“And then, instead of teleporting across the classroom, I teleported into the little colt’s room. Thankfully nopony was in there, but it took a few weeks for me to live that down.” Twilight Sparkle finished her story, and started laughing at herself.
Fluttershy laughed quietly as well. “Oh, Twilight. I didn’t know you were so awkward in school. That makes me feel a bit better about my own flight training.”
“More tea, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, using her magic to fill her own cup from the kettle. The two ponies were sitting outside of Fluttershy’s home, enjoying the crisp morning breeze. It was the middle of fall, and already many of the trees in Fluttershy’s yard and the nearby Everfree Forest were dropping their leaves with the wind.
The yellow pegasus shook her head, speaking in her usual soft voice. “Oh, no thanks, Twilight.”
Twilight set the kettle down. “You know, I never hear much about your days at flight school. I mean, we all know about that race that Rainbow Dash was in and how you got your cutie mark, and then how all the other fillies and colts teased you for your lack of confidence, but you never really explained what happened afterwards.”
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide at the comment. The cup held gingerly between her hooves that she had just sipped from fell to the ground, and the pegasus quickly swallowed what was in her mouth. “Oh, um,” she uttered, as she fumbled to get to the cup back onto the table.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to push!” Twilight quickly apologized.
“No, that’s quite all right. I just don’t like to talk much about that...” Fluttershy closed her eyes and turned away from her friend, sighing.
“Was it bad? Did you get kicked out like Rainbow?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I graduated.” She took another deep breath. “Just that, there are a lot of bad memories from that.”
Twilight was already leaning in across the table, ready to probe for more information, if only to comfort the pegasus. “Oh, Fluttershy, I didn’t know, I’m sorry! Is it anything you want to talk about?”
Fluttershy took another long breath, still facing away from Twilight. “Well, if you really want to know, I gr-”
Her revelation was cut off as Spike, short on breath, ran into the yard. “Twilight! There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you!”
Twilight was quick to her hooves, ready for business. “‘We’? Why? What’s happening?”
Spike took a few deep gasps before going on. “Krastos’ Krew is in town!”
Both turned around after hearing a soft “eep” from behind them. There was empty space where Fluttershy had sat moments ago, but a few tell-tale leaves floated down from a nearby tree.
Twilight looked up to the quivering pegasus who was holding for dear life to a tree branch, eyes clenched tight and mumbling quietly to herself. Sighing, the unicorn turned back to Spike. “Just what is this ‘Krastos’ Krew’?”
Spike was about to start when they heard Fluttershy reply from above them. “T-they’re a pack of nasty drakes that terrorize Ponyville and other towns every few years--” she trailed off, trying to gain even a stronger hold on the branch.
“Drakes?” Twilight asked, worryingly. “You mean, ‘cousins of dragons’ drakes?”
Spike nodded, and continued on in a panic. “There’s three of them in the center of town, demanding the last harvest and livestock! The Mayor asked me to find you so you can help!”
Twilight started to become nervous herself, but still was trying to grasp the situation. “Wait, why would they want our food and livestock? Don’t they eat gems like you, Spike?”
“From what I heard from the Mayor, they prefer, er,” Spike gulped before continuing, “live food.”
Fluttershy’s cry of panic from the tree startled them both. “Live food?!” she cried, tears welling up in her eyes. She let go of the branch and quickly lit on the ground near the pens where her animals were milling about. “Everypony!” she shouted with her meek voice.
All the animals stopped and turned to face her.
“Everypony, get upstairs immediately!” Fluttershy pointed with a hoof towards her home. Twilight could see she was glaring intently at her precious animal friends, using that stare to drive the point home.
Immediately, all of the creatures raced for the doorway and within moments and a cloud of dust, not a single animal remained outdoors. Only a few feathers and hairs floated to the ground in their wake. Twilight and Spike looked up to see several of the animals, led by Fluttershy’s bunny friend Angel, peeking carefully out of the bedroom window, clearly aware something was wrong.
“Whoa.” Spike stared in awe.
“Good idea, Fluttershy,” Twilight commented. “I’d hate to see anything happen to your animals.”
Fluttershy, looking around to make sure every last creature was safely out of sight, relaxed a bit, but still appeared to be shaken. “But still, those drakes...”
Twilight nodded confidently. “We need to find a way to get rid of them. Spike, what’s everypony else doing?”
Spike was still dumbstruck of Fluttershy’s beast mastery, and balked before realizing Twilight was speaking to him. “Oh, they’re all gathering at the town hall. Some of them are already bringing them food, but I think Applejack and some of the stallions were going to try to put up a fight!”
“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy said at a whisper. “That’s not going to end well.”
“My thoughts exactly. Let’s get into town and see what’s up!” Twilight commanded. Instinctively, Spike jumped onto Twilight’s back as the unicorn turned back to her friend. “Fluttershy, you better come along too. They may not be dragons, but your intuit with these creatures might help.”
Fluttershy shrunk back a bit in a panic. “Me? Oh, no, no no. I’d be no good!”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Look, you can stay out of sight, but we really need your help!”
The yellow pegasus sighed before walking over to Twilight. “Well, if you really think I can...”
“Well, you can tell me what you know about these drakes as we get back to town, as a start, okay?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, yes, I can tell you all about the last time they came by,” Fluttershy nodded. She took flight, low to the ground, and started towards town. Twilight quickly followed at a gallop to keep pace with the pegasus, Spike clinging to her back.
“...and thank goodness that was at the start of the harvest season. We were able to regrow our supplies in time before winter.” Fluttershy continued as the threesome slowed their pace.
The three had reached the center of town, and while they hadn’t gotten to the clearing where the town hall was located, they could easily see the black shapes of the drakes between the roofs of the nearby buildings. The noise of a large number of ponies, talking and shouting aloud, could be heard, and Twilight guessed that most of the Ponyville citizens had gathered there. A few ponies raced by them towards the center of town, pulling wagons and carts loaded with produce, not stopping even when Twilight called out to them.
As they rounded the corner of the last building before the town hall clearing, Twilight gasped at the three drakes. She knew they were tall, knowing how large Spike had once gotten, but even the largest one cleared the spire of town hall by a head, and their taloned claws were large enough to grab one or even two ponies easily. All three had shiny deep-black scales running down their backs and sides, their underbellies of a lighter grey-brown material. Large leather wings, the same black as their scales, were nearly half the size of their bodies, and just as large across when unfolded. Though they were standing on their shorter back legs, balancing themselves with their thick, spike-covered tails, it was clear their bodies were well-suited to get onto all fours and chase down their prey if needed. All three wore a roughly-made jacket from dyed animal skins, each having the words “Krastos’ Krew” messily scrawled out in red paint - or at least what Twilight hoped was paint - on the back.
Presently, the largest was grabbing at the straw roof of one of the neighboring buildings. With both claws, he was able to pull the roof off whole with just a modest bit of effort. The shorter one climbed up the building next to it like a lizard, and peered inside to the pony family cowering in the corner. “Git out now!” he said with a strange accent. The ponies quickly evacuated the home, joining the growing crowd, before the big one put the roof back on in place, surprisingly with gentle care.
Twilight saw a line of carts, filled with fruits, vegetables, and other food stocks, being unloaded quickly by a small group of frightened mares into a large stack by the drakes. Once a cart was emptied, its puller sped off towards the outskirts of town, no doubt to collect more food from the farms.
“Stop that this instant!” Twilight recognized Applejack’s shout from nearby. She along with Big Macintosh and several of the other farm stallions had formed a line, each of them stomping and snorting, ready to charge.
The third drake, clearly acting as the boss of the others, turned to the call. “And what youse gonna do if we don’t stop?” he glared at the orange pony. He narrowed his bright yellow-red eyes and grinned wide across his snout, revealing a nasty set of sharp fangs.
“THIS!” A bolt of blue screamed out of the sky, kicking the lead drake in the head. Rainbow Dash spun out of her dive and hovered near the drake, ready to attack again.
The drake winced at the kick, rubbing the side of his head. “Youse better not have messed up my scales,” he started, and in a flash, had Rainbow Dash clutched in his claw.
“Let me go!” Rainbow Dash struggled to no effect.
The drake let off a deep chuckle that reverberated through the town. He held the squirming pegasus down to the ground by one claw. With his other arm, he flicked the tip of a talon, sending Rainbow Dash flying into Applejack, the rest of the stallions quickly diving aside. The momentum carried both of them through the side of Sugarcube Corner, and a large cacophony of falling pots and pans came from the store.
Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere from the crowd. “Hey! The Cakes just finished rebuilding! You better be paying for that!”
“Yea, and who’s gonna make us do that?” the drake stared down the pink pony.
Twilight was surprised to see Pinkie actually back down in fear. “Um, I mean, we’ll be happy to fix it ourselves! Sorry!” Pinkie stammered, and tried to get her way back into the crowd.
The drakes turned back to scare more ponies out their homes, while the other citizens milled around with fearful looks. Twilight turned back to her dragon friend. “Spike, I need a book from the library-” Twilight started.
“That one on legendary creatures of Equestria that you just got from Canterlot?” Spike quickly nodded while hopping off her back. “Top shelf, middle bookcase. Back in a jiffy!” the young dragon shouted, already racing towards the large tree.
With Spike on his way, Twilight trotted forward into the common area. “Stop it, everypony!” she commanded.
“Oh, look here, boys. I bet dis is that ‘Twilight Spackle’ dese ponies have all been talking about that’s gonna teach us a lesson.” the lead drake said snidely. The two others joined in, all craning their long flexible necks to look down at Twilight, their noxious breath making her slightly ill.
The unicorn gulped but quickly regained her composure. “That’s ‘Sparkle’. And I think it’s only fair to know whom I’m talking to?”
“Well, ‘Sparkle’, we are Krastos’ Krew”, the leader pointed to the smaller drake that had turned around to show the red logo on their jackets with a sense of pride. “My name is Vance, dis here is Swift, and the big guy is Bruno.”
Twilight took another deep breath. “I’m sure the pleasure is all mine,” she dryly commented. “Now what the hay do you want with Ponyville?” she demanded.
“Oh, nothin’ much,” Vance looked causally around. “Just some grub, to tide us over for the winter. Us drakes have to eat, youse know.”
“But that’s our food! If you want your own, go grow it yourselves!” The Mayor shouted from nearby. Several of the assembled citizens echoed her outrage at the drakes.
The three drakes paused a moment before breaking out into laughter before turning back to chase out more ponies from their homes. “Ha, right! ‘Grow our own food!’ Dat’s a good one!” Vance commented as he watched his two associates get back to work.
Twilight sighed heavily, knowing it was going to be one of those types of days.
The unicorn took a moment to assess the trio of drakes. Clearly, Vance was their leader; standing just a head short of Bruno but just as muscular, he kept his eyes narrow and stern, eying everypony’s actions while his gang continued to terrorize the town. Even as Twilight watched, Vance reached into his jacket, pulling out a mis-shapened tree branch and a small barrel; he popped open the barrel, dipped the branch into it, and then used the branch, coated with a tar-like liquid, to slick back the spikes and ridges on his head to keep them from jumping back up. Part of Twilight’s mind wondered if that was for aerodynamic purposes or perhaps as part of some bizarre drake mating ritual, but the thought was quickly lost.
Bruno, currently lifting another thatched roof from a nearby building to peer inside, was certainly the powerhouse of the three. He was bulkier, and his claws much larger than the others, evidenced by the ease which he was lifting the roofs. There was something serene in his face as he followed Vance’s orders, but she couldn’t place it. Certainly he seemed far less aggressive than the others, but no less a threat.
Finally, she took in Swift, who was overseeing the deliveries being brought to the center of town. He was much lither than the other two, stepping agilely among the gathered ponies and buildings without incident. Like Vance, Swift seemed to have a permanent sneer on his face, but was more anxious about things, darting about and never staying still for an instant.
“Twilight, dear, aren’t you going to do anything?” Rarity came up to Twilight as she was looking over their foes.
“Yeah, Twi! Can’t you use your magic to kick them out?” Rainbow Dash drifted over, a few bumps and bruises from being flicked through a wall. Applejack was right behind her, some bits of wood still caught in her tail.
“I can’t just teleport them out of here, and even if I could, they’d just come back!” Twilight lamented. “We need to figure out a way to make them leave on their own volition, and never want to return.”
“Ohh! Ohh! We could throw them a big un-welcoming party!” Pinkie popped up out of nowhere to offer. “They’d hate it so much they’d never want to come back!”
Twilight stared blankly at her friend. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. There’s got to be something that we use.” Twilight looked around, and caught Fluttershy staying out of sight around a building corner. “Fluttershy, can’t you talk to them?”
“N-n-no, I can’t,” Fluttershy trembled at the thought.
“But they’re not dragons!” Twilight started.
“No, I’m not scared of them -- well, not as much,” Fluttershy explained softly. “But no, these drakes are far more intelligent than any dragon, and trying to convince all three of them to change their ways?” She looked down, stroking the ground with a hoof. “I’m sorry, Twilight, I knew I wouldn’t be able to help,” she trailed off, faintly.
Twilight struggled to come up with an idea. “Girls, I’m at a loss, we may have to c-”
“Here it is, Twi!” Spike shouted as he got within earshot, a large tome in his arms. Catching up with the others, he opened the book and flipped the pages to a marked spot, then held it up to Twilight to allow her to read it.
“Great, Spike! Let’s see here...” Twilight peered at the text in the book, reading aloud. “‘Drakes are smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable and shorter-lived distant cousins of their dragon kin, but are just as dangerous to weaker creatures including ponykind.’”
“We already know this!” Rainbow said, exacerbated. “How can we beat them?!”
“Hold on, I’m getting there.” Twilight started to skim the page, getting past the preliminaries sections. “Let’s see... ’loud and rambunctious’... ’omnivores’... ’roam in pack’... ’highly allergic’... ’great fliers’... ’honorable’... ’awfully greedy’... ’overly competitive’... ’nomadic’-” Twilight stopped herself short. “That’s it!”
Applejack looked oddly at Twilight. “What, that they’re nomads?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, no, no! They’re competitive! Just like those dragon adolescents!” She turned back to the book, “Listen: ‘drakes are rather energetic and often challenge each other or other flying creatures, part of their overly competitive nature.’”
Twilight waited for a reaction from her friends, but they didn’t seem to grasp what she was getting at. She let off a short, annoyed groan. “A race! We challenge them to a race!” she explained.
The five quickly nodded in agreement. Rainbow Dash was already pumped up with excitement. “A race?! This is going to be easy-peasy!”
“It’s not going to be that easy, R.D.” Applejack noted, reading from the book. “This book here says they could possibly match you in speed.”
“And that shorter one looks like he can cut through the clouds like silk.” Rarity woefully said.
“Aw, guys, what’s the worry? When has ol’ R.D. let you down?” Rainbow waved her hoof in confidence.
Pinkie thought for a moment. “Well, there was that whole Discord bus-”
“-Since that point,” Rainbow quickly interjected. “Besides, I’ve been practicing my moves, and I think I’ve even boosted my maximum speed. I can handle any drake any day of the week!”
Twilight led the group back to the main circle of ponies, still watching the malicious trio ransack through the nearby buildings. “Hey, boys!” she shouted, trying to catch their attention.
Vance and his gang turned to the diminutive voice. “What’s we’ve got here? Youse guys goin’ to try fighting us again?”
Twilight smiled slyly. “Oh, no, we can never beat you that way. Instead, let me propose a different challenge.”
A nervous tic ran through each of the drakes on the word “challenge”. “A challenge, you say?” Vance asked, quickly glancing to the two other drakes. “Intriguin’... what sorts of challenge are youse thinkin’ of?”
Twilight’s smile grew a bit more, knowing she had them where she wanted them. “Oh, just a simple flying race.”
Another tic. “Youse challenging us to a race?” Vance began to laugh, rippling to Bruno and Swift.
“Yes, a race. Your fastest flier against ours.” Twilight spoke up over their deep rumbling guffaws. “If our flier wins, you promise to leave Ponyville, forever.”
Swift caught his breath between laughs long enough to ask “So whats if we win? Whats we gonna git?”
Twilight thought for a second, before quickly blurting out. “You can have our entire supply of food and livestock.”
The crowded townsfolk all gasped at Twilight’s statement, and a murmer of complaints ran through the crowd. The Mayor was by her side in moments. “You can’t do that! You’ll starve us all!”
Applejack ran next to Twilight. “There’s no way we can get another crop in before winter! Are you sure ya know what y’all doing?”
Twilight nodded, ignoring the protests. “You leave town, or we give you all our food? Is that a deal?” she addressed the drakes.
Vance had stopped laughing. “Youse is serious! If we win, we get all this food here?”
“You have my word as Princess Celestia’s faithful student.” Twilight asserted.
“Ain’t none of youse unicorn magic or special tricks? This race better be run fair and square.” Swift demanded.
Twilight nodded authoritatively. “Absolutely. Pegasus against drake. No magic, fair and square.”
Vance turned to Swift, a malicious grin on his maw. “They think deys can beat you at a race, Swift,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Bruno put up a claw. “But you know, I’ve heard that pegasi can be pretty fast-” he stated in a slow, but articulated manner.
Swift shook his head, interrupting the larger drake. “Ain’t gonna happen today. No way any pegasus can outfly me.”
Vance turned back to Twilight, “Youse got yourselves a deal, pony.” he roared happily. “I ain’t expectin’ youse to have seen ol’ Swift here in action. Youse might as well start linin’ up those wagons.”
Twilight ignored the threat. “Do we have a deal?” she asked sternly, putting out her hoof towards Vance.
Vance leaned down and gingerly took the offered hoof between two talons. “Deal!” he said, shaking the little unicorn perhaps a bit too quickly.
“G-g-g-g-great.” Twilight said as Vance let go of her hoof and collected herself. “We’ll met back here within the hour,” nodding to the clock tower in the distance. “We’ll have our best racer ready, and you’ll have yours.”
Vance smirked and turned back to his gang. “Oh, this is just gonna be great, I tells ya. Let’s go and give these ponies time to start gatherin’ our spoils.” With Vance in the lead, the three spread their wings and took off, leaving town towards the nearby mountains.
Even before they were out of earshot, Twilight could tell that everypony in town thought she had gone nuts. Cries of “How dare she!?” and “What is that crazy mare thinking?” lofted from the packed crowd. Even her friends nearby stood in awe, not knowing what to say. Twilight quickly took to the podium by the town hall.
“Everypony, everypony! Calm down!” she shouted, trying to get the crowd’s attention. Eventually, silence fell onto the angry mob, the eyes of most ponies glaring daggers at Twilight.
“I know my idea may seem crazy, but I know what I’m doing.” She pointed at Spike, still holding the tome, before continuing in her confidence tone. “Drakes are big creatures. Their wings may be powerful, but they’re encumbered by their mass. According to my book, most drakes can barely outpace the average pegasus.”
A random mare spoke up from the crowd. “But they have Swift! I’ve seen him fly! He’s faster than anypony I’ve seen!” The crowd reacted as expected to this, murmuring their discontent.
“Yes, yes, Swift appears to be leaner and more aerodynamic and I’m sure his speed is unmatched by any drake.” Twilight paused for a moment, looking for her friends in the crowd. “But I might remind you, Ponyville is home to the most un-average pegasus in Equestria. The home to the best Junior flier to come out of Cloudsdale. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present to you our challenger in this competition, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight finished, pointing her hoof to Rainbow.
“Alright! Let’s do this!” Rainbow shouted, jumping up out of the crowd to cheer as wild applause began.
“OWwwwwww!” Rainbow cried. “Don’t do that!”
Nurse Redheart let go of Rainbow’s wing carefully. “I think you sprained it.”
“No! It can’t be!” Rainbow screaming. “I can still fly, right?” The pegasus tried to extend her wings, but quickly winced in extreme pain.
“You’re going to have to stay off of those for at least a week.” Redheart noted.
Applejack facehooved. “You just had to go and prematurely celebrate, didn’t you, R.D.?”
Twilight and the others had moved Rainbow inside of Sugarcube Corner after she had tried to show off too much and crashed to the ground painfully. A large gaggle of ponies stood at the door, peering in through the windows and the hole in the wall, and otherwise anxiously awaiting the news.
“You mean, she can’t race?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded.
The ponies at the door and windows collectively gasped at this, spreading to the assembled crowd outside.
“We’re going to have to find another pegasus, but there ain’t no pony in Ponyville faster than R.D.!” Applejack lamented.
“Twilight...” Fluttershy softly called out but her voice was lost to the rising noise.
Twilight raced to the door, the ponies standing there clearing a path for her. Shouting to the crowd, she asked “Is there any pegasus that think they can keep up with the drakes?!”
A hush fell over the crowd. The few pegasus that were among them tried to hide behind others, avoiding the askew glances that their fellow residents were making at them.
“Oh, I can do it!” a bubbly voice sounded out from the back.
Twilight facehooved. “No, Derpy, we need someone with a sense of direction too.”
“Twilight...” Fluttershy called back to her from inside the shop, but Twilight ignored it, continuing to wait for an answer. “Nopony?!”
“Maybe we can ask Celestia to send a Wonderbolt over?” Spike offered helpfully, pen and quill ready to write the request as Twilight walked back inside.
Rarity shook her head. “They’re off performing in Manehatten this week. Even if we got the message to them now, there’s no way they’d be back here in time!”
Pinkie jumped up. “Oh, maybe Princess Celestia would race for us!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, becoming more panicked by the minute. “No, Pinkie, trust me. She once tried to show off the Wonderbolts, and the results were far from funny. She’s built for grace, not speed.”
“Um, Twilight...” Fluttershy said, a bit louder than before, but still unable to catch the unicorn’s attention.
“We could try that flyin’ spell you put on Rarity that one time.” Applejack offered.
“Wings would fall right off...and we promised “no magic”, as well...” Twilight mumbled, now pacing the storefront in a hasty manner.
“Oh, maybe we can use the Twinkling Balloon!” Pinkie called out. “We can hook my flying bicyc-”
“Far too slow.” Twilight’s pace increased.
“Maybe we can get a giant slingshot...” Rainbow Dash mumbled, nursing her wing as Redheart bandaged it up.
“Far too silly.” Twilight was moving from end to end of the room within seconds.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy shouted.
Everypony turned to look at her, and Twilight stopped in her tracks. The moment of silence was deafening. Fluttershy immediately shrank back once every eye was on her. “T-there’s something you should know.” she blurted at barely a whisper.
“Fluttershy, we don’t have time for this,” Twilight started, ready to scold her friend for the interruption.
“No, this is really important.” Fluttershy looked pleadingly at Twilight. “But,” she looked back and forth across the room, “I have to tell you in private. It’s a secret.” The pegasus was blushing out of humiliation.
Twilight sighed heavily. “This better be good.” and walked over with Fluttershy to behind the store counter.
Fluttershy looked around, and took Twilight’s head to her mouth. Their friends looked on, trying to overhear, but Fluttershy was a master of being quiet, and couldn’t even read her lips. They could only judge what was happening by Twilight’s face.
It took only a few moments for Fluttershy to explain whatever it was to Twilight. Twilight looked at her friend in a very puzzled manner. The look soon shifted to an intense stare, trying to size the pegasus up. Then a very wide and very troubling grin spread across her face. Fluttershy herself shrank back from Twilight from this eerie look.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, raising her hooves up to hug Fluttershy, causing the pegasus to cower even more. “You’re a genius!” Twilight’s horn began to glow, and suddenly quill and paper were in by her side in mid-air, while her magic took a measuring tape and began running against the length of Fluttershy’s body, legs, and wings, the quill writing down numbers at an incredible pace. “Excuse me, Fluttershy, just a moment here-” the unicorn said, her mind working faster than her manners.
Their friends could only look back and forth between each other, clearly having no idea what was happening.
Soon Twilight completed with whatever she had done with Fluttershy, and she raced back to the table where Rainbow Dash was laid out, again running the tape alongside various body parts and writing the numbers down.
“OW!! Watch it!” Rainbow cried when Twilight held up her sprained wing.
“Oh, sorry, Rainbow, won’t be but a moment.” Twilight muttered without pausing. Soon, too, she had finished her measurements on Rainbow and spent several minutes working out the math on the scroll.
“What the hay are you doin’, Twi?” Applejack asked.
“This isn’t the time to be doing your friendship letter to the Princess, dear.” Rarity agreed with the others, clearly worried about Twilight’s sudden emotional shift.
“...and carry the one, and... There!” Twilight finally exclaimed. She read through her calculations again to double check her work before causing the quill and scroll to vanish. “I have great news! We still have a flier for our race!”
“You don’t mean...” Applejack asked.
“Meet our flying champion, Fluttershy!” Twilight raised a hoof triumphantly towards the yellow pegasus, who had completely hidden herself behind the counter, peering carefully over the top.
Silence stunned the onlooking ponies.
A moment passed before those ponies at the door and windows started to disperse. Groans and complaints could be heard as they stepped away. “Better start loading those crops.” “I’ll get the pigs tied up.” and other concerns floated back inside.
“That has got to be the most insane idea of yours ever, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash blurted out from the table.
“Twilight, are you out of your mind?!” Rarity shouted, stomping over to her friend and losing her normal self-control. “There’s no way Fluttershy can win this race!”
Twilight remained serene in the face of her friend’s anger. “I’ve done all the calculations, and I’m confident that Fluttershy is more than capable of beating those drakes.”
Pinkie pushed Rarity out of the way, staring down the purple unicorn. “Twi, maybe you haven’t heard, but Fluttershy was rather clumsy in flight school!”
“And, beggin’ your pardon, but those of us that know her, we’ve never seen her fly very fast.” Applejack added. “I guess that means our cider season is cancelled,” she rambled on to nopony in particular.
Twilight took a step back from her three friends that crowded around her. “Girls, girls, I need you to trust me.. and Fluttershy.” she responded, looking back to the poor pegasus who had tried to make herself as small as possible behind the counter. “I know that the entire town’s livelihood is on the line, but I wouldn’t have brought the idea up if I didn’t think it would work.”
Rarity waved a hoof towards Fluttershy. “But you saw for yourself that she barely has the wing power of most of the other pegasi in Ponyville!”
“That was just from her performance anxiety,” Twilight countered. “Consider how many times her flying has saved us and her animal friends. She knows how to come through in an emergency.”
“But...” all three responded in unison.
“-And besides,” Twilight looked out to the dispersing crowd with some trepidation. “She’s actually volunteering. Nopony else seems willing to take up the challenge. I don’t think defaulting would have gone over well with our drake friends. Unless you know of another pegasus that can get here in the next thirty minutes...” she started.
“Twi, you’ve had a lot of crazy ideas since you moved to Ponyville,” Applejack started, “but this takes the cake!”
Rarity shook her head. “Well, maybe not. Fluttershy did help catch up to Rainbow Dash that one time, and saved me and my dearest Spikey-wikey from that fall. Maybe she can’t win, but who knows? Maybe something will happen to the drakes?”
Pinkie broke out into a smile. “Hey, that’s right! We should be able to help Fluttershy anyway we can! Twilight, you can use your mag-”
Applejack’s hoof landed in Pinkie’s mouth. “No magic, remember?”
“Pinkie’s right, A.J.” Twilight nodded with a grim look. “We all need to help Fluttershy along here. I can’t use my magic, but...” She stopped, her face lit with inspiration. “Spike, let me see that book again.” Twilight asked. Spike quickly set the volume on the counter to the page on drakes. “I remember reading this...” Twilight commented while scanning the text with her hoof, stopping at a specific point. “Aha!” She reread the passage to make sure of what it claimed, and started a slow pace of the room, mumbling to herself. “If she can... then that will...”
“What’s so interestin’ about that page, Twi?” Applejack asked, looking at the text herself.
“Oh, nothing much.” Twilight thought for another moment. “Those drakes are said to be honorable, so I’m sure they won’t mind if we help root Fluttershy on throughout the course. Speaking of which, Spike, do you have that map?”
Spike offered up the scroll he had collected from the library while they were tending to Rainbow. “Right here!”
Twilight magicked the scroll to the counter, opening it to reveal the map of the local area around Ponyville. “Okay, now to make this fair but take advantage of Fluttershy’s knowledge of the area-” Her quill appeared again, and she marked off several “X”s at the edges of the map, then connected them with lines, forming a path starting at the center of town, going out in one loop towards the mountains north, crossing back over town towards the Everfree Forest, and then returning back to the start. “Those are all good landmarks, and that should make it a fair race. A.J., get some ponies to help you plant flags at these points,” Twilight indicated with the map.
Applejack took a mental notes of the map locations. “Well, sure, Twi, but I really hope you know what you’re doin’...” she trailed off before trotting off out of the store, looking for help.
“Now, Fluttershy’s going to need some refreshment and encouragement about the mid-point of the course,” Twilight continued, her hoof poised over the map on the leg leading back from the mountains into town. “Pinkie, you know how you were talking about hooking your helibike to the Twinkling Balloon?”
Pinkie jumped up, and saluted. “Yes, ma’am!”
“Go and do that. Rarity, you should help her too. Make sure to grab some apple juice, I think she’ll be completely dehydrated by then.”
Rarity nodded. “Well, of course, I’m always willing to help, but this... ’plan’ of yours.” She let off a brief grunt of exasperation. “Are you sure that the Cutie Mark Crusaders aren’t rubbing off on you?”
“Just get ready, I promise it will all work out,” Twilight groaned.
As soon as Pinkie and Rarity were out of earshot, Rainbow sat straight up, disrupting Redheart’s bandaging attempt. “Twilight, there’s no flapping way this plan of yours is going to work! Fluttershy’s barely able to help with the weather, what makes you think she can even compete against a drake?!”
Twilight turned to look at Rainbow. “Do the words ‘Whisper Wing’ mean anything to you?” she flatly responded.
Rainbow’s jaw dropped.
“I thought so.”
“But-” Rainbow turned her head back and forth between Twilight and the cowering Fluttershy. “NO!” she shouted, prompting Redheart to try to hold her down to prevent her from damaging her wing further.
“At least, that’s what Fluttershy claimed. Right, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked the pegasus.
All that Fluttershy could utter was a quiet “eep”.
“Besides, do you think she’d make something like that up?” the unicorn offered.
Rainbow had started to gain her composure. “There’s just no way... but if that’s true, you’re insanely crazy, Twilight... and brilliant!”
Twilight grinned to herself. “Well, naturally.” She leaned in close to Rainbow, and dropped her voice to a whisper. “And that’s why I need you and Applejack to find a bear-”
“What?!” Rainbow shouted again, followed shortly by more of Redheart’s efforts to hold Rainbow down until she finished the bandaging.
Most of Ponyville’s citizens had gathered back by town hall, collectively staring between the town clock and the skies. Mention of Twilight’s name in rather unflattering ways floated up from their murmurings. A few of the younger fillies and colts stayed close to their parents’ sides, sniffling back tears knowing that something bad was about to happen.
Fluttershy sat near a tree, rubbing her mane with a hoof to try to calm her own nerves. Her friends gathered around her, trying to help motivate her. Spike was helping to knead the muscles near the base of Fluttershy’s wings. “This should help loosen you help, Fluttershy. We’ve seen Redheart do this all the time with Rainbow after her crazy antics...”
“We still don’t know what inane idea Twilight has for this,” Applejack voiced with concern, “but we’re goin’ to try to help our darnest to get you to win, Fluttershy.”
Pinkie nodded vigorously. “I’ve got everypony ready to celebrate and cheer you on!”
“And, Fluttershy, dear, I made these just for you” Rarity said, using her magic to place white sweatbands on the pegasus’ head and hooves. “These will help keep your cool, keep your mane out of the way, and the inlaid emeralds just help to bring out your eyes. Even if you don’t win, you’ll look fabulous!”
“Th-thank you, Rarity. They’re beautiful,” Fluttershy faintly smiled.
Applejack pushed a glass bottle with a straw towards her. “And here’s my last bottle of zap apple juice from last year! That’ll give ya that get-up-n-go!”
“Oh, you didn’t have to,” Fluttershy shook her head, before taking a sip from it.
Pinkie bounced around, balancing a baked good on her snout. “And I’ve got one of my super-special double sugar-loaded cupcakes, just for you! Packed full of energy!”
Fluttershy smiled weakly. “Um, thanks, but I think I’m far too excited for that right now.”
Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie turned to Rainbow Dash, who was lying down on the ground, pushing at the grass with a hoof. “Rainbow, dear, don’t you have something for poor Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.
“Eh,” Rainbow sighed, then got up and walked to Fluttershy. “Yeah, here,” the pegasus pulled something small and green from under her mane, tucking it under the sweatband on Fluttershy’s head. “It’s a lucky seven-leaf clover I found as a filly. I’ve never raced without it-” Realizing what she had just said, Rainbow turned around away from the others. “I mean, I never needed that luck, of course, but maybe it will help you. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Rainbow walked away, her head down low to the ground.
“Oh, Rainbow!” Fluttershy lamented quietly, her eyes tearing a bit.
“Don’t worry about her, Fluttershy,” Applejack patted her friend. “She’s just being Rainbow Dash. She’s upset she can’t race right now. She’ll get over it, even if it is over an empty stomach.”
Twilight herself was pacing near the start line, staying as far away and as much out of sight from the crowd. The intense stares that a few of the ponies in the crowd were giving her made her feel extremely uncomfortable. As she paced, she continued to glance at the clock tower, as the hour drew to a close. A worried look crossed her face. “Where are they?” Twilight asked of nopony in particular.
Three separate thuds landed just behind her. “Hey dere, Spackle.” She could easily tell it was Vance teasing her.
“That’s ‘Sparkle’, and I suppose you’re ready for this race?” she turned to face the drakes.
“Of course. I think youse know who our flier’s gonna be.” Vance said, pointing a claw to Swift. “So which ones of yours is he racin’ against?”
Twilight smiled confidently and pointed her hoof to the yellow pegasus by the tree. “Sirs, I present to you, Fluttershy.” Hearing her name caused Fluttershy to peep and try to hide within the folds of her mane. Their friends continued to try to comfort the shy pegasus.
The three drakes took a moment to realize that Twilight was being serious and roared into laughter. “No way! Youse got to be kiddin’! That fragile lil’ t’ing?” Vance snickered.
Twilight ignored their humor. “You have heard of the saying about not judging a book by its cover? Well, that is, if you’ve even know how to read-” she trailed off.
“Whatever, Spackle, it’s your loss.” Swift said as he caught his breath. “Ain’t no way a pansy like her is goin’ beat me!”
“I think you sirs will be very surprised by the end of this race,” Twilight asserted, and then used her magic to bring out the map. “Now, as for the course...”
She brought the map up to the drake’s faces, using a quill as a pointer. “We start here, right over there. The course has these way points as you can see, and we’ve put up flags as markers, but, to keep everything fair-”
Twilight concentrated hard, her horn glowing much brighter. Soon, speckled across the horizon, steady columns of bright light appeared.
“-I’ve put those magic beacons that will guide you through the course, right? That’s the only bit of magic I’ll be doing for this race, and only to make it a fair playing field for Swift since he’s unfamiliar with the area.”
Swift peered between the distant lights and the map, taking time to judge the course’s layout. “Seems legit, boss.”
Twilight finished explaining the course, “After this last marker, then it’s the final leg, right back to the start here. Easy enough, right?”
Swift nodded. “No sweat. I race dese types of courses all da time. I could do dis one in my sleep!”
Vance patted a claw on Swift’s back. “Dat’s my boy.” He looked back down at Twilight. “Besides, it’ll give ol’ Swift here an opportunity to see all da spoils we’re gonna be gettin’ from youse.” He chuckled again.
Twilight returned the map to the ground. “There’s still the race to be run, boys. You may be rather surprised by our Fluttershy.”
“Youse know youse is gonna lose, Spackle.” Vance stopped her. “Aint no way Swift can lose dis.” he laughed again and turned to join a huddle with Swift and Bruno, giving Swift last minute advice.
Twilight sighed, her face filled with worry. A lot was riding on this, and she was taking a large number of chances, not only on Fluttershy’s claim, but her own calculations, but she couldn’t let anypony else know, at least not yet. If the drakes knew what she knew--
Twilight walked over to the quivering Fluttershy amid their friends. “You ready?” she asked, sympathizing with Fluttershy’s anxiety.
Fluttershy peeked out of her mane. “Oh, um, I guess.” she whispered, and slowly got to all fours.
Twilight took a moment to hug her friend. “You can still back down. Fluttershy. Nopony’s going to be mad at you for not racing.”
Fluttershy caught herself breathing a bit too fast. “I know, and I know that they won’t tease me either, ever since we got the water to Cloudsdale. I’m just worried about letting the entire town down.”
“Look at all the other pegasi that backed out when I asked them,” the unicorn motioned towards the onlooking crowd in general. “Don’t worry about what they think. I want to make sure you want to do this. You don’t need to run this race for me, I accept full responsibility and will find a way to get us food for the winter, and just plan better for next year.”
The pegasus shook her head. “N-no. I have to do this. Not just for Ponyville, or you, or our friends, but for myself, just like you told me before. And remember what Iron Will always says,” Fluttershy took a slightly deeper tone to her voice, mocking the celebrity, "‘Don’t run off crying! Just keep on trying!’”
“Awww, Fluttershy,” Twilight smiled happily, stroking Fluttershy’s mane to help relax her. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Spike all gave their friend a quick hug and last words of encouragement before joining the rest of the crowd to watch the race start.
Fluttershy walked with Twilight over to the starting line. Fluttershy gulped as she got to the start line, before fixing her hooves into the ground below.
Twilight got close to the trembling pegasus. “Are you sure you’re ready, Fluttershy?” she whispered.
“Y-y-y-yes, Twilight,” Fluttershy answered after a moment. “Wish me luck.”
Twilight backed away from the line, making sure Fluttershy wouldn’t speed off into hiding at the last moment. “Ms. Mayor,” Twilight looked to the older mare, “would you do us the honors of starting this race?”
The Mayor jumped a bit at the mention of her name, but quickly gained her wits. “Oh, of course, Twilight Sparkle.”
The mass of ponies stepped away from the starting line, giving the drakes a wide berth. Bruno had been kneading and massaging Swift’s wings, while Vance was giving him some last minute pointers, but otherwise had paid no heed to the ponies until Twilight gave a quick shout. “Hey, we’re ready to start this race, unless you’ve decided to back out-”
Swift laughed. “Ha! No way, pony. Dis is gonna be one easy race to win.” He walked over to the starting line and got down to all fours next to Fluttershy.
The pegasus let out a brief “eep”, slammed her eyes shut, and trembled even more.
Twilight gave Fluttershy a few more moments to calm down before the race, but as well for her to collect her own thoughts. She had just risked the well-being of the entire town on Fluttershy’s word and her own theories, and if she lost-
Twilight quickly put an end to that thought. “Any time you’re ready, Mayor.”
The Mayor nodded, and then raised her voice. “On your marks...”
Both Fluttershy and Swift leaned back, pushing their back legs into the ground in anticipation of launching themselves to the air. Fluttershy’s face was all scrunched up, her eyes closed as tight as possible, and drops of sweat rolled off her brow.
“Get set...”
At once, both competitors spread their wings, with Swift’s pulling a puff of dirt up from the ground. Everypony could see how frightened Fluttershy was, her tail and wingtips shaking visibly.
“GO!” the Mayor shouted.
Swift beat his large wings once and leaped into the air, sending up a cloud of dust that obscured the starting line. In moments he was already a speck of black against the blue sky.
The dust cloud slowly dissipated at the start line, revealing a yellow pegasus still shaking to herself in shock.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted “You can go now!”
Fluttershy opened one eye, and looked around. “Oh, oh, right, I’m sorry...” she apologized. She reared back, and...
Everypony was expecting to watch the fragile Fluttershy take off slowly, but they were all astounded at the pastel contrail of yellow and pink that led from the starting line into the sky, the pegasus nowhere in sight. An audible gasp echoed through the crowd as everypony’s eyes followed the fading contrails towards a yellow speck quickly closing in on the black one, heading towards the first checkpoint at the nearby mountains.
The crowd remained silent, nearly everyone stunned by the event. Except for Rainbow Dash who was shaking a hoof at the sky. “Oh for Pete’s sake! Of all the worst poss-OW!” she cried in pain which she tried to extend her wing again.
A moment later, the entire collected citizens of Ponyville erupted into cheers, realizing what they had just witnessed. Pinkie, somehow, found her foam #1 finger again and was leading the celebration among the crowd. Somewhere, a pony started a chant of “FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY!” that quickly spread through the masses.
Twilight let out a huge sigh of relief. Fluttershy was telling the truth, not that she doubted her friend for a moment, but hopefully the rest of their friends would have confidence in the rest of Twilight’s plan succeeding. Stage one of her plan was successful, but there was still several more pieces that had to fall into place...
Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted as her friends quickly gathered around her. Rarity was crying happily. “I didn’t know the dear had it in her.”
Applejack threw her hat into the air. “Woo-he! Twilight, how did you know about this?”
Twilight smiled. “Flying’s all about size and shape. That’s why I was measuring up Fluttershy and Rainbow. Fluttershy’s built for speed even more than R.D. is, even if she doesn’t want to show it most of the time.”
Vance and Bruno watched the celebration with some dismay. Vance turned to Twilight, a bit of confidence gone from his speech. “Youse know that’s nothin’ right? She’s still got to finish the course.”
Twilight smiled slyly back, shouting over the noise. “Oh of course. A deal is still a deal.” She turned back to her friends. “Everypony knows what to do, right?”
The four others each nodded. “Right!”. Applejack and Rainbow trotted off towards Everfree, while Pinkie and Rarity made a quick line towards the outskirts of town.
“Hey, what’s dis?” Vance complained, seeing the two pairs run off. “Youse not trying any funny stuff, are youse?”
Twilight looked mortified. “I’d never go back on my word as Princess Celestia’s faithful student. We’re running this race ‘fair and square’. They’re just going to help cheer our friend along the course, if that’s okay with you.”
Vance turned to Bruno and considered for a moment. “Sure, dats fine. But, nothin’ gainst youse, but we’re gonna check that out for ourselves. Bruno, you goes after that pink and white ones. I’ll watch the others.”
Bruno nodded, “Sure thing, boss.” He lumbered into the air, slowly tracking along in Pinkie and Rarity’s path.
Vance lifted off himself, but turned back to Twilight before following the other two ponies. “Just remember, any funny business and-” Vance ran a claw along his neck in a meaningful manner, and then took off.
Twilight gulped to herself, her comment lost in the still-cheering crowd. “I hope my calculations are correct.”
Spike gasped. “Wait, you hope?! What could go wrong?!”
Twilight shook her head. “I didn’t want to tell the others, in case I was wrong. Fluttershy’s not going to be able to win the race on speed alone. She’s far too fragile to last that long. That’s why she needs our special brand of encouragement.” She cast a glance down to the creatures book that Spike still carried. “I just hope that book’s correct too.”
Swift has already past the first flag by the bog and started the next leg towards the mountain spire. He had relaxed his pace, still going at a good clip but not exhausting himself. He knew he had left that yellow weakling back at the starting line. He started talking to himself, taking away from the tedium of this easy victory. “Swift, you’ve got dis one in the b---”
Something zoomed by him, knocking him out of his path through the air. “Whoa!” he cried as he fought to gain his bearings. Re-orienting himself, all he could see was a trail of pink and yellow, heading directly towards the next race marker.
“...the heck?” Swift was astonished, barely managing to keep himself aloft in the air. “Dat can’t be...” He took one moment, reared himself up, and then took off, now at full speed, to try to catch his competitor.
Fluttershy barely watched where she was going, keeping her eyes completely shut as she put all her energy into her wings. She was thankful that Twilight has planned a course away from town at various locales she would visit, making the course familiar for her and quelling her performance anxiety. She was propelling herself at speeds she hated showing off, but had to do it for her friends and everypony in Ponyville. And for Twilight - her unicorn friend trusted her more than anypony else ever did in the past.
Every once in a while, Fluttershy would peek an eye open, making sure she was on the right track for the course and reached every single marker before flying off to the next. Otherwise, her mind was focused on one thing, winning - for her friends, for Ponyville, and to prove to herself she could do this. She hadn’t even realized she had passed Swift two legs ago, and only until she heard his voice from a few feet behind her did this dawn on her.
“Hey, youse got pretty good speed, kid,” Swift shouted as he caught up to the pegasus. “But not good enough to keep up with me!”
The voice shook Fluttershy out of her trance-like state, faltering her forward progress. “Eep!” she gasped as Swift quickly took the lead again before Fluttershy had a chance to recover. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Fluttershy shot off again, but at a winded pace.
As she approached the next marker, just before the race’s half-way point, Swift sped off away from it, giving a condescending wave to the pegasus. Fluttershy pushed herself even further and swooped around the flag, the few mares waiting there waving and cheering her on.
Panting, she tried to get into that same trance-like state that she had before, but just couldn’t calm herself, she was just too tired, and that nasty drake’s attitude didn’t help.
“Hey, Fluttershy!” Pinkie shouted.
Fluttershy jumped in mid-air again, startled by the sudden voice. She turned to look and was surprised to see the Twilinking Balloon breaking through the clouds. Rarity was manning the basket, Pinkie pedalling furiously on that weird heli-bike contraption of hers connected to the backside, providing the combined vehicle with forward momentum and keeping up with Fluttershy’s speed.
“Oh, my,” Fluttershy could only utter as she took in the sight while trying to keep her pace.
“You’re doing absolutely wonderfully, Fluttershy!” Rarity’s horn glowed, and a bottle of apple juice with a straw levitated out of the basket towards Fluttershy. “Twilight thought you’d be exhausted by now. Here, have a drink.”
The pegasus nearly emptied the bottle in one long drawn-out sip. “Aaaah, thank you, Rarity. That really helps.”
Rarity quickly replaced the empty bottle with a fresh one that Fluttershy took more time to drain. “Don’t worry, dear. We’ve got plenty more where that came from.”
“You’re doing great, Fluttershy! You can easily catch up to that great meanie!” Pinkie shouted from the back, cheering for her friend, nearly falling off the bike before regaining her balance.
“Hey, who are you calling a meanie?” a deeper voice rumbled from below them. Fluttershy spat out what she had just drunk, hyperventilating from the sudden surprise.
“Bruno, what are you doing here?” Rarity shouted to the drake below them, coasting along with Fluttershy and the balloon.
“The boss wants me to make sure youse ponies aren’t up to any funny business.” Bruno spoke his words carefully. “Like, that better not be some magic potion or something...” he pointed with a free claw at the bottle.
“Oh, silly!” Pinkie laughed. “We’d never cheat, because cheaters never win!”
Rarity nodded. “This is just apple juice. Do you want to check?”, floating another bottle out of the basket and offering it to him.
“Hmm, I trust youse guys, but I’m watching youse like a hawk.” Bruno nodded, pointing his talon at the two ponies. “Besides, Swift’s way out ahead, there’s no way that your little yellow pegasus is gonna catch up.”
The words stung Fluttershy and her pace slowed down even more. “I’m sorry, girls,” she softly whispered, trying to hide herself in her mane. “I just can’t do it.”
“Nonsense, Fluttershy!” Pinkie raised a hoof. “Don’t listen to him!” She quickly grabbed at the handles before falling off the bike again.
Rarity smiled, magicking the bottles back into the basket and producing a set of binoculars. “Fluttershy, darling, you’re not even at the halfway point. I bet everypony’s still cheering for you back in town.” Rarity brought the sights to her eyes pointing them back in the direction of Ponyville. “Ah, look, there’s still rooting for you, even if they know Swift is out in front!”
Fluttershy, still flying ahead, looked back, peaking her head out of her mane. “Really?” she softly whispered.
“I bet even your animal friends are rooting for you,” Pinkie offered, winking towards Rarity.
“Oh, you must certainly be right, Pinkie,” Rarity nodded in agreement, directing the binoculars towards the Everfree Forest. “Why, there’s Angel, and-” Rarity let out a shriek. “A bear’s attacking Angel!”
Rarity hadn’t caught her breath before Fluttershy forced her way between her and the eyesights of the binoculars. “WHAT?!” the pegasus cried, trying to find the focus.
“Right there, by the edge of the forest!” Rarity manipulated the binoculars to make sure Fluttershy saw the event clearly.
“No! ANGEL! I’ll teach that big dumb bear!” Fluttershy yelled. She took a deep breath, reared back, and shot forward with renewed energy, faint pastel colors left in her wake.
“Whoa,” Bruno could only comment as the pegasus disappeared on the horizon. “Who’s dis ‘Angel’?”
Rarity smiled back down to Bruno. “Oh, he’s only Fluttershy’s most precious friend ever. She’d never let another creature harm him!” Rarity turned back to wink at Pinkie.
Bruno spent a moment to mull this over. “Are youse sure that was only apply juice in those bottle?”
The two ponies responded simultaneously. “Absolutely!” before giggling to each other.
The crowd around the town hall was getting anxious. Twilight had assured them it was far too soon for the competitors to have made the halfway point, a spot just north of town.
“Twilight-” the Mayor started.
“As I said the last ten times, not yet!” Twilight blurted out, then eyed the clock tower again. “But it should be any minute now. They’re probably pacing themselves. It was a long course,” Twilight offered. “At least, that’s how I would have don-”
She was interrupted by a pony at the edge of crowd shouting and pointing. “Here they come!”
Everypony collectively turned towards where the hoof pointed. A gasp crossed over the crowd as they saw a faint shape, caught in the sunlight. Whispers of “Who is it?” “Is it Fluttershy?” broke the anticipation.
Finally, the shape got close enough to see the black outline, sending a heavy sigh through the crowd. A few muttered about going back to get their crops ready.
“Twilight, I thought you said Fluttershy would win!” the Mayor complained.
Twilight shook her head, still smiling. “It’s only the halfway point. And besides, there’s Fluttershy right now.”
The assembled ponies quickly stopped talking and turned back to look at the small yellow shape emerging from the sunlight. Fluttershy’s contrail was unmistakable, and it almost looked like she was gaining speed every moment.
“Is she closing in on him?” “I’ve never seen a pony go that fast!” The crowd was stunned, but with the sight of Fluttershy catching up, the mood quickly changed as they rose into cheers and hollers.
Twilight smiled as the whole of Ponyville cheered on Fluttershy, but her mind raced with panic. Everything hinged on this, and she hoped she hadn’t made a miscalculation..“Come on, Fluttershy, I know you can do this. You’re almost there...” she mumbled to herself.
Swift hadn’t looked back since he passed his competition at the last checkpoint. Now aware of that pegasus’ true speed, he knew he had to take this race seriously, maintaining his faster pace to avoid tiring himself out too soon. Below him, he saw that lousy pony town come into view, the half-way point of the race. “Youse got this in the bag, Swift.” he commented to himself with a grin.
A high-pitched whine rose in volume behind him. Keeping his pace, he took a quick glance over both shoulders but didn’t see anything. Yet the noise grew louder. It was definitely catching up with him, but he couldn’t slow down - Vance would kill him if he lost this race. He returned his focus to the next landmark, that dark forest outside of the town, leaving the source of the noise unresolved.
The whine finally grew deafening, resolving into a single word: “ANGEL!”. Before he knew it, something yellow and pink shot by him, spinning him out of control.
“No way! No flippin’ way!” Swift took the briefest moment to realize what just happened. He quickly righted himself, and flapped his wings as fast as he could, using his sleek form to catch up to his competitor. He couldn’t believe it: that yellow pegasus was easily matching his top speed -- and was getting faster, her wings but a blur. Her eyes were shut tight, tears streaming out behind her, while she continually cried for this “Angel”.
“Hey! Hey you!” he called out, yelling over the sound of her cries and the air rushing past. “Who’s dis ‘Angel’ youse talking about?”
If she heard him, the pegasus didn’t act like it. If anything, it spurred her into yet another burst of speed, her wings nearly invisible at the rate she was beating them. “I’m coming, Angel!!!” she shouted again, and set her face into deep concentration, clearly pouring everything she had into her flying abilities.
Swift was about to try to ask her again before a loud explosion occurred, and a burst of light blinded him.
“She overtook him!” somepony shouted over the rest of the cheers. Another shouted. “She’s still gaining speed.”
Much like everypony else, Twilight was glued to the spot, her eyes on the sky above. Indeed, Fluttershy had gained the lead, but Twilight was intently looking for something else. Something that she had seen before back when-
“What’s happening?” Gasps ran through the crowd, and Twilight saw exactly what she had anticipated, risking the well-being of Ponyville on this one moment. “That’s it, Fluttershy...” Twilight mumbled to herself.
Those ponies with keen eyes could see the faint traces of air forming a cone from Fluttershy’s hooves and trailing behind her. As she moved across the space above town, that cone became tighter and tighter, closing Swift in its wake.
“Just a bit more, Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered to herself. She was surprised that the entire crowd had grown quiet as well.
Suddenly, a loud bang roared through the air, and the sky burst with a bright light, forcing everypony to look away briefly. When they turned back, a wave of pastel colors spread out from where Fluttershy last was, engulfing the entire sky, almost in the shape of flower petals. The only sign of their champion was the multicolored light trail heading towards Everfree Forest.
In moments, a blast of air raced through Ponyville, tipping over stalls and shattering a few windows. This was immediately followed by a spectrum of soft light, moving swiftly through the town like a tidal wave. The assembled ponies were stunned by the effects, which dissipated as quickly as it came.
Nopony said a word for a moment, but soon everypony was eagerly talking to one another, trying to figure out what happened.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, and didn’t realize that the Mayor had approached her.
“Twilight, what was that?” the Mayor asked in disbelief.
“Miss Mayor,” Twilight started, in her most confident tone, “that was a Sonic Flowerbloom!”
Almost as if on cue, every flower, tree, and plant in the nearby area started to shake and vibrate, startling the crowd and making them back away from the nearby vegetation. The few remaining dying leaves on the trees fell off, but in their place, new buds soon appeared, growing faster than anypony thought possible.
Moments later, every plant around Ponyville exploded into bloom, an infinite variety of color spreading across the town. An impossible number of leaves and petals filled the air from the outburst of color.
The roar of cheering and exclamations from the watching ponies far exceeded any of their previous shows of excitement. Several of them were dancing with each other, and a few had managed to find confetti to throw into the air, mixing with the petals filling the air.
“This is amazing! Did you know Fluttershy could do this?” the Mayor asked Twilight, having to raise her voice over the bedlam of the celebrations.
Twilight gave the Mayor a guilty grin. “Well, no. I didn’t know exactly, but there was no reason she couldn’t do it. She just needed the encouragement of her friends to show that she could.”
The Mayor gasped. “Wait, you risked the welfare of everypony in town on a guess?”
Twilight turned to the Mayor, giving the older mare a serious look. “Without Rainbow Dash’s speed, this was the only chance we had. We couldn’t let the drakes have their way; even if we got food supplies from Canterlot for this winter, they’ll just be back next year and even more ravenous than before. I’m sorry I put the town in danger based on an educated guess, but this needed to end once and for all.”
The Mayor nodded, frowning a bit. “I see, and that does make sense. But why not tell anypony else about Fluttershy’s speed?”
Twilight turned back to look back at the sky, where she could see Swift trying to get back into the race. “Do you think those drakes would have agreed to race if everypony knew this was a sure thing? And besides, I’m hoping for one more surprise as this race ends.” The unicorn smiled, and sniffed the air purposely. “Ah, flowers in bloom give off such wonderful scents, don’t you think, Mayor?”
Swift had forced himself to stop, covering his eyes to block out the intense light while hovering in mid-air. As the light dimmed out, he peaked open an eye, and saw the sky awash in pastel colors, spreading outward across the ground. But that wasn’t the prime focus: it was the tiny yellow dot simply way too far in front of him. “Aw, geez...I can’t let that weakling beat me,” he mumbled under his breath, and soon was immediately back on the hunt, trying to make up the precious ground that he had lost.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Applejack asked Rainbow, incredulously. The two were standing within some bushes just inside the entrance to Everfree, watching a bear lumber about Fluttershy’s back yard.
“Twilight said it would, and if what Fluttershy said was true... Besides, Harry’s a good friend. He knows what to do.” Rainbow told Applejack, and then turned to shout out to the bear. “Right, Harry?!” The bear, who was carrying Angel bunny gently by the ears in his mouth, paused and waved back with a paw before continuing on. Angel, unsurprisingly, looked non-plussed about the whole idea. A few other ponies, who had erected the race marker on the far side of Fluttershy’s yard, kept their distance and watching the antics from afar.
There was a crack of branches and a loud thump from behind them. “What's youse all doing here?” a deep voice asked them.
The two ponies turned to see Vance standing there, using that oil-like substance to grease back his head-spikes, his eyes narrowed to stare directly at them.
“Oh, um- We’re just here to help cheer on our friend Fluttershy!” Applejack hesitated for a moment before blurting out.
“Yea, that’s all we doing.” Rainbow could only help nod quickly in agreement. “She just needs that little bit of get-up-and-go!”
Vance’s eyes remained narrowed, even when looking to the skies to see where the racers were. “I don’t trust youse ponies one iota.” His steel gazed turned back to them, a fang-bearing grimace on his face. “Youse ain’t up to no fishy business here, right?”
“No!” both ponies shouted in unison.
“Then why’s a bear running around over dere?” Vance’s claw pointed to the romping ursine.
Rainbow Dash quickly spoke up. “Oh, that’s just Harry. He’s usually here for a weekly massage appointment with Fluttershy but, well, you know, she’s racing at the moment.” Both she and Applejack smiled as wide as they could, looking intently back at Vance.
“Youse serious?” Vance asked with disbelief.
“On my word as the Element of Honesty, that’s the truth,” Applejack confirmed.
An explosion off in the distance broke the conversion. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Vance all turned towards town. Even the bear had stopped running, rearing back on two legs to see what was happening, Angel hanging from his mouth. A giant pink, green, and yellow ball of light had appeared in the sky over Ponyville, and was expanding, almost in the shape of a flower.
“What the-” Vance started.
Applejack gasped with excitement. “Wait, that looks like-”
Rainbow finished for her, but was completely devastated. “-a Sonic Rainboom! No!” she cried.
“R.D. this is no time to pity yourself!” Applejack ignored Rainbow Dash’s demoralization. “There’s no way that drake’s going to be able to overcome that burst of speed! Twilight was right all along!”
Vance was looking back between the two. “What?! Dat yellow pony did dat?”
Even as he spoke, the group heard a high-pitched whine, growing in volume, from the direction of town.
“Look, there she is!” Applejack pointed excitedly.
A tiny dot emerging from the light show above Ponyville grew into the shape of Fluttershy in an impossibly short amount of time. Suddenly she shot across the clearing of her back yard, her feet out in front of her and landing squarely on the bear’s rotund stomach. “...dare youl!” was all they could hear the pegasus say as she landed the blow.
The bear flew backwards deep into the nearby forest, spinning head over heels from the blow, breaking through several bushes and branches in his path. He was long out of sight before a loud thump echoed from the forest, sending a flock of birds screeching out of the forest canopy into the sky. The surprise of the attack left Angel momentary floating in mid-air where the bear had held him, until gravity dropped him into the waiting hooves of Fluttershy.
“There, there, that’s all better.” she cooed while stroking Angel’s ears. “You’d better stay with me for the rest of the race.” Taking a quick look to spot the next marker, Fluttershy was soon gone, disappearing as fast as she had appeared.
Everypony, including Vance, was flabbergasted. The calm was broken by the other ponies by the flag marker, cheering wildly knowing Fluttershy was in the lead.
“W-what just happened?” The normal reserved Vance was staring wide-eyed at where the bear had been standing.
“Like I always said, Fluttershy’s not the type of mare you want to cross.” Applejack grinned back at Vance. Rainbow Dash was face-down in the ground, mumbling something unintelligible to herself, pounding her hoof into the dirt.
A black speck from the sky soon grew to be Swift, trailing by a good minute. Swift turned the flag on the spot without pause, and was gone towards the next marker in moments, but the ponies could see he too was worried, his face contorted in concentration.
“SWIFT! What da heck is gonna on?” Vance shouted, but if Swift heard, he didn’t stop. Vance took a look again at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and lifted a claw to say something, but balked.
“Looks, youse, I gotta see what’s gonna on with Swift.” Vance said, already lifting himself off the ground. “No funny business, right?”
“Absole-LUT-ely,” Applejack nodded.
“Right, then,” Vance was still trying to process what happened before taking off in Swift’s trail.
Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “Hoo-eey! I can’t believe Fluttershy could move that fast!”
Rainbow looked up and grumbled under her breath. “You don’t have to remind me.”
Applejack poked a hoof into the pegasus’ side, “You know I’ll never let you live this down, R.D.” she laughed.
“...Harry!” Rainbow Dash realized she forgot something, and broke out of the bushes to go check on the bear, with Applejack on her tail.
The bear had landed upside down against a tree, a pile of dirt scraped from the ground underneath him. The creature was dazed, and except for breathing, hadn’t yet moved.
“Harry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know she was going to do that!” Rainbow Dash tried to apologize.
“You okay there, big guy?” Applejack asked.
The sound of the pony’s voice shook the bear out of his stupor. Thinking the question over for a brief moment, he gave them a short roar, a weak smile, and a thumbs up.
Rainbow Dash looked askew at the bear. “I- I think he got his neck crimp worked out perfectly.”
Fluttershy maintained her lead over Swift for the next few markers, and made the final turn back towards town and the finish line, cooing and whispering quietly to Angel cradled in her hooves. But her voice was wheezing, and her pace was quickly waning.
Vance saw this as he flew back from checking on Swift’s process, cutting across the landscape to make it back into town to see the end of the race. Though that pegasus still had the lead, she was completely exhausted, while his fellow drake was trained for this type of endurance race, and narrowing the gap every moment.
The entire population of this lousy pony town were watching the skies from the direction of the last checkpoint, and thus didn’t notice his approach. Just on the far side of town, he saw Bruno swoop in and settle down in the clearing by the town hall. Vance lit on the ground nearby, his mind nagging at him that something was different around the village, but he couldn’t place it. Besides, it wasn’t going to matter in a few minutes.
Taking a few steps with Bruno right behind him, he found that bookish purple unicorn standing near the finish line. And her four friends were back, excitingly discussing events with her.
“-and then she kicked Harry, caught Angel, and ‘whoosh’, she was off to the next marker!” the orange pony laughed, followed by the others.
“Youse knows that if youse are cheatin’, that’s an end of our deal, and we’ll ruin youse village here.” Vance threatened, taking a moment to slick back his ridges.
The group stopped laughing instantly. “I told you before, we aren’t cheating. ‘Fair and square’ and all that.” Twilight turned to look at Vance. “A.J. said you saw what happened at the Everfree Forest, and I’m sure Bruno will tell you the same from his side.” The other four nodded and uttered words of agreement.
“But she’s just a frail little pegasus! Der’s no way she’s strong enough-”
“Strength has no-MMMPH” Twilight had started before Rarity covered her mouth.
“Our friend Fluttershy was just born as a great flier, that’s all,” Rarity completed the thought.
Pinkie bounced in place. “Her middle name is even ‘Speed’!”
“You do know she doesn’t even have a last name?” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath to Pinkie.
Twilight was about to go on when they heard various shouts of excitement from the gathered citizens.
“There they are!” “No, she’s slowing down!” “He’s got the lead!” The crowd collectively gasped as the two racers appeared in the distance. Swift had a clear edge, already dropping in altitude to land, while Fluttershy was just having difficulty keeping herself in the air.
Vance poked his elbow into Bruno’s sides. “See, I told ya that-” Vance let out a deep sneeze, causing a few heads to turn his way.
“Dat’s ok , b-” Bruno also let off a loud sneeze, rubbing the end of his beaked muzzle with a sniff.
Twilight smiled, thinking to herself, “Exactly as planned.” She dare not break into glee or triumph at the thought, though. Instead, she turned to the two drakes, asking with a bit of sarcasm, “Do you boys need a tissue or something?”
“Of course not! This is just - *achoo* - something stuck in my throat.” Vance lied.
Swift sailed over the last row of buildings before the town hall clearing, seemingly on his way to victory. The crowd booed him as he coasted to the finish line. Suddenly, he caught himself short, and his face contorted, followed by loud sneeze, stalling him in mid-air. The ponies below quickly quieted down, aware something was up.
Vance yelled at Swift. “What da heck are youse doing! Get - *achooo!* - over here!”
Swift had to take another deep breath before he sneezed again, even louder than before. “Boss, I’m tryin’, but....” Swift’s body shook with another sneeze, and he fell to the ground the last few feet, the nearby ponies already having stepped aside moments before.
Vance and Bruno both were suffering from a similar series of painful sneezes, but Vance managed to walk himself over to Swift. “Git up! Git up! She’s almost here!” Vance pointed at Fluttershy, clearly exhausted but slowly coasting herself over the last rows of homes before the finish. The audience roared into cheers when she crested into view.
Swift got to all fours, and started stepping to the finish line, having to pause every step when his body was wracked by a sneeze. “I’m...goin’...I’m goin’...”
Swift was but one length from crossing the line when a more violent series of coughs sent him sprawling to his side. He tried to reach out with a claw, just to touch the ribbon that marked the course end, when that yellow pegasus drifted by, crossing the line and crashing into the ground a few feet afterwards. Fluttershy was breathing heavily but with a weak smile on her face.
Every resident of Ponyville erupted into celebration, and several raced over to carry the exhausted Fluttershy on their backs in victory. “FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY!” Twilight smiled to herself seeing that Rainbow Dash was one of the first to Fluttershy’s side and loudest of the celebrators, despite her sulkiness throughout the day. Fluttershy couldn’t bother to stop them - she was simply too tired to say anything.
Vance couldn’t believe they just lost, but was more concerned about this sneezing problem. Amid a sneezing attack, he stomped over to Twilight, who had been watching the crowd carry Fluttershy around. He grabbed Twilight in one clawed hand and held her to his face. Twilight was a bit stunned by the surprise move, but otherwise kept her cool.
“I knew youse did something!” Vance got out before another sneeze. “Why are we sneezin’ like dis? What kind of magic spell did youse put on us?”
Twilight slyly responded. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Then why are we coughin’ like dis?”
“Oh, that.” Twilight remained smug as she used her magic to raise up the monstrous creature book from earlier, flipping it open to the page on drakes. “Didn’t you know you guys are ‘highly allergic’,” she quoted sarcastically from the book, showing them the specific page.
“Allergic?!” Another sneeze. “Allergic to what?!”
With a free hoof, Twilight waved it around town. “Probably to all the pollen in the air from our lovely trees and flowers when they’re in bloom. Who knew that would have that great an effect on you?” Twilight wanted to break out laughing in triumph but knew better.
Twilight’s sarcasm only served to anger the drake more. Vance clenched his claw tighter around the unicorn, causing Twilight to lose her concentration and drop the book. The drake brought Twilight close to his mouth. “Youse knows there’s other ways we can get yours food, Spackle,” he blared in her face. “Who says it has to be just the food youse ponies produce?” Vance’s long forked tongue licked at his snout. The assembled ponies nearby quieted down at the outburst.
Suddenly, a large claw landed on Vance’s shoulder. Both he and Twilight turned to look at Bruno, shaking his head slowly but deliberately, still sniffling from the allergies. “No,” he said, the single word reverberating around town.
“Bruno, what the heck youse doing? Let me *cough* ravage this town!” Vance demanded. Twilight saw that Bruno’s talons were poking into Vance’s scales.
Swift, still suffering from the a coughing attack, had crawled over to the drakes from the finish line. “Boss, deys won fair and square. I don’t know how she did it but that little yellow whelp beat me all on her own.”
Vance looked between his two kin for a moment. “Whatevers, fine.” He dropped Twilight unceremoniously. “Youse guys won this race,” Vance got out before another round of sneezes shook his body, causing him to double over. Twilight landed gracefully on the ground, and waited for the drake to regain his breath.
“Now, are ‘youse guys’ going to hold up your end of the bargain?” Twilight sternly warned him.
Vance looked up to see the unicorn flanked by her other friends, giving him a vicious staredown. “Alright, alright.” He sniffed and turned to shouted to the other two. “Boys, we’re outta here.”
Vance walked over to Swift and with Bruno’s help, carried the sneezing drake between them. The three walked to the outskirts of town, followed by Twilight, her friends, and a growing number of other ponies that followed them like an eerily silent parade. Each of the drakes was still being wracked by sneezes every few feet.
The drakes finally made it to the road that eventually lead to Sweet Apple Acres, where there was less vegetation compared to the center of town. All three started taking deeper breaths, and while they still sniffled and their eyes watered from the allergies, they were no longer being ravaged by coughs.
“Well?” Twilight nagged from behind them.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re gone.” Vance mumbled. “C’mon boys, let’s git moving” he waved with a claw. He took off from the ground waiting for his gang to follow. “We’ll goes find some other po-dunk pony town, one without any flippin’ pegasi!”
As soon as they were over the horizon, the Ponyville crowd began their celebration anew.
“Spike, take a letter,” Twilight started.
The young dragon was by her side, ready with his quill. “Ready!”
Twilight smiled to herself as she rattled off the message. “Just send a request to the Princess, recommending that Canterlot send a hoofful of bushels of flowers from the Royal Gardens to all the major pony towns. Make sure that they’re addressed to ‘Krastos’ Krew’, and with the compliments of ‘Twilight Spackle’.” Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at herself.
“Twilight! You did it!” the Mayor raced up to her as Spike took care of sending the message with his fire breath. “We’d had starved this winter without you!”
Her friends were close behind. “Twilight, we shouldn’t have doubted your plan for a minute!” Rarity exclaimed.
Twilight shook her head without concern. “No, you had every right to be worried I’d lost it again. But you understand why I couldn’t reveal everything about it, right? I needed everypony to believe it wasn’t going to work, or otherwise those drakes would have gone right back to ravaging the town.”
“You’re absolutely right, Twi,” Applejack patted her friend on the back. “The rest of us owe you a giant apology.”
“No need, girls. If anything, it should be me apologizing to you. And besides, it’s Fluttershy that we all should be grateful for, that win was all her own.” Twilight started scanning the crowd, but realized that Fluttershy was nowhere around. “Speaking of which, where’s Fluttershy?!”
Applejack pointed back into town. “Redheart is helpin’ her recover.”
Pinkie nodded vigorously. “She was all tuckered out!”
“Where at?” Twilight asked frantically.
“I think she took her to the hospital,” Rarity commented.
Twilight hadn’t let her finish as she started trotting back into town, her friends and several other ponies following her. Soon enough, she had made it to the hospital, racing inside. The nurse at reception recognized her instantly, and pointed her to one of the front examination rooms.
Twilight burst in to see Fluttershy, tired but awake, laid out on the examination table, sipping from a large cup of water. Nurse Redheart was carefully wrapping both of Fluttershy’s wings with bandages. Angel sat near Fluttershy’s head, wiping her forehead and sides with a cold damp cloth.
“Fluttershy! How are you feeling?!” Twilight raced to her side, as the other four friends filled the rest of the room.
“Oh, hi, Twilight, girls” Fluttershy said, her voice soft and raspy. “Did I win?”
Twilight tearfully smiled and nuzzled her head against the pegasus’. “Oh, you certainly did. You did better than I could have even imagined.”
Redheart finished with the bandages. “Now, Fluttershy, I recommend that you stay off your wings for at least a few days. Your muscles there are incredibly stiff, and you could break something if you try to fly before they can relax, okay?”
Fluttershy nodded back. “I’ll be careful, I promise,” and quickly tucked the bandage-wrapped wings to her sides. Twilight knew that Fluttershy wouldn’t have a problem staying out of the air to give time for her to recover.
Nurse Redheart refilled the cup of water before leaving the room. “She really does need some rest, but I think she’s okay to talk for a bit,” she noted.
“Fluttershy, darling, where’d you learn to fly like that?!” Rarity beamed at her friend.
“In f-f-flight school,” Fluttershy responded after a moment.
“But what happened to that clumsy Fluttershy that you told us all about?” Pinkie asked, pushing Rarity out of the way.
Fluttershy blushed a bit. “Well, I kinda grew up-”
“Everypony has that awkward stage in life.” Twilight helped out. “It took me a while to get used to my magic, for example, but look where I am now. And Fluttershy, here, she became one of the best fliers out of Cloudsdale.”
“Not just one of the best,” Rainbow loudly announced in a bitter tone from the other side of the room, “but the best!”
Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity gasped at that news. “What the hay do you mean, R.D.?” Applejack shot back.
“You were ‘Whisper Wing’, weren’t you, Fluttershy?!” Rainbow glared at the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy turned her head away, refusing to respond.
“‘Whisper Wing’, huh,” Applejack thought. “That name sounds familiar-” she tapped her hoof against her head.
“Whisper Wing was only the fastest pegasus to come out of flight school,” Rainbow explained snidely, turning her back to the others. “She was supposedly in my class, but I had never met her, and after I had dr-, er quit flight school, she went on to graduate with top honors, breaking all sorts of Cloudsdale speed records that are still held today. Word was, she was able to pull off something like a Sonic Rainboom, but except for the school officials, no pony was around to witness it.”
“But Fluttershy isn’t named Whisper Wing, silly!” Pinkie offered.
“Y-y-yes I am”, Fluttershy barely whispered, trying not to cry.
The other three gasped in unison once again.
Twilight nuzzled her hoof against the teary-eyed Fluttershy. “That’s what she told me back at Sugarcube Corner. The school officials knew she had performance anxiety and arranged for all her final tests to be done in a recluse location, letting her ace all of her exams and then some. She asked the school to change the records, because the poor dear didn’t want anypony else to know.”
“But we’ve nev’r seen you fly anywhere fast like you did today,” Applejack pondered. “And flight school would have been years ago!”
“I-i-i practice.” Fluttershy said, gaining a bit of her voice and confidence back. “Even moreso since that nasty Discord business and that whole ordeal with getting water to Cloudsdale. It’s a great way to keep my avian friends in shape, too.” She took another deep breath, turning to look away from her friends. “But I always do it when nopony’s around. It’s not just that I hate performing in front of anypony, but I didn’t want anypony to be upset with me knowing that I could fly that fast, especially after they all laughed at me back at flight camp.” She clearly was trying to avoid looking at Rainbow Dash while saying this.
“Oh, Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity laughed while nuzzling her head against Fluttershy’s. “Nopony would have hated you for it. Well, except for Miss Drama Queen over there,”, pointing a hoof towards Rainbow.
“Darn right, Rarity,” Applejack nodded, happily. “There’s a time for bein’ humble, and then there’s times where you just need to show off your best.”
“Thanks, everypony.” Fluttershy smiled weakly, tears welling up in her eyes. All of her friends joined in to give her another hug.
Twilight looked into the pegasus’ eyes. “Are you, you know, okay? The fact that everypony’s seen your true flying ability?” Twilight asked softly.
“And that you’ve totally ruined my reput-OW!” Rainbow started before Applejack pushed a hoof into her sore wing.
“I-I think so,” Fluttershy took another sip. “I think it was more myself trying to hide from it. But that could have been more dangerous in the end.”
“You should never hide your talents, Fluttershy, dear.” Rarity commented.
Applejack nodded in agreement. “We all don’t expect you to use that all th’ time, but only when it really matters, like today.”
“And don’t worry,” Pinkie hastily bumped Twilight out of the way to look directly at Fluttershy. “I’ll make everypony in town promise by a Pinkie Pie swear to never talk about your speed and that awesome Sonic Flowerbloom!”
Fluttershy looked confused and scared at the same time. “S-s-sonic what?”
Twilight pushed Pinkie out of the way. “Don’t worry about that now, Fluttershy. Let’s just say, today was your day, and me, and your friends, and all of Ponyville were behind you all the way!”
The other ponies, except Rainbow Dash, all gathered around table for a group hug.
“Aww, thanks, girls.” Fluttershy cried happily at the outpour of love for her.
“Yeah, yeah, good job, ‘Whisper Wing’,” Rainbow nagged sarcastically.
While the others gave Rainbow Dash a stern look, Fluttershy waved Rainbow to come over. “Could you come here, Rainbow. If you wouldn’t mind? I’ve got something for you.”
The blue pegasus mumbled under her breath. “Whatever...what is it?” she said in a huff.
Fluttershy had dug out the clover from her headband, and placed it in Rainbow’s hoof when she was close enough. “I wanted to make sure I gave this good luck charm back to you.”
Rainbow barely looked. “Oh, that. Sure, whatever,” she snipped, but the others could see her carefully put the clover behind her ear.
“And there’s something else I want to tell you too.” Fluttershy continued.
“And that is?” Rainbow was growing rather annoyed.
“Oh, that you’re still the best flier in Equestria,” Fluttershy calmly stated.
“What?! How?!” Rainbow tried to jump up and spread her wings in anger, but stopped short, wincing at the pain. “You totally blew my speed records away! There’s no way that I’ll get into the Wonderbolts now, knowing that you are around.”
Fluttershy laughed in her own quiet way. “Rainbow, I may be faster than you, but you’re far more agile,” she continued, complimenting her friend. “That’s why all the other pegasi in town look up to you, especially all those young fillies and colts. That’s what the Wonderbolts want - style and coolness and awesomeness and radicalness, not just pure speed. I don’t have any of that, but you do,” pointing her hoof at Rainbow.
Rainbow opened her mouth to comment, but realized what her friend just said. “You’re right! I can still race circles around you any day of the week!”
“And you shouldn’t worry about the Wonderbolts. Every time they’ve sent a request letter to Whisper Wing, she politely declines but recommends her best friend, Rainbow Dash, as an alternate,” Fluttershy said, a smug smile on her face.
Rainbow’s eyes lit up with glee at that news. With excitement, she jumped into the mass of the rest of the ponies around their friend. “You’re the best, Fluttershy!”
The close friends remained with Fluttershy for several minutes, praising her victory. But it was clear Fluttershy was looking to get some sleep. Twilight convinced her friends to give her a moment with Fluttershy alone before she slept, and waiting patiently for the others to step out of the room.
“Fluttershy, I just wanted to make sure you’re not mad for what I did--” she started.
Fluttershy held up a hoof. “No, no, Twilight,” she sternly cautioned in her soft voice. “I told you about my past because I wanted to do it after Rainbow Dash hurt herself. I needed your encouragement and motivation to make sure I could do it, but it was all my idea. Don’t blame yourself one bit.”
Twilight, tears forming while she smiled back. “Even the extra motivation with Angel here?” She caught the bunny giving her a death stare. “Oh, sorry about that, Angel. I do apologize for using you like that.”
Fluttershy lightly giggled, and petted her bunny friend to calm him down. “Even that extra motivation was fine. You know how to read me like a book.”
Twilight looked down after a moment, “I just feel terrible about not being able to talk about it with you before - or even the idea behind my entire plan with the rest of the town. I had to play a confidence game to convince those drakes to play along, but...I don’t like having to keep things secret from those most affected by it.”
“Twilight, you’re shouldn’t blame yourself,” Fluttershy calmly said. “Sometimes it is a good thing to keep a secret - the less anypony knows, the more surprised they are when they find out.” She laughed to herself, “If you told me how you were going to use sweet Angel here for my encouragement, I wouldn’t have the motivation to push myself.” She continued to stroke Angel’s ears, eliciting a soft mrring from the bunny.
Twilight smiled tearfully. “You really mean it?”
“Oh, of course,” Fluttershy nodded quickly. “You just have to know when to keep a secret, and when you need to talk about it.” She sighed wistfully to herself. “I guess I’ve been keeping my speed a secret for far too long from everypony. I wanted to tell you all but I had no idea how you would all react. I know that Pinkie will keep everypony else quiet about it, but I’m just so relieved that I don’t have to keep hiding my talent from my best friends anymore.”
Twilight nuzzled her head against Fluttershy’s. “Fluttershy, a pony couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.”
Fluttershy suddenly gasped. “I hope I didn’t hit Harry too hard!”
Twilight shook her head with a grin. “Apparently he’s set for the next few weeks and doesn’t need any of your special massages for awhile.”
The two ponies laughed and hugged each other again.
Twilight caught up with Fluttershy as the pegasus went about feeding her animal friends outside her house. “Hey, Fluttershy!” Twilight called out as she trotted up the path.
“Oh, hi, Twilight.” Fluttershy said after dropping off a basket of vegetables for her bunnies. She flew over to where Twilight stood and landed, a bit out of breath. “I’m, uh, just finishing my morning chores.”
“Oh, no worries. I just thought I’d come by and we can have some tea together. I’ve got a new brew that Celestia sent me from Manehatten we can try.” Twilight indicated a bulge in her saddlebags.
“That would be lovely, Twilight. I’ll get some water going.” Fluttershy said, leading the way back to her house.
Inside, Fluttershy drew some of the hot water from the kitchen and pulled out her tea set.
“Fluttershy, I know the last week has been--” Twilight started.
“I know, I was scared more than anything in my life, I felt so helpless without being able to fly.” Fluttershy mumbled. “But really, you guys are such great friends to care and help me. But you can see the bandages are finally off, and Nurse Redheart said that my wings are good as new,” she said, using her unburdened wings to lift herself off a bit from the ground to demonstrate.
Twilight smiled, helping to levitate the tea set to the back door. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Pinkie’s made everypony swear to secrecy and, surprisingly, it’s worked! I’ve had the Princess send me newspapers from all over but there’s not one mention of you or the race.”
“What about those nasty drakes?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh, there was some report about them trying to steal apples from Appleloosa, but apparently Braeburn caught them and they’re spending a few months under close guard, working on tilling the fields for the next harvest to think about their crimes. Apparently they’ve gone a bit soft, they go near the sight of flowers and they high-tail it the other way,” Twilight giggled to herself. “But it otherwise seems your secret is safe with us, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight with a bit of concern. “Well, you know, I just hate being the center of attention.” She arrived at the door first and opened it for Twilight.
Twilight closed her eyes and grinned, proudly. “We know, Fluttershy. And I certainly don’t ever want again to put in a situation where you’d be uncomfortable, but-”
“It got the job done, right?” Fluttershy offered as they walked to her table.
Twilight brought the tea set down and turned back to face Fluttershy. “Absolutely, and for th-” Twilight’s eyes suddenly jumped open. “What the hay!?” she uttered.
Twilight took in the backyard of Fluttershy’s house. Every flower, bush, and tree was in full bloom, a mass of colors everywhere. Petals floated through the air, making the scene look like something out of a wonderful dream. Even the gardens of Canterlot couldn’t hold a candle to the beauty of Fluttershy’s home. Despite it being a few weeks from winter, Twilight couldn’t tell that gawking at the sight of Fluttershy’s backyard.
“Fluttershy, what happened? It’s so beautiful!” Twilight gasped.
“Well, you know...” Fluttershy shuffled a hoof in front of herself.
Twilight looked at her friend. “Fluttershy,” the unicorn said in a comically stern manner. “Did you pull off another Sonic Flowerbloom?”
Fluttershy smiled from behind her mane and looked up at Twilight. “Ma-maybe?” she said, softly.
The two broke down laughing and turned back to the table to enjoy the morning together.
