What Shy Did on Her Summer Vacation

by FanOfMostEverything

Rainbow

Dash entered the grove warily. It wasn't that she was afraid. No, she was totally okay with how the limbs overhead blocked out most of the sky while still leaving enough overcast grey visible to remind her that it was out of reach every time she looked up. Or the way roots were clearly going out of their way to trip her up as she was forced to walk through the tunnel of branches that led to Fluttershy's grove. Or the funny look that squirrel was giving her. Not a problem at all. It was just that she didn't really do plants. Closest she ever came was the grass on a soccer field, or Dad declaring the space between two trees here in the park a goal.

Yeah, that was it. Plants were linked with soccer in Dash's mind. Some part of her was just concerned that she wasn't wearing her cleats.

Yeah.

Dash snarled at the uppity squirrel. "What? You wanna go?" She leapt up to its eye level and stayed there. "Let's go! Bring it!"

Judging by how the squirrel just sat in its tree, it did not want to go, nor would it be bringing it. Though it was still looking at Dash funny.

She still counted it as a win, giving the pest a sharp nod. "That's what I thought."

"Rainbow? Why are you yelling at Grace?"

Dash most definitely wasn't blushing. Her face was heating up because of how mad she'd gotten. At a squirrel. She sighed and landed before Fluttershy. "Sorry, I'm kinda..." Dash shook her head. "Could we just start over and agree to never mention this for the rest of our lives?" She looked back at the squirrel. "That goes for you too, Grace."

The squirrel rolling its eyes was probably just Dash's imagination.

"I'm not sure if we ever really started, but okay," said Fluttershy. She was smiling when Dash faced her again. "Hello, Rainbow Dash. Good to see you."

"You too, Shy." Dash bit her lip. "So, uh, you're a tree."

"Yes."

Silence stretched out for a good long while. "Soooo, how's that working out for you?"

"Quite nicely, thank you."

"Uh, good. Great! Yeah." Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "It's just—" She bit her lip, but she couldn't catch the words before they slipped out.

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Just what?"

Dash looked away. "It's nothing. Never mind."

"Are you sure?"

"It's..." Dash took a deep breath. "I guess I just don't get it."

"Get what?"

"The whole, you know..." Dash waved her hands. Even she wasn't sure what she was trying to get across.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't."

Dash gave a heavy sigh. "The tree thing. I mean, you have wings now. You can fly whenever you want. And you've actually asked Sunset to pin you to the ground. Now you can't even move."

"Yes. And I'm happier than I've ever been."

Dash felt a pit form in her gut. "Ever?"

The silence went on for way too long. "Well, happier than I've ever been on my own."

"Oh. Yeah." Obviously what Fluttershy had meant the whole time. Dash frowned. "But aren't you lonely?"

"Oh, not at all." What must have been half of the wildlife in the park came out of nowhere and gathered around them: birds, squirrels, little furry things that might have been chipmunks or woodchucks or something, other creatures Dash didn't have a hope of identifying. And in the middle of them, Fluttershy smiled. "I have lots of company."

The back of Dash's neck itched as she looked around. "Uh... huh." The last time she'd seen this kind of devotion, it had been her schoolmates watching the Dazzlings perform. "Guess you aren't really on your own then, huh?"

Fluttershy grinned in a way Dash wasn't sure how to read. "I'm certainly not lonely. And you don't have to stay if you're that uncomfortable."

"Huh? No, Shy, I'm always happy to hang out with you!"

"That's very sweet of you to say, Rainbow, but I can tell how uneasy you are right now."

"What?" Dash gave a laugh. It sounded completely natural and not at all forced. "Nah, it's fine, really. Just wasn't expecting you to go all Whinny princess on me. If I'd known we'd be singing something, I'd have brought your tambourine."

"Rainbow." Fluttershy didn't frown. Heck, she was actually smirking a little. But her half-lidded look made it clear that she knew exactly how creeped out Dash was. So much so that Dash couldn't really deny it to herself either.

She gritted her teeth. "Okay, fine, maybe between grounding yourself and being boxed in and your fluffy little army, maybe I'm feeling a little weirded out. But you're still my friend. You know I'm gonna stick by you no matter what, right?"

"Of course. But I don't want you to force yourself to do so."

"It's not a matter of forcing myself, Shy. It's..." Dash trailed off.

"It's what?"

"Hang on a sec, okay? I'm trying to talk about my feelings here. Not exactly where I'm best."

"Oh. Okay."

The silence went on for way too long. Again. Dash shifted from side to side as she tried to shove her feelings into words. "I guess it's... You're one of my oldest friends. We've known each other since, what, first grade?"

Fluttershy nodded. "That sounds about right."

"Right. And when we weren't really, you know, talking to each other because of Sunset, I felt like crap. I shouldn't have left you hanging like I did, but when you and Pinkie were arguing, I couldn't pick a side. How could I? And then I thought Applejack had jerked me around with the date of her bake sale after I'd gotten the whole softball team on board, and..." Dash's gut twisted as she thought back to those days. "I felt like sticking with the jocks was... safer."

"Sunset had us all fooled, Rainbow. You shouldn't feel ashamed of that."

"It's not that. It's just... When Twilight, the other Twilight, when she got us back together, getting to reconnect with you, that was a great feeling. And when the two of us were the only ones who grew wings—you know, other than Twilight—it was like we had this special bond, you know? Even after the world changed and a whole bunch of other people can fly, we could do it first. But now, with the tree thing, with you giving up your wings, I feel like... Like we're..." Dash shut her eyes. She couldn't say it. If she said it, it would be real.

"Like we're drifting apart again? Oh, Rainbow."

"I know, it's stu..." Dash trailed off and opened her eyes. Fluttershy's critter army had curled around her, covering her ankles in fuzz. "...pid?"

"It's not. Feeling a certain way is never stupid. You can't reason away anxiety. I know that all too well."

Dash couldn't help but smile. "I guess you would."

"We've always had different interests. I'm just exploring one a little more deeply than usual."

"I'll say." Dash sighed, feeling the knot her guts loosen. "Thanks, Shy."

"Of course. You can stay as long as you want if it makes you feel better." Fluttershy put a finger to her lips as she looked off to the side. "Now that I think about it, Zephyr Breeze should be visiting me today. If you stay for a bit longer, you should be able to see him."

Dash chuckled. "Yeaaah, no. No offense, I'd stick by you all day otherwise, but Zeph's where I draw the line. Maybe when he gets over that crush of his, you know?"

"I understand."

"See you later!"

Fluttershy smiled. "Until then."

Comments

[QueenMoriarty]

COMMENCE THE SHIPPING!

[Bugsydor]

Fluttertree seems oddly wry and insightful. Not that those aren't qualities we've seen in her before, but they seem to be cranked up to eleven in this form.

Still totes adorbs, though.

[Man without a plan]

7577591 She spent weeks in complete isolation from anything besides animals and other plants. I'm sure she had a lot of time to think about stuff.

[Thought Prism]

Now I'm picturing Fluttershy walking up to Trostani and politely asking to join them. Actually, that might work as a sequel to The Implicit Neighs.

[Malandy]

Dash has Pegasine (is that the adjectival form?) claustrophobia, but Fluttershy obviously doesn't~!

Nice how you mix in Dash's posturing and self-corrections and stuff into the narration!

[diablo4000]

DAAWWWW Poor Rainbow she was so scared to lose Fluttershy, she should doa tree Hugger and hug Fluttertree....and Kiss.

[FanOfMostEverything]

7577571 7579106
Not my intent, but there's certainly an argument to be made for that interpretation.

7578099
Much to my surprise, there are no non-changeling Dryad Druids in Magic. Fluttershy would certainly be ahead of her time.

[Lurks-no-More]

Fluttershy the Ent.

[Cursed Quill]

Ah, hints of EGS.

Wonder how attempting a plant TF would work there.

[StarrySkies]

Grace the squirrel, hmm? Now where have I heard that before...

[My name is R]

So between her hesitation to promise to come back in time for the end of Summer break and saying this is the happiest she's ever been... I do believe there will be trouble convincing her to return.

7743275, 9982543
I hadn't noticed that until you brought it up. I wonder if it's intentional or a coincidence, Grace is a common enough name after all.
Given what I know of the magic in the setting... you would retain your mind, likely be able to undo it in no more than a day without magical aid-longer if the caster was both powerful and trying to make it permanent-, and probably retain hearing, despite the lack of ears.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"Oh, not at all." What must have been half of the wildlife in the park came out of nowhere and gathered around them: birds, squirrels, little furry things that might have been chipmunks or woodchucks or something, other creatures Dash didn't have a hope of identifying. And in the middle of them, Fluttershy smiled. "I have lots of company."

Well I'll be damned!

"It's not. Feeling a certain way is never stupid. You can't reason away anxiety. I know that all too well."

Indeed.