The various animals of the Everfree Forrest heard a sound that stuck out from the usual noises they were acquainted with, the sounds of soft hooves hitting the ground. Soon this sound was joined by of heavy panting, as out of nowhere the pony presumably making the noise burst through the trees. The pony stopped in a small meadow where sunlight poured in through the opening in the forest’s canopy. Her sun-yellow coat was glazed with sweat, and her incredibly long, soft pink mane was frazzled. As she waited to catch her breath several of the smaller creatures in the forest approached her, recognizing her as the pony from the nearby town that took care of them from time to time.
Fluttershy heard a rustling in the bushes and turned to see what it was. There stood various animals, squirrels and chipmunks, all looking up her. She breathed a sigh of relief and spoke to them. “Oh…hello little friends… I’m just taking a… jog, yes a jog through the lovely Everfree Forest today,” she said in her best attempt at sounding casual, complete with a fake grin. Unfortunately, the animals saw right through it, and gave her an incredulous look. The skeptical looks told her that the lie was about as believable as if it had came from Applejack. Fluttershy sighed and dropped any illusion of calmness, her breathing picking back up. “Okay so I’m really here because I need a place to hide, and if you could help me find such a place I’d really appreciate if I could borrow it for the weekend,” she pleaded with the animals. After a brief share of glances, the animals gave nods of approval, and one chipmunk took her by the hoof and began to lead her out of the clearing.
After several minutes of walking, Fluttershy and the animals approached a tree. She was not sure of their destination, but one of the squirrels walked up patted on one of the roots, causing a circular trap door to open in one of the trunk. Fluttershy’s mouth fell open as she entered what she thought would be a small, cramped space. What welcomed her was a hollowed out room much bigger than expected. She was surprised at the ingenuity of the woodland creatures. “Oh this looks wonderful, thank you little friends I’m sure this will be an excellent place for me to spend the weekend,” Fluttershy said sweetly as she petted one of the rabbits.
As she moved to lay down on one of the makeshift blankets, a badger walked up to her and began speaking in badger to her. Fluttershy’s smile faded as she turned from her animal friends, “Oh I’m not sure I really want to talk about it.” However, the badger was budging, crossing his arms, he stood defiant. Realizing they would not take no for an answer, she sighed and turned back towards them and began to speak, “Okay I guess I can tell you why I need to hide out for the next couple of days. See this weekend is the Great Dragon Migration, and all my friends are going to see it, and well they… they wanted me to go as well.”
The animals all looked at each other with serious faces; it was known that Fluttershy would help any creature in need, except for dragons. The pony always had a fear of the formidable creatures. “I know that I was able to stand up to that one dragon that was threatening to cover Ponyville in smoke just from his snoring, but that was only because he was threatening my friends. Here they want me to just come on over and watch an entire flock of them!? I… just can’t,” said the pegasus, as she slumped down, and covered her face in her arms. Several of the animals came up to her and patted her, as she fell asleep.
…
The bushes on the outskirt of the Everfree Forest rustled as Fluttershy burst from them, pulling some small twigs from her mane as she turned back and waved back to the woodland animals that had sheltered her for the duration of the Dragon Migration. “Oh and thank you again for that tea Mrs. Olivia Otter, I can’t wait to try and make it myself,” she said happily as she turned and trotted in the direction of her cottage. After a few minutes, she made it home, checking to see how her own animals had handled the couple of days of her absence. After seeing that all their food was still in supply, and that Angel had not destroyed the place looking for his carrots, she decided it best to go see the girls, starting with Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash’s cloud home was usually in a meadow on the outskirts of Ponyville. As Fluttershy approached the clearing, she hoped that Rainbow’s home was left where it was last time, since it was made of clouds mostly it had a tendency to drift away on occasion. The time that the house had ended up over Sweet Apple Acre, and Rainbow slept through the whole thing only to be awoken by a well aimed apple that Applejack had bucked up to get her attention made them laugh. She had even helped Rainbow fix the holes Applejack’s wakeup call had put in her floor, something that she thoroughly enjoyed despite not being the best cloud carpenter in the world.
Of course that was often the case whenever Fluttershy hung out with Rainbow Dash. Whether it was weather making, racing, hoofball, or cider drinking, it was Dash who was always the best, the one who knew exactly what to do. Fluttershy was left frowning, she could never make her cloud formations straight, she could never fly fast, and her fear of being hit made her cower during hoofball instead of gallop. The whole reason she was here now was because she could not handle Dash’s choice for a date.
But seriously who picks dragon viewing as their choice for a date?
Still Fluttershy owed Rainbow Dash a date; they made an agreement and even sealed it by spitting into their hooves, which she found just a little bit gross… or maybe quite a bit gross. She gently knocked on the door, the cloud material making her knock even more inaudible than usual. After a few moments of quiet Fluttershy opened the door and entered. Numerous past experiences had taught her that Dash napped frequently, and that not even a freight cart crashing through would wake her, let alone her own silent knocks.
Rainbow’s house seems to be in the same state it usually is, or has been since Fluttershy started offering to help her with some of the household chores. Between being on call with the Weather Patrol, and training for the Wonderbolts, Dash found even less time to do stuff around her home, and her lack of enthusiasm for such work only further made housekeeping virtually non-existent. So a few months ago she came and offered to help her friend with cleaning around the house Fluttershy ignored all the things she knew she could clean and instead called out to her friend again, “Umm Rainbow Dash, are you here? It’s me Fluttershy, I thought I’d come see if you wanted to go do something?” When no answer came she shrugged her shoulders and turned to leave, locking the door back behind her. It was not that uncommon for Rainbow Dash to nap around Ponyville on a stray cloud, so Fluttershy simply headed back into to town hoping to find Rainbow Dash.
…
Rainbow Dash felt relaxed for the first time in days as she lay on the plush cloud, the feel of the cool, cottony substance was a familiar one. Though her activities over the weekend prevented her from any cloud napping. After the Great Migration had passed over Ponyville, Spike had decided to go on a quest of self discovery. Of course she, Twilight, and Rarity knew Spike was in over his head and followed him, though they were forced to wear Rarity’s ridiculous excuse for a dragon disguise for most of the time. Aside from being cramped, the heat from the volcano they were in made it unbearably hot. Rainbow’s wings had gotten stiff, and she certainly had gotten her fill of dragons for one pony. Now she simply laid back and began to nod off, hoping to enjoy a long nap.
“Oh Rainbow Dash I’m glad I found you,” came a voice that was soft, yet clear.
Or maybe not, Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
She looked down from her cloud to see Fluttershy on the ground, no major surprise there. There she was waving up at her, her smile a far cry from how Rainbow last remembered her looking a couple of days ago. Rather than answer, Rainbow just gave a “humph” and rolled over, stuffing her ears with some stray cloud. Fluttershy frowned, certain Dash had heard and had looked over at her. She decided to fly up there herself to get Rainbow’s attention. Her past experiences with waking Dash up had taught her that she could sometimes be difficult to rouse, even when she once enlisted the help of Pinkie Pie and her ten-pony-in-one band.
She began to fly up to go see her, when suddenly the entire cloud itself sped off, leaving a surprised Fluttershy all alone. Now shewas sure something was up, so she continued after the rouge cloud. Fluttershy had always been the slowest flyer, at summer flight camp, at school, and in Ponyville. She had never once won a flying race in her life, and a couple of these were against Dash herself. However, the normally no-threatening pony had discovered over the years that when the other pony knew you had absolutely no chance of beating them, you at least had the element of surprise on your side.
Sure enough this was proven, as she did not need to fly far to find the cloud with the rainbow tail sticking out of it. Rainbow must have figured that if she put enough distance quickly enough them that Fluttershy would just quit and go home. Fluttershy was getting worried by Rainbow’s strange behavior. Still she knew she couldn’t just fly up to her this time, so she kept her distance from Rainbow was now napping. She then saw an opening, another lone cloud was position just above town hall, between the all the noise of the ponies going about their daily business Fluttershy’s moving was even less noticeable than usual, she just naturally blended in with the crowd. As soon she was close enough to the cloud she got in it, though her mane and tail were both far too big hide in the cloud along with herself. She then slowly and quietly moved toward the other cloud.
Just as she were but inches from the other cloud when suddenly Rainbow opened her eyes, a mixture of anger and annoyance in them and kicked the cloud, causing it to produce a lightning bolt. In addition to startling all the unsuspecting ponies below, who had been paying no mind to the strange behavior of the clouds, it had nearly cause her to fall out of her cloud. As she adjusted herself she saw Rainbow get off her makeshift bed and begin to fly off again, this time in the direction of her home. After he failed attempt at subtlety, Fluttershy instead called out to Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, wait!” The pegasus shouted as she followed, but ultimately trailed far behind.
“Rainbow Dash!” She called out again, only now there were small pools of tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Why was Rainbow trying to avoid her, and now wouldn’t even look back at her as she followed. Instead Rainbow kept her head pointed steadfastly forward. Fluttershy began to feel something build within her chest, almost like a rising pressure. She had only felt this sensation on only a few occasions before, the most recent being a situation eerily similar to this one. Fluttershy was trying desperately to catch up to Rainbow Dash, who was not behaving like herself, only she had been hauling Twilight and the others in the hot air balloon, and then she remembered Twilight shouting something at her, and then everything went blank. This situation really only had one similarity to the one then.
She desperately wanted to catch Rainbow Dash.
Just as she did before, Fluttershy seemingly erupted with energy, her wings flapping in an almost erratic manner, she wanted to catch Rainbow Dash, and she was going to see to it that she did. Her target turned her head back, probably expecting to see a speck off in the distance. Instead she saw the shocked look in Rainbow’s face as she came up on her at a rapid pace. Dash’s instincts allowed her to quickly change alter her angle, as she attempted a quick corkscrew turn to dodge the oncoming pony. She flew right past her but, without even thinking about it, she used her tail to wrap around one of Rainbow’s back legs.
Fluttershy was now flying faster than she ever had before, but only because she was being dragged along by Rainbow Dash. Dash turned around and saw she had taken on some unexpected cargo. Given Flutter’s build, which was not as limber as the average pegasus, and add in that she did not live the life of an athlete, needless to say Rainbow’s new burden was having its toll on her. No longer able to keep them both aloft, Rainbow Dash landed on an approaching cloud.
They both landed on the cloud, Fluttershy hitting mostly the edge of it when Rainbow landed. She then climbed up over to rest on top of it, her breathing erratic. After a few moments she looked up to see that Dash was still there surprisingly, although she refused to face her, keeping her back turned away from her friend.
Fluttershy inched closer to Rainbow, who showed no sign of noticing, and then she attempted to speak through her heaving, “Rainbow…why… are you…avoiding me?”
There was not a long wait for a reaction as Dash turned around, and for the first time Fluttershy saw her friend’s face clearly. Rainbow Dash had always put up a front of being seemingly devoid of emotions like worry or pain. Only on the rarest of occasions did she ever let that barrier melt, and it was always with her that Rainbow would allow these moments of weakness to be seen. One memory came flooding back; one of a small yellow filly holding her crying friend with the sky blue coat and memorable rainbow mane, an official looking document laid on the bed next to them, the words “Notice of Expulsion” typed in bold on the header. Now that filly with the tear-filled eyes stood before her, with that same pained expression, only this one was mixed in with a lot more anger.
“Why?” She asked, almost in a mocking tone. “Why?” She repeated, her voice rising, causing Fluttershy to begin backing away, but having nowhere to retreat to on the tiny cloud. Finally, Rainbow repeated, “Why!? I’d tell you why, but I’m sure you’d rather go hide in the Everfree Forest than talk to me.”
Fluttershy was left sitting precariously on the cloud’s edge, her face all but completely hidden in her mane, she then said something that sounded like nothing more than a few squeaks by the time it reached Rainbow Dash. “Huh? What’s that, you’re gonna have to speak up Fluttershy,” she replied, walking up to the other pegasus with her ear stretched out mockingly.
“I don’t know what I did wrong,” she said louder, though still far too quiet for Rainbow to be satisfied.
“Oh well it wasn’t too much, I mean you only blew me off for what you promised you’d do, then you talked me, stomped on me, and then ran away for two days and didn’t come back to say anything,” Rainbow Dash listed off.
The list grievances brought memories back memories of the scene from a couple of days ago. It was the morning of the approaching Great Dragon Migration, and Fluttershy was planning to stay home that weekend, specifically under her bed with her teddy bear. However, as she was readying that last of her provisions for the weekend she heard a knock at the door, only to be greeted by Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who told her about their incredibly insane idea of going to see the countless dragons that would be flying over for fun. She had tried to decline, but Rainbow Dash was being especially pushy and tried to make her go, which led to her tackling Dash and escaping out her window and into the Everfree Forest.
Fluttershy wore a look of confusion, not sure how to respond to Dash’s anger, so she chose more anger. “Are you seriously upset at me for that; look if it was about how I got out I’m sorry, I got a little carried away.”
“A little!? Fluttershy you tackled me and then jumped on me!” Dash shouted back, but Fluttershy did not shirk away that time.
“Okay a lot carried away, but you didn’t give me much of a choice, you were being pretty childish,” she shot back, surprising Rainbow that she was not backing down.
“Childish, you’re the one who broke your promise; I went to go see your boring butterfly migration…”
“It wasn’t boring!” Fluttershy interjected, her face showing her anger at Rainbow’s insult. Rainbow ignored and kept talking, her volume growing.
“And so since I went and saw your lame butterflies, you had to go and do something that I wanted to do, but what did you do? You’re the one who was being a big baby, and then threw a tantrum, and went and hid in the woods, probably cried,” said Rainbow, who was now hovering above the ground, her arms flailing as she spoke.
Tiny pools of water had begun to form in the other pegasus’ eyes, she was fighting a losing battle, she tried to turn away from Rainbow, not wanting to appear weak. She sniffled and turned to face her oldest friend, the one who had made her cry the most in her life, for reasons both ill and wonderful. She sighed, then put on a look of determination and Rainbow put a bit of distance from her, all too recently aware of what Fluttershy was capable of when she became angry.
“Rainbow, do you know why I originally agreed to the whole swapping dates ideas? I wanted it to be a chance for us to get to know more about each other, it was supposed to be a fun chance to connect better and you ruined it,” she said.
“I ruined it?!” Dash repeated, awestruck at her friend’s accusations.
“Yes, you know how I feel about dragons, you knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it, but do you ever think about that, do you ever think about anypony’s feelings?” Fluttershy struck back, her voice was reaching an incredibly high decibel level, at least for her.
Dash however had a retort of her own, “Oh no, no, don’t try and pull that. First of all, this spiel about the dates being ‘a chance to learn about each other’ is bunk. You know what I learned? I learned that you umm well, like butterflies, you like animals in general, your incredibly sweet towards nearly every living thing, your super shy, oh and yeah your flank is still hot as all get out. There’s just one problem, I already knew all that before we went,” Rainbow Dash said as she was now flying circles like some predatory bird. Fluttershy was now feeling a mix of anger and embarrassment; she was also more self conscious that Rainbow Dash was checking out her flank.
“Pretty much the only butterflies I was watching were the ones on your flank. That date wasn’t about learning something deep about each other; it was you picking something you love, which I was perfectly okay with, but then when I picked something I really wanted to do, you blow it off. That leads to my second point, how can you be so afraid of dragons, you stood up to one and made it cry.”
“Rainbow Dash, that was different, that was something I can’t really control, and just because I was able to save my friends, doesn’t mean I want to go see dragons for fun. Do you understand just how afraid of them I am? Do you know how terrible is to know how, despite being afraid of mostly anything, that there’s this one thing you’re afraid of above all that? Ever since Twilight came along and we all became closer, and you and I became reacquainted, I have been able to become a little braver, but Rainbow Dash it’s not as simple as a one and done thing, just because I learn to overcome this one fear, or my general fears, doesn’t mean I’m suddenly cured and go watch dragons in a lawn chair drinking a cider like it’s nothing. I’m still terrified of them, still fear for my life, and for the lives of the ones I care about whenever they’re around. Do you know just how dangerous they are? I know Spike is nice, but he was raised by Princess Celestia to be Twilight’s personal assistant, he is nothing like any of those dragons. Dragons have claws that are as big as we are, they’re teeth can crush a boulder like it’s candy to them, they’re skin is rumored to be resistant to most kinds of magic, they can blow down an entire village just by flapping their wings, and most of them can breathe fire,” Fluttershy listed, her voice losing a lot of the confidence it had built up as she listed all factors that made dragons truly a legitimate force to be feared.
“But Fluttershy, after the migration Spike had this weird meltdown, Twilight called it an ‘existential crisis’ or whatever,” Rainbow recounted. “So Twi, Rares, and I went to go follow him as he joined up with the other dragons…but we were disguised thanks to Rarity,” Dash amended in reaction to seeing the shocked look on the other pony’s face.
“But Rainbow why would you do something so dangerous?” Fluttershy asked pleadingly, her body language becoming her usual one of concern and gentleness.
Rainbow continued, “Fluttershy I’m getting to that. After a couple of days keeping watch over Spike, Twilight said we were witnessing something no other pony had before, we were seeing dragons together, doing whatever it was they did when they weren’t hoarding stuff and sleeping, and you know what I learned? I learned that a lot of dragons are just… really cool. Sure the teenage ones Spike decided to go and hang around with were just a bunch of lame bullies, but I saw plenty of ones like the one we all went to take care of, and they were just awesome, they just laid around, being all ‘yeah I know awesome, no big deal or anything’. It was dangerous, and we did almost get in a fight, and you’re right they can be dangerous, but I kinda had a lot of fun just seeing them all. Although I could do without sharing a costume with Twilight and Rarity again,” she finished, realizing for the first time that Fluttershy had no idea where she had been the past few days.
Rainbow Dash was now afraid Fluttershy would just be worried that she had done something so reckless and would start panicking like always did.
However, no panicking came, no lecture on the irresponsibility of going to live with dragons for the weekend, because Fluttershy was too shocked at what had just been shared with her. It was not what Rainbow Dash had told her that had surprised her; she knew dragons were still formidable, terrifying creatures and nothing was changing that. No it was how Dash had told her about her weekend. She could not remember Rainbow being so enthusiastic about something before, at least something that was not flying or The Wonderbolts. Normally Rainbow found most stuff to be boring or outside her notice if it did not relate to her lifelong dream of becoming the greatest flier of Equestria.
Fluttershy recalled the first lunch they had shared together at Summer Flight Camp, after Rainbow had flown in and saved her from the bullies… and then went down later and picked her up from the ground after she had accidentally knock Fluttershy off a cloud. The two had played the familiar game of learning about each other by picking topics and listing their favorite things in that topic. Somehow Fluttershy had managed to relate everything back to Winderbolts somehow. For favorite music she said the Fire Colts, which was known to be Spitefire’s favorite band. Then for food she mentioned pie, which was Soarin’s well known favorite. For the first time in a long time Rainbow was talking about something else so passionately, the only other time was when Dash talked about… well her.
“Um, it sounds like you had a real fun time at the migration then, and then this weekend I guessed,” Fluttershy broke the silence that had fallen since Rainbow finished her story.
“Oh yeah, it was exciting, a little bit too exciting, but still awesome,” Rainbow Dash replied, carefully choosing to avoid admitting she had gotten scared a couple of times. Though Fluttershy was able to read the fear in Rainbow, she was always able to, and truth be told Rainbow got scared a lot, she just never would admit, but Fluttershy would never reveal that to anyone.
“Well, I’m sorry that I missed that, it would have been nice to share in something you clearly love a lot, I regret not getting to see you that happy,” Fluttershy said as she sulked her head a little. Indeed, if Rainbow was this euphoric simply recounting the events, imagining a Rainbow oozing with fillyish joy, seeing the events unfold as they happened.
“Yeah well, I suppose I can see why you didn’t want to. It’s just after seeing you be all awesome against that one dragon I just figured you had finally gotten over the whole thing. I guess I should have talked with you more about it, and yeah you were also right about them being dangerous, things almost took a bad turn, and that was just against a couple of punks. I don’t want to think what would’ve happened if those bigger ones went against us, I mean I’m pretty sure I could’ve taken a hoof full by myself, but Rarity and Twilight not so much,” she said, puffing out her chest.
For the first time Fluttershy was laughing. Many ponies found Rainbow arrogant and abrasive, but her bravado was one of the traits she respected most about her. For a pony that had almost no confidence in herself, a pony who always believed that she could do anything was attractive, even when it could sometimes border on being obnoxious. “Oh well yes, I’m sure you would have handled most of them just fine, I mean you are The Rainbow Dash, winner of the Best Young Fliers Competition in Cloudsdale, the only pegasus in recent history to do not just one Sonic Rainboom, but two,” the normally modest pony said as she genuinely bragged on her friend.
Whether it was meant to be sarcastic or not was irrelevant as Dash took the praise in stride, her anger in Fluttershy now replaced with a slight tinge of guilt. “Hey Fluttershy, I just wanted to say that well, I’m um sorry about trying to force you to go with me. Trying to make somepony do something they don’t wanna do is pretty bad, trying to make them do something that they’re terrified of is even worse. But what I did, trying to guilt you to force your hoof, that was the absolute worse,” Rainbow said as she hung her own head.
However, she felt a soft touch on her chin, and it gently guided her face up, to where she saw Fluttershy, tears in eyes again, only this time no face twisted in anguish pain, only a warm smile. “It’s okay Rainbow Dash, I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, if I had been more insistent in saying no and explained myself clearer then things might have gone different.”
“No, Fluttershy you did nothing wrong, Twilight and I just showed up and tried to push you into it, you told us no but neither us listened especially me. Some element of loyalty I am,” Dash said as she hit her hoof against the cloud, which made Fluttershy jump. As Dash continued to take her anger out on the cloud, she felt a hoof fall on her withers, and began rubbing them gently. The massage was soothing and harkened back memories of early days during camp.
At camp she Rainbow was not widely liked, by both the fillies and even some instructors. However, she hung out with another outcast, this tall, lanky filly that no one else wanted to hang out with. Dash knew she was slow, a weak flyer, and kind of afraid of everything, but once you broke through that shell even just a little, Rainbow felt… just right with her, and this pony knew how to make her not feel so down about herself. Rainbow Dash looked up to see Fluttershy again wearing that smile that could induce a heart attack if one was not careful.
“Rainbow Dash, we both made mistakes, and we’ll continue to make mistakes, we’re both just ponies, even if we are elements of harmony. Recently I didn’t act so kind, but the ponies I hurt forgave me, because friendship isn’t always about being even with or being nice to each other, sometimes friendship is about just being there for the pony you care about, even if they are a bit of a hothead.”
Rainbow finally cracked a smile and laughed before retorting, “Yeah or a jumpy, scaredy pony who can get pretty scary herself.”
Both of the mares laughed together, and then after a while they were just staring at one another, not quite sure where they went from here. Fluttershy decided to speak first, “Rainbow, maybe we could have a do over? You know on this whole date thing. Rather than trying to force the other into doing something we enjoy and then using a debt to coerce the other, how about we just agree to do something we’d both enjoy?”
Rainbow Dash held her hoof to her chin as she thought about the prospect before finally answering, “But what do we both like?”
Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to ponder an answer to a tricky question. The two of them were about as opposite could be, except for the fact they both had wings. Finally, a solution came to mind, one that seemed so simple Fluttershy felt silly that she almost did not immediately think of it, “Well, we both like traditional pegasi dishes, and cloud cream is both of our favorite desserts, and well… we both lie to have our wings preened, and no other pony has ever preened them like you do.”
Fluttershy was now blushing. The harsh red on her cheeks stood out against her soft mane, but for Rainbow the blush on her face matched well with her eyes. “Oh umm, thanks, you’re umm, you’re pretty good at preening my wings as well. So yeah I guess maybe we could cook something together, do some umm preening, and maybe try and find more stuff for us to do together, foolowed by some more preening if you’d like?”
Fluttershy could not stifle her laughter at how Rainbow was now pawing at the cloud and looking anywhere but at her before finally saying, “I’d think that’d be nice.”
“Cool, but there’s one last thing, that tackle was pretty sweet and I think you got some more moves hidden in that brain of yours, so I have an idea for a date idea.”
“Oh what kind?” Fluttershy asked enthusiastically.
Rainbow Dash then put on a devious grin, “Oh we’ll just need some leotards, a ring, and some cloud cream.” Fluttershy could never have been redder even if she had been banished to the Sun for a thousand years.