Always the Quiet Ones is a My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fanfic written by Eddy13
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On her way home from an evening jog one night, Sunset Shimmer passes by Fluttershy's house, where she hears what sounds like Fluttershy attacking Rainbow Dash. After recounting the experience to the others, Sunset tries to convince herself that she misheard and was overreacting... except that Rainbow Dash has mysteriously disappeared. It isn't long before the others are dragged into her suspicion as they continuously find clues that hint that Fluttershy is more than the shy girl she seems to be.
The story can be found here. Now has a dramatic reading.
Always the Quiet Ones provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: During their search, the Rainbooms accumulate these, culminating in them being essentially Tarred And Feathered.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- After getting worked up on what to expect in Fluttershy's bedroom (i.e, the place where Sunset heard Fluttershy attacking Rainbow), the Rainbooms open the door to find...it looks perfectly normal. It becomes Double Subverted when they turn on the lightswitch and find the room looks like it was trashed.
- When the Rainbooms slide out of control across a slick lawn, they find themselves on a collision course with a large mud puddle...and then end up skidding to a stop before hitting it. Double Subverted as just when they are breathing sighs of relief, Pinkie Pie (sliding across the lawn of her own freewill) comes up behind the group and knocks them all in.
- Beware the Nice Ones: The idea of sweet, innocent Fluttershy being a vicious serial killer is horrifying. Double subverted as Fluttershy isn't a serial killer, but a dominatrix when no one is looking.
- Big "NO!": Sunset hears Rainbow yelling this, leading her to believe that she was being murdered. In actuality, she was play acting, doing it quite convincingly.
- Big "WHAT?!": Rarity let one of these when Sunset agreed to Rainbow Dash's punishment of the girls cleaning Rainbow and Fluttershy's house.
- A Bloody Mess: While looking over Fluttershy's trashed bedroom, the Rainbooms see red stains on the walls that they think is blood. It was actually paint that was splattered everywhere in Rainbow's accident.
- Brick Joke: Towards the beginning of the story, Spike told Twilight that the leftovers thrown away after lunch at high school could feed hungry animals throughout town. It turns out that Fluttershy felt the same way, and so swiped a bagful for the animals at the shelter, which in turn Twilight and Spike mistook for a body bag.
- Brutal Honesty: After her Stetson is damaged by spears, Applejack asks how it looks. The rest of the Rainbooms lie and say it looks fine (with Pinkie Pie honestly believing it could be a new look), only for Spike to comment that it's the most ridiculous thing he ever saw. Twilight comments that there are times when she wished Spike didn't gain the ability to speak human.
- Casual Kink: Apparently, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have a thing for this, even having a BDSM dungeon upstairs which they keep locked when they have company over. As Fluttershy says, Rainbow likes to play rough.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: After the power goes off at Sunset's house due to a sudden storm, they find that Sunset's phone is dead and their cellphones have no signals.
- Collector of the Strange: Sunset and the others discover that Fluttershy has an unusual habit of collecting strange things regarding animals: empty caterpillar cocoons, used porcupine quills, broken wasp stingers, and even bird feathers. They don't find it a disturbing hobby.
- Covered in Gunge: While racing towards Fluttershy's house in a rainstorm, the Rainbooms end up covered in mud when Pinkie knocks them into a mud puddle.
- Crash-Into Hello: Pinkie ends up crashing into Fluttershy and sends her things scattering across the hall. While helping Fluttershy round up her things Pinkie discovers she has a bit of Rainbow Dash's hair.
- Delayed Reaction: After being informed that what Pinkie thought was a bit of wig Fluttershy had was actually Rainbow Dash's hair, Pinkie gave a nonchalant "Oh"...before screaming "FLUTTERSHY MURDERED RAINBOW DASH!".
- Destroy the Evidence: At the climax of the story, the Rainbooms head to the police station before they realize there was a chance that Fluttershy would get rid of everything incriminating in her house before the police arrived, so they decide to go back to her house and grab a piece of evidence to take to the police.
- Didn't Think This Through: When the Rainbooms thought they heard Fluttershy coming home, they quickly hid in the basement. This seemed like a good idea...except they forgot they were covered in mud and their Footprints of Muck led a trail right to the basement.
- Empowered Badass Normal: When the Rainbooms think that Fluttershy is a Serial Killer in disguise, they realize that if her magic continues to grow, she could become the greatest threat to the entire world.
- False Friend: Fluttershy's English assignment which is mistaken for her diary gives the Rainbooms the impression that she never considered them friends.
- Furniture Blockade: The Rainbooms barricade Sunset's door when they think Fluttershy is coming for them.
- Gag Haircut: Sunset and Rarity end up losing a chunk of their hair after getting pried free of Sunset's window.
- Hat Damage: Applejack's poor Stetson ends up looking like Swiss cheese after being run through by a bunch of spears.
- He Knows Too Much: Towards the climax, the Rainbooms think that Fluttershy is after them for learning her secret as a psychotic murderer.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: While leaping out Sunset's window to escape Fluttershy, Sunset and Rarity get stuck due to leaping through at the same time.
- Human Ladder: While the Rainbooms are trying to get into Fluttershy's house, Applejack suggests they do this to reach an open window on the second floor. Rarity immediately vetoes it as she doesn't want dirty feet on her shoulders, even those of her friends.
- Humiliation Conga: Over the course of their investigation, the Rainbooms experience increasingly painful and embarrassing moments, culminating in them essentially looking like a bunch of overgrown chickens at the end of the story.
- It Has Been an Honor: When the Rainbooms think that Fluttershy is coming down the basement stairs, they share final good-byes, saying it was nice knowing each other. Fortunately, it turns out to be Rainbow Dash.
- It's All My Fault: Upon hearing the whole story, Fluttershy immediately apologizes to the girls for misleading them into thinking she was a killer, only for Rainbow to point out that they're the ones who need to apologize.
- Jerkass Ball: Rainbow Dash gets pretty irked over Sunset and the others snooping around her and Fluttershy's house, along with accusing Fluttershy for a murderer, forcing them to clean the whole house and walk home looking like over-sized chickens, given that what the girls did was out of concern for her. The author reveals this was by a design, going for a With Friends Like These... situation.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Despite her harsh attitude, Rainbow Dash was right that the others should apologize for misjudging Fluttershy.
- Kitchen Sink Included: When the Rainbooms barricade Sunset's door in a panic, Applejack starts saying the usual comment before Pinkie Pie throws the sink on the pile for precaution.
- Klingon Promotion: Upon finding a bunch of sports equipment in Fluttershy's house which actually belongs to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie surmises that Fluttershy may have gotten rid of Rainbow Dash to take her place on the sports teams at school.
- Lame Pun Reaction: When the Rainbooms believe that Fluttershy has found them, Pinkie Pie cries "We're dead ducks! Our goose is cooked!". Considering that the group is currently covered with feathers, Applejack can't help but flinch at the choice of words.
- Lightswitch Surprise: When the Rainbooms enter Fluttershy's room, they find it looks the same. Then when Applejack flicks on the light switch, it's revealed that the entire room is actually trashed.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Apparently, Rainbow Dash was the only one who originally knew that Pinkie Pie had a Skeleton Key.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: While racing to get out of Fluttershy's house, Pinkie accidentally left one of her shoes behind. When Fluttershy shows up at Sunset's house, the Rainbooms assume that Fluttershy found Pinkie's shoe and figured out they had been snooping around.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Rainbooms have quite a few over the course of the story.
- Master Actor: Even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are surprised that their roleplay acting was so convincing that Sunset actually thought Fluttershy did Rainbow in.
- No Escape but Down: When the Rainbooms are still in Fluttershy's house when she gets home, their only way out is to jump out a second story window.
- Not so Dire: Sunset hears what she thinks is Fluttershy attacking Rainbow Dash. Turns out they were having a BDSM roleplay.
- Once More, with Clarity: The conversation between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy that Sunset overheard at the beginning of the story is shown in full towards the end, showing that it was a roleplaying game that got out of hand.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Sunset mistook Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's roleplay acting as Fluttershy preparing to murder Rainbow Dash.
- Pain to the Ass: Applejack ends up landing in a bramble bush after jumping out of Fluttershy's window. She ends up having a hard time to sit down afterwards.
- Pre-emptive Declaration: To escape Sunset's house before Fluttershy got in, Pinkie Pie yelled to go out the back door. Sunset retorts she doesn't have one, but Pinkie replies she will in a minute.
- Properly Paranoid: Rainbow Dash felt that Pinkie Pie having a Skeleton Key would be trouble. Turns out that she was right.
- Ransacked Room: The Rainbooms enter Fluttershy's bedroom and find signs that seem to indicate a struggle between her and Rainbow Dash. It turns out that the mess was caused by a Disaster Dominoes effect when Fluttershy and Rainbow's roleplaying went wrong.
- "Rear Window" Investigation: Sunsets hears what sounds like Fluttershy attacking Rainbow Dash, causing her and the others to investigate and learn the truth.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: Upon hearing that Fluttershy imitated Rainbow's personality during one roleplay, Pinkie halfheartedly asked if it was part of a Screw Yourself scenario. Fluttershy's silence in response implies that was the case.
- Right Behind Me: When Rarity saw the others were staring at her and Sunset with dropped jaws, she hopped this wasn't the case regarding Fluttershy. The good news was it wasn't. The bad news was that Sunset and Rarity were having bad hair days.
- Screw Yourself: It's implied that during one of their games, Fluttershy made herself look like Rainbow Dash to do this.
- Secret Relationship: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had been living together for a month, but weren't ready to tell their friends yet.
- Shout-Out:
- Throughout the story, Sunset Shimmer receives the same types of injuries Twilight received in It's About Time.
- Pinkie Pie makes a reference to the infamous fanfic Cupcakes (Sergeant Sprinkles) when she compares the idea of Fluttershy murdering Rainbow to her turning people into pastries.
- During the search of Fluttershy's house, Pinkie Pie comments if they should check Fluttershy's shed as well.
- Skeleton Key: When Pinkie manages to unlock Fluttershy's front door, she reveals she has one of these. Her friends are naturally disturbed by the implications that she can open any door she wants.
- Slippery Skid: While racing towards Fluttershy's house through muddy yards during a thunderstorm, the Rainbooms end up slipping and propelling full speed at a large mud puddle next to Fluttershy's house. They stopped just short of it...before Pinkie Pie, thinking the sliding looked like fun and decided to try it, came up behind the group and knocked them in.
- Staircase Tumble: When the Rainbooms try to hide in Fluttershy's basement, due to being covered in mud, they end up slipping and tumble down the stairs.
- Tempting Fate:
- When Sunset was in the process of calling the police to arrest Fluttershy, Applejack was relieved that the whole affair was finally over. It was then that lightning knocked out the power and phone at Sunset's house. Pinkie Pie chided Applejack for issuing fate a challenge.
- When Rainbow Dash claims she found the idea of being overpowered by Fluttershy absurd, Fluttershy challenged her to put that to a test. Sure enough, Rainbow actually has a hard time defending herself against the supposedly delicate Fluttershy.
- Twisted Ankle: While racing to get away from Fluttershy's house, Twilight ends up falling and spraining her leg, requiring Sunset and Pinkie Pie to help her.
- Wardrobe Wound: Rarity's skirt gets torn when she is shoved out of Fluttershy's window, much to her dismay.
- Was It All a Lie?: After reading what they believe is Fluttershy's diary, which seems to point that Fluttershy was really a Serial Killer using the group as a cover, the Rainbooms begin to wonder if everything they knew about Fluttershy wasn't true, even if her name really was Fluttershy.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Pinkie Pie considers the more painful moments the group experiences, such as jumping out of a window and falling in a mud puddle, to be "fun". The others don't agree with her sentiment.
- The Worf Effect: What really annoys Rainbow about the others thinking that Fluttershy had killed her was the fact that they thought she died without putting up a fight against Fluttershy, thinking that the idea of Fluttershy being able to overpower her is a bit absurd. As Fluttershy demonstrates during an affectionate wrestling match, it's more possible than Rainbow thought.
