//------------------------------// // 9-Day Five // Story: I Don't Need a Love Potion to Love You // by Night Flight //------------------------------// It was another beautiful winter day, fifth day of Hearts & Hooves week. When you stopped at Canterlot High School, you could easily feel the excitement in the air. Students couldn’t stop their happiness for the upcoming party and therefore, seeing those excited, happy faces made you excited too. For Rainbow Dash, however, things were different. Sure, she was also excited for the party but she was even happier than others. It was no wonder, by the way her number one enemy, Fury, hadn’t appear around Soarin lately. More importantly, she was hanging out with Soarin again. And it meant that she could spend more time with her favorite boy. Therefore, she had good reasons for being super happy and grinning like crazy. And it was what she was doing right at the moment. As she walked beside her friends, she was grinning happily and was listening to Twilight who was relating the incidents of last night. “…And then he told me that he’ll take me home. I accepted and Flash took me home and after running away from Shining’s idiotic questions, I went to my room and squeaked for a whole ten minutes!” explained Twilight excitedly. “Looks someone has fallen in love! Right darling?” said Rarity with a wink. “I… don’t know. I mean, I do like him like… a lot! But love… I’m not sure,” replied Twilight. “Well, that doesn’t make sense,” said Sunset suddenly. Then she lowered her tone and continued, “You drank love potion you know.” Then she quickly looked at Rainbow and let out a sigh of relief when she saw her talking to Fleetfoot who had just arrived. Twilight who remembered it quickly, chuckled awkwardly and replied, “Sure I did. I do think it’s love. It’s just that I’ve never been in love so I weren’t sure if it were really love or not. But I know now.” “Speaking of… love potion,” said Sunset in a low tone. “Thanks to Bluey, we found a cure.” “Really? What is it?” asked Twilight excitedly. She sure was tired of pretending. Till that day, Sunset had made her tell all of the things that happened between Flash and her. “Shouldn’t you be sad or something?” asked Sunset with a raised eyebrow. “I rather have a true love than a fake one,” said Twilight sincerely. Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at Sunset with a glare. “And even if the potion is gonna stay, I rather let it stay without someone asking for the details all the time.” “Whatever, now back to the topic. We found the cure,” said Sunset happily. “At first I had no idea what should I do or where should I start. I had already used many ways and none had end to a proper conclusion. As always, most of the potions had exploded in my face. I was losing all of my hope and what made me angrier was that Bluey was doing nothing and whenever I asked her, she said that she’s not good at chemistry. “Finally, I lost my patience and told her that if she really thinks that she’s a good match maker, she should know a way for it. Then she told me that in most of the stories that contain love potion or something like this, a true love kiss is the cure. “Well, she was right. I tried it on the hamsters and it worked! But not any true love kiss. The kiss should be between the girl and the boy who are in love with each other.” “Wait… you mean that I have to… I have to…” stuttered Twilight. “…Kiss Flash. Yep you have to do it,” said Sunset casually. “Oh…” muttered Twilight with a blush. “Don’t ya worry. Yer time will come!” said Applejack with a wink that only made Twilight’s blush redder than what it already was. “Well, Twilight may do it on her own but what about Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. “Fluttershy’s right. And something else, we can’t let the potion stay in their body longer than that. It may affect their health,” said Sunset. “We all have to work on this. I need all of you girls’ help. I’ll probably ask Soarin’s friends too. It’ll be a tough task but I’m sure we can make it through. So are you guys with me?” “YEAH!” shouted girls in union. “Yeah what?” asked Rainbow curiously. Next to her, Fleetfoot was also staring at them with a raised eyebrow. “Uh… nothing?” said Sunset with an awkward smile. Fleetfoot and Rainbow glanced at each other and shrugged. Then they continued their conversation as if nothing had happened. On the other side, Sunset winked at her friends. They all got the message and winked back. Then they slowly got away from them and giggled in a low tone. They’re plan had started from that moment and nothing could stop it. “Whoa, your friends left. Don’t you wanna go with them?” said Fleetfoot to Rainbow. She glanced at them and shrugged. “Usually, when they get away like that, they wanna do something that I shouldn’t know.” “Do you wanna go after them and see what they are going to do?” asked Fleet with a grin. “Uh… no thanks,” she said nonchalantly. “Instead, let’s hang out with Soarin and Spitfire,” she continued with a grin. Fleet raised an eyebrow. “Why did you suddenly got interested in hanging out with SOARIN and Spitfire,” she said as she put more emphasis on the word ‘Soarin’. “Whaaaat? I’m Soarin’s best friend you know,” Rainbow said casually. “Oh? You sure it’s not something else?” asked Fleetfoot with a smirk. “Of course it’s not! Now move!” said Rainbow quickly. “We’ll see…” said Fleet as she started walking with Rainbow. At least she was sure that Rainbow wasn’t Soarin’s best friend anymore but about Rainbow… well it did looked like she liked Soarin more than what she should, especially with the small show they performed the day before… All Fleet could do was smirking and walking along Rainbow. She wasn’t sure about anything yet but she sure was going to find out. By the way, teasing this always cool boy in some way, was her number one goal. So as she spotted her other two friends, she stepped ahead and shouted happily, “HEEEEEEY GUYS!” “Hey?” answered Soarin doubtfully. “If I’m not mistaken, she has an evil plan on her head,” he muttered in a low tone and made Spitfire chuckle. “Don’t doubt it!” replied Spitfire. “Sooo, how are my wonderful, dear friends?” asked Fleetfoot. “Would be better if we knew what’s going on on your head,” stated Spitfire flatly. “My head? The only thing that is there, is what a wonderful friends I have!” said Fleetfoot. “What do you want? Or maybe, what have you done?” asked Soarin. “I didn’t do anything!” said Fleet with a frown. “And I don’t want anything from YOU. But Spit…” She stared at Spitfire with a grin. “Since I know that you won’t let me go till I do your request, say it,” said Spitfire nonchalantly. Fleet’s grin widened and she quickly whispered some things in her ear. At first, with every word that Fleetfoot was saying, her brows were furrowed but suddenly, her eyes started getting wider and wider. Finally, Fleet pulled away and shrugged as she saw Spitfire’s surprised expression. “WHAT?” Spitfire shouted with disbelief. “You heard me,” replied Fleet casually. In the answer, Spitfire huffed. “Fine. Let’s see what can I do…” “In the meantime, would any of you care and tell me what is exactly going on?” asked Rainbow with a raised eyebrow as she eyed the girls. “And me too,” continued Soarin. “Rainbow Dash, you’d better come after me cause I have some real serious business with you,” said Spitfire as she dragged Rainbow away with her. “But what about me?” asked Soarin. “What about you? You stay here with Fleet. If what Fleetfoot said to me was true, then I’ll tell you what about you,” replied Spitfire with a serious tone. “Why am I not having a good feeling about this?” muttered Rainbow under her breath. “Because it probably won’t be something good,” mumbled back Soarin. “You know, not every day you can see this serious face on Spitfire.” “I’m totally dead…” she whispered before Spitfire dragged her to some place away from Soarin’s earshot. “I’m gonna be blunt,” started off Spitfire. “Do you love Soarin?” At first Rainbow’s eyes went a little wide but she quickly recovered and answered, “Pfft, of course I do. I mean, all of the friends love each other don’t they?” “Rainbow Dash, neither me nor you are idiot so I suppose I don’t have to repeat my question or explain my purpose,” said Spitfire seriously. “Of course no! I don’t love him THAT way…” she replied as she tried to look anywhere but Spitfire’s eyes. “Oh yeah?” said Spitfire. “Then look into my eyes and say that you don’t love him that way.” “Fine,” said Rainbow sternly. She stared at Spitfire’s hazel eyes that were narrowed at the moment and said, “I… I… IloveSoarininthatwaythatyouknow…” “In what way that I know?” asked Spitfire with a raised eyebrow. “Fine, I’m in love with him! Was that what you wanted to hear from me?” she replied angrily. “The exact thing I was waiting for,” said Spitfire with a smirk. “Now let go of me. You know now. Go ahead and tease me,” said Rainbow as she turned her head away from Spitfire. “You mean that you don’t want me to help you tell Soarin?” asked Spitfire. “You’ll do that?” she said happily. “Not if you really like to be teased.” “THANK YOU!” “Now, come on. We have A LOT to do.” “Like what?” “It’s gonna take a lot more time to make Soarin kiss you!” said Spitfire with a wink. She chuckled as she saw Rainbow’s blushing face and wide eyes. “Like I said, we have a lot to do. Let’s go.” With that, she took her hand and pulled her away with her. Rainbow, who was dragged away by her, was still blushing. This time for thinking about what Spitfire told. Soarin, kissing her? That… looked like a dream come true! And the thing that was making her blush was the fact that she was imagining it uncontrollably. “Oooh, looks like someone is thinking about good things!” said Fleetfoot and dragged her out of her daydream. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she heard her. Could people read each other’s mind? Cause if they could, she were so dead! “Congratulations,” said Soarin with a deep frown. “Congratulations? For what?” asked Rainbow with a surprised tone. In her mind, she was begging Soarin to open his furrowed eyebrows. He looked scary like that. “Well, wasn’t it you who shouted that you’re in love with someone?” said Soarin with deeper frown. “Uh, Soarin it’s… it’s not as you thought. You see she-” Spitfire tried to explain but was cut off by Soarin. “No, no, it’s totally fine. I’m happy for her,” said Soarin as he tried to open his brows. With a sad sigh, he picked his head up again and smiled at Rainbow. “I hope he’ll love you as much as you love him.” Rainbow’s sharp eyes quickly caught the sadness in his eyes. “Soarin, you-” “No, really. I really am happy for that guy,” he said quickly. “But-” “Rainbow, I meant it.” “Now let me say something. It was just an idiotic dare Fleetfoot had set up. I had to tell Spitfire that I’m in love with a guy. She said that I can’t do it because Spitfire won’t believe it but Spitfire and I won the bet,” said Rainbow in a way that even Fleetfoot and Spitfire believed it. “Yeah, she’s right. We were trying to tell you but you didn’t listen,” said Fleetfoot. “You mean that you don’t love any boy,” said Soarin with a hopeful tone. “Of course not,” answered Rainbow in a kind tone. Then she turned to Fleetfoot with a grin and said, “Now give me that thirty dollars you promised.” “WHA-”Fleetfoot screamed… almost. “I mean, oh, yeah! Here.” She gave Rainbow the money with a glare that said, ‘I’ll take it back from you in the right time’. Rainbow took the money and snickered as a good plan crossed her mind. “Hey, how about eating a good ice cream with this money?” “Yeah, count me in,” said Spitfire immediately. This caused Fleet giving her a deadly glare. However, the glare was short lived as Soarin looked at Fleet. She lost herself when she felt everyone was looking at her and blurted out, “Yeah, I’m in too.” “Then what are we waiting for?” said Soarin happily. Spitfire started walking and Soarin soon joined her as they made their way out of the school. After Fleetfoot made sure that Spitfire and Soarin were far enough, she gritted her teeth and said, “I’ll get that money from you. I swear I’ll do it one day!” “Till that day, I’ll make the most fun of this money Fleet,” answered Rainbow as she bounced her eyebrows up and down. Then before waiting for Fleet’s answer she started to make her way to Soarin and Spitfire who were making their way out of the school. “Where were you?” asked Soarin as he saw Rainbow beside him. “I was just behind,” she answered. Soarin smiled upon seeing her beside him and thought, ‘I would have been dead if she was actually in love with someone else.’ Seeing her cute little smile and beautiful face and maybe a tint of potion all worked together and made him wrap his hand around her waist and pull her closer to him. On the other hand, Rainbow’s eyes grew wide as she felt the warmth of him beside her but she didn’t do any specific action to get away from him. By the way, why would she do such idiotic thing when it was one of the things she wanted badly? So she just let her herself melt in his arm and drown in a pleasant heat that was mostly centered in her cheeks. Behind them, two girls were giggling as they saw everything that happened in front of their eyes. However, a girl who was standing few miles away from their small group, could ruin everything in just a blink. Yes she could. She could do it very good when she was burning in jealousy. “Two chocolate ice creams, a vanilla ice cream and a milkshake, is that right?” asked Ms. Cupcake. “Yep, that’s right,” answered Spit happily. Fleetfoot glared at her and muttered another curse under her breath. Her act not only offended Spitfire but even made her grin! She was annoyed because her precious money was wasted for nothing but she was angry at Spitfire mostly because she was the person who agreed to eat ice cream AND also, got the most expensive thing in the shop. Rainbow had gotten a chocolate ice cream, something she liked the most and Soarin who wanted to show that he’ll do whatever she did, had gotten the same. But dislike them, Fleet had gotten something with the least price which was vanilla ice cream she hated so much. But on the other hand was Spitfire. She had done almost the same thing that Fleet did. The difference was that she had gotten the most expensive thing she could find and that was what made Fleet curse her silently. “Yum! I should really thank you Rainbow for the special treat!” said Spitfire to Rainbow but she was looking at Fleet as she said that. This time Fleet let out an angry groan and huffed but didn’t open her mouth at all. Spitfire snickered and went back to sipping her milkshake. “Was that money that important to you Fleet?” asked Soarin. “Um…well, kinda. I mean it was all of the money I got for this month,” said Fleetfoot. Although that was the truth but that sure wasn’t the reason of her angriness. Anyone who knew Fleet also knew that if there’s one thing that she doesn’t care about, it’s money. Soarin knew that too but he did nothing but raising an eyebrow at her. However, all of Soarin’s concentration was taken away as a pair of arms were wrapped around his neck. Then someone’s chin was rested on his shoulder. “Hey Soar Soar!” Soarin’s expression visibly changed to an annoyed one as he recognized the owner of the voice. “Can you put your arms away from me Fury?” “Oh, come on Soarin! I’m your girlfriend why should I do this? This is common between two lovers.” “As you said, two lovers. Do you really think that we’re lovers?” “Of course we are! I love you more than the world…” “Stop right here. I don’t care if your ‘love’ is real or not. All I know is that you may have some feelings for me but I sure don’t,” said Soarin quickly. “That was a good joke Soarin,” said Fury with a snicker. “That wasn’t a joke. Why don’t you stop lying to yourself? Why are you torturing me by being my girlfriend?” said Soarin angrily. He put Fury’s arms away from himself and stood up in front of her. “I’m not torturing you. I’m just your girlfriend because I love you,” said Fury with a smile. Rainbow silently cursed her and slap her in face in her mind. ‘How much someone can be idiot? Doesn’t she really understand that everyone here hate her? Especially Soarin.’ “Well, I don’t love you. In fact I hate you. Now let me go,” said Soarin with an angry tone. Fury snickered again. “Oh, you don’t understand what you’re saying. I know you love me. C’mon, don’t hide it!” “I swear I haven’t seen anyone more idiot than you in my life,” said Rainbow as she stood up as well. “Is there something wrong with your mind or are you really dumb? Is it that hard to understand that he hates you?” “YOU SHUT UP!” screamed Fury. “No, you shut up!” said Soarin. “In this entire time we were together, I was idiot enough and let you say whatever you want to Rainbow but if you thought that things are as the same as before, I gotta say that nothing’s the same anymore.” He looked at her with so much angriness that even made Rainbow scared of him but Rainbow took a deep breath quickly and put her hand on his arm. “Soarin…” she called. “Thanks.” She smiled kindly at him and right in front of Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Fury’s surprised faces, kissed him on the cheek. Soarin, on the other hand, froze in place as Rainbow kissed him. His eyes grew wide and a light blush appeared on his face right as his big smile turned to a grin. He took a deep breath and turned to Fury again. This time with a much calmer expression but with seriousness. “And now you,” he said. “I wanted to do this for a while now but before now, I didn’t have the conditions. Now that I have, I wouldn’t waste a second.” “What are you trying to say? That you love me?” said Fury with a hopeful tone. “Are you kidding me? With that kiss, are you still thinking that he has feelings for you? Which he never had…” said Fleetfoot. “Exactly. I think we all know what is he trying to say,” continued Spitfire. “I wanted to say that,” started Soarin and wow, he finished simply too, “We’re through.” “WHAT?” screamed Fury. “You heard me. We’re through. I wanna break up with you. There never was a proper relationship anyway. I feel sorry for myself that I had to have my very first relationship with someone like you,” said Soarin coldly. “You can’t break up with me,” said Fury with a winning smile. “Your mother will be at my side. She won’t let you do it.” “But did you forget the promise my mother made? I AM allowed to break up with you if I’m already in love with someone else,” said Soarin with a winning grin that was even bigger than Fury’s. “Wait… you’re… you’re… in love?” asked Fury unbelievably. “Well, at least it looks like you’re not as idiot as you seem,” said Fleet. “Of course yes. And believe me, she’s the best girl in the entire world so you’d better exit my life fully ‘cause I won’t be caring about you even a bit. And know that if you try to make her uncomfortable in anyway, I’ll make your life miserable,” said Soarin in a dangerously low tone. Fury shook her head in awe and opened her mouth several times but nothing came out. Then suddenly, she started crying and ran out of the door before anyone could catch her. However, Fury wasn’t the only one who left there with sadness. Rainbow who had heard everything, (obviously,) also stared at the space in front of her with a blank expression. Then she glanced at Soarin and others and said, “E-excuse me, I g-gotta go.” She quickly ran to the door and in simple words, stormed out of Sugarcube Corner. She just couldn’t believe her ear. Did Soarin really said that he’s in love? What a terrible thing… “I didn’t think making Rainbow kiss Soarin was that hard,” said Pinkie as she munched her cupcake along her friends at Sugarcube Corner. “Of course it wasn’t. We didn’t do anythin’ at all,” replied Applejack with a roll eyes. “But at least we’re sure that the love potion isn’t in her body anymore,” said Rarity as she sipped her tea. “Don’t be sure about that either,” said Sunset as she rubbed her temples. “I think I forgot to say that she had to kiss him on the lips… so now our job is even harder than before. Didn’t you see the things? Well, Soarin did meant Rainbow by that girl he talked about but Rainbow didn’t know it herself, did she? Therefore, she won’t get close to him for some time.” “Well, shouldn’t we do something?” asked Twilight. Sunset sighed. “Exactly but…” “NO!” shouted Pinkie. “I’m still not done with this cupcake.” “We don’t have time darling,” said Rarity. Applejack grabbed Pinkie’s wrist and dragged her with her. “Ya can eat yer’ cupcake in the way but Rainbow can’t kiss her boy in the way!” Girls rushed to the door of cafeteria and tried to get out of there as soon as they could. They were soon out of the door and were running toward school with all of their power. “I don’t think we’ll catch her,” said Twilight between her pants. “We’re already close to school. Maybe we’ll be able to catch her on the way out,” mumbled Fluttershy as she tried to keep up with her friends. Right at the moment, girls reached school. They waited a few seconds to catch to their breath and then they all rushed inside. “Please be there. Please be there,” begged Sunset silently. “Okay, we’re at school. Now what?” asked Twilight. “Ooh! Ooh! Me! Pick me!” said Pinkie enthusiastically. Twilight sighed desperately. “Okay Pinkie. What do you wanna say?” “Well that’s easy peasy. Where does a sad and none smiling Rainbow goes?” said Pinkie. “Um…gym?” Twilight guessed. “More like an empty class,” replied Sunset. “Wrong,” said Pinkie in a singy-song tone. “Duh! She’d go to the band’s practice room. That’s obvious.” “Yep… obvious,” muttered Applejack. “Then what are we waiting for?” said Pinkie. “Good point. Let’s go,” said Twilight as others and she made their way up the stairs where the band’s practice room was. After they reached there, Twilight poked her head inside and quickly stood straight. “What was there?” asked Rarity in a low tone. “Rainbow,” answered Twilight simply. “She’s sobbing. Probably she’ll hate us if we walk through the doors.” “Then what should we do?” asked Fluttershy. “Maybe we should just walk in. She can’t cry forever. Somehow we’ve gotta convince her that she’s been wrong,” whispered Applejack. “Yeah but how?” whisper-shouted Pinkie. Others glared at her immediately. She smiled sheepishly and whispered, “Oops, sorry.” “We just can’t go inside and tell her that she’s the girl Soarin’s been talking about. It’ll ruin everything,” whispered Rarity. “Maybe…” mumbled Twilight. Then she grinned from ear to ear and snapped her finger. “I know what to do! Let’s go in. Just leave it up to me.” “Who’s out there?” said Rainbow in shaky voice due to her crying. Fluttershy stepped in front of the doors and spoke up, “Um… It’s us Rainbow. We’re… um… sorry. We didn’t want to bother you. We just…um … wanted to check on you.” Others stepped behind her when she ended her explanation. Rarity was the first who walked through the doors. She walked up to Rainbow and put her hands on her shoulders. “We saw everything. We’re deeply sorry about what happened.” Rainbow didn’t answer. She just sniffled and stayed quiet. Rarity shot a worried glance toward others and let them know that she needed help there. Twilight quickly caught that and began speaking, “You shouldn’t just sit and cry, you know.” Rainbow looked up and glared at her. Applejack who was beside Twilight mumbled, “Not helpin’ Twi.” “I didn’t mean to be harsh. No. What I meant was why cry when you can do something?” said Twilight again. “There’s nothing I can do,” said Rainbow in a tone that was hardly audible. “Yes there is. You can do a lot of things. You can stand up and be the tough girl you’ve always been. You can go ahead and tell him you love him,” said Twilight. She glared at her again. “No I can’t Twi. Didn’t you hear him? He’s already in love with someone else. Confessing to him will only ruin our friendship.” “What if that girl wasn’t someone else? What if he made it up himself?” “No he wouldn’t. He knows Fury will tell everything to his mother. He wouldn’t take any chances.” “But what if that girl he’s in love is someone we know? Like… you?” “No. It can’t be true. He wouldn’t ruin our friendship like that.” “Friendship? Are you kidding me? Is there anything left of friendship between you two?” “Maybe not for me but he still sees me as his best friend.” “Are you sure? What if you’re that girl?” “No I’m not!” By this point both Rainbow and Twilight were on the verge of shouting. “But what if you are?” asked Applejack suddenly. “Then… then…” mumbled Rainbow. “Then you should tell him that you love him,” said Twilight much lower than her previous shouting. “But if I wasn’t that girl? Then our friendship will be ruined forever!” said Rainbow. “As Twilight said before, we can’t call it a friendship anymore, darling,” said Rarity. “I… have an idea. It might work,” said Sunset. “What is it?” asked Twilight curiously. “Well you see, both of you are right. Twilight’s right about confessing but on the other hand you’re right about not wanting to ruin the friendship between you and him. So maybe you can confess to him indirectly,” she explained. “What do you mean?” asked Rainbow in a low tone. She was starting to find some hope. “How about this? Just walk up to him and kiss him!” said Rarity excitedly. “What? No way! That’ll never make things right. It’ll just make it more awkward even if he agreed to stay my friend after that,” said Rainbow with bright red face and wide eyes. “Well, I didn’t meant it to be like… that. Something more… indirect… I guess?” said Sunset. “Like what?” asked Twilight. The whole room went quiet as everyone thought of a way to help their friend. On the other hand Rainbow’s new built hope was fading because three minutes had passed and no one spoke up. “Maybe… using Bluey’s idea from before would help… but… um… I’m… not so sure.” In the wide, quiet room Fluttershy’s voice seemed louder than ever. Maybe that was why she said the final part in a whisper. Though the whisper still could be heard clearly due to the silence in the room. “Bluey’s idea? What idea?” asked Applejack. “Um… the one about music,” said Fluttershy. “Fluttershy you’re genius! That’s it! We can find a music for Rainbow. Something she knows. Then she can play it for Soarin. This way, she doesn’t have to speak directly to him and nothing would be awkward,” said Twilight happily. “Yeah, but what song? It should be something all lovey dovey. I don’t listen to that kind, you know,” said Rainbow as she stared at Twilight with hopeful eyes. Maybe this was going to work after all. “Then why don’t give us your MP3 Player darling? We can search through your songs and pick something appropriate,” suggested Rarity. “That’s a good idea. There must be something there that you know and matches the situation,” said Sunset. Rainbow sniffled for one last time and reached her pocket. She gave the MP3 Player to Twilight and watched as her friends started searching her songs and commenting on them. A small smile appeared on her face. This was going to be alright. She could feel it. “I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” screamed Pinkie excitedly. “Darling, we understand. There’s no need to scream. Though you’re not the one who’s supposed to be excited…” said Rarity. She said the last part as she looked at Rainbow who was pacing back and forth nervously. “Rarity’s right. Slow down Dash, ya know everythin’ will be alright,” said Applejack who was watching Rainbow. “What if everything wouldn’t go alright? What if it went disastrous instead of alright?” said Rainbow in loud tone due to her worry. “Darling, you know the lyrics and you’ve played on the stage before. Nothing would go wrong,” said Rarity reassuringly. “She might have played on the stage before but the reason of her worries are the fact that she had never played a confession song before. Duh! That was obvious!” said Pinkie with a shrug. Girls’ glares were all she received after she was done talking. Rainbow, on the other side, stopped walking and sat on the solid ground. She wrapped her hands around her knees and rocked herself with pure worry. Fluttershy who was the closest to her was the first to notice so she quickly hurried to her and hugged her. “Oh Rainbow, there’s no need to worry. Even if as Pinkie said it’s your first time playing a confession song. It’s like playing any other song. All you have to do is go out there and sing,” she said with a kind tone. “Fluttershy’s right. It’s exactly like the other times you sang. Like the time you went out there and sang for Soarin about Fury. You didn’t feel nervous then. You shouldn’t right now,” spoke up Twilight as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Rainbow looked up to see her friends. “But it was Fury. I don’t have to feel nervous when I’m singing about a jerk. But now… it’s different.” “Then what about the time Soarin and you sang together for Bluey?” asked Sunset. “We sang together. Not for each other,” answered Rainbow. “What should I do?” “Is there anything we can do for you?” said Fluttershy carefully. “I… don’t know. Only if there was a way that Soarin wouldn’t hear me from the beginning, then I might have done it well but it’s impossible,” said Rainbow and put her head back on her arms as she ended talking. “Hmm… nothing’s impossible…” mumbled Twilight. “NOT EVEN THIS ONE!” she suddenly shouted with a big grin. Whoever knew Twilight, also knew that when she was like this, it meant that she had an idea. “Okay?” said Sunset with doubt. “This would work if we’re not late. News probably had spread through the school, that Rainbow’s having a free ‘concert’. There would be a way if the news hadn’t caught Soarin’s ears yet. We can tell Spitfire and Fleetfoot to inform him when you had already started. This way, Rainbow would do the concert well and everything would be okay,” explained Twilight. “But what if he had already heard the news? Then what?” asked Rainbow nervously. “First, DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE THIS PESSIMISTIC? Second, then we can Spitfire and Fleetfoot to keep him away from here till the…‘concert’ starts,” said Twilight with a happy smile. “Wow,” said Sunset as she scratched her head. “Some solutions of some problems are so simple that I wonder why didn’t they come to my head?” “That’s obvious too. There must be something wrong with your brain. Duh! Simple,” said Pinkie indifferently. “Yeah...” said Sunset with a glare to Twilight who was snickering. Twilight quickly stopped snickering and mumbled something like, “Let’s call Spitfire before it gets late.” With the first words that Twilight said, everyone went quiet and listened to the conversation. Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin were sitting in one of the benches in the yard. Soarin had his head in his hands. Like the times he fought with Fury. The difference was that this time there was no Fury. It was only his worry for Rainbow. The words that Spitfire had told him rang in his ears again, “Idiot! Even if she was a little bit interested in your crazy behavior, she lost her hope. You knew the girl you were talking about was Rainbow but she didn’t know it herself, you know.” ‘Ugh! It’s not helping,’ he thought. He already knew he had made a dumb mistake and he didn’t need reminders. He needed help. “Okay… fine… you can trust me. I’ll do it right… thanks for informing us Twilight… bye,” Spitfire said to Twilight who was talking to her on the phone. “It was Twilight Sparkle,” she announced. “What was she talking about?” asked Fleetfoot. “Oh, nothing special. She just said a concert’s coming up. Ra-I mean… a girl is confessing her love to someone and she told us that it’ll start in a few minutes,” said Spitfire. Soarin sighed. “That boy must be lucky. I wish the same thing would happen-” “-for Rainbow and you. Yeah, yeah, we know,” said Fleetfoot with a roll of eyes. “All I can do know is watch how that girl gets together with her love while-” “-you don’t. Yep, we know this too.” “Can you please not interrupt me?” said Soarin with a glare to her. “Can you two please start going already so we can reach there at time?” said Spitfire as she grabbed both Fleet and Soarin’s arms and made them stand up. “Fine. Let’s go,” mumbled Soarin with a sad sigh. “Yeah, let’s go!” said Fleet happily without paying attention to Soarin’s regretful tone. But Spitfire did pay attention and got sad at her brother’s sadness. She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “I know how you’re feeling but maybe all you have to do is explaining everything to her. That’s why you broke up with Fury anyway. It’s time to not only tell her about what you said back at the Sugarcube Corner, but also about your feelings for her.” “I know but… but…” “You’re scared?” Soarin nodded and looked at her like a lost child on a street. For a second, he looked like the little boy he used to be. Spitfire smiled like a true, supportive, big sister and continued, “I know but you can’t just wait forever. You know mom will start searching once she found out what you did to Fury so you have to have Rainbow as your girlfriend before she gets angry.” “Do you think it’ll happen?” he said with a big grin. “What?” “Rainbow as my girlfriend. Wow… just imagine it! Rainbow… Rainbow Dash… as my girlfriend… it’s like a dream come true!” “It will happen if you just take the plunge,” said Spitfire with a roll of eyes. “Then what are we waiting for?” he said with an enthusiasm that came from the thought of having Rainbow as his girlfriend. He started running after Fleetfoot to catch up with her. Spitfire sighed in relief and muttered, “Glad he was way confidence and optimistic that he didn’t ask what would happen if she rejected him…” However, she started walking after the two till she caught up with Fleetfoot. “Whoa! What did you tell him that made him like that?” asked Fleetfoot with wide eyes as she stared after Soarin who had even gotten past Fleetfoot and was almost at the school doors. “Nothing. Just convinced him that he should tell Rainbow or he wouldn’t be able to do so ever again,” said Spitfire with a smile. “So… what’s the true story?” “What?” “Why did Twilight call you?” “I said the truth. Just… an edited version of truth. She said Rainbow’s planning on singing a confession song for Soarin and it started the moment she called. She told me that I should make Soarin wait a bit till the start of song cause Rainbow would feel nervous with Soarin around. That was all.” “Ooh!...” said Fleet. “I can’t wait to see the look on Soarin’s face when he’d find out that ‘girl’ who was performing a confession song was Rainbow and the ‘boy’ who was her love was only him!” “Yeah, it’ll be something funny!” said Spitfire with a snicker. “By the way, the music room is just around corner. I’m glad at least Soarin waited for us there.” They walked up to Soarin who was waiting impatiently for them. If it were up to him, he would have burst through the room. Probably, he was just waiting for them so he wouldn’t be alone when he walked through there. “Can you hear the music? I can’t wait to see who’s singing!” said Soarin excitedly. “You don’t know and you can’t wait. What would you do if you knew?” mumbled Fleetfoot in an inaudible tone. “Did you say anything?” asked Soarin. “Who? Me? No. You must have imagined you’ve heard me,” said Fleetfoot in an innocent tone. “Whatever. Let’s go in,” said Spitfire and stepped into the room before Soarin and Fleetfoot. Fleet soon followed her and then Soarin as the last one. He stopped in his tracks once he saw the singer. “Rainbow…” he mumbled. She was staring at the entrance door when Soarin entered. A smile appeared on her face as she saw Soarin at the doorway. But Soarin… he didn’t move when he saw her. He didn’t even smile back when she did. His expression was blank. He was showing no specific emotion but Rainbow was way more focused on the song to notice him. She just kept singing happily, thinking that Soarin would know the meaning behind it easily. Once the song ended, everyone in the clapped for her and she grinned happily at them. Most of the students left when the song ended and only few stayed. But Soarin didn’t care about them. He had already started walking to where Rainbow was. “Hey,” he said to her with a strange tone. Like… sarcastically? “Hey,” mumbled Rainbow with a faint blush. “So… I heard a ‘girl’ was singing to confess her love for a ‘boy’.” “Oh… yeah…” “Well, if you’re the girl, I wonder who’s the boy?” “Well, you see…” “BUT I DON’T CARE!” he said in an angry tone. “Wait… what?” asked Rainbow with shock. “Didn’t you hear? I don’t care. Spitfire said it was someone important, now I see it’s not true. By the way, I have some serious job to do. You know, that girl I love wouldn’t stay forever. I have to tell her already,” said Soarin in an indifferent tone. Then he turned around to leave. “Soarin… wait…” said Rainbow. He turned back again and looked at her with a glare. “Is it more?” She looked at him coldly and walked across the room where a boy with a smirk was watching. She stood exactly next to him and announced, “Yes. There is more. I just wanted you to meet my date to the party the day after tomorrow, Dark Night. I believe you two had already met. Just wanted to tell you who am I going with.” Her tone was so cold that almost made Soarin shiver. But almost…. His jaw was clenched but he smiled teasingly when Rainbow was done talking. “Like I said, I don’t care.” “I don’t care as well.” “I guess that’s the end then.” “If you want to be through with every single girl you’ve ever met, yeah, of course. That’s the end.” With that, Soarin looked at Rainbow Dark Night sneeringly and just turned around and walked away. And with those simple words, a strong friendship was easily ruined and even Rainbow’s watery eyes or Soarin’s fists couldn’t fix it. “Ouch! That was bad…” mumbled Twilight who was watching Soarin and Rainbow. “Yeah… that was a bad one,” answered Flash who was standing next to her. “I don’t think they’ll ever be the same friends they used to be. Even if they work things through,” said Twilight with a sad sigh. “Don’t you think that she needs advice or comfort or… I don’t know, something along the line?” asked Flash. “I… don’t think it’ll be necessary right now. It’s better to leave her when she’s upset. She doesn’t really like it when others notice she’d been crying. I’ll go to her when she got over it,” she said. “Okay, fine,” mumbled Flash. There was a silence afterward. Neither know what to do or say. Well… not exactly. Twilight knew. She was just too… chicken to start the conversation. Especially in the way she wanted it to be. “So… hey, what’s up?” said Twilight with a smile that was supposed to be sweet but looked more awkward. ‘Was this the way to do it?’ she thought as she tried not think of the true name of ‘it’ but she failed miserably as the word ‘flirt’ echoed through her mind over and over. “Oh…uh… nothing… new?” said Flash more in a questioning way. “So… what about you?” Twilight tried to smile sweetly again. This time it was closer to a ‘sweet’ smile. Maybe a little too sweet…. To complete the job she started playing with her hair. That seem to work because his eyes went wide and he gulped. “Oh, nothing special…” said Twilight with her sweet smile. “So… the party’s coming up…” “Yeah…” muttered Flash. She was getting close to it… just a little more… “So… asked anyone yet?” she asked with the same maneuver. She just added biting her lip to it. Flash raised an eyebrow. Things were starting to get clear for him. So she was trying to flirt? Then he exactly knew what to do. With a smirk, he leaned in. Closer than he’d ever been with anyone. Even Twilight herself. “So you’re ‘flirting’, right?” he asked. Twilight’s eyes went wide and she gulped nervously. “I-I… y-you… I… g-guess?” she stuttered. He chuckled softly and said, “That’s what I thought.” Twilight just kept staring at him with widened eyes. It was as if he had found the restart button of her brain and pressed it. The only thing was that the information hadn’t loaded completely yet. “I hate to say it, but you’re really terrible at this,” said Flash. “I… I…” “But,” Flash cut in before she get to stutter more. “I can show you how it’s done.” “W-what?” said Twilight in a low, surprised tone. Her eyes widened even more if that was possible and a bright blush colored her cheeks. “You heard me… so?” said Flash as his smirk got bigger. “I-I… don’t k-know…” she mumbled. “Well, here’s an option. I’ll do it and if you didn’t like, I’ll stop,” he said. Twilight didn’t speak a word. She couldn’t. She was frozen like a statue. He took the silence as ‘yes’ and started doing his ‘job’. He started doing it by caressing her cheek with a finger. Her blush instantly deepened and her smile that she had form earlier completely faded. The only thing on her face was an awkward expression and blushing cheeks. “So, you were asking ‘bout my date, huh?” She gulped hardly. “Yes…” she whispered in a very low tone that was hardly audible but Flash’s sharp ears caught it as soon as they were out of her mouth. “Then I guess you still haven’t met her. And that make me surprised,” he said. “You wanna know about her?” “Yes…” This time, the answer was even lower than last time and it was more a squeak than a coherent word. “She’s the most beautiful thing around,” he murmured. “Her eyes sparkle like stars at night, which reminds me, she’s my star in the endless sky. Did I also mention that her smile lights up my world and her blush is what makes me continue living?” “Oh…” “Did I also mention that her name is Twilight Sparkle?” he said with a dazzling smile. “Twi, will you be my date for the party?” he asked with a smiled that could melt stone, let alone Twilight’s heart. “I-I…” she stuttered again but she quickly put herself together. The information in her head had finally loaded completely. “Yes…” she said in a dreamy tone. He winked at her and said, “Thanks.” Then he quickly kissed her cheek and went away. Twilight could swear he still had the dazzling smile on his face but that was the last thing on her mind since she was trying to wrap her around all of the things that had happened all at once. Flash’s flirting… his words… his dazzling smile and… the kiss… they were enough to make any ordinary girl crazy. But of course Twilight was no ordinary girl but still… she stood there frozen and when she finally organized all of the new information in her brain, her knees wobbled and she fell to the floor with her still widened eyes. “Wow…” That was all she could say after that. “I know, right? He really does have a talent in this one,” said Rarity with surprise as she stood next to the bewildered Twilight. But she started giggling as she saw Twilight’s face and the way she was scattered on the ground. “Looks like he really banged your head and disappeared in a flash!” Twilight turned her head to the giggling Rarity and muttered something that made Rarity laugh even harder, “What just happened?” “Wow! He really did something to you!” said Rarity between her giggles. But Twilight didn’t answer. She only sat there with wide eyes and dropped jaw. Rarity who found out that she wasn’t even hearing her, decided to snap her out of her thoughts... well, more like daydream. “Twilight, darling, put yourself together. Your clothes will get extremely dirty if you keep sitting on the ground!” Twilight snapped out of her thoughts as Rarity talked. She shook her head to get the thoughts out of her head, although she knew it was impossible to get them away from her even for a second. Rarity was right… not completely about the clothe part but she was right about the other part. She had to put herself together. “That… that was… he… I…” she tried to speak but failed instantly. It was like she had lost the ability of making a clear, correct sentence. “No need to talk darling. I saw and heard everything. And although your overreacting, but it’s okay since it’s the first time you’ve been in this situation. Also, considering that you’re already in love with him, yes, it’s totally normal for you,” said Rarity soothingly. “Wow…” said Twilight once again and went back to fade into horizon. Rarity giggled once more and walked away as she rolled her eyes. She couldn’t do anything for her but to leave her alone and let her figure things out on her own. She didn’t want to question her actions and the things that had happened before her own eyes and make her look more awkward than she already was… If it were even possible!