//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Bridge over River Rijn // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Pinkie Pie and Surprise trotted out of a sweet shop that had been along the river front, and made their way over to a park bench and sat down on it. Both of them were sucking on gigantic lollipops that were nearly the size of their head. Pinkie Pie looked over to see that Surprise was staring at her. “Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle?” She asked. “What? What do you mean?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously. “One of them makes you sad, is it Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle?” Surprise asked. “What?! Neither of them makes me sad!” Pinkie Pie snapped defensively. “You’re crazy!” “Yes,” Surprise said flatly. “Which one?” Pinkie Pie started to become flustered, she was panicking she looked around and hoped to Celestia that none of their friends were in the general vicinity. She was lucky, they weren’t. Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief, and looked back at Surprise. The Pegasus could see right through her, and there was no use in denying it any longer. “Twilight...” Pinkie Pie said, her ears drooping slightly. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Not here.” Surprise rose to her hooves and hopped off the bench; she stepped in front of Pinkie Pie and stared profusely at her. “What are you doing?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Where do you want to go to talk about it?” Surprise asked. Pinkie Pie kicked herself for her prior choice of words. “I don’t want to talk about it at all!” she said. “Not an acceptable answer,” Surprise said, blinking once. “You have two choices, you get up and we go somewhere private to talk, or I bite down on your tail and drag you there. It’s up to you.” “Or...” Pinkie Pie said, getting to her hooves. “I can run away.” Pinkie started to move her legs to run, but no sooner than did she pick one of her hooves up off the ground did Surprise tackle her to the ground. Pinkie Pie groaned loudly. “I’m faster than you are,” Surprise said. She got off Pinkie Pie and helped her to her hooves. “Fine,” Pinkie Pie said with annoyance in her voice. She saw that there was going to be no way out of this mess, she and Surprise trotted down the street and made their way for the hotel that they would be staying in. ... “Oh Fluttershy, you know, despite my initial misgivings, you really shouldn’t have given up modelling! You look simply fabulous!” Rarity proclaimed. Fluttershy eyed herself in De Winkel’s mirror, she had put on a blue cocktail dress, and turned to look at all angles. “It’s... nice,” Fluttershy said simply. “Miss Fluttershy used to model?” Katrijn asked as she looked Fluttershy over. “I suppose I should not be surprised. She is quite beautiful!” Fluttershy turned a bright red. “Oh Fluttershy is quite adorable when she’s embarrassed, don’t you agree Katrijn?” Rarity asked with a grin. “Oh yes! Very much so,” Katrijn admitted, perhaps far too enthusiastically to have been proper, given the situation that they were in. “We’ll take it! It shall be perfect for tonight!” Rarity said with just as much enthusiasm. Fluttershy looked at Rarity with confusion; they had not talked about doing anything that evening, at least... not yet. “Oh? Big plans? Night on the town, as they say?” Katrijn asked. “Oh, yes yes yes!” Rarity said. “I have heard all about the club scene in Trotterdam! So fashionable! So... in!” “Oh yes! Very much so Miss Rarity. Very much so indeed,” Katrijn said, she trotted around the corner to pick up the rest of their purchases. Rarity leaned in close and whispered into Fluttershy’s ear. “She likes you,” Rarity said. “What? Oh! I’m sure she is just being nice...” Fluttershy said with a small squeak. Rarity chuckled. Katrijn was a quite attractive mare, about their equal in age, a crème coloured earth pony with a chestnut mane, which right now had been pulled back into a bun. Rarity could only imagine what it looked like while it was down. Katrijn was being nice, sure, but she was being nice for a reason that Fluttershy was either too shy to admit, or she was really that socially oblivious. Regardless of the reason, the fashionista had a plan. When Katrijn returned with the remaining items, Rarity sprung into action. “Katrijn? Are you by chance doing anything this evening?” “Why... no, as a matter of fact I was not. Why do you ask Miss Rarity?” Katrijn asked. “Well, it’s just that... well this is our first time in town, and well, we don’t really know where anything is. We don’t speak the language... we were lucky to have found this place, and I figured we could really use someone who knows the town to help us! We were wondering if maybe you would like to accompany us this evening? I know Fluttershy would love to have you along.” Fluttershy looked at Rarity in shock; Katrijn gave them a big smile. “I would love to; I get off at nineteen hundred. I will meet you back here at say, twenty hundred?” “Excellent! We shall see you then Katrijn,” Rarity said. Fluttershy said nothing, just looking down at the floor as the two of them walked out of the shop. “Rarity...” Fluttershy said. “What was that about!?” “Fluttershy, Darling! I just got you a date!” Rarity said with a grin. ... Twilight & co were half way back to their hotel for dinner when they ran into Fluttershy and Rarity. Rarity had informed them that they would not be joining them for dinner after all, as Rarity had set Fluttershy up on a date. Naturally, Rarity’s presence would be required to insure that Fluttershy wouldn’t try to flee the scene. Likewise, Pinkie Pie and Surprise did not show up for dinner either, though for what reason, the group did not know. Twilight was somewhat concerned, though, Vinyl Scratch was not. “Relax, Surprise might be crazy, but so is Pinkie Pie. They’ll be fine,” Vinyl said as the four of them sat down to dinner. Willoughby sighed at the chance for a meal. “I’m so glad to be away from South Island right now, a break is nice!” “What? You tired of the sun, dirt, and the high instances of wildlife that and kill you?” Vinyl asked with a grin. “Eh Benny?” “What are you kidding? No, that’s not it at all! My bunk mate at regimental command is a dingo; you should see the way he eats! It’s a nightmare!” “They let dingoes into the SIA?” Vinyl asked. “Didn’t they have a huge problem with dingo raiders when we were last at South Island?” “Oh no, you misunderstand,” Willoughby said simply. “Dingo raiders are a minority of the dingo population, there are plenty of dingoes in infantry regiments. Even in the old world there were.” Their waiter walked up to the group and greeted them with a smile. “Hallo, wat zou je graag willen eten?” he said, causing everypony in the group to look at each other in confusion. Wiloughby only chuckled at them. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Willoughby turned to the waiter and gave him a smile. “Hallo. Ons wil graag vier tuin slaaie asseblief.” “Ja, meteen,” the waiter said and promptly went off to put the order in. “You speak the language?” Twilight asked. “Nope!” Willoughby said with a grin. “I don’t speak Nederlands... I do, however speak Afrikneigh, which is similar enough that the locals will understand... most of... what I say. You ever join a military? Learn a language; it’ll help, trust me.” The waiter promptly bought back four salads for the group, right on what, and they quickly dug in. They could only imagine how the other’s first night in the bustling city was fairing...