Once upon a time there was a timid young filly named Fluttershy who lived in Cloudsdale, just a few blocks down the road from the Cloudeseum (and if you turned right into the alleyway just before her house you'd find yourself looking up at the weather factory and on lazy afternoons before Daddy got back from work Fluttershy would sometimes go there and just sit and watch the clouds as they puffed out of the big horn and quivered their way through the sky.) Though she was meek and mild, and always said her pleases and thank-yous even if nopony could hear her, Fluttershy hoped that one day she might become a singer. She dreamed of standing before hundreds of ponies as she hummed to herself, trotting around her room, and of how happy she might make them.
Fluttershy's favourite story in the whole world was the Tale of the Lonely Prince. Mummy read it to her every night before she went to bed, and her favourite part was when the Princess came and sang a song to the prince. Mummy would always sing it with her, and Fluttershy had learned the Prince’s part really well so that she could join in. And every night, when she got too excited from singing the song, Mummy would sing a lullaby to calm her down and it went
Hush now, quiet now
It’s time to lay your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now
It’s time to go to bed.
Mummy and Daddy were both very good at flying, but Fluttershy was not. She found it frightening to be held up only by her wings, and liked having her hooves on the cloud where she was safe. Flying was difficult and scary, so whenever Fluttershy needed to fly somewhere she would climb onto Mummy’s back, and say her pleases and thank-yous even though nopony could hear her, so that Mummy could carry her. Sometimes, Mummy was too tired to carry her and said that she was getting too big, so Daddy would pick her up and let out a sigh as she clambered around on his back.
Sometimes they would fly out to the picnic clouds at the edge of the city and Mummy would lay out a blanket so that the food didn’t get all soggy, and they would sit and laugh and eat together. Fluttershy liked those days best of all. There would always be a few little cakes with chocolate chips in them, and Daddy would always keep one aside just for her.
And sometimes they would take the blue blanket instead of the green one. The blue blanket was a much bigger blanket and whenever Mummy or Daddy got it out of the cupboard Fluttershy knew that they would be going for a picnic with the Rainbows. Rainbow Dash was a nice filly, and had a pretty, stripey mane with all the colours in it, but she was too loud, and she ate too many of the little cakes with chocolate chips in them, and she didn’t always say her pleases and thank-yous.
Fluttershy liked the days when they went for a picnic with the Rainbows because she got to play with Rainbow Dash, and she didn’t get to play with other fillies very often because the other fillies would fly away whenever she plucked up the courage to go and talk to them. It was mean of them to do that, because it took her a very long time before she was ready to say hi. Rainbow Dash wasn’t like the other fillies, though, and she was happy to talk with Fluttershy the whole way through lunch, describing all the wonderful things she’d seen that week. Fluttershy liked that. She could close her eyes and just listen.
Hush now, quiet now
Rest your wings and close your eyes.
Let sleep carry you,
And wave the world goodbye.
Rainbow Dash’s mummy and daddy were very different to Fluttershy’s. Daddy said that they had gotten married even though they didn’t love each other, and Fluttershy understood that. There wasn’t much point in marrying somepony if they were going to break your heart like the Lonely Prince’s evil fiancée did, so you were much better off just marrying somepony you liked. Fluttershy was going to marry Rainbow Dash one day, because Rainbow Dash was a nice filly, and had a pretty, stripey mane with all the colours in it, and maybe she could learn to be less loud, and leave some of the little cakes with chocolate chips in them, and say her pleases and thank-yous.
*
Fluttershy did not want to be at flight camp, but mother had said that she had to go. She was a big filly now, and big fillies went to flight camp. She was too big to ride on Mummy’s back, and even Daddy struggled to keep them both in the air. And if Fluttershy didn’t learn to fly, Daddy had asked, how was she ever to get anywhere?
But flying wasn’t getting her anywhere that walking couldn’t, and there were certainly a lot of places that Fluttershy couldn’t fly to but would be happy to walk to, like the picnic clouds or Foggy Fleece’s house. She didn’t quite understand why all the other foals were so excited to be flying here. It wasn’t fun, and she had to work really hard just to reach the lowest cloud-hoops.
Fluttershy tried again, hopping up into the air and flapping her wings with all her might. She could see the cloud-hoop in front of her (she had picked the lowest cloud-hoop she could find and asked one of the instructors if they could please move it over to the side of the training ground, thank-you, so that she could stay out of the sight of the other foals), floating just a few inches in front of her face. If she could just pull herself up a little higher…
“Hey, Klutzershy!”
She didn’t know why the colts called her that. It wasn’t her name, and it was very mean. She almost wished that they would go back to just ignoring her, just like they had all those years ago.
“What’s the matter, Klutzershy? Can’t reach the hoop?”
Fluttershy tried not to think about their taunts as she gently lowered herself to the clouds. Daddy had told her not to worry about the other foals if they made fun of her, and had said she was supposed to hold her head high and show them that she wasn’t afraid. But she was afraid. It was like the time that she asked if she could sing for everypony at the after-breakfast meetings last Tuesday and the adults talked among themselves for a little while and eventually said that yes, she could. And when she went up onto the stage to start singing, everypony went really quiet and their eyes were all on her but they all looked a little bored and when Fluttershy started singing one of them called out “sing louder!” and it had scared her because soon everypony was calling out that she was too quiet and she wasn’t even singing anymore and Fluttershy thought that maybe she didn’t want to be a singer when she grew up.
Fluttershy held her head up anyway, and said, “I find flying difficult. Please leave me to practice by myself.”
The colts giggled and wandered off. Fluttershy was sure they were muttering something under their breath, but she was glad to know that Daddy was right about the other foals. So long as she held her head high, everything would be alright. Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy bent her legs to try once more, and pushed herself up into the air. This time, she was sure she would clear it.
*
The first time that Fluttershy wanted to kiss Rainbow Dash was at Hearth’s Warming Dinner that year. She didn’t do it then, of course, because they were still eating and sat across from one another at the table, but she would when dinner ended. She would get up from her place and trot around the table, past Mummy and Daddy and Rainbow Dash’s mummy and daddy, and kiss Rainbow Dash on the cheek really quickly before she could get up and zoom off like she always did after dinner.
It had all started because she had started telling Rainbow Dash’s mummy and daddy all about the ground.
“Oh, no,” Mummy had said. “Fluttershy, please, not over Hearth’s Warming Dinner.”
“Oh come now, Sunny, let the filly tell her tale.” Rainbow Dash’s mummy leaned back in her chair and smiled. “I’m sure it will be very entertaining.”
Fluttershy had looked up at Mummy and tried to say please and thank-you with just her eyes. Mummy had sighed and nodded, and so Fluttershy told the Rainbows all about what it was like on the ground, and all about the bunnies and butterflies and all the other animal friends she had made, and everything was going well until she had said that she wanted to go down and live there some day. Rainbow Dash’s daddy laughed.
“That’s a lovely thought, Fluttershy,” he had said, “but the ground is simply no place for a pegasus like you. Don’t you want to stay up here in Cloudsdale, with your friends and family?”
And Fluttershy had said that the ground was actually really nice and that maybe they could all move down there together because she didn’t want to leave her family and friends behind. She liked the Rainbows, and she liked Rainbow Dash, and she liked Mummy and Daddy.
“No daughter of mine is going to live on the ground.”
Mummy had raised her voice when she said that. Mummy never had to raise her voice around Fluttershy because she was a good filly and always said her pleases and thank-yous, so it was scary when Mummy did that. She didn’t want to be a bad filly, she just wanted to live on the ground with the bunnies and the butterflies and all the other animal friends she had made.
“Really, Fluttershy, your mother just wants what’s best for you.” That was Rainbow Dash’s daddy. Fluttershy liked him. His name was Rainbow Blaze and he was always nice to Fluttershy, even when he laughed, and he would give her a little chocolate every time she went to visit. It was their little secret, he said, and she wasn’t supposed to tell Mummy or Daddy because they wouldn’t like her to be eating so many sweets. Fluttershy didn’t like keeping secrets from Mummy and Daddy, but she had promised not to tell and good fillies kept their promises.
“If Fluttershy wants to go and live on the ground,” said Rainbow Dash, “then so do I. I’m goin’ where she’s goin’.”
She remembered how Rainbow Dash had stood up for her when those mean colts had laughed and called her names, and she remembered the look on Rainbow Dash’s face at the time. It was the same look that was on her face when she said that. It was a bit of a scary look, but it made Fluttershy feel safe because it meant that Rainbow Dash was standing up for her, even if it was Mummy and Daddy and even if they were only being a little bit mean. And that was the moment that Fluttershy first wanted to kiss Rainbow Dash.
By the time dinner had ended, and the two fillies had been given their fair share of telling-off for their defiance, and they had eaten all the little cakes with chocolate chips in them, she had forgotten all about it.
*
"Yes," Fluttershy replies at last. "I remember."
Rainbow Dash laughs, chuckling to herself as she stretches out on the grass.
"You wanna hear something stupid, 'Shy?" she asks, her voice quiet and low beneath her rough-around-the-edges laugh. Fluttershy frowns, but nods, brushing her mane out of her eyes with a wisp of breath, that she might better see her oldest friend’s face.
“Sure,” she adds, quietly, when it is clear that Rainbow’s half-shut eyes aren’t looking her way.
“I always thought I was gonna grow up and marry you, and we’d be like mum and dad.”
Quiet words. They are meant to amuse, but beneath them is an uncomfortable warmth, a tone of embarrassment, like this isn’t just a reminiscence but a confession. And not for the first time, Fluttershy is struck with the overwhelming desire to kiss her friend. Just… kiss her. Nothing more and nothing less: the softest touch of lips on cheek, a fleeting contact of comfort and kindness.
“Sorry,” Rainbow says, filling the silence with unnecessary words. “That wasn’t cool. Forget I said anything.”
“If you want,” Fluttershy says. And then, after a while: “Rainbow Dash?”
A pause. Rainbow Dash opens her eyes a little, and looks up; she looks sleepy, but content, despite her worries about what she had said. And her raggedy, stripey mane was still beautiful.
“Yeah, ‘Shy?”
Another pause. She bites her lip, but then thinks better of it, for who would want to be kissed by a bitten lip? It takes less courage to say the words than she had imagined.
“May I kiss you? I mean, if you don’t mind. I just—”
A brush of lips on lips, a sigh of catharsis. A weight that Fluttershy hadn’t even known was resting on her shoulders slides gently off her back and falls flat upon the ground with a final, satisfying thud.
And that was all.