1
It was quiet for a Friday night in Ponyville. Normally Fluttershy went to sleep to the sound of the whooping and cheering coming from Ponyville Town Square that reached her cottage in faint pockets of sound. But not tonight.
It was quiet in the surrounds of Fluttershy’s cottage. There were no frogs croaking in the river, no yawns from slumbering animals. Every critter that used to be her neighbor now slept at her Sanctuary, these days, thanks to her basically begging them to go there and increase the numbers. Even Angel was working nights as the Sanctuary’s only security guard. But now the only wildlife that could be heard were the crickets, but crickets were just the sound that silence makes.
The quiet reached all the way inside Fluttershy’s bedroom, under her covers, and to the opposite side of her mattress. But then, that space had been quiet for years now.
In a sudden burst of energy—frustration or excitement, who could tell?—she ripped off her sheets and flew down to her kitchen. She tugged on the lamp above the stove, yanked a quill out of her drawer, and ripped tomorrow’s page out from her daily planner.
She drew a small check box, and next to it wrote: Find Somepony.
***
The next morning found Fluttershy munching on a bagel with cream cheese (the vegan kind) while staring down her one-item task list for the day like it was a fighter warming up in the other corner of the ring. Outside, the wind howled, moaned, and strangled her windchime into noisy submission. To prep herself, she went over the story of her romantic life so far.
It was pathetic.
It started when she was fifteen with that muscled boy from Flight School who began sending her a bunch of flowers every day for each letter of the alphabet. Sounded cute at first, but Fluttershy had taken one look at him from across the room and felt nothing. So after politely thanking him for the amaranths, telling him after the carnations to please stop, reminding him at forget-me-nots that he was starting to be a creep, he had only gotten the message when Rainbow Dash had thrown a rock through his bedroom window tied to a bunch of hydrangeas.
And then just nothing and nopony for an entire decade, until she’d kissed that stallion on a whim at a New Year Eve’s party, only to bite his tongue the moment it entered her mouth on some kind of unexplainable reflex. And, speaking of the unexplainable, that same stallion showed up at the Sanctuary a month later, calling her ‘My Little Shark’. And just when Fluttershy thought she’d found somepony special, she spent the next two months hearing very little affection and a whole lot of difficult questions. Are you sure that’s what you want? Why are you acting like that? Are you not going to kiss me today? The day he’d broken it off with her and marched out of her Sanctuary, promising her he was marching out of her life, was one of the most relieving days of Fluttershy’s entire existence. She’d gone out for ice cream.
She was looking for some connecting line, some thread that tied these stories together and explained why her every romantic encounter had ended in failure. But the only thing the stories had in common was her, and that was an ugly thought. Well, that, and they were all stallions.
Fluttershy erupted out of her seat like a geyser, her chair clattering to the ground behind her.
“No,” she murmured.
She stared into the distance, gears turning in her head, then brought up the last bite of her bagel and finished it slowly.
“No,” she said again. “But maybe?”
Slowly, Fluttershy creased her page across the middle and pulled it gently in half. She pushed the scrap labelled Find Somepony across the counter, and on the blank scrap, she drew a new checkbox, and a new task.
Find out who I am.
She looked back and forth between the two sheets. Now there were two opponents warming up in the other corner. She couldn’t tell which was scarier.
2
She had until four o’clock. At four she had a spa date with Rarity—a thank you gift for being the first pony to see some of her new designs. As if that was something Fluttershy needed to be repaid for.
Leaving a plate of salad out for Angel, Fluttershy packed her saddlebag with nothing but one of her scraps of paper. She had left the Find Somepony scrap in a drawer, because first things were first.
The wind had been working up steam all morning, and when she opened her door, it slapped her cold in the face. No flying today; she would have to walk. So she tied her mane into a ponytail that curled around her shoulders like a scarf, and set out.
On her way, she reminded herself that what she was doing was really no big deal. If it did turn out that she was, you know, the Q-word, or the L-word, or even the dreaded G-word itself, that she couldn’t think of a single pony in her life that would take issue with it. She had a loving family, and she had a knack for making good friends. Nopony would stand in her way.
She had to laugh, though. What would her brother say? He might be the only hold-out—he only said the G-word with an exclamation point and a question mark at the end, no matter where he was in a sentence. Do you think that guy’s G—?! Does this shirt look G—?! on me? Sis, you’ll tell me if I’m acting G—?! won’t you?
But she wasn’t worried about him, either. If anything, he would probably invite her on one of his adventures to ‘catch some honey flies,’ whatever that meant. She would probably end up going, too. She could never say no to him.
But nothing was decided!
Finally she arrived at her first stop. It was the perfect place to discover one’s sexuality: Ponyville Central Library.
Ever since Golden Oaks went the way of the exploding tree, Ponyville Central had started to gain new readers again, and, being three stories tall, it had much more space than Twilight’s old home, so maybe it was all for the best.
Besides. Golden Oaks Library never had an adult section.
She walked right past the reception desk without a glance and started perusing the aisles, humming innocently. She could not find the adult section. But it had to exist, right? Where else did everypony find their… risqué magazines? Probably there was some secret book on one of the shelves that you had to pull, which caused a bookcase to revolve open and reveal what she was looking for.
She knew what she had to do. Casually, she hovered up to the end of one of the aisles labelled “mystery” and surreptitiously watched the front desk as a line of three ponies slowly cleared away. Then she approached.
“Hello!” said the mare at the desk, far too loud.
“Oh, um, hello. I was wondering if you could help me find a section.”
“Absolutely. What are you looking for?”
“Um. Well. It’s the… Adult section.”
The librarian blinked. “Well,” she said. “The kids section is on the ground level. So... every other level is the “adult” section, in a way.”
“Oh. I know, I mean… The adult adult section.”
The librarian blinked again. “Libraries… don’t have those.”
Fluttershy went cold. The librarian blinked for a third time, then grew a conspiratorial smile.
“Did you lose a bet, Honey?” she ventured.
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, far too loud. “Yes, I lost a bet.”
“A-ha! Well, don’t worry, Honey, your humiliation is complete. You can tell your friends you followed through with it.”
“Thank you.”
Fluttershy spun on her hooves and walked out, straight-legged, wings clenched, her face burning with shame.
Your humiliation is complete. No, Fluttershy had a feeling it had only just begun.
***
Plan A was on fire and there was no Plan B. So Fluttershy had to do what she did worst: improvise.
Somehow, it was already lunch. She must have lost track of time when she stumbled on that squirrel who had lost his way home before reaching the library. But that couldn’t have taken more than… four hours?
Either way, she was famished, and it was doing her no good to stand around in the windswept streets of Ponyville, because there was nopony out in this weather. And if she was going to find out who she was interested in without the aid of reading material, she was just going to have to find a group of ponies and stare at them until she figured it out.
She knew the best place to meet ponies was a bar, and she knew just where to find one: A place called Turtleback’s, which was one of those family restaurants that had a bar at the back for when it was too busy to get a table right away. And with the patio closed due to the wind, she figured the bar would be as packed as a real bar anyways.
But when she arrived, the place was only half-full. The hostess gave her the strangest look when she said, No, she didn’t want a table, just a stool at the bar, thank you, and, No, she wasn’t waiting for anypony. Just little old me.
“What can I get for you?” asked the bartender—a sharp-chinned grey stallion wearing a smart purple vest. He had a full rainbow for a mane, like Rainbow Dash’s, but Fluttershy could see that it wasn’t natural. Dash had taught her how to spot ‘fakers’ from a mile away. And besides, he had dark green roots about two inches long.
Fluttershy looked away from the rainbow. As if she needed another reminder. She took her seat next to a row of construction workers having an afternoon beer.
“Um, just a sparkling water,” she answered the bartender.
“Tall glass of sparkling water for the tall sparkling mare, coming right up.”
Fluttershy blushed. Bartenders could be so charming. She supposed that was in the job description.
She swiveled in her chair and surveyed the room.
As she suspected, there were mostly families here. Little children accompanied by forties-and-up adults. Ponies who were ‘off-the-table’, so to speak. That was good. She wouldn’t have known where to start if the room had been packed with ponies her age. But there, here and there among the crowd, there were some younger ones. College students, school of friendship students, and—
A couple out on a date. Fluttershy took a few quick glances at them, memorized their details—her svelte shoulders, his spiky mane; the low, red fire of her mane, his folded wings; the way her eyes fell half-closed and her head tilted, his… nice watch.
She spun back towards the bar and silently asked the couple to forgive her for what she was about to do.
First, the stallion, who was already earning points for looking nothing like the ex with all the questions. She pictured herself with him, out on a night in the town. It was raining. He covered her with his wing, then she remembered she never cared about getting wet, and she had her own wings besides, so it was a little weird of him to do that. Then the rain cleared, and the sun poked out and shone red and orange on his face. She picked out his voice from behind her—low and a little choppy, like an innocent yet dangerous river—and added it to the scene.
“You know, you’re as pretty as this sunset.”
She snorted quietly. She hoped, for that mare’s sake, he was better at sweet-talk than that.
Next, the mare’s turn—Fluttershy picked a boat this time, a small schooner with a tall white sail. Again, it was sunset, because Fluttershy didn’t want to have too many variables. Fluttershy was reclined on a bench, and the mare was painting her (she could just make out the palette-and-brush cutie mark from here). On the easel, Fluttershy had the sun behind her, flying fish leaping into view so that they could be included. Fluttershy kept being distracted by them, wanting to talk about them, mention some neat facts to impress the mare who was busy saying, Hold still, or I’ll make you hold still. The mare added red to her brush, and Fluttershy realized she must be blushing. Then the image changed, and Fluttershy was teaching her the proper way to bear-hug. It’s in your shoulders, see? Like this...
“...all alone?”
Fluttershy came back to reality. Behind her, the mare laughed at something her date said—or maybe she’d seen what Fluttershy was picturing.
“Um. I’m sorry?”
The bartender was pouring another draught for one of the construction workers. “I asked if you’re here alone.”
“Oh. Um. Yes. But it’s okay.”
The bartender nodded. “You’re an introvert, like me, right?” Fluttershy nodded. “Well, it’s a perfect day for us. Nopony around to distract us from the nice weather.”
The wind buffeted the windows, puffing them in and out like a pony’s cheeks.
“Yes,” Fluttershy agreed. “It’s beautiful.” She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t hate small talk or anything, but she was a little busy.
“By the way.” The bartender pointed to the rainbow dye in his mane. “Don’t worry about this. I was just showing support back in June.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy nodded. “That’s nice of you.” Please get off this subject.
Somepony called for the bartender’s attention. He winked and walked away, and Fluttershy exhaled. She spun back around and, to her dismay, the couple was gone. She caught a glimpse of the stallion opening the door for his date. She watched them walk past the windows, laughing at her pain.
The bartender returned and cleared his throat. Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder, and found he was staring right at her.
“So, I might be striking out here,” he said, “but I’d hate myself if I didn’t say anything.”
“...Um?”
“I get off here at three. If you don’t mind the distraction, the rest of my day’s free.”
He winked, and Fluttershy’s composure shattered.
“O-oh.”
The construction worker on her left chuckled. Glanced at her. Shook his head. The bartender admonished him.
“Hey, c’mon.”
Fluttershy’s cheeks were on fire. Suddenly, she was imagining again. She was going on a walk with this stallion, having dinner with him, taking the train to Canterlot, being asked if she wanted to spend the night, and her saying, I don’t know yet, I don’t know, I don’t—
She fled for the door—then remembered she hadn’t paid and turned back—then remembered she’d only had water and turned around again—then remembered she’d had sparkling water, and besides, she needed to tip, and, turning twice on her hooves, she tossed a couple bits on the bar and speed-walked out into the wind with her head down.
The whole way down the street, the images kept following her. Walk, dinner, a stolen kiss, her in his home, a bed between them, her shaking her head. I’m sorry. You’re very nice, but I don’t know, I don’t know—
I don’t know who I am.
3
The fountain was roaring, covering the sound of Fluttershy’s sigh. The wind still blew, but not as hard, and the wall of water from the fountain stood in its way, spraying mist onto everypony there—onto her, the group of kids chasing each other around the pool, the team of college-aged volleyball players throwing bits into the pool and giggling at each others’ wishes. Fluttershy’s list slowly dampened between her hooves.
She sighed again and finished her sandwich. The tomatoes and hay were delicious, but she didn’t think she deserved them right now. She’d failed herself today. The one pony you’re not supposed to fail. But then, maybe she’d set herself up to fail. What she’d known all her life was still true—she didn’t need anypony. She’d spent her whole adult life making the friends she never thought she would have, overcoming the fears she thought would haunt her forever. She’d even built the animal sanctuary she’d dreamed of since she was little. All this she’d done without needing anypony by her side. She was enough. She’d proved it.
She sat on her haunches and prepared to tear the list in half.
“Ah, Fluttershy. Well met.”
Fluttershy clutched her list to her chest. That sounded like…
Princess Luna was standing beside her, giving no indication that she’d seen the paper. Fluttershy hadn’t heard her approach. Around them, but out of earshot, the volleyball team and the playing kids had gone quiet, staring up at the princess with open mouths.
“G-guh—” Fluttershy started to get up from her seat to bow, but she klutzed it, banging her ankle on the chair and knocking it over.
“Oh, there’s no need for that,” said the princess. She replaced the chair with her magic. “I’m retired now.”
“But,” Fluttershy said automatically, “Twilight said we should still bow even if we don’t want to.”
Luna raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I didn’t realize it was such a bother.”
Fluttershy squeaked. “I mean—No! I mean—” She covered her face. “It was Rainbow Dash who asked! I was just in the room...”
Luna tutted. “And now you’re throwing your friend under the carriage.”
Fluttershy hid herself further. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Luna laughed softly, politely. “I’m only joking,” she said.
Fluttershy peeked out from under her hooves, hoping to see if Luna was smiling, but the great mare’s expression had grown suddenly dark. She glanced at Fluttershy and flicked her head to the fountain pool and strode towards it.
“I need your help, Fluttershy,” Princess Luna said. “I am on a scavenger hunt.”
Fluttershy forced herself to keep looking forward. The cold press of the fountain mist made her squint.
“Um… o-okay.”
“It was my sister’s idea. She wagered that I couldn’t find all the items on this list and bring them back to our room at the resort, and I can never ignore a challenge from her, so I foolishly accepted. But alas, I am hopeless. I know what the items are, of course, but I do not know where to find them.”
Her horn flashed and a list appeared between them. Fluttershy took it with some hesitation.
Celestia’s Saturday Scavenger Hunt!
Milk
Eggs
Flour
Icing sugar
Strawberries
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
...and so on. Until, at the bottom: Have fun!
Fluttershy darted her eyes left and right. Was she being pranked? Then she noticed Luna was looking at her pleadingly.
“Um,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“Well? Do you know where I can acquire these items?”
“Have you tried… the grocery store?”
“Grocery store.” Luna moved the words around in her mouth as if hearing them, and saying them, for the first time. “Can't say I have. Which of these items can be found there?”
Fluttershy scanned the list again. “All of them.”
Luna’s face lit up with elation, then quickly it fell again. She shut her eyes and grimaced.
“Fluttershy. I need you to be honest with me.”
“Okay.”
“Has my sister sent me on a tedious errand disguised as a fun game?”
“Um. Yes.”
Another flash from Luna’s horn, and the list was gone. Luna sighed like a rumble of thunder.
The two of them watched the water swirl in the pool. Fluttershy snuck a couple glances to make sure the princess hadn’t vanished as quietly as she’d come. She hadn’t been this close to her since they’d first met, that one Nightmare Night, all those years ago. What an awful way to meet somepony, but… strange. She thought it was kind of funny, now.
On one of her stolen glances, Fluttershy noticed that Luna’s mane and tail held the same shape they always had—as if the wind and the mist weren’t even there—and she wondered what it would be like to be so pretty. To have that long, slender neck, those powerful wings, that unique cutie mark with the dark-blue background, to have all those stars in your hair, in your tail, and in your eyes. Fluttershy pictured herself taking a step closer. Just one. Then maybe two, and three. She imagined pressing the bridge of her nose against Luna’s neck and sliding it up to the spot under her chin. To wrap Luna’s big body in her small forelegs, and to disappear under those great blue wings.
Fluttershy’s mouth fell open. Despite the cool mist from the fountain, she felt warm all over.
She cleared her throat. “So…” She cleared it harder. “Um… How is retirement?”
“It is good,” said Luna, “when my sister is not yanking my tail.” She glanced at Fluttershy. “Well, you helped me with my list. Can I help you with yours?”
“My...?”
Fluttershy still had her list clutched to her chest. She quickly tore it into little pieces and sprinkled them in the fountain.
“No,” she said firmly. “All finished.”
Luna watched the tiny scraps of paper dissolve under the pummelling water. “Normally, on a list that has checkboxes, you draw in a check when the task is complete. Not tear it up.”
Fluttershy laughed awkwardly. “Um. Well. I don’t have a quill.” Then her eyes widened.
If she’d seen the box then what else had she seen?
“I suppose this works too,” said Luna. “Well, it’s been a pleasure. But I have a sister to scold. Farewell.”
“Okay,” whispered Fluttershy.
The princess turned to go, and, without thinking, Fluttershy turned and staggered after her, but then Luna exploded in a burst of magic and was gone.
Fluttershy braced herself against the fountain wall, then fell on her rump. A smile was growing on her face. Everything was back to normal in seconds. Beside her, the ponies played, talked, lived their own lives again. The fountain was too loud for anypony to hear anything. So Fluttershy said something for her ears only.
“I like girls.”
Sadness washed over her from out of nowhere, like she’d sat on a landmine of despair. She got up and sprinted away before she started to cry.
***
Fluttershy made her way home feeling like her life had been cleaved into two pieces—’before’ and ‘after’. Either some invisible weapon the size of a building had fallen on her, or Luna had done it herself when she asked her what she could find at a grocery store. Maybe the sadness had come from the realization that she was living in the ‘after’ half now, and she would never get back to ‘before’ ever again.
Her mind turned over inside her head like a gyroscope made of questions. Questions like, But are you sure? and Are you strong enough for this? and Will you lose your mare friends? and What will mom and dad think? and Don’t you want kids?! and all the while the G-word kept springing up, over and over again, the gyroscope’s balancing post.
She reached home with her heart beating fast with the truth. She opened the door and shut it behind her, and she slid with her back against it until she was on the floor. She startled at the sight of Angel on the floor inside her front door. But, no, it wasn’t Angel, it was a framed picture of him holding his pocket watch and pointing at it while his foot blurred with motion. Right. They didn’t see each other as much anymore, so he’d had that picture made to leave in her path whenever she was forgetting something. But what…?
She gasped.
Rarity.
4
She was ten minutes late, but Rarity brightened and began speaking immediately, like the spark of life she was, not even giving Fluttershy a chance to apologize. Her sunglasses rested over her horn; her mane and tail flew wildly in the breeze without a single strand coming loose. She claimed to be exhausted, then launched into a chatter: the ups and downs of her day, the beautiful weather, the crazy thing AJ said to her yesterday, and how are you, Darling, how are you?
Fluttershy nodded, smiled, and marvelled at the energy of extroverts for the thousandth time in her life.
“We booked the full special,” Rarity said to the clerk, “But we won’t be having masks today.”
Fluttershy frowned. No face-masks? Rarity loved face-masks.
But they were already being escorted into the massage room, already laying face-down on the benches. Rarity sighed in relief and Fluttershy sighed with her, but she didn’t sound convincing. And as the first hot stone was laid on her spine, Fluttershy wondered if she was going to ogle the masseuses, now, if that was what she really wanted to do with her life.
The massage and hooficure were a blur. Fluttershy only noticed that she was relaxing if she thought long and hard about it. Her muscles were loose, and her eyelids heavy, but a tension unlike any she’d ever felt before gripped her insides.
Rarity melted against the edge of the bath, her mane tied up in a tight towel. It was strange seeing her face here, without any product on it.
“Hey, um… Rarity?”
“Speak to me, Darling.”
“Why didn’t we have masks today?”
“Because.” Rarity shifted in her seat. “We can’t have a heart-to-heart talk if we’re wearing green goop and cucumbers on our faces, now can we?”
Fluttershy sank a little. “A-are we… going to have a heart-to-heart talk?”
“You tell me.”
Fluttershy shrank into the water. She should have known. On her frantic, rushed way to the spa, she had resolved not to tell Rarity anything. But she should have known she couldn’t hide it. As she looked at her best friend now, sitting with her neck over the edge of the hot tub, she realized she was going to say them. Those three words. They were like a trio of rambunctious dogs, wildly pulling on her to be let out, to run in the open fields and be free. And the leads were slipping.
“I…”
Her lip wobbled.
“I, um…”
Why was this so hard?
Suddenly, she felt Rarity grab her hoof with both of hers, and squeeze it. Fluttershy hadn’t noticed her swim over.
“I l-like...”
Rarity’s eyes went wide. She pulled back and let go, and Fluttershy did too.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Finish your sentence, please.”
“...girls?”
“Ahhhhhh!”
Rarity vanished underwater.
It happened so quickly, the way she threw her hoof over her eyes and plunged into the hot tub, as if dragged under by an unseen monster. Fluttershy watched as bubbles appeared, popping with the sound of Rarity’s voice.
...Was she laughing?
Rarity erupted back into the steamy air, and sure enough, she was clutching her stomach and laughing hysterically.
“Wh-what’s so funny?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh my goodness, Fluttershy, Darling, I’m so sorry.” Her laugh sputtered to a stop. “It’s not what you said, it’s what you didn’t say.”
“What do you mean?”
Rarity calmed herself with a deep breath. “Darling, I thought you were going to say me.”
“No! What?”
Then they were both laughing. From feeling crushed under the weight of nothing, Fluttershy now felt like she was about to float away. Who knew this whole thing could be so funny?
“You’re like a sister to me,” Fluttershy muttered. Just to be sure.
“Oh, I know, Darling, and I’m straight as a thread besides, but for a moment I thought I was going to have to say no to my best friend, which I’ve never, ever done.”
Fluttershy took a deep breath, then laughed again.
“You know,” said Rarity, “I’m never one to tell somepony her feelings aren’t valid, but… this sort of thing has been widely accepted since we were foals, right? Celebrated, even.”
“Yeah… I know.”
“So what’s the matter?”
“It’s just, um…” Great question. “I guess I just don’t know how to be...”
But the G-word wouldn’t come out.
“How to be… not straight?” Rarity offered.
Fluttershy blinked. That was an option?
“Yes,” she said. “Exactly.”
“Hmmm.”
Rarity straightened up and adjusted the soaking-wet towel on her head.
“I know just what you need,” she said simply. “Allies on the inside. Ponies with experience, ponies who have gone through this sort of thing and made it out the other side, ponies you can ask questions I can’t answer. I’m going to get you in touch with some mares I know. Friends of mine from the fashion world. Oh! And you should pay a visit to Scootaloo’s aunties, too. And, and, and—!”
Rarity paused to unwrap her towel and tie her mane in a knot behind her head.
“If you would have me,” she announced, “I would like to volunteer as your romantic liaison.”
Fluttershy blinked. “I’ve never heard of a… romantic liaison.”
“Of course you haven’t. I just made it up.”
“Okay… what does a romantic liaison do?”
“Countless things, Darling. If you want to talk, I’m here. If you need a friend to go out with you to a bar to keep an eye on you, I am that friend. Or—say you happen upon a mare that strikes you as somepony you’d like to get to know better? I will get you both in a room together. Discreetly, of course. She won’t even know I was involved.” Rarity sank back against the edge of the bath and closed her eyes, relaxing again. “But I can also do nothing at all,” she finished. “Whatever you’re comfortable with, Darling.”
Fluttershy considered the offer for all of a second. It was too good to be true. In fact…
“Any mare?” she asked.
“Absolutely. All I need is a name.”
“Okay,” said Fluttershy. “How about…?”
5
Rarity screamed so loud that the staff kicked them out for ‘disrupting the tranquility.’ They were still wet when they were pushed roughly outside, but the sun was out and the breeze was calm, so they quickly cooled off.
Rarity, who would normally stir up quite a fuss after being treated so brusquely, stared blankly ahead at nothing. Fluttershy felt terrible.
“I was only kidding,” she murmured.
Rarity broke out of her trance and blinked at her. “No. No, I don’t think you were.”
Fluttershy said nothing.
“It’s a longshot,” Rarity said with a smirk. “I hope you know that. But for what it’s worth... I can see it.”
“See what?”
“You. And her.”
Fluttershy couldn’t hide her smile. Me and her what? she wanted to ask. Can you describe what you see? Can you use us in a sentence?
With a flick of her mane and a shake of her head, Rarity perked up again. “Phew! Nothing like a spa after a long day, right?”
Fluttershy laughed. “Yes.”
“And yet, my day goes on. You, however, deserve to go home and have a rest.”
Rarity kissed Fluttershy on either cheek and rested a hoof on her shoulder.
“I never said thank you, did I?” she said.
“For what?”
“For telling me. For trusting me with this.”
Fluttershy looked away. Shrugged. “There’s nopony else.”
“And that’s okay. Hey—”
Rarity moved her head into Fluttershy’s gaze.
“I know it might seem like the world is closing in on you, Darling, but it’s not, okay? Trust me. It’s opening up.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Okay,” she said.
Rarity walked off in the direction of the train station, on the verge of skipping. Fluttershy watched her go.
All was quiet in Ponyville that afternoon. Or at least, it was quiet outside the spa. Fluttershy enjoyed the silence while she still had the chance. She had a feeling it wouldn’t last forever.
