Duties of the King

 

"Pretty good, all things considered." You reply. "A lot of going between classes has me trying to prevent accidents because I worry we're only a concussion away from the school dress code being revised." you say with a half-hearted chuckle. "Also there's been the huge amount of queries about me dating 7 beautiful ladies. Which I'm sure you're getting too."

You take the proffered paper, unfold it, and examine the contents. "Woah. Normally I'd ask if you're serious, but I know better now. Also, I have to find some guys to help me?"

"Just need to know the time I suppose." Trying to look composed.

DUTIES OF THE KING: ANNOUNCE YOURSELF!

"Absolutely!" I said. "And I can probably guess what you want to know, but I'll let you say it in a way you're comfortable with ok?"

"Sure can!" I said with a big smile. " I AM, in fact, dating 7 girls at the same time and they agreed to share me before they confessed to me. The girls in question are, in no particular order you could tell, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash. As you can see I'm wearing Sunset's colors and symbol today and across the next 6 days I will wear the colors and symbols of all my ladies."

"Well as it happens, we are about to make the big announcement in a musical way. But I could use some guys on my side of it. Can you help me out please?"

"Basically they re-worded that popular karaoke duet song from the movie Grease and we start in about.. 5 minutes." I said.

 

{Author's note. Ok I have to create a break here to explain what's coming next a bit further. The short answer is a musical number. I have yet to see a greentext that does this and for some very good reasons! Among them being it has to many parts for just 2 colors of text. I mean, I've got 10 individuals plus a chorus on just the girls side (HuMane 7 and Crusaders). Additionally describing the movements of the characters breaks the flow of any song attempted, so I'm going to cheat and ignore that while hand waving you in the general direction of the original video except for the ending pose. There's other issues like this not really matching the tone of the rest of what I've written so far. But darn it all, doing a musical number here makes SENSE for these characters. And we all know EQG has a history of singing in the cafeteria. So please bear with me and even if this part isn't to your taste, please give the other parts a try. Now I just need to present the original video link and character keys to show who's singing. Thank you for your attention!}

[A] Anonymous, [FS] Flash Sentry, [M] Microchip, and [Chorus].

 

[A] Winter lovin', happened so fast

[A] I met some girls crazy for me

 

 

[Chorus] Oh well, oh well, oh well, uh

Tell me more, tell me more

[FS] Did they get very far?

 

[A] I was nervous, when it began

[A] It got real, love notes were found

 

[Chorus] Winter sun, something's begun

But uh, oh those winter nights

 

[Chorus] Tell me more, tell me more

[FS] Did you put up a fight?

 

[A] Got intense, on the kiss scene

[A] Each song sung, was a serenade

 

 

[Chorus] Tell me more, tell me more

[M] But you don't gotta brag

 

[A] I spun around, feeling exposed

[A] From one to seven, never conceived

 

 

[A] So I told them we're more than friends

[A] I see what their doin' now

 

 

[everyone] Tell me more, tell me more, tell me more

 

"Hello everyone and thank you for watching and helping with this number! My name is Anonymous, and I would like it to be known that I am dating all of these lovely ladies who will now introduce themselves."

"We knew there was going to be folks talking and asking questions so we arranged this to help give everyone the answers and same basic understanding. We'd like to thank everyone that helped us as well as thank you for your time! And now we return you to your previously scheduled lunch already in progress."

 

"Yeah seven."

"Yup. Seven."

"Thank you."

 

Duties of the King part 2.

 

"Well Pinkie, not gonna lie, a guy wearing bright pink underwear in a high school locker room is GOING to get a reaction." You replied. "That said, once I explained AGAIN that seven (7!) of the sexiest and most desirable girls in the ENTIRE school wanted to mark my junk as THEIR territory and I wasn't going to take any guff from any guy that didn't have at least one (1!) girlfriend, most of them calmed their tits."

"Pretty much nothing. Those guys think I'm either a legend that walks among them or crazy. And they aren't terribly sure those are exclusive. Although one guy DID hit me with a Bruce Lee quote. 'Do not fear. For in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.'"

"That's going a bit weirder honestly." Which causes the girls to suddenly perk up and listen. "The incidences of girls walking into other folks or objects when they see how I'm dressed is down overall, but it seems to drop to zero if one or more of you are around me. That info is setting alarms off in the back corners of my brain that I'm just not sure how to interpret. But given my past tendencies towards being clueless it seems the best thing is to report it to all of you. Maybe it's nothing but I don't feel I have enough data to make an informed judgement. Does that make sense?"

"I'm so sorry Flutters. I was off in my own head and missed your question. What did you want to know?"

"Oh of course Flutters! And if, by some chance, you have ideas for after that, I'm down for that too." You answered her in a quiet and sincere tone.

"Just remember we still have to get our homework done too alright?"

"Ladies," I said as I got up out of my seat, "We need to check this out." I stated. King Anonymous was in the house now and on the move.

"DUTIES OF THE KING: MAINTAIN PUBLIC ORDER!"

"Pardon me?" I asked the yelling girl when she paused for a breath. "Hey I was over on the other side of the cafeteria. What happened?" I said in a politely curious tone.

"Let me guess then. These two made the bad decision to take upskirt photos of you and your friends and you caught them in the act. Am I right?"

"How could I know that?" I asked? "Oh that's easy. Last semester they made the bad decision to do it to my girlfriend Rarity." Jerking my head to the left to indicate her while hoping desperately that she WAS on my left. "Seems these boys have a history of making bad decisions. But you know what?"

"You don't have to make bad decisions just because they did." I told her. "Right now I bet you feel violated, hurt, and angry. Am I right?"

"And everyone here COMPLETELY understands why you would feel that way. But I have to say that most people don't make the best decisions when they're hurt and angry. Am I right?

"Thank you. I know that wasn't easy. I just have 1 more thing to ask you. Why don't you let me take over here so you and your friends can go sit down and support each other?

I went over to where Snips and Snails were still cowering and knelt down to talk to them quickly. "Boys, the good news is I think I can get you out of here with your skin intact. And all I need for you to do to help make that happen is to stay still. Just stay right there. If you happen to make a false move this mob WILL tear you apart. And boys? I mean tear in a VERY literal way." I stood back up and said "I'll talk to you again in a bit." Then I turned to face the crowd.

"Ok. Now where were we?" I asked the room." Ah yes. Violated, hurt, and upset. Folks, you have every right to be upset at the bad decisions these two have made. They have been demeaning, deplorable, and despicable! There is no question about that!

"'But Anonymous?' you might ask "If you're going to say that then how can you POSSIBLY defend them?'" The crowd started to look at each other and nod.

"To which I say 'That's the wrong question. I'm not defending THEM! But in fact I'm defending all of YOU!'" And that got me some quizzical looks.

"Look these boys are GOING to be punished. Nothing can stop that now. But the big question is are you going to let THEIR bad decisions cause YOU to make bad decisions?" I said with a sweeping shrug.

"I mean, I GET how you feel." I said as I brought my fist up from my hip by bending it at the elbow and let it shake. "I just want to POP him a good one, that's all. But anger like that is tricky! It will urge you to do just a little more because you're caught up in the moment."

"There's an old saying about this that goes 'None of us is as cruel as all of us' and it means that mobs will commit acts of much greater violence than the individuals that made up the mob would ever have done on their own. And THAT's what I'm defending all of you from."

"Because it starts with 'I want to punch him!' and then it's 'Break the finger that took the picture!' and that becomes 'Dammit! Someone else got his testicles first!' It can even go as far as 'He doesn't need both eyes does he?'"

"So please. Make better decisions than these boys have! Please lower your hands and unclench your fists. Not because they deserve it, but because YOU deserve it! What do you say?"

DUTIES OF THE KING: PUNISH THE WICKED!

I turned to face Snips and Snails. "Ok boys, I told you I'd get back with you and I like to be a man who keeps his word. And if I'm being honest, I don't get why you would do this even once, let alone twice. There are just so many better ways you could have spent your time is what I want to say!

"I mean, no offense to your victims, but what you were after was hardly some legendary prize out of say, Greek mythology. It just doesn't compare to something like the mad titan Prometheus stealing fire to give to mankind. But your punishment? Well THAT almost did."

Then I walked over to my girlfriends and said in a quieter voice "I'll have parts for the rest of you soon. But for now, Twilight and Rarity, could I ask you to read this to the room in the style of the witches from Macbeth please?" And handed them my phone and backed away, indicating they could start when ready.

"Thank you ladies. That was wonderful." I said and then turned to the boys. "Well boys, that's the kind of thing the fast and easy path of your bad decisions has earned. Those are the wages of your sins, if you will. So with that in mind, I would like to ask you just ONE question. A Simple yes or no question. And that is, 'Would you like to start making GOOD decisions?'"

"Boys." I said in response, "You really want the entire room to hear you on this."

"Wonderful!" I said clapping my hands together. "I'm SO happy to hear that! Now boys, the honest truth is I have no power or authority to punish you." I said. "BUT, like anyone else I can express an opinion or a suggestion. And my first suggestion is that when you find yourselves in the office, tell them everything you did. The whole truth. And when they give you your punishment take it without protest."

"But honestly? That's only the start." I said as I started pacing back and forth. "In my opinion, a real problem you face is that you have deeply damaged Canterlot's ability to trust you. And if you leave it at the official punishment you're only one misstep away, even if it's an honest accident.. whoops!" I pretended to stumble while spinning around and flailing my arms. Eventually I stopped myself by landing both of my hands.. on Fluttershy's shoulders!

In a quiet voice that only her and the surrounding girls could hear and with as little lip movement as I could manage I said "Look upset at me and move slowly toward me in an angry fashion please."

As I spun I said "The next time.." And when I ended my spin Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were both scowling at me! I looked afraid having stopped on my tiptoes with my knees bent with my arms splayed out. Then I did a double spin to my left (Taking care to easily miss Fluttershy) "You find an angry mob..". When I finished the double spin Applejack and Sunset were ALSO looking upset at me when I stopped, leaning back with my shoulders down and a surprised look on my face.

I took three quick steps back, stopped in place, threw my hands on top of my head and started waving my body as if wailing "Who KNOWS what will happen?"

Quietly I then said "Thank you ladies. You were amazing!" They moved back to where they had started from and as soon as they were clear of me I did a forward summersault into a standing position in front of Snips and Snails.

"So something I want to suggest to you boys is that some of your good decisions are aimed at showing your fellow students you are repenting. You might start with sending an open letter of apology to the school paper detailing steps beyond the official punishment you might choose to take. Something like highly visible community service that doesn't leave either of you alone with a girl. Please give it due consideration."

"Very good boys." I said "Now I was honestly hoping someone from the office would be here by now" and then I was interrupted.

Naturally I looked towards the voice and saw not only Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, but also pretty much the entire staff by the wall with the main entrance to the cafeteria. (Because how many would you bring if you thought a riot might happen? Yeah, ALL OF THEM is the proper answer.) "Oh thank goodness!" I said, suddenly feeling a bit tired and weary.

 

"Yes ma'am." I responded and started walking towards them. While I did so I turned my head and gave my girlfriends a smile and a thumbs up to indicate I would be ok on my own. They seemed to have gathered around Twilight for some reason. Weird. Then I arrived in front of the Principal and Vice Principal.

I said "Thank you ma'am." to Principal Celestia. To Vice Principal Luna I said "Yes ma'am. I researched it after several.. incidents occured at my last school. I hoped that gaining some knowledge would help me better come to terms with what I saw there."

"Of course ma'am." I replied. "My last school for 3 years before coming here was Bullworth Academy ma'am."

"Ma'am, I have to say that I know far better than most how it might have turned out. But I had to do it. I just HAD to. I couldn't turn and walk away. Not again.."

Principal Celestia spoke up with an earnestly supportive expression "Anonymous, do you need counseling?"

I involuntarily chuckled. "Sorry." I said. "No, but let me see if I can find the words to explain why a bit better."

"Bullworth has a bad rep to be sure." I started while looking down at the ground. "But that doesn't really do a good job at conveying how much worse it actually IS. And I don't really want to tell anyone here how bad it was either. I'd feel like I was doing them harm if I did. But the thing is, the corollary is also true in my opinion."

"You see, perhaps it takes coming from a school as bad as Bullworth, but I'm also not sure anyone here REALLY knows how wonderful THIS school is!" I said with a brightening and rising face. "The staff, the teachers, my girlfriends, and the ENTIRE student body are all AMAZING. And I see that every minute of every day I'm here. Sorry it took an incident like this for me to tell you but, well, just attending this school is counseling enough, in my personal opinion."

Then my stance hardened as my voice grew firmer, "And so, when I saw a crowd threatening to turn unruly, something in me said 'NO. Bullworth will NOT happen HERE! Not one little bit! I won't LET it!' And so I acted, but in a way that would never happen at Bullworth." Then my tone and stance softened, "I gave the angry girl understanding instead of screaming with her. I gave the crowd knowledge of why they would regret those actions instead of encouraging them. And I gave the boys reason to not end up like this again, so that they might do better in the future. And I did it without threatening anyone in word or deed."

"When I was younger, I had to walk away from things like this. And I regretted that deeply. But now I'm older and have had better guidance in a better environment. After graduation, I'll be recognized as a member of the adult community and expected to act as a responsible part of it. Thanks to this school I'm finally able to look forward to that. Thank you for all of the help I've been given. It's really appreciated!"

I know they're sisters, but just how in sync ARE these two? "Thank you both for your kind words and guidance. I promise I'm really not generally looking for excuses to put myself in danger. That particular situation just resonated with me in a way I couldn't ignore. But on the plus side there's no reason to think it will ever happen again." I said with a smile. And they seemed satisfied with that.

Then I turned to Flash, still smiling, and said "Hey Flash! I'm guessing you did the thing that students are actually supposed to do and went to the office and managed to convince them to respond?"

"Woah woah," I said while waving my hands in front of my in a pattern of negation. "What you did was IMPORTANT. Not every student in this school could manage to get the office to listen, let alone get the response that actually happened. What you did MATTERED man. You had my back and I appreciate that! Brofist!" I said as I held up my fist.

"Hi Billy!" I said earnestly while holding my hand out for a handshake. "I'm Anonymous, but you can call me Anon if you like. And last semester I was the new guy at school! Glad to meet ya!"

Whoops. I had come on to strongly for the poor kid! He was starting to freeze up. So I dropped my voice to a low conversational tone and said "Sorry. I forgot I'm not performing for the room anymore. Welcome to Canterlot High Billy. Can I introduce you to some folks?"

"Alright, come this way then please. I want to introduce you to my girlfriends and I'm positive they would like to meet you too."

"Sure could." I said. "But to be more clear, I DO have more than one girlfriend. In fact I have 7. But I'm the only guy at school with more than one."

Good. He was loosening up. "I'll tell you the PG version sometime. But for now lets not keep them waiting." At that point I also noticed some shuffling footsteps behind me. I'd get to them in due time. We were now in front of my girlfriends.

"Ladies, I would like to introduce you to Canterlot's newest freshman, Billy Blanks." I said still in a low conversational tone.

"Ladies, Billy is a lot like I was when I first got here, so I'd like to introduce you in the order of quietest first so we don't overwhelm him before he even gets to class, ok?" To which they all nodded.

"And Billy, you're the first person I've been able to introduce my girlfriends to that didn't already know them, so I'm going to have some quiet fun with it." I said.

"So first up is Fluttershy, our queen of quiet."

"Billy, I should ask, do you have any pets?" I asked him intending to highlight Flutters specialty.

"Not yet. Mom said maybe after the move though." Billy replied.

"Cool." I said. "The reason I asked is Fluttershy volunteers a LOT of time at the local animal shelter and would love to help you get a pet that's right for you. I'll be volunteering there today after school for a couple of hours if, say, your parents wanted to meet the guy who looks so much like you."

"Moving this right along, up next is Applejack. Our tough and humble farmgirl."

"Say Billy, did your family happen to get a welcome gift of some apples when you moved here?"

"I remember my family got some too." I said. "They came from Applejacks's family's farm, Sweet Apple Acres. Have you tried one just yet?"

"That's ok Billy. I remember when I first tried them, I thought they were the juiciest, most tasty apples I'd ever had. So whenever you get to it is fine." I said with a warm wistful smile.

"You won't regret it Billy." I said with a genuine smile. "Next I'd like you to meet Twilight Sparkle, who is basically the smartest person in school and our class valedictorian."

"Now we come to Sunset Shimmer. She's head of the yearbook committee and an amazing graphical artist as well."

"Wait a minute. You're giving him MY old nickname?" I asked her.

"Let me explain." I said to Billy. "She called me that EVERY day of the last semester, but that stopped on the night all these lovely ladies confessed their feeling to me. So I'm not using it anymore. She must really like you if she wants you to have that nickname though. A lot of the other guys in school might be jealous."

"Now to continue, we have Rarity." I said upping the enthusiastic energy just a hair. "She's a well known seamstress with a real passion for fashion."

"Fun fact, Rarity made this top I'm wearing. She made more in all of my girlfriends colors and symbols. Today is Applejack's colors of course."

"That's perfectly fine Billy." I said with a warm smile. "You're young and your time in this amazing school is only beginning. Trust me you can learn SO much here. But I'll tell you this for nothing. If you ever get a girlfriend who gives you clothes, you wear them. Period."

"Next up is Rainbow Dash." I said adopting a light sportscaster tone. "She's the star of our winning soccer team and something of a rockstar to boot."

"And last but not least." I said going for a light circus ringmaster vibe. "She's an energetic and ebullient extrovert and also a perfectionist party planner. I present to you, Pinkie Pie!"

"And that," I said proudly," is all seven of my girlfriends. Now if you ever need to reach me and find one of them before you see me, they can probably tell you exactly where I am. Right girls?"

"Thank you." I said to them. "Just one more request ladies and then you can get back to lunch while I set young Billy up for success. Could you all take a pic of me and Billy on his first day? Oh Billy, you can hand any one of them your phone so you can have one too of course."

"Ok Billy, now comes the important part." I said. "As you've seen I already had seven girlfriends before you got here. Even one girlfriend is a serious time investment as you may already know. So I'm afraid I can't directly mentor you as I'd like."

"With that said, I will be keeping tabs on you and I promise I will find time to spend with you as I can. I've also already told you how to contact me if something comes up. And that's the bad news."

"The good news, on the other hand, is I know some of your fellow freshman who would like to be your friend and help show you around. They've been waiting very patiently to meet you and they are right behind us." I said as I invited Billy to turn around. "Isn't that right girls?"

"Girls it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Billy 'New Boy' Blanks."

"Billy, starting on the right is Apple Bloom. The younger sister of my girlfriend Applejack."

"In the center is Scootaloo. Friend and big fan of my girlfriend Rainbow Dash."

"And on the left is Sweetie Belle. Younger sister of my girlfriend Rarity."

"Ok looks like you folks are almost all set. I just want to say something real quick to you girls please."

"Pretty sure you already know this, but Billy reminds me a lot of how I was when I first got here. I'm hoping you can guide and nurture him like how your friends and family did for me. Also there could be girls out there looking at him just because they can't have ME. I would like to ask that you protect him from girls that don't have his best interests at heart. Can you do that for me please?"

"Thank you. All right then you're all free to go off and start making memories together. Have fun you crazy kids." I said with a smile. Looking at them as they turned and left full of energy.

"So do any of you want to explain what I'm missing by chance?" I asked.

 

"Ouch. Well my ego is now a much more manageable size thank you."

"Oh, before I get distracted again, I really need to thank and apologize to you girls." I said in a suddenly somber tone. "You amazing ladies helped save my bacon by tipping things in my favor with the crowd. I wasn't at all sure how the crowd was going to go before that slow clap started. Thank you!"

"I selfishly brought all of you ladies close to danger because I had to settle with demons from my past. I don't think that was right of me to do. I'm sorry."

"Oh?" I asked.

"But still" I started..

"Of course!" I said without hesitation.

"I'm not sure I can thank you ladies enough." I said.

"What I say at this point will not matter. I could say 'Ms. Cherilee is 3 penguins in an elaborate costume.' and it would not stop you from explaining that game." I said dryly.

"I will admit, that was a good way to talk around an adult topic. I think I would enjoy that game and play it straight." I said and then polished off the last of my lunch.

"Switching topics," I said with a wide-eyed expression. "I think I've just had an outlandish idea. Several of you have compared me to mythological characters like Superman, Adonis, a werewolf, and young Arthur Pendragon. I think young Billy could be our ticket into mythology."

"Of course." I said without concern. "We start by defining mythology as stories repeated over time to new generations. Now Rainbow, may I ask what your first thoughts were when you saw young Billy?"

"Right! And if you said that in front of an incoming freshman next year, they would ask?.."

"Correct again!" I said "And then they get an answer. Now do you remember how we defined mythology?"

"Well it's really just a matter of spotting a target of opportunity in this case. We can fan the flames of legend once a few more good stories are under the belt. 'Anonymous the Canterlot success story! He climbed up from the worst school in America to lead us! The seven most desirable girls in school agreed to share him as a boyfriend! And when his fellow students formed an angry mob, he put himself in front of them and stopped them.'"

"Speaking of stories to fan the flame of, let's talk about my phone for a minute." I said.

"I know Twiggles." I said with a smile. "Hold on to it for a minute more please ok?"

"Now I'm not the best expert when it comes to the behavior of ladies who would approach me while knowing I already have seven lovely girlfriends, but if y'all were to bring attention to the detail where I publicly gave Twilight my unlocked phone and walked away without a care, it might give them some pause."

"Furthermore I would like to tell all of you, and you might choose to spread this too, that if you ever want to see my phone I will hand it over, time and circumstances permitting of course. I never really used my phone for adult material, so we'll circle back to that topic in a minute."

"With that said, Twilight could you access my gallery please and tell me if anything sticks out to you?" I asked with a smile.

"Indeed." I said. "Before you open it, I'd like to ask you to do something please. Arrange a time delay so that, after school, you and the others get a copy of that folder."

"Because, as unfun as it might sound, I shouldn't distract you from paying attention in class." I said with my own wicked grin.

"Ok now open that folder, check out the contents, and pass the phone around please." I asked of her.

"So, as you've heard, you'll all get copies of those pics after school. I hope I've managed to do that right because I'm in new territory on this." I said with a smile.

"Last week when Rarity delivered the clothes." I said. "Basically my thought process here is that I've noticed I'm in the habit of gratefully thanking you girls a LOT. So I wanted to have something on standby for the next time I was in that position. It also gave me an idea for an activity the next time we do a purple drink party."

"Well it's just a sketch of an idea right now," I said, "but the basic idea is a photo shoot with each of you while I wear your colors in whatever poses we come up with."

"If we do it right, yes." I said with a broad smile. "Speaking of spicy, it's time to circle back to the topic of the adult material in my possession. Needless to say, I haven't had much use for it recently. And I had considered just deleting it outright, but I had another thought to propose to all of you.

"Well, deleting it is still on the table of course, but I remembered several of you have a strong sense of curiosity and I thought maybe some of you might want to see it? If so we can arrange a time for you to come over and take a look on my PC..."

"Ok, I wasn't sure entirely on the reaction that would get but it feels like I missed something again."

"Well.. yeah." I said with confusion still visible.

"Wait, really?" I asked, immediately searching my brain for a time they had and coming up empty. "I think you're right. I'm sorry girls. I didn't mean to be rude like that. Of course you're all welcome to come over!"

"Thanks Sunset." I said. "At this point I'm just really glad to find out I wasn't being rude and insulting."

"Oh? Why's that?" I asked while knowing I was playing comedic straight man for her.

"Please do." I said hoping some of this quiet energy from the girls might diffuse a bit.

"Rarity I always end up being thankful for your suggestions and I'm sure this will be no exception." I said with genuine gratitude. "It could well be time to retire the Jar Jar comforter at this point."

"Yeah. It's easy to explain actually." I said, glad to back on a comfortable topic. "It was a gift from my late grandma who didn't know much about Star Wars and certainly didn't know Jar Jar was the most hated character in the prequel trilogy. She passed a few months later so I kept it. And it's not like anyone but my parents was likely to ever see it before I came here."

"Let's see, tonight?" I mused out loud, "Oh yeah. Mom said since I was doing my own laundry now that her and Dad had time for a date night tonight. Normally they don't get home from those until after I'm asleep."

"Sure." I said. "In fact, tell ya what. Why don't we stop at the store on the way to my place and we can choose dinner together for me to cook?"

"I only have one disclaimer aside from getting our homework done."

"Well, I offered my room as available and I'm sticking to that of course. But while I've kept it clean enough to keep my parents happy, I'm not 100% sure it's what I'd call girlfriend ready. I just wanted to put that out there real quick is all." I said.

"Glad to hear it." I said. Not showing discomfort at the mention of boy smells. "And at the end of the evening, assuming you leave me able, I'll walk you back to your place as a gentleman should." I said with a smile.

"I already know I should not be surprised by that, and yet I am." I said.

"Well it just made good sense to me to start doing that as part of being a good boyfriend." I said.

"Ok. Speaking in broad terms, we're all aware we have an uncommon relationship and that I'm kind of central to it as a starting point here." I said "Therefore I'm the big vulnerability to outside forces if you look at it in tactical terms as I tend to do. So I'm making sure I do all of my chores to my parent's satisfaction and getting all of my homework done with best effort to doing well on it."

"In that way, neither my parents or teachers have reason to say that my girlfriends are getting in the way of what I'm supposed to do. And so they can't use that as an excuse to disapprove of our relationship and stop me from seeing any of you. The laundry though was because I didn't want my mom suddenly asking why I suddenly had some VERY colorful underwear without any warning if I'm being honest."

"Well yeah." I said. "I mean, if I get affected, it affects everyone else. So I HAVE to take it seriously to be a good boyfriend. But you aren't worried about homework Rainbow, because you have to maintain a certain GPA to play soccer. So it's only half of the challenge for you. You might even call it easy mode." I teased.

"Because you and the others are worth it of course." I replied. "Simple as."

"Fine by me Rainbow." I said. "I'm not doing my chores to perfection either, the goal is to keep the parents from complaining and stepping in. That doesn't require perfection from most parents. Most are happy with a decent effort and not having to keep pushing their kid on it. If your mom comes in to yell at you to clean your room and you're already in the middle of cleaning it without being told, she will likely just back out quietly. Then all you have to do is notify her when your done so she can inspect it when she's ready."

"Ideally you might say something like 'Hey Mom, I think my room is clean but could you check and see if I missed anything so I can fix it please?' and then invite her back when the fixing is done. And after the initial cleaning, maintaining it is MUCH easier. Also your parents will be happier and easier to get along with most likely. At least that's how it's been working out for me." I said with a smile.

 

Duties of the King

Interludes

 

"A bit weird if I'm honest." I said. "I'm not sure I'd ever get used to teachers gushing over what happened at lunch today."

"Thank you my Queen." I said while starting to get more comfortable with the idea of being praised. "You always seem to know what I need to hear."

"A couple of small touches of guilt that I should be able to manage."

"Well, with the sudden rush of memories from Bullworth came some survivor's guilt." I said. "You know how that one goes. The basic 'How am I worthy to have escaped that place and come somewhere so wonderful?' It will fade as I focus more on my present and less on my past."

"This one's a bit more silly." I said with a small smirk. "Almost everything I did at lunch today I did with the goal of becoming King of Canterlot. I mean, I know I did good and didn't harm anyone, but I feel a little guilt for wanting to profit off of the situation. Probably part of growing into the role?"

"A small confession." I said. "Twilight is obviously the go to for Greek mythology. And Rarity's flair for having a dramatic streak made her a good pairing, but honestly I was thinking Rarity deserved a chance at some payback. That's everything."

"Me too." I said with some nervousness. "But in the words of the great Mel Brooks, 'It's good to be the king!'" and then I leaned in to give her a peck on the lips.

 

Billy grabbed his phone and went to meet her. "Hi Mom! Do you need any help carrying anything in?" you asked.

"Oh a whole lot happened Mom!" I told her. "But first thing's first. Are we related to anyone in Canterlot I didn't know about?"

As I was calling up the pic on my phone I said "Because the Principal introduced me to this guy." and showed her the pic of Anonymous and I standing together. "His name is Anonymous."

"Everyone thought highly of him today Mom!" I said excitedly. "Let me set the stage and then I'll show you the video I took."

"So by the time I got to school it's lunchtime, but the Principal still sees me to give a quick orientation. As that's happening, the Vice Principal bursts in and says 'Sister! We have an emergency in the cafeteria! I've summoned all staff but we need to go too!"

"Then the Principal is all like 'I understand. Billy please stay close to me and stay quiet until the situation is resolved.'" And the I showed Mom the video which showed Anonymous stepping in front of an angry mob of students and talking them into dispersing and his following interview with the Principal and Vice Principal.

"Yes Mom." I said, understanding the implied warning.

"Actually yes." I said, "Those are his seven (7!) girlfriends. He introduced me to them right after I met him."

"Yeah! One of them, the head of the Yearbook, even gave me a new nickname!" I said.

"Yup!" I declared wit a smile. "At Canterlot High I am now Billy 'New Boy' Blanks."

"Anonymous said she had called HIM that every day of last semester." I said. "But that stopped the night all of his girlfriends confessed to him, so he isn't using it any more."

"Sure Mom." I said. "After he introduced his girlfriends and took pictures like what you just saw, he told me since he already had seven (7!) girlfriends he couldn't spend as much time mentoring me as he might like. But said he would keep tabs on me and spend time when he could. That was the bad news he said."

"The good news is he knew 3 freshmen that wanted to meet me and show me around. They had been waiting patiently and were right behind us. They were friends and family of his girlfriends and they were REALLY easy for me to talk to! They're names are Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. And I basically spent the rest of the day with them."

"Because he predicted that too!" I said, sort of amazed. "He said if you wanted to meet him today, he was going to be volunteering at the animal shelter for a couple of hours after school with his quiet girlfriend Fluttershy. And she handed me a flyer with the shelter's info on it. Let me go get it." and I hustled off to my bedroom and got the flyer as the computer pinged a couple of times in the background.

"He also said Fluttershy could help us pick out a pet that would be a great fit for us." as I handed Mom the flyer.

 

"Sister it looks like I'm missing some of the orientation paperwork on our new student Billy Blanks." I said.

"I suppose that will have to do." i said. "If it ever comes up, being distracted by a near-riot should be an acceptable reason for the delay. It's not as if we're in the habit of not filling out the needed forms anyway. This is a one-off for us."

"So do I." I said thoughtfully. "And those girls deserved a chance at romance even if they chose an unusual arrangement. I have to wonder if sharing a boyfriend, and doing it successfully at that, is a side effect of their 'friendship magic?'"

"Interesting." I said, my curiosity piqued. "Why do you say that?" I asked.

"I must agree with you there." I said. "I also appreciated the more subtle points of his actions. Like how he immediately ceded all authority back to us instantly. He knows how to wield authority, but he doesn't crave it or make it part of his identity."

"Yes. That's a good point too." I said. "So many guys wouldn't have acknowledged or valued his actions like Anonymous did. The girls have obviously helped him understand the value of multiple viewpoints."

 

Duties of the King

Does Whiskey make you Tango or Foxtrot?

 

"Pinkie sense?" I asked while staying still and not making any motion to uncover my eyes.

"Um, ladies?" I asked, "I'm not entirely sure what's happening but I can tell you're all upset. I'd like to help if I can."

"What? Why?" I immediately asked, "I'm known to be in a committed relationship! I have EVERYTHING I could possibly want! Sounds like a stupid thing to get into trouble with the police over."

"Ok." I said. "Just please let me know if there's some way I can help. I know there are times when I have to sit and do as I'm told though."

"If that's the best way to help you girls then it's fine." I said. "Hey Pinkie?"

"I'm going to lean my head back because keeping it in one position is getting tiring ok?"

"Absolutely officer." I said. "We're very grateful for your timely arrival."

"Officers, we've been asking ourselves that question and the factual answer is no. BUT we do know that we participated in an event at lunch on Wednesday. Said event was recorded and the video posted after school that day. That video has been continually reposted and has been gaining in popularity to my understanding. I also understand a small percentage of female commenters have been rather lascivious in said comments."

"Twilight can provide you with either a copy of the video or several links to it." I said while nodding in her direction. "But that's really the only thing we've been involved in that's reached beyond the walls of our high school."

"Pardon me ladies." I said, "I need to use the little boyfriend's room." and got up to a round of giggles.

I turned to the attentively curious officers. "Pinkie sometimes knows when something is about to happen. She calls it her 'Pinkie sense'. We don't understand it but we all accept it." I said.

Seeing she wasn't a threat anymore, I sidestepped a table and headed to the bathroom, calling out "Pinkie! Are you ok?" to no response.

"Annie? Are you ok? I asked again.

"Annie, are you ok? So, Annie, are you ok? Are you ok, Annie?"

"Annie, are you ok? So, Annie, are you ok? Are you ok, Annie?"

"Annie, are you ok? So, Annie, are you ok? Are you ok, Annie?"

"Annie, are you ok? So, Annie, are you ok? Are you ok, Annie?"

"You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal!"

"All of us are here now Pinkie." I said. "No way we'll let you go!"

"Whatever that was, you were brave, strong, and clever!" I said to encourage her. "Of course we've always known you were."

"Do we know anything new? I asked.

"Yes I did." I replied and proceeded to describe the washed out effects.

"Afraid I didn't get a good look at her earlier." I said, "The officer tased her as I was turning to face her, so I went to help Pinkie." That got me a quick hug.

"So we hit two targets with one song I'm guessing?"

"Hey Pinkie?" I asked quietly.

"I'd love to let you just rest right now, but I have to ask. What did that girl do to you that left you squatting on the ground?" I asked as the information seemed vital to understanding.

"Thank you Pinkie." I said smiling. "That info helps a lot."

"When you put it with other info we have it does." I said. "The cops outside weren't affected like Pinkie. From that, we know that ALL of us are being targeted. AND we know direct contact isn't in our favor. You, Sunset, and AJ got up in anger earlier. THAT could have been a disaster since you didn't know about the danger of direct contact."

"So far" I said while gripping Pinkie a little tighter "It looks like we are being attacked by a loosely organized enemy group, from outside this area. Not disciplined enough to be military and not intended for outright combat. They have at least a basic ability to gather intel as they knew we would be here today."

"They brought three carloads, which seems like enough to just overwhelm us. But they also left an ambush as well. That says either they know they aren't well organized, that we are, or both. The main target seems to be me, and they know you girls won't let me go."

"But the weakness to singing is telling." I said. "If you have a weakness like that, Canterlot is the LAST place you should attack!"

I sighed. "Ok, as an aside, I never wanted to tell you girls this, but I also never imagined it mattering. The truth is, compared to the rest of the world, folks in Canterlot sing a LOT. You all just see it as normal though. And it's kind of wonderful if you ask me. But that can be discussed later as we have more pressing issues."

"We need to move." I said, "But before that, we need a plan and we're short on info for that."

"Yes Pinkie?" I responded.

"Assuming it's ok with Mr. Cake, sure." I said.

"Here ya go Pinkie." I said handing her the shake, "It was made with appreciation and love."

 

Duties of the King

What's Past is Prologue.

 

"..And that is the short version of what happened on Saturday." I told Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Billy Blanks.

"Which is why we'd appreciate it if you ladies could work with Billy on his singing as it's suddenly important to know." I told them

"Actually I do." I said as I started scribbling on a piece of paper and passed it to her. "Please teach him those songs when you think he's ready. Sadly I only started singing myself fairly recently so I'm not sure I could teach anything yet."

"Since you asked the direct question, I'll answer it." I said with a frown "But it's not something I would have ever volunteered to tell you. Plain truth is most people in the rest of the world don't sing as much as folks in Canterlot do. And it takes someone from outside of Canterlot to notice that. For my part, I think Canterlot's singing habits are really rather wonderful and I don't want to change them. Seems like I've 'gone native' in that sense."

"But right now, we need you to know singing as a first aid measure." I said. "The rest will come in time though."

"Billy" I said in a somber tone "I know that passes for 'conventional wisdom' among many boys your age, but I'd rather trust in brutal and unflinching honesty myself. And I know for a fact that many of my girlfriends could beat me in a fair fight. Now while I go over this list of 'dark assessments' I get the feeling that Apple Bloom would like to challenge you to arm wrestling."

"Take yer medicine boy." I said. "They're letting you off easy so far, but DO pay attention."

"Now like her sister, Applejack was raised working on a farm." I said, "And I will tell anyone, anywhere that she is stronger than me. To make it worse, since we're going the dark route, she has a talent for grappling that I do not and wicked accuracy with a lasso. So if she gets in close, I'm dead meat. And staying at range might not help either.

"Now I should mention these 'dark assessments' were a leftover survival habit from before I came to Canterlot and I'm glad to say I've grown out of the need to do them." I said. "But moving on."

"Rainbow Dash is also stronger than me." I said. "As well as faster and more agile. But I have weight and reach on her so it's not impossible to fight back. But without a plan, she beats me about seven out of ten times. So those are not dice worth rolling.

"Now those two are intimidating on their own. Wouldn't you girls agree?" I asked of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

"So in the same vein as them being intimidating, Rarity can be terrifying. While she's not afraid to throw hands, as the most beautiful girl in school she has other cards she can play." I said to Sweetie Belle. "Like say what happens if she suddenly says 'Anon STOP! You're making me uncomfortable!' , how many guys respond to help her?"

"Close!" I said. "It's almost a trick question. The correct answer is 'all of them'. So like I said, terrifying."

"Now Billy." I said "That doesn't seem to be working does it?" referring to the one-sided playful stalemate his arm wrestling match had turned into with Apple Bloom clearly holding an overwhelming advantage.

"Do you remember how you got into this?" I asked.

"Not a bad start Billy." I said. "Now what was the effect of what you said?

"So do you know what you should do next?" I asked.

"Very close, and you're certainly on the right track." I said. "What you want to do is a SINCERE apology, and I'm stepping in to offer you guidance on how to do that. You see kids, expanding the focus to all of them, a lot of folks just use an apology to get out of trouble and don't have any real meaning behind it. But a REAL apology involves taking action so you don't keep making the same mistake after you apologize. Try your best to be a person of your word and others will give you more respect for it. So Billy, please think properly before you speak ok?"

"Now to answer Scootaloo's original question," I said, "As part of the sleepover activities the girls planned for everyone to do karaoke and I participated. And like everything else that night, there was more to it than I first thought."

"A fair point." I said. "Tell ya what, let me do one more dark assessment, and then I had already told Billy I would give him a PG rundown of the sleepover night. Would you girls like to hear that too?

"Ok good. Then up next is Pinkie Pie." I said and held up three fingers, then two, then one, and then my phone rang and I said "Hi Pinkie!.. Yeah I'm still here with the kids and you're name came up is all...Ok, cool.. Say, in a few minutes I'm going to send you and the girls a new group text that will have a yes/no question. I don't really think any of you will say 'no' so I'm using it as a chance to give another lesson... Ok see you soon! Bye!" and hung up.

"First thing to understand about Pinkie when doing this type of exercise is no one can predict how she moves. Oh and she's good at sneaking up on me undetected too." I said. Now do you girls remember her hobbies?"

"Right!" I said. "And for this, we're going with the cooking. Cooking means she knows how to handle fire and knives. Be very glad she such a nice person! Because before where we had 'intimidating' and 'terrifying', Pinkie comes in with 'nope!'"

"Ok, now before we get into the sleepover story, I have a condition and a lesson." I said as I started typing on my phone. "As I recall, Sweetie Belle proved to me twice during that event that sometimes sisters like to get under each others skin. Naturally I don't want to be caught in the crossfire, so my condition is this: What I tell you here stays between all of us UNLESS you can prove you learned it somewhere else. Is that acceptable kids?"

"Thank you." I said. "Now the lesson is something of a personal demon for me, but no reason I can't turn it into a positive for you kids." I said as I finished typing and hit send. "I've just asked all of my girlfriends for permission to tell this story, because it's their story too."

"The reason and lesson is this. Your girlfriend is worth your respect." I said. "You kids are approaching the point where you might take an interest in dating. When you do, make sure the person you choose respects you. If they don't, walk away."

"Back at my last school, I overheard to many conversations from guys bragging about how their girlfriend was limping, or had her arm in a sling, or was getting real good at covering up black eyes with make up." I said with obvious regret. "I don't want that for my girlfriends. And I don't want it for you. Everyone deserves better."

"Ok then," I said, " The story of the sleepover starts more or less when I came to Canterlot, except I should mention that I didn't really have any friends at my last school that I was at for three years. Then I get to Canterlot and within a month I have these seven AMAZING friends that want to spend time with ME of all people!"

"And so instead of spending my days and nights alone in my room, now I had the chance to learn everything they wanted to share with me! To DO things I hadn't ever THOUGHT of doing before and having a blast! They showed me a different and BETTER way to live my life and I was ALL over it! I was making up for lost time by being the BEST friend I could think to be!"

"BUT," I said, "There was a growing downside. All of my friends here were girls and I was noticing they were ALL attractive and beautiful! Each of them in their own unique and special ways. The plain fact is I was developing crushes on ALL of them."

"And that's where the fear creeps in as fear likes to do." I said. "These were the best friends I had ever had in over three years. I worried that if I confessed to one of them and got rejected, it could wreck the friendships that I now knew were so very important to me."

"And so I made the decision," I said, "To push down those feelings and not act on them. My fear had made romance to big a risk to take. Much to my regret."

"And now you young ladies are probably wondering 'But Anon, how did you not notice they liked you too? It was SO obvious!'" I said. "Am I right?"

"To make the answer understandable, I have to step back from storytelling for a minute and explain a couple of concepts from human psychology real quick. The subconscious mind and the conscious mind." I said.

"The subconscious mind takes in all of the information our senses tell us. Every scent, every sound, and every sight." I said. "It deals with ALL of it."

"But that's to much raw information for a human to deal with and be able to think." I said. "So what the conscious mind does is filter out all of the information you aren't concerned with and leaves you room to think. Now one of the fun parts is the conscious mind can choose topics to filter out and not see. And also sometimes the subconscious mind will actually but in and say something like 'You are smelling a LOT of smoke. There could be a fire big enough to be a danger near.' And this comes through as a sudden idea or perhaps a nagging feeling."

" Now class," I said with a smile to my young audience "Do you broadly understand what I mean here?"

"Now of course my subconscious mind saw all of the signals the girls were sending along with everything else." I said. "But I had made the decision to not pursue romance. And in so doing had set up a filter to keep my conscious mind from noticing the signals the girls were giving!"

"That's entirely true and fair." I responded to Scootaloo with a smile of my own.

"So now we resume the story before school on the morning of the last day of the semester." I said. "I'm out in front of the school by the Wondercolt statue that always gives me weird vibes."

I nodded as I said "Sunset comes over and we start talking. She mentions that her and the girls are having a sleepover tonight and lists off some of the planned activities. So I tell her "That sounds great! I hope you girls have fun!' And she says 'It should be. Are you going to be able to make it?'"

"I'm stunned." I said. "'She can't be serious. She's GOT to be messing with me!' is what I'm thinking. 'That's a scenario right out of.... a type of movie I'm to young to know anything about.'"

"Eventually I manage to say 'What?'"

"She says 'You're invited, that's what.'"

"And we spoke a little more, but that was the essential gist before the bell cut us off." I said.

"Then I was off to my history final which I breezed through because Twilight had insisted i study for it." I said. "But because a test was taking place, I couldn't contact any of the girls that period. And I couldn't stop thinking about what Sunset had said. To be honest I still wasn't 100% certain there WAS a sleepover OR that I was invited."

"In between classes I found Pinkie Pie and started up a conversation as we got hugs out of the way. As we were bemoaning the last day of the semester not being cancelled due to any variety of reasons we could accept, she said 'At least we've got that sleepover tonight to look forward to!' And I said that Sunset had mentioned that and even told me I was invited?"

"She said 'That's because you are, silly!', followed loosely by 'Why wouldn't you think you'd be invited?' And as I started to fumble together an answer, she said 'Whoops! Gotta get to class! See you at lunch!' and dashed off towards the corner.' But just before she got to the corner, she turned around and said 'Don’t work yourself too hard on your tests today, Nonny! You’re gonna need your energy for tonight~'. And then she was off before I could respond."

"Mysterious comment aside, I had managed to confirm the existence of the sleepover and that I was invited."

"Second period is Physics." I said, "A class I share with Applejack and a subject I've been tutoring her in most of the semester. We had actually gotten ahead of schedule in that class and already had our graded final waiting for us on our desks."

"AJ had gotten to class before me and was VERY happy to share that she had gotten an A on her final! She hugged me and gratefully thanked me until the teacher made a comment and I had to go to my own desk. Since we had completed the course already, the teacher put a loud movie on and basically left us to our devices as long as we behaved."

"AJ and I did a little texting during that class and I found out a few more details about the sleepover. She told me it would be at Rarity's and you three girls had a seperate sleepover over at Sweet Apple Acres, so the eight of us would have the place to ourselves. Oh and apparently I was to pick two movies for the evening. Rainbow wanted me to have that task."

"Next up is Art class with Rarity." I said. "We chat about various topics for a bit and I notice she's wearing new earrings before the topic turns to the sleepover. Naturally I ask our school fashionista about the expected dress code. She tells me to just bring comfortable sleepwear and a bathing suit. The part about the bathing suit has me confused but it's time to focus on the class at that point.

"After Art class, Rarity and I are joined on the way to the cafeteria by Sunset and Twilight." I said. "And talk immediately turns to how excited they are for the sleepover. After I ask, Twilight tells me I should show up at 7PM at the earliest.

I hold up a hand to stop her and say "Yes, you're right. But that becomes obvious to even me once I get there. So don't worry, I'll cover it at the right time ok?"

"No worries." I say. "So once we join the rest of the girls for lunch, they're all talking about how I helped Applejack get an A on her Physics final. So I'm trying very hard to maintain some modesty and humility about everything and eventually the topic wanders to something else and I have a chance to think and ponder."

"The girls have clearly been planning this sleepover for some time, but I only got told about it today. Ergo it follows there is something they aren't telling me." I say. "But I'm only going to find out once I get there. It's the waiting that sucks."

"Lunch ends and next is PE with Rainbow Dash." I say. "The big activity for that session is the pacer, and while we're chatting before that, it veers off in a weird direction. Suddenly Rainbow seems like she doesn't want to face me and I'm having a hard time reading what she's feeling. I mean, she's not angry or pissed at me because THAT'S pretty easy to read. But whatever it is, it's not something I normally see."

"But before I can look deeper into it, the pacer is happening. I manage to score 89, which is a personal best, and exhaust myself doing so. Rainbow is still going strong though! She manages to get to 146! I manage to compliment her by telling her that watching her run is like seeing poetry in motion. Which she also has an unusual reaction to."

"Then Coach Spitfire tells us to haul our butts and don't forget to clear out our lockers for winter break. And Rainbow Dash is off like a shot! First one in the girls locker room and when I get out of the boys locker room she's already halfway down the hall! 'Seeyalateratthesleepoveranongoodluckonyourlastfinal!' is what she yells at me as she fades into the distance."

"So I trudge to my last class of the day on my least favorite subject, Geometry. But Fluttershy surprises me just outside of class." I say. "She's concerned about me because I had seemed a little worried about the sleepover during lunch. I try to reassure her but then she realizes no one had properly asked me, and she'd feel terrible if I wasn't having fun on my special night!"

"Fluttershy says 'Anon, you don’t have to come to the sleepover tonight, but… it would make me really happy if you did…' like she had felt guilty. And I respond with 'Fluttershy, I would never lie to you. I’m really glad I was invited, and there’s nowhere I’d rather be tonight than with you and the girls.' And Fluttershy gives me a soft 'Yay!' and a heartwarming smile.

"Say what did you mean by 'my special night'?" I ask. And she responds with 'Uh, w-well… o-of course it’s a special night! It’ll be special for everyone! Just like Pinkie said, best night ever!' And I decide it's not worth worrying about and get to class.

"Class goes well even if I waste a lot of time because I can't get the sleepover out of my head. The girls are plainly planning something and I can't figure out what. I mean it can't be anything BAD because the girls wouldn't do that. Eventually I buckle down and get my last final finished just before the bell rings.

"And then, school is OUT for the winter! Suddenly the halls are a madhouse of running teenagers! I have to time my entry into the halls carefully and then match everyone else's pace until I'm outside. Then I get over by the Wondercolt statue and start to catch my breath.

"And that's where Sunset finds me. We strike up a conversation and talk about how we did on finals And I ask if she's seen Rainbow recently because I'm still concerned. In a sly tone she says 'Yep, ran into her in the hall after she got out of gym. Whatever you said to her in there really got to her.' And I ask if she's doing alright and Sunset responds with 'You know her, she’s trucking along just fine! More than a little flustered, sure, but she’s handled worse!

"Flustered?" I wonder to myself "Maybe that's why I couldn't get a read on her?"

"Then Sunset hits me with one of the most pivotal lines of the day."

"'Hey, word of advice for tonight: Just focus on having a good time. Don’t stress your cute little head about anything, just go with the flow and you’ll have the time of your life~' she says."

"And then, for all intents and purposes, she was off and I headed home too."

Getting together the physical needs like pajamas and such wasn't a real issue until it came time to pick 2 movies. I don't know if you kids know this, but I have QUITE a collection at home to choose from, so the problem wasn't a lack of actual choice, but rather that the girls WIDE array of preferences."

Looking at my audience I said "I'm sure you three girls have had to agree on a movie to watch from time to time right?"

"Takes some time doesn't it?" I asked.

"Choosing for 8 takes even longer even just by yourself. The easiest to please would be Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset. If I could pick something the others would like it was extremely likely it would work for them too. Fluttershy wouldn't like anything scary or gory. Rarity and Twilight had a STRONG preference for romance, And Rainbow Dash needs a certain amount of action.

"In a way, choosing a movie was a good 'boyfriend test' I've since thought. To make the best choice, I had to have paid attention to each of the girls to know what they like and don't like. AND I had to care enough to make the effort! Just as a good boyfriend is expected to do! So failing to pick a good movie would not portend well for me." I said.

"So with the movie chosen I moved onto my hygiene." I said.

"Well the girls all asked that almost the moment I got there, so I figured I could handle the reveal along with their reactions at the same time." I said.

"So I moved onto my hygiene." I said again "It wouldn't be a great hangout if I stank up the place after all! I showered twice! Brushed my teeth three times! And put on more deodorant than I had ever considered before. Double checked everything I had packed and then looked at the time. It was 6:43 and it would take 15 minutes to walk to Rarity's. I texted my parents that I was going on a sleepover at a friend's house and left."

"7 o'clock sharp and I was in front of Rarity's place."

"Showtime."

 

"I knocked on the door three times and waited politely." I said. "I had noticed on the way up that there were lights from the second floor and muffled sounds of music. And as I waited I had time to reflect on the snowy weather as well. I was doing my best to wait patiently but I also had to consider I wasn't dressed to survive the entire night in this weather and knocked a few more times."

"Having no luck after more time I decided to knock three more times, only to get two of them done before Sweetie Belle here opened the door." I said. "And of all the possible things I had considered for that evening since hearing about this sleepover, this wasn't even on the list. Pretty sure she felt about as awkward about a boy attending a sleepover with seven girls as I had most of the day."

"'Oh, hey, Anon. What’re you doing all the way out here?' she asked. I tried to sound confident when I replied '“Well, uh, Rarity… invited me here.' but the cold interfered. 'You mean for the sleepover?' she asked with a mix of confusion and suspicion in her voice.

"'...Yeah, that.' I say after gulping. Then Sweetie Belle arches an eyebrow and says 'So, what, are you Rarity’s boyfriend or something?'"

"I really don't see how I can blame her for asking at that point, so with an awkward laugh I say 'N-No, we’re just friends, is all.'' and she responds with '”Oooookay.'"

"Then Rarity comes down the stairs, grabs my wrists , invites me in, and checks on my condition real quick." I say. "Now I'm choosing to gloss over the exchange that Sweetie Belle and Rarity had next because I was raised to believe a gentleman does not say anything to sully his girlfriend's virtue. You can call me old-fashioned or a prude if you like, but before you do please remember that the reputation of close friends and family often impacts YOUR reputation as well. Which is to say, by protecting my girlfriends reputation, it also has the effect of protecting you girls' reputation."

"Yes Billy. Exactly right!" I said.

"One other detail worth mentioning is it's easy to believe Sweetie Belle still being there was an oversight on the girls part. Basically, for all of the obvious preparation they put into the sleepover, 'make sure Sweetie Belle has left before Anon gets here' was not on a checklist. It SHOULD have been of course, but it wasn't."

"Meanwhile, back at the sleepover," I said, "Rarity brings me upstairs and into her room where the sleepover is happening and announces my arrival. Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, and Twilight are playing Mario Kart while Sunset and Fluttershy are having their own discussion. Everyone else is in pajamas and there's pizza, soda, and punch available. At a comment from Sunset, Rarity realizes she's STILL holding my hands and releases me."

"Pinkie exclaims that she won and Rainbow mentions it's her fourth time in a row. So yes, as Sweetie Belle wanted to mention before, they were all there much earlier than they told me to arrive. Next, as promised, they ask about what movies I've brought."

"Sunset dives into my duffle because I can't get out of Pinkie's hug quick enough and holds up The Princess Bride and Spirited away. Now let me ask you kids real quick, have you all seen The Princess Bride?"

"Great!" I say "And almost all of the girls had too, and loved it. The one holdout was Rainbow Dash. And the reason she hadn't seen it was because the title sounded more girly than she liked. But after some back and forth, she agrees to give it a fair chance."

"Pinkie Pie points out that before we can watch it, I need to change into my pajamas and Rarity directs me to a bathroom down the hall. I also take about 10-20 seconds after I change to examine the self care products in the bathroom. Figuring that since we all know Rarity takes excellent care of herself, I might find some worthwhile tips. Then I get back to the room and I notice something."

"Something that changes EVERYTHING."

"Now once again I'm going to step back from telling the story and talk about psychology again." I said. "You girls were VERY happy earlier to learn how exactly I failed to see that my friends were interested in me romantically. But I don't think you've come up with the NEXT logical question yet, have you?"

"The NEXT question!" I said, enjoying the chance to go a little over the top. "The question whose answer changes EVERYTHING! The question hidden in plain sight! I had a block preventing me from seeing them romantically and they are now my girlfriends! So I ask you again. WHAT is the NEXT question?"

"But is he right?" I ask. "Are you SURE that's the correct answer girls?"

"Gotta keep my kohais on their toes!" I said with a devilish grin. "Ready for your next bombshell? You girls already know the answer, but Billy arrived two days to late, so he can't help you this time."

"While you girls discuss it, I'll tell Billy what we're talking about." I said and turned to Billy. "Last monday, being the first day back from winter break, we decided to announce I was dating seven (7!) girls at lunch, before rumors could grow out of control. We did this by rewording a song from the movie Grease and singing in the cafeteria during lunch. Sunset gave me ten minutes notice. If you HAD been here, I would have invited you to help me though."

"I hear ya." I said. "And I'm sorry we had to push you on learning to sing for what it's worth. Artistic pursuits should happen more naturally in my opinion, but this is a case where it could save someone near you."

"Good man." I said.

"Ding ding ding!" I said. "We have a winner! When I got back to the room there was a folded piece of paper with a heart sticker sticking out of my duffel bag. And what it said rocked my world! Now for our next surprise, I brought them with me today."

As I fished them out of my inside jacket pocket, I told everyone present "Now I'm sure you all understand these are VERY precious to me. I'd like to keep them as long as I'm alive so PLEASE be gentle with them. The only thing I've done to them is write a circled number on the outside for the order I got them."

"And so love note number one reads 'I have a crush on you'." As I display it to them. "And all of a sudden my world has shifted! One of these amazing ladies is into me! The filter that keeps me from seeing that girls might be attracted to me is GONE from that point!"

"I'm lost in thought as new possibilities present themselves for consideration." I say as I put the first note back in the zip lock bag I was keeping them all in. "I've never had ANY girl express interest in me before, so I've never considered how to handle it."

"And as I stand there, deep inside my own head, Sunset suddenly asks me 'Whatcha got there?' and I darn near jump ten feet!" I say. "Sunset's another of my girlfriends that is ridiculously good at sneaking up on me, by the way. And I shakily respond 'Oh uh, n-nothing.' which doesn't seem to really convince the room."

"There's a lot of attention on me and I'm close to being overwhelmed, so I deflect and say 'Hey, Pinkie, you still think you can beat me in Mario Kart?'" challenging her.

"Now Mario Kart isn't my best game, but that doesn't matter because I have some time to calm down while thinking about that note. I also reflect on the day with my newfound perspective, trying to figure out which girl might be interested in me. The problem I encounter there is there are signals from ALL of the girls just today! I just don't have enough evidence to narrow it down yet. I can't even manage to rule out any of the girls!" I said in frustration.

"And as I'm dealing with THAT, another issue develops." I say. "The girls are REALLY into the game and they're all beating me, which is fine as my mind is elsewhere anyway. But Pinkie and Rainbow are both leaning forward hard enough to nearly crush me. And I can tell Sunset is ALMOST resting her chest on my head. Any other time I would really enjoy all of that but I can't put that note out of my mind!"

"Oh that was Sunset." I said. "For all I've been talking bits about human psychology tonight, I'm pretty certain she knows more about it than I do. She KNEW what that note would do in a broad sense anyway. That's why her note was first. It got me to lower my defenses and SEE the girls as sexual beings. Hardly a surprise in retrospect as the first thing she did was study my brain."

"Sorry, it's sort of a metaphor." I said. "My first day here at Canterlot I got through my first three classes without being bullied, threatened, or teased, which was a win based on what happened at my last school. But I hadn't yet made any friends either and I was on the way to the cafeteria and it looked like I would be eating lunch alone. Then Sunset cornered me and said she would be my first friend."

"She stayed with me through the lunch line and took me to an isolated table and asked me all about myself." I said. "I spilled forth every answer she wanted. It was my first time talking to a pretty girl and I just had no will to resist. I was putty in her hands. That's what I meant by that."

"Yup" I said. "Meanwhile back at the sleepover as I'm losing at Mario Kart badly and the girls are leaning into me, I recall Sunset's pivotal line from earlier. 'Just focus on having a good time. Don’t stress your cute little head about anything, just go with the flow and you’ll have the time of your life~'. And I end up paraphrasing this as 'The whole night is a trust fall and I REALLY want to trust.'"

"Absolutely!" I say. "Remember those dark assessments?"

"Those were the results of living with compulsive paranoia for three years to survive before I got to Canterlot." I said. "And it takes time for stuff like that to fade away, but the girls kept working with me, bless them. And pretty soon I was developing the ability to trust again. And that felt GOOD. I liked trusting and I liked being trustworthy! It was a basic part of the human experience I had been denied and I was taking it back."

"So that's a big part of why I always made the effort to be the best friend I could be." I said "My needs to trust and BE trusted were asserting themselves. And when the sleepover came up I had the chance to push a new trust boundary. Could I trust enough to sleep around others? At Bullworth the answer would have been no with a lot of swearing attached. But at Canterlot, if it was with these girls I thought I could trust them that much. Just innocently sleeping would be good for me and my mental health."

"Well, a part of me did anyway." I said smiling. "Humans are complex creatures after all. And I did eventually get to sleep, so mission accomplished! Sunset had made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"So anyway, my attention returns to the game just in time to come in last." I say. "Rainbow wants a 6th rematch and Pinkie is up for it but the rest of us talk them out of it. Pinkie also thanks me for being such a good sport about coming in last. Then I switch the topic and we banter about my preference for old-school games. Then Fluttershy suggests that it's time for the movie and we all agree."

"As I move to get up from the couch to get the DVD, I hear a crinkle sound." I say. "There's another, externally identical, love letter on the cushion beneath me!"

"Sure" I said. "Turns out that note was from your sister Rarity."

I had to keep a straight face on that. "I try to get lost in thought thinking about this new note, but Applejack hustles me to get the DVD and help her move the couch. Then my stomach rumbles and I realize getting some pizza and soda is a good idea."

"By the time I've got food sorted, the girls have set everything up and saved me a spot. Pinkie asks me to get the lights since I'm the last one up. I flick them off and notice the spot they've saved me is in the middle of all of them."

"Let them get it out of their system." I say quietly to Billy.

I waited for their laughs to dissipate and then I said "Girls, you're going to realize soon enough that my soon-to-be girlfriends had me dancing in the palm of their hands all night, so maybe consider pacing yourselves?"

"As the movie starts, I notice the girls are all fairly close to me." I say "But initially a fair amount of attention is on Rainbow as she starts to enjoy the movie, much to everyone's delight."

"As the love between Buttercup and Westley is retold, I notice you don’t have as much wiggle room as I thought." I say. "It’s impossible to prove, but it really feels like the girls around me got a tiny bit closer to me."

"When the identity of the Dread Pirate Roberts is revealed to Buttercup and they seal their reunion with a kiss, the atmosphere in the room changes." I say. "Fluttershy’s breathing heavier and she looks down at the floor when I glance at her. Applejack and Pinkie have scooched a little back, closing me in even more. It seems like Rarity and Rainbow have gotten closer to Sunset on the couch, who’s leaning over me."

"Twilight’s hand brushes over yours, but when you turn to face her, she sputters 'Oh, sorry!' and quickly retracts her hand." I say. "Paying attention to the movie becomes more difficult. And I'm not getting any closer to which girl is giving me notes."

"In the movie, the two leads venture through the fire swamp, encounter rodents of unusual size, but Westley is separated from Buttercup and taken to the Pit of Despair." I say. "The separation of the two lovers alleviates some of the tension in the room, much to my relief."

"When the torture of Westley begins, Fluttershy clings to my arm with both hands." I declare. "And I freeze up a little at the sudden close contact. 'S-Sorry, I never liked this part… Do you mind?' She whispers to me."

“'No, not at all.' I whisper back to her. I feel Fluttershy smile and lean into my shoulder. And I can’t look around to verify what I'm feeling, but it feels like the girls around me are leering at me." I say. "I feel that eerie sensation of being watched in the darkness burn into the back of my neck. But I'm feeling it in the least threatening environment I've ever been in."

"The rest of the movie is just as gripping as I remember it being." I say. "Then comes the ultimate climax of the film."

"The kiss."

"Not just any kiss."

"The most passionate and pure kiss in the entire history of the kiss, according to the film."

"Buttercup and Westley and draw closer to each other."

"Suddenly, it’s harder for me to breathe."

"It’s like the air pressure doubled."

"Fluttershy’s gripping my arm even tighter."

"Twilight’s leaning against my other shoulder."

"Rainbow is off the couch, kneeling on the carpeted floor and suspiciously close to me."

"Sunset’s hands are firmly attached to the space on my shoulders that haven’t been taken by Twilight or Fluttershy."

"Rarity is leaning over me, I can tell."

"Applejack and Pinkie are sitting right up against my legs."

"Everyone's breathing heavier."

"The temperature is rising."

"And then, finally, Buttercup and Westley kiss."

"Twilight’s hand finds its way onto mine."

"Fluttershy and Sunset dig their fingernails into my arm and shoulders."

"I’ve never been trapped like this before."

"I'm struggling to breathe when trapped like this."

"The movie ends soon after."

“So… What should we do now?” You ask the group.

"'Oh, Anon, I have just the outfit I’ve been waiting for you to model, if you’ll have me!” Rarity says as she leaps up from the couch."

 

"The rest of the girls look confused. " I say."And I express some slight hesitation but all of the others encourage me so I agree. Rarity grabs me by the wrist and starts to dr, to guide me out into the hall. On the way I notice another note sticking out of my duffel so I stealthily snag it on the way."

"Once in the hall, Rarity hands me a paper bag from the hallway closet. I peer into it and verbally note there isn't much in there." I say. "Her response involves a sinister giggle, tracing her finger across my chest, batting her eyes at me, and asking me to trust her. So yeah, I agreed. As I enter the bathroom she asks me to knock on the door of the bedroom before entering so I can make an 'entrance'."

"Once inside the bathroom I open the love letter first thing." I say as I hold the proper one open for the kids to read. "'I could listen to you talk for hours.' is what it says. And it's a sweet sentiment, but NO help on figuring out which girl is sending me notes. (It was Twilight.) Then I turn my attention to the contents of the bag."

"The clothes Rarity made for me were black denim pants and a dark green long sleeve shirt styled like an athletic jersey with white lettering. Except the shirt doesn’t come down past my chest, leaving my midriff exposed. I've never worn anything like this before and honestly I'm feeling a bit on the vulnerable side."

"Stepping back from the story for a minute." I say, "You girls probably already know this, but not a lot of teenage guys pay a great deal of attention to how they look."

"And honestly I had counted myself among that number." I say. "I mean, sure I used the grooming tips that Rarity gave me. And those FELT nice, but I hadn't really made the mental connection that they were improving my overall appearance. The same applied to the physical training Rainbow had done with me or the weekends spent helping at Sweet Apple Acres. So if you had asked me before I walked into that bathroom, I would have told you my overall appearance was maybe on the lower side of average."

"But looking in that mirror, well I had to change that opinion." I say. "And now I'm starting to notice that I have definition in my abs and pecs. I'm not completely without flab but I have less than I thought I did. And now I have to show this to my friends and I just don't know how they'll react. But I can't stay in the bathroom forever."

"So with some trepidation, I head back down the hall and nervously knock on the bedroom door." I say. "I hear Rarity quickly shush the chatter on the other side of the door, and she warns the girls 'Now, I’m going to have to warn all of you, what I’ve given Anon is a fairly significant departure from his usual wardrobe, so it would be polite if you didn’t stare.'

"I turn the knob and enter and Rarity quickly whisks me to the center of the room and encourages the others to comment." I say. "But the girls have all gone silent the moment I came into view. So Rarity encourages them again by saying 'Sooooo, what do you think? Be honest, now!'"

"Applejack and Fluttershy avert their eyes and look towards the floor. Twilight and Rainbow awkwardly chuckle. Pinkie and Sunset just keep staring." I say. "So Rarity says 'Oh, come on, don’t leave dear Anon hanging! He’s awfully self conscious, you know!' Rarity reminded them while idly stroking my chest and leaning against me."

"One by one, most of the girls give a very positive comment on what I'm wearing," I say, "The one holdout is Pinkie, who can't seem to stop staring silently. I’ve never been stared at like this before. These girls weren’t staring at me because I've done something stupid. They were staring at me because they wanted to keep looking at me. It’s a new feeling.

"Then the conversation turns and Applejack brings out a box with a dozen bottles inside." I say. "'What's that?' I ask. And the answer comes back that it's cider. HARD cider. Applejack had apparently gotten permission from Big Mac AND Granny Smith after many promises we would not get ourselves into any trouble."

"I had to give this some real thought." I say. "Of all the things that happened that night, this may have been the most complete surprise because even my subconscious hadn't seen this one coming. I had never had alcohol before, nor had anyone ever offered, and not everyone reacts the same. Some people are lightweights. Some can drink an entire room under the table. And some folks get MEAN when drunk. So, yeah, I needed to think this one through.

"My friends being there was reassuring though." I say. " Rarity told Fluttershy and I '”I’ll personally see to it that none of us go too far with our merriments. I’d be a terrible hostess if I allowed any of you to make a drunken buffoon of yourselves!' Plus I knew Applejack and Twilight would also step in if needed as well. Ultimately it was my prior decision to treat the entire night as a trust fall that helped me make the call, and I agreed to drink with my friends."

"Pretty much everyone else is down for drinking until the last holdout is Pinkie. Actually it's been a rather long time since I've heard from Pinkie, so I turn to face her while starting to ask and I realize she's right behind me. Literally an inch away with eyes wide as plates and totally silent."

"'..Pinkie?' I ask, and she blinks twice and comes out of her trance." I say. "Then I ask if she wants to drink hard cider with the rest of us and she eagerly agrees. As the bottles are being passed out Pinkie drapes her arms around me from behind. Her body is pressing into me more intimately than she ever has before and it's becoming difficult to focus on anything else.

"'Hey Nonny, did I tell you how good you look in your new outfit?' Pinkie asked me right into my ear."

"So Sunset said 'No you didn't.' to egg her on."

"'Aw, darn! Because you look super-duper hot~' Pinkie whispered into my ear."

"'I could just eat. You. Up.' Pinkie continued, gripping my shirt." I say. "Suddenly it occurs to me Pinkie probably wouldn't use a subtle method like love notes. It's an understatement to say she's being direct!"

”'I just wanna taste you a little~' Pinkie breathed in my ear. And I could feel her tongue draw closer to my neck."

"'Pinkie!' Twilight scolded her." I say. "Pinkie freezes in place with her tongue still sticking out as she snaps to face Twilight with widened eyes. 'Huh?' she says."

'”We’re focused on something else right now!' Twilight reminds her."

"Pinkie lets go of her grip on my shirt and says 'Hehe, sorry! Guess I got a little carried away…' and sits back down with everyone else."

"Now that I'm feeling more able to choose what to focus on, I start to examine the bottle that Applejack has handed me." I say. "It's an unlabeled bottle with a twist off cap filled with a brown liquid. Frankly if it wasn't handed to me by Applejack I'd be a lot more suspicious of it. Then something catches my eye. There's another note on my sleeping bag!"

"I excuse myself for a moment under the pretext of checking a text message and open the note." I say.

"Would any of you ladies like to guess who sent this one?" I ask.

"Clever girls." I say with a smile.

 

"Yes Billy. What's up?" I reply.

"Yeah, might as well." I say. "We wanna do that before it's to urgent in case we have to run. Do you girls need to do the same?"

"Alright. Silly as it seems to talk strategy for a bathroom visit, our enemy seems to like bathroom ambushes." I say. And I felt the swell of confidence building, meaning that King Anonymous was here again. "So we will do what it takes to get through this without losing anyone. Understood?"

"Alright let's run through our checklist." I said. "We don't want any needless mistakes. Everyone got their backpacks?"

"Scootaloo, why do we need them?" I asked, picking someone at random.

"Excellent." I say, praising her answer. "Sweetie Belle, do you know a better form of attack?" I asked with full confidence she knew the answer.

"Right." I said grinning. "Does everyone have a song at the ready?

"It's ok Billy." I said. "The song doesn't need to make any grand statement. Something like 'Row Row Row your Boat' should be just fine. Can you work with that?" I needed HIM in particular to have a song because he would be the only backup in the boy's room with me in case I got hit.

"Good man." I said. "Now it's important to say, if anyone hears singing from the other bathroom, alert your partner(s) and go help. Might be embarrassing, but we'll take that over being kidnapped. Everyone sees their families tonight."

"Last thing on the checklist is the plan since making more noise than needed in the hall isn't good." I said. " Once we get to the bathrooms on this floor, which should be empty, the girls will scout the boys room first, then the girls room and if it's ok, one of you sticks your head out to give us a thumbs-up. Then we all use the respective facility, all meet up in the hallway and head back here as a group. Understood?"

"Ok, let's head out." I said.

And soon we were back in the classroom. Mission completed! "Ok, now where were we?" I ask.

"Right." I say. "I rejoin the girls and we toast to the sleepover and start drinking. Most of us take it fairly slow but soon we're all bantering up a storm of silliness. Sunset and Pinkie are starting to get touchy and almost all of the other girls seem to scooch closer with every sip."

"Then I accidentally spill some cider on my chest and waist." I say. "As Rarity lightly reprimands me to take better care of my new clothes, Twilight is grabbing a napkin from her bag."

"'I got it!' Twilight says as she basically leaps forward and pushes me on my back. Her breathing deepens as she wipes up the cider. She loses contact with the napkin and doesn't seem to notice as she keeps wiping my abs. I have to pull her out of her trance verbally and she sits back down.

"Then Fluttershy audibly sets her empty bottle down and says 'Hic… Y’ Know, Anon, it’s a real shame you don’t have a girlfriend.' and starts leaning towards me.

“'...Well, at least I have you girls.' I say with a smile. Meanwhile said girls are kneeling closer to me."

"Fluttershy says 'Trust me, if one of the girls gave you a shot, you would rock their world~.' And she's now close enough I can feel her breath on my face.

“Oh, yeah? What makes you so sure?” I ask her in a lower tone.

"Fluttershy bites her lip and says 'Nobody could wear that outfit like you, Anon. Your lovely body with your charming smile, the girls at school won’t be able to keep their hands off you~'"

"It's impossible not to notice her hands on my stomach as she said that. So I said 'You're telling me.' And since it's Flutters I'm thinking she'll probably back off at this point."

"She's NOT backing off. Her eyes trail up from my stomach to my eyes as her head gets closer."

"Her eyes flutter shut."

"She purses her lips."

"Am I about to have my first kiss I wonder?"

"Suddenly Applejack pulls her back while saying 'Okay, seems like you’ve had enough, sugarcube. Let’s settle down now.'"

"As I get back up into a sitting position I notice Pinkie reaching for me, but she backs off after eye contact and sits on her hands with a guilty smile and a giggle."

"Then, with lips loosened by alcohol, I say 'I appreciate it, Flutters, but I have a feeling my future girlfriend’s in this room, leaving me notes to find.'"

"It takes a moment for my brain to catch up to what just came out of my mouth as the girls all gasp."

"Fluttershy says 'Really?'"

"The girls suddenly ALL have poker faces and I can't read any of them. But love notes are obviously going to be the topic of conversation for a bit. And I end up bringing out the four I've gotten while unsuccessfully looking at the girls for clues."

"Eventually Pinkie says 'Ooh, how exciting! Who do you think’s your secret admirer, Nonny?'"

"That gets a monologue from me about my theory that the sleepover is a pretext for that one girl to confess to me her feelings. Since love notes are a bit indirect, that means the more direct girls Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie are out of consideration at this time."

"Sunset goads me with 'Alright then, boy detective, who IS your prime suspect?'"

"Skipping over some of the back and forth, I tell them that at that time my list was Rarity in first, Rainbow in second, and Applejack in third."

"Sunset fake pouts and says 'Aww, does that mean I’m in last place?'"

"And I respond 'Hey, come on, you’ve been weirdly flirty with me since we first met. I ruled out the possibility of you being into me like that a while ago.'"

"With a giggle, Pinkie says 'That’s some serious sleuthing, Nonny!'"

"Sunset teases me back with 'Aww, you didn’t think I had any genuine feelings for you? You wound me, new boy.'"

"So I logically ask her 'Then how come you haven’t said anything the whole semester?'"

"Sunset rebuts with 'Because I wanted to make the moment memorable? What, you think I’d just confess my fiery attraction to you in between classes? And by the way, that could be why Twilight, Pinkie, or Fluttershy had to be stopped from leaping on you and giving in to their lust earlier. We could’ve spent all week planning just the moment where you two would share the most beautiful and romantic first kiss ever shared in Canterlot, can’t you imagine how disappointing it would be for your secret admirer to spoil that by tearing off her clothes and begging you to take her right here in the middle of the sleepover?'"

"Twilight interjects with 'H-He gets it, Sunset, you don’t have to be so descriptive.' And the rest of the girls seem to be a bit flustered as well."

"And I realize Sunset has a fair point. I don't know how much planning has gone on for this. I have four love letters, but by no means am I holding all the cards. '...You're right.' I say"

"Sunset countered with 'You don’t know that! You could’ve been right on the money when you said Rarity’s the one you’ve inflicted many restless nights upon~.'"

"Rarity objected with "That's not what he said!'"

"Sunset then got close to me and placed her hands on my shoulders while reminding me 'It’s like you said, the night’s still young, anything could happen~.'"

"I squint at Sunset, lean in close, and say '...You know who’s been leaving the notes, don’t you?'"

"Sunset gives me a sinister giggle and says 'Maybe~.' But before I could answer, she put her finger on my lips and said 'But wouldn’t that take the fun out of the whole thing? Wouldn’t you rather spend the night getting close to each of us, looking deep into our eyes, trying to find the truth we’re trying to hide from you~?'"

"Taking a quick aside for a moment," I said, "It had been obvious for some time that Sunset had been the mastermind of the whole event. Which is a good part of the reason she functions as the head girl in our eight way relationship."

"Fair questions." I said. "The head person is some knowledge that Sunset possessed due to her cultural heritage, which gave her the advantage of knowing it was needed and what it entailed before any of us. Basically, when an intimate relationship involves more people, the more it needs one person to be in charge to manage everything so that everyone is looked after. It's a fair amount of extra work honestly."

"So she's in charge of seeing to my schedule with the girls." I say. "Making sure everyone feels they are getting a fair amount of my time is rather important as you might imagine. She also sees to the mental health of everyone involved, so that minor frustrations don't grow out of control. But the girls have been friends for so long that I get most of the attention there."

"Oh sure." I said. "Let's see. Oh after what happened at lunch last Wednesday I was having some issues with folks like teachers wanting to praise me for those events. After all, at my core I like to think of myself as fairly modest and a bit of an introvert. So large amounts of praise are not my best area. So when I was able to next see Sunset after school she insisted on picking my brain to keep me stable."

"So I told her about the praise issue and she took my chin in her hand and looked me in the eye and told me the following. 'But Anon, you need to know that you did a LOT of good today. And others are naturally going to want to tell you that. It's OK to accept some praise for today. Sure you weren't doing it for praise, but you managed to EARN it anyway. The girls and I are proud of you too by the way.'"

"And that helped me get in a headspace to solve the issue." I said. "Now yes it's also true I like to treat the girls equally, but that gets in the way when I have to make choices. Like say two of the girls are ready for some nice PG rated hand holding. Well I tend to worry that choosing one will make the other feel rejected in some way and I don't want to do that. I become paralyzed and unable to make the call."

"But Sunset can step in, make the call, and no one feels that I rejected them. And as long as both girls get their hand holding in, everyone is happy."

"Meanwhile, back at the sleepover," I said, "The next planned activity was the promised karaoke. So Pinkie tells us that while she and Sunset construct the stage, the rest of us have 10 minutes to pick a song from our phones. Now to be honest, I'm having some trouble focusing on the upcoming karaoke thanks to the last ten minutes. Pinkie was so lewd! Twilight looked hypnotized by my body! And Fluttershy almost kissed me!"

"But I don't want to be empty handed when they call me." I say "So I start scrolling through my playlist, hoping something will jump out at me as a good choice to try to sing."

"And then Pinkie says 'And one more thing. It's gotta be a love song!'"

"'Darn it!' I think to myself. And as I struggle to choose a song, something that qualifies as a love song. Preferably without any higher notes. And the girls all have such lovely voices! How the heck am I going to compare to them, I wonder?"

"So as I get myself more and more frazzled, Pinkie announces 'Three more minutes!'"

"I'm coming up short." I say. "So I look around the room at how the girls are doing and they're just lounging around and not looking stressed at all."

"Then I remember Sunset's advice for the night." I say. "'Don't stress about anything, just go with the flow,' And that makes GOOD sense here. This is just a fun hangout with friends! There's no prizes to compete for. No one will throw things at me if I'm bad at singing. Everyone here just wants me to have a good time."

"Then Pinkie announces 'Time’s up! Hope you’ve all picked something good!'"

"Oh, God." I say. "Time for the Hail Mary! So I shut my eyes, scroll the list, and bring my finger down when it feels right."

"Meh." I say. "I could have done much worse. It will have to do. (And I'll circle back to the psychology involved there at the appropriate time.)"

"And as Pinkie is up on the stage doing final checks, Applejack notices I'm a bit nervous about singing and her and Rarity try to reassure me, but I still have doubts."

"Then Pinkie goes into her number."

"And several of the girls enjoy joining in on the chorus as she's excitedly dancing and bouncing around on the stage."

"After Pinkie finishes, Rainbow is quick to be the next one up."

"Rainbow is a rockstar in her element. Singing and strumming air guitar like a pro." I say. "But something in her performance is sticking out to me. Every now and again she's making eye contact with me, but it seems to be during some, ah, 'choice' lyrics like,"

"Then, later in the song"

"The I realize Pinkie was making eye contact too. Mostly when singing 'If you wanna be my lover.'"

"I wonder if they're trying to throw off my investigation, but I really don't know enough to say."

"When Rainbow finishes and gets her applause and compliments, then Applejack says that she'll go next and Rarity says she'll go after that.

"Applejack is singing both parts and doing a great job at it." I say. "And once again eye contact is being made, this time during the chorus."

"Her song is the most overtly romantic one so far." And I wonder "Is this what their plan is? To have each girl serenade me? This is getting more and more intense!"

"After her song ends and applause is enthusiastically given, my turn to compliment her comes and I say 'You were… amazing, Applejack. I never knew you could sing like that.'"

"Applejack gently laughs and teasingly says '”Yeah, well, I don’t really let a lot of folks see this side of me. Consider yourself lucky, city boy.'"

"And with a smile I say 'Oh, I do, don’t worry.'"

"As Rarity takes the stage, Applejack sits back down next to me. And it seems she's sitting a little closer than last time."

"As Rarity is entering her song into the machine, I have a moment to think." I say. "I'm pretty certain I've deduced their plan for karaoke. Now I'm prepared and it's not gonna keep working. I got this!"

"Then the intro plays, Rarity makes eye contact with me and starts moving with the music."

"Oh, God."

"It's working!"

"I am NOT prepared!"

 

"Hi Sunset." I say as I answer the phone. "Yeah we're doing fine.... Oh that's the girls laughing. Apparently my side of the sleepover is comedy gold to them.... We're at the karaoke portion and I was starting with my reaction to Rarity's number.... Ok sure."

"She wants me to put her on speakerphone" I say to the room as I lay the phone down.

"Et tu Billy?" I think to myself. Then I say "Look, I told them pretty early in this story that you ladies had me dancing in the palms of your hands basically that entire night."

"Sorry for leaving you hanging there Sunset," I said, "But I think that was their first hug."

"Yes dear?" I replied.

"Yes dear." I said. "You heard her kids. It's fine to talk to Sunset about all of this."

"Seems like a good time to get back to the sleepover story." I said. "You still with us Billy?"

"Can do!" I said. "So Rarity was starting her set of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZuxwVk7TU

And unlike the others, she's making half-lidded eye contact the ENTIRE time! She's also crafted a persona for this performance and it's WORKING on me! She's sultry, sexy, and seductive! "

"And it's not ONLY that." I say. "There's a LOT of other factors amplifying the effect she's having on me. I'm in her home, no scratch that. I'm. In. Her. Bedroom! And she made the clothes I'm wearing. Clothing is like a second language to Rarity so it's easy to get the impression she's looking at me with X-ray vision!"

"Then there's ALSO the fact that somehow it's ME here." I say. "At the beginning of the semester, if I had looked up 'out of my league' in the dictionary, Rarity's picture would have been there. Chatter in the lockerroom says she is the most beautiful girl in the school. She could very literally have her pick of ANY guy! And for reasons far beyond my understanding, she's looking at ME! She's daring me, inviting me. And when I try to think of how to respond my brain stops working on me.

"Then the song ends and everyone else applauds, but my brain isn't up to that task right now." I say. "The girls start complimenting her and then Twilight asks 'What did you think, Anon?' And then Sunset steps in and amps it up with 'I bet it was your favorite of the night~'"

"All of a sudden I feel like I'm in an interrogation room under a spotlight." I say. "Rarity leans forward and bats her eyes at me. '“I… Well…'"

"I'm sweating as I shakily exhale." I say. "And I can FEEL Rainbow and Applejack looking at me as well."

"...It- It wouldn’t be fair to say it was my FAVORITE. I mean, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow did their own thing, it’s not really a fair comparison to make." I say as Sunset giggles.

"'But… That was incredible.' I say to Rarity. She slyly covers her mouth as she responds with a flirty giggle."

"Rarity says 'Why, thank you, Anon!'"

"Then I switch the topic, out of a desire to regain some sanity and composure, to me being nervous about singing in front of so many folks so great at it. They all reassure me and discussion moves to deciding who's next. Twilight steps up for that.

"While Twilight sets up, Rarity has sat down next to me. She leans over and whispers into my ear 'You were a wonderful audience~.'"

"I can't look at her. If I do, I might not be able to look away." I say "And that would not be fair to Twilight." So I say 'T-Thanks…' And I'm just grateful I could form that word instead of gurgling like a baby."

"Soon Twilight starts her song."

"Twilight has a wholesome girl next door vibe with her performance." I say. "She does make eye contact a few times, but mostly she just seems to be enjoying singing and performing. It's easy to enjoy the song along with her. She's also the first girl to be visibly exhausted when she finishes."

"She gets her applause and compliments from everyone including me." I say. "Then Sunset announces she's going next. Once she's up on stage, she makes the suggestion that I should go last as a fun way to end. This prompts some discussion from Fluttershy who has read my nervous tells. They realize they never did properly ask if I wanted to sing after all. So the question is asked."

"I respond with 'Don’t worry, I’m gonna sing, and I don’t mind going last. Besides, I’d hate to disappoint a bunch of pretty girls like you all.'"

"That must have been the alcohol talking." I say. "The girls respond with a variety of giggles and blushes."

"From up on the stage, Sunset says 'Well, save the charm for your song, Anon. As for now, just sit back and enjoy the ride~'"

"Sunset is singing like there's an award for being as sexually charged as possible." I say. "Like Rarity she never breaks eye contact. But Rarity was inviting me and beckoning me forward. Sunset is cornering me instead. It's what she's best at. But this is a LOT more charged than her normal teasing and flirting."

"I can't break eye contact." I say. "And it's having a.. noticeable effect on me. I'm positive Sunset notices and I'm pretty sure Rarity and Applejack do too."

"Also this whole approach to karaoke isn't making much sense." I say. "I've got ONE secret admirer, so why are ALL of them serenading me? I'm completely lost on that part."

"So Sunset finishes her song and asks me 'What’d you think, Anon?'"

"After clearing my throat, I say '...You were hypnotic.'"

"She says 'Why, thank you~', then she loosens and tugs down her sweats an inch to show me she's wearing lavender panties and says 'I love the way you look at me, Anon~."

"My anatomical reaction is getting more severe and I'm worried about damaging Rarity's handiwork. The other girls are closing in as well."

"Fluttershy announces that she is going to sing and the girls voice their encouragement. Sunset sits back down, but not where she was. No she chooses to sit right behind me! I can feel her breath on my neck. And I KNOW she's playing with the idea of touching me."

"But that's not fair to Fluttershy, who deserves just as much attention while singing as I gave the other girls. So I skootch forward away from Rarity, Sunset, and Applejack. I can feel their disappointment but I need to be fair. Meanwhile Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight adjust and close me in."

"I look up at Fluttershy, expecting she might be upset by how the others are acting, but instead she looks like she'd rather be down on the floor with us instead of missing the 'fun' the others are having! What the heck is with all of them tonight? I've never seen them act like this! And it's ALL of them! They aren't acting like they have a crush. They're HUNGRY!"

"Fluttershy clears her throat and starts to sing."

"Fluttershy's singing is soft and gentle." I say. "And it's easy to get the idea she's expressing her feelings with it. But she's not trying to seduce me. It has more of the sense that she's confessing her feeling to me. She's struggling to maintain eye contact, but she does.

"When she finishes everyone applauds and I tell her ' Fluttershy, that was beautiful.' and she thanks me."

"Now it's my turn!" I say. "The girls are all being very supportive and encouraging and I'm very grateful for it. But again I'm going to back away from the story for a minute to talk about psychology like I said I would."

"Do you kids remember how I picked my song?" I asked.

"Right you are!" I said. "But was it truly random?"

"VERY good Billy!" I said! "Is that it?"

"Great work Billy!" I said, "Do you girls have anything to add?"

 

"So I take the stage and Fluttershy hands me the mic while saying 'You’ll be great, I just know it.' and I thank her as she goes to sit down. Then I take a moment to examine the rest of my audience."

"Pinkie’s looking at me like she’s expecting me to start tossing out candy."

"Twilight’s giving me a warm, reassuring smile and a thumbs-up to match."

"Rainbow’s sitting back with her hands behind her head, expecting something entertaining from me."

"Applejack’s leaning forward with her hands on her knees, showing a surprising amount of excitement."

"Fluttershy’s still giving me that soft smile that makes me feel all warm."

"Rarity’s leaning forward and batting her eyes at me."

"Sunset’s leering at me with her signature wicked grin."

"And I'm hoping the cider pulls it's weight as I hit play."

"I'm in it now," I say, "So I sing."

 

“I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me”

“And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me”

 

"I'm happily surprised that I don't sound terrible." I say. "But I'm holding the microphone close and singing with my eyes closed. It's very much like I'm just singing in the shower with no other audience."

 

“Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two”

“And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, ‘I love you’”

 

"The atmosphere in the room changes." I say. "It doesn't feel as tense anymore. In the short instrumental between the refrain and the bridge, I open my eyes."

"The girls are listening to me sing intently, sitting forward and watching me with wide eyes. Even Rainbow and Sunset are swept up in the moment. This gives me the confidence to sing with my eyes open, facing my audience."

 

“I can see it in your eyes, that you despise the same old lies you heard the night before”

“And though it's just a line to you, for me it's true, and never seemed so right before”

“I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come true”

“But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late, and I'm alone with you”

“The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red, and, oh, the night's so blue”

“And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, ‘I love you’”

 

"I'm not thinking about who my secret admirer is," I say, "I'm just enjoying singing to all of them. And they've all taken turns at serenading me, so now it's MY turn to be the romantic one. I'm feeling good! And as the instrumental break plays I take a good look at my audience."

"Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight are absolutely enthralled." I say. "Applejack and Rainbow are putting up greater resistance to showing such mushy emotions, but their wide eyes and rose-tinted cheeks give them away. And Sunset looks… strangely proud of me. Like this is something she’s been expecting from me all night. The song is approaching its end. Time to really stick the landing."

 

“The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red, and, oh, the night's so blue”

“And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, ‘I love you’”

“'I love you' I sing to Fluttershy and Twilight."

“'I love you' I sing to Pinkie and Rainbow."

“'I love you' I sing to Applejack and Rarity."

“'I love you' I sing to Sunset."

 

"I'd had a sudden flash of inspiration and decided to swing for the bleachers on the outro, but was it to much? Sure I have ONE secret admirer and I certainly got her covered, whoever she may be, but am I risking a jealous reaction?"

"Before I got any farther into a downward spiral I was met by the most enthusiastic applause I've ever seen! They LOVED it! And I can admit I liked getting complimented too."

"Before long," I say, "Fluttershy said she would like to hear me sing more and Sunset seconded the motion. Rainbow declared SHE would pick the song and I agreed."

"After Rainbow thumbed through my playlist on my phone for a bit she came up with this"

"It's a cheesy song that's honestly a better fit for what was supposed to be a 'casual hangout with friends'. It's got a lot more energy and it's easy to move to so I do my best to rock out. And when I finish, the girls are covered in sweat and breathing heavily and staring at me silently."

"While the nonverbal cues they are giving me are enough to swell my ego on their own, I prompt them to give me some verbal responses too. Which they do, to extremely positive effect. Then Sunset says it's time for the hot tub!"

"And I'm going to pull back from the story for a moment here." I say. "So I can let you know that I'm going to skip large portions of what happened at that time."

"A fair question indeed." I say."And it's because a large part of what happened was the girls ogling me and encouraging me to ogle them. And quite frankly I'm not terribly comfortable discussing that with their younger friends and family. Or would you like to hear me talking about Rainbow's backside as a for instance?"

"I don't blame you a bit." I said.

"Now before we can all get changed for the hot tub, I spot another note. " I say as I hold the original out for them. "'Your smile makes me feel all warm inside.' and this one was from Pinkie."

"We discuss this fifth note for a minute and head down to the hot tub after changing." I say. "During this part, about the only things not being skipped over are Rainbow offering to help me learn to sing and me being sent up to get two more bottles of cider. The idea with the cider being we would each have about a quarter of a bottle for social lubrication."

"And while I'm fetching the cider I take a moment to reflect on the events that brought me to this moment and what is likely to follow. I ask myself if this is what I want? Am I really worthy? Am I ready? I decide the answer to all of those is 'Yes.'"

"So with my resolve settled, I head back down to the hot tub filled with my seven best friends and we drink our portions of cider."

"Then Pinkie points and says '”Woah, what’s that?'

"It's another love note and it says 'I want to hold you close and make you feel loved.' (Fluttershy)"

"After that, Sunset directs me to verbally appreciate each of the girl's bodies, and this makes all of them pretty happy." I say. "Now for whatever reason, Rainbow is the last one in this cycle. And we all know that Rainbow has a talent for turning things into a competition and this is what she does with the back and forth of compliments."

"But I get creative and my compliments hit her harder than she expected."

"Eventually Rainbow clutches her head and says 'God, I can’t take this anymore!' She then marches over to a chair where a folded piece of paper was hidden and throws the last love letter at me. Then she says 'There, he’s got his stupid note, can we [hold hands with] him now!?'"

"As Sunset slyly chuckles, I look at Rainbow and ask '...You’re my secret admirer?'"

"Sunset interjects with 'Now, now, first things first: open your love letter!'"

"I say '“But I already know who-'"

"Sunset interrupts and says 'Rainbow put a lot of love into that letter, you’d really let her down if you didn’t get to read what her soul’s been hiding all this time!'"

"I say 'Alright, alright…' and, I mean, it IS good form I suppose."

"The note reads 'You make me feel things I’ve never felt before.' (Rainbow Dash)"

"I say to Rainbow in a complimentary tone 'Aww, Rainbow!' And then I think and say '“...Wait, what did you mean ‘we?’"

"Sunset suddenly sways in front of me with a seductive look in her eye and says 'Oh, Anon, your detective work this evening’s been very impressive…' And then she steps in closer and whispers '...But what made you think only one of us was leaving you those love letters~?'"

"No." I'm thinking. "It CAN'T be! But then I realize, there were SEVEN love letters, and I'm surrounded by seven of my best friends."

"Sunset is grinning wickedly."

"And I decide I'm calling that bluff '“...No.'"

"Sunset cackles at my disbelief 'Oh, yes!'"

"I say firmly 'You’re messing with me.'"

"Sunset says 'Say it, boy detective~.'"

"I quickly reflect on the events of the night. Every signal the girls have given me. And there's only one thing I can say. '...All seven of you left a love letter.'"

"Sunset isn't done yet. And she presses me further with 'Which means…?'"

"Once again there is only one thing I can say '...Which means… all seven of you have a crush on me.'"

"And that's where the story is ending tonight." I say. "Hope you all enjoyed it."

"Billy! Backpack!" I said as I brought mine up in front of me and stood up, ready to move."

I pointed my phone at the dark corner and said "Lumos." Because someone at android thought it would be a hoot to put a Harry Potter voice command in for the light.

"She's ok Billy." I said. "But you obviously haven't met her yet. Billy, I would like to introduce you to Maud Pie. She's the sister of my girlfriend Pinkie Pie."

"And Maud, I would like to introduce you to Billy 'New Boy' Blanks. The newest freshman here at Canterlot."

"Maud, I'm sorry we reacted like that." I said. "We were just surprised is all. Let me guess, is this where the geology club normally meets?"

"And no one told you that Twilight switched up meeting rooms for better security." I said. "I'm sorry about that. But I will talk to Twilight and Pinkie and make sure you get told of any other changes from here on out ok?"

"That aside, I'm glad you enjoyed that story." I said. "Normally I'd have a different reaction to someone else hearing it, but you're the sister of one of my girlfriends. And as such, you were just as entitled to hear it as these girls."

"And on that topic," I said. "These girls sure grilled me when they found out I was dating their family and friends. And as I said, you have equal rights there too, so I'll ask if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about me dating your sister and her friends?"

I was not prepared for her to say that. "Well she guided me and I had help from all the others and Mr. Cake too. But I suppose yeah I did." I said rather bashfully.

"Well, Canterlot is really, but yeah I agreed it was the best idea we had." I said.

Outwardly I said "I'm very pleased to hear that." with a big smile. Pinkie's biological parents were darn near Amish in their values and lifestyle. They were easily the parents I feared meeting the most! If I had to guess, their approval would be based on my protecting their daughter. It would make some sense that they would value that pretty highly as something a man ought to do for his woman.

"Say Maud, can we escort you downstairs?" I asked. "It really would be safer with us."

"Great!" I said as we cleaned up what little mess we had made. "Billy and Scootaloo, are you kids ready for dinner with Rainbow Dash's parents tonight?" This would be one of my easiest dinners with a girlfriend's parents. They already loved me for getting Rainbow to do her chores!

"Alright then," I said. "Let's head out."

 

Interludes the Second

 

You are Twilight Sparkle. It's Wednesday night and the eighth day of the semester has come and gone already. Yesterday Anonymous had had dinner with you and your parents. And while they were a bit nonplussed at the eight-way arrangement, they had to admit it left less time for the relationship to interfere with Twilight's studies. Also they did, at least, like Anon.

Tonight he would be having dinner with Fluttershy and her parents. Hopefully that went well too.

Meanwhile you were doing homework and research for homework on your PC and about 4 other devices at just this moment when a message popped up in the middle of your PC's screen.

"That depends." I typed. "Who, may I ask, am I talking to?"

"That makes it sound like you're trying to play on our love of friendship." I typed.

"Assuming I believe you," I typed, "Why would you do either of those?"

"I see." I typed. "So why contact ME, and why now?"

"We're doing a LOT right now because we were attacked." I typed "Could you be more specific please?"

"Ah, I see." I typed "Yeah maybe we DID go a bit overboard now that you gave me those examples. Sorry about that. I'm willing, but I need to figure out the how. It seems like it would be difficult to communicate these exclusion areas to the animals. Wait. We don't need to focus on areas! How about we mark your drones in a way the animals can recognize instead?

"What about scent marking?" I typed. "Like the apple based perfume Sweet Apple Acres sells? Using that would give us both the common scent base to communicate to the animals."

"Now it might take some time to get the word out though." I typed. "Can you give us two days please? Sorry but Fluttershy is having dinner with her parents and our boyfriend right now and I can't really disturb her. But I can get Applejack to ready some perfume for her and she can get on it tomorrow."

 

It's a few hours earlier on the same Wednesday and you are Sunset Shimmer. You are doing last minute tidying of your apartment in anticipation of your guests. The tea is made and the snacks are prepared and all is looking well when the knock on your door comes.

"Hello girls." You say with a smile as you open the door. "Come on in. I've got tea and snacks already made."

"I'm so glad you girls called sooner rather than later." Sunset said. "It speaks well of your resolve."

"Oh most certainly." Sunset said with an easy smile. "But as part of the process, I need to hear all of you say it. Words have power you know."

"Excellent girls!" I said. "A good first step indeed! But I should ask up front, what do I get out of this?"

I burst out laughing and when I recover I say "Oh he IS good!" despite myself. "Yes you're quite correct. This isn't about what I want. It's about what Anonymous wants."

"Anonymous has been the biggest supporter of you girls getting together with Billy out of everyone." I said "And we support what Anonymous wants. But I suppose that's phrasing it to simply. It might be more accurate to say there's a perception of an imbalance between what us girls want and what Anonymous wants."

"Ok then, one disclaimer and then I think I can explain it better." I said. "Now Anon is a nice guy, but he can come across as a bit of a prude when he talks to younger girls. But what we're having here is an adult conversation, And I will use adult words and topics as I feel they are needed. Understand?"

"So back at the night of the sleepover," I said, "after where he left off, he started having fun with the girls. Now of course the girls each been looking forward to this for some time and each of us had an idea, or twenty, of what we wanted to do with Anon. And he went along with every one of our ideas enthusiastically and without reservation. But in the course of that, we noticed something."

"We noticed that Anon didn't seem to have any ideas or scenarios of his own to contribute. Now it was easy for me to figure out WHY that happened, but we still felt a little bad about it. Fast forward to last week, a couple of minutes after he introduced Billy to you three and came to sit back with us. Anon shared a wild hair of an idea about using Billy to enter into mythology, and eventually it dawned on us."

"Anonymous wants to leave a legacy here and be remembered. And you girls deciding to date Billy is a step along that path."

"Oh yes." I say with a sinister grin. "Put simply, if you girls manage to have a solid relationship with Billy, then Anon would like you to keep your eyes open and pay it forward."

"Take some notes on this please." I say "Because it may be years before you need to remember it again."

"The timeline in my head goes something like this." I said. "Once you all bed Billy, he gives up the nickname of 'new boy'. Then at some point, another scared and shy green boy appears and a group of well established female friends takes an obvious interest. Billy offers, or is asked, to mentor this kid and he introduces them to all of you right away."

"One of you gives him the nickname of 'new boy' and then Billy introduces him to his prospective girlfriends." I say "You all support them as best able and when you think the girls might be ready, you send them all to see me. And I offer them knowledge and material support. And then the cycle repeats with the next green boy."

"That's just fate at work." I say "We can't predict it, but you girls standing ready is enough for us, yes."

"Thank you girls." I say with a wide smile "Now I'm willing to bet you girls have some questions based on what I've been saying here right?"

"Yes I did!" I say with a big smile.

"Say it girls." I said with a wicked grin. "What does the evidence you saw tell you?"

"I'll tell you, but first you NEED to understand this is dangerous knowledge. There are many that would want this VERY badly. Many who would pay ANY amount, DO anything, so you absolutely cannot tell anyone who doesn't already know, excepting Billy on the night you bed him. Other than that, I'm the only one who decides who gets told. Are we agreed?"

"Thank you." I say "I know that's a severe restriction but I'm literally the only one that knows how to get the ingredients." Then I produce a thick four inch vial from my bra of purple liquid. "We call this ambrosia. And about this much will energize a man as good as any energy drink, with the added benefit of being able to get hard again and shoot a full load to boot."

"Now the energy fades when he cums and he feels the exhaustion of recent efforts at that point too. And while it won't actually heal anything, it can give a man strength enough to ignore some injuries. But that is a double edged sword. You need to make sure Billy is actually well enough to continue. Our farmgirl was pretty hard on Anon's hips that night as I recall."

"Also it might occur to you to test this before you give it to Billy." I say smiling with an amusing memory. " Twilight did that and became what I can only call a horny mess. She excused herself from her study session with Anon before she ended up throwing herself at him before the sleepover. You're free to verify that with her of course."

I gave a hearty chuckle and said "Oh he has SUCH a light touch. I mean I get the rep as a schemer, and to be fair I earned it, but watching him work has been a treat! But to start to answer your question, I'll ask you why you're here to see me again?"

"Correct!" I said with a gleeful grin. "And how do you know that?"

"Indeed!" I said with a wicked grin. "But you're missing the best part still! Me being head girl wasn't even a part of the portion of the story he was telling you! It wasn't in play until he had to decide which girl to fuck next. And he didn't talk to you about the fucking. Yet you still know because he jammed it into the story so you would come here today."

"Oh Anon isn't laughing at you at all!" I said "Like I said, he's been your biggest supporter. But for all he's done, make no mistake, you girls made the choices that brought you here today. He would never talk to you about fucking Billy, for instance, but here you are unfazed when I mention it. All he's done is give you info that would help if you were interested in those choices."

"Here's a more obvious question," I say, "Who gets to decide who Billy can date? And who said so?"

"Yup!" I said "And he wanted you to nurture Billy like..?"

"Then here's another one to blow your mind." I say. "As we know Billy is a lot like how Anon used to be. So no one will be able to get inside Billy's head better than Anon. That's why he introduced Billy to his girlfriends FIRST. And he tried his best to put our best features forward to help ease Billy's natural shyness. Fluttershy could help him get a pet and Applejack had already given him some epic apples and so on."

"By the time he was done with that," I say "Anon had won Billy's trust. And so Billy was able to trust when Anon said you girls wanted to be his friends. Without Anon, you girls might still be hard pressed to get two sentences out of Billy. But Anon had learned how vital having friends is, so he didn't want Billy to struggle there. And since you girls also wanted more friends, everyone benefitted. And if you girls decided you wanted more.. well then you would have the choice open to do that."

"Meaning you're brains are almost at the limit of what they can handle." I said "Ok then I just have one more thing I need you to be aware of. Us girls all fucked Anon in front of each other and you might have to do the same with Billy. So get comfortable with that before it happens."

 

You are FB. The second in command of the Changelings cartel. You are deep in the heart of your HQ which is in an allegedly abandoned building in Bogota, Columbia. And you are about to deliver bad news to your boss.

You are waived inside by the drone guard because you are expected. Inside the office is sparsely appointed and the furniture is clearly focused on being durable as opposed to fancy or elegant. Your boss doesn't personally care for opulence or excessiveness, preferring instead for a more simple approach.

You put your electrolarynx to your throat so you can speak. These days there were versions available that could mimic a variety of voices with the press of a few buttons and a trackball that let the user control their tone. Naturally you had one of the very best.

"Hello boss." I said. "I'm here with the report on our progress in Canterlot and it's not good news. Normally after a week we could expect over fifty percent infiltration at all levels in a town this size, but we are sitting at about three percent and even that is in flux. Further, when they manage to cancel our brainwashing, that person naturally tends to tell everything they know."

"The ability to break our brainwashing is rare, as is the knowledge of how to do it." I said "But apparently one of the first affected was some kind of low level psychic who figured out the 'how' and was right next to Anonymous, our main target, who 'could'. Even worse is there appear to be several more in that town that can do it and are actively helping our target. We've lost many drones to this as a result."

"We haven't been able to break their computer security, even with the best black hat hackers available for hire." I said. "The police, government, and even people of that town would much rather take a bullet than give up any of the town's children. We're also suddenly having difficulties with the levels of government above the town and several of our people in place either are, or suspect they are, under investigation and can't help us while that's happening."

"And as a result of THAT," I said "We have had to cut several other operations loose. We are actually in danger of starting to lose money every day. We are WELL beyond the point where any mildly competent advisor would say to give up on getting Anonymous for now ma'am. The fact is, our organization is taking heavy, but not yet irreversible, damage and eventually our rivals will notice and that won't be pretty."

"You can count on me boss!" I said.

 

 

"Hello everyone and welcome." I said "I'd like to start this off with an unscripted demonstration. Applejack could I ask you to join me down here on the mats please?"

"Well the basic idea is I'm going to ask Pinky to time us for 30 seconds as you try to hit me." I said with a smile. Then the words came back, DUTIES OF THE KING: SEE TO THE COMMON DEFENCE. This was weird and I should probably tell someone about this.

"Look I get it. And none of you are particularly wrong." I said. "And under most conditions this wouldn't even cross my mind. But the fact is we find ourselves under attack and they may send in better fighters at some point. We have to be ready. We can't afford to fold just because someone is better at fighting. I could TELL Twilight and Fluttershy they can survive for 10 seconds with some practice, but they'll believe it more if I SHOW them."

"And that will also take some pressure off of our more capable fighters if they know folks can handle it for a bit. You girls told me we're all a team. Well this is how I can contribute to keeping our team up and swinging. Like I told the Crusaders, we're all going to survive to see our families."

Then I turned back to Applejack "So you can see that I've put proper thought into this. It's not really about the two of us. It's about helping our less combat capable friends be less scared should they get attacked. So it will help if you treat this seriously."

"Thank you." I said with a tight smile as I took up my own position and gave Pinkie a nod.

I bowed to Applejack respectfully and turned to face the bleachers. In between gulping down air I said "Good question. Thank you for asking! Does anyone in the peanut gallery have a guess first?"

"Alright, then I'll explain." I said. "First off Applejack is still a much better fighter than me, but I used cleverness in a couple of different ways here. First off, I put her directly up against the fighting talent I DO have of dodging and running away. Because that's what works for me. But there was more at work here. Billy, do you remember what I said about Applejack's fighting ability?"

"That's correct." I said with a smile "Well done. Now in case someone doesn't know, grappling is like moves used in wrestling with holds and pinning and such. And if she had tried any of that, I'm basically toast."

"So I played dirty and told her to hit me instead. Which basically was telling her not to grapple." I said and watched folks perk up at that. "That meant she was having to ignore her first or second instinct which gave me a hair more time to react. And the lesson is this. If you are fighting for your life, don't play fair! Use anything you can to give you an advantage! We all want you to come out alive and intact."

"By the way, that trick would not have worked on Rainbow because she is not really a grappler, but rather a striker, someone who uses punches and kicks directly, so it would not slow her down in the same way. The lesson there is being able to properly assess your opponents strengths can also help you."

"Well Pinkie, you already move around with a grace and fluidity that amazes many folks. The goal of this exercise was to show folks that moving around can help you survive much longer in a fight. So basically you got the timer because I don't think I can teach you much about movement."

"Alright that concludes my planned demonstration," I said "Please give Applejack a round of applause for her help as well and then we turn it over to the CPD."

 

Mid Terms

 

So as we slowly moved down the large hallway towards the theater from the snackbar, I spoke up. "Hey ladies I wanted your opinion on something. As you know I voluntarily removed myself from the internet a hair over two weeks ago. Do you think it would be ok if I got back on the net?"

"Tests?" I asked. Her tone and facial expressions hinted at the kinds of thing we did in private, so I checked the other girls and their expressions did too. But whatever they had in mind couldn't be to excessive as we had four small talkative witnesses. "Sounds like it could be fun." I said, not wanting to back down or show fear.

"Rarity I'll say it again. These may be the best jeans I've ever worn. They fit nicely at the areas you ladies like to look, but they don't restrict my movement at all! I can't thank you enough." I said with a genuine smile.

With a chuckle I said "Something tells me you absolutely will. Alright folks, it's a lovely hallway but I think it's about time we moved into the theater before we miss any more car insurance ads."

"Hey isn't the volume on those ads a little low?" I asked.

Sunset sported a wicked grin while answering "Yeah. It's one of the things we asked the girl at the snackbar to do for us tonight."

"'One of' huh?" I observed. "What did you have to do for her?" I asked.

"Ah.. I see." Was the only response I could muster "Well anyways, the reduced volume on the ads works out nicely. You girls aren't the only ones that were working on a surprise after all."

"Yeah." I said with a grin of my own. "Billy and I have been working on a little something for tonight. It's pretty simple, but I'm hoping it's fun. Twilight can you link all of our phones to start when I hit play please?" I said as I handed her my phone.

"You ready Billy?" I asked, and got an affirmative nod. Then I set my phone down on a front row armrest, hit play and said "Five seconds." and got to my mark.

 

"Now that the jackets are all off, I just want to say again how great you girls all look tonight!" I said. "It reminds me again what a lucky guy I really am!"

Rainbow says "Me too."

Sunset says "I could use another water myself." Then she looks at my empty popcorn and says "Anon you don't HAVE to get a popcorn refill, but a lack of popcorn won't keep me from grabbing your lap." with a sinister grin.

"Understood." I said with a smile "I'll go get the refills and such. So far we're at 3 popcorns and a water. Anyone else want anything?"

On my way to the snack bar, I recalled that the attendant was allowed to ogle me. "No reason I can't play into that as a dumb himbo." I thought. And I put on a vacant expression as I walked up the hallway to the snack bar.

"Hi." I said with a bright and empty expression. "My girls sent me to get some refills!" I declared as if this statement accomplished something.

"Oh, um, they made me memorize a list.." I said with an expression to indicate remembering the list was quite an effort for me. "Let's see, 3 small popcorns, a water, eight ounces of massage oil, and a jet black leather harness." I said with a smile!

"Aw man." I said. "Something TOLD me we should have got here earlier!"

"Oh hey y-, wait no," I said. "They've all told me they hate looking at those tiny things. Sorry."

"Yeah the popcorn goes pretty fast when three folks are sharing a small." I said. " I just wish they would remember that I put the popcorn on my knees."

"I have returned." I softly announced from the right aisle, causing all the girls heads to turn with many showing some surprise.

"Well when I went for the refills, the four of you on my left got a chance to show some.. affection. I came from this side to give the other three the same chance is all." I said as I paused in front of Rainbow so her hands could caress me quickly.

After I kissed Fluttershy's already pursed lips, I sat down and asked "Now would you ladies prefer I use the aisle on our left for the rest of the night?" as I passed out the popcorns and the water.

"This is not a question I had ever thought of speaking," I said, "But why does my soda taste purple?"

"Well I do have to admit you caught me by surprise there." I said. "Well played. Speaking of surprises, since she hasn't appeared yet, I suppose I should be loudly asking 'Where's Pinkie?' and 'You didn't let her go to the bathroom ALONE did you? Maybe I should go check on her?'"

"Yeah." I said with a smile. "But that was because I was making an effort to be nice to you, Fluttershy, and Rainbow, and also because no one asked me not to use the aisle on my right. So yes, I saw you. But I didn't see a reason to upset your plans any further. Speaking of plans, any rules to this I should know?"

"Thank you." I said gratefully. "Knowing this is an endurance challenge from the start is pretty helpful honestly."

Then I looked at Pinkie and asked "In the name of due diligence, will you tell me what the challenge is?"

 

"And what's with whacking me in the face like that anyway?" I asked. "How would you like it if I up and beat you with a sex organ without warning?"

"Well, you're generally pretty easy to read." I said. "So when you started out differently I figured you wanted me to go at it differently. And judging by your reactions I was at least partly right I'd say."

"Well then let me get you something. You want a water or a soda?" I asked.

"Sure thing." I said. Then a bit louder "Ok girls I'm making a snack bar run again. Order up please."

"Boy that was lucky!" I said. "Someone could have tripped!"

"Oh just more refills." I said "This time it's 3 popcorns, 2 sodas, and 2 waters please."

Knowing my cue and her love of RP, I said "Say where's Twilight? She's gonna miss the movie."

"Miss Twilight. Yes ma'am!" I said crisply

"Ok listen, if this is about the cheese sauce, I can explain!" I said, which got a few muffled giggles.

"I-I'm sorry Miss Twilight! Please have mercy!"

"If I may take a moment, Miss Twilight, to act like a proper boyfriend," I said quickly "I must say that ensemble works for you very nicely.

"No Miss Twilight." I said "This is just basic boyfriend due diligence. We now return to the terror already in progress. But am I really not allowed to have spare underwear? Is it acceptable if I just let you know I have them? Because I can do that!"

"Yes Miss Twilight." I said. "Most of them are back at home in the proper drawer just now of course Miss Twilight."

"Oh! Oh my!" I said as realization sunk in. "Yes that DOES seem like an effective way to restrain a boyfriend. Or possibly a new take on hand holding, you sly devils.

"Oops. Can't forget to do boyfriend due diligence.."

"Oh sure," I said. "Well when a lady makes an effort, a boyfriend is supposed to notice and comment in a positive way. Otherwise the boyfriend can land in trouble. So I try to avoid that kind of trouble. That makes sense right?"

"Great." I said "So as best I can tell, on one side I've got lace and on the other is satin. Very nice ladies!