//------------------------------//
// Coming to Terms 
// Story: The Days Passed 
// by SilverEyedWolf 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy quickly made her way towards her friend, ignoring the shock, then nervousness, that played across Rarity's face.

"Rarity, I didn't know you could teleport! And such a distance, too!" she said as she gently took Rarity's muzzle between her hooves. "Did you hurt yourself? Are you okay?"

Rarity scrunched her muzzle, her eyes searching Fluttershy's face and eyes for a moment before she softly smiled.

"Yes, dear, I'm alright," she almost whispered. "Although," she said, straitening her back and looking down her nose at Fluttershy, albeit with a small grin, "I was wounded when I heard Spike chose to leave me behind on this venture of his."

Her smile slowly dripped off of her lips, and her eyes went teary as she lowered them to the ground.

"Did I do something wrong? Is he avoiding me?"

Fluttershy looked back at Bright Cluster for a moment, who still looked shell-shocked. Chewing on her bottom lip slightly, she turned back to Rarity, who sighed.

"I don't know if he's purposefully avoiding you," Fluttershy whispered. "I think you two need to have a talk. I think that's why Cadance called you up here."

Rarity nodded, looking back towards her two suitcases, then to the castle.

"Lieutenant, would you mind helping my friend with her luggage? I believe she'll be staying at the castle with us," Fluttershy said, smiling at Bright Cluster.

Rarity looked over at him and gave a small smile, and he shook his head before nodding, moving over to the bags and settling them on his back.

"Thank you, Lieutenant...?"

"Bright Cluster, ma'am," he said, dipping his head into a bow before he straightened his back, one of the bags threatening to slide off.

"Lieutenant Cluster, thank you," she said again, quietly.

She jumped a little when Fluttershy bumped into her shoulder, and she smiled a bit when she felt her friend press into her side.

"You know, Fluttershy," Rarity said as they started walking, "not many mares would be so gentle with their stallion's ex. Especially when they've apparently been so horrid as to send the poor gentle-colt to therapy."

"Well," Fluttershy said, slowly, "I think that most of that tension would normally be fear. But Rarity, you are one of my three absolute best friends," she said with a smile and a nuzzle into Rarity's shoulder, "and I'm not afraid of you trying to hurt me, or Spike. And I know that no matter what, Spike is going to do what he thinks is best for all of us.

"So while I admit, I'm a little anxious towards him," she admitted, her ears flicking down before righting themselves, "I'm not afraid. I know that what is going to happen is what should happen, you know?"

Rarity sniffed, a little stunned by her friend's words. Pausing, she daintily wiped at her nose with a hoof before she said, "You've been hanging out with Rainbow Dash recently, then?"

Fluttershy laughed, not a gut-busting floor-roller or a petite little giggle, but a genuine burst of joy that came from being caught off guard.

When she finished, she continued to smile as she softly pressed her hip into Rarity's. "Sometimes she's right, though."

They walked in companionable silence for a moment, before Fluttershy once again spoke up.

"Oh, Rarity, I almost forgot. I was going to ask when you learned long-distance teleportation? And when you were going to summon the rest of your bags?"

"Oh, uhm, well, Cadance's letter caught me a little off-guard," Rarity said, smiling with a blush. "So I only had time enough to pack those two bags before I went screaming off towards Twilight. I must have spooked the poor mare because her sending was... a little rough this time," she said.

"Oh, so that's why you tried to plant your face in the train station," Bright Cluster piped up from the rear of their entourage.

Both mares turned to look at him, both eyebrows arched on their wide-eyed faces.

"I mean, that's why your baggage arrived as roughly as it did," he said, face trained into a blank slate with his eyes gazing towards the horizon.

Rarity slightly relaxed her face, staring at the lieutenant with one eyebrow raised and her eyes nearly slits. "Indeed," she said carefully, before turning back to the front as both mares started walking, once again ignoring the stallion behind them as he let out a sigh.

"But yes, that is why my arrival was, let us say less than graceful," Rarity finished.

"Are you sure your poor muzzle is alright? You landed pretty hard," Fluttershy said with concern.

"Oh yes dear, quite alright," Rarity said, waving a hoof through the air in front of her face. "The only thing I hurt in that fall was my pride."

"If you're sure," Fluttershy said hesitantly, before dropping the subject.

Quickly breaking the looming silence, Rarity asked, "So, what have you two been doing so far?"

"Well," Fluttershy began, before giving Rarity a very brief rundown of Spike's meetings with Cadance, and then launching into a very long play-by-play of every animal she'd encountered at the zoo, followed by her trip to the library.

"Well, I am glad that you're having a delightful time, dear," Rarity said with a small smile.

"Oh, yes," Fluttershy said with a nod. "I just hope Spike has a bit more free time soon. I'd like the three of us to spend some time together up here now that we're all here. I think you two could really benefit from it, and I'd enjoy the time with both of you."

"Yes, well, that does sound lovely," Rarity said, inclining her head slightly. "As long as everyone feels comfortable with it, of course."

Fluttershy stopped, sighed, and to most of the group's surprise, sat down and gently took Rarity's muzzle between her forehooves.

"Fluttershy!?"

"Rarity," she said, kindly, but with steel in her voice. "How old are you?"

"W-w-well, I'm coming up on twenty-eight, I believe?" she said.

"And how old is Spike?"

"I never was able to pin down his birthday, with him spending it with Twilight almost every year," she admitted. "He's twenty-three?"

Fluttershy's expression wavered, but she shook her head and continued, "Neither of you are teenagers. No more adolescent hormones making everything twenty shades more intense than they're supposed to be," she said. "You guys aren't going to fight, Rarity. It may be awkward, and it will definitely be tense. But neither of you are going to yell, and neither of you are going to throw each other away."

She sucked in her lip for a moment, not quite nibbling it, before smiling.

"Your friendship is stronger than that, Rarity."

Rarity's eyes had been softening throughout the entire lecture, her tail and ears slowly drooping, but at the last bit her eyes finally filled with tears, and she fell into a hug with Fluttershy, quietly shaking as she buried her muzzle into her friend's mane.

"B-but Fu-Fluttershy," she whispered, sniffling. "Wu-what if he-he doesn't want t-to talk to me at all?"

Her legs wrapped around Rarity, Fluttershy only pulled her deeper into a hug.

"He will. He might not want to, at first, but he'll talk with you all night if we let him."

Rarity giggled a little, before hiccuping.

"Oh, I'm a mess," she moaned, slumping into her friend's embrace. "At least I didn't have time to put on any make-up on, I suppose. Nothing to streak anyway."

Fluttershy pulled back and looked again at her friend's face, taking in the deep purple she'd taken for tired, botched eye-shadow.

"Let's get you to the castle," she said, a new worry in her voice. "Maybe a small nap before talking with Spike."

"Maybe," Rarity agreed, sniffling and wiping her nose on a hoof kerchief offered by Bright Cluster.

Fluttershy and Rarity both stood, the former bumping her hip and shoulder into her friend's as they started walking.

"Oh, and Rarity?"

"Yes dear?"

"April twenty-eighth. Spike is twenty-four."