//------------------------------//
// A Talk with Fluttershy 
// Story: Home Is Where the Hearts Are 
// by Violet CLM 
//------------------------------//

The next day was altogether too slow.

Rainbow Dash slept in as long as she could get away with, then flew over to a remarkably brief weather team meeting, where she had a rather ridiculous argument with Rainbowshine and Raindrops over the number of rainbows they should supply for Ponyville after the next rain storm. It was slightly prolonged by the unicorn Rainbow Wishes standing below the meeting and yelling unhelpful suggestions, but the meeting was still over far sooner than she would have liked, leaving her with several hours of dead time to fill before her “date.”

She wondered if she ought to fill the time by hanging out with one of her friends, but she suspected the conversation would just end up turning to her upcoming evening with Fluttershy, even if she wanted to avoid the subject as long as possible. Pinkie was at an estate sale with Fluttershy that day, so she couldn’t turn to her girlfriend, and Scootaloo would probably ask too many uncomfortable questions. The younger pegasus was certainly more mature than she had been back in the day, but Rainbow Dash remained her hero and that could make for an awkward discussion indeed. She still remembered the first time Scootaloo had learned about her arrangement with Pinkie and Fluttershy, and how the girl had exclaimed excitedly and inaccurately that she wanted to have a polyarmadillo relationship too. It had taken all of Rainbow Dash’s limited powers of rhetoric to convince her otherwise.

“But why not?!” Scootaloo had asked. “You’re in love with two ponies, so doesn’t that make it cool? Why shouldn’t I want to be cool?”

“First off,” Rainbow Dash had replied, “I’m not in love with Fluttershy, duh. That’s not how it works, that’d be just gross. Pinkie gets us both, but Fluttershy and I are just friends.” Wisdom from her past?

“Second, kid, we’re only doing this because it’s cool for us, okay? Like, if I weren’t me, or Pinkie weren’t Pinkie, or… you get the idea. Lots of ponies like being in a relationship with only other pony, like the Cakes, and that’s totally fine too.”

“But which one’s cooler, you three or the Cakes?”

“Hah, we are, obviously! Three awesome friends like us, compared to a couple of old bakers who have to spend half their time caring for some crying kids? No contest… wait a sec.” She stopped, remembering the point she was trying to make. “No, okay, scratch that. Sure, we’re awesomer than they are, but our relationship? Just the same, just as good. Some gals are all into stallions, right? And if I was like that then maybe I’d be trying to jump Caramel’s bones or something, but I don’t. So Wind Whistler gets him instead, and they’re happy, and that’s awesome for them.”

“Huh.” Scootaloo still looked unconvinced. “What does jumping bones mean?”

“Uhh… actually, you probably shouldn’t tell anypony I said that to you.”

“Is that what Applejack and Rarity are doing now? Because Sweetie Belle says they make some pretty weird noises sometimes, and…”

Rainbow Dash stuck a hoof into her open mouth. “And you shouldn’t tell anypony else about that, either! Look… it’s not complicated! You know how nopony goes around saying, ‘ooh, my girlfriend’s the best, you should all be in love with her’? It’s like that. Everypony falls in love with somepony else – or more than one somepony else – and everypony’s got their own sort of relationship, and no one’s better than any other.” She scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed. “Heh… if anything, getting involved with only one other pony’s probably easier, because then there’s only one pony for you to get in fights with!”

“Oh,” said Scootaloo, once again allowed to talk. “So are you going to get in lots of fights now?”

“What? Nah, of course not. Pinkie’s awesome, we’re gonna be totally happy. I mean, hey, if a nerd like Twilight can pull it off…!”

“But what about you and Fluttershy?”

Rainbow Dash gave her a smile of pure charm. “Not a chance, squirt. Fluttershy and I go way back… there’s nothing we won’t be able to work through together, I can promise you that.”

Back in the present, at what felt worryingly like the tail end of a relationship instead of the new and exciting beginning, Rainbow Dash paused in her pacing around her house. Huh. Well, that was certainly a good belief to hold on to, to say nothing of a promise. She hated breaking promises, especially to her friends and fans, and Scootaloo was at least one of those. Besides, what would be the trouble? It wasn’t as if there was anypony who actually wanted her and Fluttershy to be uncomfortable around each other. With everypony on the same side, she just had to show up, be herself, and everything would be fine!

Well, there was still the matter of what they would be, if not uncomfortable around each other, but otherwise… fine!

Okay, but what was she supposed to do until the date itself? She still hadn’t decided on that. Should she dress up? Surely ponies dressed up for first dates sometimes? But if Fluttershy didn’t dress up, then she’d look really foolish. If Fluttershy dressed up, though, and she didn’t, that would probably be okay, because she could just blame it on her absence of social graces or whatever Rarity called it. No outfit, then. And no visiting Rarity, because the unicorn would either try to dress her up or would just tell her something about how important they both were to her, and she didn’t need either of those right now. Maybe she could lower her tensions by beating up Applejack again? …well, getting her revenge for that other time, that is? No, then she’d show up to her date looking all bruised and Fluttershy would spend the whole time fawning over her and nothing would get said. She’d talked to Twilight about things just last night, and Pinkie was still at that estate sale with Fluttershy, and her action-oriented book collection was hardly going to put her in a properly romantic mood, and…!

In the end, she gave up and took a nap.

She realized her mistake the moment she awoke, even before grabbing the alarm clock to confirm it: she’d overslept. Her date had started six minutes ago. She flew – literally, of course – out of bed, stopping only for an instant to check her reflection in the mirror. Did her mane look all right? Yep, disheveled as ever. Time to get to the restaurant. Where was it again? Stirrup Street? No, Riverview. Fly to Riverview, find the restaurant, touch down. Dash inside. Find Fluttershy. There she is, in that booth. Not wearing anything, but not looking too happy either. Okay. Damage control time.

“Hi Fluttershy! Hey, really sorry I’m late, hope you weren’t waiting too long!”

Fluttershy looked at her calmly. “Oh, no, only a few minutes. I hope you had a good talk with Medley?”

“Huh? No, I overslept, and… oh.” Rainbow Dash grimaced. “You, uh, you know about that, huh?”

“Pinkie and I do talk,” she said. “You told her, I asked her, she told me. It wasn’t terribly complicated.”

“Well, yeah, but… why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“…” Rainbow Dash gulped. She had not been ready for Fluttershy to be so… confrontational. “I… well, I felt really bad about it, y’know? What would you say if you were super late to one of your best friends’ performances?”

Fluttershy looked worn. “I guess I’d start with ‘sorry.’ I mean, Rainbow Dash, that concert was very important to me.”

“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash’s wings flared up. “If it was so important to you, why didn’t you tell me about it, huh?! I had to hear about it from Sweetie Belle, if you can believe it! How was that supposed to let me know this was so important?”

“I did talk about how important it was.”

“Sure, to Pinkie! In case you haven’t noticed, Fluttershy, everything you say to Pinkie sounds like the most heartfelt and meaningful thing ever said. I mean, I can see why you want to be a tree, if everything you say comes out sappy!”

“Well, I’m sorry if my conversations with Pinkie don’t involve the word ‘awesome’ every three syllables.”

“Look, that was just the one time, and we were playing a…!” She stopped, suddenly panicked. Other patrons of the restaurant were watching them curiously, and the conversation was going nothing like how she had hoped. “Oh, Celestia,” she said quietly, “this is going completely wrong.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “Oh no! Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to say all that, I swear I didn’t, it just came out, oh please don’t be angry!”

Rainbow Dash gave a feeble laugh. “Heh, me angry? At you? Look, I’m the one who should be apologizing, I was acting a total mule about that concert, and now I drag you off on a date just to make you argue with me…”

“You didn’t drag me off,” said Fluttershy, “I agreed to come.”

“Yeah, but it was my idea…”

“Well, I was thinking the same thing…”

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you—“

“I shouldn’t have been so prissy—“

They stopped, looked at each other, and began to laugh awkwardly. Rainbow Dash slid into her side of the table, feeling the attention of the other patrons leave them. “Fluttershy,” she said after a moment more, “I’m really sorry about the concert. I knew I shouldn’t have talked to Medley that long, and—“

“You knew?”

“No! Or, sort of? I honestly don’t know what I did or didn’t know. But I was super late, and I never said a word about it, and I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was going to be singing in Canterlot. It… well… I guess I didn’t think you’d find it very interesting.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell me on purpose?”

Fluttershy chewed her lip. “Really, Rainbow Dash, I don’t even know what I was thinking. But I am sorry.”

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I gotta say, maybe I only heard half the concert, but what I did hear was awesome! Seriously, Fluttershy, I don’t know why the mayor only lets you do opening fanfares and stuff!”

“Oh, um.” Fluttershy blushed. “Honestly, the second half was much better than the first. I was very nervous, even with Pinkie’s help, and I don’t think I sang at all well. But then for the second half, I was just doing something again that I’d already done before, so that was easier. You didn’t miss out on too much.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Pinkie doesn’t know the first thing about performing. You’ve gotta work with the audience, feel what they want, and give it to them! You should’ve come to me, I bet I could’ve whipped you into shape in no time.”

“You probably could have,” said Fluttershy with a small smile. “I mean, if I’d let you. I can be quite stubborn, you know.”

“Heh, you got that right! Remember that time we brought you along to scare off that old dragon, and it turned out you were afraid of dragons? We practically had to drag that detail out of you! No pun intended.” She looked at the table between them. “Hey, where are the menus in this place? I’m starved.”

“The waitress came by before you got here,” said Fluttershy. “Um, I already ordered for both of us. Is that all right? I’m sure I can find her and take it back if you’d like…!”

“Nah, that’s cool. What did you get me?”

“They had an alfalfa cake plate that I thought you’d like. I remember you were always excited when they had those at Summer Flight Camp, and…”

“And they’re totally my favorite!” Rainbow Dash smiled hugely, all traces of their previous fight already gone from her mind. “Man, you are the best, Fluttershy! I couldn’t have picked a better pony to go on this stupid date with!”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “Um, right. Our… date.”

“…yeah. Our date.”

They both sat there silently, staring at the table. A part of Rainbow Dash was yelling at the rest of her, saying that everything had been going so well and she’d just had to go and ruin it. But that didn’t make any sense! A date was what they were there for. Pinkie’s words echoed through her head: “I guess if you two fell in love with each other too then everything would work out.” She glanced up at Fluttershy for a moment and could have sworn her friend was mouthing the very same words that she’d just been reciting to herself. They were there to go on a date, to see if they’d been wrong about the nature of their relationship all along and they could all three be happy and gooey and romantic together. She’d have Fluttershy, and Fluttershy would have her, and Pinkie would have them both and they’d both have her too, and everything would be simple and awesome. Right?

“So, um…” began Fluttershy, “…how’s Tank doing?”

Yes! Ponies definitely talked about their pets while on dates. “He’s… doing fine. Doesn’t move very fast, doesn’t have much to say, honestly kinda easy to confuse with a rock. You know. Normal turtle stuff.”

“Tortoise.”

“That’s what I said. How’s Angel? Still a holy terror?”

Fluttershy blushed a little. “He was never as bad as you made him out to be, you know,” she said. “You should have seen him when I was training to help you with the waterspout. He was so helpful and considerate, and he’s even gentler now that he’s older.”

Rainbow Dash smiled awkwardly. She still wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing that day, leaving Fluttershy so that she could focus on the rest of the team. “That’s cool,” she said instead. “And, uh, your other animals?”

“Rainbow Dash, you don’t really want to listen to me talk about every single one of my animal friends.”

“…no, you’re right. That sounds incredibly boring. Okay, so… what have you been doing today?”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “Well, Pinkie and I went to an estate sale, and that was very fun. I got a nice scarf, but I don’t really need any more scarves myself and I haven’t decided whom to give it to yet. And then… then I guess I mostly sat around and stewed over our friendship and got kind of angry at you.” She looked up, smiling rather too brightly. “How about you?”

“Wow, okay. Well, I had a weather meeting, and then I spent the rest of the day napping or thinking about how awesome this date was going to go.” Had it been anypony else who had said that, she would have felt the urge to make a sarcastic comment, but it made less sense making fun of herself. “Want to hear about my weather meeting? See, we’ve got this rain storm coming up, and—“

“Actually,” said Fluttershy, at a low enough volume that Rainbow Dash could have passed over her had she had not been so used to her friend’s quietness, “I’m not really very interested in weather. Um, if that’s all right? Obviously if you really want to talk about your meeting, I’m sure I could listen, but…”

“No, no, that’s okay,” said Rainbow Dash. “I mean, clouds, right?! Who cares about stupid stuff like that? Heh, next thing you know I’ll be turning into one of those stupid ponies who just obsesses over something and doesn’t do anything else. ‘There goes Rainbow Dash with her clouds,’ they’d say, ‘and Applejack with her apples, and Twilight with her books, and Pinkie Pie with her parties, and Rarity with her dresses, and…’ ”

“Maybe you need a hobby.”

Rainbow Dash stopped, both relieved to have been interrupted on her trajectory and surprised to hear Fluttershy speak so bluntly. “Huh? What are you talking about, Fluttershy? I fly, remember? Hardly a second tied down to the ground?”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy, already looking embarrassed at her forwardness, “but it’s not always good flying weather, is it? And, um, Pinkie can’t fly, usually, and it can be nice to do things with your girlfriend, and…”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So? Remember pranking? And if you’re gonna tell me that’s too active to be a hobby or something, don’t forget I read! These eyes of mine aren’t just used for winking at hot chicks, y’know!”

“And by hot chicks, you mean… Pinkie?”

“Duh.”

Fluttershy smiled, looking somewhat relieved. “Oh, all right, then. I guess I thought you just read those Daring Do books and nothing more ever came of it. I’m sorry if I misjudged you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I guess I never brought it up, and there’s no reason you have to know every last thing about me. What made you think I should find a hobby, anyhow?”

“Oh, well…” Fluttershy’s smile turned wistful. “I guess I was just thinking of that flamenco show that you and Pinkie did. It was a lot of fun, and I was sorry you seemed to stop after that one performance.”

Rainbow Dash grinned awkwardly. “Eh, well, that show… didn’t go over too well. The audience was kinda laughing at us. I think even you were, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy, “but not because you were bad or anything! You and Pinkie are two very funny ponies, Rainbow Dash, and I really enjoyed watching you have fun and be funny together. It was… sweet.”

“Huh. I had no idea maybe we were being laughed at because we were funny, not just uncoordinated. Guess I’m not the only one who’s a bit bad at talking to performers about their shows. Thanks, ‘Shy!”

Fluttershy smiled, but whatever she might have answered went unsaid, for at that moment the waitress finally arrived with their meals. Rainbow Dash’s alfalfa cake platter looked amazing, and Fluttershy’s salad… well, it definitely looked like a salad. Otherwise it was pretty dull and boring. The appeal of her own food won out over making any sort of sardonic remark, however, and they both ate in silence for several long minutes.

What was one supposed to talk about on a date? Sure, they’d been talking about stuff, but a lot of that wasn’t any different from stuff they might talk about anytime else, and that was hardly going to let them figure out if they were compatible. She tried to think about going on dates with Pinkie, but her relationship with the pink earth pony was not nearly so formal as that, and they tended to shift in and out of romantic gestures at will. Also, she wasn’t totally sure how appropriate it was to be thinking about her other girlfriend – no, just her girlfriend, really – while on a date with somepony else. Still, she had to say something.

“I really like your mane,” she managed.

Fluttershy looked blank. “I’m sorry?”

“Your mane. It’s, uhh, nice. It’s pink! Pink is a nice color for manes.” Okay, so she wasn’t great at this. “I’m trying to compliment you because we’re on a date.” Really really not great at this.

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “Um, thank you.” They ate for a few more seconds. “You’re… very fast,” she said. “It’s impressive how fast you can fly.”

“Aww, don’t sell yourself short, Fluttershy! You can be plenty fast when you really want to be, remember? Like that time you tracked me down after Discord got his mutated hands on me.”

“Rainbow Dash…”

“Because, sure, I’m probably the fastest pegasus in Equestria, but that doesn’t mean you’re slow or anything! You’ve been getting heaps better lately, and…”

“Rainbow Dash.”

“…yeah?”

“I was only trying to give you a compliment. About your speed. Because like you said, the date.”

“…oh. Right. Heh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Flutttershy looked at her oddly. “And, um, thank you for what you said. Although really, my self esteem isn’t so low that you should need to affirm me in everything that I bring up.”

“Hey, I’m not just trying to affirm you!” said Rainbow Dash, relatively certain she knew what that meant. “I care a lot about speed, y’know? And if I notice you getting faster, more practiced, that’s something that’s genuinely cool!”

Fluttershy blushed a little. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “That… I don’t think you said that just because we’re on a date. And I’m sorry if I misjudged your intentions, truly.”

Rainbow Dash said something nondescript in response, and they continued eating.

“Um… speaking of intentions.”

Uh oh. “Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you ask me to cheer for you while you were practicing for the Aerodeo?”

Oboy. She could lie and say she hadn’t thought about it, but she was sure Fluttershy wouldn’t believe that for an instant. And it wasn’t like the truth was so bad. “What, instead of Applejack?” she asked. “Well, AJ’s got loads of practice with rodeos, and I figured she could help shave off any rough patches in my technique. Not that I thought I had any, understand, but hey, just in case! Besides, I was hanging out with you all the time with Pinkie, and really, ‘Shy, it’s not like you were ever all that pumped about stunt flying and stuff…”

“No,” said Fluttershy softly, “but I was ‘pumped’ about you.”

That ought to have been good to hear on a date, but somehow it didn’t sound so good, even putting aside the ‘was’ part. “Why?” she asked. “What’s so special about me?”

“Rainbow Dash… do you remember the day I told you I was moving to Ponyville?”

Yes. “I try not to.”

“…me too.”

What? “You aren’t saying you’re regretting the decision, are you? ‘cause, like, all your friends are here, and your animals, and…”

“No, it’s nothing like that!” Fluttershy looked almost shocked, her salad for the moment forgotten. “I, um, I’m trying to explain something to you, um, but, it’s not easy. We had an argument that day, didn’t we? Heh, you must have been surprised that I even could have an argument, I know I was. Do you remember what you said?”

Word for word. “Uh, some of it, I guess? You wanted me to come with you, and I was angry at you, because I thought I’d be giving up the sky and that was a horrible idea.”

“I know. I felt the same way.” She hesitated, but Rainbow Dash said nothing, so she gulped and continued. “You had to choose to follow your friend to the ground. But Rainbow Dash, do you know how hard it is to be the one who has to make that decision, not because she’s following anypony, but because the sky isn’t the place for her?” Her words were getting faster, beginning to tumble out of her, and Rainbow Dash watched and listened intently. “I’m a pegasus pony! I went to Summer Flight Camp, my wings were supposed to be so important to me! My very best friend in the world was a rainbow-maned filly who told me again and again never to give up, never to listen to anypony making fun of me for how weak my wings were. When I fell from the clouds and got my cutie mark for taking care of animals, I came back to try again! I kept on trying again, and again, and again, and it just felt worse and worse each time and I missed the ground more and more, until finally…”

“…you decided Cloudsdale wasn’t the best place for you.”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy. “I gave up.”

Rainbow Dash’s hackles rose. “Don’t you ever dare say that!” she said, probably startling some of the other ponies in the restaurant. “You hated Cloudsdale, Fluttershy, and I was being selfish for pretending you didn’t! You didn’t just ‘give up’…”

“You’re right, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t just give up. I dragged you with me.

“You said it yourself… moving down to Ponyville was like giving up the sky. That’s exactly what I did. I think for a while I even resented my wings, because they felt like a reminder I didn’t really belong there. Even my bird friends… did you notice, at our concert, all they ever did was sit on that tree and sing? There could have been wonderful aerial dance routines, but I shied away from all of that, just like how much trouble you had getting me to suggest a real flying pet for you that one day. I didn’t want to be a pegasus pony.

“But you did. Your wings meant more to you than anything else in the world… except me, apparently, if I was able to bring you with me.” She smiled for a moment. “So I did the only thing I could think to do to make it up to you: I became your biggest fan. I did anything I could think of to make you the very best flier you could possibly be, cheering you as best I could despite my, um, natural shyness. You can’t know how happy I was when you won the Best Young Fliers competition. After everything I’d done to you, you still managed to beat all the others, and some of those ponies probably spent their every waking moment in the sky. It was wonderful.”

“I saw you,” said Rainbow Dash. “I saw you jumping up and down. I’d never seen you that excited.”

Fluttershy smiled again. “Well, now you know why.”

“Yeah, but…” Rainbow Dash frowned, poking absently at her food. “I don’t get it. If you want me to be the best flier I can, then why are you upset that I asked Applejack to train me for the Aerodeo?” She gasped. “Is this because of that one time she didn’t win any blue ribbons? Are you saying AJ’s not good enough for me?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “What? No, no! Nothing like that! I mean, you could always have invited both of us” – Rainbow Dash mumbled, embarrassed, that she hadn’t thought of that – “but that wasn’t all. I was ashamed that I had made you come down to the earth, but I was ashamed of myself for doing that too. There was a while where I hated that I wasn’t an earth pony, but I also hated that I hated that in the first place, because I knew I was supposed to be a good flier. So I guess I tried to live through you; if I could watch you flying, because I’d cheered for you and helped you get there, then I could pretend it was me. When you didn’t ask me to cheer for you for the Aerodeo… it felt like you were telling me that the free ride was over and I had to use my own wings for myself.

“I’ve been trying since then, Rainbow Dash. I really have. You said you noticed I’ve been getting better. I think I was adequate for the waterspout last time, and that’s all I’m really trying for, adequacy. I don’t want or need to be an amazing flier like you are. But I do miss being a part of your career.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “My what? Wait, you think flying – or stunt flying, I guess – is my career?”

“Um… yes?” Fluttershy took a cautious bite of her salad and pointed her fork vaguely at Rainbow Dash while she chewed. “I mean, you wanted me to follow the Wonderbolts around on tour with you, and you used to put up their posters all over town, and you used to talk all the time about how awesome it would be to join them, and—“

“Used to,” said Rainbow Dash, “sure. Not recently. I got into the Wonderbolts, Fluttershy. A while ago, actually.”

Fluttershy dropped her fork and stared. “What? But you… you never mentioned… you never auditioned… when… how… what?”

Rainbow Dash could not help but laugh at her friend’s total bewilderment. “Ha, close your mouth before Spitfire misjudges her angle and crashes into it, Fluttershy! The Wonderbolts don’t really have auditions, all right? Sure, they pretend they do, but that’s really just an excuse to get a lot of fliers together in front of the press and keep stunt flying in the news. They’re invite-only, and a while back I got sent one of those invites.” She flexed her wings a little. “Heh, not that it wasn’t inevitable with these babies, am I right?”

Fluttershy still looked baffled. “A while back? But surely we would have noticed! When did you…” she paused, realization passing over her features. “…you said no?”

“Sure did.”

“Why?”

Rainbow Dash ate for several seconds before replying. She’d known the subject would come up someday, and she’d certainly thought about her answer, but that didn’t mean she had a precise speech prepared or anything. “When you’re a Wonderbolt,” she said at last, “you’re a Wonderbolt. And guess what: you’re not much else. There are part time jobs, and there are full time jobs, and then there’s being an athlete like them. I’d have had to give up practically everything for that. The filly I was in Cloudsdale would have said yes. Heck, the mare I was only a few months after meeting Twilight might have said yes. But there’s way too much else in my life now to shove it all away to play sports hero. I love flying, Fluttershy, I really do, but I also love you five, and the adventures we go on, and Ponyville, and the weather team, and pranking, and (believe it or not) reading, and even Derpy on occasion. Staying here, with friends that I can do things with and who’ll invite me to do things with them… that’s the life I want to lead.”

“So… you following me down to Ponyville…”

“I forgave you for that a long time ago.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, relieved. And then a second time, “oh. But when I didn’t invite you to watch the butterfly migration with me…”

“That hurt.”

“Even though you wouldn’t have wanted to go.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry.”

They held each other’s gaze for a couple seconds, smiled, and returned to their meals.

The rest of the dinner was spent in silence, Rainbow Dash lost in her thoughts and Fluttershy presumably the same. Telling Fluttershy about the Wonderbolts had been surprisingly refreshing, and Rainbow Dash supposed that she’d now have to tell her other friends as well. If she knew Pinkie at all, the pink earth pony was sure to have supplies for a Congratulations Dashie party stored away somewhere, and it was about time they got to put to use. Likewise, she wouldn’t put it past Twilight to have some lecture prepared about showmareship or combating wing fatigue or something. Hopefully Rarity hadn’t ever decided to make her a custom Wonderbolts uniform, or then she’d feel really guilty for not having mentioned things sooner. She and her friends did meddle a lot in each other’s lives, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Applejack probably didn’t have anything prepared, but she knew the farmer pony would be proud of her for having gotten in, and – given how much she cared about the values of home and family and tradition and stuff – probably even prouder that she had told them no.

Her date with Fluttershy, meanwhile, had started off badly but had turned out really well, although not at all how she had expected. She had plenty more stuff to apologize for – so did Fluttershy, knowing her – but they still seemed to be on better terms than they had been for a long time. If only that had been the point of the date, she could have relaxed, but she knew there was still another hurdle to overcome before the night was over.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy after they had finished their meals and paid the waitress, “um, this has been a very nice start, but… well, um, I’m not sure it’s helped with our falling in love.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Uh, do you want me to walk you home?”

“I’d like that,” said Fluttershy. “Or, you could fly me home if you’d rather.”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Even better.”

The two pegasi set off into the darkness. The night was remarkably clear, with Luna’s moon barely visible, and stars filled the sky above them. The streetlamps were all dark, a recent paperwork mishap at city hall having put Minty in charge of buying Ponyville’s new light bulbs and the off-green earth pony having chosen to install socks in them instead. The darkness had driven most of Ponyville’s residents indoors, leaving their journey to be interrupted only by a few quiet stragglers and the occasional hoot of an owl. Though Rainbow Dash was not a great romancer, even she could see the potential for a romantic evening if she played her cards right.

“Great night.”

“Yes.”

Okay, so she was going to deal herself some new cards. “Wanna cut through the park? We could, uh…”

“Stargaze?”

“Yeah! Look at the sky and stuff.”

“That would be nice.”

Thus armed, they changed direction and entered Ponyville Park. Here the night was somewhat louder than it had been in the town proper, the silence frequently broken by the sound of youthful giggles and other sounds from among the bushes. The dry grass, not yet touched by the dew of morning, rustled softly beneath the rhythmic beat of their wings, and the river trickled forever along beneath the bridge, bearing fresh water from the Whitetail Woods down into Ponyville. Various small nocturnal creatures poked their heads out from behind trees and smaller plants to stare at them as they passed by, and Fluttershy seemed to have a wave and a smile for each one.

“Would you like to sit down?” asked Fluttershy after a while, pointing towards a grassy crest. “We could probably get a better view of the stars that way, I mean, if you still want to do that.”

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash, heart beginning to beat a little faster. They settled themselves down on the grass and gazed upwards at the vast black sky and its innumerable pinpricks of white fire. It wasn’t honestly a very exciting sight without the thrill of shooting stars – the sky was for flying in, not staring at – but she supposed that this kind of low-energy stuff was what Fluttershy did all the time. And after a few minutes of resigned boredom, she had to admit that it was kind of peaceful, even if the stars weren’t moving at all. If she tried hard enough, she could imagine lines between some of the brighter stars, creating little pictures in the sky. It wasn’t so very different from the butterfly migration.

“Rainbow Dash,” asked Fluttershy from beside her, “do you ever think about the princesses?”

“Huh? Everypony does, I guess. They raise the sun and moon, they beat up Discord and threw him in a chunk of stone… kinda hard to forget them!”

“No, um… the princesses as ponies, not as princesses. They must have feelings and dreams and everything just like the rest of us, don’t you think? Remember that Nightmare Night, when we all met that poor, confused little pony that everyone knew as the Princess of the Night?”

“All of us but Rarity did, you mean,” said Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, and I guess there was an article in the Foal Free Press once about Celestia’s secret personal life or something. Why?”

Fluttershy was silent for a time, and Rainbow Dash had almost run out of interesting-looking stars to look at by the time she replied. “Earlier,” she said, “I was sitting at home getting mad at you. And, um, me too I suppose, for how poorly we’ve been getting along. And I thought about Nightmare Moon, and how that all started when Princess Luna started to resent her sister, and how they had to spend a thousand years apart from each other. I guess I’m just really glad that we’ve been able to get along tonight, and you don’t have to banish me to the moon or anything.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, not wanting to think about the prospect of losing Fluttershy for a thousand years. “Me banish you? Come on, Fluttershy, you’d make a ridiculous Luna. HEAR US, WOODLAND CREATURES! WE ARE COME TO BRING YOU FOOD AND MAYBE WE COULD SING YOU A SONG LATER? WE BELIEVE THAT EVERY ANIMAL LOVETH SINGING!”

“I don’t talk like that!” said Fluttershy, but she was giggling.

“OH MY GOODNESS, A BABY DRAGON! NEVER HAVE OUR EYES BEHELD A DRAGON INFANT BEFORE, FOR VERILY OUR TERRORS DO OUTWEIGH OUR CURIOSITY!”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, whacking her with one wing, “you’re awful!”

“Exactly! I’m way too awful to be Princess Celestia, and you’re… uh…”

“Yes?”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her chest, noticing that Fluttershy hadn’t removed her wing. “You’re way too, uh… soft. And cold.”

Fluttershy shivered a little. “It is night time. I guess I’m not as weather resistant as you are.”

“Hey, we can’t all spend weeks practicing our agility by dodging hailstones. Bet you wish you had that scarf from your estate sale now, huh?”

“It is a very nice scarf,” said Fluttershy. “Or I could just use you.”

“Wait, huh? I’m not a scarf! Unless you’re planning on chopping me into strips and sewing me together or something, and I would not hold still for that.”

“You’re silly,” said Fluttershy, and scooted herself across the grass to cuddle against Rainbow Dash’s side. “Is… is this all right?” she whispered, her breath hot against Rainbow Dash’s exposed ear. She sounded suddenly far less confident than she had a moment earlier. “I, um, don’t want to impose, and…”

It was all right. It was all wrong. It felt soft and sick and tender and twisted and Rainbow Dash didn’t know how to react anymore. “It’s… fine,” she said, hoping her voice sounded calm. “Am I better than some old scarf?”

“Much,” said Fluttershy. “Um, especially if you put your hoof around me.”

There was no turning back now, reasoned Rainbow Dash, adjusting herself to pull Fluttershy closer to her. They lay against each other, heads still turned to the sky, which remained stubbornly devoid of shooting stars. Fluttershy was cold and soft and fragile and loud, her heart beating at least as fast as Rainbow Dash’s own, and she felt suddenly very exposed right there in a public park for all to see. The giggles from around them seemed to have quieted, and she could only imagine the bushes’ inhabitants leaning excitedly forward to watch the two pegasi lying there together, wondering to themselves what they would do next. Somehow Rainbow Dash had never been less excited to be the center of attention, even if it was only in her imagination.

“So yeah,” she said, trying to distract herself from their physical reality, “I don’t think you’d make a great Luna. Way too quiet and, uh, not really spooky enough. Stick to what you know.”

“Like what?” asked Fluttershy. “I don’t think I’d make a very good Celestia either. She has to do so much and talk with so many strange ponies, and I wouldn’t like that at all. I’d rather spend time with just a few ponies that I’m really close to, like Pinkie. Or you.”

“Heh, yeah. You’d be the most reclusive ruler Equestria’s ever had, totally. I guess you’ll just have to be a Fluttershy, then.”

“Am I a good Fluttershy?”

“You’re an awesome Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash, and instantly wondered why she had said that. The yellow pegasus had no response, but tightened her sideways embrace.

Part of her wished that Twilight could have warned her that this would happen, but the unicorn had admitted that she had no idea what the night might bring. Yes, they had “fixed” things, or at least made a good start in that direction, but they were definitely going somewhere else now, somewhere else that Rainbow Dash had never wanted to go… had she?

She had proposed the date.

Pinkie had said other things the night before, and she could have focused on any other one of them instead. She had told herself that Fluttershy was thinking the same thing, and that she had only proposed the date so that timid Fluttershy wouldn’t have had to do it for her, but she’d had no way of knowing if that was true. She could have told Fluttershy to get off of her – she still could, in fact. She could have not proposed to walk Fluttershy home, or then later to stop in the park. She could have given her fewer compliments. All those things were choices that she had made. Not Fluttershy, not even Pinkie, but her. Rainbow Dash.

She thought back to the Best Young Fliers competition, and the moment of elation when she had seen Fluttershy cheering, a moment that had surpassed, however momentarily, the thrill of having just saved the lives of Rarity and three Wonderbolts. Had that been pride in her friend alone? They’d been telling each other that the recent split in their friendship was something or other to do with jealousy, but was it? Wasn’t there another story she could have been telling herself all this time: that Pinkie had awakened them both to the world of romantic feeling, and they had both realized that they had felt more for each other than they had ever admitted or really even guessed at? A story in which their resistance to these feelings had pushed them apart, and they were only now getting at the true core of their relationship, one that they had been ignorant of for so very long?

Ultimately, was there any way that she, Rainbow Dash, action pony extraordinaire, could really know the answer to her questions without doing something to try them out?

“Rainbow Dash, look!” said Fluttershy. “A fawn!”

Rainbow Dash looked, startled by the lack of connection to her thoughts. There was indeed a young deer in front of them, standing uncertainly in the middle of the park and looking back and forth as if lost. Almost instantly, Fluttershy had disentangled herself from their embrace and was walking slowly towards the fawn. Her step was soft, her voice quiet as she called out to it with those loving words that Rainbow Dash had often seen her use with so many of her animal friends. Carefully, gently, she approached the fawn, which held its ground, still unsure but now leaning its head against that of the gentle pony caretaker who had come to visit it.

“She’s a white-tailed deer,” said Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash, keeping her voice quiet. “They’re where the Whitetail Woods get their name, but they’re very shy. Oh, Rainbow Dash, isn’t she lovely?”

Rainbow Dash watched as the fawn continued to stand there, now the focus of all of Fluttershy’s attention. She had never seen anypony so gentle as Fluttershy, not even the workers at the spa the few times she had allowed Rarity to drag her there. She had felt those yellow hooves before, and now she imagined them sliding carefully over her entire body, leaving her more relaxed than she had ever felt before. She saw Fluttershy’s eyes, not focused inward in the frightened timidity that had been enshrined in the last syllable of her name, but radiating love and kindness so pure that Rainbow Dash would have to spend the rest of her life working to earn them. Fluttershy was the focus of all the light of the stars above, and her mane gleamed, draped about her like the softest, most inviting cloud that Rainbow Dash had ever wanted to rest her head in. She was not Pinkie Pie, but even the butterflies upon her flank served as reminders that she had an energy all her own. She was…

“Beautiful,” said Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy turned around to smile at her, but her expression faltered when she saw her friend was no longer looking at the fawn. “…Rainbow Dash?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, her eyes wide with conflicted hope.

“Fluttershy…” began Rainbow Dash, but could find no other words to complete her sentence. She rose from the grass and approached Fluttershy every inch as carefully as her friend had approached the timid fawn but minutes earlier. Fluttershy made no move to ward her off, and as they closed their eyes, their lips met…