//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Call to Cloudsdale // Story: What She Doesn't See // by Carnelian-Fox //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Call to Cloudsdale Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy clean up after the tea party, helping herself to a leftover sandwich as part of cleaning up. Spending time with Fluttershy was already a treat, but to do so while having food in the vicinity, not to mention a chance to compete with Discord’s abstract charm, was almost dream-like. The animals didn’t seem bothered by Rainbow’s presence, which Rainbow attributed to the many visits she had taken to the cottage before. Fluttershy was cleaning dishes, the repetitive actions putting her into a meditative trance and giving her the chance to be thankful for the chance to spend the better half of her hours under Celestia’s shining sun with Rainbow Dash. She began humming an uplifting tune, thrilled by how good she felt. To varying extents, being with her friends always made her feel good. Pinkie Pie’s parties were always so elaborately done, even if Fluttershy felt the ruckus was a bit much. Spa time with Rarity was relaxing and a near-perfect stress reliever, albeit increasingly static and predictable. Applejack was always pleasant and Fluttershy enjoyed being around the farm animals and hearing Granny Smith’s stories, but she felt that sometimes the upkeep of an entire farm led her to be talked at instead of spoken to. Time spent with Twilight was always educational and fascinating, but the amount of information to be processed in one visit tended to be more immense then she would anticipate. Rainbow Dash was the one pony she could reminisce with, the one pony who reminded her of the good parts of school, and the one pony who she could sit and listen to or idly chat with interchangeably. Over the years, Rainbow Dash had become her best friend, her oldest friend, her crush, her rock and her most trusted confidant. Rainbow Dash stood a few feet behind Fluttershy, not wanting to interrupt her lovely humming. She knew Fluttershy was a good singer. It was too bad that stage fright kept that beautiful voice from the world. Rainbow Dash felt that Fluttershy’s singing was something that should serenade her when the time came for her to transcend the clouds beyond Cloudsdale. Suddenly, the butterflies on Fluttershy’s flanks began to glow and shimmer. Rainbow Dash finally spoke up, cutting through the soft humming. “Uhh, Fluttershy?” “Oh!” Fluttershy let out a startled gasp. She whirled around to find her friend and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, goodness! You scared me.” “I think the Cutie Map is calling you,” Rainbow Dash informed Fluttershy, who pivoted ninety degrees and craned her head to look at her cutie mark. It was behaving as it would if the map was calling. Fluttershy thought she saw Rainbow Dash’s flank retain the same glow and behave the same way. The yellow Pegasus pointed with a hoof and Rainbow Dash motioned to check her own flank. Both Pegasi were being called by the Cutie Map. Without another word, they locked eyes for a moment, and then galloped out of the cottage. When they reached Fluttershy’s mailbox, Rainbow Dash took to the sky and Fluttershy followed her lead. Twilight Sparkle was pacing in front of the Cutie Map, Starlight Glimmer and Spike watching with expressions of concern. Spike tried his claws at intervention. “Look, Twilight, I know that this isn’t like past friendship problems, but if any two ponies can handle it, those ponies are Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. After all, it’s their hometown.” “Yeah, and nopony would want these things happening in their hometown,” Starlight added. “Like if the Cutie Map ever called you to Canterlot, you’d be there in a heartbeat and you’d have things smoothed over by the end of the day.” “But this isn’t like other friendship problems,” Twilight pointed out. Before her former pupil or her assistant could ask why, a blur of colors burst through the doors with Fluttershy following suit. Twilight had a paradoxical look of relief and concern in her eyes as she said, “There you two are.” “What’s up, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked hurriedly. “We came as soon as we could,” Fluttershy reported. Starlight raised an eyebrow and a sly smile crept onto her face. “So you came together, then?” She made sure to put extra emphasis on ‘together’, causing Fluttershy to hide her face in her mane. Spike let out an amused chuckle at Fluttershy’s flustered actions, not that they were out of the ordinary. “The Map has called you to Cloudsdale,” Twilight reported grimly. “However, you can take my word for it when I say this isn’t any ordinary friendship problem. While I’m still studying it, I’m led to believe that the Cutie Map, being connected to the Tree of Harmony, is able to use magical impulses to detect emotional fluctuations of sentient creatures. I’m not entirely sure how the specific details work, but I believe that’s how the Cutie Map detects friendship problems. There’s been gradually increasing unrest in Cloudsdale for a while, so I began correspondence with the mayor.” “You wrote letters to the mayor?” Fluttershy asked, wondering where Twilight was going with her explanation. “If we’re supposed to improve public relations, that’ll be no problem! Fluttershy was on the job with Applejack and pulled the root of dozens of friendship problems!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, confident in Fluttershy’s abilities as a solver of friendship troubles. “Oh, I wouldn’t say dozens…” Fluttershy mumbled. “And she was with you when you two shut down the biggest family feud in the history of Equestria!” Rainbow Dash added eagerly. “She’s the perfect pony for the job!” “But at least the Hooffields and the McColts were on equal turf. I believe that the problem is with the city’s government and its ponies,” Twilight pointed out. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen the scales so tipped before between the ponies we help.” “Whatever the case, we’ve got this!” Rainbow Dash assured. “What did the letters say, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked about the correspondence between the Princess of Friendship and the mayor of Cloudsdale. “Well, when the Map first showed me that the morale in Cloudsdale was on a steady downfall, I addressed my concerns to the mayor. He replied to my letter by politely requesting that I keep my distance, in short. We went back and forth until a few days ago, when he replied with a letter saying ‘You have your friends. I have mine’. And now the Cutie Map has finally acknowledged that there’s a friendship problem,” Twilight divulged the important details of the correspondence. Letting out a heavy sigh, she said, “Princess Luna was right. Politics are a mess.” “I have a bad feeling that those ‘friends’ of his aren’t the nicest ponies out there,” Rainbow Dash huffed. “If they put one hoof on my parents, I swear—” “I hope the mayor’s so-called friends didn’t make it hard for my brother to get a job,” Fluttershy mumbled. “He may be an adult now and I may push him to embrace that, but he’ll always be my little brother.” “There’s one more thing,” Twilight informed the Pegasi before taking a step to the side, allowing them to approach the Cutie Map. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash scanned the three-dimensional map before finding their cutie marks soaring above a magical representation of their sky-bound home city. There were three cutie marks circling above Cloudsdale: a rainbow lightning bolt, a trio of butterflies and a shield-like crest with a wing and lightning bolt. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. She stammered, “Th-that’s…!” “Twilight!” came a young voice with a slight rasp and surging with energy. Rainbow Dash whirled around to see an orange filly with a lavender mane and tail and matching eyes. It was her biggest fan, Scootaloo, and her cutie mark was shining. The filly trotted over to Twilight and asked with concern, “Twilight, my cutie mark is acting funny! Is it gonna disappear?” “No, Scootaloo, it’s not going to disappear,” Twilight assured and led her over to the Map. Scootaloo, having been briefly preoccupied by the various stimuli of the large throne room, saw her number one favorite Pegasus in the whole wide world and gave her an affectionate tackle. “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here? Is your cutie mark acting funny, too?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around Scootaloo and replied, “Yeah. It means that there’s a friendship problem that we’re destined to solve. You, me and Fluttershy are in this together.” “Really?” Scootaloo asked as if it was too good to be true. “That’s so awesome! I get to hang out with you and the Stare Master?! Where to?” “We’re going to Cloudsdale,” Fluttershy pleasantly informed Scootaloo, though her thoughts remained with the wellbeing of her parents and brother. She hadn’t cared much for Cloudsdale. It was a great place to grow up for a Pegasus and it was because of being from Cloudsdale that she and Rainbow Dash met at a young age, but she often felt out of place there. This became especially true when she began living her earthbound life, a lifestyle considered by many Cloudsdale Pegasi to be borderline rogue. Many Pegasi wouldn’t understand how feeling the dirt and grass on her hooves was calming and stabilizing for her or how it aided in keeping her depression at bay. “Cloudsdale?! Wow! Can we go to the weather factory? I really want to see all of those machines!” Scootaloo excitedly pled. Ever since Twilight had taught her to disassemble and reassemble mechanical structures such as her scooter or a unicycle, the little Pegasus filly had taken an interest in mechanics. What’s more, she seemed to have a knack for it once she took the time to focus on a task. “Sure, Squirt! Sure! After we solve this friendship problem, we’ll take a tour,” Rainbow Dash promised, rubbing Scootaloo’s mane with a hoof and smiling brightly at her enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash turned her head to look at Fluttershy and was met with a thoughtful expression. Fluttershy was staring off at nothing in particular and Rainbow Dash’s mind began to race, hypothesizing what might have been occurring behind Fluttershy’s beautiful teal eyes. Fluttershy was brought back to reality when she felt Rainbow Dash’s rose eyes holding a steady stare at her. What she saw was a rose hued tidal wave of worry flowing in her direction. Fluttershy smiled, trying to be reassuring, but fear for what might come and how it would affect her, the mare she fancied and the innocent filly. Rainbow Dash began to beckon Fluttershy over with a hoof, a motion that the yellow Pegasus had become familiar with after tending to Opalescence and other cats. Fluttershy approached and Rainbow Dash pulled her into a hug, sandwiching Scootaloo between them. “Is there something I’m missing?” Scootaloo asked. “Nah. I just want Fluttershy to know that everything will be okay,” Rainbow Dash informed the orange filly with a wink. Starlight beamed at the huddled Pegasi in amazement. Rainbow Dash somehow seemed to be able to tell what Fluttershy was thinking when she beckoned her over for the hug. It was as though Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy communicated telepathically, but without a telepathy spell. Starlight wondered if it was because the two Pegasi had known each other for so many years. This train of thought led her to wonder if she would ever share that kind of wavelength with Sunburst. “Rainbow Dash, if we’re flying to Cloudsdale, can I ride on your back?” Scootaloo insecurely requested, glancing back at her undersized wings. “Sure, kid,” Rainbow Dash obliged. “Actually, I was thinking it’d be easier for you all to take an airship or a hot air balloon,” Twilight interjected. “You’re all at different skill levels in flight, after all.” “Maybe that’s best. I don’t think I could ever keep up with Dashie,” Fluttershy agreed. “And I couldn’t hold her up like that in good conscience.” “I…” Rainbow Dash croaked. She knew Fluttershy wasn’t the awesome, top tier flyer that she herself was, but she wouldn’t go as far as to leave Fluttershy behind for something like this. Would she…? Rainbow Dash bit her lip and announced, “I wouldn’t be held up, Fluttershy. I’d do whatever I could to bring out the best in you and push you forward. I know I’m not always patient with you…and I’m sorry…” The words came out faster than Rainbow Dash could think about them, but she admitted to herself that being short on patience with Fluttershy was a recurring theme. “Rainbow…?” Fluttershy muttered and Rainbow Dash hugged her tighter. Fluttershy felt tears well up in her eyes. She replied, “You don’t have to be…” “Umm…” Scootaloo strained, still between them, “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy… I can’t breathe…” Upon hearing this, the two mares launched themselves backwards and tumbled over. Scootaloo took in a big breath of fresh air. With that big breath, she exhaled, “I’m so excited! We’re going on an adventure!” An adventure it certainly would be.