//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 (side B): The Big Chill // Story: Prances with Ponies // by Typewrittensoul //------------------------------// Fluttershy was sitting in a booth at Sugarcube Corner, far opposite of the front counter where Mrs. Cake was and well out of earshot from the other few customers enjoying their snacks when Rainbow Dash came in wearing saddlebags. In her saddlebags were six thick books, three in each bag. The volumes weighed the bag down so they drooped, but did not seem to adversely affect the blue pegasus as she dropped her load and took a seat at the booth. A milkshake for each pony was already on the table. “Thanks for borrowing these books for me, Rainbow.” Fluttershy chirped at the sight of the bag of books placed on the inside of the booth seat. “Yeah, well...now Twilight thinks I'm some sort of super egghead like her now...” Dash shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She leaned in to slurp her milkshake loudly through the straw, already partially melted but still declicious. “I'm just so impressed with how curious Dewey is about everything. Always pointing at things! You know, even after all the work he's been doing around the cottage, he spends a few hours before going to sleep making notes on all the books that I have! It's very adorable! I'd bet you'd enjoy seeing it.” “Oh, yeah...that sounds really adorable...” “Isn't it?” Fluttershy smiled, not catching the sarcasm. Her milkshake was already halfway to the bottom of the glass as she took a daintily small sip. “Though I wish there was more I could do to help him...” the yellow pony hung her head for a moment, which caught Dash's attention. “What are you talking about, Fluttershy? You took him in, gave him a place to sleep, books that he's pretending to read...you feed him, even!” “That's all well and good, but it's just so strange! I'm supposed to be good at talking to animals! I mean, it's my special talent and yet it's just so upsetting because I can't even...” Fluttershy paused, looking unsure whether she should continue. After some thought, she nodded her head and sighed. “I didn't tell you this before when I first asked you for those books, but...he's been having nightmares every night. He'd toss and turn in his sleep and whine like he's in pain. There was even one or two times last night that he screamed himself awake. I've been trying my best to comfort him, but it's just gotten a bit uncomfortable on the couch since he's so big and all, and there's simply not much room for the both of us...” Rainbow nearly drowned mid-sip and used a hoof to wipe a trail of spittle running down her chin from spitting out her drink. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait-a-minute. The couch? As in your couch?” Fluttershy gave the smallest of nods. “What are you doing sleeping on the couch for?" “Um, well, he didn't want to sleep in the bed with me so I- “You slept in the same bed as the Two-Legged Beast!?” “Shhh! Please not so loud, Rainbow!” The three or four other ponies sitting nearby had shifted their attention to the girls from Dash's outburst, but nopony had apparently caught what she had said. It didn't take long for them to move back into their own conversations. When they were sure nopony was trying to listen in, the pegasi restarted their conversation. Dash rolled her eyes and huffed. “What's all this about sleeping with him, Fluttershy!?” she asked again in a quieter voice. The yellow pony tilted her head and nervously tapped her front hooves together. “Well, you see...um, at first it was because I hadn't really found a place for Dewey to sleep yet. But then I learned about his nightmares...I've found that being there to comfort an animal during a bad dream, helps them to sleep better and become happy and healthy. I mean, Mr. Badger—before he met Mrs. Badger—used to have the worst ones until Dewey came along. And he's quite the stubborn one, too. For some reason he keeps insisting on sleeping on the couch no matter how hard I try to tell him not to." Dash wanted to drop her head onto the table and let out a long, tired exhale. “So how long is this gonna last?” “Until he's all better. Or if he ever wanted to leave. I wouldn't stop him if he ever wanted to,” she realized her half-lie and added, "but I would try really, really, really hard to persuade him not to before he was ready.” Fluttershy's ears then drooped for a moment and her eyes gazed down at the table. “The poor thing...I can only imagine what he went through whenever it rained especially hard, or during the blizzards that were scheduled this year...it's obvious it's been a very long time since he's socialized with others with how awkward he's been.” Dash's ears perked for a moment when she heard this. 'Since most animals either hibernate or go south for the winter, and ponies and their pets are able to stay warm in their homes...' Her own ears then drooped at the thought. 'That means that Dewey spent all winter outside and alone....' Rainbow Dash looked to the now solemn pony across the table from her and frowned at having to see her friend like this. She was never the kind of pony to have heart-to-heart conversations and would rather kick somepony's butt to solve a problem, which left Dash a bit stranded as to what to do in this situation. But then the yellow pony's words made something click in her mind. “Well, Fluttershy...have you ever thought that you might be going about this the wr-” “Hey, girls!” Before she could finish, a pink tuft of curly mane appeared in front of Rainbow Dash's face. The blue pegasus sputtered and ducked under the table, appearing on the other side of the booth next to Fluttershy while the pink intruder simply plopped her rump onto Dash's previous spot. The earth pony took note of the bag now next to her on the seat. “What's with all the books? Making a book club? Ooh! Can I join your book club?” “Pinkie Pie!” Dash grumbled with a scowl on her face, but nonetheless accepted long ago the other pony's style of saying “hi”. Instead, Dash realized she had to play along in order to keep her and Fluttershy's conversation from coming back up. “Er...yeah! A book club! But sadly it's invitation-only...” Pinkie pouted in an instant. “An invitation-only book club? But that's not really fun. Especially for the ponies who aren't invited...wouldn't it be more fun if everypony was allowed to come?” “It's invitation-only because...uh...” Dash didn't have an immediately rebuttal and stalled for time, and while drawing out her response she arched her eyebrows and sought Fluttershy for help. Fluttershy noticed the other pony's face and immediately chimed in. “...we know that not everypony will like the kinds of books we're reading!” Pinkie wasted no time stuffing her hooves into the bag and glanced at a few of the book covers. “Wow, you got that right, sister.” Pinkie said while looking at a set of books in her hooves. “'Other Worlds' by Carl Stagen? 'Superpowers in Collision: The Colt War Now' by Snowcone Chompsky? I-dunno-how-to-pronounce-this-one but it's by Thomas Equinas? These are all the kinds of books I thought only Twilight likes.” With raised eyebrows, Pinkie looked at the girls. “Is Twilight in your invitation-only book club?” “No.” “Yes.” The pegasi looked at each other then looked back to Pinkie. “Yes.” “No.” Rainbow Dash quickly added “Twilight doesn't know about the book club...at least not yet.” “Not yet?” Fluttershy's eyes widened and she looked at Dash with worry. “Well duh, she's gonna find out about it eventually.” Dash eyed Fluttershy with furrowed eyebrows. “The book club?” Pinkie asked. “Y-yeah!” Rainbow nearly forgot about the earth pony and turned back to face her. “We haven't told her about it yet because...uh...we're worried that she won't enjoy it before we work some of the kinks out first. Right, Fluttershy?” “R-right!” “Then why don't you invite me?” Pinkie took hold of the situation when she saw her opening. “I'd be more than super-duper double-bubble triple-fudge-icing-with-sprinkles excited to help you get the kinks out of your invitation-only book club!” “NO!” “NO!” Pinkie nearly tumbled out onto the floor from the force of their near-immediate response. Dash quickly followed up while laughing nervously. “No offense, Pinkie, but I don't think you'd enjoy sitting around, you know, talking about...Twilight-level books...” “We're really serious about being quiet at...the book club...” Fluttershy continued. “But why's your book club gotta be quiet and boring? You should make your book club different from the rest!” “Because it's at Fluttershy's place.” “What?” The hostess-apparent looked at Dash with surprise. Dash shrugged her shoulders and mouthed her apology. The yellow pegasus felt her nerves worsen and faced Pinkie. “Uh...yeah...you know me...I'm the quiet one. Always being...quiet...” “Hmmm...” this new excuse made Pinkie halt her aggressive push and she scratched her head with a book still held in her hoof. “Although I might not enjoy talking about the books...” her eyes lit up once more and her mouth grew wide into a smile. “I can at least help make the invitations...and set up some decorations, too!” “Oh, well, that's just the thing!” Dash saw this coming and immediately knew how to respond. “You see, we'd really appreciate the help, but it's at my place, in the clouds...so only pegasi can go. And you can't ask Twilight for her cloud walking spell because then that might make her suspicious.” Resting back against the seat, the blue pegasus smirked at how easily she solved that problem. “That makes sense.” Pinkie blinked in surprise and accepted the reasoning. She began placing the books back into the bag when her brain gerbil began running full speed and turned the proverbial wheel faster. “Waitjustaminute!...but you just said that it was at Fluttershy's place!” She said while pointing the book in her hoof accusingly at Dash. The two pegasi looked at each other in silent terror. "Well that's because...uh...Fluttershy!?" “U-usually!” the yellow pegasus yelped nervously and faced Pinkie's onslaught that seemed on the verge of succeeding. “Usually it's at my cottage...but this time we're having it at Rainbow's house...” 'Nice save, Fluttershy!' Dash wiped her forehead with her hoof and thanked Celestia that they were finally in the clear. “...oh, wait...then how will Dewey get the books?” “Dewey?” Pinkie asked and tilted her head. "Who's Dewey?" “FLUTTERSHY!” “EEP!” “Who's Dewey?” Pinkie Pie asked more seriously. “Ah...uh...Dewey's-a-bear...you-don't-know-him...Harry's-friend...GOTTA GO!” Jumping into the air with her wings beating like a hummingbird's, Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy in one hoof, the bag in the other and the book still in Pinkie's possession in her mouth. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she raced out of Sugarcube Corner, nearly throwing an unsuspecting pony walking in onto the ground. -- Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who's read and enjoyed the story so far. I never would have thought that people would like what I've written, and for at least 70 people as of this writing to have fav-ed this story, it would take 1000 words to describe the feelings that seeing this is giving me. So, without further ado: