“Uugh, these bucking drunks are annoying as hay!”

The Cloudsdale First Plaza Hotel was a hotbed of activity. The meeting of weather pegasi had quickly devolved into a debauched, drunken affair. There was little to no organization, and nopony from Cloudsdale Central Weather Authority actually felt like working, so instead, the hotel bar became swarming grounds of ponies looking to drink away their long weekend. One would think Rainbow Dash would bask in such hedonistic reverie; however, life has a funny way of showing a pony’s true colors. The cyan pegasus was lying in her bed in her hotel room during the late night trying to get some shut eye. Sure, she tried to have some fun and some drinks, as it was certainly better than any actual work, but Rainbow soon discovered that partying with complete strangers had no appeal compared to hanging out with her friends. Although there was no nightlife in Ponyville after the closing of The Golden Horseshoe, Rainbow was still able to get her and her friends crunk up in this bitch and have a good time thanks to Pinkie’s various punch recipes, Rarity’s fancy Canterlot liqueurs, and most importantly, Applejack’s cider. However, it wasn’t the fact that she was having quality drinks instead of the watered down, bottom shelf garbage the hotel had, it was the fact that Rainbow genuinely had a better time with her best friends and their individual quirks.

Ah yes, a night out with them would follow a usual routine. Rainbow mentally played out one of them with a giant grin on her face. The six of them would gather after hours at Sugarcube Corner after hours and pregame with some of Pinkie’s “Pregame Package Supreme-o Punch!!!!” after which, lightweight Twilight would begin speaking sluggishly and making some pretty hilarious confessions (of course, the rest of the group were not the types to gossip, so there was no issue). After moving the party to the empty barn at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack would break out her cider and challenge Rainbow and Pinkie to a drinking contest, to which they would gleefully accept. The cowpony and cyan pegasus were both determined to be the first ones to beat the reigning champion, Pinkie Pie. Of course, each attempt was in vain. It still kind of ticked Rainbow off that downing cider was the one thing in which she couldn’t beat Pinkie. Eventually, the night would die down with watching Rarity recite her famous monologue, Dear Sweet Celestia, How the Hay am I still Single?

Rainbow sighed at that last part. “I think I should talk to her, sometime.” The cyan pegasus thought to herself. “I don’t tell her how great she is. I know she’s all prissy and girly, but hey, if I love a meek little scaredy-cat like Fluttershy, I can certainly make the effort to cheer Rarity up more often. I hope she knows that she can find love easily. She just needs to stop looking in all those stuck-up, stick in the mud, pretty colts.” Dash then scoffed. “I know, for fact, that she likes it both ways. She can deny it all she wants, but we both know that she’s interested in dating a mare.”
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It was the night after the Grand Galloping Gala, and Rarity decided to try and drink away her memory of her disastrous meeting with Prince Blueblood (to this day, nopony dares to bring him up in the presence of the marshmallow unicorn, lest they want to lose control of their reproductive organs). When the group returned to Ponyville, Rarity could barely stand upright, let alone walk home. Not one to let her friends hanging, Rainbow offered to take the fashionista to bed. Along the path to Carousel Boutique, Rarity went on one of her famously melodramatic diatribes. Ordinarily, Rainbow would just shrug it off as Rarity’s typical overdramatic showmanship, but this one actually caught the pegasus’s attention.

“Do you, do want to know something….Rainbow d-Dash?” the unicorn sluggishly stammered out. “I…I am done, DONE…with stallions!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at what her friend was saying. Was she serious? Rarity: the pony who had been fantasizing since she was a filly about having a fairytale wedding with a handsome prince was declaring celibacy. (Or was she?)

“Oh right, Rare. So what, you’re gonna join a convent and become a nun? ‘Cause you know, my mom tried that once, but then the Archbishop of Cloudsdale couldn’t hold it in any longer. And that’s the story of how I was born. Now as for my awesome childhood…”

Rarity continued leaking out words. “R-rainbow, shut up, I…I’m not done talking. I don’t mean I’m done with love. I…I wanna date a mare.”

The cyan pegasus’s eyebrows widened. At this point, Rainbow had realized she liked mares (one in particular), but wasn’t exactly ready to be open to anypony. The topic of sexual preference was one she preferred avoiding. By the time Rarity spoke again, Rainbow had realized that close to a full minute had passed in complete silence.

“R...rainbow, I just need to ask. What’s it like…being that way?”

Rainbow gulped and began to sweat.

“What the hay are you…Rarity, you’re drunk. Let’s just get you home.”

Rainbow landed on the ground got behind the inebriate unicorn and began to push, increasing her speed while trying to inch away from the conversation.

“Wha…what’s the matter, Rainbow Dash? I know you like mares.”

“You don’t know anything except fashion.”

“Aww, come on Rainbow Dash. Why…why you gotta be so mean? I know you like Fluttershy.”

The cyan pegasus stopped in her tracks. The sensation commonly known as “Oh crap” began shaking her nervous system. How did Rarity know? That wasn’t important. Rainbow just needed to put Rarity to bed. They were almost to Carousel Boutique. The cyan pegasus picked up the drunken bundle and began to fly.

“Rarity, let’s just get you to bed. You’ll forget about this whole thing tomorrow.”

The unicorn refused to relent. “Don’t try to kill the conversation, Rainbow. I know darn well how you feel about Fluttershy. The way you look at her, the way you’ve been talking to her lately, not to mention the fact you always sleep off your hangovers at her house after nights like these. I bet you still have her spreads from when she was a model. I’m telling you, if you’re not being honest with yourself, then you’re not hiding your…y-your feelings well.”

The rainbow maned mare let out a sigh. She continued to carry Rarity back home, all the while trying to fight her urge to admit that the unicorn was indeed correct.

When the two finally reached their destination and went inside to put her in bed, Rarity, although about to pass out, was still on about the issue.

“A...and remember a few weeks ago whennn… when you told Sweetie Belle and the fillies about your cutie mark story. You were talking about those ruffians who bullied Fluttershy when you two were growing. (Belch) In the part of the story when you talked about defending her honor, you had this look of pride that I had never seen before on you. Now…now keep in mind that you, YOU, Rainbow Dash are a pretty prideful creature, so to say that you looked especially prideful is saying LOTS!!! That must’ve been your proudest moment as a filly, huh; Letting Fluttershy know that she wasn’t alone in this world? It’s beautiful if I must say so myself.”

By this point, the two had reached Rarity’s bedroom and the unicorn plopped on to her bed, getting close to finally passing out.

Rainbow was getting more indignant about the marshmallow unicorn’s theories. “You’re reading too deep into it, Rarity. I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t have romantic feelings for Fluttershy. I mean, yeah, I did feel proud standing up for Fluttershy like that, but that doesn’t mean I want to date her or anything. Honestly, I am so sick of people making these bucking assumptions about me and my love life! Oooh, Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran together at the Running of the Leaves, they MUST be a couple; or, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie go on pranking sprees together and argue like a married couple, they must be one! I don’t even like mares, why do people keep saying that? As far as everypony else is concerned, I don’t like anyone, and that’s the way it’s gonna stay! If you’ve gotta problem with that, Rarity, then tough toothpaste!”

Rarity turned to her side and finally started to drift off to sleep, but not without lamentably muttering the words, “Oh, Rainbow…rainbow….rain….zzzz”

Now Rainbow was finally alone with her thoughts. She couldn’t help but be annoyed with herself. She knew that what she just said was pure horse spit, but at the same time, she wasn’t ready to be open about her feelings with anypony, and it was actually pretty annoying to be having all these ponies make assumptions about who she liked, even if they were right on the gender thing.

The cyan pegasus considered her thoughts, feelings and statements for a few minutes in silent contemplation. All the while, Rarity was sleeping like a drunken baby. Maybe it was time to finally start being open about this…these feelings. Who better to start with then somepony who was dead drunk and passed out? (Hey, it was a start)

Rainbow looked at the sleeping beauty (hot mess) and cleared her throat.

“Rarity…I lied. I do like mares. I’ve realized that for a while now. The reason I haven’t told anypony yet is because I’m uncomfortable with the idea of you guys knowing, especially….Fluttershy. You were right, Rares, I do like Fluttershy…as more than a friend. I felt this way ever since we were fillies. At the time I didn’t understand what it meant, but as an adult it makes perfect sense. I’m gonna hate myself tomorrow, but: you were right again, standing up to those punks to protect Fluttershy was one of my proudest moments, even more than when I did the Sonic Rainboom for the first time. I was on cloud nine those days in Cloudsdale. Aw, jeez, this is so bucking sappy. Anyway, yeah, after Flight Camp, ‘Shy and I went our separate ways. All the while, she still kinda stuck in the back of my mind. I couldn’t figure out what the feeling was, but I knew it had to be something. Then we reunited in Ponyville, and it started to dawn on me what these feelings meant, but I was still uncomfortable with the idea of liking another mare that way, especially somepony who was pretty much everything I’m not. So I tried to distance myself with her, sort of get used to her presence without making my feelings stronger. It didn’t work, and those feelings only grew stronger. It got even worse after Twilight came into the picture, and we started spending more time together. Eventually, I just stopped trying to run from it. So you were right Rarity: I do like Fluttershy, but I’m also scared that she doesn’t like me back. That’s why I’m having trouble telling anypony about my feelings. That’s right: the great, awesome, coolest pony ever, Rainbow Dash is scared of getting rejected. Are you happy now? Do you want me to put a check in the win column for you?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t figure out why she was asking questions to a pony who couldn’t hear, let alone respond to what she was saying. The pegasus let out a sigh and made her way to the window to fly out. Sometime in the near future she would try to figure out a more tactful way of expressing her feelings to somepony (and eventually, Fluttershy).

However, before she could leave, Rarity proceeded to vomit all over the side of the bed she was facing toward. Once that was over with she spoke:

“Who called it? This girl did.” The unicorn vomited again.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she turned around to question Rarity. “How much did you hear?”

Finally catching her breath after consecutive rounds of losing her booze, the unicorn blurted out, “the entire thing”.
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Rainbow Dash often thought back to that moment, and about how much she had changed in the course of less than two years. After the Gala, it was a good year before she started making it clear how she felt about Fluttershy to the mare herself, and it took a good while afterward for the creamy yellow pegasus to actually reciprocate those feelings. Needless to say, it was a demoralizing, awkward ordeal of emotional miscommunication and romantic tension, an experience that would probably make somepony cry out in frustration and fatigue.

But a smile came across the cyan pegasus’s face as she came to the realization that she would do it all again. Fluttershy was worth that much, and there was no doubt about it.

“I need to do something nice for her.” Rainbow thought to herself as she began to fall asleep. “Something romantic and unexpected, but relatively low-key; I know she doesn’t like big spectacles.”

Then suddenly, an idea popped in her head. “I bet she wouldn’t expect me coming home a day early and taking her out someplace nice! It’s perfect! I mean, what am I gonna do here tomorrow, stay up here while all these losers get wasted off cheap drinks? Buck that! I’m gonna see Fluttershy, and I’m gonna surprise her with an awesome date to cap off the weekend. Rainbow Danger Dash, you are a genius!”

The cyan pegasus finally drifted off into slumber, knowing that tomorrow, she had the perfect plan to make Fluttershy ecstatic through a simple gesture like coming home earlier than expected. To Rainbow, it was the perfect idea. She slept peacefully with her mind at complete ease.

Back in Ponyville, however, peaceful and ease would be the last words to describe the situation….

Next Chapter: 7. The Night Ends Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes