And, just like the day before, they were back in the exact same spot, under the exact same tree, in the exact same orchid. It wasn’t very common for Twilight and Rainbow to revisit the same hiding spot, especially not twice in a row, but they had both deemed this spot to be far enough out of the way and hidden to work once more. That, and the trees seemed to set the atmosphere just right for a heartfelt conversation.
Similarly to yesterday, Twilight was taking the role of the therapist, as well as the role of the big spoon. She was leaning her back into the bark of the big apple tree, with Rainbow laying on top of her stomach with the back of her head pushed against Twilight’s chest. Twilight, every so often, would push a lock of hair from Rainbow’s face as she stared blankly at the canopy of leaves above them.
Rainbow knew they couldn’t sit in silence forever, even if Rainbow really wanted it to last as long as possible. Silence wasn’t uncommon for their therapy sessions, being five to ten minutes before one of them talked, but Rainbow was never comfortable to be the first one talking. Unfortunately, with the way she ended the conversation last night, and how it was her who suggested telling their friends, it was probably her turn to take the lead.
But how?
What would she even say? That it was time for the world to know what kind of filly-fooler she was? Never mind her close friends, she could just imagine the looks the others of the weather control team would give her. The looks didn’t even necessarily have to be good nor bad, just… any looks would make her shiver. Most importantly, however, what would the Wonderbolts think?
She felt a pang of sadness worm it’s way around her heart as she suddenly realized that it didn’t matter what the Wonderbolts thought. Her dreams had already been dashed yesterday with that rejection paper, and even if there was a chance that she could join the Wonderbolts, maybe by coercing a few high up ponies, she just… didn’t feel the need to anyways. The rejection sucked, evident by yesterday’s tears, but for some reason, it didn’t really feel like the end of the world.
So… what did it matter what the Wonderbolts think?
With an anxious breath that made her chest stutter, Rainbow swallowed heavily and made eye contact with Twilight’s upside-down face.
“I… think it’s time to tell our friends.”
Twilight pulled her hooves around her tighter, yet didn’t say anything more. Rainbow felt a little frustrated, but felt it instantly get dashed away as Twilight flashed a small smile. She couldn’t stay mad, and instead built up the courage to continue.
“I’m… kinda nervous?” She whispered. Twilight raised an eyebrow, still opting to stay silent. “Okay, fine! I’m really nervous.” She grunted. “Maybe extremely, scary nervous is the right would… Twi, you’re a living dictionary. What’s the right word?
“Very.”
“I’m very nervous.” Rainbow bit her lip. “That doesn’t sound, like, dramatic enough.” She let out a little whine that reminded Twilight of a crying foal. “Twilight, what if our friends stop thinking I’m cool?”
“Why would they do that?” Twilight asked. Rainbow snorted at how innocent the question was, once again almost frustrated at Twilight’s crystal outlook on the situation. Unfortunately, Rainbow wasn’t dumb, and a part of her knew that Twilight was simply playing the part of the innocent therapist.
“Because!” Rainbow exclaimed like it was obvious. She stretched her hooves out wide as if to show Twilight exactly what she was talking about. “Because… You know! I’m, like… into mares, and stuff.” She admitted sheepishly.
“And?” Twilight asked with the same fake innocent tone. “Why would that make you less ‘cool?’”
“I’unno!” She readjusted herself so her head was closer to her chest. “It just… does! I mean, it’s just like- no normal pony is into the same, you know, gender! It’s just, you know, weird, and-”
“Stop that right now.” Rainbow watched as a hoof crossed her vision, holding her muzzle closed with a slight tsk. “It’s not weird, Rainbow. And I need you to stop thinking like that. It’s not healthy.” She sighed out, taking her hoof away. Rainbow readjusted herself once more, however, feeling slightly more uncomfortable after that little moment. “Why do you think it’s weird, Dash? Is it because of your parents that make you-”
“No!” Rainbow quickly waved her hoof, sitting upright and pulling herself away from Twilight. She twisted her back so her bottom hooves were still facing away. “No. I can’t just keep blaming everything on my parents. They never really spent time with me outside of competing, but- I just- It’s not their fault.”
“Then what’s wrong with liking mares?”
“It’s just that…” Rainbow sighed, turning to look over the dense orchid in front of her. The leaves turned the sun into a strange green light that danced across the thick grass, and she watched it in contemplation. “I guess… I’m scared that… that…” She bit her lip, trying her hardest to take her time with forming her sentence. “Err… that, uh, having a marefriend- or, any special somepony, will… make me look… less cool?” Her lip twitched. “Did, uh, that come out right?”
“It sure did.” Twilight nodded, leaning forwards and brushing her hoof against the back of Rainbow’s mane. “So it’s not that we’re both mares. It’s that any relationship will make you look… weaker?” Rainbow frowned, knowing somewhere inside of her that it was the truth. “Well… just because we’re in a relationship doesn’t invalidate anything you’ve done before, right? Just because you love me, and I love you, doesn’t mean you’ve never done a Sonic Rainboom before. It doesn’t mean you didn’t compete in the Young Fliers competition and save Rarity’s flank.”
“Huh.” Rainbow closed her eyes, breathing in a deep breath. “Huh. I… you know what? I guess that kinda makes me feel a little bit better.” There was a quick hint of a smile on Rainbow’s face before it faded, replaced with a frown and an uncomfortable feeling in the bottom of her gut. “But… that doesn’t tell me how our friends will react.” Although Rainbow didn’t have a very long mane- not nearly as long as Fluttershy’s or Rarity’s- she still managed to find enough hair to twirl with both of her hooves anxiously as she began to spew words to Twilight. “How is Pinkie gonna react when we tell her we’ve been dating? I mean, she knows I’m gay, but not you, Twilight.” Her spiraling hooves moved down to her muzzle, to which she clenched in a mix of fear and anxiousness. “I mean, Fluttershy’s okay with anything, but- Rarity? She’s gonna put us in dresses for the next week!”
Twilight frowned. “Wait…” She pondered for a moment. “Do you think any of our friends will be… mad?”
“No. Maybe Applejack for a second or two, but of course not.” Rainbow sighed, finally removing her muzzles from her facial area. “I’m just… we have such a good thing going, Twi. Our friends, I mean. And… I don’t wanna be the pony that breaks us up, you know? I don’t…” Rainbow whimpered. “I don’t wanna be treated special.”
“The Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to be treated special?”
“Not like- Not like superstar special, I mean…” She groaned. “I don’t wanna be treated special because I’m dating you. I want our friends to be our friends, and I don’t want them to be… oogling over us. Is oogling a word?”
“No, but it sounds like it’s the right one.”
“Okay.” Rainbow sighed. “Gah! Why does talking have to be so hard?” She whined. “I don’t know how much of Equestria I want to tell, you know? Like, how would my parents-” Suddenly, Rainbow shot up as a numbing cold sensation wafted over her body. “Celestia, my parents!” She shouted, a little louder than what Twilight would deem stealthy. “Ohmygosh, how are my parents going to react-”
“That’s enough!” Twilight leaned forwards and bear-hugged around Rainbow, pinning her wings down, and taking her back to the ground. They both landed with an umph, letting Twilight hold control, even if Rainbow was probably physically more powerful than her. “That’s… that’s enough thinking for today, okay? Just… one step at a time, okay?” Rainbow muttered something incomprehensible, her parents still fresh on her mind, but nodded none the less. “Okay… let’s start simple. Who do you want to tell first.”
“Fluttershy.” She responded with zero hesitation. She wormed out of Twilight’s clutches and turned around on the grassy ground to face her. “She’s known me for the longest. She’d understand me. After that, uh, Pinkie. Definitely Pinkie. Then Applejack, and Rarity goes last.” Rainbow shivered. “Rarity’s last because I really don’t wanna be in a dress while we still gotta tell the rest of our friends.”
“Okay then.” Twilight smiled softly, leaving Rainbow feeling her stomach turn from dreading to a sudden high butterfly feeling. “Then we’ll tell Fluttershy. Tomorrow?”
“Today.” Rainbow responded with a little more hesitation. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. It’s… better to do it quick, and uh, all in a row.” She let out a cough that may or may not have been a way to cover the really quick and soft: “I love you, Twi.”
But Twilight was a little too quick, picking up on the strange cough.
“I love you too, Dashie.”
Then, like the ending of a picture book, with the beautiful sunlight streaming through the canopy of leaves dancing on eachother’s faces, Rainbow leaned in and gave Twilight a kiss. Twilight leaned away for half a second, not expecting it, but it didn’t take much more convincing to make her lean in, too. And just like that, Rainbow and Twilight revealed to all of their friends that they were dating, and everypony lived happily ever after.
Except, the real world doesn’t usually end up working out like that, does it?
*Crack!*
“Gah!”
*Thump!*
“Oof!”
Rainbow wasn’t even aware that she had closed her eyes. But, when she heard the familiar sounds of a tree branch snapping off, her eyes shot wide open. She accidentally pushed air into Twilight’s mouth in surprise, leaving Twilight sputtering and pulling away, wiping her muzzle and scrunching her face into a disgusted frown. Rainbow was on the sound, shooting her body into a defensive position and pulling her marefriend behind her spread wings.
“Who’s-!” Rainbow’s words died in her mouth as she laid her eyes on the two or three figures laying on the ground, slowly untangling themselves from one another. Rainbow felt a rock drop into her stomach as her eyes slowly expanded in recognition and shock.
“Ugh- that’s the last time all three of us are gonna sit on the same branch…” A familiar voice groaned. The voice was so similar, in fact, that Rainbow involuntarily gasped and took a few backs, bumping into Twilight.
“Rainbow, what is wrong with-” Twilight recovered enough to look up, gasping similarily. “Oh. Oh, no no no no!”
The filly grabbed her pink bow laying on the ground and reattached it to her red mane. The other filly fluffed her tiny wings out, letting the dirt in between her feathers flitter to the ground. Rainbow Dash gulped.
“Ah, geez, Scoots!” Applebloom grunted, brushing the dirt off of her shoulder. “Ah’ told ya not to go that far up the branch! It was bound’ta crack!”
“It’s not my fault!” Scootaloo huffed, stretching like a cat, her joints popping from being up on the tree branch for such a long time. “If Sweetie wasn’t taking up half of the branch, I wouldn’t have gone that far down!” Scootaloo said defensively. She rubbed her nose, turning to look at both Rainbow and Twilight. Similarily to both of them, her eyes shunk. “O-Oh! Uh, hey, guys!” Applebloom straightened her spine and tried her hardest to flash an innocent smile.
“Scootaloo? Applebloom?” Rainbow gulped again. “W-What are you two doing out here? And, uh- h-how much of that did you see?” Twilight casted a wayward glance, noticing the sheen of sweat on Rainbow’s forehead.
“Well, we saw you two eatin’ face.” Applebloom stated bluntly. Twilight blushed and looked away, while Rainbow was forced by her own will to stare with a slack jaw in shock. “Twilight, ah’ didn’t take you as the romantic type.”
“W-Well, uh, you see-” Twilight stuttered, still blushing.
“And Dash?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow paled, a thousand different scenarios going through her head. Rainbow was Scootaloo’s hero. She was the brave wanna-be Wonderbolt. Would Scootaloo see her hero’s illusion shatter into that of a normal, everyday mare? Or maybe even something worse- a desperate and broken mare, who had home problems, and needed somepony’s shoulder to cry on every once in a while. After all, it was common knowledge that cool ponies didn’t cry.
“Y-Yeah?” Rainbow responded nervously. Scootaloo pursed her lip, and Rainbow felt Scootaloo’s eyes look her up and down. It made her feel strangely uncomfortable, being stared in the way that she was. She was used to being watched, but in this context, it felt very different. Almost malicious.
“Do you really love Twilight?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow, almost unnoticeably, cocked her head.
“W-Well, I mean…” She lowered her head in shame. “Y-Yeah…”
“Huh.” Scootaloo nodded. “S’cool.”
“What?” Rainbow bopped her head back up, her ears twitching as if she hadn’t heard the filly right. “What do you mean, ‘cool?’”
“I mean, it’s cool.” Scootaloo shrugged. “I mean, I’m more of a colt’s filly myself, but uh,” She shrugged again. “You do you, and that’s cool.” Rainbow raised her eyebrows in shock. Looking back now, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was afraid of. After all, Scootaloo was her number one fan. And that meant the filly was still admiring her.
“E-Even after I, uh,” Rainbow casted a wayward glance at Twilight, who similarly had an expression of shock. “Uh, kinda got all sappy there, for a moment?”
“I mean…” Scootaloo tilted her head. “That was kinda… I mean, I felt weird watching it, you know? Sweetie Belle was crying, but-”
“Ah’ somehow always knew.” Applebloom interrupted, looking between the two and slowly approaching Twilight. Twilight laughed nervously, brushing her mane out of her eyes as she darted them around. “Ah’ knew ya’ll would be int’a mares.” She said, mostly directing it at Twilight.
“Oh, yeah, right.” Twilight rolled her eyes, feeling as if most of the danger of the conversation had passed. “You had no idea, Applebloom.”
“Ah’ did to!” She stomped her little hoof onto the ground. “No mare can keep their eyes off’a mah’ brother. That’s why ah’ keep a broom handy when ah’m helpin’ at the stall. But you two?” She looked between Rainbow and Twilight. “Both of ya’ll? Ah’ve seen Twi’ talk with Big Mac like, six times at most, and Rainbow literally ignores him whenever she comes over for a nap.”
"I talk to Big Mac! I just, nod and wave, you know?"
“Well…” Twilight frowned, shuffling her hooves. “I’ll have you know that, uh, I identify as… Bisexual…”
“Bi-whatnow?” Applebloom asked.
“It means she loves sex.” Scootaloo leaned over and whispered into Applebloom’s ear.
“W-What?” A sudden furious blush erupted over Twilight’s face as Rainbow choked on air. “No! How do you even- No! It means I don’t mind either males or females.” She nodded towards Rainbow, who snapped out of her choking. “She’s the gay one.”
“I am extremely gay.” Rainbow nodded. And, strangely, for the first time in what felt like a long, long time, she felt a familiar sense of pride filling her chest as she smiled. But, time for being happy about being accepted by Scootaloo came later. Right now, Rainbow had questions. “Why were you two spying on us?” She asked, leaning down low and staring at the two crusaders angrily. “What’s the big idea here, guys? Some kinda Cutiemark scheme?”
“No, promise!” Scootaloo took a step back from the suddenly angry Rainbow. “We were just curious! Applebloom was the one who discovered you, and I just wanted to see for myself.” She swore up and down, doing something that looked similar to a Pinkie-promise with her hooves.
“Although…” Applebloom laughed, rubbing the mane behind her head. “I, uh, did kinda let er’ slip to AJ that, uh, not specifically you two, but uh, two of her friends were dating?” She let out another nervous laugh, fiddling with her hooves. “And AJ went to Rarity’s for help?”
“Oh.” Rainbow felt all of the pride in her chest vanish. “Oh, that’s… not good.”
“Rarity’s obviously figured it out by now.” Twilight took a step forwards. “Rainbow, I think we’re already exposed…”
“No!” Rainbow shook her head. “Are you kidding me?” She asked, turning to face Twilight head-on. “If Rarity knew it was the two of us, she’d be all up in our grill! ‘Oh, Rainbow, won’t you come have some measurements taken?’ Trust me, Rarity has not figured us out yet.”
“Well…” Twilight bit her lip, and faced the two crusaders. “I need you two to promise us something, okay?” The two crusaders exchanged glances, but stayed silent. “You cannot tell another soul about us until we’re ready, okay?” Applebloom nodded, content with the promise, but unfortunately, Scootaloo raised her eyebrow and observed both ponies.
“What’s in it for us?” She asked cryptically.
“Scootaloo, don’t do this…” Rainbow whined, feeling where pride used to reside in her chest slowly turn into dread.
“I mean, seriously!” Scootaloo split into a smile, elbowing Applebloom, who was now looking at Scootaloo like she was crazy. “We can make demands!” She laughed. “I won’t tell anypony if I get a new scooter. How about that? A-And not a cheap one, no- one with the, err, the brakes on the back, right? And it needs to be painted purple, and-”
“Scootaloo, I know you take dance class.” Rainbow said.
Scootaloo’s jaw fell open. As did Applebloom’s, who slowly turned to look at Scootaloo with wide eyes.
“H-How did you know I do ballet?”
“Ballet?” Rainbow blinked. “I… didn’t know that part.” Scootaloo’s demeanor changed from demand-maker to a sudden guilty and nervous filly. “But now I do. I learned it from a poster in Sugarcube Corner.”
“Those dang- ugh!” Scootaloo stomped her hoof. “I told them to leave me out of the posters! Especially in Ponyville!” She frowned, guiltily raising her eyes to Dash. “D-Do you, uh, think I’m less awesome because of the… ballet thing?”
“Do you think I’m less awesome because I’m dating Twi?”
“...no?”
“Then no.” Rainbow smirked. Then, in a flash, one that made Scootaloo squeak in surprise, she suddenly found herself being wrapped in a hug by the great and powerful Rainbow Dash. “You don’t tell anypony about us, and I won’t tell anypony about your ballet classes, ‘kay?”
“kay…” Scootaloo sighed, squirming out of Rainbow’s grasp.
“Ballet?” Applebloom whispered to herself. “Celestia, that’s somethin’ that Sweetie Belle would do, not you, Scoot-” Then, Applebloom stopped talking, her eyes expanding in size like she had just realized she left the oven on.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, almost immediately picking up on Applebloom’s change in demeanor. Applebloom responded by looking around the immediate area wildly, her eyes scanning up and down the entire line of trees. “Applebloom, what’s wrong?”
“Sweetie Belle.” She responded, looking up at the tree. “She was with us when we’re up in the tree.”
“What?” Rainbow exclaimed, suddenly finding herself a few feet hovering above the ground. “D-Did she see us?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo said, also jumping up and looking around. “Where the hay is Sweetie Belle? I was kinda distracted by you, Dash.” Scootaloo similarly gasped. “Oh, what if she tells Rarity?”
“Not Rarity!” Rainbow yelled. “Anypony but Rarity!” Then, in a blur of rainbow’s, she was gone, leaving the rest of the ponies blinking in her wake.
“Well, that was-”
Then, she was back.
“Sorry, I forgot!” She pecked a surprised Twilight on the lips, scooping her up in her hooves, and once again disappearing in a mix of purple and Rainbow. The two fillies were left to their own devices, watching the blur slowly vanish in the distance.
“So…” Scootaloo pursed her lips, looking around. “Uh, so, we’re both fillies, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And, uh, they were kissing, and stuff.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think…?”
“Scoots, I will personally break your muzzle if you try anything.”