Trixie's Forest Retreat

by crowscrowcrow

Chapter 72 - Recreant

With a bang, Rainbow Dash closed the door to Fluttershy’s bedroom behind her, leaving Trixie and Fluttershy to their own devices down below.

“Argh, that idiot!” She stomped her hoof against the floor.

It was completely unfair that she was taking the blame for this. The whole night had been just perfect, and then Trixie had to pull a stupid stunt like that. She’d offered up some sob story about being alone, then asked for a kiss, when any sane pony would have gotten the hint after the first two times.

“But I can’t say it’s on her now can I?! No, that would just stress her out some more! I’m sick of this.” She wanted to kick something, but everything in here belonged to Fluttershy, and she couldn’t start breaking her stuff.

To her relief, Rainbow Dash spotted the one thing in the room she could vent some frustration on, and flung the pillow from the bed against the wall with a dull thud. “Why? Why does she not get it? I don’t want to like her like that.”

Trixie had been nothing if not persistent, and somewhere Rainbow Dash had to wonder if her little improvised speech about failure did not have something to do with it. Still, it would have been one thing if Trixie constantly tried to kiss her, that was easy enough to deal with. However, what was the most insidious part of Trixie’s behavior, was that she was constantly showing good sides of herself.

Though, it wasn’t like Rainbow Dash hated the little minx, in fact she liked her a lot. There were many good things about having Trixie around, not least of all was just how much fun it was to have somepony that pushed back to play with. It reminded her a little of how things used to be between her and Gilda, but unlike Gilda, Trixie now even knew how to keep Fluttershy at ease. Even if it had taken some time, Fluttershy seemed comfortable to have her around by now too.

“She has friends now, isn’t that enough? Why does it have to be more than that? She’s had that stupid crush for weeks now. Just leave me alone, it’s hard enough already!” Biting into the pillow, she threw it up and struck it, sending it flying across the room into the other wall.

Rainbow Dash trotted over to the pillow and sat down beside it, staring down at her completely unharmed, fluffy nemesis. “We had a good time, and you just had to push your luck didn’t you?” Her voice quieted down, thinking back on the near disaster that took place.

At first, Trixie’s crush had been annoying and confusing. It even led to Rainbow Dash losing her temper and sending Trixie to the hospital, when Fluttershy seemed to be her next target. After that however, Rainbow Dash had found it a good method to control herself.

As silly as it was, as long as Trixie had that little crush on her, it meant she wouldn’t certainly not try anything with Fluttershy. For that reason, Rainbow Dash had allowed it to go on, besides she did not really have the heart to put Trixie through the stress of straight up rejection again while she was still recovering.

She set her hoof on the pillow, pulling it into her lap. Somewhere along the way, slowly, something had gone horribly wrong. When Trixie made the dare to kiss her, Rainbow Dash had not felt that sense of annoyance anymore.

Somehow, Rainbow Dash had gotten carried away in the moment, and her chest ached when she thought about it, how close she’d gotten to even for a moment giving up on Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash knew she really had been a split second away from giving in and actually kissing Trixie. It was only at the last second that a rogue flash of lightning brightened up the room for just a moment, and revealed that Fluttershy was not asleep at all. Fluttershy had been looking right at them with both eyes wide open, then Rainbow Dash had panicked, playing off the whole thing as a joke.

The muscles in her body quivered with anger while she looked back down at the pillow in her lap and punched it. “Why do you have to make it harder!?” It didn’t help.

She didn’t want to feel conflicted like this, she knew exactly what she wanted, so why was she for even a moment okay with the idea of being with Trixie?

“Some element of loyalty I am…” Rainbow Dash mumbled bitterly.

The more she thought about it, the more Rainbow Dash realized she’d been steadily allowing Trixie to get away with more and more before it made her uncomfortable. That particular train of thought was made Rainbow Dash grind her teeth.

It didn’t feel right, Rainbow Dash knew she was missing something. The anger did not go away or even subside no matter how much she abused the pillow. It wasn’t good. Perhaps she needed to talk to somepony about this.

“Maybe Rarity? She’s good at this stuff, but what do I even tell her? Oh hey, Rarity, listen I’m in love with my best friend, which I’ve not told her, but now maybe I’m gonna settle for the witch instead. What do you think?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Right, and after she’s done passing out, I’m sure she’d be totally reasonable, and tell me I’m mad.”

“Mad…” She paused, actually putting the problem into words, even sarcastically, did help her get a better grasp on it. Raising up her hoof away from the pillow, she stroked the creases out of it from her last hit. “…Who am I really mad at?”

She struck a hoof against her forehead. “Ugh, it’s so obvious. I’m the one betraying Fluttershy, e-even if we aren’t together, yet. This is all happening because I’m such a coward… what am I even afraid of? That she’ll say no, and tell me to go away forever? Like that will ever happen!”

In truth, what actually scared her the most was that Fluttershy would agree. Rainbow Dash knew Fluttershy was absolutely terrible at standing up for herself. If by some chance, she confessed to Fluttershy, and asked to be with her, would Fluttershy really be able to say no? The thought that she might be inadvertently forcing the one pony more important to her than any other, into being with her when she actually did not feel the same, was terrifying.

“Fluttershy might only agree because she’s scared she’ll hurt me, or that I’ll go away… and I’d never recognize it…” Her thoughts lingered on the events of the dragon mountain, which had only confirmed her fears.

Though Fluttershy was not much good at defending herself, she was much better at defending others. The only times Rainbow Dash had ever seen Fluttershy look angry were when she was looking out for somepony else. Which brought her back to how livid Fluttershy had looked, in comparison at least, when she send her up here.

“I, I hoped she’d be happy, but she was so angry…” Rainbow Dash swallowed while she recalled the glare she’d received. It made her chest ache. “Did she want me to kiss Trixie? N-now that I think about it…”

Over the course of Trixie’s stay, Fluttershy had always given Rainbow Dash advice on how to get on Trixie’s good side, and talked about how similar they were. Fluttershy even made the completely insane leap in logic to go fly over the Everfree Forest by herself, which would have left Trixie and Rainbow Dash alone together.

Even tonight, the very first dare Fluttershy made had been to let Trixie touch her hooves. Fluttershy had also made sure Trixie would stay with her, instead of return to the hospital, where Rainbow Dash would never have been banned from for life. It seemed almost too insane to consider, but given all that evidence there was only one explanation Rainbow Dash could conceive.

“Maybe… maybe Fluttershy supports Trixie? What if Fluttershy noticed years ago I like her, but she didn’t feel the same? She’d never tell me, but… she might just try to set me up with somepony else? Trixie is a lot like me, so maybe she thought…?” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, it made perfect sense to her, but that had to mean that Fluttershy really did not like her back.

Although it was a possibility Rainbow Dash had spent years trying to come to terms with, actually having good reason to believe it was true felt absolutely terrible. Fluttershy had always seemed to like it when they did things together, and Rainbow Dash had loved every moment they shared.

But maybe, she didn’t? She felt a sharp pain in her chest, and blinked the upcoming tears out of her eyes.

Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash pushed the thought away. This would not do at all. She was Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash for crying out loud, and she was not going to sit around moping in the dark about her feelings. As a mare of action, that was exactly what she needed more of: action.

Rainbow Dash threw the pillow to the bed with a thud and sprung up on her hooves. “Right! All this dumb thinking is for eggheads. I just need to act!” She trotted right up to the door, and set her hoof against it.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Phxntxm]

72 chapters? Oh god

[crowscrowcrow]

4679638

On the brightside, it's in nice readable 1-3k chunks?

[jxj]

Wow, already over 133,000 words. It doesn't feel like it's been to long since I started this fic.

[crowscrowcrow]

4679719

Oh my, you're right.

Funny how these things just somehow sneak up on you.

[jxj]

4679739
Yeah it is. I just realized that I've been home for close to a month already.

[crowscrowcrow]

4679792

It reminds me of this:

imgs.xkcd.com/comics/timeghost.png

[ward282]

This fic is one that keeps on giving. Its pretty much one where I hope to see it in my favourite box every night, this needs to win awards now!

I need more chapters now! Stat!

[crowscrowcrow]

4679872

Wonderful to hear!

I'll do my best to bring the next one soon.

[Phxntxm]

4679677
Yeah I know, still though
I also got a thumbs down for that.

[crowscrowcrow]

4679982

Honestly, I am still not over it either.
Give it a bash, you might like it.

Also, I'll throw a thump up at it to balance it out. It is just stating a fact after all.

[sniper 1232]

Then a changeling copies dashie and gets married to trixie so dashie can marry flutters happy ending untill the canterlot wedding and changeling dash gets blown away! Then trixie gets the alicorn amulet!

[crowscrowcrow]

4680014

Huh, you know, that actually does sound like an interesting premise.

Maybe Trixie would be unaware its a changeling and live happily, and only come back to try and claim the original after she found out she loved a fake that was killed during the wedding. Could go in different directions depending on how closely the changeling copied Dash's personality. There'd probably be differences, not least of all their actual history.

[therealguy_]

Of course another cliffhanger. *sigh*

[jxj]

4679861
Yay, another xkcd fan.

[sniper 1232]

4680025 secrets between lovers are not ok

[crowscrowcrow]

4680045

Well, I wasn't going to resolve the entire thing in a single chapter. So... inevitable?
You know I'd at least never leave you hanging for long though.

[Phxntxm]

4680007
Haha xD it is in my read later list, there's few stories that I read while the incomplete tag is still up. I am interested in it however. Hopefully it is completed soon

[crowscrowcrow]

4680145

Fair enough.
It probably will not be complete for a long time, unless I decide to split new arcs into separate stories I suppose, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Phxntxm]

4680161
I just read rain without rainbooms the other day after it was finally completed and I added it into my read later list in 2011 :P I'm a patient person, as long as I don't read a bit and fall in love without I won't get impatient

[crowscrowcrow]

4680170

A World Without Rainbooms was completed!?
*checks*
... Oh, just the first 2 arcs are, 3th one is still ongoing.
Mhm, interesting way of doing it though.

[Phxntxm]

4680189
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2383/rain-without-rainbows#comment/4675876
Rain without Rainbows*

[crowscrowcrow]

4680200

Woops.
Oh, that one was actually not on my radar yet, it is now.
Funny typo though.

[Phxntxm]

4680217
It was such a good read. I'd recommend it if you like sad/tragedy stories. Also another good story is mY STORY MWUHAHAH. *cough cough cough* just kidding the other one I linked is better but mine has better rating. Eh whatever. I already declared it an injustice, but srsly go read that one it's so good! (The rain without rainbows one).

[fimfic4ever]

So what's Dash up to now eh? I'm guessing the next chapter is Fluttershy's conversation with Trixie, chapter after that things will get really crazy

[crowscrowcrow]

4680544
Good instincts.

[fimfic4ever]

4680736 Maybe I just know you too well, my friend

[Quick Wit -Littlepip-]

I burned my house down at that cliffy... hope you're happy .....

[Phaoray]

4680895
I hope it was a tree house like Twilight's, those regrow...I think. And I'm pretty certain there is gonna be alot more cliffhangers to go before this is resolved. At least if I have any say in it.

[TheGreatEater]

“Some element of loyalty I am…” Rainbow Dash mumbled bitterly.

Element of Loyalty
___________

That particular train of thought was made Rainbow Dash grind her teeth.

made
___________

Dash, Dash, Dash. Why settle for one when you can have two. And everypony knows that two is better than one.

[crowscrowcrow]

5362860

To fair, nopony has ever claimed Rainbow Dash was any good at math.

[TheGreatEater]

5364009

Thankfully she has Mistress of Marems Twilight, and Deviant Bebutante Rarity to help her learn that more is better than less.

[Knight of the Raven]

I feel sad for Rainbow Dash. Good reasoning from her too.

I liked the line 'staring down at her completely unharmed, fluffy nemesis.'

[crowscrowcrow]

5378758
Dang you are prolific all of a sudden. I guess you broke the block?

I feel sad for Rainbow Dash. Good reasoning from her too.

I almost feel like that's saying she's out of character. though it can be excused as something that she considers important enough to actually think on.

I liked the line 'staring down at her completely unharmed, fluffy nemesis.'

How their feud began.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/11/24/771144__safe_solo_rainbow+dash_pillow_pillow+fight_artist-colon-plainoasis.jpeg

[TheGreatEater]

“Some element of loyalty I am…” Rainbow Dash mumbled bitterly.

Cap.
_______________