15 – Standing Together
Chapter Fifteen
Standing Together
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Maybe she should have waited until later. It was already late in the afternoon; if she just waited a few more hours it would be dinner time. Then even if Rainbow did go to Fluttershy’s, she would probably be gone by the time Twilight got there.
But Twilight didn’t wait, and she was already at Fluttershy’s cottage by the time she thought better of it. She considered leaving and coming back later, then chided herself for being afraid to see one of her friends. Argument or not, Rainbow was a friend, and Twilight shouldn’t just avoid her like that.
She could, however, hope desperately that Fluttershy would be home alone as she knocked on the door. Hoping to avoid a friend wasn’t the same as actively avoiding her, right?
It didn’t matter either way, because it wasn’t Fluttershy who answered the door. As was fitting for Twilight’s luck, Rainbow was on the other side frowning at her. “Twilight.”
“Hello, Rainbow. I came to check in on Fluttershy.”
“Decided that you care about how she’s doing after all then?”
Twilight held her tongue. She’d already had this argument, and it didn’t get her anywhere. She decided the best way to address Rainbow’s comment would be to ignore it completely. “Can I come in to talk with her?”
Rainbow stepped aside and allowed Twilight to come in. “She’s in her bedroom.”
For a moment, Twilight had let herself believe that Rainbow might let Twilight go up to talk to Fluttershy by herself. But of course, her luck was nowhere near good enough for that, and Rainbow followed her up the stairs. Maybe she would concede if Twilight asked for privacy, but she didn’t want to accidentally step on anyone’s tail after the blow up earlier.
As Rainbow said she would be, Fluttershy was sitting on her bed when they got there. She looked surprised to see Twilight in her doorway, but Twilight wasn’t able to maintain eye contact for long enough to read much else from Fluttershy’s expression.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy sounded as surprised as she looked, but at least she didn’t sound upset. “What are you doing here?”
‘Well, I didn’t come to see Rainbow Dash…’ Twilight took a few steps into the bedroom, but she stayed off the bed. If Fluttershy was upset with her, it would be best not to presume to get too close. She looked at the floor as she spoke. “I wanted to see how you were doing. Rainbow said you were upset earlier.”
“Oh…” It seemed that was more worrying to Fluttershy than Twilight showing up was. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Twilight said quickly. She chanced a look at Fluttershy to find the other mare was also looking away. “I just, well… are you okay?”
Fluttershy turned towards her and smiled. “I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Really?” Twilight looked at Rainbow, who rolled her eyes.
“Come on, Shy,” Rainbow said, walking over to the bed and sitting down on it. “You’ve gotta talk about things.”
Fluttershy sighed and pawed at her bed. “I guess maybe I was a little upset…”
Twilight nodded. That wasn’t good, of course, but it was good that Fluttershy was talking about it. “Alright, so what did I do to make you upset?”
“Oh no, you didn’t –” Fluttershy caught sight of Rainbow’s look and stopped short. She bowed her head as she continued. “I, uhm… I guess… The way you were so okay with me just going off on my own. Like… Like you didn’t want to be around me…”
“Oh, Fluttershy…” Twilight decided to risk it and took a seat on the bed as well. It was crowded with all three of them on it, but that was just reason to sit closer to her marefriend. “Of course I wanted to be around you. And I would’ve stayed with you if you’d asked me to. Why didn’t you say you wanted me to?”
“I… Like you said, it was better to split up…”
Twilight frowned. Fluttershy had been the one to say that. Or at least, Twilight thought she was. “We could’ve stayed together. Sure, it might’ve helped convince a few ponies, but hardly anyone believes the rumor anyway.”
“They don’t?” Fluttershy asked.
Right, she’d been at her cottage all day while Twilight was figuring out what she could about how everypony was reacting to the article. “Most ponies don’t listen to those tabloid magazines. No one even bothered to ask me about it, aside from that one reporter. So see, nothing to worry about!”
Fluttershy gave a small nod. “That’s good. So we were just worried over nothing.”
“Exactly.” She placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s, smiling when she saw Fluttershy was doing the same. “And… I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said. “And… and I did say I wanted to go alone…”
“Hold on, you did?” Rainbow said. “I thought that was Twilight’s idea.”
Twilight couldn’t resist mumbling, “I told you.”
Fluttershy looked between the two of them. “You two talked about this already? Is that where you went when you left earlier?”
Rainbow grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I found Twilight and we, uh, talked about it.”
And ponies said Twilight was a bad liar. Unsurprisingly, Fluttershy wasn’t buying it. “You two, uhm… you didn’t fight, did you?”
Both Twilight and Rainbow suddenly found themselves very interested in studying different parts of Fluttershy’s decor.
Fluttershy sighed and pulled her hoof away from Twilight. “You two should know better. I hate the thought of you two fighting, no matter what happens. Especially fighting about me…”
“You’re right,” Twilight said. She turned towards Rainbow. Even though she blamed Rainbow for starting the fight and being the primary antagonist in it, that didn’t really matter. Not when Fluttershy was sitting between them, at least. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I should’ve listened to you when you tried to tell me Fluttershy was upset.”
Rainbow scratched at her neck. “Sounds like I maybe should’ve listened to Shy better before going to talk to you. I saw she was upset, and I guess I stopped paying much attention to anything else… I didn’t even realize Fluttershy was the one who wanted to split up in the first place.”
It wasn’t much of an apology, but Twilight would take it. Besides, Twilight had another question on her mind. “If you wanted to stay together, why did you suggest we split up?”
“I… I didn’t even realize it would bother me at the time…” Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m sorry, I know it’s really dumb.”
“No, it’s not.” Twilight took Fluttershy’s hoof in hers, this time deciding to hold it properly. “But you should tell me when something’s bothering you, even if you don’t think it should be.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Okay. I will.”
Rainbow stood up and made a show of stretching. “Well, I guess I should probably head out. Looks like you two are fine here now, anyway.”
“Oh, uhm, you could stay for dinner if you want,” Fluttershy suggested. “Both of you could. That sounds like it would be nice.”
“Maybe another time,” Rainbow said, much to Twilight’s relief. The look she gave Twilight suggested they both felt the same way; even if they had made up, neither of them was really interested in sitting down for dinner together. “I told Scootaloo I’d swing by her place for dinner.”
That reminded Twilight that she still had to find out what Rainbow had told Scootaloo after she left, but that could be a conversation for another time. She didn’t need to give Fluttershy more reasons to be anxious right now by bringing up the Cutie Mark Crusaders, at least until Twilight had the chance to talk to their sisters first.
“Thanks for staying with me today, Dash,” Fluttershy said.
“Any time, Shy. See you later, Twilight.”
Twilight wondered if that was just a friendly goodbye or an actual promise that they’d be talking later. She supposed she would find out in due time. “Bye, Rainbow.”
Finally, Rainbow left the two marefriends alone. Twilight didn’t realize how anxious she was being around Rainbow until she left and took the anxiety with her. Guilt at being so anxious around a friend took up the space the anxiety had filled, but that was soon replaced by relief that Fluttershy didn’t seem to be upset with her anymore.
“So am I still invited to dinner then?” Twilight asked sheepishly.
Fluttershy giggled. “You’re always invited to dinner, Twily.”
Warmth spread through Twilight at the nickname. It was a silly nickname that she had more or less just put up with, not something she was ever fond of. But hearing it from Fluttershy was changing her mind. From Fluttershy, it was like a little ‘I love you’ that no one else would understand.
“Maybe we can have some pre-dinner snuggles though?” Twilight suggested.
“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.”
Fluttershy lay back and held her forelegs open, so Twilight took the invitation and curled up beside her. Fluttershy used her wings to get a better hold of Twilight, so even though she was much larger than the small pegasus, she still felt like she was surrounded by her lover.
“Uhm…”
“What is it, Shy?” Even if her own nickname for Fluttershy wasn’t particularly clever, Twilight still smiled as she said it.
“I… I should tell you when I’m upset, right? Even… even if it’s for a dumb reason?”
Twilight’s smile faded. “It’s not dumb if it’s upsetting you.” She shifted so that she could look at Fluttershy better, although Fluttershy wasn’t looking at her. “You’re not upset now though, are you?”
“No,” Fluttershy answered quickly. “Not now. I was just… maybe not completely honest with Rainbow earlier. I, uhm, I didn’t want her to be upset too…”
“Alright, well, what do you mean?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I said I wanted to take care of the animals alone because I was already upset.”
“Oh…” Twilight frowned and tried to remember the conversation from earlier, searching for any reason Fluttershy might have been upset before they split up. She found nothing. “How come?”
“I… I don’t know.” Fluttershy opened her eyes and turned to Twilight. “I guess… when you were talking to the reporter… I just… I don’t know.”
Twilight wished she had more to go on. “It was a pretty stressful situation.”
“Yeah…”
“Was that it? You were just stressed out about the article?”
“I… probably…” Fluttershy leaned her forehead against Twilight’s. “But… maybe we could’ve talked a little more about what we would say before we said it.”
“Yeah…” Twilight had thought she handled it pretty well, but maybe Fluttershy would have rather been part of the plan? She supposed if the situation were reversed, Twilight would’ve wanted to know the story they were sticking to before they told anyone. “If something like this comes up again, we’ll talk about it more. Okay?”
“Okay.”
With that settled, Twilight turned instead to a more pressing matter: how to best cuddle Fluttershy. She decided to nuzzle her way to Fluttershy’s neck and plant a kiss on it, which earned her a giggle.
“I love you,” Fluttershy said.
“I love you too.”
“We… when we visit your parents, we’re telling them we’re dating, right?”
Twilight hesitated for a moment. That had been what she had in mind, but this recent scare made her think maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. “Well… we can do it either way. Sometimes Shining’s friends used to spend the holidays with us, when they didn’t have anywhere else to spend them. We could say you’re just doing that if you want.”
“Mmm.” Fluttershy held Twilight closely. “I… I want to tell them. But I wanted to make sure that, uhm, that’s what you want too.”
It was so much more complicated than that. Sure, Twilight wanted to tell them. But she wanted them to accept Fluttershy as readily as they would accept a coltfriend. She wanted them to accept that their daughter was gay and for that to not change anything between them. She wanted to tell them, but she wanted to know it would work, and she just couldn’t be sure.
But if she said that, then it would just be giving Fluttershy more reason to worry. When they first started dating, Fluttershy had a harder time accepting herself than Twilight did. The fact that she was ready to take such a big step was important, and Twilight wanted to support her no matter what the consequences were.
“I agree. We should tell them.”
“Okay.” Fluttershy kissed the top of Twilight’s head.
She looked up and smiled, then pulled herself up enough to kiss Fluttershy properly. “Everything will work out, Shy. My parents will love you. Besides, Cadance will be there, and she already knows I’m a lesbian.”
“Shining and Cadance are coming?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah. I didn’t mention that?”
“No. Is… is it really okay for me to come to something that your whole family will be there for?”
‘You are my family,’ Twilight thought. But she wasn’t sure how Fluttershy would react to a statement like that after only a few months together, so she held her tongue. “Everyone will love you. I’m sure of it.”
“I… I can do it. As long as you’re with me, I know I can.”
“I know you can too. You’re a lot stronger than you know, Shy.”
Fluttershy blushed. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”
Twilight planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “If you did, then it wouldn’t be ‘stronger than you know’.”
Fluttershy smiled. “I guess not. So… ready for dinner?”
“Mmm, you mean ponies can’t just live on cuddles?”
“Sorry, but I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Alright then, let’s go eat.”
Fluttershy let go of Twilight, so she got off the bed and stretched. She stopped before walking out of the bedroom to look at Fluttershy, who was smiling.
There was no way to tell what her parents would think, so she would just have to focus on what she did know. And that was that she and Fluttershy would stand by each other, no matter what.
Twilight lifted a wing, and Fluttershy ducked under it to walk side by side to the stairs. She wasn’t the only one who felt like she could do more with her marefriend beside her – both of them were so much stronger together.
~ End Act II ~
And so completes Act II! Here’s some music to finish the act 
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Very sweet chapter.
The first half of the arc was great for showing both of their blunders in very early relationships now we are getting on to blunders in slightly longer term relationships, also great.
I particularly liked the dates that they went on in this arc, very well written.
New chapter 25? Well thank you!
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Going from new relationship to long standing one was my number one goal for this arc, so I'm glad to hear it worked well. Also glad that you enjoyed the dates because dates are a bitch to write
I loved it. I just kinda expected Fluttershy to say exactly what bothered her, but I guess that wasn't really necessary was it?
This is a blatant lie. :V
Angry Rainbow is angry. But at least she's still smart (well as smart as Rainbow Dash can be). I'm glad she came to her senses and realized she was in the wrong, even if she gave a pretty shoddy non-apology. Always nice to end on some happy TwiShy though :)
"You're really a changeling, aren't you?" Fluttershy said flatly.
"I... uh,... well shit." Twilight replied, dropping her disguise.
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Oh shit, the bug's out of the bag!
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now *that* would be a hell of a twist
And it's only like the third time this has happened this fic.
I think Twilight got replaced by a changeling.
Cute chapter, ignoring my annoyance at Rainbow.