“Sorry Shy, I…erm..can’t come to your birthday party….”
“Oh…”
In the very center of Cloudsdale, during another busy morning of children flying off to school and adults heading towards their Weather Patrol or Factory jobs, two children stood. One was a tomboyish-looking girl, rubbing the back of her shaggy and multicolored head, a sheepish expression on her features. The tall and slender girl in front of her glanced away, averting her gaze from any sort of eye contact. Some of her hair covered bits of her frail features, her teal eyes barely unable to be seen.
“Sorry, it’s just that-“ The boyish girl tried to explain, but the other stopped her.
“No, I…it’s okay. You’ve just been so busy lately, so…so I understand….” Having to smile at who she thought was her best friend was painful, so painful. But, she had to keep pretending. If this was what Rainbow Dash wanted…
Then Fluttershy would just continue to smile and understand. No matter how badly her heart hurt, and no matter how hard she would cry just as soon as she got home.
….
“I told you that I could convince her…” The voice caused the young winged girl to tense as she stood in front of her locker, reaching inside to grab the rest of her things. But Fluttershy tried to ignore the presence behind her, shaking as she felt it draw closer and closer. “I mean…it only took a bit of bribing, maybe some mentions that I got two front seat tickets to go see the Wonderbolt’s sold out performance…and that afterword, we would sneak into the stadium and practice more tricks, but I convinced her.”
“…I don’t know…what you’re talking about…” she found herself whisper back as she felt two familiar hands press hard against her frail shoulders, sinking their strong fingers deep into her weak muscles. “O-Ow…”
“Oh, I think that you do. Dash DID tell you that she wasn’t going to your stupid birthday, right?” A taller and tan girl stood behind her with a wicked smirk on her lips, bright gold eyes staring down at the pink haired Pegasus in front of her like a predator to its prey.
“Y-Yes, but I’m sure she-AH!” Fluttershy cried out as she felt talons sink slightly into her shoulders, squinting her eyes shut. The smirk on the other only increased.
“What? You’re sure she had something ‘important’ to do? Of course she does, she’s going to be hanging with me! Heh, don’t worry your pretty little head though…I think she’s planning to get you a souvenir or something stupid like that,” she suddenly shoved her away, causing the already frightened girl to fall against one of the already closed lockers, using her now free hands to slam them against two adjacent doors, pinning the pinked haired Pegasus into a makeshift prison. “Heh, man…I can’t ever get over how cute you look when you’re about to cry….”
“I-I…I am not….” Fluttershy tried to counter, but like before with Dash, she just couldn’t make eye contact with her long term tormentor and her best friend’s other best friend. Gilda only purred in response.
“Liar, what a bad girl, to be lying like that…hm…didn't I overhear Dash and you talking about spending Hearth’s Warming Eve together?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and a light of realization glazed over Gilda’s gaze. “Mm, I’m right, aren’t I?”
The younger girl glanced away and the Griffon only laughed, swishing her tail back and forth with glee. She did really enjoy torturing this girl, it was so rad! Too bad she had to ‘hide’ it from Dash, knowing the consequences otherwise. But, Gilda already had a plan for that.
“Now, are you going to be a good girl? Tell me what you promise to me was, and look at me while you do it,” one of the arms imprisoning Fluttershy pulled away only to clutch her frail chin in between her clawed fingers, tilting her head up so their eyes met.
“I…I….” Fluttershy could not help but feel tears beginning to burn her already swollen eyes, “I won’t tell Rainbow anything.”
“Very good…” Gilda released her grip on the girl, pulling away and freeing her from her clutches, watching as Fluttershy grabbed her book bag, shoved her supplies inside and began to run towards the exit. “Oh, by the way!”
The girl immediately froze up in response, and the Griffon could not help but let out one crueler smile, “Did you know that Dash has been thinking about travelling? She really wants to see the world, and she’s getting very tired of going to school every day. I told her that I know quite a few places we could travel, and all the new things we would learn. Just, you know…giving you a heads up.”
A thick silence followed after Gilda’s teasing words, before she received the response she had been waiting for:
“Rainbow wouldn’t do that to me.”
….
On the evening of Hearth’s Warming Eve, the weather patrol having just finished preparing the clouds for a long and beautiful blizzard, snow flakes just starting to slip through the cold air and towards the ground. A young girl stood alone at her large bedroom window, pressing her tiny hand against the freezing glass. Her long pink bangs covered her hair…and tears slipped from her puffy teal eyes.
“You promised…that you wouldn’t leave me….”
-end-