Chapter 1
Indigo Zap tapped the table of the Sweet Shoppe in agitation. “What are we even doing here?”
Sunny Flare swept aside a lock of hair that really did not need sweeping. “We’re getting milkshakes, dearie.”
Indigo Zap rolled her eyes. Did she really have to drop ‘dearie’ into every sentence like that? “No, I get that. But why? I mean, why us?”
Sunny Flare crossed her arms and sat back in her booth. “We’re trying to be more sociable with one another, aren’t we? This is part of the whole...scene. Friends go out together. They talk. They drink milkshakes.”
“This sounds like it came from one of Twilight’s books about friendship.”
Sunny Flare coughed awkwardly and muttered something that sounded like, “might have used a reference”.
“So this makes us friends? We go to a restaurant, drink milkshakes together, and that’s it? We’re friends?”
Sunny Flare shrugged and pursed her lips in concentration. “Probably not. But it’s better than doing nothing, isn’t it?”
Indigo Zap sighed and rested her head on her hand, slightly ruffling her combed-back, striped-blue hair. She had to admit, Sunny Flare had a point. Left to her own devices, Indigo Zap would go to class, go to volleyball practice, and go home. Out of all the Shadowbolts, she was probably the most team-oriented. No matter how good a player you were, you did not win a game on your own, especially not in volleyball. It took a team, working together. But in practice, “working together” for Indigo Zap meant, “everyone doing what I tell them to do.” Her natural talent and highly refined skills made her respected on the court, and let her run the team like her own private boot camp, but her attitude did not leave her especially well liked.
So, alright, she had to actually learn how to be a friend. Fine, she got that. But why did she have to start out with Sunny Flare of all people? It wasn’t that Indigo Zap particularly disliked her or anything, they just...weren’t on the same wavelength. Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap could totally see spending an evening with, that girl could party. Sour Sweet was a riot, and Twilight was fun to harass if nothing else. And Indigo Zap knew that Sunny Flare would much rather be out with Sugarcoat or Twilight right now, they were much more her speed. And in a group, Indigo Zap could get along with Sunny Flare just fine, but one-on-one they just tended to get on one another’s nerves. It would be so much easier just to-
Okay, Indigo Zap admitted to herself, sighing. THAT was the point. Both in sports and in academics, if you just kept doing what was easy, then you wouldn’t get any better, and she supposed to same concept applied to friendship. She pushed herself on the volleyball court all the time, and she was well respected, if not particularly liked, because of it. So, may as well give it a shot here.
“Alright, fine,” Indigo Zap said, groaning and rolling her eyes. “Then let’s do...I don’t know. Friend things. Tell me about that play you’re in or whatever.”
Sunny Flare narrowed her eyes. “You sound SO enthusiastic.”
“What do you want from me? I don’t usually do this mushy, ‘talk about the stupid things other people are interested in’ thing. You gonna tell me about it, or not?”
Sunny Flare gave a resigned look and gave an audible, ‘harumph’ before very visibly deciding not to press the issue further. “It’s going well, dearie.” Indigo Zap gritted her teeth at hearing that word again. “Though the set pieces aren’t quite up to par. I’m going to have a talk with the director, she really should know just how badly our set crew is letting us down.”
“Let me guess,” Indigo Zap said in a flat tone and slouching down in her seat. “The flowers on the backdrop aren’t QUITE the right shade of blue or something?”
“Indigo, dearie.”
“What? I’m just asking.”
“No, the flowers. They aren’t quite the right shade of indigo.”
“Oh,” Indigo Zap said, a little surprised. “I was kidding, but alright.”
“Order up!” The cheerful, bubbly voice broke the tense atmosphere between the two girls as Pinkie Pie rollerbladed up to the table and dropped off two shakes in a pair of tall glasses, and dropped a red and white straw in each one. “One vanilla shake, and one chocolate! Anything else I can get you girls?”
“No thanks,” Indigo said, not really eager to draw this out further. Sunny Flare got a vanilla shake, really? Who actually prefers vanilla?
“Are you sure? We have cake! Lots and lots of cake! There’s chocolate-cinnamon-swirl cake, and Mona Lisa layer cake, and-”
“Thank you, dearie,” Sunny Flare said, either not noticing or ignoring that Indigo Zap was crushing her napkin in her hand as she said the last word. “But I think we’re quite alright, thank you.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie! Let me know if there’s aaaaaanything else.” With that, Pinkie Pie skipped off. A feat, Indigo Zap noted, that should probably be impossible in roller blades.
“How about you?” Sunny Flare asked as Indigo Zap started to sip her milkshake. “I hear the volleyball team is doing well?”
“Uh-huh,” Indigo Zap said, gently pushing around the straw in her drink. “It’s still early in the season, but so far we’re undefeated.”
“Mmmmhmm...and shop class? You and Sugarcoat are still duking it out for top of the class?”
“Yup,” Indigo said. For all of Sugarcoat’s reserved personality, Indigo Zap would have expected her talents to lie in something more mentally-focused than woodworking, like history or math. But that girl was freaky good with her hands.
“My, what fascinating insight,” Sunny Flare said, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. “Tell me, do they teach classes on how to answer questions monosyllabically? Or is that just another one of your talents, dearie?”
Indigo felt the last symbolic straw snap. She slammed both hands onto the table, leaned forward and said, “Would you stop saying-”
“Well, funny running into you two here!”
The raspy voice cut through Indigo’s annoyance as both of the Crystal Prep girls turned to see Rainbow Dash standing at the end of their booth. She was still in her soccer uniform and carrying a soccer ball with her.
“Rainbow Dash?” Indigo Zap asked. “What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash threw the ball she was carrying from one hand to the other, instinctively juggling it as she spoke.
“Meeting Rarity and Fluttershy. Pinkie said there’s a new cake that we just have to try. What about you two? Don’t you live, you know...not in Canterlot? There have to be places to eat closer to home.”
Sunny Flare crossed her arms. “There are, but we’d risk running into someone we know. We wanted to be alone.”
The hint did not seem to register with Rainbow Dash. “Ohhh...I see. So, is this a date?”
“No,” both girls said immediately.
“Gotcha, gotcha,” Rainbow Dash said. She slid into the booth next to Sunny Flare, twirling the soccer ball on one finger as she pressed herself against the blue-skinned girl, shoving her further into the booth. “Mind if I join you, then? I’m a little early.”
Sunny Flare sniffed and scooted to the side, putting some distance between herself and Rainbow Dash. “Not early enough to shower after practice, I take it? I have to say, Rainbow Dash, I admire your courage.”
“Heh, yeah. I’m awesome,” Rainbow Dash said, either not catching the sarcasm, or not caring. “Hey, Indigo, you’re on the volleyball team, right? I hear Crystal Prep’s the team to beat this year.”
“We’re the team to beat EVERY year,” Indigo Zap said. “Though no one ever does.”
“Hmm…” Rainbow Dash scratched under her chin, as though considering her options. “Maybe I should join CHS’ volleyball team this year. Really give you guys a run for your money.”
Indigo Zap snorted, and she could see even Sunny Flare letting out a small chuckle. “Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but you really need to be an athlete to play volleyball competitively.”
Rainbow Dash’s pink eyes slanted. “What’s THAT supposed to mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Indigo Zap asked, leaning across the table over one elbow. “You’re a soccer player. It’s not like that’s a real sport, after all.”
Rainbow Dash put her own arm on the table and leaned across the table, barely inches away from Indigo Zap’s face. Out of the corner of her eye, Indigo Zap saw Sunny Flare gasp for air, apparently having discreetly been holding her breath since Rainbow Dash had sat down. “You trying to say something, Indy?”
“Just that if I can count up all the points you score in an entire season on one hand in base ten, you aren’t really playing a sport. You’re playing in the grass at best.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash pounded her fist on the table, almost knocking over Sunny Flare’s shake. “The reason there’s so few goals in soccer is because it’s an actual game of skill. Unlike volleyball, where anyone can get a lucky shot, in soccer you need to earn each and every goal.”
“Hey, volleyball’s built to keep luck out of the game. Anyone can get a lucky hit in, but you need to consistently be the better team to win two sets. Plus, with the rotation rules, a single player can’t carry a bad team. You need a strong, high-performing team that doesn’t quit when things get tough.” A glint of cruelty entered Indigo Zap’s eyes as she leaned it to take a sip from her milkshake. Just before she reached the straw she added, “Plus, we aren’t just paying off the referees.”
Rainbow Dash rolled up her sleeve and slammed her elbow on the table. “That’s it! I’ll show you who’s the better athlete! Arm wrestle, right here, right now!”
“Now, now, now,” Sunny Flare said, waving her hands in a calming gesture. “Please, let’s be adults here. We are in a restaurant, it’s hardly appropriate to be reducing ourselves to juvenile competition here.”
Rainbow Dash eased her posture, leaned back in her chair and sighed. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
“Especially since Indigo Zap would totally kick your but.”
“WHAT?!”
Sunny Flare waved her hands again, as Rainbow Dash shoved herself into her face. “Please Rainbow Dash, I can’t breathe...I have perfume if you want to use it…”
“You think this scrawny little brat can beat me?”
“No. No. No. Well, yes. But!” Sunny Flare said as Rainbow Dash raised a fist and pushed herself somehow even closer to Sunny Flare’s face. “It doesn’t matter! You two can’t really have an athletic contest here, and you’re meeting your friends here in a little bit. It’s not like you two can go to CHS’ gym, find something neither of you play competitively, and duke it out there.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Sunny Flare sighed, sitting in the bleachers as Indigo Zap and Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of the Canterlot High School gymnasium, swatting a tetherball back and forth around a pole.
“Ha!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she smacked the ball with a particularly hard hit. The ball wound around the pole, coming to a stop as it ran out of rope. “That ties the score, nine-to-nine.”
“Don’t get overconfident,” Indigo Zap said, breathing heavily. “Your form’s as bad as your hair.”
“What’d you say about my hair?!”
“Didn’t you have to meet your friends?” Sunny Flare yelled out from the bleachers, then muttered, “I didn’t even get to finish my milkshake…”
“This is more important!” Rainbow Dash yelled back. “Alright. This is it. Game point. Your serve, Indy.”
“Get ready to eat crow, Rainbow Dash,” Indigo Zap said as she threw the ball in the air and gave it a sharp, downward spike. Rainbow Dash quickly intercepted it, jumping up in the air and hitting it back. The ball spun around, flying up and breaking off the top of the pole. The ball sprung around the room, bouncing from wall to wall as the three girls’ eyes followed it.
“This isn’t going to be good,” Sunny Flare said, instinctively covering her head with her arms. Unfortunately, neither Rainbow Dash nor Indigo Zap were so prudent.
“Ow!”
“Ow!”
The ball finally came to a stop on the gymnasium floor, and both Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap rubbed their head where the ball had struck them. “Ow…” Rainbow Dash said. “That thing really hurts.”
“Tell me about it…” Indigo Zap said, and a soft chuckling caught her attention. Sunny Flare was sitting with a hand covering her mouth, desperately trying to contain her laughter. And failing.
“Ahahahaha,” she laughed, clutching her stomach, practically crying as she sat, bent over on the bleachers.
“Uh…” Indigo Zap said, the pain fading from her head. “Sunny?”
“Oh...oh, I’m sorry, dearies, it’s just...it’s just...you were both so sure of yourselves...and then…and then...and then you...ahahahaha…broke the stupid thing!”
Indigo Zap stared at Sunny Flare. She was not sure she could remember a single time she had seen the girl actually laugh. Okay, she snickered, or maybe gave a little, contained chuckle, but she was never actually doubled over with laughter. It was...oddly humanizing, Indigo Zap thought, to see that this girl could laugh...even if it was at her expense.
“I think we just lost our best shot at settling this,” Rainbow Dash said as she picked up the ball. “This rope’s torn right off.”
“Alright, we’ll call it a draw,” Indigo Zap said. “You’re not half bad, RD. For a soccer player.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself. Not as good as me, obviously, but not too bad.” Rainbow Dash looked up at the clock and her pink eyes widened. “Oh no, I’ve gotta get back to the Sweet Shoppe! Fluttershy and Rarity are probably waiting for me!” Rainbow Dash ran out of the gym, waving as she went. “Rematch soon, ‘kay?”
Sunny Flare stood up and stretched. “Well, that was...spirited.” Indigo Zap’s posture slumped.
“Let me guess. ‘Spirited’ means something else in this context?” Sunny Flare nodded.
“In this case, ‘stupid’. So, shall we catch the bus back?” Indigo Zap shrugged.
“Eh...I’m in no hurry. How about we actually get that milkshake?” Sunny Flare’s eyes widened, but she quickly caught herself and tried to suppress her happy surprise.
“If you like,” Sunny Flare said, flipping a lock of purple hair in a casual, graceful gesture, then added, with a sly look, “dearie.”
Indigo Zap groaned. Yeah, she was definitely doing that on purpose.
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I just knew it that Sunny used "dearie" to ticks people off.. And when she's mad at you, its not wrong to assume that each "dearies" meant a different deregatory terms when she said it
7561853 Haha, yes, I imagine that most times Sunny Flare uses "dearie" , it's dripping with condescension. Thanks for reading!
I don't think I'd want to be stuck between "dearie" using Flare and excessive "darling" using Rarity.
7562767 This is a situation that those who know both of them fear...but know will almost certainly, one day, come to pass...
Thanks for reading!
I would take a storm of "Dearies" over one more "Simply divine!" from Rarity, honestly.
Anyway, another great one-shot. You should totally do more, with more oddball pairings. Though this pairing might've been the oddest in the Shadowbolts...
7568550 Thank you!
Yeah, I wanted to write this piece just because...well, it seemed like an odd pairing to write for, haha. Plus I soooorta ship RariDash, and this is very similar. I'm still sort of trying to get into Sunny Flare's character...it's a tough balance to strike, with how little we know about her in canon. But for some reason, I find the fact that she gets so little characterization interesting, so...we'll see how it goes from here!
7569354 RariDash eh? How did you like "Rarity Investigates"?
And yeah, it's something I like about many EqG characters in general, even the sirens. They're vague enough that you can inject your own ideas into their characterization. Yet you still have a general image, a voice, and basic personality to lean on. As for Sunny Flare in particular, I remember reading somewhere that apparently some official-ish outlet (a figurine description? something on the website?) calls her "a stickler for rules". And there was a "book" about SciTwi having a sleepover with the Shadowbolts and apparently SF made people cry repeatedly? Haven't actually read it. Either way, I appreciate Sunny Flare for being such a blank slate. I have a bit of a plan for her myself for my next story.
7569524 I did enjoy "Rarity Investigates". My two favorite ponies sharing an episode
And Sherlock references, who could pass that up?
I had heard something about Sunny Flare being a stickler for rules, and "something of a tattletale" I think? I tried to work that in a couple of places, with Twilight being concerned that she was going to tell Principal Cinch about what happened at the study session, and her wanting to talk to the play directory about the set crew not measuring up to her standards. Buuuuut I don't want to make her completely unlikeable either, so...kinda keeping that in the background
7571407 Now that you mention it, I might be remembering the tattletale thing too. A bit unfortunate that she won't have as well-establish fanon personality as some other characters, but hey, that also means that reading a fanfic with her is gonna be more interesting. I hope you keep including her in your work.
I automatically thought of Asami's hair flip scenes
7617531 Haha, I honestly haven't seen that show, so it's completely coincidental!
As much fun as the stories are, you really should take care with your paragraphs. In the last part of this one I got honestly confused and had to read the end three times to figure out who was saying what.
7734373 Aww, I'm sorry to hear it got confusing towards the end there
I didn't catch that, but I'm also the writer, and that's the mother of all cognitive biases. Glad you're enjoying it anyways!
Indigo would you like some fries with all that salt?
7804843 Hehe, in her defense, she is getting better...slowly...
Thanks for reading!
7805211 my pleasure to read xD these girls are a riot!
7805211 idea for a story...crystal prep get a new student and the shadowbolts want to make a good first impression...that student being Starlight Glimmer
7805236 Yeah, I like the idea of bringing Starlight Glimmer into this...I've been hesitant in the past, though, because I'm afraid her human counterpart is going to show up in a later Equestria Girls movie. I mean, I'm playing pretty fast and loose with canon as it is, and it's not like it'd matter, I just get hesitant around using plot points that I feel are likely to be contradicted by canon, if that makes sense. Not to say I'll never do it, though!
7811886 either Starlight or Moondancer I think would work
Hey, whatever works. And for Indigo and Rainbow, that means facing one another on the honorable field of battle. Poor Sunny just got caught in the BO-scented crossfire, though at least she helped defuse the situation.
7847370 Indeed! One of the things I like to keep in mind with these stories is that there are a lot of ways friendship manifests itself, from super competitive to snarky to the more traditional. And that's okay
Friendship works differently for everyone. Thanks for reading!
I would like to know how one raises a first.
These are good. Im going to read all your writings.
Given how much free time I have left it will, I will be done sometime tomorrow.
Im liking this alternative look at things.
7878681 Would you believe I actually do proofread these?
Guess I missed this one, thanks for the heads-up!
I'm glad you're enjoying the stories! I hope you like the rest of them, too!
It's a fun universe to play in. Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy!
I guess Indigo was thinking of the alternative of counting on one's fingers in binary. Bit of overkill, since you can get up to 1023 that way, but...
8194681 Haha, I use binary enough at work to know there was a loophole for counting in non-base ten for that comment. Plus, I think it establishes Indigo Zap as being both smart and athletic, which I think is important for her character.
Thanks for reading!
I give you the new darling
Heeeeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeee we go