Chapter 3: No Pain, No Game
Fluttershy slowly crawled her way up the path to her cottage. The sun was sitting loftily on the horizon casting a beautiful orange glow to the sleepy world. It was a breathtaking sight that Fluttershy would have usually taken in and admired; but today she was far too sore to care. Finally making it up her walkway she slumped against the door to give herself a quick break before going through the arduous chore of actually opening it. Every muscle in the pegasus’ body was screaming in protest at her. She had just returned from the worst workout of her life, coached by a very passionate Rainbow Dash. Apparently training for Skyball didn’t just mean learning how to be a goalie, it included wing-ups, sit-ups, and laps; lots and lots of laps.
Fluttershy couldn’t hold it against her friend though, trying to make her the best she could be. The sore pegasus just wished it didn’t hurt so much when the ball made contact.
WHAM
“Keep your eye on the ball ‘Shy!”
WHAM
“You can’t hide your face every time it comes toward you!”
WHAM
“You can’t turn around either!”
WHAM
“Oooh, uh, well you blocked it that time… with your face…”
Scared of being hit again, Fluttershy had begun to flinch every time the ball got close which led to it being scored even more often than when she coward behind her hooves. That in turn led Rainbow Dash to force Fluttershy to do fifty wing-ups every time she shied away from the ball. By the end of the day, Fluttershy had managed to block one goal other than the block performed by her face. It had only happened because Fluttershy had turned so sharply that her wing had managed to slap the ball away.
Rainbow Dash was not impressed.
Slumped up against the door, Fluttershy wasn’t sure what hurt the most: her wings, her stomach, her face, or her pride. Well she didn’t have much pride so she settled on her wings.
She would have fallen asleep there if Angel Bunny hadn’t opened the door causing her to topple through and fall on her still sore face. “Ow,” she moaned weakly.
Angel gave his nose a concerned twitch.
As if she had heard it, Fluttershy looked up and said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine, just really sore.” She pushed herself off of the floor and made her way to the couch where she flopped onto it letting out a small yelp of pain when she landed on her sore stomach. A moment later, Angel hopped over with a bag of ice and held it up to his mistress. She took the bag and placed it on the joints of her wings letting a sigh of contentment escape her lips as the cold ice chased away the burning pain. “Thank you, Angel. I knew being an athlete was hard but… maybe I’m not cut out for this…”
Angel crossed his paws and began twitching his nose again.
“I know but-“
The rabbit’s nose continued to twitch while he kept a stern look on his face.
Fluttershy sighed in defeat before putting on a look of resolve. “You’re right, Angel, I can’t give up! I have to keep going for mom, dad, and Rainbow Dash! I just have to try harder!” She suddenly yawned, the short boost of adrenaline brought by her new determination quickly faded and her weariness caught up to her. “I’ll try harder tomorrow, I promise.” She snuggled into her sofa, too tired to bring herself to her bedroom. Angel came and threw a blanket over her as she drifted off to sleep.
Fluttershy had felt like she had just fallen asleep when she heard a heavy pounding on the door. Groggily, she moved her stiff body to get up and trudged her way to the front of her house. From the window she could see it was still dark outside. She opened the top half of her door to find Rainbow Dash grinning at her. “C’mon ‘Shy, we got a long day ahead of us!”
The yellow mare blinked then let out a large yawn. “What time is it?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“A little after five,” Dash said cheerfully.
“Why are you up so early?”
“For training, duh. Now let’s go, we got a full schedule for today.”
Fluttershy’s stomach let out a loud growl. She blushed and asked, “Um, is breakfast on the schedule?”
“Yep, at nine,” Dash said as she took off to the skies.
Fluttershy’s stomach growled again and she let out a small whine. She couldn’t help but wonder if Dash was secretly enjoying this.
******
“Come on Fluttershy, you call those wing-ups? I’ve seen sparrows move their wings faster than you!” Dash yelled as she watched Fluttershy struggle to complete another set.
She was definitely enjoying this.
“Rainbow… why do you have… to insult me… it’s not very nice,” Fluttershy panted in between pushes.
“To motivate you of course.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a black and yellow book. “I stopped by the library yesterday and got this book called Coaching for Morons.” She flipped it open to a bookmarked page and continued, “Says here that a good way to motivate somepony is to insult and taunt them a little so they can prove their self-worth.” An odd expression crossed her face and she groaned, “Great, I sound like Twilight now. If you tell anyone I was reading something other than Daring Do, I’ll triple your training regimen.”
Fluttershy collapsed to the ground having finished her last wing-up and breathed, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
The two pegasi had been training for a few hours and the sun was slowly making its way into the clear sky. Part of Fluttershy’s training was to help Rainbow clear the clouds from around Ponyville. Afterwards, Dash brought the already winded mare back to the makeshift Skyball field and had her fly a hundred laps around it for endurance. When she had finished, Dash declared that it was finally time to warm up with wing-ups and sit-ups.
Alright, now let’s work on your agility,” Dash said as she put the book away.
“Can’t we take a break first?” Fluttershy pleaded.
Rainbow tapped a hoof against her chin in mock thought. “Tell you what, I’m going to tie this flag around my tail,” she pulled a red flag from her bag and began to tie it to the end of her rainbow tail, “if you can catch me, then we’ll get something to eat.”
The yellow pegasus gaped in horror. “B-but Rainbow, you’re so much faster than me! How am I supposed to catch you?”
“Don’t worry; I won’t be going at full speed or anything. Besides, the trees of the Everfree will slow me down.”
Fluttershy’s eyes dilated to pinpricks. “Th-the Everfree F-Forest?” she stammered.
“Yeah, I figured weaving through the trees would be a great way to help your agility.” Rainbow stretched out her wings and leapt into the sky. “Ready? Go!” She bolted out for the tree line leaving her friend calling after her.
“Rainbow, wait!” Fluttershy wailed, scrambling to her hooves before taking off after her.
Fluttershy entered the thick canopy of twisted and gnarled tress that was the Everfree forest, barely keeping up with Rainbow Dash. She could see the very tip of the chromatic trail left behind by her colorful friend weaving its way through the cluster of close knit trees. She followed it as close as she could, ducking under branches and swerving around low hanging vines. She could hear a playful laugh up somewhere ahead of her.
“Come on Fluttershy, you call that speed?”
Swallowing some of her fear, Fluttershy put in a burst of speed to keep up with Dash, chasing her through the wild forest. She zigzagged in and out through the trees, slowly edging closer and closer to her target. Soon she could see all of Rainbow Dash and not just her colorful contrail. The blue pony banked right and Fluttershy mimicked her exact movement. Dash faked to go right then jerked to left, but Fluttershy stuck to her like tree sap. She reached a hoof out; the flag was almost in grabbing distance! So focused on getting the flag, Fluttershy didn’t react fast enough when Rainbow swerved to the right again. The next thing she knew, Fluttershy was on her back staring up at dancing rabbits with a sharp pain in her forehead.
“Ohmygosh, Fluttershy are you ok?” Rainbow zipped back around and leaned over her friend with a concerned expression. “How many colors are in my mane?”
Fluttershy stared up at her trying to concentrate. It was hard to count the colors with Rainbow’s twin standing so close next to her. “Umm, nine?”
Dash bit her lip. Uhh, close enough. C’mon girl, let’s get you some food… and a big bag of ice.”
******
The two ponies sat at an outside table of one of Ponyville’s popular cafes. It was midmorning and the streets were now filled with busy ponies going about their day. The café was crowded as usual and some of the other customers were giving Fluttershy a few odd looks.
She sat across from Rainbow Dash, holding a large bag of ice to her head. Thankfully the world had stopped spinning and now all that was left was a very persistent headache. Rainbow had apologized profusely on the way to the restaurant and of course, Fluttershy had forgiven her. Still, the blue pegasus couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“Like I said, I’m really, really sorry Fluttershy,” she apologized once more. “I’ll pay for the whole meal so you can order whatever you want.”
Fluttershy adjusted the ice pack a little and cringed a bit at the pain from her headache. “Oh no, I couldn’t let you do that. Besides, it’s just a little bump.” She moved the ice bag to show Rainbow who instantly felt worse about her friend. What Fluttershy had described as a ‘little bump’ was actually a large purple welt on her forehead. If it was any larger, ponies could mistake her for an alicorn.
Rainbow was about to tell her to put the ice back over it when a friendly familiar voice greeted them. “Good morning Rainbow, good morning, Flutter-" Twilight Sparkle stopped and gaped at the purple bruise on the pegasus’ head. “Fluttershy, what in Equestria happened to you?”
Fluttershy self-consciously put the bag of ice back over her bruise. “Oh, um, just a… flying accident. I was being clumsy… it’s no big deal really.”
Twilight gave her a skeptical look. “Uh-huh,” she turned to a guilty looking Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow, can I see you over there? I need to talk to you about that book you checked out.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked away.
Rainbow groaned knowing she was about to be chewed out, but followed after the unicorn regardless, leaving a confused Fluttershy alone at the table.
When the yellow pegasus was out of earshot, Twilight rounded on Dash. “What in Celestia’s name happened to her?” she fumed.
“Nothing!” Dash said defensively.
Twilight gestured over to the lonely pony. “She’s practically growing a horn and you’re telling me it’s nothing?”
“Ok, ok; we were training in the forest and there was a teensy little accident. But she’s fine, honest!”
Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t you think you might be over doing this? I know you want to help her but I also know how much you like winning and I’d hate to see something… worse happen to her.”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. Winning was nice, she wasn't going to lie. And helping Fluttershy learn to be good at something was icing on the cake. She looked over at Fluttershy, reading the menu with the bag of ice on her head and grimaced. Maybe she was pushing her a little too hard. “Yeah, Twilight, I hear ya. I guess I could tone it down a bit for a while.”
Twilight smiled and said, “Thanks Rainbow.”
******
After an enjoyable breakfast, the two pegasi stood on the Skyball field once more. Twilight had wanted to come along and support but Rainbow had said that the training sessions were private. Twilight had countered by saying that training in the middle of a gigantic field just outside of town could hardly be considered ‘private.’ Rainbow rebutted by saying that the unicorn would just be a distraction. Twilight finally relented after making Rainbow promise she’d go easy on Fluttershy.
Rainbow was now holding up the ball for Fluttershy to see. On it was a crudely drawn picture of a bunny rabbit. Fluttershy tilted her head to one side in confusion. ”Umm, Dashie, what am I looking at?” Her headache and disorientation were gone, but it was still hard to make out Rainbow’s two-year old like scribble.
She grinned, “See, I had an awesome stroke of inspiration on how to make you catch the ball. See my awesome rabbit? You’re going to pretend the ball is a rabbit and if you don’t catch it, it’s going to fall… to its death.”
Fluttershy gasped in horror. “Oh no, the poor bunny!”
“See, its working already. But remember, it’s a ball; just pretend it’s a rabbit, ok?” Fluttershy took a deep breath and nodded. “Good, now get up there and show me whatcha got!”
Both mares flew up into the sky and took their positions; Fluttershy in front of the middle goal hoop and Rainbow Dash about a hundred yards back. The blue pegasus took off towards the goal, accelerating as she went. About ten yards from the goal she leaned her hoof back and threw the ball back yelling, “Catch the rabbit!”
The ball soared straight towards Fluttershy who had begun trembling the second Dash had started for her. Upon hearing those words however, Fluttershy found a resolve: she couldn’t let that poor bunny fall to its death! Bracing herself, she put her front hooves out and grabbed the ball, tucking it in against her stomach. She held it for a few seconds before realizing what she had just done. A smile broke over her face and she whispered, “I did it. I-I caught the ball.” She looked up to see Rainbow beaming at her. “Rainbow look, I caught the ball!”
Rainbow flew over and clapped her on the shoulder. “I knew you could do it ‘Shy! All you needed was a little persuasion.” She had also read that in Coaching for Morons. “Now, let’s do it again.”
For the next several hours, they practiced the routine over and over again with Rainbow Dash giving harder throws to catch. She would weave, loop, fake, and throw the ball aggressively and sometimes with full force. She made sure Fluttershy was guarding every hoop by coming at her from every angle.
And Fluttershy didn’t miss a beat.
It was almost dinner time, and both mares were sweaty, tired, and hungry. Rainbow promised this would be the last goal before dinner and was coming at Fluttershy from all the way across the field. With only a few yards between her and the goal, Dash tossed the ball into the air and kicked it with her back hoof watching it fly towards the three o’clock hoop. Fluttershy of course, was ready. She dived to the side, hooves out wide to catch the ball when the unthinkable happened. The ball made contact with her hooves, and she closed her forelegs to secure it, when the combined sweat of her and the ball caused it to slip out of her hooves and down towards the earth below. She watched in horror as the ball spiraled down to the ground far below her, her mind reeling from the fact that she hadn’t been able to catch it initially. It had felt so secure in her arms! She dove after it, trying to save it from a terrible fate, but it was too late. The ball hit the ground with a thud and Fluttershy landed next to it, scooping it up into her arms and cradling it while sobbing painfully, “You poor bunny rabbit! I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry!”
Rainbow Dash landed next to her giving her a half-lidded stare. “Hey, ‘Shy… Fluttershy… FLUTTERSHY!”
She snapped her head up and looked at her best friend through watery eyes. “He was so young,” she sniffled.
“It’s a ball, Fluttershy, remember?”
She looked at it for a moment before blushing furiously. “Oh… right.”