Dreams and Nightmares

by UndercoverBrony

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Flutterbolt Google docs

“No!” protested Fluttershy, panic rising in her voice. The thought of performing in front of so many ponies brought back horrible memories of her modelling career and all the... attention that she'd had to deal with. All I ever wanted was a quiet life with my animals- how do I keep getting into situations like this? “There must be thousands of yellow pegasi out there who are much better at flying than I am! Why does it have to be me?”

“Well... like I said I want to keep the number of ponies who know about this to the minimum. If we brought in a new pony then that's another potential leak, especially if none of us know her that well.” Spitfire looked rather confused. “You know, most ponies would jump at a chance like this. What's the problem, exactly?”

“Fluttershy isn't most ponies...” explained Dash. She shook her head. “This is a bad idea. Look, I know that Fluttershy saved your flank out there, so I can see why you might have got this idea into your head that she's some sort of big awesome hero pony but...” She paused. “Well I don't even know where to start on how wrong that is. No offence, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, none taken. I'm really not very awesome,” agreed Fluttershy happily. “Besides, we don't even match.” Fluttershy held up her wing against Spitfire. Although they were both yellow, Fluttershy was much paler than the deep, fiery yellow of Spitfire's coat. “It's no good, of course I'd love to help-” she lied, unconvincingly “-but it looks like you're just going to have to find somepony else.”

“Sure it doesn't really work when we're right next to each other,” admitted Spitfire. “But don't you worry; it's not as if you have to fool anypony close up. You'll be all the way up in the sky and travelling really fast. Nopony will get that good a look at you. You're definitely a close enough match to pull this off.”

“It's all irrelevant anyway,” insisted Rainbow. “Fluttershy has never been a strong flier. There's no way that she's fast enough to keep up with me and the Wonderbolts at full speed.”

“She don't have to be.” Spitfire smiled. “Being a Wonderbolt doesn't have anything to do with speed.”

“It doesn't?” asked Rainbow; her face scrunched up in confusion.

“No, Rainbow. It's about precision, grace, and working as a team.” She looked over at Fluttershy. “I don't think that you'll have a problem with any of those. Sure, you do need some speed, but you won't need to do a Sonic Rainboom to keep up. I'm sure you'll be fine.”

“But... but... but... I can't.” Fluttershy hung her head in shame. Why can't she understand how hard this is for me? She loves to perform, loves to have everypony looking at her, but I'm different! I want to help but... it's like there's a giant wall across the path that she wants me to take. It isn't just that it'll be hard, it's... impossible. I can't even conceive of being able to do it. When I try to imagine myself appearing in front of a whole stadium of ponies, all I can summon up is a big black nothingness in my mind. “I just can't... I'm sorry. I just... can't.”

Rainbow Dash placed herself between the increasingly insistent Spitfire and the increasingly upset Fluttershy. “That's enough. Remind me why you needed my help, Spitfire.”

“Because Soarin got hurt in-”

“Right. But the Wonderbolts are more than just six ponies, right? So why didn't you get in one of the reserves?”

“Well... we've had a bit of an injury crisis recently, so we're all out of-”

“EXACTLY!” Rainbow yelled. “Being a Wonderbolt is dangerous! That's fine for me, danger is my middle name, but you want to put Fluttershy through all that? Her middle name is... I don't know, bunnies or something.”

“But... we don't have a choice. If this gets out, then by the time the Wonderbolts are back in the air we'll be at full strength again. It could be years before we have another opening. This is your big break, Rainbow, are you really going to risk that?”

“You betcha! I'll take my chances. I'm not saying that becoming a Wonderbolt isn't important to me... but friends are even more important. More than anything else. Friends. Come. First.”

Friends come first. Fluttershy looked down at the ground. Then she closed her eyes, trying not to think about what the words coming out of her mouth meant as she said them. “I'll do it.”

“Huh?” Rainbow stepped back, and turned to look at her. “Sorry Fluttershy, I didn't catch that... it almost sounded like you said... but I KNOW you didn't say that.”

“I said...” Fluttershy gulped. “I said I'll do it.”

“What?” Rainbow's jaw dropped. “You don't have to do this, Fluttershy, really.”

“No, I know, but I want to do this.”

“No you don't,” countered Rainbow. “You do NOT want to do this.”

“Okay, you're right, I don't want to do this,” Fluttershy admitted. “But I do want to help you. I hate performing in front of other ponies... and I'm not very fond of danger either... but friends come first. You said it yourself.”

“That wasn't what I meant.”

“But it was true. I know how important this is to you. Ever since we were fillies you've been telling me about how you're going to join the Wonderbolts some day, and now that you've got the chance I'm going to do everything I can to help you do just that. I'm doing this whether you want me to or not.” She paused, dropping her gaze back down to her hooves. “Although... I can't promise that I'll be any good.”

There was a brief pause, then suddenly Rainbow leapt on her, grasping her in a tight hug. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou...” Fluttershy was surprised to see that her friend was crying into her mane. “I'm sure you'll do great. You have no idea how much this means to me...”

Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, I think I've got a pretty good idea.” She stood up straight, a serious look on her face. “I swear that from this day onwards, I will be a coward no longer! For you, Rainbow, I will be as strong as I can be!” There was a knock on the door. “Aaaaaah!” She tore herself from Rainbow's grip and leapt behind the sofa. A moment later she peeked over the top, blushing as she realised her mistake. “Er... starting from now.” She fluttered over to the door, and opened it.

It was Twilight. Apparently the weather ponies had caught up on the rain that Dash had missed earlier, because it was absolutely tipping it down outside and Twilight was completely soaked. “Oh Fluttershy, I'm sooo glad you're home right now! I don't think I could take another minute of this rain! Can I come in?”

Nervously, Fluttershy glanced over to Spitfire, lying in plain sight and not about to move any time soon. She was shaking her head urgently. “Um... no, actually. I think you should stay outside.” She smiled apologetically.

“Oh. Okaaay...” Twilight stared inquisitively at her friend, confused by her odd behaviour. “Never mind, I guess being dry is overrated anyway,” she added sarcastically. Then she spotted a blue shape trying to hide inside. “Wait... Rainbow, is that you? I thought that you were supposed to be so super busy today that you couldn't even tell everypony your good news?”

“Oh... um... hi Twi.” Giving up on trying not to be seen, Dash came to join Fluttershy in the doorway. All the better to block any attempted entry by Twilight. “That's right but... obviously I had to tell Fluttershy in person, I mean, we've known each other since all the way back in Cloudsdale so we're the absolute closest of friends.”

“If you say so...” Although it was true that the pair had known each other longer than any of the other ponies, they didn't really spend that much time together, and didn't have a lot in common. “Well, in that case, you'll definitely want to come to Princess Celestia's birthday celebration so you can watch her perform!”

“Oh, yes, I'd love to come,” replied Fluttershy, but then Rainbow Dash poked her in the flank and shook her head. Oh yes, that's right. If I'm pretending to be Spitfire then I won't be able to come with Twilight and the others. I can hardly be in two places at once. “I mean... no. I'm sorry I can't come.” She desperately tried to think of an excuse, but came back empty-hooved. “I'm going to be... busy.”

“Busy?” Twilight sighed. “Too busy to see your so called best friend fulfil her dream? Too busy to attend Princess Celestia's birthday party?” Fluttershy nodded, still wearing a rather fake looking smile. “Don't tell me that you got recruited into the Wonderbolts too!”

Fluttershy gasped in shock, her eyes widening in shock and fear. “How did you-?”

Before she could blab out the truth, Rainbow interrupted her by shoving her hoof in her friends mouth. “Oh Twilight, don't be silly! Fluttershy in the Wonderbolts? That's ridiculous!” She laughed nervously. “Fluttershy is just going to be busy doing... Fluttershy stuff. You know. Looking after animals and whatnot. I'm not upset, it's fine.” She looked down at her wrist. “Hey, is that the time? You'd best be getting back to town before you catch a cold. Bye Twi!” She slammed the door in Twilight's face.

“You aren't even wearing a watch,” Twilight muttered, but the door didn't have much to say on the matter. She sighed again and turned back towards Ponyville, beginning the long, damp trek back to the library. Something weird was definitely going on there, but since Fluttershy was involved, she was sure it wasn't anything nefarious. She supposed that it wasn't really any of her business.

It was just a shame that two of her friends now wouldn't be there to help celebrate Celestia's birthday. She'd been so looking forward to all seven of them spending time together, and to have not one, but two of them turn out to be no-shows was an unexpected disappointment. Dash would still be there of course, but Twilight knew she'd be way too busy with the Wonderbolts to spend any real time with her friends. And she couldn't believe that Fluttershy had just blown her off like that; that really wasn't like her at all.

Unless... unless she really was going to be joining the Wonderbolts as well and just didn't want anypony else to know about it. She'd certainly reacted rather strangely when Twilight had jokingly suggested it... Twilight laughed. What was she thinking? “Oh, Twilight...” she said to herself. “You do get some funny ideas sometimes.”

---

Rainbow wiped her brow in relief. Who knew that just talking to Twilight could be so nerve racking? “Phew... that was close. What were you thinking, Fluttershy? You nearly blew it! Couldn't you tell tell she was joking?”

“I know, I know. I'm sorry...” Fluttershy hung her head in shame. “I just panicked. Oh... why am I such a loud-mouth?”

“It's all right, Fluttershy,” Spitfire reassured her. “Is there anywhere better I can hide? That wouldn't have seemed so suspicious if you hadn't had to leave her standing in the rain.”

“Oh, I don't get that many visitors. Twilight was only here to give me that invitation,” Fluttershy explained. “You shouldn't get up if you don't have to.”

“Well OK then. I should be fine here on my own I guess. Even if somepony does come I can just pretend that nopony is in.” Spitfire paused. “It is all right to leave me alone, right? I don't need constant medical attention or anything?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, I'll need to change your bandages once in a while but I don't need to be here all the time. But why wouldn't I be here? I don't have anywhere important to be and I'm happy to stay here and help in any way I can.”

“Oh, so all of a sudden you're so confident that you can become a Wonderbolt that you don't need to even train?” Spitfire laughed as Fluttershy froze, apparently having briefly forgotten her predicament. “I can't really help any more, but I'm sure Dash can show you the basics. The other Wonderbolts will be here soon to teach you the more complicated stuff.”

Thunder rolled outside. The weather ponies certainly seemed eager to make up for the initial tardiness of the rain. Fluttershy peeked out of the windows. “Do we have to start right this second?” Not that she'd have felt particularly enthusiastic even if it had been a bright summer's day.

“Are you kidding? This is perfect!” exclaimed Dash. “The weather doesn't matter because we can just fly over the clouds, and once we're above them nopony will be able to see us from the ground. Isn't that how you'd prefer it Fluttershy?” The other pony nodded, although somewhat half-heartedly. “Great, then let's go!” She threw open the door, and shot up into the sky.

Following behind, Fluttershy carefully pulled the door shut behind her, then lifted herself up off the ground, circling upwards slowly. The dark rain-clouds floated ominously above her, but she closed her eyes and punched her way through into the sunlight. With clouds as far as she could see below her, and only empty skies above, it really did feel like they had the world all to themselves.

So... What now? This morning Dash had been the pupil, but now she seemed to have been promoted to teacher. How had Spitfire started? “Right! Lesson one. Flying in formation. Follow me!” She shot off.

Fluttershy just stayed where she was, looking mournfully after Rainbow. Dash sighed. Apparently being a teacher is the harder of the two jobs. Doing her best to maintain her composure, she banked around to face Fluttershy. She relaxed her wings into a glide, using air resistance to slow herself down to a stop next to her friend. “What gives? Don't tell me I have to start with teaching you how to fly forwards...”

“You were too fast!” Fluttershy explained. “I knew there was no way I was going to catch you so I decided to just let you fly. You always enjoy zooming around so I thought I'd let you have your fun because once I start going you'll have to slow down for me, and I know you don't like that.”

“This isn't for my benefit, Fluttershy.” Rainbow paused. Actually, I guess that all this is for my benefit. Fluttershy wouldn't even have been up here if it wasn't for me. “I mean... it isn't about me enjoying myself on a flight. If you really want to do this, then we need to train you up, and fast. I know! If you can't keep up with me, how about you set the pace, and I'll match you.”

“Oh... OK then.” Fluttershy moved off at, to Rainbow's eyes at least, a snail's pace.

Well, it was a start at least. Rainbow pulled alongside her. “Right, good. But it's no use me following you, you need to practice following me. I know you can go faster than this, so I'm just going to go a little quicker, and you match my speed, OK?”

“OK, I'll try...” Fluttershy replied. Dash pushed forward and began to pull ahead, being careful not to go too much faster and lose her. To her relief, Fluttershy was able to keep up, and matched speeds with no problem. Success! Although not one that's going to impress a crowd. Baby steps...

“Right, that's good, but we need to be flying closer together.” Rainbow gestured inwards with her foreleg. “Wonderbolts fly wing-tip to wing-tip.”

“OK then...” Slowly, agonisingly slowly, Fluttershy began to drift sideways towards Dash. Every now and then she would panic, and drift away again, but for every one flap back she was taking two flaps forward. Then suddenly... their wing-tips touched, just gently. “Eek!” She slid away again, all the way back to where she had started. “I'm sorry...”

“It's not a problem,” Rainbow reassured her; trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. “Just a little touch doesn't mean the end of the world. Now come back, only not quite so close this time.” It didn't take quite so long on the second attempt, and soon they were flying together side by side. “Great work, Fluttershy. That's perfect, just hold there.” Now what's next... ah yes. “You remember how to make a cloud trail, right?”

“Oh... I was never very good at weather... To be honest, I haven't really tried since I was a foal.”

“But you do know how. Come on Fluttershy, it's our latent talent. Every pegasus can control the weather, even you. Just because you never use it doesn't mean it isn't there. You won't be able to pass for a Wonderbolt if you don't make a smoke trail. A pegasus can feel the air around herself, and the moisture in it.” Dash knew that Fluttershy had heard this all before, but talking her through it would help remind her. “We can use our wings to reshape it into clouds, or rain. Give it a try.”

“Alright then...” Fluttershy closed her eyes as she focussed on the air around her body. A trail of fluffy white clouds began to form behind her.

Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough for Rainbow Dash. “Right, that's a start, but Spitfire's trail doesn't look like that. It needs to be all black and sparky and cool and stuff. You've gotta kick some more energy into it.”

“Oh... OK. I'll try...” Fluttershy concentrated, forcing the air together more tightly, compacting it down with more force, and power, and... SPARK! Lightning fizzled in the cloud behind her. She screamed, breaking formation with Dash and jumping further up into the sky. The smoke trail petered out behind her.

Dash snapped. “Alright, that's, enough!” She shot up in front of Fluttershy, staring her right in the face. “This is ridiculous! It's like teaching a foal. First you can't even fly in a straight line, then you take forever just to get in formation, and now you're afraid of your own lightning? Really? If we're spending this long on basic stuff, how are we going to be ready for performing with the Wonderbolts in just a week? Why do you have to be so... so... useless?!”

“I'm sorry that I let you down...” Fluttershy sniffed, tears welling in her eyes. “You're right, I really am useless... I'm not helping at all, am I?”

Celestia, what have I done? Fluttershy's doing me a massive favour, and I've gone and yelled right in her face for her trouble. “You're helping me more than I could ever ask for... It's not that there's anything wrong with your clouds it's just... I wanted them to be just like Spitfire's. We'll make the white clouds work... somehow.”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy dried her eyes. “I don't want to ruin your big day, Dash.”

“If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be getting my big day,” Dash reminded her. “Let's just concentrate on something different for now. How about we try flying with our wing-beats in step with one another? It's hard, but it isn't scary, or dangerous or anything like that. Just concentrate really hard on my wings, and try to make yours move in time with them. Put everything else out of your mind, and don't look away.”

She started off slow, and Fluttershy followed. She was trying her hardest, but their wing-beats still weren't synchronised at all. However, Rainbow wasn't getting frustrated this time, because teaching Fluttershy to flap in time was only half her plan. With Fluttershy focussed entirely on Dash's wings and her own, Rainbow began to slowly pick up the pace.

As she had hoped, Fluttershy didn't even notice, and naturally increased her own speed to match. Before long, the clouds were really shooting past below them. Dash smirked- she'd always suspected that Fluttershy had some real speed hidden inside her; it was just that she got scared whenever she went too fast and slowed down. The air whistled past her face, giving her a feeling of freedom and power that she could only experience through speed.

Fluttershy could feel it too. Confused by the unfamiliar sensation, she stopped concentrating on Dash's wings, and suddenly realised just how fast she was going. She panicked, screaming as her wings locked up and folded against her back. Without any more lift holding her up, she began to plummet to earth like a stone. The earth charged upwards to greet her and...

Suddenly she was floating. Her wings still weren't flapping, but she wasn't falling any more. “I've got you, Fluttershy!” Dash had caught her, and was now flaring out her wings to act as an air break to bring them to a safe stop. They slowly dropped down to ground level, and Dash released her.

“I'm so-” started Fluttershy, but Dash cut her off.

“No, I'm sorry. That was a mean trick. I shouldn't be forcing you into doing something you aren't comfortable with yet. I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, as well. I was just so frustrated... you know how much this means to me! But that's no excuse. Remember, if you really don't want to do this, I'll understand. If push comes to shove, we probably could find another pony to stand in for Spitfire. I won't think any less of you if you don't want to fly with me any more. I've been a terrible friend. Please forgive me.”

“Oh, Dash. Of course I forgive you.” Fluttershy placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. “I want to help you in any way I can. I do get scared sometimes... a lot of the time actually... but I'm not going to let that get in the way. Not this time. If you're happy to keep training me, then I'm happy to keep being your student. Friends?”

They slapped hooves. “Always,” Rainbow replied. There was a smile on her face, but behind the scenes a nasty thought lingered. This isn’t going to work...

Comments

[lollipops and gumdrops x]

Wow