The Confession
As she walked out of the school, Rarity stopped to check her appearance in the new reflecting pool in front of Canterlot High. Perfect, as always. The reflecting pool did, however, stir the memory of the Incident at the Fall Formal. Remarkable as it had been, after several students had been taken to rehab or therapy after telling their parents about exactly what had happened, it had quietly been agreed that the more bizarre occurrences that night did not need to be shared with anyone who had not witnessed them. The students had gone to the dance, had an enjoyable evening, and had gone home safe; in the end, that was all that mattered and was mentioned. Rarity continued on her way and forced herself to think of other things. Perhaps her latest dress design could do with some lace around the edges? Or maybe not.
On a hill just off-campus, Rarity spotted, under the gnarled old oak that topped the crest, a pink, yellow, and pale green shape. She then recognized that it was her friend, Fluttershy. Rarity altered course to meet her and noted that there had been at least one good thing that had come from the Incident; putting past misunderstandings behind them, she had reacquainted with old friends, among them, Fluttershy.
Drawing closer, Rarity found her pink-haired friend looking quite sad. Fluttershy sat at the base of the great tree with her chin resting on knees pulled close to her chest, absentmindedly stroking a white rabbit that cuddled up against her side.
“Fluttershy, is everything alright?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy looked up at her and said in a soft voice “Hi Rarity.”
“What is the matter, darling?” Rarity inquired in a comforting tone. “You look as if someone kicked a puppy.”
“It’s nowhere near that bad,” the shy animal lover said. “It’s just that…” Fluttershy looked away, unable to meet her friend’s eyes.
Hoping the grass would not stain her skirt too badly, she sat down next to her friend and laid an arm across her shoulders. “Come now, you know you can talk with me about anything.”
Fluttershy sighed. “Oh, Rarity, it’s just that…there’s someone I really like, but I…I can’t bring myself to tell them.”
“Ah, so it’s romance then; one of my areas of expertise. Though I must admit to a lack of experience as a pursuer. Why don’t you tell me a little about them?”
“Well…they’re fun, and energetic,” Fluttershy’s voice started taking a dreamy tone as she continued, “and confident, and adventurous, and athletic—“
“Ooh, an athlete, eh? Which team are they on?”
“Oh, um, a bunch, but right now they’re playing soccer.”
“Hm. Very nice choice,” Rarity smiled slyly, contemplating the trim, toned bodies of the boys on the soccer team. “So what exactly is the problem?”
“I just don’t know if I should tell them…”
“Well, I’ll tell you this much, darling; you don’t want to let something slip through your fingers when you could have gotten hold of something wonderful. If you have these feelings, you should speak up. I would suggest that you find some way to get them alone and just lay out exactly how you feel in no uncertain terms.”
“But what if…” Fluttershy seemed to shrink in upon herself as she asked “what if they don’t feel the same way?”
Rarity wished she had a good answer for her friend, but she still tried. “Love is always a bit of a gamble, dear. And, not to be cliché, but as the saying goes, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ You don’t want to lose someone just because you couldn’t tell them how you feel, do you?”
Fluttershy considered this, then sat up straighter, a look of determination on her face. “You’re right!” she said with conviction. “I shouldn’t be afraid to say how I feel. Thank you Rarity,” she hugged her friend tightly before getting up. “I’ve got to go.” With that, she scooped up the little white rabbit into her backpack and dashed off.
“Good luck!” Rarity called after her. She was glad that she could help a friend, and, as she got up, didn’t see a single grass stain on her clothes. This was a good day.
Rainbow Dash ran down the hallway toward the locker rooms. The after-class lecture from her math teacher about her grades had delayed her more than she thought it would. She just hoped it didn’t make her really late for practice. Hell, with all this running, she would be ready to go while everyone else was still warming up. Skidding around a corner, she saw a familiar face. Standing in front of the locker room was her friend, Fluttershy.
During recent and really weird series of events, Rainbow had reunited with several old friends. She loved hanging out with them all, including Fluttershy. In fact, Rainbow had frequently noticed the girl in the stands at their home games, and had begun to think of her as a good luck charm. She always seemed to perform better in a game when she could look to the stands to find Fluttershy jumping and cheering her heart out, that self-consciousness of hers forgotten in a display of wild emotion.
Right now, Rainbow didn’t have a lot of time to concentrate on anything other than soccer practice, but she did slow down for her friend. Still jogging in place, she said “Hey Fluttershy! What’s up?”
The girl turned to her but avoided eye contact, looking down at her feet. Her hands were clenched together in front of her stomach, as though trying to still what must have been a storm of butterflies. “Rainbow, I, um…I wanted to t-talk to you and, um, tell you s-something…”
“Okay, but can you make it—” Seeing her friend’s nervousness, Rainbow cut herself short and stopped hopping from foot to foot. “No, never mind. What were you gonna say?”
In a small voice, Fluttershy tried to speak. “I…I wanted to…to say…”
Trying to sound encouraging rather than pressing, Rainbow told her “C’mon, Fluttershy. Whatever it is just spit it out.”
Squeezing her eyes shut tight, Fluttershy took a deep breath and half-shouted “Rainbow, I have a huge crush on you!”
Rainbow Dash felt like she had been hit with a ton of bricks. Eyes wide, she stood with her jaw slack, mouth agape. Fluttershy shrank in on herself, head dropping like a scared animal, her hair falling to hiding most of her face, eyes still closed.
Rainbow was completely stunned. No part of her body would respond while her brain tried to process what she had just heard. A nearby clock on the wall sounded incredibly loud in the empty hall, ticking away the seconds in the sudden silence. Still she stood, with her mind scrabbling for a reaction, unable to come up with anything. As time stretched, the one eye that could be seen through the cotton-candy colored curtain that covered the cowering girl’s face slowly opened, conveying both curiosity and fear.
Unfortunately, Rainbow could only stammer out “Y-…y-you….” She saw tears forming in that teal eye and a burning blush that turned the other girl’s partially obscured cheek a bright crimson, and tried to force out something, anything. “I…uh…”
With a small, squeaking sob, Fluttershy turned and ran away. Rainbow found only enough strength to raise one hand after her and say in a voice barely above a whisper “Wait…” It was too late; she was gone.
Her mind still trying to latch onto coherent thought, Rainbow fell into autopilot. She had to get to soccer practice. So she turned and walked into the locker room.
* * *
As she strolled down the street towards the Boutique, Rarity idly window shopped. Her eyes wandered over familiar electronics, shelves of books, home furnishings, and the various advertisements selling them all. Her mind began to drift and she wondered once again why she hadn’t seen Fluttershy at lunch today. She had not been in front of the school handing out flyers for the animal shelter as she usually did on Wednesdays, either. Perhaps she had been spending time with her new beau, stealing kisses under the bleachers or in some unoccupied hallway. No, that was something that she would do, not timid Fluttershy. More likely, she was introducing him to some of her animal friends. What might that scene be like?
Passing the ice cream shop on the corner, a new ad caught her eye. The “Super Triple-Chocolate Chunky Fudge Sundae” pictured offered exactly what it’s name promised; several scoops of three different flavors of ice cream with chunks of dark fudge sprinkled on top, smothered in chocolate syrup. Rarity did not even want to think about how many calories such a dessert must contain, nor what kind of damage it could do to her figure. “Not in this lifetime,” she muttered, turning to continue on. It was then that she noticed a familiar blob of bright pink behind the window glass.
Inside the shop, she saw Fluttershy slumped upon a table in the far corner. She went in and approached the girl, noticing one of the new Frankensteinish chocolate treats before her, untouched and slowly melting into a puddle in the bowl. “Fluttershy?” she asked gently. “Is everything okay?”
Fluttershy looked up at her and Rarity could see that she had been crying. Head still buried in her arms, the sad girl mumbled “Hi, Rarity,” in a weak voice.
Rarity took seat across from her and asked “What happened, dear?”
Fluttershy sniffed and raised her head just enough to see her face. “I…I took your advice from before.”
“You mean about your crush?”
Nodding, Fluttershy said “I went and I said exactly how I felt and…”
“And what did he say?”
“S-she didn’t say anything!” Fluttershy sobbed. “She just stood there staring at me! And I…I just got so embarrassed I ran away.” New tears welling up, she once more buried her face in her arms, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
“I’m so sorry, dear,” Rarity tried to comfort her. “I know it must hurt, but…wait…” One might almost have seen the gears turning in her head for a moment. “Did…did you say ‘she’?”
Fluttershy suddenly froze, just realizing that she had revealed something that she had kept very private for some time. Peeking up from behind her arms, she began to blush. She finally made eye contact with her friend and, seeing no judgment on her face, nodded confirmation.
“Oh…I had no idea…” Rarity caught herself short and cleared her throat. “Do you mind if I ask whom you’ve had your eye on?”
“…R…Rainbow Dash.”
“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity was getting quite good at hearing the near-whisper mumbling that Fluttershy lapsed into when she was nervous. “Well, that…certainly complicates things.” Fluttershy reburied her face in her arms, even deeper than before, her shoulders starting to tremble as the sobbing threatened to begin anew. “Don’t despair, Fluttershy,” Rarity reached across the table to gently stroke the girl’s arm. “I know it hurts now, dear, but I know that eventually you’ll find that special girl who will love you and make you forget about any heartbreak.
“And even if she can’t return your feelings completely, I’m sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to lose you as a friend.” Slowly, the shaking in her shoulders began to stop. “Maybe you could find Rainbow again, and try to really talk things out. The rest of us are here for you, too, if we can help in any way. We all care about you very dearly.”
With another great sniff, Fluttershy looked up at her and gave a wan, thankful smile.
“Now, while there may be no cure for a broken heart, this,” Rarity continued, taking up the spoon from the sundae between them “is one heck of a treatment.” This actually got a small laugh out of Fluttershy. As a show of support, Rarity took up a spoonful of the decadent dessert and made herself eat it.
Her eyes went wide as the ice cream, fudge, and syrup mixed together on her tongue. Under the chocolaty stimulus, endorphins flooded through her brain until she could feel her skin began to tingle. “Oh. My. Gosh…” she said as she swallowed. “This is incredible. You really must have some.”
She pressed the spoon into Fluttershy’s hand. Though she had not been hungry since the day before, she was grateful for her friend’s support and so took a scoop of the sundae and ate it. Her eyes widened in surprise at the incredible taste of the dessert. “Oh, my…”
For the next couple of hours, the two girls sat, eating the ice cream while Rarity steered the conversation away from Rainbow Dash. And although Rarity could practically feel inches being added to her waistline with every bite of ice cream, she was glad that she could help her friend feel better, if only for now.
Practice had not gone well for Rainbow, just like yesterday. She fumed over her bad performance in the locker room. Really, she knew the cause of it all. Why did Fluttershy have to say that? Ever since, the girl’s face had been a constant in a tumultuous stream of thoughts and emotions. She had been avoiding her friends ever since in an effort to not discuss what had happened. She felt like utter crap for it, too. She certainly didn’t enjoy the thought that things were returning to how they were before the Incident; alone and abandoned by her closest friends. Except that she was doing the abandoning this time. That just made it worse.
Walking out of the locker room, she was accosted by a shrill voice. “Rainbow Dash!” Her pale fashionista friend, Rarity, was marching toward her, her face a mask of anger.
“Oh please don’t tell me you’re in with love me, too,” Rainbow moaned.
“That is not funny,” Rarity stated, crossing her arms.
“Yeah, do you hear me laughing?” The athlete’s shoulders slumped as she began to turn away from her friend.
“How can you be so heartless?”
This stopped Rainbow in her tracks. “What do you mean?” she asked indignantly.
“I’ve just been speaking with Fluttershy,” Rarity said accusingly. “She is completely miserable right now because of you!”
Rainbow’s chest tightened on hearing that. “Don’t you think I feel terrible about that?” Sighing wearily, she asked “What do you want from me?”
“I want an explanation. Poor Fluttershy bared her heart to you and you don’t even have the decency to respond?” Rainbow shut her eyes against this verbal onslaught, and her haunting shame at her own actions. “Well?” Rarity demanded. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I froze, okay?!”
Rarity was taken aback. “What?”
“I’m not proud of it, but I just froze up!” Rainbow was nearly shouting. “I mean, she caught me by surprise and my mind just drew a total blank! I hate myself for it, but I had absolutely no idea how to react, and by the time I could even form words again, she ran off.”
Rarity was uncertain how to continue, now knowing that Rainbow was as ashamed as she had wanted her to feel. “Well…I guess that’s an excuse…” A tense moment passed where neither would make eye contact. Finally, she asked “How do you feel about her?”
“Like a big piece of crap for hurting her.”
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah. It’s just…” Rainbow sighed. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Just that! I don’t know!” Rainbow started pacing tensely while her voice rose. “I mean, I really like her as a friend and I was really happy when we all got back together, but I never thought of her in that way before. I’ve never felt that way about any girl before, but ever since she told me, I can’t stop thinking about her and if I do or even could feel that way, and if there is a chance for something to happen with her. There’s part of me saying ‘Go for it! It’ll be awesome! We’re already really close friends, why shouldn’t we be…girlfriends?’ but then there’s another part of me saying 'No, don’t! Something will go wrong. You’ll mess it up and drive her away and then things will get weird with everyone and eventually go back to how it was before...you know.’” Rarity knew she meant the Incident. “And so I’ve got these two sides in my head arguing so that I can barely think about anything!” Rainbow threw her back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. “And I. Just. Don’t. Know.”
Rarity could see that she was really struggling over this; which really made her want to kick something just so she could direct her anger somewhere instead of at someone who didn’t deserve it. “Well…I suggest that you figure it out! And soon. She’s our friend, she’s hurting, and she needs a real answer.” She turned her back on Rainbow as though to leave, but lingered. “And…if you can’t return her feelings, she at least deserves to know that, to have something definite. Maybe it will give her some sort of…closure, or something.” With that, she stormed off.
“Yeah, great talk,” Rainbow muttered. “Real helpful.”
* * *
The next day at practice, Rainbow was distracted again. The war in her brain over what to do about Fluttershy continued, ruining her focus. Her mind wandered and brought up a memory. Not that long ago, she and her friends had all gone to check out the zoo. They’d had a great time hanging out, but one part now stood out in particular for Rainbow. Although the variety of colors and patterns on the lazily flapping bugs in the butterfly house had been a real spectacle, Rainbow was a little bored in there. But then she saw Fluttershy standing there with the pretty insects practically swarming her. She stood with arms raised, letting them land on her arms and fingertips and even in her hair, where they looked like a bizarre sort of crown. She was clearly thrilled, and seeing it all made Rainbow smile. She still had that picture on her phone.
Another time, they had all gone to see a movie together. It was a forgettable piece of schlock that the trailer had hyped up way too much. She had begun a snarky commentary while it ran, which made Fluttershy laugh. Rainbow really liked hearing that laugh. But now, in her mind, the laugh changed, turning into a sob. Her guts twisted as she once again remembered the tears in her friend’s eyes and watched as she ran away from her.
And then—
POW!
—the ball upside her head stunned her, and she tripped and fell. She hit the ground hard, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Slowly, her senses returned to normal and she noticed Coach Armor kneeling next to her.
“Rainbow, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she muttered.
“Seriously, Rainbow,” he said, concern evident in his voice “you haven’t been yourself recently. What’s going on?”
“I said I’m fine,” she snapped back, a little harsher than she had really intended.
Coach Armor put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, but made a mental note to try and talk to her afterward. The guy who had kicked the ball was stammering apologies at her, but Rainbow brushed him off.
The practice session resumed, but Rainbow was still distracted by her thoughts. Her gaze drifted eventually toward the fence surrounding the soccer field; by lucky timing, she looked up to see Fluttershy walking past with her head hung low.
Fluttershy glanced at the field, and their eyes met. In that one moment, she felt all her strange new emotions stirring and realized that they weren’t new; they had been there all along, she just hadn’t been paying attention. Suddenly everything made sense. That was the moment that she knew she had an answer. Fluttershy quickly averted her gaze and continued walking.
Rainbow took off running. She shouted “Piss break,” as she ran past the coach.
“Make it quick,” Coach Armor called after her.
The fastest girl at Canterlot High was a blur as she rounded the corner and pursued her friend. Soon, she saw Fluttershy ahead of her, turning onto a path through a park. Rainbow followed, calling out to her. Fluttershy visibly cringed and began walking faster, but Rainbow quickly caught up to her. “Fluttershy, wait up! I want to talk to you!”
Fluttershy abruptly turned and said “Rainbow I’m sorry I said all that but, please…ca-can we still be friends?”
Rainbow was once again stunned, but only for a moment. “You don’t have to be sorry about anything. I’m sorry for how I reacted. I didn’t mean to hurt you. And we’ll always be friends; I never want to lose that. But I wanted to talk to you and…and…”
Come on, you stupid brain! Put words in my mouth!
“I wanted to tell you…” Rainbow saw fear and a little trace of hope on Fluttershy’s face while the words were still caught in her throat.
SAY IT! JUST SAY IT!
“I wanted to…”
Oh screw it. Rainbow grabbed the sides of Fluttershy’s face, pulled her close, and planted a big, fat kiss right on her lips.
Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to be stunned. She had a brief moment of panic before she realized what was happening. This was followed by a moment of disbelief and a fear that this might all be a dream; but no, this felt very real. In fact, it felt…amazing.
The kiss had started out stiff and forceful, but it soon softened. The girls’ bodies began to respond and drew closer to each other. They pressed against each other, sharing the heat of a rising passion as they melted into each other’s arms. Rainbow’s arm slid down in a long, slow caress until her hand was resting in the small of Fluttershy’s back. Fluttershy’s hands hesitantly settled on Rainbow’s waist. After a long minute, they finally broke the kiss. Their breathing was heavy as they held each other, foreheads resting together.
“Rainbow…you…”
“Yes,” Rainbow said as they looked into each other’s eyes. “I feel the same way, Fluttershy.” The girl laughed nervously, prompting Rainbow to kiss her again.
They stood there, making out for a minute before Rainbow remembered something. “Crap. I gotta get back to practice.” She made no move to pull away. “Hey, do you have any plans tomorrow night?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“Then I’ll call you, and we can make some.”
“Okay.”
Rainbow gave her one last quick peck on the lips before they untangled themselves. With a couple of ‘bye’s from each of them, she left, feeling lighter on her feet than ever before. When she was gone, Fluttershy made a little leap of happiness.
In the Boutique, Rarity was arranging a new dress on a mannequin when the door burst open. Fluttershy came in, pink hair flying behind her like a banner, trailing sunshine and a small flock of various songbirds. The birds flitted through the air a little before beginning to settle around the shop. Rarity gave them a glare meant to warn them against pooping on anything. A beaming smile stretching ear to ear, Fluttershy ran up and grabbed her friend in an excited hug.
“What has gotten into you?” Rarity asked.
“She likes me back!”
“Do you mean Rainbow Dash?”
“Yes!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “She even kissed me!”
“Oh darling, I’m so happy for you,” Rarity returned the hug. She would have to find Rainbow Dash and apologize for the way she had spoken to her.
Fluttershy laughed in a giddy excitement. “And she asked me out for tomorrow night, too.”
“Well, then,” Rarity turned to a nearby rack of clothing, “we have to pick out an outfit for you; something special.”
“But we haven’t even decided what we’re going to do yet or anything.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to make sure you look fabulous!”
