//------------------------------//
// Escalation 
// Story: A Not Quite So Daring Dash 
// by darbselah 
//------------------------------//

	Fluttershy blinked at the assaulting sunlight coming from the open window. “You’d think Dash would have her bed in a different spot,” she thought, closing her eyes tightly against the offending light. She looked down in her arms and smiled softly at the Pegasus cosied up against her. At some point during the night Rainbow had turned towards her and was curled up in a tight little ball. “She looks so small and defenceless right now,” she though, pulling the cyan Pegasus closer in a protective manner. She laid there for a bit longer, knowing she should get up but combating the idea. 
In the end, the sun won the battle. She leaned forward and, before she could think about it much, placed a gentle kiss on the sleeping pony’s forehead. A slight smile appeared on the slumbering Pegasus as Fluttershy carefully pulled a hoof from under her bed mate. She gingerly slipped off the bed, careful to not wake her friend, and silently crept into the bathroom. After a quick shower and a touch up she made her way to the kitchen to make some breakfast for the two of them. 
She was able to find some strawberries, that needed to be used, oats, flour, and eggs as she went to work making waffles and humming a happy tune.


=+=+=+=


The delicious smell of cooking woke Rainbow kindly.  “Mmmm, that smells great,” she said aloud, a smile forming under still closed eyes. Rolling out of bed she felt happy, as happy as she had in recent memory, ready to face the world and not be rolled over by it. She walked into the bathroom and splashed water, from the sink, on her face and mane. She looked at the reflection of a confident and spirited weather pony smiling back at her. Somehow she knew today was going to be a great day and couldn’t hold back a silly laugh feeling pure contentment in her heart.
She practically Pinky-hopped into the kitchen and couldn’t resist pulling a surprised but delighted butter-colored mare into a huge hug. 
“Good morning, Flutters!” The welcome transformation from the mood last night shocked the smaller Pegasus and Rainbow laughed at the wide-eyed smile she received. “Wow, breakfast smells amazing,” she put a hoof around her friend. “You are spoiling me.”
The ground loving pony smiled back. “No, it’s not a big deal. I just know if I don’t make you breakfast you’ll end up eating donuts or cream cheese covered bagels. So I decided some fresh fruit waffles, oats, and eggs would be better. Besides,” she added, “the strawberries were about to turn.”
“Haha, you’re probably right, thanks,” she confessed as she started collecting the dishes from last night and after rinsing them, put them in the cloud dishwasher. They then settled down to a delightful breakfast.
“So, umm, do you have work today?” Fluttershy asked between bites. 
“Nope, off today,” she took a large bite of waffle. “Oh my gosh, this is great! Seriously, you should open a restaurant Shy.”
Fluttershy blushed at the compliment. “So, what are your plans today?”
“I hadn’t really thought it through. Maybe we could spend today together," she suggested.
“I would love to, but I do have a spa appointment with Rarity later. Would you like to come along?” she asked hopefully.
Rainbow balked at the idea. “I don’t know Shy, not really my thing.” She wanted to hang out with her favorite filly, but the spa seemed like the opposite of a good time. Rainbow didn’t know why but the thought of Fluttershy leaving, even if just for a while, had a seriously adverse effect on her, formerly seeming unshakable, good mood. 
“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. Obviously Rainbow had let how mood change show on her face. “Rainbow,” she started again carefully, “what’s going on?”
She really didn’t know how to answer, she wasn’t sure she even knew the answer.  Just the thought of being left alone with her thoughts tore her up inside. She felt a sudden anger toward the inquisitive pony sitting across from her and then felt confused as to where the anger came from. “Nothing,” she said more harshly than she meant to. She felt bad seeing her soft-spoken friend flinch. “Just... nothing,” a little softer this time. She stared at her food not wanting to look into those all-too-caring eyes. She couldn’t say why, but she just didn’t want to see all the worry in those big blue orbs. 
Fluttershy fidgeted with her fork for a moment before continuing. “Well, you should really consider coming Rainbow. It’s super relaxing and you already said you weren’t working today, not to mention you wanted to spend the day with me, and...” she reddened slightly, “I want you to spend the day with me as well.” 
Rainbow looked up at this, seeing the pleading, worried eyes was too much for her.  “Fine,” she let out an exaggerated sigh, “we’ll go to the spa.” The other mare clapped with her excitement.
“Great, Dashie, I’m so excited.” 
Rainbow rolled her eyes, not truly as upset as she pretended to be.


=+=+=+=


Fluttershy was ecstatic that she had convinced Dash to join her and Rarity at the spa. Not that she really thought that Dash would particularly enjoy the spa, but she was hoping that with Rarity’s help she’d be able to get Rainbow to open up a little more and maybe let her know what was really going on.
“Alright, Dashie, I’ve gotta head home real quick and make sure the animals are all taken care of. We’ll meet at the spa in a couple of hours, okay?”
“K, sounds good.” 
It was plain to see the weather pony was still having doubts so Fluttersy decided to throw her a bone. “Hey, Rainbow, afterwards would you like to come to my place and bring your book? We could read some more,” she offered.
Rainbow seemed to perk up at the idea and hurriedly said her goodbyes. Once outside Fluttershy did her best impression of her speedy friend, flying to her home as fast as possible. If she could get the animals taken care of and get to Rarity’s before they headed to the spa she could fill Rarity in on Rainbow Dash’s state of mind. She hoped Rarity would have some ideas as to how to get Rainbow to share her real feelings.
She was a little surprised and really impressed on how quickly she was alighting on the ground near the porch of her cosy critter cottage. Her countenance rapidly changed as she noticed the little white bunny standing on the porch, arms crossed, tapping his foot with obvious irritation. She felt a pang of guilt for neglecting Angel and the other animals over the last couple of days. 
“Now Angel, is that anyway to greet me?” she asked with an affectionate smile. He wasn’t having any of it, if anything his glare deepened further. “Oh, well I guess I haven’t given you all the attention you need...” she wilted under the bunny’s fierce eyes. She approached the bunny head down, submissive. By the time she reached him she was literally crawling on her belly. “Rainbow Dash has just really needed... me lately.” She was now nearly eye to eye with him and he took the opportunity to thump her repeatedly between the eyes with his insolent rear paw. 
“Angel!” she shot back up surprised at how much pain the little guy could cause. “That’s wasn’t very nice.” She sighed at his continued ill-mannered stance, knowing she would cave. “Fine Angel, I’ll owe you. How does two extra tail fluffings sound?” she asked trying her winningest smile on her pet. He curtly shook his head and looked the other way, foot tapping incessantly. “And I’ll make your favourite salad.” That earned her a slight tilt of his head in her direction, “Twice!” She felt relieved as she finally got the smile she was after. 
“Great, now can you help me make sure all the animals are doing okay?” With the promise of extra attention and special treatment the impish little bunny hopped along with Fluttershy doing his best to help her with the many chores. Once finished she glanced up at her forest animal themed clock above her kitchen sink. “Rainbow will probably be at the spa in about an hour,” she said out loud. 
She turned back to her little Angel and rubbed noses with her pet bunny. “Thanks so much for helping me out. I think you’ve earned yourself a reward.” The bunny hopped high in place in response as she went to the fridge and pulled out a rather large carrot. “There you are sweetie, thanks for being so understanding.” She pulled the bunny into a hug that was returned and kissed him on the forehead. She knew she still owed him and made a note to make some time for some one on one with him. “I’m heading to my spa date with Rarity, I’ll be back after that and we’ll see about getting that tail fluffed, okay?” She offered one more nuzzle to the bunny and then she was out the door, now in a hurry, to get to Rarity’s. 


The vain, purple maned pony was surprised by the appearance of Fluttershy at her door and especially so early. “I’m sorry, dear, I really didn’t expect you so soon. Is something wrong?” she added seeing distress in the shy Pegasus’ face.
“Oh, I think there might be,” Fluttershy responded, feeling the weight of the situation more pronounced now that she had a moment to step back from it. 
“Well, come in dear and I’ll get us some tea.” She hurried herself into the kitchen while Fluttershy made herself comfortable on one of the many cushions Rarity had strewn about. Rarity returned momentarily with tea and biscuits and took a seat across from her friend. “Now tell me all about it, dear.”
Fluttershy heaved a sigh and then went into her concerns for Rainbow Dash since the Rock Golem incident. She, of course, left out some of the more intimate details but made sure to still get the point across. “...Seriously though, Rarity, I’m really concerned for her. Besides the time she was at work, she’s wanted me by her side pretty well continuously.”
“Oh the poor dear, I wonder how she’s doing at night when she’s all alone?”
The yellow Pegasus blushed at this. “Well, I’ve been with her the last couple of nights...” she trailed off feeling her face full of heat.
Rarity gave her a knowing smile. “That’s good dear, she probably needs the company.”
Fluttershy suddenly picked up on what her magic friend was implying. “Oh-oh no, nothing like that,” she said defensively. “I just can’t leave her when... she has asked me to stay and I can’t say no to her when she’s like this.”
“Oh don’t worry, darling. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Fluttershy was pretty sure she did. “I still can’t believe you talked her into coming to the spa though,” she giggled roguishly. “It’s just so unlike her. And don’t worry dear, we’ll have her telling us everything in no time.”


=+=+=+=


Rainbow peeked over the top of her sunglasses looking up and down the street. “The coast seems clear,” she pulled her hat down lower over her eyes and made a mad dash to the spa across the street, not stopping until she had pulled the door shut behind her. 
“What in the world!? Rainbow! Why are you dressed like that?” Rarity asked, as Rainbow spun to see both Rarity and Fluttershy giving her comical looks. 
She ran her hoof smoothly along the bill of her hat. “It’s my disguise, I have a reputation to uphold you know?”
“Very inconspicuous, darling,” Rarity said with a slight grin. Fluttershy was trying to hide her laugh behind a hoof. 
Dash reddened slightly at the as the two shared a chuckle at her expense. “Whatever...” She removed the hat and glasses feeling slightly foolish.
“I thought you looked quite fashionable,” Fluttershy said softly with a smile that let Dash know she meant no hard feelings. 
Dash couldn’t hold back a smile of her own and reddened faintly, knowing that Fluttershy’s smile affected her so easily. She held Fluttershy’s gaze a moment longer, feeling butterflies desperately try to escape her stomach.
“Sooo,” Rarity chimed in with a significant smile, “hate to interrupt, but Aloe and Lotus Blossom are ready for us.”
The spa treatment commenced with the usual mud facials along with relaxing massages. Rainbow hated to admit it, but everything felt wonderful. She hadn’t realized how much tension she had been carrying in her wings until Aloe worked her masterfully gifted hooves into the muscles surrounding them, easing the stress from her body. It all ended too soon in Rainbows opinion and the three of them were soon lazing about in the hot tub making small talk. 
Rainbow didn’t notice the look pass between the other two ponies as Rarity addressed Fluttershy. “Wasn’t that Rock Golem the absolute worst? Absolutely no manners, so crude and abrasive.” Rainbow squirmed, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the choice in topics.
“Oh, yes,” fluttershy responded. “He was scary. I’m just glad we were able to finally get him to see the error in his ways.”
“When he hit you darling,” she started reaching a hoof towards Rainbow. Rainbow just stared, thinking back to that moment she was caught completely unaware. The contact had hurt like crazy, but when she saw the canyon wall approaching so fast and couldn’t stop herself, she completely panicked. She had felt magic envelop her at the last second slowing her down enough to prevent any major damage to her body but the damage to her psyche was already complete. What nobody else knew is that her emotional state had already been quite fragile.
“Rainbow?” Rarity was looking at her strangely.  “Rainbow!”
“Huh, what... sorry what, again?” Rainbow stuttered, coming back to the present.
“Are you alright, dear?”
“Yeah – yeah, of course.” Rainbow shook her head. “Sorry,” she put on a fake smile, “just spaced out there for a minute.”
Rarity did not look convinced at all. “Come on Rainbow. What’s going on?”
“What makes you think something is going on?” she asked defensively. “I’m doing fine. Honest.”
Rarity frowned slightly. “Come on darling, we are all worried about you? We just want to help?”
“Help with what!?” Rainbow nearly growled, feeling cornered and under attack. 
“Dear, Fluttershy said you’ve been having a hard time lately, and I-“
“You said what!?” she was yelling now, teeth bared, anger igniting in her head. She knew her anger was irrational, but there it was just the same. She felt even more confused as she looked to the scared Pegasus. She knew that Fluttershy was aware that she didn't want any of her... insecurities shared with others. Looking into those blue eyes she felt her anger melt away, only  to be replaced by something worse, complete helplessness. She felt betrayed and hurt beyond comprehension. She couldn’t help but feel that all the compassion Fluttershy had shown her over the last couple of days was just an act; a way to get by until she could unload the troubled Pegasus off into more willing hooves. 
Tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision as she backed out of the hot tub, head shaking. 
“Dashie...” Fluttershy’s eyes brimmed with tears as well. “Dashie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“You didn’t mean anything?” in Rainbow’s disturbed state of mind she saw this as a confession from Fluttershy that the last couple of days had meant nothing. “Do I mean anything to you?” she asked softly.
“Dashie, don’t say things like that. You mean more to me than you could ever know! Please Dashie!” she sobbed. 
Rainbow didn’t really hear as she had already turned and was making a beeline for the ornate walnut door; the door that would allow her to escape this terrible place and this terrible situation. She burst through it and took to the sky with no particular destination in mind.  She flew as fast as she could, hoping that her friends and feelings would soon be left in the dust.


=+=+=+=


“Oh my...” Fluttershy felt a complete panic settling in; her mind like a broken record, repeating the question. “Do I mean anything to you?” 
“Go!” Rarity exclaimed.  Fluttershy looked at her confused.  “Fluttershy, go after her!” 
Time returned to normal as her brain finally seemed capable of processing thought again. “Oh my, oh my, oh my,” she repeated as she took off at full speed after her much faster friend. Once she cleared the spa she gained altitude as quickly as possible and began scanning every direction. Luckily the sky was mostly clear except for a storm that seemed to be building over the Everfree Forest. To Fluttershy’s dismay that was the direction she could see the blue blur darting. With speed and determination, that would have impressed even her swift friend, she sped after the rainbow trail. She was shocked to see that she was actually gaining slowly on her friend, confirmation that Rainbow just wasn’t herself. Still at this rate, she didn’t think she could catch the cyan Pegasus before they reached the storm. 
“Rainbow, please!” she called out hoping against hope that her friend would hear her. Even if she did, Fluttershy wasn’t sure she’d actually stop.  “Rainbow Dash!” she yelled with more force. Unfortunately more force for the shy pony amounted to about normal talking volume for most ponies. She gave a nervous look to the wall of dark clouds that were quickly approaching and hesitated as it didn’t look like Rainbow was going to stop. The uncertainty lasted only a moment as she refocused on the Pegasus in front of her and gave her all to catching her. 
Rainbow broke through the cloud wall and Fluttershy kept her focus on the point the pony entered. A few seconds later she hit the wall of the storm and was shocked by the ferocity she was assaulted with. Wind and freezing rain beat against her mercilessly as she tried to forge forward, beginning to lose her sense of direction. “This is impossible, I will never find her at this rate.” She couldn’t see anything and quite honestly couldn’t even tell up from down. She fought to remain calm even as she felt her fear rising. “Nopony can fly in this, not even Rainbow Dash. The thought struck her hard as she realized how right she was. Nopony could navigate this storm. “Oh Celestia, where are you Dashie,” she thought, the feeling of dread rising. 
She had to think clearly, she had to be strong for Rainbow’s sake. She thought about her time spent in flight school and specifically at what to do when in her current situation. “Don’t fly into the storm in the first place.” That advice was worthless at this point. “Let gravity show you the way down?” Ummm, that’s probably not exactly how it went, but she decided to give it a try anyway. Tucking her wings to her side she felt like she was floating, it only lasted a moment though before she broke through the bottom of the cloud barrier looking straight up at the quickly approaching trees.
“Eeep!” she screeched, just getting her wings open in time to stay above the reaching branches. A scream from ahead caught her attention as she saw the form of her friend crash into the top of a tall tree. She watched in horror as Rainbow broke through the first few branches before one caught her wing awkwardly, yanking the fierce flyer downwad. Fluttershy covered her mouth as she watched her friend fall from branch to branch before finally crashing, out of site, to the forest floor.
“Nooo!” she hurried as fast as her wings would take her to the last spot she saw her most treasured friend. She found the cyan Pegasus on her side, legs splayed gracelessly. “Dashie,” she hit the ground harder than she meant to and stumbled forward, desperately closing the distance to the injured Pegasus. She was breathing, thank Celestia, but her heart sunk when she recognized how shallow and ragged it sounded. “Oh Dashie, what do I do?” She cried now, fear enveloping her, as she laid her head gently on her friends. The rain continued to beat down on them, mingling with Fluttershy’s tears as it soaked and matted their fur. Fluttershy felt the closeness of her best friend slowly calm her nerves and clear her mind as she planned her next move. She stood with a new determination and resolve. 
“Don’t worry Dash, I promise I will get you out of here.”