//------------------------------// // Settling In // Story: Oh... // by Arbiter Balemead //------------------------------// "Okay, so you can stay in here, and I'll be just upstairs, okay?" Twilight asked. The little filly looked up at her, still carrying that half-confused, half-worried expression on her face. "O-okay." She seemed so small and helpless. It was odd how Twilight had always wanted to feel like Rainbow was the one protecting her and now she's the one who's protecting Rainbow. A complete and utter paradigm shift. The little filly walked into the room gingerly at first, probably trying to get used to the idea of living here. Twilight watched he quietly, still trying to think of her as a little filly, not her best friend whom she had a crush on and even once had a very steamy dream about.. Twilight coughed and turned to walk back into the main room of the library. All the other girls had left, except for Fluttershy who had stayed behind to make sure that Twilight did, in fact, have this covered. "Y-you're sure you can handle this?" "Yeah. Yeah, I'm positive. Hey, would you mind heading to her house? Y'know, pick up random stuff you think she might need. You know her about as well as I do, I'm sure. You'll know what she needs, right?" "Oh, yes. I'll go do that in a bit, but... Twilight, are you sure this is the best idea?" She asked. "Yes, for the umpteenth time, I'm sure. I'm the best choice, both ethically and scientifically." "B-but not experience-wise." Fluttershy replied. "Twilight, I'm the best with foals, and I knew Rainbow when she was actually ten years old. I'm the best choice for this." She finished, then suddenly hid behind her mane. "I-I mean... No offense." "None taken." Twilight said offhandedly, looking over at the door to make sure Rainbow was still out of earshot. She turned back to Fluttershy, her face a mask of seriousness. "Fluttershy. I want to do this. I want to fix my mistake, I want to keep her nearby so I can study he-er... *ahem* not that wa- you know what I mean." Fluttershy nodded. "*sigh* And besides... I just want her to be nearby so if and when I fix this, I might be ready to tell her how I feel..." She stared at the wooden planks of the library as she finished. "Twilight..." "*sigh* Just-... Just please go get those things for me, and let me do this." Twilight pled, still looking away. Fluttershy watched her with a slightly pitying look before deciding to consent. "Okay, Twilight. I'll go get them." And with that she stepped outside and flew off to Rainbows house. Twilight stood there a moment, trying to convince herself that she'd made a good decision. For a moment, she was pretty sure she'd succeeded. There was a loud crash from the guest room, bringing Twilight's attention back to the present. "Dashie?" She called, using the pet name she reserved for joking and when Rainbow did something Twilight found adorable or cute, which (apparently) was 'always' when her friend was a filly. Oh, and that one dream... "*cough* W-what are you doing in there?" She trotted into the room quickly to find Rainbow on her back on the ground, looking like she was in pain. "Oh ow ow ow!" She whimpered. Twilight was at her side instantly, trying to ease the pain. "What's wrong? What happened?" "I-I thought I could fly. I got-" She stopped mid sentence, hissing as Twilight lifted a wing for examination. "Ow!.. I got the urge to just... hover. Do I do that?" Twilight finished examining Rainbow, smiling with relief when it turned out she was fine. "Oh... Only a lot. Almost always. You love to fly; it's your special talent after all." Twilight replied, helping the little filly back to her hooves. "But I can't do it anymore!" Rainbow's voice cracked mid-sentence, eliciting an even wider grin from Twilight. "I miss it, and I can't even remember doing it!" She limped over to the bed on three legs, flailing the last one around in a dramatic, angry manner. She flopped onto the bed, crying out weakly when her newly-sore wing made impact. "But that's okay, because..." Twilight faltered, fumbling for a good reason. Rainbow sat up and looked at her, her bottom lip protruding in that adorable way fillies' lips do when they pout. "...Because you'll... Well, I'm sure you'll learn to fly again really soon." "B-but I wanna fly now!" Rainbow cried. She flopped onto her side, facing away from Twilight. Twilight let out a sigh, looking out the window to see how close to bed time it was. The Sun was still high in the air. "*sigh* I hope parenting wont always be this hard." She mumbled quietly, sighing again. "What?" "Oh, nothing." ~~~~ The Day Before ~~~~ The completely adult Rainbow Dash was laying on her bed, rereading the most recent Daring Do novel. None of it surprised her, seeing as this one had been out for nearly six months. The author had seriously taken his sweet time on the newest one, which came out tomorrow. Rainbow was of course aware that she'd end up visiting Twilight tomorrow. She just had to hope that maybe, just maybe, the book might help her say something... Now, anypony who knew Rainbow Dash knows that she is the most daring, brave, raucous, and audacious pony in Ponyville. She won't back down from a challenge and isn't afraid of anything, she speaks her mind when she has something to say, and she's certainly never choked, messed up, or even faltered once. At least, that's what they see. Most ponies don't know the real Rainbow Dash. The one that has a lingering fear of dragons after her experience on the mountain -a fear only one other pony knows exists. The one that thinks, deep down, that she might not have what it takes to get into the Wonderbolts, despite what everypony else -Wonderbolts included- says. The one that can't manage say three little words to a particular purple librarian to save her own life. Sighing, Rainbow closed the book, realizing that her own thoughts were overtaking the words on the pages in front of her. She sat up, glancing at her picture of herself and her six friends. She picked it up, looking only at the purple unicorn in the center of the picture. Placing it down she looked across the room at another picture. It was one of her and Twilight together on the floor of the library. They'd been wrestling because Twilight had been teasing Rainbow's exceeding interest in a romantic part of a book. Pinkie had- for whatever reason- walked in with a camera, said "Cheese!" to catch their attention, taken a picture, and decided to give the it to Rainbow. Rainbow had of course pretended to dispose of it, tucking it under her wing when Twilight thought she'd thrown it away. It was the only picture she had of just the two of them, and she swore to get rid of it the moment she had a better one. After a moment, frustration with herself got to her, and she flopped onto her back on the bed. It wasn't fair! She could do anything she wanted to, but she couldn't say three little words to this friggin' mare? "Is it really so hard to say?" She grumbled aloud. She thought for a moment, then sat up and looked at the picture, taking a deep breath before saying, "I...really like you..." weakly. She superstitiously glanced around the room to be sure that Twilight wasn't there, as if the unicorn would be in her cloud home. Besides, she couldn't even work up the guts to say the right phrase to a picture. She flopped back onto the bed, letting out another frustrated groan. ~~~~Present~~~~ Hovering through the cloud home, Fluttershy looked around at Rainbow's huge house. It seemed a little dead without Rainbow in it compared to every time Fluttershy had visited her. She landed at the top of the main staircase, casting a glance around trying to decide what exactly she should grab. Mostly, she assumed, the only things Rainbow would really want were her random assortments of Wonderbolts decorations (posters, blankets, pillowcases, et cetera). Figuring most of it would be in Rainbows room, she went there, looking about for said memorabilia. She found the walls plastered with two posters of them, her bed with aforementioned pillowcases and blankets covering it. She wasn't surprised to find a Daring Do novel laying on the nightstand next to a picture of Rainbow, herself, and their four other friends. She gathered up some things that Rainbow would probably want to have over night. While she was gathering the things into a single pillowcase (for easy transportation), she looked at the small desk across the room from Rainbow's bed. At first she didn't much care for the thing, until she noticed the sole picture on the desk. Fluttershy landed in front of the library door, still a little surprised by what she found in Rainbow's room. It really wasn't that odd, was it? Anypony would keep a picture of themself and their best friend, right? This picture just seemed... a little different. For a moment, she considered not showing the Twilight the picture. Would it be better that she doesn't know? Maybe, maybe not. Celestia knows it would make her happy, and maybe relieve some of the stress of caring for a filly, but maybe she would over react to it. Of course, it's possible this is just the only picture Rainbow had of herself and her best friend. After all, Twilight's not much of a camera pony, and the only time Fluttershy could recall having a picture of herself taken with Twilight was in that big group photo -the one that Celestia had been sent a copy of. On the one hoof, this was probably the one thing Twilight wanted to see, but on the other hoof, it could be a false hope for her to just give this to her... Gah! Trying to make decisions like this is so frustrating! Sighing, Fluttershy decided to just give it to Twilight, figuring that it couldn't hurt anything if Twilight just had something nice to think about for when this all had blown over. She knocked on the door, which was answered by Spike. He took the things, thanking Fluttershy quietly. She stepped inside, requesting that he send Twilight back in to talk to her as she took a seat on the couch. He agreed, placing the few things on the table, then ran into the guest room. A moment later, Twilight stepped out, looking slightly exhausted, and sat on the couch next to Fluttershy. "*sigh* Hi." Twilight greeted. "Hi." "So, what'd you get for her?" "W-well... I got her some of her favorite Wonderbolts things..." "And..?" Fluttershy looked at her blankly. "Come on, Fluttershy, you're leaving something out. What is it?" "Well, uhm..." Fluttershy dug through the pillowcase until she came up with the picture. "H-here." She handed it to Twilight. She stared at it for a moment, uncomprehendingly, before Fluttershy explained. "I-I found it in her room, on her desk. I-it looked like she really... treasured this picture... t-to me at least. I could be wro- eep!" Twilight grabbed her in a sudden hug. After a short second or two, Twilight broke the embrace, grabbed a nearby pillow with her magic, pulled it into her face, and squealed loudly into it.