Tangled Up In Purple

by Crescent Pulsar

Chapter 10: He'll Play Her Party

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay, for you few reading. It's been rough for me as of late. In a lot of ways. The curious can find out how it'll affect my writing going forward in a blog.

Hope this turned out alright. My head's not really into writing — or anything, really — and I forced the issue, often at a sentence or paragraph per day.

"Surprise!" A gathering of ponies shouted when the light was turned on, quickly followed by party horns and poppers.

Dumbfounded by this development, Ranma stood in place for a moment and looked around the library as the streamers and confetti settled onto the floor. There was somewhere around three dozen ponies in attendance, with only a few familiar faces among them, apparently there for him — or Twilight Sparkle, rather. He didn't know how to feel about that either way, since he'd never participated in a party that was focused on him before. Plus, he didn't even know what kind of party it was.

He wasn't given much time to absorb the situation and think about what to do before Pinkie Pie sidled up beside him, who giggled and said, "Didn't expect that this party would be for you, huh?" She nudged him toward one of the tables laden with food. "Come on! I bet you've been hankering to try some!"

Before he could follow her physical suggestion, an animated Rainbow Dash flew over and landed on his other side. "Hey," she said, before pointing to a large, wooden basin across the room, "you wanna bob for apples?"

Pinkie Pie leaned her head forward, so she could look around him as she breezily told the winged pony, "She was juuuust about to get something to eat."

Rainbow Dash also looked around him before cocking an eyebrow and pointing out, "She can eat the apples, y'know."

Pinkie Pie stepped forward until she was partly in front of him and faced Rainbow Dash, her eyes narrowed. "Why should she settle for apples when I made a whole smorgasbord of nummy treats specially for her?"

Seeing the challenge, Rainbow Dash's expression hardened and she stepped up to confront Pinkie Pie. "She can eat them later... After she's worked up a good appetite."

Ranma's ears drooped when they butted heads and began a heated exchange, not needing a firm grasp of the language to figure out what was going on, what with being no stranger to this kind of situation. Exactly why they were fighting over him, he couldn't be sure, but his experience told him to slowly step away and find somewhere else to be since trying to intervene rarely worked out in his favor.

Before he could get too far from them, Applejack drove her forehooves between the two and pulled them apart, demanding, "What in tarnation are you two fighting about?"

They both answered at the same time and continued to talk over each other when they noticed, unwilling to concede their position, and glared at each other when they were finished.

With a disapproving frown, Applejack gestured toward the object of their contention and queried, "Didja ask her what she wanted to do?"

When he saw all three sets of eyes turn toward him expectantly, he responded to it in his native tongue to emphasize his answer. "What?"

Rainbow Dash facehoofed while Pinkie Pie rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as she said, "Oh, right, she doesn't understand much Common..."

Applejack snorted in mild exasperation. Then, with her attention squarely on the two other residents of the town, she suggested, "How 'bout y'all play a game together rather than fight over who gets time with her first?"

After regarding each other and sheepishly nodding their heads in agreement, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie guided Ranma to the table stacked with games. He gave the tables of food a parting glance, but thought that it would be fine to wait a little longer after everything that he had eaten earlier. For all that he knew, though, he might not even need to eat while in the book, despite experiencing hunger.

He quietly watched as they sifted through the large pile of games, occasionally showing one of their finds to the other and setting aside a small fraction of them close by after trading some words. He wasn't completely sure what to feel about this development, but he would like to think that it was preferable to being fought over. All he had to do was play his part, to keep the ponies at arms' length, and have some fun playing games. Nothing could go wrong with that, right?

Eventually, Pinkie Pie drew all of his attention to her when she suddenly shot a hoof into the pile and yanked out a flat, rectangular box, scattering a bunch of other games across the room in the process. She eagerly presented it to Rainbow Dash, who blushed and seemed reluctant to agree with her at first, but after some words were whispered into her ear she shot him a glance before appearing to give her assent.

Pinkie Pie proceeded to shove the box into his face eagerly, requiring him to pull his head back so he could get a better look at it. The cover depicted several cartoonish ponies, situated on a mat that had four rows of pretzels printed on it, with their limbs tangled up in a comically unrealistic fashion while several other ponies looked on and seemed to be having a good time as well. Emblazoned over the scene was "The Pretzeler", which he assumed was the name of the game.

Before he could take in any more details, she lowered the box enough to reveal her face and looked at him imploringly while she pointed at the box's cover. "Would you like to play this game with us?"

He looked down at the box, partly to avoid her gaze, then glanced at Rainbow Dash beyond her, who was standing perpendicular to them but whose ear was turned their way while she tried to act casual and not look in their direction. He considered the game again, hesitant despite his conviction, before regarding Pinkie Pie and giving his lame answer in Common. "Okay?"

Pinkie Pie jumped into the air and cheered in response, while Rainbow Dash muttered something under her breath before taking to the air and flying to a part of the room that was blocked from view by the crowd. Said crowd was preoccupied for the most part, with food and conversation, although he did notice that a few ponies had at least some of their attention on him.

He felt someone tapping on his shoulder with more enthusiasm than necessary, so he wasn't surprised when he turned to see that Pinkie Pie was the culprit, who placed a spinner at his hooves before pronking away. The spinner was on a board that had one convex side, to give room for the head of the happy pony that was depicted on it, who appeared to be at the apex of a star jump. Covering the pony's torso was a platter with sixteen pretzels arranged along the outer edge, consisting of plain, salt, mustard, and seed, with each of the four types assembled by one of the four hooves.

Between the spinner and what he had seen on the box, he now had a good idea of how the game was played. It presented a challenge that intrigued him: not only because of how infrequently his contortion skills were tested, but he was curious about the limits of his current form. While the idea of being in such close contact with other ponies was cause for some bashfulness, he overcame it by reminding himself that he was playing a character in a book and certain people — hopefully — wouldn't know about it.

When he looked up and saw Pinkie Pie gesturing for him to use the spinner, from where she stood on the game's mat, he placed one forehoof on the convex end — to keep it still — and used the other to give it a spin, figuring that it wouldn't hurt to humor her. At least this way he wouldn't have to worry about trying to use his limited vocabulary to convey that he understood how the game was played.

By the time Pinkie Pie's demonstration had accomplished its goal, he noticed Rainbow Dash making her return. She was traveling by foot this time, probably because she was being accompanied by another pony. Said pony was also female and winged, who had pink hair, a soft yellow coat and feathers, and turquoise eyes. They appeared to be having a conversation, although the new pony's gaze was turned away from Rainbow Dash, and the reason why became apparent when she ducked her head and moved closer to the other winged pony to put more distance than necessary between herself and another partygoer.

When they reached Pinkie Pie and came to a stop, her turquoise eyes flickered toward the pink pony when Rainbow Dash began to speak to her. She must have caught sight of him on the other side of her, however, because her attention honed in on him before she could fully look away again. This was notable because her demeanor underwent a complete transformation, to the extent that it left Rainbow Dash looking noticeably baffled when the yellow pony eagerly trotted up to him without reserve.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle!" She greeted him with a smile, softspoken despite her excitement. "My name's Fluttershy." She continued without giving him a chance to respond. "Rainbow Dash told me that you two practiced martial arts together when you were fillies, so I'm not surprised we hadn't met. Martial arts is a bit, um..." She briefly looked askance. "...Scary." Then her eyes widened with panic. "Oh, not that there's anything wrong with it! I mean..."

She trailed off, and began to fidget, but he didn't respond right away because he was wrestling with the fact that he could understand what she was saying even though he could clearly hear her using Common. When the ensuing silence between them stretched to an awkward length, he forced himself to say, "It's, uh, okay..."

"Thank goodness," Fluttershy replied with evident relief. "I was afraid I had upset you and ruined the chance to become friends."

His thoughts about the situation were derailed by that admission. Staring at her incredulously, he asked, "You... want to be friends?"

Fluttershy became anxious and averted her gaze while she hid behind her hair, her voice swiftly losing its previous vitality as she said, "Oh, um, I'll understand if you don't want to..."

He couldn't help panicking at the sight and reflexively shouted, "No," as he held out a foreleg, before calming down and elaborating, "I mean, we just met and I wasn't expecting it, y'know?"

Fluttershy perked up with renewed hope, but Rainbow Dash came up alongside her and spoke before she could reply to him, her brow furrowed as she regarded them. "Okay, what's going on? Can you two actually understand each other?"

A look of realization dawned on Fluttershy's face, but her lack of confidence still compelled her to ask him, "Can you understand me?"

He simply nodded his head.

Rainbow Dash frowned and focused her inquiry on Fluttershy, with something like an accusatory look in her eyes. "How? I told you she didn't understand Common, but you treated her more like an animal than a stranger."

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped into view among them, startling Fluttershy and making the other two rear back, and exclaimed, "Maybe it's because she's a party animal!" She snatched up the spinner and forced Fluttershy to hold it against her breast. "Let's find out!"

She was gone as quickly as she had appeared, waiting for them on the mat while bouncing in place with anticipation. Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy, ready to continue her line of questioning despite the interruption. However, upon seeing how uncomfortable she was making her friend, she sighed in resignation and put it aside for the time being. Instead, she gestured for him to follow her, who did so while wondering what he had missed.

He joined her and Pinkie Pie before they decided turn order, utilizing Fluttershy's ability to communicate with him to get it done smoothly. Not long after that Fluttershy made the first spin of the game, and Rainbow Dash confidently placed the correct hoof on the designated pretzel.

The game proceeded normally for a while. However, once their bodies began to be forced together by the whim of the spinner, his body became tense and his face began to heat up, and he noticed that Rainbow Dash was having a similar reaction from the contact. Their desire to win was more than enough to weather it, though, as they had to struggle more and more to remain standing.

The first winner wasn't decided until Rainbow Dash reflexively stretched out a wing in an attempt to maintain her balance, which sent feathers up his nose and made him sneeze. The sneeze was enough to make a forehoof slip and kick out one of Rainbow Dash's, who fell into him and made them both land on their sides. With the pegasus' back nestled into his belly, they were too embarrassed by their position to blame the other for what had happened, so they scrambled back onto their hooves and simultaneously demanded a rematch amidst Pinkie Pie celebrating her victory.

The next several rounds went the same way, as far as the victor went, but the tension between him and Rainbow Dash gradually melted away in light of their competitive spirit, as they spent more time sharing space and having various parts of their bodies pressing against each other. It did occur to him how odd that was: because he still felt vulnerable, yet now it was leading to peace of mind and friendly conflict instead of being wary and prepared to protect himself in some way. He was actually finding it fun to open up to someone.

Eventually, he and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look and silently agreed that Pinkie Pie's winning streak needed to come to an end, even if it meant that one of them would be sacrificed to accomplish it. The first couple of attempts failed, with Pinkie Pie seemingly unaware of what they were trying to do. When they finally managed to make her fall, however, she took them down with her while squealing, "Wheeeeee!"

Realizing that Pinkie Pie had been aware of their plan, and had been far from bothered by it, they broke out into laughter. Afterward, once they had all extracted themselves from the pile, his stomach announced its displeasure, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly when that resulted in three pairs of eyes focusing on him.

Knowing that kind of hunger couldn't be sated by an apple or two, Rainbow Dash gracefully suggested, "Yeah, mayyyybe we should take a break and get something to eat."

So, he was led to the food-laden tables by her and an eager Pinkie Pie, with Fluttershy tagging along behind them. He was so spoiled for choice that he spent an extra second salivating before he selected his first snack with his magic and guided it into his mouth. He hummed in delight and cupped his cheeks as he chewed, but it wasn't long before he swallowed and immediately sampled another delicious goodie. At some point he managed to coherently relay through Fluttershy how good he thought the food was, and Pinkie Pie literally glowed from the praise.

It was difficult, but he eventually turned away from the feast and got himself a glass of punch. It wasn't just to avoid what had happened at the farm earlier, since the party was far from over, but because it was obvious that both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were really keen on chatting with him. He considered trying to learn more about the book he was in, as well as enlisting their aid to get him out of it, now that there was a means of communicating with its inhabitants, but he came to the somewhat unexpected decision to enjoy the rest of the party and worry about that later, reasoning that a few more hours wouldn't matter.

Understandably, they were curious about where he came from, considering the language he spoke. He didn't know of any place within the fictional world he found himself, and wasn't confident that he could invent one on the spot that could pass muster, so he answered honestly, with "Nihon", and hoped for the best.

Much to his relief, Fluttershy must have heard "Neighon" with whatever ability that was allowing them to understand each other, their world's equivalent to his country, because she replied, "Oh my; Neighon? That's so far away..."

"Makes sense, though," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Martial arts is like a tradition over there, or something."

After that there weren't any questions directed toward him that were nearly as worrisome, and even some of those tended to resolve themselves in some way. For instance, when asked why he was there, he was given the answer in the follow-up question: "Was it the Summer Sun Celebration?" The only downside was that he couldn't ask what it was about, since it would probably be hard to believe that a visitor would be inspired to make an apparently-long journey based on no details beyond a name.

While he didn't learn anything about the celebration they were going to have, aside from what he inferred from the name, he did find out more about the fictional world inside of the book. Ponyville was the name of the town he was in, and the country was called Equestria. The capital, Canterlot, was on a mountain that was visible from the town. Cloudsdale was where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hailed from, and on that topic he learned that their type of pony were called Pegasi.

As for the ponies themselves, Rainbow Dash was on the local weather team — which entailed a lot of possibilities for a creature that could fly, move clouds, and make the aforementioned clouds rain and produce lightning — and aspired to become a Wonderbolt, which was some elite team of pegasi that seemed to perform stunts for an audience. She also really seemed to like the apple cider that Pinkie Pie had provided her, when she wished she had some.

Fluttershy lived on the outskirts of town and loved animals. She'd been friends with Rainbow Dash since they were foals, and it was through said friend — much to her embarrassment — that he learned she was shier than had been impressed upon him, and tended to avoid strangers and keep to herself. She could communicate with animals, which helped her treat injured animals and provide a sanctuary for them.

When it came time for him to ask Pinkie Pie about herself, she inhaled for a very long time, to the extent that the upper portion of her torso inflated like a balloon, then spoke very fast, for several minutes, without any pauses or breaths. He wasn't the only one left staring at her in disbelief and/or shock when she finished, although Fluttershy had the unenviable job of relaying what she had said, and quickly became anxious under her expectant gaze.

"U-um," she began, her voice small and strained as she looked askance and rubbed one foreleg with the other, "she works at Sugarcube Corner, and... Uh... She likes throwing parties...?"

Much to her relief, rather than be upset, Pinkie Pie exuberantly added, "And making ponies laugh, of course!"

He found the whole thing so silly that he couldn't help chuckling. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined in, although the latter with some uncertainty, and Pinkie Pie beamed at the reaction.

Not long after he finished his drink, they went back to playing games, this time with Fluttershy participating in some of them, along with Applejack and other ponies. The first game was the one that Rainbow Dash had suggested earlier, and they'd all had a good laugh when he'd accidentally speared an apple with his horn on the way up, after failing to get one with his mouth. There was also pin the tail on the pony, bouncing ping pong balls into cups, musical chairs, charades...

Not games that he would normally play, but he found them enjoyable with... friends? Well, Twilight Sparkle's friends.

Eventually, when he noticed that the party didn't seem to be winding down yet, he asked how long the party would last. To his surprise, because a lot of ponies tried to stay up all night, so they wouldn't miss the princess raise the sun in the morning, they tried a variety of methods — like partying — to keep themselves awake. He didn't know if he wanted to spend the whole time partying, but he definitely didn't want to miss seeing someone literally raise the sun.

Fluttershy vanished without notice at some point and came back a while later, to join them in the conga line, behind Pinkie Pie, Applejack, himself and Rainbow Dash, in that order. When Rainbow Dash inquired about where she went, she enthusiastically replied, "I met a baby dragon!"

"I wonder what their dragons are like," he thought to himself.

"His name was Spike," Fluttershy continued, "and he was so cute!"

He stumbled a step upon hearing that.

"What's a dragon doing here of all places?" Came Applejack's confused response.

"He said that he'd arrived with somepony from Canterlot," she answered, and his ears swiveled to hear her better, "to oversee the preparations, but they apparently abandoned him without a word. Poor thing..."

He felt a pang of guilt and began to sweat.

"What a jerk," Rainbow Dash opined, her tone cluing him in on how she felt. "Did you catch their name?"

"Oh, um, no..." Fluttershy replied, sounding embarrassed. "I was so focused on cheering him up that it didn't occur to me to ask who they were."

Relieved to hear that, but still feeling guilty, he looked over his shoulder and interjected, "But at least he's feeling better, right?"

Fluttershy's expression brightened. "Right! I knew just the pony to see when he asked for some gemstones to eat, and he looked really happy as she led him to her home." She sighed. "And I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him, too..."

"Maybe you'll get a chance before he has to leave," he consoled her, while secretly hoping that she wouldn't — before the next reset, at least.

After he finished conga dancing, he began to feel drowsy. He couldn't shake it with either activity or sugar, which worried him because he assumed that falling asleep would trigger a reset, like it had last time. He would miss a princess raising the sun if that happened, and he wanted to see if it was literal before he returned his focus toward escaping the book.

When the others noticed that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open, and he admitted that he was tired but didn't want to risk missing the sun being raised, they all invited him to crash at their home simultaneously, then Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash pointedly stared at each other as they made assurances that they would wake him up in time.

Not wanting to see what would happen if he picked Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie, or neither, he strained his sluggish brain to think of an alternative; otherwise, he felt like he'd fall asleep on his feet. His eyes wandered around in the meantime, looking for inspiration, and he perked up a bit when the stairs sparked a memory.

"Is the bed upstairs being used?" He asked, which Fluttershy helpfully repeated.

"I don't reckon so," Applejack answered.

Much to the disappointment of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, he decided, "I'll sleep there, then." He yawned. "See ya later."

He began to walk toward the stairs, assuming that one of them would wake him up and that they would work out who without him.

Comments

[fanreader999999]

Ranma 1/2 huh? Was there a remake recently or something?

[Voltaje]

Been a while dude, I was missing this story :D.

[Greenhorn]

I am amazed that Spike hasn't written to Celestia about Twilight gone missing (from his sight) so far.

[Violet Hearn]

Ranma 1/2 got me into manga in the first place, so I'm always happy to see a new crossover. This has been a fun story so far, and the 'game' elements are an interesting twist. I hope to see you come back to this some day!

[Crescent Pulsar]

11552885
Hopefully I won't be away from this one for too long. I'm just working on another crossover with Ranma right now. Which one I'll focus on more will probably depend on interest garnered, but I'm intent on finishing both before I croak.

[-Pony]

looking forward to when there are more chapters for this story