Chapter 3: A Little Bit of Help
Rainbow Dash was flying a bit slow today, her weariness getting a bit heavy. She was tired, but not as tired as to drift away in a cloud, or collapse in the middle of the street sound asleep. She figured she could go to her friend Fluttershy’s cottage and have a cup of tea. It was getting a bit cold in the outside, and a cup of tea would surely warm her up and wake her senses a little bit. She decided to land on the outskirts of Ponyville to walk to Fluttershy’s cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest; too much flying had worn her wings down, and as much as she enjoyed being in the air, sometimes she needed to rest the wings out or face another week and a half with Nurse Redheart. She calmly walked the streets of Ponyville that led to the Everfree Forest when she noticed a small bucket near the wall of one of the small alleys of the little town. She approached it calmly when out of it came Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s runner of Sugarcube Corner, baker, party maker and unique friend.
“GAH!”
—“Aaah!”
Pinkie unintentionally tackled Rainbow Dash and they both groaned as they tried to raise themselves to her hooves.
—“Pinkie! You scared the ever-living oatmeal out of me!”
—“Oatmeal?! Are you crazy?”
—“Wha—” stammered Rainbow.
—“Hi” —said Pinkie as she waved to no one in particular.—“You may be wondering what the hell does this have to do with the plot. The answer is nothing. Nothing at all. Now read that in Ned Flanders’s voice and keep reading.”
—“WHAT? Pinkie, what are you—?”
—“Oooh! I need to stab a pumpkin!” Said Pinkie, oblivious to the world around her as she felt her left hoof tickle —one of her “combos” taking place.
—“WHAT?! Pumpkin? Pu— pumpkin? What? What?! WHAT?! Pumpki— WHAT?”
—“Now, I need to find an antidote for the underdog and an anthem for the idol inside” —sang Pinkie.
—“WHAAAAA?!”
And with that, the pink mare bounced off in the opposite direction just in time to begin humming a tone only she knew while throwing strong kicks in the air as she… Danced?
“I'm more than all these cell phone towers (cell phone towers); I'm more than all these worn and barren streets (barren streets); I'm more than all these small town skylines…”
Pinkie rounded a corner and disappeared.
‘Typical Pinkie. She is so random, I’d better not pay too much attention to her rambles or they’ll get the better of me.’
Rainbow decided to forget the whole incident behind and continued her way to Fluttershy’s cottage.
As she stepped through the meadow that surrounded Fluttershy’s cottage, Rainbow felt the world around her slow down. She heard the birds chirping in the trees and the water of the stream flowing gently, surrounding the small house in a little island. She crossed the small bridge, stepped on the entrance and knocked on the door with her hoof. A small, nervous and soft “coming” came from behind it as hoofsteps were heard to be approaching the doorway.
The door opened and from it came a yellow Pegasus with pink mane.
“Rainbow!”
—“Hi Fluttershy” —answered Rainbow Dash.
— “Hi. It’s good to see you.”
—“Good to see you too.”
—“Um… I don’t mean to sound rude, but… What brings you here? I mean, it’s not that I don’t enjoy your company, I do. But… Well… It’s rare you visit me. Rarity is my most frequent visitor and she only comes on weekends.”
—“Don’t worry Fluttershy. I just came here to talk.”
—“Oh! Talk? Um… Talk about what?”
—“Nothin’ in particular. I just want to spend some time with you before I go see Applejack.”
—“Oh, that’s alright. Come in!”
—“Thanks Fluttershy.”
Rainbow entered the small cottage. It wasn’t as big as her cloud house or Twilight’s library, but it still made it comfortable for anyone who showed up. That is, anyone who wasn’t traveling with three other ponies. Rainbow walked to the living room and lied down on a couch while Fluttershy prepared her some tea. She had not requested it, but it was a habit he timid mare had to give her guests tea, and Rainbow really needed it.
“So” —began the yellow pegasus. “What’s going on?”
—“Well, you see… I…” —stammered Rainbow until she remembered her dream. “Well…”
—“Is something wrong?”
—“No, nothing’s wrong it’s just…” —Rainbow was trying to find the right way to say her feelings and put her thoughts in order.
—“Just…”
—“Ungh! Well, it’s a little complicated.”
—“Uh huh?”
—“And it is really confusing.”
—“If you don’t want to talk about it it’s OK.”
—“No! No, I do want to talk about it. It’s just that there’s so much going on in my head.”
—“I understand. Please, take your time.”
—“Hmmmph” —Rainbow rolled her eyes and stared down at the floor, putting her thoughts in order.
“Well, you see… I got a bit of a problem.”
—“Yes?”
—“Well, I had a dream. A sort of nightmare to be exact. I didn’t know where I was, but I apparently was with someone else… And it was dark and I was running away.”
—“From whom?”
—“I-I don’t know.”
—“Well… I can’t say I’ve had that dream. I mean… I sometimes had nightmares too, but I always knew who I was facing and from what I was running. To be honest, I don’t even recall something similar.”
—“Humph.”
A strange kind of silence invaded the pair of ponies.
—“I’m sorry” —apologized the shy mare.
—“Sorry for what?”
—“For not being able to help.”
—“Don’t be silly Fluttershy. You couldn’t have helped me even if you tried” —answered Rainbow with a reassuring smile in her face.
The yellow pegasus smiled back.
—“Thanks” —said Fluttershy in almost a whisper.
—“Anyway, I had this dream and awoke in the middle of the night. Then I had to work for the Summer Sun Celebration’s premature rains and I was falling asleep in the middle of work. I had to spray myself a couple of times, and had to face Cloudkicker’s scolds. With all of this in my head I quickly finished my work and decided to lie down on a cloud. I was bored beyond myself when I saw Applejack bucking trees in a sort of secluded part of Sweet Apple Acres, so I decided to fly down and talk to her.”
—“I’ll be back” —said Fluttershy as her teapot started whistling. She came back and served two cups for each. Rainbow added three teaspoons of sugar and a bit of milk.
“So, how is she?” —asked Fluttershy.
—“Well, she seemed really tired. She said she hadn’t slept very well.”
—“That’s weird.”
—“Tell me about it.”
Fluttershy chuckled at the small coincidence. Rainbow took this opportunity to sip her drink.
“Anyway, she said she had got back on her duties so I agreed to leave her alone until she had a break. She told me to come back in two hours so here I am.”
Fluttershy seemed to ponder a bit on the situation.
—“Well. It does sound like you’ve had a rough day. You just need to relax, that’s all.”
—“Yeah, but what about AJ?”
—“You just gotta give her time.”
—“Alright” —said Rainbow in a defeated tone.
The two spent the rest of their time discussing this mess with Fluttershy tending to her critters every now and then when Rainbow realized how late it was. Probably Applejack had almost finished bucking her apples and on her way to the barn. Rainbow greeted Fluttershy goodbye and left her house. The shy pegasus seemed to be glad her friend hadn’t forgotten her. With that, the cyan mare took off into the sky with her senses fully awake and her wings rested towards Sweet Apple Acres.