//------------------------------// // A True Friend vs. Faux Friends // Story: Fluttershy's Lunchroom Drama // by gmen15 //------------------------------// Chapter 3: A True Friend As usual, the cafeteria was filled with young ponies. The stench of the mystery food the school served wafted throughout the lunchroom, making some ponies with sensitive stomachs wretch and gag as whatever good food their parents made for breakfast threatened to make a comeback all over the floor. It was relatively packed, almost every table occupied by at least one or two ponies, slowly munching away and chatting about whatever was popular in music, movies or, in the case of fillies, fashion. Not saying there weren't colts into fashion, though, because there were quite a few. Over at a table near the side of the lunchroom sat Hail Blitz and her group of cronies plus Fluttershy, who found herself in same exact position she’d been in for the last couple of lunches. Getting the little self-esteem she had left stomped into a fine dust by the arrogant Hail and her former friends, who had now become full-fledged followers, even going so far as to wear make-up in the same manner that Hail Blitz did. Fluttershy remembered when she meekly asked if she could borrow some make-up to wear. Hail Blitz scoffed at her question and bluntly spat how “no amount of make-up can fix that disaster you call a face”. This caused Fluttershy to start tearing up as her former friends continued their chant, "Foalshy. Foalshy. Foalshy is gonna cry." Naturally Fluttershy stayed quiet and kept her eyes averted, staring down at the tray of odd potato-like mush and sloppy greens that stunk up the cafeteria to high heaven. The others were saying mean things about her, but for the time being they weren't directing the conversation at her. To keep from being dragged into it, Fluttershy kept her head down thinking that if she stayed silent, she wouldn't be dragged into the conversation, and wouldn't have to face Hail Blitz’s direct scorn. Oh, how wrong she was. “Who the hay does your mane?” Fluttershy looked up to see Hail Blitz looking at her with her plastic smile. Her cold eyes half-closed like a typical snob. Fluttershy let out a small “eep” and looked back down at her food. She knew her "friends" were looking at her, their eyes bearing into her, analyzing every aspect of her being as if she were a bowl of fruit and they were meticulous painters looking to capture every single detail as perfectly as possible. Hail grinned, relishing in the embarrassment she was causing Fluttershy to endure. Taking a sick, twisted satisfaction in watching Fluttershy's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. “Heloooo, Earth to Foalshy. Who does you mane?” Fluttershy realized she had to answer, but when she tried to, she couldn’t find the words. Her throat was dry, her mind was racing at ten-thousand words a minute, and her voice was weak. Her cheeks darkened from light pink to a darker shade of red. It wouldn't take long for Fluttershy's humiliation to cause her face to turn a completely dark crimson. “I…I…” “Too scared to answer you little wimp?” Blitz interrupted, followed by some sneers from Fluttershy’s "friends". “I…I do it.” She whispered. “Sorry, would you speak up I couldn’t hear you.” Blitz said as she placed her hoof behind her ear to emphasize how Fluttershy’s answer was incomprehensible. “I…I do it.” Fluttershy whimpered. She was met by a slew of “come on” and “speak up you weirdo” from the other ponies that sat at the table with her. Hail just kept smiling her arrogant, smug smile that would make most ponies want to wipe it off with a nice, hard buck to the face. Fluttershy swallowed her throat so dry the saliva barely made it down. She then had a hard time keeping it down as she began to feel queasy. “I do my mane.” She muttered at a louder volume, but a quicker rate. Hail understood her this time, that is, if she didn’t understand her the other times. Chances are she did, but just wanted to keep making Fluttershy feel more uncomfortable by asking her to repeat herself. “It’s so bland and…foalish. That’s what you are. You’re a foal Fluttershy.” “I…” “You walk around with your pink little saddlebag with the kittens on it. You. Are. A. Foal.” “No...I mean…yes…I mean…please stop.” Fluttershy shrunk back in her seat, putting her hooves over her ears to drown out the laughter coming from all around her. Laughter from her so called "friends". “You know I bet you don’t even do your mane. I bet your mommy does it for you.” Again, her “friends” all agreed with their new queen bee and began to spout off fallacies, hoping to impress Hail by tearing down their former friend. “Yeah I’ve seen her mom do it for her!” one chimed in. “She totally gets her mother to do it.” Said another. "Plus she clearly has extensions." "I heard she doesn't even bathe herself." said a third. "She told me she still wets the bed." A fourth filly muttered to a fifth one, who burst out into laughter. Like an arrow directly to her heart, more than anything else her friends making fun of her and denouncing her along with this pony hurt more than the actual insults. ”Maybe I am just a foal. Maybe I am just a wimpy little foal who can’t take care of myself.” Fluttershy thought sadly, her eyes starting to water. This, of course did not go unnoticed. “Awwww, little foal gonna cry?” Fluttershy didn’t even bother to respond, she just kept crying. “This is why you’re a foal. You’re too immature to take valid, adult criticism that could better your life.” Fluttershy was just about to break out into sobs when suddenly somepony flew beside her and landed before approaching Blitz. Fluttershy looked up to see Rainbow Dash, as short as she was, trying to appear intimidating to the bully, her eyes focused and her stance almost combat-ready. “Hey! Why don’t you leave her alone you jerk?” Rainbow Dash hissed. Blitz seemed taken aback by the filly’s assertiveness, as did everypony else at the table. They weren’t used to see somepony not suck up to Blitz, much less confront her. “Um…excuse me?” Blitz asked in shock. “You heard me miss frou-frou queen. Leave the her alone; can’t you see how much you’re hurting her?” “Um…yeah that’s the point. She deserves to have her feelings hurt.” “Says who?” “Me? Hail Blitz? Maybe you’ve heard of me, I’m kind of a big deal in this school.” Hail answered in a tone that suggested she felt it should have been common knowledge. “Really? A big deal? Tell me, who are you besides the worthless leader of a group of shallow fillies who suck up to you just because you’re “popular” and they want a piece of the action?” “Hey!” said one of Fluttershy’s former friends. "And you bozos," Rainbow Dash turned to her and the other fillies that were formerly Fluttershy's friends, “are by far the absolute worst kinds of ponies imaginable. You threw your friend under the bus just to seem cool and "hip". You should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.” This made some of the fillies blush and look away with a mix of embarrassment and shame. At this point, everypony in the entire lunchroom had their attention now drawn to the argument between the prissy queen of the school and the rough-and-tumble tom-boy pegasus. Fluttershy could feel her cheeks become even warmer, her embarrassment rising as she felt everypony staring at her table. She wasn't sure if their attention was drawn solely to the two arguing fillies or to the entire table, but the realization that this public argument was taking place because of her made her stomach tighten. She shrunk back in the seat and hid behind her mane as Rainbow Dash continued to go at bat for her. "I want to know what kind of pony treats another the way you treat her!" "This isn't your any of your business." "When you make other ponies feel bad, you're darn right it's my business." "Coming from miss "I'm the fastest flier in this school?", please. You're just as arrogant as me." "Yeah, but I do it only to shut up those who constantly put me down. Besides, at least I walk the walk. What do you do miss "adult" filly? Make yourself popular by tearing others," Rainbow Dash pointed at Fluttershy, "like her, down and call her foalish, while in the same breath calling yourself an adult? You are by far the most foalish filly in this school...and that's saying something!" Fluttershy couldn’t take it anymore. She felt so weak and defenseless. No matter how much she appreciated Rainbow Dash standing up for her, all it did was serve to make her feel even more foalish, like she truly couldn’t stand up for herself and needed somepony else to do it for her. She quickly jumped off of her seat and bolted from the cafeteria, tears streaming down her face as she made a b-line towards the bathroom, stumbling a few times as she tried to take flight only to fall back to the floor. She pushed her way into the filly’s room and locking herself in one of the stalls. Once she was safe in her box, she let out all of her emotions. A torrent of tears gushed from her eye-balls; her sobs were loud and uncontrollable. Her body shook and her mind raced as she reflected on how “stupid” she believed that she looked. ”I’m worthless, I can’t do anything. I can’t talk without sounding stupid. I’m worthless.” As this thought, and more, raced through her head, she heard the door to the bathroom open. She let out a small, instinctive “eep” and got into a fetal position on the toilet. She felt her body tense up as she began to worry about who could possibly be coming into the bathroom? Was it just a student who drank too much apple juice, or ate too much bran? Was it Blitz or one of her many other tormentors? Was it the principal come by to ask her to come out and tell her that everything would be fine? The possibility of the last one made her feel even more pathetic than she already felt. She heard the sound of tiny hoof-steps land in front of the stall that she was sitting in. She looked through the gap under the stall door to see four little cyan hooves. Fluttershy realized who was on the other side even before she heard the familiar filly’s raspy, tom-boyish voice. “Hey there, are you okay in there dude?” Rainbow Dash asked in a concerned voice that was hushed to a volume that wouldn't startle Fluttershy too much. Fluttershy was somewhat comforted to hear that it wasn't Hail Blitz or one of her cronies. But she still felt too pathetic to talk to anypony; especially the pony that made her feel so stupid. No matter how much she did appreciate her actions, she made her feel weaker. “Go…go away.” Fluttershy whimpered. She just wanted to be alone, to wallow in her own thoughts and misery. Rainbow Dash would have none of it, and was determined on coaxing her out of the stall. “Listen, I just want to talk to you.” The cyan pegasus said in the friendliest way she could. “Please…” “Look, I can tell by the tone of your voice that you're upset. And I’m not leaving you alone until I cheer you up.” Fluttershy sniffed, “Why…why do you care so much, you...you don’t even know me.” “That doesn’t mean I want to see you treated like dirt. I saw the way those girls treated you and it burned me inside. Listening to your crying only makes me feel worse that I didn’t buck that jerk Hail Blitz in the face when I had the chance.” Fluttershy wiped some of the tears away. She never got such comfort from anypony before. “I am weak.” Fluttershy whimpered, “I mean, I had to rely on your help to…” “How does that make you weak? It’s not your fault all your friends became lemmings and turned against you.” “But I…I can’t stand up for myself.” Fluttershy could hear Rainbow Dash let out a sigh, “Look, friends are supposed to back each other up. It doesn’t make one wimpy just because they need the others’ assistance; it just means they have somepony to care about them.” Fluttershy looked up at the door. She couldn’t see Rainbow Dash’s face, so looking in the direction of her voice, at the barrier that separated them, was the closest thing for the time being. “You…you’re my…friend?” “Of course.” Rainbow Dash said without hesitation. Fluttershy couldn’t believe it. She hardly ever spoke to this filly, and yet she considered her a friend? Not only that, she proved to be more supportive than her actual friends. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile. “Wow…thank…thank you so much. It means a lot.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, “No prob. By the way, my name's Rainbow Dash.” “I know, everypony in school knows who you are.” Fluttershy said with a soft chuckle Rainbow Dash laughed, “Darn right they do. I am the best flier in third grade. Heck I could give some of the older ponies a run for their bits! And soon, I’ll be the best flier in Equestria.” Fluttershy giggled, “You are really talented.” “He-he, thanks Fluttershy.” Fluttershy couldn't see it through the door, but Rainbow Dash blushed at her compliment. Fluttershy suddenly was overcome with confusion. How did this pony know who she was? Sure she knew who Rainbow Dash was, but that was because she was so vocal about her talents, and everypony in the school talked about her, whether it was to pick her to pieces, or to praise her flying ability. But Fluttershy wasn’t a gifted flier. Heck, she couldn’t even stay airborne for more than half a second before face-planting. In fact, she was the opposite of Rainbow Dash. She was behind most of the ponies in her class when it came to flight. She didn't think she was good at much, and the things she was good at, like school, weren't really something that made her stand out. She was smart, but among the Cloudsdale student body the focus was more on athletics and flight rather than book-smarts. She always thought that she just blended in with everypony else, nothing seemed to distinguish her. But now this pegasus was saying she knew who she was? How was that possible? Especially considering the notoriety she had. She should have been taking notice of somepony else instead of her. Finally, she came up with a response. “You...you know who I am?” “Yeah, I mean. We never talked, but I've seen you around and stuff.” “But how could you remember me? I don't have a special talent that makes me stand out like you.” “But you do have a special talent." "Yeah, then what is it?" "It's your kindness." Rainbow Dash answered without hesitation, "That's what your talent is, and that's what makes you stand out. I mean, you hold doors open for others. Even when it’s a long line of ponies and you have wait for everypony to get through before you finally let go of the door and continue on your way. You're always there to help others with their schoolwork. Hey, I remember how when you found three bits on the floor and you brought them to lost and found. Hardly anypony would’ve done that. They would’ve just taken the bits and left, but not you. You did the right thing and turned them in.” Fluttershy never felt so appreciated. In all her years of hanging out with her friends, not once did any of them give her such unyielding praise for her. And yet there was this filly that she hardly knew before now, re-building her confidence from the remains of shattered self-esteem that Hail Blitz destroyed. "Well," Fluttershy began, not sure what to say. So she decided to continue with the conversation about the bits, "it wasn't my money. It wouldn't have been nice to just take it." “You see,” Rainbow Dash said with a small laugh, “you always think about others. That’s what I respect about you.” Fluttershy grinned as her eyes starting to water again. But this time rather than being caused by sorrow, it was brought on by joy. A little bit of pride started to well up inside her. It was something that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She was proud of herself. She liked herself. “Really? You…you respect me?” “Duh. In fact, I wish I was more like you.” Rainbow Dash said. It may not have been the most honest statement at the time, but she did respect Fluttershy. Plus, after thinking about it, Rainbow Dash did think that she should be more like her. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was quite shocked to be given such a compliment. “Wow. I…I don’t know what to say. Thank you Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said with a small smile, "You know, I’ve always sort of admired you too, what with your bravery and talents and all that.” “He-he, doesn’t everypony?” Rainbow Dash said with a tone suggesting she was joking, followed by a hearty chuckle that Fluttershy couldn’t help but join in. “So, what do ya say? Wanna come out of that stall now so we can see each other face to face?” Fluttershy let out a little sniffle and wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof. She then opened the stall and was met by the sight of the little tom-boy filly, much shorter than she was yet with ten times the confidence. Her rose-colored eyes met her teary blue ones. They were friendly and welcoming. Fluttershy smiled more as she trotted over so she was right in front of Rainbow Dash. “Thank you for making me feel better.” She said as she looked down at her hooves shyly. Suddenly, she felt Rainbow Dash’s hoof rest reassuringly onto her shoulder. She looked up at her new friend, who smiled back at her. “Hey, what are friends for, right?” Rainbow Dash lowered her hoof and motioned to the door with her head, “Let’s get back to the cafeteria while there’s still time for lunch.” Fluttershy smiled, “Sounds good.” And with that, both fillies trotted off side-by-side, Rainbow Dash’s hoof back on her new friend’s shoulder.The comforting feeling of having a friend by her side made Fluttershy realize that her night-time wish had finally come true. She had a friend who would never abandon her.