For Her Favor

Chapters

Interrogation
Interesting Developments
Realizations
Consent and Conundrums
Date Night
Years in the Making
Feelings, A Dinner, and Declarations

Interrogation

Dark, quiet, and eerie. This was the world Rainbow Dash awoke to, or rather she assumed she had woken up, but because it was so dark she had trouble figuring out just where she was. She stirred as the world slowly reformed around her. How long she had been here she could not say, all she knew was that the last time she had been conscious was all a blur to her, but one thing was for certain.

She was restrained, to a chair she guessed.

Also it was dark.

Very dark.

As her eyes adjusted to help her see in the darkened room, Rainbow Dash tried to piece together what had happened before she blacked out. Then without any warning a bright light turned on, blinding her, forcing her eyes shut. As she struggled against her restraints she was addressed by a calm, cold voice.

“Ah I see you are finally awake dear. I do hope you can forgive the precautions.” Rainbow suddenly ceased her futile attempts to escape and merely looked head on into the blinding light and called out, “Rarity?”

After the shock of who was responsible for her imprisonment had worn off, Rainbow Dash immediately called back impatiently, ‘Wha- Rarity!? What in the hay is going on and why am I tied up?’ It was then at that moment that the memories of just before her black out flooded back into the pegasus’ mind.

...

Rarity considered herself a mare that was well put together, and she certainly attempted to have her home and business be a reflection of that belief (her creation room being a miniscule exception). For instance the furniture in her sitting room was all neatly aligned and everything from the ceiling fan to the end table was dusted and shined. For Rainbow Dash this gave her an uncomfortable vibe, as if one wrong move would upset the delicate balance of everything and end is devastation. Also the sterility of it all made Dash feel uncomfortable and fidgety. Rainbow preferred the open skies, the wind in her mane, to her Rarity’s world of prim and proper precision was just controlled, too persnickety, and to stifling for her.

Still despite their near opposite opinions on most things the two ponies shared many similarities. They both had pretty big dreams, as far as dreams go anyway. They were also quite comfortable in the spotlight, especially more so than a mutual friend the two of them shared, this friend in question being a rare area in which they saw eye-to-eye. For Rarity and Rainbow Dash their friendship with Fluttershy meant a lot.

Rainbow and Fluttershy’s relationship went back, much farther back than any of the other friendships within their little group. The two pegasus ponies both hailed from Cloudsdale and even met at the same flight school. Fluttershy, as her name implied, was quiet and meek and an easy target for bullies. Rainbow Dash often took it upon herself to defend the poor filly because Rainbow felt it was the right thing to do, and an amazing pony such as herself of course did what she considered heroic. Overtime however, Rainbow go to actually know Fluttershy and realize there was more to her than just some helpless filly, and the two soon became friends despite their significance differences.

Since those days Rainbow and Fluttershy’s lives had gone on increasingly diverging paths, but after the arrival of Twilight Sparkle those two paths collided once more and their friendship resurfaced. Despite some rough patches, Rainbow could say with confidence that her friendship with Fluttershy was better than it ever had been before. Rainbow was well aware that when push came to shove Fluttershy would push back, oftentimes literally. However, the bold flier also knew that she still had to be there to protect her friend thus leading to her recent arrangement with the unicorn who now sat before her and from whose tea cup she was now drinking.

Rarity’s friendship with Fluttershy was much different than Rainbow’s. Rarity and Fluttershy both enjoyed many feminine pursuits together, such as their weekly spa dates. At these trips the two would relax and have talks which ranged in a variety of subjects from their other friends to fashion and even animals. Fluttershy’s calm and quiet nature complemented such a peaceful environment, which Rarity loved. Of course Rarity also found the pegasus to be quite… enchanting. Fluttershy was so demure, had excellent poise and was far more graceful than any of the other mares in Ponyville. Once the air had been cleared between the two after Fluttershy’s brief run as a model Rarity was a little bit saddened that her friend had turned away from such an opportunity since she genuinely believed her friend had made an excellent model. However, Rarity knew Fluttershy was not capable of dealing with delicate social interactions and so she had taken it upon herself to ensure her friend would not have to suffer any embarrassing dealings with other ponies, thus leading to her current arrangement with the brash pegasus who know sat before her and who had just taken a sip from the cup Rarity had offered her.

“So what is it that you called me over for Rarity,” Rainbow Dash finally asked innocently after taking her first sip from the cup.

“Oh well it’s about a dear friend of ours. It seems, through a bit of investigating, I have discovered that a certain pony wishes to attempt to try and court her,” Rarity replied while staring out the window.

Investigating? Rainbow thought to herself and chuckled. Like most every other pony town, Rainbow was quite aware of Rarity’s talent for obtaining information via gossip and here say. If not for her proficiency at procuring precious gems, Rarity could have easily gotten a pair of binoculars on her flank. “Well alright then, who is it?” Rainbow inquired.

Rarity did not look at Rainbow, instead she continued to sip her own cup of tea. After a brief pause of inactivity Rarity finally answered, “Oh I think you already know the answer to that question Rainbow Dash”.

Rainbow sat in silence and pondered for the briefest of moments before offering her unsure answer, “um is it Thunderlane again?”

“Nope”, the unicorn quickly replied.

“Noteworthy?” the pegasus offered.

“Afraid not.”

“Meadow Song?”

“Try again darling,” Rarity replied turning her head to look at Dash for the first time in the entire conversation.

“Well then it’s obvious I don’t know who it is, so why don’t you quite being weird and just tell me already!” Rainbow Dash said with obviously increasing frustration.

“Oh this pony in question is a rough, brash, daredevil who has been lying in wait to pounce on our dear friend for quite some time, they also have a prismatic mane,” Rarity said calmly as she described this mysterious pony. As Rainbow recounted Rarity’s description one word in particular caught her interest.

“Um Rarity, what does prismatic mean again?” Rainbow Dash asked with the slightest hint of nervousness.

“It’s used to describe something that has many colors dear, you know like a rainbow,” Rarity said in the calmest and most off-putting manner Rainbow could imagine. Then as if Rarity had planned the timing to absolute perfection, which Rainbow had no evidence to the contrary, the pegasus began to feel suddenly overcome with a heaviness as the room began to spin and fade into darkness.

Then there was nothing.

...

Then there was something again. Once her memories had returned to her, Rainbow Dash’s mood had quickly shifted from confused to enraged.

“What the?!? Rarity what is your deal!? First you spike my drink, then you drag me to who the hay knows where, tie me up to a chair, and now you have a really bright light shining right in my face!?” Rainbow yelled to her captor and supposed friend.

As infuriated as Dash was Rarity was just as calm and collected, though Dash couldn’t tell with the light still shining in her face.

“Rainbow you and I have always had our differences, but there was one area in which we saw eye to eye. That being our mutual concern for the safety and well being of our dear Fluttershy,” Rarity spoke calmly as if merely to counteract Rainbow’s energetic inquiry.

“Yeah, and you and I have totally been doing that. For the past several months every lousy stallion that’s had a thing for here you and I have chased off. Thunderlane, Ace, Noteworthy, Thunderlane again. We even put the fear of Celestia into Snowflake and that guy is as big as well Big Macintosh .” Rarity then thought back to those times she shared with Rainbow, and it’s true they made an excellent team.

She remembered the stakeouts, the interrogations, the intimidation. Together Rarity and Rainbow Dash came made a formidable team and no second-rate stallion was going to lay a hoof on Fluttershy while they had anything to say about it. Rarity then corrected herself in her mind to include second-rate mares as well.

“I must admit we have had some good times together you and I,” Rarity said in a tone recalling find memories she shared with her sky blue partner in crime. “Remember the time you and I followed Fluttershy and Thunderlane to that party, to which then Thunderlane got a tad too forward we accidentally knocked the punch table and got him soaked?”

Rainbow replied happily, “Of course! That was priceless how could I forget? It also helped that we were those disguises you made for us so our cover wasn’t blown.” Rainbow then gave another ecstatic grin as she recalled another past escapade of theirs, “Oh what about the time that one unicorn Silver Tail took her to see that movie, but he tried to pull that lame move stallions always try where they pretend to yawn.”

Recalling the moment Rarity also became overcome with laughter, “Yes it was quite painful to watch, good thing we were able to put an end to that nonsense quickly.”

“Yeah throw enough popcorn at a stallion and eventually he’ll make a scene and get himself thrown out,” Rainbow Dash continued to chuckle only to suddenly stop and remember that Rarity had drugged her and tied her to a chair. “So Rarity, are you at least going to tell me why you brought me here and have me tied up?”

Seemingly also just then remembering the circumstances they found themselves in Rariy’s face lost all signs of humor and her voice returned to being calm and cold as she addressed her prisoner, “Well Rainbow as I said you and I have done our best to protect Fluttershy from some brutish pony having their way with her and while I considered you a capable and effective ally I’m afraid times have changed. I now find myself faced with a dilemma, in which a once trusted friend may perhaps be my next enemy.”

By this point Rainbow Dash had lost nearly all patience with Rarity and in a very annoyed fashion she demanded, “Will you stop beating around the bush and just spit it out already!”

Calmly Rarity replied, “ Alright fine then, “ she then cleared her throat in a slightly overemphasized manner as she turned off the blinding lamp allowing Rainbow to see her for the first time clearly, “I want you to admit once and for all that the real reason you did all this was because you have feelings for Fluttershy yourself!” Rarity proclaimed and she pointed her hoof accusingly at Rainbow Dash.

A silence permeated throughout the room as Dash sat, still tied to the chair, with her mouth agape. After what seemed like an eternity she finally stammered out, “What, huh me and Fluttershy!? How in the world could you ever come up with such a crazy idea as me liking Fluttershy!?”

“Oh please darling, it’s quite obvious. First there’s the history you share with her and your habit of ‘defending her honor’ from bullies in Summer Flight Camp and afterwards. Then there was the time you went all the way to her cottage to get her for cider season, despite being in a hurry yourself to beat Pinkie there, and then you even let her get in front of you in line. Then you went to see The Great Butterfly Migration with her, despite being bored out of your mind, and then you were upset when she refused to go to the Great Dragon Migration with you. Finally, you were so insistent on her helping with the tornado to take water up to Cloudsdale, and your actions and surprising patience with her were just so not you, well unless you somehow had other interests.” Rarity then smiled smugly at Rainbow Dash, knowing she had uncovered the truth.

After hearing Rarity’s laundry list of supposed evidence she was filled with a mixture of anger at having been found out and awe at her friend’s impressive observational skills. Still Dash was a competitor and she hated to lose, and to her this was just game between her and Rarity, one in which she had no intention of losing just yet.

“Fine, fine I admit it I do like her and have for a long time,” Rainbow admitted. Rarity wore a grin that signaled she had won, but then her victory lap was cut short as Rainbow Dash continued. “Now hold on one second I’ve made some interesting observations myself lately. See I’ve noticed that I’m not the only pony who has been spending an awful lot of time with Fluttershy, Let’s not forget about you and your little ‘Spa Dates’ you have with her every week. I’ve walked in on you guys, and I’ve noticed the way you never take your eyes off her. Did you really think no one would notice the way you look at her, heck I bet those twins could write at least half a dozen of those trashy romance novels you and Fluttershy both love so much about you two alone. Then there was the time you felt betrayed by her when she became a model, but you swallowed your anger for her sake, despite the fact that she had essentially stolen your dream job away from you. Finally, let’s not forget it was you that made up this plan that we’d go around and stop any deadbeats from approaching her.”

Rarity interjected, “I did that as her friend of course.”

“As her friend, or is just because you want her all to yourself? Huh, Ms. Element of Generosity?” Rainbow Dash was sure to add that last bit for good measure.

It was at that moment that Rarity was left speechless, but she was impressed that Rainbow had been keeping just as sharp an eye on her as she had on Rainbow. Realizing that it was fruitless to deny any longer Rarity proclaimed, “Fine seems I have been caught as well with my hoof in then ribbon jar”.

“So uh, this is awkward,” Rainbow admitted, both the revelation that they both pined for the same mare, and had been working together to ensure that no other pony would have her. Also Rainbow was still tied to the chair.

It was then that Rarity looked around at the situation she had found herself in and quickly noted the absurdity of it all. She then looked at her friend, co-conspirator, and competition, not with anger or jealously, but with mirth.

“Look Rainbow, I’m sorry about all this, it’s just together we both wanted to ensure that no one undesirable would have Fluttershy who I know means so much to both of us, I know my actions seem to suggest that I don’t see you as worthy but that’s not true, I was just afraid of losing her. In fact I have no problem saying that if it ever came down to it and I could not be with her then I would be truly happy if she were to end up with you. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry about this whole mess.”

Rainbow then did her best to comfort her. “Hey it’s fine, no hard feelings really I probably would have done something equally as nutty, and if Fluttershy doesn’t end up with me, I hope it’ll be with you.”

Rarity then went over to her friend and enveloped her in a genuine hug, then stepping back to address her again.

“So shall we continue with our previous arrangement and ensure that Fluttershy only ends up with the best possible pony.” The pegasus nodded her head in agreement. Rarity continued, “Also from now on you and I will try to woo that lovely mare, and we won’t do anything to compromise one another. Deal?”

“Deal,” Rainbow repeated.

“Excellent, well I’m certainly glad that’s over. Now if you’ll excuse me all this kidnapping and interrogation business has been an absolute wreck on my complexion, I think a trip to the spa is in order. Oh and I’ll see if Fluttershy would like to come too, you don’t mind do you Rainbow Dash?” Rarity then looked at Rainbow with her best puppy-dog eyes, almost matching her younger sister Sweetie Belle in adorableness. “

“Um no not really, but Rarity don’t you think you should untie….” Rarity interrupted her before she could finish.

“Why thank you dear I promise you and I will work out this whole ‘us loving the same mare’ ordeal later. How about tomorrow? Oh yes tomorrow.”

“Yeah that’s great Rarity but really I think you should…”

“Excellent we have a plan, see you tomorrow then dear, and we’ll figure out how where we go from here, ciao darling” and with that Rarity trotter happily out the door. There was just one problem.

“Ummm Rarity, don’t you think you forgot something? Heh, really funny Rarity but I think the joke is over so if you can now just come back down and untie me. Hey Rarity I know you can hear me, I’m still tied to this chair. Rarity! RARITY! RARITYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”

Interesting Developments

The weather in Ponyville could not have been more ideal. The sky was clear and Celestia’s sun was bright as ever, and the temperature was perfectly balmy. Everypony seemed to be taking advantage of this glorious day, whether it was gardening, strolling, or going to market. Rarity was one such pony as she felt that such a day would be an excellent opportunity to try out her new parasol, which was the same color as her coat and had diamond embroidery on it. Of course aside from testing her new accessory Rarity had another reason for her to venture out today as she was due to meet with a dear friend of hers, the best flier in Ponyville, and most likely all of Equestria, Rainbow Dash.

Rarity arrived at the restaurant exactly on time for her meeting and walking in she was unsurprised to find that the sky blue daredevil had not yet arrived. Rainbow Dash was nowhere near as stringent about punctuality as Rarity was and she tended to be rather lax about arriving on time. The only time in which Rarity was ever late was when it was fashionable to be so. Deciding to go ahead and take a table, the posh unicorn was seated by the host at a table in the far left corner of the restaurant and ordered a glass of sparkling water as she looked at the menu to decide on what to have, all the while glancing at the door looking for her friend. Fortunately, the unicorn did not have to wait long as she was able to make out that one-of-a-kind rainbow mane all the way across the restaurant and did her best to get her friend’s attention while at the same time maintaining her air of elegance and sophistication.

Rainbow Dash spotted Rarity waving and walked over to the table. As she approached Rarity was immediately aware of the peagsus’ demeanor, which was far less sunny than the marvelous weather outside. Rainbow Dash stood there and glared at Rarity, who did her best to diffuse the hostile environment. “Ah Rainbow my dear I see you got the message I sent you about lunch, and you even made it nearly on time.” She then lifted her hoof to offer her friend the seat across from her, but the pegasus only continued to stare as Rarity only continued to awkwardly smile.

“Oh come now dear are you still upset about our little mishap?” Rarity asked with a genuine mix of curiosity and confusion.

The pegasus finally broke her tense silence and replied shortly, “If by mishap you mean how you knocked me out, dragged me into your basement, tied me up, and then forced me into confessing my intimate feelings...”

“Which you were gracious enough to forgive me for I must add,” the unicorn interjected.

“Yes that all I forgave you for, what I’m still ticked off about is you leaving to go to the spa without untying me from the chair,” Rainbow finished as she finally took the seat offered to her by her friend and kidnapper.

Rarity, knowing that Rainbow had every right to be upset, then let go of her fake smile and gave a genuine look of regret as she addressed her friend, “Yes, yes I know I shouldn’t have knocked you out and tied you up, and frankly you had no reason to forgive me for it, and then to repay such a kind act I then forget to even untie you in my haste, and for that I do apologize.”

Rainbow, seeing the look of sincerity on her friend’s face, briefly gave her a friendly smile before changing it to a face of false indifference, “Well you did only forget me for like twenty minutes,” Rainbow recalled how her imprisonment had finally ended with Rarity storming into the room, spa towel wrapped around her head as she frantically untied the prismatic maned pegasus, apologizing the entire time.

“So yeah I guess I forgive you, but on two conditions.” Rarity’s face turned from relief to concerned. Rainbow held up her left hoof before saying, “One you owe me big time” Rarity hesitantly nodded her head. Rainbow then moved her face just inches from Rarity’s as she continued on with her demands, “and don’t ever, and I mean this Rarity, ever tie me up and leave me somewhere like that again.”

Rarity was fortunate that between Dash’s lack of subtlety and her gift of discernment she was able to easily piece together what the consequences would be for attempting such an insane idea a second time.

“Do not worry my dear, no more druggings and abductions from me anytime soon,” Rarity replied as she raised her hoof in a mock swearing.

“Whoa now back up a second, I never said you could do any of those things, I just said don’t ever do them to me again. I think we could use your… skills in dealing with any stallion,”

“Or mare,” Rarity interjected.

Rainbow, after giving a brief eye-roll, continued, “Or mare that tires to put the moves on Fluttershy.”

Rarity put her hoof to her chin as she pondered Rainbow’s suggestion, then replied, “Well I certainly think that it’s an idea worth exploring. Celestia forbid Fluttershy be approached by some ruffian we would of course have to deal with it, as her friends of course,” Rarity was quick to add that last part.

“Yeah as her friends,” Rainbow retorted, though with some hesitance.

An uncomfortable silence settled upon the two ponies, despite the fact that they had finally cleared the air. Of course it was that revelation which brought on this awkward tension, the one in which both ponies had confessed feelings for the same pony, their mutual friend no less. Each of them had known for some time about how the other felt, though they had never wished to confirm their suspicions for fear of learning what they already knew. Though now this was no longer an issue and Rarity and Rainbow Dash both knew that ignoring it was no longer possible and that they would have to discuss how to continue with their arrangement, knowing full well they each wanted what both had been trying to prevent every other pony from acquiring: Fluttershy’s romantic affection.

Rainbow Dash was the fastest in breaking the silence, “So what exactly do we do now? I mean you know about my feelings and I know about yours. Can we really keep working together?”

After a comfortable pause Rarity gave one of her ‘IDEA’ looks and then with a subtle smile she proceeded to answer her friend’s questions, “Rainbow Dash I think it’s time you and I established some rules of engagement.” Her declaration was met with confusion from her daredevil companion.

…

Those who were enjoying the weather today included not only the citizens of Ponyville , but also the various types of animals under the care of one pony in particular. Fluttershy’s cottage was an absolute hub of various noises and sounds of the plethora of animals coming and going, which was rather uncharacteristic of the usually quiet abode. Fluttershy was in the midst of all her chores, finishing up her last round of feeding and watering. “There you go everybody,” she said sweetly as she poured a generous helping of food that all the animals shared.

She then turned to see her last mouth to feed, her rabbit Angel. Putting down the feed bag, Fluttershy turned to her kitchen table and picked up a nice bowl of chopped carrots, placing it down before the surly bunny.

“There you go Angel, fresh carrots, your favorite,” her voice barely hiding a pleading tone as if she was trying desperately to convince Angel that carrots were indeed his favorite. Fortunately, after sniffing the bowl, Angel proceeded to enjoy the meal offered to him. Fluttershy stood there with a confused expression and almost seemed disappointed at how agreeable the normally troublesome rabbit was being. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth she let Angel and the rest of the animal carry on about their meals deciding to take advantage of the weather to take a casual stroll before heading into Ponyville to see to some affairs.

Fluttershy soon crossed over the stream that separated her home from Sweet Apple Acres, the orchard ran by one of her close friends Applejack. Given her love of animals, Fluttershy would often make visits to the farm and see the various ones that lived there. Also whenever Applejack had a question about anything animal related, such as dealing with rabbits that would steal her crops or anytime one of the chickens or pigs would get sick, she would go to Fluttershy first. Also Fluttershy’s animal friends just loved apples, so Fluttershy had made it a habit to visit regularly and procure some treats for her tenets.

As she passed the main gate leading to the barn, Fluttershy took a moment to appreciate the beauty of Sweet Apple Acres in springtime. It was still months until harvest time and the apples had not come in yet. But the flowers were in full bloom and were quite a sight to behold. Upon arriving to the barn Fluttershy called out to her friend in a restrained, polite manner, “Um Applejack, are you in there I was taking a stroll and decided I would come and see how you were doing.”

As she pushed the door to the barn open, she was met by a pony who was not Applejack, but instead her older brother Big Macintosh. As the name implied, Macintosh was impressive in stature, standing taller than any other pony in Ponyville. However, his size betrayed his incredibly docile nature as Big Mac was the quintessential gentle giant. He didn’t do much talking and when he did it was straightforward and to the point, and was usually delivered with a low, soft voice. Fluttershy did not have many previous interactions with the reserved stallion, since he was usually working the fields whenever she came to visit.

Fluttershy stood there, pawing at the ground with her right forehoof as she and Big Mac stood there for an uncomfortable amount of time before Fluttershy, perhaps for the first time in her life, was the first to speak. “Um hello Big Mac it’s a umm a wonderful morning, so wonderful I was taking a stroll when I happened upon here and just thought I’d see how Applejack was doing.”

Big Mac was kind enough to not have Fluttershy suffer the awkwardness of the conversation alone as he replied, “Eeyup, it’s quite a nice day, now if it’s AJ you’re lookin fer, she’d be out checkin the apple trees in the south field.”

Fluttershy decided she would take advantage of this opportunity to end the conversation since it was obvious that neither of the two were up to the challenge of leading it. Fluttershy gave one final brave attempt, “South field, got it, thank you Big Mac, it’s been… nice,” she uttered that last word after the slightest bit of hesitation, not wanting to over or under exaggerate the quality of her brief conversation with the farm pony.

Big Mac stood as still as he had for the entire duration of the encounter before uttering a solitary, “Eeyup.”

…

“Rules of what now?” Rainbow Dash asked with a look that said she was utterly lost.

“Rules of engagement my dear, they say love is a battlefield after all,” the white unicorn said with an air of sophistication.

“Who’s they, and why do they say that?” Rainbow asked again showing she was no closer to finding her way in this labyrinth of a conversation.

Rarity gave a deadpan look to her straight thinking friend, “that doesn’t matter, what does matter is that love is a very serious thing Rainbow Dash and while a lot of the times it can be quite an amazing thing, it can often times leave ponies broken.”

In response to this revelation Rainbow Dash gave a look that suggested she may not be entirely ready for this romance stuff after all. Sensing her friend’s new doubts, Rarity attempted to backtrack and remove any of the fears from her friend’s mind that she accidentally brought on. “Now Rainbow Dash this doesn’t mean you should start getting worried about what could happen and end up preventing you from trying to make what you want to happen.”

Rainbow Dash seem unfazed by Rarity’s attempt at alleviating her anxiety, so Rarity took her hoof over the table and lifted Dash’s chin until their eyes met and Rarity addressed her, “Now Rainbow Dash I’ll have none of this, you love Fluttershy do you not?” Rainbow nodded her head in affirmation.

“You would do anything to try and get her to see that?” Again, Rainbow nodded.

“Good then you should not worry about such silly things and instead focus on how you’re going to win her favor.” After seeing a small smile creep onto her friend’s face Rarity continued on, “Goodness knows you’ll need your head in the game as it were, what with me as your competition and all. You’ll have no room for mistakes,” Rarity said proudly, complete with a smirk she knew would get the pegasus’ attention.

Rainbow noticed it quite well and was fast in her rebuttal, “Oh I see how it is, well let me tell you that Rainbow Dash loses to no pony, and that I ALWAYS have my head in the game.”

Seeing Rainbow fall for her provocation was a small treasure for Rarity and her grin reflected that, “That’s excellent to hear my dear, now since you and I are going to be romantic rivals I believe we need to address the rules of this little endeavor as I mentioned earlier, we need to have limitations as to what we can and can’t do in our efforts to win over Fluttershy, both for her sake and our own, agreed?”

“Agreed,” the pegasus replied.

“Good then I say we leave for a place a bit more out of the spotlight, our constantly bringing our faces together and touching each others’ chins has started to get us some stares from some of the other patrons.”

Rainbow looked up and noticed that scattered throughout the restaurant ponies here and there were staring at the two, trying to remain undetected in their peeping efforts.

“Yeah I think that might be a good idea,” Rainbow said.

Rarity then called over to the waiter, “check please.”

…

Fluttershy made her quick trek over from the barn and her awkward, and thankfully brief, encounter with Big Macintosh when she finally noticed that iconic Stetson hat worn by her friend Applejack. The orange farmer pony was in the middle of checking to make sure the trees were free of worms, otherwise they would be in for quite a mess when the Apples really began to come in. Just as she finished inspecting the last tree for that row, she turned to notice her pegasus friend.

“Why good morning Fluttershy, fancy seeing you here today,” she said cheerfully in her strong, country accent.

“Oh hello Applejack, I hope you’re not too busy, I was taking a walk when I decided to come over and say hi, but I ran into your brother at the barn and he said you were out here in fields so I thought I’d come and check how busy you were before I decided to bother you,” Fluttershy said in her mild voice. She was always certain to make sure she never inconvenienced her friends, which was something Applejack always appreciated about her, even if she never told her since she was afraid it would only embarrass her and cause her to get flustered.

“Why it’s no trouble, ah’m not so much workin as ah’m just checkin the trees for any varmints that might try and mess up our crop before it even gets here,” said the farm pony.

“Oh well if you need any help dealing with small creatures, you know I’ll always be available to help,” the pegasus replied.

“Thanks sugar cube, ah really appreciate it, now what can I do you for? Ya mentioned comin out here to talk ta me, so what about?”

Fluttershy then took on a look more familiar to her, one of mild anxiety as she looked around as if to make sure no pony was eavesdropping. Once she was finally certain they were indeed alone she looked to her friend and said, “Well you know how recently I decided to try um… dating?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Applejack inquired.

“Well, um so I’ve gone on a couple of dates now, though I was surprised at how many stallions there were who seemed willing to go out with me,” Fluttershy said with genuine innocence.

Applejack replied with a fair amounts of sarcasm that she was thankful went over her friend’s head, “Gee how surprising.” Perhaps it was the fact that Fluttershy was a former model Applejack thought to herself. Sure her career had lasted barely a week, but that didn’t change the fact that during her brief stint she became the talk of the town, both of mares, and especially stallions. The fact that she was now on the market, Applejack knew the fellas would be lining up.

However, Applejack was afraid she knew of another reason she would be popular with the local male population, namely they all thought she would be a passive pushover. Fluttershy was soft spoken and timid, so unfortunately ponies sometimes felt they could take advantage of that, even those within their own group did from time to time. She knew that when Fluttershy came to all of them and said she was going to try her hoof at dating, that she would need to be on the lookout for any pony that tried to mistake Fluttershy’s nature as a sign they could have an easy time with her. So far things had not progressed to that, but she remained ever vigilant nonetheless.

Fluttershy continued on, “I was surprised as well, so far I’ve been on three dates, and well each one has been… interesting,” she finished after briefly struggling to find an adequate word.

“Interesting?” Applejack repeated with a hint of curiosity.

“Yes, first there was that date I went on with Thunderlane, who tried to take me to The Bucking Bronco,” Fluttershy recalled with little enthusiasm.

The Bucking Bronco? SERIOUSLY!? Applejack thought with great anger as she could not believe that Fluttershy’s first date knew so little about her as to take her to one of the least likely places for her to enjoy.

“Ah can’t believe that darn idiot, takin a fine lady such as yerself to a place like that, it’s the rowdiest bar in town,” Applejack said as she attempted to vent out her frustrations.

Fluttershy seemed aware of her friend’s anger and attempted to downplay it, “Oh it wasn’t all that bad Applejack, it was just very loud, and everypony seemed to like to play a little too rough,” she then noticed the fire in her friend’s eyes flare up more, “Oh but nopony was like that with me, I sat on a barstool and watched the whole thing.”

“So then what exactly sort of interesting thing happened on this date Fluttershy?” Applejack asked in the hopes Fluttershy wouldn’t give her another good reason why she shouldn’t go and find Thunderlane and give him a good kick in the teeth.

“Well, he left me to get us some drinks and he cut through the middle portion of the bar where the most ponies were located. Then not long after a fight erupted right in the middle of the crowd, and soon everypony was either fighting or yelling and it was horrible, I tried to see if I could find Thunderlane but I couldn’t get too close to the brawl in the middle.”

At this point Applejack was so furious that Thunderlane could be dumb enough to take Fluttershy of all ponies to a place like that, that she was certain that he should hope he would never bump into her again, less she kick him into next Tuesday.

“Why that sounds horrible, sugar cube,” AJ doing her best to suppress her righteous fury in an effort to comfort the

pegasus.

Fluttershy however was not traumatized like AJ thought she would be, “Oh well it was awful, and I didn’t know what to do when suddenly I heard this whistling noise followed by somepony calling my name. I then looked over to see a door had been opened and I immediately took it, ending up right outside the bar so I was able to get out of there easy.”

“Well that’s a relief to hear, I hope you never decide to let some stallion take you there again, so what happened to Thunderlane?” Applejack asked remembering there was still a missing piece to this story.

“Oh well I was finally able to make it to his house the next day and his brother, who is just the cutest little colt, told me he was in Ponyville Hospital with a sprained arm and a mild concussion. I went to check on him and he seemed fine, unconscious, but still fine all the same.”

“Serves him right for thinking that place was appropriate for a date in the first place, anything else?” Applejack asked.

“Well the next date I went on was with Ace, the tennis player,” Applejack nodded her head knowing which pony she was talking about. She knew Ace well seeing as it was his racket that Apple Bloom had used to make avant-garde art with apples in an early attempt to earn her cutie mark.

“Please don’t tell me he took ya to another bar?” said Applejack in a pleading manner.

“Well no he took me to a local country club for a game of tennis,” Fluttershy replied.

Hmm again not really Fluttershy’s thing, but I guess it’s better than taking her to another rowdy bar. Still Applejack was displeased that all these stallions so far seemed to be terrible date planners. “So uh how did tennis play out?”

“It didn’t, see he bought me this new tennis outfit he wanted me to wear, and it was really cute so I went to the bathroom to change into it since you know I don’t like dressing in front of other ponies.”

Applejack could understand that since trying to maneuver clothes on could lead to some embarrassing positions.

“After a few minutes I finally got dressed and walked back outside only to find Ace was being escorted by a security pony, apparently there was a problem with his membership account so they had to remove him,” Fluttershy finished.

“Why that sounds like a terrible stroke of luck, did you have to leave too?” Applejack asked.

“No, just as I was about to escort myself one of the stewards came up to me and said somepony had anonymously paid for me to enjoy a one-day special membership and that I had also received a free day spa appointment, so I decided I would try out their spa, you know so I could tell Rarity about it in case she wanted to try it out since I’m pretty sure she’s a member there too.”

“Well at least ya got something out of it, so sorry though about both of your dates not going so well, what happened with the third?” By this point Applejack was afraid to ask, but she had to admit both of those situations occurring to same pony did come across as peculiar.

“Well my third attempt was with Meadow Song, and he took me to a karaoke bar, which I had no problem with since it was a lot nicer than the place Thunderlane took me to, and he was nice and all, well until he had a few too many drinks and went up and started singing. Now I know his talent is related to guitar playing thanks to his cutie mark but his singing was well… a wonderful effort,” Applejack could guess that his singing left much to be desired, still at least this date seemed to go alright.

“So the date when fine but it turned out I just wasn’t that into him” Fluttershy uttered with great effort in attempting to avoid coming off as overly critical.

Applejack was pleased that Fluttershy’s last date suffered from usual issues like lack of chemistry instead of some freaky occurrence. “Well ah’m glad that you didn’t have any more weird happenings.”

“Oh but I did, it was just two days ago when Thunderlane came up to me in town to try and ask me out again, now I was considering giving him another shot, but before I could even answer a random couch on a cart came through and hit him.”

“Whoa nelly! What happened? Is he alright?” Applejack asked excitedly. For the first time she actually felt sorry for the poor fool.

“Oh he’s fine but he received another concussion and he’s still resting in Ponyville Hospital again. So I was never able to take him up on his offer.”

While Applejack was genuinely concerned for Thunderlane’s well being, she didn’t want anypony being seriously hurt, not intentionally anyway. Sure she was a tad thankful that Fluttershy was inadvertently able to avoid what would have probably been another disastrous date. “Well I’m sorry to hear you’ve been havin such a rough time of it, what with this datin and all do you think you might try and take a break?”

“Um not really I’m still going to give it a try, each date got progressively better after all. I went from almost getting into a bar fight to getting a free day spa trip to actually having a good night, even if I didn’t end up liking the pony romantically or anything.”

“Well ah’m proud of you for keepin a stiff upper lip Fluttershy, and I hope you find the stallion of your dreams,” the earth pony said with genuine care.

Fluttershy then moved in to hug her friend around her neck, “Thanks Applejack I really appreciate you listening to me talk, I’ve been meaning to tell someone, usually it’d be Rarity but she’s been busy a lot lately whenever I try to find her. So I tried Rainbow Dash as well, but oddly enough she was busy too, luckily Rarity and I have a spa date later today.”

“Well that sounds mighty nice, and I hope it goes well, you’re future forays into romance that is. So I think it’s about time got back to work.”

Fluttershy then gave her friend a friendly goodbye before leaving to head back home and see how her animal friends were doing. Meanwhile Applejack pondered the details her friend had shared with her and she certainly had a lot to think about. Namely the fact that in both instances where Fluttershy’s dates had picked something not necessarily suited for her something had happened to those dates before things could get worse. Also the chances of both those situations being coincidences seemed too great to Applejack, even if math wasn’t her strong suit. Now what really convinced her that something was amiss was that when Thunderlane tried again to ask out Fluttershy he was incapacitated.

For Applejack this seemed to lead to the possibility that somepony was interested in ensuring that all of Fluttershy’s dates, or at least the ones that seemed destined to be terrible, would end early or before they could even begin. Of course Applejack had no hard evidence that this was true and there was of course the biggest question left if this were true: Who was the pony behind all this? Was it one of their friends, somepony else concerned about Fluttershy’s well being, or was it a jealous pony who wanted her all to themselves? Applejack knew one thing, that she would have to watch this matter closely and she would probably have to seek the help of one pony she knew would be perfect for the job.

…

Rarity and Rainbow had moved their meeting from the very public venue of the restaurant to the not-so public venue of Rarity’s boutique. She had made them both a cup of tea and after making sure the cushion she had chosen to sit on was of the precise level of comfort she sat down. Rainbow guzzled her tea down and then looked over to Rarity before impatiently addressing her friend, “So what exactly are these ‘Rules of Engagment’ going to be?” Rainbow Dash asked while using her hooves to act as air quotations.

“Well nothing too formal, just a set of guidelines that we’ll both promise to abide by during the duration of our arrangement. Basically, we’ll just come up with what we’ll both agree are the appropriate manners for trying to win her favor.”

“Again I don’t understand what you mean when you say ‘Win her favor’,” again Dash resorted to her handy hoof air quotes.

Rarity gave a sigh as she attempted to guide her uncouth friend through the finer parts of romance and courtship.”Basically, it means trying to win her approval; you’re trying to be favored by her, for her to give you importance.”

“Well of course Fluttershy already gives me importance, I mean I’m Rainbow Dash after all, her best and oldest friend, of course she’ll give me favor,” Rainbow Dash declared with absolute assurance, puffing her chest out as she floated in midair in a heroic pose.

Rarity could not resist snickering at her friend’s bravado, and even if she underestimated the significant difference between being a friend and being, well something more, Rarity admired Rainbow’s Dash’s confidence.

“Well, alright dear, but just for the sake of formality, how about we go ahead and decide what the rules will be, okay?” Rarity playfully asked as she humored her pegasus friend.

Rainbow, as an avid competitor, understood the competition metaphor and even though she had bent (her words) rules in the past she understood that this situation was different and so playing by the rules took on a different level of importance.

“Alright fine, rule one: No kidnapping or tying each other up.”

Rarity looked up from the table where she had place a scroll of parchment and held a feather pen in her magical grasp to give her friend a deadpan look.

“What I think I’m justified in making that a rule,” the bold flier retorted.

“Alright fine, no kidnapping or restraining,” the unicorn repeated while copying it down onto the parchment, “Next?”

“Well also I think it’s only fair we agree to not give her any extravagant gifts, or take her anywhere way too expensive.”

Rarity then gave Rainbow an accusatory look, “Are you trying to imply something Rainbow Dash?”

“No, I’m just saying it’s not fair to try and use money to win her over, especially when some of us have way less bits to burn than others,” replied the pegasus flatly.

“If you’re insinuating that Fluttershy is the type of mare who could swayed merely by simple material trappings, then you clearly must not know her all that well,” replied Rarity so sharply it could a pony to ribbons.

Rainbow did her best to rebuttal, “I’m not saying that, all I’m saying is that it’s not entirely fair for only one of us to be restricted due to money.”

“Well I’ll agree that gifts themselves should be barred, and I think we should just specify showing good judgment when determining whether a date idea is too extravagant or not.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the unicorn’s attempts to skirt around an issue and avoided directly saying something in a straightforward manner, still she was willing to meet the other mare half way. “Fine, that’s pretty much all I got.”

Rarity then decided it was her turn to contribute to the list, “Well I think it’s important that we keep each other informed about our scheduled plans with Fluttershy, at least as far as official dates go. That way in case one of us asks her out, the other must wait until after that date to do so, and once you have gone out with her you must wait until the other gets to have a chance to ask her out.”

Rainbow thought on Rarity’s proposed rules for a moment before replying plainly, “Yes to the first, no to the second.”

“What why?”

“Because, this isn’t some board game where everyone gets a turn, nor is it some little foal’s softball game where every game has to end in a tie so that no one’s feelings get hurt,” Rainbow said coldly. “I’m all for being fair and giving you a shot, but this is still dating, and weren’t you the one who said ‘Love is Battlefield’?” By this point Rainbow was out to make air-hoof quotations her signature move, it was unfortunate they would not make good poses for her future action figures.

“Well yes I did say that but…” Rarity attempted to explain, but Rainbow Dash was quick to continue with her argument.

“Good, then what happens if say, I ask Fluttershy out and we have a good time and she wants to go out again the next night? What, I have to tell her no and wait until you’re good and ready to ask her out? Or what about you? Is it fair to make you take things at my speed? I mean it’s not like we’re trying to date each other or anything,” Rainbow Dash during the course of her rant had taken to flying again and utilizing her repertoire of dramatic poses. Rarity had to admit Dash did make a valid point but she was also distracting by her final statement.

For some reason Dash bringing up the idea of the two of them dating, even in jest, was just too awkward a thought for her to comprehend. Her recent increase in time spent with Rainbow was entirely because she had known she liked the same mare and that she would be equally invested in making sure Fluttershy remained single, now they had agreed to give each other the chance to try and win her over. After accepting that Rainbow made sense she nodded her head before speaking, “Fine we agree to let the other know whenever we have a scheduled date, but once this begins it’s any pony’s game correct?” Rainbow gave an affirmative nod.

Rarity however was not yet finished as she addressed her friend, “Well there is one last thing I would like to add, and I think it’s a very crucial rule.” Hearing the conviction in Rarity’s voice got Dash’s attention. Rarity took a breath before continuing, “Now Rainbow, you and I have done a lot together these past few weeks right?”

Dash gave the unicorn a questioning look before answering, “Right.”

“You and I both kept our feelings for Fluttershy a secret from one another, even though we each had suspicions, correct?”

Rainbow merely nodded her head this time.

“Well going from here on out there will be no more secrets between us if, Celestia willing, Fluttershy were to make a move on one of us, or if she accepts one of us as her special somepony, we must let the other know as soon as we can, I think it’s the only fair thing to do.”

“Of course, no problem, also to whoever ends up with her the other won’t get mad, deal?” the Rainbow maned pegasus asked her friend, and her competition.

After a brief moment of nothing, Rarity this time was the one to nod her head affirmatively, albeit hesitantly.

“Cool then,” Rainbow then held out her hoof to Rarity who gave it a quizzical look. “Oh come on Rarity just give me a hoof bump.” Despite still wearing her look on uncertainty, the fashion mare gave the daredevil a well meaning bump of her hoof. Rainbow, looking less slightly disappointed, shrugged her shoulders and then asked, “So is that it, or is there anything else?”

“No I think that about covers it all, all we need to do is each sign it and then it’s official.” The unicorn, with the feather pen still grasped in her magical aura, signed her name before turning the pen and parchment over to her friend, who then took the feather into her mouth and sign her own name as Rarity held the scroll for her. With both names now on the document, Rarity then rolled it up placing it a chest she had against a wall on the far left side of the room.

Rarity then turned to Rainbow Dash and cleared her throat in manner as to gain her attention, “Now that we have settled that I believe now is a perfect time for me to go ahead and already adhere to one of the rules.” Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a puzzled look and the unicorn waited a moment before continuing, “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I have are going to have a spa date this afternoon since the one tried to have with her the other day was… interrupted.” Rainbow Dash of course knew Rarity was referring to the day she had tied her and up and then forgotten her.Rainbow Dash, realizing that Rarity had made her first move, and gotten one step ahead of her, looked to her competitor and sighed before giving her simple, one-word answer, “Fine.”

Rarity gave her friend a genuine smile before running up her stairs to her bedroom to get ready for her excursion with Fluttershy while Rainbow walked towards the door to leave.

…

If there was one thing Fluttershy enjoyed above all else it was the sound of silence. Calm, relaxing silence, as she preferred the comfort and security she gained from being able to just sit somewhere avoid any loud noises or distractions. Now she enjoyed the hustle and noise of her cottage when it was filled with the various sounds of her many animal friends eating, playing, and going about their day. However, even she needed a brief retreat from the hustle and sometimes headache of taking care of that many creatures, especially the more high-maintenance ones such as Angel.

Rarity meanwhile was finding it difficult to relax as she kept glancing over at her pegasus friend and object of her desires. The two were currently sharing the hot tub, and Fluttershy had ducked her head under and now her wet mane was sticking to her body, but by Celestia if Rarity didn’t think it was the sexiest thing she had seen in quite awhile. In an attempt to distract her from the alluring sight Rarity tried to strike up a conversation.

“So how has your attempts at dating been going?” Rarity fought her absolute hardest to suppress her look of joy at the answer she already knew she was going to get.

“Um, well interesting,” the pegasus replied calmly. “Unfortunately, none of the stallions really seemed to be what I was looking for exactly.”

“Oh well I’m sorry to hear that Fluttershy, but of course you know how love goes, easy come easy go.” The pegasus seemed less assured by her comment then she would have liked. “Oh come now Fluttershy I’m sure the right pony is out there for you, you just have to keep looking that’s all.”

“Oh I know Rarity and I’m not ready to give up, in fact I have a date lined up for this weekend, it’s just…” the pegasus then hesitated, not quite seeming comfortable with sharing the details of her upcoming date with the inquisitive unicorn.

“It’s just what darling? Who is it you’re going to go out on a date with this time?” Rarity then silently prayed to Celestia that it wasn’t Thunderlane again. She sincerely did not want to have to come up with another way to land the stallion in the hospital, but refrain from seriously hurting him.

“Well I’m going to be going out with… Dr. Flumox,” Fluttershy said with a sense of relief finally coming over her now that she was able to share with the truth with her friend.

It took Rarity just a moment to register this information when it finally hit her. Dr. Flumox, the town veterinarian, but that wasn’t the most important detail of all.

Dr. Flumox was a mare.

Fluttershy was going to go on a date with her first mare.

Realizations

Rarity seemed to have lost all connection to the outside world, having not responded or moved since Fluttershy’s announcement as to the identity of her next potential suitor.

“Um, Rarity, are you OK?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

A mare, Fluttershy is going to go out on a date with a mare?

“Rarity, are you OK?” Fluttershy asked again in her second attempt to reach her seemingly distracted friend.

This is good since it proves Fluttershy has at least a basic interest in mares, which means if I were to confess to her she wouldn’t say no simply because we were both the same gender.

“Rarity, can you hear me? Please answer me.” Fluttershy pleaded with her unicorn friend

Not that I thought she would say no or anything, I know she will certainly accept my feelings. Well, that is unless her date with this Dr. Flumox goes well and the two of them and they decide to become a couple. But, I’m certain that won’t happen and this date will simply end like the others, well preferably without any fights or security getting involved.

“RARITY!” Fluttershy yelled out in an uncharacteristically loud volume for her, which of course was barely over most ponies’ normal decibel level.

Rarity was snapped back to reality by Fluttershy’s efforts, realizing she had been heavily lost in her overactive imagination.

“Umm, yes what was it you were saying dear?” Rarity said in her attempt to deflect any questions over her absentmindedness.

“Oh well I said that I was going on a date this Saturday with Dr. Flumox, you know she’s the town veterinarian. I know it may seem strange, me going out with another mare, but well I’ve been thinking that maybe the reason my dates have gone so well is maybe because I might not be into stallions,” Fluttershy said as she looked down into the steaming bath water and attempted to keep herself preoccupied playing with her hooves. Rarity could easily tell that Fluttershy was significantly less relaxed than she had been before they got onto the subject of Fluttershy’s impending date. Fluttershy continued, “So when word got around town that I was dating I was of course approached by a lot of the stallions, but I was um… also approached… by a lot of um mares too,” Fluttershy spoke gradually quieter the longer her conversation carried on.

Rarity could tell that Fluttershy was very nervous, though she could not understand why. She and Fluttershy had always shared a close relationship, and were very open with one another, and talked about their secrets with one another. Well, almost all their secrets, since currently Rarity was in a rather delicate situation with Rainbow which involved her and the brash pegasus interfering with Fluttershy’s love life so as to prevent someone else from taking her away. Rarity knew that Fluttershy would more than likely be furious over their interference in her love life.

As Rarity once again came back from another internal discussion with herself, she looked up to see Fluttershy, only to notice for the first time how unhappy she looked. She then attempted to uncover the root of Fluttershy’s sudden melancholy. “Why Fluttershy, whatever is the matter? For a mare so popular with the ponies, both stallion and now mare, you seem so upset.”

Before Rarity could continue with her well-intentioned efforts at cheering the pegasus up, Fluttershy began to whimper, in an attempt to suppress her urge to cry, before ultimately losing that battle. The sun-yellow pegasus simply sat there with tears now freely flowing from her eyes, and the only sound in the bath was her whimpering and the tears hitting the bathwater. Rarity could not understand how this had all happened so quickly, how one minute it was a typical day at the spa to now having a Fluttershy in tears and Rarity left to wonder how to rectify the situation. Rarity was at a complete loss for words, which was a rather uncommon occurrence, and left with no other option, she did the only thing she could think to do. She waded over to her friend and took her in a warm, caring embrace.

“Sssh, there, there Fluttershy, it’s alright, why whatever is the matter dear?” asked Rarity as she began to rock her friend in an attempt to calm her down while attempting to unearth the reason for her emotional breakdown.

Fighting back further sobs, Fluttershy answered in between her crying, “Oh Rarity, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry for what, my dear?” Rarity asked with genuine confusion.

After a brief moment of silence aside from Flutterhy, who had come down from her sobbing back to an occasional sniffling, the introverted pegasus finally addressed her confused and comforting friend, “For going out with Dr. Flumox, I know that she’s a mare, and I wasn’t sure how you would react to me dating another mare.”

Rarity was relieved to find out that Fluttershy’s reason for being upset was something so far from the truth, but she was equally hurt that her friend would assume that Rarity would be so judgmental and so petty as to be upset at Fluttershy for simply dating somepony of the same gender. Of course she also had to suppress any of the humor she found in the enormous irony of being accused of being homophobic.

“Fluttershy, why would you ever think I would be such a close-minded pony, or that I would ever think badly of you for simply dating a mare?” she asked the pegasus, holding back any feelings of resentment and merely expressing ones of hurt and confusion.

The look on Fluttershy’s face at Rarity’s question was a mix of surprise and relief, like she had received a wonderful gift, but was not sure what exactly to do with it. “Oh, Rarity I didn’t think, I mean I don’t think you’re close minded, I just didn’t know how you felt about, ponies you know… dating other ponies of the same…sex,” Fluttershy hesitated heavily on the last word, and while she was still awkward in her speech, Rarity could tell she had shifted from the completely unhappy mare she had been only minutes ago back to the more typical Fluttershy.

“So I decided to tell you and see how you reacted, and when I looked at your face, you seemed to have this look, like you were sad or disappointed,” the pony said with a sense of melancholy as the memories from just moments earlier were replayed in her mind.

That’s when it finally dawned on Rarity, having now put together the final piece of the puzzle. Her reaction to Fluttershy’s news did make the unicorn feel sad and disappointed, but not because Fluttershy was dating a mare, but because once again Rarity was in a position she did not want to be in. Once again some other pony had taken the initiative that she had avoided, and now she was having to gamble on Fluttershy finding yet another pony with whom a relationship simply would not work. Of course Rarity knew the longer this game went on, the more likely the results would not end up in her favor. However, Rarity knew that now was not the time to worry about such things and deal with the issue at hand.

“Why Fluttershy darling, I want to make this very clear to you, who you decide to date, fall in love with, share intimacy with, and even marry is entirely your decision. Gender shouldn’t hold you back from choosing the right pony that fits any of those roles for you, and whoever it is you decide to be with, just know that I will support you no matter what.”

Especially if you were to choose me, Rarity thought to herself.

Rarity continued, “Also let me be clear, if anypony, and I mean this Fluttershy, anypony says, or does, or threatens to do anything to you because of your decision of who you want to be with, then you tell me and I will make them regret it. I don’t care if it’s one of our friends or even one of the princesses herself. I will always be there or you Fluttershy, no matter what.”

Rarity’s declaration to Fluttershy fell over her like a warm blanket, and the pegasus’ demeanor made a drastic change from what it had been just mere moments ago. She then put on a small, genuine smile, and looked up to her friend and simply replied, “Thank you Rarity.”

For Rarity, such a response was all that was needed and she looked to her friend, who she had vowed to always be there for and as she continued to hold her in her embraced that she wished was more than just an act of friendship she answered, “Always my dear.”

…

Applejack never considered herself a nosy pony. Living in Ponyville was a reasonably sized community, though very small when compared to Equestria’s larger cities like Manehattan, Las Pegasus, or Vanhoover. Still Ponyville was the kind of place where nearly everypony knew everypony else, especially if they were like Applejack and had lived here their entire life. Naturally, in such an environment, gossip and rumors were a popular pastime; Rarity in particular was a master of learning and trading other ponies’ secrets.

Applejack had never involved herself in such matters, she found the whole practice dishonest, and if there was one thing that Applejack was, it was honest. However, this was an entirely different situation; she told herself that her involvement was rooted in concern for her friend Fluttershy’s well being. Also her worries were based off of information her pegasus friend had shared with her openly. Once she had convinced herself enough that her investigation was justified, Applejack set about on her quest to confirm her suspicions: that somepony was interfering with Fluttershy’s love life.

While she was hardly a mathematician, Applejack knew that the odds that all of the recent, strange occurrences during Fluttershy’s dates were mere coincidences were very small. Fortunately, the pony that Applejack had gone to see and discuss this mystery was one who could probably give the farm pony those precise figures. Finally making it to the front door of Golden Oaks Public Library, Applejack proceeded to rap on the door, waiting for the inevitable reply from its occupant and handler. Instead another voice came to her from behind the door, a voice much less mature.

“Coming, be there in a second," came a young male voice from the other side of the door, which opened to reveal Spike, "Oh hey Applejack what brings you here?"

“Oh nothin’ in particular Spike, I just had somethin’ to talk with Twilight about, I’m hoping she ain’t too busy,” said the earth pony casually.

After a brief pause, Spike rubbed his chin in a pondering manner before he looked to Applejack and replied, “Well, she has been busy all morning working on some magic thing, though I’m not entirely sure what it is. I’m sure she could make some time for you, she’s currently working downstairs. Do you want me to call her up?”

Before he could proceed to call Twilight to come up, Applejack interrupted, “Oh no that won’t be necessary, I can just go down and see if she ain’t too busy myself, thank ya’ kindly Spike for tellin’ me.”

“Oh no problem, while you’re down there could you tell Twilight I’ll be bringing down lunch soon,” the young dragon asked.

“Sure thing,” said Applejack as she tipped her hat to the helpful infant assistant and then walked over to the door that led down to Twilight’s basement laboratory.

Twilight’s underground laboratory was the primary place where she implemented the fruits of her laborious studying, where the theoretical became practical. If there was anything that Twilight loved as much as probing the deeply held secrets of the magical arts, it was finding ways to use those discoveries to help ponykind. Sure a lot of Twilight’s spells had a tendency to backfire, but success was nothing more than the end result of a series of failures, so she was always happy to continue experimenting and finding new avenues in which magic could be studied and then utilized.

At the moment Twilight found herself working on a request from her friend, a rather simple piece by comparison to some of her more ambitious magical projects. Her work in question were two small accessories, a scarf and a pair of glasses, each she planned to enchant with a rather elementary visual deception spell, and any pony who wore either of these items would be able to take on a false appearance.

Simply put, they were disguise charms.

These charms in question would change just the outward appearance of whatever pony wore them. The changes in question were just the most basic of traits: coat color, mane and tail style, cutie marks. For Twilight, such magic wasn’t all that difficult, though she could understand how another unicorn not as adept at magic as herself would have difficulty with it. After all Rarity’s magical strength was in finding precious stones, not charms.

It had only been a few days since Twilight’ fashion-minded friend had come to her with the request for a reliable means of disguising one’s appearance, and Twilight felt that these items would serve that function perfectly. Of course, Twilight had no idea why Rarity would require such magic in the first place or why she had asked her to not tell any other pony (or dragon Rarity was quick to add) from knowing about this commission. However, Twilight took that as a sign to best not delve deeper into such matters, after curiosity was what killed the cat.

It was at that moment Twilight heard a knock on the door, which Twilight responded by stowing away the nearly finished magical trinkets in a drawer of her work desk before acknowledging her new visitor.

“Yes, who is it?” asked the unicorn.

“Oh it’s only a certain unicorn’s favorite apple farmer in all Equestria,” replied the voice in that unmistakable drawl which Twilight knew all too well, and of course Twilight decided to have some fun with.

“Oh you mean Big Macintosh,” Twilight replied with false innocence.

After a brief moment of silence the voice replied, in a much less smug manner, “Um no, your actual favorite apple farmer.”

“Braeburn?” Twilight chimed in cheerful voice as innocent as a schoolfilly.

At that moment the door opened to reveal Applejack, wearing a deadpanned look that suggested she had not taken kindly to Twilight successful effort at ruffling the cowpony’s coat. Seeing such a look caused Twilight to begin giggling as Applejack descended the stairs into the laboratory.

“Oh, har har Twi, you think you’re so clever, doncha?” asked Applejack flatly.

Still maintaining her air of innocence Twilight replied while obviously avoiding her friend’s glare, “Oh I have no idea what you are talking about Applejack, I was just being honest, figured you would appreciate me being so forthright.”

“Alright, alright ya had yer fun at mah expense, but now we need to get down to business, namely there somethin' important I need to discuss wit you Twi,” Applejack as she dropped her jovial aura and instead gave a look of stern seriousness that the unicorn immediately picked up on.

“Alright then Applejack, what is it you wanted to talk about?”

…

Rarity was a lady, of that she sure, and ladies did not rush, of this she was doubly sure. However, Rarity had managed to find a way in which to hurry on her way while avoiding tarnishing her well built reputation as a sophisticated lady. She simply ran so fast that nopony would be able to tell that it was her, which was somewhat fast for the unicorn that normally avoided physical exertion and unnecessary perspiration. Still she knew that she desperately needed to find her partner in crime and inform her of the latest news, as well as discuss what their next move should be.

After scurrying about town looking for every stray cloud in the sky she could find, Rarity had all but given up hope of finding the pegaus with the one-of-a-kind mane, only until fate finally took pity on her. Rarity had finally found just the random cloud she had been searching for, the one that was currently occupied by temporary tenant, who had made the soft, plush structure into a makeshift bed for which they could nap on.

If there was one thing that Rarity knew was just as unladylike as running, it was shouting, but Rarity was in a mood where such self-imposed regulations gave way to absolute necessity.

“Rainbow Dash wake up!” the unicorn yelled in an effort to gain the skypony’s attention, an effort which resulted in great success as Rainbow Dash woke up surprisingly easy.

“Wuzzat? Who’s there?” said Rainbow Dash in slurred words, still not entirely back in the waking world.

Again Rarity addressed her friend in a spirited manner, “Rainbow Dash this is not a time for naps we have a serious problem on our hooves.”

“Problem, what problem?” said Dash in a much clearer voice as she arced her back in a stretch, and after quickly stretching her wings she descended from her momentary sleeping quarters to come stand next to her ground-imprisoned friend.

“Well I was at my spa date with Fluttershy and well… it seems we have yet another complication,” said Rarity in a hesitant tone as she struggled to find the perfect words to describe her unfortunate news.

Rainbow Dash took on a severe face, knowing full well what Rarity meant, she then looked to her friend and asked simply, “Who is it this time?”

After pausing for a short while, Rarity finally looked up to her sky blue friend and answered, “Dr. Flumox”.

Surprisingly, Rainbow wore a look of confusion and asked with genuine questioning, “Who?”

Rarity, fighting the desire to facehoof in exasperation, looked back at Dash with a deadpanned look, “Dr. Flumox, you know, the town veterinarian.” Rainbow Dash continued to wear a lost look on her face, before finally the realization hit her and she gasped, “You mean that mare?”

As Rainbow said the words and their meaning washed over her, she took on this distant look as she began to realize what all this meant. Fluttershy was going to go out with another mare, which meant she was into mares and had finally given up on those useless stallions. Rainbow felt her chest swell with the feeling of victory, her favorite feeling. She then took the sky and struck another one of her signature poses.

“Aww yeah, I knew that Fluttershy would totally be into me, now all I need to do is ask her out and..”

“WAIT! You can’t do that Rainbow Dash!” shouted Rarity as she caught the brash flier by her tail with her teeth, she then muttered with Rainbow-colored strands of tail in her mouth, “You cannot do that, Fluttershy has a date tomorrow, we can’t just go in there and rattle her cage, this would absolutely unhinge her and possibly undue all her progress.”

Of course, all of what Rarity said just came across as mumbled to Rainbow Dash, who just gave the unicorn a flat look before yanking her tail out of the unicorn’s mouth. Rarity, having now done nearly half of a dozen unladylike things in just the past hour, gave a nervous laugh before readdressing her partner, “Now Rainbow Dash I know how you are feeling right now, trust me I was just as excited about this new ‘development’ as you are, but we can’t just go over there and confess our love for her now can we?”

After the briefest of pauses, Rainbow looked to Rarity and simply replied, “You can’t but I can.” Rainbow then began to make a quick break for it, but she was stopped again by something grabbing her tail. This time however, Rarity had implemented her magic, holding Dash’s tail in her magical aura.

“Rainbow, I’m serious, now we NEED to talk about this, RIGHT NOW!” The volume in Rarity’s voice had only grown higher as she attempted to get her point across to the stubborn mare. As stubborn and bullheaded as Rainbow Dash was, she certainly was not suicidal, and she could see that Rarity was quite serious, so she heaved a heavy sigh and looked to her friend, having lost all her celebratory bravado.

“Alright fine, but um can we do it again at your place, it um seems we have some company,” Rainbow Dash whispered in an attempt to hide her words from the recent group of onlookers who had been attracted to the spectacle that Rainbow and Rarity had been putting on. Rarity then looked at all the other ponies bitterly before pointing Dash in the direction towards her boutique.

…

Twilight’s brow was furrowed as her studious mind began to mull over the details of what her farmer friend had told her. Seeing as her math skills were impeccable, Twilight knew that the odds of two of her dates ending in such unusual circumstances sequentially, followed by one of those same ponies suffering a freak accident just days later, were astronomical. Still they had no evidence to back up Applejack’s theory, merely speculation. This, however, did not change the fact that it was good speculation, and Twilight knew that they should at least look into this more, simply for the sake of Fluttershy if anything.

“Hmm I must admit AJ, this is just all far too strange for it to be simple coincidence, and we may need to definitely keep an eye out for anything further,” Twilight said as she turned to head back to her work desk and stood in front of the drawer that hid the magical curios she had made for Rarity.

Applejack however, seemed opposed to this idea as she looked at Twilight and said bluntly, “Furget ‘keeping an eye out’ we need to be doing somethin' about this.”

Twilight, however, turned her attention away from the drawer and back to Applejack, “Wait! We can’t just go into this without any evidence. I mean I know it’s a pretty reasonable theory, but there is still the slight chance we could be wrong, and if we were to make a spectacle of it all, then it would end in an utter disaster.” Applejack considered what her friend was saying as she put her hoof to her chin to ponder the likely negative ramifications should they end up being wrong.

“Yeah, I guess yer right about this Twi, also this is Fluttershy we’re talking about, but hay we there’s has to be somethin' we can do,” the farm pony ask pleadingly to Twilight.

With Applejack wrangled in, Twilight went back to considering the drawer again that held the disguise charms, and a thought came into her head, one she had been thinking on for the past few minutes. Twilight had learned many lessons about friendship during her time in Ponyville. She knew that meddling in the affairs of her friends was not something she should do. However, she also knew that sometimes when your friends needed help you should be there for them, this was especially true if the friend in question was afraid to seek help, or in this case probably not even aware help was needed.

“Now AJ, I will admit I am just as concerned about this as you are, and frankly I think we should look into it. The only problem is we would need a means of tailing Fluttershy without being caught, and well I think I may have a solution to that actually,” Twilight said with great hesitation.

Applejack then looked up to her friend wearing a face of great confusion, “Ya do?” she asked simply.

Twilight then gave an awkward laugh, before she answered her best friend’s question, “Um well yes, I have recently learned a new spell that can affect the most basic physical traits of a pony. Coat color, mane and tail style, that sort of thing. Now I could use this spell on the two of us and make us look like completely different ponies, and we could theoretically follow Fluttershy on her next day and keep an eye out for trouble.”

Applejack had a lot to consider and many options to weigh. Of course with Twilight’s spell they could easily follow Fluttershy and get away with it, this assuming the spell worked. There were of course several dozen things that could go wrong, both magical and accidental. Applejack then broke free from her deep concentration to look at Twilight, whose look suggested she might not have as much confidence in her own plan as Applejack wished she did.

“Ah don’t know Twi, aside from whatever problems could occur, there’s also the fact that spying on Fluttershy might not be the best plan now that ah’ve had time ta think bout it. Ah know ah was the one who came to ya, but there’s just not somethin' right about following her on her date is all. If only there was sum way we could just happen to appear only when somethin' bad happens, then we would have a good reason ta be there.”

Twilight of course agreed wholeheartedly with Applejack, and now that both of them had admitted it, now was the time to come up with a new plan. As the two ponies tried to formulate the perfect plan, Twilight thought more on Rarity’s charms, only this time it wasn’t on the spell used to make the charms. Instead, Twilight thought for a moment on charms in general, and then as if Princess Luna herself had walked into Twilight’s mind with a megaphone to get the point across, the purple unicorn was hit with an idea.

“That's it! Oh AJ, you're a genius!” Twilight proclaimed as she ran over to take her best friend in a spinning hug, both of them falling to the floor after Twilight inevitably lost balance.

As the two laid on the floor, and once she had gotten over the effects of the spinning, Applejack looked to her friend before asking, “Haha, well thank ya kindly Twilight, but ah’m not sure what ya mean.”

Twilight then got up, and as she gave her friend a hoof to help her do the same she explained her revelation. “I think there is a way we can be there, but only when we’re needed. I can make a charm, which will allow Fluttershy to essentially carry one of my spells with her wherever she goes.”

The first part of Twilight’s plan certainly intrigued the farmer mare, she may have known little to nothing about magic, but with spending so much time around Twilight she had overtime picked up a thing or too through sheer osmosis.

Twilight, then walked over to a chalkboard, and proceeded to make a visual representation of her idea. “See for this case, I can use a Danger Perception Spell, and enchant something for Fluttershy to carry around with that spell. Then, if and when something should attempt to happen, I can be alerted of it from here, so long as Fluttershy’s date remains roughly in the area of the town. See when I get an alert from the spell, then I can just magically teleport the two of us there easy, and we’ll be there right when it happens.”

Applejack had to admit that such a plan sounded good, and it solved all of the major problems with just them going themselves. She trusted that Twilight knew what she was talking about when it came to magic, and that the spell would work properly, despite whatever… mishaps might have occurred in the past due to Twilight’s magical experimentation (Applejack remembered in particular, an incident in which Twilight and she swapped bodies for an entire day). Still Applejack was willing to give this plan a try and gave her an affirmative nod.

Twilight, now wearing a triumphant smile, looked over her workbench before finding what she was looking for. She then held up a pendant to show Applejack. The pendant was small, simple, and shaped like a tulip, it was a shimmering pink, but was in no way gaudy or overly ornate.

“Alright then, now that we have a plan, we can implement it, all I need to do is put the alarm spell on this pendant. Meanwhile I want you to go find Fluttershy and bring her here,” Applejack responded to this with a questioning look and a raised brow. “I think if we explain to her the situation, while assuring her that with this she’ll be in good hooves, she’ll gladly wear it. Then we’ll be able to be there for her in the event something should go wrong, and all without having to intrude on her personal relationship.”

Applejack again gave an affirming nod, “Well I think it sounds like a swell idea Twi, I think Fluttershy is havin’ one of her spa dates with Rarity, so I’ll go see if she’s still there or not.” Applejack then turned around and ran up the stairs and through the door leading out of the library basement. Twilight then turned her attention to her newest project.

…

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE SHOULD STOP!?”

Rarity had anticipated Dash’s reaction to her proposal, hence why she had the earmuffs at the ready. Rarity had learned from her recent dealings with the brash pegasus that it was usually just better to let her blow off her steam. After Rainbow had a chance to calm down she came down from where she had flown up and sat back down on Rarity’s luxurious love seat, her wing still flared out, but beginning to retract.

Rarity decided that now would be a good time to resume her discussion, “Dash all I am saying is that you and I should evaluate whether or not to continue with our interfering in Fluttershy’s love life.” Rarity noticed Rainbow Dash’s wings rise up again, an obvious sign the blue pegasus’ emotions were still highly wound up, she then politely moved a cup of tea sing her magic over to Rainbow, hoping desperately she would drink it.

“Rainbow, would you please just have some of this herbal tea, it will help calm your nerves.”

“I’m not nervous, I’m confused. First of all why did we go through all this trouble of setting rules, and even asking Twilight to make us some magic disguises, just to have you say we should stop?” Rainbow Dash’s voice grew gradually louder as she went on, and she grew more and more agitated.

“Well Rainbow Dash it’s just that, well after thinking about all that we’ve… done together, I have to wonder if this is right,” the unicorn’s voice was full of hesitation and doubt, a reflection of her feelings about her actions over the past couple of weeks.

“I know the both of us began doing this because we each had ulterior motives,” the SAME ulterior motive, the debutante added with the slightest bit of amusement.

“Yeah we did, but so what, we also knew that there would be some jerks that would try and take advantage of Fluttershy, and then just look at what happened.” The pegasus sniffed her teacup, no doubt attempting to verify that it had not been tampered with, before she continued without taking a sip of the brown, steaming liquid. “First she goes out with Thunderlane. Now on top of being lazy and unreliable, Thunderlane is also a bit of a dense cloud.”

Rarity had to unfortunately agree, while he had his moments, like when he helped rescue Rarity when she and her friends were flung from Twilight’s balloon when the group came to visit at the Wonderbolt’s Academy, Thunderlane was a bit… slow on the uptake.

“I mean it’s his first date with a mare, never mind that this is Fluttershy of all ponies, and he chooses The Bucking Bronco of all places? I mean I don’t think you could pick a worst first date if you tried.”

Rarity vividly remembered that night at the Bucking Bronco. It was an absolutely horrid place for ruffians, and she could not comprehend why anyone would have a date there, let alone somepony like Fluttershy. She also remembered the anger she felt when she saw that Thunderlane had left Fluttershy all alone to go get drinks, and just when Rainbow had went to go confront Thunderlane about it the worst possible thing occurred. Thunderlane had slid on a piece of ice while walking back with his hooves full with the drinks, crashing into one gigantic, and surly-looking earth pony. This led to series pushes, shoves, and hits that led to the entire bar erupting into an all-out brawl. Quickly Dash and Rarity made for the front exit and circled around to a side door they had noticed earlier, and opened it to find that Fluttershy had moved over towards the exit to get as far from the mayhem as possible. Rarity called Fluttershy’s name, and thankfully she and Rainbow sped off before she was able to turn and see them, but Fluttershy was able to make it out through the side door and out of the bar.

“I will admit, Thunderlane has an absolutely horrendous taste in dating venues, and yes our being there was what ultimately prevented Fluttershy from getting swept up in that pandemonium,” Rarity said after she had finished recalling that hectic night.

Rainbow nodded, wearing a smug grin at Rarity’s admittance of her being right before she carried on, “Yep, and just when we thought that was bad, let’s not forget the stud who stepped up to bat next, that sleazy tennis player Ace. He takes her to this fancy, shmancy country club to go do boring things like tennis or whatever but then he already has this sexy, little tennis outfit for her to wear, as if he already knew she was going to wear it for him.”

Rarity once again had to concede to Rainbow Dash, Ace’s behavior was rather presumptuous, and that outfit, while cute, was not the most appropriate move for a first date.

“Now I think the only thing worse than him being a creep, is that he was a broke creep, because not five minutes after Fluttershy goes to put the outfit on, security comes and takes him away because his membership had expired.

Fighting back an onset of laughter, Rarity remembered Ace’s futile attempts to persuade the club security to allow him to stay, a request they ultimately denied. “I must admit if we had not been there, it would have been an embarrassment for Fluttershy to have to be escorted out of the club.”

“Ya see? Both times we were there and were able to save Fluttershy from the messes those stallions brought on themselves, it’s obvious she needs us there, so what if we both have crushes on her.”

Rarity of course agreed with Rainbow Dash, on both occasions they were able to help their friend, and helping one’s friend was always a good thing was it not?

For once Rarity was not sure. However, there was one thing she did know, and as much as it pained her to admit it she knew that this had to be brought up.

“But what about her third date Rainbow Dash?”

Dash gave Rarity a perplexed look, and for the first time during the entire conversation she had physically calmed down, though still carrying an uneasy posture.

“What do you mean Rarity?” said the pegasus in an attempt to feign ignorance.

“You know what I’m referring to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy’s third date, the one she went on with Meadow Song. You remember don’t you? They went to that lovely little karaoke bar, much more Fluttershy’s speed. Even though Fluttershy hates performing in front of others she instead just listened to him and all the other ponies sing.”

Dash of course knew all too well what Rarity was talking about, but for some reason Dash found it more painful to admit that Fluttershy actually had fun on a date for once, instead of yet another evening with a disaster waiting to happen.

“Yeah, but you saw how they had no chemistry, he even admitted it half-way through the date. So once again, failure,” Rainbow said flatly as she crossed her arms as if in an attempt to shield herself from any further attacks.

“Rainbow Dash, we can try and defend preventing Fluttershy from dating somepony who could try and hurt her or take advantage of her, but we can’t stop her from dating ponies simply because they have no chemistry, that is for Fluttershy to discover on her own,” Rarity was finding it more difficult to talk which each consecutive sentence, more because her words were meant to try and convince herself more so than her friend.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the two love struck ponies, and it continued until Rarity cleared her throat, only this time without her usual dramatic emphasis, and continued.

“Rainbow Dash, do you remember what you told me before?” Rarity asked her friend, though refusing to look at her. Rainbow Dash put on a confused expression, not quite sure what Rarity was referring to.

“We agreed that between the two of us, as far as asking out Fluttershy is concerned, it’s every mare for herself. We agreed that there would be no interfering or forcing ourselves to accommodate the other, to allow each of us the opportunity to win the favor of our dear Fluttershy, and that in the end we would not harbor any ill feelings for whoever Fluttershy’s chose. Correct?”

Rainbow slowly nodded her head, not all that enthusiastic in admitting that Rarity spoke the truth.

“Well… do you think that we should extend that agreement to any pony that Fluttershy might choose to date?” There was no response from Rainbow.

“Is it fair for us to continue following Fluttershy and these other ponies?” Rarity’s voice grew from conversational tone to a higher treble, beginning to sound very agitated.

“Is it our place to make sure nothing goes wrong, or rather go the way we don’t want it to go?” Rarity was now talking louder, now at the point of shouting.

"Um, well Rarity I..." Rainbow stuttered in an attempt to interject, before she was drowned out by Rarity, who was now yelling.

“OR EVEN WORSE HOPE SOMETHING GOES WRONG SO THAT AT LEAST I’LL STILL HAVE A CHANCE!?”

There it was, the ugly truth at the heart of the matter, none of these questions that Rarity asked were meant for Rainbow, but for herself.

Her ranting now over Rarity was left to basically stand there. However, looking up she was shocked out of her numbness to see Rainbow Dash looking equally on the verge of breaking down, though Dash’s was a more subtle breakdown, no crying or huge sorrow-filled monologues. Instead Rainbow simply looked limp, completely sapped of energy.

It was at this moment the two ponies, who in their desperation and desire, made a pact that neither was willing to walk away from, and yet slowly, were beginning to accept that it could not continue. They looked at one another and actually came together in an embrace. This was not necessarily a hug for lovers, just two very good friends holding one another in an attempt to pass on some feeling of comfort, there was no sobbing, just the occasional sniffle from Rarity.

After minutes of this cathartic contact, Rainbow broke the embrace and looked to Rarity, seeming wary of wanting to share her thoughts, but eventually she threw those hesitations aside and began talking to her friend. “I know what we’re doing isn’t the best thing, but the thing is...” she breathed a heavy sigh … “I hate losing; I know you all know that, but to me this is no different than any flight competition I’ve been in. Actually I take that back, it's probably more important. Because this time if I lose, I won’t be losing something I can always try at again, or have to wait to get into the Wonderbolts next year or something. Instead if I lose this time, I lose Fluttershy, she and I have known each other for so long, and our friendship has been through a lot, I almost lost it once, and frankly I don’t want to lose it again, and now I want something even more.”

After allowing herself to breathe, Rainbow Dash continued, “I know what we’ve been doing is pretty selfish, I know that in the end one of us is going to end up heartbroken, and I know that in the end we’re going to have to stop doing this, but the thing is I’m just not ready yet. I’m not saying we have to interfere, but please Rarity, can’t we at least go on just one more date? This date is different, it’s her first date with another mare, and I need to see if maybe she might really be into mares, and we don’t even have to try and do anything.”

Rarity sat and digested all that her normally emotionally repressed friend had confessed to her. Rarity and Dash had finally admitted to themselves and each other. Their actions, while having yielded positive results, were rooted in their own desires, and they knew that they couldn’t continue, but still Dash’s plea for just one more outing was too enticing to pass up.

“Well, Rainbow Dash, I suppose that we can at least see if Fluttershy’s experimentation with dating mares goes well, but we have to make sure that we in no way interfere with this date at all, whether it goes lousy or even if it ends up going well. There of course is an exception should Fluttershy end up in any danger, agreed?”

Rarity then held her hoof out to her sky blue pegasus friend, who then took it into her and repeated, “Agreed.”

“We really are just a couple of messes aren’t we?” Rarity, only now she was genuinely laughing.

“Heh, yeah, but at least we got each other to do these crazy stunts, beats being crazy by myself.” Rainbow said with an equal amount of mirth.

Both of the ponies knew that this was all soon coming to an end, and that they could no longer continue down this road but all that mattered to them was that tomorrow they had a date to go on.

Consent and Conundrums

“So umm Applejack said that you and she wanted to talk to me about something,” said a visibly nervous yellow pegasus mare as she was sitting down on a comfy pillow cushion. Before her two other ponies, an orange earth pony and a purple unicorn stood still and looked to one another before turning back to address the fidgety pegasus.

“Yes Fluttershy, Applejack told me about what happened on your dates and to Thunderlane when he attempted to ask you out a second time,” said Twilight as Fluttershy quickly looked over to the friend she had confided in, who now seemed more interested in looking at section on the ‘History of Failed Polymorph Magic’ than her friend. Before continuing, Twilight decided to sit down to make herself appear less imposing and attempt to defuse some of the tension, Applejack quickly did the same. “You see Fluttershy, I’m glad you came to Applejack and told her about your worries, and well after discussing it we want to be completely open and honest with you.”

Applejack by this point had decided to brave the elements and look over to her friend. She was overcome with instant relief when she saw no sign of anger in the pegasus’ face. Applejack then wiped away the nervous sweat that had accumulated on her forehead. Indeed Fluttershy was not mad; she had gone to Applejack specifically to seek advice so she was glad that she was finally getting some.

Twilight then cleared her throat and looked straight into her friend’s face and calmly said, “We think somepony is following you on your dates.”

Silence and absolute stillness took over the room as Applejack and Twilight awaited the inevitable panicking of the introverted pegasus. A panic that never would come, as the yellow pony continued to sit on her cushion and looked at her friends while simultaneously not looking at them, seemingly in another world entirely.

Oh dear somepony following me, a… a part of me was afraid of this, but oh how I wish I were wrong. But, but what do I do now!?

“Fluttershy,” came a voice from a world separate from the one Fluttershy’s voice was currently occupying.

I can’t go on these dates if I’m being followed, what if this pony isn’t nice? Oh but what if they are and I’ve misjudge them?

“Uh Fluttershy, ya in there?”Came another voice.

Oh I’m terrible pony for automatically thinking bad of the poor pony that’s following me!

“Fluttershy!” the voices said in unison, louder than previously.

I know I’ll try and make it up them, umm somehow…

“FLUTTERSHY!” Said the dual voices, only far louder than before, though this time it seemed to work as Fluttershy was brought back into the world she once been in.

Fluttershy blinked and looked up to find that her friends had moved over to her to put a comforting hoof on her, while also trying to shake her from her self-imposed trance.

“Ya alright there sugar cube?” Applejack was the first to address Fluttershy.

“Oh umm yes, I’m sorry that I worried you and Twilight, it’s just umm, is there something I should do?” Fluttershy asked innocently.

At the pegasus’ question, Twilight walked from where Fluttershy and Applejack were, over to the table that stood in the middle of the library’s main room. She then took from the table a small, unimposing box, it reminded Fluttershy of a gift one might receive for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Twilight then returned over to where her friends were sitting and placed the box down, opening it and lifting its contents to show to Fluttershy. The pegasus was surprised to see that it was two pendants, each was pink and shaped like a butterfly, Fluttershy noted how they looked like the trio that adorned her flank.

“Well you see Fluttershy, Applejack and I both know you’re a grown, mature mare who can make decisions for herself, but we also want you to be safe, because you’re our friend and we care about you,” Twilight said in an assuring tone, Fluttershy nodded to show she was following along. “So we first thought about coming along in case something happened, but we quickly realized that would not be an appropriate plan. It would be condescending of us to follow you around and treat you like a foal that needs a chaperone. Also it would be an invasion of your privacy while you were on your date.”

“Not to mention a tad bit awkward,” Applejack added in.

“Yes, so I think I’ve come up with a way for Applejack and I to give you your deserved space, but still be able to help you if, and only if, the need should arise. So I present to you these,” Twilight waved her hoof towards the pendants in a dramatic fashion that would have given Rarity a run for her money.

Without the fanfare and special effects usually synonymous with such an unveiling, Twilight continued to stand there awkwardly presenting her magical invention while Applejack simply brought her hoof to her face and quietly groaned.

After finally succumbing to the curiosity Twilight had expected, Fluttershy looked to her purple pony pal and asked, “Um so what are these things?”

“Glad you asked, these are of course pendants, only I have enchanted them. The first one is enchanted with an Alert Spell,” She said excitedly while pointing to the one on the left, she then guided her hoof to the other one while continuing her lecture, “and this one is enchanted with an Emergency Alarm Spell.”

Fluttershy knew very little about magic so she was grateful the names of the spells were incredibly self-explanatory.

“So I’m guessing that one let's you tell somepony when there's something scary or dangerous nearby, and umm that one tells the wearer about it,” Fluttershy’s tone suggested she was not entirely sure of her answer.

Twilight, despite having been denied a chance to give a lecture on magic, smiled and nodded her head. “Why yes Fluttershy, that’s correct actually, and yes if you wear this pendant on your date, and Applejack or I wear the other, then if anything happens to you I can teleport us to your location, which I can do easily as the pendant share a magical connection to one another.

“But a course this is if, and only if, you want to go through this plan. Twi and I care about ya Fluttershy, and we want to be there for you, but we know that you’re a grown mare and if ya don’t want us to help then just tell us, we don’t want to make it seem like we’re intruding on you personal…” Applejack was then interrupted as she and Twilight were enveloped in a tight hug, both forelegs and wings encircling them.

“Oh I could never think that about either of you, why this is one of the most thoughtful things anypony has ever done for me. The truth is I’ve been thinking that it was something like this, and that’s why I came to you to talk. You see… the things is, I’m scared, but not just about these weird things that keep happening,” by this point Fluttershy had begun producing small drops of tears, her voice struggling through the crying.

“Of course, I’m also just scared about dating in general,” Fluttershy was now freely crying, though gently so. “It’s just that... I’m sorry about what happened to Thunderlane and Ace, but a part of me was also relieved that my dates with them ended so quickly, they made me feel so uncomfortable.” Fluttershy’s crying became more noticeable, now the tears were freely falling. “Then there was my date with Meadow Song, and he was just so much different from the other two, so much nicer than the other two, but…” Fluttershy then hesitated as she battled with what she wanted to say next.

Twilight and Applejack, relieved that their friend was not angry with them, returned the hug. Twilight patting Fluttershy’s head while stroking her mane. Applejack just hugged her, holding onto her friend tightly, as if she was afraid the pony might disappear otherwise. Twilight, being much better with words than Applejack, decided to finish Fluttershy’s thought, “But you just weren’t that into him, were you?”

Fluttershy nodded her head to confirm, “Yes, he was such a nice stallion, and I enjoyed hanging out with him that evening and even singing karaoke, but then at the end of the night I had to tell him the truth, and he… he just oh… he just had this sad look on his face and I felt so bad,” Fluttershy had tried to hide behind her mane, as if to hide from some sort of shame she felt she deserved.

This time Applejack was the one to address Fluttershy, looking directly into her eyes, “Fluttershy, now listen here, you have nothin’ to feel sorry for or ashamed of. Meadow Song is a grown stallion, and if he’s as nice a pony as you say he is then ah’m sure he’ll be fine and find some other pony,” Applejack then wiped away the tears still on Fluttershy’s cheeks before continuing her efforts to console the pegasus. “Always remember sugar, dating and relationships shouldn’t be built on favors and thinking you need to do somethin’ just to be nice, even if it’s somethin’ you don’t want to do. That isn’t doing any favors for the other pony, and it certainly isn’t doing any favors for yourself, always remember your feelings and happiness should always come first.”

Twilight broke away from the hug so she could look her friend in the eye as well, while still stroking her mane, “AJ’s right, if the pony you’re with doesn’t make you happy, it’s sometimes as simple as that.”

Fluttershy, feeling as if a weight had been taken of her chest, now felt she could breathe and even give a small but genuine smile to her comforting friends. “Thanks girls, and yeah after my date with Meadow Song, I told him how I felt and asked if we could just be friends, he seemed a little disappointed, but he tried to hide it and agreed. So after that date didn’t end with anything, I thought that maybe the problem might be that I was limiting myself, so that’s why I agreed to try going out with a mare, and Dr. Flumox had been the first one to proposition me, and well she and I both have an interest in animals so at least we’d have something to talk about, so I umm said yes.”

“Well Applejack and I wish you the best of luck, who knows, you two might hit it off. Now with your permission, would you care to wear this pendant on your date, and should anything happen to you we’ll know about it and be there as soon as possible,” Twilight floated the Detection Charm over to Fluttershy, who nodded her head and took it from Twilight’s telekinetic grasp.

“Yeah, and if anypony even thinks of trying anything, ohh doggie, they’re gonna quickly regret it,” said Applejack as she fiercely punched her forehooves together, taking a battle-ready stance.

Despite now being slightly terrified by her well-meaning farmer friend, Fluttershy smiled and nervously chuckled, “Uh thank you girls, I really do appreciate your concern, but I also wanted to really thank you most of all for how you handled it.”

Twilight and Applejack looked to each other in confusion, Applejack being the first to voice their concerns, “Whadaya mean sugarcube?”

“I mean that you guys came to me and asked if it was alright. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I have friends that want to protect me, but I appreciate that you decided to let me make the choice on whether I wanted your help or not. So thank you again girls,” again Fluttershy brought her friends into a warm embrace.

…

Rainbow Dash laid on top of her cloud bed in silence having failed for the past two hours at falling to sleep. Normally the aspiring Wonderbolt had no problems with sleeping, given her love of naps and all. She knew that the problem wasn’t her cloud bed, as it was amazingly soft as always, Rainbow simply could not put her hoof on what it was that was keeping her from sleep. She just continued to lie there, in her large, quiet, mostly empty house.

Unlike a certain other pegasus, Rainbow had chosen her home to be the same as most traditional pegasi homes: made out of clouds. While cloud homes had several advantages, one severe shortcoming was that it made having guests difficult, so for the most part Rainbow’s home was quiet, undisturbed, and empty.

Rainbow had never really been bothered by this situation, if ever she wanted to visit friends she’d just go to their homes, but now on this silent night, Rainbow found herself slightly put off by the emptiness of her home. Rainbow had never been much of a social pony; she butted heads with most, especially stallions. In school she had been a rebel, one who rejected social graces and rules. She was antagonistic, aggressive, and hated to be second-best. This collection of traits of course made the process of making friends… problematic, so she had been somewhat of a loner as a filly.

There was of course one exception, there had been one pony that hung out with her, accepted her for what she was and didn’t try to change her or make into something else. The filly had a coat as bright and yellow as Princess Celestia’s sun, and a pink mane and tail that seemed to flow like water. They had spent a large portion of their foalhood together, and while this filly frequently got on Rainbow Dash’s nerves, she knew the connection they shared was special, and that they would be forever linked to one another.

Thinking about the past, despite whatever nuggets of happiness it held, made Rainbow feel even worse. Thinking about the mare she had befriended also brought back all the memories of when Rainbow had hurt her, and then she remembered that tomorrow she would follow that now grown pony on her date, desperately hoping she wouldn’t hit it off with the other pony. Rainbow knew it was selfish, but she did not care, for she knew that after tomorrow night Rainbow was finally going to get off the bench and would be ready to play hardball. She then ignored the annoying silence and finally managed to fall into a rough sleep.

…

Twilight had been pleased with how well yesterday’s talk with Fluttershy had gone, and she was glad the pegasus had accepted her and Applejack’s help. She just had to take care of some basic chores before she would head out to Sweet Apple Acres, where she would be spending the night with Applejack so that if and when danger occurred they would both be together and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Only one thing remained to take care of, but fortunately a knock came at the door which Twilight hoped signaled the arrival of a certain pony.

“Coming,” said Twilight in a singsong voice, as she opened the door to reveal Rarity standing, looking slightly less than flawless. Her mane, while brilliantly styled, seemed to lack its usual bounce, and despite her best efforts to conceal them with makeup, Twilight noticed the subtle bags under Rarity’s eyes. “Um Rarity are you alright?”

Noticing the concern in the other unicorn’s voice, Rarity did her best to shake the obvious signs of tired from her face, and put on her best smile and laughed lightly. “Oh but of course I’m alright darling, I’m just here to pick up those pieces I commissioned you for.”

“Oh well they’re ready, so let me go get them for you, just come on in and find a seat while I fetch them,” Twilight then let Rarity into the library as she trotted down into the basement to go get the charms she had made for Rarity.

After just a few moments Twilight emerged from her basement laboratory with a small package in her magical grasp, she then handed it over to Rarity who had taken a seat on one of Twilight’s cushion.

Rarity then took the box into her own magical grip and opened it to check its contents, which consisted of an assuming pair of glasses, and seemingly normal scarf. “Why these are perefect Twilight, I really must thank you again my dear, so what do I owe you?”

“Oh you don’t owe me anything Rarity, that’s what friends are for,” replied Twilight has she held up her forehooves in an attempt to refuse her friend from paying her.

“Nonsense, there must be at least something I can do to show my gratitude,” after taking a moment to think Rarity’s face lit up with the spark of inspiration, “IDEA! I know, why don’t I make you a shawl, it’ll be something that you can wear on dates and is simple, not too much, and once autumn sets in it’ll be perfect for those cool nights.”

“Oh Rarity, you really don’t have to, but I’m sure Futtershy would love to have one of those, especially if she keeps this dating trend up.”

“Oh, yes well Fluttershy seems to be doing just fine with her dating situation, so it’s not like she’ll need the help of a new accessory,” said Rarity, having not realized she had changed her tone to one of nervousness.

Twilight was slightly surprised at Rarity’s lack of excitement at the mention of Fluttershy’s dating , having expected Rarity to be giddy over her friend’s recent forays into the world of romance. “Well, yes I’ll agree she’s been quite the busy mare, oh and I’m so proud of her for trying out new things, and not letting some minor setbacks dissuade her from trying.”

Knowing that it was now her turn to feign agreement, Rarity answered back, “Ah yes, so proud for her, she told me that she has another one scheduled tonight, only this time with a mare. The veterinarian I believe, well I do wish her the best of luck. So as for your shawl, I will begin work on it tomorrow, I’m afraid tonight I’ll be a bit preoccupied with other matters, but I promise I’ll have it done quickly, well Ta Ta for now darling!” Rarity then quickly raced off before Twilight could say anything else.

As Twilight stood there, she began to take in her friend’s odd behavior. She had been expecting her friend to comment on the tackiness of the scarf in question, or talk about how the glasses she picked out clashed with nearly everything Twilight had. Instead Rarity almost seemed too distracted to even critique either accessory. Furthermore, Rarity seemed to dismissive over Fluttershy, normally she would have loved to gossip about such things. Twilight remembered one other time in which her fashion-minded friend had behaved in a similar manner; it was when Fluttershy had accidentally become a famous supermodel.

"Hmm she probably just had little sleep, because she spent all night on some order,” Twilight said, deciding not to think on Rarity’s behavior any longer, besides the studious unicorn was preoccupied at the moment with Fluttershy’s potential stalker and tonight at Applejack’s she knew that would need her full attention. Twilight then trotted up the stairs to her bedroom to finish packing for that night’s endeavors.

…

Fluttershy stood calmly outside, the early stages of twilight setting in. The sun had begun its descent below the horizon, and the late summer air was cooling down surprisingly quickly. It would not be long before autumn would be in full-swing, and almost everypony seemed to be that night enjoying the perfect evening. Fortunately such amenable weather allowed Fluttershy the luxury of dressing up without having to worry about excessive perspiration. Her outfit for the date was simple, a light green shawl that covered her back, along with some ballet flats on her forehooves, which she had kept from her brief modeling days. She had only been there a few short minutes; she always preferred arriving early, before she heard a voice that penetrated the ambient noise of the surrounding crowd.

“Fluttershy, hey Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy was more or less startled, but turned around to see the mare she had been patiently waiting for, though she looked remarkably different in casual wear rather than her usual vet scrubs. Her baby blue mane was actually down rather than up in a ponytail, and she wore a simple black dress that went well with her tan coat. Fluttershy, she looked quite beautiful.

“Oh hello Dr…”

“Fluttershy, we talked about this, you don’t have to call me doctor, just Flo is fine, since I also can’t stand the name my parents gave me, but what can ya do?” The other mare interjected, following with a warm laugh.

Fluttershy quickly felt more relaxed and returned the laugh, “Oh umm OK Flo, well it’s nice to see you, and if you don’t mind me saying, I think you look lovely.”

“Oh, thank you Fluttershy, you look great too, but I think we should go ahead and get our tables, we can complement one another inside,” said the mare as she walked towards the front door of the restaurant, but not before turning to Fluttershy and giving her a playful wink.

Returning the wink with a blush, Fluttershy followed her date and headed for the door. However, unbeknownst to the both of them, two pairs of eyes watched them from a distance, the ponies they belonged to ready to enter into the restaurant for what would certainly be a most interesting evening.

Date Night

“Come now, what was Twilight thinking? I mean come on, beige!? Such a boring, drab color, it doesn’t go with this coat at all, and it certainly didn’t go with my original coat either,” said a sun yellow unicorn with a lemon tart cutie mark, her exasperation apparent from her tone.

This was met with an equally apathetic groan from her companion, a black-coated pegasus with a crimson mane.

“Well, you may not appreciate proper color coordination, but that does not mean the rest of us don’t. Also your accessory was simple, some black-framed glasses, nopony could mess that up. I’m just fortunate I was able to apply a proper Dye-Changing Spell on such short notice,” the prissy unicorn mare continued.

Again her worries were met with a complete disregard from the other pony, before finally the pegasus spoke up, her patience ground into nothing, “Alright already! Geez Rares! Yes I’m so happy you were able to turn your shawl green okay! There, happy!?”

“Emerald,” Rarity corrected.

“Whatever,” replied Rainbow.

Waiting for her companion’s ranting to end; Rarity looked around to make sure no other pony had heard anything that Rainbow had said. “Also please remember DJ… ugh McAwesome…fly, okay I’m sorry, but really Dash? That’s the name you picked?” Rarity gave a deadpan look, raising her eyebrow.

Rainbow herself delivered a look of complete innocence, and seemed utterly confused by her friend’s questioning of her choice in name. “What, of course that’s the name I picked, it’s got awesome right there in it, so it’s perfect for me, and at least I’m not named after some desert or something.”

“Rainbow, I mean DJ, my coat is yellow, my cutie mark is a lemon tart, and my mane is white and styled like a swirl, so I think I picked a perfectly appropriate name.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever Lemon Twirl,” said the pegasus with great sarcasm.

“That’s Lemon Swirl, my dear!” The unicorn quickly corrected, putting extra emphasis on the second half.

“Fine, Lemon Swirl, at least I picked out a name that just screams radical,” said Rainbow, as she took to the sky to strike a dramatic pose. Rarity could only simply roll her eyes as she continued to walk down the road toward their destination.

After a few minutes, the two incognito ponies found themselves just outside The Café Ecurie. It was a quaint little Prench café, nothing entirely ostentatious, though by Ponyville standards it was rather unique from the other local eateries. Rarity thought about how this would have been the perfect place for her first date with Fluttershy, and her relief over Dr. Flummox’s taste in venues struggled against her anger at having been beaten to the punch.

Rainbow Dash on the other hoof fought against the powerful urge to groan at the prospect of having to suffer through another date she knew would end in failure.

Please, Fluttershy doesn’t care for all that fancy gunk, if I took her out on a date it’d be somewhere not lame, like a Wonderolts show, or at the least to the park where I could do some tricks or something, heck the park would even have some animals for her to go nuts over… if she doesn’t get too distracted by my awesomeness of course.

Rainbow Dash continued to fly during her impromptu dream date scenario, oblivious to all that surrounded her. Rarity, however, was quick to see that they were approaching the door where she saw their quarry. Despite having taken on disguises, Rarity immediately leaped into the air and shoved Rainbow Dash behind some bushes a couple of yards from the entrance; quickly pouncing behind them herself.

“Geez! What’s your problem Rari…?” Rainbow Dash attempted to ask, before being cut off by a yellow hoof being shoved into her mouth in an attempt to silence her.

“Ssshhhh, from here on out do please try and refrain from using our real names,” replied Rarity flatly. She then took to observing Fluttershy and her date from over the top of the bush.

“OK fine Lemon Swirl, so tell me, what’s the plan,” said Rainbow Dash as she tried to look over the bush with Rarity, who still had a hoof holding her head.

“Well fortunately this place does not require a reservation so after those two head inside, we’ll just follow soon after and get ourselves a table that’s not too close, but will still allow us a decent view,” Rarity explained.

Rainbow nodded her head, “Okay, cool, sounds like a plan,”

“Umm are you two alright?” Said another voice, this one belonging to neither of the other two ponies, which caused them to jump and turn around to see a brown earth pony stallion giving them a curious look.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash then looked to one another before realizing just how compromising their position would look to any other pony. The two of them were hiding in some shrubbery, and Rarity still had one hoof behind Rainbow Dash’s head, and the other on her muzzle. While Rarity attempted to explain their compromising situation, Rainbow Dash simply sighed and covered her face in her hooves.

…

Fluttershy and Flo were escorted to their table by the hostess pony. After the having been seated, the waitress took their drink orders, and then left them to look over their menus.

Flo was the first to break their silence, “So Fluttershy, let me just say again how happy I am you agreed to this date, though I must say I was surprised by your pick.”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure, umm Flo, and yes this is just perfect, I just hope it wasn’t too much, we could have picked a much more practical place,” replied Futtershy.

“Oh no, no I gave you the option of picking, so you shouldn’t have to worry, I’m perfectly fine with this, it’s just that I didn’t picture you the type to be into something so fancy,” Flo said, as she looked over the top of her menu.

“Oh well, a friend of mine brought me here once, and I just fell in love with the food here, the carrot soufflé is just wonderful,” said Fluttershy, as she seemed to beam simply recalling the dish.

“Hmm carrot soufflé you say? Makes sense you’d like carrots, what with all those rabbits you take care of,” replied the doctor as she folded her menu as the waiter returned.

He asked Fluttershy for her order first, “Oh I think I’ll try something new this evening, how about the onion and leek soup.”

“Ah an excellent choice miss, and for you Madame?” Said the waiter in a Prench accent.

“Hmm I think I’ll take my lovely friend’s advice and go with the carrot soufflé,” said Flo, wearing a confidant smile.

“Yes, another excellent selection, we will have those out here momentarily, now would either of you lovely fillies care for one of our exquisite wines?” asked the waiter.

Fluttershy considered it for a moment, but decided drinking on the first date might not be the best decision, “Oh no thank you, I’m fine.”

“None for me either, thanks,” added Flo.

The waiter then took their menus and left them to each others company.

After a brief moment of quiet it was Fluttershy who broke the silence. “So you mentioned my rabbits, I have several other kinds of animals at my cottage too.”

This seemed to peek the other mare’s interest. “Oh do tell,” she said with a slight smile.

“Um, well I have so many kinds of birds from blue jays, canaries, and exotic flamingos as well as your standard chickens. I also have otters, and squirrels, and badgers, bats, and just so many other kinds of animals,” Fluttershy spoke in an almost singsong voice, her giddiness proving difficult to suppress.

Flo could only smile at how happy her date was when it came to talking about animals, a feeling she herself could sympathize with.

Fluttershy continued, deciding to turn the conversation in a more personal direction, “So Flo, since you brought up animals I was wanting to ask you a question. You see, I enjoy taking care of all the creatures that come to my cottage, and while there are things I can do like fix a sprained leg, or know what certain herbs can do for certain illnesses, I’m afraid my knowledge on animal medicine is… limited,” said Fluttershy as she looked down to the ground, her ears slightly drooping.

“Nuh uh uh, nope, stop right,” Flo interjected.

“Huh, what?” Blurted out Fluttershy, her attention pulled away from the floor?

“That right there, Fluttershy I must say that for somepony with no traditional training, you’re probably one of the best animal caretakers I’ve seen, heck I’m sure most ponies in town come to you first a lot of the times before myself.”

“Oh I’m sorry about that, I usually try and refer them to you, but ponies just keep coming to me and…”

“Fluttershy, see that’s what I’m talking about, to be honest I’m glad you’re modest, but I also think you sell yourself short. Like I was trying to say, for a pony who doesn’t have any formal training, you’re quite a natural when it comes to raising and taking care of animals,” said Flo in an attempt to boost Fluttershy’s confidence.

Her cheeks betrayed her as Fluttershy seemed genuinely flattered by her date’s words, and mustering up some courage, she managed to work out, “thank you Flo, that’s a very nice complement, especially coming from you. You see taking care of animals, well it’s my special talent, but I don’t have the skills or experience of somepony like you, though I wish I did.”

Flo pondered on those words, but it was not long before she looked like she had been struck with an idea, “Well… have you considered furthering your education?”

Fluttershy seemed completely caught off guard by that question, and replied, “Umm, well no, not exactly, I mean I’m just a simple pony from Ponyville, I’m not some brilliant prodigy or anything like that.”

“Honey, the way you work with some of those animals, everything from beavers, cockatrices, and even dragons, I’d say you have a true natural gift, and going to refine your skills at a veterinary school would only allow you to help your animal friends more.”

“Well, that sounds great, but do you think I can do it,” Fluttershy asked somberly as she returned her gaze back to the floor.

“Fluttershy,” said Flo kindly, yet in a manner to gain Fluttershy’s attention. Fluttershy then lifted her head and looked towards her date, who looked back to her and returned a confidant smirk that reminded Fluttershy of a certain fast-flying friend, “I know you can.”

…

Unbeknown to the two ponies, just a few feet away at a table on the opposite corner sat two other ponies also on a date. Well on a date to watch their date. Rarity and Rainbow had ordered their food, and were now trying their best to nonchalantly observe their prey across the room. Rarity had brought her opera glasses, but she knew it would rather odd to have them out, so she kept them stowed away for the time being. Since she sat in the seat that faced the opposite direction of where Fluttershy and her date were seated, she had to rely on Rainbow Dash to provide updates. Sadly, this led to complications.

“Now what are they doing?” Asked a clearly annoyed Rarity, unable to turn and see for herself.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before saying, “The same thing they were doing the last time you asked me, talking, that’s all they’ve done is talk.”

“Yes, yes, but about what?” Asked Rarity.

“How in the hay am I supposed to know that? I don’t have supersonic hearing you know!” Replied Rainbow, her voice rising in frustration.

“Shh now Rainbow remember, we are in a nice restaurant, there’s no need to raise your voice, also we have to keep a low profile,” said Rarity in a hushed voice.

“Alright fine.”

“Good, now tell me, what is Fluttershy’s demeanor like?”

“Her what now?”

“Her demeanor darling, you know. Does it look like she has been smitten? Has her coat taken on the rosy hue of a mare bursting with excitement? What of her smile, is it glowing or shimmering?”

Again, Rainbow could only roll her eyes; she then breathed a heavy sigh before attempting to humor her friend. “She looks like normal Fluttershy, her eyes aren’t sparkling or whatever, her posture is the same as normal, she keeps looking at the ground, but again that’s normal, and now she’s… smiling?”

It was then that Rainbow’s interest seemed finally piqued, she then tried to get a closer look at Fluttershy, while trying her best to make it not look like that was what she was doing.

“Well, come on what is it Rainbow Dash? She’s smiling, but what kind of smile?” Asked Rarity, her tone filling with nervousness.

“I can’t quite see without leaning to far, wait that’s it! Rarity lean into the table.” Commanded Rainbow.

Despite the obvious confusion on her face, Rarity obeyed and leaned in towards Rainbow Dash, who then took the unicorn’s head with her hoof, and brought it even closer. Rainbow then brought her own head forward towards Rarity’s, but her eyes were not on Rarity, whereas were now glued to Dash in shock. Rainbow tilted her head so as to see around Rarity’s mane and get a closer look at Fluttershy.

“Huh, I’ve never seen her look like that, whatever that pony said to her has got her in a good mood,” Rainbow said into Rarity’s ear.

“Are you certain?” Asked Rarity in whisper, still not fully adjusted to having Rainbow Dash’s muzzle this close to her own.

“Yeah, trust me, when you’ve known Fluttershy as long as I have you tend to know how she ticks, and the only things that make her that happy are animals and singing.”

“Ahem, um madams I have brought you your salads, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” asked the voice of their waiter, having returned at the most inopportune times.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity quickly realized how their position must have looked and quickly broke apart, and returned to sitting in each of their seats, both wearing fake smiles and giving awkward laughs.

Rarity was the first to speak, “Oh no my fine gentlecolt, why my good friend here just wished to tell me the most salacious bit of gossip is all, so that’s what we were doing of course. Nothing else, nope nothing.” Rarity then proceeded to look absolutely anywhere but at the waiter. Rainbow Dash simply nodded, still wearing her fake grin.

The waiter did not press the issue any further, merely bowed while handing each of them their salad, and the proceeded to walk off.

“Phew, that was close,” said Dash once the waiter was out of earshot, she then proceeded to eat her salad.

Rarity, however, was distracted, and her heart was still beating fast. Her thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash, and the episode they just had. Then there was still Fluttershy, the pony she had been interested in for some time now, the pony who with every subsequent date she felt her slipping further away. For now she found herself trapped, on a date she knew she should not be on, working with a pony she was not sure she could trust. She then turned her attention to her salad, making an effort to put a dent in it.

…

“So enough about me, say something about yourself Flo,” asked Fluttershy casually.

“Hmm well, not much to say really, I’m originally from Fillydelphia, whole family still lives there. Mom was a housewife, dad was a doctor, and my older brothers both went on to become doctors too. Then you have me, the youngest child, only filly, and chose to be a veterinarian in a one horse town. Needless to say, they were less than enthusiastic about the field I chose to pursue, well dad didn’t anyway.”

Surprised with how casually Flo had told her all this, Fluttershy replied, “Oh how awful, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Flo gave a dismissive hoof before responding, “Oh don’t be, while it was a bit emotionally exhausting at first, my dad eventually turned around.”

“Oh, well that’s at least good to hear, what made him change his mind though?” Asked Fluttershy.

“I got his face and told him that I was going to live my life and be what I wanted to be, needless to say he listened, there was a lot of yelling, but that’s just how he and I are, we’re both pretty chill, but when we reach our boiling points, boy do we explode. But when all is said and done, we were able to come to terms with one another, and he eventually became cool with it. Ultimately, I think sometimes just plain honesty works best, even if it’s completely blunt.”

Fluttershy was left speechless, not sure what to say. She always thought Dr. Flummox was a strong pony, but she never knew just how strong she was. Fluttershy was able to empathize with her, having grown up to become something much different than what her parents, and especially herself, had expected. For a native of Cloudsdale to pursue a life of animal care in a town mostly of earth ponies was certainly odd. Fluttershy remembered her balloon ride over to Ponyville for the first, her chest felt as if it would burst from a mixture of extreme excitement and fear. She remembered feeling lost in the new town, full of so many ponies, before she finally found, just on the outskirts of town the cottage she had managed to secure.

However, the thing she remembered most from that day was opening the door to her empty cottage, and lying there in the middle of the floor asleep, in her typical messy fashion, was Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy quickly learned that she would not be alone, not ever. Wherever she went she had a friend would always be there for her, even if she was sometime loud and pushy.

“Oh I can understand, sometimes change can be scary, especially when you’re alone, but I’ve found that when you have others there to help you along you,” said Fluttershy as memories of all her recent adventures came to mind, where she and her friends had grown together.

Flo nodded her head, “Agreed and I suppose you have it made when you’re friends and you are the Elements of Harmony and all.”

Fluttershy blushed, as she usually got embarrassed whenever other ponies brought up the subject of her recent notoriety. While most of the Canterlot nobility had little recollection of her and friend’s accomplishments, the residents of Ponyville were always buzzing with talk of whatever recent endeavor or shenanigan Fluttershy and her friends got into.

Giving a nervous laugh Fluttershy responded, “Well yes I guess that’s true.”

“But like I was saying Fluttershy, one thing I learned was that in life you should not be afraid to go after something that makes you happy, if you want to study and go to a vet school I see no reason why should pursue that, especially someone as smart and talented as yourself.”

By this point Fluttershy’s coat had taken on a color similar to that of a strawberry, she suddenly became vastly more interested in her glass of water before finally looking to her date and quietly letting in a miniscule voice, “thank you very much, but you don’t have to say all of that just to be nice to me.”

Flo was quick to reply, “Good, because I mean every word of it,” she then gave Fluttershy a confidant smile, which only made the pegasus blush even more.

…

“Oh no, oh no, oh no no no…” said Rainbow Dash.

“What!? What is it darling?” asked Rarity.

“Fluttershy, she just started blushing, and she’s giving those eyes she gets whenever she really seems to like a pony,” answered Dash.

“Oh I was afraid this may occur, as excellent as it is that Fluttershy is making progress in picking suitable… well suitors, it seems she may have gotten a little, too good at it now.”

Rarity then quickly turned her head and pulled her miniature opera glasses she had tucked safely inside her mane when she excused herself to the powder room earlier in the dinner. She looked over to Fluttershy’s table and could see that Fluttershy was indeed blushing, and smiling, a most deadly combination.

Rarity then fully turned her body around and actually sat up and leaned on the back of her chair to try and get better look at Fluttershy’s table, something that certainly had begun to snag a few passing glances from various tables.

“Umm Lemon Swirl, what are you doing?” asked Rainbow Dash, her voice sounding much rougher than usual, though still failing to capture her attention.

“Trying to see what is going on over there,” replied Rarity casually.

“Well, I hate to break that up, but the problem is that you’re kinda umm, drawing some attention,” Rainbow Dash’s voice got gradually quieter before finally ending in a whisper.

Indeed, a couple of ponies were now beginning to notice the odd yellow unicorn with her opera glasses. However, Rarity seemed unfazed by their glances, “Just a moment McAwesome, I just need to see if I can read Fluttershy’s lips.”

Unfortunately, Rarity never got the chance to, as her chair finally leaned over a bit too far, toppling over with her along with it. The resulting crash then only garnered more attention from most of the patrons now, all looking to discover the cause of the commotion. Rarity, horrified, could only lay in the floor, desperately hoping she was either dreaming or on the verge of death, while Rainbow Dash merely banged her head on the table. It was at that moment that Rarity glanced up to see that a pony was offering her a hoof to help her get back up, and to her horror that pony was Fluttershy.

“Oh dear, are you alright?” she asked sweetly, and to Rarity it reminded her of a song.

Of course Rarity was quickly snapped back to reality, and did her best to remain calm and walk off this embarrassing misstep.

“Oh, umm yes my dear, quite alright in fact, I umm was just…” Rarity frantically looked around to find something to serve as a decent excuse, before she noticed a chandelier situated in the middle of the restaurant, “Admiring the décor,” Rarity continued, pointing her hoof towards the fixture in question.

Fluttershy gave the strangely familiar unicorn a questioning glance and raised eyebrow. “It is a very nice chandelier, well I’m glad you’re alright, well umm bye,” she replied before heading back to her own table, leaving Rarity there to try and fumble through a response.

“Oh umm thank you again, and I love your mane by the way,” she added, wishing desperately to say more, but refrained from doing so, knowing that it would have made her seem somehow even more strange. Rarity then sighed and turned around and sat at her own table, looking up to see a visibly angry Rainbow Dash, her new black coat made look all the more intimidating.

“What?” Asked Rarity.

“What in the hay was that?” Rainbow replied, fighting back her natural affinity for drawing attention, as many of the ponies had just now begun paying attention to their own tables.

“Alright so I fell, I was merely trying to see what had Fluttershy all a flitter, when I simply leaned a tad too far,” said Rarity, with her snout raised, she then suddenly became very interested in her entre, which the waiter must have brought to the table at some point during Rarity’s mishap.

“Yeah, way to stick to ‘laying low’,” spat Rainbow Dash, using her now patented air quotes, this time with her wings.

I swear if she does that annoying air quoting nonsense one more time, I cannot be held responsible for what I do.

As Rarity continued to try and care about her food, her mind went over all that had happened so far in the evening. There had been Rainbow Dash’s face getting a little too close to hers, but perhaps worse was the fact that Rarity didn’t mind it as much as she thought she should. On top of that, from what Rainbow and herself could tell, Fluttershy was actually enjoying herself, which made her feel terrible and then she felt guilty about feeling terrible, which only compounded her feeling terrible. Finally, the cherry on top of this dreadful date night infiltration sundae was her mortifying fall, only to then be helped by Fluttershy herself. Rarity lamented that such a prime moment for romance had to be avoided, also there was the fact that Fluttershy would not have known it was her thanks to her magical disguise. One thing Rarity knew for certain…

This had not been her night.

…

“And here is your bill Madame,” said the waiter to Flo, who took it graciously.

“Thank you my good stallion,” she said, as she returned the check with some money as the waiter went to go settle everything. “Oh and keep the change,” she added as she rose from the table and addressed Fluttershy, “You ready to go?”

Fluttershy responded with an affirming nod. So the two ponies walked towards the door.

“Ah man their leaving now,” grunted Rainbow Dash, “Quick get the waiter’s attention,” she ordered Rarity

“Like we haven’t been doing that all night or anything,” replied Rarity under her breath, as she managed to signal one of the wait staff over.

…

Once outside the restaurant, Flo and Fluttershy walked, having no clear destination in mind. The night had taken a turn for the chilly, and Fluttershy tightened the shawl wrapped around her, remembering the pendant attached to it. Fortunately, nothing had happened so far in the night that seemed strange so she was glad she was finding it unnecessary to use. So far this date with Flo had been the best one she had yet. The mare was nice, complemented her, and even encouraged her to pursue a dream she more or less put on hold.

“So this date has been… nice, and I hope I haven’t been too quiet or boring,” said Fluttershy, as she struggled to find the word that best suited tonight.

“Oh no, not at all, I enjoyed talking to you Fluttershy, and I’m glad you’re going to consider my suggestion for going to school and learning more, Equestria would be sorely wanting to lose a potential talent like yours,” said Flo in her friendly voice, which was as sweet as could be.

Fluttershy could only blush at her complements, feeling not entirely deserving of them. Also Fluttershy found herself experiencing a familiar feeling she had felt throughout the night: guilt.

Indeed, now that the dinner was over, and the date was beginning to wind down, Fluttershy had to admit to herself once again that her feelings for Flo were no different than what they had been for Meadow Song, or for her friends like Twilight or Applejack. The fact that Flo was so nice to her made the pangs of guilt even worse. Without meaning to, Fluttershy began to cry and she had stopped walking. Flo turned to see what was wrong, surprised by Fluttershy’s sudden change in mood.

“Fluttershy? What’s wrong hon?” she asked with genuine befuddlement.

Between her mixture of hiccups and cries, Fluttershy could only get out two words, “I’m sorry.”

This did little to alleviate Flo of her confusion, “Sorry? Sorry about what? I thought the date was kinda going pretty swell.”

“That’s just it! It has been going well, and you’re such a nice pony, but I just don’t think… I like you like that, and I’m sorry I wasted your time like this,” said Fluttershy as she gained enough composure to include more words in with her crying.

“Wait, is this what has you so worked up? Fluttershy, honey, I think we just need to clear the air here for a moment and you need to get some things straightened out,” she then put her forehooves on Fluttershy’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

Once Fluttershy had stopped crying completely and looked up to her she continued, “Look I’ll admit I asked you out on a date because I was interested in you. You’re kind, you’re pretty, heck you’re a former beauty model, but I also found you interesting because we’re both in similar lines of work, but we don’t often see too much of each other so I figured this would be a good time to get to know one another better.”

Flo then offered a handkerchief to Fluttershy, who took it gladly and wiped her nose with it, Flo waiting until she was done before continuing on. “So yeah I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t entertained the thought that maybe we could umm… become more,” the blush on her coat was only rivaled by the one on Fluttershy’s by that point, “but listen my number one priority tonight was to have a nice night and maybe make a new friend. I don’t want you to think you owe me anything for tonight.”

“A friend? But I thought this was a date?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well yes it is a date, but dating is more than just a fast track to hot passion and romance, friends can go out on dates, and for many ponies who eventually become an item, they started out as friends.”

“They, they do?” Fluttershy asked again in the most innocent of ways.

By this point Flo could only chuckle at Fluttershy’s innocence, not in a patronizing way, just more a humorously adorable sort of way.

Flo then answered, “Yes, now I know you’re sort of new to this whole dating business, so let me give you some advice, as a friend, just because you’re going out on date with somepony doesn’t mean you owe them anything. Fluttershy, if you go out with another stallion, or a mare, and they try and make you feel obligated to do something because you “owe” them for taking you out, then hon I’ll tell you right now you need to ditch that date pronto.”

Fluttershy nodded her head.

“So yeah, I had a feeling that maybe you weren’t into me like that, and I promise Fluttershy that’s fine, I’m a big pony I can handle it. But we did have fun tonight right?”

“Oh yes, of course, I had a great time tonight,” Fluttershy answered, looking genuinely happy for the first time since leaving the restaurant.

“Then I say mission accomplished, so I say let’s get you home.”

The two then made off towards Fluttershy’s cottage, close together as friends. Once the space previously occupied by the two ponies was completely clear a rustling came from a nearby bush as Rarity and Rainbow Dash emerged, both having abandoned their disguises and were now back to their original appearances.

Rarity had sad look on her face, while Rainbow Dash could barely hide her grin as she addressed the other pony, “Oh yes I agree, mission accomplished, Fluttershy doesn’t even like her like that, so I’m still in this.”

Rarity then only slumped as she looked down at the ground, her feelings of guilt beginning to almost physically weigh her down.

“What’s the matter with you Rares?” Dash asked.

Rarity then thought about what she had heard Flutterhy say, and how Flo had told her that friendship was a good place for lovers to start out, then add to the fact that Rarity sill felt terrible about continuing this whole endeavor, the sum total made her feel terrible.

“It’s nothing dear, I’m just rather exhausted so I think I’ll just head home for the night, it’s not like we’ll need to follow them any longer since we know nothing is going to come of this evening for anypony.” She then made her trek of solitude back towards Carousel Boutique.

“Oh okay, well guess I’ll see you later I suppose, I have something special to plan for tomorrow,” Dash then flew off by herself to her cloud mansion for another night of just herself and her tortoise.

Of course, not everypony had such a quiet evening…

…

“Ha! I win agin!” declared Applejack, in her voice of triumph.

It had been a somewhat rowdy evening at Sweet Apple Acres as Applejack and her family, along with Twilight Sparkle, played a marathon of every board game guaranteed to bring out the blood lust in anypony. Monopony, Risk: Equestria, Charades, Rummy, Apples to Apples. After hours of battle, only Applejack and Twilight had remained, Big Macintosh being the final one to admit defeat to sleep. Twilight and Applejack had moved on to a taking turns with their individual favorite two-player games: checkers for Applejack, and chess for Twilight.

“I don’t get it, how can you be so good at this?” asked a clearly confused Twilight, having lost to AJ at checkers now for a record four times in a row.

“What, can’t accept that there’s a game of strategy you can’t beat me at Twi?” asked Applejack in a playfully mocking manner.

“Yeah, well we’ll see who has the last laugh after this game,” said Twilight with an evil smirk as she began to set up the chess board for another go.

Applejack then took a quick glance at the clock before turning back to Twilight, “Well no word from Fluttershy, so I’m hoping that means the date went alright, figure we should check in on her?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, we can check in on her tomorrow, now stop stalling and let’s go, I’m letting you play white so you can make the first move.”

Applejack then put a sly smile on her face, “Hmm, oh I’ll be making the first move, but I don’t think it’ll necessarily be’n chess,” said Applejack as she leaned forward and cleared the table of the chess board, undeterred by all the pieces falling to the floor.

Twilight, quickly realizing where this was going, mirrored Applejack’s grin before replying, “Hmm, so I suppose this means I’m in check?”

“Twi, don’t kill the mood," deadpanned Applejack as she took the other mare's nuzzle into her hooves.

Years in the Making

There are several events in a young filly’s life that can be quite stressful: her first day of school, her first big dance, her first pimple, getting braces. However, there was one event that trumped all other disasters that normally plagued a young pegasus pony’s childhood.

Summer Flight Camp.

For Fluttershy, the arrival of this horrid event was an inevitability that she had dreaded for months. She had managed to fake being sick last autumn and missed attending Fall Flight Camp, but she knew the same trick would not work twice.

At that moment her door burst open and a pegasus stallion entered, a loud cheerful voice followed, “Up, up, up! Rise and shine Fluttershy, today’s the big day!”

Fluttershy attempted to retreat from the voice by falling back further into the security of her comforter, but she grossly underestimated her opponent. Fluttershy was then assaulted by the blinding light of the sun, her vision slowly adjusted as she was greeted again by the cheerful voice of her father, Fairweather, his smile bright enough to give the sun itself a run for its money.

“Now, dear I know you’re worried about getting sick again and having to miss another flight camp, which is why I had Gourmet make you a breakfast perfect for providing a young filly with the vitamins and nutrients to fight off any illness, and of course provide you with the energy necessary to make it through the harrowing challenges of flight camp, which I just know you’ll ace with flying colors,” said the proud father, his smile never faltering.

Fluttershy sighed, but then smiled as put forth her best effort to reciprocate her father’s enthusiasm. “Oh why thank you father, though you really shouldn’t have.”

“Nonsense, only the best for my future little Wonderbolt,” Fairweather interjected. “Now hurry up dear, breakfast and flight camp waits!”

Again Fluttershy breathed a heavy sigh before hesitantly getting out of bed, “that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

…

Despite her date the previous night, Fluttershy found herself up at her usual time just before the sun rose, which she preferred since it meant she would not have to suffer through the uncomfortable period of adjusting to the blinding light brought on by the sunrise. As Fluttershy fed her many animal friends, her mind went back to the various things she and her new friend Flo had talked about during their evening.

Well… have you considered furthering your education?

Flo’s words sank into her and settled in her like an ice cube in her belly. Fluttershy had always thought about going to school for learning how to be an official animal caretaker, she knew that doing so would allow her to not only do more to help her animal friends but also perhaps one day teach others.

Fluttershy’s School for the Veterinary Arts. She had to admit it had a nice ring to it, and she could even get Discord to help her design and build it.

Hmm…maybe I should first handle getting into Vet school first, before I consider any well-meaning, though admittedly problematic, draconequesses near any construction tools, she thought to herself.

Fluttershy finished feeding her fish, and then trotted around her cottage into her front yard to go check the mail. Upon opening her mailbox, Fluttershy noticed a blue envelope, with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt for a stamp. Of course, Fluttershy knew immediately who this was from, so she hastily opened it to see what it was. Naturally all that it contained was a letter, written in Rainbow’s signature sloppy writing, though Fluttershy had known Rainbow Dash long enough to be able to read her penmanship.

“To Fluttershy, hey it’s me Rainbow Dash. I wrote you this note because I had to get up early to go do weather patrol duties, which sucks. But, listen there’s something I want to talk to you about, so meet me at five o’clock on the hill just outside Sweet Apple Acres thanks,” she read out loud. She then looked down to Angel, who was munching on his morning carrot.

“Oh dear I wonder what it is she wanted to talk about? Well I better make sure and get my chores done extra early so that I can meet her on time,” she told Angel, who had already left once he had finished his carrot. “Oh well, I suppose I should get started then, la lala lala lala,” sang Fluttershy as she went off to do the rest of her daily rituals.

…

Fluttershy usually felt like she should have been born an earth pony, but at this moment she wished desperately to have been a unicorn. She knew that according to the Hearth’s Warming Eve story it was the unicorns who raised the sun and the moon before Princess Celestia came along. Fluttershy hoped that with enough magic she could move the sun backwards, make it yesterday again and then keep it that way forever so she would never have to worry about today coming.

Of course Fluttershy also knew that the last pony who messed with the sun and moon like that was sent to live on the moon all alone, and Fluttershy pondered if such a life might actually be better. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about being around other ponies, but she wasn’t sure how she would eat either.

Instead Fluttershy settled for procrastinating the old fashioned way, by brushing her mane over and over again, hoping her father had forgotten what day it was.

“Fluttershy, come on kid, breakfast is getting cold and you’re gonna be late!”

Of course he didn’t forget, she thought to herself.

Finally accepting her fate, Fluttershy trotted down the stairs and through the living room into their dining room where her father and mother sat waiting for her.

“Ah there’s my girl, ready to get underway with her flight training,” her father beamed proudly. As she took her seat at the table, he hugged her in his wing, and she merely nodded her head.

“Dear, are you sure you’re feeling well, I know last time you starting to feel clammy and you’re coat almost turned green,” said her mother, Sky Flower, recalling the incident last fall.

Fluttershy, despite her severe desire to fall desperately ill right that moment, knew that she couldn’t avoid this forever, and that she did not want to disappoint her parents either. So taking a deep breath, she put on a smile and looked up to her mother.

“Oh, umm yes I’m sure, I sure can’t wait to go to flight camp,” she said with as much false enthusiasm as she could muster. Her mother gave her a curious look that suggested she was not entirely convinced. Unfortunately any suspicions were quickly forgotten as Fairweather certainly had enough genuine enthusiasm for them all.

“That’s my girl! Oh I just know you’re going to do well,” he said as he hugged his daughter tightly in his wing.

After finishing her oatmeal, Fluttershy was handed her bag by one of the housemaids, she then got up from the table and hugged her mother.

Her mother, in an attempt to not be heard by Fairweather whispered into her daughter’s ear, “Just remember Shy, this isn’t about what your father wants, or what you think you’re obligated to do, try to have fun, makes friends, and learn to enjoy flying. We’ll be proud of you no matter what, flying prodigy or no.”

Fluttershy of course had no doubts both of her parents loved her unconditionally and in the case of her father his heart was in the right place, but it certainly helped the young filly to receive some reassurance from her mother.

“Thank you, mother, I promise to do my best,” she said warmly while wearing her first true smile of the day.

“She then trotted to the door, where the carriage that took the young ponies to Flight Camp was waiting. At the door her father stood proudly as he addressed his daughter, “Now go out there Fluttershy, and show them what you’re made of.”

Fluttershy merely gulped.

…

Rarity considered herself a mare of confidence, she knew where it was she wanted to go in life. She knew that a life of fame, glamour, and sophistication awaited her in Canterlot. She also knew her future would be one spent in the arms of her dashing prince that would come in and sweep her off her hooves. Tragically, Rarity’s night at the Grand Galloping Gala had successfully shot that part of the dream clear out of the sky. Her prince on that night had been anything but dashing, and that bit of reality had been a hard pill to swallow, though fortunately, like always Rarity picked herself up, brushed herself off and knew that the only path she had to take was the one before her.

The only problem was she found herself feeling incredibly lost.

With her princely fantasies sundered, Rarity began to question what was it that she wanted out of life, both professionally and personally. She was still a young mare with her whole career ahead of her, so she decided just to pour everything into that. She had even made a trip to Canterlot shortly before Twilight’s birthday to pick up supplies and hopefully spark her creativity. It was during this trip that she had met him.

Fancy Pants was a member of the Canterlot social elite, a true stallion of fortune and gentlecolt. Rarity had been entranced by him, and she had interpreted his kindness as a sign of his interest in her. Sadly, it became obvious quite quickly that Fancy Pants was but another fantasy beyond her reach. A married stallion already and in truth far too old for her, his kindness had merely been born of his good nature and genuine interest to be a friend to Rarity, and a friend only. Once again Rarity found her career advancing, but no prince to take her to the ball. Rarity began to wonder if it was prince she should be looking for. Perhaps instead what Rarity thought she needed was… a princess.

“Of course at the rate I’m going, I’m going to let that slip away from me as well,” Rarity thought to herself.

Rarity took a break from the self-introspective moping to fully take in just where it was she was going. She was not surprised to find herself heading towards the outskirts of Ponyville, in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Also it was the direction if Fluttershy’s cottage.

“No, not now Rarity, first things first you must sort out these feelings and thoughts, I think asking Twilight and Applejack for advice might be most advantageous,” she assured herself.

As Rarity passed through the front gate of Sweet Apple Acres, and pass the seemingly endless rows of Apple Trees, she had to admit that the farm was not without its charms. Sure Rarity had always been a city pony at heart, and she longed for bigger things, but one thing she had learned from her visit to Canterlot that one time was that while bigger, they were not necessarily better.

As Rarity finally made it to the Apple Family’s main farmhouse, she was greeted by a most interesting scene. The front door opened as Applejack walked out accompanied by Twilight, both of them looking slightly disheveled, but still quite happy. Rarity, being the well-informed mare that she was, already knew about recent developments that had occurred in their relationship. She of course would not discuss it until they would decide it was appropriate, since this was still a secret that Twilight and Applejack thought nopony else knew. Rarity certainly knew how it felt to have a secret and not be quite ready to make it known to others. So thinking quickly, Rarity jumped into the nearest bush before Applejack and Twilight noticed her.

Hmm, well this makes now the third time in only two days I’ve found myself hiding in some shrubbery, Rarity amusingly thought to herself.

As fate would have it, Twilight and Applejack briefly paused just next to where Rarity had chosen to hide herself, taking note of each other’s appearance. Twilight giggled while she fixed Applejack’s hat, who was busy trying in futile to fix Twilight’s mane.

“I must say Twi, you look a sight, hate to see how Rarity would act if she saw the state your mane is in,” Applejack said playfully as she continued to mess with the other pony’s mane, seemingly doing more damage than before.

Twilight only continued to laugh as she turned away from her friend, “Well, I wouldn’t ‘look a sight’ if someone was so grabby with my mane.”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t be so grabby with somepony’s mane if that mane weren’t so great to play with,” Applejack continued, as she had all but given up on straightening Twilight’s mane.

Rarity had grown to immediately regret hiding, as she now had to endure the cheesy, albeit slightly adorable, banter between the two lovers.

“Well I’m just glad, Fluttershy’s date seemed to go well, didn’t even need to use that magic charm of yours,” Applejack smiled as she held up a pendant that Rarity noticed looked just like the butterflies that made up Fluttershy’s cutie mark. This piqued Rarity’s curiosity.

“Well better safe than sorry, but you’re right, I guess all those weird occurrences on her other dates were just flukes,” Twilight responded as she took the butterfly in her magical grasp and put it in her saddlebag.

Strange occurrences? Oh dear! Do, do they know? Are they on to Rainbow Dash and I? What if they catch us, and what of Fluttershy? Oh no, this is terrible, I need to tell Rainbow Dash, we need to stop this! Rarity's mind had quickly descended into a garbled mess of panic.

In the midst of her worrying, she had not realized that Applejack and Twilight had continued walking, leaving her alone once again. Instead of doing the sane thing coming out from her hiding place, Rarity sat there and though about all that she had just witnessed and heard. She thought about Twilight and Applejack and their relationship, she thought about her secret being discovered, and most of all she thought about her situation, and how Fluttershy fit into it all.

While Rarity was truly happy two of her best friends had found love in one another, she regretfully admitted to herself that this only made her own lack of romance all the more difficult to accept. Her princely dreams had ended with anything but a happy ending, and now she found her hopes of winning Fluttershy’s favor quickly slipping through her hooves.

Oh merciful Celestia, is this it? Is this my life now? Too embarrassed by my friends and their love that I have to resort to ducking into common bushes now? So discouraged by my lack of romance in my life that I’m now reduced to jeopardizing other ponies simply because I’m too frightened to not be as brave as they were and at least try and seize some happiness for myself.

Once checking to see the coast had cleared, Rarity quickly exited the bush, looked down to the ground and breathed a heavy sigh.

Well I suppose I can just talk to Applejack later, no need worrying about it now.

As Rarity headed back down the road leading out of the orchard she noticed Big Macintosh was over by some of the apple trees. He waved at her, and she politely waved back to him. Applejack’s older brother had a unique talent for blending in with his environment despite his impressive size. He was also quite a gentlecolt, but he was also very taciturn.

Surprisingly, Macintosh came up to Rarity and asked her, “Well hello Miss Rarity, how has your day been?”

Despite being taken aback at Big Macintosh’s uncharacteristic forwardness, Rarity immediately recovered, “Oh why hello Big Macintosh…”

“Oh, please Miss Rarity, just call me Mac,” Mac interjected.

“Well only if you’ll just call me Rarity,” Rarity quickly added.

“Fair enough, so what brings you here to our humble abode?” Mac asked her.

“Oh well, I was hoping to speak with your sister about something, but well she was with Twilight, and they were in ‘that’ mood so I decided it’d best if I waited,” said Rarity, her voice plagued with doubt.

Mac of course knew that Twilight had stayed over for the night, and he also knew about their relationship, but he respected his sister’s privacy and so he had not told anyone about it.

“Well I say, I’m sorry you came all the way out her in the sticks for nothing.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble; in fact I occasionally need a break for my busy schedule so coming out her to get some fresh air is always a plus,” Rarity kindly responded as she looked up to Macintosh.

“Well I think that’s always a good thing, so I suppose I’ll leave you to that then,” Macintosh replied as he turned away and proceeded to resume his work.

“Wait, umm Mac, well you see the thing is, I really came out looking for somepony to talk to, but that pony was a bit preoccupied…” Rarity interjected before he could make one step further away.

“Let me guess: Applejack and Twilight,” Macintosh said flatly.

“Well umm, yes they seemed busy so I decided not to intrude, but I was wondering if maybe… I could have a minute of your time?”

After a brief moment of studying Rarity, Macintosh simply responded, “Sure.”

…

Fluttershy’s first day at Flight Camp had gone about the way she had expected except for one thing.

It had ended being even more terrible than even she had anticipated.

First she had tripped falling out of the carriage right outside the front gates when they arrived, then she couldn’t say ‘here’ loud enough during roll call so the instructor almost marked her absent, then she couldn’t lift herself off the clouds at all, and she was the slowest runner in her entire group.

Now during free flight time, Fluttershy had to sit on the clouds and watch as all the other fillies and colts practiced their flying. Fluttershy then looked up at one of the flight rings, she then put on a determined face as she hovered up and attempted to fly through it.

Okay, you can do this Fluttershy, do it for dad, she told herself.

With all the strength the young filly could muster she began to hover off of the ground. Slowly she came up to the flight ring and moved to go through it, but unfortunately her front legs, as long and lanky as there were, got caught on the ring and she fell through and fell on a cloud bank and began to slid down, before crashing through a flag and tumbling onto the lower clouds. After falling back down, Fluttershy struggled to escape the entrapment of the flag, only to be bombarded with laughter after she finally managed to free herself.

Two colts were laughing at her and began to mock her inability to fly. Though what happened next occurred far too quickly for her to notice at first. A small blue blur flew out of nowhere before her and she quickly realized it was a pony, who despite her tiny stature, gave off an overwhelming feeling of confidence, and her rainbow-colored mane certainly made her difficult to not notice.

“Leave her alone!” Said the pony, in high-pitch voice, which surprised Fluttershy, as she had at first thought she was a colt.

The filly and the colts went back and forth, and the name “Rainbow Crash” was thrown at the filly, who seemed to be only further angered by the moniker. Fluttershy quickly recognized the name. Rumors of a fast flying pony had spread throughout Flight Camp, though the word was that as fast as this pony was, she was equally clumsy. Before Fluttershy knew what had fully happened, the filly had accepted the challenge of the other two colts to a race. After picking a place and time they flew off leaving Fluttershy with her rescuer.

“Oh umm… thank you… Rainbow, umm…” Fluttershy said timidly, not sure about what to say next as she didn’t quite know her real name.

“Dash, it’s Rainbow Dash, hey but yeah no problem, somepony has to keep these losers in line,” the filly called Rainbow Dash said proudly holding her chest out dramatically. Fluttershy had to try and suppress her urge to laugh at the other pony’s display, but she knew it would be rude.

“So, I noticed they were calling you Klutzershy, but I doubt that’s your real name,” Rainbow Dash said nervously, her bravado seemingly waning.

“Oh, umm my name is Fluttershy,” she replied in her normal speaking tone, which was just barely above a whisper.

“Huh?” Rainbow replied, wearing a look of abject confusion.

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said slightly louder.

“Louder!” Replied Rainbow Dash, seemingly causing Fluttershy to shutdown.

“Oh, um sorry, it’s just I can’t hear what you’re saying half the time, you need to be more assertive, you know stand up for yourself, speak loudly!” assured Rainbow Dash, seemingly as if it were as easy breathing, well perhaps for Rainbow Dash it was.

Fluttershy, however, was an entirely different creature.

“Well, I suppose I could try harder to be louder, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said as she attempted to hold back her disappointment in herself, as she feared her first attempt at making a friend would end in failure.

“Eh, it’s okay I’ll coach you through it, I mean with me helping you, you’re sure to become the second-most awesome filly in this camp easy,” Rainbow Dash confidently flew off towards the camp race track, as Fluttershy did her best to keep up.

Once Rainbow Dash arrived, with Fluttershy putting up a valiant effort to keep up, she turned to her new friend wearing her same confidant smile. “Okay, so here’s the deal, I’m gonna race these two flying snails and when I beat them, I’ll totally embarrass them enough to make the leave you alone, kay?”

Fluttershy was still having difficulty following all that was happening as everything was coming at her so quickly. She merely nodded weakly in affirmation. Dash then turned back before looking at her again, this time holding a checkered racing flag in her mouth.

“Uf can huld dis fwag,” Rainbow Dash muffled out. Fluttershy wore a confused look, but took the flag from Rainbow Dash, allowing to repeat herself. “I said you can hold this flag, every great racing pony needs some other pony to wave the start flag for them, usually that pony also kisses the race when they win, but kissing is gross so you don’ have to do that.”

Fluttershy immediately turned a bright shade of red, not unlike the single strip in Rainbow’s mane at the mention of kissing her. She then nodded and was able to flap her wings barely enough to land on the tiny cloud just in front of the start line. It was then that Fluttershy first noticed just how many of the other ponies had shown up, interested in the race about to unfurl.

Oh no, all these ponies are here, and they’re all looking at me! Well, most are looking at Rainbow Dash and those other two, but some of them are looking at me. Oh why did I agree to do this? No, no Fluttershy you can’t think like that, Rainbow Dash came to your defense, so the least you can do is wave this flag, what could possibly go wrong? Fluttershy internally ensured herself.

Rainbow Dash and the two colts stood ready, their backs arched and wings already fluttering as Fluttershy raised the flag. She then brought the flag down, and in just a brief instant she found herself falling from atop the cloud, falling quickly down to earth.

…

Rarity certainly found herself in a most peculiar predicament. She was walking with Big Macintosh of all ponies, one of the most reserved and secretive stallions she had ever met. Even more strange was that Rarity had called out to him to talk about her love problems of all things, something she wasn’t even sure he’d care to listen about. Still, she found the idea of talking to Macintosh about this to be far less awkward than with his sister or one of her other friends. Once she felt they had walked an adequate distance and were in no risk of being overheard or interrupted, Rarity cleared her throat to get Macintosh’s attention.

Macintosh stopped and simply looked at Rarity, making no noise and simply looking at Rarity, waiting for her to voice her concerns.

“So um Mac, I know this is invasive, but I was just wondering, have you ever erm… liked another pony?” Rarity questioned as she found herself unable to look at her companion and merely settled for rubbing her front arm awkwardly.

Mac continued to stand still, though his face took on a look of concentration as he moved the reed he was chewing on in his mouth. After just a few moments, that to Rarity felt much more numerous, Mac finally spit the reed out of his mouth and answered back, “Well Rarity, I’m not exactly sure, I mean yeah there are quite a number of ponies I found attractive, I am still a stallion after all.”

“Oh yes, quite the stallion at that,” Rarity added without thinking about it.

An uneasy silence descended on the two ponies. Macintosh merely stood there as Rarity’s eye opened wide with surprise.

Nice going Rarity, how about you try and not attempt to flirt with the pony you’re sharing your intimate feelings for another pony with hmm? Rarity thought as she mentally kicked herself.

Macintosh, thankfully, continued on as if he had not heard Rarity’s complement, “So, um, I take it your problems stem from somepony you’ve been smitten by?”

“Hmm, well I suppose you could say that, though truth be told I’m not entirely sure what my feelings are anymore,” Rarity sulked; her mane began to actually lose some of its volume as she looked away from Macintosh.

Rarity then took a deep breath and then turned back to Macintosh as she attempted to continue to sorting out her feelings.

“Well it’s just that, ever since I was a filly, I always had this one dream. I always knew that I would grow up, leave this place behind me, and go onto bigger and better things. I’d make beautiful dresses for royalty and for other important ponies, everyone would love my designs, and ultimately I’d feel like I had actually done something with my life. I suppose I figured that if I did something other ponies would see as worthwhile, a handsome stallion that would see me as something worthwhile would soon follow, a charming prince that would waltz in and sweep me off my hooves,” Rarity then trotted over to a small creek, and looked at herself in the reflection in the water.

“So you know how my friends and I went to the Gala?” She asked the stallion.

He merely nodded his head in reply.

“Well, I went there specifically to find my prince, and found him I did. Only problem was he turned out to be nothing that I wished he was. He was pompous, shallow, cared nothing about my happiness or how I felt. Worse yet, he was so rude to your sister, and she even let me and him eat some of her food for free. By the end of that night, I was ready to be as far away from him as I could be,” Rarity said as she fought to keep her anger from resurfacing as she recounted that night. She then sat down and continued to look into the creek, studying the reflection of the unicorn mare even more diligently.

“But, do you know what the worst part about that night was?” She asked Macintosh quietly.

This time Macintosh responded verbally, “Nope.”

“Looking back on it, I realize that I’m no better than he was, went there exclusively looking for a stallion, not because I found them funny, or nice, or charitable, I mean it wasn’t even because I thought he was cute primarily. No, I did it because I wanted to use him to fulfill my fantasies for a prince. I wanted him because I thought he could give me the life I wanted, and that he was just another accessory to my idealized life. He may have been a rude louse, but I wasn’t exactly much better.”

“Now listen here Rarity! That ain’t true, and I won’t let any pony speak that way about you, and that includes yourself!” Macintosh interjected, catching Rarity completely off guard. In all her years of knowing the Apple Family she had never heard the usually stoic Macintosh speak with such emotion, or so loudly.

“Now, I agree, you shouldn’t have tried looking to get with that prince fellow for the reasons you had, but that still doesn’t excuse the way he acted that night, and it doesn’t make you both the same,” he assured her, though Rarity was not convinced.

“But, how does it not?” Rarity asked the farmer, anger rising in her voice. “How are we not alike? We both wanted to be with the other for equally awful and petty reasons. If anything him being so awful was my just reward for being such a shallow, awful pony.” It was by this point that Rarity had begun crying.

Macintosh had been taken off guard by the display, since his greatest contact with mares extended to his family, and having Applejack as a sister often meant a severe lack of emotional outpouring. Still he again tried to break through to his friend.

“Rarity, I’m not saying you were in the right, but I also don’t think you deserved the treatment you got, I think deep down, you’re just lookin’ for a pony to treat you right.” Rarity nodded her head, still occasionally sniffling as she had calmed down.

“Well what’s wrong about that? I think everypony wants that, I see nothing wrong with it, shoot I’d like to find me a mare someday to treat me well, but I need to do the same to her, it’s kinda like… apple bucking.”

“Huh?” Rarity replied, whose lingering sniffling had been broken by her confusion at the stallion’s metaphor.

“Yeah, we here buck the trees, who then give us the apples we need to live, but we need to take care of the trees, else they’d die out and then we wouldn’t have anything to keep the farm going. The way I’ve always seen it, my family and this orchard are in a kind of relationship, and any relationship, whether it’s family, friends, or something more, needs that acknowledgement that we need to one another, and so we need to be right by each other. Understand?” Asked Macintosh, who had tried to explain his theory, seemingly losing confidence in it the longer the explanation went on.

For Rarity however, something seemed to have clicked in her mind at the stallion’s words, again it was this wisdom that Applejack seemed to posses, the whole reason for her coming her was for Rarity to try and tap that well of knowledge in hopes of finding a solution to her problems. Seems she could seek out any member of the family and she’d strike gold.

“You know Macintosh, I do understand,” she then walked up to Macintosh, and kissed him on the cheek, having to stretch on her hooves to reach his face. It was a simple gesture, especially considering the other gifts the Element of Generosity was known to bestow. For Big Mac though, it was more than enough. He was certainly grateful for his burnt red coat at that moment, as it hid his blush at the unicorn’s token of appreciation.

“Alright so now that you’re ready to talk, why don’t you tell me about this new stallion that’s got your tail all in a twirl?”

Rarity gave a girlish giggle as she replied, “Well, for starters this pony in particular is missing a certain something.”

…

“OhmygoshohmygoshagainIamsosorryIreallydidnotmeantoo,” said an overly panicked filly, her words a jumbled slur.

“It’s okay dear, we understand now please try and tell us again what happened,” replied an older pegasus mare, one of the camp instructors.

After the start of the race, nopony had noticed that Fluttershy had fallen off of the cloud and plummeted towards the earth. After finishing her race Rainbow Dash did not notice herself at first, having just earned her cutie mark, but once she realized she immediately went to go find her, the camp staff soon joined in the search. Eventually, Fluttershy’s parents were brought in. The search on the ground had gone on for hours by that point, and Celestia’s sun had descended over the horizon.

“Fluttershy dear! Honey where are you!?” Yelled her father Fairweather.

Her mother Sky Flower echoed her husband’s calls for their daughter, “Dear please answer, where are you?”

The two parent’s cries to their daughter only made the painful lump in Rainbow Dash’s throat larger, here she was just hours after making a new friend, and she may have accidentally killed her.

The search for Fluttershy carried on, as her parents, Rainbow Dash, and some of the camp staff called out to her in futility. Rainbow then meekly flew over to Fairweather and Sky Flower to try and and make amends to the parents of her new friend.

“Umm, I’m… I’m so sorry about what happened. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to,” Rainbow struggled to speak as she choked back tears, feelings of shame and guilt far beyond the young fillies years threatening to crush her. In all honesty, she knew that if anything happened Fluttershy’s parents would hate her, and she felt she deserved it. Dash always had trouble with making friends, and here her first one might be gone forever.

What happened next shocked the now openly crying filly. A pair of hooves wrapped her in a warm embrace, and she ceased her sobbing to see Fluttershy’s mother had wrapped her in her arms.

“Shhh, it’s alright dear, we know this was all just an accident, don’t worry we’ll find her and then everything will be alright,” Sky Flower said, most likely in an effort to convince herself as much as it was to calm Dash.

Fairweather turned from the emotional scene and continued to call out for his daughter, “Fluttershy, honey, where are you? He called out, still deprived the answer he desperately desired.

He then called out again, only this time quietly so that no other pony, even his wife nearby, would hear him, “Fluttershy, please, please be okay sweetie, I… I don’t care if you never learn to fly, I just want you back honey, so please come back to us dear.”

Almost immediately the search was party was startled by a rustling in a nearby bush, so one of the camp staff went to investigate. Much to their surprise a small rabbit popped out of the bush and then was surprised to find so many ponies, but immediately to a notice of Fairweather and Sky Flower. The small creature then did its best a pantomime as the ponies tried to decipher the rabbit’s message.

Annoyed, the rabbit jumped up and tried to grab onto Fairweather’s wing and pull him in the direction it came from. Confused, Fairweather looked to his wife, “Umm dear, what exactly is it doing?”

Sky Flower looked at the small animal, and then her face seemed to have lit up, “Dear, I know this might sound crazy, but I think he’s seen us before, or more like he’s…” she paused as she struggled with an idea, a hope, that she knew made no sense.

This seemed to have dawned on Fairweather as he put on the same expression of sudden clarity that his wife wore, “He’s seen a pony that favors us.”

Instantaneously, Fairweather, Sky Flower, and little Rainbow Dash took off in the direction the rabbit pointed. After a quick gallop through some brush, the three ponies came across a meadow where a crowd of woodland creatures had congregated.

In the middle she lay asleep, her pink mane, just like her mother’s was slightly messy. Her parents and the pony that had defended her were all shocked at the sight, but were overjoyed that she was unharmed, and Sky Flower and Fairweather immediately ran over to her. Some of the larger animals wore suspicious looks, obviously they had been there to protect the small filly, but they allowed the newcomers to approach her undeterred.

Fluttershy awoke, her teal eyes like her father's shinning brilliantly, to find her parents hugging her tightly and crying, all the while apologizing, and thanking Celestia she was safe.

“Mother, father, Dash? Wha… you found me,” she seemed part confused, but mostly equally overjoyed.

“Yes, dear! Oh we’re so glad you’re safe,” her mother answered.

“Oh honey, we thought we’d never see you again!” Her father proclaimed.

“Oh I’m fine, thanks to these wonderful animals, in fact I have something amazing to show you,” the normally shy filly told her parents excitedly.

Her parents, visibly confused by their daughter’s surprising demeanor, stepped back to give her space to show them her new surprise. She then proudly showed them her flank, where it was once bare, it was now adorned with a trio of butterflies. Fluttershy then recounted to them the story of how after she fell, she was saved by a cloud of butterflies. She then told them about how the animals took so well to her, especially after they were frightened by the loud explosion in the sky. It was at this point that Rainbow Dash, who by that point had done her best to make herself invisible to Fluttershy, stepped up and spoke nervously.

“Umm, Fluttershy, I’m… I’m so-sorry,” Rainbow tried her hardest to force out her apology, hoping desperately she could just disappear at that moment.

Fluttershy then gave the other filly a confused look, “But I don’t understand, what do you have to be sorry for Rainbow Dash?”

“What? How about how I almost got you killed! My first friend ever, I almost kill her, I’m supposed to be a Wonderbolt in the making, and I nearly make the biggest mistake ever, some great pony I am. I would understand if you hated me and never wanted to see me again,” Rainbow Dash then sank her head in shame and tried to turn away from Fluttershy.

Fluttershy however had other plans, as she took the filly in her hooves and held her friend tight.

“I could never hate you! You’re the first friend I’ve ever had too, and you saved me from those bullies, and if it weren’t for you I would have never gotten my cutie mark or discover who I am and what I’m supposed to do. Thank you Rainbow Dash, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” the filly said while tears ran down her face and got both hers and Dash’s coats wet, though neither cared in the slightest.

Fluttershy’s parents merely looked at their daughter, that morning as shy and fearful as ever, now much happier, having made a friend, and having found her true calling in life. Fluttershy then broke her hug, and went over to her parents and spoke up.

“Um mother, father, there’s something I need to tell you both. I don’t want to be a Wonderbolt, I don’t even enjoy flying all that much, I want to eventually move here, on the ground, and help take care of animals. I know you’re probably disappointed in me but this is just who I am, and you’ll just have to accept that,” Fluttershy then stood as tall as she ever did, in fact her parents noticed for the first time just how tall their daughter was when she stood up straight.

Skyflower then nudged her husband, who wore a look of shame as addressed his daughter, “Fluttershy, I just want to say I’m so sorry honey, I know I’ve always pushed you being a Wonderbolt, because truth be told I always wanted to be one. Sadly, I was never really that good, so I had to settle cheering for them on the sidelines, I had always hoped I’d have a child that would make it onto the roster one day, and well that was selfish of me and it was unfair to you. I’m sorry I pushed you into this.”

“It’s okay father, I’m just glad to finally tell you how I feel, and I just want you and mother to be proud of me,” the filly told her parents.

“Oh of course we’re proud of you little one, we’ll always be proud of you no matter what, and you’re father and I will both do better about paying better attention to your needs, if you’ll let us have a second chance,” Sky Flower nervously replied.

Fluttershy then hovered up to both her parents, the highest and longest her parents had ever seen her do, and she hugged both of them around their necks.

Rainbow Dash merely stood at a distance, in awe at the filly she saw before her.

…

Rainbow Dash stood still, her patience pushed to its absolute limit. She knew the time for her meeting with Fluttershy was nigh, but the waiting was still horrid no matter how little she had left to endure. After just another near unbearable moment of waiting Rainbow Dash heard a familiar noise.

“Umm, sorry Rainbow Dash am I late?” asked Fluttershy as she trotted up to the top of the hill.

“Oh no, of course not, right on time,” she responded.

“Oh that’s good, so what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, the thing is… I know you’ve been going out on dates recently,” Dash said, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Fluttershy. “Well the thing is, you see, umm…” Dash was then uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

After a moment of strained effort at forcing her question out, Rainbow Dash thought back to a moment years ago, when she first remembered seeing a filly stand her ground and speak her true feelings, Rainbow then turned to Fluttershy and did the same.

“Fluttershy look, we’ve known each other for a long time, and we’ve been friends for most of it, and while I am sad that we drifted apart, I’m even more grateful we managed to find each other again.” Rainbow Dash then took a moment to pause and catch her breath, Fluttershy stood as still as stone.

“So I know you’ve recently been trying to look for your special somepony, and I know this might seem strange at first, but I think I’d like to have a crack at being that pony. So would you like to go out with me Saturday night?”

There, I said it, ball’s in your court now Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, not that she could her herself over the pounding in her chest.

After what seemed longer than Celestia’s reign, Fluttershy finally opened her mouth.

“Sure, I’d love to.”

Feelings, A Dinner, and Declarations

“So that sums up pretty much my activities the last couple of weeks,” Rarity looked to her audience, only to be met with a dead stare from Macintosh.

“Umm, Macintosh, is everything alright?” She asked the stallion.

“Eeyup, just thinking,” he replied simply.

“Thinking about what?” She again asked.

“About how grateful I am.”

“Grateful for what?” Rarity’s voice filled with mild annoyance at Macintosh’s vexing vagueness.

“Grateful I didn’t take Applejack up on her offer to go on a date with Fluttershy, now that I know she had secret bodyguards with the fury of a viper that’s been stuffed in a pillow case,” he replied with a smug grin on his face and a wink in his eye.

Rarity returned a deadpanned look and turned away from him with her muzzle turned up, and a “hmmpf”.

“Ah Rarity, I’m only teasing, I know how it feels to be concerned for somepony, especially if it’s somepony you love. You forget I have two sisters; one is a headstrong, stubborn as a mule mare that for years caught the eye of every colt in Ponyville. Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle came along and took care of that. Still there were a few times a couple of years back where I had to set some ponies straight.”

Given Macintosh’s infamous size and his well known strength, Rarity assumed some poor colts were scared half way into an early grave, but she could not help but laugh at the mental image of Macintosh terrifying some poor young pony.

“Well, I can assure you Macintosh, had you gone out on a date, nothing unfortunate would have most likely befallen you since I always thought of you as one of the few true gentlecolts there are, and I’m sure you would have treated Fluttershy with respect,” said Rarity with a smile, before adopting a hard look and added, “wouldn’t you?”

Macintosh only responded with a vigorous head shake.

Rarity immediately put her sweet smile back on, “Excellent, I would so hate for anything to happen to my dear Fluttershy, and I’d hate what would happen to the pony responsible even more.”

Rarity then gave Macintosh another look that hid an edge, before quickly breaking it with a smile and laughter, which Macintosh returned. Heaving a heavy sigh, Rarity addressed Macintosh again, “Perhaps that was why I started doing all this silliness to begin with. I guess if I could not have Fluttershy’s heart myself then I would at least ensure the pony that did would be only the best.”

“But is that really your place to be doing? I mean I know your heart is in the right place, but it just seems… dishonest. If you truly feel for Miss Fluttershy like you say you do, I think she deserves the truth. Who knows, maybe you’re throwing the towel in too early, maybe Miss Fluttershy has feelings for you too,” Macintosh offered.

“Wishful thinking, also I can’t exactly waltzed right up to her and divulge all this information, the poor dear is so sensitive she’d probably just shut down from it all, and once she finally did get over the initial shock I think she’d be… less than thrilled that I’ve been essentially spying on her,” Rarity’s mind then became a jumble of images of Fluttershy having various reactions to Rarity confessing to her.

“I must confess Fluttershy secretly I’ve had feelings for you,” Rarity said as she held the other mare’s hoof, looking over the balcony of the tower that overlooked the sea.

“What!?” Fluttershy replied, her brilliant blue dress gown flowing from the breeze brought on by the roaring ocean below.

“Also, I have been watching you from afar for quite some time as other suitors attempted to win your favor,” the unicorn added.

The pegasus then fainted.

“Fluttershy?”

There were of course other possibilities that did not involve Fluttershy falling into various stages of panic or shock.

“Also, I have been watching you from afar for quite some time as other suitors attempted to win your favor,” the unicorn added.

“What!? But, Rarity how could you, now I can never trust a pony such as you,” Fluttershy cried out.

“But, but I,” Rarity attempted to stammer out, as she back away, nearly tripping over her scarlet dress.

“No excuses, I’m sorry my dear Rarity, but I’m afraid you give me no other recourse, a crime such as yours is only punishable by one method: The Stare!” Fluttershy thundered out, as she looked Rarity in the eye, as if she were looking completely through her.

“No, not that, anything but that!”Rarity cried out as she attempted to avoid the crushing glance from the pony of her desire.

Rarity shook her head to break up such an absurd delusion, she knew Fluttershy, and she knew she was a perfectly reasonable pony. If Rarity were to just confess the truth, she would be completely understandable, and perhaps even have a confession of her own.

“I must confess Fluttershy, secretly I’ve had feelings for you,” Rarity said as she held the other mare’s hoof.

“What!?” Fluttershy replied.

“I’m afraid it’s true, but I cannot withhold my feelings from you any longer.”

“Oh fairest Rarity, I must confess something to you too,” said Fluttershy as she turned away from her admirer.

“You do? Well, please do confess it so that we may begin on our journey together down the road of life,” Rarity begged of her soon-to-be beloved.

“I’m half-dragon,” Fluttershy answered.

“Umm Rarity, earth to Rarity,” Macintosh called out.

Rarity shook her head to find she was no longer in the tower, nor wearing her Victponian-era dress, and hopefully Fluttershy was still in fact fully a mare.

“Oh sorry, what were you saying Macintosh?” Rarity asked as she attempted to get as mentally far away from her imagination as possible.

“I said that you might be thinking too much about this, listen I don’t know all too much about romance and the like, but I can kinda guess what I like and what I think most ponies might like too, and I think honesty is one of them.”

Rarity found the stallion’s harping on honesty to be ironic given who his own sister was, but she also had to admit there was a bit of wisdom to what he said.

“Once again, I suppose you’re right, I need to at least tell her the truth, and then see where it all goes from them. I swear Macintosh if not for your name and cutie mark, one might be able to mistake you for quite the advice expert.”

Macintosh then blushed, which was an accomplishment for a pony with a red coat, “Aw shucks Rarity, just trying to help a friend is all.”

“Well I’m quite fortunate to have friends that will help me so,” she said, giving Macintosh a warm smile. “I say Macintosh, sometime or another you really do need to let me design something nice for you, perhaps a handsome vest or some sort.”

As Rarity eyed the large stallion, Macintosh did his best to ignore the mare’s eyes. “Well uh, I’m not entirely sure I really would need such a thing, I mean it’s not like I ever attend any fancy Galas, or Weddings, and the like.”

“Nonsense, every stallion needs a smart dress vest at the very least. Who knows, maybe next time the girls and I are invited to some another major royal event you may get asked to come along. Celestia’s knows with how much trouble we always bump into we could use a strong, dependable stallion to come along,” Rarity then tries to move into Macintosh’s line of sight.

“Well, uh, I would certainly consider going with y’all if you asked me to. Otherwise I think I’d be fine staying behind. Y’all seem to be able to handle yourselves just fine on your own, and well I’m not so sure I’m cut out for any of that fancy ‘saving-the-world’ business,” he says, borrowing Rainbow Dash’s air hoof quote technique.

“Yes, well sometimes I feel not so quite up for it myself,” Rarity then gives a small laugh.

“Well Rarity, I sure do appreciate the offer, and if you insist it’ll be no trouble then sure, I’d love you to make me a dress vest,” Macintosh said, caving into the mare’s insistence.

“Thank you, now see dear that wasn’t so hard now was it? I swear you stallions always make such a fuss about the silliest little things,” said Rarity, her head raised in victory as Macintosh simply soled his eyes.

As Rarity turned back towards the main road leading out of the farm, Macintosh turned and ask, “Well hey Rarity I don’t think there’s a need to rush, I mean Applejack should be back from her trip into town with Twilight, and I’m sure AJ invited her to dinner, would…would you like to stay too?”

Rarity considered the stallion’s offer briefly before giving the visibly worried pony a smile as she said, “Sure I’d love to.”

...

Rainbow Dash could only stand in silence, which for the normally overly rambunctious pony, this was quite the feat. Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do now, so she continued to stand awkwardly, until Rainbow Dash finally responded.

“Well cool, so yeah Saturday, me and you, will be going on the coolest date ever!” Rainbow Dash said with an unusually high level of zealousness, even for her.

Fluttershy, still a little unsure of what to make of all this, merely gave a meek nod.

“So I’ll fly by your cottage at six thirty then, and I promise Fluttershy you won’t regret it.”

“Oh I’m sure it’ll be just lovely Rainbow Dash, so six thirty Saturday night, see you then, sorry to leave so soon but I have to go take care of Angel bunny and the other animals so bye,” Fluttershy spoke as she turned to fly away back to her home and the needy animals that awaited her.

Once the distance had become great enough Rainbow Dash took a quick glance to ensure no other pony was around, and proceeded to do a victory dance in the air, striking one overly dramatic pose after another.

“Awwww yeah, she said yes! Heh, but of course she did, like she could say no to The Dash!” Rainbow spoke aloud, no doubt addressing herself.

Rainbow then found a nearby pond and looked herself over in the water’s reflection, seemingly very pleased with what she found.

“So yeah I was totally ‘So yeah Fluttershy, you, me, Saturday night, best date ever,’ “ Dash spoke aloud, she then replaced her confidant smirk for a much softer, “ ‘Oh why that sounds super amazing Rainbow Dash, why of course I’ll go with and let you blow my mind away,’ which I of course will.”

With her one-mare performance over, Rainbow headed back for her home, feeling lighter than she had ever felt before.

Just you wait Fluttershy, I promise this will be a night you’ll never forget.

…

Applejack’s life in recent years had become a roller coaster that ranged from the supernaturally epic to the surprisingly ordinary. Such enormous threats like changeling armies, resurrected magical empires alongside their former dictators, and living spirits of chaos were quite impressive, but Applejack still allowed the more mundane things to make her eyebrow rise. Having Rarity over for dinner, as a guest of Big Mac’s, certainly lifted that eyebrow up. She remembered her confusion upon seeing Rarity trotting up to farmhouse from the fields; she had apparently been out there having a talk with her brother.

Twilight, just as surprised by Rarity’s presence, decided to attempt some light dinner banter. “So umm, Rarity how were those charms I made for you?”

Rarity nearly spat out her drink at her friend’s question. She then put her napkin to her snout and gave a small, polite laugh as Mac and Twilight gave her confused looks, while Applejack only continued to give a suspecting glance.

“Oh, well those charms yes, they worked quite well Twilight, and again I must say thank you, and are you absolutely certain I cannot somehow compensate you for them?” She asked sweetly, hoping to get off the subject quickly.

“Oh no Rarity it was no trouble, I’m just glad they worked is all. Transformation magic can be a tricky thing you know, especially when using it on others.”

“Oh, Twilight made you charms for disguises? I want one!” Said Apple Bloom, her face lit up with delight.

Each of the adult ponies at the table gave a look that told each other they agreed that would be a bad idea.

Twilight was the first one to address it, “I don’t think you’re quite old enough to be trusted with something like that. Magic is a very tricky and potentially dangerous thing Apple Bloom. Remember when you got Cutie Pox?”

The guilty smile and the dropping of her bow told Twilight that she had indeed not forgotten.

“So that reminds me Rarity, we exactly did you need those charms in the first place?” Applejack asked.

Had she been taking a sip, Rarity would have almost spit her drink out a second time, only now she just simply gave a look that reminded Applejack of being a filly with her hoof caught trying to steal an apple fritter.

“Oh well, you know whenever I’m designing new outfits, I sometimes need to see how the colors might match or clash with a pony’s coat. So it helps to change my appearance and try them on myself, or if I have a model,” Rarity then deiced it was safe to take a drink to wet her now parched mouth.

“Well that sounds like a lot of work, though I suppose t helps your best friends with Fluttershy, what with her being a former model, you might wanna try and get her to model your clothes for you.”

Unfortunately, Rarity had picked an inopportune time to drink, but she had prepared herself now and was able to maintain her composure at the mention of Fluttershy. Sensing that the conversation was heading into territory it did not need to be in, Mac turned to ask, “So umm Twilight, how are things with the library?”

Twilight and Applejack had not “been together” long, but Mac had learned rather quickly that if ever needed somepony to talk about anything for whatever reason, all he had to do was mention either magic, any combination of books and libraries, or Princess Celestia and Twilight would do just that.

After about ten minutes of Twilight going on non-stop about her new shipment of books, Applejack finally made an attempt to derail this speeding train, “Twilight, sugarcube, that’s very nice about your new fifth edition…”

“Sixth edition,” Twilight corrected.

“Sixth edition copy of Dr. Hay’s Guide to Magical Horticulture, but I think we might want to wrap this up,” said Applejack as she pointed her hoof to Granny Smith, who had fallen asleep, and Apple Bloom, who looked soon ready to follow her. After helping to clean up the kitchen, both Mac and Applejack walked Twilight and Rarity to the door, Rarity and Mac allowed the couple some space to say goodbye in a more intimate manner.

Mac, not sure what to do, merely rubbed the back of his head with his hoof before finally saying, “Look, I’m sorry about dinner being awkward.”

Rarity merely gave a small smile and shook her head, “Oh think nothing of it dear, why I’m grateful you invited me, I’m sorry I wasn’t exactly a fountain of electric dinner conversation, I just have a lot on mind.”

Mac could only smile and give a soft laugh of his own, “Oh trust me I know now, listen if there’s one thing I can say to you it’s this. You need to stop being so hard on yourself, and I think honesty is your best policy, just tell Fluttershy how you feel.”

Rarity merely nodded her head affirmatively in reply before making her way towards the front door. After walking out into the cool night air, Rarity did her best not to notice Applejack and Twilight bringing their heads apart as she headed towards the main gate back towards Ponyville, Twilight soon caught up.

“So Rarity, sorry if AJ seemed a little off to you, I’m not entirely sure what was up with her at dinner,” Twilight said to her fellow unicorn.

“Oh it’s quite alright dear,” said Rarity as she looked away before adding, “So how’s it like, you know, you and Applejack?”

Twilight was fortunate that it was dark, so as to hide her blush, “Oh well, it’s, well it’s actually really great. You know I don’t like to brag, but I haven’t felt this way ever before.”

Rarity could indeed see what it was Twilight was talking about; there was this sense of happiness that came off her like a light glow. Rarity then only looked forward, unable to look at Twilight as she felt as if something from deep within her stomach was trying to force its way back up. Finally Rarity decided to just ask her friend what was on her mind, “So Twilight, do you think… I’ll ever find a special somepony?”

“Oh of course you will Rarity, I’m sure they’re out there right now, I mean I know your first prince might not turned out as you had planned, but that’s no reason to give up just yet,” said Twilight in her best attempt at lifting her friend’s spirits.

Rarity, while not entirely reassured by Twilight’s words, still put on a smile for her friend as they continued their journey back to Ponyville without any further noise shared between them.

…

Applejack headed back towards the farmhouse as she turned to catch a final glimpse of Twilight and Rarity walking back towards town, their figures growing smaller in the darkness. She then back to her brother still waiting at the door a goofy grin plastered across his face.

“Now what has got you all a twitter huh?” Applejack asked her brother.

Macintosh snapped out of his dream stance and looked over to his sister, his usual stoic face replacing his grin. He held the front door open for Applejack to walk into the living room, and then proceeded directly up the stairs towards his bedroom.

“Oh what’s the matter Mac, cat got your tongue?” She asked playfully.

Macintosh gave no reply and continued up the staircase, with Applejack following right behind. She was not entirely done with her interrogation. “That also begs the question, why did you invite Rarity to dinner? Also you and she apparently were ‘talking’ out in the fields all day, never took you for one to go shoot the breeze, especially with a young mare.”

Having finally made it to his room, Macintosh turned around to find his sister staring at him with a smug expression that suggested she had stumbled upon some secret. She only raised her eyebrow, suggesting she still awaited his answer, but Macintosh simply replied, “Good night AJ,” as he shut the door.

Hoping to find solace in the sanctuary of his own room Macintosh made his way towards the bed, but not before through the door Applejack’s voice broke through, “Well, good night then loverboy, if and when you’re ready to admit you’re head over hooves in love you can come find me and I’ll teach you the secret to wooing mares.”

Macintosh merely sighed as he went to bed, trying to drown out the thoughts now occupying his mind. Applejack headed back downstairs where Granny Smith was sitting in her rocker. “Uh Granny weren’t you asleep?” Applejack asked the wizened mare.

“Yep well not sure how a pony supposed to get any sleep around here with all you youngsters causing all this calamity,” said the matriarch with fire in her voice.

“Oh sorry about that, I was just teasing Big Mac is all,” replied Applejack as she headed into the kitchen.

Before she made it she heard her grandmother tell her, “Like sister, like brother, not sure what’s in the water that’s making you both so smitten with them unicorns.” Applejack was happy to be facing away from her so as to hide the blush on her face.

…

After a long day of confessing her secrets and feelings to Big Macintosh, followed by an awkward dinner with the Apple Family and Twilight, Rarity was certainly ecstatic to be home. She entered her boutique, and looked to find a lamp. After a few moments of blind searching, Rarity found what she was looking for and turned on the gas lamp, she then surveyed her studio. She was ashamed to admit that her ‘Fluttershy-related’ activities of the past couple of weeks had pulled attention away from her fashions.

Rarity, her mind now plagued with doubts, felt she needed something to pull her back from the odd double life she had been living recently. Following her friend around secretly on dates, tying up the other pony she had agreed to do it with, not telling anypony else about it aside from Applejack’s brother of all ponies. Rarity’s mind was buzzing with so many things that made little sense to her, she felt as if gnats were circling her, but she could not make them go away. As she walked over to her desk, where one of her last designs was left unattended, she took a needle in her magical grasp. Rarity then did something she had not done in days. She worked, and to her, the recent stresses of her personal were suppressed. They had certainly not disappeared, but they did feel forgotten. For now anyway, and for Rarity that was enough.

…

Fluttershy found herself in her usual position every week, sitting in Aloe and Lotus’ waiting room. Every week she had a spa date with Rarity, and most weeks Rarity would run late for them. Fluttershy did not mind, as it was at most ten minutes or so, this also gave Fluttershy a chance to read the magazines, which the spa was good about keeping updated, for advice about dating.

This was the other reason why she preferred Rarity being late. She feared that if Rarity found out she would feel like Fluttershy saw her as inadequate in providing advice, but for Fluttershy this was not the case at all. Growing up as a single child of wealthy parents came with several perks, her parents doted on her solely, and she never worried about being seen as lesser to any siblings. Fluttershy was not accustomed to having an older sister to come to with questions about boys and dating, which now left her severely lacking in both knowledge and experience in talking about it with other ponies.

A ringing at the door pulled Fluttershy’s attention from her article as Rarity walked through the door. Futtershy quickly put away her magazine and waved to her friend.

“Oh so sorry Fluttershy, I was up last night working on a new project, I’ve had a bit of a creator’s block the past couple of days and so I when an idea finally hit me last night I wanted to get as much done while it was fresh in my head,” said Rarity as she took off her baby blue cap and turned to the front desk where Aloe sat.

“The usual,” she said before the pale pink happily went off to prepare the bath for her two best customers.

…

Now submerged in the soothing bathwater, Rarity’s muscles began to loosen up, having been pushed to their limits after last night’s marathon dress making. Rarity stretched out her arms as she levitated a small bucket of soap and water, and began to wash her forelegs. Fluttershy inadvertently found herself staring at her friend, and looked away before she feared Rarity noticing. Rarity of course had noticed, but made fuss over it.

In an attempt to further distract herself, Fluttershy spoke up, “So Rarity, umm it seems I have another date planned for this weekend.”

“Oh, is it with Dr. Flummox?” Rarity of course had to continue pretending she knew nothing about how that night had ended, but her curiosity was certainly piqued by Fluttershy’s newest potential suitor.

“Oh yes, I had a wonderful night, but unfortunately she and I didn’t really feel a connection, but we’re going to continue to be friends. Also she said that she’d like to help me continue my training as a animal caretaker, and I’m thinking of taking her up on her offer.”

“Oh, well that sounds lovely dear, I think it might be an excellent idea to seek further training,” said Rarity as she forced back her true thoughts on the matter, but Fluttershy’s possible future, and Rarity’s role in it, were not the most pressing matter at the moment. “Now I hate to seem nosy, but you simply must tell me about this new date. Is it another mare?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy replied simply.

This was good news for Rarity, since it told her Fluttershy was still open to dating a mare, but she needed to know who this mystery mare was.

“Do I already know them?” Rarity asked, despite knowing the answer already, as she knew most of the ponies in the tiny town of Ponyville.

“Yes, actually you know her quite well.”

Rarity’s mind froze, she quickly put together the pieces and suddenly the answer came to mind.

However, Rarity did not wish to confirm her suspicions, and chose to play ignorant in hope she would receive a different answer. She shrugged her shoulders and gave a clueless look.

Fluttershy merely giggled as she said the name, “It’s Rainbow Dash, can you believe it, Rainbow Dash actually asked me out!”

Sometimes Rarity was convinced the universe knew exactly what she wanted, and then promptly proceeded to trample all over that. Her worst fear had been confirmed, her toughest, most dangerous opponent had made her move. Rainbow Dash would be taking out Fluttershy, and now the ball was in Rarity’s court. For the fashionista, only one option laid before her, even though she hated herself for choosing it.

For now though, Rarity put on her falsest smile, and looked to her friend and said, “Well that sounds lovely dear, I hope it goes well for you.”

Rarity was going to ensure it would.