The sun hung brightly overhead on the small town of Ponyville, allowing all of its inhabitants to enjoy the soft warm wind and the warm sunshine that brightened up their day. All, with the exception of Scootaloo, who was walking towards Whitetail woods with her head down. Her friends were grounded for the day because of their antics the previous night and now the little filly was all alone in her thoughts, “I could fake a monster attack on Fluttershy with a weak one that Dash could easily kick the butt of. But that might,” Scootaloo stopped in front of the entrance of the forest and backed away a few feet, trembling, “go too far and could really hurt them. I could make a fake monster attack, but...” Scoot’s mind then thought of her own personal model making skills and costume making.
--------------
“Raw! I’m going to kill you Fluttershy,” Scootaloo screamed, covered in a wolf costume.
“AW! What an adorable puppy you are Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, eyes widened in awe as she patted the costume’s head.
“I’m not a puppy!” Scootaloo countered, “I’m a firce Canis Major, run!”
“Well, if you want to play Canis Major and the prey, I guess I wouldn’t mind. I have time,” Fluttershy said, looking above Scootaloo’s head, “But I should warn you.
Scootaloo couldn’t hear the rest of the warning as a terrifying howl was heard right behind her, making her jump onto Fluttershy and hold her tightly. The terrifying howl soon turned into an uncontrollable burst of laughter coming from up above on the cloud, “OH man Scoots.” Dash said, holding her sides with her hooves as she rolled on the cloud, “You should see the look on your face.”
Scootaloo looked back at Dash, a blush on her face from the embarrassment, “I wasn’t scared!”
-----------------------
“Yeah,” She sighed as she kicked a rock in front of her down a hill, “Without Applebloom or Sweetie Belle to help out with the costume and the voice, I’m sunk.”
A small smile came to the orange pegasus’s lips as she began to think of her two friends and how much she truly needed them. They were the Crusaders and they have been helping each other in ways that went beyond just looking for their cutie marks. Helping each other with ideas, supporting each other when they felt bad, and overcoming their weaknesses. It was this one that she took the most pride in, after all it was helping her friend conquer her stage fright that helped Sweetie Belle find her cutie mark. A small giggle came from her as she began to think of the surprise cuteceneria that was coming up in the next few days in which she had a part in planning. This tled her to think of what has happened to her in the past few years: gaining two terrific friends, a big sister and a...She stopped at the last one, that was going to happen when she would finally came up with a good plan.
Walking around the edge of the woods, her mind continued to craft plan after plan for the third date: Rescue Romance; however, each one she could come up with would all encounter failure in her mind. For her, she felt like each plan was just as useless as the last, and her mood became worse with each failure. A growl of frustration left her lips as she walked by a tall green tree, the soft and comforting warm wind was doing little to lighten her grim mood. Turning to look at the tree before her, she placed her forehooves onto it while standing on her hindlegs. Smirking, she ran up the tree quickly before bouncing off of the trunk, doing a somersault and then landing back onto the ground on her hindlegs. Setting back down, she let out a deep breath of air and smiled. A warm wind couldn’t help cheer her up a little but a little trick here and there did it.
Turning away from the tree, she layed down onto her belly and began to run her right hoof along the ground, “UGGH!” She yelled in frustration, not noticing the figure that came from out of the tree, “Why must thinking up these ideas be so freaking hard!”
“Oh, I think I might be able to help,” said a voice from behind her, casting a looming shadow from behind her that covered her, “come up with some ideas.”
Scootaloo opened her eyes wide at the sound of the voice behind her, before slowly turning around to gaze at the source. As she gazed upon the figure behind her, she let out a gasp of fear at his towering presence.
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“Fluttershy! Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called out from her little cloud as she continued her search. It had been a few short minutes since her victory over the bullies, since she had recreated the legend as well as finding her true calling. In her young mind, she could still play the excitement of the win and the thrill of the cheering crowds. The cheering of all of the kids, with the exception of one, the one she was hoping would be right there to give her a hug of appreciation for helping her. That exception being Fluttershy.
Her young mind thought back to her horror and shock that, not only was her friend not there to cheer for her, but she had fallen off the cloud when the race had started and was now missing. Dash had already taken it upon herself to start a long search for her dear friend, and was already a few minutes into the search. Her eyes darted back and forth as she searched the land for the buttery pegasus, trying in vain for some sign of her. She did not want to admit it to herself or to anypony else for that matter, but she was scared. Scared for her friend, and frightened that it might have been her that caused the death of her close friend.
Her ears then perked at the sound of something that raised her hopes. From just a few yards away, she could hear a soft voice talking to somepony or something. Smiling happily, she fluttered her cloud above the ground to where the voice was coming coming from. As she neared the source, she saw the target of her search as a long-legged buttery yellow pegasus sat amongst the flowers, singing to the small cats and birds around her, “Fluttershy, there you are!” Dash yelled, “I’ve been searching all over for you. You had us all worried sick.”
“OH, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said as she turned to her friend, “I didn’t mean to worry anypony, I was just enjoying spending time with my animal friends. See aren’t they wonderful? And look at all of this around you, its a wonderous place isnt it?”
Dash could only roll her eyes at her friend’s love for the ground and the little creatures that surrounded her, “Yeah, simply wonderful. Now come on Flutters, it’s time to go home,” she said, stretching out a cyan hoof to help Fluttershy onto the cloud.
“All right,” Fluttershy said, taking Dash’s hoof into her’s and used her little wings to help lift her up onto the cloud. As Dash began to push the cloud upwards towards their home in the sky, Fluttershy smiled and looked at her cyan friend, “Rainbow Dash, there’s something I need to show you.”
“What’s that?” Dash asked as she got back up on the slowly ascending cloud.
“I got my cutie mark today, see?” Fluttershy said, moving her flank to show off the three butterflies
Dash’s eyes opened wide in joy and shock, “That’s AWESOME Flutters! No where near as awesome as mine thought,” she said, showing off her flank for emphasis on the rainbow lightning bolt that now adorned her blue flank, “but, I guess having a soft butterfly is awesome too, a little.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked curiously.
“Yeah, I guess,” Dash said, lying a little, “Even if I wanted it to be something fast so I can always race with my best buddy,” she reached over and gave her a hug, “I guess I’ll just be awesome for the both of us and you can cheer for me.”
Fluttershy smiled softly from behind her bangs as it covered one eye before looking up at the cyan pegasus, “ Dashie, I want to thank you for protecting me from the bullies.”
Dash shrugged her shoulders as Cloudsdale came into view, “Eh no big. I just did what I needed to, no pony deserved to be treated like that.”
“No, it was a very big thing,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head, “you didn’t have to do that for me. I’m no pony important, I’m just me.”
“Hey! None of that!” Dash yelled, “You are important, Flutters, you’re important to me. You’re one of my bestest best friends and I couldn’t imagine being famous without you.” Dash then ran a hoof past Fluttershy’s mane and then gave her a soft hug, “And I promise you, I’ll always protect you. No matter where you are, I’ll race right to you.”
A soft smile came to Fluttershy’s lips as she looked into Rainbow Dash’s magenta eyes, “Promise?”
“Promise!” Dash said, as the world slowly morphed around her, changing into several years into the future. The yellow pegasus that was once before her now changed into an adult orange mare with a blond mane as she looked back at Dash.
“Oh Dash, thank you so much,” Sunny Daze said as she hugged Rainbow Dash while her daughter got ready to go off on another adventure, “You don’t know what this meant to me, or to her. She’s...my world.”
“I think I do,” Dash said, looking at the young filly who she just said she would be a big sister too not a week before visiting the filly’s home, “the kid has kinda grown on me.”
“You don't know how happy you made her, how happy you made me. She’s been jumping for joy ever since you said you’d be her big sister. I can’t ever thank you enough,” Sunny said, crying a little.
Dash wiped a tear from the mare’s eye before tucking her chin, “Hey, she’s become an important pony to me now, and that means you’re important to me too. And I, ALWAYS, will protect those important to me.”
“Promise?” Sunny asked.
“Promise,” Dash said with a confident smirk as she was tightly hugged by Sunny. Dash then let go of the orange mare as she felt something warm and sticky on her hooves. Looking down, she found that the world had changed again and now she was in Whitetail Woods, looking at the dying form of Sunny, “SUNNY! No, don’t do this to ME! Don’t you dare do this to Scootaloo, she needs you!”
Sunny looked up a Rainbow Dash with sad almost lifeless eyes, “Promise,” she said in a raspy voice.
Raising her head up in shock at what the mare said, Dash began to look around her as the world began to darken, the decayed bodies of her friends surrounding her, and on their bodies was the word, “protect” carved onto their forms”
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“AHHH!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she rolled off of a tree branch and onto the hard ground, “OOOF! What the? Why am I on the ground and,” her eyes then noticed her outfit before saying in a deadpan voice, “what in Celestia’s holy horn am I wearing?” She then took another look at the weird green suit that she was now wearing, along with a little green hat with a yellow feather in it.
“Like it? I was looking around the town and I saw that and thought to myself “Rainbow Dash, Robin Hood? Only a few letters difference here and there,” a quite jovial voice said from above as a weird mismatched creature lowered himself from the sky on a pink cloud of cotton candy.
“DISCORD!” Dash yelled in rage at her predicament, “What’s...excuse me.” Grabbing her green tights with her teeth, Rainbow began to rip them off, leaving her now in a suit of blue armor.
“Hmmmm, well I guess if you want to be Lancelot instead,” Discord said, snapping his fingers and changing the forest into a green field with a castle in the distance, “Behold! Camelot, Camelot! I heard your thunderous call.”
“GRRRRRRR!” Dash growled as she ripped the knight outfit off, now putting her into a blue suit with a giant rainbow colored R on her chest in the middle of a shield.
“Well, if you wanted to be a superhero so bad...why didn’t you say so,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers to change the setting into a sprawling city, “and yes I can read your mind.”
“AHHHHH!” Dash screamed as she ripped the suit to shreds, now changing her outfit into a blue barding with a yellow 2 on her chest. Looking down at herself in curiousity, she noted a strange grey device on her right leg with a green light on it.
“A little post apocalyptic, but if that is what you want...who am I to disagree?” The mismatched creature said as he snapped his paw to change the world around the two of them into a barren wasteland, “ There we are, although don’t expect an easy Remedy to your Steely Calamity.”
Somewhere, a smaller Discord played a rimshot.
“CELESTIA’S FIERY SOLAR HEAT!!!” Dash screamed as she ripped her barding to pieces, now putting her into a black leather outfit with a rapier at her side.
“‘The Princess Bride’! A classic! I knew I liked you,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers to change the world to a grassy field once again, “Want to try again?”
“NO! I give,” Dash said, holding up her hooves in defense, “What’s this about, Discord?”
“This is about promises, Dashie,” Discord said, walking up behind Dash and bringing out two translucent spheres, “The ones that you failed to keep,” in the sphere on his eagle claw appeared an image of Sunny Day, lying motionless on the ground. Seeing the image made Dash turn her head away, a look of sadness coming to her face, “ and the ones that you tried to keep,” Discord said, showing an image of Fluttershy in a green gown with flowers in walking around in a castle.
“FLUTTERSHY!” Dash yelled as she leapt to the two orbs, only to watch as Discord pulled the two orbs away as if they were yo-yos. “What did you do to her?”
“Now Rainbow, I’m hurt, crushed even,” Discord said as he became as flat as a pancake before returning to normal, “that you would even THINK that I would hurt the only friend I have on this boring little mudball.” He then raised his tail above his head to make a halo, “I’m innocent. But something might happen to the little pegasus if you don’t save her in the next few hours.”
“What’ll happen?” Dash asked, watching the dragonquiss carefully.
“I don’t know, maaaaaaybe something bad,” Discord said, his red eyes rolling back as he shrugged, “Maaaaaybe something horrible. We’ll never know, because you are going to save her without fail. Aren’t you, Miss Loyalty? You always save those closest to you without fail, right?”
Dash raised up a hoof to say something, but then the memory of Sunny’s body laying at her hooves came back to her. Shaking her head of this memory, she looked up at Discord with a confident smirk, “Right! I’ll save her in no time, just watch me!”
“THAT’S THE SPIRIT,” Discord said, jumping up high in a cheerleader outfit with a group of him on a bunch of stands holding up the words ‘YAY Rainbow Dash’, “Now, before you go, take this.”
Dash looked down at the object that she was given, a small box with a starburst. apple, diamond, and a balloon emblazoned on it. Arching an eyebrow in curiosity, she opened the box to reveal small figurines of her friends, “What the?”
“Oh I know, molded ones are the best aren’t they? So accurate and so easily paintable,” Discord said with a smile as he looked over Dash’s shoulder, “But I digress. Those statues represent your four friends. When you encounter a problem that you know you can’t handle, and you will, take out one of those statuettes and your friends will appear to help you with the problem before disappearing.”
“Do they even know that they are statuettes?” Dash asked, wondering about her friends.
“Oh please, like I would turn them into statues! If anything, I would turn the princess here,” he said, lifting up the statue of a purple alicorn and smiled, “Into a book, just to watch her try to read herself! No, as far as they are concerned, they are still at home doing their homey things with their little homey lives. When you use the statues, it’ll just summon them to here and then back home when your are done with them. Now ta-ta.” With he disappeared in a flash of light.
Taking the box and placing it into a saddle bag at her side, Dash turned around to look at the castle in the distance. Smirking, the cyan mare gave a few flaps of her wings before taking off in a rainbow colored blur.
____________________________
Somewhere, in the top of the castle, sat a little yellow pegasus as she looked over some of the pictures that laid around her ‘prison’. She gave a soft smile as she picked up one photo from the stand and sit onto her bed. A sigh escaped lips as she looked around her room, there wasn't much for her to do in the tower other than await for her hero to come. Taking another look at the the photo, she couldn't help but smile again at it. It was an old photo of her and Rainbow Dash sitting in a hospital bed together, with a small caption that read “tonsil buddies”. She let out a giggle as the memory came back to her.
“Uggh, its so boring here,” Dash grumbled, the teenager not liking the fact that she was stuck in a hospital one bit. She then looked up as she saw somepony get placed on a bed next to her. It took her a few moments to recognize the yellow form next to her, “FLUTTERSHY?!”
The yellow pegasus then gave a quiet nod.
“But, what on Earth are you...”Dash asked, interrupted by the squeak from Fluttershy.
“Lonely,” Fluttershy said, her blue eyes hidden by her hair.
“You...you thought I would be lonely here so you got your tonsils taken out too?” Dash asked, her eyes opened in shock, “But you didn’t need,” she was then interrupted by another squeak.
“Watch over you too, protect,” Fluttershy said, electing a smile from Dash. She then reached into her table and handed Rainbow an ice cream bowl, smiling softly.
______________________________________
Rainbow Dash flew deftly through the air, the winds being cut through easily by her blue wings. As the winds blew through her prismatic hair, a look of cockyness and determination came across her face. The girl knew that she was going to make it to Fluttershy before anything bad could happen, and she knew that she would do it in no time. Her flight, however, was cut short by a short run in with a giant stone wall, the sides stretching from horizon to horizon. After shaking her head and rubbing her snoot with her hoof to numb the pain from ramming into the wall, Rainbow looked up to where the top of the wall ended. A determined smirk came to her lips as she flew off towards the the top of the wall; however, the problem came as the wall began to follow her upwards.
Annoyed by how the wall kept on following her, Rainbow Dash reared back with a forehoof and punched the wall hard. Pulling her hoof back, she let out a grunt of pain that was felt throughout her entire foreleg. Turning her head towards the ground, she decided to land for the moment to think about how to get over the wall. Looking at her leg and then at the wall, she began to pace alongside the side of the wall, hoping for an entrance or a small door. Finding none, she let out a sigh of frustration before looking back at the brown box that contained the figures of her 4 friends. Smiling, she took out the box and opened it to reveal the four statues of her friends. Looking back and forth, she grabbed the only one she knew for a fact that would be as strong as her. Taking the orange pony in her hoof, she watched in amazement as the figure glowed in a bright red apple and floated out of the box and landed next to Rainbow Dash, “Yeehaw!” Applejack yelled as she appeared, her stetson floating up in the air and landing back onto her head as she put her lasso onto her side.
“Applejack! I’m glad you’re here,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a smile on her face.
“Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked as she looked at Rainbow with an arched eyebrow, “What are ya’ll doing here at the farm? I thought you were dozin somewhere else.”
“Long story, but you’re dreaming and I need your help to take down this wall,” Dash said, pointing to the wall.
Turning her head to the wall, the orange earth pony nodded in agreement and titled her stetson, “No problem sugarcube.” Turning around with Rainbow Dash, the two ponies bucked as hard as they could, breaking a large hole in the wall and leaving them standing in the dust and debris. Turning to face her friend, the earth pony gave her friend a high hoof.
“Thanks a lot, AJ,” Dash said as she walked through the door.
“No problem, sugarcube,” Applejack said, smiling. “Must be hard though, huh Rainbow? Keeping that big wall around yah? Hiding all yer emotions behind those walls of pride, arrogance, and wanting to look strong fer everypony else? Not ever wanting to let anypony else know how emotionally vulnerable you are?”
“What are you talking about? I let you guys know how I feel all the time,” Rainbow Dash said, turning her head to face nothing but air. Looking back her box, she noticed that Applejack’s spot was now just a small black indentation in the foam, “Stupid Applejack, image...thing. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I’m PLENTY emotional, I show off my emotions all the time, and I show ponies how I feel about them a lot!”
“Is that so,” said Discord, hidden in the shadows, “Is that why it took your sister almost dieing before you could finally admit that she flew into your heart? That, out of all your little fans, she became the most like you little sister even before you said you would?”
“Well I...”Dash stopped herself in midsentence as she kept walking, unable to to come up with a good rebuttal.
“What about some of the things you said around...Fluttershy?” Discord asked as he snapped his fingers to show Dash in front of Twilight.
“Are you sure about this? The girl is afraid of her own shadow!”
“But what did you mean, really?” Discord asked, now changing things around Rainbow Dash to show her once again in front of Twilight.
“Twilight, I know Fluttershy. If we send her out there, she might die!”
“ Hmmm, interesting, when you take away the tough exterior, you have a caring pony who wants to be a protector,” Discord chuckled from his hiding spot, “Such a softy.”
“I am not!” Rainbow Dash yelled, slamming her hoof to the ground in denial.
“Oh no,” Discord asked, letting out a chuckle. “Forgetting about me then?”
As if to answer, Rainbow Dash turned her head forward to look at the image that had appeared. The image of events that happened not but a short year and a half ago, “Fluttershy, you can’t trust him! He’s Discord, who knows what tricks he has up his little sleeve.”
“Let’s play that clip again. This time without the walls, shall we?” Discord said, a smile on his grey lips.
“Fluttershy, I want you to be careful around him. I worry about you.”
“Hmmm, interesting. Apparently you can be a softy when we take away the tough daredevil exterior. And apparently, the best one to pull that out is the soft and spoken type, like Fluttershy and...Sunny?” Discord said, smirking.
“SUNNY?! She...she was just a really close friend, Scoots’ mom. She was nothing,” Dash said as she walked on, pushing away the shadows.
“Oh sure, that was how it started out, but then you began to feel for her. You started to care for her in an unexpected way. I would almost say,” Discord said, putting his lion paw to his chin, “fallen for her. But then, she died before you could admit anything to her or to ask her about how she felt. All because of that little wall of fear and pride that you put around yourself that made you afraid to admit your little emotions. Much like how afraid to admit to anypony else that you fear failure, abandonment, or being abandoned, you’re afraid to let anypony know how you feel when it comes to love. Now, you are on a quest to save Fluttershy from Sunny’s fate of never knowing how you feel.”
Dash let out a growl out anger and swiped at the air next to her, “Shut up!” Her eyes then looked down as she swiped at nothing and continued on, “ Fluttershy knows how much I care,” she whispered to the nothing next to her as she continued on.
______________________________
Fluttershy gently rolled off of the bed as she finished looking at the photo of her dear friend. Taking a good look around her room, Fluttershy took note of the many pictures, nicknacks, and toys that littered the room. Every little item that she looked act and every picture she would pick up brought her another memory of her and her friends. However, the ones that seemed to be most predominant in the room were the photos of her and Rainbow Dash.
As she continued her survey of the room, she found a small plush doll of a Wonderbolt. Reaching over to it, Fluttershy grabbed it and pulled it close to her. Running a hoof along the soft fur of the mane, a memory came to her of a time long ago when the two were just teenagers.
“Did you see Spitfire out there, Flutters?” Dash asked as she and Fluttershy sat on top of a cloud together, her legs waving in excitement.
“Yeah...exciting,” Fluttershy said, looking down at her hooves.
Dash drooped her hooves to her side and turned to Fluttershy, “Didn't you like it Fluttershy?”
“Oh, no, I um...found it to be spectacular,” Fluttershy lied, not wanting to ruin Dash’s day with the idea that she made her do something that she didn’t enjoy.
“ Really?!” Dash asked in a cheerful manner as she laid on her stomach on the cloud, “That’s great! You know, this is the first time I have ever taken anypony else to a Wonderbolts show. I usually just come here with mom or pops or gramps.” Dash said, looking up at her friend, “I’m really glad that you came here with me.”
Fluttershy ran her hoof along the soft cloud, turning away shyly, “Oh, you were? Thats, nice.” She said, despite not really feeling the same excitement as her friend.
“Aint it though?!” Dash said,rolling around on the cloud before shooting her head up, “Hey, how about I take you again sometime?”
Fluttershy’s eyes shot up in shock, “Uh, ok. Why not.”
“Great!” Dash said, hugging her friend, “Hey, if you ever feel really bored by coming here, you can always tell me. I won’t think any less of you or think of you any worse of a friend.”
“No, I enjoy it.. Really,” Fluttershy then reached behind her and brought out a small Spitfire plush, “by the way, I bought this for you.”
“Thanks!” Rainbow said, eyes open wide in appreciation as she hugged her friend tightly.
Fluttershy smiled as she put the doll away, sighing contently. It was the first time she went to a show, and for her the important thing wasn’t the show...it was spending time with Rainbow. She smiled as she looked back at the plush doll, remembering how she couldn’t really say those words, the ones that she wanted to say about why she went there, “I wanted to spend time with you.”
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As Rainbow Dash began to trot along the soft ground of the forest floor, her mind begn to drift to the talk that she had with Discor and the not Applejack, “Stupid Discord, stupid Applejack. What do they know,” Rainbow thought to herself as she kicked the ground, her mind not noticing how the ground became wetter the farther along the path she walked. “Not showing how I feel? I’m plenty emotional! I tell them how I feel when I am ticked off, if I think I’m happy with them and especially...how I ...feel,” this last thought made Dash pause in her walking and look down for a moment, “Sometimes,” she said in a whisper.
Looking down at the ground, she began to remember the day she saved a little filly from falling down a waterfall, “I wanted to be brave so you would take me under your wing and you could be my big sister.”
“ I mean I thought that Scoot did know I had already consider her like my little sister for a while,” Rainbow said with a shrug, “ I mean, I had never thought that way about any of my fans. Why did she think I came to her performance that night. Because...I never said it when I needed to,” a sigh escaped her lips as she continued to walk forward, “And Fluttershy knows how I feel right? I take her places I don’t with Twi, I pal around with her all of the time, she should know how close I am to her! I told her I would protect her, how much more does she need to know?”
As the words came from her lips, Dash stopped herself for a moment, “Swell job you did there didn’t you, protecting those you care about. You couldn’t save Sunny and you couldn’t save Scoot from becoming an orphan. You promised her!” Dash yelled, slamming her hooves into the soft ground, not realizing that she was sinking in deeper and deeper into the ground, “AND YOU FAILED!” Rainbow Dash then let out a scream of frustration and rage as she began to pound the ground harder, making her sink faster, “Why wasn’t I there? Why couldn’t I save her? Why couldn’t I protect her?! WHY WASN’T I JUST A LITTLE BIT FASTER!? Fastest Pony in all of Equestria, ha! What a laugh!” She continued, her body sinking deeper into the mud up to her neck, “ What’s the point of being fast if I couldn’t keep my little sister happy. Couldn't...do...a” Dash’s mouth was soon too covered by mud for her to continue.
As Rainbow’s body continued to sink further into the bog, her left wing brushed against the brown box and opened it. Once opened, a feather touched the little pink pony statuette and made it glow with a brilliant pink light. As the light flew out of the box, it rose from the muggy bog and hovered for a few moments at the sign post as a bright trio of yellow and blue balloons. Landing, it soon turned into the form of a bright and bouncy pink pony, “WHOOO! What a ride,” the pony exclaimed before taking a quick look around, “ Hey, what am I doing here? And where’s here? OOOOH, is this a teleporting game?” Pinkie then looked at a sign post that read:
Bog of Eternal Despair:
Watch out for snakes.
At this sign, Pinkie Pie could only arch an eyebrow in confusion, “Despair, who could be dispairing enough for the bog to do anything?” Turning her head quickly left and right, she quickly caught the traces of a pair of cyan wings sinking into the mud, “DASHIE?! What is she being all saddy waddy about? She doesn’t have time to be sad, she has somepony special to take care of!” With that, the pink party pony dug her hooves deep into the mud and began to pull up the sinking pegasus.
“Don’t bother, I’m useless. I couldn’t save her,” Dash said as he head appeared above the mud.
“That’s what you’re sad about Dashie? Don’t be silly,” Pinkie said as she grunted, pulling harder, “It’s just the bog talking, its taking you down by making you think all sad thoughts about your failures. But YOU, are forgetting something very important.”
“What?” Dash asked, her voice in a low tone.
“Nopony’s perfect Dash, not you, and not me,” Pinkie said in between grunts, pulling more and more to keep her friend from sinking, “You couldn’t save her, I know. Its been hurting you for a while now, and you feel responsible because you weren’t fast enough. You haven't even told Scootaloo about your feelings.”
“I seem to have a problem with that, lately,” Dash said as her hooves still clung to the mud.
“BUT! Are you going to let that stop you from keeping your other promise to her?” Pinkie asked, her voice softening as did her grunts.
Dash’s eyes opened wide as the memory quickly struck her, “P...please, Rainbow, watch over her, protect her.”
“No, no Sunny...I can’t. That’s your job,” Dash whimpered as she watched the mare slowly pass from her sight.
“Please, you have already been like a mother to her, and I can never thank you enough for that,” Sunny said, holding Dash’s hoof as she began to feel the life fade from her. Using what strength she had left, she leaned up to Dash’s lips and gave a soft kiss on them, “Promise?”
“Promise. I’ll always protect her,” Dash said, before the image changed in her mind to a image of a smiling Fluttershy.
As the rainbow maned pegasus shook her head out of the memory, she could hear Pinkie Pie behind her, “ If you let that one mistake continue to hurt you, you’ll fail all three of them Dash! What you need to do, is to take that mistake, learn from it, and use it to protect everypony that’s close to you even better: Me, Twi-Twi, Rarity, AJ, Scoots, and Fluttershy!”
Dash’s eyes shot up in realization as she then smirked in confidence, “You’re right! What the buck am I doing letting myself get sad over this. THEY NEED ME!” With a grunt of effort on her part, Dash pull up hard on her hooves to break out of the mud and sending the pink pony flying back. As she flew out of the mud, Dash performed a loop in the air and landed back on the ground before shaking the mud off of her body.
“THAT WAS FANTASTIC DASHIE,” Pinkie Pie said, giving Dash a hug before running her hoof through the prismatic mane, “feel a little better?”
“Yeah a little,” Dash said with a sigh, “I had been feeling down ever since Sunny’s death. I keep thinking to myself, ‘If I was just a little faster, if I was nearer, if I was with them on that trip,’ I could have saved her. Everytime I look into that little filly’s eyes, I feel like I failed her in not protecting Sunny.”
“But you didn’t fail her, Dashie,” Pinkie said, putting a hoof to Dash’s chin and smiling at her, her blue eyes showing a desire to alleviate her friend’s worries, “ You took her in, you gave her a new home, a family, and more than she could ever want in you. You brought light back into her world when she needed you the most.”
“I just did to her what I’ve always felt in my heart for the past few years since she has been palling around with me,” Dash said with a chuckle.
“And that would be?” Pinkie asked, a small smile on her lips.
“That she is, and always will be...my little sister and I guess daughter now too,” Dash then broke away from the hug and put a hoof to the back of her head, “Imagine me, a mother. I guess I should let the little tyke know that more often.”
“What about Fluttershy,” Fluttershy said, with almost an uncharismatic smirk and a glint of red in her eyes, “How do you feel about her?”
“Fluttershy,” Dash said, a sigh escaping her lips as the Pinkie Pie dissipated, “Is my dearest friend, somepony who I do things with that none of the others get to do with me. The only pony who sees that side of me that everypony doesn't get to see. Somepony,” Dash then put a hoof to her heart and smile, “who is very dear and special to me.”
With that, the rainbow maned pegasus flew off as a pair of red eyes continued to watch from the trees.
__________________________
Fluttershy put the plushie down on the bed, letting it join the picture that she had been inspecting and began to look over the room. As she walked to one side of the room, she saw the pictures of her and Rainbow Dash where they were now older and living in Ponyville. She chuckled as she looked at the photo of her and Dash after the mark swapp, where her friend hugged her close and told her that she would never take animal care for granted again. She saw another photo of them standing together before heading off to the empire, photos of them before and after the wedding, meeting Twilight, picture of her talking to Dash in quiet moments and loud moments as well. She smiled softly at one photo, of them at a second jousting competition at the empire, a photo of her looking frightened out of her wits while Dash put a hoof over her shoulder, a confident smile on the cyan mare’s lips, “ I was more worried about the audience than of you that day Dashie.” Fluttershy said with a smile as she remembered when that photo was taken.
“Ya know, Dash Ah’m not busy watching the stone this time,” AJ said, looking at the two of them, “Ah could help ya with the joust.”
“Nah! I rather do this with Fluttershy. If I do it with you, I’m afraid I’ll show you up,” Dash said with a smirk.
“WHAT?!” AJ yelled.
“Fluttershy, are you sure?” Rarity asked, looking at her dear friend, “You don’t really have to.”
“I know,” Fluttershy said, looking back at Dash, “but she is so enthusiastic and I want to.”
“Because...”Fluttershy said, looking at all of the photos where she was scared, frightened, and worried, standing next to Dash or under her wing, “I know she wouldn’t really hurt me. No matter how scary it would get, Dash will always be there to protect me and watch me. She did promise me after all, and I will always trust her.” with a soft smile and a closed set of eyes, she put a hoof to her heart, “Always.”
____________________________
The winds billowed around Rainbow Dash’s wings furiously as she flew towards the castle in the distance. The young pegasus mare couldn’t help but smile as she neared the castle and her dear friend, “ Fluttershy, you are one of the most important ponie...no, then it sounds like I don’t care about our other friends. Flutters, Scoots, you guys are like my family...no! Do you two know just how...! AHHHH,” Dash screamed as she hit an invisable wall in front of her, “OW! What is with the mother buckin walls around here,” she asked as she rubbed her nose to soothe the pain. Putting her hoof forward, she lightly touched the invisable wall in front of her and pushed in a little to watch it move. Eyebrow raised in curiousity, the cyan mare lowered herself to the ground where she saw on the wall, a small pattern consiting of orange, blue, pink, white, purple, and yellow gems.
“Oh great,” she said out loud, thinking back to a similar pattern that she had read from one of her favorite Daring Doo novels, “That thing was hard for me to solve just in the book. How can I solve a patt...wait, of course. I know just the mare for the job.” Turning to the bag on her back, Dash quickly pulled out the small brown box and opened it once more. Looking to the purple alicorn for a moment, she began to reach for it before shaking her head and reached for the white unicorn on the side instead. Pulling it out quickly, Dash smiled as the statuette floated out from the box and landed next to her as it glowed into a bright blue diamond. Within moments, the bright blue diamond turned into a sparkling white unicorn.
“My word, what is going on here and how did I wind up here?” Rarity asked as she began to look around her surroundings before looking at Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow, do you know what is going on here?”
“Long story, I’ll tell you all about it when I’m done,” Dash explained as she looked up at the pattern on the invisable wall, “Right now I need help with that puzzle up there,” she then pointed to the pattern puzzle right behind her friend.
“Oh, that?” Rarity asked as she examined the puzzle before her, “And I thought you wanted me to do something hard. Oh these type of puzzles are always fun.” With a soft giggle the white marshmallow turned to the wall and began to work furiously. As she began to arrange the correct pieces into their proper places, the white mare began to look closely at the colors and the way that the orange fit with the white and the yellow with the blue, “It is interesting, isn’t it Rainbow?”
“What is?” Dash asked as she let her mind wander by looking at the blue sky.
“How easily we each fit together, our individual strengths building us up like a piece of a fabric helping to accent the other. Like,” Rarity said, putting the orange and white pieces together, causing the lock to open, “Applejack’s roughness and my finer lady qualities, Pinkie’s...Pinkieness and Twilight’s intelligence. Then,” she said, smiling as she held the final two pieces together, the yellow and blue, “we have the two of you. Fluttershy’s softness perfectly accentuates your courage and roughness. Wouldn’t you agree? After all, next to Pinkie Pie, you spend the most time with her out of any of us. It’s usually her that you bring to the events that, by all rights, you should bring me, Applejack, Twilight, or Pinkie instead.”
“Its no big, really,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug, “It's just that I’ve known her the longest. I know how she feels and what she can do if she gets the chance, she just needs to go out more, and she...knows me the best. Yeah, I can get invited to some of the most boring things in the world thanks to her, but...I don’t mind it much when its just us.”
“So what does that make her to you?” ‘Rarity’ asked, her eyes having a faint glow of red.
“That makes her,” Rainbow stuttered for a moment as she began to find the right words to describe Fluttershy as she watched Rarity disappear into mist, “My...special friend. A pony I do things with that I never would do with any of them. Somepony that I spend all of my special moments with,” Dash said, smiling to herself and placing a hoof to her heart before chuckling and flying off, “One of two ponies who can bring out the best in me sometimes.”
____________
Fluttershy let out a soft sigh as she pulled her eyes away from the photo and began to look around the room some more at the other photos. Each one bringing her a happy memory of her and Dash, a memory of everytime that the cyan mare had stood up for her, proected her, or would stand for her. A giggle came to her as she saw a picture of Dash putting a wing over her friend’s body to protect her from the pouring rain, “You were always there for me Dash.”
“Ok Flutters, just a little further and you can open your eyes,” Rainbow Dash said as she led the buttery pegasus down the road.
“Are you sure I’m going to like the surprise,” Fluttershy asked.
“Trust me, you’re going to love it,” Dash said as she let go of Fluttershy’s hoof and flew next to a wall eyed and slightly pregnant grey pegasus, “Ok Derpy, she’s here.”
“All RIGHT! Ok Fluttershy, on three: 1,2,3! Open them,” Derpy said as she flew up next to Rainbow Dash, “Ta-DA!”
As Fluttershy opened her eyes, she let out a gasp of excitement at the giant tree cottage before her, “Oh my...is this mine?”
“Yep, all for you. Me and Derpy had to work hard to get it for ya,” Dash said as her friend next to her nodded.
“But you didn’t,” Fluttershy stammered as she was interrupted by Dash.
“We didn’t, but wanted to do it,” Dash said with a smile as she and Derpy landed next to Fluttershy and hugged her. A smile graced her lips as she returned the hug.
Fluttershy smiled at the memory, one of several that had littered the room to remind her how close she had become to her friend, her guardian, her hero. She let out a small sigh of contentment before looking up at the top row of pictures, arching her eyebrow curiously at them. Flapping her wings a few time to elevate herself, she looked at the photos. Looking at all of them, she could remember all of those special times as well.
“I’m tewwing you Fwuttershy, I’m fine,” the little filly complained.
“No you’re not, you have an owie and I need to fix it,” said the little yellow filly with the lightly higher pitched voice as she put a small bandage onto the blue filly’s leg. She then placed a small kiss on it, “Thewe all bettew.”
“Thanks,” the little blue filly said, trying to look tough.
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you
“Rainbow Dash, you came here too?” Fluttershy asked as she saw her friend standing in the apartment.
“Yeah, got bored with the whole ‘wanderin pegasus and her faithful griffin companion’ deal and wanted to find a place to stay here,” Dash then looked at Fluttershy, “know of any?”
“Well, there is a small apartment we could rent together,” Fluttershy said, “I’ll handle the rent while you find someplace else to stay.”
“What?! No way, I’m not putting all of the weight on you Flutters,” Dash said as Fluttershy put a hoof onto her shoulder.
“I insist, please,” Fluttershy said, smiling softly and looking deeply into her friend's eyes, placing a tender hoof ontot the shoulder.
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you
All alone, far away from the crowds and cheering, a blue pegasus was being held by her yellow friend, “I can’t do it, Fluttershy. I’ll fail again and the Wonderbolts will never accept a loser pegasus like me. I’m just not good enough.”
“Oh Rainbow, of course you’re good enough,” Fluttershy said, running her hoof through the prismatic mane, holding her friend close.
“Oh yeah?! Need I remind you that I can’t complete the Rainboom again, even after so many tries, that I dropped out of the academy, and that I’m just a lowly weather patrol captain compared to the Wonderbolts awesomeness? Heck, my dad was doing tricks like mine when he was 10, how can I compare to that?” Rainbow Dash asked, tears coming to her eyes.
“You don’t, you do what you always do,” Fluttershy said, tucking her friend’s chin and smiling softly, “Be unique, do your best, and put on a stupendous show. Even if you do fail, we’ll know that you are the best, and...you’ll always be special to me Dashie.” Fluttershy said, hugging her friend once more, “Now, I’ll be with the others, you go and give a spectacular show.
O can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you
“Three cheers for Fluttershy, my best best buddy and best flier,” Dash said, a little tipsy in the air as a droplet of cider fell from her glass and onto Fluttershy’s snoot.
“Rainbow, I think you’re drunk,” Fluttershy giggled as she laid on her stomach on the cloud, “The after tornado party ended an hour ago.”
“So? We just had an awesome day and a great tornado, why can’t the party last for a little while later,” Dash asked as she did a backflip and landed onto the cloud next to Fluttershy. Taking a look at her friend’s nose, she noticed the cider droplet, “Wait, you have something good on your snoot,” Dash said as she licked the cider off of the nose.
Fluttershy pulled back from the lick with a giggle. She then looked at her friend inquisitively, “Rainbow Dash? Why were you so determined to get me there? You had more than enough to win a record.”
Dash smiled and then pointed to her friends’ wings, “Because of those.”
“My wings?” Fluttershy asked.
“You have been afraid of heights for the longest time and you always talked about being bullied as a filly. I figured if you were in something where everypony could pull their own weight and added to something, you could see you as I see you. A pretty good flyer, not as good as me, but a pretty great flyer that deserves those wings.”
“You really think that I’m great?” Fluttershy asked, laying her head onto Dash’s shoulder and trying hard not to smile at the compliment.
“Yeah, of course. You’re my best friend, my good luck charm.” Dash said, running her cyan hoof through her friend’s strawberry pink mane, “ I always want to bring out that awesome side of you, even if you don’t know it.”
Fluttershy let out a soft sigh as she cuddled up closer to her friend, wrapping her hooves around Dash's stomach and resting her head onto the shoulder, "Thank you," she whispered.
Since you've gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you
Fluttershy laid Rainbow Dash onto her couch, looking over her friend's hurt body, “Now you rest here Dashie. We can continue tomorrow.”
“Ok, but I want to hurry. I don’t want to waste a second that might put that kid into an orphanage and away from me,” Dash said, wincing at the pain in her side.
“Shhhh, yes, but you’re no good to her hurt. Don’t worry, we’ll help Scootaloo soon enough,” Fluttershy said as she kissed the mare’s forehead and tucked her friend in. As she walked away, she looked back at her friend, “You’re always supporting me, Dashie. Now I’m going to support you.”
Fluttershy smiled at the last memory before fluttering back down onto the bed and laying there, looking up at the ceiling. She knew that, for all of the times that Dash was was her sheath, her guardian, her hero, and for all of the times that she helped to bring out Dash’s strengths, Rainbow brought out something in her, “You always bring the best in me, Dashie.” Fluttershy said as she put a hoof to her heart, “No matter how scared I got, no matter the bad thing you introduced me to, or even if was something I didn’t like...I loved it, because it gave me something I never thought I had or could do. All because, you made me feel like I can be better than I am, more than I ever believed I could be. Thank you.”
_________________________________
Rainbow Dash’s flight went on for the rest of the trip with little incident, it felt like the winds themselves were helping to boost her speed. As she neared the targeted castle, a smirk of confidence came to her face and she gave a few flaps of her wings for an additional boost. However, before she could make her way to the castle, a pillar of flame sprang up in front of her and made her back off from the intense heat. Looking around her, Rainbow Dash quickly found a place to and wait as the pillar died down. Glaring, he eyes locked in a scowl of determination, the blue pegasus watched as the flames gave way to a green unicorn wearing a long black dress, “Hold, little Dashie,” Said the mare, levitating the black scepter to her side, “what brings you to my castle?”
“I’m here to save my friend and whoever the buck you are, you better not get in my way,” Dash said, a mix of anger and annoyance in her voice.
“ Ahhh, so the brave hero has come to save the fair and lovely maiden with her brave heart. The inner courage of the pegasus shining brightly on her majestic wings. How...heroic,” The mare said, mockingly,” But, I have to wonder, just what does this mean for your feelings of your friends?”
“What do you mean?” Dash asked, looking at the mare, taking note of the two gnarled horns on her headdress.
“Love changes thing, young Rainbow. The moment you start to admit that you are falling in love for that buttery mare up there,” the mare said, nodding her head to the castle, “is the moment you risk putting her above the others. In time, you might even abandon them or forget about them to focus on your ‘beloved’.” The last word she added with a bit of bile in her voice.
“THAT’LL NEVER HAPPEN,” Dash denied, slamming her hoof onto the ground.
“Oh, are you saying that you don’t care that much for the lovely pegasus. That you are ignoring the lesson that you have been learning here today. To be open about your feelings, to let those you care about know that you care, and to remember what the ones you love do for you? Are these lessons so unimportant that you will drop them when this journey is done?”
“NO! I’m not saying that, and I’m not going to abandon my friends either. Look, I,” Rainbow Dash hesitated on this word, “I don’t know how to describe how I feel about Fluttershy just yet. The past few days and this adventure helped to remind me just what she has meant to me through my childhood and what she has done for me, what she brings out in me, but I can’t if that’s love yet. I don’t even know if thats what I would use it, maybe its just that I see her as a po y who is close to me like a sister or something like that. I don’t know, I’m no good at mushy stuff like that, but I do know this-even if turns out that I do love her, and that I am ready to spend my life with that mare...I will NEVER,” to accentuate the point Dash slammed her hoof to the ground, “abandon any of my friends. Fluttershy will be the mare that I do special things with that I wouldn’t do with the others. Now get out of my way!”
“Oh no little pony,” said the mare as she held up her staff, “FIRST YOU MUST FACE ME AND ALL OF THE POWERS OF HELL!” once again a pillar of flame surrounded the mare, making her grow larger.
“Oh no,” Dash said, shaking her head as she backed away slowly while the mare’s legs began to grow and change, claws appearing at the end, “Nonononononononononononononono.” Turning around she quickly took to the air as the mare’s snout grew larger to accomidate her large and scaly body. Dash’s eyes widened in horror as the once-mare now grew black wings and a long spiked tail, “Oh real funny Discord...a DRAGON! REAL FRAKKIN FUNNY!! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!” Dash said as she dodged the fiery blast from the dragon.
Moving swiftly through the air, Rainbow Dash dodged fire blast after fire blast while bearly getting her singed in the process. Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she let out a gasp of fear as the dragon took a swipe at her with it’s massive claws. Taking a giant swerve to get beneath the dragon, Dash turned around in the air and began to kick rapidlly kick at the dragon’s stomach with strong kicks. Letting out a growl of pain and annoyance, the dragon looked down at the bluee creature kicking her. Dash turned to look at the beast with a cunning and confident smirk before flying at top speed at the monster’s face and slamming both hooves into the dragon’s chin.
Flying up and away from the monster, Rainbow Dash kept an eye on the beast below. Panting with exhaustion, the cyan mare pulled out the brown box and grabbed the purple alicorn that rested in the box. As the statue glowed and floated out, the dragon let loose a giant green and black fire blast right at Rainbow Dash and the floating purple object.
At that point, Rainbow Dash was grateful for a few things.
1: That one of her friends has a talent for magic.
2: that the hoof is truly faster than the eye
3: That her friend has acquired those wings, because having to save her after protecting Dash with a in-the-nick-of-time shield spell would be embarrassing for the two of them.
“Y’know Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, the shield spell taking in all of the fire damage, “Black Dragons shouldn’t be able to fire flame magic like this. They normally use acid as breath weapons, fire would be normally reserved for red dragons or gold ones.”
“Yeah, that’s nice and all,” Dash said, before being interrupted by Twilight.
“Logically speaking, my shield spell should be melting, albeit slowly, due to the high acidic quotient of the dragon’s breath weapon,” Twilight continued, not noticing Dash’s agitation, as she tapped the shield with her fore-hoof “but look, the shield isn’t melted at all.”
“Yeah, well Twi we kind of got-” Dash said, before being interupted again by Twilight.
“ Then again, purples are psionic but Spike has no psychic powers at all. Then again, I think he has some red dragon blood in him,” Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chin thinking, “ I wish I knew-”
“ THATS GREAT AND ALL TWI,” Dash interrupted with a large outburst, her hooves in the air, “BUT HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?! DRAGON PROBLEM? AS IN...DRAGON?!”
“Oh,” Twilight chuckled as she looked back at the dragon and teleported her and Dash out of the way in a flash of light, “sorry about that. Celestia introduced me to this wonderful gold dragon that had this book on dragon types and I was really getting into the research,” the purple alicorn.
“D...dragon types,” Dash asked.
“Yes, oh I have to tell you guys all about them later,” Twilight said, before looking back at the dragon above them who had now turned it’s attention to the two ponies, “How to handle out current dragon though, that is the question.”
Before Dash could answer, however, the black dragon unleashed a torrent of flame at the two ponies as they leapt out of the way in time. As Dash flew upward, she watched her friend fly up close to the dragon and then get slashed by the monster’s claws, “Twilight!” Dash yelled, but then watched as another Twilight flew up to her, “Twilight?”
“Hmm-mm,” Twilight said, with a few flaps of her wings to keep her steady while three other Twilight’s began to distract the dragon behind her, “Mirror Image spell, kind of tricky but it was a blast to try at least once,” she let out a chuckle as she turned her head to watch her ‘selves’ keep the dragon busy, before swaying a bit in a woozy spell“Ohh, that’s why I don’t do it more often. Taxing on my mana.”
“Are you alright?” Dash asked, looking at her friend with concern.
“Yeah, just fine,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Rainbow Dash, I need to know, do you think you could kick a lightning bolt or two?”
Rainbow Dash’s lips curled into a cunning smirk as she remembered the time she did kick a lightning bolt (1), “Watch me.”
“Good,” Twilight said, smiling at the confidence of her friend, “I need you to fly just above her head and be ready to kick when I tell you to.” As Twilight said this, Rainbow Dash nodded and flew up into the air, high above the dragon’s head. Turning around, the purple alicorn flew at high speed under the dragon and collect all of her mirror selves (said mirror selves each had a mane style and build similar to her 6 other friends). Making her way to the end of the dragon, Twilight made her horn crackle and snap with a surge of electricity. Concentrating on the dancing bolts on her horn, she held the cage of white and blue electricity in place until she had an aim at Dash. Thrusting her horn forward, she unleashed five bolts of forked lightning from her nub at Dash.
From above her position, the swift daredevil watched as the lighting came close to her at a fast pace. With a smirk of confidence, Rainbow Dash spun in place with her hind hoof extended and kicked all five lighting bolts away from her and straight at the black dragon. The dragon would’ve dodged it, were it not for her horns acting like a very good lighting rod and attracting all five bolts. The dragon let out a giant roar of pain as the lighting coursed throughout her body, making her miss the torrent of wind and stone that was forming on the young alicorn’s horn. With a flash of magic, the whirling cyclone of wind and stone flew from Twilight’s horn and struck hard against the dragon’s stomach, making it fly away from the two ponies and into a nearby mountain.
“Is she...” Dash asked, not wanting to kill.
“No, badly injured, going to be nursing wounds I don’t even want to imagine, but otherwise she’ll live,” Twilight said, smiling.
“Good, thanks Twilight,” Dash said, hugging her dear friend.
“Now, go and save her,” Twilight said, her voice deepening a little as she walked away, “and don’t forget...”
“No matter how your relationship changes,” Applejack said, walking out from behind Twilight.
“Or what you decide to do with her,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing out from behind Twilight.
“We will be behind you 100%” Rarity said, walking out from behind Twilight and standing next to the others.
“I knew that, somehow I always knew that,” Dash said, taking off while the four girls quickly disappear, their red eyes glowing, “But thanks for the reminder.”
Taking a quick pace, Rainbow Dash flew higher and higher to the top of the castle tower where she landed on the window sill, “Fluttershy, I’m here to save...” Dash was too stunned by the way the yellow pegasus had looked to continue.
“Oh Rainbow, you came to save me,” Fluttershy said, her pink mane falling on one side of her face. She was dressed in a brilliant gown, with plenty of earthy colors to accentuate the curves of her flank, “I’m so glad.”
It Dash a few minutes to stop staring at the pegasus in front of her and admiring how the dress fit her friend, “Uh, Flutters, no offense but you don’t look that much in trouble.”
“Well, I wasn’t, not really,” Fluttershy said softly, “Discord told me everything.”
___________________
A few short hours ago::
“Now Fluttershy we’re going to be playing a little game with Dashie,” Discord said with a smile as he walked around Fluttershy’s room, “You get to play a captive and she gets to save you.”
“Well that sounds fun,” Fluttershy said, smiling, “What’ll happen if she doesn’t make it?”
“If she doesn’t save you in time, then you will,” the draconiquiss then smiled as he snapped his fingers, causing an armada of feathers to appear and surround the young mare, all pointed at her belly, “get the giggles tickled out of you.”
_____________________________
As this bit of information went into Rainbow’s mind and registered into her cerebellum, she could only open her mouth in disbelief, “You mean, I flew all over the Celestia freaking country side, fought a giant dragon, and went through a whole lot of mush brain stuff just to save you from being TICKLED?! Here I was thinking that you were in danger of being torn apart by rabid squirrels or eaten alive by a giant snake and you were getting violated by it, and enjoying it. OR that you were going to get sucked into a giant quicksand trap. And! Here I was, planning getting you out of here, lifting you up into my legs and saving you!” Dash yelled, not realizing how what she said would sound to another pony as she turned away from Fluttershy, crossing her forehooves..
“Well, if it makes you feel better,” Fluttershy said, rubbing a hoof along Dash’s shoulder and walking around to look into her magenta eyes, “You can still pick me up in your legs and fly me somewhere safe...my brave hero.”
Dash then got a good look into Fluttershy’s blue eyes and smiled softly as she stared, letting out a sigh before shaking her head,” Come on then,” she said as she picked up the pegasus with her forelegs and began to carry her, “LEt me fly you somewhere safe.” She then used her wings to lift off from the floor and flew out the window as the world around them, returned to normal.
Somewhere nearby, a small orange pegasus filly watched the scene from a distance with a pair of brown and grey binoculars, “EXCELLENT!” Scootaloo shouted as she leapt off from the branch of the tree and back to the ground, “This is so perfect, it worked perfectly! Thank you, Discord.”
“Oh, you are quite welcome,” Said the talking pair of binoculars as it transformed into the long serpentine form of the familar Draconquis, “I always relish the times I get to use my powers for some fun mischief with my favorite ponies. Especially if it can help with their little minds.”
“Now that she saved her, Rainbow will see how much Fluttershy means to her and Fluttershy will be so grateful that she’ll fall in love with her in a second,” Scootaloo said, throwing her hooves up in victory.
“Woah, wait a second my dear little filly,” Discord said, floating above the filly’s head, “ I never said that this little game would help your mom and her friend fall head over heels in love with each other.”
Scootaloo looked up at Discord, saddened, “It...it won't?”
“No, it won’t,” Discord said, landing next to Scootaloo and watching the two pegasi fly off into the distance, “Don’t tell me that you actually thought that just because she saved her dear friend from something that it would make them fall for each other. Love doesn’t work like that, it never does,” he added, a little sigh in his voice, “Of all the emotions out there, its the only one that’s almost as chaotic as I am. I’m a spirit of chaos Scootaloo, not love, that’s the pink alicorn back in the empire’s job. Even I can’t force any pony to fall in love, all I can do is to open the door for them. If they want to act upon their feelings, then that’s their choice, not mine. Ta-ta.”
“WELL, THANKS FOR NOTHING!!” Scootaloo yelled to Discord as he disappeared in a flash of light. Letting out a soft sigh, the young pegasus brought out a small clipboard and marked and x on the list, “ Well, that’s another failed date. 3 down, 5 more to go I guess,” Scootaloo sighed, “Maybe the next one will work and make them fall for each other.” Another sorrowful sigh escaped the pegasus’s lips as she walked away, the warm wind on her back giving her a comforting hug.
________________________________________
On a grassy hill, not too far from Ponyville or Fluttershy’s cottage, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew above the clouds, letting the moonlight highlight the two as they circled a small clearing. Not too far away, an earth pony with a candy cutie mark began to sing a soft song to the mint green unicorn. She began to sing to her lyra playing mare friend a song of ponies willing to give their all for the love of their lives, a song about a pony willing to stand for their loves, and about a pony willing to die for their love if the need arose. As the music began, the two pegasi made their landing on the soft grass, Dash still holding onto Fluttershy with her legs, “I can’t believe Discord put me through that!”
Fluttershy looked worriedly at Dash, thinking that it was just a game, “You didn’t like it?” she asked, not letting go of Dash.
“Well, I kind of did. I got to admit, it was awesome being your hero,” Dash said with a soft smile, “but I was still worried about you.”
“You were?” Fluttershy asked, looking at her friend and reminding herself to tell Discord to make sure that everypony knows how the game is going to go before playing.
“Well may...” Dash said, stopping herself before remembering the lessons of the day’s events, “Fluttershy, pal, of course I was worried. You’re like, one of my most dearest friends,” Dash said, putting a hoof to the yellow mare’s cheek and rubbing it, “You’re the mare I would give my life for. I would do anything to make sure that you are safe from harm, even if it means giving these up,” Dash said, waving her wings, “Remember when we were kids and I said I would protect you always.”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, never taking her eyes off of Dash.
“I still mean it,” Dash said, smiling at her, “I’ll give my life to protect you, and when I die, I’ll watch over you, always.”
Rainbow Dash then looked into her friend’s eyes, looking at the love and caring that lied within, the mare that she would always fight for. Her mare, her friend, and what else that she was not sure of yet to call her. She cherished her other friends as if they were sisters, the close family that they would always be. Fluttershy, to her, was different, she was that pony who would always see the special side to her that she would only let her see. Her...special friend.
“Don’t forget,” Fluttershy said, putting a hoof to Dash’s chest, and looking up at her friend, “I’ll always be watching you too.” She then let out a soft smile as she stared into the eyes of her protector, her guardian, her friend. Her other friends would always be the big sisters that would help her live, but Rainbow was that special friend who would see that other side of her. That side she would be afraid to let out if Dash were not there to support her and to tell her that she could do it. For her, Rainbow was her guardian and the friend that would bring out the best in her, even if she did not know it. Her...special friend.
The two sat there in the grass for the longest time, letting the song around them reach a high point in its lyrics, letting the moon highlight the two in shadows. As the two continued to sit there, their bodies touching each other by hooves and letting the music carry them, Dash leaned in slowly to the buttery pegasus. In response, the young pink maned mare leaned up to her cyan friend and met Rainbow’s lips with hers in a deep passionate kiss. The two mares moaned as they felt the softness of the kiss, letting the emotions of the liplock carry them.
As Rainbow continued to kiss the shy mare, she slid her hooves around to the back of her companion and began to run her hooves along her friend’s back. Slowly, her hooves ran up and down the slender yellow back, feeling the edges where the wings connected to the back and up to her head and through the long pink mane. Fluttershy, with her hooves on her friend’s chest, began to rub one hoof along the breast while rubbing another along Dash’s sides, moaning softly as she deepen into the kiss.
After too short of a time for either one of them, Dash broke the kiss, “Sorry, I guess I got caught up in the moment,” she said with a chuckle.
Fluttershy, her hooves still on Dash, leaned in and rested her head onto Rainbow’s shoulder, a smile as she whispered in a tone too low for her friend to hear, “I didn’t.”
Dash, still holding her friend thought to herself as she laid her head onto her friend’s shoulder, “Me neither.”