//------------------------------// // Stirrings // Story: School of Hard Knocks // by flutterdashforever //------------------------------// Rainbow was standing in the oval, watching Fluttershy. She sighed.She knew Pinkie was right; this was something she had to do. “You know, standing there isn't going to help much.” Rainbow jumped at the sudden interruption. She turned to see a nice looking girl with purple hair and a book clutched to her chest. She was a unicorn and, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice, she was also extremely cute, one might go so far as to say adorable. Rainbow thought for a moment, taking in the girl’s appearance. Then it clicked. “Ah, you would be the infamous Twilight Sparkle.” “I note your use of ‘would,’ with confusion. You state my identity as though it’s optional. While I might not, from your point of view, be Twilight Sparkle, you have stated that I would be and haven’t given me a circumstance in which I wouldn’t be, in other words, an incomplete sentence. To make it complete or correct you would have to either give a condition under which I wouldn’t be Twilight sparkle or drop the ‘would,’ from your sentence making it ‘Ah, I assume that you are the infamous Twilight Sparkle’.” Twilight flashed a winning smile. She didn’t actually make a habit of talking like this, but she had been spending increasing amounts of time with Pinkie, which was beginning to bring out her inner prankster. Whatever Twilight had been expecting, it wasn’t for Rainbow to think for a moment, then say, “True, but there are ways in which it could be correct. For example; if I were giving you a chance to present a circumstance under which you could not physically be Twilight, such as, if I had been told by someone that Twilight was a pegasus and had forgotten, then you could say, ‘Except that I have no wings and am, in fact, endowed with this rather spiffy horn,’ thus completing the sentence. If you chose to look at it that way then it is you who was in error, not me.” Rainbow flashed an even more winning smile. The two held their gaze locked for several long moments. After some time had passed, Rainbow, very slowly, extended a hand which the girl shook. “It’s very nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle.” The two girls burst out laughing. Rainbow fell to the grassy ground, tears of mirth leaking from her eyes. Twilight lay beside her, also wiping away tears of laughter. At last, she managed to sit up. “Ok, now I get why you’re such good friends with Pinkie.” Rainbow also sat up and brushed herself off. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this ever so grammatical of encounters?” “Pinkie told me about what happened.” “Ah, that would explain the whole ‘Standing there isn’t going to help,’ thing.” “Well it’s true.” “So what you’re telling me is that there is yet another student in this school who is not even the slightest bit hateful towards me for being gay?” Twilight snorted. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Look, I’m friends with Pinkie so I thought it was about time I met you. That’s not the real reason I came here, though. Pinkie also told me about Fluttershy’s little alcoholic resistance thingy.” As curious as she was about Fluttershy, something else in that sentence caught Rainbows attention. “Which are you the pot or the kettle?” “What’s that supposed to mean,” said Twilight, getting side-tracked. “Who is it, Derpy?” “I’m not sure I…” “Look, aside from Pinkie, I have the best gaydar you will ever encounter in your entire life. Not to mention that I can spot a girl with a crush a mile off. So go on, tell me, is it Derpy?" Twilight sighed deeply. “It’s not really important. I did some research in to the effects of alcohol and how your… friend… might be immune.” “And?” Rainbow asked. She knew Twilight was avoiding the question but she was just curious enough about Fluttershy to let it slide. “Fucked if I know,” said Twilight, cheerfully. "You mad?" She grinned, doing her best impression of a trollface. Rainbow snorted. “Well if you’re quite done correcting my grammar, telling me how to get a girlfriend and telling me you don’t have a clue why Fluttershy’s immune to alcohol, then perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I went and actually talked to her?” Twilight jumped lightly to her feet. “Ok, ttyl,” she said, brightly, before wandering away. Rainbow shook her head. She sighed when she saw that, while she had been talking, Fluttershy had wandered away. After a few minutes of searching, Rainbow found Fluttershy standing by a tree and gazing at a butterfly that had landed on her hand. “Hey Shy,” said Rainbow, nervously. Fluttershy turned and smiled worriedly. “Hey Rainbow, how are you?” “I’m fine. Look, we need to talk.” “Um, about what in particular?” “You know, the kiss. I shouldn’t have just blown it off.” Fluttershy blushed a deep scarlet. “Um, c-could we talk about this later? You know, when there aren’t so many people around. Perhaps I could come over to your place after school.” “No, that didn’t go so well last time. Remember I’ve still got a cupboard full of alcohol and now I have even more incentive to drink it.” She thought for a moment. “How about your house, I haven’t seen it yet and it seems only right. You’ve seen where I live after all.” “Um, alright, I guess.” Rainbow brightened. “Excellent. Well I’d say we’ve got-” she glanced at her watch which was not made of graphite, “-two classes left until school’s out. Shall we get going?” Despite herself, Fluttershy giggled at the way Rainbow offered her arm like a gentleman in an old TV show. The two linked arms and headed off towards class, skipping and singing quietly, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..." “Here it is,” said Fluttershy, motioning down to a nice looking house with a red tiled roof. Rainbow folded he wings and dropped fifteen feet to the ground, snapping her wings out at the last second to slow her decent. Even so, she was still traveling quite fast. When she hit the ground, she rolled to reduce the impact and sprang to her feet. Fluttershy landed lightly beside Rainbow. “Very stylish.” If it had been Pinkie saying it, it would have sounded like a jibe for showing off, but this was Fluttershy, sweet, genuine Fluttershy. Rainbow looked at the house she had landed in front of. “It’s nice.” Fluttershy led Rainbow inside and down a flight of stars. “Why is your room underground?” “When we moved in I asked if I could have this room, I don’t know why, I guess I just like it being sort of tucked away.” Rainbow nodded, absently. Before she let Rainbow in, Fluttershy said, nervously, “I’m sorry, I don’t often have people over and, um, it may be a bit of a mess and, uh, there might be some—” she was stopped by a finger pressed against her lips. Rainbow grinned and said, “Don’t worry, you should see my room.” She removed her hand from her friend’s face and walked inside. It was a large room, larger than was average for a downstairs room. Pressed against one wall was a queen sized bed, a mismatching set of blankets, pillow cases and doona covers laid out neatly. The bed sheet was a light, pleasant purple. On the left side of the bed was a night stand with a lamp, a small pile of books and other miscellaneous items piled on it haphazardly. In one corner was a cupboard with a full length mirror on the door. Rainbow grinned, this room simply screamed Fluttershy. Rainbow flopped down on the bed and motioned for Fluttershy to do the same. “This is nice.” “Yea, my parents took me shopping just after we moved in and I got to decorate it myself.” “That’s pretty cool, I’ll take it your parents are pretty wealthy then?” Fluttershy blushed slightly, aware of her friend’s current financial situation. “We… we’ve never really had to worry about money,” She said, evasively. Rainbow only snorted. “We should hang out in your room more often, it’s really cute.” There was a leaden pause, this was only putting off the inevitable and they both knew it. even so, Rainbow decided that she could stall a little longer. “How’s Derpy? I think her and Pinkie might have had a bit of a fight.” Fluttershy remembered comforting the sobbing girl and what she had said after her tears had dried. “Yes, something pretty huge has come between them.” “What is it?” Rainbow was a little perplexed, when she had spoken to Pinkie, the girl had seemed her usual bouncy self. “I don’t think it’s really my place to tell you,” she said, apologetically. “I don’t even really think I should know. You should ask Pinkie, though.” Rainbow nodded slowly, the subject was becoming even more unavoidable. She cleared her throat and tried. “Read any good books lately?” They were sitting very close to each other on the soft bed. Fluttershy glanced up before hurriedly returning her attention to her lap. More silence followed. At last, neather girl could take it any longer. “I really like you,” they both said in unison. Both sets of eyes widened. “You mean, like a crush?” Again, this was said in perfect time. “Yes, like a crush.” This was getting a little ridiculous. Throwing caution to the wind, Rainbow leaned in and lay a gentle, hesitant kiss on the girl’s lips. When Fluttershy didn’t immediately pull away, Rainbow leaned closer to strengthen the kiss. This time, there was no alcohol haze to dull the sensation. Rainbow’s heart lurched in her chest, her throat felt a little constricted and pleasant tingles shot through her whole body. The world seemed to stop and hold its breath as the two leaned closer and closer together. The sensation seemed to go on for an eternity. At last Rainbow pulled away and looked at Fluttershy. There was only time for one sheepish grin before Fluttershy leaned back in for another kiss. Time ceased to matter as the two drew closer, fingers tangling in hair, both girls getting blissfully lost in the ever tightening embrace. Neither one heard the door creak open but both leaped apart when a voice said, “Fluttershy, what the hell are you doing?” Derpy was standing in her kitchen. Laid out before her was a mixing bowl and all the ingredients to make a new kind of muffin that she had dreamed up just earlier that day. She sighed and allowed four tears to fall in to the mixing bowl. ‘Plop, plop, plop, plop.’ Next went the eggs, each one cracked slowly and with that little flick of the wrist that should never be used by a good baker. Derpy was so engrossed in making her muffins that she didn’t hear the door open, didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind her, and didn’t know anyone was in the room until the hands rested, ever so lightly, on her shoulders. “Hey Derpy.” ‘Plop, plop.’ As two more tears fell in to the mixing bowl. “Hey Pinkie.” Pinkie stepped around and picked up the piece of paper on which the recipe for the new muffins was written. She then began to add the next few ingredients and help with the stirring. “You know, one day you’re going to have to branch out and make something new. You could start out with baby steps by making cupcakes, I have some great recipes you could use.” “I don’t really like cupcakes.” “Look, I’m sorry.” As she spoke, Pinkie never stopped with the task at hand and never looked at the girl she was helping. “I-I shouldn’t have interfered, I should have just kept this to myself. I just thought you had a right to know.” “No, you were right; I have no right to stop you trying. For all I know, she might really like you. I just want her to be happy, and you of course.” The two were silent for a time. At last Derpy asked, as nonchalantly as she could, “So, are you planning on asking her out?” Pinkie smiled. “Ask who out, dear Derpy?” “Twilight Sparkle you silly.” “Now why would I ask Twilight out? That would rather get in the way of me setting you two up.” Derpy smiled and finally turned to face her exuberant friend. “Thank you Pinkie.” “Oh, come here you.” Pinkie pulled Derpy in to a tight hug. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” “It’s ok. I love you, Pinkie.” Pinkie Didn’t even have to think before replying “I love you too, Derpy.” She pulled away. “Friends?” Derpy nodded. “Friends.” Pinkie turned her attention back to the bench in front of her. “Well, now that that’s sorted out, could you tell me what these are meant to be? You’ve used no flavouring in so far as I can tell.” “Oh, that.” Derpy looked a little sheepish. “They were meant to taste of sad.” “I see, well that hardly seems appropriate.” Pinkie leaned over and made a few tweaks to the recipe. Derpy examined the new ingredients. “You are a sodding genius,” she said, after a moment. Pinkie nodded and the two set to work again, this time, knowing that, when the muffins came out of the oven, the only thing they would taste of was happy.