//------------------------------// // And they call it Bella note // Story: Love, marriage, and Scootaloo // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------// And they call it Bella Notte         “Come on Dashie, just a little further, and keep your eyes closed,” said a soft filly’s voice as she held the hoof of a blue pegasus.         “This better be as cool as you say it is, Fluttershy,” said a young Rainbow Dash as she felt herself being led along the soft cloud ground, “And you promise that this isn’t like that whole ‘ground’ thing you showed me earlier?”         “I promise,” the yellow pegasus said as she sat the cyan filly down and flew to a nearby cloud to open a small box. Flying back to her friend, she put something around Dash’s neck “Ok, open your eyes.”         Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and began to look around the sky for what she was showing her, and then she looked down at her neck, “Fluttershy, what’s so cool about this? Its just flowers, mom puts them into her mane all the time.”         “OH, I’m sorry. I meant to say special instead of cool,” The demure pegasus said, putting her head behind her pink mane, “You see, dad said that sometimes he would give a ring of flowers to mom to show how much he cared about her and how special she was to him. I just wanted to show how special you are to me.”         “I’m special to you?” Dash asked as she looked into the blue eyes of the pegasus.                  “Yes, very. You protected me from the bullies, you raced for me, and are one my only friends up here. You my very dear friend and I hope that you will always be my friend,” Fluttershy said as she looked down on the clouds, smiling as she rubbed the cloud beneath her hooves.         “Flutters, I’ll always be your friend,” Dash said as she put a cyan hoof onto the shoulder of the filly in front of her.         “Always?”         “Always,” The cyan pegasus then pulled Fluttershy closer to her, giving her a soft hug, “even if I move a million miles away from here. I will always be your best friend.         “Thank you Dashie,” Fluttershy said as she nuzzled into the blue filly’s neck, feeling her soft coat against her. Pulling away for a bit, she looked into the blue pegasus’s magenta eyes, and then gave her a kiss on the nose before pulling away and blushing.         Dash quickly began to rub her snoot after the kiss in shock, “W-What was that for?”         Fluttershy smiled shyly, her pink hair covering one eye, “For reassuring me, and for being, my hero.”         Dash smiled back, confidently, “Yeah, I am your hero and the best friend you’ll ever have.”         Years pass by in an instant as Dash flies ahead of the storm, a griffin right beside her, “Gilda, I need to go back, I lost something in there.”         “ITs too late, Rainbow! Whatever is there is gone,” Gilda yelled as she grabbed Rainbow’s cyan hoof and pulled her down below a rocky outcropping, “What was so important about an old flower necklace anyway?”         Dash looked down, a frown on her face, “It was a gift, from a friend.”         A few more years pass by, and now the blue mare looks down at a frightened pegasus as they stand in the middle of a fight. Trying her best to figure out how to reassure her admits all of the black bug like creatures, Dash picks up Fluttershy and gives her a quick kiss, reminding her that she will always be her hero.          The dreams slowly faded away as Rainbow Dash woke up in the middle of her bed, her blanket making a small cocoon around her body. Struggling to open her eyes, she realized that she had two options that morning: go back to bed since her weather duties were light, or wake up and spend the next few hours being awesome. She decided on the latter as she kicked the blanket up high into the air and raced to her bathroom. Grabbing a toothbrush and some toothpaste, she quickly began to brush her teeth. Once done, she ran a hoof through her mane and messed it up to a ridiculous level. Turning around, she watched as the blanket floated down towards the mattress and ran quickly back to it before it could connect. Grabbing the blanket with her teeth, Dash very neatly placed the blanket back down onto the bed and tucked it in, making sure that it was very neat and straight. Smirking, she then put her hooves onto the blanket and began to mess it up, leaving a jumbled mess behind. She let out a small chuckle at the thought of Rarity’s reaction to seeing such a messy bed. Walking into the room next to hers, she smiled at the sleeping body that laid in the bed. It had been a year since the little filly had entered her life and began to stay with her, and for her it had been fantastic. Everyday with the little filly seemed to bring with it a new adventure and made each morning waking up all the more special. Walking up to the bed, she looked down at the orange filly with the blankets bunched up in her hooves and listened to her talk in her sleep, “Look, girls I have it...my cutie mark, I think its its...” Dash leaned in to the filly’s ear and whispered, “A tickle monster.” “Huh? What kind of cutie mark is that?” Scootaloo asked. “THIS ONE!” Dash yelled as she pounced onto the bed and rubbed her hooves at the little filly’s stomach. “Hahahahahahahahahah, ok ok I’m up,” Scootaloo squealed as she was awakened by her sister. Getting away from her victim, Dash looked down at the little filly, “ Well, now that you are awake, how about some waffles for breakfast?” The little orange filly nodded yes with great enthusiasm and rolled out of the bed. Getting up, she followed her big sister down the stairs and into the kitchen. As the two sat down to have some breakfast, Scootaloo watched at the look in her eyes, “ I wonder if she always felt this lonely without somepony else up here, or if she feels this lonely when she trains for a bit. Maybe that’s why she always wants Fluttershy to be with her when she practices,” Scootaloo thought to herself. “What’s on your mind squirt?” Dash asked. “Oh, nothing,” Scootaloo said, quickly finishing up her waffles. “Ok,” Dash said, looking at her little sister and putting away her plate, “So, I was thinking that I could put off some of my training today so I can give you some lessons instead.” “No thanks Rainbow Dash. Me and the girls have a big project we need to get started on,” Scootaloo said walking out to the door. “You ok? You just rejected an offer for flying lessons, from me,” Dash asked, a look of shock in her eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just really want to get started on this, really quickly,” Scootaloo said as she opened the door, Rainbow Dash walking up right behind her. “Going to glide down by yourself?” Dash asked. “Yeah, just like you taught me,” Scootaloo said, a little bit of nervousness in her voice, “I’ll be fine.” “You sure?” “Yep,” Scootaloo said as she took a few steps and and ran off the edge of the kitchen doorway and into the open air, her wings splayed open as she began to glide through the air. Letting the wind blow softly through her feathers, she angled her wings to maneuver herself to glide gently onto the ground. Looking up at the cyan pegasus above her, Scootaloo gave a high hoof in victory. Dash smirked back, a sense of pride filling her heart as she watched the purple maned filly head off into the distance. Turning around to go back into the house, Rainbow began to clean up just a little and tried to figure out what she was going to do for the rest of the day. Walking through the house, she bumped into a table and caused the picture to fall off. Catching it before it could crack, she took a look at it. It was a picture of her and Scootaloo with Scootaloo’s mom in front of their house. A sigh escaped Dash’s lips as she remembered the young mare, “Sunny I hope you’re proud of that little kid,” Dash looked back with a smile, “Because Celestia knows that I sure am.” In the cutie mark crusaders clubhouse, Scootaloo stood in front of a chalkboard with the words, ‘Date 1: the romantic dinner date’ written on it. Putting an orange hoof to her army helmet to adjust it on her head, the pegasus turned to the two fillies before her, “Ok crusaders, listen up. This here is the plan: Step 1- Rainbow knows my hoof writing too well, so Sweetie Belle you are in charge of writing the letter to her. Applebloom, you write a letter to Fluttershy and arrange a date for these two. Step 2- we follow them to the restaurant and make sure that they will order the spaghetti. Step 3- we sneak into the kitchen and make sure that one of the strands of spaghetti will be extra long. Step 4- they eat the extra long strand and fall into an accidental kiss. This will, in turn, make them fall head over heels for each other,” Scootaloo then looked over her two friends, “so, any questions?”. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looked back at one another and then back at their friend, slowly Sweetie raised a white hoof, “How are going to be sure that they both get the extra long spaghetti noodle? what if Fluttershy or Rainbow eat the noodle before they can both get it?” The other crusaders nodded back in response, finding it hard to argue with such sound logic and began to write down their letters. Rainbow Dash flew through the WhiteTail woods and landed next to a badly injured mare, the deep gashes on her sides and back bleeding hard, “Oh Celestia, no! Sunny,come on, don't do this to me! Get up, GET UP!” Dash yelled as she put a hoof  under the head of the pegasus. “R...Rainbow, please,” Sunny let loose a little cough as she began to feel her life flowing out of her, “Watch over Scootaloo, protect her for me.” “What are you talking about? Of course I’ll protect her, but you’re going to be there too. You and I, we’ll watch that kid grow up together. So please, for her, DON'T DIE!!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she watched the mare’s eyes roll back into her eyes and then breathe her last. Laying her down, Dash lowered her wings and her head as she had a moment of silence as a sign of respect. Sadly, she was brought out of this moment by a high pitched scream coming from a little filly, “SCOOTALOO!” Getting to her hooves, the blue mare launched herself into the air at a very high speed.  Flying at a pace where everything became a blur to her eyes, she caught sight of a giant lion-like beast with a serpent tail and bat wings cornering a cowering little orange pegasus. Growling with a deep, burning rage, she slammed both hooves into the monster’s stomach, chin, and back yelling out with each hit, “STAY! AWAY! FROM! MY! SISTER!” She then flew back to the ground and stood in front of Scootaloo, her eyes staring at the monster with a glare of determination. Deep inside her, a part of her was terrified beyond belief; however, she was too filled with rage, vengeance, courage, and love for her little sister to give into the fear at the moment. The chimera recovered and let out a roar as it charged at her and clawed at her. Taking to the air swiftly, she barely dodged the creature’s swipe but was caught by the creatures second swipe. The force of the blow left three deep cuts into Rainbow’s side and sent her crashing to the wall. Struggling to get up from the blow, the creature tossed Rainbow into the air, and then raked his claws on her back to force her back down. As she landed, the cyan mare could hear a very loud crack, “Damn! There goes my leg,” Dash thought to herself as she stood up slowly, favoring her leg. Looking up at the monster, she braced herself for another blow when the monster’s claw was suddenly stopped by a lasso. “BACK AWAY FROM HER, YA MANGY VARMINT,” yelled an orange earth pony as she pulled the creature’s arm back. Standing next to her was a yellow pegasus mare who quickly flew to help Scootaloo. Dash looked at this scene, back to her little sis and best friend and then back to the creature, “Ok buddy, now that the ponies mean the world to me are here and need my help, there aint no way I am going to fail them!!” The chimera never stood a chance. A few hours later, Rainbow Dash laid down on a pillow in the library while Fluttershy adjusted her bandages, “Rainbow, please settle down. You might reopen those wounds,” Fluttershy said, putting a wing over her friend to soothe her. Dash looked into her friend's blue eyes and calmed down a little, “Sorry, I just really want to get through this.” “Now Dash, are you absolutely sure about this? Taking care of a filly is a much bigger responsibility than taking care of a turtle,” Twilight said, holding some law books in her magical grip. “I know that, TWI!”  Dash said, not wavering,  “I have to do this. I made a promise to Sunny that I would watch after her. Besides, it won't be any different than how I have been acting for the past year. I am already a big sister to the little squirt and I have been helping to take care of her like a second mother already. As for keeping her safe,” Dash then took a good look at Fluttershy, watching as she adjusted some of the bandages on Dash’s leg, “I have been protecting ponies weaker than me for years, especially those who are close to me.” Dash then smiled at her before turning to look at the rest of the circle of ponies before her, “Besides, if I am doing something wrong...then she’ll have the 5 best aunts a girl could ask for to help.” Applejack smiled to her friend as she placed a hoof onto her shoulder, “Well of course we're going to help you, Dash. We’re just making sure you are ready for this responsibility.” Fluttershy gave Rainbow an affectionate nuzzle into her neck, “We’ll always be there to hold you up, Rainbow. Always.” Rainbow Dash smiled at Fluttershy as Twilight got up, “Ok, Spike, take a letter.” “Right. But Twilight? One quick thing,” Spike said, running up to his mother figure and gave her a quick hug. The idea of losing a mother hitting him hard. Rainbow Dash woke up to the sound of a light knocking at her door and the sight of a book on top of her face. Grabbing the book she put it onto the side of her bed and began to walk to her front door, “I guess I’ll see if Daring will adopt that little filly reincarnation of  Nightmare Moon later,”  Dash thought to herself as she opened the door to see who was outside. Looking up and down and around the area in front of the door, she found nothing with the exception of a letter floating down in front of her. Grabbing it out of the air with her hoof, she quickly tore it open and began to read it. Dear Rainbow Dash, I have always loved you for years, but I never had the chance to say it. I now want to correct that by telling you face to face. Please meet me at ‘le Grande Cliche’ so we can discuss this. Signed,         Your secret admirer. Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow at this, trying to figure it out. Putting the letter into her saddle bag, she took off towards Sugar Cube Corner. Today was a particulary nice and normal day for Fluttershy, as she continued to help feed the various birds and rodents that were living in her house. Hovering from cage to cage, she took note of one of the pictures on her mantle, the one of her and Rainbow on Tornado day. She enjoyed that day, not just because of how Rainbow helped to break her out of shell again, but it helped to reminder her that Dash was always somepony to help her. She smiled a little, hoping that she can be that way for Dash. Hearing a knock on the door, she turned to the door, “Who is it?” Fluttershy said, inching a little closer to the door. Not getting an answer, she slowly opened it, “Hello? Is there anypony there,” Fluttershy asked, poking her head and looking down at the letter before her. Curious, she picked it up and carefully opened it. Reading the contents, she immmeaditly blushed and dropped the letter before heading back in, “OH MY! A love letter, but why would anypony be interested...? Oh, but what if he isn't interested at all and is just a stalker, what if he wants to take me in and do something nasty to me? But what if she isn't? Oh, what should I do? Should I go, Should I stay Should- “Hey, Flutters,” Rainbow Dash called as she walked in and saw the dropped letter, “Let me guess...love letter,” as she watched her friend nod, a smirk came to her cyan face.  Within a few hours, the Crusaders were all hiding within a bush looking at the front door of the restaurant, awaiting their prey. They kept their eyes peeled at the incoming and outgoing partons, hoping to see if their two targets had taken the bait. Soon enough, the three caught a glimpse of a yellow pegasus walking through the door,” There she is, Fluttershy is in,” Scootaloo said, holding onto her binoculars. After a few minutes they saw Rainbow fly in after her, “and there’s Rainbow Dash,” Sweetie Belle said as she held the binoculars with her hooves,” Now we just need to get in there and finish the rest of the mission.” “And how are we supposed to do that,” Applebloom asked. “I’ve got that covered, see this restaurant happened to ask a certain unicorn to make new uniforms for their staff. And of course,” Sweetie then brought out three filly sized waiter outfits, “she made extras, just in case.” Scootaloo smiled, “Sweetie Belle, you are so awesome! Ok, lets sneak in through the kitchen and see where  Rainbow and Fluttershy are sitting.” She then turned her head and waved a hoof to beckon her two friends to follow her to the back of the restaurant. Sneaking in carefully, they slinked by the chefs that were inside and the waiters. Moving carefully through the resturant proper and hiding behind some of the tables, they soon caught sight of Rainbow Dash as she began to walk through the tables in search of a booth. They watched in a small glee when they saw her catch sight of Fluttershy and listened in to the conversation, “Hey, Fluttershy,” Dash said, happy to see her friend. “Oh, hello Rainbow,” Fluttershy said as she looked up at Rainbow from her table. “Waiting for somepony?” Dash asked, then watched as the mare nodded slowly, “But he hasn’t  shown up yet, hasn’t he?” Dash watched as Fluttershy gave a sad nod, “Well, no sense of letting a good meal go to waste right? Lets enjoy the night together.” Sitting in front of the shy pegasus, Dash raised a hoof to call a waiter. Seeing her cue, Sweetie Belle ran up to the table and handed out two menus to the two pegasi, “Here you go, and what would you like to eat this evening. May I suggest the spaghetti?” “Actually, I was thinking some orange juice and a giant salad for me and my friend,”  Dash said, trying to get a good look at the waiter. “I am afraid we are all out of the salad, madame,” Sweetie Belle said, keeping her best gruff voice as she avoided Dash’s gaze. “The apple flambe?” “Fried,” Sweetie said. Fluttershy looked on, watching the scene before her as she tried to order, “ The fruit pizza?” “Taken away by turtles,” Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. Fluttershy and Dash looked at each other, confused looks on their faces before turning back to Sweetie Bell and asking, “The caesar salad?” “Backstabbed,” Sweetie Belle said, a rimshot heard in the distance. Dash let out a sigh as she put down the menu, “Fine, we’ll have the spaghetti,” she then watched as the little waiter nodded and ran off to the kitchen, followed by two other waiters. “Ok, now what,” Sweetie asked as she and her friends did their best to avoid being spotted by the cooks. “Now ah just add a little of this growth serum to the pot where they are making the spaghetti,” Applebloom said, pulling out a vial, “and make the strands extra long so that way, there’s no chance of them not kissing.” With that, she slowly snuck around to the pot of bubbling noodle strands that were going to be served and leaned over to put the liquid in. Slowly tipping her head, she slowly squeezed the bottle to get some drops out; however, the steam made the bottle slippery and caused it to fall in, “Uh, oh.” “Uh oh? What’s uh oh,” Scootaloo looked at her friend with wide and fear laden eyes, “UH OH IS NEVER GOOD! WHAT IS WITH THE UH OH?!” Applebloom shrugged her shoulders embarrassingly as she put a hoof behind her head, “Ah...may have put in too much of the growth potion into the vat.” “What?” Scootaloo asked, deadpan as she she turned to see the water bubbling faster and faster, making the noodles grow rapidly, “Run.” Outside in the restaurant proper, Dash and Fluttershy were talking to each other about the waiter, “How can you be sure that was Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy asked. “It’s just a guess. Especially since I thought I saw one of those waiters look like an orange pegasus filly,” Dash said with a smirk. Her ears then began to twitch at the sound of three little fillies screaming, “What was that?” “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!” Scootaloo screamed as she ran out of the kitchen, followed by her two friends. “RUN! IT’S ATTACK OF THE SPAGHETTI MONSTER!!” Sweetie yelled as she ran out the door. Turning her head slowly, Fluttershy let out a very quiet, “Eep,” as she gazed at the door. Slowly emerging from within the kitchen door was a writhing mass of yellow, wet noodles that seemed to be alive. Menacingly did its large wet tendrils flow from within the room, slapping and grabbing all who came near its writhing body. Stepping out of the booth, Rainbow Dash took a quick look at her demure friend, “We should probably run, NOW!” and, before Fluttershy could respond, Dash grabbed the yellow hoof and pulled her friend out of the building as the almost unearthly creature continued to grow and fill the resturant up with its body. A half hour later, after the excitement and horror died down and a team of unicorns were called in to find a way to clear the pasta, two pegasi sat in front of the cutie mark crusader looking down upon them. On Fluttershy’s face was a concerned look while Dash gave a look that only a protective and strong mother could give, “Ok kid, spill! What was up with that restaurant and what was up with this note?”  Reaching into her bags, she pulled out the note that she had received earlier. Scootaloo chuckled sheepishly as she stepped forward, hoping to draw the fire away from her friends, “Well, you see at first it started out a prank to see how you would react,” she lied as she put an orange hoof behind her head, “ Then when we saw you get into the restaurant, we decided to practice being chefs and try to mess with your food a little. We wanted to try and prank you that way. Guess we went a little too far, huh?” “Yeah, you did. If that wasn't something harmless like spaghetti, you and the others could’ve been hurt,” Dash said as she got down to Scootaloo’s level and gave her a hug, “And I keep telling you, the best pranks are the ones where no one gets really hurt. Next time, try one that’s a little less...experimental. Also, pick a better target, no pony can get the drop on the master got it?” Dash asked as she watched her sister nod quietly, “Now, you and the others head to the clubhouse and I promise I won't tell Rare or AJ about this little incident.” “Right,” Scootaloo agreed as she and her friends ran off into the distance. “So, now what are we gonna do?” Applebloom asked as she followed her friends, “The next date won’t work if they already suspect us pullin somethang.” Scootaloo smirked, “Don’t worry girls, I have a plan.” Meanwhile, as Dash watched the three trot off back to their base, Fluttershy smiled softly to herself. It was always amazing to see how Dash could let down her guard around her and Scootaloo and show that big sister side that few ponies even knew she had. Walking up next to Rainbow Dash, she turned to face her, “So, how did you know the letter was from them?” “I didn’t, at first,”  Dash said honestly as she looked at her friend, “but when I got the letter, I thought Pinkie was planning something weird to pull on me. So I flew down to Sugar Cube Corner to ask what’s up. When I showed her the letter, she recognized the hoof writing to be Sweetie Belle’s from that one time Sweetie had her help write party invites.” “Oh,” Fluttershy said, amazed at Pinkie’s photographic memory,  “So, what are we gonna do now? I am still kind of hungry.” “Well, the night is still young and we still need to be fed. I say,” Smiling, she put a hoof around her friend’s shoulder, “Let’s go find another place to eat. I know of this fantastic joint just down the street. Besides,” she then turned to watch as the unicorns began to take out the monster, “I’m not much into dinner theater.” As the two pegasi sat down in ‘first date meals and deals’, Rainbow Dash quickly began to talk up a storm while Fluttershy sat and listened intently, “So Snowflake, wanting to impress Cloudchaser, takes a wild left turn out of nowhere and crashes into one of the obstacles, sending him into a tailspin,” Dash said as she waved a cyan hoof in demonstration, “Of course, I saw this and flew right down after him. Racing down at unbelievable speeds , I dove down and grabbed him at the last second!” “That’s so exciting, Dashie,” Fluttershy responded, finishing the last of her plate. “Yeah, its a shame that I got yelled at by Spitfire later though,” Dash said, taking a slow drink from her cup. “You got yelled at, why?” “Oh, something about ‘since you are the leader of the rookie force, you need to take better care of them. Its your duty as a lead pony!’” Dash said. “‘Rookie Force’?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah, its what me and my fellow cadets are calling each other now. I wanted to call us, “Rainbow Dash and her amazing friends’ but I got voted out,” Dash said, crossing her legs and turning with a pout as Fluttershy giggled. When the waiter came back with their check, Fluttershy reached up to pay but Dash held out her hoof in  protest, “I got it Flutters,don’t worry.” “Oh, I couldn’t impose,” Fluttershy said, wanting to pay. “It’s no big deal, I got it,” Dash insisted as she pulled out her bag of bits and paid. Getting up, Dash reached out with her hoof and took Fluttershy’s to lead her out of the resturant. Walking out of the restaurant, the moon hung just over head and gave the area an etherial light, “You know, I was talking about myself the entire time back there. How about you tell me what you’ve been up to and I’ll walk you home.” “You...you’ll walk me home?” Fluttershy squeaked, “You don't really need to do that Rainbow, treating me to dinner is enough and you probably don't want to hear about my week. It’s too boring.” Dash let go of Fluttershy’s yellow hoof and put it onto her shoulder and turned Fluttershy to face her, looking into her light blue eyes, “I know I don’t need to, I want to. I like walking with you Fluttershy,” Dash smiled at her and rubbed a hoof alongside the yellow leg, “And of course I want to hear about your week. You can live a pretty cool life sometimes.” Dash said as she walked ahead of her friend. As the two walked, a mint green unicorn mare looked at her wife with a smile. Levitating her harp she began to play a soft melody for the Earth Pony that sat next to her, a melody that started with a few soft tones and continued with the soft rythmic beat. “You really think I can be exciting?” Fluttershy asked as she managed to walk alongside Rainbow, smiling softly as she looked up to her friend. “Well, yeah. Especially when it comes to animals,” Dash said, smiling at her as they came up to a bridge, the moon reflected within the small river, “I’ve seen you do awesome dives to save little birds from their death. I watched as you would save some innocent animals from some fierce predators and then go and find those guys something else to eat. You are more awesome than you could ever realize Flutters.” She then placed both hooves onto the railing of the bridge and looked down at the water, letting out a sigh, “I’m just sorry I can forget that sometimes.” “ Oh, don't be sorry Dashie,” Fluttershy said, leaning on the railing and looking towards Dash. Slowly, she placed a comforting hoof onto Rainbow’s blue shoulder and rubbed it, letting her hoof run along the blue fur, “ I know I can be weak and defenseless sometimes.” “But you aren’t that weak, Fluttershy,” Dash said, turning to face her friend while they were reflected in the water against the moon, “You are one the strongest of us. Do you remember the dragon, when Twilight first came here to Ponyville?” Fluttershy nodded and looked into Rainbow Dash’s red eyes, “Yeah, and you were so against me going.” “It was because,” Dash then held back a little, not wanting to admit the next part, “I was a little scared for you. When I saw you there, all I could see was that little pegasus that would tremble at the smallest thing. That same little mare who hid behind me, even when I was shorter than her. Then,” she turned her head down, looking away from Fluttershy before turning to look into her eyes again, “You stood up to that dragon and saved us all. That’s when I saw that other side of you, the girl who is just pure awesome and doesn’t ever let her friends get hurt. It was when I saw, that the sweetest little mare that I ever knew, was also just plain awesome.” She then ran her hoof through Fluttershy’s mane, “Face it, you are awesome.” Fluttershy turned her head away and blushed a little, “ Thank you.” Then as she looked at her friend, she remembered something, “Wait right there, I need to get you a present.” She then took off in a small little blur. A few seconds later, she landed with something behind her back,” Close your eyes.” “Sure,” Dash said, doing what she was told and waiting for the surprise. “Ok, and open them” Fluttershy said as she put the item around her friend’s neck. As Dash opened her eyes, Fluttershy rubbed her right forehoof genlty, hiding one eye behind her mane, “Do you like it?” “Man, why does she have to do that pose? Doesn’t she know how cute she looks?” Dash thought to herself as she looked down at the flower necklace around her neck, “Fluttershy, this is-” “I remember that you told me that you  lost the original one I made for you, so I made you a new one with all of your favorite flowers,” Fluttershy said, smiling softly. “Fluttershy, you didn’t need,” Dash was then interrupted by a hug from Fluttershy. “I know I didn’t need to, I wanted to,” Fluttershy said, pulling away to look back into her friend's eyes, “ It’s to thank you for keeping your promise and always being there for me. It’s also to show,” Fluttershy then place a soft hoof to Dash’s chest, “that I will alway be there for you, too.” Dash looked down at the yellow hoof on her chest and then back at her dear friend. Smiling softly at Fluttershy, Dash leaned in and gave a quick kiss onto Fluttershy’s nose. Fluttershy took a step back, a look of shock on her face as she stumbled through her words, “Wh...What was that?” “A kiss, to thank you,” Dash replied, “For being a great friend, and to remind you that you are very special to me. This,” Dash then kissed Fluttershy on the cheek, “Is to remind you that I will always be there for you, as your friend and your hero.” As the unicorn mare’s song ended, the two pegasi were already nearing Fluttershy’s house. Opening the door for her, Dash let the yellow pegasus into her house, “Night Fluttershy.” “Night Dashie,” Fluttershy said as she closed the door. Walking in, she began to smile at the warm feeling that she felt within her growing. Turning around to look at the door, she smiled as she rubbed a hoof along her cheek, “And thank you for being there.” As Dash flew back home, she could feel a warm feeling in her chest, “Thanks Flutters, for being there.” Snuggling herself into her bed, Fluttershy began to fall asleep and dream. Looking on at the fight before her, Fluttershy watched as the chimera fell, “HA! Maybe that’ll teach you to not mess with a pony when she has something special to protect,” Dash said as she collapsed to the ground unconscious.” “RAINBOW DASH,” Fluttershy yelled as she flew to her cyan friend to help lift her up. Applejack went over to Scootaloo who was crying about her mother, “ You sure you’ll be ok taking Dash?” Slowly, Fluttershy nodded as she began to walk away, “You’ve always supported me, now I will support you...Just like I always will. Always.”