//------------------------------// // Revelations // Story: School of Hard Knocks // by flutterdashforever //------------------------------// Fluttershy was sitting in the eating area. She had, indeed, enjoyed a juice box and was now watching Rainbow intently. She wasn't entirely sure when all this had started but she had taken to following Rainbow around of late. From a distance of course, not wanting to be seen. There was just something about the way she spoke, moved, laughed. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice. “Hey, Fluttershy.” She shook her head and tore her gaze away from Rainbow. “Hmm? Oh, hello Derpy.” “You should talk to her.” Fluttershy blushed. “I couldn’t, you know that.” “Oh, what’s the worst that could happen? You haven’t been able to take your eyes off her for a week now. Don’t you think it’s about time you said something?” Fluttershy smiled. “I’ll talk to Rainbow when you talk to Twilight.” Derpy matched her, grin for grin. “Good luck then, I just talked to Twilight Sparkle this morning.” Feeling her curiosity peek, Fluttershy enquired, “Really? What did you say?” “I just introduced myself; it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. That’s why you should talk to Rainbow.” Fluttershy bit her lip. “I don’t think so. Why would she want to talk to me?” Derpy shrugged. “Well after her outburst in class today I don’t think she’s going to say you’re not, ehem, her type.” Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile at that. “That was pretty funny.” “Go on,” Derpy encouraged. “You know you want to.” Steeling her resolve, Flutteshy got to her feat. “You’re right.” Rainbow was walking along a corridor, on her way out for some flying practise when she heard a very gentile sob. She looked around, wondering if she was hearing things but there it was again. She looked around, searching for the source. At last her gaze came to rest on the girl who Applejack had bumped in to not twenty minutes ago. She looked around to check if anyone was watching and then crouched down beside the girl. “Um, are you alright?” The girl jumped and looked up. When she saw Rainbow her eyes widened even further and she crouched down again, putting her hands over or face. Rainbow thought absurdly of the childish logic that if you can’t see someone then they can’t see you. She didn’t know why the thought crossed her mind but it made her smile. “Look, I won’t bite I promise. My name is Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?” “My name is Fluttershy,” she said, quietly. “Nice to meet you Fluttershy. Mind if I ask why you were crying?” Fluttershy’s lower lip wobbled at the reminder but she managed to hold back her tears. “It was nothing.” “It doesn’t look like nothing,” said Rainbow, dryly. Fluttershy didn’t respond so Rainbow sighed and gave up. “I’m about to head outside for some flying practise, if you wanted to come with me then you’d be welcome to.” She got up and continued on her way. A few seconds later, Fluttershy also stood and followed her. Rainbow listened intently as she walked beside Fluttershy. She felt something strange but it only just hit her what it was. Around Fluttershy, silence became a sound. It was in the girl’s peaceful nature that the everyday noises of speech and movement became unimportant. To those who did not spend enough time to notice the silence would have been extremely awkward but Rainbow was listening. It had a strange calming effect that she very much enjoyed. At last the two reached the door that led out in to the large school oval. Because Omnes Mannis attempted to cater to all students, there was, outside, a flight training field and a magic practise room. Instead of heading to the flight aria, Rainbow stopped and looked over at Fluttershy. “So…” she said, breaking the silence at last. “Are you going to tell me why you were crying?” Fluttershy looked up, as though shaken from deep thoughts. “Oh… um…” “Come on, it will help, I promise.” This felt strange. Normally Rainbow didn’t connect well with strangers but here she felt right at home, like she was talking to someone who she had been friends with for years. “Well… I was just upset about…” she trailed off and looked across at Rainbow. “I don’t, um, I don’t usually talk to people, very, uh, very easily that is…” “Ok…?” “Well, you see, there was this… person I wanted to talk to… and I, um, I chickened out at the last second.” “And that’s why you were upset?” Rainbow tried hard to keep the tone of incredulity out of her voice. Fluttershy must have heard it, though, for she flinched. “I know it doesn’t sound important.” Realizing her mistake, Rainbow quickly backtracked. “Oh, no I didn’t say that. I was just thinking, you know, you can always try again. It’s not like you only get one shot at these sorts of things.” Fluttershy smiled a grateful little smile that caught Rainbow completely off guard. She looked in to those deep teal pools, seeing the unshed tears just at the corners. She felt her heart flip over. All at once her wings shot straight out as she made ready for flight. “Eeep,” squeaked Fluttershy. Rainbow looked at her again, a question on her face. “What?” “Oh, um, it’s just, you know, why did your wings just…” she trailed off awkwardly. “Um, because I wanted to fly?” Rainbow said, quirking her eyebrow. “It’s just that, um, when-when a pegasus’s wings…” Rainbow scoffed. “Oh, that. That’s just a myth.” She snorted “Probably one Pinkie Pie started at that. Seriously though, I didn’t think any pegasi would believe that kind of nonsense. The wings are for flying, Fluttershy, nothing else.” Fluttershy’s cheeks were glowing like a signal beacon. “Oh… ok.” Rainbow’s smile turned cheeky. “Why do you ask?” she said, winking. If Fluttershy had been blushing before it was nothing compared to now. Rainbow just snorted again. “I’m just messing with you, jeez.” With that, she leaped in to the air and began to flap furiously, striving for height. Fluttershy stood there for a moment, completely paralysed. At last she realized what had happened and hastened to follow Rainbow. As she flew, Rainbow Dash spent several minutes contemplating all the myriad stupidities of the term “wingboner.” After all, what if a pegasus was to see another really hot pegasus whilst in flight? She chuckled internally, death by indecent exposure. That’d be one hell of a way to go she thought, smiling. It was roughly at that point that she realised she was starting to climb too high, the air was becoming colder and when she glanced down she saw the ground hundreds of feet below. She smiled, what the hell. She flapped harder and harder, gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Climbing faster and faster, the world beginning to blur, faster, faster as the land dropped away like a wet towel, faster, faster and then, stop. Rainbow Dash folded her wings and gazed up at the sky with dreamy eyes. She looked down and couldn’t see her school. She couldn’t see Fluttershy or anything other than acres of green. At last the speed of her assent petered out and she reached the highest point of her journey. She hung for a moment as the force she had generated and the force of gravity were perfectly tied. After what seemed like minutes gravity inevitably won and she began to descend. Slow at first then faster and faster. Her head tilted down and she was diving towards the rapidly approaching ground. Closer and closer, wind rushing in her ears. Had her eyes not been blurred with tears from the wind she would have seen her school as a tiny dot, then getting bigger as she drew closer. She wiped her eyes and focused. She could see Fluttershy, drawing closer. She would have to time this just right. Her wings snapped out and she turned all her downward speed in to upward thrust doing a hairpin turn right beside the stunned pegasus and flipping back in to the air. She closed her wings and dropped the remaining thirty feet, landing on a cloud to quiet applause. “Wow, that was incredible!” Fluttershy flew over to Rainbow and looked at her with new awe. “I couldn’t keep up so I just decided to wait here. How high did you go? Goodness, you’ve got ice in your hair.” Rainbow smiled as she fought for breath. In her excitement, Fluttershy’s quiet attitude seemed to have dropped away. “I don’t know, a few hundred feet?” “Really? It looked higher than that.” Rainbow opened her mouth to say something but then dropped back on to the cloud she had landed on. Her eyes were closed and her chest heaved. “Rainbow Dash! What’s wrong?” “Don’t… worry… this… always… happens,” said Rainbow, between breaths. “It’s a little… taxing… getting up that… high.” Fluttershy settled herself beside Rainbow and made herself comfortable. “Well it was amazing,” she said quietly. Rainbow looked up at her and smiled, perhaps it was just Fluttershy but it looked as though there was something more in that smile. “Thanks.” The two sat in that strange silence that seemed to gather around Fluttershy. After a while, a small bird flittered over and landed gently on her outstretched finger. It looked up at her and chirped. She giggled and said, quietly, “Hello there.” She reached up and stroked a finger along its head. The bird chirped contentedly and, after a moment, flittered off again. “Well that’s quite a trick,” said Rainbow, mildly. Fluttershy looked across at her and smiled, shyly. “Nothing compared to your trick.” Rainbow brushed this aside with a wave of her hand. Another comfortable silence ensued but surprisingly, this time it was broken by Fluttershy. “Rainbow…?” “Hmm?” “Um, I was just wondering, if you don’t mind telling me, what’s with that girl you’re always hanging around?” Rainbow raised her head and looked at Fluttershy quizzically. “You mean Pinkie Pie? What about her?” Fluttershy flushed a little but persisted none the less. “She’s just so… eccentric.” “What do you mean?” Rainbow said innocently, a little too innocently. Fluttershy sighed and gave in. “Is she your girlfriend or not.” Rainbow smiled deviously. “Why do you ask?” Fluttershy turned bright crimson and looked intently at the cloud she was perched on. “Never mind, it’s not important.” Rainbow laughed. “I’m just messing with you. In answer to your question, though: no Pinkie is not my girlfriend.” Fluttershy looked up, confused. “Really? But-but everyone saw you after, um, after… well… she-she kissed you, that-that doesn’t seem…” She trailed off, scuffing at the cloud with her toes. “She likes to pretend we’re together. It’s complicated.” “Oh, um, ok…” Fluttershy looked so downcast. Rainbow sighed. “She’s jealous, ok? Ever since we met she thought it was super cool that I’m gay, to be honest it’s a little offensive at times, it’s not some kind of fashion choice but whatever, I know she doesn’t mean anything by it. Anyway, she truly is the straightest girl I’ve ever met but she doesn’t want to be you see? So she likes to pretend like we’re together. Mostly I just play along for the fun of it.” “I see…” said Fluttershy, nonplussed but pleased that she’d gotten an answer. “Enough about me, though, I’ve been going to this school for years and I’ve never seen you around before, are you new or just inconspicuous?” Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, I’m new here if by new you mean have been coming for three years.” “Wow, my pride in my powers of observation just dropped by about a hundred and fifty points. Who are your other friends?” “Friend,” she corrected, “Non plural, just me and Derpy, I met her on my first day, it was her first day too and we were both really nervous and we kind of just… had a lot in common I guess.” Rainbow opened her mouth to say something but at that moment the bell rang. She flashed a half grin at Fluttershy. “Come on, we’d better get to class.” Authors notes: hi everypony. As you may have notices a few changes have been made, first of all, I now have the coolest cover art ever thanks to BronyInvestigator, and second of all, the comedy tag has been removed. Saying why would count as spoilers but rest assured that I still intend to make the occasional wise crack but I don't really think this counts as a comedy any more. Hope you like it.