Rising for Sunset [Part 5 - Friday]


                                            >You wake up the next morning feeling pretty good.

                                            >Though you spent a long time texting Sunset back and forth about how your respective days were, you actually managed to get a good night's sleep.

                                            >Even your morning classes end up being pretty normal.

                                            >It's like everything is back to normal.

                                            >The difference now is that you don't even mind how dull it is.

                                            >You're still riding on the good feelings from how this week has panned out.

                                            >Lunch time rolls around.

                                            >You sit with Flash and give him shit for his recent flip to listening to '90s alternative.

                                            >Just then, you get a feeling and whip out your phone.

                                            >A moment later, you get a text.

                                            >Lame ringtone averted.

                                            >You brought your A-Game today.

                                            >You can't help but smile when you see that it's from Sunset.

                                            >It's a selfie of her smiling at you.

                                            >Wait, you recognize where she is.

                                            >You look up and across the room to see where she's sitting with the rest of the Main Six.

                                            >You smirk and quickly use your phone to snap a picture of yourself and send it to her.

                                            >From here, you see her look your way and smile.

                                            >After a minute, she sends you another one, but this time, Pinkie Pie and Rarity are posing in the background of the picture.

                                            >Flash shakes his head at you.

                                            >"Really, man?"

                                            "Shut up and get over here."

                                            >You snap a picture of you and Flash doing devil horns like you're rocking out.


                                            >This continues on back and forth a couple more times until Flash stops cooperating.

                                            >You roll your eyes, but you don't bother him about it any further.

                                            >Eventually the lunch period comes to a close.

                                            >Sunset shoots you another text.

                                            >[I'll see you tonight at the party, right?]

                                            [Definitely.]

                                            >Flash decides this is a good moment to give you shit.

                                            >"And here I thought you were done falling this week, Anon."

                                            >...

                                            "Even YOU know that joke was bad."

                                            >"It was worth it."

                                            >Even though you can hardly wait for tonight, the rest of your day just zips by.

                                            >You go home and straighten yourself up a bit before you head out.

                                            >It's party time.


                                            >You arrive at Pinkie Pie's house just a little later than the time posted on the invitation that she gave you.

                                            >There are cars parked all over the street.

                                            >Is the whole school here?

                                            >As you approach the door, you can hear some kind of techno music pumping through the house.

                                            >You join a small cluster of people that are on their way in.

                                            >It really IS like the whole school is here.

                                            >Pinkie Pie appears before you in the blink of an eye.

                                            >"Hey, Nonny! Glad you could make it!"

                                            >You give her a warm smile.

                                            "Of course I wouldn't miss it, Pinkie."

                                            >"I hope you have super-duper tons of fun! I've gotta go check on the refreshments, but I bet there's someone waiting for you on the dance floor!"

                                            >She zips off.

                                            >Wait, dance floor?

                                            >That's when you notice that most of this huge living room is a crowd of people dancing to the music.

                                            >Your eyes scan the crowd and you spot a certain combination of red and gold that sets your heart aflutter.


                                            >Sunset's eyes light up as you approach her.

                                            "Sunset! How's the party been so far?"

                                            >"Pretty good so far.."

                                            >She gives you a sly smile.

                                            >"But it's even better now that you're here.

                                            >You swear, this girl's going to overload your heart one of these days.

                                            >You can't help but put on a wide grin.

                                            >"So... wanna dance?"

                                            >You nod.

                                            >She leads you deeper into the ever-increasing crowd of people filling up the house.

                                            >You both start to move your bodies, getting a feel for the beat.

                                            >Well, she was going to have to learn that you can't dance at some point.

                                            >You move to the rhythm, though you're otherwise completely awkward.

                                            >She laughs, but doesn't seem to mind.

                                            >As she starts to get into it, you can't help but stare.

                                            >The way that her hair sways around her face.

                                            >Every motion of her body.

                                            >You lose yourself in it.


                                            >You're not sure how much time passes.

                                            >Eventually she grabs your hand and pulls you back out of the crowd.

                                            >You can see that she's sweating after all of that dancing.

                                            >Then you realize that you are, too.

                                            >"I'm going to go see talk to some of my friends for a while. We'll meet up again later, okay?"

                                            >"Of course."

                                            >You couldn't deny her even if you wanted to.

                                            >As she leaves, you scan the room.

                                            >It looks like she's going to go talk to Rarity.

                                            >You spot Rainbow Dash, and even Fluttershy is off in a corner.

                                            >That just leaves-

                                            >"Applejack and me, right Nonny?"

                                            "Right, Pinkie."

                                            >Wait.

                                            "Wait, Pinkie Pie? How did you know-"

                                            >"That you were figuring out which of my friends were here?"

                                            >You slowly nod yes.

                                            >"That's easy. I was standing here the whole time and just looked where you were looking!"

                                            >You can usually ignore how strange she can be, but WHAT?

                                            >"It's too bad that Applejack couldn't be here, too. She's too busy helping her family get ready for the fair.

                                            >Is she just reading your mind now, or-

                                            "Wait, the fair?"


                                            >She looks surprised at you.

                                            >"Nonny, didn't you realize that the fair is tomorrow?! Why do you think I threw this party?"

                                            >The fair comes to the city every year.

                                            >And you totally blanked it because of everything that was happening this week.

                                            >Then it hits you.

                                            >This is perfect.

                                            >You can ask Sunset to go to the fair with you!

                                            >"Gee, Nonny, you're all sweaty! I bet you could use a nice glass of punch!"

                                            "You know, that sounds pretty good right about now-"

                                            >Before you know it, Pinkie is dragging you by the arm over to the refreshment table.

                                            >It's quite a spread.

                                            >Chips, soda, a wide assortment of baked goods, and a punch bowl.

                                            "Nice assortment, Pinkie."

                                            >You pour yourself a glass of punch and drink it down.

                                            >It's really sweet.

                                            "Good job on the punch, Pinkie."

                                            >"Thanks, Nonny!"

                                            >The music changes.

                                            >"Oooh, this is my JAM! Come on, Nonny, show me how you cut a rug!"

                                            >You don't get a say in the matter.

                                            >She drags you along and you dance with Pinkie Pie.

                                            >Her dance moves are even more out there and awkward than yours.

                                            >She DOES have a lot of energy though.

                                            >Eventually, the song winds down.

                                            "That was a lot of fun, Pinkie, but I think I'm going to go look for Sunset now."

                                            >As you start to walk off, you feel a hand grab your arm.

                                            >"Sorry, Nonny. I made a Pinkie Promise."


                                            "You what?"

                                            >You look at Pinkie Pie and the gears start spinning at full speed.

                                            >And then it dawns on you.

                                            >"Well, on Monday, Sunset came back from meeting you and she was super-duper sad, so we were just a teensy bit mad at you, and /I/ Pinkie Promised that /I/ wasn't going to let you date Sunset."

                                            >What is happening? WHAT IS HAPPENING?

                                            "But... You were nice to me all week. You even invited me to this party!"

                                            >"Well, /yeah./ Later that day, Fluttershy told us about what you said about what happened, so I forgave you.

                                            "But then why-"

                                            >"Because I made a PINKIE PROMISE, NONNY. I can't BREAK a PINKIE PROMISE!"

                                            >You're stunned in disbelief.

                                            >"Besides, I saw how everyone else got to do all kinds of fun things with you, and I wanted to have a challenge too!"

                                            >Ooooof course.

                                            >You sigh.

                                            "Fine, Pinkie Pie. What's it going to be?"

                                            >She shrugs.

                                            >"I dunno! I didn't get that far. How about you pick?"


                                            >You blink.

                                            >Well, that's... different.

                                            >All of the other things that happened this week sort of just came to YOU.

                                            >And you even had time to prepare for almost all of them.

                                            >What are you going to do that you can beat Pinkie Pie at?

                                            >Given how ridiculous she is, is there even anything that you CAN choose?

                                            >You think long and hard about it.

                                            >Then it starts to come to you.

                                            "Alright. I'm going to need a paper and pen for this."

                                            >She eagerly fishes both things out of her hair and foists them into your hands.

                                            >You start writing.

                                            >"Ooh! Ooh! What is it, Nonny? I'm so excited!"

                                            >You fill the whole page up and then turn it over to show her.

                                            "Scavenger hunt. One hour. Whoever has the most things wins."

                                            >She snatches it up and reads it down, the smile on her face getting even wider.

                                            >"You're on, 'Anonymous'!"

                                            >She laughs to herself and then dashes off so fast you could swear she kicked up an actual dust cloud.

                                            >You shake your head and leave the dance floor to go talk to Sunset.


                                            >It doesn't take long for you to find her.

                                            >She's hanging around by her self off to the side of the room.

                                            "Hey, Sunset!"

                                            >She turns to see you.

                                            >"Hey, Anon!"

                                            >You join her in this relatively unpopulated spot.

                                            >You chat about a variety of things.

                                            >School, and how glad you both are that the week is over.

                                            >Music, and what the Rainbooms are up to these days.

                                            >When a lull comes in the conversation, you decide that this is your chance.

                                            >You're going to ask Sunset if she wants to go to the fair with you.

                                            >That's when the music changes again.

                                            >It slows down.

                                            >The lights dim a little bit.

                                            >You can see some of the couples in the room move closer together.

                                            >Sunset looks deep into your eyes and grabs your hand.


                                            >You smile gently and lead Sunset back out onto the dance floor.

                                            >You gently place your hands on her hips.

                                            >Her arms reach up to your shoulders and gently drape around your neck.

                                            >You lead as you slowly sway back and forth to the music.

                                            >She's so close to you.

                                            >You're practically hugging already.

                                            >Even though you've already held her in your arms before, you enjoy the feeling of holding her like this.

                                            >You both enjoy the intimacy of it quietly.

                                            >As the song finally begins to wind down, you gaze into her eyes.

                                            "Sunset?"

                                            >"Yes, Anon?"

                                            "Will you go to the fair with me tomorrow?"

                                            >Her eyes brighten up like they're sparkling.

                                            >Yes, Anon! I'd love to go with you!

                                            >She pulls you in for a tight hug, which you reciprocate by wrapping your arms around her even tighter.


                                            >The dance floor starts to clear out as the party is starting to draw to a close.

                                            >In the corner of your vision, you see a flash of pink.

                                            >Keeping one arm around Sunset, you turn to look.

                                            >Pinkie Pie is here, and she has unloaded a pile of things onto the floor.

                                            >You wrote that list as a joke, but it looks like she got everything.

                                            >A traffic cone, a bowl of oatmeal... She even got Applejack's hat somehow.

                                            >"I found all of the things, Nonny! How many things have YOU found?"

                                            >You glance at the ridiculous assortment of things that she brought.

                                            "Well, since time isn't up and there are a bunch of things from the list here, I guess I also found all of those things."

                                            >"But... Nonny..."

                                            >She seems concerned.

                                            >"Wouldn't that make it a tie? What are we supposed to do NOW?"

                                            >You chuckle.

                                            "Well..."

                                            >You take out your phone and see the clock tick to the next hour."

                                            "Time just now ran out, but I had one more thing than you."

                                            >"Wait, you did? What is it?"

                                            >She scans the page that you gave her trying to figure out what it is.

                                            "You missed the one that I wrote on the back. Flip it over."

                                            >She does. And then she's disappointed.

                                            >"Aw, man. How did I miss that? Sunset was the last thing on the list, and you were with her the whole time!"

                                            "Don't feel too down, Pinkie. You had fun doing my scavenger hunt, right?"

                                            >"You know, Nonny, I really did. Thanks!"

                                            >She gives you a smile.

                                            >"Have fun, you two! I have a bunch of things that I need to take back to where I got them from!"

                                            >After she leaves, Sunset turns to you.

                                            >"What was that about, Anon?"

                                            >You chuckle.

                                            "Just another event in the crazy week that I've been having."


                                            END OF FRIDAY.