To say Fluttershy was nervous was an understatement. In fact, nervousness had been the normal for the pegasus her entire life; the feeling was almost as natural to her as breathing or letting her heart beat, no matter how good she had become at hiding it. But right now, as she approached the pastel building she had foolishly escaped just hours earlier, her nerves were approaching levels that would have crippled anypony else. It was just as well that her baseline for these feelings was so messed up that she could push onwards - having regular panic attacks about what to make for breakfast would do that to you.
“Umm… Twlilight, maybe we could...” Fluttershy began, but was cut off forcefully.
“For the thousandth time no! We're not going to delay to check on squirrels, we're not going to delay for a toilet break, and we're certainly not going to delay because I accidentally scooped up your 'twin sister' Shutterfly by mistake! How many times do I have to say this??? Putting it off is only going to make things worse!”
“I'm sorry...” Fluttershy hung her head. “I was only going to ask if we could be a little quieter maybe? W… wouldn't Rarity maybe block us out if she heard us?”
Twilight Sparkle sighed, visibly calming down somewhat. “You're right, Fluttershy,” she admitted. “If she's anything like we both know her to be, the last thing she needs is a struggle on her doorstep.”
“I… haven't been struggling after the first five minutes?”
“You haven't,” the alicorn agreed, vaguely annoyed with herself. “That's on me, and I'm sorry. Just… do what you need to do, and know I'll be here if you need backup, okay?” By this time the two ponies had reached the ornately patterned door of Rarity's home and workspace, both dreading to think what could have transpired over the past few hours.
Eventually Fluttershy attempted to knock gently on the door. “Um… Rarity? I'm… I'm sorry about earlier, m… maybe we could talk about it?” she asked timidly. Apparently this attempt hadn't been nearly loud enough, because there was no response for a whole minute, which was a minute too long for Twilight Sparkle's liking, it seemed.
“Rarity, I'm sorry, but we need to speak to you!” the alicorn shouted. Still no response. Twilight frowned, then continued, banging on the door insistently. “Rarity, you're worrying us! Say something at least or we're coming in whether you like it or not!” After still no response she turned to Fluttershy, who had been watching with growing horror. “You're not going to like this, but I think I'm going to have to teleport us in there.”
“But Twilight! What if she's not there, or what if she's hurt herself?” A million things that could be wrong were rushing through Fluttershy's brain, and it was taking every last drop of willpower she had to not run away again. “What if she's so mad at me she doesn't want to see us?”
“If she's not there we'll leave and go find her,” Twilight said firmly. “If she's hurt herself we'll deal with that, in fact it's all the more important we check in that case. And if she doesn't want to talk, well tough, you two need to sort this out sooner rather than later!”
“Okay, but… can we at least try the door before using magic?”
Twilight Sparkle groaned into a purple hoof. “I am really off my game today.” Gingerly she gave the door a gentle push, rather surprised to find it opening considering the showroom blinds had all been drawn. “Rarity? Are you there?”
Worry for her friend had finally overcome Fluttershy's nerves, and the yellow pegasus was the first to poke her head into the darkened main room of the boutique. What she saw inside made her heart drop. “Rarity! What's wrong???” she gasped, in spite of partially knowing the answer. Somehow her friend had made it to the far side of the main showroom, grabbed a large cushion and then collapsed between a set of unused ponniquins.
So many thoughts and worries were rushing through Fluttershy's head. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! You were supposed to at least be your fiery self! You should have ranted and yelled and wept, maybe even threw things at me for being so horrible! Not… not... “Rarity…” Fluttershy's voice caught, a tightness welling up inside her chest, “please don't be...”
Twilight shook her head beside her. “Don't even think it, Fluttershy. See the cushion? If I know Rarity she probably threw herself down for a cry then the wine you said she'd been drinking caught up with her.” The two ponies edged forward as quietly as possible until it was clear that the alicorn was correct. From a closer, different viewpoint they could see that the purple maned unicorn was simply asleep, although Fluttershy couldn't help but notice that she was still softly weeping, even now. “See?” Twilight Sparkle almost sounded smug. “Out like a light, and nothing more. Still, we do need to sort things between you...”
“Twilight...” Fluttershy began, almost angrily by her standards, until she remembered that few ponies had her particular levels of innate empathy. This was far from 'nothing more', she would have been able to tell that without being intimately involved, but the pegasus could hardly expect every pony to pick up on all the signs. Eventually she took a deep breath and changed tack. “Um, could you maybe move her to her fainting couch or something please? She looks really uncomfortable like that.”
“Oh! Of course. I doubt she'll notice right now anyway.”
As Twilight moved Rarity's favourite chaise lounge into the room and levitated the slumbering unicorn on top of it, a sudden, horrible thought stuck Fluttershy, who utterly failed to keep the worry out of her voice. “Oh! Twilight, I'll sit with Rarity, please can you check her kitchen? Please? I… I left her there, and I'm just worried she might have done something… well, Rarity-ish.” Her friend gave her an odd look, but shrugged and trotted over in the direction of the kitchen.
After about half a moment a concerned voice confirmed Fluttershy's suspicions. “Er… yeah. Rarity-ish doesn't remotely cover this one, Fluttershy.” Despite how badly she knew seeing this would hurt, the pegasus decided to head over and join Twilight. Witnessing the pain she had caused was the very least punishment she deserved, after all.
The kitchen of Carousel Boutique was more or less as Fluttershy had left it, the usual marriage of kitsch and functionality. Only now the far corner was absolutely covered in glass shards, a great deal of the contents of the main table in the centre of the room had been spread across the floor, and… “No!!!” the pegasus almost screamed at the sight she had been dreading yet almost expecting, tears coming unbidden to her pale blue eyes. That astounding painting that had been tormenting her friend so, it seemed almost at the centre of the seeming explosion of glass. Worse still, there was now a gaping hole punched straight through the centre of the canvas, replacing the bulk of angel Fluttershy's torso.
“Oh Rarity...” Twilight Sparkle shook her head sadly. “You're really going to hate yourself for this once you've calmed down, you silly mare.”
“W… what happened, Twilight?” Fluttershy sobbed softly. It was rather obvious, but still part of the pegasus was hoping for a different explanation that didn't suggest that her idiotic actions had ruined things with Rarity for good.
Unfortunately the purple alicorn didn't seem to be in the mood for tact, replying with a level of frankness that Applejack would have been proud of. “Well from what you told me she was in a pretty emotional state and had been drinking on top of it. From that and the location of the tear compared to the glass shards… I'd say she threw her wine bottle at the painting in frustration, probably followed by a few more items from her kitchen table, then went outside to cry when the wine finally caught up with her and she dozed off.”
“Oh Rarity, I'm so sorry!” Fluttershy wept openly now. Her friend had put her heart into that picture, and now both seemed forever broken thanks to her unthinking actions. “I'm a monster!”
“Fluttershy...” Emotion returned to Twilight Sparkle's voice, and she gave the distraught pegasus a sympathetic hug. “You're no monster, if anything you feel too much at times. You just made a bad move when the pressure was getting to you, we've all done that before! And if Rarity loves you half as much as it sounds like she does then she'll forgive you.” The blush coming to Fluttershy's cheeks seemed to make the alicorn smile slightly. Evidently she wasn't doing a good job of hiding the fact that the more she considered it, the more comfortable reciprocating those feelings felt. “You just need be brave and talk to her. Come on, you always manage to find your courage when it really matters, right?”
Fluttershy nodded gingerly, trying very hard not to cry again. “But… oh, Twilight, what about the picture? She'll be so sad to have ruined it!”
“Fluttershy, it might be beyond the repair spell I know off by heart, but I'd be shocked if at least one of my spellbooks will have something that will let me fix it. Let me worry about everything in here, okay?” A semi-stern look crossed Twilight's purple eyes. “You go stay with Rarity and clear the air between you up once she wakes up... and no more running! I don't care if you have to kiss some sense into her, the sooner this gets sorted the sooner two of my best friends can be happy again!” With this she all but shooed the pink maned pegasus out of the kitchen and back to where Rarity was slumbering. “Now get! I've got a lot of cleaning up to do!”
As she was pushed back into the main showroom Fluttershy had to admit to having no idea what to do beyond whimper a little as her own heart ached for the pain her friend must have been going through.
Poor Rarity, how long had she been holding this back? And all I managed to do was make it hurt even more. Well, no more. No more running. You're going to be brave for once in your life, Fluttershy, you're going to talk to her when she wakes up, apologise and find a way to make things right. Somehow.
And that was the issue, really. The pegasus was drawing a total blank on how an error of this magnitude could ever be made up for. This wasn't something like being late for a spa date, or losing a crucial ribbon, things that could be smoothed over with an apology and maybe a punnet of strawberries. Her friend had admitted to feelings she had been hiding for goodness knows how long, and had been deserted in return for her honesty. To run from such a thing… and only because it seemed too good to be true, at that!… well, Fluttershy was going to count this as quite possibly the worst mistake she had ever made. It didn't help that she had very quickly found Rarity one of the easiest ponies to emphasise with from the very start. The two mares were both highly driven by their hearts over their heads, even if they had different ways of showing it. Even the Elements of Harmony they had been assigned with in the beginning had some serious overlap. Kindness and Generosity went rather hoof in hoof for the most part.
“I wasn't acting very kind to you, was I?” Fluttershy murmured, nudging a maroon cushion over to the side of the chaise lounge that Rarity had been placed upon earlier then sitting on it, unsure as to whether she wanted her friend to wake up just yet or not.
In the end the pegasus decided to just not worry about it and start working things out verbally. If she was still doing it when Rarity awoke then hopefully she could show her own emerging feelings a little, and if not at least it would all be off her chest and ready to refine as needed. “I'm sorry, Rarity,” she sighed, speaking even more quietly than usual so as not to disturb her friend. “I'm really not a brave pony at all, sometimes if I get overwhelmed I just want to get away until I can think things through. And it's terrible of me to not fight that more, and I don't know how to fix that. But I'll try! I'd do anything to see you smile again, Rarity, I just wish I knew what that something was. I hate seeing you sad, Rarity, but it's so much worse this time, because it's me making you sad and I never meant to...”
“I'm sorry.” A soft, almost meek voice cut her off. For a second Fluttershy couldn't place it, until she lifted her eyes from the floor and noticed Rarity had finally opened her tear stained eyes. “It was my fault. I got carried away again. I deserved it all.”
Fluttershy's eyes widened, shocked at what she was hearing. “No! No you didn't! You don't deserve to be hurt for being honest!”
“If I hurt you then my own hurt is deserved,” came the flat reply. This wasn't right. Rarity was always so bombastic, so passionate, so confident. Right now her body language had almost devolved into that of a nervous filly, and her voice was so slight and timid it might have been Fluttershy's own. With a dawning horror the pegasus realised she was witnessing the Rarity version of whenever Pinkie Pie's mane deflated.
“But I wasn't hurt!” she protested. “You just surprised me! Well, you didn't really, because you had been flirting quite a lot and I kind of suspected, but I thought I was being silly, because who would ever show interest in me? Certainly not a pony like you! I… I didn't know what to do and I guess I panicked.”
“I'm sorry,” Rarity repeated pathetically. Apparently that was all she was capable of doing right now. It tore Fluttershy up inside. I can't let this carry on… I won't!
“Rarity!” Fluttershy tried again. “You don't need to be sorry! I should be apologising! I ran away when… when...”
“I'm sorry...”
“...when I should have just done this.” Something snapped inside Fluttershy. She wanted her friend back, she wanted to tell her just how important she was to her, and no longer cared what it took.You don't care if I have to kiss some sense into her, Twilight? Maybe I'll do just that!
Abruptly Fluttershy leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her friend's lips before she could try to apologize another time. This certainly caused the apologies to stop, certainly, but the unicorn looked confused more than anything. So the pegasus tried again, more forcefully this time, wrapping her front hooves around the other pony's neck and kissing with as much passion as she could muster. Which, given the circumstances, was an incredible amount. It felt thrilling, it felt dangerous, but most of all it felt right. In the end it was only sheer lack of breath that caused her to pull away, a slightly pleasant taste of alcohol, flowers and strawberries in her mouth.
“F… Fluttershy?” Rarity stuttered, beginning to sound like her old self again. Apparently this was working, so Fluttershy decided one more deep, passionate kiss was in order, her own rising emotions obviously having nothing to do with this decision. This time she was rather thrilled to note that there was a certain eagerness returned that hadn't been there before. After the two mares broke off from their passionate embrace Rarity seemed entirely back to her old self, albeit very red in the face. “Forgive me,” she began, “but outside of the last moment or two being the most divine in my entire life, I haven't the foggiest as to what is going on. I was convinced that my ridiculous mood had scared you off, my dear!”
“Only for about five minutes,” Fluttershy admitted. “I was a bit scared and that made me be very silly. I'm sorry about that, Rarity. But… um, I'd like it if you could help me learn not to be like that. If that's okay with you?” By now Fluttershy was certain she had become pure red, she could feel the intensity of her own blush so strongly. “I… I think, no, I know I… I love you t-” Another kiss cut her off abruptly, and if the previous one had seemed eager this was redefining her concepts of the word. This was Rarity in charge, all of the fire and passion in her personality expressed in a locking of lips and tongue that made the pegasus melt in her embrace.
Eventually Rarity pulled away, seemingly flustered all of a sudden. “Darling, as much as I'd gladly spend the rest of my life doing this, I do have to confess to being something of a silly mare in the heat of the moment myself whilst you were away. I...”
“I know,” Fluttershy nodded, wanting to reprimand her… marefriend at this point, she supposed, but knowing it had been her own foolish actions that started the whole thing gave her pause. “Twilight came with me to check on you, she said she'd take care of the kitchen.”
“Our favourite princess saves the day again, apparently,” Rarity chuckled ruefully. “It really does ruin the point of flying into an emotional rage when one of your best friends likely knows fifty restoration spells.”
“Can we… um, maybe lay off the emotional rages a little bit in future, though? If she didn't know those spells you would have ruined your best painting forever!”
“I daresay I can manage that,” the unicorn cringed, but her wide smile never left her face. “You think it's my best painting though? Really?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Knowing how much emotion you must have put into it makes it all the better. I… uh, still think you made me look far prettier than I really am, though, but if that's how you see me… thank you?”
“Heavens, Fluttershy, we really need to work on that self esteem of yours!” Rarity declared, now fully back to her old self. “I'm hardly the only one who can recognise your beauty, but if it falls to me to keep telling you how truly breathtaking you are until you start to believe it, so be it.”
Fluttershy giggled, finally letting herself start to think that things were going to work out after all. “I think I'd like that, if it means I get to see you more often,” she beamed, more content than she had felt in a long time.
For a moment the pegasus remained content to just gaze lovingly at her finally relaxed friend. How had it taken her so long to realise just how radiant Rarity was, even in her current slightly dishevelled state? Intellectually she had always known the unicorn was attractive, of course. Only prior to this it had been a mere observation, much like noticing a beautiful sunset or a particularly cute kitten. But… how had she gone quite so long without realising just how glossy and pristine that snow white pelt was, how perfectly proportioned her friend seemed to be, how adorable it was that her purple mane would fall in little ringlets when it got messed up? Or indeed just how easy it was to get lost in those beautiful sapphire eyes? Oh… right. Weird sense of attraction that won't kick in without the emotion being there first. Perhaps Twilight Sparkle would know the words to describe what had long been a source of mild annoyance to Fluttershy, but for once she really didn't care enough to worry about it. Finally everything was starting to make sense, starting to feel right.
“Fluttershy, my dearest, what's wrong?” Rarity's concerned voice snapped the yellow mare out of her trance, and she was mildly surprised to find her eyes watering. She had always been something of a weepy pony when her emotions got the better of her, but at least that was one trait where her companion had her soundly beat. “Please, come over here and let me help.”
Fluttershy knew an open invitation when she saw one, and eagerly took a spot next to Rarity as the unicorn scooted up to make room for her. Reassuring hooves ran through her long pink mane as she nuzzled deeply into the other pony. Since when did expensive perfume smell so… comforting? “I'm… I'm okay, Rarity,” she finally spoke up, although her voice it was barely louder than a whisper. “I'm just… so happy.”
“I understand, sweetheart,” Rarity replied warmly, placing a tender kiss on her lover's head. “I'd gladly stay in this moment forever if I could. As it is… I suppose another half hour or so could hardly hurt, could it?”
“I'd love that,” Fluttershy smiled, nuzzling up even closer. She felt safe like this, content with the one she cared about more than anypony else. She felt loved with this beautiful unicorn next to her, and it was a feeling that the pegasus resolved to never lose again.