Fluttershy watched with a smile as Rarity pranced down the path away from her house. The golden band in her hat glittered in the sunshine, as did the golden highlights in her mane and tail. Her smile slowly faded as Rarity pranced out of sight.
She let out a deep sigh as she cast her eyes up toward the sky. The sky over Ponyville was mostly clear, but a large cluster of dark clouds lurked at the edge of town to the west. Fluttershy squinted to look at the clouds. A smile slowly spread across her face as she noticed a streak of blue popping in and out of the cloud bank.
She delicately took off into the air. She lifted herself up above the mass of clouds and perched on a small cloud overlooking them.
Standing on the edge of the clouds was Rainbow Dash. She had a distant look in her eyes as she gently kneaded the top of a cloud with her hooves, and then smoothed it out.
“Ugh. Finally,” she said, kicking off from the cloud to launch herself into the air. She was starting to build up some speed and altitude when she noticed Fluttershy waving at her.
Rainbow Dash zipped over to her and landed on her cloud. “Hey, Fluttershy,” she said with a sigh.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy replied. “You been working hard all morning on the weather?”
“Working hard? Yeah, I wish. Hard work is interesting. This stuff is boring,” she said dismissively.
“Oh, I’m sorry. What’s so boring?”
“Appleloosa needs a lot of rain, so Cloudsdale made them a bunch of clouds, and set up a stiff breeze to get them there. But they don’t want to drench the desert or the prairie before it arrives,” she said. “That means I had to pick through the entire cloud bank, find the ones that are about to start raining, and smooth them out. Staring at clouds all morning! It’s so tedious!” she cried with an exaggerated grimace.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Fluttershy said.
“Yeah, but I’m done now. So I can get an hour or so of good flying in before I have lunch,” she said, crouching down, pawing at the cloud, and spreading her wings.
“Oh. I was going to do some flying, too,” said Fluttershy.
“You? Fluttershy? Joyflying? What gives?” asked Rainbow Dash with a chuckle.
“Actually, I was hoping you could help me out. I’m friends with a flock of ducks, and I was going to join them for this fall’s migration south. But I never really learned to fly in formation. I barely got passing grades in flight camp; I don’t know any of the fancy stuff,” she said with a pleading look in her eyes.
Rainbow Dash grinned at Fluttershy. “Aw, formation flying’s easy. C’mon, I’ll show you. You lead.”
“But –” protested Fluttershy.
“That just means you take off, and I’ll follow you. Just fly like normal, and don’t make any sudden turns or altitude changes. Take it nice and easy,” said Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy swallowed hard and took off. She splayed her legs out and flapped fiercely, desperately. Rainbow Dash launched from the cloud and followed her.
“Hey Fluttershy,” she called. “I don’t know why you’re trying to race me here, but it won’t do you any good.”
Fluttershy glanced back. Rainbow Dash was flying behind her and to her left, easily using slow, broad wing strokes to keep up with Fluttershy’s frantic flapping. She blushed and slowed her pace. Rainbow Dash slowed down to match her, staying in formation.
“You can tell that I have it easier flying than you do. And that’s not just because I have awesomely powerful wings,” she said. “As your wings produce lift, your wingtips make a little updraft. If there were a duck flying behind me, or another pegasus, she’d be riding my updraft, too.”
“I see,” shouted Fluttershy through clenched teeth.
“No you don’t,” she replied. “Air currents are something you gotta feel, not see. Keep flying like that and I’ll show you.”
Rainbow Dash put on a burst of speed and pulled ahead of Fluttershy. From a new vantage point, ahead of her and to her left, she looked back. “Now feel the air currents coming from me. You need to feel for little spirals spinning upward, coming off of my wingtips,” she said.
Fluttershy relaxed and spread her wings open into a gliding stance. She unsteadily gained a little altitude. “Oh, this wing’s getting a little more lift than that one,” she said.
“You’ll get used to it. It’s just like riding any other updraft,” Rainbow Dash reassured.
For a couple minutes Rainbow Dash flew forward, with Fluttershy flying a few feet behind and to her right. “This really is easy,” Fluttershy said gleefully.
“Great!” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m going to gain a little altitude and try a few slow turns. You follow me. We’ll take it nice and steady, like a little flock of ducks.”
Fluttershy signaled her with a hooves up.
For the next hour, a blue and a yellow speck flew high above Ponyville. They stayed in perfect formation, moving gracefully across a nearly-clear sky. Nopony on the ground paid them any mind. For all the open space surrounding them and the tiny houses dotting the ground below them, the pair flew alone.
At last, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed on a large puffy cloud.
“That was great. I needed a good fly,” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s take a little break here.”
She smoothed out two little patches of the cloud. They were slightly rounded inward. Rainbow Dash lay down in one and pointed a hoof at the other. “C’mon, have a rest.”
Fluttershy smiled and plopped herself down in the same patch as Rainbow Dash. “Oh, thank you,” she said, wriggling up next to her, and resting her head on her shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and sighed contentedly.
“Hey, Fluttershy, that’s not what I meant,” she protested. “I made you your own …”
She took a look at Fluttershy beside her, and stopped. She gently nuzzled Rainbow’s neck. A calm smile spread across Fluttershy’s face.
“Aww,” Rainbow Dash said as the same smile spread across her face.
She spread out a wing and tucked Fluttershy underneath it. Rainbow pulled her a little closer, and locked one of her forelegs with Fluttershy’s. She nuzzled her mane a little, and let out a relaxed sigh.
High in the sky above Ponyville, the two friends lounged on a cloud. They were seen by nopony on the ground, and by no other creature in the air. All alone, under a blue sunny sky, Rainbow Dash shared her warmth, her wing, and her heartbeat. And Fluttershy was warmed, was relaxed, and was loved.