//------------------------------// // Fun with Magnetic Ponies. // Story: Magnetism! // by Souldin //------------------------------// Today marks the start of season 3 of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and as an additional treat I give you chapter 5 of Magnetism... everyone's going to be too busy watching the season premiere to read this chapter today aren't they. As per usual I would like to thank Ugugg93 for proof-reading this chapter. I would also like to thank Sidewayz2013 for helping with prank ideas for this chapter and as thanks he would like it very much if you would check out his pony art boards with the link ,though I have no idea what a longboard actually is. Chapter 5: Fun with Magnetic Ponies! A yawn was emitted from the unicorn’s mouth, and the pony muttered the last few words of her explanation, “…and that is why you have nothing to fear.” The location was the Golden Oaks Library—the residence of Twilight Sparkle and Spike—and the time was around seven in the morning. Currently, there were three ponies in the main room of the building, the baby dragon resident presently absent. The atmosphere was somewhat tense with Fluttershy fearful, Rainbow Dash protective, and Twilight, while not tired, was exasperated. “Yeeeeah... sure,” Rainbow Dash replied as she kept her wing extended out, shielding Fluttershy from her friend. “It’s a little hard to trust you when you were chasing and screaming at us just a few seconds ago.” “All I did was say hello and you two started to run away from me!” the still weary but less crazy Twilight Sparkle said. “Then, no matter how many times I asked you to stop, you kept on running away from me!” “We’re sorry Twilight; we shouldn’t have overreacted like that.” Fluttershy’s statement allowed Twilight to bear a small smile. “Umm... just to be careful though... you don’t have any knives with you right now... right?” Twilight’s smile disappeared, but she continued on undeterred, ignoring the pegasus' question, “Anyway, now that you two are here, and I’m a little more composed than I was the other day, I feel we should take advantage of this situation and experiment the effects of the bracelets.” “You already know what they do. They send me and Fluttershy flying into one another if we aren't touching.” “I know that, but we do not know the full extent of the bracelets' effects. There could be circumstances that prevent you from touching. What then?” Twilight’s question remained unanswered as she levitated a board of chipboard slightly larger than each pony in the room. “That is what we will be finding out today.” Rainbow Dash finally withdrew her wing, allowing Fluttershy to come into the scholar’s view, as well as allowing Fluttershy to step up beside Rainbow Dash. “Can we make it quick though? The two of us have to meet up with Pinkie Pie to dish out some pranks,” Dash asked, a question that caused Twilight to second guess what she had heard. “You and Pinkie Pie are going to be pulling pranks… with Fluttershy?” Fluttershy blushed and hung her head, though it was unknown if this was out of embarrassment or guilt for what she would be doing. “Oh yes. You see, Rainbow Dash had to go to the spa with me and Rarity yesterday so —” “Rainbow Dash went to the spa?!” Twilight yelled out in horror. “Yeah I did,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. However, after a few seconds, the moody expression softened slightly. “It was okay I guess; probably really boring if you go on your own though.” To this piece of news, Fluttershy danced and hollered with joy; in her head of course. “Speaking of yesterday, did either of you encounter Spike?” Twilight received nothing but shakes of heads from her two friends, but carried on anyway, “He came home looking very depressed and mumbling to himself, and when I went to check up on him later he was painting his scales pink.” Rainbow Dash suppressed a giggle, a good feeling that a certain party pony’s misguided belief that going from one place to another with a certain unicorn counted as a date was the cause behind it. However, instead of voicing this, she said, “Nope, not a clue.” “Huh. Very well then, let’s begin this experiment,” Twilight announced as a clap of thunder was heard from outside; more than likely the handiwork of a certain wall-eyed pegasus. “All you need to do is walk away from one another and I will place this chipboard between you, thus stopping either of you from coming into contact with one another.” Her test subjects/friends obeyed, taking a few nervous steps away from one another. Twilight lifted the piece of wood between them and locked it in place with her telekinetic magic. The two pegasi were now a few small steps away from each other. Eventually, five seconds passed and the bracelets activated. As per the norm, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went rigid, their ill at ease faces showing how discomforting the sudden freezing of every muscle in their body was. The two were then surrounded and lifted off the ground by a faint magical force from the bracelets. Then, the force flung them in each other’s direction at instantaneously fast speeds, only for them to collide with the pre-set chipboard instead. “It’s a success!” Twilight cheered with glee, clopping her hooves together in elation. “If it’s a success,” Rainbow said through gritted teeth, “why are we still frozen?” Twilight looked to her experiment once more to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy not touching as she wanted. The chipboard was blocking their contact from one another like she wanted, but instead of showing her smiles, they showed grimaces. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash remained afloat, the mystical force still trying to force them against one another, pressing their bodies and faces firmly and harshly against the wood. “I… um... ow... think we’re being pushed harder,” Fluttershy squeaked out, though some of the words spilled from her mouth unclearly due to her flattened cheek pressed against the wood. The chipboard strained against the two ponies, and Twilight’s now unearthed worry grew upon hearing a crack. With a swiftness that came only from acting without thinking, Twilight used her magic to teleport the chipboard away, allowing the bracelets' natural process of slamming two ponies against each other very hard to finally proceed. “I'm so sorry; I really thought that would work,” Twilight apologised as she scampered on up to her winded friends. Twilight inspected her friends, trying to see the potential damage they may have suffered, but other than being more baffled from the head-to-head impact, they seemed to be alright. Twilight began to analyse her little experiment in her horned head as she waited for her flight able friends to recover, a hoof outstretched in advance to pull them up. This offer went untaken though, as when the aching in the two pegasus heads dulled down, they decided to remain sitting where they were. “That was certainly a bust,” Dash complained as she rubbed her sore head. “Well, we at least learned what happens when something gets between you two and the force of the bracelets,” Twilight added with a nervous laugh. Rainbow Dash seemed to find Twilight’s optimistic approach ill worded, for she chose to briefly glare at her friend as she continued to press her cyan hoof to her rainbow-mane head. “Yeah, that’s enough from me today. C’mon Fluttershy, it’s time we get to pranking.” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash clumsily made their way to the exit as Twilight called out to them, “But we have many more experiments to conduct!” “Those can wait ‘til tomorrow,” Rainbow Dash disinterestedly replied without looking back. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t having any arguing today though; she was still tired, still irritable, and still concerned for her friends. They were going to have her help them whether they wanted to or not. Twilight magically lifted a long reel of rope from a storage cupboard within the library, and sent it towards the pegasi. In seconds the two were on the floor with their legs and wings tied up. Rainbow Dash was going to begin yelling obscenities to her magically gifted friend, but found herself saying something completely different. “Fluttershy, why are you smiling?” “Don’t tell her you like being tied up, don’t tell her you like being tied up,” Fluttershy thought to herself as she looked to the pony she was tied together with and broadened her smile. “I love being tied up.” Silence descended on the room. Twilight stopped trotting towards her friends, Rainbow Dash did not say anything more, and Fluttershy stopped even breathing. Twilight had learnt of one of Fluttershy’s fetishes, Rainbow Dash had learnt of Fluttershy’s strange hobby, and Fluttershy was internally screaming at her slip of the tongue. Twilight decided to untie her two friends, and with no explanation for it, announced, “I think I’ll let you two go now... we’ll... we'll save the other tests for tomorrow.” Ponyville, despite boasting a fair number of unicorns and pegasi, was predominantly an earth pony town, and as such, was an earth pony town by design. As the town was designed for Earth ponies, the availability of the pegasus-preferred cloud-built structures were few in number, and all were positioned just on the outskirts of the town. It was one of these few cloud homes that a pair of pegasi, one carrying the other, and an earth pony pedalling a flying bicycle were heading towards. “But... but surely they’ll be awake by now,” Fluttershy complained, focusing intently on trying to avoid what the trio of friends were about to do, it being her only distraction from the accursed thoughts of the perfectly toned blue-coated body she was pressed against. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, these two always sleep in on the weekends,” Pinkie Pie whispered as she pedalled by the side of the two pegasi. “How do you know that?” “’Cause Cloudchaser is always rocking out to some song ‘til midnight,” Rainbow Dash piped in, “and Flitter can’t sleep because of the music each night.” The porch of the airborne home ahead, Rainbow Dash landed as quietly as a pegasus laden another pegasus could. Dash let Fluttershy down to the cloudy surface and the two walked on side-by-side. While Pinkie remained on her vehicle, they travelled around to the backdoor of the house to check to see if it was open. Obviously, said backdoor was locked, and Fluttershy brightened at the thought that they would not be able to prank the two ponies inside. Fluttershy feigned disappointment as she proclaimed, “Oh no, it’s locked. I guess we will have to go home now.” It was then that the backdoor opened, and Pinkie Pie greeted her two friends from inside the house, “Hi!” “Pinkie? But…” Fluttershy turned to where Pinkie Pie was previously to find the party pony’s copter-bike still afloat with wheels still turning and pedals still going, but no Pinkie Pie upon it, “H-how did you…?” “It’s Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash whispered to her confused friend as they both ventured into the house after the silently hopping pink pony. The trio made their way through the structure, it having plenty in space, but lacking in furniture. This was surprisingly common for cloud houses. It was not because the furniture would just crash to the ground, cloud “walking” enchantments on pegasi furniture commonplace, but more so from the stigma of sheer weight often being a problem in the past. While such an issue wasn’t nearly as common, furniture made to be much lighter nowadays, many pegasi still feared overloading their house until it crashed into the ground. Then again, with clouds all around them in the sky, many also saw no real reason in having solid pieces of furniture anyway. Despite its spaciousness, it was also a small building and so it did not take long for the three to find the residents of the house bedrooms, conveniently on opposite sides of the same hallway. “Okay Fluttershy, can you get out the comb and scissors for me?” Fluttershy visibly perked up at Dash’s request, and retrieved the barber tools from the satchel she had been designated to carry. “Yes I did. I’m so happy you’re allowing me to play with your mane, but are you sure you wanted me to bring scissors? I don’t think I could cut a strand of your lovely mane. ” Fluttershy’s smile faded upon seeing her two friends both grinning, the mare just now understanding what the tools had been brought for. Rainbow Dash placed a leg around her buddy’s shoulders as she said, “Good Fluttershy, your pranking debut begins now. Who knows, you may even enjoy it.” “Then you will become one of us,” Pinkie softly began to chant, “One of us, one of us, one of us…” Flitter, after the usual restless weekend night of trying to sleep through the sounds of pounding rock music, finally groggily awoke, the sounds of chattering birds filling her ears. As per usual she had a headache, as per usual she yawned drowsily, and as per usual she got out of her bed to make her way to the bathroom in order to freshen up. Pushing open her door and making her way into her house’s hallway, she came face to face with her sister’s bedroom door, scowled at it, and then headed off to the bathroom further down the hallway. Also accompanying her Saturday and Sunday morning routine were her usual complaints. “Darn it, sis, every time, no matter how many times I tell you to quieten it down…” She soon transitioned from the spongy cloud floor of the hallway to the cold and smooth enchanted tile of the bathroom. The pale grey pegasus trotted on each tile with the sound of birds in her head, and went to look at herself in the mirror, fully intent on beginning her usual morning routine of sorting out her bed-mane. She was exceptionally bad at getting one after a terrible night's sleep, and much to her misfortune, bad-night sleeps were frequent for her. Thus, she looked to the room’s large hanging mirror, dreading the work she would have to put in to sort her mane this morning. Flitter screamed. A few seconds later, the closed door of the bathroom flew open as Flitter’s suddenly awoken sister, Cloudchaser, barged in. “Flitter! What’s the... oh…” Cloudchaser noticed the reason for her twin’s screams instantly; Flitter’s mane. Now Cloudchaser was used to seeing her sister’s mane in a bad state, so common was it that the rock-loving pegasus had also gotten used to waiting for nearly an hour as her sister managed her mane in the morning. However, today was different. For starters, Flitter’s light opal mane looked like a bird’s nest, literally—it was bowl shaped, twigs were sticking out of it and it also had birds nesting in it to boot. A horrified Flitter turned to her sister for comfort, only to intensify he screams instead. “What, what!?” Cloudchaser shouted out in panic, and then looked to her own mane. Like her sister, Cloudchaser’s cerulean spiked mane had been shaped into a bird’s nest, which was also being happily occupied. One bird from her nest-mane saw one of the birds from Flitter’s mane-nest, and the two decided to wave hello to one another. As panicked shouts and avian squawks blasted out of the cloud home of the pegasi twins, two ponies a short distance away erupted with laughter. The third pony crushed any desire to laugh, and instead concentrated on holding onto the whooping and hollering pegasus she was being carried by. “The only drawback to pranking these two in their house is that we can’t see their reactions.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, each chuckle causing her carried friend to bob up and down. “Yup! We have to make sure we can see the results next time.” Pinkie Pie giggled as thoughts of X-ray vision, drills, and parties involving both devices filled her head. “Shouldn’t we stop now? I mean, we’ve already caused these two ponies so much trouble.” “Minor inconvenience. We caused them a minor inconvenience and it was fun,” Dash commented as a toothy grin overtook the entirety of her face. “Besides, with your command of animals, just think of all the mayhem we can cause.” With this said, the two pranksters bellows of joy turned to cackles of evil. Their smiles of happiness turned to sneers of intent, and thoughts of all the pranks they could do with animal assistance arose in their heads. Fluttershy could only whimper at what was to come. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. These were the sounds all of the clocks were making as their pendulums swung in the clock store. The hourglass cutie-marked stallion at the counter was used to the noise; the normal clock sounds reminded him that nothing was wrong with them and he was doing his job right. They also reminded him that with nothing wrong with any of the clocks he had nothing to do, and as such, they reminded him of boredom. “I have too much time on my hooves,” Time Turner murmured to himself as he rested his head on his store’s counter. Soon, Time Turner found himself lost in thought and sleep fast approaching. What stopped him from falling asleep was various sounds skittering sounds that no clock in his store made. This meant there was a problem with one of the clocks; this meant he had something to. Ponyville’s resident clock maker and manager of all things timey-wimey rose up, and turned to the source of the noise, finding something on his desk as he did so. An apple. Time Turner let out a debatably appropriate response to the suddenly appearing fruit; he screamed. He also tried to move away from the small red fruit, but tripped over his own hooves, finding himself falling over. When the stallion had sorted himself out and regained his balance, he looked to the fruit, and approached it. Closer and closer to the apple he got, and as he did a young southern voice rang in his head. “Care ta buy some apples?” He flinched, cringed even at the bothersome memory. Regardless of his embarrassing fear of apples, Time Turner reasoned that suddenly appearing apples should naturally be regarded with suspicion. From this suspicion, the wisest thing to do, ignoring personal circumstances would naturally be to throw the fruit away. With that thought, he hesitantly picked up the apple and tossed it in the waste bin behind his counter. Then, he heard the skittering sound once more. Confused, Time Turner looked to the front of his store where the sound came from and saw a small object rolling by the front door. Following the course of curiosity he made his way to the object to find out what it was. Gasping with shock he found it to be another apple. “What in Equestria…” The clockmaker looked to this fruit with even greater worry than he did the last, though you would be too if a fruit you happen to have a fear of kept on appearing out of nowhere. He did not let this bother him for long, for while this was strange, he was no stranger to strange things, and all he had to do was pick up the apple and throw it into the waste bin as well. This is what he went to do as picked up the apple and turned towards his desk, only to have the apple fall from his teethed grip, for on his desk was another apple. “Heh heh heh,” Time Turner laughed to himself, attempting to giggle away his fears. Then, more apples rolled into the room. From every doorway, from small mouse holes and even from the Cuckoo Clocks, there were apples. Time Turner was surrounded by spontaneous apples. “Buy some apples, buy some apples, buy some apples…” “No! No! Nooooooooo!” Screamed the stallion as he ran as best he could from the apples that began to fill the room. As several of the apples began to roll out after their victim, one did not. A small dormouse popped out from behind the remaining apple, looked to the window and gave a teeny “A” for victory with his paws to the three ponies watching from outside. “Bwahahaha!” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie roared with laughter, collapsing to the grassy ground in hysterics. Fluttershy could only watch and feel mortified as she suppressed the desire to laugh from deep down in her. “T-that was wrong; making him scared like that.” “No need to worry, nothing bad happened at all… though you did lose five points of karma.” “What!?” “Ha, soon you’ll have two little horns sprouting from your head.” Just like before, Fluttershy could only whimper. Throughout the day, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie put forth their various schemed pranks, and took full advantage of Fluttershy and her entourage of animals. Mayor Mare found crickets leaping out of ink pots and attempting to sign official documents. Berry Punch’s attempt to quit alcohol came to an end when she found a snake and a rat playing noughts and crosses with one another. The flower girl trio—Daily, Lily, and Roseluck—were always easy to scare, and so a bear jumping out of a fruit stand not only got them going wild, but nearly caused three fatal cases of cardiac arrest. After those few pranks, the day was well into mid-afternoon, and so with time running low, they began to plan the final planned prank for the day. The setting was the park. On such a fine Sunday there were ponies galore taking in the peace and beauty of the nature all around them. One such pony was seated in an unusually non-pony like manner besides her pony-like seated marefriend. As for said pony-seated pony, she was noticing the many foals free from school bouncing about the park with joy and decided to comment on this, “Lyra, don’t they look adorable.” Lyra, the unusually seated unicorn replied apprehensively to the earth pony, Bon Bon, “…Yeah?” “Well, I’d like to have a f—” “Sandwiches!” Lyra yelled out to derail Bon Bon’s train of thought. “Huh?” “Sandwiches are… uh... really hard to hold with hooves…” Bon Bon was silent at first to her lover’s outburst and chose to simply nod. “Uh huh. Well, as I was saying, I think we should adop—” “With hands! Sandwiches would be easier to hold with hands!” Lyra once again interrupted. An irritated Bon Bon waited for but a few seconds before trying to speak once more, only for Lyra to blurt out, “Do you think it would be easier to hold rolls or buns with hands?” Bon Bon looked un-amused at her sitting companion, who in turn grinned broadly in a horrible attempt to look innocent. Fearing that the love of her life was going to talk about ‘foals’ and ‘adoption’ once more, Lyra began mentally praying to her goddess Bonnie Zacherle and her messenger Megan that a distraction would soon come. As distant voices approached, and recognising the two voices, Lyra knew her prayers had been answered. “Hey look, there’s Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!” yelled the musician as the two chatting ponies walked side-by-side in their direction. “There are tons of rumours about them and you love confirming rumours so... uh... let’s go confirm rumours!” Bon Bon’s attention was drawn to the approaching duo as Lyra eagerly got down on all fours and dragged Bon Bon towards them. As the confirmed couple made their way towards the rumoured couple, they could pick up on bits and pieces of the pegasi’s conversation, as if it were directed towards them. “I wasn’t just imagining things, you saw it too right?” “Y-yeah, I did see it… by the lake, yes?” Fluttershy stuttered, but upon noticing the two approaching ponies she turned to them with a forced grin. “Hello! Lyra. Bon Bon.” Bon Bon wasted no time in greeting the two. Seeing the two of them so close together in what was clearly a lovey-dovey sort of way got her mind churning out questions and scenarios at Sonic Rainboom speeds. “Well, well! Congratulations, Fluttershy. Looks like you finally caught one.” Fluttershy’s transition from yellow to red was immediate, and before she even had a chance to protest, Lyra had gone up to Rainbow Dash and said, “Yeah, welcome to the club Rainbow Dash, I kind of figured you swung that way though considering your mane and all.” “Wha?” Bon Bon then eyed up the mystic bracelets both pegasus shared, “Oooh, tying the knot already? That’s the way to do it, Fluttershy, ensure there’s no escape .” “You poor unfortunate soul.” Lyra’s comment towards Rainbow Dash earned her a jab in the ribs from Bon Bon, the comments serving only to make Fluttershy blush more and Rainbow Dash even more confused. Dash stopped trying to work out what the conversation was about, putting it down as Lyra being a bit of a weirdo, and decided to carry on as planned, “Ooookay, so you two, did you see that thing in Ponyville’s lake?” Lyra and Bon Bon shook their heads, and a suddenly eager Fluttershy added, “Oh yes, I had never seen anything like it. It looked like it was half-fish, half-pony.” “Seapony!” Lyra shouted in excitement. She grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders and asked, “Was it a seapony? Was it!?” Rainbow Dash moved between the two, forcing Lyra to back away from Fluttershy and added, “Could be, could be.” “C’mon Bon Bon, we’ve got to see this!” Lyra continued to shout with enthusiasm as she ran off in the direction of the lake, dragging her wife along for the ride. As the two began to disappear from view Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, no longer having to bare a conversation of misunderstandings. Of course Bon Bon had to call back, “Be sure to invite us to the wedding !” “Wedding? What in Equestria is that mare on about?” The puzzled pegasus pondered aloud, unaware of her frantic flustered friend who was noticing the well-populated park pouring with ponies in earshot of Bon Bon’s last comment. Ultimately, Rainbow Dash decided that their comment couldn’t have been too important, and even if it was she’d figure it out later. What was important was making sure she witnessed this prank. In order to beat the excited mare to their destination, the racing pegasus scooped Fluttershy off her hooves and took to the sky. As they made their way to the lake, Fluttershy worried about what had occurred as well as Rainbow Dash sweeping her up bridal-style in front of several park attending ponies. Such troubling thoughts continued to pester the canary yellow pegasus even as Rainbow Dash landed amongst the bushes and placed her down in view of anypony arriving at the lake. It did not take long for the two ponies they had been expecting to arrive at the lake. To their good fortune, the bushes obscured them from sight as Lyra frantically looked a round the body of water for a sight of the seapony and Bon Bon waited patiently. Rainbow Dash felt uncomfortable with the silence between them, and so decided to try and bring up a topic, any topic. “Fluttershy. Lyra and Bon Bon are really close friends aren’t they? There always hanging out together and such.” Fluttershy did not respond immediately as she pondered what to say. Eventually, however, the words came to her. “Well… they aren’t really friends but lovers… a couple.” “Oh,” Dash murmured, her brows arching slightly. “I didn’t know mares could… y’know… love other mares. Is that common?” “It’s not exactly encouraged but there are plenty of mares who like mares… like that.” “Hmmm…” The silence before was a natural one; now it felt uncomfortable. Dash had wanted a topic to talk about but this one felt heavier, more serious than she was expecting, and she had no idea what to say next. This was not exactly the sort she was used to thinking about. “I like mares too.” Dash’s eyes widened in surprise and she turned to her withdrawing friend. Fluttershy seemed to regret her sudden confession, but continued on talking as the best she could do is explain herself, “I-I... as in I... l-love mares, and well... um… eep.” Awkward looks between them, Rainbow Dash was again unsure what to say what with lacking an opinion on the topic, and so settled for saying what she thought was good enough. “Well, nothing wrong with that, good for you .” Fluttershy smiled to this, and Rainbow Dash felt that her response had been the correct response. Rainbow Dash tried to think of something else to say, to continue the conversation, but the activities of Lyra and Bon Bon in the clearing before her distracted her, and her focus soon turned towards the developing scene. “Where’s the seapony?” Lyra wailed, and the two pegasus looked to the clearing to see that the unicorn had fallen to the ground in defeat. “I’m pretty sure Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash must have been seeing things,” Bon Bon explained, as she idled herself with a longing to go back to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to discuss the couple’s relationship some more. The mythology enthusiast lowered her head and slowly began to trot back to her marefriend. “Shoo be doo shoo shoo be doo! ” The musical voice from the lake brushed against the unicorn’s ears, a thrilling tingle running up her spine. She spun around to the lake and saw a figure off in the distance. It was something—somepony—in the water singing. It was a pink mare with her wet mane drooped across her face, splashing the water with her sleek-bodied tail. “Seapony!” Lyra rang her battle cry as she leaped into the lake. Lyra swam on up to the seapony as quick as she could, but by the time she got close, the aquatic pony of myth had dived back under the water. It did not remain under the water for long as the seapony popped back out from under the water a good distance away from Lyra, and waved to her. Of course, Lyra again swam towards the mystical creature, who in turn dove back under the water, and again, popped out far away again, and waved. “Come back here seapony! We’re going to be best friends forever and ever!” In the bushes watching this cycle repeat itself were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, the former unable to contain her laughter any longer, “Bwahahaha!” “Heehee.” Rainbow Dash stopped her chuckling despite how funny the chase before her was, and instead turned to a Fluttershy with both hooves clamped over the pony’s mouth. Rainbow smirked. “Did... did you just laugh, Fluttershy?” “N-no.” Fluttershy squeaked while her hooves remained clamped to her mouth which, along with the rhythmic rising of her chest, seemed to say otherwise. “Now Fluttershy, it’s not good to suppress your feelings,” the prankster warned her friend as she pounced on top of her, pinning her against the foliage. “Let me help you release those feelings .” “Wha-what do you—” “Tickle attack!” Amidst the bushes, Rainbow Dash had her way with Fluttershy , tickling the pony to her heart's content. There was no way for the yellow pony to suppress her laughter anymore, and along with pleas to stop came laughter. This was accompanied by Dash’s own show of joy and the two soon laughed merrily together. The giggles eventually died down and when it slowly came to an end Fluttershy realised their current position. Fluttershy had her back flat against the grass while Rainbow Dash leaned over her, sincere pink eyes gazing into her own and a sweet smile reflected towards her. A sweet smile formed by sweet lips. Rainbow Dash looked on innocently as Fluttershy slowly lifted her head up. .. “No body.” ...lips pursed together as she approached Rainbow’s soft lips... “Stop.” ...and Fluttershy’s nuzzle bumped into Dash’s, who had yet to move or notice anything strange about this. Fluttershy leaned in closer, her lips just millimetres from Rainbow’s... “Body stop now!” “Hi guys, am I interrupting something? ” Fluttershy stopped herself, pushed her head back to the ground and turned, to Pinkie Pie and the seal. Likewise Rainbow Dash blinked twice before shaking her head and looking over to the pony and animal who has entered into the bushy hiding place. “Nah, I was just having a bit of fun with Fluttershy here.” Dash’s announcement seemed to cause both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s seal to grin broadly. “We finally got her to laugh Pinkie! She laughed at the prank!” Pinkie’s grin turned into a larger toothy smile as she peppily said, “Really, the fun of pranks has swayed you to our side now, Fluttershy, and you will never be able to escape it. Never!” Fluttershy did not reply to this as she slid out from underneath Rainbow Dash and, as if to distract her from admitting her laugh at misdeeds, went on over to her seal to praised him. “You did a marvellous job, thank you for helping.” The seal seemed pretty content as his caretaker hugged him, and with some quick goodbyes he left the trio and made his way home. The trio in turn decided to sneak away from their hiding spot, giving one last look back to the lake where a unicorn was still frantically looking for the seapony. “Looks like Lyra’s gotten Bon Bon searching now.” Rainbow giggled as the two, possibly even three, pranksters walked away from the fun. “W-well I’m glad that it’s all over now, no more pranking anymore.” “Uh uh! I just thought of one last prank to pull.” Fluttershy looked to Pinkie Pie sombrely. “We do?” “Yep, and you’re sure to like it because...“ Pinkie Pie then leaned over to Fluttershy and whispered the rest in her ear. Fluttershy perked up, waddled backwards with a blush, and protested, “N-no, I can’t that, we can’t do that.” “Oh, but it will be fun. You want to do one more prank for the day don’t you Dashie?” Pinkie Pie asked her fellow prankster. Said prankster went to answer, but Fluttershy continued her protests, this time directed towards Rainbow, “Oh please, please say no. I don’t want to do this prank, even more than the others.” Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy, then to Pinkie Pie, and back and forth between the two, until she reached a decision. Applejack weaved in and out of the apple trees at a snail's pace, careful observing the orchard as she walked. A pony had to be slow and steady when inspecting the apple trees as to ensure no problems were present with the apples, leaves, bark, or exposed roots. However, the pace Applejack was going was even slower than what was necessary for such a task, not to mention this was her second time inspecting them so far today. All her chores had been done, and only the late night tasks remained ahead. Of course, considering it was still a few hours until nightfall, she found herself left with nothing to do. Well... that was not entirely true, for she desperately wanted to visit a particular friend in town. Recent events though meant she could only visit her friend—and also enter Ponyville—under the blanket of night. As of late, Applejack had been seeing and hearing things about many of her closest friends, and she was desperately in need of information to bring clarity to the situation. One of these was the ludicrous notion that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were dating, while the other was the equally ludicrous notion that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were dating. For the first, Applejack had only a few things of “hear-say” accounts from her siblings to go on, and their sources were questionable at best. For the latter, she had witnessed plenty to prove her point, but she needed to confirm all this with a friend; Twilight Sparkle. However, because of the intimate nature of the two rumours, confirming the authenticity of the gossip required quite a bit of trepidation, for such life changing revelations were something the cowpony expected to have been notified of well before each pair actually committed, especially concerning her pegasi friends. All she had to do was get to town, and hopefully nopony would delay her. Once all the ponies went to their beds to rest though, it would be safe, and Applejack could visit her knowledgeable friend, Twilight, and finally confirm the things she had heard and seen. Sadly, there was still plenty of light left in the day, so she wandered the fields until the time came when she could see her friend. Therefore, she did her best to busy herself with repeating already accomplished chores. Then the apple pony heard giggling. “A-are you sure we should be doing this, here?” Applejack wasn’t going to make a mistake like she did last time; she knew this voice belonged to Fluttershy. “Of course. It’s far away from other ponies eyes and ears, so nopony will see us doing our own little… ‘bucking’.” It sounded a little off, but Applejack knew this was Rainbow Dash and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The cowpony decided to trot in the direction of the voices, heading towards a ring of apple trees that worked well to hide away anypony they needed to, or two ponies in this case. “ Okay then, but can I be on top this time? You're always on top.” Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing Fluttershy saying. “Fine, fine, but try and be a little rougher, I promise I can handle it.” Applejack turned as red as the apples on her trees from everything she was hearing. With more things said and several sounds of giggles, rolls, and even moans, the earth pony felt herself stop outside the ring of trees. She couldn’t see the two ponies inside, and with all that was just said she wasn't sure that she wanted to know what they were doing. Well, she knew what they were doing, but she was definitely sure she didn't want to see what they were doing. Applejack turned round; ready to walk off, when the conversation changed. “Oh my, but what if Apple Bloom sees us?” “Heh... don’t worry; she can watch.” Applejack leaped into the ring bellowing, “Wha’areyousayin’whywouldyousaytha’Ahoughta...” She trailed off for a moment, before yelling again. “Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie Pie grinned at her fellow earth pony before exploding into chortles, and then hacking and coughing. “Golly is Dashie’s voice hard to do. Fluttershy’s is easy-peasy, like we have the same voice easy, but Dashie’s... wow! My throat's sore,” Pinkie blurted out after her rough spout of coughing. Applejack currently looked dumbfounded as she tried to process the situation, soon muttering her question, “W-where is Rainbow Dash? An’ Fluttershy?” “Oh my, right here,” Fluttershy voice said, though it was from Pinkie Pie’s lips that the words came, “And I’m not even going to try and do Rainbow’s voice again, but that was me too.” “W-why…?” “'Cause it’s a brilliant prank but Fluttershy didn’t want to do it and Rainbow Dash said that she wasn’t going to do it if it made Fluttershy so uncomfortable and so I had to do it myself and boy from the look on your face it was well worth it.” Pinkie Pie resumed her stream of laughter, rolling on the ground with delight while Applejack continued to absorb the information of what had occurred. In doing so, her thoughts went to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and the question that she had been preparing for her more studious friend came to the forefront of her mind. “Ah guess Ah could ask Pinkie; she was spendin’ yesterday with the two an' Rare on a date.” Applejack briefly mulled over this option before nodding her head. “Pinkie.” Pinkie Pie turned to her friend who asked hesitantly, “Ah was wonderin’. Are Rainbow and Fluttershy, are they... uh... fillyfoolers?” Pinkie stopped her giggles, and in thinking of what she had been asked, frowned, “Fillyfoolers? Is there something wrong with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash being lovey-dovey?” “N-no there ain't… well... Ah guess there is one or two things, like how Ah wasn’ told or how… open, they are bein’ in public, and Ah just... Ah dunno... but it makes me feel uncomfortable.” “Uncomfortable? How can two ponies loving each other make you feel uncomfortable?” The pink pony tilted her head as if she was trying to look at things from another angle, but her confused expression remained upon her face. Applejack seemed to be stumped on this as she struggled to work out how she would convey her words. “It... it kinda jus’ does, for me at least. Ah guess Ah’ve always felt comfortable with ponies gettin’ together to have families and fouls, but when it’s two mares or two stallions there’s... y’know... no foals.” “Ooh, because stallions have those worm thingies which they stick into —” “Ah know Pinkie, no need to explain it.” After this interruption, Applejack continued to ponder her wording before continuing her explanation, “Ah think tha’s why Ah find it strange—ponies lovin’ each other, but never havin’ a little one—but Ah really can’t say it’s all true. It jus’ comes down to findin' it weird.” Pinkie Pie's eyes began spinning round in circles from the confusion. This was accompanied by silence from the usually talkative pony, and Applejack realised she needed a better, more comparative way to explain things. “It’s like how ya don’t like ponies puttin’ sprinkles on vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry ice cream.” Pinkie perked up immediately. “Nopony must put sprinkles on the holy trinity of ice cream!” “Yeah, like that. You understand what Ah’m sayin’?” Pinkie tapped her chinny-chin-chin before replying, “I think you’re a silly pony but yup, I get it. Wait! D-does that mean you don’t like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash being all lovey-dovey?” “No. Ah mean yes! Ah mean no, but yes. Ah’m ‘kay with them bein’ a couple an all—love’s love—Ah just don’t need to be reminded of them bein’ fil... Ah mean lesbimares all tha’ time. Ah mean, Ah saw ‘em come out the toilets havin’ been lovemakin’ with each other.” “Really? I thought they went to the toilets together because Fluttershy needed to go to the bathroom but can’t go on her own because she and Rainbow Dash have been forced together by ancient bracelets that don’t allow the wearers to separate for more than five seconds and must constantly be in physical contact with each other… but woo-hoo! I can finally throw a happy couple party!” Pinkie Pie’s rapid no stopping, no breath taken speech left her gasping for air and Applejack stunned. “Wait one second; ya mean to say tha' those two ain't a couple, but tha' some fancy magic thing has stuck them together.” “Of course, though Fluttershy clearly has the hots for Dashie, but Dashie is totally clueless. It’s really, really funny,” answered the grinning mare as she snickered at all the hilariously obvious moments between the two. Applejack sat down, exhausted at all the information she was taking in, and removed her Stetson. “Ya know a lot more ‘bout this kind of thin’ than Ah expect ya would. Ah always though’ you were more innocent.” “Please, I haven’t been innocent since I walked in on Mr and Mrs Cake playing twister… but it wasn’t twister!” Pinkie explained followed by a short second of silence. “Which reminds me of that traumatising event.” With all that said Pinkie Pie suddenly collapsed to the ground, curled up into a ball, and started sobbing to herself. Applejack was unsure what to do. At first, she was unsure whether Pinkie was playing along with what she had just said or was actually traumatised by the experience, and in either case she was unsure what to say. Eventually she decided to try and comfort her friend. “Look, Pinkie, Ah’m sure it—” “It was the size of my head!” Pinkie wailed and all words that were about leave Applejack’s mouth came to a halt. “Pinkie Pie!” a voice in the distance called out. Pinkie stopped her wailing and Applejack stopped her blushing as both ponies turned to the setting sun, and spotted a pony charging towards them. “Hi Rarity! Did you like my little prank? I told everypony we were going on a date and everypony believed—” Pinkie Pie’s words came to a halt as Rarity tackled her. Angel wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead, grabbed a hold of a cigarette, and lit one up to celebrate. As he relaxed with a smoke break, he looked at what he had sorted out—a simple means to get rid of the attention-hogging dolt, but it’d suffice. As he puffed a few clouds of smoke, he thought back on how much easier it used to be, for what had taken him almost a day used to only take him a few hours at most. Despite the smell of smoke now produced in the air, Angel managed to smell out his owner and his victim nearby, and so immediately took off to find them. It did not take long, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were walking the path back home; together of course. The duo noticed the approaching rabbit, and for once both ponies had matching looks of disappointment. “Angel Bunny! I’ve told you before that you’re not allowed to smoke!” Fluttershy had begun to scold her beloved pet, but was oddly enough handed the cigarette without protest. Angel’s attention was more on Rainbow Dash as he tapped one of her legs, bringing her attention to him. Angel started some motions, running on the spot and mouthing a few words with a cocky grin, and then ran off. For once his actions were understood immediately by the athlete, who could tell exactly what Angel had just told her. ‘You’re too slow.’ “We’ll see about that!” Dash yelled as she unfolded her wings and ran on after the speedy little critter. Fluttershy grabbed hold of Dash’s multi-coloured tail, not only to keep in contact with Rainbow Dash, but also to try and stop her from chasing after her pet. Alas, it didn’t work. It did not take long for Rainbow Dash to catch up to Angel Bunny, who now stood waiting for the speedy pegasus. Dash slowed to a walk, but the sudden speedy pursuit caused Fluttershy to be left far behind Rainbow Dash, who continued to approach the rabbit. “ You think I'm too slow? Well, I’m going to give you a piece of my—” Rainbow Dash did not finish her sentence. Rather, her sentence became a scream as she was launched flying into the air at great speeds over the Everfree forest by a well camouflaged catapult. Fluttershy witnessed this in horror, and slowly walked over to her smug bunny rabbit. “No! Angel Bunny, what did you do!?” Angel smiled and pumped a paw. “Win, of course.” “Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Angel Bunny, now the bracelets are going to—” Fluttershy’s nervous worries were confirmed by what she had been dreading. Fluttershy’s body froze, and with her wings folded to her side, she levitated off the ground and was then catapulted by magical means in the direction of the catapulted Rainbow Dash. As Angel witnessed his owner being flung through the skies sideways, smashing into a reversing Rainbow Dash, and crashing down into the Everfree forest, Angel had only one thought. “Well £*&%!” Important Information: While I hope to get the next chapter of Magnetism uploaded within two weeks’ time, on either the 24th or 25th, I also do not want to rush the chapter and risk damaging its quality. As such, if you find that chapter 6 has not been uploaded on the 24th or 25th then expects to see it from anytime between then and 2nd of December, I will be sure to not take any longer than that. For more information be sure to check out my profile blog which updates each weekend.