The Dreaded Love Bird

by Darkonshadows

Tension in the wings

Pinkie was moping and the other ponies couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her, but Applejack was about to get to the bottom of it.

It was two days after hearing what had happened to Canterlot Castle, there was no feasible way an airship that large should be able to disappear or hold that much pudding. Twilight even did the math for how impossible it was.

“Okay Sugar Cube what the hay is wrong with you? You’ve been moping harder then Rainbow when Fluttershy said she wouldn’t talk to her for three days, in fact she’s still moping about it.” They were all in the library and Applejack was staring at two certain ponies that had some very odd interactions going between them. Fluttershy was staying well away from Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t stop staring at her.

“It’s just that I can’t find her, she went to ground and it’s hard to find somepony who’s seen her in Ponyville or Canterlot. She’s probably hiding under a cardboard box somewhere, just like the snake eater she is.” No matter how much Pinkie insisted she be the one to handle Kazooie, her friends thought otherwise about her running off on her own agenda. Pinkie refused to tell them what her agenda was with the crazy creature in the first place and they were more than a little wary of her dragging her party cannon everywhere. “She’s good… too good, you guys should really just let me handle it.”

“Pinkie you are acting mighty peculiar there, where’s the happy bouncy pony we know and love?” Applejack backed up as Pinkie looked her dead in the eyes, there seemed to be a maniacal thought pattern flowing behind them.

“I’m still here; I just have some unsettled business to attend to. In fact, since the red baron is going to be in hiding for a while, I’m going to go prepare a party and you’re all invited! Oh, there will cake, candies, pin the tail on the pony and balloons… and I can already taste the chocolate crème pies I’m going to make. Should Kazooie rear her head in any form you’d immediately tell me right? See you later this evening.” With that small amount of bouncing around the room, Pinkie hopped out of the library humming cheerfully as she left behind five spooked ponies.

“Do you seriously think she knows this Kazooie creature as well as she says she does? She’s being rather… odd lately, which is saying something. I don’t know what to think.” The posh pony that was Rarity notices her lack of an audience except for maybe Fluttershy.

Twilight wasn’t paying her any attention pouring over information in several books she was reading through intently. Applejack seemed to be staring out the open door with a frown on her face as Pinkie hopped down the street. Fluttershy was the first to offer up something to the situation.

“I’m sure Pinkie has a very good reason for her actions, she’s not one to hurt somepony right? Oh, wasn’t today our spa day?” Walking to the door Fluttershy opened it to watch as Rarity hurried out the door in realization that they were going to be late.

Fluttershy followed in a more sedate graceful pace taking time to think things over as she gently closed the door behind her. She knew Kazooie was a jerk and very insulting, but the bird obviously knew what she was doing and was certainly something to dread given her many incredible abilities.

Fluttershy gave herself enough time to come to terms with the options set before her. She was still trying to work out her feelings and tomorrow she’d talk with Rainbow about the possibility of dating, if that would be okay with her. They already knew a lot about each other, so dating couldn’t possibly be that hard right? Maybe Rainbow didn’t mean she was beautiful as in attractive to her, maybe she meant it in a Rarity way that was just saying it as a fact.

Rainbow tried to follow the two out by zipping towards the door, but Fluttershy had closed it and the airborne pony rammed into it face first and slid to the floor. She fell onto her back with a groan of pain.

Rainbow was entirely at a loss as to why she needed attention from Fluttershy and it was rather vexing for her that Fluttershy wasn’t giving her any at the moment. Somehow not having Fluttershy to talk to for three days struck a rather sour chord in Rainbow.

Applejack trotted over to Rainbow and looked down at her in worry.

“Sugar Cube is something the matter, I know Fluttershy isn’t talking to you but what is wrong with you? You’ve been following her around a lot lately and I know you’re an attention hog, but what’s got your feathers ruffled?” Applejack hoped she had a concerned look on her face, because she thought something peculiar was going on between Rainbow and Fluttershy. Applejack took a glance at Twilight who was still looking through a book on shape shifting magic and she seemed to not be going anywhere for the time being.

“I don’t know. My wings are actually quite tense lately and I just haven’t been flying as well because they keep locking up on me.” Rainbow just couldn’t get the words of that dumb magical bird out of her head. Opening the door and walking outside with Applejack following Rainbow sighed as her mind drifted to thoughts of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was cute, fluffy soft, approachable, ridiculously shy and had an endless well of kindness that exudes from her body. Her hair was silky, pink, long and attractive, her eyes were so soulful and she was a beautiful in every sense of the word… why didn’t she have a stallion yet and why hasn’t Rarity tried to set her up with one?

“Is that why you’re walking all the time?” Prodding one of Rainbows stiff wings, Applejack had a sudden realization and a dark blush worked its way through her face when she saw Rainbow shudder with a slight squeak coming from her mouth.

“I don’t know, it just keeps happening and at odd times.” It wasn’t anything new to Rainbow, but she didn’t know why her wings were like that at the moment.

The major problem with this situation was that Rainbow didn’t know the first thing about love or what it was as she was usually too busy with being an athlete and awesome to really learn about the birds and the bee’s. The only thing she really knew was that it was supposed to be between two ponies, most commonly a mare and a stallion. Otherwise she understood friendship perfectly since she has protected Fluttershy a lot when they were younger.

“What were you thinking about at the time?” Applejack despite her accent was actually pretty well educated, even if most of it was focused around farming. She had inkling and there were quite a few times Rainbows wings locked up and in an open position, not to mention she saw Rainbow stare at Rarity’s butt once. She knew where this was going and if she was right she had better help Rainbow before she does something she would regret.

“Fluttershy, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything. I’m always excited to be around my friends.” Rainbow stopped when she noticed Applejack staring at her.

“Sugar cube, I think I know what your problem is.” Sighing, Applejack grabbed Rainbow by the mane with her mouth and started dragging her towards Sweet Apple Acres. Once Rainbow got the idea of where they were going she finally got Applejack to let go of her mane, but a part of her didn’t want Applejack to let go. “Okay Rainbow, there’s something I need to know before you go and hurt some pony’s feelings by accident. Now that I think of it, did you ever consider that Gilda was maybe jealous of Pinkie?”

“Huh, what does Gilda have to do with any of this? Why would she be jealous of Pinkie?” If anything Rainbow was either being dense on purpose or else she was oblivious to the feelings of others if they weren’t praising her for her athleticism or heroics.

“I was afraid of that, Rainbow do you fancy mares?” Despite knowing the she just said something just plain dumb, Applejack waited for Rainbows obvious response.

“Well of course I do, all of my best friends are mares! How can I not like you guys?” Seeing the orange pony walk over to the barn, Rainbow stood off to the side as Applejack smacked her face into the wooden frame of the building several times. She finally meandered back over to Rainbow looking a little dizzy.

“Forget what you just saw there and let’s continue where we left off.” As she said this, Applejack rubbed at the sore spot on her forehead before continuing. “Do you get any strange feelings being around us, you know like special details you like about us? What do you like about a pony that causes you to feel these strange feelings, feelings that you probably don’t really pay much attention to.”

“Oh… um… looking at Rarity’s flank causes my heart to speed up for some reason. Looking Pinkie Pie in the eyes when she’s happy makes me feel warm inside. Twilight makes me feel like hugging her when she’s being a dork. I like your mane when you take the hair bands out of it, my head gets kind of fuzzy just looking at you when you’re so calm and relaxed in the evening. Fluttershy is something special though because all those things happen to me around her, but only when I really focus on her too much. Is it wrong for a mare to appreciate another mares looks?” Seeing the disbelieving look on Applejacks face, Rainbow wondered what she had said wrong.

Applejack ran it through her head slowly to make sure she had it right. Taking traits from four other ponies, Fluttershy would meet all the requirements to set Rainbow off. Fluttershy admittedly had a nice shapely flank, long mane, calm demeanor and acted adorable all the time.

“Not to most ponies and it’s perfectly fine by me, but what do you dislike about us?” Knowing where all this was going, Applejack’s mind started to slightly figure out how to get Rainbow to understand what she was feeling.

“Rarity is always a neat freak and trying to get me to model dresses for her, you are always so stubborn like that time with the buffalo tribe, Twilight gets obsessive about every little detail and Pinkie is a little too much to be around at times.” It took an arched brow in her direction for Rainbow to realize Applejack was waiting for something. “What is it?”

“And what do you dislike about Fluttershy?” Applejack simply stated.

“I’ve got nothing bad to say about her, maybe she could exercise more though.” It was here that Rainbow considered saying Fluttershy was a poor flyer or that she was way too shy. Rainbow didn’t dislike that about Fluttershy and had even defended her when other ponies made fun of her for it.

“Well that’s all I needed to know, your hearts a blazing and you’re too dense to put the bell pepper on the grill to get something cooking.” Seeing that Rainbow didn’t understand what she had just said Applejack decided to be a little bit blunter. “You’re in love with Fluttershy.”

“News flash, I don’t know the first thing about love and how can you be so sure.” Now it seemed like Rainbow wanted to drag this into an argument.

“Well sugar cube, I think when a pony’s heart can’t reach their brain it’s a basic problem of them being honest with themselves.” Applejack moved in front of Rainbow and pause. “I see it quite clearly, you’d never hurt Fluttershy on purpose and your far more loyal to her then any pony else. In fact didn’t she say you once snuck into her house the morning we we were going to start selling apple cider here at the farm?”

“Yeah, yeah… that still proves nothing and even if I did like Fluttershy like that, what makes you think she’d like me as more than a friend. I’m not exactly even interested in being in a relationship either; I just happen to like being close my friends.” As far as things went, Rainbow didn’t consider herself to be in denial. “Besides if I end up in a relationship it’s just going to get in the way of me joining the Wonderbolts, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop being a friend once I do.”

“Rainbow, if Fluttershy comes to you with any hint of interest in pushing beyond friendship you better not hurt her feelings by leading her on! I want you to be as honest as possible about your feelings. Joining those Wonderbolt fellers shouldn’t be any excuse in forming a lasting bond with somepony special.” Applejack didn’t mind the idea of two mares being together, what she did mind was the idea was that Rainbow Dash would be throwing away something great if she passed up any opportunity that Fluttershy actually wanted as more than a friend and the quiet pegasus did look thoughtful lately. “Just think about it and try to talk to Fluttershy tomorrow, you are probably the first thing on her list of things to do. See you at Pinkie’s party.”

Applejack understood now why Fluttershy’s wings went skyward whenever Rainbow was around and it was kind of cute to think about it. There was the fact that Rarity had yet to try and pair the shy mare up with her brother or some other stallion. If anything those spa visits Fluttershy had with Rarity seemed all the more interesting now to Applejack, she gave thought to her own relationship with Rainbow as she made her way into the Apple family home. She wasn't about to cause any problems if those two ponies got together and she'd make sure they'd stick together if they were perfect for each other.

Rainbow was feeling a bit morose and was considering how she felt about all her friends. She loved them all more then she probably should have, but was that love out of loyalty or was it just her that made her like the mare persuasion more. Maybe it was the way those colts bullied Fluttershy when they were younger that turned her off stallions, that or how cute Fluttershy was when she was an awkward long legged filly.

Deciding that she should just fly, Rainbow figured being in the air would take her mind off Fluttershy for a while and she took off for the wild blue yonder.

At Ponyville’s spa Fluttershy and Rarity were in deep conversation when Fluttershy decided to finally say something about her interest in Rainbow Dash.

“I think I might actually be brave enough to ask somepony on a date.” Fluttershy watched as Rarity perked up in interest.

“And who’s the lucky mare darling? It better not be me! I’m flattered, but I’m into stallions and ones with a noble heart at that. I might possibly aim for royalty as well, but that option is a bit of a bad taste to me and I’m sure you remember why.” It was around this point that Fluttershy mumbled a name and Rarity tried to lean in closer to hear what she was saying. “Come again, who’s caught your fancy? Is it Cloudkicker?”

“No… besides she’s with Caramel at the moment.” Hiding slightly behind her pink veil of mane, Fluttershy sunk into the hot water of tub they were sitting in.

“Oh, what about Ms. Hooves, she’s quite friendly with you.” The excited look on Rarity’s face was quickly brought down by the frown and a shaken head from Fluttershy.

“No. I think she’s happier being single at the moment, plus she’s friendly with everypony.” Fluttershy did like to help Derpy make muffins sometimes, but she held no interest in the grey coat and blonde mare beyond their quirky friendship.

“Then I shall continue to play this guessing game, what about Bon-bon, Aloe, Lyra and Applejack?” Rarity was watching for Fluttershy’s responses to any names and the mare looked kind of put off when Applejack was said. She may have just hit the jackpot.

“Bon-bon and Lyra are back together again, plus they never stay away from each other for long in the first place. Bon-bon was mad at Lyra for hanging out with Berry Punch too much. I thought Aloe was dating Floaty. Applejack is into mares? I’ve never seen her dating anypony before. Oh, before you get too excited it’s not her.” This was getting worse and worse, Fluttershy knew that Rarity had to guess eventually and she wondered what her reaction would be.

“Well if you don’t know then it’s not my place to tell you about it, its Applejacks own personal business and she likes both sides of the fence just so you know. Floaty is being kind of flighty lately, so I kind of figured... anyway let’s move on.” The farm pony couldn’t make a relationship move without Rarity finding out about it, as she was thoroughly intrigued about where the farm pony will go with her hidden dating practices. As far as Rarity knew, Twilight and Rainbow weren’t interested in dating at all so that left her with very few options. Rainbow however was definitely into mares considering her usual appreciation of her five closest friend’s forms and Rarity knew Rainbow tended to look at her butt. “Is it Marmalade?”

“I thought Marmalade was primarily dating stallions now.” Despite her quiet voice she could already see Rarity hissing in defeat at having run out of options.

“It’s Twilight isn’t it? Fluttershy you’re really setting yourself up for disappointment if she’s into stallions as much as I am. I really don’t want to see you heartbroken and...” Rarity set a hoof on Fluttershy’s withers and the mare quivered slightly at the touch before she finally snapped.

“IT’S RAINBOW DASH... eep…” As soon as Fluttershy’s outburst finally reached Rarity’s brain she just sat still staring at Fluttershy who cowered with her nose to the warm water and her mane covering all of her face now. Her wings had sent a splash of water spraying out of the hot tub as they shot upwards.

“Well now, that’s a different problem entirely. I know she likes mares, but she’s oblivious or dense to love and besides maybe you should just go with Twilight after all… it’s a much safer option even if you do get turned down.” Seeing the confused look on Fluttershy’s face Rarity decided to explain a bit more. “How should I put this, Rainbow Dash is not exactly a good choice as a life partner Fluttershy or at least I don’t think so. It’s about time for us to get out, we have Pinkie’s party to attend you know and we mustn’t dally even though I’m usually fashionably late. We’ll discuss this on the way.”

Night fell in Ponyville and a rather rousing party had been thrown by Pinkie, she hadn’t lost her touch and it was one of the best parties she’s thrown that week.

During the party Fluttershy hardly glanced in Rainbow’s direction and when she did it was always a somewhat blank look. Her thoughts were all about the thoughtless things Rainbow could say or do to hurt her, Rarity did put up a good argument against dating the brash mare as their friendship would take a huge hit if they failed to connect and they’ve been friends for a long time. Rainbow’s friendship was something Fluttershy wasn’t sure she wanted to lose, it hurt just to even think she'd never be grabbed or hugged by the colorful speedster again.

Rainbow on the other hand couldn’t stop looking at Fluttershy throughout the entire party with a frown on her face and her heart beat sky rocketing the longer she stared. Her thoughts were on whether she wanted to try anything with Fluttershy or not. If she did and she was denied Rainbow could finally give up on needing love and just go about being awesome like she normally was without a care in the world. The thought of going the rest of her life without Fluttershy's friendship suddenly dug into Rainbow's head painfully, she was one of the reasons Rainbow liked staying in Ponyville other than an easy job with plenty of free time.

As they left the party for their respective homes, tomorrow was only a few hours away as Rainbow and Fluttershy went their seperate ways to get some sleep. They were more than a bit restless about confronting each other and their sleep would be haunted by nightmares.