Saturday, May 21, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are.

Early Morning

Silver Spoon shows up at the dorm early and excited to pick up Apple Bloom for their birthday girls' pre-birthday hangout day. "Y'all have fun now," Applejack says with a big grin.

"We will!" Apple Bloom says.

"I hope you all don't mind," Sil says, "but I'll be spending the night over here tonight. A sleepover before my birthday party over at my house!"

"That sounds like fun!" Pinkie Pie says. "And it'll be good for the girls to have another friend over since the rest of us are gonna be at the dance."

"Oh yeah, you've got the Spring Fling at your school tonight," Sil says. "So lucky!"

"What about Scootaloo, is she coming over too?" Twilight asks.

Apple Bloom sighs and shakes her head. "Scoots..." She glances at Sil.

Sil grimaces. "Scootaloo's been pouting a lot lately," she says. "She thinks I stole her best friend. I keep telling her that's ridiculous, but when I'm around, she...she doesn't want to be."

"She's bein' STUPID," Apple Bloom complains. She shrugs. "She'll git over it eventually. Ah hope."

Sweetie Belle and Rarity come downstairs, dressed to go out. I can't help but notice that Sweetie Belle is wearing jeans and a baggy shirt, as opposed to the skirts and dresses she usually wears.

"Hey Sweetie Belle!" Sil says.

Sweetie Belle smiles weakly. "Hey Sil. You and Apple Bloom are going out for the day, right?"

Sil nods. "Yeah." She frowns. "You okay?"

Sweetie Belle sighs and shakes her head. "No, I'm not. It's..." She trails off. "I'll tell you girls all about it later. Right now, me and Rarity've got something we need to take care of."

"And we must take care of it early," Rarity says, "if I'm going to make my spa appointment. Oh, not that my spa appointment is more important than my dear sister—"

Sweetie Belle laughs. "It's okay, Rarity, really. I'm sorry this had to happen now of all times."

"I'm sorry it happened at all," Rarity says, frowning. "Nevertheless, you are far more important to me than the Spring Fling."

"Well, this whole stupid mess isn't more important to me than my sister, and I know how much you've been looking forward to tonight," Sweetie Belle says, hugging Rarity. "I don't think this'll take too long."

With that, they leave. Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon watch them in confusion.

"Whut...was all that about?" Apple Bloom wonders.

Sil tilts her head. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Apple Bloom shrugs. "Search me. Sweetie Belle was all huffin' an' puffin' an' screamin' an' screechin' yesterday, an' then she spent th' night in Rarity's room. Ah ain't really had a chance t' talk to her since school yesterday."

"Oh..." Sil shakes her head. "Well, she'll tell us when she's ready. Let's go!"

A minute later, Pinkie Pie rushes past, carrying her tennis bag. "Gotta run, practice!"

Cadance walks in, engrossed in her phone. "Twilight? Can you round up the girls, please? We all need to go make ourselves beautiful for tonight."

Twilight nods and disappears upstairs. After several minutes, she returns with Sonata, Rainbow, Applejack, and a pouty Fluttershy.

"Rarity already left to do something with Sweetie Belle, and Pinkie's at tennis practice. I think she's going to the salon later today," Twilight reports.

Cadance nods. "Okay, girls! Spa day. Everything's on me, so let's get going! We'll stop for breakfast before we go to the spa."

The girls leave in a big group.

The dorm's empty...

I don't really have anything pressing to do, so I head back to bed to catch a nap until afternoon.

Daytime

I wake up a little after two. I get up, scratch myself, use the bathroom, then head downstairs to scrape up some lunch. I doubt the girls will be back until almost time for the dance...

I find Sweetie Belle in the lounge, halfheartedly picking at a sandwich from town. She looks up at me. "Hi," she says.

I sit down beside her with my own plate. "You're back already?"

"I got back a while ago," Sweetie Belle says. "Rarity left for her appointment as soon as we got back. She...she almost cancelled it to stay with me, but I told her not to." She sighs. "She offered to treat me to a spa day, but...I just want some quiet right now."

"Oh." I shift uncomfortably. "If...if you want me to leave you alone..."

Sweetie Belle shakes her head. "No, it's okay."

"Wanna talk about it?" I ask.

She looks at me with an uncertain frown.

"It might help," I add.

Her brow furrows. After a long moment, she sighs. "A-alright." She shifts her weight and sinks back into the couch. "Well...this morning, we...we went to Button's house to confront him about those pictures he took. Me and Rarity, we talked to Button and his mom. The principal still has Button's phone, but I had him e-mail me all the pictures Button took, and I showed them to Button's mom. I...I told her that I knew Button took those pictures himself because of the timestamps, and because we were at all those places together when they were taken.

"Button didn't try to deny taking the pictures at all. He didn't...even seem to understand why we were so mad at him. He did start to sweat and do that controller-hands thing a lot harder." Sweetie Belle pauses, then swallows heavily.

"His mom...got this funny look on her face, and went upstairs to search Button's room and his computer. He's...he's been playing these Neighponese games. She didn't know he had them or how he even got them. They're the kind of games where you take...take dirty pictures of girls.

"When she told us about that, she had this look on her face like...like she expected that. This really resigned look. She told Button to go upstairs, then asked us to wait while she made a phone call. We sat and waited, and when she came back into the living room, she..." Sweetie Belle looks down at her lap. "She told us...some things about Button." Tears well up in her eyes.

"Button...he's got a lot of mental problems. His mom threw around a lot of big words and disorder names I don't remember, but, well...basically his dad was a huge drug addict for several years, and it...it affected Button. You know, in the womb."

Ouch...

Sweetie Belle clenches her hands into fists in her lap. "A-anyway...what it boils down to is Button...doesn't understand people, or...or what's acceptable and what isn't. All he really seems to understand is video games. He can't...really cope with the real world, so he just tries to make everything a video game, because that's what's real to him.

"S-so, when he took those pictures of me...he was lost in this..." Sweetie Belle gestures with her hands.

"You were just a datesim to him," I say.

Sweetie Belle sighs. "Yeah," she says miserably. "And he really sucks at datesims."

"Apparently."

"So anyway, by the time she finished telling us all this, this lady came by, and Button's mom called him downstairs, and the lady smiled at him and said she had some games for him to play that he'd never tried before, and his mom said that sounded like a good idea, and he should go with the lady and she'd see him later." Sweetie Belle's voice hitches. "Then...then she broke down crying and...and went upstairs to pack some things of his." She looks up at me, her eyes wet with tears.

I feel my stomach sinking. "She committed him?"

"Yeah." Sweetie Belle sniffles. "She...she was just going to keep him at home and try to...try to wean him off the video games and, y'know, get him meds and help and try to ease him into real life, but..." She bows her head. "After this...she's given up. She's afraid of what'll happen if he isn't someplace where they can keep an eye on him."

She breaks down crying.

"I was so mad at him, and I hated him for...for taking those pictures, and...and I just didn't know it was like this..."

I pull Sweetie Belle into a hug and hold her while she cries herself out.

"It's not your fault," I say. "He needs help. And...and you tried to be his friend, which...which he hasn't really ever had before, right?"

"And look where that got him," she says miserably.

"Don't think like that," I say. "Look...you tried to do what you thought was right. You saw a kid who needed a friend, and you tried to be that friend. And maybe a little more than a friend. But there are some people...who need a little more help than a friend can give."

Sweetie Belle sighs. "Yeah..."

She's so miserable...

"Hey," I say. "You wanna see something good?"

She glances up at me, sniffling. "What?"

"I got Twilight something I'm giving her tonight," I say. "Nobody's seen it yet except me and Silver Spoon, and she's only seen it because I bought it from her dad." I smile. "Wanna see?"

Sweetie Belle grabs a couple of tissues and cleans herself up. "Sure."

I rush upstairs and come back down with a jewelry box. Sitting back down, I open it, showing Sweetie Belle the amethyst tennis bracelet I bought for Twilight.

Sweetie Belle gasps. "Oh wow, that's beautiful!" She giggles. "Rarity's gonna be so jealous when she sees that..." Her stomach growls suddenly. "Oh wow, I didn't realize how hungry I am!"

I chuckle. "Let's eat before our food gets bored and crawls away."

Sweetie Belle giggles. We enjoy a companionable lunch together, then spend the rest of the afternoon watching television.

A little before five, Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon return; both girls have shopping bags, and Silver Spoon has an overnight bag. "Hey, shouldn't you be getting ready for the dance?" Sil asks me.

"Oh crap!" I hurry upstairs, the girls' giggling following me all the way to my room. I round up my bath stuff, shave, take a shower, and rush back to my room to get dressed.

Evening

When I return to the lounge, Silver Spoon lets out a long, exaggerated whistle. "Look at you!" she says. The look she's giving me, along with her sharklike grin, is a bit unnerving...

Apple Bloom whaps her upside the head. "Down girl," she says. She smiles at me. "You do look nice, though."

"The girls are getting ready," Sweetie Belle says. "They should be down soon."

The first one down is Rainbow Dash. She's wearing a tight, mid-thigh-length royal blue dress with a high collar, no sleeves, and a translucent sky blue train hemmed onto the skirt which floats around her ankles and is parted in front; she's also wearing royal blue heels with satin straps that go up to mid-calf, two gold bracelets on her left wrist, and a pair of simple gold hoop earrings. Her hair is shiny and braided, with the braid hanging over her left shoulder. She's wearing just a touch of makeup.

Next is Applejack, in a candy apple red dress that's over a century out of date, with ruffles and petticoats that go all the way to the floor and short, puffy sleeves. She's wearing a more ladylike hat than usual, with a pink silk rose on the side, and her hair is pinned up underneath it.

Fluttershy is the next one down, wearing a shimmery green satin full-length dress that hugs her hips fetchingly, with matching heels. Her dress offers no cleavage and has full sleeves; she's wearing bead bracelets with glittery pink butterfly clasps, and a monarch butterfly hairpin holds back her hair, which has been crimped into a wavy style and frosted. A faint shimmer of glittery powder dusts her face and neck, her eyeshadow is a little heavier than usual, and her cheeks glow with a rosy dusting of blush.

Twilight comes down next, wearing a knee-length, flaring indigo gown, slit partway up the front, with open-toed silver low-heeled sandals. Her dress is sleeveless and shows a daring amount of cleavage—not to the degree her Fall Formal dress did, but still enough that I'm sure her brother will have a heart attack. The locket I gave her for her birthday is hanging snugly at the very top of her cleavage, and she has on pink topaz earrings, dark purple lipstick, and silver eye shadow. Her hair is swept to one side and has been teased out to add volume.

The next down is Pinkie, wearing a pearl white, short-sleeved dress with very little cleavage, which pushes her chest up and forward and is almost ankle-length and pleated in the front. Open-toed white high-heeled slippers grace her feet, and her hair has been cut into a short, straight, glossy bob. The only jewelry she has on is a small pearl choker and a slender gold bracelet.

Next is Sonata, wearing an indecently low-cut sleeveless, strapless dress that pushes her chest up and seems to be held up by sheer willpower. The bodice is black velvet; the skirt, which is slit up the sides to show off her legs to full effect, is a deep purple velvet, and she has on purple slingback pumps. She isn't wearing any jewelry at all except for a pair of silver eighth-note earrings and a simple black velvet choker. Her hair is the same as it always is, except shinier.

Last down is Rarity in a dark red satin gown with matching heels, with a deep, daring neckline, more cleavage than Twilight, and a diamond cutout in the midriff that exposes her navel. Her ears, neck, and wrists are dripping with glittery gems, and her hair is piled into an elaborate mass of braided buns and springy curls.

"You all look fantastic," I say. I walk over to Twilight and reach into my pocket, pulling out the box with the tennis bracelet. "I got you something."

She blushes and smiles. "Flash, you didn't have to—"

I silence her with a quick kiss, then take out the tennis bracelet and fasten it around her wrist.

Rarity gasps. "That is simply gorgeous, darling!"

"Ooh, sparkly!" Pinkie says.

Twilight blushes more deeply and raises her arm, turning her wrist to let the amethysts catch the light. "Wow," she says. "This is beautiful. Thank you so much!"

"I have something for Pinkie too," I say. "It's not quite as fancy though."

Pinkie turns to face me expectantly. I pull a slender silver ankle chain with several small charms on it out of my pocket. I crouch down in front of Pinkie and fasten it around her left ankle.

"Oooh, nice!" Pinkie raises her leg straight up to look at her new ankle bracelet—somehow, impossibly, without disturbing her dress or flashing us.

"Thanks, Flashie!"

"Gah," Rarity says. "Pinkie, can you...not do that, please?"

I study Pinkie as she puts her leg back down. "Seeing you with short hair's gonna take some getting used to."

She smiles and shrugs. "I felt like trying something new. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it...it's kinda sexy."

Shining Armor and Cadance walk in. Shining Armor is dressed in a red tuxedo jacket with black satin lapels, a white dress shirt, and black pants, cummerbund, and bow tie. Cadance is wearing a floor-length classic red ball gown with a modest neckline, and her hair is flowing in loose waves around her face. "You kids ready to go?"

"We're all set!" Rainbow says.

"Apple Bloom, you an' your friends lock up an' behave yerselves, y'hear?" Applejack says.

"Of course," Apple Bloom says, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh, we're not little kids, y'know. Ah'm turning fourteen in a few hours here."

Applejack chuckles. "Yeah, Ah know."

Shining Armor blinks. "Wait. You're fourteen?" He tilts his head. "Shouldn't you already be in high school then...?"

Apple Bloom shakes her head. "Ah got put in Sweetie Belle's grade 'cuz Ah was homeschooled fer so long," she says. "An' mah birthday's near th' end of th' school year."

"I'm the same age as Apple Bloom," Silver Spoon says. "I had to start school late because I was sick when I was little. I couldn't even do homeschooling."

"I've been thirteen for months now!" Sweetie Belle pipes up.

"Diamond Tiara's only twelve," Silver Spoon says cattily. She and Apple Bloom hi-five each other.

I'd never actually thought about these girls' ages before. Huh.

"Great! Now we all know how old we all are!" Rainbow says impatiently. "Let's get goin' already!"

"Wow, what's gotten into you, Rainbow?" Twilight asks.

"Nothing yet!" Rainbow says. "I wanna get laid tonight! Why do you think I'm wearin' this short a dress?"

Shining Armor makes an "urk" sound.

Rarity coughs delicately. "I...believe we could all have lived without hearing that, Rainbow Dash," she says.

"Hey, there's no shame in wanting to get laid!" Pinkie says. "Good luck, Dashie!"

"Just remember to practice safe sex," Cadance admonishes.

The dance is largely uneventful; I mostly dance with Twilight, but also take turns dancing with Pinkie, Sonata, and Fluttershy. The only major disruption comes in the form of Sunset Shimmer...or rather, her choice of attire. She shows up wearing what appears to be a dozen or so black leather straps wound tightly around her body, with a magenta nylon mesh in between them, and black stiletto heels. Twilight and I are close enough to overhear when Cadance ejects her from the dance for inappropriate attire.

Sunset shrugs and gives her—and us—a saucy smile. "Fine then," she says. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow..." She saunters away; half the male eyes (and quite a few female eyes) are on her largely-exposed ass as she leaves.

Once she's gone, we go back to dancing, trying to put the whole encounter out of our minds. Rainbow Dash disappears halfway through the evening, and doesn't reappear until almost time to announce the Prince and Princess.

"Do you think she really...?" Twilight whispers once I point out Rainbow's absence.

"Wouldn't surprise me," I say. "Though most people wait until the afterparties for that..."

Near the end of the evening, Principal Celestia comes out on stage. The music stops, and spotlights swim around the room. "Good evening, everyone! It is now my pleasure to announce the winners for Prince and Princess of the Spring Fling."

Everyone applauds.

"First, I'll announce the Prince!" Celestia picks up an envelope and opens it, then pulls out a card. "The Prince of the Spring Fling, as voted by the student body, is...Vinyl Scratch!"

More applause breaks out as Vinyl, with help, makes her way up to the stage. She's wearing a white tuxedo with seafoam lapels, cummerbund, and tie. She grins good-naturedly and waves as Vice-Principal Luna comes out to crown her.

"And now, your Spring Fling Princess!" Celestia says. She picks up another envelope, opens it, and...

"Twilight Sparkle!"

...huh.

...well, that was unexpected.

Vinyl's smile falters slightly; up front, I can see Octavia wilting. Twilight's eyes fly open wide. She turns to me. "Okay, I wasn't expecting that!" she says in a half-panic.

I shrug. "Just go up and accept it," I say. "You only have to dance one dance with her."

"But you—"

"Don't care that I lost," I say, kissing her lightly. "Go on, accept your crown." I smile encouragingly.

Twilight goes up to the stage to be crowned to much applause and some light laughter.

Pinkie sidles over to me. "Guess your dance card is open for this one," she says.

"Looks that way," I say with a sigh.

As Vinyl and Twilight lead the dance, Pinkie and I join in. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rainbow dancing with a rather rumpled-looking guy with a bowl cut. I think he's on the basketball team? He's blushing so hard he looks like a basketball...

After another forty minutes or so of dancing, we all gather at the entrance to head back to the dorm.

"So, did you get laid, Dashie?" Pinkie asks.

Rainbow grins. "Yeah I did! Jump Shot never knew what hit him."

"Please don't make a habit of stuff like that," Cadance says. "And yes, I know what a hypocrite I'm being when I say that."

"Eh, I'm good for a while, I think," Rainbow says. "I just had the itch, y'know?"

"They make creams for that," Fluttershy says.

"Anyway," Cadance says, "we all need to get to sleep early tonight. Sunset Shimmer all but confirmed we'll be fighting a Hunter Shadow tomorrow."

"Ugh, what was with that trashy outfit she had on?" Rainbow says in a disgusted tone.

"She was trying to provoke us," Fluttershy says with a frown.

Once we're back at the dorm, everyone heads to their own room. I carefully peel off my suit and bag it up for the dry cleaners, changing into fresh boxers and a light T-shirt to sleep in. It's a little warm and humid tonight...

Tomorrow is Apple Bloom's birthday, and it looks like she's the next victim. But what if it's Silver Spoon instead? As I doze off, I think back to earlier this evening and how happy and cheerful Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon were. I can hear their playful giggling as clearly as if they were in the room with me. I can't let anything else bad happen to Apple Bloom. She's been through enough already...

And if it's Silver Spoon, well...I just hope we can get to her in time.

I push everything out of my mind and let the chirping crickets and rustling trees lull me to sleep.