Shine Like Infinity

by Phil Srobeighn

Fluttershy

Fluttershy carefully removed the clear headband/microphone holder, green butterfly platform shoes, matching giant green butterfly brooch (it was practically a piece of armor!), setting them aside on her bed. Checking again to ensure her room was closed and blinds shut so no one but Angel would see, she slid off the huge, layered black skirt and two-toned tights, switching out for a simple pair of pajama shorts, and pulled the pink top over her head. She made sure all of Rarity’s items were folded neatly, and stowed away in a secure location, before finally falling back in her bed, bouncing slightly as she landed.

“We did it,” she whispered softly as she stared at her ceiling, followed it with a quiet “Yay!”

It had been a long day. After being trapped under the stage by Trixie and the Illusions, rushing out with the help of the school’s notorious red-eyed DJ (does she even have a real name, Fluttershy wondered), standing out on the hill for all the students and family of Canterlot High School to see, and interrupting and countering the Dazzling’s song-spell, the Rainbooms had decided rest, not a Pinkie-powered Victory Sleepover Party was needed. The seven girls split up for the evening, Applejack taking Twilight to her family’s large farmhouse for the night, and promised Pinkie a Victory Farewell Brunch Party after a good night’s rest. Rarity let her costumes go for an evening, having them all promise to take good care of them (“I’m looking at you, Rainbow Dash.”)

In the end, they were victorious, even without a lyrically arcane counterspell song. Instead, the songs they used were Fluttershy’s.

“My songs,” she said to herself again and again. “We sang my songs.” She sat up and looked at her reflection in her vanity mirror. “My songs beat the monsters!” She flopped back down and kicked her legs energetically. Fluttershy felt better than she had in a long time.

“Oh, this makes me want to write more! If Rainbow Dash and the others want to sing songs I’ve written, I’m sure I can do it! Angel, fetch me my pencil!”

Angel twitched his nose. Fluttershy giggled and got her own pencil and notepad, wondering again what it would be like if Angel was able to understand and interact with her.

“Well, I know what sort of lyrics I want. I want it to be an ode of sorts, a song about my friends and how happy I am to have them around.”

She rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up on her forearms. She twirled her long, pink hair around the pencil slowly as she considered what she wanted to say.

“Friends, you are in my life,” she started. A fine start. She worked from there, singing the phrase over and over, wanting to get a feel for the rhythm she’d want. Whole note… quarter notes… whole note? Whole note, half note- no. After several attempts, she settled on the beat and a good melody. She tuned her tambourine slightly to get a good tone for those notes, and tapped it gently so as not to disturb the other residents of her house, family and pet alike, and hummed a continuation. The more she sang, the more she felt the next line would be better if it were longer. She worked her way into a close enough idea of the sound of the next line before she started thinking of more lyrics, writing out a basic reminder of the tune and beat in her notebook.

Angel hopped up to Fluttershy’s bed and looked quizzically at the girl, so she scooped him up and placed him on top of the comforter. “What should I write, Angel Bunny?” Fluttershy asked.

“What do you want to say to your friends most?” asked the white rabbit back without moving his mouth and in a voice that was suspiciously like Fluttershy puckering her lips and lowering her tone.

Fluttershy was already pondering that, of course. What would make her friends the most happy if she said it? She thought about Rainbow Dash, brave and bold, constantly loyal to the band and her friends, even if she could be a braggart. Applejack was as sturdy as her family’s trees, dependable to the core. Rarity was willing to give of herself to help her friends. Pinkie Pie was always there to make anyone smile when they needed a good laugh. Loyal and ever-present… that’s what Fluttershy wanted to be for these girls. She rolled words around with the cadence she had produced.

“You can count on me… to be there… through the strife?” She slumped. “I don’t want to sound so negative, though… I guess it doesn’t have to be a perfect rhyme.” She chewed her eraser for a few seconds. “‘By your side’ works.” Fluttershy sang the combination of lines through, keeping beat on the tambourine, and smiled in satisfaction. Feeling sleepy, she took out her cell phone and hit a voice memo app, singing the lines to help remind her how to translate her notebook – Fluttershy could read music with some effort, but she was hardly pitch-perfect enough to write the music out and pick it up the next day.

Snug in a large, teal comforter, Fluttershy dreamt. It was not unusual for Fluttershy to dream, but her dreams were often nightmares. It did not take much for a dream to be a nightmare for Fluttershy: the common dream of going to school naked was terrifying; even a dream of going to school and being looked at would trigger her natural shyness and send her into a panic. Tonight, though, was different. Fluttershy stood on a stage, spotlight shining down on her, with a huge crowd of people watching her sing and play her tambourine. There was no panic, though. No fear. Fluttershy sang words she had never heard before and could not possibly remember more than a second, her mind washed over by the dream.

Though the singing was automatic and incomprehensible, the conscious part of Fluttershy’s mind was able to look around. Behind her, over those magical pony wings brought on by the Rainbooms’ music, she could see her friends, including Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. Other than Twilight, they were each making the motions of playing their instruments, and though the music was not heard, Fluttershy had a sense that it was playing; their mouths all moved along together, and though the words were noting that could be compared, Fluttershy knew that they were singing along with her.

Fluttershy basked in the smiles of her friends, each obviously encouraging her time in the spotlight. She floated, radiant in the brightness of the stage, but there was no fretfulness at the eyes of the audience. It was beautiful, a moment to stand alongside her friends without draining her emotional energy from the attention. The joy and pride swelled up in her, and the rush was too great for Fluttershy’s mind to maintain. She reached a high, and the illusion faded into a blissful buzz as she opened her eyes.

It was dark out, but the bird chirping could confirm Fluttershy’s perception of a slight lightness to the world around her. Just before dawn. She could sleep more in a moment, she wanted to use this emotional surge to put more words to paper. Turning on a light, Fluttershy picked up her notebook and tried to find the words to describe the energy flowing in her.

“We sing together…” she started. “We sing our songs, which – no, not quite – songs to lift us up so we can shine. Shine…” she considered that word for some time. That was the best part of it all, the shining in the light. “The light that ignites in the dark, makes me glow…” she shook her head, “No, we all sing our songs, so it makes us all glow… and shine. Rainbooms, shining like rainbows.”

The yellow-skinned girl was inspired now. “They don’t work together, though… how do I fit it in?” She wrote down the new lyrics, but left space for extra lines to connect the words with what she had previously written. She looked at the last part, “and shine like rainbows.” She wanted to expand that, repeat it. She wrote it an extra time, this time as “we shine like rainbows.” She added it a few more times. This was her theme, her chorus for the song. She looked at the first line she had with the lyric, and added a similar line: “You pick me up when I get down so I can shine.”

“I like that too,” she said aloud, “I should write a verse about my friends picking me up… about their coming into my life… which I guess would come before they are in my life, so first verse.” It was clear to her now: New Verse, “Shine Like Rainbows,” Verse Already Written, Chorus with parts from her dream, “Shine Like Rainbows,” Bridge, Chorus, “Shine Like Rainbows.”

Alright, start with a simple beginning. “Hmph. No reason not to just start it ‘Once Upon a Time…’” she giggled. “Once upon a time, so came into my life… no, life is the rhyming word, and this would be in the middle of a line.” That sparked her, so she wrote to the side, “Shine – Align – Life – Alive – Side – Sign?”

“Let’s see… ‘align.’ ‘You made the stars align.’ ‘You came into my universe and made my stars align-’ no, too many syllables… ‘world.’” Down went the words in the order. Fluttershy looked at her list of rhymes. “Let’s see… stars make signs in the constellations… ‘I can see the signs!’” It was good. With a central theme and a good set of rhymes, the song practically wrote itself.

“Let’s see… I need something before ‘we sing our songs…’.” She looked again to her rhymes. “‘Alive’ off of ‘life.’ We sing, so our songs come alive. The music comes alive.” That was the one, she felt, so she wrote it down.

“Huh, I need a rhyme with ‘glow’ for the lead-up in the chorus. Something that fits the crescen…do.” Fluttershy fell back in her bed, kicking her feet in the air. Sometimes the words just came with such ease! “And the sound that we hear in our hearts makes a crescendo.” She lingered on the last word, half singing it. Definitely hold that note. She tried it again, this time singing the whole line, followed by the next. Again, paper was marked, and the phone was opened to record the meaning behind the markings. Quietly beating the rhythm on the tambourine, she sang the new first verse, then tried a few variations of the phrase “Shine like rainbows.” She then added the second verse, the chorus lead-up, and a few more passes at the central phrase.

With the recording done, she added just a few things to the notebook: a comment near the bottom of “Bridge” with room to fill one in, and at the top, as a title, “Shine Like Rainbows.” Content, she glanced quickly out of her window. The sun would soon be up, so it was best to get back to finishing her night’s sleep before the morning birds would make such a task impossible.

A few more hours of sleep rejuvenating her, Fluttershy woke up and stretched. Looking at the clock on her wall, she could see that she still had just enough time before Pinkie’s brunch. Humming her new song absentmindedly, she stood and stretched her arms wide, flexing her shoulders. The pony transformation that accompanied the Magic of Friendship was always amazing, but shifting suddenly from a normal human girl’s body to having wings was difficult. Still rolling her arms, she rummaged through her dresser to find a comfortable bra.

Piece by piece, Fluttershy got dressed for a Pinkie party. Having spent some time out of it for the concert, she was glad to put back on her normal skirt and tank top. Looking herself over to ensure that she was decently dressed, she walked over to her window to part the curtains. She paused for a moment as she looked at them.

“I didn’t turn on the light,” she wondered to herself. “I was able to dress by the sunlight coming through the curtain.” It was a pleasant feeling, standing in the muted sunlight, knowing that the sun still shone through the light fabric. As she opened the curtains, she considered the feeling, and nodding to herself, went for her notebook and wrote a note to herself.

“‘The sun shines through,’” she said. “Okay, but what? I’m not turning this into a song about my curtains.” She giggled at the thought. “The sun shines through stormclouds. Through wind and rain, the sun shines through it all. ‘Through it all’ is good, but what rhymes with ‘all’ that I can use for rain? Rain…fall.” She nodded with confidence and made a note. “So, I’ve got to bring it back to my friends. We are strong. We stand, as the rain falls!” She was right on it! One last phrase, she could feel it. “And we hold our heads up when the sun shines through it all! Rarity would like that, she’s always telling me to keep my chin up.”

She looked over her notes again. There, piece by piece, with little jots notating the proper order and relative tune, was a complete song. Fluttershy felt a surge of adrenaline. Another song, and this time, she would not have to labor in vain to have her friends recognize it! She cheered softly at her success, but she was far from done. Tearing her notes out of her notebook, she set down the entire song, in the correct order, while listening to her previous audio notes. Then, once the song was written, she made one master recording of her singing the entire song. It was far from a finished product, but the band could work out the rest. Speaking of the band, she needed to hurry if she was going to take care of her pets’ needs and still make it to the brunch on time. Fluttershy quickly shut down her phone and went about her daily feedings and cleanings before grabbing her notebook and tambourine and heading out.

Between the Apple Family’s hospitality – extended to all Applejack’s friends and including access to the farm’s well-stocked pantry – and Pinkie Pie’s seemingly unlimited supply of sweets – the product of a night of celebration planning baking, a night of frustrated pre-competition baking, and a night of corrective baking to a brunch venue – the seven girls and their very hungry dog had enough to eat even after inviting Granny and Mac and sending a consolation picnic basket to the Crusaders’ clubhouse. Reclining in the old barn that had been made available for practices, well-fed and generally in good spirits after Sunset Shimmer’s teasing of Twilight over the origin of this world’s bacon, the seven friends seemed determine to spend as much time rebuilding their bond before the princess had to return to the world of ponies.

“So what happens with The Rainbooms now?” asked Twilight.

Pinkie Pie chimed in, “Well, now that the Dazzling’s spell is gone, I’m sure lots of students will want their chance to play on the big stage at the amphitheater, so there will probably be another shot at the Musical Showcase.”

Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles. “Fine by me. Now that we don’t have any limits on how good we can appear, we can rock the school and be-” she smirked.

“Here we go,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes but smiling.

“-Amazing as we wish to be,” Rainbow Dash finished with cheesy grin.

Six girls groaned. Small items were thrown. Spike facepawed and muttered, “That was terrible, Dash.”

Twilight turned to Rainbow and asked, “Are you going to use ‘Awesome as I Wanna Be’ at the showcase?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nah, no need to bring up memories of old failures. What we need is a new song!”

“Here, here!” Rarity exclaimed amongst various hums of approval and head nods.

Sunset Shimmer looked to yellow-skinned girl on the other side of their loose circle. “What about you, Fluttershy? Your songs saved the day, do you have anything new we can use?”

Fluttershy beamed. “Actually, last night I was so inspired by our victory that I wrote a new song for us!”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Man, Pinkie baked croissants, Fluttershy wrote a song, you know what I did? Slept.”

Pinkie Pie flicked Rainbow’s ear. “Well, you just ate, like half a dozen of those croissants, so maybe Fluttershy’s song will be great too!” Pinkie pointed out. “Oh! Sing it for us, Fluttershy! That way we can know!”

Fluttershy blushed. “I’m not that good at singing, you know. I have a recording on my phone, though.” She pulled out the phone and looked for the audio file. “Gosh darn it,” she said after a fruitless search, wincing as if such language would shock and offend her friends. “I’m sorry girls, I guess I didn’t save the file.”

“Please, Fluttershy,” Rarity asked, “You can sing here for us. We don’t mind if it’s not perfect.” The others agreed.

Fluttershy smiled at her friends’ gesture of acceptance. She stood for the best vocal control she could muster, and started in. “Once upon a time…” She sang of star signs aligning, mainly looking at Twilight Sparkle, who had a general star motif and was sitting directly beside her. She sang the repeated title, giving a smile to Rainbow Dash for the content of her name. She sang of being beside her friends, smiling by Pinkie Pie, who was closest by her side. She sang of the music, living and swelling, focusing her attention to Sunset Shimmer, who gave life to her songs in the battle against the Dazzlings. She sang of standing strong, grinning at Applejack, easily the strongest of their group. She sang of the sun shining on their lifted faces, watching with a grin as Rarity gave a pleased smile. As Fluttershy came to the close, her friends, smiling but shocked, remained speechless for a long while.

Finally, Rainbow spoke up. “Wow, Fluttershy, that was really good.”

“And your voice was so wonderful!” Rarity added. “So well sang, and a cappella no less!”

Sunset Shimmer, grinning widely, said, “You should sing it for the Showcase!”

Fluttershy blushed. “You can count on me to be by your side, girls… but I think I’ll leave center stage to the rest of you.”

Comments

[ColdGoldLazarus]

This story is massively underappreciated. I just love it, from the style to the concept... On to the next chapter for me!