//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: Taking Potshots: Crackshipping Rainbow Dash and Adagio Dazzle // by bahatumay //------------------------------// It was simple. It was effective. It was making Rainbow much more nervous than it should have. All they were doing was walking up to her friends while holding hands. It was unmistakable what the message was. Unmistakable, and very public. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Adagio asked gently. “Yeah,” Rainbow said. “It's been too long. They've got to know.” Adagio looked over at the school. “Well, the bell for lunch did ring about ten minutes ago, so if you wanted to wait or-” “No, no,” Rainbow said, starting to walk. “I'm ready. I’m doing it. Let's go.” With that, they started walking across the field over to the exterior door of the cafeteria. A few people eating outside did double-takes, but for the most part, the only sound was their shoes on the grass. “Kinda surprised you went for this,” Rainbow said suddenly. “Why?” Adagio asked. “You're back here, at Canterlot High. Surrounded by people you tried to mind control. You even had to get someone to cover your shift at the Sub Station. So you're walking into a room full of people who aren't exactly your biggest fans, and you’re not getting paid. And if Principal Celestia catches you-” “If. If she catches me.” Adagio merely smirked. “But aww, you're worried about me. That's so sweet.” Rainbow elbowed her in the ribs. Adagio’s smirk didn’t fade at all. “Feeling better?” she asked. There was a brief pause. “A little,” Rainbow admitted. It was a little scary just how well Adagio got her. But the time for thinking was past. They were at the entrance to the cafeteria, and it was now or never. After a quick breath to steady herself, Rainbow took Adagio by the hand and pushed the door open. It was about as bad as she'd feared, if not worse. The door squeaked loudly as she opened it, drawing the attention of everyone in earshot. People stopped and stared, even dropping silent mid-conversation to turn and look. It was like they were a stone falling into a pond, except making widening ripples of silence instead of ripples of water. “Alright,” Rainbow said quietly, grabbing tighter onto Adagio’s hand. “Stay cool,” she breathed. “Stay cool.” “I am cool,” Adagio answered under her breath. “I'm talking to myself.” After what felt like a full mile over the green tiles of the cafeteria, they arrived at the table where all of Rainbow’s friends sat. The reactions were… somewhat unexpected. Pinkie was the first to notice. She gasped excitedly and rapidly nudged Sonata, drawing her attention and that of the rest of the people at the table. Sonata had known already, obviously. But apparently she had been expecting something else; she scowled at them, scowled at Pinkie, dropped the mayonnaise packet she'd been sucking on, irritably pulled out her wallet, and passed Pinkie a five dollar bill that she took no care to keep straight. Frankly, Rainbow would have accepted it as part of Pinkie’s natural Pinkie tendencies if she had proceeded to pull out cupcakes with frosting matching their hair as part of an impromptu celebration. She happily put the cash from Sonata in her hair, though, so the cupcakes option was less likely. She did give them two congratulatory thumbs up, though. But the real surprise came when Rarity and Sunset each stood up. They each extended a pointing finger. “I knew it!” they cried in unison. There was a brief pause. “Ugh!” Sonata groused, letting her head hang back and groaning at the ceiling. Sighing, she dug her wallet out again, pulled out another bill, and shoved it in Pinkie’s general direction. The sudden shout (or was it the fact that it sounded like this scenario had been expected?) sent everyone else back to their normal conversations, and the cafeteria noise quickly picked back up into the normal dull roar. Rarity and Sunset shared an awkward look and sat down again, but they were still looking at each other, each silently asking the other how she’d known. “She'd quit complaining-” Sunset started. “And seemed so much happier-” “I'd just assumed they'd worked it out.” “I mean, I'd certainly hoped…” Rarity said. “I knew it was something when she was late for Fluttershy’s sleepover.” “Maybe a little, uh…” Sunset spun her wrist around, trying to think of the word. “Faster?” Rarity suggested. “Deeper of a relationship than I'd thought,” Sunset said, clearly choosing her words carefully, “but yeah. I guess it worked out well.” She smirked. “Guess friendship is magic.” She waggled her fingers at Rainbow. “You started by making a friend, and now, poof,” she spread them wide, “you've got a girlfriend.” “Ha, ha,” Rainbow said sarcastically, dropping into a seat. Pinkie whispered something to Sonata that sounded vaguely like ‘scissors’ and ‘magic’ and Sonata laughed so hard she choked on her mayonnaise packet. As Pinkie gave Sonata back blows, Fluttershy toyed with the tines of her plastic fork. An embarrassed smile played at her lips. “I… had also entertained the possibility,” she admitted sheepishly, and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like ‘cute together’. Applejack looked between the two, and raised a hand halfway. “So, am I the only one kinda blindsided by this?” she asked, her voice seemingly the only one far above a whisper. There was another brief pause. “It looks like it,” Fluttershy said apologetically. Applejack looked once more at the two and smiled wryly. “Welp, guess that's a thing, now.” She kicked off the ground to push her own chair out a bit, giving the two a little more room to sit, and then turned back to the group. “Anyone else completely flummoxed by the trig homework Cheerilee gave today? ‘Cause I can't make heads nor tails of it.” “You are using degrees on your calculator, right?” Fluttershy suggested. “Tennis Match had hers in the wrong mode and got some really weird answers.” “I dunno. Borrowed Rainbow’s for class today.” She pulled it out and held it up for inspection. Rarity took it and examined it, and she found the problem instantly. “It's in radians, darling. We're supposed to be in degrees.” She looked at Rainbow. Rainbow shrugged. “It said ‘rad’. I figured that was how you said ‘cool’ way back when.” She shrugged again. “It's an old calculator,” she said, by way of explanation. “And you wanted your calculator to say rad… why?” Applejack prompted. “So it'd be as cool as I am,” Rainbow answered as if were obvious. Adagio couldn't help but chuckle. Still, it  was a new experience. There was no staring, no suspicious looks, no freaking out; just… acceptance. From this table, anyway. She could feel the stares and hear the whispers behind her. But right now, this was the only table that mattered. She met Sonata’s eyes and smiled. She could get used to this.