The Difference of Dreams and Reality
Fluttershy stirred in her sleep, cold beads of sweat rolling her pale yellow cheeks. Angle and her other animal friends could only watch in fear and nervousness as their keeper rolled around her small, soft bed. Fluttershy violently tossed and turned in the dimly lit room. Celestia has barely lifted the warm, morning sun when the animals had heard the frighting commotion from Fluttershy's room. They gazed upon her as Fluttershy suddenly jolted upright in her now unrecognisable bed. Cold beads of sweat rolled down her dark cheeks and dripped off of her chin. She violently jerked her head around, as if looking for something. Several anxious moments pass before Fluttershy stopped jolting her head around. She now simply rest her head on her hooves, strands of her soft, pink hair curling over her eyes. She let out an exhausted sigh and lay back in her bed. With on eye completely closed and the other partially open, she noticed her many animals at her bed step, frightened and nervous looks on their stricken faces.
Fluttershy sat up in her soft bed, smiled weakly and attempted to calm them down in a soft voice. "Oh... Um hello... So you all saw that huh?" The anxious animals all quickly nod their heads and Fluttershy blushes. "Oh... It's okay... Don't worry about me my little friends. I just had a... Strange dream..." Angle crosses his arms before storming out her room, annoyed that he went out of his way just because Fluttershy had a bad dream. The other animals, though still with concerned looks on their faces, began to clear themselves from the room.
After the last little animal exited the room, Fluttershy laid back again with a soft thump of her pillow as it met her head. She sighed and pulled the pillow over her eyes to shield herself the bright sun now pouring into her room. She sat up and tossed the soft pillow across the room onto a wooden chair. She then simply sat there, deeply immersed in thought. The dream she had had... Was unusual. It was the same dream that had invaded her normally peaceful sleep the night before, and the night before that. Every one of them had one thing in common too... They all included Rainbow Dash and herself...
To add on top of the strange dreams for the past week, Fluttershy had begun to experience random flashes of visions, even during the day when every pony was awake and carrying on with there daily routines. It was quite embarrassing really... They occur without any warning, and are often quite realistic. In her mind's eye she would be soaring through the soft, white clouds with Rainbow Dash while in reality she was swimming through the river or giving a hug to some random pony.
She shoved her head back against her soft bed at the thought. The way she frantically had run home... The way they had cruelly laughed at her... However... She didn't feel any anger or disdain towards those ponies. In fact she barely held any care about their careless words and laughter at the moment... She was deep in though, Trying to piece together even the slightest relations the visions and the dreams may have... They both involved Dash... And something else was nagging at the back of her mind. Something she had somehow failed to pay any slight attention to earlier... When she experienced these visions... These vivid dreams... She had felt something else as well. A distinct happiness... A vigorous peace that she had not felt before in her life. The only picturesque moment she could recall that made her feel this way... Was when she had discovered the very ground. The powerful infatuation she instantly felt for nature... Was the same feeling she had while trapped within these dreams.
Fluttershy simply wanted to lay back and forget about the world, to dream of her and Dash forever in her soft, warm bed. To feel the passion and relief she felt while within her mind... However she managed to drag herself out of her luxurious state of peace, as she still had to look over her many precious, worried animals.
Fluttershy slowly raised from her bed, and landed softly on the oak wood floor beside her. She tranquilly stretched her wings and let the early morning sunlight wash over her. She closed her eyes and smiles for a few short, peaceful moments before moving again, this time to the stairs that lead down to the main floor of her small cottage. As she gracefully glided down to the ground floor, she notices that her animals are all still staring at her with anxiety and tension.
Fluttershy giggles and speaks in a soft tone. "Hehe... Don't worry about me my fuzzy friends. I'm fine now." She smiles warmly at them all. "So who's hungry?" The animals all nod as their stomachs growl and she giggles again before preparing them all something to eat.
***
Fluttershy trotted merrily down her usual path towards Ponyville. She smiled as two birds hovered above her and giggled as a squirrel poked his small, fuzzy head out from a tree. Fluttershy's spirits had been lifted since earlier. The beauty of the landscape and the comforting thought of Pinkie's party later made her carefree and blissful.
As Fluttershy wandered farther along the winding road, Ponyville slowly leaked into view. She smiled as she noticed the tip of city hall and continued to happily tread towards the town, softly singing to herself in her good spirits.
As she began to near close enough to the town to see individual ponies, she began to have... A feeling. She felt like her heart skipped a beat when she recognized it. The feeling that always came before the dream... Fluttershy instantly started to back away from the town and the many ponies as she closed her eyes and attempted to force the vision out of her head in a futile endeavour to avoid the dream.
"No... Not here... Not now..." Mumbled Fluttershy to herself as she continued to stagger back.
As soon as the feeling came... It left. Fluttershy let out an exasperated sigh of relief and calmly collected her wits. She had done it... She had controlled her dreams. She wouldn't make a fool of herself today. No running home in embarrassed tears and no constant sobbing in her pillow at her cottage. She was in control.
Fluttershy stretched her wings, straightened her posture, and continued to stride into Ponyville. As she walked down the main street towards the bright, colourful sweets shop known as Sugar Cube Corner, she felt a small yet annoying nagging at the back of her mind. She couldn't tell what was causing the bothersome feeling, but she assumed it to be simply a side effect of the atrocious sleep she had gone through during the night. She dismissed it as a common disturbance and continued her travel towards Pinkie's party.
***
Fluttershy stood solitary in the corner, observing as her friends enjoyed themselves at Pinkie's birthday party. Dash and Applejack were having a competitive hoof wrestle, neither of them budging. Twilight and Rarity were happily talking and thoroughly enjoying the sweet berry punch the Pinkie had provided. Pinkie and Gummy were vigorously dancing to the lively music playing in the background. Fluttershy let out a soft, discrete sigh and smiled at her friends. She giggled as Applejack slammed down Dash's hoof and Dash stormed away, flustered that she lost.
As the song that was playing smoothly came to a close, Pinkie stopped dancing and beamed around at the other five confused looking mares. She spoke in her usual ecstatic tone to the others. "Who wants to play pin the tail on the pony?" A wide smile flashed upon her face as all of them nodded cheerily. However her delighted smile slowly faded as she noticed Fluttershy still residing in the corner, nervously hoofing the ground. Pinkie quickly approached her and began playfully dragging Fluttershy towards the game area. "Are you not going to play Fluttershy? Come on and have some fun!"
Fluttershy takes a deep, uncertain breath and slowly exhales as Pinkie continued to softly drag her towards the game. She lamely mumbles under her breath. "Oh... Umm... I think I'll pass on this game Pinkie. I mean if you don't mind..." Pinkie doesn't stop her path and doesn't even seem to acknowledge Fluttershy. Fluttershy dully submitted as the arrived beside the other four patiently waiting mares. Fluttershy weakly smiles as Dash steps beside her and gingerly nodded her head. "Umm... suppose I will play. I don't want to be the only one left out after all..." She feebly laughs to hide her inner anxiety...
Fluttershy was severely uneasy. She was experiencing a bothersome feeling stirring around her mind. She recognized it as the feeling she had experienced earlier, the one she had simply brushed off as a side affect to poor sleep... However over the duration of the past few hours of the party... It had amplified drastically. It was now aggressively ringing through her mind and she now recognized where the feeling was coming from... It was not a lucid affect from poor sleeping habits... It was the feeling that overtook her always before her dreams... The dreams of Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy suddenly gasped in shock and began to fall backward however Dash was quick enough to push a pillow where she was falling. Fluttershy landed softly on the pillow with a delicate thump. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on this feeling. It had never in her experience been so utterly intense before. This was no longer a pleasant feeling, accompanied by a slight tingling as usual... It was a full blown migraine. She held her head in pain as she tried to think. It was nearly impossible with the chaos rattling her tender mind. She managed to persevere through the pain for enough time to think back to earlier... And remembered how she had experienced this feeling, and fought it back. How she had successfully stopped the dream before it could overtake her for another time... And understood that she had not stopped it. She had simply delayed the distinct inevitable. The small nagging in the back of her mind had been that feeling, forcefully pushing it's way back into her fragile mind, and Fluttershy was now achingly paying for it.
The pain was now nearly unbearable. She could see nothing but small, fuzzy shapes circling around her vision. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tenderly massaged her head, attempting to achieve some kind of relief from the pain. However as soon as the migraine came, it too peacefully left her mind, and her vision was again normal. She could see the five gathered around her, extremely concerned looks on their faces. The game had been left and the music stopped. As she scanned their faces, tiny droplets of warm tears rolled down her cheeks. She gingerly smiled at them, attempting to calm them until she turned her head to see Rainbow Dash, crouched over Fluttershy, tears in her eyes and genuine fear in her expression. A small tear rolled down her face, and dripped off her nose directly onto Fluttershy's already moist cheek. At that moment Fluttershy's vision went completely white.
***
Fluttershy awoke with a start and jolted upright. Her head swung around to take in her pale surroundings before realizing... It was the dream. She stared around and looked for any sign, large or small, that could tell her for certain. She noticed that she was laying on a soft, fluffy cloud, no pony else around... Until she looked above her.
Rainbow Dash stood looming over her, a warm smile spread across her face. Fluttershy seemed to forget everything else at that moment and weakly smiled back. Dash ushered her up and looked at Fluttershy in the eye. Fluttershy giggled and smiled at Dash passionately. Neither pony said a thing. They seemed to be understanding each other... Without and speech. They could see it in each other's bright, glowing eyes. Dash spread and stretched her magnificent wings, hey body illuminated in the golden and orange glow of the evening sun. Fluttershy was taken back at the pristine beauty of the light blue pegasus. She giggled warmly as Dash took off, circling above the snow white cloud, motioning for Fluttershy to come along with her.
Fluttershy then spread her own delicate wings, letting the setting sun warm her body before taking into the air herself. As she and Rainbow Dash flew gracefully through the sky, a feeling of serene peace and calm washed over Fluttershy. Without a care in the world she glided through the sky, her and Dash circling around and under each other majestically. As Dash took off ahead the glowing aura of the sun seemed to reflect off her sleek body, amplifying her beauty again. Fluttershy smiled and took off faster to catch up to Dash. Dash brushed by her side as Fluttershy caught up to her, admiring the grace of the flight. The tone of the moment was perfect... It was romantic. The setting sun cast a golden glow over the two was they weaved around fluffy white clouds, circling around each other as if locked in dance.
Dash began to speed up again, creating a distance between the two, before turning herself around and winking at Fluttershy, as if inviting her to catch up. Fluttershy giggled and sped up, managing to brush beside Dash as Dash suddenly stopped cold, smiling at Fluttershy as she kept going, running into a soft, feather like cloud. She gasped and closed her wings, falling to another cloud under her. She lay there, on her back in shock of hitting the cloud. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, Dash was smoothly gliding towards her, giggling with mirth. She landed on top of Fluttershy and Fluttershy was in awe. The sun lay on the edge of the horizon, perfectly behind Dash. It seemed to illuminate Dash, making her glow with an otherworldly beauty gathered from the golden-orange glow cast from the sun, and the soft wind blowing her mane softly.
Fluttershy's jaw dropped as she saw Dash like this. The majesty yet strength portrayed by this light blue pegasus was like nothing she had ever experienced. Not even her first experience with the earth could match this feeling of peace... And love.
Something then clicked together inside Fluttershy's mind. The dreams, the visions, the feelings, the migraine... They weren't simply worthless warnings... They were massages... From Fluttershy's sub consciousness. Feelings of love and compassion... And now she knew how they were related. She loved Rainbow Dash. Since fillies she had been there, supporting her when no pony else would. Dash was there when Fluttershy was lonely, she was there when Fluttershy was depressed or mourning... They learned together, flew together... They basically lived together. With this simple realization, Fluttershy meekly shut her eyes, leaned up, and kissed Dash passionately.
***
Fluttershy's eyes snapped open as she awoke in Pinkie's room. Her eyes darted around in fear and anxiety... Before she realized that the dream... Was just that. Simply a dream. She jolted upright and scanned around the room. The other five were gathered around Fluttershy, nervous looks on their faces. Fluttershy then laid back... And cried. She covered her distraught eyes with her hooves and sobbed desperately into them. She was torn. To be brought back into this world after what she had experienced... The genuine happiness, peace, and serenity she had felt within the dream... Was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life. She simply lay there and sob, depressed and distressed at the cruelty of reality... At the dream the had been so terribly ripped away from her... She sobbed harder at the thought of what could have been before she felt a gentle hoof stroke her shoulder. It was loving, caring... The kind of comforting stroke that a mother would give to her filly... Fluttershy turned around to see Dash, settled behind her with tears in her eyes and a genuine look of distress on her face,
Fluttershy sat in awe at what she was seeing... Through the window the sun was setting, casting the same golden glow from her dream over Dash... Illuminating her in the same otherworldly manner... And then Dash took her soft hoof, gently stroking it... Fluttershy felt something again... That wave of peace... Of love... Was becoming a reality. She stared deep into Dash's bright, glowing magenta eyes, and kissed her. She finally felt true fidelity and peace when she noticed... Dash was kissing her back.