Chocolate Cake Shots, and Other Things You Discover in Collegeby Flutterguy89ChaptersPrologue: Move-in DayChapter 1: Do You Want to Come to a Party?Chapter 2: We Just Came to Party DownChapter 3: Can I Be Your MemoryChapter 4: The Set UpChapter 6: Sing Like a Bird and Dance Like a DemonEpilogue: This is Sappy but It's TrueChapter 5: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Prologue: Move-in DayPrologue: Move-in Day RD sat on a little wooden bench outside what could ostensibly be called her 'new home,' the grand and glorious Celestia College, the premier private college of middle of nowhere Equestria. She took drag from her cigarette, gazing over her shoulder at the three-story red brick dorm building. 'Not so bad I suppose,' RD thought to herself, 'I mean the rooms are cramped as shit, the walls are whitewashed cinderblock, the town out there is full of backward hicks, and there is no air conditioning. But at least... No wait, this sucks.' She ran her free hand through her scruffy, short prismatic hair, puffed out a sigh, and returned to her current favorite pastime: watch the other freshman lug boxes up the sidewalk and into the dorms. There were some kids escorted by their parents, some of whom were half-bawling at the already blooming homesickness, others were trying desperately to walk just far enough away from their folks so that maybe someone might possibly think they weren't together. Other students, like RD, had driven up to school on their lonesome and always seemed to be grumbling at the number of boxes that they still had in their trunks. 'Suckers. Should have gotten here early,' RD thought with a feeling of satisfaction. She had moved in long before the crowds of her peers had descended upon the building, which had made the whole process all the easier. In fact the only reason she was now outside indulging her nicotine habit was that she had already unpacked her things, shoved her clothes roughly into her dresser, arranged her stereo on the desk, and duct taped posters to the walls of her side of the room. Her room only lacked one thing, her roommate. She stubbed out her finished cig and pondered what she could expect from her mystery roomie. She didn't really have much to go on aided from the sign on the door of her room that announced that names of the occupants as "Rainbow Dash" and "Rarity". Upon seeing that her proper name was listed on the door a livid RD had promptly taken a sharpie out and added "Call me this and DIE ~ RD."Its not that she hated her name, but during her years in high school the name Rainbow hadn't done her many favors. In fact it only seemed to get her into more trouble, the kind of trouble that usually resulted in her father offering to pay one of Rainbow Dash's classmate's hospital bills.'Well... If I didn't want any trouble I could always stop dying my hair,' she thought chuckling to herself. 'Admit it, you just like busting those ignorant jackasses' skulls.' Her features then fell almost imperceptibly. 'Besides... A promise is a promise.' She pulled herself away from her memories and returned to the issue of her mystery roommate once again. 'Since when has anyone lame ever been named Rarity, right? It mean's one of a kind, so I bet this Rarity is totally just like me, awesome and unique. I mean they had us fill out those personality tests to determine our roomies, no way they just chucked 'em in the trash.' Just then her contemplation was interrupted by the crash of cascading books and a frustrated growl. RD turned her attention to the source of the commotion, which turned out to be a girl who seemed to be determined to carry the contents of a small library with her into the dorm and was having about as much trouble as one might expect. " Need a hand there?" RD said, rising from her spot on the bench and making her way over to the girl. Despite having completing the process of moving on her own, RD felt for the clearly frazzled girl. She looked up at RD and nodded appreciatively. She had dark hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail that left her bangs hanging over her forehead. She was dressed in a simple dark purple top she had likely picked out without too much thought from her local department store, a pair of dark wash jeans, and sneakers. "Thank you so much, I just wasn't sure what to do, I mean I couldn't leave all of these at home, I might need them. Oh and um, my name's Twilight Sparkle, but uh most people just call me Twilight, and thanks again." It was then, as RD kneeled over to help her, that she realized all of the books that Twilight had dropped were... "Textbooks?" Rainbow Dash stated incredulously. "You know we haven't even registered for classes yet, where did you even get all of these?" "Oh, well, they're my private collection. I never really can see the use if studying just one, each author has their own spin on the same subject you see. How on earth could I possibly be the best student I could be without bringing them with me?" Twilight asked to a stunned RD. "Uh... Right." She managed to say, regaining her former friendly demeanor. "Well what floor are you on?" "Third floor, but you don't have to-" Twilight began with a polite smile. "Don't worry about it, besides if you couldn't handle the sidewalk how the hell are you gonna get these up the stairs?" "I suppose you're right." Twilight replied with an embarrassed blush as she and RD each gathered up roughly half the books. "Name's RD, in case you were wondering, and yes it stands for something, and no I don't feel like telling you right now," RD said, softening her harsh response with a grin. "And before you ask," she added with a waggle of her eyebrows, "the carpet does not match the drapes." Twilight's face glowed scarlet. " I... Uh... Wasn't gonna..." She managed to stammer. RD had erupted into fits of laughter "Oh man, you should see the look on your face," Dash managed, finally. Twilight averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed and a bit hurt. "Oh come on Twi, I was just messing with you," RD said as she held open the door to the stairwell, masterfully balancing her stack of book in one hand. "Look, I'm real sorry if I stepped on your feelings. It's just a joke I use to break the ice." A thought crossed her mind, " Friends?" Twilight immediately brightened up,"R-really? I mean I always had trouble making friends in high school cause I was always studying and reading and... really?" " Sure, why not?" RD said feeling a good natured smile creep across her face as they made their way up the flights of stairs, " I mean you seem cool enough, with the whole egghead thing you got going on. Just don't be surprised if I ask you for some homework advice." "No problemo" Twilight chirped happily as they reach the landing for the second floor, all ill will forgotten. "So, met your roommate yet?" RD asked as Twilight took the lead in order to show her the way to her room. "Roommates, plural." Twilight corrected, "I'm sharing a triple with two other girls, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. They are quite, uh, nice too. You'll meet them in a sec." She added as she stopped in front the door to her room. Twilight opened the door and the two were immediately rushed inside by what appeared to be a violently pink tornado. "Oh my god, oh my god, look Twilight you made a friend! This is so cool! That makes her my friend too, I called it! Which means she has to come to the party, did I mention I'm going to throw us a party? Oh but when will I have the party, and what should the theme be. It could be pirates, or no wait, yes, no, yes, maybe. Well anyway we are having one and, Twilight's friend, you are coming and Twilight has to cause its going to be right here!" The tornado turned out to be a somewhat short girl with frizzy brown hair that hung down to her shoulders who was now gasping for breath, yet looked no less excited. She was dressed in bright pink tunic and hot-pink skinny jeans, which would have likely made anyone with an eye for fashion have a seizure. RD took the brief moment of calm to glance around the room, on the left was a set of bunk beds, the top bunk adorned with a hot-pink set of sheets (Rainbow could guess who those belonged to) and a set of sensible navy blue sheets on the bottom bunk. Next to this was a bookcase which was pushed against the wall and patiently awaiting the haul of books. In the center of the room was a set of desks pushed back to back, forming a little island. Along the back wall was a beat up futon that seemed like it may have just been rescued from a back alley, as well as a glass-paned door which led to a small balcony. On the right side of the room was a single bed which stood alone, slightly raised up and decked out with plaid sheets and what looked like a hand made quilt (RD could hear the humming chorus of mini-fridges underneath). This last bed, unlike the others, had an occupant. She wore a red plaid western-shirt, blue jeans, and a long braided blonde ponytail that flowed from the back of Stetson hat. She made RD think of a female Malboro Man. The cowgirl was laying back comfortably against the wall, with arms crossed behind her head, still sniggering at the stunned look RD had had on her face. 'Turnabout is fair play, I guess,' RD thought to herself as she recovered her disposition. "Name's Applejack," the girl drawled out with a twang, " an' the little pink bundle 'o energy is Pinkie Pie, since she didn't give you a proper introduction. Nice ta meet ya...." " RD," the rainbow-headed girl finished. "Nice hat you got there," She added as she and Twilight made their way to the bookcase. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a closet that presumably held the trio's dressers. "Thank ya kindly," she said smirking as she tilted up the brim in a little salute, "Nice hair you got on you." "I know!" Chimed in Pinkie, who seemed to have caught her breath and was ready for round two. " I mean look at it, it's like a rainbow! And oooooh! She has piercings!" Pinkie began to hover around RD as she shelved the books. " Look at this one here on her eyebrow, and here in this ear she's got an industrial bar," Pinkie said popping up on Dash's right. "And in the other there are these three awesome little studs in the cartilage!" "Uh... Yeah, thanks for the exposition," Twilight said in a failed to hint to Pinkie that she might be crowding their guest. Rainbow did feel a bit odd at Pinkie's examination, but was unable to keep the little pink fiend's good mood and energy from infecting her. "There was something else I was going to say... I know there was, it was important too, I mean it wouldn't save your life, not that important, but it was good I swear." Pinkie said with a suddenly ponderous look on her features. RD couldn't believe Pinkie could have forgotten to say anything that had crossed her mind. "I'm sure it will come to you," she said in an attempt to assuage her. "Pinkie, maybe we should let RD be,for a bit at least...." Twilight added tentatively, not wanting to scare off her new friend. "Oh! I got it!" She said sidling up to RD with all the seriousness she could muster, " Does the carpet match the drapes?" The room exploded with laughter After an hour or so of chatting with her new friends and a smoke break on the balcony with Applejack (who, true to form, smoked Marlboro Reds), RD decided she should probably go check on her room to see if her roommate had yet arrived. "See you guys later," she called over her shoulder as she exited the girls' room, "if you ever need me, my room's at the other end of the hall, same floor." She smiled to herself as she made her way to her room. ' Okay so maybe this really won't be so bad, at least I have some cool new friends' As she walked down the hall, she became lost in thought, hoping that her roomie would be as cool as Twi, AJ, or Pinkie. With her eyes half closed and her head in the clouds, she missed the startled squeak of a girl with long pale pink hair who quickly hid behind the door to her room. The shy girl couldn't help but timidly watch the prismatic-haired girl walk down the hall. There was only one name on her door: Fluttershy. As RD reached her door she began to feel like she was being watched, but when she turned around there was no one there, just the sound of a hastily closed door. 'Weird....' "Oh well" she spoke aloud to herself as she opened the door to her room. She could hear someone inside. 'Time to meet Rarity.' The sight that met her eyes stopped her dead in her tracks. While her half of the room remained exactly the way she had left it, the other half looked as though it had been imported from a some sort of castle estate. There was a solid wood, intricately carved headboard in place of the shitty bed frame the school provided, complete with posh mattress and covers. There was also a replacement bookshelf, desk and set of drawers, and rather than hanging posters over the cinderblock walls as RD had done, there were swaths of fabric hanging from the ceiling to the floor. This gave the room a much warmer feeling, and also made it seem like, to Dash's mind at least, that it was a curtain behind which a stage was hidden. RD stood mouth agape for what felt like a solid minute before she registered that her roommate was also there. Rarity, who had looked up from putting away her clothes to observe her roommate, then broke the silence. "How do you do, my name is Rarity, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said with a polite smile and a posh accent. RD was still dumbstruck as she took in the impeccable appearance of her roommate whose hair was meticulously styled, straightened and then curled. Not to mention her outfit, though functional, looked as though it had been designed for the runway. "Yes it's nice isn't it, I made it myself. You know, I could make you some new clothes too." She added with a bit of a disdainful look at the beat up jeans, olive drab jacket, combat boots and t-shirt that made up RD's ensemble. RD's eye began to twitch as anger began to replace her dazed demeanor. 'No one insults the duds...' "Not that the whole, punk-chic thing isn't totally you or anything," She hastily added noticing the ire that had crept into her roomie's gaze. "You know, Despite this rough start, I think we will be the best of friends, Ms. Rainbow Dash," Rarity added innocently. 'It's gonna be a long semester....' Author's Note So hello all, it's your friendly neighborhood author-guy. So this is my first fanfic. Actually this is the first stab at fiction I've ever really made, do please comment comment comment! Hope everyone will enjoy the ride I have planned! Chapter 1: Do You Want to Come to a Party?Ch. 1: Do You Want to Come to a Party? Whrrrrrrcklikclikclikclikclikclickclikclik….Whrrrrrrclikclikclikclikclikclik…. Dash’s eye began twitching, it was a tick she had come associate exclusively with her roommate’s sewing habit. Taking a calming breath, Rainbow tried to focus on the music from her stereo and not the obnoxious sounds that emanated from Rarity’s sewing machine. WHRRRRRRRCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIK... ‘Okay she asked for it.’ Dash gritted her teeth and prepared this latest salvo in the two’s unspoken war. It was a war that had raged since their first meeting earlier in the week, and both combatants seemed much too proud for a ceasefire. RD reached forward and slowly began to turn the dial on her stereo. Vol: 15, 16, 17…. “I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone. I crashed my car into the bridge. I watched, I let it burn…” Meanwhile, Rarity looked over from her desk at the opposite side of the room and gave RD a stare that could have frozen a polar bear. ‘Oh. It. Is. On.’ Rarity then turned back to her sewing machine and continued at her hobby, making sure to step down extra hard on the pedal so that the machine whined louder than before. WHRRRRRR….. Vol: 20, 21, 22… “I don't care, I love it. I don't care.” “Would you please be so kind as to turn that down?” Rarity said attempting to speak over the din. “I can’t hear myself think…” She added to herself as she massaged her temples and stopped her work. “What!?” Rainbow shouted back across the room, unable to conceal the smile spreading across her face at Rarity’s ruffled feathers. Vol: 25, 26, 27… “You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way You want me down on earth, but I am up in space” “I said: Turn it down!” Rarity shouted, all sense of decorum lost. “You're so damn hard to please, we gotta kill this switch You're from the 70's, but I'm a 90's bitch” “One more time!” Dash shouted back, preparing for her coup de grace. “I said: Turn off that fucking music!” Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs, into a suddenly silent room A full five seconds of stunned silence passed before Dash began cracking up, it was much longer before she could stop “Oh, you are just the worst kind of person.” A red faced Rarity managed through pursed lips. Outside their door stood a girl dressed in a long skirt and an overlarge canary sweater. The sleeves of her sweater were long enough to cover her hands, just the way she liked. It gave her a feeling of much needed comfort and security. Her long straight pink hair flowed over her shoulders and halfway down her back, and as she stared at the names on the door, her bangs had drifted in front of her eyes. However, she was too entranced to replace them. “Rainbow Dash” She mouthed the name on the door for the third time since she had begun her vigil. She felt butterflies in her stomach. Her usually timid resolve was put into overdrive. ‘I-I knew it was her...' Even Fluttershy’s thoughts were shook in anxiety. 'Should I knock….w-…would she even remember me...’ “Oh lighten up, prissy pants,” She heard Rainbow call out from inside the room. It sounded as though she was moving towards the door. ‘This is my chance….I… I can thank her…..I can tell her….I can-’ The knob began to turn. 'HIDE!' The impulse overtook Fluttershy and with a muffled squeak, she ran back to her room. “Stupid, stuck up, prissy, little prim, proper….” RD grumbled as she slammed the door to her room behind her. To her surprise it wasn’t the only door in the hallway she heard slam. She sighed and made her way down the hall towards Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack’s room. As she shuffled down the hall her eyes drifted lazily to the handmade signs that adorned each of the doors. As she began to read the name on one of the hall’s single room’s a hand reached out from behind the door and hastily grabbed the sign, pulling it inside the room. “Ooooookay…” RD spoke aloud to no one in particular. Reaching her friends’ room, Dash knocked on the door. “Hey ya RD,” replied the pleasant twang of Applejack as she opened the door, “I’d gladly welcome the company. Miss academic over there’s got ‘er head in a book and ain’t much for talkin’ at the moment…” Twilight looked up from her copy of Time and Recent Developments in Science by Doctor Hooves and made a slight grunt by way of greeting to RD. “…and Pinkie is out gettin’ supplies fer tonight’s party.” Applejack concluded with a grin. The four friends, most enthusiastically Pinkie of course, had been looking forward to the end of orientation week and with it Pinkie’s spontaneously announced “First-Weekend-of-College-so-We-Have-to-Have-a-Party Party.” “Can’t wait,” replied RD with devilish smirk. “All the booze I can drink and a bed in stumbling distance, what more can a gal ask for.” “Well ah can think of one thing,” replied Applejack with an uncharacteristic giggle, while Twilight simply blushed in spite of herself. “Oh there will be tons of variety in that department!” Pinkie said as the little bundle of energy exploded through the door, weighed down by more shopping bags than RD thought her small frame could handle. “Dear god did you clean out the liquor aisle?” RD said in astonishment. “Well you can’t have a party without supplies!” Pinkie replied as she stashed the copious amounts of alcohol. “And as I was saying Applejackie, you’ll have the pick of the litter. I just plopped an invitation under every door on the floor, hey that rhymed!” “Wait… Just now? While carrying all those bags? How did you- Wait never mind, I don’t want to know.” RD then knit her brow in frustration. “Wait?! Every door… oh crap. Pinkie! That means Rarity got one!” “Uh huh!” Pinkie said, bobbing her head. “I thought to myself: Hey Pinkie, every day this week RD has come in here complaining about her roommate, wouldn’t it be better if we were all friends? And then I replied: That’s a great idea, and you know what makes everyone friends!? PARTIES!!!” “…uh. Well I suppose that sounds alright, but I doubt she’d be able to handle any party without tea- or garden- in front of it.” RD intoned, still unsure of what to think. “ Well, ah reckon it’s a good idea. Can’t have you slinking over here every time ya have a shouting match.” Applejack offered. “Besides she sounds like a rather interesting individual,” Twilight chimed in. “Even if you two don’t get along, I can spend some invaluable time observing your interpersonal conflict up close.” “Besides if nothing’s working out I could always slip her one of my special cupcakes.” Pinkie added. “You have… ugh, where do you even get all this stuff?” Dash replied with resignation, running her hand though her hair. “Okay, okay I’ll try and play nice with her.” Fluttershy sat on her own bed staring down at the sign she had hastily pulled off her door and subsequently thrown to the floor. “It…it has to be on my terms…” She spoke aloud to herself. She bowed her head forward, letting her hair fall around her face. She had the depressing feeling that no matter the circumstance, she’d never get the chance for ‘her own terms.’ “Oh Dashie….” She sighed. “Of all the schools…” She wasn’t sure if the feeling that had overcome her was sadness, happiness or some obscene mixture of the two. Fluttershy was getting to see her again, after all these years, only to feel her own lack of courage, her fear and anxiety, preventing a reunion. Suddenly, as if sensing her spiraling mood, a bright pink envelope was slipped under her door. Fluttershy stared at it quizzically. She got up off the bed and picked it up. ‘Who would-’ Her thoughts were cut short as upon opening the envelop there was a loud pop followed by a little burst of confetti. Fluttershy squeaked at the effect, but after a moment she recovered and removed the little hand written invitation. You are invited to Pinkie Pie’s awesome, spectacular, first-of-many parties party. When: Tonight. Where: Just look for the door with my name on it silly! “oh… I don’t know about this…” She whispered. “A party. A party with loud music. A party with loud music and a crowd of strangers. Nope, no thank you.” But then a small voice within herself spoke up. ‘A party with loud music and a crowd of strangers and… maybe Rainbow Dash…’ She began to feel a very un-Fluttershy-ish feeling coming over her. ‘Loud music, drinks, a dark room, and your Rainbow… those sound like good terms to me’ She felt a warm blush settle across her features, turning the invitation over in her hands. “Well….m-maybe I could consider it…” Author's Note Here we go folk, the game is afoot. Well actually the game is a party, not a foot. Here is the song RD was playing, honestly it was kinda my inspiration for writing this so I had to work it in somehow. Stay tuned folks, more to come! Chapter 2: We Just Came to Party DownChapter 2: We Just Came to Party Down! “Okay, let’s do this.” RD took a deep breath and turned the knob to her friends’ room and was immediately greeted by a blast of noise. “Welcome the most splendid, amazing, awesome party! Well, until the next one!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling her chum into the room. She pressed a shot glass and a lemon wedge into her friend’s hand, all the while bouncing up and down. “Drink, drink, drink! Then bite the lemon!” A somewhat stunned Dash did as she was told, shivering as the liquor hit the back of her throat, and then biting down on the lemon wedge. “That tastes like-” “Chocolate cake! I know, just a couple of flavored vodkas add a lemon and then … BAM! CAKE!” Pinkie said as she led Dash through the sparse crowd of guests already milling about. RD recognized them as residents of the floor but beyond that she knew little of them, except that each of them seemed to be liberally enjoying Pinkie’s open bar policy. Pinkie brought RD to broken down futon and promptly plopped down on it, motioning for her friend to do the same “Uh thanks Pinkie.” RD had finally begun to get her bearings after the impromptu shot, and elected not to sit. Dash was still pretty sure she might catch something from that poor excuse for furniture. “So when’s Rare-Rare getting here?” Pinkie intoned excitedly. Dash snorted. “Last time I saw her she was staring into her compact, attempting to get her eyeliner just right.” RD rolled her eyes. “‘Can’t rush perfection, darling’” She added in an exaggerated version of her roommate’s high society manner. “Well, I hope she gets here stat, Operation: Friendship demands it! Oh and Operation: Friendship also demands that you drink, cause the way you two have been going at it I think a little social lubricant is required.” Pinkie nodded sagely. “So what can I do you for?” “Uh…. Got any cider?” RD asked, licking her lips slightly. Before she could even so much as begin to imagine the crisp taste of the frothy nectar, Pinkie pressed a bottle into her hand. “Thanks Pinks.” “De nada,” Pinkie replied, taking a shot. Rainbow closed her eyes for a moment and bobbed her head in time with the music, taking the occasional sip of her cider. Just then a thought occurred. “Hey Pinkie? Not saying the music is too loud or anything, and I love the whole open bar thing, but don’t you think the RA's will shut this whole thing down?” “Oh no no no, silly. I plan ahead! I gave all the RA's in the building some of my extra special cupcakes.” She was grinning ear to ear. “They are like my special cupcakes but, extra! They are probably neck deep in existential quandaries at the moment, either that or murdering a bag of Cheetos.” RD stood flabbergasted. “You drugged them!?” “No no no no….well yes, but in the name of friendship!” “You are one devious chick,” Rd smiled. “Oh I do declare you flatter me missus RD. You go on mingle, I’ll send Rarity your way so you two can bury the hatchet or what have you. I have to man the door, this party’s got a drink minimum that it is my sacred duty to enforce.” Pinkie then did a mock salute and prepared more of her chocolate cake shots. “Go get ‘em tiger,” Rainbow chuckled. Looking around the room she located Twilight, who was quietly journaling from the cavern that was the lower bunk of her bed. RD attempted a wave but Twilight seemed entirely too engrossed in her writing. ‘Huh, odd way to spend a party. Oh well, where’d cowgirl get off too…’ RD connected some thoughts and figured Applejack was probably on the balcony, so she set off to find her smoking buddy. Fluttershy was a nervous wreck, but that was nothing new. ‘Oh…oh what do I wear?’ The entirety of Fluttershy’s wardrobe was spread across the floor. ‘I don’t want to attract too much attention….but I want her attention… I-I mean not like that! Well maybe a little…’ Despite her anxiety, there really were only two different options she could choose: normal or V-neck sweater, both too loose to be considered form-fitting. A high-school career mostly spent attempting to stay in the background had left her with few options in party attire department. Not that she wasn't beautiful, quite the opposite. In fact that was the reason her wardrobe was so bland. She had always been a bit of a beanpole, but when she blossomed she had curves to spare, in the places that most girls would kill for. Of course the last thing Fluttershy wanted was to make anyone feel jealous, that wouldn't be very nice, and as an added benefit she dodged any excessive attention. Finally making up her mind, Fluttershy grabbed a V-neck sweater, blushing slightly at the thought that her camisole would be visible through the still modest neckline. On the edge of her hearing she came the sounds of music and the feel of a thumping bass line, signalling that the party was well underway. “Okay Fluttershy, here you go…. You can do this…” She spoke aloud to herself seeking to strengthen her resolve. “Y-you can do this…you can... can do this…” Her mantra must have helped because the next thing Fluttershy knew she was outside Twi, AJ, and Pinkie’s door. She breathed out a shaky sigh and began to turn the knob. “Welcome the most splendid, amazing, awesome party! Well, until the next one!” Pinkie shouted at the new arrival, pulling Fluttershy into the room. Pinkie repeated the ritual she had with each new guest and pressed a shot glass and a lemon wedge into her hand. Fluttershy for her part simply let out a startled squeaked “Drink! Then bite the lemon!” Fluttershy obeyed, still partly terrified, swallowing the shot entirely too quickly. She felt it burn the back of her throat, and reflexively began to cough. “Bite the lemon, it makes it all better.” Pinkie encouraged, placing a friendly hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Once more Fluttershy complied. “Wha-… that’s…that’s chocolate cake,” She managed as she looked down into the smiling face of the frizzy-haired girl. “Um… so you must be-“ “Pinkie pie, yep that’s me, at your service. Nice to meet you. The pleasure’s all mine. Clichéd greeting!” “Oh, it’s uh nice to meet you too. My name is Fluttershy.” Her soft tones were almost lost in the growing ruckus of the party, but Pinkie seemed to understand every word. “So you’re a quiet one, eh? Have no fear, your new friend Pinkie knows just how to accommodate those of your persuasion.” “F-friend?” Fluttershy stammered, but before she could fully process what was going on Pinkie had grabbed her hand and began leading her through the crowd. They stopped abruptly at the bottom bunk of a bunk bed where another girl with straight black hair sat journaling. “Yup, friends.” Pinkie said cheerily, “I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em. Now it is my solemn duty to introduce you to our resident quiet friend. Well, she isn't that quiet, I mean if you ask her about science junk she’ll talk your ear off, but I can see that you, my dear Fluttershy, are new to the party scene and if I were to just throw you onto the dance floor, what would you do?” “I… uh… I’d probably run and hide…” Fluttershy responded, hiding slightly behind her bangs. “Exactly, but judging by the awesome shade of pink your hair is, you must have some interesting stories, or something. I mean no one boring does that for any old reason.” Pinkie said nudging her new friend in the ribs. “Well…it’s kinda personal…”Fluttershy’s voice had grown smaller still. “Exactly! So here I am, wanting to know more about you, a timid girl with pink hair who seems scared half-to-death to be here. So what’s a Pinkie to do? Why be friends of course, and since the party isn't quite your speed, I’d like to introduce you to someone who is! She is also not as well acquainted with the party circuit, but I’ll make converts of you two yet! Meet Twilight Sparkle, egghead extraordinaire! Twilight, meet Fluttershy, shy girl with interesting past! I think!” Pinkie beamed as she presented the journaling girl with all the enthusiasm a carnival barker might employ to introduce their latest attraction. However unlike a paid professional, every ounce of enthusiasm was undoubtedly genuine, something which served to endear the manic party-girl to Fluttershy. ‘She’s crazy… but at least she’s being herself.’ Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel her lips twitch up into a little grin. “Well I’ll leave you two to it. I've got miles to go before I sleep, which is really a metaphor meaning I have to make a prissy girl knock back some shots before I can cut loose myself,” And with that the party fiend vanished back into the throng. “You’ll have to forgive my roommate for her bold actions, it’s just who she is,” Twilight said looking up from her journal. “I understand if this isn't your thing, it’s not really mine either. I suppose Pinkie already covered that, so rather than waste time with redundancies, come on up if you’d like. I've been dying to share this with someone but they have all made far too interesting subjects to interact with.” “Um... Subjects?” Fluttershy asked as she climbed onto the bottom bunk. Despite being with a stranger, the enclosed lower bunk of the bed felt safe. The rest of the party felt almost a world away. “Oh yes,” Twilight chirped happily, a big grin plastered across her face. “You see I’m conducting an ethnography of Pinkie Pie’s party. That is to say I’m taking field notes which I will later compile into a report or book or essay or something else academic in nature. I should really be observing this from some sort of blind. My mere presence could disrupt events, but i'm just going to have to risk it.” “Oh, um, that’s… interesting.” And a little unnerving if Fluttershy was being honest with herself. Twilight chuckled by way of reply, “I know, I know. It’s weird, but it’s how I cope with all of…” She motioned to the rest of the party, “…this." Fluttershy understood the feeling, everybody coped in their own way. "Hey want to help me with another experiment?” The budding scientist inquired. Fluttershy nodded a bit hesitantly, “ …It won’t hurt right?” “Hopefully not tonight, but who knows about tomorrow.” Twilight pulled what appeared to be a jug of orange juice. “This is what Pinkie calls a screwdriver, but I suspect they aren't usually served in gallon jugs. So the experiment is this: monitor the effects of alcohol from a first person perspective. After all, my big brother always said college was a time to experiment.” Fluttershy blushed and giggled a bit. “Um, Twilight? I don’t think that’s what people normally mean by that… but, sure I’ll drink with you.” It felt nice to have someone who was willing to just sit and talk in midst of the maelstrom. Twilight took a swig from the jug and passed it to Fluttershy, pulling only a slight face and she swallowed. “Hmmm… not bad, guess she knew I wasn't acclimated to anything particularly strong, she’s a sort of drinking genius,” Twilight mused before turning back to her companion, “ So, what does ‘experimenting’ mean, if I am to assume that the literal definition is imprecise?” Twilight asked innocently, pure academic interest in her tone. “oh… well you see…” Fluttershy had begun to blush heavily. “It kind of implies… uh you know, swinging the other way…” Twilight stared blankly at her pink faced companion. “Uh… it means…” Her voice dropped to a whisper and she began to speak very rapidly, “it-means-that-you-have-sex-with-the-gender-you-wouldn’t-normally-but-tends-to-especially-mean-girl-on-girl.” She bowed forward, letting her hair hide her blush. “Oh is that all?” Twilight replied nonchalantly, making a note in her journal. “Fluttershy, it’s your turn to drink.” “Oh, uh, yeah.” Fluttershy was a bit taken aback at the indifference of her new friend, but at the same time she drew strength from her it. 'No big deal to her... just relax...' She looked up at Twilight, gave her a weak smile and took a sip of the mixture. Despite a slight burn from alcohol, the flavor was primarily the pleasant tang of orange juice. “I think you are right about Pinkie. This is quite tasty...” As Fluttershy looked out over the party she noticed Pinkie ambush another guest. This one had meticulously styled hair and was dressed in a beautiful couture top. The night was warm, but it was welcomed by RD. She stubbed out her cigarette and flicked it over the railing of the balcony. She took a deep breath of the night air and then killed the rest of her cider. She reached down and placed the empty bottle among numerous others on the floor of the balcony. "Done" “Alright, ah think you got one ahead of me, but ah got a sure fire way to make this more interestin’, sugar.” Applejack shot a little grin at her drinking partner. “All right, you’re on.” RD flashed a cocky grin. “Now here’s how we do this, ya take yourself a cider…” Applejack grabbed a fresh bottle out of a cooler she had stashed on the balcony. “Ya take a nice big sip…” AJ upended the bottle and took a generous gulp. “Then ya add a bit the ole number seven.” She took a hip flask out of her pocket and poured roughly a shot’s worth into the bottle. “That’s how ya make an applejack. Lowercase ‘a’ on that by the way. Now the story about how my ma' and pa' made me is a bit more complicated and no where near as gratifying.” “So double the alcohol in a single drink.” Dash said though her laughter. “Bring it on” As the two attempted to drink each other under the table (despite the lack of any physical table), Pinkie suddenly appeared on the balcony looking a bit sheepish. “Hey gals, uh Rarity made it and I gave her some amazing martinis. She said something to the effect of: 'drinking anything that has not been shaken is for...' uh, how did she put it, oh yes... 'Ruffians.' So I gave her some, and then another, and couple more after that. Anyway that was all to plan but now Operation: Friendship is in danger! Code red!” “Wait, slow down Pinkie. So she’s drunk, where’s the problem?” RD asked. “The problem is the six-foot something linebacker who, despite Rarity's attempts, won’t leave her alone!” “Son of a bitch,” Applejack swore. “Alright that’s a problem," Rainbow said gritting her teeth, "Rarity’s a prim pain in the asses, but she’s my prim pain in the ass! C’mon AJ.” Were beds normally this squishy? Fluttershy bounced up and down a bit on Twilight’s bed and decided that yes they must be, and her bed would probably be this squishy too. “Uh…. Twilight, I think I’m okay with not drinking anymore...um, if that’s okay?” Twilight meanwhile was staring at her hands, “I feel… A slight tingling in my fingers…” Then as if suddenly hearing her companion she looked up, “Oh, oh yes... I think I may have had enough too. I seem to have stopped taking notes too. Oh well, I suppose we could always experiment with each other again.” Twilight giggled and replaced the cap on the jug. “I told you… oh that was a joke,” Fluttershy giggled along with her buddy. “I have to ask, what’s with your hair. Was it a coming of age ceremony or perhaps a personal rite of passage?” The gleam of scientific inquest suddenly shone once more in Twilight’s eyes. “Oh, well it was sort of a promise…” Fluttershy wrinkled her brow, fighting her tipsy state to do justice to the seriousness of her answer. “I mean it was a promise to me, so I suppose it was like a rite of passage… I mean it was for someone, but I thought I’d never see them again…” “Thought? Ooooo the plot thickens.” Twilight said with a drunken titter. Fluttershy blushed and looked away, but in doing so a flash of multicolored hair caught her eye. She tried to find it again. Fluttershy scanned the crowd mercilessly, until, at last, she could see her. Rainbow Dash. For the first time since catching a glimpse of RD in the hall, Fluttershy could see her in all of her glory. She may have grown up a bit from the last time Fluttershy had laid eyes on her, and the piercings were certainly new, but it felt like it fit. Dash would always be Dash. “Oh that doesn’t look good,” Twilight said following Fluttershy’s gaze. It was then that Fluttershy noticed that Dash was storming up to a burly jock with war in her eyes. “Look here, if Rarity doesn't want to leave with you, she ain't gonna.” RD's voice was filled with passionate anger. “No you look here, little girl, I don’t think she knows what she wants, and I’m going to show her it’s me,” the boy spoke with a disinterested drawl that made it quite clear that he wasn't going to let some scruffy girl stand between him and his latest conquest. “Ugh, as if, you brute!” Rarity took a step behind RD, swaying a bit as she did, “And I’ll thank… hic… you to not talk to my roommate like that, she’s wouldn't know culture if it bit her posterior but…uh… what was I saying?” Rarity squinted at the large man, concentrating. “Oh yes…Screw you!” “Hear that? Now I think you have overstayed your welcome, Blue Balls.” Rainbow crossed her arms in smug satisfaction at her victory. “It’s Blueblood, you rainbow-haired dyke!” It all happened too quickly. There was a sickening crack and then Blueblood was lying crumbled on the ground. Judging by the blood flowing freely from her nose, Dash had head-butted the much larger individual square in the sternum. “Say that again asshole! Say it again!” Rainbow’s face was contorted in raw fury as she delivered a swift kick to Blueblood’s ribs, eliciting a groan from her fallen opponent. “Sugar, that’s enough!” Applejack held RD back before she could kick him again. Rainbow looked down on her handiwork, going limp in AJ’s grip. “Yeah… yeah I think your right. Pinkie, I’m sure you can find a way to dispose of this trash.” She wiped off her nose on the sleeve of her jacket, noticing for the first time that she was bleeding. “Hey Applejack, think I can go clean up?” “Yeah, RD, go on ahead,” Applejack replied as she loosened her grip, “Need any help?” “Naw, I got this.” Rainbow’s face was set in a somber mask as she stalked out of the room. She had made it maybe half way down the hall before the world in front of her began to spin. RD clutched the wall for support, before collapsing against it all together. “Note to self, count drinks next time….” Fluttershy’s world had suddenly gotten a hell of a lot clearer. She watched in horror as RD attacked Blueblood, frozen in shock at the savagery. Yet, she felt that un-Fluttershy-ish voice whisper to her again. ‘Look at your Amazon! She is victorious! Take her now!’ She recoiled at her own thoughts, mentally pushing them down back into the dark, where they belonged. She closed her eyes and centered herself. Once she opened them again she looked around for Rainbow, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Twi-Twilight, where did Dashie…I mean uh RD go?” “She uh… She left,” Twilight replied, still very much shaken by the violence. At those words Fluttershy shot from the room. She heard Twilight call after her to wait, but there was no waiting. Rainbow Dash was hurt, she was bleeding. Simple nose bleed or broken nose, it didn't matter. Fluttershy couldn't let her nerves hold her back anymore. She needed to see her, needed to help her, needed to be there for her. ‘…Just like she was always there for me…’ Fluttershy found her sitting against a wall in the hallway, her nose bleed had slowed and two black eyes had begun to form. Fluttershy leaned down over Rainbow, “Please be okay… please be okay…” Rainbow’s eyes drifted open and Fluttershy could just barely hear her mumble, “Flutters... Pink?..How… What...When did you get hot?” Then she was out cold. Author's Note Whew! Here we are folks Chapter Two, which concludes the first quazi-arc-thing I had planned. Hope you enjoyed it. As always comments are welcome. If you want to know how the Dash vs. Blueblood fight looked in my head, imagine Zidane's headbutt from the France vs. Italy World Cup Final. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, look it up. In case you hadn't noticed, Chapters One and Two are each named for song lyrics. Chapter One is The Party Song by Blink 182 and Chapter Two is Party Down by Reel Big Fish. I kinda associate these songs with Pinkie Pie so they were natural fits as far as names for these first two chapters As an aside, my grammar sucks. If anyone would like to take the time to send me a message detailing my mistakes, I'd love it Chapter 3: Can I Be Your MemoryChapter 3: Can I be your memory? The next morning several RA’s awoke covered in crumbs and surrounded by pizza boxes. There was also an unconfirmed report that a certain male student had awoken naked and bruised in the quad. He had been covered in sharpie doodles with the words “big fat meanie” written across both his forehead and buttocks. The first thing that Rainbow Dash noticed as she awakened was the feeling that her head had been run over, scooped up from the side of the road, and then run over again. Soon the events of the previous night began to replay in her head, eliciting a grown from the prismatic-haired girl. The next thing she noticed is that the soft snores she heard coming from her roommate sounded like they were coming from the floor. RD blinked open her eyes and after a wince of pain, followed by cursing the sun an all its fiery brightness, she realized that she was not in her room. This room was much emptier than her and Rarity’s Franken-room (as Rainbow had taken to referring to it). There was no second bed and few posters if any hung on the walls. There were a couple photos of family on the desk, but one picture in particular stood out from all the rest. It showed two young girls: one who was skinny and tall for her age with mousy brown hair that hung about her shoulders, the other shorter but still with much growing left to do with short hair that contained all the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow leaned over the edge of the not-her-bed and saw that a sleeping bag had been rolled out on the floor, a mass of pink hair sticking out of the top. “Fluttershy!?” The sleeping form jerked and twitched a bit, mumbling something to the effect of, “right there….Dashie…right there…” “Fluttershy!” Dash was overjoyed, she rolled off the bed and jumped on the sleeping bag. “How the hell did you end up at Celestia College!?” Fluttershy awoke slowly, and as her eyes drifted open, she smiled. Rainbow Dash was staring her right in the face, her nose bandaged and sporting to black eyes. ‘This is such a wonderful dream,’ She thought sleepily. ‘Wait…. Why would Dashie be injured in my dream... I wasn't that rough with her...’ Her brain seemed to catch up to reality in an instant. She squeaked and quickly ducked her head into the sleeping bag. “Oh sorry, didn’t mean to scare you or anything,” RD apologized as she climbed off her friend. “It’s just, I mean wow, of all the places right?” “uh… Y- yes…” Came the soft reply from inside the sleeping bag. “This is so awesome!” Rainbow pumped her fist in the air. “Flutters and Dashie, together again!” Fluttershy hated gym class. It wasn’t enough that she was teased for her early growth spurts, it seemed today the gods had conspired against her to further deepen the hell that was her seventh grade experience. Fluttershy had always known she was different. All the other girls talked and gossiped about the pubescent boys in their class, Fluttershy simply couldn’t see the appeal. While she and the girls were dressing out for gym, her raging hormones compelled her to spend just a second too long staring at one of her fellow classmates. “What are you looking at?” Came an angry shout from the object of Fluttershy’s gaze. “N-nothing…I was…I just…” Fluttershy stammered, blushing furiously. “Oh my god,” Chimed in another girl. “Look at her face, she was totally into you.” “Ugh, seriously?” The first girl replied. “Looks like we got ourselves a lesbo.” The last word dripped with venom. Fluttershy was paralyzed, tears were welling up in her eyes. She needed to run away, to get away from here, but her body wouldn’t respond to her pleas. “You leave her the fuck alone!” The shout came from behind her, “You wanna pick a fight do it with me and leave her out of it!” Fluttershy turned to see a girl that stood a bit shorter than her with short scruffy blonde hair. She gave the girls who were picking on Fluttershy a death glare. Under the violent gaze, the two girl who were mocking Fluttershy wilted and slinked away. “Have fun with your girlfriend, dyke.” One of the called out as they left the locker room. Fluttershy looked down at the girl who had come to her aid, wanting to say thanks, to say anything. But all she could do was sob. “It’s okay, don’t let ‘em get to you. My name’s Rainbow Dash, by the way.” “Fl-Fluttershy,” She managed to choke out. Fluttershy managed to poke her head out from the sleeping bag. “I…I hope you don’t mind, I could only get you moved this far… I didn’t think you’d make it back to your room…” “No problem, pal.” Rainbow smiled, and for the first time she noticed the bandaging across the bridge of her nose. “I figure I have you to thank for this?” “Oh, yes, well… The bandages, not the nose. You ...uh…kinda…” “Busted up some guy for calling me a dyke, yeah I remember.” Dash’s voice still smoldered with rage over the incident. RD could still hear the taunts thrown at Fluttershy. Despite all the threats Rainbow had leveled at anyone who said anything against Fluttershy, every day her best friend was enduring the torturous barbs of their classmates. Fluttershy didn’t deserve that, and privately Rainbow didn’t know how much more the timid girl could even take. Flutters spent half the time they hung out in tears. But Rainbow Dash had a plan She pulled her knit cap low over her head as she headed into the cafeteria. The cafeteria was a hive of activity but to Dash the noise just seemed to tune out as she prepared herself for what was going to happen next. RD climbed on top of one of large tables and stomped her foot to get everyone’s attention. “Hey assholes, I’M GAY” She pulled off her cap to reveal that her once blonde hair had been dyed all the colors of the rainbow. “If you want someone to fuck with, fuck with me!” “You, were really brave Dashie… oh I mean RD,” the shy girl corrected hastily. Dash winced. Hearing herself called by her initials from Fluttershy’s mouth just sounded wrong. “You can still call me that, just you.” “Thank you.” Fluttershy said with a blush. “You know, you can come out of that sleeping bag,” Dash felt a friendly smile grow over her lips. “I mean it’s not like I haven’t seen you in your PJs before.” “Oh…uh… yeah, guess this is like our sleepovers, huh?” Fluttershy shimmied her way out of the sleeping bag. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and cotton sleeping shorts. Rainbow felt her jaw drop and her face heat up. What happened to the skinny girl she used to know? “Wh- what? How the hell did this happen? Are those real?” Fluttershy felt her face go beet red and she felt a little “Eep” escape her lips. She covered herself with the sleeping bag and let her hair fall in front of her face. RD immediately felt the guilt hit her like truck. “I… uh… I’m sorry Flutters, I didn’t mean to embarrass you… you can come out. It was just a bit of a shock, last time I saw you, you were as flat as I am.” Rainbow was blushing too now. “but I uh… I guess you filled out huh?” Fluttershy was bawling. “I know.” RD spoke in an unusually soft voice. “I wish I could stay… but my mom was transferred to some office that’s halfway across the country.” “I…I don’t know how… I’m going to do this… without you…” Fluttershy could barely speak through the sobs. “Hey don’t worry; you’re braver than you know. I promise. You’ll do it.” Rainbow patted her friend on the shoulder, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m not good at this kind of thing… but just remember that wherever I am… wherever you are… I promise I’ll be there with this haircut and this silly rainbow hair, and you can… I don’t know… draw strength from that. I’ll be out there being who I am, and you can use that to find the courage to be who you are.” “Y- yeah…” Fluttershy felt her heart rate beginning to slow back down to something resembling normal. She dropped the sleeping bag and joined RD sitting on the bed. “But…you look good too… don’t be mean to yourself Dashie…” “No accounting for taste I suppose,” Rainbow said with a self-deprecating grin. “So it’s been bugging me, what’s with the hair?” “Oh… well… I came out to my family this summer. They were surprised but they weren’t mean or anything… and I don’t know. I felt like I need to… mark the change.” Fluttershy spoke slowly. She hesitated a bit before she added, “Like you did in middle school.” Rainbow wasn’t sure what to say at first, but then she began to feel a bit of a proud smile cross her lips, “So you wanted to be like you hero Dashie, huh? Not surprising at all really. Though uh… why pink?” “It’s… uh…” Fluttershy’s voice grew so small it was barely audible. “It’s the only color you were missing…” Silence followed this pronouncement. Rainbow coughed. “So… uh… want hit the mess hall for some breakfast or something, I can introduce you to the rest of the gang: Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Applejack, and I guess now Rarity too.” “S-sure… I’d love to,” came Fluttershy’s stammered reply. “Though I met Pinkie and Twilight last night, they were very nice.” “Yeah pretty cool huh? Seems like we got out own gang now, it’s not just us against the world anymore. Well I should probably get washed up first, meet you in the hall in twenty?” “Sounds good” Fluttershy quietly replied. After Dash had left, Fluttershy pulled together an outfit and held it up to herself in the mirror. ‘She thinks you’re hot’ the smug little voice in her head cooed. Fluttershy blushed and began getting dressed. Author's Note Can't tell a FlutterDash story without flashbacks right? This chapter's title track is Memory by Sugarcult. A bit on the nose I know, but hey what are you gonna do? More fun to come! Chapter 4: The Set UpChapter Four: The Set Up Dull, destitute of fun, humdrum, eye-melting-ly boooooooooring! These are just the first (and most polite) in a long list of words that the one and only Pinkie Pie would use to describe the past week of college. Classes had begun, but Pinkie had found out that her schedule matched up poorly with those of her friends. “Classes! Classes! Are you kidding me? We don’t need no stinkin’ classes! Okay not true but still! I mean I understand that that is sorta what college is about but, ugh the routine! Routine, it is my kryptonite I tell you! Where is the fun? The adventure? The Jell-O shots? For god’s sake someone think of the Jell-O shots!” Pinkie was pacing back and forth across her room, hands in the air, ranting aloud to an invisible double. “RD’s in class. Twilight’s in class. AJ and Fluttershy and Ratity are, you guessed it, in class! What am I supposed to be doing, huh?” “Well Pinkie, I suppose you can try and come up with a nefarious scheme to bring joy and laughter to our friends through drunken and/or sexy adventures.” “Hmmm… that’s a pretty good idea, Pinkie,” Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “But who shall be the targets of this nefarious plot?” “Well, Fluttershy did turn out to be interesting, as predicted, and RD has totally brought her into the group, but neither one has made a move on each other yet, even though they so totally want to… It’s like watching two people run towards each other on a beach in super-slow motion, except it is so not romantic, ‘cause it’ll be, like, years till they meet half way! It’s booooooring!” “This may pair may be worthy of our efforts, but we must be sure. Present your evidence, councilor.” “Exhibit A: Fluttershy is RD’s long lost awesome friend from times long ago, and they share some sort of super special connection because of it. Exhibit B: Fluttershy totally checks RD out when she’s not looking. Exhibit C: RD totally does the same. Conclusion: They so want to do the horizontal cha-cha.” “So, what are we going to do?” “The same thing we do every night, Pinkie, try to take over the world!” The petite dynamo cackled maniacally before flopping down on the beat-up futon. “Oh… and probably throw a party…” “So let me get this straight, rather than lay low after the fiasco that was the last party, you want to want to hold another party?” RD arched an incredulous eyebrow. Pinkie had ambushed Dash as she left her last class for the day, and now the pair was crossing the quad together on their way back to the dorms. “Well duh, if I didn’t throw another party I’d look totally guilty, duh.” Pinkie was flashing a grin that threatened to consume her whole face. “Okaaaay… maybe be a bit more selective about the guest list this time though,” Rainbow gingerly touched her bandaged face. “My nose still hurts like a bitch.” “Oh this one’s special, but have no fear there will be tunes and alcohol!” She said as she wrapped an arm around her punky companion, flashing a grin. “It’ll be just you, me, AJ, Twi, Rares…. Oh and Fluttershy.” Pinkie waggled her eyebrows in an effort to further tempt her friend. “Well if… everyone… is coming.” Dash then fixed Pinkie with a skeptical stare. “Wait this isn’t part of an elaborate scheme or master plan is it?” “What? No, no, no. Of course not,” Pinkie replied with her fingers crossed behind her back. “Who do you think I am, the kind of person who would drug RA’s just to throw a bitchin’ party?” “But… you did do that.” “Exactly” “So, sugar, you want to host another get together, here, in our room.” Applejack was a bit less than amused. “Awww come on Jackie, it’ll be okay. It’ll just me you, and me, and Twi-Twi, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and RD.” Pinkie Pie gave her roomie the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. “Well…” AJ cast her eyes around the room, “Twilight, it’s yer room too, what do you say?” Twilight as usual was curled up on her bed with a book. “Hmmm…. I wouldn’t mind experimenting with Fluttershy again…” Pinkie and Applejack exchanged wide eyed glances. “Uh, Twi?” Twilight broke out in a fit of giggles. “Oh God, that never gets old. I’d love to have everyone over.” Pinkie bounced up and down on the spot. “Twilight’s on board come one Applejackie, pleeeeeeease?” “Well fine, but we gotta make sure we don’ make too much noise, ah doubt the RA’s will be accepting anymore of yer cupcakes, sugar.” “I thank you for your invitation, darling, but I feel I must decline. I think your parties might be a bit too rambunctious for my taste,” Rarity’s expression was polite, yet unreadable, as she stood in the doorway to her and RD’s room. “Oh come on Rares I’m really sorry for what happened last time, and I promise it’ll never happen again.” Rarity’s face remained a polite mask. “It’ll just be the six of us. A girl’s night! I Pinkie promise!” Rarity arched a brow, “You’re absolutely sure. No brutish thugs?” “I swear upon my treasured collection of novelty cookie cutters.” Pinkie held a hand to her heart in all solemnity. “Alright, besides, you all have been very nice to me. No harm no foul, I always say, and I suppose I owe it to you.” Rarity said, finally cracking a genuine smile. “Oh…um… I wouldn’t want to impose or anything.” Fluttershy was standing in her doorway looking down at the frizzy-haired party girl. “Not at all my pink-haired amigo,” Pinkie replied. “And uh… RD is gonna be there?” Fluttershy hid her blush behind her hair. “Oh girl, no need to hide from your Auntie Pinkie Pie, she can read the writing on the wall. Yep, RD is going to be there, and plenty of drinks. Twi said you enjoyed the screwdrivers, right?” “Oh, yes they were yummy.” The shy girl said with a little smile. “And thanks for… you know… not making fun of me for…um…” “Liking RD? Not a problem. I might even be able to help you with that too.” A devilish grin swept across Pinkie’s features. “I don’t know… I mean… I don’t want to trick her or anything…” “Just leave everything to me and the two of you will be an item in no time flat,” Pinkie held out her hand to the pink-haired girl. Fluttershy thought briefly about how good it would be to finally be able to have Dashie in her arms, not just as friends but to be her everything, to pay her back for standing out in a crowd so that Fluttershy could slip into the background. Fluttershy, blushing furiously, shook Pinkie’s hand. Pinkie wandered back to her room some time later with a satisfied smirk. The pieces were in place, the trap was set, and this time tomorrow the drinks would flow. “I love it when a plan comes together.” Author's Note This chapter's title track is The Set Up (You Need This) by Reel Big Fish As for the promised Flutter shy music, here's the first few songs I could think of: The Chain by Ingird Michaelson , Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons, and The Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine More to come in the next chapter, stay tuned folks! Chapter 6: Sing Like a Bird and Dance Like a DemonChapter 6: Sing Like a Bird and Dance Like a Demon The get-together was going strong, all six girls sitting around the room drinking and chatting. RD had finally been able to stuff her tongue back in her mouth and had elected to share a jug of Pinkie’s world famous screwdrivers with Fluttershy. Well “elected” was sort of a misleading phrase, Pinkie had actually shoved the large container of alcoholic beverage at the chromatic-haired girl, pointed to Fluttershy and yelled, “SHARE!” Regardless of how she came by it, the alcohol was doing its job just fine and RD felt a wonderful warm feeling settle about her insides. She cast a lopsided grin at her drinking partner, who returned the smile in kind. “This is good, tart and stuff, doesn’t make me gag or nothing,” Dash said to her friend, passing her the drink. Fluttershy bobbed her head, “Uh huh, Pinkie is really great at the…um… mixing of drinks and stuff.” She giggled a bit at her own ineloquence. RD closed her eyes for a moment, relaxing her mind. ‘This must be the meaning of life,’ she mused to herself, ‘Alcohol, good friends… especially Fluttershy.’ Slowly a hummed tune began to float into her ears. It was beautiful yet tinged with sadness, like an old photograph of a lost friend… “What’s that song?” Rainbow asked her companion. Fluttershy gave a bittersweet smile, “…I could sing it for you…” Dash nodded to her, leaning in to catch every word as her timid friend began to softly intone the lyrics: “The sky looks pissed The wind talks back My bones are shifting in my skin And you my love are gone My room seems wrong The bed won't fit I cannot seem to operate And you my love are gone So glide away on soapy heels And promise not to promise anymore And if you come around again Then I will take, then I will take the chain from off the door I'll never say I'll never love But I don't say a lot of things And you my love are gone So glide away on soapy heels And promise not to promise anymore And if you come around again Then I will take, then I will take the chain from off the door” Dash noticed moisture pooling at the corners of Fluttershy’s eyes. Her voice had been soft but sweet, and filled with hauntingly genuine emotion. “That was…beautiful…” RD said gently placing a hand on her friends shoulder. Fluttershy became aware of a tear rolling down her cheek and wiped it away. “Oh… oh no, I went and made myself sad…Sorry Dashie, I didn’t mean to, that song is just sort of… special.” Rainbow thought she understood, and nodded in response. “Hey it’s okay, Flutters. But hey look at the two of us, back together again! So no more sad stuff. In the immortal words of William Shakespeare: ‘let’s get drunk.’” “I don’t think he said that Dashie,” Fluttershy gave a little grin. “Well he should have.” RD grinned as she took a large pull from the jug. Pinkie watched the two with a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Phase one: complete,” She whispered to herself. Rarity, who sat closest to Pinkie, quirked an eyebrow at the frizzy-headed girl. “What was that, dear?” Pinkie responded by pressing her finger to the fashionista’s lips. “Ugh don’t do that,” Rarity squealed. “I don’t know where that finger has been!” “Everythin’ alright over there, girls?” Applejack asked the pair. All focus had shifted to Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Yeah, totally fine! Just um...flirting!" Pinkie said, giving a satisfied smirk at her own cover story. However the rest of the room was more than a little confused by this pronouncement and Rarity looked like she could strangle the little party girl. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?" "Well," Twilight offered, "based upon previous interactions between the two of you, there has been little evidence to support your claim. Granted the overall pool of data is quite small-" "What she's gettin' at, sugar, is that your story seems a mite unlikely is all." Applejack clarified. "Oh you guys are just being silly, what's more likely, I have some secret master plan or I want to have hot sex with Rarity?" Pinkie said cheerily. Rarity was opening and closing her mouth, at a loss for how exactly to express her indignation. "Ooooookay.... So there's that." RD intoned with a bit of a titter. "Just leave a sock on the door okay Rarity?" " I... I would n-... Never...I..." Rarity let out an almighty groan of frustration and then took a deep breath to try and center herself. After a moment she regained her composure and shot an glare at Pinkie that would have caused hell itself to freeze. "I apologize but I must decline your offer." RD began cracking up, "Jeez Rarity, your turning down sex with Pinkie not a telemarketer." "Oh just be quite, you." Rarity said turning her glare upon her roommate. "Lighten up everybody it's a party!" Pinkie had rematerialized in the middle of the room and,with a grunt of effort, pushed aside the desks to clear a space in the center of the room. "and what's a party without some music and dancing!" While RD had been on of the first to join in dancing, Fluttershy remained on the futon. She wanted desperately to join in, but how could she? She had never had much experience with parties to begin with, and she had even less with dancing. What if she made a fool of herself? What her flailing about made Dash loose interest in her? The throbbing bass beat of the song began to fade away as the song ended. There was a momentary lull in activity and Pinkie took it as a chance to plop down next to Fluttershy. "Hey there, why aren't you shaking your stuff on the dance floor?" Pinkie asked with a kind smile. Fluttershy bowed her head, letting her hair cover her face. " I... I'm scared... Like usual..." "Don't be, you don't notice me or RD or anyone else being all scared. Actually, what you should have noticed is RD looking over here every song to check if you'll come out and join all of us" Fluttershy looked up and momentarily caught RD looking in direction. They locked eyes for all of a second before the two awkwardly broke eye contact. "See!" Pinkie exclaimed as the next song started up." Now lets get you out there!" Fluttershy felt herself bing pulled off the couch and flung directly in RD's direction, bumping into her friend before she could fully regain balance."S-sorry..." She said, blushing furiously. "No problem," Dash replied a light blush about her own features. "So not much of a dancer?" Fluttershy shook her head, eyes cast down at Rainbow's shoes. "Hey, it's okay, pal. Not much to it really, at least not this kind of dancing. Just close your eyes and feel the music. Sway around, move your hips, whatever you feel like doing, just have fun." Fluttershy looked up at RD and was greeted by a kind smile. "Okay... I'll try." Fluttershy responded, unwilling to disappoint her oldest friend. She closed her eyes as Dash had suggested and began to truly listen to the music. She felt the rhythmic beat reverberate in her body. The pulsing bass called to her, urging her body into motion. It was not the most graceful of dances, but Fluttershy began to move, her hips swaying in time with the music. Then (likely as an act-of-Pinkie Pie) Fluttershy felt a body impact her own, and from the soft string of cursing that emanated from it, Fluttershy could tell that the body belonged to RD. Suddenly there were hands resting on her hips, beckoning her closer, a request that she was all to happy to oblige. She felt the warmth of Rainbow's lithe form as their bodies met, the music fueling their joint motions. She hesitantly placed her arms around Dash's body, her hands resting on the small of her back. Fluttershy wished that she could stay like this forever. The world had melted away there was nothing but her, Dash, and the music. Unfortunately no song lasts forever and eventually the beat once again faded away, and the world came crashing back down around her. She became acutely aware of how close she was to her best friend. She froze. 'Oh no... This was too fast... Dash hates me now... But she did seem to be into it...but what if she was just being nice....and it felt so nice...Only one way to find out...' Fluttershy opened her eyes and met those of her friend. In Dash's face was not the anger or revulsion that Fluttershy had feared, instead Rainbow's face held an mixture of passion and utter amazement. "I..uh...thought you said you hadn't done that before..." A blush tinged the cheeks of the usually brash and bold girl. "You were pretty awesome right there." "Th-thank you, Dashie." Fluttershy whispered, realizing they still hadn't broken their intimate embrace. If they had looked away from each other's eyes they may have noticed that their four friends each watched them with a different, but similarly expectant, expression upon their faces. If they had been listening to anything other than each other's breathing, they would have heard their friends little comments... "...that confirms that theory..." "...come on, come on, come on...." "...Well I'll darned..." "..Oh, oh my..." ...they wouldn't have leaned in closer. They wouldn't have softly pressed their lips together. They wouldn't have shared the most intimate and passionate kiss that either had ever experienced. RD felt a shiver of pleasure roll through her body at the touch of Fluttershy's lips. She pressed in closer and felt her companion shudder and let out a soft moan. Then immediately, as if the sound escaping her lips finally alerted her to what had just happened, Fluttershy pulled away and broke the contact. “Oh no... oh no… that was me wasn’t it, oh please don’t hate me, I’m so sorry I just-” “It’s okay Flutters,” Dash said a bit breathlessly. “Well, no, that’s a lie. It was more than okay, that was really amazing.” “Y- you mean it?” Fluttershy chewed her lip nervously. “Of course she does!” Pinkie called from across the room, “Sweet merciful Christ, it was good for us and we’re over here!” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy’s faces burned crimson. “Hey… uh... Flutters… think we can take this somewhere more… private?” RD said, unwilling to look over at quartet of her friends. Fluttershy could only nod. The pair stumbled into Fluttershy’s room, having trouble navigating while their lips were locked together. However upon entering the room RD spied something curious over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “The hell…” She said as she broke apart their embrace. Feeling a little scorned Fluttershy followed Rainbow’s gaze to a sign that had been duct taped to her closet door If you make it this far, Check out what’s in here, RD. ~Pinkie Rainbow crossed the room and opened the closet door. “She can’t be serious…” Rainbow retrieved an article of clothing from the closet and held it up to her body, turning to display it for Fluttershy. “She couldn’t possibly think this would fit me.” Fluttershy blushed and chewed her lip. Rainbow was holding up a black corseted bustier with a black lace overlay. It would have indeed looked ridiculous on Dash’s slender frame; it had clearly been constructed for someone whose measurements were a little higher in the bust and hips. A little note pinned to neckline read: Courtesy of Rarity. Realization dawned on Fluttershy as she closed the distance between her and Dash, her pace slow and deliberate. She began to feel confidence welling up inside her, her fantasy was finally being made into reality. “It’s not for you. It’s for me.” “Wh- what? Why would-” RD stammered, but Fluttershy placed a finger to her lips. “Shhhh, don’t worry…” Fluttershy leaned in, letting her lips graze Dash’s ear and her bust press against her lover’s. While her voice retained its usual soft cadence, the words she issued were a command. “You’re going to love me.” Author's Note So this is it fillies and gentle-colts, the...er... climax? Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Poke, poke. Title track for this one is Straight to Hell by Great Big Sea. The song Fluttershy sings is one that I posted a few chapters back The Chain by Ingrid Michaelson So I'll be winding down the story soon, maybe one or two more chapters. The plan is to write a sequel exploring Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in a secondary capacity, and another ship in the forefront. Not sure on that one yet, I was thinking either TwiJack or Raripie...or maybe RariJack. Unfortunately I'm not super confident at writing Applejack so we will see where this goes. Well, see ya'll on the flip side! Epilogue: This is Sappy but It's TrueEpilogue: This is Sappy but It’s True Clothing lay scattered around the room; thrown casually aside in the midst of passion. A particularly well aimed bra was dangling from a lamp, some pieces of clothing perched themselves on top of the desk, while still others littered the floor. Even the black brassier had eventually been removed and now lay at the foot of the bed. RD was the first to stir, the warm rays of morning sun alighting on her face. She turned her head and gazed at the girl beside her. Fluttershy’s chest slowly rose and fell in time with her breathing, her pink hair, though matted from the night’s activities, still wreathed her head in a beautiful halo of pink. Dash was unsure if she had ever seen a sight more gorgeous or more peaceful . With a small jerk Fluttershy too awoke and gave her childhood companion an exhausted smile. “Morning Flutters,” Dash said returning the smile. Fluttershy just lay there, looking upon the woman she had always admired. Her strength, her loyalty, and her passion had been what drove Flutttershy’s feelings for her one-time friend into a something more. Suddenly uncertainty began to creep into Fluttershy’s mind. What were they now? Were they together? Did… did she even feel the same way? This had all happened so fast, what came next? A frown began to find its way across Fluttershy’s features. She fought back an urge to hide. No, no hiding, not from Rainbow. “Hey, hey no frowning Flutters, got it?” RD cooed to her lover. She tenderly touched Fluttershy’s cheek as a way of comforting her. “Not regretting last night I hope, I mean… damn, you were awesome Flutters. I’ll be surprised if I can move out of this bed honestly.” “No… no not that, oh Dashie, I’d never regret that…” Fluttershy responded softly. Should she ask…? Could she? “I just…. I mean…” Fluttershy swallowed her words. She couldn’t do it, she was too afraid of what the answer might be. Dash’s face became uncharacteristically solemn for a moment, “Uh… do you not want to, uh… be together?” Fluttershy eyes began to grow wide, “Y- you mean it… you’d even want to… be with me?” Dash’s face brightened instantly, “Of course! Are you kidding? I mean you’re the most amazing person I know, you’re cute and caring and well… you’re Flutters!” RD lunged and caught Fluttershy in a surprise embrace that made the more timid girl’s entire body blush. “Thanks Dashie, I mean I really like you too.” She managed to squeak out. “I know, I’m pretty much amazing.” Rainbow said with a smirk before planting a kiss on Fluttershy’s nose. “I mean… I’m no good at the whole feelings shtick… but when I’m with you I always have more fun, you make me smile, and well… I think… I think, I always want you in my life.” Fluttershy smiled warmly, “Thank you Dashie, I want you with me too.” “Plus if last night was any indication, I’d say we’re more than a bit compatible in bed.” She added with a wink. “I mean seriously where did l that come from? I never knew you could be so…uh… assertive.” The timid girl resisted the urge to hide under her blankets. “Well, I um… thanks…” She managed. Rainbow grinned, leaning and gave Fluttershy a playful nuzzle. “Well, just keep being you, ‘kay Flutters?” Fluttershy felt warmth bubble up inside her. She reached over and pulled Rainbow into a tight hug pressing the lithe girl’s warm body into her own. “You’re the best Dashie!” “I know it.” Rainbow let out a little chuckle and returned the cuddle. “So what now? Breakfast?” “Sure ,” Fluttershy replied with a mischievous little smirk before ducking her head under the covers. “Hey where are you going? I thought we going to get….oh! Oh, you naughty girl…” Several rooms away four girls were beginning to wake from what had ended up being a night of intense drinking. Rarity rolled off the futon with an audible thud. As sleep slowly left her mind she stared up her temporary bed with a look of utter disgust. She picked herself off the floor and dusted herself off. As she bent over the Stetson that had been perched precariously on her head fell to the floor. Twilight groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Putting a finger to her lips she issued a “shhhh” in Rarity’s direction. Applejack rubbed her temples and winced, “Wellp I think I’ll be layin’ of the drinks for a bit… What in tarnation even happened?” She spied her hat on the ground and snatched it up. She cast a glare at Rarity, to have her treasured possession on the head of another was sacrilege as far as AJ was concerned. A frizzy haired head poked out from over the edge of the top bunk. “I’ll tell you what happened!” Pinkies volume elicited a collective wince from the other three girls. “Wh- what happened then, darling?” Rarity managed, her voice feeling rough in her throat. “They all lived happily ever after, silly!” Author's Note And he fumbles a bit on the dismount. Yeah, I was planning on writing a bit more and calling this a full-on chapter, but then I realized that that was a whole other story. So I'll definitely be writing a sequel, but it could be a while The title track for Good Thing by Reel Big Fish. Oh and here's a Rarity themed track too The Fear by Lily Allen. I know I never got around to posting any Twilight or AJ music. I'm working on a whole Mane 6 playlist that I'm planning on writing it up in a blog post, so if you're a fan be sure to watch for that Thanks to all of you who have been wonderfully supportive throughout this whole process, this was my first fanfic and I am proud to think of it a bit of a success. It's certainly got me writing more! Chapter 5: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Chapter 5: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Chapter Five: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Sun peeked through the thin curtains of Fluttershy’s dorm room illuminating idle dust specks. Fluttershy groaned and shifted in her sleep, lost in one of her favorite dreams. Unfortunately her serenity was about to come to an abrupt end. There was a faint scratching at her door, a squeak of the floor boards, and then a shout. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!” Pinkie Pie pounced on Fluttershy’s sleeping form, the cheap bedsprings of the dorm bed protested with an almighty squeak. Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror as her mind attempted in vain to comprehend what was happening. For her part, Pinkie simply grinned and continued to bounce on the bed. “Oooo I like your room!” Pinkie said as she flopped down next to Fluttershy, who had wrapped herself tightly in her blanket. “How come you got a single? I thought freshman never got single rooms.” “A-… anxiety….” Flutterhsy managed to choke out. “Oh I get it, it’s a mental thing yeah? I should have thought of that, people always tell me I’m not right in the head, but I could never leave Twi and AJ and the bigger room is better for parties.” Fluttershy felt here wits slowly returning. “P- Pinkie…. My door was locked…” “I picked the lock, silly.” Pinkie jumped off the bed and made her way over to Fluttershy’s closet, “Hmmm… no, nope, no…” “So…um… why did you break into my room?” Fluttershy asked still trying to hide herself beneath her covers. “So we could get an early start. I told you I’d help you with your little RD problem, so I’m going to make sure she spends all of tonight drooling over you. Step one: no more loose sweaters.” She held up one of the offending articles of clothing. “You got it, so I am going to get you to flaunt it!” Fluttershy blushed, briefly recalling Dash’s reaction to seeing her in her pajamas. “…You think it’ll work?” “Duh, she already checks you out like all the time,” Pinkie said with a wink. “Hell, I check you out! You got it going on. So, new wardrobe, which means Rarity is stop number one.” “RD’s roommate?” Fluttershy’s confusion was apparent in her tone. “Oh she’s like a fashion genius, you didn’t know? Yeah all those awesome clothes she wears, she makes them, so we can have her whip something up for you.” “Oh okay…um Pinkie?” “Yes oh pink-haired one?” “Can um… can you leave while I get dressed?” “Do I have to?” Pinkie giggled “Just kidding. Well a little bit. I’ll meet you in the hall.” “So…um… RD isn’t gonna be in there is she?” Fluttershy paused outside the door. “Course she isn’t, I made sure that Twilight is distracting her, apparently they both are like huge fans of this adventure-y book series. Who knew, right?” “Oh, Twilight likes Daring Do? RD was crazy about those books back in middle school.” “Uh huh, so while they gab and trade fanfics or whatever it is they are apt to do, we will get you something slinky for tonight.” Pinkie threw open the door and the pair were treated to the whining drone of Rarity’s sewing machine. Pinkie took a breath in preparation for the mighty verbal torrent she was about to unleash. “Hey-Rares-can-you-do-me-and-Fluttershy-like-a super-huge-favor-and-I will totally-owe-you-forever-see-we-need-to-get-her-something-sexy-to-wear-and-we-need-it-ready-super-soon-like-next-couple-hours-soon-please-please-please-please-please!” Rarity’s sewing machine cut out and the room was filled with a pensive silence. Rarity looked up at her two friends, blinked and replied “What?” Pinkie Pie facepalmed, while Fluttershy cautiously stepped forward, “Um… What Pinkie was asking…was if you could make me something to wear tonight… if that’s okay…” “Hmmm…” Rarity crossed the room and gave Fluttershy and appraising look. “You know I think you might be a fabulous model for one of my creations. Let me get my tape, I’ll need your measurements darling.” It was then that Pinkie Pie chimed in. “She doesn’t need anything frilly or puffy, we just need something tight enough to show off her curves.” Fluttershy blushed as Rarity began to take her measurements. “… I don’t know…” “Don’t worry darling, I’m sure I can throw together something that just screams ‘you’.” Rarity continues with her measurements, jotting them down in a little notebook as she went. Pinkie Pie was getting antsy. How slow and meticulous did the fashionista have to be? This had turned from exciting into waiting, and Pinkie Pie hated waiting. “Soooooo how long is this going to take?” Rarity waved her hand airily as she continued her work, “The more precise I am now the quicker this will go during construction. So Fluttershy, we’ve heard what Pinkie wants you to wear, what were you thinking?” “Oh…I don’t know, I normally just wear sweaters… I suppose I like how the sleeves cover my hands… it’s comfy…” Fluttershy fidgeted with her overlong sleeves as she spoke. “Uh huh…” Rarity looked her over again. “Well I can’t say I had ever seen merit in ill-fitting clothing before, I suppose I could design something to mimic the effect …” The room once again grew silent. Pinkie sighed. More waiting. This could not stand. “Lightbulb!” Pinkie crept over to Fluttershy, an idea of how to pass the time had presented appeared in a flash of inspiration. “Hey Fluttershy, got any sexy fantasies?” Pinkie whispered to her companion with a mischievous smile. Fluttershy squeaked. Rarity rolled her eyes as she finished up her measurements and proceeded to start sketching in her notebook. “I…uh…well…um…” Fluttershy stammered. “Ah come on, you can tell dear old Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy felt her face burn, but felt strangely compelled to say something. She had never had anyone to share these things with. The idea of sharing her fantasies with just anyone would have been insanely terrifying, but the idea of sharing them with Pinkie was strangely comforting. “Uh… there is this one…” Fluttershy leaned forward and whispered something in Pinkie’s ear. Pinkie grinned. “Oooo kinky.” Fluttershy didn’t know if her face could possibly get any redder, but she let out a little giggle all the same. Meanwhile, Rarity continued sketching in her notebook, every now and then looking up at Fluttershy and pausing in thought. After several failed attempts, as indicated by the piles of balled up paper on the floor, Rarity finally presented her finished product to Fluttershy and Pinkie. The two eyed the design. The finished product was remarkable, it was a sweater not unlike those she normally wore, but instead of hanging off her frame like an oversized second skin this one would hug her curves. Rather than the high neckline Fluttershy had grown accustomed to, this top had a low scooped neckline top that would allow for an ample amount of cleavage as well as expose her shoulders. And as her coup de grace, Rarity had made sure to incorporate the long sleeves that were such a comfort to the timid girl. “Va va voom!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s…amazing,” Fluttershy pronounced at last. “Thank you, dear, I try,” Rarity gave her a kind smile. “Be sure to wear a camisole under it, the fabric will be a bit thin.” “Thank you so much Rarity, if there is anything you ever need… Thank you…” Fluttershy averted her eyes, unable to cope with Rarity’s generosity. “It’s nothing dear,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “Just doing what I love. Swing by later, I’ll be sure to have it ready before the get together.” “Oh and one more thing,” Pinkie leaned in and whispered something in Rarity’s ear. “Hmmm, I’ll see what I can do...” Fluttershy gave Pinkie a confused look, but Pinkie roughly ushered the timid girl from the room. RD was having a good day. At Pinkie Pie’s suggestion she had spent the morning chilling with Twilight, who turned out to be as big of a “Daring Do” fan as RD herself. They had chatted all morning about favorite books, characters and theories on what the next plot twist might hold. Twilight even revealed herself to be an avid consumer of “Daring Do” fanfics , and although RD stuck to the cannon she admired her friend’s dedication to the fandom. Around lunch she had met up with Fluttershy and Pinkie who had apparently spent the morning together, she had chuckled to herself at the image of her shy friend hanging with the petite bundle of energy. This was followed by an absolutely delightful nap, and in her dreams she found herself in a delightful rendezvous with a curvy pink-haired goddess. By the time she awoke the sun had already set. She pulled on a her tank top, her cleanest pair of jeans, and her trusty jacket “Party Time.” She said excitedly to herself. Fluttershy admired herself in her mirror. ‘Dear god… I look…hot’ She giggled to herself, blushing at her own reflection. The new top fit absolutely positively perfectly. Fluttershy made a mental note to thank Rarity profusely later tonight. She left her room and made her way over to Pinkie’s. Standing on the other side of the door to the triple she could already hear the buzz of conversation. She pushed the door open and stepped into her friends’ room. Rarity sat on Applejack’s bed sipping something pink in a martini glass. Pinkie Pie sat on the futon, pouring herself her own pink martini. Applejack herself was leaning against the doorway to the balcony sipping a beer and talking with Twilight, who for her part was drinking something out of an aluminum water bottle and supplying the occasional tipsy titter. The door closed audibly behind Fluttershy, bringing the room’s attention to rest firmly on her. “I see that the top turned out wonderfully,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “Oh yes, thank you so much Rarity,” Fluttershy bounced over and gave the fashionista a hug. “Well that there answers my question,” Applejacks voice interjected from across the room. “I couldn’t fer the life of me figure out where you could buy somethin’ like that.” “Of course, Applejack. If it could be mistaken for an off the rack affair I’d, how would you put it, hang up my spurs?” Applejack shot a grin Rarity’s way and chuckled, “Eeyup, that’ll do.” “Hey guys, why’s everyone staring at Fluttershy?” The final member of their company was standing in the doorway. Pinkie sniggered. “Oh you’ll see.” Fluttershy’s feet suddenly seemed to be made of lead. ‘It’s okay…you can do this… you want her to see you, you don’t need to hide under the frumpy clothes… not from her…’ She gritted her teeth, and turned around. Fluttershy couldn’t quite lift her eyes to Rainbow’s face. “H-hi Dashie… do you like it?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Woah…” RD’s eyes were open wide; her jaw might as well have been on the floor. “Um…yeah…that’s… you look pretty Flutters.” Fluttershy gave her a kind smile, feeling warm and fuzzy from the compliment. “Thank you, Dashie.” Fluttershy could have sworn she heard Pinkie say something like: “So it begins…” Author's Note This chapter's title track is Learn to Fly by The Foo Fighters Hope everyone is enjoying the story. As always comments are awesome. It's what all the cool kids are doing. Catch you all on the flip side.
Prologue: Move-in DayPrologue: Move-in Day RD sat on a little wooden bench outside what could ostensibly be called her 'new home,' the grand and glorious Celestia College, the premier private college of middle of nowhere Equestria. She took drag from her cigarette, gazing over her shoulder at the three-story red brick dorm building. 'Not so bad I suppose,' RD thought to herself, 'I mean the rooms are cramped as shit, the walls are whitewashed cinderblock, the town out there is full of backward hicks, and there is no air conditioning. But at least... No wait, this sucks.' She ran her free hand through her scruffy, short prismatic hair, puffed out a sigh, and returned to her current favorite pastime: watch the other freshman lug boxes up the sidewalk and into the dorms. There were some kids escorted by their parents, some of whom were half-bawling at the already blooming homesickness, others were trying desperately to walk just far enough away from their folks so that maybe someone might possibly think they weren't together. Other students, like RD, had driven up to school on their lonesome and always seemed to be grumbling at the number of boxes that they still had in their trunks. 'Suckers. Should have gotten here early,' RD thought with a feeling of satisfaction. She had moved in long before the crowds of her peers had descended upon the building, which had made the whole process all the easier. In fact the only reason she was now outside indulging her nicotine habit was that she had already unpacked her things, shoved her clothes roughly into her dresser, arranged her stereo on the desk, and duct taped posters to the walls of her side of the room. Her room only lacked one thing, her roommate. She stubbed out her finished cig and pondered what she could expect from her mystery roomie. She didn't really have much to go on aided from the sign on the door of her room that announced that names of the occupants as "Rainbow Dash" and "Rarity". Upon seeing that her proper name was listed on the door a livid RD had promptly taken a sharpie out and added "Call me this and DIE ~ RD."Its not that she hated her name, but during her years in high school the name Rainbow hadn't done her many favors. In fact it only seemed to get her into more trouble, the kind of trouble that usually resulted in her father offering to pay one of Rainbow Dash's classmate's hospital bills.'Well... If I didn't want any trouble I could always stop dying my hair,' she thought chuckling to herself. 'Admit it, you just like busting those ignorant jackasses' skulls.' Her features then fell almost imperceptibly. 'Besides... A promise is a promise.' She pulled herself away from her memories and returned to the issue of her mystery roommate once again. 'Since when has anyone lame ever been named Rarity, right? It mean's one of a kind, so I bet this Rarity is totally just like me, awesome and unique. I mean they had us fill out those personality tests to determine our roomies, no way they just chucked 'em in the trash.' Just then her contemplation was interrupted by the crash of cascading books and a frustrated growl. RD turned her attention to the source of the commotion, which turned out to be a girl who seemed to be determined to carry the contents of a small library with her into the dorm and was having about as much trouble as one might expect. " Need a hand there?" RD said, rising from her spot on the bench and making her way over to the girl. Despite having completing the process of moving on her own, RD felt for the clearly frazzled girl. She looked up at RD and nodded appreciatively. She had dark hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail that left her bangs hanging over her forehead. She was dressed in a simple dark purple top she had likely picked out without too much thought from her local department store, a pair of dark wash jeans, and sneakers. "Thank you so much, I just wasn't sure what to do, I mean I couldn't leave all of these at home, I might need them. Oh and um, my name's Twilight Sparkle, but uh most people just call me Twilight, and thanks again." It was then, as RD kneeled over to help her, that she realized all of the books that Twilight had dropped were... "Textbooks?" Rainbow Dash stated incredulously. "You know we haven't even registered for classes yet, where did you even get all of these?" "Oh, well, they're my private collection. I never really can see the use if studying just one, each author has their own spin on the same subject you see. How on earth could I possibly be the best student I could be without bringing them with me?" Twilight asked to a stunned RD. "Uh... Right." She managed to say, regaining her former friendly demeanor. "Well what floor are you on?" "Third floor, but you don't have to-" Twilight began with a polite smile. "Don't worry about it, besides if you couldn't handle the sidewalk how the hell are you gonna get these up the stairs?" "I suppose you're right." Twilight replied with an embarrassed blush as she and RD each gathered up roughly half the books. "Name's RD, in case you were wondering, and yes it stands for something, and no I don't feel like telling you right now," RD said, softening her harsh response with a grin. "And before you ask," she added with a waggle of her eyebrows, "the carpet does not match the drapes." Twilight's face glowed scarlet. " I... Uh... Wasn't gonna..." She managed to stammer. RD had erupted into fits of laughter "Oh man, you should see the look on your face," Dash managed, finally. Twilight averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed and a bit hurt. "Oh come on Twi, I was just messing with you," RD said as she held open the door to the stairwell, masterfully balancing her stack of book in one hand. "Look, I'm real sorry if I stepped on your feelings. It's just a joke I use to break the ice." A thought crossed her mind, " Friends?" Twilight immediately brightened up,"R-really? I mean I always had trouble making friends in high school cause I was always studying and reading and... really?" " Sure, why not?" RD said feeling a good natured smile creep across her face as they made their way up the flights of stairs, " I mean you seem cool enough, with the whole egghead thing you got going on. Just don't be surprised if I ask you for some homework advice." "No problemo" Twilight chirped happily as they reach the landing for the second floor, all ill will forgotten. "So, met your roommate yet?" RD asked as Twilight took the lead in order to show her the way to her room. "Roommates, plural." Twilight corrected, "I'm sharing a triple with two other girls, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. They are quite, uh, nice too. You'll meet them in a sec." She added as she stopped in front the door to her room. Twilight opened the door and the two were immediately rushed inside by what appeared to be a violently pink tornado. "Oh my god, oh my god, look Twilight you made a friend! This is so cool! That makes her my friend too, I called it! Which means she has to come to the party, did I mention I'm going to throw us a party? Oh but when will I have the party, and what should the theme be. It could be pirates, or no wait, yes, no, yes, maybe. Well anyway we are having one and, Twilight's friend, you are coming and Twilight has to cause its going to be right here!" The tornado turned out to be a somewhat short girl with frizzy brown hair that hung down to her shoulders who was now gasping for breath, yet looked no less excited. She was dressed in bright pink tunic and hot-pink skinny jeans, which would have likely made anyone with an eye for fashion have a seizure. RD took the brief moment of calm to glance around the room, on the left was a set of bunk beds, the top bunk adorned with a hot-pink set of sheets (Rainbow could guess who those belonged to) and a set of sensible navy blue sheets on the bottom bunk. Next to this was a bookcase which was pushed against the wall and patiently awaiting the haul of books. In the center of the room was a set of desks pushed back to back, forming a little island. Along the back wall was a beat up futon that seemed like it may have just been rescued from a back alley, as well as a glass-paned door which led to a small balcony. On the right side of the room was a single bed which stood alone, slightly raised up and decked out with plaid sheets and what looked like a hand made quilt (RD could hear the humming chorus of mini-fridges underneath). This last bed, unlike the others, had an occupant. She wore a red plaid western-shirt, blue jeans, and a long braided blonde ponytail that flowed from the back of Stetson hat. She made RD think of a female Malboro Man. The cowgirl was laying back comfortably against the wall, with arms crossed behind her head, still sniggering at the stunned look RD had had on her face. 'Turnabout is fair play, I guess,' RD thought to herself as she recovered her disposition. "Name's Applejack," the girl drawled out with a twang, " an' the little pink bundle 'o energy is Pinkie Pie, since she didn't give you a proper introduction. Nice ta meet ya...." " RD," the rainbow-headed girl finished. "Nice hat you got there," She added as she and Twilight made their way to the bookcase. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a closet that presumably held the trio's dressers. "Thank ya kindly," she said smirking as she tilted up the brim in a little salute, "Nice hair you got on you." "I know!" Chimed in Pinkie, who seemed to have caught her breath and was ready for round two. " I mean look at it, it's like a rainbow! And oooooh! She has piercings!" Pinkie began to hover around RD as she shelved the books. " Look at this one here on her eyebrow, and here in this ear she's got an industrial bar," Pinkie said popping up on Dash's right. "And in the other there are these three awesome little studs in the cartilage!" "Uh... Yeah, thanks for the exposition," Twilight said in a failed to hint to Pinkie that she might be crowding their guest. Rainbow did feel a bit odd at Pinkie's examination, but was unable to keep the little pink fiend's good mood and energy from infecting her. "There was something else I was going to say... I know there was, it was important too, I mean it wouldn't save your life, not that important, but it was good I swear." Pinkie said with a suddenly ponderous look on her features. RD couldn't believe Pinkie could have forgotten to say anything that had crossed her mind. "I'm sure it will come to you," she said in an attempt to assuage her. "Pinkie, maybe we should let RD be,for a bit at least...." Twilight added tentatively, not wanting to scare off her new friend. "Oh! I got it!" She said sidling up to RD with all the seriousness she could muster, " Does the carpet match the drapes?" The room exploded with laughter After an hour or so of chatting with her new friends and a smoke break on the balcony with Applejack (who, true to form, smoked Marlboro Reds), RD decided she should probably go check on her room to see if her roommate had yet arrived. "See you guys later," she called over her shoulder as she exited the girls' room, "if you ever need me, my room's at the other end of the hall, same floor." She smiled to herself as she made her way to her room. ' Okay so maybe this really won't be so bad, at least I have some cool new friends' As she walked down the hall, she became lost in thought, hoping that her roomie would be as cool as Twi, AJ, or Pinkie. With her eyes half closed and her head in the clouds, she missed the startled squeak of a girl with long pale pink hair who quickly hid behind the door to her room. The shy girl couldn't help but timidly watch the prismatic-haired girl walk down the hall. There was only one name on her door: Fluttershy. As RD reached her door she began to feel like she was being watched, but when she turned around there was no one there, just the sound of a hastily closed door. 'Weird....' "Oh well" she spoke aloud to herself as she opened the door to her room. She could hear someone inside. 'Time to meet Rarity.' The sight that met her eyes stopped her dead in her tracks. While her half of the room remained exactly the way she had left it, the other half looked as though it had been imported from a some sort of castle estate. There was a solid wood, intricately carved headboard in place of the shitty bed frame the school provided, complete with posh mattress and covers. There was also a replacement bookshelf, desk and set of drawers, and rather than hanging posters over the cinderblock walls as RD had done, there were swaths of fabric hanging from the ceiling to the floor. This gave the room a much warmer feeling, and also made it seem like, to Dash's mind at least, that it was a curtain behind which a stage was hidden. RD stood mouth agape for what felt like a solid minute before she registered that her roommate was also there. Rarity, who had looked up from putting away her clothes to observe her roommate, then broke the silence. "How do you do, my name is Rarity, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said with a polite smile and a posh accent. RD was still dumbstruck as she took in the impeccable appearance of her roommate whose hair was meticulously styled, straightened and then curled. Not to mention her outfit, though functional, looked as though it had been designed for the runway. "Yes it's nice isn't it, I made it myself. You know, I could make you some new clothes too." She added with a bit of a disdainful look at the beat up jeans, olive drab jacket, combat boots and t-shirt that made up RD's ensemble. RD's eye began to twitch as anger began to replace her dazed demeanor. 'No one insults the duds...' "Not that the whole, punk-chic thing isn't totally you or anything," She hastily added noticing the ire that had crept into her roomie's gaze. "You know, Despite this rough start, I think we will be the best of friends, Ms. Rainbow Dash," Rarity added innocently. 'It's gonna be a long semester....' Author's Note So hello all, it's your friendly neighborhood author-guy. So this is my first fanfic. Actually this is the first stab at fiction I've ever really made, do please comment comment comment! Hope everyone will enjoy the ride I have planned!
Chapter 1: Do You Want to Come to a Party?Ch. 1: Do You Want to Come to a Party? Whrrrrrrcklikclikclikclikclikclickclikclik….Whrrrrrrclikclikclikclikclikclik…. Dash’s eye began twitching, it was a tick she had come associate exclusively with her roommate’s sewing habit. Taking a calming breath, Rainbow tried to focus on the music from her stereo and not the obnoxious sounds that emanated from Rarity’s sewing machine. WHRRRRRRRCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIKCLIK... ‘Okay she asked for it.’ Dash gritted her teeth and prepared this latest salvo in the two’s unspoken war. It was a war that had raged since their first meeting earlier in the week, and both combatants seemed much too proud for a ceasefire. RD reached forward and slowly began to turn the dial on her stereo. Vol: 15, 16, 17…. “I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone. I crashed my car into the bridge. I watched, I let it burn…” Meanwhile, Rarity looked over from her desk at the opposite side of the room and gave RD a stare that could have frozen a polar bear. ‘Oh. It. Is. On.’ Rarity then turned back to her sewing machine and continued at her hobby, making sure to step down extra hard on the pedal so that the machine whined louder than before. WHRRRRRR….. Vol: 20, 21, 22… “I don't care, I love it. I don't care.” “Would you please be so kind as to turn that down?” Rarity said attempting to speak over the din. “I can’t hear myself think…” She added to herself as she massaged her temples and stopped her work. “What!?” Rainbow shouted back across the room, unable to conceal the smile spreading across her face at Rarity’s ruffled feathers. Vol: 25, 26, 27… “You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way You want me down on earth, but I am up in space” “I said: Turn it down!” Rarity shouted, all sense of decorum lost. “You're so damn hard to please, we gotta kill this switch You're from the 70's, but I'm a 90's bitch” “One more time!” Dash shouted back, preparing for her coup de grace. “I said: Turn off that fucking music!” Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs, into a suddenly silent room A full five seconds of stunned silence passed before Dash began cracking up, it was much longer before she could stop “Oh, you are just the worst kind of person.” A red faced Rarity managed through pursed lips. Outside their door stood a girl dressed in a long skirt and an overlarge canary sweater. The sleeves of her sweater were long enough to cover her hands, just the way she liked. It gave her a feeling of much needed comfort and security. Her long straight pink hair flowed over her shoulders and halfway down her back, and as she stared at the names on the door, her bangs had drifted in front of her eyes. However, she was too entranced to replace them. “Rainbow Dash” She mouthed the name on the door for the third time since she had begun her vigil. She felt butterflies in her stomach. Her usually timid resolve was put into overdrive. ‘I-I knew it was her...' Even Fluttershy’s thoughts were shook in anxiety. 'Should I knock….w-…would she even remember me...’ “Oh lighten up, prissy pants,” She heard Rainbow call out from inside the room. It sounded as though she was moving towards the door. ‘This is my chance….I… I can thank her…..I can tell her….I can-’ The knob began to turn. 'HIDE!' The impulse overtook Fluttershy and with a muffled squeak, she ran back to her room. “Stupid, stuck up, prissy, little prim, proper….” RD grumbled as she slammed the door to her room behind her. To her surprise it wasn’t the only door in the hallway she heard slam. She sighed and made her way down the hall towards Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack’s room. As she shuffled down the hall her eyes drifted lazily to the handmade signs that adorned each of the doors. As she began to read the name on one of the hall’s single room’s a hand reached out from behind the door and hastily grabbed the sign, pulling it inside the room. “Ooooookay…” RD spoke aloud to no one in particular. Reaching her friends’ room, Dash knocked on the door. “Hey ya RD,” replied the pleasant twang of Applejack as she opened the door, “I’d gladly welcome the company. Miss academic over there’s got ‘er head in a book and ain’t much for talkin’ at the moment…” Twilight looked up from her copy of Time and Recent Developments in Science by Doctor Hooves and made a slight grunt by way of greeting to RD. “…and Pinkie is out gettin’ supplies fer tonight’s party.” Applejack concluded with a grin. The four friends, most enthusiastically Pinkie of course, had been looking forward to the end of orientation week and with it Pinkie’s spontaneously announced “First-Weekend-of-College-so-We-Have-to-Have-a-Party Party.” “Can’t wait,” replied RD with devilish smirk. “All the booze I can drink and a bed in stumbling distance, what more can a gal ask for.” “Well ah can think of one thing,” replied Applejack with an uncharacteristic giggle, while Twilight simply blushed in spite of herself. “Oh there will be tons of variety in that department!” Pinkie said as the little bundle of energy exploded through the door, weighed down by more shopping bags than RD thought her small frame could handle. “Dear god did you clean out the liquor aisle?” RD said in astonishment. “Well you can’t have a party without supplies!” Pinkie replied as she stashed the copious amounts of alcohol. “And as I was saying Applejackie, you’ll have the pick of the litter. I just plopped an invitation under every door on the floor, hey that rhymed!” “Wait… Just now? While carrying all those bags? How did you- Wait never mind, I don’t want to know.” RD then knit her brow in frustration. “Wait?! Every door… oh crap. Pinkie! That means Rarity got one!” “Uh huh!” Pinkie said, bobbing her head. “I thought to myself: Hey Pinkie, every day this week RD has come in here complaining about her roommate, wouldn’t it be better if we were all friends? And then I replied: That’s a great idea, and you know what makes everyone friends!? PARTIES!!!” “…uh. Well I suppose that sounds alright, but I doubt she’d be able to handle any party without tea- or garden- in front of it.” RD intoned, still unsure of what to think. “ Well, ah reckon it’s a good idea. Can’t have you slinking over here every time ya have a shouting match.” Applejack offered. “Besides she sounds like a rather interesting individual,” Twilight chimed in. “Even if you two don’t get along, I can spend some invaluable time observing your interpersonal conflict up close.” “Besides if nothing’s working out I could always slip her one of my special cupcakes.” Pinkie added. “You have… ugh, where do you even get all this stuff?” Dash replied with resignation, running her hand though her hair. “Okay, okay I’ll try and play nice with her.” Fluttershy sat on her own bed staring down at the sign she had hastily pulled off her door and subsequently thrown to the floor. “It…it has to be on my terms…” She spoke aloud to herself. She bowed her head forward, letting her hair fall around her face. She had the depressing feeling that no matter the circumstance, she’d never get the chance for ‘her own terms.’ “Oh Dashie….” She sighed. “Of all the schools…” She wasn’t sure if the feeling that had overcome her was sadness, happiness or some obscene mixture of the two. Fluttershy was getting to see her again, after all these years, only to feel her own lack of courage, her fear and anxiety, preventing a reunion. Suddenly, as if sensing her spiraling mood, a bright pink envelope was slipped under her door. Fluttershy stared at it quizzically. She got up off the bed and picked it up. ‘Who would-’ Her thoughts were cut short as upon opening the envelop there was a loud pop followed by a little burst of confetti. Fluttershy squeaked at the effect, but after a moment she recovered and removed the little hand written invitation. You are invited to Pinkie Pie’s awesome, spectacular, first-of-many parties party. When: Tonight. Where: Just look for the door with my name on it silly! “oh… I don’t know about this…” She whispered. “A party. A party with loud music. A party with loud music and a crowd of strangers. Nope, no thank you.” But then a small voice within herself spoke up. ‘A party with loud music and a crowd of strangers and… maybe Rainbow Dash…’ She began to feel a very un-Fluttershy-ish feeling coming over her. ‘Loud music, drinks, a dark room, and your Rainbow… those sound like good terms to me’ She felt a warm blush settle across her features, turning the invitation over in her hands. “Well….m-maybe I could consider it…” Author's Note Here we go folk, the game is afoot. Well actually the game is a party, not a foot. Here is the song RD was playing, honestly it was kinda my inspiration for writing this so I had to work it in somehow. Stay tuned folks, more to come!
Chapter 2: We Just Came to Party DownChapter 2: We Just Came to Party Down! “Okay, let’s do this.” RD took a deep breath and turned the knob to her friends’ room and was immediately greeted by a blast of noise. “Welcome the most splendid, amazing, awesome party! Well, until the next one!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling her chum into the room. She pressed a shot glass and a lemon wedge into her friend’s hand, all the while bouncing up and down. “Drink, drink, drink! Then bite the lemon!” A somewhat stunned Dash did as she was told, shivering as the liquor hit the back of her throat, and then biting down on the lemon wedge. “That tastes like-” “Chocolate cake! I know, just a couple of flavored vodkas add a lemon and then … BAM! CAKE!” Pinkie said as she led Dash through the sparse crowd of guests already milling about. RD recognized them as residents of the floor but beyond that she knew little of them, except that each of them seemed to be liberally enjoying Pinkie’s open bar policy. Pinkie brought RD to broken down futon and promptly plopped down on it, motioning for her friend to do the same “Uh thanks Pinkie.” RD had finally begun to get her bearings after the impromptu shot, and elected not to sit. Dash was still pretty sure she might catch something from that poor excuse for furniture. “So when’s Rare-Rare getting here?” Pinkie intoned excitedly. Dash snorted. “Last time I saw her she was staring into her compact, attempting to get her eyeliner just right.” RD rolled her eyes. “‘Can’t rush perfection, darling’” She added in an exaggerated version of her roommate’s high society manner. “Well, I hope she gets here stat, Operation: Friendship demands it! Oh and Operation: Friendship also demands that you drink, cause the way you two have been going at it I think a little social lubricant is required.” Pinkie nodded sagely. “So what can I do you for?” “Uh…. Got any cider?” RD asked, licking her lips slightly. Before she could even so much as begin to imagine the crisp taste of the frothy nectar, Pinkie pressed a bottle into her hand. “Thanks Pinks.” “De nada,” Pinkie replied, taking a shot. Rainbow closed her eyes for a moment and bobbed her head in time with the music, taking the occasional sip of her cider. Just then a thought occurred. “Hey Pinkie? Not saying the music is too loud or anything, and I love the whole open bar thing, but don’t you think the RA's will shut this whole thing down?” “Oh no no no, silly. I plan ahead! I gave all the RA's in the building some of my extra special cupcakes.” She was grinning ear to ear. “They are like my special cupcakes but, extra! They are probably neck deep in existential quandaries at the moment, either that or murdering a bag of Cheetos.” RD stood flabbergasted. “You drugged them!?” “No no no no….well yes, but in the name of friendship!” “You are one devious chick,” Rd smiled. “Oh I do declare you flatter me missus RD. You go on mingle, I’ll send Rarity your way so you two can bury the hatchet or what have you. I have to man the door, this party’s got a drink minimum that it is my sacred duty to enforce.” Pinkie then did a mock salute and prepared more of her chocolate cake shots. “Go get ‘em tiger,” Rainbow chuckled. Looking around the room she located Twilight, who was quietly journaling from the cavern that was the lower bunk of her bed. RD attempted a wave but Twilight seemed entirely too engrossed in her writing. ‘Huh, odd way to spend a party. Oh well, where’d cowgirl get off too…’ RD connected some thoughts and figured Applejack was probably on the balcony, so she set off to find her smoking buddy. Fluttershy was a nervous wreck, but that was nothing new. ‘Oh…oh what do I wear?’ The entirety of Fluttershy’s wardrobe was spread across the floor. ‘I don’t want to attract too much attention….but I want her attention… I-I mean not like that! Well maybe a little…’ Despite her anxiety, there really were only two different options she could choose: normal or V-neck sweater, both too loose to be considered form-fitting. A high-school career mostly spent attempting to stay in the background had left her with few options in party attire department. Not that she wasn't beautiful, quite the opposite. In fact that was the reason her wardrobe was so bland. She had always been a bit of a beanpole, but when she blossomed she had curves to spare, in the places that most girls would kill for. Of course the last thing Fluttershy wanted was to make anyone feel jealous, that wouldn't be very nice, and as an added benefit she dodged any excessive attention. Finally making up her mind, Fluttershy grabbed a V-neck sweater, blushing slightly at the thought that her camisole would be visible through the still modest neckline. On the edge of her hearing she came the sounds of music and the feel of a thumping bass line, signalling that the party was well underway. “Okay Fluttershy, here you go…. You can do this…” She spoke aloud to herself seeking to strengthen her resolve. “Y-you can do this…you can... can do this…” Her mantra must have helped because the next thing Fluttershy knew she was outside Twi, AJ, and Pinkie’s door. She breathed out a shaky sigh and began to turn the knob. “Welcome the most splendid, amazing, awesome party! Well, until the next one!” Pinkie shouted at the new arrival, pulling Fluttershy into the room. Pinkie repeated the ritual she had with each new guest and pressed a shot glass and a lemon wedge into her hand. Fluttershy for her part simply let out a startled squeaked “Drink! Then bite the lemon!” Fluttershy obeyed, still partly terrified, swallowing the shot entirely too quickly. She felt it burn the back of her throat, and reflexively began to cough. “Bite the lemon, it makes it all better.” Pinkie encouraged, placing a friendly hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Once more Fluttershy complied. “Wha-… that’s…that’s chocolate cake,” She managed as she looked down into the smiling face of the frizzy-haired girl. “Um… so you must be-“ “Pinkie pie, yep that’s me, at your service. Nice to meet you. The pleasure’s all mine. Clichéd greeting!” “Oh, it’s uh nice to meet you too. My name is Fluttershy.” Her soft tones were almost lost in the growing ruckus of the party, but Pinkie seemed to understand every word. “So you’re a quiet one, eh? Have no fear, your new friend Pinkie knows just how to accommodate those of your persuasion.” “F-friend?” Fluttershy stammered, but before she could fully process what was going on Pinkie had grabbed her hand and began leading her through the crowd. They stopped abruptly at the bottom bunk of a bunk bed where another girl with straight black hair sat journaling. “Yup, friends.” Pinkie said cheerily, “I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em. Now it is my solemn duty to introduce you to our resident quiet friend. Well, she isn't that quiet, I mean if you ask her about science junk she’ll talk your ear off, but I can see that you, my dear Fluttershy, are new to the party scene and if I were to just throw you onto the dance floor, what would you do?” “I… uh… I’d probably run and hide…” Fluttershy responded, hiding slightly behind her bangs. “Exactly, but judging by the awesome shade of pink your hair is, you must have some interesting stories, or something. I mean no one boring does that for any old reason.” Pinkie said nudging her new friend in the ribs. “Well…it’s kinda personal…”Fluttershy’s voice had grown smaller still. “Exactly! So here I am, wanting to know more about you, a timid girl with pink hair who seems scared half-to-death to be here. So what’s a Pinkie to do? Why be friends of course, and since the party isn't quite your speed, I’d like to introduce you to someone who is! She is also not as well acquainted with the party circuit, but I’ll make converts of you two yet! Meet Twilight Sparkle, egghead extraordinaire! Twilight, meet Fluttershy, shy girl with interesting past! I think!” Pinkie beamed as she presented the journaling girl with all the enthusiasm a carnival barker might employ to introduce their latest attraction. However unlike a paid professional, every ounce of enthusiasm was undoubtedly genuine, something which served to endear the manic party-girl to Fluttershy. ‘She’s crazy… but at least she’s being herself.’ Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel her lips twitch up into a little grin. “Well I’ll leave you two to it. I've got miles to go before I sleep, which is really a metaphor meaning I have to make a prissy girl knock back some shots before I can cut loose myself,” And with that the party fiend vanished back into the throng. “You’ll have to forgive my roommate for her bold actions, it’s just who she is,” Twilight said looking up from her journal. “I understand if this isn't your thing, it’s not really mine either. I suppose Pinkie already covered that, so rather than waste time with redundancies, come on up if you’d like. I've been dying to share this with someone but they have all made far too interesting subjects to interact with.” “Um... Subjects?” Fluttershy asked as she climbed onto the bottom bunk. Despite being with a stranger, the enclosed lower bunk of the bed felt safe. The rest of the party felt almost a world away. “Oh yes,” Twilight chirped happily, a big grin plastered across her face. “You see I’m conducting an ethnography of Pinkie Pie’s party. That is to say I’m taking field notes which I will later compile into a report or book or essay or something else academic in nature. I should really be observing this from some sort of blind. My mere presence could disrupt events, but i'm just going to have to risk it.” “Oh, um, that’s… interesting.” And a little unnerving if Fluttershy was being honest with herself. Twilight chuckled by way of reply, “I know, I know. It’s weird, but it’s how I cope with all of…” She motioned to the rest of the party, “…this." Fluttershy understood the feeling, everybody coped in their own way. "Hey want to help me with another experiment?” The budding scientist inquired. Fluttershy nodded a bit hesitantly, “ …It won’t hurt right?” “Hopefully not tonight, but who knows about tomorrow.” Twilight pulled what appeared to be a jug of orange juice. “This is what Pinkie calls a screwdriver, but I suspect they aren't usually served in gallon jugs. So the experiment is this: monitor the effects of alcohol from a first person perspective. After all, my big brother always said college was a time to experiment.” Fluttershy blushed and giggled a bit. “Um, Twilight? I don’t think that’s what people normally mean by that… but, sure I’ll drink with you.” It felt nice to have someone who was willing to just sit and talk in midst of the maelstrom. Twilight took a swig from the jug and passed it to Fluttershy, pulling only a slight face and she swallowed. “Hmmm… not bad, guess she knew I wasn't acclimated to anything particularly strong, she’s a sort of drinking genius,” Twilight mused before turning back to her companion, “ So, what does ‘experimenting’ mean, if I am to assume that the literal definition is imprecise?” Twilight asked innocently, pure academic interest in her tone. “oh… well you see…” Fluttershy had begun to blush heavily. “It kind of implies… uh you know, swinging the other way…” Twilight stared blankly at her pink faced companion. “Uh… it means…” Her voice dropped to a whisper and she began to speak very rapidly, “it-means-that-you-have-sex-with-the-gender-you-wouldn’t-normally-but-tends-to-especially-mean-girl-on-girl.” She bowed forward, letting her hair hide her blush. “Oh is that all?” Twilight replied nonchalantly, making a note in her journal. “Fluttershy, it’s your turn to drink.” “Oh, uh, yeah.” Fluttershy was a bit taken aback at the indifference of her new friend, but at the same time she drew strength from her it. 'No big deal to her... just relax...' She looked up at Twilight, gave her a weak smile and took a sip of the mixture. Despite a slight burn from alcohol, the flavor was primarily the pleasant tang of orange juice. “I think you are right about Pinkie. This is quite tasty...” As Fluttershy looked out over the party she noticed Pinkie ambush another guest. This one had meticulously styled hair and was dressed in a beautiful couture top. The night was warm, but it was welcomed by RD. She stubbed out her cigarette and flicked it over the railing of the balcony. She took a deep breath of the night air and then killed the rest of her cider. She reached down and placed the empty bottle among numerous others on the floor of the balcony. "Done" “Alright, ah think you got one ahead of me, but ah got a sure fire way to make this more interestin’, sugar.” Applejack shot a little grin at her drinking partner. “All right, you’re on.” RD flashed a cocky grin. “Now here’s how we do this, ya take yourself a cider…” Applejack grabbed a fresh bottle out of a cooler she had stashed on the balcony. “Ya take a nice big sip…” AJ upended the bottle and took a generous gulp. “Then ya add a bit the ole number seven.” She took a hip flask out of her pocket and poured roughly a shot’s worth into the bottle. “That’s how ya make an applejack. Lowercase ‘a’ on that by the way. Now the story about how my ma' and pa' made me is a bit more complicated and no where near as gratifying.” “So double the alcohol in a single drink.” Dash said though her laughter. “Bring it on” As the two attempted to drink each other under the table (despite the lack of any physical table), Pinkie suddenly appeared on the balcony looking a bit sheepish. “Hey gals, uh Rarity made it and I gave her some amazing martinis. She said something to the effect of: 'drinking anything that has not been shaken is for...' uh, how did she put it, oh yes... 'Ruffians.' So I gave her some, and then another, and couple more after that. Anyway that was all to plan but now Operation: Friendship is in danger! Code red!” “Wait, slow down Pinkie. So she’s drunk, where’s the problem?” RD asked. “The problem is the six-foot something linebacker who, despite Rarity's attempts, won’t leave her alone!” “Son of a bitch,” Applejack swore. “Alright that’s a problem," Rainbow said gritting her teeth, "Rarity’s a prim pain in the asses, but she’s my prim pain in the ass! C’mon AJ.” Were beds normally this squishy? Fluttershy bounced up and down a bit on Twilight’s bed and decided that yes they must be, and her bed would probably be this squishy too. “Uh…. Twilight, I think I’m okay with not drinking anymore...um, if that’s okay?” Twilight meanwhile was staring at her hands, “I feel… A slight tingling in my fingers…” Then as if suddenly hearing her companion she looked up, “Oh, oh yes... I think I may have had enough too. I seem to have stopped taking notes too. Oh well, I suppose we could always experiment with each other again.” Twilight giggled and replaced the cap on the jug. “I told you… oh that was a joke,” Fluttershy giggled along with her buddy. “I have to ask, what’s with your hair. Was it a coming of age ceremony or perhaps a personal rite of passage?” The gleam of scientific inquest suddenly shone once more in Twilight’s eyes. “Oh, well it was sort of a promise…” Fluttershy wrinkled her brow, fighting her tipsy state to do justice to the seriousness of her answer. “I mean it was a promise to me, so I suppose it was like a rite of passage… I mean it was for someone, but I thought I’d never see them again…” “Thought? Ooooo the plot thickens.” Twilight said with a drunken titter. Fluttershy blushed and looked away, but in doing so a flash of multicolored hair caught her eye. She tried to find it again. Fluttershy scanned the crowd mercilessly, until, at last, she could see her. Rainbow Dash. For the first time since catching a glimpse of RD in the hall, Fluttershy could see her in all of her glory. She may have grown up a bit from the last time Fluttershy had laid eyes on her, and the piercings were certainly new, but it felt like it fit. Dash would always be Dash. “Oh that doesn’t look good,” Twilight said following Fluttershy’s gaze. It was then that Fluttershy noticed that Dash was storming up to a burly jock with war in her eyes. “Look here, if Rarity doesn't want to leave with you, she ain't gonna.” RD's voice was filled with passionate anger. “No you look here, little girl, I don’t think she knows what she wants, and I’m going to show her it’s me,” the boy spoke with a disinterested drawl that made it quite clear that he wasn't going to let some scruffy girl stand between him and his latest conquest. “Ugh, as if, you brute!” Rarity took a step behind RD, swaying a bit as she did, “And I’ll thank… hic… you to not talk to my roommate like that, she’s wouldn't know culture if it bit her posterior but…uh… what was I saying?” Rarity squinted at the large man, concentrating. “Oh yes…Screw you!” “Hear that? Now I think you have overstayed your welcome, Blue Balls.” Rainbow crossed her arms in smug satisfaction at her victory. “It’s Blueblood, you rainbow-haired dyke!” It all happened too quickly. There was a sickening crack and then Blueblood was lying crumbled on the ground. Judging by the blood flowing freely from her nose, Dash had head-butted the much larger individual square in the sternum. “Say that again asshole! Say it again!” Rainbow’s face was contorted in raw fury as she delivered a swift kick to Blueblood’s ribs, eliciting a groan from her fallen opponent. “Sugar, that’s enough!” Applejack held RD back before she could kick him again. Rainbow looked down on her handiwork, going limp in AJ’s grip. “Yeah… yeah I think your right. Pinkie, I’m sure you can find a way to dispose of this trash.” She wiped off her nose on the sleeve of her jacket, noticing for the first time that she was bleeding. “Hey Applejack, think I can go clean up?” “Yeah, RD, go on ahead,” Applejack replied as she loosened her grip, “Need any help?” “Naw, I got this.” Rainbow’s face was set in a somber mask as she stalked out of the room. She had made it maybe half way down the hall before the world in front of her began to spin. RD clutched the wall for support, before collapsing against it all together. “Note to self, count drinks next time….” Fluttershy’s world had suddenly gotten a hell of a lot clearer. She watched in horror as RD attacked Blueblood, frozen in shock at the savagery. Yet, she felt that un-Fluttershy-ish voice whisper to her again. ‘Look at your Amazon! She is victorious! Take her now!’ She recoiled at her own thoughts, mentally pushing them down back into the dark, where they belonged. She closed her eyes and centered herself. Once she opened them again she looked around for Rainbow, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Twi-Twilight, where did Dashie…I mean uh RD go?” “She uh… She left,” Twilight replied, still very much shaken by the violence. At those words Fluttershy shot from the room. She heard Twilight call after her to wait, but there was no waiting. Rainbow Dash was hurt, she was bleeding. Simple nose bleed or broken nose, it didn't matter. Fluttershy couldn't let her nerves hold her back anymore. She needed to see her, needed to help her, needed to be there for her. ‘…Just like she was always there for me…’ Fluttershy found her sitting against a wall in the hallway, her nose bleed had slowed and two black eyes had begun to form. Fluttershy leaned down over Rainbow, “Please be okay… please be okay…” Rainbow’s eyes drifted open and Fluttershy could just barely hear her mumble, “Flutters... Pink?..How… What...When did you get hot?” Then she was out cold. Author's Note Whew! Here we are folks Chapter Two, which concludes the first quazi-arc-thing I had planned. Hope you enjoyed it. As always comments are welcome. If you want to know how the Dash vs. Blueblood fight looked in my head, imagine Zidane's headbutt from the France vs. Italy World Cup Final. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, look it up. In case you hadn't noticed, Chapters One and Two are each named for song lyrics. Chapter One is The Party Song by Blink 182 and Chapter Two is Party Down by Reel Big Fish. I kinda associate these songs with Pinkie Pie so they were natural fits as far as names for these first two chapters As an aside, my grammar sucks. If anyone would like to take the time to send me a message detailing my mistakes, I'd love it
Chapter 3: Can I Be Your MemoryChapter 3: Can I be your memory? The next morning several RA’s awoke covered in crumbs and surrounded by pizza boxes. There was also an unconfirmed report that a certain male student had awoken naked and bruised in the quad. He had been covered in sharpie doodles with the words “big fat meanie” written across both his forehead and buttocks. The first thing that Rainbow Dash noticed as she awakened was the feeling that her head had been run over, scooped up from the side of the road, and then run over again. Soon the events of the previous night began to replay in her head, eliciting a grown from the prismatic-haired girl. The next thing she noticed is that the soft snores she heard coming from her roommate sounded like they were coming from the floor. RD blinked open her eyes and after a wince of pain, followed by cursing the sun an all its fiery brightness, she realized that she was not in her room. This room was much emptier than her and Rarity’s Franken-room (as Rainbow had taken to referring to it). There was no second bed and few posters if any hung on the walls. There were a couple photos of family on the desk, but one picture in particular stood out from all the rest. It showed two young girls: one who was skinny and tall for her age with mousy brown hair that hung about her shoulders, the other shorter but still with much growing left to do with short hair that contained all the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow leaned over the edge of the not-her-bed and saw that a sleeping bag had been rolled out on the floor, a mass of pink hair sticking out of the top. “Fluttershy!?” The sleeping form jerked and twitched a bit, mumbling something to the effect of, “right there….Dashie…right there…” “Fluttershy!” Dash was overjoyed, she rolled off the bed and jumped on the sleeping bag. “How the hell did you end up at Celestia College!?” Fluttershy awoke slowly, and as her eyes drifted open, she smiled. Rainbow Dash was staring her right in the face, her nose bandaged and sporting to black eyes. ‘This is such a wonderful dream,’ She thought sleepily. ‘Wait…. Why would Dashie be injured in my dream... I wasn't that rough with her...’ Her brain seemed to catch up to reality in an instant. She squeaked and quickly ducked her head into the sleeping bag. “Oh sorry, didn’t mean to scare you or anything,” RD apologized as she climbed off her friend. “It’s just, I mean wow, of all the places right?” “uh… Y- yes…” Came the soft reply from inside the sleeping bag. “This is so awesome!” Rainbow pumped her fist in the air. “Flutters and Dashie, together again!” Fluttershy hated gym class. It wasn’t enough that she was teased for her early growth spurts, it seemed today the gods had conspired against her to further deepen the hell that was her seventh grade experience. Fluttershy had always known she was different. All the other girls talked and gossiped about the pubescent boys in their class, Fluttershy simply couldn’t see the appeal. While she and the girls were dressing out for gym, her raging hormones compelled her to spend just a second too long staring at one of her fellow classmates. “What are you looking at?” Came an angry shout from the object of Fluttershy’s gaze. “N-nothing…I was…I just…” Fluttershy stammered, blushing furiously. “Oh my god,” Chimed in another girl. “Look at her face, she was totally into you.” “Ugh, seriously?” The first girl replied. “Looks like we got ourselves a lesbo.” The last word dripped with venom. Fluttershy was paralyzed, tears were welling up in her eyes. She needed to run away, to get away from here, but her body wouldn’t respond to her pleas. “You leave her the fuck alone!” The shout came from behind her, “You wanna pick a fight do it with me and leave her out of it!” Fluttershy turned to see a girl that stood a bit shorter than her with short scruffy blonde hair. She gave the girls who were picking on Fluttershy a death glare. Under the violent gaze, the two girl who were mocking Fluttershy wilted and slinked away. “Have fun with your girlfriend, dyke.” One of the called out as they left the locker room. Fluttershy looked down at the girl who had come to her aid, wanting to say thanks, to say anything. But all she could do was sob. “It’s okay, don’t let ‘em get to you. My name’s Rainbow Dash, by the way.” “Fl-Fluttershy,” She managed to choke out. Fluttershy managed to poke her head out from the sleeping bag. “I…I hope you don’t mind, I could only get you moved this far… I didn’t think you’d make it back to your room…” “No problem, pal.” Rainbow smiled, and for the first time she noticed the bandaging across the bridge of her nose. “I figure I have you to thank for this?” “Oh, yes, well… The bandages, not the nose. You ...uh…kinda…” “Busted up some guy for calling me a dyke, yeah I remember.” Dash’s voice still smoldered with rage over the incident. RD could still hear the taunts thrown at Fluttershy. Despite all the threats Rainbow had leveled at anyone who said anything against Fluttershy, every day her best friend was enduring the torturous barbs of their classmates. Fluttershy didn’t deserve that, and privately Rainbow didn’t know how much more the timid girl could even take. Flutters spent half the time they hung out in tears. But Rainbow Dash had a plan She pulled her knit cap low over her head as she headed into the cafeteria. The cafeteria was a hive of activity but to Dash the noise just seemed to tune out as she prepared herself for what was going to happen next. RD climbed on top of one of large tables and stomped her foot to get everyone’s attention. “Hey assholes, I’M GAY” She pulled off her cap to reveal that her once blonde hair had been dyed all the colors of the rainbow. “If you want someone to fuck with, fuck with me!” “You, were really brave Dashie… oh I mean RD,” the shy girl corrected hastily. Dash winced. Hearing herself called by her initials from Fluttershy’s mouth just sounded wrong. “You can still call me that, just you.” “Thank you.” Fluttershy said with a blush. “You know, you can come out of that sleeping bag,” Dash felt a friendly smile grow over her lips. “I mean it’s not like I haven’t seen you in your PJs before.” “Oh…uh… yeah, guess this is like our sleepovers, huh?” Fluttershy shimmied her way out of the sleeping bag. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and cotton sleeping shorts. Rainbow felt her jaw drop and her face heat up. What happened to the skinny girl she used to know? “Wh- what? How the hell did this happen? Are those real?” Fluttershy felt her face go beet red and she felt a little “Eep” escape her lips. She covered herself with the sleeping bag and let her hair fall in front of her face. RD immediately felt the guilt hit her like truck. “I… uh… I’m sorry Flutters, I didn’t mean to embarrass you… you can come out. It was just a bit of a shock, last time I saw you, you were as flat as I am.” Rainbow was blushing too now. “but I uh… I guess you filled out huh?” Fluttershy was bawling. “I know.” RD spoke in an unusually soft voice. “I wish I could stay… but my mom was transferred to some office that’s halfway across the country.” “I…I don’t know how… I’m going to do this… without you…” Fluttershy could barely speak through the sobs. “Hey don’t worry; you’re braver than you know. I promise. You’ll do it.” Rainbow patted her friend on the shoulder, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m not good at this kind of thing… but just remember that wherever I am… wherever you are… I promise I’ll be there with this haircut and this silly rainbow hair, and you can… I don’t know… draw strength from that. I’ll be out there being who I am, and you can use that to find the courage to be who you are.” “Y- yeah…” Fluttershy felt her heart rate beginning to slow back down to something resembling normal. She dropped the sleeping bag and joined RD sitting on the bed. “But…you look good too… don’t be mean to yourself Dashie…” “No accounting for taste I suppose,” Rainbow said with a self-deprecating grin. “So it’s been bugging me, what’s with the hair?” “Oh… well… I came out to my family this summer. They were surprised but they weren’t mean or anything… and I don’t know. I felt like I need to… mark the change.” Fluttershy spoke slowly. She hesitated a bit before she added, “Like you did in middle school.” Rainbow wasn’t sure what to say at first, but then she began to feel a bit of a proud smile cross her lips, “So you wanted to be like you hero Dashie, huh? Not surprising at all really. Though uh… why pink?” “It’s… uh…” Fluttershy’s voice grew so small it was barely audible. “It’s the only color you were missing…” Silence followed this pronouncement. Rainbow coughed. “So… uh… want hit the mess hall for some breakfast or something, I can introduce you to the rest of the gang: Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Applejack, and I guess now Rarity too.” “S-sure… I’d love to,” came Fluttershy’s stammered reply. “Though I met Pinkie and Twilight last night, they were very nice.” “Yeah pretty cool huh? Seems like we got out own gang now, it’s not just us against the world anymore. Well I should probably get washed up first, meet you in the hall in twenty?” “Sounds good” Fluttershy quietly replied. After Dash had left, Fluttershy pulled together an outfit and held it up to herself in the mirror. ‘She thinks you’re hot’ the smug little voice in her head cooed. Fluttershy blushed and began getting dressed. Author's Note Can't tell a FlutterDash story without flashbacks right? This chapter's title track is Memory by Sugarcult. A bit on the nose I know, but hey what are you gonna do? More fun to come!
Chapter 4: The Set UpChapter Four: The Set Up Dull, destitute of fun, humdrum, eye-melting-ly boooooooooring! These are just the first (and most polite) in a long list of words that the one and only Pinkie Pie would use to describe the past week of college. Classes had begun, but Pinkie had found out that her schedule matched up poorly with those of her friends. “Classes! Classes! Are you kidding me? We don’t need no stinkin’ classes! Okay not true but still! I mean I understand that that is sorta what college is about but, ugh the routine! Routine, it is my kryptonite I tell you! Where is the fun? The adventure? The Jell-O shots? For god’s sake someone think of the Jell-O shots!” Pinkie was pacing back and forth across her room, hands in the air, ranting aloud to an invisible double. “RD’s in class. Twilight’s in class. AJ and Fluttershy and Ratity are, you guessed it, in class! What am I supposed to be doing, huh?” “Well Pinkie, I suppose you can try and come up with a nefarious scheme to bring joy and laughter to our friends through drunken and/or sexy adventures.” “Hmmm… that’s a pretty good idea, Pinkie,” Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “But who shall be the targets of this nefarious plot?” “Well, Fluttershy did turn out to be interesting, as predicted, and RD has totally brought her into the group, but neither one has made a move on each other yet, even though they so totally want to… It’s like watching two people run towards each other on a beach in super-slow motion, except it is so not romantic, ‘cause it’ll be, like, years till they meet half way! It’s booooooring!” “This may pair may be worthy of our efforts, but we must be sure. Present your evidence, councilor.” “Exhibit A: Fluttershy is RD’s long lost awesome friend from times long ago, and they share some sort of super special connection because of it. Exhibit B: Fluttershy totally checks RD out when she’s not looking. Exhibit C: RD totally does the same. Conclusion: They so want to do the horizontal cha-cha.” “So, what are we going to do?” “The same thing we do every night, Pinkie, try to take over the world!” The petite dynamo cackled maniacally before flopping down on the beat-up futon. “Oh… and probably throw a party…” “So let me get this straight, rather than lay low after the fiasco that was the last party, you want to want to hold another party?” RD arched an incredulous eyebrow. Pinkie had ambushed Dash as she left her last class for the day, and now the pair was crossing the quad together on their way back to the dorms. “Well duh, if I didn’t throw another party I’d look totally guilty, duh.” Pinkie was flashing a grin that threatened to consume her whole face. “Okaaaay… maybe be a bit more selective about the guest list this time though,” Rainbow gingerly touched her bandaged face. “My nose still hurts like a bitch.” “Oh this one’s special, but have no fear there will be tunes and alcohol!” She said as she wrapped an arm around her punky companion, flashing a grin. “It’ll be just you, me, AJ, Twi, Rares…. Oh and Fluttershy.” Pinkie waggled her eyebrows in an effort to further tempt her friend. “Well if… everyone… is coming.” Dash then fixed Pinkie with a skeptical stare. “Wait this isn’t part of an elaborate scheme or master plan is it?” “What? No, no, no. Of course not,” Pinkie replied with her fingers crossed behind her back. “Who do you think I am, the kind of person who would drug RA’s just to throw a bitchin’ party?” “But… you did do that.” “Exactly” “So, sugar, you want to host another get together, here, in our room.” Applejack was a bit less than amused. “Awww come on Jackie, it’ll be okay. It’ll just me you, and me, and Twi-Twi, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and RD.” Pinkie Pie gave her roomie the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. “Well…” AJ cast her eyes around the room, “Twilight, it’s yer room too, what do you say?” Twilight as usual was curled up on her bed with a book. “Hmmm…. I wouldn’t mind experimenting with Fluttershy again…” Pinkie and Applejack exchanged wide eyed glances. “Uh, Twi?” Twilight broke out in a fit of giggles. “Oh God, that never gets old. I’d love to have everyone over.” Pinkie bounced up and down on the spot. “Twilight’s on board come one Applejackie, pleeeeeeease?” “Well fine, but we gotta make sure we don’ make too much noise, ah doubt the RA’s will be accepting anymore of yer cupcakes, sugar.” “I thank you for your invitation, darling, but I feel I must decline. I think your parties might be a bit too rambunctious for my taste,” Rarity’s expression was polite, yet unreadable, as she stood in the doorway to her and RD’s room. “Oh come on Rares I’m really sorry for what happened last time, and I promise it’ll never happen again.” Rarity’s face remained a polite mask. “It’ll just be the six of us. A girl’s night! I Pinkie promise!” Rarity arched a brow, “You’re absolutely sure. No brutish thugs?” “I swear upon my treasured collection of novelty cookie cutters.” Pinkie held a hand to her heart in all solemnity. “Alright, besides, you all have been very nice to me. No harm no foul, I always say, and I suppose I owe it to you.” Rarity said, finally cracking a genuine smile. “Oh…um… I wouldn’t want to impose or anything.” Fluttershy was standing in her doorway looking down at the frizzy-haired party girl. “Not at all my pink-haired amigo,” Pinkie replied. “And uh… RD is gonna be there?” Fluttershy hid her blush behind her hair. “Oh girl, no need to hide from your Auntie Pinkie Pie, she can read the writing on the wall. Yep, RD is going to be there, and plenty of drinks. Twi said you enjoyed the screwdrivers, right?” “Oh, yes they were yummy.” The shy girl said with a little smile. “And thanks for… you know… not making fun of me for…um…” “Liking RD? Not a problem. I might even be able to help you with that too.” A devilish grin swept across Pinkie’s features. “I don’t know… I mean… I don’t want to trick her or anything…” “Just leave everything to me and the two of you will be an item in no time flat,” Pinkie held out her hand to the pink-haired girl. Fluttershy thought briefly about how good it would be to finally be able to have Dashie in her arms, not just as friends but to be her everything, to pay her back for standing out in a crowd so that Fluttershy could slip into the background. Fluttershy, blushing furiously, shook Pinkie’s hand. Pinkie wandered back to her room some time later with a satisfied smirk. The pieces were in place, the trap was set, and this time tomorrow the drinks would flow. “I love it when a plan comes together.” Author's Note This chapter's title track is The Set Up (You Need This) by Reel Big Fish As for the promised Flutter shy music, here's the first few songs I could think of: The Chain by Ingird Michaelson , Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons, and The Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine More to come in the next chapter, stay tuned folks!
Chapter 6: Sing Like a Bird and Dance Like a DemonChapter 6: Sing Like a Bird and Dance Like a Demon The get-together was going strong, all six girls sitting around the room drinking and chatting. RD had finally been able to stuff her tongue back in her mouth and had elected to share a jug of Pinkie’s world famous screwdrivers with Fluttershy. Well “elected” was sort of a misleading phrase, Pinkie had actually shoved the large container of alcoholic beverage at the chromatic-haired girl, pointed to Fluttershy and yelled, “SHARE!” Regardless of how she came by it, the alcohol was doing its job just fine and RD felt a wonderful warm feeling settle about her insides. She cast a lopsided grin at her drinking partner, who returned the smile in kind. “This is good, tart and stuff, doesn’t make me gag or nothing,” Dash said to her friend, passing her the drink. Fluttershy bobbed her head, “Uh huh, Pinkie is really great at the…um… mixing of drinks and stuff.” She giggled a bit at her own ineloquence. RD closed her eyes for a moment, relaxing her mind. ‘This must be the meaning of life,’ she mused to herself, ‘Alcohol, good friends… especially Fluttershy.’ Slowly a hummed tune began to float into her ears. It was beautiful yet tinged with sadness, like an old photograph of a lost friend… “What’s that song?” Rainbow asked her companion. Fluttershy gave a bittersweet smile, “…I could sing it for you…” Dash nodded to her, leaning in to catch every word as her timid friend began to softly intone the lyrics: “The sky looks pissed The wind talks back My bones are shifting in my skin And you my love are gone My room seems wrong The bed won't fit I cannot seem to operate And you my love are gone So glide away on soapy heels And promise not to promise anymore And if you come around again Then I will take, then I will take the chain from off the door I'll never say I'll never love But I don't say a lot of things And you my love are gone So glide away on soapy heels And promise not to promise anymore And if you come around again Then I will take, then I will take the chain from off the door” Dash noticed moisture pooling at the corners of Fluttershy’s eyes. Her voice had been soft but sweet, and filled with hauntingly genuine emotion. “That was…beautiful…” RD said gently placing a hand on her friends shoulder. Fluttershy became aware of a tear rolling down her cheek and wiped it away. “Oh… oh no, I went and made myself sad…Sorry Dashie, I didn’t mean to, that song is just sort of… special.” Rainbow thought she understood, and nodded in response. “Hey it’s okay, Flutters. But hey look at the two of us, back together again! So no more sad stuff. In the immortal words of William Shakespeare: ‘let’s get drunk.’” “I don’t think he said that Dashie,” Fluttershy gave a little grin. “Well he should have.” RD grinned as she took a large pull from the jug. Pinkie watched the two with a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Phase one: complete,” She whispered to herself. Rarity, who sat closest to Pinkie, quirked an eyebrow at the frizzy-headed girl. “What was that, dear?” Pinkie responded by pressing her finger to the fashionista’s lips. “Ugh don’t do that,” Rarity squealed. “I don’t know where that finger has been!” “Everythin’ alright over there, girls?” Applejack asked the pair. All focus had shifted to Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Yeah, totally fine! Just um...flirting!" Pinkie said, giving a satisfied smirk at her own cover story. However the rest of the room was more than a little confused by this pronouncement and Rarity looked like she could strangle the little party girl. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?" "Well," Twilight offered, "based upon previous interactions between the two of you, there has been little evidence to support your claim. Granted the overall pool of data is quite small-" "What she's gettin' at, sugar, is that your story seems a mite unlikely is all." Applejack clarified. "Oh you guys are just being silly, what's more likely, I have some secret master plan or I want to have hot sex with Rarity?" Pinkie said cheerily. Rarity was opening and closing her mouth, at a loss for how exactly to express her indignation. "Ooooookay.... So there's that." RD intoned with a bit of a titter. "Just leave a sock on the door okay Rarity?" " I... I would n-... Never...I..." Rarity let out an almighty groan of frustration and then took a deep breath to try and center herself. After a moment she regained her composure and shot an glare at Pinkie that would have caused hell itself to freeze. "I apologize but I must decline your offer." RD began cracking up, "Jeez Rarity, your turning down sex with Pinkie not a telemarketer." "Oh just be quite, you." Rarity said turning her glare upon her roommate. "Lighten up everybody it's a party!" Pinkie had rematerialized in the middle of the room and,with a grunt of effort, pushed aside the desks to clear a space in the center of the room. "and what's a party without some music and dancing!" While RD had been on of the first to join in dancing, Fluttershy remained on the futon. She wanted desperately to join in, but how could she? She had never had much experience with parties to begin with, and she had even less with dancing. What if she made a fool of herself? What her flailing about made Dash loose interest in her? The throbbing bass beat of the song began to fade away as the song ended. There was a momentary lull in activity and Pinkie took it as a chance to plop down next to Fluttershy. "Hey there, why aren't you shaking your stuff on the dance floor?" Pinkie asked with a kind smile. Fluttershy bowed her head, letting her hair cover her face. " I... I'm scared... Like usual..." "Don't be, you don't notice me or RD or anyone else being all scared. Actually, what you should have noticed is RD looking over here every song to check if you'll come out and join all of us" Fluttershy looked up and momentarily caught RD looking in direction. They locked eyes for all of a second before the two awkwardly broke eye contact. "See!" Pinkie exclaimed as the next song started up." Now lets get you out there!" Fluttershy felt herself bing pulled off the couch and flung directly in RD's direction, bumping into her friend before she could fully regain balance."S-sorry..." She said, blushing furiously. "No problem," Dash replied a light blush about her own features. "So not much of a dancer?" Fluttershy shook her head, eyes cast down at Rainbow's shoes. "Hey, it's okay, pal. Not much to it really, at least not this kind of dancing. Just close your eyes and feel the music. Sway around, move your hips, whatever you feel like doing, just have fun." Fluttershy looked up at RD and was greeted by a kind smile. "Okay... I'll try." Fluttershy responded, unwilling to disappoint her oldest friend. She closed her eyes as Dash had suggested and began to truly listen to the music. She felt the rhythmic beat reverberate in her body. The pulsing bass called to her, urging her body into motion. It was not the most graceful of dances, but Fluttershy began to move, her hips swaying in time with the music. Then (likely as an act-of-Pinkie Pie) Fluttershy felt a body impact her own, and from the soft string of cursing that emanated from it, Fluttershy could tell that the body belonged to RD. Suddenly there were hands resting on her hips, beckoning her closer, a request that she was all to happy to oblige. She felt the warmth of Rainbow's lithe form as their bodies met, the music fueling their joint motions. She hesitantly placed her arms around Dash's body, her hands resting on the small of her back. Fluttershy wished that she could stay like this forever. The world had melted away there was nothing but her, Dash, and the music. Unfortunately no song lasts forever and eventually the beat once again faded away, and the world came crashing back down around her. She became acutely aware of how close she was to her best friend. She froze. 'Oh no... This was too fast... Dash hates me now... But she did seem to be into it...but what if she was just being nice....and it felt so nice...Only one way to find out...' Fluttershy opened her eyes and met those of her friend. In Dash's face was not the anger or revulsion that Fluttershy had feared, instead Rainbow's face held an mixture of passion and utter amazement. "I..uh...thought you said you hadn't done that before..." A blush tinged the cheeks of the usually brash and bold girl. "You were pretty awesome right there." "Th-thank you, Dashie." Fluttershy whispered, realizing they still hadn't broken their intimate embrace. If they had looked away from each other's eyes they may have noticed that their four friends each watched them with a different, but similarly expectant, expression upon their faces. If they had been listening to anything other than each other's breathing, they would have heard their friends little comments... "...that confirms that theory..." "...come on, come on, come on...." "...Well I'll darned..." "..Oh, oh my..." ...they wouldn't have leaned in closer. They wouldn't have softly pressed their lips together. They wouldn't have shared the most intimate and passionate kiss that either had ever experienced. RD felt a shiver of pleasure roll through her body at the touch of Fluttershy's lips. She pressed in closer and felt her companion shudder and let out a soft moan. Then immediately, as if the sound escaping her lips finally alerted her to what had just happened, Fluttershy pulled away and broke the contact. “Oh no... oh no… that was me wasn’t it, oh please don’t hate me, I’m so sorry I just-” “It’s okay Flutters,” Dash said a bit breathlessly. “Well, no, that’s a lie. It was more than okay, that was really amazing.” “Y- you mean it?” Fluttershy chewed her lip nervously. “Of course she does!” Pinkie called from across the room, “Sweet merciful Christ, it was good for us and we’re over here!” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy’s faces burned crimson. “Hey… uh... Flutters… think we can take this somewhere more… private?” RD said, unwilling to look over at quartet of her friends. Fluttershy could only nod. The pair stumbled into Fluttershy’s room, having trouble navigating while their lips were locked together. However upon entering the room RD spied something curious over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “The hell…” She said as she broke apart their embrace. Feeling a little scorned Fluttershy followed Rainbow’s gaze to a sign that had been duct taped to her closet door If you make it this far, Check out what’s in here, RD. ~Pinkie Rainbow crossed the room and opened the closet door. “She can’t be serious…” Rainbow retrieved an article of clothing from the closet and held it up to her body, turning to display it for Fluttershy. “She couldn’t possibly think this would fit me.” Fluttershy blushed and chewed her lip. Rainbow was holding up a black corseted bustier with a black lace overlay. It would have indeed looked ridiculous on Dash’s slender frame; it had clearly been constructed for someone whose measurements were a little higher in the bust and hips. A little note pinned to neckline read: Courtesy of Rarity. Realization dawned on Fluttershy as she closed the distance between her and Dash, her pace slow and deliberate. She began to feel confidence welling up inside her, her fantasy was finally being made into reality. “It’s not for you. It’s for me.” “Wh- what? Why would-” RD stammered, but Fluttershy placed a finger to her lips. “Shhhh, don’t worry…” Fluttershy leaned in, letting her lips graze Dash’s ear and her bust press against her lover’s. While her voice retained its usual soft cadence, the words she issued were a command. “You’re going to love me.” Author's Note So this is it fillies and gentle-colts, the...er... climax? Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Poke, poke. Title track for this one is Straight to Hell by Great Big Sea. The song Fluttershy sings is one that I posted a few chapters back The Chain by Ingrid Michaelson So I'll be winding down the story soon, maybe one or two more chapters. The plan is to write a sequel exploring Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in a secondary capacity, and another ship in the forefront. Not sure on that one yet, I was thinking either TwiJack or Raripie...or maybe RariJack. Unfortunately I'm not super confident at writing Applejack so we will see where this goes. Well, see ya'll on the flip side!
Epilogue: This is Sappy but It's TrueEpilogue: This is Sappy but It’s True Clothing lay scattered around the room; thrown casually aside in the midst of passion. A particularly well aimed bra was dangling from a lamp, some pieces of clothing perched themselves on top of the desk, while still others littered the floor. Even the black brassier had eventually been removed and now lay at the foot of the bed. RD was the first to stir, the warm rays of morning sun alighting on her face. She turned her head and gazed at the girl beside her. Fluttershy’s chest slowly rose and fell in time with her breathing, her pink hair, though matted from the night’s activities, still wreathed her head in a beautiful halo of pink. Dash was unsure if she had ever seen a sight more gorgeous or more peaceful . With a small jerk Fluttershy too awoke and gave her childhood companion an exhausted smile. “Morning Flutters,” Dash said returning the smile. Fluttershy just lay there, looking upon the woman she had always admired. Her strength, her loyalty, and her passion had been what drove Flutttershy’s feelings for her one-time friend into a something more. Suddenly uncertainty began to creep into Fluttershy’s mind. What were they now? Were they together? Did… did she even feel the same way? This had all happened so fast, what came next? A frown began to find its way across Fluttershy’s features. She fought back an urge to hide. No, no hiding, not from Rainbow. “Hey, hey no frowning Flutters, got it?” RD cooed to her lover. She tenderly touched Fluttershy’s cheek as a way of comforting her. “Not regretting last night I hope, I mean… damn, you were awesome Flutters. I’ll be surprised if I can move out of this bed honestly.” “No… no not that, oh Dashie, I’d never regret that…” Fluttershy responded softly. Should she ask…? Could she? “I just…. I mean…” Fluttershy swallowed her words. She couldn’t do it, she was too afraid of what the answer might be. Dash’s face became uncharacteristically solemn for a moment, “Uh… do you not want to, uh… be together?” Fluttershy eyes began to grow wide, “Y- you mean it… you’d even want to… be with me?” Dash’s face brightened instantly, “Of course! Are you kidding? I mean you’re the most amazing person I know, you’re cute and caring and well… you’re Flutters!” RD lunged and caught Fluttershy in a surprise embrace that made the more timid girl’s entire body blush. “Thanks Dashie, I mean I really like you too.” She managed to squeak out. “I know, I’m pretty much amazing.” Rainbow said with a smirk before planting a kiss on Fluttershy’s nose. “I mean… I’m no good at the whole feelings shtick… but when I’m with you I always have more fun, you make me smile, and well… I think… I think, I always want you in my life.” Fluttershy smiled warmly, “Thank you Dashie, I want you with me too.” “Plus if last night was any indication, I’d say we’re more than a bit compatible in bed.” She added with a wink. “I mean seriously where did l that come from? I never knew you could be so…uh… assertive.” The timid girl resisted the urge to hide under her blankets. “Well, I um… thanks…” She managed. Rainbow grinned, leaning and gave Fluttershy a playful nuzzle. “Well, just keep being you, ‘kay Flutters?” Fluttershy felt warmth bubble up inside her. She reached over and pulled Rainbow into a tight hug pressing the lithe girl’s warm body into her own. “You’re the best Dashie!” “I know it.” Rainbow let out a little chuckle and returned the cuddle. “So what now? Breakfast?” “Sure ,” Fluttershy replied with a mischievous little smirk before ducking her head under the covers. “Hey where are you going? I thought we going to get….oh! Oh, you naughty girl…” Several rooms away four girls were beginning to wake from what had ended up being a night of intense drinking. Rarity rolled off the futon with an audible thud. As sleep slowly left her mind she stared up her temporary bed with a look of utter disgust. She picked herself off the floor and dusted herself off. As she bent over the Stetson that had been perched precariously on her head fell to the floor. Twilight groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Putting a finger to her lips she issued a “shhhh” in Rarity’s direction. Applejack rubbed her temples and winced, “Wellp I think I’ll be layin’ of the drinks for a bit… What in tarnation even happened?” She spied her hat on the ground and snatched it up. She cast a glare at Rarity, to have her treasured possession on the head of another was sacrilege as far as AJ was concerned. A frizzy haired head poked out from over the edge of the top bunk. “I’ll tell you what happened!” Pinkies volume elicited a collective wince from the other three girls. “Wh- what happened then, darling?” Rarity managed, her voice feeling rough in her throat. “They all lived happily ever after, silly!” Author's Note And he fumbles a bit on the dismount. Yeah, I was planning on writing a bit more and calling this a full-on chapter, but then I realized that that was a whole other story. So I'll definitely be writing a sequel, but it could be a while The title track for Good Thing by Reel Big Fish. Oh and here's a Rarity themed track too The Fear by Lily Allen. I know I never got around to posting any Twilight or AJ music. I'm working on a whole Mane 6 playlist that I'm planning on writing it up in a blog post, so if you're a fan be sure to watch for that Thanks to all of you who have been wonderfully supportive throughout this whole process, this was my first fanfic and I am proud to think of it a bit of a success. It's certainly got me writing more!
Chapter 5: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Chapter 5: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Chapter Five: Think I Need a Devil to Help Me Get Things Right Sun peeked through the thin curtains of Fluttershy’s dorm room illuminating idle dust specks. Fluttershy groaned and shifted in her sleep, lost in one of her favorite dreams. Unfortunately her serenity was about to come to an abrupt end. There was a faint scratching at her door, a squeak of the floor boards, and then a shout. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!” Pinkie Pie pounced on Fluttershy’s sleeping form, the cheap bedsprings of the dorm bed protested with an almighty squeak. Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror as her mind attempted in vain to comprehend what was happening. For her part, Pinkie simply grinned and continued to bounce on the bed. “Oooo I like your room!” Pinkie said as she flopped down next to Fluttershy, who had wrapped herself tightly in her blanket. “How come you got a single? I thought freshman never got single rooms.” “A-… anxiety….” Flutterhsy managed to choke out. “Oh I get it, it’s a mental thing yeah? I should have thought of that, people always tell me I’m not right in the head, but I could never leave Twi and AJ and the bigger room is better for parties.” Fluttershy felt here wits slowly returning. “P- Pinkie…. My door was locked…” “I picked the lock, silly.” Pinkie jumped off the bed and made her way over to Fluttershy’s closet, “Hmmm… no, nope, no…” “So…um… why did you break into my room?” Fluttershy asked still trying to hide herself beneath her covers. “So we could get an early start. I told you I’d help you with your little RD problem, so I’m going to make sure she spends all of tonight drooling over you. Step one: no more loose sweaters.” She held up one of the offending articles of clothing. “You got it, so I am going to get you to flaunt it!” Fluttershy blushed, briefly recalling Dash’s reaction to seeing her in her pajamas. “…You think it’ll work?” “Duh, she already checks you out like all the time,” Pinkie said with a wink. “Hell, I check you out! You got it going on. So, new wardrobe, which means Rarity is stop number one.” “RD’s roommate?” Fluttershy’s confusion was apparent in her tone. “Oh she’s like a fashion genius, you didn’t know? Yeah all those awesome clothes she wears, she makes them, so we can have her whip something up for you.” “Oh okay…um Pinkie?” “Yes oh pink-haired one?” “Can um… can you leave while I get dressed?” “Do I have to?” Pinkie giggled “Just kidding. Well a little bit. I’ll meet you in the hall.” “So…um… RD isn’t gonna be in there is she?” Fluttershy paused outside the door. “Course she isn’t, I made sure that Twilight is distracting her, apparently they both are like huge fans of this adventure-y book series. Who knew, right?” “Oh, Twilight likes Daring Do? RD was crazy about those books back in middle school.” “Uh huh, so while they gab and trade fanfics or whatever it is they are apt to do, we will get you something slinky for tonight.” Pinkie threw open the door and the pair were treated to the whining drone of Rarity’s sewing machine. Pinkie took a breath in preparation for the mighty verbal torrent she was about to unleash. “Hey-Rares-can-you-do-me-and-Fluttershy-like-a super-huge-favor-and-I will totally-owe-you-forever-see-we-need-to-get-her-something-sexy-to-wear-and-we-need-it-ready-super-soon-like-next-couple-hours-soon-please-please-please-please-please!” Rarity’s sewing machine cut out and the room was filled with a pensive silence. Rarity looked up at her two friends, blinked and replied “What?” Pinkie Pie facepalmed, while Fluttershy cautiously stepped forward, “Um… What Pinkie was asking…was if you could make me something to wear tonight… if that’s okay…” “Hmmm…” Rarity crossed the room and gave Fluttershy and appraising look. “You know I think you might be a fabulous model for one of my creations. Let me get my tape, I’ll need your measurements darling.” It was then that Pinkie Pie chimed in. “She doesn’t need anything frilly or puffy, we just need something tight enough to show off her curves.” Fluttershy blushed as Rarity began to take her measurements. “… I don’t know…” “Don’t worry darling, I’m sure I can throw together something that just screams ‘you’.” Rarity continues with her measurements, jotting them down in a little notebook as she went. Pinkie Pie was getting antsy. How slow and meticulous did the fashionista have to be? This had turned from exciting into waiting, and Pinkie Pie hated waiting. “Soooooo how long is this going to take?” Rarity waved her hand airily as she continued her work, “The more precise I am now the quicker this will go during construction. So Fluttershy, we’ve heard what Pinkie wants you to wear, what were you thinking?” “Oh…I don’t know, I normally just wear sweaters… I suppose I like how the sleeves cover my hands… it’s comfy…” Fluttershy fidgeted with her overlong sleeves as she spoke. “Uh huh…” Rarity looked her over again. “Well I can’t say I had ever seen merit in ill-fitting clothing before, I suppose I could design something to mimic the effect …” The room once again grew silent. Pinkie sighed. More waiting. This could not stand. “Lightbulb!” Pinkie crept over to Fluttershy, an idea of how to pass the time had presented appeared in a flash of inspiration. “Hey Fluttershy, got any sexy fantasies?” Pinkie whispered to her companion with a mischievous smile. Fluttershy squeaked. Rarity rolled her eyes as she finished up her measurements and proceeded to start sketching in her notebook. “I…uh…well…um…” Fluttershy stammered. “Ah come on, you can tell dear old Pinkie Pie” Fluttershy felt her face burn, but felt strangely compelled to say something. She had never had anyone to share these things with. The idea of sharing her fantasies with just anyone would have been insanely terrifying, but the idea of sharing them with Pinkie was strangely comforting. “Uh… there is this one…” Fluttershy leaned forward and whispered something in Pinkie’s ear. Pinkie grinned. “Oooo kinky.” Fluttershy didn’t know if her face could possibly get any redder, but she let out a little giggle all the same. Meanwhile, Rarity continued sketching in her notebook, every now and then looking up at Fluttershy and pausing in thought. After several failed attempts, as indicated by the piles of balled up paper on the floor, Rarity finally presented her finished product to Fluttershy and Pinkie. The two eyed the design. The finished product was remarkable, it was a sweater not unlike those she normally wore, but instead of hanging off her frame like an oversized second skin this one would hug her curves. Rather than the high neckline Fluttershy had grown accustomed to, this top had a low scooped neckline top that would allow for an ample amount of cleavage as well as expose her shoulders. And as her coup de grace, Rarity had made sure to incorporate the long sleeves that were such a comfort to the timid girl. “Va va voom!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s…amazing,” Fluttershy pronounced at last. “Thank you, dear, I try,” Rarity gave her a kind smile. “Be sure to wear a camisole under it, the fabric will be a bit thin.” “Thank you so much Rarity, if there is anything you ever need… Thank you…” Fluttershy averted her eyes, unable to cope with Rarity’s generosity. “It’s nothing dear,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “Just doing what I love. Swing by later, I’ll be sure to have it ready before the get together.” “Oh and one more thing,” Pinkie leaned in and whispered something in Rarity’s ear. “Hmmm, I’ll see what I can do...” Fluttershy gave Pinkie a confused look, but Pinkie roughly ushered the timid girl from the room. RD was having a good day. At Pinkie Pie’s suggestion she had spent the morning chilling with Twilight, who turned out to be as big of a “Daring Do” fan as RD herself. They had chatted all morning about favorite books, characters and theories on what the next plot twist might hold. Twilight even revealed herself to be an avid consumer of “Daring Do” fanfics , and although RD stuck to the cannon she admired her friend’s dedication to the fandom. Around lunch she had met up with Fluttershy and Pinkie who had apparently spent the morning together, she had chuckled to herself at the image of her shy friend hanging with the petite bundle of energy. This was followed by an absolutely delightful nap, and in her dreams she found herself in a delightful rendezvous with a curvy pink-haired goddess. By the time she awoke the sun had already set. She pulled on a her tank top, her cleanest pair of jeans, and her trusty jacket “Party Time.” She said excitedly to herself. Fluttershy admired herself in her mirror. ‘Dear god… I look…hot’ She giggled to herself, blushing at her own reflection. The new top fit absolutely positively perfectly. Fluttershy made a mental note to thank Rarity profusely later tonight. She left her room and made her way over to Pinkie’s. Standing on the other side of the door to the triple she could already hear the buzz of conversation. She pushed the door open and stepped into her friends’ room. Rarity sat on Applejack’s bed sipping something pink in a martini glass. Pinkie Pie sat on the futon, pouring herself her own pink martini. Applejack herself was leaning against the doorway to the balcony sipping a beer and talking with Twilight, who for her part was drinking something out of an aluminum water bottle and supplying the occasional tipsy titter. The door closed audibly behind Fluttershy, bringing the room’s attention to rest firmly on her. “I see that the top turned out wonderfully,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “Oh yes, thank you so much Rarity,” Fluttershy bounced over and gave the fashionista a hug. “Well that there answers my question,” Applejacks voice interjected from across the room. “I couldn’t fer the life of me figure out where you could buy somethin’ like that.” “Of course, Applejack. If it could be mistaken for an off the rack affair I’d, how would you put it, hang up my spurs?” Applejack shot a grin Rarity’s way and chuckled, “Eeyup, that’ll do.” “Hey guys, why’s everyone staring at Fluttershy?” The final member of their company was standing in the doorway. Pinkie sniggered. “Oh you’ll see.” Fluttershy’s feet suddenly seemed to be made of lead. ‘It’s okay…you can do this… you want her to see you, you don’t need to hide under the frumpy clothes… not from her…’ She gritted her teeth, and turned around. Fluttershy couldn’t quite lift her eyes to Rainbow’s face. “H-hi Dashie… do you like it?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Woah…” RD’s eyes were open wide; her jaw might as well have been on the floor. “Um…yeah…that’s… you look pretty Flutters.” Fluttershy gave her a kind smile, feeling warm and fuzzy from the compliment. “Thank you, Dashie.” Fluttershy could have sworn she heard Pinkie say something like: “So it begins…” Author's Note This chapter's title track is Learn to Fly by The Foo Fighters Hope everyone is enjoying the story. As always comments are awesome. It's what all the cool kids are doing. Catch you all on the flip side.
