//------------------------------// // The Unimportance of Fear // Story: The Big Secret // by StolenMemes //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash entered the locker room with a sense of relief. Whoever was running that account was obviously too much of a coward to actually post anything about her or her friends- or so she thought. Her life was going to change in about 5 minutes and she didn’t even know it. The world can be a cruel and uncaring place. Throughout one’s life, they will see many major changes and shifts in tone due to forces that may or may not be within their control. Whether or not they make the most of it however, completely is. Some of these changes can be because of little, minute things that build into bigger things or total hit-by-a-train-type events that immediately mold the rest of someone’s life. In Rainbow Dash’s case, though it wasn’t as hard as getting hit by a train, was about to go from in the closet to unwillingly out and about. From that day forward, she would see a major shift in her life. Confronting her fears at full force, once and for all. When she entered the locker room with that over-confident relief followed by a typical speech from Coach Spitfire about their good work at practice and how they would “destroy” the other team at their next game, she did not expect what she would hear whispers and a few snickers from her team-mates. Feeling a little more investigative than normal, she went to go talk to a sophomore on the J.V. team named Vapor Trail. Vapor Trail was a little shy, which Rainbow Dash guessed was what she liked about her, seeing as it reminded her of Fluttershy. She liked giving her pointers and helping her get better at soccer. She was sure Vapor Trail would make varsity with flying colors next year if she could just work on her confidence. “Hey Vapor, what’s everybody talking about?” Vapor Trail seemed to be startled by this. She looked at her upperclassman friend, then to everyone around them. She leaned in and whispered to Rainbow Dash. “Uhh… you should check MyStable…” Rainbow Dash’s heart skipped a beat. “Listen, I don’t really care…” Vapor Trail’s voice seem to fade into background noise as Rainbow Dash quickly turned and opened her phone to MyStable. A quick scroll down and she saw the post. Rainbow Dash’s pupils shrank to the size of atoms and her blue face now matched the same shade Rarity’s. A sudden sense of Vertigo came over her before she lost all feeling in her body. Every one of her senses but her vision seemed to fade away in an instant. Dropping her phone, she shoved past the girl next to her and fell into a full sprint out the locker room, still drenched in sweat from practice. … Fluttershy found herself paralyzed in fear, her friend Rarity trying to bring her back into reality. “Fluttershy? Fluttershy darling speak to me!” “I- I…” Fluttershy’s eyes darted around the room. Everything around her seemed to get bigger to the point of surrounding her. She felt small and miniscule, as if everyone around her were monsters ready to pounce. She was afraid- very afraid. And what did she do when she was afraid of something? Sure, cowering in fear was one thing, but when she was surrounded? “Are you alright?” Fluttershy darted out of the classroom and into the hallway with her hands over her eyes, tears flowing down her cheeks. She was in full panic mode. Rarity tried to follow suit, but quickly realized Fluttershy was much faster than her. She had already lost her around a corner. In her teary-eyed panic, Fluttershy didn’t notice the other when they ran into eachother and fell to the floor. The two made eye contact and realized who one another were- Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat in silence for a short moment before Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “I-I’m so sorry…” Rainbow Dash found herself breathing heavily and getting teary eyed before getting back up and running away, leaving her best friend behind. Fluttershy staring at her friend as she ran out the door and into daylight. Suddenly, she noticed she wasn’t crying anymore. The bell rang. Students poured out of their classes when Rarity finally caught up to her. “Fluttershy darling, you ran off! Are you alright?” “Y-yeah I just…” Fluttershy was at a loss for words. “I think I need some time to think about everything…” Rarity watched as Fluttershy walked into the crowd. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Pinkie Pie and Applejack. “Oh hello, are you girls ready to go to Sugarcube Corner?” She paused. “Do either of you happen to know where Sunset Shimmer is?” …  Sunset found herself walking through the halls, having told Applejack and Pinkie Pie she’d have to meet them later, telling them she had somewhere to go. Sunset Shimmer was a leader. Not a formal leader of any kind, but she was the defacto leader amongst her new friends, and she couldn’t stand to see anyone bully her friends. So when she exited class and heard Principal Celestia remind students over the intercom about a “Police Cadet after-school training course”, she couldn’t resist. Sunset entered the gymnasium with confidence that this would help her catch the mysterious online entity, quickly taking not of everything and everyone in there. First, she noticed about five students sitting in chairs facing the other way and a podium in the center. Surrounding the gym was various obstacles and other items for physical training. The students in the center looked a little different from one another. Upon reaching the seats, she got a better view and possible judgement about each. In the front row was two meat-head looking dudes. They both had very stereotypical buzzcuts and stood up strait as if they’d been military their whole lives. A few seats down from them was a scrawny-looking boy with glasses and bad acne, trying to hide the fact that he was very nervous. Sitting on the end was a lad in a hawaiian shirt and ripped jeans with a devilish smirk on his face. And somewhere in the middle of it all, one of the other students stood out; mainly because she knew him. “Hey Flash, what are you doing here?” Sunset looked down at the boy she found herself sitting next to. “Oh hey, Sunset. I should be asking you the same thing.” Sunset playfully rolled her eyes before looking at her feet and dawned a more serious look on her face. “I wanna try and find out who’s running that MyStable account.” She started. Flash raised an eyebrow at this. “What they did to not only my friends, but those other kids… was just cruel, and I’m gonna put an end to it.” “Geez, Sunset. That’s pretty noble of you. You’ve got me beat.” “Oh really, huh? Try me.” “We-” Before Flash Sentry could finish, a man dawning a blue police uniform entered the room. “Attention, new cadets! I’d like you all to sit in the front row!” The man commanded. He looked to be in his twenties. He had an white-blue head of hair and pale orange skin. He looked down the row at each cadet, getting a good look at each one before stopping on Sunset. “My name is Sargeant Steel Sentry!” He announced. It took her a moment, but Sunset Shimmer realized what he had just implied and looked to Flash. “I am going to be training you cadets for the next eight weeks. By the end of these two months, you all will be in the best shape you’ve ever been and hopefully, I will have inspired your career path.” “Flash is that-” “No talking, cadet!” Sgt. Sentry leaned towards her. He leaned back and looked at everyone once more. “As some of you may have figured out by now… Flash right here…” He put his hand on Flash’s shoulder. “...is my younger brother.” … Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer walked out of the gym with some fresh paperwork in their bags and headed towards the sidewalk. “So… your brother is-” “Yeah, my older brother is a Sargeant for the Canterlot PD. He’s a pretty great guy, though I’m not sure I wanna…” “Hm?” “I just don’t know if I’m good enough be a cop, you know? Steel is so cut out for it but I’m not, you know? He’s always been so cool and awesome and I’m just me…” “So you’re telling me that you, the guy who drives a sports car, plays lead guitar in a band and has loads of girls fawning over him is worried he’s not cool?” “Okay when you say it like that…” “Come on… I’m meeting the girls down at Sugar Cube Corner if you wanna come with!” … Rainbow Dash didn’t stop running. Her feet carried her far, far away from the school without looking back. Before she knew it, she was beyond the city limits and out of energy. She looked around her to see nothing but trees, a dirt road and a familiar farm house about a half a mile away. The sound of a car coming to a stop behind her made her turn around. A red pickup truck turn it’s engine off and the driver hopped out to reveal Applejack. Applejack walked around to the front of the car and leaned against the front engine, crossing her arms looking Rainbow Dash dead in the eyes with a straight, blank face. “You need a ride, sugarcube?” The ride back was silent for the first minute or so. “So Fluttershy, huh?” Applejack playfully asked. She looked away from the road and noticed her friend sinking deeper into herself. Applejack pulled over and placed the truck in park. She turned to the girl in the passenger seat and sighed. “Listen, sugarcube…” She started, Rainbow Dash finally having the courage to look at her made eye contact. “God made you the way you are. That doesn’t make you any less of a person than you actually are. Nobody’s perfect and if they are, they’re lyin’ to ya.” “Yeah but this is disgusting!” Rainbow Dash finally spoke up waving her arms around. “I beg yer pardon?” “Fluttershy is my BEST FRIEND and I’m attracted to her! I’m supposed to be Rainbow Dash! The hottest, most daring girl in school! I should have guys drooling over me like Rarity but no, I’m into girls…” “I might not look it, but there’s nothin’ wrong with that. So maybe you don’t like dicks-” “Just drive me home, Applejack…” Rainbow Dash interrupted. Applejack sighed and put the car in drive, then drove forward. The drive home was silent. The two girls never spoke a word to one another the whole trip. There was the occasional glance over from one another, but otherwise it was dead silent. Upon arriving at their destination, Rainbow Dash opened the truck door and stepped out, but not before Applejack turned to her. “I love you, sugarcube. All of us do, and I hope you know that.” Rainbow Dash looked at her friend. “Thanks, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash stepped out, shut the door and went inside. Applejack watched her walk in and shut the door behind her, then drove home.