The Only Chapter
College was hell.
At least it felt like it the majority of the time. And it wasn't because she wasn't trying, Rainbow swore to whoever would listen.
She was, whether anyone else believed it or not.
It was just hard! Hard to focus, hard to pay attention. Hard to even get herself to go to classes. That was the hardest part to explain. The fact that she wasn't skipping to go to parties - nothing of the fact. She wasn't even skipping to solely focus on sports.
She was skipping because it felt like the only thing she was capable of doing at times.
Rainbow Dash didn't know how else to describe it. Despite her best efforts, sometimes it felt just useless to do anything. It didn’t help that when she did go to classes, it felt like she couldn't understand anything that was being put in front of her. Even going to tutoring only seemed to alleviate some of the problem.
At the very least, Rainbow felt okay with some of the other things college had brought. Despite her personal struggles, she still made time for the soccer team - and a few more extracurricular activities to boot.
She was never a nerd like Twilight or Sunset, and yet Rainbow could admit some science was cool. The ones that had to do with space exploration at least. While she couldn't pretend to understand everything behind the operations - she did like visiting the NASA team, joining in to learn a little about what the robotics team was doing every once in a while.
Her favorite thing to do (besides soccer) had to be the news studio at school however. It just held a certain appeal to her. One that she hadn't really considered before coming to the university.
Sure she knew she had to major in something after being scouted out. It was part of her scholarship deal and all. But for her first semester, Rainbow had put down exploratory studies for the time being, deeming it something to figure out down the road. After all, she had plenty of time to figure out if she wanted to do something boring like finance or something She had even thought about something like sports management - it had been recommended to her by Twilight as something to look into in order to make sure that she could
But what had appealed to her most, surprisingly enough, was journalism or sports casting. Those two things had been what she had been driven towards.
But she’d lose them all if things continued this way.
She could only stare at the words on her laptop - the words that ate away at her, and threatened everything she was in right now - all the things that she enjoyed and to send her back home to Canterlot faster than you could make a pinkie promise.
Dear Miss Dash,
Due to your GPA falling below the threshold for financial aid, you are on a probationary period for the spring semester. With this, comes three standards: no dropping of classes, no classes below a D grade, and no missing classes more than five days for the semester..
The rest hadn’t mattered - it had went into more details, with a contract to sign at the bottom, which somehow made it all the worse.
As stated earlier: college was hell.
“It’s cool… everything is cool,” Rainbow whispered to herself, staying in her car as she looked at the house lit in a warm, inviting yellow glow. Snow darted the ground from the curb to the stairs, foretelling the beginning of winter.
After all, this was Christmas Break: and after spending a few days with her parents, she had opted to attend her best friend’s reunions. It had been a whole semester since the majority of them had seen each other, barring Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset. The former had chosen to go to community college, and the latter… well, simply couldn’t go to a college, given her circumstances.
And this would be the first time she saw the rest in a while. All with stories from their college days, and all would probably be good…
Meanwhile, what the hell did she even have to say?
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow opened the car door, before shutting it and locking it. There was no sense waiting any longer. Eventually, Pinkie Pie would notice her being out here and that would be utterly more embarrassing than anything else.
“Everything is awesome,” Rainbow said, deciding to change her own mantra to something a bit more familiar - hoping that it would help bolster the confidence that was usually blossoming from her.
With a deep breath, Rainbow put a grin on her face as she rang the doorbell, before leaning on the railing of the porch.
It didn’t take too long for the door to swing open, and a familiar pink poof of hair accompanied by a face to appear. “Youuuu came!” Pinkie Pie said with a bright smile, nearly hopping from foot to foot in the doorwell as the warmth from the house began to escape a little.
“‘Course I did! Where else do you think I’d be tonight? No where’s as awesome as it is right here,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly before pushing herself off the railing, going to give Pinkie a hug. “How have you been Pinks?”
“Lonnnnnely!” Pinkie Pie said, putting on a pout, but quickly returning the hug. “It’s been forever and I’VE MISSED YOU ALL!”
“Missed you too, Pinks. It’s certainly been a long semester.” Rainbow’s voice went a bit softer, as she squeezed her friend before cutting off the hug with a small smirk. “Now come on! I’m freezing my butt out here, and I want to see the rest of the girls already.”
“Ooh! Right, right, sorry!” Pinkie Pie said, quickly moving backward into the hallway to let Rainbow have space to come in, and stomp her boots to remove the snow at the bottom of them. “The girls are all in the living room - well, Applejack and Rarity are in the kitchen helping make dinner togetthhhhher.~” Pinkie Pie said, giving a wink as she shut and locked the door.
“Man, those two got right back to it, didn’t they?” Rainbow said with a snort, as she put her coat on the rack. “Glad to see that they’re still working things out. What about Twilight and Sunset? Ooh - that bad?” She couldn’t help but wince at Pinkie Pie’s expression having gone sour at the mention.
“Wellllll… you haven’t heard it from me, but they’re on the couch together. They’re talking but it’s REALLY chilly over there.” Pinkie Pie faux whispered, pointing towards where the couch would be through the wall.
“... Noted. I’llll steer away from that side of the room until we get to gift-exchanging then.” The last thing Rainbow wanted was to get mixed up in that whole fiasco, shifting the bag of gifts in her hand. She’d have to lay them out with the rest before really getting into talking.
“Makes sense! But speaking of relationshipssssss…” Pinkie Pie said, sidling right up to her side. “What about you, Dashie? Have you been involved in any relationships in college? Got a boyfriend or girlfriend to tell us about?”
“Me?” Well, that was honestly the easier question she could answer as Rainbow scoffed slightly. “Nah. Haven’t had the time to think about a relationship, and honestly I’d rather not. I’m dealing with enough crap back at college with soccer and classes without having to complicate things with a relationship as well - though a few people on the soccer team have tried.” Which got them a swift rejection and put down to go with.
“That makes sense! Neither me or Fluttershy got into a relationship either,” Pinkie Pie said, nodding as she began to lead Rainbow towards the living room. Just as Pinkie had said, there was Sunset and Twilight making what appeared to be a rather cold set of small talk on the couch while she could spot Rarity and Applejack in the kitchen.
“Speaking of… where’s Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, noting the absence of the last girl.
“Went to the bathroom! Mostly to uh… escape that when I went to get the door,” Pinkie Pie said, nodding her head towards the couch momentarily before beaming. “Come on, put your gifts by the tree!” Pinkie Pie said with a grin. “And then our gift fort shall be complete!”
“Riggght,” Rainbow said with another eye roll as she bent down, opening her bag and depositing each gift by the tree.
“Did you get into any crazy parties at school if you didn’t get into a relationship?” Pinkie Pie asked, scooting to take a seat in a chair by the tree now.
“Oh, nah. I did consider for a while joining a sorority or something… but even though Southpoint does have a reputation for a party school, I decided it just wasn’t up my alley, y’know?” Another easy statement to make. That much was true. Rainbow had briefly considered going all out on the partying scene now that she had been out of Canterlot and into a whole different place, but… most sororities just didn’t seem to fit her. And she didn’t really have time for their whole commitment thing. Not to mention that if she had a hard time going to classes, it felt even harder to do shit like that as well.
“I see! I wish I could have joined a sorority - not many at community college. I feel like I would be a real party girl if you know what I mean!” Pinkie Pie said with a wink as Rainbow stood up, making the latter laugh.
“Yeah, I getcha. I could see you being able to balance all that out no sweat, honestly.”
“Thanks!” Pinkie Pie beamed, before her gaze moved elsewhere. “Oh! Fluttershy, you’re here!” She said, quickly waving a hand, as Rainbow found her gaze moving to Fluttershy. A smile broke out across her own face.
“Hey Shy! Glad to see you,” Rainbow said, grinning widely now. “How’s it going with Zoo-ology?” Dang it, she had mispronounced it again hadn’t she? Despite Fluttershy having told her about it half a million times, it still felt hard to get it right. While Rainbow Dash didn’t really want to get into the whole college discussion, she knew how Flutters was. She was someone who had been so excited for college - not asking about it when she knew how her best friend was would be stupid.
“Zoology.” Fluttershy said, a small giggle escaping her at the mispronunciations, making Rainbow’s grin grow even wider. Despite Rainbow always getting it wrong somehow - Fluttershy always seemed to find it alright, somehow. It made Rainbow feel relaxed around her first friend in the group.
“Right, that. So how was it?” Rainbow said, waggling a brow slightly as she leaned forward. Fluttershy had stayed for an in-state university - but had gone to one of the only university within the state that offered zoology as a degree. While Fluttershy and considered going with something more popular in the state such as animal sciences or wildlife biology - zoology itself had been the degree she wanted to get before going to her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (which Rainbow prided herself on remembering the exact term unlike zoology. After all, the latter was the ultimate goal).
“Zoology is… okay,” Fluttershy whispered, a small frown on her face while Pinkie Pie scoffed beside her, eyes darting for a moment towards the couch.
“Okay?! More like absolutely fantastic! I mean, I’m just enjoying communitttty college, but Fluttershy here was just telling me how she got straight As!” Pinkie Pie said, gently shoving Fluttershy with an elbow whose face flushed with a red tone.
“Yep, it was okay.” Fluttershy gave another nod, though despite the ponytail holding up her hair, she managed to hide behind some of it as she nodded.
“That’s… great.” Now, Rainbow was no psychologist. But she knew her best friend. A frown replaced the grin on her own face as Rainbow’s eyes darted over Fluttershy. From her friend’s stance to Shy’s hiding… not to mention the tone of her voice and her weak affirmation, Rainbow knew something was wrong.
“Umm…” Damn it, she was not the best at navigating social situations even after all this time. But Rainbow knew she had to do something to corral Fluttershy away from the group and get her more comfortable in talking. Quickly, Rainbow leaned down by the tree, scooping up Fluttershy’s gift. “There’s something I want to talk to you about alone in the hall for a moment, Shy. Do you mind?”
For a moment, Fluttershy had timidly eyed the gift in Rainbow’s hands, before glancing back at the couch where… the coldness had led a way to icy silence. “... Not at all,” she half-whispered, quickly moving towards the doorway to the hallway.
Meanwhile. Pinkie Pie looked like a deer caught in the head lights, mouthing very clearly despite no words coming out, ‘WHAT, YOU’RE LEAVING ME ALONE WITH THEM. HOW COULD YOUUUU-’ and that was the last Rainbow was able to lip read as she quickly escaped into the hall, leaving Pinkie to the frozen fate of the living room.
As Rainbow moved further into the hallway, she looked towards Fluttershy. Her best friend was still clearly closed off, picking at her sweater slightly as she looked down on the ground, shifting from foot to foot. Fine. If Fluttershy didn’t want to start this, than Rainbow would.
“Tell me the truth Shy. What’s college like?”
Immediately, Fluttershy startled: for a moment, she looked surprised, eyes wide. “What do you mean, Rainbow?” There was a cautionary tone to Fluttershy’s voice as she spoke.
“I mean… come on. I can tell something’s wrong, Shy.” Rainbow said, waving a hand up and down at her, before her frown deepened. “Oh- god. Was the all A thing a lie?” Feeling even more worried than before, Rainbow quickly placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I mean, I failed some classes too. So I get it-”
“You failed some classes?” Fluttershy said, her own face paling slightly as worry crossed it now, replacing her own timidness.
Aww fuck. She hadn’t meant to make this about herself. “Not me right now. You.” Rainbow said, shaking her mane of hair, frowning. “Did you fail?”
“... No,” Fluttershy whispered, shaking her head slightly, though the worry was still clear on her face as anxiety also warred in her eyes. “That’s… not what happened.”
“Then… what is it?” Rainbow said, eyebrows knitting together as she tried to think up another reason for Fluttershy’s unenthusiastic stance on university.
“It’s.. it’s…” Fluttershy closed her eyes, nose wrinkling, before she opened them - and Rainbow was surprised to see tears starting to gather at the corner of her friend’s eyes. “I’m just so lonely at university! I’m… I’m not involved in other clubs. And I miss you girls so much! You’re my best friends in the world and it’s not the same without you all there. A-And… I miss you most of all!” Fluttershy said, before quickly throwing herself at Rainbow, hugging Rainbow tightly as the tears began to flow.
“Shy…” There was only a heartbeat of surprise before Rainbow returned the gesture, barely keeping a hold of the wrapped box in her hand as she quickly hugged Shy back, as tightly as she could.
This was not what she expected. But hell, she was going to be here for Shy either way. “... You’re not alone, Shy. We’re all here all for you - whether it be a phone call away. Or hell, even a drive away! If you need someone to be there for you!”
“B-But… I couldn’t ask that of you,” Fluttershy said, a small hiccuping like-noise escaping her after talking, as she buried her face further into Rainbow’s sweater, muffling the sound of her words.
“But you don’t have to!” Rainbow said, squeezing Shy even tighter. “You’re my best friend, - and I love you! I’d go through hell for you and the rest of the girls, you know that!” Rainbow said firmly. “But… you also got to realize your own strength, Shy. You’re one of the strongest people I know! And I know that any club on wildlife would be lucky to have a member like you. I know putting yourself out there is hard… but I’ll be with you every step of the way. Whether it be through phone, voice call, or video call!”
Fluttershy sniffled once again, finally releasing Rainbow from the tight grasp, she looked up at her friend with an intense gaze. “... Do you mean it?” she whispered slightly.
“Haven’t met anything more,” Rainbow truly said, with a grin.
For a few moments, they stood like that, with Fluttershy looking up at Rainbow, the two locked together still - before Fluttershy darted up and quickly kissed Rainbow on the mouth.
What. What. What.
All thoughts came to a halt at the sudden action, with Rainbow simply staring down at Fluttershy, feeling…
Well! She had no idea. Not yet. But she felt her face warm up.
“… sorry,” Fluttershy whispered, stepping backward, her own face reddening even more than when Pinkie Pie had praised her earlier.
“Um,” Rainbow said wisely, blinking once, twice, before a third time, her brain still catching up with the action. “... It’s cool.” Wait. It was? Had… well, she did sort of like it? Surprisingly?
Shit.
“... Um!” Rainbow repeated, before quickly shoving the box at Fluttershy. “For… you!” She squeaked out, as Fluttershy reached out to grasp it.
“... Thank you,” the girl nearly whispered, as she took it, very precisely taking the wrapping paper off and opening the small box, a small gasp escaping her. “Oh, Rainbow! It’s beautiful!” Deftly, she pulled out the gift that lay inside: a silver chain with two charms attached: a rabbit, and a butterfly. “Two charms?” Fluttershy asked.
“O-Of course! So you have… a choice between what to wear on your necklace. Maybe sometime you’d want to wear it with the rabbit, and other times with the butterfly.”
“Oh, that’s such a nice gift!” Fluttershy brightly said, before wilting slightly. “Oh… but your gift is still by the tree in the living room.”
“Well, we’re going there in a moment, right. And… uh…” Rainbow said, trying to piece together words still in an intelligent way. “You kind of gave me another gift of your own.” Aw, shit. That sounded so corny!
And yet, it made Fluttershy’s blush increase, as she let out a tiny squeak. That was pretty adorable and worthwhile to see at least. Still, it didn’t last for long as worry crossed her face again. “... I-I suppose so. But… um… Rainbow. You failed some classes?” she asked softly.
Right… that was in the open now. Rainbow winced at the question, nodding. “... It’s uh. I’m not like. Done with college. But I’m on probation and… it was…” She sighed. “It’s a lot to deal with. And I’ll talk to you about it eventually-” Rainbow said quickly, looking at Fluttershy’s expression. “But for now: I just want to enjoy the party, okay?”
“... okay,” Fluttershy said with a nod. “As long as you promise.”
“Promise? How about Pinkie Promise?” Rainbow said with a wink, causing Fluttershy to squeak again. How she liked that sound! “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Rainbow said, quickly going through the motions.
“Now, come on! Let’s not uh- keep Pinkie waiting any longer. She’s probably going to kill me when I get back!” Rainbow said brightly, linking arms with Fluttershy, trying to ignore her own blush as she nearly pulled the other girl back towards the living room.
Surprisingly, the atmosphere was a whole lot less tense than it had been when they left. Instead of the chilling cold, there was the warmth of laughter and jokes. It seems that Pinkie had found a temporary solution to the Sciset problem: sitting between the two for now, and inserting herself into the conversation. While Rainbow had no idea how it worked, both of the other girls had smiles on their faces now.
“Dashie! Fluttershy! There you two are!” Pinkie Pie said, quickly jumping off the couch and coming over towards the doorway. “I was wondering where you two had gone off to!”
“Just… had a small talk,” Rainbow said with a grin, hoping the redness in her face had died down for now. “But now we’re back and ready to live it up!”
“... Yay,” Fluttershy said as about as enthusiastically as she did while cheering, a real smile on her face now.
“That’s great!” Pinkie Pie said, with a knowing smile as she… encircled the two. Huh. What was up with that?
“Uh… Pinkie Pie? What are you doing?”
“Oh notttttttthing.~” Pinkie Pie said, as she went behind Fluttershy before quickly pushing the girl towards Rainbow. “JUST GETTING YOU TWO UNDER THE MISTLETOE!” She said with a squeak.
… Oh. Fuck. Rainbow looked up. Yup, there was the cursed Christmas object right there.
They were in a load of teasing now, weren’t they?
Aw, well, Rainbow thought as she grinned down at the surprised Shy now right in front of her. Well worth it!