Fluttershy's Cloud Lessons

by Skylight77

Weather Training

Fluttershy took a deep breath as she stood just outside the doors of a cloud mansion that floated in the skies. Her heart pounded violently at the thought of what she was going to ask Rainbow Dash. She had pondered this for days and decided, now would be the day.

“Come on Fluttershy, you can do this.” Fluttershy had to hold her breath and look away as she lifted a hoof in front of her. Every fiber of her being wanted her to stop and walk away, but she allowed herself to do this, not wanting to wait anymore.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Fluttershy waited in anticipation for Rainbow Dash to answer. Not everything was made out of clouds from this cloud mansion, so knocking on the doors made their usual audible sounds. As Fluttershy waited, she started having more second thoughts, but she forced herself not to move. Thankfully, she didn’t have to stay motionless for long as the door to the mansion opened shortly after she knocked.

“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said with a smile upon seeing her best friend at her doorstep, even if it was in the skies. “What brings you here?”

“H-hi Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy said silently, losing confidence within herself. “Um… can I ask you something… very important?” Rainbow Dash blinked as her smile turned to a slight confusion, wondering what this was about.

“Uh… sure…” Rainbow Dash stepped aside, motioning Fluttershy over. “Why don’t you come inside?” She moved back inside after offering.

Reluctantly, Fluttershy entered inside the house without a word, slowly closing the door behind her. With what she was about to ask Rainbow Dash, it felt like the mansion was gonna end up swallowing her whole.

“So, what’s on your mind, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked as she led her friend towards the center of her living room. She could tell by looking at Fluttershy’s face that she was more nervous than usual, so Rainbow Dash wanted to make sure she was at a comfortable environment.

“Okay, here goes…” Fluttershy took a deep breath before responding. “Rainbow, Ahh!” Rainbow Dash interrupted Fluttershy by pushing her body towards the ground. Fluttershy heard something flying above them.

“Whoa Tank, calm down!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “We have a guest here, and not just any guest!” By her guess, Tank was probably excited to see Fluttershy again and tried to pounce her. Rainbow Dash learned from previous experience that being hit on the head by a flying tortoise was not fun at all, and probably one that Fluttershy hadn’t felt, yet…

Rainbow picked her friend back up on her hooves and started dusting her off. “You okay, Fluttershy?”

“Y-yes, a little startled, but fine.” Fluttershy tried to focus on her question before anything else. “Rainbow Dash, I… um…” Fluttershy was interrupted again when a multitude of cloud puffs started barraging her face, knocking her backwards a bit.

“Ahh!” Rainbow Dash turned to see Tank’s rotor blades from the mini-copter he wore on his shell shredding against the cloud walls. She immediately rushed towards Tank, turning off his copter, and setting him down on a shelf. “Practice flying later.” she said to the tortoise, patting his shell.

After setting Tank down, Rainbow Dash looked back to Fluttershy, who was trying to remove the cloud puffs that had covered her face. Noticing Fluttershy struggling with them, Rainbow Dash gasped. She immediately rushed over to Fluttershy, wiping her face clean with a few swipes of her hoof.

“Sorry about that, you were saying?” Rainbow Dash said after grabbing the cloud puffs in her hooves.

“…Mmm…” Fluttershy used a hoof to wipe her face of whatever remained after Rainbow Dash took the cloud puffs away. When she opened her eyes, she saw Rainbow Dash bringing those cloud puffs towards the shredded part of her wall, putting it back together and reforming it.

It came as no surprise to Fluttershy that Rainbow could easily repair the wall because the entire mansion was built solely by Rainbow Dash. And that very same reason was why Fluttershy was here right now. Well, not exactly the same reason, but similar enough.

“Um, well…” Fluttershy stuttered as she watched Rainbow Dash fix her wall. “I want to learn how to do… that…” she finished by pointing her hoof towards the wall Rainbow Dash was fixing. Rainbow Dash’s attention shifted away from the wall. She slightly turned her head towards Fluttershy, but not enough to be able to see her.

“Uh, what now?” Rainbow Dash asked, not fully understanding what Fluttershy said there.

“Um…” Fluttershy swallowed her nerves as she tried asking more clearly. “I… want to learn how to use weather clouds.” Rainbow Dash turned her body around to look at Fluttershy more directly, but kept a hoof on the damaged wall as she kept herself standing on her hind legs. She was kind of surprised by Fluttershy’s question.

“You want me to teach you how to use weather clouds?” Rainbow Dash asked. “How come?”

“Um… well…” Fluttershy looked away as she continued. “My animal friends haven’t been enjoying the weather patterns lately. And I… well…” She started rubbing one of her forehooves against the other as her nerves were returning with more force.

“You know I’m happy to change the weather in your area to the way you want it,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked back to her damaged wall, smoothing it out with her hoof. "All you have to do is ask."

“Oh no, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy responded, looking back at her friend. “I… I don’t want to be a burden every time my animal friends want the weather changed.” Rainbow Dash brought her attention back to Fluttershy, who was hanging her head low. “I... I want to learn how to do this, so that I can keep them happy. It's my responsibility to take care of them. So... I have to learn... please Rainbow..."

It was too difficult for Fluttershy to bring her attention to Rainbow Dash while she was asking this, but she managed to ask at least. As a result, Rainbow Dash gave off a bright smile at Fluttershy’s request. She never expected Fluttershy to be the one to ask for this, but she was quite happy that she did now.

“Okay, Fluttershy, I’ll teach ya,” Rainbow Dash responded in a joyful tone. She didn't have to think much at all about her answer. Fluttershy’s head shifted back up to meet Rainbow Dash’s eyes more directly.

“You... you will?” Fluttershy asked in a hesitantly surprised tone.

“Sure I will,” Rainbow Dash said, using her hoof to put the finishing touches on her damaged wall. “We’ll meet up tomorrow at noon and I’ll get you started. How does that sound?”

“That sounds wonderful,” Fluttershy said with more delight. “Oh, thank you Rainbow Dash,” she finished by bowing her head.

“No problem, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash gasped when she saw Tank falling off of the shelf he was standing on. She immediately swooped towards Tank to catch him in her hooves before he landed on the ground. Fluttershy held a bit of concern for Tank right now.

“Um, is it okay if we meet at my cottage tomorrow?” Fluttershy requested, giving an area for them to meet at. “You can bring Tank along. I’m sure he’d like to visit his old friends again.” Rainbow Dash looked at Tank a bit hesitantly at this request. Before she could say anything, Tank was licking her across her cheek in his usual slow tactics. Rainbow Dash blushed a bit as she felt that tongue slowing sliding across her cheek.

“…Uh… sure…” Tank’s tongue flicked off of Rainbow’s cheek, leaving a saliva trail to stick.

“Aww…” Fluttershy cooed at the adorability that Tank was displaying towards Rainbow Dash. The fact that Rainbow Dash just allowed this made it even cuter, even if it made Rainbow Dash a bit uncomfortable. She gave a nervous smile as Tank started licking across her cheek again, making her blush even more. “I think Tank likes the idea.”

Fluttershy decided to leave Rainbow Dash the way she was right now. Her pride would never admit it, but Rainbow Dash did like the contact Tank gave her. Even if her friends, especially Fluttershy, didn’t judge her for how she felt about Tank, she still wasn’t comfortable displaying that affectionate side of her publicly. She knew that Fluttershy wanted to see more of that side to her though, so it didn’t bother her too much that Fluttershy was witnessing this. That didn’t mean that it was easy to let those emotions show, but she was getting better at it.

______________________________________________________________________________

The next day:

Fluttershy waited patiently for Rainbow Dash on the field behind her cottage. It was almost noon when she saw the sign of her friend approaching. The first thing that she could make out in the skies was Rainbow Dash pulling quite a few cloud formations that were pressed together, but somehow not forming together. Well, she didn’t understand how she was doing that now, but soon she probably will.

Fluttershy waved Rainbow Dash over as she approached. When Rainbow Dash’s flight came just above Fluttershy, she dispersed from the cloud formations and let them separate. They separated around a large open field that Fluttershy had readied behind her cottage, for that was where her lessons would take place. She noticed that Rainbow Dash was carrying two other objects though. Rainbow Dash flew down with one of them, getting it set up.

“You brought the camera, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as she approached her friend.

“Of course I did, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash responded, setting the camera on the stand and pointing it towards the clouds’ direction. “My best friend in the whole world of Equestria and beyond wants to learn how to use clouds! I want to remember this moment for a long time!”

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle there. She couldn’t argue with that reason at all. It was how she felt when they witnessed the Butterfly Migration. This was the same camera they used then, for the camera had special properties to it so that it would snap a picture by itself at random times every few minutes. They didn’t care about what they were doing at the time of each shot, for that’s what increased the joys of their memories.

After Rainbow Dash had finished setting up the camera, she started flying towards the cottage with the other device. Fluttershy decided to follow Rainbow Dash closely as she was setting it up.

“Is that a lightning rod?” Fluttershy asked as Rainbow Dash placed it on the roof of the cottage.

“Sure is,” Rainbow Dash said, giving the device a flick. “If I’m gonna be teaching you near your cottage, then we're gonna want this. Watch yourself!” Rainbow Dash immediately darted straight for one of the clouds she brought, causing Fluttershy to stumble in the air slightly.

Taking Rainbow Dash’s warning, Fluttershy yelped and immediately flew away from her cottage when she regained control.

*Bam!* The lightning strike was aimed to fly straight above the cottage, but due to the lightning rod, it was redirected. The lightning rod swiftly absorbed the lightning strike, leaving a bit of sparks to fly after it hit. If it didn't work, the cottage would suffer a small burn mark, but the cottage was completely unharmed, meaning this thing was doing its job.

“Perfect!” Rainbow Dash said, slapping her hooves against each other. Another thing that was convenient about the lightning rod was that the electricity that it absorbed could be stored and used for later. Fluttershy hesitantly flew up to Rainbow Dash after that sudden test performance. “So, we missing anything?” Fluttershy looked around the scenery, looking for a certain something. It turned out, they were missing something.

“Where is Tank?” Fluttershy asked. But soon after she asked that, he suddenly came into view, flying along the path to the cottage in his mini-copter.

“Right on schedule,” Rainbow Dash responded with a smile. But then her look, along with Fluttershy’s, turned to concern at the speed Tank was going.

“Uh oh…” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth as Tank sped towards the cottage at an uncontrollable speed.

“Whoa, Tank!” Rainbow Dash yelled in concern. “Watch it!" Both she and Fluttershy winced as he reached the cottage.

*Crash!*

“Ooh…” Rainbow Dash hesitated to look back after the crash. Fluttershy was the first to fly over to where Tank had crashed. Rainbow Dash followed her. The first thing they saw of Tank was his destroyed mini-copter, with Tank flipped over a bit of a distance away from it.

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy flipped Tank over, inspecting the tortoise for any injuries. She let out a sigh of relief to find that there were no injuries to be found. While Fluttershy was inspecting Tank, Rainbow Dash inspected the mini-copter. Unlike Tank however, the mini-copter was completely wrecked.

“It looks like Tank won’t be doing any more flying today,” Rainbow Dash said as she moved the device towards the front door. “Probably for the best though…” Fluttershy nodded to that in agreement.

Fluttershy started leading Tank over to the other animals in the garden next to her cottage so that he could play with them. Rainbow Dash left the device near the door for her to get later. She would need to get that fixed later on, but right now; it was time for Fluttershy’s lessons. After making sure that Tank had reached the other animals in Fluttershy’s care, Fluttershy followed Rainbow Dash back to the clouds.

______________________________________________________________________________

The camera was set up, the pegasi were in position, it was time for Fluttershy’s lessons. No more interruptions. Rainbow Dash circled the cloud that Fluttershy was sitting on as she lectured her.

“Alright Fluttershy, if you want to attend weather duties, you need to know the three most important qualities for cloud control!” Rainbow Dash started with her coaching voice. Fluttershy paid attention to her carefully. It wasn't exactly weather duties that she wanted to attend, but that was not the point. “Focus, emotions, and balance! Repeat after me!”

“Focus, emotions, and balance,” Fluttershy copied the words Rainbow Dash used as she said them.

“Good!” Rainbow Dash paused her flying by hovering in front of Fluttershy.

*Click* While Rainbow Dash was busy coaching Fluttershy with her lectures, the camera she set up was giving off random shots of their performances. They paid no attention to when it snapped and focused on the lectures instead.

“Without any of these qualities, you'll never influence the weather when you want it, where you want it, and how you want it! So let's get you started! Dig your hooves into this cloud!” Rainbow Dash commanded.

“O-okay…” Fluttershy hesitated a little, but she listened and pressed her hooves so that they would sink into the cloud.

“Come on, put more pressure into it!” Rainbow Dash commanded. “Get those back legs in deep!” Fluttershy put more pressure into her front hooves and back hooves. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but that’s why Rainbow Dash was coaching her.

“That’s good Fluttershy, now it’s time to focus. Think of a very sad thought.”

“A sad… thought?” Fluttershy questioned before she tried it. She put her mind to focus on something that sounded depressing, but all she could think about was the sad animals that she was comforting. The emotions that she felt from this were filled with more joy than sadness. Rainbow Dash saw the effects result from the cloud Fluttershy stood on. Instead of darkening, it was brightening.

“YOU CALL THAT SADNESS!?”

“Ahh!” Rainbow Dash’s yell caused Fluttershy’s mind to fill with fear at that moment.

*Bam!* Fluttershy’s fear caused the cloud to make a loud lightning effect that hit nothing but air. The cloud still remained white even after Fluttershy’s hooves left it.

“Weather clouds are influenced by your emotions.” Rainbow Dash placed her hooves on the cloud that Fluttershy was hovering over. Fluttershy was still a bit scared by the previous effect. “You focus your emotions correctly; you can make them do what you want at the very moment you want.” Rainbow Dash focused her emotions to fill with rage and mischief. The cloud quickly turned as grey as a storm cloud. She removed her hooves from it and continued her rant. “Now, I want you to focus your emotions and calm yourself! You do it right, this cloud will follow to its natural white!”

Fluttershy gulped as she continued with her orders. She placed her hooves on the cloud, trying to focus her emotions the way Rainbow Dash told her. But the way it sounded kept giving her confusion. Her mind couldn’t focus on being calm because there were so many things she didn’t know, and it was messing with her mind.

Fluttershy started feeling a strong breeze blowing on her. She opened her eyes to see what she did.

*Gasp!* Fluttershy immediately removed her hooves from the cloud, seeing that she had generated a wind power coming from the cloud. Rainbow Dash stopped it simply by hitting it with her hoof. She made it look so easy and it was discouraging Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I just can’t seem to concentrate.” Fluttershy sat back down on the cloud as she looked at Rainbow Dash with an apologetic expression. “I don’t know if I can do this.” Her emotions continued to lower, causing the cloud to get darker.

“Are you saying you’re calling it quits?!” Rainbow Dash scolded more intensely by flying very close to Fluttershy’s face. Fluttershy squeaked and put her hooves in front of her face in fear of Rainbow Dash’s assertion.

*Click*

“Cut that negative attitude, Fluttershy! Put your hooves back down!” Fluttershy kept her head looking away, but let her hooves drop back down on the cloud. Her emotions and actions caused the cloud to start raining. “That’s not what you want to display in front of your critters!” Rainbow Dash continued yelling as she circled around Fluttershy slowly in the air.

“…My, critters...?” Fluttershy tried to ask.

“Who was the one who wanted to fulfill their requests?!”

“…Um…” Fluttershy struggled with her words.

“Who was the one who found the courage to ask for these lessons?!”

“…I…” Fluttershy’s heart warmed at the mention of her courage, but she still couldn’t find her words.

“Who is the one who wants to see their faces in the mornings of an awesome weather?!”

“…Their smiling faces…” Fluttershy’s emotions started to brighten up as she thought about those critters’ smiling faces. The cloud she was sitting on was starting to grow brighter, being influenced by her emotions. “Of course, I want to see their smiling faces.”

“But you can’t give it to them unless you give it to yourself first! Think positive, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash gave off a smile through her continuous yells.

“Yes! I want to see their smiling faces!” The emotion Fluttershy held calmed her enough to brighten up the cloud, ceasing the rain. “I want to succeed!”

“And you're doing just that.” Rainbow Dash's tone dropped as she halted Fluttershy’s excitement by showing her what she just did. “You just managed to create rain and calm it down.” Fluttershy looked carefully down at the cloud she was on. Looking below it, she could see that a small puddle of water had formed on the grass due to the rain. Fluttershy was stunned by this. She hadn’t realized that she was already controlling the weather.

“I-I did, that…?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow Dash just nodded to her. “I, I can’t believe it. I did it! I actually did-“

*BAM!* *BZZT!* *Click*

Fluttershy’s jump for joy was halted when the cloud beneath her released a large amount of electricity that shot around and ended up hitting her. Rainbow Dash flinched aggressively when that bolt impacted Fluttershy, singeing parts of her mane and coat without warning.

Fluttershy’s body made small shivering motions as she kept herself floating in mid-air. She kept making very silent sudden whimpers.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her mouth, very concerned for Fluttershy’s condition. She wasn’t expecting that to happen.

“Fluttershy?... Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly. Fluttershy slowly nodded, but she kept her injured and sad expression.

“W-what did I do wrong?” Fluttershy asked as hesitantly as Rainbow Dash did.

“S-sorry Fluttershy, that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Rainbow Dash started as she was dusting Fluttershy off. “That was an aftershock from the cloud itself. Sometimes a cloud will zap lightning randomly soon after it’s been activated.” Rainbow Dash stared at the cloud itself. “I got these out of the tested clouds that were in the weather factory, so this wasn’t supposed to do that. Looks like one untested cloud got in there somehow.”

Fluttershy looked at the cloud with more determination on her face. There certainly was a lot to learn about them and she unintentionally learned a very dangerous thing about them. Regardless, she still really wanted to learn how to use them, especially how to use them safely. She didn’t want to give up after her first lesson turned out to be partly successful.

“Okay Rainbow Dash, I’m ready for my next lesson,” she said, giving Rainbow Dash a bit of a surprise.

“Whoa, you sure Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure where this confidence was coming from, but she liked seeing it coming from Fluttershy.

“Yes, I am,” Fluttershy responded, wiping off the burnt hairs off her mane and coat.

Author's Note:

As mentioned in the description, this story's purpose is to explain the back story behind its sequel. If you've read the sequel before this one, you'll probably know where this is going. The sequel was written and published first after all.

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Find any errors? Please notify.

Feed back and criticism are appreciated.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

Comments

[Brony kaiju soldier]

This is really interesting so far. All I have to say is I'll be waiting for future chapters.

[SUBJECTXVI]

You have garnered my attention. Now let's see if you can keep it!