//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Arrival at Sundown // Story: Truth or Dare: The Most Anxious Slumber Party Ever // by TheStallionofDarkCavalry //------------------------------// After fifteen minutes of walking from your place, you finally reached Pinkie's house. As you approached her yard, the sun was setting and it was a beautiful sight to your eyes. The orange-colored light shining at you with the usual blue sky about to be turned into a dark sky in a few hours was arguably your favorite display in the sky next to stars at night time. As you get lost in the beauty of the view, what comes to your mind is someone who has the same name as what you're looking at and is just as beautiful as this visually pleasing color. "Man, I had no idea Sunset was that beautiful." You said while still watching the sunset with a peaceful look on your face as you think back to when Sunset was being so bashful from you calling her pretty. Her cute smile, her bright red cheeks that highlighted her bashfulness, and the way she tried to look at you in the eye which looked so awkward. The more you think about her as the sunset kept shining at you, the more relaxed and happy your mind feels as all your worries drift away. You actually wouldn't mind spending the next few hours outside with what was all in front of you giving your mind this amazing pleasure, but it sadly had to end for you as you hear a finger snap near you trying to snap you out of your trance. "Hey, Anon! Wake up!" You heard a snickering voice say to you as you were being snapped out of that pleasing state you were in. You then looked to see who was doing the snapping, and that voice came from Rainbow Dash. "It isn't bedtime yet. You still have a party to go to, sleepyhead." You looked at her as she was in front of you with her sleeping gear on her as you both were in front of Pinkie's house. You couldn't help but scowl at her for what she convinced Pinkie to do with making Truth or Dare a traditional game that everyone had to play. Rainbow Dash noticed your scowl and she was puzzled by it. "What's wrong?" She asked with a confused look on her face. "Did I do something wrong?" You seriously wanted to tell her off now as she asked you that, telling her how callous and sadistic she can be when it comes to that game. But you didn't want to start any fights and try to enjoy the party like Sunset asked you to. And Rainbow Dash already told you she wouldn't go easy on you in that game from the text message. So you just had to forget about it and still hope Sunset's plan will work. "It's nothing, Rainbow Dash." You said while trying to keep a straight face. "You just interrupted my gazing at that beautiful sunset." Rainbow Dash smirked as you say this. You then blushed about what you were thinking the entire time you were looking at that sunset and the look on Rainbow Dash's face as you knew where this was going. "Ooooh. Was it reminding you of someone?" She says as she playfully nudges your shoulder. Your eyes widen as Rainbow Dash teases you. Reading your expression, she continues to tease you even more. "What was it about her were you thinking about?" She chuckles while smirking at you. "Her sparkling turquoise eyes?" She flutters her eyes at you in a mocking manner. "Her lovely red and yellow hair?" She flips her hair with her hand like she's mimicking Sunset whenever she flips her hair. Her eyes suddenly widen and then giggles into her hand as she comes up with ideas to make fun of you for thinking about Sunset. "Or..." She then turns around with her butt sticking out at you. "Maybe you were imagining her making a sunrise and a sundown for you!" You instantly became dumbstruck at what Rainbow Dash was doing. She was squatting her butt up and down like she was shaking her butt at you while imitating sun positions. "Sunrise, sundown! Sunrise, sundown! Sunrise, sundown!" She laughed while continuing to squat her butt up and down. You were completely speechless about how she would go that far into teasing you. As unamused you were at what was going on in front of you since she was making fun of you for thinking about Sunset, you couldn't help but laugh a bit under your breath because you had to admit, this was actually kind of funny. As Rainbow Dash kept "Raising and dropping the sun" at you while laughing, suddenly a car drives by coming from the direction you came from, and it parks right near you two. And then suddenly, the window of the driver's door rolled down and then the driver of the car peeked out of the window to say something. "Yeah! Shake it, Rainbow Dash!" The driver shouted. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash stopped shaking her butt at you, and then she turned around with an appalled look on her face as if she was hoping that the driver of the car wasn't someone who she thinks it is. As you look at the windshield of the car you see two people in the car: The one in the passenger seat was a girl with pink hair and light gold-colored skin, who you immediately recognized as Fluttershy, who was looking down with her hands covering her face in embarrassment. And the one in the driver's seat was a guy with blonde hair that was coiffed into a peculiar-looking hairstyle that you've never seen before and he had aquamarine-colored skin. As you finish examining the front seats of the car, you notice that the driver was grinning at Rainbow Dash. Upon seeing the guy, Rainbow Dash shrieked as she turns around with her hands covering her butt while giving the guy a nasty look with a slight blush on her face. "Zephyr Breeze!" Rainbow Dash shouted while clenching her fist. "Don't ever say that to me again!" "My apologies, Rainbow Dash." The guy said while still grinning at Rainbow Dash. "Don't worry, I understand. I know how it must be to try and get a man attracted to you though resorting to desperate actions that make you feel humiliated for doing them. Kind of like what you were doing just a second ago. But you don't have to worry about doing any of those things, milady. I'm already very attracted to you." The guy then winks at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash reacts to the guy's wink at her with a disgusted face. "I think I'm gonna be sick." She says nauseously while picking up her sleeping gear off the ground as she heads to Pinkie's front door looking green in the face. She quickly knocks on the door as she looks like she needs to go lose her lunch in Pinkie's bathroom. Pinkie answers the door to greet Rainbow Dash. "Welcome to the party, Rainbow..." Pinkie greets Rainbow Dash but is unable to finish the greeting as Rainbow Dash quickly runs past Pinkie. "Wow! She's a lot more excited about this party than I am! And that's saying a lot!" Pinkie giggled as she notices you and Fluttershy. "Anon! Fluttershy! Welcome to the party!" Pinkie shouts while waving at you two as Fluttershy gets out of the car. "Hey, Fluttershy." You say to her. "Hi, Anon." She says to you in her soft and gentle voice. "Uh... Sorry about my brother. He has a crush on Rainbow Dash, and he's very open about it. Too open about it." "It's all good, Fluttershy." You say to her with a reassured smile. "If anything, it's cathartic considering she's been teasing me a lot today." "Oh. I'm sorry about that." She replied with a sad expression on her face. "Listen. Don't get too upset with her. I know that sometimes she has a problem when it comes to her moments of poor behavior, but Rainbow Dash is a great person and a great friend who cares about all of us and tries her best to come through for me and the others when we have problems." "I hear ya." You say as you think about how Rainbow Dash's poor behavior can affect you and your friends. "She can be a handful, but she's our friend no matter what. And I do enjoy her company, except when she's teasing me too much." "Yeah." Fluttershy agrees as she smiles at you. "Yeah, that Rainbow Dash can be quite a bad girl, but that's one of the best things about her." Fluttershy's brother says as he continues to wear that stupid grin that could probably put Rainbow Dash's annoying smirk to shame. Since this guy is Fluttershy's brother, you might as well introduce yourself to him. "Uh, hello." You say to him. "Zephyr Breeze, right? My name's Anon. It's a pleasure to meet you." "Right back at ya!" He says as he shakes your hand. "Your Futtershy's new friend, right?" "Yes, I am." You say back to him. "She and the rest of the girls are the best friends someone like me could ask for." "Well, it's nice to know my baby sister is on her best behavior with you guys like she always is." He said while patting Fluttershy's head as she looks at him with an annoyed look on her face. You thought it would be best to get things moving along so Fluttershy could enjoy the party without her brother bugging her. He seems to be a nice guy, but he can be annoying, and he can be a bit of a creep based on his inappropriate behavior towards Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Fluttershy. I'll see you inside. I kind of want to sit out here for a little while longer." You say to her "Okay, Anon." She replies to you. She then looks at Zephyr Breeze while still wearing her smile despite her annoyance with him. "Thanks for the ride, Zephyr." "Anytime, sis! Anytime!" He said while waving to her as Fluttershy headed to Pinkie's doorstep. "Welcome to the party, Fluttershy!" Pinkie says as she greets Fluttershy. "Rarity and Applejack are already here, and Rainbow Dash obviously. It's just Sunset and Twilight who we are waiting on." She then looks at you. "And Anon since he's still outside my house." As you go back to staring at the sunset, you quickly replied to Pinkie. "Don't worry, Pinkie. I'll be joining you." You say to her as you hope she's not getting impatient. "I just want to sit out here for a few more minutes." "Okay, Anon." She replied with a cheerful smile. "But don't stay out for too long. I wouldn't want you to miss out on this exciting fun party that I made as a special welcome for you to the friendship of me and my friends!" "I won't." You replied to her. As Pinkie and Fluttershy head inside, you sat down on Pinkie's lawn to continue to enjoy the sight of the sunset, and your happy thoughts about that girl with the same name whose beautiful smile and eyes are absolutely wonderful to think about. As you sink deeper into the view of the orange color in the sky and your thoughts about Sunset, you suddenly have questions for yourself regarding her. "Why am I thinking about Sunset so much right now?" You ask yourself aloud. "And why are these thoughts a lot more pleasing than they usually are?" "You mean one of Fluttershy's friends? Maybe it's because you're in love with her." Zephyr Breeze said to you as you quickly looked at him to find that he still hasn't left yet. "You're still here?" You asked as you got up and walked over to him. "I figured that since you were gonna hang out here for a while, I could say a few more words to you and a favor to ask of you." He said as he scoots over to the passenger window to talk to you. "Okay." You reply to him with a curious expression. "But before we talk about Sunset, let's get the favor out of the way. What do you want?" "You have Rainbow Dash's number on your phone, right?" He asks as he pulls out his phone, clearly going to ask you for Rainbow Dash's number. You resisted the favor since Rainbow Dash didn't seem to have very comfortable reactions around him. "Uh, I don't think she would be happy with me for giving her phone number to you." You say to him as you pull your phone out. "But I can give you mine if you want." "Oh." He replies with a disappointed look on his face. "I guess if getting one of the numbers to one of my sister's friends is the closest I'll ever get to having Rainbow's number, why not?" You then show him your number and he then shows you his and you both put them into your phones as one of your contacts. "Why hasn't that girl given me her number yet?" Zephyr says while slouching his head down. "One of these days, she really needs to build some self-confidence so she'll stop being so shy around me." This guy was oblivious to Rainbow Dash not having the same feelings that he has towards her, and it's actually kind of amusing how he doesn't notice when it's pretty obvious she doesn't like him. "Yeah, that's the reason why she won't give it to you." You said sarcastically while rolling your eyes. "Wow. You and I already agreed on something despite that we just met. We're good friends already!" He said while smiling at you. "Yeah, whatever." You replied to him while trying to resist yourself from telling him that he's such an idiot. "So, anyway. What about my more peaceful thoughts involving Sunset?" "I said that it might be because you're in love with her." He says while nudging your arm. You were then startled as he said this to you with a huge blush on your face. "Lo-love?!" You questioned in a stutter. "No, you've got the wrong idea! Sunset and I are just friends!" "You seem pretty defensive about it." He says while smirking at you. "You think that maybe you're just not aware that deep down inside that you are in love with her, and that maybe you're just too shy to talk about it because you're afraid of embarrassing yourself?" As you thought about what he's telling you, you wonder why he thinks this is what you're thoughts about Sunset mean. "Why do you think this is the case with me? You asked. "Because that's exactly how Rainbow Dash is when it comes to me!" He replies with a wide toothy grin while pointing his thumb at himself. "Well, except for the fact that she is aware that she loves me. That's why I always try to give her a push so she'll one day be able to finally have the courage to say that she does indeed love me." You rolled your eyes once again at this boneheaded Casanova wannabe. "Give it some thought, Anon." He says as he turns on the car and pulls into the right lane of the road to drive away. "Always be honest when it comes to your feelings, even if it may put you in an embarrassing situation with the person you love. It's perfectly natural whenever that happens. I hope Rainbow Dash will one day learn that. Enjoy the party and have a good night." He then drives off, leaving you alone to once again enjoy the sunset. You sat back down on the grass to stare at the sunset while you gather your thoughts to think about if what Zephyr Breeze said is true. "Could Zephyr be right? Am I really in love with Sunset and I'm too embarrassed to admit it?" You ask yourself in your head as you continue to gaze at the sunset. "I mean, he does have a point about how I'm shy and I don't want to embarrass myself, and also about my lack of awareness when it comes to my romantic feelings. But that's only because I've never fallen in love before. So how would I know that I'm in love? And ever since I became friends with Sunset, that's all I ever thought of her. I only thought of her as a great friend." As you lay down on your back with your hands resting behind your head, you continue to figure out if you were unaware of any hidden feelings for Sunset this entire time. "But then again, that was all before I saw her look so bashful, which seriously highlighted her attractiveness. She really is a cute and beautiful girl, and just thinking about her blushing face as she twirls her hair eats away at the negative feelings in my body." With every thought popping into your mind, the deeper your mind goes into relaxation. As you continue to think back to Sunset's awkward cuteness, you also think back to all those times you hung out and how she was always there for you when you needed help. Every single one of those moments were all so special to you that they really hold a place in your heart. "Maybe I really am in love with Sunset, and these romantic feelings I'm having from thinking back to her while watching this sunset prove it. I know that I'm not against the idea of being in a relationship with her, I just don't know how well it would work out." With your thoughts about you loving Sunset fully thought through, you then thought about if Sunset thinks the same about you. "What if she's in love with me, too? We always get along and she always enjoys me hanging out with her. She also seems to really like those hugs that I give her whenever we usually hang out to have fun or manage each others' anxiety." With all of this relaxation hitting your mind, you were starting to feel drowsy, to the point where a few minutes later after your thinking, you fell asleep with one last thought. "I really hope she does love me." About after twenty minutes of taking a nap, you're still peacefully asleep with everything you thought about Sunset creating for you a wonderful way to dose off after a day of a really bad anxiety attack from the fear of a game you have to play. That girl does so much for you that you just can't help but love her for how much of a bighearted human being she is. As you are still in your sleep, you began to regain consciousness as you notice that something was touching you that's causing you to wake up. And the place you can feel it on was your head, your hair to be more precise. As you continue to regain consciousness to determine that feeling, it felt like someone was ruffling your hair since you can tell there was a hand and fingers running through your hair. Even though you're still not fully awake, you could hear some voices that were right next to you. "Awww! He's so cute." One of the voices said. "He's not as cute as Ray, but still very cute." "Are you sure we should be waking him up this way?" Another one of the voices said. "It feels rather creepy." "It's alright, Twilight." The previous voice said. "I've seen him fall asleep plenty of times whenever we stargaze at night. Just as long as he wakes up to people he knows, it'll be fine." With your last bit of consciousness coming back to you, you suddenly recognized those two voices. You then opened your eyes slowly to see what was going on. Those two voices came from the two girls who were looking down at you. It was Sunset and Twilight. "Anon, you are such a sleepyhead." Sunset giggles as she looks at you with an adored look on her face. "And you look so cute when you sleep." "Hi, Anon." Twilight says to you while smiling nervously. You noticed that the hand that was running through your hair was Sunset's hand. You then blushed as you realized this, causing you to get up back onto your feet quickly in embarrassment. You then look back at them with your blushing face as they both stand up as you did. Sunset giggles at your reaction while Twilight reacts with a rather apologetic-looking expression. "We're sorry for watching you sleep, Anon!" Twilight tells you in a worried panic. "We saw you were asleep, and we wanted to wake you up. But you looked so peaceful in your sleep that we worried about disturbing you in the middle of something pleasant you may have been dreaming about, and we didn't want to watch you sleep because that would have been creepy of us!" "And yet, you both did anyway." You said teasingly. Twilight groaned while swatting her forehead with her hand, indicating she was ashamed of herself. "Twilight, I was only kidding." You chuckled. "I had to be waked up anyway to avoid missing the party, so thanks for waking me up." Twilight then looked up at you with a relieved smile. "Sure thing, Anon." She says while nodding her head. You then smiled back at her to show there were no hard feelings from being woken up. As you looked at Sunset, you just remembered about her plan to keep you from being selected by Rainbow Dash in the Truth or Dare game. And you also wanted to discuss about keeping Sunset from being selected, too. You then leaned over to Sunset to whisper to her about who was going to help you two. "By the way, Sunset." You whispered into her ear. "You said you knew someone that could help us with your plan. Where is this person?" "That person is right here, Anon." She proudly said aloud as she pointed at Twilight. "Yep." Twilight says in a friendly tone. "Sunset and I have a plan to keep you from receiving Truth or Dare demands from Rainbow Dash." You smiled at both of them as you are touched at how you are once again being helped to avoid a bad situation that you would normally inevitably face. It really does show you how having friends really can make a difference in your life. "Thank you, you two." You say as you pull them both into a hug. "You both are really great friends. You two, as well as the others, really made such a difference in my life, and I can never thank you enough for all you've done." You give both Sunset and Twilight the same tight embrace you give to Sunset when you give her hugs. "You're welcome, Anon." They both say as they hug you back while also hugging each other. "Wow!" Twilight says in amazement. "You were right, Sunset. He really does give amazing hugs!" "Told ya." Sunset replies in a relaxed tone as she enjoys the hug. "Anon's hugs are more relaxing and refreshing than a hot tub." The three of you then separate and then look at each other in a refreshing state. "So." You say to your two friends. "Party time?" "Party time!" They respond to you. You pick up your stuff off of the lawn and then head to Pinkie's front door with Sunset and Twilight to have hopefully the greatest night of your life without it being ruined by anything bad, especially by Rainbow Dash's anxiety-inducing ideas for her opponents in Truth or Dare.