//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: School // Story: Crashing Angels // by lillytheomegawolf //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash, Soarin and their mum arrived at Cloudsdale Central school. The sun was high and cheerful yet Rainbow Dash felt about as bored as she did at her own party before Soarin' and Spitfire turned up. The only new addition to her mood was a feeling of nervousness. They were met by a greying stallion who had a kindly look about him and a short grey mane. He eyed Rainbow Dash’s bruises with an inquiring eye but otherwise said nothing as the duo came to a stop in front of him. "Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow's mother nodded and gave her filly a gentle shove forward. Rainbow Dash decided that the stranger looked ok then, with a flick of her mane she stepped forward. Soarin grinned as he moved beyond the adults, leaving his sister to her fate. "That's me. The fastest filly in Equestria!" At Dash’s bold show, the stallion broke out into smiles. "It looks like you will be fun to have around, Rainbow." He glanced up at Gust, who smiled back. "And thank you for entrusting her into our care, Madam Dash." Doing her best to hold back her laughter, Gust turned to her filly and gave her a quick nuzzle. Her soft expression turned serious. "Now I want you to behave yourself, you hear me, Rainbow Dash? No fighting. I don't want to have to have to collect you, young filly." "Yes, mum. I know, mum. Can I go now? Please?" Rainbow Dash couldn't help but roll her eyes as she responded, already bored with the pep talk. Gust laughed then shunted her daughter forward with her nose. "Go on then." Rainbow Dash trotted forward, a hopeful spring in her step. She did her best to conceal her nerves but they showed anyway in her speech. "Bye, mum… I'll… I'll miss you!" Gust smiled as her daughter was led away by Greymane. Rainbow Dash followed the strange stallion for a few moments in nervous silence. "I do hope you won't be trouble for us young one." "I live in a rough part of town. But I’ll try." Rainbow Dash piped up, eager to impress. The stallion smiled sadly to himself. "That is great to hear young filly. Now, I'm sure you are going to love your new classroom and fellow students. No starting fights with your classmates though, you hear?" "Hey. I don't start fights." Rainbow Dash shot back, offended. He lifted an unbelieving eyebrow at the blue filly next to him. It's clear she was nervous and was doing her best to hide it behind bravado. The thought of where that might lead gave him an uncomfortable feeling that he might, unfortunately, have her turn up at his office a lot. They passed a quiet looking corridor and the stallion paused. A light smile played on his face. "Here we are, Dash." The cyan filly looked up him. “Here what?” “That way is to class,” his hoof motioned to the corridor straight ahead. “And I would like you to go this way.” His hoof shifted till it hovered over the corridor to their left. “Oookay. Why?” “You hear that?” “Uh...” Rainbow Dash strained her ears and after a moment, realized that she could faintly hear somepony singing. The older stallion smiled then responded softly. “Your mother mentioned something most interesting to me. If you could be so kind, I think you are in for a nice surprise.” “Okay..? What’s up?” The greying pegasus nodded in the direction of the faint singing once more. “Somepony who might like to meet you.” “But if class starts soon, shouldn’t she be in class?” “Because she has been bullied by some of the other foals in her year. I believe she goes into that teachers only hallway to sing in peace.” Rainbow Dash did not like the sound of ponies picking on some poor defenceless filly. Especially one who distantly sounded so wonderful. “Okay then. What class am I in?” “Room 2. The same class as the filly down that hallway.”   Rainbow Dash apprehensively opened the door to the corridor with the ‘teachers only’ sign on it and began her trek down the plain white hallway. As she rounded a bend to her right, her magenta eyes lit up with glee. The cute yellow filly she had slammed into several months before was singing to herself. The melodies flowed from her mouth and left Dash aghast, she simply could not believe her ears. Fluttershy continued to sing softly to herself in the small hallway. After a few moments, she began to dance to the music in her head. The cute gangly filly’s clumsy moves held an odd sense of gracefulness to them. The melodies combined with her movements and swish of pink mane had a hypnotizing effect on Rainbow Dash. The blue speedster simply could not tear her eyes from the yellow filly in front of her. Fluttershy still did not realize that she was actually performing to an audience. 'Shy continued to sing and dance, completely lost in her own world, away from all the ponies who want to be mean to her and call her names. Blissful thoughts drifted through her young mind and she leapt for joy then returned to her dance. Harsh thoughts of all the mean ponies entered her head and the magical melodies took on a more sombre tone. Tears formed in Rainbow Dash's eyes for reasons she could not fathom. She realized she never wanted the filly in front of her to be sad ever again. The song continued to flow and change. It’s sincerity cemented Rainbow's resolve. However hard she tried, she just could not bring herself to break Fluttershy's moment. She inched forward, she didn't really want to disturb the other filly, but she realized she had to make herself known before something embarrassing happened. She continued to inch forward, closer and closer to Fluttershy. Closer, closer, closer. Suddenly the yellow filly tripped, she sailed into Rainbow Dash, a surprised squeak escaped her mouth. The two lay on the fluffy cloud floor for a few seconds, Fluttershy's brain fought to process her sudden return to reality. Or was this another dream again? She realized she was staring into a fuzzy rainbow mane and quickly disentangled herself, a look of complete shock plastered all over her face as she realized who the pony before he was. Rainbow Dash rose too and grinned her cocky grin. "Hi there Fluttershy. Guess what?" Rainbow led off with her usual enthusiasm. "Um… what?" Fluttershy wondered what the filly she had collided with for a second time was in the teachers only part of school. "I get to be your classmate! Isn't that so awesome?" She pounced on Fluttershy, and drew the nervous filly into a hug. A few shocked moments pass. Rainbow was about to pull away in embarrassment when Fluttershy warmly returned the unexpected show of affection. She decided this was too good to be a dream and so did her best to form some sort of response. "Yes. I… I Just kept hoping… and hoping that you would be in my class. The other fillies and colts are so mean to me and… and… I just-" "They do what to you?" Rainbow Dash almost exploded. Fluttershy felt herself about to explain but stopped herself. Something caught her eye and she was unsure of what it is. She carefully checked Rainbow Dash out, from her nose to flank then back again. Her puzzled expression changed into one of concern as she noticed the small bumps and bruises that decorated the cyan coat. Did that mean she had been in fights? Recent fights? This scared the shy filly. Rainbow Dash saw her roommate's expression change and softened immediately. "Wh… who did this to you?" Fluttershy pointed to the spots with a forehoof. Her words caught Rainbow Dash completely off guard. "What?" "It… it- you…" She took a deep breath. 'Come on Fluttershy, you can do this.' "Did somepony… beat you up?" The last part became almost inaudible as her voice disappeared under the weight of her nerves. She slowly shrank away from the smaller filly, afraid of the answer. "Oh, right. Yea'. Rough neighbourhood and all. Happens all the time." Rainbow Dash attempted an air of coolness to cover the pain. A still worried Fluttershy carefully looked her over for another few moments. Rainbow Dash decided it was time to move to a more exciting topic and did her best to plaster a grin across her face. "Hey, you should show off your singing. It's really awesome!" "I… I don't think I could in front of strangers," Fluttershy mumbled. “You just sang great in front of me!” Dash grinned encouragingly. “Well... yes...” The smaller pegasus spotted her companion’s shyness and once again decided to change topic. "Hey, can you fly yet?" Fluttershy shrank into the cloud floor a bit. "No..." The sound of her timid voice was barely audible in the quiet hallway. Rainbow grinned haphazardly. Fluttershy's mind spun wildly, she wondered why the cyan filly was looking at her like that. "It's ok. I can't fly, too. But I keep practising cause one day I'm going to be a super awesome flyer!" An unstoppable grin slowly spread across Fluttershy's face. "We can practise together. It'll be awesome!" Rainbow announced proudly as she grabbed Fluttershy in a rough but energetic embrace. A few bone-crushing moments later, Fluttershy returned the gesture. Rainbow Dash suddenly withdrew, embarrassed by her own random hug. "Come on, Fluttershy. Let's go!" Ready and eager, Rainbow Dash grabbed hold of her companion and raced out the door. They made it halfway down the hallway before Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks. She glanced around, completely lost. "So what do we normally do in Monday's class? Something cool I hope." "Oh, well. We normally start slowly, a few fun games and then she picks what she wants to teach us." "Does she teach important stuff, like flying?" "Sometimes…” "Oh good. I was afraid she would only be teaching us boring stuff." The pair fell into a comfortable silence as Fluttershy took the lead. They walked through the plain cloudy hallways in silence for a few moments before Fluttershy came to a halt in front of a door with a big bright blue 2 on it. “Here we are Rainbow. Room 2.” Fluttershy announced, rather quietly. Although Dash felt nervous she did her best to cover any trace of her nerves with her cool tomcolt air. She strides through the door, noticing that over half the seats are filled already. Holding onto her air of awesomeness she continued on right down to the back corner of the classroom. She spotted the bullies seated at the corner left side of the class, right up the back. She could feel the menace emanating from them. 'Note to self; I had better avoid those idiots. They look like they don't like me.' The new arrival hastily made her way toward two empty seats. Next to them sat a light pink filly with a frosty white mane. Seating herself down beside the stranger, the bold rainbow maned filly introduced herself, "hi, I'm Rainbow Dash." The frosty mane swished as the filly turns to face the front of the class where their teacher stood patiently waiting. "Snowflake. Now... please, pay attention..." The frosty maned filly's soft voice trails off in a nervous fashion. Fluttershy slid in beside Dash on her other side and did her best to appear invisible. Dash quickly gave up on the quiet filly. She did her best to appear as though she was paying attention to the teacher as the mare began to speak. "Class I'd like you to meet Rainbow Dash. She has the privilege of joining our class. Say hello everypony.” Mrs Breeze’s enthusiasm was well received by most of the class who, in mixed tones greet the new filly. “Hello Rainbow Dash.” With her normal persona of awesomeness, Rainbow waved a hoof toward everypony in greeting. The rainbow maned filly was about to speak when Mrs Breeze opened back up with her energetic voice. "I would like you to know Rainbow Dash that everypony is to keep her wings by their sides in class. Leave flying for flying classes and for summer flight camp. I'm sure will understand." She gave the suddenly annoyed filly a sweet smile then launched into her lesson. As soon as the bell rang, Dash was the first to react, up and out the door before their teacher had even finished dismissing them. Fluttershy did her best to catch up to the speedy filly, darting between her other class members, trying not to get hit by anypony else. "Dash... Wait." she quietly pleas as she rushed along. Cyan lead light yellow as the two fillies wandered through the school grounds. Celestia’s sun was shining brightly. It gave confidence to the two fillies as they enjoyed their meandering together. With a wonderful morning such as this, Rainbow Dash began to feel invincible and her steps took on an air of absolute confidence. To their left towered the majestic walls of cloud that were their classrooms. In front of each classroom was a number one through to twelve. To their right lay the administration buildings, playground and main gates. Although Rainbow Dash could feel that class will be boring, she figured that she might as well stay for the full first day. Dash felt her friend trailing behind unhurriedly, enjoying the bright and cheerful mood of their environment. The overconfident filly stopped to allow her friend to catch up. After a few peaceful moments, Dash was rear-ended by an unobservant Fluttershy. The speedster twirled around to face her companion and giggled at the shocked look on the cute filly face. “I’m sorry, Dash. P-please-” “Hey,” the multicoloured filly cut her yellow companion off. “Don’t worry about it. I can always do this!” She leapt and playfully tacked her companion and the pair tumbled around. Rainbow Dash laughed raucously at the surprise on her playmate’s face which quickly morphed into a delighted smile. The pair continued to roll around for a few moments on the soft cloud giggling till they came to rest on a slight mound of cloud. Dash grinned at the sight of the playground beyond and leapt up. “Hey Fluttershy, this looks cool! Let's go!” The speedy filly leapt onto the playground clouds then turned to greet the lagging filly behind her. Pink mane flowed gracefully behind the gangly filly as she leapt up to share the low cloud with the cocky daredevil. "Thought I'd lost you there for a sec fluttershy." "Sorry." "’Na it's okay." Dash grinned with delight, assuring the nervous pony in front of her that everything is okay. Other foals of various ages begin pouring into the playground. They filled the space with joyful cries and energetic chatter. “Hey, this place is cool!” Fluttershy flattened herself down. This wasn’t the normal way she would spend her lunch break. She would rather be indoors, away from all this noise and attention. Her thoughts and worries are cut short as a pair of blue hooves tackled her into the cloud. “Tag, you’re it Flutters’” School was over for the day and with that, all the young pegasi were quick to vacate the premises. Fluttershy’s deep yellow mother was spotted hovering around the edge of the parents who stood in front of the gate. Fluttershy rushed up to greet her mother and leapt into her outstretched forehooves. "I have a friend!" She squeed, delighted. “Oh, do you now?” The mare grinned widely at her daughter as Dash tentatively approached. “H-hi.” “Hello, my dear,” the softly spoken mare responded. “Thank you for looking after my daughter.” “Uh... Well, I mean, it’s cool. I mean, I like Fluttershy... she’s cool, heh...” Deep red twinkled as the deep sunny mare shook her mane, “she is very special, yes. Where's your parents?” “Mine? Uh... my dad’s probably in the Rainbow Factory and mum works in the weather team so, I was just gonna walk home myself.” Dash shrugged. “Then I must insist upon seeing you home, it would put my mind at ease knowing my daughter’s best friend is home safe.” “Okay,” Dash kicked the cloud stuff uncertainly. A dark shape flashed over the trio. Moments later, a light greyish-blue mare landed a few paces away. Her rich, teasing tone caused all three to turn. “Glad to see you didn’t wander off, you little trickster.” “Mom!?” Dash rounded on her mother, surprised to see her there. “I wasn’t going to miss the end of my girl’s first day of school now, was I?” “I dunno,” the mini speedster confessed. The deep yellow mare smiled lightly, “greetings. You must be misses Rainbow?” “Gust." The mare flicked her light red-orange mane out of her eyes. "You are?” “Scarlet Sunset. A pleasure to meet you Gust.” The greyish-blue mare nodded, “come on Dash. I got some more clouds to wrangle after I get you home.” “Okay. Hey, Fluttershy. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at school,” Rainbow Dash turned to her new friend, a grin upon her muzzle. “I hope so too,” Fluttershy smiled demurely as her mother picked her up to for the flight home. "Hey, Fluttershy!" "Y-Yes?" The timid filly turned to her friend. "At least you made this day 20% cooler by being my first friend. It's a totally awesome late birthday present!" Fluttershy lit up like the sun, previous troubles forgotten, filled with joy that her playmate was also her first friend, her best friend. Rainbow chuckled at her response. "And you're my first friend too, Rainbow Dash. Yay!"