Chapter 40

It was Fluttershy’s big day. It was about 12:45pm and I was driving my truck from work to the Sweet Shoppe to meet the other girls for ice cream. In preparation for the day, I had texted everyone to get them to arrange taking that afternoon off from work to meet up for treats at the little shop.

I remembered the day Fluttershy and I went to town to visit Rarity, she had mentioned wanting to go to the Sweet Shoppe with her friends like they used to when they were in school. Since she was at the school today, and she still hadn’t been able to get the others together to do it yet…I figured I’d make it happen for her as a reward for her bravery.

She would leave from the school and meet us all there, just like old times, and we would celebrate her accomplishment of doing a presentation in front of the whole school and have some treats at their old hangout.

I pulled up into the parking spot and shut my truck off. As I got out, I saw Pinkie’s car parked there already.

I walked into the shop and met eyes with Mrs. Cake behind the counter, the lady I met when I came here with Fluttershy that day back in the spring. She recognised me right away and gave me a smile when I stepped in the door. I nodded with a smile in return, impressed that she remembered me after all those months after only meeting me once.

I started looking around for Pinkie, but she found me first.

“Over here, Goldie-Woldie!!!” she squealed.

Cringing with embarrassment, I looked to the right to see Pinkie sitting in a big corner booth, waving frantically at me with a huge smile on her face.

I walked over and slid onto the bench, sitting just around the corner from her. “How’s it goin?” I asked.

“Good! You??” she replied.

“Good. How’s Maud?” I asked, trying to be personable with Pinke, who I hadn’t spent a lot of time alone with yet.

“Oh, she’s good.” She giggled. “It still makes me laugh when I think about what happened in the kitchen at my place, hehehe.”

“Oh yeah.” I said, folding my hands on the table, suddenly remembering that Pinkie’s sister had heard me talking about her breasts. “Did she say anything to you about that?” I asked, trying to see if Maud had ratted me out to Pinkie.

“Yeah, she did actually.” Pinkie replied.

I got a tad nervous. “Oh?”

“Yeah, she said you were a funny guy. She really likes you.” Pinkie said, to my surprise.

I nodded, chewing my bottom lip. “Oh…well, that’s nice.” I said. “Hmm…Maud covered for me…she's actually kind of cool…”

“Look,” Pinkie started. “I know us coming here today is for Fluttershy, but I have someone meeting me here for a quick chat about a party that I’m hosting this weekend. I have her be my DJ sometimes if the party is big enough, but I just have to talk to her a bit, OK?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t really care.”

“It’ll only be a few minutes…we just have to figure out a playlist and were she’s gonna set up.” Pinkie explained.

“Yep. No big deal.” I replied.

“She should be here any minute, then she’ll be on her way before you know it.” Pinkie said as she started sliding out of the other side of the booth. “I’m gonna go get a shake…you want anything?”

I took in a breath as I looked over my shoulder at the menu. “Um…I don’t know. I’ll just have whatever you get.”

“Sure!” she said as she headed over to the counter.

I sat at the booth alone for a minute, checking my phone to see if anyone had messaged. Everyone was expected to show up, except for Twilight, who had gone back to the big city to return to university. She left the weekend after we had sex in Rarity’s bathroom to attend a summer course for the rest of August, then she spent a week with her family before she started her next year at University. It struck me how she just showed up to Rarity’s to have me make her immortal, and then was gone just like that…she really meant it when she said she just needed me to turn her. I had spent very little time with Twilight before that, and things were no different now. Not that I think she didn’t appreciate it…

Pinkie came back to the table with two chocolate shakes and sat down, sliding one over to me.

“Thanks.” I said. “What do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She said. “My treat. You got everyone together to come here today, which I’m super excited about! So anything you want is on me!”

“Oh OK. I appreciate that, Pinks.” I said.

She giggled. Haha, Pinks?”

“Is it OK if I call you that?” I asked.

“Sure thing!” she replied.

I smiled and took a sip of the shake as I heard a loud vehicle approach and park near the building outside. I looked out the window to see what it was and saw AJ’s old Ford pickup parked next to my truck. I watched as the dusty farm girl got out of the truck, put her hat on and walked towards the door. She looked up and saw me looking at her through the window, then gave a smile and a wave as I heard Pinkie start talking.

“Hey Scratchie! You made it!” she said as I felt someone sit in the booth beside me.

I turned to see who it was and came face-to-face with a pair of big red shades and spiky blue hair, smiling at Pinkie for a second before she realized who I was. A look of terror suddenly came over her face as she quickly tried to get up from the booth, banging her hips on the edge of the table, causing the napkin container and jars of candy sprinkles at the center of the table to rattle loudly. She slammed back down on the seat, then started trying to slide off the bench to get away from me.

“Whoa! Scratchie! What’s wrong??” Pinkie asked with her eyes wide upon seeing the DJ’s reaction. “Have you been into those mushrooms again?”

Vinyl slid off the end of the bench unexpectedly, landing with her back on the floor as AJ stepped up behind her.

“Hey gu-“ AJ started to say as she saw the DJ panicking on the floor. “Vinyl, what in tarnation is yer problem? You been into those mushrooms again?”

Pinkie held her hand up as she got up from her side of the booth. “That’s what I said!”

AJ helped Vinyl to her feet, holding her steady as she trembled, keeping her eyes locked on me with an expression of fear on her face. Her glasses had fallen off, revealing her maroon coloured eyes which I found surprisingly pretty.

AJ noticed that it was me she was looking at. She pointed at me as she talked to the DJ. “Is he what you’re worried about?”

Vinyl didn’t answer. Instead, she just kept her jaw clenched.

“He’s a friend silly!” Pinkie giggled. “The one I told you about…Fluttershy’s boyfriend!”

The DJ finally stopped staring at me, snapping out of her panic to look at Pinkie with disbelief on her face.

“What’s got you all worried?” AJ asked.

Vinyl looked slowly back at me, still not speaking.

I looked around the shop, noticing other people were starting to look over in our direction after the outburst.

Pinkie sat back down on her side of the booth and slid over to make room while patting the seat. “C’mon Scratchie! Sit with us! There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Yup.” AJ said, guiding the DJ over to the bench across from me. “Let’s get this figured out, I’m sure there’s just been some kinda misunderstandin. Golds is not someone you need to be afraid of.”

I was sitting there with my eyes wide as they sat her down, and she remained nervous, keeping her eyes locked on me the whole time. I completely understood why she was so scared, after witnessing me smash those two big boys in the office at the bar…which was something that AJ and Pinkie were unaware of…I think anyone in their right mind wouldn’t want to share a room with me. I didn’t know what else to do, so I decided to just tell them what happened.

“She was there…” I said. All three of them looked at me suddenly. “At the bar…the night that guy hit Sunset.”

“She was where?” AJ asked, confused.

I sighed, rubbing my face with both hands. Then I looked back at them. “She was in the office…when I, uh…broke that guy’s arm with his face…”

AJ squinted at me. “You did what?” Then she shook her head a little. “Actually, nevermnd. I don’t wanna know.”

I pointed at Vinyl. “She was in the room…behind me. I didn’t know she was there.”

Pinkie and AJ both looked at the DJ. “What were you doing there?” Pinkie asked.

Vinyl looked at me for another moment, without answering Pinkie.

“Does this girl talk?” I wondered. I looked down at the ground at the end of the booth, noticing her glasses were still on the floor. I slid over on the bench, picked them up and held them out to her.

She looked at them for a moment then back at me before she slowly reached out and took them. “I was working there…” she finally said.

“What?” AJ asked loudly, making the DJ jump. “What were ya doin working in a shithole like that??”

“Uh…I’d just started there.” She said. “I’m not there anymore though…after he” (she pointed at me) “beat the twins up, a bunch of investigators came and found a bunch of fire code violations…the owner got a bunch of huge fines, plus he had to shut the bar down to fix a bunch of stuff to bring it up to code…it looked like he was going to be in money trouble, so I eventually quit.”

“Well, you made the right choice, sugarcube.” AJ said. She kept her eyes on Vinyl as she pointed at me. “D’you know why he was up there givin those guys the ‘what for’?”

Vinyl shook her head.

“Because some loser hit Sunset Shimmer in the alley with a 2x4.” Applejack explained. “We saw the whole thing.”

The DJ looked at me with a different expression. “You did that…for Sunset?” she asked me, to which I nodded.

“She got trapped in the alley with him and-“ Pinkie started to say.

The DJ cut her off. “The alley with the fence at the end?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, we could hear Sunset yelling at the guy from the front door…she couldn’t get back inside the bar to get away from him.”

Vinyl groaned. She covered her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry, guys.”

“For what?” AJ frowned.

“I told the owner he had to fix that door…do you know how many people got stuck out there?” she said. “It was a fuckin stupid setup. Is Sunset OK?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, thanks to Golds here.” AJ said, nodding at me.

Vinyl looked at me again. Her expression softened as she finally put her glasses back on.

“Um, sorry if I scared you in there.” I said.

She finally gave me a small grin. “It’s OK. A friend of these ladies is a friend of mine.” She said as Pinkie started grinning from ear-to-ear. Then her expression became serious again. “You’re not a normal human, are you?”

I shook my head as AJ chuckled.

“It ain’t hard to figure out when you see the beatdown he can put on someone.” Applejack said.

“Well…” the DJ said. “A week after it happened, after all the cops were gone, some other weirdo showed up asking questions about you.” She said, nodding her head towards me.

AJ quickly glanced at me as Vinyl continued.

“He had a picture of you.” She said to me. “An old picture…you were with two other guys by a helicopter.”

I frowned, trying to remember when that could have been as I chewed the inside of my cheek..

“Who was this guy?” AJ asked.

“Um…I don’t know,” the DJ said, frowning as she looked down at the table. “He had a suit on…said his name was Corbin, or something.”

AJ’s eyebrows went up. “Cody???”

Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. Wh-“

AJ pounded the table. “That mother fucker!”

The DJ looked around at us. “What?”

Applejack shook her head. “That asshole showed up at Fluttershy’s looking for Golds. He caused all kinds of shit: put a bug in her house to listen in on her, and Golds ended up havin to leave town for two weeks,” she explained, while pointing at me.

Vinyl covered her mouth. “I indentified you in that picture…” she confessed, looking at me. “Fuck...sorry guys. I led him right to you...”

“Nah,” AJ said. “The bouncer from the front door gave all our descriptions to Cody…that’s how he knew to go to Fluttershy’s.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, it’s not your fault.” I said, taking another sip of my milkshake. “Holy fuck, that’s delicious.”

Pinkie’s eyebrows went up. “I know, right??”

“Well, what did you guys do?” Vinyl asked.

AJ waved casually, shaking her head. “Sunset and Fluttershy were too quick for him…they got wise to his tricks and slipped right through his fingers. He’s gone long now, so don’t worry about it, Vinyl. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The DJ sighed, just as I heard a new voice at the end of the table. “Well, if it isn’t Vinyl Scratch…how are you, darling?”

I looked up to see Rarity standing there. She smiled at me as she slid in the booth close to me, pressing her hip against mine. “Hello...” She quietly greeted me as she slid her hand on my lap, reaching for my hand to lace our fingers together.

I was surprised she did it in front of the others, even though it was out of sight under the table.

“I’m good, Rarity. How’s it hangin?” the DJ replied.

“Simply wonderful, darling.” Rarity answered.

“Well, Scratchie,” Pinkie said. “Should we go outside and talk party??”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Vinyl said. “I gotta get going soon.”

AJ got up to let Pinkie and Vinyl get up to head outside so they could discuss their business.

Applejack sat back down, folding her arms on the table, chewing her bottom lip as she looked at me and Rarity with her eyebrows cocked.

Rarity was now sensually whispering in my ear. “Have you heard from our girlfriend yet?”

I shook my head. “No.” I said, pulling out my phone to check the time. ”She’s probably just getting to the school now.”

“Do you think she’ll be OK? I’m so worried about her…she must be absolutely petrified.” Rarity said softly as I looked up at the farm girl, who was still looking at us.

“I know all about you guys.” AJ said suddenly.

We both stared at her.

“What do you mean, Applejack?” Rarity asked somewhat nervously, not knowing what AJ was thinking.

“You guys are doin some kinda…three person…thing. You guys and Fluttershy.” AJ stated.

“Oh…” Rarity trailed off, looking down at the table, trying to think of some way to explain it quickly.

“We’ve all noticed it.” AJ said bluntly.

Rarity took a deep breath, ready to stand her ground. “Well? What of it?” she said sternly.

Applejack put her hands up. “Just relax, sugarcube. No one’s judging you guys…it’ll just take a little bit for us to get used to…we’re all still tryin to wrap our heads around the whole immortality thing, then this on top of that...it's just a lot for us to take in all at once.”

Rarity paused. “Really? You are all OK with it?”

“Well, sure.” AJ said. “I don’t want to see any of you get hurt, but if you’re happy doin what you’re doin, then golly, just do it. If you guys wanna be polygons, then I think that’s great.”

Rarity looked at AJ with her eyebrows cocked as I chuckled. “You’ve been talking to Twilight about this, haven’t you?” I asked.

“Yeah, why?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No reason. Just something you said.”

Applejack scratched her cheek for a second before she continued. “Well, it was pretty obvious that something was going on when we found out you guys had that three-way…” she said as she started to chuckle. “Looks like you got more than you bargained for that night, eh Rarity? Heh heh…”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to remind me, Applejack. The fact that I haven’t slept in five months is reminder enough…”

AJ shook her head a bit. “When did you guys even do that anyway?”

Rarity cleared her throat. “It was the Wednesday after the night Fluttershy got hurt, when Golds spent the week at her house to look after her.”

AJ’s eyebrows went up. “That soon?”

Rarity nodded. “It was the very next day after she and Golds did it for the first time themselves.” She said, shaking her head. “She was absolutely out of her mind that week.”

I nodded in agreement. “It was like she was drunk on sex or something…”

AJ folded her arms, shaking her head. Then a small half-grin appeared on her face. “Fluttershy eh…who’d ‘ave thought?”

I chuckled back at her as Rarity started to speak.

“It took me ages to find those bikini bottoms after that night…I had forgotten that they ended up in the vines over the hot tub…” she said, with an exasperated sigh.

AJ shook her head idly for a minute, then her eyes suddenly got wide. “Whoa, hold the phone…you talkin about those purple bikini bottoms???”

Rarity looked back at the farm girl. “Yes…how did you know?”

“I found them!” AJ exclaimed. “That Saturday when you had the dinner…me and Sunset were having stogies out on the deck and I saw them hangin there.”

Rarity covered her mouth. “Oh my! That is so embarrassing!”

AJ leaned her chin on one of her hands. “How in the fuck did they end up in the rafters like that?”

I laughed. “Flutters threw them up there.”

The farm girl cocked her eyebrows. “Fluttershy? Why did she have them?”

“I was trying to get them back from her…” Rarity started to explain, then she leaned her face over the table to get closer to AJ and started whispering loudly. “That little devil snatched them right off my fucking ass! I just couldn’t believe it!”

AJ and I looked at each other and started laughing.

“Sounds like it was quite a night.” AJ said as she continued to chuckle. She stared at the table for moment, then she suddenly cocked an eyebrow at me. “Now wait just a cotton-pickin minute…you were sittin right there when I found them! You acted like you knew nothing about it, but you were the one who was fuckin her when they got thrown up there??”

My eyes went wide when she made the realization, but then I decided to play it cool and throw out the most general, catch-all response I could think of. “It wasn’t my fault.” I said with a shrug.

AJ furrowed her brows at my response. “It wasn’t yer fault?” she asked, putting her hand up as she shrugged. “...the fuck does that even mean??”

Rarity nodded. “He’s actually right, darling. He really did get caught in the middle that night…”

“Well, I’m sure he wasn’t complainin…” AJ replied, with a small shake of her head.

I shook my head. “Nope.” I said quickly, taking another sip of my shake.

AJ chuckled, then took a few moments to look out the window to see what was going on outside.

I looked at Rarity for a moment, taking in her features as she gave me a flirtatious smirk. The conversation we were having was obviously sparking her memories of that night in the hot tub.

Applejack finally spoke again. “Well anyway,” she continued. “I guess love and sex and all that stuff carries a different meaning for you guys now...I mean, you can’t reproduce…which makes sense. I mean, why would you need to if you’re gonna be alive forever anyway?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, it’s hard to explain, darling…it just feels right…”

“Yeah…exactly.” AJ said, adjusting her hat as she leaned back in her seat. “So the three of you guys just like to fuck each other’s brains out. I see nothin wrong with that. Kinda sounds like fun, if I do say so myself.”

I rubbed my temple awkwardly as I turned to look out the window just in time to see Sunset pull up on her motorcycle with Rainbow Dash riding on the back.

I could feel the weight of Rarity’s head suddenly resting on my shoulder. I turned back to look at her, getting whiff of her vanilla scent in the process...then I looked at AJ, who smiled and winked at me.

Pinkie returned to the table, pausing as AJ got up to let her back into her spot.

Sunset and Dash walked in shortly after. Dash must have just come from work...she was wearing a beige uniform with C.E.D. on the patch on the left side of the chest. Her rainbow-coloured hair looked different as well, she had put gel in it at the top and styled it in a high arch at the front. I found it strange to see her dressed for work like this, I honestly didn’t even know what she did for a living.

Sunset looked the same as always with her black jacket, dark blue tights and light aqua-coloured t-shirt.

Rarity lifted her head again as we slid down the bench to let the others sit.

“Man,” Dash said, sitting at the end of the table. “It’s been a while since we’ve all been here together…well, except for Twilight.”

“How’s Flutters doing?” Sunset asked, leaning behind Rarity to look at me.

“I haven’t heard from her. I don’t think she’s even started yet though.” I answered, looking back at the red-head, watching as her green eyes lingered on me for a moment.

I leaned closer to her behind Rarity. “How’s Twilight doing?” I whispered. “I haven’t seen or heard from her since…you know…”

“Since you almost broke her?” she whispered, rising an eyebrow.

Rarity giggled, obviously listening to what we were saying.

I nodded. “Yeah, that. I assume everything worked out?”

Sunset nodded. “Yep. Oh, and if anyone asks, she’s wearing contacts now.”

I tilted my head. “Is she really?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, not really…her vision came back when she turned, so she’s not wearing her glasses anymore.”

Rarity turned her head to face Sunset with a gasp. “Really???” she exclaimed quietly.

“Yeah.” Sunset explained. “I was with her…we here hanging out that night, waiting for her turn. She thought she was getting tired or something cuz her vision went all blurry all-the-sudden, so she took her glasses of to rub her eyes and then everything was clear.”

“That’s crazy…” I said with a smirk. “I didn’t think it would fix her vision…I never even thought of it before, to be honest.”

Sunset chuckled as she shook her head a bit. “Yeah, she put her glasses back on and everything went blurry again…it all happened within a minute or so. It was crazy.”

“That is truly amazing…” Rarity said. “Does anyone else know she did it?”

“No.” Sunset replied. “She wants to keep it quiet for now, so shhh.”

“Not to worry, darling. Her secret is safe with us.” Rarity said, pretending to lock her mouth with an invisible key.

“OK, what’s everyone want? I’m buyin…” Dash announced as she stood up.

Pinkie and I passed since we already had our shakes, and Dash took the rest of the orders before heading up to the counter.

We made some small talk at the table as we waited for Dash to return with the treats. She finally came back, having to make two trips to bring everyone their ice cream.

As Dash sat down and started to have her first bite, Pinkie slurped up the last bit of her shake, then pushed the glass away. “Hey Dashie! Can you run up and get me a banana split??”

Dash dropped her spoon back down into the dish with a clang as she rolled her eyes. “Aw for fuck sakes, Pinkie Pie…”

Pinkie held out a five dollar bill. “I’ll pay for it!”

Dash knew that AJ and herself would have to get up anyway to let Pinkie out of the booth, so she took the bill, groaning as she got back up.

A couple of us snickered as Dash walked back to the counter to order the treat.

I looked at Pinkie. “So where’s this party that you’re doing?”

She shrugged. “Oh, just some frat party…beginning of the year type stuff.”

“Oh OK. You busy with parties this time of year?” I asked.

“Yeah, there’s always a few parties in the first few months of school.” She replied. “They usually die off after a bit when they run out of their parents’ money...” she giggled.

I nodded with a chuckle. “Sounds about right.”

Dash came back a minute later, sliding the banana split across the table to Pinkie. “There you go, Pinkie.” She said as she sat back down.

“Thanks Dashie!” Pinkie replied, quickly digging into her treat.

Between bites, Rarity pointed at Dash’s hair with her spoon. “I love what you’ve done with your hair, Rainbow Dash. The way you’ve woven the colours together is so striking!”

“Hey thanks, Rare.” Dash said with her mouth full.

I looked up to have a second look at Dash’s hair again as AJ started gesturing to her own hair with her hand.

“Yeah,” AJ said. “And you’ve got that nice little queef goin there.”

I put my hand over my mouth to hide that I was laughing at what she said.

Rarity shook her head. “Applejack, I think you meant to say ‘coif’.” She said as Dash snickered.

AJ nodded. “That’s what I said.”

Rarity shook her head. “No, it isn’t.”

AJ held her spoon out to the side, like she was shrugging with it. “OK, what did I say then?”

Rarity leaned in closer to AJ. “You said…queef.” she whispered.

Applejack chuckled out loud. “Yeah…same thing, isn’t it?”

Sunset, Pinkie and I started laughing as Rarity rubbed her forehead with frustration.

“No, Applejack. It most certainly is NOT the same thing…” Rarity said flatly, shaking her head. “Just…nevermind.”

We sat and ate our treats in relative silence for about ten minutes, enjoying each other’s company in the process. Rarity’s hand found its way to my thigh again, rubbing slowly up and down, making me wonder if anyone else was noticing.

“OK.” Dash said, taking a break from her sundae. “Who here thinks Flutters pissed herself up there in front of everyone?”

Rarity gasped in disgust at the blue girl. “Rainbow Dash! Don’t even say it!”

Dash shrugged. “I’m just sayin…has it even started yet?”

I took my phone out to look at the time. “It should have started by now, yeah.”

Sunset shook her head, digging into her ice cream with her spoon. “I can’t believe she actually went through with it.”

“I think it’ll do her good.” AJ said. “It’ll teach her to git over her fears.”

The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“Uh-huh! You GO, Flutters!” Pinkie squealed, taking another bite of her banana split as she glanced over to the far side of the shop.

“Absolutely!” Rarity agreed. “She’ll be all the better for it.”

I looked at Rarity as she glanced at me, giving me a wink with her pretty blue eyes.

I smiled, then turned back to face Pinkie, but was greeted by a strange sight. She still had her spoon in her mouth after her last bite…and she was completely frozen in place. Her eyes were wide, staring at something on the other side of the shop.

I turned to see what she was looking at, which was the TV on the wall…the one that always had local the news on. I leaned forward to see past Sunset and Rarity, trying to figure out what had caught Pinkie’s attention, figuring it was a candy bar commercial or something like that.

Instead, what I saw was an aerial view of the high school on the TV screen. My heart screeched to a halt when I saw the headline across the bottom:

‘SCHOOL SHOOTING AT CANTERLOT HIGH’