"So how do you think the show will be?" I asked.
"It's going to be awesome! I can't wait to see their double triangle formation with the loop and barrel roll!" Rainbow replied.
"Sounds like fun." I said smiling. I looked out the side of the line to see how far we were from the entrance. As I did so I was hit in the head with a cup filled with some sticky liquid. "Ah!" I exclaimed.
"You okay? What happened?" she asked.
"Someone just threw something at me." I said, trying to figure out what it was. I didn't know what this stuff was and became upset. "Well so much for that good day."
"It's still going to be a good day. Don't worry about a few jerks who think they're cool." she said, passing me a hairbrush.
"Where did you get this from?" I asked, taking it.
"I had it with me." she said.
"Why? You don't like doing your mane."
"Yeah, well...maybe I wanted to try something different today." she said blushing.
I stood in that line for 30 minutes trying to get the gunk out of my mane. It smelled sweet. ""Remember what I said about Cider season, Fluttershy?" Rainbow said. "I take it back. It's more like trying to meet Princess Celestia."
"Shut it." I said, getting more and more annoyed with my mane. It took me another hour to get it out of my mane and by that time we had just made it to the entrance.
"Ticket." the stallion at the gate said. Rainbow Dash showed him her ticket and moved passed the gate. "Ticket." he asked me. I showed him my ticket and he allowed me to pass. But before I could move through, a pair of guards came up to me.
"Ma'am, if you could step off to the side please. You've been selected for a random search." the taller one said.
"What?" I asked looking to Rainbow Dash. I was scared.
"We have a new policy where we randomly search someone for weapons or other dangerous items." they said.
I didn't know what to do. "But I don't have any bags or anything." Did I do something wrong? Was there a certain way I was suppose to carry myself when I came up to the gate? "Do I look suspicious?"
"Like he said, it's a random search." his counterpart said.
"So you guys are searching a mare who clearly has no bags on her while you let stallions walk in with bags of stuff in them. Sounds to me like you two are just being lazy. And I should know, I'm the Queen of Lazy!" Rainbow said behind them.
The guards looked to each other and rolled their eyes. "Move along miss. Enjoy the show." the shorter one said and they went back to their post.
"Thank you, Rainbow. I didn't feel comfortable going with them." I said.
"What was I suppose to do? Leave you alone here and go find our seats?" she said with a sarcastic tone.
"I don't think you would have had a choice." I said looking back at the guards. "They'd probably force you to go."
She gave me a kiss on the cheek, making me smile. "I'd find a way. Let's go before the show starts. I don't want to miss anything." she said and we ran to our seats. We had a pretty good view of the arena from where we were at. We were dead center of the arena and up high. "This is going to be amazing!" Rainbow said excitedly.
"I hope it's as good as everypony says it is." I said, taking in the sight around me. I knew there were going to be a lot of ponies here, but I didn't expect this many.
"Oh they are! I've read all about them!"
"What can I do for you?" a grey mare asked next to us. She startled me and I let out a little squeak. "Oh! I know you! You're...Bowrain!" she said, looking at Rainbow.
I saw her sigh. "No Derpy, I'm Rainbow Dash." she clarified.
"Oh, right. And you are..." Derpy said, turning to me.
"Flutt-" Rainbow started but was cut off.
"No, I got this." Derpy said. She squinted her eyes as she tried to think of my name. "Oh right! You're Flyshy!" she said with gleaming eyes.
"No, it's-" Rainbow started again, but this time I cut her off.
"Hey Derpy. How are you doing?" I asked. Derpy must have thought that she was right, and I didn't want Rainbow Dash to hurt her feelings.
"Great, Shyfly! I've been trying to earn some extra money so I can prove to everyone I'm capable of living on my own. This is my third job this month!" she said happily.
"Aren't you supposed to hold a stable job?" Rainbow Dash asked. I nudged her, wanting her to watch what she said.
"Well...yeah, I guess so. But I work full time at the Post Office. Whenever I get some vacation time I take up these extra jobs, that way I'm a produculative mare of Equestria!" she said with her head high.
"Produc-" Rainbow started but I cut her off again.
"That's great, Derpy. I hope everything works out for you." I said. I really hoped that she would do well. Like me, she was bullied in school too, but she was bullied because of her eyes. Her parents pulled her out of school and started homeschooling her so she wouldn't be bullied.
"Thanks! That'll be 10 bits." she said.
"For what?" Rainbow asked.
"Didn't you call me over for something? I thought I gave you what you ordered..." she said. Her tone had dropped from happy to sad.
I gave Rainbow a glare. It's a known fact nowadays that you just don't hurt Derpy. I know Rainbow didn't mean to hurt her, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. "Oh, we did call you over, I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention to what you were going to give us." she said. I rolled my eyes.
"Oh! Well I got your two sodas for you! That'll be 10 bits." she repeated as she gave us our sodas.
"What's a soda?" I asked, giving the drink a sniff.
"I don't know. I just sell them." she said. "I gotta run, though. I have muffins I need to give to the others. See ya'!" she exclaimed as she flew to the upper stands.
"What I really wanted was a bag of peanuts." Rainbow said. I took a sip of the drink. It wasn't that bad, but it did smell like what was thrown at me earlier.
"It's all syrup!" she exclaimed.
"This must've been what hit me earlier." I said. I kind of liked the drink. It was sweet and made me suddenly alert. I finished it in a few minutes and started shake. Whatever was in the soda made me really shaky and full of energy. I may go and get another one. I thought.
"This is worse than alcohol." she said.
"It's not so bad."
"Well let's not get anymore." she said, placing her cup in the cup holder. We spent the next few minutes talking about the Wonderbolts and what we wanted to see. Or at least Rainbow did. I really didn't have much to say about it. I didn't know too much and Rainbow knew everything. She filled me in on their formations, their stats, and a bunch of other information that I couldn't really understand.
"Howdy there partner!" I heard a voice call behind us. I turned and saw an orange pony walk down to us.
"How in the wide world of Equestria are you able to be here?" Rainbow asked. I took a closer look to her and saw that she was an Earth Pony.
"The same brown pony who gave me these tickets also 'soniced' me. Whatever the hay that means." she said.
I remembered the Doctor had soniced my wings when I was in the hospital and helped mend them. So I wasn't too surprised that he was able to make her walk on clouds. "What? Soniced?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah. I don' know what it is, but it looks like a screw driver of sorts with a lil' blue orb at the top of it." Applejack explained.
"Okay then." I could tell Rainbow knew what she was talking about but didn't want her to know. I didn't understand it, but I didn't say anything. "Well, what's up? I haven't seen you in awhile."
"Ah'm doing just fine. Had a little mishap in Appleloosa. Darned cousins couldn't keep a barn together if you fused it with magic." she said.
"Reallly? That bad?" Rainbow said with a chuckle.
"Yep. They've never been the best at building barns, but it's nice to see 'em working hard and gettin' their hooves dirty." she said. "And Rainbow, you know it's impolite to not introduce your friends to each other."
"Oh right! You two haven't met yet." she said. "Fluttershy, this is Applejack. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have became Captain of the Weather Team." she said.
"Hello." I said quietly.
"Howdy!" Applejack said enthusiastically.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, but what do you do? I haven't seen you around school. Are you from Ponyville?" I asked.
"Yes, ma'am. Ah'm in charge of Sweet Apple Acres. Ah dropped out of school so Ah could run the farm and keep everything orderly. Ah couldn't have asked for a better life." she said proudly. "And yourself?"
"Oh, I just take care of animals in my spare time when I'm not at school." I said smiling.
"And she's amazing at it. I gave her a pet rabbit one day and he's a pain in the flank to deal with. But somehow Fluttershy is able to keep him straight. Sometimes." Rainbow said as she put a hoof on my shoulder.
"Well, ain't that nice." Applejack said. "And how do you two know each other?"
"We've been friends since we were little fillies. She's actually the reason why I'm here. She gave me two tickets for this on Hearts Warming." Rainbow told her.
"Well that was awfully kind o' her. Why didn't you take your sister though?" she asked.
"Sister?" Rainbow asked confused.
Applejack's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, your sister. Remember that day when you cleared the weather for me? You said you had to meet your sister for somethin'. Why didn't she come?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah. Right..." Rainbow stammered.
I saw that she was having issues coming up with an excuse for this 'sister' of hers so I interrupted her. "She doesn't like the Wonderbolts, nor does her brother Felix, so she invited me."
"Ah see. Well, hopefully this here show will be worth it. Some weird brown pony came to me and gave me this ticket. Something about a meetup with a friend. You know him?" she asked Rainbow.
"Possibly. I know a lot of ponies." she replied. "Oh! It's starting!"
I looked out to the arena and saw an orangish-red Pegasus with a mane that looked like fire walk up to the stand. The Wonderbolts took their places behind her. "That's Spitfire, the Captain's daughter." Rainbow told me.
"Mares and Stallions. Will you please stand for the Equestrian National Anthem." she said. We all rose as the flags were brought out. I placed my hoof over my heart. The Anthem played and we stood there silently. A few of the ponies around us were singing with Spitfire. Others looked at the flags with a sense of pride and dignity knowing they were a part of Equestria.
I never felt a sense of unity with Equestria before. It feels great. I thought with a smile. After a few minutes the clouds blocked out the sky and the speakers cut out.
"Ready to watch her end?" I heard a voice say in my head.
"Fluttershy get out of here!" Rainbow shouted at me.
"What's going on?" I asked as I looked at the sky. "And who is this?"
"Something bad." Rainbow told me.
"You'll have to make a choice. One that will either save her or end her. Come to the Everfree Forest if you want her to survive. If not, well, stay there and watch her demise." the voice in my head said again. There was a streak of lightning across the sky. I saw my mother's face in the clouds as more lightning illuminated the sky.
"I'm not leaving without you!" I shouted at her as the storm intensified.
"Please Fluttershy! It's not safe for you!"
"I'm not leaving!" I shouted again, tears in my eyes. I knew if I left then something bad would happen. If I had to make a choice, I wasn't letting her fight this alone. "Hehe. Go ahead and stay. She'll die and you'll live. Can you handle such a tragedy?" the voice said again.
"Shut up! I'm not leaving her behind! No matter what you say! I'll die by her side if I need to!" I shouted back to the voice.
"Maybe so. But you're ready. Come to the Everfree Forest. The Shadows await you." it replied.
I saw Rainbow Dash fly up to the sky to try and clear the clouds. "Don't leave me, Rainbow Dash!" I shouted as I flew up behind her. The wind was so strong that my weak wings couldn't keep flying there. I was flung back towards the stands.
"Fluttershy, come on. We need ta get outta here. That tiny storm ain't tiny no more." Applejack said. "Rainbow can handle the clouds. But right now, Ah'm afraid a twister might show up and take out the arena. We have ta go."
I looked back at the arena and my eyes grew wide. Through the flashes of lighting I saw my name burned into the cloud. "Fine. Let's go." I told her. We ran out of the arena and jumped into a hot air balloon that she had taken up. "How did you get this?"
"The same pony who gave me the ticket rented this thing out ta me. Now let's go!" she said. We hopped into the basket and we slowly flew down to the ground.
"I'm coming. But I swear if you hurt her in any way, I will kill you." I told the voice. I don't know why I felt like that, but I didn't want anything to happen to her. It wasn't like me to want to hurt somepony like this, but something about the voice made me more angry that I normally would have.
"So Ah take it you're Rainbow's 'sister.' Am Ah right?" she asked me. I didn't respond. I was too angry to respond. "Look, Ah'm sure Rainbow will be fine. She's not the type to leave somepony she cares about. She wanted ta get ya' ta safety and that's what she did. At least from what Ah can put together." she said trying to reassure me.
"I know. It's just she told me she would never leave me..." I said.
"Hey, Ah may not know you, but Ah know that Rainbow Dash cares a mighty great deal about ya'. And Ah know that you feel a mighty great deal about her too." she said. I nodded my head in response. "We'll be in Ponyville soon. Don't worry. We'll wait back at the farm 'till she comes back."
"She better get back." I told the voice.
It laughed. "As long as you come to where I told you, she'll be unharmed."
We landed at the farm where I was then led to the kitchen. "Ya' want somethin' to drink?" she asked.
"I'd like some water, please." I said.
"Sure thing, sugarcube." she said.
"Thank you." I said quietly. When she left, I went to the window, opened it, and flew out towards the house. "I'm coming. I have to make a quick stop at the house."
"Don't even think to tell her about where you're going. If you do, I'll know, and she'll die." the voice said.
I shook the voice out of my head. I had to let her know. I just had to. But I couldn't risk her getting hurt. I flew into the window to our room and grabbed a bag and placed a picture of me and Dashie in it. It's the only thing I grabbed. It was the only thing I wanted to take with me.
I ran down the stairs and found a piece of paper and a pencil. I couldn't just disappear without telling her I had to go. I began to write my last farewell to her, letting the tears fall to the paper.
These past years living here have been the best years I've ever had. You've shown me so many ways to be a more outgoing mare. I know that you may not have felt the same way I have about you when we started school, but I've always really cared about you, even when we were fillies. When you stuck up for me when my parents were yelling at me, I liked it and admired you for it. I have never felt like anypony was there for me. I felt like the dirt you wash off of your hooves. You were the only pony I felt I could be myself around. I knew for a long time that I loved you, but I was too scared to do anything or say anything because I was afraid you would leave me, or worse, hurt me like my parents had. I know now these fears were irrational, but they were still present.
I really wanted to go with you to that dance, but when you said you were going with Long Horn, I figured that you didn't like me that way. And then when you told me you couldn't talk to me, I thought that you were embarrassed to be seen with me. I ran home and cried, feeling worthless again. But after you told me why you did that, I realized that you were doing it for my well-being.
After Heart Warming, I couldn't believe what had happened. You had kissed me. It was something I only dreamed about. Something I only fantasized about. I loved you more than anything. I knew you would be there when I needed you and that I could be myself with you. I'd never thought you'd stay. I thought you would move on from a shy filly like me. I realized it was much more to you as well after last night. I could tell that you didn't want to stop. Maybe something more could have happened. I wanted something more to happen, but I was afraid to push further. I didn't know how you would react. If you only knew how much I cared about you. It's why I'm leaving now. I saw the lightning hit those ponies and while the light flashed, I saw my name engraved in the cloud. I didn't think it was possible, but I'm afraid that they will find me. They'll hurt you, and I can't let that happen. I'm a hazard if I stay here with you. I keep putting you in harms way and I can't live with myself by doing that. You've taken care of me, now I'm going to do the same for you. I hope you understand. Goodbye. I love you Dashie.
I put the pencil down and read over the letter again. Nowhere did I tell her I was going to the Everfree Forest so there was no reason for the voice to hurt her. "There. She doesn't know where I'm going and has no idea where to look for me. So don't hurt her." I told the voice.
"Make your way to the forest. We're waiting."
I placed the paper down on the table in a place that Rainbow Dash was sure to see it. I walked to the door and took one last look into the place that I have called home. The place that housed me and protected me from all my fears for the last eight years. It didn't even feel like eight years. It seemed like only yesterday that she had helped me after I fell and sprained my ankle during gym class. I felt the tears fall down my face, but I made no effort to wipe them away.
I love you Rainbow Dash. Thank you for all that you've done. I thought. I closed the door and headed for the forest.