//------------------------------// // An Apology - FlutterDash // Story: Shipping. Shipping everywhere. // by barbeque //------------------------------// Fluttershy awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of flapping wings and things being knocked over. It was a warm summer night, but with a refreshing little breeze every now and then, so Fluttershy had left the windows open tonight. Even in the dark, it wasn’t difficult to make out who the intruder into her peaceful house was, because whoever it was had been drinking so much alcohol she could easily smell it. And in all of Ponyville, there was only one pony who would drink that much and subsequently fly into her house. Rainbow Dash. The two pegasi had been close friends since flight school, which eventually lead to more between them than just friendship, though they didn’t feel ready to take the next step yet. In fact, while they often hung out together at day, they still seldom slept at each other’s house - that is, ignoring the quite frequent occasions Rainbow decided to crash at Fluttershy’s. But things had definitely changed since their first kiss, long ago. Over time, Fluttershy had become more assertive - still nowhere near as assertive as other ponies were, and only when Rainbow was around, but still, it was a start - while Rainbow grew a little more subdued, less bragging about her accomplishments, when Fluttershy was her only company. They had just grown towards each other more, though that didn’t mean they had quarrels from time to time. Fluttershy often thought things were her fault, and apologized for things that she shouldn’t be apologizing for. If Rainbow flew into her house in the middle of the night, then Fluttershy would apologize for leaving the window open. Even if it was Rainbow who, despite Fluttershy’s warnings, had gone out drinking deep into the night, and was now utterly drunk. She could barely stand upright or keep her wings in check, and the combination of staggering all over the place and outstretched wings was knocking over many of the small decorations and little things in the yellow pegasus’ room. Rainbow had picked up a bit of a drinking problem, lately. It wasn’t that she was suddenly an alcoholic, it was just that when she went drinking, a few drinks quickly became a few too many drinks. Tonight would have been another of those nights, with Fluttershy silently forgiving Rainbow for the mess she made of her home, until her ears perked up at the sound of glass breaking. There were only a few objects made from glass in her room. When she saw which of them Rainbow had knocked over, she felt a mixture of sadness and anger suddenly welling up. Sadness, because the drunken pegasus had knocked over the frame that contained the photograph of her with her parents, as a little filly - the only photograph she had of them. The frame, too, had been given to her by her parents, and although a new one was just a couple of bits, it was the emotional value that was crushed with it when Rainbow managed to not only break the glass, but stepped on it as well a few moments later, shattering one of the borders completely under her hoof. Then there was anger. Anger, that Rainbow Dash had still gone drinking after all. Anger, that for the dozenth or so time, her friend had disturbed her sleep. Bust most of all, anger that trying to talk sense into the drunken pegasus at this time wasn’t going to do anything about it at all. Fluttershy knew that Rainbow would be waking up tomorrow morning with a massive headache, and probably seek her help to lessen it, but she wouldn’t remember anything of what Fluttershy would say at this very moment. She would never know that she had flown into Fluttershy’s house and knocked over half of her possessions, destroying one very important to the shy pegasus. Fluttershy wasn’t going to accept that. She wasn’t going to let Rainbow live this one down. How she did it, she didn’t even know, but a few moments later - and a mouthful of Rainbow’s tail - the blue pegasus got a face full of the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage. No, it wasn’t nice of her, letting Rainbow sleep wherever the pegasus was going to sleep. On the other hoof, what Rainbow had done wasn’t nice either, and she didn’t feel guilty when she slammed close that door in her lover’s face. She closed all the windows, closed the curtains and locked the doors, which resulted in it being very hot and humid in the house, but she knew the other pegasus well enough to know that she would probably try all the ways into her cottage. Ignoring the warmth for now, she put everything back where it belonged again - to her luck, nothing else had broken in Rainbow’s flurry of destruction - leaving the photo and the frame for the last. Thankfully, the photo itself was still intact, without crumples or creases. Now that she could look closer though, she could see that the frame that had held it for years, was broken beyond repair. The glass had broken into at least a thousand pieces, and one of the borders, plus part of another, had been reduced to not much more than splinters under the pressure of the blue pegasus’ hoof. Carefully, she gathered the pieces of glass and wood in a box - she didn’t want to throw it away yet. As she was doing that, an idea formed that might finally make Rainbow see what she was doing by drinking so much sometimes. She would have to be very assertive when the skyblue pegasus would undoubtedly come for something for her headache the next morning, but it was the only way she could think of. It would have to do. It’d better. When Rainbow woke up the next morning, she found that the sun had long since risen, and that she had been sleeping in a bush. She rose up from her sleeping place, with the intent of stretching out, when a massive headache suddenly hit her, causing her to sink back down, holding a hoof to her forehead. ‘Owwwwwww,’ she groaned, ‘wh-where did that come from?’ As she just lay there, not feeling able yet to try again, she started taking in the situation in more detail. Why had she been sleeping in a bush? Had she been drinking the previous night? Likely, if the headache was anything to go by. But didn’t she usually wake up at Fluttershy’s couch when that happened, with the butteryellow pegasus caring for her? It didn’t make sense, especially since she vaguely recalled being at Fluttershy’s cottage not too long ago. Did something happen? Or worse, doesn’t she like me anymore? Attempting to raise to her hooves a second time - this time taking it much slower on purpose - she began to walk to Fluttershy’s cottage. It wasn’t a long walk, given that it seemed she had collapsed a mere few hundred hoofsteps from it. Which only made her wondering more why she wasn’t on her marefriend’s couch. Knocking on the door quietly, as her ears were also quite oversensitive after drinking, it was quickly answered, though when she saw Fluttershy, something seemed wrong with her. She had that determined look on her face again - not quite the famous Stare, but not far off from it either - and even Rainbow’s headache-troubled mind could register that it looked like her friend had been crying as well. “Let me guess,” began Fluttershy, in a tone that was way too assertive for Rainbow Dash’s liking, “you want me to do something about your headache?” “Y-yes, please,” said Rainbow, though something in the back of her mind was already telling her that she had crossed a line somewhere. Fluttershy was seldom like this, and never at her. If only she could remember what exactly happened last night. “I’m very mad at you, Rainbow Dash,” answered her friend, in a voice that was a mixture of anger and sadness. “Twilight lent me a couple of books on the subject of alcohol a few weeks ago, and you have to stop this. I’m not even going to give you painkillers this time - your headache will wear off in a few hours anyway. In the meantime, you can think about this.” At the end of her sentence, Fluttershy pushed a small box out of the door. Then, she slammed the door close again, making Rainbow’s ears ring in agony. “Aaahhhwww! Fluttershy? Wh-why did you...” she began, but never finished her sentence, fumbling to open the box and see what was inside it. Upon seeing the remains of the photo frame, she added, “and... what’s this supposed to mean?” When no reply came, she called again, “Fluttershy?” “Go away!” “But-” “No, Rainbow Dash! Go. Away!” Rainbow decided it was probably best to leave the pegasus that was otherwise always very happy to see her alone for now, slowly turning around, ears drooped, and heading for the bush again, taking the box with her. She couldn’t sleep, but as the headache slowly subdued, she had plenty of time to think about what just happened between her and Fluttershy. She knew this wasn’t just any photo frame. What she didn’t understand though, was how it had become broken, and more importantly, what she had to do with it. However slowly, she began puzzling it out, thinking of possible scenarios and eventually, she came to the conclusion that it had been her fault. It must have been. Otherwise Fluttershy would never been mad at her. She felt guilty. So very guilty. Not only had she destroyed something that meant a lot to her marefriend, the yellow pegasus had told her she shouldn’t drink so much, even made her promise it the last few times, but... she had still gotten drunk. The sudden realization that she might have a drinking problem was less scary than what this could mean to their relationship, though. She loved Fluttershy, the kind pegasus that she had known since her foalhood. She trusted her with secrets even her other friends knew nothing about. She didn’t want to lose her. An apology was in order. She looked back into the box another time. But what was the value of words, if she couldn’t even keep her promise to not get drunk? Would Fluttershy believe her if she just apologized? Even if she did, would Rainbow believe herself? Not after getting drunk yet again; not anymore. She needed to get this frame fixed somehow, though she wasn’t really sure if it could be repaired. A visit to the local carpenter confirmed her worst fear: Fluttershy’s photo frame was indeed beyond repair. The only thing the shopkeeper could offer her was to buy a new one, but Rainbow rejected it. She flew home, wings flapping slowly, her head hung low, reflecting her mood. She mulled over how often Fluttershy had asked her to not drink so much, how many chances the yellow pegasus had given her. Go away, Fluttershy had yelled. Clearly, Rainbow had crossed the line this time, but was at a loss as to how to make it up again. She wasn’t good with the mushy stuff. As soon as she arrived home, she flopped down on her cloudbed, no longer holding back the tears she had blinked back while she was out in public. In the safety of her own home, she could let down the whole ‘cool-and-awesome’ facade. What was her dream of joining the Wonderbolts still worth, if she couldn’t share it with Fluttershy? Glancing at the few framed photographs of the fliers, she decided, ‘not much.’ Then she looked into the box again, eyeing the broken frame. Wait a moment... Although all of the frames were Wonderbolt-licensed, and each one was special in their own way, there was one that was more special to her than all the others together. She stood up, took it from the wall, and returned to her bed with it, staring at it, thinking about what she was about to do. Did she really want to go through with this? Her mind was screaming ‘no,’ but deep inside, her heart said ‘yes.’ She dumped the contents of the box in the trash, and then proceeded to carefully open the frame to remove the Spitfire-signed photograph inside. She hoped Fluttershy would understand the gesture, because apart from it somehow feeling right in her heart, she was still unsure why she was ready to give away her Limited Edition Cloudsdale Air Show photo frame, on which she had spent almost all her bits back in Flight School. A few silent moments passed, until she took the final step by putting the pristine frame in the box and closed the it. No going back now. I’m going to do this. Resolved, she glided down to Fluttershy’s cottage, giving Ponyville a wide berth to avoid the town center. She didn’t really want to have one of her other friends call her right now. Fluttershy was taking care of the numerous animals in her house, when she heard three soft knocks on the door. “Who’s there?” she asked. “It’s... it’s me,” came a voice through the door. “Oh...” was all she said as she recognized Rainbow Dash’s voice. “I... could you open the door maybe?” With a sigh, Fluttershy got up. If it was up to her, she would have preferred it if Rainbow had perhaps waited a few more hours at least, but since she hadn’t said anything about when the blue pegasus could come back, she let it slide and opened the door. When their eyes locked, the two stared at each other silently, unmoving, for a couple of seconds, before Rainbow snapped out of it and spoke first, confessing everything she had figured out so far in a single torrent of words. “I think I’ve figured out what happened last night. I must have gotten drunk again, even though I promised you I wouldn’t, and then I must have found my way over here and knocked over your photo frame. I know how much that one meant to you, and I tried to have it repaired but...” she paused to take breath, redirecting her gaze to the ground, “they couldn’t. I thought about buying you a new one, but it didn’t feel right with me. So I want you to have this, as an apology. And I promise I’ll stop going to clubs for at least a while - really promise it this time. I mean, I like cider, but this is getting out of hand. I hope you can believe me when I promise it, but it’s fine if you... don’t...” When Fluttershy looked into the box, she half expected to see a bad reincarnation of her faithful photo frame, but instead, was met by the sight of a Wonderbolts licensed photo frame. She didn’t even have to pick it up and see the ‘Cloudsdale Limited Edition’ label on the backside, because she knew this was the one Dash had been raving about when the Wonderbolts gave an airshow in Cloudsdale back when they were still in Flight School. And even though Dash wasn’t exactly low on bits, these were worth a small fortune nowadays. There was no way Dash had the kind of money to buy a second one, especially not on such short notice. It wasn’t the financial value, though, that Fluttershy cared about. It was the fact that she knew this was an item precious to Rainbow Dash, an item which, by the look in her eyes as she looked back up at the other pegasus again, she had difficulty parting with. She almost looked sad, anxious whether the yellow pegasus would understand what she meant by giving it, because she knew Fluttershy wasn’t really into the whole Wonderbolts thing. She supported Dash in pursuing her dream of joining them one day, and was always willing to hear about a new trick Dash was practising, but that was about it. Fluttershy was at the brink of saying she believed Rainbow, but that she didn’t have to part with it if she really couldn’t, when it seemed the pegasus was able to read her thoughts. “I meant it when I said I wanted you to have it. I...” she stalled, staring at the ground again, as if literally searching for what she was going to say next, but she couldn’t find the words. This time, it was Fluttershy to break the other out of her thoughts, with a kiss. “I believe you,” said Fluttershy when the kiss ended. “And you can still see it everyday,” she pointed to the frame, which she had put back in the box before she kissed Rainbow, “as long as you’re not drunk.” A smile formed on Dash’s face as Fluttershy said the last part. Neither of them knew how, nor did they care, but they felt they had grown even more closer than they already were as they leaned in for another kiss.