Rainbow Dash was happy to lose consciousness for a few hours—and that’s all she would get, too. Her adventure Saturday night with the others had managed to squeak into the wee hours. By the time she reached her dorm room, she felt dead on her feet. She barely managed to tend to the tortoise. Of course, the idea of letting down Fluttershy motivated Rainbow enough to rip open a pre-made salad bowl Sunset had been saving in their mini-fridge (I’ll pay her back later) along with a plastic container filled with water.

The tortoise eyed its meal—an average garden salad—its crusty swollen eyes blinking.

“Eat up lil’ dude,” Rainbow yawned. She kicked off her sneakers and collapsed onto her covers, her eyes already shut. “S’gonna be a busy day tomorrow.”

When morning came, it was ushered in by the sharp bleats of her alarm, the sound scything into her eardrums. Rainbow tried to ignore it at first. Surely it was mistaken. She felt like she’d just shut her eyes.

But when the alarm didn’t realize its error, the tomboy was forced to reach over and turn it off with a slam of her palm. Glaring, she eyed the clock face. She groaned.

Family practice day. An uneasy heaviness settled into her throat just as her eyes burned with needy exhaustion. Any other day and she would have been more than fine with performing in front of a crowd. But she was exhausted. Fluttershy being there was perhaps the one thing that she truly looked forward to, but even that had a double edge to it. She’d hate to perform poorly in front of her new girlfriend.

What really weighed on her above all else was that Blaze could show up… in fact, he likely would, given the week’s recent events.

Rainbow forced herself to sit up, her body sluggish. When she looked over toward the end of the bed, it was to find that the tortoise had eaten much of the salad, and there was a noticeable damp spot in the carpet next to the water container—the water line lower by at least half. The tortoise was nowhere to be found.

With a big yawn, Rainbow rose to her feet and moved to stand next to the salad bowl. The reptile wasn’t behind her bed’s footboard. Frowning now, she got down on hands and knees and peered into the dark under her bed. Still nothing. From the looks of things, the critter wouldn’t have fit anyway.

Concern chased much of the remaining sleep away as Rainbow Dash straightened and stared wide-eyed around her room. “Where’d that darn thing go?” That’s when she noticed her study desk chair had been moved.

Rainbow stood and went to her desk. Yes. The chair had definitely been moved aside. Given this part of the dorm room’s perpetual stasis, this change could mean only one thing.

The girl pulled the chair out all the way and knelt down. Sure enough, in the dark under her desk was the tortoise. It’d retreated into its shell. Pursing her lips, Rainbow reached for it and carefully lifted it up into the small shaft of early morning light that managed to slip by the room’s curtains.

“Lil’ dude?” she said. Then her eyes caught something on its shell. Something that hadn’t been there before.

Frowning, she turned the reptile onto its side, and her breath caught.

On the tortoise’s bumpy exterior, there was an unmistakable knick. It was perhaps an inch and a half long and a few centimeters deep, but it stood out to her because that side of the shell had been the one she’d been holding the most whenever she balanced the creature on her hip. As she ran her fingers over the knick, she knew for certain that it hadn’t been there before.

Her bewilderment over this discovery was short-lived.

“A bullet grazed you!” she exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash’s first feeling was of pity. The darn critter hadn’t asked to be caught up in her little adventure, and by sheer luck, it had managed to escape serious injury.

The reptile slowly—oh so slowly—peeked its head from its shell and blinked its crusty eyes at her.

“Hey… Mornin’ lil’ buddy,” Rainbow breathed at it. “Sorry about your shell. You okay?”

A slow blink. Then—and she wasn’t sure if she imagined it—but did the tortoise just nod at her?

She looked at the chair. “You must’ve been spooked after last night if you bothered to push that chair to hide under my desk. It’s pretty heavy. And over carpet too!” She grinned at the tortoise. “You’re pretty tough!”

The tortoise didn’t seem to have a response to this. It’s little black eyes just continued to hold her in their steady gaze.

“I’ve got practice today. I could leave you here but maybe you’d be more comfortable down at the field? Then you can eat grass… or something.” She shrugged. “Or you could stay with Fluttershy. She’s coming today, apparently.” She sighed, suddenly agitated. “Let’s put on those eye drops she gave me for you, then I’ll get ready and we’ll head out, all right?” Then a thought occurred to her and her eyes went wide. “Oh, actually, there’s something I wanna get done before practice!”

Thirty minutes later, she was showered and dressed with her hastily gathered gear slung over her shoulder in a duffel bag. A hasty call was placed to a taxi service at the start, and now that she was ready, she had received a text alert that her driver was waiting. As much as she wanted to get her car back from downtown, she needed to do something more important, and that left her very little time. She’d go do her errand, then it was straight to practice. Retrieving her classic awesomobile was going to have to wait.

She stooped down to pick up the tortoise, who had apparently been finishing up its salad this whole time.

Breathlessly, she said, “Let’s go, lil’ dude!”

It was cutting it close, but Rainbow found this to be too important to settle with a phone call, especially given the misinformation that had been doled out in the past few days. She needed to see this with her eyes. Action always soothed her more than idleness anyway.

So some ten minutes later, Rainbow Dash found herself outside the Delta Alpha Kappa sorority house. With a few assertive knocks and a single long ring of the doorbell for good measure, she only had to wait a minute before someone answered the door. She was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Pinkie Pie.

“Heya Dashie!” Pinkie chirped with a wide smile. She was still in her pink cupcake-patterned PJs but judging by the syrup on her chin, Rainbow had interrupted an early breakfast.

“Sup Pinks. Hope I’m not botherin’ ya?” The soccer player asked with an awkward shuffle of her feet. This was, essentially, a welfare check for a certain fashionista, and that meant she was not a little concerned. Unless she could mask it with some form of aggression or annoyance (as she usually did) this concern made her feel weak, vulnerable, and out of control. Rainbow hated that feeling. But Pinkie Pie didn’t deserve any feigned irritation for this visit. Especially at this hour. And frankly, Rainbow didn’t much have the energy for the pomp and show. Definitely no time for it, at least.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, a pleasant smile still on her face. “Nah, you didn’t bother me. I was having trouble sleeping. The rest of the girls are still in bed though. What’s up?”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. Her current discomfort, she realized, was also due in part to the fact that she hadn’t thought this through. Of course everyone was asleep. It was before seven AM on a Sunday. Still, Pinkie being awake was better than nothing.

“Um,” Dash started awkwardly. “I came to check on Rarity. See, I ran into her last night. She’d been sleep-walking in a rough part of town.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened. “Holy sprinkles!” she looked behind her to where the stairs led up out of sight. “Gee! I had no idea! I came back home late last night and she was already in bed.”

“Yeah, AJ and I dropped her off.”

Now Pinkie whirled around, her eyes gleaming. “You were with Applejack?”

Rainbow flinched. “Uh, yeah?”

Pinkie Pie cheered and hugged her, hard. “YAY! I’m so happy to hear you two aren’t mad at each other anymore!”

Rainbow Dash groaned and tried to pry the party girl off. “Pinkie, Applejack and me weren’t fighting! We just… drifted apart. Okay?” And you know exactly the reason why, too!

“I’m just glad you two are speaking to each other again,” Pinkie giggled happily as she released her friend. “It really bummed everyone out that you guys couldn’t seem to get along after high school.”

That’s what happens when you have a love triangle I guess, Rainbow thought with not a little frustration.

“So about Rarity—?” the tomboy prompted pointedly.

Pinkie hopped a little. “Oh! Right. She’s—”

“Wondering what all the commotion is about so bloody early in the morning, that’s what!” came a groggy and sour voice.

Both girls at the door turned their attention to the stairs where Rarity descended with two hands tightly gripping the railing as she stepped down with sleepy unsteadiness. She glared at them through squinted eyes.

“Honestly, what in the blazes warrants such a racket at this hour!?” Rarity grumbled, her normally perfect hair sloppily spilling over her shoulder.

Rainbow crossed her arms and frowned. “You, dummy. You’re the reason for the commotion. I came to check on you before my practice today!”

Rarity paused on the last step, her slim alabaster hands pulling her nightgown tighter around her body. “Oh.” She flipped a hand through the air and shrugged daintily. “Well as you can quite plainly see, I am absolutely fine.” She toyed with the railing post, her manicured fingers lightly tracing over its polished wood. “Actually, if I am being perfectly honest, I came downstairs because I heard your voice, Rainbow.” She looked at the tomboy earnestly. “I wanted to say thank you for bringing me home safely.”

Pinkie Pie nodded with gusto, a serious (almost too serious) expression on her face. “Yeah! I wanna say thanks too, Dashie!” She looked at Rarity and held out her arms as she moved in for a hug. “If I’d have known Rares was in any kind of trouble, I would have been there lickety-split!” to Rainbow’s surprise, these last few words became choked with emotion. Rarity eyed Pinkie’s incoming hug with some apprehension, but returned it upon its gentle arrival, a little sigh escaping her upon finding it wasn’t one of her friend’s infamous monster embraces.

Rainbow rocked on her heels, resisting the urge to step inside. She was running out of time, and she’d left the tortoise alone in the taxi. (The driver kept threatening to charge for any damage the thing may cause.) “No sweat, you guys. I’m just glad to see you’re okay, Rarity. Listen, I have some money for you for a shirt you bought Fluttershy. I meant to give it to you when I saw you on Friday, but I was kinda, y’know, distracted.”

“Pardon me?” Rarity started, her nose already wrinkling with distaste as she and Pinkie separated.

Rainbow dug her wallet out from her pocket, her fingers fumbling as she hastily pulled out the wrinkled bills. “She was gonna return the shirt since you bought it when you were all wacky, but then I pulled the tag off and now she can’t—so to make her feel better, I told her I’d pay you for it.”

Rarity was already shaking her head, her hand held out like she could stave away the cash. “No! I bought that for her. She really shouldn’t have felt bad—!”

Rainbow Dash pursed her lips. With one long step, she crossed the threshold and tossed the bills onto the foyer table to the left of the door. “This money is yours! No debate! You weren’t in your right mind when you bought the shirt, Rares!” When she stepped back through the door, she caught the stung look on the fashionista’s face. Rainbow sighed and held up a hand. “Come on, man. Please don’t get all weepy! Fluttershy isn’t trying to reject you, she just doesn’t want you to go into debt!”

Rarity took a deep breath, one dainty finger carefully wiping at the corners of her eyes. “Very well,” she sniffled. She shrugged her hands in a, What can I do in the face of such stubborn insistence? sort of gesture then clasped them to her chest. “It’s true that I was perhaps not in a position to make such purchases within reason,” she relented with some effort.

Pinkie smiled and took hold of her wrist. “Heeey… Fluttershy and Dashie are just making sure you’ll be okay!”

This caused Rarity to smile at her and pat her hand. “Of course. I see that now.”

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat awkwardly. “Uh, so now that that’s settled, I gotta get going. Today’s family practice day, and Fluttershy promised to be there, so—”

“Family practice day?” Rarity interjected.

“Fluttershy is going?” Pinkie added, her smile adopting a teasing tilt as she turned to peer at Rainbow.

Rainbow suddenly felt cornered. She resisted the urge to take a step back. “Uh, yeah?” She thumbed over her shoulder. “I gotta get going. I got a taxi waiting and I’m already going to be a few minutes late as it is! I’ll see you guys later, all right?”

Rainbow Dash turned on her heel, ready to flee from whatever scheme she could already see the pair cooking up when Rarity called out in a sing-song behind her: “Pinkie Pie! My schedule is remarkably free today. What say we enjoy a rousing show of sport?”

The tomboy halted her footsteps, her eyes falling shut with a growing sense of doom.

“Oooh!” Pinkie answered. “That sounds super duper fun, Rarity! I could use with a fun day out with friends!”

Rainbow set her jaw and snapped over her shoulder, “You wanna come? Fine. But no funny business from you two! If I catch a whiff that you’re angling for that stupid bet of yours, I’ll haul you outta there myself!” She took a single step before adding with a whip of her head, “Neither of you won, by the freaking way!”

As she resumed her walk back to her car, she heard Pinkie and Rarity answer in unison with much too much sweetness, “Okaaay!”

Rainbow groaned as she got back into the taxi car. Geez! I guess they just wanna see who nailed it in the end. She glanced at the tortoise next to her and groused, “Lil dude, you might be the simplest thing about my day today!”

It blinked at her placidly as the driver started up the car. Instead of leaving the tortoise on the floor as she had the night before, Rainbow had it secured next to her on the seat… with a seat belt wrapped over its shell.

After the critter took a bullet for her, it seemed the least she could do.

When she arrived at the field, it was to find Sassaflash already leading warm-ups with the team. The head coach, Laurel Frost, intercepted Rainbow as she approached, but given the audience already up in the stands, he kept his scolding short. She apologized and he glared at her for a moment longer with narrowed blue eyes before pointing at the tortoise in her hands.

“And what’s with that?” he snapped, his brown face twisting with incredulity.

She looked at him pleadingly. “I’m watching it for a friend and it’s sick. I thought some time outside might do it some good!”

“Rainbow—”

“There’s someone coming today that can watch it if no one on the sidelines can! So is it okay?”

Her coach let out a rough sigh. He put his hands on his slim hips and said wearily, “Find this ‘someone’ of yours. Fast. We ain’t pet sitters.” He shook his head as he walked away, and she thought he heard him grumble, “‘Family day’... what a goddamn zoo!”

Grinning, Rainbow Dash scanned the benches. Her eyes caught on a familiar head of pink hair.

Always on time.

Fluttershy sat up as their eyes met and waved meekly. Rainbow grinned, feeling some of the unease that had plagued her all morning fade away. She ran to the stands and up the steps, not even minding that Fluttershy had chosen to sit up high and behind everyone else. Other family members of the team eyed her curiously as she passed. It would be a decent crowd today.

“Good morning, Rainbow!” Fluttershy greeted, somehow sounding out of breath.

Rainbow’s smile widened, her heart doing a little somersault at the worshipful gleam in her girlfriend’s eyes. “Hey, Flutters! You really made it!”

“Yes. Is that okay? It’s just, after I promised to come, the idea of not showing up seemed awful, but then I realized I sort of invited myself and—”

“Fluttershy, you featherbrain, of course it’s okay! I’m totes happy you’re here!”

A relieved sigh. “Oh. Good. Because I’m happy to be here too!” Her gaze dropped to the tortoise. “And you brought the tortoise! Did you have any trouble with him?”

“Not exactly?” At Fluttershy’s worried look, the tomboy hurried to say, “I gave him his eye drops. His appetite is good, too. Ate most of his salad last night.” Rainbow winced. May as well be upfront about it… Since we’re telling Sunset about Rarity, our ‘mission’ last night is gonna be old news. Flutters is smart. She’ll put two and two together about how this critter got his hard shell knicked. “Listen, Fluttershy. Just so you know, there’s a knick on its—his—shell. I’ll tell you more about it later. He seems okay, though. Better than okay, I’d say. He’s a freaking tank!”

Rainbow held the tortoise up and smirked at it. The whole time it had been hiding in its shell, but upon hearing Fluttershy’s voice, it had peeked just its head out curiously. “Ain’t that right, lil’ dude? You a tank? Heck yeah, you are!” Rainbow frowned a little and tilted her head to the side. “Hmm… Y’know what. I’m calling you Tank. I’m getting sick of saying ‘tortoise’ and ‘lil’ dude’ all the time.” When she looked back at Fluttershy she was about to say, Is that okay? When the strange look on her girlfriend’s face made her freeze.

Fluttershy’s eyes had gone wide and she had her hand over her mouth in what looked like a poor attempt at concealing a smile.

Confused (especially because the tomboy had expected some form of admonishment or concern regarding the tortoise) Rainbow asked, “Is there something on my face?”

Before Fluttershy could answer, there was a loud cheer from the bottom of the stands. Rainbow didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was. “Oh boy,” she sighed as she turned to see Pinkie Pie and Rarity ascending the stairs to join them.

“Good morning, Pinkie! Good morning, Rarity!” Fluttershy said with a surprised lift of her delicate eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were coming today!”

“Neither did I,” Rainbow muttered as she handed her girlfriend the tortoise.

Pinkie threw an arm around the tomboy and said jubilantly, “When Rainbow told us today was family practice day and that you were gonna be here, we decided to crash the party!” She gave Rainbow a good-natured shake. “More people to cheer for ya, right?”

Rainbow peered at her sideways. Pinkie was dressed in pink and light blue jumper shorts, her hair haphazardly drawn up into two sporty-looking pigtails. The visual effect was… pretty kiddish.

“If cheering is all you’re gonna do, then I guess that’s cool,” Rainbow said to the party-lover.

Rarity tittered. She was wearing the school’s colors of cyan and raspberry in a flowing sundress and chiffon shawl. Covering her head was a sun hat. “Darling, you worry too much!”

Fluttershy was looking between them all, her eyes blinking owlishly. “Worry? What for?”

Rainbow slipped out from under Pinkie Pie’s arm. “Guys, I need to get back down there. Just have fun, and be good.” She said this last bit pointedly to the sorority sisters.

“We will!” the pair chorused.

Fluttershy was frowning softly now. “What—?”

But Rainbow dashed down the stairs before anything more could be said about the matter.

When she joined Sassaflash and the others, she asked breathlessly, “We on track?”

“No thanks to you!” Sass replied, but the remark lacked any venom. In fact, the vice-captain was positively beaming.

Rainbow glanced at her curiously as she joined in the last of the warm-ups: leg lunges. “You seem in a good mood! What’s up?”

“It looks like me and lover boy made up,” Sass sighed dreamily, her eyes turning up to the wispy clouds overhead.

This made the soccer captain scowl. “Again? I thought you guys already made up! You two are like a bad soap opera.”

“Sticks and stones, Dashie! Sticks and stones.”

Fluttershy was just glad to be there. Thanks to Honey Grace’s kind favor of switching shifts, this day had been made possible. Of course, trying to meekly wake her brother on time to give her a ride before he left for work (and then having to hastily explain why there were no buses that early on a Sunday before he fell asleep again) had been a unique challenge all its own. But Star Weld had come through, as he always did. Fluttershy had been shivering up on the stands for thirty minutes since arrival, watching meekly as the seats slowly filled with friends, family, and significant others of the team. When the team itself finally showed up—without its star captain—Fluttershy had immediately begun to worry.

Did something happen to her? I thought it was odd that she hadn’t texted me last night… She actually gasped aloud as the next thought came to her: Oh no! She must be sick! Should I call her? I can bring soup!

But then there she was. Rainbow Dash came rushing onto the field. In fact, she’d brought the tortoise with her. This overtook Fluttershy’s relief with worry anew. Had she encumbered Rainbow by giving her the burden of caring for a critter?

Another turn of emotions came when their eyes met, and Rainbow smiled.

Fluttershy felt her spirit brighten. What was she worried about? Everything would be fine.

Regarding the knick on the tortoise's—Tank’s—shell… She did feel a small balloon of alarm, but Rainbow said she’d explain, and just as the tomboy said, the tortoise appeared to be fine. More than that—was Fluttershy imagining things, or was her new girlfriend starting to bond with the critter?

Before she could think on it further, she was surprised to see Pinkie and Rarity joining them. She had no idea Rarity could even get up and do something at this hour for anything short of fashion.

Judging by Rainbow’s behavior, she saw their appearance as more of a potential nuisance.

Why, though? Fluttershy wondered as she frowned at the tomboy’s retreat back to the field.

“Good gracious, you’d think they’d add cushions to these awful seats,” Rarity complained as she and Pinkie seated themselves on either side of Fluttershy. The animal lover couldn’t help but feel a little bit like she was being surrounded as Pinkie Pie sidled past her drawn-in legs. There was plenty of room on the bench for the pair to sit on one side of her, after all.

I suppose Pinkie just misses me?

“I think seat cushions would get ruined out here...” Fluttershy started, still eyeing Pinkie curiously as the party girl happily lowered herself onto the metal bleacher. “Because of… weather,” she finished with an uncertain glance at her companions. For having come to ‘cheer on’ Rainbow Dash, they sure were looking at her quite a bit. Ceaselessly, even.

Fluttershy shrank under the attention.

“My dear Fluttershy, why didn’t you tell us you were coming to this charming event of Rainbow’s? We would’ve been delighted to keep you company!” Rarity said with an affectionate pat on the animal lover’s knee.

“B-but I thought you hated the seats?” Fluttershy pointed out uncomfortably.

“Pish posh! That is irrelevant when supporting a dear friend in love!”

Fluttershy felt heat flood from her face down to the tips of her toes. “L-L-L-Love?”

“Yeah, silly!” Pinkie added with a jubilant bump of the shoulder. She started counting off her fingers. “First you two start studying together, then suddenly there’s a ‘special dinner’, then you’re coming to Rainbow’s practices even though you had work and you dislike crowds—!”

“How do you know all those things?” Fluttershy squeaked. “I-I mean, I know you saw us at dinner, but the other things—?”

“I filled her in, dear!” Rarity answered on her other side. “Forgive me for saying so, but I didn’t think your study sessions and your work schedule were to be kept secret. They weren’t, were they?” Puppy dog eyes. Rarity was always so good at it.

“No,” Fluttershy admitted. “Still, Pinkie Pie’s quick… uh—deductions—are a little unnerving.”

“Soooo?” Pinkie sang.

The shy girl let her bangs slip over her features. “So what?”

“So, what we’re dying to know is whether or not you two are official!” Rarity said with affectionate frustration.

Fluttershy was pretty certain she was going to melt into a mortified puddle at their feet. When she had managed to wrangle her thoughts into something resembling coherence, she managed to bleat, “Yes?”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie leaned in as if proximity might cure the dubiety out of Fluttershy’s answer. Their eyes met across the shy girl’s nose, and as if some unspoken message had passed between them, they nodded.

“Okie dokie,” Pinkie said with a placid smile, her blue eyes turning to the soccer field.

Rarity turned away in a similar fashion, her hand waving away the conversation like it was lingering smoke. “Good to hear. Congratulations!”

If Fluttershy had felt mortified before, she was bewildered now. She stared between her two friends with utter bafflement, her mouth a little open as she tried to work out just what in the world they were thinking. Had she answered wrong? Were they dissatisfied with her answer?

Oh gosh, did I insult them!?

“W-We really are together now!” Fluttershy insisted, her hands wringing in her lap. “I wasn’t trying to confuse either of you! But, b-but it’s just… I… haven’t said it aloud to anyone yet…” This last part she said low, almost under her breath. Dread struck her.

Was I not supposed to tell?

“Fluttershy, it’s okay,” Rarity said with warmth as she gave her friend a tight hug. Her eyes shone like the pretty diamonds she always admired. “Forgive us if we made you feel pressured. It’s just—”

“We’ve been waiting for—like—ever for you two to get together!” Pinkie Pie practically roared, her hands curling into claws. She turned her blazing eyes onto the paling Fluttershy and jammed her thumbs into her own chest. “I thought I was gonna explode while waiting! Bigger than popping candy in soda! BIGGER THAN ALL THE POPPING CANDY IN ALL THE WORLD’S—!”

“What Pinkie Pie means,” Rarity interjected with a very sharp glare at her pink-haired roommate, “is that we were just excited to see something develop after all this time. When we realized we were coming on too strong, we tried to put you at ease.” She rubbed Fluttershy’s trembling shoulder. “Please, do not trouble yourself about it anymore, dear. We’re here to show our support for Rainbow Dash, are we not? Let’s cheer on your new beau!”

Fluttershy carefully straightened her back. She could still feel the chill of the sweat that had formed on her skin, but her heart was settling in her chest.

These are our friends. They’ve been cheering us on this whole time.

The animal lover took a deep bracing breath. On her exhale, she sighed, “Thank you!”

“Yeeeeah,” Pinkie said. Her breezy smile had returned to her face. “It’s all good, Flutters!” She crossed her legs and tapped her fingers on her top knee. “I mean, it’s not like you guys had anything to eat after you had dinner at Sugarcube Corner, right?”

Fluttershy was bewildered by the question, but judging by the tightening of Rarity’s grip on her shoulder, she suspected this had something to do with what the girl’s had really been interested in. Freed from the pressure of revealing her relationship status, Fluttershy could feel a weariness settle on her even as anxiety still simmered like dying coals in her gut. Now she just wanted the conversation to end so that she could focus on Rainbow—the team had split into their groups, and the soccer captain was squaring off against her vice-captain.

“No,” Fluttershy said, trying to think back to her date. “We didn’t eat anything after Sugarcube Corner.”

“Really?” Pinkie and Rarity chorused. The fashionista pulled back her hand to cover her mouth with it, and the party planner had both hands in her voluminous hair.

Now Fluttershy blushed, smiling a little as she toyed with her bangs. Her eyes were on Rainbow as she was served the ball. Her group was charging in with her at the lead, her striking hair unmistakable on the green even at this distance.

“Rainbow Dash and I didn’t eat anything after dinner,” Fluttershy asserted again with a sigh, her hands clasping together. “Actually, she… she sang me a song! That’s how she confessed.” A shy giggle. “Singing my feelings to her had been my idea, but she saw through it. She saw how scared I was and she did it first. Isn’t it just like her to beat me to something?” Another sigh, happier this time. “It was lovely.”

Rarity shrieked with fists clenched, making Fluttershy jump. Pinkie Pie threw her head back and laughed.

The animal lover frowned, her frustration finally rearing its head. “Girls, if it's not too much trouble, would you please tell me what this whole thing has been about?”

As Pinkie Pie was too busy trying to breathe through her peals of laughter, her legs even kicking in the air (Goodness, it’s a good thing no one is sitting below us!) Rarity answered with a frayed and disgruntled voice. “Sunset Shimmer has won our little bet. That’s what!”

Fluttershy’s eyebrows rose. “Bet?”

But then Rainbow Dash scored a goal and the stands broke out in cheers, dragging the shy girl’s attention away from her friends' mischief. It wasn’t the roar of a full stadium crowd, but the ruckus was still loud and jubilant.

Fluttershy rose to her feet and clapped, a small, “Yay!” escaping from her smiling lips.

At that point, she found she was content to leave all other matters to another time. This was her time to see her girlfriend do what she did best…

Rainbow Dash had slipped into her zone, and given the uncertainty of the week, she was quite happy to be there. Euphoric, almost. On the field, her tasks were simple, her opponents clear, and the challenges resolved within seconds. It didn’t even matter that, as team captain and her group’s central striker, she had purposefully chosen back-roster members and their otherwise weakest players to be on her team. After all, their entire team had to be on top of their game. They were only as strong as their weakest link, and an injury could take her, or any other player, off the field. Those who stepped in had to be just as good. Just as sharp.

The ball was in the opposing team’s control, and they were playing a careful passing game with it midfield. Try as her team might, they couldn’t seem to find that critical opening to put them back on the offensive again. Rainbow smirked. Sassaflash always preferred the mind game. She liked to demoralize her opponent, to make them sweat and tire themselves out whilst dangling her lead in their desperate faces. A perfect foil to Rainbow’s aggressive attack style.

Sassaflash had her team in a 4-5-1 formation (four fullbacks near their goal, five midfielders in the center, and just one central forward) which was all about being compact midfield. It was a grind of a game plan, best used to hold onto any success whilst staving off comebacks. Naturally, Sass was playing the defensive midfielder meant to feed the ball back to her team and take the steam out of whatever assault Rainbow dished. Spitfire was playing one of the wide midfielder positions, and she was moving further up the pitch along with her counterpart. This was critical. It meant Rainbow’s opponents were gearing to shift into a 4-3-3—or four fullbacks, three midfielders, and three forwards.

This was likely happening because Dash’s team was on its back foot. After Rainbow had been forced to chance a pass back to her teammates thanks to the ferocious defense of the opposing fullbacks, Sass had swooped in with a steal. The field changed dramatically as the vice-captain dribbled the ball back into Rainbow’s team’s territory and made a skillful pass to her team’s striker, Misty Fly, who had already been positioned deep and had been waiting patiently for just such an opportunity.

Rainbow cut across the field, eyeing Spitfire’s retreating back as her fullbacks tried to change the tide. She couldn’t help but grin.

What she kept trying to explain to Sassaflash (and what the vice-captain refused to see) was the 4-5-1’s critical weakness. The plain fact of it was, the formation lacked burst.

Oh, sure… You could mount a serious defense and maintain control of the ball. But in Rainbow’s opinion, what point was there in controlling the ball if you couldn’t do anything with it? Because of Sass’ team’s positioning, their striker was alone. To mount a serious offense, they had to change formations. But Spitfire and her fellow midfielder really had to hustle to be in a position to support Misty Fly at her lonely striker position. They were fast, but not that fast. This gave Rainbow’s team ample time to recover.

In the meantime, Misty did what she could, but the fullbacks had already been prepared to lay pressure on her, and lay pressure they did. Pivot, feint, dribble, dribble, feint… It was of no use. The harried striker was getting boxed in. A thought crossed Rainbow’s mind, but it was quickly filed away, to be brought up again during the reflective team meeting afterward: One-on-one dribbling drills with Misty. Maybe some ball touch drills too.

The midfielders (now wide forwards) had arrived just a few seconds too late. Without any clear shots for a pass back, Misty lost the ball. One of Rainbow’s center fullbacks, Sun Chaser, took it away and passed it up the pitch. The game of keep-away was tense but short—Rainbow’s team knew they couldn’t play the passing game forever. They had an opening, and Rainbow was right in the center of it.

She wasn’t ashamed to say that, when it was crunch time, her teammates knew to pass the ball to her—even if the playbook dictated that she not be the recipient at that particular moment. Another one of Sass’ complaints. Still, even as Rainbow saw the vice captain’s plan to attack this supposed ‘weakness’ close in on her in the form of two desperate-looking fullbacks, she knew it in her bones that this was in the bag.

The ball struck her cleats as Rainbow received the long pass. Another stray thought: Our passing game is improving. She feint past a stunned Blaze, then easily outran a gasping High Winds. The other fullbacks seemed torn between following the playbook or heaping more pressure on Rainbow. One broke off to do the latter—Surprise—one of their more undisciplined defenders.

Rainbow winked at the over-eager fullback, then passed the ball to her left forward, Lilac Sky—the person Surprise was supposed to have stuck with. In the confusion, Rainbow moved in deeper, toward the goal. Lilac didn’t need to think on it for more than a second before passing the ball back toward Rainbow. The captain expertly struck toward the goal. The goalie jumped, fingers grazing the speeding projectile. The ball hit the net. The stands erupted into cheers.

Surprise looked… well, surprised.

Rainbow turned to her and wagged a finger. “Dude, how many times I gotta tell ya to keep your cool?”

The fullback had the good sense to look disappointed with herself. “Sorry, cap,”

The tomboy clapped her jovially on the back, a grin lighting her face. “We’ll work on it. Don’t get too down.” She chuckled suddenly, feeling electrified with joy. “Not many can outplay me!”

When Rainbow Dash turned her eyes to the stands, it was to see Fluttershy up on her feet. She was sort of hopping on the spot, her hands clapping together rapidly—but in a girly, almost polite sort of way. Upon seeing the soccer captain’s attention turned her way, the animal lover gave a small, but excited wave. Rainbow returned it with a smirk.

As her attention started to drift back to the game at hand (the opposing team had kickoff) Rainbow saw a flash of bright garish hair on the sidelines. She did a double take… and felt her heart sink.

Rainbow Blaze was standing next to the coaches, who cast peeved glances his way. He was always throwing his weight around with them and it was no secret they disliked it. But they put up with him because Blaze had clout. Coach Laurel wasn’t a pushover, though. Far from it. He just preferred to put his energy into more productive avenues than petty power struggles with someone like Blaze. His assistant coach, Kage Ribbon, a Japanese woman, was too polite to voice her frustrations, but even her practiced calm showed cracks whenever Rainbow’s dad was around.

Sighing, she returned to her position on the field.

The ball was kicked off, the game resumed… But Rainbow didn’t feel the weightless confidence, the crackling joy, nor the singing satisfaction of the game anymore.

All she could hear was Blaze shouting what she was doing wrong.

Fluttershy felt Pinkie Pie nudge her, and when she looked at her friend, she found the party planner looked less than pleased.

“Blaze,” Pinkie hissed.

“Blast! Where?” Rarity asked, sitting forward.

Pinkie pointed (rather obviously, Fluttershy thought with some anxiety) and she looked. She was startled at how easily she had missed Blaze’s colorful hair on the sidelines, but then again, she had been enraptured by Rainbow’s excellent performance to the point that she’d nearly forgotten the pair sitting at either side of her. Now that she saw the broad-shouldered man, however, he stuck out like a thorn.

A loud, angry, belligerent thorn.

“Dash what the hell are you doing? Hustle!”

“Pick your knees up! You’re letting midfield die out there!”

“Do you even see where the ball is going!?”

On and on it went. Fluttershy could feel the tears prick at her eyes, and Blaze wasn’t even yelling at her. She just felt so bad for Rainbow, seeing her friend—her girlfriend—doing her best, trying to lead her team, only to have her father sweep in and undercut her at every opportunity. Why was he doing this? Couldn’t he see what his yelling was doing to her performance? Even Rarity, who knew even less about sports than Fluttershy did, could understand the effect the father was having on his daughter.

“What a boorish fool!” the fashionista snarled. “Poor Dashie is flailing out there thanks to him!”

Fluttershy nodded sadly. But what could she do?

Then there was a turn-around. Sassaflash’s team had been forced to play a more aggressive tactic after falling behind in points, but Rainbow’s team was fresh and confident in repelling their attacks. After a timely interception, Rainbow’s teammates passed the ball up the field, gave her the ball, and she scored an amazing bicycle kick goal. It was almost like watching a symphony reach a majestic conclusion.

The crowd’s cheers were scythed through by Blaze’s infuriated screaming.

“Dashie, quit fucking around with that flashy horseshit! You’re a soccer player, not a sideshow freak! You could’ve taken that shot with a header! That better be the last damn time I see you showing off, you hear me!?”

Fluttershy sobbed a little when she saw Rainbow’s body sag, her face shining with sweat as colorful tendrils clung to the sides of her cheeks.

He’s being so… so mean! Fluttershy thought. Her legs felt electric, her throat was clenching… but not with the need to cry.

Then the girl knew what she so wanted to do.

She jumped to her feet, and with hands at either side of her mouth, Fluttershy screamed as hard as she could:

“YAAAY!”

From the corners of her eyes, she could see Pinkie and Rarity look up at her in shock. The stands, which had already fallen quiet in the wake of Blaze’s barrage, turned to look up at her. Fluttershy was trembling so bad, she felt like she was going to fall apart into pieces. Her hands were sweaty. She thought she was going to toss up her breakfast.

Still, she stuck her pinkies into the corners of her mouth and whistled loudly, then cheered again. “Go Rainbow! You can do it!”

The players on the field had slowed to a halt as they watched Fluttershy cheer. The shy girl had to use all of her will to keep her eyes on Rainbow, to block out the crushing attention of everyone in attendance.

When she saw Rainbow’s eyes fall on hers, this felt much easier to do.

“Yeah, Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie hollered at Fluttershy’s other side, making the animal lover jump with a squeak. “You’re soccerrific!”

Fluttershy didn’t have time to puzzle out how that was a compliment, because Rarity stood at her other side and yelled, “Bravo, Rainbow!”

Other people began to shout and cheer encouragement as well. Pinkie Pie started a steady clap that others quickly joined in too. Fluttershy’s hands covered her mouth and her shoulders hunched around her ears—at first, alarmed that she had set into motion such a ruckus—then gradually she became moved, her eyes filling with tears.

She looked at Rainbow again to see the tomboy’s stunning smile. Fluttershy half-sobbed, and half-laughed, her hand waving weakly. Listen to them, Rainbow! They all believe in you, just like I do!

Her smile waned as she caught sight of Rainbow Blaze glaring up at the stands—up at her—his mouth twisted into a snarl before he stalked away in the direction of the locker rooms. Fluttershy’s lips pressed together grimly.

The practice was over. Sassaflash’s team had won, and Rainbow was disappointed. Less in her teammates, and more in herself. She had let Blaze get into her head and she’d failed them. It didn't matter that this was the worse he'd ever been. She hadn’t backed up her team when she needed to. Had his verbal siege been some sort of test of her will? A test of her focus?

If it was, then she'd failed. Miserably.

She did manage to take some solace in the rousing show of support toward the end, especially from Fluttershy. How hard had it been for the shy girl to stand up and cheer like that? In all their years together, Rainbow couldn’t think of a single moment when Flutters had been so bold. It had set off everyone else! That steady clap… it was still giving her chills.

Of course, it hadn’t been enough to make a comeback, but Rainbow felt less beaten into the ground come shower time.

Unfortunately for her, Rainbow Blaze intercepted her on the way in.

“Rainbow, we need to talk,” the man said gruffly.

Rainbow paused, eyeing him warily. Her teammates slowed around her as they openly glared at him. She sighed and waved them on. Reluctantly they went, but Sassaflash lingered up ahead, her eyes filled with concern.

“You good?” the vice-captain asked tersely, her eyes flashing contemptibly Blaze’s way.

“I’m good,” Rainbow replied.

A shrug. Sass left, leaving Blaze and Dash alone in the cool concrete hallway, daylight flooding from the direction of the field.

They stood for nearly a minute in silence, Blaze with his hands on his slim hips. Rainbow with her arms crossed, braced for whatever he was going to say.

“You know how to put on a good show, Dash,” the man said, his eyes gazing steadily at her. Watching. Waiting for her to crack.

She raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t trying to be entertaining. I only did what I thought I had to do to win.”

“How deluded are you that you actually believe that?” Blaze asked, his gaze narrowing. He gestured disdainfully toward the field. “You really think all that dancing and crazy acrobatics is what wins games?” He jabbed a finger at her, his voice turning sharp. “Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should! I don’t care how many people cheer for you, it won’t matter if you fuck up and lose a game!”

Rainbow Dash bared her teeth. “I’ll take the header next time, okay?”

“You say that, but we keep having the same conversation over and over.” He covered his face with his hand. “How can I make you see?” His shoulders had tightened and he turned away. “Subscriptions are down at the training center. Losing before we even hit the championships could turn the tide against us. We can’t take any risks.”

Rainbow Dash hung her head and took a step toward him. “Dad, you know I don’t mean to —!”

“Rainbow?” The tomboy whirled around to see Fluttershy’s near-silhouetted form standing timidly at the hallway entrance, Pinkie and Rarity further back where the sun almost washed them out. Fluttershy was hugging herself around the torso, but her face had a grim sort of determination to it. “Is—Is everything okay?”

Rainbow’s brow knitted as she sighed. Why did everyone keep asking her that? So her dad was unhappy with her… Was that really such cause for concern?

“Everything’s all right,” Rainbow said wearily. “My dad was just talking shop with me. I’ll meet you in the parking lot, okay?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply when Blaze cut in: “You’re Fluttershy, right?”

The shy girl seemed startled by the question but nodded.

Blaze nodded slowly, his eyes searching. “Rainbow’s told me how you’re helping her with this psych project of hers.” He spoke slowly. Thoughtfully.

Rainbow looked at him, her eyes widening. He turned his head to her, and his gaze was shining. “I simply cannot tell you how grateful I am for your help.”

At that moment, Rainbow felt a sudden flash of cold.

“I’ll be more careful,” Rainbow blurted, her hands clenched into fists. “I’m sorry you feel like I don’t take things seriously.”

He gazed at her hard for a beat longer. Rainbow Dash could feel Fluttershy gazing at them with confusion. Then Blaze smiled and went to hug his daughter. She received it limply, but her eyes smoldered with checked anger.

“We have to stick together,” Blaze murmured close to her ear. He sounded surprisingly tired.

“Yeah,” she breathed back. She stared over his shoulder through the opposite wall. “Together.”

When Blaze pulled away, he clapped her one last time on the upper arm. “Let’s set up another training night this week. We can talk more then.” He started to walk away toward the field. He nodded at Fluttershy with a close-lipped smile. “Thanks again.”

When Blaze had left, Fluttershy approached a rooted Rainbow Dash. The tomboy felt like a giant invisible hand was pressing down on her.

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy whispered as she came closer. She looked like she was approaching a wild animal caught in a trap. “You look upset.”

“I am upset,” Rainbow snapped. She winced and immediately murmured, “Sorry, sorry… I’m not upset with you.”

A sigh. Fluttershy turned her eyes to her shoes. “I feel like my cheering made things worse.”

“What? No way. Hey,” Rainbow quickly hugged her girlfriend. “Your cheer was, like, the best part of the entire day! Don’t worry about my dad, okay? Sometimes he gets like that. He’s been a little more intense lately because he’s under a lot of pressure.”

“I didn’t realize pressure could turn a jerk into an angry lunatic,” Sass’ voice said behind them.

Rainbow turned, blinking, to see that Sassaflash had, in fact, not gone to the showers with the others. Instead, she’d apparently been hiding around the corner.

“Were you listening in?” Rainbow asked, scowling with annoyance. She stepped to the side but kept one arm over Fluttershy. “I told you, I was fine!”

Sass held up her hands. “I wasn’t listening in! Honest! I was just waiting for him to leave.” She winked at Fluttershy. “Seems like I would have been better off staying! Blaze would have kept chewing your ear off until someone cared enough to butt in.”

Fluttershy tensed under Rainbow’s arm. “I—I didn’t mean to butt in!” She looked at Rainbow earnestly. “I was just worried!”

The soccer captain squeezed the other girl’s shoulder. “You’re fine. Don’t sweat it.”

“Listen,” Sass said, approaching with loosely crossed arms. “I just wanted to make sure Blaze didn’t get the last word on today’s practice. You did great, Dashie. In fact, I was wondering if you and your friends wanted to come over to my place for a little while? A kind of pre-celebration before our match with Griffonstone next week.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Like a party?”

“Just a small one.” Sass lifted her hand and squeezed her index and thumb fingers together, her voice pitching high. “An itty bitty one!”

Rainbow blinked, then looked at Fluttershy. “You up for that?”

Fluttershy bit her lip and fidgeted on the spot. After a moment of thought: “I’d need to call Star Weld to let him know that I won’t need a ride, but… it should be all right?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, a smile lighting her face. Maybe that’s what she needed. A chance to let loose and just have fun before the weekly grind started up all over again. She certainly could use with something to help her forget things. So many, many things…

The psych project, Applejack’s feelings, Sunset Shimmer missing, Rarity’s insomnia, my dad… I could use with one lousy night where none of that matters. Things will work out sooner or later.

Her eyes fell to Fluttershy’s and Rainbow’s heartbeat quickened.

Things will work out. They have to.

“Let’s do it,” Rainbow said to Sass. She winced and added, “Um, actually, can you take me to my car? I left it downtown. Had to catch a taxi just to get to practice today.”

“Why is your car downtown, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked with a tilt of her head.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her sideways. “Yeeaaah. ‘Bout that. So remember that tiny knick on Tank's shell? Well… ”

Still looking for an editor and/or pre-readers, if anyone feels up to it.