Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The pair of pegasi touched down in Fillydelphia’s Old Town district. Old Town had once been the jewel of the city, its brick and mortar mansions housed the city’s most elite earth ponies and unicorns, the pegasi of course still preferring clouds. But that had been several decades ago, before the rapidly expanding suburban sprawl that now ringed the city. Many of nouveau riche and young heirs or heiresses opted for these new suburbs over the congestion of the city, where for less money you could settle down in a palatial home with a yard, picket fence, and two-point-five foals.
But where did this leave Old Town? Well many of the old mansions have been carved up, now existing as apartment building. The population had shifted as well, gone now was the old money, replaced by professional ponies and artists who had an eye for the older architecture. All and all, it was a neighborhood that contained that nebulous quality that real-estate ponies called “character.”
Fluttershy tilted her head sky ward as she and her partner made their way down the street. Despite an affinity for the natural world, Fluttershy had to admit she loved the way sunsets looked in the city. The way that the fiery orb of Celestia’s sun dipped below the rows of shops and homes on the street, its last rays peeking through the crevasses and alleyways, it reminded her of the way it would do the same thing with the trees when setting in the wooded areas.
“I think we should take a vacation after this…” Fluttershy said absently, momentarily lost in her own thoughts as they walked the last block to the shop.
“We?” Rainbow’s voice held mix of playfulness and confusion, but her words were enough to snap Fluttershy back to reality.
“Uh… I mean yeah, you’re my best friend… so we could go, you know… together.” Fluttershy was trying to play it cool, but well, she was still Fluttershy, and her voice quivered nervously.
Dash let out a pleasant snort through her nose. “Sure, why not. Your family still got that little place up Ponyville way? I could use a little open space to stretch my wings.”
Fluttershy smiled and looked over at her friend, her eyes dancing with happiness. “Yeah, I’m sure we could use it for a weekend or something.”
RD offered a smile in return, but her face soon fell and her jaw locked in place. They had arrived at their destination.
A small hand painted wooden sign swung on a wrought iron signpost above the doorway, proudly announcing to the world that this shop could be known as “First Editions: Antiques, Rare Books, and Collectibles.” The display window in the front of the shop displayed stacks of dusty tomes along with a few trinkets that were mostly magical in origin. The dying sunlight glinted off a highly polished pocket watch and glinted straight into Dash’s eyes, causing the cyan mare to blink rapidly and look away.
“Ugh, I’m hating this already,” the brash pegasus groaned.
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The pair of detectives entered the shop, a little bell attached to the door jingled to alert the proprietor to their arrival. A voice floated over to them from the back of the shop, its owner apparently hidden behind the counter. “Welcome to First Edition, feel free to browse our inventory, I’ll be with you in a second.”
Dash turned to Fluttershy and rolled her eyes.
“Um… It’s us…” Fluttershy ventured timidly, unsure if she was interrupting something important.
The head of a lavender unicorn popped up from behind the counter, and excited grin playing across her lips. Her eyes passed over each of the pegasi in turn, lingering for a half-second longer on the buttery mare. “Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! My two favorite gum-hooves, what brings you to my shop this time?”
“Same thing as always, egghead.” Dash groused.
“What she means to say is that we have… something… that we need you to look at, Twilight,” Fluttershy said in her meekest possible tone in an attempt to wordlessly apologize for her partner’s rudeness.
Twilight’s eyes gleamed. “Well you know the deal girls, I tell you all you could ever want to know and I get to keep the item. So what have you got for me this time?”
“Well it’s uh… I think it’s some sort of Neighponese weapon…” Fluttershy voiced as she turned her head to retrieve the item from her saddlebags.
“It got stuck in my flank.” Dash said flatly.
“So that explains the bandages,” Twilight replied with a curt nod, clearly neither fully forgiving nor forgetting the earlier ‘egghead’ comment.
Rainbow reflexively rolled her eyes again as Fluttershy carefully dropped the throwing star on the counter. The metallic weapon tinkled a bit as it impacted the glass display counter. Twilight leaned in and examined the bladed projectile through a jeweler’s loupe.
“Hmmm…it’s authentic alright… And the insignia…” Twilight quickly turned around and ducked through a curtain and into a back room, reappearing moments later levitating a large book alongside her. She placed the tome on the counter and began flipping through its pages, using her magic to rapidly search for her quarry.
“Here we are!” She exclaimed suddenly, which earned a squeak from Fluttershy whose attention seemed to have wandered in the interim. “’The Hoof clan’ or so my guide here says, which I might add is extremely accurate. The gist is that they currently operate as criminal organization, primarily smuggling arms. Believe it or not they abide by a strict code of honor, so no drugs or prostitution or harming foals, that sort of thing-”
“Wait!” Dash interrupted and Fluttershy’s widened with understanding. “They don’t harm foals, how about young-mares? Would they ever fillynap a young mare?”
Twilight looked perplexed. “No. It’s among the list of dishonorable acts. They’d rather send assassins to deal with an enemy directly than do something so, well, dishonorable.”
Rainbow stamped her hoof on the floor of the shop. A few items wobbled on their various shelves, which earned Dash an extra look of scorn from Twilight. “Buck it all to Tartarus!”
Fluttershy extended a hoof towards Dash’s should in an attempt to soothe the seething mare. “It’s okay we were just-”
“Just walking in a damn trap, that’s what! We just went with the note! Anypony could have written that! I was too damn eager for a payday, and we didn’t even try anything else!” Dash was pacing back and forth in the confined space of the crowded shop, her anger rising off in a nigh visible manner.
Twilight’s eyes followed the mare, letting out a little gasp whenever she neared any of the store’s various treasures. “If you’re going to keep that up, please do it more carefully”
Dash shot a look of pure loathing in Twilights direction before letting out an actual growl of frustration. “I’m going outside, ‘Shy.” She managed in a somewhat less animalistic voice before storming out of the shop, the little bell on the door clanging excitedly as the door slammed.
Fluttershy stood, hoof outstretched, mouth half-open, and a look of concern crinkling her features. It seemed as if she had been about to say something, but unfortunately Dash had acted too fast for her to keep up with. ‘What else is new…’ rang a bitter though from the back of Fluttershy’s mind.
“Well…” Twilight gave Fluttershy a little smile. “Sorry about the case.”
Fluttershy’s look of concern didn’t quite dissipate, but her eyes softened slightly as she turned back to the shopkeeper. “I suppose we’re back to square one…”
“I’ll never understand why you’re hung up on her…” Twilight said, issuing a frown towards the door through which Rainbow had stormed.
“I…uh…what?” Fluttershy stammered.
“Look you gals come in here all the time, and every time I use every trick and subtly I have come across in my research to get your attention, but you only ever have eyes for your cyan companion. Do you know how few mares I meet in my line of work?” Twilight heaved a sigh. Her voice now took on a husky quality that made Fluttershy squeak. "Not many, as you might guess, and even fewer of your caliber and, well, persuasion.”
Fluttershy blushed, feeling immensely uncomfortable. “That’s flattering… but… I’m not really-”
“Oh come on.” The unicorn shook her head, a coy smile spreading across her lips. “How are long are you going to wait for that mare to wise up? My books aren’t the only thing in danger of getting dusty, you know.”
Fluttershy blinked obliviously. “Huh?”
“If you want I can come over and apply some, ahem, polish,” Twilight finished, and though the lavender mare was clearly attempting to be smooth it came out a bit awkwardly. “You know, when I read that in 101 Book and Antiquity Related Pick-up Lines it sounded much better.”
Fluttershy blushed, “Look Twilight, I’m flattered, but… not interested…”
Twilight however remained undeterred, and a coy smile danced across her lips. “Yeah I kind of figured, but hey when you get over that little crush of yours-”
Twilight’s proposition however was cut short by the bell on the door being violently abused once more. Dash stormed back towards the counter and glared at Twilight. “Back off egghead,” she barked at the unicorn before turning to her partner, “‘Shy we need to head back to the office and plan our next move, now.”
Fluttershy nodded, grateful for an exit to the awkward mess that her conversation with Twilight had become. The two pegasi left the shop together (not before Rainbow could throw the lavender mare a final scowl), and the little bell rang a final time that evening. Twilight sighed and collected the Hoof-clan weapon from counter.
“Least it wasn’t a total waste. Come here my beauty, let’s find you a home.”
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Fluttershy lay on her cot, exhausted from the day. She could hear slow, even breathing coming from the cot on the other side of the room. Dash had been right, sure all signs had pointed to the docks, but what evidence did the really have? The note was anonymous, the style was overly clichéd… maybe… maybe someone had wanted them at the docks? But… Only Filthy could have set than set them up, and Fluttershy had felt the sincerity in his concern over his fillynapped daughter. In their field of work Rainbow and Fluttershy lived and died by their gut instincts, and Fluttershy hadn’t been wrong yet when attempting to recognize the emotional state of a client.
Maybe someone wanted Filthy at the docks… That made more sense. Anyone involved in that much shady business would have plenty of enemies
“Rainbow?”
There was a grunt in the dark.
“I think… I think we should check out Diamond’s school, maybe her friends saw something, someone following her. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”
Another grunt, which was followed the sound of a body shifting its position. “Hey Flutters?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay? I mean, I know you hate get… violent.” Dash’s voice floated across the dark room, seeming to hang in the space between the two mares. Her tone was laced with an undercurrent of sadness but mostly it simply held a sort of gentle concern.
Fluttershy suddenly felt an icy talon grip at her heart. Maybe it had been her concern over Rainbow, or a subconscious suppression of the event, but Fluttershy hadn’t given much thought to her actions during the fight. Now it came back to her, detail after sickening detail pouring through her skull. And worst of all, if there could be something worse than all the pain she had caused, was that she had compelled two poor innocent pigeons to act as her weapons. The buttery pegasus felt her stomach lurch at the thought, and she found herself fighting down bile that had risen in the back of her throat.
“No…No I don’t think I am…”
Rainbow strained herself, trying to find the proper words to comfort her partner. It was difficult task for one particular reason. Fluttershy had gone a bit…savage… and bearing witness to it had frightened Dash. She had understood why it had happened, but it didn’t quite numb the pang of fear. Unlike herself, Fluttershy didn’t know the first thing about fighting so naturally she did whatever she could to survive. It had been alarmingly effective, and when you looked at the net results, it was understandably scary: two blinded earth ponies (hopefully not permanently, but Dash had no idea how severe the attack had been), two grounded pegasi, and a third earth pony who had taken a brick to the back of the head (and with any luck, survived). Dash pressed a hoof to the bridge of her snout in a gesture of frustration, ‘Idiot, if it scares you a little, think of how Flutters is feeling! Say something!’
“I’ve always had a pretty straightforward outlook on things like this, you did what you had needed and we are still breathing because of it. Ipso facto job well done and no need to worry,” Dash managed to force out. The cyan mare then did an unseen facehoof, her words having come out much more clinical and callous than she had intended.
She heard soft sobs emanated from Fluttershy’s side of the room. ‘Way to go Rainbow, let’s try this again.’
“It’s okay to be scared… I mean…” She cut herself off and finished the rest of the sentence in her head, ‘…I am too. Nope that would make her cry harder and you know it! Ugh! I suck at this!’
Dash took a deep inhale and then exhaled slowly through her nose, hoping her third attempt might actually help. “I just… I’m here for you okay… and well, you saved my life, twice if you count the first aid which I do. So yeah, I know it today was rough but you got me, pal.”
Dash sucked in another breath and held it, waiting in the dark for a response. She head the sobs slowly drop away and let out a sigh of relief.
“I… just don’t like to hurt ponies…” Fluttershy’s whimpering voice intoned in the dark.
“I know Flutters, I know. I’m sorry we ended up in that situation.” Rainbow hated herself in that moment, feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility for her friend’s distress. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
“You did all you could,” Fluttershy’s voice seemed stronger now, or at least more even. “I’m sad I had to hurt ponies… and make those poor birds hurt ponies too… but… I did it for you, and if I had to do it for anypony… I’m glad I did it for you.”
Dash wasn’t sure what to say to that confession, so she settled on, “Uh… Thanks ‘Shy. Goodnight,” before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.
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*super gay voice* caaaalled it
Very promising! Before this Chapter I thought this might be a nice, but relatively linear story.
Now the plot seems to be quite well thought out, keep that up. I hope this story will be long, if this was act one, how many are there going to be?
On a side note, I'm not a fan of Twishy in any form, and I'm not sure what purpose it should serve. Comedy? Advancing the Flutterdash romance plot by introducing the theme? Real competition (Please no)?
Luckily it is one sided from the only tolerable side.
That is of course only my opinion ( highly allergic to FlutterX(not)Dash ) and you are free to do what you want.
Looking forward to more.
2464910 I'm the same with FlutterDash as my OTP, though I find myself more allergic to (not)FluttersxDashie than the opposite, well except for FlutterMac and DiscoShy that stuff can all be burnt to the ground, Fluttershy is and always will be a filly-fooler in my head-canon. But I digress.
The TwiShy was introduced for a couple reasons. First being that her flirting with Shy, while unnoticed by Flutters herself, was picked up on by Dash and served as a subconscious fuel for her animosity towards Twilight (and an unrealized possibility that their friendship may run deeper). The second reason was to show that, by way of Fluttershy turning down the offer of a date, that Fluttershy, despite the knowledge that her relationship with Dash remains stagnant, hasn't abandoned hope for its evolution.
Oh and for laughs at an antiquity related pick-up line
I really had only conceived two acts to this story unfortunately. As much as I'm loving writing it, I'm worried the plot would feel stretched if I added too much filler. Though the idea of the vacation to Fluttershy's cottage arose organically from writing this chapter, so perhaps I'll tack on a nice fat epilogue set in Ponyville where I'll resolve the romantic elements.
TLDR; no worries about the TwiShy