips. Rainbow grinned and said, “Don’t worry, you should see my room.” She removed her hand from her friend’s face and walked inside.

It was a large room, larger than was average for a downstairs room. Pressed against one wall was a queen sized bed, a mismatching set of blankets, pillow cases and doona covers laid out neatly. The bed sheet was a light, pleasant purple. On the left side of the bed was a night stand with a lamp, a small pile of books and other miscellaneous items piled on it haphazardly. In one corner was a cupboard with a full length mirror on the door. Rainbow grinned, this room simply screamed Fluttershy.

Rainbow flopped down on the bed and motioned for Fluttershy to do the same. “This is nice.”

“Yea, my parents took me shopping just after we moved in and I got to decorate it myself.”

“That’s pretty cool, I’ll take it your parents are pretty wealthy then?”

Fluttershy blushed slightly, aware of her friend’s current financial situation. “We… we’ve never really had to worry about money,” She said, evasively.

Rainbow only snorted. “We should hang out in your room more often, it’s really cute.”

There was a leaden pause, this was only putting off the inevitable and they both knew it. even so, Rainbow decided that she could stall a little longer. “How’s Derpy? I think her and Pinkie might have had a bit of a fight.”

Fluttershy remembered comforting the sobbing girl and what she had said after her tears had dried. “Yes, something pretty huge has come between them.”

“What is it?” Rainbow was a little perplexed, when she had spoken to Pinkie, the girl had seemed her usual bouncy self.

“I don’t think it’s really my place to tell you,” she said, apologetically. “I don’t even really think I should know. You should ask Pinkie, though.”

Rainbow nodded slowly, the subject was becoming even more unavoidable. She cleared her throat and tried. “Read any good books lately?”

They were sitting very close to each other on the soft bed. Fluttershy glanced up before hurriedly returning her attention to her lap.

More silence followed. At last, neather girl could take it any longer. “I really like you,” they both said in unison. Both sets of eyes widened. “You mean, like a crush?” Again, this was said in perfect time. “Yes, like a crush.” This was getting a little ridiculous.

Throwing caution to the wind, Rainbow leaned in and lay a gentle, hesitant kiss on the girl’s lips. When Fluttershy didn’t immediately pull away, Rainbow leaned closer to strengthen the kiss. This time, there was no alcohol haze to dull the sensation. Rainbow’s heart lurched in her chest, her throat felt a little constricted and pleasant tingles shot through her whole body. The world seemed to stop and hold its breath as the two leaned closer and closer together. The sensation seemed to go on for an eternity. At last Rainbow pulled away and looked at Fluttershy.

There was only time for one sheepish grin before Fluttershy leaned back in for another kiss. Time ceased to matter as the two drew closer, fingers tangling in hair, both girls getting blissfully lost in the ever tightening embrace.

Neither one heard the door creak open but both leaped apart when a voice said, “Fluttershy, what the hell are you doing?”

Derpy was standing in her kitchen. Laid out before her was a mixing bowl and all the ingredients to make a new kind of muffin that she had dreamed up just earlier that day.

She sighed and allowed four tears to fall in to the mixing bowl. ‘Plop, plop, plop, plop.’ Next went the eggs, each one cracked slowly and with that little flick of the wrist that should never be used by a good baker.

Derpy was so engrossed in making her muffins that she didn’t hear the door open, didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind her, and didn’t know anyone was in the room until the hands rested, ever so lightly, on her shoulders.

“Hey Derpy.”

‘Plop, plop.’ As two more tears fell in to the mixing bowl.

“Hey Pinkie.”

Pinkie stepped around and picked up the piece of paper on which the recipe for the new muffins was written. She then began to add the next few ingredients and help with the stirring. “You know, one day you’re going to have to branch out and make something new. You could start out with baby steps by making cupcakes, I have some great recipes you could use.”

“I don’t really like cupcakes.”

“Look, I’m sorry.” As she spoke, Pinkie never stopped with the task at hand and never looked at the girl she was helping. “I-I shouldn’t have interfered, I should have just kept this to myself. I just thought you had a right to know.”

“No, you were right; I have no right to stop you trying. For all I know, she might really like you. I just want her to be happy, and you of course.”

The two were silent for a time. At last Derpy asked, as nonchalantly as she could, “So, are you planning on asking her out?”

Pinkie smiled. “Ask who out, dear Derpy?”

“Twilight Sparkle you silly.”

“Now why would I ask Twilight out? That would rather get in the way of me setting you two up.”

Derpy smiled and finally turned to face her exuberant friend. “Thank you Pinkie.”

“Oh, come here you.” Pinkie pulled Derpy in to a tight hug. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“It’s ok. I love you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie Didn’t even have to think before replying “I love you too, Derpy.” She pulled away. “Friends?”

Derpy nodded. “Friends.”

Pinkie turned her attention back to the bench in front of her. “Well, now that that’s sorted out, could you tell me what these are meant to be? You’ve used no flavouring in so far as I can tell.”

“Oh, that.” Derpy looked a little sheepish. “They were meant to taste of sad.”

“I see, well that hardly seems appropriate.” Pinkie leaned over and made a few tweaks to the recipe.

Derpy examined the new ingredients. “You are a sodding genius,” she said, after a moment.

Pinkie nodded and the two set to work again, this time, knowing that, when the muffins came out of the oven, the only thing they would taste of was happy.

Author's Note

Sowwy this chapter took a little longer than usual, I've been really uninspired as of late, hopefully I'll get my inspiration back and bring you a slightly better next chapter. Sorry if this chapter feels a little rushed. I ended up rewriting this kiss scene more than three times and I'm still not entirely happy with it but I figured it was better I just got it done and moved on, I can promise better kisses later. Anyway, so I've kinda got an important update on something that isn't to do with this story. I feel a little guilty talking about it here but I really don't know how else to get people reading the updates section on my user page, please check out said updates section of my page and I will love you forever... well, I'll at least be very happy. Anyway, enough shameless self promoting. Hope you liked this chapter.

Contentment

“Daddy, I-I-I- we were just- we-” Fluttershy was flushed, her lips still a little red from her and Rainbow kissing. There was no denying what they had been doing.

“I thought you got over this years ago! Why would you take part in this nonsense?”

“I-I was just-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Do you know how hard it was for me and your mother when you first told us about your little problem? It was hard but we thought we’d fixed it.”

“But-”

“I’m very disappointed in you.”

Fluttershy looked stunned. Her great teal eyes had a hurt, scared look.

Rainbow had had enough. It wasn’t just this argument, it was the way Fluttershy was always flinching and worrying about her parents. “Look,” she snapped, jumping to her feet. “Your daughter is gay, that’s not going to change no matter how much you try and stop her. One day she won’t be under your control and she’ll do whatever she wants. You can either accept her for who she is and stand by no matter what or you can kick her out and never hear from her again. I know where I stand on that.”

“So you’re the one who’s been filling my daughter’s head with this crap?” He glared at Rainbow with utmost contempt. “And what right do you have? She’s my daughter, what are you to her, the one who got her mixed up in a path to depression and suicide? You have no right.”

“Wrong. I’m her girlfriend and I have every right to stick up for her when she’s being bullied.”

The man turned his attention back to his daughter. “Fluttershy, get away from her. And you,” He returned his gaze to Rainbow. “You get the fuck out of my house this instant. Fluttershy, you’re going to stay in here until you’re ready to apologize.”

Fluttershy got up. There were tears glistening in her eyes. She looked long and hard at her father and, in that moment, Rainbow wondered if she’d ever actually stood up to him. “And if I don’t? What would you do if I told you that I have no intention of ever leaving Rainbow’s side?”

“Then you would have to hope that Rainbow can feed you and put a roof over your head because you wouldn’t be staying here if you were determined to follow that path.”

The tears were falling freely now but there was a determined glint in Fluttershy’s eyes. “Come on then, Rainbow, help me get some of my stuff together.”

The man in the door looked a little shocked but he nodded curtly. “You’ve got five minutes, then get the fuck out.”

Rainbow walked through the front door of her flat and tossed the pile of stuff she was holding on to the couch. She turned to Fluttershy who was staring at the ground, her hair hanging across her face, probably hiding tears. Instead of speaking, Rainbow merely walked over and took the girl in her arms. Rainbow was slightly surprised that Fluttershy didn’t even flinch, relaxing instantly in to the loving embrace. She sat them both down on the couch and rocked the now crying girl on her lap.

What do you say to someone when you know they have every right to be sad? Rainbow wondered. this was not the time for empty platitudes like ‘I’m sure it’ll be ok,’ or ‘There, there, I’m sure it can’t be that bad.’ The fact was that Fluttershy had just lost her house, her parents, her inheritance and everything she’d always taken for granted. And she did it for me… That thought wouldn’t go away. In a way, he was right. What right do I have? I’ve known Fluttershy for only a few weeks and suddenly I’m assuming that I’m more important than everything she left behind.

Fluttershy stirred in her lap “I’m scared.”

The quiet voice snapped Rainbow out of her private reveries. “It’s ok to be scared.”

Fluttershy drew closer, pressing her face in to Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow lay a loving hand on Fluttershy’s back. The two lapsed in to silence, content in each other’s company. Rainbow reached a hand up and ran it through the soft pink hair, breathing in the scent of flowers.

At last, Fluttershy spoke again. “Rainbow?”

“Hmm?”

“When you said that... thing, did… did you mean it?”

“what thing?”

“When you said you were my girlfriend.”

Rainbow flushed a little but Fluttershy didn’t see. “I-I just- well, we were kissing and- I guess I just spoke without thinking and-”

Rainbow would have said more but at that moment Fluttershy sat up and brought their lips together. It didn’t last long, it didn’t need to, Rainbow knew what it meant. “Thank you for sticking up for me.”

Rainbow’s heart went cold and bitter when she heard those words. “Are you kidding? I got you kicked out of your house.”

“It'll be ok, I’ve got a fantastic girlfriend, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She bit her lip. “I just- I just didn’t think he would actually kick me out… I knew he wouldn’t be happy but…. It’s just scary not having that security anymore.” More tears welled up in those beautiful teal eyes.

“I know.”

Fluttershy leaned forward again and Rainbow resumed playing with her hair. They fell in to another contented silence as the night drew on, neither caring that they had school tomorrow. It was so nice to finally be there as a couple, the future could wait.

“Well top of the morning to you Dashie. And Fluttershy, how sweet you two look holding hands like an old married couple. Mazel tov.”

Rainbow only gave a half smile, she had suspected Pinkie might react this way. “Morning Pinkie. Yes, me and Shy are now officially a couple.”

“Shy and I.” Fluttershy corrected.

Pinkie smiled broadly. Just at that moment, Applejack walked past, murmuring, “Morning,” as she passed.
Pinkie shouted after her. “Hey, AJ, you owe me fifty bits.”

“Dangit!” she cursed and continued on her way.

“Now as I was about to say: wow, this is quite a shock.” Pinkie grinned. “Totally wasn’t expecting that one.”

“How many of our friends did you bet that we would get together?” Rainbow asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Well, let’s just say that I won’t be struggling for my lolly money for quite some time," said Pinkie, winking.

Rainbow snorted. “Should have known. Well, I’m off to catch up on some flight practice, you with me Shy?”

“Oh, you go on ahead, I just need one teensy word with Pinkie Pie.”

“Ok.” Rainbow walked off, leaving Fluttershy and Pinkie alone.

“What was it you-”

Fluttershy stepped forward, fixing Pinkie with a spine melting stare. She didn’t know what was happening but it felt like she was suddenly able to convey, with a look, a sense of terrifying threat and menace. She drew up so she was only inches away from Pinkie’s face. “Rainbow. Is. Mine. Got that?” She emphasised each word with a prod in the chest.

Pinkie was momentarily taken off guard by that stare but she bounced back. “Don't worry she wouldn’t stand a chance with me, to be honest, she’s not really my type. However, I am glad that you two finally hooked up. You make a cute couple.”

Fluttershy stepped back, freeing Pinkie from her withering gaze. She smiled sweetly. “Excellent. Then you and I should be the best of friends.” Still smiling, Fluttershy walked away, following after her girlfriend.

“Now and then I think of when we were together.” Applejack stood against a wall, feeling distinctly invisible. She was watching a slender girl with a build most boys, and girls for that matter, would kill for, a look of sadness in her eyes. “Like when you said you felt so happy you could die. I told myself that you were right for me, but felt so lonely in your company. But that was love and it’s an ache I still remember. You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness like resignation to the end, always the end. So when we found that we could not make sense, well you said that we could still be friends-”

“Hey AJ, why are you singing?”

Applejack looked around to see a grinning face. “Um, oh, hi Pinkie. I was-I was- I was just…”

Pinkie frowned slightly. “What’s wrong? You look all glum.”

“It’s nothing.” Applejack avoided the bright blue gaze, she never had been any good at lying.

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” Pinkie deadpanned.

“Alright, let me rephrase that: it’s nothing that concerns you.”

“Look, let’s just assume that I win this argument and that you tell me what's going on. That way we can skip the actual argument and get to the part where you tell me what’s wrong.”

Applejack began preparing a new counter argument but sighed and gave up. “Rarity broke up with me.”

Pinkie’s face fell. “Oh. Fuck.”

Applejack nodded. “Yea, fuck.”

Pinkie wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders and began walking them off in some random direction. “Now you come with auntie Pinkie Pie. Tell me what happened.”

“She said…" Applejack thought for a moment, then made an attempt at a smile. "She said, ‘You don’t know me, you don’t even care,' oh yea. She said, ‘You don’t know me, you don’t wear my chains,' oh yea.”

“Gallows humour I see," said Pinkie, unimpressed.

Applejack shrugged. “Couldn’t help it. We just had a really big fight.”

“Do you think it’ll blow over?”

There was a long pause before Applejack answered. At last she said, quietly, “I don’t know.”

“What were you even fighting about?”

“She’s decided my music is in bad taste.” This was true but it wasn't the real reason.

“Well who can blame her?”

“I know you don’t exactly get it but Queen is my life.” This new subject seemed to cheer Applejack, slightly.

Pinkie reached a hand up and patted her friend comfortingly on the back. “If that’s the case, then you should commit suicide.”

Applejack scowled. “Freddy Mercury is an inspiration.”

Pinkie nodded thoughtfully. “Quite right; he nearly inspired me to do drugs.”

“Wait," Applejack stopped walking and looked at her friend in surprise. "You don’t do drugs?”

This was met with nothing but a disapproving silence.

“Oh, lighten up.”

“What are you doing being so cheerful? Are you seriously telling me that your girlfriend broke up with you over your taste in music and you’re upbeat enough to make jokes with me?”

“Alright, it had nothing to do with Queen. I’m only joking ‘cause it’s either that or cry." Applejack looked at her feet. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet and sad. "And I’m stronger than that.”

Pinkie stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face Applejack, her eyes were bloodshot, and it was obvious she had been crying. There were also bags under her eyes, suggesting that she had lost sleep. “Alright, AJ, you’re going to have to tell me what this is about.”

“That’s between me and Rarity.”

“Ugh, that's not helping.” Pinkie had to stop herself from tugging at her hair in frustration.

“It's wasn't supposed to."

“How am I supposed to help you if I don’t know what’s going on?” she tried.

“Look, I just need to talk to Rarity, I’m sure I can work this out," said Applejack, once more avoiding her friend's gaze.

“Then why don’t you do that?”

“She won’t listen to me, she just gets all snippy and getting her to actually agree to talk is impossible.”

Pinkie smiled. “Ah, dear Jacky, where there is a Pinkie there is a way, and you have a Pinkie.” She thought for a moment. “Well technically you have five, but that’s not the point. You have one that’s spelled with a capital P and that’s the one that’s going to fix your sad, pathetic and broken relationship. Now I’ve got things I need to sort out, ciao.” Without waiting for a response, Pinkie skipped off.

I must be imagining things, thought Applejack, dazedly. I can’t have just seen Pinkie walk, uh, skip, towards the library.

“Hey Twi, could you get me an A plus please?” There was a thump as a pile of homework hit the table that one Miss Twilight Sparkle had been studying at.

Without missing a beat, Twilight said, “Just as soon as you tell me your ulterior motives.”

Pinkie leaned back, pantomiming shocked hurt. “Twilight, are you saying that I couldn’t just want you to get me through my school work without having to lift a finger myself?”

“Well when you put it that way, yes I suppose so, but go ahead; tell me I’m wrong.”

“Well…” Pinkie grinned sheepishly. Spending increasing amounts of time with Twilight wasn't exactly doing wonders for helping her resist making a move but she couldn't help it, she was just so much fun. And with Dashie and Fluttershy kissing on a cloud, I'm without any other partner in crime.

Twilight smirked triumphantly, sliding the homework closer so she could get started. “Go on.”

“I need you to get Jacky and miss pricy princes pants back together, they broke up and AJ's being all depressing and glum, I want them back together as soon as possible so she can go back to being fun," Pinkie said, glad to have one of the things she wanted to ask about out in the open.

“Need I ask more or are you planning on telling me anyway?”

“Look, you’re not making resisting you any easier." Pinkie frowned, every time Twilight made a witty remark or clever insight, not asking her out became a more difficult chore. "AJ’s having trouble just talking it out with Rarity, I need you to find a spell that would just let them talk. Hopefully drugging them won’t be necessary.” Pinkie had told Twilight about her little crush but had neglected to mention why she couldn’t act on her feelings.

Twilight just snorted. “Fickle aren’t you? First you’re going after Rainbow and now me, make up your mind girl.” She paused for thought. “I’ll see what I can do but this isn’t exactly something I’ve done before. I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I ask," Pinkie said, smiling.

Sensing there was something else, Twilight said, “I doubt it, what’s on your mind?”

“I swear girl, get out of my head.”

Twilight grimaced. “If only I could. Seriously, you might want to clean up in there occasionally.”

Pinkie giggled. “Alright, you got me.”

“So? What is it?”

“Ugh, I’m no good at this, this has always been Dashie’s area of expertise. Do you have a crush on anyone?”

Twilight grinned. “Is that your way of asking me out? You didn’t last long in the whole resisting game did you?”

“No, no, not me. Is there anyone else?”

“Oh, quite nosy today aren’t we? And what would you do if I were to drape myself all over you and tell you that I fancy you and always have?”

Pinkie thought for a moment. “Fob you off and then take a long, cold shower,” she decided. “However, that doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Did it occur to you that that might have been deliberate?” asked Twilight, smirking.

“Spill already," Pinkie whined.

Twilight sighed in resignation. “Fine, yes I like someone, happy?”

“That depends, I’ve got a lot invested in who you decide to sha—”

“Oi, none of that. I said I liked someone I didn’t say I was sleeping with them.”

“I never said you were getting any sleep.”

“Well played,” said Twilight, blushing.

“Could you at least tell me?” asked Pinkie, hoping that a non joking, reasonable tone would get the answer she was after.

Twilight raised her eyebrows at the change of tone. “I could.”

“But you’re not going to?”

“Bravo, fifty points for powers of accurate prediction”

“Fine, be that way.” Pinkie sighed in mock despair and flounced away.

“I’ll just be here,” said Twilight, grinning, “getting you an A plus.”

“What did she say?” Derpy looked nervous, pacing back and forth as she awaited Pinkie’s response.

“She wouldn’t tell me but she said there was someone she liked.”

“You don’t think it’s you, do you?”

Pinkie raised her eyebrows. “Sit down, girl, you’re making me dizzy.” She reached up as Derpy was passing and pulled her down on to a chair.

She looked in to those great big, golden eyes, edged with worry and tears. “What if she doesn’t like me?” The query was quiet and sad.

“Then she’s a fool,” Pinkie said firmly. “You two would be perfect together, she’s smart, she’ll see that.”
Derpy managed a small smile. “You really think so?”

“Of course.” Pinkie grinned. “Oh come here, you.” She pulled Derpy close and held her in a tight embrace. “Come on, let’s go and spend some time admiring attractive girls who we’ll never have a shot with.”

“Sounds like fun.” The two stood and headed off towards the oval, occasionally shoving or bursting in to random fits of giggles. Despite a shaky start, it was looking to be a pretty good day.

Rainbow had always believed that the first kiss was the most special. Of course she knew that couples got together and kissed more than that first time, but she had thought nothing could ever match that first time, with the adrenaline and tension that wracked the body. That overwhelming joy when they kissed back. Until now that is. Now, with her whole world centred around the soft lips pressed against her own, the warm body wrapped in her arms and the sweet smelling hair tangled in her fingers. There was always something to be said for a first kiss, but this was wonderful.

Fluttershy leaned back, a little cross eyed and smiled. “Hmm, you kiss so much better when you’re not drunk.”

Rainbow grinned, a little sheepishly. “I wasn’t that drunk.”

Fluttershy smirked playfully. “You had nearly a whole bottle of really strong apple cider.”

“It wasn’t as strong as all that.”

“I talked to Applejack about that, actually.” To the casual observer, this might have seemed like just an idle comment, but Rainbow heard the subtle shift in tone that meant she could very well be in a whole lot of trouble.

She attempted to keep her tone casual when she asked, “Oh? Do tell?”

“Yes, she said it was some of the strongest stuff she had.”

“She did, did she?”

“Oh yes. She also said something else that I found interesting.”

“Um?”

“When I mentioned that I hadn’t actually had any and told her what I had instead, she seemed somewhat surprised.” Fluttershy carefully raised a hand and inspected it thoughtfully.

Rainbow had suspected something like this might be coming. What had she been thinking?

“Shocked in fact.” Fluttershy’s tone was still dangerously sweet.

“I can explain?” Rainbow tried, hopefully.

“Forty percent alcohol, Dashie."

“Good thing alcohol doesn’t affect you, isn’t it.”

“So you’re telling me you knew that I wouldn’t get as rascally drunk as you?”

“Well, 'know' is a pretty strong word.”

“Yes, and vodka is a pretty strong drink." Fluttershy's voice had reached a peak of dangerous and it seemed as thought the storm was about to break. She turned her gaze to Rainbow and near pinned her to the cloud with the stare. After a long pause, she said, thoughtfully, "I don’t suppose you have any more of it do you.” She grinned.

Rainbow looked a little surprised for a moment, but then began laughing. Fluttershy giggled quietly and said, “If I didn’t know better, Dashie, I’d say you were trying to get me to kiss you. If you’d had your way, I’d probably still be drunk.”

“Well, I admit that I was curious what you would act like.”

“That must have been a very disappointing experiment.”

“Yea, it was kinda. The result was worth it, though.”

Fluttershy snuggled closer and Rainbow pulled them both in to a lying down position so she could gaze up at the sky. They lay there in contented silence for a while.

At last, Rainbow spoke. “If all of school was like this, it wouldn’t be half so bad.”

“Are you saying you don’t enjoy having ignorant sex ed teachers out you in front of the entire class?” Fluttershy asked, innocently.

“Since when did you become so cheeky?”

Fluttershy leaned up and lay a gentle line of butterfly kisses along Rainbow’s neck, causing her to squeak in surprise. “I learned from the best.”

Rainbow flushed a little. “Humph,” was all she managed.

Fluttershy snuggled in again.

Yup, definitely a good day.

Author's Note

Wow, sorry this took a minor eternity to finish. Troubles arose as I ended up making an impromptu trip to visit a friend for while and the power conked out due to heavy storms leaving me completely computerless. THE HORROR. Also I would like to blame Skyrim for the delay as it still hasn't relinquished it's hold on me.

Anyway, now to actual things I need to say that aren't excuses. First of all I would like to thank all you awesome people who have read and favourited this story. I really didn't have any idea the reception for this little idea of mine would be so fantastic. Ok, so this probably deserves an explanation. I was recently very happy when I realised that this story has now gotten more likes than IMBTFOLPO. So I figured that this was a good time to say a great big thanks for that.

A lot of authors notes this time I see... anyway, I should probably clear up that I happen to love Queen and that Pinkie Pie's opinion is her own and I do not share it. The first song I referenced was "Somebody That I Used To Know," by Gotye, and the other one was "Boston," by Augustana. I hope you liked this chapter and that the next one won't take so long.

Endings

“Never gonna give you up,” sang Twilight as she walked through the halls of Omnas Mannis. “Never gonna let you down.” People groaned as she walked past, sticking the song irreparably in their brains. “Never gonna run around, and desert you.” Twilight grinned, seeing the havoc she was wreaking.

“Never gonna make you cry,” sang another voice, causing Twilight to turn and inspect the new Rickroller. “Never gonna say goodbye.” She grinned when she saw who it was and joined in for the next line. “Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you.”

Twilight cracked up laughing. “Hey Derpy. How are you?”

Derpy flashed a sheepish smile. “Good morning Twilight Sparkle. I’m fine.” Derpy blushed a little when Twilight smiled at her.

“What’s up? You seem a little flustered.”

Derpy gulped and cleared her throat. “Um, well…” The truth was that she had entered this encounter with every intention of asking Twilight out. However, things weren’t exactly going to plan. “Nothing’s up, I just wanted to see if you felt like hanging out for a while.”

Twilight tilted her head a little but instead of questioning her friend further, she smiled kindly and said, “I’d love to. I was just looking for Pinkie, there’s a favour she asked of me, well two actually, and I just finished them this morning. Do you know where she is?”

Derpy relaxed a little. “She stayed over at my place last night.”

“She did what?” Twilight sounded shocked.

“Oh, no, not like that.” Derpy’s cheeks went a deeper shade of pink. “I asked her to come and help me work on a new muffin and we ended up staying up really late while they baked. By the time they were done it was too late for her to head home so she crashed on the couch.”

“I see.” Twilight nodded. She took Derpy’s hand and they walked off in a direction that may or may not contain a Pinkie Pie. “Tell me about these muffins.”

“Well…”

Pinkie was sitting at a table, trying not to fall asleep, when she heard the approaching voices. “No! Absolutely not!”

“But, think about it, imagine—”

“I don’t care what you say there is no way.” Pinkie gulped, this didn’t sound good.

“I don’t see why you would be so opposed to this.”

“No, no, no! It’s immoral. I won’t just stand by and let you attempt to create sentient muffins.”

Derpy sounded almost in tears. “But, why not?”

“Because—”

“Hey guys,” Pinkie interrupted, attempting to both, end the fight and avoid choking on her laughter.

Derpy grabbed Pinkie in a tight hug and buried her face in the girl’s neck. “Pinkie, Twilight Sparkle doesn’t like my idea,” she said sadly.

“I told you she wouldn’t.” She turned a disapproving look on Twilight. “Now look what you’ve done,” she said, reproachfully.

Twilight sighed melodramatically. “Fine.” She pulled Derpy away from Pinkie and hugged her comfortingly. “You do realise, don’t you, that eating them would mean killing them.” She thought for a moment. “I hope,” she added. “It would be amazing if you could create life but would you then want to immediately proceed to end it?”

Derpy pulled away and thought for a moment. “I hadn’t looked at it like that.” She smiled sheepishly. “When you put it that way it does sound a little immoral.”

Twilight rolled her eyes good naturedly.

“Well now that’s out of the way, Twilight, did you finish that thing I asked you to do?” asked Pinkie, brightly.

“Hmm? Oh, yes I did, both of them.” She tossed Pinkie a thick stack of paper. “If that doesn’t get you an A plus then you’ll know I screwed it up on purpose just to mess with you.”

“I would have felt so much better if you’d said, ‘Then I don’t know what will’,” said Pinkie, shuffling through the papers to check for any obvious signs of deliberate damage.

“What did she ask you to do?” asked Derpy, curiously.

Twilight snorted. “Which part, the homework or getting her friends to un-breakup?”

“Oh sure, anything sounds bad when you say it with that attitude,” said Pinkie, trying not to smile.

“Anyway, I found a spell that might just work, well more of a potion.” She reached in to her pocket and withdrew a Mount Franklin water bottle filled with slightly opaque liquid. She tossed it to Pinkie who caught it reflexively.

“This is it?” she asked critically. “You make a wonderful communication-potion-thing and put it in an old, used Mount Franklin bottle. Oh ten out of ten for style there Twilo.

“Twilo?” asked Derpy, frowning.

Pinkie shook her head and looked down at the bottle. “I, um, never mind. How, exactly, does this stuff work and what’s in it?”

“Just water. I put a spell on it for ease of communication. It’s usually used by married people to sort our spats without a divorce lawyer. You just make them both drink a little and then they’ve got about ten to fifteen minutes before it wears off.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Catch?” asked Twilight, innocently

“Yes, it all seems too easy.”

“Well, it would be sensitive to the container, wouldn’t it?” said Derpy, is if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She must have been on to something because Twilight flushed and didn’t meet her gaze.

“I’m not sure I follow,” said Pinkie, perplexed.

Derpy continued. “Well any compound of that nature would be sensitive to subtle changes in atmosphere and tainted surfaces. It would be volatile in the extreme although not in the same way as nitro-glycerine. If it was altered you wouldn’t even know because the shift would be too minute to register but even that could drastically alter the effect. However, whatever the outcome, the only stable effect is that it has a time cap. No changes are going to become permanent.”

Derpy looked at Twilight, who had exchanged her look of guilt to one of shock, admiration and something else. “I bloody love you,” she said, in awe.

Derpy flushed deep crimson. “It- it’s just obvious when you think abo—”

“Kiss me now you fool.” Twilight pulled the girl in for a passionate kiss. Depy squeaked a little and kissed back enthusiastically. When, at last, Twilight pulled away for breath, she said, “You, follow me.”

Derpy’s cheeks had gone an elegant shade of deep scarlet. She grinned a little and there was the definite impression that, if she had ears, they would have perked up in excitement. “Yes please.”

“Ciao, Pinks, I have plans,” said Twilight as she headed off at a brisk walk, trailed by a dazed but ecstatic looking Derpy.

Pinkie, who had watched all this with a huge grin on her face, merely waved cheerfully. She hummed a little tune and skipped off in search of Applejack. This was going to be fun.

Rainbow Dash lay on her back, staring up at the ever-shifting clouds that swirled overhead. Applejack could keep her family orchard, Rainbow owned the sky. It was her domain and she was queen, in all her years she had never met a more naturally talented flyer. And yet, that had never seemed so hollow until now. What did I really do to earn this? Nothing. I was born with a gift and then proceeded to rub it in everyone’s faces. Why did that never seem so childish up until now? Why does it seem so important all of a sudden? Why am I asking all these questions? Frowning, Rainbow rolled over on the soft cloud-stuff, and faced her girlfriend, who was currently starring unperturbed up at the azure sky. “What does infinity hold, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy blinked in confusion. “That’s very deep and philosophical, where is all this coming from?”

“I don’t really know,” said Rainbow, not entirely honestly.

“Well,” said Fluttershy, after a short pause, “I would think that it holds everything, everything that ever was, is, or ever will be. Infinity is beginningless and endless.” Fluttershy knew that, if this was important, Rainbow would elaborate and so did not press her or more details.

After a long, considered, pause, Rainbow said, “And where do we fit in that?”

“Think about a blip, like, a tiny little blip in a tape that plays for a thousand years. Think of that blip as less than a millionth as a second long. Now zoom in on that blip until it seems as long as the first tape and repeat this process forever. We are practically nothing.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?” This was getting closer to the heart of the matter but still, this wasn’t the whole story.

“Why should it? I have friends, I have a place to live and I’m happy. Against oblivion there really are only two things that work; denial and acceptance.”

“And you accept that one day even your name will just be a collection of sounds with no more meaning?”
“Have you been reading The Fault in Our Stars?” Fluttershy asked, a small smile on her face as she continued to resist turning her gaze from the sky.”

“Huh?”

Fluttershy’s smile broadened. “Oh, nothing, just a thought.”

There was a long silence this time but Fluttershy didn’t mind, she knew Rainbow was thinking about something and was content to continue to study the birds and clouds that passed whimsically overhead. A pair of robins flitted around playing some sort of chase game, both birds chirping cheerfully as the game progressed. The high altitude winds were strong today, meaning that the clouds were quickly forming and reforming. For a time, Fluttershy amused herself with finding shapes in the clouds. One looked a lot like a fluffy white bunny. It was very lifelike and very cute, right up until the point where a gust of wind sent an unfortunate wisp of cloud across it. Fluttershy blushed a bit at the gesture the bunny now appeared to be making. What an angel, she thought, sarcastically.

At last Rainbow spoke. “What do you want from me, Shy?”

Fluttershy blushed as the answer ‘I can think of a few things.’ Lined itself up on her tongue but she bit back the remark and considered properly. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you get it? I’ve got nothing. I watch you every day and I could watch you for the rest of my life but don’t you see? We’ve been together for, what, a month now? And already I’ve taken your house, your inheritance, most of your belongings and your parents. In return I’ve given you a crappy apartment and lousy food.” There was another sentence, hanging off the end of that rant and Fluttershy could pretty much guess what it would be. ‘I’m scared that one day you’ll realise you made a mistake.’

Fluttershy was entirely taken aback. Rainbow never acted this way, she was always so strong and resilient. The only time Fluttershy had seen her even a little bit vulnerable was that first kiss. Since then, if anything troubled her, she kept it to herself. But is this really a break in character? Is this something she’s felt all along but been too afraid to say? Tentatively, Fluttershy reached out a hand and placed it on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Dashie, you’ve given me something my parents never did; you accept me for exactly what I am, don’t you see how much more important that is than any of the things I’ve lost?” Fluttershy slid closer to get a better look in to those beautiful cerise eyes. Typical Dashie, even now she won’t let me see that she’s scared.

After another longish pause, Rianbow said, quietly. “I just don’t know what you want from me.”

“You, Dashie, that’s all I want.” She closed the small gap between them, bringing their lips together for a tender kiss, “All I want is you.”

“So, one sip and she’ll talk to me?”

Pinkie nodded, deciding to leave out the part about the potion being extremely volatile. “That’s what Twilight told me.”

“Ok, thanks Pinkie, I owe you one.”

“You can repay me right now by promising never to listen to queen ever again.”

“Over my dead body.”

Applejack grinned at the memory. “Hey, uh, Rarity?”

Recognising the voice, Rarity said, crisply, “What do you want, Applejack.”

Applejack extended a hand, in which was a martini glass filled with a soft pink liquid. In it was a small green umbrella with the word ‘deviant’ written on it in tiny messy letters. “Peace offering?” she tried, hopefully.

“That’s not fair,” said Rarity, sighing and taking the glass. It was true, this was Rarity’s favourite drink and the umbrella was a reference to the first thing Rarity had said upon meeting Applejack.

Applejack slumped on to the seat in front of the bar, at first, not noticing the extremely attractive girl sitting next to her. “One pint, please,” she said, tossing the bar tender a few bits.

“Same,” said a voice. Applejack turned and took in the appearance of a slender girl with large blue eyes and the most luxurious purple mane of hair that the farm girl had ever seen. Probably the most noticeable thing about the stranger, though, was that her entire outfit was different hues of pinks and greens.

Usually, Applejack wouldn’t have said what she said next but it had been a long day and she hadn’t come to the bar because it had been a good, productive one. “Pink and green should never be seen,” she said, idly taking a sip from her stiff cider.

The girl tipped her hat, as though she had been thoroughly expecting this remark, in doing so, revealing letters along the top that read ‘deviant.’ “Dear, think of all the people who get rich and famous, they always do things a little differently, they’re never the kind of people who play by the rules, sometimes, to get anywhere in life, you need to be a deviant.”

The glasses chinked as Applejack raised one of her own in a toast. “To three fucking awesome years.”

Rarity winced but smiled as well, the statement was one hundred percent the Applejack she had fallen in love with. She was crass sometimes, but she always spoke from the heart. She had a deep down, gritty reality that Rarity had always admired. “Indeed, it has been a good run.” Rarity took a small, delicate sip from her glass in acknowledgment of the toast just as Applejack did the same.

Then it happened.

“Well fuck. What the bloody hell was in that pisswater? I feel fucking queer.” said Applejack, after a considered pause.

“Struth! Why’d ya give me that shmancy garbage? What do I gotta do to get a good coldie around here?” Rarity’s hand flew to her mouth when it dawned on her just what she had said.

“You dag. Don’t have to sound so proper all the time. Here.” She reached in to a satchel, withdrew two bottles and handed one to Rarity, who examined the label.

“X X X X?” she asked, quizzically.

Applejack, who had already opened her bottle, took a sip. “Ah, that’s the stuff, dry as a dead dingo’s donger.”

Shrugging, Rarity opened her own bottle and took a sip. “Bloody oath, that’s much better.”

The two sat in companionable silence for a while, content to enjoy a bear with a mate. At last, Applejack had had enough of the surprisingly strong liquor to make her say. “Ya know, I miss this, I miss us just hanging out.”

Rarity snorted in to her beer. “Aw ya skirt, you’re starting to sound like one a’ them romantic types.”

“Well I just might be a romantic type ya ****, dun’ mean it’s not true.”

“Fair dinkum,” said Rarity, quietly. “But it was your fault.”

“How d’ya figure that, ya bogan?”

“Well it was always you rootin’ with other sheelas wasn’it?”

“I never did!”

“Well that’s firm isn’it? Who’s to say you haven’t been havin’ naughties with other ****s and not told me about it?”

“Why would I go with anyone else? You’re more than enough for me ya daft bitch.”

“Alright, let’s just say ya didn’t. What about that other crap you put me through?”

“Like what? You know what, you’re just doing that same stuff you do everytime ya get a little bored. When thing’s ain’t exciting enough you make drama.”

“What’re ya saying? You breaking up with me again? Well ain’t that just b-e-a-utiful.”

“For starters, ya fuck nugget, I never broke up with you to begin with. And for seconds, well, I knew who you were from the moment I laid eyes on you, dun’ mean I didn’t fair dinkum wanna spend the rest of one fucked up life with you anyway.”

“Jeez, darl’, ya say the sweetest things.”

“You bitch,” said Applejack good-naturedly.

“You ****,” said Rarity, with equal good grace. And with that, it seemed, the fight was resolved.

Pinkie sighed. Since when did helping her friends hook up with other friends mean that she didn’t get to spend any time with them? After all, there had to be some things she could join in with. Pinkie reflected for a moment, then grinned. No, no, nothing like that. Perhaps bowling?

Pinkie jumped down from the bench she had been sitting on. It was time to take action. She wandered through the halls of Omnas Mannis, not entirely sure what she was looking for but looking for it all the same.

“Hey, are you Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie spun round to see a girl with blue hair and blue tinted sun glasses, she was standing beside an older boy, tall with black hair.

“Yea, I’m Pinkie Pie, who wants to know?”

“I’m Vinyl, this is Neon.”

“Hi,” said Neon. His voice was smooth and very attractive. Pinkie had to swallow a few times before she could make her own voice come out sounding normal.

“Nice to meet you Neon, and you too Vinyl.”

Vinyl, catching Pinkie’s look, winked. “Me and Neon are DJing for a wild party that’s going down tonight, we hear you’re pretty wild when it comes to parties, we could use someone like that, You free?”

Pinkie smirked. “No, I’m very expensive, but in this case I could do a discount. I’ll be there. Can I invite a couple of friends?”

“The more the better,” said Neon, smiling generously.

“Alright then, I’ll need time, place, alcohol being served and sexuality of everyone attending.”

The sun was setting over Omnas Mannis. All the students had gone home but two, those were the two sitting on the roof of a classroom and watching the sky shift through shades of pink and orange. Neither girl was in any hurry to get home, so Rainbow had suggested they go up on to the roof to watch the sunset.

“It’s so beautiful,” said Fluttershy, quietly.

“Yea, amazing, isn’t it, how there’s so much beauty in day to day life that no one ever thinks to appreciate.” Rainbow squeezed Fluttershy’s hand in her own. This moment felt perfect, she had everything she had ever wanted.

Fluttershy wriggled over so she could better snuggle against Rainbow. “I hear Applejack and Rarity got back together,” she said after a moment.

“Hmm? How do you know?”

“Pinkie told me, apparently there was something about an Ozy kiss.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hey, speaking of couples who got together, did you hear about Derpy and Twilight?”

“Did they get together at last?”

“Yea, great hey?”

“Good for her, I just hope it lasts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, sometimes things like that don’t last.”

“We seem to be lasting ok.”

“True.” Fluttershy sounded unconvinced.

“Well, you can hardly ask if something is going to last without specifying how long, some relationships just end sooner than others and that can be ok.” Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly as she realised she was speaking from absolutely no personal experience.

Fluttershy giggled. “Because you would know all about relationships wouldn’t you, Dashie?”

The two descended in to another contented silence, both happy to watch the sky as the sun made its goodbye performance. Then, like a record slide on the turntable of life, a voice shouted from the ground.

“Hey, are you two going to just lay there for the rest of this chapter or are you going to come with me? Vinyl has invited us to a killer party. Come on, love birds, you can snuggle when you’re dead.”

Rainbow looked across at Fluttershy and grinned. “You up for a bit of fun?”

Fluttershy sighed, but also gave a half smile. “Bring it on.”

“Scratch and Neon's in the club tonight,
Oh yeah ,we're gonna have a good time,
So grab somebody, don't be shy,
It's our job to make you feel alright.
Let's raise the roof, tonight's the night,
We're gonna party till the morning light,
The house is hot. The beat is tight.
We just wanna see ya
Shake it!”

Nine o’clock at night found Fluttershy dancing in a thick mass of people, drink in hand, and utterly consumed by the music. Alcohol still had no effect on her but it was the look of the thing she supposed. Beside her, Rainbow was also dancing but she, very definitely, didn’t have a drink in hand. At the start of the night, she had sworn that she would be completely sober by the time she got to bed.

“Great party, hey?” she shouted over the loud music.

Fluttershy smiled indulgently. “Best I’ve ever been to.”

Rainbow laughed. “Probably the only one you’ve ever been to.”

At that moment, Pinkie Pie dived in between them and started dancing wildly. “Shake that butt!” she shouted.

Rainbow burst out laughing. Meeting Fluttershy really had changed her life. What would my life look like without her? Rainbow looked across at her girlfriend and blanched at the thought. In that moment, She hoped that she would never, ever be forced to find out the answer to that question. I love her and that is never going to change.

The end.

Author's Note

Wow, it's over, wow, just wow. I could keep typing 'wow' over and over again but that wouldn't be very satisfying. Anyway, I guess there's some important things I need to say but first an foremost is thank you. I know I've said it all before but thank you to every single person who read this story. A big thank you to the people who liked and commented and just a million huge thank yous. When I had this idea I had no idea just how big it would get, this now stands, not only as the longest fanfic I've written so far, but also the longest story at all.

Secondly, I'm sorry if this chapter is a little short and ends a little abruptly but I really didn't know how else to end it. The story was over but I'm not too good at endings. The only other way I could really have wrapped this up would have been with a "Twenty years later" sort of thing and I really don't think that works, at least, not for me.

Now I would like to say that if anyone wants to make an audio reading of this and put it on youtube you have my blessing and my encouragement, that would be super cool. I only ask that you link me to it so I can hear your fabulous talented reading.

It has probably come time that I should address the eliphant in the room so, hello Steve, what are you doing in my bedroom and, more importantly, how did you get through the door? I jest. Seriously, though, I'm from Australia, that's no secret but it's not something I make apparent very often (is it? I dunno) but I read this Harry Potter fanfiction a while ago that was called "Wizard of Auz" which was basically one great big argument for jingoism. Anyway, I thought that this could be the perfect opportunity to give the pony world its equivalent, seeing as, to the best of my knowledge, no on has done this before. Australian vocab is rather robust so I ended up bleeping some of the more crass words that wouldn't harm these toughened Ozy ears for the benefit of you Americans and English people. (Are there any Londoners reading my stories? That'd be cool)

As always I need to give credits. The first song I referenced was "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley and the second was "Pony Rock Anthem" by a whole bunch of awesome bronies who I don't know the names of.

This is just a thought, but I was considering writing another chapter just going through and explaining all the references I made and showing what I was referring to. I dunno, what do you think? Anyway, In closing, thanks a million and I'll see you again next story, ciao for now.

Introductions

Rainbow Dash was a tall girl of about sixteen, although she would always insist that she was nearly seventeen. Her unusually prismatic hair was her pride and joy and her mother’s despair. She would always tell Rainbow that, if she only did something with it, she could be stunning. Rainbow liked the slightly ruffled look and, in fact, spent a few minutes of every morning making sure it didn’t sit too flat.

Rainbow was currently standing in front of her full length mirror. She was appraising her appearance critically. She was, somewhere in her mind, aware of the fact that there were probably a lot of people who would kill to have her natural good looks, and so she always walked away from any encounter with a mirror with some level of satisfaction.

She gave a curt nod and strode out the door in to the fresh morning air. The new day was crisp and cool and Rainbow felt alive. She had never understood people who had trouble getting up in the morning. It was so fresh and exhilarating that she would never be willing to miss this, even if it did mean a few extra hours of sleep.

After pausing for a moment to enjoy the new day, Rainbow unfurled her cyan wings and stretched them out to either side as far as possible, feeling the joints that had stiffened from the night’s disuse begin to loosen. She leaped in to the air and, before gravity had the chance to work out what was happening, she gave one mighty flap, propelling herself in to the pale blue sky.

Rainbow had been flying for only twenty minutes before she arrived at her destination. She sighed. If only the destination was as pleasant as the journey. Resigning herself to the day, Rainbow Dash landed in front of her school.

Omnes Mannis High: the biggest high school in Equestria, with rows of tall buildings and huge classrooms.

Rainbow strode down the wide corridor, shouldering her way past other students. She was early, as always, and so had a bit of time to kill before she had her first class. She was just wondering what to do next when she was tackle hugged from behind.

“Hey there, Dash!”

“Ah! Pinkie!” Rainbow turned in the crushing embrace and saw a girl who was just a little shorter than her. She had blue eyes and extremely fluffy pink hair.

“Why do you always get in so early, Dash?”

“Uh, Pinkie, can’t breathe.”

“Hmm? Oh, sorry.”

Rainbow took a great gulping breath as she was released. “Thank you."

"You're welcome. So?"

"So what?"

"Why do you always get to school so early?"

"Well, how would you like to spend extended amounts of time in my house?”

Pinkie’s face, very unusually, fell solemn. “Are they still fighting?”

“Yea.”

“Chin up, Dashie. Just think of the benefits if they split up: You get two birthday parties every year!”

Despite herself, Rainbow chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”

Pinkie smiled. “That’s the spirit!”

The two walked away, talking and laughing. Neither of them saw the pair of teal eyes that had been watching them carefully from behind a locker door.

Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the library reading a book. She was a tall girl, no one would say she was attractive when the phrase ‘unfathomably adorable’ hung so tantalizingly in the dialogue. She had purple hair and thick reading glasses that somehow added to her charm. Just peeking through her hair was the horn, characteristic to her kind. It was purple. She turned a page and continued to read.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight jumped, she was not used to being interrupted while reading. She looked up from her book at the girl who had addressed her. She was short with blond hair and grey wings folded behind her back. “Um, hello,” she said uncomfortably. “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

The girl looked a little put out but smiled nonetheless. “My name is Derpy.”

“Nice to meet you, Derpy. Um, how is it you know my name?”

Derpy looked a little uncomfortable. “I asked around.”

“You did what?”

“Uh, just a lucky guess. Nice meeting you, Twilight Sparkle.” With that, she extended her wings and half flapped, half ran out the door.

Twilight shrugged and returned her attention to her book. After a moment she became aware of a weight on her knee. She looked down and saw a muffin on a piece of paper that simply read, “Enjoy.” It was a good muffin.

Rainbow was talking to Pinkie when the bell rang. She sighed deeply and half grinned at her exuberant friend. “Looking forward to class?”

Pinkie pulled a face. “Ugh, aren’t we supposed to have sex ed today?”

Rainbow grinned. “Yup! I don’t really think you need it though. Some of the stuff you say, I think you could practically run the class for Mister Johnson.”

Pinkie grinned. “He'd probably like that, he is a wee bit on the delicate side.”

The two began to walk towards the classroom

“Now I know how uncomfortable all this is for you youngsters but it is important. Now I want each of you to take a condom just in case, and always remember to use them. I don’t want any pregnant teenagers.” Mister Johnson held a box filled with small plastic packages. He handed it to one of the students who took it reluctantly. It passed around the room with relative ease until it stopped at Rainbow. She attempted to just pass it to the next student but her teacher saw and walked over.

“I know how difficult this is for you, but you can never be sure that you won't need it.”

“Yes I can, Sir.”

“Please just take one Miss Dash. After all, better safe than sorry right?”

Rainbow felt her patience snap with a twang. She looked up and stared directly in to the teacher’s eyes. “I can be quite certain I won't need one...Sir.”

“And how is that?”

“Because I’m gay!” she snapped loud enough for the whole class to hear. Mister Johnson looked thoroughly taken aback. Beside her, Pinkie Pie burst out laughing, slapping her leg with one hand and biting down hard on the other.

“Um, yes, um, fine, uh, moving on.” Mister Johnson turned and continued to pass the box around the classroom.

Rainbow caught Pinkie’s gaze and winked.

“Did you see his face?” Pinkie exclaimed as the two walked out of class. “I thought he was going to catch fire, he went that red!”

Rainbow laughed heartily. “Yea, that was pretty funny. Reckon I gave the whole school something to gossip about for a while too.”

Pinkie laughed again. “Oh, you sexy thing.” She leaned forward and kissed Rainbow deeply on the lips. When she pulled back she winked. “If we’re gonna give the school something to gossip about, we may as well do it properly.”

“Says you, you’re probably just in it for the kisses anyway.”

Pinkie leaned back, pantomiming horror. “When have I ever given you the impression that I wasn’t?”

The two continued to flirt shamelessly. Fluttershy stood and watched them walking away. She was of average height, an extremely delicate, one might even say petite, build, with large teal eyes and beautiful pink hair. Folded behind her back was a pair of canary yellow wings. She breathed a sigh and walked away to find somewhere quiet to have something to eat, maybe even a juice box.

Rainbow was sitting beside Pinkie Pie in the small eating area. There were lots of other students all around, eating their lunch and generally having a good time. Pinkie was flirting, and Rainbow wasn’t about to stop her until they both heard a voice from behind them.

“Well howdy there, guys. What’re you two up to?”

Rainbow looked around to see a tall girl with blond hair in a plait and a Stetson. “Hey there, Applejack. Not much, what are you doing? It’s unusual to see you not snogging miss prissy princess pants.”

“Her name is Rarity!” Applejack snapped but she didn’t sound all that angry.

Pinkie was practically bouncing up and down on her seat. “As much as I disagree with Rainbow’s childish use of ‘prissy princess pants’ I do agree with her on one count: why would you be here if you could be off kissing? Kissing is fun, it’s like biting but everyone’s a winner.”

Applejack shook her head. “Rarity is off at the spa again, and no matter how many times she asks me to go with her, the answer will always be no.”

“I bet it wouldn’t be if she hired out the entire spa as a birthday present and gave you the massages herself…” Pinkie muttered in to her cup.

Hearing what she had said, Applejack winked. “Now that’s a whole different birthday.”

Pinkie giggled but was interrupted by a ringing sound. Applejack reached down and pulled out her phone. She flipped it open and examined it closely for a moment. “Oh, would you look at that, miss prissy princess pants is finished at the spa. Bye all.” She turned around and bumped in to an extremely delicate girl with large blue eyes. “Sorry, sugarcube. I didn’t see you there.”

“That’s ok.” With that, the girl hurried away, but Rainbow Dash’s eyes remained fixed on the spot where she had been standing.

“Equestria to Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie said, giggling. “Yoo-hoo, come in Rainbow Dash.” She waved a hand back and forth in her friend’s face but she remained unresponsive. Pinkie sighed and decided that this called for desperate measures. “Hey! Look over there! An extremely attractive girl taking off all her clothes!”

“Huh?” Rainbow spun around in the direction Pinkie was pointing.

“That’s my girl,” she said, smiling and slapped Rainbow on the back.

“Humph,” she said, unhappily.

“Aww, did I dissapoint you? Tell you what, you want me to go and start stripping? Cause I could do that if you like.”

Rainbow sighed. “Nah, never mind. She was pretty cute though, wasn’t she?”

“Who, that adorable waif Jacky bumped in to?”

“Who bumped in to?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Just trying out new nicknames for Applejack. So was it her you were swooning over?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

Pinkie shrugged again. “If you like that sort of thing, not my type really.”

Rainbow grinned a wicked little grin. “No, she isn’t your type. Boys are your type.”

“Oh, hush now, there’s still hope for me yet.”

“Straight girl,” Rainbow teased.

“Single girl,” Pinkie retorted, poking her tongue out.

Rainbow snorted. “That goes for both of us, sweetie.”

Hello everypony. First of all I would like to thank Cicatrix for their help on this story. Second I would like to say that, yes, I did put a lot of references in this story but just telling you where they are would take all the fun out of it so I'm going to let you find them for yourself. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For updates on future chapters and other general writing stuff, feel free to check out the updates section on my user page. [EDIT]: I feel like I should put an apology here. I know I promised Flutterdash in this story and Pinkiedash shipping seems to be taking the lead but I do intend to make this mostly Flutterdash. I'm sorry, please don't hate me until I've finished the Flutterdash bits.

Beginnings

Fluttershy was standing in her room, looking in to a full length mirror. Her hair was styled to the left like usual and on her head were a pair of yellow ears. She had found them, only a couple of days ago, amongst some old junk in a box by the roadside. There had been a sign that said the stuff was free to take so she had picked them up. So far, she had been unable to work out what animal they were supposed to be the ears of, but she thought they looked most like pony ears. She would never let anyone see her wearing them, though, as she didn’t need people thinking she was even more of a wimp than they already did.

She sighed and pulled them off. Oh how she would love to have the confidence of Rainbow Dash and to strut around like she didn’t care what anyone thought of her. Fluttershy remembered the moment she had shared with Rainbow Dash the day before. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory. She had never, in her wildest dreams, thought that she would ever get so close to Rainbow. She felt like she ought to be sad, not knowing how Rainbow felt about her but all she could feel was happiness that they had become friends.

Humming a little tune as she went, Fluttershy picked out which clothes she would wear for the day. She was pleased with the result which was pretty enough but mostly, it was inconspicuous.

Fluttershy didn’t know why she had such trouble dealing with other people. She didn’t think it was just a solitary nature because the time she spent alone was spent feeling lonely and sorry for herself.

Sighing again, Fluttershy walked outside and spread her wings. With a few little running hops, she managed to get airborne and head off in the direction of school.

Pinkie Pie was sitting on a bench, swinging her legs back and forth. The object of her attention was sitting in one of the library’s comfy chairs, reading a book. Pinkie was thinking hard, she and Derpy had spent a great deal of time together now, discussing various ways to get Twilight’s attention. Derpy had already given her several muffins but Twilight didn’t seem to be paying much heed.

Pinkie flipped herself off the bench and, after fidgeting briefly with her hands, walked over to Twilight.

“Hiya there Twilight, my name’s Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight looked up from her book, surprise written all over her face. She glanced at the hand Pinkie had extended and took it hesitantly but immediately flinched back as there was a loud zap and her hair stood on end. “Ouch! What was that for?” Twilight asked, sounding a little hurt.

Pinkie suppressed a giggle. “Just an ice breaker,” she said, removing the zapping device from her hand.

Twilight rubbed her own hand but she seemed to have recovered somewhat from the initial… shock… as it were. “Um, nice to meet you… I think.”

Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but immediately burst in to a fit of giggles when she saw that Twilight’s hair was still standing on end.

Twilight reached up and felt at her new, untidy, crest. “Oh great, this is never going to sit flat again. Ugh. Hey, how do you know my name?”

“Derpy told me,” said Pinkie, simply.

Twilight thought for a moment. Realisation dawned. “Oh, the nice girl who’s been giving me muffins. They’re the best muffins I’ve ever tasted, do you know where she gets them?”

“She makes them, well, I help sometimes, just the other day she asked me to test out a new recipe for vinegar and baking soda muffins.” Pinkie smiled ruefully. “Turns out she’s as good at pranks as she is at baking.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at that. “How could you not know what would happen if you mixed baking soda and vinegar? It’s probably one of the most basic experiments that they do in preschool.”

“Oh, she didn’t mean it to be a prank, she explained how you can balance the reaction. She worked out that, if you stir the vinegar with a lithium rod before you add the baking soda, you can stabilise the carbonic acid and stop it from decomposing in to carbon dioxide.”

Twilight choked. “That’s impossible! Also, eating lithium is a really bad idea.”

“No, no, silly. If you do it exactly right then the extra electrons in the outer shell of the lithium atoms balance the carbonic acid and turns one of the atoms that makes it up in to a cation.”

“But what about the lithium? It’s still not healthy stuff to cook with.”

“Turns out it’s not dangerous in when it gets cosy with a hydrogen atom,” said Pinkie, brightly.

Twilight looked truly fascinated, although a little sceptical. “So you tried this out and it worked?”

“Yes I tried it out, no it didn’t work. The results were messy to say the least; see, if you stir too much it can actually accelerate the reaction.”

“So you’ve never seen it actually work?”

“Oh yes, I texted Derpy and told her that it hadn’t worked and so she came over and showed me how to do it. Let me tell you, the results are totally worth the hassle. When they come out, the muffins just zing in your mouth, they feel all tingly and so light and fluffy.” Pinkie’s eye’s glazed at the memory of the tastiest muffins she’d ever had.

Twilight was staring thoughtfully in to space. “I would very much like to know more about this.”

“Well, if you like, I could talk to Derpy about dropping by sometime and giving you a longer explanation.”

Twilight brightened. “That would be wonderful.” She pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen and scribbled for a moment. When she was done, she handed the paper to Pinkie. “Here’s my number, if you could give it to her next time you see her that would be great.”

Pinkie saluted. “Yes, Ma’am.” Pinkie began to walk away but then turned. “Oh, and, Twilight?”

“Yea?”

“You might want to flatten your hair before class starts.” With that, Pinkie skipped away.

Rainbow yawned and glanced up at the clock. She had been in detention now for an hour. She groaned, halfway there. She turned her attention back to her homework, it was fairly easy stuff but that didn’t make it any less boring. She sighed and continued to solve problem after problem.

After what felt like many hours, the clock finally signalled her release, Rainbow leaped to her feet and bolted out the door, only to bump straight in to something small with light pink hair. It apologised, identifying itself as Fluttershy. Fluttershy was the kind of girl who apologised if you stood on her foot.

Managing to catch herself before she fell, Rainbow looked at The girl she had careened in to. “Oh, hey Shy, didn’t see you there.” 'Shy?' Where did that come from? Now I’m giving her nicknames? Although, it does sound cute… Rainbow’s thoughts trailed off.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. I was just looking for you.

“How’d you know where I was?”

“Pinkie told me you got detention.”

“You talked to Pinkie?”

“Yes.”

Rainbow grinned. “And what did you think?”

“She’s... lovely…” said Fluttershy, hesitantly.

Rainbow cracked up laughing. “Yea, she tends to have that effect on people. Seeing as I’m done with detention, do you want to go get a slushy or something?”

“Um… my parents might get annoyed if I get home too late.”

“Oh, don’t fret about them, come on, have some fun.”

Fluttershy hesitated. “Um… alright.”

Rainbow smiled, a big, genuine smile. “Right this way then.”

Rainbow pushed the door of her house open and walked inside with a sigh. She and Fluttershy had gone to a service station and bought the biggest slushies that a few dollars could buy. They had sat outside and talked for a blissful twenty minutes. At last, Fluttershy had left, saying that her parents would worry if she was gone too long.

Rainbow felt like her insides were filled with warm fuzzies. Her heart sank when her ears were greeted by the sound of loud fighting.

Rainbow sighed and called out, “Hi mum, Hi dad, I’m home.” When the fighting continued unabated, Rainbow added bitterly, under her breath. “Not that you give a shit.”

Rainbow made her way up to her room and closed the door. As soon as she was inside, she picked up her phone and texted Pinkie Pie. “I need to talk to you, get your sorry butt over here.”

After a few seconds, her phone vibrated and Pinkie’s response popped up on the screen. “Too… many… innuendo... filled… responses…. I’ll be there in a couple minutes. When I get there I will have worked out the best of all the wonderful dirty jokes you just laid before me.”

A few minutes later, Rainbow heard the door knock. She raced down the stairs and opened it to see a grinning Pinkie Pie. “Hey Dashie, what did you need with my butt?”

Rainbow had to smile at that. “Come to up to my room and I’ll tell you what happened.”

As she walked through the house, Pinkie noticed the sounds of an argument. “Wow, I know you said your parents have been fighting but this?”

Rainbow shrugged but Pinkie was right; the fighting did seem a bit more intense tonight.

When they reached Rainbow’s room, Pinkie looked around at the cluttered space, noticing the twisted bed sheets, the random objects lying all around the room as well as a huge pile of unwashed laundry. “Charming,” she said, distastefully.

“Oh, shut it, I haven’t had time to clean up lately.”

Pinkie flopped down on the unmade bed and looked up at her friend. “What’s this all about? Is this because I told Fluttershy you got detention?”

“What? No. This is, um, I think... that is…”

“Spit it out.”

“I think me and Fluttershy just went on some sort of date.”

Pinkie sat up, her interest sparked. “Ooh, tell me all about it.”

“I took her to a seven eleven.”

Pinkie smirked. “Classy.”

“Oh shut up. It was just a spur of the moment thing, we were leaving school and I just felt like hanging out with her some more and so I asked her to get a slushy with me.”

“Well, as first dates go it isn’t as romantic as it could have been but I suppose it’s something.”

“But you said that when I worked out what I want I should talk to you.”

“It sounds to me like you still have no idea.”

Rainbow floundered for a moment but then smiled. She could often tell when she had the right answer to something, when the right answer was sitting in her head it somehow felt different; colder perhaps. “I want her. Whatever she wants is cool but I just want her, that’s all I know and all I need to know.”

Pinkie smiled. “Sounds like an over romanticised pile of shit to me, I like it. So you gonna ask her out officially?”

“No, like I said; I want her and if she doesn’t want that kind of relationship then I’m happy to let us just be friends. I won’t make a move until I know what she wants.”

All of a sudden, the noise from downstairs ceased. There was the stomping of feet up stairs and then Rainbow’s door creaked open. A care worn man was standing there. When he spoke, his voice sounded sad and croaky from shouting. “Hello Pinkie Pie, we need to talk to Rainbow Dash alone for a while.”

Pinkie smiled at the man and said, kindly, “Oh, that’s alright, I was just going to head off anyways. Seeya Dashie.” She squeezed passed Rainbow’s father and began to head back to her own house.

When Rainbow Dash walked through the doors of Omnas Mannis the next morning, it was with a surprisingly cheerful look on her face. She was early and so, headed towards the lunch area in search of Pinkie.

When she found the pink haired ball of energy in question, Rainbow was surprised to see her sitting with Applejack, Rarity and, most surprisingly, Fluttershy.

Rainbow cleared her throat to catch the attention of all her friends. “Hey guys, Fluttershy, I see you’ve met Rarity and Applejack.”

Fluttershy looked around and smiled. “Oh yes, Pinkie introduced me.”

Rainbow glanced at Pinkie. “Of course she did.”

Pinkie seemed to be exploding, desperate to say something. “Enough chit chat! What was it your parents wanted to talk to you about?”

Rainbow smiled broadly. “Oh, that, they’re splitting up.” She couldn’t help but laugh at the looks of shock her friends gave her.

“They’re splitting up?” Pinkie asked, aghast. “Why do you sound so happy about that?”

“Are you kidding? I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks because they’ve been screaming at each other, and let me tell you right now; meal time is never pleasant.”

“So, um, what are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked, cautiously.

Rainbow grinned. “That’s the best bit; it’s my birthday in a week, I’ll be seventeen so I can move out and get my own place.”

“You’re really going to move out? And live all by yourself?” Applejack sounded incredulous.

“Yea, what’s wrong with that? You and Rarity don’t live with your parents anymore.”

“Yes, dear, but we live together, it’s very different to living all by yourself, aren’t you going to get a roommate?” Rarity cut in.

Rainbow shrugged. “I have no immediate plans but maybe, if the rent’s too steep.”

“Well I think it’s fantastic,” said Pinkie, happily. “You finally get your own space away from the arguing. Now all your mother needs is to find a nice woman for some rebound—”

“Pinkie!” Everyone shouted it in unison, a group gasp of shock at how that sentence was going to end. Applejack and Rarity exchanged a glance and then grinned. Rainbow chuckled and even Fluttershy was smiling.

Rainbow cleared her throat. “Getting back to the original point, though, I’m moving out and that’s final.”

There was no further argument, Rainbow Dash was moving out and, like she said, it was final.

Authors notes: First up I would like to make this very clear; I know nothing about baking, chemistry or basically anything Twilight and Derpy were talking about. Cooking with lithium is a bad idea and, as far as I know, there isn't any way to stop sodium bicarbonate reacting with vinegar. Please don't try this at home. On a lighter note I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, I don't actually know when I'll have the next one up but I hope it will be soon. Thanks for reading.