//------------------------------// // Making Up for Lost Time // Story: Unexpected Confessions // by Dianwei32 //------------------------------// Unexpected Confessions Chapter Twenty Two         Making Up for Lost Time         Fluttershy looked back and forth between Rainbow and the waitress while they simply stared at each other. After what felt like an eternity, the waitress, whom Fluttershy assumed was Sunny Day, stepped forward. Sunny lifted a foreleg and ran it through Dash’s mane, eventually trailing it down and along her cheek. Dash flinched at the touch, but didn’t pull away, seemingly in a state of shock over the sudden reunion.         “D-Dashie...” Sunny pulled her daughter into a quick one-legged hug, which Rainbow mechanically returned. “I... I never thought I’d see you again—” She pulled back, a cautiously hopeful smile on her lips. “—but I could never...” She looked Rainbow over, finally noticing the blank stare on her face. “Dashie, honey? Are you... okay? Say something, please.”         “Say something?” Dash finally snapped out of her shock, and an angry scowl creased her face. “Say something? What do you want me to say? That I’m happy you left all those years ago? That things were just great after you and dad left?”         “Your father?” Sunny put a hoof to her chest. “Dashie, I had no—”         “Yeah, he skipped town right after you did, spewing some garbage about bringing you back.” Dash turned and stalked away, snorting in anger. “We never saw him again, and Moonshine...” She stopped and shook her head, just glaring at the wall.         “Dashie, I... I had no idea. Your father... Blitz would never—” Sunny fell silent as Rainbow threw a baleful glance over her shoulder. “Sorry.” The older mare sighed heavily. “I should go.” She turned and headed for the door, stopping only to pick up the tray she had dropped. “Another server will be with you shortly.” Just as she laid a hoof on the doorknob, an unexpected voice broke the tense silence.         “Um, please wait.” Fluttershy hopped down from her chair and crossed the room, whispering to Sunny. “Um, i-if you want to wait, let me talk to her and calm her down. I’m sure that she would really like to talk to you.”         “That would be a first.” Sunny looked back at her daughter, who was still staring angrily at the wall and muttering to herself. “I’ve never seen her back down once she makes up her mind about something.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, but it was quickly replaced by a frown. “I knew that it would be hard for her... for all of them, but I never imagined Blitz would leave as well...”         “Please, just give me a few minutes to talk to her.” Fluttershy insisted. “You know that she can be a little... hot-headed at times, but I’m sure that deep down she really does want to talk to you.”         Sunny shook her head, her entire body sagging. “Dashie was never hot-headed. She was always such a sweet little filly.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she rubbed at them angrily and straightened back up. “What happened to them? Things were supposed to get better after I left.”         Fluttershy stepped forward cautiously and pulled Sunny into a hug. “You did what you thought was right. You couldn’t have known that her dad would leave after you did.”         Sunny stood frozen for a second, surprised at the sudden compassion. Once she recovered, she carefully wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy, not wanting to let it go to waste. “Just look at her. She hates me for what I did.”         “No, she doesn’t.” Fluttershy patted the other mare on the back, trying to reassure her. After a few moments, Sunny took a deep breath and released Fluttershy from the hug.         “Thank you for that.” She wiped her eyes as she pulled away, sparing one last glance at Dash, who had gone to staring out the window. “If nothing else, I’m happy that she’s found such a wonderful marefriend.” She smiled at Fluttershy for a moment, but it faded when she heard Rainbow let out an irritated huff. “If she doesn’t want to talk to me, tell her that I’m proud of her, would you? I’ll wait outside.” She pulled the door open and stepped outside, closing it with a whisper-quiet click.         Fluttershy turned and walked back across the room, sidling up next to Rainbow. She looked down at the field, only to find it empty. A quick glance up revealed that the stadium was still full, with many ponies milling about and talking, Princess Luna included. “Um, Dashie? Where did everypony go?”         “It’s halftime.” Dash’s voice was flat, and her gaze never left the empty field. Fluttershy let the next few moments pass in silence, content to let Rainbow speak in her own time. After nearly a minute of quiet seething, Dash let out a frustrated sigh. “Sorry, ‘Shy. I... I thought I had gotten over this. Accepted it. But seeing her again?” She shook her head, her ears folding back. “It brought back a lot of memories.”         “I’m sure it did.” Fluttershy draped a wing across her marefriend’s back. “But do you really want to let that ruin a chance to get to know her better? She was like a mother to you, wasn’t she?”         “No.” Rainbow growled. “She wasn’t like a mother... she was my mother, way more than Moonshine ever was.” Dash's lips curled up in a snarl. "But that doesn’t matter!” She winced a bit, as if the words physically hurt to say. “She left. She just up and left! Didn't even say goodbye. I loved her so much, and I thought she loved me—” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she shook her head and blinked them away. “—but she just... left. And now she's here—"         “Exactly, she’s here now.” Fluttershy nuzzled her marefriend, feeling her relax ever so slightly. “Don’t you want to ask her why she left?”         “No! I mean, yes. It’s just...” Dash sighed, shaking her head again. “I do, but—”         “—but you’re  still so angry with her that you don’t even want to see her?” Fluttershy finished for her.         “Well... No, but she...” Dash stopped and took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. “She's here, and I’m acting like a foal. You’re right, Fluttershy. Yes, I do want to talk to her.” She turned and smiled at her marefriend, dipping a wingtip down to brush along her cutie mark. “Thanks, Flutters.”         Fluttershy gave Rainbow a light squeeze with her wing and leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek. Stepping away, she looked back over her shoulder as she headed for the door. “I’ll just, um... wait outside then?”         “No!” Dash stopped, pulling the hoof that she had extended back and running through her mane. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I mean... no. I’d rather have you here with me. Hay, we’ve only talked for fifteen seconds and me and my big mouth have already almost ruined it.”         Fluttershy chuckled, stopping at the door. “Oh, Rainbow, just remember, she’s your mother and she loves you.” Pulling the door open, she found Sunny staring at the ceiling and toying with the drink tray. “Sun— Um, Miss Day?”         Sunny looked up, a small smile replacing her worried expression. “Please, dear, just call me Sunny.”         “Oh, okay... Sunny.” Fluttershy pulled the door open a little wider. “She, um, she wants to see you.”         Sunny visibly relaxed, her small smile spreading across her face. “Thank you, so much Miss Fluttershy.”         Fluttershy’s eyes shot open and she took a nervous step back. “H-how d-did you—”         “I’m sorry. I suppose I shouldn’t have done that.” Sunny grinned sheepishly. “Fancy Pants talks about you and your friends—especially Miss Rarity—from time to time.”         “O-oh, yes.” Fluttershy felt the urge to duck and hide behind her mane, but she fought it and settled for nervously biting her lip. As the silence between them grew, she scuffed a hoof on the floor. The sound of Dash clearing her throat reminded her of what she had been doing, so she turned and trotted back across the room, stopping next to Rainbow.         Sunny entered the room cautiously, pausing every few steps to gauge Dash’s reaction. She finally stopped when she was several feet away from her daughter. “Hello, Rainbow Dash.”         Rainbow looked her mother up and down, then stepped forward until they were almost nose to nose. Without warning, she threw her forelegs around Sunny, pulling her into a tight hug, even extending her wings to wrap around the other mare. Sunny stiffened for a second, caught off-guard by the embrace, but once she realized what it was, she began to cry into her daughter’s mane. Dash simply stood there, letting her mother cry, the occasional tear streaking down her cheek as well. When the tears finally ran dry, they separated, both taking a moment to wipe their eyes.         Dash was the first to speak. “I’m sorry about earlier. I just—” Her words were cut off by a hoof at her lips.         “Hush. I knew it was going to be hard on you... all of you. You have every right to be upset with me.” Sunny dropped her hoof, shaking her head. “But I had no idea Blitz would leave as well. I guess it was foolish of me to think that leaving would solve everything.” Looking back up, she smiled. “Now, I imagine that you have lots of questions. Why don’t we get a little more comfortable and I’ll do my best to answer them?” She waved a foreleg toward the row of seats.         Rainbow looked back over her shoulder at the seats, then back at her mother with a confused expression. “But... don’t you have to work?”         Sunny gave a tinkling laugh and started walking over to the seats. “Honey, you are my work. I’m this box’s private waitress.” As she moved around the end of the row, Fluttershy and Rainbow finally began to follow her, and all three of them sat down just as the second half of the game got under way. “So, fire away.”         Dash opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She shook her head. “Jeez, I spent so many nights lying awake thinking about all the things I wanted to ask you... and now it’s just... blank.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Well, let’s start with the obvious one, I guess. Why’d you leave?”         “I suppose I really should have seen that one coming.” Sunny winced and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, the short answer is ‘it’s complicated.’ The long answer... it’s really complicated.” She smiled sheepishly. “Do you think we could start with something a little... easier?”         “Oh come on!” Dash threw her hooves up in frustration. “You mean that after all this time, you can’t—” A hoof on her shoulder stopped her rant before it could gain steam. Looking back, she saw Fluttershy silently imploring her to be nice. She took a deep breath and turned back to her mother. “Sorry. Well, I’ve always been curious... how did you and dad get together?”         “Now that one I can answer.” Sunny chuckled for a moment and let a distant smile flit across her lips. “Well, your father and I lived next door to one another growing up. We went to Summer Flight Camp together, and ultimately became Flight School sweethearts.” Sunny let out a sigh, and she gazed off into the distance for a moment before continuing. “But then, one day during our junior year, he came by and told me that his family was moving to Manehattan. They practically had to get crowbars to pry us apart.”         Sunny chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “That’s where things get interesting.” As if in response, the crowd outside erupted in cheers for a play that none of them had seen. Once the noise died down, Sunny launched into her tale. “Well, once your father left, I thought that I would never see him again. I tried to at least write to him, but eventually I just got too busy.”         A sniffle pulled Sunny and Dash’s attention from one another, and they turned to see Fluttershy quietly trying to keep her composure while tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, I-I’m sorry.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and motioned for Sunny to continue.         “Once we graduated, I started working at the weather factory part-time to pay my way through a degree in Weather System Studies at Cloudsdale Community College. And I found out that your father attended Las Pegasus University on a Stormball scholarship, so we—”         “Waitwaitwait!” Dash nearly jumped out of her seat. “Dad went to school on a Stormball scholarship? That’s totally awesome!”         “You didn’t know?” Sunny chuckled. “I’m surprised, he used to talk about it all... the...” She drifted off as she remembered what Rainbow had said about her father leaving shortly after she had. “I’m sorry.”         “Like I said, we tried to keep the long-distance thing going with letters, but it just wasn’t working.” Sunny paused and her face fell. She dropped her gaze to her hooves while she spoke. “Then one day, Blitz sent me... the letter. He said that...” She paused again and swallowed. “He said that he still liked me, but... but that it wasn’t fair to either of us to spend our lives clinging to some Flight School romance.” She took a deep breath and looked up, meeting her daughter’s expectant gaze. “He said that he had moved on, and that he wanted me to do the same.” Dash simply stared at her open-mouthed, waiting for her to continue.         “I tried to do what your father wanted, but I just couldn’t. Sure, I sent a letter back saying that I agreed, and even another one a couple months later saying that I had met a nice stallion... but I knew that he was the one I wanted to be with, and I didn’t want to force somepony else to live in his shadow.” She lapsed into silence for a moment, then chuckled. “Blitz had less trouble, though. About a year after ‘the letter,’ he moved back to Cloudsdale. We actually ran into each other at a bar while I was out celebrating my promotion to the head of R&D at the factory, and, well... let’s just say that I’d had a few drinks.” Her cheeks tinged a light red as she finished.         “Mom...” Dash pressed a hoof between her eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t—”         “Oh, goodness, no.” Sunny went back to staring at the floor while her face reddened further. “It turned out that Blitz had found somepony else, though I guess I knew he had after what he said in the letter. She was a lovely little pegasus who had been a cheerleader at LPU while your dad was playing there.” The faraway gaze from before returned and she smiled. “Shiny was a such a doll back then, even if she did try to kick me in the face the first time I met her.”         “She did what?” Dash flailed for a second after nearly falling out of her seat from leaning so far forward.         “Well, I was tipsy... you could probably say drunk, and I did try to... pursue things with your father rather forcefully.” Sunny rubbed the back of her neck. “Shiny was not pleased when she found out, but things smoothed over once we explained what had happened.”         Rainbow chuckled into a hoof. “Yeah, I bet. So, uh...” She fidgeted in her seat for a moment. “H-how did you get dad, um...” She waved a hoof in the air. “You know, agree to...”         Sunny cocked her head to the side in confusion. “How’d I get him to what?” In response, Rainbow merely chewed on her lip and continued to fidget.         “I-I think she’s asking how you, um, got her dad to—” Fluttershy started tracing little circles on the armrest of her chair. “—um, agree to the tr-trinogamous relationship.” “Trinogamous?” Sunny blinked a few times while she examined the word in her head. “Hmm, we never called it that, but it’s a funny story, actually. It wasn’t Blitz that suggested it...” She leaned back in her chair, a light blush staining her cheeks again. “It was Shiny.”         “Moonshine?” It was Dash’s turn to blink a few times while her mind tried to wrap itself around what she had just heard. “Moonshine suggested it?” She asked, the disbelief palpable in her voice.         “You call your own mother by her full name?” Sunny’s voice matched her daughter’s in skepticism.         “Yeah, so?” Rainbow’s face fell, hints of her earlier anger flaring up again. “She was...” She paused, mulling over how she wanted to respond. “She wasn’t my mother.”         “Dashie... She was—”         “No she wasn’t!” Dash shot back, snarling again. “You were ten times the mother she ever was! She was just a bitter old bitch after you and dad left.”         “Rainbow Elizabeth Dash!” Sunny narrowed her eyes as she spoke, putting the kind of authority that only a mother could muster into her voice. “That is no way to talk about your mother!”         “Really?” Dash crossed her forelegs and sat back. “You wanna know what she did once you guys were gone? I practically had to raise myself because she was too busy being passed out drunk every day.” She glared off to the side for a few moments, silently fuming. Eventually, she let out a sigh and muttered an apology. Sunny’s gaze softened and she nodded, then cleared her throat to continue with her story.         “Shiny...” Sunny drifted off for a second, searching for the right phrasing. “She... played for both teams.”         Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. “Really? I never would have guessed with the way she brought home a new pony every weekend.” She shook her head a few times and stared out at the field, anger twisting her features.         “She...” Sunny lifted a hoof to her mouth, wrapping her other foreleg around her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut against tears that threatened to spill over. After taking several deep breaths, she whispered an inaudible apology and opened her eyes again. “Sorry.” “No, I’m sorry.” Dash scooted over and wrapped a wing around her mother, nuzzling into her neck. “I shouldn’t have told you like that. It’s just... you knew a different pony. To me, she was always sad and bitter. I don’t even really remember ever seeing her smile.” Afterward, she sat back up and focused on her mother. “Okay, so Moonshine suggested the three of you all get together, and you just... went with it? Why?”         “I loved your father dearly, but I could tell that Shiny did as well. We had a very, very long discussion leading up to her making that particular suggestion. Blitz actually offered to leave Moonshine to reestablish our old relationship...” Sunny shook her head, chuckling to herself. “Needless to say, she didn’t take that idea very well, but I wouldn’t let him do it, anyway. It wouldn’t have been fair to simply throw away what they had just because he and I had been together before. As it turns out, they lived just down the street from me, so we started hanging out together...” *         Rarity paced around one of her equinniquins, trying to will herself to work. But no matter how many circuits she walked, her mind was simply elsewhere. She looked at the clock yet again, even though she knew it would have only moved a scant few minutes since the last time she had done so. Six thirteen. Congratulations, Rarity, you managed to go a whole three minutes without looking. Shaking her head, she turned back to the dress form, but still her mind wandered. She couldn’t help but wonder how Rainbow and Fluttershy’s date was going.         Walking over to a window, she glanced off in the direction of Canterlot, where the bustling city jutted out from the mountainside. Letting out a sigh and leaning against the window sill, she pictured Rainbow and Fluttershy watching the game. Dash would be cheering exuberantly, possibly with several ciders in her, while Fluttershy would simply watch the game in near silence, speaking up only to ask question or let out her own quiet cheer.         After several minutes of gazing dreamily out the window, Rarity turned back to her equinniquin and gave it one more look over before finally admitting defeat. Taking one final glance at the clock on her way up to her room, she silently berated herself for her lack of progress. Two and a half hours of “work,” and all I did was change the fabric I was going to use for the belt. Her horn flared to life for an instant as she reached the door to her bedroom, pushing it open and revealing the mess contained within.         Making her way along one of the few paths not littered with discarded bolts of cloth or ribbons, she eventually made it to her bed, where she flopped down unceremoniously and stared at the ceiling. Once again, her mind wandered to Fluttershy and Dash, this time showing them trading nuzzles and light kisses. Rarity let out a groan and threw a foreleg over her eyes, trying in vain to block the images.         Reaching out with her magic, she grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills on her bedside table, frowning at the lack of weight. She sat up and looked into the bottle, sighing as she found only five pills remaining. A thirty day supply, and it’s nearly gone already. Though I suppose that will happen when you take it multiple times a day, and sometimes more than one at a time. Placing it back on her nightstand, she levitated a nearly empty glass of water next to it and tossed the pills into her mouth, downing the last of the water soon after. *         “Wait, you what?” Dash stared at her mother open-mouthed. Sunny gave a sheepish smile, her cheeks stained with a light blush. She had just finished recounting the first time that she told Moonshine that she loved her. Behind Rainbow, Fluttershy dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.         “You... you loved her?” Dash ran a hoof through her mane, her mouth working open and closed silently. “But... you two, like, never got along. She kept snapping at you or ignoring you.”         “Things definitely got... rough at the end.” Sunny’s smile faded and she let out a sigh. “But in the beginning—” Her smile grew again. “—things were... wonderful. It had been years since Blitz and I had seen each other, but it was like he had never left. Though... he was just a little upset at first that I had lied about moving on from him.”         “Huh...” Dash just stared at her mother, cocking her head to the side as she reexamined her entire foalhood. No matter how hard she thought, all she could remember were fights, arguments, and bickering. After a moment, she shook her head, focusing instead on a piece of the story that she still couldn’t wrap her mind around. “But I still don’t get why Moonshine would ask you and dad to do the trip— tri— trinogathingy.”         “I think you do.” Sunny replied, debating the wisdom of her response. “Honestly, Shiny just thought that I was attractive and wanted to get a chance to get me in bed.” She offered Rainbow a small smile as she saw her daughter’s face darken again, twisting into a mask of disgust. “Remember, she wasn’t always like that, Dashie.”         “I thought she would have had a better reason that that!” Dash replied before clamping her hooves down over her ears and groaning. After taking several deep breaths, she leaned back in her chair. “So then, what happened? If things were so great, why’d it all go so bad?”         For the first time since Rainbow had hugged her, Sunny looked apprehensive. “It was...” She paused taking a moment to swallow a lump in her throat. “It all started when Moonshine got pregnant... with you.”         Dash slumped back into her seat, her face falling. “With... me?” Tears welled in her eyes, and Fluttershy leaned forward to lay a hoof on her shoulder.         “Now, Dashie. You have to know that we all loved you, and that what happened between us was in no way your fault.” Sunny reached out to hold her daughter’s hoof, but Rainbow pulled it away.         “Oh sure, it wasn’t my fault.” Dash jumped down from her chair and stomped over to stare out the window. “Everything just happened to go to Tartarus when mom got pregnant with me.”         Sunny stepped down from her own chair and walked up next to her daughter. “Rainbow Elizabeth Dash—” Rainbow cringed at the use of her middle name. “—What happened between Moonshine, your father, and me was not your fault. It was just... unfortunate that Moonshine happened to be pregnant with you when everything went... downhill.” She draped a wing over Dash’s back, and smiled as her daughter leaned into the gesture. “You were the best thing that ever happened to us. It was our own foolishness that caused us to fall apart.”         Rainbow rubbed at her eyes, removing some traitorous tears before they could fall. After taking a few moments to compose herself, she spoke again. “Th-then... what happened?”         “Um...” Sunny bit her lip, glancing off to the side nervously. “Well, it revolves around our... bedroom habits.” She cleared her throat into a hoof. “That’s a discussion for another time... preferably never. Any other questions?”         Dash groaned and leaned forward until her face was resting on the window. Letting out a sigh, she leaned in and nuzzled her mother’s neck, then turned and made her way back to her seat, staring at her hooves once she sat down. “Just the one.” She said, finally looking back up and meeting her mother’s gaze.         Sunny nodded. “Right.” She took a moment to compose herself, then launched into her tale. “Well, it all started about a week after Blitz had taken you to see your first Wonderbolts show...” *         “How are you feeling, Dashie? Are you getting hungry?” Sunny ran a hoof through her daughter’s mane, ruffling it.         “Not really, mommy.” Rainbow looked up from the picture she was drawing and smiled.         Sunny leaned down and wrapped a foreleg around the filly, hugging her lightly. “What are you drawing, honey?”         “The Wonderbolts!” Dash waved a hoof proudly over her paper, which contained three blue blobs with traces of yellow in them. She dropped her blue crayon, or at least the small nub that remained of it, and grabbed a lighter blue, adding a fourth blob to her picture.         “Who’s that?” Sunny asked, feigning curiosity.         “It’s me!” Rainbow stopped coloring for a moment to look up and smile, her wings buzzing in excitement. “When I grow up, I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt!”         Sunny chuckled, leaning down to nuzzle Rainbow as she got back to work on her picture. “I’m sure you are, honey.” Leaving her daughter to her work, she made her way down the hall to the kitchen, smiling to herself as every few feet she passed a picture stuck to the wall similar to the one Dash was currently drawing. Walking into the kitchen, she saw the refrigerator, which was completely covered in yet more drawings. She heard a noise from the dining room and trotted toward the doorway leading to it. “Oh, Shiny, have you heard? Our baby is going to be a Wonderbolt! I knew letting Blitz take her to that show was—” She stopped as she rounded the corner and saw Moonshine standing over Rainbow’s place, her head bowed and her white mane falling across her face. “Shiny? Is everything okay?”         Moonshine stiffened and turned away from the table, wiping her eyes with a foreleg. “I-I’m fine, Sunny.” She took a deep breath, then turned back around, smiling with her rose-colored eyes stand out from her black coat. “Could you go let Dashie and Blitz know that dinner’s ready, please?”         Sunny carefully made her way around the table and sidled up to Moonshine, nudging her with a wing. “Shiny, what’s wrong?” When her marefriend turned her head away, she reached out and pulled her head back around. She was shocked to see tears welling in Moonshine’s eyes. “Shiny! What’s wrong? Please, tell me!”         “I...” Moonshine started, but it turned into a choked sob. She shook her head. “I-I’m sorry, Sunny.”         “Shh...” Sunny draped a wing over her marefriend’s back, her wingtip brushing over the crescent moon obscured by clouds of Moonshine’s cutie mark. However, the action had the opposite of its intended effect, and Moonshine started crying harder, leaning against Sunny. Looking back to the doorway to make sure that Rainbow hadn’t come in yet, Sunny turned and knocked open a hole in the cloud wall. “Come on, Shiny. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”         Moonshine looked up at the hole in the wall, then at Sunny. She leaned over and nuzzled the other mare’s cheek before moving forward and jumping out of the hole. Her wings snapped open and caught a rising thermal, carrying her up to a nearby puff of cloud. Sunny followed her lead, leaping, rising, and eventually landing on the same puff of cloud. She sat down next to her marefriend and waited for her to speak, but after several minutes of silence, she decided to break the quiet.         “Shiny?” She leaned forward, trying to look Moonshine in the eye, but the other mare turned away. “Come on, honey. What’s going on? You’ve been sulking around the house for months now, and anytime I’ve tried to ask you about it, you either say it’s nothing or bite my head off.” She put her wing back around Moonshine, but felt her tense up at the touch. “You know you can trust me, honey.”         Moonshine finally turned back, meeting Sunny’s gaze. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking. “I’m sorry, Sunny. I... didn’t mean for you to see that.” She smiled and leaned in for a quick nuzzle. “I’m okay. Really.”         “Honey, I think you’ve been by yourself too much lately.” Sunny smiled and tightened her wing along Moonshine’s back. “Tell you what... How about tonight, I come spend the night with you and we can snuggle. We don’t have to do anything else if you don’t want to.” Sunny laid her head on the other mare’s shoulder. “I’m tired of seeing you off alone, Shiny. I miss you.”         Without warning, the last of Moonshine’s resistance crumbled, and she started to cry openly, burying her face in her hooves. Sunny did what she could to comfort her, stroking her back and whispering reassurances in her ear. When her tears finally dried up, she sat up and leaned in, kissing Sunny on the lips. “Thank you, Sunny. I... I miss you too, it’s just...” She stopped and sighed. “I know I’ve been... distant, but nothing I’ve tried to do seems to help. Blitz doesn’t want to hear it, and even Dashie likes spending time with ‘fun mommy’ more than me.” A fresh wave of tears threatened to overtake her, but she rubbed them away with a foreleg.         “You know, I think that Dashie’s old enough now... she’s been old enough for a while that I don’t need to sleep in the guest room to be right down the hall from her.” She looked up at Sunny. “Do you think that I could start sleeping with you and Blitz again?”         Sunny leaned down and gave Moonshine a chaste kiss, holding it for several seconds before finally pulling away. “We’d love that, Shiny.” *         “And that’s pretty much the end of the story. I left three days after that.” Sunny turned away from the window she had been staring out for the last portion of her story, only to find Rainbow staring at her, unblinking and open-mouthed. After waiting a few seconds for a reaction, she reached out and poked her daughter in the chest. “Dashie?” Dash was immobile, staring blankly ahead. “Oh dear, I think I broke her.”         “Oh my.” Fluttershy leaned forward in her seat and laid her hooves on Dash’s shoulders, shaking her gently. “Um, Dashie?” The stunned pegasus still offered no response, so Fluttershy turned to Sunny. “Um, i-if you don’t mind, could you please...” She trailed off spinning her hoof in a little circle. Sunny shrugged and turned around. Once she was facing away, Fluttershy grabbed one of Rainbow’s hooves and tickled it with a wingtip.         “Ah!” Dash jumped, nearly leaving her chair and looking for the source of the unexpected attack. She looked accusingly at Fluttershy, who offered a barely audible mumble of apology, then back to Sunny. “But—” She ran a hoof through her mane as her mother turned back around. “—that doesn’t make sense. It sounds like you figured out what was wrong and fixed it. Why leave?”         “Well, the next day, I had to stay late at work. By the time I finally got home, Shiny and Blitz were already asleep, and you were snuggled up between them.” Sunny smiled at the memory. “You were all so cute cuddled up together, so I decided to sleep in the guest room that night.” Her smile flickered and disappeared. “It was... an interesting night.” She drifted off into silence for a few moments.         “What happened?” Dash asked.         “I...” Sunny paused and swallowed. “I had some... unsettling realizations.” She stared down at her hooves, her voice gradually shrinking as she spoke. “I realized that the reason Shiny was alone and hurting... was me. It was obvious that she loved you and Blitz, but you two kept gravitating toward me.” Tears filled her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to care. “I was... stealing her life. She and Blitz had been happy together, and I had just waltzed in between them.”         “But, um... she asked you to.” Fluttershy protested.         “Yes, she did.” Sunny nodded, sniffling and wiping a foreleg across her nose. “But that was more out of fear of losing Blitz than a real desire to make the relationship work. I figured that since I was the source of the problem, it would be easiest just to leave.”         “But that just made things worse!” Dash slammed a hoof on the chair. “You should have stayed and worked on it! You should have fought!”         “Don’t you think I know that?” Sunny shouted, before slumping down in defeat. When she spoke again, her voice was barely audible. “I questioned myself every day, and if I could do it all again, I would have stayed and fought for them... for you.” She scrubbed tears away angrily. “That’s the worst of all this, I gave all of you up because I thought that leaving would make things better. Now, I find you again after all these years, and things got worse that I ever could have imagined. And poor Moonshine.” She stopped scrubbing at her eyes, giving up and letting her tears flow. “Shiny, I’m so sorry. I never should have left you like that...” She drifted into silence, broken only by an occasional sniffle.         Rainbow fidgeted in her seat, jumping slightly when she felt a hoof poke her back. Turning around, she saw Fluttershy motioning toward Sunny, encouraging her to do something. “Listen, mom—” Dash’s words were cut off by a shrill whistle from out on the field, followed by a booming announcement from Luna.         “And the game is over! The final score stands Wonderbolts, twenty, and the Shadowbolts, twenty four! The Shadowbolts win, huzzah!” A roar of cheering swept through the stadium.         Sunny took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes one last time before standing up. “Well, that’s my cue. Sorry, honey, but I have to get back to work." As if on cue, the door opened and a stallion poked his head in.         “Please forgive the interruption, madams.” He nodded toward Dash and Fluttershy, then turned to Sunny. “Miss Day, His Royal Highness—” Sarcasm and contempt practically dripped from his words. “—nearly destroyed his private box, would you be able to assist with cleaning up?”         “Sure thing, Spotless, gimme and minute to finish up here and I’ll be right there.” The door closed and she turned back to her daughter. “You two should probably get going.”         “What?” Dash sat up in alarm. “But why would— the game!” She ran over to the window, whining as she saw the empty field. She grumbled for a moment about missing what was likely one of the biggest upsets in sports history, but ultimately decided that this had been more important. But if the game was over... “Shoot!” She bolted to the door, pausing with a hoof on the handle. “Come on, ‘Shy. We’ve got reservations for twenty minutes from now... We gotta hurry.”         “Oh, um...” Fluttershy looked from Rainbow to Sunny and back. “I-I was hoping that I could talk to Sunny... just for a moment. Please?”         Dash groaned, but finally relented. “Alright, I’ll go get the elevator.” She turned back to Sunny, all of her impatience vanishing for a moment. “Say, mom... I live in Ponyville now. Do you think you could, you know—”         Sunny grinned broadly. “I’d be thrilled to visit, Dashie. Now, go on.” She waved a hoof at her daughter, who disappeared through the door in a flash. She chuckled for a second, then turned to Fluttershy. “Now, what did you want to talk about, honey?”         “I...” Fluttershy paused, suddenly unsure about whether she should say anything. “I... just wanted to tell you that, um—” She glanced back at the door. “—Moonshine still lives in the same house. I-if you wanted to go see her, that is.”         “Shiny?” Sunny’s expression alternated between hope and fear for a moment before settling on a slight smile. “I... Thank you, Fluttershy. But...” She took a step closer to the other mare. “That can’t be the only reason you wanted to talk to me.”         “Um, w-well, y-you see...” Fluttershy took a deep breath and launched into her own tale. She told Sunny all about what was going on between her, Dash, and Rarity, from her friends’ simultaneous confessions, to her regrettable decision to try and date both of them, all the way up to Rarity covering for her when Dash found out about their date. When she was done, she looked to Sunny, panting slightly from talking for so long. “What should I do?”         Sunny merely blinked for a moment, trying to process everything she had just heard. Eventually, she shook her head, chuckling quietly to herself. “So, that’s why Dashie was suddenly so interested in our relationship. Still...” Her smile faded. “Poor Rarity.” She looked back to Fluttershy, her smile growing again as she stepped closer. “I’m sure she would be thrilled to know you still want to make it work, I know I am.” She threw a wing across Fluttershy’s back, drawing a startled eep from her.         “Now, from what you just told me, it sounds like Dashie and Rarity need to... spend some quality time together.” She smiled and chuckled to herself again. “Though, I don’t think that Rarity will need much convincing.” Fluttershy merely cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Honey, I’ve heard a good deal about Rarity from Mister Fancy Pants, and from what I’ve heard, she’s anything but a quitter.”         “Um, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy shook her head. “But I don’t understand what that has to do with... this.”         “Honey, if Rarity has ‘given up’ like you say she has, then it’s because she wants you and Dashie to be happy. Now, if you want to make her happy too... you’re the one who’s going to need to do something about it.” “B—but what if—” Fluttershy stammered, shrinking away. Sunny stepped in front of Fluttershy, looking her straight in the eyes. “You need to make Dashie understand that you love Rarity just as much as you do her, and if I know her a little, which I think I do, you can show her that she loves Rarity too. Dashie is like that; she has a big mouth, and an even bigger heart.” She winked, drawing a small tremor of a smile from Fluttershy.         The nervous pegasus bit her lip, then nodded, encouraged by Sunny’s words. “You’re right. I... I’ll tell her tonight.”         “Attagirl.” Sunny leaned forward and hugged Fluttershy for a moment before letting her go. “Now, go on, Dashie’s waiting for you." Fluttershy nodded again and started to walk away, jumping when she felt Sunny give her a light swat on the flank. When she turned back, Sunny simply winked at her again. “Good luck!”         Fluttershy made her way down the hall to the elevator. When she arrived, she found Dash sitting in it with a bored expression, waiting until the doors nearly closed before hitting the ‘Open Doors’ button each time. She hopped into the elevator as the doors started to close again, startling her marefriend in the process.         “Huh?” Rainbow sat up and looked over at Fluttershy, relaxing when she realized it was only her. “Hey, ‘Shy, what—” She stopped mid-question, noticing a determined and decidedly un-Fluttershy-like expression on the other mare’s face. “Uh, is everything... okay?”         Without a word, Fluttershy leaned in and planted a firm kiss on her marefriend’s lips. Dash blinked in confusion for a fraction of a second, but soon melted into the kiss, letting out a contented sigh. They held the kiss as the elevator moved down to the ground floor, their lips sliding against each other but never moving any deeper. They separated reluctantly as the doors slid open again.         “Um, sorry.” Fluttershy moved forward a little more and nuzzled into her marefriend’s cheek, blushing at her own forwardness. “I just wanted to say that I love you.”         “Uh, thanks, Flutters.” Dash replied, more than a hint of confusion in her voice. She nuzzled Fluttershy back and closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of their coats brushing together. “I love you too.”         After a moment, the elevator doors started to close again, but Fluttershy hit the button with a wingtip and they slid back open. “Come on, let’s go get dinner.” *         Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat at a table in some fancy restaurant with a Prench name that Dash couldn’t even pretend to know how to pronounce. She took a bite of her eggplant parmesan and looked across the table.         “You doin’ okay, ‘Shy?” She asked. “You’ve been quiet—” She chuckled at her statement. “—well, quieter than normal since we left the stadium.” No response was forthcoming, however, as the other mare continued to stare at her sauteed daisies, a serious expression on her face. “Fluttershy!”         “Hmm?” Fluttershy looked up from her plate. “Oh, I’m sorry, Dashie, did you say something?” She poked a daisy petal and nibbled on it.         “What’s up with you, ‘Shy?” Dash speared another bite of her food and waved her fork around. “I mean, first you want to come and get dinner, but you’ve hardly touched your food. You’ve been acting weird since you got back from talking... with my...” Realization slowly dawned on her face, and Rainbow leaned forward over the table. “What did you want to talk to my mom about before we left?”         “Oh, it was... about us.” Fluttershy smiled warmly, reaching across the table to hold Rainbow’s hoof. After letting go, they went back to eating their respective meals, but Fluttershy’s mind was far from their date. She was busy trying to think of a way to get Rainbow and Rarity closer to one another, but she couldn’t think of any interests they shared, so she was going to have to get one of them out of their comfort zone.         Maybe I could get Dashie to come by the Boutique and model some clothes for Rarity? That might get them talking, at least. She frowned as she remembered how much Rainbow had fidgeted and complained when getting fitted her her Gala dress. Hmm... then again, maybe not.         Rarity likes to read... What if I could get her interested in the Daring Do novels? That would at least give them something to talk about. She absently played with her food, pushing it around her plate and only occasionally lifting a petal to nibble on. Though, Rarity likes romance novels a lot more than adventure. She noticed Dash looking at her again and speared a whole daisy, quickly shoving it into her mouth. Rainbow snickered quietly and went back to the last few bites that remained of her food.         What about the tickets? Fluttershy chewed her daisy, belatedly realizing that she had taken far too large of a bite. I know that Rarity gave them to Rainbow... but why? Sunny’s words echoed in her head. She wants me and Dash to be happy, but what about her? She swallowed, nearly coughing as a large wad of chewed daisy slowly made its way to her stomach. If I want Rarity to be happy, then I have to do something about it. Taking a quick glance over at Dash’s now empty plate, she quickly downed the rest of her meal.         After Rainbow paid the bill, they left the restaurant and took a leisurely stroll to the train station. Though, it may have been a little too leisurely, since they arrived mere moments before the train was set to depart for Ponyville. Once they were on the train and sailing down the tracks back toward home, Fluttershy enacted her plan. “Um, Dashie?”         “Hmm?” Rainbow looked up from where she was resting her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder.         “I was... thinking.” Fluttershy began, resisting the urge to stare at the floor, chew on her lip, or scuff a hoof on her seat. “I think we should stop by Rarity’s once we get home, so that we can thank her for the dresses.”         “Really?” Dash sat up, laughing quietly to herself after a moment. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing.” Her mirth faded, and she rubbed a hoof along the back of her neck. “She kinda... really wanted this to go well for us, and it went so much better than I ever even... I found my mom!” She rubbed her mane sheepishly. "I need to thank her."         “Oh?” Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Well, that certainly was nice of her! See? We should go talk to her—” She wrapped a wing around Rainbow and darted in for a quick kiss on the lips. “—she’d love to know that we had such a good time. I had a wonderful time, the game was fun, and your mom was so nice...”         “Yeah.” Dash grinned broadly, a light blush coloring her cheeks. She leaned into the embrace, nuzzling her marefriend’s neck. After a few seconds, her eyes darted to the window, where only a sliver of the sun remained above the horizon. “You don’t think it’ll be too late to visit by the time we get home, do you?”         “Oh, I don’t think so.” Fluttershy rested her head on top of Rainbow’s, nuzzling into her mane. “Rarity tends to work late and sleep in. I’m sure she’d be glad if we stopped by.” They rode the rest of the way in silence, letting the gentle click-clack of the wheels on the rails keep the the silence from becoming oppressive. Leaning against one another, they both descended into their own thoughts; Fluttershy wondered what she would say to Rarity when they reached Ponyville, while Dash contemplated what her mother had said.         At least, Fluttershy tried to think about what she wanted to say, but the gentle swaying of the train car made it difficult for her to keep her eyes open, and soon she was leaning more heavily on Rainbow, barely audible snores escaping her. *         Some time later, Dash nudged Fluttershy gently to wake her up. She couldn’t help but giggle as her marefriend looked around the train car blearily for a moment, trying to figure out where she was. Once she did, however, she sat up and scrubbed away a line of drool that had been leaking from her mouth.         “Oh goodness, I’m sorry, Dashie. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” Fluttershy hopped down from her seat, stretching out her stiff legs. After getting a satisfying pop from one of them, she turned back to Rainbow, ducking behind her mane. “I hope I wasn’t too uncomfortable.”         “Nah.” Dash reached down and lifted the other mare’s head, darting in for a quick kiss. “You were fine. Heck, it was kinda cute.” She turned and headed for the doorway out to the platform, hopping across the small gap. Frowning, she looked to the night sky and then a clock on the station’s wall. “Hey, ‘Shy, I think it might be too late to swing by Rare’s place tonight. Maybe we can swing by in the morning.”         “Oh, really?” Fluttershy stepped off the train and followed Rainbow’s gaze to the clock, which read a quarter past nine. She briefly considered following Dash’s advice and simply going home to try again tomorrow, but Sunny’s words echoed in her mind again.         If you want to make her happy too... you’re the one who’s going to have to do something about it.         Her determination bolstered, she started walking away from the platform and in the direction of Carousel Boutique. “I don’t think so, Dashie. Rarity can, um, get really caught up in her designs. One time, she told me that she was up until almost two in the morning because she had a stroke of inspiration.” Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw her marefriend following her, but with a confused look on her face. “But, um, if she is asleep, then we can try in the morning.”         Dash shrugged and sped up, pulling even with Fluttershy. “Well, can’t hurt to check, I guess.” They made their way through the deserted streets of Ponyville, only Luna’s full moon and a few scattered street lamps driving back the darkness. Those did nothing to ward off the first chill of winter, however, and Fluttershy shivered as a breeze blew down the street. Rainbow stepped closer and draped a wing over her marefriend’s back, nuzzling into her neck in the process. After a few more minutes of walking, they stopped in front of Carousel Boutique, neither one sure what to make of the shop’s current state.         “I don’t get it...” Dash cocked her head to the side, taking a step forward. “The sign says ‘Open,’ but all the lights are off and the door’s—” Her thought ended abruptly as she laid a hoof on the door handle and it turned, letting the door open a crack. Rainbow looked to Fluttershy, then to the door, then back to Fluttershy. “Open?”         Shrugging, she turned back to the door and pushed it open further, setting off the bell above it. Poking her head through the doorway, Dash looked around the dark interior, only able to make out vague pony-like shapes across the room. She took one step inside, calling out into the seemingly empty showroom. “Rarity? You in here?”         Fluttershy pushed the door open wider, stepping past Rainbow and into the main room. Weaving between dark and scary shapes—she hoped they were Rarity’s equinniquins and not monsters waiting to pounce on her—she eventually picked her way across the cluttered floor to the base of the stairs that lead to Rarity’s bedroom. Looking back toward the door, she motioned for Dash to follow her, hoping that the other mare could even still see her. "I don't know about this, 'Shy." Rainbow slowly started across the room, pausing for a moment to shake a stray piece of fabric stuck to her hoof. "I mean, checkin' in the open door is one thing, but going upst—" She stopped, her wings flaring open for a moment to keep her from tripping over the bottom step. Clearing her throat and trying to play it off, she gestured up the staircase with a wing. "Going upstairs? To her bedroom? That’s just a little creepy." Fluttershy sighed heavily, turning back to face Rainbow. “Dashie, I... I’m worried about Rarity. She would never leave her door unlocked, and she... she hit her head when we... had dinner. She was unconscious for a while, and—" A clatter of noise drew their attention back up the stairs, and Fluttershy immediately started climbing up to her friend’s room. “Rarity?” A quick jaunt up the staircase later, and she was standing in front of Rarity’s bedroom door, with a light scratching coming from the other side.         “Rarity?” Fluttershy called out again, leaning a little closer to the door. The scratching from in the room picked up, so she reached out and pulled the door open, letting a white blur shoot out and firmly attach itself to Fluttershy’s leg. "Oh, hello, Opal." Fluttershy scratched Opal behind the ear. The cat responded with an annoyed yowl. "What do you mean, Opal?” Fluttershy gently pried Opal off of her leg and lowered herself to the floor, leaning down to be eye level with Rarity’s pet. Dash looked back and forth between Fluttershy and Opal in confusion. "What's goin' on, 'Shy?" She took a step up the staircase, earning her an angry hiss and the swipe of a claw in her general direction. "Opal, I need you to focus. Now, what's happening with Rarity?" Fluttershy listened intently to the cat's various meows and growls, her expression slowly becoming more and more worried. When the cat finally fell silent, she stood up, her eyes fixed on the open door to Rarity’s bedroom. “She’s saying that Rarity hasn’t fed her since before lunch.” She shook her head and Opal bolted down the stairs, disappearing into the darkness halfway down. “That’s strange, Rarity usually takes such good care of her.” A distressed yowl drifted up from across the showroom. “Yes, I’m coming, Opal.” Fluttershy started back down the stairs. “I’m going to go get her some food, Dashie. Can you check on Rarity?” Before long, the darkness swallowed her as well, and the sounds of bumps and collisions slowly moved through the main floor. Eventually, a light clicked on in the kitchen, illuminating the disarray of the showroom. Dash nodded, trotting up the stairs. At first, she tried to be quiet, until it occurred to her that she was in fact trying to wake Rarity up, so she stopped trying. She stood at the top of the stairs, her eyes going back and forth between the light of the kitchen and the open door to the bedroom. Despite Fluttershy’s concerns, it still felt weird going into a sleeping pony’s room. After spending a few moments staring at the doorway indecisively, she went into the room. Rainbow stood in the doorway for a minute, waiting for her eyes to adjust renewed darkness, but her impatience won out and she headed blindly into the bedroom. After several steps, she bumped into a table, cringing as she heard something made of glass wobble and eventually fall. A loud crash sounded a second later, but followed by the tinkling of broken glass skittering across the floor. "Shoot, sorry, Rares. " Dash took to the air with a quick flap of her wings, edging forward until she felt a lamp. Giving the cord a quick tug, she blinked a few times in the sudden light before turning to the bed, where she expected to see an irate unicorn staring back at her. Instead, she saw Rarity lying on the bed, still sleeping peacefully. "Rarity?" Rainbow flew closer, coming to a hover over the bed. "Rarity?" She reached down, nudging the alabaster mare's foreleg. When Rarity didn't respond, she tried again, pushing a little harder. "Come on, Rares, wake up." She drew back, wondering if Rarity could really be that heavy of a sleeper. Shrugging, she glided to the floor and trotted over to the doorway, intent on asking Fluttershy what she thought, when she kicked an empty bottle on the ground. It spun for a few seconds and came to a stop, drawing Rainbow's attention. "Miss Prissy pants being messy in her room? Oh this is priceless!" Dash’s eyes darted over to the broken flower vase for an instant. “Well, her own mess.” She bent down and picked up the bottle, reading the label curiously. "Sleeping pills? Why would she need..." A sudden jolt of fear pierced her heart and she leapt back to the bed, shaking the unicorn to get a reaction, any reaction. “Oh no... Okay, Dash, basic CPR, just like in training.” She pressed an ear to Rarity’s chest relaxing a tiny bit when she heard the soft beat of Rarity’s heart and felt her chest rise and fall. Dash let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Thank Celestia.” They had time, but who knew how long? “Fluttershy!”