//------------------------------// // 3: The New Hurricane Fluttershy // Story: P3 Unofficial: The Pony Playtime Project // by Bookish Delight //------------------------------// For Fluttershy, flying always made the world a little colder. Not just due to altitude, either. The sky was always a little emptier for her, and the world just a little more foreboding. The brisk night air turned to an even cooler wind, pushing against her face and swishing her mane as she maintained a constant aerial speed. All reasons why she preferred to stay on the ground. Still she knew, in her heart of hearts, that she could take it. She was a pegasus. She was technically born and built for this, and it showed in natural genetic talent if nothing else. She also knew she could take it, because tonight, she was on a mission. --- Gilda had come back to Ponyville. That mean, mean griffon, who had given her one of her worst days ever, had dared to show her face again. And for some reason, Rainbow Dash hadn't kicked her to the curb the very second she'd showed up! They'd been flying all day. And she could see them still flying now. Rainbow Dash had spent so much time with Gilda that she hadn't come to say hello to Fluttershy even once today! Fine, then. Fluttershy was going to go to her. She had to. Because it was finally time to do something she'd wanted to do for months. The knot in her heart refused to let her do otherwise. A year ago, you made me cry. And Rainbow Dash, too. Fluttershy's eyes narrowed into slits. It's time somepony showed you how that feels. --- There it was. Rainbow Dash's sky castle. Right now, it looked entirely different than in the daytime. During the day, the sun twinkled off of the everpresent rainbow trailing from it, the nearby fountain, and several parts of the clouds which made up the castle's structure. The result was that you could sometimes barely see the place at all due to the glare. But at night--especially by the light of the full moon--it easily qualified as one of Ponyville's biggest tourist attractions. Or rather, it would be if Rainbow Dash allowed tourists. Which she didn't. Fluttershy had asked why once. Rainbow Dash's response, to the letter, was, "Why should I let people see my house when I'm Ponyville's star attraction?" Fair enough, Fluttershy supposed. Still, there was no denying its splendor. Next to it, the rest of the night looked just a little less majestic. There were the moon and the usual stars in the sky, plus a few barely-visible clouds, yet none of them could hope to compare. This was no time to be awed at inanimate objects, however. Not with her fast approaching the two people she'd come up to see. They hadn't sensed her presence yet, but she could hear them talking--and she didn't like what she was hearing. --- "I want you to come back with me, Dash." Gilda's voice, gruff and stern, as usual. "W-why should I?" Rainbow Dash's voice, forceful, yet unsure. That "unsure" part always happened around Gilda, Fluttershy had noticed. "Because this whole mess shouldn't have existed in the first place. Because you and me not being together makes no freaking sense. And because I'm not about to let a bunch of lame ponies get in the way of what we had goin'!' Gilda swept a wing in front of herself. "So come on. We'll follow the wind, and kick the asses of anyone who gets in our way." She saw Rainbow Dash continue to hesitate, and delivered the clincher. "Forget the Wonderbolts, even. We'll show 'em up ourselves." That perked Rainbow up. She looked around, her eyes full of wonder and a hope she'd never considered. "Y-you really think we can compete with the 'Bolts all on our own?" "We totally can." Gilda grasped Rainbow Dash's hooves with her wings, her voice going uncharacteristically mellow. "Dash, you and me... we can do anything we put our wings to. We've done it before, and we can do it again." She let go, and her voice firmed. "But you gotta give up those ground-bound ponies. They cramp my style, and I know you can't see it right now, but they're cramping yours, too. Big time. So it's either me or them." Rainbow was back to hesitating, averting her gaze to the stars above. "That's some pretty absolute talk, G. I'm not sure I'm ready to go that far just yet." "Oh, c'mon, Dash!" Gilda showed teeth, letting forth a muted growl which caused Rainbow Dash to back away a bit while shaking her head. "Gilda, I-" "''Gilda, I-', nothing! As badly as you treated your oldest pal in front of all your 'new friends?' You owe me! So I'm only gonna ask you one more time. 'Cause this time, if I fly outta here alone, I ain't comin' back. Got no time to waste with flip-flops." Rainbow Dash's lip trembled, the expression on her face communicating that her mind was locked in place. A breeze blew between the two of them, a mass of pindrops in the silence, waving hairs and feathers to one side. Once it was past, a soft, breathy voice sounded from behind them. "Well, I have an idea. That is, um, if no one minds." Both ex-Junior Speedsters turned towards the voice to see exactly who they expected: a pink-haired yellow pegasus, hovering by her lonesome. Rainbow Dash was the first to address her. "Fluttershy?" Fluttershy ignored her friend for the moment, and turned to Gilda, crossing her forelegs. "I say you let her make her decision, without the guilt attached." Gilda rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh. it's you. Look, the adults are talking here, okay? Maybe once Dash finishes packing for our trip, she'll stop down there to tell you goodbye." She sneered. "If I let her. Probably won't, though." Fluttershy nearly turned back, but steeled herself instead, bringing her hooves together. Today, of all days, she refused to back down. "Sorry, Gilda, but actually, it'll... um... it'll be you who's saying goodbye today!" She pointed her hoof straight at the griffon in defiance. "You're the flip-flop! And a meanie besides! Rainbow Dash is my best friend!" Another, far more stunned silence swept over the area. Rainbow Dash's mouth was agape--nothing was making any sense tonight. "Fluttershy? Is that really you in there?" "Well, I'll be damned!" Gilda laughed long and loud. "Somepony just graduated from training horseshoes!" She slowly closed the distance between herself and Fluttershy. Once more, the air got a little colder, the night a little bit darker, and Fluttershy quivered just a little more. Fortunately she was able to stop herself before she showed chattering teeth. "Here's the thing, though," said Gilda. "You're you, while I'm me. You wanna pick a fight with a griffon, you better be prepared to back it up!" Fluttershy took a deep breath. It was time. "Funny you should mention that." She raised her right hoof. On cue, a falcon, hawk, eagle, vulture, and owl flew to Fluttershy in an instant, flanking her and hovering at the ready. "This enough backup for you?" Gilda backed away one full wingflap, and blinked. "Wow, actually, uh, yeah, I'd say that's plenty." "Glad you approve." Fluttershy's expression was assertive for the first time that night. "Attack!" The birds rushed at Gilda, but before contact could be made, they were suddenly nowhere to be seen. "Huh?" Gilda looked around, confused. "W-where'd they go?" She got her answer in less than three seconds when each bird buzzed past her, each landing glancing blows and cuts with wings and talons. "Ow! What the--hey, ow!" They came from all sides, from all angles--below, above, horizontally, some of them pecking with their beaks, others briefly spinning to thwack her with the side of one wing. Their attacks came faster and faster, two waves, then three, until Gilda was forced to curl up, wings over her head, to protect it and herself. "Owowowowowowow!" Gilda yelped. "Oh, to hell with this!" Her eyes narrowed, and from then on, each time a bird approached her, she swiped them away, knocking them all into each other into close quarters. "My turn," she said, just before screeching and barreling into all of the birds simultaneously at high speed. Such was her force upon impact that they fell from the sky, limp as wet noodles. "No!" Fluttershy cried as she watched their unconscious bodies land on a cloud far below them. "You monster!" "I'm the monster?" said Gilda, nursing a few of her body's new scars. "I'm not the one who just learned how to do suckerpunches! I'm not the one who enslaves animals!" "I don't enslave them! They love me! Something you know nothing about!" "I know nothing abo-... you little... do you have any idea how much I hated doing that?" Gilda's voice cracked. "Some of them were family! I don't know how you turned them against me, but this is where you pay the price!" Fluttershy was next in Gilda's high-speed rushing path. "Price, nothing!" Fluttershy yelled in reply, and raised another hoof. Before Gilda could react, a squadron of hummingbirds slammed into the charging griffon. Their collisions proved enough to slow her down for an entire second. In the end, however, the only thing they truly accomplished was adding a scream to Gilda's charge as they were slammed off into the distance. The night was no longer cold. In fact, Fluttershy couldn't remember when she'd been more heated. She could barely see through the red in her vision, meaning she didn't think of much of it when she she screamed back, charged back, and hoof met talon as flight speeds met, smashing against each other. Fluttershy, however, being Fluttershy, quickly found herself being pushed back. Through quick thinking, she ducked out of the clash, swooped under and behind the griffon, closed all of her legs around her, and shifted their angle of their bodies to the side. Then backwards. Then downwards. "Fluttershy! What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash yelled, not quite sure how to go about breaking things up without hurting someone she cared about. Still, she trailed them just the same. But Rainbow's whereabouts or feelings weren't lost on Fluttershy one bit. "What I should have done years ago," said the freefalling yellow pegasus. "All while we were growing up, I've watched her tease you, bully you, convince you to do the same to others, all under the guise of 'friendship.'" Fluttershy held on for all she was worth--which, given Gilda's fierce struggles, was about her weight in gold. "I'm not letting her do it any more! I'm your friend! And I miss the nice Rainbow Dash I made friends with when we were fillies! The Rainbow Dash who was wonderful and comforting! Who was sweet and tender, when nopony else was around! The Rainbow Dash who convinced me I could fight a force of nature!" "I..." Rainbow Dash was struck near-speechless. "Fluttershy..." "I haven't seen that Rainbow Dash for years! I want her back!" With another, tear-filled scream, Fluttershy flapped her wings, forcing the two to fall even faster. "Whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash held out her hooves as she flew in closer. "No! Okay! I get it! You're mad! You've got every right to be! But this isn't the answer! Just stop fighting, okay?" Her words fell on two sets of deaf ears. --- Meanwhile, Gilda wasn't sure which surprised her the most--the fact that Fluttershy had managed to get her in this situation in the first place, or the fact that she was unable to escape. With a quad-legged vice grip, the pegasus continued to drive the two of them towards the earth with gravity-aided speed. The wind screamed past her ears, taunting her with musical accompaniment to a descent she had no control over. As they passed the final cloud layer and Ponyville rushed up towards them, she figured it was finally time to get some answers. Well, that and escape, but she'd been trying to do that the whole time anyway. All she'd managed so far was to shift herself slightly around so that she could just barely see Fluttershy, but not much else. "How are you even doing this?" While still struggling, Gilda attempted to peck at Fluttershy's head, but damn it all, that girl somehow saw it coming from a mile away. She dodged, bobbing left, then right--and then she met Gilda's eyes directly with the angriest of stares. Her eyes were still red. Still manic. Yet her voice was the pinnacle of tranquility. "You don't get it," said Fluttershy. "You never have. I helped create a tornado not too long ago. It's something pegasi were born to do, but I was still deathly scared to try. Even so, Rainbow Dash still believed in me. And with her support, I did it. Compared to that?" Fluttershy scoffed. "You're nothing for me to worry about. Not anymore." The ground wasn't far now. Gilda still wasn't free. Weighing her options, she made a decision she knew she would hate. "L-Look, we can work this out, okay? Y-you want me to leave, right? I-I-I'll do it! Seriously! You can have Dash! Just lemme go!" Fluttershy's teeth clenched. "I don't believe you." Gilda's voice cracked for the second time that night. "Please!" Fluttershy didn't answer. Ponyville was almost close enough to taste now, and several of its citizens had crowded by the expected crash point. Then, no more than ten feet from the ground, Fluttershy spread her wings, easing into a glide and running landing. As she did so, she let go of the griffon, watching her roll along the ground with a ten point landing. Gilda opened her eyes to see Fluttershy standing over her, scowl still present. "Don't. Come. Back." Gilda jumped to her feet, and roared in response. Fluttershy didn't flinch. The two of them silently looked at each other for almost a minute. "Tch. You win, I guess. Take care of her," were Gilda's final words before she took off limply into the sky. "I-I-I will," Fluttershy managed, just before adrenaline and energy left her all at once. She wobbled, then collapsed, onto the soft grass, and her vision shifted to darkness. --- "-ttershy? Fluttershy! C'mon, girl, speak to me!" When Fluttershy's vision returned, she was back on the clouds, in front of Rainbow Dash's house, with its owner kneeling over her, hooves on her shoulders. Soft hooves, just as Fluttershy always suspected, despite her rough-and-tumble nature. Then again, she was probably afraid of hurting Fluttershy at the moment. Fluttershy would have laughed at the irony, if she had had the strength. "Are... are you all right?" she instead asked between breaths. Rainbow Dash's voice scratched and shook throughout her reply. "Wh-why are you asking about me?" Her eyes were wide and puffy, showing concern as well as traces of an emotion she would rather have hidden, and would have succeeded in hiding, if not for a sniffle she was unable to help. "You're the one who just picked a fight with one of the fiercest griffons in Equestria... and won? What were you thinking?" She paused, and smiled. "And how long have you been holding out on me? I never knew you had it in you!" Fluttershy's breaths slowly calmed as relief washed over her. So she had won, after all. For a moment there she'd been wondering if she'd dreamed the whole thing. "That makes two of us." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "But there's still something I don't get. Everything you were saying when you were bringin' the business to Gilda... you really did all that just because you were afraid for our friendship?" And just then, Fluttershy found the strength, her second wind. "No. Not quite." With a force that surprised Rainbow Dash yet again that night, Fluttershy took hold of her, and rolled them both so that yellow topped blue. With a jubilant grin, she looked down at Rainbow's mystified expression as pink locks draped over them both. "F-Fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash's breaths came short and quick upon realizing her situation, accompanied by a deep crimson blush and fast, nervous blinks. For Fluttershy, however, she might as well have been batting her eyelashes. Either way, it made her all the more desirable. Before that desire could have a chance to burst from within her, she let it escape. "I love you, Rainbow." Rainbow Dash was, predictably, surprised. "You... you what?" But Fluttershy had come too far to stop now. "Ever since you defended me as a filly. You've helped me face so many fears. You gave me my cutie mark. When I was fighting Gilda right now, I thought of you, cheering me on, just like you have so many times." She sniffed. "I wouldn't be half the mare I am now if not for you. I owe you so much. I love you so much." She leaned in closer. Her hair bunched up around them even more. Fluttershy brushed it aside so to get the best view possible of the object of her affection's beautiful, blue, rainbow-topped face. Fluttershy leant closer still, and whispered words into Rainbow Dash's ear that she had to whisper, because Celestia help her if anypony overheard her saying them out loud. "And I want you. Right here." Not one second later, she draped herself completely over the blue pegasus, and was giving her sweet, tender kisses wherever she could, as fast as she could, as much as she could--her forehead, her cheek, her cute little snout, her chin, a little to the side of- Rainbow Dash reached up, and held her friend's face in place. "F-F-Fluttershy! Fluttershy! H-hey, w-wait a sec!" Fluttershy froze as she saw Rainbow Dash stare back up at her, and deflated. "I knew it was too good to be true." "What? No, that's not it at all!" Rainbow Dash was still breathing hard, still stumbling through her words. "I mean it is true, I mean no, it... it's just... aaargh!" She shook her head violently, then closed her eyes for a few moments to get her thoughts in order. When she reopened them, her words were free of frustration, and filled with sincerity and serenity. "Okay, here's the deal. Can't believe I'm saying this, but you gotta slow down." Rainbow Dash winked. "'Cause I'm having trouble keeping up here. Even though I want to." Fluttershy gasped. "You mean you... you..." Rainbow Dash laughed. "You kidding? I've been into you for ages! I just didn't think you'd be the first between us to get up the nerve! But some things you really gotta take slow. Just 'cause you want 'em to last longer." She took a long bunch of silken pink mane into her hooves, and stroked it, her eyes shining as they gazed into Fluttershy's. "Like you. Me. Here. Forever, if we can. Whaddaya think?" Fluttershy just barely managed to hold in the longest squeal of her life. Instead, she channeled her excitement into tackling Rainbow Dash yet again--this time with less speed, but even more force. Her lips tackled Rainbow Dash's in kind, the kiss lasting for minutes, until Rainbow had to pull away again, gasping for breath. "You... you wanna hit my room for this?" Fluttershy shook her head, wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash's frame, rolled them both to their sides, then slipped yellow hind legs in between one blue. "Mmmm... no, no. Clouds are much fluffier. Like you." She rubbed her cheek against Rainbow Dash's, and her thighs against the same. And from then on, for both of them, the night had never been warmer.