Chapter 29

Rarity was on her way to the Apple Family farm in her car, with Rainbow Dash in the passenger seat. They usually drove together when going out of town for the dinners, whether it was to Fluttershy’s, AJ’s or Pinkie Pie’s place.

“So what’s up with this text from AJ saying not to text Fluttershy or Sunset?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know, darling.“ Rarity replied. “I got it too, I haven’t the slightest idea what to make of it.”

Dash looked out the window for a moment, then back at Rarity. “Did you notice those two acting weird the other weekend at your place?”

Rarity stiffened. “I’m not sure what you mean. They seemed fine to me…” she answered.

Dash glanced suspiciously at Rarity. “…I wonder if this text has something to do with that.”

“I…I don’t know, darling.” Rarity replied.

They drove on in awkward silence as they continued heading down the road to AJ’s farm. When they arrived they saw Fluttershy’s SUV and Pinkie’s car already there. Sunset’s bike was there, too.

Big Mac and Cheerilee had gone out for the night, taking Apple Bloom with them to drop her off at her friend’s apartment.

“Oh, they’re both here…” Dash said. “Let’s find out what the hell’s going on.”

“Indeed, darling.” Rarity replied as she parked, taking her keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car. They walked toward the house, then entered through the side door, which led directly into the kitchen. It was a rustic old place, with light green cabinets that were worn and faded looking. The floor was black and white checkered tile and there was a large wooden table in the middle of the room. There were thin, lacy curtains in the window above the sink and tacky, peeling wallpaper all around the room.

Rarity hated it. As she and Dash entered the room, she saw Pinkie sitting at the table. “Hello, Pinkie Pie.” she said with a smile.

“Hi Rarity! Hi Dashie!” Pinkie greeted in her high-pitched voice as she waved frantically.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie.” Dash replied. “Where is everybody?”

“In there!” Pinkie giggled, pointing with her thumb to the doorway that led to the living room.

At that moment, they heard voices from the other room, coming towards the kitchen. Applejack came through the doorway into the kitchen first, followed by Sunset Shimmer, then Fluttershy last.

AJ and Sunset looked up at the two girls who just arrived as they entered the room. Fluttershy had her head down, looking at the floor. Her hair was covering most of her face.

Rarity became worried when she saw the shy girl looking like this. She hadn’t been this way for a few weeks.

“OK, are we all here?” AJ said loudly. The she turned to Sunset. “What about Twilight?”

Sunset shook her head. “Not coming. She ‘s finished her finals, but she’s staying in the city this weekend with her family.”

AJ clapped her hands together. “OK…we’ve got corn on the cob, pork chops and baked potatoes cookin. It’ll all be ready pretty soon.” she said as everyone started sitting around the table.

Rarity wanted to sit by Fluttershy to ask her if something was wrong, but she had already sat beside Pinkie and Sunset was sitting on the other side of her, so the indigo-haired girl sat at the opposite end of the table. As Rarity looked around the room at everyone, she noticed something didn’t seem right. Something was missing…or someone, rather.

“Oh, if I may, darlings…where is Golds?” Rarity asked.

The room went silent.

With a sigh, Sunset responded. “Well, Rare…that’s what we’re here to discuss."

Sunset and Applejack spent the next twenty minutes explaining what had happened that morning at Fluttershy’s. Sunset talked about the visit they got from Agent Cody and AJ talked about going to see me, explaining that I had left the area for the time being.

Rarity had her hand over her mouth the whole time, feeling a stabbing pain in her chest as she watched her shy best friend stare lifelessly at the table…knowing that the man who had changed her life was now gone, desperately hoping it was only for a short time. Rarity knew in her heart that she had developed feelings of her own for me, even though she knew she shouldn’t, nor could she ever admit it to her best friend. The shock slowly set in as they told the story, causing a lump to form in Rarity’s throat as she tried to hold back her tears. She tried her best to focus on the conversation.

“Doesn’t Golds live close to you, Fluttershy?” AJ asked.

Fluttershy nodded, lifting her head up to face everyone.

“Is there a chance that agent might be looking around and end up finding his place?” AJ continued.

“Um, no, probably not.” Fluttershy said quietly. “Even if he did, it doesn’t look like anyone lives there. It just looks like a shop.”

“That’s good then.” Sunset said. “One less thing to worry about.”

There was a short pause.

“I still don’t understand why Mr. Cody left so suddenly…” Fluttershy finally said softly. “He only asked me one or two questions…”

“Because, Flutters…” Sunset said, shaking her head. “He wasn’t there to ask questions. He was there to plant the bug. The questions were just a front…an excuse to get in the house.”

Fluttershy hung her head down again. “I’m so glad you were there, Sunset. It was amazing, the way you handled it. I wish I was more like you…” she said quietly.

Sunset smiled. “You did great too, Flutters. You just keep being you, OK?”

Fluttershy looked over at her friend, with a small glint of appreciation in her eyes after hearing the compliment.

After a short pause, Dash sighed, rubbing her forehead. “So, just like that, Golds is gone?”

Rarity saw Fluttershy close her eyes when she heard Dash’s words.

AJ put her hand out. “It’s only for a couple of weeks. Fluttershy just needs to go home, act normal, be quiet and everything will be fine. If Cody thinks she doesn’t know anything, he’ll leave and we can send a message to Golds, tellin him come back when the coast is clear.”

Sunset crossed her arms and looked at Fluttershy. “There’s something else you guys need to know.” She said with a sigh. “Come on, Flutters.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide. “Is she going to tell them?”

The shy girl slowly lifted her head to look under her brows at everyone. She had her arms wrapped around her midsection as if she was sick to her stomach. “Um…” she mumbled in a shaky voice.

AJ stood behind Fluttershy, putting her hands on her shoulders. “It’s OK…we’re here for ya, sugarcube.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath, but then decided not to speak. Instead she got up from the table and walked over to the stove. Everyone watched as she stood over the pot of water, boiling away as it cooked the ears of corn within. After staring at it for a few seconds, Fluttershy dunked her hands into the hot, steaming water and lifted out a cob of corn in each hand, then set them on a plate on the counter, next to the stove.

Everyone stared in shock as she pulled the oven door open, reaching in and grabbing the baking sheet with the pork chops on it. The water on her hands sizzled as she held the hot metal tray, lifting it out of the oven and setting it down gently on the stovetop. She turned back to everyone, who, with the exception of Sunset and AJ had their eyes open wide, their mouths gaping open in shock.

Rarity couldn’t believe she did it.

“Um…I’m like Goldie now.” Fluttershy said quietly. “I can’t die…just like him.”

“Holy shit…” Dash said in a low tone. ”Flutters…that was FUCKING AWESOME!” she shouted in amazement, throwing her fists in the air.

AJ shook her head at the blue-skinned girl. “I still wanna know how this happened…” she said to Sunset, folding her arms.

Fluttershy blushed.

Sunset knew Fluttershy would be too bashful to tell her friends how it happened, so she spoke up for her friend. “They had sex…his seed and her magic combined and made her like this.”

The rest of the girls looked at Sunset, then back at Fluttershy, who was blushing very darkly now.

“Whoa,“ AJ said, rubbing her forehead awkwardly at the new information. “So you guys bumped uglies…and that made you immortal like him?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly as everyone continued to stare at her. She finally spoke again, quietly. “He made me like this…and now he’s…gone…” The corners of her mouth curled down and her bottom lip began to tremble as the tears began running from her eyes. She put her hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut, falling back against the stove…sliding to the floor as she wept uncontrollably. “I-I didn’t…even get…t-to say…goodb-bye…” she blubbered between sobs. She brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and put her head down as she continued to cry.

“Aw…come on sugarcube,” AJ said, trying to comfort her friend. “He’ll be back soon...as long as we play our cards right. You have to stay strong, and most importantly you can’t let that Cody guy know what you are.”

“B-but…what if something happens…?” Fluttershy sobbed.

“Flutters…I know you’re scared…” Sunset said. “But even if the worst happens, just remember, you and Golds are going to be alive long after Cody is dead, so it’s not like you’re never ever going to see him again…”

Fluttershy sobbed harder. ”I d-don’t want t-to wait that long!” she cried, exposing her soaked face to everyone.

Rarity couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing her best friend crying like this was too much for her, especially compounded with the fact that someone she herself had started falling in love with was gone. She left her chair, sliding down on the floor next to Fluttershy…tears were already streaming down her face, leaving black lines on her white cheeks as the makeup washed down from her eyes with the moisture. They hugged tightly on the floor, weeping together.

The rest of the girls looked on in confusion.

"Uh, Rarity?" Applejack said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't ya think yer bein just a little but dramatic?"

“Yeah, Rare-bear!” Pinkie added, shaking her head in confusion. “Why are you so upset?”

Fluttershy looked up at her friends as Rarity continued to cry on her shoulder. “They might as well know…”

Fluttershy reached up with one arm, grabbing the pot of still-boiling water and pulled it down on top of Rarity’s head, soaking her with scalding hot water as a few ears of corn landed in her lap.

“AAAHH!” Rarity screamed at the sudden unexpected feeling. Her clothes and hair were soaked, her make-up washed down her face.

Everyone else stared in shock, even Sunset, who had her hand over her mouth in disbelief that the shy girl had just exposed her friend’s secret.

Rarity was about to scream in anger at Fluttershy when she realized that everyone had witnessed her getting soaked in boiling water with no affect to her body. She had her hands up with her fingers spread apart in front of her face as she slowly brought her eyes up to the rest of the girls sitting at the table.

After a minute of staring back and forth, Dash finally spoke. “Uhh…Rarity? You’re…?”

Rarity’s eyes darted around at everyone, realizing that they were now putting the pieces together in their heads.

Pinkie suddenly gasped loudly and stood up at the table. It quite was obvious that she had figured it out when she pointed her finger at the steaming fashionista and screamed: “HOLY CRAP! YOU RODE GOLDEN ARROW'S GOLDEN ARROW TOO?”

“…Oh dear.” Rarity said flatly, putting her wet face in her hands.

Sunset felt the need to speak up before the others jumped to any conclusions about Rarity. “Uh, they had a three way…that was initiated by Fluttershy...Rarity didn’t cheat with him…” she said quickly, as everyone turned to her. “Just so you know…”

Rarity and Fluttershy both sat there on the floor, their faces wet and red with embarrassment.

AJ glared at Sunset. “You knew about this too??”

Sunset cringed, tapping her fingertips together nervously. “Uh, yeah…kind of.”

“Whoa, what the fuck…” Dash said, getting up from the table to leave the room for some space to think. “This is the most fucked up dinner ever…”

*****

The evening continued on as the girls talked about the new power that Fluttershy and Rarity now possessed, as well as the agent who was stalking the shy girl. They went over the plan for the next two weeks several times…coming up with back-up plans as well, in case things went awry. Sunset pointed out that Cody was at a huge disadvantage since she already knew his entire plan after reading him, which he was unaware of, as well as the fact that his resources were extremely limited out there by himself with no support from CIA headquarters.

Eventually, after the sun had gone down, the girls started to leave for home. Pinkie had already left and Dash was sitting in Rarity’s car waiting to leave, not looking forward to the awkward drive home with the immortal fashionista.

Sunset and AJ remained in the house, talking about the situation.

Fluttershy and Rarity were standing in the driveway, facing each other.

“I’m sorry I dumped the water on you, Rarity,” the shy girl said quietly.

Rarity’s clothes were still damp, her hair was matted against her head with little yellow bits of corn stuck in her dark, purple locks. Her make-up had run down her face, almost making it look like she had melted. “Oh it’s quite alright; even though I still smell like corn,” she said flatly. Then she took a deep breath. “You know darling, you could have just TOLD them about my change into...immortalhood.”

Fluttershy sighed. "I...I'm sorry, Rare. You're right." She gave a comforting smile, but then her eyes were drawn to a small, yellow spec of corn stuck in the indigo bangs that hung next to Rarity's face. "Oh...there's a piece of corn in your hair; let me get it for you, Rare," she offered softly as she reached up to pluck the little bit from between the soft, damp strands. After doing so, the shy girl inadvertently let her thumb and forefinger graze Rarity's cheek and she gave pause to drink in the texture, mesmerized by the soft, silky smoothness of the fashionista's beautiful skin.

Even after all the years she had known Rarity, Fluttershy couldn't recall a time when she'd touched that flawless, white cheek, at least not like this; it was soft, warm and inviting, and it made the shy girl want to lean in and touch her own cheek to it, to take in her scent, her taste...her usual taste, that is. Maybe tonight was not the best night for this type of exploration.

It was then that she noticed the sapphire eyes of her friend staring back at her, wide and full of surprise, caught off-guard by the loving touch of her friend's graceful digits. Staring at each other in a daze, both of them suddenly experienced a flurry of butterflies in their stomachs; batting around within their chests as though trying to escape so they could meet in one large swarm in the tense space between where the girls were standing.

As always, nervousness had gotten the better of her, so Fluttershy forced herself to end a moment that she both loved and was simultaneously petrified of. She smiled and, out-of-nowhere, she swung her fist at Rarity’s face, stopping it just before making contact.

"Eep!" The fashionista squinted and quickly turned her head to the side. “Fluttershy! What on Earth?” Rarity shrieked, looking back at her friend.

“You flinched,” Fluttershy said flatly, changing her tone. “You failed.”

Rarity scowled for a second, then her face went limp as she remembered their first lesson at Riverfield.

“We need to get serious.” Fluttershy said in a low tone. “Goldie was right. These things -- like Mr. Cody -- they just show up whenever they want. They don’t wait for us to be ready. WE have to be ready.”

Rarity took a deep breath as a serious look appeared on her face. “You’re absolutely right, darling.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Have you been doing your homework?”

Rarity sighed. “A little,” she said. She then raised her chin, showing a new level of ambition. “But I shall double my efforts, starting tonight.”

“Good.” Fluttershy replied.

*****

Fluttershy had a very long week at home alone. She kept the TV on throughout the evenings, just to keep some white noise going in the background as she let the hours waste away alone in her house.

Cody never followed her to work, he would just stay parked at the edge of her driveway as she drove by in the mornings on her way to the shelter. She presumed he had a hotel room somewhere in Canterlot where he would likely go to sleep and shower during the day. Sunset had mentioned that the equipment in the SUV that received the bug’s data would continue to record even when he wasn’t there. He would most likely be reviewing it all at a later date.

Most nights when she got home from the shelter, he was there, parked in a slightly different spot in her driveway, indicating that he had left and came back during the day. Other times he would be parked out on the road, trying stay out of her sight. He did say to her before he walked out of her house that he’d be in the area…but he didn’t seem to be trying too hard to hide the fact that he was specifically watching her.

Each night she would make supper in silence, then eat at the table by herself before finally cleaning her dishes and sitting on the couch, trying to find something to occupy her mind on TV.

She would curl up on her chaise lounge, staring at the bright screen in the dark. Sometimes she would glance over at the empty couch cushions, imagining that I was there…then when the reality set in that I was gone, she would look back at the TV with a tear streaming down her cheek. She would wipe it away with her hand, only to have another one quickly take its place.

Bedtime was the absolute worst. Obviously she couldn’t sleep, and certainly didn’t want to reveal to the agent listening outside what she really was, so she had to lay in bed in silence all night, every night...laying awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the hours to endlessly drift by in slow motion. At times she had to stifle her sobs to keep the man outside from hearing them over the transmitter under the chair in her kitchen.

The loneliness was unbearable. One week, she was happy, living with the love of her life, without a care in the world for the future. She now realized that I was right, being invincible can’t stop bad things from happening. She continuously felt like there was a knife in rammed dead center in her chest as she spent every night sobbing alone in her bed in the dark for the entire week.

Even her phone was silent. Her friends knew not to text her, in case they accidently said something incriminating. Her phone was so inactive that she actually worried about Cody becoming suspicious about it, never seeing a single message coming through on his own screen would have seemed strange for any young woman with a cell phone.

No one came to visit her in the evenings. They knew that the minute they set foot in her house, their phones would also be permanently bugged as well. While it was true that they could have left their phones at home, it would still be difficult to talk in the house with Cody listening outside. Fluttershy never bothered to get another phone as Sunset had ordered…she didn’t see the use, since she wouldn’t be able to bring it home without it getting bugged as well.

It felt like the longest week of her life…an eternity of lonely hell. She had been so happy in the weeks prior to this one…how could it turn around on her like this? Why did this happen to someone like her? Someone so kind and gentle…

She finally rolled out of bed on Saturday morning. She sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. She was thinking about the Saturday dinner with her friends…wondering if she could send a harmless text to Rarity or one of the others asking where the get-together would be this weekend. But she couldn’t work up the nerve to tempt fate…and she felt violated by the fact that Cody would see everything that they would be saying back and forth to each other.

She went out to feed her animals as she did every morning, but she made sure to let them approach on their own will…not wanting the man in the SUV to notice any of her unusual abilities, the last thing she wanted was for him to take a direct interest in her.

She showered and had a lonely breakfast, then settled back down on her chaise lounge, watching more uninteresting TV as she kept an eye on her phone, hoping desperately to hear from one of her friends. Deep down, however, there was only one person she really wanted to talk to.

She started to wonder if, because it was Saturday and it was almost noon, that maybe he’d leave her driveway to go wherever he went when he needed to go sleep or eat or shower, or whatever it was that he might have done during the day, when he wasn’t watching her house…invading her life.

She got up from the couch and walked alongside her table, allowing a small glimmer of hope to spark up inside her chest, looking out the window beside the front door…then her heart sank as she saw the black SUV still sitting there at the edge of the trees.

Her emotions welled up inside her, tears of frustration grew in the corners of her eyes as she turned and ran down the hall to her room. She flopped down on her bed, sobbing into her pillows to keep him from hearing her. After what seemed like another eternity of sadness, she finally got control of her crying and sat up on the bed, sitting with her legs curled up underneath her. She stared at her pillow, at the dark spot in the middle where she had just deposited her tears…as she watched it, he felt a fire start to rage inside of her. She could feel it spread up through her body, feeling like it was visible in her eyes as she watched her pillow morph into the face of the agent outside…staring at her, mocking her, turning her happy life upside down, into a lonely hell that she knew she couldn’t bear for another whole week.

She clenched her jaw, scowling as she wound her fist up and pounded it down into the pillow…directly into his face. She brought her fist up again, holding it above her head, pausing…then she hammered it down into the pillow again, then again, and again and again. She took her rage out on her pillow until she thought it would subside…but it never did.

She finally stopped, holding both of her balled up fists at her sides, breathing hard. “No more…” she thought to herself. “I’ve had enough of this…I’m unbeatable, just like Goldie. No one messes with him…and starting today, no one’s gonna mess with me either…”

Fluttershy quickly spun her head around, glaring down the hall towards the front room as her pink hair swung around and settled on her shoulders again. Her face was contorted in a dark scowl, her teeth gritted hard as her breath hissed in and out between them.

“This fucking guy’s not smarter than me…”

*****

Sunset Shimmer was sitting at the little round dinner table in her apartment. Her laptop was open in front of her, and her new cell phone was on the table beside her. She was working on her portfolio, now that she was done school she was ready to try to get her career in motion.

It was almost 1pm on Saturday.

She sat back, taking a break from her writing. Her mind started to wander, wondering how Fluttershy was doing out there, alone at her house with that CIA agent watching and listening to her. She wondered where I was…what I was doing. She thought about how close she was to becoming an immortal herself…and how she could have had the chance to have some no-strings-attached sex as a side perk. She had to admit she found me attractive, although it wasn’t a strong enough attraction to pursue me right away, certainly not after her shy friend had taken a shine to me. Fluttershy had become a great friend to her, even after all the hard times she had given her in high school. Sunset had been glad to see the shy girl finally have a share of the happiness that she deserved, so even the thought of pursuing me herself was out of the question.

She eventually started wondering who was hosting the dinner that day when she heard a buzz come from the other room.

She turned and looked into her bedroom doorway as her brows started to furrow…she knew it was her old phone that someone had messaged. She had set it on her bedside table for the time being, until the whole thing with Cody blew over…although she was enjoying the new phone and was starting to think she might keep it.

She got up from the table and walked into her bedroom to see who had messaged the phone…and what Cody was surely seeing himself at that very moment.

When she picked up the phone, she froze in place…a jolt of shock and fear shot through her as she saw the message.

FLUTTERSHY: The bug has been taken care of.