Fluttershy was feeding her squirrel friends when Rainbow Dash flew through her open window and planted herself on Fluttershy’s couch. She didn’t even give Fluttershy her usual hello or ‘what’s up?’. She had just landed on the couch and curled herself up into a tight ball.
Fluttershy sighed.
“Rainbow, what happened?” she asked, placing a hoof on Rainbow’s back.
Rainbow muttered something into the cushions that could have been ‘stupid prissy Rarity’. It could have also just been insdicriminate swearing.
“Rainbow, what did Rarity say this time?” asked Fluttershy. Fluttershy was no stranger to the troubles of Rainbow’s relationship with Rarity, because whenever Rainbow got upset, Fluttershy was often Rainbow’s first call.
“It‘s not what she said,” Rainbow murmured into the couch, “it‘s what she did.”
“What did she do?” asked Fluttershy.
Rainbow told her. Fluttershy gasped from shock.
“Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you in there?”
Fluttershy’s head jerked up. Rarity was walking up the path to her house, probably looking for advice on how to deal with Rainbow. Again, she was used to this. As Rainbow Dash’s oldest friend in Ponyville, it was only natural that Rarity had sought Fluttershy’s advice when she had began to date Rainbow. And whenever the two had hit a roadbump, it was Fluttershy that Rarity sought out on how to fix things.
Fluttershy darted over to her door, and slammed it shut, sliding the locks into place. If she let Rarity in now, with Rainbow Dash still inside, she would be lucky to escape with intact furniture.
“I’m here, Rarity,” said Fluttershy, “I wasn’t expecting you today, though.”
“Fluttershy?” called Rarity, through the door, “can I come in?”
“No!” yelled Fluttershy, “I just don’t think that’s a very good idea right now, Rarity. I’m, um, dealing with a very ill friend. A very ill animal friend. Vomit everywhere.”
“All the more reason for you to come and join me at the spa!” said Rarity, from the other side of the door, “I also need your advice on something, if I may.”
Fluttershy looked between Rainbow Dash, still curled up on her couch, and Rarity, who was no doubt standing on the other side of the door, waiting for Fluttershy’s response.
“Oh, um, okay. You go ahead, Rarity. I’ll catch up,” said Fluttershy. She waited until she couldn’t hear Rarity’s hoofsteps anymore, and then draped a blanket over Rainbow Dash and sighed.
******
“And then, she simply yells that I don’t understand how important these things are to her, and races off! Honestly, Rainbow can be such a child at times,” said Rarity, as she lay in the tub at the Ponyville Spa.
“Um, Rarity?” said Fluttershy.
“I just cannot believe that she’s being so, so, stubborn about this! Can she not just see that I want to help her?”
“Rarity?”
“And I know that she’s never been much into fashion, but she could at least show a little interest in what I do from time to time.”
“Rarity!” yelled Fluttershy, before glancing around to see if her raised voice had disturbed anyone.
“Yes, dear?”
“Rarity,” said Fluttershy, at a much more normal volume, “what was the very first thing I told you about Rainbow Dash?”
“That she’s often more sensitive than she seems?”
“And?” prompted Fluttershy.
“And that she wants to be famous on her own terms and in her own way,” sighed Rarity.
“Yes,” said Fluttershy, “She wants to be famous for what she’s done, not who she knows. Or who her girlfriend knows. And she wants to get into the Wonderbolts on her own merit, not because you’ve socially engineered it.”
Rarity was quiet for a minute.
“I’ve been a terrible idiot, haven’t I? I’ve been so enamoured with the idea of Rainbow flying with the Wonderbolts that I forgot that it is her dream, not mine.”
“Yes, you have,” said Fluttershy, “But I think that I know how you can make it up to her, and you have to remember that the Wonderbolts is her dream from now on.”