Rarity let her sister's advice wash over her as she went for a evening walk, hoping to try and burn off the tremendous amount of calories she had consumed in her anxiety. The evening light was exceptionally beautiful, being a painting of deep blues, yellows, and pinks. She could not have asked for a more delightful evening, which was ironic considering the beauty of the light was the exact opposite of what she was feeling.
She was walking in a circle, which would hopefully take her from her house to the border of the Everfree forest and back. Right now, she was walking through a light wood nearby Fluttershy’s house. Maybe a quick chat with her friend would soothe her a bit.
She trotted down a path that would lead her to Fluttershy’s house, and before long, the cosy home came into view. Fluttershy was outside, currently attending her garden. She looked up and saw the white unicorn coming towards her.
“Hello, Rarity,” Fluttershy called out, stopping what she was doing.
Rarity, for a moment, tried to put aside her problems so that she could give her friend her full attention, but she didn’t do a good job of hiding it, especially for someone as caring and thoughtful as Fluttershy.
“Hello Fluttershy,” she said with grace. “You're out late, usually you go to sleep at around 8:00; it’s nearly 9.”
“Oh, I was going to go to bed,” Flutter’s replied. “But I was occupied nearly all day looking after Angel. When I was about to go to bed, I looked out the window and saw that there were lots of weeds in my garden, so I thought I better do some late night gardening.”
“It’s not that late Fluttershy,” Rarity laughed, “just for you it is.”
Fluttershy paused a minute, and eyed her friend closely.
“Rarity… I sense something's troubling you.”
Rarity was secretly a bit annoyed that her friend had seen through her happy disguise, so she tried to deny it.
“What? Nothing’s wrong, dear,” she replied.
“Rarity… come on, tell me. I promise I won’t tell anypony.”
Rarity sighed and decided to give into the demands of her friend, but with great care. However, she was still hesitant about revealing too much, so she opted for the more indirect route.
“Fluttershy… Imagine a young colt wanted to court an older mare and was head-over-hooves about her, but the mare wasn’t interested in the colt the same way. What would the mare do?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, but then looked knowingly at her friend.
“It’s Spike, isn’t it?”
That mare was too good; she had seen through all of Rarity’s disguises. Part of the white unicorn felt annoyed that she had, but another part felt incredibly lucky to have such a caring friend.
After sighing a few times, she confirmed:
“Well of course it’s bucking Spike!” she almost shouted, putting her hoof over her face. Fluttershy flew over to her, and started stroking her mane.
“Oh… Rarity,” she said sympathetically, as she took her into a hug. Rarity, however, suddenly broke the hug and made an incredibly over-dramatic face.
“But what can I do!” she exclaimed.
Fluttershy thought for a moment, but she couldn’t come up with a proper answer.
“I-I don’t really know. I don’t think I’ve ever had somepony who’s interested in me before.”
The white unicorn felt disappointed that her friend couldn’t be of any help. She knew she was right; her friends wouldn’t have any clue on how to deal with a situation like this. Or, at least, Fluttershy didn’t.
“But…” Fluttershy suddenly said. “I think it’s best if you told him the truth. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“...I’m not quite sure he would understand,” Rarity replied. She paused, considering Fluttershy’s words. “But… thanks for the advice Fluttershy, I think I’ll be off now… It was nice talking to you.”
“Bye, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, as Rarity started to walk back down to the woods so that she could continue her walk.
***
The following day, Rarity was on her way into town to get some fabric as she was running short. She passed many familiar faces, and waved to them happily, again trying to hide her anxiety. She finally arrived at the the stall in the town center, and bought what she needed to buy.
When she was on her way back home however, a bright blue pegasus zoomed above her, before landing in front.
“Hey Rarity, what ya doin?” asked Rainbow Dash, tucking her wings away.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity greeted with a bit of disdain. “I was just getting some fabric for my new line. Those looked like some good moves, although I wouldn’t know very much about that sort of thing.”
“Thanks,” the rainbow haired pegasus replied.
Rainbow Dash then looked at Rarity with a grin.
“So, you’re going out with Spike? He told me all about i-”
“He forced me to!” Rarity interrupted and flipped out. “Do you think I want to go out with a BABY DRAGON?!” She stomped her hoof, and got some stares from some fellow townsfolk. She hung her head in shame; ponies she didn’t even know knew about it now, and she started to shed tears.
“Rarity, take a chill pill,” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered around her friend. She then pulled Rarity towards herself.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity said whilst pulling away, still incredibly embarrassed at what had happened. “Why did you say that!? All of those ponies know now, and if YOU hadn’t brought it up, then they wouldn’t!”
“Look, sorry, okay?” Rainbow apologized. “But why don’t you just say that you’re not interested?”
Rarity, beginning to calm down although still angry and embarrassed, told Rainbow everything. Rainbow Dash thought for a moment before facing Rarity, her look clueless.
“I don’t really know that much about this kinda stuff… maybe you should go and ask someone else,” she replied.
***
Rarity had gone to speak with Pinkie Pie and Applejack later that day, and they both basically said the same thing: tell him the truth. She was still enormously nervous that doing so would break apart their friendship. She was incredibly fond of the dragon, even if she didn’t return the same feelings towards him as he did towards her. To lose that friendship would simply be unbearable.
She needed to speak to Twilight. She knew Spike the best; maybe she would help her properly solve the problem without breaking his heart. She had to get her alone without Spike though, which was going to be difficult considering they both lived together.
She decided to write her a note when night struck, and post it through her window next to her bed. That way Spike wouldn’t be answering the door, and Twilight would be reading the message first. So when that time finally did come, she wrote the note.
Dear Twilight,
Please come to my house tomorrow or today (depending when you're reading this,) at 10:00 AM WITHOUT SPIKE.
Rarity.