The Equus Club

by Sharp Spark

Chapter 6

Rainbow groaned, poking at one of the ancient computers in the library. It had turned on alright, fan whirring away, but the system was resolutely locked and passworded. “This sucks,” she growled.

Applejack was lying down on the top of one of the tables, hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. She tilted her head to look in Rainbow’s direction. “What are you even doing?”

“I’m bored!”

“You could always read a book, dear,” Rarity said. She looked up from filing her fingernails to gesture towards the shelves and shelves of literature.

“What do I look like, some kind of nerd?” Rainbow typed in another stab at guessing the password and hit enter. A low tone played to indicate another failure. “I give up. I’ve tried like… a million things.”

She leaned back in the chair, arms hanging limply, when one of the nearby shelves actually caught her eye. Daring Do and the… Her eyes darted around to make sure no one was paying attention to her and slunk over to the bookcase.

Applejack had turned the other direction to gaze contemplatively at Rarity. “Do you really own that boutique over on Main Street?”

Rarity blinked. “Well. In a manner of speaking. It is in my father’s name, but we’ve arranged for a loan that the profits will eventually repay, upon which point it will be mine in full.” She stiffened. “Why, are you going to insist on criticizing me on that too?”

“Shoot, no.” Applejack sat up, still looking at Rarity. “It’s pretty impressive. I thought a popular girl like you wouldn’t have the time to do anything actually useful.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, but the smirk on her face wasn’t unkind. “I keep very busy.”

“I bet.” Upon seeing Rarity’s expression deepen into a frown, Applejack shook her head. “No, I mean it.”

Rarity sighed. “I do wish that I could figure out how to get more business. We’re barely making ends meet as it is. Perhaps this town just isn’t the proper place for true fashion.”

“Well, you’re selling clothes. There's always a market for that. I mean, everyone needs clothes, right?” Applejack rubbed her chin. “You just need to give people what they want.”

“I’m not a factory, Applejack. I’m an artist. I’m not just going to sacrifice my creative vision for the sake of sales. That might work in the short term, but then there goes the reason I’d want to own a boutique to begin with.”

“So then, if you don’t want to change what you’re selling, you gotta change what they’re buying.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, at the farm, right? We grow apples. Always have, and near as I can tell, always will. And I’ve spent a lot of days at the weekend farmers’ markets selling ‘em. So sometimes someone comes in, looking for… let’s say pears. What d’ya do?”

Rarity crossed her arms. “Direct them to another stand?”

“Heck no! You talk to them. Get to know them a little. Most anyone likes to talk about themselves. So, say you find out they’re looking to make a batch of pear turnovers. Then you can throw in a little advice. Say, why not along with those you do a batch of apple turnovers too? We have this nice bunch of Bramleys in the back that cook up real good. They go home with their pears and apples both, you get a sale, and when they realize how good those turnovers turned out, they’ll be back for more next week.”

Rarity frowned. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, darling, but I don’t really see the relevance. Dresses and apples are very different things.”

“I’m saying you gotta learn to sell it! Why do people go to a dress shop?”

“To buy a dress?” Rarity said dryly.

“C’mon now,” Applejack chided. “Work with me here.”

“Because…” Rarity’s eyes drifted across the library, lingering on a rainbow-haired form. “Because they want to be beautiful. They want someone who can see that in them, and bring it to the surface.”

“There you go, now—”

“Because we all have a picture in our heads of who we want to be. Of the real us, on the inside, but it’s hard to find the courage to really accept that. So we try, and wait, and hope for that opportunity. Even if it’s just for a moment. To hang onto that memory tight, as a reminder that we can be beautiful.” Her voice dropped to a whisper too low to hear. “To someone.”

Her eyes went wide as she snapped her head back to look at Applejack. “Er. Sorry. Right?”

Applejack smiled ruefully. “Shoot. With a pitch like that, maybe you should be teaching me.”

---

Fluttershy sat on the railing that encircled the library’s upper level, a walkway that wound around another set of bookshelves up high. Her hands tightly gripped the metal, nervous not for her own sake, but Pinkie’s. The other girl had decided to join her, but dangled upside down over the ten-foot drop to the floor, her knees gripping the top of the railing.

“Um. Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy said.

“Abso-posi-lutely,” Pinkie sang out.

“But what if you fall?”

Pinkie raised one finger to tap the side of her head. “I have a cunning plan for that exact case.”

“And that is?”

“Land on something soft.”

Fluttershy leaned forward to look down. She saw nothing but carpeted floor. “There’s… not anything soft?”

“Well duh. I’m not falling yet.” Pinkie kicked one leg straight up, swinging it back and forth. Fluttershy couldn’t help but flinch at watching her hang by only one limb. “So let me see… What’s your favorite kind of dessert? You can tell a lot about a person that way!”

Fluttershy averted her eyes, trying not to think of Pinkie splatted on the floor below. “I don’t know. Dad and I usually try to eat healthy, so I don’t really do desserts.”

The shocked silence next to her was practically audible. She glanced back to see Pinkie with her mouth open wide in horror. In a flash, Pinkie swung upright and jumped to stand on the railing, bending down so that her face was inches away from Fluttershy’s.

“No desserts? No cake? No pie? No ice cream?”

Fluttershy leaned backwards, eyes wide. “Um. Pinkie. Be careful!”

Pinkie stood straight up and staggered back, somehow maintaining her balance on one foot as she clasped a hand over her heart. “How do you live?!”

Fluttershy racked her mind for something to calm her down. “Oh. Uh. I like, uh, carrot cake sometimes.”

Pinkie froze, her eyes narrowing. “With lots of icing?”

“With… a little icing?”

Pinkie considered that, as she stood on one foot on the thin railing. Coming to a conclusion, she hopped forward to sit right next to Fluttershy. “I suppose that’s acceptable. But I don’t see how you can go without cupcakes and cookies and— and— sugar.”

“Sugar’s not very good for you,” Fluttershy said. “In fact, if you eat so much, I have no idea how you’re so thin.” She glanced to the side at Pinkie, who was still bouncing up and down in place on the railing, her legs swinging back and forth rapidly. “Actually… nevermind.”

“But it tastes so good!” Pinkie said.

“Healthy things can taste good too.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Pinkie muttered. "With my tongue."

“Well then,” Fluttershy said, “I’ll just have to have you over for dinner. Dad’s a really good cook.”

“You mean it?" Pinkie looked at her sharply. "He wouldn't mind?”

“Of course.” Fluttershy twiddled her fingers. “He’ll, um, probably be really happy that I have a friend. He worries about me sometimes.”

“Woo!” Pinkie shouted, and Fluttershy found herself squeezed in a sudden hug. Just as she was trying to figure out the properly acceptable way to hug back, Pinkie released her and stared gravely into her eyes. “There’s not going to be any spinach, is there? Because I mean, at least with broccoli I can pretend it’s tiny trees for the forest next to Mount Mashed Potato, but spinach is…” She gagged. “Out of the question.”

“I’ll make a note. No spinach.”

“And then I can teach you how to throw a party and you can teach me how to pick locks!”

Fluttershy went rigid. “W-what?”

“I figure if you know how to throw parties, that’ll will help you make even more friends.” Pinkie smiled widely.

“Right…”

“And you know, you can show me how to pick locks like the one in the cafeteria. That seems super duper useful! Oh man, I could pull so many pranks.” Pinkie blinked. “Wait, how exactly did you learn that in the first place?”

“I...” Fluttershy sighed. “I suppose I should tell you the truth. There’s an animal shelter on the west side of town. And unlike the one near here, when an animal goes unadopted for too long, they— they—” Her eyes grew misty. “Kill it.”

Pinkie winced, putting an arm around Fluttershy’s shoulders in support.

“And— and they won’t let me adopt any more. They say I can’t give them a good enough home. But they’re just going to kill them instead!” Fluttershy gulped. “So… I, um, broke in, instead, and saved them.”

“Wow,” Pinkie said. “You just… figured out how to do so?”

“The internet is really instructive,” Fluttershy muttered. “And I’ve volunteered there before. I-I didn't know about them killing animals.” She looked up at Pinkie, a plaintive frown on her face. “I suppose you’re going to tell on me. I probably deserve that.”

“Are you kidding?” Pinkie grinned. “I want to come next time! I have a pair of night-vision goggles that I never thought I’d get the chance to use.”

“R-really?”

“Abso-posi-lutely.” She paused, thinking. “So how many pets do you have?”

“Kind of a lot,” Fluttershy mumbled. “But I’m looking for homes for them too.”

“Homes for what?” a voice behind them said.

Fluttershy turned to see Rainbow poking disinterestedly at the bookcase behind them.

“Pets!” Pinkie said. “Cutesy-wutesy puppies and kittens and bunnies and…” She looked to Fluttershy, questioning.

“Um. Hamsters, and ferrets, and birds, and…” She blushed. “I sort of have a lot of animals that need an owner. Dad says I should just charge admission and call it a zoo, but he’s kidding.” She paused. ”I think.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Hmmmm. I was sort of thinking about getting a pet myself, but I’m not sure if there’s any animal quite awesome enough. You don’t have any tigers or anything, do you?”

Fluttershy’s eyes lit up. “No, but I’m sure I could find a pet for you!”

“Cool,” Rainbow said. “Maybe I’ll come by sometime and take a look for myself.” She glanced over sharply at Pinkie, who had a goofy smile on her face. “What?”

“Are you going to sing a song?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” Rainbow said firmly. “Also, what? No.”

She walked over to lean against the railing and look down below. Applejack and Rarity were talking together, Rarity covering her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Hey Rarity,” Rainbow called out. “She teaching you how to wrassle hogs?”

Rarity stuck her tongue out childishly, but smiled back.

“Hey hotshot,” Applejack called back up. “I bet I could take you in arm wrestling.”

“Oh, you’re on.”

Before Fluttershy could even say anything, Rainbow Dash leapt over the railing, dropping to land in a crouch below. She winced, but Rainbow hopped up, completely unfazed by the fall.

“Wanna go cheer them on?” Pinkie suggested.

Fluttershy smiled. “Abso… um. Posi-lutely.”

Comments

[salemkarr]

Flutters is a criminal

[Crimson Dawn]

Pinkie you really should try the spinach. It can be so good with some garlic and feta cheese (along with some nice herbs and spices).

[Fawkes]

4647292
you've been hit by.. (bum-bum) you've been struck by... a shy criminal.

[The Princess Rarity]

D'aww, PinkieShy friendship is always the cutest.

[Distaff Pope]

“The internet is really instructive,” Fluttershy muttered.

That it is, Fluttershy. That it is.