Fluttershy smiled as the sun started coming into view over the horizon. She waited in anticipation for the light to shine on the flower-filled garden in front of her. Each flower held one of the many colors of the rainbow, along with a butterfly that matched their colors.
As the sun illuminated the garden, the butterflies finished collecting their pollen and began flying into the skies. Fluttershy began humming an elegant tune as the multi-colored butterflies flocked together, almost forming an actual rainbow in the sky.
It was a sight Fluttershy wished she could share more often with a special friend. It didn’t have the same charm when she was alone. Yet, she kept that smile on her face as she watched those butterflies flying away.
It wasn’t long before the garden suddenly became empty. Fluttershy frowned when she realised she was all alone. The colors of the garden started to fade. All the happiness was leaving the garden.
An ice cold wave rushed along Fluttershy’s body while the world in front of her was vanishing into a void. She put a hoof in front of her, attempting to reach out for it, but to no avail. She wanted to call it back, but for some reason, she couldn’t speak words.
Suddenly, Fluttershy felt something strong and sharp latch onto one of her hind hooves. “AAHHH!” She leaped up in surprise, kicking her hoof out to toss whatever had so painfully latched onto her hoof. She looked around in desperation, trying to find her attacker.
But behind Fluttershy, standing in an endless void of nothingness, were her many small animal friends. She could only gasp in horror when she saw how different they were now.
Each animal was growling at her. Their drool slid along their gritted teeth, dripping onto the non-existent ground. Their glowing eyes narrowed and glared directly at Fluttershy’s hooves. They wanted her hooves, because she wouldn’t let them have them.
Fluttershy slowly stepped back, whimpering in fear of what those animals wanted. The animals slowly crept closer to her, glaring at her hooves with malice and lust. Fluttershy didn’t want to run from them though. She wanted to see their smiling faces again, but all she saw was their desire for her hooves.
One of the squirrels suddenly lunged forward, aiming for Fluttershy’s right forehoof. Fluttershy yelped as she lifted her forehooves off the ground, balancing on her hind legs and keeping her hooves away from the squirrel. But the squirrel immediately jumped after them, managing to latch around her right forehoof.
A sharp burn ran along her hoof like a rampant wildfire, causing her to scream in pain. Fluttershy attempted to pry the squirrel off, but at the same time, she didn’t want to hurt it. However, every time she tried to push it off with her left forehoof, it only caused the fiery feeling to increase on her right while her left suffered painful stabs coming from its fur.
“AAAHHHH!” A mouse latched onto her left forehoof, using unnatural strength as it squeezed her hoof with a vice-like grip. Fluttershy could feel her fetlocks cracking under the intense burns that these critters were giving to her. The unbearable pain caused her to lose her balance on her hind legs and fall backwards.
Her screams resonated even louder when she felt her hind hooves get latched onto. The fur from these creatures were so sharp to her, they stung her to the core. She couldn’t help but tear up at the pressure she was feeling.
Suddenly, Fluttershy was being pulled to a sitting position. There were a set of animals both in front of her and behind her. One set was pushing her while the other set pulled her hooves forward.
Fluttershy saw that an otter was in front of her, but her ears dropped when she noticed that this otter was very large. He wasn’t facing her though. He was facing away from Fluttershy to expose his back.
There were large lumps spreading all around the otter’s back, and even a few visible rashes. But what Fluttershy feared was the fur. A sparkle on the tip of each strand of that fur signified how sharp they were.
Fluttershy tried to retract her hooves, but the animals were forcing her hooves to move closer to that otter. The squirrel on her right forehoof started a chant which all of the animals joined in. Fluttershy understood that the chant was related to the massage she must give to this otter.
The large otter desperately needed a massage, but Fluttershy was too afraid to use her hooves for this. The animals didn’t care. She will use her hooves to massage this spined otter.
A few tears escaped Fluttershy. The pain she was feeling on all of her hooves was already making her whimper. The closer those animals forced her hooves to move to that otter, the more she winced, looking away while her form shivered.
But before they touched, something dashed right past and in between Fluttershy and the otter at the speed of light. The wind power that was generated from that streak blew roughly against all of the animals, causing them to get blown away. Even the giant otter was being blown away by that fierce wind as if it weighed as little as they did.
Somehow, Fluttershy wasn’t as affected by these winds. She was able to keep herself on the ground, but she slid slowly across it while the wind blew her mane roughly across her face. Even the animals that were attached to her hooves were unable to keep their grips and were pried off. The crushing pain was quickly leaving her as they were removed from her hooves.
Fluttershy had been dropped on her back with her limbs in the air before the wind had managed to settle. She was blocking her vision with her forehooves while she tried to get her timid shivering under control.. She was almost too scared to figure out what just happened, but when everything had settled down, she just had to look. Very hesitantly, she moved her hooves out of her face.
Fluttershy could see between her hind legs that something, or somepony, was slowly hovering a short distance in front of her.. The sight of this shadowy silhouette of a pegasus caused her to gasp as her heart beat suddenly increased.
The silhouette landed just in front of Fluttershy’s hind hooves that still hung in the air due to the startling moment. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide in shock, letting out a long extended sigh as she saw the silhouette suddenly regain its form and color.
For some reason, even though it reminded Fluttershy so much of it, she just couldn’t believe who was in front of her. It was Rainbow Dash, but it wasn’t just that. She had a majestic prismatic aura to her that Fluttershy’s heart warmed at the sight of. All of the fear that she was feeling before was suddenly leaving her right then and there.
Before Fluttershy could take in anymore, Rainbow Dash pulled out a cyan and yellow sock from behind her. She slowly walked up to one of the two hind hooves that Fluttershy still kept in the air.
Fluttershy’s mouth hung open as her breath sighed in awe at the sight. The closer Rainbow Dash got, the brighter that aura emitted to her. When Rainbow Dash came closer enough, she slowly slid that sock onto Fluttershy’s left hind hoof.
Everything went bright white from there on.
______________________________________________________________________________
Fluttershy’s eyes flicked open, returning to consciousness. Bright light immediately blinded her due to the sun’s reflection lighting up the room. She flinched, shutting her eyes as tight as she could to block out the light. She wasn't used to waking up to this much light all at once, so she attempted to move a hoof in front of her face to block out the worst of the glare.
But something was keeping her right forehoof at bay. In fact, it felt like something moving and wet was covering it. She slowly opened her eyes again to see what was on her hoof. The combination of bright sunlight and sleep made her vision blur to the point where she could not tell what the warm, slimy object was. After blinking a few times, her eyes were able to focus on what was covering her hoof.
It was then that Fluttershy had remembered that she hadn’t slept at her cottage that night. She was sleeping over with Rainbow Dash at her cloud mansion. She saw that Rainbow Dash’s mouth was what was wrapped around her yellow hoof, still making slurping motions that caused more saliva to soak it.
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide at the sight, making a squeak silently force its way out of her mouth. She wasn’t sure what she was more surprised by. The fact that her friend here was sucking on her hoof, or the fact that it hadn’t bothered her to the point she hadn’t noticed it.
But if that wasn’t enough of a close contact, Fluttershy could still feel a strong feathery wing that was under the covers and wrapped firmly around her body. Yesterday, she didn’t think anything of it, but now the contact was making her cheeks flush into a red hue because of how close it was.
Fluttershy didn’t want to wake her friend up, but she did want to get up herself. She hesitantly and carefully pulled her hoof back. Rainbow’s lips slid smoothly along Fluttershy’s hoof, leaving saliva to trail the surrounding fetlock as Fluttershy retracted it.
While this was happening, she remembered something else. Rainbow Dash had given her cyan socks with yellow stripes to wear on her hooves. She realized that at some point Rainbow Dash must have removed one of the socks Fluttershy was wearing, because she wasn’t wearing one on her right forehoof anymore. In fact, the sock was laying right next to her foreleg. However, the rest of her limbs were still wrapped in those comfortable socks.
Eventually, Fluttershy managed to remove her hoof from Rainbow’s mouth, leaving a bit of a sucking smooch upon removal. Fluttershy held still for a few seconds, hoping that Rainbow Dash wasn’t disturbed from her slumber.
Rainbow Dash’s snoring soon became apparent, indicating that she was still in a deep sleep. A wave of relief coursed through Fluttershy’s body as she let out a silent breath. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous, but she just didn’t want Rainbow Dash to wake up right now. She wasn’t even sure what she would say if Rainbow did wake up at the moment.
Fluttershy carefully slid her body along the bed, trying to slip away from the covers. But the wing that firmly wrapped around her body was preventing her from going very far. It was wrapped around her in a way that she couldn’t just slip out of it. Swallowing her nerves, Fluttershy moved a hoof towards the wing.
But then, Rainbow Dash started stirring in her sleep, releasing a moan in the middle of her snore. Fluttershy’s ears dropped as she felt the wing wrap slightly tighter against her body, somewhat attempting to bring her closer to Rainbow Dash. But the wing suddenly went limp after Rainbow settled down again.
Fluttershy bit the bottom of her lip. The wing around her body no longer seemed to hold grip, and Rainbow Dash was still snoring. She could have sworn Rainbow Dash was going to wake at that moment, or at least open an eye. But she didn’t.
Seeing no other responses, Fluttershy decided to continue sliding out of the embrace, having a much easier time due to the lack of grip. The cyan wing slid free of her body and allowed her to sit up. She gently bundled the covers up and pushed them towards Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy moved to the edge of the bed and let her hind legs dangle just above the cloud floor. She put her left forehoof on her chest as she settled her careful breathing under her aching heart. She just felt so weird being that close to Rainbow Dash right now, and she couldn’t understand why.
Fluttershy let out another sigh as she moved her right forehoof in front of her face. She examined the saliva coating her hoof, twisting it around to see and feel the effects as gravity pulled it down.
While Fluttershy was doing this, she thought about that dream. The thought of those animals ravaging her hooves pained her stomach, yet she wasn’t feeling any discomfort from her hoof being covered in saliva right now.
“Why did I have that dream?” Fluttershy silently asked herself as she shifted her gaze away from her hoof. Her eyes decided to wander around the bedroom.
The first thing that Fluttershy saw was a window just a few meters away from the bed, leading outside with no curtains to block out any light from the sun. She figured this was the reason why it was much brighter than she was used to when she woke up. There was a drawer next to the window and bed, and a stand with a cabinet on the other side of the bed. The room had pillars on the four corners of the room, probably supporting the clouds.
But the most notable thing right now was the Fluttershy shaped cloud that still stood in front of the bed. It seemed like Rainbow Dash had decided to leave it in the pose where it was feeding the mouse cloud.
“Oh... my...” Fluttershy decided to get up from the bed to have a closer look at it, walking despite one of her hooves being saliva coated. She checked multiple sides of the cloud pony, letting out a few giggles as she noticed how nicely it was designed. “This looks... adorable!”
But then, something about the cloud Fluttershy's appearance struck her as odd. She leaned in and examined the face. Fluttershy could see every eyelash, every line on her face. She turned around, lining up with the cloud copy. Fluttershy looked at their sides and saw every feather was in the correct location. She checked the cloud copy's mane, noticing that the length and style was a perfect match. Finally, Fluttershy checked the tail. She moved her own tail in front of her and near the cloud, matching up its design and length.
"S-she... even got the tail extension correct."
Besides the obvious white color, the appearance of the cloud pony was a perfect copy. Fluttershy's breath suddenly stopped as her eyes slowly shrank, a chill running up her spine while her feathers fluffed up. Strange thoughts began to surface, but she quickly shook her head. She didn't dare put a hoof on the cloud lest she risk deforming it, despite how unsettling such an accurate display felt. She backed away from the copy, twisting her tail like a knot as she attempted to clear her thoughts.
“I need to unwind.” Fluttershy took in a deep breath, holding it in before she let it out, attempting to calm her thoughts. “I can’t keep feeling distraught around Rainbow Dash like this. She’s a good friend.”
Fluttershy took another glance around the bedroom, looking for a certain door. There were only three doors in this bedroom and she already learned where two of them led. One led out to the halls of the mansion and one led to some kind of storage as far as she could tell.
The fact that this mansion’s interior kept changing didn’t help Fluttershy find her way around it. But since she already knew where the first two doors led, she could guess that the third one must have led into the washroom. She looked back to Rainbow Dash, who was still snoring on the bed. She then lifted her forehooves up to glance at them, more so glancing at her saliva covered hoof.
“Oh... I don’t want to wake her,” Fluttershy said to herself as she looked back to Rainbow Dash. “But... I hope she doesn’t mind.”
Fluttershy moved back to the bed. She used her teeth to slowly remove the sock from left forehoof, smiling as the smooth surface slid along her fetlock. The hairs on her body stood up as a soothing chill washed over the exposed hoof. She set the sock next to the other one near Rainbow Dash’s sleeping figure. Fluttershy's heart began pounding when she noticed how close to Rainbow Dash she was. She quickly shook her head and started walking towards the direction of the washroom.
Fluttershy wished that this feeling would go away, but at the same time, she wanted to be around Rainbow Dash more often.