Author's Note

DISCLAIMER: This story includes references to depression, depressing thoughts, insecurities, anxiety, self-harm, blood, depictions or references to sexual activity and thoughts based around all of these concepts. If you do not want to read a story with slight references to these, I would urge you to click off.

AN: Only one more chapter to go~ I hope everyone enjoys this~

A Step Forward

Chapter XXI: A Step Forward

The gate opens automatically for Applejack’s truck, letting us into Filthy Rich’s property with relative ease. I was expecting we would have to press the button to call for someone to open it, but I suppose Rich was already expecting us. Especially since I called him earlier to say I was going to be here. One thing that surprises me is the clear lack of enthusiasm on Applejack’s face that has been present since she saw the exact address we’re going to. “Is something wrong…?” I ask her curiously, Applejack concentrating on the driveway.

“I didn’t know you had help from Filthy Rich…” The cowgirl grumbles her words, seemingly unenthused about the whole situation. Her hands seem to have a death grip on the steering wheel, making me a little curious as to what she has against the man. I mean, sure. He’s arrogant, stubborn, hard to deal with and has a huge ego, but he’s kept every one of his promises to me. I don’t particularly enjoy talking to him or dealing with his bullshit, but it makes me wonder what her history is with him.

“Oh yeah! Didn’t that guy try to buy your farm? Man, he was a prick,” Rainbow Dash states from the back seat, placing a lollipop in her mouth.

“Four times,” Applejack whispers with gritted teeth, her eyes seemingly ablaze with anger. “He had the nerve to try four bucking times. And each time, he said it would be the smart thing to do as a ‘business woman.’” Huh. Rainbow Dash wasn’t kidding. Applejack does use bucking as an alternative for a curse word. Regardless, Applejack’s near growls show just how pissed she feels about the proposals the man gave her.

In front of the mansion, there’s a large white van with a couple of boxes left inside and some on the ground, making me raise my eyebrow slowly. Without me telling her, Applejack slowly pulls in beside the van, leaving the vehicle in park and hopping out, knocking on Rainbow’s window for her to get out. “Yeah, yeah. I’m coming,” Dash states, both of us getting out of our seats at the same time. Walking around the side of the van, I see the front door open, revealing the same man who helped me with this task.

“Dazzle~ It’s nice to see you brought some friends to get your things off my property.” Turning his head to the other two, his eyes narrow slightly, a grin coming to his face. “Why, Ms. Applejack~ I wasn’t expecting to see you today. When was the last time we met?” he asks her, extending his hand for a handshake, an offer Applejack reluctantly accepts to avoid being rude.

“The last time you offered to buy my farm,” she says in a monotone voice, her frown remaining on her face.

“Ah, yes. Do tell me if you ever change your mind, alright?” Rich smiles at Applejack before stepping back, looking at the boxes from the white van. “If anything is missing, I suppose I could try to find that as well. It’s the least I can do.” Rich can’t help but smile at me specifically when saying those words. Probably another attempt to remind me of what I have to do for him. I don’t forget my obligations, Rich…

After Rich walks back up to his door, I grab one of the lighter boxes, bringing it to Applejack’s truck and subsequently opening it to look inside. A small jewelry box sits on top of a set of romance movies, some silverware scattered along the side. I remember that night pretty clearly… The way Sunset cried at our misfortune. Even though Sunset isn’t a big jewelry person, she had a few pieces that she liked or she was given over the years. So, in a way, they hold sentimental value to her. Grabbing the small wooden box, I open it to look for any of the items Sunset lost. She gave me pretty clear descriptions of everything she had lost and I put it down on the same piece of paper I marked what I had lost. The first thing that pops out to me is an orange necklace with a red circle, an orange symbol of the sun encrusted in the center. The symbol itself seems… familiar to me. Picking up the necklace, a part of me can’t help but find the piece beautiful. It almost feels… different from the other items in the box. I’m not sure why though.

“Adagio, what kind of business do you have with Rich?” Applejack asks me as she places another box on the truck bed, breaking me from my thoughts. Placing the necklace back in the box, I pick up another piece of jewelry, inspecting it closely.

“He used to be my boss. I just asked him for a favor, that’s all,” I tell her without taking my eyes away from my box.

“But why would you ask him to help find your stuff…? I mean, how did you know that he had that capability?” she asks me again, almost using an interrogative manner. Taking a deep breath, I put the jewelry down, looking into Applejack’s eyes as seriously as I can.

“I can’t really talk about that, Applejack. But I can assure you that I’m not doing anything that will get me in trouble.” Taking a couple steps away from the truck, I pull out the list of stolen items from my bag, using my pen to mark off the things accounted for. “Hey, girls. This is the complete list of everything Sunset and I lost. Make sure to mark off what you find as we go along, okay?” I tell them before placing the paper and pen on the truck bed, going to grab another box. Rainbow Dash walks over to the list, taking a good look at it before nodding.

“Whatever you say, Dagi~”

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I can’t help but feel a little anxious… The seconds tick away as it gets closer to night, making me feel a little more antsy. Applejack and Rainbow Dash spent quite a lot of time helping me bring everything back inside, including setting up the TV and buying a new glass top for our coffee table. Now all that’s left to do is wait for Sunset… I just hope her reaction is a good one and that this can maybe cheer her up a bit. It should, right…? I promised her I would get our stuff back, so she should be happy to see that, especially after the past couple of days. Perhaps it will even give her some of her hope back. Maybe…

I haven’t seen her much since the reunion… Other than when it’s time to sleep. Even then, I can tell she’s seriously depressed from the way she leaves things around the apartment. She’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to talk about her friends, making me stop whenever I try to bring them up. She is trying so desperately to smile around me, but it’s clear that she doesn’t feel good at all. I just wish I could take away the pain from her soul… I am trying my best to fix things with her friends, but the problem is that she’s closed herself off from hearing about it. She doesn’t talk much and shows little interest in recreational activities, opting to sleep instead. I’m scared for her…

The last time I saw this behavior, it was from… me… Back when life was so hard and dreadful, feeling like living in of itself was torture. I wanted to die back then… I didn’t want to live another day, but I was too cowardly to do it myself. My mind practically prayed for something to end me. Anything… I mean, there was no point, right? That’s what I believed. Everything ceased to give me a point to continue this existence. That was a feeling I never thought a siren could feel… But I felt it.

Then she came into my life… Still as an enemy, she reached her hand out to give me a chance at life, to find the finer aspects of existence. I practically spit at her offer… I didn’t believe she was trustworthy. I think another aspect of it was my mind’s disbelief that my life could be better… That disbelief is what made me pull that trigger the first time. Out of pure desperation, I did whatever I could to find happiness, and… I found love. Friendship… I just hope that Sunset doesn’t get to that hopeless stage. I’m here for her. I want her to remember that. That she still has a reason to smile and that there are still people who want her here. I’d do anything to make sure she knows that…

Metal sliding against metal can be heard, making me look towards the door. Slowly, it opens, Sunset’s fiery-hair being the first thing to be seen. As her body fully enters the apartment, I can’t help but notice her dull eyes, her gaze looking over at me with a small smile before she notices something. Her eyes widen upon seeing the television set up and the new glass top to our coffee table. I can almost swear to see the spark in her eyes return, a small gasp emanating from her. “A-Adagio…?” she asks for me weakly, her eyes looking around the room and checking for more of our belongings. One such thing her eyes linger on is her romance movie collection, a bright smile coming to her lips before looking at me with tears forming easily. “D-did you… get our stuff back? All of it?” Her question, as happy as it is, has a tone of disbelief as if Sunset doesn’t know if she should believe this.

Standing up quietly, I trace my eyes around the room, smirking slightly at her hesitancy to believe that this is actually happening. “I promised you I would get it all back, didn’t I?” Upon hearing my question, Sunset drops her back to the floor, running into my arms and hugging me tightly, tears fully streaming from her face.

“I-I… How? H-how were you able to… Where is the rest of it?” A thousand questions seemingly run through her mind every second, but I quickly soothe her by rubbing my fingers through her hair, holding her close to me.

“All over the place~ Everything is back in its original place. As if nothing happened at all.” Sunset looks up at me, still crying at this happy turn of events. Letting go of me, she tries desperately to wipe the tears from her eyes, looking around our apartment with a big smile. For a brief moment, she tries to decide whether to go to the kitchen or our bedroom first, but that hesitancy doesn’t last long. Quickly, she makes her way to our room, presumably to check up on her jewelry and her guitar, making me smile a bit. I made sure everything is here. Every single thing. She may not be willing to talk about her friends, but I can at least try to make her day better with this. I already have a movie prepared in the DVD player and I’m ready to pop a bag of popcorn for us. Hopefully, she can feel better just from this. Maybe she will be willing to hear about her friends after this. Just as long as she doesn’t sink any deeper, it will be worth it in the end. I never thought I’d go to such extremes for someone before, but the reason why I do such for you is simple, Sunset. I… love you.

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Walking inside the fence of the Apple Family farm, I can’t help but frown, remembering the last time I was here. That whole day, as fun as it was, proved to be one of the most troublesome days I’ve ever had. I kept making mistakes, even though I tried to fix certain relationships. Then I kept seeing her throughout the day, which only proved to make me more stressed as time went on. I’m actually quite surprised I haven’t seen her since then… It’s been rather quiet on the hallucination front… Maybe it’s because I’ve been a lot more concentrated lately? I’m not sure… What I do know is that I’m happy to have this break from her hissing whisper.

As for today’s events, Rarity actually agreed to meet with Rainbow Dash, despite still being hurt by the whole fiasco at the Apple Family reunion. It’s a good thing that she’s willing to hear Dash out since this is a step in the right direction. If she is able to find it within herself to forgive her, then I will only have one thing left to do. That being the talk with Twilight… Is it wrong of me to feel anxious about that talk…? I still feel ashamed that I blew up at her, but I can’t use that as an excuse to avoid talking to her. I need to apologize for my outburst and… hopefully she and I can become friends. Her and Pinkie are the two people I’ve hung out with the least, so I’m still quite insecure about our friendships. For now though, the main focus is getting this whole mess resolved so that Sunset can have her friends back. I can focus on becoming better friends with them later…

Further down the driveway, I notice three girls standing outside the house, one of them wearing a familiar cowgirl hat. The other two are noticeably pastel yellow and pink, making me recognize all three of them with ease. Doing a quick scan of the area, I can’t find any sign of Rarity or Rainbow Dash. I guess they’re not here yet…? Either that or we’re supposed to meet somewhere else. I highly doubt it since Applejack texted me to come here and she seems like a very organized person. I mean, she runs a farm for god’s sake. Given, she has help from her family, but the sheer amount of work that is required of her is nothing short of impressive.

Pinkie Pie is surprisingly bubbly today. Her hair is poofy and she keeps hopping around and expressing herself with body movements. At least that’s a good sign. I don’t know how Pinkie Pie manages to deflate her hair when she’s depressed, but I’ve learned one thing in the short amount of time I’ve known her. Don’t question Pinkie Pie. She’s able to seemingly pull things out of thin air and she always knows a little too much. To the point it makes you question how she knows these sorts of things… Fluttershy says she has a basement full of files based on the people in her life, but I had always assumed that was a joke. Maybe it’s not…? Regardless, it’s a little scary.

The pink woman’s eyes spot me as I walk down the hill, excitedly pointing to me and directing the gaze of the other two women. Fluttershy waves to me and Applejack signals for me to come over, despite the fact I’m already walking in their direction. I know it’s supposed to be a friendly gesture, but all it does is prompt me to hurry up my already quick walk. “Hiya, Adagio!” Pinkie exclaims with a big wave, seemingly excited. Then again, should I be surprised? Pinkie Pie always seems excited. “You’re just in time!”

“In time?” I ask the three of them just as I make it within talking distance, feeling a confused expression come over me. “I don’t see them here. What do you mean?” Without getting an answer, Applejack chuckles to herself, pointing at the open garage. There are no cars inside the indoor parking spot, leaving a couple chairs in their absence. The familiar fashionista sits in one of the chairs, waiting for the other person to show up. I guess Rainbow Dash isn’t here yet.

“Rainbow is on her way here. Rarity wanted a little privacy to talk to Rainbow, so she demanded for us to stand out here. She didn’t want us to hear everything that’s said,” Applejack tells me with a smile on her face, her eyes still on her girlfriend.

“That was after Rarity gave her a big kiss after all~” Pinkie Pie chips in, causing the cowgirl to heavily blush.

“Um… Pinkie. We don’t hafta tell her every detail.” Pulling her hat down a little, Applejack attempts to hide her embarrassment, receiving a pat on the shoulder from Fluttershy.

“You don’t have to feel shy about your love life~ I mean, you have been official for a couple years now,” Fluttershy explains, trying to console the cowgirl in a way. It’s pretty ironic though. From someone whose name literally has the word ‘shy’ in it, you wouldn’t expect to hear advice about being confident in your relationship. Especially since Fluttershy seems like the kind of person to be embarrassed about a relationship if she ever got in one. Hell. The girl would probably curl up in a ball even if someone talked about the fact that she plays dating sims.

“When is Dash supposed to get here?” I ask them before looking at the time on my phone. It’s already noon… I didn’t think I would stay at work that long. Maybe I can still squeeze in my talk with Twilight later before I go to bed.

“She said she would be here in a few minutes, but that was about ten minutes ago. I’d say any second now.” Applejack looks back up the driveway before shrugging her shoulders.

“You don’t think she changed her mind, do you…?” I ask the three of them, bringing up Dash’s contact in my phone.

“Rainbow ain’t like that. She’s as loyal as a good dog. She’ll stick by her friends and when she says she’s sorry, she means it.” The cowgirl shows a lot of trust for Rainbow Dash, revealing just why the two of them are friends in the first place. I suppose I should trust her a bit more… My nerves are all over the place from everything that has happened recently, so my mind can’t help but worry things will go wrong again. I guess that’s why Applejack’s honesty about the situation helps to calm me down a little bit. A siren needing to be calmed… Sounds a little pathetic, but it’s the truth. I get stressed sometimes and it feels like heaven when Sunset is there to help me. That’s why I need to be here for her now…

“Yeah~ In all the time I’ve known Dash, she’s always been reliable~ She and I have been friends since we were ten,” Fluttershy confidently states, seemingly not an ounce of doubt in her mind that Rainbow Dash would miss this. Considering they’re in their mid twenties, that’s one long friendship. “Hey, look~” Fluttershy tells us softly, pointing at the top of the driveway. I see Rainbow Dash riding a bike down the cement driveway, quickly making it down the hill. Even though the bike is going really fast by the time it gets to us, Dash expertly stops the bike, stepping off of the vehicle without so much as flinching.

“Wow! That was so cool, Dash!” Pinkie Pie exclaims with two big thumbs up, a big smile across her face. However, the athlete doesn’t seem to react to her statement, simply taking her helmet off and walking towards the garage door. Her mouth forms a frown, yet a determined expression remains on her face. I understand she has to talk to Rarity, but I didn’t expect her to be this focused on it. Perhaps Rainbow Dash feels pretty guilty about the whole ordeal, not bothering to waste another second before she can apologize. That or she just didn’t hear Pinkie.

“Good luck,” Fluttershy whispers, clearly saying it more to comfort herself than Rainbow Dash. Honestly, I’m not sure what happened when Pinkie and Fluttershy talked to Rarity. For all I know, she could still be pretty pissed at Dash, but I really hope it does go well. In that sense, I think we’ll need all the luck we can get. Within a moment, Dash makes it to the garage, walking inside and opening her lips, saying something to Rarity before she sits down. I’ve never really mastered the ability to lipread someone… That was something Aria was good at, but I didn’t really learn that. In a way, I kind of used her gift to spy on these same girls back when we were at Canterlot High. I don’t know how she was so accurate at telling what someone was saying just from visual cues. I usually get things wrong… Which means I can't trust myself with what I see from this conversation.

For a couple minutes, the both of them keep their mouths shut, simply staring at each other for this period of time. Dash is the first one to talk to the fashionista, saying something I can’t quite comprehend. Rarity’s arms cross slowly, her lips saying something like ‘go don?’ No, that can’t be it… Regardless, the emotions on Rarity’s face show her anger and the uncomfortable feelings she has. This is going off to a great start. “Uh oh,” Pinkie whispers, all of us watching their conversation unfold in front of us.

“Now hold on, sugarcube. I’m sure it can be fixed. This is just the beginning of their talk,” Applejack explains to the party girl, giving her a small hand gesture to wait. I hope so… After a moment, Rainbow Dash extends her arms outward, seemingly explaining something to the fashionista. Oh. Dash is going into one of those elaborating conversations… Just don’t go overboard, Dash. Please. We need this to go alright. I need this to go alright…

Rarity turns her head away from Rainbow Dash in a dramatic way, saying something as if it’s some remark. As a response, Rainbow Dash stands up from her seat, seemingly about to exclaim something before she stops herself. Even from here, I can see Rainbow Dash take a deep breath, composing herself before daring to speak again. “What is she saying?” I ask the three women beside me, curious about the context of her current statement.

“It… looks like she’s saying ‘I know I’m kinda an a-hole,’” Applejack responds to me, abbreviating the bad word to try and avoid cursing. In one way, I’m a little skeptical of Applejack’s lipreading, but I can also believe Rainbow Dash would say something like that… Looking back at the garage, I see the rainbow-haired girl pace back and forth with her hand to her chin, clearly exhaling the large amount of air through her mouth. Opening her mouth again, Rainbow Dash brings her hands inward as she talks, eventually clasping her hands together. Even though this conversation is supposed to be private for the two of them, I can’t help but wonder what’s being said, my eyes trying my best to trace their lips. Wait… What? For some reason, Rarity stands up from her seat, making eye contact with Rainbow Dash. Is it something she said? Please don’t walk away… We’re so close, please…

Walking towards Rainbow Dash, Rarity puts her hand on the athlete’s shoulder, but her lips don’t move at all. Instead, the fashionista pulls Rainbow Dash into a hug, one Dash quickly returns. She… is hugging Dash…? That’s… a great sign actually. That’s wonderful. Looking at the girls, Fluttershy smiles and places her hands up to her chest, the other two having similar expressions on their own faces. We did it… Right? We’re one step closer to fixing this whole situation. Thank you for finally giving me a break.

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Knocking on the purple door, I can’t help but take a deep breath, thoughts of how this could go wrong swirling inside my head. If I hadn’t treated her so harshly, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Then again, apologizing has kind of become second nature to me at this point. I’ve had to apologize to a lot of people and I have no one to blame but myself. It’s my fault that I have to say sorry for these things. If I could just learn to be a better person by now, I wouldn’t be ruining everything…

No. Don’t think like that, Adagio. Sunset tried so hard to make you believe that you’re not a waste and that you don’t ruin everything you touch. Just… remember what she said. I’m still worth something, I just make mistakes. Right…? I feel like that’s what Sunset would want me to remember. I can’t afford to get overly pessimistic during this time, especially when Sunset needs help. That’s the main reason I’m here. To put Sunset’s friend group back together. The secondary reason is to apologize to a friend of mine… I still don’t even know if Twilight and I are friends, but… I’d like to be…

Opening the door slowly, Twilight’s eyes look through the chain lock on the door, making eye contact with me. “Oh. Um… Hey,” she says quietly through the lock, undoing the chain a moment later.

“Hey, Twilight,” I respond hesitantly, looking towards the floor. I guess it’s due to nerves that I find it hard to look Twilight in the eye at this time. “How are you doing?”

“Fine. Well, less than fine…” Her words sound truthful, despite her awkward tone. The part that worries me is the ‘less than’ part of her sentence, making me feel even guiltier for what I did. “But I’ve been able to study some of your blood sample some more, so at least that’s some progress.” The fact that Twilight is still doing her research even after the big fight everyone had at the reunion makes me a little hopeful that she’s doing better than I assumed.

“That’s nice,” is all I say for a few minutes, my mind inhibiting my ability to speak. Finding the right words is always a tricky task, making my social interactions often awkward. My past self had little problems finding the words, often having a certain level of charisma to let me get away with things. “I hope now isn’t a bad time to talk…?” Twilight’s eyes look at me with a skeptical tone, slowly shaking her head to my question.

“No. It’s not…” Without waiting another moment, the purple scientist steps out onto her porch, closing the door behind her. I was hoping to be invited in so that no one would see my desperate attempt to apologize, but that hope is killed as soon as the door shuts. I suppose it doesn’t matter much considering there are barely any people on the sidewalks, so it’s not like anyone will hear our conversation…

Taking a deep breath, I step back from Twilight, trying to give her the personal space she deserves. Please don’t say something wrong… “I… just wanted to come over to talk to you. I wanted to… say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for blowing up on you for something you were asked to do and I take full responsibility for my actions.” My mind still finds it hard to look at Twilight, keeping my eyes on the environment around us instead. “Please. Don’t punish the others for my mistake. Especially Sunset. She really needs her friends right now and I… sincerely mean it when I say I’m sorry and just want her to be happy.”

Finally plucking up enough courage, I look up at Twilight’s face, seeing a hesitant expression in her eyes. “No, no. I understand,” she whispers to me, shaking her head at my statement. “If I found out someone was treating me like a lab rat without my permission, I’d be pretty angry too. I thought a lot about that yesterday…” Locking our eyes, her gaze tells me she also feels guilty, but I’m not sure why… “I should have conducted proper procedure when it comes to testing individuals. So, I’m also sorry. For how I reacted and… well, how I handled things.” To be honest, I feel like I’m more at fault than Twilight in the situation… At the same time, I’m happy that she accepts my apology… Other than Pinkie Pie, Twilight is the one I know the least about, so I was worried she wouldn’t accept my apology. It seriously means a lot that she’s willing to give me another chance, especially so soon after the reunion. “Though, you said for Sunset’s sake…? Is everything alright?” Concern and worry are clearly written all across her face as she asks me this, wondering exactly what I meant.

“It’s… a lot to explain. If you could maybe come meet with everyone else, I could explain it to you on the way…?” Twilight raises her eyebrow at my request, taking her phone out of her pocket to look at the time. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she opens the door quietly, taking a deep breath.

“I can spare two hours.”

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“What are we going to do exactly?” Rarity asks the group, looking around at all of us curiously. “From what Adagio tells us, Sunset is a complete wreck. She’s closed herself off from even hearing any more news about us because she’s convinced our friendship has ended.” The walls of Applejack’s barn give a slight echo to Rarity’s voice, something that she clearly plays into due to her flashy personality. The temperature inside this barn is actually pretty warm even though it feels pretty roomy. The main reason is probably because of the massive amounts of hay in here, but I’m not sure.

“If she’s that bad, then how about we all just drop by their apartment and reassure her we’re still friends?” Rainbow Dash suggests with her hand raised, sitting on top of a wooden railing.

“That’s a no go. Sunset is booked for the next couple days. She has practically no time other than sleep and to go to her internship,” I tell everyone with crossed arms, trying desperately to think of a resolution. “I would tell her all of this myself, but she doesn’t want to hear about it. I’m also afraid of how she may react when she’s tired. She may think we’re just acting.”

“What about her birthday?” Pinkie asks me with a curious stare, once again blowing up a balloon with the words ‘Happy Birthday!’ written on it to illustrate her point. “It would be pretty sad if she has to work on her birthday.”

“That’s the only day she has free for the next two weeks… She and I originally planned to celebrate it together after I get off work, so I assume I can still get her out of the house then.” That’s assuming she won’t be too depressed to go out with me…

“Okay, that sounds like a plan. Well, it’s our only plan, but at least it’s something. I only have one question. Where are we going to celebrate Sunset’s birthday?” Twilight asks us, looking for any answer that may be thrown out there. It doesn’t take her long to look at our signature party planner, making Pinkie Pie smile excitedly.

“Well, Sunset really likes spending time outdoors in a more private setting! She’s told me that it makes her feel happy and like nothing can hurt her~” Pinkie adds to the conversation, rocking back and forth from her seated position.

“Maybe we could go to one of the fields nearby? I know a lot of cute bunnies who live there and all,” Fluttershy quietly tells us with a reminiscent smile on her face, seemingly remembering the animals in question.

“I would offer my orchard, but I kinda think Sunset would be reluctant to that idea. Especially before she sees we’re still friends.” Applejack leans against a pillar quietly, tilting her hat downward with a thoughtful look.

“What about the beach? Sunset and I have been there on more than one occasion and she seems to love each time we go. I could bring her there and then we could celebrate her birthday together.” The times we have been to the beach, Sunset always seemed to enjoy every second we were there. She was the one who introduced me to a shortcut to the beach, making it all the more emotional of a place to go to.

“The beach, huh? Well, it’s not my favorite, but I suppose it will do. It’s Sunset’s day, after all,” Rainbow Dash pitches in, hopping off the wooden surface she was sitting on. “Is this our plan then?” As Dash looks around at all of us, we’re not given a second to respond before we hear a gasp. Instantly, my gaze turns to face the shy girl of the group, her hand covering her mouth.

“I have the perfect gift idea too~” Fluttershy tells us with one of the most excited smiles I’ve ever seen on her before. “I um… I’ll just need everyone to pitch in a bit.”