Sunrises and Fresh Rain

Chapters

Early Mornings
Lessons in Flight and Daisy Chains
Clouds and Secret Admirers
Confessions and Critters
Sunrises and Fresh Rain
Bonus Chapter

Early Mornings

The night was as quiet as a whisper; even Angel had the presence of mind to be asleep by this hour. The only audible sound was the sound of her steady breathing as she lay tucked under the blankets, her form rising and falling gently with every breath she took. Fluttershy lay curled under a mass of quilts, her face as relaxed and soft as it always was. Her sweet-pea pink mane was sprawled over a fluffy pillow, forming little loops and curls as it draped over her still head and linens. She was positioned on her stomach, yellow legs tucked against her body in a protected, almost fetal stance.

Moonlight streamed in from the window across from her bed, sprinkling soft white luminescence over the form of the sleeping pony, providing just the perfect reflection off of her glittering pink mane and the little tuft of tail daring to peek out of the foot of the cover. The gentle light and the cozy quiet in the room came together to form a harmonious symphony of dreamy lullabies.

Though her body lay hugged by her bed, Fluttershy's mind was elsewhere. She could be dancing with the waves, singing along with dolphins, or she could be building a house made out of dreams and ribbons of sunshine somewhere in the mountains, where she and her animal friends could spend their days talking and laughing without giving the slightest care. Of course, there was no way anyone could possibly tell where the sleeping pony was in her dreams from the outside view of her closed eyes and buttery fur-covered heaving chest.

Either way, Fluttershy was sailing along the shores of dreams. Her cottage was as peaceful and delicate as a snowflake, a little thing of beauty, laced together so precisely and so easily broken by just a-

Plink. A pebble bounced off of the window frame, making an obnoxious little sound as it went, causing an earthquake in Fluttershy's dream world, yet she didn't wake up.

Tink. Another little stone hit the glass. The sleeping pegasus rolled over, mumbling in gibberish something that may have seemed perfectly logical in the dream world. Which she was still in.

Thwock! Clearly, the assailant had stepped up their game, for the acorn that hit the window made a considerably louder sound than what came before it. And with the annoying tree nut, came a groggy and slightly annoyed pegasus out of her slumber.

Fluttershy sighed and rolled into sitting position, rubbing her eyes as she did so. With a sleepless yawn, she noted how dark it still was outside a furrowed her brows. The mare trotted unsteadily to the window, opening the shudders and thrusting her head out, noticing the pony standing only a few feet from her.

"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy called in a whisper into the moonlit scape. "It's still dark out!" she declared, softly as even. Rainbow froze her eyes to keep herself from rolling them.

"You don't say?" The cyan mare remarked, a laugh creeping into her voice, before continuing in a hushed and hurried tone. "C'mon Fluttershy, or else we're going to miss it!" She bounced slightly on her hooves in emphasis and excitement.

Fluttershy didn't move, confusion still controlling her brain. "Miss what?" She asked with genuine curiosity. Rainbow flicked her tail and sighed, exasperated.

"Just come on out, I promise you'll like it!"

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at her bed, still warm where she just had been sleeping moments before. Oh, how nice it would be to just tuck herself back under the covers and close her eyes... She could practically taste the bliss that would come as soon as her head touched the pillow...

The mare apprehended herself. If her friend wanted to show her something, so it would be.

"Coming, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy called back quietly, to her friend's glee. "Just one question, if it's okay."

Rainbow smiled back up at the yellow mare, flicking a strand of multicolored hair out of the way. "Anything, Flutters."

Fluttershy couldn't help but smile at the nickname. It sounded so sweet coming from the normally tough cyan mare. "Why the pebbles?"

Rainbow Dash offered a laugh of mirth and cocked one eyebrow, giving Fluttershy a wink that she knew she could see.

"Can't beat the classics."

*~*~*

Leaving the cottage with a cloak draped over her shoulders lest it be chilly, Fluttershy was greeted with a light punch in the shoulder by her friend, who had flown to the door to meet her.

"Took you long enough, I was growing a beard out here!" Rainbow playfully remarked in mock frustration, while her friend squeaked at the sudden meeting of hoof to shoulder. Regardless, Fluttershy offered a small smile to her friend as she looked at her from under her long lashes, head tilted downward under her hood.

Rainbow Dash crumpled her face as she appraised the thick cloak. "Nah, I'd leave that behind if I were you, you won't need it." She advised, gesturing at the overlarge wool coat that almost hid her meek friend from view. While Fluttershy didn't immediately understand Rainbow's reasoning, she wasted no time in tossing the thick covering aside, shivering slightly as the mild breeze rumpled her smooth coat.

Taking notice of the yellow mare's shudder, Rainbow leaned in, brushing away a strand of long, sleek pink hair that was covering her eyes. Fluttershy looked at her friend, feeling a rush of affection at the uncharacteristically sensitive motion. "Don't worry, Flutters," Rainbow spoke understandingly, "You won't be cold, I promise."

With that, the two friends broke into a canter, leaving behind Fluttershy's quiet cottage and setting off toward the sleeping town. With each passing step, the yellow mare grew more and more curious, until her curiosity grew to a crescendo and the inquiry as to where they were going practically hammered against her throat.

"Um, Rainbow Dash, what do you have in mind?" Fluttershy spoke quietly, as if she were breaching some sort of etiquette by asking. Rainbow looked over at her friend as they walked, Ponyville growing larger in the distance as they approached it.

"The first rain of the season!" Rainbow revealed, excitement leaking through her tone. "You know that spring rains are always the sweetest!" Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head, forgetting completely about the cushy bed that had been so alluring, beckoning to her, just a few minutes ago.

Still, one factor had yet to be explained.

"Why are we heading into town?" Fluttershy inquired, looking over to her friend in wide-eyed curiosity. Rainbow glanced over for a split second, then turned her head again in a double take, locked in the deep turquoise of Fluttershy's sparkling orbs, that just glittered with the look of foalish wonder and innocent. She felt something familiar swell inside her chest, and wanted nothing more at that moment than to bury her face in her friend's soft mane and pull her into an embrace, never to let go.

But wait, had she asked a question just now? "Oh uh, yeah," Rainbow sputtered, pulling together the scrambled bits of her brain and revving her ability of speech. "I just know this place where we can watch the rain and stay dry, y'know, it's really nice." The prismatic pegasus explained, tilting her head toward the buildings, "And it's this way, right through town."

Fluttershy nodded a second time, before falling silent and facing forward once more.

The streets looked so different when illuminated by moonlight rather than sunlight; the cobblestones underneath their hooves looked mystically reflective under the silver light, and everything looked as though it were seen through a dreamy blue lens. The entire town was blanketed in a stillness as though every sleeping pony in their houses contributed to the great collective breathing of Ponyville as the village slept like a doleful beast. Fluttershy deeply inhaled the sweet air, feeling herself a part of the rhythm of her slumbering town.

It was only then that Fluttershy realized how quiet her typically talkative friend was being. It was strange, the way

she had never really taken notice of something until it was no longer there, like Rainbow's endless entertaining stories, boasts, and sarcasm, the lack of which left something of a vortex that had to be filled.

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy began, treading carefully as she selected her words with thought. "Is there something on your mind?" She asked, her voice gentle and soft, even more that usual, but not nervous or shaky. Rainbow blinked ahead of her twice, as though she were finding ground after a flight in the interstellar space of deep thought.

The cyan pegasus paused, stopping walking for a moment to turn to her friend, her rose eyes flicking about as she studied her friend's concerned face. With searching eyes, Rainbow asked quietly, "Do you remember?" Her voice shpolicy slightly as if there was something right on the other side, waiting to be said, but the prismatic pegasus wouldn't allow it just yet.

Fluttershy gingerly reached up a buttery hoof to push a sliver of colorful hair out of her deep rose eyes. She batted her eyelashes as the concerned yellow mare blinked slowly, sifting through her thought for an answer, before a sound tore through the stiff silence.

The momentary exchange between the two friends was popped like a soap bubble as Fluttershy emitted a squeak of surprise at the deep rumble that rolled through the clouds. Rainbow sighed; she wouldn't have minded for that moment to have lasted just a little while longer, she and Fluttershy just suspended in time, but the unwelcome thunderclap had

cut the moment between them as though it were the silken strand of a spider's web.

Thunder...? Thunder! "Oh we better move it, Fluttershy, or else we're gonna end up caught in the-"

The cyan mare had hardly time to react before both pegasi were suddenly drenched in a torrential downpour of rain that neither of them had seen coming. It fell with a vengeance, chilling both of them to the core as droplet after infinite droplet hit two cyan and yellow heads, before rolling off two very sodden coats. As the tempest of almost tropical proportions raged on, unleashing its watery fury on the two defenseless ponies below, Rainbow flicked a strand of limp, soaked hair out of her eyes.

"...rain." She finished, though it all seemed rather redundant now. The pegasus gave a great heaving sigh, before looking to the pouring sky in exasperation, bargaining with nature.

After having been nearly scared out of her skin, Fluttershy began to emerge from her shell as she felt the sheet of rain string her long hair together. She too looked toward the heavens, wonder etched across her features rather than frustration. Delicately reaching out a yellow hoof, Fluttershy allowed the rapidly flowing droplets to catch on her fur.

The silvery raindrops chased each other down her hoof as she watched, their soft reflective light mirrored in her wide staring orbs. The rainfall made soft pats against her thickly matted pink hair as Fluttershy broke her gaze at the drops on her hoof, turning once more to the sky. She let out a sigh as her eyes slid closed, and the yellow mare lost herself in the swirling rain that hit her face.

The yellow mare breathed in the crisp air between raindrops, almost forgetting her friend was there. It was as though the rain wasn't only soaking her coat, but washing away her troubles, cleansing her mind from any worries that may have plagued her. She felt free, free from whatever duties she might have had, free from any ridiculously controlling bunny...just liberated. So liberated, in fact, that Fluttershy allowed her next action to be controlled purely by impulse.

Splash! "Hey!" Rainbow coughed as a splash of water hit her face. She turned to Fluttershy, who looked back, one eyebrow cocked and a smirk on her face. It was an unfamiliar expression to be worn by the pony, and Rainbow did a double take, before narrowing her eyes. Oh hell, it was so on now.

Rainbow tackled a puddle, sending a splash of water in back to her friend, whose eyes widened at the sudden retaliation. While the cyan pegasus laughed at her brilliant revenge, Fluttershy huffed and pulled a strand of soaking hair out of her eyes. Very well, if that was how she wanted to play it, so it would be.

Splash! "Hey, that's cheating!" Sputtered Rainbow as her friend used her long tail to swing a thick splash of water her way.

"What is, this?" Another tail-swung splash. The blue pegasus wiped water from her face, sliding on her game face in the process.

Before anypony knew it, the two friends were off, splashes of water flying between them in a frenzy. Rainbow leaped from puddle to puddle, playing hopscotch with the water while firing off splashes like bullets. Fluttershy kicked up flicks of water with her hooves, giving adorable little grunts as she did so, zig-zagging and ducking fire from her friend.

As the town slept, and the night was lit by only moonlight, two ponies chased each other through the rain, laughing as though nopony could ever hear them. They splashed through puddles, leaped over the glistening cobblestones, and sent water flying in every direction as they wrestled with each other in the downpour. Between mock-angry shouts and hysterical giggling, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had forgotten where they were; in the middle of the midnight streets of Ponyville, making memories in the first rain of spring.

Rainbow hopped around Fluttershy, landing hard in a puddle and sending a torrent of water to her friend, laughing madly. "Haha, take that, Flutters!"

"Oh yeah, how about this!" With a hard kick and a cute grunt, Rainbow was splashed with water from the mercy of Fluttershy's yellow hoof.

"Good try, but-" The cyan pegasus ended her sentence with a stream of water that sailed from her wingtips.

"You better run!"

"Take that!"

"Incoming!"

The back-and-forth raged on, until both ponies were wetter from the splashing than from the rain which still fellwith a fury. Until, that is, Rainbow arched to send a particularly furious splash of water Fluttershy's way, and lost her footing.

She slipped across the slick cobblestones, a sodden mass of blue fur, feathers, and cry of surprise. Fluttershy

squealed as her friend crashed into her, introducing them both to an abrupt meeting with the ground.

Rainbow groaned and lifted her head, realizing her position above Fluttershy. The pinned yellow pony looked up at

her friend through a curtain of wet pink hair, her hooves drawn together against her chest. Rose eyes met long-lashed turquoise ones, and the moment froze like a snowflake. The rain poured off of them, while they were so close that their snouts were almost touching, and Fluttershy's breath tickled Rainbow's nose.

The sounds of the rain faded away until the world was only them, blue over yellow. Rainbow felt affection rush over her heart, and she realized how easy it would be to kiss the innocent yellow pony right then, how tempting...

In an instant, Fluttershy pressed her lips against Rainbow's, drawing their bodies together. The cyan pegasus gasped and pushed herself back against her friend, closing her eyes as she felt Fluttershy's soft lips pressed against her own. The yellow mare reached up to take Rainbow's face in her hoof, stroking her cheek, pushing wet hair away as she kissed her. Although the rain still fell, rolling off her back and splashing the ground around them, Rainbow had already completely forgotten about it.

As the town slept, and the rain fell, and the empty streets were lit only by the moon, the stars still twinkled, but the world had stopped turning.

Finally, an eternity too soon, the kiss broke, leaving two gasping ponies and air crackling with passionate electricity between them. Fluttershy fell silent under Rainbow, who drew her head up, afraid she had somewhere crossed a line. Her gaze was only met by Fluttershy's, looking back with sparkling eyes, in which the very light of the stars was reflected. She smiled softly up at her concerned friend, who felt a sweet mixture of relief and affection swell inside her. Everything was so perfect, it would've been alright if time just froze, crystallizing them in an eternal embrace.

Sadly, it could not; the rain kept falling, chilling them both as Fluttershy felt a shiver run down her spine. "Rainbow?" She asked, her voice as timid as ever. Rainbow looked up, and all but read her friend's mind. Then again, the chattering teeth were a dead giveaway.

She stood up, helping up her cold friend as she did so. "C'mon Flutters, let's get you out of this rain." Rainbow leaned forward, nudging a sheet of her friend's soaked hair away with her muzzle. Seeing the yellow pegasus so pitiful, even more than usual, melted Rainbow's heart, and she wanted nothing more than to just take Fluttershy in her embrace, hold her and never let go.

"Follow me," Rainbow said gently, as the two ponies continued through the downpour, through the empty moonlit streets.

*~*~*

A while later, a while that felt like a second to the two ponies who walked side by side, they reached the edge of the forest, causing Fluttershy to pause in her tracks. She looked to her friend, eyes pleading.

"Are we going into the Everfree forest?" She asked, her voice trembling in trepidation, "At night?"

Rainbow offered a smile, running a hoof through her shaking friend's long hair. "Trust me on this, Flutters," She assured, "I promise I'll protect you."

Fluttershy smiled in relief. If she couldn't trust her friend, who could she trust?

Following Rainbow, but keeping one eye over her shoulder, Fluttershy ventured into the forest. Rainbow strode with confidence, until they came to a clearing. Surrounded by trees on every side, they had something of a canopy to sit under. Right in the middle lay a small pool, filled with a few lilypads and the yellow light of the moon.

Fluttershy lit up at the sight; how had she not found this place on her own? It was as though it was there the whole time, but had been waiting to be discovered by her and Rainbow, together.

The yellow pony didn't say a word as she bounded into the clearing like a foal on Hearts and Hooves Day, wearing a smile that rivaled Pinkie's. She hopped around the pond in glee, not giving a single flying feather about the rain. She skidded to a halt under a tree, taking a place between its roots. All the while, Rainbow Dash was watching.

"Yeah, I know, right?" The pegasus gloated. "Pretty great, isn't it?"

Rainbow leaned against a tree, as Fluttershy looked up from under a curtain of hair. "It's wonderful, Rainbow Dash." She complimented, sighing.

Dash steeled herself before walking through the rain to where her friend sat, settling herself next to her. She sighed and made herself comfortable, watching the rain splash into the pond.

Neither pony made a sound. Fluttershy held her breath and gathered every ounce of courage she had in her, daring herself to make the next move.

Rainbow's eyebrows raised as she felt something on her shoulder. Looking down at the sweet pink mane sprawled over her revealed that Fluttershy was leaning on her, gazing ahead into the clearing.

At that moment, there could have been anypony watching. Anypony could see them now, Rainbow Dash, tomboy speed-demon, in an embrace under the moonlight with Fluttershy, uber-girly ex-fashion model and town scaredy cat. Anypony could have seen them, it was true, but for once, Rainbow Dash couldn't have cared less. If Celestia herself floated down from her heavenly palace in Canterlot and given her an ultimatum of joining the Wonderbolts or moving to the moon with Fluttershy, the pegasus would be munching on moondust for the rest of her days.

She felt her last bit of bravado fade into oblivion as Fluttershy looked up with starry eyes. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Hmm?"

"Back in the rain, in Ponyville, you asked me a question. " Fluttershy began, treading as carefully as always. "You asked-. You asked if I remembered. What did you mean?"

She didn't have to say anything else. "I was going to ask, before we got interrupted by the rain," She punctuated her phrase with a glance at the pouring sky. "I was going to ask, do you remember when we first met?"

Fluttershy leaned back into her friend, thinking, as the rain hypnotized her.

"I remember..."

A pony sat by herself, flapping her wings feebly in the darkness of the night. She allowed her front hooves to dangle slightly over the side of the cloud, her tail curled up beside her yellow form. Her city, and home, was just a short flight behind her, but she didn't feel like going back.

It didn't help that she couldn't fly either.

Right then it was only this yellow pony alone with her thoughts, as she didn't have a friend she could share them with anyway. It had never bothered the pegasus before, until now, as she gazed over the edge of the cloud into the blue abyss below. How nice it would have been to share her thoughts now, to anypony that would listen.

Then again, nopony ever listened to this yellow pegasus, and she didn't want to be a bother.

"Hey, what're you doing over there?" A voice called through the silence, startling the yellow filly to the point of nearly tumbling off the cloud. She squeaked and whipped around, facing a little cyan filly, with inexplicably messy rainbow hair.

Of course she knew her. This filly was in her class; top marks on all the flying exams, and smart to boot, the lazy kind of smart that skated through life and slept through half her classes. Fluttershy had never been good with faces, but this particular filly had one that was hard to forget.

Large, clever rose eyes, and a half-cocked smile that practically begged for a challenge. The yellow filly would recognize her anywhere. But now, she was here, and she had asked a question.

"I-um-I was just..." Fluttershy trailed away feebly, and Rainbow's expression softened.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I just don't want you to, y'know, fall off." She craned her neck to look apprehensively over the edge of the cloud. Fluttershy looked at her hooves as she deliberated asking the question that had plagued her for a while.

It was worth a try; maybe this would be the first filly that would listen. "W-what do you think is down there?"

Rainbow plopped herself next to the filly, landing with a poomf in a puff of cloud. "I dunno, stuff." She said thoughtfully. "Whatever it is, I wanna go there someday." She mused, before shooting a glance to the yellow pony next to her. "Y'know, find out for myself."

Fluttershy stared back, wide-eyed. Finally, somepony who shared her feelings; she'd always been curious about what was beneath her floating cloud city, but never had the guts to find out if anypony else felt the same way. And here came somepony, somepony she'd never expect, affirming that she wasn't crazy.

"Me too." She admitted. "I'm...a little scared." The timid pony's voice trembled with every word. Rainbow Dash had to consciously stop herself from raising an eyebrow. A little?

"Don't worry about it, I'll come with you, we can go together!" Rainbow declared, swelling her chest like a proud falcon. "I promise I'll protect you."

Fluttershy smiled softly at the confident rainbow filly. Dash leaped into flight, spinning a loop and landing Fluttershy's other side with a pat. "One day, you know, one day I'll be a Wonderbolt, and I'll be allowed to go to the ground whenever I like. It's going to be SO awesome!" She smiled into the distance in excitement, before turning to the yellow filly and extending a hoof. "Name's Rainbow Dash by the way, you'll want to remember that," She ended her sentence with a smile and a wink, making Fluttershy blush in spite of herself. "What's yours?"

The yellow filly gingerly met her new friend's hoof in a shake. "I'm Fluttershy..." She spoke quietly, though she didn't feel afraid. It was just something about this confident, bold pegasus that made her feel, for once, comfortable.

Rainbow grasped her hoof with both of her own and gave it a firm shake. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Fluttershy." She said in playful mock-formality.

They fell silent again, Rainbow lying right next to Fluttershy, looking off the edge of the cloud to the ground. Fluttershy rested her head on the cloud, also looking down once more. "Maybe I'll fly down there one day." She spoke, rather to herself than to the other filly, who listened quietly, a rarity it itself. "But I'd probably fall."

Rainbow Dash giggled as she looked at the pony next to her, who looked back, smiling softly.

Just then, nature decided it was the perfect time to strike, and drenched the two in a sudden sheet of rain. "Huh, must be a rogue cloud," Rainbow remarked, while her new friend squeaked in surprise. "Let's get somewhere dry. Wanna come, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked up at the filly, her eyes huge in surprise. She'd never been invited anywhere with another filly, let alone the most popular one in school. What trickery was this?

Rainbow only looked back at her, complete honesty in her pink eyes, as she extended a hoof for the other filly to take. Fluttershy took a leap of faith, putting her trust in another pony for the first time, taking her hoof and silently pleading for this not to be some cruel joke. She took Rainbow's hoof, who helped her up.

As the two walked away, side by side, through the pouring rain, Rainbow spoke up.

"You know, Fluttershy, if you went off the cloud and you fell, I would catch you."

An hour later, the sun had begun to rise over the treetops, bathing Equestria in its soft yellow light. Somewhere, in a clearing in the middle of the formidable Everfree forest, there were two ponies sitting against the trunk of the largest tree.

The two didn't say a single word to each other, they just sat in an embrace, watching the pond change from dark blue to glittering blue and yellow. Rainbow spoke first, breaking the blissful, perfect silence.

"Is this what it's like?"

Fluttershy moved her head heavily and looked up at her friend. "What what's like?"

Rainbow swallowed, looking ahead again, praying for things not to turn sour with what she was about to say. "To be in love."

Fluttershy blinked slowly and felt a smile spread across her face. She reared up and kissed Dash on the cheek, whispering in her ear. "I love you too, Rainbow Dash."

With that, Rainbow leaned her head down to the top of Fluttershy's mane, letting her eyes slide closed.

"Spring rains really are the sweetest."

Safe from the rain, the Rainbow filly made herself comfortable, gazing out at the rain as it fell from the angry cloud. It was so intimidating, the ferocity with which it poured. Fluttershy, however, didn't seem affected.

The yellow filly merely gazed up into the clouds, watching the swirling rain. She sighed, filling herself with a lungful of the fresh rain air. Rainbow smiled.

"You really like rain, don't you?" She asked playfully. Her friend looked over, wearing a soft smile.

"It's the first rain of spring." She informed, and Rainbow nodded. With that, Fluttershy turned back to the sky, closing her eyes.

"Spring rains are always the sweetest."

Lessons in Flight and Daisy Chains

"Hey, no fair!" Cried a cyan pegasus filly, her voice cracking in agitation. She slumped back into the cloud on which she was sitting, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Her playmate, a buttery yellow filly with large, innocent turquoise eyes, looked back at her. She wore a questioning expression at her friend's frustration. "What's wrong?" The filly spoke timidly, as if she herself was the blame.

Rainbow Dash stared at her friend, one eye squinted as she screwed up her face in confusion. "How in Equestria do you keep winning at this?" For the fourth time in a row, Fluttershy had sent her king to Tartarus, and Rainbow wasn't sure what angered her more; the fact that her friend kept mercilessly beating her, or the fact that she couldn't for the life of her figure out how in the name of all that was holy she was doing it.

Fluttershy adopted a small smile and shrugged sweetly. "I don't know, I'm just good at this game, I suppose." Rainbow couldn't help but sigh. This was her friend Fluttershy.

In the short one month since their first meeting, Rainbow had come to really like the yellow filly. She was always true to who she was, and always humble and sweet, even when she had just reason to brag a little. The cyan filly could take a leaf or two out of her book, though she would never admit it.

Fluttershy surveyed Rainbow's face, before asking, "Do you want a rematch?" This was another thing to love; she was forever fair, always giving second chances. Rainbow slapped a hoof to her forehead, before sliding it down her face in sheer exasperation.

"Nah, you won fair and square." She declared, before adding, "Besides, I don't think I can handle another loss." Ending her sentence with a playful laugh, Rainbow hopped to her hooves, flexing in preparation for takeoff. Her eyes narrowed into that daring expression that was almost exclusive to pre-flight Rainbow Dash.

"How about a few tricks? Hey, I challenge you to a race, Fluttershy!"

The yellow filly's eyes grew sad as she looked down, suddenly fascinated with the sheen of her bubblegum pink locks. Neglecting to offer her eager friend a proper response, Fluttershy merely gave a little squeak.

Rainbow flitted to her side, watching her friend, her expression falling somber and slightly worried. Was it something she said? "It's alright, Fluttershy, we don't have to race or anything if you don't want to." In spite of herself, the cyan filly secretly hoped her friend would change her mind; her wings were just begging for the feel of the wind between their feathers.

Fluttershy looked up at her friend, her eyes pleading with her not to be angry. "N-no, that's not it, it's just..." She trailed away, fading into a string of unintelligible mumbles as her mane captivated her attention once more. Rainbow sat down next to her in a puff of cloud, blowing a strand of unruly hair out of the way as she searched her friend's face with concern. Fluttershy's stare could've burned a hole through the strand of pink she held, stroking it nervously.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can tell me anything!" Rainbow scooted closer, waving her hooves through the air to emphasize her trustworthiness.

Fluttershy didn't break her stare at her mane, which her hoof was still fiddling with in anxiety. She opened her mouth and closed it in a few helpless gulps, forgetting the ability to speak, before her confession came, as feeble as possible while still staying audible, even if just barely. "I... can't exactly..." Rainbow's urging expression practically drew the words from her lips. "...fly."

She might as well have admitted to being married to a Manticore; Rainbow's reaction was the same either way. She froze, staring dumbfounded at her friend's confession. A pegasus unable to fly? Unheard of! Flying was like second nature to the cyan filly; she'd been sailing the skies for as long as she cared the remember. Fluttershy's problem was so surprising to the filly, that she had to consciously make sure that her leg wasn't just being pulled.

When the yellow pegasus began to recede like a hermit crab into its shell, Rainbow gathered the presence of mind to pull herself together. "Hey," she spoke in an uncharacteristically comforting manner, "Don't worry about it, you'll learn!"

Fluttershy sniffed a looked up with glistening eyes. "Really?" She squeaked, wiping a strand of long hair from her eyes. Rainbow nodded in assurance, wearing a soft smile.

An idea flashing through her mind, Rainbow Dash sprung to her feet. Even without a cutie mark just yet, she was still a flying expert, one with sharable expertise.

"In fact, how about I teach you right now!"

*~*~*

Two ponies walked side by side, one being blindfolded. The first walked gracefully and delicately, gliding over the ground, while the latter, despite her best efforts not to, was stumbling over her own hooves.

"Where are you taking me, Fluttershy?" Rainbow impatiently asked. Her eyes were wide and staring behind the fabric, though it would do her no good. The mare's nature was getting the better of her, and she hated being in the dark, both figuratively and literally.

Fluttershy giggled cutely, nudging Dash out of the way of a little pebble. "Be patient, Rainbow Dash, we're almost there."

Rainbow Dash became as keen as a sleuth as she allowed her friend to lead her. Her ears twitched at every sound,hoping to derive some sort of clue as to where they were. Well, after fifteen minutes of walking, she had gathered one thing; they were outside.

Not to mention how much her hooves were killing her. The cyan pegasus couldn't imagine how unicorns could stand walking everywhere, only teleporting once in a while, or, even worse, earth ponies. Her wings itched at just the thought.

However, when Fluttershy gave her another nudge, Rainbow remembered why she was here. Every word, every action,every thought she had nowadays revolved around this yellow pegasus. From her silky pink hair, to her sleek body, to her impossibly sweet and charming demeanor, and whole, kind heart, one thing was certain; the cyan mare had fallen head over hooves in love with her. If Fluttershy was going to lead her to an unknown location in the middle of nowhere, then to an unknown location she would go.

With hardly enough time to revel in the moment, Fluttershy brought them both to a halt. "Okay, we're here." She announced. Before removing the blindfold, the mare leaned into Rainbow, nuzzling her mane affectionately. "I couldn't forget the beautiful place you took me to last time, I had such a wonderful time, I just had to repay."

Rainbow's heart skipped a beat as she felt the yellow mare pressed against her, and she replied by resting her head on the top of her mane in a hoof-less embrace. "I had a great time too, Flutters," She spoke affectionately, before playfully adding, "And I'm sure I will this time too, if you'll just untie me."

Fluttershy smiled into Rainbow's neck, sending shivers down her spine. "Of course." She pulled aside the cover, revealing the landscape to her friend.

A meadow, somewhere outside Ponyville, spread across Rainbow's vision, spanning full and green,edged by thick trees. It was incredible how something so big and beautiful could be hidden so nicely,just for them two.

The grass grew high and lush, providing a bed of rolling spring green waves just waiting for somepony to lie in them. The field was pockmarked with white daisies, small and demure, contrasting perfectly with the crystal-blue sky and the warm yellow sun that illuminated the meadow.

Fluttershy studied her friend's expression as her eyes flicked back and forth, from the blades of grass that shone like silver to the trees that surrounded them. Rainbow's eyes grew wide in awe, unable to take in the sheer natural beauty that faced her.

The cyan mare had the catch her breath before responding. "Fluttershy, it's...amazing." That was it. There were no other words to describe what the pegasus was feasting her eyes on. Fluttershy did not mind; her smile affirmed that she was indeed quite pleased to hear that her friend appreciated her secret glade as well.

With that, the two ponies were off, galloping and cantering through the field, allowing the soft grass to tickle their hooves as they went, chasing each other in peals of laughter. The sun warmed them as they played like foals, innocent and carefree, as the breeze picked up their worries and blew them away.

Leaping around Fluttershy, Rainbow landed in the grass, sprawling herself onto her back, hugged by a million perfect white daisies. Fluttershy followed suit, the two ponies now laying next to each other, watching the few lazy clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky. For once, Rainbow didn't long to be in it.

"This place really is awesome, Flutters." Rainbow remarked with a relaxed sigh. Fluttershy didn't say a word, just sighing and resting her head on her friend's shoulder in complete bliss.

Suddenly, an idea popped in her head. "Oh, Dashie, do you know how to make a daisy chain?" She asked, pulling herself up to sitting position.

Rainbow also sat up, shaking her head. "Can't say that I do."

With a gentle motion, the yellow mare plucked a few delicate blossoms from the grass cushion beneath them. She smiled as she traced the petals, looking up to see Dash watching curiously. "Let me show you!" She suggested.

Without the dexterity that thumbs or magic provided, fine, intricate work like this was best left untouched by pegasi and earth ponies. It didn't help that Rainbow Dash never really had the knack or the patience for such careful work anyway, but she was certainly curious as to how her friend was planning on pulling this off.

Fluttershy was quick to show the technique, using her mouth as an anchor to loop the flowers together in a practiced, fluid motion. She made adorable little squeaks of concentration while she worked, sending Rainbow's heart on an affectionate sugar rush.

Rainbow was brought back to the ground when Fluttershy swung a triple daisy chain before her eyes, perfectly and expertly crafted. The mare couldn't help but be impressed by the handiwork.

"Can you show me how to do that again?"

*~*~*

"That's it, flap those wings!" A little cyan filly coached. Fluttershy strained, letting out little grunts of exhaustion, as she attempted to do the very thing she was never capable of.

She stood on her hooves, bent forward slightly as she stretched her wing muscles furiously. Locks of thick pink hair fell into her eyes, but the pegasus didn't bother pushing them away. Her entire mind, all of her energy was concentrated in her frail yellow wings.

"Just a little more, you got this!" Rainbow encouraged, circling her friend for a better view, flitting her own cyan wings for emphasis. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut as she powered on, her wings attacking the air more vigorously than ever before. Any more and she would surely give out and suddenly become an earth pony.

Rainbow hopped around, cheering Fluttershy on, "You're doing awesome! Now we just need a little momentum for that first liftoff! That's how I learned!" She declared, before landing next to her friend, looking at her with pride.

"Go on, Fluttershy," the cyan filly urged, "Run!"

With that, Fluttershy took off like a bullet, soft puffs of cloud rising from where her hooves hit the surface. She sped along, still furiously beating her wings in preparation for takeoff. The air felt cool against her face as she ran, harder than ever, more determined than ever, leaving her friend behind as she cheered heartily.

This time, Fluttershy would prove them all wrong.

*~*~*

Rainbow Dash groaned through her teeth in exasperation as she worked, clamping the stem of a particularly stubborn daisy in her mouth. The petals didn't fit the right way, and the skinny stems kept breaking off, like the cyan mare's patience was about to do.

After ten minutes of extremely detailed work that she wasn't used to, Rainbow was growing frustrated. She was, however, determined to have something to show for her labor, so the resilient pegasus toiled on, no matter what the cost. In any case, she wanted to impress the mare across from her.

All the while, Fluttershy had been sitting in silence, tirelessly stringing together blossom after blossom, utterly absorbed in her task. The pegasus was so enamored by the flowers before her that she failed to notice the increasing frustration and determination of her companion.

After another few minutes, Rainbow was stringing together the final flower. One final loop and she would be...done! The cyan mare held up the chain in triumph, letting the white daisies swing in front of her friend. She dropped the fruit of her labor in front of Fluttershy, leaning back to admire her work.

"Done! Whaddaya think of tha-" Rainbow's grin slid off her face as she looked up to see her friend adjusting a lovely daisy halo over her flowing mane. With a look at her own sorry little chain, Rainbow's heart fell even further.

"Argh! I just can't get this!" She exclaimed, slumping into the grass. Fluttershy appraised her chain, smiling.

"Oh don't worry, Rainbow Dash, you're off to a great start!" She reassured warmly, running her friend's chain through her hooves. "Do you want to try just one more time?"

Rainbow sighed. Of course she wanted to give it another go, anything for Fluttershy.

"Sure. Can you please show me once more?" The mare asked, turning back to Fluttershy and working up a smile. She was met with the warm smile from her yellow friend.

"Of course." Fluttershy huddled next to Rainbow, showing every detail of the technique.

The cyan mare held her breath as she lost herself in the feel of her friend's long pink hair tickling against her,and her sweet voice patiently explaining the daisy chain process. Rainbow watched with what care Fluttershy, the mare she was in love with, worked, and she made her mind up.

This time she would get it right.

After a while of difficult, detailed crafting, Rainbow laced together her final flower. She dropped a daisy chain before her friend, smiling widely in triumph, true triumph. Every petal lay perfectly, the stems twisted together just right, every element coming together to form a pristine piece of floral artwork.

"Look, Flutters, I did it!" She exclaimed, voice cracking in excitement. The product of her labor lay in the grass before the yellow mare, who looked up from her own work to appraise it.

Fluttershy smiled hugely as she bent to pick the chain up in her mouth, pink hair falling over her shoulders. Rainbow fell quiet as the yellow pegasus leaned forward to delicately place the floral halo around her head. Tenderly sweeping a strand of colorful hair away as she did so, Fluttershy closed the distance between the two, their muzzles almost touching.

Rainbow's breath hitched in her throat as the two came together, pink and rainbow-haired angels, wearing halos of spring blossoms. Fluttershy looked up from under long lashes, turquoise meeting rose, as she gently spoke, "It's beautiful, Rainbow Dash," She smiled, before adding in slightly more than a whisper, "And you look beautiful too."

The cyan pegasus moved foreward, meeting Fluttershy in the gentlest kiss, more gentle than anypony would've guessed the athlete was capable of. Her eyes slid closed as their lips touched, soft as a butterfly's wing, but as passionate as possible.

It ended all too soon, as Rainbow leaned back slightly, raising a hoof to run through Fluttershy's mane. "Thank you for teaching me." She said quietly, wearing a small smile. "I would've been lost without you." She meant the last comment to apply to more than just daisy chains.

Fluttershy smiled and rested her head on the cyan mare's shoulder, closing her eyes and allowing the breeze to wisp through her hair and ruffle her daisy halo.

"I always believed in you, Dashie."

*~*~*

A yellow filly was running with a vengeance, furiously thrashing the air with her wings, her little chest heaving with strain. Behind her she heard the cheers of her friend and coach that drove her on, until it was only them, the cloud below her, and the vast blue horizon.

She leaped, a single leap of faith, and closed her eyes, expecting to feel the cloud hit her as it had so many times before. Everything, everything she worked for, her very being rested on this moment, the moment where Fluttershy would either gain or lose faith in herself.

She braced herself, but no impact came. She felt light, drifting as though the filly was a leaf caught on the wind. Peeking timidly out of one eye, Fluttershy saw nothing blue clear blue, and white cloud below her. Far below her.

As she flew, suspended by the sheer power of her own wings, the filly felt an elation the likes of which she had never experienced before swell inside her. "Rainbow Dash, I did it!" She squealed in delight. "I'm flying!" Though her wings still beat furiously, Fluttershy hardly noticed over the feeling of the sky stretching endlessly around her.

Rainbow Dash watched her friend from below, squinting in the beaming sunlight. It would be so easy to just flit up there, share in her friend's achievement with a few celebratory flips, but the filly resisted. This was Fluttershy's moment. "You did so amazing, Fluttershy!"

It only took a minute of flight for the pegasus to tire herself out, and she landed gracefully on the cloud next to her friend, wearing an unrivaled smile. "Did you see me? I was flying!"

Rainbow hopped into the air with happiness, and pride in her timid friend. "I sure did, that was awesome!"

Fluttershy looked up shyly, her eyes questioning. "How... How did you know I could do it, Rainbow Dash?" She softly asked, "Nopony has ever believed in me." The tinge of sadness in her sweet voice made Rainbow Dash want to pull her into a tight hug.

Instead, she walked over, brushing a strand of pink out of her friend's eyes, tilting her head up under her chin softly. Pink eyes met turquoise as understanding, mutual silence spread between them, before Rainbow spoke.

"I have always believed in you."

Clouds and Secret Admirers

A yellow filly walked on her own, dragging her feet through the cloud layer beneath her as her head hung low, pink hair swinging around her pretty face like a pathetic curtain. She paid the least attention to her surroundings, every step feeling like another step to the edge as she walked, watching her hooves with sad eyes that didn't dare look up.

Her saddlebag dug into her shoulder as she went, providing a dismal reminder of what was to come when the filly reached her destination. Fluttershy's wings lay clipped to her sides, her muscles curling up into a tight clench, a reflection of the position she herself wanted to be in right then. She stared holes through the cloud floor, catching herself wondering what it would be like to turn around and not come back, or hurl herself over the edge, fall forever as the rush of the wind and the nearing ground took away the poisonous feeling of black dread that was swelling in the filly's chest.

Finally, the source of horror loomed into view. Fluttershy's house, where she had been raised, was where right now her parents awaited her, expecting her to turn in the very thing that sealed her doom. The slip of paper may well have been written with the fetid sludge of the pits of hell, wrapped in the lifeless souls of the damned, carrying the empty cries of the ages shrieking in eternal anguish as they charred in the infernos of Tartarus.

Oh, how easy it would be to just drop the unholy piece of paper over the edge. Oops.

"Hello, Fluttershy dear, have something for us?" Her mother greeted as the yellow filly entered, whose tone, despite the endearing words, was cold as steel.

Fluttershy froze, certain the panicked thumping of her heart was audible by her parents, whose gazes pierced her like rapiers. With a funeral march playing in her head, the filly withdrew a neatly-sealed envelop from her bag. She handed it over in what may have been an exchange for her soul rather than an exchange of a slip of paper, blasphemous as it was.

Her mother opened the letter, father peering over her shoulder, while Fluttershy felt herself grow smaller and smaller until she threatened to disappear into the floor.

"...You failed your flying exam, dear." Those words, those words may as well have spoken of her terminal cancer; the feeling was indistinguishable. Although she had known it, hearing the words from her mother's icy lips sent a crushing, hardening blackness suffocating Fluttershy's heart.

Her mother sighed as she replaced the envelope and, with a look to her husband, sent her daughter away. "Go to your room, Fluttershy, I'd like to have a word with your father."

The yellow pegasus left, walking through the halls that felt as though they were guiding her funeral procession, to the room where her bed became her casket. Her casket where she would lie down, bolt it shut, and never fly again. Not that she was apparently able to anyway, at least not good enough to pass an exam.

Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash had given her lessons. Rainbow was the scaffolding upon which Fluttershy was able to first leave the ground, allow her wings the first taste of pegasus freedom. Without Rainbow's coaching in class, she had been unable to even unfold her wings, locked shut as though they had a mind of their own, one that prided in seeing the filly's downfall.

Voices drifted from the main floor. "...I'm telling you, dear, she can't fly!" A shrill female voice said.

"Well, don't look at me like that, you could have taught her!"

"Me? After spending all day at the weather factory, I'm expected to come here and teach our hopeless daughter how to fly? For Celestia's sake, she should already know!"

"Must be YOUR side of the family."

Fluttershy buried her head in her pillow. She didn't want to hear any more, she couldn't; every word was like another drop of a slow-acting venom, each one painfully bringing about the truth she already knew.

She was a failure, a disappointment to her parents, and would always be.

A tear escaped from a tightly-clenched eye, leaving a trail of wetness down her cheek as it rolled. One salty tear was followed by another, dripping onto the linens below as Fluttershy allowed herself to cry silently. The voices from her parents faded away as her tears fell like raindrops, unquenchable, untouchable, unstoppable.

As the river of sorrow continued to flow, Fluttershy was alerted by a soft pat as something fell through her open window, rolling halfway under her bed. Daring to peek, the filly held the footboard as she peered over the side, a couple of rogue tears staining the floor as they fell from red, watery eyes.

A corner of paper was visible peeping at the despaired yellow pegasus, bound tightly in a pristine little scroll. Dare she look?

As the voices from the main room grew in volume and agitation, probably arguing about the incurable incompetence of their daughter, Fluttershy made up her mind. After the sun set, she had nothing to lose.

She picked up the scroll as delicately as though it were a rose petal, cradling it as she lifted the fateful note. Using her teeth, she worked with dexterity to untie the ribbon neatly binding it, rolling the paper open with trembling hooves.

With eyes that were unsure of whether they really wanted to scan its contents, Fluttershy read the page, the simplicity and comfort of its contents bringing forth another swell of tears.

'I think you're an amazing flyer.

-Your secret admirer'

*~*~*

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it, it's easy!"

Rainbow Dash spun a loop as she said it, landing on a white cloud which vaporized into oblivion under her hooves. She swept her hair aside under a signature cocky grin, addressing her timid friend who hovered an inch above another tuft of white.

"Oh... I don't know, Rainbow Dash, it seems a little out of my league..." Fluttershy replied, drawing her front hooves to her chest in an outward display of vulnerability.

Rainbow's hooves touched cloud again as she landed next to her friend. "Don't worry, anypony can clear the clouds!" She declared, before adding with a flutter of her wings, "All you need are these!"

The yellow mare gave her own wings a feeble flit. "I just... Are you sure I can?" Rainbow nodded, confidence in her friend positively swelling over the surface.

"Okay..." With delicate motions, Fluttershy leveled herself with a cloud, before feebly thrusting out a hoof into the white vapor. "Mmf!" She grunted adorably as she punched the cloud. A poof of vapor rose up, the tiniest piece of the cloud disappearing, but altogether it was a pitiful result.

Rainbow hovered, watching with an expression that demonstrated no less than stifled amusement. "A good effort," She offered, smiling with both amusement and the sheer adorableness with which her friend looked at her. "I know you can do it, let's try another."

Fluttershy drifted ever so meekly to the next cloud, looking from Rainbow to the tuft in front of her with wide, uncertain orbs. Dash nodded in silent encouragement.

Closing her eyes, Fluttershy braced herself as though she were posing for a marathon, rather than clearing one measly little cloud. A nervous, fluttery inhale and exhale later, the yellow mare flexed her wings, arching back like a cobra, ready to split the cloud under a blitz of assault.

Grunting in strain as she did so, Fluttershy whipped the cloud, thrashing her wings like a great white's fin slicing the water. She squeezed her eyes shut to vice-like extremes, biting her lip as she mercilessly sent the cloud into annihilation, each beat of her wings complimented by a high-pitched grunt and a squeak.

A pair of hooves firmly grasped the furious pegasus, bringing her to an abrupt stop. Fluttershy looked up from under her lashes at Rainbow Dash, who wore a surprised smile under raised eyebrows. Fluttershy peeked meekly upwards from under long lashes, sparkling turquoise eyes tinged with mixed worry and cautious surprise in her own ability.

"Woah, Flutters, don't wanna pull a muscle." Rainbow coached, before looking left and right over the void where the cloud should have been just a moment ago. "You really handed it to that cloud!"

The yellow mare smiled softly before breaking into a gasping pant, tongue lolling in exhaustion. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash, but c-can we take a break now?" She wheezed, her wings threatening to cramp up and introduce her quickly and less-than-courteously to the ground.

Rainbow offered a jovial laugh and a playful whap on her friend's back, causing her to bob unsteadily in the air like an exhausted yellow cork in a blue libation. "Sure kiddo, let's take five."

With that, the cyan pegasus threw herself into a kind of midair backstroke, sailing to a nearby patch of fluffy, inviting white. Beckoning to Fluttershy to follow, Rainbow landed unceremoniously on her back, sinking into the fluff. Fluttershy joined, nestling herself next to the blue mare, resting her pink-crowned head on a cyan shoulder.

"Mmmmh..." Dash sighed as she bathed in the sunlight, reveling in the feeling of the mare she so loved against her, allowing the light to play over her eyelids like little golden sprites.

Settled on the cloud, they were high enough over the ground to catch the warm summer breeze, yet low enough to drift lazily under more fluffy clouds above.

However, as the summer breeze caressed them, height stopped mattering as two ponies reached the heavens on their own.

*~*~*

"Failed? Failed?!" A little cyan filly repeated, her voice cracking in agitation. "What do they mean, failed? Lemme tell you something, Fluttershy, that's a load of bullsh-" What was sure to be a vibrant string of curses was cut short by a yellow hoof silencing a pair of cyan lips.

"Shh, or my parents will hear us." Fluttershy whispered seriously, though her curtain of hair was not thick enough to hide a smile. She retracted her hoof, tucking it into her lap to rejoin the other as she sat back onto her pillow.

The sun had begun to slowly slide down the horizon, casting a pool of liquid gold over the two fillies who sat facing each other, cradled in Fluttershy's hoof-stitched quilt and pillows. The yellow filly's parents were just in the other room, and though the sun was beginning to dim, they had no objections to their daughter inviting over Rainbow Dash, her only friend, and not to mention the single most promising patron of the skies in her class. Perhaps, they had hoped, their borderline incapable daughter would accept a leaf or two from the cyan filly's most skilled book.

Rainbow sat back, nodding, outrage still etched and gleaming in her deep rose eyes. "But you're a great flyer!" She exclaimed in a strained near-whisper, as quietly as she could muster before losing the impact behind her words.

Fluttershy gave a little cough as looked down, seemingly immersed in counting the membranes in her hair, her blush reddening to an intense puce shade. "A-Apparently you're not the only pony who thinks that..." She let on, peeking at her friend out of the corner of her eye, a tiny smile beginning to grow across her features.

Rainbow raised her eyebrows, her trademark cocky grin expanding as she leaned foreward on her front hooves like the eager schoolfilly she was. "Ooooh...What do you mean, Fluttershy?"

The yellow filly, an embarrassed smile still accompanying stained cheeks, reached under her pillow and unfurled a slip of paper, offering it timidly to her friend who snatched it without a moment's hesitation.

Rainbow's eyes moved across the page as she read, before blushing inexplicably and smiling. "W-well it's true! You are really an amazing flyer!"

Fluttershy turned to pull another note from her letter cove. "And this one too!" She said as she handed over another note, written in the same scrawly script as the first.

Rainbow took the second note, with a slight pause that slipped under her friend's radar. She flicked an unruly strand of hair away as she read. "You fly beautifully, just like a butterfly." The cyan filly read, her slightly deepening blush also going unnoticed by her friend.

The yellow filly leaned foreward, brushing a lock of pink from her visage and surveying the cyan pegasus with eager eyes. "And see how they are signed? 'Your secret admirer', on both of them!" She exclaimed, her flustered tone being replaced with the flattered giggles of a schoolfilly.

Rainbow grinned as she handed back the notes, shaking her head back and forth slowly as she retained her blush. "Well, Fluttershy, I... I guess whoever wrote these must really like you."

At that, the yellow filly looked up with disbelieving, curious eyes and a delighted pink blush. "You think?" She asked, the sparkle in her expression conveying just how much she hoped for what her friend had just said to be the truth.

Rainbow became still, meeting Fluttershy's wide turquoise eyes with her own rose orbs, losing herself in them, allowing silence to spread between them as she smiled slightly. "Yeah, I really do."

The two ponies simply sat, neither saying a word, as Fluttershy reddened a little more and smiled a little wider at Rainbow's response, unable to classify the unfamiliar warmth that began spreading through her heart like morning sunlight. Her mind lost control as she wanted nothing more than to lean in, to feel the filly against her own form, as the yellow pegasus felt she had already connected with the cyan in a way that transcended the physical.

Rainbow pulled herself together, sitting back with a jolt that made Fluttershy jump a little in surprise, not to mention the tiniest bit of hurt. "So, um, i-it's getting kinda late, I should probably head home..." The prismatic filly spoke, stumbling over her own words for reasons Fluttershy could not fathom.

Rainbow hopped to her hooves, mumbling mixed goodbyes as Fluttershy followed in a trail of confusion to see her friend out. At least, she was unsure of whether the cyan filly was still her friend. "Oh, um, yes... Yes, it is getting sort of dark, I suppose..." The yellow filly trailed away; she could feel herself falling through the verbal ice.

As Rainbow left, disappearing over the faintly-lighted horizon, Fluttershy watched, leaning against the pane of her window. She felt a sinking, stiffening feeling suffocating her heart as she fell into the internal quicksand left by Rainbow's sudden, unexplained departure. The yellow filly hung her head, numb coldness taking over her extremities as she sat back on the bed.

Somehow, the quilt beneath her had become much less comfortable.

*~*~*

Rainbow tucked her hooves behind her head, lying on her back while Fluttershy curled against her shoulder. She smiled blissfully, lifting her heavy eyelids to watch piles of white cloud that drifted above their own.

The breeze wisped over them, ruffling blue and yellow fur and entwining pink and prismatic tails as the two ponies rested, sailing through a crystalline ocean of indigo.

Fluttershy lifted her head slightly, looking up to a specific cloud as it floated over them. "Look, Dashie, that one looks like a kitty cat." She playfully remarked, lazily lifting a hoof to outline the vague feline shape. Rainbow heavily reared her head, appraising a cloud that distantly resembled a tufty Opalescence, save for the menacing yellow eyes and the mischievious, Cheshire-esque smirk.

"Huh, yeah, I can see it," Rainbow agreed, before nodding in the direction of another tuft, a messy arrangement significantly less distinguishable than the first. "And that one looks sorta like a giraffe in a suit wrestling Princess Celestia." She remarked, without the slightest hint of sarcasm.

Fluttershy wrinkled her nose and squinted her eyes cutely, screwing up her face in the way Twilight would while interpreting the runes of an ancient text. She stared at the piled cloud, tilting her head this way and that, before looking up to Rainbow in apologetic seriousness. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Rainbow Dash... I can't really see it..."

Rainbow broke into a grin and a giggle, pacifying her confused friend by running a cyan hoof through her lengthy pink mane. "Haha, I'm just messing with you, Flutters."

The yellow mare blinked once, twice, before cracking a small smile, which grew into a larger one in a fit of gentle laughter. "Oh, hahaha, I get it now... I thought it looked more like a family of butterflies, really..." She observed, nestling herself back on Rainbow's cyan shoulder, who tenderly rested her cheek on the top of the yellow mare's pink-crested head.

Completely peaceful silence spread between the two, before Fluttershy stirred once more, motioning toward another distant cumulus. "That one looks a little like a butterfly too," She turned her head, gasping slightly, "Oh my, and that one over there!"

Rainbow let out a quiet, playful laugh in response to her friend's enthusiasm. "Flutters, you think that every cloud looks like a butterfly!"

Fluttershy smiled to herself, reaching her head up to level with Rainbow's. The breeze drifted between them once more, creating an almost magnetic connection between the two as roses fell into swirling pools of turquoise. Rainbow felt affection squeeze her heart as she finished the job, closing the distance between them and meeting Fluttershy in a soft kiss. Their lips connected with electricity and blossoming passion that warmed cyan and yellow from the inside, their very cores, while gilded light from the afternoon sun warmed them from the outside.

Fluttershy pulled away, touching her forehead to Rainbow's, wearing the gentlest smile, speaking in hardly more than a whisper.

"You know how much I love butterflies."

*~*~*

A cyan filly sat by herself at her desk, the darkness of her midnight bedroom illuminated solely by the desklamp she had on here she sat. Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Rainbow Dash made absolutely sure her door was shut with almost waterproof tightness.

She picked up her quill in her mouth as carefully as she would an icicle, determined not to make the slightest noise as the filly straightened the paper in front of her. The moonlight that streamed in from the ajar window provided a softly-glowing reminder of just how much Rainbow was supposed to be in bed.

Holding her quill in her mouth, the cyan pegasus slumped in her chair, sighing as though her very soul were leaving her. Rainbow reveled in the familiarity of this position; hunched over her desk, quill gripped between her teeth in the dead of night, scribbling down in hopeless pursuit of a childish dream that may well never fall into her hooves. She wanted to throw away every note scrawled over the past few weeks, each a pitiless reminder of how badly she'd probably messed things up with her best friend.

Rainbow chewed on the end of her quill as she was swallowed up in the swirls of her own grim thoughts. She had felt the unfamiliar bubble of affection growing for her yellow friend since their first meeting, but who in Equestria had given her this idea? Fluttershy was probably so caught up in putting a handsome face at the end of an anonymous signature, she would never dare think it could be anypony else.

'You are more beautiful than a butterfly.

-Your secret admirer'

'Even if it looks like no one does, I believe in you.

-Your secret admirer'

'I love to see you smile.

-Your secret admirer'

Rainbow sighed once more, a bittersweet rush engulfing her senses as she thought of the way Fluttershy lit up reading the notes, then of the way she likely visualized the cute colt writing such sweet things to her.

How could she have expected any different? How was Fluttershy to know it was her closest friend who had fallen head over heels for her?

Rainbow inhaled deeply, blinking away the cruel tears that had begun to wet her lashes. She knew what needed to happen, the one way, the one thing that could lose her a friend or gain her something even more valuable.

She clenched the quill and bent over the paper before her to write a note, the final note that Rainbow would wrap a drop or two of tears and hopes in and tie with a ribbon of her heartstring. She touched the tip of the quill to the slip, her thoughts and feelings dripping onto the page through the connection that may as well have bound the heavens and the earth.

'I love you.

-Your secret admirer, Rainbow Dash'

Confessions and Critters

Tap. "Dashie."

Rainbow Dash remained silent as death, and still as a sack of flour. Fluttershy tapped her again with an unsure yellow forehoof, right on the forehead.

Tap. "Dash."

The snoozing ball of cyan plush grunted, following up with a sentence of gibberish that certainly made leagues more sense in her apparently deep slumber. She finished with a huff, eyes still closed, and lazily turned to her back, smacking her lips. Fluttershy wasn't having it.

A timid yellow forehoof extended hesitantly, swatting Rainbow over the snout like a kitten would a toy mouse, and just as gently, though her voice began to border a rare stern edge. "Rainbow Dash."

The final tap was the lucky one as Rainbow lifted an eyelid, meeting face-to-face with the wide crystalline turquoise eyes of childhood best friend. Fluttershy snapped back her hoof as though she had just shaken hooves with a hot poker, tucking it to her chest protectively as she adopted an apologetic expression.

"I-I'm sorry for waking you, Rainbow Dash, I just needed a favor."

Rainbow's brows sunk over her eyes as she thinned her lips, looking at her soft-spoken friend incredulously before propping herself up on her elbows. The cyan mare lifted a hoof to rake back her unruly bed head before moving to lazily rub her eye, the haze of sleep still clouding her brain like the dull hum of a beehive. "What can I do for ya, Fluttershy?"

The yellow mare sat back and tucked her hooves into her lap, looking as though she was reminding herself not to fidget. "Could you-Could you watch a few of the animals today? I have somewhere very important to go..." She winced after asking, expecting to be hammered with a big, flaming no.

Rainbow checked an imaginary watch. "Sure, I've got nothing better to do." She agreed with a shrug. Fluttershy's eyes widened even further, mouth forming a tiny, angelic 'o'.

"Oh thank you so much, Rainbow Dash, that's wonderful!" She exclaimed, fluttering her wings slightly to show her glee. Fluttershy closed her eyes in joy over a big smile and clopped her hooves together once in an uncanny Twilight-esque way.

Rainbow chuckled, her morning voice cracking once. "That was cute."

Fluttershy drew her hooves to her chest once more, one over the other, and looked searchingly at her friend. "What?"

"That little thing with your wings, the little flutter." she explained, before chuckling weakly again. "That was a cute flutter, Flutter."

Buttery yellow turned to pink as a blush saturated Fluttershy's cheeks and she grinned, looking down meekly. "Thank you." She climbed to her hooves, gently swishing her flowing pink tail. "But we better get going, um, if that's okay."

Rainbow never grew tired of seeing Fluttershy's characteristic fade from mildly assertive to passive mid-sentence.

The blue mare followed the yellow as they flitted to the ground from the grand drifting cloud home that Rainbow called her own. As they left, the cyan pegasus couldn't help but wonder how Fluttershy had even managed to get in to tap her out of her slumber.

The yellow mare's hidden lockpicking skills became a secondary concern as the pair neared the edge of the foreboding Everfree forest, where Fluttershy's cottage stood on the border between the town and the coppice of dense jungle. "Thank you again for the help, Rainbow Dash, it means very much." Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at her friend, who returned the smile with one of her own.

"It's no big deal, Flutters, really, you know I love the critters!" Her sentence was punctuated with a flinch as Rainbow dodged a bullet-like hummingbird as it whizzed past her.

Fluttershy was blissfully oblivious. "And they love you, I'm sure!" Despite her words of assurance, the yellow mare silently hoped today was the day Angel would dial his repugnance to the minimum.

~*~*~

Burning rose flashed in the shiny surface under streaks of intense pigment that competed with the arch spanning the blue sky. Pearly whites gritted against each other in a grimace topped with a crinkled little nose and furrowed brows to complete this picture of raw determination.

Little Rainbow Dash stared herself down in the little mirror, her own intense pink eyes flicking over her reflected face. She had them narrowed to slits as she prodded the ice for weakness, a twitch in her countenance that would give away vulnerability, the slightest crack in an otherwise perfect stance.

Nothing. Rainbow Dash was steel.

"You can do this, RD." The filly encouraged herself. While her voice could not sound more sure, Rainbow was only half-convinced. Then again, she was long past the point of no return.

Now or never.

With a fateful breath that felt like she was inhaling a batch of gaseous courage, Rainbow Dash tucked the small pocket mirror into her saddlebag and spaced her hooves apart as though she were about to receive a mighty blow.

And then she rang Fluttershy's doorbell.

Ding, dong. The sound rang in the cyan filly's head as though it were too holding its breath for what was about to transpire.

The door creaked open, and a mare with the same coat color as Fluttershy and a flowing light tan mane looked down at the nervous filly. "Rainbow Dash, what can I do for you?" The mare asked, her voice, though beautiful, was stern and icy.

"Oh hi, Mrs. Fluttershy'smom, is Fluttershy home?"

Mrs. Shy shook her head, before flicking a strand of silky tan over her shoulder. "Sorry, dear, you just missed her."

Rainbow felt sick.

"Could you tell me where she went?" She asked, her voice bordering frenzy.

"I don't know, Rainbow dear, she just headed out so quickly, I couldn't ask."

A knot hardened in Rainbow's stomach like a black stone, choking her. She breathed quick, short gasps as she took off, not bothering to yell a goodbye to Fluttershy's bewildered mother, focusing only on the cloud as her hooves thundered over it and the distance in front of her.

The distance to Fluttershy.

*~*~*

Smack!

Today was apparently indeed the day when Angel decided to crank his mean-spirit to eleven as a furry white paw connected with Rainbow's shoulder.

Rainbow whipped around. "Why you little-"

Fluttershy scooped up the pissy white bunny just before Rainbow was going to show him a backhand of her own, "Now stop that, Angel. I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, he's just had a bad day." She apologized on his behalf.

Rainbow wasn't fazed. "Has he? How'd he like to have a worse one?" The bunny peeked around Fluttershy's hoof with his tongue out and an illicit "come at me" expression on his face. Rainbow could use a new furry wallet, or at least Rarity could. Rabbit's feet were good luck, in any case.

"This is a lot of animals, Fluttershy," Rainbow remarked, looking around at the cottage filled with every kind of garden animal, all scurrying around on tiny little feet. "I didn't think there would be this many."

The too familiar apologetic expression rose again on Fluttershy's features as she shifted her weight from one hoof to the other.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can stay if you want, it's no problem..." She pawed at the floorboards gently, staring down. The yellow mare looked up with sad eyes through a sheet of hair.

Dash sighed; how could she say no? "It's okay, I got it. Go ahead and have fun."

The tiniest smile crept up Fluttershy's face as her turquoise eyes picked back up their sparkle. "Are you sure?"

So this was what being whipped tasted like. "Yeah, I'm sure." Rainbow affirmed. At least it was Fluttershy holding the other end.

The yellow mare approached the blue, gently tilting her head up with a hoof, gazing into pink eyes with glimmering turquoise. "Thank you." Fluttershy planted a soft, delicate kiss on Rainbow's cheek that made the gave the pegasus that weak feeling that only a certain yellow mare could bring about.

The moment burst like a bubble as a thump sounded from the doorway. Fluttershy abruptly drew back her head, looking away for the source of the sound, leaving Dash dazed and suspended as though on the edge of a cliff. "Wha-?"

As she gathered her head, Fluttershy was already crouched over a small, feebly-stirring figure on the floor. "Baby bird, fell from his nest." She diagnosed, curtly beckoning to the mess of twigs and hay matted into the top of the doorframe. "We've got to get you stitched up, little guy!" She cooed to the little thing, before turning to Rainbow in a silent plea for assistance.

The cyan mare sighed and trotted over, scooping the injured bird into her wing. Leave it to a baby animal to ruin any perfect moment.

~*~*~

Blood pulsed through Rainbow Dash's ears as she sped away, every beat bringing about another sickening rush of adrenaline and potent dread. Her hooves fell faster and faster, running into the horizon before Rainbow came to a realization, the most harrowing of them all.

She had no idea where she was going.

She should stop, sit, catch her breath, and give it a thought, but Rainbow's hooves ran as though she was on fire. Fluttershy pulled her like a magnet from out of sight. She needed to find her, she needed to find her.

The cyan filly's mind was falling, tumbling over and over, right off the edge into a numb abyss.

Right over the edge.

The filly finally stopped. Her lungs seared with exhaustion, the pain ripping white-hot through her, but Rainbow couldn't feel it, she didn't feel a single thing around her.

She knew where Fluttershy was.

*~*~*

"Gauze."

Dr. Fluttershy screwed her face up in concentration as she hunched over the delicate baby bird, as Nurse Dash watched curiously over her shoulder. The precision, the finesse, the accuracy with which Fluttershy toiled over the broken wing...

"Gauze, please, Rainbow Dash." She asked again, yanking her not-so-faithful assistant out of her trance.

"Wha-oh, yeah, gotcha." The cyan mare snapped back to reality, passing a folded wad of the medical supply to the focused Dr. Fluttershy, who accepted it with surprising dexterity in her wing without breaking her gaze to the patient.

Dab, dab, discard. "Bandage."

Rainbow was on top of it this time as she passed a strip of firm cloth. Fluttershy snapped it up, holding it down with her hoof over the unconscious bird's splintered wing as she wrapped it around in her jaw before pulling it tight over the creature's feathery shoulder.

She did it with such expertise and care that Rainbow couldn't help getting her attention captured again. It was left only to speculation as to how many animals had received the same treatment by what seemed to be such a helpless mare turned lifesaver and healer.

Finally rearing up, Fluttershy swept a bead of perspiration from her brow and slumped back, looking at her friend with half-lidded, satisfied eyes. Rainbow smiled an looked down to the bird, whose wing was securely fastened in a makeshift sling, weaved over his shoulder in a fashion that was no less than impressive.

"That was...awesome." Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow's compliment.

"I've had a lot of practice."

Rainbow raised her eyebrows, still impressed. "I could never do that. Too clumsy." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, prompting a concerned look from the mare next to her.

Fluttershy changed position, leaning against Dash so that her head rested on the cyan pegasus's shoulder. She tilted her face upwards, meeting Rainbow's eyes with her own from below. "Of course you can, Rainbow Dash, you know I believe in you."

Dash felt her insides melt and trickle away once more, reveling in the warmth that permeated her chest. Their eyes stayed locked for only a few seconds, a mere smidgeon of time that may as well have been a lifetime, before Fluttershy turned back, nestling herself more comfortably against her best friend turned marefriend.

"Besides, we make a great team."

Dash chuckled breathily, leaning away with a grin. "Yeah, right, you know I'll be there whenever you need a scalpel handed to you." She listened to the small giggle from Fluttershy before continuing. "You can go do whatever you need to do now, I think I can handle the animals for now." She cringed at a chitter from a nearby squirrel. "Just don't be gone too long."

Fluttershy had already blissfully guided her lids shut, seemingly unwilling to move. "It's alright, I'd much rather stay here with you."

This was a vastly better option to Rainbow Dash, for so many reasons. "You sure? Who were you meeting anyway?"

Lazily, the yellow mare replied, "It's nothing, just meeting a friend. I'm sure she won't mind a reschedule."

Rainbow too let her eyes slide shut. "I'm sure she won't."

*~*~*

She was far out, far from the unforgiving city of Cloudsdale, while still remaining within the boundaries of the gargantuan cloud that made up the ground. The edge approached Rainbow's vision, a vast desert of cloud spanning from one horizon to the other, before dropping off into a blue sea. It was flat and white and endless, save for the small curled lump at the edge of the city.

Rainbow approached the slumped filly with a light step, all nerves forgotton and replaced with sheer concern for her friend. She took her place next to Fluttershy, nestling into the cloud.

Neither said a word, Rainbow simply lost herself in the expanse of blue over the edge.

There were once two fillies here, one yellow, another blue, sitting side by side as they were now. One speculated the possibility of what lay under the floating city, one shared her dreams of one day becoming famed and fortuned. One was shy, timid, soft-spoken, and scared, one tough, resilient, outgoing, and vowed to protect the other forever. One became friends with the other.

One came out here a month later, one was taught how to fly her very first flight. One flew, the other fell.

One fell in love with the other.

Fluttershy finally looked up, crimson seeping into her cheeks, tears seeping into her eyes. She hopped to her feet, turning away and preparing to bolt.

"I-I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash-" She exclaimed, her voice experiencing the rare break. The yellow filly made to escape, but was grabbed by an alarmed Dash.

"Please, Fluttershy, don't go, I'm sorry about the note, I don't want to lose you, please-" She pleaded, deperation and sadness seeping into her tone through voice cracks as she pulled her friend to her. "I'm so sorry, please, I'm sorry, I'll fall out love with you, anything, I'm sorry!"

Rainbow turned the filly toward her face more forcefully than she had intended, desperately locking eyes with the watery ones of the trembling filly. Fluttershy looked back, searching, frenzied, and, more than anything, afraid. "I don't want you to." She said in a whisper, terrified of her own words.

Rainbow stared back like a deer under the frightful beam of a headlight, not trusting her own ears. "What?"

Fluttershy averted her eyes, staring into her own mane as Rainbow's face hovered an inch from her own. "I don't want you to. I'm in love with you, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow shivered, a feeling she had never before experienced spreading inside her chest, and irresistable attraction pulling her completely to the yellow filly that was now the center of her world around which she was only a satellite.

Two fillies, one yellow, one blue once sat here, at the edge of the cloud. One fell, the other caught her.

*~*~*

Pinkie Pie tapped an impatient hoof against the counter of the sugary bakery, azure eyes flicking back and forth with the swinging pendulum of her wall-mounted cuckoo clock. She puffed a strand of frizzy pink from her eyes, adjusting her head so it rested in her hoof on the smooth surface.

"This is so much not like Fluttershy," the party pony confided in what was quite possibly the best listener to ever grace the planet. "She's never ever late! Especially not by an hour..." Another glance at the comical clock proved her statement true.

Gummy didn't say a word, clearly only prompting Pinkie to continue.

"Where do you think she is? We were gonna decorate cakes together today, you'd think she would remember, that silly filly."

Once again, Gummy provided no usable insight.

"Guess we'll reschedule..." She drifted away before breaking into a fit of infectious giggles and snorts. "Fine with me, more for Pinkie!" She exclaimed, clapping her hooves together in glee over the bare counter, topped with the complete absence of cakes.

Of course Pinkie Pie didn't mind, she'd eaten the cakes for decorating long ago anyway.

Sunrises and Fresh Rain

Rainbow Dash slunk, cat-like, into her bedroom, her hooves making muted squishes against the cloud floor, as quiet as the mare could possibly make it. She stole in, looking over her shoulder out of instinct, albeit it was her own home, and there was almost certain nopony could see her.

Almost.

With one last stolen glance behind her, Dash bent over a box tucked away in the corner of her sleeping quarters. Small and ornately-carved with a swirled motif, it was quite possibly the girliest possession the tough mare owned, fitting for one tiny object, folded and hidden in its wooden hollows.

Dash gingerly lifted the decorated, aging lid, feeling around blindly with a clumsy hoof before she found what she had been searching for. One quick dive later, the mare withdrew her head from the little box, a folded, yellowing bit of paper clenched between her teeth.

It tasted salty, earthy, essence from the carved box in which the slip had been kept for years, untouched, though Dash did not drop it, holding it in her jaw as though she held her soul clamped with it.

She replaced the lid onto the treasured box, sliding it back into its corner, out of sight behind a tuft of the cloud lining. Dash pushed it delicately, even though it was empty. The box, so quirkily-carved, one-of-a-kind, held a little bit of her between the wooden swirls, not to mention the slip she had just pulled from it.

The pegasus turned on her heel, leaving the room. The squishes of hoof-on-cloud came to her again, but this time she listened, quietly, pensively. Her wings lay clipped to her sides.

For once, Rainbow Dash just felt like walking.

Putting herself onto the cushy living room couch, Rainbow let the page fall from her mouth, catching it in her hooves with the flyer's dexterity she had developed through blood, sweat, and tears.

Dash unfolded the faded page, slowly, more gently than she had handled anything in her life, as if it were going to crinkle to ashy nothingness under her hooves. She didn't smooth it down over her leg, or press out the wrinkles, but simply left it, the deep creases reminding her of exactly when she got it, and from who. They gave the page character, seconded only by the words written on it.

Finally, the pegasus leaned back, taking the page in both hooves.

And so she read.

*~*~*

"Ahem..." Fluttershy cleared her throat quietly, her hoof hovering over her mouth as she stared at the ground in her usual abashed manner. Finally, she looked up, pushing the sheet of pink hair from her visage.

"Rainbow Dashhhh!" She called into the thick cloud haze above her, so quietly it would be a wonder if the blue pegasus could hear her standing two feet away.

To the yellow mare, however, the pitiful cry sounded like a truly enviable burst of volume and assertion.

But somehow, drifting through the white blanket of fluff separating the two, Rainbow Dash had heard her.

"Flutters? 'That you?" Rainbow's head poked up from the underside of the cloud layer, craning around as the mare with the messy prismatic mane searched for the source of the call. She needn't look far, however, as Fluttershy stood directly below, head tilted back as she met her marefriend's gaze.

"Do you...um...do you remember what day it is?" Fluttershy asked, begging her question back as soon as it left her lips. Of course Rainbow Dash would remember.

"Yeah, of course!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a wide smile. Fluttershy giggled inwardly at the mare's never-failing enthusiasm. With Rainbow Dash, the weather was always sunny or sunnier, even now, even as Fluttershy stood in the deep shadow of the cloud cover that enveloped the cyan mare.

"Are you ready to go, Rainbow Dash?" She asked, pawing absently against the cobblestone street surface below her.

Rainbow sighed, her face growing dim like a dying lantern. "I would be, but-" She thrust her forehooves through the cloud, batting it around in an absurd, upside-down doggy-paddle. "You see all the work I gotta do."

Oh, how Dash wished for a breeze, a gale, a hurricane to roll by and do her job for her. Then again, the mare had pondered these scenarios so often she had wrung them dry, but never for such a good reason as was now the case.

"...Would you like some help?" Fluttershy didn't wait for an answer, unfurling her wings to flit up to her washed-out marefriend's level. She broke through the cloud layer with ease, squinting her eyes in the beaming sunlight that Ponyville had been deprived of.

Rainbow pulled her head out from the tuft, shaking off a bit of fluff as she reared up to look at the yellow mare, now standing beside her with a smile. A smile of her own tugged at Dash's cheeks as her eyes narrowed.

Let's do this.

*~*~*

Rainbow clenched the strip of paper in her hooves, slightly wrinkling it in the moment, but she didn't notice. She stared ahead of her, looking but not seeing, drawing the page close to her chest, as if she wanted to lock it there, right next to her beating heart.

She blinked once, twice, in rapid succession. Her teeth were clenched like a vice, a smile spreading on the mare's face as affection rushed through her, pounding through her veins, sweet and thicker than honey.

Folding the paper back up, Dash allowed her hooves to fall to her lap, one folded over the other, the paper tucked between them. She kept staring at nothing, before taking notice of the shadow which had begun to grow longer and longer over her room, evening beginning to creep in like silk from the window.

Rainbow Dash perked up through the growing darkness, eyes widening and eyes springing to attention. She leaped from the couch, wings extending to full maximum, while looping back around to tuck the note under the pillow. Even in a hurry, Dash was careful not to make any more creases than there already were.

With a frenzied glance at the time, Rainbow Dash tumbled out the door, breaking into flight and disappearing over the horizon, leaving her cloud home entrance wide open to the night breezes.

A draft of cool air blew in, picking and nipping at the corner of the paper Dash had tucked halfway under the pillow. It blew the half-folded page open, leaving it to whisper and flutter in the breeze, words legible to anyone who would read them.

'Dear Rainbow Dash-

I love you too.

-Fluttershy'

*~*~*

"Geez, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash kicked back, her wings supporting her in a mid-air backstroke, drifting through the blue, now cleared sky. "Fancy wingwork there. Where'd you learn that?" The pegasus asked in mock-curiosity; she very well knew the answer.

Fluttershy returned her grin, her wings flapping gently, keeping her hovering in the air like a jellyfish in the water. "You taught me, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash let out hoot of laughter, propping her head up in her hooves on a cushion of air. "Yeah, I'm pulling your leg, Flutters. 'Course I remember."

She felt a tap on her snout. Rainbow crinkled her nose and squinted, eyeing the newly-developing layer of cloud above her she was charged to make room for earlier, before going comically cross-eyed to catch sight of the little splash of wetness on her snout.

"Ugh, we better go soon, Fluttershy, it's getting there."

The yellow pegasus drew her hooves to her chest, softly clopping them together happily; she was so effortlessly-adorable, it weakened Dash's knees, and she thanked her lucky stars she wasn't standing.

"Yay."

Rainbow Dash had to consciously keep her forelegs clipped to the side, or else envelop her marefriend in a bear hug that may well send the both of them plummeting to the earth.

Maybe it was worth it.

*~*~*

The sky had grown steadily darker since Dash had so carelessly zoomed out of her cloud home, now a rich blue velvet blanket, dotted with a few, very faint, grey clouds. This didn't matter to the mare,however; she knew just how quickly clouds to spiral together and pour rain, thanks to those seemingly endless lessons with Twilight.

The sun had long since slipped over the horizon, but Dash was not deterred or at all cumbered by the darkness, navigating over hill and dale with a keen eye and even keener flight. She watched the ground pass under her, stones and patches of grass blurring together in streaks of darkened greens and browns, showing even darker under her rippling shadow, wings spread like an eagle.

Trees, tall forest pines, grew larger over the horizon as Dash approached the brink of the Everfree. She reached the very edge, weaving between the towering giants with webbing branches, diving, swooshing, tilting this way and that at a skill level that couldn't be described as anything short of masterful.

Dash swooped under a thick branch, the needles scraping over her back, ruffling her windswept coat even further. She shivered, diving back up over the trees.

The mare paused, enveloped in the clouds, her wings still beating out of instinct. She hovered above a large, wide cloud, light grey in the evening darkness but surely a gleaming white in the daylight. She was so far out, away from any other pony, whether they be in Ponyville or somewhere far on the outskirts of Cloudsdale.

Rainbow Dash landed on the cloud surface, sinking slightly into the fluff. She listened to the stillness of the night, absolute silence save for the wind whistling through the trees below. The cloud stretched on, tufts rising from it like cotton candy, lighter than air.

Dash could see it, she could see it, in her mind's eye; two fillies, far away from any others, just the two of them, years ago, on a cloud just like this.

Rainbow sat on her haunches, staring over the cloud surface at the empty air, which her mind filled with images of her and a yellow filly, a little taller than the rest of the girls her age. She watched herself coaching and cheering the yellow filly into the sky, for the very first time. She watched her hover, the yellow filly's eyes shut tight before opening to see the cloud far below her and the cheers of a minute-sized Rainbow Dash ringing in her ears.

Rainbow Dash had always had friends, drawing ponies to her with a naturally lustrous and magnetic boldness and a daring sense of adventure. Fluttershy never had been so gifted; quietly sitting in the back, watching Dash from the wall like a climbing vine. Somehow, even then, they had come together, the two most unlikely.

So it had stayed, from the edge of the cloud that very first time, to Fluttershy's first flight, to the notes.

And now, just before the break of spring, one cyan mare sat by herself, watching herself play with a little yellow filly, her confidant, best friend, and the only pony she had ever loved.

*~*~*

As soon as her hooves hit the ground, Fluttershy realized how nice it was to be on all four again. Perhaps she was just distracted a moment ago, but she had always known she was a pegasus, perhaps the only, not born to fly. Perhaps, and it was a fact Fluttershy had well mulled over and come to terms with, she would never have left the ground at all so many years ago were it not for the cyan mare, who touched down with surprising grace next to her.

"Something on your mind, 'Shy?" Rainbow Dash asked, addressing her marefriend's distant look. Fluttershy was nearly staring through her.

Immediately, her mind grounded as well. "Oh, nothing, Rainbow Dash." She smiled, hoping Rainbow Dash knew just how much she meant to her.

And just how much she couldn't live without her.

"Come on," Dash urged, though her voice was unusually quiet and gentle, comforting. "We better get a move on. We're gonna miss it."

Fluttershy, still smiling that usual, soft smile, nodded.

Rainbow Dash, just for her, didn't take the lead of zooming up ahead of the yellow mare on their way. She never did with Fluttershy; the need to be the best, fastest, strongest took a holiday around her. Dash knew, though the thought of saying this to any other pony tasted like vinegar, that around Fluttershy, she didn't have to be any better. She was already the best she could be, and certainly the luckiest.

The two walked side-by-side, and Dash's wings stayed folded at her side; she had no desire to spread them.

The grass grew tall around their hooves as the two left the town, slowly encroaching onto the Everfree. Time passed, each second drawn out, and the sky began to darken, the sun sliding over them like a hot slab of butter, growing orange as it touched the horizon. Rainbow Dash, naturally had no issue navigating through the darkness, though once side glance proved Fluttershy to be squinting.

"Here," Rainbow's voice echoed slightly through the trees, after several minutes of content silence. "Stick with me, I'll guide you."

Being able to let her guard down around Fluttershy didn't mean Dash had to permanently relinquish the role of fearless protector.

The timid mare obliged, scooting a little closer to her friend, their coats brushing. They continued, past dark trees and greenery, all glowing with that ethereal silver light of the moon, which had emerged with the sun's setting.

Another tap hit Rainbow's ear, which twitched. "We have to hurry, I don't want us to end up like last year..."

Fluttershy looked up, catching Rainbow's eye with her own watery blues. "You didn't like last year?"

Rainbow laughed quietly, her smile shining through the darkness like the sun. She leaned in, nuzzling Fluttershy by the ear, under her silky bubblegum mane. "Of course I liked last year."

Fluttershy leaned in, before withdrawing abruptly, leaving Dash to wonder what had gone wrong and immediately missing Fluttershy's warm and floral scent. The yellow mare stopped walking.

"Something wr-?" Rainbow's concern was cut off by Fluttershy, her voice filled with an innocent wonder.

"Look where we are, Dashie."

Unbeknownst to the cyan mare, they had come to a clearing in the dense forest, an oasis surrounded on all sides by thick pines, with a canopy of leaves woven together over time blanketing half the area. In the center lay a small pond, reflecting yellow in the moonlight.

It struck Rainbow Dash as instantly familiar, a vital moment in her life, though she hadn't been here so long ago. As another tap hit the top of her head and the night breeze tickled her fur, Rainbow Dash could once again see two mares under the canopy, one leaning against the other, watching rain make ripples in the pond.

"Fluttershy..." Rainbow spoke quietly, just loud enough to catch the yellow mare's attention, who turned, before trailing away. She started again, her voice cracking slightly. "Can we-can we just stay here?"

Fluttershy turned back, walking away from Dash, her hooves making quiet pats against a layer of mosses and moistened earth. She settled under the canopy, letting it shield her from the evening breezes, where she sat sprinkled with what little moonlight light eked through the spaces in the leafy blanket. She never answered Rainbow Dash's question.

She didn't have to.

*~*~*

Rainbow Dash dove back down, sailing through the cloud layer, plunging to the earth, before pulling back up into level flight, back between the trees. She threaded the forest like a needle, in and out and around, her wings thrashing

through the air with as much power as they could muster.

Finally, the pegasus noticed the trees thinning, the bushery growing sparse, and she knew her destination was close.

As quickly as the thought entered her head, so came the butterflies in the pit of Rainbow's stomach.

She was nearly there. What then? Would she be mad if Rainbow Dash woke her so late? Would she not come out at all?

The idea bore a hole into Dash's mind. She could leave, right now, turn around and go right back where she came from, and no one would be any the wiser. She could watch the rain from her own home, dry, warm. And alone.

A cottage came into view, sitting at the neck of the forest through which Dash was coming. The sight of it forced the mare into a resolution; she wasn't turning back.

Rainbow Dash landed, all four hooves firmly planted on the ground, and she felt as though she was sinking into it. From her viewpoint, she could see Fluttershy's window, reflecting the white moon brightly, like liquid light. No light shined from within.

Dash considered her options. She couldn't knock; there were animals sleeping all around and throughout the house, curled up land mines that would wake up and surely cause their yellow caretaker quite some trouble, which wouldn't be helpful for the blue mare in the least.

What, then, could she do?

As she thought, preparing to hang her head in defeat, Rainbow's eyes fell on a patch of pebbles by her hoof.

Tap! The pebble glanced off the sill as Dash launched it, the way she had read in all those cheesy romance novels that Twilight had insisted she just *had to read. Rainbow herself was never much of a romantic; she knew it, the whole town knew it. At least, she never let on that the speed demon did indeed have a soft side, except to the yellow mare inside, who she was, unsuccessfully, trying to rouse.*

Rainbow picked up another pebble in her mouth and tossed it, this time making a louder sound as it bounced off the glass. She stood, waiting. Once again, there wasn't a peep from inside.

The cyan mare was growing impatient; they would surely miss the rains like this, or worse, get caught in it. Her eyes flicked over the ground, before zeroing in on the perfect projectile.

Twock! The acorn sailed into the window, echoing loudly and gruffly. If that didn't wake Fluttershy, then she was in a coma or dead. The thought sickened Rainbow Dash, and she found herself desperately hoping the yellow mare would poke her head out.

A second passed. Should she knock?

Another second or two. Maybe she should smash the door in.

Tick. Screw the animals.

Suddenly, a noise. "Rainbow Dash?" Called a sweet, buttery voice from a buttery yellow mare popping her head out the window. "It's still dark out!"

Relief washed over Dash like the tide, and she felt instantly two tons lighter, for more reasons than one. A laugh crept into her voice before she could stop it. "You don't say?" Suddenly, the urgency of the situation struck Rainbow again, and she bounced slightly on her hooves for emphasis. "C'mon, Fluttershy, or else we're going to miss it!"

Fluttershy didn't move, her words drawled. "Miss what?" She asked drowsily.

They didn't have time for this. Rainbow flicked her tail indignantly. "Just come on out, I promise you'll like it!"

The yellow mare didn't immediately respond, leaving her friend to rock impatiently back and forward. Rainbow could practically see her mind working, slowly and sleepily deciding whether to come along or not. The cyan mare mentally crossed her hooves, holding her breath.

Finally, she spoke, much to Dash's glee. "Coming, Rainbow Dash. Just one question, if that's okay."

Dash could have victory-punched the air, instead settling on a celebratory flick of her mane out of the way. "Anything, Flutters."

Fluttershy smiled. "Why the pebbles?"

Rainbow Dash held back a laugh, reveling in the sheer perfection of the moment, and surely how the rest of the evening would go. She had the perfect answer.

"Can't beat the classics."

*~*~*

A roll of thunder rumbled loudly, followed by a crack of lightening splitting the night sky and weaving to the earth like a vein. Fluttershy squeaked ever so quietly and huddled into Rainbow Dash, resting her head, safe and comfortable, against her shoulder.

Rainbow Dash felt the welcome pressure and softness of the timid mare's mane against her, and didn't move at all, pausing only to marvel at the intensity of the nature as the rain thundered down over their canopy and the lightening seared into the dark. They both stayed dry, however, and Dash had never felt safer in her life.

Together, they stared into the clearing ahead, just as they did the last time, watching droplets of rain splash and ripple over the glassy pond surface. Neither said a word. The thunder rolled on.

Drops of cool rain beaded up on the leafy canopy, before dripping down, making pats against the soaked forest bed. Every pat of the rain seemed perfectly in sync with Rainbow and Fluttershy's heartbeats, beating together as one.

Fluttershy shifted slightly, and spoke in hardly more than a whisper. "Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow lifted her head, looking down at the big, bright blue eyes that consumed everything about her. "Hmm?"

Fluttershy leaned her head back down, replacing it one her marefriend's shoulder, watching the rain roll once more. "I love you." She said, genuinely, with her whole heart. "So much."

For once, her voice didn't waver.

Rainbow Dash froze, suspended in midair, falling, flying, all at the same time, and she was aware of none of it. A bubble swelled inside her, so potent, so complete, and she could do nothing for it. Fluttershy had her.

She did from the very beginning.

Rainbow Dash touched Fluttershy's face with both hooves, lifting her up, tilting her so that their muzzles almost touched. They met each other's gaze for only a moment, before Dash sank her lips into the yellow mare's.

The rain fell, and a thunderclap ripped through the night.

Fluttershy flinched a tiny bit; Rainbow felt it under her hooves, gentle as it was. She pulled away, resting their foreheads together, damp mane tangling with damp mane.

"Are you afraid?" Rainbow asked quietly, her breath teasing Fluttershy's nose.

The yellow mare stopped, her mouth parted slightly, breathing deeply and evenly. She felt Dash's hooves against her cheeks, she could feel her warm breath, she could feel the fresh night breeze. There was only one thing Fluttershy didn't feel.

Afraid.

"No." She spoke, not regretting her words at all. She reared up, reconnecting their lips with more fire, more heat, more passion than ever before. It burned inside her, inside them both, all-consuming, eternal.

Fluttershy sank backwards, the leafy bed catching her. Rainbow followed, propped over her marefriend, still connected at the lips.

Rainbow felt it too. Her life came to her mind's eye, and in every memory, there was Fluttershy, right up until the last year, and the last spring rain, and everything from then to now.

She couldn't imagine a life without the yellow mare, and Dash made up her mind that she would never need to.

Right now, though, Fluttershy was beneath her for the first time, connected, so perfectly, at the lips. Fluttershy pulled away, for only a moment, and Rainbow Dash hardly heard her as she sunk back down.

"I'm with you."

And the thunder rolled.

*~*~*

Rainbow Dash, rain glancing off her body in thick drops, froze, completely, utterly, suspended in time. There they stood, in the middle of the silent streets of Ponyville, upon layers of soaked and slippery cobblestones under the torrential first rain of spring, with only the moonlight shimmering over her back.

She could feel Fluttershy beneath her, so delicate and vulnerable, her hooves drawn close to her chest. She could feel their lips pressed together, but she hardly dared to believe it.

It was then that Rainbow Dash knew, really knew, that this would not be the last time, not the last time like this, with Fluttershy.

She knew that even when the rain ended, this never would. It was only the beginning.

*~*~*

The world was quiet

...

Fluttershy stirred. A weight held her down, and she was only able to shift her form slightly.

Her eyelids felt heavy as she opened them, her lashes still clinging together as little beads of water dripped down, streaking down her cheek. Her hair lay splayed around her, wet and wild as seaweed.

Fluttershy became aware all at once of her place on the forest floor, damp leaves and moss cradling her body. She lay on her side, hooves drawn awkwardly in front of her, and, by Celestia, was there a cramp in her neck.

Still, Fluttershy felt perfect.

Something behind her shifted, and the mare noticed the sleeping, gently heaving figure cupping her. She became aware of the cyan hoof flung over her, hugging her close, as if Fluttershy was about to catch and blow away with the next breeze. She became aware of the muzzle buried in the back of her neck, breathing in her rainy-fresh scent.

Fluttershy never wanted to move.

The rain had long since ceased, but memories of the last night flooded back to her in torrents. Fluttershy smiled, feeling lighter than air, drifting into and past the clouds, taking Rainbow Dash, still sleeping, with her.

Her view of the forest began to blur as Fluttershy lost focus, her memories blazing through her mind. Of one thing, though, the yellow mare was aware.

The darkness had begun to clear, night fading into day slowly. Fluttershy blinked as sunlight flooded her eyes from between the trees, still fragrant from the rain.

She allowed her eyes to sink closed, replacing her head against the leafy bed, pushing just that much closer into Rainbow Dash, confidant, best friend, the only pony she had ever loved.

Somewhere, it was raining, fresh spring rain, the sweetest.

Here, casting a long shadow over two ponies, one cyan, one yellow, the sun was rising.

Bonus Chapter

A/N: Fic unrelated. I'm doing a project of sorts where I tack a rap battle at the of each shipping I write. So yes, this is indeed a rap battle, it has pretty much nothing to do with the story, it's Fluttershy vs. Dash, and tell me who you think won in the comments, por favor. I'm collecting this data for, uh, science.

Oh, and I was unable to get the colors to work on the battle, for whatever reason, so I'm sorry about the wonky formatting.

Fluttershy vs. Rainbow Dash

Begin!

FS:

Oh, Rainbow Dash, I can't wait to get started

Because you'll be up against the dark side when old Fluttershy has parted!

You know I've got so many choices, can't wait for you to decide

Would you rather have a Manticore or let my stare burn you alive?

I'm yellow lightning, strike you from above

When I'm done with you, I'm the one you're going to love!

Scared of everything, but I'm haunting your worst fears

There's a storm coming, Dashie, and there's no Rainbow when it clears.

I snapped grizzly bears, but you're not even worth the fight

Ponies don't eat meat, but you were eating Griffon last night!

I'm Iron Will Assertive, so you better shut your mouth

It's another butterfly migration, but you're the one who's going south!

*~*~*

RD:

I'm the R-Dash 5000, you're a flower sniffing phony

Crush, kill destroyed by a REAL Iron Pony!

You're open like Twilight's library, everypony can enter

I'm about to hit Rainboom, and you're in the epicenter!

Element of Kindness, but you're no Mare-Do-Well

You've got the stare, but I'll Blaze the gaze right back to-

Tartarus! If you're a tree, go back to your forest!

Saw you fail flight school, I know why you left

Unlike you teachers, I don't give an F.

Chased AJ, I was tough while you panted

Make like a tree, Flutters, 'cause you're about to be replanted!

*~*~*

FS:

The only thing worse than your rhyme is your face!

Let's face it, Dashie, you're not winning this race.

Did Pinkie draw your number? Because you're looking kind of ashy

Stone you like Discord, make you My Little Dashie!

I've stared down a Cockatrice, but Fluttershy's still a rock

At 2.3 I'm lightning, and you're in for a shock!

Think you've got the Rainbow Factory, but I'm in your head

Once you enter, Dashie, you're not leaving my shed.

It's not a Wonder how you Bolted to the ground

Give this point to Applejack, 'cause you've lost this round.

Sitting on an anthill? Or have my rhymes got you antsy?

This time I'm the hurricane, and you can be my Pansy!

Element of Kindness, but you're barking up the wrong tree

Just know that when we're finished here, you'll be cheering for me.

*~*~*

RD:

Spend your time with Angels, but you're gonna burn

I make giant tornados, I suggest you better learn

Best pony? Yeah, right, the scales are tipping

Your rhymes don't deliver, but I'm the Queen of Shipping!

You might be sticky sweet, but everypony wants to taste the Rainbow

Dr. Fluttershy can't help you, 'cause I'm about to make her brain blow-

-To bits, but I guess it can get kinda scary

When no one will love you even if you paid THEM for your cherry!

Fantastic Filly Flash, I'll swoop over your head

Welcome to my Factory, let's turn that yellow coat to red.

2.3? I've got my Super Speed Strut.

See this blue hoof? I'll shove it straight up your-

Flank! ou've got no talent, might as well be blank!

Now let's call it quits and see how your bunny takes my Tank!

....Who won?