It was just another of those wonderful days in Ponyville. The air had those warm breezes that brang a specific scent with it. The air smelled like freshly mowed grass, small birds chirped their songs out of their trees and everypony was doing his or her business. So, as said before, it was a perfect day. Or better said, a perfect sunset.
A few miles away from town, nearly where Everfree Forest begins, a creature, non usual for this area, laid in the mid high grass. On top of it, there laid a small bunny, nearly asleep. The creature yawned slightly and stood up. It was Fluttershy, a young Pegasus who decided to live at the border of town to be with the only other creatures who doesn't scare her that much. In fact, she wasn't a great flier, so she wanted to move out of the hometown were Pegasi usually belong - Cloudsdale. She lived on the ground since she was out of filly-age and she never wanted to leave anymore.
The little bunny on top of Fluttershys head woke up entirely and gave her an annoyed look, just as always when he doesn't like the decisions Fluttershy made.
"Oh, I'm sorry Angel, did I wake you up? Please excuse me. But I think the sun goes down completely in a few moments and you know that I don't want to be outside when it's too dark. So we might better move inside, don't we?"
Angel just rolled his eyes. Yes, this was Fluttershy everyone knew. Afraid-of-her-own-shadow-Fluttershy. But he understood and took a seat in her tail, just as always when she carries him. Fluttershy gave him a smile and began to float a few hooves above the ground. She headed back home.
The entire day was just relaxing for her. Well, since a few days, nothing special happened either. It started to make her a bit doubtful. Normally, just about every second day theres a new adventure to her and her friends, but the entire last week was just so... abnormal to her. It even started to bore her a bit. and if something bores even Fluttershy, then you can be sure it's really boring. It's not that Fluttershy is boring or lazy, but she's just afraid of everything. There's practically nothing that could bore her.
Just about when she stood in front of her door, she realized a strange noise from above her. She quickly turned her head and saw a cyan pegasus just about crashing into her. Before she could scream and cover, she already laid on the ground with the rainbow maned mare on top of her.
"Ouch! Well, that's about a soft landing! You're okay Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash stood up and hoofed over her right front hoof to the still confused mare.
"Uh, yes, sure, I'm sorry if I was in your way, I..."
"No, I'm sorry about that. Don't be nervous 'Shy, I just lost control of my speed, it's not your fault. There's nothing to excuse to from your side." Rainbow interrupted her. She lifted her friend up and gave her a cocky smile.
"Well, how ya doing? Didn't hear from you a while." The rainbow maned mare looked at Fluttershys wings, which were now unfolded and hung down a bit.
"Oh, did I hurt you? I'm sorry about that if so" Her smile turned into a worried face.
"Uhm, no, I- I mean you- I mean... uhm, maybe you hit a weak spot of my wings, but never mind. It doesn't hurt." Fluttershy blushed a bit while saying that.
"And I'm fine, thank you Dashie. How are you? Anything happened I have to know? What brings you here? Oh, please come inside, it's getting a bit frosty out here." The shy pegasus opened her front door and Angel quickly hopped inside to his basket. The two mares followed him inside and Rainbow immediately jumped on the couch. She knew Fluttershy would never forbid her to do something like that. In fact, they both knew each other perfectly.
"Well, I'm fine too. I just flew over Ponyville a bit, you know, enjoy the beautiful sunset a bit, when I noticed I didn't give you a visit for a while. So I changed my direction to your house and I saw you there. Thats the story." Rainbow chuckled and turned her head to Fluttershy, who carried a small teapot in her mouth. She placed it in the middle of the table and took a seat on a small wooden stool.
"Oh, excuse me, please go on, I'm listening. I just like to take a cup of tea at every evening. It's some sort of a ritual to me." She then took another cup out of a small cupboard. "You want some too? It's rose hip. very delicious."
"I normally don't drink that stuff, but why not. I'm open for everything new." With that, Dash took a seat opposite to Fluttershy and began to taste the still hot liquids Fluttershy poured out for her. The pink maned mare gave her a smile and took a sip, too.
"So, Fluttershy, whats up with any colts? Did you meet one?" The yellow pegasus spit out her tea and coughed rapidly. "Uh, what did you say?" There was a hint of confusion in her line.
"Well, you know. Colts, Stallions! Males! I've never seen you around with a male comparison. I'm serious now Fluttershy. Didn't you ever have some sort of desires for that? We all need some company sometimes. Even me! I mean, if you need any help with that, I could help you and give you some tips-"
Fluttershy raised her hoof.
"No. Thank you Rainbow, I'm really stirred about your offer, but I don't need any help. There actually was a Pony I shared time with. It was really nice back then, but nowadays I probably couldn't handle him anymore. It's not that I don't like him anymore, but hes far too, well, manly for me." Fluttershy looked away.
"Wow."
Dash didn't expect that from Fluttershy. She's never heard her talk straight like that. It was like this wasn't Fluttershy anymore. She acted more like Applejack. She didn't even know Fluttershy had a relationship back then. Why would she cover it from her anyway? They knew each other for such a long time now.
"I will tell you the full story sometimes, but now it's just too late. I'm really tired and have to sleep now. Thanks for the visit, bye."
"But-" Rainbow couldn't say more before the front door shut right before her face. "Oh sweet celestia, did I just hurt her feelings or something? Gosh, I really need to talk to her as soon as possible..."
With that, Rainbow Dash flew back home. The fresh night air tickled her wings while she flew up to cloudsdale. Soon, she fell asleep in her bed.
She would visit Fluttershy again tomorrow, thats for sure.
"Ugh, what a night"
Rainbow Dash woke up early this morning. At least earlier than she always gets up. She's never been a pony who get's up early, so 9:00 am was quite abnormal for her. She trotted slowly to her bathroom and looked into a mirror, decorated with a few rainbow stickers. Just the same young pony she always looked at. Her mane was a bit messy, but she fixed that with a quick stroke trough it. With that, everything was fine with her, she couldn't stay longer here, she had to visit a pegasus. She unfolded her wings and took off, right through her ceiling built of clouds.
She flew straight this time. No special tricks to stun somepony, no loops, spins or barrel rolls. Her only thought was about to get to Fluttershys house. She quite liked flying in the morning. There was no sun what could blend her eyes and the fresh air was enjoyable for her. She liked the feeling of cool wind on her coat. At moments like this, being a pegasus was the worlds best feeling for her. She couldn't even imagine what it's like to have no wings and back then, when Discord temporarily replaced them, her whole world was crashing down for these hours. She sometimes even feel bad for those earth ponys. Working in the sun, bucking apples, walking here, walking there, being stuck on the ground forever. "What a horrible life" she thought.
"Maybe thats why Pinkie is all messed up like that. I would go crazy too with such disadvantages. But I guess it's their problem. I'm fine with the abilities they gave me."
She ended her thoughts when she saw Fluttershy walking on a small path to her house. She was alone and hummed a nice melody Rainbow didn't know. Would she tell her her story today? She seemed to be fine, so it was quite the perfect chance to ask her about her past, Dash thought.
"Or maybe she'll just ignore me and walk away. Nah." It was Fluttershy she talked about, there probably wouldn't be any problem asking her now. So she quickly dropped down and trotted to her friend.
"Hey Fluttershy, what's up?"
The other mare gave a cute gasp and quickly turned around.
"Oh, it's you- Listen Rainbow, you, I mean, me, I mean, I didn't want to be so rude yesterday... Please forgive my temper. I didn't want to hurt your feelings when I kicked you out, I was just so... so.. I don't know, I'm just sorry, okay? Please don't quit our friendship..."
"What? Fluttershy! I'm the one that wants to apologize for what happened yesterday. I didn't know about anything that probably happened to you in the past, and my question was just so, dunno, just stupid. I'm not lying when I tell you that I'm still interrested in what happened to your partner and you can trust me with that, I won't tell anypony about it, but if you don't want to say anything, I'm also fine with that."
Dash laid her hoof on Fluttershys shoulder, who now looked deeply in her eyes. She sighed.
"Dashie", she started; the rainbow mare smiled when she said that,
"Look, I trust you about that. I really do. But I don't know this whole situation is just worth mentioning..."
"Fluttershy. You're the kindest pony I've ever met in my whole life, and you kicked me out of your own house. If that's not a sign that something improtant happened back then, I couldn't think about any others."
The two ponys stared into each other eyes for several seconds, when Fluttershy finally started to talk again.
"Ok. I see you're really into that. I will tell you. But, really, it's not that interresting-"
"Awesome!" The cyan pony began to smile even more. "I mean, thank you for trusting me. Shall we move inside? It's really a bit uncomfortable out here, don't you think?"
The other mare agreed by nodding her head and they trotted back to Fluttershys house
"Oh, and I would never quit our friendship! What do you think my element of harmony represents? Pickles? No, It's loyalty!"
Fluttershy chuckled while she blushed a bit.
"Oh my, yes, sorry for already forgetting about that..."
Soon, Rainbow found herself sitting on that small wooden stool again. Her cup of tea was still on the table, untouched. Fluttershy must have gone to bed really fast yesterday.
"Sorry about this mess. I was a bit... sleepy yesterday. Could you please give me your dish, if you don't mind?"
Rainbow took the small cup and hoofed it over to her friend, who now slowly walked in the kitchen and began to clean those two cups from the past day while she hummed the same melody as before.
"Fluttershy, please, don't make this up! Come over here and start to tell something about why I'm here!" Rainbows nerves really weren't the strongest. In fact, she really got annoyed by Fluttershy right now.
The other mare slowly walked back in her living room and grinned over to Rainbow.
"Do you know about this new shop in Ponyville? Pinkie told me about. It must be some sort of-"
"Oh for the love of celestia!" Rainbow Dash facehoofed while saying that.
"Well, okay. Let's just start with it. I just don't know where to start."
"Just begin with the earliest memory you had with him." They both talked really slow at this moment.
"It was...about 5 years ago now. We both, I mean, you and me, lived in Cloudsdale back then. I didn't even know about the ground back then, and your world was all about practicing your flying skills. I remember that we both sat outside a café because it was a really nice day..."
"Hey 'shy! Catch this!"
The young mare looked over to her rainbow maned friend and got her face attacked by a piece of pie. Rainbow laughed loudly.
"Bwahaha! You really must've seen your face! Oh Fluttershy, that's why I like you so much. Your mind is all scattered and stuff." Rainbow then took a bite of her piece of pie and slurped.
"Didn't you ever think of another world? I mean, below these clouds. I once heard some stallions talk about a place called "Earth", but I didn't quite get what they said..." Fluttershy cleaned her face and looked away again. "I mean, there must excist something else than us, don't you think Rainbow?... Rainbow?"
The cyan filly was all concentrated cleaning her mouth with her tongue.
"Yea, you know, The only thing I know is that-"
"Yes?" The other pony asked quickly
"Just a second, theres something between my teeth- Oh, that's better. Well, the only thing I know is that I will be the greatest flyer all over cloudsdale someday! I don't know anything about this "Earth" thingy, and if you ask me, I'm not interested at all. If they are so great, why don't they just come up here huh?" She gave Fluttershy a cocky smile.
"Oh Rainbow..." Fluttershy sighed, "You're just so smart sometimes" She rolled her eyes.
"Yea, that's why I'm awesome! Athletic AND smart!"
She didn't quite get the sarcasm.
"Anyway" Rainbow began, "How is your cutie mark quest going? Did you even think about your special talent? You know, we can't walk around with blank flanks forever! And with "we" I sure do mean "you"! I mean, I already know about my talent. But you just don't seem to care about it! Fluttershy? Fluttershy! Are you listening to me?!"
"Uh, yes, of course, uhm, it's about 2 pm. Uhm, listen Rainbow, thnaks for the invitation and all, but I'm really not hungry. And I have to help my, uh, parents with some work in their garden, so, I have to go. Please don't be mad at me. I. uhm, see you tommorow!" Then she ran away in a different direction than her house.
"Gardening work? Wait, what's a "garden" anyway?"
Dash didn't really get what Fluttershy tried to say, and after all, she had to pay the pie. So she was stuck here.
"Darn it! If she doesn't want to tell me what she's about to do, then it's her problem"
"Yea I remember that. You just ran away and I had to pay everything. What a great afternoon!" Fluttershy blushed.
"Oh, I'm really sorry for that. But I was so glad that you couldn't follow me back then..."
"Okay, this is getting interresting" Rainbow thought.
