The canvas was set, brushes were out and the colours were just in reach. Everything was set, everything was ready, except for her. How was she going to draw them both? She didn’t even need two models on the drawing. Only one.
“It’s OK.” Fluttershy told herself with a deep breath. If anything, Ms. Colourful Brush would have appreciated the extra work and the added ingenuity. It was going to be alright; she just had to think of a good pose before they showed up.
“Hello darling,” a familiar voice called from behind.
Rarity stepped into the art room, twirling her velvet hair. “Shall we begin?”
Fluttershy smiled, and tilted her head to the side, looking at the door, waiting for Rainbow Dash to step in as well. But nothing. “Uhm… where is Rainbow Dash?”
“Oh, I don’t know. But is that even a surprise? It’s Rainbow Dash we are talking about, she probably forgot.” Rarity walked behind the canvas and sat on the carefully-placed wooden.
Fluttershy looked back at her, the warm sunlight rays shone through the tinted windows and landed on Rarity’s lavender dress and lighted up the sparkle in her eyes.
But Fluttershy knew Rainbow would show up, and whether she liked it or not, she promised to draw her too. And so Fluttershy shifted her eyes from Rarity to the door and back onto the empty canvas. There was only so much time she could stay in school and every second that passed was making that smaller and smaller.
“What’s the matter? Is this not a good pose?” Rarity asked.
“No, I-it’s fine. I think we should wait for Rainbow Dash to join as well.”
“Hmm, Alright darling.” The smile faded away from Rarity’s face. “But...and I don’t want to rush you or anything but, maybe she has forgotten about staying after school? We don’t have all day to wait for her, right?”
“Maybe.” Fluttershy looked back at the open door, still nothing. After letting out a sigh, she picked up her brush and took a glance at Rarity. “Maybe we should just… start.”
As Rarity nodded, her smile appeared back on her face. But just then, a sudden swoosh of wind came from the hallway.
“Hey Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said as she walked in. “And… hi… Rarity.” She said her name with extra spite. “Sorry I was late, someone decided to be a bit funny and tied my shoes together.
They glared at each other for a few seconds, before breaking it off.
“How are we gonna do this again?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. “Are you drawing us both at the same time or… individually?”
“Together.” Fluttershy stepped to the side to look at Rarity's position. “You can stand behind Rarity.”
Rainbow Dash paused for a moment and then walked to her spot, putting her right foot on the chair’s top rail.
“HEY, WATCH IT.” Rarity leaned forward and frowned at Rainbow Dash for almost stepping on Rarity’s hair.
“What?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I'm just posing.”
Rarity crossed her arms. “NO. You were trying to step on my hair.”
“Oh, sorry, didn’t see your hair laying around.” Rainbow Dash smirked at Rarity
“Uhm… Can you… not fight? Please?” Fluttershy peered from behind the canvas.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity both turned their heads away from each other and attempted to put on a smile. However, Fluttershy didn’t like how Rainbow Dash was standing with one of her legs on the top rail. It wasn’t very “interesting” or “appealing” but rather distracting.
“Sorry, can you… change your position a little Rainbow Dash?”
“Sure.” Rainbow Dash Stepped aside and stood next to Rarity who was still sitting on the chair. But this time, Rainbow Dash was casting a shadow over Rarity.
“C-could you step back a little?”
Even then, it was dull and lifeless. Something was missing. Maybe the chair wasn’t a nice addition to the piece? Whatever it was, Fluttershy had to try something different.
This time, there was no chair, Rarity was standing upfront smiling to the horizon and Rainbow Dash immersed herself as Daring Do on top of a long tree, putting her hand on top of her eyes as if she was scouting for the bad guys. Each posing on one side. But from Fluttershy's perspective, half of Rainbow Dash's body was obstructed by Rarity.
Another try. Rarity showed her back to the canvas and turned her head as if someone just called her. Rainbow Dash on the other hand, had picked up a brush and held it in front of herself like a sabre and took a fencing stance even though she had never fenced before. But still, they simply didn’t complement one another.
“I.. I don’t think these will work. You two are doing separate things.” Fluttershy shook her head and looked down.
“See what you did?” Rainbow Dash frowned at Rarity.
“What?”
“You are just going off, trying to have the spotlight all for yourself.”
“Am I now?” Rarity glanced back as she crossed her arms. “Maybe if you didn’t take those flashy, meaningless poses, we wouldn’t have an issue.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash nodded sarcastically.
“Uhm.. c-can you—” Fluttershy stepped forward.
“We were doing fine just before you showed up.” Rarity pointed at Rainbow Dash accusingly.
“You were just standing there, Rarity. So just shut up.”
“Can you… please no—”
“It doesn’t matter what I was doing, what matters is that we were fine until you showed up.”
Both had their fist clenched, their teeth grinding and their frowns were frowned. Fluttershy’s heart started beating faster, her breath was going in and coming out hastily and seat drops started to fall of her forehead. .
Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted them all. At the doorway stood Vice Principal Luna, while keeping an eye on the girls.
“Time’s up. Unless you want to be locked in the school, you better head out.”
Fluttershy felt something shatter inside of her. How could time fly so fast? It felt like a few minutes ago that she stepped into the art room. In her disbelief, she instantly turned around and checked the clock only to see it was already five o’clock. She quickly ran to her canvas and turned it around. Only a few streaks of blue and purple colours were on the mostly plain canvas.
“Hurry up.” Vice Principal Luna repeated. “I have places to be.”
Fluttershy was paralysed by the sight that she couldn’t hear anything. There was simply no more time for the drawing and she promised to hand it tomorrow after school.
“Fluttershy?” Rarity put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Darling… I-I’m sorry but we should go.”
Fluttershy stayed silent but picked up her brushes, palette and colour tubes and put them back in her backpack. As Vice Principal Luna followed them outside, Rainbow Dash and Rarity kept on glaring and sticking their tongues out at one another. But Fluttershy no longer cared.
Fluttershy couldn’t go home just yet. She had to stay in the pet shop to fill in for her shift. Even though being near animals always brought a smile onto her face, her thoughts were too busy wondering about what she could possibly do about her project to be pleased by cute animals.