Prologue
The Morning After
Prologue
A small moan escapes your lips. A cool breeze makes you shiver a bit and you pull the covers up to your shoulders. Though this action is met with a bit of resistance. Your eyes open and you look over to see that you have a visitor in your bed. In fact, it’s not even your bed. The covers are a hot magenta and there are heart pillows here and there. As you examine your partner, you see that this is none other than Berry Punch, whom you met last night at the bar. ‘Great,’ you think, ‘another morning next to another woman.’ You slowly lift up the covers and examine the damages. There was a long, sticky piece of rubber wrapped sloppily around your flaccid penis. ‘Okay good. At least I’m still a somewhat smart drunk.’ You try your very hardest to remember the events from last night. You had a rough day at work, went to the bar, had a few drinks, met Berry Punch, had a few more drinks with her… And you couldn’t remember anything past that.
As you hope she wouldn’t remember any events from last night either, you notice a large empty wine bottle. ‘Okay, she was drunk too. Just gotta e-e-e-ease out…’ You ever so slowly worm your way out from under the covers. Your feet plant firmly on the carpet. Luckily, your clothes are just next to the bed. At least it’s not like last time when your clothes were draped over all of the curtains for some reason. You quickly throw your shirt, boxers, and jeans on. Lastly, you throw on your trademark black jacket. You never go anywhere without the jacket. With a quick slip-on of your shoes, you’re out the door. Sometimes you felt bad about leaving the poor women, but you had places to be, things to do, and today was no exception. You had a ‘date’ with your best friend at the mall today.
Her name was Fluttershy. She had been your best friend since tenth grade. And as much as you’d hate to admit it, you’ve always had this underlying thing for her. There was no sense denying it. Even her friend Rainbow Dash saw right through you. Oh, you sure remember that day.
One month ago…
“HEY EVERYBODY!! ___ HAS A CRUSH ON FLUTTERSHY!!!!”
Present…
You shudder at the thought of it. You nearly had to tackle the annoying little… But that was in the past. Along with Fluttershy you’re pretty good friends with her other friends. Twilight Sparkle had helped you out with schoolwork, you had helped Applejack out on the farm a dozen times, Pinkie Pie… well, she’s friends with everybody, Rarity was actually the one who gave you your favorite jacket, and… well, Rainbow Dash had always been your… frenemy, for lack of a better term. You have a good friendship with her, but most of the time, you’re a bit much for each other to handle. It was a sort of Sonic/Knuckles relationship.
The mall is finally in sight. It’s a short walk to the mall from your house, so you couldn’t complain. Every time you had woken up next to a woman resulted in the rest of the day becoming uncomfortable. Oddly enough, even during these kinds of days, Fluttershy always seems to make you forget about it. The two of you had met in tenth grade when you transferred to her school. Due to work reasons, your parents had to move here. They’ve long since moved back to the big city. The city was never really the place for you, and still isn’t. Ponyville (though its odd name sometimes confuses you) was the perfect place. It was quiet, though busy enough for it not to be a ghost town. It was humble, but it had enough entertainment to get by. Most specifically, the bar on the edge of town.
The automatic door opens and you step into the large building, loving every bit of the air conditioning. It has to be at least 80 something degrees out. Most would (and do) call it stupid to wear a black jacket in the summer, but who cares? It’s your jacket. Screw them. Nevertheless, sometimes you berate yourself for wearing the jacket. Oh well. You’ve got it on and you’re already here! Sucks to be you.
Thinking back to your plans, you remember Fluttershy telling (more like asking) you to meet her in the pizza place to have lunch. After that, you were going to see a movie. Your eyes widen to incredible lengths. You’re supposed to meet her at 12:30! As you look at your watch, you hold your breath. The time is…!
12:31.
Whew!
The universe couldn’t be more forgiving. At least… not in this particular situation. With the restaurant in your sight, you stroll toward it, admiring how perfect this all was. As you enter the restaurant, you immediately notice your friend towards the middle of the place. She looks up and smiles at you and you return the gaze. She stands up as you walk toward her.
“Hey, Shy,” you say with an ever present smile.
“Hi, __. How are you?” Sometimes you chuckled at her nervous formality. Though you’d been friends for years, she’s still all jittery around you. It’s cute in a way.
“I’m fine. You?”
“Oh, I’m perfect! This day’s been so nice so far! I’ll tell you about after we order… I-I mean, if you want me to…” You chuckle and pat her shoulder. She smiles as her shoulders rise to her cheeks. It’s interesting that you simply have to pat her shoulder to tell her ‘It’s fine.’
“So… What did you want? I’ll treat,” she says, digging for her wallet.
“You sure?”
“Yeah… I mean… I have some extra money… a-and you already offered to pay for the movie…” In fact, you did offer yesterday, much to her confusion. Usually when the two of you do something, you split the money equally. It wasn’t often that only one of you paid.
“Well…” you think about her offer, “… alright…” One of your most loathed things to do was impose. In any way, you hated asking for favors. Hell, if Twilight wasn’t so assertive in high school about offering her help with studies, you wouldn’t even remember her name. Oddly enough, when you agree to let Fluttershy pay, her mood brightens a little.
“Um… So… What kind of pizza do you want?” she asks, looking at the menu. Examining its contents, you decide on a simple pepperoni slice. She asks you if you want a drink, but you politely say no. She smiles at you one last time and walks up to the counter. You certainly notice her higher level of confidence. When you first went somewhere with her, she would’ve loved nothing more than to simply give you the money and have you order, lest she have to talk with the cashier. Through the years, she’d been more welcoming to the idea of talking to strangers if the situation so called. She gives the man the money and puts her hands down on the counter as the man goes into the back. You turn around head toward the silver counter. Off of this, you grab two napkins. You move to the table she was sitting at and laid down the napkins, such was your ‘duty.’ Others would often chuckle at you and Fluttershy’s little set of ‘restaurant rules.’ While one person paid, the other would get napkins and such and get the table prepared.
After about a minute and a half of waiting, the man reemerges from the back room with two slices of pizza. Fluttershy smiles and thanks him. She turns and walks toward you, carrying the two slices. She sets one down in front of you and one on the other side of the table. She sits down and sighs. Thanking her, you pick up your slice and take a bite. She copies your action.
You couldn’t avert your eyes from her as she nibbled on her cheese slice. She looked so… pristine. So calm. Like she didn’t have a worry in the world. Like nothing could possibly hurt her. Though you had a thing for her and you knew it, as hard as you tried (not that you ever did), you couldn’t come up with one dirty thought about her. She was the pinnacle of innocence, as if she were still a newborn baby, though twenty years old. You were a year older than she was, but you looked as if you were five years older, from height alone. She only came up to about your neck. Of course, you weren’t the shortest man around either. At age fourteen, people could easily mistake you for eighteen. What with your oddly matured voice and height. You even towered over your older sister. She was six years older than you, but one would easily think it was the other way around. When you were ten, you were already eye-level.
Realizing you’ve been staring at Fluttershy and eating your slice at the same time, slowly, you turn away. Thank god she didn’t see you. You were staring at her like a complete psycho, eating your pizza ever so slowly, as if you were trying to seduce her in the strangest of ways possible. Your cheeks grow slightly warmer as you stare at the paper plate and nibble at the pizza.
“Um…” Fluttershy starts. You look up at her, careful not to stare again. “So… Why did you bring your jacket? Not that there’s anything wrong with that… but… isn’t it a little hot?” You gulp down your bite and smile.
“You know me, Shy. I always wear the jacket.” This elicits a quiet giggle from her.
“I know, but… You have to take it off sometime… right?”
“Nope,” you say with an odd impersonation of Applejack’s brother. His vocabulary was limited to ‘Eeyup’ and ‘Nope.’ “So,” you say, changing the subject, “You said you’re havin’ a good day?” you ask, referencing her earlier statement. Fluttershy immediately lights up like a firework.
“Oh, yeah! It started when I had this really good dream where I was a superhero. I don’t usually like the thought of danger, but the dream was just so nice! Then, this morning, I was cleaning my living room, and then my back started to hurt. Then, a few of my pets helped me clean up! I mean… It’s not like they NEVER help, but it was still so nice! Then after that, I was going through an old photo album, and I saw a picture of all of us taking a picture together at that water park. It made my day even more to remember that weekend…” She seems to be lost in thought as she talks about the water park.
Three years ago…
Your back is straight as a board as you ride the bus back to school. Fluttershy is sitting next to you, her back also completely flat and as far away from the seat as possible. Even wearing your shirt hurt from all the sunburns you got. You, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, and even Applejack got INSANE sunburns from falling asleep on the beach. You seven had all ventured off on your own away from most of the senior class. For your senior trip, you had all gone to the beach, and BOY did you regret it. There was a water park right next to the beach, which you all spent most of your time at. The picture Dash took of you all was taken right after your… nap. She said that she HAD to get a picture of it.
The seven of you had to sit in awkward positions on the bus. You all exchange glances at each other with large frowns. Pinkie’s face starts to scrunch up, and soon she looks as if she’s holding in a smile. Rainbow Dash copies this, and soon all seven of you are bursting out in a fit of loud laughter. Oddly enough, Rarity, who would’ve been to the point of tears for falling asleep and getting her perfectly tanned and flawless body sunburned, was busting a gut. Even Fluttershy, who would’ve been embarrassed out of her mind, was laughing to the point of crying. After your gout of laughter, you all held your stomachs, as the sunburn hurt more from the jerks of your guts. This simply makes you laugh harder. Though you couldn’t sleep well for the next week, you still loved that trip.
Present…
A quiet chuckle escapes your lips as you remember that weekend. Fluttershy sees this and chuckles as well. A loud crunch enters your eardrums. You look down and notice all that was left of your pizza slice was the crust, which you RARELY cared for. Looking back up at Fluttershy, you notice that her slice is nowhere to be seen.
“Ready then?” you say, wiping your mouth with the napkin. Fluttershy nods and picks up her napkin. As you walk out of the restaurant, you throw your trash away. “The movie starts in…” you look at you watch, “…ten minutes.” Fluttershy’s eyes widen a bit.
“Oh, then we have plenty of time!”
“Time for what?” you ask, stuffing your hands into your pockets.
“Time to walk around. I mean, i-if you want…” Once again, you smile and pat her shoulder, wordlessly agreeing with her… again. But instead of walking with her, you remain still.
“Fluttershy. You’re twenty years old. If you want to do something, do it. Plus, we’ve been friends for years. You don’t need my permission,” you state with a bit of seriousness. You look deep into her big teal eyes. She looks back with nervousness, and a tiny bit of fear.
“Well… I know, it’s just… I like being nice a-and… a-and you’re my best friend and… I’m sorry,” she squeaks, her head ducking into her shoulders, effectively hiding her neck from sight. A long, but apologetic sigh escapes your lips.
“It’s alright. Look, let’s just… Forget about it. Kay?” She slowly nods. “So, where’d you wanna go?” She looks as if she’s about to say something, but is interrupted by your cellphone. She immediately retreats. With a short sigh, you take out your phone and mouth ‘sorry’ to Fluttershy. She nods and looks away. Looking at your phone, you see a picture of a certain pink-haired partier.
“Yello,” you say into the phone.
“Hey, __! It’s me, Pinkie Pie! Of course, your phone shows a picture when someone calls, so I guess I didn’t need to tell you that! Anyway! I’m throwing an 4th of July party tonight and I completely forgot to invite people! Can you believe it?! Of all people, I’m the one to forget! Anyway, I hope you’re free! The party’s at 6:00! There’s going to be fireworks and everything!”
A confused expression washes over your face. 4th of July? But it’s the 16th. Holding your watch up to your face, you look at the date.
Sure enough, it’s the 4th of July. Huh. It’s only until you put your arm back down do you realize that Pinkie’s still talking.
“…wanted a rollercoaster, but I didn’t have THAT much money, I mean, come on! OH! OH! Didn’t you tell me that you were on a date with Fluttershy today?!” Your cheeks light up a bright red. As you look over to your friend, you notice hers are bright red as well. Obviously she heard. Of course, everybody within a ten foot radius could hear. You let out a few stammers before responding.
“I… I-It’s… It’s not a date…! We’re just seeing a movie!”
“Oh, tomato, tom-a-to! D’you think you could invite her too?!”
“I think she already heard,” you say with a chuckle.
“Great! Oh, by the way… BYE FLUTTERSHY!!! SEE YOU AT THE PARTY!!!” You hold the phone away from your ear a little too late it seems, as you can almost hear a faint ringing. As you press your ear back to the device, you notice that Pinkie had hung up. You press a button on your phone and put the device back in your pocket. You and Fluttershy exchange glances.
“Well… I guess we’re going to a party tonight.”
“I suppose so…” You look over at the store mentioned earlier.
“Wanna go look around?” you ask, pointing your thumb toward the store.
“Sure.”