//------------------------------// // Tuesday: Fitting Together // Story: Prom Protector // by Natedogg2006 //------------------------------// 'You did it again. Why? HOW?! You went to the bathroom because you did it again before too. You can't just keep finding excuses to leave.'      Rainbow Dash sat with the rest of her best friends in Rarity's work room/her family's spare bedroom. The hosting fashionista had painstakingly hung two sheets up in the room to turn a good chunk of it into a nicely private changing area. From behind said sheets came the grunting and an occasional obscenity of Apple Jack and nearly constant nagging from Rarity.       None of this was on the forefront of Rainbow Dash's mind. What she was concerned about was the fact that she had, for the fifth time that day and third just inside this house, wrapped her arm around Fluttershy's shoulder without thinking about it when she didn't necessarily need to for appearances. AppleJack had made comment on it the first time, and luckily it wasn't really a lie to say that she had just gotten used to it. The fact that she had gotten so used to it in just a couple days was a subject she was glad had not come up. She was probably lucky that Apple Jack had been Rarity's first victim.       "Ahhhhh, seriously Rares! Hey! Do not put yer' hand there!"       "Oh would you stop fussing so much. I'm just trying..."       "I don't want to know what yer' tryin' ta' do to me there. And what is... Wah, not ok."       "See, it's that easy."       Rainbow Dash had taken the distraction of the girl's argument as a chance to fake a yawn and sneak her arm away. She didn't like doing it, and not just because she loved the feeling of holding Fluttershy close. It was also because the small couch they were sitting on was almost too small for two people. It was honestly probably more comfortable to sit cuddled as close as possible, but that probably wouldn't work as an excuse if she tried. And all other potential seats had been taken upon them entering the room, so it was either awkwardly stand and look like she was trying not to look awkward, or do just what she was doing.        "Are you ready for your debut darling?"       "Do not even dare Rarity!"       Fluttershy was even happier than usual that Rainbow Dash could be so absent minded at times. Seven times today when she didn't even need to Rainbow had draped her arm over her shoulder without thinking. This gave her the reason she needed to pretend she didn't notice as well when she leaned her head into Dash's shoulder. Luckily no one had yet to notice the contentive sighs she couldn't seem to help herself from making every time she was pressed so tightly against her girlfriend.        'Pretend girlfriend.'       'You shut up.'       Fluttershy decided to pretend she didn't notice Rainbow remove her arm for as long as possible. She finally straightened up when the sheet curtain was drawn away.        "TA-DA!!!!! What do you girls think?"       The room was quiet for a moment. Sunset was the first to respond, unless you counted Rainbow nearly falling from her seat as she began laughing hysterically. "Umm, well. Not that it isn't a good look... I just think it might be a little, understated... in places."       "I. Can't. Breathe." Apple Jack said, a look on her face that said she really wasn't enjoying herself at the moment. The reason for it was obvious. Were Rarity not such a talented seamstress Apple Jack might be indecent in front of them at any moment. The threads around the chest were holding on for all they were worth. And had it been cut any lower that might not even be relevant. The fabric around the sleeves also seemed to be barely holding in there, digging into the skin around her biceps in a way that looked painful.        Rarity's show woman's smile fell, as did the hands she was holding up to present her work. "I know. It would seem our dear Apple Jack has done a bit more filling out since the last time I got her in here." Her attention went back to the glowering girl next to her. "This is why you should let me make outfits for you more often, so I can keep track of these things."       "Get. Me. Out. Of. This." Every girl in the room would swear from that day forth that Apple Jack's every word caused the lights to flicker. Yet Rarity was still undeterred.       "Oh please, let me apologize profusely that you seem to be an even more ideal physical specimen every time I take your measurements." Every girl in the room would swear from that day forth that actual sparks flew from where the two girls glares met. Rarity just flipped her hair casually as she continued. "Luckily it's not more than an inch or so anywhere that's hard to hide. A few simple tricks and it'll fit like a glove and no one will be any the wiser. You can go ahead and take it off now darling."       "If I take this off, it's coming off like the hulk." She clenched her fists and the fabric around the arms seemed to scream in protest.        Rarity rolled her eyes. "A moment ago you seemed very adverse to the idea of me putting my hands on you anymore." The fabric screamed more. Rainbow readied her camera for the impending money shot. "Fine. Don't be so dramatic darling." She pulled the sheets back closed as Rainbow finally lost the fight with gravity and actually fell from her precarious seat to the floor while laughing uncontrollably again. Giggling was shared among the other three girls, but at which display it was hard to tell.        Fluttershy reached down to pick up the laughing girls fallen phone, holding it where Rainbow would easily see it to retrieve it when she finished. And indeed she did. Rainbow's hand felt around briefly as her laughter finally died down before she noticed and started sitting up. Coming to a semi-seated position on the floor she was still snickering lightly as she reached across Fluttershy's lap to grab it. Perhaps that was the reason she didn't notice that in the process she managed to end up with her head leaning into Fluttershy's lap. But that didn't really matter when she suddenly realized she was comfortably leaning into it more.        If there was intervening movements between that position and Rainbow suddenly sitting very straight and cross-legged on the floor, then the whole room missed it as the sheet was suddenly flung open. An irritated farmer stomped through the room, threw the door open, and stomped out without even bothering to close it again behind her.        The silence in the room it caused lasted only a brief second. "NOTEBOOK!!!!!" Pinkie exclaimed as she followed Apple Jack out as a pink blur.        Rarity now stepped to the center of the room, eyeing the door with disapproval. She shook her head before turning towards Sunset. "Sunset, would you be a dear and check up on Apple Jack? And possibly Pinkie as well, I'm not sure." Sunset's only response was to jump to her feet, put her hand to her temple in a salute, and march from the room as well. Rarity sighed before turning again and smiling tiredly. "Fluttershy darling, you're up next."       Fluttershy was caught off guard by this. At that particular moment she was not certain she could stand. The goosebumps running up and down her leg from where Rainbow's hair had been gently brushing it made it tingly in a way that made her not sure it would hold her weight if she tried. But an idea came to her that suddenly gave her encouragement to try.        "Oh yes, certainly Rarity." Fluttershy had to control herself to keep from smiling as she shifted to stand up. Carefully she moved her leg, and placed it so that it brushed Rainbows exposed arm ever so gently.        'Dangitdangitdangitdan... Ho! Ly! Cow!'. Rainbow Dash had been busy berating herself for forgetting what she was doing again. That was way too difficult for her to maintain as she suddenly tried to not think about how nice and smooth Fluttershy's legs were now that they were the ones touching her this time. She was sure it was just her panicking brain, but she felt like the contact was making her fingers go numb.        Luckily it ended soon as Fluttershy stood, having apparently been summoned by Rarity as the next sacrifice. But the damage had apparently been done. Rainbow's mind was so fried at the moment she could swear Fluttershy was shaking her hips just for her as she walked away until the curtain was pulled closed again.        Rainbow Dash was frustrated. She was suddenly glad she was the only one in the room, or at least this part of the room, as she was sure her whole body was blushing. She had gotten to the point where blushing didn't seem like a foreign feeling to her. She was driving herself crazy. She knew Fluttershy was not coming on to her, but it seemed like everything she did lately was designed to get Rainbow's attention. Even the smallest and most innocent things. And of course they'd all be completely innocent things if Rainbow wasn't driving herself crazy. After all, it wasn't like they had been doing anything that out of the ordinary with each other, with just a few notable exceptions.        "Sunset dear, could you..." Rainbow looked up to see Rarity's face just poking through the sheets. "Oh yes, that's right. Oh well, you'll do. Could you step in here and lend us some assistance?"       Rainbow's internal thoughts were suddenly set on fire with those words. She could not process all the potential implications of them, but knew this was a situation she probably didn't want to tempt her fate in. That's when she realized she was standing with her fingers mere inches from the fabric.        Rarity had apparently retreated back behind the makeshift curtain right after asking for help. She could now be heard humming in concentration from behind.       'Ok, be cool. You can do this. It's just Fluttershy..... Potentially barely dressed' Rainbow felt her eye twitch as her outreached fingers flexed back and forth. She felt like this was a much bigger barrier then the thin fabric would make it seem, and one she didn't know what was beyond. And she knew whatever was beyond it couldn't wait much longer without it becoming weird.        With a deep breath, she pushed the curtain aside.       And that was a lot of very smooth, very yellow, very soft looking skin.        Thankfully Fluttershy was facing away from her. But that wasn't much of a reprieve as the dress design Rarity had chosen had a very open back. She could see a zipper unzipped on the very low cut dress. The smooth yellow skin near the bottom of the dress eventually came to be hidden behind sheer white fabric, fabric that did not belong to the dress. As she was ripping her gaze from that she realized there was no matching fabric further up. That made the fact that the dress's blue fabric was rolled far forward on the girls' sides all the more noticable.       Trying not to feel like a creeper at that moment she finally noticed Rarity kneeling in front of the barely covered girl, looking like she was having great trouble with something. Both Rarity and Fluttershy had hands on the dress holding something in place.        "Very sorry darling, these frills are a terrible pain. I didn't want to fasten them completely before the final fitting, lace is so delicate. We just need to hold it in place while you," she nodded her head towards Fluttershy, "zip her up. Slowly if you could. Don't want to lose these folds."       Rainbow struggled to keep her breathing steady. But she did, and even managed a casual shrug as she stepped forward. She then ran into another hurdle.       "Where's the zipper?"       "It's sewn in backwards to hide it better. It's a concept I'm trying." The fact that Rarity spoke so casually made Rainbow feel like hurting her at that moment. But that desire was well hidden behind a yellow haze that was clouding her senses and making the actions she was about to perform seem almost sensible.        Without much thought Rainbow's fingers traced the path of the zipper to its source. One finger snaked under and found the zippers tab. She was barely conscious of her actions as one set of fingers held the dress in place, possibly lower then she needed to, and the other, most importantly, slid the knuckle of her index finger gently up the soft yellow skin along the spine of the image of beauty in front of her.       Fluttershy was glad that Rarity's attention was focused on what she was holding. She had managed to suppress the whimper at the sensation of Dash's finger moving up her back, but her mouth had fallen open and her vision had blurred as her eyes fluttered. She was so disappointed by the feeling of the digits moving away that she didn't even notice Rarity pulling her own hands away as she readjusted the lace around the front of the dress.       "And there we are." Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were momentarily surprised to hear Rarity's voice. It suddenly felt like a long time had passed and they were shocked to find she was still there. Fluttershy was suddenly turned by the fashionista to face the other girl.        Rainbow figured she had managed to keep the desire off her face when she saw her girlfriend in that dress.       'Fake girlfriend'       'Shut it!'       The dress was blue, and fit the girls form very well. It was embellished here and there, but not enough to distract from the natural beauty of the girl wearing it. And though she thought she managed to keep her eyes from lingering awkwardly, she noticed the lace around the top of the dress that was hiding the rather considerable cleavage the dress otherwise would show.        "So, what do you think?" Rarity held her arms up in presentation much the way she had for Apple Jack, though this one felt much more earned. Rainbow cast her eye over the presented girl once more, strictly for a critical analysis.        "Not bad at all Rares. I think you might have out done yourself with this one." Rainbow Dash fully expected the attention on Fluttershy would make her blush. What she didn't expect was that despite that she suddenly spread her arms out wide and gave an elegant turn to show all sides of her. Rainbow's mouth went dry, but she managed to croak out and additional, "yeah, looks great."       "Are you sure?"       'OH YEAH!!!'       "Yeah."       "I wasn't so sure on the lace," Rarity ran her finger along the top seam of the dress and Rainbow unconsciously wondered how easy it would be to break those dainty fingers. "It's the classic conundrum of what do you want more of. What do you think Rainbow?" She said looking over to her, indicating different cut off spots as she did. "More teasing, or more skin?"       Rainbow was having a very hard time discerning the line between looking and ogling at that moment, so she just gave a quick glance before responding as neutrally as possible. "I don't know. You're the expert, so whatever you think works. I like the way it looks now." She did not mean to add the last part.        Rarity was humming in concentration for a few moments before responding. "Very well." She then produced a few pins and began tacking the lace to the hem. "Since I've already got you here, you might as well start putting yours on as well. We're going to run into the same problem after all."       "Why's that?" Rainbow and Fluttershy suddenly inquired at the same time.        "Oh, well even if the two of you aren't going to leave the prom as a couple, you are going there as one. And Rarity Belle would never allow a couple wearing her dresses to clash!" She went into a grand proclamation kind of voice while saying this, but went back to pinning Fluttershy's dress absentmindedly. "Therefore your dresses are complements and are of similar design."       Rainbow Dash had to suppress a blush at that.       Fluttershy had to suppress a smile at that.       Rainbow looked around, realizing she was already in the changing area and therefore had a slight problem. "Umm, Rares?"       "There's a changing screen in the corner, your dress should already be there," Rarity said without looking up from her work.        Rainbow suppressed a sigh of relief at that at least. She proceeded over and, once she was sure she couldn't be seen at all from behind the screen, proceeded to strip. This process did make her cringe though. She did like her body, was very proud of it even. It took a lot of work to get as toned and solid as she was. But thinking about what Rarity had just said made her think only one thing; this wasn't going to work.        Rainbow wasn't sure what Rarity thought would happen, but as far as Rainbow was concerned, her and Fluttershy were in two completely different categories. You could put Rainbow Dash in a dress and she would look ok. But if you then put her next to someone like Fluttershy it would be obvious who didn't belong.        "Are you ready Rainbow dear?" Rainbow sighed as she pulled off her sports bra and did her best to hold the dress and its components in place against herself.        "Umm, maybe?" Rainbow tried to keep her whole body from going red again as the screen was moved away.       "That's the part we need to help you with darling." Rarity was probably lucky she was already facing the wall and that Fluttershy was in the room, otherwise such a sudden action would have probably led to a boot to the face. Rarity stepped around her and, before Rainbow could protest, started work on the top seam of the dress.        Fluttershy suddenly realized something about herself; she was the jealous type. She felt her jaw tighten and her fingernails dig into the palms of her hands. She had had the same thing done to her minutes before, so she knew what was going on. Right now Rarity was bunching the lace around the top. She'd bunch it in a couple places, then have Rainbow hold it while she does the next. Four places to hold, so four hands. Although in her current jealous haze she was having a hard time seeing why she couldn't just have Rainbow Dash fold and hold them herself. Or just have it pinned beforehand and adjust it later. Or any number of other things that would mean she wouldn't have to put her hands on HER DASHIE!!!       That moment came crashing down as Rarity spoke again. "And just like that. Now if you wouldn't mind Fluttershy darling."       Oh right, she had been super anxious about this part. And it was all coming back to her now. Although Rainbow had sent such a pleasant sensation up her sensitive back, she had clearly done it simply because touching her there didn't mean anything to her. But this meant something to Fluttershy and therefore she couldn't possibly do something like that.       'But you want to.'       'Shut up.'       So Fluttershy stepped forward, determined to make this as fast and clean as possible. Mostly because she really didn't trust what she might do around Rainbow any more. Her slender finger slipped between the yellow fabric and over some black fabric that was not part of the dress without touching either. She felt the zipper tab and swiped it out with one fluid motion. Grasping it firmly she pulled.       And nothing happened. She pulled again, nothing. The zipper was solidly in place. "Umm Rarity. I, I think it's stuck."       "Oh bother. They didn't have zippers in the right color in my normal brand, I'm afraid that was one of the cheaper ones I had to buy. I'm afraid you'll just have to give it a good pull dear."       "I'm trying but..." Watching the zipper pull the dress up again and again told Fluttershy what was wrong. It seemed that Rainbows sleek, toned, slender... 'focus,' form didn't have quite the curve needed to keep the dress in place. So what was needed was just some extra resistance. Yeah, it was the only way.        Before she could think about what she was doing her hand was already in motion. A flat palm went to just below where the zipper sat and pressed the soft fabric into the solid muscle beneath. This did provide the resistance needed, and though it would have been possible to adjust her grip after that, she firmly believed the best thing at this point was to do this in one motion. One clean, very slow motion.        'Fluttershy did not just grope you. Repeat, Fluttershy DID NOT just grope you. She was just helping with the dress, it's what friends do.' And Rainbow Dash was certain she could get herself to believe that truth somewhere down the line. But for right now she was just going to let her subconscious fight about that while she stiffly turned.       Fluttershy didn't have the concentration to keep the shock off her face. While the dresses were designed to match except to complement each girl's bodies differently, Fluttershy couldn't believe how much better Rainbow pulled it off. It might not be her usual look, but to Fluttershy it was so revealing. All the parts of herself Rainbow kept away from the whole world save for occasionally only to Fluttershy seemed to come through in that moment. She was just so...       Rainbow couldn't even look into Fluttershy's face. But she did notice that while changing Rarity had apparently added a few flowers to Fluttershy's hair to tie the whole outfit together. And it did. It was like all the things that made Fluttershy so obviously wonderful, beautiful inside and out, and so easy to love, were all amplified so anyone could see them the way Dash saw them all the time. She was just so...       ... Perfect.       ".....,....., Wow."       The word was sudden, but not so much as to fully pull the pair from the trance they were in. They did turn however and found that the room had filled once again. If Rainbow could think straight right now she might wonder about being sure she'd closed the curtain. But she couldn't. Four girls now stared, varying looks of amazement on their faces.        "Rarity, y'all are gonna be famous all right."       "They look so good, it's amazing Rarity."       "Oh my gosh, this is so great. You know, if you two weren't planning on breaking up at the prom, I think they'd probably declare two queens this year."       "Yes sometimes I amaze even myself."       Neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow Dash were really focused on who was talking. They did notice when Rarity went over to a mirror leaning against a wall and brought it over. Before the two now stood a fantasy couple. It was like a portal to another world where everything was perfect. One they felt like they could almost just reach out and...       "Ding-Dong."       "Pizzas here!!!" And for the second time that night Pinkie went running from the room.        The moment finally broken, all the girls now looked around the room at each other. Each finally let out a giggle at the speed at which they heard footsteps moving down the stairs.       "Ok girls, you may get those dresses off, I know what modifications I need to make now." She indicated dressing screens at either side of the changing area. Both girls proceeded over. "Apple Jack, since you've been fitted you may go indulge. As well as you two once you're done. Sunset," she turned to face the girl, "if you'd please remain for a moment?"       Sunset nodded and watched on silently as the three fitted girls now proceeded from the room. She didn't bat an eye when Rarity closed the door behind them.        "So?"       At Sunset's single word Rarity now turned back to face her. Her smile grew wide and devious. "I can't believe I've missed it all this time."       "Are you saying even before?"       Rarity's head nodded frantically as her smile grew in size and intensity.        "And both?"       Sunset was sure Rarity's head was about to go flying at any moment at the speed it was now going. She then stopped abruptly, expectation in her eyes. Sunset knew what she wanted to hear.       "How do you wanna do this?"