Love, Trust and Friendship

Rainbow Dash woke feeling horrible. No... Not horrible... like death. This is what death feels like. I'm going to die. Her stomach was in knots, her head was pounding and she had an awful stale taste in her mouth. She cracked her eyes open and was rewarded by the morning sunlight lancing her retinas. She closed her eyes groaning, rolling on her bed away from the sun... her face meeting the back of a couch.

What? Rainbow thought, trying to comprehend why she was not in her bed. The hay am I?

Now starting to feel awake, she could hear what sounded like somepony in a kitchen.

She braced herself and opened her eyes. Facing the back of the couch lessened the blow. As her vision cleared she recognized the fabric pattern of Fluttershy's couch. Oh thank Celestia I'm not waking up at Spring Step's! Wait... what happened to Spring Step?

Rainbow tried to remember what happened last night. The gears of her mind turned slowly in the morning at the best of times. Today the gears felt completely ceased.

I don't remember coming to Fluttershy's... Obviously I did though... She desperately scraped the remains of her brain for what happened last night. Last thing I remember... Taking off from Rarity... The ceased gears broke free as the previous night came back in a rush. "Twilight!" she gasped. She turned, not expecting the dizziness that accompanied the quick movement, and fell gracelessly off the couch tangled in a blanket.

Rainbow laid on the floor groaning, eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the world to stop spinning and her stomach to go back where it belonged.

Rainbow heard light hoofsteps coming near followed by the sweet voice of Fluttershy as she said, "Good morning, sleepy-head!"

Rainbow groaned in response, still not wanting to open her eyes.

"Come on, let's get you up and get some food into you," Fluttershy said pulling the blanket wrapped around Rainbow, dumping her, once again, unceremoniously onto the floor.

Rainbow's world started to spin again and she clamped her mouth shut against whatever horrible things were in her stomach that suddenly wanted out.

After a moment's battle with her stomach, Rainbow slowly got to her hooves. She peeped an eye open. OK... Sun's not too bad now. She opened her other eye and looked into Fluttershy's sympathetic, although slightly amused, face.

"You're looking a little green around the edges," Fluttershy said with a grin

Green... Rainbow clamped her mouth shut again, her stomach heaving, and ran to the washroom down the hall trailed by the twinkling sound of Fluttershy's laughter.

By the time Rainbow had finished emptying her body of what felt like everything but her bones, she came back out to Fluttershy's main room and plunked heavily onto a chair at the table. She looked around seeing her friend had made a pile of muffins and a pot of fresh coffee for her. Bless Flutters and her hangover breakfast, she thought.

She looked up at Fluttershy who was seated at the table, still wearing an amused grin, eating a muffin. "Thanks Shy. Sorry about crashing last night..."

"Oh, that's OK. You know you're always welcome," Fluttershy said hiding behind her mane. "And you were... a little out of sorts last night. There was no way you could have flown home."

Rainbow let out a laugh and regretted it as pain lanced through her head. "Judging by the shape I'm in... I can just imagine..." she said, taking a tentative sip of her coffee. Thankfully, her stomach approved it. She slathered a muffin in a healthy helping of butter and took a few small bites. Coffee, accepted... Muffins... Pending approval, she thought as her stomach clenched and relaxed.

"So what happened last night?" Fluttershy asked. "When you got here you were not making a lot of sense." She smiled at Rainbow from behind her mane, eyes dancing.

She really enjoys seeing me punished after a night of partying...

Last night rushed up on Rainbow again and she felt her heart sink. I really messed up. I really said all those things...

Rainbow took another swallow of coffee. "I think I messed some stuff up last night."

"I got that much out of you last night, but you passed out before I could find out what," Fluttershy said. "Come on," she said, motioning to Rainbow's muffin, "you need to eat."

Rainbow begrudgingly ate another bite. Thankfully her stomach seemed to accept it.

"So what do you think you messed up?" Fluttershy asked softly.

Rainbow looked at the table, feeling shame burning in her cheeks. "I... I told Twilight..."

Fluttershy sighed. "Well that's not so bad..." she said hesitantly.

Wincing, Rainbow continued. "Well.. I kind of yelled at her..."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "Oh!" she gasped.

"While she was on a date with Rarity..." Rainbow continued.

Fluttershy shook her head eyes still wide. "Rainbow Dash!"

Not done yet Fluttershy. "...while I was on a date with Spring Step," Rainbow finished. She squeezed her eyes shut as if expecting to be struck.

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hooves. A small eep escaping her lips.

Rainbow looked back down at the table, a strained chuckle slipping out. "Yeah... it's as bad as it sounds... from what I remember anyway." She took another swallow of coffee.

Fluttershy recovered from her horror, her face becoming stern. "We talked about this!" she scolded. "You weren't going to get between Twilight and Rarity!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I know, I know! I just... well..." Rainbow trailed off as her hangover-addled brain couldn't come up with an excuse.

Fluttershy sighed in exasperation. "So after our talk you went out and 'ran into' Twilight and told her you had feelings for her?"

Rainbow snapped her head up to look at Fluttershy, wincing at the pain the motion caused. "No! It's not like that!" she protested. "I was out with Spring Step, just trying not to be home alone, and we ran into Twilight and Rarity, and Twilight was asking why I acted weird the other day and she accused me of lying, which I was, and it all just kinda... came out..."

"What did you say?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow looked at her half-empty coffee cup. Meeting Fluttershy's stern gaze was more effort than she expected. "That Twilight should be with a pegasus... Not an earth pony..." she said, cringing at the memory.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide again. "Rainbow Dash!"

"And that Rarity wasn't good enough for her," Rainbow continued, covering her face with her hooves. "And that Rarity was going to hold her down... because she didn't have wings." The memories were coming back, clear and vivid now. Rainbow wanted to sink under the table and hide from the horrified look Fluttershy was giving her. "And I may have said something about Rarity leaving Twilight for a stallion..."

Rarity's never going to forgive me for that one...

"Twilight teleported out when I wouldn't back down. Rarity was really angry..." Rainbow said continuing her tale. "She tore a strip off me before she went after Twilight."

"You should have gone after her yourself," Fluttershy said.

"I tried!" Rainbow exclaimed throwing her hooves in the air, planting them firmly on the table again as a wave of dizziness hit her. "Rarity told me to get lost, so I went after Spring Step." Rainbow took another bite of her muffin hoping the food would stop the world spinning. She was starting to actually feel hungry, although she wasn't sure if it was her empty stomach or the topic of discussion that was causing the sick feeling..

"You have to fix this," Fluttershy said firmly.

"You're telling me," Rainbow said bitterly, still avoiding Fluttershy's gaze.

Fluttershy fell silent for a moment, taking her eyes off Rainbow to look out the window. Rainbow peeked a look at her friend, instantly wishing she hadn't. The face Fluttershy made when she was angry was a rare sight. But she was making it now. Rainbow looked away, wrapping her forelegs around herself, bracing for what was coming. She deserved it after all.

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said looking back. "You know that I am always here to help when you need it... and you've needed it quite a bit lately."

Rainbow kept her eyes on the table, but she nodded. Lately, she'd crashed at Fluttershy's more often than she cared to admit.

"But I don't think the help I've been giving you has been actually helping," Fluttershy continued. "I'm worried about you. You haven't been yourself since you left Midnight Strike."

Rainbow closed her eyes. "Do not start with Midnight again Shy..." she said pleadingly. Rainbow felt in no shape to deal with more of Fluttershy' pushing the subject of her ex-marefriend.

"I am, and you're going to listen," Fluttershy said evenly. "Since you left, you've been running around chasing mares all over Equestria. You've got yourself all mixed up about Twilight and you're passed out in my home more often than you are sober. You must see there is a problem."

"I'm sorry I'm out enjoying myself," Rainbow said impetuously.

"You're not enjoying yourself, you're avoiding the one thing you should be doing. You haven't even seen Midnight since you left," Fluttershy said accusingly.

How does she know that? Rainbow thought. True, she hadn't seen Midnight since the night she left. She hadn't looked back. The things Midnight wanted from her were too much to ask and she had wanted out. She wanted her freedom, and now she was enjoying it... Wasn't she?

"Midnight wanted too much, I couldn't be what she wanted, what she deserved," Rainbow shot back.

"That wasn't your choice to make. You threw away the best thing in your life instead of trying to work it out because you were scared. Now instead of swallowing your pride and trying to get her back, you're just trying to replace her," Fluttershy lectured.

"You're not you anymore. This bouncing from mare to mare is not the Rainbow Dash I knew," Fluttershy said sadly. "At least you weren't hurting anypony other than my couch before, but now you're starting to affect your friends with your behavior."

The sick feeling in her stomach was getting worse, and Rainbow knew it wasn't the muffins. Fluttershy was hitting much closer to the mark than she was comfortable with. She felt a tear running down her cheek. She's right. How could I do this to my friends? I should be happy for them, not trying to tear them apart... my feelings be damned...

Fluttershy's expression softened. "You need to stop this self-destructive path you're on. You need to go back to Midnight."

Tears fell from Rainbow's eyes onto the table. The decision to leave Midnight had been hard, but she always thought it had been for the best. Midnight deserved somepony who could be everything she wanted.

But Fluttershy was right, she has to go back. Maybe she has made the wrong choice for the both of them when she left. "When did you talk to her last?" she asked, feeling defeated, her voice a whisper. Fluttershy had never told her Midnight had come by, but she assumed it had happened.

"It's been a few months," Fluttershy replied. Her tone told Rainbow it hadn't been a happy conversation.

Rainbow swallowed hard. "And... you think she'd... take me back?' she asked, forcing the words out around the lump in her throat. The tears were running down her cheeks. She didn't have the energy or the will to wipe them away.

"She might," Fluttershy said sympathetically.

"That's not a 'yes'," Rainbow said, feeling her heart slump.

"If you had asked earlier, then it would have been..." Fluttershy said. "But it's been eight months..."

"So at the end of all of this... I may end up with nopony?" Rainbow asked, knowing the answer to her question. I missed out on Twilight, and I may have missed out on getting Midnight back. I should have just gone back. I should have said I was sorry for leaving. How could I have been so stupid? She's perfect... that charcoal coat and yellow streak in her mane. We even have matching Cutie Marks... I made a mistake...

"Don't talk like that," Fluttershy said getting up from her chair to stand beside Rainbow, wrapping her forelegs around her friend. "We'll get this figured out. I'm sorry I had to be so hard on you. But you can't keep going on like this."

Rainbow hugged herself tighter, leaning into Fluttershy's embrace, and began to cry in earnest. Nopony? How could I end up with nopony? Midnight... she was my other half... Her thoughts started to run into each other as the cost of the last few months of freedom started to sink in. After a while, her sobs began to quiet. She didn't blame Fluttershy for being hard on her. I've put myself here... she's just helping me see that. I need to fix this mess... but what am I supposed to do?

"I don't know what to do..." Rainbow choked out. She felt the sting of fresh tears admitting it out loud.

Fluttershy squeezed Rainbow tighter. "First you're going to talk to Twilight and Rarity and set things right. You're going to tell them you aren't going to try and get between them," she said. "Do you think you can do that?"

Rainbow nodded, feeling a pang in her heart at the thought of letting go of Twilight. "Yeah... I can," she replied weakly. She had no idea what she was going to say, but she was going to do it anyway. She had to.

"Good," Fluttershy said, sounding pleased. She let Rainbow go saying, "And when you're done that, you're going to come back here and get some rest. We can talk about what to do about Midnight tomorrow,"

"I'll see Twilight first, make sure she's OK," Rainbow offered. In truth, she wanted to avoid seeing Rarity for as long as possible. I don't imagine Rarity is spending the night yet, so I should be able to put that off till this afternoon.

"Just make sure you get around to Rarity as well," Fluttershy said. "I'll stop by your place and pick up Tank and bring him over here."

Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes. She had stopped crying, and now she felt hollow and numb. "Thanks Fluttershy," she said.

"It's no problem," Fluttershy said from behind her mane. "Now get some more muffins into you." Fluttershy picked up the coffee pot from its trivet and topped up Rainbow's coffee.

Rainbow did as she was told and buttered another muffin as Fluttershy disappeared into the kitchen. She propped her elbow on the table and leaned her head against her hoof as she chewed, letting her eyelids droop. She was feeling very tired. Day's not even begun yet and I already want to go back to bed. But my friends need me... even if it's only to hear me apologize... Rainbow felt a little less hollow at the thought of being able to do something to fix the mess she caused. Even if it does mean that my feelings for Twilight are off the table... Rainbow took a swallow of fresh hot coffee, trying to banish the thought. She winced as the black liquid burned her tongue.

Fluttershy emerged from the kitchen, a small bag over her barrel. "I'm off to get Tank. You head out once you've eaten." She narrowed her eyes, looking serious. "And don't dawdle around either," she said opening the front door.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. I'll be out of here in five," she replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"OK, I'll see you this afternoon." Fluttershy said. She closed the door, leaving Rainbow alone. Rainbow could hear the chorus of chirps as the birds in the trees around the cottage greeted Fluttershy as she stepped outside.

Rainbow gave a chuckle. Always gets me how she literally talks to the animals, she thought, a small smile touching her lips. Rainbow was starting to feel better as she finished muffin number two. That's probably enough for now, don't want to push my luck.

I better get a shower in before I go see Twilight, she thought. A quick one, she reminded herself. It wouldn't be good if Fluttershy came back and she still hadn't left yet. I feel guilty enough after one lecture... I don't need another one.

Rainbow frowned as thoughts of Midnight came unbidden to her mind. Laughing and kisses under the mistletoe on Hearth's Warming Eve, Midnight's eyes flashing during one of their many arguments, the feel of charcoal coat against her face in the dark... "Please Dash... don't leave me like this..."

Rainbow shook the memories away, but the raw pain they caused in her heart remained. She swallowed around the lump in her throat. Come on, focus! You have something else to do first, she told herself, but the ache wouldn't dull.

Rainbow heaved her body off of her chair, head hanging, thankful that the movement only made her a little dizzy. She slowly headed back to the washroom. Her stomach gave a squeeze as she recalled the horror of what had happened not quite a half-hour ago in that very washroom.

I hope it's had time to air out, she thought glumly as she plodded on heavy hooves down the hallway.