First Day

High school. Specifically Coudsdale East Flight Training Academy. I was going to love this.

My mom used to tell me that high school would be different and that it would be a turning point in my life and blah, blah, blah. Then she sent me to a boarding school. Turning point for sure. At least my friends are going to the same school as me. Fluttershy and Gilda...

I know they don't get along but... well Fluttershy does, but Gilda doesn't... I swear the way G treats Shy, someday they'll run into each other and G won't even recognize her.

*sigh* At least they don't fight or argue. Often... again Fluttershy doesn't DO anything and Gilda just decides to trash on her. She's so timid... I feel like I have to keep the peace.

Well that's enough ranting. This day won't be over with if I never start it. I trotted in through the big double door entrance to the school. I looked around for the easy to spot form of Gilda. Being friends with the only griffon in school did make some things easier. Like this... where are those big wings?... Ahha!

"Hey, G!" I shouted. She turned and found me.

"Oh, Hey Dash." She pushed her way through the crowd, knocking a few kids over. I winced at the sight of a kid smashing his face into some filly's flank. Gilda just laughed it off. "So what's up? Haven't seen you in like two weeks, dude."

"Ehh. Mom had me on this stupid 'self control' program. She thinks I'm impulsive..."

"Aren't you?"

"Maybe. It didn't help either way."

"That's my girl." She said ruffling my mane.

Now that I think about, I wonder where Shy is... I figured she'd be with G...

"Where's Shy?"

"Heck if I know. Why?"

"I figured she'd be with you."

"Yeah right! You know she can't stand me." Not really. She just doesn't like to be called a whiner, a baby, or a failure on a regular basis. It's not her fault she fell off the cloud layer and was stuck on the ground for a quarter. She could've passed that year if I hadn't knocked her off like a clumsy dunce, but no, she got held back a year. At least she's in my year now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got to school a bit late. Well, not late for school, but late for my friends. They wanted me to be here five minutes ago. I walked in through the big double doors and looked around for Rainbow Dash's vibrant mane.

I spotted her on the other side of the main hall. I tried to get to her but I couldn't get past the sea of my peers. I kept getting bumped around until eventually I ran face-first into Flash Sparker, the popular colt. He had a dark orange coat and a fiery yellow mane. Other fillies said he was 'hot', but I just don't see it.

"Hey, it's Klutzershy! Hey, Silver, remember her?" His buddy, Quick Silver turned to see what he was talking about. He had a gray coat and a silver mane with an icy blues streak through it. Fillies say he's hot too but I still don't see it. He glanced at me then back at Flash with a sigh.

"Flash, it's our first day back. Please don't."

"Pfft, whatever. Hey, how is it being the oldest filly in class?" He asked turning back on me. I shrank away from him, hoping he'd leave me alone if I didn't say anything. "Heh, not so good eh? I bet the teachers think your stupid. They're right, aren't they?" I whimpered quietly in response. He took a step towards me, smiling wickedly.

"That's enough, Flash." He turned on Silver at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" I watched as Silver held his gaze for several seconds before finally speaking.

"What I have to." He said quietly.

"Riiight." Flash said. He turned back on me. "Now, where was-"

"Leave her alone, Flash." We both turned to see Rainbow Dash pushing through the crowd, Gilda only a short distance behind her. I looked around and realized that a bunch of the other foals were watching us.

"Oh? And what are YOU gonna do, Rainbow Crash?"

"You wanna find out?" She asked walking right up to him. This time, Flash was the first one to drop their gaze. Rainbow turned to me and wrapped a wing around me. "C'mon. Let's go." She lead me out of the crowd, not giving a care what they thought of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just ignore them, Rainbow. If they wanna stare, that's their business. Just take care of your friends and ignore the crowd.

"Th-thank you, Rainbow." Fluttershy mumbled. I glanced at her. She wasn't looking at me. She was too busy hiding behind that thick mane of hers.

"Hey, don't mention it, Shy. What're friends for?" I nudged her playfully, eliciting a shy smile and a soft blush from her. "So, whatchu got for homeroom?"

"Uhm..." Her face scrunched together in thought. "Equstrian History."

"Dang. I've got Algebra."

"I-it's okay. We'll see how the day goes..."

"Yeah... yeah, sure." I said trying to feign high hopes.

"Can anyone tell me what the answer is to the question on the board?" It's sixty-four. "Yes? Miss Doo?"

"Seventy-two?"

"No. But close." It's sixty-four.

"Sixty-two?"

"Warmer." Sixty-four. "How about you, Rainbow Dash?" I looked up at her from my notebook.

"Sixty-four." I deadpanned.

"Good! Now I think I know what the rest of you were doing wrong..." I zoned out and went back to doodling. The first page of my math notebook was riddled with images of the Wonderbolts. There was one math problem written down and solved at the top, but it sat there, alone and forgotten, amongst images of stunt and athletic marvels.

I got the feeling somepony was watching me, so I looked up and around the class room. Then I spotted them. A pair of emerald eyes watching me. They were accompanied by a gray face and a silver mane with an icy blue streak. Why, of all ponies, would Quick Silver be watching me?

When I caught him staring he went back to jotting down notes. Weird...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now can anyone tell me what tool was used to defeat Nightmare Moon?" Uhmm.... I know the answer, but I don't want to say. I don't really want to bring attention to myself.

"Magic?"

"Close, but no cigar."

"A large force of pegasi?"

"Hasn't anypony in here heard this story before?" Probably not. Since I'd been held back I've been put in the lower level classes. Not to be mean, but I think a lot of the foals in here will drop out... That was harsh, I didn't mean it.

"How about you miss...." he checked the class roster. "... Fluttershy?" My heart skipped a beat. It felt like all eyes in the classroom had turned back to look at me, sitting here quietly in the corner of the classroom.

"Uhm... w-was it the Elements of Harmony?"

"Correct!" One of the fillies in the front row raised her hoof. "Yes?"

"What are the Elements of Harmony?" He facehoofed, mumbling something about a long year.

My next class was gym. I walked into the big, high-ceilinged room, hoping that there would be somepony in here that I knew. I looked around and found Rainbow and Gilda chatting in the bleachers. I hovered over to them, landing next to Rainbow.

"Hey, Shy! What are the chances of us all having the same second hour?"

"I-I don't know...not high?"

"Ya don't say?" Gilda muttered.

"Alright, Pansies! Fall in!" The coach shouted. We flew over and landed in a small huddle of foals, wondering what today's activities were going to be. "Alright. First things first. I'm gonna need to get used to how well you foals can fly so I can adjust my curriculum. So today and tomorrow we'll be having you all do dashes across the track outside. Remember the point is speed. It's a simple hundred-meter and I'll be timing you."

"Oh, just watch me top this class." Rainbow muttered.

Ten minutes later we were outside by the track. The coach was going down the list alphabetically, two foals at a time.

"Alright, up next is Boomer and Broadwing." The two stepped up and took off on the coach's signal. "Boomer, you got twenty-six-point-five, and Broadwing, you got twenty-nine on the dot. Next is Flash Sparker and Fluttershy." I froze. I was racing with Flash? I know it's not really a race, but that won't stop him from rubbing it in when he wins.

"Go on, Shy. Just ignore him and his time. You'll do great." Rainbow said nudging me towards the starting line. I walked over slowly and took my place next to Flash.

"Heh, this is gonna be good." Flash laughed as he took his place. The coach raised his hoof and was about to give the signal.

"Hey coach!"

"Hmm? What is it, Gilda?"

"Can I go early?"

"If you really want to..."

She flew over and took her place on the other side of Flash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as the coach gave the signal and Gilda took off with enough speed to throw Flash off course. He only moved over three or four inches, but it was enough to give Fluttershy some drift. She managed to keep up with him for a moment, but she fell behind when he went back to his place in the track.

"Very impressive, Gilda. Nineteen-point-eight. Flash you got twenty-three-point six. And Fluttershy. You got Thirty-three-point-nine. Alright next we've got-" But I stopped listening as the other two flew over to me.

"G, that was awesome. Did you mean to knock Flash over to give Shy that drift."

"No, it just happened." She answered sarcastically.

"Th-thank you, Gilda." Fluttershy said.

"Don't mention it... I mean, seriously. Don't."

"Oh. O-okay."

We didn't have any more classes together until lunch; fifth hour. Only two more classes, then we head back to our dorms. Me and G ended up rooming together, while Shy got the room down the hall to herself.

We sat down at a table in the back of the lunch room, in the section that ponies only sit at if all the tables closer to the doors were taken. The three of us talked back and forth about our days so far and what classes we had next. Apparently Fluttershy and I shared our next class, which would be Study Hall. Then after that none of us shared a class.

"I guess it doesn't suck, yet." G commented.

"Nah... The classes are fine." I said, putting emphasis on the word 'classes'. Fluttershy glanced sidelong at me.

"My day was...nice. S-so far."

"You mean getting made fun of constantly has been nice? I wish I had that kind of tolerance." Gilda noted.

"W-well... I mean... I didn't HATE my day, I-I just... I don't know..." She trailed off.

"Anyways... what do you have next hour, Gilda?" I asked, trying to relieve the tension between these two.

"Meh... I've got Lit. Why?"

"Just wonderin'."

"Hey, either of you had Lit yet?"

"Nah, that's my seventh hour."

"I-I have..."

"Is it hard, or annoying or anything?"

"W-well I don't think we have the same teacher, sooo...."

"Yeah yeah, but was it a big deal or not?"

"N-not really." I guess she didn't want to mention that she was in a special ed teacher's class that hour, lest Gilda strike an open opportunity .

"'Kay, cool. Hey what do you have seventh hour, Shy?"

"Health."

*RRRRRIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!*

"Welp, that's it for lunch. C'mon, Shy, we got a study hall to get to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way to our next class we passed by Flash. He started staring me down. I began to shrink down, but Rainbow wrapped her wing around me and pulled me closer while glaring at him. Flash looked intimidated for a moment, but I could see his eyes tracing Rainbow's wing.

As we passed him he began to snicker and snort, to my confusion.

"Uhm-"

"Just ignore him." She said sternly.

"Rainbow."

"What?"

"Ponies are staring at us." She looked around, seemingly noticing this for the first time. She followed their eyes to her wing, then quickly removed it and put some distance between herself. I guess it made other ponies uncomfortable...

I liked it...

We arrived at the study hall classroom. It wasn't very big, but there weren't many students in here, either.

"Ah, you must be Rainbow Dash, and..." The teacher looked at me. I shied away from her. "...Fluttershy... I presume?"

"Yeah that's us." Rainbow said. We sat at the nearest table and opened up our saddlebags.

"Well, just so you know, the rules of this room are simple. Keep it down and you may work with somepony else on your homework. And please try not to annoy me."

"N-no problem." I said politely. We started studiing quietly. Can you believe that some of our teachers gave us assignments on the first day? Not to sound mean but... I guess that's private school for you...

"He's in here?" I looked up, confused.

"Who is?" I asked. She used her eyes to point to the other side of the room. I looked over and spotted Quick Silver working on something.

"Why? I-is that a problem?"

"He's Flash's friend..." She muttered.

"B-but he's not that mean."

"Crime by association...." She mumbled then went back to her math work.

My seventh hour was boring. We spent the whole hour just watching this odd movie about what to expect from our freshman year. It was nice and all, but a little awkward when they got to the point about relationships. Really awkward.... It was a school film and they actually showed two ponies making out... The other kids snickered at the scene and only laughed harder when the colt in the front row's wings stood up and stiffened. I tried to ignore it, but the other foals laughed and laughed.

Poor guy...

After that the teacher gave a strict speech on the "actions performed by us today" and gave us a paper to write. On the first day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, class, here are your text books for the year." The whole class groaned, myself included. "Oh, I know most of your other teachers won't be handing these out until next week, but I have a few things planned for the week, and if you just bear with me I think you'll enjoy some of them." Sure. I'll remember that when I pass out in class.

After that we spent most the day going over all the things we learned over the last eight years of school in summary. Same old routine, you know how it is.

"Hey guys." I said as I landed and fell in step beside them.

"Sup, dude?"

"Meh. My Lit teacher actually gave us these things." I used my wing to open the saddle bag and show them the text book.

"On the first day? That's rough dude."

"How about you, Shy?" I asked.

"My entire seventh hour was given an essay as punishment."

"For what?" I asked.

"Did you DO anything?" Gilda added.

"A colt got a uhmm...a uh... wing-boner." I barely caught that last part. "A-and the whole class laughed at him."

"What did you do?"

"N-nothing."

"Dude! That's bull!" Gilda exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anythi- right... never mind."

"What's the essay about?"

"I-it's a full-page essay about being kinder."

"Well you got that in the bag. You practically represent kindness."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got back to my dorm. I'm happy I got my room all to myself. I don't really do well without some privacy. I sat down and started writing my paper. It didn't take long to get down everything. I kind of avoided the subject of what it was my peers had been mean about... I don't really like talking about things like that.

Once that was done I opened up a duffel bag and I looked through the things I'd packed, but hadn't gotten out yet. I found my picture of mom. She looked a lot like me, but with darker eyes and a cutie mark for foal care, not animal care. It was an image of a heart-shaped gemstone.

She was way more confident than me. My dad always said the similarities stopped with the beauty. He was right, I guess. I mean she's soft-voiced and kind-hearted like me, but she's such a confident pony. I'm just not.

She was so happy to see me when she found me in Ponyville, and proud to see my cutie mark. She loved me. A lot. *sniff* I miss her...

*sigh* Well, I guess the only thing left to do is go to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, G. I need my sleep. Turn off the dang light." I moaned.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but I love these things."

"But they're so nerdy!"

"There is nothing wrong with comic books, dude."

"Whatever. It's half past midnight. Can you please turn the light off?" I tried again.

"Fine. Wuss."

"Dweeb."

*click*

Holding Out

View Online

Ever felt like it's just you and your small group of friends against the world? That's how I feel. You make an enemy of the popular colt on day one, and suddenly all your peers treat you like public enemy number one.

It really does feel like it's me, Shy, and G against the world sometimes. I've gotten that feeling for years.

First hour was a disaster. The teacher rearranged the seating chart, and I ended up with Quick Silver sitting at the desk next to me. It was never easy to get used to somepony new for me, and it was especially hard to get used to a colt who, even though he was good friends with a jerk like Flash, insisted he wasn't like that. My opinion? If you're not like that, then you shouldn't be his friend.

"Oh, cut me a break." He begged.

"What, you need a break after all the time you've spent NOT saving foals from Flash's bullying?"

"He's my friend..."

"Some friend you've got there. Is it nice when he tells you what to do? Or maybe I've been doing it wrong by protecting my friends."

"We grew up together. He wasn't always like that."

"He is now!"

"Miss Dash? Do you and Silver have something you would like to share with the rest of class?" The teacher asked.

"Erm... no, Miss Skies, nothing." I answered.

"Then please keep it down. I gave you this time to do some studying, not gossip and argue."

"Yes ma'am."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We went out to the track again and me and Gilda just sat and waited. Rainbow hadn't gone yet so we were a little excited. Considering that she'd broken the sound barrier before, we were sure she'd top this class. The names got called off leading up to her.

"Prancer and Rainbow Dash." The coach called. We watched as Rainbow trotted up to the line, her head held high and her face indifferent. She bent down, ready to take off, as the coach raised his hoof for the signal.

He swung his hoof down, and the world seemed to slow down. Rainbow flapped her wings hard, launching herself forward. She flew forward in a blur. I felt my jaw go slack as she crossed the finish line before Prancer had even gone halfway.

It took the coach a moment to register what had just happened. He looked over at Rainbow, who had needed another thirty meters to slide to a halt, and called her time.

"Eleven-point-two..." He said and then looked at his watch again. "A-and Prancer you got twenty-five-point-nine."

I looked around at the foals around me. My entire class was staring, open-mouthed, at Rainbow as she glided slowly and landed beside me.

"Sheesh, dude, I knew you were fast, but that was crazy!" Gilda commented. I couldn't speak. I wanted to say she was fast. I wanted to congratulate her, but for some reason my mouth wouldn't work. I just stared at her.

"Was I really that fast, Shy?" I nodded. "Heh, well would you please stop staring at me like that?" Like what? I realized, suddenly, that my jaw was still slack, and my eyes were as open as they could get. I pulled my jaw shut and adjusted my eyelids.

"S-sorry..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In health class I was just sitting there, doodling from boredom when, wouldn't you know it? In walks Flash. *groan* He wasn't in here yesterday. What's he doing here now?

He walked over to the teacher's desk and handed him a note. Teach read it and looked him over. After a moment he pointed over to a seat near mine. Great. That's twice in one day that one of the jerks of the class gets thrown at me. The worst part was that he could talk all he wanted because it was just a study hall thanks to the fact that this seemed to be the only teacher that was treating this like the first week of school instead of a test week.

"Oh, hey there Rainbow Crash. What're you up to?" He asked mockingly. I glared at him and shut my notebook.

"Go ahead and insult me. If that's how you deal with the sting of jealousy, who am I to judge?" I said grinning at him.

"Pfft. Right. I'm jealous. And Celestia has a purple unicorn for a personal protege." I didn't drop my grin. He kept glaring at me, like it would ever get him anywhere. He suddenly broke into a devilish grin and turned to his notebook, seemingly jotting something down.

"So how are things with your marefriend?" I could feel my face darkening.

"Excuse me?" I asked warningly.

"You know what I'm talking about. You and Klutzershy. It's really adorable. Do you get off feeling like her special protector? Is that it?"

"Flash. If you say one more wor-"

"You'll what? Deck me? I can't wait to see you in detention, then." A moment of silence.

"Go buck yourself."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bell rang, signalling the end of my fourth hour. I got up and started for the door.

"Miss Shy? Can you please stay after for a moment?" The teacher asked. I walked over to her desk and waited for the other students to leave.

"Y-yes?" I asked once the other students were out the door.

"I've only had you in here for two days, and I can tell you don't belong in this class. What did a smart mare like you do that got you put in a Special Education Literature class?"

"I missed an entire quarter of a year..."

"How did that get you in here?"

"W-well... all those missed classes... I got held back a year. I guess somepony higher up thinks that I got held back because I'm stupid."

"Which you're certainly not... Alright, I think there will be a way to get you into regular education, but it could take a while..."

"O-okay..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat alone at lunch for a while today. I don't know what was keeping Fluttershy, but I'd heard that Gilda had gotten in a fight with somepony, and ended up in In School Suspension. I don't know what the fight was about or anything but it didn't sound like it'd gone well for her.

I was just sitting there, eating, when a tray hits the table next to me.

"Hey, Sh-" But when I looked over, I found Quick Silver sitting next to me. "Woah, what do you think you're doing?"

"Making amends. Look I know you don't like Flash, and I know you don't like me, but if you'd just give me a chance-"

"To do what? Stop being a jerk? Looks like you got that one down to me. What you need to do is not hang out with him. It's kinda obvious that you're not good friends."

"I guess not, bu-"

"So you know you're not friends, but you won't stand up to him? Or at least NOT hang out with him?"

"I-... I don't know. What do you want me to say, Rainbow?"

"Nothing. I want you to DO something."

"Fine. What?"

"Anything."

"R-Rainbow? Silver?"

I looked over to find Fluttershy standing, her lunch tray on her back, staring at the two of us. I put a hoof on his shoulder and slid him over so Shy could sit next to me. She set her tray next to mine and sat at the table, nervously glancing at Silver.

"I *ahem* I should go..."

"No. You can stay." Fluttershy murmured. I gave her a warning glance, but she just smiled warmly at me. Meh. If she's made up her mind on this, what do I care?

"Fine. So, what took you so long, Shy?"

"My teacher wanted to talk to me."

"About...?"

"It's nothing." She glanced at Silver... Oh... I see. She didn't want him to hear. She kept eating and awkwardly sitting there.

"So... Silver." I started.

"Yes?" He asked. He apparently got tired of leaning over the table so he could see me past Fluttershy, because he picked up his tray and moved to sit opposite me.

"You gonna take my 'advice'?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Maybe. By the way, I ran into him in the hall on the way here. He said you and him had a 'nice chat' about Fluttershy... what's he mean by that?"

"Who's 'him'?" Fluttershy asked. I felt my face get all stony as Silver mentioned that 'chat', but I didn't bother trying to hide it.

"Flash. He apparently got a transfer to my health class. Yeah we had a 'chat'. I don't want to talk about it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's weird... She just avoided that as best she could. I've never heard her say she doesn't want to talk about something that didn't have something to do with book-smarts. Now she's focusing an awful lot on eating...

Whatever it is she's not talking about, I'm sure it's not important if she won't tell me... Although... the way she said she didn't want to talk about it...

"Oh.... Okay then. I guess it's not a big deal, then."

"It's not." The way she said it made me think that it was, in fact, a big deal.

The rest of my day passed without event. It was boring and slow...not to be mean, but... well it was. I mean, all my classes were just us doing nothing. I suppose that's because they were study and health. The teacher of my health just had us turn in our papers on kindness and then had us sit in silence the whole hour while she graded.

The bell rang and I found Rainbow waiting for me outside the main doors. She kept looking around nervously, like she was worried somepony would see her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What? Nothing's wrong." I quirked an eyebrow at her. "Okay, yeah, something's bothering me, but you don't need to worry about it."

"B-but, I am worried."

"Heh... uhm... it's nothing, really. Hey, G had to stay after for public service, so I think we should go somewhere to eat before heading back to the dorms."

"Okay." We took off and flew towards a nearby fast-food place, CloudKisser's. It wasn't bad... I don't really enjoy tofu burgers, but Rainbow loves them. They aren't really that bad for you, and considering how much energy she exerts anyway, she doesn't really have to worry about that.

We arrived at CloudKisser's and ordered a burger and a large salad to share. Once we had our food we sat at a table by a window in the corner. She ate her burger while I picked at the salad gingerly. She glanced at me and scrunched her eyes at me.

"You know, you really should eat more than that. You make me worried you'll starve sometimes."

"Oh, I'm fine. Really." I had to reassure her, because she was still scrutinizing me. Her eyes stayed scrunched up for a moment, but then she just shrugged and went back to eating her burger. I ate the salad quietly, and once she finished her burger, we shared the salad in a companionable silence.

I looked around and noticed some of the ponies from my first hour sitting nearby. They kept glancing over at us, then they turned back to each other, giggling.

"Rainbow? Is there something funny about us?"

"Huh?" She looked at me, then followed my gaze and realized what I was talking about. "Oh... N-no... I'm sure it's nothing..." I looked at her curiously, but she wasn't looking at me. "*ahem* I'm good to go. You wanna get to the dorms or hang out somewhere else?" I looked outside.

"I-I think I'd like to hang out some more."

"Okay, cool. Where to?"

"We could just fly around, if you want." We got up and walked outside and took off. I just followed her lead, not really caring where we went as long as I was in her company. I don't know why, but I just didn't really feel like there was much to worry about while I was in Rainbow's company.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm getting sick of feeling so paranoid. I'm barely holding out against my stupid fears... No that's not the word for them... Irrational? Yeah, that's the word. It doesn't really matter, though. I'm still getting sick of them.

I mean, how long can you last when you're afraid of being seen with your best friend? How long can you last if you're afraid of not being with that friend often enough? How long can you last if you're afraid of your friends becoming enemies? How long can you last if you're afraid of your enemies becoming friends? How long can you last if you're afraid of all those things at the same time?

Not long...not long at all. I mean, I wanted to buck those foals just for giggling at us. That's why I wanted to get out of there right away. Plus, I'm getting scared of being as close to Fluttershy as I already am! How am I even making it through the day without crashing?

Okay, deep breath, Rainbow. *sigh* I think I'm just over-thinking that 'chat' with Flash. What's he know? Nothing about fillies, that's for dang sure...

I glanced over at Fluttershy, only a few feet behind me. She caught me looking and smiled contentedly. She was such a great friend. What do I care what other ponies thought of us? Just because we're good friends doesn't mean anything... Right?

We flew around Cloudsdale for no reason in particular other than just to fly. She's been getting better at this, but she's still nowhere near as fast or as strong as me. We didn't have a destination either, now that I thought about it, but that didn't really matter, did it?

I glanced at Celestia's Sun. It would be dark in maybe three hours. Plenty of time.

"Hey Flutters." I started, stopping and turning to face her in mid-air. She tilted her head at me to show she was listening. "We have, like, three hours before it gets dark. Whadya wanna do?"

"I-I don't know. What can we do?"

"Officially? Head back to the dorms, sit on our butts, and chat..."

"And unofficially?" She prompted. I couldn't stop a grin from breaking out across my face.

"Just about anything that's legal." Hey, I may be a daredevil, but that doesn't mean I don't have standards, and the law is one of those standards. I just don't like school curfew, and they don't even enforce it unless you're on probation for doing something. Like G. Heh heh.

"Well... uhm..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What did foals my age do? I don't know. I'm something of a shut-in. It's not like I go out and hang out with ponies very much. And when it's Rainbow I'm usually just watching her play sports or practice stunts. We already had dinner, so it's not like we're going to stop at a restaurant again tonight.

And she's asking ME what I want to do? this isn't easy to begin with. We just went flying, so isn't that the same as going for a walk?

Well now we're just floating here in the air a little bit above Cloudsdale, quietly looking around while I thought hard for something to do.

"D-do you want to keep flying o-or practice your stunts or... something?"

"Nah. I just wanna hang with you. Come on there's gotta be something you like to do." Well.... There is one thing, but I can only really do that on weekends. I don't really get much of an opportunity to do that often. I mean, you try finding a chance to do this if you have a curfew and all this studying. Not to mention my peers would criticize me to every extent if they found out that this is my favorite pastime.

"I kind of like to take care for animals..."

"On the ground?" I nodded. "Okay... that's out. We don't have time for that. Anything else?" What do I do in my spare time? I read. I write sometimes, but even Rainbow doesn't know about that. Again I'm not very social. I don't really do anything with other ponies.

"Okay, I guess if you can't choose then I do have something to show you..." I nodded slowly.

"Gilda reads these?"

"I know right?! It's hilarious!" Rainbow answered, laughing.

"I never took her for the comic book type..." I said. "It's not really like her. Doesn't it seem..."

"Nerdy? Yeah! But hey, she says they're cool. I don't really care, but whatever." I opened one up and looked at the first page. It was some weird action series about a super heroine. I flipped through a few of them only glancing at the pictures until I came across a scene in which the hero was getting 'close' with somepony. I gently put it down and tried to think about something else.

"What? What is it?" Rainbow grabbed the one I just put down and flipped through it. When she found the 'dirty' page she broke out laughing. "Now I know why she likes them." She said with a huge grin playing across her lips.

We played around with a ball, just chatting away about all sorts of things. I don't know how long it was before we both started to yawn. I checked the clock and noticed two things. It was after eleven'o'clock and Gilda wasn't back yet.

We decided to head to bed, so I walked back to my room and hit the bed, asleep before my head made contact with the pillow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanging out with Fluttershy never starts off well, but it always goes well. She's just hard to get to do things. Once you decide on something to do with her, the rest will be fine. I can't believe that I let it get to me that Flash thought we were dating. He's just an idiot from school. What do I care what he thinks?

I got in bed and lay there for a moment, just thinking to myself.

Besides, it's not like it'd be a bad thing if we were dating... Some voice in the back of my head noted.

Wait, what? But before I could pursue that thought, I was fast asleep.

Things Start

View Online

*tap tap*

Mmmm... Who could that be?

I rolled out of bed and glanced at the mirror. Yeesh. My mane was sticking out on the right like a big, pink wing.

"Fluttershy? You awake?" I heard Rainbow ask softly. I looked back at the mirror and glanced at the brush on the desk... This is Rainbow. She won't care.

"C-coming." I answered quietly, walking over to the door. I opened it and she walked in without a word. She barely glanced at my mane before moving on with the day.

"Okay, I just stopped by 'cause I was wondering if you wanted some coffee this morning."

"Uhm..." I never really drank coffee, but I didn't want to turn her down. "Wh-where were we gonna go?"

"Meh. Just some StarBuck's. You wanna go or not?"

"S-sure." I started for the door.

"Shy?" I stopped and looked at her.

"Yes?" I asked her. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"Your mane?" I felt my cheeks heat up immensely as I rushed over to the desk to grab my brush.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is bothering me. What did I think of last night that got my attention? I remember thinking something that really shocked me, but not what it was... That's just sad and weird, isn't it? I can't even remember last night... Sheesh, Rainbow, in Fluttershy's company ten minutes and you're already thinking about yourself. Great friendship skills right there...

We got there and ordered some cappuccinos. She didn't seem sure about drinking it. In fact, she actually didn't drink it. I didn't say anything, but I don't think she drinks coffee. Whatever. I don't blame her. I'm already attention defi-...something and coffee sometimes makes it wor- wow that's an odd cloud...

I shook my head, thanking Celestia that Shy was looking away when I did. I need to focus right now. *sigh* Okay so coffee was not the best idea for how to hang out with my best friend this morning. On the bright side, it is Friday so we have a weekend tomorrow.

"So... how are you, Shy?" I started awkwardly.

"Uh-uhm... I'm okay, why? Did I seem upset? I didn't mean to worry you. I j-" She started apologizing, but I cut her off.

"No, no. It's fine, Flutters. I just was trying to start a conversation."

"Oh... W-well how are you?" As she asked it I was glancing off to the left of her. There were some of our classmates in the coffee shop, too. It reminded me of last night, how they were glancing at the two of us at our table, then turning back to each other, giggling.

"*ahem* This is just awkward, isn't it?" I answered, trying to come up with a reason to get us both out of there.

"Uhm..." She nodded simply.

"Heh... maybe we should get to school now. I think G will wake up way late without me, so we should stop by the dorms to get her."

"When did Gilda get back, by the way?"

"I guess 'round midnight. She's like a rock right now. In any case, let's get going." I said quickly, stealing a glance at the foals at the table nearby. One of them was watching with a eyebrow quirked smugly. I recognized him as one of Flash's cronies. I was SO going to hear about this from him today.

"O-okay..." She said getting up. We flew out the door together and headed over to the dorms to pick up Gilda.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My day was really dull...again. Nothing happened that I can even remember right now. Well, nothing big. Rainbow said she was surprised to hear nothing from Flash today. I asked her why and she said that it was nothing. I can't help but feel suspicious of her, but I shouldn't pry.

Right now we were heading to a clear patch of cloud near the school so Rainbow and Gilda could get in some practice for the Stormball team. The tryouts were next week and the season lasted through most the school year since the conditions are almost always right. It IS a sport designed and played by ponies that can control weather, after all.

We got to the small clearing and I hovered down to sit and watch, like I always do, and they flew up to start their routine. I don't know much about it, and I doubt if I ever will, but it made them look like a well-oiled machine. I stared and gawked at the two of them for a while before I eventually decided to doodle some to pass the time.

This went on for maybe an hour, I sorta zoned out of what I was drawing. Before I realized it, I'd drawn a picture of Rainbow in a Wonderbolt uniform. I don't know why but of all the girly, random, or even stupid things I've drawn in this notebook, this is the first time I've ever wanted to keep one...

"Hey, Shy! Watcha got there?" I realized it was also the only one I didn't want to share, as well. I quickly flipped closed the notebook.

"N-nothing." I replied quickly.

"Oooookay?" She said, quirking a brow at me. I didn't say anything. I just looked up at Gilda who was performing a small series of loops above us. "So me and Gilda were thinking we'd head to the Wonderbolts show at the arena a block from here. You wanna come?"

"You never mentioned a show..." I said, a little confused that she hadn't mentioned this to me.

"I- erm... I don't know. Guess I never thought of it. Sorry..." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Sooo... is that a no?"

"S-sure I'd like to go with you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To tell the truth, I hadn't mentioned the show to her yet because I wasn't even sure she'd want to come, but she looked a little glum during me and G's practice. I guess I just didn't want to leave her like that.

We got there and bought tickets. Once we'd found some seats I quickly realized that all my hopes of talking to Fluttershy while we were here were ill-founded. It was just WAY too loud. At least we'd be here together.

A-as friends! Nothing else! J-just friends!...

Who am I rationalizing to?

I lost track of what Gilda was doing 'cause me and Shy were a bit busy gawking at the Wonderbolts. Their newest additions, Soarin and Spitfire, were dazzlingly good. They did loops, spins, corkscrews, spirals, and tricks I'm sure only the Wonderbolts and huge fans like me knew the names of.

I kept glancing at Fluttershy the whole time. She seemed honestly entranced by them. I don't know why, but for some reason I was a little jealous. I mean, it would be awesome if I could be THAT good that I could hold her attention like that...

*cough* I don't really...*ahem* I mean, it's not like I care THAT much...

I went back to watching Spitfire do several loops, then a set of twists and turns through the air. At the same time, Soarin was practically mirroring her every move on the opposite side of the arena. Then, right in the middle of the two, was Storm Kicker, their mentor, doing his own set of elaborate tricks. The trio suddenly turned towards the middle and flew together. Upon impact, they bounced off of each other with an explosion of colors.

The crowd oohed and ahhed around us. I was practically laughing at how completely, unbelievably, amazingly awesome this was. I felt Fluttershy scoot over, and I looked over at her. She leaned over and whispered (or more of spoke) in my ear, "I bet you could do that."

I felt my cheeks heat when I felt her breath on my ear, but I put on a cocky grin and nodded. Once she was back to sitting normally and watching the show, I scooted away just an inch.

After the show, we headed back to the dorms, me and G going on and on about all the stunts they did, the way Soarin and Spitfire performed together, and the different things that... nevermind, only big fans really get this stuff.

We got back to the dorms and hit the hay pretty much without a word once me and G's door was open. I'd assume Fluttershy did the same, since we passed her room first and she went in as we passed.

"Morning, G."

"Meh. Saturday. Shut up." I smirked as she answered while I dragged a comb through my bead-head ridden mane.

"Come on, G. It's seven in the morning."

"We get up at six the rest of the week. You will leave me be." She replied through her pillow.

"Fine." I answered, holding my hooves up in surrender. And everypony calls me the lazy one.

I went out the door, hoping to work in some laps around the block this morning. I couldn't help but wish they'd let me use the window to exit the building as I trudged down the stairs. It'd be SO much more convenient... up until I have to pay a fine for breaking the dorm rules. I don't understand it, really. We're all pegasi, so the door is practically useless.

I walked outside, felt the sun on my skin, and stretched my wings quickly. Once I was ready I started with a few slow laps around the block.

I got to thinking about all kinds of stuff. I started arguing with myself in my head. My pedia-... doctor says it's part of my attention defi-thing. My head would rather argue with itself then think normally.

I like it.

Most ponies describe it as a train of thought. Well for me it's more like two separate trains of thought racing with the conductors trash talking each other with logic.... or something to that effect.

My thoughts drifted from one thing to the next until a subject stuck. The first thing that stuck was what Flash had said two days ago.

"So how are things with your marefriend?" What a prick! Where does he get the nerve?

Maybe from that the fact that he might be right.

WOAH! Where did that come from?

You. Deep down you know you think it could work. Did you, or rather, I ever deny the possibility of Fluttershy and me as a "thing"? Nope. I just didn't even thi-

Stop it. Just stop. We are both mares, and she's my best friends to begin with. If it didn't work then that would ruin the friendship. Besides I am NOT a fillyfooler.

We both know she is far too nice to reject you or let the friendship die that way.

Shut up.

I barely noticed that I was picking up speed as I debated with myself.

Besides, I doubt she 'swings that way'. She'd probably feel horrible letting me do- Why am I even thinking about it like I WOULD ask her out?

Because I want to.

I do NOT. She's just a friend. I'm straight, she's straight, and Flash is just a prick. Why am I even thinking about this?

Because you wa-

No. I don't want to. I don't care what you-er... I think about this....

Am I insane? Probably. I don't even know who I'm asking that question to.

I was huffing and puffing by the time I stopped. I must've done twenty laps around the block, and I was going way too fast... I should never do that again for a practice.

I landed in front of the dorms, huffing out thick breaths of exhaustion. I collapsed on a patch of cloud and practically fell asleep. For a moment, I just lay there on the cloudy ground, half asleep from exhaustion, telling myself that whatever thoughts I just had meant nothing.

"Rainbow Dash?" I looked up and found Quick Silver staring at me with a concerned, but confused gawk on his face. For a moment I stupidly wondered why he was staring at me like that, but suddenly realized that it was because I was exhausted and laying, face-first, on the ground just outside the dorm building.

"Yeah? You want something?" I asked, pretending there was nothing wrong with this.

"Uh... Just wondering if you were okay. You look wiped out and upset. So are you okay?"

"Y-yeah... I'm good." I said getting back up. He stared at me for a moment, but I guess he just didn't want to pry, 'cause he just shook his head.

"Okay... I was wondering if you wanted to hang out or so-"

"Are you kidding?" I asked, glaring at him. "Why in the world would I go somewhere with you?" His face fell, and his eyes dropped to the ground. He looked like he'd had a rough time and I was just giving him more crap. I felt horrible for that. Here was this colt, trying to be nice to me, like nopony else in school save two, and I'm giving him crap about it. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No. It's a good question. Why would you?" He interrupted me without looking up.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well..." He looked around quickly, as if he was worried somepony would see him, he looked back at me. "Me and Flash had a falling out yesterday." I quirked an eyebrow. "He was gonna say something to Fluttershy yesterday, but I told him not to. When he dared me to do something, I did." I got excited at hearing this.

"Oh boy! You decked him didn't you?" I asked, unable to control the grin on my face. He looked shocked.

"No! It's not like I hate the guy! I just disagree with him a lot. No, I just contacted a teacher after walking away as if I WASN'T gonna do something."

"Aw... What happened?"

"He got a strict warning, since he hadn't done anything yet. After that, I requested a move to a different room and didn't..." He paused and yawned, adding to the effect. "Sleep at all last night, since I refused to go to the dorm while he was still in it."

"That much from ratting him out?"

"Well, we argued before I got the teacher....and after that, too."

I looked at him in a whole new light now. I hadn't thought he would stand up to Flash. He just seemed like the spineless colt who stood on the sideline and did nothing, and wasn't worth worrying about whose side he was on.

But now? He seemed like something else.... With the look on his face, I'd assume he'd punch Flash if he were here right now. Of course, I would too, but that's beside the point.

I suddenly realized that we'd been standing there for a few minutes in silence. "*ahem* You wanted to hang out right?" He stared at me, obviously thinking of what I said not even ten minutes ago.

"Sure?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*scribble scribble* I was sitting at my desk *scribble* trying to write a letter home to tell mom and dad how the first week had gone. *scribble* I wasn't sure I described the bullies correctly, but I didn't want to say anything worse than "The bullies aren't that bad" or I think mom and dad *scribble* would worry and transfer me. And I really don't want to leave this school. This school has Rainbow Dash. Every other school is *scribble* devoid of ponies I know.

*scribble scribble* I guess that'll do. It's just mom and dad, after all, and I'll be writing home every other week. Mom insisted I did. So I guess I will...

*tap tap* Again? That's two mornings in a row...

"I'm coming, Rainbow." I assumed it would be her, because...well, who else would want to visit me?

I checked my mane in the mirror, this time bothering to brush real quick, and walked over and opened the door to an empty hall. I looked around and took a step out to see if anypony was running or watching. I'd been pranked before and I know some ponies like to watch.

I heard a crinkling sound and looked down, pulling my hoof back, and found a sealed envelope on the floor. I picked it up to take a look at it. It was blank on one side, but when I flipped it over, in really decorative hoofwriting, were the words:

To My Dearest Fluttershy

Wh-what?!

The Shift

View Online

Dear Fluttershy,

I have admired you for way too long to have not said anything to you. I just couldn't work up the guts to say it to you, but I finally decided to tell you the only way I can bring myself to say it.

I guess I'm just too scared of how you'll react to say it to you directly, and I can't even work up the guts to write my name at the end of this, but I have to tell you somehow.

As long as I've known you, I've had a crush on you and I guess it'd be better to be more subtle, but that's just not me. You are really cute, and it only adds on that you don't seem to notice. The way you act so shy only makes me want to protect you, and the intelligence behind those shy eyes only adds to it all. I know you don't deserve the crap those bullies give you.

Please don't be scared by this note, I just had to get this off my chest. And I know this was a cruddy note, but I don't write stuff anyway.

Yours always,

Anonymous lover

I must've read this thing over a dozen times. The hoofwriting was a lot less stylish than it was on the envelope. On that thought I glanced at the envelope again. The writing on it looked like it was actually a little shaky, but the writer had probably gone really slow to make it look good. The rest of the note, though, was barely average, as if the writer wasn't very good at writing.

Who would want to write me? WHO?! I'm not attractive, am I? No, no. I'm just a simple, weak, shy, timid, animal caretaker. Or at least I will be.

As long as I've known you? I barely know anypony....

Okay, deep breath, Fluttershy. Think about this a moment... What clues did they drop?

Hmmm.... not subtle... not a good writer...wants to protect me... knows me.... didn't want to tell me to my face...

Well, aside from not having the guts to do something, this sounds like either Gilda or....Rainbow Dash...

Nonononononononono. It is not her. It can't be. Sh-she's just a friend, right?

Deep breath, Fluttershy, you need to think about this...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, you're not too bad at this!" I said with delight. Me and Silver were flying around, doing stunts and practicing for those Stormball tryouts. He really wasn't half bad. I was way faster than him, but he was pretty fast as it was.

"Thanks *huff* you're pretty good, *huff* too."

"You bet I am!" I replied, putting on a small boost of speed to prove my point. I looked back and saw him laughing as he failed to keep up. I slowed the pace so he could keep up. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"You! You are way too fast! I'm supposed to be one of "the athletes" and I can't keep up! What'd you get on the speed test? Eleven seconds?"

"Yeah..." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up at his praise. I just smiled brashly, trying to ignore the heat.

"I got twenty-two. You are gonna be the best flier on the team for sure."

"Heh... Er- Yeah! Of course I am!"

We landed in front of the dorm building and I started to trot towards the door, but stopped when Gilda opened the door and walked out looking around. She spotted me and walked towards me.

"Hey, dude."

"Hey, G."

"Listen, Flu-" She stopped when she noticed Silver standing nearby. She glared at him, then glanced at me. "What's going on?"

"He- uhm...He's cool... I'll explain later. What did you want?" She eyed him warily for a moment but looked at me again.

"Fluttershy seems a little upset about something. She knocked on the door. I actually woke up to that."

"Wait...Fluttershy was loud enough to wake you? What's wrong?"

"She wouldn't say. She refused to talk about it to anyone but you." She answered, frowning.

"Why?" She rolled her eyes at me.

"I just said she wouldn't say, dude. Oh but she had this piece of paper with her. Tucked it under her wing when I looked at it. Guess it's private."

"Okay..." What the hay is going on? "I'll go talk to her. You two stay and chat." I said, hovering towards the door.

" 'kay. She's in our room."

I opened the door slowly. I found Fluttershy sitting on Gilda's bed, bouncing in an upset, excited way. The moment I set hoof in the room she stopped bouncing and her face changed into a nervous smile.

"Uh... Hey, Shy. What's up?"

"Oh! Well uhm..." She raised her wing and grabbed a piece of paper with her mouth. She set it down on the desk between the beds for me to look at. I sat down on my bed and grabbed the note. I read it.

Then I read it again.

And again.

I looked up at Fluttershy, who was watching me expectantly, and tilted the note so she could see it.

"What?"

"That's what I said."

"Fluttershy...do you have any clue who wrote this?"

"I have an idea...b-but I'm probably wrong...."

"Who?"

"W-well, I d-don-"

"Oh, come on! We're best friends. Tell me!"

"Well...." She looked out the window. "I really shouldn't say."

"Come on! Please?" She looked at me shyly. Her eyes held meaning in them, and for a moment I was confused by her stare. Then it hit me.

"W-woah! Y-you don't think I-?" She raised her eyebrows at me. "Shy? Seriously?" I barely noticed the heat in my cheeks or the crimson all over hers.

"Well... I mean...."She looked away, pulling her mane in front of her face to hide it. She was quiet for a moment, then looked at me again. "It'd be o-okay... i-if it was you..."

I gawked at her. Well I think I did... My face kinda felt a little stiff.

But... did she really just say-?

"Fluttershy. I-I didn't write that note." Her eyes fell from mine as I said it.

"Oh... O-okay..." She didn't look back up for a moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stupid! Why did you even say that? Now she's gonna think-

"Fluttershy?" I glanced at her for a second then looked away.

"Fluttershy. Come on. What's wrong?" Oh, she definitely knows. She just wants to spare me.

"I-I didn't- I..." I just couldn't figure out how to say it. I couldn't say I didn't mean what I said, because that's not entirely true, but I don't quite know what is true.

We just sat there quietly for a moment, neither of us knowing quite what to say. I could feel her eyes on me, but I didn't dare look up at her. I just couldn't get past what I said, and I'm sure she's still thinking about it.

"Fluttershy. Come on. It's okay." I glanced up at her. Her cheeks were still pink from blushing, but her eyes were calm, if just a little cautious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buck it all! Give her a hug or something!

What? NO! That'd be crazy! She'd think I was-

Being nice? Comforting her? Accepting her?

Er- Well maybe, but wouldn't she think I was coming onto her?

Who cares?

I DO! And so would a lot of ponies.

It's just us in here.

Gah! I can't decide what to do.

Her eyes started to water up for a moment and I threw caution to the wind. I got up and sat next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders. She put her head on my shoulder, nuzzling into my neck.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean- I didn't mean to accuse you..." She whispered.

"Shh." I attempted to comfort her the best I could, but I'm just not the 'feelings' type of pony. We stayed that way, though, until she stopped shaking and her eyes had dried. Then we stayed that way a little bit anyways. At first it was really awkward, but I began to enjoy it.

Tell her how you feel!

I don't even know how I feel!

So you admit it's possible?

I- er.... I guess....

Then tell her!

Tell her what? That I COULD like her, but I'M not even sure?

Well.... No.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy lifted her head to look at me.

"Hmm?"

She looked me right in the eyes, and for a moment we just sat there, eyes locked. Then I couldn't help it...

I leaned.

And so did she.

*bang bang*

"Hey, dude! You in there? You're really quiet." We pulled away at the sound of Gilda's voice.

She scooted away, and I turned to the door.

"Yea-Yeah we're in here." I had to start again when my voice cracked. The door opened up and Gilda walked in.

"So what was wrong with Shy?" I glanced at Fluttershy as she asked this, and Fluttershy got up. She walked over to my bed, where I'd left the note, picked it up and walked towards the door.

"Uhm... It's kinda private..."

"S-sorry, Gilda."

"Meh, whatever. If it's not my business then I don't care."

Fluttershy got to the door and turned and looked at me. "B-bye, Rainbow Dash." She said tenderly.

"See ya, Shy." I said, smiling warmly.

Oh, sweet Celestia!

I know right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

D-did we just almost... Kiss?

Sweet Celestia!

I walked over to my room and hesitated at the door. Should I have left? Would it have been better if I had stayed? No, don't think about it, Fluttershy. You need to clear your head.

"Hey... you okay?" I nearly jumped out of my coat at the sound of a voice. I looked over and found Quick Silver standing a few feet away. "Oh! I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?"

"Y-yes. I'm okay." I replied, hiding behind my mane.

"Are you okay? You seem upset." He asked, taking a step towards me.

"If I tell you, a-are you going to tell Flash?"

"Buck no! Like I'd tell your secrets to that prick?" I stared at him.

"I-I thought you two were...friends..."

"Not anymore. No, I'd rather befriend somepony like you or Dash, than him now." He said, only a little bitterly. His face softened as he looked at me again. "Anyways, what's up?"

"I-uhm..." I glanced over at Rainbow's door for a moment, and took a deep breath. "I'm a little confused about...something."

"Should I not pry?"

"N-no, it's okay, it's just...private right now."

"'right now'? What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Seriously, dude. You've been quiet and avoiding the subject since I got back. Not to mention your cheeks have been a magnificent hue of blued red the whole time." Gilda said, eying me with one of her signature 'one bird-eye' stares.

"I-it's nothing."

"I've never heard your voice crack this many times, dude. What is going on?" I didn't say anything for a moment. "Does it have something to do with Fluttershy?" I looked away from her, knowing I was pretty much giving it away.

"Yeah."

"So... What happened? Come on, dude, you gotta give me something here."

"I don't think she wants me to tell you."

"Then I'll just have to figure it out. Let's start with the note. Was it a note from a teacher?"

"No."

"From another student?"

"Yes."

"A love note?" She smiled comically at this. She probably didn't expect my answer.

"Yep." She looked blown back.

"Er-okay. Uhm... did she show you?"

"Duh."

"Was it sappy?"

"Does that matter?" I asked, glaring at her. She was definitely annoying me with these questions.

"Okay fine. Did she know who it was from?"

I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to decide how to answer this. "She thought it was me." I answered without looking at her.

"Oh... And wa-"

"No. It wasn't."

"Jeeze, dude, what happened that I missed? Did you two have a fight?"

"No. We...nothing." She kept watching me for a moment. Then her face lit up so much I could actually see it without even looking at her.

"Holy Celestia, you didn't!"

"No. We didn't. You...sorta... interrupted us."

"Erm...sorry?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why are you showing me this?" Silver asked, holding the folded note in his hoof.

"I-I guess I trust you." I replied. He eyed me for a moment, but eventually opened the note up and read it over.

"What, did Rainbow write this?"

"No. But I did show it to her and... I thought she had..."

"Did she get mad?"

"No. I got upset with myself... and she comforted me..."

"I'm confused. Why are you telling me this?"

"I just need to talk to somepony, I guess."

"I think you do, but it's not me you should talk to. I think it's Rainbow that you should talk to."

"O-okay."

"How about this. I'll ask her to go to lunch for you, and you just meet her there. It's almost one anyways, and a pony needs to eat."

"Okay."

I was sitting in CloudKisser's waiting for Rainbow to get here. I didn't have to wait long, because she was the fastest flier I'd ever met and was certainly not going to leave me sitting here. She walked in and sat at down at the table. We sat quietly, neither of us even looking at the other.

"So uhm..." I tried and failed to start the conversation. She took a deep breath.

"Fluttershy, look we need to talk about this."

"Yeah..."

"So let's just put this out there. We almost kissed, right?" She said. I looked up at her from my hooves. She was blushing madly at me.

"I guess..."

"So where should we go from here?" Rainbow asked. She was trying really hard to keep her calm. I don't know what's running through her head right now, but I could tell she is as unsure as I am.

"Wh-where do you want to go?"

"Well- I uh... I don't know... I guess I want to..." She looked down at her hooves on the table. She leaned forward and muttered, "I guess I wanna give it a try." She said, looking up at me. I felt my cheeks heating up under her hopeful gaze.

"I do, too." I replied quietly. Her eyes lit up a bit at that.

"Really?" I nodded. She frowned suddenly. "So... what should we do? I mean... Should go out somewhere or-"

"I'd like that." I said politely. Her face broke into a huge grin, and I couldn't hold back mine either.

"Okay! Uhmm... how about tonight? We'll go to dinner?"

"Rainbow. You aren't a dinner pony."

"You're right... Uhm..." She scrunched up her face in concentration. I couldn't help but giggle at her then. She looked at me, confused. "What's so funny?"

"You're trying really hard already... It's kind of cute." Her cheeks flared up again, and she sputtered for a moment.

"Well I-uh- It's our first date and I- I don't know- I want this to go well..."

"Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna visit Ponyville? It's really nice there and I can show you my animal friends. I mean... If you want to..." She looked at me oddly for a moment, probably thinking this was a bad idea, but then she just shrugged.

"Why not? I dragged you to the Wonderbolts show. Besides, this might not be that bad. When should we leave?"

"Uhm... now might be good."

"Okay, let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had no idea dogs were so adorable. Seriously, why can't we have these things in Cloudsdale? We'd landed at the animal shelter and walked straight to the dog room. They opened the door and before I knew it I was on my back, being lovingly assaulted by a bunch of puppies.

It was awesome. Once they were off of me, we went and checked on the bunnies. Er- Rabbits...yeah that's what I meant.

"I named that one Angel." Fluttershy said, giving a baby one a carrot.

"Well, don't spoil him. He'll end up as a mean brat or something."

"Oh, I know, but he's just so adorable."

"Well...yeah." I consented. "So what next? You seem to know your way around town."

"Well, I visit every once in a while." She answered shyly.

"You know anypony in town?"

"Uhm... a few."

"Cool, let's go meet some." I requested, smiling warmly.

"Rainbow, this is Applejack. Applejack this is Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said, indicating the blonde maned, orange earth pony. She had a hat on and a cutie mark of a set of apples.

"Well howdy, Miss Rainbow! Pleasure ta meet ya!" She said grabbing my hoof in hers and shaking it violently.

"Nice to meet you, too." I said through gritted teeth, as my entire body shook with each pump of her arm. She finally stopped and I set my hoof down gently, trying to adjust to having a non-vibrating skeleton again. "That's quite the hoofshake you got there."

"Thanka kindly." She replied, with a grin.

"Applejack graduated from high school last year."

"Eeyup. Ah'm takin' over the farm too. Well, me an' Big Mac', that is."

"Who?" I asked.

"Oh, right. Ya don' know him. Big Macintosh. He's mah big brother. Me an' him and Granny Smith run the farm together."

"Oh...That makes sense." I commented. We stood there quietly for a moment. The awkwardness would've been unbearable if not for the interference of a smiling Fluttershy.

"Applejack here does rodeos. She won ten gold medals last time I was in town." Applejack tilted her head so her hat would hide her face.

"T'were only nine."

"And she only competed in nine events." Fluttershy added.

"Well, Ah'm not that good, though." I gawked at her. Was she serious? If I'd won nine in nine events, I'd be bragging for weeks, but here she is saying she's not even that good. Makes me think about my own attitude...

"I've never been to a rodeo. What are they like?"

"Them Canterlot ponies would call it 'uncouth', but most us simple folk call it 'a good time'." She said with a wink.

"Heh, sounds like my kind of fun."

"Ya should come some time."

"I think I'll do that."

"Uhm... Rainbow?" I looked over at Fluttershy.

"Yeah?"

"We should probably go. It's going to get dark soon." I looked up. Sure enough Celestia's sun was getting ready to set.

"Yeah, guess we should go. Nice meeting you AJ. Er- can I call you that?"

"Only if Ah can call you RD."

"Deal." And with that we took off and started towards Cloudsdale.

"This was great, Shy. I've never been to any town that wasn't Cloudsdale before."

"You had fun? We weren't there very long..."

"Yeah, I had fun. Come on, did you think I wouldn't have fun?"

"Well... I didn't think you would really."

"Hey. Come here." I said, changing course towards a cloud nearby. She followed suit and landed beside me. We sat quietly beside each other on the cloud as the wind gently pushed it away from Ponyville. The sun was getting lower in the sky, the lowest part of the big orange circle beginning to touch the horizon.

"Wh-what are we doing on here?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"Just sitting. Sunsets are pretty and stuff, right?"

"I think so..." She said in a confused voice. I used a wing to gently pull her closer, then wrapped an arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I rested my cheek on her head. We sat there and watched the sun set, quietly snuggling for warmth in the cooling air. "Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this will last?"

"It's a sunset. They happen ever-"

"No, I mean... this." She gestured to the two of us sitting on the cloud. "Us." I had to think about it a moment.

After a moment I angled my head and kissed her on the forehead. The action sent warm thrills all through my body, but I managed to calmly say, "Yeah. I do."

Mysteries

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We flew back to Cloudsdale once the sun had finished setting. I couldn't get my mind off the kiss.

It wasn't a real kiss. I mean, Rainbow had simply pecked me on the forehead, but it had sent thrills of excitement through my entire body. I'd wanted to kiss her back, but I'd resisted the urge.

We got back to the dorms really late and found Gilda waiting at the entrance to the building.

"You two were gone a while. You know what time it is, Dash?"

"Uhm... A while since we left?" She asked with a smile. Gilda rolled her eyes at her remark.

"It's almost midnight, dude. Where were you?"

"We went to Ponyville. Why aren't you in bed if it's so late."

"There's a curfew to this building you know, and I just wanted to make sure you got back."

"Well, we're back, okay?"

"Jeeze, sorry. Just get in." Gilda said, turning and leading the way up.

Rainbow wrapped a wing around me and we walked in after her. I couldn't help but let my mind drift to that kiss again as I rested my head on her shoulder. It really is sticking on me isn't it? Maybe I should return the favor...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got to me and Gilda's door and G went inside, not even bothering to make sure I followed her. I walked Fluttershy to her room, three doors down. You know, because that's what you're supposed to do at the end of a date. Although, as a mare, I always figured I'd be the one getting walked to my door, not the other way around.

We got to her room and I pulled my wing away and turned to leave, but when she didn't open the door right away I got confused and waited to see if she wanted to say something. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and looked at me for a second before leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. I felt my cheeks heat up as she pulled away.

"*cough* What was that for?"

"For being so sweet to me. I-I felt like I owed you... or something." She answered as she hid behind her mane.

I was at a loss of words for a moment. I wasn't sure what to say at all. She definitely didn't owe me for anything, since she's giving this as much as I am. I mean... she wanted to give this just as much of a chance as I did, right? I finally managed to get something out.

"Th-thanks, Flutters... I uh- I had a great time." She peeked out from behind her mane and smiled.

"Me, too." Came her quiet response. We stood there quietly for a moment. I opened my mouth to say something, but I heard a door open behind me.

"Dash. C'mon! It's passed midnight."

"Okay, Mom." I replied. I looked back at Fluttershy. "I should go."

"Yeah... I'll see you in the morning."

"Ugh... What are you so peppy about this morning?" Gilda asked me as she peeked at me from under her blanket.

"I don't know...I'm just feeling good this morning, I guess."

"Meh..." She replied oh so wittily before retreating to her snuggly refuge. I grinned wryly and made my way to the door.

I opened it and took a step outside.

*crinkle* What the hay? I looked down and found an envelope under my hoof. I picked it up and looked at the front of it. It had really big and overly decorated letters saying the words.

To My Dearest Rainbow Dash

You've gotta be kidding me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*tap tap* I just can't wake up on my own these days.

I rolled out of bed, thanking Celestia that my mane wasn't a mess this morning, and walked over and opened the door. I found an amused, yet annoyed Rainbow Dash waiting at the door.

"Fluttershy, you won't believe this..."

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I have admired you for way too long to have not said anything to you. I just couldn't work up the courage to say it to you, but I finally decided to tell you the only way I can bring myself to say it.

I guess I'm just too shy to say it to you directly, and I can't even compel myself to write my name at the end of this, but I have to tell you somehow.

As long as I've known you, I've had a crush on you and I suppose subtlety would be a better approach, but it's too late for that now. You are really beautiful, in your own way. The way you act so brave only makes me find you so much more attractive, and the skill and ability held in those bright eyes only adds to it all. I know you don't deserve the things those bullies say to you.

Please don't be frightened by this note, I just had to say this somehow. And I know this was a poor way to do it, but I couldn't do this any other way.

Yours always,

Anonymous lover

I looked up at Rainbow from my seat on my bed after I finished reading and just quirked an eyebrow.

"It uhm... sounds a lot like mine, doesn't it?" I noted.

"Yeah... I think I've got an idea what's going on here..." She said.

"What?"

"Well the first one seemed a lot like it was written by me and this one..." She gestured a hoof at the note in question in disgust. "Was probably meant to sound like you wrote it." I looked at the writing again. Unlike the last note, this one's hoofwriting was actually pretty good, although it looked nothing like mine.

"Somepony was trying to... what?" I asked looking up.

"Prank us, although there was probably some other motive behind it. I think I've got a good idea who was trying to do it, too."

"Who?"

"Flash."

"Why? Wh-what would he want to do this for?" She looked down for a second, seemingly ashamed of something.

"I uh- I should've told this a while ago, but..." She bit her lip and glanced out the window. "He accused me of being...gay for you..." Her cheeks were purple from her blushing and I could feel mine heating up. I suddenly burst into a fit of giggles against my will as a thought struck me. She stared at me. "What?"

"He- He was right!" I said between giggles. Her cheeks darkened a bit, but she still smiled and chuckled a little.

"I guess he was..." She waited for me to calm down, which didn't take long, thank Celestia. "So uhm... I think Flash wrote those notes to get at me. Maybe even get us into a fight or make me shun you or something..." She thought for a moment, then broke into a grin. "Heh, guess that backfired on him, didn't it?"

"Yes." I replied with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm gonna need to find Quick Silver and figure out if he thinks this was Flash. The problem was that I had no clue where to find him. Maybe Gilda will know... Nah, she wouldn't want me to wake her up, even if it was something like this. Maybe Silver will be around the dorms. I don't even know what he was doing when I ran into him yesterday.

"Hey, Shy?"

"Yes?"

"I'm gonna go look for Silver. He might be able to help me figure out if these notes were from Flash or not."

"O-okay." She looked a little disappointed about that. I guess she was hoping I'd stay longer. I looked around her completely undecorated room in hopes of inspiration. Sadly, blank white walls don't help much. I decided to just make a vague promise.

"Listen. I'll be back in a few hours and we'll hang out then, okay?" She smiled at me.

"Okay."

"Great!" I kissed her on the cheek without even thinking, grabbed the note she'd gotten off her desk, and ran out of the room and down the hall. I got to my room and walked inside. "Hey, G, you know where Silver's room is?"

"Nnnng... yeah, why?" She asked from her bed.

"Need to chat with him."

"Uhg...." She sat up in bed. "Am I not aloud to sleep in a room with you?" I didn't bother dignifying that with an answer. "Uhg, fine. He lives two floors up, three doors from the stairs."

"Wait... Why didn't you just tell me the room number?"

"Erm... I visited his room... for... certain, platonic reasons." She answered, suddenly finding the window frame very interesting.

I just stared at her a moment before giving up on figuring out what I'd missed here. "Okay... I don't want to know. Enjoy your nap."

"Will do."

*tap tap*

"Coming." Silver opened the door. "Oh, hey Rainbow. What's up?" I pulled out the notes and handed them to him. He looked mine over then glanced over Fluttershy's. "You got one too?"

"Wait... you knew about Fluttershy's?"

"Yeah, she had me read it, but I told her if something was wrong then she should talk to the pony something is wrong with. In any case, why are YOU showing me yours?"

" 'cause I think it was Flash that wrote this. It's obviously a prank, and he's the only pony that I think would try something like this."

"Try what, exactly?"

"Okay, this one..." I held up Fluttershy's. "...seems like something I'd write if I was really sappy, right?" He nodded. "And this one.." I held up mine. "Reminded me of Fluttershy. How 'bout you?" He nodded again. "So I think somepony was trying to pull a prank on us, probably in hopes of it leading to a falling out between me and Shy."

"Makes sense... And you want me to say whether or not I think it was Flash?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, it's actually pretty simple. I'll go ask him. He's too proud not to brag about it to me. You just wait in my room." He started towards the stairs, but stopped when he noticed I hadn't stepped inside. "Why are you just standing there?"

"Fillies aren't aloud in colt's rooms. What if I get caught? They do inspections on Sundays."

"Oh I doubt the inspector will show up within the next ten minutes." He said, annoyed. I stepped into his room hesitantly. It actually wasn't as messy as I'd figured a colt's room would be. It might be because he just got this room and hadn't had time to unpack his stuff yet, but whatever.

When he said ten minutes I didn't think he'd meant exactly that. I literally flopped on his bed and just watched the clock while he was gone. He was early by about twenty seconds.

I need to find a better way to pass the time...

He opened the door and walked in with a thoughtful look on his face.

"What is it? Was I right?"

"Sort of. He kept talking about the first note. The one Fluttershy got. But when I asked if he'd sent you one he had no clue what I was talking about."

"What? He's bluffing."

"Rainbow. I've known him since we were both too young to remember. I know how he acts and I know he wasn't bluffing. Somepony else wrote you a love note."

"Wh-what!? Who would-"

"I don't know, Rainbow. Maybe you should reply? It'd be interesting to see what they do..."

"How would I do that?"

"My suggestion? Write a response, act flattered or something, but don't try to scare or intimidate them. Put it in the old envelope and write 'Return to Sender' over the old address. Then just leave on the floor in front of your door. Most ponies would assume you just received it and hadn't noticed yet."

"I guess that would work... but are you seriously suggesting that I entertain this creep?" I asked, shaking the note as though it was the actual writer.

"Yep. It'll be easier to figure out who they are if you can get less vague information about them."

"*groan* Fine, I'll try it." I said before walking out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was faster than you said it would be." I said with smile.

"I didn't think he'd be in his room." She said, obviously not happy with the results of her search.

"Oh..." I felt my smile fade. "I-is something wrong?"

"Flash only wrote one. The other one is from somepony else. I...I might have a secret admirer..." She said grumpily.

I couldn't help but smile at her. "I'm not surprised. You got eleven seconds on the dash and you've been standing up to the bullies. I-I'm sure I wasn't the only pony who noticed." She smiled a little at my praise.

"Well... Anyway, Silver had an idea. He wants me to write back..."

"What? Why?"

"I guess he thinks if I can get more about the writer from him then I might be able to figure it out. He wants me to act flattered..." She didn't look like she enjoyed the prospect. I certainly didn't. Her face suddenly perked up. "Oh well. That can wait. For now it's just you and me. What do you wanna do?"

"Uhm... How about we go fly? O-or we could just hang out... or something..." I mumbled.

"Sure." She replied with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We flew around town, me occasionally doing some stunts at her request. I mean... She actually asked me to do some stunts! She's never done that before... It's kind of a pleasant surprise to have her doing that. Eventually, Fluttershy started doing her own loops and spins. After a while she flew up to me and tapped me with a hoof.

"You're it." She said really calmly before taking off in the opposite direction. It took me a minute to figure out what she'd just said. 'It'? What did she mea- Oh, duh....

"Hey! Get back here, you!" I shouted after her with a laugh, taking off. Seeing as she wasn't a strong flier, I didn't go nearly as fast as I could, but she managed to go fast enough to make it interesting for me. Next thing I knew, we were locked in a riveting game of tag.

I don't know how long this went on before we finally landed on a piece of stray cloud, laughing, huffing, and snuggling under the sun, but I don't really care either. We lay there, Fluttershy resting her head on my shoulder with my around her shoulders, watching the high-flying clouds float above the city. For a moment, it was wonderful... up until somepony flew by.

And stopped.

"Oh, hey there, Rainbow Crash. How's it hangin'?" They asked. The nickname, the annoying voice, and the fact that he was egging me on... Who else could it be but...

"Leave us alone, Flash." I said

"Why? You busy with your marefriend there?" Heh, time to throw him for a loop.

"Yes." I still refused to look at him, but still put on a triumphant smile anyway. I heard him cough and sputter for a moment before he could think of something to say.

"Wh- wha-?"

"Did I stutter?" I asked, tilting my head up to get an upside-down view of him. "I don't think so. Now would you please give us some privacy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I nestled peacefully into Rainbow's shoulder as she relaxed. Flash was gone without another word after she asked him to leave. I couldn't help but admire how much confidence she had just handled that with. It's as if she doesn't even care what he thinks of us...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh Celestia, there will be no end to the ridicule tomorrow....

About an hour or so later, we got back to the dorms. I walked Fluttershy back to her room, and she kissed me on the cheek before she went into her room. I went back to mine and sat at my desk and got out the note from my 'secret admirer'. I looked it over, trying to think of how to reply, and got out some paper to write back on.

Just as I held the pencil to the paper, there was a knock at the door. I dropped the pencil and walked over to the door. I opened it to find a bronze colt with a brown mane standing at the door. He looked like he couldn't quite speak for a moment there.

"H-have you received a letter recently?" He asked. Oh, that's convenient.

"Yes, why?"

"Horse apples."

"What?" I asked, trying not to let an amused smile hit my face.

"I told my friend not to-er *ahem* never mind..." He looked away, his cheeks turning a slightly brighter hue. I fought hard to not let that smile through, luckily winning the fight.

"What's your name?" I asked in an attempt to relieve the tension with him.

"Trailblazer." He replied, looking at me again.

"Can I call you Blaze?" He nodded vigorously. "Listen, Blaze. I'm in a relationship right now, and I don't think we'd get that far together anyway. I don't want to shoot you down like this, but I don't think I can do anything else. I'd love to get to know you, as a friend, if you think we can do that..." Holy cow! Was that ME talking? I sounded all... feelingsy for a moment there. I guess Fluttershy's rubbing off on me. Or maybe it's a side effect of the puppy slobber yesterday...

"Oh... Uh...sure... I guess..." He looked disappointed, staring at the ground, obviously embarrassed beyond belief. Dang it... the speech didn't even work.

"Blaze, I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, i-it's okay... it's just...." Oh no... don't tell me I was- "This was just the first time I ever really... had a crush...." -his first... horse apples.

"Tell you what. If my ma-er... partner is okay with it, I'll let you take me to dinner sometime. It'll be just as friends, but it'll just be you and me. Okay?" Where do these things keep coming from? I have to have picked something up from Fluttershy or something...

He looked up at me with a injured, but content grin. "Sure."

Wait... I just told a colt that I'd let him take me out when I'm already dating...

Welp! Hope Fluttershy isn't upset!

Momentum

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"S-so... you want to... go on a date with him?"

"It's for him, not me. I told him it'd just be as friends." I felt my lip quiver for a second, and swiftly stopped it, trying not to let Rainbow notice. Her face fell a little bit. "Fluttershy? You can say no, you know."

"N-no, It's fine. You can go. I-I'm okay with it."

"I don't think I should... You don't look too happy about this."

"W-well... What exactly would you be doing?"

"I think it'll just be dinner." I guess I didn't look very sure about this because she kept going. "And it's just as friends. He knows that, I know that, and you know that.... He's really a sweet colt. He reminds me of you, which is why I'll be thinking about you the whole time." I felt myself blush as she said that. She nudged me gently with an elbow.

"I-it's fine. Go ahead." I said, a little more earnestly this time.

"Thanks, Flutters." She said before kissing me on the cheek again. I felt me cheeks heating up again.

"Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"C-can I uhm..." What am I doing? I shouldn't ask her this. "Can I ..."

"What is it, Shy?"

"I-I uhm... N-nevermind..."

"Come on. What is it?" Rainbow asked with a smile.

"I was just wondering i-if it would be okay if I-I...." I quieted down against my will. "K-kissed you... b-back..."

"Wh-what do you mean?" She asked, her smile fading slowly.

"L-like uhm... like this." I said, quickly leaning over and pecking her on the lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woah. I didn't see that coming. It made me feel all warm and... gooie on the inside as her lips brushed on mine. I felt my wings begin to straighten so I flapped them a few times to keep them from stiffening.

"I-I don't think I'll mind if you do that." I responded quietly.

I sat there a moment, simply staring at her as she hid behind her mane. I don't know how long it took, but after a moment I finally remembered that Blaze was waiting for an answer.

"R-right. I need to go. Blaze is waiting."

"O-okay."

I walked out the door, taking a few deep breaths in hopes of relieving the heat in my cheeks. It seemed to work, so I went downstairs to meet Blaze.

I found him standing just outside the building like I'd asked him to.

"What did he say?" Blaze asked hopefully.

"They said yes." I answered, avoiding gender words for now.

"Grea- erm- *ahem* Okay." He half cheered, half cowed away at the news.

"Okay... so time and place?"

"Uhm... next Friday?"

"Sure."

"Uhm... How about a movie?"

"I don't see why not. Okay, is that it?"

"Eh- yeah, I think so."

"Alright. See you Friday." I said with a polite smile.

"Yeah... Yeah!" He beamed from ear to ear as he lifted off and flew away in glee.

"*sigh* This isn't gonna end well."

The next day was nerve wracking. I finished first and second hours without much of a problem. But the real Tartarus was wondering when Flash would say something as I sat in Third hour.

He waltzed in like he owned the place, spotted me and his empty desk next to mine, and strode over like some kind of big shot. He sat down in his chair, glancing my way with a wink, to which I replied with a disgusted face. He sat there, looking around the room with a cocky attitude that really began to get on my nerves. After half the class he finally decided to say something.

"So how are things with Klutzershy?" He asked, grinning at me.

"Fine. Great, in fact."

"I wonder.... nah." He said in a mock-thoughtful voice. I didn't say anything, but simply quirked an eyebrow at him. He gave me a wicked smile. "I wonder what would happen if our peers found out about the two of you...." He said smugly.

"I don't much care." I said, glaring at him.

"We'll see about that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh no... Rainbow doesn't look too happy right now. I sat next to her at the lunch table, sitting a tiny bit closer than I normally would. "A-are you okay, Rainbow?"

"Scoot a little closer, please." What? Why? I obliged, scooting until our flanks were almost touching, then she gave me a kiss on the cheek and went back to eating.

"Wh-wha-"

"Flash is gonna start spreading rumors. Might as well beat him to it and confirm them now, right?" She asked, giving me her signature brash grin. I smiled politely back at her, although I was still a little confused.

A tray suddenly hit the table in front of us, causing us both to jerk our heads to look. "You lovebirds having fun?" Gilda asked.

"Heh, sure are, Gilda." Rainbow replied.

"Well don't let me stop you. Have fun. Go ahead. I won't be a bother."

"Shut up." Rainbow chuckled lightly as she bowed her head in embarrassment, while I pulled my mane in front of my face to hide my blush.

"Okay, fine, don't kiss. Whatever." Gilda joked at us.

"Oh, leave them alone, Gilda." I heard Quick Silver say. I looked up to see him sitting across from me. Gilda and I stared at him for a second before I noticed that Rainbow didn't even look up from her tray as he said something. She finally looked up after a moment of silence, obviously curious. "Was Thursday a one time deal?" Silver asked.

"I don't know, was it?" Rainbow asked, glancing between me and Gilda confusedly.

"N-no." I answered while Gilda just shrugged.

"Guess it wasn't." Rainbow shrugged at Silver and went back to eating. We dropped into an awkward silence as I nitpicked at my food, and Gilda didn't even eat. Silver ate his food slowly, but he at least ate more than I did.

"So, how did it go with that note, Rainbow?" Silver asked.

"I never got to write back. Get this, the writer showed up on my doorstep." Rainbow replied.

"What? No way!"

"Wait... what?" Gilda interjected.

"Didn't I tell you about this?" Rainbow asked.

"Uhmmm.....maybe? I was probably asleep. You know Sundays are my hibernation days." Gilda answered, rolling her eyes.

"Right... Yeah, I got a letter and the writer showed up. I guess his buddy wanted to mess with him, and he showed up....wait... Did you sleep all day?"

"Yeah."

"So you slept through my chat with him?"

"Most likely." Gilda shrugged, taking a bite of her food. Rainbow facehoofed for a second, eliciting a giggle from me, the continued with what she was saying.

"So, anyway, he seemed like a nice colt, so I told him I'd let him take me out to a movie this Friday." Silver quirked an eyebrow at me.

"And you're okay with this?"

"Y-yes." He eyed me for a moment, maybe thinking that I was lying. I'm pretty sure I wasn't, but he didn't seem as confident.

"Well, okay then." He said after a moment. Rainbow wrapped a wing around me and pulled me closer.

"I promise I won't let him touch me, okay Shy?" She said in an only half-joking tone.

"O-okay." I replied, feeling my cheeks heat at the thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stepped out of my seventh hour to use the filly's room, and when I got back I sat down and opened my notebook to the page I'd left it on. What I saw made my eye twitch and my nostrils flare.

It was a crudely drawn, crayon image of me and Fluttershy. Two, actually. The first was of us making out, and the second.... I don't wanna talk about the second. Across the top of the paper the word 'Fillyfooler' was scrawled in horrible hoofwriting. I felt my wings beginning to straighten in anger, so I flapped them a few times to keep the blood flowing and stop them from showcasing my feelings.

I heard some kids snickering, but when I looked up all but one had stopped smiling. Some kids looked upset, worried or even angry at the other kids. Of course, that was like a three to one against them type thing.

Apparently, the teacher, Mrs. Paria, had noticed the snickering, because she looked up and asked, "What's so funny?" suspiciously.

"N-nothing." The one who was smiling answered right away. Mrs. Paria eyed him for a second, tilting her head forward to look over her glasses at him. The kid was obviously bad at poker, 'cause he glanced right at me, then back to the teacher. She switched her gaze to me as I was closing my notebook quickly. Guess I don't have room to talk about being a bad poker player...

"Rainbow, may I see what's in your notebook?" She asked.

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Let me say what I meant the first time: Rainbow, show me your notebook."

The class was dead silent as I grabbed it with a wing and brought it over to her. I opened it to the... intimate pictures and let her see. Now she had a good poker face. She looked the page over for a moment, then looked up and took her glasses off. "Do you know who drew this?" She asked me quietly. I shook my head. "Please sit back down, Miss Rainbow."

"O-okay." I obliged, sitting back at my desk quietly. The teacher was quiet for a moment, then stood up and brought the notebook over to the chalk board, propping it up so the class could see. Then she walked over and closed the door. She took a deep breath then looked up, scanning the class with her eyes.

"This kind of thing..." She gestured to the notebook. I could feel my cheeks getting hotter the longer that thing was up there. "...is bull crap." My eyes widened as I decided that I knew who my favorite teacher was gonna be.

At the end of class two colts and a filly had been sent to the principals office with a note for punishment. I really didn't want any of this to happen, but then again, I didn't want to see that kind of thing scribbled in my own notebook. Mrs. Paria held me after to ask if I was okay and if the note had offended me. I kinda felt like it might be a good idea to enlighten her a tad since she gave me the feeling that she was the only pony in that room that didn't know about me and Fluttershy.

I have to admire the way she just rolled with the punches there. It's not every day one of your students tells you the note you thought was just an insulting joke was actually right, but she went with it. She gave me the whole 'things will be hard, but don't let those kids get to you and blah blah blah...' speech and then let me go.

I met up with the other three on the way out. I'm a little surprised at how quickly Silver adjusted to being friends with us. Okay, maybe just me. He seems to be on rocky terms with Gilda (still wondering why she visited his room), and Fluttershy just seems to trust him, but... not trust him at the same time... It's weird.

"Sup, dude." Gilda greeted.

"Hey, G." I said as I landed by Fluttershy. I wrapped a wing around her as we walked back towards the dorms. We were all pretty quiet for a while as we walked. A shadow passed over us suddenly and I looked up, quickly pulling my wing away from Shy as I turned to look at who was landing behind us.

"H-hey, Rainbow... C-can we talk?" It was Blaze, thank Celestia, not one of the random 'Flash-cronies'. I looked over at Fluttershy, who was standing next to me. She shrugged, so I gave Blaze a cautious smile.

"Sure..." I answered, following him away from the other three. When I glanced over my shoulder Fluttershy was patiently sitting on one of the benches around the school while Silver and Gilda were still making their way to the dorms. We got to a table and sat down. "What's up?" I asked.

"Well.... I've been hearing... things today... about you and Fluttershy." He glanced at her, then back to me. "And considering your wing being around her and her being the only one waiting on you..." He trailed off.

I glanced over at Fluttershy. With the way she was sitting there so patiently, and I was over here talking to a colt... I felt guilty and.... disloyal. I've always valued friendship above other things because it was something that I always had so little of, and what me and Fluttershy have now is so much more valuable... I really shouldn't be treating it like some kind of flimsy, rusty, old thing. I shouldn't be going to a movie with a colt, when I have Fluttershy sitting there like a faithful dog... I can't do this.

"*sigh* Yeah... I need to tell you something, Blaze...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They talked for a few more minutes, then finally came back over, Blaze looking a little more nervous.

"Fluttershy, would you like to go to the movie with us this Friday?" Rainbow asked me.

"U-uhm..." I blinked at her, a little surprised. "Y-yes?"

"Great! Okay, Blaze, you wanna hang with us or..?" She asked, turning to the bronze colt.

"N-no. I think I'll go hang out with my friends." He said, smiling at me kindly. This confused me a tiny bit, seeing as I have no idea why the colt who has a crush on Rainbow would like me.

"Oh, okay. See ya later, Blaze." Rainbow replied. He flew off and she turned back to me. "So, what now?" She asked with a smile. I smiled back, momentarily forgetting my confusion.

"I don't know; just fly some more?"

"Will this end up as another game of tag?" She asked, her smile turning into a sly grin.

"Maybe?"

We got back to the dorms late after a multi-hour long game of tag. We were still giggling and chuckling lightly when we got back to my room. As we stood at the door laughing together I turned to face Rainbow. I looked her in the eye, and when she looked back at me, I couldn't look away. She didn't seem to want to look away, either.

As we stood there, our eyes locked and no longer laughing, my heart began to race. My mind began to fuzz up and blur as it neared blanking on me. The only coherent thought that came to mind was if I leaned in, I wouldn't even have to take a step to kiss her.

My heart raced even harder.

She began to lean towards me and my mind switched to one thought: Lean in, too!

So I did.

Our lips met and fireworks went off in my head. They stayed together for a few seconds before I felt something push against my tightly shut lips. After a moment I realized it was Rainbow's tongue trying to play with mine. I pulled back with a gasp, trying both to get some air and a second or two to think.

"I-it's too soon, isn't it?" I said, hoping she knew what I meant.

"I-is it?" She asked, and I swear she almost looked shy. I mean, she looked like she was worried I was mad at her. I felt like I was looking in a mirror for a second, but I didn't think about it much, because another thought overlapped it.

Is it? I thought for a brief second and came to a near instant decision: No.

I practically dove at her, our lips meeting again and eliciting a tingling warmth all through my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She surprised me for a second, but I quickly returned the favor. This time, though, it was her that initiated the tongue, and who am I to deny her that?

We stayed that way, playing with each others tongues for a few seconds, and the passion began to grow until Fluttershy pulled away, both of us gasping for air.

"W-we should s-stop b-before we go too far." She said, her pupils tiny.

"Wha- oh! Y-yeah..." I took a step back. "R-right."

We stood there awkwardly, neither of us wanting to initiate something that dangerous, but not knowing what else to do. Or I at least I didn't...

"S-so uhm... I-I'll see you later?" She asked after a moment.

"Y-yeah." I answered, giving what felt like the weakest smile I've ever given.

"O-okay, so I'll just... go write or something."

"Right. And I'll go- uhm... hang with G, I guess."

"Okay..."

"Yeah..."

Another awkward pause.

Suddenly, she gave me a peck on the cheek, then opened her door and stepped inside quickly, closing it quickly but gently behind her.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and the heat in my cheeks that I hadn't noticed began to fade ever so slowly.

"Wow..." I murmured to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow..." I whispered in the mirror.

Velocity

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"What's up with that smirk?" Gilda asked me as I walked back into our room. I barely glanced at her as I made my way to my bed. I wriggled into the blankets, trying to get comfortable. "Dude, it's like eight. Why are you going to bed?"

"Something awesome just happened. I want the day to end that way." I replied, before closing my eyes and waiting patiently for sleep to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked away from the mirror after a few moments, finally realizing that I'd been staring at it for several minutes. I looked around the room, trying to decide how to carry on with my day after that. I glanced at my bed... No, I don't think I'll be able to sleep after that....

I looked around again, until my eyes fell on an envelope with a butterfly symbol on it laying on my desk. My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

My letter to mom! In all the excitement I forgot to send it! I haven't even sealed it yet.

I quickly grabbed an extra piece of paper and wrote down an apology for not sending it sooner, and was about to start adding some notes on what had happened since I'd written it, when a thought struck me.

Should I tell them about me and Rainbow?

They seem to like Rainbow already...

Whozat?!

J-just your conscience... I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to scare you.

I-it's okay... D-do you think I should tell Mom and Dad about me and Rainbow?

In person would probably be better...

I guess....

That was weird.... Oh, well. I looked up at the letter, then back at the note. I quickly erased the few details I had written, then tucked it into the envelope, sealed it, and walked out of my room to the post-box downstairs. I'll just go to bed after that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morning came quickly. I got out of bed, glancing at the door, trying to decide whether or not to invite Shy for breakfast somewhere...

"Mmmm. 'Sup dude." I looked over at Gilda, who was rolling out of bed groggily.

"Morning, G." I said as I sat in front of the mirror and dragged a brush through my mane a whole three times. "Got plans this morning?"

"One or two... but you need not worry about them." I quirked an eyebrow at the mirror at this. She didn't bother explaining, but simply walked over to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. A few seconds later I heard her squeal in shock, accompanied by the sound of water spraying.

I turned to watch the bathroom door open, admitting a soaking wet Gilda walking out. "I should've set rules with Silver." She muttered. The water sprayed out of the sink behind her, slowly beginning to lose pressure as we sat there silently.

"What do you mean 'with Silver'?" I asked as the sound of spraying water finally died.

"Pranks... I got him a few days ago."

"Hadn't figured him for that type... Just make sure he knows to keep me out of the crossfire. I won't be able to use that sink either now." I pointed out.

"Pfft. Whatever." She stepped back into the bathroom and came back out with a towel. She started drying herself off as I walked towards the door. "What're you doin'?"

"Getting out of the field of fire, and bringing Fluttershy along."

"You do that...."

I ran into Fluttershy in the hall and we went out to StarBuck's for breakfast. She had some benyas... whatever that is... and I got some doughnuts. We sat down and ate our food in the corner of the cafe together. The table was really small. Like, small enough that I could lean across and kiss her-

I'm in public; I shouldn't think like that. I don't think that's what these ponies wanted to see this morning...

I looked around at the other ponies in here. I was beginning to get tired of sitting in a restaurant and finding myself surrounded by other kids from school. This time, though, they weren't watching us. I guess the joke lost it's humor when it turned out to be true. Some of them probably felt bad about it, judging by their faces.

Serves 'em right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I ate my benyas quietly, with my back turned to most of the room, while Rainbow looked around the room in an almost protective-looking way. Actually, it looked really protective. I tried and failed to resist the urge to follow her gaze and see what, or who, she was watching.

I turned in my seat to look at some foals who were sitting behind me. The few that were looking our way looked away, seemingly ashamed, when they saw me looking. I looked back at Rainbow now, confused.

"What's wrong this time?" I asked quietly.

She shrugged. "Guess they feel bad about that crap they gave us."

"Wh-what crap?" I asked. Her eyes widened and her face paled a bit.

"Uhm... never mind... don't worry about it."

I eyed her carefully. She was holding something back, but I guess if she wouldn't tell me, then I shouldn't pry- How many time have I thought that in the last few days? I think it's time I did.

"Rainbow. Please tell me." I asked pleadingly. I did my best to give her the puppy dog eyes that the dogs in Ponyville gave me all the time. She looked at me and I could actually see her resolve crumble.

"*sigh* Alright, fine." She took a deep breath. "Okay, during last hour yesterday, some of the kids drew some..." She wrinkled her nose. "... nasty images... of us..." I frowned at her as she stared at the plate in front of her.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"They drew us uhm- having... sex, Flutters." She looked up from the plate for a second.

"O-oh..." I mumbled. I guess that should've been obvious, huh?

"Yeah. But then the teacher noticed something, so I had to show her the pictures and she gave some of the kids detentions as well as giving the whole class a speech about it being 'bullcrap'." She shrugged at me when I raised an eyebrow at that last detail. "Her words exactly, too. She was pretty steamed. In any case, yeah that's what happened. So... I guess a lot of kids have heard about it by now."

I stayed quiet. Did ponies really think we'd... you know? I-I just can't believe they think we'd be...that way....

Memories of last night flashed into my head, and I pulled my mane in front of my face as I suddenly blushed.

"Shy? You okay?" I looked up at her.

"U-uhm... I was just thinking... a-about last night..." Her cheeks flared purple at that and she looked down again.

"Oh... yeah..." She said, smiling awkwardly. I watched her for a moment, because that look on her face was so cute....

Oh to hay with it. I leaned across the table and kissed her on the forehead. She looked up at me quickly, looking a little shocked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"W-we're in public!" I hissed, trying to ignore the heat in my cheeks. She tried to smile, but she cowed away, her cheeks flaring and her gentle smile being replaced with an ashamed frown.

"I-I'm sorry I d-didn't mean... I uhm-"

"No, no... I-it's fine." I glanced over at the kids behind her. Some of them weren't watching, but a few were. One of them even looked... happy? That's a little weird... "I don't think anypony saw..." I added, looking back at her. She looked back up at me slowly, smiling gently again. "And uhm... Thanks." Are you supposed to thank a pony for a kiss? Whatever.

"Oh, no problem." She giggled.

We got to school early. We were barely in the door before kids started glancing and staring at us. Yeah... they'd heard...

Me and Shy walked around the building together for a bit, trying to find somewhere safe from prying eyes where we could sit. We didn't find one before the bell rang and it was time to head to our first hour classes. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and headed to algebra.

I got there, sat down quietly, and waited for class to start. The bell rang again, and the teacher walked into the classroom. She walked over to her desk and started getting stuff ready for class, but before she could say anything the P.A. system turned on.

"Attention students. This is your principal-" I sorta zoned at at first, but he caught my attention when he brought up yesterday's "incident". He gave very vague details about it all, but he did say that "if any other students made fun of others for their sexual orientation, they'll be punished."

I feel just great having attention brought to all this this way. It's just wonderful that the whole school, teachers included, knows about this. Wonderful. Juuuuust wonderful...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think I was being obvious about my embarrassment, considering that my cheeks felt like they were on fire and I was the only pony in class hiding behind her mane, but I was too embarrassed to care anymore. I just hid behind my thick mane and quietly stared at my desk during the announcement.

Once the principal was finished there was a click, and I could feel my peers' eyes on me. I didn't look up, though, because if I didn't see them staring, then I could just pretend it was my imagination and nopony was actually staring at me.

*sniff* Oh no... If that started then I'd be doomed. But I couldn't help it. Thinking about how much these kids were willing to do, just because I was a fillyfooler. I just... *sniff*

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and instinctualy looked over at the mare in the desk next to me. She smiled kindly at me.

"It's okay." She whispered softly. I stared at her a moment until I found my voice.

"Th-thank you." I said frailly.

"Miss Shy?" I looked over at the teacher as he gave me a concerned look. "Do you need to step out for a moment?"

"Y-yes, please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day was just a blur after first hour. I honestly don't remember much of it at all. I tried my best to ignore everything around me after that announcement, after all.

G, Shy, Silver, and I spent the rest of the day hanging out, doing stunts and stuff, although it felt more like Silver and Gilda were competing with each other. After a while, in fact, I just floated down and sat next to Fluttershy. She had a notebook out, like Friday, only this time she didn't close it when I landed next to her.

I glanced at, looked at Fluttershy, then what I saw in the notebook suddenly registered, and I looked back at it. It was a picture of me. Pretty well drawn, too, but what caught my eye was the fact that, in the picture, I was in a Wonderbolt uniform. Shy followed my eyes to the picture and suddenly closed it, her cheeks a dark hue of orange-ish red.

"I-I uhm..." She stuttered.

"You think I'll make it?" I asked quietly.

She stared at me blankly for a second, then gave a tiny nod of her head. "Y-yes? Er- Yes. I do." I smiled brightly at her, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks..." I said, wrapping a wing around her and pulling her closer. We sat there, quietly watching the other two compete for a while. They did corkscrews and flips and turns and stuff, I think trying to knock the other out of the air. After a while, Fluttershy laid her head on my shoulder. I glanced at her and she smiled warmly at me, her eyelids slowly sliding down. I can imagine she'd be tired. Today must've sucked just as much for her as it did for me after that announcement.

She drifted off to sleep on my shoulder and I went back to watching the other two doing their stunts. Eventually I got tired, so I laid down, slowly so as to not wake Shy, and let myself drift off to sleep.

"Dude. C'mon, wake up."

Mmmm... I opened my eyes slowly at the sound of Gilda's voice and her nudging me gently. I glanced down at Fluttershy, who was still asleep, then back to Gilda.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"It's getting dark out, we should get back to the dorms." She looked at Fluttershy. "And I figured you should wake her up."

I looked at Fluttershy again. She was sleeping so peacefully... I decided to do Gilda one up, and started repositioning myself carefully so I could pick Shy up. Once I was floating in the air with her safely in my arms we started making our way back to the dorms.

She only stirred once on the way, which was simply her nuzzling against my neck and sighing contentedly with a gentle grin on her face.

My heart just melted.

We got back to the dorms, and I took Fluttershy over to her room. Gilda at least had the courtesy of opening her door for me. I floated in her room, Gilda closing the door behind me, and placed her on her bed. I landed, stretching my wings, which weren't used to lifting an entire extra pony like that, but thankfully Shy was pretty light. I stood there for a moment, watching her sleep, with a tiny idea forming in my head.

I weighed the possible outcomes, and made a decision.

I quietly slid into the bed next to her and wrapped her in a gentle embrace as I fell asleep next to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mmmm..... I woke up pleasantly to the sound of soft breathing behind me, with something warm pressed against my back. I smiled without opening my eyes at the sensation of an arm draped over me...

Wait....

My eyes flew open and I looked down at the cyan blue arm wrapped around me, then I looked at the shape of a cyan blue pony laying in bed with me.

My cheeks heated up so much I was afraid she'd feel it. I realized pretty quickly that it was Rainbow, but that didn't help me relax much, and neither did the feeling of my wings stiffening. I tried my best to keep them clamped shut, but the excitement of the moment didn't do me any good.

I took a few deep breaths, barley managing to relax my wings enough to not accidentally shove Rainbow out of my bed. I brought my hoof up and lifted her arm enough so I could turn to face her.

She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Nothing like the brash, stand-offish, tomcolt I was dating. Watching her sleep, I couldn't hold back the contented sigh that escaped my mouth and tousled her man. I held my breath, hoping in vane that I hadn't woken her, as her nose twitched and she frowned for a second. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked me right in the eyes.

She smiled at me and leaned over to give me a peck on the lips. At this point, I'm not sure I even have a reason to be embarrassed, considering we just shared a bed, but that didn't stop me blushing. We stayed there, laying on my bed, staring into each others eyes.

I don't know how long this went on before there was a knock on the door. I froze up and held my breath, and her eyes widened. There was another knock, followed by Gilda's voice.

"Hey, Shy, is Dash in there? She never came back to the room last night."

Rainbow and I were still staring at each other, but now Rainbow finally started moving. She sat up and shrugged at me, gesturing towards the door and mouthing the words "open it" at me. So I got out of the bed and walked over to the door, opening it just a crack at first.

"Hey, Shy... You seen Dash?" My voice caught in my throat and I stayed quiet for a second. She gave me an odd look, then pushed the door open a little wider.

"Eh heh... Heya, G..." Rainbow said sheepishly. I looked at the ground with a blush, and aloud my mane to fall in my face. I started kicking at the floor while Gilda stared for a second.

"Why does Rainbow look like she just got out of bed?" She asked.

" 'Cause I did." Rainbow answered. Gilda gawked for another second, then finally found her voice again.

"You two didn't ha-"

"No!" We both answered in unison.

After that, the rest of my week seemed to just be a blur unless Rainbow was there. That was probably because I was distracted thinking about the movie this Friday. I haven't been to the theaters in almost five years.

All I remember from this week was a few more games of tag with Rainbow, having breakfast with either just her or her and Gilda every morning, and going for a flight on yesterday. Aside from that, I barely paid any attention to anything. I feel bad about not listening very closely to my teachers, but then again, I'd rather get bad grades than end up noticing all the gossip and stares.

The stares... It used to feel like most the ponies I knew didn't notice me very much, and if they did, they'd be afraid to meet me because of how timid I am. And now? Now it feels like they all notice me, but don't want to say anything because they have nothing nice to say and they don't want to see me cry. It's like I used to not be able to talk to them, but now they would hate to talk to me.

This is so much worse...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My week sucked. It was slow, boring, and everypony stared at me and Fluttershy. I tried my best to ignore them, but when I heard that G and Silver got in a fight with Flash and two of his buddies because he was talking about me and Shy... well that made things difficult...

The only good parts were having breakfast out with Shy every morning, going for that flight yesterday, and the games of tag I've come to love. Besides that stuff, my week has been horrible.

I used to just want the kids around me to leave me alone, but now? Now they just stare, and try their best NOT to. They won't speak to me, they won't look at me when I look back, and they definitely are thinking things about me. I thought it was horrible when they wouldn't leave me alone, but now I wish they wouldn't be shunning me like this. Me and Shy, that is...

At least we're going to the movie tonight. Just need to make it through one more day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just can't wait for the movie, but I don't know if I can take one more day...

Impact

View Online

When the day feels like it should be awesome, but it ends up like every other day, how do you describe it? It was dull, but noticeable? No. Exciting even though I was bored? Nah... How about this:

My day sucked, but it was worth it.

That sounds about right...

My day was just a big pile of crap from my peers, just like the rest of the week, the only difference being that I had something to look forward to today: the movie, and the look on Shy's face when she finds out about the surprise me and Blaze have planned.

I gritted my teeth through first hour just to see her face really. That's what got me through gym was her soft face smiling at me. We were playing one of those games P.E. teachers make up to pass the time before and between real units, and it was an impact sport. As you would figure, the jerks, bullies, goons, and other kids Flash called his friends picked on me all hour, but I didn't care much, 'cause whenever the coach would yank them off me, I'd look up and she'd be smiling at me.

Totally worth it.

The next three hours weren't too bad... You know, if you got past the sex jokes, the mockery, and the all-around douche baggery (polite term) of my peers. On the bright side, my teachers did their best to keep them from going too far, like they had with that picture...

After that it was just a matter of making the most of lunch and study hall. Not really that easy, considering that it was just me and Fluttershy. Silver and G were in In-School Suspension for that fight. On the bright side; so was Flash. I grinned at the thought as me and Fluttershy snuggled in the corner of the cafeteria with our backs turned to the world.

Lastly was my lit class. The teacher was right when she said we might enjoy some of the things she had planned for the week. I really liked it when she called out those jerks today when they tried to make a wingboner joke about lunch. Yeah, I was aware my wings were stiff when we were cuddling, but I don't care. I got a kick outta it when Mrs. Paria caught the kid, and went on to literally drag him, by the ear, out of the classroom and sent him to the principal's office.

Dear Celestia, that was funny... To me, at least. When I looked around, all the other kids were shamefully, and quietly, working. My grin faded instantly and I went back to work.

After that, it was movie time. And surprise time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow steered us toward the theater, seeing as I had no clue where it was. I followed her, wondering where Blaze was. He would probably meet us there, I guess.

We flew around town for a while, until we got deeper in and we landed to walk. The theater was in sight and Rainbow picked up her pace slightly, which I matched without really caring. I don't know why she would want to rush, but I was fine getting to the theater just a moment sooner.

Once we were in, Rainbow asked for two tickets to the a romantic comedy that'd just come out. Something with a unicorn and her earth pony stallion... I looked around, wondering why she was only ordering two tickets, as well as where Trailblazer was.

"He's not gonna be here." Rainbow said while I was looking around. When I quirked an eyebrow at her, she decided to elaborate. "Blaze decided not to show up, so it would just be you and me. He said there was this one mare that his buddy wanted to introduce him to, and he could just meet her tonight instead."

"So... It's just you and me?" I asked slowly.

"No better way to do it." Rainbow said, grinning brightly at me. I couldn't hold back my smile as I wrapped her in a hug.

"Yay!" I cheered quietly.

The movie was kind of funny, and REALLY cheesy. I guess that was the humor of it, though. I don't really remember much of the story, though, because I was a tiny bit distracted most the movie by Rainbow. She uhm... she wasn't as interested in the movie as she was in me...

*ahem* We left the theater and started walking through the streets to get back to the dorms before it got too late. We decided to take the long way and walked through town. She led me through ally ways and back streets as if she had a map in her head.

We joked and played along the way, cheeks warm and red, as we walked along. I was sure we were lost, but that would be solved in an instant by lifting off, so I wasn't worried. We kept walking along until Rainbow suddenly stopped. I looked at her, her face suddenly stony and cold, then followed her gaze to a set of three colts standing down the ally from us. Only one of them was facing us, but he smirked and tapped the familiar orange one in the middle on the shoulder.

"Hey, Flash. Look 'oo it ish." He slurred. The middle one turned to look, and smirked at us.

" 'ey! It'sh Rainbow Crash, and..." He looked at me and I could see the gears in his head moving far too slowly to remember the pet insult he used instead of my name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh Celestia, I can smell the liquor on their breath from here. This is gonna get ugly fast.

"And... uh- and y-you... thing!" He said finally, putting on a face like he had successfully insulted her. What was sad was that his two buddies started snickering like it was a good insult.

Bucking booze...

"Look, Flash, you're obviously drunk. So please just leave us alone." I requested peaceably. As I said this, the one on the left took a swig of his, then passed the bottle to Flash and he took a swig too. He put the bottle down and looked at Shy in a way that made me want to punch him in the face. The kind of look that could only lead to one thing.

"I got a betteh idea. 'ow about you an' me an' de boys have some 'fun'." He said with a smirk. Celestia, I couldn't tell you how much I hated him right now. I could hear Fluttershy's sharp intake of breath at his proposition, so I stepped in front of her defensively.

"Buck off, Flash." I growled. He and his buddies laughed raucously at me. I stepped forward warningly and Flash took a flimsy step so our faces were inches apart. His breath was ragged and heavy, and the smell made me sick. "Buck. Off. Now." I repeated lowly.

He smirked cockily. "And what if Ah don'?"

"Want to find out?" I muttered.

"Ooo. Ish the wittwe dyke making a thweat?" He mocked. I resisted the urge to hit him right there, but I managed it and stayed quiet for a moment, simply glaring at him. Unlike on the first day, though, he was drunk and stupider than usual. He didn't really think his next move through.

"Aww. Now the dyke can' fink of anythin' witty?" His smirk grew to an immensely punchable state, so I went for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow's hoof made contact with his face and then all Tartarus broke loose. He jerked back, and then his buddies lunged at her, then she whirled around and bucked one in the chest. The other colt slammed into her, and she spun about and slammed him into a wall. He slid to the ground and tried to grab at her hooves. He got a hold of them and held on for a second before the other one managed to grab her arms and control her thrashing.

I had a brief second to wonder where Flash was before my question was answered. I felt a heavy arm wrap around me, then felt warm breath on my cheek. Warm, moist, and disgusting breath...

" 'ey there sweetie." Flash slurred in my ear. I grimaced in disgust and fear as he started 'feeling me' and he made his intents clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I struggled and thrashed against the two goons, but it was pointless. The one that had my legs pinned was beginning to put his weight on them, which was straining my bones against their sockets. That hurt a lot, trust me. Then the other guy started punching me where ever he could: the face, chest, sides, thighs and calves...

I could feel a warm wetness making its way down my face, and the pain on my body told me there would be some bruising. I gritted my teeth through the pain for a second before managing to have one coherent thought: Where's Flash?

I looked over at Fluttershy, and saw the guy trying to fondle her. Drunken buckhead was trying to touch Shy. That does it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tears were beginning to streak down my face as I realized there was nothing I could do about his advances, but I heard some more struggling from Dash, and watched as she suddenly broke a hoof free and bucked one guy in the face. She then flared a wing into the other guys face, then when he let go, she gave him a back-hoof in the face. Both guys didn't really move after that, probably out cold.

Everything after that happened within the next five or six seconds: Rainbow tackled Flash, then punched him in the face again. She slammed him into a wall and then let him slide down to the floor, also unconscious, then she quickly lifted me off the ground and flew away as fast as she could.

I felt her falter and started flapping my own wings. She let me fly myself, so I grabbed her hoof and led her over to a nearby cloud. We landed gently and Rainbow immediately collapsed. There was blood running down her face, and bruises and sores beginning to form on her sides, face, and legs.

The tears began to return to my eyes when I saw her heaving for breath and wincing with every one taken. I laid down next to her, wrapping a wing around her gingerly, so as to not hurt her more. She closed her eyes a drew a few more ragged breaths. Leaning against me, she winced again at a slight movement of one of her legs.

"Rainbow... W-we need to get you to a hospital." For a moment she looked like she was about to argue, but as she went to rise on her shoulder she winced again and squeaked out a suppressed groan of pain.

"O-okay..." She said through gritted teeth. I helped her up, trying not to pay close attention to her wincing and groaning from the pain. It looks like she had been ignoring the pain earlier, because she could barely fly straight without my help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ohhhhh....

Ouch. My back leg has got to be broken or sprained or something. My wing hurts where it bent against that guys face, and I think my head is still bleeding. I'm beginning to get dizzy, and I think I'm bleeding from a few places on my back and sides. I looked over at Fluttershy and she had some blood on her, but I'm pretty sure it's not hers. Aside from that, I can feel some bruises forming all over...

Ouch. Again...

Flutters, thank Celestia, seemed to be keeping her cool, and led me towards the nearest hospital she could see. Within a few minutes we were barging into the emergency room. I landed and my leg gave out, causing me to tumble to the ground. Not long later my vision got annoyingly blurry and everything started fading. Personally, I would've never chosen the cold, hard tile floor of the emergency room for a nap, but I didn't really get to choose right now.

I lurched forward and the floor came up to meet me, but I never hit it; somepony's gentle hooves caught me, and I looked up into worried, but warm cyan eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her eyes slid shut with a shuttering breath, and the nurses put her on a gurney and wheeled her away. I tried to follow, but a nurse put a hoof on my shoulder and gently held me back. She guided me over to a set of chairs and had me sit down. So I sat.

And sat....

And. Sat.

I nodded off after a few minutes of waiting, but I woke up suddenly when a doctor came to get me.

"You brought in Miss Rainbow?" He asked. I nodded slowly. "Right. I have a few questions. Firstly, she is okay, but she hasn't come to yet, just so you know..." I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding, then nodded my understanding. "... I could smell alcohol while I was working on her. Was she dri-"

"No! N-never. We would never drink... W-we were attacked by some of our peers from school. Th-they were drunk, a-and tried to make... 'advances'..." I stuttered out. He gave me a sympathetic look, then turned towards, gesturing for me to follow.

"Yes, I was about to ask how she was injured. Lastly, do you have any means by which we can contact her parents?" I nodded as we stopped next to a door, and wrote down a phone number on his clipboard, then glanced at the door. "This is her room." He confirmed my suspicions.

"Uhm... Can I see her?" I asked.

"Oh, of course." He opened the door then stepped aside. I walked in and found Rainbow laying on a bed, asleep, with one of her hind legs in a cast. Aside from that, she had a few bandage around her head and wing, along with a few more on her side and flank.

"She's suffered from some bruising and a few cuts. The major concerns were her sprained ankle and a crack along her wing bone. Whatever she did in that fight, it was damaging to her, probably more so than whoever she was fighting. But don't worry, she'll be fine within a few days. Just remember that she can't walk on her ankle, and the wing will be fine by the time we let her go." The doctor said from the doorway.

"Th-thank you." I said over my shoulder. He smiled politely and closed the door gently. I walked over to the bed and sat in a chair next to it, gently holding her hoof and watching her breath quietly and rhythmically.

After a few minutes, her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she looked over at me with a tired smirk. "Hey, Shy. What'd I miss?" She muttered. She attempted to get up, but I held her down gently. She quirked an eyebrow at me, and rested back against her pillow. She looked down at her leg, resting in its cast, and the glanced at her outstretched wing in its bandage, then back at me. "I'm gonna be fine, right?" She asked as her smile faded.

"Just fine." I said, smiling brightly. Her smile came right back, and I couldn't help myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She leaned in towards me and pressed her lips against mine. I returned the kiss kindly, waiting just a moment before I felt her tongue press against my lips. I opened them eagerly and our tongues entered into some kind of wrestling match. We stayed in that passionate kiss for a while, and I felt her hoof stroking my neck while I brought an arm up and hooked it around her neck.

This was... definitely the most Amazingly. Awesomely. Fantastically. Spectacular moment of my life. I could feel ripples of tingling warmth going all over my body. I didn't want this to end. Not ever.

But it did.

I heard the door swing open, causing me and Shy to jerk away in surprise. We both looked at the door, finding a very confused-looking, light orange mare and an equally confused dark blue stallion staring at us.

"M-mom? Dad... U-uhm..."

"What did we just walk in on?" Dad asked. I could feel the heat in my cheeks threatening to mess up the thermostat, and when Fluttershy glanced at me, I could see her cheeks were just as hot.

"I-I uhm..." I never even thought about this. I know my parents like Shy and all, but they'd never approve of me and Fluttershy. It never really crossed my mind that I'd have to tell them some day. "U-uh... You know Shy..."

"Yes. We do." Mom said sternly. "Just not like this." My eyes fell from her face and I looked at the window on the opposite side of the room. Outside, I could see some foals playing around in the clouds above their houses.

"Fluttershy, dear, would you mind?" Dad asked politely. I looked over again, confused. Why would they want her to leave? Fluttershy glanced at me, and I replied with a shrug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"U-Uh... Okay..." I answered slowly, getting up and heading towards the door. I walked past Mrs. Sunset and Mr. Wind Seeker. They didn't really look at me as I walked by; they just stared at Rainbow.

I closed the door gently and listened closely from the hall. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I could hear the contempt in their voices. I could hear Rainbow's voice rise indignantly, and I heard the words "she's special" from her. My cheeks heated for a second, but then I heard her mother say something quickly.

This lasted a minute or two, then the door opened slowly and Sunset walked out, immediately followed by Wind Seeker. He barely glanced at me before the two of them walked down the hall. I walked back into the room, and found a very upset Rainbow lying in the bed.

"Wh-what happe-"

"They aren't happy. They don't want to hear anything about us living together, going out, being together, getting married, or anything. In other words, until I'm straight again, they're cutting off contact with me." She said bitterly.

"Oh..." I sat next to the bed, wrapping an arm around her neck in what I hoped was a comforting hug. She rested her head against me, and I heard a soft sniffle escape her.

"Th-they don't want us to be together. At all! I mean... I didn't think th- *sniff* they'd be mad about it, just shocked..." She said, failing to force back tears.

"Shhh... It's okay..." I cooed gently. "We still have each other."

"Y-yeah..." She agreed, looking up at me. She gave me a quick, but passionate kiss. "Yeah, and that wont change."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hospital held onto me until almost eleven at night, 'cause the doctor was saying I couldn't fly yet. When he finally let me go, he said that I should be careful and fly slow for a while, or I might make that crack in my wing bone bigger.

We went straight back to the dorms, and directly to Shy's room. We even skipped the stairs and went in through the window 'cause I didn't want to take the stairs with my ankle. Once we were there, I hovered over to her bed.

" 'kay, so doc says I'd have to fly slow for a while to avoid hurting my wing, and tricks are off limits till the cast is off 'cause whiplash and stuff..." I said as I laid down. For a second she didn't say anything, but before I could wonder why, I felt her crawl into bed beside me.

"It's okay." She said. "I can slow down for you." She smiled brightly at me, and I returned the smile. My eyes started to drift downwards, so I kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks..." And with that, I drifted off.

Recovery

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Fluttershy stepped out of the hospital room obediently of my parents. I waited for the door to close, then braced myself for the torrent of anger and disappointment that would surely come from mom and dad. The door closed gently and dad was the first to speak.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked.

"A-about a week..." I answered.

"Only a week? And she's sticking her tongue down your throat?" He asked. My cheeks heated, but I still glared at him.

"She wasn-"

"And I suppose you think she's 'the one', right?" Dad said in a mocking voice.

"I er- ye-" Again, they interrupted me.

"Of course she does. But it wont last, dear. She'll be back to normal after the break-up." Mom spoke up. 'Break-up'?! I don't even want to think about that.

"Mom, I don't think we'll brea-"

"Of course you will. Eventually, you'll realize what you're doing, then go right back to colts." I gawked at her. It was like they thought this was some kind of mistake they thought I was too stupid to catch on to. "Sadly, this will probably ruin that wonderful friendship the two of you had." She said 'had' as though it was gone, burnt, and buried. Like we'd never see it again.

It hit me like a train, the way they just thought this was a moment of childish stupidity. Like they thought there was nothing special between me and Fluttershy. They even went so far as to just say it now.

"Trust me, honey, I almost decided to go for a mare when I was your age, but I made the right choice and didn't. There is nothing special about... this." I'd had it. I wasn't just gonna listen to this crap.

"But she IS special." I said, loud and indignant, officially pissed off with my own parents. I tried to sit up, but the pain in my ankle stopped me. I clenched my jaw against the pain, and mom got all condescending on me.

"Don't hurt yourself over something so pointless." I glared at her, hating the fact that they just kept belittling my feelings. "Please, Rainbow, would you please try to see this the way we do?" So I thought about it.

"Alright." I said through gritted teeth. "Here's what I see: From your perspective, I'm a parent insulting my kid's feelings and trying to blow it off as having her best interest at heart. What I get from this is that you want your perfect child and don't care what your child wants to be."

Mom and dad looked shocked. They were quiet for a moment, and I thought I'd gotten through to them. But I should've known better.

"I don't want to hear any more of this." Dad said. "I don't want to hear anything about living together or marria-" I stopped trying to hear him at that point, but I still heard him numbly. I paid no attention as they listed off all they things they wanted none of, but I still caught the gist, and it wasn't a happy one.

"... and until you finally let a gentlecolt take care of you the way a mare never will, I will not hear anything from you." There was a moment of hesitation, as if they expected their threats to change my mind.

"Screw you, too." I spat. With that, they turned and left.

I hate it when I dream about bad memories. I lifted my head up to look at Shy, who was still asleep. I got up around her, trying not to disturb her, and gritting my teeth to not scream in pain from my ankle. I hovered in the air next to her bed for a moment, trying to decide if I should let her sleep, or take her to breakfast somewhere.

I tried to make up my mind while walking in circles in the room, trying to learn how to limp least painfully with this cast on.

I decided to let her sleep when I noticed a piece of paper on her desk. I don't know what about it caught my eye, but I couldn't resist the urge to take a peak at it. It looked like some kind of half-finished poem.

The Crack

There is a crack in the wa-

I heard Fluttershy stir and stepped away from her desk, not wanting to be caught reading her personal stuff. She looked at me a little groggily, smiling gently after a second.

"Good morning." She said. I smiled back and limped over to the bed to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Mornin'." I replied. "Hey, it's Saturday, so we've got all day. You wanna head to Ponyville or something?" Her eyes practically sparkled at the idea.

"Oh yes! When can we go?" She asked excitedly.

"Right now would be great." I answered with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour later we were arriving at Ponyville, flying in and landing near the orchard. I lead the way to the farmhouse, hoping to show Applejack something that I had in my saddlebag. Rainbow hadn't seen me pack it, and I wasn't sure what she'd think of it. It really wasn't her kind of thing, but then again, I hadn't expected Applejack to care for it either, but she did.

We ran into her brother, Big Macintosh, on the way there. He directed us to the barn, where he said Applejack was working, so we headed over there. We found her stacking hay bales in a large pile against a wall. When she heard the barn door swing shut, she turned to look at us curiously. When she recognized us in the dim light of the barn, her face broke into a warm grin.

"Well, howdy! Ya came back!" Rainbow put on a grin, which faltered while she limped forward. Applejack's broad smile faded as Rainbow leaned against me for support. "What happened to ya, RD?" She asked.

"Eh... nothing. I just- ow!" She tried to stand up again. She hadn't been adjusting well to not using her hind legs. Most ponies don't, from what the doctor told me, but luckily it was just sprained, so it'd get better soon. That didn't stop the concerned look on my face from breaking out.

"We got... attacked yesterday." I answered Applejack while helping Rainbow over to a comfortable place to sit.

" 'Scuse me? Sweet little Fluttershy and 'er best friend were attacked? Whatfer?" Applejack asked, helping me let Rainbow into her seat gently. Once she was sitting, she took a heavy breath, and let her eyes droop shut.

"I just... need a...nap..." She said softly as she fell asleep. I resisted the urge to kiss her cheek because Applejack had no idea about us. I must've looked so worried right now, because Applejack was giving me an odd look. Like she knew how worried I was.

"Y'alright, sweetie?" She asked.

"Y-yes. It's just... We... we were attacked by some kids from our school last night..."

"Why?" Her voice was full of concern. I don't know why I wont tell her. I'm not even sure why we didn't tell her last week. She's a great friend, and I'm sure we'll be friends for a long time, but I wasn't sure why I didn't want her to kno-

Sudden memories of the judgmental stares and the abusive words of my peers, all as results of learning about me and Rainbow being together. That's why I didn't want to tell her; I didn't want her, one of my only friends, to ridicule me too.

I looked at her again. She was an honest pony. She's never lied to me before, and I doubt if she ever will.

"C-can you keep a secret?" I asked quietly.

"If it's important to ya, then ta the grave." She said earnestly. I looked her in her emerald eyes. They showed complete concern and curiosity. I sighed heavily, readying myself for her reaction.

"M-me and Rainbow are u-uhm... t-togeth-" My voice quieted against my will and faltered before I could finish.

"What was that? Ah didn't quite catch that." She leaned in closer. My cheeks heated as I tried again.

"W-we're d-dating...." I mumbled quickly. She looked at me blankly for a moment, probably trying to put together the quiet pieces of what she'd heard. After a moment or two, her face shown with recognition.

"Oh..." She sat up straight, looking at Rainbow again, but with this odd look in her eyes; like she was looking at her for the first time again. She suddenly looked back at me. "Wait... she got beat up over that?"

"Yes... The colts were drunk, and they were...'forward' with me..." I said, trying to be subtle.

"Now what kinda trash heap would make advances on ya in front'a yur marefriend?" Applejack asked. I hid behind my mane at her apparent rage.

"I-I shouldn't have said anything..." I mumbled. Her face suddenly softened.

"Nah, Ah'm the one that should be sorry... T'aint mah place ta be mad." She sighed heavily with thought. We both got quiet for a while. A thought suddenly struck me...

"W-wait... You're okay with..." I gestured with a hoof between me and Rainbow. "...us?"

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't Ah be?" She said matter-of-factly. I simply gawked at her, not quite sure how to answer that. Rainbow stirred in her sleep, moaning softly as her bad leg twitched from a moment of pain. I watched her for a moment, then looked up at Applejack meaningfully. She glanced at Rainbow's cast, then back to me. "Oh..."

*sniff* I scooted closer to Rainbow as she stirred in her sleep. Her head made contact with my shoulder and she rested it there, sighing contentedly. "Sh-she's been exhausted since the attack, a-and I'm not sure how long she'll make it."

"Whatya mean?" I started stroking Rainbow's arm gently.

"H-her parents walked in on us... kissing in the hospital room. They w-weren't happy with her. They've cut her off 'Until she's straight again'." *sniff* My eyes are beginning to sting. I should really try to change the subject.

"Aw, Sugarcube..." She looked like she was thinking hard for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What 'bout yur parents?" Rainbow stirred in her sleep, again, but this time her face contorted in worry. I kept stroking her arm gently, hoping to calm her down.

"No, I haven't told them yet, but I haven't gotten a chance to, yet." I answered. Rainbow began to make fearful sounds in her sleep. She turned her head towards me and then her eyes flew open suddenly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing I saw was Fluttershy's concerned face, then I tackled her a hug.

"Oh, thank Celestia!" I said before immediately plant a messy kiss on her cheek. I heard chuckling off to my left, and realized it wasn't just me and Shy in here.

I looked over and saw AJ smiling broadly at us. I got kinda confused 'cause she wasn't confused about the kiss or the... close nature of our hug.

"Rainbow, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, and I looked back down at her.

"Er- I- Uhm..." The truth was... I'd had a bad dream. Real tough of me, right? I sat down in front of Shy, giving her a chance to sit back up. "Eh-heh...*cough* I uhm... I had a dream that uhm... That I hadn't gotten to Flash in time yesterday..." She looked confused for a second, then her eyes widened, and I guess she figured out what I meant. I mean, if I hadn't broken free of those jerks then Flash would've.... 'had his way'.

"Oh..." She said quietly.

"*cough* Ah've been a bad host. Ah should go get ya two somethin' ta eat." Applejack offered.

"Y-yeah... thanks AJ." I answered. She got up and walked out of the barn quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow looked kind of pale, but I doubt I wasn't a little pale myself. I mean, the thought of what would've happened if she hadn't broken free of Flash's goons.... I don't want to think about it, because it's bringing up horrible images in my head.

"Look. I don't wanna think about this, okay? It's bad enough that we did get attacked, but the idea that you could've gotten-" She stopped short of the word neither of us wanted to hear. She took a deep breath. "I mean, I almost didn't stop Flash. Could you imagine if I hadn't?"

"B-but you did..."

"I know, I know, but if I hadn't... I don't wanna think about it." She looked like she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Th-then let's stop talking about it, okay?" I said, gently pulling her into a soft hug after she nodded. When I released her from the hug, she scooted over next to me, and we cuddled for a while.

"I take it you told AJ about us?" She asked after a moment.

"Y-yes... That's okay, right?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah... Yeah, if you trust her, then I don't see any reason why she shouldn't know..." She didn't sound so certain about it, but I'll think I'll just take this for what it is, and ask her first next time. She wrapped a wing around me tenderly, giving a squeeze, making me feel a little better about it.

Applejack walked back in with a tray of apple pies on her back and a bottle of apple juice in her mouth. She set the tray down on a hay bundle and pulled some plastic cups out of her saddlebags. She poured juice in the cups and handed one to each of us, then grabbed one herself and took a sip.

"How ya feelin', RD?" She asked.

"I'm good. Thanks for asking." Rainbow answered.

"Alrighty then. What brought the two of ya here ta me in the first place?" She asked, clapping her hooves together.

"I-it's just a social visit." I answered.

"Ah. Alright. Where were you headed ta next?"

I looked over at Rainbow. "Did you want to head over to the animal shelter, like last week?" She glanced at her cast.

"Sure... If there's any animals that don't need to knock me down like the pu-er- dogs did." She said.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure we'll find you something." I said with a giggle.

The dogs didn't knock her over this time. They have some kind of sixth sense that tells them that she's hurt and they should be careful. So she sat down tenderly, trying not to hurt her leg, and started rubbing their bellies. I giggled and sat down next to her, immediately being attacked by most the puppies.

We laughed and played with them for the next ten or so minutes, then left the animal shelter to find a place to eat. I led the way to a shop I'd seen a few weeks, but had never had a reason to go to until now. It was this sweet shop decorated to look like it was made of candy.

We walked inside and were greeted by two things: The first was the smell of delicious sugary treats, and the second was a bouncy pink filly that looked a little younger than me. She put on a big grin and trotted right up to us.

"Hi!"

"Uhm..." I glanced at Rainbow a little confused.

"Uh... hey?" She replied.

"Oh! Are you new in town?" She asked excitedly.

"No, we're just visiting."

"Oh..." She stopped bouncing, frowning a little sadly. She perked up suddenly and smiled at us. "Oh well! Can I get you anything?"

"Pinkie! You don't work here, you just live here." A yellow earth pony stallion in a baker's hat and apron said from behind the cash register. He smiled at us apologetically. "Sorry, we're letting her live in the upstairs apartment for now. I don't know where she's from, and she wont tell us, so we're letting her stay here because she insists it's the only good place for her to live."

"Not to mention it's convenient to the plot..." Pinkie mumbled.

"Pinkie, what does that even mean?"

"Not allowed to explain! Just leave it at that!" She bounced over to a staircase, turned to wink at us, then went up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hay?!" I quirked an eyebrow at the baker.

"I'm sorry. She's an odd filly. What can I get you? After that... 'display' it'll be on the house."

We ordered some sweets and sat at a table while he prepared them for us. We chattered quietly about all kinds of stuff that I didn't even remember when the baker brought us our treats.

"Can I get you anything else?" We shook our heads politely. "Alright then. Enjoy." He turned to leave but stopped suddenly. "Oh! I'm Carrot Cake, by the way."

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and this is Fluttershy." I poked her gently with my elbow. He smiled warmly at us.

"Nice to meet you." His eyes landed on our food. "Oh! Enjoy, please." And with that he trotted off.

We dug into our food like he'd insisted, and it was delicious. We ate peacefully for a while, and it was nice just sitting next to Shy for a bit, but of course somepony had to interrupt us...

"HI!" The pink filly from ten minutes ago seemed to appear on our table, her face shoved in mine.

"GAH!!" I jerked away from her, causing my chair to tumble backwards. As I hit the ground, a stab of pain found its way up and down my leg. "Ohhh, buck me..." I hissed through gritted teeth, gripping my leg in my forehooves. Fluttershy was at my side in an instant, cooing softly and helping me up.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I do that?" Pinkie asked as she set my chair back up.

"You think?" I groaned as I sat back down.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that..." She looked sincere enough, plus she had this 'little filly' feel going, although I'm pretty sure she was about my age.

"*sigh* It's okay, uhh... Pinkie right?" Her smile snapped back instantly.

"Yep! That's me!" She bounced around our table excitedly, stopping next to Fluttershy. "What's your name?" She asked, sticking her face in Shy's. I probably should've been defensive or jealous, but I was too confused for that right now.

"U-uhm... Fluttershy." She answered, sounding just as confused as I was. Pinkie shifted her gaze to me curiously.

"Rainbow Dash." I said, anticipating her question.

"Oh cool! So, what brings you two to Ponyville?" She asked sitting across from us.

"We're here on a da-a-a-ay... off..." I said, catching myself, lamely, before I said date. Luckily, Pinkie didn't seem to catch on to what I was about to say, but she simply quirked an eyebrow. Fluttershy looked at me, seemingly using her eyes to ask me if I was serious. I shrugged at her.

"Okay?" Pinkie went quiet for a second. She watched us carefully for a while. After a second she got up and ran into the kitchen without a word.

"Pinkie! You DON'T work here!" I heard Mr. Cake yell from the kitchen, followed by some muted talking from Pinkie. I heard him give consent to something, then a few moments later Pinkie burst out of the kitchen with a cup balanced on her back. She set it down on our table between us.

"Enjoy!" She said, bouncing over to the stairs and heading up without even glancing at us. I looked at the cup, noticing two important details. The first was that it was a milkshake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And it had two straws....

I glanced at Rainbow and she glanced at me. I looked around, seeing that almost everypony in the room wasn't even noticing the fact that it had two straws or even us in particular. I looked back at Rainbow and she just shrugged at me.

So we sipped at it gingerly for a moment, looking around to see if anyone was giving us funny looks, but nopony was... So we kept going, enjoying every moment, stealing sideways glances at each other, and all around enjoying ourselves. For once, we got to show affection in public, and nopony criticized us for it. Nopony ridiculed us, or even gave us a second glance. We were just a pair of young lovers.

It was... bliss.

Poetry

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Quick Pre-read authors note: When you see ~~~{(character name)}~~~ It is a perspective switch to that character. It does NOT mean they are now part of a specific rotation of viewpoints. Once it says either Rainbow or Fluttershy in that space, it means the rotation is back to the normal two. Enjoy.

Bliss never lasts long. The weekend came to an end and we had to go back to school.

Hobbling around in a cast wasn't that bad, actually. I got to leave classes early so I could get to my next class on time, 'cause walking in this thing wasn't easy. Seriously, I don't know why they don't just let me hover from place to place. Walking with this thing is more dangerous than me crashing into somepony in the halls.

I never got a chance to read the rest of that 'Crack' thing I found on Fluttershy's desk, but I think she showed it to AJ, 'cause I saw her stuff it into her saddlebag before we left for Ponyville, then when we visited the farm again, I was helping out with some heavy lifting, but when we were about to leave for home again, I'm pretty sure I saw it again. I don't know... I'm sure whatever that thing is, I'm not interested.

Oh, on the bright side, I might be in a cast, but Flash and his buddies got themselves expelled. The moment the principal heard about it, he had them expelled for being drunk and assaulting peers. Then there's the legal trouble they're in. I shouldn't laugh at kids getting sent to juvy, but... well these guys were buckheads, so...

Heh heh....

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"Okay class, now I have something special planned for Friday." My day was boring up until fourth. "I want you all to write some poetry..." The only interesting part was when I heard that Flash had gotten expelled. "... then bring it in on Friday..." The class groaned collectively, bringing my attention back to the teacher. "... and read it to the class." Another groan. "I know, I know. None of you like the idea of standing in front of your classmates and reading something you wrote to them."

One of the colts in the front of class raised his hoof. "Is this mandatory?"

"Yes." My eyes widened in horror. I couldn't possibly write something then read it to the whole class! Well... maybe I could write something, but I don't think I could read it to all of them.

The teacher gave us a list of rules, like it needed to be this long, or that many stanzas, or if it rhymes, then the pattern needs to be consistent. That sort of stuff.

"For instance..." She walked over to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper, then read from it:

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

"That's a good example of the kind of poem you all should write. It doesn't need to be long, or amazing, but I want you all to at least give effort. We'll see how your skills have improved when we do this again just before Winter Break..."

I didn't even get food at lunch. I just sat down and opened my saddlebag, found my old poems, and looked through to see if there was anything I would like to show the class. I leafed through pages of them, mentally noting that each and every single one of them was embarrassing, until eventually I found two that I wasn't sure about.

I sat there, staring at the pages, reading them over and over, trying to decide whether I should read them on Friday or not.

"Hey, Shy. What's that?" I looked up to find Rainbow putting her tray down on the table and sitting next to me.

"O-oh i-it's..." I've never shown her my poetry. I've never thought that she would care much for it. "Uhm..." I felt tempted to close my notebook and just say it was nothing. That is, until she slid it over on the table so she could read it.

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It was the one I'd seen on her desk the other day:

The Crack
There is a crack in the wall
Or rather the crack is where the wall is
Because if I tore the wall down the crack would still be there
The crack is an emptiness that I can’t fix alone
Or rather I can fix it but I wouldn’t be alone anymore
The crack is an emptiness that I must endure silently alone
In fact the fact that I suffer alone is why it is something to endure
The empty space is a heavy burden to bear alone
The fact that I bear it alone is why it is such a heavy burden at all
Alone, I cannot fix this crack or the holes it will soon lead to
But if I was not alone there would be nothing to fix
In the end the crack is more than just an empty space in the wall
It represents everything a mare has ever been without
And the problems in the crack grow with the growing presence of what’s not there
But if you can help me fix the crack I would be ever so grateful
It’s quite easy; just show me you care to help and it will leave me
And since it is so easy I wonder why no one has done it yet
But as it is the crack is everywhere I am
And when I think I’m safe I see the crack again
And remember the many times nothing has happened to help
And again, I wonder why oh why has no one bothered
To lift this burden
To fix this crack
To plug those holes
To make this emptiness whole
And let me tear down that wall and leave no crack behind

I finished reading, then glanced up at her. "Poetry?" She nodded slowly with wide eyes, probably worried about what I thought of it. I glanced back at the poem again, then back up at her. "It's pretty good. I mean, I'm no expert or anything, but..." I looked back down again. "Yeah, it's pretty good."

"Th-thank you, Rainbow, that means a lot to me." She said, tilting her head so that her mane fell in her face and I couldn't see her eyes.

I glanced around to see if anypony was watching us. Not many were, and the few that were looked away when I turned. We were sitting in the corner again, with our backs turned to the everypony else. I turned back to Fluttershy, whose mane was still covering her eyes, and took a deep breath.

You know what? Buck it! If anypony else cares, they can look away.

I scooted closer to Flutters, using one hoof to spin slightly to face me. She looked up at me, her mane still covering one eye, so I reached a hoof up and brushed it out of the way, eliciting a strong blush from her, but she maintained eye contact with me. "There. That's better. Y'know, Shy, pretty things should stay where ponies can see 'em."

Her blush got a tiny bit darker, but she still held my eyes. I put a wing up between our faces so nopony could see us, then leaned in. She met me halfway and I felt her soft lips brushing up against mine. First, we just kissed,eyes closed, then her lips cracked open for my tongue, and for a moment, I didn't have a care in the world...

Then the bell rang.

Shy pulled away quickly, and I turned to get up, my cheeks feeling really hot.

"*ahem* Heh uhm... got uh- caught up there, didn't we?" I said, laughing a little nervously.

"Y-yes..." I looked at her again, then glanced around and saw that the cafeteria was practically empty now, so I gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"You're cute when you're nervous, you know that?"

The rest of that day was boring, and so was the next day. But then my history teacher told me something weird on Wednesday. He said that I could go to Mrs. Paria's fourth hour on Friday, because she had requested I be there for something. If it meant getting out of Equestrian history on a Friday, count me in, but that didn't stop it from making me wonder why Mrs. Paria wanted me there...

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"Y-you're serious?"

"Of course. I believe that the two of you could only benefit from this. If she attends, you'll likely find it easier to overcome your stage fright that I'm sure you have, and she'll probably gain some form of heightened appreciation for Literature." Mrs. Paria replied. The other students in her fourth hour had already made their ways to their next classes, leaving me in a one-on-one with the teacher. "If you don't want her here, I can tell her teacher to forget about it..."

I took a moment to think about it. If Rainbow was here, I'd probably be able to read if I just focused on her. That also helps me choose which poem to read in the first place.

"Do you think this will work, Fluttershy?" I realized, suddenly, that I'd been quiet for a few minutes.

"I-I think it'll work out..."

~~~~~~~~{Gilda}~~~~~~~~

Yep... Detention. It's what I get for decking a jerk in the face. *sigh* It definitely doesn't help anyone in here that the kid I got in a fight with is sitting in the same detention as me. But hey, what can you do? No one, and I mean NO ONE, trashes on Dash or Shy just cause they finally noticed each other.

Gotta say, the detention teacher's not that bad. You kinda warm up to him when you're around him this much...

That's not good is it? Oh well.

He looked up at me again. "Wait... So why are you in here now, Gilda?"

"Got in a fight yesterday, teach."

"Why-"

"Same as the last two times, teach." He eyed me wearily for a sec, then shrugged and went back to his paperwork.

I glanced over at the other guy to admire my handy work: The bruise on his eye, and the painful-looking way he was holding his arm. Heh heh. That was all me. He glared at me, than went back to his homework.

I looked down at my work that I still had to do. I never liked Lit... or Math... or History... or academics in general. *sigh* Oh well...

Dash told me she was going to Shy's Lit class tomorrow. 'Course... I'm in here till lunch tomorrow, so I guess I'll be there to ask about it, but whatever. I can't pretend I care much what's going on in a Literature class that Dash is allowed to leave one class to go there.

Just hopin' they have a good time in Lit together. *snort*

~~~~~~~~{Rainbow}~~~~~~~~

Friday finally got here, and about time, too. I stepped out of third hour, walked right past my history classroom, and went straight to Mrs. Paria's room. It felt a little odd walking in there and seeing a group of ponies that aren't in there whenever I am, but I walked over to the teachers desk to ask where to sit.

She pointed to a desk near the corner, so I trotted over and sat down, waiting for the class to start and see why I was asked to show up. Shy hadn't told me what was happening in here today because she said that Mrs. Paria had told her to keep it a secret.

Speak of the devil, Fluttershy walked into the classroom and walked over to sit at her desk, smiling brightly at me. I put on a happy grin as she sat down next to me. The bell rang and the teacher started calling students up, one at a time, to read poetry that they had written.

Some of it was, like, three lines long and sounded like they weren't even trying, but some of them sounded like they had gone all out. After a while, Shy seemed to be getting nervous from just sitting there, so I put a hoof on her shoulder. "It's gonna be fine, Shy." I whispered quietly.

She looked me in the eyes for a moment, then smiled again.

"Fluttershy? Your turn." The teacher said.

"O-okay..." She walked up slowly, then turned and faced the class, untucking a piece of paper from under her wing and placing it on the stand in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I glanced at Rainbow, took a deep breath, then started reading quietly...

"With Closed Eyes"

"When my eyes are closed, I can think of my favorite memories.
When my eyes are closed, I can see your face."

I closed my eyes as the words started going from memory.

"When I close my eyes, the world changes.
When I close my eyes, I can pretend the world isn’t this bad."

I started to speak a tiny bit louder and feel a little bit more confident.

"Once my vision goes dark, the worlds goes bright.
Once my vision goes dark, my fantasies come to life."

I felt my heart begin to beat faster.

"With closed eyes, I can remember my favorite thoughts.
With closed eyes, I can feel your embrace."

I opened my eyes and looked directly at Rainbow as I said the next part.

"Then my eyes open, and I see you there.
Then my eyes open, and stay that way,"

My eyes fell from hers to the paper as I said the final part.

"Until you leave; Then I close my eyes."

The class was quiet for a moment while I walked back to my desk next to Rainbow and sat down quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as she started reading, a little curiously at first, until she started reading. My eyes widened and locked onto hers, despite that they were closed. I felt a little special when she got to the part about seeing my face. Then she got to the end and I felt really special.

She finished, then nervously sat down at her desk next to me. I wanted to lay one on her, but we were in class and the whole PDA thing... we'd probably get caught this time. I glanced at the teacher, who was smiling approvingly, then back at Shy, who was hiding behind her mane right now.

I scooted my seat over closer to hers, then wrapped an arm and a wing around her simultaneously, deciding her comfort was more important than my school record. She leaned her head into my shoulder, her face feeling very warm against it.

"...-nd the rest of class is your time today, class." I'd missed what she'd been saying, but I got the gist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prancer and her friend, Dasher, who both sat in front of me scooted their desks closer to us. Then Prancer held her wing out, fully spread out, saying, "Hey look at my wing, Dasher. Doesn't it look like it would be good for hiding ponies in the corner of the classroom from other ponies' eyes?"

"You know? It does." Dasher replied. "How 'bout mine?" She asked, holding her own wing out, perfectly blocking out our view of the classroom.

I looked at Rainbow, smiling brightly. She grinned back, then gave me a kiss on the lips. She pulled away, looking me in the eyes., then said something that I couldn't quite believe at first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I love you, Shy." I heard myself say it before I could even think about, but the moment it was out of my mouth, I realized that I had no reason to not say it. It was true.

"I-I-I..." She stuttered, and for a moment, I thought I'd said it too soon, but then she took a deep breath and tried again. "I-I love you too." Her eyes lit up as she said it, and I could feel my heart fluttering.

"Awesome..." I muttered before planting another one on her.

Before The Night...

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The rest of the day went by quickly, really. Or, at least, it seemed to. I couldn't help but think about what Rainbow and I had said after my poetry recital.

"I love you."

"I-I love you, too."

Should I feel bad for stuttering? I guess not, since I always stutter. Besides, Rainbow didn't seem any less enthusiastic when she kissed me...

*ahem* Anyways, the day went by fast, and then so did the time after school. We spent most of it flying around. By now, Rainbow's wing had recovered, and the doctor had asked her to come back in tomorrow, so right now I was helping her exercise her wings after a week of no use by racing her. At first, it looked like I was winning, but after she got warmed up, she pretty much doubled my speed.

I had a pretty big lead on her, though, so I stayed ahead of her for a moment, but she eventually caught up. She slammed into me, grabbing my waist and pushing me towards a nearby cloud.

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It's a good thing these clouds are so soft, or else this stunt probably would've hurt my leg a lot. I pinned Fluttershy on the cloud and she laughed and giggled as she attempted to break out of my hold, but her attempts were pointless seeing as I was so much stronger than her, but it was still fun.

I giggled lightly as I leaned my head down and kissed her. I don't know what caused it, but this time I put a lot more passion behind it this time and within half a second, her arm was wrapped around my neck and we were playing around with each others tongues. After a moment, she daringly used her arm to push me over then roll so that she was on top of me.

I stared up at her, a little surprised with this, as her mane tumbled down and covered both of our faces, hiding the rest of the world from our view, and vise versa. She hesitated for a second and I felt her hot breath on my cheeks, and... well there's really only one good phrase for this:

It turned me on.

I reached up and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her down so my lips could reach hers. They met and locked again, bringing about another round of passion between us, this time with her a bit more in control than the first time. She pressed her chest against mine and rested the rest of her body against me, and for a moment I kinda didn't think exactly about what was about to happen.

Luckily, she had that one for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled back, suddenly, as a thought struck me. Gasping, I looked down at her. "W-w-we... we were ab-bout t-to..." I stuttered. She looked at me blankly for a second, then realization seemed to flash through her eyes.

"Oh! Oh jeez!" I stood up and got off of her, my cheeks exceedingly hot. "I'm so sorry! I di-"

"I-it's okay..." I whispered in embarrassment. "I w-was d-doing it to..."

We were quiet for a while. I tried to look at her for a moment, but I couldn't compel myself to look her in the eyes.

After what felt like hours, but was probably seconds, Rainbow finally spoke up. "D-did you... I shouldn't ask..." I finally looked at her now.

"Go ahead."

She took a deep breath then tried again. "Did... did you want it, too?"

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMM......

How do I reply to that? How should I reply to that? I mean, it's an awkward, if not loaded question... Of course... I could...

Nononono...

That would just be...

What I want to say?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh dear Celestia, why in the world would I ask her that? What is wrong with me? Do I even want it?

Well... I guess...

I glanced at Fluttershy again. She was hiding behind her mane, but I could still see one of her eyes, focusing on her hooves, and the rest of her face. Honestly, all she was hiding was one eye. What I could see was an adorable, if completely embarrassed, and insanely cute and pretty face. I...

I wanted it. Guess that's why I subconsciously added the word 'too' to my question...

"I-I...I kind of..." She hesitated, still not looking at me. "I kind of... do?" She looked up at me now, phrasing it like a question.

"This is sorta a big thing here... A-are you sure?" Wow. I sound real mature right now. What the hay is goin' on there?

She thought for a moment, then nodded slowly, looking me dead in the eyes, her mane falling out of the way so that I could see both eyes clearly. For a moment we were both quiet, then I took charge of this, if you can actually do that.

"Okay... so uhm... I don't think a cloud in full view of everypony is the best place for... this..." I said. Her cheeks turned a red-orange as she looked down again.

"Okay." She whispered quietly. I took a deep breath to calm down.

" 'Kay let's fly back to the dorms, alright?"

"Okay." She whispered it even more quietly. I lifted off, hovering in place for a moment when she didn't follow suit.

"Come on." I urged gently.

"Okay..." This time I barely heard her. She flapped her wings and started hovering, following me.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I won't be mad or anything." She shook her head quickly.

"N-no. I d-do want to..." She was still whispering quietly. She looked me dead in the eyes, giving a weak but reassuring smile. I smiled back, still feeling a little unsure about this. I took her hoof in my own and led the way back to our dorms. Obviously, the best place for... 'this' would be her room, since I share a room with someone else and she doesn't.

We flew down to her window without a word. I opened it and let her go through first. I followed her in after making sure nopony was watching, and sat on the bed next to her.

We sat there awkwardly for a while, neither of us saying anything to each other. For a moment, I was beginning to think that this was a bad idea, but I mean... If Fluttershy wants to, and I do too, then I can't see any reason why we shouldn't do this.

Another quiet moment passed by, and I decided to make sure one last time that this was what we both wanted. "Are you completely su-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I interrupted her by practically pouncing on her. Our lips met and then our night together began...

...And the Morning After

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I woke up the next morning with my face only a few inches from hers. I smiled gently, watching and listening to her soft snoring. She always looked more peaceful when she was asleep. She also looked adorable when she was asleep, too. I mean, she was always beautiful in her own sort of way, but she has this odd look about her when she was asleep. The way she smiled lightly, and the way her nose twitched occasionally...

Adorable.

I leaned my head forward and kissed her nose gently. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and she smiled when she saw me. I felt something move up around me and pull my head forward, and next thing I knew, our lips were locked in a pleasant 'good morning' kiss. After a moment she pulled away a few inches so that I could see her eyes.

"Hey you." She said as she grinned at me.

"Hi." I replied, smiling brightly back at her. Her grin broadened as she rolled on top of me and started giving me random pecks on the cheeks eliciting a few giggles from me.

"Heh. How was your night?" She asked me, pulling her face from mine.

"Oh... I don't know." I said as I put on a thoughtful face, causing her grin to fade a bit. Catching her off-guard, I put a hoof against her neck and rolled us so that I was on top now. "Wonderful." I said, grinning down at her. Her smile came back as she waited patiently for me to make a move.

I didn't keep her waiting. I lowered my head and pressed my lips against hers with as much passion as I could, and for a moment I thought we were going to repeat last night this morning...

*knock knock* I guess not.

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She pulled away and looked over at the door. "Hello?" She called.

"Hello, Fluttershy, sweetie." I watched as Fluttershy's blush instantly paled. I recognized the voice too, and I'm sure my face looked a little pale, too.

Shy glanced down at me worriedly and I tried to put on a reassuring smile, but, judging by her still-worried expression, I'm pretty sure it didn't work. She got up and walked over to the door, glancing at me, then in the mirror. She grabbed a brush and ran it through her mane quickly.

"Fluttershy?" The pony at the door called again.

"O-oh! Coming!" She answered before tossing me the brush and walking over to the door. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

"H-Hi, mom." She said quietly.

"Hello, sweetie."

Acceptance

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I tried to move over to the side as far as possible so that Mrs. Shy wouldn't see me. Well, her name isn't really Mrs. Shy; it's actually Bright Sky, but the first time I met her I called her Mrs. Shy, and it stuck.

Anyways, right now that's not important. Not at all. Right now I'm a bit more worried about how she'd react to me being in Fluttershy's room at... what time is it? Where's the clock? I looked around for it and- oh! Eight thirty-two in the morning when I'm known to sleep in until ten on Saturdays... Yep, nothing to be nervous about!

"W-what b-brings you here, mom?" Fluttershy asked.

"Rainbow's parents told me that she was hurt recently." Oh crap. My parents...

"Th-they told you? H-how much do you know?"

"They said you two had been mugged." She sounded pretty worried at this point. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes."

"Dear, you're awfully pale... Is Rainbow okay? You look worried."

"Rainbow's fine." Fluttershy said quickly. Oh no, don't panic...

"Fluttershy? Is something wrong?" It's too bad Shy is a terrible liar or else we may have gotten away with this for a little bit longer. Well, there's no way she can make this last forever, so I might as well just step in and let the inevitable happen...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess I wasn't the most cut out to try to fool her. Mom knows me so well, there was no way I would've been able to trick her. She quirked an eyebrow at me, but that was before Rainbow coughed loudly. I felt my face go cold as all the blood drained from my cheeks and Mom pushed the door open curiously.

It opened completely, and for the second time in a few weeks, somepony found Rainbow sitting in my bed early in the morning.

"Rainbow? What are you doi-... Fluttershy, honey, what's going on?" Wow, my hooves sure are interesting! I mean, look at those shiny, yellow hooves on the ends of my legs! "Sweetie?" *sigh* I looked up at her now, since there was no real avoiding this.

"Y-yes?"

"Why is Rainbow in your room so early in the morning?"

"I-I-I-...W-we-...I-..." Oh dear Celestia, I just can't do it.

"*ahem* Uhm...Well, Mrs. Shy, the thing is..." Rainbow stepped in, getting off the bed and walking over. Well, hobbled really, considering how much the cast hampered her walking even though she's practically fine now. "... Well, we uh... eh heh, we're together."

Mom looked very confused now. "What do you mean 'together'?"

I started staring at my hooves again, trying to word this. "We're...d-dating." My mane fell in my face and I lost sight of Mom behind the wall of rosy pink.

"Oh..." She said, followed by a lengthy silence. "When were you going to tell me?"

"N-next time I saw you?" I answered, glancing up at her. She nodded slowly.

"Hm. Okay then." Wait... Was she... smiling? "Well that's lovely, honey!" What?!

Wait, why is the ground rising?

Mmmm... Why am I on my bed? Oh jeez, I think I fainted...

I was curled up on my bed, probably placed here after falling over, and Rainbow was sitting on the bed next to me, stroking my back gently. She was talking to Mom about something, and both sounded like they were enjoying the chat, but the words weren't registering in my head.

I opened my eyes, and for a second everything was blurry, but after a blinking a few times it went away. I looked up, finding Mom sitting on the chair against the wall opposite my bed, smiling as Rainbow finished saying something about something pink.

"...then she brought us a milkshake with two straws in it, talking like this was her destiny or something. It was pretty weird." Oh. Pinkie.

"Nnnng..." I moaned as I lifted my head up and looked at my mom, then at Rainbow. "W-what happened?"

"Uhm... We told your mom about... 'us', and I guess when she seemed okay with it you just kinda passed out."

"Did you think I wouldn't be happy for you, dear?" My mother asked. I looked at her. She didn't look offended or worried, she was just smiling gently at me. It made me feel safe and comfortable, something I don't feel very often. Well... I glanced at Rainbow. Not until recently, that is.

"Well..." I started, looking back at Mom. "I kinda thought you wouldn't be happy that I'm a... f-fillyfooler."

"Oh, sweetie, I could never be mad at you for something like that! Why would I be mad that my little angel has found that special somepony who makes her happy?"

Rainbow stopped stroking my back suddenly and I heard a sharp intake of breath. I looked at her a little worriedly, knowing exactly what was wrong. She was staring stonily out the window, avoiding my eyes.

"Maybe 'cause my parents weren't happy at all." She muttered a little resentfully.

"Rainbow? What do you mean?" Mom asked. Rainbow didn't answer, but simply stared out the window intently. I decided to answer for her.

"Her parents weren't happy to hear about it. At all."

"Not 'hear'... More like walk in on." Rainbow added. I felt my cheeks heat up and ducked behind my mane. Mom giggled bringing my attention back up as I tried to figure out why.

"Honey, I'm not stupid. I know what you kids do, and as long as you don't go too far in the bed, -if you know what I mean- I'm okay with it." Rainbow and I were silent as I ducked down behind my mane again. "... Oh. Uhm...So I take it you two have been dating for a while then? What, around four, five months?"

"Eh heh... Uhm... We started going out this school year..."

"Oh... Well, it's too bad my hoof doesn't taste very good, because it's sorta jammed in my mouth right now..." I smiled at that. Mom always took things like this in stride.

"Y-you're not mad are you?" I asked just to be sure.

"Of course not. Just a little surprised. I never really thought you would ever be brave enough to... You know what? I think we should change the subject before your cheeks burst. Why don't we get some air?"

"Well, I need to head to the hospital." Rainbow said.

"Alright, let's do that."

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I'm still a little surprised that Mrs. Shy reacted so well to all of this. Guess it's because my parents didn't react well at all. *sigh* Gotta stop thinking about that.

We got to the hospital pretty quick. We sat in the waiting room for only a few minutes before the doctor got a chance to examine my leg. He said that I was fine now, but I'd probably have a limp for a while. Not surprisingly, I do. And it sucks.

Oh well... It was worth it, considering what I did to end up in that cast to begin with. Once I was out of the exami-whatsit room, me and Shy decided that we wanted to show her mom some of the cool stuff in Ponyville, so that's where we are now.

First and foremost, Fluttershy just had to show her mom the animal shelter. She introduced the giggling mare to Angel, who took all three of our carrots without a second thought, then moved on to the pup-er I mean dogs.

Okay, they're puppies and they're friggin adorable. Get off my flank abou- Who am I talking to?

Anyways, she likes them as much as I do. End of story. Moving on, we went to the orchard and introduced AJ and Mrs. Shy to each other. They got along pretty well once Mrs. Shy was sure her arm wasn't gonna fall off (that hoofshake...).

After that, we decided that the next stop should be Sugar Cube Corner. It was a nice sweet shop, even if the pony living above the place was a bit odd. We got there, ordered some cupcakes, and took our seats by the window.

"So -and I'm just guessing here- you two weren't met with very well in Cloudsdale? As a couple, I mean." Mrs. Shy asked.

"Not very well at all." I answered. "But they seem okay with us here."

"Y-yeah, they don't seem to care." Fluttershy added. "W-why is that?"

"Well, dear, you see... *sigh* Well, Cloudsdale is kind of stupid. It's one of the few towns I know of that is so... well, stupid about this subject. They try to keep it out of the public schools, but of course most the students are as rigid as the rest of the ponies there. I'm sorry you have to deal with all that, really I am, but I don't think there's any way around it. The laws of Equestria -decreed by Celestia herself- state that the schools can't kick you out, and the students have no legal grounds to harass you, but that doesn't mean they'll like it.

"Ponyville, however, is one of the majority of societies that is perfectly comfortable with all sexualities. Honestly, I wish we lived here, Fluttershy, but your fathers job as one of the weather organizers kept us in Cloudsdale. But, hey, you met Rainbow Dash, and look how well that turned out!" She smiled happily at us as Shy snuggled against me and we both nodded our agreement. "Now. I certainly don't condemn you for your choices, but I also can't promise you I'll get used to this very quickly. Your father, on the other hoof, will probably take a very long time to get used to it."

"Why?" I asked.

"Dad grew up in Cloudsdale." Fluttershy answered.

"Yes... Chase is a good stallion, but he was brought up by a completely Cloudsdalion father who tried to instill all those stupid values in him. It kinda worked, but he'd never reject you two for this. More likely he'll just be shocked, I'll have a word with him, remind him you're his daughter, and then he'll gradually begin to accept it." Chase? Oh right, his name is Wind Chaser. I've never actually met him; he was always busy at work whenever I visited their house.

"Y-you think we should tell him?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes. I think it would be best if it came from both of you, not me." I felt Fluttershy slump against me, obviously not liking this idea. "Oh, honey, I know that doesn't sound easy for you, but think of it this way: Rainbow will be there with you, right?" She looked at me for confirmation.

"Yeah, of course! I'd never leave you hanging, Shy." She looked up at me and kissed my chin, seeing as it was all she could reach from where she was resting against my chest.

Y'know? I can't understand it anymore how ponies say 'they could get used to this'. That phrase is stupid. Why would I want to get used to this? Then it'd get boring, and being with Shy should never get boring. I never want this to get old.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After we finished eating at the sweet shop, we headed out to the town park. Rainbow decided that since she was no longer in a cast and her wing had recovered, she wanted to practice some stunts like she hadn't been able to all week. Mom and I simply sat at a bench and watched her do her aerial routine for some time before Mom finally said something.

"Honey, I want you to be careful." I looked at her.

"W-what do you mean?"

"It's just- *sigh* Well, Rainbow is the type of mare who likes things to be exciting, and as I'm sure they already are for the two of you, she'll probably want it to stay exciting. She is a daredevil, after all. All I'm saying is that you should take it at your pace; if she tries to make it exciting by making you uncomfortable, don't let her. Trust me, she's above dumping you or leaving you behind. Far too loyal for that."

"O-oh..."

"Just be careful. That's all I'm asking. I know that you two are practically past all the boundaries possible -all things considered- but that doesn't mean that things wont get uncomfortable for you. Maybe they wont, but maybe they will. I just want you to be happy, sweetie." I felt my eyes tear up a little bit as she finished and wrapped her in a hug.

"I love you, Mom."

She hugged me back and whispered gently, "I love you, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I saw Shy and her mom having some kind of moment, so I did another loop and a flip before gliding over and landing near them. I waited until they finished hugging and when they did, Fluttershy pulled away, looked over near the pond, and flew over to a group of ducks that were over there. I decided to go chat with her mom, y'know; see figure out what just happened.

I hovered over and sat on the bench, next to Mrs. Shy. She greeted me kindly still watching her daughter help the ducks with stuff. I watched, finding that the display was actually kind of cute.

"I just had a talk with Fluttershy, so I guess it's only fair that I have one with you, too." Mrs. Shy said only half jokingly.

"Uhm... Okay?"

"Listen, Fluttershy is a very... what's the word? Subservient? Yeah, she's a very subservient mare. If you push her hard enough, she'll just do whatever you want her to. I don't want you to push her; I want you to make sure she wants to do these things with you before you try to push her into them. Her acceptance of something wont always mean it's what she wants."

"Oh, yeah I get that." I said neutrally. I watched as a squirrel scampered down a tree to play with Shy and the ducks.

"Oh, and don't you dare break her timid little heart, or Chase will find you. And that's if I don't beat him to it." She smiled, and her voice sounded like she was joking, but for some reason, I wasn't sure if she was. "But I'm positive that wont happen, will it?"

I watched the squirrel give Shy a quick lick on the nose. She jerked back, giggling loudly enough for me to hear, bringing a warm smile to my face. "No, I'm absolutely sure it wont happen. I promise."

Moving In {Part I}

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~~~~~Narration~~~~~
It had been six years since Fluttershy's mother had discovered their relationship. They'd transferred out of their Cloudsdale high school to a Ponyville one. After that they'd finished high school smoothly. Fluttershy had found a cottage on the edge of town for sale, and bought it happily. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had decided she wanted to at least live in a cloud home, seeing as everything else about Ponyville was on the ground. They had wanted to live together, but Rainbow wouldn't have been able to live with those animals anyway, and Fluttershy was much happier with them around. It was really just a minor dispute for the two.
After that had been settled, there was a year of peaceful living, becoming good friends with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and meeting and befriending a young up-and-coming fashionista named Rarity. The five lived happy, enjoyably peaceful -if a little hectic- lives for a good year before a new unicorn came to town. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and her arrival was just the start of a new chapter of their lives for all six of them.
See, Rainbow and Fluttershy had begun to slowly drift apart in their time in Ponyville. They didn't spend as much time together as they used to, and their ambitions were taking them in different directions. But Twilight brought a sense of newness into their lives, bringing them back together quickly. Within no time at all, they were spending their entire days in each others company again.
Then Discord came. When he took away their wings, it was far more traumatic for Rainbow than the other four could've imagined. Once it was all said and done, Rainbow had been haunted by nightmares of the event for weeks. Fluttershy was the first one she asked for advice on the matter. Fluttershy comforted her and spent the night with her, and the dreams stopped, and after that their love only grew stronger.
There were many more adventures after that, but right now they were in a period of rest and happy well-being...

~~~~Rainbow~~~~

I woke up for the third morning in a row in Fluttershy's bed, and for the third morning in a row, I woke up before her. She was right in front of me, or faces so close together that I could feel her light, warm breath on my face and neck. I couldn't really move because our legs were tangled together, but I didn't really want to move. After two other mornings of it, it still wasn't boring to wake up and watch Fluttershy sleep.

She was so adorable, lying there, eyes closed, smiling happily, and breathing quietly. I felt her leg twitch on occasion, as if to kick. I don't know what that's about, but I'd assume she's having a good dream right now. Her nose twitched suddenly, then her grip around my waist tightened as she pulled me closer, burying her face in my neck. She let out a heavy, hot breath against my back eliciting a little bit of pleasure out of me.

Her squeeze let up, and she lifted her head to look at me, eyes open and completely awake.

"Good morning." I said, smiling at her. I leaned forward and gave her a peck on the lips before she could reply. She smiled warmly before speaking.

"Good morning." She replied. We laid there for a while, simply enjoy each others presence. It sounds kinda sappy really, but I've kinda stopped caring. Whenever it's just me and Shy (and I guess the other girls) I can do whatever I wanna do without worrying about my 'image'. So we just laid there, smiling at each other, and simply enjoying the peace; something I don't take enough time out of my day to do.

After a few moments passed, I heard a low rumbling sound from down the bed and Fluttershy began blushing hard. "*giggle* I um... I think it's time for breakfast."

"Heh... I guess so." She got out of the bed, heading over to her little table where she kept her hairbrush and her mirror. I propped myself up on an elbow to watch her, smiling gently as she brushed her mane. She smiled back at me through the mirror, her cheeks turning a bit darker as she did.

When she was finished, she got up and went downstairs to make breakfast. I rolled out of the bed, stretching a bit before hovering down the stairs and getting the morning chores under way. It was kinda my way of thanking Shy for sharing her bed with me for a night; I did the morning chores for her while she made breakfast. It wasn't long before the smell of her signature vegetable soup was wafting its way around the cottage, making my mouth water like it always did.

I finished feeding the animals and walked into the kitchen. Fluttershy poured out two bowls of the soup and set them on the table, giving me a quick kiss before sitting at the table. I sat across from her, smiling gratefully at her before taking my first sip of the soup. As always, it was delicious and I started scarfing it down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched her eat the soup for a bit, not eating my own. I didn't really have much of an appetite, despite what my stomach said. I had something on my mind, and I wasn't sure how Rainbow would react...

She ate happily for a little while longer, but apparently noticed that I wasn't eating, and stopped, eying me worriedly. "Shy, your stomach was the one growling. Why aren't you eating? Is something wrong?" Well, here goes...

"W-well... I was just thinking..." I paused for a second, my eyes dropping to my soup. I want this to come out right. "...that I really kind of- no, really like it when you're here in the mornings..."

"What, you want me to stop by every day? I can do th-"

"Not exactly..." I looked up at her. "I would like it if you moved in." I said hopefully. She stared at me for a moment, obviously a little surprised. She put her spoon down, straightening against her seat a bit before she continued.

"Look, Shy, we've been over this. I don't think I can stand to live with the animals. I mean, I have troubles with just Tank. And aside from that..."

"But you love the animals, and I can help with Tank. I took care of him and all these animals before you adopted him, remember?" I said, trying desperately to grab a hold of this conversation before she could flat-out refuse the offer.

"But... Shy, I-... I don't..." She trailed off.

"D-don't what?"

She sighed and looked away from me, looking a little frustrated, if not very upset. A moment passed by quietly, and she still didn't answer.

"Rainbow?" She looked at me. "Don't what?" She sighed again.

"I don't think... that we're... I'm ready for that..." She said quietly, her eyes falling from mine.

"Rainbow I-... I think you're ready for it." She glanced up at me, but didn't hold my eyes very long.

"I don't think so."

"Dash, you're great with the animals, and I love having you around. Don't you think it'd be great for you to be around more?"

"Yeah, but..." She trailed off again. I waited patiently before urging her again.

"But what?" This time she didn't answer, so I got up and walked around the table. She barely had time to notice what I was doing before I'd grabbed her in an embrace and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She returned the favor, and when I pulled away she frowned at me in confusion. "Dash. We are ready for it."

We looked into each others eyes for a moment before she finally spoke.

"Fine. But I'm gonna hang up a Wonderbolts poster in the bedroom." I frowned as she said it. "Erm... If that's okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It only took one day to get me moved in. I only really needed to bring along a few of my things, and the rest of the house just kinda is gonna stay there. I'm not really sure what we're gonna do with it, now that I think about it, but I don't think I'm gonna rent it out or anything. I've still got a lot of my Wonderbolts things in there, after all.

Anyways, Pinkie was throwing a big... what'd she call it? A 'Yay, you two are finally moving in together, which we all have been waiting for for a while now, but that's okay 'cause it finally happened so now we're all happy! Yay!' Party. Yeah, it's long. I hope she tries to fit all that on a banner. Or a cake. That'd be great...

So Shy and I are headed to Sugar Cube Corner right now... Or, at least, that's what she keeps saying to me whenever I try to start a game of tag. I eventually gave up, because she was deliberately not taking the bait, and started flying normally towards the sweet shop. *huff* It's really boring flying normally.

I heard some giggling then felt a hoof tap me, then looked over as Fluttershy laughed playfully. "Fine." She said as she maneuvered around the way she always did when she played. Grinning joyfully, I chased her down.

~~~~Rarity~~~~

*tap tap*"What was that?"

"Pardon?" Applejack gave me a befuddled stare.

"I could've sworn I felt somepony tap my shoulder." I said, a little abashed now.

"Well, Ah din't see anythin' Rarity, but rest assured, if Ah see anypony tryin' dumb things like that, Ah'll tell you first. That alright with you?" She asked, rolling her eyes and grinning.

"Yes, well... There was no need to make a joke of it." I replied as she chuckled and trotted off towards the punch bowl. I could've sworn I felt something... Oh darn it! It was probably her tapping my shoulder to make a joke! I can be so gullible...

Anyways...

The party's going rather nicely. I can't say that there is anything missing. Not a slice of cake, nor a glass of punch out of place, as per norm with Pinkie Pie. Her parties are always quite enjoyable, though never quite my style. I'd rather sip wine gently with some high class ponies in Canterlot, but this is, as always, the next best thing.

The dancing, the games, the laughter, the fun, the sugar; it all screams 'Pinkie Pie', and I must say, it's often-times better than that wine. Of course, I don't usually take part in the games or the dancing, seeing as both are, eh.... very uncouth, but I tend to keep my self entertained at these get-togethers anyways.

"Hey, Rare. You jus' zonin' out over here?" I shook my head as the sound of Applejack's voice dragged me back to the present.

"Er, yes. Pretty much. And what might you be up to?"

"Ah was jus' wonderin' where RD and Shy were at."

"Hm... I suppose that's a good question." I answered, looking towards the door curiously. "Probably got sidetracked on the way over."

"Heh, they prob'ly did, heh." Applejack replied, jabbing me with an elbow. "If ya know what Ah mean."

I practically gawked at her (rather unladylike I know, but I couldn't help it) as she took a quick sip of her punch. "Applejack! Don't say such things! About our own friends, of all ponies to speak such gossip about! Honestly I-" She took another sip of her punch, and a thought occurred to me.

"What? What is it?" She asked, eying me warily.

"How much of that punch have you had?"

"Not much... Only uh..." She stopped to count it out on the nails of her horseshoe. " 'Bout six, why?"

"*groan* Oh, Pinkie..." I muttered as I put my face in my hooves.

"What? D'ya think the punch was spiked?" I looked up at her. She seemed to list to the side gently as she stared at me blankly. I smiled broadly, trying to not seem condescending.

"Ooh... Maybe just a bit."

New Perspective

by Arbiter Balemead

First Day

Holding Out

Things Start

The Shift

Mysteries

Momentum

Velocity

Impact

Recovery

Poetry

Before The Night...

...And the Morning After

Acceptance

Moving In {Part I}