Fluttershy was standing in her room, looking in to a full length mirror. Her hair was styled to the left like usual and on her head were a pair of yellow ears. She had found them, only a couple of days ago, amongst some old junk in a box by the roadside. There had been a sign that said the stuff was free to take so she had picked them up. So far, she had been unable to work out what animal they were supposed to be the ears of, but she thought they looked most like pony ears. She would never let anyone see her wearing them, though, as she didn’t need people thinking she was even more of a wimp than they already did.
She sighed and pulled them off. Oh how she would love to have the confidence of Rainbow Dash and to strut around like she didn’t care what anyone thought of her. Fluttershy remembered the moment she had shared with Rainbow Dash the day before. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory. She had never, in her wildest dreams, thought that she would ever get so close to Rainbow. She felt like she ought to be sad, not knowing how Rainbow felt about her but all she could feel was happiness that they had become friends.
Humming a little tune as she went, Fluttershy picked out which clothes she would wear for the day. She was pleased with the result which was pretty enough but mostly, it was inconspicuous.
Fluttershy didn’t know why she had such trouble dealing with other people. She didn’t think it was just a solitary nature because the time she spent alone was spent feeling lonely and sorry for herself.
Sighing again, Fluttershy walked outside and spread her wings. With a few little running hops, she managed to get airborne and head off in the direction of school.
Pinkie Pie was sitting on a bench, swinging her legs back and forth. The object of her attention was sitting in one of the library’s comfy chairs, reading a book. Pinkie was thinking hard, she and Derpy had spent a great deal of time together now, discussing various ways to get Twilight’s attention. Derpy had already given her several muffins but Twilight didn’t seem to be paying much heed.
Pinkie flipped herself off the bench and, after fidgeting briefly with her hands, walked over to Twilight.
“Hiya there Twilight, my name’s Pinkie Pie.”
Twilight looked up from her book, surprise written all over her face. She glanced at the hand Pinkie had extended and took it hesitantly but immediately flinched back as there was a loud zap and her hair stood on end. “Ouch! What was that for?” Twilight asked, sounding a little hurt.
Pinkie suppressed a giggle. “Just an ice breaker,” she said, removing the zapping device from her hand.
Twilight rubbed her own hand but she seemed to have recovered somewhat from the initial… shock… as it were. “Um, nice to meet you… I think.”
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but immediately burst in to a fit of giggles when she saw that Twilight’s hair was still standing on end.
Twilight reached up and felt at her new, untidy, crest. “Oh great, this is never going to sit flat again. Ugh. Hey, how do you know my name?”
“Derpy told me,” said Pinkie, simply.
Twilight thought for a moment. Realisation dawned. “Oh, the nice girl who’s been giving me muffins. They’re the best muffins I’ve ever tasted, do you know where she gets them?”
“She makes them, well, I help sometimes, just the other day she asked me to test out a new recipe for vinegar and baking soda muffins.” Pinkie smiled ruefully. “Turns out she’s as good at pranks as she is at baking.”
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at that. “How could you not know what would happen if you mixed baking soda and vinegar? It’s probably one of the most basic experiments that they do in preschool.”
“Oh, she didn’t mean it to be a prank, she explained how you can balance the reaction. She worked out that, if you stir the vinegar with a lithium rod before you add the baking soda, you can stabilise the carbonic acid and stop it from decomposing in to carbon dioxide.”
Twilight choked. “That’s impossible! Also, eating lithium is a really bad idea.”
“No, no, silly. If you do it exactly right then the extra electrons in the outer shell of the lithium atoms balance the carbonic acid and turns one of the atoms that makes it up in to a cation.”
“But what about the lithium? It’s still not healthy stuff to cook with.”
“Turns out it’s not dangerous in when it gets cosy with a hydrogen atom,” said Pinkie, brightly.
Twilight looked truly fascinated, although a little sceptical. “So you tried this out and it worked?”
“Yes I tried it out, no it didn’t work. The results were messy to say the least; see, if you stir too much it can actually accelerate the reaction.”
“So you’ve never seen it actually work?”
“Oh yes, I texted Derpy and told her that it hadn’t worked and so she came over and showed me how to do it. Let me tell you, the results are totally worth the hassle. When they come out, the muffins just zing in your mouth, they feel all tingly and so light and fluffy.” Pinkie’s eye’s glazed at the memory of the tastiest muffins she’d ever had.
Twilight was staring thoughtfully in to space. “I would very much like to know more about this.”
“Well, if you like, I could talk to Derpy about dropping by sometime and giving you a longer explanation.”
Twilight brightened. “That would be wonderful.” She pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen and scribbled for a moment. When she was done, she handed the paper to Pinkie. “Here’s my number, if you could give it to her next time you see her that would be great.”
Pinkie saluted. “Yes, Ma’am.” Pinkie began to walk away but then turned. “Oh, and, Twilight?”
“Yea?”
“You might want to flatten your hair before class starts.” With that, Pinkie skipped away.
Rainbow yawned and glanced up at the clock. She had been in detention now for an hour. She groaned, halfway there. She turned her attention back to her homework, it was fairly easy stuff but that didn’t make it any less boring. She sighed and continued to solve problem after problem.
After what felt like many hours, the clock finally signalled her release, Rainbow leaped to her feet and bolted out the door, only to bump straight in to something small with light pink hair. It apologised, identifying itself as Fluttershy. Fluttershy was the kind of girl who apologised if you stood on her foot.
Managing to catch herself before she fell, Rainbow looked at The girl she had careened in to. “Oh, hey Shy, didn’t see you there.” 'Shy?' Where did that come from? Now I’m giving her nicknames? Although, it does sound cute… Rainbow’s thoughts trailed off.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. I was just looking for you.
“How’d you know where I was?”
“Pinkie told me you got detention.”
“You talked to Pinkie?”
“Yes.”
Rainbow grinned. “And what did you think?”
“She’s... lovely…” said Fluttershy, hesitantly.
Rainbow cracked up laughing. “Yea, she tends to have that effect on people. Seeing as I’m done with detention, do you want to go get a slushy or something?”
“Um… my parents might get annoyed if I get home too late.”
“Oh, don’t fret about them, come on, have some fun.”
Fluttershy hesitated. “Um… alright.”
Rainbow smiled, a big, genuine smile. “Right this way then.”
Rainbow pushed the door of her house open and walked inside with a sigh. She and Fluttershy had gone to a service station and bought the biggest slushies that a few dollars could buy. They had sat outside and talked for a blissful twenty minutes. At last, Fluttershy had left, saying that her parents would worry if she was gone too long.
Rainbow felt like her insides were filled with warm fuzzies. Her heart sank when her ears were greeted by the sound of loud fighting.
Rainbow sighed and called out, “Hi mum, Hi dad, I’m home.” When the fighting continued unabated, Rainbow added bitterly, under her breath. “Not that you give a shit.”
Rainbow made her way up to her room and closed the door. As soon as she was inside, she picked up her phone and texted Pinkie Pie. “I need to talk to you, get your sorry butt over here.”
After a few seconds, her phone vibrated and Pinkie’s response popped up on the screen. “Too… many… innuendo... filled… responses…. I’ll be there in a couple minutes. When I get there I will have worked out the best of all the wonderful dirty jokes you just laid before me.”
A few minutes later, Rainbow heard the door knock. She raced down the stairs and opened it to see a grinning Pinkie Pie. “Hey Dashie, what did you need with my butt?”
Rainbow had to smile at that. “Come to up to my room and I’ll tell you what happened.”
As she walked through the house, Pinkie noticed the sounds of an argument. “Wow, I know you said your parents have been fighting but this?”
Rainbow shrugged but Pinkie was right; the fighting did seem a bit more intense tonight.
When they reached Rainbow’s room, Pinkie looked around at the cluttered space, noticing the twisted bed sheets, the random objects lying all around the room as well as a huge pile of unwashed laundry. “Charming,” she said, distastefully.
“Oh, shut it, I haven’t had time to clean up lately.”
Pinkie flopped down on the unmade bed and looked up at her friend. “What’s this all about? Is this because I told Fluttershy you got detention?”
“What? No. This is, um, I think... that is…”
“Spit it out.”
“I think me and Fluttershy just went on some sort of date.”
Pinkie sat up, her interest sparked. “Ooh, tell me all about it.”
“I took her to a seven eleven.”
Pinkie smirked. “Classy.”
“Oh shut up. It was just a spur of the moment thing, we were leaving school and I just felt like hanging out with her some more and so I asked her to get a slushy with me.”
“Well, as first dates go it isn’t as romantic as it could have been but I suppose it’s something.”
“But you said that when I worked out what I want I should talk to you.”
“It sounds to me like you still have no idea.”
Rainbow floundered for a moment but then smiled. She could often tell when she had the right answer to something, when the right answer was sitting in her head it somehow felt different; colder perhaps. “I want her. Whatever she wants is cool but I just want her, that’s all I know and all I need to know.”
Pinkie smiled. “Sounds like an over romanticised pile of shit to me, I like it. So you gonna ask her out officially?”
“No, like I said; I want her and if she doesn’t want that kind of relationship then I’m happy to let us just be friends. I won’t make a move until I know what she wants.”
All of a sudden, the noise from downstairs ceased. There was the stomping of feet up stairs and then Rainbow’s door creaked open. A care worn man was standing there. When he spoke, his voice sounded sad and croaky from shouting. “Hello Pinkie Pie, we need to talk to Rainbow Dash alone for a while.”
Pinkie smiled at the man and said, kindly, “Oh, that’s alright, I was just going to head off anyways. Seeya Dashie.” She squeezed passed Rainbow’s father and began to head back to her own house.
When Rainbow Dash walked through the doors of Omnas Mannis the next morning, it was with a surprisingly cheerful look on her face. She was early and so, headed towards the lunch area in search of Pinkie.
When she found the pink haired ball of energy in question, Rainbow was surprised to see her sitting with Applejack, Rarity and, most surprisingly, Fluttershy.
Rainbow cleared her throat to catch the attention of all her friends. “Hey guys, Fluttershy, I see you’ve met Rarity and Applejack.”
Fluttershy looked around and smiled. “Oh yes, Pinkie introduced me.”
Rainbow glanced at Pinkie. “Of course she did.”
Pinkie seemed to be exploding, desperate to say something. “Enough chit chat! What was it your parents wanted to talk to you about?”
Rainbow smiled broadly. “Oh, that, they’re splitting up.” She couldn’t help but laugh at the looks of shock her friends gave her.
“They’re splitting up?” Pinkie asked, aghast. “Why do you sound so happy about that?”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks because they’ve been screaming at each other, and let me tell you right now; meal time is never pleasant.”
“So, um, what are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked, cautiously.
Rainbow grinned. “That’s the best bit; it’s my birthday in a week, I’ll be seventeen so I can move out and get my own place.”
“You’re really going to move out? And live all by yourself?” Applejack sounded incredulous.
“Yea, what’s wrong with that? You and Rarity don’t live with your parents anymore.”
“Yes, dear, but we live together, it’s very different to living all by yourself, aren’t you going to get a roommate?” Rarity cut in.
Rainbow shrugged. “I have no immediate plans but maybe, if the rent’s too steep.”
“Well I think it’s fantastic,” said Pinkie, happily. “You finally get your own space away from the arguing. Now all your mother needs is to find a nice woman for some rebound—”
“Pinkie!” Everyone shouted it in unison, a group gasp of shock at how that sentence was going to end. Applejack and Rarity exchanged a glance and then grinned. Rainbow chuckled and even Fluttershy was smiling.
Rainbow cleared her throat. “Getting back to the original point, though, I’m moving out and that’s final.”
There was no further argument, Rainbow Dash was moving out and, like she said, it was final.
Authors notes: First up I would like to make this very clear; I know nothing about baking, chemistry or basically anything Twilight and Derpy were talking about. Cooking with lithium is a bad idea and, as far as I know, there isn't any way to stop sodium bicarbonate reacting with vinegar. Please don't try this at home. On a lighter note I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, I don't actually know when I'll have the next one up but I hope it will be soon. Thanks for reading.