Where They Understand You

by Loganberry

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy
Length: 17765

Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville on her birthday. This is the story of how – and why – it happened

Rainbow Dash moved into Ponyville's Cloud House on her birthday. She never expected things to turn out like that; it's a long way down from Cloudsdale, after all. But like so much else in Rainbow's life, Fluttershy had a great deal to do with it. Not that her shy friend could have known that when she made a single choice long before.

"Home is not where you live but where they understand you" — Christian Morgenstern

(Note: Written long before "Flutter Brutter", so don't expect it to mesh with current canon.)

Published 2014-04-08 17:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-03 20:29:29 UTC

2. To Wonder, Lonely, on a Cloud

Surprisingly, the house wasn't empty. Fluttershy could hear faint music coming from the record player in the living room and called out a greeting. When that went unanswered, she turned to the mailbox, squinting in the deepening orange glare of the sunset, and picked out the day's delivery: two sealed scrolls, a flyer for Mac's Fruits and a copy of the Cloudsdale Courier. The flyer was pushing apples, as usual; the newspaper headlines were about industrial production, as usual. Both of the sealed scrolls were addressed to her father.

Fluttershy sighed gently and clamped her jaws carefully around the pile, taking it inside and closing the front door so quietly behind her that the latch barely even clicked. Once inside, she set the items down on a small side table. "Father," she said softly from the hallway, "there's some mail for you."

She waited a few moments. Again, there was no answer. She picked up the mail and went into the living room, where her father was standing in the far corner; the orange-brown stallion nodded his head to the beat of the jazzy song so that his straight, copper-coloured mane shook slightly. He looked up at his daughter, whose jaws were clamped around the documents, but after a few seconds, he returned his gaze to the record player. He made no other movement, even when Fluttershy walked right up to him.

At least, not until she reached out and pressed her muzzle lightly and affectionately against his neck. At this, her father tutted once and drew away slightly. Not entirely out of reach – he was in a corner, after all – but sufficiently to make his point clear. He clicked off the record player with another tut. Fluttershy shrank back and dropped her head, placing the flyer and newspaper on the coffee table but still holding the two sealed items in her teeth.

"Just give them to me, please."

Flicker Swirl's voice was astonishingly similar to his daughter's in speed, cadence and intonation. Deeper, of course, and without the hesitancy and submissiveness that Fluttershy's speech displayed. Nevertheless, there could be not the slightest doubt that they were related. His eyes were the same colour, too, though naturally without the long, curling eyelashes.

The stallion bit away the seal on the first scroll and held it between his forehooves, reading intently but showing no sign of emotion. When he was done, he picked up the second scroll and repeated his actions. Flicker raised his head for a moment to look at Fluttershy, regarding her impassively, then turned back to the record player and switched it back on.

"Um... if you don't mind, Father... was one of those scrolls from the—?" She trailed off

There was no discernible reaction. Fluttershy opened her mouth again, then shut it and bit her lip. After a few moments more, she turned and went into the kitchen. Her throat somehow felt unbearably dry. Although she wasn't a bit thirsty, she badly needed something to drink right now.

The apple juice carton bore a bright, cheery picture of a young earth pony mare with a light blue mane and deep hazel eyes, the toothy grin on her face clearly demonstrating the benefits of apple-based refreshment. Fluttershy found herself looking into those eyes rather a lot these days – and not only because of the hazy, distant yet cherished memories they stirred within her. She also looked into them because she felt a warmth from them. They were the eyes of a mare to whom smiling came easily; to whom the world was a wondrous place filled with sunshine and rainbows.

Of course, Cloudsdale was also a place of sunshine and rainbows, but here those words represented everyday, workaday things. A pegasus might drink in the glory of her surroundings on a joy flight, but those were few and far between when there was work to be done – and in this city, there was always work to be done. While Princess Celestia raised the sun each day, it was down to the pegasi to make sure it could actually shine across Equestria.

Blue skies were fine things, but the rhythms of the land below, and the needs of the earth ponies' crops beneath that, demanded variety. Every shower, every snowfall, every raging tempest: making these things happen was the pegasi's domain. At the appointed times, of course, hammered out after extended discussion; Cloudsdale's weather strategy meetings were legendary for their dullness.

And rainbows lost their magic when a foal learned that they were mass-produced in a single, gigantic industrial complex across town which extracted the appropriate substances from the air and remixed them in just the right way to bring out their bands of colour to best effect. Unicorns might be the only ponies who could create magical rainbows, but creating this light-based kind was very much a job for Cloudsdale. A successful rainbow was one as close as possible to the last. Even the most senior Weather Factory workers groaned at the memory of those long nights during their apprenticeships, drearily plodding through the almost two thousand pages of Rainbow Construction and Maintenance: A Practical Guide.

Fluttershy poured out another half-glass, drained it, then strapped on her saddlebags, decorated with a pink butterfly on each side – these adornments had been among the first tangible products of her Extra sewing classes. Pausing for only a moment, she stepped quietly out of the open back door. Remembering herself, she immediately returned to wash up the glass before leaving once more, closing the door softly behind her.

Almost at once, Rainbow Dash dropped out of the sky in front of Fluttershy in that terrifying way of hers: arrowing down diagonally and thumping into the cloud to land on all fours at great speed. Somehow, she never ended up misjudging her descent and punching through the layers of cumulus beneath. Fluttershy squeaked and jerked back.

"Hiya, 'Shy!" said Rainbow brightly. "Wanna come and see my new trick before it gets dark?"

"Oh my... another one?" stuttered Fluttershy, trying to compose herself after the shock of her friend's sudden arrival.

Rainbow looked slightly sheepish. "We-ell... kinda." There was a pause, then she continued. "It's like that one I showed you a while back – you know, at my place? – but even more awesome."

Fluttershy managed a weak smile. She stood patiently, her mane and tail rippling slightly in the light yet chilly breeze, as her friend detailed just how much she'd improved her skills this year, how exciting it was to judge a turn with inch-perfect precision, how the Wonderbolts would probably be coming to see her soon...

She wondered, as she sometimes did, what it must be like to be Rainbow Dash: a pony who not only believed with unwavering certainty, but knew, that she was a flier in a million at least. It was hard for any instructor to tell a filly she was getting ahead of herself when she'd done something like that at so young an age. Fluttershy couldn't imagine what it would be like to have your cutie mark appear on such a grand scale – and to enjoy having that happen. She certainly wouldn't have wanted that. She was glad to have been on the grou—

"Are you even listening to me, Fluttershy?"

The yellow pegasus looked around in confusion for a moment as she was raised from her reverie, then blushed deeply and shuffled her hooves awkwardly. "Wasn't I listening? I'm sorry."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Like I was saying, maybe I'll go practise some more and we can do this tomorrow afternoon instead. But I really want you there, 'Shy; you always give me such great support." She punctuated each word with a meaningful jab of the wing towards Fluttershy. "See you tomorrow, 'Shy!"

Fluttershy said nothing as she watched Dash fly away, standing motionless until her rainbow stripes faded into the encroaching gloom.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I really can't bend the rules for you again. I got into quite a bit of trouble for it last month, if I'm honest. So I'm afraid the answer is still no." The tan-coated pegasus behind the archive's reception desk had the grace to look embarrassed, unconsciously flicking away a tiny mote of cloud that had landed on her nose. Then she smiled warmly. "You only have to wait a little bit longer and you'll be old enough anyway."

"Oh... that's... that's all right," said Fluttershy, eyes downcast and body hunched. "I'm sorry for wasting your time." She opened her mouth to say more, but her words dissolved into an almost inaudible squeak as she backed out of the room, then turned tail and galloped from the building. She knew she should try to be less timid – Rainbow Dash had made the point many times, not usually helping very much – but she just... couldn't. The Corner was probably a better place to be right now, anyway. After looking all around her to check that nopony would see her awkward take-off, she took wing.

The Corner was rather poorly named, for it had no corners; indeed, no real edges: it was nothing more than a secluded area of unused Cloudsdale land, tucked away behind one of the city's many ornamental columns. It was surrounded by a small and slightly tumbledown cloud-wall, but nopony lived here. In fact, nothing lived here at all. That was kind of the point.

Fluttershy glided across the wall, almost skimming it, and touched down so gently that there was barely a puff of cloud beneath her as her hooves touched the spongy cumulus floor. I can do it! she thought for a moment, before remembering herself and feeling the hot spread of a blush across her cheeks. Nopony else was around to see her; they hardly ever were. Why would they be? To most of those few pegasi who thought about it at all, this area was a silly irrelevance at best. The city was a place of robustness, of noisy life. The Corner was a place of vulnerability, of quiet death. In so many ways, it was very un-Cloudsdale.

It was, in fact, the city's first and only bird memorial garden, though it lay unmarked, unregarded and undisturbed. There had been nothing like it before; there would probably be nothing like it again.

Fluttershy walked across it smoothly, her head held high now and her embarrassed, scared expression entirely gone. Many things scared her, some of which she'd buried so deeply within her that that very knowledge itself brought forth fear. But one thing Fluttershy did not fear was death. It had been a part of her life for too long now, a part of who she was and had become. It had not been easy; there had been pain; but now she had learned to live with the fact of it.

There were no gravestones at The Corner, for the very simple reason that there were no graves. In that, at least, the place reflected standard Cloudsdalian practice. When you lived above the clouds, there was nowhere to bury your dead – and so pegasi had always been cremated, right back to the earliest days of the city. Sometimes, their ashes were carried down to ground level and used by earth ponies to fertilise farms and market gardens. Others stipulated in their wills that their remains should be burnt at the Weather Factory, their last contribution to the city to which they owed their loyalty being to help power its greatest industrial achievement. Pegasi were not sentimental ponies as a rule.

Neither, to a greater degree than most believed, was Fluttershy. She was gentle and kind, meek and mild, and hated to see any creature in pain or distress, no matter who or what they were. She cried freely when she came across one she could not save. Yet as she walked around the garden, sparing a thought for each and every one of the hundreds of birds who now lived on in memory here, she did not cry. She smiled. And it was that same pure, warm smile that Rainbow had seen on that oft-remembered afternoon at Dash's own house; the smile of one who saw beauty in the world, even where others might see only sorrow. The smile only slipped when she reached the furthest extremity of The Corner. Here at last her thoughts turned darker as she remembered not a bird but another pony.

Fluttershy thought she could remember her mother from her infancy, though she could never be sure that she had not simply picked up what she knew of her from the few old photographs she treasured. Coral Drift's most striking physical features had been her eyes, identical in shape to her daughter's but with a purpler tinge to the irises. Fluttershy wished she had a record of her mother's voice; those who had known her said it was like liquid velvet. She had tried to ask her father about Coral again recently, but he had simply brought the shutters down, just as he always did. She was left with nothing more than a few pieces of paper and those even fewer shadowy memories.

She sat right back on her haunches and, a few moments later, the tears at last began to flow.

By the time she raised her head once more, night had fallen completely and she shuddered a little. The dark itself did not scare Fluttershy these days: her night vision was quite good and, down on the ground, she had been into animals' caves much blacker than this. She wasn't scared of caves, either: she would never forget that her destiny was to care for all of Equestria's creatures, not merely its day-loving species. The constant companion that was her cutie mark made sure of that.

No: the fear she fought to control now was a fear of the light. It was something Rainbow Dash had never understood: she, who spent so much of her free time in the day napping, had once tried to persuade Fluttershy to come on a night flight and had been utterly perplexed by her friend's point-blank refusal. But every time Fluttershy raised her head now, she would see the shadowy outline of the Mare in the Moon, that constant reminder of the literal dark past of Equestria and of the shadow that extended to the present day, of Princess Celestia's centuries-old sorrow.

The irrational fear of being alone out here and the irrational fear of the journey back fought with each other in her head, and the former emerged from the battle victorious. Fluttershy swallowed hard and set off. After a few paces, she broke into a trot, then a canter.

As she neared the house, she saw without surprise that the windows were dark and that the building stood silent and cold, and wondered again what it must be like to have a home.

3. No Finer Place for Sure

The squirrel bounded away on his newly healed paws, chittering cheerfully to himself. Fluttershy watched him disappear into the woods, then settled back on her haunches and relaxed. The strengthening morning sunshine beat down on her back and warmed her wings as she stretched each of them gently in turn, feeling the gentle spring breeze ruffle the tips of her feathers. She closed her eyes and listened to the rhythms of the land: the birds singing high above, the moles snuffling far below, the distant splashing of an otter as she hunted along the river.

Fluttershy let out a contented sigh. It was so good to be back on solid ground again.

Ever since the very hour of the now-legendary Pegasus Race, Fluttershy had delighted in the company of earth-dwelling animals. They were so much easier to communicate with than ponies, with their simple concerns of food, of shelter and of... well, of continuing their line. She had occasionally dreamed of actually being a bird, flitting between intertwining branches, or a porcupine, ambling along through the leaf-mulch. Once or twice, she had even contemplated what life would have been like as one of the delicate, pink and blue butterflies whose symbol adorned her flank.

She had sometimes pondered on the unlikeliness of her having received that particular cutie mark. Butterflies don't even reach Cloudsdale – so why me? Had Fluttershy's lineage included earth ponies, it might have made rather more sense – but as far as she knew, her ancestors had always been Cloudsdale pegasi, back to the earliest days of the sky city. There were even rumours that her family's origins could be found in the very dawn of Equestria, though she had – inevitably – never managed to get her father to talk about it. If she could only get access to the archives... but that would have to wait until her birthday now.

Lost in these and other thoughts, Fluttershy only gradually became aware of a quiet presence nearby. Her eyes flew open in sudden alarm and her whole body tensed, ready for immediate flight.

"Goodness me, darling, you look as though you've seen a ghost!" said the elegant unicorn waiting politely a few feet away. She was, herself, as near to ghostly white as anypony this side of Princess Celestia, but Fluttershy felt a great wave of relief wash over her. While she would much have preferred to have been left to her own devices to spend the whole day with the local critters, at least this particular pony wasn't a total stranger who might say or do anything. She shivered at the thought.

"Oh... hello, um, Ray... um...?" Fluttershy gave the unicorn a helpless look, which was answered by a warm smile.

"Rarity. We met last week when you came to the boutique for that particularly fine silver thread. I must say, it's so good to see a pegasus taking an interest in fashion for once. Not that one should speak ill of other ponies, but some of them really are the absolute end: quite ignorant of the finer things in life and frankly not seeming to be too bothered about it. You must come around for tea one day soon, then we can have a nice talk about these things. Perhaps I can ask a friend of mine to come along and meet you, too—"

"No!" yelped Fluttershy, so suddenly that Rarity started. She recovered herself. "Um... I mean... no, thank you. You're ever so generous to invite me, and I would like to come and have tea with you – in fact, I'd be honoured – but I really don't think I'm ready to meet any other ground-bound ponies just yet."

Rarity raised an eyebrow slightly at "ground-bound", but let it pass. "Well then, perhaps later on. For the moment, it seems as if it will be just you and me for our little soirée. And my dear Opal will be there too, of course; I do hope you won't mind about that."

"Opal?"

"Opalescence, my kitten. She's very young yet, and to tell the truth she can be quite hard work to keep up with, but she really is such a sweetie. I'm sure she'd love to meet such a charming pony as you, my dear."

Fluttershy's eyes had gone wide. "You have a pet kitten? Oh yes, I'd love to meet her. I've never even seen a cat up close before." Noticing Rarity's quizzical expression, she quickly explained. "I need to stay away from cats, because I usually look after the little animals like birds and mice when I'm down here; it would give the poor creatures such a fright otherwise. But they look so cute."

Rarity smiled again. "Well then... Fluttershy, wasn't it? You may treat this as an open invitation. I would be most charmed by the pleasure of your company for tea one afternoon. But I really must be getting on soon: I have so much to do at the boutique at the moment. I suppose I'm still getting used to just how much work it is to run one's own business."

With a final toss of her immaculately coiffured purple mane, Rarity trotted off, leaving Fluttershy trying to work out whether the strain of going to the tea party or the rudeness of ignoring the unicorn's invitation would cause her the greater stress. She sighed, turned and set off slowly towards the edge of the little town.

* * *

There was a muffled crash from somewhere behind Fluttershy as she made her way over an ornamental bridge that crossed a small stream. She yelped in fright and snapped her head around, relaxing only a little when she realised just who it was who had landed so awkwardly in the dense clump of bushes.

Rainbow Dash tried her best to look nonchalant, no mean feat for a mare lying upside-down in a crumpled heap and covered with leaves and fragments of broken twig. She flipped herself upright and made a token attempt to brush the leaves away. "Heh-heh... maybe I got a little too ambitious with that descent. Hiya, 'Shy! Thought I'd pay you a bit of a surprise visit."

Fluttershy was surprised. "R-Rainbow Dash? How did you get down here?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I flew down. You know, seeing as how I'm a pegasus and all. Maybe you could try it yourself sometime?" Seeing Fluttershy's embarrassment, her expression softened. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry... maybe I was just curious. You seem to come down here so much these days, and I guess I wanted to take a look around Ponyville for myself. You don't get the greatest view of a place when you're concentrating on barrel-rolling a hundred feet above it."

The ponies spent much of the next half-hour poking around the town, Fluttershy giving Rainbow the benefit of her own limited knowledge on its geography and features. Dash was delighted to discover that Ponyville contained a rather renowned bakery, though she held back from going inside after Fluttershy reminded her of the importance of a balanced, healthy diet to a would-be Wonderbolt. She was rather less happy at Fluttershy's insistence on visiting the dusty, near-abandoned library. ("This is sooo boring," she complained as Fluttershy picked through a shelf of mushy romance novels, apparently enraptured with their contents. "And what is it with you and trees? They just get in the way.")

Eventually, the conversation turned to the approaching end of the ponies' school careers.

"Oh yeah," said Rainbow with enthusiasm. "It's going to be awesome being at the Weather Factory. I've been looking forward to it for, like, months. Sure, the job's not all that great, but I can do it in my sleep, and every week I'll be hauling in the bits. And you know what I'm gonna do with all those bits, Flutters?"

"Um... maybe you could save them up for—"

Rainbow grinned. "There's this amazing Wonderbolts training course that goes behind the factory area. Loops, turns, the lot. When I'm on my break, if I'm not napping, I can watch them fly and work out how I can do the same thing... only better. I want to find out exactly what tricks they do, memorise their moves, everything. Then, when the time is right, I can show my stuff and really impress them. Though yeah, to be honest, my awesomeness ought to be enough."

"But wouldn't it be easier just to read up on their tricks and find out that way what they look for in a prospective Wonderbolt?"

"Fluttershy, I'm not an egghead. I do not read books, okay?"

The other mare let the subject drop. The redjays were singing vociferously in the trees all around, full of spring vigour and life, and she began to relax once again. It wasn't that she disliked meeting birds up in Cloudsdale – far from it – but everything felt so much better down here on the ground. Fluttershy felt that this was where she truly belonged, pegasus or not. After all, it was here that she had gained that odd but fitting cutie mark; here that she had first experienced the welling up of peace and fulfilment that had caused her to discover her lovely singing voice for the first time; here that she could spend time with, and help, so many critters; here that she could do so much good.

Here that you realised the darker side of your destiny. The thought welled up unbidden and unwanted, not for the first time. Hard as Fluttershy tried to force it back into the deepest recesses of her mind, it resisted stubbornly. Oh no, came the little voice in her head, don't think you can get rid of me that easily. I'm here for life, and you know it. No matter how pure your light may be, it will still cast shadows. Because you know what has to be done.

Fluttershy blinked away her suddenly blurred vision and tried to think about something else. She took a deep breath and was about to make some innocuous remark when her companion spoke up instead.

"What is with you today, Fluts? Are you even listening to me?"

Fluttershy looked up. "Please don't call me that, Rainbow Dash. You know I don't like it."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But that doesn't answer my question."

"Um, I suppose I was just thinking about other things."

"Yeah, I could see that. You near as hay walked into ponies about four times. But why?"

Fluttershy stopped dead and looked directly at Rainbow Dash, who was too startled to respond. A few seconds passed, then Fluttershy began to speak, her voice a fierce whisper very different from the soothing sound the other pegasus knew so well.

"You think it's easy for me here, don't you? You think that, because I have it tough in Cloudsdale, I just come down to the ground so I can get away from everything?"

"Hey, I never said—"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but if that's what you think, then you're wrong. You see this?" (Fluttershy indicated her cutie mark with a rough wing-jab.) "Have you ever even thought about what it means? What it really means?"

"I—"

"Well, let me tell you something. Last month, I was down here looking after some of my little mousey friends in the fields near one of the farms. And my goodness, I'd never seen Mrs Mouse in such a state before. She told me that—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can talk to animals?"

"Yes. No. Well, kind of. I can communicate with them, but it's not like talking. It's communication on another level and... oh, it's complicated. I'm not sure I can really explain. But the point is that Mrs Mouse told me that her youngest child had been attacked by a large bird and badly injured, and she asked me whether I could help her. She said that she'd heard about my special talent, you see."

"Wow, Flutters, you're famous down here? That's awesome!"

Fluttershy threw Rainbow an acid look, all the more shocking for coming from those great, mild eyes, and continued. "Mrs Mouse took me to see her child and... and she... oh, it was horrible. I knew that I couldn't treat her injuries enough. And so I... I had to..."

Dash flew down to Fluttershy's side to wrap a wing gently around her; she didn't resist the gesture.

"It's okay, 'Shy. I understand. It was me that had to tell my dad when—"

Fluttershy thrust out her wings savagely, almost knocking Rainbow to the ground. "No. You don't understand. You don't understand at all. Do you really think that all I had to do was to tell the other mice that one of their kin had been grievously injured and wasn't going to get better? Then forget all about her, fly back up to the clouds and have a quiet evening in? What sort of an animal caretaker would that have made me?"

Rainbow fidgeted in the oppressive silence.

Fluttershy went on, her voice cracking a little now. "My destiny is to help all animals, whoever they are. And if I can cure them, then of course I will. I've managed to do that for quite a few of them since I've been coming down here. But sometimes... sometimes I can't do that. Sometimes, the choice isn't between curing my patient and not curing her. Sometimes, like with that poor mouse girl, the choice is between two ways of not curing her."

Rainbow Dash looked confused.

Fluttershy took a deep breath. "Tell me, Rainbow Dash. If you ever had a pet of your own, and you loved her as much as any dam could love her foal – but she was sick and in terrible pain, and there was nopony who could heal her... then what would you do? I have to answer that question nearly every time I visit critters down here on the ground. That is the other side of what my cutie mark means."

* * *

It was an hour or so later. The pair had spent a while munching the lush grass on the edge of town; Rainbow was self-conscious about being seen browsing like a cow and had initially refused to join in, but after Fluttershy pointed out some especially flavoursome dandelions, she had relented. After a few minutes of this, the awkwardness had dropped out of the atmosphere and the two pegasi were, once again, simply a couple of good friends enjoying each other's company.

Now, the ponies were on the move again, Fluttershy leading the way.

"Say... where are we going, anyhow?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"There's a thatched cottage on the edge of town. I thought we could go along there now. It's a nice walk."

The two pegasi continued in silence for a time, Fluttershy walking steadily and Rainbow zipping and darting back and forth in the air around her. At length, they reached the thatched cottage Fluttershy had been talking about. It was a tumbledown affair, one which had clearly lain abandoned for some time. Several of its windows were cracked and filthy, the path to the front door was strewn with stones and even the thatch itself had been left untended for so long that green shoots were beginning to sprout from it.

Rainbow flew up to investigate the roof, nudging the eaves with her muzzle and pulling back suddenly at the sound of creaking timber that emanated from somewhere inside. "Wow, Flutters," she said with feeling, "this house is a dump. Seriously, it's in one hay of a mess. Who in Celestia's name lives here?"

"Nopony," came the simple reply. "Well... at least... not yet."

Dash gave her friend an appraising look. "Not yet?"

Fluttershy looked down and shuffled her hooves awkwardly.

Rainbow's eyes went wide. "Whoa... seriously, Fluttershy? Come on, you can't be serious. I mean, it's practically next door to the Everfree Forest. And where are you going to get the money to fix the place up, anyway? Just look at that roof – it's a disaster area! And you can't even get a a job until you're done with Extra. Mr Lapel would go spare if you didn't devote all your attention to his tutoring. He just loves ponies like you."

"Yes. He does," said Fluttershy uncomfortably.

Rainbow smirked. "Notch and Flutters, standing on a cloud—"

Dash stopped abruptly as she noticed the abject look in Fluttershy's eye. There was a renewed tension in the air, broken only when Rainbow spoke again. "Hey, 'Shy," she blurted out, "what are you going to do in the summer, anyway?"

There was more shuffling of hooves from Fluttershy, then: "Um... to tell you the truth, Rainbow Dash, I'm not really sure what I want to do. But I was talking to... to a unicorn before you came along, and she told me all about her pet kitten. So I started thinking that maybe I could come down here and be hired to look after ponies' own critters for them while they... went... to places. Or something," she mumbled, flattening her ears and dropping her head.

"Yeah, whatever," sighed Rainbow, her limited patience already at an end. "I'm sure you've got it all worked out." There was a fractional pause. "Okay, bored now. I'm going home. Want to fly back to Cloudsdale with me?"

Fluttershy looked stricken. "Oh, I don't... I mean... I do... but... well, that's very kind of you, Rainbow Dash. But you see, I really can't. I promised Mr and Mrs Chipmunk that I'd keep an eye on their babies for a while this afternoon, and they were so grateful; I can't possibly let them down. And then I have to go to Froggy Bottom Bogg to check on the new tadpoles, and after that there's going to be a lovely salad party with my bunny friends. Oh, Dashie, have you ever seen a baby bunny? They're just so adorable."

And there it was. The sunrise smile.

"You know," said Rainbow Dash slowly, "maybe it would be fun to meet a few of your little critter pals."

4. Its Shadow from the Sky

"Hmm, I'm quite impressed," said the yellow-vested foremare. "It's been quite a while since we had a new recruit who could do that straight off."

Rainbow Dash preened. "Hey, yeah," she said. "Of course you're impressed. But it was nothin'. I knew I could do it first time: I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm–"

"And you're still on probation here. Yes, you did well with the stratocumulus, and I'm not going to tell you otherwise, but you still have a long way to go before you can call yourself a pro. You might want to remember that."

The foremare moved away, leaving Rainbow to her task. In all honesty, she felt, there wasn't a great deal that was too interesting about the cloud creation process. The intricate flight moves to whip up the clouds into just the right consistency for a particular cloud form were cool, but that was only a small part of her job. Mostly it was just a case of watching the funnels from which clouds emerged and checking that the automated processes were doing what they should. That was really, really boring.

She turned to one of her two partners, a somewhat slow-witted orange stallion several years her senior but with nothing like her athletic prowess. He wasn't a pony Rainbow would have chosen as her team-mate, but you didn't get much say in the matter as a newbie. At least her other colleague, a white mare about her own age, seemed to have a bit more alertness about her. Still not in my league, she thought smugly. Who is?

"Have you always been able to do that?" asked the stallion in the near-monotone Rainbow had already come to know and hate. "You're a pretty good flier."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Er, yeah." She turned away, not wanting to waste any more of her time on this idiot, and was startled to catch a glance that passed between him and the other mare. Oh Celestia, don't tell me they're... please no... I've gotta get out—

Suddenly, on a whim, Rainbow took off as powerfully as she could, leaving the others too startled to say a word in her wake. She headed straight for the rear of the facility, where a semi-permanent training course had been laid out. Her features crinkled into a truly evil grin as she approached the start line and set herself for the perfect run.

Effortlessly, Dash eased herself into the first bend, taking the apex so tight that the tips of her feathers brushed the dots of cumulus that marked the inside edge of the course. Her co-workers, her foremare, the Weather Factory, the whole of Cloudsdale melted away into inconsequential nothingness. None of it mattered now; indeed, nothing existed any more but Rainbow Dash, the training course and that transcendent freedom that so few ponies ever knew, that came only with true mastery of the skies.

Rainbow weaved smoothly in and out of the closely-set vertical barriers that made up the next obstacle. It was one of the more straightforward parts of the course, but nopony was immune from making a mistake. Even the best, as one of the Wonderbolts' more self-deprecating sayings went. Even me. The thought flitted across Rainbow's mind almost idly, though her filling heart refused to so much as acknowledge the sentiment. Her smile had settled now, no longer that wicked grin but something more akin to joy.

As she came out of the obstacle, almost at once the track took a sharp jink and fell almost vertically. This was her favourite section, though Dash felt it somehow wrong that it came so early in the course; she had been flying for no more than eight or nine seconds. If – when – she had a say in recruitment, she would make sure that the last obstacle would be something truly awe-inspiring; something that only those with the true Wonderbolt spirit would have the stomach and the wings to take on and beat.

It was odd that so many non-pegasi thought that flying fast, straight and level was an achievement. Other than keeping a practised flyer's eye out for ambient hazards, there was really nothing to it. Even pushing straight up wasn't too much of a stretch for an accomplished flyer. With the powerful wings of a born racer, gravity and air resistance were almost her playthings, though she ached to one day see if the stories were true that if you went high enough, the blue sky shaded to black and the very stars could be seen at noon.

Flying downwards, though... now that was something else. Ground-bound ponies could never understand that. For unicorns and, even more so, earth ponies, the ground was home. The notion of leaving it far behind was anathema to their souls. Pegasi, though, lived in – and for – the skies. The further up a pegasus went, the more space she had, and that freedom was something every such pony craved. When she flew towards the ground at speed, the unyielding surface rushing up to meet her as she threw away the habits of a lifetime and made gravity her ally, that was an alien feeling indeed. The adrenalin rush that came with knowledge of the obvious danger of a miscalculation was thrilling, but perhaps even more so was the sensation that you were stepping outside the bounds of pegasine normality.

The vertical drop was almost straight, but with just enough kinks and inconsistencies to force the young pegasus to keep her cerise eyes open, in spite of the onrushing wind and her lack of eye protection. Dash cursed mildly as motes of fine dust stung her eyeballs. Even a generation ago, the Wonderbolts had eschewed the goggles entirely as a matter of pride. Things had changed, but only slowly and painfully: there remained a lingering feeling among some traditionalists (including Rainbow's own grandfather, she recalled suddenly) that wearing goggles was somehow unsporting. And even now, they were usually not worn in competition: the entrants for the Best Young Flyer contest would fly with eyes naked to the air.

Rainbow was no hidebound traditionalist. Impulsive as she was, she had a surprisingly practical bent to her when it came to protective gear. She valued her superb vision as she did the lithe, agile body that made her such a fast flyer; she knew well the value of staying in shape and what she longed for right now was a pair of top-of-the-range, hoof-made goggles from Eagle Eye. Still, there was no going back from here. Stopping at this point wasn't even on her radar. Seeing the bottom of the plummet rush up at her, she threw her body around in a wrenching yet strangely graceful curve for the steep, ascending corkscrew bend that made up the the next obst—

"What in Tartarus are you playing at up there, filly!?"

Dash's concentration wavered for a fraction of a second. It was enough to send her smashing into the harder, slate-grey stratus that lined the sides of the track here, making it seem almost like a tunnel. She lost control as a wing-tip crunched against the unyielding surface, then barrelled diagonally downwards and out of the course entirely, landing with a dull flump on the floor of the factory. Rainbow buried her head and moaned for a few moments, then raised it a couple of inches to see...

...a Wonderbolts uniform.

She sprang upright in an instant, her senses alive, suddenly feeling every tiny waft of air through her crumpled feathers. Rainbow almost feared to raise her gaze to meet the newcomer's own, but as she did so, she realised just who it was that had witnessed her impromptu training run. Out of the sides of the unmistakable lightning-striped blue flight suit sprang two powerful yellow wings, and above her eyes – still goggled, Dash noted without surprise – was a shock of startling yellow-orange hair. There was only one pony she knew with a mane like that.

Rainbow Dash had just made a spectacle of herself in front of Spitfire. The youngest captain of the display team in a generation. A mare some knowledgeable observers were already mentioning in the same breath as the great Firefly, the team's legendary founder. A pony Rainbow had idolised for years; one she yearned to emulate and, in time, surpass in fame. This is my chance! she exulted inwardly, but her excitement lasted only a moment as her train of thought was again rudely derailed.

"That isn't some foal's playground, you idiot!" The voice hadn't lost much of its volume or anger. "You could have been seriously hurt!"

Dash finally found her voice and her resolve quickly hardened, a defiant look coming into her eyes. "I wanted to test myself, Spitfire. I'll be flying with you some day. I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt. I'm not going to get anything out of a public course any more. I need more. I need a challenge. I need this. I know I can do it. I can beat this course. I've... I've done a sonic rainboom—"

"Yeah," interrupted the flame-haired mare. "I know. I'd imagine everypony in Cloudsdale knows how you got your cutie mark. And believe me, I was impresssed when I heard about that race. But have you ever done it again?" Rainbow Dash was silent. "No. Yes, you're a pretty decent flyer for your age, and you have a lot of potential. A lot. But right now, that's what it is. Potential."

"But," protested Rainbow, "but I can beat anypony in a straight race, right now. Anypony. I don't lose, period. I bet I could even beat you. Ma'am," she added after a moment's thought.

Spitfire laughed harshly. "Oh, girl, do you really think that being a Wonderbolt is all about how fast you can fly? That all that matters is who you can beat?" She shook her mane and spoke bluntly. "We're not just a race team. Ever heard of discipline? Respect? Common sense? Some things you earn. And let me tell you right now, you have a long way to go before you earn enough that you can afford to spend it, little filly."

Rainbow Dash had always believed – no, she'd known, deep in her being – that one day she'd be having a conversation with Spitfire beside this very training course. This was... not quite how she'd imagined it would go. She lowered her head, ears flattened against its sides, and looked at the ground, pawing at it randomly with a front hoof and hoping desperately that Spitfire would just fly off without a word and leave her alone.

She felt much, much worse when she finally looked up to realise that the Wonderbolt had done exactly that.

"I think," came the quieter, but no less wounding, voice of her foremare as she trotted up, "that you'd better take the rest of the day off, Rainbow Dash. You're in no shape to work safely right now. I'll see you tomorrow morning at sunrise, sharp. And I do mean "sharp". Don't sleep in this time. You really don't want to lose any more pay than you already have."

* * *

Fluttershy was pottering about in the garden of her new home, apparently making some sort of enclosure. She was singing softly to herself; Rainbow Dash hung back from making her landing for a moment and listened to her friend's song. It was no more than a meaningless collection of la-la-las, but nevertheless Rainbow was enchanted. The simple purity of Fluttershy's voice reminded her inescapably of the freedom she herself felt up in the open skies. All at once, she felt overwhelmed with emotion and had to blink several times to... to get more dust motes out of her eyes. Yes. That was it. Understandable this close to the dusty ground. She really would have to see about getting herself those flight goggles.

Rainbow Dash didn't like crying. It was silly and fillyish and didn't get anypony anywhere. She couldn't remember the last time she'd wept openly; it had probably been back when she was a barely-weaned foal. Whenever she'd seen Fluttershy crying, she'd had to bite back the urge to tell her friend to toughen up a bit. She hadn't always succeeded, even though it had generally only made matters worse when she hadn't.

Dash hit the ground with a thud, causing Fluttershy to squeak and jump. Not the ideal landing, Rainbow. Fluttershy recovered herself and came across to her newly-arrived friend. She was still holding a hammer and some nails in her mouth, their metallic sheen making a contrast with the softness of her face that was faintly disturbing.

"Whatcha up to now, 'Shy? Gonna try for the Equestria Games hammer-toss team this year?" Rainbow got no further before dissolving into a full-blown giggling fit, rolling around on the grass wildly.

Fluttershy set the implements down carefully on a large stone and waited for the gales of laughter to subside before replying, "Hello, Rainbow Dash. I haven't seen you in a while."

Her words were mild, but there was something in her tone of voice that awakened uncomfortable thoughts within the other pony's head. It was true: Rainbow's weather job had meant she now had little time to travel away from Cloudsdale – and what spare time she did have tended to be taken up with flying practice. Dash got to her hooves and fought back a sudden urge to get away from here, to fly as far up into the sky as she dared and stay there for as long as she could.

"Heh-heh, I've just been sooo busy in Cloudsdale." Rainbow knew that Fluttershy would have detected the forced laughter in an instant, but she pushed on. Pushing on was what she did. What else could she do? "You know I got the job in the Weather Production Team, right?"

"Oh yes, Rainbow Dash. I'm very happy for you and I'm sure you're already really good at it. I expect everypony knows your name by now. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Wonderbolts got to hear about you soon."

Another unconvincing chuckle. "Yeah, I... yeah. But, but anyway, you know what's crazy awesome? I got the rest of the day off!"

"Oh, that's wonderful, Rainbow Dash. But how come you aren't training or racing today? I know how much you love to fly fast. You can't be very interested in anything around here."

Rainbow staggered back as though she'd been struck. Her mouth worked soundlessly for a few seconds before hanging open. She stared at Fluttershy, but saw nothing more in those great, soft eyes than her own reflection and an expression of kindly concern.

"Oh, goodness, Rainbow Dash—"

"Do you really have to keep doing that?" interrupted Rainbow. "I know I messed up. I know I should have come to see you more often. I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what else I can say. Just... just stop doing that. Please?" There was a desperate, pleading edge to her voice now.

Fluttershy looked confused. "Stop doing what, Rainbow Da—"

"That!" screamed Rainbow. "Calling me 'Rainbow Dash' every single time. Call me 'Rainbow' or 'Dash' or whatever. Or... or maybe 'Dashie'?" Her eyes, briefly wide and hopeful, half closed and her voice fell to a whimper. "Okay, never mind. I don't care what name you use; whatever you wanna call me, that's great. I just want you to like me again."

Fluttershy's eyes widened for a moment, then fell as she looked at the ground. She scuffled at the earth with her front hooves and bit her lip. At length, without raising her gaze, she said, "I'm sorry." A pause, then she added, "Rainbow." There was another pause, and this time it didn't seem that it would come to an end.

Impulsively, Dash reached out a wing and rested it on Fluttershy's shoulder. Now Fluttershy did look up. She gave Rainbow a small smile – not the sunrise smile, but a smile nevertheless – and said, "Have you seen the Cloud House?"

Rainbow was taken aback. "Er... yeah? I live in one. So do – did – you. What do you mean, 'Shy?"

Another small smile. "Oh, I'm surprised you didn't see it. The one on the edge of Ponyville. Right over there." She pointed into the sky and Rainbow's gaze followed. She gasped as she saw it. How had she managed to miss that? She must have been even more wrapped up in herself than usual when she came down here. Had she treated Fluttershy like that all through these last few months? She guessed she had. Now it was her turn to hang her head, though only for a moment as the astonishing sight drew her back

Fluttershy, apparently oblivious, continued. "I read a local history book in the Ponyville library. It said that the Cloud House was found floating free about fifty years ago. It had either never been occupied or been abandoned long ago, as there was no sign of life. Princess Celestia tried to find out who owned it, but even she had to admit defeat. Nopony in Cloudsdale claimed it, anyway. So it was allowed to stay here."

"Who... who lives there now?" breathed Rainbow. She was only half-listening, all her senses screaming at her to fly up to this incredible palace in the air with its pillars of purest white and rainbow falls cascading off outcrops to evaporate in sparkly splendour many feet below.

"Oh, it's still empty," said Fluttershy. "The mayor says that the best thing would be to send it up to Cloudsdale to be broken up as scrap for recycling. I do rather agree with Rarity that it would be a bit of a shame."

"A bit of a shame?!" echoed Rainbow, incredulously. "That, right there, is the greatest house I have ever seen. It's probably the greatest house in Equestria after Canterlot Castle! And that's me, a Cloudsdalian, saying that. They can't break it up! It would be like... like... like something really great and amazing and awesome being destroyed! Wait... who's Rarity?"

"She's a unicorn. She runs a boutique in town." Seeing Rainbow's blank expression, she added, "A clothes shop."

"Oh, right," said Rainbow, mentally marking Rarity down as somepony she could safely ignore. "But you know what? I am going to make it into the Wonderbolts. And when I do, I'll have a house built, and it'll look just like that. No way am I letting something that awesome just disappear into the clouds again. Nopony should! Awesome things need to be looked after!"

Fluttershy smiled again, and this time there was a hint of approaching dawn about it. "Oh, I agree with you, Dashie," she said.

5. Thy Yesteryears be Buried Deep

Notch Lapel was waiting for Rainbow as she touched down on the outskirts of Cloudsdale. She glared at him fiercely.

“What are you doing here? I told you already; I won’t tell you again. Fluttershy isn’t interested in a lech like you. I’m warning you, buster, you lay one single feather on her and I’ll—”

With a start, Rainbow realised that the stallion’s eyes were red and puffy. She broke off her tirade, landed on a small cloud fragment nearby and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

Notch swalllowed hard and said, “Ms Dash, I am afraid I’m here on formal business, to give you some very bad news. Fluttershy’s father was... well, no point in my sugar-coating this now. He was found dead a little while ago. I’m not aware of the exact circumstances, and the Royal Guards are still investigating. But I really would like to express my deepest condolences to Fluttershy. However, she will need to come back up to Cloudsdale for the formalities. So... would you go and get her, please? I volunteered to go myself, but in the circumstances, I felt...”

He trailed off; there was a long, uneasy silence, broken only by the passing breeze and the unceasing roar of the weather machines in the distance. Rainbow stared high into the sky, her mane and tail ruffled by the wind but the rest of her body stock-still and rigid.

At length, she shook her head forcefully and looked Notch squarely in the eye. “She’s not coming.”

Notch drew back and blinked. “What do you mean?”

“What. I. Said. She’s not coming. No way could Flutters cope with something like that right now.”

The stallion looked at the ground and sighed. “I really am sorry, Ms Dash.”

Rainbow gave a half-growl, but didn’t say another word. Instead, she turned away from Notch and set herself for take-off. She went through a mindless ritual of checking her feathers; a moment later, she was gone, arrowing downwards towards Ponyville.

Why Fluttershy? thought Dash as she flew. Why? It makes no sense. She recalled a line from a fable of long ago, suddenly standing out bright and clear from the dim murk of her early fillyhood. “What is, is what must be,” she murmured to herself, hoping that the simplicity of the phrase would at least allow her a little solace.

It didn’t.

As she approached Fluttershy’s cottage for the second time that day, a cheerful tune reached Rainbow Dash’s ears. She flattened her ears sadly; Fluttershy really didn’t deserve this. Nor did anypony, of course, but Fluttershy even less than most. Rainbow briefly considered turning back, almost immediately snarling at herself in anger. No! she thought harshly. That’s the coward’s way out. That’s how to hurt Fluttershy even more. No. It has to be me.

She landed smoothly and quietly in the garden. Fluttershy had her back turned and was tending some scrubby plants that Dash couldn’t identify, so the blue pegasus stood awkwardly for a few moments, unsure of what to do. She was making ready to trot up to her friend when Fluttershy turned round and smiled. It wasn’t quite the sunrise smile, but it was close enough that when it faded as Fluttershy saw the look in Rainbow’s eyes, Dash shivered in a sudden cold wind, one that may have existed only in her mind. She couldn’t tell, but it didn’t matter.

“Something’s wrong, Dashie,” said Fluttershy at once, her own ears flattening to match those of the other pegasus. Rainbow screwed up her face in agony at that last word. She associated it with joy and laughter and friendship and freedom; it seemed so utterly out of place here. Still, she thought, I guess I gotta do this now. You gotta be here for her, Rainbow. You.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah... yeah, it is. I’m sorry, ‘Shy. But you have some pretty bad news.” Rainbow waited, half-expecting Fluttershy to speak, but when no answer came she continued. “It’s about your dad. Soon as I got back to Cloudsdale, that Notch Lapel guy was waiting for me and he said they... found your dad at home earlier today.”

Fluttershy blinked and frowned. “Found him? Wh- why did they need—”

She broke off and her eyes widened as realisation dawned. Rainbow bit her lip hard, feeling the salty tang of blood on her tongue, and looked at the ground, the sky, the trees, the cottage; anywhere but at her gentle friend. When she finally forced her gaze back to the other pony, she saw that Fluttershy was standing utterly motionless, barely even a feather moving in the still, late-afternoon air.

“Come on. We need to get going,” said Rainbow.

There was a fractional pause, so still that Dash fancied she could hear the machinery of home in the far distance, before Fluttershy nodded her head and said, “I need to make sure the critters will be all right at home, Dashie. Will you wait for me, please?”

“Huh? Of course I’ll wait for you, Flutters. That’s what I do.” (Another tiny pause.) “What would I do on my own?” Dash’s voice caught in her throat a little as she said the last words and she looked into the distance beyond the cottage, flexing each of her shoulder muscles pointlessly in turn.

It was several minutes before Fluttershy emerged. She was wearing saddle bags, but they looked to be almost empty and flapped oddly against her barrel. She looked at Rainbow Dash and, a moment later, the two pegasi had left the earth behind, moving smoothly upwards towards the distant bank of cumulus that marked the near edge of Cloudsdale.

* * *

The two mares were on the threshold of Fluttershy’s house, one hovering and one standing. Rainbow looked at her friend with stinging eyes and heard her soft yet rapid breathing, saw the sheen of sweat that soaked her hide, smelt her desperate terror. This, she thought. This is... what do I do here? What can I do here? As she felt her own pores moistening further, she turned her attention back to Fluttershy.

“You want me to stay out here, Flutters? I know this is a kinda private thing for you. I can fly around out here or something.”

Fluttershy merely looked at Rainbow. “No, Rainbow Dash, please come inside with me. My... my dad isn’t here any more. There’s nothing I need here except you.”

Rainbow shuddered as she realised that Fluttershy’s eyes were entirely dry. She said nothing, but landed and followed Fluttershy inside, gently kicking the door closed behind her with a hind hoof.

The house was clean, tidy and utterly empty. Apart from a slight, lingering smell of Royal Guard and a record propped up against the gramophone in one corner of the living room, it was like the show home for a newly built development. The furniture was modern and functional; the mail was stacked neatly on a side table; the gramophone itself was spotless. There was no mess, no rounded-off corners, none of the everyday clutter that made a house a home.

“Wow, Flutters,” said Rainbow in a low whisper. She wandered over to the far corner to take a look at the record sleeve. Märehead. “Whoa,” she murmured as she turned away.

Fluttershy brushed a forehoof along a wall, examining it for dust. There was none; none at all. She selected a couple of pieces of unopened mail and slid them into her saddle bags, then joined Rainbow in the corner, her eyes moving slowly to different patches on the almost featureless cloud-wall. They never darted, but always slid as though the air had been oiled.

Rainbow shuffled her wings awkwardly, half-spreading them as she approached the point of returning to her more comfortable hover, but caught her companion’s eye and fell back at once. “Okay then,” she said with forced brightness, “d’ya reckon we’re about done here, ‘Shy?”

“City Hall,” replied Fluttershy. “And then the Archives. That’s where they’ll have taken my dad’s will.” She made a sour face. “They won’t be able to turn me away this time.”

“And then go grab something to eat? Have a drink, maybe? I mean, I’m sure you wanna go someplace with a little more life to it.”

“All right, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, blinking evenly as she watched Dash's sudden squirming. Her tone was completely without emotion, and it struck deep into Rainbow Dash’s core. She picked up the record and stuffed it awkwardly into a saddle bag. She looked at Rainbow again and the two mares walked steadily towards the door, Rainbow looking all around, Fluttershy’s eyes never leaving the exit.

When they again reached the cloud, Fluttershy closed the door of the house without a word. Now Rainbow did start to hover once more, and she raised an eyebrow as she saw Fluttershy follow suit. The pair hung in the air for long moments, bobbing gently in the eddying breeze and listening to the flap and swish of each other’s wings. The wind had changed, and there was the thrum of some new piece of industrial equipment. Rainbow didn’t recognise the sound.

“Wow, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash at last. “I mean, that was... I don’t... I’m really sorry. That was weird. Did you really live in this place? This was your home?”

“No,” said Fluttershy. “No. It wasn’t.”

Without another word, and in perfect unison, the two pegasi spread their wings wide and accelerated into flight with strong, powerful beats, making straight for City Hall.

6. And Help Us Find Our Way

Rainbow Dash hammered at the complaining timbers of the old cottage’s front door, bouncing up and down in the air impatiently. “Hey, hurry up, Flutters, open the door already! I know you’re shy and all, but come on, it’s me. And I have something really, totally amazing to tell you about!”

There was a quiet click, and the door opened. Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide as she saw her friend’s excitement. “Goodness, Rainbow Dash, I wasn’t expecting to see you back down here so soon. It can’t be a month since you last came to see me. And you do look happy. Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll have a lovely cup of tea and talk all about it.” She brushed a wisp of pink out of her eyes. “I think I still have a little carrot cake left over from yesterday, too.”

Fluttershy turned from the door and walked softly towards her kitchen. Rainbow rolled her eyes and bit down on her tongue; a relaxing hot drink and a quiet conversation wasn’t quite what she had envisaged at this point. Still, this was Ponyville; this was Fluttershy’s own house. Her place, her rules, Dash conceded reluctantly as she trotted inside to join the other pegasus. Rainbow closed the door behind her as gently as she could, though she had to shove it a little as the frame had warped out of shape.

The two ponies moved through to Fluttershy’s kitchen, which was simply and sparsely furnished. This in itself was not surprising to Rainbow Dash: her friend had never been a very materialistic mare. Even so, she sucked her teeth slightly as she saw the bareness of the room. The large wooden table’s varnish had worn away in places, and at least one of the chairs was held together with string and tape. A threadbare brown rug was the only obvious concession to comfort. The only ornamentation came from a few tiny flowers clustered around a similarly diminutive couch perched on the window sill.

Rainbow bit her lip. “Hey, Flutters, can I ask you something? About this house?”

Fluttershy looked up. “Of course.”

“It’s just that... well... I couldn’t help noticing... you know when you went to City Hall?”

“Yes?”

Dash drooped. She sighed, shook her head and grimaced. “Yeah... it’s not important. Don’t worry about it.”

“Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, her face suddenly serious, “if you’re worried about me coming to live here on my own, then that’s very thoughtful of you, but you really don’t need to be. Everypony’s so nice in this village, and they’ve all been really kind to me; one of the ponies who came around to say hello even invited me to a special welcome party she’d planned.”

Rainbow jerked her head back in surprise. “A party? You? No way! Did you get a secret job with the Marenistry of Sound or something? But wait... did you actually go to this party?”

Fluttershy giggled, a surprisingly fillyish splash of sound that echoed oddly from the crooked walls of the old building. “Oh, yes. The poor thing would have been so sad if I’d said no, and Pinkie Pie’s special talent is making ponies happy. She even made sure there weren’t many other ponies there, just my new friends Rarity and Applejack and the ponies Pinkie Pie rents her room from. So of course I went to her party. I just didn’t stay for very long.”

Rainbow hovered in silence, trying to match Fluttershy’s words with what she knew of her character. Occasionally she caught her friend’s eye, but each time something in her expression made Rainbow look away. When that happened, her glances took in more details of the old cottage. The mould growing in the cracks of the ceiling. The missing plaster and paintwork on the rough walls. The rainwater stains around the edges of the windowpanes.

“So, what’s with the couch?” said Rainbow suddenly, gesturing at the windowsill. “Who’s that thing for?”

A shadow passed over Fluttershy’s face for a second before she said, “Oh, that’s... well, it’s not set up for anyone right now, I-I guess. But sometimes, my little patients can get so sad if they’re not able to go outside anymore. They can rest here and have a lovely view out into the garden.”

“Oh... right,” said Rainbow, squirming a little in the air. “Uh... you know what? I could really go for some of that cake you mentioned.” She sat down at the table and rubbed her forehead with a hoof.

Fluttershy wandered off to an unadorned cupboard and produced a couple of simple blue teacups. These she placed on the table, before returning to the cupboard and rooting out a plain brown teapot with a chipped spout. This accomplished, Fluttershy took the kettle from the stove and changed the water before setting it back to boil. She sang softly to herself as she worked; Rainbow could catch only a few notes here and there, but she feasted on them like a desert explorer coming upon a solitary bunch of grapes amid the bleak and barren wastes.

Dash curled her lip and looked at her forehooves for a moment. Then she said, “You really should come visit me in Cloudsdale sometime, ‘Shy. Not that this place you have here isn’t, ahem, great and all, but it’s gotta be limiting for a pegasus to be stuck down on the ground all day. A real sky city like Cloudsdale is just so much more awes—”

“No, thank you, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy. “I’m quite all right here.” Her tone was soft and polite, but there was a hint of steel behind those great limpid eyes.

The conversation was interrupted by the merry whistling of the boiling kettle. Fluttershy filled the teapot and held it for a few moments, tipping it this way and that to warm it, then brought it over to the table. She set it down – there was no mat, Rainbow realised – and brought over the carrot cake, cutting her companion a large slice without waiting to be asked. She served herself a much smaller portion and filled each pony’s teacup, holding the teapot at an angle to allow for its dribbling.

Rainbow slurped her tea noisily, throwing it down her gullet in quick and eager gulps. Fluttershy took a demure sip from her own and cup gently stirred the drink with a spoon, wrapping her other forehoof in her mane and unselfconsciously stroking its soft, pink hairs. Rainbow set down her cup, hypnotised by her friend’s actions for a few moments. Without really looking, she reached over the table for the carrot cake, but her clumsy hoof missed its mark and swept the plate to the floor, where it broke cleanly in two. Cake crumbs skittered across the uneven floorboards.

“Oh wow, Flutters, I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to, honestly, I guess I just wasn’t paying attention.”

There was a fractional pause before Fluttershy said, “Oh, please don’t worry about that, Rainbow Dash. I can always make more cake, and I’m sure I can mend the plate as well.”

“Mend it? What do you mean, mend it? Why don’t you just go buy another one? You’re not seriously telling me there isn’t a china store anywhere in this town?”

“Oh no, it’s not that. I’d just really prefer to fix it up myself. It’s all right, really. I’ve done it before, plenty of times.” Rainbow thought she caught a catch in Fluttershy’s voice, though she couldn’t be certain. She shrugged it off. I guess she’s just trying not to be mad at me.

“Well, er, okay, I guess,” said Rainbow. She gave a sickly smile.

“But Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, her voice once more soft and warm, “didn’t you say there was something amazing you wanted to tell me about?”

The effect on Rainbow Dash was immediate: her head snapped up, her wings stood proud and her chest puffed out. Her face split by a bursting grin, she zipped in a tight figure-eight around the kitchen before coming to rest in front of Fluttershy and letting loose a whoop of delight.

“Guess which totally awesome pegasus has just been promoted?” she bragged. “And no guessing Notch Lapel!” she added with a wink. “He’s outta there. Moving to Fillydelphia, last I heard. But me? I’m in the big league now.”

Fluttershy’s smile was immediate and beautiful, and Rainbow bathed in its glow. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Dashie!” she said. “Are you still working at the Weather Factory?”

Dash cocked her head. “Kinda. The foremare took me aside and pretty much said I was wasted where I was, but there was a place open in the Weather Management Team, and that it was mine if I wanted it. A 100-bit raise and so long to those jerks on the factory floor. And you know the best part?” She tossed her mane back casually. “Total. Freedom. I just check in every morning to see if anything’s up, but otherwise it’s my call what needs doing. And you know something else that needs doing? Coming to visit my awesome friend in Ponyville way more often.”

“Um,” said Fluttershy, reddening slightly, “would you like another cup of tea?”

Rainbow looked around the room and shook her head. “Nah, that’s fine, ‘Shy. Not that it wasn’t great and all, but I don’t wanna get in your way.”

Fluttershy’s expression was confused. “Rainbow Dash,” she said, “I can tell there’s something bothering you. Won’t you tell me about it? Please?”

Dash bit her lip. “Fluttershy,” she began hesitantly, “could you use a little help with this place sometimes?” Seeing Fluttershy start to protest, she waved a hoof and went on hurriedly, “I didn’t mean it like that! You’re an amazing mare, ‘Shy, and y’know, honestly I couldn’t do some of the stuff you have to do all the time.”

“Why, thank you, Rainbow.” Fluttershy blushed again and looked at the floor.

Dash gabbled on. “But I mean, well, I have this new job now and there really isn’t much I’m doing with all the extra bits except stuffing them in the bank. And here you are, living in a place that’s – no offence – pretty much falling apart. So, I was wondering, maybe if I gave that extra money I’m gonna be getting to you, or some of it anyway, you’d maybe be able to fix up this place a little and...”

Rainbow stopped as she realised how quiet it had become in the kitchen. Fluttershy was standing beside her, trembling in a way she had never seen before, her breathing far too calm and her eyes set.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, her voice low yet every word as clear as day, “I told you I was okay, and I am okay. Please don’t keep pushing me like that; it’s...” Her eyes dropped for a moment. “Well, it’s not really very kind. It was very nice of you to come see me, and I really am happy for you getting that promotion, but I have a lot to do right now.” She walked over to the front door and pulled it open. “Thank you for the visit.”

It took a few seconds for Fluttershy’s words to sink in. Rainbow opened her mouth a couple of times, but no sound emerged. She flew out of the door and up into the cloud-spotted sky. As she rose, she heard the soft click of a latch behind her. It sounded to Rainbow Dash like the slamming shut of a tomb.

7. Out to the Undiscovered Ends

Rainbow Dash’s stomach was turning somersaults as she knocked at the cottage door. The wood had deteriorated further in the weeks since she had last been here, and she only narrowly avoided a nasty splinter. At first, there was silence from inside, which made Rainbow feel bad. When she heard Fluttershy’s soft hoofsteps approaching, she felt much worse.

The door opened.

“Dashie!” Rainbow didn’t know what she had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. Fluttershy pulled Rainbow inside and kicked the door closed with a hind leg, before wrapping her wings around her friend in a warm hug. “Oh, Dashie! I’ve missed you so much. I was so worried I’d gotten everything wrong and I just didn’t know what to do.”

“Wait, what?” said Rainbow, blinking. “You worried you’d gotten everything wrong?”

Fluttershy let go of Dash and sighed, her eyes downcast. “When you were here before, and I made you feel bad. I felt awful about that, and I really wanted to apologise—but when you didn’t come back, I thought I’d made you mad. I waited and waited and you didn’t come, and I thought it would be too late. I thought—”

“Too late? You thought I didn’t want to be your friend any more?” Rainbow’s mouth dropped open and she stared at the other pegasus.

Fluttershy shook her head rapidly and shuddered, screwing up her eyes as though to put the thought out of her mind. “No!” she squeaked. “Of course not! It wasn’t that. It was that, well, I really wanted to talk to you about something. I know I could have come see you in Cloudsdale, but I really had to care for an orphaned mouse. The poor thing was shivering with cold when I found him in the garden.”

Rainbow Dash dabbed the corner of her eye with a hoof, she hoped surreptitiously, and declared, “Well, I’m here now!” spreading her wings expansively. “But what’s up, ‘Shy? You could have just sent me a letter.”

Fluttershy looked flustered and said, “I, um, well, that’s the problem, really. I have something I really need to give you—give you in pony, I mean. But I was getting worried you wouldn’t be back for a long time after the mailmare told me that you had some major weather event coming up in Cloudsdale.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow, nodding. “Though it’s not exactly for Cloudsdale. We got a big order in from Canterlot. Big order; they want a whole bunch of rainbows for somepony’s cute-ceañera next month. Won’t tell us whose it is, but I guess it’s some big-shot unicorn at the Castle or something. So we’ll be working double time on that until it’s all done and dusted.” She sighed. “And I’m lead mare on this job. Which means I have to be there all the time; I haven’t been able to try out my Wonderbolts routine for three weeks now.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Why don’t you sit down? Then we’ll have a nice cup of tea and you can tell me all about it.” She trotted lightly to the stove without waiting for an answer.

Rainbow hesitated before taking a chair, surreptitiously prodding it with a hoof as she hovered above it to make sure the cracked wood would take her weight. She flicked her mane out of her eyes and settled into her seat.

“Sure,” she said. “Not that there’s a lot to tell. It’s just... I can’t get any time to myself, you know? It’s all work, work work. I mean, yes, it’s nice to have a whole load of weather pegasi looking up to me and trusting the calls I make – but sometimes I really miss the old days in the Factory.”

“You miss your old co-workers?”

“Heh. No. Not those lunkheads. What I miss is being able to get away from them. Go have a nap or... or...” Rainbow waved a hoof, unable to find the right word.

There was quiet for a while, then the kettle sang and Fluttershy prepared the tea. When the pot was ready, she filled the two ponies’ cups. Rainbow was actually slightly surprised that the liquid didn’t leak out of the crazed, chipped china containers. Still, the tea was good. Very good. Rainbow wondered idly where Fluttershy had learned to prepare it so perfectly. She was starting to think she might actually ask for some tips when something occurred to her.

“Hey, ‘Shy,” she said.

“Yes?”

“You said you wanted to give me something?”

“Oh. Yes.”

Rainbow leaned forward and waggled her eyebrows. “Aaand?”

Fluttershy blushed. A moment later, Rainbow felt warmth in her own cheeks. The room suddenly felt uncomfortably hot; Rainbow was relieved when Fluttershy spoke again.

“Well, I knew your birthday wasn’t very far away, and I really wanted to give you a present. But then you didn’t come to visit all that time, and I started to get worried. And with how busy you’re going to be over the next few days, I don’t know whether I’ll see you again before then – so I think I’d better give you the gift now.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. Though... how’d’ya know my birthday was coming up, anyway?”

“Um, because I know you?”

Rainbow gave a mirthless chuckle. “Oh, yeah. Right. So, uh, what is it?”

Instead of answering her friend, Fluttershy glided out of the room and disappeared upstairs. Rainbow could hear her muttering as she rummaged through drawers in her bedroom, though she couldn’t make out the words. Dash looked around the kitchen, noting without surprise that the cracks in the ceiling had lengthened a little more; that the damp patches on the ceiling had spread a little further.

After a little while, Fluttershy reappeared, a slight sheen of sweat visible on her forehead. She was holding a tubular parcel about a foot long, simply wrapped in cyan paper and tied with a bow of ribbon in rainbow stripes. She didn’t offer it to Rainbow, however, instead pointing to the front door and saying, “Come on, I think we should go outside for this.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Um, because it’s a lovely evening?”

Rainbow gave Fluttershy a sideways look, but shrugged and said, “Well, I guess that’s true at least. Let’s get moving, then.”

The two pegasi landed on the far side of the lawn, close to the chicken coop. Fluttershy stood on the western edge of the grass, her back to the sun, her soft shadow just clipping one of Rainbow’s forehooves. A chicken clucked briefly and Fluttershy paused to listen, ears pricked, brow creased, eyes wide and attentive. She never really stops, mused Rainbow.

The clucking ceased and Fluttershy relaxed. She turned her attention back to Rainbow, holding out the package for the other pony to take. “Happy Birthday, Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash accepted the parcel, if a little hesitantly. She ran a hoof across the smooth wrapping, then raised it to her ear and shook it, prompting a half-stifled giggle from Fluttershy.

“What? Don’t tell me you never do that!” She shook the parcel again. “Okay, I give up. What’s so special about this thing that we have to come out here, anyway?”

“Oh, I really can’t tell you that before you open the package, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, smiling slightly. “It’s a surprise gift, after all; you’ll need to read it for yourself.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rainbow’s face crinkled into a frown. “‘Read’? You’re giving me a book for my birthday? Flutters, I’ve told you before, I do not do reading. I’m an all-action mare, not some fusty library nerd. So yeah, nice thought, thanks a lot for the gift and all, but... maybe you should give this to somepony else?”

Fluttershy’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it was firm and strong.

“No. It’s for you. And it’s not a book; it’s a scroll. Please, Rainbow, at least open it first.”

Dash relented rather gracelessly. “Oh, all right, I’ll open it. But I’m only doing this because it’s a gift from you, Fluttershy. I’m not gonna be guilt-tripped into becoming some kind of desk-jockey egghead. I’m still the future captain of the Wonderbolts; my cutie mark isn’t a pile of dusty old library books, you know.” She gripped the bow carefully in her teeth and began to untie it.

Fluttershy brushed her mane out of her face and looked at the ground, nodding to a tiny shrew that scurried past. A songbird called his challenge from atop a rose-bush, from somewhere in the middle distance a train whistle sounded its mournful note and there was the ever-changing yet constant whoosh of the wind soughing in the unnatural treetops of the Everfree Forest. A tiny cumulus cloud scudded just above the line of the cottage roof, momentarily dimming the shadows still inching their way along the well-nibbled grass. Otherwise, the sky was clear and still.

Until—

“Flu-Fluttershy?” Rainbow’s voice had entirely lost its brashness and impatience. “’Shy, is this seriously what it looks like? It’s not some weird prank? You bought the...? Is the Cloud House...?” She brought a hoof hesitantly to her chest.

Fluttershy looked up, and answered with her eyes. Rainbow steadied herself for a moment, letting the box fall and clutching the precious paper tightly between her forehooves. Her vision was growing blurry as her eyes began to fill.

Rainbow Dash still didn’t like crying. It was still silly and fillyish. But there was another way. She laughed, loud and long, the sound bouncing off the wall of the cottage and echoing through the garden. Eventually, she collected herself and looked straight at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked straight back.

“But how?” asked Rainbow Dash at length. “How the hay did you...?”

“My dad never gave me a home,” said Fluttershy. “Not a real one, at least. But he can give you a home.”

Rainbow screwed up her face in confusion, then all at once her eyes were wide and staring and her jaw had dropped open. “No. No, you can’t have. No way.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, an action so unexpected that Rainbow almost dropped the deed scroll. “Yes, Rainbow. I can have. And I did.”

“But the Cloud House was so—”

“Expensive,” interrupted Fluttershy. “Yes, it was. To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to afford the price, even with Dad’s money and the little extra I was lent by Ra—by a really generous pony whose pet I sat for sometimes. The bidding went even higher than I was expecting it too, and I, well, I sort of got carried away at the end.” She dropped her eyes to the ground, the edge of one forehoof scuffing along the grass.

“So... you didn’t even have enough left to mend all the cracks in the plaster and buy a few plates and stuff?”

“Well, um, I would have, even with having to pay for this, but then I wouldn’t have been able to afford to care properly for all my little animal friends. I really couldn’t have borne that.”

“You could still have told somepony about it! ‘Shy, you could have told me. I’m making plenty from the weather job now, and I’d have been able to help you out. You’re absolutely crazy!” A sudden grin split Rainbow’s face. “Hey, how about we both go crazy? I’ll accept this gift from you if you accept my help in fixing up your house? Do we have a deal or what?”

Fluttershy laughed. “I guess we do.”

The pegasi embraced.

A short while later, the sun sank beneath the cottage roof, setting on two ponies standing in silence and sharing their moment. There would be many other moments, but never again would there be this moment.

The spell was broken by the arrival of another pony into the deepening shadows of the evening garden. It was Rarity, resplendent in a deep red gown with richly metallic, burnished-gold accents. Fluttershy couldn’t help noticing the jagged claw marks that marred the hem.

“Good evening, Fluttershy,” said Rarity. “And good evening to you, Rainbow Dash. I know it’s terribly rude of me to barge in on you like this, Fluttershy, but do you think you could possibly manage to give me a spot of help with dear Opalescence tonight? She’s been dreadfully fidgety all day, and I don’t really know what’s causing it. I do worry about her.” She patted at her ruined hem. “And I was supposed to be wearing this dress in Canterlot next week.”

“Of course, Rarity,” replied Fluttershy. “It’s always lovely to see Opal again; I’m sure she’s grown so much since I last saw the adorable little thing. Though I do hope you’ll excuse me if I wait here a little while longer, just until Rainbow and I have been able to talk some more.”

Rarity frowned and turned to the other pegasus. “Far be it from me to quibble, Rainbow Dash, but shouldn’t you perhaps be thinking about flying back to Cloudsdale? It’s already starting to get dark.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but Fluttershy raised her head and said, “Oh, I think she’ll be staying here in Ponyville tonight.” Seeing Rarity’s eyes begin to widen, she blushed and said hurriedly, “Um... no... I didn’t mean... well, um, maybe it would be best if Rainbow explained it all for herself. Dashie?” She turned to look at her fellow pegasus and the embarrassment drained from her face, replaced by the simplest of smiles.

Almost lost from sight in the gathering gloom, Rainbow Dash didn’t answer at once. She was watching the sun rise in the west.

Author's Note

Thank you for being so patient!

If you're wondering about that last sentence... yes, that is what I meant. If that confuses you, read the chapter again. If it still confuses you:

Rainbow isn't watching the actual sun. She's watching Fluttershy, who is (as stated earlier in the chapter) standing on the western edge of the lawn and is now giving Rainbow the "sunrise smile".

1. Fast Times at Cloudsdale High

"And have you made up your mind, Fluttershy?"

Cirrus Dreamer regarded the yellow pegasus calmly over the top of her glasses as she waited for a response. Doing that was nothing more than an affectation, but most of the school thought it was funny. She did, too, so she did it often, sometimes deliberately exaggerating the tic. She silently scolded herself for doing that now, but her student didn't seem to have noticed.

"Y-yes, Ms Dreamer. I... I'd like to stay on next year, please."

The teacher raised her eyebrows slightly. That wasn't the answer she'd been expecting. She had mentally subdivided the class into categories: there were ponies who just wanted to get out of school and into "a real job" in the city; ponies who were intensely interested in weather science and were sure things to go on to a brilliant research career in Canterlot or Manehattan; ponies who really didn't care too much one way or the other as long as they could fly all day... I know who'll be in that group next year, she thought wryly.

But Fluttershy... Fluttershy had never shown much of an aptitude for anything practical. Even her cutie mark represented creatures one never really saw up here in Cloudsdale, at least outside a museum or an experimental lab. Cirrus had been expecting her to choose to leave and do... in truth, she didn't really know what. But something outside school, at any rate.

"Are you sure? You can have more time to think about it if you want."

"I... I'm sure. I think. Yes. If it's not too much trouble. Oh dear. Yes. Please."

Cirrus just about managed to prevent herself from letting her inner smile show. That was Fluttershy all over; it was a wonder that she even made it to school each morning without stopping to apologise to every cloud she'd stepped on along the way. Who knows – maybe she does... Not that there was anything wrong with being kind and caring, but you could take it too far. And in a city as tough as this one, somepony like Fluttershy was just asking to have her kindness taken advantage of.

"All right," nodded the teacher, a rather spindly pony with a startling mauve coat and orange mane. She twitched her wings slightly; she could feel her pins and needles coming on again. "I'm sure you understand that I can't give you a firm answer immediately, but your academic performance has been very good recently, and so I think you can be reasonably optimistic."

Fluttershy tried not to wince at the slight, but noticeable, stress Cirrus had placed on the word academic. She knew exactly what that meant. The same thing it had meant since the moment she'd stumbled into her school career all those years ago. That she was a failure.

To the outsider, Fluttershy had a good deal going for her. She was highly intelligent and well-read: perhaps not an absolute genius, but certainly a pony who took an interest in the world beyond Cloudsdale; she could hold her own in a debate surprisingly well on the rare occasions when she was sufficiently invested in the topic. She had been charmingly modest about winning her cutie mark – though that day's other big event had rather overshadowed it in any case. She was almost unfailingly polite and tactful. She was punctual and reliable, and could be trusted to be conscientious in any tasks she was given.

She was also very pretty. Not what the coarser fillies and colts at the school might have called hot – she was a little too gawky and a lot too soft-natured for that – but pretty nonetheless. It was a gentle beauty, epitomised by that flowing pink mane, those long curling eyelashes and a pair of huge, astonishingly clear aqua-blue eyes that lit up like the first warm rays of the sunrise when she smiled.

But that heart-stopping smile was rarely seen by other ponies. And Fluttershy knew in her heart that all those qualities meant very little to most Cloudsdale pegasi.

There was a reason she wasn't a popular pony at school. There was a reason she spent much of her free time reading in the library or simply sitting alone with her thoughts on an out-of-the-way cloud. There was a reason she preferred the company of songbirds to that of her classmates. That reason rose unbidden in her mind so often now that she'd almost stopped fighting it, but it still both scared and scarred her.

"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!"

It was cruel. It was vicious. It was heartless.

It was true.

* * *

Falling, falling, falling.

As her legs wheeled uselessly in their doomed attempt to take the place of the wings she'd forgotten she even possessed, Fluttershy remembered. Her life didn't flash before her eyes, because she didn't think she was going to die. There was a soft cloud beneath her, after all, though it was still no fun to land awkwardly at full speed, something she knew from all too much experience. She didn't really have time to think at all about what would happen when she could fall no more, as a collage of memories filled her world as the air rushed by. They were fractured and disjointed, but a common thread ran through them all.

Rainbow Dash.

She wasn't the sort of filly that Fluttershy would naturally have become close to, even had they been in the same grade. She was brash, cocksure – and, quite frankly, a bit of a pain in the rump. By the end of her first semester at Cloudsdale High, she'd managed to irritate just about everypony at one time or another, and she'd ended up getting into fights with quite a few of them. She quickly got out of those fights, thanks to her already startling turn of speed, but Rainbow wasn't exactly the most popular character in the school. Maybe that was why Fluttershy had come to like her so much: two outsiders, together against the world.

What Rainbow wasn't was a bully – and that alone set her apart from some of the ponies Fluttershy came up against. She didn't go out of her way to pre-emptively protect Fluttershy – they didn't fly around Cloudsdale tail-in-tail or anything – but she did wade in if she saw the yellow pegasus in trouble. She didn't tend to hang around afterwards, since Rainbow wasn't good at dealing with the emotional aftermath of such events, but Fluttershy knew that her friend kept an eye on her from a distance and that she'd usually be back if there was any real follow-up.

My friend, thought Fluttershy, just as she slammed into the cloud, shoulders first, with a muffled thwump. After a moment or two of shock, she picked herself up and stood uncertainly on the edge of the fluffy white cumulus, looking around wildly to check that nopony had seen her embarrass herself once again. Thank Celestia, this time everything looked all right: there were no other ponies nearby. She'd have a bruise or two from her crash-landing to add to her collection, but nothing more than that. She relaxed slightly and started off towards home, choosing the route that required the least possible flying.

As she trotted along, the curl of her mane tickling the fine, downy fur of her face, Fluttershy held on to her final mid-air thought. My friend. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of the implications of that phrase. She knew she should be grateful to Rainbow, and she was – oh, very much – but it was so...

The filly blinked, sighed and tried to think about something else. She wasn't successful.

My friend. Not my best friend or even one of my friends, but simply my friend. There was no need to qualify the term. There was nopony else. Just Dash.

Since she couldn't force her thoughts away from the sky-blue pony, she set her mind free to go where it would. It chose to wander back a few months, to a pleasant Sunday afternoon in late spring. Fluttershy and Rainbow had been lounging idly in the latter's back yard. It was unusual for Equestrian houses to have enclosed yards, and even more so in a town where everypony could fly, but for some reason Rainbow's family's place had a small cloud-fence all around. It made Fluttershy feel safe. She felt safe with Dash.

Rainbow had been fairly quiet that day, at least by her standards. There'd still been some of her trademark loops and whirls, as though she worried that her wings would seize up if she went more than a few minutes without exercising them. But for the most part, she seemed happy to chat to Fluttershy about her obviously pre-ordained future as captain of the Wonderbolts display team.

"I've been working really hard on the Buccaneer Blaze," she said proudly, spreading her wings with pride. This was a mysterious move that Rainbow Dash had always been highly secretive about; even Fluttershy had never seen her perform it. Rainbow told her that she'd get to see it one day, when Dash competed in the Best Young Flyer contest before Princess Celestia. The annual competition was held in towns all over Equestria – long-distance travel was no problem for pegasi – but Rainbow yearned to show her stuff in her home city's mighty Cloudesseum stadium.

"Who knows?" she said. "Maybe they'll even invite me to become a Wonderbolt right then and there!" She was so pumped up by the notion that she took off again, performing a new trick involving a complicated sequence of swerves and dips before swooping back in for the landing. She caught a hoof on a stray divot of cloud, stumbling slightly as she touched down to take the shine off the manoeuvre a little. Even so, Fluttershy stomped in approval.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Rainbow Dash," said the yellow pony in that mellifluous voice of hers. Rainbow couldn't tell whether she was truly in awe of the trick or just being polite: she wasn't good at picking up nuances like that. She chose to take the compliment at face value, and bowed to her friend as though she were the Princess herself. Fluttershy giggled softly and blushed slightly.

"Thanks for being my audience, 'Shy," said Rainbow. "I need to be seen. That's the problem with the Buccaneer Blaze, I guess: I can't risk anypony seeing that one in advance – not even you – so it's kinda hard to get worked up for it. But this one... yeah, I swear I'm going to do this one in front of everypony, on the last day of school. Just to show those crummy colts what I think of them. What Rainbow Dash thinks of pathetic, puny ponies like Star Dancer!"

Fluttershy's mind flew back a few hours, to the moment she'd been shoved off a cloud-step by the leering, laughing Star. She wished Rainbow had been there then; she might not have been able to stop him in time, but at least Fluttershy wouldn't have felt so alone afterwards. And it might have been even better: Rainbow was so fast through the air that once or twice she'd managed to intercept Fluttershy before she hit the cloud layer below. Now that had been a great feeling. Almost as good as flying itself.

She found herself smiling a little and blinked in surprise before responding.

"Thank you, Dashie."

Fluttershy looked up at her strikingly-maned companion and smiled. Really smiled. Rainbow lowered her wings slowly as she felt the warmth of this gentle sun wash over her. She gazed at her friend, spellbound.

Fluttershy held Rainbow's gaze, watching the blue pony's own mouth gradually quirk into a smile of her own. She didn't seem to realise it was happening. This wasn't Dash's usual cocky grin or amused smirk; it was the simple, pure smile of happiness.

For a moment, the hubbub outside the garden fence sank to the merest whisper. For a moment, everything else in the sky melted into an insubstantial wisp of nothingness. For a moment, the air around the two pegasi seemed heavier somehow, almost liquid.

The moment passed.

Fluttershy broke eye contact and went inside to get the pair of them something to eat. She returned a few minutes later with two large bowls of hay salad, drizzled with some sort of dressing that Rainbow didn't recognise. Typical Fluttershy, thought Rainbow with some amusement. She dug in with gusto, all the same. How she did it Dash didn't know, but Fluttershy was the only pony around who could make such a healthy meal taste so good.

The two of them stayed there for an hour or so longer, chatting in the relaxed, disjointed way that good friends do about everything and nothing. Fluttershy told Rainbow about her decision to study fashion, but Dash wasn't really interested. "Come on, Flutters," she said by way of an answer, "who cares about any of that stuff? Couldn't you have chosen something a bit more, oh I don't know, interesting? We don't even wear clothes most of the time. We're pegasi. We're awesome. We don't need those things."

Fluttershy's reply about how fascinating the subject really was wouldn't have sounded at all convincing to a pony who'd really been paying attention, but Rainbow wasn't that pony. The conversation soon moved on to other matters.

* * *

As Fluttershy walked across the spongy cloud floor, all around her there was bustle and excitement. Zephyr Glide was clearing out her locker in the same all-or-nothing manner she brought to everything else; the accumulated detritus of several years' schooling was finally being disturbed, and nopony was safe. A small piece of card flew out and landed on Fluttershy's face. She picked it off, sighing slightly as she saw the Wonderbolts logo that adorned it, then dropped it into a nearby bin. Across the hallway, Ms Dreamer was supervising the final return of some textbook or other. Her words weren't quite audible from here, but the tone suggested that she was as eager as everypony else to get the year over with and put her hooves up.

Nearly everypony else.

Fluttershy went up to the door and gave a hesitant knock, which was answered with a hearty "Come in!" after scarcely a moment's pause. She turned the handle and entered the small office beyond, politely closing the door behind her. The hubbub outside sank to a dull murmur, replaced by background noise from outside: the constant hum of the Weather Factory, of course, but also the sounds that one associated with the comings and goings of a major industrial centre. Cloudsdale was not a quiet city.

"Ah, Fluttershy!" The off-white stallion hovering just in front of the room's single large window beamed at her, bobbing gently in the air as he flapped his broad wings lazily. Dust motes danced in the air as sunlight streamed in, occasionally landing on the stallion's mane. It was quite a striking mane: a rich, deep forest green for the most part, but enlivened here and there with thin ribbons of brilliant lemon yellow that had brought him a number of nicknames, some more polite than others.

"Good afternoon, Mr Lapel," began Fluttershy politely, but the teacher held up a forehoof to stop her continuing.

"Oh, Notch, please. I think we can dispense with formal modes of address now. I know you're not technically in Extra yet, but it's not as if there's any more Normal to go, is there? All that "call me mister" stuff is for mewling little fillies who have to be told what to do every five seconds. And little fillies don't sign up for a year of Extra. Young mares do that. Especially highly intelligent young mares like your lovely self, if I may say so."

Fluttershy blushed a little and looked at the floor. There he went again. Notch had become mildly notorious at the school for making comments like that to students, and although nopony had ever accused him of anything worse than a few slightly flirtatious remarks and the principal had expressed her full confidence in him, she still rather wished that the course leader for Extra Fashion had been somepony else.

Not that she had much choice in that, since he was the only Fashion teacher at Cloudsdale High. As Rainbow Dash had said, pegasi tended to shun clothing, apart from the odd sleek flight suit or pair of show-off flying goggles. Their innate hardiness meant that artificial coverings were rarely required for warmth or protection, and few had much interest in looking beautiful in a society where practical skills and athletic ability were far more highly valued.

The sound of Notch's loud, cheerful voice derailed her train of thought.

"I really am awfully glad you chose this for your Extra course, Fluttershy. I think you could do big things in fashion. Big things. I don't think I've ever come across a pegasus before who's quite so interested in this whole shebang."

Once she'd let slip that she was thinking of taking Fashion in the Extra year, Fluttershy had started to be teased about that, too: other foals would scrawl crude caricatures of her wearing the most outlandish haute couture outfits they could dream up and leave them in places where she – and everypony else – would be sure to see them. In the school yearbook, she'd been voted "Most Likely Future Supermodel" – which would have been considered a wonderful accolade had she grown up a unicorn in Canterlot, but was no such thing here. It was another way of telling her that she was a failure. As if she didn't know that already.

Still, she studied diligently to pass the necessary entrance exam and discovered, a little to her surprise, that she had a certain talent for the subject. That had at least meant that she'd had no problems getting the final go-ahead from the principal to study it in Extra. Without it, she'd have been lost, for there was no other course for which she would have had a chance in Tartarus of gaining the necessary approval. Air Sports? Storm Creation? Civil Defence?!

No; this was the only feasible option. It wasn't going to be a particularly nice year, even disregarding the inevitablity of more off-colour remarks from Notch. She might not have to go to Flight Camp any more, but that wouldn't stop the taunting about her poor flying skills. The silly drawings might even ramp up in frequency once everypony knew she was studying Fashion.

But what was the alternative? She couldn't bear the idea of spending the next year at home. Going away to college was out of the question. And she'd be rejected for any job in Cloudsdale with actual career prospects. She probably would be in a year's time, too, but at least this way she could cling on to some hope.

And a friend.

As she turned to leave Notch's room, there was a chorus of gasps from somewhere outside, followed by cheering and hoof-stomping applause. Rainbow Dash had kept her promise.