Chapter 7

The hour-long drive back to the shy girl’s house seemed to pass in a heartbeat. Before we knew it, we had pulled into her driveway behind the other vehicles and parked. I reached over the steering column with my left hand to shut the engine off, having driven the whole way here using just that hand—while the other hand held Fluttershy’s the entire time. We sat in silence, watching everyone else get out of the other vehicles, stretching their backs, laughing and talking, and I suddenly felt her squeeze my hand a little tighter. I looked down at her as she lifted her head from my shoulder to look at me, those teal eyes shining as she gave me a heart-fluttering smile.

“I wish…we could keep going,” she said.

“Same here,” I agreed, looking back at her friends as they headed for the front door of the house. “But they’re gonna be waiting for us.”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing and resting her head on my shoulder again. “I’m sorry we didn’t spend more time together at the beach today…you know…um, just you and me. And I’m sorry about the fight I caused with my friends earlier.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” I said. “Shit happens.”

“Yeah...” she said with a content tone in her voice.

“You wanna go in?”

“Yeah, we’d better,” she said as I opened my door. We let go of each other’s hands, the thin layer of sweat from our warmth causing our hands to peel apart like Velcro. I slid out after taking my keys from the ignition, and she followed me out through the driver’s door, holding my hand to help herself jump down from the high-sitting vehicle.

We walked to the front door together, where I opened it for her.

“Oh thank you, kind sir,” she giggled.

Everyone was inside, though a few of them were out of the room—presumably taking turns using the washroom after the long drive. Most of them turned to watch as we entered, and a couple of them smiled when they saw Fluttershy's face flush after she realised we were the center of attention. AJ in particular nodded at me while holding a bottle of what looked like some kind of apple drink in her hand.

Rarity approached me and Fluttershy. “Fluttershy darling, I've taken the liberty of bringing some frozen pizzas in a cooler. I already have them in the oven. No need for you to slave away in the kitchen again this week. You enjoy yourself, OK?”

“Oh! OK, um...thanks Rarity,” Fluttershy replied, relieved that she could just relax and enjoy her time with everyone.

I went with her to her favourite spot on the chaise lounge and we sat together while we watched Rainbow Dash bring up some ‘ultimate fail’ YouTube videos on the big TV. Everyone watched, with the exception of Rarity and Twilight—who were having a conversation at the table while watching over the pizzas.

Every so often, someone in the video would fall and hurt themselves in a big way and the whole group would roar with laughter, and Dash could be heard over top of it all. “WHAT AN IDIOT!” she hollered, letting out a shrill laugh.

After watching a few videos, the pizzas came out and we all gathered around the table to eat. Broken, but funny conversations were being had between bites as I looked around the table at my new friends. Each one of these women were so different from one another; all were uniquely beautiful, and they shared an inexplicable bond that was stronger than any other I’d seen in a long time. I thought about seeing Rarity’s car on the side of the road those few weeks ago. If I had passed on by and left them there, then right now I’d probably sitting alone in my cold, dark shop, not having fun with these girls and certainly not sitting next to the shy girl who’d grabbed hold of my heartstrings and held on relentlessly. She was the first woman in many years to be able to do such a thing to me, to make me feel this way. I was completely at her mercy.

As we finished eating and everyone dispersed, I was still sitting at the table on the side closest to the counter, finishing the last few bites. Fluttershy had gone back to her favourite spot on the couch in the meantime, and I had every intention of joining her as soon as I was done eating. As I finished my last bite, I started to turn to get up and set my plate on the counter —where the others had stacked theirs— when I felt someone pass behind me.

“Whoop, just gonna slide past you there, Golds.” It was Sunset, heading over to set an empty glass by the sink, having to squeeze between me and the counter to get by. She set it down and turned to head back as I started getting up, and her hand unexpectedly brushed my forearm.

I was about to say “whoops” or something like that, but before I could, she suddenly gasped aloud and staggered backwards, bumping into the counter with her back. She reached behind with her hands to steady herself on the countertop, but ended up knocking the glass over that she’d just set there, causing a loud clang as it hit the hard countertop. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her brow was furrowed, a look of anguish on her face.

“What the...? Does this girl have some kind of medical condition?” I wondered, stepping forward to help her. “Are you OK?”

Sunset opened her eyes and saw me reaching for her. She recoiled in terror—much to my dismay, and embarrassment.

“NO!” she turned and staggered away, using her hands for support on the countertop. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” she shouted, raising a hand in defense after facing me again, propped against the counter by her hip.

By this time, everyone else had gone quiet and was watching the scene unfold.

I put my hands up to show that I wasn’t doing anything wrong as I turned to face the group; some of them were looking back at me, and some at Sunset.

“What happened?” Applejack asked as Twilight approached Sunset to help her.

“I don’t know,” I replied, “she just started freakin out!”

Twilight could be heard talking quietly to Sunset, trying to calm her down. I looked over to at the couch see where Fluttershy was. To my relief, she had gotten up and was making her way back to me.

Sunset had started to settle down a bit by the time Fluttershy joined me, wrapping her hand in the crook of my elbow to try to comfort me. As Sunset’s breathing returned to normal, she looked around at everyone and blushed a little, clearly embarrassed by the outburst.

“I’m...just gonna go outside for some air,” she said quietly as she started for the door.

“I’ll come with you,” Twilight said, following her. They opened the door after putting their footwear on, but just before Sunset disappeared from sight, she looked back once more to give me a sharp glare.

I returned a blank stare, unsure of what to think. “What was that all about?” I wondered.

“Are you alright, darling?” Rarity asked, leaning on the far end of the table. “She certainly gave you quite a start!”

I glanced at her and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I, uh...I don’t know what happened there.” I looked at Fluttershy, who was rubbing my arm for a bit of comfort—which I had to admit was working.

Dash piped up. “Aw, she’s probably just having a panic attack about the finals coming up next week. She always stressed this time of year.”

I was skeptical. That didn’t look like a panic attack, she acted as though I did something to her.

*****

Roughly a mile down the road from Fluttershy’s house, Sunset Shimmer —with Twilight Sparkle seated behind her, arms locked around her waist— slowed her motorcycle and pulled off to the side, stopping on the shoulder. After cutting the engine, she toed the kickstand down and lifted her helmet off, fluffing that fiery hair with her fingertips afterward.

Twilight did the same while the red-head swung her leg over the handlebars, on which she hung her helmet by its strap after dismounting the bike. With her helmet now removed, Twilight set it on her thigh and watched her friend walk away in silence.

Sunset stopped finally, paused, and then turned around. Then she began the slow trek back to the motorcycle, her eyes never leaving the ground.

Twilight tapped the dome of the helmet with her nail as she watched her friend pace, unsure of what to make of it. It had been years since she’d seen Sunset act this way.

After clearing her throat, Twilight spoke. “You seem…disquieted.”

Sunset stopped just in front of the motorcycle, sighed, and then turned to walk away again, oblivious to the remark.

Twilight cocked her head—and a brow. “Uh…Sunset?”

“Huh?” The red-head turned to look back this time, as though she’d forgotten that she wasn’t alone. “Oh…um…”

“What happened back there?”

Sunset froze, surprised by the point-blankness of the question. “Nothing,” she replied, turning away again. Then she turned back. “Well…not nothing, per se…just…”

Twilight watched, allowing her friend some time to gather herself; her eyes fell to Sunset’s hands when she noticed them wringing together, fingers trembling violently.

A deep inhale through her nostrils was followed by an exhale through pursed lips, and then Sunset locked eyes with her friend. “That guy…who was there today. Golds. What did you think of him?”

Twilight looked up to the treetops for a moment and then shrugged. “I dunno. Seemed nice enough. Why? What happened?”

Sunset hesitated. Then she looked down at her hands. “I accidently touched him.”

Twilight groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ugh…this is why I keep telling you you should go back to wearing your gloves.”

Sunset was silent; that statement didn’t seem to matter much to her.

After a sigh, Twilight asked, “so what did you see?”

The red-head’s mouth hung open slightly, her eyes darting around the ground. “I don’t know. It was like…I could see everything…and nothing.” Her eyes shot up to meet Twilight’s. “It…hurt.”

The lavender-skinned girl furrowed her brows and pushed her glasses up. “Has that ever happened before?”

Sunset shook her head, slowly.

Twilight paused for a moment. She looked down at her thigh and idly rubbed it as she thought to herself. “What does it mean?” she asked, looking up again.

“I dunno.” Sunset chewed her lip for a moment. “But I don’t think that Golds is as ordinary as he lets on.”

The other girl raised a brow.

“I mean…” Sunset turned away and began to pace again, holding her hands up as she spoke. “It was almost like…when I touched him, it was like…some sort of defense mechanism.”

“Hmm…” The shorter girl rubbed her chin and looked down at her reflection in the helmet, that bespectacled face looking back skewed by its shape. “That could be a possibility, but for what? I mean, this is all just speculation. We just met him today, Sunset; we don’t know anything about him.” She looked up at her friend. “On the other hand, when it happened, and I saw that look on your face…” She gave her head a shake. “Whatever was happening to you, it looked rather unpleasant.”

Sunset stopped and turned partway, looking across the road at nothing. “Uh…yeah, no. It was definitely not an enjoyable experience.”

Twilight sighed and looked to where Sunset’s attention appeared to be. “OK, so…crazy question: couldn’t we just go back and talk to him?”

Sunset snapped her head around to face her friend; her eyes were wide, and she looked anxious. “No!… No, I don’t wanna go back there right now.”

Twilight sneered. “Why not?”

The red-head approached the bike, her hands outstretched as she shook them. “Because, Twi! What if he’s dangerous? What if he has Equestrian magic!?”

The other girl leaned away, hand raised. “Whoa, calm down! Are you being serious?”

“Well, think about it! If there is something more to him, then he’s keeping it from us on purpose, Twi. Why would he do that?”

Twilight shrugged. “Could be any number of reasons.”

Sunset shook her head stubbornly. “I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Ugh…” Twilight shook her head. “Don’t you think you might be jumping to conclu-“

“No, Twi! I think…I think this might be it,” Sunset countered, to which Twilight looked confused.

“What might be it?”

Sunset held her arms outward, gesturing around her. “This! Our magic; this is why we have it! How long has it been since the thing at Camp Everfree?”

Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Not quite nine years,” she finally said.

“And what’s happened since then?”

“In terms of magical beings trying to take over? Not much. Nothing, actually.”

“Exactly!” Sunset shouted, pointing at Twilight. “Why would we have these abilities if we weren’t meant to use them? All this time’s gone by, but…I’ve known. I’ve known all along that we’ve had them for a reason. And I think this is it!”

Twilight sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Well, there’s also…” —she closed her eyes and shook her head— “OK, so…I suppose there’s a remote possibility that you could be right. Let’s just say for a moment that you are. What do we do?”

Sunset drew a deep breath. “Well…we can’t go back to Flutters.’”

The lavender girl gave a sigh. “Why not? If there is something wrong with him, shouldn’t all be together to face it?”

Sunset shook her head. “Not there. If we call him out and he turns out to be dangerous, what if he goes nuts? I don’t want Flutters’ house to get fucked up.”

Twilight laid a finger on her lips, thinking. “Hm. Good point.” She looked up at Sunset. “Should we text the others and warn them?”

Sunset paused to think. “No. Not until we know more; especially if they’re still there. If Dashie catches wind of it, she’ll come out guns-a-blazin and then we’ll be in the same boat again.” She paused for a moment, watching Twilight shake her head. Then she folded her arms. “I think we should follow him when he leaves Flutters’ house. Then we confront him where he can’t do any damage—nice and quiet.”

Twilight looked at Sunset, eyes wide. “What, just you and me?”

The red-head nodded. “Yeah. Don’t worry, Twi, we can handle him on our own. You’ve got the strongest magic of all of us; you pretty much took Gloriosa down yourself, remember?”

A hesitation from Twilight. “I…I just-”

“We’ll follow him to wherever he lives, and we’ll find out what his deal is; show him who he’s messing with. But I need your help to do it, Twi.”

“But…what if you’re wrong?” Twilight asked. “What about Fluttershy? She seems quite…smitten with him; I don’t wanna mess things up if this is her chance for something genuine.”

Sunset paused, her face grim. “I’m not wrong. There’s something not right about him; I know it.”

Twilight looked down at the ground and sighed, prompting Sunset to step closer and place a hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, Twi. Flutters could be in danger; we can’t let anything happen to her. Are you in, or not?”

*****

The girls talked about high school and college for a bit, telling some of their own stories about stress and being worried about the future. This went on for about twenty minutes and my concern about Sunset began to fade, convincing myself that maybe she really was just stressed.

“Well,” AJ said, checking the time on her phone. “Maybe it’s about time we call it a night. Tomorrow’s Monday and we’re all gonna be back ta the grind fer another week.”

“Ah! Don’t remind me Applejack,” Rarity complained, “It’s already gotten so busy with graduations and proms coming up, I just don’t know how I’ll get through it.”

“Oh whatever, Rare,” Dash dismissed her with a wave, “you always make it through and come up smelling like a rose.”

Pinkie interjected as well, “Well, I get to go bake cakes, so it’s not so bad! But I do have a few peeps booking me to host their grad parties already…actually, wait…that’s fun too! La lala lala…” She sang to herself as she skipped over to the door to put her boots on.

“Yep. Well, ladies…today was awesome! We’ve gotta do the beach again soon,” Dash said as she went over to her shoes.

“Damn straight,” AJ agreed, following Dash to the door. “It was great havin everybody together today.”

With that, Pinkie, Dash and AJ all went out the door together, shouting their goodbyes as they went. We waved and said goodbye back to them.

After a moment of silence, Rarity sighed. “Well, Darlings, it's been a wonderful day, but unfortunately it does have to come to an end.” She made her way over to the door, gathering up her things and putting her tall, purple boots on. “I’ll try to text you later this week, Fluttershy. If you don’t hear from me by Thursday, then by all means, text me first and we’ll see what we’re doing next week.”

“Sure thing, Rarity,” the shy girl said.

“OK, I’m off. See you later!” Rarity said with a wink as she departed.

“Bye,” Fluttershy said back to her with a yawn.

I saw that she must have been getting tired, so I made the hard decision to announce that I was going to go as well.

“Oh”, she said softly, “you don’t have to go...but it’s OK if you want to.”

“Well, you look tired, and you have to get up in the morning and feed your little friends,” I reminded her.

“Yeah,” she said, playing with her hair, twirling one of her pink locks around her index finger. “Y-you’re right…um, you’re so sweet. Thank you.”

I went to put my boots on.

“I’ll walk you to your truck…I mean, if that’s OK with you,” she said sheepishly.

I smiled. “Sure, I’d like that.”

We went outside and saw that all the vehicles had gone, except for mine and her small SUV. We walked over and stopped by my truck, looking at each other in silence.

“I had fun today,” I finally said, breaking the slightly awkward silence. It seemed to me by the look on her face and her body language that she wanted something, but was reluctant to act on it.

“Um, m-me too,” she replied.

We paused for a moment, before I spoke again. “You looked really nice…at the beach,” I complimented, clearing my throat nervously.

She blushed darkly and looked to her right, too shy to make eye contact. “Th-thanks. I hoped you would like it.”

“Of course I did. You wore that on purpose, to make me a little crazy, didn’t you?” I asked.

She giggled, “Yeah, um…d-did it work?” She was now looking me straight in the eyes.

“Yup. Pretty much,” I said, not breaking our gaze.

She smiled and looked at me for a few seconds, biting her bottom lip nervously. Finally, she reached up, wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and planted her lips on mine. The sudden advance caught me off guard, but I soon relaxed and wrapped my arms around her lower back to pull her against me. I could feel the warmth of her body, as well as her generous bust pressing against my chest as she squeezed her forearms tightly around my neck. We opened our mouths to intensify the kiss, letting our tongues dance and twirl around with each other; her lips were soft, and she tasted sweet. The mellow scent of her hair surrounded us with it's intoxicating floral tranquility, making me feel as though time had come to a standstill, allowing myself and the shy girl an eternity to savour our first kiss together. It wasn't long before I could feel myself getting hard, making me wonder if she could feel it pressing against her.

After a couple minutes, we broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes.

"Um, y-you have, um...beautiful eyes," she cooed softly, which threw me for a loop.

"Me?" I said, surprised. "That's kind of ironic, coming from someone with eyes like yours."

She smiled and bit her lower lip as her cheeks became a deep crimson, then she gave me one more little peck on the mouth before we unwrapped our arms from each other, ending up with our hands joined down at our sides.

“Well, um…thanks for hanging out with us today,” she said, still smiling. I could see in her eyes that she was aroused, but wanted to control herself and not take things too fast.

“It was my pleasure,” I said.

We let each other’s hands go, and she slowly backed away from me towards her front door. “Bye,” she said with a little wave. “Text me later. Or...whenever.”

“OK. I will," I said. "Sweet dreams.”

After one more smile, she turned and walked into her house, and I had to clench my fists to stop myself from following her. I then opened the door and got into the truck, started the engine and drove off. As I made my way home, I touched my lips with my fingers, thinking about her lips against them; how soft they felt, how good she tasted, and I how I probably still had her saliva in my mouth.

I pulled into my yard, secluded from the world and now feeling lonelier than ever. After shutting the truck off and hopping out, I headed to the door of my makeshift home, distracted by a mental snapshot of Fluttershy—completely unaware of what was about to happen.