The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

The Strange Secrets of a Reputation (part 3)

After he had been scolded by one of his bosses, the group had found a way to stop bothering him at his place of work, in order to chat. And so, it was a surprise when Shining Armor saw his little sister arriving at the police station with her bunch of friends, right after school.

Like often, they had changed and left their vehicles near the school’s building, even if Rainbow Dash sometimes brought her scooter, lazy to go back on her steps.

Tonight, her jaw as clenched as these of a Doberman on a prey, and her eyes throwing bolts, the young woman had barely said hello, and had let herself fall on one of the chairs of the office with a heaviness from the past.

Something in this scenery was missing… The young policeman quickly understood. The little touch of madness incarnated by the outlandish Pinkie Pie wasn’t here. This surprised him even more. As far as he could remember, it seemed the teenage girl had never been sick or tired since he knew her. Judging by the whole gang’s gloomy faces, including Twilight, he could guess easily something was messing up with their minds.

“We absolutely need your help, Shining Armor!”

Usually very diplomatic, this time his little sister had taken no delicate ways to explain the reason why they were suddenly back at his police station. To be honest, it had been days now he had noticed she was worried about something, but each time he’d asked her the question, she’d said everything was fine.

If they all needed to come in here to ask him a favor, then it meant everything wasn’t as fine as that. She would never allow herself to bother him in his job if it hadn’t been the case, especially when how she was a stickler for rules was known.

“What can I do for you?”

“Rather for us”, his little sister replied. “It’s as serious as the case of Rainbow Dash’s wrong accusations with the photomontage.”

At those words, he saw Sunset Shimmer’s cheeks getting colored with a deep shade of red, since she wasn’t only the latest addition to the gang but also one of the persons to blame for this past trouble. She looked away in order to stare at the streets through the window.

Meanwhile, none of the other girls uttered a single word, shoulders tensed and faces desolate. It was an odd image which he wasn’t used to anymore. Since they’d entered his office, some kind of gray cloud had started to float in the atmosphere.

Twilight took her laptop computer out of her bag, and opened it on Shining Armor’s office. For a few additional seconds, she seemed to be looking for something precise, then she turned the screen so he could see it.

At first, he thought it was a simple Muzzlebook page like there existed millions of, no big deal. It was only once he paid real attention to the content of it that he understood. A hundreds of insulting messages were right under his eyes, all talking about one person – Pinkie Pie.

The remarks went from subtly hard-hitting to bluntly offensive. All this was embellished with pictures of the teenage girl with retouches presenting her under an evil aspect. The shock wasn’t as graphic as the one which had concerned Rainbow Dash, but it was even more scandalous and violent.

It was especially harmful since it was difficult to check out the information of the page, where it had been very easy to prove the other teenager innocent. The person hiding behind this monstrosity was feed by a particularly scalding bitterness. It took a huge amount of hatred to reach such a level of denigration.

“I’ve tried to root the IP address, but it’s too well protected. We need expertize and means of a qualified IT staff to help. It’s our only solution if we want to rescue Pinkie Pie.”

It wasn’t exactly the only one, in fact. The investigation launched by Celestia and Luna would eventually bring the truth in the broad daylight. What fretted the group was that it would take some time and meanwhile, they were scared to lose their friend, and to see her slowed down in her studies.

In order to make things go faster, Shining Armor was their only hope.

After this, he got up and opened the door of his office, calling his assistant, Timber. The young man was barely twenty-two, and had graduated from Equestria Royal Police Academy one year ago. His green messy hair, and his tan skin gave him a little something exotic standing out when compared to Shining Armor’s paleness and square-jaw. Even wearing his uniform, he always looked a bit like fresh out of a holiday camp.

As soon as he arrived on the doorstep, they all saw Twilight’s attitude changing, and suddenly she started to twist a strand of hair from out of her bun around her finger, her eyes twitchy.

Usually, her friends would have teased her for the sappy behavior, which didn’t look like her. Tonight, they all remained motionless, as if nothing special had happened.

It was still a bit scary for the two policemen, not really used to see them so little reactive, so extinct. Was this new heavy blow one heavy blow too many? Yet, there were no doubts, other ordeals were to be in store in the future.

“Do you think you’ll be able to root the IP address behind this Muzzlebook account? It’s a serious case of libel.”

“Of course”, he said as he settled behind his boss’ desk.

Timber was aware that, suddenly, all the eyes conveyed in his direction. It added to the pressure that was his. Every day, he did his best in order to impress Shining Armor, that he regarded as a role model and personal landmark, and each demands from him were as many opportunities to make a good impression or, conversely, to lose a promotion with the young man.

Quickly, he understood the person hiding behind the Muzzlebook account had a sharp knowledge of IT. A sophisticated system of blur had been settled in order to avoid someone to root the IP address. This probably was why Twilight, whom he knew was good at this, hadn’t found this address yet.

“It’s going to take a bit long”, he warned.

Something else bothered him a little in this matter. Shining Armor had talked about a case of libel, yet he could see this wasn’t an official investigation at all. He’d been told that none of the means at their disposal had to be used for personal purposes… It was illegal, and they both took a big risk if they were to be caught in the act.

What he also knew was that his boss was someone decent and upstanding, for who any injustice had to be repaid, and who took very seriously the morality of everything he attempted. If he asked him to take such risks, it meant he judged it as being the right thing to do.
However, the result upon which he stumbled would probably be a deception. The gang of friends was going to feel frustrated, especially Twilight, who considered her brother as a modern-day hero, and who expected a lot from this short investigation.

“I’m sorry, but it seems like this is the IP address of a cybercafé downtown.”

“So common”, Sunset Shimmer whispered.

Indeed, if the declaration was a deception, it surprised no one. This whole dark matter was the creation of a coward person, concealed behind screens to spill the venom. They all had expected this person to use tricks such as these in order to avoid being found.

It was another slap in the face, yes. For all that, they would not give up. Pinkie Pie needed them.

“Address”, Rainbow Dash asked with a voice as dry as grass in the middle of summer.

“Well… 25, Peony Lane.”

“It’s close to the Sugarcube Corner”, Twilight declared.

They suddenly saw Rainbow Dash getting up, and taking back her scooter’s helmet. She obviously wanted to go there immediately, as if it would change anything. They didn’t know who was the person they were looking for, and what this person looked like. It could even be very dangerous.

“Are ya sure dat’s a good idea, Dash?”

“This f*cking page is updated very regularly. Maybe we’ll have a chance to catch the one behind this, hands in the cookie jar. Do you guys want to help Pinkie Pie or rather wait flabbergasted?”

It only took a few glances before they all grabbed their bags and stuff to follow her. Before leaving the police station, they greeted and thanked Shining Armor, and in no time at all, they all were out.

The office, suddenly empty, looked as dark as an abandoned alley in the middle of the night. Strange, since they hadn’t really brought the restless sunbeam their presence usually created.

Whatever, Shining Armor as well as Timber hoped they’d be able to trap the offender, though they both didn’t have the same reasons. And if they’d like to come with them in order to ensure their security, it wasn’t in their powers.

What they didn’t know was the Pinkie Pie also was going near the Sugarcube Corner, or to be more precise, to the alley beside the coffee shop.

When she was home alone, feeling blue, curled up on her bed, windows closed, stroking her alligator-shaped plushy Gummy, she had received a mysterious message from an unknown number, inviting her to go to a certain address in town, if she wanted to know who was hiding behind her torment.

At first, she had chosen not to answer, believing it was nothing but another bad taste joke like those she kept on receiving since this morning. And, the messages had multiplied, becoming more and more threatening.

As she couldn’t take this anymore, Pinkie Pie had decided to accept the proposition, hoping this would help her to settle the matter once and for all, although she doubted it. A voice within had whispered this was a bad idea and that she’d rather call her friends so they could help her, but she didn’t listen to it. She had put them into enough troubles now.

It was something she had to settle on her own.

----------------------------------------------

“Ah don’t think tryin’ to become professional eaters was a good idea”, Apple Bloom said letting her head fall against the table.

This absurd initiative was Scootaloo’s finding, never short on projects demanding a bigger effort. She’d seen an episode of her favorite procedural TV show where the couple of FBI agents made an investigation into the world of contest eaters, and had thought this was quite an interesting talent.

“It’s like every high-level sports, hard when you begin, and easier once you practice.”

“I think I’m going to be sick”, Sweetie Belle finished, getting up to leave the table.

In order to try this new activity, The Crusaders had naturally decided to start their practice as professional eaters on the being at the Sugarcube Corner, assuming it was better to start with food they thought were pleasant to eat.

It happened that devouring a pecan, caramel and vanilla cheesecake in record time had rather devastating effects on digestion.

Passing by one of the huge windows of the tearoom, Sweetie Belle noticed almost despite herself what seemed to be Pinkie Pie, on her own, going to one of the adjacent streets. It would have been nothing suspicious if she’d stepped into the Sugarcube Corner instead, yet seeing her sinking somewhere theoretically desert was rather disturbing.

Oblivious of her little indigestion, the young girl chose to go back to the table her two friends still were at. When they noticed her already back, the two looked at her raising their brows.

“Wow, yar quick”, Apple Bloom said.

“I just saw Pinkie Pie through the window.”

“So what?” Scootaloo asked. “Pinkie Pie comes here all the time.”

“She was on her own. She went to the alley nearby. Do you remember what happened to Twilight last time she went somewhere on her own?”

Even if they wanted to, they could not. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had belted the three boys who had tried to assault their best friend, and The Crusaders had helped by calling the police and that, they were sure, made them heroines who had saved the young woman as well.

And so, they didn’t hesitate. They never really had the chance to show how good they were as superheroines, and today would be the day they would finally do it. Their future as professional eaters was a failure, anyway.

After they let a few banknotes on the table offering the change to the Cakes, and this although they probably had enough money only to pay for the pastries and the honey and yuzu teas, they left the place and went outside, following Pinkie Pie.

But because they didn’t really know what to expect, before going into action, they hid behind a wall and threw glances they hoped were discreet to what was happening in the alley.

Maybe the reason Pinkie Pie was there was to collect the garbage that persons with bad attentions were leaving in the town’s small streets, but at the same time, she had no trash bag with her.

And quickly, they discovered it wasn’t about that. Pinkie Pie was standing in front of the metal curtain of a closed store, at the back of the alley, just where none of the employees of the only opened drugstore would see her. A few inches away stood another girl, her back on The Crusaders, who could only see she wore boots with buckles and her hair was of two different kind of blond, brushed back from her face.

Because they were far from traffic jam, they could hear clearly what they were saying to each other.

“I’ve already told you I didn’t know you”, Pinkie Pie cried.

“Yet, you and I met many times in the past. Come on, do a little effort.”

“Sorry, I don’t remember.”

The pink-haired teenager wanted to pass by the other young girl, leaving the street and not turning back, but the latter grabbed her wrist tightly and threw her back. Despite herself, Pinkie Pie had to step back, and tripped over a soda can that was on the ground. She fell on her bottom, and felt her hand scraping by touching the wasted asphalt behind her.

“I won’t let you run away. If you leave and refuse to face me, I’ll make a hell out of your life. You’ll be fired from school; everyone will hate you so much you’ll have no other choice than going back to your shit of a farm!”

“Why do you do that to me?”

“Why do you do that to me?” the young girl mimicked with an exaggerated tearful voice. “Back then, you were a dreaded and respected Second-in-Command, since when did you become such a wimp?”

A very few people knew she’d been Second-in-Command of the Rebellious. The only ones who knew were her friends, former students from Middle Canterlot who had forgotten since then, and members of the gang themselves, among which a lot were in jail, had moved on or had redeemed by finding a job. There also were members of the enemy clan, The Crushlotters.

“What did you say your name was?”

“I haven’t told you my name”, the young girl answered. “But if it can refresh your memory, I’m going to tell you… My name’s Lightning Dust, tenth grade in Canterlot High.”

Suddenly, the thick ocean-spray in which she was sailing since that, queuing in front of the Mouth of Truth with Fluttershy, she had met face to face with the teenager looking rebel whom face vaguely reminded her another, vanished away like after a storm.

She opened her eyes wide and wasn’t able to say a word, as if they all refused to leave her vocal chords.

“Seems like your memories are back…”

“I thought Berry Twinkle had gotten married and was now living in another country.”

“That’s what she did. After she went out of jail, where she had sold each of her friends from the gang, she had fled to the United States where she’d found some guy to shack up with, and she never came back. This is your fault.”

The Crushlotters had always boasted about the extreme loyalty of their leader, but the truth was Berry Twinkle was as loyal as Wind Wisher had been. They both hated each other because they were too similar, and rumors also said it was because they had been lovers and couldn’t stand each other eyes anymore… Their definition of loyalty was limited to the others doing exactly what they demanded them to, since in the opposite case, you were called a traitor.

It was because she had given in to her leader’s every whim, hoping it would soothe the pain in her chest, that Pinkie Pie had quickly climb the ladder of the gang. One of her missions had been to provoke Berry Twinkle on Wind Wisher’s behalf, which had given way to a street fight with witnesses, one of them calling the police. Of course, like often in the middle of this kind of brawls, as soon as the enforcement officers had arrived, it had become everyone for themselves, and Pinkie Pie had fled without further ado… But Berry Twinkle had been arrested, when all she had done was to defend herself.

Nonetheless, she had never felt guilty about it. Even without this fight, her fate would probably had been the same, since the police was looking for her and Wind Wisher with the same ardor because of thefts they had committed with their gang.

“You’re just like your sister”, Pinkie Pie dared replying, feeling old reflexes coming up to the surface. “Always blaming the others. No dignity.”

“What did you say, you bitch?!”

Lightning Dust grabbed her by the collar of her dress to make her stand up and brutally threw her against the metal curtain behind her. The sound of her back hitting the iron made a window open a little above their heads, but nothing else happened. So, the teenage girl became even more violent, and slapped Pinkie Pie, a neat red trace appearing on one of her cheek.

“Stop it, in the name of the law!”

Probably unaware of the danger it represented, in an impulse of bravery, young Scootaloo went out of her hiding place, hands on her hips, frowning. She was feeling strong, tall and powerful, as the righter of wrongs for the poorest ones, and her carefree attitude pushed the other two Crusaders to step on the scene as well – with legs like bubblegum.

“What are these snots? Do you think I’m scared or something?”

“Run away!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “I have to settle this on my own. It’s too dangerous.”

“Would Zapp step back if threatened by Mane-iac? Never!”

“But Zapp has superpowers”, Sweetie Belle reminded her. “We don’t…”

“Fine. Let’s see what you got, the snots. You don’t move or I promise you’ll never be able to show yourself anywhere in the country with the reputation I’ll give you”, Lightning Dust declared to Pinkie Pie.

After this, she turned to the Crusaders and took out of her leather jacket a perfectly sharpened switchblade, with BT initials engraved on the ivory-like shaft. As soon as they saw the silver blade shining in the semi-darkness of the alley, and they understood what it implied, the three preteens screamed of fright, before fleeing at full throttle to shelter inside Sugarcube Corner.

Pinkie Pie thought it was for the best. If the three young girls would have been hurt because of her, she would have feel guilty for years. Two of them were her best friends’ little sisters, like surrogate members of her family. It was very brave of them to try to help her, yet she wished for no one to get meddled with this dark matter of revenge.

Once again in front of her enemy, Lightning Dust rushed to grapple her collar, like a bit earlier, her eyes glowing from rage and thrill.

“It’s just me and you, now! I bet you have no knife with you, uh… Pinkie Pie? No need! If you’re able to harm me with bare hands, since they used to say you were a genius in this field, I’ll bend my knee and call you ‘master’. But I doubt this is what will happen.”

“No.”

“What did you say?” she berated between her teeth.

“I said no. I won’t fight with you. This is in the past for me. If you want to revenge, then revenge, but I refuse to play your games.”

“How dare you contradicting me? You’re worse than a wimp!”

With that, the young woman let her knife fall on the floor, and shook Pinkie Pie against the curtain, with all her might, still holding her collar. Her aggressiveness was at its highest, and to be quite honest, Lightning Dust wasn’t like herself anymore, unable to keep control of her emotions.

When she grew tired of shaking her without the opponent to react, she punched her so strong a trickle of blood appeared on Pinkie Pie’s cheek, since she hadn’t even tried to protect herself, thinking she deserved all this hatred.

At this level of anger, it was probable for her to land on a bed at the hospital, if not worse, but she didn’t want to fight and to rule in the favor of these ugly rumors which had kept on running about her all week long. She preferred being bed-ridden for months than suffering from all the stares and insults.

So she was surprised when she heard an astounding sound, but felt no new strikes.

Only once she rose her eyes did she noticed three additional shadows standing beside Lightning Dust’s. The iron lid of a trashcan landed on the ground near her feet, and Pinkie Pie recognized her savior by her voice before even seeing her.

“Dis is what happen to cowards showin’ off!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were standing side by side, and farther in the back, Twilight, Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer were each holding a Crusader in their arms.

“You little tattletales!” Lightning Dust yelled while trying to go in the direction of the three preteens.

She was stopped by Applejack again, who pushed her back with one hand, not even making a great effort. The young woman was known for her physical strength, even impressing boys, because she needed to have muscled arms in order to keep her balance on an enraged bull shaking aggressively for minutes and minutes.

As soon as they had arrived near the alley, and had heard the strikes and screams, it appeared to be more than obvious that she was the perfect one to put an end to the one-way fight.

At first, Rainbow Dash had hesitated, to be honest. However, with anxiety in her stomach in front of such a breaker of uncontrollable violence, she had thumbed her nose at her traumatizing memories, and had assisted her best friend to defend Pinkie Pie’s dignity.

In fact, she took an advantage from it to set the record straight.

“They hadn’t warned us of anything. We only been able to find the IP address of the cybercafé where you updated this horror of a Muzzlebook account. It’s not really clever to do this to a girl whose friend is a policeman.”

“And so…? What are you going to do? Fighting instead of her? I crush you in two minutes, both of you!”

“Do you really think so? Come a little closer, and without your knife of coward.”

“No, Dashie… Don’t do that.”

Pinkie Pie had just stood back up, and settled herself between her two friends and Lightning Dust, arms stretched and eyes determined. She didn’t want to make them go through this. She was the blame for the whole matter, and there already had been enough damages like this…

“Lightning Dust, I’m sorry about your sister. Back then, I was lost and uncomfortable with myself, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes which I’m not proud of. If Wind Wisher gave an order, I wasn’t asking myself questions and I obeyed. I never should have left your sister on her own, but do you really believe beating me up will bring her back? Will you really feel better once you’ll feel revenged? I don’t pretend I can understand, but… If you’re still unhappy after all this, don’t you think it wasn’t worth the pain?”

Even for her friends, this speech came as a surprise. If it was for certain that Pinkie Pie had, like everyone else on the planet, her share of darkness and seriousness, she displayed it in extremely rare occasions.

What was sure was that what she’d just said couldn’t let anyone indifferent. Her words resounded as well in Sunset Shimmer’s mind, who also had a disturbing past which could catch her up any minute, as in Applejack’s, who had often cursed the road hog who had killed her parents, wishing the same to happen to him.

If this proved one thing, it was that wisdom and reason wasn’t always the prerogatives of the most rational and apparently calm ones, and that behind the quirkiest structures sometimes lied a surprising beauty.

Tears in her eyes and limbs shaking, Lightning Dust didn’t reply a single word and only run off the street, hiding her face with her arm. Rainbow Dash wanted to run behind her, but she was stopped by Applejack who grabbed her shoulder and shook her head. Pinkie Pie was no longer threatened, so it wasn’t important anymore.

They didn’t know whether the young woman would come back for more or she had understood what Pinkie Pie had meant, yet something told them her reaction was going in the right direction, especially as she hadn’t taken back her switchblade, still on the floor.

Rainbow Dash took it, and looked at the sharpened blade… A chill went down her spine. She knew exactly what kind of damages these kind of small accessories could create and she wished it to no one. She had to make sure no one would ever be attacked by this weapon again, although she wouldn’t be able to stop other violent actions from happening, since she knew better than she’d want that this was an intrinsic component of human beings.

She made a few steps, and under the questioning eyes of her friends, she threw the knife under a pile a garbage in the only trashcan of the alley, which Applejack had taken off the lid in order to hit Lightning Dust’s head. The young blond woman, actually, put the item back where it belonged.

There was nothing else to add and, while waiting to know whether or not Lightning Dust would redeem herself from the pain these rumors had made Pinkie Pie suffer, they decide that the best to do was to comfort their friend, and most urgently, to bring her to a doctor to make sure none of her wounds would have serious consequences.

The young woman willingly laid on her best friends… She resolutely wanted them to be spared from the scandal, or worse, them to end up being injured as well but in reality, they had represented the exit she needed in order to be back on track without too severe impairments. As always.

-------------------------------------------------

On the very day, the Muzzlebook page called Bitchie Pie, renamed “I’m Sorry”, only had one message explaining this had been nothing but a thoughtless revenge, based off lies, and asking all those who had taken part in this humiliation to apologize to the victim.

A little later in the week, Lightning Dust had been called up to Celestia and Luna’s offices, and had to make public apologies in the girls’ class. She also been maned to school community services in order to think about her actions. And, right before weekend begun, the Principal in person had come to every classes for a speech about bullying in school, demanding everyone to apologize to Pinkie Pie, who was back in class.

This unceasing procession of discomfited faces parading in front of her desk had to be seen to believe it. Even those who had taken no part in it but only looked without a word came to give a comforting word or two, asking her to forgive them.

Just like Rainbow Dash had foreseen, the young woman absolved everyone without a single second thought. Pinkie Pie’s heart was too full with love for the others and too much benevolence to really hold a grudge against them. She wasn’t made to be satisfied with a close bunch of friends, but to be surrounded by a cheerful crowd.

And because she’d decided not to hold a grudge against anyone, Rainbow Dash decided to forget about this annoying mishap … though it lingered a bit of bile stuck in her throat.

“I admire the fact that you’re so lenient”, Soarin told her. “When someone does what I consider as a dirty trick to me, I just can’t forget.”

They were both at the young man’s, sharing a mozzarella and tomato pizza on his wooden counter.

The practical aspect of having a boyfriend with his own apartment was that Rainbow Dash no longer was obliged to go back home, to be face to face with a loneliness that was harder and harder to bear. She could finally share meals with someone to talk to and laugh with, and she had someone to snuggle against when she was cold.

How many Friday nights had she spent with her tortoise as her only companion? How many dinners with dishes cooked for her by the cleaning lady hired by her father, who looked at her with pain and pity each time she left the house? How many nights crying, being scared, having nightmares, with no one to come and comfort her?

Soarin was here for her, but he never tried to force himself on her. Generally, he proposed and let her the choice of the final decision. If she told him she already had plans with her friends, he would only wish her a good evening, along with a smiling emoticon and a post-scriptum to tell her not to hesitate if she needed him.

Rainbow Dash swallowed her last piece of pizza, and drank a bit of fizzy water. Her boyfriend looked at her with a smile, and she almost jumped when he stretched out his hand in order to wipe away a bit of tomato sauce lingering on her lips.

“You’re eating like a little pig”, he told her laughing.

“You know, pigs are stinky.”

“Like a clean pig? Like a clean and cute pig?”

“That’s a pig anyway”, she claimed sticking her tongue out.

Their meal done, they left the table, and Rainbow Dash went to settle on his bed, while Soarin was busy clearing off the table and putting plates and glasses inside his sink.

His apartment was closer to the attic room than to the huge loft. His bathroom, directly beside the entry, was only made of a washbasin with a mirror above and a closet under, of a toilet and a shower. A sink with two induction plates and a small fridge was his tiny kitchen, and in the same room, separated from the rest by a counter on which he ate, including household electrical goods, there was his small bed, desk, a little chest of drawers with a TV set, a console, and shelves hanging at the wall.

Despite the narrowness of the walls, she was feeling good each time she came in here. It was a clean, warm and comfortable place, smelling manly woody fragrances, reflected by the person living in here.

Soarin came and joined her, and immediately, she settled herself against his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her and their hands intertwined. These little gestures of affection were far from annoying her, especially as they happened in their intimacy. She knew her tough reputation wouldn’t be in danger just because she accepted tenderness from her boyfriend. It didn’t change a thing to the awesome personality she was.

And, Pinkie Pie’s misadventures had made her understand one thing or two about this thing called a reputation. It took nothing for it to tip over and to plunge you into a dark sea peopled with bloodthirsty sharks. It had to be maneuvered with caution. It also was about doing what was right and fair, not only to boast and show off because some of our exploits makes us particularly proud.

Pinkie Pie was an adorable person, wanting only what’s good for everyone… She only had made mistakes in the past, and if they were regrettable, they hadn’t to condemn her to lose the others’ regard. A reputation could also lay on some kind of lie and of this, Rainbow Dash was finally aware.

A great part of hers was based off half-truths. Deep inside of her, she hid flaws and cracks that only a very few knew about. She wasn’t this almost one-dimensional character, arrogant and daring, rushing in without a second thought, “cool” incarnated. It was what a lot believed her to be, what she was trying hard to display, but it had the insidious effect to conceal her true identity to the world.

One more way to protect herself. She was no fool…

The other lesson she had learned from all this restlessness; it was that forgiveness wasn’t something that hard to seek or give. It was necessary to show remorse when judgmental mistakes were done, and to learn not to hold something against the other’s mistakes neither. She was able to do this with her friends, but she wasn’t able to do so with others. And especially with her father.

“I owe you apologies”, she started, turning to Soarin in order to look into his eyes.

“Apologies? About what?” he answered raising his eyebrows.

“About the picture in Canterlot Street Style. I know you didn’t really want to do it and that you did it to please me.”

“It hadn’t bothered me.”

“Maybe, but… I’ve used you because I knew it would do good to my reputation to be seen with you by everyone. It was wrong, and I’m sorry. Please, forgive me.”

“You fool”, he said, stroking hair on her forehead. “I’ve accepted because I wanted to be seen with you. I want everyone to know you’re no longer single because you’re dating me. Don’t you think that’s selfish?”

A large smile appeared on his face. One of the things she had always thought was amazing about Soarin, was the ease with which he could uncover his own weaknesses, his flaws or his wrongs, without feeling a hint of shame or embarrassment. He knew who he was, in his whole complexity, and never hid behind masks of subterfuges or dubious excuses.

With him by her side, she would learn many things about life, she was sure. She would never thank enough the chain of events which had led to their reunion. It was as if life finally offered her a blessing, after years of sharp pain.

Rainbow Dash wrapped her arms around her boyfriend’s neck, and put a long peck on his lips, before letting herself fall back between his arms. It was going to be difficult for her to go back to the coldness of her huge house, she knew it, but didn’t want to deprive herself from his presence just because she was scared.

Happiness was something fleeting enough to be enjoyed when it was on the doorstep.

Comments

[Dusk_Writer]

I hadn't expected Lightning Dust at all actually…so, great reveal xD

[PinkDiamond67]

I loved the ending a lot

I'm a big fan of soarindash and i mean big fan

[Fan Of Rainbow Dash]

8152317
Me too
I love SoarinDash I talk about it almost all the time my friends are starting to get annoyed😅