Fluttershy helps Rarity get out of a creative rut, but how will she handle it when her friend's deepest running emotions get exposed?
When the business aspects of Rarity's career begin to dampen her spirits, she turns to her closest confidant, Fluttershy, for a sympathetic ear and It turns out that the pegasus has a very good idea about how to get her enthusiasm back. Unfortunately this sets Rarity on a crash course with emotions she had been trying very hard to keep under wraps. How will Ponyville cope when the prim and proper unicorn spends a summer giving in to her wilder, more passionate side? And how will Rarity cope when the desire to turn a friendship into something more becomes overwhelming?
Rated T for normalising alcohol use and unashamed Rarishy/Flarity shipping.
“I’m terribly sorry, mademoiselle, but you must understand that I’m simply fully booked when it comes to creating bespoke garments at present. With the Gala coming up I’m afraid I have my hooves full for the next several months.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Rarity, I just hoped… I could pay, and well!” Had it been any time other than the busiest season for Rarity’s personal designs the mare in front of her would have been quite the inspiration. A bespectacled white pony with a fire red mane that flowed in waves not dissimilar to the unicorn’s own when unstyled, and a cutie mark displaying a paintbrush surrounded by multicoloured blotches, she instantly made Rarity think ooh, a fellow artist, followed quickly by I’m picking up a touch of Twilight and Fluttershy in this one too. It filled the designer’s head with dozens of ideas that would be just perfect! But creativity alone didn’t pay the bills…
“Darling.” Rarity’s sapphire eyes filled with compassion. “Believe me, if I could, I would. I daresay you’d be a joy to work with, but you must understand that I have so many other commissions that must be fulfilled. I couldn’t possibly create a ballgown in the timescale you need without rushing either yours or someone else’s piece.” The unicorn struck a proud pose and shook her spiral mane for dramatic effect. “And I refuse to give any item I personally work on less than one hundred and ten percent!”
Her customer smiled sadly. “I understand. I didn’t think of how much work you must be getting, I just hoped that…”
“That..?” Rarity prodded, curious.
“Well, they say that you’re the pony to go to for personalised outfits. Not things you already want, but things that you never even thought of. I… uh… am terribly boring with formal wear, I can follow the trends easily enough and maybe even throw in a little of my own flair, but…” The flame-haired pony blushed, and Rarity had heard enough. She couldn’t follow through with the request without cutting corners, but…
“Enough, my dear.” The unicorn’s horn flared a pale blue and a patch of mottled red and black silk floated nearby alongside a pair of scissors. “Um, I don’t think you ever told me your name?”
“Oh! I’m sorry, Miss Rarity!” Her would-be customer blushed brightly. “My name’s Floral Sketch.”
“Well then, Ms. Sketch,” Rarity grinned, using her magic to tie the cloth loosely around the other pony’s neck then trim it into a very fetching neckerchief, “I have a proposal. Can you get to Canterlot easily?”
“Well, yes…” the other pony blushed, overwhelmed.
“Splendid! I happen to own a retail outlet there. All the items for sale have either been designed or personally vetted by myself, and I've only hired the most competent and knowledgeable of ponies for my staff.” The white unicorn giggled slightly at this point. “Truth be told, if I weren’t so insufferable at times I would have gladly taken on my master tailor as an apprentice. I’ll send word, go find yourself a design and you’ll have a splendid team making whatever alterations you wish for a sizeable discount. And you can keep the necktie as a token of how disappointed I am to let you down like this.” She smiled wickedly at how speechless her customer seemed. “There is one caveat, however.”
“Y… yes?”
“You…” A serious expression crossed Rarity’s face for a second, “will return after the Gala rush has passed to go over the designs I’ll likely be sketching tonight. I may not be able to provide you with a gown in the timescale you need, but I would like to do so eventually. Styles may come and go, but you wanted a outfit that was you, and that, at least, is something that every pony ought to have in their wardrobe.”
“Oh thank you, Miss Rarity! I… I won’t let you down!” Floral Sketch looked about ready to burst into tears with happiness. “I… I’m sure your Canterlot team will be amazing and… and I’ll see you soon!” The redheaded mare galloped out of Rarity’s purple-hued showroom with happy tears in her eyes and a huge grin on her face, not even noticing the unassuming pegasus she passed on her way out.
“Um… I really, really hate to assay this, Rarity, but… um… I think you may have agreed to another, uh… teensy order. Are you sure that’s okay?” The voice was quiet, without judgement, and in it’s own way angelic. Rarity knew who it was before she even looked over to see a contrite yellow pegasus shuffling her hooves and trying very hard to hide behind her pastel pink mane.
“Fluttershy my dear, so good to see you!” the unicorn squealed happily. “Please, do come in, I’ll put some tea on. Also, of course, I’ve only taken on… four like this? It’ll be fine, I get the designs done overnight and one the Gala rush dies down it’ll be much easier, but you have to understand, darling, when inspiration strikes it must be acted on… and here I am going on and on again. Terribly sorry about that.”
Fluttershy stifled a giggle. To say her fashionista friend could be intense would be an understatement, but in some ways that was part of her charm. “Don’t worry, Rarity, I know you know what you’re doing. Um… but tea sounds really nice, would you like me to brew it while you clear your shop up a little?”
“That… that sounds divine, darling.” Little did either pony know that this almost regular meeting would set off a chain of events that would change their lives forever.
The kitchen of the Carousel Boutique could hardly be described as the most spacious of places. In fact more than three fully grown ponies would struggle to fit inside without things getting awkward. What it was, however, was a triumph of camouflaged efficiency, every possible space being put to its best use whilst still somehow making the room look far less cramped than it truly was. Honestly Rarity was rather proud of its current form. Her little sister Sweetie Belle had more or less destroyed the original kitchen at least twice trying to make breakfast - Celestia please donate a fraction of her singing ability towards her cooking! - and at some point the unicorn had snapped, asking for help in rebuilding from her friend Twilight Sparkle. The results had been unsurprisingly utilitarian, but the increase in storage and overall efficiency had been good enough for the designs to be basically kept after Sweetie Belle ignited the kitchen the next few times. So now here it was, a homely, meticulously clean area matching the rest of the building in fashionable pastels... and currently the background for an exhausted purple-maned unicorn slumped against a counter as her concerned pegasus friend passed over a cup of herbal tea.
“Rarity…” Fluttershy began, not entirely sure how to approach this. Rarity was easily one of her closest friends, in a lot of ways her best friend, as much as that concept might have offended Rainbow Dash. But she was rather irrational, and sometimes it was hard for even Fluttershy, a pony gifted with more empathy than she knew what to do with, to figure out whether to expect an unthinking outburst, a surprising amount of understanding, or just for her friend to do what she usually would do, catch herself and jokingly overreact until the moment passed. Unsurprisingly it was the latter in this instance, as hard as the act was to watch.
“Darling, I’m fine,” Rarity began in an unconvincing tone, so much so that it seemed to fail to convince herself. “There’s simply so much work, how ever shall I fit in grabbing some strawberries and cream at Whinniedon this year?” The unicorn looked hopeful, as if this obvious lie would just somehow maintain the status quo.
“And?” There was a pointed tone in Fluttershy’s voice for once, a tone she only ever revealed to those closest to her. It was a tone that very obviously said ‘you’re not telling me everything, and you’d best fix that’.
“And…” Rarity sighed into her cup with dissatistaction before taking a sip. Of course the tea was excellent, not only had this cup been brewed by her best friend but in fact the herbal blend had been created by her. Somehow this particular brew had fast overtaken all kinds of exotic and designer teas in terms of becoming Rarity’s favourite, but even it didn’t seem to be fully relieving what was bothering the snow-white unicorn. “And I’m being a big silly like always, Fluttershy, pay me no mind. You know how I get sometimes.”
“You’ve been getting like this a lot, Rarity,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I know you’re doing well and all, especially after everyone learned you make all of Twilight’s formal outfits, but… m-maybe an hour or two Rarity time might help you a little? I… I can spare a little time if you want some company...” The pegasus shrank back slightly. “Only if it’s possible… oh, I’m sorry, you’re probably far too busy…”
“No, no, darling,” Rarity reassured her friend, reaching a hoof over to tussle her pink mane slightly. That long, luxurious mane, hiding the most gentle blue eyes… stop that line of thought this instant! The unicorn withdrew with a barely detectable blush and took a long quaff of her tea. “I’m not quite at the ‘72 hours awake and surviving only on coffee’ stage yet! Although apparently I have been hitting the ‘not leaving the Boutique’ stage a little earlier than planned…” Here she frowned, wondering if maybe cutting back on commissions for her own health might not be for the best. As much as she would have loved to make a custom gown for every pony who wanted one, experience had taught her to be at least slightly pragmatic. Plus a little more… rarity in Rarity would likely only serve to make her creations more desirable in the future. Things to consider later, when she could properly allow her common sense to tussle with her generous nature. “Honestly I think you’re right, maybe a change of scenery would do me good,“ Rarity finally sighed. “I fear I’ve taken on too much again, unwinding a little may be nice.”
“Neither of us are very good at saying no, are we?” Fluttershy giggled, much happier now that her gorgeous friend had finally admitted that she needed a break. “Okay, Rarity, let Nurse Fluttershy help you feel better. What would you like to do?”
Rarity bit her lip, thinking hard. “Well… you know I always enjoy a good spa session, but I’d feel dreadful just dropping in, I’m sure the sisters would accommodate but… no, let’s save that for our scheduled days.” There was shopping, too, certainly she needed to replenish some threads, and there was a fascinating sale on eye makeup at one of the stores Rarity used when she couldn’t get to Canterlot to purchase high end brands. But that would have robbed the ponies of a chance that the unicorn really needed, a chance to talk with her friend in relative privacy. So… aha! Idea! “Truthfully I may be getting to my ‘forgetting to eat’ stage as well, darling. It’s a glorious day from the looks of things, would you care to join me for a little picnic? You know the great outdoors far better than I ever will, I’ll let you choose the spot.”
“Oh that would be lovely!” Fluttershy had expected her friend to suggest something a little… busier, but this was a very pleasant surprise. Picnics were nice. “Um, so what would we…” The pretty pegasus was shushed by a pale white hoof.
“Already thought of, my dear,” Rarity grinned. “We shall prepare some sandwiches here. I personally feel like rocket and cucumber, how about yourself?”
“I… I really don’t mind…”
“Daisy and apple it is!” Expecting Fluttershy to make a decision in a timely manner was like expecting Rainbow Dash to put any thought at all into one of hers. So Rarity defaulted to a filling that she knew was one of her friend’s favourites, and was quickly mollified by the smile the yellow pegasus gave her upon that utterance. That adorable smile that should be on her face all the time, if only Rarity could… no, stop that, heart, we had that conversation a while ago and you lost! “Perhaps also a tub of salad to share, something to drink… I don’t know about you, darling, but I really do need to unwind a touch, would you join me in a glass of two of cherry wine?”
“Um… okay.” Fluttershy wasn’t much of a drinker, she was as much of a lightweight there as she was in most aspects of her life, but she couldn’t refuse her friend.
“Splendid! We can call into Sugarcube Corner and maybe pick up something sweet to end the meal with then!” Rarity was already using her magic to prepare the food, a soft blue glow surrounding half the kitchen as she pulled ingredients, sliced, diced and arranged in a similar fashion to how she treated her dressmaking. Seeing her friend in high spirits again at last eased Fluttershy’s heart. This clearly had been a long time coming.
An hour or two later and the two ponies were lay on a taffeta picnic blanket staring up at a glorious late summer sky, a cooling wind taking the edge off what might have otherwise been rather stuffy conditions. It had shocked Rarity just how much she had needed this, but need it she had. The sheer sense of this plan had struck her the instant she first stepped out of the Boutique and into the sunlight - how had she not noticed just how warm today was? - and the visit to Sugarcube Corner had only reinforced that. They had only wanted to buy a slice of raspberry and vanilla cheesecake and a slice of iced carrot cake at the time, but were treated to bonus Pinkie Pie on top of their order.
“Oh wow Rarity how have you been?” The crazed pink pony had all but glued herself to Rarity in a tight hug that made it difficult to breathe. “You normally come in and buy croissants for breakfast, and I’m normally like ‘well those are fun to make because you gotta throw more butter in there than anything else and butter’s always fun to bake with because sometimes it’s all squishy and sometimes it’s all hard and sometimes you drop it on the floor and skid on it’… hey, what was I talking about again? Right! So I guess I was a bit worried because you hadn’t bought any of the croissantly goodness for a few days, and part of me was scared because you might be doing that thing where you forget to do anything but make dresses, and part of me was scared you might have died, and then those parts of me had a big fight. Like a biiiiiig fight! And there were steel chairs and thumbtacks and one of the parts of me threw the other part off the top of a steel cage…” Unsurprisingly the two friends had giggled nervously and backed away at this point, slightly concerned with how Pinkie hadn't stopped to draw breath once throughout this speech. At least Rarity had her proof about having forgotten to eat for a while.
And then it came to finding the right spot to settle down for the afternoon. To be honest Fluttershy had put far more thought into this than she was expecting herself to do. She knew every nook and cranny of the surrounding areas; she had to, for part of her task in life was to assist nature when it found itself wanting. There were so many places worthy of a semi-private picnic nearby, the pegasus had taken lunch with her animal friends in a lot of them, but one spot in particular seemed the most… well, Rarity. A small grove where a waterfall ended, thick lush grass, cool crystalline water, even Fluttershy could admit it was one of the more picturesque areas around, and she was normally satisfied by the outdoors existing at all. Upon being shown the location Rarity had audibly squealed and hugged her friend so tight that Pinkie Pie would have been proud.
In the end there were just two ponies, bellies full and a slight blush on their faces from a surprisingly strong fruit wine, staring up at a beautiful blue sky. “S-sorry, darling,” Rarity began, “Perhaps alcohol on an emptier stomach than I’d assumed was a bad idea.”
“Maybe, but it made you relax a little, wasn’t that the point?” The wine seemed to have corrected Fluttershy’s usual stammer, but apparently hadn’t impaired her memory. The yellow pegasus fixed her friend with a stern look, emboldened by her drink and a good hour of the sort of conversation the two normally saved for the spa. “Rarity, you’re still tense, and not in the way I could massage away. Please, will you just talk to me?”
“I…” Rarity blinked, trying hard down to swallow down the implied suggestion. “I don’t know any more, Fluttershy!” she finally bawled, a true, frustrated cry as opposed to the many, many times the purple-maned unicorn had deliberately brought tears to her eyes. It caught her friend off guard. “I thought this was all I wanted, to ascend the ranks, to become influential, to make my mark! But now I’m there it’s all business, Rarity isn’t a pony, she’s a brand now. I wanted to be an artist but… but… I wind up having to pass up so many things in favour of what pays the bills. You saw that pony I talked to this morning, Fluttershy, I can’t even remember the design that made me invite her back!!!”
“Um… Rarity?” Fluttershy had rather suspected this was the case. Her friend hadn’t quite been the same since opening her retail stores, almost as if the worries of business were wiping out a part of the unicorn that she needed in order to thrive. Frowning for a second, Fluttershy considered what may have gone wrong. Rarity… started off trying to impress with her art, now she impresses because she’s Rarity, not because of her… Oh my goodness! “This is going to sound silly, but I might have a bit of an idea, if you’ll hear it.”
“It can hardly be a worse idea than my dying of a heart attack, darling, and there was me always assuming that would be Twilight’s fate before mine,” Rarity responded wearily. “Please, go ahead.”
“Um...well I was thinking how to help and…. Oh! I’m so sorry Rarity, I was going to ask if you needed a massage earlier, I’d be okay with that if you wanted, you seem so stressed and… and...and…. Never mind.” Fluttershy’s ears drooped.
“I’d be lying if I said that didn’t sound fabulous, although I still would like to hear your first idea.” Rarity took a breath so as to parcel up an awful lot of feelings that she still had to work out. “J… just maybe a lot around the shoulders and be sure to be firm if you were planning on a hoof massage. I have a bit of a reputation on that score and would never forgive myself if I hurt you flinching.”
“I think I saw that a time or two myself,” Fluttershy giggled. “You nearly gave Aloe a black eye the first time she went near your hooves, didn’t you? Just… trust me, and try to listen, okay?” Rarity had little choice. Her warning had resulted in the kind of hoof massage that didn’t tickle but instead sent electric shudders up her spine. As her friend worked up her legs and torso all she could think was how do you manage to make me want to scream for you to go back and repeat it all over again??? Just start at the sensitive spots on her hooves, move up and towards her inner thighs, and then…
This was a simple fantasy, however, and the only progression in reality was a much needed back rub. Rarity found herself both relieved and disappointed, but at least it made her mind clear enough to carry on a conversation.“Darling I had no idea how amazing you could be as a masseuse!” It wasn’t a lie, technically. “But you did say you had an idea, and it surely wasn’t this, glorious though it may be.”
“No. I… I like to think we know each other a lot by now.”
“And?”
“And… and I think maybe artist Rarity has been overwhelmed by business Rarity a smidgen?” Fluttershy winced, assuming that being so bold would result in pain of some kind. Since this didn't happen, she carried on. “The Gala season is hard on you, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for your talents to cause you stress so often! I… I… oh, this is silly.”
“Please tell me, Fluttershy.” Rarity rolled over to look her friend in the eye, backrubs be damned. “You’re right, I’m getting so tired. What were you thinking?”
“Umm… if you want to create but it feels too much like work right now, maybe you might like to try some other types of art, just as a hobby?”
Later that night Rarity found herself staring hard at a blank piece of canvas. The majority of her body was shielded by a smock she had whipped up in all of half an hour out of leftover fabric, her mane was tied back and her spare reading glasses rested snugly on her muzzle. Work had been done for the day, of course other ponies came first, but… something Fluttershy said earlier had prickled at her.
Maybe artist Rarity has been overwhelmed by business Rarity a smidgen?
Curse that gorgeous pony for managing to cut through to the heart of the problem once again! All work and no play was making Rarity a dull pony, it seemed. We’ll see about that!
A brush surrounded by magical light dipped into one colour of paint, two hooves dipped into two others, and within moments the blank canvas was covered in the warmest, most inspired colour scheme Rarity had ever created.
Ponyville had grown considerably since the events surrounding the attack of Tirek. Being the home base of sorts for some of Equestria’s most high profile heroes would do that, and there now being a majestic castle in place of its former library only served to attract even more attention.
It was that last part that rather irritated Twilight Sparkle. Was the average pony so shallow that they only really acknowledged her once she had the right kind of accommodation? It would make for an interesting sociological study, she supposed, but her days of being able to churn out hundred page research papers just because she felt like it were long behind her. Increased visibility meant increased duties, and as much as the purple alicorn loved to be able to reduce a little of Celestia and Luna’s workload her own studies were suffering as a result. Not that she had all that much in formal studies to complete, of course, but there were always new boundaries to push in magical research, and there were still areas where her apprentice Starlight Glimmer needed to improve. Deep down, however, Twilight really needed to keep her mind occupied lest her overactive brain start inventing problems to solve. Unfortunately royal duties took a lot of time but were rarely mentally taxing. The last time she had sat in on Canterlot’s royal courts the matters had been so insignificant that she had thought of five different ways to reform the system to solve them, five hundred ways that failing to do so would somehow doom the planet, then five thousand ways that doing anything would actually somehow be worse. In the end Luna had wound up having to drag the newest princess out of the bathroom by the tail, Twilight shuddering on the floor and muttering something about needing to work out how to change the process of applying for building permits in order to save ponies from burning to death.
And so it came to this, a mercifully slow week, where the purple mare could actually engage her brain for a while and put off getting help for her increasingly obvious OCD symptoms for a little longer. It had started off well, a few paragraphs about her concerns over the similarities between Discord’s magic and Pinkie Pie’s randomness here, a few tweaks to potions and spells there. She would have just lost herself in her laboratories had Spike not pointed out that she would regret not using her free time to hang out with her friends.
“Yo! I’d say a bit for your thoughts, but you’re you, Twilight, I’d either not get it or you’d make me worry.” A loud, rough voice almost directly in her ear made the Princess of Friendship jump in surprise, hanging in mid air as her wings reflexively kept her off the ground. “Oh man, you should see yourself! I know you can space out and all but wow, that was a… a…. Buck it, that was hilarious!” The blue pegasus that had apparently been following Twilight as she traipsed through town was literally rolling on the floor laughing.
“Rainbow Dash, how many times do I have to tell you to stop startling me?” Twilight Sparkle frowned, annoyed. With a smooth beat of her wings she landed next to her mutlicoloured maned friend. “And shouldn’t you be training or something?”
“Ah… sorry, Twi!” Rainbow Dash threw a foreleg over her friend’s shoulders and gave her a friendly squeeze by way of apology. “You’re just too easy a target!”
“Wait, you say sorry, then imply it’s somehow my…” Twilight shook her head, realising what a lost cause this was. “You know what, never mind. What are you doing around here anyway, Rainbow?”
“Eh, needed to take a break and hit up Sugarcube Corner,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You know how it is, even I need to stop to eat sometimes, and the Wonderbolts training is pretty intense! You?”
“Ugh.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Heading to the Carousel Boutique myself. I haven’t really seen Rarity since I got back from Canterlot, so I was going to see if she was free and…. I guess brace myself if she needs me to do alterations to my Gala dress.” Twilight cast her glance backwards over her body in annoyance. “Between you and me this whole alicorn thing is a bit annoying on that front, turns out my measurements change every couple of weeks.”
Rainbow stifled a yawn. “Yeah what’s with that, anyway? You look kind of bigger now you mention it.”
“A function of age and power according to Celestia,” Twilight explained, suddenly sounding excited. “It’s not really been researched fully since there’s only…. well, four fully grown alicorns that we know of, two of whom are more or less goddesses anyway. I’ve established that the changes are most notable after pushing my magic to its limit, and I have my own theories on that, but I wonder if there's an end to it? Is Celestia the peak of an alicorn, or could even she push herself further? Ooh, Cadence isn’t that much further than I am in progression, maybe she could.... I’ve lost you haven’t I?”
“Around the word ‘function’. Sorry.” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Let’s say I don’t envy you, I think Fluttershy’s the only one of us who doesn’t mind posing for Gala dresses. I mean, Rares is cool and all, she invents cool in that silly girly world she lives in, and she'll be up for anything if you push her buttons enough, but…” Here Rainbow leaned in conspiratorially, “...you know, I think she’s about as sane as Pinkie sometimes.”
“I’m pretty sure that applies to the whole lot of us in some way,” Twilight giggled, her mood lifting. “Look, don’t let me keep you if you needed to grab a snack, but I was going to call in on everyone eventually, drop by the castle later when you’re free. I… uh, could still do with a bit of tutoring at flying, I’m barely faster than Fluttershy when I don’t have adrenaline backing me up.”
The sentence was music to Rainbow Dash’s ears apparently, because she grasped her friend’s hooves eagerly. “Are you kidding? I’ll always make time to help you on that score! You got the most awesome flyer in Equestria to help you with your wings, bet the other princesses are jealous they never had someone like me around!”
“Riiiight….” A twinge of concern passed through Twllight Sparkle’s mind. Lately it seemed as if Rainbow Dash’s bravado had changed from a coping mechanism to full egotism, as if she had been telling everyone how great she was for so long that the pegasus had managed to fall for her own hype. But right now she had another friend to visit, and no doubt a good hour’s worth of being very uncomfortable as gown tweaks were made to accommodate a body that hadn’t seen such unpredictable growth spurts since she was a filly. “So I guess I’ll see you when I see you?”
“Pretty much,” Rainbow grinned. “Just.... don’t expect it to be too early, okay?”
Carousel Boutique was closed, but this was hardly unusual for this time of year. These days the pretty lilac and white building was more Rarity’s workspace than it was a store, the unicorn’s more common lines being sold in her Canterlot and Manehattan branches so that she could focus on her commissions. One of which was for a certain purple princess, who both wanted to see a good friend and get a mildly frustrating part of gown design over and done with.
“Hey, Rarity?” Twilight rapped on the door, rather used to this scenario. “It’s Twilight, are you there?”
“Coming darling!” A few bangs, a couple of very unladylike curses and a few more bangs followed, before a paint-splattered unicorn donning an olive smock and dark blue beret threw open the door triumphantly, a huge grin on her muzzle and a look in her eyes that made her alicorn friend just know this was going to be at least a three hour refitting session. “Oh it’s so good to see you, I’d give you a hug but… hold on…” Pale blue magic energy removed Rarity’s protective gear, and Twilight was vaguely relieved to see that the splatters left in her pelt were old and well dried before her friend hugged her warmly. “Twilight, darling! Please, come in, would you care for a cup of tea?”
“Oh!” Twilight Sparkle had almost forgotten about yet another reason she had wanted to drop by. Her horn flared and lifted a saddlebag over to her friend, who accepted it with her own magical hold. “No need, I have that covered. I figured you were working hard at this time so would likely be wanting some coffee and snacks. Given your previous habits from when we’ve spent time together I was hoping you’d like a salted caramel doughnut and a double strength cinnamon latte?”
“Darling you are a star, no wonder your cutie mark turned out as such,” Rarity squealed in happiness as the two made their way through the main room of the boutique. “Please do give me a moment to wash up though.”
As the white unicorn dashed off to at least clean her hooves in the sink, Twilight had to ask what was on her mind. “Okay, Rarity, what’s with this? I get that you love acting like a cliche, but you answered the door in full artist garb. Plus I know that you hate getting messy, but your nose is literally yellow right now. You’re going to show me something amazing or something scary, I’d really like to know which it is so I can figure out which way I need to lose my mind.”
There was a long, poignant pause before Rarity stuck her head, mercifully without paint splatters, out of her kitchen. “Let me serve some drinks, and I’ll explain.”
“So this was just another case of you being okay with getting messy in certain circumsatnces? In this case if it’s making art?” Twilight stifled a giggle. “Rarity, truth be told I had a bet about this exact thing with Applejack and if you’ll admit to it she owes me twenty bits.”
“No, it’s…. Look, darling, I’ll gladly win you your bet, there’s more to it than my not noticing any mess I made on my person,” Rarity grumbled, taking a sip of coffee. Her horn began to glow and a canvas levitated over to the small table the two ponies had set up. “Take a look at this. My first wholly successful attempt with watercolours. I didn't want to do anypony's likeness a disservice whilst I was learning, so... Well, this was a self portrait, as I hope you can see, but it was.... Frustrating!” The unicorn stamped a pale while hood in frustration, but her friend didn’t understand her annoyance at all. She was looking at a near photorealistic attempt at Rarity’s own form wrapped in a stunning green gown with a remarkable amount of lace around the shoulders.
“I… I’m not seeing..?”
“Darling, I know this looks fine, and it will continue to look fine as I use it to hone that dress but I was so strongly in work mode for that picture!” Rarity was almost screaming at this point. “If I wanted my images to be like real life I would have taken up photography!”
“Whoa. Whoa, who, hold up,” Twilight held her hooves up, about to placate her friend. Fortunately Rarity's mood seemed to shift in an instant.
“I’ll return to that, though. Case two, Rainbow Dash.” A second canvas floated over, displaying a shocking likeness of their friend producing a Sonic Rainboom, only heavily inspired by comic book art. “This one worked. Rainbow is… not exactly complicated so the concept was easy, you’d rather not know how many materials I wasted getting used to dealing with acrylic paints though! Here’s Applejack, I thought she must have a rustic theme…” The next canvas was oil and heavily inspired by the work of artists well in the past, and in spite of what Rarity had said previously was highly realistic. “There’s no other way to picture her though, unfortunately, as much as I was trying to add a certain flair.... Well, her flair is ‘what you see is what you get’. Now to the next…” Another passed, and Twilight Sparkle found herself gaping at a pastel pink monstrosity that screamed Pinkie Pie in spite of looking nothing like her. Everything was stretched, moved out of proportion, it was too much.... “Sorry darling! I rather forgot your dislike of that kind of thing!” Rarity moved on quickly.
“What… was that?” Twilight Sparkle eventually breathed.
“Surrealism, or at least my first attempt at it,” Rarity giggled nervously. “I must admit, this was a rather sudden shift, Fluttershy suggested I get out of my comfort zone as it were, and I’m enjoying it a lot,. If it’s worrying you though…”
“No, not at all!” Twilight almost yelled at this point.
“Thank you! Why bother create if you have nobody to create for???” All of a sudden a whole lot of Rarity’s ethos made far too much sense. Twilight decided to just carry on listening. “And here you go, I was going to hold onto this but.... I just can’t, I really hope you like it!” The next canvas was Twilight, in her current alicorn form and in a style that perfectly matched the Royal portraits in Canterlot, only…
Twilight gasped. “Did you… you have the magialchemical formulae for teleportation and telekinesis engraved in the background? You… you did! I didn’t even notice and....” All of a sudden a thought stopped Twilight’s brain, one that made this moment all too bittersweet. “...And as absolutely amazing as this picture is, and as much as I’m going to make sure Celestia hangs this up somewhere nice, I think you’ve missed one of us.”
“Ahahaha, I do know but I tried so hard and couldn’t quite…”
“Rarity, you’re a terrible liar. What happened to your take on Fluttershy?”
“I... “ Rarity hung her head solemnly. “Nothing. It came out too well, if you must know.”
“Too well?”
“Fine, look if you must!” Rarity all but screamed, dragging over one final canvas before hurling herself face first into her sofa. “Then exile me if you must, at least I have an emergency exilation kit packed!”
Twilight was about to commiserate with a ‘wow, you have one of those too?’, only she finally paid attention to the picture in front of her. “Oh wow…” she gasped, her eyes studying a picture of a beautiful pink maned mare ascending to the skies like an angel, draped only in the softest robes. It was easily on a par with any of the classical artwork Twilight had studied.
It also screamed loudly how much the artist was obsessed with their subject matter.
“Oh. Wow.” Twilight finally managed to stammer.
Several moments passed.
And then Twilight had finally passed through a billion responses, filtered them down to the best hundred, briefly checked each until she was down to ten then set those head to head until the winner shone through. “Rarity…” she began, “it’s really okay. Nobody wants to see you exiled. Nobody will even care. I doubt you ever saw what happened to the last pony who was outspoken about mares loving mares or stallions loving stallions.” Twilight chuckled almost cruelly. “Trust me, if you think Luna can get carried away at times you’ve not seen anything compared to when Cadence loses her cool. So, you know, your image wouldn't suffer, you know that, and I know none of us will think less of you, but…”
“But what to do now,” Rarity finished flatly, finally pulling herself upright and starting to go about fixing her running mascara. “For a start this rather dashes the plans I had of gifting these for now, I couldn’t possibly let poor Fluttershy see something so blatant while she’s unaware of how much I adore her.”
“Have you tried, I don’t know, talking to her about any of this?” Twilight was trying hard not to sound short with her friend, but the solution did appear rather obvious at first glance. “I mean, you two already seem the closest out of any of us emotionally.”
The white unicorn gave a bitter laugh. “If only it were that easy! The chapter on the book of Fluttershy pertaining to romance is locked tight, it would seem. Trust me, I have tried, but I’ve seen her more comfortable around dragons than she is when the conversation turns to matters of her heart. I have no idea where her preferences even lie, darling. And even if I did, I fear that any confessions on my part would only leave the poor dear nervous around me.”
“There’s got to be some way to work this out!” Twilight surprised herself with the passion in her voice. “Maybe you’re not giving her enough credit? Sure, Fluttershy’s timid… and a bit emotional… and prone to hiding in small spaces when she gets overwhelmed… but, but, but even with all that, she’s still your best friend isn’t she? She’d stay that way no matter what happened, right?”
“Twilight, darling, as much as I love your conviction, I fear this silly little crush is destined to stay hidden and one sided.” Rarity drained her tea, ignoring the alicorn’s protests. “I can’t risk hurting what we have already. I can’t risk hurting her. No, best leave angel pegasi to my fantasies, I’ll just have to try again and see if I can’t rein myself in a touch this time.”.
Twilight was still very dissatisfied by this resolution, but was at a loss as to how to proceed. Part of her had resigned itself to just leaving well alone for now, part was so convinced that the two ponies seemed so right for each other that it saw a duty to go above and beyond to fix this, a third, more selfish part agreed with the second because otherwise it just knew that she was going to be up until 3am worrying, and a fourth just wished that the other parts would stop bickering so she could go back home and continue research into trying to eliminate her need for sleep entirely. “But… fine,” she said finally, defeated. “What are you going to do with the picture? It’s just too good to throw away!”
“On that we agree,” Rarity nodded as her alicorn friend finished her own cup of tea. “I was thinking maybe keeping it stashed somewhere in the attic for now. Bring it down on occasion to sigh wistfully at it and think of what might have been, maybe weep a little and go ‘oh! Woe is me! I shall never know such perfection again!’ Things like that.” She had raised a white hoof to her forehead in emphasis as she spoke. It seemed that the side of Rarity that loved hamming things up was firmly in control again. Which meant that soon…
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened and a chill ran down her spine as she finally heard the words she had been dreading. “But enough about me, what about you? You seem to have grown another quarter inch since I last took your measurements! Come now, we simply must make sure that your latest dress will still fit you!”
Time passed, as time was prone to do (albeit with a small hiccup where it decided to flow backwards for a short period, but Discord had looked suitably contrite afterwards and promised not to do it again). Eventually Rarity had managed to find the time amidst her work to create a painting of Fluttershy that didn’t make the pegasus out to be some sort of otherworldly goddess - truthfully she had to admit that a bright, happy-go-lucky scene of her friend cavorting with a selection of her cuter critters fitted Fluttershy’s aesthetic better anyway.
She still kept the original and, true to her word, would spend the occasional late night daydreaming over it and shedding bittersweet tears of course.
Rarity had been quite upfront with her friends about using them as inspiration for her first paintings in the end, and insisted on gifting them the results of her efforts. Unfortunately Pinkie Pie had hijacked the concept at the last minute to turn things into an impromptu ‘Rarity is super-duper-luper talented and pretty and painted us all amazing pictures, yay’ party. Part of the unicorn still wondered why the pink mare had a fully decorated cake to hand that matched this bizarre theme, not to mention a full banner, but she had decided not to dwell on it. The laws of reality seemed to turn a blind eye to Pinkie’s shenanigans. And besides, at least this way there were drinks and snacks.
Twilight Sparkle had already had her sneak preview, of course, but enough time had passed that the alicorn seemed to view it with completely fresh eyes. “Oh thank you!” she had gushed. “I’d completely forgotten how many little details you’d put in. We really will have to hang this in the castle somewhere for everypony to see.”
“You sure you ain’t been doing this all your life, sugarcube?” Applejack had asked with a good-natured smile upon being shown her rustic landscape. ”I mean, I don’t know much about art, but I can tell when someone has a knack for somethin’, and hoo-wee, you’re good at this, girl! Reckon you’ll bring a tear to ol’ Granny Smith’s eye with this, you will.”
“Rarity, this is awesome!” Rainbow Dash had reacted to her comic book likeness with predictable enthusiasm. “Like, seriously awesome! Like, ‘I’m gonna show it everyone because it’s that darned awesome’ awesome!” The pegasus threw an arm over Rarity’s shoulders. “But seriously, talk to me if you ever get bored of the whole fashion thing. I’ve got a great idea for a story, ‘The Super Awesome Adventures of Rainbow Dash’. If you’d do the artwork we could make a fortune!” For some reason the white mare seriously doubted this, but for once she decided to hold her tongue on the matter.
“Yay it’s all whee! And then it’s waaagh! And then it’s bubblicious!” Pinkie Pie had excitedly bounced around in circles spouting out what presumably only made sense to her. “With curly-wurlies! I love it!” The ensuing hug had almost left Rarity with bruised ribs, but the unicorn barely noticed; Discord had appeared out of nowhere at that point, for some reason wearing a top hat and monocle. He had viewed Pinkie’s present pensively, stroking his beard.
“Hmm… hardly groundbreaking, yet the raw talent is unquestionably there. Maybe a touch overly precise, but the piece certainly performs the task of showing a window into the soul of a larger than life, but completely deranged individual.” Up until this point he had been affecting a mock snooty tone, but Discord’s voice returned to normal as he decided to join in the ongoing hug. “Surrealism from Rarity!” he had almost sobbed. “Baby’s first little dalliance with chaos! I’m so proud!” Here the draconequus had disengaged before thrusting a card and bottle of wine into Rarity’s face. “Sorry I can’t stay for the party, but I really have to go deal with a galaxy-eating carrot. Pesky thing escaped from my garden about an hour ago. Toodles!” The unicorn couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed or amused at the card, which read ‘congratulations on not being totally boring!’, but the wine had proven to be surprisingly nice and even more surprisingly not booby-trapped, so she went with the more charitable option.
Fluttershy’s reaction, finally, had cemented what a good idea it had been to go back to the drawing board after her first attempt at painting her. The petite mare’s blue eyes grew as large as saucers and she audibly gasped upon being gifted her present, a rare occurrence for a pony who could barely make herself heard at the best of times . “Rarity… it…” Fluttershy practically bowled her friend over in a hug. “It’s gorgeous!” High praise indeed from a pony who usually used the word ‘nice’ more than Rainbow Dash did ‘awesome’. “I love it so much!” The two ponies stayed in the embrace for a short while, Rarity pausing from smiling blissfully just long enough to stick her tongue out at Twilight Sparkle, who was fixing her with a very pointed look. All of a sudden Fluttershy pulled away, a thought having struck her that ruined the moment. “Oh, but Rarity, you must have spent so long on these, I know I thought you might enjoy trying something new, but your work… I’m sorry.”
“Oh come now, darling, you know me, it has to be all or nothing when I’m involved! Besides, it turns out I’m a surprisingly fast worker, if anything was sacrificed it was the time I would have spent reading romance novels and eating ice cream. Consider this a thank you gift for finding me a distraction that helps me stick to my diet!” The unicorn laughed pleasantly with an endearing shake of her deep purple mane, although her mind was adding a little bit extra to her comment. Now if only I could be brave enough to ask if you’d be in my exercise regime as well…
The following days had been a blur of work for the purple-maned mare. As much as she hadn’t been lying about keeping on top of her work, the real busy season did eventually set in. Final adjustments to prototypes for her winter line had to be done, as did the designs for eye-grabbing catwalk outfits for the following spring and their accompanying toned-down versions. Plus there was the admittedly tiresome job of staying on top of how her retail boutiques were doing; as much as she trusted her staff, Coco Pommel in particular, being hooves-on with everything was a hard habit to break. Fortunately the change of pace had reinvigorated Rarity, enough so that in spite of all of this plus her commissions she was actually able to steal an hour or two’s nap nearly every night, which had to have been a first for her.
Business was booming and, outside of one particular area of her life the unicorn had simply been too busy to really think about too much, things were going swimmingly, leaving Rarity in a far better mood than she had been for some time. Even the Grand Galloping Gala itself, an event she only attended these days because it was her only chance to catch up with a handful of crucial clients, didn’t seem quite as boring as usual after a few glasses of rose wine once the conversations she needed to be sober for were over.
“Remind me why I ever thought events like these were interesting?” she had moaned once all the formal meeting and greeting was over and Twilight Sparkle was free to chat with for a while.
“Tell me about it!” Twilight had agreed as the two nibbled on an assortment of snacks. “I think when you’re not in the middle of all of this it seems special, and it is... as long as it doesn't happen too often. Then it just gets annoying.”
“And then when it does become a near daily thing you get to see the uglier side of the supposedly well-bred, and before you know it you’re wanting to just stay in bed rather than deal with them.” Somehow Princess Celestia had joined the two, pouring a glass of wine and downing it in one before either could react.
“P...princess!” Rarity had gasped, but she had been cut off by the slender white alicorn before she could bow..
“Rarity, please, I’ve had my fill of formality to the point I’m starting to wish I’d invited Discord again.” Celestia downed a second glass full glass of wine like she was taking a shot. “I’d at least like to spend a short while just chatting with friends before I get dragged away to play politics once more.”
It had been a rather fun experience after that. Rarity had always considered Luna the more relatable of the alicorn sisters, but a good half hour trading notes over how different the assembled throng was in the ballroom compared to in the courts or the boutique had really helped her to see the pony behind the legend that was Celestia. The copious amounts of wine had helped, but in the end had nothing to do with how their little group parted ways with hugs rather than curtsies.
Following that there had been something of an influx of requests, word had quickly spread that the up and coming designer had the ear of the land’s highest royalty, but Rarity had a post-Gala plan in place for a while and refused to budge. She would continue to work on her retail designs, at this point a good portion of her income, and would honour existing commissions. Unfortunately for those hoping to ride the surge of popularity that the last Gala had afforded Rarity, the unicorn had decided to take a much needed sabbatical for a month or two. Early summer was going to be her own for the first time in a few years.
As her staged winding down for her break of sorts continued, Rarity was given more chances to expand her wider attempts at art. She was already a dab hand when it came to making jewellery, although making a few standalone pieces rather than designing with a full outfit in mind had been somewhat liberating. Rarity decided that renting out a studio and investing in some of the more specialised tools needed to work with silver and gold was something worth looking into - most of the modern set of haute couture designers had a secondary line of work, be that fragrances or furniture. Perhaps jewellery could be her little niche in that respect.
Pottery was rather fun when she took a few classes of it; as much as the unicorn disliked getting messy in her daily life, somehow it didn’t seem much of a bother when there was a vision driving her forward. Plus she did rather enjoy the sensations of working with clay, it was rather close to the weekly mud baths she enjoyed with a certain beautiful friend of hers during their spa dates.
Prose, however, seemed to be her downfall. An attempt at writing resulted in an entire five scrolls devoted to the cut of a character’s dress, and Rarity’s poetry… well, she tried to pour her heart out but second readings of her attempts made it quite clear that the only time she had progressed since her school days was when the subject matter had been a pegasus she was trying very hard not to let influence on her work.
“It’s really not fair,” the unicorn had whined during one of her spa sessions, doing anything to distract herself from staring at the yellow pony sat next to her in the sauna. It wasn’t working all that well, all things considered. “I can speak well enough, and the ideas are there, but they never seem to hit parchment in a way I’m satisfied with!”
“Um, maybe you’re being too hard on yourself?” Fluttershy had offered gingerly. “I could take a look if you want?”
Rarity had turned beet red at this suggestion, much to her friend’s confustion, then laughed nervously. “No, no, I wouldn’t subject you to the horror that is my poetry. It made for far better kindling than it did reading, I can assure you. I was sorely temped to also bury the ashes just to be safe, it really was that atrocious.”
“Oh.” The blue-eyed pegasus seemed a little disappointed. “Well, I guess no pony could possibly be good at everything. You’re already amazing at making clothes, and you’re really good at painting, too. Sometimes I think that not being perfect can be what makes something perfect. Um… if that makes sense?”
“Darling, you are a treasure.” Rarity couldn’t help herself, the words had lifted her spirits so. Impulsively she leaned over and gave her friend a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to blush deeply and stare at her hooves for a few moments. An... interesting reaction, but best not read too much into it. “I have no idea what I’d do without you.”
“You’d do just fine, Rarity,” her yellow friend all but whispered timidly. “I really don’t do very much but keep you company.”
“Maybe so,” Rarity snorted. “If you ignore the countless times you’ve helped me put last minute orders together, whipping up the most exquisite herbal teas for me, your being the only pony who’s ever been able to handle Opalescence consistently, plus being a constant source of amazing ideas and inspiration, all you do is keep me company. Or as I like to put it, ‘keep me from going insane’. Please don’t sell yourself short like that, darling, I really would be lost without you in my life.” There was a long pause, and for a second the white mare worried that she had said too much and overwhelmed her companion.
Finally the blush faded slightly from Fluttershy’s face and she fixed Rarity with her beautiful blue eyes, a slight smile on her lips. “You… you make it sound so important, but I’m only trying to be a good friend. Um… but thank you, I’m glad I’ve been able to help you.”
That you exist at all is enough to see me through the day, the rest is just the icing on a particularly heavenly cake. Rarity choked back the desire to be even more forthcoming about how her pink-maned friend enriched her life, reasoning that she had already pushed her luck far enough for one day. “I doubt I’ll ever be able to express how grateful I am for that help, dear, but to just accept a mere thank you seems so little!”
“It’s all I need, Rarity,” Fluttershy beamed, finally deciding to just accept the praise rather than argue against it. She placed a hoof on top of her friend’s reassuringly. “Well, I mean, I really like the company, too, and… and…”
“I think I get the idea, darling,” Rarity laughed warmly. “No grand gestures to show my appreciation, I do know you better than that!” No grand gestures, for certain, but there was something about recent events that was making the unicorn rethink her position regarding her feelings. She had never been one to ignore her heart before, and surely Twilight Sparkle had been right, surely the worst case scenario involved an awkward moment or two and things carrying on as before?
For better or for worse, at that point the two ponies had been interrupted by Aloe, one of the owners of their favourite spa, pointing out that it was time for them to move on to their mud treatment. The moment had been lost, but the thoughts remained, growing stronger and stronger with every passing second now that the distractions of work had been almost removed. Thoughts of two little words.
“ANGEL BUNNY!!! OPALESCENCE!!! YOU TWO WILL STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!!!!” The yell would have echoed throughout the rustic cottage an irritable white rabbit and an equally irritable Persian cat had been grappling in, had it been anything louder than most other pony's speaking voices and so high pitched few could even hear it. Still, it caused the fighting animals to pause, even if it was just because upsetting the owner of the voice was more than either's black heart could take.
Fluttershy surveyed the damage done to her lounge. A few tears in the sofa, most books were knocked from their shelves, a vase had been broken and hardly any furniture was in the same spot she had left it. All things considered this had been a rather good session dealing with an ingrowing claw with Rarity's pet cat – all of the damage beyond the sofa was down to Angel, it was so familiar to the pegasus.
No, no quite, Mister Supposed Decoration… you just had to add to this, didn't you? The vase had somehow pulled itself together, complete with a flower that shouldn't have been there in the first place, and shuffled off sideways on ridiculously long leaves as awkwardly as a walking plant could manage. Nonsense had become all too familiar to Fluttershy as of late, but that was to be expected when a god of chaos considered you his best friend. “Discord, if you're going to hang around here can you at least show yourself?”
An almost gaunt, olive-coloured head adorned with mismatching horns, a goat-like beard and ridiculously bushy eyebrows poked out of the vase, the flower within it now perched comically on the end of a long muzzle. “Well, I wouldn't want to impose...” The Draconequus sounded thoroughly insincere as he swiftly teleported out of the vase, appearing by Fluttershy's side with a pop so he could hug her warmly. “Ah, who am I kidding? I love imposing!”
“That reminds me, you still owe Twilight Sparkle an apology for giving her dictionary wings the other day,” Fluttershy commented to a friend who, whilst he may not have been the oldest, was certainly the oddest.
“I also owe her apologies for...” Here Discord donned a pair of reading glasses and began flicking through a notepad he had pulled out of thin air. “Let's see, blocking her toilet on three occasions, completely reversing the order of her spellbooks, filling the slippers of her royal outfit with chocolate pudding, enchanting her mirror so her reflection pulled faces at her, five counts of drunk and disorderly conduct, three counts of breaking and entering and one instance of indecent behaviour with a butternut squash. She'll get her apologies all at the same time, which will be at half past never.”
Fluttershy rolled her eyes before getting back to her duties, which right now consisted of trying to remember where she had put Opal's pet carrier. “I really don't understand why you give Twilight such a hard time, Discord.”
“Really? And here I thought we had an understanding, Fluttershy!” Discord guffawed. “It's the same reason I give Celestia a hard time – they're big ponies and can take it, plus their reactions are just priceless!”
“Do you just like annoying alicorns, then?” Fluttershy asked absently, peeking underneath her dining table and finding nothing beyond a family of mice having a tea party.
“Oh not at all, just Celestia and her understudy, because they're just so serious all the time! I get on with Luna just fine usually, we even dated for a while a few millennia ago until we ran out of taverns to get barred for life from.” Here Discord pouted. “Lifetime bans are really harsh when you're immortal, Fluttershy, it's just as well I never cared about the rules else I'd never be able to set foot anywhere. As for Cadence, she's just so nice, and I don't want to get within a mile of the only buttons I know I could push with her. I may list 'being a mild irritant' amongst my hobbies, but even I have standards!”
“Also last time we visited the Crystal Empire Flurry Heart beat you in a wrestling match,” Fluttershy noted, checking a cupboard and only finding a stockpile of fruit tea.
“She cheated!” Discord stamped his one hoof irritably, although Fluttershy knew it was just for show. Sometimes her friend could be almost predictable in his attempts to be unpredictable – of course one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, if not all creation, was going to wind up losing a fight with a toddler, even one as magically gifted as the only known pony to be born an alicorn. “Went into business for herself! I was supposed to hit that elbow from the top rope!”
“You were trying to stage a fight with her?”
“Since when did I ever not stage my fights to an extent, Fluttershy? The bad guy has to lose sometimes, if one side wins outright it's just boring! Oh, by the way, is this what you're looking for?” All of a sudden Discord handed over Opal's diamond-studded carrier.
“How long have you had this???” Fluttershy gasped.
“Five seconds,” came the indifferent reply.
And so eventually a somewhat cheerful yellow pegasus hit the road between her cottage and Ponyville, pet carrier containing a sulky white cat in hoof. Rarity's pet wasn't exactly the easiest of creatures to handle, even for Fluttershy, but a combination of coaxing and a certain Draconequus getting annoyed had forced a grumpier than usual Opal into her current position.
“Is your mommy okay, Opalescence?” Fluttershy asked her charge as she wandered into town. “She's been a little clingier than normal, I mean I know it's Rarity and she can be like that but… is there something I ought to know?” The cat gave a half yawn, half meow that translated to 'ask her yourself, it's none of my business'. Which didn't exactly help the yellow mare's mood, but what could she do? Her best friend had been flirting with her quite heavily as of late, and the pegasus was rather torn between enjoying the attention and assuming something bad was about to happen. Fluttershy was a lot of things, but oblivious was not one of them. Self-depreciating, on the other hand… well, how was a gorgeous mare like Rarity, a pony who had vented about her handsome prince so often, going to fit with a plain homebody like her? Even if she wasn't so certain that she was reading too much into things, It just was never meant to be anyway.
“Um… are you in there Rarity?” Fluttershy knocked on the door of Carousel Boutique after a diversion or two – Angel Bunny needed more lettuce, plus she had needed to call in at Quills and Sofas to buy some ink – and her mind raced about how to maybe come to a solution about the issues presented by the unicorn's affection. Unfortunately she had only come to one of two conclusions; kiss her friend passionately or hide in a blanket and never come out again. Right now the blanket seemed like the easier option. “Rarity?” The door turned out to be unlocked, so a mild push found the pegasus staring into a deserted showroom flecked with splatters of paint. This wasn't new, of course, her friend had been embracing her artistic nature a lot as of late, and whilst she seemed a lot less stressed there had been a minor side effect of the unicorn growing even more impulsive than usual, which was no small feat. Maybe she had ran out of paint or something?
“Rarity, you stupid old mare, stop this madness at once.” A voice from towards the back of the shop almost made Fluttershy jump out her skin, but there was something there that made the pegasus pause. Yes, that was certainly Rarity's refined voice, but... the tone seemed so miserable and so unlike the unicorn. When sad Rarity would wail and thrash and make a scene, especially if there was an audience, but this.... this voice sounded close to broken. Worried, Fluttershy made her way towards the source of the noise. “It's just a silly fantasy, nothing good can possibly come of acting on it.” Curious as to what was torturing her friend so, she crept forward and leaned into the boutique's kitchen, her blue eyes widening at the scene in front of her.
It seemed as if a thoroughly dejected unicorn was spilling her guts to one of her paintings, a half empty tub of ice cream in front of her alongside a nearly drained bottle of white wine. This wasn't the part that had caught Fluttershy off guard, although Rarity in a state like this was never a welcome sight. No, it was the picture she seemed so enthralled by that left the pegasus' mind reeling. Framed in what appeared to be high quality gold, it was a large oil painting that put anything else her friend had come up so far to shame. It was a true masterpiece but… well, she was having a little difficulty wrapping her head around the concept. Fluttershy was fairly certain that she was meant to be the main subject matter, but why her friend had decided to depict her as an angel… or a goddess… or a princess (honestly in Equestria there was barely much of a difference between the three) was quite beyond her. The more she thought about it the redder her face grew, the urge to just run and hide for the next week or so growing ever stronger.
Evidently Rarity had yet to notice her yellow friend peering in from the doorway, since she took a drunken swig from her bottle and waved it drunkenly towards her unfathomable masterpiece. “I should never have drawn you,” she slurred irritably. “I should certainly never have kept you, now all I can think about are what ifs! And now I'll have to hide you away before the real you comes round with Opal otherwise she'll think me crazy.” At this point Rarity's pet cat had had quite enough of this ridiculous performance, and alerted her owner to their presence with a rather irritable meow. “...and I lost track of time and she's behind me, isn't she?”
“Hello, Rarity,” Fluttershy offered, not really sure where to look.
“Hello darling,” the unicorn replied, turning round to reveal she had been crying somewhat. Somehow she looked paler than usual, which was quite the feat for a snow white pony. “I fear I'm going to pass out from sheer embarrassment in the next ten seconds, would you be a dear and make sure I don't split my head open on the kitchen tiles? Blood really doesn't complement my decor. Thank you!” With this, Rarity's hoof went up to her head, her eyes rolled back in their sockets and she fell forward with a whimper.
It had been an effort – Rarity was surprisingly heavy for somepony so dainty – but Fluttershy had finally managed to hoist her comatose friend onto a subtly embroidered sofa. Then came the wait, as agonising as it was. Fluttershy decided to busy herself making tea for the two of them, trying hard not to dwell on what might have been Rarity had been right, she could have easily wound up taking a nasty spill had her pegasus friend not been there to shield her from the hard floor. So for now all thoughts of finding out what was going on were shelved in favour of making sure the fashionista was okay.
“I'm sorry, darling,” Rarity finally groaned as she opened her sapphire blue eyes. The was an element of defeat in her tone that Fluttershy didn't like one bit.
“W… what for?” The nerves were back in full force, and the yellow mare was rather glad Rarity could pick her own cup of tea up. It meant she could concentrate a little more on trying not to visibly shake. Today had seriously taken her out of her comfort zone. “It… it's not the first time I've had to catch you when you fainted.”
“Not just that!” Rarity waved her hoof for dramatic effect, spilling half her tea in the process. Apparently she was still fairly drunk, which was yet another reason to add to her friend's frayed nerves. “I'm sorry I forgot what time you were coming over! I'm sorry I overdid it on the wine before you arrived! I'm sorry….” Here Rarity paused, her eyes filling with tears. “I'm sorry about what you saw.”
“Why?” Fluttershy swallowed, trying to prevent her wings from carrying her away some place else. Some place far. Although she was curious, there could have been a million reasons why her friend had created that picture and why she seemed so embarrassed by it. They ranged from the likely and simply a little awkward to the unlikely and either disastrous or mind-bogglingly amazing, and Fluttershy had little faith that she was lucky enough for reality to lie on the 'amazing' side. “I thought it looked lovely.”
“Lovely but..?” Rarity sighed miserably.
“Well, uh… what made you want to paint me as an angel?” the pegasus finally blurted out. “It's beautiful, Rarity, but why me? I'm not beautiful at all.”
“Fluttershy, do we need to get you an appointment with an eye doctor?” Rarity snapped, harsher than she had intended, and her friend drew back slightly. Yes, running and hiding sounded really good right now. Maybe Discord could sneak her into another reality for a month or six. “Or better mirrors? Because I don't know what you're seeing in your reflection, but I'll tell you what I see right now. I see the greatest friend I've ever had. I see a pony I can trust with anything. I see the most divine, gorgeous mare I've ever seen in my entire life, one whose only real flaw is that she can't see any of this herself!” Rarity was openly weeping now. “Fiddlesticks, let me just be open about it, the damage is already done. You want to know what that picture means? It...” The unicorn grew quieter, trying to regain a little composure as her friend stared with increasingly wide eyes. “It is how I see you. It's how my heart sees you, that stupid, insufferable thing that won't leave me in peace! I… I love you, Fluttershy. I have for quite some time. I… I'm sorry it took all of this to say as much.”
Ding! Sense has now left the building, please enjoy your stay in 'Fluttershy doesn't deserve nice things' land! If Rarity had any more to add then she wasn't given the chance. Fluttershy had bolted out of the door so fast she might as well have teleported.
The speeding pegasus had no idea where she was going, all she knew is that she either had to move or give in to a full-fledged panic attack. None of this was supposed to happen! She was just meant to have a nice life, with her nice animals, just go day to day without event, and stay in the background where she belonged. Romance was just something that happened to other ponies, especially with somepony as wonderful as Rarity. She deserved so much better, and yet it seemed as if she had been hiding her feelings and beating herself up over this for some time!
And what did you do when she stopped and opened up? You took off and rewarded her with an empty room. She probably thinks you hate her.
Fluttershy skidded to a half as her mind finally caught up with her body. Why, exactly, was she running? Rarity wasn't scary, not really, even if her wilder moods could be a bit worrisome. The confession had been startling, but only really because the pegasus had refused to see herself as a pony that could be seen that way. Did she not like mares in that way? Not the problem, seeing as she was struggling to see stallions like that as well. In fact romance seemed almost appealing when it came to Rarity, and the closest to this feeling she'd ever encountered was with Rainbow Dash back in Cloudsdale. Which had just resulted in her pretending to be ill for about a week until the feelings faded. Apparently Fluttershy's instincts just really, really enjoyed ruining her life.
And Rarity's as well. She'll have probably slashed up that picture and be on her sofa sobbing out her broken heart by now.
“I… I'm a horrible pony!” Fluttershy wailed, taking off at full speed again. She had really messed this up and had no idea how to fix things. But she at least had friends who might.
“Twilight, don't you think we've hit a dead end with this?”
Twilight Sparkle glanced over at her lavender-coated assistant and rolled her eyes. Starlight Glimmer was a magical genius, a unicorn talented enough to come close to alicorn levels of power, but her mentor sometimes thought she gave up too easily these days “Starlight,” she explained patiently, “we still have a few avenues to explore yet. Spontaneous energy creation is a no go, but personally I'm thinking we could adapt an energy drain spell? Instead of transferring energy from one subject, increase the area to draw a minuscule, barely noticeable amount from the entire surrounding area?”
“That… seems a little selfish just to avoid going to sleep for a few hours,” Starlight commented, sounding worried. “I don't think Celestia would go for it.”
“You're right,” Twilight grumbled, placing her head in her hooves sulkily. “I guess sleep's just one of those things you can't avoid, and we've wasted more time on this than a whole week's worth of early nights as is.”
“I'd hardly call it a waste, Twilight,” the unicorn with the two toned mane smiled encouragingly. “You made a lot of fixes to time manipulation spells, we came a little closer towards spontaneous energy generation, plus you really boosted the formula for that energy drink, if we put that on the market ponies will love it!”
“Yay, all hail Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and procrastinating college students,” the purple alicorn said sarcastically, before starting to giggle. “Who knew my first worshippers were going to wind up being ponies like Rarity who like to pull all-nighters?”
“You're one to talk, miss 'I want to invent a spell that stops me needing to sleep',” Starlight Glimmer chuckled, finally relaxing now that her mentor seemed a little less stressed. “How are things going with Rarity, anyway? I can't say I've seen her much.”
“Oh, you know, she says she's taking a break but all she's done is pick up a whole bunch of new projects instead. That mare couldn't stop creating even if she wanted to, she's an even worse workaholic than I am!” Twilight rolled her purple eyes. “I'm glad she's found a few things to throw herself into that aren't dressmaking, though, I think she might have been getting a bit burned out with her work.”
“Uh huh. I know. She collared me with one of her paintings while I was in the market last week, went on about how sorry she was to not give me something at the same time as the rest of you. She's a really good painter, but it's like… you really didn't need to spend most of your day on this, you know?”
“You get used to it,” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. “As much as she's enjoying playing the passionate artist, I think she needs to have somepony in mind to create for.”
“Makes sense,” Starlight nodded, a smile crossing her face all of a sudden. “I was more wondering about how she was doing with Fluttershy.”
“Ugh, don't ask!” Twilight harrumphed in irritation. “I just know they'd be so good for each other, but we can add 'romance' to the list of things Fluttershy's afraid of, and Rarity's so convinced that doing anything would spoil their friendship somehow she's just decided to give up. I mean, it's Rarity! Giving up on romance! That's like… like… Pinkie Pie passing up ice cream or something!” Twilight took a step forward as she gestured for emphasis, and felt a disgusting squelch beneath her hoof. Somehow she had just stepped in an extremely gooey treacle tart that had mysteriously appeared in just the wrong place on the floor. “Or Discord passing up a chance to make me want to throttle him,” the alicorn added through clenched teeth as an all too familiar laugh echoed throughout the room.
Starlight Glimmer was saved the awkwardness of wanting to burst out laughing herself by Spike bursting through the door to their cluttered laboratory. The young dragon seemed rather panicked. “Er, guys?” he swallowed. “Friendship problem in the main hallway.”
“The map???” Twilight gasped.
“No. Fluttershy. I think you might wanna see her, she's in such a state I couldn't make out a word she was saying!” The two magical mares burst out of the room in an instant, leaving a baffled young dragon alone in their workspace, surrounded by beakers and blackboards and… apparently a slightly crushed treacle tart. “Well,” Spike mused, picking up the confection, “if neither of you want this...”
Twilight Sparkle had no idea what was awaiting her in the grand crystalline hall where she and her friends would gather in order to locate where their help was most needed. This was Fluttershy; if she was in a state it could really be anything from fireballs raining from the sky to there being a particularly scary looking bush en route to the post office. The alicorn certainly wasn't expecting what greeted her, a near hysterically sobbing pegasus slumped against their map table, head buried in her forelegs as she bawled. Something was seriously wrong here - not even Fluttershy would react like this over something minor.
“Fluttershy..?” Twilight began, only for her friend to all but slam into her, still wailing.
“Ohtwilightitshorribleiwasthereandraritywasthere… andimaterriblemonsterandshessadidontknowwhattodooooo!!!” The pink-maned pegasus sobbed heavily into her purple friend's shoulder as she tried to give her a reassuring hug.
“I'll… go fetch some tea, shall I?” Starlight Glimmer offered awkwardly, clearly out of her depth here. The look of relief on her face as Twilight gave her a nod was obvious.
The Princess of Friendship returned her focus to her distraught friend. Fluttershy's voice could get so high pitched it was near inaudible when she was this emotional, but she thought she could pick up one or two words. Something about Rarity… and a monster? “Okay, Fluttershy, try to calm down,” Twilight Sparkle told the pegasus, trying very hard to sound authoritative. It was actually starting to come a bit easier these days, more so than it had in the beginning. “Let's take this from the top, okay? What in the name of Celestia happened to you?”
“I… I...” Fluttershy looked up with tear filled eyes and Twilight's heart broke for her. “I… took Opal…” The pegasus was having a hard time fitting words in between sobs, practically hiccuping them out at this point. “Went to Rarity… she… she...” Now a fresh bout of sobbing.
“Is something wrong with Rarity?” Twilight gasped, then her brain bounced to the second worst case scenario, because apparently it was forever stuck in 'disaster planning' mode. “Wait, did she do something to upset you?”
“No!!!” Fluttershy shrieked. “It was me! I'm a horrible, horrible pony and she's going to hate me forever!”
Twilight took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten then floated over an almost stereotypical psychiatrist's couch that Discord had left in the corner of the room one day. His 'gifts' came in two flavours; things that were annoying and things that were just totally random until precisely three weeks later when they somehow came in handy. The couch was the latter. The bowl full of mud she had just stepped in was the former. Trying not to focus too hard on how apparently she was never allowed to have clean hooves again, the alicorn passed Fluttershy over a paper bag to breathe into. There were two staples every room of her castle was equipped with – chalkboards for random theorising sessions, and paper bags for not-so-random fits of hyperventilation. So far it almost pleased the princess that she was only in third place for the use of the latter.
“Come on, Fluttershy,” she said reassuringly, helping her friend to lay down once her breathing had calmed a little, “Let's try one more time. How bad could this possibly be?”
The answer, it seemed, was 'very bad on a personal level, but wasn't on a 'going to destroy Equestria' level for once. At least that's what Twilight Sparkle assumed. She had locked that spellbook that fed off the reader's obsessions in return for creating things with just a thought away securely enough, right? Images of a gold and diamond encrusted planet that had just become a demented shrine to Fluttershy crossed the alicorn's mind - Rarity had caused enough damage with that one already, even if Twilight had only learned the truth behind Ponyville's 'makeover' too long after the fact to say anything on the matter.
“Ooh, letting her play with that again is good one for if law ever gets overly powerful again, thanks bestest buddy!” Discord's appreciative voice rang in her head and then, yup, there it was, the sensation of a third hoof sinking into a jar of… apparently mayonnaise. Twilight barely cared right now, she was still busy trying to wrap her mind around her more pressing problems. From what she could see, apparently Rarity had turned to wine to build up the courage to admit her feelings, lost track of time, then the two friends had… well, been themselves. Rarity had worn her heart on her sleeve maybe a little too much, and Fluttershy had ran away when she felt overwhelmed. She couldn't really fault either of them for their actions, although the part of her that wanted the two together was really siding with Rarity right now, and that happened to be a very large portion of her mind.
“Okay,” the princess breathed, grateful that she used telekinesis to take notes, otherwise her paper would be covered in mayo right about now. “I guess the first question is how do you feel about all of this now? I get it, you panicked in the moment, but say you had a bit of time to get used to the idea?”
“I… I'd think she's silly,” Fluttershy admitted. “I'd think she could do so much better than me. I mean, she's so beautiful, and intelligent, and… and so ambitious! She's got plans, Twilight, and all I really want out of life is to see the next beautiful sunrise or sunset.”
“And there you go,” Twilight countered smugly. “We've already got one point in common for you both. The difference is apparently you don't grab me for breakfast to gush about it. And my next question was going to be 'so is it something to do with mares or stallions' but the way you talk about her kinda answered that.”
“O… okay,” Fluttershy admitted finally. “I was thinking about that. I don't think I care all that much, I just… maybe I have to like somepony before I can like like them? I've never really been able to think about random ponies that way. I know Rarity and most others can, but with me attraction seems a little back to front. It's actually kind of annoying, if I'm being honest.”
“Not a problem, you're certainly not the only pony like that from what I've read, but we're getting sidetracked,” Twilight smiled. “So come on, Fluttershy, please be honest! You adore her from what you've said, she's just admitted to being head over heels for you, I don't need to be Cadence to tell you that it'll work out if you go back and just apologise. She knows you, she knows you well, what's the worst that could happen?”
“I get screamed at and my being there pushes her over the edge into a total nervous breakdown?” Fluttershy offered, cowering.
“Wow. So this is what seeing me from the outside is like. I really have to apologise to everypony I've ever met,” Twilight grumbled quietly after hearing the sort of overreaction she was infamous for coming from another pony's lips. With a cough she tried to get back on track, desperately trying to stop her brain from presenting her with an alphabetised list of every time a similar thought had ruined her day. “Bad phrasing, I guess. Fluttershy, I have no idea why you're so resistant to the idea that you're worthy of love, but you are! You're the first pony out of all of us to try and see the good in others, to give even the worst a second chance, and you've been right nearly every time. Who else can say they managed to snap an immortal god of chaos out of a power trip just by being friendly?”
“And for what it's worth, if it weren't for your empathy setting things in motion I'd still be a small-scale dictator, you know?” At this point Starlight Glimmer edged in levitating a pair of cups. “Sorry, I was trying not to intrude, but I'd kind of ran out of excuses to delay things! But yeah, Fluttershy, I know we haven't known each other that long, but I'd say you're a pretty amazing mare.”
“Who has an equally amazing mare in need of a hug and an apology,” Twilight nodded, accepting her tea and feeling relieved that her pegasus friend was now feeling up to sitting up and taking a sip of her own. Starlight was really coming into her own, her timing had been impeccable! But the next step was likely best to at least start out a two pony job only. “And that kind of reminds me, Starlight, how long had I been keeping you with my silly quest to never sleep again?”
Starlight Glimmer blinked, trying to recall. “Uh, about ten hours today I think?”
“And it's only mid afternoon. Ugh, sorry about that,” Twilight grumbled. “You really ought to tell me to get over myself a bit more firmly in future. Pretty sure you have a marefriend of your own to get back to.”
Either Starlight took the hint or was genuinely worried about the time, because she nodded her pale pink head entirely too eagerly, a look of concern in her eyes. “Actually, good point, if I'm lucky only half the town will have their pitchforks out thanks to Trixie running her mouth off. Hope everything turns out okay, bye!” The unicorn vanished in an instant, no doubt to make sure her impulsive partner hadn't gotten herself into trouble again.
Twilight Sparkle smiled calmly and took a good gulp of tea, once more beating off the million inner suggestions as to how Trixie, a stage magician of a unicorn with an appalling track record of getting in out of her depth, might have been faring without the… saner half of their couple. She trusted Starlight to handle things, and so far no otherworldly entities, demonic artifacts or general terror had been unleashed, so presumably Trixie had slept in then cleaned her caravan or something.
“Sorry about that, Fluttershy” the alicorn said warmly, a plan forming in her head. “You know what Trixie's like, best let Starlight check up on her every now and then!”
“I know,” Fluttershy nodded, distracted for a second. “She's not a bad pony at heart, she just… doesn't really think things through. It's nice that she has Starlight now to look out for her. But Twilight, what do we do about Rarity?”
“I'm glad you asked!” Twilight Sparkle grinned. This was her specialty, wasn't it? Fixing problems between friends? She just had to fix a friendship that might be a little more intense this time, maybe crossing into her sister-in-law's territory... but the boundaries there would have to wait until later. “What we're going to do is go down to Carousel Boutique, I'll help you wind Rarity down from whatever dramatics she's worked herself up into, then leave you two alone so you can apologise for running then talk things out properly.”
“Um, Twilight, I'm not sure...”
“Fluttershy.” By this point the purple mare had just about lost her patience. “You need to stop listening to the part of your brain that keeps telling you to escape whenever things get difficult! Look where it got you today! Now you can either come with me willingly or I'll drag you there if I have to, and I mean it!” The look on Fluttershy's face nearly broke her heart, but eventually the pegasus sighed in resignation.
“Okay, Twilight. You're right, Hiding will only make it worse. I'll come with you..”
“Good!” Twilight nodded in satisfaction, turning and making for the door.
“But you might want to watch out for that...”
Squelch!
“...deep dish pizza,” Fluttershy finished.
Apparently Discord had now managed to get Twilight to stick each hoof in something messy in the space of half an hour, tops. She really hoped this wasn't going to be an ongoing thing, not necessarily because it felt gross every time, which it did, but because cleaning up was going to shave minutes out of her day. And she had just given up on using magic to increase her efficiency, too!
“You know what, Fluttershy?” she commented, “Can you wait? I just need to go wash my hooves first."
To say Fluttershy was nervous was an understatement. In fact, nervousness had been the normal for the pegasus her entire life; the feeling was almost as natural to her as breathing or letting her heart beat, no matter how good she had become at hiding it. But right now, as she approached the pastel building she had foolishly escaped just hours earlier, her nerves were approaching levels that would have crippled anypony else. It was just as well that her baseline for these feelings was so messed up that she could push onwards - having regular panic attacks about what to make for breakfast would do that to you.
“Umm… Twlilight, maybe we could...” Fluttershy began, but was cut off forcefully.
“For the thousandth time no! We're not going to delay to check on squirrels, we're not going to delay for a toilet break, and we're certainly not going to delay because I accidentally scooped up your 'twin sister' Shutterfly by mistake! How many times do I have to say this??? Putting it off is only going to make things worse!”
“I'm sorry...” Fluttershy hung her head. “I was only going to ask if we could be a little quieter maybe? W… wouldn't Rarity maybe block us out if she heard us?”
Twilight Sparkle sighed, visibly calming down somewhat. “You're right, Fluttershy,” she admitted. “If she's anything like we both know her to be, the last thing she needs is a struggle on her doorstep.”
“I… haven't been struggling after the first five minutes?”
“You haven't,” the alicorn agreed, vaguely annoyed with herself. “That's on me, and I'm sorry. Just… do what you need to do, and know I'll be here if you need backup, okay?” By this time the two ponies had reached the ornately patterned door of Rarity's home and workspace, both dreading to think what could have transpired over the past few hours.
Eventually Fluttershy attempted to knock gently on the door. “Um… Rarity? I'm… I'm sorry about earlier, m… maybe we could talk about it?” she asked timidly. Apparently this attempt hadn't been nearly loud enough, because there was no response for a whole minute, which was a minute too long for Twilight Sparkle's liking, it seemed.
“Rarity, I'm sorry, but we need to speak to you!” the alicorn shouted. Still no response. Twilight frowned, then continued, banging on the door insistently. “Rarity, you're worrying us! Say something at least or we're coming in whether you like it or not!” After still no response she turned to Fluttershy, who had been watching with growing horror. “You're not going to like this, but I think I'm going to have to teleport us in there.”
“But Twilight! What if she's not there, or what if she's hurt herself?” A million things that could be wrong were rushing through Fluttershy's brain, and it was taking every last drop of willpower she had to not run away again. “What if she's so mad at me she doesn't want to see us?”
“If she's not there we'll leave and go find her,” Twilight said firmly. “If she's hurt herself we'll deal with that, in fact it's all the more important we check in that case. And if she doesn't want to talk, well tough, you two need to sort this out sooner rather than later!”
“Okay, but… can we at least try the door before using magic?”
Twilight Sparkle groaned into a purple hoof. “I am really off my game today.” Gingerly she gave the door a gentle push, rather surprised to find it opening considering the showroom blinds had all been drawn. “Rarity? Are you there?”
Worry for her friend had finally overcome Fluttershy's nerves, and the yellow pegasus was the first to poke her head into the darkened main room of the boutique. What she saw inside made her heart drop. “Rarity! What's wrong???” she gasped, in spite of partially knowing the answer. Somehow her friend had made it to the far side of the main showroom, grabbed a large cushion and then collapsed between a set of unused ponniquins.
So many thoughts and worries were rushing through Fluttershy's head. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! You were supposed to at least be your fiery self! You should have ranted and yelled and wept, maybe even threw things at me for being so horrible! Not… not... “Rarity…” Fluttershy's voice caught, a tightness welling up inside her chest, “please don't be...”
Twilight shook her head beside her. “Don't even think it, Fluttershy. See the cushion? If I know Rarity she probably threw herself down for a cry then the wine you said she'd been drinking caught up with her.” The two ponies edged forward as quietly as possible until it was clear that the alicorn was correct. From a closer, different viewpoint they could see that the purple maned unicorn was simply asleep, although Fluttershy couldn't help but notice that she was still softly weeping, even now. “See?” Twilight Sparkle almost sounded smug. “Out like a light, and nothing more. Still, we do need to sort things between you...”
“Twilight...” Fluttershy began, almost angrily by her standards, until she remembered that few ponies had her particular levels of innate empathy. This was far from 'nothing more', she would have been able to tell that without being intimately involved, but the pegasus could hardly expect every pony to pick up on all the signs. Eventually she took a deep breath and changed tack. “Um, could you maybe move her to her fainting couch or something please? She looks really uncomfortable like that.”
“Oh! Of course. I doubt she'll notice right now anyway.”
As Twilight moved Rarity's favourite chaise lounge into the room and levitated the slumbering unicorn on top of it, a sudden, horrible thought stuck Fluttershy, who utterly failed to keep the worry out of her voice. “Oh! Twilight, I'll sit with Rarity, please can you check her kitchen? Please? I… I left her there, and I'm just worried she might have done something… well, Rarity-ish.” Her friend gave her an odd look, but shrugged and trotted over in the direction of the kitchen.
After about half a moment a concerned voice confirmed Fluttershy's suspicions. “Er… yeah. Rarity-ish doesn't remotely cover this one, Fluttershy.” Despite how badly she knew seeing this would hurt, the pegasus decided to head over and join Twilight. Witnessing the pain she had caused was the very least punishment she deserved, after all.
The kitchen of Carousel Boutique was more or less as Fluttershy had left it, the usual marriage of kitsch and functionality. Only now the far corner was absolutely covered in glass shards, a great deal of the contents of the main table in the centre of the room had been spread across the floor, and… “No!!!” the pegasus almost screamed at the sight she had been dreading yet almost expecting, tears coming unbidden to her pale blue eyes. That astounding painting that had been tormenting her friend so, it seemed almost at the centre of the seeming explosion of glass. Worse still, there was now a gaping hole punched straight through the centre of the canvas, replacing the bulk of angel Fluttershy's torso.
“Oh Rarity...” Twilight Sparkle shook her head sadly. “You're really going to hate yourself for this once you've calmed down, you silly mare.”
“W… what happened, Twilight?” Fluttershy sobbed softly. It was rather obvious, but still part of the pegasus was hoping for a different explanation that didn't suggest that her idiotic actions had ruined things with Rarity for good.
Unfortunately the purple alicorn didn't seem to be in the mood for tact, replying with a level of frankness that Applejack would have been proud of. “Well from what you told me she was in a pretty emotional state and had been drinking on top of it. From that and the location of the tear compared to the glass shards… I'd say she threw her wine bottle at the painting in frustration, probably followed by a few more items from her kitchen table, then went outside to cry when the wine finally caught up with her and she dozed off.”
“Oh Rarity, I'm so sorry!” Fluttershy wept openly now. Her friend had put her heart into that picture, and now both seemed forever broken thanks to her unthinking actions. “I'm a monster!”
“Fluttershy...” Emotion returned to Twilight Sparkle's voice, and she gave the distraught pegasus a sympathetic hug. “You're no monster, if anything you feel too much at times. You just made a bad move when the pressure was getting to you, we've all done that before! And if Rarity loves you half as much as it sounds like she does then she'll forgive you.” The blush coming to Fluttershy's cheeks seemed to make the alicorn smile slightly. Evidently she wasn't doing a good job of hiding the fact that the more she considered it, the more comfortable reciprocating those feelings felt. “You just need be brave and talk to her. Come on, you always manage to find your courage when it really matters, right?”
Fluttershy nodded gingerly, trying very hard not to cry again. “But… oh, Twilight, what about the picture? She'll be so sad to have ruined it!”
“Fluttershy, it might be beyond the repair spell I know off by heart, but I'd be shocked if at least one of my spellbooks will have something that will let me fix it. Let me worry about everything in here, okay?” A semi-stern look crossed Twilight's purple eyes. “You go stay with Rarity and clear the air between you up once she wakes up... and no more running! I don't care if you have to kiss some sense into her, the sooner this gets sorted the sooner two of my best friends can be happy again!” With this she all but shooed the pink maned pegasus out of the kitchen and back to where Rarity was slumbering. “Now get! I've got a lot of cleaning up to do!”
As she was pushed back into the main showroom Fluttershy had to admit to having no idea what to do beyond whimper a little as her own heart ached for the pain her friend must have been going through.
Poor Rarity, how long had she been holding this back? And all I managed to do was make it hurt even more. Well, no more. No more running. You're going to be brave for once in your life, Fluttershy, you're going to talk to her when she wakes up, apologise and find a way to make things right. Somehow.
And that was the issue, really. The pegasus was drawing a total blank on how an error of this magnitude could ever be made up for. This wasn't something like being late for a spa date, or losing a crucial ribbon, things that could be smoothed over with an apology and maybe a punnet of strawberries. Her friend had admitted to feelings she had been hiding for goodness knows how long, and had been deserted in return for her honesty. To run from such a thing… and only because it seemed too good to be true, at that!… well, Fluttershy was going to count this as quite possibly the worst mistake she had ever made. It didn't help that she had very quickly found Rarity one of the easiest ponies to emphasise with from the very start. The two mares were both highly driven by their hearts over their heads, even if they had different ways of showing it. Even the Elements of Harmony they had been assigned with in the beginning had some serious overlap. Kindness and Generosity went rather hoof in hoof for the most part.
“I wasn't acting very kind to you, was I?” Fluttershy murmured, nudging a maroon cushion over to the side of the chaise lounge that Rarity had been placed upon earlier then sitting on it, unsure as to whether she wanted her friend to wake up just yet or not.
In the end the pegasus decided to just not worry about it and start working things out verbally. If she was still doing it when Rarity awoke then hopefully she could show her own emerging feelings a little, and if not at least it would all be off her chest and ready to refine as needed. “I'm sorry, Rarity,” she sighed, speaking even more quietly than usual so as not to disturb her friend. “I'm really not a brave pony at all, sometimes if I get overwhelmed I just want to get away until I can think things through. And it's terrible of me to not fight that more, and I don't know how to fix that. But I'll try! I'd do anything to see you smile again, Rarity, I just wish I knew what that something was. I hate seeing you sad, Rarity, but it's so much worse this time, because it's me making you sad and I never meant to...”
“I'm sorry.” A soft, almost meek voice cut her off. For a second Fluttershy couldn't place it, until she lifted her eyes from the floor and noticed Rarity had finally opened her tear stained eyes. “It was my fault. I got carried away again. I deserved it all.”
Fluttershy's eyes widened, shocked at what she was hearing. “No! No you didn't! You don't deserve to be hurt for being honest!”
“If I hurt you then my own hurt is deserved,” came the flat reply. This wasn't right. Rarity was always so bombastic, so passionate, so confident. Right now her body language had almost devolved into that of a nervous filly, and her voice was so slight and timid it might have been Fluttershy's own. With a dawning horror the pegasus realised she was witnessing the Rarity version of whenever Pinkie Pie's mane deflated.
“But I wasn't hurt!” she protested. “You just surprised me! Well, you didn't really, because you had been flirting quite a lot and I kind of suspected, but I thought I was being silly, because who would ever show interest in me? Certainly not a pony like you! I… I didn't know what to do and I guess I panicked.”
“I'm sorry,” Rarity repeated pathetically. Apparently that was all she was capable of doing right now. It tore Fluttershy up inside. I can't let this carry on… I won't!
“Rarity!” Fluttershy tried again. “You don't need to be sorry! I should be apologising! I ran away when… when...”
“I'm sorry...”
“...when I should have just done this.” Something snapped inside Fluttershy. She wanted her friend back, she wanted to tell her just how important she was to her, and no longer cared what it took.You don't care if I have to kiss some sense into her, Twilight? Maybe I'll do just that!
Abruptly Fluttershy leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her friend's lips before she could try to apologize another time. This certainly caused the apologies to stop, certainly, but the unicorn looked confused more than anything. So the pegasus tried again, more forcefully this time, wrapping her front hooves around the other pony's neck and kissing with as much passion as she could muster. Which, given the circumstances, was an incredible amount. It felt thrilling, it felt dangerous, but most of all it felt right. In the end it was only sheer lack of breath that caused her to pull away, a slightly pleasant taste of alcohol, flowers and strawberries in her mouth.
“F… Fluttershy?” Rarity stuttered, beginning to sound like her old self again. Apparently this was working, so Fluttershy decided one more deep, passionate kiss was in order, her own rising emotions obviously having nothing to do with this decision. This time she was rather thrilled to note that there was a certain eagerness returned that hadn't been there before. After the two mares broke off from their passionate embrace Rarity seemed entirely back to her old self, albeit very red in the face. “Forgive me,” she began, “but outside of the last moment or two being the most divine in my entire life, I haven't the foggiest as to what is going on. I was convinced that my ridiculous mood had scared you off, my dear!”
“Only for about five minutes,” Fluttershy admitted. “I was a bit scared and that made me be very silly. I'm sorry about that, Rarity. But… um, I'd like it if you could help me learn not to be like that. If that's okay with you?” By now Fluttershy was certain she had become pure red, she could feel the intensity of her own blush so strongly. “I… I think, no, I know I… I love you t-” Another kiss cut her off abruptly, and if the previous one had seemed eager this was redefining her concepts of the word. This was Rarity in charge, all of the fire and passion in her personality expressed in a locking of lips and tongue that made the pegasus melt in her embrace.
Eventually Rarity pulled away, seemingly flustered all of a sudden. “Darling, as much as I'd gladly spend the rest of my life doing this, I do have to confess to being something of a silly mare in the heat of the moment myself whilst you were away. I...”
“I know,” Fluttershy nodded, wanting to reprimand her… marefriend at this point, she supposed, but knowing it had been her own foolish actions that started the whole thing gave her pause. “Twilight came with me to check on you, she said she'd take care of the kitchen.”
“Our favourite princess saves the day again, apparently,” Rarity chuckled ruefully. “It really does ruin the point of flying into an emotional rage when one of your best friends likely knows fifty restoration spells.”
“Can we… um, maybe lay off the emotional rages a little bit in future, though? If she didn't know those spells you would have ruined your best painting forever!”
“I daresay I can manage that,” the unicorn cringed, but her wide smile never left her face. “You think it's my best painting though? Really?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Knowing how much emotion you must have put into it makes it all the better. I… uh, still think you made me look far prettier than I really am, though, but if that's how you see me… thank you?”
“Heavens, Fluttershy, we really need to work on that self esteem of yours!” Rarity declared, now fully back to her old self. “I'm hardly the only one who can recognise your beauty, but if it falls to me to keep telling you how truly breathtaking you are until you start to believe it, so be it.”
Fluttershy giggled, finally letting herself start to think that things were going to work out after all. “I think I'd like that, if it means I get to see you more often,” she beamed, more content than she had felt in a long time.
For a moment the pegasus remained content to just gaze lovingly at her finally relaxed friend. How had it taken her so long to realise just how radiant Rarity was, even in her current slightly dishevelled state? Intellectually she had always known the unicorn was attractive, of course. Only prior to this it had been a mere observation, much like noticing a beautiful sunset or a particularly cute kitten. But… how had she gone quite so long without realising just how glossy and pristine that snow white pelt was, how perfectly proportioned her friend seemed to be, how adorable it was that her purple mane would fall in little ringlets when it got messed up? Or indeed just how easy it was to get lost in those beautiful sapphire eyes? Oh… right. Weird sense of attraction that won't kick in without the emotion being there first. Perhaps Twilight Sparkle would know the words to describe what had long been a source of mild annoyance to Fluttershy, but for once she really didn't care enough to worry about it. Finally everything was starting to make sense, starting to feel right.
“Fluttershy, my dearest, what's wrong?” Rarity's concerned voice snapped the yellow mare out of her trance, and she was mildly surprised to find her eyes watering. She had always been something of a weepy pony when her emotions got the better of her, but at least that was one trait where her companion had her soundly beat. “Please, come over here and let me help.”
Fluttershy knew an open invitation when she saw one, and eagerly took a spot next to Rarity as the unicorn scooted up to make room for her. Reassuring hooves ran through her long pink mane as she nuzzled deeply into the other pony. Since when did expensive perfume smell so… comforting? “I'm… I'm okay, Rarity,” she finally spoke up, although her voice it was barely louder than a whisper. “I'm just… so happy.”
“I understand, sweetheart,” Rarity replied warmly, placing a tender kiss on her lover's head. “I'd gladly stay in this moment forever if I could. As it is… I suppose another half hour or so could hardly hurt, could it?”
“I'd love that,” Fluttershy smiled, nuzzling up even closer. She felt safe like this, content with the one she cared about more than anypony else. She felt loved with this beautiful unicorn next to her, and it was a feeling that the pegasus resolved to never lose again.
It was a bizarre sensation, having the air cleared after so very long pining for a love that Rarity had assumed could never be. Just to be free of that weight would have been enough, but to have it replaced with a blossoming, reciprocated love was enough to leave the unicorn feeling giddy, albeit suffering from emotional whiplash. It had been barely two hours between feeling as if her entire world was falling apart and the sheer bliss of having her lover's lips pressed against hers, after all. That latter sensation was the one that had been keeping her sane throughout how bizarre this afternoon had been, and had been aided by the stern lecture Twilight Sparkle had given Fluttershy and herself once she had returned with a mercifully repaired painting.
“Fluttershy, I've already told you this enough,” the alicorn had explained sternly, “but running away from your problems only makes things worse! This wouldn't have even been a problem in the first place if you had just stayed and talked things out!”
“S… sorry,” Fluttershy shrank back timidly, thoroughly admonished. Not that Twilight was finished, of course.
“And don't think you're innocent in this either!” The purple mare rounded on Rarity sharply. “You spent months playing the 'I can't possibly tell Fluttershy how I feel' card in spite of knowing she's not as fragile as you were making out, and as for today...” Twilight sighed, evidently having ran out frustration as her voice took on a gentler tone. Even if she was holding a hoof to her head as if she was getting a bad headache. “Rarity, it's been great to see you loosen up lately, but 'drowning your sorrows' is a dumb idea at the best of times, okay? Trust me, alcohol's a depressant, all it ever does is guarantee you drown in your sorrows. Please just stick to binging on ice cream when you're upset in future?”
“I… can only promise to try,” Rarity had winced, her head hurting a little itself after drinking so much wine so quickly. But in spite of all of this the three ponies had parted ways with the air cleared and smiles on all their faces. Particularly when Rarity had stolen one last kiss from Fluttershy before the pegasus left.
And so it was, a new morning, a new beginning. Mornings always seemed to alternate between being an exciting time and an item on Rarity's very long list of 'the worst possible things' depending on her motivation and sleep levels. Today as the unicorn went about the beginnings of her morning routine – jump out of bed with a start, furiously scrawl down the basics of an outfit idea before the dream that inspired it faded from memory, feed Opal before the grumpy cat decided to take her hunger out on the curtains – she was acutely aware that this one in particular was going to be the former of the two options. Her schedule was more or less empty today, in fact beyond Sweetie Belle staying for a few days later on and a catch up with Coco at some point the entire week was Rarity's for once. No wonder she couldn't resist singing to herself as she took a (relatively) quick shower then set about the task of styling her mane and applying her makeup. The task would have taken a lesser pony hours, but Rarity had gotten it down to a mere 45 minutes.
Of course, the unicorn had reasons other than lack of necessary work for her high spirits this morning. Today was usually spa day, where she would normally spend a pleasant afternoon with Fluttershy. Of course that was on the agenda still, but the two ponies had arranged to spend the whole day together, both eager to make up for all the lost time they could have been using as a couple. “I wonder if she's remembered to have breakfast this morning?” Rarity mused as she made her way through her kitchen, gathering bread, butter, milk, eggs and herbs along the way. A light knocking at the door interrupted her train of thought just as she was about to set the toaster and begin fixing herself scrambled eggs. “Ah! With any luck I'll be able to ask her myself! Coming darling!” The alabaster mare practically skipped through her showroom and threw open the door with a flourish. The pink-maned pegasus in front of her looked a little tired, but was wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy squealed happily, jumping forward to catch her in an eager hug. Truthfully it was nice to see the usually timid pony being so eager for once. If this is how it's to be from now on then I have no complaints whatsoever. “Are you feeling okay now? I was worried you might be feeling a bit run down after yesterday.”
“Fluttershy, dearest, I've never felt better,” Rarity chuckled as her marefriend pulled away finally. “But what about you? I mean, you're every bit as gorgeous a sight as ever, but you seem a smidgion tired yourself!”
“Oh, it's nothing,” Fluttershy replied, blushing slightly and scuffing her hoof against the ground. “I just had a little hard time falling asleep, and then this morning Angel Bunny was being um...”
“His usual charming self?” Rarity offered.
“He was being Angel Bunny, yes,” Fluttershy agreed awkwardly.
Rarity rolled her eyes. “You spoil that rabbit entirely too much, dearest. Have you even had any breakfast this morning?”
“Well I did have a glass of apple juice, but… um, by the time I'd finished feeding everybody else it was time to leave to come here. It's okay, though, really!”
“Nonsense! Come in, come in, I was running a little late myself so was only just getting round to making some food.” Rarity ushered the pegasus inside, “I'll gladly whip up a portion for you as well.”
“I wouldn't want to impose...” Fluttershy began.
“Not another word,” Rarity interrupted in a tone that wasn't taking no for an answer. “I couldn't possibly let myself be the only pony eating now I have company.”
“I could always come back later...”
“And then I would be sad and lose my appetite. Now stop being such a silly filly and let me spoil you a little.” Rarity paused as the two ponies approached her kitchen doorway and kissed Fluttershy lightly on the nose, amused to see both her smile and her blush grow in intensity.
Eventually Fluttershy gave in with an embarrassed giggle, hiding a little behind her mane coyly. “Oh… okay. Can I at least help you though?”
“I suppose so,” Rarity responded airily as she returned to her task of scrambling eggs, making sure to grab extra supplies along the way to make a plate for Fluttershy as well. As much as some called cooking an art, it was another that the unicorn couldn't quite grasp. The idea of wasting food seemed so much more galling than wasting fabric, paint or paper. And so whilst she could follow a recipe perfectly well, Rarity tended to shy away from experimenting, and her meals were surprisingly conservative for a pony who had a reputation for being evocative in her main areas of expression. “Could you maybe start brewing some tea, dearest? My breakfast tea is in the blue and yellow jar nearest you.”
“Of course!” Fluttershy began preparing a pot of tea for them both. “Um… so did you have anything you wanted to do today? Because I really don't mind as long as we can do it together. I… I mean..!” Fluttershy was practically squeaking as her unintentional double entendre finally sunk in.
Rarity found her marefriend's embarrassment entirely too adorable, and couldn't help but break away from cooking for a second to squeeze her tightly. “I know what you meant, my love,” she giggled before returning to her pan. “I was feeling the same way., but I suppose one of us has to be practical here. Maybe this morning we ought to call in on the rest of our friends? Certainly we owe Twilight an update, purely so we can let the poor dear relax, and it would hardly do to keep something like this from anypony else, correct?” A sudden pause. “Oh, the toast is ready, would you be a dear and butter that for me? “
“Of course!” Fluttershy carefully placed a slice of perfectly browned toast on two cerulean plates, divided them into triangles then began delicately spreading a thin layer of butter on each piece. “That sounds nice, Rarity. Do you think they'll all be okay with us being a couple? I... I mean... you know..?"
“If they aren't then they've done an awfully good job of hiding how cruel they are,” Rarity scoffed, turning the heat off on her stove and using her telekinesis to start depositing scrambled egg on top of the toast. “Oh, the tea should be ready by now, sweetheart. But I'm very confident that the worst we'll have to deal with is Rainbow Dash being a touch overprotective. I can hardly blame her, though, you are a true treasure.”
“I...I am?” Fluttershy came close to spilling the tea she was pouring at this point, only the idea of staining the well-scrubbed white counter keeping her from doing so.
“You are,” Rarity beamed, floating over two plates of scrambled egg on toast, plus cutlery and salt and pepper grinders. “After that perhaps a spot of lunch, then no doubt you may want to check on your animals before our spa appointment?”
“W… would that be okay?” Fluttershy paused as she was pouring the tea, as if she hadn't been expecting a suggestion that took her into account.
“Well you're hardly going to be able to relax without checking on your animals are you?” Rarity pointed out before gesturing to her partner to start eating. Fluttershy did so dutifully. “We do still have a spa session afterwards after all. After that… hmm...” Rarity levitated a hefty bite of her own breakfast to her mouth and munched on it thoughtfully. “I was rather hoping to end things with a meal out, an official 'date' as it were, yet we still have a few hours to kill. Was there anything you were hoping to include?”
“Um, not really. I mean, I do need to go buy a few bits for my animals – I'm getting rather low on a few types of grain, and one or two of the kitties need a change of diet soon...” A thought occurred to Fluttershy, and she grinned brightly. “Oh! I think there's a market on today in the town square, maybe we could have a look at that after the spa? Maybe they'll have what I need a little cheaper, and I know you like to browse things like that.”
“Splendid idea!” Rarity beamed, taking a sip of tea. She was impressed, having actually forgotten that today was the fortnightly market day on top of everything else. “Ooh, maybe we should do that in the morning instead in that case, chances are we can catch Applejack there. Three problems solved at once, don't you think? Talking to her, checking the market and also getting some lunch – the Sweet Apple Acres stall is always so good for that sort of thing!”
“I didn't even think of that!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her hoof pausing as it was about to shovel more egg into her mouth. In the end it continued on its mission and she swallowed her last bite of a much needed breakfast. “Everypony else is going to be around there anyway aren't they?”
“More than likely,” Rarity agreed, starting to clear up their finished plates. “Then I propose we start at the market and cover the rest of our friends as necessary. If that's okay, of course.”
“That sounds… good,” Fluttershy agreed, leaning over to kiss Rarity on the cheek. “That sounds very good.”
“Hey y'all!” The two ponies had more or less headed straight towards Applejack's stall once they hit the market, and the cheery farm pony seemed glad to see them. “What can I do ya for?”
“Umm...” Fluttershy was already trying to get down to business, scanning all the Sweet Apple Acres produce. Apple tarts, toffee apples, apple fritters…
“Honestly we're just visiting,” Rarity cut in, “Although two apple and daisy sandwiches would be divine, darling.”
“Comin' right up!” Applejack beamed, then hesitated for a second. “You two okay?”
“More than okay!” Fluttershy exclaimed, then turned beet red. “I mean...”
“She means we're absolutely fine,” Rarity nodded. “Truth be told we had quite the heart to heart yesterday, and...”
“You finally told her, huh?” Applejack grinned rather evilly as she packaged up two sets of sandwiches.
“...and I finally… hold on, what???”
Applejack couldn't help but laugh at the two ponies who were both now blushing so brightly that they were starting to take on her brother's colouration. “Rares, you got an awful got of great stuff goin' for you, but subtlety? Not one of 'em. Think everypony but Shy here could tell you were sweet for her ages ago.”
“You… you could have said something!” Rarity whined. This was not how she had thought this conversation was going to go at all!
“Not my place, sugarcube,” came the calm reply. “You're always the one with the big romantic ideas, kinda figured that if you couldn't sort yourself out how was I supposed to do anything?”
“S… sorry Rarity,” Fluttershy stammered, taken aback by this bombshell of sorts. “I guess I'm. just..”
“Adorable in your innocence,” Rarity finished for the pegasus before she could start beating herself up. “I suppose this does make things easier, but are we to expect this off all our friends now?”
“Ask 'em yourself,” Applejack beamed, whistling loudly all of a sudden. “Yo, Rainbow! You around?”
“What's up?” A blue, red-eyed pegasus seemed to appear out of nowhere with an accompanying gust of wind. Currently she was halfway through a veggie dog loaded with so much onions and cheese that just looking at it could have given lesser ponies heart disease on the spot. “Finally change your mind about giving me a discount on some cider?” she asked hopefully before noticing Rarity and Fluttershy. “Oh hey Shy, Rares! How's it going?”
“Guess who finally hooked up?” Applejack answered for them.
Rainbow Dash turned to study the two blushing ponies carefully, before catching them both up an a hug that Pinkie Pie would have been proud of. “About time, you guys! Seriously, I was this close to just banging your heads together until you talked about it, but then I talked to Twilight and she said she'd turn me into a newt if I tried.”
“Aww, I bet you'd make a cute newt,” Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle. Rainbow Dash was one of the few ponies she seemed to feel comfortable letting loose around – the two had been friends since fillyhood, after all.
“Not the point, Shy,” Rainbow grumbled before addressing Rarity in particular. “Just… look after her, okay? Shy's my best buddy, I swear I'll get you if you hurt her with your… your...” Ranbow Dash faltered, before coughing out, “...notthinkingaboutthingslikeidookay?”
Truthfully Rarity found the display of protectiveness rather endearing, doubly so because of how embarrassed the pegasus got when she realised she was being something of a hypocrite. It was certainly true that the two ponies shared a common flaw in acting before they thought sometimes! “Darling, relax,” she smiled reassuringly. “I promise that nothing you could possibly do to me would hurt as much as I'd hurt myself if that ever happened.”
“Huh.” Rainbow's mood shifted in an instant. “No wonder you're like the queen of mushy, girly stuff, who else would even say stuff like that? Rarity, you're cheesy as hay sometimes, you know that?”
“Rainbow, lay off the poor girl, would ya?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Some folk actually use their brain before they speak, you know?”
“I appreciate the back up, darling, but I do have my moments as well,” Rarity giggled, correctly noticing that this was about to devolve into yet another bickering session between her two most stubborn friends. Their rivalry was almost cute in a way. “How much do I owe you for the sandwiches?”
“On the house,” Applejack beamed, pushing two paper bags towards the new couple.
“Darling, I really couldn't...”
“Nope,” Applejack shook her head, sounding surprisingly like Big Mac all of a sudden. “Won't hear it. Call it a congratulations present for figurin' stuff out.”
“We didn't really do anything to warrant a present though,” Fluttershy began, but was cut off quickly.
“Then if it makes you feel better call it a friend makin' sure her friends have a good lunch, okay? Now get, I just picked up a nuisance I gotta get rid of.” Rarity and Fluttershy got the hint, said their thank yous and goodbyes and moved on,the sound of a not-especially serious argument going on behind them. “How many times, no discounts!”
“Hey you just gave them free stuff!”
“Because they just got through a big thing and you're just bein' a moocher, ya gosh darned pest! I'll think about it once you're done with that show at the end of the market, okay?”
“Um… am I the only one thinking...” Fluttershy began, but she was already voicing the thoughts that Rarity had gone over earlier.
“They bicker like an old married couple? No, you're not,” the unicorn smirked. “Maybe we're not so clueless in comparison after all.”
Sugarcube Corner was another business that could usually be found with a stall on market day in spite of the building itself being only a few minutes trot away from the event. There was just something about freshly sugared doughnuts straight out of the fryer, or cotton candy twirled in front of your eyes in the open air that sometimes hit a spot that something with more effort missed entirely. Also, from the point of view of her landlords/ employers, the Cake family, there was also something to be said for getting Pinkie Pie out of their manes for a day so she could make them a small fortune selling what amounted to carnival food. As expected, when Rarity strolled up to the ridiculously balloon-filled stall she felt like putting on several pounds just looking at the merchandise.
“Darling, maybe we ought to just say our hellos?” the unicorn offered, but apparently her marefriend wasn't having any of this.
“Rarity, I know you like fresh doughnuts, one or two won't hurt. You don't have to be dieting all the time, you know. I… rather like you the way you are.”
“Well then,” Rarity sighed dramatically, “I suppose I shall have to eat the greasy… fatty… absolutely delicious things. But I… oh, who am I kidding? I'll make up for this by either letting Rainbow Dash goad me into something physical or taking up regular judo classes again, won't I?”
“I'm sure a day without calorie counting won't make you look any less gorgeous,” Fluttershy beamed, before blushing vividly.
“Point taken and accepted, my dear.” Rarity could see where this was going, so punctuated the conversation with a kiss on the lips before turning to the stall and addressing the grinning pink pony behind it. “Terribly sorry about that, darling...”
“Are you kidding me? Nothing to be sorry about you two!!!” Pinkie Pie shrieked gleefully “Here, here, I meant to give these to you!” She passed over two bags of doughnuts to the couple. “No, silly, I meant these!” Now a bag of cotton candy. “No, this!” Now a pool toy in the shape of a duck that had Princess Luna's colours. “No, no, where is it… spanner, yo-yo, half a slice of pizza? That's not even the sort of pizza I like!” Pinkie was pulling close to everything in existence out of her mane right now. “Bag of jelly babies, the kitchen sink… ah ha! Here you go! I was trying to keep this on hoof for weeks, and I had to redo it loads 'cause it kept going stale!” Pinkie Pie handed over a pastel pink box wrapped in deep purple ribbon, a less than subtle take on the mane colours of Fluttershy and Rarity. Opening it revealed a pair of extravagant cupcakes decorated in both of their respective colours and dotted with hearts representing the other.
“That's so nice of you!” Fluttershy gushed, although Rarity, more familiar with how long she had been pining for the pegasus and with Applejack's conversation still fresh in her mind, seemed a little more concerned.
“Pinkie, darling, these look delicious,” the unicorn admitted. “But… how long were you keeping cupcakes like these on hand for us, exactly?”
“Oh, just about half a year or so, might even have been a full one,” Pinkie replied nonchalantly. “Just until you said something and Fluttershy, like, fell into your forelegs or something because you two are so good together? I knew it was going to happen today by the way, you ought to have seen me this morning, my Pinkie Sense was going crazy!!
“Actually it was because she downed an entire jug of an energy potion we'd been working on yesterday and wouldn't stop vibrating for twelve hours.” Rarity's attention was drawn to a small group of horned ponies, a very familiar purple alicorn with a pink-streaked mane walking in front of a bashful lavender-coloured unicorn and a light blue one trying very hard to look uninterested. “I'm glad you two are doing okay!” Twilight Sparkle beamed, hugging both Rarity and Fluttershy in turn.
“Yeah,” Starlight Glimmer smiled nervously, still rather scared of becoming too involved with a friend group she was was the newest of. “You both seem happy. I'm glad. Right?” She nudged the third of the group, who seemed rather uncomfortable.
“Umm… quite. Trixie is...pleased for your happiness.” Suddenly the blue and white unicorn burst forward and clasped Rarity by the hooves. “Truly, Trixie is sorry, she doesn't deal well with awkwardness well. Um… you are still okay to make Trixie's new cloaks, right?”
“Of course, darling,” Rarity chuckled, knowing this was as close to an apology for past problems the illusionist was ever likely to give her. “That is still on, you are on top of your game after all, I'd be a fool not to!” Glares from Twilight and Starlight bounced off the unicorn's back. I know, I know… and if in the future I get hurt from encouraging her now I'll eat all the humble pie you want.. “I must ask one little favour in addition to our terms now - I would dearly love if you let me have an invitation plus one to the performance you debut the outfit in!”
“That is an easy task for the Great and Powerful Trixie!” the other unicorn declared, with just a hint of a tongue inside her cheek that gave Rarity more hope than she was willing to admit. Not many spoke her particular language of self-satire.
“Yay! We're all happy! Time for muffins!” Pinkie shrieked gleefully, diving from behind her stall to somehow hug the assembled group all at once in spite of this not being possible to do with four regular sized ponies and a growing alicorn. Once she pulled away somehow each pony had a different muffin in their hooves, ranging from blueberry to triple chocolate orange.
“How did you.?” Twilight began, but Pinkie Pie cut her off.
“I pressed the muffin button, duh!” the pink pony beamed, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
“But...”
“MUFFIN. BUTTON!!!” Once again, Sugarcube Corner's stall had yet another group backing away with smiles and nods, still resolving to return next time because the food was totally worth the insanity.
After the hectic market Rarity and Fluttershy had said their goodbyes to Twilight Sparkle's party and finally shook off Pinkie Pie and her attempts to explain the benefits of muffin buttons before hitting a pleasant little cafe that Fluttershy had never really been to and Rarity had been meaning to visit for some time. The two chit-chatted over cups of herbal tea, mostly about their market trip and how the respective mares thought things had gone; it turned out that Fluttershy had been convinced that they were going to be blindsided by some disaster at any given moment, whereas Rarity was still rather annoyed at how bad she had clearly been at hiding her crush.
“I am sorry, darling,” she had moaned. “I must have been so embarrassing!”
“I only really noticed over the past week or two, and like I said, I just couldn't wrap my head around you showing interest in me until you spelled it out” Fluttershy admitted. “I think maybe I ought to be the one saying sorry for not taking the hint, really.”
“Shall we just officially call it us both being very silly ponies and be glad it all worked out in the end?” Rarity suggested reaching over to stroke her marefriend's hoof reassuringly. There were better times to have a heart-to-heart than a relatively quick coffee break, after all. “We still have the better part of the day to talk, after all.”
The two ponies soon took a diversion into a nearby park to eat their sandwiches plus at least a few of the pile of treats Pinkie Pie had dropped on them. Rarity had been all too happy to let Fluttershy bird watch somewhat during the meal. It made for a rather nice break, plus for once Rarity found herself truly drawn in by her companion's eagerness. How had she not considered nature as a source of inspiration? So many colours, and all so apt when you considered that clothing was often used in the same manner as animals used their own markings. The unicorn was sorely tempted to start shrieking about finding inspiration, except she was acutely aware of how much Fluttershy just was enjoying being in the moment, so for the first time in her life kept it to herself.
Next on the agenda was their usual spa session, and by this point Fluttershy's nerves seemed to have totally left her, the pastel pegasus now happily snuggling up with Rarity as the two walked into the immaculately clean reception. Apparently their friends had all suspected things would reach this point, and even more surprisingly been secretly willing them on! And judging from the expression on Aloe's face Rarity had been less than subtle during their previous visits, too; the masseuse's eyes shone with an 'at last!' expression that was becoming all too familiar.
“Ah, miss Rarity and miss Fluttershy!” the pink pony beamed, brushing a stray strand of blue hair back to the rest of her mane. “So good to see you both so happy! The usual today?”
“Actually I think just the seaweed bath wrap and scalp massage then a hooficure for us today, darling,” Rarity beamed, trying her hardest to fight back her growing irritation about being denied any kind of big dramatic reveal. “We don't have quite as much time as usual. And besides, I for one am feeling a lot less stressed as of late.”
“A… are you sure?” Fluttershy asked. “We don't have to go to the shops after, I could always go tomorrow, and I do like the treatments here.”
Rarity simply laughed good-naturedly. “I wouldn't have it! Let's be honest, sweetheart, you aren't remotely in need of half of our usual routine anyway, I'm not blind, and I wasn't kidding when I said I'm not stressed today. I'm fairly certain half the time we spend is due to poor Lotus trying to work the knots out of my back! But perhaps you'd be so kind as to let us have an extra soak during the wrap, Aloe darling. I do worry a touch about what my constant contact with paint as of late may be doing to my skin.”
“But of course!” the spa pony beamed, leaving Fluttershy relieved. Now that she had time to sort her feelings, it had occurred to the pegasus that the main reason she enjoyed these sessions so much was because they gave her some time with Rarity in a somewhat intimate setting. The times when they were left alone in a mud bath, steam room or jacuzzi were always her favourites. Had the white unicorn picked up on that, or was she just as lacking subtlety as her friend? Perhaps Fluttershy would never know. But at least… at least they still had this today.
The wrap treatment was as wonderful as ever, an exfoliating scrub expertly applied then rinsed off, followed by a fragrant mint-based lotion that was then bound in fresh seaweed as it soaked in. During which time the two ponies were carefully lowered into a jacuzzi pool on a low setting, the bubbles just strong enough to have an impact without disturbing their wraps. And as they lay there Aloe and Lotus dutifully worked massaging the head of each pony in relative silence… well, as much as any pony in the room could manage, anyway.
Eventually Rarity decided to address the elephant in the room. “Mmm, that's heavenly, darling,” she purred, causing Fluttershy to wonder if she could perhaps pick up a bit of massage advice from the spa sisters. “Just to cut through any awkwardness though… oh, you are okay with our being open now, correct, my dear?”
Fluttershy realised she was being addressed and resisted the urge to nod lest she disturb Lotus' ministrations. “Y… yes, of course!” She wasn't just okay with this, part of her wanted to sing from the rooftops about how alive she felt with this wonderful, wonderful unicorn, but it wasn't the part of her that was usually in control.
“Splendid!” Rairty beamed. “Then yes, we are, how you say, together now.” It was as if the slight tension in the room deflated in an instant. Of course neither Rarity or Fluttershy could see the knowing glance that the spa sisters shared upon this 'revelation', but that hardly mattered. The point was that now the words had been spoken the session continued as it ought to have done in the first place, with the usual banter that Lotus and Aloe normally provided two of their most regular customers. Even if most of it came from the two Haynish ponies asking for more details.
“Are you okay, my dear?” Rarity asked finally after the two had been left to soak a little in their spa wraps. Fluttershy could only nod. She usually wouldn't find conversation an easy thing if it didn't relate to nature, when her enthusiasm normally would override her awkwardness. Yet she could find a similar enthusiasm when talking about Rarity; the only downside being that there seemed to be only so much conversation the pegasus could make before feeling exhausted.
“I… I'm fine. Better than fine really,” the pegasus admitted as the two ponies stared at the ceiling's marbled patterns. “Um, I guess I find talking that much a bit tiring is all.”
“Just as well that I can talk enough for two ponies, no?” Rarity giggled. “Believe me, my sweetheart, I'll gladly make myself a target to spare you any discomfort.”
“Oh, I really don't want you to do that, Rarity!” A surge of panic shot through Fluttershy. No pony should suffer because of her, especially not the one she cared about above all else!
Apparently Rarity had sensed her change in mood, because she explained herself promptly. “Relax, darling! You know I'm prone to putting drama where it has no place being. The sentiment stands, however, and would have even if our relationship hadn't grown deeper over the past few days.” There was little arguing with that, not least because Fluttershy felt the same way about all of her closest friends. Just… now Rarity was something of a priority in her mind.
“I… I know. Sorry, I guess, well… you know what I'm like… you know?”
“I know indeed,” Rarity had replied warmly, “and I wouldn't have you any other way.”
After the spa the couple had spent an hour or so picking up some shopping. Fluttershy still had a list of food for her animal friends that the market hadn't been able to fill, and Rarity needed to pick up a few more art supplies. The unicorn had picked up the bill for everything, of course, and wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to buying Fluttershy's things.
“I simply won't hear it. Consider this a repayment for giving me some wonderful company whilst I was doing my own shopping,” Rarity snorted, hoofing over bits for several bags of nuts and various seed mixtures before Fluttershy could so much as reach for her own supply of coins. The pegasus wanted to protest, but it all made too much sense to argue with on a certain level. Rarity had truly mastered the art of spoiling others whilst sounding like she was merely repaying a favour, and it was part of why Fluttershy loved her so. She was such a superficial pony on the surface, obsessed with clothing and makeup and accessories, and determined to play the part of a slight snob for the good of her brand. Yet get to know her just slightly and it was easy to tell, there was a strongly passionate pony underneath it all who really just wanted to make others happy.
Fluttershy could understand that need, so she didn't put up a fight. “Well, if you're sure… um, thank you, Rarity.”
It had been somewhat hard to part after all of that, but Fluttershy's marefriend had proven to be the more pragmatic of the two, pointing out that both needed to pack away their shopping, plus they had agreed that Fluttershy should spend some time with her animals before their evening.
“Besides,” Rarity had beamed, “I'd rather like to freshen up before tonight. And you know me, that could take forever.”
Of course Fluttershy knew the unicorn better than that – chances were that 'freshening up' would take about half an hour at most given how recently they had been to the spa – but she did appreciate the leave to tend to her own business. She had quite a few to tend to at her cottage, after all, and as much as Rarity had tried in the past she could be a liability when it came to the messier aspects of animal care.
“Anyway, I still have a little time to get ready for our date tonight,” Fluttershy beamed to herself after some time getting everyone fed and settled. Then her blue eyes widened as the gravity of her words finally sunk in. “Oh my… a date...” Sure, yesterday had been a revelation, and the two ponies had spent most of today together, but both times had respectively seemed like a very special case and an extended time with a very close friend. Now there was an evening meal to look forward to… or worry about, in Fluttershy's case. This… all of a sudden it felt real, and as much as the pegasus wanted to look forward to it (and as much as she suspected Rarity would likely have the entire thing in hoof anyway), this was still the first date she had ever been on, and the one pony she would normally ask for advice on the matter had been the one to suggest it!
There were quite a few reasons for her lack of experience, had Fluttershy been calm enough to reflect on them. She had been a rather awkward foal, clumsy and gangly in looks and nature, and even more timid than she was currently. The only 'interest' she had ever gotten from others back then had always turned out to be mean-spirited jokes, and by the time adolescence had worked its magic it had been too late for her self esteem. Any approaches in adulthood – and there had been quite a few to begin with - were either brushed off as another cruel joke or just ran away from. Her less than typical sense of attraction hadn't helped either; dating relative strangers seemed unfair to them when she never found a spark with even the most typically good looking ponies, and as for friends… there had been the occasional crush here and there but even now it had taken a near mental breakdown on Rarity's part to get through the clouds of doubt on that score.
Yet here she was. A grown pegasus near paralysed with indecision, as well as an intense sense of shame owing to her lack of experience. She would have stayed rooted to the floor entirely had a short sharp kick to the ankle not shocked her out of her state.
“EEEK!!!” The yellow pegasus bolted upwards in fear, somehow forgetting that she was indoors and so managing to smack her head on the ceiling before slamming back to the floor again. Groggily she raised her head, giving it a shake to remove both the stars and her pink mane out of her vision. “A… Angel Bunny?” Fluttershy asked upon seeing a rather annoyed looking white rabbit in front of her. “Was that you? Why? I already fed you, why..?” Her train of thought was interrupted by her pet smacking her rather harshly over the head. “Oh. I'm sorry.” Finally she stood up, rubbing the increasingly sore spot on her head and resolving to take something to fix that as soon as possible. The look in Angel's eyes was a familiar one, it said stop making things so difficult and get on with it! The little fuzzball may have had an abrasive personality, but his heart was usually in the right place. “Right. It's not hard. Just get dressed up like… like… oh goodness, I've no idea! I know, I'd better clean myself up first, a quick shower might help me think right? Thanks Angel. I think I needed that.” Fluttershy bent down to give her pet a kiss on the head before turning to gallop up the stairs, leaving a bemused rabbit in her wake.
Unfortunately cleaning up didn't really help Fluttershy to come to any conclusions about how to go about getting ready. Of course she had dressed up before, but this time was different somehow, and it wasn't just because she was having to do this without help for once. Nor was it about her being afraid of the unknown any longer, not really. No, this was the sort of paralysis that the pegasus knew would grip Twilight Sparkle on occasion, the desire to make sure everything was just perfect, yet not having an obvious choice in front of her. A simple dress seemed appropriate, but did she go with the one with the trim or not? And accessories… she didn't have all that many, but it still added more combinations than she knew how to deal with. Plus, it seemed something of a shame to wear something that Rarity had already seen her in, but that couldn't be helped – Fluttershy's entire formal wardrobe had been hoof-made by the unicorn.
In the end Fluttershy had only managed to get as far as deciding that yes, she would wear the simple green dress with the pink trim and had been getting her wings and tail in order when she was interrupted by a knock at her cottage door. Her blood ran cold. Surely she hadn't taken that long??? “C...coming!” the pegasus managed to squeak, but her voice hadn't been nearly loud enough to stop a second round of knocking. Followed by the sound of a door opening, then a familiar voice.
“Oh? Angel? Where is… hm?” A long pause. “Oh? I thought as much. Thank you, Angel, you've been most helpful… yes, yes, that I owe you some carrot cake for this goes without saying. May I go see Fluttershy now?” Now the sound of a door closing, followed by the clop of hooves on wooden stairs and finally a soft rapping on the door of Fluttershy's room. “Fluttershy dearest? Can I come in?”
“Y...yes...” Fluttershy stammered finally, watching as the door to her room opened and Rarity cautiously entered. The unicorn had gone for understated elegance as expected, wearing a sleek black dress secured with a soft blue belt, sapphire studs in her ears and a jewelled replica of her cutie mark dangling from a slight silver pendant around her neck. Already that eliminated a few of Fluttershy's own options, so at least there was that. But… “Rarity, I'm so sorry for not being ready, I was trying so hard but...”
“But nothing, dearest,” Rarity grinned almost smugly. “Actually I'm somewhat early – it turns out I only spent half the time I anticipated deciding whether to wear my mane up or not. So I thought I'd go see if you might like a little help getting ready yourself.” Fluttershy felt herself blush as her marefriend trotted over to place a small kiss on her usually yellow cheek. “Come now, let me do your mane for you and you can tell me why you look so stressed! Were the animals giving you a hard time?”
“Oh not at all!” Fluttershy protested as Rarity scooped up a brush and blow-dryer in her magic and set to work on her lengthy pink mane. It was actually quite nice to have somepony else do the work for once – the pegasus liked to keep her mane longer than most, but it did make it a chore to brush through at times. “Truthfully I think I was the one causing problems… um…”
“Yes?” Rarity pressed.
Fluttershy sighed deeply. “I think I um… started thinking too much about tonight. It's like a real, proper date and I wanted to do what I could to make it perfect. Only… well, then it all got a bit overwhelming and -”
“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked with concern as Fluttershy cut herself off with a sharp intake of breath and a wince.
The pegasus nodded in the affirmative. “Sorry, Rarity, I had a bit of an accident earlier and banged my head… I guess it's still a bit sore.”
“So I was informed,” came the concerned reply as the brush strokes softened considerably around the top of Fluttershy's head. “Really, sweetheart, you of all ponies should know that most of my airs and graces are either for show or my own amusement these days, that you put any effort in at all would have been enough.”
“Mm.” By this point the sheer act of having her mane expertly brushed by somepony else was relaxing Fluttershy considerably. Why had she been so worried? It was a date, officially a Big Thing for sure, but it wasn't like the two mares were relative strangers. In fact after all they had been through together they were closer already than most other ponies.
A few blissful moments passed before Rarity cheerfully announced “Finished! Would it be too bold of me to admit that I'd been desperate to brush your mane like this for a while now?”
Fluttershy had to giggle at that. “Um, no, not really. I get a bit annoyed with doing it myself, but that felt lovely.”
“Splendid! Well then, what else do we need? I see you decided on a dress – wonderful choice, by the way – was there anything else?”
“Um, I couldn't decide what might look nice with it,” Fluttershy admitted as she began the process of sliding into her outfit. “I know it's silly, I don't own all that much jewellery anyway.”
“May I?” Rarity asked, nodding her head to the small oaken jewellery box where she knew Fluttershy kept what few accesories she owned. Upon a nod from her marefriend she gingerly opened it with magic and cast an expert eye over the contents. “You, my dear, don't need much at all to look amazing. Here.” The unicorn captured a rose-coloured crystal in the shape of a heart within her magic and threaded it through a thin golden chain that Fluttershy was almost certain she never owned in the first place. Once the baffled pegasus was finally done with the awkward process of dressing Rarity carefully fastened it around her neck, then took a step back critically. Well, almost critically. There was a rather crafty gleam in her deep blue eyes that Fluttershy couldn't help but notice.
“I… is something wrong?” she asked hesitantly. Had she done something wrong with the dress, or messed up her wing feathers putting it on?
“Wellll… it just needs a certain something. Fortunately I think I may have just the solution.” Rarity opened the small purple satchel she carried, usually home to her bits and the most essential of her emergency makeup, and produced a small but elegant hairclip, an artificial flower of lilac with yellow edges attached to a gold fastener. “I know it's customary to give your loved one a bunch of flowers, but I do hope just the one will be sufficient here?”
Fluttershy could just feel her mouth hanging open as the unicorn affixed the item in her mane. “Rarity, when did you..?”
“Whilst I was on one of my jewellery making sessions,” Rarity smirked. “I may have had you in my mind for quite some time, dearest. Anyway, you know me, you're going to have to get used to being spoiled somewhat I'm afraid!”
The idea sounded wonderful, if only because it involved time with Rarity. “I… I think I can manage that.” Now both were ready Fluttershy couldn't help but hug her marefriend. Truly, things were going to work out just fine.
In the end Rarity had chosen a small Itailian restaurant, quite warm and homely, and far from the lavish high dining she was known for enjoying with her usual clientèle. Fluttershy had been rather surprised when their host had recognised her companion on sight and took them over to a wonderfully discreet booth at the very back of the room, absolutely perfect for a little privacy.
“Can I take your drink orders, ladies?” the stallion had asked after making sure both ponies were seated comfortably.
“I think perhaps a bottle of Castello del Sole '85, and also a jug of mineral water, if you'd be so kind,” Rarity replied confidently, before looking over to her date. “Would that be okay with you?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy nodded, having no real idea about the wine but assuming her partner knew what she was talking about. When it came to meals out the yellow pegasus only knew how to handle picnics; situations like these were very much Rarity's forté. “Oh I don't know about all of this!” she finally confessed after their waiter had left them with menus.
“What do you mean, dear?”
“I… I...” There was no use. She had to be honest, for the sake of the one pony she now cared more about than any other. “Um, Rarity, please don't think bad about me...”
“Darling, whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked, obviously concerned.
In the end Fluttershy swallowed her tears and decided she had to be direct no matter the cost. “Rarity… um, I… I don't know what I'm doing I've never been on a date before please don't hate me!”
There was a long pause, in which Fluttershy became convinced that every pony in the building was staring at her in spite of their only being them, the staff and two more couples who were obviously not paying attention. In the end Rarity spoke as gently as she could. “Sweetheart, how could I possibly hate you for that? I mean, I'll admit to being surprised, but hate you? No, in fact I love you more for being honest. Would it surprise you to know that I'm rather worried myself? I've done dates, dearest, but am in uncharted territory myself here, nothing meant as much to me as this does and… oh now I'm the one being silly!”
“What is it, Rarity? You can tell me.” Fluttershy was rather glad for the distraction, as much as the sudden twist in conversation was worrying her.
There was a pause as drinks were brought to the table, and Rarity tasted the wine in a manner that suggested she had been doing such things her entire life. “Perfect as expected, darling,” the unicorn commented to their serving stallion, who dutifully filled two glasses. “Could you give us a moment before we order, please?”
“But of course,” came the reply, and the two were left for now.
Her unicorn friend sighed dramatically and took a large drink of water. “It's less a worry and more a… I'm not quite sure what it is. I must admit I'm new to being the one to take charge in these matters, previously I was always the one being wooed.” Seeing the look of concern on her friend's face, she pressed on with more confidence. “No, no, don't feel like you should be taking control, dear, I know that isn't you at all. Plus I'm rather enjoying taking the different role. I just wanted to reassure you that I do understand how you must be feeling, at least to an extent.”
“Oh!” Thinking about it, whenever Rarity spoke of romance she had always done so in terms of being the one to be swept off her hooves, to be wined and dined. Yet here she was, having more or less taken charge. “I'm sorry, I suppose this hasn't been what you were expecting...”
“It's different with you, yes, but it's been a long time since I cared about leaving my comfort zone… well, as long as I don't get too dirty in the process, at any rate.” Rarity giggled, then raised a glass. “A toast, dearest. To a future of new and wonderful experiences.”
Fluttershy raised her glass in response. “That sounds lovely, Rarity,” she smiled, her initial fears subsiding. “I'm looking forward to it.”
Eventually the two ponies placed their order – Rarity ordering a light cherry tomato and mozzarella salad followed by a vegetable lasagne, and Fluttershy opting for breaded mushrooms then a traditionally thin based pizza topped with peppers and rocket. Truthfully the pegasus had almost expected a more extravagant affair, but the food was of very high quality, the ambience classy without being overly so, and the staff attentive when needed and absent otherwise. It was very… Rarity, or at least very 'Rarity now she had no need for social climbing and constant networking'.
Altogether it was a strange thing, having your first date with one of your closest friends. With most couples this ought to have been a period of getting to know each other, but when you were already as close as Fluttershy and Rarity a lot of the more trivial subjects had been covered many times over. So naturally talk turned to their situation, their experiences, and the future.
“Are you sure you're okay with how today has gone?” Fluttershy had asked for the millionth time. “Um, I could try and take charge if you want?”
Rarity had simply shaken her head at the suggestion as she finished a mouthful of spaghetti. “Nonsense, my dear. I know that would be stressful for you. As I've said, I'm enjoying taking the lead here. Really, do you think I wouldn't get bored of being passive after a week or two? Anything I may have said in the past was my head being filled with ideas from trashy romance novels, is all. Being courted sounded wonderful at the time, but...no. I would have grown to hate what I thought I wanted back then. Honestly, can you imagine me being able to hold in the desire to create my own grand gestures of love for very long?”
The words had placated Fluttershy, not to mention filled her with warmth. Her friend had grown so much. The unicorn's ambition was always going to be a little at odds with her desire to please, but Fluttershy much preferred this current balance to the almost desperate measures she had gone to in order to build her social network back in the day.
In the end Rarity had snapped the pegasus out of her reverie by firing her own question right back at her. “But how about you, dearest? I hear a lot of you worrying about my feelings, but what of yours?” The unicorn had taken a sip of wine then promptly topped both of their glasses up. “You've dodged the concept of romance for so long, and I now at least understand this a little, but how could a wonderful mare like you… you know what, no matter.” Rarity shook her head all of a sudden. “You're here with me, right now, and that's all that matters.”
Fluttershy had to appreciate the effort, but knew that her marefriend was still curious. Rarity was… well, sometimes she was to the heart as Twilight Sparkle could be to the brain, only she had a better grasp of when to let things be than the alicorn did. And… well, if Fluttershy couldn't be open enough at this point then she clearly would never be ready, right? “You know me, Rarity,” she eventually murmured, staring into her wine glass before taking all too long a drink from it. “I guess I did get asked out sometimes but I always thought it was as part of a prank. I was even more awkward as a filly than I am now… I suppose if you see something in me there must be something there, right? Your taste is amazing. But you know that story about the ugly duckling that turns into a swan? It… it doesn't work out like that in real life, you know?” The pegasus tried to fight back the tears. This wasn't the entire story behind her lack of romantic history, but it was certainly the part that hurt the most. “Really the swan would see its reflection and still see an ugly duckling. No matter how many ponies tell me, I… I just can't...”
“Darling!” Rarity moved round the table to give her partner a reassuring hug, one that she badly needed. “I'm so sorry, I never meant to upset you!”
“You haven't,” Fluttershy smiled weakly, sniffling back the urge to start sobbing. “I guess I upset myself? I mean… I really want to share everything, that bit, um, just hurt a teensy bit.” Once Rarity was sure she was okay the unicorn returned to her seat and Fluttershy continued between bites of food. “And then I guess I'm a little weird about attraction, really. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, but I never was interested in anypony who tried anyway, I just can't be attracted to relative strangers no matter how much I feel I ought to be able to. And I'm not sure how any of that works, but I don't think it even matters now!” The reality of the situation finally struck home, and it made the yellow pegasus smile broadly in spite of herself. “You're right, we're here now, that's all that matters, right?"
“Finally, a breakthrough!” Rarity laughed good-naturedly. “I wish I could share something in return, really I do, but you've been there to see me at my worst.” The unicorn paused as the two finished their meals then raised her glass again. “So then. Not so much a toast this time, but a pact. Let's do our best to stop the Fluttershy who hurts herself needlessly and the Rarity who hurts everypony selfishly from ever showing again. Deal?”
It took a moment for Fluttershy to recover from that one. Of course she knew Rarity had made some major errors when trying to impress others in the past. She had been so obsessed with clawing her way to the top to begin with that she often lost sight of the broader picture. It had resulted in a lot of self-destructive behaviour at the time; friends and relatives had been pushed aside for shallow networking, and at one point she very nearly lost her life as part of what was likely a badly thought out piece of advertising herself. But this was Rarity! She, more than any other pony, owned her shortcomings then found new and exciting ways to weaponise them. The way her tone was right now… Fluttershy could pick up on all the unspoken words. Could see how much she was still beating herself up over every wrong choice. Could see how desperate she was to make things right, and how little she thought she had managed this. It was an oddly familiar sensation, but there was only one way to respond.
Fluttershy raised her own glass and acknowledged both of their demons. “Deal,” she replied.