Rainbow Dash flew through the clouds, quickly closing in on Fluttershy's house. As Rainbow landed, she took note of the sound of chickens. Fluttershy must be feeding her animals. Rainbow floated around the house, meeting Fluttershy giving seeds to chicken.
"Flut-" Rainbow said, before Fluttershy jumped four feet in the air, then passed out. Rainbow poked her until she started moving. "Fluttershy."
"Oh, it's just you Rainbow. Sorry, I didn't mean to pass out. Is there a problem?" Fluttershy asked.
"Err, yeah," Rainbow said as she landed on the ground. "Why are you making me spend a whole day with that nerd!"
"I thought you agreed..."
"I'll still do it, for you, but I want to know why I'm doing it."
"It's just... Neon's too cold, too heartless, the only emotional color he's ever seen is black."
"So? Heart transplant, and stick him in the oven for a few minutes. Problem solved."
"Oh, no no no, not literally. You've seen how he acts. I can tell he thinks about killing himself almost everyday. The only reason he doesn't, is he's protecting someone, or something. I can't just stand around, letting him feel like that. He needs to live, to feel alive. Everypony needs to. What if I were like that, what would you do?"
"Well, I'd try to snap you out of it. But you're a friend, Neon's not."
"How can you still say he's not friend? Can't you see what he's done for you?" Rainbow thought about all the moments she spent with Neon, and then realized she based everything she thought of about Neon on that one moment at her parent's house. She had forgotten about everything else.
"I... But he's like, totally lame!"
"He's a lot like Twilight, but less caring, and with a horrible past. They both have a constant need to learn, expect Neon improvises everything, and thinks with only himself, and not with a book. You can see how they're similar. And he's also like you, when he needs to be in action, he'll be doing his best. He doesn't give up."
"How do you notice all of this emotion crap?"
"I listen."
"I really hate saying this, but I guess Neon and I could be... ugh, friends."
"While I really wanted to spend the day learning magic, I suppose this is a suitable alternative," I said to Twilight, as we adjusted the trajectory on our pie-mortar. The thing was made of a very thick wood-like substance chemically altered to resist explosions. This thing could fire pies at a rate of six RPM. "Let me adjust the angle to eighty-seven degrees, and reload another pie. Key lime, this time."
"Loaded, wait, the wind changed two miles an hour southwest," Twilight said as she read over the wind gauge. We stood on Twilight's balcony.
"Changing base level to eight. The extra power should offset the wind. Okay, now watch that pegasus flying over there." KA-BOOM! A green key lime pie shot out of the mortar, went very high up, started to go down at an angle away from us, and landed on top of the flying pegasus's head.
"Direct hit!" Twilight yelled as she looked through the binoculars. We high-hoofed at the event. "Let's hit... Look! There's Doctor Whooves, let's pie him!"
"Position?"
"Half a click north, trotting at half a mile per hour west. Wind has died down. No blockages at a theoretical trajectory at three feet apart from ascent to descent at one second after and before hight goes different way."
"Changing to ninety-two degrees, putting base power at default five. Load a coconut cream in this bitch!" Twilight shoved a white pie down the mortar.
"Loaded, light this candle!" I hit the button. KA-BOOM! We watched the white pie go up and up and up, then start plummeting down, and crash into Doctor Whooves. He looked all over the place, desperately trying to find who threw the pie. Chunks of the white cream slid of the Doctor's brown hair. Twilight and I burst out laughing, knowing that the Doctor couldn't see us from up here.
"Man, that was fun!" I told Twilight as we packed up the equipment. The sun was lowering, and the sky was being washed with a blaze of red. The sun melted into the night as Celestia did her job.
"Hehe, I know. We're probably the only ponies in Equestria that could do this, with our advanced math skills."
"Nope, just the only ones that could have fun doing them."
"That was fun, but, *yawn*, I'm getting tired. Good night, see ya tomorrow."
"You too." Odd, she never sleeps this early; She'd miss out on chances to learn. And she didn't show any signs of being tired up until she said that. I wanted to question her on this, but I thought it would be better to just drop it. I trotted down the stairs, pretending to leave. Once Twilight thought I was gone, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. She made checkmarks and quick notes on the paper. How interesting. Twilight put the paper down, and slipped into her bed, the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest telling me she's asleep. I levitated the paper to me.
Once I received it, I read over the contents. It was some kind of poll from Fluttershy. About me. Twilight checked the boxes, fun, sociable, (This plan is a) good idea. The notes she put were telling Fluttershy that what Fluttershy thought of was a great idea, and it worked amazingly.
Huh. I guess Fluttershy wants to see how it went, in a very strict manner, giving out all the details she needs. Smart, if not a little disrespectful. I put the paper back where I grabbed it, and walked out of the tree Twi lives in. It was a short, quiet walk to Vinyl's. I opened her door, to find her passed out on the dance floor, a bottle of beer in her hand. Classic Vinyl. I levitated her onto my back, since I couldn't hold her for long with magic. I then carried her upstairs, plopped her on her large blue bed, and crawled in next to her. The night passed quickly once I shut my eyes.
*Knock knock* Rarity knocked on Fluttershy's door just as the sun was rising. Fluttershy sleepily crawled out of bed, walked through her house, and opened the door.
"Hello dear, I understand that today I will be with Neon?" Rarity asked. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
"It's just, I don't quite understand that colt. You seem to understand him, can you tell me anything?"
"Well, he hides behind a mask. He's angry, but doesn't show it. You need to break that mask, and show him that being angry isn't how you should live. I'm not sure how to do that... sorry."
"It's alright dear, let me handle it."
"Sweetie Belle, don't you have anything else to do, maybe play with your friends?" Rarity said, in an attempt to get her out of the boutique for the day.
"No, not really," Sweetie replied.
"Err..." Rarity looked around the room, until her eyes found a small, empty box. She closed the box, and levitated it over to Sweetie. "I need you to trot over to Canterlot with this box. Give it to the pony in the pony running the ice cream shop."
"Isn't that a job for the mail mare?"
"Nope!" Rarity then held up Sweetie with magic, pushed her out the door, and slammed the door shut. "I suppose that's one way of doing it." *Knock knock* "Go away Sweetie!"
"I'm not Sweetie," I said and opened the door.
"Oh, come in come in then. Welcome, Neon."
"Uh, hi." There was a nervous tension in the room as we looked around the shop, neither of us saying anything. "So... what's planned?"
"I really haven't thought of anything."
"Oh. What about what's on Fluttershy's schedule?"
"I looked over it, and nothing seemed interesting for either of us." Rarity and I had nothing in common, we would never like to do the same thing. Though, I guess I could say the same about Applejack and Rarity. "Idea! You know about ponymade fabrics, right?" I shot her a confused look. "Materials not naturally find in Equestria?" I think she's talking about manmade objects, such as all elements above 92 are made by humans, and other things made by humans like computers.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Is there anything new you can show me? That you can't find here?"
"The elements on Earth don't all exist here, and there's no Equestrian periodic table."
"Oh, okay then." Rarity pondered over what to do. An awkward silence filled the room. It was quite clear that Rarity and I couldn't have fun doing the same thing.
"Aren't most of your customers from canterlot?"
"Yes dear."
"Then I have to wonder, why is this store in Ponyville?"
"I may sale most of my clothes to ponies that live in Canterlot, but I still want to be with my friends and I like Ponyville better."
"It would make a lot of ponies not go here since it's so far away."
"Bits aren't everything..." Hypocrite!
"Right."
"Tell me dear-"
"Stop calling me dear."
"Sorry. Tell me, Neon, why does it seem you don't like me?"
"Huh?"
"Whenever we've been near, you've showed little kindness, and you address me in a neutral tone. It almost seems like you're not a friend."
"I just don't like ponies. I'd rather be alone than in a crowd."
"But you're good friends with Twilight."
"Yeah, we're similar. Both of us have the need to learn, to know everything we can. We have something in common. You and I, don't."
"Neither do any of my friends, and we're still friends."
"Ah. You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means. How are friends with Applejack? You hate much of what she does because she gets dirty. You even fought her when Twilight had that sleepover."
"How do you know of the sleepover?"
"Twilight told me." Lie, I've been studying the show to learn what I can.
"Oh. Well, while it may be true I dislike all the dirt she works in, she's still a good friend. She never lies, and is willing to get dirty to do what's right."
"She's lied more than Discord. I've counted."
"That can't be true!"
"Not with you, but in total times."
"She must have had a good reason to. It must be why she's the bearer of The Elemant of Honesty."
"So it seems. I guess it's not how much you lie, but the reasons for doing so."
"Agreed. May I say something about your posture?"
"Uh, sure."
"You're slouched down, and your hooves are placed loosely. I could help you with that."
"No, I'm fine."
"Your hooves are rough, and could use a hooficure."
"I'm not a mare."
"What about a mane cut? Your mane is getting long, and you look better with a short mane."
"How long has it been... Actually, you might be right. I don't think I've even had a mane cut yet."
"Yay!" Rarity somehow pushed me onto a platform and appeared with scissors in a fraction of a second. She first shuffled my mane around, checking for mane thickness and length. Once she was sure of a style she liked, she began to rapidly cut my mane. Bits of shiny white and vibrate green hair fell off my head. We made tidbits of conversation here and there, dealing with recent events.
"I still want bangs."
"Okay... How was the date with the DJ?" That question came out of nowhere.
"It wasn't a date, I just drove Vinyl to a mall to get her clothes and lunch."
"That's what a date is, dear."
"Oh... I’m not that good at things involving other ponies.”
“I can always help. You should never turn down advice.”