Late that night Fluttershy got home from Cloudsdale after spending several hours listening to Rainbow Dash talk about how she is going to win. Fluttershy did this not because she wanted to, she did it to make herself more focused. She said to herself, "Starting tomorrow, I am going to train hard to fly as fast as I can and for as long as I can."
The next day arrived and the ponies had a meet up scheduled at Sugarcube Corner. Everypony showed up, except one.
Twilight said, "Has anyone seen Fluttershy this morning? She usually doesn't miss these."
Rainbow Dash replied, "Well she was late getting home last night. Her and I spent several hours up in Cloudsdale talking about all my past triumphs."
Applejack glared at her and said, "Don't y'all think you are bragging Rainbow? I don't know how she put up with that much of you strutting around like a prize rooster."
Rainbow replied, "Oh, come on AJ. If she would have got sick of it she would have left much sooner."
Little did they know that Fluttershy was at home doing push ups with her wings. She said to herself, "Come on Fluttershy, you have to strengthen these wing muscles if you are going to do well!" She even had some of her critter friends sitting on her back to strengthen her muscles more.
Later that afternoon Rarity was headed to Fluttershy's cottage when she saw her flying around her cottage at a speed faster than normal. Fluttershy saw her and headed down to her cottage and said, "Oh hi Rarity."
Rarity replied, "Fluttershy dahling, whatever are you doing?"
Fluttershy replied, "Oh, I'm just working out my wing muscles. I don't want to lose them after all."
Rarity looked at her wondering what her real reason was. She asked, "Fluttershy, you aren't training for that race next month are you? I knew you were gone for a minute. Did you go talk to Celestia about being in the race?"
"No, I'm not training for a race Rarity, I was gone because I had to use the restroom." replied Fluttershy
Rarity told her that she had come over for their afternoon tea and thought that she had forgot about it. Fluttershy let her know that she had not forgot about it and like she said before, she was just working out her wing muscles.
Once they sat down to tea Rarity noticed that Fluttershy's house was not as clean as it usually is, "Fluttershy, why is your house such a mess, it is usually so clean when I came over."
Fluttershy replied, "Well I haven't had much of a chance to clean it this morning. I have been in the forest visiting my woodland friends"
"And flying around to work out your wing muscles," said Rarity "Which is something I have never seen you do before."
Fluttershy replied, "Well just because I haven't done it before doesn't mean that I have to not do it. A pony does have the right to change what she does."
Rarity told her that yes a pony does have the right to change her mind but given how she has been feeling here lately that she is suspicious of her real reasons for doing this.
Fluttershy replied, "Rarity, I just want to feel more like a regular pegasus and be able to fly better. I know there have been a couple of times in the past when I flew fast but I want to be able to fly like most every other pegasus."
Rarity decided to head home. She wanted to believe everything Fluttershy was telling her but she had her suspicions that Fluttershy was doing all this so she could fly in next month's race.
Back over at Fluttershy's she was doing more push ups, except this time with a sack of flour on her back, working her muscles much harder.
Fluttershy shouted, "Come on Fluttershy, we're going to do this!"
As the month progressed, she continued to miss more and more get-togethers and she was able to do push ups effortlessly with more and more weight on her back. She was also flying faster and faster, soaring over the Everfree Forest for several hours each day.
Finally the day before the competition arrived and Fluttershy finally showed up at Sugarcube Corner. Rarity said, "Fluttershy, what have you been doing? We haven't seen much of you in almost a month."
Fluttershy replied, "Well I've been spending a lot of time in the Everfree Forest with my critter friends."
Rainbow Dash replied, "Oh, so you're picking your critter friends over us now?"
"Uhm, well no. I just hadn't spent a lot of time with them recently so I thought I would make up for it." said Fluttershy
"You know Fluttershy," said Applejack "ah want to believe you but you have just been acting odd here lately. Flying around a lot, missing get togethers, altering your activities so much, ah don't know what to think."
Twilight interrupted, "You know everypony, give Fluttershy the benefit of the doubt. I can understand her wanting to fly around more. Maybe she just wants to act more like a normal pegasus."
"Thank you for understanding what I have been doing Twilight." said Fluttershy
The ponies left Sugarcube Corner and headed back to their homes, except one. Fluttershy headed over towards her cottage but once she got there, she flew up to Canterlot so she would be well rested once the competition began.