Flying always had a calming effect on Rainbow's mind. When she was flying, she had a purpose. Whether that purpose was to improve her already impressive range of tricks, to clear some cloud formation at her job, or just to reach a specific destination, she had a clear goal in her mind and nothing else. In this case, her purpose was to get to Fluttershy's cottage as fast as possible. Her wings carried her as fast as they would, and her mind was filled with nothing but the task at hoof.
When she arrived, she landed on the small pathway leading up to Fluttershy's front door, panting heavily from flying as fast as she could. She gave herself a moment to rest, got her breath back, and her brain switched back on.
Which immediately told her to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Hey, what the heck, brain? We both know that I need to talk to Fluttershy right now. What, you're nervous? You don't want to talk to her because you're afraid of what she's gonna say? Oh, please. That's why I never listen to you, I'd never get anything done if I did.
As Rainbow Dash had determined her brain a useless source of advice, she instead turned to her gut, which she listened to most of the time anyway. Its recommendation was to get rid of the unnecessary burden that was her breakfast.
Rainbow was starting to get angry at her internal organs. They were supposed to help her, not make this whole thing harder than it already was! She briefly considered asking what her spleen was thinking, but that thing never provided anything of use.
So, instead, she asked her heart.
A few seconds later, she trotted up to the the front entrance.
After she had waited about five minutes for somepony to open the door, Rainbow decided that she should probably knock on it.
She reluctantly lifted her left forehoof, moved it slowly and carefully towards her wooden obstacle, and touched it so lightly that the sound of a pin dropping would have thought itself a perturbator in comparison. She waited for about half a second more before deciding that nopony was there and that she should come back some other time.
She was about to fly away when she heard a smacking sound.
She looked toward where she thought the origin of the sound would have to be, to the left of the door. However, there seemed to be nothing there. Shrugging, Rainbow turned to leave once more, but as she did so, she heard that same smacking sound a second time. She looked towards the left of the door again, still seeing nothing. Then, she lowered her view.
There she saw Angel Bunny, who had both of his paws over his face.
"Oh. Hello, Angel!" Rainbow decided that the best course of action was to move on from the fact that Angel had witnessed her pathetic attempt at knocking, and probably quite a bit of her former standing around and decidedly not trying to get in as well.
"So, uh, is Fluttershy home?" Angel gave her a nasty look, but nodded. "Great! Uh, I'm going inside to talk to her then." Angel fixated Dash with a gaze that nopony would believe could come from something as cute and fluffy as a bunny, and shook his head.
Dash, being given a plausible reason to leave, was almost ready to do just that, considering how much she dreaded actually talking to Fluttershy right now. But just being told that she couldn't? Yeah, that wouldn't do at all.
"Oh yeah? Listen Buster, you don't get to decide what I do and what I don't do! I'm Rainbow Dash! I do what I want, when I want it, and right now I want to talk to Fluttershy!” Rainbow huffed into Angel's general direction. “Why the hay do you not want me to talk to her, anyhow?"
Angel increased the intensity of his death stare and began gesturing. He pointed at Dash, then towards the cottage, then he very slowly lifted both of his paws to his eyes and rubbed them slightly. And while Rainbow usually wasn't very good at charades, even she understood what that meant.
Fluttershy has been crying because of me?
This started two conflicting trains of thought within Dash.
On the one hoof, she was furious. How dare she! Fluttershy was the one who had just walked out on her best friend when she revealed something about herself that was very important to her! She was the one that had left her confused and sad, without any explanation for her actions! How come she got to cry?
On the other hoof, Fluttershy was crying. Because of her. And she absolutely hated seeing Fluttershy cry. Of course, it was never a good thing to see anypony cry, but Fluttershy? For some reason, whenever Rainbow saw her this sad, she felt like an injustice of unbearable proportions had occurred, like the world itself was broken until she had fixed whatever had made a mare so sweet and kind and cute cry in the first place. The fact that she was the one that had caused it this time was absolutely unacceptable to her, and she felt that she had to rectify it immediately.
Of course, both her anger and her concern could only be sated by actually talking to Fluttershy.
"Alright, Angel, I'm sorry, but that means I need to talk to her even more. I need to fix this. Even though I don't know what's broken in the first place, I need to fix it. So, please, won't you let me at least try to do that?"
Angel thought for a bit, then sighed. He gave Rainbow a small nod, then hopped next to her, to the front door of the cottage. He looked up at her, and sighed once more. Then, he lightly pushed the wooden frame.
The door had been open the entire time.
Dash found Fluttershy with her head resting on the kitchen table. And, judging by the amount of paper tissues scattered around the room, as well as the silent whines and huffs coming from her direction, Angel hadn't been lying: she had been crying. A lot. This intensified the conflicting feelings inside of Rainbow, leaving her unsure if she was going to try to console or yell at Fluttershy.
Maybe I can do both at the same time?
And so, trying to sound both angry as well as concerned, Rainbow called out to her.
"Fluttershy?"
In the end, it came out sounding as if she had gargled a jar of vinegar while speaking, but the mare in question heard it regardless. Startled, she looked up to see who had called her, and saw Rainbow. She flinched, and immediately jumped off her chair, bolting towards the back door. But this time, Rainbow Dash was ready.
"Fluttershy, stop!" The timid mare did just that: she stopped right in her tracks, not daring to move a muscle. "Please, don't run again. I need to talk to you. About this. About why you ran. About what's wrong between us. About... why you hate me."
"What!?" Fluttershy finally snapped out of her in mid step position and faced Rainbow, speaking with an intensity that was rare for the usually so demure mare. "I don't hate you! I could never hate you!"
"Then why did you run? And why did you look at me like I was the worst pony to ever exist?"
Fluttershy was taken aback. "That wasn't at all what I was thinking! I was just... angry."
"Angry? But why? Why did me coming out make you angry?"
"Because... because you lied to me."
That left Rainbow completely stumped. "Uh, what? I lied to you? You mean because I didn't tell you?"
Fluttershy was fidgeting with her hooves, clearly uncomfortable with the subject, but eventually responded. "Yes... No... Not exactly."
Dash was getting impatient with how imprecise and unhelpful Fluttershy's answers were, so her voice carried a bit of an edge when she asked her next question: "Well, I need you to explain this to me then. How exactly have I lied to you?"
Fluttershy flinched a bit at Rainbow's tone, but there was steel in her eyes when she answered. "You told me... You told me you hated fillyfoolers!"
Rainbow was dumbfounded. "Excuse me? When did I ever say anything like that? I don't remember that ever happening."
"You don't even remember?” Anger had flared up in her voice, but Fluttershy calmed herself down quickly. “Err, well, it was a long time ago, so I can't really blame you. It was in flight camp, the day we both had gotten our cutie marks."
She then started explaining what had happened on that day, the memory slowly returning to Dash as well.
This is the best day ever!
As Dash crossed the finish line, she was absolutely ecstatic. Not only had she beaten those harebrains Dumb-Bell and Hoops in the race, she had gotten her cutie mark too! And in the most awesome fashion that anypony ever could have done!
A Sonic Rainboom!
Old mare's tale? Hah! Leave it to the Dash to make the impossible happen!
Oh, this'll make these idiots shut up for good! She smirked. Can't wait to talk about this with Shy. Bet she was blown away by my awesomeness too.
With that in mind, she slowed down, made an unnecessary, but really cool looking half barrel roll and headed back towards the starting line of the race.
As she arrived, the first thing she noticed was that nopony was paying any attention to her. In fact, there was only one pony there at all - one of the camp supervisors - who was too focused on looking toward the ground to even notice her.
What the hay? Hello, the pony that just pulled off something that nopony even thought was possible just returned! Why is nopony here? What could possibly be more important than that?
More than a little irritated, Dash searched out the camp supervisor. “Excuse me, sir? Why is nopony here?”
The supervisor looked up, noticing her for the first time. He seemed quite worried when he responded. "I don't really know what happened, I've just been called here myself. As far as I've been told, some ponies held a race, and in the process the filly that gave the starting signal was knocked off the cloud she was standing on.
“She didn't come back up right away, so the supervisor that was in charge of the track organized a search party with the other staffers. I was ordered to stay here and wait for her in case she comes back by herself. The spectators were sent home.”
Rainbow hadn't caught a thing the staffer had been saying for the last few sentences, as she had completely frozen up after he had described what had happened.
The filly that gave the starting signal was knocked off... Fluttershy!
No, no, no, no, no! This couldn't happen! Oh, Celestia no! Dash knew that Fluttershy was a weak flier, and when she was afraid, she couldn't fly at all! And being knocked off a cloud, free-falling to the ground? She must have been terrified! She probably couldn't even slow her fall! Visions of a yellow pegasus, her body broken beyond repair, flashed before her, making her retch. And the worst thing...
It's my fault!
She was the one that had wanted to have that race. She was the one that had wanted Fluttershy to give the starting signal. She might even have been the one that knocked her off in the end.
It's my fault that my best friend is probably...
She couldn't finish that thought. She couldn't do anything at all. The staffer had already gone back to looking out toward the ground, so she just moved away from him as far as possible, sat down, and hid her head in the clouds. Nopony would notice a bit of additional rainwater in them.
About ten more minutes passed before she heard someone call out. "We found her!"
Dash was up in a second. She tried to locate where the shout had come from, fearing to see Fluttershy brought up in a stretcher, or worse. What she did see when she located the search team lifted a burden far too heavy for a pony so young an age from her shoulders. Fluttershy was not only completely unhurt, she was smiling. And flying on her own. And... what was that on her flank?
Dash could not quite make it out, because at the time, she was flying full speed towards Fluttershy, preparing for the biggest hug she had ever given. She slowed down just before impact and embraced her missing friend, all her relief released through her forelegs.
The hug, for some reason, caused Fluttershy to blush profusely, as well as suddenly being unable to fly. So, still embracing the flustered filly, Dash brought the both of them to the ground slowly, all the while talking her heart out. "I'm so sorry Shy, I never wanted this to happen, I was so worried about you, I'm so glad you're okay, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been okay, oh this was all my fault, can you please forgive me?"
Fluttershy, still rather red around her cheeks, responded in a confused, but happy fashion. "Oh, uh, of course I can forgive you... Well, that is, if you maybe told me what I'm supposed to forgive you for."
Dash still had not yet calmed down, responding "I made you fall! I don't know what could have happened! You could've..." The tears were coming back to her eyes, causing Fluttershy to hug her tighter, silently stroking the back of her head with her wings. She was just about to explain what had happened on the ground when she was interrupted by a gruff, mocking voice.
"Ohh, Clutzershy and Rainbow Crash are making out!"
Rainbow recognized that voice. Dumb-Bell! Urgh, just about the last pony she wanted to deal with right now. Of course he would show up as soon as the search team officials had left.
But hearing this from the colt suddenly made Dash conscious of the fact that she was crying in the arms of another filly, and how decidedly uncool that was.
She quickly removed herself from Fluttershy's embrace, tried her best to rub the tears from her eyes, and turned to address the bully with as firm a voice as she could muster.
"Oh, just zip it. I've already kicked your flank in the race today. Do you want me to do it literally as well?"
Dumb-Bell wasn't quite impressed with the clearly still shaken and teary-eyed filly and responded in kind. "Yeah, right. You sure you want to do that in front of your fillyfriend?"
“She's not my fillyfriend!" Rainbow burst out. "We're just friends! Always have been, always will be!"
The bully gave a nasty laugh. "Yeah, right. See you later, fillyfooler!" With that, he started flying away.
Rainbow shouted after him. "Stop calling me that! I hate being called that! And I hate fillyfoolers!" But Dumb-Bell was already out of earshot. Rainbow huffed, and tried her best to calm down. I have to stop letting this guy get to me. Urg.
She sighed. At least he was gone now. Her face brightened. Hey, maybe Fluttershy can tell me about what happened to her on the ground. She seemed so happy!
"Hey, Fluttershy?" But where her best friend had stood before, there was now only empty clouds.
She didn't see Fluttershy for a week after that.
Rainbow Dash was angry at herself. While Fluttershy had been telling her about what had happened back then, the memory of those events came back to her as well. Of course, she had still known about her reaction to seeing Fluttershy safe, but she had completely forgotten - or blocked out - the part with Dumb-Bell. Was I really that stupid?
"Fluttershy, I'm sorry. I didn't even remember I said something like that. But, you know how it was in Flight School. Everypony just kept calling me a fillyfooler, and I hated it, because they were trying to insult me, and I didn't even know what exactly they were insulting me for! So, I just started to believe them. That liking mares was wrong. And that I was wrong unless I thought like the others."
Rainbow sighed. "Gosh, it sounds so stupid now. But yeah, it took me a while to get over all that. To finally be able to accept who I am, and to want my best friends to accept it too."
Then, she hesitated.
This... doesn't fit. There's something missing.
She looked skeptically at Shy. “You know, Flutters, I don't think I really get it. Even though I lied and said an incredibly stupid thing, why does it bother you so much? I mean, yeah, it was horrible, but... why does it still bother you? Why do you even remember it?”
With every word Rainbow Dash uttered, Fluttershy was looking more and more nervous, but Rainbow continued. “What does something I said ages ago have to do with you reacting the way you did to me coming out?”
Fluttershy looked just about ready to bolt again, but Rainbow was prepared. With a few flaps of her wings, she was directly in front of her friend, holding her in place with her front hooves. “Oh no, you're not going anywhere until you tell me. Why do you still remember that after all these years, and why does it still bother you?”
Shy shuffled weakly, trying to loosen Rainbow's grip on her, but to no avail. She sighed, and accepted the only way out: to tell Dash what the real reason for her actions was.
"I... I got really angry because... " All that followed was silent mumbling, far too quiet for Dash to understand.
"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to speak up."
"Because..." Fluttershy tried again, but couldn't manage to be audible the second time either.
"Louder."
"Because... I..."
"Louder!"
"Because... I... I L-L..."
"LOUDER!"
"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! I ALWAYS HAVE!"
And for the second time that day, Rainbow was left completely without response and too shocked to react while Fluttershy galloped out of the room, this time up the stairs and into her bedroom.
Rainbow still was not quite sure what had happened, and her mind was completely blank except for a single thought.
Fluttershy... loves me?
She tried to wrap her head around that concept, but she couldn't quite grasp it. It seemed so out-of-the-blue, so completely unfamiliar, something that Rainbow wouldn't even have considered for reasons that Fluttershy reacted the way she did. But... it fit.
Rainbow imagined herself in Fluttershy's horseshoes, back in Flight Camp. She imagined having just been hugged by the filly she had a crush on... and then... “I hate fillyfoolers!” Dash gulped. That must have broken her heart! And... “We're just friends! Always have been, always will be!" And that friendship was really important to Fluttershy, as Rainbow Dash was more or less the only real friend she had at the time. So, if she wanted to keep that friendship, she needed to hide her real feelings... and... “I hate fillyfoolers!” So she thought she couldn't even tell Dash about that if she wanted to keep her friendship. So she kept her crush, as well as her being gay, a secret... for all these years... to then suddenly be told that all of that, all of the secrecy and hiding her feelings had been for no real reason at all?
Gosh, Fluttershy... you went easy on me. Had it been me, I wouldn't have just walked out. I would have punched myself in the face as hard as I could!
So, apology needed. Big apology. Giant apology. The biggest apology she had ever given.
That was the one thing. The other thing...
Fluttershy loves me... And what does that mean for us?
Now that she knew what had happened, Rainbow had a pretty clear image of how she should act in her brain: Make aforesaid apology, gently let Fluttershy know that Dash didn't feel the same way, get her best friend back. And that did seem like the logical and fair thing to do.
Only... the thought of turning Fluttershy down... did not quite seem right for some reason. And every time she imagined herself doing it, there was a sharp pain in her heart, one she could not quite explain. So, she thought about what Fluttershy was to her.
She thought about how she had explicitly wanted Fluttershy to cheer for her when she was training for her Sonic Rainboom, because she knew that for some reason, she always tried even harder when she was watching.
She thought about how bad she had felt about pushing Fluttershy into Tornado duty, being indirectly responsible for having her humiliated in front of the other fliers. She thought about how relieved and proud she had been after Fluttershy had helped to make Tornado day happen, and how she hadn't even given it a thought before making her the target of the admiration of not only the other fliers, but also of Spitfire, giving up the praise from her idol and directing it towards the timid pegasus instead.
She thought about following her to the Butterfly migration. Of course, she came because she had been asked to, not because she wanted to see something as boring as that. But... once she got over how lame it all was, she had seen how incredibly happy and comfortable the usually so easily intimidated mare was being there, and how seeing her like that had made her heart beat ever so slightly faster.
She also, very briefly, thought that she had always found Fluttershy to be pretty hot before blushing and shaking her head to clear it.
All of these thoughts amassed in her brain, as well as her heart, and this time, both of them were telling her the same thing. Her gut was urging her on as well. Her spleen remained indifferent.
Fluttershy loves me... And I know what I'm going to do.
Rainbow, for the second time that day, stood before a door. This time, that door was actually locked, which she had made sure to double check. And behind that door...
“Fluttershy?” called Rainbow, giving a few accompanying knocks. There was no answer apart from a slight shuffling sound, and a bit of sobbing. Dash winced. She's crying again.
“Uh, if you don't wanna talk to me, that's fine. I just need you to listen, really.” Dash took a deep breath, then continued. “I'm sorry. Like, really sorry. The sorriest I've ever been for anything I've done. I can't even imagine how much I hurt you today... or back then... or anytime in between, really. I was stupid. And insensitive. And... an incredible coward. I could have just told everypony that I'm gay years ago, but I didn't, and you had to suffer for it.
“I know I feathered up really bad, and I would understand if you never wanted to talk to me again. I don't deserve to talk to you after what I've done.” Rainbow took another deep breath. Now for the hard part.
“But... if you can find it in yourself to forgive me... and if you still feel that way about me...”
Dash stopped, trying to figure out what to say next. “Look. I'm not good at this kind of stuff, but I just need you to know this. Fluttershy, you're amazing. You're the nicest, kindest, most friendly mare that ever existed. I always relied on you whenever I didn't know what to do. I always talked to you about everything I couldn't deal with. You were my first friend, and you have been since then my best friend. You've been my best friend for so long that I didn't even see that you could be more than that. That I wanted you to be more than that. Fluttershy... I love you.”
Rainbow waited with a beating heart for an answer, any answer. But, when after ten seconds absolutely nothing had happened, she sighed. “Well, I can't blame you for not forgiving me. Not sure that I can forgive myself. Bye Flutters. I hope you meet somepony better than me.”
Dash stepped away from the door, slugging towards the stairs, when she heard the sound of the door unlocking. Out came Fluttershy, talking so quickly and excitedly that her words were blurring together.
“Ohrainbowofcourseiforgiveyouiwasjustsosuprisedandididntknowwhattodoandohmygoodnesspleasedontleaveof courseistillloveyouanduhdashwhyareyouwalkingcloserwhatareyoudoingohmygoodmffffffff--”
The last part of Fluttershy's rambling was cut off by a pair of lips meeting her own.
The kiss started off with one of the mares talking, and the other mare running towards her. It was also pretty short, since Fluttershy started hyperventilating from the excitement about three seconds into it. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had very little experience with kissing in the first place, so they had more or less just pressed their lips together and hoped for the best, anyway.
Overall, as far as kisses go, it was not very good. Truly, if it were to be judged on a scale from one to ten, their kiss would probably fail to meet the minimum criteria for entry.
Both of them wouldn't have changed a single thing about it.