A/N: I'm proud to present the first serious take on an alternate ending that I've received so far. You guys are allowed to be serious, too, if you want. And you don't have to restrict yourself to alternate endings, either. If you want to try your hand at a random side story, go ahead.

"THE GAMES WE PLAY"

ALTERNATE ENDING #6

Guest Submission from Midnight-Specter

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"No," Mare Do Well answered, still breathless and panting.

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, and Rainbow Dash ducked her head in, so that her mouth was moving against the shape of Mare Do Well's ear.

"Too bad." she whispered. She could feel the mare shiver beneath her.

It was time. She took one final deep breath.

Mare Do Well was perfectly still, as if preparing herself for what was coming. For whatever Rainbow did next.

And Rainbow Dash opened her eyes.

Under her...before her...there lay a pony clothed in shades of midnight, a cape fanned out beneath her. Atop her head there was perched a matching wide-brimmed hat.

But now, there was no mask to protect her face. No facade to hide behind.

There was only her.

Big blue eyes. A mouth, seemingly unsure about whether or not it was meant to smile. A mane, bright and beautifully pink, pooling around her like a waterfall, long and sweetly straight.

And a coat, yellow as daffodil petals.

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. Her eyes were wide, her voice disappearing somewhere on its way to her mouth. Utterly lost for words.

"No," was all Rainbow could think to say; and a flicker of pain flashed in those eyes, those big and beautiful eyes. The exact same color as the sky that Rainbow Dash loved so much. "No. No. That doesn't make sense. You didn’t even have wings!"

Rather than sit there watching as Rainbow Dash drove herself to insanity, shaking her head and wings anxiously, she spoke. “Well, I sort of always did – it’s just that I had Twilight enchant a necklace for me that hid my wings.

"That still doesn't make sense," Rainbow Dash repeated. Her hooves had found their way to the mare's shoulders, gripping her as tightly as she could without even meaning to. The mare winced. “Why didn’t Twilight know about you doing this then?”

“Oh... well, you see, I... I told her it was for a colt who didn’t like pegasii,” Fluttershy answered.

“But what about all of that... stuff? You’re supposed to be kind! Nothing about any of this was kind – look what we’ve done to Pinkie!”

A pained look entered Fluttershy’s eyes, as she replied, “It’s like I’ve said. We all have masks we like to hide behind.”

“And what about... when I said I liked you before?”

“My reaction back then was the truth... but then things changed. I’ve seen you, Rainbow Dash. I’ve seen how hard you work to achieve your dreams – I’ve seen how hard you try for your friends, to do anything you can to help. You’re a good pony... and I’m just... I’m just...” Suddenly, she broke down crying.

Rainbow laid a tender hoof on her shoulder, but her eyes were anything but as she spoke.

“You’re right. You’re just Fluttershy. You live down in your little hut with your stupid little bunny and your life is perfect. Everything you’ve ever dreamed is in Ponyville, right there with you... but to get one of the things you want, you dress up as some freaky superhero wannabe and ruin her life?”

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”

“The worst part is that I started to like it. I started to like it! And I hate that about you.”

“Just go. Just leave me – it’s all I deserve now...”

“But I never stopped liking you. Whether as a lover or a friend, I’ve always loved you, Fluttershy. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you – for any of you. But now that you love me back...”

Fluttershy turned her head slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rainbow’s violet eyes – but she was immediately met with a passionate kiss. It lasted for eternity, but eternity was too short.

“Rainbow Dash! There you are!”

“Um, hi, Twilight.”

“We've been looking for you every...Fluttershy? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, hello Twilight. What brings you here?”

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“Oh... Um...”

“Were you two...?”

“Can we just go back to the palace? I'm kind of tired.”

---

One night wasn't enough to fix everything, just like Rainbow Dash had warned; but still they stayed together in that quiet room, just the two of them. And then, the night eventually gave way to the morning; and from it emerged two ponies, changed in almost imperceptible ways - both of them exhausted and scarred, but looking considerably happier than they had before.

Hearth's Warming Day itself was a quiet, solemn affair at the palace, unlike the joyful celebrations everywhere else in Equestria. At least, until that night. Although the morning was somber enough and full of ceremony and ritual, by nightfall, things were in full swing; there were food and gifts and carols, like any other Hearth's Warming celebration. And then, that night, as well, Rainbow Dash found her way to Fluttershy's room, and the second night began - a night of speaking in hushed whispers, of silent tears; then finally, quiet smiles and soft kisses before falling asleep together.

So, no, one night wasn't enough to fully repair the damage that had been done. But there was no time limit, after all -   no rule saying they only had one night. They were friends and lived in the same village, seeing each other nearly every day. They had as many nights as they wanted to find their way. If it took a thousand, so be it.

---

There were nights when all Rainbow Dash wanted to do was ask questions. Questions that hadn't occurred to her before, or clarification that she needed to fully understand something; and Fluttershy would answer them all, giving whatever explanations she seemed to require, even though it sometimes caused her pain.

Other nights, Rainbow Dash would talk about herself, instead, and Fluttershy would listen; so, so patiently. To Dash's many stories about growing up - about flight school, about Fluttershy herself, and Gilda - never offering even a single judgmental word of reproach, even as Dash confessed to her many embarrassing mistakes over the years.

And still on other nights, Fluttershy would talk, instead. Not about Mare Do Well; but about her own mistakes. She always had so much to say – but not always with words themselves. It was as if she could tell a story just by looking into her eyes.

They made no grand announcement of the change that had come over the two of them, but the others seemed to pick up on it, anyway. It wasn’t as if they actually tried to hide it - they just didn't go out of their way to advertise it. Maybe Twilight had said something, or maybe the others had been expecting something like this to happen eventually.

When Rainbow Dash finally summoned the courage to say those four little words – I really like you – Fluttershy reacted by... well, she stopped reacting at all. She stood frozen for ages, until finally, Dash, driven by sudden curiosity, stroked her mane, and she burst into an enormous blush – but she was happy. Something similar happened the first time Rainbow Dash was given the idea to bring her flowers, as well. Rarity had been the one to suggest it, ever the hopeless romantic; the same thing happened again, broken this time by a kiss. That time, though, she'd reiterated by later sending Rainbow Dash a bouquet of her own. Red carnations.

The sight of them alone induced a momentary flutter of panic in Dash's stomach; but the note accompanying them consisted only of a crudely drawn pair of pegasii watching a sunset together. This one isn’t a mask, it said.

Sometimes they would be alone together, on one of the nights where there was no talking at all, and Rainbow Dash would find herself confronted with something darker than the Fluttershy she was slowly getting to know. On those nights, the pegasus’ whispers and her laughter would take on a seductive tone, and the way her hooves travelled over Rainbow's body, caressing her wings, were eerily reminiscent of those nights in the alley. Before Dash even knew what she was doing, she'd shoved her away – but something about the look in Fluttershy’s eyes, something about the way she’d shrink back, and Dash hated herself for doing so.

The sixth or seventh time this happened, Rainbow Dash just seized Fluttershy's hoof and firmly pulled it back into place against her wing, an action that seemed to both shock and delight her, prompting her to pull the rainbow mare into another eager kiss.

And so the nights passed.

Winter came to an end, and true to her word, Rainbow Dash worked twice as hard at winter wrap-up, bringing in spring with a previously unheard-of gusto. From the skies, she watched as Fluttershy woke up the sleeping critters, waking them up to a bright new day.

The chill of winter faded, melting into the delirious golden warmth of summer.

A broken mirror would always show cracks. Even if every piece were to be glued back into place, the spider-web thin fractures would continue to carve elaborate patterns across the surface and the mirror would never truly be repaired - but it would still reflect. That was what Rainbow and Fluttershy were like, now. Every day that passed saw yet another piece be put back into place, slowly putting them back together again.

For a time, it was like they both underwent a shared period of mourning; but Mare Do Well had never been real, Dash had to remind herself again and again.

Sometimes in life, you had experiences that were much too complicated to summarize in a mere few words, but if Rainbow Dash were to have tried, maybe she would've said something about falling. About how fearing the fall didn't stop it from happening. About how all you could do was try and ensure a soft landing. About how being afraid didn't always mean there was a genuine cause for fear, and that sometimes you could come out all right, after all.

She wasn't a poet, though, and didn't have any special way with words. So Dash settled for letting the subject go, and instead basking in the warmth of one of Fluttershy’s gentle smiles.

Those who watched them from the outside might have laughed. The two most opposite ponies they could have imagined, brought together by the wonders of first love. But if any of them had known what had transpired during the months previous, maybe they wouldn't have laughed. But you could never really know. You could never say for sure what was happening in somepony else's private life, or what they were thinking in their most secret thoughts.

Neither of them cared, though. It was enough that they could fall asleep wrapped in one another, and that they could take walks, wrapping a wing over one another - a show of affection so common between young pegasii couples. It was enough that Fluttershy would surprise Rainbow Dash all throughout the day with random acts of kindness – a massage one day, or a tender kiss. It was enough that Rainbow Dash could take Fluttershy dancing, weaving through the skies like the life-long friends, the soul-mates they were.

It was enough that they could watch the sun rise, and Rainbow Dash could turn to see Fluttershy smiling and know that she was loved at last.

It was enough. Because it meant that - no matter what else happened - right then and there, in that moment in time, they were happy.

It meant that everything was going to be fine. It meant that everything would be all right. There wasn't much more you could ask for, really. Those snapshots of happiness had to be enough.

And when Rainbow Dash lifted her head to see Fluttershy beside her, whether it was a good day or not and the expression gracing her face was a smile or a frown, it felt like more than she deserved.  

The sentiment never rang truer for her than those times when Rainbow would catch a glimpse of Fluttershy and the tenderness there would be replaced by something darker, flickering for just a moment -  and then she would see the exact same wonder in those big and beautiful blue eyes of hers. Wondering how this had happened, how this had come together. How it hadn't all collapsed already.

Those were the moments when she knew, with a conviction stronger than anything she had ever felt before.

No more hiding. No more pretending. There was only the two of them; and together, as broken as they were, they could make the whole they'd both so desperately sought out.

And they were going to be okay.

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