To some pegasi, there was nothing better than kicking back and relaxing on a nice, fluffy cloud at the end of a day of hard work.
Rainbow Dash, as she did the exact same thing, couldn't agree more. Well, minus the hard work part...
The chatter of ponies far below her was so quiet, that she almost forgot that she was above Ponyville. The slight breeze that ruffled her hair ever so slightly made it so...peaceful. Not even the birds were chirping. Just right for a nap...
The pegasus sighed, shifting around on the cloud until her head found the perfect spot to rest on. She closed her eyes as the cool breeze continued blowing, and the warmth of the sun permeated her body. Nothing could possibly have ruined the peace...
"Gah!"
Rainbow shot up, whipping her head around. "Hey! Who..." she stopped as a figure slowly came into her still sleep-distorted vision.
A yellow mare shrank back before her gaze, stuttering. "Oh, um...I'm sorry for waking you, Rainbow...I guess I should have... waited..."
Dash rubbed her eyes sleepily, taking a glance at the sky above her. It had already darkened, and a few stars already twinkled gently in the sky. The moonlight provided the only significant source of light. Wow, I really gotta' quit turning afternoon naps into day long snoozes... "Nah, Fluttershy...it's OK." she mumbled. "What's up?"
"Well, this might sound a little...silly..." said Fluttershy. "B-but...I've been having these dreams, a-and..."
A silence hung heavily in the air. "...and?" encouraged Dash.
The yellow pegasus, to Rainbow's own astonishment, actually began shaking. "...they're these r-really b-bad ones, a-and...I just..."
Fluttershy suddenly began looking from side to side, before touching down next to the confused Dash. "I...can't sleep." she finished.
The cyan mare blinked. "Dreams so bad that you can't sleep? Wow."
Fluttershy nodded in response.
"So...what exactly are they about?" asked Rainbow. "I mean, they can't be that bad..."
The timid mare frowned, her lip trembling. "W-well...I keep having this dream...where everypony is so rude to me...a-and then nopony wants to talk to me...and my own friends c-call me names..." Fluttershy collapsed to all fours, sheltering her head with her forehooves. "...A-and it's just h-horrible...I c-can't stop thinking about it! I mean...the d-dream just won't stop!"
"Hey, hey, calm down..." said Rainbow, gently patting the distraught Fluttershy on the back. "It's just a dream, it can't hurt you."
"You d-don't understand," whimpered Fluttershy, looking up enough to meet the rainbow maned flier's rose eyes. "Do you even know wh-what they call me in the dream? What you call me?"
"Well, seeing as it's your dream-"
The yellow pegasus interjected bluntly. "They call me the r-rudest names ever. Worthless, stupid...but the worst one..."
Fluttershy's voice now creaked slightly, as if she would burst into tears. "...and you c-call me the most hurtful one of all..."
Dash frowned. "Really? I don't think I ever could-"
"I k-know you wouldn't on p-purpose..." interrupted the pink maned pegasus. "...but in the d-dream, you call me...weak..."
With the last word finally coming out in a squeak, the yellow mare quietly collapsed into tears, her shoulders gently shaking as tiny rivulets of tears formed on her face. Rainbow hurried to comfort her. "Aw, Fluttershy, c'mon! Why would you care anyways? It's only what your brain makes up, anyways!"
Fluttershy seemed to pay no heed, and she just looked away from Dash, occasionally letting a whimper loose before sharply cutting it loose.
"I, uh..." Rainbow Dash paused, hurriedly attempting to come up with another way to console her friend. "Besides, wouldn't your real friends not say anything like that?"
"B-but the ones w-who called me n-names are my f-friends!"
The cyan pegasus sighed. Man, sometimes your best just isn't enough...I guess I should do what my mom used to do to me when I had nightmares...I just wanna go to bed already...
Shifting over to the down-struck mare besides her, Rainbow gently spread a wing over the yellow pegasus' body, and began humming a lullaby without words. The song seemed to be working, as the yellow mare's sobbing slowly receded to gentle squeaks, with only a short outburst of wailing every now and then.
Dash yawned slightly, before resuming her wordless crooning. So...tired... However, to her credit, the pegasus continued her attempts
to calm the stressed Fluttershy. So...ugh...tired...
Rainbow Dash yawned, her head dropping onto the the soft cloud below her. She could feel the mare beside her slowly quieting down, as her own eyelids slowly dropped.
You did well... thought the pegasus, as the world around her slowly faded. You did well...
Author's note:Let's just get a few-er, a lot of things out of the way.
Yeah, I know. A really, really, really, really...*deep breath* really short chapter. However, if you will note, I utterly suck at chapter 1's. Just...ergh, I totally suck. I really hope that this makes you want to keep reading-and yes, the basis for this is pretty contrived. Don't worry, it gets a lot better. I just always found myself horrible at introductions. You'll find a lot of interesting crisises...NEXT chapter.
I also would like to say this is my first FlutterDash story, ever. I'm trying pretty hard to match both personalities, and trying to form the basis to the relationship that I'm working on. The descriptive side of the story is not yet yet fully developed, but I will be certain to touch on it soon. I hope you choose to follow yet another work of mine, and hope to end it well.
Any 'OOC'-if any at all-is easily explained 2 chapters from now.
My pre-readers are still under selection, and as such, you will see a few errors that I failed to catch. It's OK, they will begin next chapter. I also advise you against any grammar corrections, because, well, I know that they're there. I just don't actually know where.
All right then, enough clearing up...see you next chapter!
