Where Earth Meets Sky

by Cloudy Skies

Chapter 4

“Ah’m heading home,” Applejack said, turning and walking off without a backwards glance. Fluttershy swallowed and watched, her vision blurred. However dearly she wanted to follow, she simply didn’t dare. She regretted everything and nothing all at once, the last few moments replaying over and over in her head. It was hard enough to keep breathing; thinking was nigh impossible.

It seemed to Fluttershy that Applejack’s stance had changed at the end, her entire body suddenly acquiring a slouch. An immaterial something left her, and she suddenly seemed tired. The anger was all spent. As much as she hated it when her friends fought, Fluttershy wasn’t sure if this was an improvement. Was Applejack disappointed in her? Did she hate her? Was this it?

“Please don’t leave,” she whispered, slowly sinking down to the ground. She thought for a second that she would be left alone with her animal friends. In fact, she almost came to appreciate the promise of solitude right before Twilight and Rarity crashed through the bushes to deny her even that. Applejack did not even pause, passing them by with a mutter. Just like that, Applejack was gone.

“What in the wide world of Equestria is going on here?” Twilight asked, exhausted and clearly exasperated. She cast a glance back over her flank at the much-abused bushes.

“Hush,” Rarity said, immediately trotting over to Fluttershy. The usually impeccable fashionista was in quite a state, but she immediately lay down in front of Fluttershy, nosing the top of her head. “What’s wrong, dear?”

        Fluttershy tried to cry. She tried with all her might to just let it happen and lean on Rarity for comfort, but it wouldn’t come. Her throat was tight, and she felt cold in places inside of her she couldn’t even identify. It all gathered somewhere in her, but found no release. Better to pretend everything was okay, then.

        “H-hi girls. What are you doing here?” she asked. Trying to smile hurt, and she was fully aware of how pathetic she must look. Her voice quavered, too. It wasn’t that she was trying to be rude to Rarity by ignoring her; the question was just too big for her to think about. Rarity brought up a hoof to wipe her tears.

        Twilight approached, equally dishevelled and wearing a sceptical frown. She was still glancing about the area. “Before we get to that- Rarity? Do you think one of us should go after Applejack?”

“I am absolutely not going to leave the poor thing here!” Rarity snapped, making Fluttershy cringe. She did not think she could take much more anger, no matter who it was directed at.

        “Right. We, um, tracked you down,” Twilight began, her attention flitting between Fluttershy and Rarity. She looked decidedly uncomfortable, and while she couldn’t see her face, the pegasus could feel how uneasy Rarity was, too. Something about the way she was grooming her, the light of her horn flickering a bit.

        “For the record, I didn’t think I would ever have to use the spell, and I’m not happy about it,” Twilight interjected, interrupting herself. Fluttershy just shook her head slowly from side to side.

        “Please Twilight,” Fluttershy pleaded, desperate even though she wasn’t sure what she was begging for. As much as she loved her friends, she just wanted to know how to fix this.

“Right. Rainbow came by earlier. She was upset-”

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” Rarity muttered.

“She demanded to know where you and Applejack were. You weren’t at the cottage, and she’d checked the farm, but Big Macintosh wouldn’t say where you were. He told her you had headed out together, and that was Applejack’s own business.” Twilight frowned as if she were analyzing her own words even as she spoke. Fluttershy listened numbly, her tears long since dried.

“So she asked me if I didn’t have a spell or something for this,” Twilight said, hanging her head. “I guess I should have lied, but I didn’t. I said I did, and I wasn’t going to use it. Celestia taught me how to pull on our connection as bearers of the elements, but, well-”

“It’s downright rude, is what it is,” Rarity huffed, still working to get Fluttershy’s mane and coat free of flora. “It’s an invasion of privacy, and if you ask me, you never should have cast it.”

“Well, unlike some, Rainbow doesn’t really have a habit of being dramatic,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. The fashionista cleared her throat delicately.

“Anyway, I did cast it. I followed the residual elements of the, well, Elements, using ley-line deduction in a pattern-”

“So you cast the spell,” Rarity primly suggested.

“Right, cast the spell because she wouldn’t say another word until I told her where you were. She was out the door right after, saying she was ‘doing this for all of us’. I have no idea what’s going on, we just followed her,” Twilight finished, puffing out her cheeks and giving Fluttershy a cautious smile. “Your turn. Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

        “And what in Equestria were you doing here with Applejack, dear? Are you okay? What happened with Applejack, anyway?” Rarity asked. The soft glow of her horn had faded, and she looked at Fluttershy, full of concern.

        Fluttershy stared at her bedroom wall, still feeling terribly numb. She was half tempted to touch a hoof to a foreleg just to see if she had any feeling in them at all, but she didn’t want to disturb the neatly laid duvet.

Rarity and Twilight had not only followed her home, but taken her inside, too. She lied and told them she was fine time and again, but it hadn’t worked. The unicorns had made her a simple salad in her own kitchen and forced her to eat as she explained what had happened. All done, Rarity had insisted on tucking her in before leaving, and there she lay now, thinking.

        They had listened patiently as Fluttershy told them of the past week, and they were both thrilled at the news. Rarity assured her that everything would be fine in the end - and why not? Ponies got into fights every now and then, and then they made up and everything was okay again, all nice just like that. With some, like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it sometimes seemed that fighting was all they ever did, but they were great friends nevertheless.

        Except they didn’t usually have Fluttershy doing her best to break them apart. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been in a real fight or an argument, and now she wasn’t just in one, she was the problem, the cause, and the wedge between two other ponies; she was a terrible pony.

        There was already a gaping chasm somewhere inside of her because she had hurt Applejack, even though she knew she couldn’t have done anything different. That was what made it twice as terrible. Fluttershy had stared at the exact same knothole in the wall for over an hour now, slowly realizing she would have done the same if she could go back and do it again. Did Applejack know that? Was that why Applejack had left? Fluttershy would never let herself be made to choose like that, and Applejack had seen it, and now she hated her.

        And then there was Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy had known her long enough that she understood her; her friend was hurting even though she would never admit it. Fluttershy bit her lower lip. It was an unbearable thought.

Unlike Fluttershy, Dash was strong, though. Perhaps she and Applejack would make up, eventually. They usually did. The sensible thing to do would be leaving it alone. Let Applejack and Rainbow Dash talk it over, and stay away. You’ve done enough, silly Fluttershy. You just make everything worse. You’re hurting Applejack, and you’ll just figure a way to hurt Rainbow Dash too.

        But it was her fault.

        Fluttershy slipped out from under her covers and alighted on the floor as quietly as she could so as to not wake up Angel. The little bunny had dragged his basket up to her bedroom and put it next to her bed. It was impossible to resist giving him a little nuzzle before she headed downstairs. Thankfully he didn’t wake up. He’d try to stop her, though she knew she wouldn’t be cowed by harsh glares or soft little kicks this time.

        Rarely did Fluttershy wander her cottage at night. Unless she had to tend to an injured animal, she much preferred to sleep the night through for fear of waking up all the creatures that made their home in and around her house. Tonight, though, she had to brave the threat of inconveniencing her friends. On gentle hooves, she snuck down the stairs and through her living room, offering a reassuring smile in response to the curious looks she got from a pair of bats.

        Just like that, she was out. She was doing something. Enough with hiding, hoping and waiting. It just wouldn’t work. But what, then? What could she possibly do? Her rump found the hard stone path outside her door.

She needed to see Rainbow Dash, but she also needed to apologize to Applejack. Both of those were selfish impulses, though. What she needed to do was make them be friends again, but how? She sat there for a while, staring at the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres that hid in the shadows of night. For a moment she thought she could see the gleam of a light somewhere in the distant farmyard, but when she blinked, it was gone.

Fluttershy sighed and turned around. It wouldn’t do to sit there dreaming now. She cast her eyes over to the Everfree - a far gloomier sight in the silver moonlight, but more fitting for the moment. The clouds hung low over the forest, denying the gloomy woodland even the gentle illumination of the moon.

Clouds. Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she even dared smile a little as a plan formed in her mind. Applejack had told her that she thought Fluttershy was a bit like an earth pony. It had been meant as praise, and just thinking of those words filled Fluttershy with pure happiness. Her wings spread of their own accord as she relived that shared moment just one more time.

        She’d always loved the ground and all its wonderful creatures, and yesterday Applejack had shown her another side to it. Nature was not only there to be observed, but to be enjoyed first-hoof. While she still felt a little stiff from the run, it was a sweet pain that came with vivid and beautiful memories. She recalled the rhythm of their hoof-falls. She could still feel the unspoken bond that led them ever on as the sun set. The scents of the dirt and grass, and the feel of the ground against her body, it all lingered. 

Perhaps she was a little like an earth pony, then. She would treasure that moment forever no matter what happened. If she was to fix this, though, she had to be a pegasus tonight. With only a token amount of hesitation, she took off and headed for the Everfree forest, soaring high above her meadow.

It was hard to keep her wings going as she drew closer to the ominous clouds that carpeted the air above the Everfree. Her brain had a million good reasons why she should turn back and threatened to send her careening to the ground - all to no avail. For better or for worse, she was getting better at simply not listening to herself. I can’t hear you. Um, or me. Sorry. But I really have to do this.

        Fluttershy would gather up the clouds in the dark of the night and fly them over to Sweet Apple Acres to save Applejack’s crops - only to tell her that Rainbow Dash had done it. Twilight Sparkle had told her that the best plans were those that achieved maximum effect with the least amount of steps. This plan really only had one big step. It had to work.

        Despite herself, Fluttershy stopped mid-air, hovering above the clouds. An expanse of dark grey covered the night-darkened green below. There was really a lot of cloud-stuff - and was it just her, or were they getting darker even as she watched? She hadn’t done anything like this in a very long time, and it was hard to figure out where to begin.

        “Um, so, first, I don’t need all these clouds,” she muttered to herself, letting her eyes roam over the cloudscape below. “I just need a teensy-weensy bit-”

        There was a flash of color in the corner of her eye. Fluttershy squeaked and lost a bit of height before she remembered to keep flying. The very second she had recovered, the expanse of ever-darkening grey rumbled ominously. Her heart was struggling to leap out of her chest and images of her bed crept to the fore of her mind. More specifically, she thought of that special safe spot under her bed.

        Another flash of color. A streak filled with all-too-familiar colors shot up through the clouds and back down again like a breaching whale given the grace of a hummingbird.

        “Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy called, confused. She repeated herself, louder, but was drowned out by a sudden peal of thunder that made her cringe. No reply came except for a steadily growing rumble from below. Fluttershy hurried over to hover above where she last saw the rainbow contrail dive. When nothing happened, she couldn’t help but fidget.

Okay, okay, you’re not going home, Fluttershy. Think of nice things. Birds. Bees. Honey badgers on good days. Tortoises. Tomatoes- ohgoodness what was that noise?

“Fluttershy?”

The yellow pegasus mare nearly fell out of the sky in surprise for the third time today, but this time she was caught in a pair of strong hooves that gripped her tight. Rainbow Dash held them both aloft and stared at Fluttershy with eyes wide. Even though they were snout to snout, it was hard to hear her over the cacophonous roar below.

“What the hay are you doing here?” Dash asked, suddenly letting go of her. Fluttershy wobbled a little before she found her rhythm again.

        “I- I was going to bring some clouds over to the farm,” Fluttershy stammered. She glanced down at the roiling darkness.

        She was right, of course. Fluttershy knew it was a bad idea. It was, in fact, a terrible idea. She had been listening when Twilight and Rainbow Dash discussed this - it was just among the many, many thoughts she decided not to listen to.

        “Then, um, what are you doing out here, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked. She knew the answer, of course. She knew the answer just as well as she knew that she wouldn’t get the truth.

        “Go home,” Rainbow Dash said, frowning.

        “I want to help,” Fluttershy said, surprised at how angry she sounded. Her eyes stung and she sounded angry and mean, but she wasn’t at all angry with Rainbow Dash. “I want to help, because I ruined everything!”

        Rainbow Dash gaped. “You? Oh come on, you know you’re not the hay-brain who-”

        Dash paused. Fluttershy watched and waited, blinking profusely. She was crying again, but she was long since past caring. All she did was hover in place and wait because she had no real plan. She just knew was that she would not be denied this. She would make this right.

        “Fine,” Rainbow Dash said, at length, holding up a hoof in a placating gesture while the other rubbed at her temple. “I forgive you. We’re cool. And I’m sure A.J. does the same. So everything is fine. Everything is super. Awesome. Now go back home, this is too dangerous!”

        As if to prove her point, the clouds below lit up with a flash, punctuated by a loud crack. Fluttershy’s gut clenched, but she was unmoving, hovering right in front of Dash still.

        “Let me help. Please,” Fluttershy implored in a voice that may as well have been a command.

        Rainbow Dash licked her lips and glanced down below before puffing out her cheeks. “Okay, you know what? Fine, help, but don’t come crying to me if you get hurt,” she huffed. “The clouds are getting riled up, and we need to separate them, quickly. I’ve already lost a lot of time here with you-”

        “Sorry,” Fluttershy muttered.

        “-so if you still remember how to kick clouds apart, get to it! It won’t work from the topside, come on!” Dash finished, diving through the cloud-layer without waiting for her. Fluttershy followed as fast as she can, plunging through the darkness. Her face and coat were moist by the time she pierced the clouds to find herself just above the tree-tops of the edge of the Everfree.

        It was a scene right out of one of the timid pony’s nightmares. It was all too easy to imagine that the dark shapes of the clouds above boiled with hatred for the pegasi that bothered them, and she doubted she could fly through them a second time; she was trapped. The malicious darkness spat lightning that brought the twisted trees of the forest into sharp relief, casting sharp shadows that seemed to reach out for her. Raindrops were falling faster and heavier with every second, adding their weight to hers and pulling her down towards the jagged treetops.

        She swallowed and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Rainbow Dash was already going to work kicking and piercing the clouds deeper in, her form a blur as she darted about. Fluttershy was just about to see how she could help when a bolt of yellow lightning lanced towards Rainbow Dash, splitting apart both the night sky and the sound of the rain. Fluttershy cried out and rubbed her eyes, but when her vision cleared, Dash was still weaving in and out of the clouds with practiced ease, unfazed.

        Right. Of course Rainbow Dash will be okay. No more stalling. Time to go to work, Fluttershy. You know what to do. Or, you know the theory. Okay, you knew the theory once. You read it, at least.

        Fluttershy swallowed and flew over to a likely patch of cloud-stuff. In an awkward and unpracticed maneuver, she turned in the air and struck out with her hindlegs. She noticed with satisfaction that the clouds scattered with a puff, and was resolved not to feel bad for them. Taking a moment to wipe the water from her eyes, she bucked again and again, working to create a furrow. In the distance, Dash could still be seen zig-zagging in and out of the clouds, though she had slowed a little.

        It was hard and unusual work for Fluttershy. Soon, her mane was slick and seemed almost determined to get in her face. She could have sworn her tail had a mind of its own and consciously tried to drag her down with its rain-soaked weight. One small blessing was that the heavy roar of the rain partially drowned out the thunder, but it didn’t feel like a particularly big victory. As she paused to consider her progress, frowning at how the channel was already closing and undoing her work, she noticed that there had been neither thunder nor lightning for a short while. Even the wind had calmed down a smidgen.

        The weather itself had apparently been waiting for that very moment. Before she had even completed the thought, Fluttershy’s was seized by a strong gust of wind that set her world spinning. With a squeak, she was buffeted out of the air, impacting on something with a crack and a crash in the darkness. She tried to keep her wings flapping, but it wouldn’t work. Something was stopping them on the pull, but not the downbeat. She couldn’t see, and there was a pressure on her back.

        “Fluttershy?”

        The voice was faint, muffled by her head’s ringing, and with it came the realization that she wasn’t flying any more. She was on the ground, on her back, and she was breathing very fast.

        “Hey, Equestria to Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called. Apparently, Fluttershy had closed her eyes when she crashed. It wasn’t altogether surprising really. She opened them again to find that she lay between the roots of a large, twisted tree. Dash stood above her, shielding her from the rain, though her coat was wet and dripping so much that the effect was somewhat ruined.

        “Um, sorry, I fell,” Fluttershy explained as loudly as she could to be heard over the din. It came out an awkward croak. Her head still hurt.

        “Yeah, I kinda noticed,” Rainbow Dash shouted back, rolling her eyes. Her mane was rain-matted and she shook her wings like clockwork every few seconds without apparent thought. “I told you this was dangerous.”

        “I’m fine,” Fluttershy said, struggling to get back up on her hooves. She felt a little stiff, but otherwise okay. “I’m sorry, I- um, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just, uh, I’m not sure what happened.”

        “The storm happened, that’s what! This is out of control,” Dash said, tapping the side of her head with a hoof. “No, seriously, go home, I gotta go get my goggles and some-, uh, some other stuff. I can’t see anything inside the cloud layer any more. Just stay low on the ground, and walk out of the forest.”

Rainbow Dash took off and hovered above the ground, considering the black lid of clouds that hung above them. She did not look very pleased.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. They were simple words that made up for in intent what they lacked in volume. Rainbow Dash looked down at her, exasperated.

        “Sorry for what?” she cried, throwing up her forehooves. “What the hay are you sorry about now?”

        Fluttershy cringed and drew back. As much as she’d like to hide behind her mane, it was plastered to her body where it wasn’t resting in the mud. “I’m sorry I didn’t come watch you practice,” she blurted.

        Dash muttered something that was lost in the rain, but she reluctantly landed again. “You’re still on that?” She tried to sound annoyed and exasperated, but there was something in her eyes. A hurt. A hunger.

        “I meant to come,” she said, looking away. “I just had to take care of a little fox who got hurt. And then, um, with Applejack-”

        “Yeah, okay,” Rainbow Dash said. “I get it.”

        Despite the finality of her words, Rainbow Dash did not move. When Fluttershy looked back up, the other pegasus pony was staring at the ground between the two of them, intently focused on a particular piece of muddy ground where her mane dripped to create a little puddle.

        “But, um, you know, you could maybe have come by and asked,” Fluttershy suggested, grinding a hoof into the ground for lack of anything else to do. “I mean, if you wanted to, and I didn’t visit for a while, maybe you could have asked why I didn’t come.”

        “Yeah,” Dash repeated, so quiet that Fluttershy had to strain to hear. “Maybe.”

        “And thank you,” Fluttershy added with a cautious smile. Rainbow Dash still wouldn’t look at her, but that was okay.

        “For what?” Dash snapped with a half-hearted attempt at anger. It might have been the rain distorting the noise, but Fluttershy thought her voice was a little unsteady as she wiped the water from her eyes. “No, ugh, don’t answer that.”

        There was another moment where the heavy rain was everything. Nopony moved or spoke, Dash’s eyes still downcast. Nothing challenged the all-consuming storm until Rainbow Dash finally took two small steps to cross the distance between them. Fluttershy offered no comment as her friend reached out. For a second it looked like she might give her a hug, but she instead simply pet her on the head awkwardly with a forehoof.

        “Hey, thanks, okay? But seriously, go home,” Dash muttered. “I got a plan, but I really gotta go get those goggles and a little something else.”

        There was little more to say after that. Rainbow Dash took off and zig-zagged through the trees, lost in a matter of seconds. Fluttershy was left under a tree, soaking wet but smiling. As the storm raged all around her, she found the cold couldn’t touch her any more. Sure, she was tired and scared, but while most ponies wouldn’t think so by looking at them, she and Rainbow Dash understood each other. They would be okay, now.

        Fluttershy scraped some mud off one of her forelegs with the other hoof and shook the water off her wings. She was happier, but not yet done. She had to show Applejack she was sorry. She was sorry that she wasn’t sorry, because she would defend any of her friends from each other if she had to. She just didn’t know how to tell Applejack this if she was still angry with her.

        All she had to work with were the clouds. It was harder to lift off than she had thought it would be, thanks in part to a downwards draft that seemed wholly unnatural. The Everfree did not want to give anything up quite so easily. She gritted her teeth and gave her wings all they had before she even neared the cloud layer above, straining to reach the furrow Dash had created. Fluttershy could barely see through the torrential downpour, but there was a glimmer of light nearby. The moon shone through that one crack in the cloud-cover.

        As if guided by Luna herself, Fluttershy finally managed to pull through to the rift, buffeted by wind and rain. Rainbow Dash had created a wide gash in the dark clouds, and Fluttershy immediately set about following her pattern with wing and hoof.

        The first protest came in the form of a bolt of lightning that struck a tree not far from her. Her wings threatened to lock up in fright, but all she needed to do to keep aloft was remind herself why she was doing this. For whom she was doing this. Fluttershy could never have done this by herself, or for herself. This wasn’t her own doing.

        Another bolt, closer, this time. She kept at it, kicking the angry clouds further and further apart, finding a rhythm.

        Fluttershy was weak, but Applejack was not. This stubbornness, this almost silly drive that kept her flying and dispelled the cold and fatigue wasn’t hers. It belonged to her friends who cared for her, and it belonged to Applejack, even if she might not want to see Fluttershy ever again.

        A loud crack joined the next thunderous boom as a lightning strike split a tree in half. Fluttershy lost her rhythm for a second, and had to pause to gather herself. The thought was really unbearable. She wanted to leave this horrid place, to fly over to knock on the door of Sweet Apple Acres’ farmhouse and pour her heart out to Applejack. She just didn’t dare. She didn’t know if she ever would.

        The next bolt struck a tree so close that the flash blinded Fluttershy. She cringed and made a little noise, but when her vision cleared, she heard somepony giggling, and she was quite certain it was her.

        She was wrangling storm clouds in the Everfree forest in the dead of night just because she was too afraid to go talk to Applejack, the most trustworthy and understanding of ponies. She had already decided that she would tell Applejack that Rainbow Dash had made it rain, and it wasn’t even a lie any more; she was being terribly unhelpful compared to the seasoned weathermare. This wasn’t an apology from her to Applejack. She didn’t even know what she was doing here any more.

        “Oh goodness, help me,” she whimpered to herself, her mirth instantly turned sour. The reality of where she was and what she trying to do set in all at once. She was engulfed in a chaotic mess of darkness, thunder and lightning, way in over her head. Rainbow Dash had told her to go home, and she was right. She hovered on the spot and shivered, deciding she would count to three before making a dash for the edge of the forest.

        She was doomed to fail, and she knew it even before she reached three. The biting cold and the harsh winds were taking their toll, and her wingbeats slowed down steadily. As soon as she noticed, she tried to redouble her efforts, but her wings were tired. Her whole body burned, and she began to drop again. It was too much. She locked up, her wings furling mid-flight of their own accord, and she closed her eyes against the inevitable impact.

        Fluttershy’s breath left her as she collided with something, and she tried to curl into a ball on instinct, only to find that she couldn’t quite manage. She was trying to curl up around something.

        “Whoa, hey- jeez, mind the wings!” Rainbow Dash’s familiar voice called, annoyed.

        Fluttershy opened her eyes and came face to face with Rainbow Dash, the latter now wearing her flight goggles. “I- I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to- thank you-”

        “Can you fly?” Dash interrupted her.

        Fluttershy swallowed and looked away. Dash frowned as she peered over Fluttershy’s shoulders, inspecting her. “Okay, that’s a no. Hold tight.”

        “I cramped,” Fluttershy muttered uselessly into Dash’s mane as her friend carved a path through the wind and rain. She seemed utterly unimpeded by the weather as she found a likely hole in the canopy and took them in under the trees. While this wasn’t much of an improvement, Rainbow Dash soon found a tree that grew close to a large boulder. Without much ado, she put Fluttershy down in what meager cover there was to be had from the storm.

        “Listen, I got something going on up there,” Dash said, scratching her snout as she glanced skyward. “Can you just, I don’t know, not do anything for a little while? Just don’t go anywhere, give me a minute. I’ll take you home when I’m done.”

        Fluttershy began to formulate a reply in her mind, but Dash was apparently happy enough with her lack of immediate protest. The colorful pegasus mare shot back up into the air and forced her way through both the trees and the clouds with more speed and urgency than finesse.
        
        The ground was just fine for now, Fluttershy thought as she sat peering up at the clouds. The little hidey-hole Dash had found for her was snug and almost cozy as she sat there watching the spectacle through the holes in the canopy. Safe as she was, she was starting to feel not only weary, but sleepy, too. Her eyes must have been playing tricks on her, because it seemed to her that the chaos above was getting brighter, the darkness relenting.

        She rubbed her eyes with a foreleg once, then again, but though her eyes were drooping with exhaustion, she was certain now that a pure white was radiating out from the center of the cloud mass. The wind was definitely dying down, and even as she watched, the rain that had been pelting her for Celestia-knows how long suddenly struggled to find her through the trees.

        Sitting there watching the clouds was mesmerizing. The center of the clouds above had taken on a pure, puffy white color, looking very much like the friendly and nice cumulus clouds that usually dotted Ponyville’s skies. Not only that, but it was spreading in the most beautiful way with pure white cracks lining the darkness and blooming in wonderful patterns.

Fluttershy’s neck started to hurt from looking straight up, but she didn’t want to miss even a second of this. Already being quite a mess anyway, she simply lay down on her back to watch, wings spread on the ground. The inky blackness was losing the battle. Soon the thunder had stopped altogether, and the rain was a pleasant drizzle. She blinked, or rather, she thought she just blinked, but when she opened her eyes, the clouds were moving. If she had any designs of protesting, the words morphed into a yawn.

Fluttershy struggled to open her eyes. Somepony was calling her name. Rainbow Dash again. The sky was clear, and stars twinkled pleasantly above them. Were it not for the squishy ground below and the steady dripping from rain-abused foliage, it would have been hard to imagine there had been a downpour.

“Come on, let’s get moving,” Rainbow Dash muttered, helping Fluttershy up. She was absolutely soaked, and her goggles rested atop her head with one of the lenses cracked. Even so, the weather-mare had certainly gotten the better deal out of the two of them. Fluttershy was caked in mud all over. Her wings wouldn’t even fold right. That got a grin out of Dash.

“Yeaah, how about you just get on my back, huh? Mind the wings and the mane.”

        “Oh goodness, no, I’m sure I can, um, walk,” Fluttershy protested, though she wobbled a little. She really was quite tired still.

Rainbow Dash’s response was to unceremoniously back into her, crouch under her, and get up again before Fluttershy could quite react. She wrapped her forelegs around Dash’s neck on instinct to keep from falling off, and Dash took off right away before Fluttershy had a chance to dismount.

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy squeaked in protest and surprise.

“Remember that time back at Flight School when Hoops left you out on that little cloud above the factory?” Dash yelled over the roar of the wind as they soared up above the trees and over the Everfree into the dark night sky.

“What?” Fluttershy asked, but the second she realized what Dash had said, she did remember. She had spent the better part of the day alone on that cloud. She could see the pegasi working not far below, but none looked up to see the lonely filly in distress. She didn’t want to yell to get their attention, hesitant to interrupt their no-doubt-far-more-important work.

In the end, Rainbow Dash, her newest, and truthfully her only friend, had found her. When she realized exactly how terrified Fluttershy had been, she’d grudgingly offered her a ride on her back. She had never felt quite so safe in all of her life as she did then. Fluttershy had never thought that Rainbow Dash remembered it, too.

“Um, nothing,” Dash said, upping the speed a little and pulling her broken goggles down over her eyes. “Never mind.”

Fluttershy hugged closer and ground her snout into Dash’s mane. The furiously working muscles of Dash’s wings underneath her were oddly calming, and her last reserves were finally spent. A long blink led to another, which in turn resulted in an empty promise - a white lie. She’d let her eyes rest for ten seconds before opening them again.

When her eyes cracked open again it was to the sound of a hoof rapping on wood, something that confused Fluttershy even more than the soft patter of rain around her. “Um, the door is open, you can go right in,” she murmured. “I can walk.”

“R.D.? Huh. This your doing then?” Applejack asked cautiously.

Fluttershy just clenched her eyes shut again and tried to will herself away to anywhere but Sweet Apple Acres. The moon would do just fine. She couldn’t face Applejack. Not yet. Part of her knew that she might never find the courage if she didn’t do it now, but that seemed far less threatening right now than the reality of the situation.

“Uh, no. Fluttershy did,” Dash replied. “I found her like this in the Everfree, so, uh.”

Fluttershy’s cottage was far closer to the Everfree and Applejack hated her. Why would Dash take her here? She couldn’t do this. She clung tighter to Dash trying to curl up and hide atop her to minimal effect except for a strangled noise by Rainbow Dash herself. There was a profound lack of dry, poofy manes to cower behind.

Applejack didn’t ask why they’d come here. She didn’t ask why the two pegasi knocked on her door in the middle of the night in such a state. There was the distinct sound of hooves shuffling a little, and soon enough, Dash carried Fluttershy out of the rain and into the warmth. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had started talking about something, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. Soon enough, she was asleep again.

“Out you little varmint! She’s still asleep and- aw hayseed.”

Fluttershy opened her eyes reluctantly. She was lying in the bed that was the centrepiece of Applejack’s room. Said pony was giving her an apologetic look as she nudged her little sister out the door with a hoof. Applebloom muttered a “sorry” right before the door closed, leaving Applejack and Fluttershy alone.

        “Morning,” Applejack said, flicking her hat off her head. It hitched smartly on a wall-mounted knob near the door whilst she sat down at the foot of the bed. A nearby chair had an old blanket pooled at its feet.

        The bed she lay in was a mess, Fluttershy noted. She wasn’t nearly as muddy as she remembered from yesterday, but it was not a pretty sight at all. She wiggled a bit and winced at the feeling of the dry mud of her wings against the bed’s covers.

        “Um, sorry about the bed. I- I should probably leave,” Fluttershy muttered.

“D’you really want to?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy’s eyes were drawn up to meet hers. She tried to find the anger and hate she had expected, but there was nothing of the sort in those beautiful green eyes. Unreadable but harmless. Not a shred of anger or hate.

“No,” she breathed, tired of hiding and afraid of even the smallest of lies. “I don’t want to go.”

“But you’re lying there thinking Ah am angry with you,” Applejack said, sighing so deeply Fluttershy could feel her breath. The farmpony broke eye contact and hung her head in shame.

Fluttershy said nothing, but she couldn’t look away, either. She waited and watched Applejack fidget and run a hoof through her mane. When she was stopped by the band she used to keep her blond mane in a ponytail, she tore it off and muttered to herself. She shook her mane out and crept a little closer to the bed.  

“Listen, sugar. You stood up to me when Ah was being dumber than a doornail and let my temper run off with me. You did the right thing. Perhaps it ain’t right, and maybe you’ll think less of me for saying this, but Ah am proud of you.”

“Ah keep saying you’re stronger than you think, stronger than anypony thinks, really. You’ve gone and proved me right, far as Ah see it,” Applejack said, nuzzling one of Fluttershy’s forelegs affectionately. “You can tell me when Ah am being stupid. Ah won’t be offended. Least, not when Ah come to my senses..”

        Having absolutely no idea what to say to that, her heart fluttering, Fluttershy shrank down into the bed. It was made a little awkward when she couldn’t bring herself to pull back the foreleg Applejack had nosed. She looked so beautiful with her mane like this, Fluttershy couldn’t help feel bad that she had gotten her snout all dirty with her muddy hooves.

        “And then you go and forgive and forget instantly right on top of that, something Ah can’t never do. Ah don’t know how you do it, but Ah hope you’ll teach me,” Applejack continued, chuckling. Her smile faded quickly as she rested her head on Fluttershy’s hoof. “Reckon you’re the one who should be mad at me, frankly.”

        Fluttershy’s other foreleg, which had been slowly questing out to tentatively stroke Applejack’s cheek, froze. “What- no, never, I- I mean, you’ve been so nice to me!” she protested.

        Applejack nuzzled into that other hoof and shrugged. “Ah ain’t gonna stop you from thinking so, nor am Ah about to try to change your mind, sugarcube. Ah just know Ah feel plum terrible about yesterday, so Ah ain’t about to let that happen again. Ah am really sorry about that.”

        Fluttershy blinked, suddenly aware that she wasn’t worrying nearly enough. That could be interpreted in so many ways. She had read the most terrible story that used words that were all too similar to those.

        “Uh, you okay, sugar?” Applejack asked, one eyebrow raised. Maybe she was just reacting to Fluttershy not stroking her face any more. Maybe she had picked up on the fact that Fluttershy was hyperventilating a teensy little bit? Oh goodness. She really had gotten Applejack all dirty, too. It was just that in the third book of Forbidden Pony Love, Dark Bolt had said he didn’t want Star Ray to have to suffer him any more, and then he had gone away forev-

        “Hey! Speak to me,” Applejack barked, sitting upright.

        Fluttershy drew a deep, shuddering breath and exhaled. “What do we do?”

        Applejack shrugged, relaxing again and giving Fluttershy an easy smile. “Ah know Ah like being with you. Making you happy makes me happy. Ah was thinking of doing just that, if that’s okay with you.”

        “Oh,” Fluttershy squeaked as Applejack closed her eyes and nuzzled into her hooves again. “Um. If- if it’s not too much trouble? I mean, me too, I, oh my, oh goodness.”

        It was really too much. It was far too much joy for any one pony to handle. She could feel it welling up in her, but she didn’t have to hide it. She didn’t have to tie it up so it hurt. It was the silliest thing, but the first thing she noticed was that her nose was running. She just had to laugh.

        Applejack stared at her for a second before she giggled right back, but the farmpony was entirely caught by surprise when Fluttershy reached out and hugged her around the neck, squeezing tightly and nuzzling into her mane. Fluttershy tried to put words to her feelings, she tried finding something coherent to say, but nothing seemed to suffice. She just hugged Applejack as tight as she could while crying quietly into her mane, and Applejack let her, hugging right back.

When Fluttershy finally managed to calm down enough to disentangle herself from Applejack, the farmpony’s eyes were glistening as well.

“I- I think I got some, um, nose stuff in your mane,” Fluttershy muttered between sniffles. “Um, a lot, actually. Sorry.”

        Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t you worry none about that.”

        “And, um, I really am sorry about the bed, too,” Fluttershy added lamely.

        “Ah am gonna keep telling you to stop worrying until you stop worrying,” Applejack repeated with a wry grin. “Don’t worry.”

        “Sorry,” Fluttershy muttered, though there was still something poking at the back of her mind. One worry that was decidedly not silly. One worry that couldn’t be fixed by demanding she get to help Applejack wash both her bedclothes and her mane. “But, um, about Rainbow Dash.”

        When Applejack’s smile stayed put, Fluttershy knew that she could, in fact, stop worrying for a little while. The apple farmer hopped onto the rear-leg end of the bed, making it creak ominously.

        “We had a bit of a talk after we got you to bed. Once we got past the part where she threatened to buck my head in if Ah ever hurt you, she told me what you did. Saving our crops and all,” she said, gesturing out the window. Wispy thin clouds covered the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres, all spent. “Frankly, it could’ve been bad for the apples too if it went on for much longer. Ah didn’t want to worry anypony, but it looked real bad for a bit.”

        “No,” Fluttershy protested. “But- Rainbow Dash was the one who did it!”

        “She said you’d say that,” Applejack chuckled.

        “But, I really didn’t do anything, she-”

        “And that, too.”

Fluttershy began to rise out of the bed, but Applejack was quick to lean over and ease her back down. “Whoa, easy there, sugarcube. Say what you want, but Ah ain’t slow in the head. Dash is a terrible liar, but we both know she won’t be caught apologizing or anything that smells like it. Ah can add two and two together. It adds up to a wonderful friend of ours.”

Fluttershy swallowed and nodded, slowly relaxing again. Hearing Applejack say those words about Rainbow Dash made her so very happy, and she was seized by an urge to hug both of them. Her body disagreed with her sentiments, however. Trying to get up just now had been a terrible mistake.

“What this also means is you’re lying when you say you ain’t had nothing to do with it after coming to my door drenched and hurt in the middle of the night.”

“I didn’t-” Fluttershy whispered. She had been trying to lie to Applejack. It was true. She truly was the worst of ponies. She closed her eyes and retreated under the covers. “I’m sorry.”

        “Ah’m only teasing,” Applejack chuckled, mercilessly pulling back the covers to give her a nuzzle.

Fluttershy was quite sure her poor little heart couldn’t take much more of this, but for once, she knew exactly what to say. “Thank you,” Fluttershy whispered, nuzzling Applejack back. “And I really am sorry about the sheets.

”It’s just grass and dirt, sugar,” Applejack muttered with a grin as she ground her nose into Fluttershy’s neck.

        The first light of dawn was threatening to spill over the horizon when Rainbow Dash landed underneath her home. She had her favorite cloud-pillow firmly grasped under a foreleg, and her wonderbolt nightcap rested atop her head. The adrenaline was finally spent, but she had to make sure everything appeared normal from below.

        Rainbow fountain flowing fine. The bottom has the same shape as it did before. The entrance- let’s see from over here, yep. Looks fine and whole and not at all like an empty shell of a house with nothing inside. Nopony will suspect a thing, least of all Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash, you are awesome, she thought as she took off for Ponyville, grinning widely. She knew she was awesome of course, but it never hurt to have some concrete proof at hoof.

        The memory of last night’s storm was still fresh. She had dealt with building tornadoes and scattering hurricanes before, but to actually fight the weather like this? Better yet, to win? She got little jolt of energy for free just thinking about it, pulling a little loop that dropped her nightcap straight down towards the ground. She barely caught it before it landed in a flowerbed. When she pulled up from the dive, she re-aligned herself with the distant Sugarcube Corner. The town was still silent. With luck, Pinkie Pie would already be awake and- well.

        Dash slowed down a little to give herself more time to think. She hadn’t really planned this part out. After she left Sweet Apple Acres, she just knew she didn’t really want to see anypony for a day or two. Regrets just weren’t her thing, nor was shame. Sure, she had gotten to fly in the coolest storm ever, so it wasn’t a complete loss, but she did feel a little silly regardless.

        Sugarcube Corner was the natural choice. Pinkie Pie was the only pony who hadn’t seen the whole mess go down. Besides, it wasn’t like Pinkie even had the capacity to hold a grudge. She wouldn’t be angry just because Dash said some stupid things to her that she obviously didn’t mean, would she? Rainbow Dash came to a near-stop mid air. She hadn’t seen Pinkie all day. Where had she even been while-

        Was that a banner over Pinkie’s bedroom window? All her earlier questions evaporated in the face of curiosity as she drew closer to investigate. Sure enough, a festive banner graced the top floor window of the confectionery, decked out in all the colors of the rainbow that Dash knew so well; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, that other blue and the weird blue. Framed by this banner and the window both, a familiar pink pony waved.

        Dash clutched her cloud pillow tight and covered the distance to the window in a matter of seconds, coming to a sudden stop right in front of a grinning Pinkie Pie. The banner read “Rainbow Dash’s Surprise Sleepover Party”

        “Hiya, Dashie!” Pinkie chirped, taking a step back from the window to admit the pegasus.

        “Uh?” Dash eloquently asked as she alighted on the windowsill, nudging her little cloud inside ahead of her.

        “My right rear hoof got itchy!” Pinkie said, as if it explained everything. At Dash’s silence, she tilted her head and giggled. “It said that I would get an unexpected visitor! And I mean, that’s kind of silly, isn’t it? Because when I started expecting an unexpected visitor, I was already expecting it! So I thought to myself, what am I expecting that I’m not expecting?”

        “Uh-huh,” Dash muttered. The bell of her nightcap had fallen in front of her eyes. She blew of away and frowned. She was rapidly zoning out.

        “Of course I didn’t expect you to come here for a sleepover, but if I made a little party of it, why, then I would obviously be expecting it!” Pinkie declared triumphantly, indicating her room with a sweep of her forehoof. She was grinning ear to ear.

        Sure enough, every corner of Pinkie’s loft apartment was decorated with all manner of party paraphernalia. The door on the other side of the room was almost lost in the chaos of streamers, banners, balloons and other assorted colorful items.

        “Uh. Cool. It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Dash suggested as she tentatively stepped inside and closed the window behind her with a rear hoof. She was no party planner, but the lack of any clean floor place on which to stand was probably a bad thing for non-pegasi.

        “Maybe,” Pinkie replied, observing the mess while rubbing the underside of her muzzle with a hoof. “I had a party kit that I meant to use for when the Cakes come back from their vacation, but I figured, hey, wouldn’t the party be even more fun if we had ten times as much party? Or, I mean, the same party, but in a tiny space? I don’t have to be a smartypants like Twilight to know that this means more party!”

        “If that means you’re cool with me crashing here, whatever,” Dash retorted with a smirk as she corralled her pillow onto the bed. She immediately followed it by hopping onto the bed herself.

        “Yay!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing around a little, disappearing in the jungle of streamers before surfacing right next to the bed. “This is going to be the bestest sleepover ever! What do you wanna do first, huh? Pin the tail on the pony is a classic, but I just got a new set of party games, too!”

        “Can we start with napping? I like napping,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “And, uh, I might have to stay tomorrow night too, if that’s okay.”

        “Sure and sure!” Pinkie chirped, hopping into the bed.

        “And the day after,” Dash added, closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek against her pillow. Her nightcap’s little wonderbolt-shaped bell gave off a jingle as she worked herself into a comfortable position, sleep rapidly claiming her. “And probably a few more. Until the weather changes, really and- Pinkie, what are you doing?”

        “You did so need a hug,” Pinkie declared, snaking her forelegs around Dash.

Fluttershy waited until the last of the animals had gotten seated. Well, those who were given to sitting, anyway. The bunnies, foxes and most of the other mammals generally sat while the birds perched. The lone tortoise in attendance didn’t have too much to offer in way of relaxed postures, so she simply assumed that they were all ready and listening.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” Fluttershy said, smiling at each and every one of her little animal friends. “Applebloom? May I have the apples, please?”

Applebloom handed her two apples from a small basket on cue. The little filly was moving with exaggerated slowness, staring wide-eyed at all the animals assembled behind Sweet Apple Acres’ barn.

It was quite a sight. Even Fluttershy herself had never before seen so many animals gathered at once, but that just made her even happier. It was wonderful to see that so many had come. The two ponies sat in the middle of a large semi-circle of furry and scaly creatures, and birds lined the roof above. Fluttershy cleared her throat as she held up the two large, red apples.

        “This one,” she said, holding up her left forehoof, “is a healthy apple. If it’s not too much trouble, it would mean so much to me and the Apples if you could maybe not eat so many of them. Um, none at all, actually. If that’s okay.”

        This triggered some very subtle reactions in the audience. The bunnies got a little antsy, some of them rubbing their noses. One of the smaller foxes got up and looked as if he might just up and leave, but was forcefully seated again by another kit. A bluejay spread her wings and furled them again.

        Fluttershy had anticipated this, and the smile never left her lips. She handed exhibit A back to her slightly nervous assistant filly and held up the other apple with both hooves.

        “Ah, but this, this is a ‘damaged’ apple,” she said, brimming with confidence as she gave the apple a hungry look, trying to engage the animals. “It’s still just as tasty and sweet, I promise! But if the apple is bruised like this, or if it has holes, then we can’t really use it for everything we want to.”

She gave the bruised fruit back to her trusty assistant and brushed her hooves together. “Now, the Apples are really tired of of trying to chase you away, and I’m sure you are all tired of running, too. Many of you probably didn’t even manage to get a single bite last year.”

        The crowd had gotten more quiet now, but there was a smattering of nods and sighs. Some of the bunnies hung their heads, and Fluttershy felt terrible for them. She had to be strong, though. Applejack had trusted her to be Sweet Apple Acres’ ambassador for this applebuck season. The idea was her own, though. It would really be better for everypony, and every other creature besides. She drew in a sharp breath, steeling herself.

“This season, you all get one apple each,” she said, narrowing her eyes and hoping she didn’t sound too angry. She was still working on determining where assertiveness became anger. “One apple,” she repeated, “but nopony is going to chase you or try to catch you. You get your apple, and unless you are trying to cheat and take two apples, we are okay.”

The animals, by and large, seemed to take this well, but Fluttershy spied a few clever grins. She frowned. “And if you think you can sneak away with more apples because you are feeling clever? If I see you trying, you’re not welcome in my cottage for a whole week,” Fluttershy added.

        A ripple went through the crowd. A few of the foxes drew back. There were a few surprised squawks, and one of the bunnies hid behind his friends in terror. Fluttershy cringed and took a step back herself. “A day. I meant a whole day- oh, um. An hour?”

        “Okay, sorry, never mind,” she muttered. It was no use trying to be mean. She puffed out her cheeks and stared at her forehooves. “Just please be nice, okay? Applejack is trusting me to take care of this, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I you don’t listen. I don’t want to let her down.”

        Of course Applejack wouldn’t be angry. She wouldn’t even be disappointed; the Apple family had managed for generations without her. Her marefriend would hug her and thank her for trying, and say she loved her all the more for it.
        
        A bird alighted on her head. She only noticed because she saw a flash of color, but the little redjay weighed next to nothing.

        “Uh, Fluttershy? What’s goin’ on?” Applebloom asked, her voice tinged with nervousness. “All the varmints are, uh- Fluttershy?”

        Fluttershy looked up to see that the animals were indeed moving. Applebloom was guarding the basket of apples wielding a mighty frown, but none of the creatures showed any interest in the tasty fruits. A small troupe of bunnies hopped up to her and made a show of nodding to her before bouncing off into the fields. Shortly thereafter a large flock of jays circled her, tweeting their promise to listen before giving way to a family of foxes on the approach.

Fluttershy sat still and bathed in the animals’ love, thanking them all as they promised they wouldn’t disappoint her. When the last of the animals had left, Applebloom finally gave up her death-grip on the apple basket and approached Fluttershy tentatively.

        “What in the hay was that all about?” she asked, glancing after the two badgers who passed her by, leaving. “Are you okay?”

        Fluttershy smiled and nosed the top of Applebloom’s head affectionately. It was all too easy to forget that other ponies couldn’t always hear the animals as she did. “You can tell Applejack that the animals will listen, so if you see any of them taking some of the bad apples, you just let them be, okay?”

        Applebloom nodded and darted off like a bolt of red-streaked lightning. She had so much energy sometimes, it was hard for Fluttershy not to just stare and smile. Once she had rounded the barn, Fluttershy took wing. She had intended to return to Applejack now that it was time for a break, but it was very hot for an autumn day, and she had gotten an idea while waiting for her animal friends to gather.

        She flew higher than usual. Up and above, past the barn, past the weather vane and twice as far again before she finally stopped. Below her, the entire Sweet Apple Acres spread out with all its red-speckled trees. She spotted a familiar orange shape hard at work bucking the trees in the nearest orchard, and her heart fluttered. It had been nearly four months now, yet she still felt that little thrilling surge whenever she saw her. It was all she could do not to fly back down to Applejack right then and now, but she knew she was being silly.

Fluttershy cast a quick glance about. There were very few clouds about because today had been scheduled to be sunny, but she knew Rainbow Dash usually kept a few clouds near her house. It wasn’t far anyway.

As she drew near the cloud-home that belonged to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy could see the usual assortment of stowaway clouds hiding near the house cloud proper. While she didn’t really cloud-nap or prank other ponies, she’d been assured that if she ever needed a cloud from the weather patrol, under the table-like, she could help herself. So she did.

She felt a little bad, of course. Fluttershy wasn’t really stealing, but she was taking without having asked for permission more than once, and that was really almost quite as bad. Still, she knew she should feel silly for worrying about it. She began pushing the cloud towards its destination giggling at herself. What was the worst that could-

“Cloud-thief! Stop right there!” a shrill voice cried.

Fluttershy froze mid-air and dropped a little before she got her wings working again. She whirled around, terror-struck and sputtering. “I’m sorry, I- I-”

She came face to face with a laughing Rainbow Dash hovering on her back. The colorful pegasus was pointing at Fluttershy while shedding tears of pure mirth. Fluttershy blinked and blushed, hanging her head.

        “I’m sorry. I- I really should have asked,” Fluttershy muttered, swallowing as she waited for Dash to recover. She glanced back at the cloud she’d picked. Greedy, naughty Fluttershy had taken the biggest and nicest of the clouds. Normally she’d take the smallest, but it wasn’t really for herself, so she’d gotten a little too eager.

        “Hey, come on,” Dash said, wiping the tears and poking her shoulder with a hoof. “I was just joking. What do you need a cloud for anyway?”

        “Oh, I just wanted to get some shade for our lunch,” Fluttershy explained, sighing in relief. “I mean, if that’s okay. I can take a smaller cloud-”

        “Get in,” Dash said, pointing to the cloud.

        “Um. Sorry?”

“I’ll give you a ride. Sweet Apple Acres, right?”

        “You don’t have to, it’s very nice of you, but-”

        Dash looked indignant for a second before she glanced about shiftily. “Nice? No, I- uh, well, if the other ponies see you flying around with a cloud, they’ll be wondering why I’m not giving them out to everypony who asks for it, right?”

        “I guess?” Fluttershy asked.

        “Yeah, well, you guess, I know,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Now hop on.”

        Fluttershy deferred to Dash’s expertise in the field and sat down on the soft cloud-stuff facing her friend. Dash immediately put her forehooves to the edge of the cloud and set course for Sweet Apple Acres at a speed that sent Fluttershy’s mane standing straight out past her face and billowing in the wind like a flag.

        “Oh, um, Rainbow Dash? Applejack asked if it was okay if she came along to watch you practice sometime once we’re done with applebuck season,” Fluttershy said. She’d been meaning to broach the subject for a little while now.

        “Huh? Uh, sure. More ponies is always good,” Dash chuckled. “It’s not like you have to ask about that, you know.”

        “That’s nice, thank you,” Fluttershy replied, smiling and lying down on the cloud. It wasn’t exactly a common way to travel, this, but it was nice. It was almost tempting to close her eyes and take a little rest, but Dash was looking up at her like she wanted to say something. Fluttershy made an inquisitive noise.

        “Uh, just, like, not every day, right?” Dash asked.

        “Oh, no. She’s usually busy at that time of day, but you know she loves watching you perform even if she’ll never say so,” Fluttershy giggled. “Oh, goodness, I probably shouldn’t have said that, promise me you won’t tell!”

        “I mean, it’s sort of, you know-” Dash muttered.

        “Our thing,” Fluttershy muttered in chorus with Dash. She averted her eyes for a few seconds and smiled.

Applejack tapped a hoof on the ground and glanced towards the barn for the twentieth time. She stood in the sparse shadow of an apple tree on a hill that was otherwise bare, save for two bottles of apple cider. All that was missing was the second pony for the second bottle. She had just decided that she’d give it exactly to the count of five before she started looking for her when the hill darkened.

“What in tarnation-” Applejack began as she looked up to find Rainbow Dash waving down at her and Fluttershy peeking out from the cloud she occupied.

        “Hey Applejack!” Dash called, swooping down to land on the hilltop. The pegasus glanced about the orchard just as Fluttershy landed next to them. “Uh, hey, you don’t actually need the rest of us until next week, right?”

        “Naw,” Applejack said, chuckling at the terminally lazy mare. “We’re handling the inner orchards and planning this week. This your cloud?”

        “Um, actually, it’s mine- or, oh, I mean, I guess it is really Rainbow Dash’s cloud, and she was ever so nice in helping me bring it-” Fluttershy began.

        “It’s hers,” Dash declared flatly, pointing at Fluttershy who immediately fell silent. Applejack nodded and stepped over to nuzzle Fluttershy’s neck affectionately.

        “Don’t know how Ah managed without you, sugarcube,” she murmured. “That’s real sweet of you.”

        Dash coughed. It wasn’t a very delicate sound, nor subtle. In fact, it sounded a little more like a retch. Applejack rolled her eyes and smirked. “Feel free to stay, R.D.,” she offered.

        “Yeah, so you fillies have fun, I’m outta here.” Dash snorted and grinned, slowly ascending. “And hey, Applejack, if you want a chance at beating me at bowling, it’s your turn to pay next time, remember!”

        “It was five darn points,” Applejack yelled after her, but the pegasus was quick to up her pace and zip out of earshot. She would have to get her revenge on the bowling-pin littered field of battle, then.

        “Um, where are the others?” Fluttershy asked, glancing about. “Is something wrong? Are we behind schedule? Oh my goodness- should we even be taking a break? I am not tired at all! I’m sure I can carry two baskets at once if I have to, I mean.”
        
        Applejack silenced Fluttershy quite effectively by gently nuzzling her cheek. It never failed to make the pegasus mare blush and quietly sit down on her rump.

        “Easy. Everything’s going just fine, sugar, thanks in no small part to you,” she said, sitting down right in front of Fluttershy. “Not having to worry about the animals helps, and having another pony out here all day is good, too.”

“The fact that you ask and worry like that, well, silly as it is, that just makes me love you all the more,” Applejack admitted, giving Fluttershy’s snout a little lick. Fluttershy turned a deeper shade of red, but sat entirely still, looking back at her.

“And last, well, Ah told them that perhaps they could eat somewhere else, on account of Ah want to spend some time with my mare. If you want, we can go join them over in the southern orchard, it ain’t no problem by me. Celestia knows that Applebloom has enough questions about whatever it was you pulled with all them animals.”

Fluttershy shook her head and smiled serenely. “No, this is lovely. Thank you.”

        “‘Thank me’ my flank,” Applejack snorted as she nudged Fluttershy’s head with her own. “Ah ain’t the one who set us up with this cloud, and far as Ah recall, you helped me make this batch of cider long ago.”

        “I just watched,” Fluttershy corrected her, giggling.

        “Same thing!” Applejack retorted, but rather than make a bid for the cider, she simply lay down on the ground, flopping onto her side and closing her eyes.

        “Um, Applejack?”

        “What’s up, sugar?” Applejack murmured.

        “Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, and the she could hear the pegasus approaching tentatively. Applejack chuckled.

        “Ah’m fine, just a bit sore. First day of applebuck season’s always the worst. Gotta get the legs used to it all over again every year,” she explained. “Sorry, don’t mean to be bad company here, just give me a minute.”

        Fluttershy made no reply, but a moment later, Applejack could feel a set of hooves on her haunches. She almost kicked out on instinct. “What’re you doing?” she asked, unable to suppress a growing grin. The hooves began drawing gentle but firm circles.

        “Um, massaging you? I think? I mean, I can stop if you just want to rest, or if it doesn’t feel nice?” Fluttershy suggested, slowing down a little. Applejack drew breath, but before she could even speak, Fluttershy continued. “I know, sorry. You’ll tell me to stop if you want me to stop.”

        Applejack let out the breath she had been holding and resigned herself to Fluttershy’s massage, enjoying the peace and quiet. Fluttershy knew what she was doing, and she could feel her entire lower body becoming putty in her hooves.

        They had come a long way, she and Fluttershy, but some things would never change. She counted down twenty seconds in her head. She was at “three” when Fluttershy spoke up.

        “Um, you will tell me if you want me to stop, right?”

        Applejack’s body shook as she chuckled silently. Some things would never change, and she would never want them to. Fluttershy continued kneading, moving higher up on Applejack’s body until she was rubbing her back. Oh sweet mother of mercy that feels so. Darn. Good.

        “Of course you will,” Fluttershy murmured to herself as she kept working Applejack’s body into bliss.

        Applejack must have dozed off for a second. It couldn’t have been very long, but it felt like she woke up from a restful night’s slumber. Perhaps it was the wonderful sensation of skilled hooves working her shoulders. Perhaps it was the fact that she awoke to the voice of the mare she loved. She didn’t have to choose; she got both.

        “Um, Applejack?”

        “Yes, Fluttershy?” Applejack muttered, popping one eye open.

        “Did you, um, mean it? What you said?”

        Fluttershy’s voice was oddly careful, even for her. There was a specific brand of frailty that put Applejack on high alert. She turned to look at Fluttershy where she sat at her side, her beautiful eyes half hidden behind her mane.

        “Ah make it a point to mean everything Ah say, sugar,” she said, furrowing her brow.

        Fluttershy nodded and dropped her eyes. “I just liked it when you said, um. ‘My mare.’”

        All the worry she’d managed to build up in those few seconds scattered and fled before the flood of relief. The worry was gone in an instant, replaced by something else altogether. She looked up at Fluttershy, and she saw the truth of her own words. Judging from the pleasant prickling sensation that went through her, so did her body.

Ever so slowly, she got up on all fours. Never once did her eyes leave Fluttershy’s as she stood before her.

“Ah meant it more than Ah’ll ever be able to tell you, ‘cause Ah ain’t too good with words, which is a shame sometimes,” she said, leaning in close. “But you can bet your pretty little flank Ah meant it. You’re my mare, and if you’ll have me, Ah am yours. It’s not a question of whether or not Ah’ll ask your hoof in marriage, but when. If you beat me to it, if you feel ready, well, Ah ain’t likely to say no, either. You are what Ah want.”

        Fluttershy nodded slowly and closed her eyes, sending a trickle of tears down her face. Applejack reached out and hugged her tight, and Fluttershy hugged back with all of her strength. They sat like this for long enough that Big Mac eventually crested the hill, but Applejack sent him packing with a glance.

        “Um, Ah take it these’re good tears, and that you feel something of the same?” Applejack finally had to ask, though her own eyes felt moist as it were.

        “Yes,” Fluttershy said, giggling intermingling with sobs, her entire body shaking as she held Applejack tight. “Yes, they are, and yes I do.”

        First, I want to thank a bunch of ponies: Kits and Cormacolindor, without whom this fic wouldn’t be what it is. I owe you two a lot for all the time you’ve put into bouncing ideas and feedback with me. Kits did the cover art, too, which is awesome as hay. That’s why you should click the blue name up there and go visit his dA gallery. Mind you, there may be a lot of plot there. Some consider this a good thing, some don’t.

        Also, EqD and its pre-readers. The amount of work these guys put into making sure complete strangers’ fics are the best that they can be is staggering. People put less effort into paid jobs out there. Thank you.

        I also want to thank Twilight Snarkle, Lounge Lizard and Ocean Breeze for the feedback they’ve provided; I know how precious a commodity time is these days.

        Last, I want to thank you for reading! Hopefully you are reading this because you finished the fic and felt it was worth your time. Hey, if you’re reading the “credits”, I’m actually honored and a little flabbergasted. Hello there!

In case you are just scrolling to the end for my mail address so you can tell me what a terrible pony I am, you can reach me at cloudyskieswrites@gmail.com. I have a deviantArt, too, which I use for posting up when I write something new. If you have nice things to say, you could probably use the same links. It just about makes my day when I get nice mails!

        I was trying to do something subtly different this time around. Let’s be honest: There are a lot of ship fics out there. You don’t have to go out of your way to be a special snowflake if you want to write something in an “established genre”, but to somepony as boring and normal as me, opening with a declaration of love and taking it from there, that was plenty different enough.

I don’t know if all the emotions translated, though. In fact, I am certain you - yes, you - read it differently than I intended to write it. That’s how stories work, and I imagine it gets kicked into high gear when the fic’s premise is a slalom of emotions. I don’t know how this fic will be received, but I assume it’ll be fairly hit and miss.

Now give me my brain back.

        Seriously, whenever I sit down to write one of these damn things, I put my brain functions on hold. I need my brain to live.

-Cloudy Skies