Chapter Twenty-Five
Better Together
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This was just getting ridiculous. For what must have at least been the sixth or seventh time in less than two weeks, Rainbow was picking up Fluttershy to get her out of her house. And that was fine, Rainbow never got tired of having Fluttershy around. Hell, they could be roommates if they wanted to be. Even if the two of them were drastically different, they were practically sisters.
But as for why Fluttershy was spending so much time at her house? That was another story. It started one night when Sunset couldn’t manage to pick Fluttershy up from work on time and things had gone from there. More days than not, some sort of problem came up with Sunset, and Rainbow was called in to get Fluttershy out of the situation.
Which was exactly the case as she waited outside Fluttershy’s house to pick her up once again. She hadn’t even bothered to ask any questions this time, just showing up when she got Fluttershy’s message. They’d have plenty of time to talk shortly.
As Fluttershy left the house, Sunset was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow wasn’t sure whether that was because she wasn’t home or because she just didn’t care enough to see Fluttershy off.
Fluttershy opened the passenger door and got in, then closed it roughly, leaned her head back, and sighed. That gave Rainbow a pretty good indication that Sunset was inside, and this fight had been a bad one.
Without a word, Rainbow shifted into drive and they were on their way. It was better to just focus on getting Fluttershy away from the situation at first. Once she was alone with Rainbow, her mood would rapidly turn from angry to sad. That was when Rainbow could safely ask her what had happened.
She let a few minutes pass in silence, then chanced a look at Fluttershy. As expected, she was sitting limply and staring at the floor. The change in her demeanor had happened just as Rainbow had been sure it would, and it was time to see if they could get somewhere.
“So… wanna talk about it?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. “I just… No, not really…”
As was always the case, Rainbow found herself unsure of what to say. She felt like she should try to get Fluttershy to open up more, but she knew how that would go. Words didn’t work the way Rainbow wanted them to. No matter what was in her head, the words that left her lips would be coarse. She’d say something wrong, or she’d push too hard, or just… she’d do something dumb.
Which was why it was better for both of them if she simply didn’t say anything at all. “Alright.”
She hoped Fluttershy might offer something else, but she didn’t. Whether they talked about what happened or not, it seemed that it would fall to Rainbow to drive any conversation.
“You picked a good day to come over at least,” Rainbow said, hoping to at least alleviate some of Fluttershy’s bad feelings. “There’s band practice today.”
“Oh, that’ll be nice.”
Rainbow smiled. Even if Fluttershy was a bit of an odd fit with the punk band, she got along great with all of its members. That was just what Fluttershy needed, time away from Sunset with some friendly faces.
They arrived at Rainbow’s house about an hour before everyone showed up, which Fluttershy decreed to be the perfect amount of time to make something nice for them. Although Rainbow always worried a bit about how little Fluttershy just sat back to let herself relax when she came over, baking did seem to cheer her up, so she hung out in the kitchen with her while she worked.
When the first knock came, Rainbow knew exactly who it would be. Ever the perfectionist, Lemon Zest had arrived slightly ahead of schedule. “Come on in, Zest. Shy’s making cookies.”
“Sweet!” Lemon Zest followed Rainbow into the kitchen, standing off to the sidelines. “Hey, Fluttershy. That smells delicious.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said with a smile, all trace her poor mood having been replaced. “They should be ready any minute now.”
“Bet you ten bucks that Dust comments about cookies not being punk rock,” Lemon Zest said with a smirk.
Rainbow grinned back. “You kidding? I don’t take bets I know I’ll lose, Zest.”
“What about you, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy giggled. “Sorry, Zesty, but I’m with Rainbow on this one…”
“Oh well, it was worth a shot.”
It wasn’t too long before Lightning Dust showed up, only a few minutes late. By then, the others were eating cookies and there was a second batch in the oven.
“Some hardcore punk band we are,” Lightning Dust said as she helped herself to a cookie. “Sitting around eating cookies.”
Everyone laughed, which Lightning Dust seemed to think was because they agreed with her point. She cared a little too much about the punk image as far as Rainbow was concerned. True, she was more working class than either Rainbow or Lemon Zest, both of whom lived in nice parts of town with comfortable middle-class lifestyles. But sometimes it seemed like everything she did just had to be ‘punk rock’.
Whatever. She killed it on the bass, and that’s what really mattered. Besides, all of them were into the punk rock aesthetic, even if she and Lemon Zest didn’t even know the first thing about a punk rock lifestyle, so it wasn’t like they had a lot of reason to clash about it.
“Punk rock or not, these cookies kick ass,” Lemon Zest said as she helped herself to another. “Thanks again, Shy.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Lightning Dust said.
“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy said happily. At least, Rainbow hoped she was happy. It was hard to tell with Fluttershy, although she did look happy.
Rainbow glanced at a clock. Ten minutes past when they said they’d start. That wasn’t too bad, but still, it was worrying. “So… ten bucks says Ringo doesn’t show again.”
No one wanted to answer that one. Eventually, Lemon Zest volunteered. “I don’t like the odds of that bet.”
“Me either,” Lightning Dust said. “Wanna just start without him and if he shows, he shows?”
‘I can wait up here,” Fluttershy offered. “I need to wait on the second batch of cookies anyway.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, alright. If he’s not here in twenty just give up on him, though.”
“Okay.”
Rainbow led the way down to the basement. Ringo was almost as bad as Sunset for causing Rainbow problems these days.
“So what are we gonna play?” Lemon Zest said as she took a seat behind her drum set.
“Got something new I’m working on,” Lightning Dust said. “Thought maybe we could workshop it together. Hand me your guitar, I’ll show you.”
“Shouldn’t we wait to see if Ringo shows up for that?” Rainbow asked, although she handed over her guitar anyway.
“What for his stellar songwriting?” Lightning rolled her eyes. “If he shows up later, he can jump in. But I don’t feel like sitting around eating cookies all day.”
“I do,” Lemon Zest said. “But I agree we should get started. A work in progress song will still be a work in progress by the time he shows up, so it’s not like it really matters.”
“Good point,” Rainbow conceded. “Alright then, show us what you got, Dust!”
Lightning Dust’s song was good, even if it was unfinished. She had rhythm guitar and bass parts planned for both the verse and chorus, and some rough ideas for the drums. Lemon Zest picked up and expanded on those effortlessly, and Rainbow offered some ideas for a lead guitar part. She didn’t have any lyrics, but Lightning Dust had never been comfortable as a lyricist. Rainbow would probably pen those later when the others were gone.
As they worked on the song, footsteps descended the stairs. They paused for a moment to see if one or two people were coming down, although given how late it was, they must have all known.
To no one’s surprise, Fluttershy came down alone. She did come down with a plate full of cookies, at least. “Careful, they just came out.”
“That’s when they’re the best!” Lemon Zest said, practically running over to grab one. Without giving it a second thought, she shoved the cookie in her mouth. The regret showed instantly on her face. “Fufk! Iff hoht!”
Everyone laughed at her reaction, and even Lemon Zest herself was laughing after she managed to get the cookie down. They wisely left them to cool after that.
That did leave them with one obvious topic for discussion, however. “So… what do we do about Ringo?” Lemon Zest asked.
Rainbow frowned and took a seat on the coach. “It was one thing when he was leaving early, but not showing up? This is getting out of hand.”
“He doesn’t care about the band,” Lightning Dust said as she sat beside Rainbow. “That’s it, plain and simple. If he did, he wouldn’t do this shit.”
“So what are you thinking?” Rainbow asked.
“You know what I’m thinking. Hell, we’re all thinking it, but no one wants to say it – we toss him.”
Rainbow sighed. Lightning Dust was right, Rainbow hadn’t wanted to say that. She didn’t want it to come to that, but it seemed that maybe it had. Still, she didn’t like the idea. She had never once had to kick a band member out before, and she was hoping to keep it that way.
“I don’t like it,” Lemon Zest said. “I mean, I see your point, and we did kind of talk about it before. But I still don’t like it. We need to talk to him about it head on first.”
“Uhm…” Everyone looked at Fluttershy, who was sitting daintily on the couch armrest. “Maybe you could tell him that, uhm, that he’s on his last chance?”
“I can agree with that,” Lightning Dust said. “Just be straight up with him, he’s out of strikes and if he doesn’t step it up, his ass is out.”
“I agree,” Lemon Zest said. “That’ll give him the chance to prove us wrong.”
Rainbow looked between them. There wasn’t really anything to add. If even Fluttershy saw that this was necessary, then it was past time. “Okay. I’ll talk to him about it later.”
“So since we’re down a member, how about we make today a writing day?” Lightning Dust suggested.
“Yeah, good thinking. Though it’d be cool to see how it all sounds together.” Rainbow grinned and turned to Fluttershy. “You know, if someone maybe wanted to fill in.”
Fluttershy blushed. “Oh, me? On a new song? Uhm, I don’t know…”
“Well, why not?” Lemon Zest asked. “You’re at band practice more often than not, and you can play guitar. You’re not bad at most of our songs, and if you joined in more you’d be even better.”
“What, Fluttershy join the band instead of Ringo?” Lightning Dust asked with a laugh. “Like, permanently?”
Lemon Zest shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, you know, if it comes to that.”
Lightning Dust looked at the decidedly not punk Fluttershy and winced. “Let’s, uh, cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, let’s just work on that song.”
Although working on the song continued to go smoothly, Rainbow didn’t give up hope that Fluttershy would join in. But even once they were satisfied with how Lightning Dust’s song was going and started working on an idea Rainbow had, Fluttershy chose to sit on the sidelines and only offer the occasional comment.
Still, Rainbow felt like she had a positive impact. Everyone seemed to play a little better and goof off a little less when Fluttershy was around. Or maybe it was just Rainbow. She definitely felt a little more inclined to yield the floor to other ideas instead of following through on her impulse to steal the show when Fluttershy was there to watch her.
Regardless of whether it was an effect on the whole band or just on Rainbow, she liked having Fluttershy there with them. Everything just felt better with her, and Rainbow wanted to keep things that way. Whether Fluttershy joined the band or not, Rainbow wanted her around as much as possible, at least until they properly found their feet.
But increased productivity or not, they still found themselves taking a break about an hour in. Since it had been a productive hour, Rainbow figured it didn’t matter much whether everyone was at their peak for the rest of the afternoon and passed out beers.
“The new songs are coming along great,” Fluttershy said when Rainbow handed her a can of beer. She was leaning against the wall, leaving the couch for Rainbow and Lightning, who had been standing the whole time.
“Thanks, Shy,” Rainbow said as she sat down, handing the last beer can to Lightning before opening her own.
“We’ve got more than enough songs for a whole setlist already.” Lemon Zest got up to stretch her legs and stood beside Fluttershy. “It’s been like two months since we said we were going to start playing live. We need to book a gig!”
“Yeah, I know…” Rainbow rolled her eyes. This was something that came up at every band meeting lately.
“First the talk with Ringo,” Lightning said. “We can’t book a show and then not have one of our guitarists turn up.”
Lemon Zest sighed. “Yeah, I guess. But damn, he better step up soon then…”
“I’m getting tired of only playing here too,” Lightning Dust said. “I think we all are.”
Since Lightning Dust was looking her way, Rainbow had to chime in as well. “Yeah, same. We were mostly ready when we first started talking about it. Now? We’re definitely ready. All of us except Ringo, anyway.”
“You know…” Fluttershy spoke quietly and didn’t look at anyone as she did. “If you’re all really that unhappy with him, you could, uhm, just fire him. You said he was out if he didn’t step up, and that was months ago. He’s not fitting in with everyone, and it’s kind of bringing the whole band down.”
Once again, Rainbow was forced to acknowledge that if even Fluttershy was saying something, it had gone on for far too long. But even so, she just couldn’t bring herself to want to kick someone out without at least giving him the chance to defend himself. What if he really did have a good reason for not showing up this time?
Surprisingly, it was Lightning Dust that came to his defense. “If we’re hoping Flash might fill in for him, it’d be best not to just kick out his friend. If we talk to him about it first, we can at least say we gave him every possible chance.”
“Yeah, that does make sense.” Fluttershy took a drink and sighed. “I just want to see you all on stage… You’ve been working so hard, you really deserve it.”
“You know, there is another option…” Lemon Zest nudged her. “Back up guitarist! If Ringo shows up then there’s no problem, but if not? Well, if we have another guitarist handy who knows all our songs…”
Fluttershy blushed. “Oh, uhm… I’m… You know I’m not anywhere near as good as the rest of you.”
Lemon Zest must have decided a nudge wasn’t friendly enough, because she chose to throw an arm around Fluttershy’s shoulders instead. “Okay, but we could all practice together now!”
“I… I don’t…”
“Take it easy, Zest,” Rainbow said. “Trust me, no one would be more excited to have Fluttershy on board than me. But if she doesn’t want to, well…”
“I’m not saying she has to!” Lemon Zest defended, then turned to Fluttershy. “Just, you know, think about it?”
Lightning Dust, somehow already finished with her drink, threw her empty can at the trash. It bounced off the wall behind the bin and fell in. “Look, we might as well be honest. Shy’s great, but she’s not a perfect fit. But neither is Ringo. So yeah, I’m with Zest if Shy’s interested. A backup guitarist could help us out a lot, at least until we find someone permanent.”
“Or until Ringo decides to show some dedication,” Rainbow pointed out.
“Yeah, or until Hell freezes over.”
Although she felt a little bad for it, Rainbow laughed. “Fair enough.”
“So, Shy,” Lemon Zest said, “why are you always here lately? I mean I’m not complaining or anything, just been wondering.”
Maybe she should’ve jumped in to save Fluttershy from having to answer, but Rainbow wanted to hear what she’d say as well. She knew the reason, of course, but it might be good for Fluttershy to talk to someone other than just her about it.
Fluttershy still looked to Rainbow first, but then she looked away and gave an answer. “It’s, uhm… Well, my girlfriend and I have been fighting lately…”
“Gotcha.” Lemon Zest showed Fluttershy a smile, which she meekly returned. “Well, hey, we’re glad to give you a cool place to hang and forget your problems a bit.”
Lightning Dust shrugged. “Always thought being with a chick had to be easier, since guys are so full of shit.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Only the guys you pick up are full of shit, Dust.”
“And your dating history is so much better, right?” Lightning asked with a grin.
“Just because I don’t want to lock myself down to one guy doesn’t mean he’s full of shit.”
Now it was Lightning Dust rolling her eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, so what’s the deal with you and your girl, Shy?”
“Oh, I, uhm…”
She couldn’t do it. No matter how much Rainbow wanted Fluttershy to open up, she couldn’t let her flounder like that. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“Nah, you gotta air shit out,” Lightning Dust said. “If not with us, then with someone. Otherwise it’s just going to fuck you up more, you know?”
Fluttershy looked at Lightning Dust uncertainly, then looked away. “It’s… really dumb.”
“No, being afraid to talk to us is really dumb.” Lightning Dust got up to grab another beer. “Anyone else want one?”
“Uhm, I would,” Fluttershy said. When had she finished hers? Rainbow was barely halfway through her can.
Lightning Dust got herself and Fluttershy more beer before sitting back down. “Anyway, we’re pretty much cool with whatever if you haven’t noticed.”
“I… think it might help, Shy.” Rainbow met Fluttershy’s eyes and could tell how torn she was. “And like Dust said, we’re not gonna judge you or whatever.”
Fluttershy finally folded. “Well… we have this friend. She doesn’t live anywhere around here though. Sunset, Rainbow, and I met her back in high school when she was staying here temporarily.”
Rainbow couldn’t help but grin when she realized who Fluttershy was talking about. Since she didn’t want to explain she was grinning because the absurdity of dancing around saying they were talking about a magical pony princess, she pretended it was for another reason. “She was the one who tore Sunset down from her head bitch pedestal back in the day.”
At first it looked like Fluttershy was going to object to Rainbow’s statement. It was a poorly kept secret that Sunset was still really sensitive about her time as the bully of Canterlot High School. But if Fluttershy didn’t like the way Rainbow talked about it, she decided not to comment.
Instead, she continued talking about Twilight. “Lately Sunset has been talking to this friend more and more. And it feels like she’s talking with me less. I think… I think if she lived around here, Sunset would’ve tried to date her. And I don’t really mind that she had a crush on our friend or anything. But… I think maybe it wasn’t something she ever got over. And… well, mainly I just feel like she gets more excited to talk to our friend than to me.”
Sunset was talking to Twilight more than Fluttershy? What the hell was that about? “Have you brought it up with her?”
“Not exactly… It’s dumb, they’re really good friends. I know it’s normal for them to want to talk to each other. Besides, the other girl has a girlfriend anyway.” Fluttershy winced at the mention of the other Fluttershy. “She’s… Well, I don’t really know her very well, but lately Sunset does. She’s… a lot like me, only she has her life together more.”
“Well hey, if your friend has a girlfriend, nothing’s gonna happen, right?” Lemon Zest asked. “I mean, not that anything would, but you know.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah. Like I said, I’m being dumb.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Lemon Zest ran a hand through her hair, and Rainbow recognized the telltale signs of someone who didn’t know how to respond.
For once, however, Rainbow did. “Look, Sunset isn’t the type to sleep around, and you know that. But it really doesn’t sound like that’s the problem. You just want Sunset to pay attention to you, and you should! It’s bullshit that she’s ignoring you but talking to her other friends!”
“Yeah, fuck that!” Lightning Dust took a large swig of her beer. “Your girlfriend is ignoring you to talk to someone else. You have every right to be pissed!”
Fluttershy stared into her beer can. “But I don’t want to be pissed…”
Lemon Zest snorted at Fluttershy mirroring Lightning Dust’s word choice. “No one wants to be pissed, Shy. But that’s just more reason she should listen to what you have to say, right? If she really cares, she doesn’t want you to feel bad either.”
“I… I guess that’s true.”
“Of course it’s true,” Lightning said. “You just gotta tell her straight up, hey, this needs to stop. Then you’ll find out what she really cares more about.”
There was another moment’s silence from Fluttershy, then she smiled. “You’re right. Thank you, everyone.”
Rainbow grinned. “No problem, Shy.”
It was nice being able to address Fluttershy’s problem as a group. Where one person fell short, another could pick up with her own response. Alone, Rainbow never knew what to say, and when she did manage to say something, she always wondered if it was the wrong thing. But with her bandmates, she knew they would fill in when she couldn’t figure it out.
And most importantly, it seemed to have a positive effect on Fluttershy. She took a large drink, then set her can down. “So, uhm, did you still want me to try filling in on guitar?”
Practice had gone better than Rainbow would have hoped for. Playing with a full band always made their songs sound so much better, since they’d been written with two guitars in mind. But even more than that, Rainbow felt so much more in-sync with Fluttershy than she ever did with Ringo, even if there was no denying that Fluttershy was still a novice compared to him.
She’d get better with practice though, and if the day was anything to go on, practice might be something she’d do a lot more often. Rainbow wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the session, Fluttershy had clearly been having more fun than she’d had in ages.
But of course, it couldn’t last forever. After a few more hours and more than a few more drinks each, they called it a day. Not that it mattered much, because Fluttershy’s good spirits didn’t leave. They moved from beer to water so everyone could sober up a bit before driving home, and everyone sat around the basement goofing off and having fun.
The only time Rainbow started to worry was when that too came to an end.
“I should get heading out,” Lemon Zest said after checking the time on her phone. “My grandparents usually do dinner kinda early.”
Lightning Dust laughed. “Yeah, we can’t keep you from Grandma and Grandpa, can we?”
“You wouldn’t say it like that if you’d tried my grandma’s cooking,” Lemon Zest shot back. “Maybe you all could come by for dinner someday. You know, if it doesn’t clash too hard with your punk reputation.”
“As long as you promise it’s your grandma cooking and not you,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “I can take a hit to my reputation as long as I don’t have to try anything you cook.”
“Jokes on you, Lemon Zest isn’t my name for nothing. My lemon chicken kicks ass!”
“I didn’t know you cooked,” Fluttershy said. “I’d love to try your cooking. If, uhm, you also do vegetarian stuff.”
“Hell yeah I do! You can basically add lemon zest to anything. I’ve even seen recipes for using it in candy and stuff.”
“That sounds really good, actually.”
“So Zest is a walking lemon cookbook now.” Lightning Dust shook her head. “I don’t even know why I’m surprised.”
“Well, I’d love to try it,” Fluttershy reiterated. “Maybe we could even try cooking together sometime.”
“That’d be awesome!” Lemon Zest walked backwards towards the stairs. “But for now I gotta run. Catch you later!”
“See you, Zest!” Rainbow called after her as she climbed the stairs.
“I should probably head out too,” Lightning Dust said, a little more reluctantly than Lemon Zest had. “I got work in the morning, and I told Indigo that the two of us could hang tonight.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Why not just bring her here sometime?”
“I tried, but I think she thinks I’m gonna give her shit for the whole fooling around things if I get her and Lemon Zest in the same place together.”
“She’s probably right,” Rainbow pointed out.
“She’s definitely right.” Lightning grinned, but it was soon replaced with a sigh. “Besides, punk’s not her scene. She’s into that poppy shit.”
Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “You know Shy and me used to be in a pop-rock band, right?”
“Yeah, then you wised up!” Lightning Dust grabbed her bass and shoved it into her carrying case. “Wouldn’t catch me playing that stuff.”
“Of course, how could I forget? Dust only lives and breathes punk rock.”
“Damn right. None of that wimpy music for me!”
“Hey, some of the stuff we played was pretty damn heavy for pop.”
Lightning laughed. “I guess. I do still remember that song you all played at the Friendship Games. How did it go? ‘It was always in front of me’ or something?”
“Right there in front of me.” Rainbow picked up her guitar. “I could play it if you want.”
“Nah, I’m gonna run. Maybe next time though, see if you can convince me.”
“Alright. Later, Dust.”
“Bye, Dust,” Fluttershy said.
Lightning Dust waved goodbye, then climbed the stairs out of the basement.
Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, who was looking away. Before Rainbow could say anything, Fluttershy muttered to herself, “Sometimes the things you want are not the things you need…”
“What was that, Shy?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Nothing.”
Although Rainbow was pretty sure what she’d heard, she wasn’t sure how to respond to it. Stuff like this was so much harder when she was by herself… Better to just change the subject. “So, uh, what about you? Do you wanna hang out more, or feel like heading home?”
“I, uhm…” Fluttershy turned away. “Would it… would it be alright if I, uhm, stayed?”
Rainbow couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at how silly it was for Fluttershy to be shy about that. “Of course it is.”
Fluttershy nodded but still looked unsure. “I… could I stay for the night?”
Rainbow blinked as realization set in. Fluttershy wasn’t unsure because of Rainbow. She knew Rainbow’s answer before she even asked. She was unsure because of what that meant for her and Sunset.
“Yeah, that’s cool with me. You know you’re always welcome here.” Of course Fluttershy knew that. But there was another part that needed to be said. “And you know, you’re welcome for as long as you want. One night, a week, a month, whatever you need, Shy.”
Fluttershy nodded, although she still looked unsure. “Thank you.”
Once again, all Rainbow could think to do was change the subject. “So uh, wanna head upstairs then? We could figure out dinner then head to my room.”
“Okay.”
Rainbow led the way out, trying to figure out what they could talk about together. Fluttershy found it instead. “So, uhm, I was thinking maybe we could work on your new song. I… I had some ideas for some lyrics, if… if that’s okay…”
Rainbow grinned. “Of course it is! You know I love your song lyrics.”
“You don’t think the others will mind me helping?”
That was harder to place. Lemon Zest wouldn’t, she wanted Fluttershy in the band. After a moment of consideration, Rainbow decided Lightning Dust probably wouldn’t either. “Nah, especially if the two of us work on it together.”
“I’d like that,” Fluttershy said as they reached the top of the stairs. “I always thought our styles were good accents to each other.”
“Definitely!” Rainbow put an arm around Fluttershy as they walked into the kitchen. She wanted to say that the two of them always did their best together. Not just in music, but in life. That she couldn’t imagine what she would do without Fluttershy there to support her.
She wanted to say that she would do anything she could to make Fluttershy’s problems go away, because when Fluttershy hurt, she hurt too. And that even if she couldn’t find something to fight head on to fix things, she would still be there by Fluttershy’s side to take on any of the hurt that she was able to so that Fluttershy would never have to face it alone.
She wanted to say that. But Rainbow was never good at words, and if she tried, it would never come out right. So instead, she just said, “Maybe someday you’ll even be as good as me!”
Fluttershy laughed. “Maybe someday.”
Fluttershy laughed, and that would be enough. Maybe someday Rainbow could tell the sister she chose all the things she deserved to hear, but for now, it was enough just to hear her laugh again.