Vertigo: The RainbowDust Group Collab

Fluttershy sighed happily as she and her friends once again watched Rainbow Dash shooting through the clear, blue sky performing tricks. They all oohed and aahed at her daring stunts, craning their necks to follow her through the sky.

Normally this would be a pretty regular occurrence, but Rainbow had been mysteriously absent from quite a few of their recent get togethers. She was very vague about what she was doing whenever she was asked. None of them really knew what she got up to when she was away.

When Rainbow came down, she was quite eager to bask in their praise, drinking in every compliment with a wide smile on her face. However, just as she was about to sit down and dig in to the picnic they had brought with them, she heard the distant ringing of the ponyville clock tower.

"Aww shoot, sorry, girls, I gotta go do something," she said hurriedly. Before any of them could ask what she meant, she had already grabbed a sandwich and zipped off into the sky.

“Rainbow, where are you— oh, ponyfeathers, she can’t hear us,” said Applejack, glaring at the prismatic pegasus’ quickly shrinking tail.

Twilight sighed. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Shouldn’t let such lovely food go to waste. I do wish she’d tell us where she goes. I really wonder what she’s doing”

The others all murmured their assent and sat down to eat. All except for Fluttershy. She continued to stare after Rainbow Dash, watching her slowly disappear into the distance. "She looks like she's heading to Cloudsdale," she murmured.

"What was that, Fluttershy?" asked Rarity.

Fluttershy flinched slightly and sheepishly turned back to her friends. "I think I should see where Rainbow is going. She's just been acting a little bit strange lately."

Twilight looked at her concernedly. "Do you want me to come with you? Neither of us are particularly strong fliers, but it would still be better if we stuck together."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, it looks like she's going to Cloudsdale and it isn't that far. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Well," replied Twilight, quickly thinking it over, "okay, if you're sure. Just make sure she's okay."

Fluttershy nodded gratefully and took off in the direction she had last seen Rainbow travelling in.

After about an hour of flying, Fluttershy landed in the floating city of Cloudsdale. All around her, she saw the hustle and bustle of mid-afternoon shoppers and tourists, and her heart sank. How had she expected to find Rainbow Dash in the middle of all this.

Well, she didn't really have any lunch. Maybe she went to a restaurant, thought Fluttershy, trotting through the city and looking around Frantically. When they had been fillies living in Cloudsdale, Rainbow's favourite restaurant had been a small hay burger place by the colosseum. She set off in that direction quickly.

After a few minutes, she came to the colosseum and after a moment of looking around, she spotted Rainbow walking out of the door of the Restaurant. She was about to call out a greeting to her when she noticed that her friend what not leaving alone. After her, a light green mare with a striped golden mane. She looked very familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on the name.

As she walked over to them, she heard Rainbow say questioningly, “So, uh, see you next week?”

“Yeah, sure,” came the reply. “You sure you want to keep this secret? If I apologise properly to your friends, won’t they—”

“I just want to wait a bit longer,” cut off Rainbow with a wave of her hoof. “I  need a way to show them properly, not just show up and say ‘hey, guys, this is my marefriend, Lightning Dust. Yeah, I know she almost killed you, but she’s cool now.’

That’s it, her name was Lightning Dust. She was at the Wonderbolt academy with Rainbow. And she’s her marefriend? Fluttershy grinned. I never would have guessed Rainbow would be the first to find a special somepony.

Lightning Dust flinched slightly at Rainbow’s words. “Fine, fine. Sheesh, don’t need to be so bossy about it. Anyway, I gotta go, seeya later.” And with that, she gave Rainbow a quick nuzzle before taking off and flying in the direction of Cloudsdale’s residential areas.

Rainbow waved after her before quickly taking off and zooming back in the direction of Ponyville. Fluttershy watched her leave before she herself took off and started back towards Ponyville, considerably slower than Rainbow. She smiled to herself. She and Rainbow would be having a good long chat when she got back.