Chapter II: Lunch

Three days had passed since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had become friends. These were possibly the best days of Fluttershy's life. Before, Fluttershy constantly paid attention in class; it was the only thing she had to keep her mind off of Hoops. Since she met Rainbow, it became nearly impossible to pay attention in class; right now she would be listening to a lesson about how preening your feathers regularly can make you more aerodynamic. Instead, she mentally played a highlight reel of her favorite moments with her new friend.

When they first met and Rainbow confessed her hatred for Hoops. When Rainbow stood up to Hoops for her and then taught Fluttershy to stand up on her own. She wanted so badly to get the opportunity to try out her newly learned technique but oddly, she hasn't heard from Hoops since then.

"Fluttershy." said an annoyed adult voice. Fluttershy didn't notice it. "Fluttershy." the voice sounded more annoyed this time. Fluttershy was still deep in her thoughts. "FLUTTERSHY!" she snapped back to reality and finally acknowledged the voice.

"Wha- huh?" she reacted in confusion, having just mentally returned to the class. "Yes, Mr. Awesome?" Major Awesome was Fluttershy's favorite teacher; he was usually pretty laid back in his lessons. Some would use the words "chill" or "cool" to describe him.

"Would you mind joining us in today's lesson, Fluttershy?" he asked, his entire relaxed vibe lost and replaced with annoyance. He didn't have much of a bad side but if there was one way to get on it, it would be to ignore him.

"Oh, sorry. I'm paying attention now."

"I would hope so, Fluttershy. Anyway by preening your feathers regularly..."

Fluttershy stopped listening again, once more lost in her own thoughts. Luckily, she at least looked like she was paying attention so there were no more interruptions for the rest of the class. Dash is so sweet. She is the best friend a pony could ask for. I can't wait till lunch to meet up with her.

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Her next few classes went by uneventfully. She learned from her mistake of making it obvious that her mind was elsewhere in first period so she was able to space out more inconspicuously. She looked up, then down and pretended to write something. If you paid close attention, you would be able to call her bluff, but from a distance, it was impossible to tell.

Lunch came by eventually and Fluttershy yelped in joy as she heard the bell ring. She jumped up, gathered her books in one quick swipe, and bolted out the door, badly wanting to see Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy had forgotten to pack her lunch today. It was hard to get back into the habit. Having her lunch or lunch bits stolen by Hoops everyday, she just stopped bringing it so she couldn't give Hoops the satisfaction of taking it. That's all it was: satisfaction, Hoops hated salad, which is what Fluttershy always had. Every time he took it, he would immediately throw it away, right in front of her. A move so vicious, it nearly brought tears to Fluttershy's eyes just thinking about it. But Hoops hadn't so much as talked to Fluttershy, let alone steal from her in the last few days. She didn't mind not having lunch today, however, she just loved hanging out with Rainbow. She would gladly give up food forever if it somehow meant hanging out with Dash more.

If somepony walked up to her and said, "Hay, you can hang out with Rainbow Dash forever if you want, but you can't ever eat again."

Fluttershy would've responded with, "That's a weird deal, but I'll take it!"

Fluttershy was approaching her best friend sitting at their favorite spot, eating her favorite sandwich: a meatball sub with lettuce, pepper jack cheese, chipotle sauce, and jalapenos. Fluttershy didn't usually eat meat like anypony else: for some reason, the idea of eating meat revolted her. She sat next to Rainbow Dash and hugged her. That was he her favorite thing to do, Fluttershy decided, was hugging Rainbow. "What'cha eating?" she asked.

"The best meatball sandwich ever! Got it from Sub-Hay!" Rainbow answered, noticing Fluttershy didn't have anything to eat. "What do you have?"

"Oh, I forgot my lunch today." Fluttershy responded. She then proceeded to explain her entire lunch situation with Hoops to Rainbow Dash.

To which Dash responded, "WHAT?! I'll KILL him!" as she opened her wings, ready to go on a search-and-destroy mission. She still had her sandwich in her hoof, indicating that she loved it a bit more than Fluttershy assumed.

"NO! It's ok, I just forgot this time, that's all He didn't have anything to do with it this time!" Fluttershy desperately yelled, hoping to calm Dash down. As much as she hated Hoops, she couldn't stand the idea of bringing harm to him if he was innocent.

"Doesn't matter: I need to remain loyal to my friends! This jerk's not getting away with this!"

"RAINBOW! I haven't seen Hoops in days!" Something about that clicked in Rainbow Dash's head and she immediately called her attack off.

"What?" She asked, completely caught off guard.

"I haven't seen or even heard about Hoops in days." Fluttershy repeated.

"Well, when was the last time you've seen him?"

"Remember the day you stood up to him for me?"

"Yeah,"

"It was the day after that: I saw him in the hallway and he had a black eye and a cast on his wing! He looked scared." Fluttershy said in confusion. "What do you think happened to him?" Rainbow chuckled nervously. "Rainbow, did you do something to him?" Fluttershy asked suspiciously.

"What? No! I wish I did, though! I would love to teach him not to mess with you. I wish I could take credit but that wasn't me!" she denied. "Anyway, if he hasn't been giving you a hard time for the past few days, for whatever reason, I guess there's nothing just that I can do to him." Rainbow stopped flying and slowly floated back to the ground, next to where Fluttershy sat. "So, since you don't have a lunch, do you want the rest of my sandwich?" she offered, as she held the sandwich in question in Fluttershy's vicinity.

"Oh, no thank you." Fluttershy answered. "I don't like meat, I prefer salads."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Rainbow replied as she pulled the lettuce out of her sandwich and put it on the wrapper she bought the sub in. "You can have the lettuce. It's not exactly a salad but it's pretty darn close."

Fluttershy was overcome with joy. The offer itself wasn't much: a little bit of lettuce from somepony's sandwich. It's what the offer meant: Rainbow Dash truly cared for her friend, she made a very thoughtful gesture, Fluttershy realized how stupid it must seem to get this excited over lettuce but she didn't care. These leftover vegetables covered in chipotle sauce meant the world to Fluttershy, she was too happy to care, she loved Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash loved her. Fluttershy's love for her may go further than simple friendliness. She thinks she might be developing a crush. A crush on Dashie...

Author's Note

Well, nopony noticed the reference in the last chapter and I needed a cameo so I used my own OC. This chapter's reference is one of Aziz Ansari's acts (don't worry, they won't ALL be comedians.) My offer stills stands: find the reference and your OC makes an appearance in the next chapter. And I'm sorry this chapter was so short, there was only so much I could write to get the point across in this one. I'll try to make the other chapters longer: around 3000 words, at least. Anyway, that's all for now.