It had been a long day for Fluttershy. Together with her friends, she had spent most of Friday afternoon in the new theme park.
While the day had been fun, it had also been long.
That wasn’t a problem for energetic types like Pinkie Pie or her childhood friend Rainbow Dash.
Applejack didn’t suffer from it either. With her helping on her families’ farm first thing in the morning many weeks each year, she showed no sign of exhaustion or even tiredness, rather going along with the flow of the day.
Rarity had been a bit less enthusiastic throughout the day, mostly because she couldn’t out her new fashion ideas in any way in a theme park, excluding the one she wore already. But watching all the people around and their attire had kept her more busy than the attractions themselves, somehow.
Fluttershy, on the other hand, was exhausted. Luckily, she managed to spot an empty bench near the place where the gang had agreed to meet again at the end.
She checked her phone. 17:14. Still a while before they had agreed to take one last bite together at the pizza joint and head home.
Flopping down on the bench, she let her tired feet rest. Well, it weren’t really her feet that hurt, although they were sore too. Mostly she felt her head, her mind reeling with everything that had happened.
While letting out a sigh, she reviewed in her mind again how they’d agreed to go to a theme park of all places. It started with a message from Rainbow:
RD: Hey guys, check this out! A new theme park is opening next week in Canterlot! You guys wanna come with?
Pinkie: THEME PARK? YOU MEAN HIGHQUESTRIA? ALREADY BOUGHT TICKETS THREE MONTHS AGO! Oops all caps. Sorry. BUT THIS IS EXITING!
Applejack: Pinkie, we get it. You’re mighty excited for this. But when do you propose to go to this Highquestria place?
Pinkie: That’s silly AJ! Opening day of course.
RD: Already got a leave from coach Spitfire!
Rarity: Rainbow Dash! Why do you already get leaves for a thing that we haven’t even planned yet?
RD: What Rares? You can’t come? Or won’t you because you’re scared?
Pinkie: YOU GOTTA COME RARITY. FUN DEMANDS IT!
AJ: Now, hold your horses Pinkie. She hasn’t confirmed anything yet. Let her answer before accusing her of somethin’. That counts for you too RD.
RD: Whatever.
Rarity: I’m appalled you think I wouldn’t spend time with my friends darling, especially when two of you already seem so excited. Of course I’ll attend. Are you also available Applejack?
AJ: I am sugarcube. Though only from 11. Work needs to happen first.
RD: No biggie AJ! 11’s perfect!
Pinkie: PERFECT FOR BAKING CUPCAKES! GOTTA BAKE!
RD: Flutters, you reading this? Please tell me you wanna come with?
Fluttershy: I’m ok with going
Fluttershy: But I can only go until 18. I have work on Saturday.
Rarity: Of course darling.
AJ: I ain’t got no problem with that.
RD: If that means you’re in?
Fluttershy: I’m in
~~~~~~~~~~
When she put in the request for them to go around 18, she knew that she wouldn’t have work the following day. Applejack would disapprove of this white lie, she was sure, but she needed an excuse to go earlier than her friends would accept.
Under normal circumstances, she would have been fine until 18. Unfortunately for her, this time hadn’t been normal.
Or rather, there had been more people. Upon hearing that Rainbow and Pinkie got extra tickets between them, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or the Canterlot Movie Club as others called them, had convinced their (surrogate) sisters (and Pinkie) to let them come as well.
While Applebloom and Sweetie Belle could have had their sisters drive them to the theme park, they had insisted upon going together as a group. It was a bad kept secret between the circle of friends that Applejack and Rarity had feelings for each other, though they didn’t realize that it was mutual, so it came as no surprise that they insisted upon traveling with each other. Their younger sisters had no intention of seeing the pair skirt around the issue even more than they already did, and since Rainbow Dash already had agreed to drive Scootaloo, the CMC’s had picked Rainbow’s car to travel in.
And who had asked for a pickup by Rainbow? Her own stupid self.
To her defense, she had no clue that the Crusaders would be going with them until she spied Scootaloo in the back seat. That should have given her pause, but Rainbow was already on the late side for having to pick up the other two, so she had to endure the trip with way more noise than expected.
And when all of them were together, obviously, the noise got worse. The Crusaders told of their latest adventures, which mostly happened in school breaks and in hallways between classes. It was mostly Scootaloo who did the talking, trying to impress Rainbow, who she looked up to as a sister.
All the attention which Rainbow didn’t put to actually driving, which wasn’t a lot by the way, was put on the stories that the purple-haired member of the CMC told her. She didn’t so much as glance toward the passenger on her right side, who got increasingly more annoyed by all the talking, but stayed quiet.
Or rather, she lamented now that she didn’t speak up back then. They’d obviously enjoyed all the talk about the adventures the CMC’s had experienced, but most of them didn’t really earn the label of adventure. Really, how adventurous was it that they had to clean the school’s bathrooms twice after not doing it right the first time? Or that one time they’d managed to get stuck inside a locker and had to call the janitor to get them out?
Apparently, it was enough to last them the whole ride to Highquestria. Named after their biggest attraction, the High Fall of Equestria, it was promising to be one of the biggest theme parks in the vicinity of Canterlot. Something about budget cuts had the grand opening delayed, but now all was open for business. Probably why Pinkie already had tickets for three months.
She sat on that bench for a few minutes, thinking about everything and nothing until the thoughts reeling in her head came screeching to a halt when she heard an enthusiastic voice proclaim her name.
“Fluttershy? Is that you?”
Looking up and around, she saw a bundle of pink, fluffy hair coming her way. Unprepared as she was, she nevertheless braced herself for the onslaught of words and energy the other pink-haired member of their group could bring.
“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in like alllll day. Have you tried the High Fall yet? You should reallllly do it, it’s like the best thing ever!”
All those words in five seconds. When Pinkie paused to breathe, Fluttershy quickly answered before another barrage of words could overwhelm her:
“Yes Pinkie, the High Falls was nice. B-But I need to find a restroom, if you don’t mind?”
Pinkie answered her with her giant, almost trademarked, grin.
“Well, don’t let little ol’ me hold you up for that Flutters. The restrooms are on the second street from the right, if you didn’t know that already. See you later!”
Another flood of words, this one done in three. Fluttershy didn’t know where Pinkie got the energy for all of that, considering her family had a more… grim outlook on life, so to speak. But, thanks to that energy, she knew where to find a restroom. Not that she particularly needed to go, but now that she’d used it as an excuse to get away, she felt the need arise anyway.
She dashed behind Pinkie, who already seemed to have spotted someone else, and headed for the restroom in a sedate pace, giving her weary feet not too much of a workout after the tiring day.
On her way, she came across a multitude of people. Many parents with their kids, or groups of friends going together. There were quite a few couples mixed in as well.
As she crossed into the right street, she noticed the mood around her change from fun-loving to wary. She looked around to find out the cause.
One couple in particular sprang out to her; because a man with blue hair and white skin, and by extension the female with purple, rose and gold hair next to him, glared after a girl with amber skin and crimson-gold streaked hair, who ran away from them, and dashed through the crowd towards the same restrooms Fluttershy was after. Fluttershy could have sworn she saw tears stream from the other girl’s eyes, as she ran ahead of her.
The female seemed to calm her apparent fiancée down with a glance and quickly after, the joyous mood returned. No trace of the wariness remained, as all continued to go wherever they wanted to go, the couple seemingly turning toward the exit.
Fluttershy still liked to have that privy break, so she headed inside the building towards an empty stall. Or rather, she tried to find one, only to find out that there was only one stand in this compartment, and it was already full. As she waited outside for it to open up, she thought about the girl who had fled in the same direction.
The glimpse Fluttershy saw of her face, though tears were apparent in her eyes, was of a person who had few things left. The more she pictured it, the more apparent the desperation and desolation of her gaze became.
Hearing the stall in front of her open, she walked towards it, not really seeing ahead of her.
A collision of faces followed.
Fluttershy’s kind nature immediately apologized: “O-o, my. A-are you alright? I’m so sorry for bumping into you.” Only after that apology did she look up into whom she had bumped.
It was the girl who was already on her mind. Light aquamarine eyes, a shade lighter than Fluttershy’s own, looked down upon her. Though it was a defiant gaze, it was more desperation than strength that held it together. The rest of her posture, from amber-colored hands to perfectly done crimson-golden hair held none of that weakness.
The girl said nothing and moved towards the exit with a grim pace. Rallying her courage, Fluttershy managed to shout before the other girl could leave.
“Wait!”
What was supposed to come out as a scream was nothing more than what most people would consider a slightly above average volume-spoken word. Still, the other girl stopped and turned around to look at her. She made to speak, but no words came out. Instead they looked into each other’s eyes.
Whereas before the aquamarine eyes held defiance, now they threatened to burst into tears. Her strong posture slackened and the amber-skinned girl awaited what the other girl would say, terror mixing with all the other emotions her eyes sent out.
In that instance, the kind heart that Fluttershy possessed wept for the untold desperation she saw in the eyes of the other girl. Despite her exhausted state, she resolved to show the girl in front of her the kindness one needed to have in such a state, all consequences be damned.
Rather than saying anything, she leapt towards the other girl, giving her the fiercest hug her exhausted body could produce.
The terror and desperation and all other emotions in the other girl broke, she burst into tears as her body slumped under the weight of all that had happened in such a short amount of time. She clung onto Fluttershy with all her strength, bawling her eyes out while trying to get something of a thanks across to the other girl.
Fluttershy wept as well, feeling the torrent of emotions inside and outside the other girl and led them towards the ground, so that neither had to stand. Quietly shushing the girl in her arms, she made comforting sounds and led one of her hands into making soothing circles on the other girl's back.
Very, very slowly, the amber-skinned girl calmed down under Fluttershy’s touch. Slowly the tears subsided, as Fluttershy slowly rocked the other girl back and forth. Not a word was spoken between them, until a rumble from Fluttershy’s belly surprised them both.
Both let out a giggle, and Fluttershy helped the other girl up. Aquamarine eyes shone with overflowing gratitude to the light rose-haired girl, prompting the slightly darker-eyed girl to speak up.
“There, there. Better now?”
The other girl, still a bit overwhelmed from letting all her emotions out, could only nod in quiet thanks and gratitude.
“I-I’m Fluttershy. What is your name?”
“Sun-”. The other girl had to swallow in order to speak after letting out this many tears. “Sunset Shimmer.”
The opal eyes looking at her shone with a kindness that few others possessed.
“N-nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer. I hope you are doing better now.” Her eyes fell as she spoke next. “Um, w-would you mind getting some food now, if you don’t mind?”
A soft rumble from the crimson-haired girl spoke for itself, as did an up-and-coming smile, yet she reaffirmed her answer vocally: “I could use something myself.”
Her exhaustion and need for a privy break forgotten, Fluttershy led the other girl towards one of the restaurants on the main street, choosing a place in an empty corner, away from prying eyes, despite the bar being near empty.
Both girls sat in a comfortable silence, neither wanting nor feeling the need to speak up.
When a waitress came to collect their orders, Sunset took the lead, ordering water for the both of them.
Said girl’s posture had changed when the waitress had appeared, not betraying any weakness nor any sign that she had wept not five minutes ago. Her eyes shone with confidence again, though still a bit bloodshot. Still, there was gratitude in her eyes when she looked over the light rose-haired girl, but it was gone when she looked anywhere else.
Fluttershy understood such a mask, often having employed one when dealing with her friends when she was exhausted. Her friends had never called her out on it, proving Fluttershy’s growing suspicion that her friends didn’t see that what she was showing wasn’t the entire truth.
At the moment, she was still very tired, but having a heart-to-heart with a stranger did somehow not only lift her spirit, but her exhaustion as well.
After the waitress had come and brought their water, she made to speak, but then her phone went off. It was Rainbow Dash.
“Fluttershy, where are you? We’ve been waiting for you outside the pizza joint!”
Fluttershy answered: “O, um, hi Rainbow. Is it already time for that? W-where was it again?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the time, Flutters! We’re outside Joe’s Pizza Hut.”
Looking at the menu in front of her, she saw the same name printed on it. Sharing a glance with Sunset, who had stayed quiet but could hear Rainbow clearly, she gave a small smile and answered:
“O-oh. It appears I’m already there, Rainbow.”
“What? Why did you go in without us? Come on AJ, Pinkie, she’s already inside.”
The last part was clearly said to the other girls, but Fluttershy (and Sunset) could clearly hear it before Rainbow hung up the call.
Now fixing her eyes on the entrance, she saw her friends entering, Rainbows eyes a bit annoyed and Pinkies energetic.
As the other girls looked for their rose-haired friend, Fluttershy saw Sunsets posture hardening again. A defiant and slightly angry glance came into her eye as the incoming girls spied Fluttershy sitting next to an unknown face.
Unknown to all but one of them.
Pinkie let out a gasp, her smile turning quickly into a serious frown. The girls around her noticed this change and their gaze became more wary as well. That’s when Pinkie spoke up:
“Fluttershy, what are you doing over there with her? Get away from our friend you fiend!”
Where previously the other girls' eyes had been wary, they became furious now, with near-hatred to Sunset. They knew Pinkie knew almost everyone, and was friends with most of them. To hear her denounce someone in the first sentence spoken, they knew she was bad news.
Applejack's smile at seeing Fluttershy quickly became an angry frown at Sunset, cracking her knuckles as if getting ready to fight. Rarity’s eyes turned from appreciating the outfit of Sunset to almost hostility, as if criticizing the clothes she wore could be an attack.
And Rainbow’s face became worried, her loyalty to one of her oldest friends immediately declaring the other girl hostile. She rushed at Fluttershy, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her from her seat, away from the still sitting Sunset.
Said girl’s hardened eyes never wavered in their expression, still glaring at the other girls who had just come in. When Rainbow moved in, the glare became part anger, but she made no move to stop her.
Fluttershy was overwhelmed, both by the speed of her best friend, as well as her taking in Pinkie’s outright hostility against Sunset, something which she, to her recollection, had never done. As such, she did not resist Rainbow’s effort to get her away from Sunset.
And so Fluttershy got dragged to the bar, where Rainbow placed her behind AJ, and put herself as an extra human shield between the apple farmer and Sunset. With Pinkie still glaring at Sunset, Rarity took it upon herself to order their pizzas.
While Rarity did this, the silent glaring match between Rainbow and Sunset continued. While Applejack and Pinkie were glaring at her as well, Sunset had apparently chosen Rainbow Dash as her main opponent. Neither spoke and neither looked away. To do so would be to admit defeat, and their pride would not allow it. What once was just defiance, now became a matter of honor.
The silence between the group and the single girl carried across the bar. The easygoing murmur that existed before had been transformed into an uneasy silence, the only sounds being Rarity ordering the pizzas for her friends.
Now standing in the middle of the almost-circle of friends, Fluttershy’s already overwhelmed mind raced on instead of slowing down. Why had Pinkie been so outright hostile? Couldn’t her friends have seen that both of them had just cried? Based on the reactions of her friends, she dismissed that possibility quickly. If they couldn’t see through her masks, they couldn’t see through Sunset’s either. But the why of Pinkie's reaction remained. With all these thoughts swirling through her head, she felt her exhaustion returning, whereas the silence between her and Sunset had subsided it somewhat.
Any further such thoughts came to a halt when she noticed a new person entering the bar. The cap and dark blue uniform let all in the bar know this was a park security guard. Whether the guard had noticed the unnatural silence or just came in to order pizza, no one knew. But the guard blinked once and became professional quickly.
“What is the matter here?”
No one spoke up. The guard noticed Rainbow was still glaring at Sunset. Sensing this was probably the reason for the silence, he called her out:
“Hey you! What is going on?”
Rainbow had noticed that the guard had come in, yet she continued her glaring at Sunset. When the guard addressed her though, she had a bit of an internal dilemma. While the most logical thing to do would be to address the guard in return, her pride forbade her to end the glaring match prematurely. Catching a glance from Applejack from the corner of her eye, she intensified her glare for one last second before breaking eye contact and addressing the guard.
Sunset meanwhile, silently celebrated her victory over Rainbow Dash, an almost unnoticeable smirk gracing her mask for a millisecond before hardening again. She had recognized the guard’s voice. Focusing her attention on the guard, she was sure.
Blue hair with orange skin. Uniform crisp and freshly ironed. This was Flash Sentry.
The good mood of having won the glaring match of Rainbow Dash evaporated instantly.
Sunset’s mask was back in full force, but it was threatening to slip. After the victory on Fluttershy’s friend, the sight of Flash was an immediate downer. On top of that, she suddenly felt her emotional exhaustion rushing in, which had been quieted by Fluttershy’s presence. Despite the exhaustion threatening to overwhelm her, she resolved to not break her mask in Flash’s presence.
While Sunset had recognized her once lover quickly, Flash didn’t have the chance yet to do the same, especially since Rainbow chose that moment to answer him.
“Well… ehm, sir, ehm…” Rainbow couldn’t really find the words to describe what had happened, still silently fuming that Sunset had won the glaring match. But that’s when Applejack saved her athletic friend.
“Well, sir, that girl over there just forced our friend to come in here without her permission. She’s no good, that’s what!”
None of the other girls could have said it better, under the circumstances. From the few sentences they had picked up from Fluttershy’s conversation with Rainbow Dash over the phone and the declaration of hostility from Pinkie Pie, this was the only conclusion they could draw that made any sense. And with Applejack being the one who spoke it, the honesty within the spoken words convinced everyone in earshot.
The farmer’s statement made Flash look at Sunset. While he instantly recognized her, he was a bit baffled at seeing her and therefore couldn’t help himself slip out a quietly asked “You?”
Sunset’s impassive mask cracked for a second, fading into nothing for a moment, and then became sultry. An almost predatory smile answered: “Something wrong sir?”
While the wording was innocent, everyone in the room knew there was more to her statement. The tension that was hostile moments before the guard arrived had changed again in seconds.
In the back of her mind somewhere, Sunset screamed. She had vowed to herself to not give into her old ways of dealing with men, but in this moment of extreme emotional exhaustion it had reared up to be her only defense mechanism against old pain and a once lover.
Meanwhile, Flash knew the tone his once girlfriend used. She had used it way back when they were together to control him, and he had fallen for it many times. He knew he could not fall for it now, and besides, he still had to restore the situation, and therefore his request came sharp and quick:
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, miss.”
When the response came in the same manner as her previous statement, Flash knew he hadn’t made progress on dealing with that.
“As you wish.”
While Sunset stood up and made to leave the pizza hut, everyone knew that it was of her own volition that she left, not the guard’s.
As she left the building, she stopped for a second to give one glance to the group of girls, totally ignoring Flash. While the others saw satisfaction and victory, Fluttershy could see how fragile the sultry smile was when she and Sunset locked eyes for a millisecond, before Sunset walked out of view.
~~~~~~~~~~
Fluttershy let out another sigh.
After the event with Sunset and Flash, the girls decided without many words that they would eat their pizza’s quickly and call it a day after.
Fluttershy refused to answer any questions about Sunset, preferring to eat her vegetarian pizza in silence, despite Rainbow’s constant questioning about it. Once Applejack had stood up for her, Rainbow calmed down a bit and started to wolf down her pizza in an effort to outrace Applejack, which was a close race but was not won by the speedster.
Rarity meanwhile, had a lot of comments about the guard’s handsomeness, to which only Pinkie seemed to really care about, with the other two being locked in their eating contest.
When the CMC’s came to join them afterwards, Fluttershy braced herself for another loud ride home, but in a stroke of luck, her mom called her and agreed to pick her up, so her ride home was nice and silent.
The rest of the evening she spent thinking about everything that had happened.
Firstly, she had seen she was not the only one who was using masks to hide, but she was certain for now that her friends couldn’t see through them. On one hand, this made her a bit uncomfortable, seeing that she had not always been totally honest with her friends, but on the other, it had saved her many times from being questioned when she was very tired, getting her through the rest of the day instead of breaking down in the middle of them and having to explain everything.
But more importantly, she was certain that Sunset had been hurting and she was becoming more and more certain her intervention had not only been the kind, but also the right thing to do. She had no idea where Pinkie had gathered the information of Sunset somehow being evil, but at the moment she didn’t care. She knew within her heart that Sunset needed a friend, and she had found one in Fluttershy, if only for a moment.
That thought made her pause. She had no way of contacting Sunset again. Their contact had been so brief, there hadn’t been time to exchange any information other than names. Granted, after what had happened, Fluttershy knew Sunset at least heard, if not remembered, many of her friends’ names, but that was no guarantee of ever speaking with each other again.
Yet despite all of that, Fluttershy knew that they would meet again.
Chapter 2: Fractures in friendship.
The next day was a Saturday, and Fluttershy awoke from a deep sleep.
Yesterday had been all kinds of exhausting, and her body had demanded a good night’s rest after everything that had happened.
Well, at least her friends wouldn’t bother her for the next few hours, she thought wryly as she went through her morning routine.
Normally, she would have been awake for a few hours already, getting ready and working her Saturday morning shift at the local animal shelter. But knowing the plans she and her friends had for Highquestria, she had asked, and received, a day off. She had done this a few times already, knowing that very long outings with her friends drained her, and as such, used the day off to recover.
Going near a full day to a theme park qualified as such an outing, especially after everything that had happened with Sunset.
Her friends didn’t notice any of this in the slightest. Both Pinkie and Rainbow were extreme extroverts, thriving in events such as yesterday, and would be totally energized for a few days. While Applejack worked many hours on the farm alone, she also was more extraverted, a side effect of having grown up in the Apple family with all their great family reunions. Even Rarity, while being a bit more introverted than the other three, thrived under the attention after having created a successful line, and used that to keep her energy up.
In short, she was the only one of her friends that needed this. On one hand, she felt bad about lying to her friends about it. On the other hand, if her friends knew she was free, she knew they would pressure her into doing something, which had sucked up many of her free hours in the past, leading to a drop in school and work performance.
She had tried to address this many times, but somehow it didn’t stick with any of them for very long. For each one of her quiet times being earned, the next three times she would be dragged out of her house for something or other.
All of these thoughts clouded her head while she ate breakfast. After she had had her fill, she decided to go on a walk.
Walks usually cleared her head of many of her worries. She put on her shoes, put on her headphones, and, after choosing a favorite song, headed out.
Choosing a route was a bit of a pickle, now that her friends thought she was working. If any of them would see her, they would worry and ask questions, all things she didn’t want to deal with right now. Luckily, she knew a route that would be far out of the way of any of her friends’ houses or workplaces (or soccer field in Rainbow’s case, she would be there the whole day for training, barring anything special occurring).
Only downside, it was close to Crystal Prep Academy.
CPA, the great rival school of Canterlot High School, her own, in town. There were a few smaller ones in nearby towns, but in Canterlot City, these two high schools were the greatest and best, with good reputations and results to show for it.
Fluttershy had been to an open day of CPA before she had one at CHS. The difference between them, in her eyes, was staggering.
While both schools performed well on the scoreboard with regards to standing and results, CPA had a ‘winner takes all’ mentality. While she was there, she had noticed that there was little drive to do anything extracurricular if it didn’t count towards a final grade. Strict planning and scheduling were strongly advised for the junior year, let alone the grades above that.
But despite this focus on grades, the atmosphere of the school was dominated by fear. The top graders of each year seemed to have certain privileges above the rest, and that was felt by the rest of the school. If you could make it to the top, life would be pleasant. All others would pass, sure, but were out of the race for the top universities, like Manehattan University or the fabled University of Canterlot, the best university in the land.
In contrast, the atmosphere in CHS was almost the opposite. Many electives and extracurricular activities could be done here and were actively encouraged. The focus here seemed to be more on having fun than getting good grades, which was one of the main reasons why Fluttershy had chosen CHS. While she could maintain a good schedule, she knew from her already skittish nature that constantly worrying about her good grades would be detrimental for her health.
It also helped a lot that her childhood friend Rainbow Dash had announced on the evening of that day that she would go to CHS, no matter what.
Fluttershy smiled at the memory. Rainbow had been so excited at the news that she could get a sports scholarship to Cloudsdale University at CHS that she wouldn’t shut up about it for the rest of the month.
Thinking about her own motivation, she had heard many stories from her mother about Doctor Meadowbrook, who had found a cure for a plague that had caused much harm in Canterlot City and beyond two centuries ago. While Fluttershy cared more about animals than humans, she was sure a path of healing would be for her from that day onwards.
All her thinking and daydreaming had led her close towards one of the topics of her thoughts. While she was still on a forested road, between the trees she could see the magnificent crystal-like pillar of Crystal Prep.
To her right side, the road opened to a small clearing, with a bench standing free between the forest and the road. The few times Fluttershy had taken this road, she would use this bench to rest and recuperate a bit before heading back.
Now, however, the bench was occupied.
Lowering the volume on her headphones a bit, she cast a glance towards the occupiers. Two pairs of eyes stared back.
The first pair was from the girl standing behind the bench, leaning with her arms on top of the backrest. Persian blue eyes within a light pink face stared back at Fluttershy, who idly noticed the Pinkie-pink beany under purple hair, with a cyan highlight, as well as a cyan shirt, black overcoat and gray leggings, but Fluttershy was more intrigued by the other girl.
Well, more afraid than intrigued, if she was totally honest.
Despite the other girl sitting on the bench, her head still came to the other girl’s shoulder. Sharp eyes, nearly the same color as Fluttershy’s own, stared hard, seeming to pierce into her soul. Dark orchid hair framed the sharp angles of her face, a scar over her right eye being very noticable. Her arms and legs were lean, yet her muscles were very noticeable underneath her black outfit. But the most striking thing about her was her right hand. Or rather, what it missed.
A purely white cast outlined her fingers. Or rather, her ring finger and pinkie. Only stumps remained of her index and middle finger. The rest of them weren’t there. Her thumb was the only one outside of the cast.
The piercing glare from the girl became a scowl, as she noticed the attention given to her missing fingers. Noticing this, Fluttershy quickly averted her eyes and quickly, and quietly, walked home, her previous relaxing thoughts being occupied by whatever had happened to the girl she had just met.
~~~~~~~~
When Fluttershy entered her home, she came to an empty house. While her mother had been there this morning, she was apparently gone now. A note on the fridge confirmed this, stating that she was visiting her parents, Fluttershy’s grandparents, in Cloudsdale. Her father had opted to take himself and her brother away for a father-son bonding weekend in the Everfree forest, so they had been gone before Fluttershy went to Highquestria and wouldn’t return until late Sunday.
This gave Fluttershy some relief from all the thoughts swirling in her head. It had been early morning when she left, and her walk in nature had taken quite a while, but the early return had meant that it was still a bit away from lunchtime.
When she opened her phone, she saw that there had been a lot of messages between her friends while she had her walk. Quietly reading them, she saw that her friends hadn’t taken her silence for granted the day before and had agreed to voice call each other in the afternoon to hash everything out and get the truth of everything that had happened.
She groaned and mentally prepared herself for the dozens of messages she would get from the others once they noticed she was online to attend the meeting. As such, she already had put her settings to ‘offline’, as she had many times before. But she knew she couldn’t escape it this time. If she were to be offline the whole day, her friends would just come over to her house and thus force her to be in the meeting. It wouldn’t be the first time.
But thanks to her excuse of work, she wouldn’t be required to be online yet. So she still could use the offline mode to her advantage.
The first thing on her mind: find Sunset.
After everything that had happened, they would definitely need to meet again, this time without her friends interfering. She still had no clue why Pinkie had denounced her within seconds of them meeting, but she figured she would hear all about it in the inevitable meeting later that day. Sunset had given her no reason not to trust her, especially not because Fluttershy felt they got each other, on a deep, instinctive level, despite the few sentences spoken between them. The silences had spoken enough.
The first place she looked was on Mystable. Everybody who was anyone, at least in the highschool and college age brackets, had an account on there. Practically all of CHS’s student body was linked with each other via the site and even the more competitive CPA students had accounts for the prestige, even if the traffic in those circles was way less compared to their rivals. Many more socially awkward people also had accounts, albeit very private and only connected to their close friends. Fluttershy herself had belonged to that category when joining as a junior student, in her first weeks only being linked to Rainbow Dash. As her confidence grew, however, she opened up and thus connected to more and more people online. But even when she wished to link to more private individuals in her classes she could at least find their account and send them a request.
Therefore it came to a huge surprise to Fluttershy that Sunset had no account. Not even one totally blocked off from everything, but nothing in its entirety. No matter how long she looked, checking all ‘possible friendships’ that were available, she came up with nothing.
One thing that came to mind was that she was from way out of town, but she rejected that possibility quickly. For one, as far as she knew, the site wasn’t basing things on location, but on the possibility of knowing someone. Of course, location was a factor, but never totally deal breaking. And she was quite certain she knew the woman who had glared at Sunset, something related to Crystal Prep?
The only logical conclusion that she could draw was that she was either very antisocial, or that she had hidden or deleted her account after everything that Sunset had gone through. Fluttershy’s kind heart cried silent tears over everything that could have happened to her.
While scrolling through yet another ‘possible friendship’ list, she recognised one of the girls she had seen outside of Crystal Prep. The same purple hair with the stripe of cyan in between, the same pale complexion and wearing close to the same outfit. It all fit the name of Starlight Glimmer. Clicking on her profile, Fluttershy set the worrying over Sunset aside for a moment, a bit anxious of what she would find.
Most of her profile was set to private, so there was much she couldn’t see. One of the things that was visible, however, was her highschool. As surmised by the close location where Fluttershy had found her and the other girl, she went to Crystal Prep.
Looking through the friend list of Starlight, she quickly saw the other girl as well.
The profile name said Tempest Shadow. Her profile picture confirmed this. Starlight was in the shot as well, but the way the picture had been taken showed Tempest towering over her friend. Fully clad in black but for a pair of lightning bolts on her chest, her clearly defined muscles stood out quite a bit, and it looked like Tempest could break the girl standing next to her in half. Despite her threatening size difference, both made a victory sign towards the camera with smiles on their faces.
The picture showed nothing of Tempest’s injury. The scar over her eye was there, but it was not as noticeable as it had been when Fluttershy had seen them, so Fluttershy concluded that it was a bit dated, especially when you factored in that both girls looked a bit younger in the picture.
With Fluttershy’s thoughts wondering to what happened to Tempest mixing with the worries she had for Sunset, Fluttershy put her phone away and just laid on her bed for a while, trying to make sense of her swirling thoughts while also dreading the moment her friends would call on her for the meeting.
A few hours passed in silence, with Fluttershy trying to drown out her thoughts with music. To her relief this mostly worked, keeping the nastiest what-if’s from her mind. After a quiet late lunch she went online to assuage her friends and they agreed on a meeting around 5.
~~~~~~~~
16:54
Fluttershy opened the group call with her friends. Rarity and Pinkie were already there. Applejack had messaged that she would be a bit later, and Fluttershy expected Rainbow to be late, like she had been many times.
Fluttershy swallowed and reached for the glass of water next to her. Despite having drunk enough during the day, her throat was still parched. Probably from her anxiety, she surmised.
It probably would come down to her word against Pinkies. She wasn’t sure who would be believed more. For the last hour, she had rehashed her story in front of her mirror. It was as close to the truth as she would get.
Luckily it wasn’t a video call. At least her friends hadn’t pushed for that, and Fluttershy hadn’t brought it up, knowing that if she would have suggested it Applejack would have pushed for it hard, preferring to see their faces and thus see their honesty more clearly.
She checked the time again. 16:59. Time to face the music.
She set her status to ‘online’ and, with a bit of trepidation, joined the call.
The one talking at the moment, unsurprisingly, was Pinkie.
“-ust heard from the Principal and VP that a few students will be transferring soon! I’m so excited! I have no idea who they might be, I have been given no clue whatsoever on who they might be. I mean, normally you would think at least somebody knew that someone was transferring somewhere, but I have heard nothing at all! And on top of that-”
Pinkie’s rambling was cut off by Rarity:
“Yes, very interesting darling, but in the meantime Fluttershy has joined us. Maybe just leave the transferring students to themselves for now and focus on the topic of tonight. No need to share what doesn’t need to be shared in the open.” A pause. Then: “How are you darling?”
Fluttershy frowned at Rarity’s statement. While it was true that both Pinkie and Rarity were part of the welcoming committee at CHS and thus could have this information, it was no reason not to share that there would be new transfers. Pinkie had done that many times before, without any warning from Rarity, who was the president of the committee, before.
A bit miffed about the statement, Fluttershy answered belatedly:
“I’m good, had a qu-quiet day at work. How have you been?”
Rarity’s response came with an attitude.
“Oh, we’re good darling. Let’s wait for the rest to show up before we start in earnest, shall we?”
An awkward silence followed. While Fluttershy expected Pinkie to speak up again, she stayed uncharacteristically quiet. Fluttershy’s anxiety at this meeting spiked, so she quickly put up a heavy song for herself to try to drown it out, with the volume being just quiet enough to hear if anyone would speak up.
Rarity, with declining to speak, forwent her normal attitude of gossiping in quiet times, opting to stay silent, very unusual for her.
The silence continued, time stretching the quiet out from awkward into icy ever so slowly. The minutes passed by, the three waiting for the (in Fluttershy’s case relative) silence to break by Applejack or Rainbow Dash joining.
Despite the blaring music, Fluttershy’s mind latched on to what Pinkie had shared: new transfer students. A quick glimmer of hope sparkled for a second and then shimmered away. Could it be Sunset?
The only rationalization she had for it was that the women who had glared at Sunset had some connection to CPA in her mind. Any other reasons were quickly discarded and so the idea died a quick death.
But a sparkle of hope remained, quietly burning somewhere deep within her mind.
Then, finally, there was relief from the silence in the call as a join sound blared through the headphones. As Fluttershy put the song on pause, she looked at who of the two had joined. As she read her name, her anxiety subsided as Applejack’s clear voice spoke out:
“Heyo all. Sorry for bein’ a mite late. Did I miss anything?”
Fluttershy shook her head, forgetting for a moment that they were only in voice call. After realizing this, she wanted to vocalize it, but before she could Rarity already had:
“Not at all darling. We were just waiting on you to join before we would truly start. Although I confess that we would have started if Rainbow Dash was present, but for some reason she hasn’t chosen to be present, yet.”
“Or I can just jump in whenever I’m ready, Rares.”
Rainbow’s voice suddenly cut in. A confused silence overtook the call, as none of the girls had heard a sound of her joining prior to Rainbow talking.
Applejack, as always, asked the question that was on all the girls’ mind:
“Wait a darn second, Rainbow. How did you hear whatever Rarity had to say without any of us hearin’ you join in. Mind explaining that?”
Rainbow gave a chuckle as she answered:
“Easy, I just use the offline setting during training. Coach can’t catch me on MyStable during break that way. Didn’t know it could do that by the way, forgot to turn it off. Of course you wouldn’t know that function even existed, being raised in a barn, but I’ve seen Flutters use it all the time. Isn’t that right, Flutters?”
Fluttershy felt like a block of ice traveled down her spine at Rainbow’s revelation, and she could feel the silence transform into an icy one as well. Rainbow had, out of the blue and probably unintentionally, shared one of Fluttershy’s habits she didn’t want the others to really know about.
How and why Rainbow had noticed her use the setting escaped her, she had been quite careful while using it, though there had been that one time she had to explain it to Rainbow after an emergency pickup during a stormy soccer match.
Fluttershy knew her oldest friend could be careless with her words sometimes, but this time it really hurt. She had been anxious for the meeting already, and Rainbow’s uncaring words only spiked her anxiety over the question which would undoubtedly be asked of her within the next minute.
With Applejack sputtering at the insult to her upbringing, and Rainbow audibly grinning at an easy victory over her rival, Rarity took it upon herself to defend the farmgirl’s honor.
“If I might inquire though darling, why does it often appear that you are late every single time we have a meeting, Rainbow? Is it your complete lack of time management perhaps?”
“No, Rares, I’m just giving practice my all, like always, but lately we’ve been practicing extra hard because of the upcoming championships. The word is out that the Wonderbolts’ scouts are following it, so I really want to give it my all over there!”
The Wonderbolts were the premier junior football club of Canterlot City, and it had been Rainbows dream of joining them ever since childhood.
“Now, no accusing from any of you, including you, Rarity. Let’s get to the topic at hand, shall we?”
Applejack apparently had retaken herself and cleared her throat before continuing.
“So. Fluttershy, me an’ the other girls couldn’t help but notice that you weren’t totally honest about what happened on Friday. I mean, why else would you not share anything about what happened over there with that other girl? That’s why we’re all here today, so let’s reconstruct the story. Pinkie, you saw Fluttershy last. Where was it and what were you doing?”
With the permission to speak, the until then very quiet Pinkie sprung to life and spoke with gusto:
“Well, that’s easy, Applejack. I just came out of the High Fall, and saw Fluttershy sitting on a bench nearby, so I asked her if she had already gone in, and I was very excited to hear she had gone already and wanted to ask her all about it, but then she needed to go to the restroom, so I provided her directions and we didn’t see each other again until in the restaurant when I saw her sitting with her and-”
Fluttershy almost couldn’t keep up with the speed at which Pinkie said all this. As far as she knew, nothing untruthful had been said, but with Pinkie’s quick way of speaking, you never knew. One thing that she noticed, and if she had, the others had as well, was the loathing with which Pinkie had described Sunset, which, on one hand, was very unusual for Pinkie to talk about anyone like that.
But on the other hand, she hadn’t used Sunset's name, which meant that Pinkie probably didn’t know it. But she didn’t know that for sure.
Both Pinkie’s rambling and Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by Applejack.
“Alright, Pinkie, we’ll get to that part of the story when we get to it. But the next part is up to Fluttershy. Would you mind explaining how you and the other girl met? And just for clarity, do you know her name by any chance?”
The chat room was quiet again for a moment as Fluttershy made to speak. She took another sip of water first as she pondered over the last request. Would she share Sunset’s name? She decided not to, on one hand to protect her identity, and on the other to see if any of the other girls knew her name.
“Well, as Pinkie just said, I had to go to the restroom. When I came out however, I almost walked straight into the other girl, who just came in. We apologized and s-she offered to get me a drink for the inconvenience, after she was done. So I waited and when she was ready she took me to the restaurant and just when we had gotten our drink Rainbow called. She n-never said her name. You know the rest.”
“So she did nothing indecent towards you Flutters?”
Rainbow had cut in immediately.
A bit shocked by the intensity laid within the question, Fluttershy answered a quiet negative.
A grateful sigh escaped from Rainbow’s lips, as she rushed to explain:
“Am I glad to hear that Flutters! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? When I called you that night to ask where you were, and you said that you were already in the restaurant, I was like ‘Well, that’s a first, but nevermind.’ Then when I saw you with that other girl, I was like ‘Wait, this isn’t normal’ and then when Pinkie said what she said, I became so fearful for you Flutters. Seeing you, sitting at her table, seeing you looking frightened, I had to get you out of there, just like old times. You get that right?”
Fluttershy smiled with understanding at Rainbow’s emotions. Logically she had known the situation would appear something like this to her best friend, but hearing the emotion within her explanation, she felt like she fully understood. After a second, she realized that Rainbow couldn’t see her smile and so she vocalized it:
“Yes, Rainbow, I understand-”
Only to be interrupted by Rarity:
“Well, Fluttershy, what I don’t understand is why you would go out with a complete stranger that you just met. Granted, you almost ‘bumped into each other’, you said, but that doesn’t make them trustworthy at all after one apology.”
Fluttershy got a bit upset at Rarity for hearing her so hostile against Sunset, and she let that anger known in her answer:
“She had given me no reason to distrust her. A-and it wasn’t going out anyway if you get only one drink!”
Finding no other adequate words to express herself, she silently fumed at the situation, trying to find more to say, as Applejack took control of the conversation once again:
“Well, no need to be hostile towards each other, we want to know what happened. So, we entered the restaurant and we saw you sitting there with that girl. Speaking for myself for a second here, I didn’t know that face next to ya, but Pinkie apparently did. Tell me how and why, sugarcube?”
A gasp sounded over the airwaves before Pinkie spoke. But when she did, she had become her usual hyperactive talking self.
“Well, you all know I know a lot of people. And I mean a lot. Why, just the other day I spoke with the Vice-Principal and-”
Pinkie was interrupted by Rarity:
“Thank you Pinkie, but just stay on the subject for a moment, would you dear?”
A bit annoyed by Rarity’s actions, as was evident in her voice, Pinkie continued:
“Well, as I was saying, I know a lot of people from all around Canterlot City. Including a few who go to Crystal Prep. Many times I have tried to invite myself to the school to see how they’re doing, but they always beg me not to come. When I asked about this, they told me about one of the students who ruled the place with an iron fist, making sure everyone’s grades are top notch. Apparently she has the support from a few of the staff members for this, so she is never ousted for her methods, but she also uses this power to keep everyone in line. How exactly, I don’t know, but apparently it is enough for everyone to be terrified of her. I never quite got her name, they were all afraid of what she would do if she found out that they had let it slip who it was. But I saw her picture a few times, and that was the girl who was with Fluttershy yesterday!”
Her accusation vocalized, Pinkie remained quiet for a while, so everybody could take in the information she had provided.
With this new information, Fluttershy’s mind started working overtime, and she took another sip of water to help her process all of this information gained from Pinkie in the short amount of time she took to say it.
Sunset was a bully then, plain and simple. With support from the staff, no less, using others to her advantage and making everyone afraid of her.
But Fluttershy was sure that the Sunset she had a heart-to-heart with hadn’t been like that at all. A bully wouldn’t have broken down in front of strangers crying. No, bullies wielded fear to get their victims to do what they wanted, the ‘or else’ threat implied in every interaction making sure that it would be done.
Fluttershy knew that from experience. All the way back in elementary school she had been bullied for a while, until Rainbow had stopped them one day.
Those bullies had not cried in front of random strangers after they had been stopped, they had kept their arrogant attitude and tried to catch Fluttershy alone a few times, which stopped when Rainbow had beat them up in a fight, after which their parents got involved and found out about it.
Therefore, something must have happened with Sunset to shatter her confidence to the extreme. Whatever that was, it had changed Sunset to the core, which had eventually led to the exchange of emotions at their encounter. Within her heart, she knew her kindness had not been misplaced.
With her mind made up, she made to speak, but at that moment her childhood friend chose to intervene.
“Wait, you’re telling me she is the boss-girl in Crystal Prep?”
Without waiting for a confirmatory answer from Pinkie, Rainbow continued:
“I have heard about her. Coach Spitfire is good friends with one of their star players, Indigo Zap. She told me a few times to stay away from the private practice matches because the so-called Queen wouldn’t take kindly to rivals watching the practice matches. One time I tried to go anyway, but was stopped by Spits herself, who said that Indigo would get into real trouble if I went there, so I refrained.”
A quick breath followed, but the pace of her words afterwards was more in the line of normal talk instead of Pinkie-levels of speed.
“You see Flutters, I said I was worried about you. When you said she didn’t do anything unreasonable I can accept that until that point, but with this new information, I’m certain she would have pulled something after those first drinks. She must have had a reason to invite you anyway, her nice behavior towards you couldn’t have been nothing more than an act. I can’t believe you fell for such a thing - remember way back when you tried to appease that one bully? I had to save you back then as well. That said, I still wouldn’t trust anyone from Crystal Prep period-”
Fluttershy couldn’t believe the words she heard from her best friend. While her mind couldn’t process what had happened, feelings of despair mixed with unbelieve and shock.
While she could hear Rainbow talking, her mind didn’t recognise any words she said anymore, the despair was too overwhelming. And this was Rainbow Dash talking. Rainbow! The one friend who had always stuck by her side. The one who was loyal to a fault. The one who had saved her from her childhood bullies time and time again after they had met once, and had become best friends right after.
But she also knew that that friendship could be over by now. Her eyes began to water as her mind slowly understood the betrayal the body had already understood: She was alone in this. Not even the most loyal of her friends had spoken out in her favor.
Best friend, she surmised as sarcasm joined in between despair and tears, after hearing one point in favor of what you already believed, you made up your own story about what could have happened. While this was far from the first time Rainbow had done such a thing, this had been a first in which Rainbow had already drawn her own conclusions without hearing out Fluttershy first. Or hearing her at all, for that matter.
Fluttershy had voiced her opinions and Rainbow had shoved them aside like it was nothing. Like she was worth nothing. Just like the bullies had done. With each accusation coming from Rainbow’s lips, the close-to lifelong trust Fluttershy had in her athletic friend took another blow.
While her mind reeled, she vaguely noticed that another had spoken up. She couldn’t understand what was said, but by the speed of it it must have been Pinkie. But Fluttershy’s mind was still dealing with Rainbow’s betrayal.
And her other friends didn’t even say anything to her defense.
Fluttershy could understand Pinkie’s reasoning why, and Rarity had already placed herself in Pinkie’s camp by her actions earlier, so she hadn’t expected her to speak out in favor of the animal lover. But she had thought that at least Applejack would have interfered by now, if not for all the wild accusations Rainbow was spewing about. But she remained silent, perhaps silently affirming all the athlete’s words.
Then, all of a sudden, Rainbow’s voice cut out.
Blinded by her tears, she had to blink a few times to see what had happened. Between tears and her overwhelmed mind, she had done the only thing that her body could have done to reduce the input: she had accidentally left the call.
With her mind overworked, the realization came slowly. But once it was there, it wouldn’t go away.
What would her friends think of her, now that she left in the middle of Rainbow talking?
Her mind still reeled from everything, but she was slowly coming to the realization that her friends most likely wouldn’t see the innocent act for what it was, but probably would take it as an admission of guilt.
This realization made her tears really flow. Betrayed and abandoned, she put up the heavy song again, while her mind tried to find a way out of this mess. Her mind played with the idea of joining the call again, but she discarded that with tears and doubt.
Overwhelmed, she barely noticed her phone buzzing, probably Rainbow asking what had happened.
But Fluttershy knew in that instant that trying to explain everything would be futile.
Distraught, she turned off her laptop and phone and cried herself to sleep.
