Bifrost
Chapter 1: Vol. I - Ch. 01: A Little Kindness
Load Full Story Next Chapter-RARITY-
The small apartment I shared with my step-sister Twilight was modest and humble, ‘homely’ would be a good way to describe it, but my bed was wonderful. It was my haven at the end of a monotonous day and on this early winter morning it cradled me in its warmth and comfort like a child in their parent’s womb.
Simply marvelous.
That is, of course, until the sudden impact of a pillow hitting me in the face roused me abruptly from my slumber, but that disturbance was nothing compared to the clattering of my body falling out of bed and onto the thinly carpeted wooden floor.
“I’m awake!” I said deliriously, trying to grab hold of something to help me onto my hooves but just grabbing the sheet off the bed and pulling it down on top of my head instead. “I’m blind!”
“Silly, you overslept,” the tender, if teasing, voice of Twilight Sparkle was a great comfort but not nearly as much as her delicately taking the sheet off of my head. “Don’t you have somewhere to be today?”
“I do, I do indeed,” I grumbled dramatically as I stretched my weary bones. They were no more ready to be awake than my mind was. “My sweet companion Fluttershy has requested my assistance with a matter that she assures me is most urgent.”
“Oh?” Twilight, ever the inquisitive one, tilted her head with a curious smile. “Do tell?”
“Darling, I wish I could,” I sighed theatrically, grabbing my brush and arranging my mane into its naturally perfect, beautiful style.
My body was weary and at times rather difficult to look at, dysphoria being what it was, but my mane was glorious and looking at it made me feel beautiful.
“Unfortunately,” I said “dear Fluttershy is rather tight-lipped about these sorts of things. I suspect she’s afraid of me judging her harshly if she’s forthright with me.”
“Huh, that doesn’t sound like you,” Twilight said ponderously, a hoof placed gently against her chin.
I couldn’t help but giggle at how cute she looked and I said “Of course not! I am as trustworthy as they come!” while flicking my mane back rather dashingly. I sighed and let out a weak chuckle. “But Fluttershy is a rather nervous sort, you know how it can be sometimes.”
Twilight, ever anxious herself, let out a sad sigh, though her eyes quickly lit back up as she said “You should really introduce me to her sometime. I bet we’d get along really great.”
“Ah, yes… of—of course,” I let out a soft giggle and thanked my luck that Twilight was not one to pick up on certain social cues like ‘forced laughter’.
Fluttershy had been a faithful companion of mine for several years, from before Twilight even moved in with me, yet in all that time never had the two actually met each other and this was, unfortunately, by design.
At first it was simply a matter of Twilight never leaving our apartment for any reason ever but after about a year or so she began reluctantly leaving our humble dwelling every so often… usually to go to the library, check out more books than I thought was even possible for a single pony to read in a lifetime, and then come straight back home and read them all within a fortnight at most.
However, the sad truth of the matter is that Twilight and Fluttershy were both anxious, awkward ponies, bless their hearts. Being out and about with either of them took a certain amount of mental energy from me to make sure they felt safe and comfortable… the idea of having to manage both of them, and the fears of what if they didn’t get along, and what if they didn’t get along because of me… well, I just… I never seemed to have enough spoons for it.
I yawned rather dramatically and dismissed Twilight with a wave of my hoof. “Darling, can you grant me about ten more minutes of beauty sleep?”
“Uh, okay. If you’re sure?” Twilight said hesitantly, and as I smiled and nodded at her she bowed her head and tiptoed out the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I crawled back into bed, into my little haven… but I knew no sleep was coming. I opened the blind above my bed to look out over the horizon and the beautiful cityscape of Dodge City… unfortunately, all I could actually see from my window was the wall and dumpster of a neighboring apartment building.
I buried my face in my pillow and groaned quietly. I would have cried had I still the capacity to shed any tears, but I fear I must have cried myself dry many years ago by now.
I didn’t dare look at the clock as I awaited Twilight’s inevitable return to ‘wake’ me, I simply remained on my bed with my face buried into the pillow, only lifting my head periodically to breathe before the weight of my circumstances forced my head back down like a crushing hammer of gravity.
Do you ever have that feeling when you go to sleep, where a part of you hopes you don’t wake up in the morning?
I fear that is how I feel every single night.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
I was on my way to the library, pushing past or just ignoring every oaf, dingus and moron who shambled through the slums past me, when I suddenly stopped— like, grinded straight to a halt. It was in front of an alleyway, shrouded in darkness under the dreary gray afternoon sky, and I saw something out the corner of my eye thanks to my awesome peripherals.
Two girls, one lying bloodied on the ground and the other standing over her with a sneering grin. The grounded girl was a pony and had blood coming from her lip and bleeding scratches on her body, and the other, a griffon, had blood all over her talons.
It didn’t take a genius to see what was going on here.
“Hey,” I said coldly as I walked into the alley, stomping my hoof to grab the two girls’ attention. “Should’ve thought twice before roughing up somepony on my turf.”
“Who asked you?” the griffon girl spoke with a gruff, smug voice. “You tryin’ to start somethin’?”
I let out a single wheezy chuckle. I didn’t get a chance to really stretch my legs as often as I’d like, so I relished the opportunity when it presented itself. And this girl was just begging for a butt-kicking.
“If you got somethin’ to say, try—”
Before the griffon could even finish her lousy taunt, she was already sucking air thanks to my hoof colliding with the top of her head at freakin’ light speed. She spread her wings and jumped back, coughing up a bit of blood and wiping it off on her cheek before saying “Not bad, but it’ll—”
This girl needed to talk less, which I eloquently stated with a firm kick to the side of her head, sending her to the ground.
“Now…” I chuckled and stood over the griffon, cracking my neck from side to side. “Do you want to stick around and see me get serious?”
Dense as she was, even she got the point I was making and didn’t say another word, just spat blood at the ground by my hooves and made a break for it, flying away from the alley with her tail between her legs. Metaphorically, I mean.
“Thank you! Thank you so much, I—”
“Don’t sweat it,” I wasn’t super interested in the pony girl’s praise or gratitude and she wasn’t hurt enough to need a hospital, so now that she was safe I had no reason to stick around.
“I won’t forget this!” she said as I walked away from the alley.
I weakly raised a hoof to acknowledge that I heard her but wasn’t interested enough to turn and face her. Like I said, her praise didn’t mean much to me, I just did what needed doing. It was just a shame that griffon ran off before I could take her wallet.
****
-RARITY-
I headed briskly through the streets of Dodge City, eyes darting nervously at every single passerby, anxiously certain they were all clocking me as trans.
Put it out of your mind, Rarity, I thought to myself, It’s just paranoia… you’ll be okay.
Dodge City was an interesting little town. Everyone was dirt broke and just trying to make their own way; so long as you didn’t get in said way, most ponies wouldn’t give you much trouble. At least, that was the hope that I clung to for fear of becoming yet another trans woman horror story, of which I’d heard far too many.
Still though, with my mane perfectly coiffed and a dashing teal scarf wrapped around my neck and billowing behind me in the soft winter breeze, I looked hot and felt confident. At least, confident enough.
The walk from my apartment to the public library wasn’t long and before I knew it I was there, a young yellow pegasus with a flowing waterfall of pink hair draping across her back waiting for me as she sat atop a short brick wall.
“My apologies for keeping you waiting, darling,” I said abruptly as I walked toward her, my voice quiet so as not to startle the easily frightened mare. “Have you been here long?”
“Not at all,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I’m just glad to see you.”
“Likewise.”
I gently took the young lady’s forehoof and gave it a kiss, causing her to giggle, which was music to my ears. As much as I liked to play the part of the dour, aloof lone wolf, I couldn’t escape from the fact that I deeply valued my relationships with Twilight and Fluttershy… they were probably the only things in my life that had value.
“Did you oversleep?” Fluttershy asked, her hind legs kicking into the air as they dangled off the brick wall. “You’re usually so punctual.”
“Ah, yes… I apologize,” I sighed dismally. “I’ve been sleeping later and later these days it seems.”
“Something the matter?” Fluttershy asked concernedly.
I gave a half-hearted frown and an apathetic shrug. I took a deep breath of the crisp winter air and gathered my thoughts. If anyone deserved my honest thoughts it was Fluttershy, but I was a little worried she wouldn’t handle them well.
“I have…” I grumbled and almost began to choke on my words, or rather on the anxiety that kept the words from escaping, “…a lot weighing on my mind, is all.”
I couldn’t tell Fluttershy about how my inability to get work was wreaking havoc on my anxiety, I couldn’t tell her about how my inability to gain disability payments made me feel useless, what with Twilight covering most of our rent with her own disability, I couldn’t tell her about how I thought that leaving my family behind would allow me to break free of the chains of misery that bound me but I hadn’t realized until I had left them that those chains had smothered me half to death already.
I couldn’t tell her just how badly I wanted to die.
“I suppose it all just gets a little draining,” I said with a weak chuckle.
“I know how… I think I know what you mean,” Fluttershy whispered, a dour frown marring her beautiful face. I looked up at her curiously, arching an eyebrow as I eagerly awaited her to explain but she just forced some color back into her face “Anyhow, I wanted your help with something!”
“Um, okay,” I said abruptly. If Fluttershy didn’t want to share it was no business of mine to pry.
Fluttershy hopped off the brick wall and trotted toward the library, eagerly motioning for me to follow her with a nod of her head, which I was all too happy to do if only to get out of this cold. Only a scant few patrons were within the humble library but one stood out like a shining beacon among them.
Inside a small seating area in the exact center of the library, sitting on a plush chair with a book in one hoof and her other foreleg dangling off, was a blue pegasus whose mud brown, fur-trimmed bomber jacket stood out almost as much as her long mane of rainbow hair.
My stomach began to crawl as I realized why Fluttershy wanted my help. She was way too kind for this world, and nopony deserved her kindness less in my eyes than that pony.
“You know her, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked meekly, noticing my glare immediately falling upon the rainbow-haired mare. “Didn’t you two used to be friends?”
I simply shot Fluttershy a bemused scowl in response but upon seeing her stricken expression I let my features soften a released a soft giggle.
Oh Fluttershy, if only you knew.
Of course Fluttershy and I had spoken about my, um, ‘history’, with Rainbow Dash but only in rather vague terms. Truth be told, it was not a period of my life I looked back on with much fondness, or enjoyed recollecting.
“Why?” I said after a beleaguered sigh just loud enough to get a shush from a nearby patron. “Why her, Fluttershy?”
“Everypony deserves a little kindness,” Fluttershy said with a timid smile, her quiet voice perfectly suited for a library setting, “and I don’t think she has anyone to show it to her. I see her around sometimes on my daily commute, and nopony ever looks at her or gives her a smile. I have you, you have me and your sister, but I don’t think Rainbow has… anyone.”
I looked back at the rainbow-haired barbarian with her hind legs resting on the arm of the chair, flipping pages through her book with one forehoof as the other laid limply at her side and dangled off the chair. Then I looked back at naïve, innocent Fluttershy, her teal eyes bright and full of hope somehow.
“People don’t change, Fluttershy,” I said coldly, my words causing Fluttershy’s ears to clamp down on her head. “Hardship and failure shape them into the people they are and they don’t change once they’ve been set.”
Fluttershy gave a very mischievous little giggle and said “Then you know you can’t stop me,” she looked at me with blushing cheeks and stuck out her tongue and I couldn’t help but laugh softly at how cute she was, “I guess I have to show her kindness because it’s just in my nature.”
I let out an ugly snort that echoed through the quiet library, attracting the other patrons’ attention which caused my cheeks to burn red.
“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” I said, embarrassedly hanging my head.
“Besides… trans solidarity, right?” Fluttershy said with a pained smile. “If we don’t look out for each other, who else is going to?”
“Again, I can’t argue that point,” I sighed dismally, raising a hoof to cover one side of my face. You had to hit me right where I live, didn’t you, Fluttershy?
As much though my memories of Rainbow Dash made me ill, there was an equally frustrating part of my brain that couldn’t entirely give up on her. Trans solidarity had been drilled into my heart since I was a filly and I simply could not bring myself to completely hate another trans woman, even one as awful as Rainbow Dash.
I sighed defeatedly “I’ll be your self-esteem team over here, but that’s all I can offer.”
“That’s all I need,” Fluttershy nodded cheerily. “The carnival’s in town, and I want to ask her to go with me tonight. It’ll be a nice, pressure free place for us to maybe learn a little bit about each other…”
Fluttershy looked at me with wide eyes and a slight pout, and I simply rolled my own eyes and sighed quietly but theatrically.
“Yes, I’ll be there too,” I said grudgingly. Fluttershy squealed in delight and gave me a hug, which I reciprocated with some mock reluctance. “Now go ask her before I change my mind.” I said, pushing a giggling Fluttershy toward the rainbow-haired cretin.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
I was chilling in the library like I did every weekend, reading the same Daring-Do book for the thousandth time. To be honest, I mostly just came for the peace and quiet, and not the reading as much.
I’d never really gotten bothered in the library before, I guess something about always having at least a little bit of blood on my face or hooves made me seem ‘unapproachable’. Today was different though. Today, as I lounged around on one of those big plush chairs I heard a faint squeak of a voice, almost like a mouse had suddenly got the ability to talk.
“E-excuse me?” the voice said timidly, although I suppose the timid part goes without saying.
I didn’t pay it any mind at first, like I said no one usually bugged me so I assumed they must’ve been talking to someone else and even if they were talking to me I had no reason to care.
“Ex… excuse me? R-Rainbow D-Dash?”
At this point I almost felt sorry for whoever was trying to get my attention so I put my book down on the table and shifted myself into a position where I could see them, sitting on my haunches and looking up at a lanky yellow pegasus with long pink hair who was standing next to the chair and looking at me through the corner of a single uncovered eye, her hair covering the other one as she hung her head down anxiously.
“Yeah?” I said gruffly, still not super interested in having a conversation with this mystery girl but figured I could at least give her the time of day. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if, um, if you wouldn’t mind, if it’d be okay with you that is, if um…”
The girl started breathing heavy like she was about to have a panic attack and I was feeling the secondhand embarrassment reeeeally hard. Poor girl just stood there shaking like a leaf, stammering and kicking shyly at the ground, trying to come up with anything even resembling a sentence with no luck.
Finally she stamped her hooves loudly on the thinly carpeted wood floor and said for the whole library to hear, “Will you go to the carnival with me?!”
She immediately covered her mouth with her wings and her entire face turned red, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked around at all the people now staring at her.
“Well I can’t really turn you down after that, can I?” I chuckled, trying to ease some of the tension.
“Y-you don’t if you don’t… uh, or rather, you can’t, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to, I mean—”
“Bup!” I put my hoof against her mouth to get her to stop embarrassing herself. “It’s no biggie. Not like I have any plans. So yeah, I’ll go to the carnival with youuuuu…”
I put my hoof out and moved it in a half circle, expecting the girl to give me her name but she just stared blankly at my hoof. I sighed bemusedly.
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, um, it’s F-Fluttershy,” the girl squeaked.
“Well F-Fluttershy,” I said with a chuckle, “I’ll meet you there at eight. Sound good?”
Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically, tears starting to stream down her face as she smiled ear to ear, her face still half covered by her wings but her bright red cheeks plainly visible. I nodded awkwardly back at her and she laughed and ran off back to the entrance of the library.
I felt really badly for her and wondered if it would actually be a good idea to go with her to the carnival. I mean, I didn’t know her, she didn’t know me, and yet she just suddenly asked me out on a date out of the blue?
I’m not sure she knew what she was getting into. Her life wouldn’t exactly be improved by having me in it.
Whatever, didn’t really matter now, I said I would do it. Besides, it might be nice to have someone to talk to besides Pinkie. Plus I remembered when I used to be nervous like that.
Who knows, I thought as I sat back down in my chair, maybe this’ll be a good thing for the both of us?
****
-RARITY-
I stood on the stoop in front of my apartment and watched the cold winter sunset, breathing deep of the crisp air as I became lost in a sea of thought. However, my attention snapped to Twilight as she opened the door behind me. “How is she doing?”
“I gave her some cocoa and told her she could stay for lasagna,” Twilight said with a nervous smile. “I think she just needed a little time to cry it out and release the weight of it. I’m glad you brought her here.”
“I hope she didn’t make a bad first impression,” I said wryly, wrinkling my nose. I had always wanted my sister’s first meeting with Fluttershy to be perfect, but I suppose it simply was not meant to be.
“Not at all,” Twilight shook her head and laughed. “I know what it’s like to need a good ugly cry,” that made me chuckle, as I knew the feeling quite well myself.
“Twilight…” I turned back to the sunset, which seemed so big and imposing, like the sun was ready to crash unto this earth and burn everything on it to ash… or maybe I was just feeling a tad morbid. “I know this might be a ridiculous question, but… do you think people can change?”
Twilight was silent; a charge of cold electricity flashed between us.
“I’ve been thinking about it lately…” I continued, undeterred by her silence and walking down onto the concrete pathway in front of the stoop. “Fluttershy sees something in Rainbow, something that I can’t see no matter how hard I might want to.”
I let a hind hoof clack harshly down upon the last stone step as I walked past it. “I never guessed Fluttershy would be so bold as to ask someone else out, and yet here we are… and she sees something in Rainbow that…” I groaned irritably and rolled my eyes, “well, I’m repeating myself.”
“So you want to know if people can change… for Fluttershy’s sake?” Twilight asked curiously, “Or for Rainbow’s?”
“For my own…” I shook my head and let out a weak, pitiable chuckle. “I don’t think they can. I think people can bend and stretch and pretend to be something they’re not,” I lifted my forelegs high above the pathway, “but in the end…” and brought them down rather forcefully, making a harsh noise as they collided with the concrete, Twilight audibly wincing behind me.
“In the end you’ll always just be the person you are. Hardship and failure forms you, and once you’re set there’s no changing the person that you are.”
“Maybe…” Twilight said distantly and I looked over to see her sitting on the stoop, her expression ponderous and her eyes gazing far into the distance. “But I think… I think if the person you want to be doesn’t match your actions, then you can change those actions until they do match… after all, you’re at the helm of your own ship.”
I remained silent and I could tell the pressure of my gaze was weighing on Twilight’s heart. I did not mean to stare quite so coldly, but Twilight’s answer was somewhat… unsatisfactory. “Do you believe that?”
“I’m—I’m sorry?” Twilight shook her head and asked confusedly.
“Do you believe you are truly at the helm of your own ship in life?” I asked with a scowl.
“I—I think so, yeah,” Twilight looked nervous but she gave her answer with a nod and a precocious smile.
I simply inhaled through my nose and let out a soft, annoyed sigh. Not at Twilight, mind you, more at… I don’t know, life, I suppose.
“Do you not?” Twilight’s soft voice pulled me out of my depressed trance.
“I’m afraid…” I grumbled and looked back toward the setting sun, however briefly, before saying my piece to Twilight, “I’m afraid that I don’t, Twilight. The waves of life have caused my ship to move into unfamiliar waters, and I don’t see a way out of them. The life that I live is one controlled by circumstance, not by choice.”
“You can always choose, Rarity,” Twilight said with a smile.
The poor dear meant well, I know she did… perhaps when she was my age she wound underst—no, that’s a horrible thing to wish on Twilight, forget I said that.
“Perhaps…” I let my eyes scan the horizon one last time before turning back to Twilight with the brightest smile I could muster, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! Perhaps Fluttershy will drag something out of Rainbow that will surprise me after all.”
“That’s the spirit!” Twilight said cheerily.
“Come along then, Twilight,” I said with a giggle just light enough that Twilight would not have noticed the strain with which it came, “our lasagna will get cold if we stay out here all evening.”
“Oh! I’m right behind you!” Twilight laughed and the two of us walked back inside the house.
I would like to believe that she was right, that I was simply being cynical and nihilistic… but given the life I’d led, the things I’d seen, what other conclusion could I come to?
Perhaps, I thought, Fluttershy will yet prove me wrong.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
A badly lit, grungy alleyway nestled between two abandoned buildings acted as the weary home— such as it was— where I listlessly meandered to after I left the library, lying down in the hammock that functioned as my bed and felt all my bones start to ache as soon as I did so. Above my hammock was another just like it, where a pudgy pink cotton-candy haired pony was resting.
“I brought you a cosmic brownie,” I said, handing her up the plastic-wrapped treat.
“Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash!” she giggled, her infectious enthusiasm almost enough to bite through the cold air and dreary atmosphere of our sad little dwelling.
“Some girl asked me out today,” I said nonchalantly, thinking aloud to Pinkie Pie as was my usual.
Pinkie gasped dramatically. “No kidding?! That’s so great!” she stuck her head down where I could see her, her hair falling every which way, the brownie still between her teeth as she continued speaking, “Was she cute? Who was she? Did you accept? Tell me all the deets!”
“Her name’s Fluttershy,” I said casually, not paying Pinkie’s antics much mind. “You should’ve seen how pathetic she was— that sounded bad. I just mean she looked so…”
I tried to think of a nicer word than ‘pathetic’ but was coming up empty.
“It was sad,” I said, “so I told her I’d go to the carnival to make her feel better,” I pondered for a second, and Pinkie snorted at my complete lack of tact. “That also sounded bad. I don’t want it to sound like I accepted her offer cuz of pity.”
“I should hope not! You hate pity!” Pinkie dropped out of the hammock and landed on the concrete ground with a thud, springing to her feet before I could ask if she was okay. “So where are you going? When are you going? When can I meet her?” Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly as she asked a million other questions that I kinda tuned out for the sake of my own sanity.
“We’re going to the carnival at like eight,” I said listlessly, giving my eyes a bit of a rest. “Honestly, there was an actual reason, not pity related, that I accepted her offer…”
“Oh yeah?” Pinkie said curiously, leaning her face close to mine before getting swatted away by my hoof.
“Yup,” I groaned, trying in vain to get comfortable on my years-old hammock. “She was really nervous when she talked to me, like she was super worried about saying or doing the wrong thing.”
“That… sounds familiar,” Pinkie said uncomfortably and I looked over to see her kicking awkwardly at the ground.
“So you see where I’m going then,” I let out a little self-deprecating chuckle. “You remember how I used to be, super nervous and shaky and awkward. I couldn’t just… to go up to some girl and ask them out, that’s something I never could’ve done back then.”
“You couldn’t do it now!” Pinkie giggled and as much as I hated to admit it, she was totally right and that made me laugh.
“You’re not wrong,” I said with a wry smile, sitting up and looking right at Pinkie’s sunny face. “I guess what I’m saying is… I owed it to her if nothing else to take her up on that offer. I couldn’t let her bravery go unrewarded.”
“A little kindness goes a long way,” Pinkie said with a smile.
“Exactly,” I nodded.
I dragged myself out of the hammock and walked over to the alley entrance, looking up at the setting sun and gritting my teeth.
“Besides… Bifrost is almost here.”
“Ohhhhh snap!” Pinkie said emphatically, hopping over to me and leaning her body against mine, her eyes darting quickly in either direction. “What are you talking about?”
“A carnival that visits a dump like Dodge City, it’s bound to be full of all kinds of shady characters,” I said with a smirk. “Shady characters that may have a way for me to get an invitation to Bifrost. I mean, I know it’s a long shot but… it’s better than nothing.”
“I don’t get how that works,” Pinkie said in a huff, puffing up her cheeks. “Bifrost is like, the biggest martial arts competition—heck, the biggest competition period in all Equestria! How is it invite only?!”
“Because everyone and their mother is going to want to get involved!” I said excitedly, flapping my wings and hovering over Pinkie. “If just anypony could join they’d have literally half the population of Equestria competing! By the time the tournament was over they’d have to start the next one right after!”
“So that’s why there’s only like a hundred invitations?” Pinkie grumbled, not exactly satisfied by my answer.
“Yup,” I sighed desperately, lowering back down onto the ground in a slump.
There was nothing more important to me than joining Bifrost. I needed to prove that I was stronger than anyone else… I needed to defeat every other team that joined and prove that I could stand above everyone…
That was the only way I was going to defeat him.
“And it’s a hundred and eight, to be specific.”
“Right,” Pinkie whistled. “Welp, nopony wants this more than you do, so I just know you’ll get your hooves on an invitation! Tell you what, while you’re hanging out with your cute date, I’ll skulk around the carnival and try to find the shadiest of shady characters and see if I can’t rustle an invitation out of ‘em!”
“That’d be awesome, Pinkie,” I said with a bright smile and lifted my foreleg toward Pinkie, who pounded her own against it with a delighted giggle. “What would I do without you?”
“Uh, be extremely lonely and sad?” Pinkie scoffed. I just looked at her in bewilderment. “Too much?” she chuckled nervously, making me sigh and shake my head before she jumped up and tackled me to the ground in a bear hug.
I mean, she wasn’t wrong.
****
-RARITY-
“Now I’ll be around the whole time,” I said soothingly to a very anxious— moreso even than usual— Fluttershy as we walked to the carnival grounds with Twilight awkwardly following along behind us.
“Thank you, Rarity,” Fluttershy said with a slight nervous giggle and I couldn’t help but smile at her. Ever the charmer, that one.
“And if you feel uncomfortable at any time, for any reason, you come find me, okay?” I said sternly but caringly, like a parent would do, as I brushed some hair from her face.
“I know, Rarity,” Fluttershy must have caught on to how I was doting on her because she chuckled and pat me on the shoulder. “I can do this. I want to. For her sake and for mine.”
“Okay…” I took a deep breath and let it out as a weary sigh. And with that, it was no longer just Fluttershy who was nervous but me as well. It wasn’t long before the three of us ran aground of the rainbow mare herself and I could practically feel my heart falling into my stomach with a loud SPLOOSH.
She was leaning against a wall and pushed herself off with her wings to walk over toward us, stopping abruptly as she sized up our little group. She looked at me, looked through me, for barely a second before concentrating her gaze solely on Fluttershy. I couldn’t shake the feeling she was ignoring me on purpose.
“Hey, you made it,” she said with a self-amused smile. “How’re you feeling?”
“I feel okay,” Fluttershy said bluntly, an awkward smile on her face. Was she getting cold feet? I couldn’t exactly blame her… “I’m…” she took in a deep breath and her smile seemed a tad more relaxed after. “It’s good to see you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Of course it is. I’m awesome,” Rainbow chuckled and patted herself on the chest, eliciting an eye roll from me and an amused chuckle from both Fluttershy, and even Twilight.
Don’t encourage her, Twilight.
“So, you ready to go?” Rainbow hopped next to Fluttershy and winked at her. “I have a friend who gave me like, all the best info on how to squeeze as much as you can out of a place like this. Which is great cuz I have like no money.”
“Me neither,” Fluttershy laughed softly as the two of them walked away, Fluttershy shooting me one last smile as she headed off with her new friend.
“Take care of yourself, Fluttershy,” I whispered as she and Rainbow set off to have their carnival fun times, though I was certain she could no longer hear me. I let out a disgusted sigh and grumbled under my breath “I hate that girl.”
“I certainly hope you’re talking about Rainbow,” Twilight sidled up next to me and teasingly poked me in the side.
“Of course I am,” I frowned at Twilight, although the innocent smile on my sister’s face made it impossible to stay angry while I looked at her, though my thoughts of Rainbow tried their best. “I mean, you saw that, right? The way she glared at me? I’m not going crazy am I?”
“Uhhh… no?” Twilight tilted her head. “I didn’t see anything like that, she just kinda ignored us—“
“Exactly!” I stamped my hooves irritably. “How rude of her!”
“Ehh, I guess?” Twilight blushed and looked awkwardly into the middle distance. “I kinda would’ve done the same thing though. You know I’m not great at talking to ponies.”
“Yes, but you’re you and she’s…” I gestured pitiably toward Rainbow as my tongue slowly fell out my mouth.
“Oh is she?” Twilight said sassily, giggling as I shot her a bemused glare. “Look, do you trust Fluttershy’s judgment?”
“She’s naïve,” I harrumphed. “She’s kind and sweet, but sheltered… she wants to believe the best of everyone, even when there’s no ‘best’ to be had.”
My tone became cold and my eyes faltered toward the ground.
“And besides… you and I both know how trying to see the best in someone can lead so easily to heartache.”
Twilight’s silence said more than any words possibly could.
“Well…” Twilight cleared her throat loudly to move on from that uncomfortable topic. Always the subtle one, Twilight Sparkle. “I noticed you haven’t really tried to stop her.”
“I’m afraid it isn’t really my place to stop her,” I shrugged and let out a tired groan. “As much as I detest that accursed blue pegasus, I don’t believe for a second that she will actually hurt Fluttershy… and…” I whined in frustration and let out a beleaguered sigh. “I want her to surprise me.”
I let loose one more theatric sigh, flicked back my mane with a harrumph and walked off, Twilight following behind as I allowed my rumbling stomach to lead me away from thoughts of Rainbow Dash and toward grossly intoxicating overpriced carnival fare.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
This was going about as well as I figured.
As soon as her friends were away, even though they weren’t ever quite out of sight, Fluttershy started to clam up instantly. She awkwardly kicked at the dust, her eyes darted nervously at the ground and her wings flittered anxiously like she was doing everything she could to stop herself from just bolting into the sky and bailing.
She basically did everything but speak.
I… wasn’t much in the way of social skills. I knew I needed to say or do… something to get her to open up, but… geez. The wall of silence and nervousness she was putting between us was a real downer, and I couldn’t blame her for it for one second.
And let’s be fair here, she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. I wasn’t exactly a dating master or anything and it was hard for me to get out of my own train of ‘wow you sure are showing her a good time, you freakin’ idiot!’ thoughts.
Still though, I just kept thinking I can’t let her bravery go unrewarded.
Fluttershy seemed a lot more, uh, cutesy I guess, than I ever was, but she definitely did remind me of how I used to be as a kid… and if I were in her position, what would I want me to say?
“Do you like, uh…”
I looked around at the various carnival games. I knew I could win some of them, but I also knew a lot of ‘em were straight-up rigged and if I blew this chance it would pretty much tank the whole night, so I immediately started getting nervous.
But screw that, I swallowed my nerves and said “Do you like stuffed animals?”
“I-I… y-yeah, I do…” she nodded with a sweet smile, but her eyes were still glued to the ground.
“Want me to win ya somethin’?” I said with a grin, nudging her gently with my shoulder. “I’m pretty good at some of these games.”
“O-okay,” she nodded fervently.
I couldn’t help but think, Great, she’s a people-pleaser. Trying to figure out how she actually feels is gonna be way harder than winning a rigged carnival game.
We walked up to one of those ‘shoot the thing at the cups and knock ‘em all over’ type of games, which was perfect for me. You controlled a little mounted pellet gun with a couple of levers, but the stupid gun was always jammed in such a way that it would shoot to the left of where you aimed, then to the right of where you aimed… or vice versa, can’t remember which.
No matter though. I had a little rig of my own up my sleeve.
“What do you think of that bear?” I pointed to a giant stuffed bear that was practically twice my size.
“I… I already have that one,” Fluttershy murmured.
“Ah. What about the possum?” the possum was also pretty big, like one of those stuffed toys that you can use as an oversized pillow.
“I actually…” Fluttershy looked at the collection of prizes and started giggling, which was the first sign of any emotion other than ‘anxious’ she’d shown all night so this was already a win so far! “I already have all these!”
“Whoa, seriously?” I said amazedly. There must’ve been fifteen or twenty prize animals. “That’s dedication!”
“I collect a lot of stuffed animals,” Fluttershy tilted her head toward me and her hair fell over one eye. It was freakin’ adorable.
“That is so rad, honestly,” I snickered and I could see her blush and smile but the anxiety choked the emotion right off her face as quick as it came. “Okay, how about… that?” I pointed to a sea-green butterfly hairpin that would look super cute against her pink hair. Heck, it even almost matched her eyes!
“That’s…” she blushed again, which I think was a good sign? “I like it. Okay.”
“Okay what?” I said teasingly, giving a wry grin to the girl.
“Okay…” she took in a deep breath and puffed up her chest and cheeks before saying in the most adorably sweet voice “Rainbow Dash, please win me that hairpin!”
“Ask and ye shall receive, fair maiden!” I was trying to sound cool but the jerk behind the counter snickered at me and that made me get all flustered. I was absolutely gonna destroy his little cup castle now.
So, how this game is supposed to go; you get five shots and three castles, and the gun’s supposed to misfire in a wrong direction just enough that you’re too disoriented to hit all three castles. Like, you can’t analyze the system at play without putting in a ton of money.
Buuuut with subtle use of my wind magic, even if the bullet doesn’t hit the castle, the force behind it does. And with that on my side, it was no problem taking out three castles in three shots.
The counter guy looked totally flabbergasted and I think he suspected me of foul play, but what was he gonna do? Make a big scene? No way he was paid enough for that.
“That was incredible!” Fluttershy said, hopping excitedly up and down with a big smile, and I couldn’t help grinning ear to ear while I watched her.
“You don’t want to disappoint her, do you?” I said smugly to the counter guy, Fluttershy beaming at him and holding out her hooves. The man sighed irritably and took the hairpin off the shelf, handing it to me.
“Here ya go, fair maiden, as promised,” I gently placed the hairpin in her hoof.
She blushed and tried to thank me but she was getting a little bit blubbery. I was starting to get a little hot too so I walked her over to someplace where we could get some frozen treats… in early winter, but still.
We sat on a bench and ate some cheap ice cream popsicles, Fluttershy surprisingly in awe of that hairpin, brushing the hair around it repeatedly and looking up at it with a smile several times.
“You like it that much?” I said as I caught her playing with it and smiling for like the umpteenth time.
“I-I…” she just blushed and took a bite of her ice cream, which she instantly regretted based on the pained look on her face. I couldn’t help but cringe myself as I imagined what biting into that frozen treat probably did to her teeth.
“I do like it,” she said, her voice pained from the ice attack. “I know it’s just a cheap little carnival hairpin, and it’s probably stupid to like it as much as I do—”
I scoffed and dismissively batted a hoof. “A thing has as much value as you give it. If you like it, you like it, and that means it’s valuable. Doesn’t matter where it came from or how you got it, only thing that matters is how you feel about it.”
“Oh,” she said, blushing and staring down at her ice cream. “I guess then…” she looked back at me with closed eyes and a big smile. “I really like it. Thank you.”
I grinned at her in response, feeling really good about myself, and she quickly averted her eyes as she opened them to refocus on her ice cream.
We sat in relative silence for a few moments while we ate the ice cream, but for once it wasn’t the kind of incredibly awkward pregnant pause that we’d become used to. This time there was like, a warmth between us. She was nice, and I think she was starting to get used to me too, like… well, no sense in just making assumptions.
“Are you glad you came?”
She nodded energetically with a big smile on her face, which made me grin widely too just by instinct. I think I’d already smiled more tonight than I had in years. “I really am.”
She started laughing, and dang it she got me doing that too. So there we were, just laughing and grinning like idiots, until…
A loud CRACK sound echoed through the night air, catching everyone who heard it off-guard.
It was soon followed by the crashing sound of an explosion and fraying electrical wires. I threw myself into the air and faced the direction of the sound, catching a glimpse of someone with lightning radiating around their talons and throwing it at the ground in random directions, no doubt trying to cause a stir for some attention.
It was a woman, a brown and white feathered griffon who looked vaguely familiar. It took me a second, but I recognized her from the beatdown I gave her earlier.
Welp, if it was attention she was after, she was about to get more than she bargained for.