The FlutterDash Group Collab

by Dalek Saxon

Winter- Dianwei32

Winter

by Dianwei32

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Rainbow Dash hated winter.

Actually, she liked most of it. The snow, Hearth’s Warming Eve, the sudden abundance of hot cocoa, and even the little boots that Rarity had made her, though she would never admit that last one. There was just one thing she hated about winter.

The cold.

One of the downsides to living in a cloud house is that clouds don’t retain heat, so if it’s cold outside, it’s just as cold inside. And if it happens to dip below freezing, the water molecules in a cloud bed can crystallize and turn a nice, comfy mattress into a bed of spikes and needles right out of a Daring Do novel.

Dash glided listlessly down from her house, and a quick glance to the east confirmed that it was way too early for her to be up. The first rays of the sun were brightening the horizon, but the celestial body itself had yet to make an appearance. Grumbling to herself, Rainbow stifled a yawn as her hooves hit the ground, the icy chill thankfully kept at bay by her boots. Looking around to get her bearings, she realized that she had landed on the road leading out to Fluttershy’s cottage. She rolled her neck, eliciting a satisfying series of pops and cracks, and set off to visit her oldest friend.

Just as she was crossing the bridge in front of Fluttershy’s cottage, Dash heard her friend’s voice drifting through the crisp morning air. However, Fluttershy wasn’t talking to a stubborn animal, she was singing. It was just a simple, wordless tune, but the sound brought a warm smile to Dash’s face. Anyone who had heard it knew that Fluttershy had a heavenly singing voice, and while it would be undoubtedly, unquestionably uncool to admit it, Rainbow had occasionally hidden in the branches of her friend’s tree-house or on a conveniently nearby cloud just to listen to it for a while. Dash simply listened for a few more moments before trotting around to the backyard, where Fluttershy was laying out food for the animals in her care. When she finally turned and saw Rainbow, her singing stopped abruptly.

“O-oh… h-hello, Rainbow.” Fluttershy dropped the bag of birdseed she was holding, sending a small pile of it onto the ground. “I, um, didn’t know you were there.” She scuffed a hoof on the ground, then seemed to think for a bit. “Isn’t it a little early for you to be up?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she gasped and started backtracking. “N-not that I’m not happy to see you! I am, really! It’s just that, um, you don’t usually wake up early… especially not this early. Oh, now it sounds like I’m calling you lazy. I’m sorry, I don’t think that. It’s just...” Fluttershy had ducked down to hide behind her mane during her rapid-fire backtracking and apologizing, and now she looked up at the other mare, one eye hidden behind a waterfall of pink. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Dash waved her friend’s apology away with a hoof. “Hay, I’m the first one to admit that I’m not big on getting up early.” Her eyes darted back up to her cloud house for an instant. “But we had the first freeze of the winter last night, and my bed’s all lumpy and has ice crystals poking out. I couldn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Fluttershy chewed on her lip for a moment, glancing back at her cottage. After a moment of internal deliberation, she stood up tall, shaking her head to throw her mane back behind her ear. “You could always take a nap in my bed.” All of the confidence she had built up evaporated as soon as she finished speaking. “Um, i-if you want to, that is.”

“Thanks, ‘Shy.” Dash trotted over and gave Fluttershy an affectionate nuzzle. “I think I will.” She made her way over to the back door, pausing to stomp the snow and mud off of her boots. Just before she opened the door, she turned back. “Maybe once you’re done, we can go flying together.”

Fluttershy smiled, and the barest hint of a blush spread across her cheeks. “That sounds nice.”