Ribbons and Lace

A single light burned above Rarity's workbench, and the sewing machine's rhythmic chuk-chuk-chuk was the only sound in the Carousel Boutique.

"Rarity, please! Don't just lock us out!" Twilight called.

Almost the only sound. She didn't think about it. She didn't want to think at all. Nopony else would dare invade her privacy, and she was far behind on her work, after... the past week. She was a spinning top -- stable and balanced only as long as she remained in motion.

"You can't have a pity party without guests!" said Pinkie.

Her lips were too full of pins to answer. Anyway, what would she say? Sorry I broke Fluttershy's heart? No. There were no words that could apologize, any more than there had been when Fluttershy turned her back. Never in her darkest nightmares had she imagined--

Stop thinking about it.

"We can work this out if you'll just talk to us! I know we can! Ugh, I think I owe Princess Celestia a retraction. Please!"

There was no joy in sewing. No spark of pride in a job well done. It was just a chore that had to be taken care of. Fortunately, trying not to think about... things... had a way of focusing the mind.

"Hey, Rarity? It's me... Spike... I just wanted to make sure you're okay, and, uh, well..."

She took careful aim with the tiny hammer. Crik. A perfectly square chip of peridot sheared off, ready to join its siblings in silver-backed glory as part of a lovely tiara.

"It's true, some days are dark aaand lonelyyy..."

As she worked, the background noise gradually got quieter.

"...but it turned out that I'd destroyed the only copy. I was so scared that Princess Celestia was going to dismiss me. At first I tried to hide it..."

And quieter.

"Please... say something? Anything..."

And stopped.

Rarity looked around her as she pressed the last sapphire into its setting on the hem of a lively party dress. At this rate, her to-do list wouldn't even last until morning. Maybe the racks of ready-to-wear dresses could use some filling out? But then, she'd intended her new fall line for that purpose, and that was still just some vague ideas and a few sketches. Designing anything new would mean letting herself feel something, and that--

The top wobbled.

Rarity sprang into action once more, slashing off a length of black satin and thrusting it under the sewing machine's hammering needle. Little Black Dresses never went out of style! Everypony could use one!

"Rarity?" The voice from the other side of the door squeaked with worry.

She froze.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity croaked.

The fabric ran through the sewing machine and slid off the workbench. The machine mindlessly chewed at empty air, the flywheel spinning away, gradually slowing, just like a top. Slower... and slower...

"Are you okay?"

The top fell over.

Rarity collapsed onto the workbench with a wail that was supposed to be a 'no'. The room flooded with misery, drowning and crushing her under deep, dark waters.

A purple flash briefly illuminated the blackness, not an invasion, but a rescue. Lavender arms caught her on the way to the floor, buoyed her against the flood. A moment later the door burst open in a rush of bodies and a babble of voices. More hooves joined the first, patting her back and pressing her face against shoulders and manes. Their faces were blurs of color, their words an indistinct buzz behind her inconsolable weeping. But she could feel them, warm and solid against her hooves, steadfast rocks to bear her up her against the rushing torrent of grief.

At first, she could only bawl out her anguish and cling to Pinkie's shoulder, but the wails soon gave way to half-articulate blubbering, and finally to quiet, snotty sniffles. "It'll be okay," Twilight said for the hundredth time, and for the hundredth time sounded like she was trying to reassure herself instead. "It'll all be okay."

Rarity sniffed hard and gathered herself enough for her first comprehensible words in nearly half an hour. "Is Flutt--?" She choked halfway through the name, but Pinkie answered anyway.

"She's with AJ and Rainbow Dash. Don't worry about her," she said, squeezing the unicorn firmly.

Sweetie Belle leaned up to nuzzle the other side of Rarity's neck. "I don't know what you had a fight about, but we still love you!"

"Yeah. We're all here for ya," Spike's boyish voice said as his scratchy claws embraced her and his feverish-warm body pressed against her shoulder.

"Thank you..." Rarity hiccuped, fighting back a sob of gratitude as she disengaged from Pinkie at last and scooped up the two youths instead. "Thank you all..."

Ever the practical one, Twilight floated a box of tissues over to her. "Any time you need us," she said with a gentle smile. Pinkie snatched one of the tissues as the box passed and started to dab at her shoulder, making Rarity blush.

"I'm sorry for making such a scene," she said, her voice still shaky. "I'm just terrified of what this is going to do to all of us."

Pinkie patted her on the back. "Hey, it happens! Just 'cuz a couple of friends have a fight doesn't mean they can't be friends anymore!"

"And yet," Rarity murmured, "Here we are, taking sides already..."

"Rarity! It's not like that," Twilight chided. "Somepony had to stay with her. Rainbow Dash is her oldest friend, after all, and Applejack's basically her next-door neighbor."

Pinkie piped up, "Though AJ did say she wanted to kick your-- Mmmph!"

Twilight smiled tensely as she held Pinkie's mouth shut. "Applejack is just being protective," she said evenly. "Don't worry about her."

Rarity basked in the affection for a while longer, but the evening continued to roll by and the young ones soon started yawning.

"I guess it's starting to get kind of late," Twilight said to nopony in particular. "We should probably make some tea or something if we're going to stay up."

"That's true!" Pinkie bounced to her hooves and gave Spike and Sweetie Belle a grin. "Well, Rarity's going to be just fine, so I know a couple of kids who need to get to bed. Come on, I'll walk you home."

The dragon made only a token protest, and Sweetie Belle just nodded and gave Rarity one more nuzzle. "Good night!"

"Good night, Sweetie. Sleep tight." The two unicorns watched the rest of the party step out into the darkness, then retired to the kitchen.

Both were silent for a bit, Twilight filling the kettle while Rarity picked out the proper tea for an evening pick-me-up from her extensive selection. Both mares concentrated studiously on their tasks, avoiding looking at one another.

Finally, Rarity paused over the open canister of cinnamon-spice tea. "You didn't tell Spike?"

Twilight sighed as she put the kettle on the stove and shook her head. "No, I thought it would be better to break it to him gently in the morning. For now, he knows everything he needs to know." She shot a sidelong glance at Rarity. "And don't worry about him, either."

Rarity scooped a careful measure of leaves into a strainer ball and smiled wryly to herself. "You seem determined to make sure I'm as selfish as possible about this," she replied. "Don't you think I've done enough of that?"

Twilight chuckled. "Not selfish, exactly. Just, take it from an expert worrier: you're not going to do yourself, or anypony else, any favors by worrying yourself sick. Just let everypony else take care of themselves, and you do the same, okay?"

"I'll... try," Rarity allowed, though she knew the effort would prove futile. "I just don't know what to do!"

Twilight Sparkle nodded and let out a little sigh as she crossed the kitchen to press her neck across the other unicorn's. "I don't really have any helpful advice for you. Just... don't try to get through this alone. We're all here for you."

She leaned into the warmth -- not the warmth she had wanted, but a comfort nonetheless. "I need to be reminded. Thank you."

Rarity would have held that pose for who knows how long if the kettle hadn't demanded attention with its shrill whistle. She disengaged from Twilight's embrace and trotted over to pour the boiling water into the teapot. "I hope you're taking notes," she said with another sardonic grin over her shoulder -- the closest thing to a smile she thought she could manage at the moment. "On what not to do, I mean."

Twilight giggled uncomfortably. "Well, I guess so, if I ever have the opportunity to use it. I admit you've kinda got me thinking about the future."

"Oh?" Rarity said, glad for the distraction. She leaned her elbows on the table and leaned forward eagerly. "Anypony in particular?"

"Well... nopony really leaps to mind," she admitted. "Spike and my brother were really the only guys in my life until I came here."

"Only interested in stallions?" Rarity pressed with a teasing smirk.

Twilight turned red and looked away. "Uh, um, I hadn't really considered the, um, alternative?" she stammered. "Sorry, are you, uh, do I...?"

Rarity couldn't help a giggle at her friend's expense, but sobered quickly. "No, darling, I was just curious. I don't think I'll be engaging in any romantic pursuits for some time," she admitted wistfully, picking up a sugar cube and rolling it meditatively between her hooves.

The other unicorn offered a sympathetic nod. "Don't try to rush it," she agreed. "That's smart."

"I'm a fool!" Rarity groaned, then drooped as her voice fell to a whisper. "It's just like Blueblood all over again, but this time, a bit of wisdom cost me something truly precious. I had everything I wanted within hoof's reach the entire time, and I just..." She pressed her hooves together, crushing the sugar cube to powder. Twilight winced.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Twilight replied soothingly. " We'll figure something out. You'll see."

"Then you have my permission to say 'I told you so'," Rarity told her tartly, but instantly regretted it. She sighed heavily once again and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I mean to say, I appreciate the gesture, but you didn't see her face." She felt tears welling up again, but she forced them down, if only long enough to choke out the rest. "You didn't see the way she looked at me... disgusted... I've never seen her look... at anypony... like that--!"

Rarity didn't wail or weep this time. She just sat, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs, as tears traced either side of her muzzle. Twilight leaned against her without a word, and after some time, a somber Pinkie Pie joined them with gentle nuzzles and squeezes.

She felt like she was trying to drain a lake of sorrows through a faucet. The quiet fit was slow to abate, but her friends held her comfortingly until abate it did. Rarity rubbed at itchy eyes as the tears finally ceased to flow, sipped at cold tea until her throat stopped clenching, then slowly stood.

"I think... I'd like to get something done," she whispered hoarsely. "Rather than sit here and mope."

The trio trooped up to her inspiration room, where her unfinished fall collection sketches stared accusingly up at her. Slowly at first, but gaining momentum as she went, she began to elaborate the previous designs into fully-realized concepts. The longer she worked, though, the more the lively joy of the pieces seemed to wash away. With each iteration, warm browns and bright florals faded toward desolate earth tones and icy-pale accents. She paused, staring at the new sketches: somber, practical clothing that mourned the ending of the year and yearned for the life and love of spring. They didn't even celebrate the dreamlike fancies of the long nights to come; they suggested the wearer just wanted to curl up and hibernate until it grew warm and green once more.

Yuck.

Rarity brushed the sketches off her workbench with a slow sweep of her hoof, looking back at the original sketches. She could barely remember the feelings that had inspired them. They plunged headlong into winter with reckless abandon, living in the moment with no thought of what hardships may come. She started again, more slowly, trying to mimic the verve and panache through conscious effort. A red accent here... a touch of green trim... She stopped and eyed what she had drawn, grimacing. Her heart wasn't in it, and it showed. Onto the floor it went, followed by a silent sigh.

She looked behind her, at her friends. Twilight was glancing through a stack of fashion magazines with an air of boredom, and Pinkie lay on the foot of her bed with her eyes drooping in spite of the tea she had drunk.

"Twilight, Pinkie, thank you so much for being here for me tonight, but please don't feel obligated to stay if you'd rather find your beds." She gave them a small but honest smile and bowed slightly toward each of them.

Pinkie bounced to her hooves, then yawned hugely. "Yeah, I better get at least twenty or thirty winks in before morning."

Twilight rose more slowly. "If you're sure you're okay..." she said, and Rarity nodded.

"I will be, thanks to you. I think I'll put on some more tea and try to read a bit."

"That tea is a stimulant, you know," Twilight warned as she started for the stairs in Pinkie's wake. "Are you sure you should drink so much this late at night?"

Rarity glanced at the dark windows and the loneliness lurking beyond them. "I already know I'm not going to get any sleep anyway, so I'd rather be awake and alert than listless and miserable." She shrugged helplessly.

"Well... don't overdo it," the other unicorn relented.

"I won't."

Rarity showed them to the door and held it as the two mares stepped outside. "Night, Rarity," Pinkie said, clearly dragging. Twilight, though, paused on the doorstep.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "I'm used to late nights. I could just go get a few books to study, have Owlowicious come over here to help out..."

The fashionista smiled wanly. "Thank you for the offer, Twilight, but I'll be all right."

Liar, her mind muttered to itself. But what was she supposed to do? Make her friends foalsit her all day, every day?

"Well, okay." Twilight Sparkle gave her one more quick hug before she left. "I guess at this point it'd be kind of ridiculous to wish you a good night, but... good luck!"

Rarity chuckled faintly. "Thank you again. Au revoir."

She closed the door behind her friends, and the stillness flooded in. Rarity started back toward the stairs, but the silence hung like weights from her neck, slowly dragging her down to the floor. After five steps, her head had bowed as far as it could. Ten, and her shoulders slumped under the weight. Before she was halfway to the stairs, her knees buckled and she simply collapsed in the middle of the shop floor. The tears, for once, didn't come; she just lay there for a time, dully contemplating the shards of her heart.

A subdued meow shook her from her reverie. "Oh, Opalescence," Rarity sniffled as she sat up and pulled the cat up against her chest. "How can I ever be 'all right' again?"

Opal struggled against the squeeze and kicked her hindpaws in the air. "Myow!"

"I don't know if I can," Rarity replied, stroking a hoof across Opal's head. "How does one 'move on' from losing a best friend?" She shook her head and bit her lip, forcing down the tightness in her chest.

Opal's ears slicked back and she hissed something hostile as the unicorn rubbed her.

Rarity flopped over on her back in the middle of the floor, her mane pooling around her head as she held Opalescence at arm's length above her. "You're right. If not for my own sake, for theirs. I won't be more of a burden on them than I have to."

Opal pushed against Rarity's hooves with her hindlegs and tried to squirm out of the grip. "Reeaow!" she spat angrily.

Rarity huffed a heavy sigh and shook her head. "No, I won't. I recently had it demonstrated to me that merely pretending to be happy isn't good enough." She sat up and kissed Opalescence on the nose, then set the cat back on the floor. "Thank you for your advice, Opal. I believe I feel a bit better."

Opalescence took a perfunctory swipe at her and vanished behind the dresses on the prêt-à-porter rack.

"I don't want you to make me happy!" I yelled. I could still taste her lipstick. Bitter. Chemical. Artificial. Just like the electric-blue mare herself. "I don't want you, period! If you can't get over that, then at least keep your damned drugs to yourself!" I shoved Ecstacy out of the way and burst out into the hall.

"Meadowsweet, wait!" she called after me, but my roommate didn't give chase as I plunged down the halls and staircases of our dorm building. I only slowed when I reached the quad, panting and trembling with fear and anger.

A pink haze of contentment started to creep in around the edges of my vision, no matter how hard I tried to hang on to the sharp-edged feelings. What Ex had done to me started to seem... not quite so bad anymore, and that scared me worse than anything else. I needed someplace safe where I could sleep off whatever she'd slipped me, and I could only think of one place.

Aw, horse apples.

It was perhaps three hours until dawn, and Rarity had already devoured a third of Other Mares in the discreet privacy of candlelight. It was a welcome change, in a way, from her usual diet of idealize romance; the book was extraordinarily frank, raw and vulgar to the point that even the sex scenes provoked a sort of ashamed fascination rather than arousal in the unicorn. This 'Meadowsweet', while not precisely an ingénue of the classical mold, seemed possessed of a talent for stumbling into a very specific brand of trouble.

Giddiness dogged my heels as I galloped out the campus gates and through the darkened streets. I didn’t have far to go, but my time sense was all screwed up. Was it hours? Seconds? The split-level at the end of the block was all dark. I pounded on the door hard enough to leave hoofprints. “Lash? Lash, it’s Meadowsweet! Please let me in!” A light flicked on in one of the upper windows, and a minute later I tumbled through the door.

Leather Lash stared down at me with a haughty frown, but she didn’t kick me out before she magicked the door closed, so that was good. “Well, Meadowsweet? I assume you have a good reason for rousting me out of bed at such an hour?”

The story tumbled out before I could stop my lips from moving. I felt tears running down my cheeks, but the fuzzy drug-haze told me I wanted to dance, not cry. “...and Ex slipped me something, I don’t know what, and I can’t think straight and I just need someplace to crash ‘til it wears off,” I babbled.

Lash just tapped a hoof as she listened. “You know it won’t be free,” she said when I ran out of words, smirking coldly.

Rarity paused, her exhaustion-fogged brain wondering if there might be some market for lingerie of the sort that Lash kept in her so-called dungeon. It would be an intriguing challenge, at any rate, and--

tak.

What in Equestria was that? Rarity listened for a moment, but the noise didn't repeat. She shrugged, yawning. Perhaps I should make a fresh pot of tea when I finish this chapter.

I hung my head with remembered humiliation. I knew what she expected now, and somehow, it didn’t seem so bad this time around. That was probably the drug talking, but honestly, I didn’t care that much. If the disease made the cure easier to take, fine. I crouched down and pressed my lips to Lash's hoof. The stately unicorn’s lips spread in a small, satisfied smile. “Come,” she ordered as she turned and strode toward the basement stairs, and this time, I willingly followed--

tak tak tak.

Rarity's heart skipped. Was that... somepony knocking on the window? The second story window?! She dropped her book and scrambled across the room, yanking back the curtain with a flash of magic.

tak tak, went Fluttershy's hoof against the window pane. She hastily withdrew it and waved while Rarity threw open the window.

"Rarity, I'm so sorry to bother you this late... I mean, early... but I just couldn't sleep before I talked to you, and I knocked and knocked downstairs and you didn't answer, and I saw the light in your window--"

"My apologies, darling! I must not have heard you." Granted, it would be a miracle to hear that kind of knocking in the next room. She stepped back from the window, waving a hoof to the hovering pegasus. "Er, please, come in," she offered with a bemused shrug.

Fluttershy drifted inside and settled to the floor as lightly as a windblown leaf. "Thank you," she said, but otherwise just stood, studying her own hooves and stealing occasional glances past her hair at the unicorn.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Would you like some tea?" she prompted, a false smile flickering and dying half-formed on her lips.

"Oh, um... no, thank you," Fluttershy said. She fortified herself with a deep breath. "I'm here because I need to talk to you before I make a decision. About us."

Rarity's heart and stomach both lurched as if she'd been suddenly dropped a foot or two. "I thought... there wasn't going to be an 'us'..." she said faintly. "You said you couldn't trust me..."

"I asked how I could trust you." Fluttershy stepped closer, filling her vision with pink, yellow, and aqua blue. "I want to trust you. You're the best friend I've ever had, and I don't want to lose that," she said gently. Then her voice hardened and a frown compressed her lips. "But I don't like the mare I saw today."

"I don't like her much, either," Rarity said softly, wilting. "Believe me, I never meant to hurt you, Fluttershy."

The pegasus barely spoke above a whisper, staring at her own hooves. "Of course not. I almost wish you had." Rarity jerked and her mouth dropped open, unable to form a response. Fluttershy slowly raised her eyes to lock onto the unicorn's, her lashes glittering in the candlelight. "If you meant to, you could decide not to do it again. If it was an accident... how many more times will you hurt me without meaning to?"

The warmth of the room shunned Rarity as a lump of ice fell into her stomach. "No, I--" You what? Would never do that? You did. She shivered and hunched down, trying to make herself as small as she felt. "I knew I should have just come out and said it all along," she admitted miserably, "but I let fear hold me back from doing the right thing. I'll never make that mistake again."

The pegasus studied her in silence for several more seconds before relenting with the tiniest twist of a self-deprecating smile. "I think I know what that's like," she admitted. "I almost did the same when I started getting those -- your -- letters. I might have let the opportunity pass entirely... if you hadn't pushed me to respond." Then her expression sharpened, eyebrows drawing down into an unhappy knot. "I guess now I know why you were so insistent that I think of this as a good thing. You were advising me to say yes to yourself! You can't have thought that would look good when you came clean!"

Rarity shook her head, her eyes sinking to the floor once more. "I never intended to force you into anything! At first, I just meant to see if you might be open to... me... at all. I almost told you so many times... but each time, I was afraid of how you would react, so I... didn't. I couldn't face it. I thought..." She blew out her lips in a snort at her past self. "I thought maybe if I played the role through to the end, everything would somehow turn out all right. It was... a little like procrastination, I suppose. A minute for this, five for that, fifteen to get a bite to eat... and then the day's all gone. Each time, it seemed like such a small thing. But lots of little choices can add up to one big disaster."

The pegasus nodded thoughtfully again. "It still hurts that you couldn't just tell me how you felt," she scolded, though without heat. "I was really worried about you, you know. I could tell you were getting worse and worse every day, but you wouldn't even admit that anything was wrong..."

For the first time since Fluttershy arrived, that lit a tiny spark of fire amid her frozen innards. "And what if I did?" she demanded suddenly. "If I'd just opened up and told you how I felt, could things have ever been the same again? You said yourself you'd never even thought about going out with mares before! Our friendship is too important to me to... to..." Then the spark guttered out and icy hollowness blew through her once again. "...to risk like that." But risk it I did. It sounded so stupid when she said it aloud, a little filly's pitiful excuse. Cold tears welled up and squeezed out of her eyes, feeling like they should have frozen to her cheeks.

Then a pair of hooves touched her shoulders, so warm they felt searing against the chill inside her. Fluttershy leaned close, so close Rarity couldn't help but meet her eyes. "You're not the only one who wants to keep our friendship," the pegasus said. "So trust me not to turn my back on you! Have I done anything to make you doubt me before?"

Rarity shook her head, meltwater trickling down her cheeks as Fluttershy's touch thawed the ice in her belly. "No, of course not. You're right..." she agreed in a shamefaced mumble. "I didn't think of it in those terms at the time, but that's what it comes down to. I kept telling myself I didn't know how you would react, but I should have. Yes or no, you wouldn't leave me, would you?"

"Of course not," Fluttershy smiled and started to lean forward to nuzzle her neck, but stopped short. She drew back her hooves as well, jerked them back, as if she'd suddenly felt the cold radiating from the unicorn. "Speaking of trust," she said, "What in Equestria possessed you to make me up like your own little personal dress-up doll and parade me around for your... amusement?!" She twisted as if trying to wrap her mane and tail around herself to hide from the memory of such exposure.

Rarity guiltily shrunk in on herself a little more. She kept her eyes focused on her own hooves, not daring to watch Fluttershy's expression. "I'm so, so sorry. I know that may not be worth much, but I am. I took advantage of you, and there's no excuse for that. I knew it was wrong, but I let my... baser instincts... overcome my good sense for an afternoon." She shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut against the memory of that nauseous mix of excitement and shame. "I felt so filthy afterwards, I can only imagine how you feel."

Fluttershy shuffled uncomfortably. "Only one afternoon?" she pressed, her tone both hesitant and hopeful, as if searching for some consolation but fearing the answer.

"Only that once," Rarity said, nodding emphatically. "I wouldn't want to repeat it, even if you'd never found out. When I asked you to try on that one," -- she nodded toward the lacy white dress still hidden under its drape -- "it was with honest intentions, for all that the rendezvous inspired my later... misdeeds."

Fluttershy mulled that over for several seconds, chewing on her lip, then let out her breath. "Well, you say all the right things..." she allowed cautiously.

The pegasus fell silent for a minute, her eyes flicking back and forth unseeingly as if absorbed in some internal debate. Rarity quietly drifted away to the still-open window, weariness tugging at her withers and neck as she rested her chin on the sill and stared up into the deep diamond-speckled velvet of the sky.

I suppose it couldn't hurt, she thought dully, picking a random point of light in the sky. Star light, star bright, she mouthed, First star I see tonight--

"Rarity," Fluttershy said. The unicorn swallowed the rest of the nursery rhyme and turned back to the other mare, biting her lip as she sat down on her haunches like an attentive schoolfilly. Though it felt like days since they'd enjoyed their afternoon at the spa, the magical conditioner was still in effect. Lit by the stars outside the window and edged in light by the candle behind her, Fluttershy glowed like a star herself.

The pegasus exhaled a slow breath, rubbing the back of her neck with one hoof. "You did something really incredibly gigantically stupid..." Rarity flinched, but Fluttershy went on, gently touching her on the hoof. "...but you're my best friend, and I won't throw that away without giving you another chance."

Rarity barely held herself back from hugging the pegasus. "Thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you!" she choked past incipient tears. "You won't regret it! I know I don't deserve this, but I'll be worthy of your trust."

She smiled and brushed a tear from Rarity's cheek with the tip of her hoof as she replied. "I have faith in you. I know you won't let me down." The unspoken 'again' rang in Rarity's ears as clearly as if Fluttershy had said it, but that residual guilt was a small burden compared to the millstone that rolled off her shoulders. Silence fell for a little while as Rarity rubbed stinging eyes and fought to keep her emotions under control.

Into the silence, the pegasus suddenly murmured, "Do you still want me?"

"What?" Rarity gasped, certain she had misheard that. She wiped her eyes and found Fluttershy staring into her, expression blank, her tone neutral.

"Do you still want me?" she repeated. "I need to know if you still feel the same after all this... mess."

As much as Rarity wanted to deflect or avoid the question, the unicorn didn't dare to offer less than a simple, direct reply. "Well... yes," she said, shrugging helplessly. "It will take some time to get over that, I'm afraid."

Fluttershy sighed and rubbed her cheek with the back of a hoof. "I haven't said 'no' yet. I'm not going to refuse just to punish you." She twitched a little shrug. "I do love you, Rarity. You're a dear friend. I love so much about you, but sometimes you just..." She waved a hoof helplessly in front of her and made a frustrated noise.

The unicorn nodded slowly, though 'maybe' was more than enough to set her heart pounding in her ears. "Sometimes I get caught up in my own little world and need somepony level-headed to keep my hooves on the ground," she murmured. Surprise darted across Fluttershy's eyes and she bobbed her head. "And... I know I can grow impatient when I can see that what you want is right in front of you, but you just won't reach out and take it--"

"...because sometimes I need somepony bold to nudge me out of my comfort zone," Fluttershy finished just as softly. The mares shared a small, sad grin, then a smile, then giggled ruefully at themselves.

"I guess you know my faults well enough," Rarity said. "Probably better than anypony else."

Fluttershy slid her arms around Rarity, squeezing her so close that her whisper tickled the back of Rarity's neck. "You wouldn't be 'you' without them."

Rarity sagged against the other mare, trying not to choke up entirely. "I love you," she managed, her voice thick. She was sure she could feel Fluttershy's heart hammering just as hard as her own.

"I love you too," the pegasus said, her lashes dabbing warm wetness on Rarity's coat. "I'm not comfortable with being... together... but I think it's worth trying."

Rarity felt her heart stop as the words sunk in. Together... worth trying... I love you too. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, and her head rattled with a thousand different replies, all fighting for her voice and leaving her utterly tongue-tied. She sat speechless, trembling with emotion for a long three-count before her response was decided for her: the world spun and dimmed, and she fainted.