Previous Chapters
Close
Dare3,258 words
Reality4,270 words
Clarity2,993 words
Doppelganger4,695 words
Rival4,438 words
Figment1,538 words
Truth2,047 words

Truth

Hearth’s Warming Eve, and Fluttershy was alone.

She sat at the window of her bedroom, staring out at the snowfall that made the world so pristine and beautiful. Moving carefully, she set a lone candle on her windowsill, struck a match and lit it. The tiny flame blazed brightly, filling her room with an unearthly glow. She turned back to face the room, watching as shadows danced on her wall. She smiled at the magical sight of it, entranced by the images brought to mind. Perhaps this was how she would spend every Hearth’s Warming Eve.

She was better now. It had taken time, but she was better. The pain had...mostly passed. Some days she hardly recalled it.

Other ponies were out with family, or attending the year’s Hearth’s Warming Pageant. Fluttershy would remain at home and think on things that might have been. She went to a nearby bookshelf, taking down a Daring Do novel. Some light reading to help her through this memorable night. Her own little tribute to a pony who had been so very special to her... and still was.

She was just about to climb into bed when there came rapping on her window. Curious, she went to look outside. Moving the candle aside, she pushed open the window and raised herself up on the windowsill.

“Rainbow! What are you doing out there? It must be freezing!”

“N-no kid-ding?” Rainbow rolled her eyes even as her teeth chattered, rubbing her shoulders. “You letting m-me in or n-n-not?”

Fluttershy stepped aside and Rainbow darted inside. Fluttershy took a moment to close her window and set the candle into place before turning to find Rainbow snuggling under her comforter with a relaxed smile. “Oooh, thank you. I was about to be a popsicle!”

Fluttershy shot the pegasus a frown. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be at Pinkie’s party.”

“Says the pony hiding in her dark and lonely room on the most important holiday in Equestria.” Rainbow climbed off the bed, kicking the covers off with a distracted buck. It was then that Fluttershy saw it: the pack.

Wide-eyed, she stepped forward to get a closer look. Abruptly aware of the attention, Rainbow sat and averted her eyes with a blush.

“Is that… Is that Daring’s pack?” Fluttershy lifted it from Rainbow’s side to examine it closer. “It is! Where did you find this?”

She looked up at Rainbow, who forced a smile and couldn’t meet her gaze. Her oldest friend coughed, rubbed the back of her head, glanced about for inspiration…and finally sighed. She drooped and pulled the pack off. “I’ll be straight with ya, Fluttershy. I came here tonight to give this to ya.”

She offered the pack. Fluttershy took it, but very slowly. It was heavy. She looked up at Rainbow again, but her friend still wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Rainbow?”

Rainbow looked down at the pack, shoulders sagged and ears low. “I… Well, last year when she disappeared, I went searching the woods. I found the pack out there, hanging from some tree. I’ve been holding on to it ever since.”

Fluttershy hesitated, but finally opened the pack. What she found inside stunned her: a dazzling, gold-silk necklace with a brilliant, midnight-blue gemstone at its center. “Oh my… She had this all along?”

Rainbow shook her head, reaching out to push the necklace closer to Fluttershy. “She went through a lot of trouble to get that for you. It was meant to be a Hearth’s Warming Eve’s present.”

Fluttershy’s chest tightened. Her eyes explored the brilliant necklace, its precious peridots glittering in the candlelight. Daring had gone through that kind of trouble? But then she caught Rainbow’s words, and when she looked up she found her friend looking away with guilt-ridden eyes.

“Rainbow… How did you know about this?”

Rainbow flinched and drooped a little more. “B-because… Because I helped her get it. When we went to the castle together, that blue stone was what she was after. She had Rarity make it into the necklace. Rarity didn’t know the purpose, though.”

Fluttershy looked down at the necklace, then back up at Rainbow. “B-but… Why didn’t you give it to me last year, when you found it?”

For the first time that night, Rainbow looked directly at her, and the sorrow on her face was piercing. Before Fluttershy knew it, Rainbow was embracing her.

“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. It’s my fault, it’s all my fault! I wanted to tell you, b-but I was scared.”

“Tell me?” Fluttershy shifted, awkwardly raising her hooves to hold the shaking pegasus. “I don’t understand. What’s your fault?”

“Everything!” Rainbow stepped back to give Fluttershy a direct, miserable look. “Daring Do was my fault. I talked Twilight into bringing her here, and I’m the reason she left.”

Fluttershy considered this and smiled. “Rainbow. Just because you had a part in bringing her here, that doesn’t mean—”

“No, Fluttershy!” Rainbow turned around and sat, head hanging low once again. “You don’t understand. Daring Do left because of me. I met her that day, right before she was gonna give you the necklace, and… and… and I fought her.”

Fluttershy blinked, tilted her head. “Fought? You mean… had an argument?”

Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “No, a fight. She threw me through a window, and I broke her leg against a tree!”

“What?” Fluttershy thought back on that night, struggling to recall the tender memories. “B-but her leg wasn’t broken…”

“That’s because it healed.” Rainbow shivered. “Right in front of me, it just… healed. Freakiest thing I ever saw! And then she sorta snapped. That had to be the moment when she decided to go.”

Fluttershy sat on her bed and studied the necklace. She tried to imagine Rainbow and Daring in a fight, but it was hard. She lifted the necklace to display it. “You mean you fought with her over this?”

Rainbow spun around to point, tears in her eyes. “Over you, Fluttershy! We were fighting over you!”

Fluttershy’s cheeks burned and the necklace dropped to the floor, forgotten. “W-what do you m-mean, over me?”

Rainbow covered her mouth, cheeks going red and eyes wide. She turned away once more, maintaining the alarmed look. But then she fell into that despondent mood once more. “Y-yeah, over you. She showed me the necklace, and when she said what she intended to do with it… I was mad. I felt like I’d just been backstabbed. Then she said you were already a couple and I… I just… attacked. I couldn’t help it. I was just so angry.”

“But why?” Fluttershy dropped from the bed to stand by Rainbow’s side, but Rainbow only turned away. “Rainbow, what was so bad about her and me being together?”

For a long time, Rainbow wouldn’t answer. At last, she raised her head.

“I was jealous. I was stubborn and selfish. I… I didn’t want her to have you, because you were so important to me, and I thought… I thought you were…”

Understanding hit Fluttershy like a bolt of lightning. For a few seconds she could only sit and stare. “R-Rainbow?”

Her oldest friend stood and turned to the window, adamantly refusing to look at her. “You should hate me. I hurt you pretty bad, so I deserve it. I’m… I’m just gonna go. If ya don’t wanna talk to me again, I… I’ll understand.”

She went to the window and prepared to open it, but Fluttershy jumped forward and caught her by the tail. “Wait!”

Rainbow still wouldn’t look at her, but she didn’t try to leave either. Fluttershy sighed her relief and dropped the tail, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

“Rainbow… I don’t hate you.”

Her friend – her secret admirer – glanced back over her shoulder, ears low and lips trembling. “R-really…? You don’t have to pretend or nothin’, y’know.”

Fluttershy offered her softest, most reassuring smile. “Rainbow, you’re my oldest friend. I can’t hate you! And besides… I’m glad you told me.”

Rainbow raised her head, ears perking up and eyebrows rising. “You are?”

“Mm-hmm.” Fluttershy turned away to pick up the necklace. “It gives me a clearer picture. I can’t blame you for what happened.”

“But—” Rainbow paused, perhaps to think on her words. “But… If I hadn’t fought her, she’d still be here! You and Daring could have been together.”

With necklace in hoof, Fluttershy turned back to Rainbow, beaming. “I’ve had a year to think things over. I believe I understand why she did what she did, and I know she was thinking of me the entire time. I don’t know if she was right to leave, but she thought she was acting in my best interest, and I’ll always appreciate that.”

Rainbow’s head lowered as she considered this. “But… that has nothing to do with what I did.”

“Maybe not, but you’re here now, trying to do the right thing, even if it means losing something important to you. You and Daring are more alike than you know… and I appreciate you, too.”

Blue cheeks turned red. Rainbow fidgeted and averted her eyes. “You… You mean that?”

Fluttershy stepped forward and nuzzled Rainbow’s cheek. “I do. I really—”

Rainbow’s wings opened with a jerk. Fluttershy's cheeks grew hot, but she didn’t pull back.

“Umm… Yes, I do.”

Rainbow jumped back and sat, trying to push down her wings and blushing wildly. “Umm… Err… Yeah. This is… Umm… It’s just…”

Fluttershy giggled at the sight, then started to laugh out loud. Rainbow paused, rubbed her mane… then started to laugh as well. They laughed and laughed. Rainbow sat and threw her head back, tears of mirth falling down her cheeks. Fluttershy fell back on the bed and fought to control her giggles.

When they at last calmed down enough to think properly, Fluttershy sat up and grinned at her old friend. Then she carefully put the necklace on.

“So… How does it look?”

Rainbow stared, considered, blushed. “You look good in anything.”

Fluttershy giggled. “I meant the necklace.”

Rainbow chuckled. A moment of silence passed between them, their world made of shadows. The light of the candle danced around them, sometimes illuminating Rainbow’s face, sometimes covering her in shade. There was a certain… magic to it, and Fluttershy felt strangely warm.

“So… you’re really not mad at me or anything?” Rainbow scuffed her hoof on the floor. “I mean, for real?”

Fluttershy smiled and reached for her discarded book. She displayed it to Rainbow. “I was gonna share this night with her. Want to join me?”

Her old friend’s eyes lit up. “Y-yeah. Yeah! I’d love to!” Fluttershy patted the bed, and Rainbow practically dove to her side. “Thank you so much! I was freaking out before I came here, I just knew you’d be furious with… w-with…”

She paused and stared as Fluttershy climbed under the covers, book tucked under a foreleg. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy poked her head from under the covers and propped the book on a pillow, opening it to the first page. She then cast an eye on Rainbow, who blushed and fidgeted. Fluttershy didn’t say anything, only patted the spot beside her and waited.

Rainbow gained a slow smile, eyes moistening as she stared. Finally, she pulled herself under the covers and set herself beside Fluttershy.

They read in silence for a few seconds. Everything seemed normal. Rainbow was beginning to relax…

Fluttershy pressed close and rested her chin on Rainbow’s shoulder. She heard Rainbow’s breath catch, felt her fidget and knew she was trying to prevent another embarrassing display of her wings. Fluttershy only smiled and closed her eyes, realizing that she was content. Daring Do had been right; there was a pony out there for her.

She offered a silent prayer, forever appreciative of the sacrifice that had been made for the sake of her happiness.

Author's Note:

The question remains: did Daring do the right thing?

I leave that up to my readers.

3,303 views

230

Previous Chapters