//------------------------------// // First meeting // Story: If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On // by flutterdashforever //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash stood outside the gates of Cloudsdale High Boarding School. It was an intimidating set of buildings; they were all tall and spread out. It looked like the kind of place that would take weeks to learn the layout of. Despite her love of flying, Rainbow had never been much good with maps. She gulped. This was not going to be easy. She had never really gotten along with other fillies, as they never seemed to be worth the time. Rainbow had her music and that was it... her mother had been against this and had moved her to Cloudsdale High Boarding School for a fresh start, to make some friends and for... other reasons. It was, after all, the biggest school in Cloudsdale. That was, of course, the problem. Up until now, Rainbow had been in one very small private school with around thirty students. They didn’t care if she did her homework and usually she just spent the classes listening to music and not really paying attention. It didn’t matter, she was the smartest student there and never had to work to get top marks. Rainbow sighed and walked through the gates. Her mum stood behind her. She smiled encouragingly but Rainbow could see the worry in her eyes. Her mum was always worrying about her. “See you on the holidays, darling.” She called before taking flight. Rainbow turned and, not crying, headed towards the general direction in which she believed the dorm rooms to be. It seemed too quiet. She reached back to her saddle bag and withdrew her old, battered mp3 player. With some difficulty, she got the ear pieces in and flicked the “on” switch. Slightly cheered up, she continued on her way. “Once upon a time I could take anything, anything. I always stepped in time, regardless of the beat. I moved my feet, I carried weight, what I could not do I faked. I dug seeking treasure, just to wake up in an early grave…” Flutteshy stood by her mother. This statement was not entirely true; she was, in fact, standing in front of her mother, facing her. The reason for this, and the reason for her mother’s heavy breathing, was the fact that Fluttershy was bracing her hind legs into the cloud floor, trying with all her might to push in the opposite direction as her mother was trying to push her. It crossed the older pegasus’s mind that the little filly could be quite strong when she wanted to be. “Come on Fluttershy, we talked about this. You need to make some friends. You agreed, you said you’d like that.” “No,” the little filly said between gasps. “I said having friends would be nice, I didn’t say I actually wanted to go through the trouble of making them. You know I don’t get on well with other fillies.” “Please Fluttershy? Just give it a try, for me?” Fluttershy sighed. She couldn’t say no to her mother. “Alright.” She said reluctantly. Her mother smiled and, with much less resistance, walked the butter yellow filly through the gates of Cloudsdale High Boarding School. "Goodbye mummy." She said, trying hard to be strong. "Goodbye Fluttershy. Be brave and have fun." With that, she jumped in to the air and flew away. Fluttershy walked a few steps and, actually crying, headed off in the direction which, due to her slightly more accurate idea of maps than Rainbow Dash, she was sure the dorm rooms were. She reached in to her saddle bag and withdrew a shiny, new looking mp3 player. Her father always made sure she had the latest and greatest, every time the company released a new one. She turned it on and, managing to smile a small, watery smile, continued along her way. “White lips, pale face. Breathing in snowflakes. Burnt lungs, sour taste. Light’s gone, days end. Struggling to pay rent. Long nights, strange men. And they say, she’s in the class A team…” Rainbow listened mostly to punk and rock music, much to her mother’s dismay, and, as anyone who’s listened to punk or rock will know, it is implausible to listen to the aforementioned genres at anything like a reasonable volume. It is probably because of this that she didn’t at first notice the quiet singing that was coming from her dorm room. The moment she did, though, she turned off her mp3 player and listened intently. “Even the best fall down sometimes, even the wrong words seem to rhyme, Out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find, you and I collide.” The voice was sweet and had a quite grace that sent chills down Rainbow’s spine. She carefully opened the door all the way and walked in. The song was one she recognised and one of her own favourites, although she would never admit it. When she looked inside she saw a small, well lit room with two beds each with a small set of drawers beside them, a lamp on the drawers for late night reading. Sitting on one of the beds was a beautiful yellow filly with a pink mane. She was staring out the window with a dreamy look on her face as she continued to sing, unaware of her silent audience of one. Rainbow coughed quietly causing the yellow filly to jump and whirl around. “Hi there.” Rainbow’s voice cracked a little and she cleared her throat before trying again. “Hi, my name’s Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?” The filly hid behind her mane and mumbled, “Fluttershy…” Despite listening to excessively loud music nearly nonstop, Rainbow had quite good hearing and so, instead of having to ask for her to repeat herself several times as one might expect from a situation like this, she said, “Fluttershy, that’s a pretty name. You have a really nice voice Fluttershy. Do you take singing lessons?” Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane and looked a little taken aback. She was used to people not hearing her and making her repeat herself which always annoyed her as it was a little cliché as a demonstration of just how shy and quiet she was. “Um, you were listening?” “Yea, I was.” Fluttershy looked a little panicky but managed to say, “Um, no, I don’t take any lessons. I just really like music.” “Me too. Hey!” She gasped having spotted the shining mp3 player sitting beside the yellow filly. “Isn’t that the latest ihum? They cost a fortune. Where did you get it?” “Oh, that,” said Fluttershy, following Rainbow’s gaze. “My father works for the company that makes them. He always makes sure I have the newest one. This one is a little complicated but I’m getting used to it.” Rainbow recovered quickly from the initial shock and said, “What kind of music have you got on there?” At this Fluttershy seemed to light up. “Mostly pop but I do listen to a bit of country and some electronic. Oh and, um, never mind.” That last comment sparked Rainbow's curiosity. “Come on, spill. What else have you got on there?” The yellow cheeks became slightly rose tinted. “Um, nothing, really.” “Come on, please?” Fluttershy looked in to Rainbow’s puppy dog eyes and, giving in, muttered something in to her mane, this time so quietly that even Rainbow didn’t hear. “What was that?” “Um, a little… dubstep…” She said the last word like it was some sort of curse.” Rainbow burst out laughing. “Is that it? What’s wrong with dubstep?” “My mum really doesn’t like me listening to dubstep. She says it’s ‘newfangled trash not worth the gigabytes it’s recorded on’.” Rainbow looked astonished. “But, um, music isn’t recorded on gigabytes. That’s just a measure of storage capacity.” “Uh, yes… I did say it was my father who makes them.” Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at that. “Not a very techno savvy mare?” Fluttershy smiled to. “She once asked me to add more gigabytes to her ihum…” The two fillies burst out laughing. They continued to talk for the rest of the day, about family, school, computers, flying but most of all, music. It was official: the two had both made their first proper friend, little knowing what was to come. Disclaimers: (wow, lots of disclaimers) first of all the songs featured in this were; "This Is Letting Go" by rise against, "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran and "Collide" by Howie Day. I suggest you check them out as they are amazing. The "ihum" is an idea I took from a Terry Pratchett book called "Thud" again, I highly recommend it. Obviously I don't own "My Little Pony" or Flutterdash would be cannon. hope you enjoyed it