//------------------------------// // Summer // Story: The Birds Sang for Her // by HoofBitingActionOverload //------------------------------// Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash returned together to the clearing in Whitetail Woods on a hot, sunny summer afternoon. It was Rainbow Dash who led Fluttershy this time, cantering ahead of her, having long since memorized the path. They had returned to the clearing dozens of times since that first trip just two months before. Just two months! Fluttershy giggled as she stepped over a knot of flowers and watched Rainbow Dash, just ahead of her, her marefriend’s wings flaring and unflaring excitedly as she trotted between trees. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she really believed that only two months before she had fretted and worried over how and whether to tell Rainbow Dash how she felt. Rainbow Dash swung around suddenly and kissed Fluttershy on the lips, as if having read Fluttershy’s mind and to highlight the difference between then and now, before swinging back forwards in the same motion and continuing on ahead. Fluttershy giggled again and tripped. It had been exactly what she had always hoped for, more than what she had always hoped for, and completely different than she had always hoped for, all at the same time, and it certainly hadn’t felt like only two months. She and Rainbow Dash seemed to have already made up for all the lost years. To Fluttershy’s surprise, it had been Rainbow Dash who drove their relationship forward. Rainbow had leapt into love with the same thrilling enthusiasm and overwhelming excitement with which she leapt into aerial somersaults and piles of hay fries at the Hayburger. It was Rainbow who visited the cottage nearly every day and stayed through the night, and who pulled Fluttershy along with her on picnics and hikes and practices, and who brought Fluttershy out on what must have already been a hundred dinners and shows, and who brought Fluttershy little gifts and bouquets every other day. Fluttershy already couldn’t imagine a time when Rainbow Dash wasn’t always a kiss and a nuzzle away. Fluttershy hadn’t spent nearly as much time with her animal friends, or any of her friends. She hated to neglect them, but she loved the unbelievable attention Rainbow Dash gave her. She hoped they would all understand how long she had waited for this, and allow her to be selfish for just a little while longer. Rainbow Dash sidled up beside Fluttershy and slid a wing across her back and down her flanks, breaking her from her reverie. Fluttershy felt her face go warm, and Rainbow Dash winked and nipped her ear and then grinned and laughed and jumped ahead. Watching Rainbow Dash hop between the trees and somersault over and under branches and call to Fluttershy to hurry up, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel that she had been swept up into one of Rainbow Dash’s flying tricks. It felt as if Rainbow Dash had plucked her off the ground and hoisted her high up into the air. Held in Rainbow Dash’s hooves, Fluttershy raced over the treetops and through loop-de-loops and tore apart clouds and flipped upside down, and it was exhilarating and incredible and overwhelming and terrifying all at the same time. Fluttershy suddenly noticed that she couldn’t see Rainbow anymore. She paused and looked about, but didn’t see any hint of blue wings among the trees. She ran forward to catch up with her marefriend. The only thing more frightening than being swept up into one of Rainbow Dash’s tricks would be to be left alone on the ground again. She heard the branches above her rustle, and something grabbed her from behind. Rainbow Dash’s raspy, excited voice yelled, “Gotcha!” in her ear, and suddenly Fluttershy’s thoughts became reality. Rainbow Dash’s hooves squeezed tight around Fluttershy’s chest, and Rainbow’s strong wings shoved the air all around them down to the ground, and they rose rapidly up into the air together. They sped through trees and swung around branches. Leaves slapped Fluttershy in the face and her stomach churned with each of Rainbow Dash’s twists and turns, and then they were above the trees. In every direction, all Fluttershy saw was the vibrant green of the treetops, already quickly receding as Rainbow Dash carried her higher. Rainbow Dash’s wings beat furiously by Fluttershy’s sides, and Fluttershy felt Rainbow’s heavy, excited breath in her mane. Soon, all the trees below seemed to merge into one great green mass, and still they rose higher. Far to one side, Fluttershy saw little Ponyville, and far to another, the low stormclouds of the Everfree Forest, and far and away the tall north mountains. They rocketed into dewy clouds, where water droplets collected on Fluttershy’s feathers, and then they shot back out the other side and above the clouds, too. The air grew cold, and looking down all Fluttershy saw were the white tops of the clouds, like a great, wispy carpet rolled out far beneath them, and Rainbow Dash abruptly released her grip around Fluttershy, and Fluttershy fell. Fortunately, Fluttershy’s wings spread by instinct and caught her. She rolled out into an easy glide and looked up to scold Rainbow. But Rainbow Dash was already upon her. Still grinning, Rainbow nuzzled her neck and cheek, and all of Fluttershy’s upset feelings were forgotten. Fluttershy met Rainbow Dash in the open air and returned her caress. But Rainbow flapped her wings again and hopped away from her, rising higher. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Fluttershy. Fluttershy caught the meaning and pumped her own wings, and followed after her marefriend. She reached Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash swung underneath and then beside her and then up, and they flew upwards together at a gentle pace. Fluttershy’s world was nothing but Rainbow Dash and blue. The blue was everything and everywhere, above her and to every side, and appeared infinitely vast. She flew with Rainbow Dash up through the unfathomably deep and distant blue, and it was only them, and they criss-crossed over and under each other, brushing their wings against each other in loving little touches. Rainbow Dash swooped underneath her and playfully nipped at the inside of Fluttershy’s legs. She immediately swept away from Fluttershy again and turned and stuck her tongue out at Fluttershy, and flew quickly up and away. Fluttershy smiled and gave chase. She beat her wings and pushed herself faster and higher, towards Rainbow. Rainbow laughed and flew higher, and Fluttershy beat her wings ever harder to catch up. But when Fluttershy came near her, Rainbow sped up and flew further away. And then Fluttershy approached her again, and Rainbow Dash easily sped away from her, and then it happened again and again and again. No matter how many times Fluttershy drove herself within reach of her marefriend, Rainbow Dash could still slip quickly away. The winds had gotten stronger, and blew more fiercely the higher they went. Fluttershy, not used to flying against the wind, had to work harder and harder to keep from being thrown out of the sky. And the cold had deepened, seeping through her coat and down into her muscles, and Fluttershy’s every breath came out as white mist. The light blue around them had turned a strange, pseudo-dusk of dark, deep blue. Worst of all, Rainbow was still getting ever further away from her. Rainbow called back to her to catch up, and Fluttershy strove to fly harder, but she knew it was hopeless. Fluttershy never could, never would fly as fast or as high as Rainbow Dash. She realized then that she would never be able to reach her. Even when they were together, Rainbow Dash would soon be out of reach again. Fluttershy strained to push herself higher, as high as she could possibly go. But a heavy wind rushed down and into her, and she strained against that, too, but her wings were tired and sore. Fluttershy knew she had already reached a point where she would never be able to fly down to the ground without help, but still she strove to go higher, past all the pain, no matter how hopeless it was, to be with Rainbow that short while. Just as Fluttershy’s wings gave out and she began to sink into the ocean-sky of dusk, Rainbow Dash shot back down towards her from the dark blue above and caught Fluttershy in her hooves. Rainbow Dash whispered, softly this time, “Gotcha.” Fluttershy relaxed and let her wings go limp, safe in Rainbow Dash’s embrace. She rested her muzzle against Rainbow’s neck, feeling her marefriend’s warm heartbeat there. Rainbow Dash relaxed, too, and folded her wings around Fluttershy. They fell together. Tumbling in freefall, gripping and feeling each other with their hooves, their bodies plummeted and spun and pressed to each other, and the wind tore at their manes and their limbs and they rushed together in a wild dance through the sky, out of control and at the mercy of the world. But Fluttershy didn’t care, didn’t feel any fear. For in that moment, in spite of the wind trying to tear them apart, she and Rainbow Dash fell together. As wild and out of control as she was, she was finally with Rainbow Dash. She held on tight to Rainbow Dash, tighter than she had ever held onto anything, for she knew the fall would not last, and that made every moment incalculably precious. She was suddenly glad for the relentless wind that ripped the tears from her eyes as soon as they appeared, so Rainbow would never see them. They went from cold to cool and through the wet clouds and then from warm to hot. They passed through tufts of leaves, and then Rainbow Dash flared her wings, and all at once they slowed. Rainbow Dash gently lowered Fluttershy down to the forest floor, and lay her on the soft grass. Their bodies were still joined, and Fluttershy’s ran her hooves through Rainbow’s mane, and Rainbow caressed Fluttershy’s sides with her wings. With Rainbow Dash’s lips on her neck, Fluttershy knew, for that day at least, that they were in rhythm together.