Post by Solar Solstice on Aug 18, 2013 21:32:56 GMT -5
OOC Date: July 30 and August 4, 2013
Characters: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy (What THREE Mane Sixers at once!?
), Sugar Rush, Derpy
Setting: AJ teaches her friends roller-skating. Hilarity soon ensues as expected.
The sun was hidden behind a cloud only for a moment before one of the overhead weatherworkers knocked it away, letting the sunlight shine down on Applejack and Fluttershy as they make their way into the town square. On Applejack's back is a tattered old cardboard box on which somepony had scribbled 'SK8S'. AJ's expression is slightly concerned. "Now, ya understand, Ah ain't rightly sure Ah remember how ta do this proper, okay? Ah'm willin' ta give it mah best shot, but Ah ain't really done this since Ah was younger'n Apple Bloom." She sets the box down and opens it; inside is a tangled pile of... rollerskates. A big bunch of them, for some reason, in several sizes. She rummages, and after a few moments puts together a set that she hoofs over to Fluttershy. "Ah reckon these'll fit y'all. Go on, give 'em a try."
Rainbow_Dash happens to be supervising those very same weather workers, newbies who need to get a hang of doing Weather Patrol work. "Good job, just use some more breeze to get rid of the wisps it leaves behind!" she shouts, complimenting the work done. Looks like Weather Patrol Academy was still cranking out grade-A candidates. Satisfied, she gently descends towards the Apple farm, meaning to take a well-deserved (in her mind anyway) break. "Yo guys! How's it happenin'?" she waves energetically at her two best friends as they approach.
"Um...o-okay." Fluttershy takes the skates in hoof and turns them over, examining them closely. They should be just like any other ponyshoes, right? (Although they look more like--GALAWSHUS.) Flutters slips them on one at a time, and this is where having prehensile wings comes in hoofy, if not, y'know, magic. It doesn't take too long for FLuttershy to get all four skates on, and then she put one hoof on the gr - puts her hooves down one at a - puts her - "Um...Applejack? I-I think...I'm stuck."
<OOC> Applejack snrk. Galawshus.
Sugar_Rush trots into the area, a bit slowly. His saddlebags are light, which is usually an indication that he is finished with his deliveries for the day. He spots Dash and Fluttershy, and watches them from a slight distance, wondering what they are doing. He then sees Applejack and gives her a little wave.
Applejack roots through the box some more, trying to pick out a set for herself - "Nope. Nuh uh. Too tiny. Too GLITTERY." - when she hears Rainbow Dash and looks up. "Howdy, Rainbow! Fluttershy asked me ta teach her ta rollerskate. Can ya imagine? Ah can't even remember how long it's - oops." This last because she noticed Fluttershy stuck in midair. She rears up and attempts to guide Fluttershy back to the ground. "Uh. Right. Lesson one: ya SIT ta put them on. Easy now, Flutters. Lean on me an' get 'em down slow-like." She gives Sugar Rush as much of a wave as she dares while trying to hold still for Fluttershy.
<OOC> Fluttershy imagined herself on a bench, actually. Sorry. Shoudl'v ebeen clearer.
<OOC> Applejack can repose, or just go with it?
Rainbow_Dash gawks. "Whoa, whoa, Fluttershy in /skates/?" She stifles a giggle as Fluttershy has her trouble, putting her hooves over her mouth and trying not to laugh at her friends expense. "Mmph...yeah, what AJ said," she utters, swallowing her laughter quickly before she loses her propriety (or what substitutes for it in Rainbow's case).
<OOC> Applejack says, "Goin' with it, Ah reckon. Sorry, Flutters!"
<OOC> Fluttershy nods.
<OOC> You say, "Oh! Uh, my pose works either way?"
<OOC> You say, "Sorry X3"
Have you ever had to pry Fluttershy out of the *air*? Can such a thought be contained within pony mind? Well, you're looking at just that right now. Fluttershy has to be pulled down as if she were tacked to the air, and when she finally gets brought down to earth, she stands stock-still, blushing hot. "I, um...m-maybe this isnt' such a good idea, AJ. I don't want to embarrass you..."
Applejack holds as still as she can and gently guides Fluttershy back to the earth. "Careful there, sugarcube. Just get all yer hooves down... That's it, slow-like..." She looks over at Dash. "Uh... Ah don't suppose y'all can lend Flutters a wing here fer a moment while Ah get mah skates on, could ya?" She blinks. "Aw, Fluttershy. Y'ain't gonna embarrass me. Or nopony else! Ain't no shame in learnin! Am I right, Rainbow?"
"Right, and right away!" Rainbow Dash answers with military precision, giving Applejack a playful salute. Watching Fluttershy's difficulties with the skates was a tempting prospect, but Rainbow doesn't have the heart to let her friend flail about like a lost yearling. "All right, Flutters, just hang on while I adjust th-" Except what happens is that Rainbow adjusts the relative position of the skate to Flutter's leg, so that it has actually left the leg entirely and planted itself on Rainbow's face. "....Owng" she grunts.
"Omigosh! Rainbow Dash! A-are you okay?" Fluttershy pulls the skate out of Rainbow's face and checks her friend for signs of severe denting. "Oh my. I-I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I didn't mean for that to happen!" Two minutes in skates and you're already maimed your oldest friend. Why does this happen to Fluttershy?!
Applejack nods her thanks to Rainbow Dash and starts picking through the box again. She fints two more sets that seem about right to fit an adult mare, and - winces as Rainbow manages to kick herself in the face with somepony else's shoe. "Are ya okay there, Rainbow? Ya wanna watch th' laces on that set, they're kinda elastic..." She watches as Fluttershy in standard Flutterfashion forgets her own predicament to try to help Rainbow, and in short order AJ is climbing to her own skate-laden hooves unsteadily. "Okay... Ah remember this... yeah... WHOA NELLY!"
"I'm fine!" Rainbow Dash insists, feeling a sensation of scratchiness on her snout thanks to the skate strap straddling her schnoze. She grabs a hold of the skate and pries it off her face. "See, nothing doin- whoa!" At once she zips across the field on tense wings to help AJ prop herself up.
...which leaves Fluttershy rolling gently backwards after Rainbow's slipstream, with three hooves on the ground and one sticking straight out in front of her with a not-quite-attached skate dangling from it. "Um! Girls?!" The airbrake, Flutters, use the airbrake! Fluttershy manages to remember one of the less critical facts about herself--she has wings! And she uses those wings to air-drag herself to a stop before she collides with Applejack. Phew.
Applejack staggers and slips - whew, against suddenly-present Rainbow Dash. "Whew. Thanks. Okay." She tries again, and just manages to regain her balance and starts to take a tentative step forw- FLUTTERSHY INCOMING AT 10'OCLOCK! AJ freezes in place, so when Fluttershy just barely manages to not hit her, her reflexive flinch was juuust enough... to send her over sideways. *WHUMP*. "aw, horsefeathers."
"No problAHHH!" Rainbow Dash yells, suddenly face-to-face with a colliding Fluttershy! Except that it doesn't happen. "Wow, I wasn't exp- I mean, good sav- oh." She looks down at the toppled Applejack. "Uh...right," she utters, bemused, and quickly she resolves to helping Applejack to her feet, keeping a rear hoof next to one of Applejack's to provide balance. "And, uh, how long has been, exactly?"
"Oh, no. Not again..." Chalk up two TKOs for Klutzershy. "Oh, Applejack, are *you* okay? I-I didn't mean to..." Didn't mean to do nothing, Fluttershy? Our little yellow mare slips the fourth skate back on so that she can stand stiffly on four hooves instead of three. "Is there anythign I can do to make it up for you?"
Applejack struggles back up, leaning on Rainbow somewhat more than she'd be comfortable admitting. The skates slip back and forth, but she grits her teeth and in short order regains her balance through sheer force of will. "Ah'd say... it's been about three... whoa! ... three 'way too long's!" Step. Roll. Stop. "Aw. Fluttershy, ain't nothin' ta 'make up' not one little bit. Ah promised Ah was gonna teach this to ya, an' Ah'm gonna! Ah just gotta remember it fer mahself first!" But it seems to be coming back to her now. She rolls a little way in full control, then manages to turn and return. She slowly grins.
"I can see that!" Rainbow Dash states, chuckling a bit at Applejack. At least with AJ she doesn't feel so guilty giggling! "Maybe I should stick around to be you guys' spotter or something, 'cause it's kinda obvious this is some kinda hazardous activity, heheh." She smirks.
Fluttershy blushes again. "A-at least I'm rolling now," she mutters...and then blinks. "I-I'm rolling!" It's true! Fluttershy has started coasting back the other way, shuffling her hooves just so to propel herself in baby steps. yay!
Applejack is regaining some of her long-lost skills. She skates away a short distance and back, and only slips dangerously once. "It ain't as easy as it looks, Rainbow! Ah reckon y'all'd be worse'n us!... Hay! Way ta go, Fluttershy! That's just th' way ta- WHOOP!" *WHAM*. "ow." Climbing back to her hooves again, AJ wishes she had wings for stability. Oh well. Didn't have wings back then either!
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Or did she?"
<OOC> Applejack says, "No. Ah didn't.
"
Rainbow_Dash peers at Applejack with mild indignation. "Pfft...I can /totally/ get a hang of this earth pony sport stuff. Watch me wipe the floor with you guys!" She hovers right over to the bag of skates and procures a set for herself (which just so happens to be the one Applejack denounced as 'too glittery'), deftly setting them into her hooves as she floats in midair. Then, slowly, gently, she lowers herself, her perfectly fastened skates remaining on her hooves and not on her face. "There, see?" she brags, letting her wings furl up. "I told you I co-" And then she slips and slides and falls flat on her back. "...OK maybe I'll have a /little/ trouble."
Oh dear. Fluttershy comes rolling back the other way, shuffling dutifully along. (eee) "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. I-I know you and Applejack are probably the best skaters in all of Ponyville, (ecept maybe Pinkie Pie). I-I'm just happy to spend time with you girls."
Applejack winces again, teeth gritted, as Dash discovers just how slippery the skates are. They're old (and glittery), but well-lubricated. She scoots over to RD and offers a hoof up. "It ain't like walkin'. Ah reckon it ain't like flyin, neither." She chuckles at the other pegasus trying to flutter them up, so to speak. "Come on now, Flutters. Ah'm rustier than last year's plowblade, an' Ah reckon Rainy's just learnin' how hard this actually is."
"It's not /that/ hard!" Rainbow Dash insists, leaping to her hooves. "I- WHOA!" She slips and slides around, her legs moving in several different angles. Her rear left hoof meets her forward right hoof in a sort of frantic dance. Or an epilectic seizure. It's hard to tell. After some frantic scrobbling she manages to figure out how the brakes work. "I'm fine!" she yells, pressing down hard on the brake pads until dents develop in the soil.
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Here I go!"
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Falcooooon BUCK!"
<OOC> Applejack waits?
Oh, wow! It's just like one of Rainbow's three-point landings! Um...should Fluttershy be helping? Rainbow isn't really designed for brakes. "Oh dear! Um...I still think you're both great athletes," assures Fluttershy, even as she tries to roll after Rainbow at roughly the speed one would get from rolling down a tilted stoop.
<OOC> Applejack doesn't wait long!
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "From your video to your radio, Flutter Express in 30 tailflicks or less!"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash claps X3
Applejack chuckles and skates a reasonable circle around Rainbow Dash. "Maybe it ain't THAT hard... but it sure ain't that EASY neither! Here, th' trick is ta distribute yer weight evenly, don't rely too much on any one hoof." She chuckles at Fluttershy. "Ya don't gotta keep tellin' us that, Flutters. Ah don't need mah head ta swell no more, an' Ah reckon neither does Rainbow." AJ skates over in front of Fluttershy, then turns around. "Watch - what ya gotta do is, once ya got yer blanace, push real gentle-like with alternatin' hooves so's ya pick up a bit o' speed." She skates back and forth slowly a little, demonstrating.
Rainbow_Dash grits her teeth as she tries to keep a good grip with her skates. "Uhh...right, sure. OK. Um." She slowly, gingerly relieves the pressure on her skates, slowly sliding across the ground as she does so. She slides a foot forward and jostles about actively as she tries to keep upright, looking very much like a spring-loaded bobble toy. "Whoa! WHOA! Hey!" she shouts, forcing herself to do as Applejack advised. Pretty soon, she's well balanced on all her hooves, albeit a bit shaky. "I think...I'm good! Heh." *Guilty-grin*
Fluttershy shuffles again. Shuffle shuffle shuffle shuffle shuffle. She gets herself going again, and... "O-okay." Fluttershy closes her eyes, and... "O-okay!" Fluttershy takes a deep breath, and...! Lifts one set of hooves off the ground - her front-left and rear-right - and pushes forward with them! In spite of her instinctive cringe, nothing bad happens to the darkness of her eyelids...and when she opens them again, she finds-- "I'm rolling! I-I mean, I'm rolling faster!" But she ought to watch where she's going.
Applejack nods to Rainbow. "Yup! Now try closin' yer wings there." Hm. "Though... it ain't a competition or nothin' so... Ah reckon there ain't nothin' wrong with usin' 'em fer extra balance. Sorta like trainin' wheels. Same fer y'all, Flutters. Flutters?" Oh no, is Fluttershy heading right for that construction site!? "WHOA NELLY! FLUTTERSHY! WATCH TH' HEY OUT!" Applejack skates after the pink-maned pegassus as fast as she can, but Fluttershy has quite a head start...
Rainbow_Dash has, in fact, kept her wings closed the whole time; she knows how to do those kinds of maneuvers for aerodynamicity and stuff, so why not here? You gotta skate fast after all. She's also shuffling around fast, shifting about as she tries to keep her balance while moving forward. "I'm worknig through it! Gah, this is /hard/!" She's putting too much effort in the wrong places, so as a result her shoulders are starting to seize up a bit. "Whoa, Fluttershy!" she ells, seeing her friend shoot past her. "Slow down!" And with that, Rainbow skates forward, trying to help her friend before something bad happens.
"W...what?" Fluttershy glances back at her friends, and then forward again, and-- "YEEP!" Flutters suddenly tries hard to backpedal; if Rainbow was misusing the brakes before, this is outright criminal! Fluttershy skids, spins, and twists around, doing a long pirouette that takes her on a twisting path back and forth through the site.
Applejack races after Fluttershy, hesitation lost and a determined frown on her face! Trying to catch the pegasus before something disastrous happens to her, AJ skirts piles of materials and boards and even manages to ramp off a short stack of bricks! "HOLD ON, FLUTTERSHY! USE YER BRAKES! AH'M A-COMI-" and she trips on a dropped trowel! Just as Fluttershy manages to get herself to relative safety, Applejack crashes past right in front of her, tumbling head over hooves, and finally landing hooves-up in a freshly-dug drainage ditch. "owww. Ah tOLd yA iT wErEn't EaSy, raINboW..." 9_6
Rainbow_Dash strangely enough finds herself getting a good hang of skating by chasing down Fluttershy, her legs alternating in the right order. Hey, it's just like walking, but with wheels! "Whoa, Fluttershy!" she shouts, zooming right past the pegamare as she spins back and past Rainbow. "Try to slow dowwaaaaAHHH!" She strikes that same trowel Applejack tripped on, catapulting herself into the air, whereupon she cartwheels three times, bounces off a roof awning, and lands...right on her feet. "Uhhhh." She slowly slides backward into the ditch, right beside Applejack, her rear skates touching the dirt with a quirky 'thoomp'. "You're telling me!" she declares to her friend.
You wouldn't think there are that many ~wrong~ orders for your legs to alternate, but in the course of a brief pass by the group, Derpy Doo manages to find them all. Yes, she's wearing rollerskates. They're bluish gray with gray wheels and yellow trim. No, she didn't borrow them from anyone present. She just happens to be rollerskating today. With her mailbags, vest and postal cap on. She waves to Rainbow Dash and Applejack as she skates by the ditch, somehow managing not to swerve too badly despite her irregular gait. "Hello day, Appledash! How and dee, Rainbowjack!"
Flutters spins and spins and whirly-birds, and as she makes impossible ramp jumps off fallen planks and does sick threesixteo backburney space jumps off the high end, construction ponies scramble to get out of her way, flinging their tools and girders as they try not to squash poor Flutters. At the other side, Fluttershy pings off a picket fence, rolls away, and...to a gentle stop, right near where she started. And then she faints. Where's Mare-do-Well when you need her? ...oh wait.
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "We may have to settle for Darkwing Derp."
Applejack shakes her head out (vague rattling noise), then climbs unsteadily out of the ditch. "Uh... howdy, Derpy. Just... givin' Flutters an' Rainbow a skatin' lesson." She reaches down to offer Dash a hoof out of the ditch. "Maybe Ah ain't th' right teacher after all. Ah don't remember so much crashin' an' smashin' when Ah learned it..." She hears the gentle whump of a falling Fluttershy and looks over. "Aw... horsefeathers. ARE Y'ALL OKAY, FLUTTERSHY?"
Rainbow_Dash has already tried to scrabble up the ditch several times already (she slides down every time) by the time Applejack offers her assistance. "Uh...thanks. Whoa, Derps!" She blinks, wondering where /she came from. Really, though, should she be surprised? "Uh, you know, Derpy, flying is way faster for delivering the mail." Hearing a ruckus, she turns her head just in time to see Fluttershy roll back in place. "Eh...?"
Derpy watches Fluttershy's apparently involuntary escapades with... well, it could be amazement, but whatever it is, it sets her eyes to revolving. Just like when Scootaloo jumped the crowd that one time. Chances are she's processing something. When Fluttershy turns out to be mostly okay, Derpy looks back to Rainbow and AJ. "Smashing and crashing?" She grins coyly. "Not is best strategy." This is followed by a giggle that sounds like a cricket who lives inside one of the bubbles in a piece of bubble wrap. "Flying is faster??" she asks Dash, utterly confused.
A dark tunnel. A white haze. The sounds of crashing and smashing - and then a face, blurred through the fog but soft and yellow, appears, framed by its silver helmet. The sounds of battle seem to fade away as the commander speaks. "Get up, soldier," the fallen hears, in her own gentle voice. "There's still work to do." Fluttershy shoots up with a gasp, shaking her head into that cartoon blurry state and sending her mane whipping all over the place. Suddenly, she has the notion that a helmet would be a really good idea. "I-I'm okay," she calls to her friends, pushing herself back to her hooves little by little. "I don't think I'm hurt..." But Fluttershy does glance at Derpy, who is the only one skating in more or less a controlled fashion. You know what this means, don't you?
( It means Derpy is the smartest one. )
"Um...d-do you girls need some help?" Fluttershy rolls gently back over to her friends.
Applejack tugs Rainbow Dash out of the ditch and brushes some mud off of her and herself. "Ah know, Ah know." She rubs a new bruise on her rump. "Consarn it..." AJ sighs. "Ah reckon we're okay, Fluttershy, but... Ah think maybe Ah need a bit of a rest... an' some more practice... before Ah try ta teach y'all much more o' this." She spends a moment staring at Derpy's syncopated skating. "... how're y'all even not fallin' down?" Finally, she skates - CAREFULLY - back over to the box, and prepares to remove her skates.
Rainbow_Dash thinks she's learned something after all, judging from how she can now move about (though unsteadily) without tripping over herself. "I think we just need a, uh, safer place to practice," she says, shakily skating towards the box, too. She's kinda given up trying to explain Derpy: who can, really? "Thanks, Fluttershy, but I'll be- WHOA!" She jives! She dances! She swerves in several angles in place before catching herself. "I'll...be fine," she utters, exhausted.
Derpy is happy to meet Applejack's question with a worthy answer! "Is special secret!" She skates precariously around Applejack with both her left legs raised high, and loops back, straddling the edge of the ditch and leaning in to loudly whisper: "Trick is? Always at least ~one~ hoof on ground! That way, never fall!" She laughs giddily, evoking a squeaky yellow permanent marker being used as an eraser. "If teacher? Why not Pinkie Pie here?"
That's a good question. Why *isn't* Pinkie Pie here? It probably involves quantum entanglement, or maybe just taffy entanglement. "Oh my." Fluttershy reaches out and steadies Rainbow, and then Applejack, and then herself again. "Um...o-okay. But thank you for teaching me. I-I think I actually learned a lot!" And it's true - Fluttershy hasn't sustained a single injury for this lesson.
Applejack chuckles. "Heh. Ah'll try ta keep that in mind, Derps." She drops her skates back into the box. "Pinkie? Ah dunno. Actually, come ta think of it... Ah ain't seen Pinkie around much lately. Huh. She was yellin' about muffins th' other day, when that Shadow's spell went all haywire, but Ah ain't seen her in a while other'n that... how about th' two o' y'all?" Oops, 'muffins'. The secret word! But AJ just glances at over at Rainbow and her selection fo skatewear. "Heh heh. Nice choice, Rainbow. Very fittin'... fer a *lady*." She grins at RD for a moment, until something in her back twinges and causes a wince instead! "aw, fer pete's sake... Ah'm happy ta help, Fluttershy, but Ah ain't rightly sure Ah *did*..."
Rainbow_Dash rolls her eyes heavily as Derpy 'answers'. Oh brother. When Applejack teases her, she partially completes an indignant glare before Fluttershy bumps into her. "Whoa, hey!" she shouts, before settling down again. "Actually...Flutters' got a point, we managed to get through this somehow!" She shakily rebalances herself again before giving that trademark guilty grin of hers.
<OOC> Applejack says, "Aw, that was actually kinda sweet, RD."
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "n.n"
Derpy raises her front legs and gives Applejack a brief spinning hug in passing. "You ~have~ help!!" she asserts. She then looks at Fluttershy and giggles for no obvious reason. "Muffins??" It's a special word, all right. Definitely on Derpy's top five list, though probably ranking below the names of her daughter and mother. "Will fetch Pinkie Pie. Soon will skating acily!" she reassures Rainbow Dash.
<OOC> Derpy deleted a line from that pose about trying to hug RD with her rear legs.
<OOC> You say, "What XD"
Fluttershy beams softly. Hooray! She has a point! "Oh, you don't have to do that, Derpy. I-I think the girls just want to take a little rest for now. Right, Applejack? Um...do you two needs some ointment?"
Applejack looks at all three pegasi. "Be that as it may, Ah reckon Ah've done all Ah can fer th' moment. One upendin' into a ditch is enough fer one day." She smiles, though. "Thank ya both fer sayin' so... but Ah ain't too happy with it... not a blue ribbon sorta performance, ya know? Oh well, Ah guess it don't matter none. No thanks, Fluttershy." By the end of this speech, she's managed to deskate herself enrirely, then stands up and stamps a bit. "Heh, Kicks an' Bucky prefer a more solid footin' anyhow. Y'all can hang onto them skates if'n ya want. Ah dunno if Ah can give 'em to y'all outright, but Ah doubt if'n we'll be needin' 'em back anytime soon."
Rainbow_Dash is already half done removing her skates, replacing them in the box quickly before anypony else notices the sparkles. "I'm fine, Flutters, but thanks for asking," she says, prying off the skates from her forehooves. "Yeah, Derps, what's up? Pinkie Pie owe you a special cake or something?" Pinkie Pie seems to have a habit of gifting pastries to ponies for hitherto incomprehensible reasons.
Derpy hesitates, looking back with one skate raised as she rolls toward the Market and Sugarcube Corner. "No Pinkie Pie?" She looks puzzled at Rainbow's question. "Not owe! Is friend! Sometimes is guitar rooftop friend," she confides. She then smacks into a banner pole. Oowch! But true to her own advice, even with stars and spirals flying, Derpy doesn't fall down.
Oof. Fluttershy cringes. "Be careful, Derpy!" Oh...oh well. A-anyway, Fluttershy flutterfrowns, picking up one of Applejack's discarded skates from the box. "Y...you're not--quitting forever, are you?"
Applejack winces as Derpy faceplants on the pole. "Ooh. Are y'okay there, Derps? Guitar rooftop...? - No, never mind, Ah ain't askin'." Her expression melts at Fluttershy's question and she hugs the yellow pegasus! "'Course not! Ah'm just gonna hold off on tryin' ta TEACH y'all until Ah can remember more o' how ta do it mahself. Ah gotta find me some time ta *practice*! So kinda th' opposite o' 'quittin' ferever', ya know?" She grins. Bruises and a spill do not stop an Apple.
Nor a Derp! Derpy shakes off the impact, reaches for one of the spirals before it dissipates, and then smiles back at her friends. "Good afternoon! Am going! Best luck in walking. Not fall!" She departs with a shower of snickers, not unlike a pair of undershorts being scraped against a washing board.
<OOC> Applejack thought snickers were more like a peanut chocolate kind of thing. Which unless you have a had a very bad day, your under wear is not like.
<OOC> Derpy not know. Only know is funny! And that? What important.
<OOC> Derpy skates away.
Rainbow_Dash blinks as Derpy explains. "Guitar rooftop? Is that, like, a rooftop concert, or a rooftop shaped like a guitar...or a guitar shaped like a rooftop?" She quickly realizes that trying to ask such questions is probably a bad idea. It was like Zen, meant to be pondered rather than actually answered because it was ultimately about the emptiness of the universe, which would certainly fit Rainbow's preconception of Derpy: thinking about her sayings was bound to result in some kind of emptiness. "...Yeah, breaks are good after a hard tryin'" Rainbow Dash states, wresting herself from her morbid thoughts are, perhaps, losing whatever insight she ma have had into how a derpy-eyed mare could teach her about the nothingness of the universe.
<OOC> Applejack lends Dash a copy of 'The Tao of Derp'.
<OOC> You say, "I AM A GENIUS"
Derpy reenters unexpectedly from another direction, still skating, though one skate has been removed and is hanging out of her bags: "Guitar Rooftop Friend is friend whom play guitar on rooftop sometime. Is relax!" She then skates off again, having burst Dash's Zenbubble.
<OOC> Applejack blinks. Looks around. "... how in th' hay'd she even know!?"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash paged her the pose <.< >.>
<OOC> Applejack phew! Stops looking for derp-eyed bugs in the walls!
... ... ...please don't think about it too hard, Applejack. Fluttershy scuffs a still-wheeled hoof back and forth on the ground. "Well, I...I guess that's okay. I was just worried that my skating was so bad that...i-it made *you* not want to skate any more. I'm so glad that's not true." Flutters smiles and wipes some sweat off her delicate little yellow brow. "S-so...what do you girls want to do now?"
Applejack shakes her head and smiles at Fluttershy. "Aw, o'course not! Y'all were..." she looks over at the construction site "...shockin'ly agile fer a first-timer, ta be honest. Ah'd better be gettin' on back ta th' farm; Mac's fixin' ta re-tar th' cider house roof an' Ah reckon he'll be wantin' mah help. He didn't say nothin', but... Ah don't wanna hear th' silence he'll give us if'n Ah don't! Heh." She gathers up the box onto her back. "Ya wanna just hang onto them skates, Flutters?"
Rainbow_Dash has already hidden the sparkly skates away into the box. Nope, nothing special abotu those skates, nothing at all. "Wait what?" she utters, as Derpy zooms by, barely catching what she said. Porbably something about dancing guitars on rooftops. ANYWAY. "I think I'll stick to the private lessons for now," Rainbow says, glad to be...hey, she's still on the ground! She corrects this at once by flying up a little.
<OOC> Applejack says, "RD: VTOL."
<OOC> Rarity says, "VTOL?"
<OOC> Applejack says, "Military term. 'Vertical Take-Off an' Landin''."
"Oh, um...o-okay." Fluttershy smiles softly. And...just stands there. Fluts follows Dash into the air with her eyes; would that that was an easy option for her. "Um...I guess I should take them off."
Applejack grins. "Nah. Keep 'em on, get in some practice. Ain't nothin' like practice fer gettin' good at anythin' athletic, am Ah right?" She reaches to sishoof Dash... then leans in and whispers something to Fluttershy. With a wink and a grin, AJ then trots off down the lane with the old box, back towards the apple farm.
"Right on!" Rainbow Dash agrees, sishoofing Applejack right back. The elation is enough that she doesn't register AJ's conspiratorial whispering to Fluttershy before she departs. "So, Flutters, what's the rest of your day like?"
Fluttershy flutterblinks and blushes softly. "Oh, um, right! Take care, Applejack. A-and thank you!" Fluttershy waves at her friend as AJ makes her brilliant gamboge way home. "W-well...I'm not really sure yet." Fluttershy lifts a hoof...and manages to bop herself in the cheek with the skate. Oof.
<OOC> Applejack says, "Ah'm ORANGE. Goldarned fashion ponies."
<OOC> Fluttershy sparklegrins. (eee)
<OOC> You say, "I thought it was more of a burnt senia"
<OOC> You say, "Or goldenrod?"
<OOC> Applejack sighs. "Nah. That there's darker an' not as intense. Ah'm really... 'light brilliant gamboge'. But don't go spreadin' that around!"
Rainbow_Dash noddles. "I've gotta hang out with some Weather Patrol buddies of mine, actually, so I'll see you later!" She gives Fluttershy a salute and takes off into the skies. Skating was neat and all, but she'd much rather let the clouds be her field.
"Take care, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gives the salute in return - not clocking herself in the face this time - and smiles, watching Rainbow's trailing...rainbow. "So cooooool," she whispers to herself. The camera pulls away, leaving FLuttershy there with her mane and tail billowing in the rainbow-scented slipstream...and the construction site finishing its final collapse behind her. (yay)
Characters: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy (What THREE Mane Sixers at once!?
), Sugar Rush, DerpySetting: AJ teaches her friends roller-skating. Hilarity soon ensues as expected.
The sun was hidden behind a cloud only for a moment before one of the overhead weatherworkers knocked it away, letting the sunlight shine down on Applejack and Fluttershy as they make their way into the town square. On Applejack's back is a tattered old cardboard box on which somepony had scribbled 'SK8S'. AJ's expression is slightly concerned. "Now, ya understand, Ah ain't rightly sure Ah remember how ta do this proper, okay? Ah'm willin' ta give it mah best shot, but Ah ain't really done this since Ah was younger'n Apple Bloom." She sets the box down and opens it; inside is a tangled pile of... rollerskates. A big bunch of them, for some reason, in several sizes. She rummages, and after a few moments puts together a set that she hoofs over to Fluttershy. "Ah reckon these'll fit y'all. Go on, give 'em a try."
Rainbow_Dash happens to be supervising those very same weather workers, newbies who need to get a hang of doing Weather Patrol work. "Good job, just use some more breeze to get rid of the wisps it leaves behind!" she shouts, complimenting the work done. Looks like Weather Patrol Academy was still cranking out grade-A candidates. Satisfied, she gently descends towards the Apple farm, meaning to take a well-deserved (in her mind anyway) break. "Yo guys! How's it happenin'?" she waves energetically at her two best friends as they approach.
"Um...o-okay." Fluttershy takes the skates in hoof and turns them over, examining them closely. They should be just like any other ponyshoes, right? (Although they look more like--GALAWSHUS.) Flutters slips them on one at a time, and this is where having prehensile wings comes in hoofy, if not, y'know, magic. It doesn't take too long for FLuttershy to get all four skates on, and then she put one hoof on the gr - puts her hooves down one at a - puts her - "Um...Applejack? I-I think...I'm stuck."
<OOC> Applejack snrk. Galawshus.
Sugar_Rush trots into the area, a bit slowly. His saddlebags are light, which is usually an indication that he is finished with his deliveries for the day. He spots Dash and Fluttershy, and watches them from a slight distance, wondering what they are doing. He then sees Applejack and gives her a little wave.
Applejack roots through the box some more, trying to pick out a set for herself - "Nope. Nuh uh. Too tiny. Too GLITTERY." - when she hears Rainbow Dash and looks up. "Howdy, Rainbow! Fluttershy asked me ta teach her ta rollerskate. Can ya imagine? Ah can't even remember how long it's - oops." This last because she noticed Fluttershy stuck in midair. She rears up and attempts to guide Fluttershy back to the ground. "Uh. Right. Lesson one: ya SIT ta put them on. Easy now, Flutters. Lean on me an' get 'em down slow-like." She gives Sugar Rush as much of a wave as she dares while trying to hold still for Fluttershy.
<OOC> Fluttershy imagined herself on a bench, actually. Sorry. Shoudl'v ebeen clearer.
<OOC> Applejack can repose, or just go with it?
Rainbow_Dash gawks. "Whoa, whoa, Fluttershy in /skates/?" She stifles a giggle as Fluttershy has her trouble, putting her hooves over her mouth and trying not to laugh at her friends expense. "Mmph...yeah, what AJ said," she utters, swallowing her laughter quickly before she loses her propriety (or what substitutes for it in Rainbow's case).
<OOC> Applejack says, "Goin' with it, Ah reckon. Sorry, Flutters!"
<OOC> Fluttershy nods.
<OOC> You say, "Oh! Uh, my pose works either way?"
<OOC> You say, "Sorry X3"
Have you ever had to pry Fluttershy out of the *air*? Can such a thought be contained within pony mind? Well, you're looking at just that right now. Fluttershy has to be pulled down as if she were tacked to the air, and when she finally gets brought down to earth, she stands stock-still, blushing hot. "I, um...m-maybe this isnt' such a good idea, AJ. I don't want to embarrass you..."
Applejack holds as still as she can and gently guides Fluttershy back to the earth. "Careful there, sugarcube. Just get all yer hooves down... That's it, slow-like..." She looks over at Dash. "Uh... Ah don't suppose y'all can lend Flutters a wing here fer a moment while Ah get mah skates on, could ya?" She blinks. "Aw, Fluttershy. Y'ain't gonna embarrass me. Or nopony else! Ain't no shame in learnin! Am I right, Rainbow?"
"Right, and right away!" Rainbow Dash answers with military precision, giving Applejack a playful salute. Watching Fluttershy's difficulties with the skates was a tempting prospect, but Rainbow doesn't have the heart to let her friend flail about like a lost yearling. "All right, Flutters, just hang on while I adjust th-" Except what happens is that Rainbow adjusts the relative position of the skate to Flutter's leg, so that it has actually left the leg entirely and planted itself on Rainbow's face. "....Owng" she grunts.
"Omigosh! Rainbow Dash! A-are you okay?" Fluttershy pulls the skate out of Rainbow's face and checks her friend for signs of severe denting. "Oh my. I-I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I didn't mean for that to happen!" Two minutes in skates and you're already maimed your oldest friend. Why does this happen to Fluttershy?!
Applejack nods her thanks to Rainbow Dash and starts picking through the box again. She fints two more sets that seem about right to fit an adult mare, and - winces as Rainbow manages to kick herself in the face with somepony else's shoe. "Are ya okay there, Rainbow? Ya wanna watch th' laces on that set, they're kinda elastic..." She watches as Fluttershy in standard Flutterfashion forgets her own predicament to try to help Rainbow, and in short order AJ is climbing to her own skate-laden hooves unsteadily. "Okay... Ah remember this... yeah... WHOA NELLY!"
"I'm fine!" Rainbow Dash insists, feeling a sensation of scratchiness on her snout thanks to the skate strap straddling her schnoze. She grabs a hold of the skate and pries it off her face. "See, nothing doin- whoa!" At once she zips across the field on tense wings to help AJ prop herself up.
...which leaves Fluttershy rolling gently backwards after Rainbow's slipstream, with three hooves on the ground and one sticking straight out in front of her with a not-quite-attached skate dangling from it. "Um! Girls?!" The airbrake, Flutters, use the airbrake! Fluttershy manages to remember one of the less critical facts about herself--she has wings! And she uses those wings to air-drag herself to a stop before she collides with Applejack. Phew.
Applejack staggers and slips - whew, against suddenly-present Rainbow Dash. "Whew. Thanks. Okay." She tries again, and just manages to regain her balance and starts to take a tentative step forw- FLUTTERSHY INCOMING AT 10'OCLOCK! AJ freezes in place, so when Fluttershy just barely manages to not hit her, her reflexive flinch was juuust enough... to send her over sideways. *WHUMP*. "aw, horsefeathers."
"No problAHHH!" Rainbow Dash yells, suddenly face-to-face with a colliding Fluttershy! Except that it doesn't happen. "Wow, I wasn't exp- I mean, good sav- oh." She looks down at the toppled Applejack. "Uh...right," she utters, bemused, and quickly she resolves to helping Applejack to her feet, keeping a rear hoof next to one of Applejack's to provide balance. "And, uh, how long has been, exactly?"
"Oh, no. Not again..." Chalk up two TKOs for Klutzershy. "Oh, Applejack, are *you* okay? I-I didn't mean to..." Didn't mean to do nothing, Fluttershy? Our little yellow mare slips the fourth skate back on so that she can stand stiffly on four hooves instead of three. "Is there anythign I can do to make it up for you?"
Applejack struggles back up, leaning on Rainbow somewhat more than she'd be comfortable admitting. The skates slip back and forth, but she grits her teeth and in short order regains her balance through sheer force of will. "Ah'd say... it's been about three... whoa! ... three 'way too long's!" Step. Roll. Stop. "Aw. Fluttershy, ain't nothin' ta 'make up' not one little bit. Ah promised Ah was gonna teach this to ya, an' Ah'm gonna! Ah just gotta remember it fer mahself first!" But it seems to be coming back to her now. She rolls a little way in full control, then manages to turn and return. She slowly grins.
"I can see that!" Rainbow Dash states, chuckling a bit at Applejack. At least with AJ she doesn't feel so guilty giggling! "Maybe I should stick around to be you guys' spotter or something, 'cause it's kinda obvious this is some kinda hazardous activity, heheh." She smirks.
Fluttershy blushes again. "A-at least I'm rolling now," she mutters...and then blinks. "I-I'm rolling!" It's true! Fluttershy has started coasting back the other way, shuffling her hooves just so to propel herself in baby steps. yay!
Applejack is regaining some of her long-lost skills. She skates away a short distance and back, and only slips dangerously once. "It ain't as easy as it looks, Rainbow! Ah reckon y'all'd be worse'n us!... Hay! Way ta go, Fluttershy! That's just th' way ta- WHOOP!" *WHAM*. "ow." Climbing back to her hooves again, AJ wishes she had wings for stability. Oh well. Didn't have wings back then either!
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Or did she?"
<OOC> Applejack says, "No. Ah didn't.
"Rainbow_Dash peers at Applejack with mild indignation. "Pfft...I can /totally/ get a hang of this earth pony sport stuff. Watch me wipe the floor with you guys!" She hovers right over to the bag of skates and procures a set for herself (which just so happens to be the one Applejack denounced as 'too glittery'), deftly setting them into her hooves as she floats in midair. Then, slowly, gently, she lowers herself, her perfectly fastened skates remaining on her hooves and not on her face. "There, see?" she brags, letting her wings furl up. "I told you I co-" And then she slips and slides and falls flat on her back. "...OK maybe I'll have a /little/ trouble."
Oh dear. Fluttershy comes rolling back the other way, shuffling dutifully along. (eee) "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. I-I know you and Applejack are probably the best skaters in all of Ponyville, (ecept maybe Pinkie Pie). I-I'm just happy to spend time with you girls."
Applejack winces again, teeth gritted, as Dash discovers just how slippery the skates are. They're old (and glittery), but well-lubricated. She scoots over to RD and offers a hoof up. "It ain't like walkin'. Ah reckon it ain't like flyin, neither." She chuckles at the other pegasus trying to flutter them up, so to speak. "Come on now, Flutters. Ah'm rustier than last year's plowblade, an' Ah reckon Rainy's just learnin' how hard this actually is."
"It's not /that/ hard!" Rainbow Dash insists, leaping to her hooves. "I- WHOA!" She slips and slides around, her legs moving in several different angles. Her rear left hoof meets her forward right hoof in a sort of frantic dance. Or an epilectic seizure. It's hard to tell. After some frantic scrobbling she manages to figure out how the brakes work. "I'm fine!" she yells, pressing down hard on the brake pads until dents develop in the soil.
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Here I go!"
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "Falcooooon BUCK!"
<OOC> Applejack waits?
Oh, wow! It's just like one of Rainbow's three-point landings! Um...should Fluttershy be helping? Rainbow isn't really designed for brakes. "Oh dear! Um...I still think you're both great athletes," assures Fluttershy, even as she tries to roll after Rainbow at roughly the speed one would get from rolling down a tilted stoop.
<OOC> Applejack doesn't wait long!
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "From your video to your radio, Flutter Express in 30 tailflicks or less!"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash claps X3
Applejack chuckles and skates a reasonable circle around Rainbow Dash. "Maybe it ain't THAT hard... but it sure ain't that EASY neither! Here, th' trick is ta distribute yer weight evenly, don't rely too much on any one hoof." She chuckles at Fluttershy. "Ya don't gotta keep tellin' us that, Flutters. Ah don't need mah head ta swell no more, an' Ah reckon neither does Rainbow." AJ skates over in front of Fluttershy, then turns around. "Watch - what ya gotta do is, once ya got yer blanace, push real gentle-like with alternatin' hooves so's ya pick up a bit o' speed." She skates back and forth slowly a little, demonstrating.
Rainbow_Dash grits her teeth as she tries to keep a good grip with her skates. "Uhh...right, sure. OK. Um." She slowly, gingerly relieves the pressure on her skates, slowly sliding across the ground as she does so. She slides a foot forward and jostles about actively as she tries to keep upright, looking very much like a spring-loaded bobble toy. "Whoa! WHOA! Hey!" she shouts, forcing herself to do as Applejack advised. Pretty soon, she's well balanced on all her hooves, albeit a bit shaky. "I think...I'm good! Heh." *Guilty-grin*
Fluttershy shuffles again. Shuffle shuffle shuffle shuffle shuffle. She gets herself going again, and... "O-okay." Fluttershy closes her eyes, and... "O-okay!" Fluttershy takes a deep breath, and...! Lifts one set of hooves off the ground - her front-left and rear-right - and pushes forward with them! In spite of her instinctive cringe, nothing bad happens to the darkness of her eyelids...and when she opens them again, she finds-- "I'm rolling! I-I mean, I'm rolling faster!" But she ought to watch where she's going.
Applejack nods to Rainbow. "Yup! Now try closin' yer wings there." Hm. "Though... it ain't a competition or nothin' so... Ah reckon there ain't nothin' wrong with usin' 'em fer extra balance. Sorta like trainin' wheels. Same fer y'all, Flutters. Flutters?" Oh no, is Fluttershy heading right for that construction site!? "WHOA NELLY! FLUTTERSHY! WATCH TH' HEY OUT!" Applejack skates after the pink-maned pegassus as fast as she can, but Fluttershy has quite a head start...
Rainbow_Dash has, in fact, kept her wings closed the whole time; she knows how to do those kinds of maneuvers for aerodynamicity and stuff, so why not here? You gotta skate fast after all. She's also shuffling around fast, shifting about as she tries to keep her balance while moving forward. "I'm worknig through it! Gah, this is /hard/!" She's putting too much effort in the wrong places, so as a result her shoulders are starting to seize up a bit. "Whoa, Fluttershy!" she ells, seeing her friend shoot past her. "Slow down!" And with that, Rainbow skates forward, trying to help her friend before something bad happens.
"W...what?" Fluttershy glances back at her friends, and then forward again, and-- "YEEP!" Flutters suddenly tries hard to backpedal; if Rainbow was misusing the brakes before, this is outright criminal! Fluttershy skids, spins, and twists around, doing a long pirouette that takes her on a twisting path back and forth through the site.
Applejack races after Fluttershy, hesitation lost and a determined frown on her face! Trying to catch the pegasus before something disastrous happens to her, AJ skirts piles of materials and boards and even manages to ramp off a short stack of bricks! "HOLD ON, FLUTTERSHY! USE YER BRAKES! AH'M A-COMI-" and she trips on a dropped trowel! Just as Fluttershy manages to get herself to relative safety, Applejack crashes past right in front of her, tumbling head over hooves, and finally landing hooves-up in a freshly-dug drainage ditch. "owww. Ah tOLd yA iT wErEn't EaSy, raINboW..." 9_6
Rainbow_Dash strangely enough finds herself getting a good hang of skating by chasing down Fluttershy, her legs alternating in the right order. Hey, it's just like walking, but with wheels! "Whoa, Fluttershy!" she shouts, zooming right past the pegamare as she spins back and past Rainbow. "Try to slow dowwaaaaAHHH!" She strikes that same trowel Applejack tripped on, catapulting herself into the air, whereupon she cartwheels three times, bounces off a roof awning, and lands...right on her feet. "Uhhhh." She slowly slides backward into the ditch, right beside Applejack, her rear skates touching the dirt with a quirky 'thoomp'. "You're telling me!" she declares to her friend.
You wouldn't think there are that many ~wrong~ orders for your legs to alternate, but in the course of a brief pass by the group, Derpy Doo manages to find them all. Yes, she's wearing rollerskates. They're bluish gray with gray wheels and yellow trim. No, she didn't borrow them from anyone present. She just happens to be rollerskating today. With her mailbags, vest and postal cap on. She waves to Rainbow Dash and Applejack as she skates by the ditch, somehow managing not to swerve too badly despite her irregular gait. "Hello day, Appledash! How and dee, Rainbowjack!"
Flutters spins and spins and whirly-birds, and as she makes impossible ramp jumps off fallen planks and does sick threesixteo backburney space jumps off the high end, construction ponies scramble to get out of her way, flinging their tools and girders as they try not to squash poor Flutters. At the other side, Fluttershy pings off a picket fence, rolls away, and...to a gentle stop, right near where she started. And then she faints. Where's Mare-do-Well when you need her? ...oh wait.
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "We may have to settle for Darkwing Derp."
Applejack shakes her head out (vague rattling noise), then climbs unsteadily out of the ditch. "Uh... howdy, Derpy. Just... givin' Flutters an' Rainbow a skatin' lesson." She reaches down to offer Dash a hoof out of the ditch. "Maybe Ah ain't th' right teacher after all. Ah don't remember so much crashin' an' smashin' when Ah learned it..." She hears the gentle whump of a falling Fluttershy and looks over. "Aw... horsefeathers. ARE Y'ALL OKAY, FLUTTERSHY?"
Rainbow_Dash has already tried to scrabble up the ditch several times already (she slides down every time) by the time Applejack offers her assistance. "Uh...thanks. Whoa, Derps!" She blinks, wondering where /she came from. Really, though, should she be surprised? "Uh, you know, Derpy, flying is way faster for delivering the mail." Hearing a ruckus, she turns her head just in time to see Fluttershy roll back in place. "Eh...?"
Derpy watches Fluttershy's apparently involuntary escapades with... well, it could be amazement, but whatever it is, it sets her eyes to revolving. Just like when Scootaloo jumped the crowd that one time. Chances are she's processing something. When Fluttershy turns out to be mostly okay, Derpy looks back to Rainbow and AJ. "Smashing and crashing?" She grins coyly. "Not is best strategy." This is followed by a giggle that sounds like a cricket who lives inside one of the bubbles in a piece of bubble wrap. "Flying is faster??" she asks Dash, utterly confused.
A dark tunnel. A white haze. The sounds of crashing and smashing - and then a face, blurred through the fog but soft and yellow, appears, framed by its silver helmet. The sounds of battle seem to fade away as the commander speaks. "Get up, soldier," the fallen hears, in her own gentle voice. "There's still work to do." Fluttershy shoots up with a gasp, shaking her head into that cartoon blurry state and sending her mane whipping all over the place. Suddenly, she has the notion that a helmet would be a really good idea. "I-I'm okay," she calls to her friends, pushing herself back to her hooves little by little. "I don't think I'm hurt..." But Fluttershy does glance at Derpy, who is the only one skating in more or less a controlled fashion. You know what this means, don't you?
( It means Derpy is the smartest one. )
"Um...d-do you girls need some help?" Fluttershy rolls gently back over to her friends.
Applejack tugs Rainbow Dash out of the ditch and brushes some mud off of her and herself. "Ah know, Ah know." She rubs a new bruise on her rump. "Consarn it..." AJ sighs. "Ah reckon we're okay, Fluttershy, but... Ah think maybe Ah need a bit of a rest... an' some more practice... before Ah try ta teach y'all much more o' this." She spends a moment staring at Derpy's syncopated skating. "... how're y'all even not fallin' down?" Finally, she skates - CAREFULLY - back over to the box, and prepares to remove her skates.
Rainbow_Dash thinks she's learned something after all, judging from how she can now move about (though unsteadily) without tripping over herself. "I think we just need a, uh, safer place to practice," she says, shakily skating towards the box, too. She's kinda given up trying to explain Derpy: who can, really? "Thanks, Fluttershy, but I'll be- WHOA!" She jives! She dances! She swerves in several angles in place before catching herself. "I'll...be fine," she utters, exhausted.
Derpy is happy to meet Applejack's question with a worthy answer! "Is special secret!" She skates precariously around Applejack with both her left legs raised high, and loops back, straddling the edge of the ditch and leaning in to loudly whisper: "Trick is? Always at least ~one~ hoof on ground! That way, never fall!" She laughs giddily, evoking a squeaky yellow permanent marker being used as an eraser. "If teacher? Why not Pinkie Pie here?"
That's a good question. Why *isn't* Pinkie Pie here? It probably involves quantum entanglement, or maybe just taffy entanglement. "Oh my." Fluttershy reaches out and steadies Rainbow, and then Applejack, and then herself again. "Um...o-okay. But thank you for teaching me. I-I think I actually learned a lot!" And it's true - Fluttershy hasn't sustained a single injury for this lesson.
Applejack chuckles. "Heh. Ah'll try ta keep that in mind, Derps." She drops her skates back into the box. "Pinkie? Ah dunno. Actually, come ta think of it... Ah ain't seen Pinkie around much lately. Huh. She was yellin' about muffins th' other day, when that Shadow's spell went all haywire, but Ah ain't seen her in a while other'n that... how about th' two o' y'all?" Oops, 'muffins'. The secret word! But AJ just glances at over at Rainbow and her selection fo skatewear. "Heh heh. Nice choice, Rainbow. Very fittin'... fer a *lady*." She grins at RD for a moment, until something in her back twinges and causes a wince instead! "aw, fer pete's sake... Ah'm happy ta help, Fluttershy, but Ah ain't rightly sure Ah *did*..."
Rainbow_Dash rolls her eyes heavily as Derpy 'answers'. Oh brother. When Applejack teases her, she partially completes an indignant glare before Fluttershy bumps into her. "Whoa, hey!" she shouts, before settling down again. "Actually...Flutters' got a point, we managed to get through this somehow!" She shakily rebalances herself again before giving that trademark guilty grin of hers.
<OOC> Applejack says, "Aw, that was actually kinda sweet, RD."
<OOC> Fluttershy says, "n.n"
Derpy raises her front legs and gives Applejack a brief spinning hug in passing. "You ~have~ help!!" she asserts. She then looks at Fluttershy and giggles for no obvious reason. "Muffins??" It's a special word, all right. Definitely on Derpy's top five list, though probably ranking below the names of her daughter and mother. "Will fetch Pinkie Pie. Soon will skating acily!" she reassures Rainbow Dash.
<OOC> Derpy deleted a line from that pose about trying to hug RD with her rear legs.
<OOC> You say, "What XD"
Fluttershy beams softly. Hooray! She has a point! "Oh, you don't have to do that, Derpy. I-I think the girls just want to take a little rest for now. Right, Applejack? Um...do you two needs some ointment?"
Applejack looks at all three pegasi. "Be that as it may, Ah reckon Ah've done all Ah can fer th' moment. One upendin' into a ditch is enough fer one day." She smiles, though. "Thank ya both fer sayin' so... but Ah ain't too happy with it... not a blue ribbon sorta performance, ya know? Oh well, Ah guess it don't matter none. No thanks, Fluttershy." By the end of this speech, she's managed to deskate herself enrirely, then stands up and stamps a bit. "Heh, Kicks an' Bucky prefer a more solid footin' anyhow. Y'all can hang onto them skates if'n ya want. Ah dunno if Ah can give 'em to y'all outright, but Ah doubt if'n we'll be needin' 'em back anytime soon."
Rainbow_Dash is already half done removing her skates, replacing them in the box quickly before anypony else notices the sparkles. "I'm fine, Flutters, but thanks for asking," she says, prying off the skates from her forehooves. "Yeah, Derps, what's up? Pinkie Pie owe you a special cake or something?" Pinkie Pie seems to have a habit of gifting pastries to ponies for hitherto incomprehensible reasons.
Derpy hesitates, looking back with one skate raised as she rolls toward the Market and Sugarcube Corner. "No Pinkie Pie?" She looks puzzled at Rainbow's question. "Not owe! Is friend! Sometimes is guitar rooftop friend," she confides. She then smacks into a banner pole. Oowch! But true to her own advice, even with stars and spirals flying, Derpy doesn't fall down.
Oof. Fluttershy cringes. "Be careful, Derpy!" Oh...oh well. A-anyway, Fluttershy flutterfrowns, picking up one of Applejack's discarded skates from the box. "Y...you're not--quitting forever, are you?"
Applejack winces as Derpy faceplants on the pole. "Ooh. Are y'okay there, Derps? Guitar rooftop...? - No, never mind, Ah ain't askin'." Her expression melts at Fluttershy's question and she hugs the yellow pegasus! "'Course not! Ah'm just gonna hold off on tryin' ta TEACH y'all until Ah can remember more o' how ta do it mahself. Ah gotta find me some time ta *practice*! So kinda th' opposite o' 'quittin' ferever', ya know?" She grins. Bruises and a spill do not stop an Apple.
Nor a Derp! Derpy shakes off the impact, reaches for one of the spirals before it dissipates, and then smiles back at her friends. "Good afternoon! Am going! Best luck in walking. Not fall!" She departs with a shower of snickers, not unlike a pair of undershorts being scraped against a washing board.
<OOC> Applejack thought snickers were more like a peanut chocolate kind of thing. Which unless you have a had a very bad day, your under wear is not like.
<OOC> Derpy not know. Only know is funny! And that? What important.
<OOC> Derpy skates away.
Rainbow_Dash blinks as Derpy explains. "Guitar rooftop? Is that, like, a rooftop concert, or a rooftop shaped like a guitar...or a guitar shaped like a rooftop?" She quickly realizes that trying to ask such questions is probably a bad idea. It was like Zen, meant to be pondered rather than actually answered because it was ultimately about the emptiness of the universe, which would certainly fit Rainbow's preconception of Derpy: thinking about her sayings was bound to result in some kind of emptiness. "...Yeah, breaks are good after a hard tryin'" Rainbow Dash states, wresting herself from her morbid thoughts are, perhaps, losing whatever insight she ma have had into how a derpy-eyed mare could teach her about the nothingness of the universe.
<OOC> Applejack lends Dash a copy of 'The Tao of Derp'.
<OOC> You say, "I AM A GENIUS"
Derpy reenters unexpectedly from another direction, still skating, though one skate has been removed and is hanging out of her bags: "Guitar Rooftop Friend is friend whom play guitar on rooftop sometime. Is relax!" She then skates off again, having burst Dash's Zenbubble.
<OOC> Applejack blinks. Looks around. "... how in th' hay'd she even know!?"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash paged her the pose <.< >.>
<OOC> Applejack phew! Stops looking for derp-eyed bugs in the walls!
... ... ...please don't think about it too hard, Applejack. Fluttershy scuffs a still-wheeled hoof back and forth on the ground. "Well, I...I guess that's okay. I was just worried that my skating was so bad that...i-it made *you* not want to skate any more. I'm so glad that's not true." Flutters smiles and wipes some sweat off her delicate little yellow brow. "S-so...what do you girls want to do now?"
Applejack shakes her head and smiles at Fluttershy. "Aw, o'course not! Y'all were..." she looks over at the construction site "...shockin'ly agile fer a first-timer, ta be honest. Ah'd better be gettin' on back ta th' farm; Mac's fixin' ta re-tar th' cider house roof an' Ah reckon he'll be wantin' mah help. He didn't say nothin', but... Ah don't wanna hear th' silence he'll give us if'n Ah don't! Heh." She gathers up the box onto her back. "Ya wanna just hang onto them skates, Flutters?"
Rainbow_Dash has already hidden the sparkly skates away into the box. Nope, nothing special abotu those skates, nothing at all. "Wait what?" she utters, as Derpy zooms by, barely catching what she said. Porbably something about dancing guitars on rooftops. ANYWAY. "I think I'll stick to the private lessons for now," Rainbow says, glad to be...hey, she's still on the ground! She corrects this at once by flying up a little.
<OOC> Applejack says, "RD: VTOL."
<OOC> Rarity says, "VTOL?"
<OOC> Applejack says, "Military term. 'Vertical Take-Off an' Landin''."
"Oh, um...o-okay." Fluttershy smiles softly. And...just stands there. Fluts follows Dash into the air with her eyes; would that that was an easy option for her. "Um...I guess I should take them off."
Applejack grins. "Nah. Keep 'em on, get in some practice. Ain't nothin' like practice fer gettin' good at anythin' athletic, am Ah right?" She reaches to sishoof Dash... then leans in and whispers something to Fluttershy. With a wink and a grin, AJ then trots off down the lane with the old box, back towards the apple farm.
"Right on!" Rainbow Dash agrees, sishoofing Applejack right back. The elation is enough that she doesn't register AJ's conspiratorial whispering to Fluttershy before she departs. "So, Flutters, what's the rest of your day like?"
Fluttershy flutterblinks and blushes softly. "Oh, um, right! Take care, Applejack. A-and thank you!" Fluttershy waves at her friend as AJ makes her brilliant gamboge way home. "W-well...I'm not really sure yet." Fluttershy lifts a hoof...and manages to bop herself in the cheek with the skate. Oof.
<OOC> Applejack says, "Ah'm ORANGE. Goldarned fashion ponies."
<OOC> Fluttershy sparklegrins. (eee)
<OOC> You say, "I thought it was more of a burnt senia"
<OOC> You say, "Or goldenrod?"
<OOC> Applejack sighs. "Nah. That there's darker an' not as intense. Ah'm really... 'light brilliant gamboge'. But don't go spreadin' that around!"
Rainbow_Dash noddles. "I've gotta hang out with some Weather Patrol buddies of mine, actually, so I'll see you later!" She gives Fluttershy a salute and takes off into the skies. Skating was neat and all, but she'd much rather let the clouds be her field.
"Take care, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy gives the salute in return - not clocking herself in the face this time - and smiles, watching Rainbow's trailing...rainbow. "So cooooool," she whispers to herself. The camera pulls away, leaving FLuttershy there with her mane and tail billowing in the rainbow-scented slipstream...and the construction site finishing its final collapse behind her. (yay)