Spring Surprises

by TheGJ90

Chapter 4 - A Night of Awesomeness!

Rainbow Dash's House - Evening time

With the excitement of the day behind them, the Rainbooms took the CMCs to their homes for the night before breaking off to head home as well. Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer arrived at Rainbow's house to clean up and get settled. Sunset's belongings were already placed in a neat pile on the living room floor. It took the pair about an hour to get all of her things set up in Rainbow's bedroom, even with help from her parents Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles. Their unyielding support of Rainbow Dash's efforts was on point from the moment she walked into the house, for they made it quite clear that they approved of having Sunset live with them for a week.

"Our daughter is the best roommate ever!" they both cried out in pride and joy, much to Rainbow's internalized appreciation and barely hidden embarrassment.

Once the bedroom was set up, Sunset took a hot shower, brushed her teeth, got her usual violet pajamas on, and walked into the room, ready to enjoy a fun-filled night with the most energetic of her friends, who was waiting for her in her own blue pajamas while sitting in front of her gaming desktop, which was already loaded up and decorated with Wondercolt stickers. She was clearly itching to play a game with Sunset, if her cocky grin was anything to go by. She looked right at her and declared with intense excitement, her hands tightly gripping her chair's armrests in anticipation;

"Are you ready to face the Lord of Crags, Sunset?!"

With a relaxed confident grin, she replied as she sat on the chair in front of her own gaming desktop, which was placed to the right of Rainbow's setup;

"I made sure to wait until now to fight him, RD. After all..."

She looked at her desktop, turned it on, and put on her black and grey headset before looking back at Rainbow. With a smirk that exhibited the sheer confidence of a gamer ready to strike, she finished her thought;

"Bosses are best fought with friends behind you."

With an enthusiastic high-five, they loaded up the game in question, Final Fantasy XIV, selected their characters, and got stuck in!

---

Turns out, Sunset was one quest away from unlocking the fight with this Lord of Crags, who was mainly called Titan. So, while Rainbow's character was sitting on the ground on her desktop, she watched Sunset's monitor as she made her way through the quest as a level 34 Black Mage. After burning, freezing, and otherwise disintegrating numerous enemies, she unlocked the Trial fight, allowing Rainbow to join her and two random players to form a party to take down the boss itself! Soon enough, they all found themselves watching the cutscene that introduced their target: Titan.

"Oh man, this guy's bulkier than Bulk Biceps!", Sunset exclaimed as the fierce riff of an electric guitar rang in her headset. She was NOT exaggerating, for the boss was massive in both size, width, and muscular girth! His legs were also muscular and tough in appearance, though not quite as bulky compared to the rest of his body. Thanks to Rainbow Dash deciding to put her own headset on earlier, they could use the connected microphones to speak to each other over the game audio. She decided to give her music-loving friend a little tease of things to come;

"You hear that sweet rock & roll?"

Sunset found herself bobbing her head to the beat of the drums before replying with an excited grin;

"I hear it and I love it!"

"Oh, that's just the beginning!", Rainbow noted with a sly wink and audible anticipation that she did not notice as she continued to bob her head, the music having already taken her away to far off places that matched the roughness of the sounds she was hearing, such as fighting rings and dirtied up alleyways. With an quick shake of her head, she pulled herself back to the present moment and readied herself for the fight ahead.

Round 1

Sunset and the random players in the party were of similar skill, with Rainbow having the most experience of the four. While Sunset was a Black Mage, Rainbow Dash was a Paladin, and the two randoms were a White Mage and a Warrior. They were all at least level 34. It didn't take long for Sunset to get to grips with the first phase of the fight, since Titan's attacks were clearly telegraphed. Once a quarter of his health was gone, he jumped high into the sky, which prompted Rainbow to yell out;

"Run close to the edge, QUICK!"

Sunset did as instructed alongside the party, which saved them from taking huge damage from the shockwave of the boss's landing. The second phase had begun, which caused the fight's music to be given a meatier tone with heavier guitar riffs. Sunset began to head-bang with a giddy smile for a few seconds before stopping to focus on the fight. The new phase gave Titan a new attack that spelled disaster for its victims. A disaster that Rainbow tried to help her friend avoid with a warning borne of haste and experience;

"Watch out for the Landslide!"

Before Sunset could properly react to her warning, Titan bashed her character with a Landslide to the face before she could get out of its area of effect, sending her flying over the edge of the arena and onto the ground below. The landing destroyed her instantly at a spot well out of reach of the White Mage's revival magic. The random players soon joined her, having fell next to her, with Rainbow being the only one who was defeated on the arena before they could even reach the third phase.

Sunset's right eye twitched and her mouth fell agape at the sight of her falling to her doom, terribly shocked at the realization that she had been beaten via ring-out in an MMORPG. Rainbow Dash looked at her friend in concern for... two seconds, before bursting into a fit of laughter over her reaction to being smashed into oblivion. Thankfully, she was more shocked than angry. After taking a moment to calm down, she flashed Rainbow a gentle smile to let her know she was okay before reclaiming her focus on the game. She knew she would get back at RD for laughing at her expense later.

"This big boy won't be knocking me down again!", Sunset declared to herself as the fight restarted from the beginning.

Round 2

The first phase went on without a hitch and this time, everyone was ready for the second phase. Titan's Landslide missed its mark consistently as Sunset and the Dark Knight laid in the damage, with Rainbow keeping the boss's attention as the tank and the White Mage keeping everyone's health topped off with their magic. Once his health was half-way gone, he leaped up again, forcing the party to run to the edge of the arena, which was actually getting smaller with each shockwave producing landing he made. The third phase was the most different one so far, as it involved the party attacking Titan's rocky heart, which was released from his chest! The music had changed again, with a more techno-orchestra vibe mixed with a bit of that guitar action that had been prominent during the fight thus far. It was a pretty straight forward phase that they got through easily. If they had taken too long to do this, however, the party would have been wiped by the heart's Enrage attack! Thankfully, Sunset did not need to know about that detail, much to Rainbow Dash's good fortune and relief. From time to time, the heart would attempt to encase a player in a rock tomb that the others had to destroy, which was also a non-issue for them. Once the heart was dealt with, Titan took it back inside, leaped one more time, and landed with one last shockwave. What happened next, Sunset would count as one of her all-time favorite gaming memories.

After avoiding the shockwave with her party, she watched as Titan roared in a mighty explosion that covered the arena;

"Tremble before the might of the earth!", he yelled out via in-game text before adding fiercely;

"To the last, I grapple with thee!"

The music had erupted in glorious intensity when Titan roared, going full-on hard rock as Sunset's visible giddiness and headbanging came back for more! Rainbow Dash's allowed a knowing sideways smirk to grow on her face as she played, knowing, and ready to enjoy, what was coming. Her dear friend's giddiness quickly gave way to surprise as singing got added to the song whilst they fought the boss during its final phase, the overjoyed gamer keeping her focus as she banged her head to the beat with the gusto of a rock & roller. She was hooked by the first chorus, to say the least! As both fight and song played together in an intense harmonious dance, Sunset yelled at Rainbow out of jubilation, her focus on the game maintained in spite of her overwhelming happiness.

"This song has LYRICS! I LOVE boss fight songs with lyrics!"

At this point, she was straight up giggling as the fight progressed. Titan had one more ability added to his toolkit for this last phase; the ability to call on falling rocks to damage the party. They were able to avoid the rocks enough to only take minor damage that the White Mage could heal up, but they had to do this while also avoiding the Landslide, the melee attacks, and breaking the rock tombs. As a consequence of the increased need to dodge, the damage dealers weren't laying in the hurt as much as before, which gave the headbanging Sunset enough time to catch the first main verse of the song.

Oh, how she wished she could bring out the devil horns and just go with the rockin' flow, but she needed both hands to play!

Soon after the verse was done, the last of Titan's health was wiped out, unlocking the cutscene that signaled the end of the fight. Victory was theirs!

Sunset celebrated that victory by tightly grabbing both of Rainbow Dash's shoulders to turn her around to face her, looking her dead in the eyes with a happy wide-eyed manic expression, and exclaiming;

"Where is the soundtrack?! I want the soundtrack! I NEED the soundtrack!"

Rainbow was visibly taken aback by her reaction as she nervously laughed before attempting to calm her friend down with a shaking cracked voice;

"Easy there, SunShim! I get it, the game's music is awesome!"

Now, it was Rainbow's body's turn to shake as Sunset shook it back and forth rapidly while declaring loudly and with intense happiness;

"THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER!"

Unfortunately for them, Sunset's mania caused both of their chairs to tilt and fall onto the floor blow, taking the two girls with them with a pair of loud thuds. This had the fortunate effect of knocking Sunset's mind back into a calmer state, though she could do without the slight pain on her arm and right side.

---

After apologizing to Rainbow for her wild behavior, the two girls brought their seats back into position and sat back on them to play the game some more. They claimed their loot and pressed onward. Their session lasted for a good hour before they logged off and took off their headsets to start the next part of their night: enjoying some music together! The songs they picked out consisted of choice pieces from the Rainboom's discography, hard rock songs from local artists, and many more besides. Once "Shine Like Rainbows" had finished, Rainbow Dash scrolled through the playlist on her smartphone's music streaming app to see what other songs they could jam to. She had the phone's volume set to blasting for the occasion, so no headsets were needed. One song on the playlist that caught her eye enough to stop scrolling was one of the oldest ones the band had ever made:

Better than Ever

She felt a strong sense of nostalgia sweep over her as she stared at the song title. It had been ages since she had last listened to that one and even longer since she and the girls had played it! Her thumb moved to hover over the play button and was about to hit it. But, something came over her that stopped her thumb in its tracks. A feeling she couldn't quite describe that silently told her to pick something else. Seeing no danger from this, she honored that feeling's request and looked for a different song instead.

"I guess it's not time yet.", she thought to herself while wondering what that feeling was and where it came from.

After doing some intense dancing to DJ-P0N3's Music to My Ears, the girls decided to chill out, having made themselves quite tired from all the fun they were having.

By the time they had gotten ready for bed, it was around 9:00PM at night. Rainbow Dash was relaxing on her bed, while Sunset was lounging comfortably under the covers of her sleeping bag, which she had made sure was packed along with the rest of her belongings earlier that day. One never knows when a good sleeping bag can come in handy. They chilled out in silence for a few minutes before Sunset expressed a thought that had been nagging her for a while while looking over at her friend as she laid on her bed;

"You know, RD. I'm surprised."

"Surprised about what?", asked Rainbow, who looked up at the ceiling with curiosity on her face.

Sunset smiled a little as she answered;

"You could have used your super-speed to make Gilda dizzy enough to fall over or at least get Twilight and me away from her. Instead, you held back from using it at all."

Her passionate friend chuckled a little before explaining;

"Yeah, well I knew you and Sci-Twi could handle that jerk. Plus, I had to help keep the squirts safe and besides..."

She clenched her fists, which were under her blankets, before adding with a frown;

"If she had my magic, she would have abused it just to make herself feel good. I didn't want to risk doing something like that."

She turned her body to the side to look back at Sunset with a smile of her own;

"Gotta be the better girl, after all."

Sunset's smile deepened as the warmth in her belly encouraged her to say with soft surety;

"You've grown, Rainbow Dash."

With a cocky laugh, Rainbow replied with a wink;

"So have you, former Queen Bee!"

That got a good laugh out of Sunset. Once she calmed down, she remarked while straightening her head to face the ceiling;

"Yeah, we've all grown over the years. I mean, any one of us could have unleashed our magic on that bully today, and who would blame us if we did?"

She sighed contently as she added with pride for herself and her friends;

"But we didn't, because unlike her, we can restrain ourselves when we need to."

At that moment, Sunset had gotten an idea that seemed like a long shot, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. She asked Rainbow Dash without moving her head an inch;

"Soooo... are you sure you can't give me a single hint as to what my house will look like when it's done?"

With a chuckle, Rainbow turned her body to the other side while telling her with finality in her tone;

"Goodnight, Sunset!"

"Ah, it was worth a shot.", was her response, slightly disappointed at not getting a hint. She couldn't wait to see what the girls would do to her home! But, that was the future, so Sunset decided to focus on the present, and at present, there was a certain warmth inside her body that was calling for attention.

She knew the method by heart, for she had practiced it every night in bed when she knew she would not be disturbed. Firstly, she thought of her friends, so sweet and true, which made the warmth intensify in strength. She could feel her heart silently call to her, reminding her that it was time to rest. Secondly, she took a deep inhale and held it for five seconds as the warmth spread throughout her being. Thirdly, she exhaled deeply and allowed the breath to steady itself into a natural rhythm that she could follow. Her mind became quieter by the second. Finally, she closed her eyes and focused on the warmth itself, finally surrendering to its call and felt herself fall deep, deep, deep into her heart. Into herself. This may not have produced the same beautiful result that it did when she had followed that enchanting call the first time around, but she couldn't think of a better way to sleep as her dreams began to take her.

---

Sunset was laying down on her beach towel, watching her friends play on the sand together. It was 2-2 in the volleyball game between Rainbow Dash and Rarity vs Pinkie Pie and Applejack. The two teams were locked in fierce competition. It could go either way, really! Fluttershy was sitting to Sunset's left, cheering on Rainbow's team softly with little birds resting on her shoulders. Sci-Twi picked no sides, preferring to sit back and enjoy the game whilst she tinkered with her Selfie-Bot. Sunset looked at each of her friends with contentment in her heart. She then turned her head to the far-right to catch the CMCs running around the beach, chasing each other without a care in the world. Over to her far-right, she saw Wallflower Blush sitting on her towel while watching Trixie perform one of her magic tricks, with Derpy and Roseluck sitting with her while grinning from ear to ear. At that moment, she heard a vibration from her immediate right, which prompted her to look in that direction to find her glowing journal next to her right leg. She opened it up to see a single message from the Princess of Friendship;

"May you find harmony in yourself and in your life, my friend."

Sunset's contentment grew immensely as she closed her eyes to lay back on the towel and feel the cool wind brush against her skin. Her cares were gone, her mind was at peace, and she had in her life the family she found. She couldn't ask for anything more.

For a brief moment, all she saw suddenly was static before the dream's setting turned into that of pitch black darkness. Sunset's own voice echoed throughout as it uttered in a calm, almost monotone manner;

Snowfall gently raining down.

A "zzzt" and "zzzt" crying and "zzzt".

Their eyes turned to gaze at the "zzzt" below them.

"We're so sorry..."

---

Sunset's upper-body shot straight up with a start, her breathing being heavy as her skin produced a bit of sweat.

"What was that all about?!", she asked herself incredulously. She knew that dreams could be strange at the best of times. Heck, she had a few odd ones before. But, since when did dreams have dialogue delivered by your own voice that was partially censored by static noises? She made a mental note to ask the Princess about it later as she regained her composure, got up out of the sleeping bag, and checked the time. It was 8:00AM in the morning, according to Rainbow Dash's alarm clock, which rested on top of the dresser. She looked over at Rainbow's bed, which was left unmade by it's missing owner. She gave a sideways smirk in satisfaction as she softly declared to herself;

"Heh, keep this up, and I might actually become a morning person."

Just then, the alarm clock blared out a certain morning radio station;

Goooood morning, Wondercolts, and welcome to your Canterlot High Radio...

Sunset gave herself an annoyed facepalm before thinking to herself with a resigned sigh as she went to turn off the radio;

"Me and my big mouth!"

Author's Note:

After a long day, two of our favorite girls enjoy a night of pure awesomeness!

Doesn't hurt to have a bit of fun after the heaviness that was the last chapter, no?

This chapter doubles as both a fun breather and a love letter to Final Fantasy XIV. I wish I could find time to get back into that game, it's so awesome!

I hope you liked the reference I added to the dream sequence.

As expected from anything related to SunShim, things are not always simple...

See you next chapter, which will involve a certain nervous flower and a great and powerful pal!

Comments

[new55]

That was a good chapter goodluck with the next one.