Invisible Relationship

Only a heavy wooden door separated Fluttershy and Twilight from their friend inside. The light yellow pegasus looked it over from top-to-bottom, and whimpered again.

Twilight sighed. "Fluttershy, Dash is probably in a lot of pain. I would assume so. All we're going to do is go in and visit for a few seconds, just to let her know we're there for her." Fluttershy looked over to the purple unicorn, on the verge of tears. Twilight continued haltingly. "I - I know that it could - it might - will be a little disturbing, but it's - she broke her wing pretty bad. We have to at least wish her well. We're all friends here, right?"

Fluttershy nodded for a second, pulling herself together as well as she could. She never wanted to see any of her friends in pain again - not after Pinkie burned herself that one time. Layers and layers of skin were raw, and it was even slightly blackened around the edges. And the screaming... she shuddered as horrible thoughts came to her mind.

Twilight opened the door with confidence, or resolve; it wasn't easy to tell. Fluttershy's emotions changed when she saw he friend lying in the bright white hospital bed; she was laid out in an extremely uncomfortable-looking position, with her left wing extended and in a thick cast. But what really put Fluttershy over the edge was her face.

She looked almost malnourished; her normally well-rounded face had been reduced to almost cadaverous - her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes were puffy and red from tears. Not that she would have shown any pain in front of her friends.

While Twilight walked over almost solemnly to the row of chairs along the wall to greet Applejack with a hug, Fluttershy trotted over to Dash's bedside, putting her hooves up on the barred side and hiding her face partially behind the curtain of her mane.

Dash let out a laugh that sounded normal enough, and greeted her friend with a "Hey, Shy!"

This took the edge off Fluttershy's nerves, and calmed her down, if only slightly. "Hi, Rainbow," she replied softly, her voice cracking.

The baby-blue pegasus chuckled a little, and moved her back a bit, wincing. "Don't cry, Shy, you're gonna make me look bad."

Fluttershy couldn't help but smile; Dash had a better bedside manner than her, even though she was the one in pain. By now, the other two mares had come to the opposite side of the bed, before Fluttershy asked at the same volume, "Did it... did it hurt?"

Dash grinned, and pointed a hoof back behind her. "Oh, this? Nah. My bone just came out of my flesh. Didn't hurt a bit." She looked expectantly around at her friends, but they didn't appear certain of how to react. She sighed, and took a few seconds of silence before speaking again. "I'll be out in a few minutes once the pain meds wear off," she said, pointing to an IV held into her foreleg with plastic, "and they'll hit me with a new shot. It makes me drowsy. So, I have, like, five minutes."

None of her visitors could respond. Thankfully, the silence combo was finally broken by a wild Pinkie Pie dashing madly into the room, absolutely decked out with balloons. "DO I HAVE THE RIGHT ROOM THIS TIME?" she shouted desperately, and glanced around the room with glistening eyes, before she caught Dash's sight. She rushed over to her, nearly tripping over one of the strings on her balloons.

She bent down over the hospital bed and began to cry, much to the confusion and general embarrassment of everypony else. Twilight tried to speak sense to her. "Pinkie, she just broke something. She'll be alright-"

But Pinkie wasn't listening. Instead, she was unwrapping the shiny aluminum balloons from her forelegs and tying them to the corner bedposts. "Get well soon, Dashie, please!" she shouted again, tears streaming down her face.

She was walked over to the chairs lined up against the wall by Twilight and they sat down to talk about it, while Applejack was still standing by Dash's bedside and talking quietly with her. However, Fluttershy had essentially retreated to the corner, lost in her thoughts. The arrival of Pinkie Pie only made her wonder where the last Element-bearer was. Where was Rarity?

She paced the room for a few minutes, and went to sit down alongside Twilight and Pinkie. "...And she's gonna be a-okay, right?" Pinkie was asking Twilight, sniffling and dabbing at her eyes.

"Yup. From what I can tell, her bone should set soon."

"You're sure?"

Fluttershy put a foreleg around Pinkie from behind. "Trust us," she said, smiling. "Dash is going to be fine."

Pinkie turned around and hugged her friend, sobbing quietly into her shoulder. A bit of an overreaction, Fluttershy thought, considering I should be the one most upset. I'm the only other pony here that that could ever happen to anyway. She shuddered again as she tried to imagine her bone breaking like that. Glancing over Pinkie's shoulder, she noticed Applejack had been talking almost silently to Dash for the past few minutes. Shouldn't she be out by now?

As soon as Pinkie swapped her attention to Twilight again, Fluttershy walked over to Dash's bed alongside Applejack. It was obvious that Dash was out, but it was also very obvious that she was in pain. She was biting her lip and groaning, her coat glistening with sweat and her entire body shaking as it was wracked with a fresh surge of pain.

Fluttershy gasped, and put a hoof over her mouth. She looked like she was seizing up. Just then, though, she noticed out of the corner of her eye Applejack's hoof running slowly down Dash's mane. She was singing something softly under her breath as she continued stroking her head and neck like a newborn foal or a puppy.

Not wanting to create tension or awkwardness, Fluttershy backed up and walked over to the chairs again, sitting near Pinkie. She watched from a distance as Dash slowly stopped moving, and her pulse resumed its normal speed, a tempo*. Twilight was holding Pinkie's head, praying she didn't see anything; it would have only worried her more.

It was around this time that Rarity finally arrived. "Hi, Rarity," Fluttershy said, standing and walking over to her, leaving Twilight alone to console Pinkie.

"Hello, Fluttershy," she said, her eyes only darting momentarily to her in recognition as she stared at the unconscious mare lying surrounded by medical equipment. "What did she do?" she asked quietly as she walked over to Dash's bedside.

Fluttershy remained where she was, rocking slightly on her hooves. "She broke her wing. I... well, I mean, I wasn't there."

"Yeah," Twilight spoke up from behind Applejack. "What happened? You were there, Applejack."

The orange mare remained silent, her hoof paused on Dash's colorful mane. "Ah told the doctor all ah could remember," she replied firmly. "Just talk to them. Ah don't like havin' to think back to it again."

Twilight quickly felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Applejack. I should've known... I mean, I could've been more considerate."

She sighed, and walked up to Twilight, sitting down next to her and Pinkie, who had calmed down considerably. "It's okay, Twi," she said, moving her ponytailed mane back from her face. "Ah hope y'all can respect that. Ah'm sorry, everypony, ah just don't wanna talk 'bout it no more. Ah just wanna wait 'till Dash gets better. Then maybe we can all laugh about the whole thing."

The silence in the room was overpowering. The afternoon light shining into the room through the tanned old Venetian blinds quickly became evening light as, one by one, the ponies left, quietly or under murmured conversation. Fluttershy followed Rarity out last, leaving only Applejack alone with the battered Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, the clean white hospital bed moved as the blue pegasus on it began to stir. In her hazy vision, she could only see Applejack standing by her bedside and a dark, empty room behind her. She reached a hoof out to touch the light orange via of the mare so unmovingly loyal to her - almost paling Dash's loyalty in comparison.

"...Don't go," she whispered through cracked lips.

Applejack leaned down and kissed the mare on the forehead. "Ah won't leave ya, Dash. Ah promise."

~~~~~(At About The Same Time in Rarity's Boutique)~~~~~

The door closed quickly behind the yellow mare, blocking out any light from the boutique that could have made its way onto the tiled street. Rarity sighed briefly, and turned to smile weakly at Fluttershy. "Alone at last," she almost whispered, before her smile fell from her face.

"I'm worried about Rainbow Dash now," she began straightforwardly. "I... I don't feel in the mood anymore. I mean, I keep imagining what the poor darling must have suffered through, and - oh! It just tears my insides out!" she finished dramatically.

Fluttershy said nothing. Instead, she shuddered once more at the thought of such an injury running through her head and turned away. "I... I should go."

"No, wait, Fluttershy," Rarity said, reaching out a hoof to stop her. She wrapped her foreleg around the pegasus' neck and pulled her back towards her for a kiss.

It wasn't long, but there was an emotion in it; a rich emotion that was filled to the brim with all of Rarity's fright, worry, and sadness. There was disappointment in herself for not being able to be there for Fluttershy twenty-four seven, and there was a degree of frustration that they couldn't tell everypony they knew about their love.

She finally pulled away, her eyes half-closed and red with suppressed tears. Without warning, those suppressed tears burst from their reins and began flowing freely down Rarity's cheeks, falling to the floor below them and forming a few small spots on the hardwood.

She bit her lip and finally began sobbing, a sound that in and of itself hurt Fluttershy; but the empathetic pain was increased tenfold when Rarity leaned onto her shoulder and buried her face into her neck, wetting it with fresh tears.

Fluttershy could feel everything Rarity was feeling, and a stinging sensation began tickling the backs of her eyes. She could feel the tears forming but was powerless to stop them; as they began to cascade down her face, she began to remember the last three years, and all the secret love they'd shared. Would they risk that for publicity? How could they not?

Her sobs increased as well as she leaned back onto Rarity, crying into her loved one's mane and laying a gentle hoof oh her shoulder. She finally grasped the frustration Rarity was feeling, because she began to feel it herself; she felt almost obligated to keep Rarity happy, and she wanted them to be able to meet without fear of ridicule or disgust. She wanted them to be in a real relationship, and above all else she wanted their friends' approval.

But there was a fear of rejection and loss that kept them at bay; a fear that they both hated, and a fear that they both shared. It was this fear that caused such unbelievable frustration, and what finally drove them to this. They stood in front of the boutique's entrance, crying into each other's shoulders, releasing all their pent-up emotions.

Finally, after a good ten minutes, Rarity quieted down, and turned to the couch, her hoof still around Fluttershy. She led her still-upset marefriend to the loveseat and sat down, holding her tightly. After a few moments of nothing but the sound of sobbing filling the room, Rarity finally drew up the courage to speak.

"Fluttershy, d-" She paused, not wishing to say anything that would hurt the mood. "Fluttershy," she repeated, but softer. Fluttershy looked up, her cheeks still flushed and tear-stained. She'd only heard her use this tone twice before.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Fluttershy, I love you. You know I do. And I've been thinking a bit." She shut her eyes tightly, wondering how to piece everything together. "I think we should tell them."

Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat. She thought for a second she misheard, but then understood that Rarity was being totally truthful. She couldn't smile, but her heart jumped from her stomach to her throat. The bitter tears were gone; she didn't feel like crying anymore.

"I... I think we should tell them," Rarity repeated, as though solidifying the statement in her own mind. "We should tell everypony. If they don't like it, so be it. We have to be strong."

Fluttershy still couldn't move by her mind's command, but her emotions got the better of her. She leaned across and hugged Rarity, locking her lips with hers for a kiss of pure romance, pure passion. She didn't break off for minutes, but just moved her hooves down Rarity's pristine white coat, feeling every inch of her that she could. She just wanted to feel this mare; this mare that was finally willing to take a bold step in their relationship - something Fluttershy definitely couldn't do.

Of course, all wonderful things must come to an end, and she eventually broke off, running her hoof along the side of Rarity's face lovingly. She then embraced her again and whispered softly into her ear:

"Thank you."