Friendship and Secrets

MLP: Friendship and secrets

Chapter one: Fluttershy

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own MLP: Friendship is Magic or any of its characters. All rights belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.

Have I lost her?

Rainbow Dash looked around from her treetop, but either Scootaloo had learned to become invisible. (She shuddered at the thought.) Or she had finally gotten away.

Well, better to be on the safe side.

She dove back into the Everfree Forest and made her way to Fluttershy’s Cottage, jumping from treetop to treetop always listening for the dreaded humming. She really needed her fellow pegasus’s advice on something, that was bugging her since Twilight had given her the most recent set of Daring Do books and some personal recommendations as well. She shook her head. There was time for that later. She continued stealthing towards her friend’s cottage.

After a while she saw the familiar building and prepared to – WAIT A SECOND. Fluttershy was standing at her backdoor, with a pair of saddlebags on her flanks, and talking to Angel. He saluted her and went back inside while Fluttershy trotted towards the Forest and entered it.

Hmm, I’m sure she can handle anything between here and Zecora’s, but better to better to be safe than sorry. But why is she going alone? ... I’ll follow her.

Now where the hay is she going? Zecora’s hut is more to the south and to get to old castle in the east she had to cross the river. So why are we going upstream? Weird. ... Is that Steven Magnet, the serpent dragon? Yup, that’s him. I wonder what they are talking about.

She snuck closer until she heard:

“... distance seems right, but I think a spot like you are looking for is more in that direction.”

Meanwhile he was pointing somewhere to the northwest.

The yellow mare replied something that our weatherpony couldn’t understand and the dragon responded by chuckling and saying:

“No need to thank me. You and your friends have done me a very big favor.”

Following the river further upstream the cyan pony flew from treetop to treetop, always in pursuit of the pink mane.

Later Rainbow Dash looked to the sky and saw how low the sun was hanging. Quickly she raised her hoof to check how much time was left till dusk.

Not much. At most half an hour. Just what the hay is she doing here that requires something as stupidly dangerous as going into the forest at night. I can outfly anything in these woods, but Fluttershy? Well she can be fast, but there is still her small problem with wing lock.

She sat in her treetop for a while, gauging the time left and then reached a decision:

This is getting too dangerous. I’ll talk to her and we’ll get the hay out of here. Now, where is she? ... Okay, panic time. She’s neither upstream nor downstream. And I can’t see her from down here. Time to show this filly what a born flyer can do.

Ducking to the ground she readied herself for takeoff, when suddenly she heard a howl nearby. Timber wolves!

Well, buck you. If you harm her it’s time to taste the painbow.

She jumped into the air and took off into the direction, the howl came from.

Nothing, but trees. Well this plan worked better in my head. How shall I rescue her when I can’t even see her? Damn, even more trees. Howl you stupid wolves! Wait, there’s a clearing over there. It’s her. Now let’s get the hay out of here.

But Fluttershy was already surrounded by the wolves. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and prepared to dive:

It won’t be a sonic rainboom, but still. Fast in, even faster out. Easy peasy.

Then something happened, that made her stop in midair. Her ears pricked themselves and she felt a strong and rising desire to fly away. The yellow Pegasus hadn’t even budged, but something was strange. Her ears were hidden under her mane so Dash couldn’t tell what the other mare was thinking.

The wolves meanwhile had stopped in their tracks, carefully eyeing their prey. They slowly spread out, ears pricked, the alpha still in front of the pink-haired pegasus. His head tilted, he snapped and growled at the beastmaster.

“Would you please leave?”

Fluttershy had spoken so quiet that Rainbow Dash had nearly missed the word, but her tone left no doubt that this wasn’t a request. The wolves didn’t flinch and instead closed in. The alpha growled and lifted his tail into the air. Fluttershy spoke her next two words in the same tone:

“I. Said. LEAVE!!”

Something shifted and her shout made it clear to everypony nearby, that the most dangerous thing down there wasn’t the pack of the 12 deadly hunters, but the yellow mare. They whimpered and ran with tucked tails as if Nightmare Moon herself chased them, all the while chased by echoes of the shout. Even Rainbow Dash was frozen with fear, but after a few seconds the crushing fear subsided and she steadied her flight, just before crashing to the ground.

“Well, I suppose this place is as good as any other.”

The harmless and weak pony, that had just scared a whole pack of Timber wolves away, looked around and seemed to find the object of her desire. Gently she deposited her saddlebags on the ground and walked towards a giant oak tree. She examined it and nodded. Then she jumped into the air, retreated a little way and dashed towards the tree, faster than anypony, besides herself of course, Dash had ever seen.

What in Celestia’s Na- OH NO! she dove down to stop her friend from killing herself.

Just as the ‘poor’ Flyer was about to hit the tree, she coiled and bucked it with the full force of her hind legs.

Terrible snapping noises filled the air as the oak tree fell, but the yellow mare wasn’t satisfied.

“TREAT ME LIKE A PUSHOVER, HUH?” she looped and tore the bark cleanly off, by sliding along the trunk.

“YOU LAUGH AT ME, I WRATH AT YOU!” with those words she bit into the thickest branch and tore it right off. “RAAGH!” she continued ripping of branches whenever she got them between her teeth.

“WHO’S HIGH AND MIGHTY NOW, TREE?” the feeling of absolute terror returned to Dash as this pony, that just couldn’t be Fluttershy, STARED at the mangled wreck that was all what remained of the proud and old tree.

“GRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” and with a toss of her Head she flung one of Twilight’s new fire starters on the tree, that immediately caught fire.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaaaa….”

Finally Fluttershy calmed down and stared into the flames for a while. Breathing heavily she sang to a slow, almost chorale, tune:

“My fire, hellfire, will burn you to the ground!”

When she turned her eyes widened at the sight of her rainbow-maned friend, shivering and cowering on the moss.

“You? … What? … When?”  The yellow pegasus shook her head and started from scratch:

“Since when have you been there, Dash?”

When the cyan pegasus wouldn’t stop shaking, Fluttershy went to her and nudged her a little.

“Huh? What? AAAAAHHH!” the frightened mare jumped backwards, ducked and was just about to jump into the air, but when she heard Fluttershy say:

“Wait!” she realized that the pony in front of her was not an enemy, but rather a dear friend of hers and stood up.

“Fluttershy, just what in Celestia’s name was that just now?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Since you went into the woods. Now please tell me what, in Celestia’s name, was that all about!”

Fluttershy stared down and scraped at the ground.

“Fluttershy, I don’t want to doubt you, but you scared me pretty hard just now. You literally weren’t the filly I’ve known since flight school anymore. So, please tell me just what is wrong. I want to help you if I can.”

The yellow mare fidgeted a little and muttered something below her breath. Her expression became stern.

“And just why did you stalk Fluttershy all the way from my home?”

“I was worried about you. You went into the Everfree Forest all on your own and I thought that you might need help.”

“Well, obviously Fluttershy doesn’t, but why didn’t you just ask if Fluttershy need’s help?”

“Umm…”

“Was it, because you doubted Fluttershy’s ability to take care of herself?”

“No, listen…”

“You were waiting for trouble to find Fluttershy, SO YOU COULD TEND TO YOUR LITTLE HERO-COMPLEX AGAIN, RIGHT?!”

“No, I was just...”

“IS FLUTTERSHY RIGHT?”

“No…”

“IS FLUTTERSHY RIGTH?” she STARED at her and Rainbow Dash dropped to the Floor, shut her eyes and whimpered:

“No. No. No….”

After a few seconds the pressure faded and Rainbow Dash opened her eyes again. Her friend stared at the ground and whimpered. Suddenly she hugged Dash and began to sob.

“Dash… I’m sorry… the rage… overwhelmed… uhuhuhuhuuu…”

Uncertain what to do, she returned the hug and comforted her friend.

After the sun had set and the only light source left was the burning oak trunk, Fluttershy finally calmed down enough to tell her fellow pegasus what had been bothering her.

“Well, it all started last week. You remember those flyers that Iron Will distributed? … Iron Will, you know, the self-help-guru? … He’s a minotaur. … So you have heard of him. Anyway Rarity and Pinkie Pie encouraged me to take his course to become more assertive. And it worked very well, too well actually. Before long I was not just being assertive, but I channeled a whole lot of pent up rage, more than I ever would have imagined having. And then when Rarity and Pinkie were trying to stop me, I…I…”

At this point she fell silent and visibly strained herself to keep it together. With a sight she continued:

”I called Pinkie stupid and Rarity petty and then I told both of them how useless and pointless their talents and passions were. And the worst part of it was that I meant every single word of it…”

At this point she stated sobbing again.

A few minutes of bawling her Eyes out later she was finally able to finish her story:

”*Sniff* At that point I realized what a monster I truly was. I think you know how the rest of the story goes.”

Rainbow Dash nodded.

“But that was not the end of it, the rage was still there and it seemed to grow ever stronger, so I left Angel in charge at home and headed into the forest to find a way to vent it.”

Both fell silent after that and just stared into the flames. Rainbow Dash lifted a wing and tucked her friend in, just like any pegasus mare would do with her foal.

“Why didn’t you tell us? We would have found a way.”

“At first I ignored it and when I thought about asking you, it had grown too strong. I was afraid to snap at one of you and do something I would regret.”

“Why do you doubt us, ‘shy? Even Rarity and Pinkie forgave you your words and I heard you told them pretty hard to buck off.”

“…”

“Where have you learned to fight so well? I would have never guessed, that you had it in you.”

“... The same place you did.”

“Really? You received military training? That’s incredible. Uhm, I mean you really are not the best flyer there is, so I always thought that you were exempted from military training.”

“Well, I got basic training, but that’s not all of it.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you’re right my flying is at best below average. But I made up for it with body control and my special talent is caretaking, so I received both close combat and paramedic training.”

“I never would have guessed.”

“I know, so please keep it a secret from the others.”

“Why?”

“Because there are things about me, that I don’t want everypony to know.”

“...”

“...”

“You know you’re not the only pony with secrets. Even I have some.”

“I know.”

“Yes, I know you don’t believe... How much do you know?”

“I know everything about Las Pegasus.”

Pause.

“Fluttershy, who spilled the beans?”

“Scootaloo did.”

“...”

“You know, you really should talk to her. Do you even realize just how much she idolizes you?”

“She shouldn’t. Not after what I did, or rather didn’t do, to her.”

“Yet she still does. Just go and talk to her and if you don’t know what to do, talk to your mother!”

“... Please tell me, that I have at least this secret left.”

“I never found anything about her or your father.”

“... I’m going to tell all of you who my mother is, as soon as I get into the wonderbolts, by my own skills.”

“Why then? You could tell us before.”

“If you knew who she is, you wouldn’t need to ask why.”

“I won’t pry, but please ask her what to do with Scootaloo. You know I can’t help you with that.”

Again the cyan mare fell silent.

“Ok ‘shy, I will.”

“Great. I already feel much better, thanks to you.”

Both mares fell silent, while Rainbow Dash thought about her reason to see Fluttershy.

Damn, now I can’t ask her for her opinion. That leaves only AJ, but I’ll have to think about how to tackle it.

“Wanna go home, ‘shy?”

“Not yet. Let’s just stay here for a while.”

End of Chapter 1.