//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: What the Heart Wants... // Story: Never Grow Apart // by New Canterlot //------------------------------// The cafeteria was buzzing with life, and a new but familiar face was sitting amongst our cherished group of friends. Twilight eyed her lunch wearily, considering how different it was from the usual food at Crystal Prep. The school lunches that were served there were so healthy, but not here at Canterlot High. Everyone else was chowing down like there was no tomorrow, except for Fluttershy and Rarity. They at least were eating with some level of grace, but they were actually eating this stuff! Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and baked beans in a sugary syrup dribbled and slopped against the sides of her tray as Twilight picked at all the ingredients with a plastic fork. "It ain't that bad." Applejack chuckled as she pushed her hat back on her head to slurp loudly on her beans. "Probably ain't that hoity toity kinda food ya'll 'er used to, but Ah'm sure ya'll 'er gonna like it just as much." Rarity shrugged daintily. "Mn...I've never had an appreciation for such fatty cuisine, but it is nice every once in a while." A loud munching and slurping sound came from the boisterous and energetic girl, her poofy hair bouncing with each chomp. Fluttershy eyed her with a shocked expression as she watched Pinkie's tray get completely licked clean. "I'm done!" Pinkie shouted with an inappropriate amount of joy as she jumped up and raced toward the kitchen line again. "Seconds, here I come!" Twilight felt the urge to hold back a laugh. After so many years at Crystal Prep, she wasn't sure how to act around such open people, or even friends for that matter. "Um...so what do you eat first?" She asked as she picked up the chicken thigh. "This?" "Have you ever had chicken before?" Rarity asked. "No, I have." Twilight nodded her head. "But I don't think I've ever had it fried before." "Oh ya'll gotta just dig in!" Applejack eventually put her hat down next to her side after getting fed up with it. "Here, try eatin' it like this." To demonstrate, she bit off a piece of the skin by the larger end of her chicken leg and chuckled. Twilight's hunger began to outweigh her hesitation, so she gave it a go by herself. The powerful flavor almost overwhelmed her instantly, making her teeth carve deep caves into the flesh of her lunch. "Mnnnnn!!!" Her voice hopefully conveyed the happiness she felt from the very unfortunate beast she was devouring. Rarity couldn't help but turn away and sigh. "It would seem we have another food fiend in our midst." Fluttershy just stared at her tray as she only ate one little bean at a time. Pinkie came back, her tray already half empty as she sat down, her mouth stuffed full. "Mnnn! Thith ith greath chickenth!" She spat tiny bits of food as she spoke. "Are you gonna eath thath?" She asked, pointing at Fluttershy, then at her tray. A shake of the head was all she needed to scoop the contents of Fluttershy's tray onto her own. "How on earth are you so skinny, dear?" Rarity asked more with grumbling jealousy than anything else. There was a loud clang of the cafeteria's doors being burst open with an emerging Rainbow Dash running inside, her body clammy with sweat and her hair in a cute little ponytail. "You guys!" She hollered much louder than necessary, almost knocking over three little crusaders carrying jello deserts while running towards her table of friends. "You're not gonna believe this!" Rarity immediately scooted away from Dash when she sat down right next to her of all places, worried that some of that somehow sweet smelling musk might get on her lovely cardigan sweater. "Rainbow Dash!" She protested in earnest. "PUHLEASE tell me you took a shower after gym class." "Who has time for showers???" Dash looked around the table. Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were sitting opposite of her with their mouths stuffed. "I just got picked for the captain of the soccer team again this year!" Applejack reached her hand clear across Twilight's face to cover Pinkie's mouth. In a fit of excitement, Pinkie yelled a cheer of "Super duper!" muffled by the food being spit out against Applejack's palm. Fluttershy was sitting directly across from Pinkie, so she used her empty tray as a shield against any oncoming food particles. Rarity huffed in annoyance. "See, now look what you have accomplished!" She sighed indignantly while pulling a wet-wipe out of her purse, handing it to Applejack. Pinkie swallowed. "I'm so so sorry! I just couldn't help it!" She sounded a lot less sorry and more happy than her words implied. "This is such super duper amazing-tastic news!" "It's fine." Applejack chuckled towards Rarity as she wiped her hands. "Kinda was expectin' that." Twilight smiled appreciatively at her. "You have incredible reflexes, Applejack. It makes me wonder what other external stimuli might trigger such an adaptive physical response." "Would you please forget about Applejack's crazy country reflexes???" Dash sounded annoyed now that the spotlight had been taken away from her. "This is a big deal for me!" "Hardly a big deal, darling." Rarity shook her head and pulled out a small mirror to admire herself with. "You were the captain of the team last year too." "And the year before that..." Fluttershy meekly spoke up. When Dash groaned at her, she squeaked and looked away. "...B-But you're right. It's a big deal." "I didn't know you were the captain of the team." Twilight said. "I didn't even know you played sports." "Rainbow Dash's been the captain of our team even 'n middle school." Applejack picked her hat back up and straightened it on her head. "And the softball team." Rarity sighed. "And the basketball team." Fluttershy added. "It's true." Dash giggled. "All true." "That's quite the accomplishment." Twilight smiled with knowing appreciation. "I've never met anyone who could play that many sports." "Well, my middle name is Awesome, you know." Dash giggled again, making Rarity roll her eyes at the mirror. "No it's not." Pinkie said. "I've seen your birth certificate." "It is too my na-" Dash stopped and glared at her. "When did you see my birth certificate?" "On the internet." Pinkie snorted with a giggle. "I've looked up alllll my friend's birth certificates on the internet." She pointed at Applejack. "You're blood type is O negative," She pointed at Fluttershy, "Your birth weight was only 6 pounds," She pointed finally at Dash, "And you don't have a middle name!" "Pinkie, why did you look up everyone's birth certificates?" Twilight asked, "And how???" "Easy! All you have to do is go onto the city government website and search by birth year!" "But...why?" Applejack shrugged her shoulders with her palms up at the ceiling. "Hey, you never know if one of your friends needs a pint of blood!" She pushed Twilight back a little bit on her seat and narrowed her eyes at Applejack while leaning forward to get nose to nose with her. "When you get a bloody nose that lasts for a week, you'll thank me!" "Ohhhhkkkaayy!" Dash put her hands up. "If we're done talking about blood-" "Gross." Twilight pushed Pinkie back to her seat. "Then I have another important piece of news." Dash continued. "I have to quit the other teams except for soccer." "What???" Rarity actually sounded shocked. "But sports is your passion, darling!" It wasn't like her to get so animated about sports, but if Dash felt strongly about playing sports as she did about fashion, then this actually was big news Dash sighed. "I know...but it's not that big a deal. I can't lead all the teams by myself, and even if I wanted to, I have to focus on just one sport." "Why's that?" Applejack had to ask. "Ya'll didn't have a problem with it before. Why now?" "Cause there's going to be a big soccer tournament for the entire city coming up, and Canterlot High was actually invited to play!" "The Horseshoe Haven Soccer City Finals?" Twilight asked. "How did you know that?" It was Dash's turn to sound surprised. "Crystal Prep has trophies for the past ten years for placing first in that tournament. I passed by them every day to class." "Great..." Dash growled. "Crystal Prep...Of course." "Oh, I'm sure you can beat them..." Fluttershy tried to sound as enthusiastic as possible. "...You're the best soccer player I know." "Ya'll just need to train extra hard." Applejack flashed her a quick thumbs up. "Ah'm sure yer team's gonna put those high fallootin city folk in their place." She winced and turned to Twilight next to her. "Sorry." Twiilght giggled and shook her head. "It's ok. I never really did like those soccer players back at my old school." "Hey, yeah!" Dash thrust her fist into the air, nearly sending Rarity backwards next to her. "I just have to train extra hard! I'm gonna hit the fields every morning before school to practice!" "That's the spirit!" Applejack nodded in approval. "Can you say BEST SOCCER TEAM EVER???" Pinkie shrieked up at the ceiling. The whole cafeteria went dead silent except for someone making a cough. Dash awkwardly began to talk again. "I'll...just ignore that." She looked around the table and noticed someone was missing. "Where's Sunset?" "Um, I think she said something about..." Fluttershy tried hard to remember. "...speaking to Principal Celestia." "I do hope it's nothing serious." Rarity finally put down the mirror and ran a hand over her hair with a charming smile, earning the glances of a few boys in the cafeteria. "Is she ok?" Dash asked. "She seemed fine when she up 'n left earlier." Applejack nodded her head. "She didn't seem upset 'er anythin'." "I'm sure she's fine." Twilight tried to sound reassuring. "I get the feeling Principal Celestia isn't a mean principal." "She's pretty nice." Pinkie added. "And she's a Capricorn! You know what that meeaaannns!" "No...I don't, actually." Twilight tried to think. "I know a lot about our calender horoscope system, and-" Dash put a finger over her mouth and shook her head. "Just...let that one go. You may have noticed already, but Pinkie is kinda...out there." "You are such a Scorpio." Pinkie stuck her tongue out at her for a moment. A loud ring of the school wide bell sounded, making everyone nearly jump. "Oh wait!!!" Dash sounded panicked. "I didn't even get a chance to eat yet!" "Probably cause you were talking too much and you forgot, silly!" Pinkie giggled again, and Dash was beginning to grow even more annoyed. Dash lunged for the rest of the chicken on Pinkie's tray and jumped up. "Hey! Those are my tasty bird legs!" "See you guys later!" Dash began running off as the rest of the students in the cafeteria rose from their seats. -o0o- Right after school, Dash knew exactly where she needed to go. She prided herself on always being the first one to warm up on the field, but someone had beaten her to the grass. "Sunset???" Dash gasped when she saw the flaming hair of the missing lunchmate. "Oh hey, Rainbow." Sunset stood with her arms crossed wearing the usual school gym clothes. "I was wondering when you would show up." "Are you on the soccer team now?" Dash asked, feeling a mixture of confusion and excitement as she stopped in front of her. "Sure am!" Sunset said proudly. "I've always wanted to be on a sports team, and we aren't in high school forever." "This is awesome! Finally! I have one of my friends on the team!" Dash pumped her fist into the air. "I've been trying to get Applejack to play a sport with me, but she always turns me down. What made you wanna play now?" "Well, I heard how excited you were about the upcoming tournament when I was talking to the other players in my gym class. I asked Principal Celestia if it wasn't too late to join the team, but she made an exception for me. Something about needing to interact more with the rest of the school. Isn't this going to be fun?" "So much fun!" Dash threw up her hand, and Sunset high-fived it. "Hey, you wanna practice a bit before the rest of the team gets here? I can be goalie." "You sure?" Sunset smirked. "I'll probably score the whole time." "Yeah right." Dash snorted. "You won't even get one ball past me." "We'll just see about that." Sunset walked over to a stray soccer ball on the grass and began bouncing it against her knees and the top of her head with ease. Dash gulped. "Looks like I finally have a challenge." "Oh yoo-hoo!" Rarity called out to them from the edge of the field. Along side her stood the rest of the girls. "We'll be at the coffee shop if you girls want to join us after practice." "Ok!" Dash waved back at them. "Since when did Sunset start playin' soccer?" Applejack asked her friends standing next to her. "Was this what she was talkin' to Principal Celestia about?" "Nevermind them, dear." Rarity let out a dainty little yawn as she covered her mouth with her fingers. "Right now, coffee is our priority." Twilight pushed her glasses back against the bridge of her nose and smiled. "I could go for a cappuccino right now since I have some studying to catch up on." Pinkie waved with both arms rapidly at the two girls on the field. "HEYYY!" She shouted much louder than necessary as usual. "We're meeting for coffee later!" "We heard you!" Dash yelled back and began stretching her arms over her head. Pinkie beamed. "Ok!" She quickly turned and began skipping down the side of the field with the rest of the girls chatting behind while following her. All the girls, except Fluttershy, who took a seat with her arms wrapped around her knees. "Are you coming, dear?" Rarity asked. "I can cover for you, if you like." "O-Oh...um...no that's ok. I'll be there in a bit. I um...I'll just watch them play for a few minutes." "Ah didn't know ya liked soccer." Applejack looked at her with a slightly worried expression, but she remained cheerful nonetheless. "Is somethin' on yer mind, sugarcube?" "I'm ok." Fluttershy nodded her head and looked back at the two on the field. "I...just wanna watch them for a bit." "Alright then." Applejack gave her a quick hug and said, "See ya'll later than." "Just try not to be too late, dear." Rarity patted the top of her head, and she and Applejack left her to sit by herself. For a few minutes, Fluttershy observed Dash and Sunset kicking the ball back forth to each other. Sunset seemed pretty nimble on her feet, but her eyes constantly followed the short flowing rainbow hair of the one she truly felt captivated by. Dash's intensity and enthusiasm was incredibly high as ever out there, making her wonder what it would be like to share a common interest with that high energy girl. It dawned on her that she felt, to a small degree at least, a bit jealous. She wasn't necessarily jealous of Sunset so much as she was jealous of everyone else that Dash could play with and enjoy time together while playing sports. It was a passion that she couldn't share even if she tried, and it bothered her. How many years had she been watching her dear friend, only to be sitting in the shadows of the trees and the bleachers of every game, wondering if Dash even noticed she was there... A familiar warmth radiated in her chest as her mind, for the millionth time, pondered her relationship with Dash. It was more of a lack of a relationship that bothered her. They officially met in high school, but she had watched Dash all through middle school although they never actually talked once. It hurt her feelings quite a bit when Dash introduced herself for the first time as a stranger even though Fluttershy knew almost everything about her. Again, even during practice as all the players reached the field, she was destined to sit her by herself, longing to somehow be close to her. Fluttershy had begun to recognize her strange emotional and physical attraction to Dash in the last year of middle school, but for some reason, she had always been at peace about it falling for another girl. It happened all the time nowadays, and she even knew some girl classmates that dated each other. Watching them together always did hurt her a little inside as she wondered if she was destined to be alone like this, but she never did give up hope. Since they became friends, Dash would sometimes wave at her from the field when she was playing a game. That made her heart leap with joy, even for just a brief moment, and that's what made her come back to watch every time. Some trivial thought crossed her mind that suddenly made her blush intensely. Fluttershy knew that there was another world somewhere out there where she and Dash were also friends, living lives as ponies. As silly as it sounded, it was true. Were they close in that other world? Maybe...just maybe they might actually be something more. At that moment, she honestly would have given anything just to be that other Fluttershy to see if such an improbable reality existed. Maybe in that other world they had actually kissed at one point. A small tear trickled down her cheek, and she giggled at herself more in anger than amusement as she wiped it away. "Fluttershy...you can be so dumb sometimes." She scolded herself internally while focusing her attention back towards the practice. Dash moved with incredible coordination and speed, working well together with Sunset as they double-teamed goal after goal together, trading high-fives each time. That exhilarating feeling filled Dash, and each time that happened, she always had a habit to look towards the stands or the side of the field to wave at Fluttershy. In the back of her mind, she always remembered she had a constant fan who came to watch her play every time. A bright smile shown across Shy's face as she returned the wave she had been waiting for the whole time. There it was. An incredibly intense sense of longing consumed her as she lowered her hand after the brief wave. Fluttershy clenched her small fingers together against the palms of her hands as she made a promise to herself. Somehow, she would find a way to be closer to Dash. Just like Sunset, she also knew that high school wouldn't last forever, and eventually she wouldn't be able to watch Dash play anymore. The sun had moved farther down towards the horizon into her face, and Fluttershy realized that it had been much longer than just a few minutes since she had been sitting there. If she didn't leave right away, the rest of her friends might actually suspect something was wrong. Very begrudgingly, she got up from the grass and began walking down the street. Each step she took away from the soccer field made her heart break a tiny bit. The only thing she could do was hope Dash would come to coffee later instead of going straight home. "Awesome!" Dash threw her fists into the air as she and Sunset scored one last time before both sides had to switch positions to practice defense. "Did you see that?" Sunset was breathing rather heavily, unaccustomed to heavy amounts of running. "Y-Yeah! You sure know what you're doing out there." Dash slapped her back and smirked. "Yeah, but you are doing really good for your first day." "I don't think I can keep up anymore though." Sunset heaved a big breath. "My legs are about to give out." "Take a break if you need to. I gotta have you fresh for the games coming up! Oh, I think Fluttershy is still here somewhere. You can go sit next to her for a bit if you..." She trailed off as her eyes scanned the edges of the field, unable to find the small girl anywhere. She felt a bit sad now that her number one fan was gone. She had never admitted it, but a lot of her motivation came from having a friend constantly there to smile at her. "Huh...I guess she left. Whatever." Dash realized that she had a good friend on the team now, so Fluttershy's absence didn't feel like a big deal. "I think we're gonna break for some water." Sunset began walking towards the building of the school gym. "You coming?" Dash hesitated for just a moment. "S-Sure." She nodded. "Right behind you." -o0o- Even though she knew she was late for coffee, Shy only took small steps as she made her way into town. She just couldn't bring herself to go any faster. All she wanted to do was return to the field and watch her dear Dash run like crazy in the excitement of her practice. If she decided to turn back now, they would probably be done already on the field, and there was no point now since she found herself staring at the front doors of the coffee shop with her friends visibly inside. She had spent the entire hour walking all the way over here internally debating, and the waste of time made her heart sink. With a great big sigh, she stepped inside. Twilight had a notebook open as she sipped her coffee, and Applejack and Pinkie were playing a retro board game. Rarity was sitting comfortably in the big corner booth they all clustered in, thoroughly enjoying her iced coffee. When Fluttershy walked into the coffee shop and approached, Rarity smiled up at her. "Now I know you said you didn't need me to buy you anything," Rarity patted the spot next to her and smiled. "But I thought you might like something anyway." She held out a small cup of tea. "Oh...thank you." Fluttershy took the tea and sat down, smiling at the minty aroma coming from the lid. "This is really nice of you." "Oh pish posh." Rarity giggled. "It was nothing, darling. You seemed down earlier, so this was the least I could do." Twilight looked up at her after finishing the page she was reading, completely oblivious to the words spoken just seconds ago. "Hey Fluttershy. How is Dash and Sunset doing?" "They...they seem like they're having fun." "Ah bet Dash's makin' Sunset really work out there." Applejack started placing marbles in different hallowed out holes of a wooden board. Pinkie began staring at the marbles with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing them intently. "Ohhh...I think I get how to play this now." "Wait, yer tellin' me we've been playin' fer over an hour, 'n ya'll don't even know how to play?" "It's ok!" Pinkie grinned innocently up at her. "I'm winning anyway." Twilight began reading again and said absentmindedly, "Pinkie wins in four turns." "What???" Applejack looked down again and scowled. "...Well shoot...Ah reckon since Twilight said so, then...." Pinkie began moving the marbles around by herself, making moves for both Applejack and herself before calling out, "I win!" "Aw come on, ya'll!" Applejack sat back in the booth. "Ah didn't even...ya know what, Ah don't care no more..." Rarity put an arm around Fluttershy and squeezed gently. She said in a quiet voice, "Are you sure you're alright, darling? You know I only ask because I worry about my friends." "I'm ok." Fluttershy tried to think of the most generic answer. "I'm just tired I guess." "Then try to sleep early tonight." Rarity let her go and brushed some of Shy's long hair away from her face. Shy could only nod in response. It felt nice to have someone kind of be all motherly towards her, but in truth she would rather have someone else in mind do that. Unfortunately, that person wasn't here and probably wouldn't anyway. A cute crackling giggle came from the entrance of the shop, and everyone turned to see Dash and Sunset in full gym clothing nudging shoulders and laughing. Sunset gave everyone a wave before taking off down the street. It was apparent that she couldn't stay to chat. Dash began walking over to the rest of the troupe. "Hey guys!" Pinkie threw her arms up into the air. "Over here! Over hereeeeee!" Dash tossed the soccer ball she was holding at Pinkie, bouncing it off her face. "Ooooh! A ball!" She grabbed it off the ground and held it, not caring one bit that her face now had octagon shapes across her cheeks. "Can I keep it?" "No." Dash yanked it back and sat next to her. "But you can have this smelly sock I'm wearing." Rarity put her cup down and pointed a finger at Dash's face. "If you dare pull out a dirty sock, I will spill this on your head." She said with a very stern tone. "Relax, Rare." Applejack leaned back in the booth and tipped her hat back. "Dash ain't serious." "Yeah, come on." Dash nodded. "Even I think that would be pretty gross." "Hmph!" Rarity huffed. "Well then don't joke about such things! You nearly gave me a heart attack." Twilight set her notebook down and yawned loudly. "Well girls, I wish I could stay, but I have to get going home. It's kind of a long bus ride back to town." "Aw shucks. Well, it was nice havin' ya hang out with us." Applejack got out of the booth to let her stand up. "Do you have to go?" Pinkie asked earnestly. "Stay pwetty pwweeease?" "Sorry Pinkie." Twilight actually felt a little guilty for some reason as she took in the adorable face Pinkie made. She knew Pinkie was just kidding around, but it was still pretty darn cute. "Tah-tah, then." Rarity gave a polite little wave. "Say hi to that adorable puppy of yours for me." "Oh, he'll be glad to hear that." Twilight giggled and walked away. "Bye girls!" Applejack sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Ah gotta get home too before my lil' sis 'n her friends destroy the house. See ya'll tomorrow!" Pinkie got up quickly and ran after the bookworm. "Oh! Wait, Twilight! Can I see your house???" "Um....sure?" Her voice sounded somewhere between a question and a statement as she held her notebook tighter. "If you don't mind having to go home when the sun goes down." "Eh, it's no biggie! I can always just drive us, you know. I do have a car. It's parked at school." Twilight vaguely remembered seeing a pink VW bug with blue polka dots parked sometimes at school, and she instantly knew it had to be hers. "Um...ok. That would be really great, actually. I could definitely use a ride home." "Super! Then I'm your girl!" They left the coffee shop together, Pinkie sporting a bright smile and skip in her step. Once they had left, Rarity asked Dash a question that would eventually come up. "How was practice?" "It was awesome! You should have seen Sunset out there! I mean, she wasn't better than me obviously, but still." Fluttershy brought her legs up against her chest where she sat in an effort to keep her feet from bumping Dash's legs. There was that faint sweet smell of sweat from Dash's body that made her heart flutter and begin beating faster. "You both looked, um...really good out there." She said softly. "Thanks, Shy." Dash grinned a beautifully captivating smile from what Fluttershy saw. "And you still didn't take a shower." Rarity grumbled. "Honestly, darling! You are lucky enough to not smell bad. In fact, you smell rather pleasant. But not washing yourself can ruin your complexion. It's a very bad habit to learn." "Oh relax." Dash giggled. "I always shower before bed, so it's gonna happen." "Not soon enough, I'm afraid." Rarity pulled out a tissue and held it out to her. "Could you at least wipe that smudge of dirt off your cheek?" "What smudge of dirt?" Dash asked, pointing to her own face. "Here?" Fluttershy very meekly gave Dash's cheek a soft little boop where the smudge was. "It's um...here." Her face turned bright pink as she felt the lovely warm skin against the tip of her index finger. "Oh cool, thanks." Dash grabbed the tissue, licked it, then wiped her face. "Ewwww!" Rarity squealed in disgust. "You didn't have to lick the tissue, then wipe your face." Dash growled. "Seriously? If you didn't want me to, then you should have said something before I did that." As Dash and Rarity began to argue, Fluttershy had noticed that there was still the tiniest little speck of dirt still lingering on Dash's cheek. She instinctively picked up the tissue from the table Dash had discarded and began wiping Dash's cheek with soft little swipes. Dash's eyes grew wide in surprise and she froze in place. "U-Uh...Fluttershy?" She asked, but didn't get a reply. Very gently, she waited a few seconds for the small girl to stop what she was doing, but Dash eventually had to push her hand away. "I think you got it." Fluttershy squeaked softly in painful embarrassment and looked down at the table, letting the tissue fall to the table again. "S-Sorry..." Rarity sighed and pulled out another tissue, wrapping the dirty one with the clean one before discarding it in her purse. "Honestly, Rainbow Dash." She got up from the table and giggled. "I sometimes wonder how Fluttershy can put up with you." "You leaving?" Dash asked. "You haven't bought me anything yet." She scowled at Dash. "You know full well you can buy your own. I am off to the mall for a bit. A new line of scarves has just come out that I must see for myself before the stores close. You be nice to Fluttershy." She pointed a finger at Dash's nose like she was talking to a dog that won't sit for a treat. "And don't kick the soccer ball around in here. I don't want to be banned from my favorite coffee shop because you can't control yourself." "Thanks, mom." Dash stuck her tongue out at her. "Are you going to check my homework too?" "No, but someone ought to keep an eye on you." Rarity turned to walk away. "I shall see you both tomorrow." Dash grumbled down at the table. "Rarity is soooooooo lame sometimes." Fluttershy shook to head absentmindely. She honestly wasn't sure what to say. She felt a bit awkward, but somehow happy now it was just the two of them sitting there. "S-So..." She squeaked. "...W-What are you gonna do now?" Dash sighed and leaned back. "I should probably just go home and shower. I kinda wanted to hang out with you guys though, but everyone just left as soon as I got here." It made Fluttershy happy to hear that. She hoped that Dash would want to be close to her friends more, even if it was just a bit more. "Hey, at least I got you here." Dash smiled at her and giggled. "Why did you leave before practice ended? We could have walked together over here." "I-I...well...I sort of promised that I'd only stay for a little while, and I was running late." She pushed her fingers together nervously. "I don't think our friends would have cared. It's not like you ran off or something. Besides, we don't really get the chance to talk much anymore." There was a wondrous joy in hearing those words. "Y-You really think so?" Fluttershy asked as she looked up. "I....I was kind of feeling the same way...to be honest." "Heh...yeah...sorry about that." Dash rubbed the back of her head and let down her short ponytail. "I've just been so busy lately." "I know. I'm happy for you." "Thanks! It's nice to have so much of your support when the rest of our friends don't even care about sports." "Um...well it's not that they don't care." Fluttershy shook her head and put her hands up. "Maybe...we aren't so into sports like you, but...we're all happy to see you succeed....I'm happy too..." "That's pretty awesome." Dash gave Fluttershy's hand a small squeeze, making the poor girl look away and hide her blushing face behind her hair. "Wanna walk home with me?" Dash asked. "It's kinda boring walking home by yourself." "W-Well...y-yes I would like that." Fluttershy only had a few seconds to gather herself as Dash got up from the table and started making her way to the entrance of the coffee shop. "Cool! I gotta tell you about this funny thing in class." As they both began walking down the street, Dash began rambling on about how she was making paper footballs during class, using them to make goals into the teacher's trash can. Fluttershy nodded a couple of times through the story although she wasn't paying much attention to it. Fluttershy's eyes kept glazing over Dash's pale blue neckline showing underneath her gym tank top. Her collarbone stood out against her skin from all those years of hard exercise, and Dash's hips and waistline were almost perfectly hourglass shaped with absolutely no hint of fat anywhere. Standing a few inches shorter than Dash, Fluttershy found her strides to be smaller than her friend's, leaving Dash a half a step in front of her as she spoke. Her eyes began wandering down towards an incredibly shapely butt that told no lies through the spandex running shorts covering Dash's backside. To a small degree, Fluttershy felt giddy from such a heavenly view. Mostly though, she felt jealous of Dash's perfect physique. Everything encompassing her figure was almost non-existent on herself. There was no muscle definition, no real shape to her own figure besides a slide curve of her slender frame. As far as she understood the ideal body of a girl, Fluttershy didn't really have those traits. She was, in her own opinion, too skinny and too flat-chested to be desirable, but her jealousy of her friend's figures was something she didn't dare voice. Dash looked back her worriedly. "Hey, you ok?" She asked, stopping for a second to let Shy catch up. "You've been quiet for like the past fifteen minutes." Had it really been that long? Fluttershy blushed again as she nervously let out an awkward giggle. "S-Sorry...I guess...I didn't really have much to say..." "It's cool, no worries." Dash put her hands behind her head as they walked. "Sometimes you just have boring days, you know?" In truth, today hadn't been in any way boring, but Fluttershy simply nodded. "M-Mhm..." "So hey listen, I was thinking." Dash waved her hand around her face to clear away a strand of rainbow hair. "Since Sunset is on the team now, I thought we should get like soccer buddy bracelets or something. Is that kinda lame? I'm not sure she'd go for it, but whatever. It can't hurt, right?" Something icy cold stabbed at Shy's heart, and a gloomy expression covered her face. Rainbow Dash had never once did anything like that with her, but now she wanted to with Sunset? There was just the tiniest hint of anger flaring inside her chest. They had been friends for many years and never once did they make friendship bracelets. Fluttershy nodded her head slowly and said as calmly as she could, "I think that sounds nice." "Awesome! Yeah see cause I saw these soccer bands at this once place where I bought this ball," She held her ball up. "And just knew I had to get them!" "Wait..so...you already bought them?" Shy asked. "Well, yeah I mean...I couldn't not get them. And they're not exactly friendship bracelets. They're just soccer bands." Dash reached into the inside of her shoe and pulled out two rubber bracelets. "I hope these don't smell." They smelled more like rubber than anything else which she guess was ok. She dropped one of them into Shy's hand, and Shy looked it over. It may have been simple and plain looking, but holding something like this made her nearly boil over in jealousy. Why did Sunset Shimmer get to have one of these??? She was the one who had been to all the games and watched Dash practice after school! Dash took them back and giggled. "Yeah, I bet she's gonna get a kick out of these, huh?" Fluttershy nodded her head and brushed away a small tear from her eye. "Mhm..." They rounded a street corner and Dash stopped. "Well, my house is this way, so see you tomorrow!" She began nudging the soccer ball down the street towards her house with her foot. "Oh, don't tell Sunset about the bracelets! I want them to be a surprise, ok?" "S-Sure..." Fluttershy gave her a small wave and took one step towards her own house. She waited until Dash was out of sight before sobbing softly into her forearm. "Fluttershy..." She whispered to herself. "...you can be so stupid sometimes.."