By Blood or Choice

by Krickis

Chapters

1 – What Matters Most
2 – Making Time
3 – Nowhere but the Top
4 – Rumors
5 – It's Just as Important

1 – What Matters Most

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By Blood or Choice

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Chapter One
What Matters Most

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Nothing mattered. Nothing except speed. Everything else just faded to the background, letting Rainbow Dash push herself harder and harder.

Cheers, wind, other ponies. None of it mattered. None of it even existed in Dash’s world. Just speed. Keep going. Faster. Faster.

Two laps to go. Everything blurred in her vision, and yet, she could see perfectly. Any other pony might have a harder time, but not Dash. The world at these speeds was as natural to her as if she was standing still.

Her body practically moved on its own, always seeking out the best course for her to take. Even on autopilot, Dash could fly circles around any of the other racers.

One lap to go. Were any of the others even in the race anymore? Dash didn’t know. Not like it mattered. None of them had passed her, and that’s all that mattered. That, and speed. Dash wasn’t racing the others, she was racing herself. The only one who could give her any real challenge.

And then it was over. She skidded to a halt, kicking up bits of cloud as she did. “Time?”

“Five minutes twenty-eight seconds,” a stallion said. “Impressive.”

Impressive? Yeah right. “I can do better.”

“Yes, you can.” A light red hoof patted her shoulder, so she looked into the face of the stallion it was attached to. Gale Force had a black mane and mustache, both of which had flecks of grey in them. “Don’t sweat it, though. It’s just practice and it’s a good time.”

Despite his words, Dash still bowed her head. “I’ll do better in the real race.”

Gale Force chuckled. “You know, it’s still the best time of the day.”

“Doesn’t matter. I can do better. I will do better.”

“I know, Dash.” He looked back at the other racers, the fastest of which were coming close to finishing. “Go get yourself a drink and take five. We’re running some drills after, and I don’t want you overdoing it.”

“You got it, Coach!” Dash showed him a confident grin, but when she walked away, all she felt was defeated. True, nopony had beaten her time. Nopony except herself. No matter how hard she pushed herself, no matter how much she put into each and every race and drill, she couldn’t match her old times.

A few months ago, she could have done that track in four minutes, easy. Now it was over five? What had happened to her? Ever since that race a few months ago, everything changed. She’d pulled off a sonic rainboom, she’d earned her cutie mark; how the heck was she not getting faster!?

There was only one thing she could think of, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Not that she hadn’t tried. There was one thing about that day that wasn’t awesome. In fact, it was nothing short of horrific. That was the last day she’d ever seen Fluttershy.

But no matter how much she searched, Dash couldn’t find any trace of her. No one answered when she tried to check at Fluttershy’s house, no one at school had seen her, she was never at their usual hangouts. There was no trace of her at all, and worst of all, no one else seemed to care.

Dash took a seat on the bleachers and lazily looked over the other racers. Maybe she could go around Cloudsdale again after training was over. Not like she was going to be missed if she came home late.

“Hello, stranger,” a soft voice said from behind her.

Dash wheeled around to see a yellow filly smiling at her. “Fluttershy!?”

Fluttershy giggled. “It’s nice to see you too, Dash.”

Dash had to shake her head to try and clear the confusion, which didn’t really work too well. It didn’t matter, Fluttershy was here just when Dash needed her to be! A grin spread across her lips. “Where the buck have you been?”

Fluttershy climbed down the bleacher to be on the same level as Dash and gave her a hug. Dash quickly glanced towards the others to make sure nopony was watching before hugging her back.

“I live in Ponyville now,” Fluttershy said as she pulled away from Dash. “It’s, uhm… it’s a long story.”

“Ponyville?” Dash cocked her head to the side. “But your dad was home when I went to check on you. Didn’t tell me where you were, just said to get lost…”

It seemed that now it was Fluttershy’s turn to check for others. “Can we, uhm, can we go somewhere more private? I’ll tell you, it’s just…”

Dash nodded. “Yeah, of course. Can you come back at five? I’ll be done with practice and we can hang.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy’s eyes fell to the ground. “I have to get back before then. I have a job now.”

Dash couldn’t decide if it was cool Fluttershy was working or lame that it meant she couldn’t hang out. She ran through her options quickly and decided catching up with Fluttershy would help her racing more than practicing would at this point. “Hold on, I’ll see what I can do.”

She flew back to Gale Force, who was busy timing a colt. She waited patiently, knowing better to interrupt him when he was getting someone’s time.

“Five minutes, forty-two seconds,” Gale Force said as the colt came to a stop. “Great job, Windfall.”

“Thanks, Coach.” The dark green colt grinned as if he had come in first place. Windfall was consistently the runner up for all of Dash’s records, and he was cocky that he’d soon be passing her. To be fair, he was getting closer, but he still didn’t have a hope in Tartarus of actually passing her.

Gale Force noticed Dash. “Ready for more?”

“Actually…” She scratched her neck as she decided on her excuse. “My cousin just got into town, and she’s leaving in a few hours.”

Dash looked towards Fluttershy. She had disappeared while they were still in a different class, so even if Gale Force had seen her around, he shouldn’t know who she was exactly. Dash just had to hope that none of the ponies who did would blow her cover.

“And you want to ditch practice.” Gale Force frowned, but Dash knew he was just putting on a show. He liked to look serious, but he was really soft at heart.

Of course, that just made Dash feel guilty that she might be doing something to let him down. “I’ll come by early tomorrow. By the time you get here, I’ll have been running drills for an hour and be ready for more!”

Gale Force grinned. “You bet your flank you will! Go ahead, but be careful. Windfall’s catching up to you, and he’s getting faster every day.”

Dash turned to the overconfident colt. “Yeah, catching up to me in his dreams. I’ve got this.”

“Nah, that top spot is mine,” Windfall said as he caught his breath. “And if you’re gonna be here early tomorrow, you can bet I’ll be here too!”

Gale Force chuckled. “That’s what I like to hear. Now go on, we’ll see you tomorrow, Dash.”

“Later!” Dash turned tail and kicked off, making a show of kicking up a cloud in Windfall’s direction as she went. She was still grinning when she landed next to Fluttershy. “Let’s go, I made time.”

Dash led them out of the course, and they made their way downtown. Along the way, she talked about the progress she was making in her flying, which Fluttershy seemed to enjoy. For her part, Dash was just glad to have her best friend back.

The two of them did make for an odd pair, but they had been inseparable as fillies. It was a little hard to place why; they didn’t exactly share a lot of interests with one another. Still, Dash always liked having Fluttershy around.

Things changed a little when they became teenagers and Dash started to get a little more serious about her flying. But even so, they still met up regularly. At least right up until Fluttershy disappeared to… Ponyville, was it?

But that was over now, and Fluttershy was back. All that was left to do was catch up for the lost time.

It only took a few minutes to get downtown. It would’ve gone by faster, but Fluttershy insisted on walking everywhere she went, for some reason. Some things just never changed.

There was no question about their final destination. As soon as they got downtown, they made a beeline for their favorite ice cream shop. And to Dash’s surprise, Fluttershy paid for them both.

“I can’t believe the old man actually let you get a job,” Dash said as they took their seats. She had a hot fudge sundae, while Fluttershy had gotten herself a strawberry milkshake.

But instead of drinking it, Fluttershy just stared at her milkshake. “He, uhm, he didn’t exactly let me…”

Dash took a bite of her sundae. “What do you mean?”

Fluttershy looked around them before leaning closer. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.” Dash scooted closer as well. “What’s up?”

Fluttershy leaned across the table as much as she could while staying in her seat. Her voice was even quieter than usual when she spoke. “I ran away from home.”

“No way.” Dash couldn’t keep a grin from slowly creeping across her face. “That’s bucking awesome!”

Fluttershy blushed and leaned back again, finally starting to drink her milkshake.

“So I guess that’s why I haven’t been able to find you. You had me worr– I mean, er, I was kinda wondering what happened.”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, don’t be. Glad you finally got away from him.”

Fluttershy kept sipping on her milkshake, but her frown was still apparent.

Dash took a bite of her sundae while she figured out how to backpedal the conversation. It wasn’t hard, since she had so many questions about what Fluttershy had been up to. “So when did all this happen, anyway?”

“It was the day you raced against those colts that were picking on me.”

“Seriously? Jeez, that was a heck of a day then.” Rainbow wanted to launch into her own story about what had happened on that day, but she held her tongue.

“Yeah. I, uhm…” Fluttershy looked ashamed. “Well, I fell. All the way to the ground.”

It was easy to see what the problem was. Even a weak flyer should be able to correct a fall before hitting solid ground. But it sounded like things worked out in the end, so Dash decided not to press it. “So you’re living alone now?”

That got Fluttershy to smile again. “Uh huh. I found all these animals, and the mayor gave me a job looking after them. I have my own house, and… he’s nowhere around.”

“About damn time.” So much for keeping the conversation off him. Fluttershy’s father, Stormy Skies. One of the worst ponies Rainbow had ever met, to say the least. But if Dash was going to have to work to keep the conversation away from him, she was okay with that. “So what’s it like living on the ground? Pretty weird, I bet.”

“Oh no, it’s nice.” Fluttershy explained about the differences between the ground and Cloudsdale, and then used that to segue into an explanation of the different animals she worked with. Dash couldn’t really see the appeal of either the ground or the animals, but they were both important to Fluttershy, so she listened anyway.

That conversation got them through the rest of their ice cream, so they returned their dishes and made their way out of the shop. “So what’s the plan?” Dash asked.

“Oh, I don’t really have one,” Fluttershy said. “I really just wanted to see you.”

Dash snickered. “A little gay, but I guess it’s okay since it’s you.”

Fluttershy frowned. “It’s not gay to want to see my friend.”

“Yeah, but the way you said it was.”

Fluttershy turned away from her. “I should get back. I have to get up early to check on the animals.”

“What? Come on, it’s barely afternoon. You can stay for a little while, can’t you?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that wouldn’t be too gay?”

Dash laughed. “Alright alright, you got me. But seriously, I have this awesome new trick that no one else can do! You gotta let me show you!”

One thing Dash could always count on was that Fluttershy just couldn’t stay mad at her. Although she clearly tried to fight it, a wary smile still found its way to her lips. “Okay, but let’s go somewhere we have more room.”

Dash agreed and led them to the town’s outskirts, where they found a desolate field of clouds perfect for practicing in. She hadn’t quite managed to actually do the sonic rainboom a second time yet, but now she had Fluttershy watching her. She would do it. She had to.

But whether she had to or not, it seemed she couldn’t. An hour later the only thing she’d actually managed to do was make herself like like a foal.

After more crashes and failed attempts than she wanted to count, Fluttershy eventually reasoned with her. “I.. don’t think it’s working, Dashie…”

Dash wished Fluttershy wouldn’t call her that, especially when she was already frustrated with how things were going. At least no one was around to hear it. Dash flew down to talk to her. “Sorry, practice must have really taken it out of me today.”

Fluttershy smiled encouragingly. “It’s okay. You can show me next time.”

Dash frowned. She knew what was coming. “You gotta go, huh?”

“Uhm, yeah…” Fluttershy looked down towards the ground. “But I’ll come and visit soon. And maybe you can come see me sometime?”

Dash followed her gaze and wondered if that was the direction Ponyville was in. “Yeah, for sure! But… maybe after the race, though. I’ve got to keep working on my A-game until then.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Of course. I know you can do it, and I’ll be there when you win!”

While there had never been any doubt, Dash still managed to feel more confident that she would do just that than she had in months. “Thanks, Shy. I’ll see you later.”

Dash lifted a hoof to wave to Fluttershy, who seemed to misunderstand as she took a step forward. After an awkward moment, she stepped back and waved as well. “Right. Bye.”

She took off, gliding downwards towards where she had been looking a few moments before. Dash watched her as she went, trying in vain to imagine what the ground must be like.

Once she could no longer see Fluttershy, Dash left. She made her way to her house, with thoughts of Fluttershy and her new life occupying her the whole way. She thought about how cool it would be to live on her own.

Living on the ground didn’t sound so great, but the rest would make up for that. No parents to tell her what to do, no worries, staying up as late as she wanted, eating whatever she wanted to. That must be the life.

Maybe she’d see what it was like secondhoof when she visited Fluttershy. She didn’t know when that would be, but she was sure she’d get around to it sometime. Then she could see what the ground was all about at the same time she got to see how Fluttershy lived all on her own.

As she approached her house, it became clear nopony was home; she could see from the yard that the lights were off. Still, she tried calling for her parents as she walked inside. “Mom? Dad? I’m home.”

No answer. She turned on the lights as she moved through the house, going from the living room to the kitchen. She checked the fridge for a note – they were supposed to leave a note when they were working late.

Unsurprisingly, there was no note. Her parents had been working late almost every night for months, and they rarely remembered to leave a note. Like most afternoons, there was hardly any sign that anyone besides Dash lived in the house.

She sighed and opened the fridge, pulling out some ingredients for a sandwich. She was tired of making sandwiches and just as tired of eating them, but that wouldn’t stop her from doing both anyway.

She carried the plate to her room, which was already full of dirty dishes. She ate in silence and collapsed, unsure what to do with the rest of her evening.

Parents were the worst. Who needed them? She did alright for herself.

This was the life.

2 – Making Time

Chapter Two
Making Time

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Dash kept scanning the audience. There was no sign of them yet, but they said they’d come. They knew how important this race was to her, so they would come. Dash had to believe that.

They were probably just lost in the crowd. Yeah, that was it. No big deal, they’d turn up. She just didn’t have a good view from the sidelines of the track, that was all.

Whatever the reason was, Dash kept scanning the crowd.

“Looking for your marefriend?” someone asked while she was distracted.

Dash spun around to stare down the green colt. “She’s not my marefriend.”

Windfall laughed and stood beside her. “What’s the matter? Lover’s quarrel?”

“You’re one to talk.” Dash shoved him playfully. “You probably had to suck off Coach to even make the team.”

Windfall swatted her hoof away and shrugged. “You’re just jealous I get to have all the mares I want while you’re tied down to one.”

Dash grinned. “Right. ‘Cause I’m so sure mares are just lining up to sleep with a fifteen-year-old runner up.”

“I prefer to think of myself as the fastest stallion on the team,” Windfall said.

“My point still stands,” Dash said. Although Windfall was undeniably fast, Dash was still much faster.

He laughed and leaned against the railing overlooking the track. “Not for long though. Just wait, I’m gonna be the one leading us in the next race.”

“Not as long as I’m here.” Dash turned away from the crowd to look over the track with Windfall. Some of the racers were already getting into place. Any moment, Dash would have to do the same.

It seemed that Windfall was thinking about the same thing, as his tone grew more serious. “But really, good luck out there. Not that you’ll need it since we’re on the same team. Not like anypony else can give you any real competition.”

“Yeah, you sure lucked out when you got placed on my team. We’ll wipe the floor with them.” A whistle blew. “Well, that’s my cue. Just don’t let the head start I win us go to your head. We both gotta carry this team.”

“You got it.” Windfall bumped Dash’s hoof and offered a confident grin, then she flew to her place on the starting line.

The race was split into five parts. Dash was racing the first leg and Windfall was doing the last one. The three racers in between weren’t as good as them, but they weren’t too bad, so Dash was sure between Windfall and herself they’d be able to make up for any shortcomings.

Dash had a better view of the crowd once she was on the field. But even so, there was no sign of them. Had they really not come? They knew, dammit, they knew this was important to her!

There was one filly waving to her, though. Fluttershy looked like she was cheering, but she couldn’t be heard over the rest of the crowd. Dash grinned and waved back. It wasn’t what she’d wanted, not by a long shot, but she could at least put on a show for one pony.

She glanced back to where she left Windfall, but he wasn’t there. She wasn’t surprised; he probably already took his place towards the end of the course. Everything and everyone was in their places, so it was time to focus.

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. Even though he was part of her team, Windfall didn’t matter. His part of the race was beyond her control. She imagined Fluttershy cheering her on for a second, then put that away too. She’d race better with her friend watching her, but she couldn’t focus on that. Only speed, nothing else mattered.

The whistle blew once more, and she was off. Distantly she was aware of the other racers, all behind her, but she focused only on flying. As always, her body knew when to turn, when to rise, when to fall.

But even if her body knew what to do, her mind wandered. She moved on autopilot, and with her high vantage point, that gave her the chance to finally scan the crowd properly. The reality hit her like a wind current pulling her backwards, slowing everything around her.

They hadn’t come. Her parents knew this was important to her, and they still hadn’t come. She was stupid to have held out hope, they never came, they didn’t care how important it was to her, didn’t care about her.

She shook it off. She needed to focus. It didn’t matter if her parents were watching or not, she still had a race to win. She sped around a turn, which gave her a brief vantage of the racers behind her. One was right on her tail. She was still in the lead, but not by enough. Not nearly enough.

‘No wonder they didn’t come if this is the best I can do.’

Dash clenched her teeth and shot straight ahead, cutting off the racer behind her. It was the longest straight shot of the track, which gave her no excuse. She could let her full speed go, and there was nothing to hold her back. Nothing but herself.

Buck that. Dash was done being held back by her limitations. She shot forward with as much speed as she could muster, then she pushed herself even harder. She was going to make them sorry they missed it. This was going to be the performance of her life.

Dash could feel the air building around her, could even see it start to take form. This was it! She was going to pull it off again, and this time, everyone would see her sonic rainboom!

‘Everyone except for them…’

The air dissipated around her, and she once again felt like she was being dragged backwards. No matter how much she pushed, it was gone, and Dash couldn’t manage to bring it back.

She took the last corner too fast and extended beyond the track. Only a second’s delay, but in a race, every second mattered. Nothing to do but keep pushing, keep making her way forward. She didn’t dare look back to see where the other racers were, she didn’t want to.

She could see the next pony. With no more turns, she gave her all with an extra burst of speed. The next pony held out his hoof to bump hers, the signal that his turn had arrived.

Dash didn’t dare slow down until the very last second, even if it meant almost crashing into her teammate. It wound up being a mistake, as he instinctively dodged her and had to waste precious seconds to fly back and bump his hoof.

Then he was on his way, and it was over. The race still had four more legs, but those were out of Dash’s control. For her, this race was done, and she knew better than to be proud of how she’d done.

Only once it was over did she survey the competition. As expected, she finished first. But not by enough… She was supposed to do more than just win, she had to help carry her team. That was why she was first, she was supposed to give her team an early lead.

But that was now beyond her control, just like the rest of the race was. Whatever would happen would happen, and all that Dash could do was fly into the stands to meet with Fluttershy.

She was easy enough to find, which only served as a reminder that if her parents had been there, Dash would’ve noticed. She tried not to focus on that, though. Better to pay attention to how Fluttershy beamed at her as she walked up.

“Way to go, Dash!” Fluttershy said as she sat down. “That was incredible!”

“Thanks, Shy,” Dash said, putting on a grin she didn’t really feel to ask a question she knew she didn’t want the answer to. “You, uh, didn’t happen to see my parents around at all, did you?”

“Uhm, no…” Fluttershy cast her eyes down. “But maybe they’re around somewhere. We could, uhm, look for them.”

Dash shook her head. She’d known the answer even before asking, she just had to be sure. “No, they didn’t come. It’s cool.”

“Aww, it’s okay Dashie.” Fluttershy pulled Dash into a hug, which the athlete quickly pulled herself out of.

“Hey, don’t go all gay on me! I said it’s cool.”

“Oh… right, okay.” Fluttershy looked away.

Dash brushed off her shoulder as if she could brush away the hug. “Anyway, I’m gonna go check in with my coach. After everything’s done we can hang, unless you gotta get back home.”

Fluttershy smiled. “No, I’ve got some time.”

“Awesome, see you in a bit.” Dash launched from the bleachers into the air and flew back to the sidelines. Other racers might have to give their wings a break after a race, but Dash had more stamina than the entire opposing team combined.

She landed next to Gale Force, and forced a confident grin in place. Unlike Fluttershy, he would know her performance out there had been poor, but she didn’t know what else to do. For better or worse, her cocky attitude was simply what she had to work with.

At first, Gale Force didn’t even acknowledge her. He was watching the race intently, so Dash just stood by his side and waited. From the looks of things, most of Dash’s early lead was already gone. Any moment now, they were liable to lose their lead as well as their hope of winning.

Even once Gale Force did address her, he still kept his focus on the race. “What happened out there?”

Although they both knew it was warranted, Dash didn’t like his tone. “Uhm, I won?”

He frowned and spent a moment just watching the race. He continued to not look at her as he spoke. “Do you know why I decided to put you out first?”

“Early head start?” That’s what Dash had assumed, anyway. Right up until he had asked about it.

He finally looked away from the race, but it was only to close his eyes and rub his temples. “Come on, you know better than that. You’ve always been my finisher, Dash. The pony I knew could get the job done.”

“Are you saying I’m not now? I don’t know if you noticed, but I kicked tail out there!”

“That wasn’t what I’d call ‘kicking tail’.” He regarded her for a moment, then turned back to the race. “You’re a wildcard lately. I never know what kind of performance I’m going to get from you. Which is why I put you out first.”

“Well then I guess I proved I still got it, ‘cause I won!”

Gale Force shook his head. “Every other team put their slowest racer first. That way the faster ones could get the job done when the pressure was high. Maybe it should be you in the last leg, but I have no clue what to expect from you, and tonight proved me right.”

“I would’ve owned the last leg if you let me!” Dash’s scowl grew in indignation as she realized that this meant. “You chose Windfall over me!?”

“I chose the pony I could trust.”

“This is bucking stupid! I’m way faster than Windfall!”

“Hmph.” Gale Force watched the race in silence for a moment before finally giving an answer. “You are faster than Windfall. But not by as much as you seem to think you are. And what matters more is that I know exactly what to expect from him. It’s just you that I never know what I’m getting.”

Dash clenched her teeth. This wasn’t fair! “But I still won!”

“Against the slowest racers,” Gale Force reiterated. He shook his head. “What’s going on Dash? Something’s got you distracted.”

“Nothing’s got me distracted. It was just… just a bad night.” Even admitting that was hard for Dash.

But it didn’t seem good enough for Gale Force. “Usually stuff like this has its root somewhere deep, like home life. So what’s up, is everything okay at home?”

Dash was taken aback by the sudden personal question. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Why?”

Gale Force broke away from the race, giving his full attention to Dash. “Something’s clouding your mind. I can see it when you race. You always start off great, but then something works its way into that head of yours. Watch carefully enough, and I can see the exact moment you drift away. So come on. You know you can talk to me about stuff like this, so let’s have it.”

“I’m fine.” Dash folded her forelegs.

Gale Force stared at her for a minute. “Well, if you change your mind –”

“I won’t.”

For a moment, Gale Force held eye contact with Dash’s glares. But since he still had racers to watch, he didn’t have the option of being as stubborn as her. With some reluctance, he finally turned away. “Fine, take a seat with the others.”

When she finally sat down, she was among two others – the second and third leg of the race. It seemed that her own performance had set the tone, because neither of them managed to look confident of their performances.

Worse still, the trend continued when the fourth racer arrived. She stopped to talk to Gale Force, who didn’t seem to be nearly as hard on her as he was with Dash, then stepped over to take a seat with the others.

“So?” one of the other racer’s asked. “How’re we doing?”

The answer was obvious before she said a word. Dash could read it all over her face. “We’re behind… two of the others passed me…”

‘And of course, this is my fault. Somehow.’ Dash didn’t say anything. One of her teammates was offering comforting words to the filly who had just returned, but Dash knew how pointless that was. The only thing that might change things now was their last racer: Windfall.

Dash stood up and walked back to Gale Force. He glanced at her but didn’t say anything, which was exactly what Dash wanted. She hadn’t come to talk, after all.

Although they were far from the fifth leg of the race, Dash had no problems keeping her eyes on the action. The fourth racer must have not fallen into third by much, because Windfall had already regained second.

First would be harder, though. From her vantage point, Dash could see every mistake he made. Each turn was taken too wide. He didn’t make enough use of the straight aways. He caught up to the racer ahead of him, and then held back when he could have passed.

Dash felt each mistake. Every time an extra couple of seconds could’ve turned the tide, she saw her own mistakes. Still, as she watched Windfall hanging back when he so desperately needed to advance, only one thought went through her mind.

‘It should be me. I could do better.’

Then Windfall did the impossible: He impressed Rainbow Dash. He took the last corner too wide, as usual, but when the other racer took it nice and tight, Windfall put on an extra burst of speed that Dash didn’t realize he had in him.

He managed to cut the other racer off and secure first place. He couldn’t keep up the speed, but it didn’t matter; once he was in the lead, he moved defensively to keep from being passed.

Dash cheered along with everyone else when he passed the finish line. It as hardly a landslide victory, but that didn’t matter. They had won. Even the second fastest racer on Dash’s team was better than the fastest of any other.

Windfall flew over the stands, soaking in the attention. Dash rolled her eyes, but she didn’t really blame him. If it had been her, she would’ve done the same thing.

Once he made his way back, everypony was quick to offer their praise and congratulations. Dash just waited until they were done.

When he noticed she was staring, Windfall shot her a cocky grin. “Hold your praise, Dash, I already know… You wanna be just like me.”

Dash smirked and decided to wipe that grin off his face. “As if. You couldn’t see those turns you made out there. Sloppy work, Windfall.

He arched an eyebrow. “Maybe, but at least I didn’t almost hit someone on my own team.”

They held each other’s glares for a second or two more, then both of them laughed and they bumped hooves. “Nice flying out there,” Dash told him.

“You too,” he said.

“Alright, everyone listen up,” Gale Force said. All chatter died as the team gave him their full attention. “We did good out there. Coming in first is a great way to start the season, and I want everyone here to be proud of that. But I also saw all of you make mistakes you shouldn’t have. We’ve got a long way to go, and you can bet that the other teams aren’t gonna be sitting around on their tails. I’ve made notes for every one of you, things I want us to work on in practice.”

He waited until he got nods of approval from the team, then he let a smile work its way onto his face. “But let’s not forget we won. We can worry about how to do better at practice, but for now –” he ducked behind the table and pulled out several boxes of pizza “– we celebrate!”

As expected, everypony raced ahead to get some pizza as if it was liable to get finished off before they had the chance. Which, considering they were hungry teenagers, was actually a possibility.

Not Dash, however. She hung back while all the others dug in. “Uh, Coach? I was actually gonna go out for ice cream with my family.”

Gale Force regarded her for a moment, then nodded. “More for us then. But, Dash? Remember what we talked about.”

Not only would she not be forgetting any time soon, she had every confidence that Gale Force would remind her during their next practice. “Will do, Coach.”

She took Gale Force turning his attention to another filly as her cue to leave. While pizza sounded nice, she was wary of getting dragged into any festivities. If she wanted to make a clean getaway, she wasn’t going to get a better chance.

Dash pushed off and flew back into the crowd. It only took a few seconds to track down Fluttershy; if her bright pink mane hadn’t been enough for her to stand out, she hadn’t moved at all since Dash had seen her last.

It reminded Dash that Fluttershy really had no other reason to be in Cloudsdale. No other friends to catch up with, nowhere to go unless Dash would be going with her.

Which meant it was up to Dash to make sure she enjoyed herself while she was in town. “Ready to go? Figured we could get some ice cream to celebrate!”

Fluttershy smiled and stood up. “That sounds lovely.”

Dash led them away from the crowd, although they had to stop every once in a while for ponies who wanted to congratulate her. Like Fluttershy, none of them seemed to understand that Dash had raced poorly, they all only saw that she’d won.

The praise was meaningless, but knowing that didn’t stop it from going to Dash’s head. Each new pony eased her worries about the race just a little bit more, and by the time they’d managed to get away from everyone, Dash was no longer faking her confidant grin.

“You sure are popular,” Fluttershy said as they walked downtown. As usual, Dash wished they would just fly there.

“I guess.” Dash nudged Fluttershy. “So is this how it’s like for you back in Ponyville? Everypony trying to get your attention?”

Fluttershy blushed. “No, nothing like this. Uhm, I did meet somepony though. We’re… not exactly friends yet. But she’s really nice, and I think I’d like to get to know her better.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “You talking about a friend or a date?”

“W-What? I’m not, I didn’t…”

Dash snickered and clapped Fluttershy on the back. “You’re not getting weird on me now that you’re away from Cloudsdale, are you?”

“Don’t be silly…”

“Come on, Shy, it’s not the dark ages anymore. If you’ve been getting busy with girls, well hey, I’m not judging.”

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow and spoke in a deadpan voice. “Really? If I told you right now that I like girls, you’d be fine with that?”

Dash snickered. “Come on, what’s with the doubt? I’d never let you hear the end of it, but sure, I don’t care where you’ve been sticking your tongue.”

Fluttershy facehoofed. “You’re so horrible…”

Dash kept laughing all the way to the ice cream shop. Fluttershy didn’t seem to find it as funny, but it was rare that Dash made her the butt of a joke, so she figured it didn’t hurt to have a little fun with her best friend once in a while.

But for Fluttershy’s sake, she let the topic drop by the time they walked inside. They were here to celebrate, and Dash couldn’t be the only one having fun.

The ice cream parlor itself had become a tradition of sorts in the months that Fluttershy had been visiting. It had always been a favorite of theirs since they were little, but only recently did they actually have the money to go their regularly.

In no small part, that was Fluttershy’s doing. She was very generous with her money now that she had a job, and tonight was no exception. In honor of Dash’s victory, Fluttershy treated them both to extra large sundaes.

As they sat down and began eating their dessert, Dash wasted no time to start recounting the tale of the race as if Fluttershy hadn’t just seen the whole thing. She was already taking care to embellish just enough to show how awesome she really was.

And naturally, she had just gotten to the best part when someone interrupted her. “Dash, Fluttershy. Mind if I sit with you?”

Dash wheeled around to see Windfall. At least it was just him, although Dash didn’t like the fact he’d said Fluttershy’s name.

“How do you know Fluttershy?” Dash asked. Everypony on the team recognized her, but none of them knew her. Dash only ever referred to her as her cousin, taking care to not use Fluttershy’s name. It had been almost a year, but Fluttershy was still a runaway. Some ponies might still be looking for her, and there was no telling what would happen if she was caught.

Windfall took a seat next to Dash. “You know, I was in Junior Speedsters with you two. Never knew you were cousins, though.” He winked, making it clear he didn’t buy the excuse.

Damn. Since Fluttershy hadn’t ever been in the advanced classes and wasn’t exactly popular, Dash had thought they were in the clear.

But as long as it was just Windfall, that should be okay. If there was anypony Dash would try to introduce Fluttershy to, it was probably Windfall.

Still, she couldn’t very well let him know that. “Yeah, that’s nice and all, but we don’t hang out with dweebs.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I run into any.” Winfall helped himself to a bite of Dash’s sundae. “Yourself excluded, of course.”

Dash punched his shoulder and took her ice cream back. “At least get your own. I don’t know what you’ve been doing with that mouth.” She turned to Fluttershy and mimicked giving a blowjob.

“Fine,” Windfall said, leaving the fillies to go stand in line.

She had hoped to show Fluttershy that she joked around like that with all her friends, so that maybe Fluttershy wouldn’t take Dash’s teasing personally. But she barely seemed to be paying attention. Her eyes were turned towards the ground, and her face held an irritated expression.

Dash cocked her head to the side. “Everything okay, Shy?”

Fluttershy perked her head up and smiled. “Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m fine.”

“Sorry about Windfall showing up, I didn’t think he’d follow me.” That had to be what was bothering Fluttershy; she never had been good at meeting new ponies, after all. “He’s alright, but we can leave if you don’t wanna hang out with him. Or tell him to get lost, or whatever.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

Dash doubted that; Fluttershy’s reaction earlier hadn’t suggested she didn’t mind. But she wasn’t going to get anywhere by arguing about it, so she let it go.

Not like she had a lot of time to do anything anyway, since Windfall was quick to return. He was even kind enough to bring a distraction with him in the form of a colossal sundae, much larger than Dash or Fluttershy had gotten.

“You know those are meant for the whole table to split, right?” Dash asked with a smirk. She didn’t know if she would finish her own, and Fluttershy had begun to pick idly at hers too; there was no way he was getting any help.

“So? I got this,” he said with a cocky grin.

Dash’s smirk grew into a grin of her own. “Fine. Eat it. Eat the whole thing without throwing up.”

“No problem,” he said, taking his first spoonful. “But what do you say we make a bet with it?”

“Now you’re talking my language. What’d you have in mind?”

“If I win, you come to practice in a dress.” Windfall pointed his spoon at Dash.

He probably expected Dash to back down on the threat alone. Dash had a reputation, and that reputation did not include dresses. But for better or worse, it also didn’t include backing down. “You’re on. But if you lose, then you wear a dress!”

“Fine.” Windfall shrugged and dug in.

If she was being honest, she had hoped that the possibility of wearing a dress might have been enough to scare off the colt. But if anything, he seemed to attack his sundae with all the more enthusiasm.

“You took that bet awfully quickly,” Dash teased. “Sure you don’t have some ulterior motives here, Windfall?”

Windfall smirked. “Maybe I’m just being a good friend. Letting everyone catch sight of you in a dress will remind them you’re a mare.”

Dash sucked on her teeth. “That’s only if you can win, though.”

“Oh, I can.”

He made his way through the giant dessert with as much vigor as he put into his racing. It was amazing he could even maintain his physique if he ate like this.

Spoonful by spoonful, it disappeared into the endless void that was his gullet. He started to slow when he reached the halfway point, but before Dash could start gloating, other ponies noticed. And of course, they all egged him on, completely unaware of what was at stake.

“You can do it!” Fluttershy said.

Dash turned to her with a look of horror. “Whose side are you on!?”

“Oh, I mean, uhm…” Fluttershy hid in her hair.

Windfall leaned across the table. “Hey, maybe Fluttershy just wants to see her marefriend look pretty.”

Fluttershy hid her head in her hooves while Dash took a more forceful approach – she kicked Windfall under the table. Hard. Windfall wisely kept the rest of his comments to himself.

But that just gave him more time to focus on eating. Even if he was slowing, the constant stream of support from the other patrons pushed him on, right up until it was all over.

He dropped his spoon into the empty bowl and leaned back with his forelegs behind his head. Ponies started cheering, while Dash just hung her head. Tomorrow was going to bucking suck.

“Told you I could do it.” Windfall looked a little nauseous, but held everything down. There was no denying that he won, fair and square.

“It’ll be okay, Dash,” Fluttershy said. “Uhm, I bet you’ll look nice in a dress.”

She knew Fluttershy was just trying to find the silver lining, but looking nice in a dress was the last thing Dash wanted to do. She left Fluttershy unanswered, looking instead at the melted remains of her own unfinished sundae. “Fine, you finally found something you’re better at than me: being a glutton.”

Windfall laughed and winked. “Call it what you want, but I can’t wait to see you in that dress.”

3 – Nowhere but the Top

Chapter Three
Nowhere but the Top

⠀

⠀
Months went by, and things changed slowly. Mostly for the better, like Fluttershy’s visits becoming more regular. She grew more confident in making the trip to and from Ponyville, which meant in addition to visiting more often, she would stay later into the evening when she did.

Granted, with the frequency of her visits, Gale Force no longer let Dash skip practice. That was fine, though; she didn’t want to risk falling behind any more than she already was. And since Fluttershy was staying later, she was able to watch the team practice before their regular ice cream parlor visits.

She even got a little more acquainted with the rest of Dash’s team. Or at least, she was on friendly terms with them. She was too shy to get to know them, but they did affectionately refer to her as their unofficial cheerleader.

Windfall was the exception. He was still more of a friendly acquaintance to the shy pegasus than an actual friend, but he did occasionally go out for ice cream with the two young mares.

And somehow, he kept getting closer to Dash’s times in practice, even though she was improving again. It just wasn’t enough, though; she pushed her limits every single day to try and put more distance between herself and young stallion.

And then one day it happened.

“Time,” Dash said, coming to an uneasy stop. She almost didn’t want to know; it hadn’t been a good run.

“…four minutes, twelve seconds,” Gale Force said.

Dash was irritated before she even realized. Yesterday she had been faster. The day before that, too. She’d managed to do better than that every other day this month. Any second now, Windfall would chime in about how close he was getting, and then Fluttershy would tell her how great she was, either oblivious to the slow down or indifferent.

But nopony said anything. Dash looked at Windfall, ready for his cocky attitude, but he actually looked kind of embarrassed.

Dash was growing more irritated. It wasn’t that bad of a time. “What?”

Windfall kicked at the ground and didn’t meet Dash’s eyes. “Uhm… I got four minutes seven seconds.”

“You… did?” Dash looked around, waiting for somepony to correct him. That couldn’t be right. She hadn’t lost. He was just messing with her. It was impossible, nopony was faster than her.

But nopony said anything at all. Nopony had to. They couldn’t even bring themselves to look her in the eyes, and that was confirmation enough.

Four seconds. That was all it took. One bad turn, not angling her wings perfectly, even just getting a little sloppy with preening her feathers. Anything could’ve done it, it was just four seconds.

But four seconds was all it took for Dash’s world to crumble.

Everyone else, though? Everyone else’s world kept on spinning. Gale Force clapped Windfall on the back and said something. Probably congratulating him, Dash didn’t really hear. Soon other ponies did the same.

Dash just took a step back. What was she supposed to do now? This was all she was. She was the best because she had to be, because there was nothing else she could do but fly fast, because if she couldn’t even do this she would never get their attention.

Somepony was walking up to her. Dash tried to pull herself together, especially once she realized it was Windfall. She couldn’t look any weaker to him than she already did.

He had the gall to look sympathetic. “Hey, you did good.” He nudged her playfully, which Dash didn’t react to. “Maybe soon I’ll be able to beat your best times.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…” Dash realized what she’d agreed to and shook her head. She couldn’t look weak. “I mean, yeah right! That’ll never happen!”

Windfall smiled a little. Dash forced a cocky grin, but she felt like she might throw up. She excused herself and walked over to the bleachers.

She watched Windfall. He was surrounded by ponies congratulating him, the way they used to congratulate Dash whenever she broke records. Not that she’d broken any recently… Maybe this was inevitable.

The weirdest thing was that Windfall didn’t even seem to enjoy it. He smiled awkwardly at the praise, but it was clear that he’d rather they just left it alone. ‘Well, that makes two of us.’

“It’s okay, Dash,” Fluttershy said as Dash took a seat next to her. “Everypony has off days.”

Dash sighed, knowing that Fluttershy would never understand. “I dunno. I just… I could of done better, I know it. I just couldn’t focus.”

Fluttershy pointed to Windfall. He was starting to look a little more at ease with the praise. Soon he’d be soaking it up, and then he’d seek it out more and more.

Of course, that’s not what Fluttershy noticed. “Look at how happy he is. Windfall’s your friend, and you know he works just as hard as you on his flying. This is the best he’s ever done, and you’re still faster on any normal day. Is it really so bad to share the spotlight, just a little bit?”

Of course it was. She had to always be the best, had to always be number one. The only way to get noticed again was to bucking earn it! But Fluttershy wouldn’t understand. How could she? Being noticed was the last thing she ever wanted.

So instead, Dash just tried to force a smile. “I guess you’re right. Windfall deserves this.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled, clearly buying Dash’s lie. Dash herself just wanted to ditch this place.

Since practice had run late, she would have an excuse to go straight home at least. Otherwise, Windfall might want to hang out, and Dash really couldn’t stomach that. But on the other hoof, that meant Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to hang out either…

“So, uh, I guess you probably gotta get heading back home, huh?” Dash asked, hoping she didn’t sound too disappointed.

“Uhm, actually my friend said she’d check on the animals in the morning for me.” Fluttershy traced her hoof around the bleacher. “So… maybe I could stay with you tonight? If that’s alright.”

Dash had to stop herself from beaming. She settled for a small grin; couldn’t show too much enthusiasm. “Yeah, that sounds cool.”

Naturally, Fluttershy didn’t seem as concerned about her own reputation, smiling brightly at the plan. “We’ll have so much fun! I’ll make us snacks, and then we can stay up telling stories, and –”

“Yeah, it’ll be a blast.” Dash looked back towards the others and saw that they were done talking to Windfall. That was Dash’s cue that it was safe to return. “But first I should check in with my coach.”

“Oh! Sorry, I’m keeping you too long…”

“It’s fine. Be back in a bit!”

Dash flew over to the others just in time. Everyone was finished with their drills and were lining up for Gale Force to give them a closing pep talk. He told them all about how proud he was of their achievements and reminded Windfall to not let one day go to his head. Dash only half listened, already planning on how she could regain her edge next time.

He let them go without saying anything directly to Dash, which was for the best. The last thing she needed was another reminder. She tried to make her way back to Fluttershy, but she was stopped by the last pony she wanted to talk to.

“Hey, Dash,” Windfall said. “A few of us are heading out to grab some burgers. Since Fluttershy’s gonna be heading home anyway, you wanna tag along?”

No way. Dash was not about to endure his victory celebration. Fortunately, she didn’t need to come up with an excuse. “Nah, Shy’s staying in Cloudsdale tonight. I’ll, uh, see you around.”

“Yeah, alright,” Windfall said. “Later then.”

That should have been the end of things. On a normal day, that would have been the end of things. But it was far from a normal day, and as she walked back towards Fluttershy, Dash heard someone say, “Told you she wouldn’t come. Probably busy making out with her marefriend.”

Dash clenched her teeth. The only pony allowed to crack gay jokes about her was Windfall, and even then, including Fluttershy was a step too far.

“She’s not my marefriend.” Turning around, Dash saw the three ponies she knew would be the ones to start shit: Hoops, Score, and Dumb-Bell. That was another thing that had changed recently; the three bullies from the junior class had finally managed to graduate, and somehow they had struck up a friendship with Windfall.

“Why don’t you just own up to it, Rainbow Crash?” Hoops asked. “We all know it. Nopony really believes she’s your cousin.”

Score snickered. “Honestly though, why don’t you admit it? I mean, I could understand before, but now? She’s gotten pretty hot. I know I’d be all over her if, you know, she was into stallions.”

If bringing Fluttershy into it was a step too far, then saying shit like that was taking the concept of ‘too far’ and flying past it at full speed while blindfolded.

He was going to pay. Dash closed the distance and was in his face before anypony could stop her. “Shut the buck up! Don’t you dare talk about her like that!”

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy yelled from somewhere behind her, but she barely heard. All she was focused on was that Score was quivering in fear, even with all of his idiot friends around him.

Then the biggest idiot of them all had to go and get involved. Windfall got in between them and pushed her back. “Chill out, Dash.”

“Buck you!” Dash said. She turned away, but she slammed her shoulder into his as she did. It was less than he deserved for standing up for them, but she didn’t want to fight with Fluttershy watching.

“Yeah, fly away Rainbow!” one of them said. “Not too fast though.”

“Shut up, Dumb-Bell.” Windfall hissed.

Dash’s muscles tensed, ready to spring at any moment. She forced a breath, reminding herself he was just an antagonistic dick, that Fluttershy was watching her, and that she couldn’t fight anymore.

But apparently, Dash hadn’t intimidated Score enough for him to keep his mouth shut. “You think she’s slowing down ‘cause she spends all her time making out instead of practicing?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Hoops said. “I bet she’s doing more than making out. I mean, I heard her parents don’t pay any attention to her, so slipping a mare into her bedroom is probably pretty easy.”

The thing about flying blindfolded was that it could only end one way. Hoops crossed the line headfirst, and now, he was going to crash and burn.

Rainbow sped towards him, no longer caring that Fluttershy was watching. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing except shutting his stupid bucking mouth once and for all.

Once again, Windfall moved to intercept her. She dodged him effortlessly. It seemed that Dash had finally found the motivation she needed to block everything out, because she flew better than she had all day.

She picked up as much speed as she could in the short distance, all so she could bring her hoof into Hoop’s face with as much force as she could manage. Watching him fall to the ground was so satisfying, it almost made up for having to listen to him in the first place.

Windfall finally managed to get himself in between them, so Rainbow shoved him aside. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she needed to teach the others a lesson.

Probably hoping to catch her unaware, Hoops lunged at her. Not that his ‘element of surprise’ did him any good, not when Dash knew exactly where he was the whole time. She just turned tail and bucked him right in the chest, sending him flying.

Now for the other two. She turned back to see Score take a step away, clearly realizing he stood no chance. She smirked and took a step forward. Maybe he’d realized his mistake by now, but Dash needed to make sure the lesson stuck.

“Rainbow Dash!” Gale Force yelled.

Crap. Dash turned to see him walking over from his office, Dumb-Bell in tow. She considered throwing one more punch before he could stop her, but stood down.

Before addressing her, he checked on Hoops. “You okay?”

“Ye-Yeah, just a little winded, Coach,” he said, although he seemed to have difficulty standing. Even in the face of Gale Force’s imminent punishment, Dash felt immense satisfaction at the sight.

Gale Force turned to the others. “Dumb-Bell, take Hoops home. Dash, Score, Windfall. I want all of you in my office. Now!”

Dash was ready for whatever punishment he dished out, but on the way to his office, she caught a glimpse of the one thing she wasn’t ready for. Fluttershy was staring at her, and she looked horrified.

‘What did I get myself into now…’ Dash hung her head as she walked, not wanting to look at Fluttershy for a moment more than she had to. She had no idea what she could possibly say to her best friend after a spectacle like that.

At least there was no way to see Fluttershy once she was in Gale Force’s office. Windfall and Score sat down first, so Dash chose a seat as far from them as she could.

Gale Force sat down and stared at the three of them. He didn’t speak right away, instead letting the panic of what was coming sink in. Dash couldn’t look him in the eye and found herself staring off to the side instead.

When Gale Force did speak, he started with Windfall. “How’s your eye doing?”

That caught Dash off guard, and she took a good look at Windfall for the first time. Sure enough, his eye was red with some purple showing through. Dash grimaced, knowing it could only have happened when she carelessly shoved him out of the way.

“It’s fine,” Windfall said with a weak smile. “Probably looks worse than it feels. Besides, it was an accident.”

Yet another thing to feel bad for. Why did he have to try to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal?

Gale Force looked at him skeptically. “Somepony accidentally hit you in the eye?”

Windfall looked around, clearly not sure what to say. “Well, I kind of jumped into the middle of things.”

“Hmph.” Gale Force let them sit in silence for a while more, occasionally moving his gaze between the three of them. Dash resumed looking anywhere but the other ponies in the room.

Gale Force sighed. “Okay, so one of you tell me what happened. I wasn’t gone five minutes when you started tearing into each other.”

Score was uncharacteristically quiet, either afraid of what Gale Force would do about his role in everything, or afraid of what Dash would do for telling.

No point in hiding it though, she might as well get it over with. “Hoops said something I didn’t like, so I hit him. Windfall tried to pull me off, so I hit him too, then I kicked Hoops in the chest. Score and Dumb-Bell didn’t really do anything.”

Gale Force looked at the other two. “Is this true?”

Score seemed to suddenly find his voice. “Yeah! Hoops was talking about how Windfall did better than her today, and she was just in his face all of a sudden, no warning or nothing.”

Dash rolled her eyes but bit her tongue. It was nice to know that even when she was willing to take the fall, he’d still kick her while she was down.

Gale Force barely reacted to the accusations, just idly glancing at Dash as she stared resolutely at the ceiling fan. “Alright, Score, you’re free to go. And since I know you’ll tell them all about this as soon as you’re out of here, let Hoops and Dumb-Bell know that I haven’t decided on any punishments yet. And that goes for everyone involved, not just Dash.”

Score hesitated, likely debating if he should try to argue his own innocence some more. But after a moment, he stood up. “Yes, Coach.”

“One more thing. Don’t hang around here until I let Windfall and Dash go unless you want to make things worse on yourself.”

Score nodded. “Yes, Coach.”

Gale Force waved a hoof to dismiss him, and Score didn’t waste another moment on his way out the door.

With two ponies left to address, Gale Force first looked to Dash. He didn’t say anything to her, however, turning instead to address Windfall. “So Dash wants to be Miss Martyr and pretend everything’s her fault, and Score thinks I’ll believe Hoops isn’t an antagonistic brat.”

Dash’s head snapped towards Gale Force. “What!? I’m not –”

“Not now, Dash,” Gale Force said sharply. She sunk back into her seat. “And I also doubt Score and Dumb-Bell are innocent here. So with the distinction of being friends with all four idiots, you get to tell me what really happened.”

Windfall looked to Dash, who glared a warning not to say anything. He sighed and frowned, giving her an apologetic look before turning back to Gale Force. “They were talking about Fluttershy.”

“Shut up, Windfall,” Dash barked.

“They were egging her on, Coach,” he said, ignoring her hostile tone. “She told them to stop, but they kept saying things to get under her skin.”

“I said shut the buck up!” Dash said, rising.

“Rainbow Dash!” Gale Force glared at her. “If you do not sit your flank back in that chair, you can consider yourself off the team.”

Reluctantly, she sat back down. He couldn’t keep her from staring daggers at Windfall, though.

They were left with another bout of painful silence. Dash was forced to consider if agreeing with Windfall would end it, but then she remembered the way Fluttershy looked at her. She had bucked up, and she would have to deal with the consequences.

Eventually, Gale Force addressed Windfall again. “Go on, get out of here. I don’t want to see you hanging around either.”

Dash didn’t look to see him go, but she heard the hoofsteps and the door. It was down to just her and Gale Force.

At least he didn’t leave her sitting in silence again. “Dash, what’s going on? I’ll be the first to admit you’ve got a temper, but normally you keep it in check better than that. Is this about the times today?”

“No,” Dash answered without looking.

“Then is it because of what they said about Fluttershy?”

“No.” Dash clenched her teeth, but kept staring at the wall.

“I could keep guessing if you don’t tell me.”

Dash remained silent.

Gale Force sighed. “Is it something going on at home, then?”

“No!” Dash stared at him defiantly. She could feel herself almost rise from her seat, but forced herself to remain in it.

“You know I went to school with your dad. We used to be pretty close.” Gale Force leaned forward in his chair. “Fell out of touch a long time ago, right about when you were born. He’s become quite successful since then. He must get pretty busy with work.”

Dash didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep from… she didn’t even know what she wanted to do, but she was sure she’d do it soon. “Everything’s. Fine.”

Gale Force held her stare for a while before shaking his head. “I don’t know what else to do with you, Dash. So here are your options. You can tell me what’s going on with you, or you’re suspended from the team.”

Dash stood up and slammed her front hooves on the table. Gale Force didn’t even flinch. “That’s not fair! I work harder than everypony else! I’m the best flyer you’ve got!”

“Dash, when you’re on top of it you’re the best flyer your age I’ve ever seen, and that includes me and your dad when we were younger. Quite frankly, if you aren’t a Wonderbolt in five years, it’s because you’re letting whatever’s going on infect your mind. Which is why my decision remains. Talk to me about it, or you’re suspended until after the next race.”

Dash just stared, moving her mouth and not speaking. Finally, she pulled herself away from the desk. “Fine. Your loss.”

Gale Force rested his head on one hoof, using the other to wave her away. “Get out of here.”

She didn’t hesitate for a moment. She was already flying out the door before he even finished his sentence.

She immediately made for the bleachers, but found that everypony was gone. She could live without seeing Hoops, Score, and Dumb-Bell again, but she did want to apologize to Windfall for hitting him.

Or to yell at him for getting in the way and telling Gale Force the whole story. She wasn’t sure which.

Still, his disappearance wasn’t too surprising. Gale Force had specifically told him not to hang around, after all. What she wasn’t expecting was for Fluttershy to be gone. She hadn’t even realized how much she was counting on her friend’s support until she realized she wasn’t going to get it.

Then again, when she remembered how Fluttershy had looked at her, maybe it was for the best. The memory hurt enough without needing a replay.

Dash sighed and flew off, making her way to her house slowly. She wondered if Gale Force was planning on telling her parents about the fight. Normally he was pretty cool about leaving parents out of things, but she actually hit somepony this time. Well, two ponies, but Windfall would probably cover for her.

Even if Gale Force didn’t want to tell her parents, she knew Hoops would probably tell his, and they’d want to talk to her parents about it. So on top of everything else, she’d have that to look forward to.

She wondered if they would even care that she was fighting again. Probably not. They barely even cared when she was a filly who used to fight any colt that said she couldn’t do something because she was a girl. They did eventually strike up a deal that if she stopped fighting, they would put her in Junior Speedsters, but she was pretty sure that was just because they were tired of hearing from other parents.

When she arrived at home, it was unsurprisingly empty. She walked in and lay down on the couch, too exhausted to even bother going to her room. It was only once she lay down that she felt the full effects of the day, which had already been exhausting before the fight.

She rolled over, lying with her face in the cushion, and she fell into a restless sleep.

Dash just couldn’t win. Even her poor attempt at a nap with all its tossing and turning couldn’t last, as there was a knock at the door.

She squinted at it, wondering who could be on the other side. Even Windfall didn’t know where she lived, so it was probably somepony looking for her parents. A glance out the window told her that the sun was setting, but she doubted she would have slept through them coming home.

Grumbling to herself, Dash rose from the couch so she could ignore the ‘don’t open the door when you’re home alone’ rule that her parents started when she was five and still occasionally reminded her of. Whether they acknowledged it or not, their daughter was growing into a mare; she was hardly put at risk by answering the door of her own house.

Besides, if she didn’t answer it, she wouldn’t have found Fluttershy waiting on the other side. “Shy? I thought you went back to Ponyville.”

“Oh, uhm, well… I went to the ice cream parlor with, uhm, Windfall,” Fluttershy said. “We… we thought you’d figure out we went there.”

Dash was used to Fluttershy tripping over her words with other ponies, but that wasn’t something she ever did when it was just the two of them. It was accentuated by the fact that she had her hair half in front of her face, which almost made it unnoticeable that she was blushing.

The only reason she could think of that would make Fluttershy act that way around her was the fight. But since she didn’t know how to talk about that, she decided to just try and keep things casual and hope the problem went away.

She stepped aside to let Fluttershy in. “Yeah ‘cause that makes so much sense.”

“I’m sorry, I should have waited for you…” Fluttershy said.

“Nah, it’s fine. I needed that nap anyway.” Dash jerked her head in the direction of the kitchen. “Want some real food? I’m starving.”

“Oh, sure.”

Dash led the way, stopping at the fridge. She was deciding what kind of sandwiches to make them, but Fluttershy pushed her out of the way. “Here, let me take care of dinner.”

“Uh, sure.” Dash took a seat while Fluttershy moved about the kitchen

She pulled out lots of things no one ever touched, like spices and stuff. She found some canned vegetables and pulled out a pot, adding her ingredients to it.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Dash said while Fluttershy worked. After the day she had, not having to eat another sandwich felt like a victory, even if it was a small one.

“Well, I always did a little bit, but now that I live on my own, I don’t really have much of a choice.” Fluttershy grinned. “Besides, it’s better than eating sandwiches every day.”

“You know, I could say something about that, but this is smelling too good to argue.”

Whatever awkwardness there had been when Dash answered the door seemed to be gone. Fluttershy giggled at the compliment, and seemed perfectly happy as she cooked a hearty stew for the two of them.

Dash’s mouth was watering by the time Fluttershy served them. They didn’t bother going to the dining room to eat; no one ever did in Dash’s house. Instead, they went to the living room and sat on the couch.

That was where Fluttershy finally broached the topic on their minds. “So, uhm… did you get in much trouble?”

Dash blew on a spoonful of her stew and thought about lying, but she felt guilty enough. “Yeah, I’ve been suspended.”

“Oh. How long?”

“Until the next race, or until I talk to my coach about my parents.” Most ponies would tell her to just talk about it, but she knew at least Fluttershy would be sympathetic.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault, really.”

“What are you talking about?” Dash asked, swallowing and wiping her mouth with her foreleg. It tasted much better than her sandwiches. “I’m the one who threw the punch”

“But if I wasn’t there, they wouldn’t have said anything…”

“Alright,” Dash said, “so it’s partly their fault for saying shit, and it’s mostly my fault for reacting to it. None of that is your fault.”

Fluttershy still slouched with her head on her hoof. “But they only said any of that because… because…” Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly.

“Shy, it’s cool. Let’s just drop it, alright?” Dash said, which Fluttershy nodded in agreement to. She decided the safest way to keep off the topic was to remove herself from the conversation entirely. “This stew is really good.”

That got a little bit of a smile out of Fluttershy. “Thank you.”

“You learn how to cook it in Ponyville?”

Fluttershy nodded. “When she found out I live alone, my friend bought me a cookbook. She’s always doing nice things like that.”

“Oh, so you’re finally making friends in Ponyville then?”

“Well, one friend at least. She’s a unicorn named Rarity.” Turning the attention to Ponyville seemed like a good idea, since Fluttershy’s smile was growing.

Living in Cloudsdale, Dash had only ever met other pegasi, and a griffon once back in Junior Speedsters. “A unicorn? Don’t unicorns all think they’re better than other ponies ‘cause they can do magic and stuff?”

“Oh, she’s not like that at all. She’s so nice, she makes things for other ponies all the time. She made me that dress I wore the other day.” Fluttershy looked so happy while she talked about her friend that Dash might have been worried she’d been replaced, except she knew nopony could ever replace her. “Actually, it’s Cloudsdale ponies that always think they’re better.”

Dash’s first impulse was to declare Cloudsdale the greatest city in all of Equestria, and if anypony had a problem, there was no way it was them. But before she said it out loud, she realized that would probably just prove Fluttershy’s point. “Really? What do you mean?”

“Well, even though Ponyville was founded by earth ponies, lots of pegasi and unicorns live there now. All different types of ponies from all over Equestria live there. But Cloudsdale just has pegasi, and no other kind of pony can ever visit, so everypony here just makes assumptions about how other ponies are.”

Dash grinned. “Like thinking all unicorns are full of themselves?” Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. That’s pretty cool, actually. A town with all types of ponies.”

Dash kept Fluttershy talking about Ponyville so they wouldn’t get back to the topic of what happened earlier. It stayed on her mind, and she suspected on Fluttershy’s too, but at least they didn’t have to actually talk about it.

Eventually her dad came home, followed by her mom. The two were exhausted from work and, as she had expected, were indifferent to Fluttershy spending the night, although her dad did comment about her being a little old for slumber parties.

“I told you, she lives in Ponyville now, remember? It’s kinda late for her to fly all the way back home now.”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Blaze said. “Okay then, have fun you two. Don’t stay up too late.”

He left her rolling her eyes as she walked back to Fluttershy. It’s not like she talked about many of her other friends with them. It’s not like she had many other friends to talk about these days. They could at least remember that her best friend had moved to a whole different town.

“It’s cool, you can stay,” she said. “It’s getting pretty late, you ready to turn in?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Fluttershy said. “I know Rarity said she’d be fine, but I don’t think she has much experience with animals, so I should try to get back early.”

They made their way up to Dash’s bedroom, and she wasted no time in throwing herself on the couch. She had at one point thought that having a couch in her room would be the coolest thing whenever she had friends over, but then she never wound up inviting friends over.

“You can take the bed,” Dash said. “I’m fine on the couch.”

Fluttershy stood in the doorway shaking her head. “Dash, it’s your bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Dash grinned and put up her hooves. “Fight me for it.”

“Fine, you win.” Fluttershy giggled. She climbed into the bed, where even spread out she took up less than half. “You know, we could both fit easily.”

“Gay,” Dash said, drawing out the word.

Fluttershy gave her an annoyed look. “There’s nothing gay about wanting your friend to be comfortable in her own house.”

Dash laughed. “There is about sleeping with another mare though. You coming on to me, Shy?”

Fluttershy threw a pillow at her and turned away. “You’re like my sister, don’t be ridiculous.”

Dash kept the extra pillow, putting it behind her head. “Oh, so that’s the reason. You know, most ponies would say it’s because they’re not gay. Something you’re not telling me there, Shy?”

After a few moments of silence, Dash sat up to see Fluttershy facing away from her. “Shy? Hey, I was just messing with you. I know you’re not really gay.”

The yellow and pink lump on her bed breathed deep but didn’t look at her. “It’s okay, Dash, I know. I… I’m going to get some sleep. Good night.”

Feeling like a huge jerk but not entirely sure why, Dash fell onto her back. Just another mistake to add to the day’s list. “Yeah. Good night, Shy.”

4 – Rumors

Chapter Four
Rumors

⠀

⠀
The ice cream shop was full when Dash walked in. She only had to scan the crowd for a moment before spotting her friend. It wasn’t exactly a challenge; Fluttershy was wearing a hat with a brim large enough to stick out from a mile away.

“What’s with the hat?” Dash asked as she sat down at Fluttershy’s table. “It’s a bit much.”

“Oh, uhm… I kind of thought so too.” Fluttershy adjusted it slightly, which did absolutely nothing to tone it down. “But Rarity made it for me, so I, uhm, wanted to wear it.”

Dash grinned. “How’d you even manage to fly here in that thing? What, you hold it down the whole time?”

“Yes…”

Dash laughed. “Well, I guess whatever works for you, but you look ridiculous.”

She stood up and walked over to the counter so she could order herself two scoops of ice cream. She looked back and noticed Fluttershy didn’t have anything yet, so she doubled her order.

Fluttershy smiled appreciatively as Dash returned, and they both dug into their frozen treats.

“So how was practice?” Fluttershy asked as they ate.

“Alright.” Dash shrugged. “Everpony’s still being a stuck up bitch, but you know, it’s whatever.”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said. Even though it had been over six months Fluttershy was still apologizing. Dash rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother to remind her it wasn’t her fault.

For some reason, everything changed after the fight with Hoops. Ponies kept looking at her differently, especially the mares. She usually only ever had a problem with stallions who were intimidated by the fact that a girl was better than them, but all of a sudden, all the other mares gave her a wide berth. And while she would have thought the mess that was Hoops’s face the next day would be enough to deter ponies from talking about her sexuality, lately the rumors had doubled.

Even worse, Windfall was acting as weird as any of them. He insisted he didn’t care about the black eye, but he had hardly spoken to her since it happened. The only good thing about that whole experience was that Hoops apparently didn’t want to admit he got beat up by a mare, so nopony had come to talk to Dash’s parents.

But that wasn’t what Dash wanted to think about. “So what’s new in Ponyville?” she asked. Despite barely seeing each other these days, the answer was always the same.

“Not much. Still the same peaceful town as always.”

Even if there wasn’t much news from Fluttershy, it was nice to talk about. Dash hadn’t managed to find time to visit Ponyville yet, but it sounded like a cool town. One of these days, she kept telling herself, she was going to see it with her own eyes.

They caught up for a while before Dash noticed a few mares from her class walk in. She absentmindedly waved and didn’t think much of it. At least until they stopped in their tracks and stared at her, whispering to themselves.

Dash rolled her eyes and was going to ignore them, but she overheard one of their comments. “Dash I understand, but Fluttershy? No way, she’s too nice to be gay.”

How dare they? Dash stood up, but before she could confront them, Fluttershy got in her way. “Please, Dash, just leave it.”

Although she hated it, Dash sat down for Fluttershy’s sake. Better to not have another situation like the fight with Score. She still glared at the three mares as she did, though.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “But what the buck was that about?”

Fluttershy winced and wouldn’t look Dash in the eye.

She had only been thinking out loud, but Fluttershy’s lack of an answer caught her attention. “Fluttershy? Do you know what their deal is?”

“Uhm…” Fluttershy retreated into her mane, making it abundantly clear that she knew more than she was letting on.

“Spill it.”

Fluttershy looked up and bit her lip. “It’s just, well… you’re not going to like it.”

Dash shook her head and gestured to where the three ponies were glancing at them. “I already don’t like it! We both know you’re gonna tell me, so just tell me already!”

“Well…” Fluttershy clearly didn’t want to say, but she couldn’t hold out for long. “Okay… After the day I slept at your house, somehow a rumor got spread around that we’re, uhm, dating…”

Did somepony see Fluttershy leaving Dash’s house in the morning or something? That didn’t make any sense, nopony knew where she lived. Dash looked back to the other mares, but she didn’t find any clues. “But they’re idiots! They always thought we were dating.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Ponies joked about it before, but now it’s like… everypony is convinced. I think, uhm… everypony’s just scared to say anything too loudly when you’re around…”

“Good, they should be.” Dash leaned back. “And I guess that’s why everyone is acting all weird. Hang on, is that why you stopped coming to see me at practice?”

“I, uhm… I didn’t want to make things harder on you than they already are…” Fluttershy may not have said ‘I’m sorry’ out loud, but it was implied in every word she said and written all over her face.

“I thought you just got sick of watching me.”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy sat up straight. “I always love watching you fly, Dash.”

“Then don’t worry about those idiots!” The mares shot Dash a dirty look before getting up to leave. “I don’t care what they think, I just…” Dash stopped short when she realized how sappy she would look finishing her thought with ‘I just want my friend.’ Fluttershy tilted her head to the side, so Dash looked away and finished with, “Nothing, I just don’t care what they think is all.”

“Well, if you’re sure it’s okay…”

“Of course I’m sure!” Dash grinned.

Fluttershy smiled as well. “Okay. I’ll be there to cheer you on come Monday!”

Before Monday could come, Dash hoped to make the most of her weekend. Saturday meant there was no school, but the track team still met up in the morning. The early hour meant that Fluttershy couldn’t come since she had work, but that was perfect for Dash’s plans.

She got up extra early and arrived before the sun was finished rising, hoping she could catch a few ponies before Gale Force showed up. But unfortunately, he was already there setting things up. She was forced to pretend that she wanted extra training, one on one.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Gale Force used it as an excuse to push everyone extra hard once the rest of the team arrived. He said they should all take inspiration from Dash’s fortitude, which only gave everypony more reason to give her the cold shoulder.

By the time he let them go, everyone was exhausted. But at least it meant nopony wanted to stick around at the end of the day, which made Dash’s plan easier.

She singled out one of the gossipy girls from the ice cream shop the day before and followed her. She kept her distance until she was far enough from practice that they weren’t likely to have anyone else butting into their conversation.

“Summer Rain. Need to talk to you.”

The mare turned to her and didn’t even attempt to hide her irritation. “What do you want?”

Where to even begin? Unfortunately ‘to smack that stupid look off your face’ was probably not going to get her too many answers, so she had to play nice. “Why are you talking shit about Fluttershy?”

Well, it was nice with all things considered.

Summer Rain rolled her eyes. “I’m just repeating what everypony already knows. Maybe if you don’t want anypony to know about your little girlfriend you shouldn’t be so obvious?”

“Fluttershy is not my girlfriend!”

Summer Rain laughed. “Please, it’s so obvious that you two are faggots. I’d ask which one of you is the stallion, but I think that’s pretty obvious already.”

Dash clenched her teeth. She wanted to lunge at the bitch, but she was trying to save violence for a last resort. “I don’t bucking care what you say about me. But do not call my friend a faggot, or I will make you regret it. Where did you hear that from?”

Summer Rain sneered. “Why should I tell you?”

Dash looked around. Nopony in sight, she’d take her chances. She just had to make sure not to leave any bruises this time.

Dash threw her body into Summer Rain’s, knocking her onto her back. She lunged forward, landing over the other mare, with her right hoof inches from Summer’s head. She bent down low enough so she could feel Summer’s shaky breathing.

She had been trying to avoid violence, but Summer just couldn’t stop pushing buttons. Besides, this was too satisfying to feel guilty about.

“Because if you don’t, I will buck you up. And unlike Hoops, you don’t have any friends around to save you.”

“F-fine, Score was t-telling everypony. After your f-fight with Hoops.”

Dash pushed her face lower, leaving her nose to nose with Summer. She squinted, making sure that the image of angry red eyes would be burned into her mind for a long time to come.

Once she had enough of watching the mare quake in fear below her, she pushed up and flew into the air without another word. Summer Rain wasn’t worth the breath.

No point in looking around for Hoops; she had already followed Summer Rain until they were away from everyone else. Tracking him down would be hard, since she didn’t know where he lived.

But she did know where he and his friends hung out a lot, so she flew over towards the rec center. He was going to pay for spreading rumors about Fluttershy.

Only… why? Score had always said shit about Dash, why was it suddenly different now? She needed answers, and it seemed like Score was as good a place as any to start looking for them.

That was all that mattered. Dash would follow this trail until it went dead, because it was the only hope she had right now. She’d just have to hope he was at the rec center.

Outside of the actual rec center building there was a hoofball field, which was Score’s favorite hangout. But instead of insufferable bullies, she found young fillies and colts and a sign that read ‘Welcome Junior League Hoofballers!’

Dash frowned. There was no way Score would be caught dead at something like this. With no need to even look through the crowd, Dash flew over the field and into the building.

He could still be hanging out with his friends. And even just finding one of them without Score could probably get her some answers, Dash reasoned. Better be thorough and look into all their favorite places, just to be sure.

At least the basketball court wasn’t full of kids. Unfortunately, there was no sign of any of the ponies she was looking for either. She wandered the court until she was completely sure they were nowhere to be seen, then left with her head hung low.

By the time she got to the weight room, she’d pretty much given up hope. No sign of Score at the football field or of Hoops at the basketball court; Dumb-Bell would probably be wherever the two of them were, cracking jokes about whatever they thought Dash and Fluttershy were doing together.

But to her delight, she found there was only one pony in the small weight room, and it was exactly the pony she wanted to see. Dumb-Bell was using the bench press, too distracted to see her walking in.

If Score was telling ponies Fluttershy was gay, then Dumb-Bell and Hoops were in on it. Unfortunately, of the three of them, she had the worst odds of taking Dumb-Bell in a fight. He didn’t lift all those weights for nothing, and his brute strength easily outclassed hers. And with the small room limiting her ability to fly circles around him, fighting just wasn’t going to be an option.

But neither was giving up. Dash had never been the best at talking through her problems, but Fluttershy’s reputation was on the line, and Dash would be damned if she didn’t do all she could for her friend.

She stood next to the stallion and poked her head into his field of vision. “Dumb-Bell.”

He set his weight down and grinned at her. “Rainbow Crash. Looking for tips on how to build a little muscle?”

“No, I just have a question.” She stepped back as he sat up and glared at him. “Why the buck are you telling ponies me and Fluttershy are gay!?”

He shrugged. “Uhm, because you are gay?”

Dash bit back her anger as best she could, reminding herself that she couldn’t win if she decided to deck him one. “I want to know where you’re getting that from, because I’m not gay and neither is Fluttershy!”

Dumb-Bell shrugged. “You know, I really don’t care that you’re gay. You screw up enough in practice that I don’t need to take cheap shots like Hoops does.”

Dash facehoofed. “I thought they just called you Dumb-Bell because the weights, but sweet Celestia, you really are stupid too! I’m not gay!”

He shrugged. “Whatever. Anyway, I didn’t tell anypony you’re gay.”

“That’s not what I heard. I heard you’re the ones that have been spreading rumors about me. And trust me when I say I’m pretty sure I got the truth on that one.”

“Nah, that was all Hoops and Score.”

Dash tapped her hoof on the ground. “But if Hoops and Score so much as sneeze you’re there too, so I want to know why Hoops and Score are telling ponies that Fluttershy’s gay.”

“That’s just what we heard.”

Talking to Dumb-Bell made Dash want to bash her head into a brick wall. Which, thinking of it, would probably amount to something more resembling an intelligent conversation. “From who!?”

“Windfall.”

Dash grimaced. “That’s a bucking lie. Windfall wouldn’t say that!”

Dumb-Bell grinned. “Sorry, but it’s true. And as much fun as it is making you run in circles here, I want to get back to my workout. So let me spell it out for you: He wants to get into your head.”

“You expect me to believe that? Windfall is my friend.”

“Believe what you want, but just think about it. The first time it came up was the day he beat your time. All the attention went to his head, and he figured out a way to make it so he could keep beating you. Nopony’s stopped talking about it, you keep messing up, and he keeps getting better. Gotta say, it’s actually worked out pretty well for him.”

He didn’t.

He wouldn’t.

But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Aside from one freak accident, how else did he have any hope of beating her?

And he knew how close she was with Fluttershy, he knew messing with her friend was the best way to mess with her.

She didn’t say another word to Dumb-Bell. She got what she needed, so she flew straight out of the rec center and straight into town.

At least there was one good thing to being betrayed by Windfall. She knew exactly where to find him. She didn’t know or care where most of her classmates lived, but whenever they worked on partner routines, they always worked at Windfall’s house.

They were always partners. Always. Next to Fluttershy, Windfall was the closest friend Dash had, and this is what he did with her trust? Anger no longer summed up how Dash felt. Making him pay wasn’t good enough either. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do because she couldn’t think of anything that could be harsh enough for something like this.

She landed in his front yard and stormed up to the door. She rapped angrily against it, then shifted her weight between her legs as she waited.

Everything almost went to Tartarus when his dad answered, and Dash had to fight the anger from showing in her face. She tried to keep the threat from her voice as she asked, “Is Windfall home?”

Without saying a word, he walked away. Dash heard him call out, “Windfall, that mare from school’s here to see you!”

There was a clattering of hoofs on wooden stairs, then Windfall came to the door. He smiled when he saw Dash. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Wanna show you something. Mind if we go for a walk?”

“Sure.” He obliviously stepped out of the house and shut the door behind him.

Dash led and he followed. In other circumstances, his trusting nature would’ve been enough for Dash to feel bad for him. He never questioned her once, trusting blindly that whatever she was leading him to would be something good.

For her part, Dash wasn’t going anywhere specific. She turned a few corners, just looking for a good place. She finally found one in a back alley. Even as she turned down it, he hardly seemed to question what was going on.

That changed as she threw him against the wall, of course.

He grunted from the force and stared at her wide-eyed. “Dash, what are you –”

“What the buck is wrong with you!?” Dash swung her hoof at his face, catching him in the cheek. She let him fall to the ground, where she kicked him in the ribs.

Dash gritted her teeth as she looked down on him. “I thought we were friends! You… you…” Instead of finding an insult, she reared back to hit him again.

She didn’t get the chance as he lunged, colliding with her and pinning her against the ground.

“What the buck are you talking about!?” he yelled, keeping her held down despite her struggles to get free. “I haven’t done anything to you!”

Unable to move her legs enough to do anything, Dash pulled her head back and slammed it into his. Pain instantly shot through her skull, and her vision blurred.

It didn’t matter. Any pain she felt didn’t matter, only what she could deal to him. He fell off of her, so she forced herself up and stumbled over to him.

She pulled back a hoof and brought it down against him, then again, and again. She kept swinging, never stopping to figure out where she was hitting him.

Eventually, Windfall managed to grab her foreleg between his own and pulled. She fell into him as he rose, hitting her face with his shoulder.

But instead of pressing the attack, Windfall just pushed her away. She fell to the ground, but she was able to pull herself back up with effort.

She wanted to lunge at him again, but she took a moment to catch her breath instead. She spat blood onto the ground, then wiped more away from her nose. But when she turned to look at Windfall, he had already collapsed back to the ground. “You… you bucking…”

All in all he was worse than she was. Many of her attacks had hit his face, and he lay clutching his chest.

“Fluttershy’s not gay!” Dash managed, pointing a hoof at him before using it to wipe more blood from her muzzle.

He stared at her without saying anything, focusing instead on catching his breath. Dash could already tell that if she went back to hitting him now, there would be no fight left in him.

“Did you really… say all that stuff… just to screw up my flying?” Dash asked through her own heavy breathing.

Windfall spat out a wad of blood. “No.”

“Then why’d you do it?” Dash asked. She started to feel a different kind of fear rising. What if Dumb-Bell had made the whole thing up?

“I… I bucked up,” Windfall said, his voice thick. He attempted to get to his hooves, grimaced, and gave up from the effort. “I didn’t mean for it to get like this.”

Dash narrowed her eyes. “So you did start the rumors.”

Windfall looked away. “I… yeah. But I didn’t mean to.”

Dash took a few steps closer. He didn’t do anything to stop her. “What do you mean?”

“I… I guess she probably told you, but I asked her out.”

“You did what?” Dash wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or yell at him, or why either response felt appropriate

Windfall actually attempted to smile, though the results were horrific. “The day you fought Hoops. After Coach let me go, I wanted to wait for you, but I didn’t want to get in more trouble.”

Dash nodded. “Fluttershy told me you went to the ice cream shop with her.”

“I didn’t know how long you would be, and I didn’t want to leave Fluttershy alone.” He paused to spit out more blood. “I convinced her to come with me. I thought you might come find us.”

Dash couldn’t help but smile. “I should have known that was your dumb idea.”

“Yeah, guess it was pretty dumb. But anyway, when it was just the two of us there, I was kinda thinking it almost felt like a date. And you know, maybe you’re really too straight to notice, but Fluttershy’s pretty hot.”

Dash glared. He wasn’t exactly making her want to forgive him. “Watch it.”

“What do you want me to say? She’s beautiful? Fine, she’s bucking gorgeous. Point is I asked her out, and she turned me down.”

“She actually turned you down?” Dash had to smile. She would have expected Fluttershy to make some excuse about needing time to think it over, then ask Dash to break the poor sap’s heart for her.

“Well… I could tell she wasn’t interested.”

Dash groaned. “You’re a bucking idiot, you know that? You know what she’s like, what were you expecting? She can barely talk to ponies when they aren’t putting her on the spot like that.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I would of tried talking to her again or something, but Score saw me there and asked about it. And I, well… Look, I know it’s horrible and you can hit me again for it if you want, but I couldn’t tell him I got rejected. I made some comment about you two, thinking he would take it as nothing since they already thought she was your marefriend. But I guess since I said it, they thought that actually confirmed the whole thing.”

Dash shook her head and walked the rest of the way to him. To his credit, he did nothing to stop whatever was coming. “You really are a dick. That was way uncool.” She offered him a hoof to help him up, which he took.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he almost fell over, catching himself at the last moment.

“I didn’t hit your legs, stop being a bitch,” Dash said, causing him to stand a little straighter. “Here, lean on me. Let’s get you home.”

“Isn’t there somewhere else you can take me?”

“Well, we could go to the hospital,” Dash said skeptically. “That is, if you think your parents will take it better when they hear that’s where you are.”

“No.”

“Then home it is.”

They began the long walk back to Windfall’s house, walking much slower than they did before. Along the way, they got stares from everypony they passed, but at least no one stopped them.

“You know, if you wanted to ask out Fluttershy, you should of told me,” Dash said. “I probably could of given you some advice.”

“Yeah, or just hit me.”

Dash laughed. “Yeah, or that.”

Windfall laughed too, or made a noise close enough to laughing. It seemed to cause him pain, so he stopped short. “Anyway, it wasn’t something I really planned out. I mean, yeah she’s pretty and all, but she’s kinda quiet for me. Plus I don’t really know what we have in common besides you and ice cream. Besides, I have my eye on another mare.”

“Really? Who?” As long as Dash had known Windfall, he’d never been interested in anypony.

“What, and have you laugh at me? No thanks.”

“I won’t laugh!” Dash said, then thought better of it. “Okay, I’ll totally laugh. But so what, tell me anyway.”

Windfall just smiled. “I’ll tell you some other time. You know, when you didn’t just hand me my flank. My ego’s kinda looking like my face right about now.”

Dash winced. “Yeah, sorry about that by the way… I mean, you deserved a good smack, but I went way overboard.”

“It’s okay. I probably should of just told you two after I screwed up, and definitely shouldn’t of been saying shit like that in the first place. So if you want to call us even, I’m fine with that.”

“Deal,” Dash said.

They hobbled along in silence for a while before Windfall spoke again. “So I promise I’m not trying to start shit, and I really don’t care what the answer is, but what is up with you and Fluttershy? I mean, you two are total opposites.”

Dash thought for a moment. It wasn’t like she’d never noticed they didn’t exactly have a lot in common. “I dunno. I mean, she’s my best friend. I’ve known her most of my life, but it’s also like… it’s more than that, I guess.” Dash remembered what Fluttershy had said when she spent the night at her house. “I guess we’re like sisters. So it doesn’t really matter if we’re different, you know?”

She was pretty sure whatever Windfall was doing with his face was supposed to be a grin. “That’s… that’s pretty cool, actually.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, smiling to herself.

Although the walk to the alley had only taken a minute, the walk back took much longer. Eventually, though, they found their way to Windfall’s front door. He took a step towards it without her. “You can just leave me here.”

“No way, I gotta explain that it was my fault. That way hopefully you won’t get in too much trouble.” Before Windfall could protest, Dash opened the door.

Windfall’s dad was sitting in a lounge chair and reading a book when they entered, but he sat straight up when he saw them. “What in Celestia’s name happened to you two?” At the sound of his voice, Windfall’s mom entered the room and stared at them open-mouthed.

“We… had a bit of a disagreement,” Dash said.

Windfall’s dad came over to help him move, but he managed on his own. “Go get yourself cleaned off, then we can see how bad it is.” He turned to Dash as Windfall left. “A disagreement.”

Dash told a short version, about how somepony was spreading rumors and she thought it was Windfall’s fault, but they cleared the whole thing up and were friends again. Windfall’s dad was hard to read, but his mom was clearly concerned.

To her surprise, Windfall’s mom helped towel off Dash’s face despite her son’s condition, then directed her to a sink to wash her hooves. She took care to fly to it so she didn’t track blood all over the place. Once she was cleaned up, Windfall’s mom gave her a glass of water which she drank slowly, the cold stinging her mouth a little.

Windfall came out while she was finishing the water. He looked much better without all the blood, but it had covered up how swollen his face already was. It was also clear he’d have a nasty bruise on his ribs, but there didn’t seem to be any serious damage.

Dash waited in the kitchen while Windfall and his parents moved to the other room to talk. She occasionally heard his dad speak up to say things like “I knew she looked feisty!” and “You sure know how to pick ‘em”, but nopony was yelling, or even sounded too angry.

Eventually, Windfall came in alone.

“So how’d you make out?” Dash asked.

“Grounded for a month,” Windfall said, taking the seat next to her. “They give you a hard time?”

“Nah, they seem really cool actually,” Dash said, taking a sip of water.

“So what do you think your parents will do?” Windfall asked.

“Probably not much.”

“Now that sounds cool.”

Dash sighed. “No, it isn’t.” She turned to face him. “You know how everypony thinks my parents are never around, and I try so hard so I can impress them and they’ll notice me again? Well they’re right. That’s why I hit Hoops that day. The way he was talking about Fluttershy pissed me off, but when he brought up my parents, it just kinda hit too close to home.”

Windfall shook his head and slouched in his chair. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does,” Dash finished her water. “I think that’s the real reason me and Fluttershy are so close. Her family sucks too. I guess we just need each other.”

Windfall gave her an impassive expression, which still looked ridiculous with the swelling. “Gay.”

“Shut up,” Dash said, lightly punching him on the shoulder. They both laughed, despite their injuries.

Dash had screwed up. She started a fight with her friend, and now he was in trouble because of it. But in some way, things felt good. She got the answers she wanted, and she was back on speaking terms with Windfall.

And she as she thought about Fluttershy, things seemed to finally be clicking into place. They were like sisters, and that meant they would stick together no matter what.

5 – It's Just as Important

Chapter Five
It's Just as Important

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Dash probably could have hidden it from her parents if not for the black eye. Windfall’s parents never tried to get in touch with them, and none of her other injuries were too noticeable. But even if it was just one injury, that was all it took.

As it turned out, they did care that she was still fighting. They threatened to pull her out of flight school per their original agreement, though they didn’t actually do anything to make good on that threat.

That wasn’t too surprising. Far more unexpected was that when she went to her room, she realized she didn’t actually care if they did. While she loved flying, she could do it without flight school. She’d already learned everything they could teach her years ago, then somewhere along the way, it had just become a constant effort in being the best.

Except she was the best. For as long as she’d been in flight school, she’d been the star pupil. She was really in it for something else, but it still took a black eye to get her parents’ attention.

Along with the threat to pull her out of school, they’d also grounded her for that. Not that it mattered, not when they were never home to make sure she wasn’t disobeying their rules. Still, she took it as an excuse to sleep in. No point in waking up early for class. In fact, she decided she could get used to sleeping in until noon.

Although she wasn’t supposed to leave the house, there was nopony home to stop her, so she went out for lunch. She needed to do something to kill time while she waited for practice to end, after all, and going to the place that Gale Force got pizza for them after every race seemed appropriate.

It really wasn’t the same on her own, though. She wanted to enjoy it one more time while she was still part of the team, but she knew that was only a technicality.

It killed time and filled her stomach, though. It was almost time for practice to end when she left the pizzeria, so she made her way to the track.

They were still finishing up, so she sat on the bleachers and watched. Unsurprisingly, Windfall was nowhere to be seen. Dash could only hope he’d be back in action before too long; the team needed him now more than ever, and he was going places with his flying as long as he stuck with it.

Gale Force noticed her as she watched, but he ignored her in favor of focusing on the rest of the team. That suited Dash fine. She hadn’t wanted to disrupt things, after all.

She realized that in all the years she’d been in flight school, she’d never really watched the other athletes she trained with. It made her wonder how much better the team could have been if she had. A lot of ponies made simple mistakes that she could’ve helped them with, if only she had cared about anything other than her own personal achievements.

She waited until everypony had finished and Gale Force gave his team pep talk, then she flew over to him.

He sounded worn out as he skipped the friendly greeting. “I hope you don’t expect this to count as showing up for class.”

“No, Coach. I just want to talk.”

Gale Force looked at her, clearly taking note of her eye. “Alright, come into my office.”

As she followed him, Dash noticed all eyes were turned towards her. She just grinned confidently as everypony whispered. In particular, she noticed Summer Rain was giving her a look that might kill a lesser pony.

But as Gale Force closed the door behind them, everything faded away. There was only Dash and her coach. She knew this would be hard, but she’d made up her mind.

“So I’m guessing this has something to do with the black eye?” Gale Force said as he sat at his desk and gestured for her to sit across from him.

“Sort of,” Dash said, sitting down herself.

Gale Force frowned. “And I’m guessing that also has something to do with why Windfall didn’t show up today either?”

Dash rubbed her neck. The more she had time to think about it, the more she regretted everything that happened with Windfall. “Yeah, that would be my fault.”

He sighed. “So you want to tell me what happened?”

Dash grinned. “Not really. Whatever story he decides on, I back it one hundred percent.”

Even in light of the circumstances, Gale Force couldn’t help smiling just a little at that. “Okay, we’ll leave that be for now. So what do you want to talk about then?”

Dash took a deep breath. This was it. “I’m dropping out.”

“You’re what now?” He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“I’m sorry, Coach, but I thought this through,” Dash said, resolutely meeting his eyes. The least she could do was stand proud and tell him her decision to his face. “I realized I don’t want what I thought I wanted, and what I do want, well… it’s not here.”

Gale Force folded his forelegs. “And there’s nothing I can do to stop you?”

“No, sir.”

“Well then, I hope you have a plan at least.”

“Sort of,” Dash said. “ I… I have the start of one anyway.”

Gale Force leaned back and didn’t say anything for a moment. Dash was sure he was going to protest, but he surprised her by smiling instead. “Well, that’s not exactly reassuring, is it? But you know, your dad said something like that to me around eighteen years ago, when he told me Firefly was pregnant. I can imagine what your relationship with him is like, so I’m not too sure if this is the type of thing you’d want to hear, but you’re a lot like him.”

Dash bowed her head. “It’s kinda weird. It feels like you know him so much better than I do.”

“You know, he grew up dirt poor. Used to bring him around my place just to get a good meal in him from time to time.” Dash looked up at him. Her dad had never told her that before. “Firefly was right around your age when she got pregnant, maybe even a little younger. I didn’t know her as anything other than Blaze’s marefriend, so I can’t speak for her, but your dad was determined that you’d never have the life he did.”

“I guess he did that…” If there was one thing Dash could say about her parents, it was that they always provided for her. They lived in a nice house, got her enrolled in a good school, bought her almost whatever she asked for, and she had never once questioned it.

Gale Force nodded. “He was seventeen when he moved out, got married, and threw himself into a career to pay for you and your mom. I’m not making excuses for him not being around, but he was doing the best he could at what he thought was the most important thing for you. I think if you can learn from his mistakes, you’ll do alright.”

Dash grinned. “You know, I think you were right before. I probably should have talked to you ages ago.”

Gale Force grinned back. “Oh, I was definitely right. But I think you figured out what you needed to on your own, eventually. I’d wish you luck in whatever you’re planning, but you don’t need it. You’ll be the best at it. You don’t have second place in you.”

Dash nodded. “Thank you, Coach.”

“But you know, if it takes longer than you think to get your plans off the ground, I’m always here if you need anything. My offer to talk still stands, and if you need bits, well, I could always use an assistant. Work on the attitude, and the job’s yours.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. But the truth is that I don’t think what I’m looking for is here in Cloudsdale at all.”

“I see. Well, then the rest of the world better be ready for Rainbow Dash.” He stood up and opened the door.

As Dash stood up to walk out, he held out his hoof to bump hers. Instead, she threw a foreleg around him in a hug. “Thank you, Coach. For everything.”

“Heh, don’t mention it. Now get out there and kick some tail!”

Dash saluted. “Will do!”

She flew off with him waving goodbye. In a way, the hard part was over. She still had to tell her parents, but these days Gale Force had become more of a parental figure than her actual parents anyway, even with the added perspective he gave her for them.

She thought about spending the rest of the day roaming Cloudsdale, but when it really came down to it, she just wanted to go home. She passed the remaining daylight hours by cleaning her room, which she hadn’t done any time in recent memory.

As usual, her dad came home first. She waited until her mom came home before going downstairs to talk to them, though. No need to go through the whole thing twice.

When she met them in the living room, they both looked dead tired. She always thought about how they weren’t around, but she hadn’t really stopped to think about how hard they were working all the time.

“Mom, Dad? I need to talk to you,” Dash said.

Rainbow Blaze rubbed his eyes. “What’s up, Squirt?” He sounded exhausted but still smiled as he talked.

“I, well…” Dash took a breath and fixed her face into a determined expression. “I want to move to Ponyville.”

Rainbow Blaze and Firefly exchanged looks and sat up straighter. “But… where is this coming from, Dashie?” Firefly asked.

Dash bowed her head. There were so many reasons she had to do this, how could she ever explain it? When it came down to it this was just what she knew she had to do. “I just… I want to see more of the world than just Cloudsdale. Maybe Cloudsdale really is the best place in Equestria, but it’s not all there is. Ponyville’s not that far, and I can stay with Fluttershy.” Technically she hadn’t actually asked Fluttershy, but she’d be welcome. She hoped.

Firefly looked like she was holding back tears. “This is just so sudden. Why didn’t you tell us about this before?”

Dash bit back tears herself. She had thought she’d be ready for this. “I just… you’re never around. I’m sorry, but I can’t talk to you about what I want when I never get to talk to you at all.”

Firefly did start crying at that, although she held herself together pretty well. Just a few silent tears and a little excessive blinking. Rainbow Blaze wrapped a foreleg around her shoulder. “You’re too young. How about after you graduate flight school?”

“I’m seventeen, Dad. The same age you were when you moved out with Mom.”

Rainbow Blaze frowned. “How do you know about that?”

“Gale Force told me. He also said he thinks I can handle this.” Well, he implied it at least. That was close enough.

“I left to build a life for us, and I spent it making sure you didn’t have to do the same thing.”

Dash looked away from her parents. “I know, Dad. And I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me. But I need to learn to stand on my own, and figure out what my role in life is supposed to be.”

Blaze looked like he might argue some more, but Firefly had already grabbed her daughter in a hug. “Promise me that no matter what, you’ll come straight home to us if things don’t work out. I know you’re just as stubborn as your dad and me, but please, never be ashamed to come home. Whether you find what you’re looking for or not, you’ll never be a failure to us.”

Even Dash was starting to blink away tears. “I know, Mom. I promise, I’ll come home if things don’t work out.”

Once they broke apart, Rainbow Blaze pulled her into another hug. “Well, you’re not going to be homeless, that’s for sure. You can tell Fluttershy that you’ll only be staying there long enough to move into your own place, because tomorrow you and me are going house hunting.”

Dash shook her head. “Dad, please don’t –”

“I know you have to make it on your own, and as much as I respect that, I’ll be damned if we can’t give you a headstart. Consider it something I need to do as your father. We’ll pay for the downpayment and the first three months, which should give you plenty of time to get on your hooves.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dash said.

He ruffled her mane. “You’ll be alright. You are my daughter, after all.”

Dash grinned as she stepped back. “Well, I need to get going if I’m going to make it there tonight.”

Firefly’s ears drooped. “You’re leaving tonight?”

Dash looked away. She hadn’t expected her parents to get so emotional. This was supposed to be easier.

But that was exactly why it was so important to leave now, before she could change her mind. “I’m sorry, I just…”

She didn’t know what she was going to say, but she didn’t have to worry about it. She was stopped from answering by her mom’s hoof on her shoulder. When she looked up, both parents wrapped her up in a group hug.

“I love you, Dashie,” Firefly said.

“We both do,” Blaze added.

Dash nodded and swallowed back her tears. “I love you both too.”

They pulled away and her parents nodded. She flew upstairs and grabbed her bag. She had been so excited for this earlier, but now…

‘No, I have to do this.’

She walked down the stairs slowly, noticing every detail and every memory in the house. She was surprised by how many things came up in her memories. So many things that had lain buried beneath her resentment towards her parents, only now coming to light as she came to terms with her lot in life.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, both of her parents were waiting. They smiled encouragingly, so Dash smiled back. Even as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, she still smiled for her parents.

She wanted to say something, but no more words came to mind. She walked to the door and turned back to see her parents still smiling through their own tears, wishing her the best in the new path her life was taking. She shook her head, wiped her eyes, and went through the door.

“Goodbye,” she said to nopony in particular.

With nothing else to hold her back, she took to the air. She knew where Ponyville was, but only in that she’d seen it on a map, so it would be best to avoid waiting around any longer; she was already leaving late for the uncertain journey as it was.

She knew Fluttershy could make the trip without much difficulty, and she was a much stronger flyer. Still, she did wish she had taken Fluttershy up on visiting Ponyville before she decided to try flying there solo. She had always been too busy with flight practice, though. Well, no more. Fluttershy had put Dash first for years, and now it was time to turn the tables. From now on, Fluttershy was number one.

It was well into the night by the time Dash finally saw Ponyville. It was much less impressive than she imagined, though she supposed she had to be looking at some outskirt area. There were only two buildings around, and a lot of what she knew were trees based on some pictures she’d seen.

She descended slowly, putting her hooves on the ground almost cautiously. She stared at the dirt, moving it around with her hoof. She inspected her hoof and was surprised to see it covered in dust. She flapped a wing, moving around a bunch at once, and watched it float through the air. She bent down for a closer look and regretted it as some of the dust got in her eye.

“It’s just dirt.”

Dash jumped into the air and hovered as she turned around to see an orange mare with a blonde mane and a weird hat grinning at her. She slowly descended, feeling a little embarrassed by what must have been a ridiculous display. “Yeah, I’m from Cloudsdale. We don’t have dirt there.”

Now that she was on the ground she noticed the other mare didn’t have any wings. It looked… odd. Wings were such a natural part of a pony, it was like seeing somepony with only two legs. “Well, in that case, welcome to Ponyville! Although ya ain’t exactly in town yet. Name’s Applejack, and this here’s Sweet Apple Acres.”

Applejack gestured around them, and Dash realized this must be a farm. That was another thing they didn’t have in Cloudsdale, since there was no way to grow things in clouds. And if this was a farm, that meant that only one of the buildings was a house, while the other had to be a barn.

Dash’s need to piece all of that together would look weird to an earth pony though, so she just grinned. “I’m Rainbow Dash. I’m looking for a friend of mine, a pegasus named Fluttershy. You wouldn’t happen to know her would you?”

Dash offered her hoof before realizing it was covered in dirt. Applejack didn’t seem to mind and bumped it anyway. “Yellow coat and more pink hair than anypony should know what to do with? Yeah, I reckon I’ve met her.” She turned around and walked toward the farmhouse, gesturing for Dash to follow. “Come inside and sit a spell. I’ll get ya a drink and give you some directions to her house.”

Dash could immediately see what Fluttershy had meant. In Cloudsdale, most ponies believed that earth ponies were all rude because they were jealous that they couldn’t do magic or fly, but Applejack seemed alright.

As they walked a creaky voice spoke up. “Didja figure out what was goin’ on with that loony pony, Applejack?”

“She ain’t loony, Granny, she just never seen dirt before. She’s visiting from Cloudsdale.”

An elderly mare stepped out from what looked like the living room. “At this hour? Isn’t it a little late for company?”

“Not visiting us, she’s looking for that pegasus Rarity brought over the other day. She’s just stopping in to catch her breath before heading out again.”

Applejack led Dash into the kitchen, where Dash sat at a small table. She looked around and noticed how full the place was, how homey everything looked. While the rustic look was far from Dash’s personal taste, she would have given anything to have grown up in a house like this.

“Here, Sweet Apple Acres specialty cider,” Applejack said, setting a glass in front of Dash.

She eyed the drink skeptically. It smelled kind of like apple juice, but it was much darker, an ugly brown color that didn’t look appetizing at all. But since she didn’t want to offend the pony helping her, she took a drink.

Her eyes went wide as she set down the cup. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” She downed the rest making sure to get every last drop.

Applejack laughed and refilled her glass. “I’m glad you think so, but try not to drink it so fast.”

Dash nodded and drank her second cup much slower, savoring the flavor. While she drank, Applejack gave her directions to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Course ya could skip all that and fly there if ya wanted. Should be off that-a-way.” Applejack pointed to the east, slightly northward. “If that fails ya, feel free to come on back here. Barn’s open; it’s not the fanciest place to lay your head, but it’s not so bad. I’ve taken more than a few naps there myself, and it’ll get ya out of the elements. In the morning if yer still around, I’ll take you to Fluttershy’s myself.”

“Thanks, but aren’t you worried? I mean, you don’t even know me.” She’d never get an offer like that in Cloudsdale.

Applejack scrunched up her face as if studying the newcomer, then smiled and waved a hoof. “Nah, you seem alright, even with the black eye. ‘Sides, you’re friends with Fluttershy, and that girl couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Dash smiled. “Fluttershy was definitely right. This place is way more friendly than Cloudsdale.”

“We do what we can. But it’s already quarter past ten, so if ya wanna catch Fluttershy while she’s still awake then ya best get going.”

“Right. Thanks again.” Dash stood up and walking to the door.

“No problem. Come on by in the day sometime, or stop in to see me at the market and let me know how everything’s going for ya.”

“You got it!” Dash waved goodbye as she took off.

Since it was already late and she’d have a good view in the air, she opted for the direct route. She flew over a lot more trees, many of which had bright red apples on them. That was almost enough for Dash to land and check them out. She’d only ever seen apples after they were picked and ready to eat, after all.

But she had to put Fluttershy first. In the morning, the two of them could check out the town and Fluttershy could show her everything there was to see about life on the ground.

It didn’t take her long to fly to the cottage. She was a little disappointed that she still hadn’t seen any of the main town itself, but there’d be time to see her new home later. Besides, that was another thing she could do with Fluttershy.

Approaching the door, she noticed all the lights were off. ‘I really hope this is the right place.’ She glanced around, noticing some sort of weird fluffy thing staring at her from one of those round tree things that were only as tall as a pony.

‘Yeah, ‘cause there must be a ton of cottages on the outskirts of town.’ She knocked on the door before she could second guess herself any more.

Seconds stretched into minutes as she waited. Maybe it was the wrong place? Maybe Fluttershy was asleep? No, she was too light of a sleeper, she’d wake up. Dash knocked a second time and waited some more.

She was about to head back to Sweet Apple Acres when she heard Fluttershy on the other side of the door. “Uhm, who is it?”

“It’s Rainbow Dash. Uh, can I crash here tonight?”

Before she had even finished the question Fluttershy had already opened the door and was beaming at her. “Of course, come in!”

As they walked inside Fluttershy turned on a light. “I’m so happy to see you, but why are you here so late?” She turned and gasped as she noticed Dash’s black eye. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?”

Dash tried to say it was nothing, but Fluttershy’s gaze melted the smile off her face. Reluctantly, she told the whole story without leaving anything out. Asking about the rumors, confronting Windfall, the talk they had after the fight, her parents finding out about it, quitting flight school, telling her parents she wanted to move to Ponyville, even meeting Applejack. It felt good to get it all out, even the parts she wasn’t proud of.

But once she was done, Fluttershy looked horrified. “You… you gave up everything… because some ponies thought you were gay?”

Dash shook her head. “No, there was a lot more to it. I mean, ponies have been calling me gay since as long as I can remember. I guess it did piss me off that they were calling you gay too.”

Fluttershy didn’t look any better. “So you dropped out of school and left your home because some ponies said that I’m gay?”

“Seriously, there were a lot of reasons,” Dash said, baffled that Fluttershy was hanging so much on one detail.

“But that is why you got into a fight with one of your best friends.”

“Well… yeah I guess so.” She grinned and shrugged. “But even he said he deserved a smack for it. I’m not gonna sit there and let ponies say things about you like that, Shy.”

Fluttershy shook her head and fell onto her couch. “You… Dash, you shouldn’t do things like that.”

“I know, I was dumb. But hey, me and Windfall are cool now! So, that’s what counts right?” Dash smiled hopefully.

Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves. “You should go back to Cloudsdale. Tell everypony it was a mistake.”

“Not a chance!” Dash said. “I mean, if you don’t want me here that’s fine. I’ll go stay with Applejack tonight, and tomorrow I can see if she’ll let me stay until I get my own place. But I’ve made up my mind, I’m sticking around!”

Fluttershy looked up. Dash was shocked to see tears on her face. “It’s… It’s not that… it’s… I just…”

“Fluttershy, don’t cry.” Dash sat near her and tentatively wrapped a foreleg around her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to hugging so much.

Fluttershy looked up at her. “You… you shouldn’t sit so close to me.”

Dash grinned and scooted away. “Since when do you care about doing gay stuff like that? Besides, there’s no one here to say anything anyway.”

Somehow Dash said the exact wrong thing because Fluttershy’s few tears exploded into full blown bawling. “I’m sorry…” she said repeatedly through sobs.

Dash sat bewildered. Apparently hugging was a bad idea, and whenever she talked things got worse. Usually when Fluttershy cried, there was somepony Dash could hit for causing it, but she doubted it would help either of them very much if she began punching herself.

She couldn’t sit there doing nothing while her best friend was such a wreck, but nothing was the only option she had left.

Eventually, the worst of the tears subsided and Fluttershy wiped her eyes. Dash wanted to ask for an explanation but was afraid to say the wrong thing. Eventually, Fluttershy spoke up on her own. “I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

Taking a risk, Dash asked “What do you mean?”

Fluttershy sighed. “You’re going to hate me. Once you know, you’ll never want to see me again.”

“Okay, that’s probably the dumbest thing you’ve ever said,” Dash said. “I mean, you’re my best friend, Shy. I won’t hate you, ever.”

Fluttershy smiled a little. “Thanks, Dashie… But you only think that because you don’t know.”

“Alright, so tell me. Then I can prove I’m right by not hating you.” Dash grinned. “Because I’m awesome, so I’m always right.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Well… One day Rarity and I were talking, and she asked what kind of stallions I liked. And I couldn’t tell her because I didn’t know. Then when I thought more about it, I…” Fluttershy’s voice barely came out as a squeak as she finished. “I realized I didn’t know because I don’t like stallions at all.”

“You don’t… like romantically you mean?” Dash asked. Fluttershy nodded as she stared away from Dash. “So then… mares?”

Fluttershy’s head sunk lower. “I don’t know. Maybe. At least a little.”

Dash facehoofed. “I’m officially the biggest jerk in the world.” She scooted closer to Fluttershy and pulled her up so she that they could hug again. “I’m sorry, Shy. For all the stupid shit I said.”

Fluttershy sat limp, not returning Dash’s hug. “Dash, I’m… you shouldn’t…”

Undeterred, Dash kept holding her. “Hey, I don’t give hugs often, you better take it while you can get it.”

Slowly Fluttershy put her forelegs around Dash. “You… you don’t hate me?”

“No, of course not.” Dash grinned and pulled away, but kept one foreleg around her friend. “Hey, I was right! I’m so awesome.”

Fluttershy giggled then looked away sadly. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to stay here anymore.”

Dash tapped her chin. “Hmm… I could sleep in a barn, or I can hang with my best friend ever.” She shrugged. “Yeah, I think I’ll stay here.”

Fluttershy looked almost happy but still seemed scared, like she was expecting Dash to change her mind at any time. “You… really want to stay friends?”

“Of course!” Dash said.

“But… but you don’t like ponies like… like me.” Fluttershy looked like she might cry again.

“That’s not…” Dash shook her head and sighed. “You wanna know why I said all that stuff? Because the first time I ever heard the word gay, it was some stupid little colt using it as an excuse for why I was faster than him. I didn’t know what it meant, so at the time I just thought it was an insult. It didn’t help that adults got all weird when I asked about it. And then even when I did know, ponies still kept calling me gay as an insult. I was dumb for going along with it. I knew better, I just… didn’t really think about it I guess. It’s not a good enough reason, and… I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

Fluttershy smiled. A real smile, with no other feelings mixed in. “Of course I do, Dash.”

“You know, the only reason I even went by Dash was because I always thought Rainbow sounded gay. That was dumb, and since I’m starting over in Ponyville anyway, maybe I’ll start going by Rainbow instead.” She nudged Fluttershy. “Well, you can call me whatever you want, though.”

“Alright. Rainbow.” Fluttershy giggled.

Something occurred to Rainbow. It was probably best to get it into the open now while they were being all emotional. “So that night you slept at my house and you tried to get me to sleep in the bed. You really weren’t coming on to me, right? Totally cool either way, I just want to make sure we don’t have anymore secrets from each other.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Sorry to hurt your ego, but no, I wasn’t. I don’t think of you like that.”

“Cool ‘cause I lied, that would actually be really weird,” Rainbow said. “But not because you’re a mare or anything.”

Fluttershy looked kind of hurt. “Then why?”

“Because well…” Rainbow rubbed at her neck. This was about to get super sappy and she’d probably have to deal with another hug. “Alright, so like I said, there were a lot of reasons why I decided to move to Ponyville. But the biggest is ‘cause I realized something. Maybe my parents aren’t as bad as I always thought they were, and I’ll always love them because they’re, you know, my parents. But they still weren’t ever really there for me, except financially. I’ve been trying to impress them for years, but for what?”

Rainbow smiled at Fluttershy. “That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately though, the real thing that hit me was yesterday after my fight with Windfall. He asked me why we were so close, and I told him we were like sisters. But that wasn’t really right. Because really, you’re not like my sister, you are my sister. My parents might be related to me by blood, but we’re related by choice, and that’s just as important. Instead of trying to get them to notice me, I want to stay close to the family that’s always been there for me.”

Fluttershy threw her forelegs around Rainbow. ‘Called it.’ After realizing that the hug wasn’t ending on its own any time soon, and was dangerously close to the sentimental tear zone, she pulled herself away. “Alright, enough with the sappy stuff. You were asleep when I got here, and probably have work in the morning, so let’s get to bed.”

“Okay.” Fluttershy stretched out on the couch, pushing Rainbow off. “The bedroom’s upstairs. I’ll sleep down here.”

“Yeah, no,” Rainbow said. “That’s not happening. Couch is mine for as long as I’m here.”

Fluttershy put up her hooves. “Fight me for it.”

Rainbow laughed. “Fluttershy, not that I think you could ever look intimidating, but you look way too happy to pull that look off.”

Fluttershy scowled and took a few swipes at the air, which caused Rainbow to double over in laughter. “Okay, nevermind, that’s even worse!”

Although Fluttershy’s attempt at intimidation was nothing short of laughable, Rainbow yielded. She walked up the stairs, turning towards Fluttershy as she did. “Good night, Shy.”

“Goodnight, Dash.”

Opening the door to the bedroom, Rainbow looked around, noticing the bed was almost as big as hers. She walked back to the stairs. “Hey, Shy, your bed’s pretty big. Wanna just split it?”

Fluttershy’s head popped up from the couch. “Uhm… aren’t you worried that’s kind of… gay?”

Rainbow waved a hoof. “Nope. I think I can safely say I’m done worrying about stuff like that. I left that part of me back in Cloudsdale.”

Author's Note

Whether you read the original and have now also read the rewrite, or are only just now discovering this story in this cleaned up version, thank you for reading :twilightsmile: I hope you enjoyed it, and that you’ll drop by the comments to let me know what you think.

Curious about Fluttershy after this story? Inner Strength takes place about seven years after the ending here, or you can check out the Who We Become group to see the entire series :yay:

I’ve got a Discord server, if anyone feels like joining that (please note that it is a 16+ server, if you are not 16 years old or older please do not join!) :ajsmug:

And here, have some end credits music: