It was early the next morning when everypony was getting ready to leave for the hospital. That was until a small design flaw in their plan caught up with them. “What do ya mean she can’t leave?!” Applejack yelled at the nurse behind the counter. They had long since discovered that it was much easier to only attempt to interact with ponies of the same race.
“I mean that she is too hurt to go anywhere right now. Her leg was severely broken. Look, miss, the best I can do is tomorrow morning, but she will have to wear a cast, and cannot put any weight on the leg at all.” Applejack sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere with this pony. She turned back to her friends, giving them a shrug, signaling her lack of success with the nurse.
She turned back to face the nurse pony. “Are ya sure that’s the earliest you can do?” she asked with silently pleading eyes. The nurse only gave a solemn nod in affirmation. It was clear the nurse couldn’t do anymore. She clearly didn’t like that she couldn’t help more, but she knew that Applebloom would never heal if she left now.
Sighing, Applejack turned around once again and made her way back to her friends, head hung low. “Nope. The best she can do is tomorrow morning, but we gotta be extra careful, and Applebloom won’t be able to put any weight on her hoof.”
A collective sigh was let out among the group. They knew there was nothing they could do. They needed to be sure that Applebloom would heal. “Go,” Twilight said, shocking everypony out of their silence.
“W-what?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I said go,” Twilight repeated. “The rest of us will stay and wait on Applebloom. You and Fluttershy need to go now.”
“No,” Rainbow Dash responded. “I won’t leave you all here. Not with Applebloom still hurt.”
“Rainbow Dash, you need to go. We can take care of Applebloom, but Scootaloo may not be able to take care of herself. You need to find her now.”
Rainbow Dash was about to protest more when a hoof on her shoulder stopped her. She looked over in time to see Fluttershy give one small, barely noticeable, nod.
Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat. “I feel like I’d be a bad pony for leaving you all here while Applebloom is hurt.”
Fluttershy stepped in front of Rainbow Dash and quickly wrapped her forelegs around her neck in a hug. “You stop right there Dash. You are a great pony, and we all know you would stay here to help Applebloom if you could, but Scootaloo needs you more. You need to go protect your daughter.”
Rainbow Dash returned the hug after the initial shock wore off. “Okay, let’s go.”
After a minute, the hug ended, and Twilight got up to lead the two out of the building. They quickly followed behind her, wanting to get going very early. Soon, they were outside in the crisp morning air outside the hospital. “That’s Atlas over there,” Twilight said as she pointed with a hoof to a chain of mountains.
Following Twilight’s hoof with her gaze, Rainbow Dash froze in awe and shock. She had no idea how she hadn’t noticed this before. It may have something to do with the fact that she was never out here in the daylight before, but still. These mountains were huge. They absolutely towered over everything around them, and they looked tall enough to touch the sky.
The peaks shined in the golden sunlight of the early morning sun, the water vapor of nearby clouds creating an almost heavenly sheen around them. The beautiful colors of the transitional morning sky finished painting the absolutely breathtaking picture.
It was several minutes later when Rainbow Dash broke free from her entranced state, hearing her name called through the thick fog that had clouded her mind while she stared upon the mountain range.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called louder, finally seeming to catch the attention of the entranced pegasus.
“Huh, what? Wha’d you say?” Twilight facehoofed.
“Rainbow, I have been telling you about the city for the past ten minutes! Ugh! Now I’ve gotta start all over again.” Twilight took a deep breath, preparing to enter “lecture mode” once again. That is until a cyan hoof over her mouth stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Look Twi, I appreciate the effort, but I think we’ll be fine if you just give us the quick summary.” Then spotting a pink wisp of hair being blown about by the morning breeze blown in from the ocean, she turned to see that Fluttershy was still lost in a trance, gaze fixed upon the mountain. There was a hint of confusion, and almost fear in her eyes, but it looks like the beauty of the landscape had won the mental battle that had clearly raged inside Fluttershy’s mind.
Sporting an evil grin, Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth, but before the alicorn could protest, she began making her way around the transfixed pegasus, slowly emerging right in front of her. Her grin only growing bigger, she leaned in towards her still oblivious marefriend, and slowly but surely, softly connected their lips in a loving kiss.
Almost immediately, Fluttershy snapped out of it, regaining some form of mental coherency. At first, her mind was drawing a blank. Having gone so quickly from taking in the beautiful scenery to a face full of an assortment of colors, she was confused as to what she was looking at. The realization of a soft pressure on her lips was what really brought her back into reality, enabling her to at least form complete thoughts in her head. That ability did not last long though, as she realized exactly what was happening. ”WAIT! IS DASH KISSIN—”
As soon as she realized what was going on, her muscles tensed and her legs locked up, while a massive blush flooded into her face, not even sparing her ears, as they too became a victim to the embarrassment. All she managed to do was let out a startled “Eep!” as she toppled over onto the ground, landing flat on her side, still frozen in shock, with her legs locked out from her body.
Dash barely suppressed a chuckle as she bent her head down to meet Fluttershy’s paralyzed gaze. “Wow, I knew I was stunning, but come on,” she said, barely able to hold back her laughter.
Fluttershy was finally able to shake herself free from her daze. Standing up, she shot a glare at Rainbow Dash. “Haha! Very funny Rainbow Dash.” She turned away from Rainbow Dash, before plopping down onto her haunches, raising her snout in an indignant ‘huff’.
Rainbow Dash wore an upset frown, she hadn’t meant to make Fluttershy mad. She cautiously made her way over to where Fluttershy sat. She nuzzled the pegasus’ cheek, causing the already massive blush to grow more intense. “Flutters, I’m sorry, you just look so cute when you’re all flustered,” she said in a whisper, to keep her usage of the c-word away from any prying ears.
Fluttershy let out another ‘hmph’, letting Dash know just how she felt about Dash’s apology. “Flutters!” Dash said in a low whine. “I-I just—” just as Dash leaned in to nuzzle her marefriend once more, she was cut off by a pair of buttermilk yellow lips being pressed against hers.
Fluttershy saw her chance for revenge and took it. As soon as the cyan pegasus leaned in for another nuzzle, the quickly sprung into action, jumping up and spinning around at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, were she not on the receiving end of this joke.
Before Rainbow Dash could even register that anything was happening, she was feeling Fluttershy’s soft lips pressing against her own. Her body melted into the kiss as her mind faded away to nothing, leaving nothing but a blushing, bumbling mess when Fluttershy finally pulled away from the kiss.
Fluttershy had to stifle her chuckles behind a hoof. “Who’s cute now featherbrains?” she asked sarcastically as she made her way around Dash, flicking her tail to smack Dash in the nose with it as she passed.
Rainbow Dash could barely think, much less breathe. She was completely stunned, just as Fluttershy had been mere moments ago. She was completely lovestruck, not even noticing the passage of time until she felt a soft tail flick over her nose. Scrunching her snout up in recoil at the sudden tickling sensation on her nose, she shook her head to clear it of the fog that had once again returned to cloud her mind. ”Did she just… nah, probably just my imagination.”
Quickly turning to join her marefriend, Rainbow Dash cantered over to where Fluttershy was standing with Twilight, waiting on her. As she approached, she shot a quick look over at Fluttershy that said, “This isn’t over,” letting her know that they would resume their little game of cat and mouse at a later date. She had attempted to do this in a serious and awesome manner, but the barely suppressed giggles from her marefriend proved that she had not done as good of a job as she had hoped.
She finally stood by her marefriend, only now realizing that Twilight had been talking the whole time. “Ahh, Rainbow Dash, how good of you to join us. I was only filling Fluttershy in on what you two need to know for your journey, and while I do find your antics with Fluttershy adorable, please just let me finish talking first.” This, expectedly, earned a huge blush from both pegasi, who had forgotten that Twilight was just behind them, watching during that whole exchange. All they could manage was a curt nod for the alicorn before them.
“Thank you. Now, as I was attempting to say before, there is only one main hospital in the city, which is probably where you should begin your search. This would be Atlas City General Hospital. It’s right near the center of the city and has a massive red cross on one of the towers, so you can’t miss it.” While Fluttershy was listening intently to this speech, Rainbow Dash was a little more… distracted.
When Twilight had begun talking, Rainbow Dash had draped a wing over Fluttershy’s back. This earned a light blush and a nuzzle from the yellow pegasus before she returned her focus back to the lecture being given to them. Rainbow Dash, trying a little too hard to find something other than Twilight’s lecture to focus on, felt something brush up against her tail. Then again, and then again. Something was repeatedly brushing up against her tail. Turning her head, she tried to find the source of it.
That’s when she noticed the soft pink tail, subconsciously swishing back and forth next to her, occasionally bumping into her own tail. Now blushing madly, Rainbow Dash focused her gaze back on Twilight, before reaching out with her own tail, and intertwining it with Fluttershy’s.
The massive blush on Fluttershy’s face, along with the small, panicked, ‘eep!’ she gave, indicated that Fluttershy had realized what she was doing, and likely was no longer able to pay attention to anything going on around her. Due to this, Rainbow Dash decided to once again bring her attention back to the purple alicorn mare in front of her, so they didn’t miss anything important. Although Twilight could sometimes ramble a bit, there was a good chance that you could get a good bit of useful information out of that pony, even if you had to go through the boring lectures to get it.
“And that’s really all you need to know,” Twilight finished.
”Oh, oops,” Rainbow thought, realizing she was a little too late. ”Oh, well. I bet Fluttershy got more from that than I did.”
Realizing it was time for them to get going, she retracted her wing and tail from the object of her affection, not hearing the small, pained whimper that this action caused.
Walking over to Twilight, she wrapped her in a huge hug, which was soon followed by Fluttershy, all of them sitting there in a group hug, relishing in the last moment they may be with each other for a while. “Be safe,” Twilight whispered.
“Of course,” Fluttershy whispered back.
“You know it,” Rainbow Dash added in.
Soon, they all stepped back from the hug, and it was time for them to leave. “Please be safe you two, and good luck. Oh, and Rainbow, if you two are in trouble and need help, you know what to do. We’ll be there before you can even blink.”
Rainbow knew exactly what Twilight meant, giving Twilight one more hug before she made her way over to Fluttershy. Standing directly in front of her, she uttered one line, “Let’s go save Scoots,” before planting a loving kiss on her marefriend’s lips and giving one strong flap of her wings, lifting her up into the air. With an affectionate smile from Fluttershy as she flapped her wings to join her, Rainbow Dash took off, flapping her wings harder and harder, as she pulled up and into a loop. She felt the familiar pressure building up around her, and right as she was facing directly up… it broke.
The pressure burst, releasing a shockwave of colors all around her that could be seen for miles. As she came around in an arc towards her marefriend, flying much slower beneath her, a rainbow trail of colors following her as she did, there was only one thought in her mind. ”I’m coming, Scoots.”