Once I had gotten a chance to calm down and sift through my feelings in the aftermath of the Windigo amulet I decided I was rather displeased with how things had gone down. It was sheer dumb luck I had escaped from both Rarity and Bon-Bon. I needed to train more. I needed to develop better techniques. I just needed to be better.

Fortunately Twilight and her big brain had come up with a possible solution for my biggest weakness. Magic didn’t have a concept of hot or cold in the way chi did, so Twilight theorized that if I could make my chi hot enough I could fend off spells.

The problem with this solution was twofold. First, I had to find a way to make my chi sufficiently hot. Obviously the heat of a battle aura wasn’t enough or I wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with. Second was, once I got it hot enough, keeping it that hot.

I had a couple of ideas I was playing with to accomplish this, one was to simply pick a ‘hot’ emotion and generate as much of that as I could. Unfortunately my temperament tended more towards the mild. While I had been very, very angry youth, that particular flame had long since guttered out.

My other best idea was to steal heat from my opponents, not unlike the Happo 5 Yen Satsu. Although, come to think of it, if I could learn that particular technique then heating up my Chi would become all but moot. Definitely something to consider for later.

There was one other thing happening. Fluttershy had somehow gotten word of what had happened concerning Rarity and Rainbow. Whether they had confessed out of a guilty conscious or someone else had told her I didn’t know, but I suspected the former.

I was genre savvy enough to imagine one of two outcomes: Fluttershy discovers a heretofore unknown yandere side or she and Luna are offering them to join our relationship.

So I considered if I actually wanted either Rarity or Rainbow.

Rarity was easy. I knew we were utterly incompatible. Rarity was a social butterfly infatuated with the trappings of high society. I was an introvert who thought high society was little better than a plague. There was also the matter of her emotional outbursts, to put it politely. Sure, Rarity was gorgeous, but even if I was the type to value beauty highly, I already had Fluttershy and Luna, who are both beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Rainbow, on the other hand, was a lot harder to find an answer for. Or maybe it would be better to say I couldn’t think of a reason to not date Rainbow, if the opportunity presented itself. She is a cute sporty tomboy tsundere, which is a type I’ve always had a soft spot for. Beyond that, while I had no particular interest in sports, I didn’t hate them like I did high society either. Added together with my martial arts training and we had things we could bond over. She also had a love of Daring Do books, which I bet I could expand into other series.

Really, the only downside I could think of was that Rainbow was sometimes a loudmouth with an ego, but I’ve been known to shoot my mouth off too, so glass houses and all that.

Now, you might be wondering if Fluttershy and Luna were having a chat with Rarity and Rainbow about what had happened, why wasn’t I in there with them? Because I had no intention of making things even more awkward than they already were. Talking about why they jumped me and what would be done moving forward with me sitting there fidgeting nervously as the awkwardness suffocated me would not have been productive for anyone.

So instead of that, I was doing some practice forms and thinking in a field a little ways off from Fluttershy’s cottage. I had given Luna and Flutters clearance to do whatever they felt was right and I trusted them. If the ‘right’ thing was Rarity and Rainbow in the dungeon for a week or two, well, technically they did commit assault against me.

“Ranma, we’re finished!” Fluttershy called out to me. I bounded toward her and we headed back towards her cottage.

“So, what’s the verdict?” I asked, a nervous ball of energy forming in the pit of my stomach.

“Luna and I offered Rarity and Rainbow to be part of our herd, on a trial basis. Rarity declined, but Rainbow asked for more time to think about it,” Fluttershy summarized.

“That’s about what I expected you’d do,” I admitted and Fluttershy gave a soft giggle.

“I’m glad we met your expectations,” She smiled at me.

“What surprises me is that Rarity declined, given what I’ve heard of her past of jumping on any chance of romance, especially given she’d be directly involved with Luna,” I noted.

“Actually that’s part of why she declined. She said she didn’t trust herself to have pure motives with Luna,” Fluttershy told me and I raised my eyebrows as my estimation of Rarity went up somewhat.

“And the other part of why she declined?” I asked.

“She said you and her wouldn’t match well,” Fluttershy replied with a shrug.

“That’s the same conclusion I came to, actually,” I told her and she made a noise of slight surprise, “You disagree?”

“No, I just didn’t think you’d have thought about it, is all,” Fluttershy confessed.

“Kinda hard not to think about it after I was quite literally tied to her bed,” I said mildly, this caused Fluttershy to blush. I knew Fluttershy well enough by this point to know she was blushing because she was embarrassed for being presumptive, not the lewd implications of what I’d just said. It’s always the quite ones man.

“What about Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.

“I can’t think of a single good reason to not at least give her a shot, but I also have to ask if you’re alright with it,” I said as I took her hand.

“I’d be lying if I said I’d never considered trying a relationship with Rainbow,” Fluttershy told me, “But the cliché fear of losing her friendship always held me back. This is as good an excuse to put aside that fear as any.”

“And what’s your read on how Luna feels?” I inquired as we reached her front door.

“She seems surprisingly eager. I get the feeling she’s wanted to expand the herd but didn’t know how to bring it up,” Fluttershy replied and I made a hum of contemplation.

“We’ll need to talk about it. If you girls have anyone you want to add, I don’t want you to hesitate to bring it up,” I said.

“As long as you feel comfortable doing the same,” Fluttershy followed up swiftly.

“Yes, yes, I know ‘no putting myself in a secondary position or depreciating myself. I’m an equal and loved member of this herd’,” I recited and Fluttershy rewarded me with a peck on the cheek.

“Good, we’ll discuss this properly next time Luna has some free time,” Fluttershy nodded. I kissed the top of Fluttershy’s head.

“You make such a good head mare,” I complimented and Fluttershy’s face turned red and she grew that funny half grin someone gets when they’re very pleased with themselves but trying not to show it too much. She was so adorable.

“Th-thank you Ranma…” She said.

“Do you think I should go have a chat with Rainbow or leave it for a bit?” I asked her.

“Give her a day or two, I think,” Fluttershy opined, “Then you should definitely talk to her.”

“Alright, you know her best,” I replied, “See you later Fluttershy.”

“See you Ranma.”

Well, my spasming is still going on, I've gotten a bunch of blood tests done, MRIs done of my brain, lower back, and legs, an EMG, and a EEG done in the course of the past month. The only positive thing I've gotten out of all these tests is that I don't have brain cancer.

I'm seeing a neurology specialist who specializes in movement disorders the morning after this goes live, so hopefully he'll have answers or at least know what tests to preform to get answers.