The Worst

by SquiggelSquirrel


Sleeping together

“OK, let's say there is something wrong with her.” Adagio had been in the shower for ten minutes already, during which Rainbow Dash had been pacing the room and… “not sulking”, while Fluttershy sat and read her book. Eventually, it was Rainbow who stopped her pacing and broke the silence. “I'm not saying I believe her little act, but… if there's something wrong, what do you think it is?”

Fluttershy closed her book, and looked up. “Oh, I don't think we should pry. I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready.”

“Yeah, but, if we figure it out first, that'll help us help her, right? I mean, it's gotta be something to do with her sisters, right? You saw how she reacted when we mentioned them, and those three are like some sort of evil team, I'll bet they do everything together.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply, but Rainbow ploughed on.

“They must have had a fight, or something. A really bad one. Hey, maybe they kicked her out!” The grin on Rainbow's face died quickly at the sight of Fluttershy's expression, “… which would be… bad, kinda. I mean, she is evil and she totally deserves it, but I guess we should be nice to her anyway?”

Fluttershy waited until Rainbow was finished talking before voicing her own opinion.

“I don't think there's ever a reason to not be nice, if you can. Maybe if we help her, we could become friends instead of enemies,” She glanced towards the door before continuing, “but I don't think we should be trying to guess what happened. Talking behind someone's back isn't nice, and we'd probably only jump to the wrong conclusions anyway. Let's just be there for her, and wait and see if she wants to talk to us about it.”

Fluttershy smiled, and Rainbow realised that the discussion was ended.


An hour and a half later, Adagio, dressed and mostly dry, but with still-damp hair, marched into Fluttershy's bedroom, where the two girls were watching cartoons on Netflix.

“Ok, I'm done here, so I'm leaving now.”

Fluttershy looked up, and moved as if to stand, before remaining seated.

“Oh, um, didn't you want any cookies? We saved them for you.”

Adagio eyed the plates set on the nearby table. One of them was piled high with cookies, the other two held only a sprinkling of crumbs. After a moment's hesitation, she crumbled.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.”

“I'll go get you some milk. Oh, um, unless you'd prefer juice?”

“I don't suppose you have any beer?”

Fluttershy flushed slightly.

“Oh, n-no, sorry.”

“Milk's fine.”

Fluttershy nodded, and hurried from the room, leaving Adagio alone with Rainbow Dash. The Dazzling dropped into a chair with a grunt, before picking up one of the cookies and eyeing it disdainfully.

“God, I need a drink.”

“Rough day?” Rainbow had closed the cartoon, but still seemed focus on her internet browsing.

“Yeah, you can say that again.”

“So, uh,” Rainbow began, in her best trying-too-hard-to-be-casual voice, “wanna talk about it?”

Adagio stared at her, then smirked.

“Sorry, but no.” She bit into her cookie, raising one eyebrow in appreciation — the cookies were quite good, and Rainbow Dash seemed annoyed by her presence, which was a plus. By the time Fluttershy returned with a glass of milk, Adagio was actually smiling, gently.

Then Fluttershy spoke up.

“Uh, hey, Adagio! Would you like to watch a movie with us?”

Adagio frowned, and swallowed her mouthful of cookie.

“Er, no. I'm just staying here long enough to use your shower.” She paused, then added “… and eat these cookies. Then I'm leaving.” She felt it was important to be clear on this matter — if she stuck around any longer, these annoying Rainbooms would probably start trying to befriend her, or something. Adagio Dazzle was not about to become “friends” with any of these wimpy girls.

There was a knock on the door. Fluttershy's mother poked her head in.

“Fluttershy, darling, it's getting rather late. Do your friends want to sleep over?”

Adagio almost choked on her cookie.

While Fluttershy ineffectually patted the coughing Adagio's back, Rainbow Dash spoke up to make excuses. In retrospect, though, she maybe shouldn't have gone with the first idea that popped into her head.

“Oh, I think Adagio needs to watch her sisters tonight.”

"NO!” Adagio's reaction was almost instantaneous, the word cutting her coughing fit short. Fluttershy had to admit that Rainbow had a point; The mere mention of her sisters had brought a hunted, haunted look to the siren's face, and she found herself worrying that Adagio was going to break down again.

“I - I mean, no, my… sisters can look after themselves. I just…” she stopped, and began gazing at the floor, with a troubled expression. She hadn't given thought to where she would sleep tonight — not at home, she was certain of that much.

Fluttershy rescued her.

“Could we have some time to think about that, mom?”

“Of course, dear. I'll be downstairs if you need me to set up a guest bed.”

Adagio stared in horror at the door, as Fluttershy's mother's footsteps echoed up the hall.

“Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash, quietly, “could I please talk to you for a moment?”


By the time the other girls returned, Adagio had mostly regained her composure, and made some sense of the situation.

“Yeah, I know. I'm not welcome here; Don't worry, I can take care of myself. Tell your mom thanks for the cookies.”

Fluttershy blocked her path.

“Um, actually, I mean, if you want to stay tonight, that is, that would be okay. Er, in fact, uh, Rainbow Dash was going to stay here, too, and we were thinking of inviting some of our other friends around, that is, if they're not too busy.”

Adagio looked from one girl to the other, and back again.

“Seriously?” The girls both nodded, and Adagio found herself actually considering their offer. A hotel room would be expensive, especially last-minute. “I'm not sharing a room with any of you.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy muttered, “th-that's okay, we can all squeeze in here if you want the guest room to yourself.”

Adagio's eyes narrowed. “And why do you suddenly want all your friends sleeping over.”

Fluttershy looked wretched, and wouldn't meet Adagio's eyes. “O-oh, we just thought… it would be nice… it's not that we don't trust you…”

Rainbow held up a hand. “It's that I totally don't trust you, and I'm not leaving you here alone tonight to take advantage of Fluttershy.”

“Oh, please, ” Adagio glowered at Rainbow, “your friend is cute, but she's not really my type.”

Both the other girls flushed at this.

“Th-that's not what I meant!” stammered Rainbow.

“C-cute?” mumbled Fluttershy.

“Well, whatever,” Adagio shrugged. “I don't have my pajamas or anything.”

“Fluttershy said you could borrow some of hers,” said Rainbow, since Fluttershy was still too busy turning bright red over the “cute” comment.

“Ok, fine. But I don't want any of your stupid friends disturbing me while I'm trying to sleep.”

Fluttershy nodded, and stumbled back to the door while pulling out her phone.

“OK, I-I'll just… ph-phone them… let them know…” still mumbling, she slipped out of the room, once again leaving Adagio and Rainbow Dash alone together.

Once outside, Fluttershy drew a deep breath, then proceeded to dial Pinkie Pie's number. The party girl answered on the first ring.

“Fluttershy! I was just gonna call you, I had a really great idea!”

“Oh, uh, really?”

“Yep, whaddya say to a sleepover at your house tonight?” Fluttershy's expression froze. “I know it's, like, super last-minute, but I figured it's Friday today, which means it's Saturday tomorrow, which means we don't have to go to school, and I just have a hunch tonight's a night we can get everyone together! In fact, I was thinking, if it's you, me, Dashie, Jackie, Rarie, Sunny and Twily, that's seven, so if you had one other friend you wanted to invite, we'd have eight, which is just the most perfect sleepover number!”

“Um, that sounds nice,” agreed a stunned Fluttershy. “I was actually thinking the same thing, almost.”

“Awesome! I'll call all the girls, and I'll drop by Rainbow Dash's place on the way over and pick up her sleeping things, because she was meeting you today, which means she won't have her sleeping things with her, so we can save her having to make an extra trip. Wait, no, two extra trips! See you later, alligator!”

With that, Pinkie Pie hung up. Fluttershy stood, eyeing the phone suspiciously. She was fairly certain no-one else had told Pinkie Pie any of what had happened that afternoon, in fact she wasn't even sure how Pinkie had known she'd been meeting Rainbow Dash. Still, Pinkie “had a hunch” that everyone would be available, even at such short notice…

Fluttershy went to let her mother know that there would be eight girls staying at her house tonight.