Chapter 9: Good Intentions
All That Shimmers
Chapter 9: Good Intentions
-ooooooo-
After a little talking and what I guess was a well-meaning comment that I apparently cry more than both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy combined, Dash helps me get me head together enough that I think I can attend first period without making any more of a scene of myself than I'm going to by merely showing up with a swollen eye and split lip. She does talk me into seeing the nurse to at least get an ice pack.
I guess it doesn’t matter if I’m even later for first period at this point. I’m late enough that Mr. Donkey is going to give me a stern stare as I walk in… Actually, if I of all people walk in with an ice pack over my face, there’s no telling how he’ll react.
Dash tries to smooth things over slightly as we walk down the green locker-lined hallway. “Uh… Look, I know it doesn’t excuse what she did, but uh… Gilda didn’t exactly have the best childhood…”
“Haven’t we all…” I reply. “Maybe next time if Gilda can forgo punching me in the face or threatening to stab me, she and I can trade sob stories.” Oh, hello again, automatic snark dispenser. Remind me to figure out if you have an off switch besides traumatic experiences.
Rainbow Dash stops walking as her face turns a little red. “Uh… sorry…” she says, obviously flustered by my comment. “I didn’t… I mean… I guess I don’t know—”
I stop, turn to face Rainbow Dash, and raise my palms out at my chest level. “No, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” I shake my head. “Besides, I don’t think people need to have bad childhoods to justify pulling a knife on me at this point…” Well aren’t you just a ball of sunshine, Ms. Shimmer…
“Hey, don’t talk like that,” Rainbow Dash says in an slightly upset tone. She walks back up to me and puts an arm around my shoulders as we resume walking down the hallway. “You and I both know you didn’t mean for things to go down the way they did at the dance.”
I scrunch my lips up slightly. “Sure, but I don’t think the rest of the school quite gets it...” I paused before turning and asking, “… Do you think any company makes ‘Sorry I accidentally mind controlled you and tried to march you through a portal so you could do battle with magical horses’ cards?”
Rainbow Dash bursts into a fit of laughter. “HAhahaha… I think you’re out of luck on that one.”
I put on a fake frown. “Dang… Do you think one gift basket for the entire school is enough, or do I need one for each student and faculty member?”
Rainbow Dash continues to laugh. Good, her reaction is actually making me feel a bit better. Maybe the worst is behind me. I mean… I have to believe the worst is behind me. Oh please, oh please, someone tell me the worst is behind me!
Uh… Anyhow, yeah… we get that ice pack… And make our way to my classroom.
“Well, we’re here,” I say as I approach the door.
“Uh… Should I come in?” Rainbow Dash asks.
I roll my eyes. “Dash, we’re at my class at first period, not my apartment. You don’t even need to worry about giving me a goodbye kiss, or anything.”
Rainbow’s eyes go wide and her face turns bright red. “Whoa, whoa, whoa…” she says as she waves her arms in front of her. “I didn’t mean… Uh… I mean… You’re hot and all, but we’re friends and are just sorta getting to know each other…”
I raise an eyebrow. That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. “Dash, I was just joking.”
“Oh… right…” Dash grins pensively and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. “I knew that.”
I smirk and cross my arms across my chest. “Hot?” I still got it.
Dash swallows and chuckles nervously. “Uh… Look… I didn’t mean to…”
“Dash, I primarily hang out with a couple of guys who spend their free time either being dunces or ogling me when they think I’m not looking. I can deal with one of my friends thinking I’m hot.”
To my surprise, Dash’s next move is to lean in and gives me a hug, and not a quick, short one either. She wraps her arms around me tightly and just stays there. I think my comment somehow actually struck a chord with her.
“Thanks for being cool about this,” she says.
“… Uh… sure?” I reply as I confusedly return the hug, patting her lightly on the back. The things humans make a big deal out of… I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand it all.
Dash and I part and jump as the classroom door suddenly swings open. Mr. Donkey, in his toupee-wearing glory, is on the other side and apparently well beyond glare territory and on to angry yelling territory. “WOULD YOU TWO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BOND?! YOU’RE DISRUpting…” Mr. Donkey trails off mid-sentence as he notices who he’s yelling at. It probably helps that I look like I just got punched in the face a couple times. I don’t get the scowl about being late, but I don’t get a sympathetic look either. Mr. Donkey simply opens the door wide and lets me walk in. As I do, he loads up his scowl for Rainbow Dash and points down the hallway.
“Uh… right…” Rainbow Dash says sheepishly. “I was just going…”
For the sake of not leaving anyone out, me taking out Mr. Donkey would involve mislabeling some lab supplies. You know… something that would unexpectedly create an explosion. Not that I’m incredibly mad at him or anything. I’m actually glad befuddled silence seems to be all he can muster at the moment.
I look out into the class and it’s a mixed bag of expressions. Some kids are avoiding looking at me as if I might curse them if our eyes met. A few shoot glares and then look away, possibly because of how I look. A few are giving me smug looks as if I deserved what I got.
Can’t say I necessarily disagree with that last part.
Uhg… I hope this friendship stuff can do something about my new found self-esteem issues. I think I’ve stumbled on some sort of ultra-efficient way of making myself feel depressed.
The students start whispering amongst themselves as I sit at my desk. Whispering that’s quickly quieted as Mr. Donkey scowls out into the classroom. It’s going to be a long few hours until lunch…
I manage to get through chemistry and move onto the next period, and then the next. I’m also hearing half whispered rumors as I walk by. Seems a few people saw Gilda depart in the sad state she was in. Obviously they assume we fought and it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a question as to who won. Of course no one comes up to me so I can confirm or deny the rumor. Not that I mind. I don’t want or need the attention that comes with everyone knowing I beat someone’s face in at the moment.
Hopefully everyone will be too put off by the idea I might have thrashed one of the toughest girls in school to try messing with me again… It’s either that or I get attacked by a group of people looking for payback…
…Have I mentioned yet that I kind of hate high school?
Anyhow, I manage to make it to lunch with nothing but people whispering around me and a few weird looks. Of course that immediately changes when I step foot into the school cafeteria.
“Heya, Sunset Shimmer!” a cheerful voice calls out.
“Hi, Pinkie.”
Almost as soon as I greet her, Pinkie is inches away from me and examining my face intently.
“Whoa, uh, welcome to my personal space, Pinkie. Can I help you?”
Pinkie puffs out her lower lip as she examines my wounds. “Are you okay?”
“Fine, why wouldn’t I be?” You know, aside from the parts about me being punched in the face, almost killing a girl with bare hands, and not being fine at all.
“Well you don’t look okay!” Pinkie replies.
“I’ll be fine! It’ll heal up,” I insist.
“Did you really try to sacrifice Gilda to your demonic lords?”
“I… WHAT?!” Apparently the rumor mill is working overtime.
“I heard you tried to carve out her heart with the Ancient Bonesaber of Zumakalis!”
I furrow my brow. “Pinkie… You saw me walk into school this morning. Did it look like I was packing a Bonesaber of whatever-it-was?” I cry as I fling my hands to my side.
“Well no… But you might have summoned it with your eeeeevil magics!” Pinkie says as she raises her fingers and wiggles them about… erm… evilly.
I stare at Pinkie long and hard. I’m not sure if she’s joking or not. If she is, she has a hell of a poker face. “Do you really think I did that?”
Pinkie smiles. “No, but it’s sort of fun to imagine you could do stuff like that!”
“Oh, so you were playing…” One of my eyes opens wide, the other is still swollen. Don’t say it… Don’t say it….
Pinkie’s grin goes full Cheshire. “… ‘Devil’s advocate’?” she suggests.
I groan as Pinkie laughs. She grabs one of my arms and essentially escorts me to the cafeteria line and starts chatting me up about our menu options.
“Awwww, hamburgers again!” Pinkie bemoans as she reaches out for the item she just complained about and puts it on her tray. “I mean… don’t get me wrong! I like a good burger as much as the next girl, but spaghetti with meatballs is just the best! Pizza is so good, too!” She turns to look at me. “What’s your favorite cafeteria option, Sunset?”
“Uh… meatloaf, I guess…” I answer as I also grab a burger. Not like I spend a lot of time dwelling on how great the food at the school is.
“Really?” Pinkie asks in disbelief.
I successfully fight the urge to snap back with, ‘Screw you, pink girl. I like what I like,’ and instead answer with a shrug and “I guess I just really like meat for some reason.” I wonder if she’s a little unnerved that I’ve turned into something of a carnivore now that she knows I used to be a pony. I probably should be myself, however I arrived with my some of my pony coat turned into the dead and tanned skin of another animal. I try not to think about it too much…
Rather than make a big deal about it Pinkie just smiles. “Okay! I just think the meatloaf here lacks something… It’ just a little too plain for my tastes.” Pinkie gasps as if she was just struck by a sudden epiphany. “Hot sauce!” she declares.
I raise an eyebrow. “Hot sauce?” I ask.
Pinkie nods her head up and down as we continue to go through the line. “Hot sauce makes everything taste better!”
I nod my head as we approach the dessert area. “Even dessert?”
Pinkie grins wide. “Especially dessert!”
She has to be messing with me again. I allow a small grin onto my face. “Prove it! I dare you to put hot sauce on anything here and eat it. I’ll pay you back for anything you manage to eat without gagging on.” Friends do stupid stuff like this, right?
Pinkie gives me a look that seems to be somewhere smack dab in between exuberant and crazy. “Really?!” she asks.
Not the reaction I expected. She sounds excited. Still, I’m not one to back down from a challenge, especially if I issued it. Still, I better add some more conditions so she doesn’t try to make this easy for herself. “Totally!” I answer. “But you have to really drench everything in hot sauce!” I bet that’ll at least make her—
Nope she’s still smiling and she’s nodding her head up and down excitedly.
Aaaaaand she’s piling her plate high with dessert items… And now she has a second… no third plate. She’s holding her first in her teeth and has come to pile the other two high with dessert. As much as this might cost me, I can’t figure out if Pinkie is crazy enough to think she can actually eat all this or weird enough that she actually can.
I snag a few bottles of hot sauce and we pay for our meals. Thankfully for Pinkie, there’s plenty of free surfaces to rest lunch trays on as she fishes out her wallet and coughs up a ridiculous amount of money for her ridiculous pile of ridiculous food.
Well, she’s confident, I’ll give her that…
We exit the serving area out into the dining area. A least for a few shining, glorious moments everyone is shooting weird looks at Pinkie instead of me, but I wasn’t interested in that. I search for Snips and Snails and find them sitting at our usual table. They notice me noticing them and both wave emphatically at me. Guess they really don’t care about keeping a low profile about being buddies with me. Oh well.
I nod at them as Pinkie and I make it to a table where the other four of our merry band are sitting. Despite the fact that my lower lip is protruding from my face a bit more than usual and my eye is turning black, they’re starting at Pinkie’s trays piled high with food.
Hayseed is the first to speak up, “What in the Sam Hill is going on here?!”
Pinkie lowers her head to the table and sets her center tray in front of her, she then sets her ‘dessert trays’ on either side of it. “Sunset said she’d pay for all the desserts I could eat as long as I cover them in hot sauce first! Isn’t she the best!?”
The other people at the table stare at me in confusion as I set my own tray down and the bottles of hot sauce.
“Well… it’s more of a bet really,” I say.
Applejack smirks.
Fluttershy giggles quietly to herself. “Oh my…”
Rainbow Dash snickers. “Oooooh, you made a bet thinking Pinkie eats food like a normal person. Hehehe… Glad I’m finally not the only one here to fall into that trap.”
Rarity raises a hand in front of her mouth and titters. “Decided your wallet was a bit heavy, did you?”
I glance to my side at the massive piles of food. “What? She can’t… I mean… even without the hot sauce, that’s an absolutely obscene amount of food!”
The all just shoot me a collection of knowing looks and suddenly it dawns on me I’ve made a terrible mistake.
“Eat fast, darling,” Rarity says to me. “You won’t want to even look at food for a bit after you watch Pinkie eat.”
As if on cue, everyone starts chowing down on their meals. Pinkie starts on her hamburger first. I play along and eat a little quicker than I usually would. If Pinkie really can make short work of those piles of desserts if they’re drenched in hot sauce, I’ll probably never look at food the same way again.
We all quickly eat our lunches and then Pinkie moves on to her dessert. Without me even having to prompt her, she grabs a bottle of hot sauce in each hand. She then proceeds to flood her trays with them. Cupcakes, muffins, apple crumble, jello… Everything and anything on those trays is soon bright red. Even for the sake of the bet, I wouldn’t have forced her to use that much hot sauce.
She digs in, grabbing a cupcake and shovels it into her mouth. She chews a few times and then moves on to the next item, a muffin. Without a single hint of discomfort, she makes short work of that as well and moves on to something else. It’s amazing. It’s unbelievable. It’s sickening. The sweet scent of the food is mixed with the sharp scent of the spicy hot sauce. I glance at the other people at the table and it seems their feelings mirror my own. Rarity and Fluttershy look like they’re doing their best to keep their lunches down. Rainbow Dash and Applejack don’t look quite as distressed, but they’re still pulling faces that seem to be a mix of disbelief and nausea.
Yet Pinkie continues. The hot sauce hasn’t even slowed her down. She’s eating at a pace and with fervency I’d usually only associate with overweight cartoon cats.
Soon the piles are little more than little bits of food marinating in hot sauce, and soon those are gone too as Pinkie cleans her plate. She even starts licking the sugary hot sauce off the trays.
Rainbow Dash chuckles. “Hehehe… You should see the look on your face.”
Applejack utters a short laugh herself. “Heh… It’s a sight, alright.”
Rarity chimes in. “You do might want to rehinge your jaw, darling.”
Fluttershy parts the fingers that are covering her face ever so slightly to look out at me. She giggles quietly to herself.
I come to my senses and realize I’ve been gawking at Pinkie. I close my mouth. Still, that was pretty incredible… stomached-churning, but incredible.
Pinkie finishes cleaning her final tray and sits it down. She stares at me with a giant red tinted toothy grin framed by bright red lips. It’s more than a little disturbing.
You know… after watching that… maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to evict the thing inside me that’s making sure I end up in something that looks like art inspired by Enduring’s Inferno every evening. Otherwise I’m going to have nightmares about this experience for weeks to come.
I fish my wallet out of my handbag and take out a rather large sum of money to cover Pinkie’s spicy dessert spree. Disgusting or not, a bet’s a bet and she earned this.
Pinkie graciously accepts the cash I hand her and retrieves her wallet from that mop of pink curls that seems to double as a dimensional portal where Pinkie keeps everything and anything. She puts the money in her wallet, then returns her wallet to the safety of her hair. She continues to smile at me as she says, “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
I manage a small smile. “Yeah, yeah. Guess I know better now than to place bets in regards to what you can and are willing to eat.”
Rainbow Dash chuckles slightly. “Heh, you should have talked to me first about what Pinkie is capable of. At least that way both of us wouldn’t have had to learn the hard way.”
Applejack speaks up. “You mean the five of us wouldn’t have had to learn the hard way!” She motions to Pinkie. “I may not have lost any money to Pinkie Pie, but watchin’ her eat is certainly somethin’ I wish I could erase from my mind.”
Fluttershy squeaks out something that sounds like an agreement as she nodded her head up and down.
Rarity turns and looks at me. “Well now that mildly traumatizing event is somewhat behind us, whatever happened to your face, darling?”
I wince. I’ve got to hand it to Pinkie, as weird, gross, and bizarre as that whole thing was, she made me forget I’m some sort of freak who’s also is sporting a couple injuries on my face, at least for a little bit. Still, it seems Rainbow Dash hasn’t told any of her friends exactly what happened with me and Gilda.
…Quick, think of something plausible… preferably something that doesn’t involve me being punched in the face.
I rub the back of my head. “Uh… Mishap in P.E. I got hit in the face with a basketball a few times…” I don’t actually have P.E. this quarter, but it works considering no one out of the group shares any early morning classes with me. Hopefully none of them get too curious otherwise I’m going to have to continue this little lie a bit further than I’m comfortable with.
The group gives me a concerned look. Well, everyone but Dash, she just gives me a small smile and a nod.
“Oh my…” Fluttershy murmurs.
“Why that’s just awful!” Rarity says. “You don’t think anyone deliberately threw the ball at your face, do you?”
“Uh…” I didn’t think about that, but if anything that’s more likely in my hypothetical scenario given how everyone feels about me at the moment. “… Maybe …” I say sheepishly as I coax a deep frown onto my face.
“Oh no!” Pinkie cries. “Sunset has bullies!”
I sigh. “What goes around comes around, I guess…” On that note, let’s hope I never get attacked by a twelve foot tall demon… Erm… Outside of dreamland…
Applejack speaks up. “Now don’t go beatin’ yourself up. We all know you regret what happened at the dance.”
The other girls nod and hum “Mmm-hmmm”s in agreement.
Applejack continues, “Maybe you oughta tell me which kid or kids threw the ball…” Her eyes narrow slightly.
I hold up my palms in front of me. “Uhhh… I didn’t really get a good look at them… Besides, it could have been an accident! No sense stirring up more trouble unless we know something is wrong, right?”
“Awwwww!” Pinkie says. “She’s even protecting the people that pick on her. She really has changed!”
I purse my lips slightly as I simply stare out at everyone. I hope someone can change the subject soon, this has gone on for a little too long for my taste and is getting uncomfortable.
“Just tell us if things get outta hand, a’ight?” Rainbow Dash says.
I look at her and she seems rather serious. I’m guessing she’s as serious as she is playing along.
I give her a small smile and nod. “Alright, I will.”
Rarity speaks up again, “Would you like me to see what I can do about that eye and your lip, darling? I’m sure I can make it a little less noticeable…”
I open my mouth to speak but am soon cut off by Applejack. “Shouldn’t we wait until later to worry about makeup? She’ll probably just mess it up in a few minutes here.”
Huh? What is she talking about?
“Oh, right!” Pinkie says. “The surprise!”
I give Pinkie a slightly confused look. “Surprise? What…”
Pinkie smiles at me and pulls a familiar purple wrap out of her hair. Looks like it's blindfold time again. At least she remembered the wrap and isn’t covering my eyes with sweaty hands.
I hear the sounds of chairs scraping the ground as everyone stands up. Pinkie helps me to my feet too, and we start walking.
Somehow despite making a lot of headway with this group, this is definitely a bit unnerving. The entire school, including these five…especially these five, have plenty of reason to hate me, and I did beat the snot of a friend of Rainbow Dash’s on top of everything else that’s happened.
“Uh… where are we going?” I ask in a concerned tone.
“You’ll see~,” Pinkie sings out.
That was probably innocent enough, but I start to freak out a bit, I mean… they could be taking me anywhere! In fact… I feel a temperature shift and a bit of a breeze. They’ve taken me outside.
Alright, stay calm… I mean, these are all my friends, right? RIGHT?! They’ve been nothing but nice to me since Friday! They even got me new glasses and a new jacket and everything despite all the horrible things I’ve done to them! It’s not like they’d do this as some sort of elaborate plan so they could gain your trust enough that they could all get rid of me discreetly…
Oh…
Oh no…
“Sunset, pardner. You hanging in there?” Applejack asks. “You’re shakin’ in yer boots!”
“Shaking nothing!” Rarity says. “The poor dear has started crying again!”
I hear Pinkie gasp. “Sunset, are you afraid of the dark?!”
Normally Pinkie’s bizarre leap in logic would warrant some sort of quip from me, but instead I just sob out a response. “No I… sniff… I… hhehhh… hheeehh…”
“It’s okay, Sunset Shimmer,” Fluttershy assures as I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I know this seems pretty scary, but we’re all here for you. We won’t let anything bad happen to you!”
Oddly enough, Fluttershy’s words do calm me, if only because she reminded me she was there. I don’t think she’d have the stomach to even participate in a relatively harmless prank, let alone what I was thinking was going to happen.
“Don’t worry!” Rainbow Dash says as a firm hand lands on my other shoulder. “You’re totally going to dig this surprise!”
I take a few calming breaths and nod my head. I really let my imagination get away from me there… Maybe I need to think about murder a tad less often…
The group leads me around some more. Me fears are further alleviated by the fact that they don’t take me very far. Unless they plan to just toss me in the crater I created when everyone’s magical friendship beams took me to the ground, I think I’m safe.
Soon the slightly moist wrap is taken off as Pinkie exclaims an excited. “Ta-daaaa!”
I’m suddenly staring at the trashed school entrance, and oh boy is it trashed! I must have crushed and moved a ton of rock or more with a mere motion from my hand. If ever there was a sign of the power I wielded and just how strong I was, this is certainly it.
At least by fixing this little by little, I can feel I’m putting that all behind me.
…
…Oh who am I kidding, it blows major plot that I have to fix this!
“Uh… It’s the school entrance…” I reply. “That I ripped apart… and it’s still ripped apart…”
“Well d’uuuuh!” Pinkie says. “It’s not going to fix itself!” she says with a grin.
“That’s why we’re all going to help ya!” Rainbow Dash says.
I feel the corners of my mouth curve up slightly. “Really?” I ask in a hopeful voice.
“Sure as shootin’!” Applejack says as she swings a fist in front of her.
Fluttershy chimes in, “We’re all here to help you, Sunset!”
Gotta admit, a little help might go a long way here. It’s going to take Snips, Snails, and I a long time to rebuild the entrance to the school… Also it doesn’t help that the three of us barely know what we’re doing.
The corners of my mouth continue upward. I’m not sure if we can do a ton with the time we have left at lunch, but it’ll feel good to get a little of this out of the way. I bet it’ll go even faster once we get Snips and Snails to help us.
“Well, enough dawdling,” Rarity says. “Let’s get started, girls!”
Geez, even Rarity is getting into this! I’m actually touched she’d dirty her hands over me. I mean, not so touched that I’m holding back tears or anything…
…Alright, I’m absolutely trying not to cry here…
“Alright, line up girls!” Pinkie says.
Wait… what?
The other girls do as they’re asked and form a line, starting with Rarity, then going to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and then me. What the heck are they planning?
Much to my surprise. The girls break into song.
“There’s no need to worry.”
“If we work together, we will be done in a hurry.”
“Uh, girls?” I say. “I’m not sure if sing—”
The girls continue as Rarity picks up a loose brick from the ground.
“All we need to do is to join together and work as one.”
Rarity gently tosses the brick underhand to Applejack, who does the same to Rainbow Dash, who does the same to Pinkie Pie…
“And before you know it—”
… who tosses the brick a little too high to Fluttershy who bends down a little too low…
“—our work will be dooo—”
My eyes go wide as the sounds of two rather solid objects colliding breaks into the groups impromptu musical number. The solid objects in this case being the brick and Fluttershy’s forehead.
I tried to tell to warn everyone that this seemed like a bad idea!
“AIE!” Fluttershy cries as she falls like a ton of… well… you know… something heavy… She falls backwards onto the grass and the rest of us circle around her with concerned looks on our faces.
“Oh my gosh, Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaims. “I am so, so sorry!”
“OoOoOoOoOh…” Fluttershy moans out as she looks up at us with slightly glazed over vision. “It’s okay, cotton candy cloud… I’m sure you didn’t mean to flood out the vet’s office with chocolate milk…”
The rest of us look at each other, confusion mixing with our looks of concern.
Applejack speaks up, “She’s more confused than a hog in a chicken coop!”
I cock an eyebrow at Applejack then look back down at Fluttershy, “I haven’t spent a lot of time with Fluttershy, or anything, but I’m willing to guess she normally doesn’t talk like that.”
Rarity shakes her head. “That sounds more like something Pinkie would say.”
Pinkie gasps. “Do you think we switched bodies?!”
The four rest of us turn to stare at Pinkie briefly, then back to each other.
“I think she may have a concussion,” I say.
Rainbow Dash leans down and holds up a couple fingers. “Fluttershy! How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Uh, that’s not how you check for a concussion,” I reply.
Rainbow Dash looks up at me. “It’s not?”
I feel my brow scrunch slightly on its own accord. “You’re in just about every sport!” I cry as I fling my hands up in the air. “How can you not know how to check for a concussion?!”
Rainbow Dash scowls at me. “Sorry! Must have been sick during ‘brick throwing day’ at P.E.!”
Pinkie whimpers sadly.
Rarity puts a comforting hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “It’s alright, my dear. We know you didn’t mean to hurt Fluttershy.”
Rainbow Dash continues, “Look, if you’re so smart, why don’t you figure out if Fluttershy is concussed?”
“Alright, fine!” I snap back. I lean down and stare at Fluttershy. Hoping to see some focus and recognition in those glazed over eyes of hers. “What’s your name?” I ask simply.
Fluttershy, her eyes focus again and she looks at me as if awareness suddenly came flowing back to her all at once. It’s almost as if my simple question has restored her from her dazed state. She looks me dead in the eyes and answers, “Cantaloupe.”
We all hang our heads and utter a few sighs.
“Oh no!” Pinkie cries. “Fluttershy is totally concussededed!”
Applejack sighs. “She’s more mixed up than one of my Granny’s fruit salads, alright!”
I turn and stare at Applejack. “Do you sit up at night coming up with these? I mean… do you write them down or something? Is there a journal of similes you have stashed away somewhere?”
Applejack turns to me with a slightly perturbed look on her face. “What in Tarnation are you talkin’ about?”
I shake my head. “Never mind… Let’s just get Fluttershy to the nurse…” I lean down further and reach for one of Fluttershy’s arms. “Here, someone help me lift her…”
Applejack leans down with me and grabs her other arm.
“Is it safe to move her?” Pinkie asks in a distressed tone.
“It should be fine,” I say as Applejack and I put Fluttershy’s arms over our shoulders and lift her up. “A little rest should help clear her head…”
“I hope so!” Pinkie says. “Oh! I could never live with myself if I killed Fluttershy!”
“Uh, Pinkie, dear?” Rarity says. “I don’t believe concussions are usually fatal.”
The six of us make our way back into the school and to the nurse’s office. Once again, I’m getting a bunch of strange looks, or maybe it’s all of us collectively. I guess two of us practically dragging Fluttershy through the hallways is bound to turn a few heads. I’m mostly glad the other girls are with me so it’s a bit unlikely the rumor mill is going to go crazy here. Fluttershy is practically the absolute last person at this school I would want people to think I beat up. That would be analogous to people thinking I punch out toddlers for fun.
We bring Flutters to the nurse’s office. Nurse Redheart looks up from her desk as we walk in and immediately is on her feet as she sees we’re dragging a student in.
“What happened to her?!” Redheart asks as she walks up and starts examining the red welt on Fluttershy’s forehead.
“She had an unexpected rendezvous with a brick to the head,” I say without thinking.
Everyone turns and stares at me.
“Sunset!” Rarity says, aghast.
Pinkie begins to tear up slightly. “Ba-but…I didn’t mean to hit her with a brick!” she wails out.
“Right!” I say. “That’s why I said ‘unexpected’.”
Rainbow Dash gives me a look. “Uh, I think ‘accidental’ rendewhatever would be a tad more accurate.”
Fluttershy giggled. “Hehehe… rendezvous is such a fun word to say… rendezvous… rendezvous…”
“Oh no, I was just thinking that!” Pinkie cries. “We are switching bodies!”
Applejack raises an eyebrow. “Uh, Pinkie Pie, dontcha think you’d start talkin’ like Fluttershy if that was the case?”
Pinkie pauses briefly and speaks begins speaking in a soft tone, “I’m yellow and shy…” she says in an absolutely dead on impression of Fluttershy. Pinkie’s eyes open wide as and she covers her mouth.
My swollen eye go wide… everyone else’s eyes go wide. She’s probably not switching bodies, but had I not been staring right at her, I would have sworn Fluttershy had just spoken.
“Oh no!” Pinkie exclaims in her regular voice that’s increasingly going shrill. “We have a code ‘Freaky Friday’, and it’s only Monday!”
Fluttershy giggles again. “Hehehe… freaky…”
“It’s getting worse!” Pinkie shrieks out.
I sigh heavily and nod to Fluttershy, “Can we please put her down?”
Applejack smacks a palm against her face. “You just had to phrase like that, didn’t ya?”
I cock my head slightly as I stare back at Applejack. “Phrase it like…?” I stop and think about my wording a bit. “… Oh…”
Tears began to stream down Pinkie’s face. “Please, no! There’s still hope she’ll recover, there has to be… hhehh… hhehh…WHOUAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAA…”
Nurse Redheart scowls at Pinkie and puts a finger her lips. “Sssshhhhh!”
“I meant ‘down on a recovery couch,’ Pinkie!” I cry over Pinkie’s hysterical sobbing.
As quickly as Pinkie began shooting tears like a high powered faucet, she stops. “Oh… That makes a lot more sense!”
Nurse Redheart leads Applejack, Fluttershy, and I to a black recovery couch and helps us lay Fluttershy down.
Man, she looks out of it...
“Oooo… is it story time already?” Fluttershy utters.
… and sounds out of it.
Nurse Redheart looks up at us. “Look, I’ll call her parents and make sure she’s taken care of. Why don’t you girls give her some room? Some quiet will be good for her.”
Pinkie frowns. “But what if I start rejecting my host body!?”
Rainbow Dash stares at Pinkie. “Wait, you mean Fluttershy’s body starts rejecting you, or your body starts rejecting Fluttershy?”
“YES!” Pinkie Pie cries.
Applejack and I turn to Rainbow Dash.
Applejack is slightly quicker on the draw, or maybe I say ‘drawl’. “Now why the heck are you encouraging her?”
I nod. “I was just about to ask that!”
“Girls!” Redheart says sternly. “Please leave!”
Pinkie begins to protest. “But…!”
We leave the office, taking Pinkie with us. Pinkie whimpers as Nurse Redheart closes the door as we all exit.
Rarity places a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “She’ll be just fine, dear! She just needs some rest.”
“I hope so…” Pinkie says. Her eyes light up. “Do you think she’d feel better if we threw her a ‘Get well soon’ party?!”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Absolutely not.”
Pinkie puffs out her lower lip and begins to pout. “But…”
“Someone who’s concussed needs quiet and rest, Pinkie,” I say.
“Oh…” Pinkie says sadly. “Okay…”
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash says. “Maybe we can take another crack at the entrance!”
I turn and smile. “Sure! The days still young! Maybe someone can get a skull fracture!”
Rainbow Dash shoots me a glare. “I didn’t say we’d try singing again while we do it!”
Pinkie lets out another whimper and looks like she might start crying again.
Applejack joins in on glaring at me. “Now why’d you go and say something like that? We were just trying to help!”
“Sorry if I was hoping help wouldn’t involve a trip to the nurse’s office!” I snap back.
The anger in the eyes pointed at me only increases.
“Now, now…” Rarity says as she gets in the middle of the group and holds up her hands. “We’re all friends here. No need to get short with each other…”
Everyone’s expressions soften a bit.
“Uh, right… ” I say weakly. “I’m just a little on edge, today… I didn’t mean to snap at everyone. Sorry.”
Without warning, Pinkie flings herself at me and wraps her arms around me. “It’s okay, Sunset Shimmer. We know you’re trying your best.”
I uh… I don’t know what to say to that. The idea that even one of the girls is cutting me this much slack is not just tugging at my heart strings, and grabbed hold and is pulling with all its might.
Great… now I’m crying, again! You’d think I’d run out of tears at some point…
“Group hug!” Pinkie cries.
Oh no…
“Girls! What are you all doing gathered in front of the Nurse’s office?!”
Rather than hug me, the girls turn to look at who had just spoken. I quickly dry my eyes and turn as Pinkie loosens her grip.
Vice-Principal Luna is walking down the hallway with her default stern expression.
I’m saved!
Luna looks directly at me. “I am afraid I am following up on word that you attacked a fellow student.”
I’m screwed!
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
730 users online
551,047 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Hilarious! Pinkie was in full form today!
(Yes, I know that emoticon is a bit out of context, deal with it!) Though I'm glad that Fluttershy is probably gonna be OK, she was pretty funny as well! It was funny as well, but I am a bit ticked about the cliffhanger.
Ah, the "plans for killing everyone you meet" moments are back. I love these so much.
I feel ya, Pinkie.
Best cliffhanger line ever!
Hm. So Rainbow Dash is secretly gay... Fluttershy is one-hit KO'd, and Sunset Shimmer is once again in a heap of trouble. Another day in paradise.
Besides some misplaced words and paragraphs not ending or starting where they should, the only other issue I have is how Rarity addresses others. She doesn't call them dearie; that's Mrs. Cake's thing. She calls them darling or dearest.
4643779
Thanks for the heads up "Dearest" is certainly something I need to add to her dialogue.
I'm getting so many feels and laughs from this story, I just can't believe it.
Keep up this awesome work!
4643779
Alright. It's slightly cleaner but probably not perfect. I did switch out "dearie" as you suggested. Thank you.
I thought that Sunset was going to panic & think that the 5 were going to bury her when Rainbow said that she was going to "totally dig" the surprise.
4644583
Heh.
I'm a little sorry I never thought of that now.
I just have one thing. With all the chaos in her life, I would have expected atleast one encounter with Human Discord.
Aaaand boned!
get my head
any more of a scene of myself than I'm going to by
accidentally
*SPITTAKE*
make it to lunch
'a' should not be capitalized.
Delete this comma.
Missing period.
Verb problem here. ("raises" instead of "raised" since this is in present tense.)
They all just shoot
proceeds
Delete this comma.
where
Again, watch your verb tenses.
I'm pretty sure you meant 'wrap', but then again, this IS Pinkie...
it's
Pronoun slippage there.
...the same fixing-the-wall song from SweetieMash? Really?
4649208
Fixed! Thank you!
Heh, glad someone recognized the song. I usually write whole new songs, but since I knew they wouldn't get far into the song before Fluttershy took a hit and theme was pretty much the same, I just rolled with it.
Also, I'm a fan of voice actor jokes.
4649444 So am I. If I ever finish my MLP/LPS crossover, you're gonna love it.
I'm loving this! That thing with Pinkie and Fluttershy resolved itself pretty fast... for a brick joke. I feel kind of bad Sunset Shimmer blew off Snips and Snails to hang with her "new" friends. Sooner or later those two are going to have to learn to hang out with the Mane 5 as well, should be a great interaction.
Or something like that. Lol. Nice FiW reference. Also, I love how you incorporated Pinkie's love of hotsauce in WatB here.
4662194
Glad someone caught the FiW reference.
4662218 Lol. That reference was so referency that my head voice for Pinkie changed just for that line.
This chapter was hilarious. If this turns into Sunset/Rainbow I won't complain, though I don't think it will.
Hah, I was just watching the first half Friendship is Witchcraft: Horse Women the other day (yes, they're actually doing the movie).
Also, people can die from blows to the head that cause concussions. It's worth worrying about.
4672109
I'll have to watch that soon! Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
4673444
The jokes seem to be completely different than the trailer, but still good. In fact, maybe it's better that way, since for once the trailer doesn't spoil the best parts of the movie:
4673605
I completely lost it at that last song.
Soooo good.
Still waiting for the part where Adagio Dazzle tricks Sunset into joining her band and making her think that the only reason the other girls care about her was because Twilight told them to. At least that's my theory for her role in the new movie.
4720730
Pretty sure they're really her thoughts, since she seems to have been having them for years.
I think she just heard this famous military quote and took it too literally:
"Be Polite. Be Professional. And always have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
Of course, in context the quote was talking about dealing with occupied areas where you can never tell if any of the people you meet are going to turn out to be armed insurgents, not daily civilian life.
Uh oh.
Wonder how this is going to turn out.
4728283
This is absolutely correct. Sunset's just being a tad literal minded.
4733002
Yes, the intent was 'have an idea what to do if they pull out guns and bombs' not 'plot the perfect murder'.
starting at Pinkie’s
staring
“You do might
Think that do is out of place.
Well now that mildly
now that that
Maybe I need to think about murder a tad less often…
...Nah.
never live myself
with myself
The days still
day's
4728283 So THAT'S where that quote comes from!
RIP
4733002
Yes, I am late for the party. Blasted exams...
Anyhow, another writing of yours that I seem to enjoy in my spare time. Keep it up. I especially love how you create Sunset's character.
Also, nice subtle references to the Wheel and the Butterfly.
These need to be switched around.
Drop the "my".
Drop "is".
Add "I".
Forget "with" in there somewhere?
Need to figure out who is actually holding Fluttershy here. It is AJ and Sunset and first then RD and Sunset. Also need an "a" where the underline is.
Nice last two lines there.
Now there’s a creepy concept.
As amusing as that wording is, I think Sunset would say *my
This sentence sure got mangled, and I'm not sure how to fix it
*They
*day's
Your narration style still reads a bit odd at times, but when it's on point, it's on point.