Seven in the morning.

Rarity got maybe three hours of sleep, and now she was pacing the floor of her room in the dim glow of the rising sun peeking through the blinds.

Did it bother her? That Fluttershy got an invitation to Bifrost and she did not?

No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t interested in Bifrost.

Was she?

No, of course not. What use does a fashion loving socialite have with a fighting tournament?

But Rarity couldn’t stop herself from looking over at the pile of clothing in the corner of her room, unable to recall the last time any of it had been laundered or even touched. And she couldn’t claim to be socialite without a social life.

No, no, don’t be ridiculous, Rarity! What possible purpose could a fighting tournament of all things have for YOU? Bah, just— just put it out of your mind!

Then why was she awake right now? Why could she barely sleep during the night? What had her so wound up?

It hit her soon enough. It wasn’t her lack of invitation that bothered her, not really; what bothered her was that Fluttershy got one at all.

She was not mad at Fluttershy, of course. It’s not as though Fluttershy ever asked for an invitation and if she was given one, Rarity was certain she deserved it.

But Fluttershy’s not supposed to get an invitation to Bifrost. One of the one hundred and eight exclusive invitations to the biggest profile event in all Equestria.

Fluttershy was not that type of girl. She was an ordinary girl, shy and sweet. She stays home on the weekends, collects stuffed animals, doesn’t make a fuss or make waves. People like her don’t get one in a million opportunities to join fighting competitions.

But even that didn’t quite hit the nail on the head; there was something else at work.

What was really getting under Rarity’s skin was that she was so sure Fluttershy wasn’t going to ask Rainbow to the fair, she was certain Fluttershy was going to chicken out.

Fluttershy’s decision to go with her gut and do something outside her comfort zone, something Rarity never in a million years would have expected her to do and even tried to talk her out of, led Fluttershy to getting one of the one hundred and eight exclusive invitations to Bifrost.

A one in a million opportunity because she left her comfort zone.

Why was Rarity so bothered by that; so incensed by it?

People don’t change.

Those words had been resonating in Rarity’s head for as long as she could remember.

People don’t change.

If there was one thing that she truly believed to be a universal truth, it was that.

People don’t change.

People are formed by hardship and failure, and once they’re set…

People. Don’t. Change.

She thought she knew everything, thought she couldn’t be surprised anymore, but Fluttershy did something she never could have expected, and she got a ticket to Bifrost— of all things— out of it.

Rarity laughed and shook her head, sitting down onto the bed.

It doesn’t matter, she thought. Fluttershy’s probably already thrown the envelope away. Fluttershy of all ponies is never going to want to join Bifrost.

A knock at the door made Rarity nearly jump out of her skin and tied her stomach into a violent knot. Who could possibly be at her door at this ungodly hour?

She slowly opened the door of her bedroom and snuck through the living room where Twilight was asleep on the couch, and into the entryway, looking through the peephole to see who was at the door.

Fluttershy?

The knot in Rarity’s stomach grew tighter.

Rarity opened the door slowly and stepped outside, leaving the latch stuck in the door so it couldn’t close her out. Fluttershy turned and walked down the steps onto the pathway and Rarity followed.

“W-what are you d-doing here?” Rarity stuttered from the cold, stamping her hooves on the ground in a futile attempt to keep warm. “And so early?”

“I want to give you something.”

Fluttershy’s voice was colder than the weather but there was an underlying current of firmness to it. She turned to face Rarity and the nervousness Rarity was accustomed to seeing in Fluttershy’s eyes was hidden behind a veil of surefire determination; still there if Rarity squinted, but hidden.

“And I want to say something to you.”

“Okay, what is it?” Rarity asked concernedly, the knot in her stomach turning into a violent storm. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is more than alright,” Fluttershy smiled and held a hoof against her heart and it was only then that Rarity noticed the saddlebags resting atop her. She looked like she was ready to travel.

The storm in Rarity’s stomach became a rampaging maelstrom, and then subsided into steely silence as it dawned on Rarity why Fluttershy was here.

Rarity held out her hoof. “What is it you want to give to me?” she asked, even as she already knew the answer.

“You’re so sharp, Rarity,” Fluttershy giggled. “You’ve already figured it out, right?” Fluttershy reached into her saddlebags and plucked the golden envelope out from inside it, hoofing it over to Rarity. “I’m going to join Rainbow Dash’s team. I’m going to Bifrost with her.”

Rarity took the invitation and held it in her hoof, looking down at it for a moment with cold eyes before even acknowledging what Fluttershy was saying.

Rarity heard the sound of shattering glass in her mind.

People don’t change.

“Fluttershy,” Rarity said weakly, gripping the envelope tightly with both hooves, half a mind to rip the damn thing apart.

“We’ve been friends for years, Rarity,” Fluttershy started to pace back and forth. “And since even before I met you, I’ve been— really weak. I’m scared, a lot, by a lot of things. I’m easily frightened and I get anxious and— oh well those all mean the same thing.”

She looked at Rarity with flushed cheeks and stamped her hooves defiantly on the ground. “Rainbow saw something in me last night, she said I was amazing, that I had guts. I—” her eyes started to water, and Rarity wanted desperately to say something comforting.

“Fluttershy—”

“Please!” Fluttershy shouted weakly and held out her hoof, catching Rarity off guard. “Let me— let me finish.”

Rarity simply nodded.

Fluttershy put her hoof on the ground and took a deep breath.

“I want to be the amazing, gutsy Fluttershy that Rainbow saw last night. Not for her, but for me. I know—” the water in her eyes had turned to full on fountains by now and she looked half a step away from openly sobbing, the poor dear. “I know that you think people can’t change, and for a while I used to believe it. I still might, but—”

And there were the sobs.

Fluttershy put a hoof up to her face and let her hair fall over her eyes and wept for a few seconds. Rarity didn’t know what to do, so she did nothing; just watched as Fluttershy broke down in front of her.

After a few more sobs and a couple of loud sniffles, Fluttershy was composed enough to speak again, albeit just barely.

“I want to believe that I can change,” Fluttershy said in-between sniffles, her eyes already all red and puffy. “I used to believe it wasn’t possible, because I hated the idea that it was just me that wasn’t strong enough to change. It’s so much easier to accept that it was people that couldn’t change and not just me. But I—”

Fluttershy breathed deeply and let it out slowly, a serene smile creeping onto her face as her tears dried and left her eyes red but with a fire burning in them.

“I want to believe that I can change,” Fluttershy said firmly. “And that’s why I’m giving you my invitation. I’m joining Rainbow Dash because she saw something in me that made me want to see it in myself. She lit the fire inside me that made me want to be better, made me think that I can be better. And even if it was just by accident, I think that I—”

The tears started to reform in her eyes but Fluttershy closed them and steeled herself, opening dry eyes and continuing to speak with confidence.

“I want to follow her to Bifrost,” she said with a smile. “I don’t know if it’s to pay her back, if I think being with her will help me find what she saw in me. Honestly, I don’t know what it is, but I feel it burning in my heart that my place is on her team.”

Fluttershy held her trembling hoof in front of her to point at the golden envelope in Rarity’s hooves.

“And that’s why I want you to have that. Because I want you to see in yourself what I’m starting to see in myself. If someone as weak and pathetic as me can change, can become amazing and gutsy, then how much more can someone who’s so bright and smart and beautiful and talented as you?”

Rarity trembled as she stared speechless at the yellow pony who had always seemed so small and weak, who Rarity had known for so long but did not recognize today, and now looked so powerful.

“I hope that I will see you at the tournament, Rarity,” Fluttershy bowed her head. “I’m sorry I can’t stick around, but I’m already a little late between preparing this speech and the ensuing anxiety attack that came with thinking about saying it,” she let out a nervous laugh. “But I really do hope to see you there. Until then, goodb—” she shook her head and smiled. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you, Fluttershy,” Rarity said distantly.

Fluttershy smiled once more and turned around, turning back quickly and jumping toward Rarity to give her a hug, one that Rarity was all too happy to reciprocate. She held Fluttershy tight because a part of her didn’t want to let go.

But let her go she did, for Rarity could not in good conscious keep Fluttershy from being the pony she was trying to be.

Rarity watched Fluttershy walk down the road headed for the train station, disappearing into a foggy winter morning. Rarity had a lot to grapple with.

This should not have happened. This went against everything Rarity thought she knew. In less than twenty-four hours, that yellow pony shattered the one universal truth Rarity thought she believed in.

People don’t change.

Rarity shook her head and bit her lip.

People can bend and stretch and pretend to be something they’re not…

She looked up at the sun rising against the pale grey sky and felt the cold morning air biting her skin.

But in the end…

She looked down at trembling hooves that she could not keep steady, and the golden envelope held by them.

You’ll always be the person you are.

Rarity took the envelope in her magical grasp and carried it back into the apartment, taking great care to be as gentle with the envelope as possible; she was going to need it, after all.

I need to find out the truth.

Author's Note

i'm rly proud of this one.. if i'm being pathetically honest, it's one of my favorite chapters i've ever written.

Please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.