The Introduction
Rainbow Dash
Chapter 1
Cloudsdale was a beautiful city, especially during the summer. Not that Rainbow Dash knew what her favorite season looked like anywhere else in Equestria. But up in the clouds, she knew it was warm, and comfortable, with a light breeze to keep all of it balanced. Light from the sun hit the distant coliseums, making them sparkle brilliantly if you looked at them at the perfect angle. The blue filly was laying on her stomach, up high on a small overhang of cloud, right outside the advanced coliseum, resting her wings and lungs from her previous exercises. She loved the cool feeling of the water vapor on her belly, the wind through her prismatic mane, it was very relaxing after such heavy drills, and mixed with the heat of the sun, it was enough to make her a little drowsy. It was the same spot she flew herself to every day when the instructor blew his whistle, signaling to them it was time for the twenty minute break. She may have loved her spot, but she hated the breaks. So what if the other foals were tired? She wanted to keep flying! But whenever she complained to her instructor, he would just laugh and shake his head, saying it wasn’t good for her to spend too much time pushing herself. She liked instructor Swift Wing, for the most part, but sometimes he could be really aggravating. So each day, as the whistle squealed, she would fly off to her own little spot in the clouds, lay down with her chin on her hooves, and count the seconds until she could spread her wings once more.
Despite her small grievances, she loved flight school. All she did over the summer was fly around anyway, she might as well have somepony to push her, and get awarded for her efforts in the process. She loved to fly, she hardly walked anywhere, but because flight felt so natural to her, she never really did anything with it aside from get around. Her father liked to say she learned to use her wings before she learned to use her hooves, and she didn’t find it hard to believe. Here, they taught her how to do tricks and stuff, and soon they would start racing. Even though she wasn’t a skilled flyer yet, as she lay down upon her little tuft of cloud she could see she was definitely leading the pack.
At first she chose that spot to take her breaks so she could watch the advanced flyers perform. The way they shot through the air, looping around and tearing apart the cloud rings. She would watch in awe, hoping and dreaming that someday, she could fly there too. It all seemed so far away. They were so fast and flew with such control, those were the pegasi that would one day contend for a spot on the Wonder Bolts.
But after a little while Rainbow began to face her back to the coliseum, looking instead back the Flight School’s beginner course, where she’d just come from. Her little tuft of cloud was high above, so she could look out over the entire course, not that it was a very impressive size to begin with. But her interest wasn’t at all in the tiny course itself, but the little filly still flying within it. Her coat was a light yellow, almost the colour of butter, and her mane was long and pink, always falling in a large curtain over her eyes. She caught Rainbow's eye one day, and since then she had been unable to stop watching the little filly.
She’d been placed under a different instructor than Rainbow, he was a real hard-flank, not like Rainbow’s own instructor, Swift Wing. She didn’t know his name. His coat and mane were both a silvery grey. He always wore a red cap on his head to keep the sun out of his eyes, so Rainbow just referred to him as Red. Red gave them very little time to rest, just what Rainbow would have wanted. But he was mean too, he never stopped yelling, and if foals couldn’t complete the courses set up for them in the allotted time, they had to run it again even faster. Rainbow would have flourished under such conditions, but the little filly was having a lot of trouble, as a lot of the pegasi placed under his supervision were.
She wasn’t sure why she was so interested in that filly, none of the foals even knew her name. But she was just so... different. She was always looking around; her big eyes rarely stopped darting about and unless the instructor called her out, she always kept her hooves on the cloud. She looked like she was always trying to sink away and make herself as small as possible, like all she wanted was to be invisible. And apparently it worked on most ponies, nearly all the foals and instructors would pass her by without a second glance. When the filly wasn’t running drills, she would lay down upon the clouds and curl her legs up underneath her body, looking almost frightened by all the ponies around her.
When the instructor did call her out Rainbow felt pity for the filly, looking scared to tears and hardly able to lift herself more than half a foot off the cloud layer. Even at her distance, up so high above, she could see the strain on the filly’s face as she tried to make it through the course. After only one exercise, she was out of breath, gasping to fill her lungs. She never looked very happy. The blue pegasus just couldn’t wrap her mind around it, didn’t she want to learn how to fly? One look at her during drills and it was obvious she was a weak flyer, but that’s what the course was for; to help the foals learn.
Rainbow wanted to talk to her, try to get to know her, maybe make her a bit less shy. But every time she tried, she couldn’t do it, all she could do was stare, her wings, her voice, they wouldn’t work, and she would just give up and walk away with a blush. It wasn’t like her, she’d never had trouble speaking before; her loose tongue had actually gotten her into trouble plenty of times. Rainbow even went so far as to step in her path while she was walking so they would bump into each other, but all she could get out was a quick,
“Sorry.” Before flying away, leaving the yellow filly with a horrified expression. Rainbow felt bad about doing that to the poor girl, when she turned back to look at her she looked almost ready to cry. After that, the cyan pegasus thought it might be best to just stay away from her.
So she had resorted to watching, and she didn’t mind so much. Nopony else paid the filly any attention, and Rainbow just ignored any foals that tried to talk with her. She was here to fly, not to make friends. But if she had to be friends with anypony, she would’ve chosen the nameless filly in a heartbeat.
That was how she spent the first few weeks of flight school, flying drills, watching the yellow pegasus, more flying. To her surprise she never got bored of it. Even more though, after a couple of weeks she found herself waiting impatiently for the break, wanting to get her exercises over with as fast as possible, so she could take her perch up high and continue to observe. But sometimes it was a little too fast. More than once she lost control of her speed and flew into the many cloud pillars scattered about the course. At first some of the other foals laughed at her, and though a couple of mean stares sorted that out fast, it wasn’t fast enough to keep from earning herself a new nickname from a couple of jerks around the course.
“Nice flying Rainbow Crash!” Some of the colts would sneer. Those two colts who always made fun of her were some of the only foals who could even compete with her, and the only ones who could so easily get in her head. She didn’t know their names either; she really couldn’t care less. Though the colts could get under her skin for a few moments, most other foals looked up to her in admiration of her skills, and the instructors were always impressed with the speed at which she could complete courses. That was worth more than anything those idiots had to say about her… for the most part.
As she sat high above the Flight School, she would wonder about the little yellow filly. She wondered what the filly’s voice sounded like, what she liked to do if she wasn’t a fan of flying. She thought about what she would say to her if she ever got the courage to properly introduce herself. She wondered where she liked to go on her breaks, and if she ever noticed the odd colourful pony watching her from above. She doubted she would ever find out. Though she had never once spoken to her, she was always thought of like a friend to Rainbow. The more she observed of her, the more Rainbow felt like she was getting to know her. Though she was sure she could find out worlds more if she could just suck it up and talk to the shy girl.
Another day started like most of them did. Rainbow got up from her bed, wolfed down some breakfast, said goodbye to her parents and flew out the door. Rainbow was definitely a morning pony, which was surprising to many considering how much she loved to sleep. It was just nice to have somewhere she wanted to go, staying home all the time got real boring, and actual school was like torture to her, too much boring talk, not enough moving.
She would come into the course flying, her house was so close, if she used her wings she was there in less than five minutes. It had been a long time since she needed her mom and dad to take her to flight school, which was probably for the best considering most foals who did come with their parents were met with teasing and harassment. And she got more than enough of that from the two bullying colts anyway.
When she got to the course, she joined up with the rest of her group and waited for the instructor to bark out drills for them to perform. He wasn’t the nicest pony, but he was a fair and understanding stallion, and he wasn’t nearly as hard on Dash as he was on the others, since she could pass every exercise with flying colours.
The sun made its path through the sky, heating up the air, making Rainbow sweat. Finally as she flew a corkscrew through the meticulously set up rings of cloud, she heard the high pitched whistle, and took off immediately to her spot, carrying on with the momentum she’d already gained. She settled in and trained her eyes on the shy little pegasus. She was doing a similar drill as the one Rainbow had just completed, flying through cloud rings in a vertical zigzag pattern. But for every one cloud ring she flew through, the others made it through the whole course, and looped around to start again. Even from her height she could hear some of the fillies and colts laughing at her. Rainbow’s tail swept at the air, and her expression hardened slightly.
When the rest of her class started to outperform the shy filly, they started to tease her, poking fun at her as they passed. The sound of their malicious laughter always made Rainbow grit her teeth.
“What are you doing? Get going!” Red shouted, pointing a grey hoof at the filly. That always got her steamed up too, when the instructor became just as bullying as the foals. Couldn’t the others see that she needed help? It was the instructor’s job to teach her and help her, but half the time it seemed like he just couldn’t be bothered, instead resorting to threats of punishments if any part of the course was failed. It frustrated Dash to no end, but she couldn’t talk to the filly about it, and she certainly couldn’t say anything to the instructor. She’d worked hard to earn herself a decent reputation with the staff at Flight School, and getting in that jerks face, though satisfying it would be, could also signal the end of any special treatment she received as a result of her skill.
So she rested her head in her folded forelegs and grumbled. She had been watching the filly for a long time now, and she felt very attached. It pained Rainbow to see her in distress, but there was little she could do. The little yellow pegasus finally made it through her final ring, and returned back to the start proudly, just to be told to go for another lap. Rainbow half expected the filly to break down and cry, she always looked so delicate, like a pane of glass ready to shatter. But instead of breaking she nodded without meeting his eyes and rushed off to begin the exercise again. Rainbow was proud of her, having enough in her to keep pushing. Even up so high, she could see her yellow chest heaving, her eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain. Her wings beat at the air, the strain was visible on her face. Rainbow stared at the filly, now feeling pity more than anything.
As the filly reached her third ring, she dropped down on it to rest, only to lose her balance and go tumbling off. Rainbow quickly pushed herself to her hooves, and spread her wings, ready to take flight at a moment’s notice. The yellow pegasus landed on an arched platform, which sent her through the air where she got tangled in a flag and fell down to the cloud base. Luckily Red had turned just in time to miss the whole spectacle, and blew his whistle, signaling the break for his group. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the yellow pegasus escape unscathed, landing with a light pomf on the cloud. But she immediately tensed again as cruel laughter made it to her ears. The little yellow pegasus peered out from under the crimson flag, embarrassment perfectly visible on her face as two bullying colts looked down on her.
“Nice going Klutz’ershy.” Rainbow heard one of them call. She wondered if that was her real name. She doubted it, recognizing the two colts as the ones who had dubbed her ‘Rainbow Crash’
“They ought to ground you permanently.”
“My baby brother can fly faster than you.” The shy pegasus let her mane fall in front of her eyes, like a curtain, trying to put any thin wall she could between herself and her tormentors, waiting for them to leave her be. Rainbow snapped, she couldn’t listen to them make fun of the innocent filly. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t as strong of a flyer. Of course, her instructor was nowhere to be seen, typical of grown-up’s, so Rainbow took it into her own hooves. She brought her wings down with heavy force, shooting up into the open sky, then redirecting herself to face the filly. She soared through the air as fast as she could flap her wings. It felt good to get such speed behind her. She knew that her mane colour and size didn’t exactly inspire fear, so she had to give it some style. The three foals looked up in shock as Rainbow pulled in for a swift landing, hitting the cloud with enough force to send small tufts of vapor up around her.
“Leave her alone!” She shouted taking a defensive stance in front of the filly. It had been a long time since she had gotten so close to the filly she watched. She hoped her surprise landing would be enough to make the two boys back off, but they were unfazed.
“Ooh, what are you gonna do Rainbow Crash.” The one with the brown coat sneered. Rainbow tried not to flinch at the mention of her many accidents, she absolutely refused to back down.
“Keep makin’ fun of her and find out.” It sounded pretty good in her head.
The colt narrowed his eyes.
“You think you’re such a big-shot? Why don’t you prove it?” The proposition worried Rainbow slightly, but she had come this far to defend the shy girl, she had to see this through.
“What do you have in mind?”
They set up the rules and distance for the race in a minute, trying to get it done before they ran out of time. Classes were nearly over for the day. Since she was still lacking in a supervisor for Celestia-only-knows why, Rainbow dragged the yellow filly along with her. Her breath came up short when she grabbed her yellow hoof, and she heard the filly gasp too, blushing slightly. She didn’t say anything to Rainbow, but the blue pegasus could just make out the slightest trace of a smile on her face. She had never once seen her smile like that, and it was more than enough to quench any doubt she had about going through with this charade of a race. She continued to hold her hoof as they went to the start line. It was by far the longest contact they had ever shared. The touch of the filly she was defending calmed her nerves, and she didn’t think the filly minded it either. The little spat between her and the colts had gathered quite a crowd; foals lined the clouds like they were bleachers, cheering, hoping to see a good show.
Rainbow and the two colts lined up at the start line that the intermediates used for their races. She watched the filly hop onto the cloud in front of them to take up the starting flag. Dash had never raced anypony, but how hard could it be? Hit the rings, fly as fast as she could, no different from the drills, only she HAD to outperform this time. The filly lifted the flag, and Rainbow swallowed her nervousness. She held her eyes steady looking at the foal who held the flag. This was quite an odd way to make an introduction. Three pairs of wings spread, and Rainbow licked her lips with a smile. The breeze brushed against her feather’s lightly. It tickled. She knew she could do this. The colts were good, but she was the best. She would win this for the filly. She deserved it.
The yellow filly seemed to drop the flag in slow motion, but the action that followed was fast as lightning. All three foals shot off like rockets, straight past the pony with the start flag. The first half of the race was a blur of speed and adrenaline, Rainbow poured every ounce of power she could find into her wings. The wind whipped at her mane and feathers, she sped through the rings with the utmost agility. She never felt such a rush before, the freedom was unbelievable. She felt like she was in her element, her heart was pounding, her muscles ached, but she’d never felt so at home. The darker colt crashed early on in the race, and after a little while she thought she’d left the other in the dust. The race seemed to be in the bag, until the unseen pony swooped in from the side, shoving the cyan pegasus aside. She fought to regain her control. The spin made her dizzy, but she quickly recovered and stabilized. She looked back to her opponent with a shocked look.
“Later Rainbow Crash!” He teased before taking off on a downward arc towards the next ring.
“Hey!” she shouted, knowing he was far out of earshot by now. But he wouldn’t be for long. She gave all she had, she needed to win this, this was her race. The very air around her resisted her, but she still plowed through it. It took her exactly three seconds to shoot past the colt like it was nothing. She wanted to push herself as far as she could. The air resistance continued to increase, but she also had gravity on her side. The wind stung her face, tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but she wouldn’t give up. The next ring was just in front of her.
Suddenly, she no longer felt resistance; instead it was like she was gliding, like the air had given up trying to hold her back, and now she was in control. Light flashed around her before a massive ring of colourful fire. She looked back to the ring expanding and pushing outwards, clouds being torn apart in its wake. Her mane and tail no longer whiped, instead it now maintained a uniform stream of colour. She’d done the impossible, something most pegasi could only dream of. She’d done a Sonic Rainboom. Her mouth hung open in awe, then her expression changed to pride. This was her race.
Even after she shot past the finish line, she did multiple flyovers of the city, listening to the cheering and applause of her class, before finally letting go of her speed and coming in for a landing. Almost instantly she was mobbed by pegasi, congratulating her and asking her questions. At first she bathed in the attention as she loved to do, speaking freely about her discovery, though many who hadn’t been there were doubtful of her story. After several minutes though, she got sick of the mob, she felt claustrophobic, there was only one pony she was interested in seeing. She spread her wings and took off with speed. None of the foals even tried to follow her.
She hoped she had been watching the race. She hoped the yellow filly would be smiling. But as she flew past her course, she saw no sign of anypony. After searching the flight camp and the spot where she’d been bearing the flag and coming up empty, she got confused. She peered about the empty course, searching for the pony she had just won a race for, but everypony had left for the day, the only noise was the sound of empty whistling as the wind snaked it’s way through the cloud obsticals. There was only one pony still hanging around, the dark brown colt who’d crashed into the pillar early in the race. As much as she didn’t want anything to do with him, she needed to figure out where the shy foal went, so she flew up to him cautiously.
“Hey, have you seen that yellow filly around?” she asked, prepared for a sharp answer in light of his shameful disqualification. Instead he just snickered.
“She probably went cryin’ home to mommy after what you did to her Crash.”
“Hey, you know what- wait, what I did?” she said with a puzzled look.
“Didn’t you see? Jst after we all took off, you knocked her right off the cloud, it was hilarious!”
“What?!” Rainbow said, scrambling to the edge of the cloud to peer over. The ground lay hundreds of feet below, into acres upon acres of forest land. Her heart stopped.
“No. No, no, no.” She spun around, her fury and pride all but gone. “Did you tell anypony, are they looking for her?”
“No why would I? Like I said she’s probably at home bawlin’. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”
All Rainbow could do was stare down over the edge. Nopony could survive a fall from that height.
“She can’t fly you featherbrain!”
“How is that my problem?” he said walking away without looking back.
“Where are you going?!” she called after him. “We have to help her!”
“When are you going to learn to listen Crash. I said it’s not my problem.” He called back, before shooting off into the clouds.
Her jaw dropped, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Wasn’t there a single pony in this city that cared? The yellow filly could be lost or dead and nopony could bother to lift a hoof to help. It was all her fault, if anything had happened to her, Rainbow would be to blame. She wanted to scream in frustration, but she held it in. She knew what she had to do, and she did it without a second thought. She leapt right off the cloud. She streamlined her body, keeping her legs and wings straight. She felt the wind tear at her mane, and the wind sting her eyes once more. She could see the ground comeing up to meet her, the details of the forest becoming clearer with each passing second. Foals weren’t supposed to leave the city. It wasn’t a law or anything, more an unspoken rule between them and their parents. It was much easier to get injured or lost down below.
But doing anything else would have taken way too long, and the instructors were gone with the kids. This mess was her fault and she would be the one to make it right. She had to find the filly, make sure she was alright. She could be hurt or lost or worse. And even if she weren’t, from what Rainbow had seen, there was no way that filly could get back u to the clouds on her own. The distance was great, Rainbow had been in free fall for nearly thirty seconds, and she was only just nearing the trees below. She had never been on the ground before, her parents never had a reason to take her, and she was always too scared to go by herself. She knew it was a safe place to be, for the most part. Many pegasi moved away from Cloudsdale when they grew up to go live in one of the many ground cities, but it all looked so different from what she’d grown up with. Her feelings hadn’t changed, but if she was afraid of the ground, the filly must have been terrified down there, all alone in a strange place. Rainbow had to help her.
As she neared the green tree tops she spread her wings and slowed herself down. Rainbow was reluctant to let her hoofs touch the ground so she kept herself in the air. She looked around, but there was no sign of her. The ground was a much stranger place than even she had imagined. The trees stretched up as tall as buildings and not everything was green in the forest, there were flowers of all colours. She jumped as something rustled in the trees, though she could hear the chirping of birds, which brought her some comfort, as birds were the only animals to ever make it as high as Cloudsdale.
She slalomed through the trees. She wanted to call out, but she didn’t know what to call her. She was afraid to shout as well, worried about attracting the attention of a monster. As she rounded a boulder, she brought herself to a dead halt, as a tiny black and yellow... thing hovered in front of her. It had little wings the beat so fast it created a buzzing sound. It was too small to make out any details, but she could have sworn it had six legs, and she felt herself shudder. She hovered in front of the thing for a few moments, both creatures still save for the beating of their wings. Then it started to fly towards her. Rainbow screamed and fled in the other direction, nearly hitting a tree. She spun out of the way, but she lost to much height. She was too low and ended up crashing to the ground with a thud.
She rubbed her head as she got up. She stretched her wing to make sure it was alright, just like Quick Wing taught her to do when she landed less than gracefully. Sure all her feathers were straight, she folded up her wings, a little less than eager to fly with whatever that thing was. The ground was a lot harder than the clouds, and the impact left her a little stunned. Something tickled her legs, long blades of grass rubbed against her. She had always wondered what grass felt like. It was neat, but it made her itchy, and she thought she saw a tiny black creature skittering about, so she stood up from the ground with a slight shudder.
Then it hit her; she was touching the ground. Up until this moment, the only thing her hooves had ever rested on where the clouds above. She lifted a hoof slowly, and brought it down upon the earth. There was no give and she winced a little at the pain. She scraped her hoof against the ground. The dirt began to shift into a pile. She looked up to the sky. She saw Cloudsdale, her home, floating high above her. It looked so small, and strange to see the fluffy clouds above her for a change. She was uncomfortable, away from her comfort zone, but she liked the feeling. It was like an adventure. Her head felt a little sore and the impact had winded her, but even so, she was too excited to care. But just as she felt excited, she felt a little scared to. This place could be dangerous, who knows what that flying six legged thing was. She had to find the filly, and make sure she was okay.
She stood up and took a step. Still she felt no give like there was with clouds, nothing sunk down as she pressed on it. It was difficult to adjust to, and eventually she decided to let her wings carry her again, risking shareing the air with whatever creatures flew down there. As she flew, her side scraped against a tree, and she recoiled. Rainbow stretched out a hoof, feeling the rough bark of the tree. Despite herself she laughed, it felt funny. She moved on, staying low to the ground. The yellow filly was small, so small, she might have overlooked her if she went to high.
The longer she flew, the more worried she became. What if she’d killed her? It made her sick just to think about, the one filly she ever cared about falling by her own actions. She shuddered and began to worry. From what she had seen, it was pretty dangerous down here. Such a shy and timid filly might not have lasted long. Luckily, she didn’t have to live with such thoughts for long, as she rounded another large tree, where her eyes settled upon who she’d been looking for.
There was the little filly, perfectly fine, resting her haunches in the soft grass. Rainbow was about to call out, tell her she was here to save her, but she stopped. She was laughing. The filly laid herself down in the grass, small animals crowded around her. She laughed and smiled as they climbed about her, competing for her attention. It was the sweetest sound that had ever graced Rainbow’s ears. Her voice was soft and smooth, she wanted to hear more. The sunlight beamed down on her small yellow body. She no longer looked afraid, like she wanted to disappear. Her smile seemed to illuminate the forest; it was the first time Rainbow had ever seen her look truly happy. She’d never been to the ground in her life, and she doubted the filly had either, but even so, she looked comfortable, at peace. It shocked her. Even Rainbow was scared down here. But the yellow filly wasn’t.
She sucked in a sudden, involuntary gasp upon sighting the cutie mark that had appeared on the yellow pony’s flank. She brought up a hoof to her own mouth, cursing herslef for being so stupid, but it was too late. The filly’s laugher ceased immediately and she turned to the blue pony in surprise. A couple of the smaller animals skittered away into the more dense areas of forest. Rainbow dared not move, as though the yellow pegasus would run away at the slightest motion. Her pink forelock fell before her eyes again, though one soft green eye peered out at her cautiously. The two stared at each other, rather awkwardly, and Rainbow could feel that it was time for her to pony up and say something. So she did.
“Hi.” Her voice cracked, and she coughed to clear her throat. Real smooth Dash. She scolded herself. “Um, hi. My name’s Rainbow Dash.” She lifted her hoof slightly and gave a slight wave. The other filly looked like she was unsure what to think. Oh no, is she mad at me?
“I-I remember. You were the one who h-helped me.” It was the first time she’d ever heard her speak. Her voice was as soft and delicate as her stature and it melted Rainbow’s heart instantly.
“Oh that, it was nothing.” She said trying to play it off, after getting over her initial awe.
“No, i-it was something. Thank you.” Though her voice was soft, it sounded almost like a labor to her, as though just speaking to Rainbow required a great deal of concentration. Dash knew just how she felt, but now that they were finally exchanging words, she didn’t want to stop now.
“Well, if they ever give you any more trouble just give me a call. I’d be glad to put them in their place.”
“They made fun of your name too.” She said. Rainbow had to shake her head to bring her thought into focus.
“Oh, uh, yeah.” She said looking down. “But those guys are just jerks, they don’t know anything.”
“How did the race go? Did you win?” The filly said, sounding genuinely interested. It had been in her honor after all.
“I- well, it’s not important.” She said, transfixed by the pony laying before her. She’d never gotten close to her for more than a few seconds, she was never able to truly look at her up close. She was very pretty.
She took a small step forward, testing the waters of their newly forming relationship. She just continued to lie on the ground unmoving, her beautiful eyes locked with her own. So she took another step, and another, until she had carried herself all the way to her. Then she lay herself down beside the filly. The thought of what might be crawling beneath her made her a bit squeamish, but she found it difficult to focus on negative thoughts.
“So, what’s your name?” she asked, excited to finally know.
“Um, my name is Fluttershy.” It was no surprise to Rainbow, her name completely echoed her personality, and it was beautiful, just like everything else about her.
“Hi, Fluttershy.” She smiled as the name left her lips. The other pegasus still continued to stare, as though she was still wary of this new filly before her, though the curtain of hair that fell before her face had shifted slightly, and now Rainbow could see two eyes locked with her own.
“Er, listen, I’m really sorry about knocking you off the cloud and stuff.” It sounded pretty feeble for the gravity of her offence, but Fluttershy hardly seemed to mind.
“Oh, it’s ok. Everything turned out okay in the end, right?” Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, glad to know she wasn’t upset with her, though she was still a bit upset with herself for being so careless with the pony she cared so much about.
A small furry creature with a bushy tail and chocolate fur crawled onto Rainbow’s foreleg. She shivered at the foreign contact, but the pink maned pegasus broke into another smile.
“She likes you.” Dash leaned in closer to look at the animal. It’s brown eyes revealed no expression to her, it simply sniffed her, and continued to climb around her leg.
“How can you tell?” she asked giving the creature a sideways look.
“I’m not sure, but I can.” She said. Rainbow noticed she was talking louder and faster, which meant she was making progress. She wanted to keep her momentum.
“Congratulations on getting your cutie mark.” She said.
“Oh, thank you very much.” She replied, still smiling. “Congratulations on yours too.”
Dash’s left ear twitched. She turned so fast her neck cracked, but the filly wasn’t lying. A cloud with a lightning bolt displaying vibrant blue, yellow, and red beamed up at her from her flank. Her eyes widened and she took in a loud gasp. She’d finally gotten her cutie mark.
“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, scaring off the little fuzzy animal. “I got my cutie mark! Yes!” She wrapped the rather surprised Fluttershy into a tight hug. Her excitement caused her to act without thought, but it was a big moment for her and she wanted to share it. She pulled back immediately after realizing what she had done. Her heart felt like it had stopped, and she felt her face grow hot. Hugging somepony you just met wasn’t exactly normal. She tried to stutter out an apology, hoping such a shy filly could forgive her, when she looked up to see her new friend smiling, pushing her pink mane aside laughing with a light rose tint on her cheeks. Rainbow laughed along with her, happy to see that she wasn’t so scared anymore.
They didn’t stop talking until sunset. For the rest of the afternoon, she listened to Fluttershy talk about all the animals and what she thought they were called, and Rainbow mostly sat and took in what she had to say. Sometimes Fluttershy would ask her a question and she would answer, but she let her do most of the talking, which was odd for the usually eccentric blue filly. Maybe Fluttershy just brought out a different side of her. She had a voice that was easy to listen to.
Little animals came and went, and occasionally a couple of butterflies would come and settle on their manes or noses. Rainbow would flinch at first when the odd insects approached her, but the ones that found a place in Fluttershy’s mane looked quite pretty. Rainbow noticed how much warmer it was down on the ground, despite being farther away from the sun. The grass they lay in wasn’t nearly as comforting as being cradled in a soft cloud, but it felt nice anyway, especially with the company she kept. Fluttershy’s mane remained pushed to the side, she never hid behind it while they talked, her eyes didn’t focus on the ground, unless a little critter had gotten her attention. Their conversation was rarely centered around their cloud home above, which might’ve been how they lost track of time so easily.
Fluttershy was talking about coming back down to the ground one day to find a place to live.
“Somewhere nice and quiet where animals could have lots of space to play. I think-” she stopped and looked back up to the sky, taking note of the orange hues beginning to come out. “Oh no.”
“What?” she said startled out her relaxed state by the filly’s sudden tension.
“I’m not supposed to be out after sunset, and my parents don’t know where I am. They’re going to be worried.”
Rainbow had a similar curfew, and her breath caught as she finally recalled it, but she had been having such a good time with her new friend.
“Oh alright.” She said disappointed to have to say good bye. She got up and stretched. “Come on, I’ll fly you home.”
Fluttershy stayed lying down; her eyes lingered on the ground.
“What’s the matter?” the blue filly asked. “Don’t you want to go home?”
“Yes of course! But,” she wore a very embarrassed expression. “Well, you’ve seen me; I can hardly fly at all. If I go back, it could be weeks, or maybe even months until I’m able to come back here and see the animals again.” Her ears drooped.
She looked so disappointed and Rainbow could hardly blame her, just finding where you belong to have to leave again, it was really unfair. The look she wore broke her heart. She made her offer before she even had time to think.
“I could take you!” she said quickly. “Back and forth I mean. I’m a pretty good flyer, I can help you, give you some support. Maybe I could even teach you a few things to make you better at flying.”
“Oh it’s a kind offer, but I wouldn’t want to trouble you.” She said. Rainbow could tell she wasn’t just being polite; she sincerely didn’t want to be a hindrance to her.
“No really, it’s not a problem! Actually, I think I would enjoy it.”
“And what do you want in return?” she asked, her ears beginning to lift.
“Nothing! Well I mean, I hope we can keep hanging out.”
“Yes of course we can! But are you sure? You really don’t have to help me, you’ve been so nice already.”
“Come on, what are friends for?”
Fluttershy looked surprised.
“We’re friends?” she asked, a bit of her shy voice creeping in.
“Well yeah,” Rainbow said with a laugh. “If you want to be.”
She looked almost ready to cry, for a moment Rainbow thought she’d said something wrong, and she got an apology on the tip of her tongue. But then the yellow filly wrapped her in a tight hug sputtering out countless thank you’s. Rainbow smiled, glad to see that she’d made the shy filly so happy. Fluttershy squeezed her tightly, and Rainbow began to notice just how warm her friend was. And soft. They had only met hours ago, and they had already hugged twice. Rainbow was surprised by how quickly the shy filly had grown accustomed to her.
The two were so distracted by their embrace, they didn’t even notice the large shadow looming over them.
Rainbow pulled away still grinning like a fool, but her face changed immediately upon spotting the massive figure standing behind Fluttershy. It was covered head to toe in brown shaggy fur, and stood nearly nine feet tall. It held itself up on two legs, with razor sharp claws on all its limbs.
Rainbow screamed in terror, grabbing her friend and forcing her to stand behind her, putting herself between her and the terrible beast.
“Fluttershy, you start flying, I’ll catch up.” She was breathing heavy, adrenaline pumped through her, and all her muscles tensed. She couldn’t pull her eyes from the monsters mouth, lined with sharp white teeth, and dripping saliva onto the ground.
“What are you going to do?” she asked in a surprisingly flat tone.
“I’m going to teach it a lesson.” She said like it was obvious.
“Nonsense!” she said before running out from behind Dash, too fast for her to stop.
“No Fluttershy get back here!”
She approached the great monster calmly. It stared at her blankly, unmoving.
“Rainbow, you don’t have to be afraid, she’s adorable!” she lifted a hoof to scratch its belly.
“Fluttershy that thing’s massive! Don’t touch-” her words faltered as the beast settled down onto the ground, it’s leg shaking happily as the small yellow filly rubbed her large brown belly.
“Aw, you’re a friendly bear, aren’t you?” She mused, rubbing her cheek on the monsters chest.
Rainbow could only stand there, dumbfounded. She had no intention of approaching the huge animal, but at the same time she knew Fluttershy had it under control. The massive animal made odd grunting noises, and though she had no way with animals, Rainbow could tell it was happy. She continued to pet what she called the bear for a couple of minutes, before giving it a kiss on the forehead and bidding it farewell. Further to Rainbow’s surprise, it got up and lumbered off into the woods, without so much as a glance back.
“How did you do that?” She asked, still in awe of what she had just seen. The timid little filly had just calmly subdued the scariest creature Rainbow had ever seen.
“I’m not sure; they just seem to understand me. Most animals aren’t so mean, even if they look it.” Fluttershy shrugged it off like it was nothing, but Rainbow had gained a whole new respect for that filly.
After a couple of minutes of preparation, the two fillies took off into the sky. After everything that had happened that day, Rainbow found it very difficult to move at a slow enough pace for Fluttershy. But she made sure to stay right beside her the whole flight.
“Straighten out your wings a bit, but keep them flexible! Make sure you keep the same rhythm or you might confuse yourself! Synchronization is key!” Rainbow called out tips to her new friend and within minutes they were moving at a smooth and steady pace, by far the smoothest flight she’d ever seen Fluttershy undertake. It was very slow, the slowest Rainbow had flown in a long time, but it was progress.
The filly made noises of strain and pressure, but she was flying well. Every once in a while, Rainbow would shoot away and bring back the softest cloud she could find, so Fluttershy could rest upon it and catch her breath. Rainbow would continue to encourage her as she rested, beads of sweat rolling down her face. But though this flight was obviously strenuous for her, the look of dread upon her face that appeared when she was called out for drills never came. In fact, a few times she’d even smiled. She has a nice smile.
Within twenty minutes their hooves were back on the clouds, the tall white buildings of their hometown surrounding them. Rainbow slid her hooves around a bit, welcoming back the familiar feeling underneath her. Yet, a little part of her missed the feeling of hard packed earth. She looked up to her friend and put a friendly hoof on her shoulder. Fluttershy had improved more in twenty minutes than the past three weeks of flight camp. Rainbow was right all along, the filly just needed more personal guidance, and Rainbow was happy to be the pony guiding her. She was breathing heavily, but her face beamed with pride.
“You did fantastic Fluttershy.” Rainbow said with sincerity.
“Thanks.” Was all the other pony could get out between breathes. She looked over the edge of the city, seeming bewildered that she made it so far. Rainbow was honestly a little surprised as well. From the way Fluttershy was wheezing, she thought she might have to cart her the rest of the way up on a cloud. But she surpassed even Rainbow’s expectations, making her even more proud of her new friend. Once she caught her breath, Rainbow helped the filly to stand up on her hooves.
Dash walked her rest of the way to her house, which was a shockingly great distance from her own cloud home. It must have taken Fluttershy forever to get to flight school, especially so, considering she couldn’t fly. The yellow filly’s house was small, and dark. Rainbow knew that meant her parents weren’t home, which was a good thing for Fluttershy; she probably wouldn’t get yelled at. Fluttershy walked up to her door to her door slowly, looking back with a blush. For all the time and words they shared today, she couldn’t figure out how to say goodbye.
“I-I’ll see you tomorrow, Fluttershy.” She got out.
“Have a good night Rainbow. And… thank you again. For everything.”
Rainbow Dash stood there a moment, smiling, watching her walk away. She didn’t leave until the yellow pegasus closed the door behind her.