Eyes On You

by UnlicensedBrony

28 - Unforgotten

Knock knock knock

Rainbow Dash looked up from the Wonderbolts magazine she'd been vaguely scanning, grateful for the distraction. There was only so long you could look at the same pictures before you started going crazy. She sat up on the couch in the front room of Fluttershy's cottage, and cast her eyes towards the door, where the silhouette of a pony could be seen through the closed curtains over the window.

She cast a self-conscious glance towards the staircase on the other side of the room. Fluttershy was upstairs, so she probably hadn't heard the door. So it fell to Rainbow to hop down from her couch and walk over to open the front door. Oh, the hardships of being a loyal house guest.

As she pulled the door open and looked out, she was met with a familiar face. There, just over the threshold, stood a certain lavender-coated unicorn, with a blue feather tucked behind her ear and a soft smile on her lips.

“Twilight!” said Rainbow, smiling back. “What're you doing here?”

“Hi, Rainbow,” said Twilight. “Um, I actually came to see you – Pinkie said you'd be here.” She smiled wider. “May I come in?”

“Oh. Yeah, sure,” said Rainbow. She stood to one side and held the door open. “So long as you're not gonna get all teary on me this time, cool?”

Twilight let out a short giggle as she crossed the threshold. “Yes. Cool,” she confirmed.

Rainbow closed the door behind her and led Twilight over to the couch. They both clambered up and sat back on their haunches, with their forehooves resting on the cushions between their legs.

“So, you're staying here with Fluttershy?” said Twilight conversationally, looking around for the pegasus in question.

“Yeah, just for a couple days,” said Rainbow. “She's been helping me out a lot over the past few weeks. I kinda felt like spending a bit of extra time with her. To say 'thanks', you know?”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “Is she here now?”

“Just upstairs,” Rainbow indicated with a nod towards the staircase. “Putting one of her foxes to bed – apparently he is sick or something.” She put extra stress on the 'he', as Fluttershy had made perfectly clear – in her adorably apologetic and mousy way – that referring to any of her animals as 'it' was unacceptable.

“I see,” said Twilight, nodding again.

“So what's goin' on?” Rainbow asked, looking across at her friend, who seemed – if Rainbow was any judge – just a tiny bit uncomfortable.

“It's a silly thing, really...” Twilight paused, then shook her head. “Okay, it's not really 'silly', it's just awkward to talk about.”

“Ah,” said Rainbow, understanding immediately. She shifted in place. “You, uh, sure you wouldn't rather talk to Rarity?”

Twilight smiled sweetly at that. “It's not that kind of awkward,” she said, prompting a silent breath of relief from Rainbow. “It's about your feather.” As she said it, her horn lit up a gentle purple as she magically lifted the feather from behind her ear and presented it to Rainbow.

Rainbow cocked her head at the plume. It was... still in perfect condition. It was almost as if it'd only been plucked from her wing an hour ago. While this only came as half a surprise to Rainbow, she was still pleased to see that Twilight had taken good care of it. It meant that she appreciated the gesture.

“I came to say thank you for giving me this,” Twilight said. “And also that I understand now.”

Taken by surprise, Rainbow looked up at Twilight. Their eyes met, and she saw that Twilight was still smiling. “You do?” said Rainbow. She couldn't help but notice that the cottage had suddenly gotten a lot warmer. Her wings flexed on nervous instinct.

Twilight nodded. “And I wanted to apologise for not getting it sooner. I... was a little dense,” she admitted with a sheepish look.

Rainbow gulped and forced herself to take a breath. “A little?” she repeated. “W-well, it sure took you long enough. I like to think I was pretty obvious.” Like many problems, it was probably best if she took this one head on with brute force. She wasn't going to let a little thing like embarrassment knock her down.

“You were obvious. I-I mean, not in a bad way!” Twilight quickly added, seeing the look on Rainbow's face. “I just mean that you were very clear. It was my fault that I didn't notice, I just wasn't looking for signs of... that.”

“A crush?” said Rainbow helpfully. All of a sudden, she found herself smiling too. And, needless to say, it felt more than a little weird.

Twilight looked like she was about to blush and turn away, but she didn't. Instead, she pursed her lips, paused and then nodded. “Yes.”

There was a short pause, during which Rainbow looked up at the ceiling. But even after taking her time to think about it, she really didn't have anything to say to that. It was already pretty obvious that Twilight hadn't been looking for a special somepony. And if that was true, then she definitely hadn't been looking for signs that someone else might be crushing on her.

Eventually, all Rainbow managed was to shrug and say “Well, don't sweat it, I guess.”

Just like that, she felt the temperature start to drop back to normal, her heart began to chill out and her smile became a tiny bit wider. 'Don't sweat it. It's no big deal.'

Twilight didn't seem convinced, and her mouth made a doubtful frown. “Really? So, you're not angry, or upset, or... anything?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah. I might've been before, sure – like when I first saw you hanging out with Trixie, and when we were at that party for her and I kind of... flipped out. And, I guess, maybe for a while after that, I was kind of upset. But I'm a big girl, Twi' – I just needed to clear my head. Getting out of town for a bit let me do that, and now I feel...” Rainbow shook her head and shrugged. “Fine. I feel fine.”

“Really?” said Twilight. She looked as if her doubt was fading away. “Just getting out of town for a couple of weeks got rid of all that?”

“It didn't get rid of anything,” Rainbow clarified. “I still have those feelings, and I still have a major crush on you--” Twilight gulped and shifted at that, obviously flattered. “--but I just look at it differently now. It's... kind of hard to explain, but that kind of break helps you think about stuff with a new pair of eyes. Or ears. Or a new pair of whatever ponies usually think with.”

“And you just went to Cloudsdale... alone?” Twilight prompted.

With a casual wave of her hoof, Rainbow said “Pretty much, yeah. My family owns a holiday home up there. Figured it'd be empty so I thought there was no harm in hanging out there for a bit. I mean, I met up with a couple of friends here and there, and--” She paused to cast a glance towards the stairway. A warm smile graced her lips. “--Fluttershy wrote me pretty much every day. So it's not like I didn't have anyone to talk to.”

“Oh. Well, that's good,” said Twilight awkwardly.

“Yup.”

There was a long silence, and it felt like the conversation had just up and died. Rainbow curled her lip and stared idly at the magazine on the arm of the couch.

Finally, Twilight cleared her throat. “So. About me and Trixie then.”

Rainbow perked up and took a breath. “Yeah, about that.”

“Are you going to be okay with us, um...” Twilight seemed to struggle for the right word.

“Dating?” Rainbow supplied, turning to look at Twilight. The purple unicorn had been looking down at the floor, but turned to meet Rainbow's eyes and gave her a searching smile. “Well, if you'd asked me that, like, a couple months ago, I would've asked what the hay you were doing with a mare like that.” She paused and looked up thoughtfully. “Actually, I'm pretty sure I did say that at some point.”

Twilight made a muffled chuckling sound, but said nothing.

“But now?” said Rainbow. “Now that I've talked to you, and seen you two together – the way you look at each other – I... I get it.” She smiled at Twilight. “I haven't exactly spent any time with her, so as far as I know, she's still the same old Trixie. But whether that's true or not, anypony who can make you as happy as she does--” Rainbow broke off and gulped. “--Anypony who can do that is worth giving a chance to.”

There was the tiniest of twinkles in Twilight's eye as she smiled at Rainbow's words. After a short pause, Twilight leant forwards and wrapped Rainbow in a warm, grateful hug, which Rainbow was glad to return.

Having her fetlocks wrapped around Twilight like that, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a little too comfortable, and allowed herself a little smirk. Hey, she was only equine.

They held one another there for almost a minute before finally drifting apart, both still smiling. “You're a good friend, Rainbow,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, I know,” said Rainbow, grinning.

Rather than settling into silence, the two of them fell into small talk. With the elephant in the room out of the way, it was like any other afternoon they'd met up to hang out and talk – it felt cool, relaxing, and it did a fair bit to brighten Rainbow's mood.

Before too long, Twilight decided to excuse herself, for fear of 'outstaying her welcome'. As if she could, but Rainbow didn't argue. They said their goodbyes, and after watching Twilight leave safely over the bridge towards town, Rainbow closed the door. She was still smiling to herself, albeit less brightly than she had been while talking to Twilight.

“Rainbow?”

She lifted her head and looked across the room to Fluttershy, who was standing half-way down the staircase. She wore nothing but a concerned frown and a very down-to-business cleaning apron.

“Is everything alright?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow smiled at her and waved a hoof. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah everything's cool. What's with the apron?”

“Oh, I just finished putting Mr. Fox to bed, and I was about to do a little cleaning up down here.” Fluttershy paused to curl her lip, just realising that Rainbow had diverted her from her question. “...Are you sure you're alright? You know you can talk to me, if you want to.”

Rainbow chuckled. Fluttershy was sweet. And she probably knew Rainbow better than even Rainbow herself did, sometimes.

“Yeah, I know, 'Shy,” said Rainbow with a smile. “Thanks, and I will.”

That probably didn't satisfy Fluttershy completely, but she didn't seem to want to press the matter. She never really did – that was another cool thing about Fluttershy. She didn't push stuff, she let you come to her. After a moment's more silent staring, the demure pegasus smiled and nodded, before making her way towards the kitchen.

Rainbow herself turned to make for the couch. She stopped half-way, staring at the magazine that still led on its arm, the same one she'd been looking at for what felt like hours. It wasn't like she really needed to talk to anypony – she was cool with Twilight now, and there was nothing else really on her mind. But even so...

“Hey, 'Shy,” she called. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder. “I feel like getting out of here for a bit. You want to get a milkshake or somethin'?”

* * *

Comments

[pahnazd]

More resolutions! At least there's no more tension between Twi and Dash

[Dragonblade722]

You my good author, have included not just one but my top two OTPs of mlp. Why can't I spam the like button?

[OmniFox]

It was a good show.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Ah, Dashie. I'd take 'same old' Trixie over you. ;) Nice resolution to that little kerfluffle. But one more chapter? Oh, dang...

[Tatsurou]

Glad to see Twi and RD make up.

[djthomp]

Ahh, Dash seems to have taken a level in maturity. Nice.

[Blue_Paladin42]

Looks like RD and Trixie both grew up in this story.

Can't tell if Flutterdash or not... >.>

[Toiski]

Rainbow Dash is always on the ball... but now she's on the rebound.

[Emperor]

Well, there concludes Rainbow Dash's arc, which kind of hung in limbo since she stayed in Ponyville while Trixie and Twilight left to Manehatten. Good to see it resolved finally.