* Epilogue *

A familiar cottage. A weekly visit. A cheerful greeting.

“Come in, Rainbow Dash!”

“Heya, Fluttershy!”

The day was another long, hot, summery affair, though there was at least a cooling breeze to provide some comfort, and a few scattered clouds in the sky provided slow-moving patches of shade here and there.

Dash sauntered into the cottage and subconsciously looked over to the dining table, noting that Fluttershy had already set out the two Battleclouds boards. Seeing them lanced her with a strange, odd pang of disappointment. Fluttershy must have noticed something because her happy smile fell a little. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Nah... it’s just, I thought we should probably play something different today...” said Dash, weakly. Memories of the previous week were still strong, and with this being the game that had triggered a whole day of futile shenanigans, she’d rather lost her appetite for it in the short term, not to mention for actually wanting to beat Fluttershy at it.

“But I thought you understood? I don’t mind if...”

“Yeah, I do, I get it,” said Dash. “But it still feels wrong for me, y’know? I just feel like we need a different game. At least this week.” She really didn’t feel like a whole afternoon of relentless victories against Fluttershy today. Why wasn’t there a game they could play that Fluttershy would have an even chance of winning at? Or even drawing at? Tieing a game would be better than...

Oh.

Oh. It was so obvious!

Dash’s face lit up into a wide grin and she reached out and wrapped her leg around Fluttershy’s forehoof, speaking excitedly. “Come with me!” She raced, Fluttershy in tow, to the windows at the rear of the house. Pushing them open, they leaped through into the rear garden, finding themselves on the warm, soft grass.

Scanning around, Dash quickly found a patch of bare, dusty earth and a short, sharp stick which she took in her mouth. While Fluttershy watched, Dash drew a pair of parallel lines in the dirt, and then two more, perpendicular to the first pair and trisecting them into thirds, creating an open-sided three-by-three grid.

Fluttershy looked up, confused. “Noughts and crosses?”

“Exactly!” cried Dash. “Trust me, there’s no way you’re gonna lose today. In fact, you might even win, because if there’s one thing I learned last week... it’s that I am terrible at this game!” She grinned. “So, you wanna be X’s, or O’s?”

Fluttershy looked up and smiled warmly. “O’s, please.”

“Okay then,” said Dash, passing Fluttershy the stick. “You go first.”

—End—

Author's Note

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As always, thank you for reading.

In keeping with my tradition of keeping with my tradition of writing about things that have been done before and far better elsewhere, this is my Rainbow Dash / Fluttershy story.

Well, I say it's a story. It's actually a thinly-disguised excuse to try and put on paper my headcanon as it relates to Dash and Fluttershy's history and relationship, and to try and 'fix' some of the times when maybe Dash hasn't been as 'nice' to Fluttershy as I thought she might be.

Yeah. I know. Riveting stuff, right?

I'm aware that, in light of at least one recent episode, certain portions of the 'past' part of the narrative are now contradicted by canon. I would have loved to have fixed this, but the framework of the story was already well in place by the time it aired, and I didn't see a way of doing it while still telling the story I needed to. If this has dulled your enjoyment, I can only apologise.

I'm also aware – and I may get taken to task for this – that in the official comics (the Fluttershy micro) she did, in fact, win a competition. And in the recent Friends Forever edition featuring the two of them she receives a large gold trophy at the end. And it was going so well up to that point. So while I enjoy trying to incorporate comic-canon into my stories when I can, in this instance I've had to disregard it. Again, this may bother you, and I can only apologise for it. I wasn't expecting the sands to shift so much, but I was bound to get caught eventually. I've actually been pretty lucky that, to date, not much I've written has fallen foul of new episodes and new canon.

Please don't mistake any of this for me trying to defend the premise of this story, which is clearly flimsier than a piece of tracing-paper caught in a hurricane. Bonus points will be awarded to whomever is the first to point out the contest / competition / game that Fluttershy has won, that I've completely missed or forgotten, and thus renders this whole story moot.

Still, I hope you found something to enjoy here. Long time readers may have noticed the return of Pale Frost. Newer readers might be interested to learn what happened between the two of them when Dash returned to Cloudsdale Curriculum years later. If you want, you can read that chapter here

Anyway, with fortune and a fair wind I hope I'll see you again soon, perhaps after I've had another (better) idea.

Stay safe, and have fun.

—The Author.

—

And now, for your optional enjoyment, deleted (and unedited) scenes...

Clad in shining silver armour, Rainbow Dash stood over the form of her vanquished opponent, cowering as she was upon a bed of straw.

“Isn’t there somepony else who can take over the jousting demonstration with you?” she squeaked.

Dash frowned. “The fate of an entire empire rests on us showing these ponies a good time!” she argued. “Of course, if that’s not important to you...”

Fluttershy let out a soft whine, hiding her muzzle behind her hooves.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed. “Ugh, fine. I’ll take it easy on you next time.” She turned and began to walk away, registering Fluttershy slowly getting to her hooves. She grinned. “But not too easy! I’ve got a reputation to maintain!”

She trotted back towards her own end of the rail and took up her position once more. At the far end, Fluttershy staggered to her hooves and once again stood facing her, wobbly and unsteady. Ugh, this really wasn’t going to do. These Crystal Ponies needed to be entertained.

Then, with a smirk, something clicked. Reputation. And with it, an idea formed. It was a shame Spike wasn’t around to do the announcing, actually, but you couldn’t have it all. She’d have to improvise a little.

She raised her head proudly and spoke in the loudest, deepest, boomiest voice she could muster. “Aha! You were a fool to think you could defeat me, Flutterbrave! You are no match for... The Black Dash!” Oh, lawks it was cheesy, but the crowd ate it up! Suddenly this wasn’t a sport anymore, it was pantomime. Some boo’s were tossed her way, and there was a sudden swell of support for the underdog opposite her. Dash had to admit, it was a refreshing change, being the villain.

She scraped the ground with a forehoof and at the signal she took off at a gallop. From the far end of the rail Fluttershy mustered herself to a slow canter, a reluctant grimace on her face and her eyes mostly closed, face turned away.

Dash grinned and extended her wings, drawing them as far back and up as possible. She raced towards Fluttershy, running headlong towards the tip of her lance while aiming her own deliberately wide...

Skwiffff

PRANG!

At the exact moment Fluttershy’s lance made contact with her chestplate, Dash beat her wings once, down and forward, with as much force as she could muster. Combined with the impact it was enough to reverse her momentum and she launched herself high and backwards in an arc, to land safely and squarely on her own bed of straw.

The crowd roared. And from the roar, a chant began, loud and staccato, with more voices joining all the time. “FLUTTER-BRAVE, FLUTTER-BRAVE!”

Fluttershy simply stood at the midpoint of the rail and looked utterly astonished, a little pink colouring her cheeks as she was showered with adoration. Her gaze fell on Rainbow Dash and she trotted over. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“Nah, I’m good,” said Dash with a grin. Then she hollered, “You win this round, Flutterbrave! But The Black Dash will ride again!” Dash winked and lowered her voice. “Now you’ve got a reputation to maintain.”

“I’m not giving up, you know,” said Dash. “Seven-legged racing might have been a bust, but there’s tons of stuff out there we can do. Like tennis-doubles. Or Bridge.”

“Do you... even know how to play Bridge?” asked Fluttershy.

“Hey, we both know where I could find a rule-book on it,” argued Dash. “I’d even read it! The point is, we can still be a team. You and me? We’re bound to win something somewhere down the line but... how about we just do it for fun and let that take care of itself, okay?”

“Does... that mean you don’t want to play our weekly game anymore?” asked Fluttershy with a sad little look.

Dash looked back.

There was a question she had asked herself earlier in the day. She had wondered why Fluttershy continued playing that game with her every week when she knew she’d never win. But it wasn’t winning that she cared about. It wasn’t even the game, really. It was simply the fact that every week, her friend made time for her. And, Rainbow Dash resolved to herself then and there that she always would. Always.

“Hey, why break with tradition, right? It’s not like we only see each other once a week. Trust me, I’ll be there next Tuesday. Same time as always.”