"Good morning Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy's delicate voice said, while Rainbow Dash's body continued to lie limply on the cloud in the center of the white room. "OK then, I guess we will miss meeting the Wonderbolts then." Fluttershy teased, her voice echoing softly of the floor.
"What! We're going to miss the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash yelled in panic shooting up out of her bed and falling onto the floor. Her heart was beating as fast as it ever had been. She looked up with panic in her eyes. "Are we late?" Dash asked, her voice rising in pitch slightly in the middle of the question.
"No, we have plenty of time before we have to get going, it was just a trick to get you out of bed." Fluttershy responded, her voice high as she shook silently.
"Well as I see it you owe me something in return," Dash said as she walked up to Fluttershy. Her eyebrows were furrowed as her hoofsteps echoed of the new wooden floors. The pink maned pegasus slowly backed up, afraid for her life. She closed her eyes as she hit the wall and Dash continued the approach. 'She's so cute when she's scared,' Rainbow Dash though to herself. She was only a step from crushing Fluttershy, her neck flexed slightly and she pried open Fluttershy's lips with her own.
The pink pegasus eyes' flew open as she realized what Dash was doing. Her hooves wrapped around Rainbow Dash eagerly as their tongues slowly invaded each others mouths.
After what seemed like mere moments Dash slowly, yet strongly tried to push Fluttershy of. Their mouths separated they smiled at their silent exchange. "Are you satisfied?" Fluttershy asked, the edges of her lips turned upwards.
Dash stood there for a minute before what Fluttershy had said registered with her. "Very," she simply replied grinning from ear to ear. "But we really should get going huh?"
"If you want to, then sure," Fluttershy responded cheerfully.
Fluttershy's face turned from a smile into a distorted expression, her eyes closed and she fell to the ground clutching her stomach.
Dash ran up to her and helped Fluttershy back onto her feet. "What happened?" Dash asked, her usual cool demeanor completely absent from her voice. Fluttershy's face soon recovered from her bout and her delicate eyelids slid open.
"Ya, just a bad stomach cramp, now I'm ready," Fluttershy said getting up and walking around the house. Dash just stood there in shock by how sudden Fluttershy had been hurt, but she had to ignore it for now, she said she was ok.
"You already dropped off Angel and the others right?" Dash asked, as she gathered up some supplies from a drawer.
"Ya, Pinkie has them," Fluttershy responded in earnest as she stood by the front door waiting for Dash to finish up.
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Only thirty seconds later they stepped outside together, their wings around each other. They looked into each others eyes once before taking off. Rainbow Dash smiled as she felt the wind blow gently through her mane. 'Wow, I can't believe it's finally happening. I'm finally going to train with the Wonderbolts,' Dash thought as she realized exactly how much she owed Fluttershy. The rainbow maned pegasus found herself looking at Fluttershy without even meaning to. Her mouth opened wide and a boisterous laugh sprang forth.
"What's so funny?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ow, I was just thinking about how just six months ago this would never be happening. We would never feel the way we do now, and we wouldn't be on our way to Canterlot like this." Dash said, her mind finally coming to terms with what had happened a full six months ago.
She really thought Fluttershy was going to die. But it wasn't her that saved Fluttershy, no if anything, she had made it harder. Fluttershy had saved them both from certain death. 'It truly is amazing what someone can do if they love something enough.' Dash commented to herself.
Snapping Rainbow Dash out of her state, Fluttershy poked Dash's side gently and pointed forwards. Directly ahead of them, lay Canterlot.
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The large building's soon loomed far overhead. When they landed they found that the streets were made of a strange kind of stone that when you stepped on it, they didn't make as much sound as usual. Ponies were walking all around the street and from store to store. A majority of the ponies had on a nice white shirt with a black overcoat and either a tie, or a bowtie. All across the stores numbers and letters flashed in seemingly random order.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy slowly backed into each other in an attempt to get away from the scene. They turned around quickly as their flanks collided and smiled at each other. Dash put her wing over Fluttershy's delicate frame and their hooves hit the floor as they walked quickly out of the strange scene.
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After a minute or so of walking they arrived in a place in Canterlot where ponies were actually laughing and smiling. Unlike the bleak world that they had just come from, here ponies wore their suits more informally. As they headed through street they saw a large bell tower shooting out of one of the stores. It said on it that they still had a full six hours to kill before they were set to meet the wonderbolts.
Rainbow Dash turned Fluttershy towards her and said, "Well I know how to spend that time." She leaned in towards the pegasus and placed her lips gingerly on Fluttershy's. As soon as she did so, somepony walked into them and pushed them apart. Behind him the black pony yelled, "freaks!"
Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other with confusion, back in Ponyville you could see whoever you wanted, even if they were a filly. "This place is weird," Rainbow Dash said before she continued, "maybe while we are in public we shouldn't kiss?"
Fluttershy nodded quickly before putting her own wing around Dash. Like that they walked towards the store with the large grey bell tower. Outside hung a ornate, gold sign, that showed the image of a fancy clock. Most of the store's front was taken up by two large panes of glass; behind which were many different forms of clocks. But the one that stuck out the most had a graceful design etched into it; a small wooden clock that seemed to have a fissure down the middle of it. On each side of the fissure were two unicorn filly's trying to get to each other, but in the background a large amount of ponies were holding them back.
One look at each other told them they were thinking the same thing. Fluttershy and Dash quickly turned around only to find a small crowd had stopped what they were doing and looked at the two pegasi with disgust, or even disgrace. 'Why is everypony staring at us like that?' Rainbow Dash asked herself until she remembered their wings were hung over each other. With embarrassment she quickly snapped her wing back to her side and looked at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was turned towards Dash, her eyes shined slightly as a single small tear fell to the ground. Dash smiled reassuringly and led her quickly through the street. They rounded the corner and Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, but before she could say anything Fluttershy asked, "why?"
Dash blushed brightly and said, "I'm sorry Fluttershy, I just think while we are here, we should not let our feelings be seen in public very much."
Fluttershy's eyes closed and she nodded her head slightly up and down. "Can we please go to the hotel for now?" Fluttershy asked, something in her voice was terribly of.
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Smiling Rainbow Dash took off with Fluttershy directly behind her. They flew high into the sky and soon they saw the hustling and fancy streets left behind as they approached their simple hotel. The streets were soon covered in muck and filth and they looked at each other worried. "I didn't know when they meant the simple side of town that it would be this messy," Rainbow Dash said out loud.
They landed silently and apprehensive in front of a large grey building. The walls had lots of small holes in them indicating a pest problem, and the walls themselves were very rough and old.
Walking inside they saw a cramped lobby with a single desk. Behind which a pony sat, she was playing with her blond mane and talking busily on the phone. Her hooves were kicked up on the desk and she frowned at the two new pegasi that had entered.
"How may I help you," she said, obviously not interested in their response.
"We're here to check in, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said.
"Here, now you can leave me alone," the pony said throwing Rainbow Dash two keys and waving them of.
"Well that was... unpleasant," Fluttershy said.
"Ya but at least we can rest now without being judged," Dash responded as they gladly stuck one of the keys in the door assigned to them. The door swung inwards and revealed their room.
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Directly to their left was a door which led to a restroom. The toilet's bowl was extremely dirty and the seat was half missing. The shower's walls were green. The bed however was even worse. When Dash flopped down on it, they heard it creak loudly and a swarm of bugs ran out from underneath.
"This is not going to be fun," Dash complained as Fluttershy looked towards the floor. The rainbow pegasus looked at her girlfriend and asked, "what's the matter, it won't be that bad..."
Fluttershy's expression distorted instantly, into one of pure pain. Her eyebrows scrunched and her mouth opened wide. From between her lips, a torrent of blood came up. Fluttershy laid there, blood gushing forth from her mouth for a full two seconds before it stopped.
Dash ran forward quickly to check how Fluttershy was. She leaned down and nuzzled Fluttershy's neck, feeling for a pulse. There was complete silence for a moment before a single loud heartbeat came from Fluttershy.