20 – Lost for Words
Chapter Twenty
Lost for Words
⠀
⠀
Sweat rolled down Rainbow Dash’s face as the heat from the spotlights beat down on her. She barely even noticed it over the thunderous pounding of the drums providing the backbeat and keeping time, the deep rumbling of the bass giving the music a floor to build off of, the roar of the rhythm guitar guiding the melody along at breakneck speeds, and her own guitar solo screeching out above the rest of the music.
Even with the intensity of their show, the crowd’s cheers still reached her. They were screaming her name, dying for every note she could deliver to them, every one of them longing to stand where she stood.
Although the music was already intense, the song picked up as it reached its crescendo, individual notes no longer standing out as all four band members pushed their instruments to the limits. Rainbow ran to the front of the stage, stopping just short of jumping into the crowd that so badly wanted everything she could give them.
She raised her guitar as she played the last notes, then she let the strap catch it as she dropped it to hold her fist in the air triumphantly. The thunder didn’t stop when the music did, as the audience only seemed to cheer louder. The heat rose with the sound as jets of fire shot up from the back of the stage and every light in the building focused on them – four people illuminated in front of a sea of thousands.
Or at least, that’s what would have happened if there were spotlights, or pyrotechnics, or more than one person in the audience. But at least Fluttershy’s cheers were getting a little bit better.
“That was so cool!” Fluttershy carried over four bottles of water, handing them out to the band members in turn. “I love what you did with the guitar at the end, Dash.”
Rainbow grinned and took a bottle from Fluttershy. “Thanks. Think it’ll go over well when we’re playing for a crowd?”
“I’m sure it will.”
“Don’t worry, Dash,” Lightning Dust said, “I’ll still find ways to take some of that spotlight off your hands for you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure the audience is gonna line up to watch the bassist,” Rainbow shot back.
Lightning Dust smirked. “Once they see me playing they will!”
“If we ever get to play a show,” Ringo said as he took off his guitar and set it off to the side. Rainbow had to suppress an eye roll.
“We’re gonna kick ass!” Lemon Zest said before Rainbow could address Ringo’s impatience. She continued to tap one drumstick against the drum even as she took a bottle from Fluttershy. As near as Rainbow could tell, she didn’t seem to be doing it consciously
“Hell yeah, we are!” Rainbow said. “But I think we still have a little work to do before we’re ready to hit the stage. Zest, your drumming is kinda all over the place still. We’re counting on you to help keep time.”
Lemon Zest stopped tapping her drumstick and set it down so she could flash a thumbs up. “Got it. I’ll tighten it up.”
Even though she could be over excited, Lemon Zest was nothing if not a perfectionist. Rainbow knew she could count on her. “I think you kinda got more into the groove of it towards the end, though.”
“Uhm…” Fluttershy brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “I think you might’ve just stopped noticing… You started your solo a little early.”
Rainbow frowned. “Again? Sorry, I just kinda… got too into it, I guess.”
“Hey, it’s cool!” Lemon Zest said.
“Yeah, you’ll catch up to me soon,” Lightning Dust added.
“I think we’ve practiced enough,” Ringo said. “No one’s going to notice if we’re a few beats off, they don’t even know our songs yet.”
“Ringo, you haven’t even been playing with us for a whole month!” Rainbow pointed out. She didn’t understand how he could be sick of practice already, but comments like this kept coming up.
“Actually, I think he’s got a point,” Lightning Dust said. “Yeah, we’ve still got some kinks to work out, but we sound pretty damn good. And we’re not gonna get scouted on our first gig.”
“That is true,” Lemon Zest said. “And getting used to playing in front of people we don’t know is an important part of being a band too, right?”
At least when it was the others, Rainbow could understand their eagerness. It had been almost a year since Rainbow had first started talking to Lightning Dust about possibly starting a band. Lemon Zest joined later, but that was already six months ago.
Still, Rainbow knew Bitchette wasn’t at the level the Rainbooms had been, and that made her uneasy. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for any possible gigs. Playing in front of an audience isn’t too different, though.”
“Maybe not for you,” Lemon Zest said. “Some of us haven’t been in a real band before.”
“Just one of us, love.” Ringo pulled out his phone and checked it, then put it back in his pocket. He picked up his guitar, but instead of putting it back on, he brought it over to its carrying case. “Anyway, now that we’re all settled on the gig business, I’ve gotta run.”
“What?” Rainbow grimaced. “We agreed that we’ll look for one, not that practice is over.”
Ringo didn’t seem to pay her any mind, picking up his guitar case and walking towards the stairs. “Sorry, would love to stay and jam some more, but I’ve got a date tonight.”
“What do you mean you’ve got a date?” Lightning Dust asked angrily. “Why the hell would you schedule a date the same night we’ve got band practice?”
Ringo shrugged. “We just had practice the other day, so I figured this would be a quick one. And hey, don’t sweat it! We sounded killer!”
Rainbow gritted her teeth. “Ringo, we –”
“Catch you next week then!”
Without another word, Ringo ascended the stairs and left the others glaring in his wake.
“Are we sure Flash isn’t still mad at Sunset?” Rainbow asked once they heard the door at the top of the stairs close. “Because I’m starting to think he sent us Ringo as revenge.”
“Flash wouldn’t do that,” Fluttershy said, although even she was scowling.
Lightning Dust took off her bass. “If this is what he’s like now, just imagine if we make it big. Dude’s already a fucking diva.”
“So now what?” Lemon Zest asked. “Should we just keep going without him, or…?”
Rainbow looked to Fluttershy and thought about asking her to fill in again. But when she turned away from the stairway, it was with a dejected expression. Rainbow would probably be able to lift her spirits, but it would probably be better to try and ease into it. “Let’s just take a break for now. We’ve been at it for a little while already.”
“Works for me.” Lemon Zest stood up and stretched, then walked over to the mini-fridge and helped herself to a beer. “Anyone else want one?”
“I’ll take one,” Rainbow said. They didn’t normally drink until after practice was over, or at least until closer to the end, but maybe it would help her calm down.
“I’m good with water for now,” Lightning Dust said.
“Uhm, I’d like one, if that’s okay,” Fluttershy said. It was still kind of strange to imagine Fluttershy drinking beer, or even drinking at all. But even if she was never the first to start drinking, she usually joined in when someone else started.
Rainbow took a seat on the couch next to Fluttershy. “Think maybe Flash knows some trick to getting him to cooperate?”
“I don’t know. I, uhm, I could have Sunset ask.”
Lemon Zest handed them each their beer and returned to the stool behind her drum kit. Rainbow popped her beer open and took a sip. “Nah, I’ll ask him. We started talking again since Sunset suggested him for the band.”
Lacking any other proper seats, Lightning Dust sat on the couch’s armrest next to Rainbow. “That, or see if he knows someone else.”
Rainbow frowned. She didn’t like the idea of kicking him out of the band. She didn’t like the idea of kicking anyone out, not that anyone else was causing problems. But she couldn’t deny Lightning Dust had a point. The rest of them all clicked, both as a unit working together and as musicians and where they wanted to go. Ringo was undoubtedly talented, but he seemed to be along for the ride, and at times, not even that.
“I’ll talk to Flash,” Rainbow said. “We should at least make sure we give him a fair shot.”
“Fine. But can we agree that if this keeps up, we’ll try to find someone else?” Lightning Dust asked.
No one answered at first. Rainbow wished she hadn’t asked. It was one thing to address the problem if and when it came, but to make plans for it when he wasn’t even around to answer for himself just went against the way she imagined a band should be.
“I guess I agree,” Lemon Zest said while Rainbow was still figuring out what she thought. “We need someone reliable. What happens if he can’t make a show or something?”
“He’s uhm…” Fluttershy folded as everyone looked at her, her train of thought stopping in its tracks.
“What’s up, Shy?” Rainbow asked.
“Well… I don’t think he’s quite good enough to keep missing practice, either.”
“Fluttershy’s right,” Lightning Dust said. “If he was carrying us or something, it’d still be shitty, but at least he’d have a point about not needing the practice. Even if he shows up for a gig, he’ll still be the weakest link as long as we keep practicing without him.”
Regardless of how Rainbow felt, it seemed everyone else was in agreement. Even Fluttershy could see it. “Alright. If he doesn’t step it up, he’s out.”
Even though everyone had weighed in on the decision, none of them really seemed excited about it. But if they were going down that road, they might as well go down it. “So does anyone know another guitarist if it comes to that?”
“If we did, we would’ve picked them instead of Ringo,” Lightning Dust pointed out.
“Yeah, guess that’s true…”
“Uhm…” Fluttershy fidgeted in her seat.
Rainbow grinned, her spirits soaring at the thought of Fluttershy offering a replacement. There were only two people she could possibly suggest, after all. “What’s up, Shy?”
“Well, you do know someone else. But, uhm, I can understand if you don’t want to ask him…”
Him. That wasn’t good, Rainbow was hoping she was going to suggest either herself or Sunset. “Who did you have in mind?”
“What about that guy you dated a while ago? Uhm, Pointed Note?”
“Sharp Note.” Rainbow frowned. “And I didn’t date him. We just… made out a couple of times.”
“Class act, Dash,” Lightning Dust said, flashing a thumbs up.
“He’s a guitarist though?” Lemon Zest asked. “He any good?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow shrugged. “He was in a band at the time, they were kind of a big deal in the local scene.”
“Oh yeah? What band?” Lightning Dust asked.
“Seven-Bullet Colt.”
Both Lightning Dust and Lemon Zest snapped to attention. “You know the guitarist of Seven-Bullet Colt?” Lightning Dust asked.
“Dude, we gotta try to get him in Bitchette!” Lightning Dust said, then thought better of it. “Er, if Ringo doesn’t shape up, of course.”
Rainbow scratched at her neck awkwardly. “Yeah, that’s… not gonna happen. We, uh, we don’t get along so well. The first time I met him we got into a fight and I kinda… punched him.”
Lemon Zest went back to tapping idly with one drumstick. “Oh. Guess that’s out then.”
Lightning Dust didn’t seem to mind the turn of events, however. “You punched the guitarist of Seven-Bullet Colt? Hell yeah, Dash! But then if that was the first time you met, you made out after punching him?”
“What, no! I didn’t say that. I made out with him first and then punched him, it was just the same day is all.”
Lemon Zest grinned and pointed the drumstick at her. “You said it was a couple times though. So what’s the story there?”
Rainbow kicked herself for letting that detail slip. “Alright, fine. We met at one of his concerts and got to talking after the show.” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she added, “He said he noticed me in the crowd.”
Fluttershy brushed a tuft of Rainbow’s multi-colored hair. “You, uhm, you do kind of stand out.”
“So, what, you get tired of his cheesy pick-up lines?” Lightning Dust asked.
“Nah, after the show we went to a party. Things were going pretty well until we ran into his girlfriend there.”
“Ouch.” Lemon Zest winced. “You tell her that her boyfriend’s a creep?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Tried, but she didn’t really wanna listen. So I just socked Sharp Note one and stormed out.”
Lightning Dust clapped her on the back. “I’d say it sounds like you taught him a lesson, but making out with him another time kinda cancels that out.”
“Yeah, probably.” Rainbow drank the rest of her beer. She considered grabbing another, but decided she’d better not if they were ever gonna get back to practice.
“So what about the time I met him?” Fluttershy asked.
Dammit, wasn’t Fluttershy supposed to be on her side? Maybe Lemon Zest would drop it if she asked them to, but Lightning Dust? No way, Rainbow was going to have to get through the whole story. “That was at one of Pinkie’s birthday parties. He wasn’t even a guest, he just heard something was going on at the laser tag and decided to crash the party. He went on this big spiel about how he hadn’t told me about his girlfriend because they were breaking up anyway, and that now he was single.”
“Oh gosh, you fell for that?” Lightning Dust asked, her tone halfway between laughter and disgust.
“Psh, no.”
“Uhm…” Even if for just a moment, Fluttershy let a small smirk show. “I did walk in on you two when you were –”
“I’m getting to that!” Rainbow said before Fluttershy could give the full account. No matter how nice it was to see Fluttershy smile again, even just a little, there was no way Rainbow could let her be the one to tell the story. “Remember how I had just broken up with Silver Script? You and Pinkie wouldn’t stop looking at me like I was all super heartbroken or whatever. So I figured, you know, I’d show you two that I moved on!”
“Right,” Lemon Zest said with a mischievous grin. “That’s why you were making out in the dark laser tag room. Makes perfect sense”
“She noticed, didn’t she?” Rainbow shot back. “Clearly it worked. Anyway, after that I told him I’d call him then blocked his number.”
Lightning Dust pushed her playfully. “Once again, class act, Dash.”
“Alright alright, enough of my hookups. What about you, Dust? What’s your weirdest hookup story?”
“Eh, I don’t have anything that interesting. Some of us like to make our hookups work, you know?”
Rainbow pushed Lightning back. “Cut the crap and gimme the details, Dust.”
Lightning played a lick on her bass before answering. “Alright, fine. Remember that at least I tried to let you have the spotlight though, because my story’s about to knock yours out.”
That just made Rainbow grin wider. “Okay, now I gotta hear this!”
Lightning Dust smirked. “Well, it started out in a bar.”
“Naturally,” Lemon Zest said. Lightning Dust was the only member of the band old enough to drink legally, and many of her stories seemed to start in bars as a result.
“All the best stories do!” Lightning Dust grinned. “So anyway, this guy comes up and buys me a drink. We talk for a bit, and he’s pretty cool. Funny, cute, you know, about as good as you’re gonna get from a random bar dude.”
Rainbow smirked. “And you called me the classy one.”
“Well it’s not exactly making out in laser tag, but you know. I make do. So anyway, we hit it off pretty well and we’re ready to take it somewhere else, but I run to the bathroom first. And mind you, by this point I’ve had a few drinks. I’m not drunk but I’m kinda buzzed. So I walk out of the bathroom and see him, and I figure what the fuck, we’re pretty much definitely spending the night together.”
“Oh god.” Rainbow facepalmed. “Did you two start doing things in the bar!?”
“No no, nothing like that.” As her story went on, Lightning Dust’s grin grew bigger. “But I go over to him and practically jump on the guy, right? So I start kissing him, and even buzzed I can tell he’s a little confused. But I figure, hey, he wasn’t expecting me to start things like that.”
Rainbow was pretty sure she saw where it was going, but she couldn’t decide between laughing and hiding her face out of secondhand embarrassment. “Don’t tell me…”
Lightning started laughing at her own dumb story. “So I’m kissing this guy, and he’s just… going at it. I dunno, into the whole spontaneous thing I guess. But then the next thing I know, the guy I should be kissing walks up, and I shit you not, it’s the same fucking guy!”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Rainbow asked.
“So that whole time we were talking, he didn’t bother to mention ‘hey, I’m here with my twin brother’!”
“Holy shit!” Rainbow burst into laughter. She has expected the wrong guy, but not twins.
“That’s insane!” Lemon Zest said through laughter of her own. “So then what happened?”
“They were pretty cool about it, kinda awkward. Wound up kinda ruining the evening though, since nothing else happened.”
“Yeah, guess it would be kind of a mess to sort that out,” Lemon Zest said.
“Yeah, I guess. I could’ve gone home with both of them as far as I was concerned.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure they’d of loved that.”
Lightning Dust shrugged. “Hey, no love like brotherly love, am I right?”
“No,” Rainbow said. “Very much no.”
Lightning Dust just laughed it off. “Anyway, that just leaves you, Zesty.”
“What?” Lemon Zest looked between Rainbow and Lightning.
Rainbow grinned. “Come on! Hit us with your best hookup story.”
“Oh, uh… Pass.” Lemon Zest preoccupied herself with getting something else from the mini-fridge. “Anyone want anything? We got some soda.”
“Yeah, I’ll take one,” Rainbow said, the others echoing her. She waited until Lemon Zest handed out the sodas to press for more. “So this must be a pretty good story if you’re trying to get out of it.”
Fluttershy put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Now now, if Lemon Zest doesn’t want to tell us, that’s okay.”
“It’s uh…” Lemon Zest pointedly looked away. “It’s not like it really compares to either of your stories…”
“What’s the big deal?” Lightning Dust asked. “Afraid we’re gonna judge you or something? I was almost the middle of a twincest sandwich and Dash fucked some dude in public.”
“We did not fuck!” Rainbow insisted.
Lightning ignored her. “You’re not hanging with your Crystal Prep friends, Zest. Whatever it is, we’re not gonna give a shit.”
Fluttershy frowned, and it was easy to see what was on her mind, even if she wasn’t close enough with Lightning Dust to say anything. Rainbow considered making Fluttershy’s point for her, but she didn’t really like the idea of secrets between the band.
“Zest, come on. We’re all friends here.”
Lemon Zest looked between them and then turned to stare at her soda instead. “It’s kinda funny you mention my CPA friends, actually.”
“Sexy private school hookup?” Lightning Dust asked with a grin.
Lemon Zest blushed. “Something like that…”
“Sneaking kisses in between classes?” Rainbow teased.
“It was, er… it was at a slumber party, actually.”
Oh, so that was what she was embarrassed about. Rainbow shrugged, not seeing how Lemon Zest could think that would be a big deal. They both knew about Fluttershy, after all. “Okay, so you fooled around with a girl.”
“Well, yeah…”
“Wait…” Lightning Dust narrowed her eyes. “Which girl?”
Lemon Zest blushed harder and wouldn’t look at anyone. “Indigo Zap…”
Lightning Dust stared wide-eyed. “You fooled around with my little sister!?”
Crap. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to say anything. All Rainbow could do was stare as the situation unfolded.
“Uh, yeah…” Lemon Zest cast a nervous glance at Lightning Dust before turning away again. “Only one time.”
“Hey, you know…” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy for help, but she seemed equally unsure what you say. “That sort of thing happens, right? No big deal.”
“Oh my god…” A grin slowly crawled across Lightning’s face. “Oh my god! Oh, this is fucking great! She’s never going to hear the end of this!”
Even with Lightning Dust’s reaction, Lemon Zest still grimaced. “You’re, uh, not mad then?”
Lightning Dust laughed. “No? Why would I be mad? This is hilarious! Oh man, and she’s always been so sure she’s straight!”
Lemon Zest finally cracked a smile. “She wasn’t saying that when she was reaching under my bra.”
That got Lightning Dust laughing harder, which dissipated the remaining tension. “Uhm…” Fluttershy fidgeted nervously. “Maybe she’s just… afraid to talk about it. Your sister, I mean.”
Lightning Dust waved dismissively. “She knows I don’t care about that.”
“Maybe, but…” Fluttershy picked her head up to look at Lightning. “I knew my friends would be okay with it, but it… it still took me years to finally tell anyone.”
Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. “Fine, I won’t tease her too much. She’s not getting off scot-free, though!”
“So what happened between you two?” Rainbow asked, eager to get the conversation going somewhere that wasn’t Fluttershy trying to tell Lightning Dust how to talk to her own sister.
“It wasn’t like it was a big deal or anything. The whole thing started as a dare, even if we did kinda get into it. But you know, we were at a slumber party, things weren’t gonna get too heavy.”
Rainbow threw out her hand in disbelief. “You just said her hand was under your bra!”
“Yeah, but that’s as far as it got. And our friends were kinda around at the time, so like, I think it was more of a joke. You know, a ‘if you’re gonna sit there and watch here’s a real show’ kind of deal. We all laughed about the whole thing after that.”
Rainbow shook her head. In all the slumber parties she’d had with her friends, there were never any make outs or reaching into other girls’ underwear. “So what about after the party?”
Lemon Zest shrugged. “I don’t know, it never came up.”
Although Rainbow couldn’t see how that could be a satisfactory answer, Lightning just laughed. “Geez, wish all my drunk makeouts ended that smoothly.”
Lemon Zest smiled. “Oh, we were sober.”
Lightning laughed again. “You two just made out in front of all your friends straight sober?”
Fluttershy actually let a small giggle out. “I, uhm, I don’t think anything about that was very ‘straight’.”
“Alright alright, enough about me.” Lemon Zest turned to Fluttershy. “We haven’t heard Fluttershy’s crazy hookup story yet.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy’s eyes instantly shot to the floor.
It was a shame; not only was she still getting used to joking around with people out of their high school friend group, but she hardly laughed at all since the accident. And yet once she finally did, she immediately went back to feeling awkward.
It was probably best to just answer for her. “Pretty sure Shy hasn’t ever done that sort of thing.”
“What!?” Lightning Dust asked in mock disbelief. “You’re telling me that Fluttershy hasn’t been running off to secret orgies!?”
Fluttershy blushed, but she didn’t seem to be offended. “I’ve, uhm, I’ve only ever been with Sunset…”
“Yeah, and you two seem pretty chill,” Lemon Zest said. “Not the type to have wild crazy stories.”
“I don’t know…” Rainbow looked at Fluttershy suspiciously. “One time, I swear I saw them hold hands in public.”
“Woah now,” Lemon Zest said, “let’s not go slinging accusations like that around.”
Fluttershy giggled. “Well… maybe once or twice.”
It was good to hear Fluttershy laughing again. She’d been pretty sullen in the two weeks after the accident, and had just started to laugh again. Rainbow knew there was no way she was even close to ready to move on from everything that happened, but she was doing a little better, day by day.
Even if it was slow, at least Rainbow could see things getting better with Fluttershy. Only with Fluttershy, though. Rainbow decided to use the current topic to try and get some answers on that. “Speaking of Sunset, how’s she doing lately?” she asked casually. “I haven’t really heard from her.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy’s smile fell away a little at the question. “She’s doing okay.”
It was pretty clear that there was more going on than just ‘okay’, but Rainbow didn’t expect to get the rest out of her yet. Fluttershy barely knew Lightning Dust and Lemon Zest, after all, and there was a good chance of that leading to a very personal conversation.
“Cool,” Rainbow said, even if it was anything but. “You gotta try to get her to come here with you sometime.”
“I’ll, uhm… I’ll talk to her about it.”
Rainbow wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. She wasn’t really sure of anything going on with Fluttershy for that matter, so she decided to find out. “So, uh, I was gonna grab pizza for us tonight. Since Ringo bailed, wanna just get it now?”
“I’m down for pizza!” Lemon Zest said.
“Might as well,” Lightning Dust agreed. “Not much point in practicing without a full band, I guess.”
Rainbow loved how predictable they were. There were a few minutes of arguing over where to get pizza from, but Rainbow put her foot down and picked a local pizzeria that conveniently didn’t deliver. Then there was some more arguing about what exactly to get.
In the end they decided on three pizzas – a standard pepperoni because that was almost obligatory, a supreme because it was Rainbow’s favorite, and some sort of vegetable thing for Fluttershy since she only ate rabbit food.
And once Rainbow called to place the order, all that was left to do was go pick it up. She grabbed her keys and turned to Fluttershy. “Feel like coming along for the ride, Shy?”
Fluttershy smiled, as Rainbow knew she would. She wasn’t close enough with the others to want to hang out with them without Rainbow. “Sure.”
“We’ll be back soon!” Rainbow said to the others, then quickly left before either of them could offer to tag along.
Rainbow waited until they got to the van before saying anything to Fluttershy. She didn’t wait much longer, however, turning to Fluttershy even as she was getting into her seat.
“So what’s really going on?”
Fluttershy glanced towards the door as if she might leave now that she knew why Rainbow had wanted to get her alone, but she just sighed and put her seatbelt on. “It’s… it’s been hard. On both of us.”
Rainbow nodded. The last thing she wanted to do was stir up painful things. And if she was sure that’s all it was, that they were both still dealing with the effects of the accident, then she’d just leave it alone.
She turned on the van and backed out of the driveway. “Yeah, of course. I just… I worry about you, you know?”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Rainbow frowned. “Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I don’t want you to worry about me. I’m doing… I’ll be okay.”
As if Rainbow could ever not worry about Fluttershy. She’d worried about Fluttershy ever since they were little kids, and she wasn’t about to stop now. “So, uh, how’s Sunset taking it?”
A glance towards Fluttershy revealed she was looking out the window. “She’s… she’s keeping it together. Uhm, probably better than I am…”
Of course, all of this was much worse for Fluttershy. “That’s good. I’m glad she’s there for you.”
“Yeah…”
Fluttershy sounded unsure, so Rainbow waited for her to continue. She didn’t, however, simply staring silently out of the window.
“Something wrong?”
Fluttershy finally turned from the window, but Rainbow couldn’t make out her expression with her eyes on the road. “I don’t… no, it’s fine.”
“Doesn’t really sound fine.”
Fluttershy made a sound like she was going to speak, but nothing else came.
Rainbow wished she knew what to say at times like this. She could tell Fluttershy wasn’t saying something, but what was she supposed to do? Try to force it out of her? That might just make things worse. She wasn’t like Sunset and Rarity, Rainbow didn’t have the ability to say the right things to get things to happen gently. She was blunt and to the point, and when that wasn’t the best approach, she was just lost for words.
Still, she had to try. This was for Fluttershy, after all. “You, uhm. You know you can always talk to me, right?”
“Of course I know that.”
Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy, but neither of them said anything. So much for her brilliant plan to get the two of them alone so they could talk. All she’d found out was that they were both having a hard time with things, and she already knew that. Once again, Rainbow was useless when Fluttershy needed her the most.
They drove the rest of the way in silence, and Rainbow was sure she’d screwed up. The whole point of getting Fluttershy out of the house was to get her mind off things and have fun. And no matter how she looked at it, the silent drive was anything but fun. The best thing that could be said about it was that it was short.
And then, as if Rainbow was the one who needed the mood lightened, Fluttershy was the first to speak as they walked into the pizzeria. “Think the rest of us will get to actually eat more than a slice?”
Even though it was a testament to how much she failed that Fluttershy was the one cracking a joke, Rainbow smiled anyway. “With the black hole waiting at the house? I dunno. How do you think Lemon Zest puts away so much pizza and stays so skinny?”
“You say that as if I haven’t seen you eat half a pizza in one sitting.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” Rainbow laughed as she walked up to the counter. “Got an order for Rainbow Dash.”
The cashier disappeared for a moment and returned with three large pizza boxes. Rainbow paid for the order, thanked him, and turned to find Fluttershy staring out the window. “Come on, better get these back while they’re still hot.”
“Yeah…” Whatever Fluttershy was looking at made her frown. She quickly turned away and held the door open for Rainbow.
They both walked over to the passenger side, and Rainbow handed Fluttershy the boxes once she was in before going around to get in herself. She started the van and backed out.
“I’ll have to try to learn your secret,” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow shot her a quizzical look before shifting into drive and leaving the parking lot. “What secret?”
“Yours and Lemon Zest’s. About how you two manage to keep the weight off.”
“Oh, uh…” Rainbow shrugged. “I go jogging sometimes. You could come with me if you want.”
“Maybe…”
After another look at Fluttershy, Rainbow realized she wasn’t just looking down at the floor, she was looking at her stomach. As if she needed another reason to feel bad about that part of her body, she’d actually gained weight in the past month.
That was yet another thing that Rainbow didn’t know how to talk about. This wasn’t the first time Fluttershy had made comments about her weight, and it always left Rainbow at a loss. As with all things, she wanted to support her friend, but she couldn’t really imagine Fluttershy going jogging with her. At least not until things had more time to settle.
The topic of Fluttershy’s weight drove them back to silence as Rainbow drove them back to the house. The whole trip wound up being worse than a waste of time, because Rainbow was pretty sure she’d just made Fluttershy feel like crap. She could only hope things got better once they were back inside.
“I don’t really…” Fluttershy said before Rainbow could open her door, but she didn’t finish her thoughts.
Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy. “What’s up?”
“Uhm.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and took hold of the locket she wore around her neck. “I… I’m not really sure what’s going on with Sunset lately.”
“What do you mean?”
“She just seems so… distant. She’s always really calm but it’s like she’s not actually there.”
Rainbow frowned. “I guess… she’s just getting by in her own way.”
“That’s what I thought, but…” Fluttershy shook her head. “I shouldn’t complain…”
“Come on, Shy. Tell me what’s going on.”
Fluttershy winced. “It’s just… she writes to Twilight so much lately. And, uhm, the other Fluttershy.”
Rainbow fidgeted in place. “Yeah, that’s never not gonna be weird…”
“I wonder… sometimes it feels like maybe she’s telling them things she thinks she can’t tell me.”
“She knows she can talk to you about anything.”
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow like she was going to disagree, but then she changed her mind. “Yeah, you’re right. Anyway, we should get back to the others.”
“Wait, Shy –”
Fluttershy didn’t wait, leaving Rainbow alone in the van. Rainbow sat in confusion as Fluttershy saw herself into the house, trying to make sense of what Fluttershy might be feeling.
It was understandable that Sunset was going through a lot, but she should make more of an effort to be there for Fluttershy. She was the one who had actually lost… who needed support the most. And what was up with talking to Twilight and the other Fluttershy instead of the one she was living with?
It was just another thing on the long list of things Rainbow didn’t know. At least that was one way Rainbow could understand how Fluttershy felt – she knew exactly what it felt like to not know what was going on with someone she was supposed to know everything about.
But sitting around in her van was just as useless to Fluttershy as her words were, so she got out and walked to the house. At least once they were inside and hanging out with the others again, Fluttershy might feel a little better for a little while.
If that was all Rainbow could do for her, then at least she’d be there to do that much.
Rainbow Dash’s Equestria Girls cutie mark in the chapter header by Twytchums 
I’ve been dying to write Lemon Zest for ages 
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
967 users online
1,178,220 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I really love the band name 'Bitchettes'.
I was sure that this chapter was a flashback, but it said that it's only been two weeks since the accident. Seems a little early for Fluttershy to be hanging out with friends, laughing, and drinking, especially after that phone call to SciTwi in the other chapter. Still, good stuff, and I'm curious about what's happening with Sunset. I have a feeling with that hint that Sunset's been talking to pony Twilight she's looking for her own solution to their loss. That and SciTwi's issues have me fairly worried about the roads these girls are walking down, and where they end.
I love seeing things from the other girl's perspectives each chapter. We've only gotten to hear from them indirectly up until now, so it's refreshing to get into their headspace. I also think it works really well having both us as the readers and the girls as the PoV characters not knowing exactly what is goin on in the main character's minds at this very dark, difficult part of their lives. I look forward to eventually getting back to the but for now it's building good tension.
9606069
Thanks, I'm pretty fond of it as well
9606152
This is definitely one of those things that's harder to show outside of Fluttershy's head. Spoiler tagged for people who prefer to not know authorial intent, but the idea is that she's having a lot of mood swings, especially when left alone. She does a little better with the band because it's a distraction from what's been going on, but when home alone we get things like the Twilight call. As for the drinking, that's more intentional due to her situation than Rainbow realizes...
We'll check in on Sunset soon. Be a while longer before SciTwi gets a payoff, but her issues will come up eventually.
9606228
Doing these outside POV chapters is one of the reasons this act was so hard to write, so it's good to hear to they're going over well
Him interesting chapter it sounds like sunset is becoming closed of f and we know where that always leads to and it seems fluttershy is at least trying. I seems rainbow is trying to help to. You know the old saying time heals all wounds.
9608346
Time heals all wounds so that evil author buns can inflict more
lol but glad you like the chapter. We’ll check in with Sunset soon
Didn't Sunset play guitar in the Rainbooms?
It seems odd to me that neither Rainbow nor Fluttershy bring this up. Although I may have missed something here, it seems like a good idea to get Sunset moving again.
9612823
Sunset had previously declined to join in an earlier chapter, and the fact that she hasn’t changed her mind was briefly alluded to in this one:
9612837
Yep, I missed that. A shame, because it sounds like Sunset could really use the help now.
So I’m content to know nothing about music and no one else has pointed this out buuuuuut I’m still 68% sure that you can’t have a ‘guitar solo’ while other music is playing; even in rainbowdash’s imaginings of the event being heightened surely she would know the terminology. Because what I like about this version of rainbow dash is she’s not just an idiot like some people depict her as, Unless I’m the one being an idiot and that’s a completely acceptable use of musical terminology.
On the topic of dash I’m so glad that she got her own chapter don’t think I’ve ever read from her perspective in the main WWB (wait just checked and the side story ‘up in the air’ is all dash’s POV) so it was nice to hear the inner thoughts of my favourite.
And I for one support ‘puppet master dash’, pulling all the stings, turning the world to her will.
But I also love how there seems to be more arguing over a bands take out meal than in the monopoly game two chapters back.
And past all the world building, character introductions and good times, we have dash hating her self perceived near helplessness towards the fluttersituation in a different way from pinkie and twilight’s helplessness.
Then the reveal that sunsets socialising across dimensions with the royalty which sounds amazing if it wasn’t presumably just her method of escapism or holding onto the familiar world of her childhood where she felt powerful and in control, I dunno.
Weird how but fluttershy and sunset both reached out to a twilight for help but in completely different ways.
Guessing the next chapter is gonna be sunsety as her and rarity are the only ones we haven’t heard from this act.
9614933
A guitar solo is where the guitar takes the forefront and plays a unique melody. This does usually mean the vocals (which are generally what carry the melody) stop, but even that isn’t necessarily the case. It’s rare to see a guitar solo where only the guitar is playing and all other instruments stop.
Writing from Rainbow’s POV was something I actually looked forward to, since I do like her quite a bit. Plus I just wanted to get to
Not to mention she’s in a unique place here, wanting to support Shy but being out of her depth on how to do so. The kind of thing that a certain rabbit just can’t resist 
Lemon Zestthe band’s introductionYou may be right about the next chapter checking in on Sunset. We may also see more about her motivations with the journal. Perhaps
Pfft fair
No game of Monopoly has ever been as drama-free as the one from the other chapter 
9614766
Well. There is Pursuing Happiness, in which every smol horse is happy.
9615908
Hmmm....
That’s allot of red tags for a happy story but on the other hand I’ve never been lied to on this site before.
Guess I’m reading three incomplete stories now.
9615569
D’oh, next time I will use Wikipedia for musical stuff. Thanks for the kind explanation though, it’s appreciated.
Woohoo, Looking forward to the potential sunset chapter.
See that’s why you play monopoly with strangers over the internet; that way you make friends instead of loose them (then you loose the friends you make)
All the band members are pretty great, except that Brit. Everyone knows Octavia is the one true Brit.
9616438
Some of those tags are there because the connection to Who We Become. Basically Persuing Happiness aims to address the same kinds of topics, but to have an overall more positive tone than the rest of WWB, especially Playing House (it’s not a coincidence that both fics are shortened to PH).
9616449
lol yeah Ringo is basically just here to be a jerk, that’s why I went with a side character no one cares about rather than someone that has fans
Spoilers for later on in this story, Thicker Than Water and Coda
I like the foreshadowing of Zest being asexual here. The way she talks about her hook up shows her as very passive and disinterested in all of it, just a thing that happened with no real lust behind it.
Here we also have some good set up for Rainbow being Shy’s guard dog against Sunset later on in this story. Why would Sunset be talking to others indeed?
the pain I feel is beyond human comprehension. i dont know how you can make me feel :> cause i love the band dynamic but also :'( because this is Playing House after all
I like this girl's priorities. :)
I love when she's able to actually make jokes. :D
Man, I like this Rainbow Dash. She actually cares, she's in fact pretty deeply empathetic, she just has zero idea how to actually go about showing it or doing anything useful for anyone else.
11150653
That definitely sums up Rainbow here. There's more I could say but that would be spoilers
Oofity.
Same.
Oh damn.
😨
https://m.Still quite serious if I say so myself. 😕
Ok, I think she's going a bit too far. 🙄
Oh my! 😰
Yep.
Nah man, rainbow is in the wrong line of thinking for sure, it's like saying the father would suffer less than the mother because he wasn't the one carrying the child. Sunset was just as committed to Sky as Fluttershy was.
11637376
Oh boy is that ever a mood! Lmao yeah Rainbow is... Well, I'll let you come to your own decisions on her depiction, but yeah she sure is something!
Caught up to your comments, and tbh your long comment on Rose and what made her do special almost had me crying because like, gosh you're so right and you really understand her so well. I'm extremely grateful to have you reading this series, you are most certainly a very critical reader who is on the same wavelength as me on most things (you're even one of the only people who has ever come forward and expressed an understanding of Shy at the beginning being kinda childish because of her trauma; she never got to be a teenager and learn to make mistakes, and so when she makes them... Well, just something to keep in mind lol)
Anyway, delighted as always by your comments! At this point I do not mind saying at all that this is going to continue to be an extremely tough story, but I hope you enjoy it (if enjoy is the right word for this) for its remainder!