//------------------------------// // The Letter // Story: The Story of Skydancer // by Prawject Express //------------------------------// Rainclouds covered the town of Ponyville as its residents hid in their homes. As the wind pushed the rain all throughout the streets of the town, there was a yellow pegasus pony with a long flowing pink mane looking out of the window of a small cottage. She watched the trees sway back and forth to the rhythm of the storm. “Oh, I hope my animal friends are ok out in the storm,” the yellow pegasus said to herself. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. They have to be used to it by now.” Fluttershy turned around to see a light blue pegasus with a rainbow stripped mane standing behind her. “We’ve scheduled multiple downpours this week to make up for the drought we had last month. Your animal friends will be fine.” “I guess so Rainbow Dash. It’s just that……..um……..what if there is a baby squirrel in one of those trees that-" Rainbow Dash put a reassuring hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder and said, “There is nothing to worry about. Trust me.” Fluttershy slowly turned her head and gave a little nod to Rainbow. “Thanks again for letting me stay for the night.” Rainbow said. “Oh it’s nothing really. I wouldn’t want you to stay in your cloud home all night. Who knows how much of it will be left after the storm?” “It shouldn’t be messed up too bad. I got Twilight to weatherproof it before the rain hit.” “Ok then…it’s getting kind of late. I think I should get dinner started…..” “While you do that I’ll go get my things. Are you sure you want me to sleep in your bed tonight? I don’t mind sleeping in the living room.” “No I don’t mind at all. It’s my pleasure. It will be nice to sleep down here with Angel for once,” She reached over and patted her pet bunny on the head. “Well if you say so. I’m going to bring my stuff upstairs. See ya in a little bit.” “Ok Rainbow Dash. See you soon.” Fluttershy watched as Rainbow Dash picked up her saddlebag and walked upstairs. She then trotted over to the kitchen, got out a large cooking pot, and started to pour water into it. ‘Knock Knock’ Flutershy stopped the water and looked at the door from across the living room. ‘Who could be at the door at this time?’ She thought to herself. 'It must be a broken tree branch or something hitting the door.’ She then turned on the faucet again and continued to pour water into the pot. ‘Knock Knock Knock’ Fluttershy was confused. She turned off the water, walked over to the door and opened it. She was then surprised to see a pair of kooky looking eyes staring right at her. “Derpy? What are you doing outside in a storm like-" “I have a letter for you!”Derpy suddenly replied. “Oh…um….well….thanks Derpy” “Yup! Well, see you later Fluttershy!” “Wait Derpy! Are you sure you should fly home in a storm like this? Would you like to stay here?” “Nope. Gotta go. Muffins!” Before Fluttershy could say anything more, Derpy was out of sight. She looked down at the scroll she possessed as she closed the door behind her. It was laced with a ruby red ribbon written with the words “To Fluttershy of Ponyville”. Curious to see what it was, she walked over to her couch and opened the letter. A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash walked into the living room. “Hey Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin on her face, “Where do you keep your-“ Rainbow stopped in mid-sentence when she glanced at Fluttershy. There was a strange, blank expression on her face. “Fluttershy? Is there something wrong?” Rainbow said with concern. “I………..um…….I…..” “You can tell me Fluttershy.” “My…….father…..um….died.” Rainbow suddenly felt uneasy. Fluttershy never talked about her family, especially to her friends. She noticed that her best friend was emotionally distraught, but she didn’t know how to react. After a hesitation, she hung her head low and quietly said, “I’m sorry.” A few minutes passed and the two of them just stayed there unable to speak a word. Eventually, Rainbow slowly walked over to the couch and took a seat next to her. She then wrapped her arms around her and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry,” She said again. It took another minute for Fluttershy to speak again. “The funeral is going to be held at Sweet Passings Funeral Home in Cloudsdale. My mom wants me to go.” “When is it?” Rainbow asked. “Why should I care?!” Fluttershy snapped as she threw the scroll on the ground. Rainbow suddenly released her hug as Fluttershy’s eyes started to get wet. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy. Her eyes were filled with fear as Fluttershy shot up into the air. “I don’t give a manticore’s backside about my bucked up father!!” Fluttershy screamed. She then flew over to her bedroom and zoomed inside slamming the door behind her. Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It took a few minutes for her to gain the courage to walk over to the bedroom and open the door. When she slowly opened it, she saw her on her bed with her head buried into her pillow. She was…….crying. Rainbow could also see Angel sitting next to Fluttershy brushing her long pink mane in an effort to comfort her. Her mane brightened up as the moonshine seeped through the window of the dimly lit room. “Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked softly. The only reply she got was the muffled sounds of the sobs coming from the pillow Fluttershy’s head was buried in. ‘What should I do?’ Rainbow thought to herself. She knew that a good friend always helped in times of need. Rainbow walked over to the side of the bed and placed her hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright Fluttershy. This is just the way life works. Everything will be fine.” The sobs eventually started to slow down as Fluttershy slowly raised her head from her pillow. She then got her back legs off the bed and onto the floor. Sitting on her bedside, she looked at her rainbow colored friend. Rainbow looked back at Fluttershy’s face with concern. Her eyes were bright red and her cheeks were damp and stained with tears. Rainbow then took a seat next to her friend and put her hoof around her shoulder like she did before. “I’m…..sorry..Rainbow..for….yelling.” Fluttershy whispered. “It’s ok Fluttershy. I understand.” “But that’s the problem. You don’t understand.” Rainbow was surprised at this answer. She waited to hear more. “You know, my real name isn’t Fluttershy.” Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could her best friend, who she’s known since she was a filly, not be Fluttershy? This just didn’t make any sense to her. After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy continued. “My real name is Skydancer. Skydancer Moonlight. That was the name my parents gave me when I was born. There are a lot of things that you and the others don’t know about me. My…..childhood wasn’t as nice as other ponies Rainbow. Ever since I was born, my sister and I have been living under the shadow of my older brother Stormchacer Moonlight.” “You have a brother and a sister?” Rainbow shouted astonished. “How come you never told anyone?!” “I’m………sorry,” Fluttershy replied and pulled back. Rainbow felt bad about her sudden outburst. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound angry at you. So your brother’s name is Stormchacer. What’s your sister’s name?” Rainbow asked. “Her name is…… Starlight. She is actually my twin sister. She has the same coat color as me but has a black mane and tail.” “My brother was the fastest pegasus of his age and the winner of the Best Young Flier Competition years ago. My mom was proud like any parent should be but my dad was different. He was so proud of my brother that he spent all of his time praising him. Because of my brother’s success, Starlight and I were kind of invisible to him. I remember all the times at dinner when my brother would talk about an award he won and my dad always telling him that he brings honor to the Moonlight family. Nothing really bad happened until this one day, Stormchacer tried to perform a Stratus Streak.” “A Stratus Streak?!” Rainbow interrupted, “But that’s impossible to pull off without some kind of magic assistance!” “Storm thought that he could be the first one to do it without using any magic. He practiced for hours each day convinced that he was going to make history. Eventually, he thought he was ready. I remember when he brought the family outside in the backyard to witness what he called, “Amazing Awesomeness”. We all watched as he launched into the air. He kept increasing altitude until he was a small speck in the sky. It wasn’t too long till we heard a faint crack in the air. Immediately following the crack, we saw the speck rapidly grow in size. He was falling. My dad panicked. He quickly gathered a bunch of clouds together to brace Stormchacer’s fall.” “Did it work?” Rainbow asked. “It did,” Fluttershy stated. “He fell on the cushion of clouds.” “So he was safe right?” “Actually, there was one major problem. His left wing was gone. I can just remember the amount of blood coming from his side. It was horrifying to watch. When he got to the hospital, the doctor stated that he would never fly again. This was devastating to both him and my dad.” Fluttershy paused as the terrible memories of what occurred crowded her mind. “Was everything ok afterwards?” Rainbow asked nervous of what was going to come next. “My brother was so devastated by his injury that he….put an end to his own misery. I can’t tell you the pain that my dad was feeling the day he died. The rest of us were sad, but it seemed like my dad will never be happy ever again. That’s when he started drinking." Fluttershy’s eyes started to water up again as Rainbow held her even closer. “It’s going to be ok.” Rainbow told her. A few moments passed and Fluttershy continued her story. “After a while, Dad would take his anger out on me since I was the weaker one. He would yell at me saying how I will never be as good as Stormchacer. He told me that I was a weak, pathetic, disgrace of a child and would sometimes throw his beer bottle at my face. Mom would sometimes cry for him to stop, but it wouldn’t help anything. Pretty soon he would call me Fluttershy because of my poor flying and social skills. The real problem was that………I agreed with him.” “What?” Rainbow interrupted. “Its true. Compared to my brother, or my sister, I was a weak, pathetic Fluttershy. Because of this, I kind of made that my name. Pretty soon everyone called me Fluttershy. I remember a day in flight school where all the kids mocked me for my inability to do a simple flying task. They would shout ‘Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly!’ It seemed like everywhere I went, I would hear ponies saying this humiliating chant. I remember going home upset only to find my dad angry at my progress in school. It seemed like the only person in my family who respected me was Starlight. Unlike my dad, she would try her best to comfort me when I was humiliated or scared. There was one day where my father got the news that I failed one of my flying exams at school and kicked me in the face because of it. That night, in our bedroom, Starlight and I made an agreement that we were going to stick together during this tough time. We were never going to leave each other no matter what happened.” Fluttershy took in a deep sigh and continued. “Then came the day I went to Summer Flight Camp. My parents could only afford one of us to go to camp and my dad chose me. He thought I needed the flying classes the most, which I did. Before I left home to go to camp, Starlight reminded me of our agreement to stick together no matter what. I wish I could tell you that that happened." Fluttershy turned her head and looked at her friend straight in the eye. “You remember the day we both got our cutie marks right” She asked. Rainbow nodded and added, “I was defending your honor in a race and you accidentally fell off the edge of Cloudsdale.” “Yes but…….” “But what Fluttershy?” “My fall wasn’t…….an accident.” “Wait, do you mean-“ “Yes Rainbow. I was so ashamed of myself that I tried to commit suicide off the cloud.” Rainbow was stunned to hear this, but after some thought, it didn’t come as a huge surprise. She might have done the same if she was in her position. “Fortunately, a group of butterflies broke my fall. At that moment, I realized all of the animals down on the surface cared about me. I never experienced so much kindness in my life. Because of this I then thought that maybe life is worth living after all. That was the moment I got my cutie mark. I remember hiding from the Cloudsdale police as they came down to find me. There was no way I was going back to that miserable life up in the sky. Eventually, with the help from my new animal friends, I built my house outside of Ponyville and stayed there ever since.” “That was when I left flight school to look for you.” Rainbow added, “I was so worried about your fall that I looked everywhere. Then I luckily found you when I got a job for the weather patrol here in Ponyville.” “But…” Fluttershy faltered. “What is it?” Rainbow asked. “I failed. I broke my promise to my sister. I left her to deal with my family on her own. She’s probably furious with me. This is why I haven’t contacted her or told anyone else about this. I want to erase this terrible memory from my head. And now my mom sent me this letter asking me to come to my father’s funeral. I....just…..don’t think I can do it.” “She probably forgives you because of all the circumstances,” Rainbow stated. “I don’t think she would. She shouldn’t. I failed her! I’m just a lousy, pathetic, joke of a pony, just like my dad said.” “Flutter-I mean-Skydancer, you are an amazing pony. You’re my best friend in the world. I know you can be shy sometimes but deep down, you have the ability to stand up to a dragon. I’ve seen it. I think the thing you need to do is to go back to Cloudsdale and face your family again.” “I……………..can’t” “Come on Skydancer! Pony up! You’re not going to solve your troubles by just sitting here.” “Ok Dash, I’ll think about it.” Fluttershy shyly replied. “I’m kind of tired. You mind if we got some shut-eye?” “Oh not at all. I’m feeling a little tired too.” Fluttershy paused and looked around. “Oh, right. You were going to sleep here. I’m sorry.” “You know Fluttershy, I’ll just go ahead and sleep downstairs.” “Are you sure? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” Dash looked at Fluttershy’s pillow. Seeing that it was dripping with Fluttershy’s tears, Rainbow said, “Yeah, I’m sure.” At that moment, Rainbow walked over to the door. Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Thank you Dash.” She added. “Thanks for what?” Rainbow asked. “For being the one of the only ponies that was kind to me when every other pony wasn’t. Thank you for being the greatest friend I have ever had.” “No problem Sky. I am the Element of Loyalty after all.” Fluttershy gave a little chuckle and slowly drifted off to sleep.