Rainbow Dash was no stranger to waking up with a throbbing headache and having absolutely no idea what had just happened, one got quite used to these things being as crash prone as she was. This isn’t to say that she enjoyed the feeling; just that she was not surprised when it happened. What did surprise her though, is that this time when she awoke, there seemed to be another pony there with her. As her vision cleared and the world around her came back into focus, she was able to see that her companion was in fact Fluttershy, who was standing over Dash and had been calling out to the downed daredevil for the past few minutes.
“Fluttershy?” mumbled Dash, as she tried to look around her, but quickly decided against the action when her head felt a jolt of pain from the movement.
“Oh thank Celestia, you’re okay. I was afraid I was going to have to get more help. Are you feeling alright?” the yellow pegasus said in relief.
“My head hurts, but other than that, I think I’m good. It’ll take more than a crash to bring me down for long,” Rainbow said with a smile, “What did I crash into anyways?”
“Well, you see, we were flying, and I think you were daydreaming or something, and well, you weren’t looking where you were going… please don’t be mad, I tried to warn you, but you flew right into that cloud column over there. I’m so sorry…” Fluttershy trailed off, bowing her head in shame over something she didn’t even do.
Dash slowly got to her hooves, flinching at the pain, but continuing nonetheless. Once she was up, she placed a hoof around Fluttershy to comfort the older mare, “Hey, it’s not your fault. You tried to warn me, I just didn’t listen. If it’s anypony’s fault it’s mine.” Fluttershy sniffed and looked up at Dash, but before she could say anything else to discount herself, Rainbow interrupted, “Now, I don’t want to hear anything else about it. Now let’s go, we need to get checked into our rooms before they give them to somepony else.”
“Are you sure you’re good to fly? Didn’t you say your head hurt? You might have a concussion, and we should get it checked out.” Fluttershy said, suddenly worried again.
“Naw, I said I’m fine. I’ve had worse crashes that I could fly after, so this one’s nothing.” With that, the blue pegasus took off towards the gates of Cloudsdale, soon followed by her shy companion.
---
Cloudsdale hadn’t changed much since the best young fliers’ competition. The only major addition was the new city gates, which were only installed because the city had extra funds and they thought the gates looked cool. All the buildings were in the same places; nothing had been torn down or remodeled; everything was exactly the same. The atmosphere of the city is what stuck Dash as odd. Everypony just seemed more, removed than they should have been. Nopony had greeted them or even looked their way since they had arrived, and it was starting to creep Rainbow out, even more so than Tank did during the pet competition.
The hotel that the two were staying in was an older establishment, with only two floors and about thirty or so rooms. They had reserved two of the one bed rooms for the half week that they were planning on being there, but when they arrived in the lobby, they were informed that one of them was out of commission due to plumbing issues. So as compensation for the inconvenience, they had been moved over to one of the larger, two bed rooms, completely free of charge. Dash took the key to the room from the stallion behind the desk and proceeded to head upstairs where the larger rooms were located.
“Well that sure was nice of him,” Fluttershy commented as she followed her friend up the stairs.
“Yeah, it definitely was.” Dash couldn’t help but keep the slight annoyance out of her voice. The only reason she had gotten the two separate rooms in the first place was so that she would be able to sleep without having to think about Fluttershy being right there in the room with her. It was a really strange reason, but she knew that the shy yellow pegasus was the reason for her current mental troubles, and she just didn’t know if sleeping in the same room as her would be a good idea. Dash just hoped that she wouldn’t do anything that she would regret later, and also hoped that she didn’t talk in her sleep.
The room was exactly as Rainbow had pictured it, much to her dismay, with two beds spaced about 3 or 4 feet apart, a small bathroom set right beside the door, and a nightstand between the beds with a lamp and alarm clock on it. Dash had had a hope that the phrase ‘two bed room’ might have actually meant ‘two bedroom’, but no such luck was hers to have, seeing as it was obviously just two beds in one room. ‘Oh well, looks like I’ll have to deal with it. It’s only half a week anyway.’
---
Once the two were settled in the room, they began making plans about what they should do. It was only early afternoon and they had a few hours to kill before dinner. Rainbow had claimed that her parents weren’t expecting them until tomorrow, even though her parents were not expecting them at all. She had only told Fluttershy this so that they could spend the rest of the day wandering the city.
They decided that they would go and see the campgrounds and maybe watch some of the younger fillies and colts practicing. Maybe it would give them some common memories to talk about, or if nothing else, at least give them some sense of nostalgia. So they set off towards the outskirts of the city, where the grounds reserved for summer flight camp were located. On the way there, Rainbow continued to notice that a lot of the other pegasi in the city were keeping their distance from her and Fluttershy, some even going so far as to cross the street before meeting up with them.
“Hey Fluttershy, any ideas why everypony’s avoiding us?” inquired Dash, glaring at a bright maroon mare that had just turned around when she saw them.
“No, do you?”
“If I had any idea, do you think I’d be asking you?”
“Oh right. I’m sorry.”
“Stop being sorry for everything, it’s not always your fault.”
“Oh, I’ll try. I’m sorry.”
After completing her facehoof, Rainbow Dash suggested they enter a nearby restaurant in order to find out what everypony’s problem was. It was a long shot, since it appeared that nopony was going to willingly talk to them, but it would be worth it if they could get some information. They picked a random diner on the side of the road and entered, and as luck would have it, it turned out to be the exact same café that Dash had been daydreaming of earlier that day. ‘How about that…this place looks exactly like I remember it, right down to the staff.’
They sat at the counter, figuring they were more likely to make contact with somepony there than in a booth. They were correct. Within five minutes of sitting down, a strange Chartreuse Green stallion sat down next to Rainbow Dash. He had light brown eyes and a pair of black rimmed reading glasses perched on the end of his muzzle. His mane and tail were pure white, but despite this he appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He wore a set of black bracelets on his front left hoof, and a similar set on his rear right hoof. Unfortunately, his wings appeared to be slightly larger than normal and because of this, Rainbow was unable to make out his cutie mark, if he even had one.
“Well hi der! Name’s Peppermint. How ya doin?”
“Okay, except that everyone keeps avoiding me and my friend here. Any idea why?”
“Ehh, nope, nodda clue. Hey, just wonderin, do you dye yer mane? Cuz it looks really good if ya do. I tried doing it sorta like dat fer a while, but then I hadda go to plain ol white cuz it was jus too hard with all da colors. Take a look.”
Somehow, the stallion had retrieved a photo from somewhere, of himself with a mane dyed in a rainbow spectrum. It did appear to be sloppily done and all the colors were starting to run together at the ends, causing the tips of his mane and tail to be brown.
“No, it’s natural. So if your mane is dyed white, what color is it normally?”
“White wid pink stripes in it, dats how I got mah name.”
At that moment, the staff colt that had taken Dash and Fluttershy’s order returned with their meals. “Here you are Ms. Dash, and Ms. Dash’s friend.”
“Wait wait wait, Dash? As in… Dash? Like Rainbow Dash?” Peppermint stuttered, eyes widening so much that the glasses fell from his muzzle. He quickly picked them up and returned them there before continuing to stare at the blue pegasus.
“Yes, as in Rainbow Dash. Rainbow colored mane, hello…”
“Well den, I might just be able tah help ya wid yer problem den.” The stallion followed this up by sitting there, giving no impression that he was actually going to say anything.
“Well, go on then,” Dash prodded, giving the usual nod of the head and circling hoof motion that goes with the phrase.
“Oh, well, ya see. Ever since dat competition dat was here a little while back. Da one dat ya won, ya know. Well, ever since den, rumors have been goin’ round Cloudsdale dat ya saved dat unicorn cuz ya was in love wid her. Now everypony tinks yer some sorta filly-fooler, and I guess that when dey see ya wid an-udder mare, dey just assumes dat you two are to-getter.”
“WHAT!!!!” Suddenly, every other pony in the café was looking at her, some with looks of disapproval, and some just with confusion on their faces. They gradually went back to their business and Dash continued her tirade in a quieter voice.
“How could they possibly think that I saved Rarity because I loved her? I saved her because she’s my friend, and I never let my friends down, nor anypony else if I can help it. So now everypony in Cloudsdale thinks I’m a lesbian?”
“Well, not everypony, but quite a few. I tink da rumor was started by some guys who had some sorta picture of ya as a filly wid some udder filly, and I guess dey just used it against ya. Just ta be honest dough, I neva was one dat thought ya was like dat.”
‘Ah-ha! A couple of stallions with a picture, that could only be a picture from that first year at camp when she didn’t know, and the stallions could only be those two bullies that were always picking on her and Fluttershy.’ Dash had a score to settle with those two, but it would have to wait. Right now, she needed to figure out some way to convince the city that she wasn’t a filly-fooler.
“Dash, does this mean that they think I’m a…?”
The quiet voice of her friend surprised Dash, who had almost forgotten that she was even there. She turned around and looked at Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus was sitting there, with what appeared to be tears around the edges of her eyes. She didn’t look sad, just worried. Dash just about hugged her to comfort her, but then thought better of it given the circumstances.
“Well, yeah, I guess so. But don’t you worry Fluttershy, I’m going to prove to them that they’re wrong, and the first ones to start with will be our parents. We’ll start with mine tomorrow.”
A thankful look crossed the worried mare’s face, but then it returned to the distraught expression it was in before.
“But what if they don’t believe us? I don’t know how my parents would react if they thought that I was…well, you know. And since I don’t even know your parents, I can’t know how they would react.”
‘I know how they’re going to react, and I don’t think it’s going to be good.’
“Come on Fluttershy, let’s go back to the hotel, I don’t really want to see the race track anymore,” Dash said as she got up and left some bits on the counter. “Nice talking to you Mr. Peppermint, and thanks for the clarification.”
“Glad to be a help. Wish ya luck wid yer parents.”
The two friends exited the café and started making their way back towards the center of the city, again being avoided by almost everypony. Now that they knew the reason, it just seemed so rude and so homophobic of everypony. Dash really wanted to yell at all of them that they were being stupid and they were wrong, but she knew it wouldn’t help. Nopony listens when the pony the rumors are about claims that they’re false. If it worked that way, there wouldn’t really be any rumors, now would there? The hotel was like a refuge to the two pegasi, a place where they weren’t constantly judged by the world around them, and after a brief conversation regarding Dash’s parents, the two went to sleep. Fluttershy was asleep within ten minutes, but Rainbow Dash took a while longer as she tried to figure out how she was going to convince her parents that everything they were hearing was lies.
---
A half hour later, Dash was summing up her mental argument with her parents, and it had not gone to plan. Her entire point had been repeatedly ripped apart by her parents’ refusal to accept any sort of reason. Time and again they had simply brought the battle back to the beginning by stating her sexuality as if it were obvious fact.
‘And maybe it is…’ she thought, as she lay in her bed, ‘Maybe I actually have let it slip. Could it be possible that I let that part of me show, after all of these years? If I have, how could I ever cover it back up? There were already the rumors from all that time ago, however deep they were buried, and I may have just resurfaced them. Even worse though, is that I’ve brought Fluttershy into it with me now. She never knew of my first year at camp, because I never told her. She never knew that I was once accused of being a fag, never knew how much risk of public humiliation she was getting herself into when she befriended me. Now she’s had to find out the hard way, and I don’t think that she liked what she learned. That look on her face, it was just so pleading. It was almost as if she were begging me to tell her it wasn’t true. I hurt the first pony to ever show me true kindness, and it’s hurting me just as much. I don’t want to have to see her like that again, which means I have to win this argument with my parents. I have to convince them that I’m not that kind of mare.'
The athlete rolled over and looked at the subject of her thoughts, sleeping soundly in the bed across the room. She could make out the slight rise and fall of Fluttershy’s chest as she breathed the night air. To her surprise, Dash found it quite relaxing to watch the yellow pegasus in such a state, completely oblivious to the world around her, living in a world of dreams that was entirely her own; in which she could swim in the deepest oceans, or soar over the highest clouds.
‘Oh if only I could just shut the world out so easily, but no. I’ll probably always be tied back by the prejudice directed towards me; and now her too. I don’t think I could stand to see her suffer for my flaw, but if I continue to hide, I’ll never be able to avoid these accidental slips of my true self, which lead to times such as these. Maybe, just maybe, if I were to come out, but just deny that Fluttershy is my marefriend, then everypony will leave her alone. The hatred will be directed back at me, and she’ll be safe. But she might not want to be my friend anymore. I will be admitting that I’ve been lying to her all these years that I’ve known her, and I don’t think that could score very well of the friendship scale. Even if friendship is magic, there are always things that can cause such a spell to go wrong. No, I will not lose my friendship with Fluttershy. I will deny the rumors, and fight my way to bury them again, for the sake of Fluttershy.’
With her purpose decided, Rainbow Dash slowly drifted into a dream world of her own, telling herself over and over, for Fluttershy, for Fluttershy…
… for Fluttershy….
Author’s Notes: Sorry to anypony who wanted an account of Dash’s 3rd camp year, but I’m planning that for a side story after this one (I have way too many stories planned, but never enough time). Also, yes, I know that the beginning paragraph makes it sound like Dash is drunk, I thought it was funny, I don’t know if anypony else did.
One last thing before I leave you alone. I realize a lot of you may be thinking ‘This has all been done before,’ but please bear with me. As I said, it’s my first ongoing story, and I’m really just working out my writing style. If there are any things I should try to do (more description, less dialogue, spacing and structure issues, etc.), please don’t hesitate to tell me in the comments. I, like every aspiring artist, strive to improve my technique, and I can’t do that without everypony’s input. Thanks, and until next time, deuces!