//------------------------------// // Unforeseen outcome // Story: If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On // by flutterdashforever //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash’s bed was relieved that night when it continued on unslept in. The tension between the young couple was palpable, even to an inanimate object. When the two had arrived the night before, they hadn’t said a word to each other, Fluttershy just flopped on to her bed and, after a moment’s hesitation, Rainbow followed. The bed had been quite glad that they hadn’t fought over this and didn’t really care anymore that it was being neglected, figuratively speaking of course. Rainbow woke to soft lips pressed against her own. The touch was gentle yet loving. Her heart fluttered and the last remnants of her dreams fell away like a fog under the strong gale of a whole other kind of dream coming true. It might have lasted for a minute or an hour. It didn’t matter; it could never be long enough for Rainbow. At last the kiss ended, she opened her eyes and looked in to two teal pools only inches from her face. “Good morning.” Fluttershy didn’t say anything; she only examined the cyan face in front of her intently. At last she spoke. “Are you ok, Dashie?” Rainbow leaned forward and captured those sweet, butter yellow lips in another kiss. When she pulled back she tried her best to look sincere. “I’m fine, Shy.” “I don’t believe you.” The statement was simple but it held in it love and concern. “Well, the filly who made my last school a living hell has just turned up when I thought my life had become perfect. Considering those circumstances I’m as good as I could be.” Fluttershy said nothing. She just licked Rainbow on the cheek affectionately, then flopped down and snuggled in close. They stayed like that for quite a while and, if there were any tears, they were quickly lost in butter yellow fur. There were no classes that day as the students needed a day to rest after the party. It was later that day when it happened. Rainbow had decided to have a walk outside to clear her head. She was just heading back to her dorm when she heard sobbing. For a heart stopping moment she thought it was Fluttershy but then she realised, with a shudder, that she knew very well what Fluttershy sounded like when she cried and that was not it. Curious, she headed towards the sound. As she got closer she heard the voices. “Oh look now she’s crying! Poor thing! You should go back to your filly friend, you pathetic fillyfooler!” As she drew nearer, Rainbow could see the same two colts who had harassed her and, curled in front of them in a quivering ball, was Cherry Sprinkle. For a moment Rainbow considered just walking away. She sighed, every single instinct she had was telling her to just keep walking, every fibre of her being was telling her that she should just leave the wretched filly to her fate. The thought made her sick. She stepped forward. “I thought we already had this conversation, guys. Don’t use that word until you can tell me what it actually means.” The two colts spun around in surprise. Seeing she had their attention, Rainbow Dash continued. “And anyway, I will testify that she is as heterosexual as they come.” The bitterness in her voice with that statement made even the two colts cringe back. “In fact, as I'm the only filly in this place in an open relationship with another filly, you really should be teasing me. You know that won’t work, though, so just buzz off.” The grey colt turned back to Cherry. “You’re lucky your filly friend is here to stick up for you.” With that, the two walked off. Rainbow stood still for a moment and then began walking away. “Wait!” It was still a little shaky but there was also urgency in Cherry’s voice. Rainbow paused but didn’t turn or speak. Cherry stood but made no move to get any closer to the blue filly. “Thank you. I was looking for you and someone said this was your dorm so I came here but then—” “Save it. I don’t want anything to do with you.” “Look, Dash, I’m really sorry I—” Rainbow spun around and glared at Cherry. “Sorry? That’s it? You’re sorry? Oh well that fixes everything! You’re sorry, so suddenly I’ve forgotten that you had my trust and then made my life a living hell! Well that makes me feel heaps better! Thanks, Cherry.” She spun round and began to walk back to her dorm but before she could get more than two steps she was stopped by a now substantially more shaky voice. “If you hate me so much, why did you stick up for me?” Rainbow didn’t respond for several seconds and when she did her voice was strained and filled with an emotion that was hard to place. “Just because I hate you, doesn’t mean I have to be a bitch.” “Dash, I came looking for you because I wanted to apologise. There’s something I never told you and—” “Oh, it’s way too late for apologies, Cherry. You had more than enough chances when I was begging you to stop bullying me, to stop turning all the other fillies and colts against me, when I was desperate for you to be my friend again. Just go.” “Rainbow I—” “Get the hell away from me!” Sobbing quietly, the pink pegasus walked away. Fluttershy sat on her bed staring blankly across the room. Her gaze passed over the picture of Cherry and, without knowing why, she walked over and picked it up. She examined it closely but could discern nothing new from the worn photo. She flipped it over and saw thin, slanting writing across the back in black ink. “Forever.” She thought about the word for some time before a voice right by her ear made her jump. “We both had a picture of each other. Hers said “Friends.” And mine said, “Forever.” I wrote on hers and she wrote on mine.” Fluttershy spun around and saw Rainbow standing there. Her cheeks were streaked with fresh tears and her eyes were a little bloodshot. She had been crying and she was not trying to hide it. Fluttershy laid a comforting wing around her filly friend and held her close. Rainbow snuggled in, letting her tears flow freely. After a while she seemed to calm a bit, and was able to look in to those beautiful teal eyes. There was so much love and compassion in those eyes that she felt like she could stare in to them forever. The yellow filly smiled and said gently, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” She steered Rainbow in to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The whole time, Fluttershy never once removed her wing from around the cyan shoulders. Rainbow Dash had been so exhausted and emotionally drained that she had collapsed on the bed and fallen asleep after her shower. Fluttershy sat and watched for a while then, careful not to wake her, walked outside in to the late noonday sun. After quite a bit of searching, she found the one she was looking for huddled under a tree, still crying. “Cherry?” The filly stiffened but when she replied her tone was level. “Another one here to pick on me? Go on, take your best stab.” “I actually wanted to talk to you about Rainbow Dash.” At this the filly spun around. “Who are you?” “I’m Fluttershy, Rainbow's filly friend. I wanted to know why you were so mean to her in her last school. She is very upset right now. You two were the closest of friends and I find it hard to believe that you would ditch her over such a small thing.” “Oh, quite the clever one aren’t you? It’s none of your business so stay out of it.” Fluttershy cringed at the filly’s tone but persisted. “She cares about you and I want to know why.” “Bad judge of character?” Cherry suggested lamely and Fluttershy could tell her façade was slipping. “You cared about her too, didn’t you?” She had expected denial or anger. She didn’t expect Cherry to slump and say, “Yes.” “Then why were you so mean to her?” “You wouldn’t understand.” She said shortly. “I can try and right now it’s looking like I’m the only one offering even that much.” Cherry slumped again. “It all started when I first met her. My parents are real homophobes and they were always very emphatic that if I were to ever tell them I was gay they would disown me and that if any of my friends were gay that it was my job to make sure that their lives were a misery. I knew Dash was gay but I didn’t care despite my upbringing. I figured so long as she never came out then my parents wouldn’t even have to know. I started having feelings for her but over time I’d gotten quite good at suppressing my feelings. “Then she went and told me she had a crush on me. It felt like a dream come true and a nightmare all at once. I knew that if my parents found out that I’d be out on my arse with nowhere to go. I panicked and realised what I had to do. After about two weeks Dash was gone and, while my heart was broken, I thought I was safe. Not a week later, my parents caught me eyeing a filly and found out anyway. Usually I was careful to always appear to be looking at colts but for, some reason, that day I just slipped. “Ever since then I’ve been living with my aunt who knows who I am and doesn’t judge me. She knew I had a crush on Dash, so she did some digging through school records and found which one Dash ended up in. Then I came here, hoping to apologise.” She gave a bitter laugh. “That went well, didn’t it?” She jumped when she felt a comforting hoof on her back but then she relaxed. “I’ll help in any way I can.” And with that, Cherry was alone with her misery once again. Day off school! Ok, so I have some things to say at this point: first of all, this is a Flutterdash fic and I have no intention of changing it in to a Rainbowsprinkle fic. Secondly, I'm sorry there were no songs in this chapter but, again, it didn't feel like they would be much in the mood for singing. Thirdly and most importantly I would like to thank all the awesome people who have read and enjoyed my story, you're all awesome, thanks guys. The next chapter will be happier I promise. (Or maybe the chapter after...)