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The Waiting Game5,284 words
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Fool In The Rain (Rough Draft)2,562 words
Taking Inventory1,872 words
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In My Eyes1,025 words

Fool In The Rain (Rough Draft)

Author's Note:

This is the original version of the first chapter of fool in the rain, and how it would've looked like without prereading. I shudder at the thought.
The final published draft can be found HERE

Fluttershy liked puddles. There was something about those little reflective pools that made her want to smile. Maybe it was how the sunlight peeking through the clouds reflected off of them, or the cool splash when she stepped in one. It wasn’t so much the puddle she liked as the rain. Even more than the puddles, Fluttershy welcomed the rain. She couldn’t explain it, but there was a novelty to letting the cold drops splash against her, like a natural shower.

Fluttershy felt a lone drop fall onto her snout. The drop stayed there for a moment, and Fluttershy could just see it in the corner of her eye. It slowly started to roll down her cheek and fell to the ground. She could see the spot where it landed – one wet spot in an expanse of dirt that had gone for too long without it.

She looked up at the sky. The pegasi weren’t quite done with the storm yet, but stray drops were known to fall ahead of schedule. She felt another drop land on the top of her head. Another rolled down her back. She could see the spots all over now, the ground slowly but surely having its thirst quenched. Soon a steady sheet fell downward, everything around her turning a shade darker with saturation. A songbird darted across her vision, taking sanctuary in a nearby pine tree. The ponies took cover as well.

Across the park, she could see her friends Applejack and Rarity, who had spent a good part of the afternoon getting the park ready for the storm. Or at least, Applejack was getting it ready. Rarity didn’t seem to be doing much of anything. But on the other hoof, Applejack’s way of doing things was equally futile. Why tear down the branches when everypony will be inside anyway? There wouldn’t be anything for them to fall on; even the animals would take cover in a storm like this one.

As the rainfall came harder and harder, the tension between the two mares grew. Even from a distance, she could see the strained look on Applejack’s face and the almost pathetic one on Rarity’s. Then the shouting came, and although she couldn’t hear it over the rain, she could tell it was getting pretty heated, just as the temperature was beginning to drop. She was shivering, but not really noticing all that much. What was a little shivering to enjoy the lovely scenery?

So far, those two had been the funniest of her newfound friends to watch. They constantly bickered, never agreeing on anything. It was almost as if when one of them made a statement, the other came up with the opposite opinion just so they could argue. It was fun to watch, so long as it stayed as harmless as it was. Of course, she wouldn’t ever wish any true problems on any of her friends – or anypony, for that matter – but it was funny. Neither of them really meant any harm, and both of them knew that, deep down.

Fluttershy knew all this, but she wouldn’t tell either of them about it. She’d always considered herself a good judge of character, but that was just it: she was a judge, not a spokesperson. She was content to keep her thoughts within herself, rather than feeling the need to share her opinions with others. She couldn’t understand that sort of mindset. Why share those thoughts with others all the time?

Presently, Fluttershy felt like getting up. She took a first step, her hooves making a satisfying squishing sound in the mud. She didn’t care what Rarity said, this was just like a spa to her. The rain poured torrentially, threatening the lives of countless roof shingles and gutters around Equestria. Gradually, she found her balance in the thick mud, and trudged along at a walking pace.

She found her way to the path that ran through the middle of the park, which was holding up a little bit better than the rest of the ground, and headed into town. She passed house after house, seeing much the same thing at each: shades drawn, candles lit, and chimnies billowing out smoke. She couldn’t understand why ponies couldn’t stand weather. This wasn’t a town full of unicorns, but the more rugged pegasi and earth pony breeds, who in the past had weathered far harder. And yet, they all stayed inside.

Perhaps that was why she enjoyed the rain so much. It was the one time she could truly be alone and enjoy things her way. She felt far surer about herself when she was alone. There was nopony to prove her wrong, nor anypony to laugh if she made a mistake or did something silly. No pressure, no need to contribute to some silly social convention.

But of course, there were ponies on the other side of the spectrum, like Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy could never quite figure Pinkie out. Most of the time, she was jovial and festive, bouncing off the walls. But other times, she’d suddenly become depressed. There wasn’t any grey area between. There was happy Pinkie; there was sad Pinkie. Fluttershy didn’t understand either side of it. She was not trusting enough in others to be as open a book as Pinkie, but she couldn’t grasp why somepony would get as sad as Pinkie did. When Fluttershy cried, she wasn’t sad, she was afraid.

Looking around, Fluttershy realized she’d wandered halfway across town, a good mile from her house, based on the buildings around her. Not only that, but she was starting to shiver. Even in the summer, rain could be cold. She wanted to go home. She tried to open up her wings, but they remained locked to her sides. They did the same thing every time she got nervous, only this time she wasn’t nervous; she was frozen.

She bit her lip to stop her teeth chattering, but she was too numb to feel them pressing down. She needed to get inside quickly if she didn’t want to end up a living popsicle. She looked left and right, seeing only lowered shades and closed doors halfway up the street. But just a bit farther, she thought she could make out something different through the gloom. Something … pink, perhaps? Whatever it was, it seemed a lot more inviting than the torrential downpour she was in now. Fluttershy liked rain, sure, but she didn’t like drowning in it.

She made a beeline for the pink thing as fast as her trembling legs could carry her. Already she could picture a nice warm fireplace and a mug of warm hot chocolate. And being warm. She was so caught up in her fantasies she didn’t realize what the pink thing was until after she ran into it, or rather, her.

“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing out here?” she asked, helping her pink friend out of the puddle she’d been knocked into. Normally, she’d be apologizing all over the place, but being cold has a way of making ponies a bit shorter than usual.

At any rate, Pinkie didn’t seem to mind being drenched. Either that or giggling was suddenly her way of showing anger. “What am I doing out here? What are you doing out here, silly?”

Fluttershy thought about that for a moment, but decided she didn’t really have a good answer. “Is it alright if I come in? It’s a bit cold out here.”

“Well why didn’t you just say so?!”

“I just did,” Fluttershy deadpanned.

“Yeah, suuuuure you did,” said Pinkie with a sly grin. “Just let me get Gummy and I’ll follow you in!”

“Gummy?”

“Yeah, Gummy!” Pinkie said, pointing to the same puddle she’d crawled out of. “He likes swimming around in the puddles when it rains.”

Fluttershy shook her head. The reptile was wearing the same neutral expression it always did. She’d often wondered about Pinkie’s innate ability to understand what Gummy was thinking. It was something she could relate to, after all. She followed her friend inside Sugarcube Corner, the light and warmth beckoning her.

“Thank you so much for letting me in, Pinkie. You have no idea how cold it is out there.”

Pinkie shut the door behind them. “Of course I do, Fluttershy. You pushed me into a puddle, remember?”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” she said with a weak smile.

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” the earth pony replied as she climbed the stairs to the upper story. “I’m going to get some towels. Make yourself comfortable.”

“A towel does sound nice,” Fluttershy thought, walking to the nearest booth. She was about to sit down when she was interrupted by a loud thud. Then another. And another. When all was said and done, Pinkie lay at the bottom of the stairs in a bit of a compromising position, towels flung all over the floor.

“You didn’t sit down, did you?!” Pinkie shouted.

“Uh … no, but didn’t you say I could?”

“No! Well … yeah, but you can’t! The Cakes would get really mad if I got everything all wet.” Fluttershy chuckled, her face lighting up for the first time since the rain started falling. There was just something about Pinkie that could always make her smile, feel a little less unsure of herself.

“You want some help up?” she asked, deciding not to point out that Pinkie could’ve used one of her dozen towels to dry up any mess she made. Pinkie nodded, and soon ten towels and one pony were back where they ought to be. Fluttershy had restored order to Pinkie, or whatever could be considered order for a mare who could literally bounce off walls.

“You wanna head upstairs?” The mare in question proposed. “I got a fire going in the fireplace.”

“Yes, I’d love that, thank you very much.”

After drying off – and what a great feeling it was – the pair headed upstairs. Fluttershy smiled. She loved being inside more than anypony, but there was something about being inside tonight that felt just right. As they reached the top of the stairs, Pinkie opened up the door on the right. Fluttershy could feel the warmth from out in the hall. It was splendid.

“Well, are you going to come in or not?” Pinkie asked, pushing another log into the fire with a hoof.

Fluttershy nodded, joining her friend next to the fire. The two sat there for a bit, letting the warmth dry out their coats and manes. She closed her eyes, enjoying the bliss as the warmth seeped into her, warming her down to the bones. As one part of her body dried, she turned so the fire could dry another, like a marshmallow, turned to be perfectly cooked on all sides. It was in the process of doing this that she heard Pinkie break the silence.

“You never answered my question, you know.”

Fluttershy still had her eyes closed, smiling. “What question?”

“Why were you out in the rain?”

Fluttershy’s eyes shot open. She was hoping Pinkie had already forgotten about it. Leave it to the mare to lose her short attention span long enough to ask her unwanted questions. “I was just taking a walk,” she said half-truthfully.

Pinkie knew better. “Okay, nopony goes out into a cold downpour just because they want to go on a walk. That would be cah-razay!”

“Okay, fine. I just needed a bit of time to think.”

“Why not just think inside?” Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy hated how much sense her friend was making sense that the moment. “I don’t know, maybe I just wanted to be alone.”

Pinkie gasped. “But why would you ever want to be alone? It’s so much fun to have all your friends around, why would you want to miss out on all that?”

“Well, Pinkie, I don’t have that many friends.”

“Sure you do. You’ve got Twilight, Rarity, Dashie, AJ, and best of all, me! What more could you ask for?”

Fluttershy sighed in exasperation. “Pinkie, that’s only five friends.”

“I wasn’t even finished yet!” she exclaimed. “What about the spa ponies? You’ve been going there every week for years now. I’m sure they’re your friends by now, right?”

“Well, I guess for a certain point of-

“Ooh, and what about Big Mac? You seem to talk to him a lot at my parties.”

“Well, I suppose I can relate to him a bit,” Fluttershy admitted, blowing a wisp of newly-dried mane off of her face. “He’s nice.”

“Exactly, and don’t you like hanging out with him? Or Lotus? Or me?”

Fluttershy stood up, running a towel down her coat to get the last of the water the warm fire had missed. She felt a lot better now; dry and warm, inside and out. “I know it’s probably hard for you to understand, Pinkie, but sometimes I don’t like being around other ponies. Sometimes it scares me.”

“Well of course it’s a bit scary, Fluttershy. What fun would anything be if it weren’t a bit frightening?”

“I’ve always preferred to not get scared if I can help it,” Fluttershy said honestly.

Pinkie followed her friend’s lead, shaking her head to get the water out of her ears before standing up. “What, you don’t get a kick out of a walk in the Everfree, a quest for an ancient relic, a fight against a huge dragon? Haven’t you ever ramped around the house like Daring Do, jumping from chair to chair like rocks in a pool of lava?”

“Not that I can recall,” Fluttershy said, smiling a bit at Pinkie’s over-the-top presentation.

“Not even when you were an itty-bitty filly?”

“Maybe when I was little, I guess. But I was still by myself when I did that sort of thing. I never really liked to be around other ponies. And why do you care so much?”

“Because I really care about you, Flutters … as a friend, I mean.” She finished with a bit of an awkward smile. “Fluttershy, do you think I was always like this, you know, bouncing off the walls?”

“Well, I suppose I’ve never thought about it,” she replied lamely. “I’m really sorry if that makes you feel bad or anything. I wasn’t trying to!”

Pinkie put a hoof around her friend. “No reason to feel down, silly. If you hadn’t told me just a few seconds ago, I never would’ve guessed you were the type to go romping around the living room.”

“Pinkie, I said I did that sometimes.”

“But isn’t that enough? There’s that little spark in there, that little voice that’s shouting ‘I want to try something new’. You’ve just got to go looking for it, that’s all!”

“But how am I supposed to look for something like that?” she asked

“With the help of a good friend,” Pinkie said, smiling from ear to ear.

Fluttershy sighed. This was going to be a long, long night.

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