//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four: Second Slumber Party 
// Story: Anon-A-Fix 
// by Soufriere 
//------------------------------//

A couple of days had passed since Anon-A-Miss had appeared on the scene, but the mysterious account had not updated in the meantime. Applejack stood on the side of the road near a crosswalk as the snow began to fall again, mulling over recent events in her head, including Apple Bloom’s bizarre accusatory warning. Before her brain could make any headway on these thoughts, she was knocked out of them by a horn honking. A purple car with slightly tinted windows pulled up next to her. The back door opened to reveal Rarity, acting for all intents and purposes like a limousine passenger, even though the ‘chauffeur’ was just her mother.

“Get in, Applejack!” Rarity called out. “We’re going slumber partying!”

Applejack gladly complied. “Thanks for the ride, Rarity,” she said as she sat and fastened her seatbelt.

“Not a problem, dear! I’m glad you were able to come!”

“Well, ain’t much you can do on a farm during the winter besides keepin’ livestock fed,” said Applejack in an exhausted tone that was clearly not a product of farm work. “Besides, it’s been rough. It’ll be good to relax.”

“Are people still… making fun of you?” Rarity asked, her face lined with concern.

“Oh yeah. I get oinked at in every class,” said Applejack bitterly.

“I’m so sorry,” Rarity said as she tried to console her friend.

Applejack opted, as was her wont, to put on a brave face. “Well, phooey to them! I don’t care about a buncha names! Let’s just get our party on!”

“Sounds good to me!” said Rarity with a big smile.

After driving a few miles west from the centre of the city into the upper-middle-class neighbourhood of Geldingsmond, they reached Rarity’s house, a smart two-storey wood-framed family home with large windows, a two-car garage, and a white picket fence. They noticed another car, a smaller sportier coupe, sitting in the driveway.

“Ah! Father’s home,” said Rarity. “That means Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are already here!”

“What about Pinkie? And Sunset… y’know, the reason we’re doin’ this?”

“Maud told me she would ferry Pinkie here once she had completed her day’s research… whatever that means, so she may be here too. Sunset assured me she has her own ride but might be late due to the road conditions,” Rarity explained.

“Fair enough,” replied Applejack as they entered the house.

Rarity’s father nodded at them briefly before rushing out the door to join his wife. Then they peeled off to enjoy a night on the town, and perhaps a burrito. Rarity made her way up the carpeted staircase and turned left down the hall before reaching the final door on the right: her room. She opened her door with all the subtlety of a tornado siren.

“Hello, girls!” said Rarity with an ostentatious wave.

“ ‘Sup?” replied Rainbow Dash.

Rarity sauntered into her own bedroom as a diva would own a stage, with Applejack following behind like the unassuming lackey or interviewer. The room was in many ways part workshop, a miniature version of the dress shop where she worked part time doing alterations. Two dressmaker’s dummies were situated along one wall in between a vanity and a five foot tall oval mirror abutting a raised purple platform for modelling. In the middle of the room, done up mostly in blues and purples, was a circular magenta rug. Tucked away in a corner, all the better for making room for crafting, was Rarity’s high-post bed, covered unsurprisingly with the fanciest and softest looking covers and pillows in existence.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat facing Rarity’s bed, on which lay Sweetie Belle, stomach-side down, head propped up, stocking feet sticking up slowly swaying. A neutral observer would conclude the three were having a nice casual chat, ignoring their age difference. Rarity, however, was not a neutral observer, and immediately pursed her lips in annoyance.

“We were just talking with Sweetie Belle,” Fluttershy explained. “She was just about to tell us what she and her friends have been up to.”

Rarity and Sweetie Belle locked glances. Sweetie attempted an innocent smile in hopes of being able to continue the conversation. It did not work, as Rarity forcibly moved her off the bed and led her to the door.

“Yes, well, I’m sure you’ve been lovely, Sweetie,” Rarity said as she continued to nudge her sister out. “But isn’t it almost your bedtime?”

“What?! Hey!” Sweetie Belle said. “No it’s not! I haven’t even had dinner yet!”

“Come on, little sister. It’s time for your big sister and her friends to spend time together!” Rarity said as she started pushing Sweetie nearer the threshold.

“Aw, c’mon! I can be cool!” Sweetie protested.

“Maybe when you’ve grown a bit. Goodbye,” said Rarity as she shoved her little sister out the door and locked it behind her.

“Uh, Rarity? Don’t you think that was a little mean?” Fluttershy asked. “She wasn’t harming anything.”

“She can be such a little pill sometimes, that Sweetie Belle. Always wanting to sit at the proverbial big kids’ table and horn in on my private time,” explained Rarity without apology. “Well, maybe I’ll make it up to her later.”

“So,” said Rainbow Dash, “Now that you’ve kicked Sweetie out, what do we do?”

“I’ll tell you what we do!” Pinkie Pie said as she popped up from out of nowhere, clad in a druid’s robe and holding a candle, a wild look in her eyes. “It’s time for ghost stories! I got some super-creepy tales lined up!”

Rarity shrank back, partly from the surprise but partly from her clear distaste for scary things. At this point, Sunset Shimmer casually entered the bedroom, hanging her riding helmet on a coat-rack near the door. No one questioned how she had picked the lock.

“Oh?” Sunset asked Pinkie with a sly grin. “You know, Pinkie, if you want weird stories about infernal beings from another world, I could just tell you about my foalhood in Stalliongrad or, maybe, that book about the Wendigoes I had to study for Ancient Equestrian history.”

“Really?” said Rainbow Dash, taking the bait.

Sunset smiled somewhat evilly, not unlike her standard expression prior to the Fall Formal Incident, only this time with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Imagine, if you will, a type of wraith that you can’t see except maybe out of the corner of your eye if you’re lucky, that both rides upon the wind and creates it, colder than the coldest night, feeding off of distrust and discord, turning everything they come in contact with into solid ice. And you don’t even realize it until you look down, and see your hoov— uh, feet, frozen fast to the ground as the ice slowly makes its way up your body, into your body, freezing your blood, eventually cutting off your ability to scr—”

“C-can we please talk about something else?” Fluttershy pleaded.

“Sure,” Sunset said with a chuckle as she put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to scare you too badly. You all right?”

Fluttershy nodded with a sniff.

Just then, Rarity’s cellphone buzzed with notification of a text message: nothing but an emoticon of an angry face sticking out its tongue. She let out an exasperated, ostentatious sigh. “Sweetie Belle is still upset I kicked her out.”

“What?” Sunset asked. “That seems kind of harsh. Sweetie’s a good kid. Well, she seems to be; I don’t know her that well yet.”

“Yes,” Rarity said carefully, “but this party is your time. Not hers. I’ll make it up to her somehow later. For now, let us party, shall we?”

It did not take long for the six girls to change into their pyjamas and lower their inhibitions. Pinkie Pie stood on Rarity’s bed, grabbed one of her hairbrushes, and began singing into it as if it was a stage microphone. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash joined in. Applejack and Rarity sat at the corner watching the spectacle, bemused. Sunset, standing in front of the table, initially cocked her head in confusion. The song sounded vaguely familiar but she could not quite place it. She then pulled out her cellphone and pointed it at the caterwauling trio.

“Are you recording them?” asked Rarity with a mild degree of surprise.

“Yep!” Sunset replied, not facing her and trying to keep as still as possible. “I want to capture the memories. I don’t have very many good ones. Besides, my phone is paid up for once. May as well take advantage of it.”

As the song wrapped up, Pinkie suddenly screamed “STAGE DIVE!!” and leapt at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who naturally ducked the hell out of the way. Pinkie smacked into the floor with enough momentum to send her tumbling towards Rarity’s closet, smashing through the lightweight purple wooden door in the process. After a moment of deadly silence during which the other girls ran through the kicked-up dust to what was left of the door to check if she was okay, Pinkie emerged from the hole she had made with several ties, socks, and sundry clothing accessories clinging to her.

“I guess *koff!* that works better when there’s an actual stage,” Pinkie said weakly.

“And a proper audience,” Sunset added as she attempted to help Pinkie up.

“So,” said Rarity, eyes narrowed, arms crossed, “How many doors does this make this that you’ve destroyed via dancing? Six?”

“Nope. Twelve,” Pinkie admitted, her tone wavering but not belying an ounce of regret.

“So, Rarity, what exactly is that closet?” asked Fluttershy, squatting down to look in the hole.

Rarity sighed. “Oh, it’s just my Closet Of Shame. It’s where I put the outfits I make or buy that turn out to be horrible.” She held up a giant pink feather boa. “From time to time, I clean it out and donate everything to a clothing drive. I should probably do so again before the new year. Apparently it helps my parents on their taxes or something.”

“Charitable deductions,” Sunset mumbled with a nod.

“What are you talking about?!” Pinkie near-screamed, suddenly clad in a formal-looking outfit that made her look like a magician, including top hat. “This stuff is great!”

“What.” Rarity said flatly, just before Pinkie grabbed her and pulled her to her side.

“It’s the perfect material for outrageous selfies! CHEESE!!” Pinkie cried out as she held up her cellphone and pressed the take-a-photo button, forever immortalizing herself in prestidigitation getup sporting a beaming smile, holding a thoroughly freaked-out Rarity clad in a pink nightie.

During this time, the other four had chosen outfits from the closet to wear. Sunset had chosen a loose rose sweater with loose blue belts, blue leggings, and light pink legwarmers. “These are pretty funky clothes by your standards, Rarity,” Sunset said. “I mean, this sort of outfit hasn’t been in style since… I first arrived here,” she mumbled more quietly to herself.

“Yeah, I mean, check me out!” Rainbow Dash said with more than a little enthusiasm. She had dressed herself up in a suit with ultra-frilly undershirt with similarly frilly cravat and bright red platform shoes with spikes on the bottom, adopting the look of a particularly coked-out glam rocker.

Rarity gave in. “Well… feel free to try them on, I suppose.”

How or why Rarity ended up with these clothes, she was unwilling to say other than the occasional protestation of “I was going through a phase!” or something similar.

What ensued was no less than the most insane impromptu costume shoot Canterville had never seen, courtesy of Sunset’s camera, as Sunset already had it ready and had by far the most space to spare due to her lack of social life before this week.

One photo was of Pinkie wearing an extremely loose yellow with blue flowers nightgown that bore a striking resemblance to a clown suit. She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue as Sunset’s phone made the camera shutter click sound. Rainbow Dash, still wearing her glam rocker garb, found a cheap microphone she could use and, standing under the glow of Rarity’s 150w mirror lights, pretended to sing some bizarre song about flying through the stars that she clearly could not remember half the words to. Applejack found some a ripped black shirt and ripped acid-washed jeans, along with some red bandanas, and decided to pretend to be a punk rocker; she wanted to pose with a guitar, but she had not brought her bass and the only thing Rarity had was one of those video game controllers that was made to look like one. More specifically, it was Sweetie Belle’s. Sunset drew the short straw and was forced to go to the younger girl’s room and requisition it.

“Seriously? You all kicked me out of Rarity’s room, and now you want to take my Guitar Heroine controller for some dumb pictures??” Sweetie Belle whined.

Sunset held up her hand in apology. “Sorry, Sweetie. I didn’t want to be the one to do this. Plus, um, you’re not using it right now.”

“And you still won’t let me join you all?” asked Sweetie, obviously upset.

“That was Rarity’s decision. Her room, her rules, I guess. Besides, it’s getting crazy in there.”

“Yeah. I can hear all the fun I’m not having,” Sweetie groused.

“The point is anything could happen in there at this point. I don’t want you or me or Rarity getting in trouble if your parents come back and discover we let you defy some sort of house rule,” Sunset attempted to explain, though Sweetie’s frown made it clear she wasn’t buying it.

“Here,” Sweetie snipped as she shoved the guitar controller into Sunset’s chest. “Now get out.”

Sunset did so. Once she made it across the hall to Rarity’s room, Applejack took the ‘guitar’ and the impromptu photoshoot continued in earnest. She tried her best to look like a hard-living rocker, but the plastic guitar made the scene a little pathetic, though still neat. Rainbow Dash, in the meantime, had put on a different, less-gaudy suit and pretended to be a vampire stalking Fluttershy. Sunset’s photo had the ‘terrified’ Fluttershy in the foreground cut off by the side of the frame while Count Dashula leapt for the girl’s thin yellow neck. Shortly thereafter, Fluttershy posed for a picture of herself wearing an old-fashioned workaday suit and fedora, the suspenders and oversized trousers making her look not unlike a hobo clown, albeit one with bite marks on her neck. Rarity herself eventually consented to being photographed wearing the feather boa around her dark pink nightie, but gave the camera a full duckface in mild protest of her closet being raided; she still pulled off her trademark ‘fabulosity’ in spite of that.

Finally, Sunset decided to get in on the action as well. Her first foray was with Applejack and Rainbow Dash; AJ dressed up as what she believed to be a hippie, giving a peace sign with a green and orange striped tie tied around her head, while Dash donned an orange sweater and big glasses that made her look like that one smart girl from that cartoon with the talking dog she often watched. Sunset herself put on a brown full suit with matching top hat and red bowtie; just before clicking the shutter button, she remarked she liked how it made her look like a ringmaster or MC.

The constant changing of clothes and other sundry insanity had begun to wear the girls down, but they all agreed there needed to be at least one shot of all six of them. Rarity held Sunset’s camera as everyone wore their last costumes for the group shot. Rarity still tried to maintain what dignity she had left by just adding the feather boa again; Pinkie wore the laughably out of style pink sweater and leggings Sunset had found, although it was even looser on Pinkie due to her noticeably lesser curves, and she had positioned herself so close to the camera that the costume was not even visible in the final shot; Rainbow Dash wore the brown MC jacket but supplemented it with an eye-visor clearly inspired by one of those science fiction television programs; Fluttershy had found the fluffiest, light-pinkest outfit imaginable (complete with puffy hat!) and wore that, making her look like one of those glamorous old-time movie stars; Applejack, already tired, wore nothing special except for a pair of dark-tinted horn-rimmed sunglasses she’d nicked from Fluttershy’s outfit; Sunset had discovered a costume that made her look like a stereotypical detective along with a magnifying glass – not unlike the hero of the mystery series she liked reading as a filly, Sheerluck Pones.

“All right. Say ‘Cheese’, everyone!” Rarity said. They did, she clicked the button on Sunset’s phone, and their moment of fun camaraderie was forever captured.

Almost immediately, it felt like something had been unplugged. The girls placed all the clothes in a pile outside Rarity’s now-broken closet door. Then, many of them yawning, they made their way towards their designated sleeping areas and, once the lights were turned off, essentially collapsed into contented sleep.

Except for Sunset. As the girls slept around her, she figured the light of the full moon streaming in through the window was sufficient for what she needed. She pulled out her diary, yes it was just enough, and began to write:



Status Update: Særrajeola 14…