Cheering!
Fluttershy the Cheerleader.
Crashed and burned.
This is how Dash would describe what had just happened. Her flight routine, carefully planned and prepared, and she had managed to mess it up. Luckily for her ego this mess up was only occurring in practise and not in an actual race or competition. Still she had goofed up. Worse yet, she had goofed up an easy part of the routine, crash-landed on the floor.
As far as the veteran of crashing could tell, she had broken nothing in the fall, nor sprained anything, though her body ached all over. She was also dazed, her vision and hearing a little out of whack, as she could only roughly make out the sight and sounds of something approaching. The very creature that had caused her to, as she put it, crash and burn, and it was with much irony that Rainbow Dash knew this was a fault of her own creation.
“Yay.” Fluttershy cheered… quietly.
Rainbow Dash could only sigh as the soft words barely reached her ears. The words of cheer and encouragement that were supposed to be, without control, screamed and hollered with passion were difficult to hear even when standing directly in front of her cheering friend. Admittedly this was no different than usual but there in lay the problem.
“Okay, this isn’t working.” Dash groaned, shaking her head.
The smile that had accompanied Fluttershy’s earlier cheer dropped off her face, sadness and guilt quickly forming as she mumbled out her apology, “I-I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.”
The sudden turn of her friend’s behaviour bothered Rainbow, and so quickly reassured her, “It’s not your fault Fluttershy. You’ve been trying hard just, well; you aren’t getting much better at this whole cheering thing.”
To anypony else those words probably wouldn’t have done much to reassure them but to Fluttershy, used to Rainbow’s blunt nature, they were appreciated.
”Probably could have said that better,” Dash realised afterwards, deciding to add to it, “It’s just, practise hasn't been going well lately. I’ve been off my game, sluggish even but it's not like I've been doing anything differently…”
“Maybe your body's getting sore from excessing so much,” Fluttershy suggested with concerned tone, “Would you like me to give you a massage? It may help.”
“N-no, I feel fine, no need to worry about me.” Rainbow Dash shot down the idea immediately, the thought of her best friend rubbing and soothing her body making her feel uncomfortable. “Anyway, I figured it might help things if you were to improve your cheering. Y’know, start cheering more like you did at the young flier’s competition; that was awesome.”
“Oh my, it wasn’t all that special.” The humble pegasus murmured looked to the ground with a small, pleased blush.
“Are you kidding?” The proud pegasus bellowed as she swung a foreleg around her pal's shoulder, “Your cheering back then was incredible. It was… really nice to see you cheering for me like that.”
A flattered Fluttershy continued to look towards the ground as her blush grew, her smile grew, and a giggle escaped her lips.
“So it would be really awesome if you could try and cheer for me like that again.” Rainbow said, meeting the shy mare eye to eye.
“I-I don’t know if I can, I was so caught in the moment and…” Fluttershy explained, “I don’t think I fit the role of a cheerleader well.”
“I got it!” Rainbow Dash yelled as something in her mind clicked.
“G-got what?” A startled Fluttershy asked.
“I know just how we can help you to cheer better,” Dash beamed a grin towards Fluttershy before turning around and flying off the ground, “Be here tomorrow.”
Rarity could hear her name being called, even with her being inside Carousel Boutique, and the voice outside. She was in the midst of work but not with her sewing machine and as such could tell that the caller was rapidly approaching her store. In being able to tell who was coming by voice alone the unicorn used her magic to open her front door in preparation.
“Rarity, Rarity, Rari-Argh!” An open door proved disastrous for the speeding Rainbow Dash, as instead of stopping against the front door as intended she found herself unprepared for impact with the interior wall of the boutique.
A downed Rainbow Dash rubbed her head for a couple of seconds, before leaping up onto all four hooves. “Ow, why did you open the door? I needed that to stop myself.”
“Well dear, I’m sure you’ll find it surprising to learn but my door is not there to work as your brakes.” Rarity replied, continuing to focus on sketching a design fitting for one of her recent customers.
Watching Rarity at work Rainbow Dash was immediately reminded of why she had come to the store, “Hey Rarity, you busy?”
The fashionista finished the last few pencil strokes and finished the outline of her new design, responding to Dash with a dry, “No more than usual.”
“Great! I need you to make some clothes for me.”
Rarity then stopped work. She turned around to her friend, shooting her an incredulous look.
“Well, it’s for Fluttershy but it’s for me as well.” Rainbow explained quickly, scooting over to Rarity and whispering in her ear her order.
“Wow, I never thought that you… she, very well then, I’ll have it ready by tomorrow.”
“Really! Thanks Rare.” Rainbow Dash cheered as a grin exploded on her face for the second time that day, “But are you sure you’ll be able to get it done by tomorrow. Don’t you need me to get Fluttershy for you?”
Rarity chuckled, “There’s no need, I’ve memorised Fluttershy’s measurements.”
“You’ve… memorised Fluttershy’s measurements?” Rainbow said questioningly, as Rarity turned around to prepare materials.
“Hmm, curious?” Rarity remaked, a smirk popping up on her face.
“What no, why would I, no!” The cyan pegasus protested as she bloomed a bright scarlet face, “Argh, I’m out of here.”
Rainbow Dash sped for the door and exited, though briefly popped her head back into the Boutique to say, “Oh, thanks again Rare, I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
Rarity waved Rainbow adieu as the door shut. With Rainbow Dash gone the unicorn decided to focus on her new order, scrolling up her current design, and storing it away for later. Retrieving a blank piece of paper, and reminding herself of Fluttershy’s measurements, the unicorn got to work.
As the design started to go from her head to the paper, she mused, “I knew there was something between those two but I never imagined they would be into roleplaying.”
Rainbow Dash would often have to wait on Fluttershy. The athlete was always early to her training spot, and usually in the midst of warming up or even practising already when Fluttershy arrived. So it took the Fluttershy by surprise to see Rainbow Dash waiting on the ground for her, rocking back and forth as a sign that she was growing impatient.
“Thank Celestia you’re here, just sitting down on the ground and waiting for you is really boring.” Dash moaned, hopping up onto her hooves.
“I’m sorry… but you didn’t have to wait for me on the ground. Why aren’t you flying?” Fluttershy tones shifted from both apologetic to curious smoothly.
“Hee-hee, because I wanted to give you this of course.” Dash snickered as she grabbed a box from behind her, and presented it towards her fellow feathered friend.
“Aww, Dashie, you didn’t need to get me a present.” Fluttershy cooed, accepting the box with a large smile.
She wasted no time in opening the box up. What was inside though was something she never would have expected. Wordlessly Fluttershy retrieved from the box various articles of colourful clothing, laying them out on the grass to fully inspect what she had just been given.
“A… A cheerleader’s uniform?”
“Yep, I figured it might help your cheering if you got into the role by dressing the part. So I asked Rarity to make one for you.” Rainbow Dash explained, and with a wave of a hoof urged, “Go on, put it on.”
Fluttershy looked from the bright uniform to her enthusiastic friend, back to the uniform and then back to her friend. With trepidation in her voice, Fluttershy agreed, “Okay then.”
Rainbow Dash watched as Fluttershy picked up the smallest article of clothing, a piece of clothing Rainbow noted, that had her rainbow lightning cutie mark printed upon it. The mare’s pink eyes followed the material, remembering from her school days in the junior speedsters that they were called kickpants, as Fluttershy began to pull it up her hind-leg. Rainbow’s gaze continued to focus on the kickpants trailing up the slender and soft yellow leg-“Rainbow Dash.”
“Huh,” Rainbow mumbled as her attention was pulled away from Fluttershy back half and towards her front half, notably her flustered face.
“R-Rainbow Dash, I know we’re both mares and we don’t normally wear clothes and, um, but could you possibly look away while I put the uniform on?” Fluttershy finally mustered out with an ‘eep’.
Fluttershy’s face had been, as previously described, flustered, and this was carried over to Rainbow Dash as she heard the request, “Oh, I-I, sure, yeah sure.”
Rainbow quickly spun around, her back now turned towards Fluttershy, “Thanks Dashie, I know it sounds weird but if felt like you were ogling me.”
“I can’t believe I was ogling Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash berated herself before shaking her head and thinking with denial, “No way, I wasn’t ogling her, just watching her. I mean, I was just watching my best friend put on a cheerleaders uniform, nothing wrong with, not creepy at all.”
Fluttershy continued to change in awkward silence, while Rainbow Dash continued to engage in mental warfare with her hormones. The process of putting clothes on was not a long one and so it was Rainbow Dash who was disrupted from her argument in her mind by the following statement, “Rainbow Dash, I’ve finished putting it on.”
Dash spun around to witness her fellow pegasus garmented to suit the role of a cheerer. The vest and skirt were of pink and white, horizontal stripes going down both the vest and skirt, as well as white stripe along the rim of the vest's neck. ‘RD’ was printed onto the vest, in a bold blue that stood out from the lighter, more mellowed colours. To finish it off, Rarity was even nice enough to include two rainbow coloured pom-poms with the outfit.
“Do I look okay?”
“Yeah! You look great Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash beamed, leaping up into the air and spreading her wings, “With a cute cheerleader I’m sure to perform well today.”
“Cute?” Fluttershy noted and smiled.
Rainbow Dash stretched her wings and readied herself to take flight when her ‘cute’ cheerleader asked, “Um, Rainbow Dash, what do I do with these?”
Dash looked back towards Fluttershy, holding up the pom-poms made to match her own prismatic mane and tail.
“The pom-poms?” Rainbow Dash repeated as a question, and once a nod of confirmation was given thought back to the cheerleaders she remembered from the Junior Speedsters, “You shake them about, y’know, bob back and forth, just wave them about, and do a little chant while you cheer.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy said as she shook the pom-poms up and down, “But what should I say for the chant? Is there anything you’d like me to say in particular?”
“I guess I just want a regular chant, something about me, what I can do, how I’m a good racer and flier and all that stuff,” Dash began to explain, “Here, let me give you an example.”
Rainbow retried the pom-poms from Fluttershy but did not start immediately. Instead placing a pom-pom to her chin as she thought, mumbling to herself. About a minute it took for Dash to decide on what she would say, and began to sing a chant.
“Friend of the animals,
Voice of the angels,
Don’t stare into her eyes,
One look you’re lost to its wonders,
Let’s hear it for Fluttershy.”
Rainbow blushed with embarrassment the moment Fluttershy began to applaud her. Throwing back the pom-poms to her still applauding cheerleader, Rainbow wasted no time in turning her attention back to her flight practise.
“I’m going to start flying now. You start cheering.” With that Rainbow flew off higher into the sky, enough so that she could reach the lower clouds.
Rainbow Dash touched down on a cloud for a brief second. That instance being all the time she needed to get into position, and kicked off against the cloud. Keeping to the same altitude, the pegasus flew around the scattered clouds in the sky, her wings tip often but a couple of millimetres from the bodies of liquid droplets. Once she grew bored of flying in such a manner she spiced up her cloud dodging exercise, soaring up and launching downwards, then from diagonals, and soon she was mixing it up in all sorts of combinations.
“Yay.” Rainbow’s ears managed to catch the slight sound of Fluttershy’s cheers and so stopped, looking down to check on, or possibly out, her cheerleader.
“Yay.” Fluttershy called out once again, a little louder, but still within her usual range of volume.
Fluttershy was hovering off the floor a little, flying as to keep the stance of standing on her hind-legs, without the strain such a posture would start to put on a four legged equines body. Nervously Fluttershy had begun to sway, and wave the pom-poms, but all her motions were slight, barely visible, matching with her voice. She looked up to Rainbow Dash, her face a question as to how she was doing.
“Uh, you’re doing better,” Rainbow Dash yelled down and followed through with some advice, “Try to move about a bit more, shake those pom-poms, sway your hips, get energetic, excited!”
“Hmm, maybe I can get her a bit more excited.” Rainbow thought to herself as she readied her next practised stunt.
The pegasus descended towards the ground. Of course she flew back up before hitting the ground, and ascended straight through one of the clouds. Liquid droplets began to fall, early rain falling to the world below, but a rainbow blur zoomed past the droplets and flew straight up into the falling water. Dash proceeded to rinse and repeat, breaking another cloud upon ascent, diving back down faster than any of the drops of water, and then ascending through and towards any of the water still in the midst of falling.
“You rock, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow heard this cheer clearly, and whilst slowing down, spotted the cheering and pom-pom waving Fluttershy with a big smile on her face.
“I can’t hear you!” Rainbow teased back.
“I said, You Rock Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy yelled back, a pleasant surprise for Rainbow Dash.
“Alright then, now try some chants. Just like I showed you but for me this time ‘kay.” Rainbow Dash called back down as she proceeded to loop and barrel roll in the sky.
“Okay a chant, let’s see…” Fluttershy whispered as ideas for chants began to form, “Um, R-A-I-N-B-O-W, no, that’s too long. Go Rainbow Dash g-no, Dash would want something more interesting than that. Rainbows going by… um, I think…”
Taking a deep breath, and in her head playing out the various movements, Fluttershy began her chant;
“Rainbow whizzing by,
That’s our girl!
Dashing past all ponies,
That’s my girl!
The only one to win,
Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, go go Rainbow Dash!”
Just for that the flier in the sky flew out the shape of a butterfly.
With excitement and enthusiasm, Fluttershy continued to cheer, chant, and praise Rainbow’s practise flight. Rainbow Dash continued to pull off more and more tricks, eager to get Fluttershy more impressed than she already was. Starting up a nosedive Rainbow Dash decided to shoot a look towards her cheerleader, see how her proud friend was doing… that was Rainbow’s undoing.
It was at that moment Rainbow Dash was distracted. What Rainbow saw stunned her, completely through her off her game, and would cause a then inevitable crash. Unprepared for what she was about to see, Rainbow’s mind was reduced to a gooey mush as her body screamed with joy… and in a few seconds pain.
Fluttershy performed a high kick. Rainbow Dash nosedived into the ground. Crashed and burned.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy yelled out as she sat down by the prismatic maned pegasus, inspecting her friend, “Are you okay Rainbow Dash?”
”I can’t believe I got distracted by Fluttershy… again,” Rainbow chastised in her head, “Seriously, why can't I keep my eyes off her while training.”
Rainbow Dash moved her head to better view her concerned cheerleader, and in turn to admire "I guess I can't really blame myself this time. With her flailing her hooves and yelling out my name, swaying from side to side, shaking pom-poms... that short skirt..."
A hoof was gently laid against Rainbow’s cheek, and the downed mare's thoughts halted, her focus and eyes turned to directly meet the worried gaze of Fluttershy, “Rainbow Dash… are you okay?”
“Y-yeah, just a slight crash, no big deal.” Rainbow replied with a slurred voice, and tried to sit up, only to fall back down, “A little woozy though.”
Rainbow Dash went to try and sit up but this time had a yellow leg supporting her back. Fluttershy eased Rainbow into a sitting position, all while continuing to check for injuries, little worries being ushered from her lips.
“Fluttershy, stop worrying, I’m fi-“ Rainbow’s words ended with an ‘eep’ as Fluttershy hugged her.
Fluttershy’s hooves wrapped around Rainbow’s body, and Rainbow could both see and feel Fluttershy’s face brushing up against her own. The cursed uniform that had resulted in her crash could also be felt. The vest against her chest, the skirt parting against her leg, even the kickpants Fluttershy was wearing whom she imagined must be fitting rather snugly around Fluttershy’s-“Rainbow Dash, are you sure you’re okay, your face is very warm.”
“I…I, yeah, just a little sore.” Rainbow Dash managed to say as normally as she could, all while cursing her hormones.
"Your wings are twitching a lot as well... and you're breathing heavily." Fluttershy noted much to Rainbow's embarrassment.
"My wings? They're just twitchy, muscles feeling a little tight," Rainbow Dash explained as pleaded for her wings, currently held down by Fluttershy's embrace, to calm down, "and my breathing. A little winded, that's all."
“Dashie,” Fluttershy cooed softly into Rainbow’s ear as she started to rub her hooves against the cyan pegasus’ back, “All that sounds like you need a massage. Would you like that massage now?”
“S-sure,” Rainbow relented, as she decided it was okay to wrap her own hooves around Fluttershy, and hold her distractingly cute cheerleader in a tight hug.
"If this is the result of crashing and burning" Rainbow Dash thought as she took pleasure in the current embrace with Fluttershy, “I should crash and burn more often.”