Rainbow Dash's hoof tapped against the folding table dully, her boredom measuring out a promising morning that had turned into a dragging day.
"Um… Rainbow Dash…?"
"Five more minutes."
"Oh. Alright then..."
It was the eighth set of five more minutes so far.
The sky overhead was bright and clear, only a few clouds lightly scattered across its cheery blue expanse. It was perfect weather for flying, which made Dash even more frustrated that she was stuck on the ground, waiting for more potential teammates who didn't seem to be coming. Time was ticking away until applications for the Equestria Games would close. Strangely though, not everypony seemed to share her appreciation for the incredible opportunity this presented - so far the only two who'd been interested in joining her team-in-the-making were Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps. They were both great ponies, but she wasn't so sure they were cut out for such a high-profile competition. Unfortunately, three long hours had passed without any other prospects, and the blue mare found herself getting antsy.
Suddenly, Dash's ears perked, hearing hoofsteps approaching. Quickly cheering up, she turned to look at the approaching mares. Yes, they were both pegasi! She began racking her brains. Come on, what were their names…? Oh, right!
"Bluebell! Candy Floss! Hey!" Dash said in an ever-so-slightly desperate voice, quickly moving to cut them off. She put on her biggest grin, resting her hooves on their shoulders. "How would you guys like a shot at flying for Ponyville in the Equestria Games? You could even become famous if we do well enough! How awesome would that be?"
The pair exchanged glances before shaking their heads and removing her hooves. "Sorry Dash," the blue mare apologized. "I like a good race almost as much as you, but who wants to try and beat the Wonderbolts?"
"B-but-" stammered Rainbow Dash.
Candy Floss nodded. "Yeah, and I kind of like just… you know… watching the Games instead. It's easier. And more fun! And you can get snacks if you're hungry. Oh, there's this guy with a food cart with these great nachos, yeah, and he loads them up with so much cheese-"
"Okay, I get it, thanks," Dash said, cutting her off. She sat down on the ground with a frustrated sigh as the mares trotted off, then glanced back at her only two applicants once more. Fluttershy was one of her best friends, and Dash knew they'd both do anything for each other, but things like the Games required a certain… aggressiveness that the shy yellow mare didn't really have. Not normally, anyway. A grimace crossed her face as she recalled the whole Iron Will fiasco from a while back. Yeah, probably better not to try and reenact that…
And then there was Bulk Bicep, sitting next to Fluttershy. The beefy stallion was a nice guy, and had enthusiasm to spare (and ruin your hearing if he let it loose near you), but flying was about speed and agility, while his huge muscles and diminutive wings were about… neither of those things. And then, on top of everything else, Fluttershy was clearly terrified of the white pegasus. Granted, she was terrified of most things, but she had been slowly getting a little bit more brave in recent years. However it seemed that Bulk's sheer… well, bulk, made her more than a little uncomfortable. She was obviously torn between trying to lean away from him and not wanting to look rude by leaning too far.
Bulk Bicep, on the other hoof, seemed perfectly comfortable - almost obliviously so - but he was mostly just sitting there watching the clouds and birds. How could the two of them be on a team when they could barely even speak to each other?
Rainbow Dash sighed again. Oh well. At this point, she might as well face facts - this was her team. Doing her best to put on a smile, Dash got up and turned to the two.
"Heh heh… Well, congratulations!" she said, approaching them. "Looks like the three of us will be representing Ponyville this year!"
Fluttershy began to smile, looking genuinely pleased that she got a spot on the team, and for a split second, Dash felt her own spirits lift as well. Unfortunately, Bulk Biceps was a bit quicker on the draw in voicing his excitement.
"YEAAAAAAHH!"
While Dash was nearly getting blown back from Bulk's raw volume, Fluttershy seemed to vanish into thin air with a terrified squeak and a blur of yellow. After taking a moment to recover and dig her hoof into her ear to make sure she hadn't gone deaf, Rainbow Dash began looking around for her friend. Darn it, why can't she move that fast when she's flying? she thought.
"Fluttershy? Fluttershyyyy…" Dash continued searching for a few minutes, puzzled. They were in the middle of the town square in broad daylight, and there wasn't a market today. Where in Equestria could she have gone? Suddenly something caught her eye. Moving towards it, the little pink blob resolved itself into the tip of Fluttershy's tail. Sticking out of a gopher hole. Where in Equestria was right, apparently. How did she even get down there?
"Uh, Fluttershy…?"
For a moment there was no response, then all at once the dirt around the little mound began shifting and rising. With an audible "pop" and a spray of dirt Fluttershy was tossed out of the hole in the ground by a group of its chittering inhabitants.
"Oh… h-hello, Rainbow Dash…" she said with a sheepish grin.
Before Dash could say anything, a tiny voice clearing its throat caught both the mares' attentions. The largest gopher was tapping his paw and pointing back at the hole that had been his living room.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Gopher… I just got so startled, I wasn't thinking clearly… Please, let me help you put your home back together? I've got some dried fruit you can have too…"
The two biggest rodents looked at her for a moment, before turning and chirruping briefly to each other. After their deliberation, they both turned back to Fluttershy and nodded, apparently forgiving her. Relieved, Fluttershy produced the promised food from somewhere in her mane, giving it to them with a smile. Once they had it stashed away, she helped them move the scattered dirt back into place, and in no time at all their home was back in order. With a final squeak and a wave farewell, the gophers disappeared back down their hole, leaving Fluttershy with Rainbow Dash.
"All better, Fluttershy?"
"Um… I suppose so…?" she answered, obviously still nervous.
Rolling her eyes a little, Dash moved over to Fluttershy's side and sat down next to her, placing a leg over her shoulders. "Look, Fluttershy, I know Bulk Biceps is a big guy, but he's not scary. Like, not even a little. Mostly he's just kind of loud."
Fluttershy didn't respond.
"…okay, really loud. But he's nice too, I promise."
"R-really? I mean, I'm sure he is, it's just… we've never really talked… and he's so…" Fluttershy trailed off, looking down and pawing at the ground a little.
Dash sighed again. She could already tell this was going to take time they didn't have. Maybe they didn't have much hope of beating the Wonderbolts… well, any hope of beating them, really… but she was still determined to do Ponyville proud and place as high as possible. And for that, even more important than training like there was no tomorrow, they needed teamwork. And for that, they needed to be comfortable around each other. If only there was some way to show Fluttershy what a softy Bulk really was... But as long as Dash was trying to get them to be friends, Fluttershy would be more worried about disappointing Dash than actually getting to know Bulk. How could she make them talk without making them talk? Still thinking, she looked back to the large stallion. Fluttershy's reaction to his yelling hadn't seemed to upset him at least. He was just watching a ladybug crawling on a flower growing out of the dirt. When he wasn't doing anything physically demanding or exciting, he was actually really tame…
Dash's eyes lit up. That was an idea… She didn't have any way to pull it off herself, but somepony else might… Quickly getting up, she stepped away from Fluttershy until she could address them both directly. "Alright, we need to get going on our training, but I've got to go do something before we get started. You two hang out here and try to…. why don't you team up and… uh…" Completely at a loss for any sort of suggestions to keep them occupied, she just scratched the back of her neck.
"…just wait here, okay?"
After getting a nod of agreement from them both, she crouched down before leaping up and taking to the sky. Hopefully her idea would work….
"What do you think Twilight? Will you help me out?"
"Well, I'm not so sure I'm comfortable agreeing to do something when you won't even tell me what it is you want me to do, Dash."
"Come on, Twilight!" she pleaded, throwing herself down and clinging to Twilight's front legs. "Every second I spend explaining is a second we're not training for the Games! I'm not gonna ask you to do anything weird; I just need something to break the ice. Otherwise our team is never going to stand a chance!"
"You know, if it's that hard to find somepony to join the team, maybe it would be better to just skip joining the Games this year."
Rainbow Dash blinked, staring up at Twilight. The sounds the princess had just made seemed like words, but they didn't make any sort sense Dash could understand.
Twilight sighed. "….fine… but tell me what you're planning first? Please?"
Immediately cheering up, Dash turned and bolted out the door, calling back over her shoulder. "No time! Come on!"
Twilight stared after her friend for a second, then sighed again. Trotting over to the door, she paused and turned around. "Spike, I'm going out for a bit! Will you be alright on your own?"
There was a brief pause before his voice called out from the back of the library in response. "Uh… sure thing, Twilight!"
Twilight blinked. He sounded kind of distracted… after a moment, she smirked. In a playful tone, she called back to him, "And don't spend too long making kissy faces at that photo of Rarity, okay?" A surprised gasp and several thumps and thuds confirmed her suspicions as he fumbled with whatever he was using to prop the picture up. She couldn't help but giggle a little to herself before trotting outside. Pulling the door closed behind her, she gave her wings a few warm-up flaps before spreading them wide and taking off, winging her way towards the town square.
Still sitting pretty much where Dash had left him, Bulk Biceps scratched the back of his head. She sure was… quiet. "So… do you like working out?"
Fluttershy, who hadn't moved much either, seemed to shrink into her mane a little. "Um… n-no… not really…"
"Oh… okay." Bulk wasn't really sure what to do. Fluttershy had always been very polite the few times they'd crossed paths before, but they'd never had any extended interaction. And he was usually more about talking than trying to get others to talk. "…It's fun, though."
Fluttershy nodded quietly. "That's nice…"
The pair quickly fell back into silence, and he started gazing around again. The quiet dragged on for several long minutes, only broken up by the sound of the breeze and ponies going about their business in the distance.
Eventually, something caught Bulk Bicep's eye. Turning his head towards the light, flittering motion, he was delighted to see a beautiful blue butterfly floating nearby. He watched it intently, soon noticing that several more of them had started to appear. They were all different colors and sizes, and each was as lovely as the last. "This is awesome! I've never seen this many before!"
Fluttershy, who had been engrossed in the slowly thickening cloud of butterflies as well, turned to him just in time to see him chuckle happily as a large swallowtail butterfly landed on the very tip of his muzzle. "Oh? You like butterflies too?"
"Yeah!" he said, not seeming to notice her flinch slightly at the word. "It's cool how they can taste with their feet."
Despite what she thought was going to be another outburst, Fluttershy was able to continue the conversation almost uninterrupted, finally having something she was comfortable discussing. "Oh, I know, and they're all so pretty, and there's so many different species!"
However many kinds there were, most of them seemed to be present around the pair, as the air was now filled with butterflies of every shape, size and color. Seeing a black and white set of wings land on Fluttershy's outstretched hoof, Bulk turned and scooted closer, grinning widely. "Oh wow, that's a Zebra butterfly! They're my favorite kind!"
Fluttershy giggled for a second before pausing and turning her ear towards the butterfly in question. "He says 'Thank you very much for the compliment!'"
Bulk blinked, confused, before his eyes widened, finally understanding what she meant. "…You can talk to them?" he asked, looking to her in amazement.
She nodded with another small laugh. "Yes, I can! I can talk to every animal! Uh, well, I mean I can talk to a lot of the ones around Ponyville, at least."
"That's awesome!" he cried, leaning in until his his eyes nearly crossed and his muzzle was pressed right to the insect's wing. "What else is he saying?"
Fluttershy listened for a moment. "Oh, uh… he's saying that your breath is kind of warm for him…"
Looking sheepish, Bulk quickly leaned back, covering his mouth and nose with a hoof. "Oh… heh heh, sorry…"
Fluttershy smiled to him. "He says it's alright, and thank you for giving him some space."
The bug nodded in the big pony's direction, then took off from Fluttershy's hoof, rejoining the swarm surrounding them. As the two happily delved into a discussion of all things butterfly, pointing out different species and admiring their visitors, Dash watched from a distance, smiling proudly. "See Twilight? I knew what I was doing."
Twilight, standing next to her, nodded as the glow from her horn faded after forming one last butterfly to join the others. "You were right, Dash. I'm really impressed. I haven't seen Fluttershy open up to somepony so easily since she first met Spike."
Dash waved a hoof cooly. "Aw, go on…"
When Twilight, busy watching the new friends, didn't respond, Dash elaborated: "No, I mean it. Go on and on and on."
Twilight shook her head, rolling her eyes with a smile. "Alright captain, I think your team is waiting for you to start their training."
Dash's eyes widened. How could she almost forget that?! Hurrying over to Fluttershy and Bulk, she called out to them happily. "Alright, team! Is everyone ready to get some good, hard practice in for the Equestria Games?"
Fluttershy, despite knowing what was coming from Bulk next, didn't even flinch when he roared out one of his biggest "YEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"s yet. The massive grizzly bear hug he pulled the mares into immediately after did catch them both off-guard, though. After freeing her forelegs, she hugged him right back, throwing in her own delicate "Yay!" Dash, meanwhile, was having a little more trouble with his vice-like grip, having heard a slightly worrying crack come from her back when he grabbed her.
"ERK! Uh… love the enthusiasm, Bulk, but can you- Crk! - OOF! …ease up a little?"
The big stallion blushed, relaxing his grip. "Heh heh… sorry."
Dash couldn't help but laugh. Well, it was going to be a long road to the Equestria Games for the three of them, but helping her teammates each make a new friend wasn't a bad way to start.