Summer Flight Camp

by fluttershywriter

Chapter One

“Fluttershy, correct?” asked the mare sitting at the registration desk.

“Yes,” sighed her father. His pale blue coat had gotten even paler in the last few days, and his mane was dirty and tangled. He hadn’t gone to work since the “incident,” as it was now being known, happened. The mare eyed him suspiciously, but she slid a form over the table to him. He picked up a pen in his mouth and signed his name.

“You’ll be in cabin one,” she said flatly. “This is your first year, right?” Fluttershy didn’t move, so her father sighed and answered that, yes, this was her first year. “Wow. Most fillies and foals start a few years younger than you, so they’re great flyers by the time they get as old as you. I’m sure that you’ve been teaching her at home?” she asked Fluttershy’s father.

He coughed. “Actually, I’m busy most of the time, and her mother is, well, busy most of the time as well. So she hasn’t gotten many flying lessons.” Fluttershy refrained from correcting him and saying that she hadn’t gotten any flying lessons.

The mare rested her head on her hoof, as if she had a headache. “Well, we’re pleased to have you here, Miss Fluttershy,” she said. Her tone suggested the opposite.

As Fluttershy walked away with her head down, she tripped over a loose cloud and fell flat on her face.

“You sure your name’s not Klutzershy?” a foal called from behind her. She picked herself up and looked behind her. There was a tan foal with a shaggy mane that hung over his eyes. Behind him were two similar-looking colts with different coats.

Fluttershy blinked. He took this as a cue to continue. “I’ve heard that earth ponies are clumsy. You sure that you’re not an earth pony?” His followers let out similar grunts of laughter. “Hey, I’ve been watching you since you came here. I haven’t seen you fly once. Maybe you are an earth pony!”

“I’m not an earth pony,” whispered Fluttershy, a sensation of dread washing over her. This was worse than when her mother was angry. When she hit Fluttershy, she wasn’t laughing. The foal’s laughter was ringing in her ears.

“What’s that? Speak up, Klutzershy.” His friends laughed even harder. “Did you say that you want us to test your wings? Are you sure? Well, if you really want us to . . .”

“Hoops, come give your mama a big hug!” crooned a middle-aged mare. She scooped him up in her arms, giving Fluttershy a chance to escape. In the air, she noticed that he already had his cutie mark—three basketballs. How many ponies had their cutie marks here? She began to breathe faster.

“Are they your friends?” asked her father, catching up to her. Fluttershy hesitated before nodding. Take me with you, she begged him silently.

He didn’t catch her silent message. “Well, Flutters . . .” Another silence descended between them. After a few moments, he realized that she wasn’t going to say anything. His daughter had always been quiet, but she had turned mute since the incident. “I’ll write you once a week,” he promised. She shrugged. He looked around, as if looking for something that would inspire conversation. “Have fun. Make friends,” he said bluntly before handing her her suitcase and flying away.
Now what? she wondered. She spotted a cabin with a large number one at the top of the doorframe and assumed that it was cabin one. She didn’t want to enter—there were probably other ponies inside—but the brown foal had escaped from his mother’s embrace and was heading towards her again. Without looking back, she sprinted into the cabin—and immediately wished that she had watched where she was going.

“Hey! I’m walkin’ here, idiot!” shouted a rough voice. Fluttershy whimpered as she took in the sight of what she had bumped into.

She had heard of griffons before, but she hadn’t seen any. According to her father, they were pretty rare, but they occasionally mingled with ponies. With the body of a lion, the head of an eagle, and huge wings, Fluttershy quickly realized that if this griffon wanted to get physical, a skinny yellow filly didn’t stand a chance.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean . . .” The rest of Fluttershy’s sentence dissolved into incoherent mumbling. Head ducked, she tried to run past the griffon, but it blocked her path.

“I don’t know what you do where you live, but here, we’re supposed to watch where we’re going.” The griffon continued to block Fluttershy’s path. “Well? Are you going to apologize?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The griffon was beginning to get impatient. When Fluttershy didn’t manage to speak, the griffon clenched her claws, drew the fist back, and—
“Girls!” shouted the counselor. “While you two were busy chatting, everypony was spending their time finding bunks.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, looks like you two are going to be bunkmates.”

“No!” protested the griffon. “There is no way in Equestria that I’m going to bunk with that dorky excuse for a pegasus. I want to be with somepony who—”

“No buts,” said the counselor. “You already had a long conversation with her, so I assume that you’re already the best of friends. Now go.”

Gilda grumbled something about “lame” and “not friends” and “annoying,” but she complied. She flew up to the top bunk without asking Fluttershy—not that Fluttershy would have been able to take the top bunk anyway. None of the bunks had ladders. As Fluttershy delicately put her suitcase beneath her bunk, someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was the griffon, hanging upside-down from the top bunk. She drove a claw into Fluttershy’s forehead. “You are so dead,” she said softly, giving Fluttershy a glare that would have made the bravest pony cower.

“Gilda!” snapped the counselor. The griffon—Gilda—snapped back up to her bed as if nothing had happened.

Fluttershy stood frozen for a long time, her heart pounding so hard she was sure that Gilda could hear it. She thought of the letter she could send home for her father:

Dear Daddy,

Flight camp is terrible. While you were gone, a foal made fun of me and came up with a stupid nickname: “Klutzershy.” About a million ponies laughed at me. I just walked into a griffon called Gilda, who I am bunking with. Did I mention she wants to kill me?

Love, Fluttershy

Maybe she’d hold off on the letter-writing for now.

εїз εїз εїз

At their first dinner, Fluttershy was standing in line with a tray when Gilda butted in front of her.

“Excuse me . . .”

Gilda ignored Fluttershy. Of course she did. It seemed to Fluttershy as if everypony was ignoring her at this camp.

“Hey, Klutzershy!” called a familiar voice.

Of course, sometimes being ignored could be very nice. Especially compared to being called a name and having everypony stare at you.

“Hello, Klutzershy,” said Hoops in a mocking tone. “I’m hungry, aren’t you?” Fluttershy nodded, assuming it was the right thing to do. “Well, I’m really hungry. I don’t think I want to go all the way to the back of the line.” He gestured to the snaking line of young ponies. “You won’t mind if my friends and I cut in front of you, will you?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he and his friends stepped in front of her.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Fluttershy gratefully took her tray of hay fries and alfalfa. She scanned the mess hall and found a mostly-empty table. As she made her way towards it, she tripped over a table leg and found herself, once again, flat on her face.

“Really living up to your name, Klutzershy,” Hoops taunted her. Her face burned bright red. Tears began to gather in the corner of her eyes, threatening to spill out. They blurred her vision so much that she didn’t notice a certain griffon walking in on the scene.

“Come on, guys, that’s not her name,” said Gilda. Fluttershy’s head jerked up, her eyes still brimming with tears. What? Was she actually— “Everypony knows that her name’s Fluttercry.”

All four of her tormentors began laughing. Fluttershy couldn’t help it—she began to cry. Why were they being so mean to her? What had she done to them? A few ponies from nearby tables began to giggle when they heard her nicknames.

Gilda strolled off and called to a friend at a nearby table. “Hey, Rainbow Dash, check this—”

“Leave her ALONE!” screamed a cyan filly with a rainbow mane, zooming up next to Hoops. Fluttershy sniffled and blinked to clear her eyes. Who was that?

“Well, if it isn’t our good friend, Rainbow Crash,” said Hoops. Fluttershy had to wonder why he had gotten his cutie mark in basketball—he seemed to have a special talent for coming up with names. “So you want us to leave Klutzershy alone? What’s it to you?”

Gilda seemed surprised that her friend was standing up for Fluttershy instead of laughing at her. She quickly realized that Rainbow Dash didn’t find these jokes funny, and she joined Rainbow's side. “Shut up, jerks,” said Gilda, shoving them. “C’mon, Dash, let’s bail.”

Rainbow Dash glared at Hoops and his friends before turning to Fluttershy. “Are you all right?” she asked, her voice full of concern. Fluttershy nodded. Before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, Fluttershy grabbed her tray, forgetting that her hay fries had spilled, and sprinted to the empty table. When she looked back, Gilda was pulling Rainbow Dash away from the bullies. She shot a glance at Fluttershy that the yellow filly couldn’t quite read. Was she angry? Was she jealous? Fluttershy could tell that it wasn’t a positive emotion.

Fluttershy frowned and stared out the window. If she had to choose between home and here, she was almost certain that she’d choose home.

But then again, at home, there was nopony to protect her from all the pain and misery she felt. There was nothing to look forward to, nothing to hear but the screams of her mother. And here, there was a rainbow-maned pony, one who stood up for her. One who was friends with Gilda, but still.

Fluttershy knew that there was no hope that Rainbow Dash would want to talk to her again. She had plenty of ponies (and one griffon) at her table that were laughing at a joke she had just made. Still, when she climbed into bed that night (later than everyone else, because she had been last in line to brush her teeth), she felt herself thinking of Rainbow Dash again. Instead of whispering to the picture of her mother, she whispered to the bottom of the bunk above her.

“I wish to see Rainbow Dash again.”

Comments

[Csquared08]

An update already? Oh boy!

[SpeedyAstro]

This made me almost as sad as reading all of My Little Dashie :(

[ShadowKick]

Aw, Dashie standing up for little Flutters... all of my happy, have it all.

On second though, I should save up some happy for when they actually become friends.

[shoelovesyou]

668777
Much. I think I threw away my kidney in the clean up, though.