Fluttershy had been handing out leaflets for the animal shelter by the school statue, as she often did to find support for the animals. As with every other day, the best result was that people just ignored her and at worst people would blatantly laugh at her and say horrible things about what she did with the animals. Someone had thrown a crown at her this morning and now it was just too much, she sank down with her back against the statue, hugging her knees and cried.

All her friends had left her and she felt completely alone in the world. Even her oldest friend Rainbow Dash had one day just started to avoid her. She didn’t know why and Rainbow wouldn’t even talk to her at all. As thoughts of happy times came to her mind, she started to cry even harder.

It was at this point Rainbow Dash come out of the school and saw Fluttershy by the statue, her back was heaving as the sobs came and went and no one doing anything to comfort her, they were just watching, waiting for something funny to happen.

“No, I don’t have anything to do with her anymore,” Rainbow said to herself as she made to walk off round the side of the school to the pitch but a pang of guilt refused to let her go.

“I can’t be seen with her,” she said, trying to make her conscience shut up to no avail. “I don’t care if she’s crying.” She knew that was lie.

She heard someone near her make a comment about Fluttershy and her activities with the animals to the amusement of those around him. She grabbed the kid by the collar and, due to the look on her face suggesting immanent pain, he immediately babbled an apology and tried to run off. She let go of his collar and he and his friends ran for cover inside the school.

Rainbow walked over to the sobbing Fluttershy, knelt down beside her and.... didn’t really know what to do from here. She settled for placing a hand gently on the back Fluttershy’s head. “Please don’t cry.”

There was a pause in her sobs as Fluttershy recognised her old friend’s voice trying to be, it seemed, genuinely comforting. It didn’t last long. As the sobs started up again, Rainbow realised she was very far from her comfort zone but she couldn’t stand seeing Fluttershy like this. She started stroking Fluttershy’s silky hair, which released a lovely strawberry scent. “Please Fluttershy, don’t cry,” She didn’t think this would work either but, to her surprise, the sobs did stop.

Fluttershy lifted her head and looked up at Rainbow Dash, tears still streaming down her face. “Why do you care!” she yelled, as loudly as she can yell anyway.

Rainbow was taken aback and didn’t know how to respond. She knew she cared, she’d never stopped caring for Fluttershy, so why hadn’t she shown it for the last few months? Before she could respond, Fluttershy continued.

“You left me!” A sob shaking her voice “You all left me!”

She tucked her head back into her knees and let the sobs roll.

“I’m.... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you, and I’ve hated myself for doing it.” Rainbows voice had a little crack in it, seeing what she and the others had done to Fluttershy really hurt her. “It’s just..... It’s just....”

“Just what?” came a quiet voice from Fluttershy.

“It’s just the rumours that started going round, saying hanging out with you and the others was making me soft. That I shouldn’t be captain of any of the school teams. I was painting my nails and going to spas and things.” Rainbow was getting upset as well as she realised these were very stupid reasons to abandon a friend. Even worse was that she abandoned Fluttershy, the quiet little girl she said she would always protect since they had been kids.

Fluttershy looked up about to point out how pathetic those reasons were but stopped when she saw Rainbow’s eyes and noticeable distress.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, I left you to try to protect my awesome reputation.” She threw her arms around Fluttershy whispered, “I’m sorry."

Fluttershy’s sobs stopped at this admission. She reached up to removed Rainbows arms from around her and stood up. Rainbow stood as well, tears threatening to flow, keeping a little distance from Fluttershy who was glaring at her, obviously still quite angry.

“I’ll never do anything to hurt you again, I promise,” she said in a desperate plea because she thought Fluttershy was about to walk away and never forgive her. Her hand instinctively reached out to grab Fluttershy’s but she caught herself and pulled it back. This was Fluttershy’s decision and she couldn’t make her stay.

Fluttershy kept glaring at Rainbow, trying to determine if she was genuine in her apology. She concluded that Rainbow can’t fake tears and would never want to be seen crying, so she must be genuine.

After what felt like forever from Rainbow’s perspective, Fluttershy broke off from the glare and became her usually shy self, looking at the ground, she finally spoke. “I forgive you,” she whispered.

Rainbow threw her arms around her regained friend before pulling back and, in an act that surprised both of them equally, gently kissed Fluttershy on the lips. It was after a few seconds of contact the Rainbow realised what she was doing and stepped back, her face turning a rather noticeable red and the new taste of strawberry lip balm on her lips.

Fluttershy broke the silence. “You were just happy,” she said, trying for an explanation of what just happened.

“Um, honestly, I think it’s a little more than that,” said Rainbow. It was now her turn to be fascinated by the ground. “You’ve always seemed more special to me, out of all my friends you were the one I cared most about. Being separated from you has been so much worse than anything else.” She looked Fluttershy in the eyes as she managed to admit her own feeling to herself. “I like you Fluttershy.”

“Oh, well, I..... You know I like you too, I just don’t know if it’s the same way.”

“I know this is maybe a little much so soon,” said Rainbow, worried this revelation might destroy their minute old revived friendship. “You don’t need to do anything, we could pretend I never said anything. Or, maybe, I could... take you out to apologise for the way I treated you these past few months and -“

“OK,” Interrupted Fluttershy, “I’ll go out with you, as a friend, and we can just see what happens.”

Rainbow’s face lit up with a huge smile, this was the happiest she had felt since before their group went their separate ways. “Deal.” she said as she hugged Fluttershy again, getting another waft of strawberry scent to go with the taste on her lips. Even if Fluttershy didn’t feel the same way, she had her friend back. She didn’t care if her awesome reputation took a dent, it really didn’t matter compared to this moment.

It was a few days later before Rainbow asked Fluttershy out on their ‘apology date’. There had been the whole Sunset-Shimmer-turning-into-a-demon incident and the fallout from that to deal with first. They had agreed not to mention it to the others as they didn’t want people looking on at such a fragile stage in a reformed friendship.

The date was nothing fancy, they went out for ice cream and just talked, catching up on everything they’d missed in each other’s lives. Rainbow walked Fluttershy home and, standing on her doorstep like in all the films, felt this was the time she should go for a kiss. She didn’t. This was Fluttershy and she didn’t want to push things too fast in case she scared her off so she settled for hugging her.

“I really enjoyed tonight,” came a quiet voice from Fluttershy. “I missed you.”

“Maybe we could do it again sometime?” Rainbow asked hopefully as she broke off the hug.

“I’d like that,” replied Fluttershy, looking into Rainbows eyes with a slight blush of embarrassment. “Good night.”

“Good night,” echoed Rainbow as Fluttershy opened her door and went inside.

Rainbow turned round and set off down the path and about half way down she couldn’t contain her excitement that Fluttershy wanted a second date anymore and she jumped up and punched the air. She heard a giggle from behind her and then the sound of a door closing. Her face now a little red, she forced herself to walk calmly.

For their second date, Fluttershy suggested going to an exhibition Photo Finish had at a local gallery. While this wasn’t the sort of thing Rainbow would normal be interested in, she and some of the others from various school teams had been the subjects for some action shots and she wanted to see how awesome she looked.

They walked round the exhibit, looking at everything from portraits, landscapes and of course the action shots. Rainbow spent a lot of time looking at herself and gave a small talk about how awesome she looked to anyone who stopped too long until Photo Finish shooed her away. Some would see that as a little rude but Fluttershy found it quite amusing and mimicked Photo Finish by shooing Rainbow occasionally for no reason.

As Rainbow walked Fluttershy home again, this time hand in hand, they found themselves again in the cliché situation of the kiss on the doorstep. Fluttershy was standing with her arms behind her back and tilting her head a little, purposely in the ‘coy girlish flirt pose’.

Was she doing it on purpose to make herself look even sweeter and more innocent, thought Rainbow, or is this just how she happens to be standing?

It didn’t really matter, Rainbow knew she wanted this and hoped Fluttershy did as well. During the awkward pause that always accompanies these things, she leaned in towards Fluttershy, looking her in the eyes with what she hoped was a seductive expression.

After half a second, to Rainbow’s great delight, Fluttershy leaned in too. Their lips a centimetre apart, Rainbow closed the gap and kissed her gently on the lips as she placed her hands on Fluttershy’s waist. She let her lips part slightly and ran her tongue along Fluttershy's lips, tasting her pink lipstick.

Fluttershy let her lips part a little and reached out her tongue to meet Rainbows. Neither of them had ever kissed anyone before, aside from the surprise one in front of the statue, so there was a slight awkwardness when their tongue met. That passed quickly as both found themselves completely absorbed by the intimate sensation of another’s tongue invading.

After about thirty seconds of joy, they broke off the kiss and looked into each other’s eyes, a happy smile on their faces.

“Good night,” said Rainbow. Of course she wanted more of Fluttershy, but she knew she shouldn’t push her.

“Good night,” whispered Fluttershy, stroking Rainbow’s arms as she stepped back, opened her door and went inside.

Rainbow waited a few seconds to make sure her legs weren’t actually jelly as the seemed to have been during that kiss, and left for home, a huge smile on her face the entire way.

Author's Note

This was the first thing I'd ever written and I know it won't have been the best thing you've ever read but thank you for reading it. I mainly did it for me but hopefully someone out there will like it. Hopefully I'll improve as I go, too.