Slumber Party Part 1

It was one of those rare times that everyone's schedule aligned perfectly with one another.  Twilight had no business to attend too, Applejack was ahead of schedule on the farm, Fluttershy had everyone taken care of, Rarity had no orders to fill, Pinkie Pie had no parties . . . and Rainbow Dash rescheduled her nap.  It was absolutely perfect.

	The six all met at Sweet Apple Acres earlier in the day and had a fun time playing various games like horse shoes, sitting around a fire, and just having fun.  But the night time had come, and the cool winter air forced them inside one of Applejack's big red barns.  They planned to have a slumber party, together, inside the barn.

“Well, that was a whole lotta' fun ya guys.  But the night is still young.” Applejack grinned as she lifted her sleeping roll blanket over her snout.

“Ohh!  We could tell scary stories!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

“Naaah.  We've done that too many times already.” Rainbow Dash quipped.

“You have better ideas, Dash?”  Asked Pinkie Pie.  Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Sleep?” Fluttershy timidly murmured.  She was completely ignored as Rarity burst into the conversation.

“We could talk about stallions!” She flamboyantly sang as her cheeks blushed.  All the mares smiled and giggled, Fluttershy sulked down at the fact of being ignored.  “I saw Twilight here with that colt from the other end of town!”  Rarity squirmed as she elbowed Twilight beside her.

“Oh, Rarity.  It was nothing.”  Twilight bashfully said as she turned bright red, lowered her ears, and turned away.

“No, no, go on dear!  Tell us.”  Rarity urged.

“I . . .  I . . . we were just . . . “

Applejack stepped in.  “Twilight doesn't want to share, so lets not push her.”  Rarity sneered and responded, “Then what are we to talk about?”

“Sleep.”  Fluttershy whispered partially before being interrupted by Pinkie Pie.

“We could sing songs!  Hear me out!  We could all try to come up with lines, then combine them and make a silly song!”  Pinkie Pie explained waving her arms and tail in all directions.

“Lame!”  Rainbow Dash said in a monotone voice.

Pinkie Pie puffed her cheeks and angrily looked at Rainbow Dash.

“We could read about the formation of the Equestrian nation?” Twilight said with a rather big grin, her left ear twitching.

Everpony just stared blankly at Twilight for a few moments.  Twilight's face reddened again as she lowered herself into the warmth of her bed roll.

“So you and Soarin' still seeing each other, Dashie?”  Rarity asked as she batted her eyelids.

Rainbow Dash's voice cracked as she blushed and murmured, “Yeah.”

“Well go on dear.”  Rarity encouraged.

Rainbow Dash scrunched her snout and was about to continue when all of a sudden a small sneeze was heard.

“Chu!”

Rainbow Dash stopped with her mouth open as she looked at Fluttershy.  Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all turned to look at Fluttershy who was holding her blanket over her snout.  Her eyes were closed, then they opened.  She realized everypony was staring at her and lifted the blanket over her head.

“Sorry.”

Applejack smiled.  “Bless you.”

Twilight nodded.  “Indeed.”

“When you sneeze, some stallion is thinking of you dear.  Maybe that Bulk Biceps.”  Rarity smiled lowering her eyelids to a sly expression.

From under the blanket Fluttershy made a squirming noise.

“You would like that, wouldn't you, Fluttershy dear?”  Rarity pushed.

Fluttershy lowered the blanket so she could view her friends.  Her face was bright red.  She squeezed her eyes shut and squealed.  “Yes!”  She quickly covered herself with the blanket again.

Rarity proudly smiled, as if she had discovered the answer to life's meaning.

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and stuttered before spitting out what was on her mind.  “I-I-I-I-I got an idea!  We could play a game!”

Rainbow Dash already looked unamused, but Pinkie Pie continued before she could answer.

“We could play a totally new game!  We could see who sneezes the most and who sneezes the least!”

“That doesn't really seem like any game I've ever heard of before.”  Rarity said lifting her head.

“Pinkie Pie doesn't come up with ideas others have ever thought of.”  Twilight said with a smile.

“How would we do it?” Applejack asked with a rather questionable expression.

“Well you see, we are in a barn!  There are these long pieces of straw and hay and stuff!  We can tickle our noses and see who can hold back their sneezes, and see who can't!  Winner gets a prize!”  Pinkie Pie said at nearly faster then the speed of sound.

“A prize?  I like prizes.  What kind of prizes?”  Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she crossed her hooves.

Pinkie Pie responded,“I don't know, maybe some bits?”

“I can throw in five bits.”  Applejack smiled as she tossed five bits in the center of the barn floor.

“I raise you another five!”  Twilight with a determined face threw in more coins.  Rarity then tossed in her coins.  “I'm game I guess, but you all know I have a sensitive nose.”

Fluttershy just watched and Rainbow Dash still looked questionable.  Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash to make the first move.  Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders.  “Ehhh, there are two ways to win.  I will win one of the two.  I'm in.”  Rainbow Dash tossed her coins in.

Everypony again looked at Fluttershy.

“Uhhh . . . well . . . “

“You don't have to play if you don't want to Fluttershy.”  Applejack kindly offered.

Fluttershy closed her eyes again, then tossed in her coins.  She covered her head with the blanket again.

“So here are the rules for the game.  You have to use a piece of straw to induce a sneeze.”  Pinkie Pie held up a long piece of straw.  She motioned it to her snout and pretended wiggle it.  “It is up to you to figure out which way works best to induce a sneeze from you, but no matter what, the straw must be wiggling, and it must be somewhere in or on your nose.”  Pinkie Pie boops her nose.

“There are two, count them, TWO, ways to win.  You can either have the most sneezes, or the least amount of sneezes.  Since there are six of us, we will split the coins in half.  One half goes to the winner with the most sneezes, and the other half to the winner with the least amount of sneezes.”  Pinkie Pie divided the coins then drew a line in the ground.  “Any questions?”

Twilight raised her hoof.  “Is there some sort of time limit?”

“Twenty minutes?”  Pinkie said with a question.  “Is that too long?”

“Seems fair.  I don't know if I can even make myself sneeze.”  Applejack smiled as she rubbed the back of her neck.

Rarity looked down.  “Seems like a long time.  How about five minutes?”

“That's way too short!”  Rainbow Dash waved her arms.

“Ten minutes.”  Twilight said confidently.  Applejack nodded, as did Rainbow Dash.

Rarity bit her lower lip, then nodded.

“Ten minutes!  You will have ten minutes”  Pinkie Pie placed down an alarm clock with ten minutes set.

“As to not alter anyone's chances right away, you must start in different parts of the barn.  But after the five minute mark, you can try to mess things up for your friends.”  Pinkie Pie smiled deviously as she rubbed her hooves together.

“So I can go over to Rainbow Dash here, and make her stop sneezing so I can win the non sneezing award?”  Applejack asked.

“Hey!  I'm going to win that one!”  Rainbow Dash flew over to Applejack and looked at her eye to eye.

“Exactly!”  Pinkie Pie giggled.

“This sounds like it is going to be quite a blast.”  Twilight said, chuckling to herself.  Everpony looked at her.

“I thought it was funny.”  Twilight lowered her head.

“So take your places!  I will start here by the clock to activate it when ready.”  Pinkie Pie eagerly awaited the start of her new game.

Fluttershy, still in her sleeping bag, inched over to the wall, where she just curled up and laid on the floor.

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack then quickly flew to the upper crawl space in the barn.

Applejack trotted over towards the storage area, while Twilight walked over to the barn doors.  Rarity quietly waltzed to a corner.

“Everypony got their straw?”

Everypony lifted at least one piece of straw.

“Excellent!  Three, two, two and a half, one, GO!”  Pinkie Pie hit the clock and the timer started with ten minutes remaining.