//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Of Sunsets and Rainbows // Story: Hearts Aflutter // by NotHereAnymoreProbably //------------------------------// Hearts Aflutter - Chapter 1 Of Sunsets and Rainbows It was a cheery day in Ponyville. The sun hung low in the sky, the bright afternoon soon to be broken by an evening thunderstorm – which a certain rainbow maned pegasus had yet to set up. She was busy, however, with a different matter, of a more personal nature – and Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville’s resident librarian, was a pony she was sure could help her out. Any beating around the bush normally made Twilight try to tell you what kind of bush it was, the best ways to take care of one, and many of the uses this bush could have. Thus, Rainbow Dash decided to get straight to the point. "Hey Twilight, have you noticed anything… weird about Fluttershy lately?" "What do you mean?” Twilight asked, having spent nearly three days cooped up in the library, studying Celestia knew what... though she probably does, on second thought, Rainbow muttered silently. "How should I know? I haven't been able to talk to her all week! You know how she acts around strangers?" she asked, continuing at Twilight’s nod. “It’s like that, but... a little different. At least she outright runs away from strangers – with me, she kinda just... keeps her distance.” "That does sound a little strange… Alright, I'll see what I can do. Maybe I could find some time tomorrow… or the day after," Twilight said, peering over at her schedule to try and find some spare time – she hoped Rainbow didn’t see her grimace. "Thanks, Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Anyway, I’ve gotta get Cloudkicker to help set up that thunderstorm. I'll see you later." "Did you say thunderstorm?” Twilight exclaimed, shooting over to the weather calendar on her wall. “Oh my, you’re right! Of course you’re right...” “Uh... yeah. Bye, and thanks again!” Dash said gratefully, leaving quickly by the library’s window. Cloudkicker was waiting at the usual spot, already prepared. “Hey, Dash! Heh, what a surprise – you’re not too late for once.” “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Dash cackled, pointing a hoof at Cloudkicker’s mane, which was standing completely on end from the thunderclouds’ static. The other pegasus glared for a moment, giggled, and then they got to work. As Dash began to put the dark grey clouds in place, she found her thoughts drifting towards Fluttershy, her long-time best friend. Fluttershy's weird behaviour had all started right after one of Pinkie Pie's parties. It had begun just like any other – a couple dozen ponies, lots of food, particularly cake, and hay-loads of fun – but after the majority of the guests had left, Pinkie Pie managed to swindle Dash and the others into making it a sleep-over party. ~~~ The top floor of Sugarcube Corner was easily large enough to house the six ponies occupying it. They were arranged in a circle, camped out around an imaginary fire – another of Pinkie Pie's ideas – as if it were a Filly Scouts Jamboree without the tents or outdoor bedding. For some reason, it brought Dash memories of Summer Flight School. Pinkie Pie sat astride a large navy blue beanbag; to her left was Rainbow on a small cloud, followed by Applejack and Fluttershy on small cushions, Twilight Sparkle on a second beanbag and Rarity on her red velvet loveseat. How it managed to appear wherever there was a need for being overdramatic, Rainbow had no clue. Must be a unicorn thing, she thought. Despite already putting herself to bed twice – for no real reason – Pinkie had managed to keep everypony – including herself – going with a favourite party game."Applejack, truth or dare, truth or dare!" she cried, bouncing into the air. "Oh gosh, uh… Dare?" the earth pony replied. The game had begun. "Okie dokie! I dare you to…" Pinkie Pie beckoned Applejack over and whispered in her ear. Suddenly Applejack burst out laughing. "What is it? What'd she dare you?" Rainbow asked – if it was a prank, she had to know. If at all possible, she wanted in – a good prank was the best way to have fun. "Well, alright, Ah'll tell you," Applejack said. She sidled up next to Rainbow Dash and whispered loudly, “She said Ah should replace all of Rarity's mud maskin' stuff with real mud. Ah reckon everypony'd get a good laugh outta that-" "Well I certainly won't, Miss Applejack!” Rarity cried indignantly. “I am appalled! Not only did Pinkie Pie come up with something so... atrocious," she said with a shudder, "But that you would agree to it! And I thought we'd finally made up our differences…" Applejack looked away. “Ah really should learn how to whisper...” "Oh, but Rarity, we spend all day at the spa lying in real mud," interceded Fluttershy. Rarity flushed lightly, but stopped her attacks on the apple farmer. The awkward silence was broken quite easily by Pinkie Pie, who continued the game at full stride. "Applejack, it's your turn!" “Well, alrighty then. Rarity, truth or dare?" "Oh darling, truth, of course! A pony never knows what her friends," she said, looking pointedly at everypony in turn in an underhanded – and pointless – attempt to psych them out, "Might try to make them do." "Alrighty then… is it true that in one of your school photos you were wearing a dress made from a towel?" Rarity was on her feet instantly, a shocked look on her face. "P-P-Pinkie!” she sputtered, her voice nearly at shriek volume. “You promised me that you would never tell anypony!" Pinkie Pie gasped, putting her hooves over her mouth. She looked guiltily at the unicorn and hung her head in shame, a single tear rolling out from her eye. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I even destroyed every copy of that photo...” the unicorn moaned agonisingly. Pinkie immediately began digging through her now slightly-drooping mane, producing a cupcake. It was a mean cupcake - black cake, black frosting, and enormous black spikes that rose like the towers of Canterlot. Everypony gasped as they realised what the crazy party pony was about to do. Rarity straight away tried to stop her, urgently saying, "Pinkie, please don't! I forgive you! It wasn't really all that important to me!" Pinkie raised her joyless eyes slowly to Rarity's, guilt and shame having taken all life from them. In a solemn monotone, she said, "I must regain my honour and yours, Rarity. It's cupcake, or seppuku." Four pairs of eyes turned to Twilight, who despite the atmosphere told them everything about the ancient Samurai method of ritual suicide. All five of the ponies nodded at each other, coming to a unanimous decision. "Cupcake." “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie said, nodding slowly. She then placed a hoof in her mouth, opened her left eye as far as she could and plunged the deathly cupcake straight into the centre, screaming into her foreleg. Everypony winced or turned away, fearing the pink pony had finally lost her grip on what little sanity she possessed – the screaming had quickly transformed into enormous gales of laughter. Then Pinkie stretched her tongue out, enveloping the cupcake with it, and proceeded to swallow it whole, still giggling maniacally. “Oh, you guys! I got you so good!” she cried, rolling around the floor, literally laughing her pants off. "Uh, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked, more than slightly confused. "What just happened?" "Well, I never said you couldn't have eye protectors when you stick the cupcake in it!" She removed a very thick, clear plastic ellipse from her eye, placing it on the ground next to her. Five ponies facehoofed in unison, all the while filing that information away for future reference – and still wondering where Pinkie’s pants had come from. There were at least seven pairs littering the floor where she’d been rolling, yet not a single pony had seen her put them on. "Your turn, Rainbow Dash!" “Alright, my turn!" she’d come up with a great idea, but she’d need another pegasus’ help. "Fluttershy, truth or dare?" Dare, dare, dare, dare… "Um... truth." Aw, darn... Rainbow, racked her brain to find some question, any question she’d ever had about Fluttershy, but her thoughts came up blank in the heat of the moment. Finally, she settled on one of the most pitiful fall-back questions ever invented... but she had to ask something, right? She definitely didn’t really care about her answer. Not at all. "Who do you like?" Fluttershy's eyes shot wide open and she blushed deeply, looking at everypony in shock. Woah. "Darling, you can tell us," Rarity said, suddenly interested again. "It is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of." Fluttershy gulped, took a few deep breaths and said, "I-I-I-I-I-I..." "Uh… What was that?" Applejack asked, leaning forward. "Um... I...” she mumbled, descending into an impossibly low volume. "Come on, speak up!" Rainbow Dash urged. She’d never known Fluttershy to be interested in anypony in that way, but her reaction clearly said otherwise. "Who do you like?" "Me! Me! Tell me, oh please please please please please please!" Pinkie yelled, cart-wheeling around the room in her excitement. Fluttershy, her face as red as Applejack's apples, could only squeak in reply. "Alright," Twilight Sparkle interrupted. "I think that's enough everypony. She's starting to get distressed." The realisation hit the other four ponies like a piano from above, and they noticed just how much they’d been pressuring the most timid pony they knew. While it was certainly an interesting subject, the answer wasn’t worth the pressure they were putting on their friend. "Sorry for puttin' you on the spot like that, Fluttershy," Applejack said, lowering her ears and looking down at her hooves. "I am too, dear,” Rarity put in. “I shouldn’t have let something so petty get the best of me like that." "Yeah, me too. Sorry Fluttershy," Rainbow said, not to be left behind. "Next time we should go bobsledding!" Five ponies turned to the excitable pink one, blinking away their confusion. "…What?" --- Not long after that party, all of the trouble with the yellow pegasus began. At first it didn't bother Rainbow much – it was easy to pass it off as Fluttershy just being... well, Fluttershy. She was normally shy anyway, and Dash thought that maybe she’d just been having some trouble talking to ponies lately or something. But as the weeks went on, it became clear that the unusual behaviour was directed towards her – and unusual it was. But even then, it wasn’t the behaviour that bothered Dash – it was what it implied. Something had happened that had changed something between the two of them, and she couldn’t even talk to the other mare to figure out what. After a whole week, the lack of contact with Fluttershy was really getting to her – it hurt, considering how close they were. Not long ago, they’d started going out flying together – there was something about two pegasi, best friends taking to the sky together, that sent Rainbow’s heart soaring. Just like Applejack’s apples, or Twilight’s magic, flying was everything to her. It was what she did, it was who she was – and it was something she wanted to share with her friends. It was a sad stroke of fate that most of her closest friends weren’t pegasi, but that just made the one who was that much more special. Fluttershy was her best friend ever, the one friend who could fly, the one friend that she could share everything with – well, almost everything. They’d been together since Summer Flight School, before they got their Cutie Marks, before Rainbow had even known what it meant to have friends... …But now Fluttershy wouldn't come anywhere near her. Dash shook her head and pushed her troubles away as she put the last cloud into place for the thunderstorm. She's just... I dunno, sick or something. Fluttershy'll be back to her old self in no time! Feeling mildly reassured and suddenly drowsy, she said her goodbyes to Cloudkicker and began to search for a good place to take a nap in the afternoon, before heading back home. --- Fluttershy paced along the edge of the Everfree Forest frantically, nearly panicking, wondering what to do. Angel… of all the places to run off to, why here? It was one thing to go into a dark, scary forest full of Celestia knows what with all of her friends to stop Nightmare Moon, but it was another thing entirely to go into a dark, scary forest all on her own… Adventure had never been her thing – while everypony else seemed always ready to go out, risk it all and save the day, she was perfectly content to have a nice quiet day at home, happy to limit her day’s excitement to a tea party, or perhaps a trip to the spa. While she certainly never had a lack of adventure with Rainbow Dash and the others, she never quite got over the uncertainty that it brought her, and today was no exception. She'd tried to ask for help, but everypony was too busy; Pinkie Pie had a huge order of cupcakes to fill, Applejack had a substantial amount of apples to pick, and Rarity was busy with a particularly intricate set of dresses. Even Twilight, normally eager to help her friends, was also busy – Spike had said she didn’t want to be disturbed, so Fluttershy hadn’t pursued the matter. That left just Rainbow Dash, and that left Fluttershy with a problem – two in fact. For one, nopony had any idea where Rainbow Dash was – Cloudkicker had said she’d disappeared right after they finished setting up the thunderstorm, and hadn’t been seen since. The second problem was her recent trouble speaking with the pegasus. For a short while now, every sight of Rainbow Dash had had her blushing like a schoolfilly, and squeaking like a mouse. She could barely work up the courage to look at her. Fluttershy found her reaction to Rainbow quite irritating; she didn’t know what she or Dash had done that made her feel this way, but she didn’t like it. They’d been friends for so long, having something so... petty come between them was quite painful to bear. "Angel!" she yelled. Not a leaf stirred, and even a squirrel, asleep at her feet, didn't seem to mind the noise. She pawed at the ground, wondering if it was okay to call a bit louder – a determined glint entered her eye. She had to find the bunny, at any cost. Taking a deep breath, trying to be a little louder, she yelled, "Angel!" It was louder indeed – a bird looked up from its preening nearby, tweeted happily, and then got back to its business. Fluttershy looked at the sky, which had dimmed significantly from just moments before. A heavy cloud cover loomed above. I guess I have to go find Rainbow Dash. --- "Um... Excuse me, but have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?" she asked timidly, pawing at the ground. "Nope, sorry," Carrot Top replied, continuing to pack up her market stand, eager to get home before the storm hit. "Um..."Fluttershy mumbled, turning towards Daisy’s stand. "Uh, no, me neither," the other mare replied apologetically. So it went, from pony to pony, and not a single clue as to Rainbow Dash's whereabouts. She’d checked all of her friends' houses, all of her usual napping spots, and even had Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders search a substantial amount of trees at Sweet Apple Acres – “Cutie Mark Crusaders, Search Party! YAY!!!” She wandered through the streets of Ponyville, looking for any sign of her friend. The yellow mare had just about given up hope when she noticed the name of a shop down an alleyway. Could it really be so simple? Apparently it could – there had clearly been no better place for a nap than Quills & Sofas. That was where Fluttershy found Rainbow Dash, snoring away on a large luxury couch in the corner - her face lit up inexplicably with a slight blush as she noticed the pegasus, but she shook her head to push the feeling away, trying to soothe her nerves – she couldn’t let something like this get between them, especially not when Angel might be in danger. She entered the store, heading towards the sleeping pegasus. "Rainbow Dash," she whispered. Snore... "Rainbow Dash." This time she nudged her friend ever so slightly. Snore... The shop assistant noticed Fluttershy's plight and came to assist, coming to a stop right in front of the large sofa. He took a deep breath, coughed slightly, took another breath, and began. "GOOOD MORNIIING, RAINBOOOOW DAAASH!!!" roared the brown earth pony as he leapt high into the air and body slammed into the cushion, right next to where Rainbow was napping. His landing ejected the pegasus into the air for a rather rude awakening. Barely catching herself before hitting the ground, wings fluttering madly, Dash glared at the assistant, enraged. "What the hay is wrong with you, man? I've been here like, five minutes!" she complained loudly. "Uh, it's closer to two hours, actually. Your friend was here trying to wake you up, so I came to help out." Rainbow looked around, noticing Fluttershy. I knew she’d come around, Dash thought. "Oh, hey Fluttershy. What'cha doin'?” she asked, trying not to show her surprise at seeing the yellow pegasus, succeeding to a degree. “I haven't seen you around much lately." "W-Well, um... You see..." Fluttershy mumbled to her hooves, not meeting Dash’s eyes. "What's that?” Whoops – don’t wanna sound like I don’t care... “Uh... Could you speak up a little?” she asked, sounding slightly apologetic. Fluttershy took a deep breath before continuing, telling her the whole story of Angel’s runaway as quickly as possible. "... and now I need your help to find Angel Bunny. The last place I saw him was when he was running into the E-Everfree Forest, and the thunderstorm could start any minute!" "Oh, is that all? We'll find him in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow put in encouragingly. “Come on, let’s go!” "O-Okay. Um... Thanks for your help, um..." Fluttershy said, shying away from the brown colt a little. "Any time," said the smiling attendant. The two pegasi left quickly, flying towards the Everfree Forest as quickly as Fluttershy could manage. Upon arrival at the outskirts, however, they found a white rabbit waiting for them, tapping one foot rapidly and holding up a pocket watch, which he also tapped. Rainbow facehoofed as Fluttershy trotted towards the bunny, scolding him for running away. "Angel Bunny, what have I told you about running off on your own? Do you know how worried I was?" Undeterred by his caretaker’s stern voice, Angel simply looked between the two pegasi slowly, smiling secretively before hopping over towards the cottage nearby. "Why doesn't he listen to you like all the other animals?" Dash asked. "Um..." she murmured, looking away again. Now that Angel was out of danger, all the guts she’d had earlier had left – she once more found it difficult to be so close to the rainbow maned mare. She once more found herself fighting off a blush. “Sorry?" "..." Inwardly, Fluttershy cursed herself – she didn’t want this to be happening either, but it wasn’t under her control. Still, the feeling was slightly different now – rather than apprehension alone, or whatever it was, it now felt a little more like indecision. She wanted to be... closer. She wanted Rainbow to be closer. "Oh come on! What's going on? I haven't seen you in ages! This is probably the first time we've spoken in weeks." She tried once more, somehow finding the nerve to speak up again. "W-well, you see... I—" She squeaked, cut off by a far-off flash of lightning and a loud peal of thunder – they hadn't noticed the wind picking up around them, and only then noticed the rain that had begun to fall, lightly for now. Fluttershy sighed, unable to keep the sentence going. Rainbow Dash decided to break the awkward silence, trying not to be exasperated with the way Fluttershy was acting. If Fluttershy wouldn’t talk to her, there wasn’t a lot they could do together… She took off in a quick boost of speed, flying a few circles around to try and get a thought process going. She broke through the cloud cover at one point and stopped completely, hovering in mid-air, staring enthralled at the horizon. She immediately flew back to where Fluttershy still sat. "Hey, let's go up there,” she said, pointing towards the sky. “I want to show you something.” "Um... Okay," the Fluttershy squeaked. Rainbow leapt into the air and waited for the other mare to follow, then flew straight into the dark grey storm clouds again. Fluttershy faltered – was she serious? Flying into a thunderstorm was the sort of thing only good fliers did, and she was about as far from that as a pegasus could be! Just as suddenly as Rainbow had disappeared into the grey canopy, a small window of opportunity made itself available in a gap between the clouds. Not wanting to let her down, she flew through it and into the clear skies above the storm. Looking about, she spotted the mare perched atop an outcropping of white fluffy clouds, looking west towards the sunset. Rainbow beckoned Fluttershy towards her with a wing, her magenta eyes glued to the beautiful scene in front of them. As Fluttershy looked towards the same point, her wings nearly stopped flapping, and she had to steady herself quickly. She flew over to where the pegasus sat, joining her on the cloud bank. "Have you ever seen a sunset from up high like this? Wait, nevermind. Of course you have. You grew up in Cloudsdale, same as me." Dash laughed and fell to her side, watching the sun move further down the skies. Fluttershy did the same, leaning forward to rest her head on her hooves. She looked as the sky changed in shade from a bright orange-gold to a glorious purple, and found herself silently thanking Princess Celestia for creating the beautiful sunset. It wasn't just the colours, though – the swirling clouds below, the odd peal of thunder rumbling, or a flash of lightning which briefly illuminated everything around them... It was a perfect contrast. A tranquil twilight, warm and bright, offset by a strong, yet peaceful storm below them. “It’s so beautiful,” she said solemnly, watching the sun lower itself at last past the horizon. All of her inhibitions were gone – it was just her and Rainbow Dash up here. Was that what she’d been afraid of? Was she scared of other ponies seeing her with Dash? Why would that be? "This is what it's like nearly every day from up here. You see all the colours follow the sun down behind the clouds, and then you look over behind you," she said, doing so as she spoke, "And then you see all the stars popping up, and the moon rising nice and slow over the mountains... I could sit here forever, just watching.” Fluttershy was seeing a part of Rainbow that didn’t often show itself – Rainbow wasn’t often the sentimental type, but when she got that way, she meant every word she said. “But you know what the best thing about it is?" she asked, looking over at Fluttershy. Fluttershy could think of a few things, but a real answer eluded her. Soon Rainbow Dash answered her own question, and the answer stunned the yellow pegasus, bursting through her heart like a blooming flower. "It's that you're here with me. You're my best friend. I can share things with you that nopony else could possibly understand. I could never bring Twilight or Applejack here – that’s why this is so awesome. It’s something just the two of us have, like a secret that only we know. It’s just me and you, ‘Shy." Fluttershy sat, eyes wide – Rainbow had never expressed her feelings so openly before. It was… nice. Dash looked towards the moon, which was beginning to rise higher into the sky, shining its kindly light on them. “Sunsets are probably my favourite thing in the world, besides maybe doing a Sonic Rainboom...” she trailed off, as if deciding whether to continue. “...And besides being friends with you.” she finished, placing a hoof over Fluttershy’s shoulders and lay down, resting her head on the other. It took Fluttershy a moment to realise that she’d gone to sleep. She was speechless - more so than usual at least. She sat in silence for what seemed like hours, contemplating her best friend's words as she looked towards the skies and listened to the soft tooting of the sleeping rainbow pegasus and the rumbles of thunder from below. Placing a wing tentatively over Rainbow Dash and feeling the tug of sleep herself, she fell into the night’s embrace, and into the arms of a dream full of sunsets and rainbows.