6 - Intervention (Stare Master)
For Rainbow Dash, is was common practise when clearing the sky to always save herself a single cloud – the softest, comfiest one she could find – so that she could take a well-deserved nap after her day's work. So anyone looking from down below in the Town Square that evening would assume that was what she was doing.
In truth, she couldn't sleep. She stared up at the clear, reddening sky with a frown, as half-thoughts of yellow and pink played through her mind. It'd been a long week without Fluttershy's company to keep her busy. Though they hadn't been dating for that long, it'd only taken a couple of days apart to realise just how much extra time they'd been spending together. Between that and missing the warm feeling their newfound intimacy had given her, it went without saying that Rainbow wasn't feeling too awesome after what happened that night. But what could she do?
'Talk to her, maybe?' her scathing thoughts suggested. She blew out a breath through her nose. 'And say what, exactly? “So, I know I ran off like an idiot after you opened up to me, but can we still do kissing and stuff?” Maybe I should buy her flowers or something to make up... No, that's stupid.'
As always, her thoughts were getting her nowhere, so it was probably just as well that Pinkie Pie broke her out of them.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” she called from below. “Are you up there? Are you napping? Hellooo!”
Rainbow kept staring upwards. She debated hiding first, or pretending to be asleep. Then she thought about flying off to find a quieter place. Ultimately though, she knew that once Pinkie had found her napping cloud, there was no getting away from her. She stretched, then lazily rolled over so that her head poked down over the edge of the cloud. “Hey, Pinkie. What's up?”
Pinkie Pie was wearing a pair of saddlebags filled to the brim with what were unmistakably, and unsurprisingly, party supplies. She was also grinning from ear to ear. Rainbow would've bet good money on what her friend was about to say, if she had the energy.
“So, Fluttershy rescued Twilight from a monster in the Everfree Forest, and we--”
“Whoa, whoa. What?” said Rainbow, straightening up. Safe to say, she would've lost that bet. “A monster?”
“Uh huh,” said Pinkie. “A cockatrice turned her to stone when she went to visit Zecora and--”
“What?!” Rainbow jumped down from her cloud and landed heavily in front of Pinkie, panic gripping her. “Fluttershy got turned to stone?”
Pinkie giggled and poked her on her nose. “No, silly. Twilight got turned to stone. Fluttershy's the one who saved her. She's a hero!”
“...Oh,” said Rainbow, feeling the building tension drain out of her muscles. Not that it was good news that Twilight got turned to stone, but it was a relief that Fluttershy didn't. That felt like a pretty messed up way of looking at it... “Well, are they alright?” she said, trying not to dwell. “And don't touch my nose.”
“They're fine, obviously.” Pinkie rolled her eyes, as if it was a silly question. “But anyway, Twilight decided to throw a 'Thanks for saving my life' party for Fluttershy, to say, well...”
“Thanks for saving my life?” Rainbow guessed, rolling her eyes too. “Yeah. I'm guessing that was your idea.”
“Well, duh! So, it's going down tonight. You wanna come?”
Rainbow glanced down at the ground, then looked off to one side. “I don't know. I guess Fluttershy's gonna be there, huh.”
Pinkie gave her a questioning smile. “Um, she's kind of the guest of honour. I did mention that it was a party for Fluttershy, right?”
Rainbow rolled her neck, suddenly feeling very tired. She didn't want to analyse what that meant, but she knew that she didn't feel like a party right now. “Ah, sorry, Pinkie. I've had a pretty long day, y'know? I think I'm just gonna head home and get an early night.” She turned and flapped her wings. “You guys have fun though. See ya.”
“Wait!”
Rainbow was already in the air when Pinkie called out. She could've pretended not to hear, flown off in a flash, and Pinkie probably wouldn't have followed her. Probably. But something about the urgency in Pinkie's voice made her stop. She sighed and turned around.
The almost-permanent smile on Pinkie's face had disappeared, replaced with a frown and a furrowed brow. She just stared for a moment, then said, “Are you mad at her?”
“Who?” said Rainbow, though she knew perfectly well.
“Fluttershy.”
Rainbow glanced off to the side again. “No. 'Course not. Why would I be?”
“Then, is she mad at you?”
“What's that got to do with anything?”
“I was just wondering why you're avoiding her.”
With a very fake look of bemusement on her face, Rainbow landed and walked back to Pinkie. “What're you talking about? I'm not avoiding her.”
“Then how come you asked whether Fluttershy was coming to the party, then said you weren't coming when I said that she was?”
Rainbow blinked at her. That was a pretty good point. She hadn't tried very hard to hide the reason she didn't want to go. Thinking about it, part of her probably wanted to talk about it, though she was afraid to admit it.
With no immediately obvious way to wriggle out of it though, Rainbow sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I did something dumb after the Best Young Flyer competition. Really dumb. And I'm pretty sure I hurt her feelings.”
Pinkie's frown deepened. “Aw, bummer.”
“Yeah, that's one word for it.” Rainbow shrugged. “So yeah, I'm pretty sure she's mad at me.”
There was a moment of silence between them as they both stared at the ground.
“You're not gonna keep avoiding her forever though, right?” said Pinkie. “Because it'd be kind of hard to stay friends if you did that... And that'd be a real bummer.”
“I don't know,” Rainbow huffed. “I don't know what to do. I still wanna be... friends--” She winced, hoping that Pinkie hadn't noticed the hesitation. “--but I think I really screwed up this time. I don't know what to say to her.”
“Have you tried 'sorry'?” said Pinkie. “That's a good place to start.”
Rainbow snorted. “It's a little bigger than 'sorry', Pinkie Pie.”
“Are you sure? Because you two are super good friends, and Fluttershy's pretty understanding, you know. Like this one time, she brought a critter she'd found to show me, because she thought I might like it as a pet. Except it was a rat! And I'm kinda terrified of rats – which is a whole different story – so I screamed and ran away. I only stopped when I got all the way to the other side of town, but then I realised that I probably should've said something, because she didn't do anything wrong but I knew it must've looked that way.”
She paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “Anyway, even though I was really scared of seeing the rat again, I went and found Fluttershy to apologise for hurting her feelings. And even though she was upset, once I explained why I ran away and said sorry, she understood and forgave me.
True story,” Pinkie finished, smiling again now. She shrugged. “Just thought that might be relevant.”
Rainbow stared at her for a very long moment. Pinkie stared back, her smile never wavering, even as Rainbow narrowed her eyes in suspicion of the eerily relevant story. 'She can't know... can she?' Rainbow took note never to play poker with Pinkie.
“So!” said Pinkie, before Rainbow could stare too long into those eyes. “You gonna come or what?”
Rainbow looked defiantly away again. “Fluttershy still gonna be there?”
“Aw, c'mon, Dashie.” Pinkie stepped closer and leant forward, trying to meet her eyes. “I'll make sure she gets there early, so you guys can have a talk before everyone else gets there.”
“I don't know—”
“Pleeeease?”
Rainbow groaned. 'She's gonna beg until I say yes, isn't she?' She curled her lip and looked up at the sky again. 'Well, I guess she's right. I can't avoid it forever. And it's worth a shot if it means things might go back to normal. I just hope she's not too mad at me...'
“Fine,” said Rainbow, bringing a hoof up to rub her head. “Fine. Set it up. I'll be there.”
Rainbow Dash touched down outside Sugarcube Corner later that evening, immediately noticing the balloons over the door. The bakery would be closed now, but the lights were on inside, ready for the party.
She rolled her neck and pushed open the door before she could give it a second thought, or chicken out. The door chimes tinkled as she entered the colourfully decorated room. She had to give Pinkie Pie her credit – she sure knew how to make a party look good. There were streamers, balloons, snacks and a punch bowl, coloured tablecloths, and there was even a banner that read, “Thanks for saving my life, Fluttershy!” with small print below it reading, “From Twilight.”
“Rainbow!”
The voice made Rainbow's body tense up. She hadn't noticed Fluttershy in the corner, but now she was coming towards her... with a smile on her face and no hint of anger in her step. It probably shouldn't have seemed odd that she was happy to see Rainbow, but it did. “Hey, pal,” she said, finding a somewhat painful smile of her own.
“I was hoping you'd be here,” said Fluttershy, stopping just short of her. “I've been meaning to come and talk to you.”
Rainbow scratched her neck. “Yeah. That's kind of why I'm here, too.”
Fluttershy blinked. “Oh. Okay, you go first.”
'Right...' Rainbow's smile faded, and she averted her eyes, unable to help it. 'Going first. Here goes, I guess.'
“Look,” she sighed. “I... I really screwed up the other night. I didn't think it through, I acted stupidly, I-- I get it if you're mad at me. Heck, I'm mad at me. I was only trying to look out for you, but I did it in just about the dumbest way possible. I'm sorry.”
'Great, Dash. Lamest apology ever,' she thought with a wince.
There was a long silence, long enough for Rainbow to work up the courage to look up. The look on Fluttershy's face could only be described as dumbfounded – as if the apology was completely unexpected. Or maybe it was just taking her a moment to process how stupid it sounded. Finally, after way too long, she shook herself. “O-oh, goodness. Well, thank you for apologising, that's very considerate of you. But it's really alright, I'm not mad at you.”
That was near the bottom of the list of things Rainbow expected her to say. But it was on there. Rainbow shook her head and her frown deepened. “You don't have to say that. You've got every right to be mad--”
“But I'm not!” said Fluttershy. “Really. I mean, I was quite upset right after you left. It all happened so fast, and I didn't understand. But once I'd calmed down--” Rainbow cringed. She had a distinct feeling that 'calmed down' meant 'stopped crying'. “--and once I'd had a chance to think about what you said, I... Well, I think you were right.”
“I was?” said Rainbow, finding that even harder to believe. She'd spent a whole week thinking about what she did, and she was pretty sure that she wasn't right.
Fluttershy though, just nodded and continued, as if it was nothing. “With how well everything had been going between us, I didn't even stop to consider what it might mean to take the next step. I mean, I had been thinking about-- Um...” She gulped.
Rainbow felt her cheeks heating up, but she played it off. “You can say sex, Fluttershy. I'm not gonna run off again.”
Fluttershy's face went very red. “W-well, yes, I had been thinking about That over the past few days. When you said that morning that I should ask for what I want, it got me thinking even more. And then, after the competition, I just got so excited for you that I thought... that was the night.”
Rainbow lowered her eyes to the ground and had to swallow a lump in her throat. “It was what you wanted, huh?”
“I thought it was, at the time,” said Fluttershy, her voice quieter now. “But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it might've been a mistake.” She paused. When Rainbow looked up at her, Fluttershy took a step back and stammered, “O-oh goodness, not because I don't want to be with you! That's not what I meant! Because I do, I really do. I-if that's still what you want, I mean--”
“'Course it is,” said Rainbow at once, feeling a sudden sense of desperate hope. Though she'd been trying to avoid it over the past week, the thought that she'd effectively broken up their relationship had been haunting her. To hear that Fluttershy still wanted to be with her was... well, it almost made her want to laugh with joy. She managed to contain herself though, as that wouldn't really be appropriate. Instead, she gave Fluttershy a very warm and comforting smile. “Of course I still wanna be with you.”
It seemed to calm her down immediately, but there was some kind of calculation going on behind those eyes as she stared in silence for a few moments. Rainbow held her smile, hoping to show Fluttershy that she really did mean it. Just before it got awkward, Fluttershy let out a breath and found a smile too, as if a weight had dropped from her shoulders. “That's good,” she said. “Thank you. I-I mean, I'm glad. I still want to be with you, too... Oh. I already said that, didn't I? Sorry.”
Rainbow chuckled quietly. Though she thought she should still be feeling guilty, she couldn't hide the warmth she felt at seeing Fluttershy stumble over her words. It was cute, and it suited her well. It was good to see it again.
“What were you saying about it being a mistake?” Rainbow asked, shaking it off.
“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “Well, um, you were right. And I'm not just saying that. Thinking about it, we really haven't been together all that long. And I've never been with anypony before. I think I just got a little... carried away.”
Rainbow nodded. “Carried away, huh? Yeah. I think I did, too,” she said. She averted her eyes when Fluttershy gave her a questioning look. “When you invited me to stay over that night, I didn't know you meant for That. If I'd figured it out earlier-- I don't know, it might've been different. But I was pretty surprised, and confused, and I wanted to stop and talk about it but--” She tried to keep a straight face, but eventually couldn't hide a smirk. “--Well, you're kinda hard to resist, you know?”
Fluttershy blushed.
“I guess I panicked,” said Rainbow. “I didn't know what to do, so I kinda did the only thing I could think of and... flew off.” She shook her head and met Fluttershy's eyes. “It was majorly uncool and I'm really sorry. I feel terrible about it, have done all week. But I promise it'll never happen again.”
After a pregnant pause, Fluttershy smiled. “Apology accepted. And thank you.”
Rainbow let out a very heavy sigh, feeling all the weight that'd been bothering her drift away. She felt pretty dumb now for not coming to talk to her sooner. Maybe there was no need for a whole Fluttershy-less week in the first place. 'And what would I have done if Pinkie hadn't convinced me to come here tonight?' she wondered. She tried not to think about that too much, instead just being grateful that Pinkie had convinced her. She'd have to say thanks later.
“I should apologise too,” said Fluttershy suddenly. Rainbow tilted her head in question, as Fluttershy put one hoof behind the other and hid behind her mane. “It was really partly my fault for acting so... sexy in the first place. So I'm sorry too. I promise I'll never do that again, either.”
Rainbow's face went blank. It took her a good few seconds to process the statement. 'My marefriend will never be sexy again...' She had the sudden, miserable feeling that she'd just cheated herself out of what could've proved one of Fluttershy's most appealing traits.
She was still standing there, staring, when Fluttershy started giggling and covered her mouth with a hoof. “T-that was a joke,” she laughed. “You look mortified. I'm sorry, was it too soon?”
Rainbow blinked. Then she let out a sigh and shook her head. “One step at a time, Fluttershy. One step at a time.”
They smiled at one another. Feeling all the tension between them gone, and with her thoughts much calmer now, Rainbow decided to make the most of the moment. She stepped closer to Fluttershy, so that they were just inches apart. Fluttershy gave a timid smile, then closed her eyes and began to lean in. Rainbow closed her eyes too...
And then the door burst open in a cloud of confetti.
“SURPRISE!” Pinkie yelled, making Rainbow jump back in shock.
Fluttershy fainted.
Later that evening, long after the guest of honour had been revived and the party had gotten into swing, the six friends sat around a table, playing a game as they joked and laughed together. Fluttershy sat next to Rainbow Dash, who was grinning the whole time, overjoyed to be having fun with her again, after spending a week avoiding her.
When the clock struck midnight too soon, everyone took Pinkie up on her offer of staying the night up in her room. Rainbow and Fluttershy did not share a bed. But they did manage to sneak in a goodnight kiss before turning in.
Rainbow slept very well that night. She had a feeling that Fluttershy did, too.
* * *
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Well, glade to see that Rainbow and Fluttershy are back together, but I can't help but wonder if Pinkie is aware of their secret. It certainly leads one to wonder when Rainbow and Flutter's relationship will be revealed to the others. Also, I'm surprised Rainbow Dash didn't ask about Fluttershy's awesome moment against the cockatrice. I can only wonder what Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash will discuss following 'Griffon the Brush Off' and 'The Cutie Mark Chronicles'.
I don't know about the exposition or dialogue thing, but when it comes to give like this, complexity is pretty much always good. Don't be concerned about having to have things simple and to the point
Awesome
6374685 6378020 Thank you both!
6374830 Ah man I knew I'd forgotten something! I wrote about six versions of this chapter, and the earlier ones did make a big point of talking about the cockatrice. It would've made for a nice little exchange, but with the elephant in the room I had trouble making it work. Anyways, I'm glad they're back together too - I made myself uncomfortable with the conflict last chapter!
I'm not doing Griffon - as that'd be before my intro chapter - but I've got my idea for "Cutie Mark Chronicles" which should be pretty sweet. Looking forward to sharing it!
6376090 Right on - I may use the same style for future chapters then, if they start leaning that way. Thanks!