I've Been Through the Dessert
Unexpected Confessions
Chapter Thirty
I’ve Been Through the Dessert
The next morning found Fluttershy making her way through the relatively empty streets of Ponyville. The sun had only recently risen above the horizon, and many of the town’s denizens were still working on the rising part of rising and shining. As she passed Sugarcube Corner, she took a deep whiff of the delicious aromas drifting out of the windows. While the delectable smell of freshly baked scones beckoned for her to make a pit stop, she pressed onward. She was on a mission, and no amount of mouth-wateringly delicious pastries was going to stop her.
She soon reached her destination, the library. She stood outside, staring at the door. Even though the library was a public building and there was no need for her to knock, it still felt intrusive to her if she went in without knocking. At the same time, it was early, and she didn’t want to wake Twilight or Spike if they were still sleeping. Nodding determinedly to herself, she lifted a hoof and knocked, but her nerves got the best of her at the last second and her hoof barely tapped the wooden door. She waited several moments for a reply, but none came. Simply leaving crossed her mind, but she would have hated to have come all the way into town only to give up so easily. She placed a tentative hoof on the doorknob and gave it a pull. It came open easily.
“Hello?” Fluttershy whispered, poking her head in. She pushed the door open a little more and crept inside. “Is anypony home?” Each step strengthened the feeling that she was intruding and that she should just leave. She was just about to give up and go home when she heard a noise come from the other side of the couch near the hearth. Her ears perked up and she took a hesitant step toward the couch. She strained to hear anything, but whatever sound she thought she’d heard had passed.
That sounded like Spike after he eats too much ice cream. Oh, I hope he’s okay. Fluttershy crept around the edge of the couch, ready to comfort a baby dragon with a tummy ache. However, she wasn’t ready for what she saw happening on the couch. Twilight and Applejack were sitting together on the couch, their forelegs wrapped around one another and, more importantly, their muzzles pressed together in one long, continuous kiss.
Fluttershy immediately scrambled back behind the couch, curling up into a tiny ball while she prayed that neither of her friends could hear her heart hammering away in her chest. After a few seconds, Applejack’s voice drifted over. “What’s the matter, sug’?”
“Nothing.” Twilight replied. “I just had to come up for air.”
Applejack chuckled. “Breathe through yer nose, ya silly filly. Now, come back here.” After a few giggles from both mares, the room was once again silent except for the sound of hooves moving over coats and the occasional small moan. Fluttershy carefully uncurled herself and crept back toward the door. She kept waiting for Applejack or Twilight to hear her, but after several tense minutes, she made it to the front door undetected.
Once she was back outside, Fluttershy slumped against the side of the library. She pressed a hoof to her chest. Her heart was still racing, but it had slowed a little now that she was safe. After taking several deep breaths to help calm herself, she got up and started the walk back to her cottage.
“Hiya, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy instinctively leaped into a nearby bush, huddling down and hoping that whatever it was would just go away.
“Ooh. I didn’t know we were playing hide and seek!” The voice got louder as it got closer. “Let me go put these inside, then I’ll start counting… but you may wanna pick a new hiding spot since I saw you go in there.”
Fluttershy finally connected the voice that had scared her to its owner. “P-Pinkie Pie?” She poked her head out of the bush to see Pinkie standing by the door of the library. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t playing hide and seek. You just startled me.” She climbed out of the bush, taking a few extra seconds to pick a couple of twigs out of her mane and tail. “Um, what are you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I got breakfast!” Pinkie turned to show a box resting on her back. “Twilight, Applejack, and I had a super duper fun impromptu slumber party a couple nights ago. It was so much fun that Twilight invited us for a planned one last night! I woke up first, so I decided to go get us all breakfast.” She bounced in place, making the box wobble on her back perilously. “Ooh, are you hungry? You could come in and have breakfast with us. I think I have an extra cranberry muffin.”
“N-no, that’s okay. Thank you, though.” Fluttershy tried to decline, shaking her head. However, her stomach rumbled in agreement with Pinkie. Fluttershy smiled sheepishly and took a step back, her ears folding flat against her head. “Um, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
Pinkie grinned mischievously, hopping over to her hungry friend and linking one of her forelegs with Fluttershy’s. “Silly filly. Your tummy knows better than you do. C’mon!”
“I really do—” Fluttershy attempted to protest further, but lost the chance when she was forcibly pulled toward the library. She tried to dig her rear hooves into the dirt, but it made no difference. Pinkie pulled her along as effortlessly as if she were a balloon.
They both burst through the door, interrupting another long kiss between Applejack and Twilight. Pinkie paused for a brief instant. “Aww. You girls started without me.” She smiled at the pair, continuing to drag Fluttershy into the kitchen. “Well, when you’re done come eat, okay?”
Fluttershy fell into a chair when Pinkie finally let go of her. She stared intently at the table, hoping that if she looked interested enough in it, Twilight and Applejack might realize that she saw them kissing. She was so focused on studying the grain patterns of the table that she jumped when a cranberry muffin slid in front of her. She took it with a mumbled thanks and nibbled at the edge.
“I told you I had extra.” Pinkie chirped happily. “Party rule number two hundred and seventy four, ‘always have extras for unexpected guests.’” She placed a glass of milk in front of Fluttershy, then tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Though, if you plan for them, are they really unexpected guests? Does that mean that everypony is a guest?” She sat down and stared at the pile of icing in front of her as if it could give her answers. After a few moments of contemplation, she nodded. “I’m gonna need bigger emergency party supply stashes.” Satisfied with her decision, she scooped up the pile of icing and took a big bite, revealing a cinnamon roll hidden beneath it.
“We were wondering where you got off to, Pinkie.” Twilight said as she entered the kitchen, Applejack hot on her heels. The pair headed around the table and sat on either side of Pinkie. Twilight looked down at her strawberry jelly-filled donut and took a quick whiff of it. She let out a contented sigh before turning back to her marefriend. “It’s not like you to leave without saying goodbye, much less to do so quietly.”
Pinkie giggled, then leaned over and threw her forelegs around Twilight. She gave the unicorn a tight squeeze, punctuated with a kiss on the cheek before she sat back up. “Well, you two were just so cute all snuggled up together that I didn’t want to wake you.” Applejack and Twilight shot quick smiles at one another while Pinkie kept going. “And you girls were such sleepyheads after all the super duper fun we had last night. I just wanted to get breakfast to try and make you two as happy as you make me.”
“Well, ya did a fine job, sugarcube.” Applejack wrapped a foreleg around Pinkie and pulled her in for a hug, nuzzling against her cheek. Once they pulled apart, she grabbed her apple fritter and took a big bite.
“Tee hee. Thanks.” Pinkie replied before picking up her cinnamon roll and biting off another big chunk.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, was busy trying to bore a hole into the table with her eyes. She wasn't sure what she would do after she succeeded, but she reasoned if she managed to get through the table, she could follow through with the floor and slink down into the basement of the tree. From there, tunneling out should be easy. She briefly wondered if her eyes were overheating. It felt like her entire face was on fire. If she made it out of the library, she would probably need to get it checked out.
“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy finally tore her eyes away from the table and looked up. All three of her friends were looking at her. She immediately shrank down a bit and tried to hide behind her mane. She cast about for something to say that would get them to stop staring at her, but every time she tried, the image of Applejack and Twilight kissing filled her mind and she could only squeak in response.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Twilight tried again. “Did you need something from the library?” She motioned for her marefriends to keep eating, even pausing to take a bite from her own food and give the pegasus some time to collect herself.
Fluttershy quickly grabbed her muffin with both hooves, burying her snout in it and taking a series of dainty nibbles. She closed her eyes for a bit and focused on taking deep breaths. By the time she swallowed her bites of muffin, she felt a good deal calmer. “W-well, um, I was actually hoping to get a little help.” Twilight and Applejack looked up at her curiously, but Pinkie was too busy devouring the rest of her breakfast to bother. “You see, Rarity arranged a wonderful date for Rainbow and me a few days ago, then she and Rainbow went on a date that she planned last night. She’s done so much for us, and I want to do something special for her. I want to plan a date for Rarity, Dashie, and me… but I really want Rarity to enjoy it and I’m not really sure what to do.”
“That’s easy, sugarcube.” Applejack leaned back in her chair and popped the last bit of her apple fritter into her mouth, chewing a couple quick times before swallowing. “This is Rarity we’re talkin’ ‘bout. Just make it as frou-frou and gussied up as ya can and she’ll love it.”
Twilight shook her head while she finished chewing the last bite of her pastry. “That’s—” She put a hoof in front of her mouth as a few tiny bits of donut flew out. After swallowing, she tried again. “That’s a bit of an oversimplification, Applejack. While I’m sure that Rarity will be touched that you’re trying to make it special for her, I think that she’ll want you and Rainbow to enjoy yourselves as well. Even the perfect date would be ruined by one—or in your case, two—of the ponies involved is having a bad time.”
“Ooh, ooh! I know!” Pinkie chimed in, bouncing in her seat. “You girls could go to the bar that we went to! We had lots of fun there.” She stopped bouncing, becoming a little glum. “Well, maybe not at first…” She brightened back up. “But after Twilight got all ‘rawr!’ and told Applejack and me to stop being sillypantses, we had lots of fun!”
Applejack chuckled and nudged Pinkie with an elbow. “Ah don’t think a bar is quite up Rarity’s alley.” She adjusted her hat and pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Rares like all that high falutin’ Canterlot stuff. Maybe y’all could head up there fer dinner or somethin’.”
“That seems a bit… ordinary.” Twilight leaned back in her chair and ran a hoof through her mane. “I mean, we have an upscale restaurant here in Ponyville. Maybe it’s not the same level as some of the ones in Canterlot, but it’s still… oh!” She sat up and clopped her hooves together. “I’ve got it! The Canterlot Royal Orchestra is on tour, and they have a stop in Manehattan tomorrow.”
“Oh, that does sound lovely.” Fluttershy smiled, but it morphed into a concerned frown after a few seconds. “But I don’t know if Dashie would like that very much. It seems a little… slow for her tastes.”
“Yeah.” Applejack smirked. “Ah don’t think she’d be much fer some fancy-smancy concert. But if’n ya wanna do somethin’ fer Dash too…” Her smirk fell away and she furrowed her brow. “Well… Ah guess you could… maybe…” She turned to Pinkie and Twilight. “Y’all got any ideas?”
Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully, idly scooping up a bit of icing that had stuck to her cheek and popping it in her mouth. “Hmm… Nopey-nope.”
Twilight stared off into space, lost in through. She opened her mouth to speak a couple times, but closed it again each time. Eventually, she shook her head. “Their interests are just too… disparate.” She held out a hoof. “Rarity loves elegance, grace, and sophistication; all things that Rainbow decidedly doesn’t.” She held out her other hoof. “And Rainbow loves… well, all sorts of things that Rarity would call ‘uncouth.’” She looked at her hooves for a second, then let them fall. “There’s just no overlap.”
Fluttershy looked back and forth between her friends, eventually letting her head fall so that she was staring at the table again. Their words whirled around her head, and with each pass they added a little more to the growing mountain of worry and dread settling on her chest. Her breathing quickened into rapid pants, and she shook her head as her thoughts spiraled out of control. “Oh no. They don’t like any of the same things, which means they won’t want to spend time together, which means they won’t like each other, which means they won’t want to be together, which means they’ll want me to pick one of them again, which means—”
“Calm down, girl.” Applejack leaned across the table and laid a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s foreleg. “Y’all been to Tartarus and back just to get where ya are. Ah doubt they’d throw that away over somethin’ as simple as Dash not likin’ a fancy concert. ‘Sides, look at us.” She hopped out of her chair and trotted over between Pinkie and Twilight, wrapping a foreleg around each of her marefriends. “The three of us ain’t exactly got a lotta overlappin’ interests either, but that’s part of the fun. We get to try new things and find stuff that we like to do together.” She paused for a moment when she was assaulted by simultaneous nuzzles from Twilight and Pinkie.
“Besides—” Pinkie wiggled her way out of the group hug and slid under the table, popping up an instant later on the other side next to Fluttershy. “—half of the fun isn’t what you’re doing, but who you’re doing it with!”
“With whom you’re doing it.” Twilight corrected her.
Pinkie paid no attention to Twilight’s attempted grammatical lesson, continuing along her own rambling train of thought. “Well, maybe not half of the fun, more like sixty percent. Sixty-seven percent of the fun.” She smiled at Fluttershy as her thought train slowly worked its way back around to the problem at hoof. “I know one thing that Rarity and Dashie have in common, anyway.”
“Oh?” Fluttershy looked at Pinkie expectantly, racking her brain for anything she could have missed. “Um, what is it?”
“They both love you, silly!” Pinkie said with a giggle, wrapping herself around Fluttershy in a hug.
“Oh… right.” Fluttershy smiled and settled back into Pinkie’s hug. However, her nagging doubt quickly eroded her newfound optimism until her smile crumbled. “But.. what if it’s not enough? What if they decide they like each other better than me and that they don’t need me anymore?” She clutched at Pinkie’s foreleg. “What if—”
“Fluttershy.” Twilight used her magic to gently lift Fluttershy’s chin and look her in the eyes. “Have you spoken to Rainbow or Rarity since their date last night?”
“Oh, um, no.” Fluttershy tried to drop her head back down, but Twilight’s magic held firm. Instead, she opted for looking off to the side. “Rarity never said where they were going to end up after their date was over, and I came straight here this morning.” Twilight’s magic faded, and Fluttershy ducked down sheepishly. “Um, I guess that would help, wouldn’t it?”
“Just a little bit.” Applejack replied, smiling to herself. She hopped down from her chair and started walking over toward the main room of the library. “Alright, Twi, Pinkie, Ah gotta get goin’. The chores ain’t gonna do themselves, much as Mac and Ah’d like that.”
“Okie Doki Loki.” Pinkie finally released Fluttershy and followed the farm pony. “I have to go, too! Mrs. Cake is sick, so Mr. Cake needs my help an extra lot.” She quickly bounced past Applejack, humming to herself while she bounded across the room.
“Oh, okay.” Twilight got up and followed her marefriends at a more sedate pace. She paused at the threshold between the kitchen and the main room. “Will I see you girls tonight?”
Applejack and Pinkie both stopped. They locked eyes for a second and both headed back over to Twilight. They approached from either side and leaned in simultaneously, planting a kiss on each cheek. “We wouldn’t miss it fer the world, sug’.” Applejack murmured, nuzzling the unicorn.
“Alright.” Twilight giggled to herself. She followed her marefriends over to the front door, opening it for them. “Well, have good days at work, then.” She waved to Pinkie and Applejack as they walked off, then leaned against the doorway, unable to wipe the smile off of her face.
“Um, excuse me, Twilight?”
Twilight jumped at the barely audible sentence, having momentarily forgotten that Fluttershy was still there. “Yes, Fluttershy? Did you want any more help?”
“Um, no, thank you.” Fluttershy smiled appreciatively. She scooted around Twilight and out the door. “I’m going to go see if I can find Dashie and Rarity. But, um, thank you for your help. It was very… um, helpful.”
“Oh, okay.” Twilight waved goodbye to Fluttershy as she started down the road. “I’m glad we could be of assistance. I hope everything goes well.”
Me too. Fluttershy slowly made her way over toward Carousel Boutique, taking a slightly-less-than-direct route. While part of her wanted to rush over there to see if Rainbow and Rarity were there, and equally large part of her was terrified of what she might find. Even though her friends had told her that her worries about Rarity and Rainbow were likely unfounded, she couldn’t keep her imagination from running just a little wild while she wandered.
“Hey, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy gave her spiraling thoughts a rest when she heard her name. Looking around, she saw Rainbow flying toward her. Her worries immediately leapt back to the front of her mind, but she forced them down for the moment. “Oh, good morning, Dashie.” Rainbow landed a few feet away from her, but she hesitated from moving forward to give her marefriend a hug. “Um, h-how was your date with Rarity?”
“It was great, but, uh…” Dash rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, unsure of how to continue. “I think I might have… broken her.”
Fluttershy blinked in confusion, sure that she must have heard the other mare wrong. “You… broke her?” she asked.
“Well, maybe.” Dash looked over her shoulder, off in the direction that she had come from. “It’s just that she hasn’t woken up yet. I mean, we were up pretty late last night, but I had to carry her home.”
“Carry her?” Fluttershy repeated. The longer she listened to Rainbow talk, the more confused she got. “But then... where did you sleep?”
Dash debated how much she should share with Fluttershy for a bit. True, Fluttershy was her marefriend just as much as Rarity was, but she wasn’t sure how much of what went on between the two of them the other mare would want to hear, or how much she could hear before she blushed so hard that her face spontaneously caught fire. “It’s… a long story.” Rainbow said after a time. She belatedly realized that Fluttershy likely didn’t know about Rarity’s wings yet, either. “It would probably be easier to show you, anyway.” She turned and started trotting down the road. “Come on, I dropped her off at your place because, well, I figured you’d be there this early in the morning.”
“O-oh, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy ducked her head a bit, causing her mane to fall in front of her face. “If I’d known that you were coming I would have waited for you.”
“It’s cool.” Dash waved away her marefriend’s apology. “It’s not like you knew we were coming, and Angel let us in, anyway.” She couldn’t help but glance back in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage again. Despite all of the mental assurances she’d tried to give herself while searching for her marefriend—my other marefriend, I guess—some small part of her mind was worried that something was desperately wrong with Rarity and every minute she wasted put her into further peril.
“Um, should we go back so that I can check on her?” Fluttershy took a few steps forward, walking past Rainbow. She could tell that the the other mare was anxious to get back to Rarity’ side, even if she didn’t want to show it for some reason. “I’m sure that it’s nothing, but I’d still like to take a look at her, if you don’t mind.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Dash turned and broke into a trot before calling back over her shoulder. “Let’s go!” She sped up until she had gathered enough momentum to stay airborne, then leapt into the air. She pumped her wings while angling off toward Fluttershy’s cottage. Every so often, she would look back to make sure that her marefriend wasn’t too far behind, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to slow down very much. But for once, it wasn’t the call of the wide open sky or the desire to feel the wind tugging at her tail and mane that kept her speed up. The ground blurred underneath her as she pressed onward, her anxiety lessening just a bit when the canopy of Fluttershy’s cottage appeared over the crest of a hill.
Rainbow landed firmly, sending up a cloud of dust when her hooves hit the ground. She didn’t bother to wait for Fluttershy, pulling open the door and making her way inside. She passed Angel Bunny—who angrily tapped his foot in the entryway—on her way up to the bedroom. The door slammed into the wall from the force she used to open it, but even the sudden noise did nothing to stir the mare laying in the bed.
Fluttershy followed her marefriend as quickly as she dared, making sure to keep an eye out for any of her small furry friends who might try to scurry underhoof. When she reached the top of the stairs, she had the novel—though not unpleasant—experience of seeing Rarity and Rainbow already there, even if they were sleeping like a log and pacing back and forth with worry respectively.
She quickly made her way over to the bed and checked the sleeping mare’s vital signs. She lowered her head and pressed an ear to Rarity’s chest, listening to the steady beat of her heart and the slow rushing of her breaths. She carefully pinched Rarity’s foreleg, watching the skin flatten back out slowly. Nodding to herself, she stood back up.
“She’s fine.” Fluttershy made her way around the bed to stand next to Dash. “She’s a little dehydrated, but other than that, I can’t find anything wrong with her.” Just as she finished speaking, Rarity rolled over, giving the first sign of life either of her marefriends had seen. Feathers brushed along Fluttershy’s chest, and she giggled. “Careful with your wings, Dashie, that tickled.”
“Uhh…” Rainbow glanced back at her wings, which were still firmly at her sides. “That… wasn’t me.” She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling when her marefriend looked at her in confusion. Dash simply shrugged and rustled her wings a bit to show that they hadn’t moved.
Fluttershy looked down at the bed and saw a mess of white feathers spilling out over the edge. Her initial thought was that something had torn a hole in her comforter and the feathers inside were spilling out. She reached out with a hoof to stuff them back into the comforter, but they moved away when she touched them. She looked at them for a bit before realizing that they were all aligned in the same direction rather than splayed out randomly. She followed the direction of the feathers with her eyes, moving further up until they reached a long white thing coming out from under the blanket.
Wait… I haven’t gotten my comforter out yet. The blanket doesn’t have feathers… so where are these coming from? Fluttershy gingerly reached out with a hoof and grabbed the top edge of the blanket, pulling it down until only Rarity’s hindquarters were covered. The long white thing that the feathers connected to made its way along the bed until it connected to the sleeping mare’s back. It’s like a wing… but that can’t be right.
On the bed, Rarity shivered a bit after the removal of her blanket. The mass of feathers rose up and settled along Rarity’s exposed side. Fluttershy could only stare in confusion for a moment. Her eyes were telling her that it was a wing settled against her marefriend’s side, but her brain insisted that it couldn’t possibly be a wing because Rarity was most definitely a unicorn. She reached out and ran a hoof along the leading edge of the protrusion. It certainly felt like a wing. She turned to Rainbow, looking for confirmation that the other mare was seeing what she was seeing.
“Does… does Rarity…” Fluttershy drifted off for a few seconds, unable to properly articulate her question even in her mind. “Are those wings?”
“I know! It’s awesome, right?” Dash couldn’t contain her excitement any longer. She jumped into the air, hovering a few inches off the ground. “She got Twilight to do some spell that turned her into a pegasus for a few days. She planned this awesome date for us where we went flying and had a sweet dinner and…” She paused, not sure about sharing what she and Rarity had done after dinner.
“A… pegasus?” Fluttershy was too entranced by Rarity’s apparently real wings to realize that Rainbow had trailed off mid-sentence. “But what about her magic? Will she ever get it back?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Dash came back down to the floor, her eyes glued to Rarity’s wings. “She said that it would wear off in a day or two by itself, but that Twi could also change her back early, if she wanted it.” On the bed, Rarity rolled over again, groaning slightly. Rainbow grabbed the blanket and draped it back over the sleeping mare, then motioned toward the door. She and Fluttershy crept out of the room, pulling the door closed behind them. Once they were downstairs, Rainbow flopped down on the couch. “So, what do we do now?”
“There isn’t much we can do.” Fluttershy stood off to the side, her eyes moving back and forth between an empty chair and the couch that her marefriend was sprawled across. After a few seconds, Dash pulled her legs in, patting the newly vacated spot next to her. Fluttershy smiled and trotted over, climbing up onto the seat and nestling up to her marefriend. “It seems like she’s just really tired. She must have really worn herself out flying with you yesterday.”
Flying… sure. Dash was immensely grateful that her marefriend was looking somewhere other than at her, lest Fluttershy see the blush covering her face and rapidly spreading down her neck. She tried to stop the stream of images from the previous night that flowed through her mind, but every memory she banished was only replaced by one that was even more salacious. She desperately searched for something to take her mind off of her out of control thoughts. “So, um, what do we do now?” Fluttershy looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Not about Rarity, but about… us, the three of us.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy turned back around and leaned against her marefriend. “Well, I was thinking that, um, maybe we should all go on a date together.” She couldn’t help a small sigh that escaped her. “But I just don’t know what we could all do together. There, um, isn’t really much that both you and Rarity like to do.”
“Hmm…” Dash tried to compile a list of things that she and Rarity both enjoyed, but came up empty. “Yeah… I can’t really think of anything either.” She started to lean down so that she could lay her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder, but she quickly reconsidered the proposition when she got a faceful of pink mane. Settling back on the couch, she wracked her brain for things that both she and Rarity would enjoy, but nothing came to mind.
After a few minutes of contemplation, she gave up. “I don’t know.” She reached up and ran a hoof through her mane. She had come up with plenty of ideas for dates, but none of them seemed like anything that both she and Rarity would enjoy. Ugh. Why does it have to be some big production? Why can’t we just hang out? Rainbow sat up a bit at the thought. “Wait, that’s it.”
“Hmm?” Fluttershy rubbed a foreleg across her eyes. She had gotten so comfortable lounging against her marefriend that she had started to drift off. She stretched her hind legs out, trying to work some of the stiffness out of them. “What’s it?”
“Our date.” Part of Dash wanted to get up and move around so that her body could match the restless state of her mind, but she was comfortable on the couch and she didn’t want to force her marefriend to move. After a brief internal debate, she decided to just stay on the couch. “We keep trying to make it a big deal, like it’s some big event that we have to get just right.” Fluttershy nodded, bringing a foreleg up to stifle a yawn. “Well, why? Why does it need to be some big spectacle? Why can’t it just be the three of us hanging out?”
Fluttershy looked back over her shoulder at the other mare as best she could, an eyebrow quirked up. “Well, um, that sounds… nice, but I don’t think that the three of us spending the evening at one of our houses really qualifies as a ‘date’.”
“I’m not saying that we would stay here.” Dash rolled her eyes, then leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her marefriend’s cheek. “We could still go somewhere. We just wouldn’t plan out a bunch of things to do. We could just hang out where ever we went and do… you know, whatever looked cool.” Rainbow pursed her lips. The idea had sounded good in her head, but it lost some of its luster when she tried to explain it out loud. She didn’t have long to ruminate on the issue before inspiration struck again. “We could go to Cloudsdale!”
“Cloudsdale?” Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. After seeing how exhausted Rarity was from an afternoon of flying with Rainbow, she wasn’t sure she wanted to ask her marefriend to make a flight of that length. It would be fun, though, she thought. The idea of being able to walk around as a trio where only a few ponies would recognize them was certainly appealing. She couldn’t see them being able to do the same in Ponyville without starting a few rumors, especially if they made any public displays of affection, but that wouldn’t be as big of a problem in Cloudsdale. “That sounds like it could be fun.” She glanced at the stairwell leading back up to her room, worry creeping back into her mind. “I just hope that Rarity wakes up soon.”
“Yeah.” Dash followed her marefriend’s gaze. She was still a little little worried about Rarity, but she also felt better now that Fluttershy had looked her over and declared that nothing was overly wrong. She reached up and trailed a hoof along Fluttershy’s side, causing her marefriend to jump a bit. “But if we’ve got some time to kill, I can think of a way to spend it.” She leaned down and placed a kiss on her marefriend’s jaw line, smirking when the other mare sucked in a breath and leaned into the contact. Rainbow kept going, winding a trail of kisses and nips down Fluttershy’s neck.
*
Rarity stretched out as she slowly struggled back to consciousness. She groaned and hit the surface beneath her with a hoof. This cloud was much more comfortable when Rainbow and I— She paused when she finally realized that her marefriend was no longer next to her. Forcing open an eye, she prepared herself for the full assault of the sun’s light, but was met instead with the gentle lighting of a foreign bedroom. Rarity bolted upright, sweeping her gaze across the room. An instant later, she recognized the room as Fluttershy’s bedroom, and her momentary bout of terror was replaced with a mild curiosity as to just how she had come to be there.
Her stomach, on the other hand, had no qualms about their mysterious arrival at Fluttershy’s cottage. It made sure that Rarity was fully aware of the fact that she hadn’t eaten in quite some time, and that she had burned quite a lot of energy the previous night. A roar emanated from her abdomen that sounded like a Manticore was trying to claw its way out, complete with accompanying cramps to simulate the claws.
“Yes, yes, I’m going.” Rarity scooted closer to the edge of the bed, letting her hooves hang over the edge while she stretched her back a little more. She hopped down from the bed and spread her wings, taking care not to knock anything over with them. Giving them a quick once over, she was surprised at how well-kept they still looked despite a night of being slept on and used for… amorous activities. She folded them back against her sides and headed for the door that led downstairs. She carefully made her way down the staircase, watching for any of the number of small critters that she knew her marefriend shared her home with.
Rarity was about to call out for her marefriends when she reached the bottom of the stairs, but the sight before her left her speechless. Fluttershy lay splayed across the couch with a wing extended, and Rainbow was laying kisses all along her neck and the leading edge of her wing. Rarity could scarcely believe what she was seeing, but it was most definitely a welcome sight. She leaned against the wall, content to simply watch her marefriends enjoy some time together.
Unfortunately, Fluttershy sensed Rarity’s presence after a few moments, and her eyes slowly opened to see the alabaster mare watching her and Dash. “R-Rarity!” Fluttershy tried to sit up, but only succeeded in bumping her shoulder into Rainbow’s snout. She pulled her wing back to her side, but once again ended up smacking Dash in the face. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, Rainbow!”
“Please, don’t stop on my account.” Rarity motioned for them to continue. “I was rather enjoying the view.” She couldn’t help but smile when Fluttershy’s face burned bright red. “Come now, love. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s perfectly fine for you and Rainbow to enjoy yourselves without me, just as you and I will undoubtedly have time alone without her, and she and I will spend time with just the two of us.” She caught a knowing look and a hint of a blush from the cyan mare. “I admit that it does feel a bit strange, even to me, but it’s how our kind of relationship will have to work.”
“Oh, um, right.” Fluttershy ducked a bit, her ears flattening back in embarrassment. She quickly tried to change the subject. “How do you feel?”
“Well enough.” Rarity made her way over to an empty chair and sat down. “I suppose that I overworked myself yesterday and just needed a little nap to regain my energy.”
Dash laughed before sitting up a little more and giving Fluttershy more room to move. “No offense, Rares, but I know naps and that wasn’t a nap. Heck, I thought you were dead for a bit until you started snoring.”
Rarity brought a hoof to her chest in mock offense. “I assure you that I do not snore, dear!”
“You kinda do.” Dash shot back, grinning. “But that’s good because it let me know that you weren’t dead.” She couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face even while her marefriend glared at her. After a few moments, Rarity’s mouth twitched up into a smile.
“So, what have the two of you been up to while I was… indisposed?” Rarity’s smile took on a knowing edge. “Other than… keeping each other company, of course.”
The blush that had finally vacated Fluttershy’s face returned in full force, and she did her best to squeeze down between the cushions on her couch. Behind her, Rainbow merely chuckled, then perked up. “We came up with an awesome date idea for all three of us!”
“Really?” Rarity leaned forward a bit, eager to hear more. “I confess that I’ve been having a bit of trouble with that myself. Please, do tell.”
“Well, we kept trying to make a date for the three of us into some big event, but couldn’t come up with anything all three of us enjoyed.” Dash paused for a bit, waiting for Rarity to nod. “Why? There’s nothing that says we have to go do something cool or fancy for it to be a ‘date’. ‘Shy and I figured that we could just go hang out in Cloudsdale and just… do whatever.” She shrugged.
“Just… hang out?” Rarity tried to wrap her mind around a date with no plan or agenda. It was elegant in its simplicity, even if the potential randomness left quite a bit to be desired. “Hmm… It certainly is an appealing idea, and it neatly solves the issue of finding something that we all enjoy beforehand.” She mulled it over for a few more moments before nodding. “Well, if the two of you believe it to be a good idea, then I am more than willing give it a try. It should be fun to visit Cloudsdale as a proper pegasus.” She glanced at the clock, noting that it was only a few hours past when she would have normally woken up. “So, when are we going?”
Dash looked down at Fluttershy for a bit, only to receive a non-committal shrug in return. “Why not now? It’s pretty early, so we’d have plenty of time to kick around before anything gets really crowded.” When she finished talking, a loud growl emanated from her stomach. “Well… after breakfast, maybe.”
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Odds are they'll still find something to gripe about.
Next chapter: Rarity Takes Cloudsdale. Surprisingly, not a clop chapter.
The spell is gonna run out!!!
We got DashxFluttersXRare and TwixPinkxJack that leaves Spike and the CMC.
5611105 Definitely like this idea!
Woah! It lives! So glad to see a new chapter of this come up.
Commence read.
Maybe they'll find some old classmates of Rainbow and Fluttershy?
Or maybe have some kind event that throws things about?
But glad to see that the couples seem to be getting along.
I can't get the scene of Twi's spell running out while they are doing the most random thing. Rarity just vanishing in a silent fwoff, followed by loud but ever quieting screaming a couple of seconds later.
It liiiiiiiives!
Oooh, Cloudsdale. This promises to be entertaining.
>update. /)^3^(\
Holy shit this is still a thing
Obligatory "it lives" comment
Well girls, at least you have a beginning of a plan. Let's see where it all goes from there as there is nothing planned out.
If Twi was involved, she'd be panicking so much because of that
YAY, it´s back
Yaaay~ Oh my Celestia, I cannot wait to read this later tonight!
Though I think I may re-read the previous chapter to get a feel for what's going on again. Been too long since I last read this.
It’s back
Lol, Fluttershy walking in on Applejack and Twilight. Too funny. I'd love to see more of these slumber parties Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie have been having, if I'm being completely honest, though I do understand that Rainbow x Rarity x Fluttershy are more of the main focus in this story.
As for what to expect in the next chapter, I'm a little worried about Rarity's Pegasus-spell wearing off but I have a feeling she still has until the following day before she becomes a Unicorn again. I could very well be forgetting a day of the spell though since I only recapped from Ch 29 before reading this one.
Keep up the great work, guys! Still got me hooked and wanting more.
Its alive!!! Whoops of joy for all!
Yay! I was getting worried been a while
Awesome chapter can't wait to see what ruckus they can cause in Cloudsdale 
I WANT MOAR SOON! 
If that is alright with you. 
So, I finally made to the latest chapter and I have to say. i am impressed. You have done an amazing job with telling this story and I look forward to seeing what's next. Also I smell an ApplePieLight ship brewing.
5706822 Just FYI: The correct term is TwinkieJack.
...What can I say? They continue to be adorable.
5706822 Brewing? It's been bubbling for a while now.
Oh boy I can't wait to see where this plot arc is go- oh there's only one... chapter... left... :(