Rainbow had failed to take into account what a challenge it would be to keep herself from getting worked up the rest of the night. She was respectful, of course. She didn’t hover at the bathroom door like some creep when Fluttershy had taken up her offer to wash up and change into pajamas. But when the pre-vet student emerged from the bathroom in Rainbow’s short shorts, steam curling around her bare legs, and her petite hands tugging nervously at the thin fabric of the white scoop neck t-shirt she was borrowing…

The tomboy had been in the middle of bringing her laptop to her bed and nearly dropped it onto the floor.

Fluttershy wasn’t wearing a bra.

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard as she made a conscious effort to meet her friend’s wide eyes. Were they really going to try and get through the entire night without doing anything?

I’m in trouble.

“You look good,” Rainbow said, trying to keep her tone light and her expression clear.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said with a tensed brow. She bit her lip and looked down at her wiggling toes. “I, um… Can’t sleep with--with that on, so I was hoping it would be o-okay--”

“Yeah!” the tomboy said, perhaps a bit too loudly. Her shy friend shrank in on herself, her pink hair curtaining forward. Rainbow winced and rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s fine. Who sleeps in bras anyway? Nobody, that’s who.” She said this, fully aware that she was wearing a sports bra underneath her freshman soccer jersey from high school. She had been trying to keep from freaking Fluttershy out by keeping an extra layer of clothes between them. Now Rainbow fully intended on discarding the undergarment the first chance she got.

Her reasons for doing so were entirely innocent, of course. Bras were uncomfortable to sleep in, after all.

With her sporty friend’s reassurances, Fluttershy straightened again, a timid smile barely curving her lips up. “I’m glad.” She gestured at the laptop in Rainbow’s hands. “What movie did you have in mind for tonight?”

Rainbow glanced at it as if just remembering she even had the device. “Oh! I dunno. I was thinking we could look together.” She paused and raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’ve got an idea?”

Fluttershy’s smile broadened into something brighter.

---

She was standing in a grove under a full moon, her eyes closed and the wind sweeping through her pink hair. She didn’t feel the chill of that night, though she was only dressed in a green skirt and white tank top. A soft voice spoke behind her. She tried to understand the words, but the harder she focused on them, the more garbled they became. Frustrated, Fluttershy opened her crimson eyes and turned to look over her shoulder.

Rainbow Dash stood just at the circle of trees, sweat drenching her face as her large blue wings folded neatly behind her. Her hair was disheveled. She must have just landed. Fluttershy’s wings stirred on her back, the smooth yellow membranes expanding in preparation of catching the wind for flight. The tomboy held up her hands and took a panicked step forward, her wide rose pink eyes charged with alarm as she said something else. Again, the words failed to have meaning. It was like listening to a record going backwards.

Fluttershy turned around completely, her bat-like wings expanding to their full length and casting a long shadow over the grove’s shifting grass. Rainbow froze, her expression hardening as her fists clenched. The pink-haired girl held out a hand to her rainbow-streaked friend. The offering was regarded with furrowed brow and pursed lips. Fluttershy’s keen gaze caught the sight of sweat rolling down her companion’s pulsing temple.

Rainbow Dash took a step forward. Then another.

Her hand gently touched into Fluttershy’s palm, her wings flaring just a little at the contact. Their eyes met.

Fluttershy clutched the other girl’s hand with her claws, pulling her in with a violent jerk and a strength that surprised even Rainbow Dash. The tomboy’s head was swiftly wrenched aside, her struggles fierce but fruitless. With a grin, the once-shy girl bared her fangs and bit into her prey’s neck.

From a tree just behind them, a small bat smiled, its eyes glowing red.

---

Fluttershy awoke with a jerk and a sharp intake of breath, her body soaked in sweat and her muscles clenched tight. Rainbow stirred behind her, one of the tomboy’s arms holding loosely around the shy girl’s waist as Rainbow’s breath brushed Fluttershy’s neck.

“Shy?” Rainbow mumbled, her eyes squinting open. “You ‘kay?”

The animal lover smiled shakily, her eyes wide and her heart racing.

That’s right! I… I slept with Rainbow last night!

“I’m fine, Rainbow. Bad dream.”

Rainbow Dash grunted, a frown creasing her brow. “That sucks.”

“It’s all right. Please. Rest some more. I think it’s still early.” And it was. The room hadn’t even been lit by the rising sun yet.

Rainbow yawned and settled in closer. “Don’t gotta tell me twice,” she mumbled with a small smirk. Rainbow’s knees drew up to touch the back of Fluttershy’s knees as the length of her body pressed in, like she was molding herself to the animal lover’s shape. Fluttershy stiffened, her breath catching as she stared wide-eyed at the empty bed across the room. Then, slowly, she touched Rainbow’s arm across her stomach and exhaled. The tension eased.

Though her eyes burned, the shy girl kept them open. She was tired, and she knew a few more hours of rest would do her well, but her mind had started to spin and she knew it would be pointless to pursue sleep. At least until she could calm her thoughts.

Rainbow Dash wants me to be her girlfriend. I’m laying in her bed. She’s… She’s holding me.

Somehow, it still didn’t feel real.

A curious thing, since her nightmare had felt so visceral. Why did she keep dreaming about bats lately? Had she watched a bat special and simply forgot about it?

I love bats! Fluttershy thought with a soft scowl. Why are my dreams making them feel…

Her thought petered out and her scowl deepened. What did the bat feel like in her previous dream? What had her ‘vampire’ self felt like in her dream tonight?

Fluttershy’s expression lengthened as her hand tightened on Rainbow’s arm.

Selfish.

All this time, she had been conspiring to monopolize Rainbow’s project time, when the other girl had clearly needed help. They should have been farther along by now. Fluttershy had lied and said she still needed to work on the outline for the first chapter, but the truth of it was that she ought to be on the fourth chapter by now. She’d been thinking only of herself, and Rainbow Dash had trusted her. Worst of all, Fluttershy had been doing it all with the express purpose of somehow ‘wooing’ Rainbow, and the other girl had apparently been harboring her own feelings already, swiftly beating the animal lover to a confession. The scheme had been pointless. A waste of time.

Tears pricked Fluttershy’s eyes as she bit hard on her lip.

How could I be so small-minded? Rainbow trusted in me!

For the next few minutes, Fluttershy fought against the oncoming tears that threatened to dampen Rainbow’s pillow. With some deep breaths and thoughts of cute, furry woodland creatures, she managed to calm herself once more. Carefully she dabbed at her eyes and murmured, “No more.”

From this point on, she vowed to do everything she could to make sure Rainbow Dash did not fail her class. She couldn’t believe she had actually suspected (though she hadn’t even put the notion into words, even in her own mind) that her friend had been angling to get her to do all the work.

Rainbow wouldn’t do that to me, Fluttershy thought firmly. Not after she told me how she felt!

With a small nod, the girl closed her eyes and visualized something pleasant:

Rainbow Dash freestyling with a soccer ball, grinning widely all the while…

Sleep came gradually, but it did come.

---

Somehow, getting dressed in the morning had gone a lot smoother than washing up the previous night. Rainbow was relieved that some of the awkwardness had been sloughed away. It was like she and Fluttershy were remembering: Oh! We’re friends. We’ve always been friends. We’ve even had sleepovers. There’s a way to do this that isn’t weird!

The best part was when they had both gotten dressed--Rainbow in fresh clothes; Fluttershy in the ones from the night previous--there was no more guessing.

No more wondering, no more freaking, no more stressing out…

Just hugs. Just kisses. Just--

Damn, we should have done this sooner, Rainbow thought as she stole one more kiss before the elevator arrived.

Something tickled Rainbow’s mind as she grinned and draped an arm over her blushing new girlfriend. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. Had she left a light on in the dorm room? Did she forget to pay a bill? Was there something else she had to do for the soccer team she might have forgotten about?

Forget it, she thought as she cornered Fluttershy in a corner of the elevator and nibbled on the pre-vet’s earlobe, making the girl whimper and squirm against her body. You can deal with whatever it is later. This is way more fun.

When they arrived at her car, she pressed up against her girlfriend at the passenger door and murmured, “So where do you wanna get breakfast?”

Fluttershy shifted against her, her eyes darting to the side as if afraid someone might see them and object to their closeness for some reason. Her blue eyes fluttered as she opened her mouth, but the only thing that escaped her lips was a small squeak.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, despite the grin on her face. She took a step back and asked again, “Where do you wanna get breakfast, Fluttershy?”

As if freed from the stimulation to once again think coherently, Fluttershy made to speak once again.

“Um.” The other girl fidgeted against the car door, her face a bright shade to match her hair. “W-we can get donuts? At D-Donut Joe’s?”

Rainbow’s grin broadened and she gave a firm nod. “Sounds awesome!” She stepped in close again, her hand gently moving Fluttershy aside as she opened the door and gestured at the seat. “After you,” she said with a wink.

Fluttershy ducked her head and hurriedly slipped into the car. Ordinarily this bashfulness would have annoyed Rainbow, but now that she was more fully aware of the kind of effect she was having on her new partner, it only delighted her.

This is gonna be totally sweet, the athlete thought with a sharkish grin as she went around to enter her vehicle.

After all, just because Fluttershy said she wanted to wait for the hot and heavy stuff didn’t mean they still couldn’t have some fun.

Last night was a good example. Rainbow had been skeptical of her new girlfriend’s viewing choice for the night--some goofy cartoon about a boy with a gem in his belly who lived with three aliens by the ocean, and the random adventures they had. But as they continued to watch, the tomboy had to admit the show was growing on her. They were even a few cool fight scenes. At one point, she’d had to fight off tears when the main character had learned something revealing about his dead mother. She’d played it off as allergies rather successfully, she thought.

But even as Rainbow Dash found herself growing more invested in Fluttershy’s strangely relatable kid’s show, she still couldn’t quite ignore the soft and warm body in her bed. For the most part, her partner’s attention was on the show playing on the laptop on the corner of Rainbow’s study desk, but when the athlete nuzzled the animal lover’s neck, she was rewarded with a small shudder. During one daring moment, Rainbow had let her hand slip under Fluttershy’s shirt to gently stroke her companion’s soft stomach, and the other girl’s breath hitched.

The best moment had come when Fluttershy--Fluttershy--had turned on her side to lay her head on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, and her leg wrapped around Rainbow’s. The tomboy’s eyebrows rose, her eyes widening as she let her arms settle around the shivering girl. The animal lover peered up at her through her eyelashes, her eyes wide. Rainbow stared back, her expression blank. Then her face split into a massive smile. She hugged Fluttershy and kissed the top of her hair.

This is so awesome.

And it had been.

After watching every single episode of Fluttershy’s cartoon, they had fallen asleep late in each other’s arms. It was in the course of sleep that the shy girl had turned away from her, but Rainbow had held on, even in her dreams.

As they drove to Donut Joe’s, Rainbow’s smile waned.

Wait. That’s right. Shy had a nightmare this morning.

It bothered her to think that Fluttershy would be troubled by such things after the night they’d had, but even she was aware this was hubris talking. Just because Fluttershy was into her didn’t mean other things still couldn’t trouble her. Like her job for instance.

Was that what she had a nightmare about? Rainbow thought with a sideways glance at her girlfriend. Should I ask? Her jaw clenched. Either way, I think I should pay a visit to that animal hospital. Those jerks better leave her alone from now on. Or else. She even believed her threats.

Their arrival at Donut Joe’s was swift since it wasn’t that far from campus. Rainbow held the door open for Fluttershy, making the other girl smile bashfully. With a bounce in her step, the soccer player followed her girlfriend into the establishment. The little shop felt welcoming and familiar, and Joe smiled at them with recognition lighting up his green eyes under the fringe of his mahogany brown hair.

“Hey, hey! Long time no see, ladies!” the man greeted as they approached the counter. He tipped back his white baker’s cap and grinned as he leaned forward. “Say. Shouldn’t you be at Canterlot High right now? I’ll have you know, I’m good friends with the principals!” His eyes wrinkled with mirth as his grin widened.

Rainbow crossed her arms and cocked a hip, though her lips slanted upwards. “Hilarious, Joe. Don’t think I didn’t see you at our graduation!” Fluttershy giggled at her side.

The man chuckled and held up his hands. “Ya caught me. But hey, you two didn’t come here to see my ugly mug. What can I get ya?”

“Oh, it’s always so very nice to see you, Joe...but since you asked,” Fluttershy said, gravitating toward the display case.

A few minutes later and the two girls were seated in the corner of the shop with a box of donuts, the tomboy sipping orange juice, the pre-vet coffee.

“So what are we doing at the animal shelter?” Rainbow asked, turning her cup idly as she bounced her knees under the table.

Fluttershy smiled. “I wanted to go around and visit all the pets before seeing whatever there was we could help with!”

A grimace. “I know I’m tagging along, but I’m going to have to draw the line at cleaning the hamster habitat. Rarity told me about the last time she volunteered with you.”

The animal lover tilted her head to one side. “But Rarity didn’t clean the hamster habitat!” Fluttershy’s smile returned as she suddenly giggled. “She did cause a bit of a ruckus when she made all the hamsters outfits, though!”

Rainbow had been sipping orange juice when she laughed and choked on her drink. Fluttershy was quick to offer her a napkin, but she was shaking so hard from her stifled laughter, the thin paper quivered in her hand.

“That was pretty convenient of Rarity to leave that out,” Rainbow managed to chuckle, one hand dabbing at the juice drops on the table.

“I think she was a little embarrassed that the hamsters had such a strong effect on her. She even named them all!”

Rainbow shook her head. “Geez!”

Fluttershy hummed happily as she sipped at her coffee, her eyes still squinting with mirth. When she set her coffee down again, she said, “I’d be careful, Rainbow. The animal shelter has a way of worming its way into your heart. I bet you’ll find a cute critter that will make an impression on you!”

The tomboy snorted. “Fat chance!” When it struck her how that sounded, she straightened in her seat and added hurriedly. “N-not that I don’t care about sad animals or whatever. Just that I’m not a mushy person!” She shrugged one shoulder. “If I ever got a pet, it’d have to be a cool and powerful one. I doubt I’d find that at the animal shelter.”

Fluttershy only quirked an eyebrow, her lips not quite curving up, but clearly hiding something in the corners. “You’d be surprised.”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “We’ll see.” They held each other’s gaze for a long moment. The athlete could feel her heartbeat quicken. Clearing her throat, she gestured at her companion’s drink. “I didn’t think you liked coffee, Shy!”

Fluttershy’s blue eyes blinked owlishly as if coming out of a daze. She looked down at her coffee cup before lifting it for a sip. “I didn’t like coffee at first. But I suppose I’ve spent so much time around Star Weld and Rarity that it just sort of grew on me…”

The tomboy snapped her fingers excitedly. “Darn! Speaking of Rarity, I have her money for the shirt. I should have told you earlier. I would have given it to her last night, but I had left it at the dorm before getting you. I don’t like carrying too much cash on me. If I’d known she was going to be there, I would have brought it.”

“You’re going to have a hard time giving that money to her, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said with a small frown.

Rainbow opened their donut box and arched an eyebrow. “I’m not taking no for an answer,” she said firmly. She selected a glazed donut.

The pre-vet turned her cup on the table. Her shoulders inched up. “I don’t want her to think I’m not grateful…”

“Flutters, stop worrying about it! I’ll try and see if she’s free within the next few days, and the whole thing will get sorted, okay?” Rainbow reached over and grabbed Fluttershy’s wrist.

The other girl smiled weakly. “All right. I’ll try.”

“Atta girl!” Rainbow smiled before taking a large bite of her glazed donut. Some of the glaze clung to her lips, and she closed her eyes. “Mmm!”

She felt a soft touch at her lower lip that made her eyes snap open. Fluttershy withdrew her hand as her cheeks colored pink. Small bits of glaze clung to the pad of her thumb. “Sorry!” the animal lover squeaked. “Y-you had something on your, um--”

Rainbow Dash smirked. She gently took hold of Fluttershy’s hand and with a quick glance at Joe and the few other customers in the shop, she dipped her head down and suckled the girl’s thumb. The pieces of glaze that was there tasted sweet on Rainbow’s tongue, but not nearly as sweet as the low whine that escaped her companion before the tomboy hastily withdrew.

A scan of the shop said that Rainbow had not disrupted the family environment, but one look at Fluttershy’s ducked head said she very well may have broken her friend. The smugness vanished from the athlete as she leaned forward and whispered. “Shy? Hey, my bad. That was too much, wasn’t it?”

A low squeak.

Rainbow Dash leaned in a bit closer. “Didn’t catch that, Fluttershy.”

The small sound came again.

Rainbow huffed in frustration as she rose a bit out of her seat to press in close. She reached in through Fluttershy’s curtain of soft pink hair to murmur, “Listen, I was just fooling around--!”

The athlete broke off when Fluttershy moved swiftly, her lips landing on Rainbow Dash’s in a quick peck before she withdrew and whispered shakily: “I’m n-not mad. I just… I need some air.” She stood to her feet and added with a shaky grin, “I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of a cold shower.”

Rainbow blushed hard, the pit of her abdomen tightening. She sat back hard in her seat as Fluttershy retreated as quietly as she could out through the front doors.

How does she do that? The tomboy wondered with a bewildered frown. Her lips still tingled from the chaste kiss her girlfriend had left there. She touched her mouth absently as she stared at her partially eaten donut, still held loosely in her other hand. It’s like I have to work so hard to be all sexy, and she just...is! It’s almost unfair!

Rainbow Dash used the time she had alone to resume eating her glaze donut and to puzzle out Fluttershy’s allure. She had thought she had worked out everything there was to like about the animal lover when she’d had that chat with Twilight and Sunset, but that was at a different stage of their relationship--the ‘before’ time. The crush. Crushes were all about the wanting and what ifs. Now it wasn’t just a crush anymore, was it? The want was being catered to. The what ifs were being answered in real time.

But the answers were spawning new questions. New possibilities. It was a real relationship in the works, like a good soccer play forming on a white board. Rainbow could almost imagine the x’s and o’s in her mind’s eye, dotting a milky landscape as this new reality set in.

She was realizing, with a jolt, that she really liked Fluttershy. This fact had been on her radar before, perhaps, but not so definitively as right then. With each moment that Rainbow spent with Fluttershy, she was discovering new things to like about the other girl. Like how her desire was simple. Innocent. Earnest. She was quite literally a girl nervously getting in touch with her more carnal desires, but her abundant feminine energy was softening the edges, making it sweet and inviting.

Perhaps that was why those small kisses and guileless admissions felt so arousing?

Rainbow could feel a warmth take over her as one mind-blowing thought took hold:

No one’s ever treated me this way.

All of her past girlfriends. Even her own father. Rainbow Dash was so used to expecting some kind of angle. Some ulterior motive. Some trap to guilt her into something.

Fluttershy did none of these things when they had just been friends. Though it shouldn’t have surprised her, Rainbow realized that the shy girl would never do these things, even now that they were dating. It was a happy and strangely nerve-wracking revelation. All of a sudden she was at a new standard. When she was with her past girlfriends, there was always the knowledge that she was just a step away from bailing on the relationship. Treating them as unimportant hadn’t been that big a deal. They treated her similarly. But Fluttershy was special. Fluttershy was serious.

Wow, I hope I don’t screw this up…

Her phone buzzed. Rainbow Dash jumped and pulled it out of her pocket. It was a text from Twilight.

>TS: Sunset texted me last night. Did she text you too?

Rainbow tapped out a quick reply. The exchange went swiftly.

>R: Ya. She slept sum place else

>TS: Did you find anything while she was away?

The tomboy winced. She really needed to stop forgetting to get back to people when she said she would. She typed back:

>R: Ya… Sry. Got caught up in stuff ystrday. Shoulda called

>TS: It’s all right.

>R: Went on a date with Shy.

>TS: Wow, really!? That was fast!

>R: Only way I do things. >:) We’re gonna start dating

>TS: Congratulations! I’m so happy for you two!

>R: Thx!

>TS: So what did you find at Sunset’s?

>R: Biz card. I wanna do a stakeout 2nite. Can u call AJ? She could help

>TS: Ok…? But why me?

>R: U kno y. :/

>TS: Eventually you two are going to have to work out this animosity that’s grown between you since high school. You can’t keep sweeping it under the rug!

>R: U gonna call her or not? >:(

>TS: Ugh… Fine. But I’m telling her you’re gonna be there! If I lie to her, she’ll be upset with me.

>R: Cool thx.

>TS: So where is this place? When are we meeting?

>R: I’ll txt deets l8er. Still with Shy

>TS: Ooh la la!

>R: w/e :P

Rainbow’s head jerked up as Fluttershy re-entered the shop, her cheeks still a bit pink, though she was no longer bowing her head. Shy tucked her phone away, which the athlete suspected was the reason her girlfriend had been outside so long. Donut Joe said something to the pink-haired girl, and the two started small talk. Nervously, Rainbow Dash tapped a short message on her screen.

>R: g2g, ttyl

As she went to lock her phone, she saw Twilight’s reply for a split second before stuffing the device back into her pocket with a grimace:

>TS: If you say so, love bird… :P

Fluttershy laughed pleasantly as she and Joe finished their short exchange. She approached the table and her smile waned a bit at the fixed grin on Rainbow’s face.

“Rainbow, is something wrong?” the animal lover asked.

Rainbow Dash reached forward and took her girlfriend’s hand, pulling the other girl closer. “Nah!” Her smile eased into something more natural as she hugged Fluttershy around the waist, making the pre-vet blush red again. “I was just wondering if we’d be better off eating these donuts somewhere more private…”

Next Chapter: Chapter 20 Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 36 Minutes