As you and Fluttershy approach Sugarcube Corner, you can’t help but notice it seems unnaturally quiet for a public eating place. --let alone a building with Pinkie Pie inside-- You tell Fluttershy this, but she doesn’t look you in the eye as she mumbles something under her breath. Confused, you walk up to the door, and see it slightly open. You push it open slowly, and apprehensively. It creaks open quietly. Ah! Now, that is a creak! You think, smiling. You walk in, slightly more comfortable for some weird reason, and are blinded for a moment when the lights all flick on, and then you are deafened when you hear a large crowd shouting ‘SURPRISE!’ at the top of their lungs. You stay where you are standing, lest you stumble about blindly and end up on the ground like an idiot. You blink to clear the spots from your eyes, and when your vision is back, you can see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down in front of you. It is slightly hypnotic, the way her mane bounces the opposite way her body is. You shake your head as you realise she is talking to you.
“--cided to have this party during the day because if we have it later everypony will get caught in the storm and that wouldn’t be very fun!” You try to answer, and finally find your tongue.
“Th-thanks Pinkie. Nice to know you were able to set this up so quickly.”
“Well, I used my party cannon of course! Duh!” You frown, wondering what in Equestria a party cannon is. Then you realise that Pinkie is staring at you, a hopeful look on her face. Most of the crowd has already started the party. You can smell cookies and cakes, freshly baked, by the smell, too.
“Oh, yeah. This all looks great Pinkie, thanks. I’ll go and talk to some ponies.”
“Okie dokie loki! See you around! Make sure to thank Fluttershy for helping with the idea!” With this, Pinkie bounces into the crowd and disappears.
You turn around to see Fluttershy looking at you, a small smile on her face. You walk over to her, and hug her.
“Thanks Fluttershy. It’s nice to know you are willing to throw me a party.”
“O-oh. I just came up with the idea... Pinkie set it up...” There is something odd in her tone, and you lean back and look into her eyes. What is that? You wonder. You can see something in her eyes, but you can’t see what it is.
“You okay, ‘Shy?”
“Wh-what? Oh, yes, I’m fine.” You doubt this, but decide to let her tell you in her own time. As she wanders away to Twilight and Rarity --both of whom somehow beat you both to Sugarcube Corner-- who are at the punch bowl, talking happily. You see Twilight mouth something, and Fluttershy shakes her head. Twilight looks over at you, and Rarity kicks her in the leg. You can just make out what she mouths. Subtlety. You are confused at this, and hope to see more, but Rarity steps in front of both of them, obscuring all three from your view. You think about what you just saw. Subtlety? What for? The party secret is kind of out, after all. You decide to think about it more later, and turn to the room at large, taking it all in. There are colourful streamers hanging from the ceiling, and balloons tied to the backs of the chairs. You can smell more food now, and see hay fries and other assorted hot party foods being brought out and served. You decide not to go near them, as everypony is swarming the servers, and you don’t want to risk hurting your leg... Again.
The party goes for about two hours, and you spend most of it chatting with the Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, and the main topic of your talking is the Wonderbolts. She seems to want to say something, and you subtly try to find out. But when you get impatient and start asking what is wrong, a worried look crosses her face and she disappears into the crowd, leaving you even more confused. Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem the type to get scared and bolt like that. You are starting to wonder if there is some big joke going on, or something like that. What the hay is happening? You ask yourself. You seem to be the only one you can count on to tell the truth lately.
As the party progresses, you find yourself more or less shoved to the dance floor. You are trying to stay away from the stomping hooves of the ponies around you, and see Rarity standing at the edge, watching the ponies dancing, and listening to the music with distaste. You push through the sea of dancing ponies, wincing as you move your leg out of the way of them, to avoid hurting it even more. You eventually get to her, and try to make yourself heard over the loud music, courtesy of DJ P0N3, a DJ that Pinkie is on good terms with.
“Would you like to go and sit down!?” You cry, over the loud dubtrot music. She nods, and you push the way through the crowd, leaving a trail of disgruntled ponies in your wake. You find the table the group usually occupy, and sit down across from each other. The music is slightly quieter here, so you can both talk normally. You decide to start with normal conversation before getting to your main point.
“So, not a fan of Dubtrot I’m guessing?”
“Oh, it just seems so... crude. Almost like somepony has just recorded a dishwasher, and a washing machine, and then just distorted them like mad.”
“I think DJ Ponee does pretty well.” You wonder if you have pronounced it properly, and shrug. Then you think that there has been enough small talk, and you are getting impatient. So you just get to the point.
“So, have you noticed Fluttershy acting weird lately?” You ask. Rarity looks at the dance floor again as she says;
“What? Oh, not really. She has been slightly... off. Maybe something in her... lifestyle has changed?”
“What, you mean like... diet?”
“Maybe... I’m not sure.” You look her in the eyes.
“What has changed?” She breaks eye contact, and looks away, past the dancing ponies.
“I really don’t know, dear. Oh, there’s Pinkie! I’ll have to talk to you later, dear. It doesn’t do to keep her waiting.” Quicker than you can think, the white unicorn gets up and walks over to the pink pony, who is still bouncing, although it is much faster now, to the beat of the music.
You get up and resume your wandering about the party. Then you see Twilight, and go over to her, asking her if she would like to sit down and chat as well. She agrees, although she looks like she wants to say something. You both find your way back to the table, and sit down. You decide to do a light interrogation, and just get to the point, not caring about small talk this time.
“Have you noticed anything different about Fluttershy?” You ask.
“Well, she is being a bit quieter than normal. And, for Fluttershy, that’s really saying something.”
“Do you know why?” She hesitates, then says;
“Umm... No.”
“You sure?” Once again, she hesitates.
“Y-yes, of course.” You look her straight in the eyes, and you can see a small bead of sweat running down her forehead. You have gotten pretty good at interrogations over the years, having interrogated quite a few employees when there was a bit of corporate espionage a few years back. And a few other problems have helped hone your skills.
“Twilight, what is wrong with Fluttershy? Tell me, please.” You let a little bit of pleading slip into your tone, to show that you do have feelings as well, you aren’t just some faceless colt drilling her with questions. This works every time. And this time is no different. Twilight sighs in frustration, and says desperately, as if saying something she has wanted to for ages;
“Alright... Fluttershy is in lo--” But then Pinkie appears next to her and says firmly;
“FOREVER!” And she slowly slips under the table, looking at Twilight with an ‘I’m watching you’ look. You are startled by the pink pony’s quick entrance and exit, and when you look towards Twilight again, she is running away, into the crowd.
“Damn!” You say under your breath. “So close. I just want to know why Fluttershy is so down, so I can make her feel better. Is that so bad?”
You wonder how long the party has to go, and you notice Sugarcube Corner is slowly emptying, as ponies leave to get home early for the storm. The place is soon empty, except for Fluttershy, her friends --with the exception of Applejack, who had to finish bucking her apple trees before the storm hit-- and you. You look around, and see Fluttershy walking towards you, her face redder than an apple. She is looking straight at the ground, and you see Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash standing by the punch, watching with an odd expression. You look back at Fluttershy. She opens her mouth, and you can swear she is about to burst into flames. You can see the same thing in her eyes from before. You want to say something, but you are afraid you will spoil whatever it is she wants to say. But then she closes her mouth and looks away again. She says quietly;
“Would you like to go now? We don’t have to... if you don’t want to yet... I just wanted to speak to Applejack before we headed home...” You can see the four mares by the punch visibly sag, and Rarity facehoofs. You feel like approaching them and asking what the hay is going on, but you can’t trust yourself not to yell. You just look at Fluttershy, who is still blushing and staring at the ground intently.
“Of course, ‘Shy. Let’s go. We’ll see you guys later then, alright?” You wave to them, and Fluttershy waves her hoof weakly in their direction. Rarity still has her hoof over her face, Twilight looks visibly disappointed, Pinkie is still smiling like a loon, --for some weird reason. But then again, she is Pinkie Pie-- and Rainbow Dash is frowning. But you can see Twilight and Rarity holding her shoulders, effectively stopping her from moving. You limp out beside Fluttershy, glad to be back out in the fresh air. But you can’t really enjoy it, as you are worried about Fluttershy, and why she is so worried. Which you think as odd, because like earlier, you normally wouldn’t really care. Not even for friends. You just wait for them to come to you and tell you --although, they weren’t really friends, they were more business partners and acquaintances--. But with Fluttershy, you feel actively worried. You try and figure out why, but continue pulling up blanks. GAH. Maybe something will miraculously happen at Sweet Apple Acres to help me out.
A/N
--Seriously, just a short one this time. Sorry for the quality of this chapter. It’s just, I suck at writing parties. But I hope I have furthered the story a bit more with this, and hopefully more than hinted at what is going on. Any advice to make this better would be greatly appreciated. This isn’t what I am going to stick with, I am going to edit it in future, of course. I just wanted to at least get something down so I could get to the next chapter, which is definitely one of the most important.--
E/A/N