Tuesday: 3 days before the dance
Well Fluttershy? Are you ready to have another go at this? read the bold letters on the screes of Fluttershy's phone. The young animal lover read the message on her phone as she glanced at Rarity, who was walking at an even pace besides her and smiling. Fluttershy looked back down to her phone before answering.
"Oh umm...I guess so..." she answered in a timidly dejected tone. Rarity slightly frowned at hearing her friend's answer. Fluttershy's last attempts at getting a date to the dance didn't exactly inspire confidence, as all asking Big Mac did was help Fluttershy go unconscious and wind up in the nurse's office. Rarity felt bad for the girl, she didn't do many school activities like Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash did, and it seemed like she had a blast at the Fall Formal. She knew Fluttershy would no doubt have another great time if she went to this upcoming dance, and getting to it would be so simple! Just a one word answer from a guy was all it took, and she was determined to help Fluttershy find that guy. Rarity began typing on her phone again.
"Alright darling, perhaps it was wrong of me to suggest going straight to one such as Big Mac. Just...take it as a learning experience for asking someone out?" Fluttershy read the text from Rarity as she, much to the latter's surprise, gave a slight chuckle.
"Well...I guess I learned not to imagine a boy in their underwear as I'm asking them out." she replied as she cracked a smile. Rarity gave a very slight chuckle as she sent Fluttershy a reply.
"Yes Fluttershy, I can see how doing that would be a tad distracting during your attempt. XD Nether the less, that moment is over and done with, what's done is done. There are plenty of other guys at Canterlot that you can ask out, and we still have about three days to find one of the many who I'm sure would ask you out!" Rarity texted as she gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile. Fluttershy read the text over once or twice before nodding.
"Rarity, y-you're right, you really are. If you think I can do this, than I'm sure I can do it." Fluttershy said with a tad more confidence in her voice. Rarity nodded in agreement as she sent another text.
"That's the spirit Fluttershy! Just don't imagine boys in their underwear anymore and I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Alright Rarity, I'll try not to. So, when exactly do you think we should try again?" No sooner did Fluttershy ask that question did Rarity send her another text.
"Well, is now a good time for you darling?" read the latest text. It was at this point that Fluttershy realized that she was paying more attention to both her phone and Rarity than where she was going. It seemed that the two girls wound up exiting the school from one of the back doors, leading to an open pavilion behind the school. The area was spotted with benches and tables, as well as had doors connecting two different wings of the school as well as the cafeteria, so that students may have lunch outside if the weather was warm enough.
"N-Now!? Umm...well sure I guess now would be a good a time as any..." Fluttershy continued as she surveyed the area in front of her. "But then why are we heeeeere." She stopped as her eyes landed on a small group of students a ways away from her and Rarity. The group consisted of five teens, all focused on playing a game of hacky sac and were unaware of the presence of the other two. Fluttershy easily recognized them as the "Eco kids"; one of the many cliques of Canterlot High.
"Well Fluttershy? See anything you like?" read Rarity's latest text. After reading it, Fluttershy immediately refocused her attention on the group, but most specifically a young man in the group with long green dreads. He was wearing simple jeans, a red t-shirt with a cowboy vest that had a pin with a recycling logo on it, wristbands, and a beanie with two different shades of grey. Fluttershy stared at him for a few seconds before turning back to Rarity.
"Oh goodness! Rarity, do you mean Green Cycle?" Fluttershy asked with a note of excitement in her voice. Rarity nodded as her friend continued. "He's in most of my classes this year. We've also had science class together for the past two years. He helped me out in Biology class last year when...we needed to dissect a frog..." she stated in a somber tone before perking back up slightly. "Do you think I have a chance with him!?"
"I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't think so." Rarity replied. "Your chances with him are about as good as with anyone else I picked, darling! I'm confident that he'll say yes if you ask him! Just don't think about him in his underwear and I'm sure you'll be gold. Ooh! Perfect timing! It seems his friends are leaving! Now's the perfect time to ask him!" Rarity explained as she pointed back towards the group. Each of the students were conversing with one another as they started to gather their things and leave the area. The young man named Green Cycle was still kicking the hackey sac around for a few more seconds before kicking it up high enough that he caught it with his hand and and put it in a pocket on his vest. Green Cycle then proceeded to pick up his bag and sling it over his shoulder. Fluttershy visibly started to panic when she saw him walking in her general direction. She quickly looked back at Rarity who was quickly making shooing/go on motions with her hands towards the young man. Without thinking, Fluttershy quickly trotted up to Green Cycle, stopping a few inches short of him. She quickly made eye contact with him before averting her gaze to the ground.
"Uh..umm...H-hi Green Cycle..." Fluttershy said in a near audible mumble before taking a deep sigh.
"Hey Fluttershy, what's happenin'?" Green Cycle asked in a cheerfully lax manner.
"W-Well umm...n-nothing really. Same school, same homework, same cafeteria food, same everything." Fluttershy answered quickly.
"Heh, I hear that." Green Cycle replied. Both of the teens just looked at each other in awkward silence as they both tried nonchalantly looking this way and that. Fluttershy glanced back at Rarity; who circled her two pointer fingers around one another, signaling for the young animal lover to keep the conversation rolling.
“So umm...what have you been up to as of late? I don’t really remember the last time we talked.”
“Hey, me neither, I’ve just been chillin’ with my bros and brahs, kickin’ some hacky sack, playing’ some sick beats out on the bongo drums, working’ as one of Mother Earth’s awesome protectors. You know how it is," the young man explained. Green C ycle was part of a group known by many around Canterlot High as the “Eco kids”, not only because many of them looked the part, but it was also widely known that the members of his group took on several different environmental projects, ranging from helping to plant trees in the park and helping clean up litter in some of the seedier places in the city.
“Oh, I see. So how’s school been for you so far this year?” Fluttershy inquired curiously.
The young man casually shrugged. “Eh, school is going about as smooth as possibly. I’m just trying to breeze on through. Don’t really care much about it.”
“Alright...well umm, do you think I can ask you something else kinda important? It’s kinda the reason I’m here.”
“Shoot.” Green Cycle answered with a smirk.
“Ok, well umm….as you probably already know, the umm....the...uhh..” Fluttershy grew more nervous as she reached her topic, she glanced once more at her fashionista friend who smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Fluttershy nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. “Well, It’s just that the Girl’s Choice dance is this week, and I was wondering if...maybe you’d-”
“Hold that thought for a sec.” Green Cycle cut her off as he looked around. “You brahs hear something?”
The two girls listened intently to the seemingly quiet area around them, but after a few seconds, they started to hear something that sounded like thumping or stomping. Whatever the sound was, it was growing louder with each passing second, turning to a thunderous stampeding sound. It was surprising that the ground didn't shake as it came close....okay, there it goes.
"What on earth is that noise?" Fluttershy asked in a dumbfounded manner. "It sounds like a buffalo stampede!"
"No...it's much worse...." Green Cycle said in an incredibly fearful tone, his eyes glued to the doorway where the sound was coming from in terror. He stood stiff as a board as whatever it was came much closer now. Then suddenly, like a bat out of hell, the double doors practically exploded open. From the door appeared an extremely large and well built man with a dark blue goatee and a bright orange track suit with a matching baseball cap. The man was so large that he had to hunch down to get through the double doors, and when he stood up he absolutely towered over the three students. He looked down at all three of them, but he focused his stare at the young man.
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!!" the large man suddenly shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at Green Cycle. The beanie wearing teen said nothing in response. "YOU THOUGHT IRON WILL WOULD NOT REALIZE YOU'VE BEEN CUTTING GYM CLASS, HUH? WELL GUESS WHAT! NOW IRON WILL HAS FOUND YA!"
“Oh...no….” Green Cycle shuddered as he stared wide eyed at Iron Will. Then suddenly, the young man’s fight or flight instinct kicked in, he made an attempt to sprint away from Iron Will. He got a couple feet away as Iron Will just stared at him; cocking a smirk as he looked on.
“Hehe, Iron Will loves it when they run,” the large gym teacher said as he started stretching for a few seconds. Once he was finished, he too started on his own mad sprint, the only difference was that when he took off, it felt as though a Powerful gale went right by Fluttershy and Rarity, causing their hair to blow in the wind. It only took a matter of a few seconds for Iron Will to start gaining on Green Cycle. The aforementioned teen glanced over his shoulder to see that his gym teacher was in hot pursuit, with the creepiest grin he’s ever seen on a teacher he’d add if he weren’t already yelping and attempting to run faster. He got a few feet away from Iron Will as he started nearing a doorway into the school.
“Thank Mother Earth! I’m safe!!” the young man shouted out as he continued his sprint towards the door. But just as the words left his mouth, he noticed that a shadow was forming above him and growing larger by the second. He looked up to see something absolutely terrifying.
Iron Will was a good thirty feet in the air....and was free falling towards where Green Cycle was running.
“Holy Hell! How strong is this guy!?” Green Cycle asked no one in particular as he dashed towards the door. He kept paying attention to both the door, as well as the ever growing shadow of Iron Will about to land. As he kept running towards the door and checking Iron Will’s speedily encroaching shadow, a grim realization occurred to him.
I’m not gonna make it!
And with that realization, Green Cycle surrendered himself to his fate, he dove down to the ground and covering his head with his arms whilst praying to every god he could think of. He awaited the inevitable as he could hear, and feel his pursuer landing behind him. Slowly, he raised his head and looked coach Iron Will in the eye.
“Is….is this the end?” Green Cycle asked in a fear ridden voice, to which Iron Will shook his head.
“You wish, you still have a LOT of gym class to make up," the gym teacher answered matter of factly.
“No…..” the young man responded weakly as he put his head back down on the ground.
“YES! We better get started right away! You have a lot of laps to run.” Iron Will explained; and with that, he picked the young student up off of the ground and threw him over his shoulder. He began to walk away with Green Cycle in tow, as he suddenly turned around and pointed at Fluttershy and Rarity. “YOU TWO!”
“U-u-umm...y-yes Mr. Iron Will?” Fluttershy answered in a shaky voice. The aforementioned teacher gave both of the girls a hard stare for a few more second before giving a genuine smile.
“I’ll be seeing both of you in gym class tomorrow right?” he asked, to which Fluttershy and Rarity quickly nodded in reply. Iron Will then gave them a thumbs up. “Alright, I’ll see you there! We’re going to start basketball tomorrow, YEAH!!” he finished as he pumped his fist into the air and began walking away for real this time. After he was gone with Green Cycle, Fluttershy looked back at Rarity with a look of disbelief.
“Umm….so Rarity, who’s next on the list?”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Swift walked into the gymnasium after school to start with the current day's party planning committee meeting. There were only three days until the day of the dance on Friday, and the committee was in high gear getting everything together before the dance to make it a good one. The last few dances in CHS were good as well, though during the last one apparently something caused part of the school to be blown up, and at the dance before that, the Spring Fling, well.....that event was just wasn't great when the princess of the dance was announced. Those two dances aside, Swift was confident that this dance was going to go off without a hitch.
They already had a majority of the preparations taken care of, Swift and some of the other members had been advertizing the hell out of the dance by hanging up posters, making announcements, and just writing about it on social networks like My Stable. Other students who were mainly techies and more experienced with that kind of stuff were hard at work making sure everything on stage would be ready for the dance, mainly the lights and Vinyl Scratch's huge turntables and basses. Some students who were members of the art club were also helping by designing eyecatching posters about the dance as well as preparing a photo booth for use during the dance.
As the young man entered the room, he glanced around to find any sign of the head of the committee Mr. Sandwich. He looked around to find that he was at one of the farther ends of the room talking to some students about whatever preparations were being made so far. As soon as those students disbanded, Swift walked up to Mr. Sandwich, to which the latter glanced at him and smiled.
"Well hey there Swift! How's it hangin'?" the teacher asked in a jovial tone.
"I'm doing alright Mr. Sandwich, thanks for asking." Swift said as he nodded. " So umm, what do you need me to do today sir?"
"Hmm...well let's see what we need done...." Mr. Sandwich said as he checked the clipboard in his hand. He flipped through a couple of pages as he skimmed through each one until he immediately pressed his finger against a spot on a random page. "Ah! Here we go Swift, Pinkie Pie is currently working on a banner that's going to be hung in the gym during the dance, so how about you go help her out?" He asked as he pointed over to the far end of the room.
Pinkie had her back to the guys as she was painting the binder and dousing it with glitter at the same time. Swift's heart lept a tad when he heard he'd be working with Pinkie alone. The dance itself was only a few days away, and to his knowledge, Pinkie hadn't asked anyone yet. This could very well be his chance. He quickly made his way over to where Pinkie was, she was kneeling down in front of the banner and was paining one side of it incredibly quickly with a paintbrush in each hand.
"Umm...Pinkie?" Swift said. Pinkie stopped what she was doing as she glanced up at Swift, who she gave a toothy grin to.
“Hiya Swift!” Pinkie replied with a toothy grin. “What’s the haps brochacho?”
“Well, Mr. Sandwich said that you probably needed some help with this banner so I’m here to help...if you need it.” Swift explained sheepishly.
“Oh, okie dokie loki!” Pinkie said as she handed Swift one of the brushes she was using, only to pull an identical one out of her hair before dunking it into the blue paint she was using. Swift quickly followed suit and began painting the inside of the letters to the banner. As he was painting, he didn’t so much as glance over at Pinkie who was still painting with increased fervor. He was trying to think of something to say to Pinkie. Should he talk to her about the dance? It’d seem appropriate given what they were doing, it might even help to see if Pinkie was going with anyone, or even better if it’d prompt her to ask him to the dance. But would that make him seem desperate to go? He didn’t want that at all. Then again it may be the best course of action in the situation. As Swift was thinking of what to do, he felt something splash against his face. He moved his fingers against his cheek to find that there were spots of paint against his cheek. He looked back over at Pinkie to see that she was painting with ever increasing fervor, and with increasing fervor, came an increase of the amount of paint splashed onto Swift’s face.
“U-Umm….Pinkie?”
“Yeah Swi-OH!” Pinkie said as she accidentally whipped the brush into the air, causing a large splat of yellow paint to hit the front of Swift’s face. “Whoopsie! Sorry Swift!” she said as she began searching around for something to get the paint off Swift’s face.
“It’s fine Pink-MPF!!” Swift was interrupted by Pinkie grabbing two handfuls worth of napkins seemingly out of nowhere and pressing them all against his face as the young party planner tried wiping the paint off.
“I’m still really super sorry, this dance coming up has me more hyped up than three shots of espresso!” Pinkie claimed as she removed the napkins from Swift’s face to see that she got all the paint off.
“Really? You’ve had three shots of espresso before?” Swift asked in disbelief, unable to wrap his head around the idea of Pinkie ingesting and sort of concentrated caffeine.
“Nope! For some reason my Auntie and Uncle Cake won’t let me drink coffee.” Pinkie explained.
That’s probably for the best. Swift thought to himself briefly. “I see….so you’re really hyped for this dance huh?”
“Yup! This dance is going to be off the walls! And luckily for us, there won’t be an evil she-demon to turn everyone in the school into mindless zombies!” Pinkie happily proclaimed as she got back to painting, this time at a much slower rate.
“Yeah...luckily…” Swift agreed in minor confusion before chalking the random statement to Pinkie being Pinkie and shaking it off. “So umm...the dance huh? It’s really closing in fast. You and your friends all ready for it?”
“Eh, it’s kinda kooky; out of all of us, Rainbow Dash is the only one who seems ready for the dance! Fluttershy is still trying to find a date, same with AJ only because her granny threatened her with sexcapade stories, Rarity has a date but she lost her voice because she screamed loud enough to break glass, and Twilight I think knows who she wants to ask but she’s super shy about it.”
“Oh, that stinks for most of them, good for Rainbow though.” Swift said with a nod. “And how about you?”
“Me? I still need to get a dress to go to the dance since my dryer kind of burned my old one to cinders.” Pinkie explained with a sheepish smile. “But as for a date, I don’t really have one yet. Picking a boy is like picking a flavor of ice cream, they’re all so good but you can only choose one because you only have enough for a single scoop on a really hot day where everyone wants ice cream, so it’s really hard.”
“I can imagine.” Swift said as he continued to paint his side of the banner.
“Plus we got super lots to do before the dance can even start! We need to make sure we got all the food and drink stuff ready for the dance, we gotta set up the lighting and make sure it all works, we need to set up Vinyl’s ginormous bassesesesess...bassi? Anyways, we still got lots and lots and lots and lots and LOTS to do before this can be a certified Pinkie Pie dance party!” Pinkie stated as she kept painting the banner.
“Wow, you really take parties seriously, don’t you Pinkie?” Swift asked as he raised an eyebrow to the young party planning girl. She looked back at him with a grin on her face.
“Of course I do silly billy! Parties are like, some of the most important parts of people’s entire lives!” Pinkie exclaimed as she threw her arms into the air. “Parties celebrate birthdays, marriage, anniversaries, milestones in one’s life and all that good stuff! They help make the memorable moments in life all the more memorable! Parties, dances, shindigs, hootenannys, hoe downs, raves, celebrations! All of them are great because they can all bring lots and lots of different kinds of people together. No matter how different some might be, with a good party, everyone can join in and have a blast all the same!”
Swift was rather surprised by Pinkie’s explanation on why parties were important to her, honestly he wasn’t expecting a more elaborate response like that from Pinkie of all people. If it was him being asked, he’d probably say that parties were just fun and games and food. Nothing at all to be serious about. Just goes to show how some people can think differently.
“Ah, well I guess I never really thought of it like that. So that’s why you think parties are so important?”
“Yuppers!” Pinkie replied back. “Well that’’s one of the reasons anyways, it’s like one of the most important ones.”
“Oh, so what’s the other reason parties are so important? If you don’t mind me asking that is.” Swift asked in a curious tone of voice.
“Oh the other reason? Well, the other reason is something I learned when I was still living at home. I live here in Canterlot County with my Auntie and Uncle Cake now, but when I was in elementary and middle school, I still lived with my actual family in Arkansas. We didn’t really have things easy peasy lemon squeezy back then. We lived on a farm...but my dad wasn’t the best farmer in the world. Barley anything grew there, and you’d have sworn it was a rock farm or something, and when your farm doesn’t grow stuff, you can imagine what that means.” Pinkie stated in an increasingly somber tone.
“Y-Yeah....I can….” Swift agreed in an awkward tone. “So umm…what does that have to do with why parties are important?”
“Hm? Oh! Right! Well when I still lived there, my sisters and I would throw parties whenever we could, and they were really fun. My whole family would have a blast whenever we threw a party, no matter how big or small it was. Dad would smile and dance all around the room all loosey goosey, Mom would join him, and all my sisters would just laugh at how silly they were acting.” Pinkie explained with a grin laced with nostalgia. “What made those parties great was that even though my family was struggling super hard, we could forget about our problems and be happy for a little bit. And that’s why parties are so great. They can make you forget about your troubles for a while so you can make happy memories with the people you care about. That’s why I think parties are the best things ever!”
“Is that so?.....Wow Pinkie, I honestly would’ve never guessed that’s why you liked parties so much.” Swift said in a surprised tone. “I would’ve guessed that you just liked parties because they were fun.”
“Well, I guess other people don’t really expect any other reason from me. But then again, no one has really asked my why I love parties so much. I don’t even think some of my close friends know that story!” Pinkie quickly realized. “But that’s ok, as long as I can help make other people happy, then I’m happy too!”
“Heh, well I’m glad that I know why you like parties so much, I think that’s a really great reason to love them.” Swift shared with a grin.
“Aww, thanks Swift! And thanks for listening to my story, I liked actually sharing that with someone.” Pinkie thanked as the two once again got started painting the banner. Both students painted silently for a few minutes as Swift was focusing on painting in some stars onto the banner, and Pinkie was smiling to herself as she painted the inside of the gigantic letters of the poster. This continued for several minutes, until the two of them were nearing completion of the poster, at which point Pinkie looked back at the young man kneeling down next to her. “Hey umm….Swift?”
“Yeah Pinkie? What’s up?” Swift asked without taking his eyes off of his work.
“I was just wondering if you really wanted to...”
Wait? What’s Pinkie talking about?
“We could go to...”
Oh god, is Pinkie going to ask Swift to the dance? As soon as he heard the words ‘we’ and ‘go’ together, he felt his heart do a backflip…
“...to Sugarcube Corner after this Committee meeting! Whaddya think?”
...and then fall flat on its face. Swift sighed a bit internally, his hope for going to the dance with Pinkie skyrocketed and crashed down in the time it took him to blink. But wait, didn’t Pinkie just ask him to go someplace with her? The cyan skinned young man glanced back at the magenta haired girl to see that she appeared to be eagerly awaiting an answer. Swift gulped.
“Sugarcube Corner? Umm….sure, yeah, sure, We can do that, sounds awesome!” Swift said in an awkwardly excited way,
“Awesomesauce!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Let’s get going as soon as the meeting is over! But let’s finish up the banner first.”
“Right! Of course!” Swift agreed as the two then quickly got back to work.