She didn’t expect it to be this easy. Sonata was just right in front of her, and if Rainbow can catch her, she can totally rub it in Sunset’s face.
“You’re coming with--!” was all she let out.
Sonata flung the box right at her face, immediately scrambling and pushing past Rainbow on all fours. Dash couldn’t react, forced to wipe away the leftover cake and icing off her face. She grabbed the nearest blanket to clean up, and it became obvious. The siren was long gone. Rainbow leapt into the hallway, but there was no luck. Rainbow checked up on all the rooms on the second floor, going into Pinkie’s parents room, then Marble’s, followed by Limestone’s. It wasn’t surprising that room was empty given all the borderline frightening heavy metal posters on the wall.
That just left Pinkie’s very own room. She creaked open the door.
“Rainbow? Is that you darling?” Said a very refined accent.
She knew who that voice was coming from, but she couldn’t see through the smoke.
“Coco, can you be a dear and open the window a little wider please?”
“Y-yes ma’am.” A timid voiced answered back.
The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing Rarity sitting on the bed, along with half a dozen people smoking cigarettes. Well, except for a spindly blue haired girl with a bob.
“Dashie, dearie, please take a seat next to me. You must tell me how your life is going.” Rarity said patting the side of the bed.
“Okay?” Rainbow said, kind of taken aback by how… mature Rarity sounded. Not even just sound, she even looked like an adult with her dress, cig in hand and ruby colored lipstick. This girl was supposed to be the same age as her!
“Oh! Where are my manners, I almost forgot to introduce you two. Rainbow, meet Coco Pommel, my partner at the internship. Coco, this is my friend from high school, Rainbow Dash.”
“It’s very n-nice to meet you.” The timid girl said, giving a cute little wave.
“Uh, hey.” It’s almost scary how similar this chick was to how Fluttershy used to be. “So, smoking.”
“This? An awful habit I picked up in the studio, but it helps to calm the nerves with all the deadlines we must deal with. The designers run us ragged doing the menial tasks they couldn’t be bothered to deal with. I tell you, it’s simply madness to expect a mink sweater to be done in a single day, but I always find a way, and I even have the time to put a personal touch on it to boot.” Rarity said, looking very pleased.
“That’s pretty impressive Rare, but— “
“And don’t get me started on the constant competition with the other interns. It’s downright cruel what the other girls are willing to do for a smidgen of approval. There’s constant backstabbing, and for what? But I know better. My actions speak far better than the venomous words they spew amongst themselves.”
“Sounds awful. Why don’t you— “
“And that reminds me, Coco here is a lifesaver in so many ways, providing morale support in such a bleak environment. The others pick on her for being a quiet girl, but I saw potential within her. If I hadn’t made her company, I would have quit and rightfully been depressed. Coco, I cherish you with every ounce of my heart and don’t you forget it.” The timid girl just smiled and nodded.
Rainbow stood up.
“Is there something the matter?” Rarity asked, concerned.
“Oh, the smoke is making it hard to stay in here. I think I want to breathe in that fresh hallway air.” This was half true, of course.
“Ah, of course dear, how rude of me not to think about your health! I’ll be done soon and hopefully we can fully catch up soon.”
Oh gods no, she wanted to say. Rainbow kept her mouth shut and made her way into cleaner air, taking a deep breath. Now she remembered why the two of them never spent much time alone. Rainbow cares about her, but Rarity really can be a bit much if there’s no one else to mediate.
Without the smoke to focus on, Dash realized that she was getting hungry. She hadn’t eaten a thing since the afternoon. Taking a quick look at her cell, it showed that it was nearly 11pm. There were also two texts from Fluttershy. The first one read:
rainbow tell the girls that ill be a lil late
The second one:
Im on my way
That one was sent nearly 20 minutes ago.
Dash was growing concerned. Did Fluttershy know that there were this many people at the party? She never mentioned it the whole time they had the invites; was she going to be as devastated as her? Rainbow felt a dull pain in her stomach again, and resolved to at least get this one thing done tonight.
The living room seemed even more crowded this time. Pinkie was around, making small talk with some strangers, but Rainbow didn’t feel like bothering her again. She ducked into the kitchen quickly, finally taking the time to notice the food that was on the counters. It all looked incredibly delicious, which makes sense given that Pinkie’s chef friends were invited. She settled on getting a handful of brownies, eating them quickly.
There weren’t any places in the house that Rainbow hasn’t been to yet. She kinda wish there was an opportunity to talk to Twilight, but after that outburst she had with Sunset it’d be incredibly awkward. That left only one friend she hasn’t seen at the party.
The doorbell rang as if to answer her question. There was literally only one person she knows is polite enough to ring the doorbell.
“FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY!” Pinkie shouted in the next room.
Rainbow busted through the door to greet her best friend, only to realize that she didn’t came alone.
“Who’d you bring with you Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked.
“Her name is Treehugger,” Rainbow answered catching up to them, “They’re roommates.”
“Ooooooohh, nice to meet ‘cha Treehugger.” She said happily, giving the roomies a bear hug.
“Hehe, nice to meet you too, and happy birthday dude.” The chill girl told her.
“Pretty please let us down Pinkie, it’s getting hard to breathe.” Fluttershy implored of the party girl, graciously placed back on the ground.
“Hey Dash, pretty neato party going on around here, huh?” Treehugger asked her, looking around the place.
“I asked Tree here for a ride over, and I would’ve felt awful not repaying the favor, so I invited her in.”
“Flutters is a real kind person, no ounce of corruption sensed here. I can feel some very strong vibes of frustration coming from this direction though?” She said, waving a palm past Rainbow’s direction, visibly frowning.
Tree and Flutters. The two of them hit it off quickly right when the semester started, and they were on a nickname basis early on. Rainbow should’ve been happy that Fluttershy was making a real effort to be more social and meet people, but that bothered Dash. If Flutters could accomplish that on her own, then what’d that make her? Pathetic?
“Dashie, have you been having fun?” The kind girl asked.
“Of course I have! I-I mean, look at all these people. If it weren’t Pinkie’s birthday, I’d probably be the center right now.” She was putting a brave face now. “In fact, I’m going to go back at it and mingle it up some more.”
“Oh? You don’t want to sit and talk?” Fluttershy said, concern growing on her face, “Maybe we could get everyone together for a bit?”
“Pssh, why would I want that? It’s not like I’m desperate to catch up or anything! I already know all of you, while there’s so many new friends I could meet here.”
“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie praised.
“Y-yeah, that’s the point to the party, right?” she said, heat growing in her throat, “I’ll see you guys later, okay.”
Fluttershy looked like she was going to say something, but Dash rushed up the stairs before anyone had a chance to protest. She ran into Limestone’s room, slamming the door behind her and reached for the nearest pillow to let her tears flow.
Why was everything so wrong? Why did being an adult have to be so hard? Everything just felt bad; every time she felt happy seeing a friend it flickered away the moment reality hit. Her friends are different. They improved. And she’s being left behind because of this idea of her friends that’s never coming back.
Rainbow was alone. Stuck. Lost.
She lifted her head up, eyes puffy and red, and started making up a text:
hey, can you pick me up? please? its an emergency, I don’t want to be here right now
Rainbow was resigned to wait on the bed until it was time to leave. That is, until she heard something. It sounded like someone was vomiting, but it was close. Dash just realized that there was a bathroom attached to this room. Limestone must’ve really lucked out.
She peaked into the tiny space. There was barely room in between the sink, toilet and shower stall, but the most important thing was a girl with light and navy blue hair in a ponytail, hugging the toilet for dear life. The siren must’ve been dazed to not notice someone else in the room with her.
She didn’t expect it to be this easy.