The alarm clock rang loudly. Rainbow Dash reached out a hoof and slammed it silent. With a yawn, she rolled out of bed and looked at the calendar on the wall. She had written a reminder on today’s date:
“B.F. MIG. W/ FLUTTERSHY”
She groaned. She had promised to go with Fluttershy to watch the Butterfly Migration. How had she been talked into this? Fluttershy had seemed so excited about the event when she had asked her, and somehow, when she turned those big turquoise eyes on Rainbow, she just couldn’t say ‘no.’ So now, she was going to go butterfly watching. Great.
After a shower and a light breakfast, she checked the clock. There was still some time before she had to meet Fluttershy at her cottage. A short morning flight might raise her spirit.
Rainbow was about to leave when she saw Derpy Hooves in her mailpony uniform, flying, in a slightly weaving pattern, up to Dash’s cloud house. There was a small bundle of letters held in her mouth. Stepping out of the window, Rainbow drifted down to the cloud that held her mailbox.
Derpy landed and passed the letters to her on an outstretched hoof. “Here’s your post, Rainbow Dash. Hehe, that’s what my coltfriend calls it. ‘Post.’ Heh. Isn’t Trottingham slang funny?”
“Thanks, Derpy,” Rainbow said, taking the letters.
“What’s wrong, Rainbow? You look sad.”
Holding her mail under a wing, Rainbow sighed. “Ah, it’s just that promised a friend that I would go with them to this thing, but it sounds like it’s gonna be really, really boring.”
“Oh.” The gray mailpony looked up in thought for a second. “Well, you like hanging out with your friend right?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, I do. A lot.”
“Then does it really matter what you’re doing, as long as it’s with them?”
Rainbow stared at her. She wondered how the googly-eyed mare could seem so feather-brained sometimes, and then, when it was least expected, say something so smart.
“Heh, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Derpy.”
“No problem, Rainbow. Gotta fly!” As she turned to leave, she stepped backward and slipped off the edge of the cloud. Rainbow looked over the side to see if she needed any help, but saw the gray pegasus quickly sort herself out and fly, if not exactly straight, at least upright.
Rainbow Dash left the mail inside and stood once more on the ledge of cloud in front of her house. Looking out over the town of Ponyville spread beneath her, she breathed in deep, filling her lungs with the crisp morning air, and leapt.
Wind swept through her mane as she fell, her tail whipping around wildly behind her. The ground rose fast toward her, and she threw open her wings, pulling out of the dive. She strained against the G-forces, and flew level, just inches above the waters of the river. Lowering one forehoof, she let it skim across the calm surface and felt the wake created tickling her belly and hind legs.
A flap of her wings took her up higher, into the partially cloudy skies over Ponyville. Soaring up and around one particularly large formation, she banked into a narrow, sideways valley, her wingtips just grazing the sides. She followed the canyon into a tunnel through the formation, enjoying the closeness within the cloud as she zoomed through it and out the other side.
Noticing a few errant, wind-blown puffballs, she flew toward them. She weaved between them in quick turns, making them spin. When she pulled away, their spinning propelled them toward the larger mass, where they plopped up against it.
Rainbow turned and began climbing. Flapping hard, wings scooping air behind her, she rose up higher and higher. The air grew colder and thinner, until her lungs were burning. Folding her wings, she leaned back and let gravity take her. The roar of the wind rushing past her ears thrilled her to the core. She opened her wings to guide this long dive, loving the feeling of air streaming through her feathers. Her eyes watered from the speed as she hurtled toward the town below.
Windows rattled when the rainbow streak flew over Ponyville, arcing up over the rooftops in a huge loop. Rainbow turned upright at the top of her loop and accelerated toward Whitetail Wood. The danger of flying through the forest only made it more exciting as she zigzagged and barrel rolled between the trees, narrowly avoiding crashing with every turn. The ground started rising, and she rose with it through the trees, up the slope, and then there was a cliff ahead and she shot over it, bursting out into the sunlight.
A draft rose up the cliff face and Rainbow rode it, wing muscles needing to make only tiny adjustments to hold her position. Basking in the warmth of the sun on her coat and feathers, adrenaline pumping in her veins, the whole world seemed to melt away while she floated on the air current. There was, however, that voice in the back of her head that kept saying that she had somewhere to be. Swooping down from the cliff, she went off to find Fluttershy.
Rainbow found Fluttershy waiting in front of her cottage. She had her saddlebags packed and a huge pair of binoculars hanging around her neck. She was wearing a pith helmet and held another with one hoof. Rainbow landed next to her. “Sorry I’m late, Fluttershy.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not late,” Fluttershy said.
“What’s up with the headgear?”
“Oh, um, I just thought it might be fun to dress up a bit for the migration.” Fluttershy passed Rainbow the spare pith helmet. “And I packed us some lunch, too.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Rainbow said, putting the helmet on. “All right, let’s get going.”
They walked along together for a few minutes before Fluttershy said “I, um…I really liked watching you fly.” She then blushed and looked away.
Rainbow felt herself starting to blush, too. “You, uh, you were watching, huh?” Fluttershy nodded. Rainbow Dash loved to show off her flying skills, but somehow, Fluttershy’s attention meant a little bit more than any other pony’s. “Maybe I could take you up with me sometime…?”
Fluttershy’s blush deepened. “…Maybe…”
It was then that a pair of butterflies flitted past the two ponies. Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, it’s starting! Come on, we don’t want to miss a thing!” She ran in the direction the butterflies were heading, and Rainbow chased after her.