"I'm telling, you, Flutters, this is for the best. I swear." If Fluttershy was listening, there were no signs of it. Rainbow Dash sighed. But then, what had she expected? This was Fluttershy. She wasn't the sort of gal to leap for joy upon being set up on a date.
"You've got to get out some more!" Rainbow Dash continued, a bit louder now. "Meet new people! You can't just spend your entire life at the shelter!" She banged on the door. "Hey! Are you listening to me?!" There was a muffled whisper through the door, at exactly the right volume to be detectable, but not loud enough to be understandable.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently. Did it really take this long to get ready for a date? Rainbow would've just thrown on a t-shirt and jeans and been done with it.
She was about to just march right in and drag Fluttershy out when the door opened and Rainbow tumbled backwards. Fortunately, there were, if not two strong arms to catch her, at least two rather weak arms to slow her descent enough that she didn't get a concussion.
"OhmygoshRainbowDashareyouokay?" Fluttershy squeaked, looking down at her friend.
"I'm . . . fine," she muttered, rubbing her head. Then her vision cleared. Holy shit! Fluttershy was actually wearing a dress! Like a full dress! Rainbow wasn't even aware that Fluttershy owned a dress!
"What . . . but . . . where'd you get that?" Rainbow stuttered as Fluttershy pulled her up.
"Rarity made it for me. I would have rather had it in French Old Couteur, but it looks fine." Rarity. Of course. Where else would Fluttershy get a dress like that? It was green and yellow, a bit long, but with a rather low bustline. Even Rainbow, who was almost as bad with fashion as Applejack, could tell that it was a pretty amazing dress. And Fluttershy was wearing makeup! Her pink hair was its usually long, dainty style. All in all, she looked cute, if not beautiful.
"Do you think it looks good?" asked Fluttershy shyly.
"I think it'll be fine! I doubt Hoops is gonna be dressed up that much, though."
Fluttershy looked worried. "Oh no! I'll be overdressed! Should I go change?" However, at that moment, there was a loud knock on the door. "That's him!" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Rainbow said, gently pushing her friend towards the door. "Me and Hoops have had some arguments in the past, but it's all settled now. And he knows that if he so much as touches you with his little finger without your permission, I will rip off his fingers one by one."
That did not appear to relieve Fluttershy.
"Just have a good time," Rainbow finished, and opened the door.
A few hours later, Rainbow Dash was sitting in the lounge, watching Nascar and munching on potato chips. All in all, a good evening.
Hopefully Fluttershy was doing alright. Maybe I shouldn't have set her up with such a jock, she thought, a bit worried. But she shook her head. Naw, she'll be fine.
Her conscience assuaged, she was drifting off to sleep when her cell phone rang. "Now?! Seriously?!" she groaned, grabbing it. "Rainbow Dash, future Wonderbolt, talk to me!"
"Um . . . Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash sat up straight. "Fluttershy? What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine . . . I think. Dinner was fine. It's just . . . Hoops is talking about going back to his dorm like I'm gonna sleep there tonight or something and . . . I don't understand."
"Shit." She couldn't help it; Rainbow knew what Hoops was planning, even if Fluttershy didn't. "Okay . . . where's Hoops right now?"
"He's in the bathroom."
Rainbow Dash thought quickly. "And you don't have a car . . . Okay, Fluttershy, I want you to insist on going back to our dorm. I know you're not very good at that, but try really hard. I don't know if he's gonna let you go back, but insist. If you do get back, get inside and call me. And whatever you do, don't let him do anything you don't want him to do."
"I don't know if I can do that, Rainbow." Fluttershy's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm scared."
"I'm coming, don't worry."
She hung up the phone and grabbed her jacket. As she was heading out the door, she muttered, "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy."
Rainbow Dash drove up to the men's dorm in a fury. It didn't matter that she had just run halfway across the campus; Fluttershy needed her. Bad news awaited her; Hoops' car was back, but there was no call from Fluttershy.
Rainbow slammed open the doors and stormed up to the second floor. A few guys poked their heads out their doors, wondering what the racket was.
"THUNDERLANE! WHERE'S HOOPS' ROOM?"
Thunderlane jumped back, then cautiously pointed down the hall. "Number 212, right down that way . . . what's the matter?"
"IS HE HERE?"
"He just came back a few minutes ago, with Fluttershy . . . Ohhhh," he said in sudden understanding as Rainbow Dash raced down the hall. "Don't hurt him too bad- we've got a game tommorrow!" he called.
Rainbow barely heard him.
She briefly considered kicking down the door, but she might get in trouble with RA. Or at least, more trouble than she was already going to be in.
She threw the door open. There were Hoops and Fluttershy, on the bed. Hoops was grabbing at Fluttershy's dress, trying to tug it over her head. Fluttershy looked very worried.
Hoops never even saw Rainbow's fist. Well, not the first time. The second time, probably. The third time, definitely.
"Come on, Fluttershy, we're leaving." She grabbed her pink-haired friend and yanked her off the bed. Fluttershy's face was sheer panic as she looked down at Hoops, who already had a nice bruise growing on his cheek.
Fluttershy made it outside before she collapsed. Rainbow Dash propped her up as best she could, but there was no way she could walk back to their dorm.
Rainbow Dash grabbed her phone. " Hey, Twilight. Yeah. Look, I'm gonna need you to pick me and Fluttershy up outside the men's dorm. I know. It's a long story. Yes, I know you're studying right now. You can take a break for ten minutes! Yeah. Okay. Hurry. Bye."
Rainbow looked down at Fluttershy, who by this point had started sobbing all over Rainbow Dash's t-shirt. "There, there," she murmured.
Rainbow Dash, unable to think of any other consolation, continued saying, "there, there," for two minutes until Twilight arrived.
Rainbow Dash opened the back door and gently guided Fluttershy inside, before taking a seat next to her.
Twilight was concerned. "Is she okay? What happened?"
"Hormones," said Rainbow Dash grimly. "This was my fault. I set her up on a date with a dumb jock . . . I should have seen this coming!"
"I'm okay," Fluttershy sniffed.
The drive took less than a minute, given that they were only driving across the campus; Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy out of the car.
Twilight gave Fluttershy a hug and assured her everything would be all right before leaving to park the car. Rainbow and Fluttershy headed inside and up the stairs. At least at this point, Fluttershy was able to walk, albeit rather slowly.
They headed into their room, and Rainbow plopped Fluttershy down on the bed. "I'm fine, Rainbow Dash, I'm fine," Fluttershy said. "You don't have to worry about me."
"Of course I have to worry about you!" Rainbow exclaimed, sitting down next to her. "We've been friends since, like, forever! That's, like, an eternity!"
"I'm always going to look out for you. Always. It's practically a habit at this point." Rainbow Dash wrapped her arm around Fluttershy, hugging her protectively.
"I'm such an idiot," Rainbow murmured. "I should have seen this coming. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Fluttershy said, looking less confident than she sounded. "And the dinner wasn't too bad."
Rainbow snorted.
Fluttershy snuggled up againt her friend and whispered, "Thank you for rescuing me, Rainbow Dash." Then she kissed her.
