Fear of Falling

Chapters

1. Fluttercrashed
2. Acrophobia
3. Thunderstruck
4. Dawn

1. Fluttercrashed

The nice thing about clouds is that they're made of water. That way, thought Fluttershy, a pony could lie on one and not have to worry about ruining it with her tears. She closed her eyes and let the cloud caress her back, imagining herself melting into a tiny pink-maned yellow spot atop its white expanse.

That was another nice thing about being a pegasus: it was always sunny if she flew high enough. She was actually glad that Rainbow didn't like mares. It made things simple.

Once upon a time, an old friend told Fluttershy, "Nopony chooses what she feels, only what she does." Fluttershy figured she could go check on the Sinking Swamp. She didn't exactly have to, but it would be better than lying around feeling sorry for herself.

Fluttershy picked herself up, spread her wings, and lept from the cloud. Its fluffy, irregular side zipped past. Ever so slowly the vast mass of clouds in the distance seemed to float up and away. The theory was simple: feelings don't last forever, no matter how enormous and invincible they seem. Taking a few minutes to calm down should help, and it had helped a lot.

Below her Ponyville lay painted on the ground, thatched roofs and pastel walls on a field of green. The muggy summer air washed everything with a blue-white haze. Clouds floated, mountains in the air, above the chalk-sketched scene below. Fluttershy looked forward to the swamp, how the trees' roots made them look like broomsticks, and how tiny fish darted between them. It would be cool and peaceful.

Fluttershy angled herself, drawing a gentle curve along the cloud's side, careful to not go too fast. As she dropped below the cloud base and leveled her flight, she saw a pony far ahead dash between the clouds. The pony left an unmistakable polychromatic trail.

She was beautiful. Fluttershy missed a wing stroke, lurched and dipped, and caught herself. She hadn't been noticed yet; perhaps she could still hide if she tried.

Fluttershy told herself she didn't want to. Rainbow didn't want her, not in the way she wanted to be wanted, but Fluttershy could at least try to be a good friend.

Dash appeared again, climbed halfway up a cloud, paused, and darted to the next one. She dove, spiraled, and suddenly turned toward Fluttershy. It was hard to tell because she was so far away, but it looked like she was pushing herself faster and faster. She exploded from the sky, pulling a six-hued U-turn around Fluttershy that brought the pegasi alongside each other.

“Hey, Fluttershy.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy.

“How about we catch some thermals? It's a great day for it.”

Fluttershy's heart felt like it wanted to sink through her breast and keep going all the way to the ground, but she took a deep breath and tried to imagine what she'd do if her best friend wasn't making her heart pound and a hot blush spread across her ears.

Rainbow carried on, apparently oblivious to her condition. “That hill's usually good for a decent one.” She pointed down to a low hill capped with a wide stretch of bare rock baking in the sunlight. Even Fluttershy could recognize the pattern in how the upper branches of trees swayed towards the hill's peak: that meant feeder winds and a strong updraft.

“C'mon, Fluttershy.” Rainbow banked and beat her wings, setting course for the air above the hill. For a moment, Fluttershy hesitated. She wanted to chase that beautiful tail. Dash deserved better. She bit her lip, composed herself, and followed.

The wind drew Rainbow's mane and tail back waving behind her body. She looked so happy flying and Fluttershy couldn't help smiling, even as she forced herself to look away. The clouds above ran together into a sea of cottony white. Tiny farmhouses punctuated Equestria below.

“Woah, yeah!” Rainbow hit the edge of the thermal, and shouted in delight as it tossed her to the side and up. “Here we go!”

Fluttershy endured the turbulence without a word. She liked the effortless lift and calm inside an updraft much more than the rough air on its border. Rainbow, of course, seemed to love it all, cheering as the winds jerked her wings and mane.

Once inside, both pegasi rested their wings and soared, savoring the rising current buoying them upwards. Fluttershy drew alongside her friend; for a long moment they rode the updraft in silence and then Dash spoke in a small voice that barely carried in the still air.

“I'm sorry, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, no. If you're talking about earlier this morning, I– I overreacted.”

“But I still upset you, and I was thinking about what I said. I guess I was a jerk. Again. So…”

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you can stand to be around me."

"Are you kidding?" said Dash. "We've been friends, like, forever."

A hawk called. Fluttershy looked over, finding the bird hanging on the air just above the horizon. She brought her eyes back to Rainbow. Both smiled. The thermal lifted them slowly but effortlessly toward the base of a cloud above.

They hadn't actually been friends forever. Fluttershy could remember when they weren't.

Rainbow Dash walked with firm purpose and flagrant disregard for Fluttershy. Her hooves clopped briskly against the packed-cloud walkway, though she didn't even raise her gait to a trot.

Fluttershy scurried to keep up. She spoke between breaths. “Rainbow. I brought you, your homework.”

The truant filly snapped her tail at Fluttershy's face, telling her to get lost. Fluttershy kept following, regretting all five flights she had climbed to reach Rainbow's apartment on the top floor.

She tried again, speaking louder. “Miss Morningsky wanted me to give you your papers, you see…”

Dash gave no answer. She continued her steady clip-clop past ponies' back doors.

Pegasi built their front porches facing the sky, on the outsides of their homes. The inside of the oval-shaped apartment building was ringed with walkways for heavy deliveries and ponies who, like Fluttershy, couldn't fly.

She followed Dash past doors and trash cans on their left and a low safety rail on their right. The space in the middle was good for playing skyball, and the shouts of several older fillies and colts doing just that echoed off the walls.

“Rainbow Dash, I'm–”

“Look, Buttersky.” Rainbow stopped and turned. “I get that you're the teacher's pet and it's your ‘special job’ to check up on me, but just stop it, okay?”

Fluttershy stood still a moment, bewildered by Dash's glare. “Why aren't you coming to school?” she finally asked.

Dash scoffed and rolled her eyes. She turned her shoulders as if to start walking again but then said, “You know what? Fine.” Dash flared her wings. “Go ahead and laugh.”

The trailing edges of her wings were missing their usual feathers. In their place a set of steely blue-gray spikes sprouted from the meat of her wings, evenly spaced. They looked almost like claws.

“Moulting?” said Fluttershy. “But you can still come to school when you're moulting.”

“Heads up!” A shout interrupted before Dash could answer. A ball bounced off floor, wall, and a trash can, smack-ka-thunk.

Fluttershy ducked, and the ball rolled lazily to her hooves.

“Hey chick, over here,” called a young griffin tercel, who hovered on well-built brown wings just beyond the rail. He looked tough and angry, like all griffins looked to Fluttershy.

She sat back on her haunches and picked the ball up between her forehooves. Then she focused on the griffin's waiting talons and tossed it.

It barely cleared the rail and fell out of sight. “Weak,” said the griffin and he dove after it.

Behind where he had hovered, somepony kept a garden. Vines grew through the rails on the opposite side of the sky-court, a cascade of green dotted with huge blue flowers, spilling down the white sky-marble.

When Fluttershy turned back, Rainbow had gone ahead. She stood against a door, one hoof working at the latch. A white-and-red sign read “Authorized Ponies Only.”

Fluttershy cantered ahead. “Rainbow, wait.” She was too late; with a soft snick, the door swung open and Rainbow slipped through. Fluttershy barely reached the door in time to catch it with a forehoof before it could close. She wedged her shoulders inside. “Rainbow, it says we're not supposed to be in here.”

The room was lit by a dim red light from deep inside, which silhouetted everything in the room: shelves on either wall and a tangle of broom handles leaning against them. Fluttershy's eyes gradually adjusted to the light. The shelves were stocked with tall buckets: Cirro-Clean detergent and cloud conditioner, Strato-Patch, Sky-Bright hail polish. Their logos seemed to be arcane sigils in the monochromatic light.

“Hey, Fluttershy, yoo-hoo. You there?”

Rainbow called Fluttershy out of her memory and she waved her cyan hoof at the cloud close above.

“We're running out of thermal. Your choice: around or through?”

Fluttershy decided between pushing through the cloud, a wet and bumpy route, or detouring around the outside. It wasn't a hard choice. “Around, please.”

Rainbow turned away from her spiral. Fluttershy followed into the rough boundary where the thermal's air mixed with the rest of the sky. Both pegasi began their climb to the cloud's peak.

“Rainbow, are you okay?”

Fluttershy pushed the rest of the way into the dark closet. As the door clicked shut behind her, something tackled her with a squeaky, “Hi-yah.”

Fluttershy's hindquarters fell into a bucket under one shelf, driven by her assailant. Her head and shoulders crashed into the wall behind her, and two hooves landed, one on her chest and one barely missing her ear. Rainbow's face filled her vision, magenta irises blending ghoulishly with the whites of her eyes in the demonic red glow.

Broomsticks clattered to rest. Rainbow's breath brushed hot against Fluttershy's cheeks. The bucket crimped her saddlebags against her quarters and bit into her hams and back.

Dash said, “Game's up, Buttersky. What're you really up to?”

Fluttershy was too shocked to answer.

Dash pressed her hoof harder on Fluttershy's chest. “Confess.”

"Nothing. Really. Miss Morning-"

"Likely story, Buttersky." Dash leaned more of her weight on her hoof and twisted it.

"Ow!" Fluttershy's ribs ached. "I'm telling the truth! Please stop, Rainbow."

Dash's upper lip twisted up. "I know one of them sent you. Was it Dumb-Bell?"

A horrible chill swept along Fluttershy's chest and neck, burst out of her, and turned into words. “Dumb-Bell? That jerk?! He's almost as big a bully as you are, Rainbow Dash.” Flutttershy glared with fae-light lit eyes of her own. “And my name is Fluttershy!”

Dash fell back as if she'd been struck. “I– I'm not a…”

Flutttershy pushed herself off the wall with her wings, tipping the bucket forward and landing on her hooves. She took a deep breath and rubbed her sternum. Nothing felt broken.

Dash cowered against the floor. “I'm sorry. I just… Can I show you something really cool, Fluttershy? Wait just a sec, okay?”

She skittered behind the shadowy tangle of equipment and Fluttershy heard her clatter and clamber over shadowy shapes in the darkness. After a moment of silence and Dash's “A-hah!,” a chain jingled and sunlight invaded the closet.

The chain hung from a hatch in the ceiling. Fluttershy blinked into the glare, then followed the light down a set of stairs. Dash hauled at the chain with her teeth, grunting and nearly pulling herself off the floor. The chain rattled. The hatch inched open and with a sharp clack was still.

Dash bounded halfway up the steps and paused and turned, her flanks heaving under her wings with each breath. She swore softly, “Oh cold snap! Uh, this goes up to my favorite spot on the roof. You probably don't… I get it if you don't want to come up here with me after what I just did. So I'll just…” Her voice faltered, and she turned and crawled the rest of the way into the light.

Fluttershy looked towards the door, but checked herself when she saw her saddlebags. They sat crooked across her hindquarters and Rainbow's homework was probably ruined but she still had a job to do. She sighed and turned back to the stairs.

They were steep and Fluttershy felt like she would fall over backwards as she climbed, but she made it to the top, her heart pounding as she pulled herself over the edge and lay flat on the roof.

She looked up to find Rainbow sitting by the edge, looking out over Cloudsdale. Fluttershy picked herself up and cautiously joined her. Their city opened lay open before their eyes like a picture book.

A jumble of buildings below gave way to other cloud banks slightly higher. Weatherworks stood in profile, gushing rainbowfalls from their sides, and gaps of blue revealed distant mountains. To the far left, Fluttershy could almost make out the near-mythical ground. She had lived her entire life in the sky and still half believed the rumors that only monsters lived below.

“Molting sucks,” said Dash.

Fluttershy drank in the scenery a while longer. She turned toward Dash, who was looking at the rooftop between her hooves. Fluttershy hesitated, then set a wing across her classmate's trembling shoulders. Dash quailed briefly but settled against her.

Fluttershy wasn't sure why she embraced Dash. Rainbow wasn't a friend; she was too much of a loud and garish idiot. Everypony else could follow simple, sensible rules like “no cantering in the hallways.” Dash broke that one so often and so catastrophically that she more than earned her nickname, “Crash.”

She had ignored Fluttershy and then attacked her and the only reason Fluttershy was there in the first place was because Miss Morningsky had asked. If Fluttershy was smart, she'd just leave Dash's homework and go home.

She hugged Dash closer. “Moulting's not so bad, really. I went to school when my feathers were growing in.”

Dash shifted. Her pinfeathers throbbed ever so slightly against Fluttershy's ribs. “Yeah, sure, if you're a smart teacher's pet like you, or at least good at something. I can't fly anymore. Yeah, yeah, I know it's only for a few weeks and all that, but what if my new feathers get hurt?”

It wasn't something that happened too often, but Fluttershy had seen a colt fall on the playground earlier that year and break two pinfeathers. He was okay; the school nurse had pulled the feathers and washed the blood off, and he came back to class without even a bandage, but it did look like an awful lot of blood at first — especially as it soaked his lime-green coat and wing.

Fluttershy wasn't going to forget that image soon. “But you came to school when you hurt your leg.”

“Yeah, but… Hey, do you know how I did that?”

Fluttershy didn't, but it must have been while doing something stupid.

Dash pointed a forehoof across the street. “This hoof, that building. I used to come up here and imagine how cool it would be to fly. One day, I just decided to go for it. I kinda fell more than flew, and I landed too hard.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. Rainbow actually sounded proud of herself.

“So that was two weeks in the fetlock brace, and another one grounded before I managed to sneak back up here. That time, I didn't hurt myself, and it wasn't too long before I was flying for real. That's why moulting sucks: I finally get good at something and my feathers start falling out!”

“Oh, Rainbow…”

“And Dumb-Bell hates me, so I'm not taking these anywhere near him.”

“I don't think he'd actually–”

“Yes, he would,” said Dash. She spoke with grim certainty even as her voice began to shake. Fluttershy couldn't avoid her ruby eyes. “He says I'm a flying menace and– and that I should be c– clipped and even calls me ‘Rainbow Cr- Crash.’ ”

Rainbow didn't cry, she only shook. Fluttershy was shocked. Her imagination offered an image of the heavyset colt slamming Rainbow against a wall, grinding her proud new feathers into a chunky blue-and-red smear, and then crying fake tears and calling it an accident. She had used that horrible nickname herself.

Fluttershy squeezed her wing tighter. Dash's shoulders quaked with each breath. They sat that way for a long minute, then Fluttershy said, “Hey, it's okay.”

Dash pulled herself away and smiled with one half of her face. “So, about that homework…”

Dash and Fluttershy reached the top of the cumulus outside of Ponyville and sat next to each other, both resting their wings. The ground, no longer a myth to either pony, spread out before them; and wild clouds, not the cultivated banks of Cloudsdale, filled their sky.

“How's that animal doing?” asked Dash.

“Which one?”

“The one you flew off to take care of,” said Dash.

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. She scraped up a little tuft of cloud and began shaping it into a ball. “She's fine. There's nothing wrong with her, really. She just needs to fix her attitude.”

“That's good,” said Dash. “It's just…”

A comforting hoof lay on Fluttershy's shoulder and rubbed small circles under her left wing-wrist.

Sitting next to Dash was wonderful — mostly. Fluttershy did her best to think safe thoughts; winter would be good. She liked to read on lazy winter days when there weren't any creatures who needed her. The sun reflected extra-bright off the snow and through her windows, making the air outside look warmer than it was.

She kept a little fire going in the stove all the time, to keep the house warm, and also to heat a crock of mulled cider, gently steaming and perfuming the air. Rainbow sitting on the cloud next to her, touching her, was every bit as spicy and enticing.

“No.”

Rainbow stopped and withdrew her hoof. “No what?”

Fluttershy burst the cloud-puff between her hooves, scattering warm mist into the air. “I'm really sorry, but please don't touch me. You're not doing anything wrong, but please don't.”

“Fluttershy.”

She turned to see Dash scowling.

“How about you tell me what's really going on.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. She had wondered how to tell Rainbow about her… crush.

Dash's expression softened. “Please?”

That morning had brought Fluttershy to downtown Ponyville, trotting lightly to Carousel Boutique. White duck-cloth panniers sat across her back and the lemongrass inside smelled heavenly. When she gathered it, and chamomile too, the kiss of cool dew on her nose and the promise of tea had portended a very nice day indeed.

She didn't suspect what Rainbow would say.

The boutique's main doors were closed, but Fluttershy had an open invitation to the back. Rarity left it unlocked when she was at home and Fluttershy eased the door open with a soft, “Good morning.”

The hall was empty and so was the kitchen. Sunlight filled the room; the counters, sink, and table shone clean and bare. Breeze blew in from the window and set a chime tinkling.

Fluttershy nosed her panniers onto the table and considered starting the kettle herself. Tea was nice, and so much nicer with a friend. Then again, she was the faintest bit worried about Rarity — or not exactly worried.

Rarity usually should be having breakfast at this time, so Fluttershy thought maybe she was interrupting a sudden moment of creativity. Or, possibly, she had gone out somewhere and forgotten to lock the door. If so, Fluttershy would just leave a note and lock it on the way out.

“Hey, cool,” said Rainbow Dash, muffled, from somewhere down the hallway. Fluttershy's ears perked up and she walked from the kitchen.

“Oh, I'm so glad you like it,” answered Rarity. “Now, I know this is a bit unusual, but there's a show coming up in Canterlot, for unrecognized talent you see, and I'm looking for somepony who'd be willing to model. Would you consider it?”

Fluttershy followed their voices to Rarity's private studio. She stuck her head and shoulders around the door.

Rainbow Dash wore an embroidered silk vest and black square cap and faced a mirror. Rarity stood to one side examining what had to be her design for the show. Fluttershy's eyes met Rainbow's in the mirror; her heart lept into her throat. She said, “Oh.”

“Oh hey, Fluttershy. Isn't this awesome?” said Dash. She half turned and struck a pose rampant: reared on her hind legs, wings spread but bent at the wrists, forehooves punching at the air.

Her vest was a night scene on black silk. A dragon in green and gold thread swooped over her shoulder, under the blue and indigo locks of her mane. It breathed fire at a crouched and snarling ursa major guarding her lean flank; the beast's bared fangs and claws shone silver. Tiny sapphires were the stars of its body, outlined in faintly-glowing magenta thread.

She settled down and folded a wing over the ursa's back. “What do you think?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and let it out. “Amazing,” she managed. Dash grinned jaunty and proud.

“See?” said Rarity. “You're a natural, Rainbow, and I would be honored if you would model my work.”

Fluttershy agreed. Her friend Dash was indeed a natural; of the two of them she had nearly all of the stage presence, a carefree magnetism that made it impossible for ponies to look away.

Dash was fit and strong and never gave up, even when rain and wind soaked her mane and stuck it to her face. She'd leap back into the sky and battle the clouds invading from the Everfree sky. Sunny days made her mane shine. Sometimes, she had nothing to do but visit and joke with her friends. Or, sometimes, she made a little nest of clouds and took a break from everything except being beautiful. And, oh so unfortunately, she wasn't attracted to mares.

Fluttershy had figured out her feelings earlier that summer: she was, as they say, "taken" with her friend, and it was perfectly natural for a young mare to feel that way about somepony. Most often, some stallion, but there wasn't anything wrong with liking mares. Her infatuation was a bittersweet tug, a dark chocolate of somewhat-guilty pleasure: she felt like she owed Dash more honesty, but she simply couldn't dare.

Dash pursed her lips, furrowed her brow, and eventually answered Rarity, “Yeah, but, lemme see if I understand this. You want me to get up in front of a bunch of ponies and just stand there?”

“And walk and rear up like that if you wouldn't mind too terribly. I'm afraid I can't afford much in the way of pay, but it's easy work and you do look dazzling. I was hoping we might make something of a day of it in Canterlot.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, “that sounds wonderful.”

“Just standing around?” said Rainbow. “No flying? A whole day of dress-up? Look, Rarity, you've got a lot of talent and I love seeing what you're up to, but I think you've got the wrong pony for the job.”

“Well…” said Rarity, beginning to wheedle musically, “it is a contest, a large contest and I don't want to promise anything that we're not sure to win, but I would be more than willing to split the prize money. Besides, I doubt I can find a model with your pizazz. If I may be frank, the moment you walk on stage, you'll have the attention of every stallion in the room.”

Dash blew a derisive snort.

“A good fraction of the mares as well, if that's more to your taste. This is Canter–”

Dash sat, silent, and began working her way out of the buttons.

“Um, Rarity…” began Fluttershy. Rarity didn't understand how much Dash hated that.

“Oh, dear, I've offended you,” said Rarity, facing Dash. “Please tell me how so that I might–”

“Let's not fight, please,” whispered Fluttershy.

“You're being clear at least. That's good,” said Dash in the level, professional tone she used to talk about her weather. “So you want ‘pizazz,’ hunh? That's not really my thing. Find somepony else to be your walking eye-candy, okay?” She held up the gorgeous vest and Rarity took it with her magic.

“Rainbow, I'm sure that's not wha–” said Fluttershy.

“It's not like that!” snapped Rarity. “This is a high-class cultural event based, in part, on the beauty of the equine form. Where exactly is the shame in that?”

“And you do like attention, right?” added Fluttershy. The last bits of common ground between her friends were sinking into an ocean of bad feelings and she tried to scoop them up before they disappeared entirely.

Dash stood and advanced on Rarity. “Oh, it's a bunch of fancy ponies, that makes it okay. Modeling is somepony's job and she gets paid. Great. Except my talent, last time I checked, is doing awesome things that take hard work. Not just standing around looking pretty or rearing up so a bunch of ‘high class’ colts can sit around in the dark and admire my–”

Fluttershy placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Please stop.”

Dash's voice dropped back to calm, but she still scowled as she turned to Fluttershy. “Whose side are you on anyway? Honestly, this whole thing is kinda freaky and just… ew.”

Fluttershy's gaze and hoof fell to the floor. She picked herself up and headed towards the door.

“Darling?” asked Rarity.

“Oh, um, I just remembered I have to take care of an animal and I need to go right now. There's tea stuff in the kitchen.”

From the hallway she heard Dash say, “Did I miss something?” Fluttershy kicked into trot which became a canter and barely slowed for the door. She burst into flight outside. No, Dash hadn't missed anything. It was all Fluttershy's fault for hiding everything that mattered.

“I'm the animal, Rainbow Dash.”

“Hunh?”

Fluttershy dug into the cloud again. It was warm and firm against her hooves. “I'm just an animal with a bad attitude. But, um, the important part, the part I want is… I really like being friends with you.”

Dash let out a long sigh. “Oh. Good. Rarity was all panicked and convinced that you had a thing for me, but friends, yeah, I can do that. No problem. How 'bout–”

“But I do,” interrupted Fluttershy before she could lose her courage. “I kinda do have a thing for you. Tha– that's why you shouldn't touch me. It's confusing.” Her ears and cheeks burned.

“Oh, sleetstorm,” swore Dash. She reached a hoof forward, caught herself, and cussed again. “Downdraft! No hugs, hunh? Fine.” She stomped her hoof against the cloud, kicking up tiny sparks of lightning.

“I'm sorry,” said Fluttershy. “I understand. It's normal to not be interested in other mares, you know. I just–”

“Weren't you the one who always had that list of cute colts back in school?”

“Well, yes, I guess–”

“So what the hoof happened, Fluttershy?”

“I don't…” Fluttershy turned away and sank to her elbows, halfway curled into a ball.

“And what am I supposed to do with you?”

Fluttershy had no answer for that either. She heard Dash's wing beats as she took to the air. She closed her eyes and tried to swallow a hard lump from her throat.

Author's Note

It's here.

This story grew enormously in the re-telling and to be honest, it scares me a little. I've never written anything this long. I mean, me, a novelist?

Sometimes a pony just has to put his hoof down and do it. FiMFiction rules mean I can't resubmit as a new story, but I'd like you to approach it that way. I've rewritten it twice from scratch. Don't forget to thumb-up (if you want others to read) and follow (if you want side stories and other bits of adorable that leak out of my head) and favorite (for the next chapter). Comments make my heart sing.

I've unpublished the previous edition. It'll come back as an appendix once I've passed that point in the story again.

2. Acrophobia

Rainbow Dash took to the sky. Each beat of her wings brought her up, up, and away from her guilt and frustration - and away from Fluttershy. She turned and eased herself into a hover, looking down at the cumulus cloud below.

It was a wild one, lumpy and irregular. Normally she or her crew would bust them up, but a big storm front was going to come through just before dusk and so the order of the day said to leave them alone.

Fluttershy was lying on top of it, head buried in her hooves, completely still. She didn't even have the energy to hold herself together: her wings and hind legs sagged off either side of her body, their wrists and pasterns poking out. Her butterflies lay toeither side of her tail, six pairs of fallen leaves.

Dash reached a forehoof to the bridge of her nose. “Oh, Fluttershy... Why?” She looked around and spotted a cirrus whisp, just enough for a little bit of weathercraft. She flew a tight spiral around it, condensing it into a string of basic humblies - cumuli humilies to eggheads - and grabbed one in her forehooves. She hugged it tight, darkening the cloud, and carefully positioned it over her friend.

Dash zipped back and forth, adding another and another until Fluttershy was sitting in the middle of a shaded patch. Her heartache looked painful enough. No way to Tartarus was Dash about to let her get heat exhaustion too.

She twisted off two lumps of cloud and landed next to Fluttershy. “Here.” She held one out. “You gotta stay hydrated.”

Fluttershy sat up, took it, and dully followed as Dash squeezed the cloud between her forehooves and drank. It smelled like lightning and summer rain. It was piss-warm and tasted flat, but at least it was water.

Dash kept a respectful distance, eyes closed, and alternately sipped long misty draughts and drew deep breaths. When finished, she let her wispy husk of a cloud drift away, blew out a long sigh, and opened her eyes to stare down into the gap between either pony. “I'm sorry, Fluttershy.”

They sat in silence atop the softly churning cloud. Guilt in turn sat on Dash's shoulders. They just wanted to compliment and encourage me. I called her “freaky and eww.”

Dash tried again. “I mean, I've been feeling kinda sick since I realized exactly what I said - or shouted, really. I can't imagine what it feels like for you.”

“I'm sorry that I...” Fluttershy's voice faltered. “That I l- lusted over you. For months. And never said anything...”

Dash looked up. Fluttershy looked away.

Lust, huh? thought Dash, mostly amused. Well check me out.

“Well, yeah,” she said aloud. “That makes sense. Apparently I'm pretty hot.”

Fluttershy flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey, lighten up, okay? You know, you're the one who could be a model.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I can see it now.” Dash swept her hooves as she spoke. “It's a dark room and the lights swing down to center stage. There's Fluttershy. They can't believe how pretty she is. They can't take their eyes away: mares, stallions, little colts and fillies, it doesn't matter. They all adore her - and Fluttershy, she's loving every single second.”

Please laugh, thought Dash.

Fluttershy blinked her blue-green eyes and stared for a long, long moment. She bit her lower lip and ever so slowly, as if asking permission, she smiled.

Dash couldn't hold her own laughter back any longer. It burbled up from her belly, tickled at her shoulders, echoed back from all corners of the sky. She toppled over and rolled to her back, legs and wings twitching.

Fluttershy giggled softly, trying to hide her grin behind a forehoof. Now that, thought Dash, is more like it.

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye. “That is something that will never, ever happen. Me? A model?”

“Yeah, can you imagine? I think you should stick to conquering dragons, okay?”

“Oh, I wouldn't exactly count on that,” said Fluttershy. “Listen. I know this is awkward and disturbing now that you know what a lascivious pony I am, but I really do want to stay friends somehow, so-”

“Woah, hold on.” Dash sat up. “What's this about us not being friends?”

“Well, you see...” Fluttershy drew circles in the cloud, pulling up spirals of mist and letting them fall in a pile. “I hated when those colts started gossiping about you. They were angry and frustrated and heart-broken, but that didn't make them right.”

Dash had pretty much forgotten about that. Basically, she turned down a couple of guys and they started calling her names. It got to the point where she couldn't even give a pony a friendly hug without somepony whistling and shouting “fillyfooler” or “get a room.” The worst part was when Fluttershy and Ice Drop started to avoid her. So, Dash went and adjusted a few attitudes and that was pretty much the end of it. It was a while ago.

Fluttershy sighed and blew down her cloud-pile. She stared at the wreck silently.

Dash's heart sank. “Fluttershy, it's okay. It's strange and I'm still not sure what to think, but I promise we're gonna be okay. You do look like you need a hug, though.”

She took a step towards Fluttershy and held out a forehoof. Their eyes met. “Tell me if this feels bad?”

Fluttershy nodded with a frown. Dash eased herself close and reached around Fluttershy's neck. Her mane was soft and warm from the sunlight. Dash squeezed tight and said, “Everything's gonna be alright.”

“Mmm-hmm,” answered Fluttershy. She leaned her head into Dash's neck.

Dash held Fluttershy and after a while let her go. “Hey, mind if I get comfortable? There's something I want to talk about.”

She stretched herself out on her back and folded her forehooves under her head with a comfortable sigh. At least, she tried to look comfortable - her heart beat excited in her chest and maybe Fluttershy would get the wrong idea but Dash had to say it.

She asked, “So what's it like?”

“What is what like?”

“Falling for somepony?”

“Oh... It's complicated. Mostly it's nice.” As Dash watched, Fluttershy picked up a forehoof and examined the keratin. “You get a little nervous anytime you're around her or whenever you think of her, which is a lot. You realize she's a lot more beautiful than ponies usually give her credit for. It's like there's some special ray of sunlight - or in your case a particularly tough wild storm - that shows off the absolute best in her...”

Dash shifted her attention to the underside of the shade-cloud she had built overhead. “That all?”

“Well there's other stuff...” Dash rolled her hoof and Fluttershy continued, “You have very nice quarters, lean and strong and...”

“And?”

Fluttershy's words tumbled out in an embarrassed heap. “and maybe you'd make a good pillow - or something. I'm sorry.”

Yeah, thought Dash. Or something. Why did it always have to be “or something?” You grow up and suddenly you can't just snuggle.

Fluttershy, silent and sitting on her haunches, blushed.

Dash laughed. “Well, sorry, but that's a little too much... much. Thanks for being honest at least. Listen.” The laughter went out of her voice. “Have you ever thought that maybe I'm different, Fluttershy?”

“How so?”

“About things like that. 'Cuz I've never felt particularly special toward any pony, and I'm only a year younger than you are, so...”

“You just haven't met the right pony, that's all.”

Dash rolled back to her hooves, got up, and paced along the edge. “Maybe it goes deeper, though. Sometimes I feel like I'm some completely different species, like I'm some kind of diplomat, and I just think I'm a pony, you know? I live with them. I think I understand them. I can pretend to be one. But in the end I'm not.”

She stopped, and turning away from Fluttershy, looked out into the landscape. The clouds cast checkered shadows on the ground. “Maybe I'm just in love with the sky or something.”

Fluttershy didn't respond. There was silence, broken only by a hawk's call.

“Well, when you meet your special somepony,” said Fluttershy. “I promise I'll cheer for you.”

“Or maybe...” Dash resumed her pacing. “Look, Fluttershy, you know how I learned to fly. Maybe I'm just standing on that rooftop too scared to jump.”

“What do you mean?” said Fluttershy.

Dash was just guessing, throwing out ideas and seeing what ones she liked. “Don't take this the wrong way, okay? It's just maybe that I need some practice... You know, find somepony, try a few dates, see if I can figure out what the hay I'm supposed to do.”

Fluttershy looked down. “ ‘Somepony.’ I see.”

“No! Listen, Fluttershy. I know I'm gonna crash once or twice and you're too... I'm not going to risk hurting you while I'm still trying to get my bearings.”

Dash stepped close and lay a forehoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. “So, it's a good idea, right? Fluttershy? Right?”

“You,” said Fluttershy, looking up. Her brow had clouded over. “You have a lot of nerve, Rainbow Dash, telling me what will and will not break my heart.”

Rainbow took a step back.

Fluttershy stood. “Everypony, look. It's fragile Fluttershy. You'd better watch out. Be nice to her or she might cry or something and that would be just awful.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Rainbow Dash. She stumbled backwards.

“Oh, what was that?”

“I'm so sorry. I- I don't know how to make this not hurt. I'm just trying to figure things out, okay? But it's not coming out okay, so... sorry.”

“Well,” said Fluttershy. She took a long breath. “Go ahead and say it, then. ‘No, Fluttershy. I'm flattered, but you're not my type.’ Something. Anything. Say it so that I can get over it.”

Dash ruffled her wings nervously. By the time she could finally look at Fluttershy's face again, it was with tears at the corners of her eyes. “I... I respect you. You're a pushover scaredy-pony, sure, but you... you do things I can't imagine ever doing. Not like flight tricks or anything like that. You're kind.”

Fluttershy pressed her lips together and shook her head.

Dash soldiered on. “You take the time to really get to know everypony - every creature - and find some little bit of goodness in all of them. You never hurt anything if you can help it. And I... I want to be a little bit more like you. Look. Maybe a little while later, you and I could talk about this again, but right now I'm not even in the same league. I know you can be patient.”

Fluttershy didn't look patient. She crouched and her ears flattened and for the briefest moment Dash found herself calculating her odds. She was more athletic, of course, but Fluttershy was a touch taller and certainly heavier. Her low-altitude lifestyle gave her a solidity not common in pegasi and she probably had a lot of strength in her legs from walking around so much.

But that was crazy, what did she think Fluttershy was going to do?

A low growl burst from Fluttershy. “Good enough. I don't mind.” She sprang forward.

Dash's eyes grew wide. She acted strictly on instinct honed by years of practicing Neiponese self-defense. Dash set her hindquarters rooted and flexible, like a willow in a tai-fuu.

When Fluttershy tackled her, Dash shifted and added her own momentum to hers. Ki erupted from her rooted hoof, arced through a radically toned flank, and grounded itself into Fluttershy's belly.

It was a perfect throw, empty of thought. Dash helped Fluttershy over the edge gently, almost tenderly. She disappeared.

“No! Sleet!”

Half a second later, Dash was over the edge herself, still feeling it strike against all four hooves. Her wings grabbed air and thrust her toward at the ground. The side of the cloud was her horizon, lumpy with soft white hills and dells that rushed past her.

Fluttershy was tumbling far in the green distance below. C'mon, thought Dash. It's just a simple spin. You've got this, Fluttershy.

Fluttershy didn't seem to have it. She tried to recover, but her wings were wrenched by the wind in a way that made Dash's hurt just to watch. Dash pushed herself faster and faster.

The most dangerous part of falling is panic. A panicked pony is almost as much a danger to her rescuer as to herself, and Dash looked for a good opening that wouldn't earn her a smack to the head. If she was knocked out, they'd both end up bloodied and beaten in the bottom of a crater - if they were lucky.

Dash worked through her approach with even more coolness than when she attempted a new, super-tricky flying trick. Of course she had this. How could she not have this? That would be impossible. There was only enough time to do it right.

Seen from the side, Dash's catch would look like a quarter-circle L, beginning parallel to Fluttershy's fall and intersecting it. Actually executed, it felt a lot like the beginning of a round loop. Dash angled herself upwards from her straight dive - sideways to an observer - and let her wings slam her withers into Fluttershy's body.

It had to hurt. It did hurt, Dash remembered from getting bailed out herself. Fluttershy was unbelievably solid. She fell across Dash's back like a bag of wet sand.

Dash had her. They were still screaming toward the ground, which was starting to get bigger, and Dash pulled up as hard as she dared. Her wings could take it, even at two-hundred twenty percent loading or whatever it was, but vortices of air boiled and shed from her flight feathers. Dash didn't dare pull harder. She was nearly stalled.

Slowly, more slowly than Dash would like, the ground and her trajectory diverged. Lift jammed the pegasi together, no doubt winding Fluttershy if she hadn't blacked out already. Either way, she didn't move. Dash scanned for a cloud-outcropping or somewhere to recover on, and by the sun's blessed light she spied one not to far away.

They skidded and splashed to a stop. It was wild convective-bubble cumulus, very soupy and unstable but buoyant and deep enough to hold them aloft. Dash let Fluttershy slip from her back.

Fluttershy recovered quickly, drawing a huge, shuddering breath and pulling her hooves close to her chest. She shook and looked like she was about to cry, or maybe throw up.

Relief almost knocked Dash to her knees.

Fluttershy took several huge breaths and steadied herself and finally looked at Dash, who took it as her cue. “Fluttershy, that was not even close to acceptable.”

“No. No it wasn't. I'm so sorry; I don't know what came over-”

“You really need to work on your falling-”

“I promise it won't-”

“So I hope you weren't planning on doing anything today-”

“I mean, we're ponies, not wild animals.”

Dash took a deep breath and said, “Yeah... about that.” Dash thought about it. Maybe she should be offended, but to be honest, she wasn't.

Fluttershy twiddled her hooves. “Like I said, I don't know what happened.”

Dash rolled her eyes, but she took a seat next to Fluttershy. “I think I've got a decent idea. Let's see.” She gestured to each bit of evidence. “You're a mare. It's a beautiful summer day. I'm somepony you like. And you've gone a little loopy. It's not exactly mesoscale dynamics to figure out what kind of day it is.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, her voice small and eyes wide. “Oh. Yes, I guess today is, but... this is so very...” Her ears wilted under embarrassment.

“Natural?” Dash prompted. “It's only mareheat. Just don't make me kick you and tell your mother.”

She hoped that last line would get a laugh. It was cliché, the kind of thing they'd been taught to say when they were much younger mares.

“I'm sorry.” Fluttershy blushed.

“And I forgive you,” said Dash. Sometimes it was the best way to get Fluttershy to stop apologizing for everything. “But, look, we gotta talk. About fallproofing.”

Dash felt a sick knot in her stomach. Fluttershy wasn't the little yellow filly sitting on the sidelines anymore, still as a tree except for her tears. Fallproofing class hadn't been easy for her, and the harrassment in hallways and the lunchroom afterwards were worse. But even now, grown-up and tons happier with her life, she needed to practice baby pre-flight stuff and Dash wouldn't be a good friend if she let it slide.

She still felt like a jerk.

“I almost caught myself,” said Fluttershy darkly.

Dash took a deep breath and looked around. They were above a nice field and the sky was partially-sunny at this altitude. They weren't far from a plum orchard whose owner was more than a little picky about rain consistency. Fluttershy pouted next to her.

Dash set a forehoof on her back. “Hey, it's okay. You wouldn't believe some of the newbies they send me. Listen, I know this isn't the kind of date you were hoping for, but-”

Fluttershy turned her head toward Dash and frowned but kept silent.

“I'm not going away until I'm sure you're safe. And it's not about love or even friendship. It's about me trying to be a decent pony. Let me help you.”

Fluttershy sat up. “Okay. You're right. I...” She closed her eyes. “I know you forgive me for what I did. Listen. I'm okay. I just need to cry for a bit.”

And she did, silently, and Dash didn't know what to say. But after a minute she stepped close and embraced Fluttershy, and nopony needed to say anything.

Rainbow Dash insisted they needed altitude, for safety at least. This brought them both nearly to the top of their cumulus tower. It was only an hour past noon, and the sunlight was hot. The only relief were breezes of generally-cooler air drifting across the growing convective tower.

Equestria was hazy. Shade was a blessing - or just another fringe benefit of knowing a thing or two about weathercraft. Dash dug a classroom for them near the peak, complete with a makeshift whiteboard and a roof.

“Let's start with basics. Like, you do know what a stall is, right?”

“Well,” said Fluttershy. “Stalling is when a creature flies too slow so she can't make enough lift and she falls out of the sky.”

Dash groaned. “Those dumb asses. You actually believe that, don't you?”

“I'm... I'm not really sure. I'm sorry.”

“Hey. Look at me.” Dash met Fluttershy with a smile. With a wave of a hoof she cleared the board, then she took a clump of cloud, squeezed it so it grew dark and stormy, and began to sketch with it. She drew a diagram of a pony with four arrows representing thrust, drag, lift, and weight. “This look familiar?”

“Yes.”

“Well, the problem is that drawing's complete horseapples. We're not talking about passing some quiz, here. This is real flying.”

Fluttershy furrowed her brow. “Okay. Real flying.”

“And it's not your fault if they taught you a bunch of nonsense. Flying is simple. If you want to stand, you just push on the ground with your hooves. If you want to hover, you just push on the air with your wings. Like this.”

Dash demonstrated, pulling herself into the air with a single powerful beat and dropping back to the floor. A ring of mist rolled away from her. “The only reason you'd stall when you fly slowly is because you can't glide without headwind, but that's super-obvious and misses the point: stalling feels like stalling. Period.”

“Okay,” said Fluttershy.

“Stalling is really about slipping through the air instead of skimming along it. Like if you throw a big rock into a pond it just goes ‘plunk,’ but if it's a little flat one and you throw it at the right angle it bounces along the surface. Angles are the key. Am I losing you, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, no,” said Fluttershy. Dash cocked an eyebrow. “I mean, yes. Sorry.”

“Well, it's kinda hard to explain. It's a little like walking on ice. Push to hard and you'll slip. Or...” Dash shook her head. She wasn't ever supposed to be a teacher; it was just something that had come with the weather job.

It was not her talent - Dash didn't think about what she was doing while doing it. Dash did things, end of story, no explanation. “Ugh. You know what? Wing.” She held out her hoof.

“What?” said Fluttershy.

“Give me your wing,” said Dash. “Please. I can't make the words work. I need to show you.”

“O- okay.” Fluttershy unfolded her left wing. Dash took it, gently, and guided it to full extension.

“Like that, just like you're gliding. Hovering's different so we'll get to it later. So the air's gonna hit like this:” Dash demonstrated with her free hoof, pointing and pushing gently. “First the leading edge where it splits in two. The air on the bottom presses up on your liner feathers and the flight feathers. And the air on top sucks your wing upward, normally. That's gonna lift your flights, too.”

Fluttershy's flight feathers, the long, stiff ones growing from the meat of her wing, flexed easily. “That's about as much pressure as you'd feel in a tight barrel-roll.”

She looked at Fluttershy's eyes. She seemed attentive looking at her own wing, so Dash continued.

“Now all a stall is is when you pitch too much, so the air's hitting your wing broadside from the bottom. It pushes up on your liners just fine, but something funny happens on the top. It spills around your flights too and you get this bubble of turbulence. You can feel it. It's something like this.”

Dash stroked her hoof along the top of Fluttershy's wing from leading edge to the last covert feathers, which protected the quills of her flights. “That's normal flow. A stall is...” She reversed direction, stroking against their grain and lifting a dozen or so of them.

Fluttershy startled, and half a second later the rest of her covert feathers started to lift. They waved like fluffy yellow scales, like those on a pinecone but softer, a feathered blush.

“Oh, sorry,” said Dash, taking her hooves off Fluttershy's wing and looking back to her face. Maybe she looked offended, but Dash couldn't be sure. Fluttershy closed her wing and its feathers fell flat again.

“That's okay,” said Fluttershy. “And that was very clear. Thank you.”

“Anyway,” said Rainbow Dash. “Enough talk. You have to actually feel it and get totally comfortable with stall recovery before we can move on to spins. Don't take it personally, but were gonna do basic stall-ups for a bit.”

After only a few stall-ups, Fluttershy was beginning to show discouragement. Dash reminded herself that stall-ups were anaerobic exercise, like wing-sprints, and if Fluttershy didn't get the next one, they should probably take a break.

She wanted Fluttershy to get the next one so bad. For her sake.

“I'm sorry. I really don't think I can do this,” Fluttershy said.

“One more, please. I think I can see what you're doing wrong.”

Fluttershy nodded and flapped hard for speed. As Dash kept pace alongside, Fluttershy locked her wings to glide and pitched up, up, up. She glided higher and slower and Dash transitioned to a hover watching her wings carefully for the critical moment. Dash couldn't feel the eddies herself, but she saw them ripple across Fluttershy's feathers.

All Fluttershy had to do was pitch forward - exactly the opposite of her instincts.

Just like the last time and the time before that, she beat her wings.

“Woah! Down,” cautioned Dash. This time she was close enough to reach out with a hoof and shove Fluttershy's neck towards the ground.

Fluttershy squeaked, but she locked her wings open and - it had to be terrifying for the poor filly - tipped headfirst back into a descending glide. Dash grinned. She loved the feeling when the sky caught her like that. It was like going down a really long, smooth slide.

“Just like that,” said Dash. “Just like that. Pretty good. Now do it without flapping at all.”

From stall-ups, Dash moved Fluttershy through wing rolls to sharp dives, an abbreviated but intensive version of the Cloudsdale fallproofing program. She was feeling pretty good about herself - either Fluttershy was stronger and more comfortable with her grown-up wings than she'd ever been as a filly, or Dash was a pretty awesome teacher.

Most likely the latter.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” she called. “Let's take a breather.”

By now their scoop in the cloud was a familiar base of operations. Dash would hate to see it go before taking a proper nap, but she had a duties both to Fluttershy and to the Weather Service.

“How are your wings?” asked Dash. “I mean, we've been at this a while.”

Fluttershy rubbed at her left flight pectoral with a forehoof. “I'm getting a little tired,” she admitted. “How are you?”

“Oh.” Dash crossed her forehooves, lay down her head on them, and closed her eyes. One second was better than none. “Not bad. I wanted to say you're doing really well today. A lot better than I expected, to be honest. Good job.”

Far away she heard a hawk cry.

After a few minutes of silence, pleasant breezes, and the soft whisper of the ponies' breaths, Dash spoke. “So anyway, I was thinking that maybe we do one more thing and call it a day. Have you ever heard of a Stoop-and-Swoop?”

“No,” said Fluttershy.

“That's okay. I invented it, so not everypony knows about it yet. It's pretty awesome. You get to go really fast at the end and it's as easy as falling out of bed. Check it out.”

She nudged Fluttershy's shoulder and sketched out the flight path with a hoof. “So you start out good and high. Speed doesn't matter; you can start it fast or slow. You glide up a bit, then just as you're beginning to stall, you do a wing roll. That puts you more or less in a spin, but you just ride it out with that dart-wing trick I showed you and dive straight down as far as you dare. Then you just zoom back into level flight.” Dash's gesture traced a rough J shape with a swash at the top.

“You...” said Fluttershy, “you're not telling me to do this, are you?”

“C'mon, it's perfect!” said Dash. “You've already practiced everything. All you have to do is put it together.”

“But I don't... I don't do aerobatics, Rainbow. You know that.”

“Well, think of it as a final test or review or whatever. And don't worry. I'll be right along to catch you if you need it again.” Dash laughed. “Actually, I'm beginning to think the third and fourth times were because you like it.”

“Well...”

“C'mover here. See that tuft of cloud way down there? Let's make that our target for the dive phase. Skim under it, then continue to the big tower over there. Simple enough?”

Fluttershy climbed shakily too her hooves. Dash could hear her swallow hard. “I'm scared. It's like you said earlier, it's reckless to fall too much, like what if I go too far or sprain a wing pulling out of the dive or something? I'm sorry, but I don't do aerobatics and that's why.”

“Fluttershy,” said Dash. “Go ahead and sit at the edge.” Fluttershy sat on her rump, facing the open sky beyond their scoop. It looked pretty much awesome to Dash: disorganized thunderheads the size of mountains floated in a huge herd extending all the way to the horizon. Canterlot clung to the side of Mt. Corona far, far away. And when that front rolled into Ponyville airspace, Rainbow Dash was going to be in charge of it.

She too sat up and put her forehooves on Fluttershy's shoulders. “Hey. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm scared too. Only a little bit because I've practiced so much, but sometimes it hits me just how crazy it is for a pony to fly or just how much I have to be scared for. But you've been doing aerobatics all day now and I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think you can handle it. You understand that, right?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“The hardest part is right before you begin. So what I do is I count, and when I get to the number I pick, I just do it. No thinking. Just go.”

Dash smiled, let her hooves slide from Fluttershy's shoulders, and faced the sky. She spread her wings. “So let's go.”

3. Thunderstruck

Darkness, wind, and rain swept over the edge of the Everfree Forest. Lightening flashed actinic upon the boughs, their leaves shone stark green, and black shadows slashed over Fluttershy's home below. Then crashed the thunder. Within, Fluttershy snuggled a blanket closer around herself.

"That one sounded close, didn't it, Angel?" she said.

The white rabbit, his face half-shaded by the orange light of the room's oil-lamp, looked up from his dinner and nodded.

"You aren't too scared, are you?" she asked.

Angel rolled his eyes.

"That's good." Fluttershy took a deep breath of the steam rising from the mug of tea she cradeled in her forehooves. "It's amazing, isn't it? Rainbow's up there, in charge of all that. Oh. I hope the other ponies aren't giving her a hard time."

Angel set down his carrot and cocked an eyebrow.

Fluttershy sighed. "I did something today that I'm not proud of - a couple of things, really. Weatherponies are a little rough. I'm sure they already tease her for not having a special stallion, and I didn't exactly help."

Angel winked, and held one paw sideways, twisted so his dewclaw pointed up.

Fluttershy shook her head. "But she's not like that, even if I am. I don't know. Maybe I should fly up there and set the record straight, show them what really happened."

Dash smiled, let her hooves slide from Fluttershy's shoulders, and turned towards the edge of the sky. She spread her wings. "Let's go."

Fluttershy followed, feeling almost like she was in a trance. Her wings seemed to move on their own, propelling her from the comfortable cloud and into empty air. Dash flew sedately, unhurried, like she had confidence in Fluttershy, who felt a tiny swell of pride, warm as the first glint of dawn sunlight atop an entire mountain of unease.

"Do you still know where the target cloud is?" said Dash.

Fluttershy looked down a long way to spot it and murmurred agreement.

"Good," said Dash, barely loud enough to hear. "So were gonna do it on 'one.' "

One? Wait!

"One!" called Dash. Fluttershy didn't think. She just pulled her head up towards the dome of the sky above. Her body followed, a short arc trading speed for altitude, and twin stalled eddies plucked at her wings. She twisted with the last of her airspeed, flipping the entire world upside down, and then Fluttershy fell.

Fluttershy fell upside down; the far-off jagged teeth of haze-shrouded mountains hung like stalactites, and whisps of clouds streamed past them falling up into the blue void. Pink strands of her mane whipped in the growing wind. Her blood rushed in an unbroken and silent scream, but just like Dash had told her, just like she had practiced, Fluttershy held her wings half-folded and craned back, two triangles like the fletchings of an arrow or dart.

And just as the laws of aerodynamics and pegasus magic dictated, Fluttershy's head tipped towards the ground. Sky rolled away to dense clouds and the hard green earth, which was growing larger and larger at an easy but unrelenting pace. Fluttershy let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, told herself to focus, and scanned the air below for the reference cloud.

She found it - a little closer than she had expected - rolled to line up with it, and as she began to pitch up out of her dive, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was Rainbow Dash, who somehow Fluttershy had outflown. She pumped her wings with desparate intensity, while Fluttershy only glided, and only then had she managed to catch up. A smile played across Fluttershy's face along with a touch of self-satisfied surprise. Of course Rainbow would turn it into a race.

Fluttershy didn't mind.

The air poured over Fluttershy in a bracing cold torrent, slicking her feathers down and pulling her ears straight back. She didn't pull up too aggressively; that might break her into a stall or sprain her wings. Fluttershy turned in midair smooth but hard, her stomach feeling like it had taken a vacation and was happily spending the day atop one of the hills below. It felt good. Granted there were plenty of good reasons to not fly so dangerously, and if she wanted to, Fluttershy could probably list them all.

But all those fears could go and jump in a lake, just for today. This was Rainbow's sky and Fluttershy was honored to be it's guest - even if what Rainbow said was true and she somehow was in love with it. Fluttershy could stand losing to a worthy opponent.

Fluttershy brought herself level, skimming just under the reference cloud, gliding far faster than she ever flew on her own. Ahead, Rainbow brought herself to an elegant halt and touched down on a little billow on the cloud's side.

Fluttershy didn't mind. After all, there were more ways to win than just one. Fluttershy didn't slow, she just angled herself directly towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow smiled, her face gradually falling and her eyes growing wider as she saw Fluttershy speed closer. She didn't react in time; Fluttershy flew straight into her, wrapping her in a hug, and driving both pegasi deep into the cloud.

The air was rough, ashy gray, and warm. The mist sank into Fluttershy's coat and she held her friend close, burying her face in Dash's mane. She smelled salt and wind, felt the heat of overworked muscles. Gradually their pegasus magic slowed them and gently tugged them towards the surface.

"Thank you," whispered Fluttershy, catching her breath. "Thank you. That was amazing."

Rainbow Dash stayed silent and stone still, even as they emerged into the sunlight. Fluttershy nuzzled her face against Dash's neck.

"Hey, Fluttershy?" she said. "Can I have some space?"

"Oh. Sorry." Fluttershy disentangled herself and looked away sheepishly. "I guess I got a little too excited."

"Don't worry about it." Dash spread and refolded her wings. "You really did a good job today. Color me impressed."

A short whistle interrupted them followed by a cheerful voice. "Hey, Boss."

Fluttershy looked up. A pegasus flew came to hover in front of them. Her coat was a gorgeous shade of lilac, her mane was yellow, and she was grinning from ear to ear. Fluttershy couldn't quite remember her name, but she looked familiar.

"Oh, hey, Cloud," said Dash. "It's about time, isn't it?"

"Oh, you two should see the look on Bluebird's face." Cloud tried to imitate a scowl, but couldn't hold it for long before another smile cracked through. "But look at you, Boss, a very fine catch indeed. Just say the word and I'll run you two a couple minutes of interference."

Fluttershy's ears burned.

"We're just friends, Cloud," said Dash, sounding a little peeved. "And we were just saying goodbye anyway. Sorry Fluttershy, but Bluebird's one of those 'if you're not an hour early you're late' kind of ponies and I sort of lost track of time."

"Oh," said Fluttershy. "The storm today. Yes. I'm sorry I kept you and everything."

"Confidentially, I figure Blue's gunning for your job, Boss," said Cloud - Cloud Kicker, Fluttershy now remembered. She turned to Fluttershy and winked. "Hey, pleasure to meet you. Sorry to steal Dash, I'm such a terrible pony sometimes."

"Later, Fluttershy," said Dash and took to the air. She and Cloud departed, leaving Fluttershy sitting, scowling, and wondering exactly how much damage she'd done to Dash's reputation with her stupid impulses.

But more importantly for the moment, Fluttershy remembered that there was a storm coming and she had animals to go check on before it hit.

The wind swelled, moaning in the tree branches and making the house shift and creak. Lightning flashed again, sparkling off Angel's shiny black eyes, and the thunder roared.

Fluttershy laughed nervously, "Actually, me showing up to defend her would be counterproductive, don't you think?" She sipped her tea and set it on the table. "I'm not quite right anyway. I just have these... crazy feelings around her. I guess. I don't imagine you'd understand."

Angel crossed his forepaws, tapped a hind paw, then made a sweeping gesture as if to say, really, just look at me.

"Oh. Right. You probably do have some idea what love feels like, you naughty little bunny. Or, um, lust at least. Well, anyway, I suppose things could have gone a lot worse. I'll try to do better the next time I see her. That's all."

Fluttershy set down her tea and scooped up a well-worn book, the title long since gone from its threadbare yellow cloth covers. She stretched herself out comfortably supine on the couch and nosed it open to her bookmark.

The rough and tumble adventures of Stoic Ironhooves were a guilty pleasure, but her pleasure nevertheless. And it wasn't like he always got the pretty mare in the end. Fluttershy felt like she could understand him a bit better tonight. Maybe she'd read a chapter or two, finish the dishes she hadn't felt like taking care of after dinner, and call it an early night.

The storm passed and the sky brightened just a bit. Somepony knocked on Fluttershy's door. She looked up, secured her book in the drawer under the table - just in case Rarity had come to visit and brought her adorable but oh-so-curious little sister - and went up to answer. "Just a minute."

She opened the door. Dash was standing on her porch with a smile just a little too big to be natural. Her mane lay across her forehead, sodden but illuminated in impossibly vivid colors. Fluttershy's yard behind her was likewise surreal, a trick of the evening summer light.

Both ponies were silent a moment. Rainwater pitter-pattered from the tree leaves and robins tittered to each other. The silly little birds were confused, not sure whether it was time for their morning arguments or for settling in to roost. They were attempting both at the same time, just to be sure. Distant thunder grumbled.

"So," said Dash.

"Would you like to come in?" said Fluttershy.

"I'm good," said Dash. "Actually, I just had a little something I wanted to show you. If you're not too busy, of course."

"Right," said Fluttershy. She turned her head and as she expected, Angel was standing by the door, watching both ponies. "We'll just be a few minutes, okay?"

He gave her a thumbs-up and a big smile.

Fluttershy shut the door behind her and stepped outside. Half the sky was dark behind the departing storm, the other an impossible shade of royal blue.

"Right this way," said Dash and she trotted down the steps.

The wet grass tickled at Fluttershy fetlocks as she followed and everything felt so fresh. Dash took to the air and Fluttershy looked up. A cloud floated low over her lawn, but not the whispy semi-substantial natural kind. This one had been made by pegasus hooves, packed and sculpeted. It was about three times larger than Dash, who easily guided it to the ground.

There was a rough but comfortable-looking cloud couch on top.

"For you, Fluttershy," said Dash. "Like I said, I want to show you something, but it's a bit of a surprise. So just hop on and keep your eyes closed until I say so, okay?"

Fluttershy walked up to the cloud. It wasn't exactly a cloud chariot, but Dash had even cut steps into the side. She climbed on, settled into the couch, and closed her eyes.

Dash must have started to lift the cloud because Fluttershy heard the soft rustling of her wings and felt the cloud begin to move.

"Listen, " said Fluttershy. "I just wanted to apologize. For what I did in front of Cloud Kicker this afternoon."

"Don't sweat it. "

"I was totally out of line. There isn't any excuse, I'll try to do better -"

Dash raised her voice just a little. "I said we're cool. Just drop it, okay? And no peeking. "

Fluttershy sat in silence. As best as she could tell, Dash was taking them almost straight up. She could feel, deep below her ears, the altitude change, smell the still damp air, possibly even hear the far-off rain, but that was most likely the wind.

Dash's stomach growled.

"Rainbow, " said Fluttershy. "Have you had dinner?"

Dash didn't answer.

"Because it just occurred to me that maybe you just got back from work and... " Fluttershy wanted to apologize for taking so much of Dash's time, but Dash didn't seem to be in the mood to hear it. "If there was somewhere you wanted to go, or maybe I could make something for you - not like dinner dinner. I just feel like I owe you."

The cloud stopped and Fluttershy heard Dash land next to her, felt the down-wash of her wings. "I was busy with something more important. It's not going to kill me if I skip a meal every so often, so please stop worrying. But you know what? That sounds nice. Later. After I..."

Dash paused and Fluttershy couldn't be sure but she thought she heard a gulp. "Well, we're here, and I wanted you to see this. Go ahead and open your eyes."

Fluttershy looked. Dash had brought them above the trees and hills so they could get a good look at the early evening sky. The western sky to their left burned with the red and gold sunset, houses and trees ran into long shadows across the ground, and beyond that the retreating storm hung dark and enormous across half the sky.

Here and there sunlight slanted through gaps in the cloud, casting slashes of light into the rain-shade below. Tiny specks of various colors, pegasi still at work, flickered between light and shadow, herding errant clouds and tickling flashes of lightning from the cells.

The thunder boomed, long-delayed and distant.

"Is it always like this?" asked Fluttershy, spellbound.

"If you get the timing right," said Dash.

"You didn't... Is this why the storm went through late?"

"Hey, it was nothing. The front boss owed me a little favor, that's all. Besides, I was hoping to put a rainbow over there, but, well, things don't always work out."

Most ponies, those who didn't take the time to really get to know Rainbow Dash wouldn't expect her to plan or execute something so inspired. Fluttershy knew better. And yet, something felt like it was breaking inside her. "You did this for me?"

"Well, yeah, you really weren't yourself today. I was hoping to cheer you up and..."

Something brushed across Fluttershy's back. Rainbow's wing gently folded across her shoulders, and strong flight muscles drew the pegasi against each other. Fluttershy sqeezed her eyes tight, but when she felt Dash kiss her cheek, it was too much. Fluttershy didn't sob. She didn't make much sound at all, just a soft wheeze as her chest shrank in on itself.

Dash let go, leaving her wing lying gingerly on Fluttershy's back. "No, no, no, no. You're not supposed to cry!"

Fluttershy threw her forehooves around Dash's chest and took a shuddering breath. "You- You're too g- good." A normal pony might take the time to paint a sunset for his marefriend. Dash painted the sky itself, for a just-friend. It was entirely too much.

Thunder rolled across the hills.

"Darn it, Fluttershy! What's wrong with you? Why'd you have to fall for a pony like me?"

"Sorry." Fluttershy opened her eyes, settled back into her own place. Dash's shoulders and wing-wrists drooped, then she pulled herself together and raised her eyes to meet Fluttershy.

"Don't apologize to me. You. Didn't. Hurt. Me. Apologize to yourself."

"Sor- Um, right."

"Just, ugh. I was right. I said I was only going to hurt you. I'm just too selfish. Do you know what the best part is being selfish? When you screw up a trick maybe you crash or hurt yourself, but it's only you. I can't not hurt you, so you need to get over me."

Dash turned away, and Fluttershy followed her gaze. The sky above the storm had begun to darken to a more somber shade of blue. Cloud-to-cloud lightning flickered inside, like the storm was a line of paper lanterns.

" 'Nopony chooses what she feels,' " said Fluttershy without thinking. Her soft but steady voice surprised herself. " 'She only chooses what she does.' " She set a hoof on Dash's shoulder. "I need to be honest with you."

Dash turned. "Okay."

"You're beautiful. I love you. That's making it really hard for me to think straight. They say this sort of thing doesn't last forever, and I really, really hope that's true because I want your friendship more than anything else."

"I... see," said Dash.

Fluttershy let her hoof fall. They sat in silence for a bit. The sky grew darker and the thunder quieter.

"Can I ask for a favor?" said Dash. "Earlier today you said if there was somepony I had in mind, you'd help me out, right?"

Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat. "Yes. And I choose to." She didn't feel like setting Rainbow up with somepony else, but a nice thing about promises is that a pony can keep them even as they tear her apart inside.

"Even if I'm talking about a mare? I know what I said today and all."

"Yes, Rainbow."

"Okay, good. So here's what I'm thinking: I can walk up to her and say 'hey, you know, I love you,' but that's just words. I wanna do something awesome that will say it for me, but what if she doesn't understand? What do I do then?"

Fluttershy thought it over. "It's not like to be so nervous. Maybe she says yes, maybe she says no, but you won't know unless you try. Count to one and just do it."

"But, what if she doesn't say either? What if we're sitting next to each other and she doesn't get it."

"Well then." Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat. "Lean in close and whisper it. I might be biased, but I'm sure I'm not the only pony who finds you beautiful."

Once again, Dash embraced Fluttershy with her wing and brought her face closer and closer. Fluttershy started to object, but Dash silenced her with a "shh" and nuzzled firm and strong against her neck, finally whispering in her ear, "Fluttershy, are we still on that rooftoop waiting to jump?" She kissed her cheek. "'Cuz I really, really hope we are."

Fluttershy had to give her credit. She looked and acted perfectly sincere. She pushed Dash away. "Rainbow Dash, I have to draw a line somewhere. That was not okay. Not okay at all... but, yes, something like that would probably work."

Dash scowled. "Why do you have to be so soaking selfless all the time? I'm talking about you, Fluttershy! Can you believe that a pony might just want you to have something nice?"

"Oh," said Fluttershy. "Oh." She didn't know what to think or feel. "But you said-"

"I meant everything I said today. I don't know what I feel. But I was thinking today, after you left. You're a wonderful pony and I'm just a screw-up, but if you think I'm worth taking a chance on, we..."

Dash set her forehooves on Fluttershy's shoulders and her gaze bored into Fluttershy's eyes. Her voice was despirate. "Promise me that we're friends first. The worst happens, no matter what, and we'll forgive each other and stay friends."

"I promise," said Fluttershy. "But do you love me?"

Dash leaned closer. Fluttershy could feel her breath against her face as she whispered. "I think so. I care about you. I definitely want to love you." Before Fluttershy could react, Dash kissed her, just a filly's kiss, brief but on the lips. "Please say something."

"This is a bad idea, " breathed Fluttershy. Her body told her that, no, it was a very good idea. She could feel it deep in her gut, an almost-sick twisting feeling. So very much could go wrong, and so very much could go right.

Her entire world shrunk down to Rainbow's face and the weight of her hooves on her shoulders, the smell of rainwater and sweat, the feeling of Rainbows mane as Fluttershy reached both forehooves into it and pulled.

You would never guess it from the jagged-edge cut Rainbow liked, but the straight hairs of her mane were as soft as ground fog. They kissed and Fluttershy dropped her jaw and set her tongue against Rainbow's lips and softly licked.

Apples. The ghost of Rainbow's snack lingered in her mouth. Her tongue and cheeks were soft and fleshy, and she didn't take long to learn to kiss like a mare. Fluttershy giggled. Dash was probably tasting her cinnamon and carrots and oats.

Dash's stomach rumbled again, then thunder joined it, and neither mare could resist laughing. Joyous tears flooded Fluttershy's eyes.

"Okay, Rainbow, don't you dare tell me you aren't hungry."

"I took you up here to watch the sunset. It's not over yet." She threw a forehoof at the sky. "Besides, my mouth is busy."

Already the sky was darkening. Shadows and sunrays swept along the ground, unhurried, to where the pegusi sat blue and yellow and pink and all the colors of the sky. They kissed once more.

4. Dawn

Dawn broke over Dash gently bumping against the edges of her sleep like a foal begging for attention.

It began with the fragrance of hazelnuts, which drifted into Dash's dreams and made it hard to tell where they ended and reality began. They were strange dreams too. Some days something flowed and swirled and licked at the edges of her mind; she felt like she was riding a thrumming cataract of energy, like a microburst in the sky or an undertow pulling her out to sea.

Those days Dash wanted to lose herself in the flow. It was overpowering, but gentle. It wanted to sweep her away and take care of her and - although these dreams usually were vague and elemental for Dash - this time her torrent of feeling had taken the form of her best friend, Fluttershy.

Dash crashed awake where she lay, eyes still closed and body still. She knew instantly that she could never, ever talk about what had just been going through her head. They were just dreams, but then Fluttershy might find out and the poor filly wouldn't know what to make of them, so Dash resolved then and there to ignore what was probably just a meaningless trick of her subconscious.

She rolled to her back with a creaky grunt and drew a forehoof casually up along the curve of her bottom rib, savoring the soft warmth of her belly.

At least, that was what she meant to do, but when she felt the heavy blanket slide over her body, and the firm bed - not a cloud - below it, her eyes flew open in fresher shock.

There was a watercolor of a marigold hanging on the wall, its reds and golds blazing in the morning sunlight. The wall was papered, clean but cracked. Small crates for animals were stacked against it.

Rainbow Dash sat up in bed, her blanket slipping down her chest and her mouth falling open.

It was Fluttershy's house. Hazelnut still hung in the air. And that meant - maybe… maybe last night wasn't all a dream.

The clink of a dish in the kitchen snapped Dash from her stunned state. She was sitting on Fluttershy's guest bed, she realized. Even now, her marefriend - her marefriend! - must be making breakfast. It was morning, and she could smell faintly the pine shavings and other clean animal smells that were always there. Something on tiny paws skittered atop the ceiling overhead.

Out of habit Dash twisted around to preen, the first thing she did every morning. Sleeping on a groundy's mattress always gave her terrible bed-wings.

They didn't look too bad, though. Her secondaries were a bit ruffled, but it looked like her primaries had stayed neatly folded all night. When she brought her mouth to smooth out a twist, she tasted a bit of cinnamon.

So that part was real. Oh boy, that part was real.

"Didn't your mother teach you to preen twice a day?" said Fluttershy last night. Concern pulled at her face lit by shifting candlelight.

"I don't see the point," said Dash. "I'm going to sleep on them and they'll be messed up again by morning." She finished with her towel and hung it on the rack. The air in the bathroom was heavy with humidity and the spicy sandlewood soap that Fluttershy liked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "You lazy pony. Have a seat, then, and let me do it."

"I'm not a little filly. I can-" Dash began, but suddenly Fluttershy was filling her vision with kind, huge eyes and kissing Dash's nose and smiling.

"Of course," she said. "But just because you can doesn't mean I don't want to."

The cinnamon oil she'd used still lingered in the vanes of Dash's feathers. Dash preferred natural wing-care; this was all a little too fru-fru, but she had to admit they did look kind of nice.

More to the point, her feathers had stayed neater than she expected. It took only a moment to make them perfect. Dash hopped out of bed and opened the door and almost ran over Fluttershy who was just about to come in with a tray balanced on her back.

"Oh sorry." She smiled, and her eyes seemed to light up the entire world. Dash's heart pounded, louder in her ears than Fluttershy's voice. "Good morning. Um. If you're up, we can use the table. I just thought..."

"That sounds great, Flutters," said Dash. "I'll just..."

What? "Take a leak?" Not that Dash was self-conscious or anything, but could she be any less romantic?

Once finished, Dash noticed somepony in the bathroom mirror. She was smiling and her eyes almost seemed to sparkle - not at all like herself. She shook her head and scowled and messed up her forelocks with a hoof, but then she only looked mean. Dash experimented with a little bit of a smile, which looked silly, and only then realized she was obsessing.

Dash laughed at herself. There. For a moment, she saw the real Rainbow Dash, carefree, confident, awesome, the usual. She tried to freeze that expression, but the love-struck other filly oozed through. She looked like the heroine of those silly romance novels Fluttershy and Rarity were always talking about.

Whatever. Dash decided to just roll with it. Since when did she start caring about how she looked?

Fluttershy was waiting for her at the little table in her parlor. Small creatures stirred around the margins of the room. The sunlight caught stray strands of her mane, making them a frizzy pink halo. Dash had never realized how beautiful her best friend was. Which was stupid, because she'd been there year after year while Dash had been… not noticing. Stupid.

And now they were together.

Dash took her seat. "This looks amazing, Fluttershy."

Hazelnuts with some kind of syrup in pastry shells were cooling on a plate in the center of the table. She and Flutters each had a glass of carrot juice with a straws in it, and their breakfast steamed in two bowls.

"It's nothing fancy," said Fluttershy. "Just hay and oats, really."

"Sticks and slop!" said Dash, then seeing Fluttershy's eyes fall she added, "That's what Gilda used to call hay and oats, back before... you know. She liked pony food, she just joked around."

"Oh." Fluttershy looked up. "You miss her."

"Good riddance," said Dash and scoffed. There was an over-easy egg on the top of each bowl of oats - the "plop on top" as G would say - and a few slices of buttered toast completed the meal. To change the subject, she picked up a knife and scored the egg's yolk, which flowed into the oats like a liquid sunset. "Woah," she said, her knife clinking on the bowl. "Where'd you get orange eggs?"

"They're supposed to be that color," said Fluttershy. Dash took a bite. "If the hens are healthy and eat plenty of... If they eat a good diet. Um, I wasn't sure how to cook yours, so I just made what I like."

"Overeasy's fine. But seriously, these are excellent. What do you feed them, anyway?"

Fluttershy looked down and chewed her breakfast. That gave Dash a moment to enjoy the slop - there was something in the oats that brought out the grassy spring shine of the hay, and the egg was very rich on her tongue, almost like butter.

Dash swallowed. Somepony else had the food-critic cutie mark and could probably describe it, but she wouldn't even try. All she knew was that it was almost good enough to make her cry - she could feel it in the back of her throat, a joyful tingly tightness.

What was going on, anyway?

"Um, well, chickens feed themselves," said Fluttershy. "If you let them. It's not fair how the big farms keep them cooped up and don't let them hunt and scratch."

"Hunt?" asked Dash. They didn't look like predators.

"Oh. It's a little bit gross. I didn't want to-"

"C'mon. Tell me."

"Insects," admitted Fluttershy. "They eat bugs, and if they don't their eggs don't taste right. I hope you don't mind."

Dash meant to say that it was alright. They really were good eggs, and it would take a lot more than that to gross her out. What came out was: "I love you."

Fluttershy blushed. "I love you too, Dashie."

They sat and steam rose from their breakfast. The moment seemed to stretch and stretch out toward forever, perfect and perfectly strange.

Somepony knocked on the door. Fluttershy got up to answer it, greeting Rarity. She was wearing a ridiculously large purple hat and a pair of silver-gray saddle bags.

"Good morning," said Fluttershy.

"And the best of mornings to you too, dear. I just wanted to thank you for the tea yesterday and return your things, but I can see-" Her eyes met Dash's for the briefest moment.

"It's no bother," said Fluttershy. "Please come in."

"Only if I'm not intruding," said Rarity. When Fluttershy stepped out of her way she allowed herself in.

"We were just having breakfast," said Fluttershy. "I didn't know you were coming..."

"I wouldn't say no to tea if it's no trouble."

"Just a moment," said Fluttershy. "I have a kettle warm." She disappeared into the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

Rarity sat by the table, at right angles to Dash and Fluttershy's places. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Rainbow Dash, what do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, having breakfast?" she ventured.

"Clearly. But what are you doing here, mm? Surely you didn't spend the night."

"So what if I did?" Something very much like lightning prickled at the back of Dash's neck.

Fortunately, Fluttershy came back with the tea, which Rarity took with her magic. Peace reigned for a moment: Rarity sipped her tea, Fluttershy sucked a long drink of carrot juice up her straw, Dash chewed her oats.

Fluttershy said, "So, you can probably guess this already, but I hope Dash won't mind me saying it."

Dash shook her head slightly, but Fluttershy charged ahead.

"You wouldn't believe what she did last night, Rarity. It must have been the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen."

"And you two are dating, then," said Rarity flatly.

"Mmm-hmm," said Fluttershy, a huge grin spreading across her face. She giggled. "Yes. Yes we are."

Dash bit the inside of her mouth, bracing herself.

Rarity smiled. "Congratulations. To both of you. Goodness, and here I am interrupting your breakfast. I am sorry, truly. I should probably be going."

"No, no, please stay," said Fluttershy. "It's always a pleasure to have you visit."

"Yeah," said Dash. "So what's happening, Rarity? It seems like a while since we've seen you..." Dash swallowed hard. The last Rarity had seen of either of them was yesterday morning. Open mouth, insert hoof.

"Oh, I've just been... Well, I spent a good part of yesterday putting my sketches into a portfolio so I might find a model today. Just between the three of us, I have good feelings about this show."

Dash chased her oats with her carrot juice, bittersweet and bright. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Oh, Dash dear," - Rarity sipped her tea - "it's no trouble. You're not the only pegasus in Ponyville, after all. If the runway isn't your forte that is nothing to apologize for. I suspect you two had the more interesting day, mm?"

Dash scowled. Sure, there were other pegasi, but no way were any of them half as good-looking as she was. Not that she'd changed her mind, but...

Fluttershy filled the gap. "Oh, yes. We practiced flying together. I even did a... what was that called?"

"Stoop-and-Swoop," said Dash. Her sticks-and-slop-with-a-plop were getting heavy. What was Rarity's problem, anyway?

Dash let Fluttershy fill Rarity in, drawing loops and dives with her hooves and making soft "whoosh" and "whee" noises. Dash soldiered through the rest of her oats and a slice of toast and kept an eye on Rarity's reaction.

"So I guess it wasn't all bad I let myself get so carried away," Fluttershy finished. She blushed. "I... do you think I'm a bad pony, Rarity?"

Rarity had set her empty teacup down. Now she poured herself another half cup as she answered. "Fluttershy, I can scarcely imagine you doing anything wrong."

"I... I did jump Rainbow."

"That was more my fault," Dash admitted. "We were talking, and I kinda brought up the idea that I should practice dating somepony else and I guess that was a little too much. But, hey, no harm no foul, right?"

Rarity set her cup down. Dash could see her bite her lip. Fluttershy said, "But then we practiced flying - and Dash painted a sunset for me. I wish you could have seen it."

"I did, darling."

"Oh, but from a cloud, Rarity!"

Dash allowed herself a smile that might have been a little smug. "Yeah, I have no idea how I'm going to outdo that one."

Rarity blinked. Fluttershy smiled at Dash. "Would you care for a pastry, Rainbow?"

"Oo, yes please."

Fluttershy answered - not with words but by half-climbing the table, her wings mantling for balance. She picked up one of the hazelnut-filled shells and before either of her friends could properly react, she had passed it to Dash, brushed her lips-to-lips, and backed down to her place.

It was electric. Dash loved hazelnuts - and Rarity's speechlessness now was as sweet as the honey on them. Fluttershy said, "Don't worry about it. I think it's my turn now, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash took her time chewing and swallowing. "Ah. Is that how the rules go?"

"Rules?" asked Rarity. Her voice was small. "She is not just a game."

The air seemed to chill, or at least the silence made it feel that way.

"Sounds like a good rule to me..." said Fluttershy.

"Look," said Dash. She fixed Rarity's eyes. "Did anypony ask your advice?"

Rarity cleared her throat, politely.

"You're a good friend, but sometimes you don't know when to keep your mouth shut. Since when have I ever had 'just' game. I have game, not 'just' game. And I've got-" In the flash of a thunderstroke, Dash saw herself and Rarity and Fluttershy, who was cringing ever so slightly. And in the same flash, Dash saw herself with a much younger Fluttershy, weathering a storm of words that wounded the pink-maned filly more than they ever did her friends.

Dash meant to say she had it, but the lie died in her throat. "I've… I don't really know what I'm doing. I don't think about this sort of thing, or read those stories or anything. I just… Fluttershy, I want to make you happy, so I'm sorry."

Fluttershy shook her head and laughed. "Oh Dash, I love you just the way you are. But you really haven't read any romance stories, have you?"

"Whaddya mean?" Dash looked from Fluttershy to Rarity, who sure enough was trying to hide a smile, or possibly a smirk.

Rarity answered. "They're just fantasies anyway. Not how one should really go about finding one's soulmate."

"I'll save you the trouble of reading that stuff," said Fluttershy. "They pretty much all end like this: 'Then at long last they kissed and lived happily ever after.' At least, the happy ones do."

"Really?" said Dash. "Sounds more like a beginning to me."

That earned her a giggle at least from her friends, both of them, but Dash couldn't help feeling a little bit lost and out-of-place herself. "Seriously though," she said. "What do we do now?"

"We mustn't let ourselves get completely absorbed in each other," said Fluttershy. "I should wake Angel and feed the animals and I'm sure you have your responsibilities, too."

"Well, traditionally..." Rarity cleared her throat. "The second date is the stallion's responsibility, of course, but... Yes. It won't kill you two to give each other a little space. You wouldn't want to exhaust each other, and it takes time for feelings to mature. Haha. Not that I'm exactly the expert anyway."

"Like I said," said Fluttershy catching Dash's eye. "This one's my turn. I've got an idea, so just be patient."

Dash stood. "Yeah," she said and then, because she could, she stepped close to Fluttershy. The way the morning light caught in her eyes was really something - she could hardly wait to see them again. "See you around." She put her forehooves on Fluttershy's shoulders and embraced her, and they kissed. Dash was really starting to like that part.

Rarity left with Dash, saying that there was a "little something" she wanted to ask her about. They walked side by side, Rarity humming a little tune.

Her humming stopped once they were out of earshot. Both ponies' hooves crunched in the dirt, already warm in the morning sun.

"Rainbow Dash," said Rarity with soft intensity. "I ask you again: What are you doing?"

Dash stopped. "What? I'm doing what you said."

" 'What I sa-' " sputtered Rarity. "Rainbow Dash, I told you to console her. Not to- to bed her, you stupid, stupid pony!"

"Nuh-uh," said Dash. "You said, and I quote here: 'Rainbow Dash, in this store she who breaks any merchandise has purchased it. That goes for hearts as well.' " She took to the air.

At least, Dash tried to take to the air and would have flown off in a huff, but Rarity grabbed hold of her wings - her wings! - so that Dash could barely hover, shocked, between the silence and bird-calls.

"You are not yet dismissed, missy," said Rarity, her accent slipping from Manehattan back toward its Ponyville roots. "I will not see Fluttershy taken advantage of for anypony's amusement or experiment. And if you're thinking that you can't get her in a family situation earns you a free pass, think again. You will not toy with my best friend's heart. Am I clear?"

"Rarity." Anger licked at Dash's ears. "What's with you and sex? I'm honest here. I will make her happy. And, seeing how I've known her a lot longer than you have, I might know a thing or two more about your best friend than you do."

"Are you telling me you did not take-"

Dash leveled a shaking hoof at Rarity, who glared at her under hat and horn. "Last night isn't your business. And if you're so sure it is, you can go ask her yourself. Now let me go."

Rarity took a deep breath and lowered her eyes. "Promise me you're doing this for the right reasons."

"Of course I am."

"Say you love her!"

Dash looked Rarity in her eyes, sapphire-blue, angry and for whatever reason hurt. "I love her," she said. Her voice cracked.

Rarity let her go, and Dash went, faster and faster, trying to wash the shame off her wings. Whether it was the imprint of Rarity's touch or of honest guilt, Dash couldn't be sure.

But everything that had felt so perfectly right the night before now lay between the light of dawn and shade of doubt.