"- so I bucked him in the face! Broke his stupid looking manly jaw too," crowed a gleeful looking Rainbow Dash. "You should have seen the look on his face - priceless!"
The rainbow-maned mare turned to the cream coated pegasus to her left; a look of smug satisfaction on her face. "And that's why you can't trust most stallions these days. Most of them are interested in one thing, and one thing only - they want the vee," she said, trying to sound sagely.
Fluttershy smiled politely at her friend. "I'm just happy that you weren't hurt, Rainbow Dash." She gently cuffed the back of Dash's head with a wing, "Did you really have to hospitalize him, though? I can't imagine it's very pleasant having to eat through a straw."
Rainbow Dash scoffed, "He was asking for it! Besides," she scowled, recalling what had happened, "pretty much everypony in town knows how much I hate it when somepony touches my hooves. Only my special-somepony gets to do that, whoever it ends up being."
Shaking her head to clear it of any mushy thoughts, she grinned at Fluttershy and winked playfully. "Anyway, have I told you about this awesome new move I've been working on? No? Well, prepare yourself to be amazed! So, basically, you get-"
Fluttershy sighed and followed along, listening with half an ear, as her friend kept marching on toward their destination. The day had started out so well too. She had a lovely breakfast. Fed all of her precious little animal friends. Completed all of her work and chores. And finally opened a new romance novella that Rarity had lent her.
"-then I do a quick corkscrew turn at the apex-"
Granted, she had been shocked by the type of book it was at first, but as she read on she slowly found her interest growing more and more. That was probably the reason why Rarity had looked so flustered as she practically shoved the book into her hooves; Of course, she still wondered about that odd twinkle in her fashion conscious friend's eyes, as she all but begged Fluttershy to read the book.
"-and I gotta account for turbulence, but that's not re- "
'I never knew Rarity was into lesbimare fictions,' she thought, trying to puzzle out why Rarity seemed so dead-set on getting her to read it.
"-so I figure with a bit of pegasus magic, I can change the effects on my flow field and-"
Of course that was all a moot point now. Rainbow Dash had barged into her home and somehow gotten her to come shopping with her. She wouldn't find out how the novella ended any time soon.
"-times the mass density, times velocity squared, times the drag coefficient-"
She sighed, 'I can't believe Rainbow Dash conned me into going shopping with her. Why would she even need my help to buy things?' Her eyes widened in panic, 'Oh no! I can't believe I just thought that about my own best friend!' Her eyes watered pitifully, 'I'm a horrible pony!'
Fluttershy was brought out of her errant thoughts as she accidentally bumped into the other pegasus. The rainbow-maned mare turned to face her, a satisfied look on her face.
"Here we are! Ponyville Bed Emporium, the go-to place for everything a sleepy pony wants!"
Fluttershy tilted her head to the side in confusion. "You're looking for a new bed?"
Rainbow nodded cheerfully. "Yup! I kinda, accidentally, maybe... broke mine."
The lavender-pink maned mare seemed even more confused. "How did you break your old bed, Rainbow Dash?"
The mare in question looked around shiftily. "Well, I kind of didn't just stop at breaking that other guy's jaw, and- hey what are we still doing out here? Let's go find me a new bed!"
Fluttershy yelped as her friend quickly got behind her, and started pushing her into the store.
"Your smile is like a sunrise, it sets the clouds on fire. But just being with you, is what I always admire," she whispers into your ear.
'What are these strange feelings in my tummy?' you wonder thoughtfully. 'Is this love?'
You look into her ruby colored eyes - glimmering warmly at you, only you - and understand. 'I'm starting to figure her out. I know she isn't what I should care about. But whenever she reveals something about herself to me, I think we're meant to be.'
Blood rushes to your cheeks as she lowers her muzzle to your own. Was she going to kiss you? You close your eyes and slowly lean forward, eager to explore these new feelings.
She caresses your neck using feathered wing. "You will enjoy this, I believe. Embrace these forbidden feelings with me... Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy!"
"Eep!"
The canary-cream coated mare blinked owlishly at the rainbow of colors in front of her. Rainbow Dash looked her over with concern. "You alright there, Shy? You were spacing out for a bit. You must have been thinking of something pretty darn interesting! So, what was it about?"
Fluttershy froze, a feeling of horror overtaking her for a moment, after which she forced herself to relax. "Oh, um... Just thinking about how lovely the Grand Galloping Gala will be!" she said, hoping her friend wouldn't catch the lie. She had no intention of telling Dash that she was daydreaming about the romance novella Rarity had given her. That would be so embarrassing!
Rainbow Dash eyed her thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging and rolling her eyes playfully. "Whatever you say, Fluttershy." She turned back to the nearly forgotten shopkeeper; On his vest a name-tag read: 'Hi! My name is Opposite Cheer.' "Anyways, where were we, Tom?"
The stallion's left eye twitched, but a scheming grin remained on his face. "Well, as I was saying, we have beds in many shapes, sizes, and makes to suit our honorable customers' needs. You name it, we probably have it. If we don't, we'll have it made. We also cover a wide assortment of bedding needs, should you be looking for pillows, duvets and such."
Dash rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Well, Jim, I'm finding myself in the need for a brand new bed. I'd like to sleep on something comfortable tonight, and not the couch again."
'Jim' grinned widely, the sound of many shiny equestrian bits ringing in his mind. "If comfort is what you desire, then may I perhaps show you our waterbeds, honorable customer?"
The rainbow-maned mare scrunched her eyes at the thought of a waterbed. "Eh, no thanks. I've had some bad experiences with waterbeds." That, and you can't exactly use them as efficient weapons on idiotic stallions with little to no survival instincts. "What about a cloud bed, Tim? Clouds are some of the most comfortable things I've ever slept on."
The shopkeeper shook his head in denial. "I apologize, but clouds do not make for an ideal permanent bed. They dissolve eventually if they remain in cloud form."
Rainbow gave him a disbelieving look. "But what about pegasi cloud homes? They don't have that problem."
He nodded in agreement. "That is true, however, have you ever tried sleeping on any weather-factory building-grade clouds? They are the furthest thing from comfort, I assure you."
She had never tried sleeping on those kinds of clouds before, but now that she thought about it, the walls and floors of her cloud home, while solid, did not look comfortable at all. "Well, do you have anything super-comfy that isn't a waterbed?"
The smoky-grey coated stallion beamed a winning smile at her. "But of course, honorable customer! We supply anything and everything you might need for your sleeping needs! Right this way!"
Rainbow Dash turned to her friend who had remained silent for the conversation. She face-hoofed herself. Fluttershy was sitting upright, her eyes glazed, with a dopy grin and flushed cheeks. Was she seriously day dreaming again? "Fluttershy!"
The canary-cream coated mare woke from her fantasy, and saw Rainbow's stern face. She bowed her head apologetically. "O-oh! Rainbow, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going on with me today..."
Dash sighed at her friend's antics. Why did she pick today to be weird? She smirked confidently at her. "Hey, don't worry about it, I do it sometimes too."
Fluttershy felt her cheeks heat up. Did she know? "Y-you too?"
Dash saw the disbelief on her friend's face, and grinned cheerfully. "Of course! There's nothing wrong with doing that kind of thing. Nopony will judge you just because of something silly like that!" After all, she also liked to sometimes just sit down and imagine herself flying with the Wonderbolts.
The timid mare blushed at her friend's words. She never knew Rainbow Dash to be the type to read those kinds of romance novels. Her cheeks burned even brighter. 'Does that mean that Rainbow likes other mares in 'that' kind of way?' she thought.
"Come on, let's go, Timone's gonna show us the most radical beds they have in this joint."
Fluttershy watched as her friend walked off to follow the shopkeeper. With an inaudible grunt she stood up and followed; she froze, however, as her eyes strayed to Dash's well defined flank. "Eep!"
Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as Fluttershy quickly appeared at her side. The shy mare had her head hung low, bangs of mane hiding her eyes. Rainbow did not miss the flushed look on her cheeks. "Hey, are you sure you're alright, Shy?"
'Shy?' she thought. 'That's almost like a pet name isn't it?' Her thoughts immediately went back to the novella, and her mind unhelpfully started conjuring up images of her and Rainbow Dash doing lewd things with each other. She felt dizzy with all the blood rushing to her head, and walked into Dash by accident.
The rainbow-maned pegasus reached out a wing and steadied Fluttershy. "Hey, whoa! Speak to me, Fluttershy, what's going on? I'm really getting worried here!"
Fluttershy's head sunk in guilt, 'Great. I'm having these shameful thoughts about my best friend, and she's worrying about me. Can this get any worse?'
Perhaps she should not have tempted fate, or perhaps Murphy must have heard her thoughts.
Dash tugged the shy pony's head to her and rested her forehead against hers, ignorant of the reason behind the increasingly bright glow on her face. "My Mum taught me this trick," she said, inordinately proud of herself. "Huh, that's weird. You don't feel like you have a fever."
She tapped her cheek thoughtfully, then clapped her hooves together, now having a new plan. "Aha! Being wet cools ponies off right?" She patted Fluttershy's cheek cheerfully. "Don't worry Flutters! I'll get you all nice and wet in no time!"
Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore, and at Dash's mention of getting her 'wet', she fainted.
"Oh no! Fluttershy!"
You open your eyes and see her sitting there. She smiles beautifully, eyes fixed firmly onto you. "My dear Fluttershy, have you known? Without another, a heart is alone; to truly make a heart feel whole, it needs a tender and understanding soul."
She steps closer to you with heavy-lidded eyes, her smile growing warmer with every step she takes.
"I just want something sugary and sweet. A really romantic treat. The only thing I can think of is when our lips meet," she whispers, her voice husky, as she leans closer to meet her lips to your own.
You shudder, feeling a strange pleasure as your friend- no, your lover, holds you closer. "Rainbow Dash..."
"Hey! Wake up, dang it!"
"Eep!"
Fluttershy blearily blinked her eyes as the shapeless blob cleared up into her friend. "Rainbow Dash?"
The athletic pegasus sighed in relief. "Geez, Fluttershy. You just about gave me a heart attack there! Come on, we're getting you to a doctor."
Fluttershy started panicking. "W-wait! What about your bed?"
Dash scoffed, her wings flared in agitation. "There's no way in Celestia's pale white flank I'm letting you suffer a moment longer. I don't know what the heck is going on, but we need to fix you up. Seriously, you just fainted for no reason, Shy! Now, come on."
The timid mare shook her head. "It's fine, Rainbow, really! I just forgot to have breakfast this morning, so I'm just feeling a bit lightheaded."
Rainbow Dash eyed her dubiously. "Really?"
"Hm!"
She sighed deeply, the tension leaving her wings as they retracted. "Alright, I guess I can buy that. And if you're so hungry that you're passing out, then I'll just have to fix that, won't I?" Her eyes raked over Fluttershy's figure. "You're practically skin and bone, Shy, you're not hard for bits right? I can help out if you'd like? Is it trouble with rent? You can stay at my place, I wouldn't mind. You could have the new bed and I'll just keep using the couch, I guess..."
Fluttershy felt a warm feeling of happiness engulf her being. Who knew Dash could be so caring and selfless? She smiled brightly at her friend, startling the cyan coated pegasus. "I'm not having any financial troubles, Rainbow, don't worry. Thank you for caring all the same."
Rainbow Dash nodded, looking slightly confused at her friend's strange behavior. She shrugged, deciding to think more on it later, she had more important things to do at the moment. Like getting a brand-spanking new bed! Aw, yeah!
"Right. After we're done here I'll take you out somewhere nice and get some food into that hungry belly of yours. Sound good?"
The canary-cream coated mare nodded happily and followed along as Dash headed towards the patiently waiting shopkeeper. She paused, 'Wait a minute. She said 'take you out'. She's taking me out on a date?' Her cheeks were quickly growing accustomed to the new bright red color.
Dash nodded at the seedy looking shopkeeper.
He rose an eyebrow, "Is your marefriend better now?"
Not really knowing the significance of the word, but figuring that Fluttershy was both a mare and her friend, she nodded. "Yeah, she skipped breakfast so she's low on energy, no big." She didn't notice the squeak behind her, and continued. "So, where's this super-comfy bed you were bragging about, Gary?"
The dodgy looking shopkeeper puffed his chest out proudly, and gestured to the bed to his left. "What we have here is a feather bed, known for providing absolute comfort."
Rainbow Dash looked unimpressed.
Fluttershy looked horrified. "F-feathers?! This bed is made with duck and geese feathers?"
Right as the shy mare was about to start a rant the shopkeeper shook his head. "Oh, don't worry, this specific model doesn't use duck or geese feathers. It wouldn't make for a very impressively comfortable bed if that were the case, now would it?"
Rainbow Dash looked at him with a deadpan expression. "What's so special about it then, Gordon?"
'Gordon' grinned stupidly. "I'm glad you asked, honorable customer! What's special about this bed, is that pegasi feathers were used to make it! You won't find any more comfort than on a bed like this."
The athletic pegasus scrunched her nose in confusion. "What's so special about pegasi feathers?"
He beamed at her. "Glad you asked, again! The feathers of a pegasus still retain weather magic, making them far lighter than any other common feather could. A single feather on its own is not really that impressive, but a bed full of the weightless little things, makes for an incredible experience. Like sleeping on a cloud, I've been told."
At the word 'cloud' Dash was sold. She quickly got onto the bed and lay down. She gasped in delight, it really did feel like a cloud! The pegasus buried her face into the bed and sigh happily. "This feels greeeeat."
There was just one thing missing. She got up and gave the shopkeeper a questioning look. "Why doesn't this bed have any pillows? I wanna try out some feather pillows too, get the full experience, you know?"
The shopkeeper sighed sadly. "Ah, you noticed? Well, this is the only pegasus featherbed we have in stock, I'm afraid. They are quite expensive, you know? The matching pillows seemed pointless to get unless somepony actually intended to buy both the featherbed and pegasus feather bedding. I could fetch you some of the geese feather pillows if you'd like?"
Rainbow scowled at the thought of using 'normal' feather pillows. Her face brightened as an idea came to her. "That wont be necessary. I've got a walking, talking, pony feather pillow right here."
She turned to face Fluttershy, who was off in her own dreamworld, again. She sighed.
"Fluttershy!"
"Eep!"
The timid mare looked guiltily at her friend. "S-sorry. I did it again..."
Dash rolled her eyes, and shook her hoof dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get over here will you? This bed feels incredible, I want you to try it out."
Fluttershy perked up, missing the glint of mischief in her friend's eyes. "Really? I wonder what a pegasus feather bed would feel like."
As soon as she laid down she froze as Dash moved closer and placed a hoof on her side. The shy mare yelped as she was unceremoniously flipped around. Her body went limp as she felt Rainbow snuggling her head into her canary-yellow feathers. She felt the blood rushing to her head, and promptly fainted again.
An hour later at a slightly busy restaurant.
Rainbow speared a mini-tomato with her fork, popped it into her mouth and chewed happily. Today was a pretty good day. She got to hang out with the most awesome friend in the world. Bought the most radical bed in the world. And now she was having a wicked cool lunch with said awesome friend. The day just couldn't possibly get any better!
Sitting opposite of her, Fluttershy slowly nibbled away at her lasagna. The shy mare had felt slightly insulted that Dash had ordered so much for her, but quickly dropped it after realizing that she was only worried about her. Evidently fainting a second time in front of Rainbow Dash was a quick way to get her to go into full-on mothering mode.
Fluttershy felt her cheeks warm up again. Was it selfish of her to like the attention her friend was showering onto her? It was that silly novella of Rarity's fault. If she hadn't read it, then she wouldn't be feeling all of these conflicting thoughts and feelings right now. One good thing to come out of this whole mess, was her seeing a whole new side to her athletic friend.
As soon as she returned home she would burn that accursed book and forget all about it.
...Okay, maybe she wouldn't burn it. It was after all her friend's property. She simply wouldn't finish reading the book, and just return it. There, problem solved!
Then again, she observed the cheerful cyan coated pegasus in front of her, maybe a peek wouldn't hurt?
Rainbow caught her eye and winked teasingly.
Fluttershy averted her eyes and lowered her head, trying to hide the crimson blush she knew was showing. Maybe finishing that darn book wouldn't be so bad. It was only a stupid, silly little book. She had absolutely no interest in it whatsoever. She only intended to finish reading it because Rarity asked her, because that's what good friends do!
With that thought in mind, the timid pegasus nodded resolutely to herself and returned to eating.
Even later
Rainbow Dash let out a silent burp of satisfaction as both she and Fluttershy walked to the shy mare's cottage. Those sure were some good eats. She was happy to have spoiled herself with some delicious, if unhealthy food for a change. She usually followed a strict diet to keep her body in optimal shape for her air stunts.
She revisited an earlier thought. Today really WAS a good day! She felt inordinately pleased with herself. Looking to her left she saw her timid friend frowning, deep in thought.
Fluttershy's thoughts were racing. Today was a very strange day, even by Pinkie Pie standards. Okay, maybe not quite that drastic, but still, it was not a day that she was prepared for. Granted, she did not regret anything that had happened. If anything, she really enjoyed herself.
The only problem she faced now was in trying to sort out the feelings of confusion that muddled her thoughts. She turned to face the subject of her confusion addled mind. Gorgeous ruby colored eyes met her own. She froze in panic.
Rainbow Dash rose an eyebrow at the nervous expression on Fluttershy's face. Why was she looking at her like that? She blinked thoughtfully, then nodded to herself as she understood. The shy mare probably felt guilty about all of that expensive food she was treated to. Yeah, that's it.
Now how on earth could she go about reassuring the timid mare that she didn't mind picking up the tab? She grinned widely as an idea came to her. 'I'm a genius!' she thought.
Dash smiled warmly at her friend. "Hey, cheer up Fluttershy! Don't give me that sad look, alright? You don't have to worry about anything, because it doesn't matter to me. Just be happy, and then I'll be happy, pretty simple, yeah? Today was a pretty good day, so let's not end it on a sour note, hm?"
The nervous look on Fluttershy's face slowly melted away into a warm smile. She nodded happily. "Hm!"
Rainbow Dash grinned confidently. "Besides, I'm really glad we hung out today. In fact, I think I'm really starting to like you now, Shy. You're a pretty awesome pegasus. Of course, nowhere as radically awesome as me, but you get the idea. We should go flying together some time, I could show you so many things up there in the sky. It's like a whole new world up there."
Fluttershy froze as her mind got stuck on and repeated Rainbow's words over and over again. 'She likes me? Like, likes me likes me?' Her blushed returned, even greater than before. 'She thinks I'm awesome? She wants to fly with me, together?'
The shy mare giggled happily. It all made sense now! She knew exactly what she had to do. Why hadn't she realized this sooner? She slowly inched closer to her friend, who looked like she was busy spacing out.
Dash felt pretty good about herself. There probably wasn't another pony alive who was such an awesome friend as her. Yup. Today ranked pretty darn high as far as good days went. Her friend seemed to quickly cheer up after her wicked cool speech. She had to jot that down some time. It was something that should be immortalized for generations to come! Today couldn't possibly get any better than this!
She heard Fluttershy walking closer to her and started turning to face her, but froze as she felt a warm and gentle sensation on her right cheek.
Did Fluttershy just kiss her?
The rainbow-maned mare recalled her previous thought, and laughed boisterously. 'Well, I guess I stand corrected. Today just got better!'
“Good morning, Rainbow Dash!”
A rainbow-maned pegasus perked up from where she was walking, ready to return the greeting. “Hey there, Derpy- hey, where did she go?” The mare looked to her left and saw a speeding yellow and gray blur fly straight through a wall. She rolled her eyes fondly; That ditzy pony never changed.
Dash continued walking to her destination; the destination being Rarity's boutique. Fluttershy had recently told her about a certain book Rarity had given her. Upon further questioning, she was surprised to find out that it was one of Rarity's cheap romance novels that she read religiously. Even more surprising, it was a sapphic erotica.
At first, Rainbow had been livid when she found out. The thought that Rarity had been corrupting sweet, shy and innocent Flutters made her want to throttle the fashionable mare. A Pinkie-Promise made to Fluttershy was the only reason why she was calmly marching to the boutique, and not already there, busily making Rarity regret ever offering that book to the shy mare.
Rainbow Dash took in a deep calming breath and grinned a wicked grin. 'Of course, Fluttershy only made me promise not to physically harm Rarity. There's nothing wrong with pulling a prank as revenge,' she thought smugly.
A simple prank would not have been nearly enough to satisfy her burning rage. The prank had to be absolutely perfect. It had to really make Rarity rue ever messing with Fluttershy like that. Which is why, in order to pull off such an epic prank, she had enlisted the help of the only pony she would ever admit was a better prankster than herself.
That pony was none other than Pinkie Pie.
The party loving pony had quickly agreed to help after being told of the situation. She had disappeared for barely a minute before returning with a small notebook. Rainbow had been disappointed to see the innocuous looking notebook offered to her. It didn't last for long though, as Pinkie quickly gave a detailed explanation of how to 'get Rarity good'. 'Now don't forget, Dashie! It might sound a bit weird, and you probably won't understand much of it- Rarity will, of course- but this is sure to work on her, and boy will she be in for a doozy! Just be yourself and she won't suspect a thing!' she had said.
Dash returned to the present and noticed that she was already in front of Rarity's boutique. Quickly mentally going through all of Pinkie's notes, she pasted on a friendly smile and gave the door a few quick raps. 'This better work,' she thought.
The door swung open and revealed beaming unicorn mare. “Greetings! Welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and- Oh, It's you,” she deadpanned.
Rainbow's smile quickly disappeared and her eyebrow twitched, “What the hay is with the, 'Oh, it's you'? You got a problem with me, princess?!“
Rarity bit her lip, sighed and offered her friend an apologetic smile. “I'm terribly sorry, Rainbow Dash, I've just been having a rather... stressful day. Please forgive me for my absolutely dreadful behaviour!”
The athletic pegasus rose an eyebrow. “Really now? Stressful enough to take it out on a friend? A friend who just so happens to want to visit you; who wants to find out if you haven't died from starvation or something, after another one of your crazy projects?”
The unicorn mare lowered her head in shame. “I am really sorry about that, dear. I feel simply awful when you put it like that. Is there anything, anything at all I can do to make it up to you?” she asked, looking pleadingly at the pegasus while motioning at her to enter the boutique.
Dash smiled cheerfully at Rarity, resisting the urge to cackle gleefully. 'Gotcha! Now how did that notebook say I should start this? Oh yeah.' She walked into the boutique, making a show of limping and appearing to be 'in pain' to the unicorn mare. If Rarity noticed Dash's odd walking, she didn't voice it.
“Well, now that you mention it, there is something I'd like to ask you. You can call us even if you answer me truthfully, deal?” she raised a hoof in offer to the fashionista.
The unicorn scrunched her eyes in distaste at her athletic friend's dirty hoof, and almost hesitantly met Rainbow's hoof with her own. “Deal.” Dash's smile turned from cheerful to predatory, immediately making Rarity's heart sink. 'What have I gotten myself into?'
“Great! Now, answer me this, Rarity. Remember that book you borrowed to Fluttershy? The one you practically forced her to read? Yeah, about that. Did you happen to finish reading it?”
Rarity paled at the question. “O-oh! T-the book? I-I-I, Rainbow, dear, you have to believe me, I-”
CRACK!
The fashionista yelped at the sudden sharp sound of a hoof hitting the floor. She looked fearfully into Dash's burning eyes.
“Answer. The. Question. Rarity” she gritted out.
Rarity nodded as quickly as her head allowed. “W-well, I only managed to read the first few chapters, but I truly thought Fluttershy would enjoy the book more than I could! Please believe when I say this, I only had Fluttershy's best interests in mind, honest!”
Rainbow growled at Rarity, “If you had bothered to read past the first few chapters, then you'd know that the stupid 'hero' of that book becomes a completely crazy Meanie McMeaniepants that's totally into bondage, whipping, being a mistress, and the whole shebang! You think I'm limping for fun?! Fluttershy did this to me! She really wore me out after keeping at it for the entire night!”
Rainbow had no idea what she just said, but from the dawning horror she saw on Rarity's face, it was definitely awesomely effective. Pinkie really knew her stuff! She couldn't help but wonder what whipping had to do with two ponies that liked each other 'like that'. The whole mistress and limping thing didn't make much sense either. Bondage she guessed meant that they liked bonding with one another, and maybe all that bonding could really wear somepony out. She perked up as Rarity finally found her voice again.
“O-oh my Celestia! Rainbow, dear, I had no idea! I-I'm so sorry!” The poor mare genuinely regretted what she had inadvertently caused. The pegasus almost felt sorry for her, almost.
“Sorry? You think being sorry is gonna make things right?! If you hadn't given Fluttershy that stupid book, then I wouldn't be in this mess! Why would you do this to me, Rarity? Why?!”
Rarity was on the verge of breaking down into a sobbing fit, if the tears gathering in her eyes had anything to say. “What have I done?! This is absolutely the worst, thing, ever! I can't tell you enough how sorry I am, Rainbow Dash,” she sniffled, rubbing at the tears in her eyes, “If only I hadn't pawned that stupid book off on Fluttershy to get rid of it!” Her eyes glowed in a smouldering rage. “It's all that accursed book's fault!”
Rainbow's eyes widened comically. 'Whoa! She's really getting worked up about this! I should probably drop this prank before she does something she regrets,' she thought. Before she could stop Rarity, the angered mare pressed on.
“If it wasn't because of that many times damned book, then you wouldn't be in this situation with Fluttershy. And if it wasn't because of that darned book, then I wouldn't be having all of these distracting thoughts of doing such lewd and inappropriate things with Twilight!”
Dash gaped at her friend.
Rarity seemed to realize what she had just blurted out, and looked wordlessly at Dash.
Rainbow pointed a shaking hoof at the fashionista. “Wait, wait, wait. You like Twilight?”
The mare whimpered pitifully and looked anywhere but at her friend. “I, that is to say, I-”
But the athletic pegasus was on a roll, “You, Rarity, the pony that said she's going to charm Prince Blueblood or whatever; the pony that wants to be the belle of the ball, you want to get it on with Twilight, a mare?”
Rarity started crying, did her friend hate her now?
“Wow, I totally wasn't expecting that! Does that mean you're going to charm Twilight when we go to the Grand Galloping Gala?”
The fashionista looked incredulously at the rainbow-maned mare.
Rainbow returned a look full of child-like curiosity. “So...?”
The athletic pegasus let out a surprised yelp as the white coated mare dashed forward and pulled her into a hug. “Whoa! Hey, calm down Rare, I'm no good at this mushy stuff. What's going on?” she panicked and started patting her friend's back in an effort to calm her down.
Rarity sniffled and smiled shyly at Dash. “Oh, it's silly, dear. I'm just happy you are so accepting over the fact that I-I'm attracted to mares.”
Rainbow gave her friend a deadpan look. “You know, it'd be pretty darn hypocritical of me to judge you on that, especially since I'm kind of dating Fluttershy now.”
“WHAT?! But you said- and Fluttershy- and the whipping, and-”
The pegasus laughed nervously, now looking ashamed. “It was all a prank, Rarity. When I found out that you corrupted Shy with that perverted book of yours I wanted to come straight here and get my pound of flesh. But she made me promise not to do anything like that, so I decided to just prank you instead.”
She sighed miserably. “And what a fat load of good that did too, I made you cry. Pranks aren't supposed to hurt other ponies seriously. I'm a real crummy friend, huh?”
“I forgive you.”
Dash gaped at her friend. “What? Seriously?”
Rarity smiled and gave the pegasus another hug. “I'm just happy you don't hate me for being a lesbimare, dear. I had feared that I would lose all my friends if my sexual orientation ever came to light.”
Rainbow sighed in relief. “So you're not mad at me?”
The white coated mare giggled. “Not in the least!”
Both mares enjoyed a companionable silence. Dash was the first to break it.
“So... You like Twilight, huh? You tell her yet?”
Rarity flushed scarlet. “Oh, um, not as of yet.”
“Well, why not?”
The fashionista playfully rolled her eyes and flicked her mane. “Is it not obvious? My confession must be done in exactly the right way! Everything must be perfect! One does not simply just walk up to the mare of their dreams and confess to them.”
Rainbow deadpanned at Rarity. “Why not? It worked for Fluttershy.”
Rarity sputtered at her friend. “T-that's completely different!”
Dash grinned slyly. “Oh? Fluttershy and I are both mares, and so are you and Twilight. I don't see a difference. Maybe you're just a scaredy cat? I bet Opalescence must love that about you.”
The white coated mare glared at Dash. “I'm not afraid, if that's what you are implying.”
The pegasus smirked smugly. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Really?!”
“Really!”
“Really... what?” a new voice piped up.
Both arguing mares faced the direction of the voice and saw a canary-cream coated mare enter the boutique.
Rarity smiled politely at the newcomer. “Oh, Rainbow here was just telling me about how she really, really, REALLY believes without a shadow of a doubt in her mind, that you are simply the most adorable mare she's ever had the pleasure of knowing.”
Fluttershy turned scarlet, and smiled shyly at the rainbow-maned mare. “O-oh! She really said that?”
Rarity and Rainbow shared an amused look, then replied in unison, one feeling relieved, and the other slightly guilty for lying.
“Really!”
