The Drabble Bag

by TheVulpineHero1

Cheer (Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash)

The sun rose elegantly in Equestria, a smooth and effortless glide from the horizon that Princess Celestia could be proud of. With a thousand shuffles and yawns, Ponyville slowly awoke for another day.

With only a little hesitation, Fluttershy looked at the mirror and fixed it with a glare that would have stripped paint. Or, rather, tried to. What actually happened fell somewhere between a pout and the kind of look worn by the last puppy in the pet shop window. She tried to be annoyed with herself, but it didn't work; she just felt a little sad. Next, she tried to smirk in the smuggest way possible, the kind of smirk she sometimes saw Rainbow Dash wear after a race. Predictably, it didn't work. She just looked like she was posing for one of those awkward school portraits, fake smile smothered on by an overzealous photographer. This just wasn't working at all. She'd have to tell Rarity next time she saw her.

Luckily, it was later that day. Pinkie Pie was throwing another party (although, that said, it was only the third this week) and Rarity was rushing around trying to put together a fashionable outfit to wear. They crashed into each other outside the costume shop, resulting in a mini-explosion of sequins and a very sparkly Fluttershy.

“O-oh...Hey, Rarity. Are you okay?” she asked, helping the unicorn up.

“Are jewels shiny?” Rarity snapped, before apologising at the sight of Fluttershy's trembling lip. She sometimes forgot how sensitive Flutter really was...

“I-I tried your tips. Y'know, practising looking confident,” Fluttershy began, falling into step with Rarity. The unicorn looked a little harried, but still effortlessly beautiful. That was what Fluttershy envied about her: the ability to look as if she wasn't trying, as if beautiful was just the way she was meant to be. She carried herself with the knowledge that she was gorgeous, with...well, confidence.

“Oh, yes? It's just as I said. Sometimes, you don't need to be confident, you just have to look it. And then the whole world gets out of your way. How'd it go?”

“It didn't work. I couldn't even look a little confident...” Fluttershy said quietly. She didn't want Rarity to think she was calling her advice bad.

“Just keep practising. Confidence, just like fashion, takes some work. I should know! Now, where can I get ribbons?” Rarity said, breaking into a panicked run once again. Fluttershy felt her face drop. It looked like being confident was going to be harder than she thought. Time for plan B.

---

“Well howdy, Fluttershy! What brings y'all to my house?” Applejack asked, carrying two full panniers of apples as though it were nothing.

“Well, um, I asked Rarity how to be more confident, and she gave me some advice, but it's not working for me...” Fluttershy began.

“Now, why would y'all wanna be more confident? I like ya how ya are!” Applejack smiled.

“Well, I thought that, maybe if I were more confident, I could scare away bullies, and I'd make less trouble for everyone.”

“Now don't you worry none about that. Me and Rainbow Dash don't mind. You're our friend, and if you get bullied we'd drop everything to deal with it.”

“Still...”

Applejack smiled inwardly. Despite her cute looks, Fluttershy could be pretty gosh-darn stubborn when she got an idea in her head.

“Well, if'n you're still worried about it, why not try wearin' a hat like mine? If you wear a fancy hat, you feel a lot more powerful than if ya don't. I don't know what I'd do without mine,” the earth pony suggested.

“U-um...Well, if you say so...”

Within a few minutes, a spare hat had been dug up for Fluttershy and placed summarily on her head. Applejack nodded proudly. She always thought that pony would look fine in a slouch hat. Although, why on earth was she covered in sequins? She decided not to question it. Probably Rarity's contribution to the problem.

Fluttershy, on the over hoof, wasn't nearly so pleased. With a hat on, she felt even more shy. She could practically feel the trees staring at her. With that in mind, she decided to find more advice. Twilight Sparkle was pretty confident, and smart, too- maybe she had some magic that would help.

---

“Fluttershy! Uh, nice hat. And sequins,” Twilight smiled as she walked in.

“Hey, Twilight. I'm, uh, trying to be more confident...I already asked Applejack and Rarity for help.”

“Well, that explains a lot. I guess you wanna know what I think?” Twilight asked, perhaps a little too fast. There was a really good book waiting for her in the back room, and she was anxious to get back to it. She wouldn't have time to read once Pinkie's party started later that day.

“Um, yes please,” the pegasus said, sweetly enough to attract insects.

“Well, if you ask me, it's all about the glasses. Knowledge equals power, and power equals confidence. If you wear glasses, people think you're smart, so they'll leave you alone!” Twilight said sagely.

“R-really?”

“Almost certainly! Let's see if I can find you a pair.”

There was some worrying crashing in the back room as Twilight scoured her shelves. Fluttershy adjusted her hat nervously.

“Here we are! I took out the lenses, so they won't hurt your eyes,” Twilight smiled.

“Thanks, Twilight. I-I'm...not in the way, am I?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight glanced meaningfully towards the door.

“No, no, of course not, but I'm kinda deep in some spell research right now, just in case the parasprites come back, so I need to get back to work. I'll see you at Pinkie's party, okay?”

The door swung resolutely shut behind her, and Fluttershy moaned. Now she had a hat and glasses? But she didn't feel any more confident at all. And she was running out of people to ask. Shrugging, she decided to go and track down Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie didn't care what anyone said, so she must be pretty confident. She'd know what to do.

---

“Oh, wow Fluttershy! Is that your costume for the party! It looks fantastically fancy and fantabulous!” Pinkie shrieked as she walked in. All thoughts of her job and baking were immediately forgotten.“I love the sequins. More people should wear sequins, y'know, they're so sparkly and spangly and just spiffy! So, so, so, did you come here to show off or buy a cake? I hope you came here to show off 'cause you look great!”

“U-um, well, actually, I came to get some advice...” Fluttershy began, not so sure this was a good idea anymore.

“Ooh, yay! Let me help! I'm great at this game!”

This did not make Fluttershy feel more confident.

“Well, I was wondering, how would I, y'know, be like you, and not worry about what other people say?”

Pinkie went quiet for a moment, which filled Fluttershy and everyone in the bakery with a very real terror. Quiet and Pinkie were not two words that should ever appear in the same sentence, no matter how much you sometimes wished they would.

“Bright COLOURS!” Pinkie shrieked, and ran back to the kitchen. A few seconds later, she ran in through the front door of the bakery carrying a neon pink feather boa. Fluttershy's heart fell.

“Pinkie, I don't think-”

The difficult thing about trying to find out why Pinkie didn't care what other people thought was that Pinkie did not care what other people thought. Moving at mach 1, the pink pony wrapped the feather boa around Fluttershy's neck, spinning her like a top.

“Don't forget to come to the party this evening!” Pinkie called, as Fluttershy's spinning momentum carried her out of the shop.

Outside, Fluttershy groaned. That was possibly the worst idea she could have had. And now she was wearing a feather boa! But she couldn't exactly take it off...Pinkie would be hurt. There was only one person she could turn to for advice now. She hoped it was worthwhile.

---

“'How can I be confident', huh? Well, Fluttershy, luckily for you, I've got two words to solve all your problems!” Rainbow Dash grinned. Fluttershy's heart leapt.

“What are they, Rainbow Dash? Please tell me. I'm tired of being a burden on everyone...”

“SONIC RAINBOOM!” Dash yelled. Fluttershy eeped so loud her hat fell off.

“Rainbow Dash...” she moaned reprovingly, feeling her lower lip wobble. Rainbow Dash giggled, completely unmoved.

“Aw, come on. I was serious. D'ya remember when I first did the Sonic Rainboom and I asked you to cheer me on? When I finally did it, you cheered so loud you made all the other ponies look bad. But before that, you were too scared to cheer loud. And remember when we fought the dragon? Boy, you just marched in there without a second thought! You're plenty confident, Fluttershy.”

“B-but...that was different,” Fluttershy protested, blushing.

“Of course it was. No-pony's confident all the time, not even when they're as awesome as me. But you're confident when it counts. Besides, if you weren't confident, how could you run around town all day wearing that?” Dash pointed out. The feather boa seemed to wilt slightly under the insult.

“But if I'm confident, why do I feel so shy all the time?”

“Oh, I dunno. It's not like it's in your name or anything,” Dash quipped. “But it doesn't matter anyway, y'know? Regardless of whether you're shy or not, there's things only you can do. So, you should be proud.”

“...Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said uncertainly.

Rainbow Dash smiled in a satisfied way, before fixing Fluttershy with a searching gaze. Quietly but clearly, she said, “Besides. I personally think that when you're all shy like that, you're really, really...cute.”

Fluttershy suddenly became aware of quite how close they were standing. And of quite how deep Dash's eyes were, and of how many individual eyelashes she had, and how strong and smooth her neck looked.

“Haha! You see what I mean?” Dash giggled as Fluttershy broke into a luminescent blush. “You're just too easy. Hey, you mind if I wear your hat to Pinkie's party? It's actually pretty cool.”

Fluttershy pouted. “I don't know...Applejack gave it to me, and she might get upset that I leant it to you without asking...”

“Pah. You're too cute to get angry at. So, it's a deal?” Dash teased, lifting the hat off her head before she could say no.

In the end, she felt no more confident than when she'd started out. She still couldn't pull off Rarity's effortless confidence or Rainbow Dash's smug grin. But in a way, it didn't matter. As Rainbow Dash bought her an ice-cream cone to ward off the Wobbly Lower Lip Of Doom, it occurred to her she could just get them to do it for her.

Author's Note:

This was the second thing I ever wrote for the fandom, way back when I maintained my fanfiction net account, and much like the first one, I rejected it for being too plain dumb. (The first one, Of Cake and Recumbent Hats, I eventually adapted into the Nine Of Wands chapter for Draw.) My characterisations were pretty all over the place here; it's one story I doubt I'll rework, since it'd be easier to just start from scratch.

Comments

[Zombificus]

But this is GOOD. If you DID continue this, i'd read it.

[Themaskedferret]

Honestly I thought this was rather sweet. The characterization was a bit exaggerated but honestly it fits considering you're only seeing each character for a few seconds and they're distracted.