My Little Pony, Friendship is Out of This World

by Robobrony

Fluttershy's Fearful Flight

Fluttershy’s Fearful Flight

After helping Asterix get her ship moved closer to town, he took the time to help her understand the world she was on now. Explaining how pegasi controlled the weather, their skill signs were the same as the cutie marks as the ponies, the creatures she needed to be wary of, as well as some of the vocabulary the ponies used and that the princesses Celestia and Luna moved the sun and moon. It was a lot to take in for her but she was just happy to finally be on solid ground and with others. Nova and Asterix were walking through town with Nova giving her a tour in their pony guises. “So you’re afraid these princesses might be smart enough to somehow see through our disguises?” Asterix asked.

Nova nodded. “I do. It hasn’t happened yet though and they are rather nice. I’ve had a few interactions with Celestia myself since Twilight is her personal student. And I met Luna once during one of the holidays on this world they call Nightmare Night. Don’t let the name fool you though. It’s actually a lot of fun. Everyone dresses in costumes and has one big party with games and music and lots of candy. The younglings run around going house to house saying the Nightmare Night rhyme and get free candy. Starburst had a blast.”

Asterix smiled. “It does sound fun.”

Nova continued. “And it’s origins are rather interesting as well. It’s based on when princess Luna let her feelings of jealousy for her sister get the better of her and became Nightmare Moon who wanted to create an eternal ever lasting night.”

“Oooh, that does sound scary.”

“But it all worked out in the end.” Nova said. “Then there’s….” Nova started but was cut off when slips of paper started falling down.

“Oooh, you didn’t tell me the pegasi could make it rain paper too.” Asterix said almost in wonder.

Nova looked up curiously. “What the galaxies?” He saw Rainbow flying over head dropping flyers.

Rainbow called as she spread out the flyers she was dropping over the town. “Town meeting at the library for all Ponyville Pegasi! Be cool or be mule.” She quickly flew down to a mule that was covered in the flyers. “No offense.”

The mule merely smiled as he responded. “None taken.”

Asterix gave a curious look. “Where did he come from?”

Nova simply looked to Asterix. “It’s best not to question it. Sometimes it isn’t just Pinkie Pie that can defy logic and the physics of science.”

“Pinkie can do that?” Asterix asked Nova in surprise.

Nova thought to give a couple examples. “She’s shown sometimes she can defy gravity without aid, pop out of random places out of nowhere and disappear back into them, somehow sometimes gains knowledge of events she wasn’t present for or no pony told her about, and she has this thing she calls her Pinkie sense where she gets these little twitches and tingles that let her know that something is about to happen. For example, When her tail starts twitching, it means something is about to fall. And if she gets a knee twitch, then ear flop, then eye flutter, look out for opening doors.”

“Wow, sounds like one strange mare.” Asterix stated. “So what do you think this meeting is about for the pegasi?”

Nova picked up a flyer and looked it over. “Hmm….seems Ponyville’s water reservoir was chosen to provide Cloudsdale with the water they need to make rain clouds.”

Asterix looked the flyer over herself then. “Oh, neat.”

Rainbow suddenly flew down and invaded their vision. “Nova! Just the pony I wanted to see, I was hoping you’d come to the meeting tonight too.”

Nova raised a brow. “Why? This is pegasus business. I’m not a pegasus.” He then whispered. “For hiding purposes, I’m a unicorn.”

Rainbow continued. “I know, but with how you can zap up wings and fly, I figured you could help us out with this thing.”

“I don’t know Rainbow. I feel like I shouldn’t get involved in something for Pegasi only.”

Rainbow started to beg. “Please Nova!?” She gave such a pleading pout.

“Oh, how can you say no to that face.” Asterix cooed.

Nova sighed. “Ugh, fine, I’ll come.”

Rainbow did a flip in joy. “YES! Thanks Nova! See you there tonight!” She then took off to continue spreading the word.

“Quasars, what have I gotten myself into?” Nova sighed.

Later that evening, the pegasi and Nova gathered at the tree house library. Rainbow counted as each pegasus entered. She looked a little frustrated after the last pegasus entered. Rainbow then flew over to a tree. “Come on Fluttershy, you too.”

The tree gained eyes, then half of it lifted up to reveal Fluttershy disguised as a tree. “Do I have to? I really don’t think I’ll be much help.”

“Come on.” Rainbow proceeded to push Fluttershy in.

Once they were all gathered, Rainbow Dash had Spike play an old black and white film that explained what they were doing. It talked about how each pegasus has wing power when they fly and can use that to fly to form a tornado and funnel water from a reservoir to Cloudsdale to be used as rain. Just before it ended though, the film warped and seemed to burn. The light flicked on to show Spike was covered in the film.

Rainbow took center stage. “All right everypony. As you saw, we need to produce enough wing power to funnel water from Ponyville’s reservoir to Cloudsdale. We need at least eight hundred wing power to do it. But I believe we can do better. I believe if we all work hard and pull together, we can gather one thousand wing power and smash the current record of nine hundred. Spitfire, the leader of the Wonderbolts will be supervising, so I think we can really impress her and show her our stuff. Who’s with me!”

A large heavily muscled pegasus with tiny wings exclaimed. “YEAH!”

“I can’t hear you!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“YEAH!” Everyone shouted then except for Fluttershy and Nova.

“I still don’t think I should be helping with this.” Nova stated more to himself. “But I think I see now why Rainbow asked me. She just wants all the extra wing power she can get for breaking this record.”

The next day, the pegasi were all gathered at a track working out and practicing to get fit as can be. Twilight and Spike were present with Twilight setting up a device. It was small with a fan and a meter on it. Nova offered to help Twilight keep track of how much wing power each pegasus produces once they raced by the meter.

Two pegasus mares came by curious about the device. They both had the same greyish blue coat and white manes. Only one’s mane was a bit more wild while the other was well groomed. “So what does this device do?” The wild maned mare asked.

Twilight smiled, happy to explain. “This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?”

The other then turned to Spike. “Yeah, what exactly does this thing do?”

“It measures how fast you're flying and how much wing power you produce.” Spike responded plainly.

“Oh.” The two mares responded.

Nova was looking about at all the pegasi seeing them working out when he spotted Fluttershy who was looking nervous. He went over to talk to her. “Fluttershy? You okay?”

“Oh, hello Nova. No I’m not okay. I’m so nervous. I really don’t want to be here.” Fluttershy said.

“How come?” Nova asked.

“Well, like I told Rainbow Dash, this whole thing feels more like a performance, and I hate performances. It’s like back when I was in flight school.” Fluttershy told how when she was a filly, she couldn’t fly very well and the other foals made fun of her for it.

“If you feel so strongly about it, why are you here then? Didn’t you tell Rainbow Dash you were too nervous?”

“I did, but...she said she REALLY needed my help. And I don’t want to let her down.” Fluttershy stated.

“Fluttershy, I can already tell you I’m pretty sure all she’s concerned about is breaking that record. And with all the pegasi present, I’m pretty sure that’s covered even if we’re down one pegasus.” Nova said.

“I don’t know. I really don’t want to disappoint her.” Fluttershy replied looking away.

Before Nova could continue, Rainbow called out. “All right everyone, let’s see where you all are at. Line up and get ready to test your wing power!”

“Fluttershy, just try to imagine you’re the only pony present then when your turn comes up.” Nova said before using his magic to summon his wings and lined up. One by one, each pegasus raced by the anemometer showing their wing power and Twilight taking notes of each one. Nova managed to produce a wing power of eleven. Rainbow Dash decided to take a turn after him and zoomed by producing wing power of eleven point five wing power.

“Nice!” Rainbow cheered. “All right Fluttershy, you’re up.”

Fluttershy nervously stepped up to the starting line. Her legs trembled. She closed her eyes and started flying but was slow going. She opened her eyes and smiled as she felt she was doing good. Just then, the two mares from before giggled. Fluttershy grew nervous again and slowed down just as she passed the anemometer.

Twilight and Spike read the reading and whispered between each other a moment before Twilight spoke. “Not bad Fluttershy. You had a wing power of...point five.”

“Point five, but isn’t that less than one?” Spike pointed out before getting a smack to the back of the head by Twilight.

A few ponies giggled at her. Fluttershy then seemed to grow more agitated and hyperventilating before she ran off crying.

“Fluttershy wait!” Rainbow called after her and caught up to her. Concerned, Nova came too. “Come on Fluttershy, you can’t wimp out on me. Are you really going to chicken out just cause some ponies poked fun at you in Flight School?”

“YEHEHEHHES!” Fluttershy sobbed.

“But I need you.” Rainbow expressed.

“I’m sorry Rainbow, but I just don’t have the courage.”

Nova stepped in then with a light glare at Rainbow. “Seriously Rainbow, you two are supposed to be friends. Her feelings should matter more to you than breaking some stupid record. Maybe you should take a moment and think about what's more important. Friends, or fame.” He said before escorting Fluttershy away.

Fluttershy and Nova were seated under a weeping willow with many of Fluttershy’s animal friends surrounding them. “It’s okay Fluttershy. You don’t have to help with that tornado. Rainbow Dash has more than enough pegasi to pull it off.”

“I know, I just wish I could help.” Fluttershy said. “But I’m just too scared.”

“It’s okay to be scared. You shouldn’t waste your tears. Rainbow was being a jerk thinking only about herself back there.”

“You think so?” Fluttershy asked.

“I do. But if it helps you feel better, we can work on that anxiety of yours of being in front of other ponies and help build up your wing power.”

“You would do that?” Fluttershy asked lifting her head.

“Only if you want to.”

Some of her animal friends chittered in support. One even told of how good she can really be in a crises and not to give up. “You’re right my friend, I shouldn’t give up. I’ll show those ponies I”m a good flyer.” Fluttershy rose up. “No...a great flyer!” She then said after flying up and over the tree.

“All right then, let’s get to work and get you into shape.” Nova said. With that, a training montage began.

The first training was Fluttershy flying over a crowd of her animal friends holding pony masks. She ended up crashing into a tree. Wing ups were next with Nova and Angel encouraging her but she could barely do one. Then tug of war with some butterflies and she failed at that. Each attempt at the exercises helped her grow and do better. Soon she was exceeding at the exercises, she even pulled back in a tear while doing wing ups.

“All right Fluttershy, I think you’re ready.” Nova said with a smile.

“I feel ready. Thank you everyone.” Fluttershy said to Nova and her animal friends.

Back at the track where everyone was training, Everyone was testing their wing power again. “Well, that’s about everyone. Except..” Spike said before Fluttershy came fluttering on the scene looking confident. Nova just behind her along with some animals. Fluttershy landed at the starting line. Nova gave her a quick shoulder rub while one animal gave her a drink of water. She then flexed her legs and stretched her wings.

“You go this Fluttershy.” Nova said.

With that, Fluttershy leaned down, revved up her wings and took off, zooming past the wing power meter. “Two…point…five?” Fluttershy asked seeing the results.

“Wow Fluttershy, that’s amazing. You improved so much.” Twilight said.

“But it’s still no good. I failed!” Fluttershy began to cry.

“You should still be proud of yourself Fluttershy, you did improve alot from last time.” Nova said.

“But it’s nothing compared to everyone else, I’m a failure!” Fluttershy cried before galloping off.

Rainbow chased after her. “Fluttershy wait!” She managed to catch up and stop her. “FLuttershy, listen. Nova was right. I shouldn’t be caring about that dumb record. I should be caring about getting the water where it needs to. Low wing power or not, I could still really use your help. You really shouldn’t let what anyone else thinks get to you. I promise no one is going to laugh. All you have to do is focus on flying.”

“You….you really mean that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course I do. You’re my friend.” Rainbow said. “And if anyone does start laughing, I’ll punch em good.”

Fluttershy lightly giggled at this.

Nova and Twilight smiled at the scene. “Now that’s more like it.” Nova commented.

“Well….all right, I’ll do it.” Fluttershy said.

“YES! Thank you Fluttershy.” Rainbow said before hugging Fluttershy.

Finally, the day came. Spitfire, the leader of the wonderbolts had arrived to witness the event. The pegasi were all gathered and ready to go…well…almost all of them. “Rainbow, we got a problem.” Spike said holding up a list of the pegasi that were to participate. Most of them were marked as missing due to being sick with the feather flu. “We might not have enough ponies to get the water to Cloudsdale.”

“What?! This is horrible!” Rainbow exclaimed before narrowing her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, we have to try anyway. Cloudsdale needs that water. She flew up and got everyone’s attention. “All right every pony! You ready!? Spike is going to blow that horn to signal the start!”

Twilight was on the scene as well with a larger version of her wing power meter.

Everyone had a pair of goggles. Fluttershy was next to Nova. She was still looking rather nervous. Spike blew the horn and the pegasi began flying in a circle making a tornado. Everyone was pushing as hard as they could. The water began rising up some. Just then, a pegasus accidentally bumped into another, causing a chain reaction and the whole thing fell apart. “WHOA”! Nova was flung like the others but manage to recover and caught Fluttershy with his magic before she hit the ground. “You okay?”

“Thanks for the save.” Fluttershy said.

“No worries.” Nova replied.

Spitfire shook her head in disappointment.

“It’s no good Rainbow, your team isn’t putting out enough wing power.” Twilight said.

“We’re not giving up. We can’t. Not until I know we gave it our all!” Rainbow said before rallying everyone. “Come on guys! We can do this! We have to try again!” the pegasi all rallied and started flying again, forming the tornado.

As Fluttershy flew, memories of being teased started going through her head again. “NO!” She fought through it and pushed harder, managing to fly faster than before. She even passed a couple pegasi. The water began rising again. After a bit more, the water shot up and out right to Cloudsdale. Once all the water was gone, Spike blew the horn again and everyone stopped and landed, cheering.

Rainbow noticed Fluttershy was still flying in a circle with her eyes closed. “Whoa, easy girl.” She caught Fluttershy with a cloud.

“What happened? Did we do it?” Fluttershy asked.

“We did it, you did it. You were amazing in there.” Rainbow said.

“Fluttershy pushed way passed her original wing power number.” Twilight pointed out.

Spitfire came up to Rainbow. “Gotta say. You may not have broken the record, but you showed a lot of guts getting that water up there. Nice work Rainbow.”

Rainbow smiled. “Thanks, but you gotta give it up for my real number one flyer, Fluttershy. THREE CHEERS FOR FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow shouted.

Fluttershy was suddenly lifted up and everyone started cheering. “Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!” She smiled proudly as she was carried off.

Nova sat next to Twilight. “Whew. Well that was an ordeal. Never thought I’d know what it’s like to be sore where the wings are.”

“How bout we head home and rest then for now.” Twilight offered.

“Good idea, I really worked up an appetite.”

Comments

[Zipp Storm]

Awesome! Good to see you back to writing,

[Norwegian boy]

[Arcticlizard52]

Loving this so far, glad to see you've gotten back to it

[Haver]

Can you finish the story please and thank you😀