When Angels Lose Their Way

~ * ~

        Waves of power radiated off Fluttershy as she shook in cold rage. The scent of Bulk Bicep's blood hung in her nostrils, tangy and metallic, infuriating. She was most angry with herself. She'd done it again. She’d made the mistake, again. She was weak, again! Just like she’d been with Twilight, with the Breezies, at so many points in her life. She’d been weak. She’d refused to acknowledge what had to be done, in a life or death situation. She’d tried to be Kind, in the wrong way, by holding back, by giving the centaurs a respect and dignity that they frankly hadn’t deserved.

        And Bulk paid for it with his life.

        No more. His death was on her conscience, her fault. She'd killed him as surely as if she'd plunged the spear into him herself, because she'd held back. If any other pony died because of her mistakes this night, because she hadn't understood, until this moment, that sometimes you really can't hold back, she'd never forgive herself.

        She held up her hooves, shaking as the power flowed, full force, with no restraints. It suffused her in a radiant aura of soft yellow, standing out against the orange flames that lit the Ponyville night. Her eyes glowed that same shade of yellow, frozen in a look of pure fury.

        Kindness, true Kindness had come. She would show Kindness to those who deserved it, the innocents. Even if it took the death of every single last one of the stinking, disgusting brutes. But unlike them, she wouldn't make her victims suffer before they died.

        An anguished scream tore through the night sky, drawing her out of her raging reverie. She looked about, eyes darting to and fro, until she spotted the centaur soldier, caught under a beam of wood in the ruins of the Quills and Sofa shop. What was left of the shop had caught fire, and the fire was horribly slow in crawling up the centaur's legs.

        She sped, flaring her wings to produce a gust of wind that doused the flames. The centaur looked upon her in confused astonishment as she lifted the beam off the centaur's legs. “You... you saved me,” said the soldier.

        Fluttershy slowly shook her head. “No. You murdered my friend. You don't deserve to live.” She punched the surprised centaur in the chest, knocking him to his knees. She grappled the centaur's neck in her hooves, and bent him down so she could whisper in his ear, “Be glad I didn’t leave you to burn.” She twisted, snapping his neck in an instant. She let the body topple and flew back to her squad.

        Two were down, stilling Fluttershy's heart. Flitter lay unmoving, a spear sticking out of her chest, and next to her Blossomforth lay clutching a bleeding head. Thunderlane and Cloudchaser clashed with the remaining centaur soldiers, but they were losing ground. When Cloudchaser's grip inevitably slipped, her spear was knocked from her grasp. She was bludgeoned across the skull, and the centaur attacking her raised the spear for the killing blow.

        Fluttershy burst into their midst without hesitation, knocking the centaurs about like so many bowling pins. One punch to the lower jaw snapped the neck of one soldier; another had his spine snapped in half by Fluttershy's double-hooved buck. The third was still fencing with Thunderlane when Fluttershy snatched her up by the tail, spinning her around before smashing her back into the ground, leaving her a broken mess.

        Landing next to her squad, Fluttershy flared her wings, shaking the ground with her power. What few centaurs remained alive threw down their weapons and fled.

        They didn't get far.

        Job done, Shy returned to her squad. She bent to examine Blossomforth, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the mare was breathing, if barely conscious. She looked to Thunderlane. “Can you move her?”

        Thunderlane clutched a leg to a bleeding slice on his chest, and said, “Yes, I think so.” Cloudchaser just stared, hollow eyed, at the unmoving form of her sister.

        Fluttershy laid a hoof on Cloudchaser's shoulder. “I know it hurts,” she said. Cloudchaser nodded wordlessly, breaking into tears. “But you have to help get Blossomforth to safety.” She hugged the crying mare. “Don't worry; I'll make sure Flitter isn't left behind.”

        “Okay,” Cloudchaser whispered. She shuddered as she helped Thunderlane lift the moaning Blossomforth.

        “Wait!” Thunderlane called as Fluttershy took to the sky, flying in a completely different direction. “Where are you going?”

        “I'm going to find Trixie!” Fluttershy growled. “Don't follow!”

        “But Fluttershy, wait!”

        Fluttershy ignored his shouts. Her mind reeled with thoughts, images, of the violence she’d seen, the violence she'd inflicted, but she shoved that all aside. She could deal with it later. Kindness still had ponies to save.

        It took several minutes before she finally tracked down Trixie’s unicorn squad. They were locked in combat, defending a group of ponies from the centaurs trying to massacre them.

        Wait. Fluttershy did a double take as she realized those weren't just any ponies. They were foals! The Cutie Mark Crusaders were amongst them, screaming as arrows loosed all around them. One found its mark in a foal's backside.

        Fluttershy's blood boiled. She let out a howl of rage as she dove into the group of centaurs, snatching up one's longbow and clubbing him with it until his open skull filled with splinters of broken wood. She whirled and kicked, knocking the bows out from the others. “How dare you?!” she screeched, as she knocked their heads together until they crumpled. “They're foals!”

        Finishing off the last with a bone-crunching kick to the throat, she landed amidst the crying foals, shushing and waving them to her. They surrounded her, clutching at her wings and legs, screaming things like “Thank you!” and “I was so scared!” She took the time to examine them, and thanked goodness that they were mostly unhurt, save for some scuffs. The one with the arrow in her bottom though, she had fallen over, quiet. She shouted for one of the unicorns to come over, recognizing her red cross over white cutie mark. “Can you help her?” she inquired.

        The medically inclined unicorn looked over the injured foal, and nodded. “Yes. It didn’t hit any vital spots. She’s just passed out from a bit of blood loss. Here.” She lit her horn and a soothing green light passed over the foal, slipping the arrow from the wound and stitching it closed. “She’ll need some serious rest and some fluids, but she’ll be fine.”

        “Good,” Fluttershy breathed. “Okay, everypony,” she said, talking to the foals crowding around her. “Hold on tight.” They attached to her, the Crusaders wrapping around her neck. She took the injured one by the nape of the neck in her mouth, for lack of a better way to carry her. She carted them as deftly as she could as she skyrocketed back to the castle, reaching it inside of a minute.

        She set them down with a group of Sparkle Guard, ordering extra care for the hurt foal, and took the Crusaders aside. “Are you three all right?”

        They nodded, tears still flowing freely. Scootaloo stared at her in awe. “Wow, Fluttershy! I never knew you could fly like that!” She turned a slight shade of green. “Or… or fight like that.”

        Apple Bloom gagged. “I couldn’t even watch after...” She shook her head, unable to go on. Sweetie Belle nestled against her, rubbing her hoof along Apple Bloom’s back, her face the same shade of green as Scootaloo’s.

        Fluttershy nodded, bowing her head. “I’m… I’m terribly sorry you had to see that, girls.”

Scootaloo scowled. “They totally deserved it.” Sweetie Belle gasped. “Well they did!” Scootaloo insisted with a glare.

Fluttershy felt faintly nauseated. And reassured by Scootaloo’s defense, and disgusted by feeling the reassurance and she just tried to change the subject before the emotions got to her. “Nevermind that, Scootaloo. Do you know where your parents are?”

        Apple Bloom shook her head, “I dunno where Granny is. We were having a sleepover at Sweetie Belle's place.”

        “And then a loud boom woke us up!” Scootaloo added.

        “Mom and Dad were out watching a play!” Sweetie cried. “They left us alone!”

        “Sweetie Belle?!” came a masculine voice Fluttershy instantly recognized. “Is that you?! It is!”

        Sweetie Belle whirled, eyes bright as stars. She leapt into the waiting hooves of her parents. “Mom, Dad!” she cried, her eyes awash with tears. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

        Hondo Flanks clutched his daughter to his chest. “Thank the Princesses you’re safe!”

        Cookie Crumbles smiled brightly at Fluttershy. “You saved Sweetie?” At Fluttershy’s nod, her smile became ear splitting. “Oh thank you, thank you!”

        Apple Bloom stared up at Cookie. “I… I don’t suppose Granny Smith is around anywhere? Or Scootaloo’s parents?”

        Cookie frowned. “Sorry, dear, we haven’t seen them.”

        Apple Bloom shared a look with Scootaloo that almost broke Fluttershy’s heart. Fluttershy wrapped a wing around them. “Don’t worry; I’m sure your families are safe.” She looked up at Cookie. “Can you please get Apple Bloom to Big Mac? I… I need to go.” She still had to find Trixie.

        Cookie nodded, setting a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder. “We will.”

        Fluttershy made for the exit, shouted, “Thank you!” and scorched the air with her passing as she raced back for Trixie, leaving behind a trail of luminescent soft yellow and pink butterfly lights.

        Fluttershy searched frantically for several long moments around where she found the foals until she discovered Trixie embroiled in a chaotic magical battle with a centaur sorcerer. The Sparkle Guard unicorns had joined Trixie, taking pot shots at the sorcerer, but the sorcerer proved more than a match, freezing one solid and firing off a magic blast that shattered her into little icicle bits.

        Trixie herself took cover behind a pile of debris as a scorching blast exploded. “Fluttershy!” she cried in delight. “So glad you could join us!” She flinched as the debris pile warmed in a wash of heat.

        “Need some help?” Fluttershy inquired.

        The debris pile exploded from a force spell, scattering them with dirt and bits of stone. Trixie threw up a shield in time to spare them from being perforated by shrapnel. “By all means!” Trixie cried.

        Fluttershy flared out her wings in a rush of power, but they ached with the effort. She'd taxed herself heavily this night and it was beginning to show. “Hey, you!” she shouted, trying to distract herself from her sudden exhaustion as much as attract the sorcerer's attention away from smiting Trixie.

        The sorcerer, an aging stallion clad in a heavy robe lined with mithril, reared, aiming the palm of his hand at Fluttershy. She saw his lips move and a jagged bolt of electricity emerged, striking her square in the chest before even her empowered reflexes could dodge.

        The shock scrambled her body. She let out a low moan, dropping from the sky, spared a gory death on jagged metal only by the light of Trixie's levitating glow. “Idiotic pegasus!” she heard the sorcerer taunt. She twitched uselessly, the urge to faint overwhelming. For a scant second she blacked out, then blinked back to consciousness.

        Trixie whinnied in panic as eldritch fire rained down around her, shattering her shield. More fire kept the other unicorns from coming to Trixie’s aid. “No,” Fluttershy whispered. “Please... “

        The whinny shifted into a high pitched scream.

        “NO!”

        Fluttershy, every muscle on fire, stood up at a glacial pace. She reached deep in herself, trying desperately to ignore the painful electric burn on her chest. With a final inward pull her Rainbow Power aura glowed brightly once again, giving her the strength to gallop to Trixie's side.

        She found Trixie, her armor blasted away, writhing in agony, her mouth frothing with foam as she flailed underneath a lethal red beam emanating from the laughing sorcerer's palm.

        Fluttershy roared a battle cry and tackled the sorcerer from behind. His spell winked out as the two fell to the ground in a mass of kicking limbs. She straddled him, trying to pin his massive body underneath hers.

        “You live?!” he cried.

        “Yes!” Fluttershy reached for his throat and clung with all her might, throttling away his breath. “But! You! Won't!” She punctuated each word with a stomp from her hooves into his belly until finally he stopped moving. She snapped his neck for good measure, then rolled off him.

        Stumbling over to Trixie's prone form, she nudged her in the back with a hoof. “Please wake up, Trixie,” she begged.

        Trixie groaned, clutching her head as she roughly climbed to her feet, aided by Fluttershy. “I'm awake, I'm awake,” she murmured. She turned a pale green and bent over. Fluttershy dodged the splash of sick, just barely. “Trixie is not at her best, but she is awake,” Trixie said, trying to save face.

        “Come on,” Fluttershy said, ducking under Trixie and taking the injured unicorn onto her back. “We've dealt with all the centaurs. I think.”

        “We have?” Trixie said in a strained voice. She lolled on Fluttershy's back, but managed to cling to Fluttershy's withers despite her weak state. “Oh good. We'll have plenty of time to—“

        Whatever she'd been about to say was lost under the ear-splitting shriek of shattering glass. The remains of the Ponyville town shield cascaded all around them before winking out entirely.

~ * ~

        As the cool summer night wrapped most of Ponyville in slumber, Twilight lounged in her favorite reading chair, positioned by the first story window to catch light and breezes. Nestled in her hooves was a copy of Alchemical Compounds, Volume III: Elixirs and Potions. Exceptionally dry reading material even to Twilight under normal circumstances, but after the mess at the Rainbow Falls trade fair, and after other… recent events… she needed the distraction. The notes scribbled in the margins, about crazy ponies trying to make friends with her, helped immerse her in memories of happier days.

        Oh, she and Fluttershy had reconciled, in a sense, a few days later. She apologized to Fluttershy for insulting her, and for being, well… the giant pervert she was. And Fluttershy apologized for overreacting and not dealing with things in a more mature fashion.

        But ever since, she’d felt more distant from Fluttershy. A part of Twilight still longed for the pegasus, desperately. But the rest of her understood she could never have she wanted, that deep down in her heart, Fluttershy saw her as much less of a friend than she once had.

        She took a sip from her snifter of brandy, nose wrinkling at the warm, if sour, taste. She’d been drinking too much of this lately. Maybe she should go back to stuffing her face at the Hayburger. Public embarrassment or no, at least she could claim to herself that she actually used those calories.

        A knock came at the door, so quiet that Twilight almost didn't catch it. It came again as she pondered getting up to check it, louder and more insistent. “Who could that be at this hour,” she groused as she made for the door.

        She opened the door. Fluttershy squatted on her doorstep, her mane and coat full of brambles, face awash with tear stains, her eyes bloodshot from recent crying. “Twilight?”

        Twilight's heart thundered, all kinds of horrible scenarios leaping to mind. “Oh my gosh, Fluttershy, what happened?” She ushered Fluttershy inside. “Are you hurt?”

        “It’s… a long story,” Fluttershy said as she took a seat on the sofa. “I… I hope I’m not bothering you.”

        “No, not at all,” Twilight said. She raised a washcloth from the nearby wash basin in her magic, and dabbed at Fluttershy’s face to clean the tearstains. “I couldn’t sleep. Spike’s snoring like a freight train again.” A lie, but a small one; Spike really had been having snoring problems lately. “Would you like anything? Tea, maybe?” She looked at the brandy. “Or maybe something stronger?”

        Fluttershy made a face. “Tea would be lovely, thank you.”

                Soon two cups of steaming chamomile tea were clasped in their hooves. “Now,” Twilight said,  as she used a comb to brush out the brambles, using the distraction to keep herself at ease as much as she could, “You can talk about what happened. If you want to.” Twilight couldn’t quite understand why Fluttershy had come to her. According to her… observations(that she had ceased, thank you) Fluttershy usually went to Rarity for her issues.

        Fluttershy sipped her tea. “Well, it’s… oh. I’m not sure where to start.”

        Twilight nodded in understanding. “The beginning’s usually a good place,” she suggested with a touch of humor.”

        “Okay… well, you see, I’m in, well, I was… still am… oh…” Fluttershy buried her muzzle into her teacup, and when she emerged her lips ran with tea. “I’m in love with Rainbow Dash. And I told her. Today.”

        Oh dear. Suddenly it all crystallized, a bitter pill Twilight did not want to swallow. She wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh, cry, or shout. So she settled for a controlled, if slightly wavering, “I take it things didn’t go well.”

        “No. They didn’t.” Fluttershy whispered. She sank into the sofa, setting aside her empty teacup. “She… well, she…”

        “She's in love with someone else?” Twilight guessed. Applejack, perhaps. Definitely Applejack. Of course she would be. Why not? Why not extend the chain of unrequited love to another po—

        “No, actually. Not... not with anyone.”

        Twilight blinked. “Really?”

        Fluttershy nodded, sipping the remnants of her tea. “She said she... can't. Sort of.”

        Twilight's face screwed up. “Wait, what? Why—oh!” Her eyes bulged.

        Fluttershy confirmed her suspicion: “She's... asexual. And aromantic.”

        Twilight almost dropped her tea cup, catching it just in time before more than a few drops spilled. “I, wow. Didn't see that coming.” Though perhaps she should have. Hadn't Rainbow Dash turned down Rarity--Rarity!--of all ponies, after the Best Young Flier's Competition, when the unicorn had all but leapt into bed with Rainbow right then and there? And of course Rainbow had left a string of broken hearts all across Ponyville, but Twilight thought that was just because she was bad at maintaining relationships, not because she was asexual. Her observational skills clearly needed brushing up on. Of course it would have helped if Twilight had studied more ponies than just Fluttershy for the past year.

        And yet... Twilight's brow crinkled. “But you've been her best friend since, since forever! She never told you?”

        “I... never asked.” Shy sighed. “She told me about how she figured it out after being with Gilda. At flight camp.” She buried her face in her hooves and cried. “And she said she'd value me as her closest friend, always.”

        Twilight leaned over and wrapped a wing around Fluttershy gently. “I... I said it was okay,” Fluttershy whispered. “But it's not what I wanted.”

        Twilight nodded. She held Fluttershy close, setting her chin atop the crying mare's head. “There, there,” she cooed. Fluttershy leaned in and wrapped her arms around Twilight's waist. Twilight felt a warm flush at Fluttershy's closeness, and scowled inwardly at her libido's unpleasant timing. She’d set her feelings for Fluttershy aside for good, darn it.

        Twilight wasn't sure how long the two of them clung there, cradled in each others warmth. Certainly long enough for her tea to go cold, and the thunderstorm scheduled for midnight to begin, but Twilight was determined to give Fluttershy as much time as she needed. It was the least Twilight could do to make up for her mistakes.

        “Thank you, Twilight,” Fluttershy finally said a bit hoarsely, sitting up so she could look Twilight eye to eye. “You’ve been so good to me.”

        Twilight gave her a smile, running a hoof over her forehead. “Just trying to be a good friend. Especially since,” she swallowed nervously. “I understand exactly how you feel.”

        “I know…” Fluttershy said, her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “That’s… actually that’s why I came to you tonight. Because now I understand how you felt too. And, I’m sorry.”

        Twilight’s smile waned. “No, Fluttershy, you don’t have to apologize at all. I’m the one--”

“No, no,” Fluttershy interrupted. “I forgave you for that a while ago, and I meant it. I know you know why what you did was wrong, and you’ve done nothing but be a wonderful friend since.” She paused, taking a few slow breaths, her eyes taking on a touch of determination. “That’s… that’s why I want to make it up to you.”

Twilight’s pulse quickened. Sweat beaded on her brow; she flushed as though the temperature had just risen by twenty degrees. “Oh you don’t have to do that,” she stammered.Come on, Sparkle, she told herself. Get a grip. She’s Fluttershy. She’s not talking about anything sexua--

“Oh, but I insist,” Fluttershy said, her voice low and throaty, igniting a fire in Twilight in places that should most certainly not be on fire right now. Figuratively or literally. “You’re always there for me, Twilight… and I want to make up for abusing that.”

Twilight laughed nervously, almost hyperventilating. “What… ah, w-what did you have in mind, exactly?”

Fluttershy’s eyes dipped into an expression that Twilight had imagined on many, (many, many) long nights. She ran a hoof along Twilight’s chest in a steady, slow motion, the touch sparking little gasp. “I think you’ll like it,” she said with a smile that sent Twilight’s heart beating so fast she thought she might burst!

And then Fluttershy kissed her, and she realized she had no idea what bursting truly meant. The stars exploding in her eyes, the taste of Fluttershy’s lips, cool and clean, like a babbling brook, it was all so intense. She fumbled for Fluttershy, pulling her closer and running a hoof down her spine, thrilled at the little moans she elicited. Fluttershy is kissing me, her mind repeated ad infinitum. This is real! Fluttershy is kissing me!

Fluttershy broke the kiss, leaving Twilight crestfallen, adrift, until she was pushed onto her back, Fluttershy climbing atop, nuzzling into her neck with little kisses and bites as Shy’s hoof trailed down her body. The rush of what Fluttershy was about to do to her… she quivered in anticipation.

And yet…

And yet an insistent little voice in her head nagged, saying this was a mistake, that this needed to stop, now. And despite every other part of her screaming to lose herself in Fluttershy’s loving touch… she knew that voice was right.

“Fluttershy,” she gasped, grabbing Shy’s hoof in her magic before it could descend past the point of no return, “Stop. Please!”

Fluttershy, thankfully, halted immediately, sitting up and blinking down at her. “What’s wrong?” she asked, a slight touch of hurt confusion in her voice. “Do… do you not like it?”

Twilight’s body ached in protest at Fluttershy’s withdrawal, but Twilight absolutely refused to let her libido rule her actions. Not this time. “We shouldn’t… we shouldn’t do this,” she said.

“Oh… I’m sorry, I thought this was… what you wanted…”

Twilight grit her teeth. “Oh it is, trust me.”

“But… then why--”

“Because you don’t. Want it, that is.”

Twilight’s words washed away any last trace of lust from Fluttershy’s face like a splash of cold water, replaced with regret. She sank back into her corner of the couch.“I’m… I’m sorry…”

Twilight sat up, grateful to not have Fluttershy’s closeness make this even more difficult. The sorrow on Fluttershy’s face cut at her soul. “No, it’s okay, Fluttershy, really. I’m not mad.” She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring fashion. “I really appreciate what you were trying to do, even if it wasn’t… wasn’t the best idea.”

Fluttershy sniffled. “I… I don’t understand. I thought… I thought I was being… Kind.”

Twilight shook her head. “Remember the Breezies?”

Fluttershy managed to look slightly annoyed between sniffles. “Of course I do, it was only a couple of weeks-- Oh!” Her eyes widened in understanding. “I… I wasn’t being Kind at all, was I?”

“No, not quite. I…” Twilight chuckled. “I won’t lie. I would have loved it. At first. Till I realized you only did it because you felt obligated. That’d make me a pretty darn awful pony to take advantage of you like that. Especially when you’ve just had the love of your life tell you she’ll never be able to love you the same way.”

Fluttershy stared down at the cushions in the sofa. “Oh, now I feel awful.”

Twilight placed her hoof under Fluttershy’s chin, nudging her up gently. “Please don’t. Like I said, I’m not angry. In fact, I’m…” Twilight paused, trying to find the right words. “I’m touched,” she settled on, after a moment. “You care about me a lot as a friend if you’re willing to go that far when you don’t really want to yourself.”

“I do,” Fluttershy admitted. “That’s why it hurt so much when you…”

Twilight supplied, “When I called you weak.”

“Yes.” Fluttershy smiled softly. “I trust you, Twilight. You… more than any of our friends, you really helped me learn how to… to trust ponies. Instead of just animals.”

Twilight’s heart rose at the compliment. “Can I… Can I ask you something?” At Fluttershy’s nod, she continued, “Do you know what I love about you, more than anything else?”

Fluttershy blushed, her smile fading a bit. “What’s that?”

Twilight could sense her next words would be some of the most important in her life. She took a moment to organize her thoughts. “Your strength.”

Fluttershy’s eyebrows rose so high, it was clear to Twilight that was not at all what she had expected to hear. “I’m not strong,” she said with conviction that almost stunned Twilight in its intensity.

“Oh yes you are,” Twilight insisted, with even greater intensity. “Yes you are strong, and don’t you ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Kindness is your virtue because of that strength. It’s… it’s so difficult to be Kind. Ponies who mistake it for weakness, they don’t understand that at all. I sure as heck didn’t at first. You saw how I was when I first came to Ponyville: Grade A mean.”

She rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “It took you to teach me otherwise. I didn’t really start understanding until you saved my life from that cockatrice. You find everything in life, the things that most ponies, including me, don’t even notice half the time, as great obstacles you have to overcome. But you overcome it, again and again and again. Every day you conquer, you rise above, and you do it all without losing faith in Kindness. Sometimes you stumble, sure. Everyone does! But you always find your way back.”

The depth of Fluttershy’s blush, and the little squeaks she was making as she hid her face in her mane told Twilight she’d said the right thing. For once.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered. “That’s… that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Twilight grinned. “And it’s all true. Every word.”

Fluttershy tackled her into a hug much more platonic than their earlier embrace, sinking them both into the sofa. “Thank you, Twilight!”

“Sure,” Twilight said.

They cuddled, as it were, for a short while, until Twilight let out an involuntary yawn. “It’s getting late.”

“Oh goodness, it is.” Fluttershy hopped to her hooves. “I should get home. I need to be up at dawn to feed all the early risers.”

Twilight nodded. “I should get some sleep myself. Got a full schedule tomorrow.”

Fluttershy opened the door, and winced at the pouring rain streaming in. “Oh dear,” she mumbled.

Twilight floated her an umbrella mounted on a saddle. “Here. Take this.”

“Oh!” Fluttershy smiled in gratitude. “Good night, Twilight.” She started to leave.

Twilight raised a hoof. “Wait, Fluttershy.” She had to know. “Do you… do you think, maybe…”

Fluttershy’s smile saddened. “Maybe, someday. But not for a while. I… need to sort my own feelings out first.”

“Right. Totally fair.” Twilight waved. “Goodnight, Fluttershy.”

“Goodnight.”

Twilight closed the door behind her, and flopped onto the couch, soaking in the warmth left behind. She couldn’t help but smile as she curled up, deciding to sleep here rather than climb the stairs and risk waking Spike. She’d sleep comfortably though. She had Fluttershy as a friend back. That’s all she could have asked for.