If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On

Chapters

First meeting
Friends?
A thing of the past
Totally platonic, right?
Unforeseen dilemma
Unforeseen outcome
Unforeseen resolution
And yet we sing on

First meeting

Rainbow Dash stood outside the gates of Cloudsdale High Boarding School. It was an intimidating set of buildings; they were all tall and spread out. It looked like the kind of place that would take weeks to learn the layout of. Despite her love of flying, Rainbow had never been much good with maps.

She gulped. This was not going to be easy. She had never really gotten along with other fillies, as they never seemed to be worth the time. Rainbow had her music and that was it... her mother had been against this and had moved her to Cloudsdale High Boarding School for a fresh start, to make some friends and for... other reasons. It was, after all, the biggest school in Cloudsdale.

That was, of course, the problem. Up until now, Rainbow had been in one very small private school with around thirty students. They didn’t care if she did her homework and usually she just spent the classes listening to music and not really paying attention. It didn’t matter, she was the smartest student there and never had to work to get top marks.

Rainbow sighed and walked through the gates. Her mum stood behind her. She smiled encouragingly but Rainbow could see the worry in her eyes. Her mum was always worrying about her.

“See you on the holidays, darling.” She called before taking flight.

Rainbow turned and, not crying, headed towards the general direction in which she believed the dorm rooms to be. It seemed too quiet. She reached back to her saddle bag and withdrew her old, battered mp3 player. With some difficulty, she got the ear pieces in and flicked the “on” switch. Slightly cheered up, she continued on her way.

“Once upon a time I could take anything, anything.
I always stepped in time, regardless of the beat.
I moved my feet, I carried weight, what I could not do I faked.
I dug seeking treasure, just to wake up in an early grave…”

Flutteshy stood by her mother. This statement was not entirely true; she was, in fact, standing in front of her mother, facing her. The reason for this, and the reason for her mother’s heavy breathing, was the fact that Fluttershy was bracing her hind legs into the cloud floor, trying with all her might to push in the opposite direction as her mother was trying to push her. It crossed the older pegasus’s mind that the little filly could be quite strong when she wanted to be.

“Come on Fluttershy, we talked about this. You need to make some friends. You agreed, you said you’d like that.”
“No,” the little filly said between gasps. “I said having friends would be nice, I didn’t say I actually wanted to go through the trouble of making them. You know I don’t get on well with other fillies.”

“Please Fluttershy? Just give it a try, for me?”

Fluttershy sighed. She couldn’t say no to her mother. “Alright.” She said reluctantly.

Her mother smiled and, with much less resistance, walked the butter yellow filly through the gates of Cloudsdale High Boarding School.

"Goodbye mummy." She said, trying hard to be strong.

"Goodbye Fluttershy. Be brave and have fun." With that, she jumped in to the air and flew away.

Fluttershy walked a few steps and, actually crying, headed off in the direction which, due to her slightly more accurate idea of maps than Rainbow Dash, she was sure the dorm rooms were.

She reached in to her saddle bag and withdrew a shiny, new looking mp3 player. Her father always made sure she had the latest and greatest, every time the company released a new one. She turned it on and, managing to smile a small, watery smile, continued along her way.

“White lips, pale face.
Breathing in snowflakes.
Burnt lungs, sour taste.
Light’s gone, days end.
Struggling to pay rent.
Long nights, strange men.
And they say, she’s in the class A team…”

Rainbow listened mostly to punk and rock music, much to her mother’s dismay, and, as anyone who’s listened to punk or rock will know, it is implausible to listen to the aforementioned genres at anything like a reasonable volume. It is probably because of this that she didn’t at first notice the quiet singing that was coming from her dorm room. The moment she did, though, she turned off her mp3 player and listened intently.

“Even the best fall down sometimes, even the wrong words seem to rhyme,
Out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find, you and I collide.”

The voice was sweet and had a quite grace that sent chills down Rainbow’s spine. She carefully opened the door all the way and walked in. The song was one she recognised and one of her own favourites, although she would never admit it.

When she looked inside she saw a small, well lit room with two beds each with a small set of drawers beside them, a lamp on the drawers for late night reading.

Sitting on one of the beds was a beautiful yellow filly with a pink mane. She was staring out the window with a dreamy look on her face as she continued to sing, unaware of her silent audience of one.

Rainbow coughed quietly causing the yellow filly to jump and whirl around.

“Hi there.” Rainbow’s voice cracked a little and she cleared her throat before trying again. “Hi, my name’s Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?”

The filly hid behind her mane and mumbled, “Fluttershy…”

Despite listening to excessively loud music nearly nonstop, Rainbow had quite good hearing and so, instead of having to ask for her to repeat herself several times as one might expect from a situation like this, she said, “Fluttershy, that’s a pretty name. You have a really nice voice Fluttershy. Do you take singing lessons?”

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane and looked a little taken aback. She was used to people not hearing her and making her repeat herself which always annoyed her as it was a little cliché as a demonstration of just how shy and quiet she was.

“Um, you were listening?”

“Yea, I was.”

Fluttershy looked a little panicky but managed to say, “Um, no, I don’t take any lessons. I just really like music.”

“Me too. Hey!” She gasped having spotted the shining mp3 player sitting beside the yellow filly. “Isn’t that the latest ihum? They cost a fortune. Where did you get it?”

“Oh, that,” said Fluttershy, following Rainbow’s gaze. “My father works for the company that makes them. He always makes sure I have the newest one. This one is a little complicated but I’m getting used to it.”

Rainbow recovered quickly from the initial shock and said, “What kind of music have you got on there?”

At this Fluttershy seemed to light up. “Mostly pop but I do listen to a bit of country and some electronic. Oh and, um, never mind.”

That last comment sparked Rainbow's curiosity. “Come on, spill. What else have you got on there?”

The yellow cheeks became slightly rose tinted. “Um, nothing, really.”

“Come on, please?”

Fluttershy looked in to Rainbow’s puppy dog eyes and, giving in, muttered something in to her mane, this time so quietly that even Rainbow didn’t hear.

“What was that?”

“Um, a little… dubstep…” She said the last word like it was some sort of curse.”

Rainbow burst out laughing. “Is that it? What’s wrong with dubstep?”

“My mum really doesn’t like me listening to dubstep. She says it’s ‘newfangled trash not worth the gigabytes it’s recorded on’.”

Rainbow looked astonished. “But, um, music isn’t recorded on gigabytes. That’s just a measure of storage capacity.”

“Uh, yes… I did say it was my father who makes them.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at that. “Not a very techno savvy mare?”

Fluttershy smiled to. “She once asked me to add more gigabytes to her ihum…”

The two fillies burst out laughing.

They continued to talk for the rest of the day, about family, school, computers, flying but most of all, music. It was official: the two had both made their first proper friend, little knowing what was to come.

Disclaimers: (wow, lots of disclaimers) first of all the songs featured in this were; "This Is Letting Go" by rise against, "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran and "Collide" by Howie Day. I suggest you check them out as they are amazing. The "ihum" is an idea I took from a Terry Pratchett book called "Thud" again, I highly recommend it. Obviously I don't own "My Little Pony" or Flutterdash would be cannon. hope you enjoyed it

Friends?

Fluttershy always sat at the back of class. Unlike Rainbow Dash, she had been home schooled her whole life and was finding the work that was expected of her to be quite challenging. This particular class was the worst. It was math and Fluttershy was feeling depressed. No matter what she did she could always tell that he teacher despaired at how little she understood. She sighed and resigned herself to bottom marks… again.

Fluttershy jumped as one of the colts who was sitting beside her kicked her leg under the table. She turned to glance at him, a hurt look in her eyes. She saw he was holding a note which he passed to her discretely before turning his attention back to the teacher.

Fluttershy unfolded the note and examined it closely. On the top, in Rainbow’s handwriting, was a short message that just said, “No, you won’t get bottom marks again." Underneath that was a list of the answers to all the questions on the blackboard and on the sheet sitting in front of her. She smiled and began copying the answers on to the sheet.

“What a day.” Said Rainbow, flopping on to her bed slightly tilting her flank so she could admire her new cutie mark.
Fluttershy timidly nodded and fell in to her own bed. She was emotionally spend and didn’t particularly feel like reviling in the day’s events. She had never had to deal with bullying before and even with Rainbow there standing up for her it was upsetting.

Rainbow, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She had earned her cutie mark and done a sonic rainboom. As far as days went it had been a pretty good one. She was so happy that she didn’t immediately notice the quite sobbing that was coming from the other side of the room. When she did she jumped out of bed and rushed over to Fluttershy. Who was crying gently in to her pillow.

“Hey Shy, what’s wrong?”

Fluttershy looked up in to the concerned eyes of Rainbow Dash. “It’s just… no one’s ever been mean to me like that before. It hurts…” the last two words came out at a whisper.

She jumped when Rainbow leaned over and hugged her tight. “I know, but you can’t let it get to you. If you do, all you’re doing is letting them win.” Fluttershy just sobbed in to Rainbow’s shoulder. “Come on Shy, you can spend the night in my bed if you like.”

Fluttershy nodded quickly and zipped across the room and settled in Rainbow’s bed. The two snuggled down and Fluttershy soon drifted off to sleep, happier than she’d been in weeks.

Flutterhsy awoke to the sound of absolutely nothing and wondered briefly why she woke up at all. This soon ceased to matter as, there, in front of her, was Rainbow Dash, her still sleeping face peaceful and adorable. She stirred in her sleep and muttered something that, were this any kind of decent narrative, would have been “Fluttershy.” Instead it sounded more like “Glimliflibble.”

Fluttershy thought for a moment, contemplating how much more romantic and sweet it would be if she chose to hear the muttered sleep talk as her name. These thoughts were cut short by the other thought that hit her like a ton of bricks. Romantic? Why would I want this to be romantic? This thought trailed off to as it was then that Rainbow Dash chose to wake up.

She looked in to the teal eyes, about three inches from her own. How could anyone think that Fluttershy's eyes were green? Was the first thought to pass through her waking mind. “Morning Shy.”

“I like that nickname. What nickname do other ponies call you?”

Rainbow grimaced. “Mostly they call me ‘Rainbow Crash.’ I’ve never had a nice nickname.”

“I think I’ll call you ‘Dashie’.” Said Fluttershy, smiling. “Good morning Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash smiled to and didn’t kiss her on the nose. That second part took more effort than one would think.

The two stayed in bed for a while, content just to rest in each other’s company. There was the distant sound of a bell ringing, signalling the start of the first class of the day.
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Race ya?”

Fluttershy grinned back. “You are so on.”

Class went well for Fluttershy that day. Thanks to Rainbow, she got good marks on the previous day’s math test.
It was only after class that things went horribly wrong. There was a group of students around the notice board. They were talking and giggling. Rainbow, unconcernedly, shoved her way through the crowd to get a better look at what was making everypony so excited. On the middle of the board was a notice that said “School dance. Sunday this week. All students expected to bring a partner.” as well as information on the place and time.

Fluttershy stared blankly at it. Partner? She thought, horrified. “Any idea who you’ll be taking Dashie?” Rainbow didn’t respond. Fluttershy turned and saw that she was already walking away, her mp3 player on and blaring.

“You can't feel the heat until you hold your hoof over the flame,
You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays,
You won't know your worth now, son, until you take a hit,
And you won’t find the beat until you lose yourself in it.
That’s why we won’t back down,
We won’t run and hide,
Yea ‘cause these are the things that we can’t deny,
I’m passing over you like a satellite, so catch me if I fall…”

Fluttershy was sitting staring out the window. She didn’t feel in the mood for music. She just sat and stared at the open blue sky and thought of Rainbow Dash. They hadn’t spoken since they had found the notice. Flutterhsy didn’t know why Rainbow had gotten so upset. She sighed and froze when she heard the sound of singing coming from outside. It was definitely Rainbow Dash although her voice was more gentle and tender than Flutterhsy would have expected. She listened closely realising that she knew this song.

“If I should be so bold, I’d ask you to hold my heart in your hoof,
Tell you from the start how I longed to be your mare,
But I never said a word, I guess I’m gonna miss my chance again.
And all I really want to do is love you, a kind much closer than friends use,
But I still can’t say it after all we’ve been through…”

Authors notes: First of all, let's have the disclaimers; the first song was "Satellite" by rise against and the second song was "If It Kills Me" by Jason Mraz. sorry for the dreadful translation from human to pony on that second song but at least it keeps Lyra away. If you spot any spelling or grammar mistakes make sure and tell me. Also, you can thank the torrential rain and lack of school today for this speedy update. Oh and sorry for the fourth wall breach. Hope you like it.

A thing of the past

Later that night, Flutershy lay in her bed trying to get to sleep. She could hear uneven breathing coming from Rainbow Dash’s bed. She wasn’t asleep, that much was obvious.

“Dashie?” She said it quietly. Although she was sure Rainbow heard it. It was so quiet that she could feasibly pretend she hadn’t. “Dashie?” This time it was louder but still not loud enough.

She sighed and got up, careful not to make a sound. She slowly walked over to the other bed and dangled her head over Rainbow, who had her eyes open but still didn’t respond.

“Dashie? What’s wrong?”

This time the queery was so pitiful that she found herself unable to ignore the little yellow filly anymore. “It’s nothing Shy, go back to sleep.”

“Not until you tell me why you’ve been avoiding me all day.”

“Just drop it Shy, it’s nothing, really.”

“You know you can tell me anything.”

“I know. There’s nothing to tell.”

“I think there is, you haven’t been yourself ever since you saw that notice. What’s wrong?”

“Drop it, Fluttershy.” This time there was a faint warning note in her voice.

Fluttershy hesitated but she had come this far. “No. Tell me.”

Rainbow sat bolt upright and glared at her. “For Celestia’s sake, Fluttershy! Drop it means DROP IT!” For just a moment, she saw the hurt in those teal eyes and regretted her words before the little yellow filly ran to the door, and slammed it behind her, running off in to the night.

Fluttershy lay at the edge of a cloud. She was curled up in a tight ball and her whole body was shaking with the force of her sobs. Rainbow had shouted at her, had glared at her, told her to drop it and not done a thing when she ran away, tears streaming down her cheeks. Now she lay there, crying her eyes out where there was no one to hear, no one to care.

Rainbow Dash had been her best friend and now she had ruined it over some stupid little thing. She didn’t care anymore why Rainbow had reacted the way she did about the notice. She just wanted to have her best friend back. She remembered the night they had slept in the same bed. this only made her cry all the harder.

At last, the exhaustion of the whole ordeal wrestled her body in to sleep. So it was that she never felt the strong hooves that picked her up. The way one brushed over her cheek, clearing the still fresh tears. She never heard the powerful wing strokes that carried her back to her warm, comforting bed. And she never heard Rainbows gentle voice say, “I’m so sorry, Shy.”

Fluttershy awoke in her bed. She looked around wondering why this came as a surprise. The events of last night suddenly came flooding back and a single tear leaked from the corner of her eye. She looked across to Rainbow’s empty bed. and saw that the covers were flung back and the sheet was twisted, suggesting that she had been tossing and turning in her sleep. On the pillow was a small piece of paper. Fluttershy hopped out of bed, stretched and, curious, walked over to examine it.

It turned out to be a photo. It was of a light pink Pegasus with a white and pink mane. She was quite pretty. There was a half smirk on her face suggesting a slightly cheeky personality. The photo was battered and looked as well loved as Rainbow’s mp3 player. Odd, thought Fluttershy before she was distracted by the bell, summoning her to the first class of the day. She sighed as she realized that there would be no help from Rainbow Dash this time.

Rainbow Dash was a model pupil that day. She always was, despite her tendency to argue with the teacher over small things, such as the bad punctuation used on the blackboard, but today she was perfect; she didn’t speak out of turn, she answered all questions asked with pinpoint accuracy, she paid perfect attention, she didn’t pass notes or talk to other students and as soon as the bell marked the end of class she would hand in her work and then walk outside, and vanish.

Fluttershy spent the whole day trying to get her alone, or even to see her at all. It was nearly night time when she finally succeeded at cornering her prey. Rainbow was sitting on the old swing set, gently rocking back and forth.

Fluttershy walked up behind her and said as gently as she could, “Who was she?”

She expected Rainbow to start, to be surprised, to ask what she meant or to tell her to go away. Instead she just said, in an equally gentle and quiet tone, “Her name is Cherry Sprinkle.”

“Why do you keep her picture?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Rainbow finally turned to look at her and Flutttershy was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “Alright.”

Flutterhsy sat down and got comfortable in the cloud. After a moment Rainbow took a deep breath and started her tale.

“It all began at my last school. It was a small private school. It was quiet, the work was easy and the students were a bit on the unruly side. I don’t know why but I’ve always liked leaning, I was always excited to go to class and I paid attention to the teachers. Pretty soon I was the smartest student there. You would think the teachers would be overjoyed to have an attentive student wouldn’t you? But no. I always finished my work too quickly and outshone the rest of the class. The teachers had to keep coming up with new work for me and after a while they just stopped. It got to the point where I didn’t have to pay attention in class. I did the work and I didn’t even have to think about it.

“Well, as you can imagine, the other students weren’t too happy about it. They called me a nerd, a dork, a weirdo, and worse. I never let it get to me though, never. Until one day a new filly came to the school. Oh, she was everything I wanted and more. She was smart, just like me she paid attention in class and got marks that rivalled my own. I was overjoyed and we soon became the best of friends. Things were fine for a while, too good it just couldn’t last. I started, following her around, caring too much… dreaming of her. When I realised what was happening I panicked. I was falling in love. I’d always known I was… not that in to colts but this was on a whole other level.

"I stared... avoiding her, leaving school as soon as I was allowed to and spending my lunch time flying, just trying to get away. Well of course she noticed. So one day she cornered me. Told me she wouldn’t leave until I told her why. Sound familiar?”

Fluttershy was breathless. She had had no idea Rainbow had any friends before now. “So what did you do?” She asked at a whisper.

Rainbow smiled a small, brave smile. “I told her. I expected her not to return my feelings of course. She was always eyeing off colts but I thought that maybe, just maybe there was a chance. So I told her everything. I had hoped that even if she didn’t return my feelings we could at least still be friends but I never expected what happened next. She punched me in the face and ran away. the next day when I went in to school everyone knew and they tormented me relentlessly. I could have coped with that but it was the fact that Cherry was the main one doing the tormenting that broke my heart. So my mum brought me here. And I met you.

"I had hoped that I would never have to tell anyone here about my… preferences but when I saw that notice I realised that wasn’t going to be an option if I was expected to bring a date to this stupid thing.”

Fluttershy sat in silence for a moment before rushing over and hugging Rainbow tight. They stayed like that for several minutes until both their tears had dried.

Wow, no disclaimers this time. Sorry about the lack of songs in this chapter but it just didn't feel like either of them would be much in the mood for singing. Thanks to everyone who's been reading this little story of mine. I promise the next chapter won't be so sad. As always: if you notice any spelling or grammar mistakes do tell me. I still don't have any school for a while so the the next update will probably be quite soon. Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Totally platonic, right?

The two shared a bed again that night, simply for the comfort it gave. They snuggled up close, enjoying the warmth and security, both not entirely sure if this meant anything, both unsure if they wanted it to. Something had changed and neither was sure what but it was there right enough.

The next day dawned all too quickly for Fluttershy. She had no desire to leave this blissful drifting, half way between heaven and sleep. The bells rang with a callous disregard of the morning peace, reminding all the students that this was not a place for sleeping the days away.

Fluttershy looked over to see that the blue filly beside her was still asleep, gently nestled in close, a few strands of bubble-gum pink hair draped across her peaceful face. Fluttershy nuzzled her neck in attempt to give her a less rude awakening than Fluttershy herself had endured. This only served to make her mutter something that still wasn’t “Flutterhsy” and nestle in closer.

Fluttershy giggled and whispered in to one lightly flicking ear, “Dashie, it’s time to wake up.”

Rainbow Dash, still half asleep muttered, “Does it have to be? Can’t I just have a little longer?”

“Not unless you want me to send a letter to Celestia asking her to keep the sun down a few more hours.”

Now distinctly more awake than she’d like to be Rainbow said hopefully, “Do you think that’s likely to work?”

“I doubt it.”

Rainbow groaned and rolled to the edge of the bed. She stepped to the ground, winced at the cold floor and stretched.

“Alright then, come on.” Cutie pie she didn’t say. Wait, where in Equestria did that come from? She shook her head and, grabbing her mp3 player off her bed and not looking at the picture of Cherry Sprinkle, walked out in to the fresh morning air.

Fluttershy followed, speculating that there was probably some cruel god who got a perverse joy out of the fact that at the start of every day was math. She sent out a generic curse to them, just encase they were listening and made a mental note to ask Rainbow later if there was a god of tormenting mathematically challenged school fillies.

When she caught up with Rainbow, she noticed that she had her mp3 player on and a slight swagger in her steps. The walk of one who doesn’t care that the rest of the world can’t hear the music she was dancing to.

“What are you listening to?”

Instead of answering, the blue filly passed over one of the earpieces. Flutterhsy put it in her ear tentatively, wincing at how loud it was.

“Don’t fall asleep,
They’ll find us here,
I know a place to disappear,
As a voice proclaimed,
What we are is the sum of a thousand lies,
What we know is almost nothing at all,
But we are what we are till the day we die,
Or till we don't have the strength to go on,
Till we don't have the strength to go on…”

Fluttershy withdrew the earpiece and handed it back. She had liked the song, although it was a little loud for her taste. She reached back and withdrew her own mp3 player and, having inserted her substantially better made earpieces, flicked it on.

For a while the two walked on in contented silence. After a while Rainbow said. “What are you listening to?”

Fluttershy grinned and, without a word, handed Rainbow an earpiece. She examined it for a moment and said, “You have an awesome father,” before putting it in and listening intently.

“So I won’t hesitate no more, no more,
It cannot wait I’m sure,
There’s no need to complicate,
Our time, is short,
This is our fate, I’m yours.
Do you want to, come on, scootch on over closer dear,
And I will nib—…”

Flutterhsy jerked her head sideways pulling out Rainbow’s earpiece sharply. She was blushing furiously; her pale yellow cheeks flushed a bright crimson.

Rainbow smirked at her. “Aw, what’s the matter Shy?”

“N-nothing. I, uh, didn’t, um, eep.”

Rainbow only laughed but it wasn’t an unkind laugh. “You’re cute when you do that.”

Fluttershy looked a little downcast so Rainbow put a gentle wing over her and pulled her in for a close hug. Fluttershy squeaked again but still nuzzled in close. It would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the voice that suddenly broke the moment like a Nokia through concrete.

“Aw how sweet, Rainbow Crash has a little filly friend. Fillyfooler!”

Rainbow turned to see two colts standing there, one brown and one grey. They were both smirking as though it had been a clever and amusing insult. "You know, I've never really understood that phrase." She said thoughtfully, as though the comment hadn't bothered her in the slightest. "Fillyfooler..." she mused. rolling the word around her mouth.

"What the hell are you talking about, freak?"

Rainbow sighed. "Look, guys, I know what you're tying and it's not going to work. If I fight back then I become just as bad as you and I have no desire to do that, so unless you can think of any other really clever insults, I suggest you push off. Do you seriously think that I've never been called that before?"

The brown colt sneered. "This isn't over Rainbow Crash."

"I didn't think for a moment that it was. Now run along."

The two walked away muttering nastily to each other. Rainbow turned back to Fluttershy, she looked mostly concerned but a tiny bit proud. "You ok Shy?"

"That was... really brave."

"Yea, I had to deal with that kind of thing all the time at my old school. Bullying never seemed to get to me the way it should have for some reason. Well... not unless it came from her."

Rainbow's head drooped for a moment at the mention of Cherry. She started when she felt a comforting hoof on her back and looked up, in to Fluttershy's eyes "I understand."

That day in math, Rainbow didn’t sit at her usual place at the front of the class, choosing instead the seat beside Fluttershy. This meant that she was able to “help” with the work they had been given. She was always finished a good ten minutes before the rest of the class and had plenty of time to complete Fluttershy’s as well.

At the front of the class, the teacher was writing something on the blackboard. “What is a prime number and how does one find it?” he said out loud as he wrote, drawing two question marks to emphasise the point.

Flutterhsy wasn’t surprised when Rainbow Dash raised a hoof; she always seemed to have the answers in class. “Yes Miss Dash?”

“Sorry, I just wanted to point out that it’s grammatically incorrect to draw two question marks. If you want to make a question forceful such as screaming, ‘Where on earth did the bloody cookies go’?” she paused and waited while the inevitable laughter died down then continued, “Then you would use something called an interrobang, which looks like a question mark with an exclamation mark through the middle, like this.” She held up a piece of paper with a mark on it like the one she had described.

Fluttershy looked on in wonder. She couldn’t imagine arguing with one of her teachers. She’s so cute when she does that. Wait, cute? Um, how about something more platonic? She’s so adorable when she does that. No, not terribly platonic either. She’s so freaking gorgeous when she does that. She sighed and gave up, deciding to deal with this later.

At the end of class Rainbow Dash had told Fluttershy that she really needed to catch up on some flying practise and to go get some lunch. The little yellow filly had nodded and they had both gone their separate ways.

It was several hours later and Fluttershy was bored. She had a sneaking suspicion that Rainbow was still upset about the school dance and was just about to go looking for her when she heard a voice. It was definitely Rainbow. Fluttershy started to walk towards the source of the song.

“I opened my eyes last night, and saw you in the low light,
Walking down by the bay, on the shore,
Staring up at the stars that aren’t there anymore…”

Fluttershy knew the song; it was one of her favourites. It was also a duet. She smiled as she came up behind Rainbow Dash and waited till the second voice was supposed to come in.

“I was feeling the night grow old, and you were looking so cold,
So like an introvert, I drew my overshirt,
Around my arms and began to shiver violently,
Before you happened to look, and see the tunnels all around me,
Running into the dark underground,
All the subways around create a great sound,
To my motion fatigue, farewell,
With your ear to a seashell,
You can hear the waves in underwater caves,
As if you actually were inside a Saltwater Room…”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and joined in with a voice as sweet as that of an angel.

“Time together isn’t ever quite enough…”

Rainbow stiffened but, without missing a beat, began to sing the next part.

“When you and I are alone, I’ve never felt so at home…”

Rainbow still hadn’t turned around but Fluttrshy smiled and continued.

“What will it take to make or break this hint of love?”

“Only time…”

And now they sang together in a harmony

“Only time…”

It was Fluttershy’s turn to sing again.

“When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?”

“If this is what I call home, why does it feel so alone?”

“So tell me darling, do you wish we'd fall in love?”

“All the time…”

They sang together in another harmony.

“All the time”

Rainbow continued alone for the next part.

“Can you believe that the crew, has gone,
And wouldn't let me sign on,
All my islands have sunk, in the deep,
So I can hardly relax or even oversleep,
But I feel warm with your hand, in mine,
When we walk along the shoreline,
I guess we’ll never know, why sparrows love the snow,
We'll turn out all of the lights, and set this ballroom aglow.”

Fluttershy let the five beats pass and then re-joined.

“So tell me darling do you wish we’d fall in love?”

“All the time…”

“Time together isn’t ever quite enough…”

“When you and I are alone I’ve never felt so at home…”

“What will it take to make or break this hint of love?”

“Only time…”

Another harmony.

“Only time…”

Flutterhsy sang again.

“When we’re apart whatever are you thinking of?”

“If this is what I call home, why does it feel so alone?”

“So tell me darling do you wish we’d fall in love?”

“All the time…”

The two were harmonizing perfectly, as though they did this all the time.

“all the time…”

Rainbow's voice faded to leave room for Fluttershy's solo.

“Time together isn’t ever quite enough,
When we’re apart whatever are you thinking of?
What will it take to make or break this into love?
So tell me darling do you wish we’d fall in love?”

“All the time…”

After the final harmony the two fell silent. At last Rainbow Dash turned to Flutterhsy and there were tears in her eyes.

“Fluttershy…”

“Shh, I know.”

She stepped closer, leaned over and kissed Rainbow on the lips, gently.

Rainbow just stood there, stunned, after a moment she kissed back. A minute passed and at last the two pulled away. They were both blushing and it was Rainbow who at last broke the silence. “So… uh, got a date for the school dance yet?”

Flutterhsy just giggled and kissed her lightly on the nose. “Why Dashie, are you asking me out?”

Rainbow blushed a little more but nodded.

“I’d love to go with you.” Said Fluttershy. Rainbow leaned in and kissed her again, this time lingering much longer. The bell rang.

Rainbow pulled back and flashed Fluttershy a sheepish grin. “Back to class?”

“Back to class.” The two walked away slowly, Rainbows wing draped lovingly over Fluttershy, her new filly friend.

Wow, that was a long chapter. Ok there are some disclaimers this time: The first song was "The Strength To Go On" by Rise Against, the second song was "I'm Yours." by Jason Mraz, And the third song was "The Saltwater Room" By Owl City. Thanks for reading and I hoped you liked it. And no, this is not the end. I still have a few things up my sleeve. You think it all ended happily ever after? You just wait... (After waking up the morning following me writing this story I decided that the way RD handled the fight in the original wasn't consistent with the character arc and so I changed it. I hope this reads and feels better because it didn't feel right to me. If you are a new reader and haven't read the original... well.... I think it's better this way).

Unforeseen dilemma

Rainbow Dash seemed to have permanently moved to Fluttershy’s bed. Her own bed hadn’t been slept in for two nights and it wasn’t looking promising. The way things were going, that poor bed wouldn’t be slept in until one of two things happened: one was that the two ponies who were neglecting it so badly moved out and two ponies who weren’t so fond of cuddling and therefor would actually sleep in separate beds would move in, the second was that the young couple would break up. While the bed was not happy with its neglect, it wasn’t entirely heartless either, figuratively speaking of course.

Rainbow Dash was still asleep when Fluttershy woke. She was cuddled up close and looked so peaceful that Flutterhsy felt bad waking her. For a time, she merely watched the blue face sleep on gently. After a minute she mumbled something in her sleep. This time, it was, “Fluttershy.” A huge joyful grin spread across the canary yellow face. Now that was romantic, she thought blissfully.

“Time to wake up, Dashie.”

Apart from shuffling in place a little, the blue pegasus didn’t stir.

“I know you can hear me Dashie.”

This time there was a definite hint of a smirk around the cyan lips but the owner continued to fain sleep.

“Come on, you. I know you’re awake.”

At last she spoke. “What? No morning kiss?”

Fluttershy smiled and leaned over, pressing her lips to Rainbow’s. Cerise eyes shot open but then she relaxed and leaned in a little. At last Fluttershy pulled away. “Awake?”

“… Very…” Said Rainbow, still a bit stunned. Regaining her wits a little she added. “Now if you’d woken me up like that in the first place it would have been so much easier. Alright, I suppose we’d better get to class.”

Fluttershy frowned a little. “No classes today. It’s Sunday. Remember? The dance?”

“Then why did you wake me? That’s not till six.”

The yellow filly grinned a wicked little grin. “Well you were ever so boring while you were asleep.”

“Hmph. What happened to being shy, eh? Shy ponies don’t just wake other ponies up because they feel like it.” Rainbow was trying not to laugh and doing a rather poor job of it.

“And shy ponies don’t just walk up and kiss their best friend… but if you’d like me to go back to being shy I could probably do that… I mean… if you want me to…” The little yellow filly cowered in mock bashfulness.

Rainbow attempted a sigh of despair. “Well, I suppose if kissing is in the equation then it does outweigh the early morning wake up.”

Fluttershy looked up demurely but there was mischief in her eyes. “Are you sure? Because you don’t sound sure.”

“Come here, you.” Rainbow pulled her over and squeezed tight. They stayed that way for a moment, completely content. After a while, Rainbow began gently stroking the soft pink mane. Absently, she started to stroke Fluttershys coat. The yellow filly half squealed, half giggled and cringed back. “Hey Shy?”

“Yes?”

“Are you ticklish?” Her tone was almost casual.

“No.”

“Are you sure? Because you don’t sound sure.”

Before Fluttershy could say another word, Rainbow leaped at her, tickling mercilessly.”

“Eep.” Was all she managed to say before she was choked by giggles. She shrieked and tried to pull away but Rainbow just pulled her back and tickled all the more.

“M-m-mercy.”

“Never. You’re way too cute for your own good, Shy.”

“P-please?”

“Oh, alright.”

“You are so *hic* going to pay for that.”

Rainbow Dash just went wide eyed for a moment and then started rolling around laughing. “You… You…” she managed between gasps. “You… just looked so funny when you…” she burst in to another fit of laughter.

Fluttershy tried her best scowl but it wasn’t very good. “You know, that wasn’t *hic* very funny.”

At last managing to calm herself, Rainbow said, “You should have a glass of water, you sound ridiculous.”

“Dashie?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to get you for this.”

“I’m sure you will Shy.”

Fluttershy stood in the scalding hot shower, thinking hard. Although she was happy that her and Rainbow were together now it still meant a lot of processing. Rainbow had always known she was gay, or at least suspected. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, hadn’t known until the first time they had kissed. Her mind wandered for a moment at the memory before snapping back to reality. Ok, so she’d never had a colt friend but that was mostly because she hadn't met many nice colts. If it came to it she hadn't met many nice fillies. She smiled ruefully as a thought crossed her mind, what is mum going to think? She was just starting to seriously worry about this when she heard singing coming from the bedroom.

“Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up?
Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?
Are we getting closer or are we just getting more lost?”

Fluttershy stood still and let Rainbow's voice wash over her, relaxing under the hot water and thinking, this time, not of her mother but of Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours first,
Let’s compare scars, I’ll tell you who’s is worse,
Let’s un-write these pages and replace them with our own words…”

She stepped out of the shower and walked out in to the bedroom, staying just out of Rainbow’s line of vision so as not to disturb her.

“We live on front porches and swing life away.
We get by just fine here on minimum wage.
If love is a labour I’ll slave till the end.
I won’t cross these streets until you hold my hoof…”

She began to nod her head in beat with the song. Listening intently as Rainbow continued, never missing a note.

“I’ve been here so long, think that it’s time to move.
Winter’s so cold, summer’s over too soon.
Let’s pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow…”

Fluttershy smiled when she remembered what was to happen that night. The school dance was going to be wonderful.

“I’ve had some friends, some that I hardly know,
But we’ve had some times, I wouldn’t trade for the world.
We chase these day’s down with talks of, the places that will go…”

Fluttershy felt a little nervous about the prospect of coming out to an entire school but there was no one she would rather do it with than Rainbow Dash. And it wasn’t like they were going to parade around declaring their new relationship with a megaphone.

“We live on front porches and swing life away.
We get by just fine here on minimum wage.
If love is a labour I’ll slave till the end.
I won’t cross these streets until you hold my hoof…”

Fluttershy smiled. Tonight really was going to be the best night ever.

“Swing life away,
Swing life away,
Swing life away,
Swing life away…”

“You really do have a beautiful voice, Dashie.”

Rainbow spun around and saw a still damp Fluttershy standing there. Wow, she looks stunning… hmm probably a little early for thoughts like that. Ok, try for something more neutral, how about: she looks so sexy… Yea, that may just be a little worse. Um, whoa nelly what a flank. She gave a mental shrug. She could probably have done worse.

“Dashie?”

“Hmm?” Said Rainbow, not really paying attention and still trying to squash any errant thoughts.

“What are you thinking about? You just seemed to vague out.”

“Oh, it was nothing. Want to do something? I’m bored.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Kiss you.” She suggested hopefully.

After hours of playing, talking and, to both ponies delight, lots and lots of kissing, the time finally came to be getting ready for the school dance. Rainbow had taken a shower and even brushed her mane, something she seldom did, after that, her and Fluttershy headed off towards the schools main building.

Inside, the building was packed with ponies. The young couple had arrived a little late so as to avoid the drag of the setting up. As they walked in they were hit by a wall of sound. To Fluttershy it felt unpleasant but Rainbow was subconsciously twitching to the heavy beat of the music that was blaring from the stage.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the stage and gasped. She Turned to Fluttershy. “That’s Tim Mcilrath, lead singer of Rise Against. How on earth did the school get them to play here? Come on.” With that she pulled Fluttershy off in to the crowd of thrashing bodies.

The pony up on stage was dark yellow with a grey tint. He had a blond mane but most noticeable of all was that one of his eyes was blue and the other was brown.

“All because of you, I haven’t slept in so long,
When I do I dream, of drowning in the ocean.
Longing for the shore, where I can lay my head down,
I’ll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out…”

The night wore on and eventually the band bowed and left the stage. The silence was strange but it was now an open mic event and soon ponies were stepping up and singing their favourite songs. There was a small school band for accompaniment if a song needed it.

“Go on Dashie, you should go sing a song.”

Rainbow looked as though she would protest but in then she shrugged and trotted up to the stage. She walked over and said something to the band, they nodded and she walked back over to the mic. The band struck up and she began to sing.

“The stars lean down to kiss you, and I lie awake and miss you.
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere.
Cause I’ll dose off safe and soundly,
But I’ll miss your arms around me.
I’d send a post card to you dear,
Cause I wish you were here…”

Fluttersy listened on in amazement. She hadn’t known Rainbow knew that song. When the song finished, she took a bow and exited the stage.

“That was amazing.”

“Hmm…”

“Dashie, are you ok?”

Rainbow’s eyes focused. “Yea, fine.”

Fluttershy was about to enquire further but she was interrupted by the principal who was standing on the stage and requesting quiet.

“I’m glad you are all having fun but could I have your attention for a moment? We had a new student enrol today and I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to introduce you all.”

When she had finished speaking she nodded offstage and a pink pegasus walked out. A light pink pegasus, with a white and pink mane.

“I’d like to introduce you all to Cherry Sprinkle.”

Sorry about how long it took me to get this chapter uploaded but school is back as of today. *yells joyfully* Right, now for some disclaimers: the first song was "Swing Life Away" by Rise Against, the second song was "The Good Left Undone" by Rise Against and the third song was "Vanilla Twilight" By Owl City. There is a Flutterdash fanfiction called "Living In The Present, Hoping For The Future" Written by DinoManDraves from which I got the idea of putting the song "Swing Life Away" to this shipping. It's a great story so you should defiantly check it out. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and I'll have the next one up as soon as possible.

Unforeseen outcome

Rainbow Dash’s bed was relieved that night when it continued on unslept in. The tension between the young couple was palpable, even to an inanimate object. When the two had arrived the night before, they hadn’t said a word to each other, Fluttershy just flopped on to her bed and, after a moment’s hesitation, Rainbow followed. The bed had been quite glad that they hadn’t fought over this and didn’t really care anymore that it was being neglected, figuratively speaking of course.

Rainbow woke to soft lips pressed against her own. The touch was gentle yet loving. Her heart fluttered and the last remnants of her dreams fell away like a fog under the strong gale of a whole other kind of dream coming true. It might have lasted for a minute or an hour. It didn’t matter; it could never be long enough for Rainbow. At last the kiss ended, she opened her eyes and looked in to two teal pools only inches from her face.

“Good morning.”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything; she only examined the cyan face in front of her intently. At last she spoke. “Are you ok, Dashie?”

Rainbow leaned forward and captured those sweet, butter yellow lips in another kiss. When she pulled back she tried her best to look sincere. “I’m fine, Shy.”

“I don’t believe you.” The statement was simple but it held in it love and concern.

“Well, the filly who made my last school a living hell has just turned up when I thought my life had become perfect. Considering those circumstances I’m as good as I could be.”

Fluttershy said nothing. She just licked Rainbow on the cheek affectionately, then flopped down and snuggled in close. They stayed like that for quite a while and, if there were any tears, they were quickly lost in butter yellow fur. There were no classes that day as the students needed a day to rest after the party.

It was later that day when it happened. Rainbow had decided to have a walk outside to clear her head. She was just heading back to her dorm when she heard sobbing. For a heart stopping moment she thought it was Fluttershy but then she realised, with a shudder, that she knew very well what Fluttershy sounded like when she cried and that was not it.

Curious, she headed towards the sound. As she got closer she heard the voices.

“Oh look now she’s crying! Poor thing! You should go back to your filly friend, you pathetic fillyfooler!”

As she drew nearer, Rainbow could see the same two colts who had harassed her and, curled in front of them in a quivering ball, was Cherry Sprinkle. For a moment Rainbow considered just walking away. She sighed, every single instinct she had was telling her to just keep walking, every fibre of her being was telling her that she should just leave the wretched filly to her fate. The thought made her sick. She stepped forward.

“I thought we already had this conversation, guys. Don’t use that word until you can tell me what it actually means.”

The two colts spun around in surprise.

Seeing she had their attention, Rainbow Dash continued. “And anyway, I will testify that she is as heterosexual as they come.” The bitterness in her voice with that statement made even the two colts cringe back. “In fact, as I'm the only filly in this place in an open relationship with another filly, you really should be teasing me. You know that won’t work, though, so just buzz off.”

The grey colt turned back to Cherry. “You’re lucky your filly friend is here to stick up for you.” With that, the two walked off.

Rainbow stood still for a moment and then began walking away.

“Wait!” It was still a little shaky but there was also urgency in Cherry’s voice.

Rainbow paused but didn’t turn or speak.

Cherry stood but made no move to get any closer to the blue filly. “Thank you. I was looking for you and someone said this was your dorm so I came here but then—”

“Save it. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Look, Dash, I’m really sorry I—”

Rainbow spun around and glared at Cherry. “Sorry? That’s it? You’re sorry? Oh well that fixes everything! You’re sorry, so suddenly I’ve forgotten that you had my trust and then made my life a living hell! Well that makes me feel heaps better! Thanks, Cherry.”

She spun round and began to walk back to her dorm but before she could get more than two steps she was stopped by a now substantially more shaky voice. “If you hate me so much, why did you stick up for me?”

Rainbow didn’t respond for several seconds and when she did her voice was strained and filled with an emotion that was hard to place. “Just because I hate you, doesn’t mean I have to be a bitch.”

“Dash, I came looking for you because I wanted to apologise. There’s something I never told you and—”

“Oh, it’s way too late for apologies, Cherry. You had more than enough chances when I was begging you to stop bullying me, to stop turning all the other fillies and colts against me, when I was desperate for you to be my friend again. Just go.”

“Rainbow I—”

“Get the hell away from me!”

Sobbing quietly, the pink pegasus walked away.

Fluttershy sat on her bed staring blankly across the room. Her gaze passed over the picture of Cherry and, without knowing why, she walked over and picked it up. She examined it closely but could discern nothing new from the worn photo. She flipped it over and saw thin, slanting writing across the back in black ink. “Forever.”

She thought about the word for some time before a voice right by her ear made her jump. “We both had a picture of each other. Hers said “Friends.” And mine said, “Forever.” I wrote on hers and she wrote on mine.”

Fluttershy spun around and saw Rainbow standing there. Her cheeks were streaked with fresh tears and her eyes were a little bloodshot. She had been crying and she was not trying to hide it.

Fluttershy laid a comforting wing around her filly friend and held her close. Rainbow snuggled in, letting her tears flow freely. After a while she seemed to calm a bit, and was able to look in to those beautiful teal eyes. There was so much love and compassion in those eyes that she felt like she could stare in to them forever.

The yellow filly smiled and said gently, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” She steered Rainbow in to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The whole time, Fluttershy never once removed her wing from around the cyan shoulders.

Rainbow Dash had been so exhausted and emotionally drained that she had collapsed on the bed and fallen asleep after her shower. Fluttershy sat and watched for a while then, careful not to wake her, walked outside in to the late noonday sun.
After quite a bit of searching, she found the one she was looking for huddled under a tree, still crying.

“Cherry?”

The filly stiffened but when she replied her tone was level. “Another one here to pick on me? Go on, take your best stab.”

“I actually wanted to talk to you about Rainbow Dash.”

At this the filly spun around. “Who are you?”

“I’m Fluttershy, Rainbow's filly friend. I wanted to know why you were so mean to her in her last school. She is very upset right now. You two were the closest of friends and I find it hard to believe that you would ditch her over such a small thing.”

“Oh, quite the clever one aren’t you? It’s none of your business so stay out of it.”

Fluttershy cringed at the filly’s tone but persisted. “She cares about you and I want to know why.”

“Bad judge of character?” Cherry suggested lamely and Fluttershy could tell her façade was slipping.

“You cared about her too, didn’t you?”

She had expected denial or anger. She didn’t expect Cherry to slump and say, “Yes.”

“Then why were you so mean to her?”

“You wouldn’t understand.” She said shortly.

“I can try and right now it’s looking like I’m the only one offering even that much.”

Cherry slumped again. “It all started when I first met her. My parents are real homophobes and they were always very emphatic that if I were to ever tell them I was gay they would disown me and that if any of my friends were gay that it was my job to make sure that their lives were a misery. I knew Dash was gay but I didn’t care despite my upbringing. I figured so long as she never came out then my parents wouldn’t even have to know. I started having feelings for her but over time I’d gotten quite good at suppressing my feelings.

“Then she went and told me she had a crush on me. It felt like a dream come true and a nightmare all at once. I knew that if my parents found out that I’d be out on my arse with nowhere to go. I panicked and realised what I had to do. After about two weeks Dash was gone and, while my heart was broken, I thought I was safe. Not a week later, my parents caught me eyeing a filly and found out anyway. Usually I was careful to always appear to be looking at colts but for, some reason, that day I just slipped.

“Ever since then I’ve been living with my aunt who knows who I am and doesn’t judge me. She knew I had a crush on Dash, so she did some digging through school records and found which one Dash ended up in. Then I came here, hoping to apologise.” She gave a bitter laugh. “That went well, didn’t it?” She jumped when she felt a comforting hoof on her back but then she relaxed.

“I’ll help in any way I can.” And with that, Cherry was alone with her misery once again.

Day off school! Ok, so I have some things to say at this point: first of all, this is a Flutterdash fic and I have no intention of changing it in to a Rainbowsprinkle fic. Secondly, I'm sorry there were no songs in this chapter but, again, it didn't feel like they would be much in the mood for singing. Thirdly and most importantly I would like to thank all the awesome people who have read and enjoyed my story, you're all awesome, thanks guys. The next chapter will be happier I promise. (Or maybe the chapter after...)

Unforeseen resolution

“Bang, bang go the coffin nails,
Like a breath exhaled, then gone forever,
Seems like just yesterday,
How did I miss the red flags raised?
Think back to the days we laughed,
We braved these bitter storms together.
Brought to his knees he cried,
But on his feet he died…”

Rainbow Dash was sitting on Fluttershy’s bed, vaguely aware of the soft aroma of flowers that always seemed to appear in any place the yellow filly spent large amounts of time.

Also sitting on the bed was her mp3 player. For once, the volume was at a sane level. She didn’t feel in the mood for loud music at the moment.

“Dashie?”

Rainbow didn’t move and when she spoke her voice was flat. “Where did you go?”

There was no reply but, after a moment, Rainbow felt a wing draped around her shoulders. “I needed to talk to Cherry.”

“You did what?”

“Just listen for a minute, would you? I had good reason and there’s something you need to hear, if not from her than from me.”

And so Rainbow listened patiently as Fluttershy repeated everything Cherry had told her. When she was finished, Rainbow spoke. “That doesn’t change anything. I don’t care what her motivation was. She betrayed me to save her own skin and friends don’t do that.”

“But she cared for you, she still cares, she tracked you down just to apologise, surely all that counts for something?”

“…No…”

“Will you at least talk to her?”

“No.”

Fluttershy lay a gentle hoof on a cyan cheek, turned Rainbow's face and looked in to her eyes. “Wrong answer, try again.”

“No.”

“Keep trying.”

Unable to look in to those beautiful teal orbs any longer, Rainbow turned away and said, “Fine, I’ll talk to her. But it won’t change anything.”

“Good, go on, then.”

The pale pink filly was easy to find. Her tears seemed to have dried for now. Rainbow landed quietly behind her and walked over, dumping herself down beside Cherry.

“She talked you in to coming?”

Rainbow gave a half laugh. “Eyes like that, she could persuade me to chop off my wings.”

“I’m sorry, Dash. I know how much I hurt you and I won’t ask you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know why I did what I did.”

“You don’t.”

Cherry turned to her looking confused. “I don’t what?”

“Know how much you hurt me. You don’t now and you never will.”

Cherry’s eyes filled with tears again but she didn’t allow them to fall. “What are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, Rainbow just sighed and removed one of her earpieces and put it in one pink ear.

“Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are…”

The two sat for a while in silence. It was quite a time before Cherry finally spoke. “I’ll transfer to a different school. I don’t want to hurt you any more.”

“That would be best.”

Cherry couldn’t stop the tear that leaked from the corner of her eye.

“Goodbye Cherry. I hope you have a good life.” Rainbow stood up and began to walk away.

“Rainbow, wait!”

Rainbow paused.

“I know I said I wouldn’t ask, but I just have to. Please, please, can you forgive me?”

Rainbow teetered, grappling with herself but she had made up her mind. It was for the best and she knew it. “No.” There was no venom in the word, no scorn, just an answer. Her tone suggested Cherry had asked simply if she would like more sugar in her tea. For some reason, this tone hurt more than any shout would have.

Without saying another word, Rainbow flew off, leaving the pink filly to continue her crying in peace.

It was several minutes before Cherry noticed the uncomfortable feeling in her left wing. She stretched it out to examine the source of the discomfort. There, tucked in among her feathers, was a small folded piece of paper. She plucked it out and unfolded it. On the note were three words written in in an orange-gold ink “I forgive you.”

Cherry did leave the school the next day. She hadn’t really settled in and she certainly hadn’t made any friends. So there was no one to see her off when she flew away with her saddlebags bulging. Nearly no one, standing just behind a tree, a certain cyan filly stood and watched, her face impassive.

“It’s for the best.” Those words were the mortar in the wall that was holding her tears in check. Rainbow knew that Cherry would be ok and at least they had found some kind of resolution. While she was by no means happy that Cherry had turned up, she could at least respect her desire to make things right and, who knew, maybe one day they would meet again on different terms.

She liked that thought. She hoped they would, someday. She watched the pink spot vanish in to the distance and smiled a little.

She wasn’t surprised when she felt a hoof on her back. “I’m glad you two sorted things out.”

“Hmm…”

The two stood in contented silence, watching the horizon as the sun set. After a time, they turned and, without a word, walked back to their dorm.

Wow, a day off school and I release two chapters in one day. Sorry this one is kinda short but I just felt like there needed to be a break between this and the next chapter. Disclaimers: The first song was "Make It Stop" by Rise Against and the second was "Survive" also by Rise Against. This chapter was partially inspired by a fanfiction called "Make It Stop" by TheRealBonBon. This is an amazing story and I highly recommend checking it out. Sorry I broke my promise that this would be a happy chapter... (Also, I'm not sure if I should ad an OC tag. thoughts?) (And a great big thanks to nightmare4213 for recommending I change the song where RD and Cherry are talking to "Survive.")

And yet we sing on

Fluttershy awoke the next morning to the sound of singing. The dawn was bright and the voice was like a gentle tide washing over her still muzzy brain.

“I’ll walk in the rain by your side,
I’ll cling to the warmth of your hoof,
I’ll do anything to keep you satisfied,
I’ll love you more than anybody can…”

Fluttershy lay still, her eyes shut tight. Somehow she had been expecting Rainbow to be depressed or upset but her voice sounded full of joy and hope.

“And the wind will whisper your name to me,
Little birds will sing along in time,
Leaves will bow down, when you walk by,
And morning bells will chime…”

Unable to help it, Fluttershy smiled lightly.

The song drew to a close and the little yellow filly still hadn’t stirred. “I know you’re awake, Shy.”

“Prove it.”

Rainbow grinned and leaned forward. Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open at the sudden, and very passionate, kiss. “Proven.” There was a self-satisfied smirk on the cyan face.

Fluttershy just stammered incoherently, still stunned.

“What’s the matter, Shy? It’s not like I’ve never kissed you before.”

“Y-yes but not like that. What’s put you in such a good mood anyway?”

“I dunno, maybe it’s just having the best filly friend in the whole of Equestria and no end to the time I get to spend with her.”

“Suck up.” Said Flutterhsy, in mock chastisement.

“And you love it.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“Come here, you.” She grabbed the yellow filly and pulled her close.

After a moment Fluttershy said, “Um, Dashie? Can’t breathe.” When the cyan filly didn’t let up, Fluttershy rolled them over so she was lying on top of Rainbow, trapping her to the bed. “Pinned ya.”

“Shy, do you really think you could hold me like this if I really wanted to stop you?”

“Yes, but I don’t really think that’s important.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you love it and you know it.”

“Hmm…” Rainbow flipped them over so she was on pinning Fluttershy. “I prefer being on top.”

A slight pink tint came to the yellow cheeks but she smiled and flipped them over again. “I’m much stronger than I look, Dashie.”

“Still not stronger than me.” She flipped them over again… or tried to but Fluttershy held her pinned tight.

“You’re not going anywhere, Dashie”

Rainbow struggled again but it was to no avail. Struck with inspiration, she reached under and brushed her hoof along the yellow belly. Fluttershy squeaked and, just for a moment, slackened her grip. It was all Rainbow needed to flip them over once again. She smirked and looked down at the little yellow filly.

“That’s not fair! You tickled me, that’s cheating.”

“Oh, I’m all ridden with guilt.” From outside the bell rang, summoning fillies and colts to their first class of the day. It was math.

Rainbow took her seat next to Fluttershy as had become her habit. They both listened intently to the teacher and neither of them spoke until halfway through the class when Rainbow leaned over and said at a whisper, “How would you like an A+?”
Fluttershy grinned and nodded. Things really had gone back to normal.

After class, the young couple walked outside, laughing. They froze when they saw a group of students gathered around the notice board. There was excited chattering but the two looked at each other nervously. They could only think of what had happened last time.

In the end they decided it couldn’t be any worse so they went to see what the fuss was about. This time, the crowd just parted in front of Rainbow. There was a notice on the board that read, “Singing competition tonight! First prize is a weeks-worth of Finest Kind chocolate.” Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to each other and smiled broadly.

“Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

After finishing all their lessons for the day, they had gone back to their dorm for a last minute practise and to decide on a song.

Now they walked on to the stage and looked out at the hall full of ponies. It looked as though the whole school had showed up. Fluttershy had a flash of nerves but then the band started to play.

Rainbow took a deep breath and started to sing.

“Do you hear me, talking to you?
Across the water across the deep, blue, ocean,
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I’m trying…”

Flutterhsy began to sing, her voice as sweet as ever.

“Girl, I hear you, in my dreams,
I feel you whisper, across the sea,
I keep you with me, in my heart,
You make it easier when life gets hard…”

Rainbow joined in and they sang together.

“I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend,
Lucky to have been where I have been,
Lucky to be coming home again,
Ooh,
They don’t know how long it takes,
Waiting for a love like this,
Every time we say goodbye,
I wish we had one more kiss, I’ll wait for you,
I promise you, I will.
I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend,
Lucky to have been where I have been,
Lucky to be coming home again,
Lucky we’re in love in every way,
Lucky to have stayed were we have stayed,
Lucky to be coming home someday…”

Fluttershy stopped and let Rainbow sing on alone.

“And so I’m sailing, through the sea,
To an island where we’ll meet,
You’ll hear the music fill the air,
I’ll put a flower in your hair…”

Rainbow’s last note was only just fading in her throat when Fluttershy began to sing.

“Though the breezes, through the trees,
Blow so pretty, you’re all I see,
As the world keeps spinning round,
You hold me right here right now…”

Rainbow took a breath and the two began to sing together again.

“I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend,
Lucky to have been where I have been,
Lucky to be coming home again,
I’m lucky we’re in love in every way,
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed,
Lucky to be coming home someday,
Ooh, ooh, ooh…”

The two voices faded in unison, and the two looked up at the whole school in front of them. There was a moment of silence, then a thundering applause tore through the large hall. Every single pony was stamping and cheering. Rainbow reached over and grabbed Fluttershy in a tight hug.

“I love you, Shy.”

“I love you too, Dashie.” Rainbow leaned forward and kissed the yellow filly on the lips. The hall fell silent for just a moment but then the applause broke out and this time it was even louder.

Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

And the two walked off the stage and back to the warm cosy bed that would be waiting for them. This truly was the happiest they had ever been.

The end.

Alright fillies and gentle-colts, this really is the end. first of all I'll just do the usual and say that the first song was "For Baby" by John Denver, and the second song was "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and featuring Colbie Caillat. Now as this is the end, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read, liked and favorited this story. I'd also like to thank everyone who trudged through my endless grammatical and spelling mistakes to make this story better. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have.