Chapter 5: Twilight's Council
Twilight Sparkle found Rainbow Dash sleeping on a nearby cloud.
"Rainbow," she said, "you need to come to the library right away ..."
"Mmphgurgle," was Rainbow Dash's drowsy reply.
"Discord caught Fluttershy with Bulk Biceps and --- yow!"
Rainbow's eyes snapped wide open. "Aw, crap," she said, and streaked at high speed toward the Golden Oaks Library, leaving her usual rainbow-colored contrail.
Twilight did several involuntary somersaults in Rainbow's wake, then straightened out to follow after the Pegasus.
As she caught up, Rainbow asked "Where's 'Shy?"
"Showering in my bathroom," Twilight replied. "Don't scare her."
"I won't," assured Rainbow.
They landed on the balcony. Twilight touched the building with her horn. A tracery of pale purplish-red fire crawled over the outside. "Wards still up," she said. "She's safe."
Rainbow nodded. "Any dead yet? Or wounded?"
"No, to both" said Twilight, then looked at Rainbow Dash with newfound respect. "You've been expecting this."
"Oh, yeah," Rainbow affirmed. "In character."
"I didn't know you'd been studying Discord," said Twilight, opening the balcony door.
"Studying?" Rainbow's voice was scornful. "Me? Nah."
"Then how did you ...?"
"I know how jerks think," said Rainbow bluntly. "And Discord's a jerk." They stepped inside. Twilight renewed the wards.
"What do you think Discord will do?" asked Twilight. She could hear with some relief the sound of the shower still running.
"Something jerky," said Rainbow. "I don't know. Gilda would usually tear up pillows or drop molasses on somegriff. Minor vandalism and other pranks. I even thought it was funny, at the time. But Discord?" she shrugged.
"He could tear up mountains or cover cities in boiling lava," speculated Twilight, her face frightened as she tried to consider all the possibilities, and wound up damaging her own sanity with the speculations.
"Or not," pointed out Rainbow. "Sometimes Gilda could be a total sweetie about stuff that woulda set me off. Jerks are unpredictable. And Discord's an A-1 jerk."
"How do you feel about all this?" Twilight asked Rainbow.
"What, Discord being all jealous over `Shy and Bulkie? Told ya, he's a jerk," said Rainbow.
"No, I mean Fluttershy's ... um ... relationship with Bulk Biceps," Twilight clarified, keeping her voice low.
"Oh, I've known about that for the last coupla months. Known it's been serious for the last week." She looked curiously at Twilight. "What, you didn't notice it?"
"Well ... no," admitted Twilight, looking down sheepishly.
"Oh, come on Twilight -- they were all over each other on the train to the Crystal Empire. And on the way back ..."
"Actually, I didn't see much of them on the way back ... oh," said Twilight, coloring as she belatedly realized the implications of their protracted mutual absences from the team car.
"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash shortly, looking away.
Twilight noticed that her friend did not seem entirely happy about this aspect of the situation.
"Are you all right with this?" Twilight asked her.
"With Discord being a jerk? No, but what I can I do about it 'cept stick with 'Shy to keep her safe?" replied Rainbow Dash, looking at the closed bathroom door.
Twilight was not the Element of Honesty, but she could recognize evasion when she saw it.
"No ... I mean Fluttershy with ... I thought you and her were kind of ... close." It took an effort on her part to talk about this so openly, but she wanted to make sure that Rainbow wasn't hiding any deep-seated resentments on the matter.
Rainbow looked up at Twilight, mouth pursed tight, suddenly looking a decade older. For a moment she was silent.
"Yeah," Rainbow said. "We were kind of close. Still are, in many ways. What's your point?"
"So you're not jealous of ..." Twilight began to ask.
Rainbow stomped a hoof on the floor.
"Of course I am!" she said loudly. Then, moderating her tone. "But I'm not going to be a big jerk toward 'Shy about it, not when she needs me like this."
Twilight looked at her quizzically.
"I hate talking about mushy stuff," said Rainbow, "so I'll say this all once and be done with it. I've lo ... liked Fluttershy loads and loads since we were little fillies together. Of course I have. How can you know 'Shy and not ... like her? She's sweet and beautiful and gentle and kind ... all the things I'm not and never can be. She's like ... like some sort of goddess descended to share our skies, walk our world. From the moment I saw her I knew that it was my job to protect her, keep her safe from jerks who wanted to hurt her cuz they were jealous of what she was. Understand?"
Twilight nodded.
"I haven't always been there for her when she needed me," Rainbow continued, "like when she was sixteen ..." Rainbow looked at Twilight significantly, then snorted at the blank look she got from the Alicorn. "Don't ask her about that. Let her tell you if and when she feels comfortable with it. Seriously, you'll just wind up hurting her."
"Okay," said Twilight. "I don't want to hurt her."
Rainbow accepted the reassurance.
"So I'm not perfect," Rainbow admitted. "But I try to be there when she needs me. And, well, sometimes our friendship has been pretty ... strong," she said. "Somtimes it's been more like ... well ... mushy. Physical, even." Now Rainbow was blushing brightly. "But not dirty," Rainbow quickly added. "Nothing could be dirty with her. Aaagh, I hate talking about this stuff!
"Anyway," she continued, "the physical thing's been pretty much on and off. I'm not that much into it, I dunno, never really have been. And 'Shy ... it's more important to her, you understand? And the mushy stuff."
Twilight looked briefly shocked.
"She's shy," Rainbow said. "But she's warm, if she trusts you enough. I ... I can't explain it. Really don't want to."
"You don't have to," Twilight said. "I think I understand."
"Well, so then you got it," said Rainbow. "It's just that ... we kind of drifted apart on the mushy stuff. And now she's into Bulk. Which is okay. Bulkie's an okay guy. One 'a the nicest you could know. I like that big lug -- just don't tell him I said that, okay?"
"I won't."
"And 'Shy and me?" Rainbow said. "We love each other. Always have, always will. It's not about being physical or mushy, that stuff can be nice, but what's more important is that we look out for each other. That's what love really is. And friendship. And they're not too different from each other, if you get my point."
"I do," said Twilight softly, looking at Rainbow Dash with admiration.
"Fluttershy -- she's gone a bit beyond me, just like you have," Rainbow said. "She's becoming something -- I don't know what, maybe an Alicorn like you, maybe something else, the goddess I've always known she really was since I met her in Flight Camp. But whatever she becomes, where ever she goes, I'm gonna love her, and I'm gonna be there for her. Can I stop talking about this touchy-feely stuff now?" she asked, face completely red.
"Yes," said Twilight Sparkle. She stepped over to Rainbow Dash and gave her a big hug, holding the blue pegasus despite her startled protests and half-struggles. "Thank you," she said.
"For what?" Rainbow asked, so startled by this that she stopped struggling.
"For being you," replied Twilight, smiling warmly right into Rainbow's face. "That's all. And it's more than enough."
"Um -- you're welcome?" said Rainbow in some confusion, and briefly returned the hug. Then she pulled back. "Okay. No more mushy stuff."
They separated, and noticed that the bathroom door was open. Fluttershy was standing there, a purple towel wrapped around her mane like a turban, smiling at them.
"Hi," she said.
Rainbow promptly contradicted her previously stated desire by running over and hugging Fluttershy. Her friend looked surprised for a moment, then happily returned Rainbow's affection.
"Feeling better?" asked Twilight.
Fluttershy nodded. "I know Bulkie's safe," she said, "and nopony's actually been hurt, have they?" Her voice got a little anxious toward the end of that statement.
"Not as far as I know," Twilight said. "And I think if Discord was going to do anything violent, we'd have noticed by now."
"I think he was just surprised," said Fluttershy. "Don't be too mad at Discord -- it was maybe my fault for not telling him beforehand."
"Oh yeah," said Rainbow Dash, "like that would have helped matters."
"Communication always helps between friends," Fluttershy assured them.
Rainbow Dash looked doubtfully at her.
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.
"I see, darling," came the familiar voice of Rarity from the main hall. "You were right to hurry. I hope she's feeling better now."
"I'm sure she's over the shock by now," replied the even more familiar voice of Spike.
"Now, Spike," chided Rarity. "Not everyone's a big tough dragon like you!" There was the sound of a hoof scraping gently over semi-metallic scales.
Twilight stepped out to the head of the stairs and looked down to see Rarity and Spike at the foot.
"Hello," Twilight said. "Thank you for making it over here on such short notice." She walked down the stairs.
"Think nothing of it," said Rarity. "I'm always willing to take time out for friends." She looked up to where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were standing at the railing. "Are you feeling better, darling?" she asked Fluttershy.
"I'm okay," replied Fluttershy, smiling slightly. She was still wearing the towel on her head.
"All right," said Twilight. "We'll meet in the main hall." She stepped over to the main table, Rarity joined her. Fluttershy and Rainbow hopped down from the second story. "Pinkie's off getting Applejack."
As she said this, Pinkie and Applejack tumbled down from the ceiling.
This time it was a longer drop. Applejack cried "Yee-hah!", flipped in midair, bent her knees and executed a perfect energy-absorbing landing on all four hooves simultaneously.
Pinkie Pie again landed headfirst, bounced around the room several times, then came to a stop, giggling. "I knew this would be fun to do again!"
"Aren't you even a mite bruised from doing that?" Applejack asked her pink friend curiously.
"Nope!" squeaked Pinkie, tapping her head, her hoof rebounding elastically. "It's rubber!"
"Is that even anatomically possible?" wondered Twilight aloud.
"Now, Twilight, don't be a meanie," Pinkie chided her. "Lampshading spoils the joke!"
Twilight shrugged. She had more important matters to consider than Pinkie being Pinkie. And from some of what Celestia had taught her about quantum event determination, she thought that Pinkie might be completely serious about lampshading spoiling the joke. And she did not want to spoil Pinkie's jokes, especially not when they might be in real danger. Pinkie's jokes had saved them all more than once, more often than the others perhaps suspected.
"All right, girls," said Twilight briskly. "I've assembled you all here to let you know that there may be a problem with Discord."
The others leaned forward with interest.
"Fluttershy is in love with Bulk Biceps," Twilight said. She waited for the shock to hit them all, then noticed that they were all looking at her as if expecting her to say much more. "What, you all knew that?
Fluttershy and Rainbow of course did.
"Well, she's my best mare-friend," said Rarity. "I've known of her attraction to Bulk for two months now."
"I told you about it, remember silly," said Pinkie. She snort-laughed. "And it was kind of obvious."
"Ah'm Honesty," Applejack pointed out. "Plus, they were making goo-goo eyes at each other all the way to the Crystal Empire. And before that. And there was that business in the North Field ..." She noticed Fluttershy looking at her pleadingly and finished by saying "... other clues."
"Am I always the last to know of these things?" asked Twilight, peeved.
"Yup," said Applejack.
"Pretty much," added Rainbow Dash, nodding.
"Maybe," said Fluttershy very softly.
"You don't really pay much attention to l'affairs du coeur, darling," Rarity explained.
"I like Cheese Sandwich!" shrieked Pinkie Pie, pulling out a huge black-and-white glossy of him, signed 'From Cheese Sandwich to His Number One Party Pony, XXXOOO.'
Everypony stopped and stared at her.
"What," said Pinkie. "I thought we were doing dramatic love confessions now!" Instead of looking at all embarrassed, she gave the photograph a big goofy grin.
For a moment Twilight thought she could actually see little red hearts boiling off Pinkie, then blinked her eyes, and could see them no longer. Then the more important information registered.
"Wait, Pinkie's in love with Cheese Sandwich?"
"Well of course, sugar cube," said Applejack in a kindly tone.
"It's kind of obvious," pointed out Rainbow Dash. "They got all friendly at my birthaversary, and he's been back in town a couple times since then, just to see her."
"They have so much in common," added Rarity. "They're practically kindred spirits. Isn't it wonderful?."
"I think it's nice," said Fluttershy softly.
Pinkie ignored the conversation, now occupying herself by making little kissing motions at the photograph.
"Anyway," said Twilight, "getting back from this issue of True Confessions to the severe existential danger in which we and the whole of Equestria may now be ..."
That quieted them. Except for Pinkie, who for a moment continued making kissy-faces at her photograph of Cheese. Then even she straightened up and put her memento away to whatever place from which she had originally retrieved it.
"So," Twilight continued, "Discord is also apparently attracted to Fluttershy ... and yes, I had already noticed that." She looked challengingly at everypony, but nopony seemed inclined to say anything on that topic. And Discord discovered Fluttershy's relationship with Bulk in a rather ... ahem ... upsetting manner for all three of them concerned."
"Oh, dear, said Rarity.
Applejack tsk-tsked.
Pinkie grinnned.
Rainbow looked unhappy.
Fluttershy drooped every part of her body simultaneously in one of the sadder expressions Twilight had ever seen on her.
"And Discord teleported away to ... where ever it is that Discord goes when he's not here," Twilight said. "To sulk, I'm guessing ... I hope, because the alternatives all strike me as much worse."
"And Mr. Bulk?" Rarity asked.
"He's safe on the Pie Rock Farm. Its wards should keep Discord out -- unless he tries really hard to get through them, that is," explained Twilight.
"Well, that is a relief," commented Rarity. "He seems like such a nice stallion, and I'm sure Fluttershy would be quite distraught if anything happened to him."
Fluttershy's eyes grew big at the thought.
At that moment Spike came back from the kitchen, where he had made tea and sandwiches for everypony. He served them with biscuits and little sweet muffins.
"Ooh!" said Pinkie Pie, "We can have these, too!" She reached into somewhere, and got everyone pink-frosted cupcakes on the side. She also began blowing up party balloons and hanging streamers around the room.
Twilight pressed her hoof against her forehead.
"Pinkie," she said in irritation. "You do know this really isn't a party, right? It's a serious council of possible war ..."
"Well of course I know that, silly," Pinkie assured them. "So these aren't really party balloons. They're serious-council-of-possible-war balloons." She smiled maniacally. "See?"
Twilight simply shrugged.
"Now, the problem is that we don't actually have the Elements of Harmony," she said. "So we couldn't use the Elements against Discord even if ..." she looked at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy shook her head in an emphatic no.
"... Even if everypony was willing to do so. And Discord hasn't actually done anything really bad yet -- he's just been rude. So I think we should all just be aware that Discord may be in a dangerous mood, treat him diplomatically, maybe figure out what he might do if he decides to act." She paused and looked at her friends expectantly.
"Ah'll be nice to him, less'n he starts hurtin' Ponies," Applejack assured her.
"I shall treat him with perfect charm and grace," said Rarity, striking a charming and graceful pose.
Spike looked at her with adoration.
"Meh," said Rainbow Dash, folding her forelegs and looking peeved. "I won't clobber him."
"I think he still wants to be friends," said Fluttershy.
"Oooh!" squeaked Pinkie Pie. "We can throw him a 'We're all still friends' party! And there can be cakes, and balloons, and party games, and little adorable plushies as party favors!"
"Pinkie," said Twilight. "That's ..." she paused and thought about it a moment. "... actually not all that bad an idea. Might put him in a good mood."
"Woo-hoo!" shouted Pinkie. "Chaos God friendship party!" She darted around the room, putting up decorations which she seemed to have somehow already pre-positioned.
"Anyway," said Twilight. "We need to let the Princesses know what's going on." She looked at the wings on her own back and clarified her point. "Celestia and Luna, that is." She pulled out a piece of paper and a quill pen from a drawer, began writing. "They actually know Discord well -- they'd be much better at predicting his actions than am I," Twilight explained to her friends.
Twilight looked at the result, sanded, blew. "There," she said, satisfied. She rolled and tied up the paper. "Spike?" she asked, tossing it over to him.
Spike spouted green flame and the letter vanished.
"Now, this will probably take a little time before we get a response," Twilight said, "so we should discuss some basic tactics. Unless Discord actually starts killing Ponies, we don't want to make him any angrier than he already is. One thing --" she looked at Fluttershy.
"Me?" asked Fluttershy, almost squeaking it out.
"If he does show up he'll probably be focused primarily on you," said Twilight. "You can play it by ear: be nice to him, but don't make him any promises you really don't want to keep ..."
"Promises?" asked Fluttershy.
"... but if he looks as if he's going to go berserk, Stare him. Quickly. Make sure he can't hurt anypony. No, make that anyone," Twilight amended, looking at Spike.
Spike looked frightened, and moved closer to ... Rarity? The white unicorn mare responded by moving closer to him, too, so that she was sheltering him like a mother its colt. Almost like that, but slightly different ...
That's odd, Twilight thought, though not really all that relevant.
"I ... um ... I don't actually know how well my Stare works on him," Fluttershy pointed out. "It might not --"
"It probably works better than anything else we have," Twilight pointed out, "and it's the only weapon we have that can stop him without risking massive destruction.
"What about your magic?" asked Applejack. "Ah notice it's been gettin' stronger since you became a Princess," she pointed out.
"Why, thank you," replied Twilight. "I've been practicing. But no, I'm afraid that the best I can do against Discord if he's really mad is throw up shields, teleport, maybe try to sting him with magic missiles. Delaying tactics. If you knew what I knew, about the source of his power ..." she said, shuddering. "He's probably the strongest mage on the Earth, right now."
"What about me?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I could dart in, give him a punch here, a kick there!" she demonstrated, risking damage to the library fittings until Twilight gently wrapped her in her bright pinkish-red aura.
"No," Twilight said. "If he gets hostile, you keep moving, make yourself a difficult target and keep your flight-field strong. You don't understand what he can do if he gets really mad," she said. "He's always just toyed with us. I don't want to lose you, Dashie."
"Ah'd like to say that Ah could do better ..." began Applejack.
"You couldn't!" insisted Rainbow Dash.
"... but I cain't," Applejack admitted. "Ah t'aint no mage. All Ah am is a good brawler."
"And you're incredibly loyal friends, both of you," Twilight interjected. "Just try not to get killed, see what you can do."
At that moment Spike burped up a scroll.
Twilight took it, unrolled it.
Mine Own Dearest Friend,
I am alarmed at the deeds of Discord. Beware him. If he feels himself scorned, his wrath might be terrible. I shall meet thee with all haste -- I must gather some things first.
I hope to see thine own welcome face again in this life. If I do not, know that thou art and hast always been dear to my heart. And that we shall in any case meet again, in the fullness of time.
Eternal Love,
Princess Luna Selena Nyx
Who Was Once Moondreamer
Twilight read the salutation and the first paragraph aloud to everypony. Then she got to the second paragraph and stopped reading aloud, continuing silently. Her face first blanched, then blushed in quick succession.
"What's it say?" asked Applejack.
"Yeah, what's Celestia gonna do?" queried Rainbow Dash.
"Ooo, I bet she's gonna bring cake!" guessed Pinkie Pie.
"Um," said Twilight. "It's actually from Luna, not Celestia, and she says she thinks Discord might be really angry, and we should be careful, and that she'll be joining us with some things she needs to gather first. She looked at the letter. "And, you know, the usual polite stuff. She can be very, um, formal."
Applejack looked at her dubiously, but said nothing aloud.
Twilight stuffed the letter into the drawer. This, with a pile of other ones, was going into her private collection. She sometimes liked to read Luna's letters over to herself. If she survived the next day or so, she might do the same with this one.
Twilight had to wait a moment to regain her composure. "All right," she said. "Rarity, if there's trouble ..."
"Charm should still suffice," replied Rarity. "He is, after all, male." She lifted her pretty head proudly, batted her lovely eyelashes.
"Yes," agreed Twilight, "but I don't think you're getting what I mean by 'angry' here." She could not help but remember Celestia's tales of seas evaporating, whole races transformed into new species, earthquakes, volcanoes ... Surely he would't go that far over the kind of situation you'd find in a Prench farce, she told herself, and hoped she was right. Would he? "I mean ... remember the day he first came back?"
Rarity nodded, shuddered at a recollection which Twilight was fairly sure centered around a certain boulder.
"He wasn't actually mad at any of us back then," Twilight explained. "He was only playing."
"Oh," said Rarity, realization starting to set in. "Oh."
"Eep," said Fluttershy.
Pinkie gave a gasp.
At this point there was a dramatic swirl of smoke -- or was it something less tangible? -- at the far end of the library. The smoke dissipated in what seemed to be a flock of bats, but the bats themselves warped and vanished before they could fly too far, as if they were some sort of highly-concentrated and precisely-crafted warp in spacetime.
"Aaah!" shrieked Fluttershy, trying to hide behind Rainbow Dash. This was a poor strategy, as Fluttershy was actually a lot larger than her rainbow-maned best friend. For her part, Rainbow assumed a defiant pose, ready to give her life if need be to protect Fluttershy.
Rarity whirled and tensed for action. Even Applejack seemed perturbed.
Pinkie, whose gasp had come before the strange effect had appeared, cried out in happy delight:
"Black Snooty!" She reached for a piece of cake, ran forward.
Twilight, who knew who it was the moment she saw the bats, stepped forward with a glad smile.
"Princess --" she began.
"Would you like some cake?" asked Pinkie Pie, shouldering Twilight aside to present the promised delicacy.
Princess Luna stood there. Tall, proud, and regal, with starlight in her long rippling blue mane. She was clad in half-plate with her Mark on the breastplate, worn with open-visored helm and spiked sabatons. Twin crescent swords were sheathed at her sides, she had quivers of javelins, bullas hung from her side-harness, and some sort of bands of what looked like small rockets were draped over her form. In her aura she held a curious weapon like a small multi-barrelled cannon, with the barrels arranged in a circle around a central mounting; small ovoid bulla-like devices with rings on one end hung from a belt. Her expression was very serious.
Beautiful blue eyes blinked in confusion at the balloons, banners and streamers.
"That is really more my sister's -- wait, is that chocolate?" she asked.
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.
Help had arrived.
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Oh, Pinkie. Never change, dear.
More later, but this was awesome in so many ways. Twilight, Miss Oblivious. Of course. By the way, I particularly like the way you wrote Dashie here. Blunt, a bit aggressive, loyal, and ready to mix it up with anypony who might hurt her friend--even if she also feels somewhat hurt. That's not going to stand in the way.
It's ironic to hear RD say that considering she's likely the most powerful pegasus alive and could shatter mountains at her max.
I can imagine Pinkie Pie, Rarity and RD in a room together, and Pinkie Pie having to tell Rainbow Dash, "I think Rarity's the only one of us who truly understood her."
"Understood her? ADMIRED HER!"
Borrowed from Test Of The Twins, Dragonlance book in a VERY warped love square.
Rarity has been called Fluttershy's best friend, and I think she has earned this position due to bringing Fluttershy out of her shell just a little where the aggressive Rainbow Dash and over the top Pinkie Pie failed, she was the only one to understand you needed a gentle touch to reach the soul of an introvert.
"Yee-hah!, flipped in midair,
"Yee-hah!" flipped in midair,
"What, you all knew that?
"What, you all knew that?"
"So Rainbow Dash, you and Soarin' a thing now, or did he make up with Spitfire?"
"I LOVE RARITY! I'm sure she'll make Alicorn Princess before she dies of old age! Then we can watch our kirin fly in the skies over Canterlot!" Spike
"So Twilight, when are you going to finally get some with the Flash Sentry of THIS universe? The one from that other universe has likely met up with the you of THAT universe by now."
"They have so much in common," added Rarity. "They're practically kindred spirits. Isn't it wonderful?."
Twilight Sparkle, "They're as different as buckin' NIGHT IS FROM DAY, only more so than the Princesses!"
"Oh, dear, said Rarity.
"Oh, dear," said Rarity.
While I don't doubt Maud could match Discord in hoof to hoof combat . . .
They're serious-council-of-possible-war balloons." She smiled maniacally. "See?"
Twilight simply shrugged.
It has that written on them?
The stare doesn't work on Discord remember?
This Applejack doesn't have The Truth as her weapon either, the blade that can cut down gods and moral alike.
"He was only playing."
Like a child pulling the legs off a insect 'playing'. Tell the insect that's 'playing.'
as Fluttershy was actually a lot larger than her rainbow-maned best friend.
0-0 Since when?
And I guess the Flutterbat incident made her WORSE at the Night Princess instead of better?
I wonder if Fluttercruel absorbed Flutterbat's traits after Shy was cured.
Luna, I don't think a show of force is going to do much good against Discord.
4488892
Fluttershy's two best friends are Rainbow Dash and Rarity, in some order. I say "in some order" because Fluttershy goes to each of them for different things.
Rainbow Dash has known her since they've been small; she worships her and is highly protective of her. In her rough, Boisterous Bruiser way, that is. Rainbow Dash just doesn't consciously understand Fluttershy as well as does Rarity, because Rainbow tries to map Fluttershy onto her standard Pegasus models. And Rainbow's a bit battle-mad even by Pegasus standards.
Rainbow sees Fluttershy as a High Lady (and did even before she knew she literally WAS a High Lady because Fluttershy gives off all the right signals to be Pegasus aristocratic elite (though in a gentler and subtler way than most of them do). This plugs into Rainbow Dash's fillyhood fantasies of being the loyal heroic retainer of the High Lord or High Lady, who would serve her liege onto death and be their best friend and truest love. Think Japanese medieval epic drama with Rainbow fancying herself the loyal samurai and Fluttershy the daimyo; or a European tale of Courtly Love with Rainbow being the knight-errant and Fluttershy the lady.
As she got older, of course, Rainbow stopped consciously playing this role, but she still keeps to it in the back of her mind; it's her ideal of how their relationship should work. Add to this that Fluttershy -- though she acts submissive -- is actually a strong-willed passive-aggressive social manipulator (not counting in the Stare, because Fluttershy wouldn't Stare Rainbow save to keep her from dying), and very much the dominant one in their friendship. The proof of this is simple, Fluttershy ultimately gets what she wants with Rainbow (and almost everypony, really). Almost every time. Rainbow only sometimes gets what she wants.
Sexually, they're both in my fanon bisexual (*), but Rainbow Dash is an extrovert with a weak sex drive, while Fluttershy is an introvert with a strong one. Coupled with Fluttershy's dominant role in their Romantic Friendship, this has led to a situation in which any sex between them (which never got beyond what we'd call in our society "heavy petting") has occurred because Fluttershy manipulated Rainbow Dash into making an advance, with Fluttershy then controlling what happened every step of the way. Fluttershy has spent most of the last eight years afraid of her own sex drive, so this suited her need for security -- she knows Rainbow Dash would never harm her.
She senses the same thing about Bulk Biceps -- that he is emotionally rather submissive, and would never hurt her -- which is why she trusts him enough to take him as a lover. This is a milestone for her, as she has been really seriously afraid of Pony stallions for the previous eight years.
I thought about this, and some other beings to whom Rainbow Dash has shown attraction in canon and fanon, but even though my joke-title for this chapter was "Shipping, Shipping Everywhere" I didn't want to actually bog down the main plot too much by talking about Rainbow Dash's sexuality. Seriously, if I went down the list of every character and every possible attraction they have, this chapter would be 20K words long and would have bored to tears most of the audience.
My Rainbow Dash is mostly oblivious to love, and she isn't promiscuous, but she does have a romantic and sexual side even though she doesn't like to talk about it much. Soarin is definitely one of the ponies to whom she's attracted, because we've seen this in canon -- but I haven't decided yet what if anything has happened between them, or what future they might have together. Soarin is clearly a submissive personality compared to Rainbow Dash -- but that might work just fine from Rainbow Dash's point of view, provided that he's strong enough to keep her respect.
None of this would make that much difference to her strong attraction to Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash loves Fluttershy above and beyond any other love she has, and it's not even primarily a sexual love -- it's beyond that, it's close to worship. Anypony who loves Rainbow Dash will simply have to accept that Rainbow Dash would do whatever it took to protect Fluttershy -- though being Rainbow Dash, she might make impulsive mistakes in the process (as when she nearly killed Fluttershy the day she first did the Sonic Rainboom).
Now as for Rarity --
Fluttershy is best friends with Rarity because Rarity actually understands her emotionally (which Rainbow Dash does not) and can help her work thorugh her emotional and social problems. In this friendship, Rarity is dominant (not too surprising, as Rarity is tremendously strong-willed and determined to succeed and to to do good). This is vital to Fluttershy because Rarity can show her when Fluttershy is messing up, and also teach her the skills she never learned growing up as a semi-hermit self-exile from both Cloudsdale and Ponyville. Fluttershy is well aware that Rarity has repeatedly gone far out of her way to help her, and she loves her for it.
Pinkie and Cheese? Well, they're different sexes, and they have different strategies for spreading their party-riffic good cheer, but compared to all the other Ponies in Equestria they are very similar. They are both party-oriented good-aligned reality warpers (Pinkie is more Lawful and Cheese more Neutral Good in D&D terms), who have an understanding of a form of magic and life which almost nopony else gets at all. Pinkie's romantic options are pretty much limited either to non-party Ponies who are good and strong enough to anchor her, or somepony like Cheese who can share her understanding of partying. Normal and average stallions couldn't handle Pinkie, or keep her interest.
Actually the way they live is an almost precise analogue of the Sedentary Mare / Nomadic Big Brother Herds of the (G1) "Time of Extermination" (my term). Pinkie has settled in Ponyville and found an important and talented group of mare friends to influence, Cheese Walks the Earth on his personal quest to spread partying everywhere.
Now, if you actually meant Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, yes they are very different. Complementary opposites, in fact.
Hey, Spike can hope ... I don't know how much he's thought this all through. He's smart, though, and he's noticed that Rarity treats him as one of her best friends in the world, and has increasingly started to become more physically-affectionate toward him (it's clearly shown in canon). He knows that he's only going to get older, and that at later stages of life, age differences don't mean as much as they did when you were younger. His main worry, to the extent that he imagines long-term failure even possible, is that Rarity will marry someone else before he's old enough to really pursue her.
He's still too young for Rarity -- they're not lovers in any but the most courtly sense of the word (**) at this point in their lives, and she'd be rather horrified at the notion of consummating anything with him right now. Rarity has the strongest sex drive of any of the Mane Six, but she's also got a strong conscience, and she would (rightly) view any such behavior on her part as betraying one of her best friends (Spike) and another very good friend (and, increasingly, liege lady) Twilight Sparkle. At this point of time in my chronology Rarity is 22 and Spike 14, though it's of course complicated by their differing physical and emotional growth rates.
While 14 would technically be within the age of consent or equivalent laws for much of Equestria (which is still a Mid-Industrial Age culture, look up the ages of consent for most of the USA around 1875), it's still very young compared to 22. And there are things that Rarity just won't do. Seducing someone she still sees as a "kid" is one of them.
But -- as I said -- he's getting older. Right now I don't think he's faced up to the problem that -- if Rarity doesn't Ascend -- she'll wind up long predeceasing him. Because he's still a kid right now, and to the young every year feels like a century.
I remember being like that.
Has Rarity thought this through? I don't know -- to admit to herself that she's basically training him to be her business partner would be to admit an attraction to him that right now probably scares her, given their ages. Rarity is highly-intelligent, though, and it's probably common knowledge that Dragons live longer than Ponies. And she knows one of the most erudite scholars in Equestria -- though she'd have to be careful about how she asked questions, or even what books she borrowed ...
She could. Heck, my Maud is also nigh-invulnerable and can regenerate. And can jump very, very well (she generates a very clumsy and unmaneuverable version of a Pegasus flight field from her hooves, as she demonstrated in her episode -- note she "jumps" horizontally and far too rapidly to be possible save by flying -- think "Cannonball" of the New Mutants). Plus, she has a very strong resistance to having her own reality warped, so he would have trouble transforming her in any way.
Problem is, Discord wouldn't be dumb enough to play the game the way Maud could win it. He'd change Maud's environment in such a way as to trap or impede her, then do something massive enough to her to kill her or knock her out when he had her at his mercy.
Though Maud's power level would initially come as a surprise, so if she could keep him off-balance long enough and keep hitting him, she might be able to knock him out. Paradise would also warn her why she shouldn't try to kill him.
Maud's a very powerful Daughter of Paradise, but most of her powers save her great strength are essentially defensive. She's not, for instance, capable of anything like the complex and wide-range actions of which Pinkie Pie is capable.
Knowing Pinkie Pie, they might. And Twilight doesn't feel like arguing the issue right now.
Incidentally, there's a method behind Pinkie's madness. Shes' being silly to keep the story light, under the theory that it's an improbable Mood Whiplash for Discord to show up and kill or horribly transform them all if it's being played as romantic comedy. She can't explain this to Twilight (or anypony) because this is the sort of thing that if one explains never works as planned.
Also, she likes being silly.
So Discord claimed. But then he went and did exactly what Fluttershy wanted anyway. Fluttershy's not sure if it was her Stare, or her general passive-aggressive social dominance, that did the trick.
Discord is very vulnerable to Fluttershy's personality. He actually loves her, to the extent that he is capable of love, and if he destroyed her would be emotionally destroying himself as well. This wasn't true before he knew her well in her un-Discorded personality, but he's known her too long now to easily disengage. He has a heart -- though it's a pretty ruthless and selfish one.
This doesn't mean he might not kill or warp her, because Discord is also demonstrably bats**t crazy and terribly self-destructive. He's done a lot of superficially-cunning but strategically foolish things in his career. He might very easily do another one.
"Larger" is the wrong word, I should change it.
Rainbow Dash is mesomorphic to endomorphic. Fluttershy is ectomorphic. If you put them side by side and drew them properly, Rainbow Dash would look rather stocky; Fluttershy tall and elegant. I should probably say "taller" or "longer" instead. They probably weigh about the same, or Rainbow Dash even more because of all her extra muscle mass.
Or she's very afraid to use it. She does obviously have the ability to discern truth from lies by paying attention -- notice that even Twilight's little white lies (regarding both the romanticism and the pessimism of Luna's letter) failed to pass muster?
Oh, no. Everypony but Pinkie and Twilight were scared because they thought that was Discord breaking through the wards.
Pinkie knew via precognition that it was Luna, and deliberately teased her by addressing her by the appellation she'd used to her when she was Nightmare Moon. Twilight recognized Luna's magic and style of entry. Neither was afraid because they knew Luna was a friend.
===
(*) For different reasons. Rainbow's sex drive is unfocused because it is weak, while Fluttershy's instincts are those of the Royalty of a race capable of hermaphroditic reproduction. And with different expressions: Rainbow Dash perceives sex as "what one would do only with a really close friend, while Fluttershy is more comfortable with the idea of explicitly looking for a lover (though she would be embarrassed to discuss it in these terms, and is subconsciously focused on having children, but also subconsciously assumes she can do this with either sex (and she could, too, if she mastered her full powers; but that's a whole other Power Perversion Potential kind of issue).
(**) They definitely treat one another romantically. This has become really obvious in the fourth season, which I think is because Spike's getting older.
4488820
I'm really glad you liked the way I handled Pinkie here, because I know you're a major Pinkie Pie fan. She wasn't really surprising anypony (save Twilight) by letting them know she had an attraction to Cheese Sandwich, she was just being deliberately funny with the whole routine she did with the photograph.
Complete with the little kissies.
I'm also glad you liked my Rainbow Dash. Some may not, because I'm stating rather explicitly that by this point in time (1504) she's actually had a semi-consummated lesbian love affair with Fluttershy. And that it failed to completely work, which is a bit sad. But then, it hasn't ruined their friendship, nor have they necessarily given up on it entirely.
Rainbow's philosophy on love and friendship really endeared her to Twilight Sparkle in that scene, because Twilight's is rather similar. Nowadays, anyway.
The important point is that Rainbow would never give up on a friend just because not everything else with that friend worked out perfectly. And in particular, her love for Fluttershy is unshakeable.
4489317
Biased, of course, but I couldn't have put it better myself. Also, Pinkie is surrounded by other ponies whose response to nearly everything she does is "oh, that's just Pinkie Pie." Cheese is pretty much the only character we've met so far who would say, "well, duh, of course. That makes total sense," or who gets that making other ponies smile isn't just an important thing. It's the only thing.
4489404
Exactly. Very few other Ponies can even halfway understand Pinkie Pie, and most of the ones who can are her full sisters.
Twilight Sparkle, "They're as different as buckin' NIGHT IS FROM DAY, only more so than the Princesses!"
Meant shy and Bicups.
4489465
Oh, ok ...
Yes. Sadly, they don't have that much in common, save social awkwardness for opposite reasons. Their compatibility is rather shallow.
This is actually worse for Bulk than for Fluttershy.
Maud doesn't exist in the pony pov verse . . . YET . . . it'll send shockwaves when she does.
*giggles at the Alicorn with a minigun* Lacuna? Is that you?
4489639
Welcome to some of the first experimental products of Luna's crash-rearmament and reorganization problem after she really did come all the way back, and stepped into her true responsibilities as High Lady of War.
4489500 Oh, dear. Mrs. Biceps is not going to like it if Fluttershy breaks her little Snowflake's heart.
4489643
Eh, it's still an early prototype, though, right? Probably costs like 400,000 bits just to fire it for 12 seconds.
4489714
You've pretty much nailed it on the head. Guns are uncommon in Equestria, and this is a fairly advanced weapon, made with what Luna could fish from Moondreamer's memories of the lost science of the Age of Wonders.
4489728
Why is Luna bringing a gun to a fight with Discord anyway? Has she thought through how much Order is required for a gun to work? Unless the goal is to make him start laughing hysterically and thus leave himself vulnerable to attack from a different direction, which... is not a bad strategy when dealing with Discord (it's sort of how Celestia and Luna took him out in canon, after all.) I mean, if you seriously intend to shoot Discord, you need to do it with a concealed weapon -- he won't be intimidated by weapons, and anything he sees you carrying, he's much more likely to be able to counter. And guns are so easy for chaos to counter. He doesn't even need to warp reality, just probability.
4484113
Wasn't it obvious from the fact that your universe is borrowing heavily from Pony POV? I don't even know who Wind Whistler is -- I never saw any of the previous gens -- so none of the personality clues meant anything to me, but I remember that in Pony POV, Discord took Wind Whistler's body after his Dissy body was killed. So when you say in the long description that it's someone whose physical form he usurped and whose family he killed... isn't it obvious from that, as soon as we know you're borrowing backstory from Pony POV?
(Which, by the way, given how far apart the cosmogeny, history and general themes of my universe and Pony POV are, I find it very weird to see one story borrowing stuff from both. :-) I don't object, but given that in Pony POV, Discord is a cosmic force who came into existence as a malevolent asshole and has spent only a very little bit of time over the course of his existence in not being one, and in my stuff, Discord was a kid at the wrong place and wrong time (and possibly had the wrong parents), who ascended into way more power than is good for him because someone has to do it, and who became corrupted over time by that power but is, in essence, a biological life form wielding a ridiculous amount of magic rather than a cosmic entity in biological form... the two universes seem so far apart it's actually weird to see elements from them combined.)
4490616
A distraction, mostly. But then all her weapons are more or less distractions, against Discord. She wasn't kidding when she wrote that highly-pessimistic second paragraph in her letter to Twilight. She has something else much more effective than any gun, but she has to distract Discord, and hopefully discarnate him for at least a moment, for it to work.
Anyway, it's her latest fashion accessory and she wants to show it off to her friends. Especially to the one who used to be Dusk Skyshine.
4490647
Ah. Well, if it's intended as a distraction and a fashion accessory, then that makes quite a lot of sense. :-)
4490645
First of all I love your stories, especially your Elements of Opposition. Yes, you have a very different cosmogony than does Alex Warlorn, with a more "normal" origin for Celestia, Luna and Discord. But the character relationships are very similar, and you have a lot of good insights into Discord's character in particular.
You're also a really good writer, which I value very highly. Your characters are consistent and you know how to avoid elementary errors like squishing several different actors/speakers together in the same paragraph. You're readable. That is sometimes rare in fan fiction.
The personalities of your Discord and Alex's aren't that inconsistent, especially if you consider that the Discord who grew up on Paradise Estate for two decades thinking that he was just a very strange-looking Pony developed a distinct personality that was not entirely overwritten when he Ascended. (Proof being his later attitudes toward Shady, Surprise, Celestia and Luna). And that, in my verse, Equinity Is Contagious -- Celestia's pretty much gone native, and Luna's most of the way there by now.
The part of Discord that loves Fluttershy -- even the part that cares enough about her to be petulantly and murderously jealous of Bulk -- is the part that developed in his early life in this world. His Chaos has devastated the world of Ponies -- but the Ponies have been slowly and subtly changing him as well, corrupting him away from his Cosmic Self. Which he knows, and fears for reasons that I'm explaining in the chapter I'm writing as we correspond.
Oh, you should really watch some of the G1 episodes with Wind Whistler. She's so incredibly awesome! -- she leaps out of the conventions of 1980's children's animation and pretty much washes out most of the other Ponies onscreen with her in any scene, except maybe Firefly or Surprise. She's brilliant, logical, fearless and fierce in a way that none of the other Ponies manage to be. She's the only one of them who really understands Megan, especially the killer-ape side to Megan's personality that the marketing execs tried to tone down in her appearance but the better writers emphasized in her behavior.
Who better to be one of the biological mothers of all G4 Ponykind? (*) And their secret Mama Bear, their ace in the hole when dealing with Discord. Wind Whistler can be harmed, she can be killed, but she cannot ever be dominated. She is utterly loyal to her friends, a loyalty that can only be earned, not commanded. She is awesome, and although Discord defeated her long ago, he's still sort of scared of her.
He should be.
Wind Whistler is best G1 Pony.
===
(*) Well they pretty much all are -- the ones that survived to repeatedly breed, that is. It's been some six thousand years, and there's plenty of gene flow between different Kinds, too. But that's a matter of reproductive biological statistics.
Huh. I wonder how Dash knows Fluttershy is... advancing? Metamorphosing? Whichever verb is appropriate for "coming into one's power as the pinnacle of equine psionic evolution." Is it slight changes in her behavior that only a lifelong friend would notice? Some subtle signal only perceptible to pegasus ponies? Or something overt that I've managed to gloss over?
In any case, Dash's fumbling attempts at warm mush were very well done. An excellent look at the character from her own perspective.
Makes sense to me. Humor breaks down when overanalyzed. Quantum waveforms collapse when observed. Tight scrutiny will only strangle a Rule of Funny reality warper.
4489317
Ah. Invoking the Unspoken Plan Guarantee. Again, makes perfect sense. Which should probably concern me a little.
Also, now I'm wondering if Pinkie has access to TV Tropes, or whatever its equivalent was in the Age of Wonders.
Eagerly looking forward to more, especially since next chapter is probably going to be a conversation between Discord and Wind Whistler.