Chapter Three: Consequences
The flight back to ponyville was a slow and awkward one. Not much talking went on, and when rainbow was near her house, she dashed back. Fluttershy was left to fly alone to her cottage.
‘Stupid, Stupid! Why did you do that? Stupid fluttershy!’ fluttershy thought. ‘Any chance you had was just flushed down the drain! Ugh, I need to go talk to twilight.’
The flight to twilight’s Tree-Library-House was a slow one. She kept playing the night in her head. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ She thought as she knocked at the door.
“Who is it?” twilight yelled, busy with something.
“U-um…F-f-fluttershy…”
“Ahh! Come in!” twilight yelled, “The door is open!”
“T-t-thank you…” fluttershy squeaked.
Fluttershy walked into the tree-house-library with eyes trailing around the room. The walls were lined with shelves of books, just ready for reading. The ceiling was like her ceiling. It looked higher than it was, but still allowed flight. There was a vase in the center of the room, surrounded by open books. Twilight was teleporting between the table, a telescope, and a chart.
“I-I-I need to talk to you….” Fluttershy trailed
“Hmm? Oh, about what?” twilight responded.
“Well…I told rainbow I liked her and…”Fluttershy said, being cut off by twilight.
“Whoa whoa whoa, what? You told her you liked her as in…?” twilight asked.
“A-as in I like her…” Fluttershy sighed, “As in I LOVE her twilight. For being smart you don’t really know a lot…”
“Wow…sorry…I’m guessing it didn’t exactly go as planned.” Twilight responded, trying to keep calm.
“S-s-sorry twilight, and yes, it went…less than well. She rejected me…”
“Well, there’s always a chance she will change her mind, you just got to be patient is all. Patience is a virtue after all!” Twilight yelled, giggling.
“I guess so, but I doubt it. Why would someone as amazing as her want someone as ordinary as me? She’s athletic, daring, beautiful, funny…” fluttershy said, getting lost in her thoughts. A hoof over the eyes snapped her out of it.
“Don’t worry fluttershy; you just have to give it time…Like growing a plant. You have to plant the seeds, and then give it time. If you smother it, it won’t grow. But if you stay distant, it will wilt and die. Just a bit of attention every now and then and…” A small flower popped up from the vase in the room, “Poof.”
Fluttershy was smiling at her friends words of encouragement. She left with a smile on her face and went to sugar cube corner.
*****
Sugar cube corner was unusually empty, except for pinkie pie of course. The walls were painted bright pink. There was a shelf of cakes, and a glass counter, which had multiple rows of deserts on it.
“Hey, Fluttershy! How was the trip? What happened? Was it nice? Did you like the garden? Oh! I love gardens, there just so peaceful and-“
“U-um, pinkie? Can you be quiet please?” fluttershy said.
“Sure! What’s up?” Pinkie exclaimed in her usual, energetic tone.
“O-oh nothing, I just wanted to hang out with you” fluttershy responded.
“O-oh, sorry fluttershy, but I’m going to go pranking with rainbow dash.” Fluttershy’s heart fell into her stomach as the words came out of pinkie’s mouth. Fluttershy just nodded and went home.
*****
“Oh, Rainbow DAAAAAASH!” pinkie yelled
“Hey pinkie!” rainbow yelled, chuckling. “Sorry, but pranking is canceled. I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” Pinkie asked, curiously.
“Well, before we came back from the trip, fluttershy said…that she loved me.”
“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!” was the only audible noise as pinkie shot into the air. After a few minutes of rubbing her ears, she was able to hear again. “OhmyGOSH! How did it go? How did you respond? Was it romantic? I will throw you a party! What type of party? OOOh ill bake you a cake, and there will be streamers and –“
“PINKIE PIE!!!!!!!!!”
“O-oh, sorry. So what happened?”
“Well, I didn’t know how to respond…so it didn’t go to well…I feel horrible. She confided in me, told me she liked a mare, and it was me! Ugh, I’m a horrible pony.” Rainbow said, starting to feel tears in her eyes. She forced them back.
“S-So what’s the problem?”
“What do you mean what’s the problem?! She probably hates me now!”
“Silly rainbow! If she loves you, she won’t change like that just because you need some time to think! And even if you don’t see her that way, you might! As long as you tread carefully around the topic, you guys will still be the best of friends!”
“Wow, pinkie, great advice!” rainbow said, stunned. Pinkie had never been good at giving advice, so this came as a shocker to rainbow. “Hey, thanks for the advice. I am going to go ask rarity what I should do. Bye!”
“BYE RAINBOW!”
****
Rainbow was flying to rarity’s house when she noticed applejack talking to fluttershy. She immediately darted straight up as to avoid fluttershy, but she couldn’t help lower back down to listen in on the conversation.
“And then I told her I loved her…”
“And what happened after that?”
“Well, things didn’t go so well…I still love her, and I always will, but she was so uncomfortable, that it was unbearable to watch. The rest of the trip was quiet…I hated it. Maybe I should just give up. She doesn’t love me, it’s obvious.” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Now don’t give up sugar cube! I am sure she will come round, and if not, I’ll help ya through it! That’s what friends are for. Just give her some time, aight?
“Thanks applejack.”
“No problem sugar cube!”
‘She still loves me? After how I reacted? Wow…I did not know she felt that strongly about me.’ Rainbow thought. She went back to flying towards rarity’s boutique.
*****
Rainbow knocked on the door to rarity’s boutique. Rainbow waited for a minute then rarity opened the door.
“Oh, hey rainbow dash! How are you?” Rarity said.
“Fine, I guess.” Rainbow said, sadness in her voice.
“What’s wrong rainbow?” Rarity sighed.
“Well…Fluttershy said she loved me, and…”
“Let me guess, you didn’t take it well?” Rarity said. Rainbow nodded in shame. “Don’t worry, you just need to think! Here, follow me!” Rarity led rainbow around ponyville and to the spa. Rainbow normally hated the spa, but it would give her some time to think, so she did not object. Rarity disappeared into the back, leaving rainbow alone in the lobby.
Before rainbow could properly examine her surroundings, she was led to the back by a pony who called herself “Aloe.” Rainbow started to get lost in her thoughts. ‘What should I do? Should I say I like her and give it a shot? Should I wait until I actually like her? Should I just reject her? Why do I have to decide! Fluttershy, how are you doing this to me?”
Rainbow ended up face down on a massage table with aloe working on rainbow’s wings. They were extended as to allow aloe to get into the muscles and relieve the tension that builds up while flying. Rainbow liked this feeling, and was glad that she was the one holding her wings open instead of her body. After the wing massage, rainbow had what can only be described as an herbal bath. They put her in a hot tub, and started to pour various minerals, herbs and other elements into the tub. The last thing to go in was a very small drop of oil.
The oil was apparently supposed to warm the muscles, make them more flexible for what was next. It felt good, the warm water mixing with the warm oil. The minerals rejuvenating her body, and the herbs adding much-needed nutrients to the mix. Finally, rainbow was called to a back room. Her wings were dripping wet, and seemed more ruffled than tidy. They sat her on another massage table.
“Now, just a word of warning, you might want to brace onto something. If you can reach anything.”
“Well, what does that me- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” rainbow shouted as she heard a loud pop. They said they were relocating the wings, supposed to increase aerodynamics. It felt painful. Afterwards, she did feel a lot better than she did before. They brushed the feathers, her mane and tail, and her coat. They gave her a small scarf, and sent her to the lobby. She came out with the scarf on and rarity just shrieked in excitement.
“Oh my, darling, you look amazing! I knew the sky princess was the right call!”
“Sky pri...what are you talking about?” rainbow asked, puzzled. Aloe came up behind her, half whispering and half talking.
“The sky princess is a spa treatment designed especially for pegasi, in order to help them get pampered while still helping their flying.” Rainbow dash nodded in understanding, and rarity looked at rainbow.
“Well, did you think about what you needed to?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t get far in deciding what I’m going to do. Actually, I know exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to go home. Thank you rarity, this really helped, and I feel better, but I need to be alone. Thanks again.” With that statement, rainbow darted out the door and flew towards her cloud home.
*****
The flight felt different. She felt faster, stronger, more agile. ‘I guess that spa treatment did some good after all’ She flew until she reached her cloud home. She darted inside, closing the door behind her, then landing on the clouds and starting to sob softly.
“What am I going to do? How do I decide what to do? Do I tell her I like her and risk breaking her heart? Do I tell her I don’t and break her heart? Do I wait it out and see if she forgets about me? UGH! I NEED HELP!” rainbow said to no one in particular.
“U-um…” somepony behind her said. This sent rainbow shooting into the air, and turning. But nopony was there. She heard it again, this time turning slowly. She saw a faded fluttershy, semi-transparent.
“R-Rainbow dash?” she said.
“Yes fluttershy, if you even ARE fluttershy” rainbow said.
“I-I…I love you.” The figure vanished after the words. Rainbow started to sob. ‘Great, now my mind is betraying me too! I need to go to sleep.’ She flew up to her room, set her head onto the pillow, and slowly let the darkness of sleep overtake her.
*****
Fluttershy flew to her tree cottage, and met a very impatient angel bunny. Angel bunny saw fluttershy and began tapping his foot on the ground.
“Oh, Hey angel. What are you doing outside?” fluttershy said. Angel bunny looked at fluttershy with a “Are you serious?” look on her face. “Oh…sorry.” She said, giggling. Angel simply looked at fluttershy. Fluttershy opened the door and let angel bunny in. She fed her critters, and went to bed. She didn’t bother with dinner, as she was not hungry. She laid her head on her pillow, and sleep engulfed her.
*****
END OF CHAPTER THREE