Different Approach

by armid

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Slice of Life, Drama, Fluttershy (EqG), Rarity (EqG), Original Character, Equestria Girls, Rainbow Dash (EqG)
Length: 9549

Fluttershy can not decide who should be her art model. Rarity or Rainbow Dash? And Flaming Star on the other hand must reflect on his actions.

Fluttershy can't decide whether to use Rarity or Rainbow Dash as her art model and she is only losing time by not starting to work on her art project. Meanwhile, Flaming Star is having trouble communicating with Steely Armor to come to a conclusion about what has happened.

Edited and pre-read by ChudoJogurt and Stinium Ruide

Artwork by Short-tale

Published 2022-02-13 19:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-02-13 19:50:00 UTC

A Decision To Be Made

It was morning once again.

Fluttershy had just stepped out of her house, walking to school. She had picked up her brushes, slipped her palette through her backpack and the extra paint tubes she had bought the other day.

Just one question remained: Who was going to be her model?

After a short walk, Fluttershy got to school. Only a few seconds after she stepped past the door, Rainbow Dash flashed right next to her.

“Heeeeeey Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash put her arm on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“Aah!” Fluttershy jumped a little. “Oh, hi.”

“How are you doing?” Rainbow Dash smiled at her friend.

“I’m fine. H-how are you?” Fluttershy was a little startled to see her friend appear out of nowhere.

“I’m feeling awesome”

“Oh. That's nice to hear.”

“Yeah, so uh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “We are doing the art thing today, right?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy turned her head to Rainbow Dash, lost.

“Are we not doing the art project thing? The one you wanted me as your model for?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“I, uh…” Fluttershy took a second to think whether she ever told Rainbow Dash that she had picked her as her model or not. As far as she could recall, today was the day she wanted to make up her mind about it and talk to both her and Rarity. Then what was this about? “I am going to do it but… I was going to talk to yo—”

“Oh look! There are the girls!” Rainbow Dash pointed at the rest of the gang and dragged Fluttershy with her.

“Hello Rainbow. Hi Fluttershy.” Twilight waved her hand with a smile. “We’ve been wondering where you two were just now.”

“Angel was being a bit problematic over eating her breakfast again this morni—”

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” All of a sudden, Rarity pushed Rainbow Dash back.

“Nothing.” Rainbow Dash let go of Rarity’s new lavender dress, smirking and crossing her arms. “Just checking the new dress that you put on to impress Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy grabbed onto Twilight’s arm. She was afraid this would happen. Ever since she mentioned her project to her friends yesterday, Rainbow Dash and Rarity started snapping at one another nonstop, fighting over being Fluttershy’s reference model. Fluttershy thought they might have calmed down since yesterday, but apparently she was wrong.

“Huh,” Rarity scoffed. “And what were you doing right before now? Whispering into her ear and guiding her thoughts?” Rarity pointed her finger at Rainbow Dash’s face.

“NO!” Rainbow Dash shoved Rarity’s finger to the side. “I-I…” She muttered for a second but got her cool back straight away. “I don’t need to. It’s already obvious she isn’t picking you with your ‘oooh, I’m so pretty’ attitude.” She mimicked Rarity.

“Well I’m not the one who felt the need to push Fluttershy into changing her decision,” Rarity sneered and turned her face away.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash turned her face away, “Don’t worry, I’m so awesome that she would never think of choosing you and your stupid dre—!”

“What the hay is goin’ on here again?” Just before the argument escalated more, Applejack stepped in between them.

They stopped arguing, but they still refused to look at one another.

“Is this about the art project again?” Twilight held Flutterhsy’s hand.

Hiding behind Twilight, Fluttershy just nodded. But the comfort of Twilight holding her hand made it easier to take in what was happening.

“Someone is just jealous of how awesome I am, and they're not!” Frowning back at Rarity, Rainbow Dash pushed Applejack’s arm away.

“How dare you accuse me of such a thing?” Rarity didn’t hesitate to answer back, “you are the jealous one here!”, she pushed Applejack away.

Both were staring at each other with their eyebrows frowned sharply. But it was then that the morning class bell rang from the speakers. All the girls waved at one another and headed to their classes, soon after, they both gave up on the staring contest and did the same.

A sigh of relief escaped Fluttershy’s chest as she saw her friends stop fighting. But would they start again? Probably. But that was not the question. The question was how to make them both stop fighting.

In the art class, Fluttershy’s mind kept drifting away from the drawing of the sapphire vase she was supposed to have on her canvas but she didn’t want to make either of her friends upset. And both Rarity and Rainbow Dash could be good models. But she needed only one.

As she was mindlessly moving her brush up and down on her canvas, Ms. Colourful Brush swiped in to check on her.

“Hello dear!” she said, as she stopped behind Fluttershy.

Fluttershy finally snapped out of her thoughts and realised she hadn't been paying attention to her piece. So much so, that it looked as if she was drawing a clump of blue clay rather than a sapphire vase.

“Oh, uhm… hi, Ms. Colourful Brush.”

“Let me see how yo-” She caught sight of what should have been a vase in Fluttershy’s piece. “You uhm… need to pay more attention sweetie!”

Fluttershy nodded silently.

“Yeah, I think you should try putting colours on again to establish the shape properly. And uhm, maybe…” Ms. Colourful Brush shook her head. “Anyway, how’s your project going?”

“I uhm…” Fluttershy looked away. “I was going to start today after school.”

“I see.” She smiled. “Well, I’m sure you’ll do great. Just… pay attention.” She then walked to the next student to inspect their work.

Fluttershy shook her head and put some paint on her brush. She was about to get back to painting when Ms. Colourful Brush came back.

“Actually, just pick another canvas and start from scratch.”

Fluttershy couldn’t finish her drawing practice that day. This was a bit of a surprise to Ms. Colourful Brush as Fluttershy has been among the few students that finished her work the fastest and the best. However, she didn’t step in as in her own mind Fluttershy might have gotten distracted wondering what happened with Sunset Shimmer’s that she had to head to the infirmary.

But it was something else. Fluttershy hoped one of them wouldn’t be interested anymore and she could start her work without having to deal with it. Now, she had to choose.

As she was walking back to her locker, Rarity joined her.

“Hello darling.” Rarity was holding her literature book close to her chest as she smiled at Fluttershy.

“Uhm, hi Rarity.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m… fine.” Fluttershy said with a sigh.

“That’s nice to hear.” Rarity put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I wanted to say sorry for earlier this morning. I shouldn’t have been… acting that way. It’s just that I worked very hard on this dress and I was worried Rainbow Dash would damage the fabric.”

“It’s ok. I...understand.” Fluttershy smiled back at Rarity.

“So, should I be staying after school?”

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s smile faded away. “W-what?”

“Oh, darling, I'm talking about your art project that you asked me to be the model for.”

“I don’t reca—”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Rarity stood in front of Fluttershy. “What do you think of my new dress?”

Fluttershy took a good look at Rarity’slavender dress. From it’s short layering skirt up to the top that rested nicely on her shoulders. Rarity looked fabulous.

“It’s beautiful.”

“I knew you’d love it darling. It took me quite some time to find this quality of velvet fabric, not to mention making the actual dress. Anyway, take care now.” She smiled and walked off.

Fluttershy wanted to stop her and ask her the question, but she had to go back to class. Rarity and Rainbow Dash. They both could have been nice references for her project. In fact they were amazing options. Rarity looked pretty, especially now with her new fabulous dress and drawing her would have made the final outcome to be the same as well. But Rainbow Dash could probably take more flashy poses and Ms. Colourful Brush was fond of exploring the unexplored territories.

Fluttershy found herself struggling to focus in class once again. Her mind kept drifting from geography to the folds and soft lavender colour of Rarity’s dress to her drawing Rainbow Dash in various poses. Before she knew it, the class was over.

On her way to the cafeteria, Fluttershy encountered both Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Sadly, they were not chatting like two friends, but instead continuing their endless arguments again.

“Flutterhsy isn’t picking you. She literally told me to stay after school this morning.” Rainbow Dash scowled at Rarity.

“Oh, sorry to be the bearer of bad news darling.” Rarity smirked and threw her hair back. “But Fluttershy talked to me earlier and chose me over you.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Liar! She would never pick you with your lame new dress.”

Rarity let out a loud gasp. “HOW DARE YOU INSU—”

“GIRLS!” Flutterhsy interrupted with her high pitched scream.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity both stepped back and looked at Fluttershy but exchanged a few subtle glares at one another from the corners of their eyes.

“What are you two talking about?” She tightened her grip on her backpack.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “Who are you picking as your model? Me or “Ms. I’m so pretty!”?” She turned back and stuck her tongue out at Rarity.

“Oh, I don’t think there is a need to ask that question.” Rarity stepped closer and put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “As she has already chosen me, right?” She looked at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy had to make up her mind sooner than she would have liked. As Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s argument heated up, Fluttershy’s mind too became bore and more clouded. One word, one name. But who?

“BOTH” Fluttershy closed her eyes.

For a brief moment, silence filled the hallway. Only the faint sound of the students ordering food all the way in the cafeteria could be heard.

“W-what?” Rainbow Dash asked and broke the silence.

The chill air of the hallway filled Fluttershy’s chest. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at her friends. “Both of you.”

“Darling, what are you trying to say?” Rarity leaned forward.

Fluttershy took another deep breath. “Both of you stay after school. I’ll draw both of you.”

Sleepy Buddy

Dear Diary,

Today has been quite the trip. It made me think about myself lately. About my “magic”, about the new “friends” Steely and I’ve made and about what happened last night at the fencing match. My head felt as if it was holding onto billions of thoughts and it desperately wanted to pour them all down at the same time.

To start things off, when I got to school, Steely wasn’t in his best shape.

“Hey man,” I said. But he didn’t even answer. It didn’t take me a long time to realise he wasn’t really standing — he was asleep.

“Steely?” I pulled him back to see his face but he didn’t wake up.

“Steeeeely!” I held his shoulders and gave him a wiggle.

“Alternative….dimensions….magical...ponies,” he muttered in sleep.

“Have you been staying up all night watching Code Phase or some other anime?”

“Princess...Celestia...”

I have to admit, I was a little concerned about what was going on in his head after I heard that. However, classes were about to start and I couldn’t have left him like this. I had to wake him up.

So I slapped him.

“WHAT? WHO? WHERE?” Steely’s eyes opened wide. They were as red as the roses in our garden.

“Easy, easy.” I patted him on the back. “You ok?”

“I...uhm...uh.” Steely’s red eyes were looking around, dazed on what was happening. After giving his head a little shake, he replied, “Oh, hey, Flame.” Steely’s left eye was twitching, and his heavy eyelids were slowly closing. I wondered whether he even slept last night or not.

“Dude, when did you sleep last night?”

“Six,” Steely responded after a small pause.

“But it’s seven right now…” I narrowed my eyes. “What were you doing?”

“I had to figure some… stuff out.” Steely rubbed his face and forced his eyelids to stay open.

“Were you theorizing about what would happen in the next chapter of that Pizzaria robot horror game?” I sighed.

“No, I…” He shook his head once more. “It was about what the girls told me yesterday.”

“OH!” I almost forgot about the “session” Steely had with Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. “What did she say?”

“Wh-” Steely rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Who is she?”

“Sunset Shimmer?”

“Who?

“The girl who broke into your garage? Bacon head, sees your memory and has the tendency to invade your privacy and the—oh.” It was then that I noticed Steely had fallen asleep again.

I dragged him to the bathroom and splashed his face with some tap water. His eyelids fluttered into life again as water dripped down from his face.

“Steely, you should have stayed home.”

He shook his head and wiped his face of water.

“What did she tell you yesterday anyway? Seriously, what made you stay up all night?”

“She had good reasons.” Steely looked at me with his red eyes.

“W-what?” I narrowed my eyes, waiting for a clarification. But nothing came. “You’re not saying anything about how she breaking into your garage or invading our minds is justified! How?”

Steely held his head with his hands and blacked a couple times before responding. “It’s not… easy to explain. But I think, she… made up for it by expla—”

“NO!”

Steely’s exhausted eyelids stopped closing and he locked his gaze with me.

I raised my voice. “I don’t know what she told you that makes you jump to THAT conclusion but I can not think of one single reason that would justify invading someone's memories and personal life.”

“Look, I had the same mindset at first but… things are just more compli—”

“The only complicated thing I see here is you deciding to come to school when you barely had an hour of sleep.” I stepped closer. “Get your clonies running and find a corner to sleep. You can’t even keep your eyes open for five minutes.” I walked to the door to leave.
“Why don’t you never liste—”

“Take care, Steely, gotta run!”

The whole class I was wondering about yesterday. I still couldn’t get my mind off that fight and what I did. “She deserved it,” a thought crept into my head. I could easily picture her trying to touch my hand and see what I knew about Steely. Then again, she also helped me once by doing that.

“I warned her!” said another voice in my head. That one was something I couldn’t ignore. I did warn her yesterday multiple times to leave me alone, yet she kept pushing. I even warned her about what would happen in the ring. She stepped in herself. Did I have to do it…

Flaming Star stopped writing in his diary for a second.

No

He stared at the two letters he had just written. He stared at them, in silence as the sensation of guilt grew inside. But soon after, he shook his head and moved to the next line.

“Why is Steely just forgetting about her breaking into her garage?” I know Steely. If there was anything that would make him raise his voice, it was either someone messing with his toys or his mom showing his childhood pictures to others, or something like that. What has gotten into him?

As I was deep in my own thoughts, the class ended. It took me a couple of seconds to realise that the others were leaving the classroom, but I snapped out of my thoughts before anyone could call my name.

Steely had geology class during that period and I hoped I was not going to see him when I checked up on his class. As I got closer to there, I saw some of the students come out of the class and among them, was Steely. No red eyes, but lifeless. No expression on his face could be seen. That was enough of a clarification for me that I should be looking for my Steely somewhere else. But where?

I could guess a couple of locations he might have been at off the top of my head but I decided to walk to the main hall to check up on the map real quick first. That thing has helped me find my way around more than I can remember.

As soon as I was walking to the main hall, I saw someone running straight at me like a train on rails. And before I could react in time, they crashed into me, landing us both on the floor.
“OH! Sorry, are you ok?”

I raised my head and saw a pink face and a pair of big blue eyes staring at me.

“Pinkie Pie?”

“Hiiiii!” she said as she waved her hand furiously.

“Watch where you’re going next time.” I stood up and dusted myself up.

She hid her chuckle. “Sorry. I was trying to find the girls as fast as to tell them Sunset is in the infirmary and that we should check up on her.”

“...Sunset Shimmer is in the infirmary?”

“Yeah, I don’t why but Ms. Colourful brush looked at her hand and went “*gasp*” and we were all like, “*hmm?*” and then she told her to head to the infirmary.”

“...Her hand?”

“Yeah, anyway, I’ll catch you later. It’s an emergency! Byeeee!” She hopped away.

I kept walking to the main hall but I couldn't stop thinking about last night. I know I said I want to punch her face because of what she did but really I didn’t want to hurt her. At least not in a way she would have to head to the infirmary. If I can’t simply control myself, how can I control my power magic? Had I gone too far?

I saw the posters on the information board, from club announcements and band practice times to simple drawings of the younger students. And in the middle of them all, was the map.

“Let’s see where you might be Steely…” I stepped closer and inspected the map. The first place I looked for was the workshop, and just by a quick look I realised it's quite far. “Maybe somewhere closer first.” The second location was the lab, but if I remembered correctly, the younger students had the first period there. So that can’t be it too. Then it finally dawned on me. “He slept in the toilet didn’t he?”

As I was about to walk off, a pink poster caught my attention to itself. It was pinned on the board right next to the map. “Cuddle Love Pet Shop” was written in big letters on the poster. “A place to find a friend for yourself or leave your friend to be taken care of for a few days.”

There wasn’t much time left until the classes would start again so if I wanted to check on Steely, I had to be quick and hope I could find him in time. I couldn’t see anyone in the bathroom, but as soon as I stepped inside, I could hear the scribbling sound of pencil on paper. Following it led me to one of the doors. By giving a quick glance at the door nub, I realised it wasn’t closed
.
“Steely? Are you there?” I asked.

“...yeah.” His voice still sounded tired.

“You aren’t sleeping in there are you?”

The door opened and he stepped out. He had it under his eyes. “No.” He walked to the sink and washed his face again.

“Well you better. Maybe not there… but man, you should just… sleep.”

“Sleep?” He turned his head towards me.

“Yeah. By the way, were you in there the whole peri—” Before I could finish my sentence, Steely passed out and was about to drop on the floor when I caught him. “Steely?”

His eyes were only half closed but I doubted he could understand anything of what I said.

“Dude, you are not that light you know?” It took my all to not drop him on the ground. I didn’t have any other choice but to put him back on the toilet seat again.

Before I headed back to class, I noticed there was a small yellow notepad on the bathroom floor. It was Steely’s, I knew it. I decided to hold onto it for now; he didn’t seem in the right shape to take care of it.

After every class, I checked on Steely to make sure he was alright and by the time we had to eat lunch, he was feeling a little better. But I had to check on something else too.

I found Pinkie Pie hopping to the cafeteria so I decided to take this opportunity to ask her something. “Hey.”

“OH, hi!” She smiled, and waved her hand.

“I uh… wanted to know how Sunset Shimmer was. You know, you said she was in the infirmary this morning.”

“Oh, she said she was fine. Just a sprain.”

For some reason, even though I didn’t quite like her, I was happy she was fine.

“That’s ni—”

She cut me off. “But Ms. Pointy Syringe said her hand looked messed up. Like, someone stomped on it after it sprained. She also didn't let me have a lollipop. Oh. OH! It’s Taco Tuesday! Sorry, Flammy, see ya later!” She dashed straight for the cafeteria afterwards.
That good feeling of relief turned into a terrible sensation of guilt. No matter how much I reasoned with myself, I still felt terrible.

Steely had picked up food for me too. Though he still looked like a mess.

“Hey, how was toilet-sleeping?” I smirked at him as I sat down.

“I can keep my eyes open so… that’s something.” he said before taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Even if you still look like a red-eyed demon?”

Steely remained silent and kept on chewing.

“You passed out this morning.” I looked at him but he avoided meeting my gaze. “No one passes out like that just from lack of sleep. Did you- You didn’t eat anything yesterday did you?”

Steely didn’t answer.

“Do you really think skipping meals will solve your issues with your dad? C’mon Steely, you’re smarter than that.” I crossed my arms.

“No but-First off: you don’t get to tell me that when you tried to fail school instead of talking stuff out with your father.” He pointed at me.

I wanted to defend myself but he beat me to it.

“And secondly, I’ve been processing a lot of stuff. And I mean a lot. Let me just…” He started searching his pockets.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Sunset Shimmer told you a bunch of stuff yesterday and you still can’t take it all in. I mean, OK. Maybe there was just some weird stuff about magic they didn’t tell you before but—”

“Where is my notepad?” His restless eyes darted across the table carefully before he slapped his forehead. “Did I drop it in the bathroom?”

“Don’t worry, I gotcha.” I took out the yellow note pad from my pocket and handed it over to him.

“Thanks.” He let out a sigh of relief and opened it. It felt as if he wanted to make sure what he wrote down hadn’t disappeared or something. “You-did you look inside or…?”

“No. Was there something personal?”

“Just the notes I took from…” Steely paused and looked away. “Some experiment. Nothing big.”

“Anyways.” I rolled my eyes. “I-I am a bit confused on how I should be seeing Sunset Shimmer right now. On one hand are all her desperate attempts to invade our private life and on the other are the times shehelped us. Just—”

“Just what?” Steely leaned forward.

I sighed. “Forget it.”

Over-Modeled

The canvas was set, brushes were out and the colours were just in reach. Everything was set, everything was ready, except for her. How was she going to draw them both? She didn’t even need two models on the drawing. Only one.

“It’s OK.” Fluttershy told herself with a deep breath. If anything, Ms. Colourful Brush would have appreciated the extra work and the added ingenuity. It was going to be alright; she just had to think of a good pose before they showed up.

“Hello darling,” a familiar voice called from behind.

Rarity stepped into the art room, twirling her velvet hair. “Shall we begin?”

Fluttershy smiled, and tilted her head to the side, looking at the door, waiting for Rainbow Dash to step in as well. But nothing. “Uhm… where is Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh, I don’t know. But is that even a surprise? It’s Rainbow Dash we are talking about, she probably forgot.” Rarity walked behind the canvas and sat on the carefully-placed wooden.

Fluttershy looked back at her, the warm sunlight rays shone through the tinted windows and landed on Rarity’s lavender dress and lighted up the sparkle in her eyes.

But Fluttershy knew Rainbow would show up, and whether she liked it or not, she promised to draw her too. And so Fluttershy shifted her eyes from Rarity to the door and back onto the empty canvas. There was only so much time she could stay in school and every second that passed was making that smaller and smaller.

“What’s the matter? Is this not a good pose?” Rarity asked.

“No, I-it’s fine. I think we should wait for Rainbow Dash to join as well.”

“Hmm, Alright darling.” The smile faded away from Rarity’s face. “But...and I don’t want to rush you or anything but, maybe she has forgotten about staying after school? We don’t have all day to wait for her, right?”

“Maybe.” Fluttershy looked back at the open door, still nothing. After letting out a sigh, she picked up her brush and took a glance at Rarity. “Maybe we should just… start.”

As Rarity nodded, her smile appeared back on her face. But just then, a sudden swoosh of wind came from the hallway.

“Hey Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said as she walked in. “And… hi… Rarity.” She said her name with extra spite. “Sorry I was late, someone decided to be a bit funny and tied my shoes together.

They glared at each other for a few seconds, before breaking it off.

“How are we gonna do this again?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. “Are you drawing us both at the same time or… individually?”

“Together.” Fluttershy stepped to the side to look at Rarity's position. “You can stand behind Rarity.”

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment and then walked to her spot, putting her right foot on the chair’s top rail.

“HEY, WATCH IT.” Rarity leaned forward and frowned at Rainbow Dash for almost stepping on Rarity’s hair.

“What?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I'm just posing.”

Rarity crossed her arms. “NO. You were trying to step on my hair.”

“Oh, sorry, didn’t see your hair laying around.” Rainbow Dash smirked at Rarity

“Uhm… Can you… not fight? Please?” Fluttershy peered from behind the canvas.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity both turned their heads away from each other and attempted to put on a smile. However, Fluttershy didn’t like how Rainbow Dash was standing with one of her legs on the top rail. It wasn’t very “interesting” or “appealing” but rather distracting.

“Sorry, can you… change your position a little Rainbow Dash?”

“Sure.” Rainbow Dash Stepped aside and stood next to Rarity who was still sitting on the chair. But this time, Rainbow Dash was casting a shadow over Rarity.

“C-could you step back a little?”

Even then, it was dull and lifeless. Something was missing. Maybe the chair wasn’t a nice addition to the piece? Whatever it was, Fluttershy had to try something different.

This time, there was no chair, Rarity was standing upfront smiling to the horizon and Rainbow Dash immersed herself as Daring Do on top of a long tree, putting her hand on top of her eyes as if she was scouting for the bad guys. Each posing on one side. But from Fluttershy's perspective, half of Rainbow Dash's body was obstructed by Rarity.

Another try. Rarity showed her back to the canvas and turned her head as if someone just called her. Rainbow Dash on the other hand, had picked up a brush and held it in front of herself like a sabre and took a fencing stance even though she had never fenced before. But still, they simply didn’t complement one another.
“I.. I don’t think these will work. You two are doing separate things.” Fluttershy shook her head and looked down.

“See what you did?” Rainbow Dash frowned at Rarity.

“What?”

“You are just going off, trying to have the spotlight all for yourself.”

“Am I now?” Rarity glanced back as she crossed her arms. “Maybe if you didn’t take those flashy, meaningless poses, we wouldn’t have an issue.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash nodded sarcastically.

“Uhm.. c-can you—” Fluttershy stepped forward.

“We were doing fine just before you showed up.” Rarity pointed at Rainbow Dash accusingly.

“You were just standing there, Rarity. So just shut up.”

“Can you… please no—”

“It doesn’t matter what I was doing, what matters is that we were fine until you showed up.”

Both had their fist clenched, their teeth grinding and their frowns were frowned. Fluttershy’s heart started beating faster, her breath was going in and coming out hastily and seat drops started to fall of her forehead. .

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted them all. At the doorway stood Vice Principal Luna, while keeping an eye on the girls.

“Time’s up. Unless you want to be locked in the school, you better head out.”

Fluttershy felt something shatter inside of her. How could time fly so fast? It felt like a few minutes ago that she stepped into the art room. In her disbelief, she instantly turned around and checked the clock only to see it was already five o’clock. She quickly ran to her canvas and turned it around. Only a few streaks of blue and purple colours were on the mostly plain canvas.

“Hurry up.” Vice Principal Luna repeated. “I have places to be.”

Fluttershy was paralysed by the sight that she couldn’t hear anything. There was simply no more time for the drawing and she promised to hand it tomorrow after school.

“Fluttershy?” Rarity put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Darling… I-I’m sorry but we should go.”

Fluttershy stayed silent but picked up her brushes, palette and colour tubes and put them back in her backpack. As Vice Principal Luna followed them outside, Rainbow Dash and Rarity kept on glaring and sticking their tongues out at one another. But Fluttershy no longer cared.

Fluttershy couldn’t go home just yet. She had to stay in the pet shop to fill in for her shift. Even though being near animals always brought a smile onto her face, her thoughts were too busy wondering about what she could possibly do about her project to be pleased by cute animals.

Not Welcomed

“Thanks for walking me home but, I think I’m alright now Flame.” Steely adjusted his hat on his head.

“Oh yeah! I should just let you pass out in the middle of the streets.” I replied sarcastically and kicked a pebble. “And I’m not 'walking you home’ I’m making sure once you get home you are going straight to bed.”

A soft smile appeared on Steely’s face. “Thanks.”

“It’s nothing.”

We walked in silence for a while, till I decided to speak up again.

“You never told me what the argument was about this time. You know, you and your dad?” I turned my head to look at him.

Steely looked away and pulled his backpack a bit higher. “The usual.”

“I thought so.” I looked down. It really was a shame that his father hasn’t softened up after all this time about Steely’s decisions. “Don’t worry, It’ll be alright.” I punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow.” Steely jumped and bit his lip.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot about the burn.” I hit my forehead.

“It’s… alright.” He whispered as he rubbed his shoulder in pain. “Anyway, what happened to your situation?”

“My situation?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah.” Steely nodded. “Your situation with your dad.”

“Oh, yeah well.” I rubbed the back of my head. “I did talk to him. And It went way better than I expected.”

“I’m glad you listened to me. Really, like I knew Mr. Flame would list—” Steely patted me on the back.

“It wasn’t just you.” I cut him off. “Do you remember that day I told you that Sunset Shimmer was the one tutoring me?”

“I think I—” Steely rubbed his chin. “Yeah I do. What about it?”

“She saw my memories and suggested that I talk to my father too.”

“Huh.” He looked down. Didn’t say anything else for a while and left the only sound to be heard be our footsteps.

“You really think we should forgive her after what she did?” I shook my head, looking down.

“Who?”

“SUNSET SHIMMER, STEELY! SUNSET SHIMMER!” Three up my hands in exasperation.

“OK. OK. I got it.” He pushed me off. After letting out a sigh, he continued. “I think- I think we should give her another chance.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know whether It was that I couldn’t just do that or that I simply didn’t want to. Before I could share my opinion on the idea, I realised we had gotten to Steely’s place.

“OK. I can take it from here, you can go.” Steely smiled and stood in front of me.

“No can do.” I pushed him aside and walked up to their door. “Somewhere deep in my gut I know you aren’t gonna put your head on the pillow by yourself.”

Steely grabbed my hand and yanked me back.

“Woah, what gives?”

Steely looked away. “I-it’s just that I- uh- I really don’t think there is a need for you to-”

“C’mon now Steely, you know you can’t fool me like last time that you said you’ll sleep but instead finished like a five hundred episode season in a night. Besides, I haven’t seen your mom for a while.”

We went to his home without wasting anymore time. Thankfully Ms. Clean was home and I could be relieved that there was someone who could look after Steely and make sure he rests.

Ms. Clean thanked me for walking Steely home but unlike always she wasn’t very keen on me staying. In fact she asked me to leave which I found rather odd coming from her but I saw she was busy cleaning the dishes. So I walked to the door to leave and not be a burden but, as I opened it, Steely’s Father was standing outside.

Marshalled Papers locked his gaze at me, frowning. A dim flash sparkled in his glasses as he stepped inside.

“H-hi Mr. Papers.” I said. I was a bit startled to see him then.

He narrowed his eyes instead of responding and turned his head towards the kitchen. “What is he doing here?” He shouted.

Ms. Clean stepped out of the kitchen with a wide smile. “Sweetie, Flaming Star was leaving, now come yo-”

“I asked, why is he here?” Mr. Papers pointed at me.

Ms. Clean let out a nervous chuckle, “Sweetie,” she widened her eyes to give him a signal.

It was then that I got the feeling Mr. Papers wasn’t interested in having guests. “Uhm, anyway, nice to meet you sir and If you excus-”

“Listen!” Before I could step out, Mr. Papers grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled me back. “Let me make this clear, I don’t want you walking around my son. Because of you, he left the best school in town to join you on your reckless, unplanned decision. Because of you, he is losing the best chance of succeeding in life and wasting the time he should be spending studying, with you. ” He pierced my chest with his finger.

“What?” I pushed his hand to the side.

“Do us a favor and leave my family alone.” He pulled my hand and threw me outside. “Goodbye!” And slammed the door shut.

When I got home, I called Steely to talk to him about what happened but up until now that I’m writing this down, Steely hasn’t answered any of my calls. I hope he calls soon.

The pencil was lifted from the paper. Flaming Star took a glance at his phone and decided he didn’t want to continue writing in his diary. He unlocked his phone in hope of there being a message from Steely Armor. But there was nothing.

“DARKNESS! DARKNESS!” a squawk came from the corner of the room.

Flaming Star stepped out of his bed, walked up there and took the fabric off the birdcage.

“I SEE! I SEE!” The scarlet macaw squawked once again.

“Hey, I thought you were asleep.” Flaming Star chuckled and sat down in front of the cage.

“HELLO, HELLO.”

“Yeah, hi…. Sorry, I haven't been taking care of you like I should have been recently.”

The parrot twitched her head a little and remained silent.

“Things have been... Complicated. I’m not sure about what I’m doing anymore or what I should be doing. What do you say Beaky?”

“STEELY!” Beaky opened her wings for a brief moment.

“He is… Going through a lot right now. IHe is not even answering me. I hope he just fell asleep watching Code Phase.”

After hearing another squawk from Beaky, the blue and balack haired teen continued. “Maybe that’s why he was taking Sunset Shimmer’s side.”

“SUNSET! SUNSET!”

“Oh yeah. She and her weird memory seeing abilities. I thought she was… ‘helping’ at first but now…” Flaming Star paused, looked around and then opened his mouth to finish his sentence. But he couldn’t. No matter how much he disliked Sunset Shimmer and how furious he was, he couldn’t bring himself to say she deserved what happened last night.

Just then Beaky started messing with her feathers and it was then that Flaming Star realised he was talking to a bird on top of the fact that she needed a shower. But it was then that a thought jumped in Flaming Star’s head.

Resolving Intersection

The warm afternoon was giving its place to the silent night. However, the pet shop was filled with various barks and mews and even chips. But even with their disharmonic melody, Flutershy was mulling over today.

She kept wondering what she had to do about her project now. Could she possibly finish a drawing that she hadn’t even begun between the next day’s classes? Even if she could, she still needed a model.

Fluttershy sighed and dropped her face on the reception desk, staring at the green wall. The chores were done. The dogs have been showered, the birds have been fed, and the cats have been petted. All there was left to do was for her to wait for her shift to end and go home.

Only thirty more minutes.

Just when her vision was getting hazy by staring too much at the wall, Angel hopped in front of her and locked his black eyes with Fluttershy’s. With a squeak, she touched the cheek of her owner.

“No Angel, I’m not,” Fluttershy responded.

The little bunny crossed her arms and stood up onto her two legs and frowned at Fluttershy, letting out another squeak.

“Fine.” Fluttershy sat straight once again. “I… I am a bit sad.”

The snow bunny hopped its way onto Fluttershy’s hand, allowing his back to touch the palm of Fluttershy’s hand. Before she knew it, Fluttershy had started petting Angel.

“Ow. You sweet little snowball.” Fluttershy picked Angel up with care and snuggled Angel’s nose.

Despite the little rabbit’s expression, deep down, she liked it.

“Thank you. I’m feeling a lot better now.” Fluttershy followed up by hugging her pet.

And then the door swung open with a little jingle, interrupting them.

“Coming through.” Someone stepped inside with a large bird cage.

“HELLO! HELLO!” squawked the scarlet macaw inside.

It wasn’t after they put down the cage that Fluttershy recognised their face.

“Flaming Star?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?” Flaming Star turned his head to face Fluttershy. His eyes widened, seeing Fluttershy. “Oh, Hi uhm…” He narrowed his eyes and thought for a second. “Fluffyshy?”

“It’s Fluttershy.” Fluttershy corrected him with a soft smile.

“Oh, sorry I—” Flaming Star let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s alright.”

“You work here? Flaming Star raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

The shop was bigger than what Flaming Star expected.

In every direction that he looked, many types of animals could be seen, from cats to dogs, from snakes to mice, and an aquarium full of fishes. Cages of canaries and parrots covered the ceiling, along with a lonely lory. Puppies and kitties were up front by the window so that they would be seen, while snakes were all the way at the corner together with the rest of their reptilian kin.

“It’s really beautiful isn’t it?” Fluttershy noticed Flaming Star staring around, clearly amazed by the shop.

“Yeah, this place is… wonderful.” He shook his head and recalled what he came here for. “Hey, I saw a poster in school. It said that you take care of pets too.”

“We do.” Fluttershy nodded. “We wash them, feed them, play with them and most importantly, pet them all.”

Flaming Star smiled in fascination. He didn’t know why, but this place was just super mega amazing. “I guess, this is a safe place to leave Beaky.” He picked up the cage and handed it to Fluttershy. “Recently, I haven’t been paying her much attention and I… I haven’t let her out of the cage either.”

Fluttershy got closer to the cage. “I suppose you’d like to fly around a little then.” She opened Beaky’s cage and let her out.

The scarlet macaw jumped out and flew around like a blaze of fire until she finally sat on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“FREEDOM, FREEDOM.” Beaky squawked.

“Wow, she’s already sitting on your shoulder?” Flaming Star looked at his parrot, surprised. “Just, be careful, Beaky likes to bite strangers.”

“You wouldn't bite me would you?” Fluttershy looked at the parrot on her shoulder.

Beaky let out another squawk and tilted her head.

Fluttershy laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t forget to feed you.”

Beaky then flapped her wings. “WALNUTS, WALNUTS.”

“I’ll make sure to give you all the walnuts and seeds you want.” Fluttershy rubbed her cheek against Beaky.

On the other side, Flaming Star was standing with his jaw open, wondering how she was able to form such a bond with his pet so quickly.

Beaky squawked loudly a couple of times and looked at Flaming Star.

“Oh, I’m sure he has good reasons for not giving you the treats you wanted.” Fluttershy said softly.

“What?” Flaming Star asked, confused.

Fluttershy stopped looking at Beaky and faced him one again. “She’s nagging about how you haven’t been giving her treats lately.”

“How do yo—” Flaming Star eyes widened. “You can talk to them?”

Fluttershy tickled Beaky and nodded back at Flaming Star.

“Wait, like, you can just talk to animals? Is that your powe—I mean, magic?” Flaming Star stepped forward.

Fluttershy nodded, but didn’t look back and kept tickling Beaky’s neck. After letting out a chuckle, Fluttershy paused and realised she’s still in the middle of a conversation.

“Sorry, I get carried away sometimes.”

“It’s alright. I just wanted to know how it… feels. Talking to animals and all.” Flaming Star walked around the shop and looked at the hamsters casually. “It must feel nice,” he said stoically.

Fluttershy noticed the tone and walked up to him. “It was a little hard at first to get used to.”

“I kinda envy you right now.” Flaming Star looked at his hands. “You don’t have much to worry about. On the other hand, everytime I take these off, I worry I start a fire accidentally or worse…” He shook his head at the thought.

“Is that why you're bringing your pet here?” Fluttershy stood closer to Flaming Star.

Flaming Star nodded.

“I can imagine that,” Fluttershy said sympathetically. “But don’t worry, I’ll take good care of Beaky.”

Flaming Star smiled in response to Fluttershy, but just then, a thought crossed his mind.

“What do they usually say?”

“Well, it’s uhm… you wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Fluttershy looked down.

“Try me. I doubt it can be that crazy.” Flaming Star leaned his back on the wall.

“OK. So uhm… you see those hamsters that are near each other?” She pointed at the containment glass.

“Yeah, what about ‘em?”

Fluttershy hesitated for a second. “They… are talking about who they should be voting to be their next president.”

Flaming Star stared at Fluttershy for a while. Speechless, he simply blinked twice. “OK, that is crazy.”

Fluttershy let out a small laugh. “They don’t always say this kind ofodd stuff. It’s mostly about food and wanting to be petted.” Fluttershy looked at the puppy's bowl in front of the pet shop window. “At least that’s what the puppies usually say. Those furry little bundles of joy.” Fluttershy paused for a second to enjoy watching the little puppies in their sleep. “But…” Suddenly, she remembered how her day went and looked away. “Sometimes I feel like they're the only ones I can talk to.”

“What do you mean?” Flaming Star switched his look from the hamsters to her.

“Sometimes I feel like others don’t hear me or I can’t really speak up when near others. I… don’t want to come off as rude or… offensive. And not to…” Fluttershy kept going for a while and Flaming Star remained silent. He was listening. Something about Fluttershy felt familiar but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

With a sudden motion, Fluttershy turned back to face Flaming Star. “Sorry. I-I… got a bit lost there.” She covered her face with her hair.

“It’s ok, don't worry.” Flaming Star brought his hands up to comfort Fluttershy. “You know, I… I never really had that sort of issue with people. I always say what I want to say but… these days I feel like everything is too complicated, to a point where I don’t even know what I should be doing.” He looked at his hands once again before continuing. “But If there is something you want to say to someone, do it. Spill it out. It’s better to be upfront about what you feel. At least that’s how I see it.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Anyway,” Flaming Star rubbed the back of his head. “I gotta go so—”

“Oh, right, good night.” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“Bye.” Flaming Star waved his hand as he pulled the door open. “Take care.”

The door closed. Fluttershy was left alone with all the pets in the shop again. However, after taking a glance at the clock, she realised that she too had to leave. Fluttershy gently picked Beaky up from her shoulder.

“I have to go now. But don’t worry, here you have tons of friends for the night. Now go join them.” Fluttershy rubbed her nose on Beaky’s beak and allowed her to fly to the ceiling. There, Beaky perched next to a cockatiel and soon closed her eyes.

After changing her clothes, Fluttershy locked everything up and left. On the way to her home, she wondered about Flaming Star’s suggestion. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe if she had mentioned it to Rarity and Rainbow Dash they would have stopped arguing so much. But alas, she still had a drawing to do.

Meanwhile, Flaming Star was calling Steely one last time, anticipating for Steely’s voice to cut off the buzzing noise ringing in his ears, but nothing. Clenching his teeth, he looked through his chats hoping for a response, but he quickly realised that they hadn't even been read.

“Fine,” Flaming Star said silently to himself, as he put his phone back in his pocket. “If you don’t wanna talk via phone, I’m coming to you in person.”

After approximately two minutes, he was standing in front of Steely’s place. After what had happened earlier that day, he knew better than to knock and ask to come in. Besides, there was a far better way to get to Steely’s room: the window!

Even though his room was on the second floor, getting to it was a piece of cake for Flaming Star. With a hop he grabbed hold of the balcony and pulled himself up, carefully crawling up to the window.

The lights were off, but Flaming Star just knew Steely wasn’t sleeping. Once he reached onto the side of the window, he could see his buddy sitting behind his desk. As the fingers of one hand held onto the little gaps of the rooftop, Flaming Star brought the other hand up and knocked on the window.

Steely Armor jerked up and turned his head to the window. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw his friend waving his hand at him. With a shake of his head and letting out a sigh he stood up from his desk, he walked up to his window and pulled it up, allowing Flaming Star drag himself inside as soon as he could.

“What are you doing here?” Steely Armor asked, frowning.

“Sheesh. Way to greet a friend.” Flaming Star dusted his jacket off. “And I think I’m the one who should be asking questions here.”

“Steely put his hand in front of Flaming Star’s mouth. “Shhh. Keep it down.” He threw a glance back at his door.

Flaming Star frowned, but decided to listen and lowered his voice. “OK. First off, what was the deal about your dad today? I mean, I know he doesn’t like me and all but he literally threw me out.” Flaming Star threw his hands to the side, “And secondly, why haven’t you been answering your phone this whole damn time?”

“I—” Steely stepped back. He slowly walked back to his desk. “Look, Flame,” after taking a deep breath he turned back to face Flaming Star again. “Last night's argument wasn’t the usual. At least not most of it. It st—”

“It was about me,” Flaming Star interrupted Steely. “Already figured that out.” He crossed his arms.

“T-then what do yo—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Flaming Star jumped in once again and stepped closer. “Why were you hiding it? I thought we shared these things with one another like we always did. What’s happening?”

Steely clenched his teeth as Flaming Star stepped closer and closer. “You never listen!” He raised his tone a little but made sure he wasn’t yelling.

Flaming Star jerked back and stayed silent.

“I’ve been trying to tell you about what the girls told me multiple times today. I stayed up the whole night so I could wrap my head around it and explain it all to you.” Steely pointed at him and took a step forward. “But you didn’t wanna hear it.” He sat on his bed and looked down. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t listen to me.”

Flaming Star’s eyes widened. Steely’s last words kept repeating in his mind, gliding over his conversation with Fluttershy earlier. He was seeing it now.

“You’re right.” Flaming Star sat next to Steely. “I haven’t been listening to anybody lately.” His gaze switched from staring at the wooden planks of Steely’s floor to his ceiling. “Not even myself.”

Steely turned his head to look at his friend but Flaming Star kept staring at the ceiling.

“Everything has been,” Flaming Star shook his head and continued, “So complicated and I just don’t really know what I’m doing, what I should be doing or…argh, I don’t know it’s just that I feel—”

“Lost.”

Flaming Star turned his head and stared back at Steely’s golden eyes. “Yeah.”

Silence filled the room afterwards.
“I’m sorry. If there is something you wanna tell me, I’m all ears now.”

Steely nodded and smiled. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

Flaming Star let out a half chuckle and punched Steely’s shoulder.

“Ow!” Steely growled in pain and held his shoulder.

“Don’t try to fool me, the burn is on the right side, not the left.”

“OK but it still hurts.”

They both chuckled, enjoying the truce.

Suddenly, from down the hall, footsteps were heard. Coming upstairs.

“Son? Are you talking to somebody?”

Steely stood up and pushed Flaming Star near the window as soon as he heard his head walking upstairs. “OK. I think you gotta leave. NOW!”

Flaming Star’s eyes widened as no matter how hard he tried, his feet were sliding on the floor as Steely pushed him. “B-but what about that whole thing about the girls you wanted to tell me?”

Steely Armor glanced back at his door and then pushed Flaming Star out the window. “We’ll talk later.”

Flaming Star almost slipped off the edge of the rooftop, barely avoiding the fall. “Heh, see? Now who is refusing to ta—”

Steely closed the window and pulled the curtains right before Flaming Star could finish his sentence and his father opened the door.

“Son?” Mr. Papers opened the door half way and leaned forward.

“Yes?”

Mr. Papers scanned the room with his eyes. He took his time looking up and down the room. “Nothing,” he said as he narrowed his eyes and closed the door.

Steely stood motionless, and stared at the door till his father opened the door instantly again and stared at him. Yet, nothing had changed and this time, Mr. Papers closed the door and went downstairs for good.

When Steely pulled the curtains aside and opened the window to look around, Flaming Star was already gone.

It seemed they had to talk later.

The next morning, Fluttershy woke up in her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room. She got out of bed and rubbed her eyes. After a little stretching, she started packing for the day. It was then that she saw her drawing equipment again. Would it matter anyways? She barely had any time left to finish up the drawing.

Not long after she got to school, Rarity and Rainbow Dash showed up again.

“Heeeey Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash waved her hand with a forced smile on her face. “We uhm, we want—”

“Girls.” Fluttershy said, Interrupting Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry to say this but,” She looked away for a brief moment before continuing. “I’m not picking either of you.”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look and before they could say anything, Fluttershy beat them to it.

“I shouldn’t have been suggesting drawing both of you either. But, seeing you two fight all the time—I just wanted to put a stop to it. But I think maybe the best way to settle it is this.”

“Oh darling, we wanted to say the same thing.” Rarity jumped in before Fluttershy could walk away.

“What?” Fluttershy asked softly looking at both of them.

“Well,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “We both realised that you lost all your time yesterday because we fought each other like kids.”

“And we are sorry,” Rarity added, looking down in shame. Suddenly, she grabbed Fluttershy “PLEASE FORGIVE US!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock. But the moment she saw other students looking at them, she covered her face with her hair. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash pulled Rarity back to her feet.

“I-it’s alright. I guess I shouldn’t have been so indecisive in the first place. I don’t have anything against you.” Fluttershy smiled. “If you promise to never fight and argue like that.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at one another and nodded at each other.

“We won’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “But, what are you gonna do about your drawing project?”

“I-i don’t know.” Fluttershy looked down. “I was thinking about trying to draw something in between the breaks so I have at least something to give Ms. Colourful Brush but, I don’t have a model and whoever I pick should also be fine with spending their breaks standing somewhere.”

They all three started to ponder. And it was then that Twilight joined them. “Hi girls. What are you all doing?”

“Oh, hi, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “We are just trying to figure out a way to help Fluttershy. How about you?”

“I just heard that some students blew up something in the lab yesterday and now all my break times for today are cancelled.” Twilight crossed her arms. “So, what do you wanna help Fluttershy with? Is this about her drawing project?”

Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all looked at one another. Instead of finding a model for Fluttershy, the model had come straight to them.