//------------------------------// // Seeking Advice // Story: The Dishonest Truth // by Arbiter Balemead //------------------------------// First, she stood, slamming her front hooves on the table, looking outraged. Then, she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came. Next, she sat back down, knowing she had no way out of this. Last, she let her face fall forward onto her arms laying on the table. Anypony who saw her there would've assumed she was crying, but they'd be wrong. She couldn't muster the will to cry. Besides, after working a farm and dealing with everything she'd dealt with, she just didn't cry very often any more. Not after her parents... She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and looked up, surprised. Was she still talking to Rainbow Dash? This was a bit touchy-feely for her. "Heh... I'm as surprised as you here AJ." She said grinning awkwardly. She showed how awkward this was for her with the way her arm was practically shaking with the urge to let go and scoot as far away as possible. Luckily, she managed to resist that urge, much to Applejack's surprise. "So...You and Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked curiously. "Well we ain't a thing, y'know." "I know but still. I mean come on; You and Fluttershy... It seems right to me. It explains a lot actually." "Like what?" "Well, you're always protecting her, making her feel better, helping her. It makes sense to me." Applejack just sighed and took another swig of her apple juice. She brushed off Rainbow's arm and scooted away. "Oh, come on, AJ, it's not that bad. I bet she doesn't like him that much anyway." "She let him have her feather." She muttered in response. "Am I the only one who thinks that that is creepy? Whatever. She was just being polite. I think it wont last." "You're just saying that to make me feel better, but we both know that it probly will. Besides, she's happy right? Ah think Ah should just let it be." Applejack said as she got up and turned to leave. "And I think you're wrong." AJ stopped and turned to look at her. "So, what should Ah do?" "Tell her how you feel. Duh!" " 'scuse me?" "Jeez I thought it was what you're supposed to do about things like this." "Ah guess it is, but... Ah don' know. Wouldn't that just make this harder for her?" "Like how?" "Ah think she'd feel horrible about all this and feel inclined to...entertain me." "How's that bad?" "Because it wouldn't be fair to her or me if she was just doin' it ta make me feel better. Especially if she don'...swing that way." "This is making my brain hurt. I know you're right, but I don't like thinking things over like this...Why don't you just take a page out of my book and throw caution to the wind? Tell her how you feel and just tell her not to feel bad, or something. I don't know. I'm no good at this sort of thing. *sigh* Maybe... I don't know. Look, can I come by tomorrow? I'll try to help more then." "Yeah, that's fine." Later, at the library... "Rainbow, your story is confusing me. Can you make it more simple?" Twilight requested. "Uhh...sure. Metaphorically speaking, let's say Mare A likes Mare B, but Mare B is with Stallion A, and Mare A and Stallion A are friends. Mare A is obviously jealous, but she doesn't wanna hurt Flu-err Mare B or Stallion A, so...what should Mare A do?" "Rainbow...YOU came to ME for relationship advice?" "Yeah, so?" Twilight just shook her head in bewilderment. "It's just...I always thought that I'd be the one coming to you...never mind. So... what do YOU think yo-Mare A should do?" "First off, Twilight, this isn't about me, let's make that clear, okay?" "Alright, it's not you. What do you think Mare A should do?" "I don't know... fess up her feelings?" "That's a start. Then?" "How should I know?" "Don't you have experience in this?" "What would make you say that?" "I-you...whatever. Just answer the question." "Uhm... after that I'd say...dinner?" Twilight's face hit her hoof a bit harder than she'd intended. "Why would you ask me? Like I know?" "I don't know. I thought you and Big Mac were..." But she stopped at the site of Twilight's wide eyed stare. "Oh, darn it I'm bad at this." "That's a paradigm shift..." "Para- what now?" "Never mind. Anyway, I think dinner would be better before the whole revelation, but if you think dinner after would be best...whatever. I'd say 'okay' to it if she didn't slap you. But wh-" "This isn't about me. Uhg, I'm gonna go ask Rarity. Thanks Twi." And with that she flew out the window towards Carousel Boutique. In the field behind her cottage, Fluttershy and Braeburn were having a small picnic together. The two were sitting on a cloth enjoying their food silently. For Braeburn this was quite normal, but for Fluttershy this was an embarrassing first. She'd never been on a date and, as far as she could tell, it was obvious. Every time he did something simple, like handing her a slice of pie, she would blush like crazy. He would light a candle, and her cheeks would heat. He would scoot an inch closer, and she'd hide behind her mane for a moment. For his part, Braeburn was being as good a romantic partner as he'd ever seen. This picnic was weird for him, though, because, even when he was being raunchy (if ever), mares reacted positively to his approach. Fluttershy seemed to not enjoy his company and,yet, enjoy it at the same time. The two sat and ate and were companionably quiet until Braeburn finally couldn't hold off his curiosity. "Have Ah done somthin' wrong?" He asked suddenly. "What? Oh no, you've been quite nice since we got out here. Wh-what did you think you did wrong?" "Ya've been so...squeamish with me. Ah'm beginning to get the feelin' you don' really like me all that much." "But... I do like you..." "Not much." He said in a deadpan voice. Fluttershy looked away now, again hiding behind her mane. She knew he was right. No matter how well this picnic had been going, it felt like something was wrong. As if the picnic was right but the company wasn't. "Well Ah s'pose it was a nice picnic, and we never really did start goin' out or nothin' so it's nice ta know it wouldn't have worked from the start." Braeburn thought aloud. "Yes, it was...nice." Fluttershy said lamely. "So what was it ya didn' like?" He asked with innocent curiosity. The question surprised Fluttershy but she had an answer ready without knowing it. "The picnic was nice... but it felt wrong...l-like somepony else should've been here. I-if that makes sense." "Ah think Ah get it." "Y-you do?" "Ah bet you have a crush on somepony and never really thought about it." She gave him a blank stare while she tried to process that guess. Was that even possible? Was she capable of that much naivete? She had once taken nearly half an hour to figure it out when Rainbow Dash had been making sex jokes, but... could she really be that stupid? At least on this subject? "You look like Ah might be right. So think about it; is there anypony in town you think of more kindly than the rest? Maybe Big Mac or-" "No. Not Big Mac. Twilight would hate me. And I don't know very many stallions." She said. She thought hard. If not Big Mac, then who? There was Doctor Whooves, but she thought he was too eccentric to even approach. The thought of living in that little blue box was enough to keep her away. Then there was Caramel. He was good looking but Applejack said he had "stallion-to-stallion tendencies." Of course, Rainbow had to explain that one to her later. There were the Flim-Flam brothers, but she had troubles thinking of them kindly after that cider season incident. The only other stallion she knew was Mr. Cake and he was married. "I can't think of any stallions I could like..." She said after a while. "Now there's gotta be somepony you know that you like more than the others. Think of your friends." And with that images of her five best friends flashed through her head. Each ones face. First Rarity, then Pinkie, then Rainbow and Twilight, and last was... Applejack. She tried not to think about the fact that Applejack's face lingered in her mind. Instead, she attempted to distract herself by talking. Too bad that this was Fluttershy and talking almost never helped her think straight. "All my friends are..." But she trailed off as an idea struck her. It was a realization that she never even thought about. A thought that hit her out of nowhere. Maybe she liked... "...Mares?" Braeburn supplied, confused at her silence. "I think I do...." She whispered into her mane. "'scuse me?" He said, even more confused. "N-nothing."