Chapter 1
With a gentle flutter of its wings the butterfly alighted on the daisy. Sunlight filtered down through the gnarled old tree above, as well as reflecting off the slowly waving field of dry grass in the clearing just beyond. The insect slowly flapped its wings as it probed for nectar in the flower, regarding its surrounding with unblinking compound eyes. Even in the land of Equestria the circle of life continued and the butterfly analyzed every movement and pattern it saw for signs of a hungry bird or other predator. Wind brushed through the trees, warmth from the sun heated the air, and the forest hummed with life but the butterfly saw nothing of note. Except for a little orange dot on the horizon. It was nothing obvious, just a minor anomaly jumping about in the space just above the tree line hundreds, if not thousands, of cart lengths away. It looked all the world like an insect crazily dancing in the air currents, except that given the distances involved it was obvious that the object was far larger than any insect (and most land animals) in Equestria. It was also completely silent and it was getting bigger by the second. As it approached, barely clearing the tree tops and dropping almost to the deck, two things became obvious: first, everything was scattering in its wake and second, it was trailing a multicolored stripe. In fact one might even call it 'rainbow'-colored.
Rainbow Dash ripped over the ground at a hair-breadths less than the speed of sound, her overpressure wave scaring the living daylights out of the denizens of Everfree Forest. Wings pumping relentlessly and legs stretched out in front of her she spotted and recognized an approaching rock outcropping in the field below her. As she passed over it Rainbow Dash commanded her wings to go faster and pitched up hard, punching through the light cloud layer at the exact same time that she broke the sound barrier. The Sonic Rainboom rippled outwards across the forest, shaking trees and kicking up a small windstorm - if anything had been asleep in the forest below it wasn't any longer. The shockwave dissipated fairly quickly but the pressure gradient had compressed the cloud layer and triggered numerous scattered showers - the weather in the area would be messed up for hours. Far above this mess Dash's eyeballs were jammed into the back of their sockets. Clad in a day-glow orange pressure suit she stretched her legs out, as if to grab the rapidly darkening sky in front of her. The hiiss-haww of her breath and the thumping of her heart was loud in her ears inside the relative quiet of the suit helmet. The roar of wind-noise was starting to drop away and she risked a brief flick of her eyes to the side to glance at the horizon.
The curve of the planet stretched out beside her. She could clearly see the faint blue-white shell of air and moisture wrapping around the brown and green and blue below her, and off in the distance she could see the ocean at the edge of the kingdom. She snapped her view back to forward, between her forehoofs, as she pushed her wings harder.
Uh oh... The feeling of acceleration was dying. Dash focused on ramping up the beat of her wings but their effectiveness seemed to be falling off, like the air was thickening around her. It felt like she had lost all acceleration now - in fact it felt like freefall. She couldn't 'feel' her orientation at all now, just a hollow sinking feeling and her mind reeled at the sudden change in forces. Her breath came in quick gasps as she pawed the thin air in front of her and suddenly the black sky cracked widthwise into a brilliant white light as her eyes came open.
Sunlight from an open window in her bedroom reflected off the pure white of the roof composed of cloudstuff, flooding the room with morning light. Laying on her back in bed, Rainbow dropped her arms to her sides and blinked a few times, slowly letting out the breath she had been holding, listening to her thumping heart. Rainbow's mind idled and she mentally flipped through a few scenes from the dream she had just woke from, savoring the feeling of speed and rushing air and cautiously probing the feelings of uncontrolled freefall. After a few minutes her breathing had calmed and she stifled a yawn, still awed by the luminescent blue curve of the planet that she could still see in her minds eye. Her eyes had been drifting shut but she suddenly snapped them open.
"Wait! What day is it!"
She half fell, half jumped out of bed, scattering cloudstuff, and bounded over to her desk. The simple oak slab - one of the few bit of furniture in her house that wasn't based on cohesive moisture - was covered with a haphazard mess of meteorological charts, topographical maps, and plotting instruments. Dash rifled through the stacks until she found a small, simple cloth-bound book. Glancing at the chronometer on the corner of her desk - gift from Twilight Sparkle, after Dash had missed yet another lunch date - she hoofed through her daily planner while pulling an errant clump of cloud out of her mane. After a few moments the sky-blue pegasus stopped on a page and squinted.
"It IS!"
High above Ponyville on a free-floating tuft of cloud, the front door of a modest skyhouse banged open - well, as well as a door made of cloud could bang onto a wall of cloud - and Rainbow Dash ran out onto what any other pony would call a front yard. She barely got four steps out before she stopped and her jaw dropped.
"Woah."
Now, the seasons were about to shift into summer proper. The extra heat would dry out the fields in the low-lands which would affect the food supply, which meant the local weather teams would need to bring in that much more water. Of course the standard procedure for this was to bring in clouds in from cooler, wetter areas like the mountains around Canterlot. However, to mix things up a bit and to give everything one last good soak weather teams usually brought in a good storm or two every year - if nothing else it entertained the foals.
This is where it got interesting, for Dash at least. See, somepony down the chain had decided that most everypony in the low-lands had been short changed in terms of water this year and called for an extra large soaking. This prompted the Equestria Meteorological Office to schedule an astonishingly large cloud movement across Equestria. Record breaking, even.
The MetOff wasn't exactly operating under strict secrecy but they didn't actively advertise their machinations either. Dash had called upon a couple of contacts she knew and had gotten her hoofs on the preliminary timetable and movement plans for the convoy a few weeks ago, and what she saw awed her. The air currents and cloud formations looked massive and extensive and all Dash could think of was how much fun she could have sailing through that layout.
Back when she had heard rumors about the size of the undertaking she had played with the idea of traveling to intercept it, but when she got a look at the schematics she had discovered to her surprise and delight that the whole mess was scheduled to skirt the edge of Ponyville. Anything coming that close to town would easily fall under the jurisdiction of the regional weather office in Cloudsdale. Concerned that plans had changed in the meantime, Dash put in a request for information regrading the convoy and a few days later she got a message back stating that the schedule she had was the same as the one the weather office had on file. Once she had gotten confirmation that the convoy would be passing by near Ponyville Rainbow Dash had immediately put in for a weeks vacation over that date. She hadn't won any friends at the MetOff with that move, but many of her coworkers understood. She would be damned if she was going to be stuck on escort duty while the biggest cluster of thunderheads in the past five years or so passed right by her house.
And there they were. Towering above the plains and gently rolling hills of the countryside outside Ponyville were some of the biggest, blackest, meanest looking cumulonimbus clouds she had ever seen. Rainbow trotted up the edge of the 'yard', cloudstuff gently sagging and rebounding underhoof. She could see small fluttering dots zipping around the sky, teams of pegasi rounding up errant tufts of cloud that threatened to run off, or adjusting the velocity and direction of one of the many thunderheads as the whole formation lumbered across the sky.
Dash was grinning so hard she wondered if her face was going to be permanently deformed when this day was over. She pulled her goggles down, yanked the strap, and did a somersault off the edge of the cloud - completely forgetting about her still-open front door.
Rainbow Dash banked left, hugging the wall of the thunderhead as the brown-coat, black-maned pony ahead of her peeled off. Dash gave a friendly salute to her coworker who had been gracious enough to let Dash draft him about halfway up the cloud. She watched her acquaintance briefly freefall back to a more sensible altitude before spreading his wings and carrying on with his duties. It also gave Dash a chance to appreciate just how high up she was - the massive clouds were separated enough to form giant chasms of clear air all the way to the ground, and in the golden sunlight she could see the patterns of outlying fields far below her.
Up here, though...
Nothing. Nothing but clear air, a blue sky, and fluffy white clouds. Very few pegasi made their way up this high and the clouds were pristine, completely untouched. Dash got her wings into a good rhythm as she continued to corkscrew around the towering cloud, breathing hard in the thin air. The storm containment wasn't perfect at this height and a few wisps of moisture were working their way out. Dash found herself flickering in and out of sunlight as she punched through them. Time seemed to dilate as she focused on the beat of her wings, her breathing, and her path upwards.
She felt that she must be getting near the top now, the clouds were thinning out. In fact, most of what she could see were the tops of the thunderheads. The sky was getting darker too, Dash realized - the sun was still crawling up one side of the sky but the blue above her was slowly darkening.
I must have some pretty serious altitude...
The sudden blast of wind in her face was unexpected and she blinked despite the goggles. The sky above and around her was completely clear - a giant deep dark blue dome stretched from horizon to horizon.
YES!
This was the top! She hovered over the cloud briefly and took in the view. Off in the distance she could see the other thunderheads in the convoy creeping along. Most had passed by Ponyville by now; the towns cloudy morning had broken into a bright sunny day. The high altitude winds were knocking the tips off the storm clouds - it almost looked like somepony had used a knife to lop the top points off of several large cones of whipped cream.
Note to self: visit Sugarcube Corner when I get back. Dash licked her lips in anticipation.
Unfortunately Dash couldn't admire the view for long. Given the winds up here even just holding position above the cloud was starting to put a strain on her ability, particularly given the flight up. She dropped back down below the wind layer and did a slow circle of the cloud, admiring the view some more and thinking about what she was going to put on her sundae when she went to see Pinky Pie later. Dash was about to finish up her fourth loop when she realized she could hear something over the wind. Sounded like a hissing or a...gasping.
Is that...is that breathing? I thought I was alone up here. Dash craned her neck around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted something magenta and yellow wobbling up behind her.
"Can't be." Not this high up. Dash did a quick turn and glided up to the other pony. It was exactly who she thought it was. "Fluttershy?! Wha- But- I- WHAAAA?!"
"Hello. Rainbow. Dash." Fluttershys face was the picture of tranquility but each word she spoke was punctuated by a withering gasp for air, devolving into a steady pattern of heavy breathing.
Dash nodded hello but wasn't really paying attention to what Fluttershy was saying. By the sun, she looks like she's going to drop out of the air at any moment. The pale yellow ponys breathing was clearly labored and she wasn't flapping her wings in sync. In fact she looked like she was having trouble just maintaining altitude.
"How did you get up here?!"
"I flew!" Fluttershy smiled, looking pleased with herself.
She looks exhausted. "Did you follow me up here?"
"Yes." Yet another gasp.
Worry for her old friend briefly cut through Rainbows usual brash attitude. "Flutters, you look completely tuckered out. Let's drop down a few hundred carts."
"I- Rainbow-!" Squeaked Fluttershy as her wings missed a beat and her whole body quivered. Talking must have thrown off her breathing. The sudden lack of air meant her muscles didn't have enough energy to make her wings complete a full sweep, which meant she lost lift and thus-
Fluttershy let out a long, soft, high pitched scream as her flapping faltered and she flailed wildly with her legs. Whatever strength she had left was gone now and it took all her vertical lift with it, and just like that Fluttershy turned into a fuzzy yellow meteor.
With a cold knot in her gut Rainbow Dash watched her screaming friend drop like a rock. "Glide! GLIDE! Throw out your wings!" She shouted after the rapidly falling pale yellow pony. "Oh ponyfeathers!" Rainbow dove after her friend, flapping hard to catch up. "FLUTTERSHY!"
"Fluttershy!" Twilight called out as she trotted up the crushed rock path towards Fluttershy's cottage. The afternoon was warm and bright - perfect spring weather, ignoring the clouds. "Fluttershy? Huh." Fluttershy wasn't one to simply blow off appointments, so the fact that she hadn't shown up for the hike the two of them had planned for that afternoon had Twilight concerned. She had just come from town and everypony she had spoken to there hadn't seen the shy pony since early in the morning. Given wonderful weather Twilight was honestly surprised to not find her friend tending to her garden or visiting her animal friends, having simply lost track of time.
Right, so, where is she? Twilight wondered to herself. A number of forest critters popped their heads up from their nearby homes to watch the dark purple pony approach. As Twilight crossed over the bridge a small white rabbit with a severe expression darted into the middle of the path and threw up a paw and Twilight came to an abrupt stop.
"Oh! Angel Bunny. How are you?" Angel, paws on hip, simply stared at Twilight. "Uh, I'm fine, thanks," Twilight chuckled nervously. "Um, have you seen Fluttershy?" The insipid ball of fluff stuck his chin out and pointed back down the path where Twilight had just come from. "You...want me to go away?" Angel nodded once. "But I'm one of Fluttershy's friends; I've been looking all over town for her." Angel rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stared at Twilight, like he was trying to remember who she was. "Pleeease?" Angel sighed and shrugged. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Fluttershy's cottage and hopped away, not waiting for a response. "Thank you!" Twilight called after him. "You crazy rabbit," she continued, muttering under her breath.
Twilight was worried now. She had been standing at the front door for several minutes, knocking intermittently but had yet to receive any answer. She had peeked in a side window (feeling vaguely criminal as she did so) but the lights were extinguished and she couldn't see any evidence that anypony was home. Still, Twilight knew that Angel was fiercely protective of Fluttershy - if that rabbit thought Fluttershy was in her house, Fluttershy was probably in her house. Running out of options, Twilight tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. It swung open silently with a light push. She hesitated a moment before stepping into the entryway - this felt like trespassing.
"Hello?" No response. She noted that while the lights were out, none of the curtains were drawn. Well, somepony was here this morning. Assorted noises came from a number of small boxes and bird houses scattered around the house as a few late risers and sick animals stuck their heads out to see who had wandered in. "Oh, excuse me. I didn't mean to intrude," Twilight said nervously as she realized she was being watched. "I was just looking for-" Above her head the ceiling creaked. Is somepony upstairs? "-Fluttershy," she finished.
The unicorn walked quietly over the base of the stairs that lead to Fluttershy's bedroom and stood silently for a moment to see if she could hear anything. Over the muffled sounds of a late spring day outside Twilight could hear faint movements and...quiet humming? Mumbling? Definitely a rustling, and her nose caught a whiff of incense. Twilight gulped. As much as she wanted to have company on her hike, Twilight didn't want to disturb her friend if she was sleeping. Wouldn't hurt to check though.
Twilight gently and quietly ascended the stairs, being mindful of any creaks the worn planks could generate, and came to a stop just as her head cleared floor level. The room was dim but the occasional beam of sunlight lanced through the air from cracks in the window shades, catching motes of dust in their slow dance. Fluttershy's footlocker had been pushed up against the stairwell railing blocking most of Twilights view of the room as she warily advanced further up the stairs. The air was warm and fragrant - Twilight noticed a small decorative metal plate on the top of the footlocker that held some kind of mix of smoldering flower petals and spices. The smoke curled lazily up to the ceiling. "Flutter-"
The name died in her throat. Fluttershy was sprawled in the middle of the floor, facing the stairs, laying atop of a layer of soft-looking towels and pillows. Her chin was on the ground, her front legs were stretched out forward, and her back legs were by her sides. And her wings! Both her wings were completely outstretched and flopped across the hardwood floor. Twilight couldn't tell if Fluttershy was aware of her presence as the pegasus had a towel draped across her face, and frankly the lemon custard colored pony looked to be completely out of it. The big surprise was that there was someone else in the room. Leaning with her back up against Fluttershy's flank was a familiar sky-blue pony with a rainbow mane. Rainbow Dash's face was rapt with concentration: in her hoofs the blue pegasus held Fluttershy's left wing at an odd angle, and with her teeth-
There was a barely discernible snap as Rainbow Dash pulled a secondary feather out of the wing of her childhood friend. Fluttershy shuttered slightly and mumbled something unintelligible. Dash looked over her shoulder at the conked-out pony with a look that approached tenderness and appreciation. Dash then noticed Twilight. She waved enthusiastically and completely silently, and began to pantomime something.
Twilights brain wasn't in the mood. One thing she had learned when she was very young was one did not mess with a pegasis' wings. Wings were Personal Space, capital letters. Pulling out feathers was approximately on par with somepony trying to chop off a unicorns horn and Twilight imagined that it would be about as painful. Now, Twilight knew that Fluttershy didn't exactly dominate the room when she walked in. In fact, she would very nearly evaporate if she didn't know most of the occupants. Fluttershy's meek personality had given Twilight pause on more than one occasion and she worried about her friend being taken advantage of by some less-than-noble pony - unwanted magazine subscriptions, theft, or worse. Fortunately getting Fluttershy to talk to strangers was like trying to buck apples from an orange tree and Twilight trusted their group of friends to not do something untoward to their shyest member. However, when alone in the town library late a night she had occasionally explored the thoughts lurking in the dark recesses of her mind and consequently she had wondered on occasion: what if somepony flipped? Became jealous? Angry? Well, Twilight could imagine that it could look a lot like this: somepony Fluttershy trusted pinning her to the floor while pulling out her feathers. Hoofs on autopilot, Twilight reversed down the stairs, a look of surprise and shock plastered on her face. Dash looked confused and gestured for her to come closer but Twilight turned and ran down the remaining steps. Dash jumped off Fluttershy as carefully and gently as she was able and fluttered out of the room after her friend.
"Hey, wait!" Dash hissed.
Twilight skidded to a halt outside the house and spun around. Dash was, well, dashing for the door as well, looking concerned. Without thinking Twilight reached out magically and threw the front door shut. Well, almost. Rainbow managed to snake a foreleg through the gap just in time, keeping the door from slamming. The door recoiled off her foreleg and she tumbled outside in pain, biting her lip. Dash quickly stood and gently closed the front door. With Fluttershy safely insulated from the noise outside, Dash let her pain be known. "YOOOWWCH! OWOWOWowowowwoowwww...." She shook her leg out in front of her. "Geeze Twilight, you've got a good throwing leg. Err, horn."
Twilight stared at her dumbly. "I...I should go," And alert the town guard. And Princess Celestia. And possibly Applejack. "Sorry for the, um, interruption," she turned and immediately broke into a gallop.
"Oooh no you don't," Dash took off, zipped overhead, and dropped down in front of Twilight. "First you tell me why you tried to slam a door on me."
Twilight ducked around Dash and took off running again. Dash sighed heavily. She let Twilight run for a few moments and then turned around, lifted off, and bowled Twilight right over. The two ponys rolled to a stop on the path, Twilight on her back and Dash standing over her.
"AAAAHH!" Twilight yelled, more out of surprise than fear. The pegasus was staring down at her with an expression of complete befuddlement.
"What's gotten into you?!"
"You were hurting Fluttershy!" Twilight blurted out, not quite believing what she was saying.
"Huh? What?! Was not!"
"I SAW you pull that feather out!"
"Oh! That!" Dash looked relieved, and then thoughtful. "Huh. Yeah, I guess I was-"
"WHAT?!"
"-but it's not what you think." She finished in a firm tone. Dash stepped back and held out a foreleg to help her friend up. "Will you let me prove it?"
Twilight stared, confused, but after a moment she sighed and grabbed the proffered foreleg. "Of course."
Rainbow nodded. "Follow me."
They trotted back to the house and crept back up the stairs. Halfway up Dash gestured for Twilight to stop and she silently walked up to the top of the staircase. The multicolored pegasus paused and glanced around the room for a moment before gesturing for Twilight to follow, but to be quiet. Fluttershy still lay on the floor, breathing quietly. Twilight began to approach the reclined figure but Rainbow Dash held out a leg. "Hang on a sec. She followed me up to the top of a thunderhead today," Dash whispered (with a note of pride?) to Twilight as they regarded their sleeping friend. "Reeaally high up. Completely zonked."
"So?"
"She nearly lost it on the way back down. She's not exactly strong and we were getting wind sheer all over the place today. Nevermind the clouds - no beacons out here, we were vee-eff-are all the way back. Wasn't until we touched down outside Cloudsdale that I got a good look at her wings." Dash quietly picked up a basket that had been set to one side of the makeshift 'bed' in the middle of the room. She offered it to Twilight. "Airfoil profile all messed up."
Twilight gritted her teeth and looked into the basket, expecting to see something bloody. Instead she saw a small pile of feathers. Cut, torn, mangled, ripped, shredded feathers. Then it hit her: Dash hadn't been pulling out feathers indiscriminately, she had been pulling out damaged ones! Dash had been preening Fluttershy! Twilights concern for Fluttershys immediate safety faded but was replaced with a deeper worry. "Her wings were damaged?" asked Twilight incredulously.
"I've seen worse."
The gears in Twilights head were turning as she recalled what little she knew about personal care practices regarding wings. "So she wasn't preening on her own?"
Dash shook her head. "I'm sure she was. But you know how sensitive our wings are? Now try imagining Fluttershy pulling her own feathers out." Twilight winced. Dash continued. "Yeah, I think she 'missed' a few," she said, making the air-quotes.
"So you offered to help?"
"Yeah." Dash puffed out her chest. "If anypony knows wings, it'll be me - the best flier in Equestria." Twilight gave Dash a look that translated to a sarcastic Yeah, right. Dash grinned back, eyes laughing. Fluttershy was still sleeping peacefully, the occasional faint snore emanating from the pile of feathers and towels.
Twilight looked at the floor. Guilt was nibbling at her consciousness. "Dash, I- I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I should have had more trust in you than that."
Dash put an arm on the other mares shoulder. "That's okay Twilight. You were just looking out for your friend. Who can blame you?" The pair was silent for a moment as they watched the sleeping figure in front of them. Dash patted Twilight on the shoulder and picked up the basket. Twilight folded her legs under her and sat down as Dash walked back to Fluttershy. As she watched, the Element of Loyalty ever so gently picked up the wing of their mutual friend and went back to work.
After a few minutes Twilight spoke up, curiosity tugging at her mind. "Is this something pegasi do? Social grooming? I've never heard about it before."
Dash shrugged. "Preening's a personal thing, like taking a bath or brushing your teeth. Only very close friends help each other like this."
Twilight put a hoof on her chest. "I'm...flattered."
"Huh? Why?"
"That you and Fluttershy trust me enough and consider me a close enough friend to see you two like this."
"Oh, that." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Nah. I don't care; but she'd be horrified," she said with a dismissive wave of a hoof.
Twilight blanched.
Well, she thought to herself as she stood and stammered excuses for needing to leave in a hurry, this will make for an interesting Friendship Report...