“Never gonna give you up,” sang Twilight as she walked through the halls of Omnas Mannis. “Never gonna let you down.” People groaned as she walked past, sticking the song irreparably in their brains. “Never gonna run around, and desert you.” Twilight grinned, seeing the havoc she was wreaking.
“Never gonna make you cry,” sang another voice, causing Twilight to turn and inspect the new Rickroller. “Never gonna say goodbye.” She grinned when she saw who it was and joined in for the next line. “Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you.”
Twilight cracked up laughing. “Hey Derpy. How are you?”
Derpy flashed a sheepish smile. “Good morning Twilight Sparkle. I’m fine.” Derpy blushed a little when Twilight smiled at her.
“What’s up? You seem a little flustered.”
Derpy gulped and cleared her throat. “Um, well…” The truth was that she had entered this encounter with every intention of asking Twilight out. However, things weren’t exactly going to plan. “Nothing’s up, I just wanted to see if you felt like hanging out for a while.”
Twilight tilted her head a little but instead of questioning her friend further, she smiled kindly and said, “I’d love to. I was just looking for Pinkie, there’s a favour she asked of me, well two actually, and I just finished them this morning. Do you know where she is?”
Derpy relaxed a little. “She stayed over at my place last night.”
“She did what?” Twilight sounded shocked.
“Oh, no, not like that.” Derpy’s cheeks went a deeper shade of pink. “I asked her to come and help me work on a new muffin and we ended up staying up really late while they baked. By the time they were done it was too late for her to head home so she crashed on the couch.”
“I see.” Twilight nodded. She took Derpy’s hand and they walked off in a direction that may or may not contain a Pinkie Pie. “Tell me about these muffins.”
“Well…”
Pinkie was sitting at a table, trying not to fall asleep, when she heard the approaching voices. “No! Absolutely not!”
“But, think about it, imagine—”
“I don’t care what you say there is no way.” Pinkie gulped, this didn’t sound good.
“I don’t see why you would be so opposed to this.”
“No, no, no! It’s immoral. I won’t just stand by and let you attempt to create sentient muffins.”
Derpy sounded almost in tears. “But, why not?”
“Because—”
“Hey guys,” Pinkie interrupted, attempting to both, end the fight and avoid choking on her laughter.
Derpy grabbed Pinkie in a tight hug and buried her face in the girl’s neck. “Pinkie, Twilight Sparkle doesn’t like my idea,” she said sadly.
“I told you she wouldn’t.” She turned a disapproving look on Twilight. “Now look what you’ve done,” she said, reproachfully.
Twilight sighed melodramatically. “Fine.” She pulled Derpy away from Pinkie and hugged her comfortingly. “You do realise, don’t you, that eating them would mean killing them.” She thought for a moment. “I hope,” she added. “It would be amazing if you could create life but would you then want to immediately proceed to end it?”
Derpy pulled away and thought for a moment. “I hadn’t looked at it like that.” She smiled sheepishly. “When you put it that way it does sound a little immoral.”
Twilight rolled her eyes good naturedly.
“Well now that’s out of the way, Twilight, did you finish that thing I asked you to do?” asked Pinkie, brightly.
“Hmm? Oh, yes I did, both of them.” She tossed Pinkie a thick stack of paper. “If that doesn’t get you an A plus then you’ll know I screwed it up on purpose just to mess with you.”
“I would have felt so much better if you’d said, ‘Then I don’t know what will’,” said Pinkie, shuffling through the papers to check for any obvious signs of deliberate damage.
“What did she ask you to do?” asked Derpy, curiously.
Twilight snorted. “Which part, the homework or getting her friends to un-breakup?”
“Oh sure, anything sounds bad when you say it with that attitude,” said Pinkie, trying not to smile.
“Anyway, I found a spell that might just work, well more of a potion.” She reached in to her pocket and withdrew a Mount Franklin water bottle filled with slightly opaque liquid. She tossed it to Pinkie who caught it reflexively.
“This is it?” she asked critically. “You make a wonderful communication-potion-thing and put it in an old, used Mount Franklin bottle. Oh ten out of ten for style there Twilo.
“Twilo?” asked Derpy, frowning.
Pinkie shook her head and looked down at the bottle. “I, um, never mind. How, exactly, does this stuff work and what’s in it?”
“Just water. I put a spell on it for ease of communication. It’s usually used by married people to sort our spats without a divorce lawyer. You just make them both drink a little and then they’ve got about ten to fifteen minutes before it wears off.”
“What’s the catch?”
“Catch?” asked Twilight, innocently
“Yes, it all seems too easy.”
“Well, it would be sensitive to the container, wouldn’t it?” said Derpy, is if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She must have been on to something because Twilight flushed and didn’t meet her gaze.
“I’m not sure I follow,” said Pinkie, perplexed.
Derpy continued. “Well any compound of that nature would be sensitive to subtle changes in atmosphere and tainted surfaces. It would be volatile in the extreme although not in the same way as nitro-glycerine. If it was altered you wouldn’t even know because the shift would be too minute to register but even that could drastically alter the effect. However, whatever the outcome, the only stable effect is that it has a time cap. No changes are going to become permanent.”
Derpy looked at Twilight, who had exchanged her look of guilt to one of shock, admiration and something else. “I bloody love you,” she said, in awe.
Derpy flushed deep crimson. “It- it’s just obvious when you think abo—”
“Kiss me now you fool.” Twilight pulled the girl in for a passionate kiss. Depy squeaked a little and kissed back enthusiastically. When, at last, Twilight pulled away for breath, she said, “You, follow me.”
Derpy’s cheeks had gone an elegant shade of deep scarlet. She grinned a little and there was the definite impression that, if she had ears, they would have perked up in excitement. “Yes please.”
“Ciao, Pinks, I have plans,” said Twilight as she headed off at a brisk walk, trailed by a dazed but ecstatic looking Derpy.
Pinkie, who had watched all this with a huge grin on her face, merely waved cheerfully. She hummed a little tune and skipped off in search of Applejack. This was going to be fun.
Rainbow Dash lay on her back, staring up at the ever-shifting clouds that swirled overhead. Applejack could keep her family orchard, Rainbow owned the sky. It was her domain and she was queen, in all her years she had never met a more naturally talented flyer. And yet, that had never seemed so hollow until now. What did I really do to earn this? Nothing. I was born with a gift and then proceeded to rub it in everyone’s faces. Why did that never seem so childish up until now? Why does it seem so important all of a sudden? Why am I asking all these questions? Frowning, Rainbow rolled over on the soft cloud-stuff, and faced her girlfriend, who was currently starring unperturbed up at the azure sky. “What does infinity hold, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy blinked in confusion. “That’s very deep and philosophical, where is all this coming from?”
“I don’t really know,” said Rainbow, not entirely honestly.
“Well,” said Fluttershy, after a short pause, “I would think that it holds everything, everything that ever was, is, or ever will be. Infinity is beginningless and endless.” Fluttershy knew that, if this was important, Rainbow would elaborate and so did not press her or more details.
After a long, considered, pause, Rainbow said, “And where do we fit in that?”
“Think about a blip, like, a tiny little blip in a tape that plays for a thousand years. Think of that blip as less than a millionth as a second long. Now zoom in on that blip until it seems as long as the first tape and repeat this process forever. We are practically nothing.”
“Doesn’t that bother you?” This was getting closer to the heart of the matter but still, this wasn’t the whole story.
“Why should it? I have friends, I have a place to live and I’m happy. Against oblivion there really are only two things that work; denial and acceptance.”
“And you accept that one day even your name will just be a collection of sounds with no more meaning?”
“Have you been reading The Fault in Our Stars?” Fluttershy asked, a small smile on her face as she continued to resist turning her gaze from the sky.”
“Huh?”
Fluttershy’s smile broadened. “Oh, nothing, just a thought.”
There was a long silence this time but Fluttershy didn’t mind, she knew Rainbow was thinking about something and was content to continue to study the birds and clouds that passed whimsically overhead. A pair of robins flitted around playing some sort of chase game, both birds chirping cheerfully as the game progressed. The high altitude winds were strong today, meaning that the clouds were quickly forming and reforming. For a time, Fluttershy amused herself with finding shapes in the clouds. One looked a lot like a fluffy white bunny. It was very lifelike and very cute, right up until the point where a gust of wind sent an unfortunate wisp of cloud across it. Fluttershy blushed a bit at the gesture the bunny now appeared to be making. What an angel, she thought, sarcastically.
At last Rainbow spoke. “What do you want from me, Shy?”
Fluttershy blushed as the answer ‘I can think of a few things.’ Lined itself up on her tongue but she bit back the remark and considered properly. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you get it? I’ve got nothing. I watch you every day and I could watch you for the rest of my life but don’t you see? We’ve been together for, what, a month now? And already I’ve taken your house, your inheritance, most of your belongings and your parents. In return I’ve given you a crappy apartment and lousy food.” There was another sentence, hanging off the end of that rant and Fluttershy could pretty much guess what it would be. ‘I’m scared that one day you’ll realise you made a mistake.’
Fluttershy was entirely taken aback. Rainbow never acted this way, she was always so strong and resilient. The only time Fluttershy had seen her even a little bit vulnerable was that first kiss. Since then, if anything troubled her, she kept it to herself. But is this really a break in character? Is this something she’s felt all along but been too afraid to say? Tentatively, Fluttershy reached out a hand and placed it on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Dashie, you’ve given me something my parents never did; you accept me for exactly what I am, don’t you see how much more important that is than any of the things I’ve lost?” Fluttershy slid closer to get a better look in to those beautiful cerise eyes. Typical Dashie, even now she won’t let me see that she’s scared.
After another longish pause, Rianbow said, quietly. “I just don’t know what you want from me.”
“You, Dashie, that’s all I want.” She closed the small gap between them, bringing their lips together for a tender kiss, “All I want is you.”
“So, one sip and she’ll talk to me?”
Pinkie nodded, deciding to leave out the part about the potion being extremely volatile. “That’s what Twilight told me.”
“Ok, thanks Pinkie, I owe you one.”
“You can repay me right now by promising never to listen to queen ever again.”
“Over my dead body.”
Applejack grinned at the memory. “Hey, uh, Rarity?”
Recognising the voice, Rarity said, crisply, “What do you want, Applejack.”
Applejack extended a hand, in which was a martini glass filled with a soft pink liquid. In it was a small green umbrella with the word ‘deviant’ written on it in tiny messy letters. “Peace offering?” she tried, hopefully.
“That’s not fair,” said Rarity, sighing and taking the glass. It was true, this was Rarity’s favourite drink and the umbrella was a reference to the first thing Rarity had said upon meeting Applejack.
Applejack slumped on to the seat in front of the bar, at first, not noticing the extremely attractive girl sitting next to her. “One pint, please,” she said, tossing the bar tender a few bits.
“Same,” said a voice. Applejack turned and took in the appearance of a slender girl with large blue eyes and the most luxurious purple mane of hair that the farm girl had ever seen. Probably the most noticeable thing about the stranger, though, was that her entire outfit was different hues of pinks and greens.
Usually, Applejack wouldn’t have said what she said next but it had been a long day and she hadn’t come to the bar because it had been a good, productive one. “Pink and green should never be seen,” she said, idly taking a sip from her stiff cider.
The girl tipped her hat, as though she had been thoroughly expecting this remark, in doing so, revealing letters along the top that read ‘deviant.’ “Dear, think of all the people who get rich and famous, they always do things a little differently, they’re never the kind of people who play by the rules, sometimes, to get anywhere in life, you need to be a deviant.”
The glasses chinked as Applejack raised one of her own in a toast. “To three fucking awesome years.”
Rarity winced but smiled as well, the statement was one hundred percent the Applejack she had fallen in love with. She was crass sometimes, but she always spoke from the heart. She had a deep down, gritty reality that Rarity had always admired. “Indeed, it has been a good run.” Rarity took a small, delicate sip from her glass in acknowledgment of the toast just as Applejack did the same.
Then it happened.
“Well fuck. What the bloody hell was in that pisswater? I feel fucking queer.” said Applejack, after a considered pause.
“Struth! Why’d ya give me that shmancy garbage? What do I gotta do to get a good coldie around here?” Rarity’s hand flew to her mouth when it dawned on her just what she had said.
“You dag. Don’t have to sound so proper all the time. Here.” She reached in to a satchel, withdrew two bottles and handed one to Rarity, who examined the label.
“X X X X?” she asked, quizzically.
Applejack, who had already opened her bottle, took a sip. “Ah, that’s the stuff, dry as a dead dingo’s donger.”
Shrugging, Rarity opened her own bottle and took a sip. “Bloody oath, that’s much better.”
The two sat in companionable silence for a while, content to enjoy a bear with a mate. At last, Applejack had had enough of the surprisingly strong liquor to make her say. “Ya know, I miss this, I miss us just hanging out.”
Rarity snorted in to her beer. “Aw ya skirt, you’re starting to sound like one a’ them romantic types.”
“Well I just might be a romantic type ya ****, dun’ mean it’s not true.”
“Fair dinkum,” said Rarity, quietly. “But it was your fault.”
“How d’ya figure that, ya bogan?”
“Well it was always you rootin’ with other sheelas wasn’it?”
“I never did!”
“Well that’s firm isn’it? Who’s to say you haven’t been havin’ naughties with other ****s and not told me about it?”
“Why would I go with anyone else? You’re more than enough for me ya daft bitch.”
“Alright, let’s just say ya didn’t. What about that other crap you put me through?”
“Like what? You know what, you’re just doing that same stuff you do everytime ya get a little bored. When thing’s ain’t exciting enough you make drama.”
“What’re ya saying? You breaking up with me again? Well ain’t that just b-e-a-utiful.”
“For starters, ya fuck nugget, I never broke up with you to begin with. And for seconds, well, I knew who you were from the moment I laid eyes on you, dun’ mean I didn’t fair dinkum wanna spend the rest of one fucked up life with you anyway.”
“Jeez, darl’, ya say the sweetest things.”
“You bitch,” said Applejack good-naturedly.
“You ****,” said Rarity, with equal good grace. And with that, it seemed, the fight was resolved.
Pinkie sighed. Since when did helping her friends hook up with other friends mean that she didn’t get to spend any time with them? After all, there had to be some things she could join in with. Pinkie reflected for a moment, then grinned. No, no, nothing like that. Perhaps bowling?
Pinkie jumped down from the bench she had been sitting on. It was time to take action. She wandered through the halls of Omnas Mannis, not entirely sure what she was looking for but looking for it all the same.
“Hey, are you Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie spun round to see a girl with blue hair and blue tinted sun glasses, she was standing beside an older boy, tall with black hair.
“Yea, I’m Pinkie Pie, who wants to know?”
“I’m Vinyl, this is Neon.”
“Hi,” said Neon. His voice was smooth and very attractive. Pinkie had to swallow a few times before she could make her own voice come out sounding normal.
“Nice to meet you Neon, and you too Vinyl.”
Vinyl, catching Pinkie’s look, winked. “Me and Neon are DJing for a wild party that’s going down tonight, we hear you’re pretty wild when it comes to parties, we could use someone like that, You free?”
Pinkie smirked. “No, I’m very expensive, but in this case I could do a discount. I’ll be there. Can I invite a couple of friends?”
“The more the better,” said Neon, smiling generously.
“Alright then, I’ll need time, place, alcohol being served and sexuality of everyone attending.”
The sun was setting over Omnas Mannis. All the students had gone home but two, those were the two sitting on the roof of a classroom and watching the sky shift through shades of pink and orange. Neither girl was in any hurry to get home, so Rainbow had suggested they go up on to the roof to watch the sunset.
“It’s so beautiful,” said Fluttershy, quietly.
“Yea, amazing, isn’t it, how there’s so much beauty in day to day life that no one ever thinks to appreciate.” Rainbow squeezed Fluttershy’s hand in her own. This moment felt perfect, she had everything she had ever wanted.
Fluttershy wriggled over so she could better snuggle against Rainbow. “I hear Applejack and Rarity got back together,” she said after a moment.
“Hmm? How do you know?”
“Pinkie told me, apparently there was something about an Ozy kiss.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hey, speaking of couples who got together, did you hear about Derpy and Twilight?”
“Did they get together at last?”
“Yea, great hey?”
“Good for her, I just hope it lasts.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, sometimes things like that don’t last.”
“We seem to be lasting ok.”
“True.” Fluttershy sounded unconvinced.
“Well, you can hardly ask if something is going to last without specifying how long, some relationships just end sooner than others and that can be ok.” Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly as she realised she was speaking from absolutely no personal experience.
Fluttershy giggled. “Because you would know all about relationships wouldn’t you, Dashie?”
The two descended in to another contented silence, both happy to watch the sky as the sun made its goodbye performance. Then, like a record slide on the turntable of life, a voice shouted from the ground.
“Hey, are you two going to just lay there for the rest of this chapter or are you going to come with me? Vinyl has invited us to a killer party. Come on, love birds, you can snuggle when you’re dead.”
Rainbow looked across at Fluttershy and grinned. “You up for a bit of fun?”
Fluttershy sighed, but also gave a half smile. “Bring it on.”
“Scratch and Neon's in the club tonight,
Oh yeah ,we're gonna have a good time,
So grab somebody, don't be shy,
It's our job to make you feel alright.
Let's raise the roof, tonight's the night,
We're gonna party till the morning light,
The house is hot. The beat is tight.
We just wanna see ya
Shake it!”
Nine o’clock at night found Fluttershy dancing in a thick mass of people, drink in hand, and utterly consumed by the music. Alcohol still had no effect on her but it was the look of the thing she supposed. Beside her, Rainbow was also dancing but she, very definitely, didn’t have a drink in hand. At the start of the night, she had sworn that she would be completely sober by the time she got to bed.
“Great party, hey?” she shouted over the loud music.
Fluttershy smiled indulgently. “Best I’ve ever been to.”
Rainbow laughed. “Probably the only one you’ve ever been to.”
At that moment, Pinkie Pie dived in between them and started dancing wildly. “Shake that butt!” she shouted.
Rainbow burst out laughing. Meeting Fluttershy really had changed her life. What would my life look like without her? Rainbow looked across at her girlfriend and blanched at the thought. In that moment, She hoped that she would never, ever be forced to find out the answer to that question. I love her and that is never going to change.
The end.