Clear skies and sunshine. That was the way to describe today. It was one of those days where nothing could go wrong. Everypony down in Ponyville took advantage of the beautiful day. Ponies were out and about, having picnics, taking a stroll through the park and enjoying themselves to the fullest. One such pony was doing exactly that. She flew high in the sky, tumbling spinning and flipping with practiced concentration. The mare was moving quick enough to be leaving a small trail of a rainbow in her wake.
Below, a mint green mare slowly approached the daredevil's practice area, clearly seen by the lack of ponies picnicking there for fear of somepony crashing their little get together... literally. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings and unlike everyone else, she was not having a good day. In truth, this entire week had been horrible for the unicorn. She had spent many sleepless night either crying silently or staring blankly up at the ceiling. Her best friend, Bon-Bon, picked up on it right away. After many hours of poking and proding at the subject, the cream colored earth mare finally told her to find help with someone else if she didn't feel comfortable talking to her about it.. And thus, here she was...
"Hey Rainbow!" Lyra called to the somersaulting Pegasus. The blue mare didn't appear to hear her as she continued to do yet another trick. "Rainbow Dash!!"
"Huh?" the mare responded distractedly. She leveled out and saw the unicorn beckoning her to come down. "Lyra? What does she want?" The two had never really hung out together. She didn't even give her a passing glance when she saw her in the market. It was strange. They knew each other for a long time, but never knew each other. With a flap of her wings, the lithe pegasus swooped down to Lyra.
"Hey," Dash began with nervous smile. She had heard rumors about this mare being really weird, but after the Zecora thing, she tried to be open-minded. "It's Lyra, right? What's up?"
"I-I... Uh... Yeah, it is..." Lyra answered hesitantly. Dash's curiousity was peaked. Not many ponies became nervous around her- well, at least to those whom she hasn't crashed into. "I-I just thought that... I could... you know... ask you a few things?"
"Um... okay..." Rainbow began while looking away awkwardly. "Like what?"
"Is... Is it... true?" Lyra asked in a low voice.
"Is what true?" Dash's curiousty was now at full. Were there rumors being spread about her?
"Um... do you think that..." Lyra began while looking back at the ponies having their picnics and playing outdoorsy games. "We could talk in... private?"
Rainbow stared at her for a moment before giving a slow nod. She walked ovr to a tree, well out of earshot to anyone. Giving the green mare the stink eye, she asked, "What's this about Lyra? Who's spreading rumors about me?"
"W-well... I don't know if it was a rumor or not," Lyra answered nervously. "I mean, if it is a rumor I'm pretty much wasting my time, right? But I needed to know myself, you know? I have this problem see- well, it's not a problem- I mean it depends on how you look at things- Well, I guess it wouldn't matter one way or another, would it? And even if it was a rumor, I wouldn't know anypony who would spread rumors. I mean, unless you count Rarity, and the spa girls, Cloudchaser, Flitter, Applejack, Pinkie Pie... On second thought, I do know a lot of ponies who would gossip about rumors, but I don't know who started it. Hehehe..."
"Lyra?" Dash said, giving her temples a rub. "Would you just tell me what you think is true about me?"
The unicorn stiffened and silently averted her gaze. She kicked a dirt clod away in procrastination, but eventually mumbled, "Y-you're... you are... a lesbian, right?"
An alarm went off in Dash's mind. Her eyes fell into a mild glare and her wings flared out slightly in preparation for a screaming match. "And if I was?"
"I-I'm sorry?" Lyra said, backing away from the Pegasus.
"If I was. What's it to you? Wanna call me names? Go ahead I've heard every name in the book. Give it your best shot," Dash said in a low growl.
"Wha-? No! Nononononononono! I-I just have a problem and-"
"Oh I see, you got a problem with me!" Dash said rising into the air and glaring daggers into the unicorn. "Well tough horseshoes! I don't care! You can hate me all ya want, but y'know what? I don't care! You can hiss at me, boo me, hate me all you want! If you're here looking for fight though, then hurry up and give me your best shot!"
Lyra fell backwards as Dash came closer and closer to her face. A terrified look crossed her face as she squeaked out, "I'msosorry! I just want some advice!!!!!"
The rainbow maned pegasus backed off a bit and snorted. "Advice on what?"
"H-how y-you know?" Lyra replied meekly, bracing herself for a beating.
"...what?" Dash gaped with a confused look taking the edge away from her anger. She shook her head and turned away from the cowering unicorn. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"No! Please! I-I'm sorry, I just..." Lyra said with a sigh. "H-how do you know if you are... you know..."
Dash paused for a moment to take in the scene before her. Here was a unicorn who, by some way or another, heard about Dash's sexuality. It occurred to her that she might actually need to talk to someone about this. Her anger subsided almost in an instant and sympathetic guilt filled it's place. "Oh... well... Jeez..."
"I-I'm sorry for bothering you about this. I-I'll just go now," Lyra said getting up and walking away.
The gulty awkwardness in her gut was unbearable to the Pegasus and she called out ina raspy voice, "Hey, hold on a sec!" Lyra turned to face Rainbow with a sad expression. "L-look, you wanted my advice right? Fat lot it's gonna do you if you walk away now."
Lyra, in minor surprise, turned and began walking back towards the tomboyish mare. "U-um... thank you, but if it's too much trouble..."
"Oh, shut up and sit down," Dash commanded while lying down. "I'm an open book. Just ask me anything you wanna know."
"W-well..." Lyra began. "H-how did you know about it?"
"About what?" Dash asked rhetorically. "About how I became a Fillyfooler? Haha!" Dash laughed awkwardly hoping to brighten the mood.
"O-oh, Uh... well yes, I guess." Lyra paused for a moment and then asked. "Isn't that word, um... derogatory?"
"Deraga what now?"
"You know... um... a bad name?"
"Oh, well when you put it like that..." Dash said thinking about the word. "It's... yes, some mares think it's a bad name, but others don't. Some think it's funny and some don't think it's funny at all. It's all about the way you look at things. For me, it depends. I mean, I've had ponies call me that back in Cloudsdale all the time. It wasn't in a good way either."
"...ok," Lyra said with a nod. "That makes... sense."
"As for your question about knowing well..." Dash began while a small blush formed on her cheeks. "Look, I'm not one for sappy stories anything, but I'll tell you straight out."
"Way back in the day when I was still a filly, my dad took me out to see a Wonderbolts show. I was maybe 12, or 13. Anyways, I remember that we got pretty good seats too. I was, like, right up towards the front. Heh, my dad had to keep me in my seat because I kept floating upwards. It was an amazing show, and I just remember that there was also this group of gryphons too. They're like the Wonderbolts of wherever they came from. Anyways, there was this competition and I was seriously pumped up!
"They were tied in some way or another. I don't really remember that part to well. What I do remember is that Misty Fly, FleetFoot and Spitfire had to pull off an act off the top of their heads. I can't describe it, but they pulled off this awesome improve stunt. Apparently, the gryphons were pretty good too and everyone was really tense. Then, the results came in and the Wonderbolts won by a hair! The crowd went nuts! Then... well..."
"What happened?" Lyra asked. Rainbow Dash's blush returned to her face.
"It still gets to me, y'know? Like..." she began before letting out a long sigh. "The Wonderbolts were as crazy as all their fans were, especially FleetFoot. She... She then sort of whipped off her suit and, well, um... It made me as a kid get all excited, but not the way you would think. I mean, I got really embarrassed and sat down in my seat, staring at her. Everyone cheered louder. I didn't know why it mattered back then. I see ponies without clothes all the time and the mares in the locker rooms at my school took off their training clothes too, but for some reason... this was just different."
Lyra was silent as a similar blush washed across her cheeks. An awkward silence hung in the air.
"...Again, that was when I knew I was a lesbian. Before that though, I was sort of aware of it. Like, I was a big fan of the Spice Mares. One day, one of my friends in school were talking about another mare and said she was a total fillyfooler. See, she and I were best friends, and hearing this, I got a little confused 'cause ponies always told me how we're practically identical personality wise. I asked her if she said the same thing about me to others. She didn't say anything, but she gave me one of those awkward smiles."
"But yeah. Before that Wonderbolts show, I was totally in denial. I was totally convinced that I was straight."
"Wow..." Lyra gaped. The unicorn looked away in embarrassment. "That's... I don't know what to say."
"Well, don't say anything about it," Dash said with a wave of her hoof. "I've been talking about me for a long time, but despite what everypony might think, I do get tired of hearing my own voice. Why don't you tell me what your thinking right now? Is any of this helping?"
"Erm... Well... I'm... I'm not sure what to think. I-I mean... it's just... um..." Lyra seemed to avoid Dash's gaze.
"Do you have anymore questions?" Dash asked, seeing Lyra begin to withdraw herself. With a sigh Dash stood and helped lyra to her hooves. "Listen... I want you to go home now. Look at yourself in a mirror and just ask yourself: Am I a lesbian?"
Lyra looked up to Dash and stared into her eyes, searching for some sort of sign that this was a trick or some elaborate prank.
"And if still have questions, I'll be around to talk too." With that, the rainbow maned Pegasus flew up into the sky and did a barrel roll. Lyra stood in that spot, watching the rainbow trail duck and dive and tumble in the air. The uneasy butterflies in her gut subsided as she began thinking. She then left the park with a smile on her lips and a certain jump in her step.
Author's Note
Based on true events and inspired by the recent pass of LGBT Marriage by the Supreme Courts of the USA.
