//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Cloud Mansion Mechanisms // Story: Trials of a Fillyfooler // by Skylight77 //------------------------------// Fluttershy gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She ignored the messy mane atop her head and instead focused on her cyan eyes, hoping that answers would lay somewhere deep in them. Fluttershy took a deep breath as she thought things over. “Why do my hooves feel so sensitive when my animals touch them?” Fluttershy asked her reflection. She lifted her right forehoof in front of her face, examining the saliva that still coated it. “But when Rainbow Dash touches them, it doesn't bother me...” Thinking of Rainbow Dash made her heart beat faster, threatening to nearly leap from her chest. Fluttershy took a deep breath, slowly putting a hoof to her chest in hopes that it would slow down. “Is that dream trying to tell me-” Fluttershy shook her head to recollect her thoughts. She didn’t want to finish that sentence. “No, I’m just overreacting. This only started happening yesterday.” Fluttershy turned her attention away from the sink to look to the blue curtains of the bath clouds. “There’s no need to think about it now.” She sat her body down so that she could lay on her back. “All I need right now is a good bath, and everything will be fine.” Setting herself up, Fluttershy lifted her hind legs closer to her so that she could remove those socks. She slowly slid one of them off, getting a feel of that soft material rubbing along her fetlocks before they came off. She removed the other one as well with the same feeling. A refreshing cold wave of air coursed around her hind hooves as she let them rest on the cloud floors for a while. Fluttershy smiled at the sight and feelings of her hind hooves being exposed like this. Kicking them up one by one caused her to giggle. These socks were strangely wonderful if it made her feel like this. “I wonder what else Rainbow Dash could-” Fluttershy flinched at the thought, trying to distract herself from continuing it. Getting herself back on track, she picked herself up, moved the cloud curtains aside, and closed them after going inside. “Hmm?” But the inside didn’t hold a bath tub. It held an entire shower room. “Oh my... there sure is a lot of room in here...” Fluttershy took a moment to walk around the shower room to examine it. It was just a large open cube-like space of different colored clouds. The walls were purely white, the ground held a blue tint, and the ceiling was grey like storm clouds. “This is almost like the shower rooms back in flight school. But why would Rainbow Dash need all this space?” She turned her head back and forth as she thought out loud. “It looks like you could fit four ponies in here. But, where’s the faucet?” Fluttershy stopped her pacing around the area she thought was the front. She looked up and down the cloud walls, seeing no faucets anywhere. “Is this a shower? Hmm…” Taking a closer look at the wall, she saw three lined circles side by side of different colors. The left circle was red, the middle was grey, and the right was blue. “Maybe this is how?” Fluttershy moved a hoof to touch against the red circle. The circle seemed to match her hoof size, but no response was made when she pressed against it. From what she could tell from Rainbow Dash’s actions, one would need to strike with enough force in order to activate clouds. So Fluttershy put some effort into her hoof to strike the red circle. In response, the storm cloud above released a torrent of boiling water. “AHH!” The rain pouring down on her back felt like she had just jumped into a bonfire. She instinctively jumped backwards in hopes of getting away, but failed to land correctly and fell flat on her back against the cloud floor while the scalding hot water continued to sizzle her body. There was no escaping the rain pouring inside the room. Thick steam covered Fluttershy’s vision as the cloud below absorbed all the water. For some reason, the rain stopped pouring almost as soon as it came, not only washing the saliva from her hoof, but also leaving her entire coat red like she had sat out in the sun all day. “Nngh... okay... that was a bad idea,” Fluttershy groaned in a higher pitch. She held her breath and shut her eyes tightly. She rolled onto her belly, picked herself up and waited for the pain to arrive. Slowly, it dawned upon her that her body wasn’t in any pain besides the burning. She spread her wings and gave them a flap to see how they fared. No physical pain. A fall like that would normally have given her injuries that would take hours or days to heal. But tripping here was no different than falling on, well, clouds. No wonder Rainbow Dash loved them so much. Fluttershy walked back to the circles, taking her gaze towards the grey one. “Ooh… m-maybe I should try this one?” Fluttershy lifted a shivering hoof towards it. She wasn’t sure if she could handle another burning moment like that. Summoning up her courage, she looked away as she struck the grey circle. The ceiling cloud started pouring water again, causing Fluttershy to flinch when it rained down on her coat. But this time, the water was warm, restoring her coat to its yellow form. Fluttershy sighed in relief as the rain refreshed her spirits. The rain didn’t stop pouring instantly this time. It kept running. She could only guess that these clouds were run on timers, or she accidentally kicked the red circle while she was jumping away. But then something else caught her mind. She looked around the shower room, her ears dropping when she searched. “...Does Rainbow Dash have soap in here?” She tried checking the corners of the room, finding no shelves or bottles. She even tried looking past the cloud curtains for any soap on the sink’s counter. Nothing. Fluttershy retracted her body back inside. Her pupils shrank when the unnerving thought came to her mind. “D-does Rainbow Dash not use soap when she showers...?” Fluttershy put a hoof to her muzzle as this realization struck her mind. “Oh my…” She wasn’t sure what to think of her friend anymore. All she could do was just soak her body with water now, trying to clear her mind. ______________________________________________________________________________ After Fluttershy had spent some time scrubbing herself in the shower, she pressed her hoof against the grey circle to turn off the clouds. It was the only thing she could guess to do that would stop the rain. She shook her body rapidly to expel most of the water soaking her coat. When she was satisfied, she exited the shower room. Fluttershy found that the towels were on a towel rack near the sink. She took two of them to wrap around her tail and her mane. “Mmm… is there a brush around here?” Fluttershy opened one of the sink’s drawers to search, only to find no brush. She closed it and opened another one, holding the same results. However, the third drawer clicked when she opened it. “AAHHH!” Strong winds blew against her body, attempting to blow her away. Fluttershy gripped her hooves against the sink’s counter to stop herself, but the towels were pried off her body. The wind attempted to pry her mane off with them as well. Fluttershy gritted her teeth as her lips stretched backwards. She put all the strength she could muster into pulling her body towards the sink so that she could close the drawer that set off the wind. When she got close enough, she managed to push it closed. The wind settled quickly. Fluttershy was able to stand her hind legs on the ground while her forelegs rested on the counter. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she opened her eyes to look at her reflection in the mirror. Fluttershy blinked hard to make sure she was seeing herself correctly. Her mane’s style had changed to a natural overhead flow due to the wind. She twisted her head around, smiling as she looked at other sides of her hair. The mane style was very similar to Rainbow Dash's, causing her to giggle. “This reminds me of when I had to paint myself to look just like Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy thrusted her head from side to side as she reminisced on that day. “Oh, Rainbow, you even taught me how to mimic your movements in such a short time.” She continued to giggle as she relished on how tossing her head back and forth felt on her mane. “Zoom! Zoom! Zoo-” “Ahem.” Fluttershy yelped in response, kicking her limbs against the counter and nearly planting her face on the ground. After regaining her balance, she looked to the washroom’s opened door to find Rainbow Dash standing there, staring at her with half-lidded eyes. Fluttershy gave a sheepish smile, giggling embarrassingly at Rainbow Dash’s disapproving look. She tried to hide her face by moving her tail in front of her and lifting it with her hooves. “U-um… g-good morning…?” Fluttershy asked, not sure what to do. Rainbow Dash responded by reaching under one of her wings, pulling out a brush, and tossing it to Fluttershy. “You’re not gonna find the brush in there,” Rainbow Dash said as Fluttershy caught the brush in her hooves, making her drop her tail. While she was looking at the brush, Rainbow Dash walked right by her. Fluttershy gasped when Rainbow’s tail brushed along her face, causing a sudden warmth to rush along her body. It brought the image of the rainbow trail that had saved her during the dream. She wasn’t sure if Rainbow Dash did that on purpose or not. But after regaining her senses, she realized where Rainbow Dash was going. “Wait…” Fluttershy said as she lifted a hoof towards Rainbow Dash. The sound of her voice made Rainbow’s head bop up as she froze in her tracks so suddenly. “Um… should we both be in here at the same time?” Rainbow Dash glanced her head towards Fluttershy. She could barely see Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrow. “We don’t wear clothes, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said in an annoyed tone. Fluttershy shrank back at the response. “Oh… um…” Fluttershy could only blush when her words failed her. She decided to look away so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself even further. She could hear Rainbow Dash entering the showers. She decided to bring her attention back to the brush Rainbow gave her. Turning to the mirror, she used the brush to style her mane back to the way it used to be. But in the middle of doing this, Fluttershy noticed Rainbow’s silhouette from behind the cloud curtains scrubbing herself. But what caught her interest was how she could notice suds forming due to the scrubbing. “Oh…” Fluttershy looked away with a frown. Apparently Rainbow Dash did use soap. She didn’t even see Rainbow Dash come with any, so where it was, she couldn’t tell. But that wasn’t what was important to her now. “I gotta stop making these assumptions.” Fluttershy shook her head, going back to brushing her mane. “I’m being such a terrible friend right now.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy exited the washroom after fixing her mane to its usual style, carrying a pair of socks with her. Rainbow Dash had told her to just set the socks on her bed, so she walked over to where the other two socks had laid and set them down with them. Fluttershy rubbed a hoof along those socks, getting a feel for how smooth they felt. It felt so wonderful on her hooves when she was wearing them, that it was making her think of getting a set for herself. “If you want, I can give you a set of those socks for you to take home with you,” Rainbow Dash said across the room, answering Fluttershy’s train of thought. But Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk at the thought of the answer. Looking back to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy responded, “Oh, Rainbow Dash, I-I couldn’t do that. You’ve already done-” Before Fluttershy finished, Rainbow Dash had zipped inside the storage room. Seconds later, Rainbow Dash came back with a set of four socks wrapped in one bag. “Just think of it as a gift from me,” Rainbow Dash said proudly as she gave the bag to Fluttershy. Fluttershy took the bag in her hooves, examining the socks inside. They were similar to the previous ones, but decorated with two shades of cyan, the stripes being darker. “Oh, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy felt guilty about accepting this gift. She couldn’t turn the offer down now, so she had to think of something in return. “I know!” Her ears perked when an idea registered to her. “Since I’m here, why don’t I cook breakfast for you?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed to a glare at Fluttershy’s response, making Fluttershy shrink. “Hey!” Fluttershy squeaked when Rainbow Dash shouted and lunged forward, knocking Fluttershy backwards and pinning her to the floor. “This is my house!” She tried to put her hooves in front of her face, but Rainbow Dash’s face was in the way and pressing hers down. “Only I get to make the offers here!” Fluttershy whimpered in fear while her head continued being pushed to sink deeper into the clouds. “Got it?!” Fluttershy shakily nodded her head in response, despite it being buried. Rainbow Dash retracted her head back, allowing Fluttershy’s to return to the surface. But before she could catch her breath, Rainbow Dash’s hooves pressed on her sides, lifting her up as Rainbow Dash flew in the air. “But, you can help me cook breakfast,” Rainbow Dash said, bopping Fluttershy’s nose with a smile. “How does that sound?” It was then that Fluttershy was able to get a close view of Rainbow Dash’s eyes. The sight of them caused her wings to flap with Rainbow Dash’s as her spirits lifted. But the feeling was both frightful and comforting, like she was being held high above the clouds with no ground in sight. If Rainbow Dash were to let her go, she would fall through the clouds and her wings wouldn't be able to save her. Only Rainbow Dash would be able to catch her before she hit the ground. Fluttershy turned her head away so that she could avoid looking at those magenta eyes. It felt like that was the only way to make the aching feeling go away. “U-um…” Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to respond when Rainbow’s earlier question finally registered. The sudden events made her feel like she didn’t have a choice anymore. Sometimes Rainbow Dash’s actions just really terrified her. But she knew Rainbow Dash meant no harm in them. It was just the way she did things. Before Fluttershy could come up with a response, Rainbow Dash was scrunching her face. It looked like she was… sniffing? She moved her snout to one of her forelegs, giving a few whiffs before moving it close to Fluttershy’s face and doing the same. “Did you not use soap?” All of the color on Fluttershy's face disappeared at that moment. If she had the option, she would hide her head back under those clouds and just leave it there. “I’ll just ignore that. Come on let’s go.” Rainbow Dash let her grip go and wrapped one hoof on Fluttershy’s, pulling her to fly out of the bedroom. Fluttershy didn't even try to respond to the sudden motion. She was too embarrassed to say anything. She just allowed herself to be dragged through the air. ______________________________________________________________________________ “Ready, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash positioned her hooves both on a stop clock on the kitchen counter, and on the handle of her fridge. She awaited Fluttershy’s confirmation. Fluttershy was in a similar ready position as Rainbow Dash, but on a stove’s timer and handle instead. She was a bit shaken up because, well due to earlier, Rainbow Dash shaked Fluttershy's body repeatedly to get her to respond. She had to literally shake the embarrassment Fluttershy was feeling out of her. “Ready,” Fluttershy respond anyway. The shake up was nothing compared to the embarrassment. “Go!” Rainbow Dash started the timer on the clock with Fluttershy turning the stove on immediately after. Rainbow opened the fridge, pulling out a bag of hay bacon, taking two strips out and tossing them to Fluttershy. Fluttershy caught both strips using a pan, placing the pan on the stove afterwards, causing them to sizzle nice and loudly. Then, Rainbow Dash removed two corncobs, tossing them straight to Fluttershy, but this time a little higher. Fluttershy tossed two eating sticks in the air, allowing them to pierce into the corncobs and land on an active grill that rolled its contents around. Fluttershy went to the cabinets and picked out two cups with straws, tossing them to the table. In the middle of the tossing, Rainbow Dash picked out a few other items from the fridge, closed it, and dashed on towards the cups. She passed right through them, filling them with a sports drink and an orange juice. Her precision flying made the cups land perfectly on the table. The process was so quick that to anypony else, it would just be a blur that passed right through. Fluttershy used a spatula to flip the hay bacons over while Rainbow Dash went to the other side of the kitchen, picking out plates. Fluttershy then hit the handle of the pan, causing the bacons to be thrown towards the table. Rainbow Dash caught both strips in separate plates and threw them on the table, making them land on opposite sides. Fluttershy then used the spatula to pick up the corncobs and tossed them towards the table again, but higher and more separated. Rainbow Dash opened the other box she took out of the fridge and smacked it from its underside, causing two blobs of butter to go flying up. They each landed on top of separate corns, making them spin around and kill their momentum. When they stopped spinning, both corncobs fell and landed perfectly on opposite plates. Rainbow Dash finished all of this by rushing to the timer. “Time!” she yelled as she stopped it. Fluttershy walked to Rainbow Dash when the timer stopped, making sure the stove and grill were off. She could see a grin plastered on Rainbow’s face when she was examining the timer. “Aw yeah! Seventeen point three seconds. That beats our old record of eighteen point one.” Fluttershy could only giggle at Rainbow Dash’s display of competition. “You know, it’s not like there’s a record for speed cooking,” Fluttershy said. Rainbow Dash waved her hoof. “Yeah yeah, I know. But if there was one, we could totally win it! Don’t you think?” Rainbow Dash withdrew a clipboard that listed all of the records of their speed cooking, which wasn’t very long. Fluttershy couldn’t exactly answer Rainbow’s question. All she did was giggle with a happy sigh. ______________________________________________________________________________ The two pegasi friends sat at opposite ends of the table, eating and enjoying their breakfast. It wasn’t as good as the ones prepared at Fluttershy’s cottage, but it was satisfying enough. Food always tasted better when they were cooked slowly, but that was something Rainbow Dash wasn’t into. She would rather cook them fast to start her day sooner, otherwise her boredom would cause the food to get burnt. While speed cooking wasn’t Fluttershy’s thing, she had to admit, it did have their advantages at times. Not to mention it was a lot of fun to do. Fluttershy was suddenly losing her appetite. The thought that Rainbow Dash brought a lot of excitement in her life was making her feel tingly in her stomach. She thought about all those times Rainbow’s influence has affected her over the years. It was because of her best friend that she found enjoyment in activities she thought she’d never do. She could not express how joyful she was when she succeeded at helping Ponyville with Tornado Duty. Activities like that eventually led her to participate in the Equestria Games without fear. If it hadn’t been for Rainbow Dash, she would never have found the joy in participating in events such as that. She would always just shy away from them otherwise. Fluttershy’s train of thought was interrupted by a strange feeling on her hooves. It wasn’t the tingling she was feeling, it was something else, something she thought she imagined before. “Fluttershy? You okay?” Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted again, but this time by Rainbow’s voice. Her eyes switched away from her food and towards her friend. “S-sorry… I-I just… um…” Fluttershy nervously rubbed her hind hooves together, eliminating that strange feeling. Things went silent again after Fluttershy looked away. She couldn’t come up with a proper response. She felt like she just really wanted to leave right now, but she already felt like she was being a terrible friend as is, and leaving a meal they cooked together would enhance that blow. “Fluttershy, can I ask you something?” The sound of Rainbow’s voice caused her stomach to drop. “H-huh? Uh… I mean… yes?” Fluttershy managed to respond rather awkwardly, but Rainbow Dash paid no mind to that. “H-how do you feel… about being hoof fed?” Rainbow asked while scratching the back of her head. The question caught Fluttershy off guard and she twitched back. “H-hoof fed?” she asked. “Well… you’re not eating, so…” Fluttershy slumped down in her seat and sighed when Rainbow said that. “Is it because of your hooves again?” That response allowed Fluttershy’s attention to shift back to her friend, a lock of her mane hiding an eye. “I… guess so…” Fluttershy wasn’t so sure if that was the reason for her loss of appetite, but it was the only conclusion she could come to. “Well, like I said,” Rainbow Dash started as she left her seat to walk to Fluttershy’s side. “You just gotta get used to it. Just fly forwards and enjoy the feeling. As long as you’re not showing that to anypony else.” Rainbow Dash soon reached Fluttershy’s side and placed a hoof on her shoulder, making her feel warmer at the contact. “But… I’m talking to you about it… aren’t I?” she asked, looking to Rainbow Dash with a covered eye. “*Sigh*, don’t take everything too literally…” Rainbow Dash responded. She proceeded to grab one of the corncobs from Fluttershy’s plate onto her hoof. She motioned it to Fluttershy’s mouth, edging her on. Fluttershy gulped nervously, not sure what to think about this. Would this really help her eat? The way the corn was presented to her made her feel like a filly again. Yet, her body yearned to just feed off the hoof. With hesitance, Fluttershy moved her mouth forward, taking a slow bite out of her untouched corn. Her munching of the corn brought a smile to Rainbow’s face. Those magenta eyes brought a warmth to her stomach, comforting her appetite. After swallowing, she took another bite out of the corn, this time bigger. Neither of their wings were flaring from this exchange, but Fluttershy repeated this process while Rainbow Dash brought her hoof closer the further she fed off of it. When the corn was reaching its end, it almost looked like Rainbow’s expression was changing. Maybe she was just imagining it. After a few repeats, the corn finished, leaving a few crumbs still on Rainbow’s hoof. Fluttershy brought her head back, gulping down the remains of the corn and leaving her face with a smile. “So... did you feel anything?” Rainbow asked. “Well… my appetite’s feeling better,” Fluttershy replied. "Thank you." "Uh... sure..." Rainbow hesitated, still holding her hoof out. "But did you feel anything else?" Fluttershy wasn't so sure how to respond to that. "...Was I supposed to?" she asked anyway, making Rainbow Dash put her hoof down. "Nevermind..." Rainbow turned around and started walking back to her side of the table. She looked a little disappointed for some reason. Fluttershy's stomach was getting upset again at the sight. It made her feel like she had done something wrong. But as Rainbow Dash was walking to her side of the table, she suddenly stopped and looked back at Fluttershy. "Actually, why don't you try?"