Chapter 51
Rainbow Dash left Twilight's library and flew to Fluttershy's cottage. The yellow pegasus was not in sight so she knocked on the door. There were some noises from inside and soon the door opened. Rainbow Dash could not see anyone open the door until she looked down and saw Angel Bunny holding the door ajar.
Dash didn't particularly like the ill-tempered white rabbit but tried to be friendly anyway. “Hi, Angel,” she said, “is Fluttershy here? I brought her a book.”
This seemed to satisfy the little bunny and he hopped aside and opened the door wider. Rainbow Dash went in and followed Angel to the kitchen where she found Fluttershy mopping the floor. She looked up as they entered.
“Hello, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, “did you come to give me a lesson already?”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “No, not yet. I'm just starting this too so we'll be learning together. Mr. Immelmane gave me a book on sky dancing when we were in Cloudsdale and I got another copy from Twilight. Here, take this and study the first dance. We can give it a try tomorrow.”
“Oh that would be great,” said Fluttershy, “I'm really looking forward to this.”
“Me too,” said Dash, “would tomorrow afternoon be good for you?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment. “As long as I can get back for the evening feeding, that would be fine. I feed the animals before I make myself dinner.”
“Sure,” said Dash, “I was thinking maybe starting around one. We'll only be working for about an hour or so. I'm trying to take it easy for a few days. Next week we can work a little harder.”
“Where should I meet you?” asked Fluttershy.
“I thought we could practice here,” said Dash. “Your home is kinda of out of the way. Do you have a record player?”
“Yes,” said Fluttershy, “but I don't know if I have the music to go with the dance.”
“Don't worry about it,” said Dash, “we can still practice tomorrow and if you don't have anything that fits, we'll pick something up in town.”
“Alright,” said Fluttershy, “I'll start reading as soon as get done with my cleaning.”
“Good,” said Dash, “I'll see you tomorrow then. I need to do a little shopping and deal with some Weather Team business. I'll get to studying too. You saw how much I have to learn.”
“I'll let you get going then,” said Fluttershy. “I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye for now,” replied Dash as she headed for the door.
Rainbow Dash returned to Ponyville and bought some food since her pantry was nearly empty. Last of all she stopped by Applejack's stand and bought some apples. Applejack had them ready in a sack and exchanged the fruit for Dash's bits. She looked closely at her friend. Nothing seemed to be wrong but the shrewd farmer had been thinking since Rainbow Dash asked her about Firewing that morning.
Dash noticed the odd look on her face. “What is it Applejack? Is there something on my face?”
“No,” replied Applejack, “nothing like that. I was still wondering about that question you asked me this morning. You don't usually talk like that, Rainbow. Why did you really ask me about Firewing?”
Rainbow Dash hesitated before she answered. “I guess it's no good trying to fool you, is it Applejack? I wanted to know because of what happened at the celebration the other day. I wanted to know because of what I do, my flying, my stunts. If something does happen to me, I thought I should have a pony I could trust to take over, as an Element I mean.”
Applejack was shocked. “I...I guess that's a good idea,” she stammered. “I don't want to think about replacing you though.”
“Thanks,”said Rainbow Dash, with a smile, “I don't want you to replace me.”
Applejack laughed. “I reckon not. Did you talk to Twilight about this?”
“Yeah,” said Dash, “she's going to write to Celestia about it.”
“That's good,” said Applejack. “I won't mention this to the others until we hear from the Princess.”
“Thanks, AJ,” said Dash, “I'll see you later.”
“See ya, Rainbow,” said Applejack. As Rainbow Dash flew away, Applejack wondered who could replace the Element of Honesty.
Rainbow Dash returned to her home and read through the sky dancing book as she ate her lunch. It seemed easy to her until she remembered her practice session with Fluttershy. Trying to fly slow and match another pony's movements was not as easy as it appeared. Still, the dance was fairly simple and she was able to memorize the movements quickly. She laid the book aside and began to work on the list of tricks she was able to do. She started with all the standard tricks and then added in those of her own making with a description so that Immelmane would understand what she meant. Some didn't have names that another pegasus would even recognise. This took quite some time and she wished that she had a copy to keep for herself.
It was time, thought Rainbow Dash, for a nap. In fact it was past time. She went out onto her veranda and curled up in the sun for a good snooze and slept until late afternoon. Upon awakening she decided to see how Derpy was getting along and flew down to the Town Hall.
She entered the office to find it empty but much neater than it had been. She went to her old desk and looked at the various forms sitting there all filled out. Ignoring those for the moment she walked around the familiar room as if saying goodbye to her old life. A sound at the door caused her to turn. Derpy had returned from wherever she had been.
“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash,” said Derpy, “I was hoping that you'd be here soon.”
“I'm here now,” said Dash. “How did your first day go?”
“It was great!” said Derpy, “I filled out all the forms like you asked. I just came back from the Mayor's office. She was really happy about expanding the territory of Ponyville. That means we can hire the extra ponies.”
“I'll bet she was,” said Dash with a laugh, “even though it's just empty land. Just show me where to sign and I'll get out of your mane.”
“Sure,” replied Derpy, “it'll just take a second.” She closed one eye and sorted through the papers, indicating where Dash had to sign and initial the forms.
When they were done, Derpy went on to tell Rainbow Dash what else she had done that day. “I finished up the assignment schedule for the rest of the month and filed all those back notices and updates that were in your in box.”
“Yeah,” admitted Dash, “I had been meaning to get to that. Good job.” She wasn't exactly pleased that Derpy had finished up work she had been putting off for months in a mere day but on the other hoof it was done and she had avoided doing it herself. “Was there anything else?”
“Oh, there are still some things to do but I can get to that tomorrow,” said Derpy. “I had wanted to do some flying but maybe this will be better.”
“Yes!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “yes, I think it would be better for you. Look Derpy, some of us are good at doing things like cloudbusting or making rain and others aren't. Look at you, this office looks better than it has in a long time and you did it in a day. I think you should stay here. If you get really good at this paperwork stuff, you might even get a promotion and move up to Cloudsdale.”
Derpy looked troubled. “You're just trying to make me feel better. I know everypony thinks I mess everything up. That's why you want me to stay in the office.”
Dash frowned. “You're right, I did send you here for that reason but I didn't expect you to do such a great job. Doing this office work is just as important as anything else the Weather Team does. Thunderlane and Cloudchaser might be better in the air than you but neither of them can do what you did today. My advice, stay here and do what you do best.”
Derpy smiled. “I'll do it. Thanks Rainbow Dash, I'll try my hardest.”
“Good,” said Dash, “let me know if you need my help for anything. I'll be around.”
Rainbow Dash left the Town Hall and walked into town. Despite the waves and greetings from the townsponies, which she eagerly returned, she felt rather alone. Her new friends were far away and her old friends were probably home eating dinner. She wasn't hungry and felt restless. She took to the sky and headed home.
She relaxed by the window and read through more of the materials that Immelmane had given her. With nothing else to do she started working on her routine. It took a while and after working her way through half the routine she got a little to eat and returned to her work. The sun was setting when she finished.
Unable to resist trying out her work she flew out the window and away from her home. Rainbow Dash started to sky dance to warm up and gain altitude. After running through the moves twice she started into her routine. This was what she really needed. She sped through the routine as the sun set and the moon rose. She was alone in the cloudless sky and felt nothing but the freedom of flight. No thoughts nagged her. Just going on to the next move was her only care.
When the routine was over Dash kept flying. No set order to follow now, she just did whatever she felt like doing next. Moonlight gleamed off her hair and feathers as she performed for no pony. She flew until she could no longer flap her wings. Rainbow Dash glided to a cloud and landed. She lay there panting for some time. Eventually she regained her strength and flew home.
It wasn't very late so she had a second supper and read a little more. She had only been home for an hour when she decided that relaxing wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It was boring. She found herself missing Frost, Firewing and Windyday more than her six close friends in Ponyville. At least they would be up for doing something at this hour. Twilight would be reading, Rarity might be up if she was in a creative mood but Applejack and Pinkie Pie would be in bed. Fluttershy was a mystery. Rainbow Dash hadn't realized she had never thought about what her friend did after she took care of her animals for the night.
On a whim, Rainbow Dash left her home and flew towards Fluttershy's cottage. A single light illuminated an upper window but as Dash drew near it went out. Apparently Fluttershy was also an early riser. Disappointed, Rainbow Dash banked around and returned home.
Ponyville was nearly dark as she flew over the town. A few street lamps were lit and here and there light gleamed from the window of a house. Dash smiled as she glanced at the library and saw a light on in Twilight's room. She thought about flying down and scaring her but decided against it. She sighed and returned home. She cleaned up and got ready for bed. With nothing else to do she went to bed and quickly fell asleep.
She dreamed of flying in a bright, clear, cloudless sky. She was high up, so high that the buildings on the ground were barely discernable. As she flew she realized that she was performing the routine she had practiced earlier. As the routine ended, she looked up and saw the moon. She thought that was odd since the sky was so bright. The brightness grew and she awoke to find the sun shining in her window and onto her face.