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Elation4,530 words

Elation

Fluttershy

Chapter 2

For the first time in a long time, a small yellow filly living in Cloudsdale, found herself unable to stop smiling. A day that had started off just as horrible as the rest, completely turned around and left her heart soaring. As soon as the door to her cloud home shut behind her, Fluttershy ran over to the window as fast as her hooves would allow, wanting to catch another glimpse of her new friend before she left. She ducked below the sill of her window, through which the last rays of sunlight streamed into the room, painting the white cloud walls, and orange-ish red. She slowly lifted her head just high enough to see out. A few loose strands of her mane fell before her eyes, she pushed them away with a swift, yet gentle hoof. Fluttershy blinked a couple times and forced her eyes to adjust to the glare on the thin pane of glass, her eye eventually finding the blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash still stood at her doorstep, her stare lingering for just a moment on the little house. She looked happy, and almost surprised. Fluttershy watched as Rainbow Dash giggled joyfully, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle softly with her. Then the quick little pegasus spun around, doing a small skip before taking off into the air, with speed the likes of which rarely seen in such a young filly, heading in the direction of the setting sun. Fluttershy laughed and jumped around her house, more excited then she could ever remember being. She’d made a friend. She finally had somepony she could call friend. Oh and she was so nice and kind too. The shock of it all was overwhelming, usually ponies never paid her a second glance, now all of the sudden a little blue filly came to her defence, and helped her when she was in trouble.

“Mom, are you home?” She called, out of breath from a combination of excitement and all the jumping she had been doing. Fluttershy doubted she was, but she wanted to share the news. When she received no response her smile didn’t falter. It was rare that her mother arrived home before the shy little filly fell asleep, usually returning home long after midnight. Fluttershy was used to spending her evenings alone, taking care of herself in an empty house. Well, really she was used to spending nearly all of her day alone, either being ignored or flat out bullied when she went to school. But, maybe things could be different now.

Her stomach growled, and the filly realised with a shock that she hadn’t eaten yet today. She skipped breakfast and with all the time she spent on the ground, she missed lunch. She didn’t regret lacking food for the day however; missing a meal was a more fair trade for meeting that blue filly. Fluttershy smiled at the thought of her new friend and all she had done for her.

Fluttershy made her way into the kitchen. The shy pegasus looked up to the cupboard where the bread was kept. It always made her feel small, looking up at all the nooks and crannies she couldn’t get to on her own. Usually to reach up there, she was forced to climb, hoisting herself up on the cloud countertops to reach her goal, and carefully lowering herself back down. Sometimes she would slip up and fall, she knew she was a pretty clumsy pony. Though falling onto clouds didn’t hurt, it still was far from pleasant, the sensation of falling was extremely frightening to her. The feeling would well in her stomach, made her feel queasy. She felt it worse than ever that day, when she fell off the cloud during the race. Of course all that happened after had alleviated her of the horrible sensation, and she didn’t blame Rainbow Dash at all. But for those second she spent, falling, unable to save herself; al she felt was pure terror.

She looked at the countertop, then she looked down to herself. This time, her solution to getting up to the cupboard came a little differently, and her heart jumped a bit when her wings opened almost instinctively at her sides. She spun her head around to look at her feathered extremities. She hardly ever resorted to flying. In fact, most days she downright hated it, spending as little time in the air as she could, which could get quite difficult at flight school. Getting airborne was far more difficult for her than it was for most other foals. Her mother said that some foals were just like that, and that she’d get better with practice.

Now she felt up to it, she thought about the prospect a little differently. The way Rainbow described flying was so interesting. Not that she ever had any intention of flying the way she did, reaching such high speeds and performing such stunning aerial acrobatics, but after hearing the blue filly’s cutie mark story, and how passionate she was about her pegasus gift, Fluttershy didn’t look down on the activity quite as much as she used to. If such a great filly liked to fly, she could get used to it too.

Her little wings flapped at her sides, beating at the air. Her takeoff was difficult, her face scrunched up from her effort. But she didn’t stop, her wings continued to flap, and soon her hooves were no longer touching the cloud. She beamed with pride. This was her first unassisted flight. Long overdue it may have been, but it didn’t make the achievement any less sweet. She thought about what Rainbow had told her. You don’t want your wings to be too stiff, let them bend a bit with each flap. Keep a constant rhythm, make sure both wings beat down in perfect synchronization.

She memorized her friend’s instructions, and as soon as her hooves left the cloud, flight came easy. Or at least easier than it did most days. She opened up the cupboard, her wings flapping at a steady pace. She grunted at the effort of keeping herself in place. It wasn’t exactly a graceful hover, but she was flying. Fluttershy scanned the cupboard. They were starting to get low on food again, the shelves were nearly barren save for the bread, a few boxes of crackers and pasta, and some gummy snacks that she wasn’t very fond of; though they came in fun little shapes, so she could usually stomach them.

She grabbed the bread, and brought herself back down gently, still displaying a wide smile n her face. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as her flight from the ground back up to the cloud, but for that she had Rainbow cheering her on and helping her. Maybe she was finally getting better, and would be able to fly normally like the other foals. Rainbow Dash said she could help her, teach her how to fly better. If anypony could it was her. She couldn’t wait to show her mom how much she had improved already… but she would have to.

Fluttershy made herself a simple sandwich using what she could find in the fridge. She carried it to the table on one wing, with a glass of water balancing on the other. She brought her dinner to the table. It was a small cloud table, not enchanted wood dining tables like the rich ponies had. But they didn’t need anything fancy or big, it was only her and her mom anyway. The same went for the rest of her cloud home, which was pretty small, even by the standards set by the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. It was two stories, with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor, with the living room and kitchen on the bottom level. The lower story of her home might’ve felt bigger if the dining table didn’t take up the better part of the living room. Most of their furniture was made of cloud, the cupboards, the drawers, and the couch, which the yellow filly didn’t mind. She couldn’t imagine that beds and couches stuffed with feathers or springs could be very comfortable. Nearly every item in their house was made of cloud, even the walls and floor. Solid furniture and walls was more common in the houses of the rich, who could afford the enchanted items. But smaller items such as cutlery, or other items found in the kitchen were made of materials like wood or metal, since they were more of a practicality than a luxury.

Fluttershy took a seat at her end of the table, placing her plate and glass down. She always sat in the same chair, even though family dinners were rare, she didn’t feel comfortable sitting in her mother’s seat. As she settled down, she jumped a bit when her still outstretched wings hit the back of her chair. She folded them in neatly, brushing her feathers a little as she did so. Her stomach growled again, and she giggled, picking up her little dinner and taking a bite.

As she ate, her mind fell once again onto her new friend Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t wait to see her again. Everything about her was so wonderful. She had been so nice and polite, and she was very brave. Maybe she should have invited the blue filly in. No, her parents were probably expecting her as well. Usually, Fluttershy would sit down and speak to the empty chair in front of her, imagine her mother was there, smiling, waiting patiently to hear all about her day. And Fluttershy would tell her all about it, like practice for when she saw her mother for real. But she didn’t today, she wanted to save the story until she could see her mother in the flesh. She looked down to her own flank, staring at her newly acquired cutie mark. She knew her mother would be so proud when she saw it.

She remembered what she told Rainbow on the ground, that she needed to go back because her parents were expecting her. She wasn’t sure why she said ‘parents’, she felt bad for lying about that. But she did have a curfew to come home, and she had gone over it by nearly twenty minutes. Her mother trusted her to come home on time since she couldn’t really enforce it herself. She felt bad about that too. But she didn’t regret the day’s events, being late coming home was easily worth making a new friend, and she was sure her mother wouldn’t be mad if she had a good reason.

A smile crept back onto her face, she really couldn’t stop it. That filly just made her feel so special. She had seen Rainbow fly before, she heard the amazing things the instructors said about her that she was ‘one of a kind’. Of that, she had absolutely no doubt. It made Fluttershy happy that such an amazing pony wanted to be friends with her.

She finished her dinner and washed the dishes she had dirtied. She knew it made her mother happy to come home to a clean house. Fluttershy turned the sink on. It took a few seconds for the water to begin spilling out of the tap. She ran the water over her hoof, waiting for it to heat up a little. She liked the way water felt. She never would have guessed it was water that made up the clouds; the two substances felt so different. She wondered what it would be like to be surrounded by water, to feel it all over her body. Her mom said ponies on the ground took their baths in water to wash away the grime. Up in Cloudsdale, most ponies washed off in a Warmcloud. Just as the name implied, it was simply a heated cloud so pegasi could feel comfortable while they washed themselves off with the vapour. Fluttershy wondered what a water bath felt like.

She felt the tap water becoming hot against her hooves, and she started to work on her dishes. Once they were clean, she took flight once again to put them away properly. After she was done, the yellow filly climbed the stairs up to her room. What a day! She made a friend, she got her cutie mark, and she got to see the ground! She found it odd. She loved the ground, and all she had found there. The grass, the trees, the very air of the forest felt so warm and welcoming to her, as though she were meant to fall from the sky. And yet, as strange as it was to admit, even that wonderful experience seemed to pale in comparison to her newly formed friendship with Rainbow Dash. She would never forget that day, not as long as she lived, she promised herself. Fluttershy would have probably written about it in a diary, if she had one. She wanted one for her birthday, nothing too special, just somewhere to write. She had asked her mother a few times, but eventually she learned to stop. Her mom didn’t like to talk about it, but Fluttershy knew that money was getting rather tight in her home, so she stopped asking her mother to buy things for her.

The little pegasus entered her room. None of the rooms in the house had doors, which was normal for cloud living. Her room was tiny, but she was just a filly, she didn’t need much space. Her bed of clouds lay against the wall, placed so she could look out the window with ease. The only other pieces of furniture were the desk beside her bed, where she kept all of her possessions and large cupboard that functioned as a closet took up the corner of her room. Most of what her closet held were just tings like a hat, scarf and other winter wear, which wouldn’t see use again for months. It only contained one other article of clothing; a green hand-me-down dress from her mother. It was a beautiful dress though, hoof stitched by her grandmother for her mom’s birthday. It was still a bit too big for Fluttershy, but she never had much of a reason to wear it anyway.

She lay down in her bed, nestling her head into her soft cloud pillow. She pulled her light pink covers up to her neck. Fluttershy shimmied her body until she was comfortable, her body cradled by the cloud. She gazed out the window at the setting sun, casting its fiery glow across the white canvas that was her home town. In the east, the stars were already visible, twinkling up in the sky. That was something nice about living up high, the stars are always there. The weather clouds don’t float naturally above Cloudsdale, so there’s nothing to obstruct the view. She thought once again about her day and all that it had brought her. It had been an exciting one, but at the same time she desperately wanted it to end, so she could start a new one tomorrow. She was excited to see Rainbow Dash, to fly with her again, just to spend time with her. She was so pretty and nice, and brave. What more could she ask for in a companion? She let her sleepy eyes close, hoping for a lovely dream. She ended her night the same way she had since she could remember.

“Good night mommy, I love you.” She knew she couldn’t hear her, but both her and her mother promised to say good night and I love you at some point in the night, so she knew that her mother would respond eventually. After a few moments of consideration, she added.

“Good night Rainbow Dash. Sweet dreams.” She closed her eyes and drifted into sweet dreams of her own with a small smile on her lips.

Rainbow Dash was in higher spirits than ever as she flew home. It was quite a flight from Fluttershy’s house to her own, but their flight back up to the city totally dwarfed the commute. The grin that she held since she said her goodbyes to the yellow filly for the night still hadn’t left her face. As she flapped her wings and sailed through the air, the cloud homes and other buildings below her began to grow in size. She shook her head a little relishing the tug of the air on her mane, feeling multicoloured tail whip behind her. She looked ahead to the splendor of colours on display in the sky. Red orange and yellow, just like the forelock of her mane. Sunset was a great time to fly for fun. Anypony watching wouldn’t see much more than a dark silhouette against a dimming sky, but feeling as though she were flying among the just waking stars was definitely worth it. Rainbow was so lost in her thoughts about her new friend, and all that had befallen her that day, she almost flew right past her house. And as she looked down upon her home, her high spirits took a sudden nose dive. The lights in her house were on. Her parents were still awake.

Rainbow sighed as she decelerated and let her hooves touch down safely on the cloud. She walked slowly to the door. Her parents were usually pretty lenient about the time she had to be home, but usually she would drop in quickly to warn them of her absence. She’d been gone from home from sunrise to sunset, and she had no doubt she was going to take some flak for it.
She opened the door, stepping into her house as quietly as possible. She held the handle as she closed it shut behind her, an easy trick she had learned from a plethora of curfews missed. Her house was quiet, save for the sound of her own hoofsteps on the marble floor. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe her parents just left the lights on before they went to bed. Rainbow Dash had made it to the stairs when her hope suddenly proved to be for nought.

“Rainbow Dash is that you?” She heard her mother call worriedly. She received a sigh in response.

“You come here right now young filly.” Her father piped in, in an unusually stern tone. It took her a moment to figure out where her parents were. It was hard to tell, especially on the lower level of her house. The kitchen, living room, and dining room were so spread apart it made it difficult to hone in on where ponies were. But she heard both her parents whispering to each other and eventually made her way to the dining room, her hoofsteps still echoing in the spacious house.
She poked her head in through the doorway.

“Hey mom, hey dad.” She mumbled sheepishly, her ears low, hardly lifting her gaze from the floor. Her parents were sitting around their large oak dining table. The aroma of coffee saturated the air, and Rainbow assumed they had been waiting for here for her quite a while.

“Oh my word child, were have you been?” Her mother asked, putting a hoof to her chest to gesture her relief. Her light blue mane was in curlers, and she wore her purple silk nightgown over her darker blue coat. Her father took a sip from his mug, his face unreadable. His eyes were piercing from behind his glasses, not cruel, just trying to read her. His own rainbow mane was in disarray, as it always was as the hours of daylight began to waste away.

“Um, you know, just hanging out.” She didn’t want to mention her trip to the ground, in fear of worrying her parents, or bringing more strict punishments to the table. Her travels back to the earth below with Fluttershy would remain a secret, for as long as she could keep it.

“How many time have we told you? Home by seven o’clock at the latest. It’s nearly ten!”

“I know, and I’m sorry! I just lost track of time. I was trying to help out a friend.”

She noticed her dads face shift slightly.

“A friend?” He asked, slight smile forming on his face though he tried to hide it. Rainbow caught it however, and she smiled too, her ears perking back up again. Maybe if they heard about some of the stuff she did today, she could get off the hook. Every day when she came home from school, her parents would eventually ask her if she made any friends yet, and until now the response had always been no. That really seemed to disappoint her parents. She wasn’t shy, but she just had no interest in having ponies as friends, and her parents knew that. They could admire her all they wanted, but when anypony tried to introduce themselves, she would always brush them off. Her mother and father had seen it for themselves, and she noticed it seemed to worry them. She’d even overheard her mother talking about her to the neighbour, saying that she was very concerned about Rainbow not having friends, and possibly being ‘anti-social’.

“Yeah, I met this filly at school today!” She said excitedly. Her elation was hardly false, but she made no attempt to subdue it.

“Oh, that’s great! Is she a new student?” Her father asked, his mood turning completely. Her mother looked to him in surprise that he was so willing to forget about their daughter coming home late. Rainbow’s smile grew.

“No, she’s been there for a while. I’ve seen her around before, I just never had the chance to say hello. She’s pretty shy most of the time, but she was super nice and friendly. I promised her we would hang out again tomorrow.”

“So how did you meet her?” Her mother asked, finally seeming to drop the subject of Dash’s tardiness.

“Some punks at school were picking on her, so I went over and helped her out.”

“You didn’t get into a fight did you?” Her mother asked. She was always panicky when it came to Rainbow’s troubles at
school.

“No ma, we just had a race, and I totally kicked tail! Oh yeah!” The blue filly exclaimed, only now remembering the other reason she was so excited today, almost angry with herself for forgetting in the first place. “Guess what?”

“What?” They said simultaneously.

She bounded into the room with pride, then stopped so her parents had a view of her side. They both gasped.

“I got my cutie mark!” Her mother and father bounded up from the table, nearly spilling their drinks. They brought her into a
hug.

“That’s my filly!” Her dad hooted.

“Oh, it’s so colourful,” Her mother fawned. “What happened? How did it appear?”

“You’ll never believe this.” She began.

So Rainbow spent the next half hour talking with her parents, sharing all the events that happened today, only in her version, she and Fluttershy spent the day out by the old Cloudiseum. Her mother shuffled through the stocked pantry, to try and make some semblance of a dinner for her little filly. She made Rainbow a large plate of hay fries, which she scarfed down hungrily after missing two meals. She also drank down a cup of hot chocolate. Far from being punished, the little pegasus was given special treatment. But after she finished sharing her stories, and her parents finished congratulating her for all she’d done, Rainbow felt her eyes becoming lidded and she let out a big yawn.

“Well looks like its bed time for you sweetheart.” Her mother said, turning to lead the way upstairs. Her father used a wing to swing her up onto his back, both of them giggling. She loved her dad. He worked really hard, but he always made time for her and did his best to make her smile. He carried her all the way up the three flights of stairs to her bedroom. Her room had more drawers and desks then the little filly knew what to do with, and nearly every inch of it was covered in Wonderbolt merchandise. Figurines of her favourites lined a bookshelf that lie barren of any books. Posters of their various flight shows and derbies lined the walls. Even the comforter on her cloud bed was blue, with the sigil of the best flight team in Equestria displayed boldly in the center. Her father set her down gently into her bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead, backing up to let her mother in. Her mother also gave her a kiss and used her wing to pull the covers up over Rainbow. She smiled sleepily as her mother gave her a kiss.

“Good night sweetheart,” she whispered softly. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

“’Night kiddo, have a good sleep. Congrats again on getting your mark. We’re very proud of you.” The light blue stallion said. Rainbow beamed back at him. Her father turned off the lights and stepped out, shutting the door behind him.
With her parents gone, Rainbow let out a quiet laugh, her legs kicking at her comforter. This had to be the best day of her life! She came home late and got praised by her parents. She obliterated those two jerks in a race, earning herself a cutie mark and performing a stunt that nopony thought possible in the processes. And to top it off, she finally got to talk to that little yellow filly. It took her a while to calm down enough to sit still, but when she did she curled up under her blankets and made herself comfortable. She went over her friend’s name in her mind.

Fluttershy.

It was such a pretty name, it suited her well. She was such a kind hearted pony, and Rainbow felt beyond proud that she got to be her first friend. She looked up through her window, at the first few stars coming into view as the princess lowered the sun, bringing an end to such a perfect day. But she didn’t mind, it had to end eventually. And tomorrow, she could see Fluttershy again, and that was definitely something to look forward to. The day’s events replayed over and over in her mind, she never wanted to forget this day. She lay her head down, wondering if her new friend was thinking about her too, and if she was excited to see her again.
She could still hear her soft voice, docile tones giving the blue filly warmth and comfort as she let herself drift to sleep.

“See you tomorrow, Fluttershy. Goodnight.”

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