Dawn Stripes

@@MelancholicMemory, "Alright, alright." Dash rolled her eyes with a pleased grin, having gotten just as far under AJ's skin as she had meant to. "I'm just joshin' ya, AJ. I'm sure he must be something if he was good enough to get an Apple out on a date." She patted AJ on the back, smiling. "You know I believe you. Well. Except for the part about him giving me a run for anything." Suddenly an even more mischievous sparkle entered her eyes, and something new occurred to her. "Unless...we always thought you were scarin' away Big Mac's suitors. But you know AJ, it's awfully suspicious that two weeks after you get out from under your grandma's eye, you start goin' out with some guy. I wonder..." ------------------------------------------------------------- @, "Hmm..." Fluttershy turned to find that boy who had been following Rainbow Dash, striking up a conversation with her. "We've been doing...well, thanks you," said Fluttershy, with a bit of a warm flush to her cheeks. "Colette's very nice to me." With a frown, she turned back to the pacing Twilight Sparkle. "But I'm worried about other things right now. This could be so horrible, Dennis. I'm such a small and frightened girl....but I almost think we all have to go save Queen Chrysalis. We were so close to peace, and now..." She sighed tightly. After a couple moments of silence, she looked up to find where Rainbow Dash had followed Dennis in. She was over giving Applejack a hard time about her new relationship. Fluttershy bit her lip and turned to Dennis. "So you and..." she swallowed. "D--dash? How...how are things between you two?"

@@Hypn0ticD, @Ragin' Red Talon Fluttershy's eyes turned into wide blue pools of sky---The Dream! She instantly grabbed onto the nearest girls for comfort, they being Twilight and Colette. "No... " she groaned into her girlfriend's wrist. It was real! The Changelings... The dream had been about a chance to do it right--not to take, not to steal love, which was so horrendously wrong to Fluttershy, but a chance to live together. She saw it all now, flooding back. And so the fact that Queen Chrysalis had been kidnapped--and could have only been kidnapped by humans--was too much for her to bear in total silence. It brought their dreams crashing down. After this, would she even consider trusting others again? Fluttershy wasn't sure she'd be able to if that happened. "But what could we possibly do to help?" she mumbled in despair.

@@MelancholicMemory, Rainbow Dash sauntered over to Applejack, letting them handle whatever weirdness they felt obligated to handle today. "Been gettin' in trouble, learnin' to play the drums," she said. Casting a sly look around the room, she smirked back at AJ. "How have you--" she nudged AJ in the ribs, "--been havin' fun--' nudge, nudge "with your pet monkey there? I understand Logan's supposed to be quite the looker by human standards."

@@Hypn0ticD, @, @00Pony, @Pripyat Pony, @MelancholicMemory, @Ragin' Red Talon, The front door to Colette's house blew open if not halfway down, admitting a gust and a rainbow blur which caused the tablecloth to wave and everyone's respective manes to wave back into their eyes. Dash appeared from the center of her own maelstrom, arms spread and trailing Dennis behind her. "Wassup everypony the Fuuuuun Haaaas Arrriiiiiiiiived!" She winked as she trotted inside, grabbing a few snacks from the fridge. "Watched Tarzan on Dennis' phone on the way here. Awesome!"

@, "Aaahh...." Rainbow froze just out of bed, face red, features stretched into an awkward half-smile. She almost stumbled back over the mattress as she simultaneously tried to figure out what to say, and calculate, if he was serious, whether that deal was worth it or not. When Cole called, Rainbow Dash practically sighed in relief. She'd have to owe her one. By the time Dennis got off the phone she was more than ready, turning into a rainbow blur that deposited his coat, keys and wallet in his hands in about five seconds. "OkayI'mOutByTheDrivewayLetsHitTheReoad!" ------------------------------------- (Fluttershy...just sorta' stands there. It saves on animation budget)

@, "Hmm...okay." Grinning broadly at Dennis, she scrounged around for her clothes and stepped out to change into her blazer real quick, brushing her teeth and generally getting ready, which, since she was Rainbow Dash and skipped combing, only took her a couple minutes. It had been a surprisingly nice morning here, for whatever reason she couldn't quite pin down. "Hey, Dennis!" She poked her head back inside. "I can come back some other time to keep practicing the drums, right?"

@, Rainbow Dash finished off the meal with a smack. "Yeah, it tastes great. This is way better than having to get outta' bed to eat breakfast. I could get used to this." After sliding the tray a little ways away from herself, she slid it back and lay back for a moment with her arms behind her head. She had almost entirely forgotten the discomfort of last night. "So....it was nice having a bed for a change, sorta', but we should probably see what everypony else is doing. Unless you had an idea or something. I'm scheduled for bored again today otherwise."

@,@@00Pony,@, @@Hypn0ticD, (OOC: Gonna' continue to be slow this week, sry) Fluttershy nodded, skipping around the house to knock gingerly on everypony's doors. "Applejack! Twilight! It's time for breakfast!" (OOC: If Twilight's in the freaking master bedroom, where do COle's parents sleep?) ------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash sat up quickly, nose twitching. She was up late! And what had woken her so immediately--the smell of food, something Rainbow Dash never misplaced. Although it turned it was right under her nose. Being brought to her on a tray by Dennis. "Hey, morning..." She said, trying to put some of her tangled hopeless snake nest of a mane into some semblance of order. Hmph. Even as a woman's, it wouldn't behave. "Whassis'?" Despite her question, she didn't wait for an answer before tucking in, wolfing down the toast and chocolate. "S'my birfday or somefin'?" She mumbled around a mouthful.

@@Hypn0ticD, "Oh, my." Fluttershy helped with eggs, setting the table and setting her hands busy making some orange juice. "That was so long ago, we were just fillies....it must have been junior Flight Camp. We were in the same little class cloud, and everypony there got to meet each other. I looked up to her right away, because she could hover off the cloud before anyone else could even flap both their wings at the same time." She smiled fondly, almost dreamily. "I could barely lift-off at all...I was designated a weak flyer by the third strata. Some of the other foals were making fun of me, pushing me towards the edges of the practice clouds--the way foals will do--and Rainbow stood up for me. I think the very first time I fell, she even caught. I'd been terrified of falling--" She giggled-- "Maybe since birth, but she caught me. After that, we found out that we didn't live very far from each other in Cloudsdale, and so we saw each other every once in a while even when school was out. The rest is history, I suppose."

@, (OOC: The couch was getting in the way of the plot. It had to die) "H-h-huh," said Rainbow, not turning her head and hazarding an abortive, forced chuckle. "M-maybe." She lay stock-still until, at long last, she heard the even breathing that signified Dennis was fast asleep beside her. Once or twice, whenever he shifted in his sleep, she half-sat off, arms splayed ready to fend off as if a hydra. But Dennis always settled down again. And at length Rainbow Dash, too, even through her insecurities, succumbed to the obvious opportunity for a good nap. It was late. And her schedule had started to slip with the advent of being unemployed for a month. She might not wake up as early as she was wont to...

@@Hypn0ticD, (OOC: We have over 3000 replies...that's just nuts) Fluttershy slowly clutched her sketchbook to her chest. Her line had gone swirling all over the page when her model suddenly stirred in her sleep, about to wake up. Fluttershy had plenty of time to prepare herself for Colette's eyes to focus on her. "Nothing much," she said demurely, hopping down from the windowsill. "I think most of the others came home last night." Walking towards the bed, she bent over to plant a soft kiss on Colette's sleep-numbed lips. "You look pretty sleepy. Would you like me to go make some breakfast?" -------------------------------------------- @, "Pfft. No problem." Rainbow Dash guided Dennis up from the sofa and hand-vaulted back over the armrest, floating almost impossibly for a horizontal heartbeat in the air above. "I crash on people's couches and junk all the time, don't feel bad about it." She landed on the cushions. A crash of springs and an explosion of the stuffing shredded thereon. Rainbow Dash spoke from out of sight, under the depths of the sofa, from the floor. "Dennis, I think there's something wrong with the furniture in your house." She lifted her head back into view and shook doglike, sending stuffing bits flying in all directions until fully recovered. "No problem! I'm a pony, remember? Me and the girls slept in big piles all the time when we stayed over at Twilight's for reading parties." Fast-forward to Rainbow Dash lying in a bed colored by the cool blues of night, her prismatic hair let down loose and flowing under her form--herself painted with warmer colors and humming tensely to herself as she bent her hands behind her head and stared stiffly at the ceiling. "Of course..." she muttered to herself. "They weren't trying to date me...' (OOC: If this is too godmoddy just rewind and insert/redo whatever you want)

@, "Betcha' it would have been more embarassing if I understood it at the time." Rainbow Dash, having just figured things out for herself, was staring off pointedly into space and trying to wonder if having legions of doting fans was everything it had been cracked up to be by the Wonderbolts. "Erm, uh...we're even then. For the party." With a bit of a cough, she stood. "A-nyway! You rest up and stuff, I'm gonna' go put away the food for ya'. Maybe go drum some more."

@, (OOC: Oh, well played. In fact well played everypony on this page.) Rainbow Dash frowned down at Dennis, on the verge of putting her hands on her hips. "Don't tell anyone?" That sounded like a suspiciously bad idea to an Element of Harmony. Apparently his parents genuinely were out of reach, but still, it wasn't like there was no one that could help. "Look buddy, I'm all for touching shit out, but you got to be careful every once in a while. There's nothing tough about letting yourself get permanently damaged 'cause you were too macho to see a doctor." She tapped her skull. "Stormball coach drilled that into here, nice and deep." Plus, Rainbow Dash didn't really know how much damage was dangerous for a human. It was something she could have looked up, but there was a finer sense about judging a knock to the head. She had a feeling that these monkeys weren't quite as sturdy, even as a Pegasus. And all the solid information she had to go on was that Dennis had been rambling. "Look, if you wanna' drop it tonight, I won't bug you about it--it's your skull. But tomorrow, we're going to mention it to someone who knows what in the hay they're talking about. You were going on about marrying your angel, and seeing angels, and...you were staring at me, come to think of it..."

@, (OOC: I wouldn't do that) Rainbow Dash quirked her mouth in concern. "Yeah...you hit your head pretty bad there or something. You sure you don't want me to call somebody?" She hopped up on the armrest of the couch near his head, unsure what to do. Feel his forehead? That was stupid, he didn't have a fever. If only Dash had any idea what to do in a situation like this. Having someone around who did would make her feel better as much as Dennis. But what if it turned out to be nothing? Then she'd look stupid. Still--Dennis' safety came first. "Look, man, I can't really tell if you're okay, so maybe someone in your family or something could? 'Cause you were mumbling stuff and everything. Full-on cracked eggshells." A tap of the chin. "Not to mention you gotta' find someone to fix your bed now." She lowered a few chips in her hand to the level of his face, in case he wanted to be offered a snack. "By the way, what's an angel?"

@, (OOC: Yeah, 'cause you told me in a pm, silly colt!) Rainbow Dash grimaced. "Erg. Come on, buddy." Scooping herself under Dennis, she tried to lift him onto her shoulders, but found that he was a bit too heavy for her to manage. He only collapsed on top of her the minute she had him balanced. From there, Rainbow fumed at her spindly, inadequate limbs. "If I only had goddamn hooves.." she growled. She had to settle for dragging Dennis but the armpits, which mostly succeeded in keeping him from receiving further concussions against the floor. "Ooops. A door--watch out. Or--I'll watch out. Next time." More than a few, anyway. There had to be a couch around here somewhere...Rainbow Dash found somewhere to lay Dennis out and released her burden with a whoomph of air. The fridge wasn't hard to find, and she put together Dennis' ice pack in time to check him over once more. "Hey-o. You there?" She poked him a couple times. All he'd done was fall out of bed! Well--through bed. "You don't need me to call Fluttershy or a hospital or something, do you? 'Cause just so y'know, I'm no doctor."

@, Clank. "Ooh..." Ranbow Dash sat up, dialing down the music and repeated a sequence of drumstrokes that were almost in time at this point. She frowned, however, finding herself unable to replicate the sound that she'd just heard. It was really snappy too...Rainbow Dash fiddled around with the cymbal-things, attacking them at different angles, but nothing reproduced the crackling snap that she could have swore she played just a few seconds ago. Rubbing her chin, Rainbow Dash clambered up the stairs in a prismatic flash to ask Dennis. "Hey, Dennis?" Now, what room was he in...she scoured the house in a whirlwind. "Dennis--" Her head poked into his room, "Hey, how do you--ai. You okay?"

@, "Rhythm, rhythm... " Dash tapped the sticks together, listening to the beat of the song. "Fuel is good. That sounds pretty tasty." She beat on the drums in a more careful semblance of order, waiting until Dennis left the room to try spinning the sticks on her fingers. They fell. After a brief grumble to fetch them, she was jamming again, lost in whatever songs were playing and tapping along as the fancy struck. "Many vegetables..." Rainbow Dash all but giggled. "Many vegetables in this sauce, kemosabe." Blam blam-tss! (OOC: Why am I suddenly worried for Fluttershy...?)

@@Hypn0ticD, Fluttershy awoke to birdsong from the scrub out behind the house, just barely filtering through chinks in the wall. She had the sensation of waking up from a very pleasant dream, and took too much time to finally rub her eyes open and stretch out her muscles on the cot. It hadn't been quite as comfortable as Colette's bed...or her arms. Fluttershy peered over to one side. Colette was splayed out over her own mattress, one hand lying over the edge near to her. Fluttershy sighed deeply as her dream came back to her in those curves of skin. For a long, drowsy moment she considered climbing up there. Colette wouldn't complain even if it did wake her up. Fluttershy could just wrap herself around those curves and... Her dreamy sigh chastened itself into a minutae of a dissatisfied growl. She mussed her hair. Quickly running to the bathroom, she splashed her face with cold water, but that only took her so far. She had to do something about, she muttered. She had to channel this into something else... Sketchbook. The thought came to her as an instant solution. Fluttershy snuck back into the bedroom and took her sketchbook from under the bed, sitting up on the windowsill where she had a good view of Colette's sleeping body. She was unfolded like a napkin at an Apple Family banquet, and her pajamas didn't cover up very much... Fluttershy applied her pencil quickly before things could get any worse. She filled six pages with sleeping Colettes in various landscapes, and quickly returned herself to the calm, composed Fluttershy that she needed everyone to see.

@@Hypn0ticD, Fluttershy very much appreciated having her hand held. "Thank you," she whispered. She fluffed herself up a pillow, made herself cozy by turning around several times, and then wondered if that was strange. She smiled at Colette in the hopes that it could make everything Hey, Flutters? What makes you say you're broken, of you don't mind me asking? What Fluttershy felt first was a surge of anger at being called broken. That a mare would expect to sleep with her after only a week, that was-! But Fluttershy shook her head against inner demons. She had to remember where she was, and that she wasn't that mare anymore. The next wave of sensation to hit was a polar opposite: self-pity and failure. How could she possibly be good enough for this girl now? "I really am messed up," she mourned. She leaned up and whispered again in Colette's ear. Her voice dialed down to a whisper, so far that there was no pitch to her voice, only air. (I don't want to hurt your eyes, so pretend this is all in font size 8) "I want to talk about it. It would feel good to tell you everything." She took Colette's hand again and gave it the faintest of squeezes, all she knew how. "But I can't. It's too soon. There are...things you can't tell someone you haven't known for a long time, even if you really, really like them." For a moment, she hesitated. How could she possibly even think about asking Colette to put up with everything that was wrong with her, for--how long? A year, without understanding why? Was that fair. "It's not about being fair," she said suddenly. Then she tucked herself in. "Thank you for understanding, Colette. You're not the kind of pony I dreamed about falling in love with, but--you're nicer." (OOC: Lights out? If the other couples stay up longer, we can always have some posts in the morning or something. I'd like to move on quickly so we can get to the sequel.) --------------------------------------------- @, Rainbow Dash was nothing if not an attentive student. She repeated every trick Dennis had shown to her the very second she could get her hands on the drumsticks. Although she was tempted to blame lingering poor hand-eye coorditino after the fifth or sixth try they flew out of her hands and she had to go pick them up. She attacked the drumset with abandon, drumsetting in a fit of repressed energy as though she had been waiting her whole life to get on a rock and roll instrument. To her, it sounded like a thunderous, devastating beat fit for Dragonforce. To anyone else...maybe not so much. At some point, half-covered in sweat, she realized she was still sitting in the room with Dennis and that the song that had been put on for her was long over. "Well?" she looked up bright-eyed. "How wuzzat?"

@@Hypn0ticD, Colette was disappointed with her. Fluttershy tensed again at every other of Colette's words, working her brain to remind herself that this girl didn't mean and didn't want to hurt her--and that she wouldn't. Relaxing with visible effort, she buried her face in Colette's neck, squeezing her girlfriend and running her fingers through her hair. "I'm.......a very shy person," she said with effort. A sob bubbled up from nowhere, and Fluttershy swung back to clap her hand over her mouth. There was so much she wanted to be for Colette, but...so much to be afraid of. In the past, in the future. And she wanted to protect Colette from all of it, but she couldn't even keep herself together. Fluttershy's face twisted into a mask of anguish, face muscles straining to hold back tears. After a couple seconds she choked down a second sob and quickly, featherlight tapped her nose against Colette's. "I'm sorry I'm so--broken," she said, bending over, her face almost in Colette's lap before she came back up and latched onto her girlfriend again. "But I need y..." Fluttershy stopped; her fingers had started to twist into claws, but she relaxed again, and turned the motion into running her fingernails around Colette's back. "Please be patient with me," she begged, unsure how else to phrase her plea. She could only hope that Colette understood her with a communication beyond words.

@@Hypn0ticD, Fluttershy giggled helplessly as Colette lifted her around. "Mmm...maybe." She reached out until her feet touched the floor. "I felt bad about leaving you all on your own, too...I don't want to be rude..." Fluttershy stared around, crestfallen for only a moment. "Colette, do you have a sleeping bag?"

@, Rainbow Dash relaxed. "Cool." It was more of a relief for Dennis to take over and handle it than to have to navigate it by herself. She spun some more. Dennis mentioned video games, but...she wasn't very keen on the idea. "You got drums, right? Let's go teach me how to play! That way I can rock out with you guys when Cole and the Whatsits get to jam."

@@Hypn0ticD, (OOC: Of course you do....she's my character?) Fluttershy sat listening for a while, comfortably separate by stealth and a door. She listened to Colette's music fora while, continuing to hear more in it...she must be getting used to the sound of this kind of music. It was still...very aggressive, but now Fluttershy could hear something of Colette in it. She opened the door when she was ready and tiptoed behind Colette, sitting her her on the bed and carefully resting her head against the small of Colette's back, careful not to disturb her playing if she could help it.

@@Hypn0ticD, Fluttershy turned the shower on just for the sound of the water running, and, since she was in there already, saw no reason not to take a nice, long after-party shower anyway. By the time she tiptoed to the bathroom door and tentatively poked it open, she was clean and fresh as a daisy, dressed in a pair of borrowed footed pajamas that she'd found in a drawer somewhere. There was no sign of anyone in the house--to be honest, it was a little too quiet. Fluttershy wandered to the door of Colette's bedroom and was rewarded when she pressed her ear to the door. Colette was playing... (OOC: Something)

@, "Ahhhh...." Rainbow chucked nervously, glancing over her shoulder to see that there was still no Dennis. Well, this wasn't awkward at all. Before responding, she clicked into EQD's main page quickly---yep. Okay, so now that everybody thinks I'm having sex, I can't just fess up that I'm not. I'd be uncool forever. It probably won't hurt anything to let this one chick keep thinking it... >>lol well you know me. always the coolest women be all up on It's just how i roll u know?