Fireflies
"Fireflies are so pretty!" Pinkie Pie cooed next to Fluttershy, who just laughed. "Don't they just light up the whole sky?"
"They are rather gorgeous," Rarity agreed, comfortably resting on her blanket. "I think I can incorporate the radiance of fireflies into one of my designs. I wonder how that would look..."
The earth pony turned to her and squealed, "Now that would be gorgeous! Don't you think so, Fluttershy?" She watched her friend, who in turn was mesmerized by the fireflies. "Fluttershy?"
The mare observed every movement of one particular firefly from the bunch. She didn't know why, with it's flickering on and off - or so it seemed. Fluttershy was amazed by the longing she felt towards the other fireflies, who shone brightly and could go where ever they wanted to, and the empathy she felt towards the lone firefly who tried so desperately to blend in, when it so clearly couldn't.
"It's just... the fireflies, they're so..."
Suddenly, a gust of wind passed by them, a familiar trail of colours following the pegasus. It blew the fireflies back, and the lone one was hit by a stray feather.
Fluttershy gaped at Rainbow Dash as she landed in front of their friends. She shook off any remaining fireflies, as some of them had gotten stuck to her.
"Hehe, sorry about that. I got bored so I was practicing some of my moves."
"Ooh! Did you do a sonic rainboom?" Pinkie hopped up on all four hooves as she surveyed the surrounding area, searching for any signs of a rainbow circle.
Rainbow huffed out her chest in pride, "Nope, but I did do some other cool stuff. Did you see?"
"I'm afraid we were too occupied with the fireflies, darling." Rarity answered her.
"Oh, really?" Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, expectantly. "Were you watching, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy didn't say anything as she knelt down in front of the fallen firefly, who's light was getting dimmer. She gently picked up the bug, who was seemingly on the verge of death. She laid it back down on a clean patch of grass.
"No..." Fluttershy started, "I...I can't believe you, Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus said so forcefully that everypony turned to look at her.
She stormed off, leaving the mare alone with the group. "But..." Rainbow called after her.
Fluttershy wouldn't have any of it. She went all the way across the bridge, through a swarm of - yes - perfectly beautiful fireflies - and towards her cottage, closing the door shut behind her and locking it.
She went to go check on her animals, trying to keep her mind off of things as she fed them. Then she got to the injured ladybug she had been caring for all week.
While tending to it's wounded wing, she thought about the firefly with it's dimming light. It was just trying to get by and blend in with the crowd, but Rainbow Dash ruined any chances of that happening. She puffed out her cheeks, it made her upset to think about it.
After she was done, she decided to head to bed for an early start in the morning.
- - -
The next day, Fluttershy checked her calender first. Twilight's birthday is coming up, she noted, and then skimmed through the whole month. She had an appointment with the doctor in two weeks, but there was nothing else worth noting.
She set out to the local bookstore, keen on finding something that Twilight didn't already have in her massive library. I'll go look at some other stuff if I don't find anything.
As she was walking, a pony went up behind her and tapped her shoulder. It was Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Fluttershy," The mare's raspy voice greeted her.
She huffed, turning around with an incredulous stare. "Yes?" She asked her.
"Are you still mad at me for the firefly thing?" She sighed. "Look, Pinkie and Rarity were telling me about how you were watching it... I'm sorry if you wanted to catch it for yourself. Here, I want you to have it."
Fluttershy looked at the tiny thing through a glass bottle, it's flickering light barely visible with the sun's rays on them, and gasped. "I don't want it, Rainbow! I don't want to keep it like some sort of decoration in my house!" She pushed the bottle away from her, and ran off ahead.
With that, she headed into the bookstore and began searching for anything her friend would like. She ended up buying several books, most of them for herself to read.
When she was outside again, it was only to discover that Rainbow Dash was long gone. She couldn't even see any rainbow trails in the distance. Maybe she went to go 'practice some new moves', she wondered to herself. She was always doing that, and every time she would ask Fluttershy to cheer her on. She wondered if maybe Rainbow wasn't doing as well without her there...
Probably not, she thought. She doesn't need me there to keep her stable.
However, she was beginning to wonder if it was the same for her.
- - -
The sun was setting when she finally returned to her home, after an extended grocery shopping trip. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she had hurt Rainbow's feelings, and whose turn it was to apologize - and at the same time, she pleaded with herself to get rid of her thoughts of the mare and continue on as she always did.
The familiar sounds of her critter friends messing around welcomed her into her home, but there was another sound as well.
The whole house was dark, save for the centre. Rainbow stood in the middle with the jar in her hooves, the firefly's light shining vividly enough to dimly illuminate almost everything in the room.
"Rainbow, what are you doing?"
"Hey, relax." She interrupted quickly, handing the firefly to her. "I patched it up."
"...Huh?"
Rainbow Dash continued, "The little guy's light wasn't as bright as it should be, so... I fixed it for him."
Fluttershy took a closer look at the bug. She could see a tiny little yellow light attached to the firefly's behind, as well as a bandage for its damaged wing. She giggled, "Oh, Rainbow Dash. You put on a new light for him."
"I know it's not permanent, but it should help it for a while. How'd I do?"
How did she do? She did amazing, with the temporary light and the bandaging of the wing, which required skill with the hooves. A smile lit Fluttershy's face as she set down the firefly next to her, throwing her hooves around Rainbow's neck.
"Dashie, this is so nice of you!" She squealed. She wasn't surprised when Rainbow didn't return the hug, but was a little stunned when she blushed and didn't push her away.
"Well, I wasn't looking where I was going when I flew through you guys. And I wasn't thinking about your feelings either when I tried to return it like it was, all injured and stuff. Uh... I'm sorry." She had said that last part quieter than usual, making Fluttershy smile even more.
"Oh, it's alright Rainbow. I'm sorry too, for getting mad like that." She turned to the firefly jar and picked it up. "We should get him out of here. Rainbow, can you help me with the lid?"
They both set their hooves on the top, and after a moment where it seemed like the poor thing might be stuck in there, it unscrewed and then the pair easily pulled it off, dropping the jar in shock as the firefly hovered in the air. It's artifical light was bouncing up and down with it's shaky wing movements.
"He can fly now?" Fluttershy gasped.
"Hey, nice. Maybe we can get it to join the rest of the fireflies!" Rainbow Dash flew over and scooped up the bug, who landed comfortably on her hoof. "Being careful not to squish it, of course." She sheepishly scratched the back of her head, toning down the excitement.
Fluttershy flew up next to her, smiling at the little firefly. "Then let's go."
The bridge where they had gone to yesterday wasn't too far from the cottage, and they found the firefly swarm still buzzing around. Rainbow Dash let go of the lone firefly, who went back to join his comrades.
"Look at him go." Rainbow actually paused to sit down and admire them.
"Isn't it amazing, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy sat down with her, looking over to her friend for confirmation. For one little hopeful moment, Fluttershy thought that perhaps Rainbow had finally began to understand that want for belonging she had been dealing with for so long...
And then Rainbow Dash jumped up, hovering over the fireflies. "Hey Fluttershy, this is a perfect chance for you to see something I've been working on!" She darted up into the night sky, barely visible over the large swarm of fireflies.
She flew far, far away, before a gigantic rainbow circle rang out from across the sky. She must've flown quite a miles away, because Fluttershy or the fireflies didn't get knocked back at all.
Fluttershy merely watched her and the fireflies, leaning against the bridge's handle with a small smile on her face. Something more could wait.