-FLUTTERSHY-

Rainbow Dash and I were sitting on a bench during the evening carnival, administering the finishing blows to our ice cream.

We’d been sitting in relative quiet for a few moments but it wasn’t like before where it was awkward and nerve-wracking… more like, we were just enjoying each other’s company.

“Are you glad you came?” Rainbow asked suddenly.

I didn’t know how to say it but… yes, yes I was so glad I decided to come here tonight. I couldn’t bring myself to say that though so I just nodded with the biggest doofus grin on my face and said “I really am.”

But I was painfully aware of what a goober that made me look like so I just started laughing, but to my surprise Rainbow laughed too. And not the kind of satirical ‘I’m laughing at you’ laugh, but genuine heartfelt laughter.

It was nice… I wished it could’ve gone on like that for a long time, but…

A loud CRACK roared through the night air, sending a child up my spine. Whatever that was, it couldn’t have been a good thing. It wasn’t helped by the POP of an explosion, the clattering of metal objects on the concrete ground and the sound of fraying electrical wires that followed.

Rainbow flew into the air and I threw myself onto my hooves and we both turned in the direction of the disturbance to see what was the cause.

I spied a brown and white feathered griffon, cackling proudly as she was throwing lightning from her talons at the carnival stands and the ground around her while carnival patrons and workers ran for their lives.

“This is horrible…” I muttered under my breath. I looked to Rainbow Dash to see how she was faring and she had a look of grit and determination in her eyes.

Before I had a chance to even ask her what she was doing, she moved like the wind toward the griffon, clearly ready for a fight. I couldn’t believe she would do something so… brave? Reckless? Honestly I wasn’t sure which, but I knew I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing while she risked her life to save others.

Despite that though… fear kept my legs in place, and I couldn’t bring myself to follow her.

****

-RAINBOW DASH-

“Didn’t you learn your lesson earlier, idiot?” I scoffed as I flew toward the griffon, taunting her with a dashing grin and ready to draw blood.

“Ha! It’s you again!” the girl let out a single wheezy laugh. “I won’t go easy on you this time, dweeb!”

“That is such a cliché,” I just scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Yeah I’m sure you went super easy on me when you were coughing up blood earlier!”

I buffeted my wings in her direction, sending a blade of wind flying at her but she just jumped into the air to avoid my attack.

The girl had a bloodthirsty grin on her face, which fittingly mirrored my own. My taunts aside, I could tell right away this wasn’t gonna be like the curb-stomp in the alley, this was gonna be a proper fight. And I was here for it!

“If this is gonna be a real match-“ the girl lunged forward at me, sweeping her hand in an arc in front of her with an electrical current following behind it, her attack nearly taking my head off if I hadn’t lurched backward out of the way just in time, “-we should at least know each other’s names. Mine’s Gilda.”

“Rainbow Dash,” I said with a smirk, landing on the ground.

Gilda nodded and smiled confidently as she touched the ground a few feet in front of me, scratching her talons across the ground as they crackled with electricity. I could tell she was just starting to get warmed up but that was fine by me. I could take her down before she even had a chance to get serious.

I bolted forward, feet leaving the ground and letting my wings carry me as I aimed to hit her in the neck head-on, but before I could reach her she swung her hand upward and caused a bolt of lightning to appear in an arc following her movement right where my face was about to be.

Luckily I was able to stop myself by leaning back and throwing wind ahead of me, pushing me just barely out of the arc of her attack, but that left me way off balance as I hit the ground, which was about to be extremely bad for me.

Gilda jumped at me and swung her arm in a horizontal arc, aiming for my head, but I ducked under the electrical current. She swung her other arm in a vertical arc, still looking to hit my face, but I threw myself backward with my wind to avoid the attack.

Still a little disoriented from the sudden change in momentum, I didn’t see Gilda coming at me until she was right in my face, but I managed to throw myself into the air to narrowly avoid getting my muzzle seared by another current of lightning. She was standing directly underneath me now though, and I was still off-balance.

Playing defense like this was gonna get me killed. I needed to recalculate my strategy if I wanted to beat her without getting my face fried off by her lightning attacks.

Still in midair, I flapped my wings hard at Gilda on the ground, sending a strong gust of air her direction, just enough to distract her as she was forced to throw her arms in front of her face and close her eyes, which gave me the opening I needed.

I jolted down and landed on the ground directly in front of her, landing a right cross directly between her eyes and a left hook against her cheek, her pained grunts music to my ears and her red blood clashing marvelously against the blue fur on my forelegs as the force of my hooves hitting her face, still a little busted from our encounter earlier, left bloody cuts in their wake.

I quickly danced around to her side and slammed her hard in the ribs with my hind legs, using my wind power to magnify the blow, and sending her flying into an abandoned food stand. She jumped back to her feet and scratched her electrified talons across the ground with a low growl.

Her taunt was cute but she was way too slow, and with her now on defense there was no way she could keep up with me. I closed the distance between us and kicked her foreleg or arm or whatever out from under her, knocking her way off balance and sending her on a collision course with the concrete.

While Gilda was distracted ever so briefly, I quickly looked around to check for civilians. I needed to make sure Gilda’s attacks didn’t accidentally hit anypony who was too stupid to bail once things got ugly. You know there’s always that one idiot who stands around gawking during a fight instead of getting to safety, and just because they were an idiot didn’t mean they deserved to die.

Coast was clear though so I quickly turned back to Gilda.

I thought that the momentum of her arm being kicked out from under her would throw Gilda more off balance than it did, but to my surprise, in the fraction of a second that I let my attention waver from her, she took the time to swipe her other claw right at my face, her talons crackling with electricity like they do.

My thoughts were racing a mile a minute trying to consider my options. My miscalculation of how dazed Gilda would be from my last attack, plus my momentary distraction to check for passerby, left me way open.

I could throw myself backward or into the air to dodge this attack but Gilda was obviously way faster than I’d realized and there was no way she didn’t immediately close the distance if I dodged this, and if her follow-up attack didn’t just gut me outright it’d still put me in a really tight spot.

Should I just try to tank the attack then and hope I could weather it?

Welp, time was up and I needed to do something… or so I thought.

I was almost as shocked as Gilda when her electricity fizzled harmlessly around her fingertips, a little yellow hoof pushed gently against her wrist. I could not believe my eyes as I turned to see that hoof belonged to Fluttershy of all ponies. I don’t know how she managed to stop Gilda’s attack but she turned the tide of this battle in a major way.

I slammed my hind legs against the ground and spread my wings, jumping into the air above Gilda and winding up a foreleg, landing a massive haymaker against Gilda’s face that, backed up with my wind power, sent her flying across the battlefield and careening hard with the concrete floor a few feet away.

I needed to close the distance fast though, if I’d learned anything about Gilda during this fight it was that giving her an inch could be a fatal mistake. I briefly looked to my right and saw Fluttershy staring determinedly at Gilda, spreading her own wings and getting ready to fly.

With a smile on my face and Fluttershy’s support I flew toward Gilda. She was just getting back to her feet when I hit her with a mach speed flying punch right to the head, sending her flying back to the ground and faceplanting onto the concrete.

In the heat of the moment I thought that I might have accidentally killed her, but I was relieved to see her struggling to her feet. I waited a second to see if she would surrender, seeing how badly outmatched she was. Big mistake.

Instead of surrendering, Gilda clasped her claws together and pointed a single claw at me, electrical energy flowing all around her and through her talons and culminating in that fingertip. Since I stupidly let my guard down and backed up to make sure she wasn’t dead, I was too far away now to dispel her attack… but Fluttershy’s intervention was timed perfectly.

With Gilda so totally focused on me, she didn’t notice as Fluttershy moved surprisingly quickly to her side, only taking note of the dainty yellow pegasus as her front hooves gently collided with Gilda’s ribs, completely knocking the griffon’s flow of magic out of whack and dissipating her attack.

I moved in quickly, positioning myself between Gilda and Fluttershy. Our opponent wouldn’t be stupid enough to ignore Fluttershy’s presence again which meant she was in danger now. I quickly buffeted my wings at Gilda, the griffon’s legs buckling and bringing her to the ground at my feet under a gale force assault.

I looked down into her eyes with a stone cold glare and said sternly, “This fight is over,” and I felt SO COOL!

Gilda clicked her tongue and grumbled “This ain’t worth the time,” before rather adeptly flying out from underneath me and catapulting into the air at alarming speed. In the blink of an eye she disappeared into the clear night sky. I had a pretty good feeling she wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

I heard Fluttershy breathe a deep sigh of relief behind me and I couldn’t help but smile as I turned around to face her, grabbing her shoulders and lifting her an inch off the ground.

“Fluttershy, that was amazing!”

****

-RARITY-

I swear, go to the bathroom for one second and you miss everything.

Twilight needed to use the restroom and I went with her to help ease her anxiety, and when we went into the restroom, everything was fine. When we came out, people were running every which way and screaming while pillars of smoke began to coat the sky in a noxious black cloud.

“What… in the name of Celestia…” I muttered in awe, Twilight letting out an audible gasp as she saw the panicked fleeing carnival-goers and flaming wreckage of several machines.

“That’s right! Run! Run for your lives!” the shrill sound of an annoyingly haughty voice caught my attention. I looked to Twilight for a moment and she nodded, then we both ran off to where the voice was coming from.

Surrounded by several turned over carnival games and food stands, with a couple machines wreathed in flame that billowed tall columns of black smoke that choked the chill winter air, was a lime green pegasus with long pink hair who was rather smugly looking over the damage she had caused as she floated above it all.

I don’t know if she was expecting a fight, but she had certainly brought one upon herself.

“If you beg for mercy from the mighty Queen Merry May, perhaps I will find it in my heart to spare you!” the woman cackled before throwing a gust of torrential wind at an abandoned carnival game stand, knocking the stand over with a loud crash. I suppose we didn’t need to ask for her name.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Merry May,” I spoke as I stepped up to confront this mysterious ruffian, making sure Twilight was safely behind me. “But I’m afraid if you’re the one causing all this upheaval, I will be forced to bring you down.”

“Oh please,” Merry May landed on the ground and spat in my direction, causing me to scrunch my face in disgust. I mean, it was one thing to be evil enough to attack innocent ponies, but to be rude on top of it? Unforgiveable.

“I don’t suppose you’d mind just turning yourself in?” Twilight asked pleadingly, and Merry May and myself both shot her similar bewildered glances, which made her cheeks flush as she muttered “It was worth a try, I guess.”

“Look, if you guys aren’t gonna run,” Merry May rolled her eyes and slowly walked toward us, “then you can at least put up some kinda fight. I mean, I came to this backwater town to look for Bifrost competitors, but all these ponies,” Merry May gestured weakly toward a few carnival-goers that were running in panicked circles amidst the chaos, “are just pathetic.”

“You can’t just attack innocent people!” Twilight said indignantly and stamped her hoof on the ground. She was acting so brave, I was quite proud of her!

“Uh, yes I can,” Merry May scoffed and let out a mocking chuckle. “I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing. You not been paying attention?”

“Enough talk then, I suppose,” I whispered to Twilight.

“Right,” she replied coolly, nodding her head and analyzing Merry May.

As if sensing our change in demeanor, Merry May buffeted her wings toward us, nearly toppling the two of us over with a strong blast of wind before Twilight raised a glassy barrier in front of us that sent her attack back at her.

May was undeterred by her reflected attack and simply flew high into the air, sending another wave of wind at us. While Twilight raised the shield to protect against the wind itself, we failed to notice that her attacked was aimed not quite at us but around us, specifically at several hunks of broken scrap metal that were now lying on the ground from busted machines.

The wind gathered several of these scrapped pieces and sent them flying at us from both sides. I managed to jump forward to evade the attack and Twilight dodged backward, but now we were separated by a few feet which left me open to an attack from the green pegasus hovering just above me.

Twilight threw the glass shield at Merry May, the improvised magical throwing weapon shattering against her head and resounding against her skull with a solid CLANG and disorienting the pegasus who fell to the ground and wobbled around on her hooves.

I looked at Twilight and smiled at her, my sister responding with a sigh of relief, before I turned my attention back to the green pegasus before me. Truth be told, despite all my bravado from before, I was not much of a combatant… I was very good at sewing and… talking… and… well, that was about it.

Still, a solid kick to the head hurts even when coming from a non-combatant and it certainly made its mark on Merry May, who fumbled to the ground in a heap.

“Rarity, look out!” Twilight’s words caught me by surprise but far more so did the sudden sting of sharp scraps of metal digging into my body from behind me.

I let out a piercing scream and fell to the ground. My vision blurred and for a single heartbeat I wondered if I was going to die… I wasn’t so used to being in an active battle zone. But Twilight… Twilight was more than prepared.

Before my vision had even fully settled I could see the scraps of metal that had pierced me hovering in the air surrounded by Twilight’s raspberry aura. I looked at my wounded flank and saw not blood and injuries as I had expected, but the same violet glow bathing my fur and sealing the wounds effortlessly.

Merry May clicked her tongue angrily but I saw her eyes widen as Twilight launched the several pieces of metal straight at her, almost as if she intended to gore her outright. It was so unlike the Twilight I knew to be so violent but I could hear her heavy, frantic breathing as she stood above me in a defensive posture.

“Relax, darling,” I said as I stood back on my feet, placing a hoof gently on Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t lose yourself to anger, be calm and be vigilant.”

“Right,” Twilight said with steely eyes fixed on Merry May, scraping a hoof across the ground as the pegasus stared her down.

The green mare scoffed. “If you think I’m going down that easy, you’v—“

Before she even had time to finish her taunt, the shattered remains of a cotton candy machine fell on top of her thanks to my lovely sister. The pegasus crawled out from the wreckage and shook her head but before she could even speak another taunt, yet another machine, a popcorn one this time, fell atop her.

“Darling, I don’t think you want to give her a concussion…” I said worriedly. No matter how awful she was, we didn’t want to kill her!

“Sorry,” Twilight said sheepishly.

“Yeah, okay, screw this!” Merry May screamed as she bolted out from under the wrecked machines, flying off into the sky until she was a mere twinkle among the stars.

Twilight harrumphed and stamped an indignant hoof.

“You did marvelously,” I said, brushing back Twilight’s bangs like a doting sister and making the younger mare turn her face away and reflexively bat at my hoof.

“I guess,” she grumbled. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Thanks to you,” I said charmingly, “I am perfectly well.”

“That’s good,” Twilight sighed, partly in relief and partly in frustration. Suddenly her ears perked up and she looked at me in alarm. “We should go make sure Fluttershy’s okay!”

“Ah, of—of course!” I said frantically, startled by the sudden reminder and burned by the shame of momentarily forgetting about my companion and the danger she could be in.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

“Fluttershy, that was amazing!”

Hearing those words come from Rainbow Dash as she heartily grabbed onto my shoulders and lifted me off the ground was… overwhelming. The blood rushed right to my face and it felt like I was trapped inside of an oven all of a sudden. I didn’t know how to respond either, I didn’t think I was all that amazing… I just…

“I just did what anypony would do.”

“Whatever!” Rainbow scoffed and put me back on the ground, her laugh quickly becoming something of a cackle. “There were a ton of ponies at this carnival and no one but you and me had the guts to take down that griffon! And your ability was so cool! I’ve never seen anything like that!”

I… I wasn’t used to so much praise. I had no idea what to say to it all and I was starting to feel really panicky. My Gentle Hoof wasn’t anything that special, and it’s not like I worked hard to attain it, it was all just instinct. I didn’t even really understand how it worked myself!

I didn’t know what to say but luckily I didn’t have to say anything because we were soon interrupted by a haughty woman’s voice.

“Guts is a good way of putting it,” the voice said from behind me, eliciting a frightened squeak from me. Rainbow immediately stepped between me and the woman, getting into a defensive stance.

I turned around to see the voice belonged to a pale purple unicorn with bangs covering her forehead and her purple hair tied back into a slick ponytail with a teal streak that shone brilliantly through it.

“And you are?” Rainbow said warily.

“My name is Starlight Glimmer,” the unicorn said pleasantly, using her pale teal magic to grab something out of her saddlebags and producing two golden envelopes with a striking crimson seal on each.

“And you don’t need to be alarmed, I’m not much of a fighter,” Starlight said with a disarming laugh, hovering the envelopes in front of the two of us and offering them to Rainbow and I. “All I want is to give you each these.”

Rainbow quickly snatched the envelopes out of the woman’s magic, her hooves shaking as she looked at them with wide eyes that almost looked on the verge of misting up. “Are these…”

“They are two individual invitations to the Bifrost tournament,” Starlight had a smile on her face that said she knew exactly how valuable these invitations were and that she was quite pleased, if smugly so, to see Rainbow react accordingly. “One for each of you, of course.”

“One for… these are…” Rainbow was breathing heavily. She absentmindedly gave me one of the envelopes, the contents of which meant very little to me personally, but I was really surprised to see Rainbow’s reaction. I’d never seen a smile so big as the one on her face as she gently rubbed her cheek against the envelope.

“Of course, the Bifrost is a team-based competition,” Starlight continued, mostly unfazed but still quietly amused by Rainbow’s zeal. She probably saw reactions like hers a lot. “The invitation extends to each of you individually and two other ponies, or other creatures if you prefer, of your choosing.

“Should you both decide to compete on the same team, please give one of the invitations to someone else so that they may compete, although I will leave the deciding of who should get said invitation up to your judgment. Think of it as a consolation prize, I guess.”

“That’s… a lot,” I muttered.

“I’d like to say you have plenty of time to decide what you want to do…” Starlight chuckled, lifting a hoof up to her mouth and staring coldly at Rainbow and I. She seemed polite enough but something about her was… unpleasant. Unnerving almost. “But the tournament does begin the day after tomorrow, so please make up your minds by then.”

“Wait a tick,” Rainbow said suddenly, giving her full focus to Starlight. “Day after tomorrow? And you’re still giving out invitations? Doesn’t that seem a little sloppy?”

“We give out a single invitation on each of the hundred and eight days before the tournament,” Starlight explained. “If we gave them all out months or even weeks in advance, there would be no sense of intrigue or urgency… plus they would all likely go to a bunch of rich jerks who just bought them or hired hitmen to take them or some such. Very boring, no fun for anyone.”

“If you give out one every day, why are you giving us two?” Rainbow asked suspiciously. I couldn’t blame her for being a little reticent and making sure this wasn’t a ‘too good to be true’ situation.

“Those of us that are given authority to hand out invitations are allowed to make judgment calls like this,” Starlight said with a slight giggle. “You both impressed me… and besides, those are the final two invitations so that means I can take tomorrow off!” Starlight laughed and I couldn’t help but giggle myself.

“So… this is legit, huh?” Rainbow said, her voice a mixture of excitement and anxiousness.

“One hundred percent,” Starlight replied with a nod and a confident smirk. “Clear as the scarlet seal on those envelopes.” Starlight cleared her throat and added, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a one-day vacation to take!”

Starlight laughed again as she walked off into the dark of the night, leaving behind only a few more words before she disappeared from sight, “I hope to see both of you at the preliminaries in two days! Good luck!”

I looked at the envelope in my hooves and tried to muster up some kind of emotion… but I felt nothing. I had no interest in joining a fighting tournament and it made me a little sad to think that I had something so valuable in my possession and it meant less to me than the silly hairpin Rainbow won me from the carnival game.

“Fluttershy!”

Rarity’s voice calling my name caused my ears to perk up and I looked around for a moment before I saw her and Twilight running toward me, both looking rather haggard and their coats were all messed up, like they’d gotten into… a fight.

Oh.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?” Rarity said, grabbing me by the shoulders and inspecting me this way and that.

“I’m—I’m okay,” I couldn’t help but giggle a little bit at her concern. “What about you? You don’t look… you look a little worse for wear.”

“Eh?” Rarity looked at herself and then at Twilight, before looking back at herself and then at me, giving a shrug. “It’s been a long night.”

“Fluttershy, is this what I think it is?” Twilight said with a gleam in her eye, picking up in her raspberry magic the envelope I had carelessly dropped on the ground.

“Oh. Yes.”

I sighed, fearing the attention I was about to receive. “It’s an invitation… to Bifrost.”

“How the heck did you—” Rarity coughed to cover up whatever she was about to say “How did you get your hooves on one? And so suddenly at that?”

“Because she’s awesome, that’s how!”

Rainbow Dash suddenly joined the conversation and put her foreleg around me, taking me by surprise and making me let out a tiny “Eep!” not to mention drastically accelerating my heartrate. I had almost forgotten that she had been standing behind me the whole time I was talking to Rarity.

“Is that right?” Rarity said drolly, shooting Rainbow a spurious glance. “I mean, I don’t disagree, but I’m surprised you’re saying that.”

“Did you two get into a little scrape?” Twilight asked teasingly “Perhaps with whoever it was that was shooting lightning this way and that?”

I nodded meekly, sliding out from under Rainbow’s leg.

“Yeah, and Fluttershy was incredible,” Rainbow laughed and playfully bumped her hoof into my side. “I really owe her one.”

“Huh. You don’t say,” Rarity looked at me and I nervously averted my gaze, feeling like her eyes were going to burn a patch in my skin. “It’s getting pretty late now though…”

Rarity looked up into the sky, the smoke from some of the explosions pretty much entirely cleared up at this point, and stuff around us was starting to quiet down. “Fluttershy, do you need someone to walk you home?”

“I can do it if you want,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “I kinda want to talk to you about this anyway,” she raised her envelope for everyone to see and I had to admit, I was curious what it was she wanted to talk to me of all ponies about.

“That’s really not—”

Rarity tried to interrupt but I cut her off by saying, “I would like that, Rainbow Dash,” I looked toward Rarity with an apologetic look on my face. “If that’s okay with you?”

“What? Y-yes, of course,” she nodded effusively. She was trying to play it cool but her flushed cheeks gave her away. She batted a hoof playfully. “Do what you need to do.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” I said, bowing my head graciously and giving her a brief hug. “And thank you as well, Twilight.”

“Uh, no problem,” Twilight said with a bright, albeit nervous, smile and I laughed softly at it because I knew I made that exact same smile all the time.

Rainbow jerked her head to motion for me to follow and I gave her a gentle nod.

“And thank you, Rainbow Dash,” I said with a soft smile, Rainbow returning the sentiment with a very charming grin. “It’s been… a lovely night.”

****

Rainbow escorted me back to my home, a dainty little apartment on the outskirts of town… ‘apartment’ may be giving the wrong impression, it was basically just a shack.

We walked mostly in silence the whole way there, I think Rainbow could tell I was overwhelmed and wanted to give me some breathing room before we talked about the whole… Bifrost… thing, which was very nice of her.

As I walked up the steps of the porch leading into the dark, lonely apartment-shack where I lived I realized I was hesitant to open the door and go inside. It had been… if I’m being truthful… it had been an amazing night. Even with the scary stuff that happened, Rainbow was so kind to me and even fighting alongside her felt… it felt liberating somehow.

“So, um…” Rainbow cleared her throat, standing at the bottom of the three steps that led to my front door. “What do you uh… what do…”

Rainbow sighed and I looked at her with a smile as I waited for her to figure out what she wanted to say. There was something kind of adorable about the way she was fumbling her words.

“I’ll just cut right to it…” she said, “I know you got your own invitation to Bifrost, but I want…” Rainbow shook her head, ruffled her hair and then, to my shock, bowed her head down to me. “Please join my team, Fluttershy. I would really like to have you on it.”

“Wh-what?!” the shock of Rainbow bowing was nothing compared to the shock those words gave me. “Why me? Why would you… why would you want someone like me on your team?” I wasn’t a very good fighter, I wasn’t very reliable or strong… and I was kind of a downer. I didn’t know what Rainbow was thinking.

“You’re amazing, Fluttershy.”

Rainbow said those words like it was nothing, like she was just stating an obvious fact. But to me, nothing could have prepared me for them. I swear my face must’ve turned beet red at those words and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my face was still red tomorrow.

“That power you have,” she continued, “I dunno what you did or how you did it, but it was incredible! But even more than that, you had the guts to throw yourself into the fight between me and Gilda. Power is one thing, a lot of ponies have power, not everyone has the guts that you showed me tonight. And that’s why I want you on my team.”

I was speechless. I stood there trembling, not sure of what to say or how to even begin to say it…

“And honestly, it’s even more than that…” Rainbow sighed, a coy smile on her face “You’re kind, you’re fun… you’re funny…” Rainbow laughed softly and looked up at me, smiling brightly, “I could really use someone like you on my team.”

“I… I don’t know what to say…” hearing Rainbow gushing all that praise… all of it for me of all ponies… I couldn’t… I didn’t…

“I’m not gonna twist your leg or anything,” Rainbow batted her hoof dismissively, “It’s not my style to force people into stuff, you’re free to live your life the way you choose to live it. And you don’t have to decide anything right now.”

Rainbow turned to leave and walked a few steps down the paved path back into the road, taking a deep breath and releasing it with a tense sigh. She turned back to me with a smirk and said, “I’m leaving tomorrow on the eight o’clock morning train. If you want to join my team, meet me at the station. If not…” Rainbow shrugged but she was still smiling, “Then hopefully I’ll see you as a rival. Later, Fluttershy.”

With one last wave goodbye Rainbow was on her way, leaving me alone in the dark on the porch to my empty home. No one was waiting for me inside there… no, nothing was waiting for me. And not just ‘no thing’, but nothing. Emptiness… oblivion almost…

Maybe that’s overdramatic.

But…

I stared at the golden envelope that I’d tucked into my wings, and saw an opportunity to change my life forever, for better or worse. I didn’t like fighting, no, I hated fighting. I hated conflict of any kind… but I couldn’t stop my mind from flashing between the sad thoughts of me eating alone in my dark house all by myself, wishing for somepony to keep me company… and the kind words Rainbow Dash piled onto me all throughout the night.

You’re amazing, Fluttershy!

You’re kind, you’re fun…

You’ve got guts!

…

…

I opened the door to my home and headed straight to the dark, empty bedroom and threw myself into the bed. I buried myself under the covers and tried to clear my mind so I could sleep. After all…

I needed to get up early tomorrow.

****

-RAINBOW DASH-

I was walking back to my little alleyway along the asphalt roads of Dodge City, barely functioning street lamps flickering above me as I looked down intently at the golden envelope that was sticking out between my teeth, my tongue gently brushing the edges of it as I walked… which was probably really unsanitary but WHO CARES. I almost couldn’t believe it, but here it was. My invitation.

“Hi there!” Pinkie chirped as she showed up next to me and started walking beside me. I’d known Pinkie for a little over a decade so her sudden appearances no longer fazed me. I’d be alone with my thoughts one second and then suddenly there was Pinkie and my reaction these days was just ‘oh, Pinkie’s here’ instead of the high-pitched scream that she used to invoke.

“Hey,” I said coolly, my eyes firmly locked onto the ticket, “Didn’t see you at the carnival.”

“I was around,” Pinkie said with a shrug, “Played some games, got some snacks, skulked around for some shady characters…” Pinkie giggled and placed her hoof gently on the crimson seal of my invitation before saying in a sing-song voice, “But it looks like I didn’t need to!”

“You knew about this?” I asked curiously, dropping the envelope into Pinkie’s hooves.

“I was watching from the bushes,” Pinkie said nonchalantly, analyzing the envelope she was now holding.

“There were bushes?” I had a pretty good memory of the carnival grounds and I didn’t remember any bushes, although knowing Pinkie she probably just brought them with her somehow.

“Well, it was either bushes or the smoking wreckage of a cotton candy machine…” Pinkie said ponderously.

I looked over at her and quickly flicked my hoof through her mane, grabbing a tuft of cotton candy that had gotten stuck in it somehow. She snatched it out of my hoof just as quickly and shoved it into her mouth.

“Wow, you saw right through its camouflage!” she said, making me snicker. Nopony got a laugh out of me like Pinkie Pie.

“This is it, Pinkie,” I said proudly, stamping my hooves anxiously against the ground. “We’re competing in Bifrost. You and me are going… somehow, we got our hooves on a ticket. You and me are going to Bifrost!”

The emotions had been welling up inside me all night but there was still a part of me that felt it must’ve been a mistake cuz it was too good to be true, but it was really hitting me now that this was real. I had the invitation in my hooves and this was happening.

I stopped in my tracks and just grinned ear to ear at the invitation. I started jumping in place and doing a really awkward looking dance, Pinkie Pie quickly joining in until we were on the ground in a laughing fit.

“I’m so happy for you!” Pinkie said, wrapping me up in a big hug. “But wait!” Pinkie sprung to her feet and I got back on mine right after. “You plus me equals two, which is three minus one because zero plus three makes three which is how many you need for Bifrost but three minus two is one which is how many we don’t have because we’re two and one plus two is three so three minus one is two—”

“Alright, I’m confused,” I put one hoof on my forehead and another on Pinkie’s to stop her rambling.

“We need one more teammate, duh!” Pinkie scoffed and rolled her eyes. It was really endearing to me how she thought anypony could keep up with her sometimes. “I thought it was pretty obvious what I was saying, Rainbow. You need to step up your game,” she stuck her tongue out teasingly at me and I just bopped her on the nose with a sly grin. Pinkie backed away from me with a giggle, brushing her nose gently with a hoof.

“I asked Fluttershy to join our team,” I said.

“Doesn’t she have a ticket of her own?” Pinkie cocked her head to the side, “Are you sure she wants to join us?”

“Yeah… and I dunno if she even wants to join Bifrost at all…”

I took a deep breath and sighed. I scrunched up my face and wrinkled my nose for a sec, but then I just shook my head.

“But I’m willing to bet on her,” I shrugged with a wry laugh and added, “And if not we’ll just find someone when we get there. Doesn’t matter who, I can ace this whole thing by myself, and I have you with me which means double the acing.”

“Ooh, I love acing!” Pinkie said exuberantly, “Like a strawberry acing on a chocolate cake! Mm-MMM!” Pinkie licked her lips. “Doesn’t that sound so good?” Pinkie gasped dramatically and said with a very proud smile, “We can call it Bifrosting!”

“You’re thinking of icing,” I said with a baffled laugh, “although yeah, it does sound good right now…” Then it hit me, and my eyes widened and my mouth started salivating. “Pinkie.”

“Yes, Rainbow?” Pinkie leaned against me, smooshing her cheek up against mine and smiling brightly.

“Teams competing in Bifrost get free meals at like, dozens of restaurants in Manehattan,” I said excitedly, giving Pinkie a huge grin, “If we make it all the way to the tournament proper, we can eat like queens!”

“Strawberry acing chocolate cake, here we come!” Pinkie screamed, hopping up and down and clapping her hooves against mine joyfully, me hopping like a doofus right alongside her.

Sometimes life was good.

****

-RARITY-

Seven in the morning. I got maybe three hours of sleep and I’m pacing the floor of my room in the dim glow of the rising sun peeking through the blinds. Did it bother me that Fluttershy got an invitation to Bifrost and I did not? No, that isn’t it. I wasn’t interested in Bifrost… right?

No, of course not. What purpose has a fashion loving socialite have with a fighting tournament?

Then again… I looked over at the pile of clothing in the corner of my room, unable to recall the last time any of it had been laundered or even touched. And I couldn’t exactly claim to be socialite without a social life…

No, no… don’t be ridiculous, Rarity! What possible purpose could a fighting tournament of all things have for YOU? Bah, just… put it out of your mind!

Then why was I awake right now? Why could I barely sleep last night? What has me so wound up?

It hit me soon enough… it wasn’t my lack of invitation that bothered me, not really, what bothered me was that Fluttershy got one at all.

And I was not mad at Fluttershy. It’s not as though she even asked for an invitation and if she was given one I’m sure she deserved it. But Fluttershy’s not supposed to get an invitation to Bifrost. One of the one hundred and eight exclusive invitations to the biggest profile event in all Equestria.

Fluttershy’s not that type of girl. She’s an ordinary girl, shy and sweet. She stays home on the weekends, collects stuffed animals, doesn’t make a fuss or make waves. People like her don’t get one in a million opportunities to join fighting competitions.

But that’s not what was bugging me either, at least not entirely. No, what was really getting under my skin, was that I was so sure she wasn’t going to ask Rainbow to the carnival. I was certain she was going to chicken out.

But that decision to go with her gut and do something outside her comfort zone, something I never in a million years would have expected her to do and even tried to talk her out of, ended up with her getting one of the one hundred and eight exclusive invitations to Bifrost.

A one in a million opportunity because she left her comfort zone.

Why did that bother me?

People don’t change.

Those words have been resonating in my head for over a decade.

People don’t change.

If there was one thing that I truly believed to be a universal truth, it was that.

People don’t change.

People are formed by hardship and failure, and once they’re set…

People. Don’t. Change.

I thought I knew everything, thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore… but Fluttershy did something I never could have expected, and she got a ticket to Bifrost, of all things, out of it.

I laughed and shook my head, sitting down onto the bed. It doesn’t matter I thought, She’s probably already thrown the envelope away. Fluttershy of all ponies is never going to want to join Bifrost.

A knock at the door made me nearly jump out of my skin and tied my stomach in a violent knot. Who could possibly be at my door at this ungodly hour? I slowly opened the door of my bedroom and snuck through the living room where Twilight was asleep on the couch and into the entryway, looking through the peephole to see…

Fluttershy?

The knot in my stomach grew tighter.

I opened the door slowly and stepped outside, leaving the door latch stuck in the door so it couldn’t close me out. Fluttershy turned and walked down the steps onto the pathway and I followed her.

“What are you doing here?” I stuttered from the cold, stamping my hooves on the ground in a futile attempt to keep warm. “And so early?”

“I want to give you something.”

Fluttershy’s voice was colder than the weather but there was an underlying current of firmness to it. She turned to face me and the nervousness I was accustomed to seeing in her eyes was hidden behind a veil of surefire determination, still there if I squinted, but hidden.

“And I want to say something to you.”

“Okay… what is it?” I asked concernedly, the knot in my stomach turning into a violent storm. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is more than alright,” Fluttershy smiled and held a hoof against her heart and it was only then that I noticed the saddlebags resting atop her. She looked like she was ready… to travel.

The storm in my stomach became a rampaging maelstrom… and then subsided into steely silence as it dawned on me why she was here.

I held out my hoof. “What is it you want to give me?”

“You’re so sharp, Rarity,” Fluttershy giggled, “You’ve already figured it out, right?” She reached into her saddlebags and plucked the golden envelope out from inside it, giving it over to me. “I’m going to join Rainbow Dash’s team. I’m going to Bifrost with her.”

I took the invitation and held it in my hoof, looking down at it for a moment with cold eyes before even acknowledging what Fluttershy was saying. I heard the sound of shattering glass in my mind.

People don’t change.

“Fluttershy…” I said weakly, gripping the envelope tightly with both hooves, half a mind to rip the damn thing apart.

“We’ve been friends for years, Rarity…” Fluttershy started to pace back and forth in front of me. “And since even before I met you, I’ve been… really weak. I’m scared… a lot… by a lot of things. I’m easily frightened and I get anxious and… oh well those all mean the same thing.”

She looked at me with flushed cheeks and stamped her hooves defiantly on the ground. “Rainbow saw something in me last night… she said I was amazing, that I had guts. I…” her eyes started to water and I wanted desperately to say something comforting.

“Fluttershy—”

“Please!” she shouted weakly and held out her hoof, catching me off guard. “Let me… let me finish…” I simply nodded. She put her hoof back on the ground and took a deep breath before continuing.

“I want to be the amazing, gutsy Fluttershy that Rainbow saw last night. Not for her, but for me… I know…” the water in her eyes had turned to full on fountains by now and she looked half a step away from openly sobbing, the poor dear. “I know that you think people can’t change… and for a while I used to believe it… I still might, but…”

And there were the sobs.

She put a hoof up to her face and let her hair fall over her eyes and wept for a few seconds. I didn’t know what to do so I did nothing, just watched as she broke down in front of me. After a few more sobs and a couple of loud sniffles she was composed enough to speak again.

“I want to believe that I can change,” she said through loud sniffles, her eyes already all read and puffy, “I used to believe it wasn’t possible, because I hated the idea that it was just me that wasn’t strong enough to change. It’s so much easier to accept that it was people that couldn’t change and not just me. But I…”

She breathed deeply and let it out slowly, a serene smile creeping onto her face as her tears dried and left her eyes red but with a fire burning in them.

“I want to believe that I can change,” she said firmly. “And that’s why I’m giving you my invitation. I’m joining Rainbow Dash because she saw something in me that made me want to see it in myself. She lit the fire inside me that made me want to be better, made me think that I can be better. And even if it was just by accident, I think that I…”

The tears started to reform in her eyes but she closed them and steeled herself, opening dry eyes and continuing to speak with confidence.

“I want to follow her to Bifrost,” she said with a smile. “I don’t know if it’s to pay her back, if I think being with her will help me find what she saw in me… I don’t know what it is, but I feel it burning in my heart that my place is on her team.”

She held her trembling hoof in front of her to point at the golden envelope in my hooves. “And that’s why I want you to have that. Because I want you to see in yourself what I’m starting to see in myself. If someone as weak and pathetic as me can change, can become amazing and gutsy… then how much more can someone who’s so bright and smart and beautiful and talented as you?”

My own legs started to tremble as I stared speechless at the yellow pony who I had known for so long but did not recognize today.

“I hope that I will see you at the tournament, Rarity,” Fluttershy bowed her head. “I’m sorry I can’t stick around, but I’m already a little late between preparing this speech and the ensuing anxiety attack that came with thinking about saying it,” she let out a nervous laugh, “But I really do hope to see you there. Until then, goodb—” she shook her head and smiled at me, “I’ll see you later.”

“See you, Fluttershy,” I said distantly.

She smiled once more at me and turned around, turning back to me quickly and jumping toward me to give me a hug, and I wrapped my forelegs around her and held her tight because a part of me didn’t want to let her go. But let her go I did for I could not in good conscious keep her from being the pony she was trying to be.

As I watched Fluttershy walk down the road headed for the train station, I had a lot to grapple with. This should not have happened… this went against everything I thought I knew. In less than twenty-four hours that yellow pony completely destroyed the one universal truth I thought I believed in.

People don’t change.

I shook my head and bit my lip.

People can bend and stretch and pretend to be something they’re not…

I looked up at the sun rising against the pale blue sky and felt the cold morning air biting my skin.

But in the end…

I looked down at my trembling hooves, unable to keep them steady, and the golden envelope held by them.

You’ll always be the person you are.

I took the envelope in my magical grasp and carried it with me back into the apartment.

I need to find out the truth.

****

-FLUTTERSHY-

My legs were like butter and my whole body couldn’t stop quivering, my breath was short and fast and my heart was about ready to explode out of my chest.

I breathed deeply and tried to be calm. This was it.

I was standing at the train station, about to walk up to the platform. As I stood behind a column I could see Rainbow Dash standing on the platform, waiting for the train, a thick-bodied curly-haired pink pony the only other pony standing there.

This was it, the moment of truth.

I walked up onto the platform and slowly approached Rainbow Dash. She turned her head toward me and I think her eyes actually lit up when she saw me! I tried to play it cool but I couldn’t help but smile.

“Was starting to wonder if you were gonna make it,” Rainbow said coolly with a sly grin.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said confidently and I just felt so cool after hearing myself say it! This was it! I was joining a fighting team! Me! Fluttershy, of all ponies, was going to be a cool fighting mare of danger and intrigue!

I half expected to trip or for something else to ruin my cool entrance but I made it all the way to Rainbow Dash’s side without any issue. I reached out my hoof and said, “I would really like to join your team, Rainbow Dash. If you’ll still have me.”

I blushed and brushed some hair out of my face. For the briefest of moments the thought crossed my mind that somepony else took my place already and she didn’t need me anymore and this whole entrance was for nothing and I was going to look like a big joke but I forced that worry out of my mind and reminded myself that she only had one other pony standing next to her.

“Of course!” Rainbow firmly bashed her hoof against mine in a show of painful comradery and smiled confidently, a passionate flame burning in her violet eyes.

“Yay! This is exciting!” the pink pony pushed herself between the two of us and put her forelegs around us both, dragging us in for less of a hug and more of a headlock.

“Pinkie Pie, could you not?” Rainbow said drolly, Pinkie giggling and letting us go.

“Sorry,” she said, her pink cheeks turning red as she ruffled her hair.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said with my hoof outstretched toward her, “I’m Fluttershy.”

“And I…”

She took a big gasp of air and bolted away for a moment, coming back in less than a second with a cannon aimed at the sky. My eyes widened in concern but Rainbow Dash just stifled a laugh and shook her head.

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she yelled as she hit a button on the back of the cannon, which had a fuse for some reason, and a burst of confetti exploded out of the barrel and showered down upon the three of us.

“And yes,” Rainbow said with a chuckle, putting Pinkie in a headlock this time, “she is always like this,” Pinkie just beamed ear to ear and that made me laugh. She seemed like a real joy.

As Rainbow and Pinkie Pie joined me in laughing and the train began to approach the station, all the fear and worry that had been building up inside me melted away. Or more like… it was shot out of a cannon.

You, a fool: fighting with fists

Me, a genious: fighting with hooves