A Dash of Shyness

by TM2 Dinobot

Chapter X

Chapter X

Rainbow Dash emerged from the room as pink peppered the eastern horizon, allowing her mother to sleep. Fluttershy remained exactly as Dash had left her, curled up on the bench in the hall. Dash expected nothing more than her trademark ear twitch, but Fluttershy actually lifted her entire head, watching her friend. Her teal eyes gleamed red with recent tears, but now she only sported a soft smile.

Dash flopped down beside her, blowing out a raspberry. She thought to bury her face behind her long mane, to hide away. But Dash found she just didn’t care anymore. Instead she just laid her head across her folded forelegs. Nothing mattered any more.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy offered.

Dash only glanced her way. Her friend hadn’t left the entire time, instead staying in the hall waiting for Dash to come back. Fluttershy was the truest definition of kindness Dash would ever know. And right now Dash needed a friend more than anything.

“What did you mother say?” Fluttershy asked. Dash turned away. “Is she going to be alright?”

“Cancer.” Dash tried to spit the word out like venom but in the stillness of the air it sounded like any other word. It wasn’t fair. “Radiation poisoning.”

“Oh.” Was all Fluttershy could say.

What else was there to say? Scooting closer, she laid her head across Dash’s back. Dash tried to be strong. Her anger flared up at the injustice of the world. She wanted to rage and shout. She wanted to tear Equestria into a new continent. Yet the warmth and love across her back and the tired right down to her tiny bones only allowed her to cry. And in the embrace of her best friend she began to let the emotions run free, just a little. They sat like that, sharing tears of comradery, forged through a common loss.

“I lost my mother too.” Fluttershy admitted after a time.

“I’m sorry.” Dash sniffed. “What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Fluttershy shut her eyes so she couldn’t see the blood.

“Me neither.” Dash could still smell her mother’s fur even as it drifted through the air. “Hey, Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m still in shock here. Does it get any worse?”

“Yes. It gets a lot worse.” Fluttershy could have lied, but what would have been the point in that?

“Oh.” Dash sighed. She needed something else. Anything else. “So,” she grinned. “You like Ace?”

“Eep!” Fluttershy pulled away. “N--no. Who told you that?”

“You did, feather brain.” Dash stared.

“Oh.” Fluttershy sighed. “No. I said he was cute. And my wings kind of…”

“I know. Mommy told me. It was kinda gross.”

“At least your mother told you. I had to have a talk with your father.”

“Okay, you win.” Dash cringed.

“I don’t feel like I won anything.” Fluttershy hung her head. “First I boned my wings in front of every pony at school. Then they all heard that I think Ace is cute. Then I had to have a talk with your scary ex-Royal Guard father. Why is this important? Why can’t they just leave me alone?”

“I don’t know.” shrugged Dash. “I’ve only ever had one colt like me before.”

“What happened?” Fluttershy found herself surprised. Her friend didn’t seem like the romantic sort.

“We were both foals in day care together. He brought me a flower and told me he loved me. I kicked him in the shins.” Dash smiled wistfully. “Ahhh, that was my first fight.”

“Oh my.”

“So what about you? Do you have a crush on any pony else?”

“I don’t have a crush on Ace.” Fluttershy vehemently defended. “I think he’s cute. That’s all.”

“Okay. Sor-RY.” Dash rolled her eyes.

“I just don’t like ponies claiming you like some other pony when you really don’t, and you can’t defend yourself against the rumors.”

Fluttershy wasn’t apologizing. That was the first thing Dash noticed. Looking into her friend’s face she could see a determination there that spoke from experience. She wasn’t going to back off this point.

“Did that happen at your old school?”

“Yes.” admitted Fluttershy sadly.

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” the older filly mumbled.

“Yes you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, I don’t.” Fluttershy hopped down and began walking away.

Dash followed. “Fluttershy! Tell me!”

“I kissed another student!”

Fluttershy yelled. Which, for her, barely equated normal speech levels. Still, that didn’t stop her from turning red and bolting into the nearest unoccupied room. Dash followed, not wanting to lose her again. Fluttershy had crawled under one of the beds. Dash could barely see her in the dusk.

“Okay, so?”

Fluttershy sighed. Her friend was so naive. “When I lived in Manehattan my parents enrolled me at an art school. I showed great promise as a designer, but really I just liked sewing. There was another student there named Morgan le Hay. He was older than me and already had his Cutie Mark, but he was still nice and showed me the ropes, taking me under his wing. With his help I became a much better artist, and there was even talk of scholarships. I was so happy. Working so close together with my mentor, I thought he really liked me. I guess I was nothing more than my teacher’s pet.”

“What happened?” This didn’t sound so bad, Dash thought.

“I decided to tell Morgan. I thanked him for everything and then…” Fluttershy trailed off. “I kissed him.”

“So? Why is that so terrible?”

“Because Morgan wasn’t a colt. She was a filly.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, ‘oh.’ Morgan laughed at me because I was such a stupid filly I didn’t even know a boy from a girl. How could I? I may have been talented, but I didn’t know anything about any pony. I cried and apologized and asked her not to say anything, that it was my mistake.”

“Then what happened?” Dash felt her anger rising.

“That’s when the bullying started. At first there was just horrible name calling. And then the older ponies started pushing me. Then one day they dumped paint all over me. My mother decided to home school me. But... that didn't last long. After that I just tried to hide away from the world, and got quieter and quieter.”

Fluttershy had no idea how she’d made it through the story without crying. How she’d told the story at all was beyond her. Rainbow Dash may have been her bestest and only friend, but this was still a personal matter and Fluttershy didn’t think she was brave enough to share it. Then again, maybe her mother had been right and she was braver than she thought.

Rainbow Dash, for her part, was fuming. How day those ingrates treat Fluttershy with such callous disregard. It was an honest mistake! All foals do it from time to time. Yet the older ponies, unwilling to forgive, lashed out at the weak link. And Fluttershy didn’t have Dash there to fight her battles for her. Well never again. Dash wouldn’t leave Fluttershy’s side no matter what.

“Those-- Those-- ASSES!” Dash yelled. “How dare they?! Come on, Fluttershy!”

“Where are we going?” Fluttershy crawled out, shocked by her friend’s rage, and followed at a distance.

“Manehattan. I’m going to show these ponies what happens when you mess with a friend of Rainbow Dash.”

“Dash, no!” Fluttershy rushed around to stop her. “It was a long time ago. It’s alright.”

“No, it’s not alright.” Dash tried to push around the larger pony. “They hurt you and they need to pay.”

“No, Dash. They need forgiveness.”

“How can you forgive them after everything they did to you?”

“Because they wouldn’t forgive me.” Fluttershy needed to make her friend understand.

“But-- but-- No! You can’t forgive some pony when they hurt you so openly.” Dash cantered off.

Or at least she tried to. She found herself moon walking in place. Behind her, Fluttershy had her tail between her teeth, keeping her best friend from making yet another bone headed mistake. Dash watched, Fluttershy’s eyes glistening with love. A small bandage adorned the base of her left wing where she’d tried to gnaw it off. Here she was, communicating need the only way she knew how. She couldn’t ask for Rainbow Dash to stay; she could only hang on and hope Dash figured it out on her own.

How could Rainbow Dash do anything else? Turning, she hugged Fluttershy. There they sat in the hall, waiting for Skystriker to take them back to school. Things were bad right now. In the coming months they would get worse. But they could take it all on, together.

And together they would win.

Author's Note:

OOC: Just a few quick notes here...

I tried very hard to keep everyone in character. I think I may have failed here and there. If you have any advice, please, speak up. I know it seems a little ooc for Fluttershy to make the first move, but she felt safe, and perhaps she wasn't always as super shy as she was in the pilot and Dragonshy, where a lot of the characterization here is based on.

And yes, in the animal kingdom, it is not uncommon for babies to mix up males and females. Less common in humans, but still happens. In humans we communicate vocally, and men often times have deeper voices. Then again these are talking ponies... But if Morgan's voice hadn't cracked yet... Ugh, head hurt. Regardless, NOT A SHIP FIC!

Also, I really wanted to tell Firefly's story, but as I started writing it, it got longer and longer, and further away from the point of the story, being Dash and Fluttershy and their friendship and fallout. So, this means a spin off?