Fluttershy feigned away sleep’s heavy grasp, yawning loudly as sunlight danced across her eyelids. Once she was able to fully open her eyes, she immediately dashed to the window of her cloud home and propped her hooves up on the fluffy ledge.
She couldn't help but yawn once more as she examined the scenery which lay before her; the occasional pegasi frolicking among the clouds, birds swarming around any picnicking ponies, and the sun at the very tip of the sky, shining down upon it’s subjects.
“Afternoon?” she questioned softly. “I could have sworn I slept for only a few minutes, not a few hours…”
The butter-colored Pegasus sighed. Spitfire- she believed that was her name- had promised she would come by her house before lunch. By the looks of things, a meal was already underway.
“Would she have waken me, if she had came?” she pondered, rubbing her chin slowly. Spitfire seemed like the kind of pony that went straight to business, so it was a good possibility.
“Oh no,” Fluttershy squeaked, “what her parents found out about her sneaking away and they banned her from leaving and now we’ll never see each other again and-“
The small Pegasus took a deep breath in, closing her ever-fluttering eyes, then released her pent-up distress into the air. “It’s okay, Fluttershy…” she soothed, “she could have just forgotten, that’s all.”
The filly silenced a yawn as she got to her hooves again, swishing her long tail impatiently. “Oh, I can’t stop worrying!” she shrilled. “What if something happened?”
Her lithe hooves slipped and slid on the sleek floor, but Fluttershy was so engulfed in her fretting that she wouldn’t have even noticed a Pegasus streaking through her wall and flailing across the room. She simply kept her eyes at the ceiling, a little sliver of hope thinking her friend might, just might, visit soon.
There was the horrible sound of a hard material scraping against metal, and a brilliant explosion of burnt sienna and orange. A small sphere of pure fire burst through Fluttershy’s easternmost wall of cirrus cloud, shedding tiny flames that licked the air for a time before disappearing again. Fluttershy screamed, leaping for cover under a pattern of clouds that had come loose.
She shivered at the sight of the flare, morphing the fluffy material into a rough blanket with expert hooves and hiding underneath. A few strands of hot pink hair, a stark difference from the white scenery, fluttered from their spot away from the cover of Fluttershy’s temporary hiding place. The ball of fire began to bounce off the walls (The young filly wasn’t able to see the event, so she had no idea if it was probable at all) and was uttering a high-pitched whine.
“Flutterby!” it yelled. “Fluttercry!”
Fluttershy just squeaked from her spot.
“Flutterguy! Butterfly!”
“Um, you’re close.” Fluttershy whispered, feeling the heat slowly deteriorate and scooting herself forward.
The ball of fire seemed surprised at hearing an answer, albeit a quiet one. “Okay, then…” It gradually began to degrade in size, the larger flares becoming more prominent than their smaller brethren. The façade of heat coming from it had all but disappeared by now. “So, not Butterfly?”
“Not Butterfly.” Fluttershy repeated gingerly. “Very, very close though.”
“Shutterfly?”
“Um, it ends with ‘shy.’” Fluttershy pressed.
Two bright yellow dots appeared from the flame, gone one minute yet there the next. Strange, winglike appendages sprouted from the back, the feathers made of pure fire. “’Shy?’” it asked. “Buttershy?”
“It’s not butter.” As compassionate as the young Pegasus was, she was getting increasingly frustrated with it’s guesses. “It rhymes with it, though.”
“Okay, I think I got it.” The fireball began to roll across the floor slowly, having released all of it’s energy necessary to bounce. “Does it start with ‘Flutter?’”
“Y-yes…” Fluttershy stammered, peering out from under her soft blanket. She was shivering slightly not because of the breeze that drifted from the gap in her wall, but because it was just sinking in that a sphere of fire was talking- listening, too.
“Progress!” it exclaimed, a mouth-like opening forming at the tip of one of the center-most flames. “Flutterby? Flutterbutter? Fluttercry?”
“Almost.”
“Flutter… Shy? Fluttershy!” Just as the words were out of her mouth, the ball of flame crashed into Fluttershy’s cloud blanket, sending a hurricane of butter-colored feathers, wisps of cloud and orange light into the air. Fluttershy let out a despaired cry as she was thrust into the wall, hooves splayed and eyes wide and full of ears brought on by pure suprise.
Once the dust cleared and a fleeting moment of complete silence passed throughout Fluttershy’s damaged home, a thin filly stood up in the debris. Her primary feathers stuck out at all angles, but her eyes twinkled mischievously. “Fluttershy!” she said happily. “I knew it from the start.”
Fluttershy urged herself to stand, and after two failed attempts of her hooves supporting herself she stared in awe at the young pony. “Spitfire?” she asked. “How did you do that?”
Spitfire brushed some cloud pieces from her wings, preening them so delicately that Fluttershy nearly giggled. “I discovered it just the other day; apparently if I go really super fast,” she held up her hooves to prove her point, “My tail bursts into flames and I go even faster! Weird, huh?”
Fluttershy nodded in silent admiration. “You’re a silly filly, Spitfire. But… I thought you were coming over at lunchtime.”
Spitfire adjusted her wild mane, making sure the frizzy tendrils were away from her eyes. “It’s still lunchtime, isn't it?” she answered, motioning to the gap in the wall. In the distance, there was a much smaller cloud on which perched some random foods of all shapes and sizes.
“I’ll go get it, then.” Before Fluttershy could even blink, Spitfire had blasted out the hole leaving a blazing trail behind her.
“No! Wait!” Fluttershy wailed. “Come back-“
As she turned her back to the gaping hole, the filly found herself face to face with, of all ponies, Spitfire. The other Pegasus filly had the cloud in her mouth, grinning ear to ear, and set it down on the messy floor of Fluttershy’s home. “C’mon, slowpoke!” she said, already picking out some delicious fruits for herself.
Confused and dazed, Fluttershy absentmindedly sat next to the buffet her friend had packed. It rightfully deserved the title- along with the multi-colored fruits that Spitfire favored, there were many odd vegetables and grains the young Pegasus had never seen before. Some were of the brightest orange that they seemed out of place among the paler wheat strands, some as dark as a stormy night. Fluttershy was almost too scared to eat even the foods she knew well.
“Aren't you going to eat?” Spitfire lifted her head from a half-eaten apple, the fur around her mouth covered in it’s dazzling crimson peel. She cocked her head slightly, almost looking at Fluttershy in despair.
“There’s…” Fluttershy began in awe. “…There’s just so many different things, it’s hard to make up my mind…”
“I’ll do it for you.” The feisty Pegasus filly snatched a bundle of hay, a short carrot, and another apple, balancing all the foods on her wings like an accomplished waiter. She hopped over to Fluttershy, bowing at her hooves.
“Um…” Fluttershy stammered.
“You said you couldn't decide. I did.” She fluttered her feathers without loosing a single straw of hay. “Come on, we’ve gotta finish this quick.”
The butter-colored filly, confused as could be, retrieved the assortment of items and began munching on the carrot. “If you don’t mind me asking, um, Spitfire…”
“Spit it out!” Spitfire exclaimed, pieces of chewed apple spraying into her lap. “Not literally, though.”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Fluttershy asked quietly, hiding her eyes behind a veil of pink hair.
Spitfire’s eyes twinkled deviously. “Well, remember how we wanted to go exploring?”
“Um, sure…”
“Well, look at this!”
Spitfire reached behind her fluffy tail and brought out a small leather saddlebag, looking oddly empty as it swayed furiously in the only slight breeze. Her lithe hoof slid onto one, and only a few seconds later it reappeared, this time holding a yellowed parchment. Her face lit up immediately, and she gently began to unravel the small scroll with a wide smile on her face. “You’re gonna love this, Fluttershy.” she reassured her.
Fluttershy, although having a polite nature, could barely stifle a large yawn. Such a simple scroll didn't hold that much value to the orange filly. Yet as Spitfire continued to unravel the parchment, her mouth began to open slightly since the paper kept coming not matter how long Spitfire rolled it.
“What-“she questioned.
“Almost there…” Spitfire intoned, her face screwed in anticipation. Fluttershy was certain if the filly went any faster the parchment itself would burst into flame.
She exhaled deeply, wiping tiny beads of sweat from her brow and straightening the long scroll. “And… Done.” she said.
Fluttershy gasped, feeling her wings go slack against her small sides. What lay before the two was not any ordinary, run-of-the-mill scroll you could find in a library. It looked much like an antique- a relic of times well passed, even. Each crinkled edge and faded word brought a cacophony of memories of far before themselves.
What lay before the fillies was, in fact, a map of Equestria.
“I take it you like it?” Spitfire asked smugly. “Took me a while, but I got it. A real map- the real McCoy, all the way from 2009 BC.”
Fluttershy was in utter awe, her hoof reaching out to touch the ancient item. “BC… B-before Celestia?” she whispered.
Spitfire nodded, her orange curls bouncing gleefully. “Eeyup!”
“Where…” she stammered. “…Where did you find this?”
The Pegasus filly dramatically laid her hoof across her forehead, mouth positioned in a wide oval. “It was dreadful, Fluttershy! I had to fly until my wings ached! I had to barter so much with a smelly old unicorn that I was still saying ‘I’ll give ya three bits for that’ when he finally gave it to me!” she wailed in despair. “That meanie.”
“Spitfire…?” Fluttershy cocked her head, eyes wide as moons. “Where, exactly, did you go?”
The other filly hadn't finished her performance, to Fluttershy’s slight annoyance. “I had to fly so long, I almost feel asleep! I…” Her face became serious as she looked into Fluttershy’s eyes, meeting her stare. “I went outside of Cloudsdale.”
The butter-colored Pegasus felt her shoulders stiffen, and her mind began buzzing anxiously. In all her years living among the clouds, she had never even thought of what was below her hooves. When she asked her parents or the occasional visitor, their faces were blank for a few moments before coming up with an excuse, each along the lines of “lots of white stuff. That’s all.” She hadn't felt any need to fly below the lowest cloud layer, as Fluttershy had all she needed in the vast sky.
“R-really?” she whispered apprehensively, her ears slanted forward.
Spitfire cherished moments like these when she could wow her companions with her feats, and this one was no different. Her eyes dashed across Fluttershy’s wrecked home, pretending to look for any eavesdroppers, then settled on the pegasus’ luminous irises. She willed herself to look anxious, nervous, even mortified, simply for the sake of suspense. When Fluttershy realized the importance of what she was about to say, fake or not, she shifted her facial features to look overjoyed- which she truly was.
“Yep. It’s amazing, Fluttershy.” she murmured happily. “There’s so many ponies down there!”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked. Although she had a hard time believing ponies would actually like to live where there wasn't a single cloud instead of Cloudsdale, she still wholeheartedly believed her friend.
“Yeah! But here’s the weird thing-“she paused dramatically- “They don’t have wings!”
Fluttershy deadpanned, her eyes wide. All her life, she was told pony tales by her parents that depicted ponies without wings- there were only one or two, they said time and time again- as devious villains with dark hearts and shallow meanings behind their terrible deeds.
“They’re the bane of our existence,” her father had spat. As far as she was concerned, her mother shared his beliefs.
“Are they…” It physically pained Fluttershy to say the word she was thinking of. “…Mean?”
Spitfire wiped some dust off one end of the mountainous map, using the other hoof to wrangle a stubborn orange. “Kinda the opposite,” she replied without looking up, “They all smiled and gave me treats and such. There was this one with a horn that even gave me directions to where I could find the map!”
“A pony… Without wings, but with a horn?” the Pegasus mused, deep in thought. “Sounds dreadful, having a huge, heavy horn stuck to your forehead.”
Spitfire shot her arsenal of orange seeds, providing enough force for them to fall through the floor and into the sky. She grinned at her accuracy. “Not all the ponies have horns, though.” she explained, reaching for the pile of hay that Fluttershy left unattended. “Some of them have nothing except for their hooves! They looked really bored.”
“Sounds boring indeed. I wonder what they do all day ...” Fluttershy muttered. “So, what are we going to use the map for?”
“An adventure!” Spitfire exclaimed, stuffing her hoof back into her saddlebag and retrieving a small sailor’s hat. She set it atop her head and grinned, snapping the end of a carrot loudly as she talked. “Remember how we said we were gonna go around Equestria, fighting evil and seeing everything there is? Now we can!”
Fluttershy giggled, blushing deeply as she turned her face from the filly. “I’d love to, Spitfire…” she began, the words catching in her throat. “…But you didn't think we could drop everything and go around Equestria, did you?”
Silence. Fluttershy crouched down, her nose brushing the fluffy cloud floor, and prepared for the worst from her friend. He could almost imagine the scorching heat kissing her fur, a brilliant flame materializing thanks to Spitfire’s pure frustration…
But nothing came. She jumped as a hard hoof nudged her flank, but when she got up no blazes awaited roasting her on a spit. Spitfire’s eyes weren't filled with furious rage and anger, but rather seemed to be filled with the beginnings of tears- a rarity for any Pegasus filly, who’s breed was known for their brash and aloof attitude.
“Do you know what I went through to get this information, Fluttershy?” she whispered, voice as soft as dove feathers. “Do you know how far I flew to get this map? Who I met? Who I fought? Do you…” Her eyebrows scrunched together, her mouth becoming a straight, unwavering line. “…Do you even care, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy’s fragile heart broke in two, and her mouth opened in a silent gasp. “Oh Spitfire, I do care! I really do!” she pleaded, eyes wide. “It’s just that... We can’t charge into such a large adventure so q-quickly...”
Her words did not work wonders on the other filly, but instead made the beginnings of tears bloom. “Do you not understand…?” Spitfire asked, becoming increasingly desperate. “I… I…”
It was then that Fluttershy broke down, her defenses crumbling like dry hay. Often she made a real attempt to be her own pony, not to be swayed by petty weeping and empty promises, but everything went out the door when it came to a sad looking pony. The sight tugged at her heartstrings to the point where she felt like she might cry herself. She leaped onto Spitfire, shaking heavily, her nose buried in her friend’s soft fur.
“Oh Spitfire, I’m so sorry!” she wailed, nuzzling her light ginger coat. “Of course I’ll go with you! I just didn't know how important it was to you, is all. I’ll even start packing now so we can get going bright and early!”
Spitfire shivered once from beneath Fluttershy’s hard grasp and shot out from between her hooves, like a lively firecracker. All of the mist around her eyes disappeared as fast as it appeared. “Thanks, Fluttershy!” she exclaimed, embracing the Pegasus briefly before shrugging off Fluttershy’s confused body. “I’ll go get packing! See ya tomorrow, just as the sun comes over the clouds?”
“Um…” Fluttershy mumbled, utterly bemused. She blinked, trying to comprehend what Spitfire had said in vain.
“I’ll take that as a yes! See you tomorrow, Fluttershy!” Spitfire said gleefully, flying out the gaping hole in the wall in a blast of heat and flame.
Once the filly was out of her sight, Fluttershy turned to face the carnage- holes across the floor, showing the pretty blue sky beneath, a few random papers sputtering the occasional spark, and the half-eaten buffet awaiting her just a few paces away. Spitfire’s map, the musty scent engulfing the cheery perfume her mother sprayed every day, was discarded as well.
As she shifted her hooves, moving to pick up the pieces of her home before her parents returned, there was a sudden blossom of heat at her side and Spitfire returned, panting heavily. Her tiny pink tongue lolled out from between her shivering cheeks as her jet-lag caught up with her. "Same place, right?" she panted.
Fluttershy opened her mouth slowly, saying nothing. It was not that the small pegasus wasn't trying, it was simply that words failed her.
"I'll..." Spitfire exhaled, getting back on to her shaky hooves and steadily beginning to flap her wings. "I'll... Take that as a yes..."
The last syllable left her mouth, and the filly was gone. A path of pure destruction, no more so thanks to her second entrance, lay in Spitfire's wake.
“W-what just happened?” she asked herself.