//------------------------------// // Chapter VI - Confession // Story: Dashed Thoughts // by Chevan //------------------------------// Dashed Thoughts by Chevan Chapter VI - Confession It was a very long night for all the Elements. Everypony went to sleep immediately after arriving home, because partying, thus staying awake the whole night, means less productivity and the overall tiredness. On the other hoof, Rainbow Dash wasn’t fatigued at all. Her night was different from the others’. She still had this little bit of dizziness in her head after the hangover, but it didn’t bother her at all. She flew straight to her home, at least she tried to fly like that, avoiding contact with any obstacle on her way. Flying into her bedroom through the window, she landed flatly on her cloud bed on her back, sighing. This bed was surely more comfortable than Pinkie’s classic one with a mattress, but her own bed contained her memories, the good, and the bad ones. Laying like that for several minutes, she made a slideshow of her whole life in her imagination. She pictured her foalhood, the good times with her dad – Spectrum Bolt, learning to fly, performing a Sonic Rainboom which gave her a Cutie Mark, winning flying contests, meeting with the Wonderbolts. These were the memories she didn’t want to forget about, it was the most memorable time of her life. But life is never as beautiful as you want it to be. The bad memories were still in her head, and even though she wished to forget them, it wasn’t possible for her to wash them away. She couldn’t forget about the bad times at Flight School, when she was constantly bullied by the two ponies. Badly bullied. It was all because of her unusual mane and tail color. Only two ponies in all of Equestria had a rainbow hair by then, Rainbow Dash and her dad. She always thought that having a rainbow mane was something she should be proud of, even her parents said that to her. But school reality was completely different. She was accused for various things, for being an idiot, a slowpoke, and even a fillyfooler. More and more ponies started joining her teasers; therefore she became a laughing stock in the whole class. Nopony could help her, nopony believed her, even the teachers. Only her parents were on her side. They tried to cheer her up, but with no avail. Rainbow always tried to be tough, but when she was listening to the ever increasing amount of insults towards her, she became more and more depressed, despite her tomboyish character. She once stood up for one of her friends – Fluttershy. Fluttershy was a bad flier, she was bullied by the same ponies as her. She raced them, and proved that she was the only one who could perform the legendary Sonic Rainboom. After that, she immediately gained respect from the whole school, even from her domineering ponies, and as the first pony in her class, received a Cutie Mark. Since then, Rainbow Dash became best friends with Fluttershy. And Dash still is the only living pony who can perform that legendary move. In all of these retrospections, she didn’t notice tears slowly flowing down her cheeks. It was always a bad experience for her to reveal all the memories from the time when she was a filly. She sat up on the bed and wiped the tears off her face. She realized that she was laying there for almost an hour. She had to remember to go to Twilight’s in the evening. After she called her in a very sweet way (only Pinkie calls her that jokingly), she was more and more afraid to go there. She wasn’t scared of the unicorn, her presence always warmed Rainbow’s heart, but she saw a big change in the purple mare’s behavior. Every time she was around Rainbow, she was giving more attention to the Pegasus all of a sudden, and she was becoming sweetier - just towards her. She didn’t mind helping Rainbow out when she was drunk, and she wasn’t mad about her weird actions at the party. Instead, she was visibly glad to help and take care of her. She gasped and facehoofed. How could she be so blind? It hit her. She just realized that the other mare returned her feeling! Or maybe not? Twilight hadn’t said those three magical words straight to her muzzle yet... Or was it just a cruel teasing? Maybe she was just making fun of her? She was hesitating, she had no idea what to think about it at all. She fell down on her back eventually, and closing her eyes, she said to herself, “Ugh… I’m here again, crying like a baby. It is SO not like me. Yesterday was the same before the party, I was here weeping and weeping about my life. And now I’m in love with a mare. My bullies were right about me being a fillyfooler… But what about my other friends? What will they think about me? They’ll finally find out that I have a crush… What if they… hate me after they find out?” The silence enveloped the room for several more minutes. “Okay… enough of this monologue…” she said, slowly starting to get out of the bed. “…It bugs me so much, I’m not the Rainbow Dash all my friends know about. I’m so… sappy lately… It’s so uncool…” she finished, making her way to the exit of the room. She trotted downstairs to the main hall of her cloud home. She saw her pet Tank, flying around everywhere. She was following him with her gaze, smiling. His magical propeller attached to his shell was buzzing like a helicopter, he was bouncing off the cloud walls of the home. She took him down to the ground, “Well, Tank, I think it’s enough flying exercises for you for now. Do you want something to eat?” asked the cyan mare, receiving the very slow nodding from the turtle. I mean, tortoise. They made their way to the kitchen. She realized that the bowl where Tank eats his food from was almost empty, so Rainbow decided to fill it up. She began searching for her pet’s food, standing on two hind legs, opening drawers and cabinets, searching high and low. “Where the heck did I put it? I swear I filled this up not too long ago…” She kept on searching for several more minutes. “Found it!” Exclaimed the mare happily, getting back down on her four legs, and she had the bag with the picture of the tortoise on it in her mouth. She looked at her pet and emptied the contents of the bag into the bowl. “Go ahead, Tank, chow down!” she instructed the turtle, grinning, her eyes closed. Tank, instead of eating his food, got closer to the Pegasus, and putting his head on the left hoof of his owner, he started to fawn. This took Rainbow Dash aback. As soon as she opened her eyes to look down, she saw a very sad face on her pet, looking at her with a very worried expression and a frown. Rainbow was hesitant for a moment, but she knelt down eventually and became eye to eye with him, and asked worriedly, “What’s up, Tank?” The tortoise slowly licked Rainbow’s cheek. Very, veeery slowly. Tortoise slowly. The lick lasted almost half a minute, maybe even more. This completely shocked her, Tank would rarely do something like that. “Really, what’s on your mind, Tank?” She asked apprehensively. The tortoise hid his head in his shell, and pulled it out a second later, with the picture in his mouth. It was a picture of Twilight Sparkle, one of many that Rainbow had in her drawer. “Ahh… that…” Rainbow’s ears drooped, and she set her chin down on the cloud floor. She loved this mare, she had to admit that. Millions of questions started flowing through her mind again. She felt something sliding under her hoof from behind. Realizing that it was Tank, she let him go there, and put her hoof over him. The tortoise started fawning against Rainbow’s neck, making the Pegasus close her eyes and elicit a long sigh. “At least you are here with me, Tank. You are a very loyal pet, just like me. I love you so much, but not just because of that…” she started pressing him more tightly against her side, “I love you because you might be the only one who truly understands my feelings…” They were laying down like that for several minutes. Rainbow was thinking about what she should do now, various ideas were popping up in her head, good and bad ones. She decided to try one, and it was very important she did it before going to Twilight’s today. She decided to go to one of her best friends for advice. This pony will surely know what to do in this situation, and she’ll be perfectly understanding. Hopefully. Rainbow finally raised up on all fours, and looking at Tank, said, “Thanks for your support, Tank. But I really should keep going with this. I have to see somepony for advice… and I think Fluttershy would be the best pony around. I trust her with my life… I just… hope she’ll understand me…” She received a warm smile and a very slow nodding from her pet. She smiled back, and made her way to the window. They exchanged their goodbyes, and the Pegasus, unfurling her wings, flew out of her home. She arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. It wasn’t a long flight - she got there in mere minutes. Rainbow wasn’t a frequent visitor to this place, so Fluttershy would surely be surprised to see her friend there, instead of up in the skies, practicing. She just stood in front of the door, staring at it, not doing anything at all for several minutes. She was collecting words before the very important and serious talk; one that could change the whole friendship with her yellow friend. “Let’s do this…” She gulped, and finally managed to knock on the door. She stood there waiting for an answer for several long seconds. She decided to knock again, but as soon as she lifted her hoof up to do so, the door opened, revealing Fluttershy on the other side. The pink-maned Pegasus was seriously taken aback - in front of her muzzle was one of her friends from her foalhood, completely destroyed, she looked like a walking cyan Pandora’s Box. “R-Rainbow D-Dash? W-what’s going on?” she inquired, her eyes wide with shock. The cyan Pegasus avoided answering that question for now, “Can I come in, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy’s reaction was immediate, “O-Of course! Make yourself comfortable.” Rainbow slowly trotted to the table, and sat on one of the chairs, putting both of her forehooves on her cheeks. Fluttershy took a seat on the other side of the table. “What’s going on, Rainbow? Oh, I’m sorry, do you want some tea? If you’re okay with it…” asked the yellow Pegasus. “Whatever…” Rainbow responded, sighing, her eyes started watering. Fluttershy started to become more and more worried about her friend, “Oh my goodness… Rainbow… please, tell me what’s going on…” Rainbow started weeping audibly, “Fluttershy, I… I have a serious problem…” Fluttershy gasped, she was now in an utter shock. “What?” “And I came to you specially, because I’ve known you for so long, and you’d be the only one who would understand me…” “Tell me, Rainbow! You know I’m here to help you anytime!” “Fluttershy… It’s hard for me to say it… I… I…” She hid her face between her front hooves, wanting to cover her now red eyes so that nopony would see. “You…?” There was a very long pause. This pause seemed like an eternity for both of them, especially for Rainbow Dash, who was about to share her deepest secret with her friend. The only sounds that could be heard at the moment were sounds of chirping birds and a crying rainbow maned Pegasus sitting on the chair. “I… I’m in… in love…” Fluttershy elicited a long sigh, and put her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, “Oh my goodness, Rainbow Dash! I thought it was something serious! It’s nothing to be afraid of! I’m so glad you found a stallion that suits you!” “Fluttershy, you don’t understand…” Fluttershy wasn’t completely sure on what her friend just said to her. What couldn’t she understand? “What do you mean?” “I’m in love… with…” “With?” Rainbow knew the next sentence she was going to say would either change her life for good... or for bad. She wasn’t sure what would happen, but she begged Celestia for it to turn out positively, and that this would not make her friends hate her. “With… Twilight…”