But First!! Here are Some Doubts....

*Knock knock~*

“Oh dear, Angel could you get that? I think Gumdrop flooded the bathroom again…..”

The little white rabbit sighed and folded his newspaper under his arm.  Taking a second to ready himself, he hopped down from the wooden chair where he was perched. The rabbit set his newspaper against the front leg and bounded toward the door, hoping that the visitor had not left yet (his owner could use the distraction from her new river otter’s horseplay…)

Angel jumped for the door handle and yanked it down, unlatched the door and pulling it open for the mare just outside. He squinted as the bright morning light flooded across Rarity’s mane and through the entrance of the house. Now in a rabbit’s mind, mares aren’t usually the height of beauty. But Angel quickly smiled up at the mare and ushered her in, eager to bring her treats and refreshments.

He might have been a rabbit and she a pony, but he was still a male right? Right.

“Oh thank-you Angel dear, I must say you are quite the little gentlecolt. Now um….where might Fluttershy be?”

Angel frowned and made an exaggerated signal to the left before he pulled his ears down over his eyes. Rarity simply cocked an eyebrow up at the little rabbit’s method of communication, but nonetheless followed Angel’s directions as she made her way down the hall. She perked her ears at what sounded like running water and what she could only describe as a feral grunt. The sounds reached a crescendo as she neared Fluttershy’s bathroom door, where beyond she could hear the mare politely asking somepony to dry themselves off.

“N-now Gumdrop, I know you need to train for your grudge match but I have company right now…..and well I’m sure she’d appreciate it if she could use the bathroom while she was here.”

She heard a rapid chitter and the sound of water splashing in the porcelain tub. There was a motion and the clicking of a cabinet before the door she had pressed her ear to swung inward. She giggled sheepishly and stepped back, watching as an otter wrapped in a towel gave her a polite nod before it sauntered off further down the hallway. Fluttershy followed just behind him, smiling at Rarity behind a soaked mane.

“Um good morning Fluttershy, getting your pets all bathed I assume?”

“Oh no,” Fluttershy led the fashionista back through the hall to her living room, brushing her wet mane out of her eyes as she went. “Gumdrop was just getting his training in and I forgot to tell him we’d be having guests,”

“Training? Whatever could an otter be training for?” Rarity sat down into one of the worn but cozy sofas near the door.

“Oh he has a wrestling match coming up, and he’s been getting me to help. He says he’s fighting for gold and glory, but mostly girls,” Fluttershy smiled at Rarity, not catching the confused look that Rarity gave before she cleared her throat.

“Oh, well I suppose those are very important things to an otter indeed. But what about you dear? I haven’t seen you in weeks, how are things?” Rarity ran a hoof down her leg, rubbing at her hooves.

“Well nothing really, oh I mean…well nothing since we stopped going to the spa. I run into the other girls every now and again, but….I think everypony has just been busy.” Fluttershy spaced her words out, watching Rarity’s face and hoping she didn’t make her feel guilty. The shy pegasus knew what the problem was, she just wouldn’t say it aloud.

“Fluttershy dear, I do apologize. I’ve just been very busy lately dividing my time between work and spending time with my coltfriend,”

Fluttershy nodded and listened to the fashionista tell her of the dress orders she had that week and the dates Thunderlane had taken her on. The pegasus had heard the whole story from Applejack  three weeks ago, the real reason not a single one of her friends had seen Rarity for nearly a month and a half.

Rarity continued on with her story of a particularly snobby-sounding colt from Trottingham’s order on a coat, while Fluttershy silently looked over her features. The fashionista was good at hiding her troubles with make-up, the pegasus had to give her that. But she could still see the tell-tale signs of bags under the mare’s eyes, and the slight hunch in her shoulders. The mare was depressed, this much Fluttershy could tell.

“Have you talked to AJ at all?” Fluttershy uncharacteristically interrupted the fashionista, who blinked her eyes wide and stared back at her. She sat silent for a few seconds before she blinked her gaze away from Fluttershy’s.

“I thought about it….but it’s just a mistake waiting to happen. Both her and her brother have made it very clear how they feel about my love-life, so if they can’t be happy for me I have no reason to talk to them.”

“B-but Rarity, aren’t you worried about poor Spike?” Fluttershy felt her throat catch as she thought of what happened to the poor dragon, and the bruises she had seen on his face only a few days after his “incident”.

“I admit—Thunderlane was being a bit overprotective and acted rashly but…..well,” Rarity sighed and bit a part of her hoof, knowing that there was nothing that she could say that would excuse her coltfriend’s actions against the much smaller and vulnerable dragon.

“I suppose it would be nice if he’d just, oh I don’t know,” Rarity dropped her hoof from her mouth harshly and leaned back into her chair, “dropped by at least? Maybe I could try to apologize….get him to understand.” The mare kept her eyes low, feeling the guilt bubbling inside of her again.

“Why not go to the library today? I-I mean he’s usually there right?” Fluttershy suggested, flicking back a piece of her drying mane.

The fashionista scoffed and stared out of the living room window.

“Ah yes, so I can tell Twilight what a great baby-sitter I am?”

“I-I guess that’s not such a great idea after all….” Fluttershy began, but was cut off by Rarity jumping from the couch.

“That would be twice something has happened under my watch, and I’d rather Twilight not have a reason to stop talking to me altogether.” Rarity sighed and paced about the room, not noticing Angel balancing a bowl of salad on his head. She nearly knocked the rabbit over as he stumbled to the coffee table where he set the bowl down as gently as he could on his tiptoes.

“I don’t suppose it would matter anyway, Thunderlane would be cross with me if I even set hoof in that library,” The white mare fiddled with a chew toy left upon Fluttershy’s carpet, oblivious to the dried saliva coating one end of the rubber bone.

“Did Twilight beat Thunderlane up too?” Fluttershy asked innocently, once again missing a certain look upon Rarity’s features.

“N-no dear, he just thinks it best to cut ties with anyone that could usher more problems-,”

“B-but Twilight’s our friend! You can’t just stop seeing her! The same with AJ!,” Fluttershy sputtered out, nearly jumping from her seat as she shouted (rather quietly) at Rarity.

“I know! I-I…..,” Rarity exhaled and closed her eyes, motioning for Fluttershy to give her a second to collect herself with her hoof. “I do miss them- I do, it’s just that Thunderlane is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want him to leave me,” the mare’s voice grew gradually more and more silent before she shook her head and trotted over to Fluttershy. Placing an unsure hug about the pegasus’s shoulders and giving another short sigh, the fashionista trotted back to the door and let herself out.

Fluttershy watched the mare leave with a sinking feeling in her stomach, knowing that it would be some time indeed before she saw the unicorn again. Her mane drooped back down, covering up the disappointed look on Angel’s face.

“Sorry sweetie, you heard her. She has a coltfriend.”

“Oh don’t look at me like that. You gotta go, and you know it,” Spike said as he peered into the glass jar.

“Besides this is better than what AJ would do if she found you,” the little blue parasprite stared blankly back at him, obviously wondering why a dragon of all things would be doing in an apple orchard.

“Oh AJ? She’s my marefriend,” Spike answered proudly to a question that wasn’t asked. His chest swelled with pride as the words left his lips, the honor of having his first marefriend still fresh in his mind. Again the small parasprite just stared, buzzing in place inside the jar.

“I mean we haven’t really told anyone, but I got a kiss. That’s important right?” Spike pressed his face against the glass as he walked onward to the Everfree Forest, imagining that his new friend was surprised and proud of him. But the parasprite just bounced off the side of the glass, wondering why there was a wall where there was what looked like nothing.

The dragon sighed and pushed the jar back under his arm, deciding the parasprite wasn’t the most pleasant of company. He had been walking for roughly twenty minutes before Fluttershy’s house came into view, the beautiful cottage simply glowing in the morning light. Perhaps Fluttershy’s bear friend would be kind enough to accompany him through the forest (timberwolves had recently taken the place of boogeymen in his mind).

Quickening his pace to a trot, he crossed the field and jumped the stream just outside Fluttershy’s house. A quick visit wouldn’t have hurt would it? He hadn’t seen the poor mare in weeks, and he was sure his parasprite friend would give her a giggle or two before he released it back into the wild. The dragon had nearly made it to the door before he saw a frighteningly familiar purple mane emerge from behind the door. Jumping behind Fluttershy’s prized rose bushes, the dragon watched as the mare closed the door behind her.

She leaned back against the door, her eyes closed and her chest holding a deep breath. The fashionista exhaled softly before she ran a hoof through her mane, feeling the telltale signs of a headache on its way. Deciding it best to return home and try to get some work done, she made her way down the rock path back to Ponyville. She had nearly made it past the mailbox before a small voice very nearly froze the blood in her viens.

“Rarity, is everything ok?” Spike had emerged from one of Fluttershy’s bushes, what appeared to be a parasprite held in a jar tucked safely under his arm.

At first the mare simply stared back at the dragon with her mouth open, trying desperately to form words in her mouth. All at once she saw the dragon holding the fire ruby out to her and the tears welling in his eyes as he was held to the ground. Spike took a step forward, to which Rarity answered with a step backward. The mare just nodded and offered a small smile before her nerve fled her completely. Spike watched her trot hurriedly away, his body flexed to pursue her. But knowing full well what set her off, the dragon lowered the claw he had extended and let her go.

Spike lifted the jar back to his face and watched the parasprite for a second before deciding that perhaps know wasn’t such a good time to visit Fluttershy. He turned on his heels and stepped into the forest with his parasprite in tow, unaware than a second had just sprung from the body of the first.

‘Such a nice job you did back there dear! Do you think you could have seemed anymore broken up?’ Rarity thought bitterly to herself. She fought the urge to kick at a stone, knowing full well it would have ruined the hooficure she had just had. The fashionista had been thinking for weeks of what to say to the dragon had she seen him again. She was sure she had an apology or two prepared, and for sure a multitude of them on Thunderlane’s behalf.

But just seeing him had proven too shameful to herself. She had fled like a true coward.

Rarity finally caved into her instincts and gave a rock at solid, satisfying kick. The little rock bounced up and down the path toward the bridge just beyond Town Hall, where it flew down into the stream below.

‘Well at least he didn’t seem angry at me, what would I have done then?’ Rarity’s mind tried to piece together what she would have assumed the dragon would be like had he been angry. The sad part was that she couldn’t picture the dragon angry with her, only disappointed.

The mare lowered her head and walked on, completely missing the group of pegasus mares standing in the distance beside a lightpost. The trio whispered excitedly to each other as Rarity came into view, and one had to stifle giggles behind her hooves. The tallest of the trio shushed the giggling mare and ushered them into the sky, where all three finally broke down and laughed uproariously at the sad unicorn below. They flew off to Sugarcube Corner, with a new and particularly juicy bit of gossip to share about a certain snob's "perfect" coltfriend.