“Oh dear... I hope I haven’t forgotten anything.”
But Fluttershy had indeed forgotten something. She raced around her cottage as she frantically gathered her part for the monthly picnic the girls put on. Angel bounced up to her with a sense of urgency pointing at his small pocket watch. The message was clear: you are running late. Fluttershy ignored the poor rabbit as she haphazardly threw in her blanket, several jars of jam, and the silverware set. In her frenzied activity she worked up quite a sweat and managed to mat a good portion of her coat. She only caught a slight glimpse of herself in one of her mirrors as she flew past but it was enough to cause her to stop everything and take a second look.
Her mind was shocked at how unkempt her mane was and her eye started to visibly twitch when she looked at her coat. She let herself fall to the ground, her depressed mood unwilling to keep her aloft, and instinctively clamped her wings to her side. She took a deep breath and looked at the clock which presented it’s indifferent news to the distressed pegasus. She was about to cry when Angel tugged her by her hoof and pointed to her bath which was full of steaming water and decadent bubbles. She nearly cried again in appreciation for her furry companion but stopped herself when Angel jumped up and down frantically in an effort to get her moving again. With a new found determination in her eyes, Fluttershy galloped full speed towards the bath and literally threw herself in. She was unconcerned with the amount of luxurious soaps that spilled, and instead attacked her dirty body with every cleaning method known to pony kind. She worked frantically to rid herself of the offending dirt, yelling out various cleaning tools which Angel dutifully supplied.
In a matter of minutes, Fluttershy leapt out of the bath and shook herself furiously, sending thousands of water droplets in every direction. The sunlight managed to hit her impromptu rain shower just right and for the faintest of seconds a small rainbow could be seen. Rainbow. The word stuck in her mind for a moment, refusing to leave which made the mare that much more anxious. Angel was one step ahead of her and threw a big towel over her body. After a few seconds of adjustment her wings popped out of the side and she spread them. The sun began to dry the feathers quickly and Fluttershy flapped her wings to speed up the process. Angel jumped onto her back and worked on drying her with the towel as she moved inside to work on her mane. Once Fluttershy got into her bathroom she tore off her towel and let it fall to the floor in a unceremonious heap. Her hoofs quickly snatched her mane styling equipment off of the counter and she began to weave her mane into a stylish yet simple pattern that Rarity taught her. Her eyes were entirely focused and they didn’t drift to the various pictures of Rainbow she had taken and placed around the edge of her mirror. Her eyes never moved when she felt the slight weight on her shoulders. Instead she simply opened her wings and allowed Angel to preen them, never feeling the slight tweaks of pain when he removed the bad feathers.
Her heart was racing, and she was struggling to keep up.
______________________________________________________________________________
“Ugghhh, where IS Fluttershy? She was supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“Cool yer jets, RD. I’m sure she will be here soon. How about you show me one of yer tricks to help pass the time.”
“Well... alright. But only because you asked nicely.”
Rainbow took off like a rocket and gained some altitude. She soared through the air for a moment and let the tension build, enjoying the freeing feeling of flying. Sensing that she milked the moment for what it was worth, she looked up and closed her eyes and let herself fall backwards. She enjoyed the little thrill of feeling weightless for that split second then snapped her eyes open. They were focused and sharp, fueled by a sudden surge of adrenaline. Rainbow let the wind whip her mane, then suddenly opened one of her wings which sent her in a twisting in a lop sided spin. For dramatic effect, she occasionally flapped her other wing which changed the angles of the spin and made it look like she broke her wing. When she neared the ground she closed both wings and let gravity take her. Instinct and instinct alone told her when it was time to spread her wings and fly. She tensed her muscles as they strained to stay open and give her the lift she needed, blurring the edges of Rainbow’s vision. She pulled out of her dive and made a mental note to stall for a moment longer and weaved through the trees, blowing Aj’s hat off her head in the process. She thought she heard some angry voices but ignored them as she did a quadruple barrel roll, then flew up so she eclipsed the sun and spread her wings wide. She hovered there for a few seconds then started to fly back to her friends.
Rainbow noticed that Fluttershy had finally showed up and hurried to the picnic, eager for something to eat. When she got closer she noticed Fluttershy had a different mane style. Fluttershy noticed Dash noticing her and watched her as she came in for a landing.
Rainbow was in her final approach when she saw Fluttershy watching her out of the corner of her eye. Rainbow glanced over to her then looked at her. She saw the new mane style sure, but it also seemed to bounce with her slightest movement and shimmered like the sun reflecting off of water. As she got closer she noticed a peculiar scent in the air and she thought she could make out a faint blush on Fluttershy’s face. She thought about that for a few moments before she smacked dead center into a tree, eliciting an “Ooooo....” sound from the rest of her friends. Fluttershy was the first to do something and immediately jumped to her friends aid. She looked for blood and the big bump that must be growing, running her hoofs through Rainbow’s coat and waved her wing back and forth slowly instructing Rainbow to follow it with her eyes. She led her through a series of hoof eye coordination tests and was satisfied that Rainbow would be fine although she instructed her to take it easy for the next few days.
Once Fluttershy relaxed and gave the all clear, everypony relaxed as well and chided Rainbow on her carelessness. The picnic began soon after as Rainbow desperately tried to shift the subject to food, and began shoveling it onto her plate. Fluttershy followed soon after. Soon the picnic was in full swing and everypony was enjoying themselves. Fluttershy kept one eye on Rainbow Dash, for professional reasons of course.
She would occasionally work her hoofs through Rainbow’s coat to make sure the swelling was under control and if she just happened to scratch a particularly sensitive spot behind Dash’s ears then that was an accident and purely confidential. Fluttershy felt that she was annoying Dash so she tried subtlety instead and positioned herself downwind and let her special shampoo work it’s magic. She was sure Rainbow could smell it, she just had to wait for it to work. Fluttershy squeed internally when she saw Dash’s nose twitch in response and waited. Rainbow breathed in and paused for a moment, then let out a quick sneeze. She rubbed her nose with her hoof and wiggled her nose as her eyes went cross eyed for a split second. Fluttershy quietly cursed for forgetting her camera but was caught off guard when Rainbow asked her a casual question.
“Hey Fluttershy, you up for a casual game of hoof ball?”
“Oh, umm... no thanks. I’ll just watch if that’s ok with you?”
“Ok, whatever.”
Rainbow flew off to join the others as they tried to figure out how to play a five pony hoof ball game. Fluttershy sighed and fell back on her bum and quietly sighed, watching Rainbow enjoy the game.
“She was only a few inches away... might as well’ve been a mile.”
Author's Note
A short story written to celebrate my one year anniversary to becoming a brony.
