Prologue: Just a Casual Race.
Prologue: Just a Casual Race.
“This is gonna be great!” Came from an excited cyan pegasus. She was flying just above the ground- err... cloud ground.
“Yep, you’ll win.” Said by a yellow pegasus that was just a little taller than the other.
“I know, that’s why I’ll be known across the nation as being so awesome!” Exaggerated the shorter one.
“Dash, Shy, what‘s up?” Asked the griffin that flew in from behind them. They landed and started walking with the pegasi.
“Hey, Gilda, we’re just going to a race that I’m sure to win.” Dash replied, she continued flying with them, refusing to land.
“Dash, you know what happens if you never use your legs, right?” Gilda asked the multi-coloured pony.
“Doesn’t matter, I got a race to win.” Dash said without a care in the world, she was so happy.
They continued like this for awhile, it was a fairly long walk to the sky-track. It was mostly just friendly banter between three friends. About half an hour later they got to the track and found that they had a minute before the race started.
“Number 12, Rainbow Dash, are you here?” They heard a voice yell out.
“Yes, I’m here!” Rainbow replied loudly.
“Ah, good, good, I would’ve hated to have to see a little filly miss out on a chance like this.” The voice commented, they were a young mare no older than 20. They turned around to see Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda.
“Ah, Rainbow, and a couple friends? Right… So, you two can go over to the audience over that way, Rainbow, follow me.” The pony pointed to the hallway down to the audience and then turned around started walking towards the way to the track
“So, you excited?” The mare asked.
“Of course I am!” Rainbow responded with a stupid, happy face. They continued for awhile.
Meanwhile in the hallway to the audience…
“Hey! You two!” A voice called out from behind the flightless pegasus and sarcastic griffin. It was a dark blue mare with a white, cloud-like mane and tail.
“Hey, we need a flag waver, they can’t be found anywhere, would one of you like to do it?” They ask.
“Not really. Shy?” Replied Gilda, the yellow pegasus followed that up with
“U-uhm… sure?” Fluttershy said it so quietly that no one could really hear. They just assumed that she said yes.
“Alrighty, follow me then.” Miss Cloud-tail told Fluttershy. They went off to the track as well. When they got there Fluttershy was given a checkered flag and then told
“Jump on that cloud over there, in the front. When the countdown is at 0, bring down the flag.” Which made her do just that, she hopped right over to the cloud, it moved a little bit from her impact but went back to normal after a couple of shakes.
“Alright mares and gentlecolts, fillies and colts, this is the annual event you’ve all been waiting for. Watch your kids, your neighbor’s kids, and more race to win ten thousand dollars for their school and community. They've been training since they learned to fly, it's the thing that will put them on the map. It is the Junior Cloudsdale 1000 Kilometer Sky-track Race. They will start in ten seconds…” A loud, booming voice announced.
“Ten…” Rainbow Dash and the others walked up to the starting line.
“Nine..” Fluttershy brought the flag skyward.
“Eight…” The course was checked one last time.
“Seven… “ The racers looked determined.
“Six…” The countdown was going slowly…
“Five…” The racers were getting impatient.
“Four” Dash stayed determined.
“Three…” Everybody but Dash, a green hawk based griffen, and a white pegasus were no longer in the starting position.
“Two…” Any second now…
“One…” The flag was brought down, sending the racers off.
Fluttershy was blown away, literally off the cloud by Rainbow Dash’s extreme speed. She just fell of the cloud, she couldn't save herself, her wings were locked up tightly against her body, she thought she was going to die that day until... a strange blue aura surrounded her and put her right back on the cloud.
“What? What just happened?” She thought. “Who did that? There aren’t any unicorns in Cloudsdale… are there?” She continued to ponder over what just happened. “I… They saved my life… I should go thank them…” She concludes. She looked around and saw only the audience, who was looking at the track rather than her, that was good, she didn’t like people staring at her. Fluttershy jumped off the cloud she was on to go back. She wanted to find who this was.
Meanwhile, with Rainbow Dash, Rainbow was dashing through the track at a speed unusual for her age. She went so fast the water in the air was forming some form of cone around her, making a short rainbow trail. She kept going faster until she just about hit a new speed never seen before… but then… obstacles started moving on their own, getting bigger, harder to avoid. She had to slow down to avoid it all.
“Well… this is new…” Rainbow thought to herself. She never trained for this type of nonsense. “Well, I’m so much better then all of them, I could still win, even with my eyes closed.” She internally braged to herself, cheering herself on. She was right, no one ever trained for this, she wasn’t the only one affected by it either, the green griffin was also being slowed down. He was in second place, not too far away from Dash. “Wait a second… these clouds are all surrounded by blue… is there a unicorn up here? Nah, those guys couldn’t get off the ground if they tried.” Dash throws the idea away into a mental garbage bin.
“Alright everyone, the race is about to end… will Rainbow Dash win as we all thought? Or will Jet Boarder pull out of second place at the last second? Let’s find out!” The announcer boomed from the speakers
“Dash’ll win, we should all know that.” Gilda said quietly in the audience. She knew that Dash would win, without a single doubt. She was in last year’s race, she finished in second place. Gilda wasn’t mad, second place still gets you a lot of respect around the city. And considering that Rainbow is almost double her own speed, she knew Dash couldn’t lose.
Dash and Jet were just about to cross the finish line, they were right next to each other, it was almost a tie. Jet managed to get ahead by going under the obstacles.
“Aaaaaaaand we have a victor!” Blasts from the speakers, the crowd chears. “Let’s see… it was hard to tell who won, let’s look at it frame by frame.” They look at the last second of the race frame by frame, the crowd is trying to anticipate the victor. “And the winner of this race is… just as expected, Rainbow Dash!” They tell the results, everyone cheers again, Dash puts her hooves in the air, enjoying every second of it.
“Wooo, I won!” Rainbow shouted to the heavens. She looked around for Fluttershy, she was nowhere to be found. Dash believed that Fluttershy just went to the washroom, she'd be back in just a minute. So, she decided to go see Gilda. The griffin was walking over to Rainbow.
“Hey, good job.” Gilda said to Dash as they approached each other.
“Yeah, I'm awesome.” Rainbow felt awesome about winning.
“Hey, have you seen Fluttershy?” Gilda asked Dash.
“Nah, she probably just went to the washroom.”
“Are you sure? It's been fifteen minutes.”
“Gilda, stop worrying, It's not like you. How could someone get hurt
going to find the washroom?”
“It's Fluttershy.”
“... Let's go look for her.” They went out to look for her… they eventually found her… What was she doing before?
Fluttershy was looking around outside the huge cloud building. Trying to find the one who saved her life. “Where would they be?” She looked around. She eventually saw a pink unicorn off in the distance with the same blue magic around her hooves and horn. Fluttershy quickly walks over.
“What if they aren't the one?”
“No… they must be the only unicorn here. “
“What if they aren't nice?”
“No… they saved me, they must be good. “
“But what if they didn't want to save me?”
“What if they had evil intentions?”
“No… No, that can’t be, we just have to walk over there and thank them… yeah… that’s all.” She took a step forward.
“But what if they don’t like me and only saved me to torment me?” She paused.
“No. I’m thinking too hard, they have to be good. They must be.” She continued to walk.
“H-hello?” Fluttershy shyly asked quietly.
“Yes? Oh, It’s Fluttershy, hello there.” The pink unicorn greeted Fluttershy, already knowing their name.
“H-how did you know my name?” Fluttershy asked, slightest bit shocked.
“Why wouldn’t I know your name? You’re the only pegasus with an A+ in every class you’ve ever attended” She stated.
“H-how did you know this much about me?!” Fluttershy was scared, she thought she just found a stalker.
“Oh, It was in the news awhile back.” The excuse was good enough, neither Fluttershy nor her family read the newspaper.
“O-oh… okay… so… were you the one who saved me?” Fluttershy then asked, just ignoring the other line of thought.
“Why yes, I was.” She answered.
“Oh… okay… bye, I should go now… thanks for saving me from falling to my demise.” Fluttershy then tried to walk away.
“Alright, I’ll see you later… say hi to Twilight for me in a few years.”
Fluttershy turned around…
But nobody was there.
Author's Note
Welp, here it is, the third version of this story. This one, unlike version two is a complete rewrite. This time I started where it all gets interesting and fun to write. Hope you enjoy, feel free to say something below, and as always, I'll see you all next time.
Edit1: 1 Revision Later.
Edit2: It's only a tragedy to (Certain Ponies)... So, let's say it's an adventure. Much more fitting.
Chapter 1: Friendship Might Equate to Magic
It had been years since the race, Fluttershy and Rainbow moved out of Cloudsdale a few months ago to a small farm town called Ponyville. They went there because there was almost always a job available. The two pegasi got cloud houses on the southern outskirts of the town. Fluttershy got a fairly small place close to the ground. Rainbow Dash on the other hand got a building the size of her ego.
So, as per usual on days like these, Fluttershy got out of bed early in the morning. She often wondered why she got out of bed so early, she didn’t have anywhere to go. She just got her morning tea and waited for something to do. Today, however, was different.
“You know what? I’m going to go explore the town!” Fluttershy said in an excited whisper to herself. She finished her tea and put the cup down. Fluttershy got up and took out her map of Ponyville and set some destinations to check out. “Alright… I haven't been to the bakery… Sugar Cube Corner? That’s just down the road and to the right.” She found her first destination. “They have a Library? Golden Oaks? Okay, I’ll check that out… just further down the road? That’s convenient.” She found destination number two. “Two’s enough for now… Oh, maybe I should go see Rarity.” She quickly glances at the map to see where Carousel Boutique is located. She then flew right to her door, opened it and said “Let’s get started!”
The pale yellow pegasus flew down the stairs at a moderate pace. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She thought it was a nice looking country town. Fluttershy then landed on the ground, at the end of the cloud staircase. Even if she was one of Cloudsdale’s best flyers, she still preferred the firm comfort of the solid ground. Rarity lived fairly close, just a bit down Main Street. Fluttershy decided to go there first. Fluttershy walked down the street, looking to the sides every now and then, seeing the various ponies just starting to wake up.
She eventually found the Carousel Boutique to her left. She knew that Rarity was already awake because she could hear Rarity mumbling to herself.
“I have to fix up the town hall soon, ...mare... …’s going to show up… I need to get... ...all in working order again… oh dear…” Rarity mumbled to herself. Fluttershy knocked on Rarity’s door. “Hmm? Who could it be this early in the morning? Fluttershy? Does she still get up this early?” Rarity opened the door to find that she was right.
“H-hi Rarity.” Fluttershy greeted the white unicorn.
“Oh, hello Fluttershy, what brings you here this early?” Rarity asks Fluttershy, wondering why anyone would come over this early.
“I just wanted someone to talk to for a little while…” Fluttershy said, looking down a little bit.
“Oh, you don’t have any animal friends?” Rarity asked. “I could honestly see you with a rabbit.” She continued.
“A-a rabbit? A-animals? N-no. I… I couldn’t.” Fluttershy seemed to panic a bit at the thought.
“...” Rarity was speechless for some reason.
“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked the speechless white unicorn.
“N-no, of course not, just uhm… a little surprised is all… did you see any animals when you first came down?” Rarity seemed curious for whatever reason, perhaps she was just making friendly conversation.
“Huh? W-well yes, I did. I met a bunny. I called him Angel. He seemed happy.” Fluttershy started to tell the story. Hopefully it will end well.
“You see… he hopped onto my back. I shook him off. I mean, I didn't know the bunny after all... But then he slapped me and ran off.” Fluttershy concluded the story.
“Oh… that’s just terrible….” Rarity stated, she also seemed a bit shocked as well.
“He was a bad bunny… he looked so nice too...” Fluttershy added. Rarity looked a bit upset. But that face didn't last long.
“Well… uhm… onto another topic, I have to fix up town hall later. You know, for the Summer Sun Selebration… that's celebration with an S.” Rarity told her friend.
“... Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh, because I'm the most stylish pony arou-”
“No, I meant why is celebration spelt with an S?” The unicorn was cut off.
“I wondered the same thing, the Princess said it was just a typo that just kind of stuck.” Rarity stated, she glanced at her clock.
“The Princess?” Fluttershy quickly asked.
“Oh, I had connections.” Fluttershy had a confused yet satisfied look on her face. Maybe she would continue this train of thought at a later date.
“Oh, dear, look at the time, I must start preparing the decorations and bit too mention finish a few dresses I have to finish by Monday. I shall see you at the celebration.”
“Oh, alright, Rarity, I'll see you later then.” Fluttershy then walked out of the building, she enjoyed the chat with her new friend, even if it was short.
So, she walked out into the town. She heard the sound of clouds exploding. “Huh?” Came from her mouth. Then a blue blur went through clouds in a pattern that would look quite nice if it was outlined. Fluttershy looked up to see this, as did most of the ponies who were already up. It was 7:00 on a Sunday, did you really expect anyone to already be awake? The blur slowed down for a moment and you could see Rainbow Dash in the sky. She was clearing the morning clouds. Today it had to be clear so the sun could shine.
They started doing this because, one time in Neighara Falls it rained the whole Summer Sun Selebration. Eventually, Celestia got fed up with it and cleared the clouds herself. She hurt the clouds feelings, they just wanted to watch.
Fluttershy wanted to say hello, but knew she couldn’t shout nearly loud enough for the speedy blue mare to hear. So, she jumped up and took flight. She may be fast, but she wasn't’ as fast as Dash. So, she thought for a moment then came to an idea. Fluttershy found a cloud that wasn’t yet destroyed and used it as a spring, launching herself in Rainbow’s general direction. “Weee” Fluttershy squealed, it was fun. She then brought out her wings to glide. She watched as her friend did barrel rolls and shuttle loops through clouds. The yellow pegasus started flying up to the blue one. She caught up. “Hi, Rainbow.” She finally said.
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash slowed down just a bit and looked around. She looked up to see her best friend just floating a bit above her. “Oh… uhh… Hi, Fluttershy?” Dash had a slightly confused, slightly impressed look. “So uhh… whatcha doing?”
“Oh, I’m just seeing what you’re doing, Did you get the job?” Fluttershy asked while flying.
“What does it look like?” Rainbow replied as she smashed through clouds.
“Not doing that in which your job is specifically made for?” Joked Fluttershy as they both continued to fly.
“Ha. So, anyway, why are you flying up here? Nothing else to do? Or do you just miss having my awesomeness in your sights.” Dash smiled wide, she was just joking. If it was anyone but Fluttershy, she would not be joking.
“Trying to find someone to pass the time with.” Fluttershy said. Then Dash Translated.
“Translation: I’m bored, send help. Right?” Translation successful, Rainbow got exactly what it meant.
“Yeah… could you?” Fluttershy looked hopeful.
“Sorry, I’ve got work to do.” Dash told her friend. “Oh, and if my boss asks you where I am, don’t say sleeping on a cloud.”
“Why?”
“Oh, no reason.” Rainbow was hiding something, but Fluttershy didn’t really care about the topic to question her. Fluttershy then dived toward the ground, conveniently right down to the cross of Main and Central Streets. Right where the bakery- where Sugar Cube Corner is. She tried to walk in…
“Ow” said another voice. It came from a pink earth pony with medium, slightly poofed up hair.
“S-sorry!” Fluttershy automatically stated. She looked at the pony she bumped into.
“Oh, that’s alright, I bump into people all the time too, I mean one time I bumped into mr. rock, he was a rock, he was also a rock star in his spare time, that was cool, I wonder how he’s doing now? I dunno, I bet he’s fine though he had a will as strong as stone-”
“Does she ever breathe?!?” Fluttershy thought in panic.
“-and that's why you shouldn't put Tuesdays on your salad.” The pink one stated. This left an utterly gobsmacked yellow pegasus afterward. For obvious reasons.
“So, anyway, what's your name? I'm Pinkemeana Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie Pie, everyone else does, oh, let me guess your name… hmm… Yellow Mane? Butter Tail? How about Posey? You look like a Posey, you aren't talking very much; are you shy? Ou, I know, Butter Shy! I got it right? Right?” Pinkie said in one breath. Somehow.
“M-my name's Fluttershy.” Said the rather startled butter coloured mare.
“Oh, I was sooo close, Buttershy, Fluttershy, Buttershy, Fluttershy, Buttershy, Fluttershy, Buttershy, Fluttershy-” Pinkie was silenced when Fluttershy put her hoof on Pinkie’s mouth.
“P-please… stop…” Fluttershy said. She thought it would stop it… It didn’t, it was muffled but she kept going for about a minute.
“That was fun, so… why are you here? You want to get some sweets? That makes sense, sweets are sweet, and they have all kinds of sugary goodness, like cupcakes, cakes, pancakes at breakfast time, muffins, banana breads, and more. And I got a job here!” Pinkie for once, stopped of her own free will.
“I just wanted to see where it was. And here it is… I’m uh… new to the town…” Fluttershy told the eccentric pink pony.
“Oh, that’s great! I’m new too! I just moved in because I got this apprenticeship here, I moved from my family’s rock farm, they’re all rocks in the mud that don’t know how to have any fun. But I still love ‘em. This is the first time I’ve really seen any colour. They’re so nice. I- Wait…” Pinkie’s tail began to twitch, her ears began to move in strange patterns, and a few other oddities.
“W-what’s happening?” Fluttershy asked, worried for this new pony.
“I don’t know what this one means… time to find out!” Pinkie then marched off toward near the center of the town.
“Well… that was weird.” The yellow coated protagonist tries to erase what just happened from her memory. And fails. She then thought “Well, next up was the Library, right? Alright, Let’s go!” Fluttershy then started walking toward the Library, she could see it from here, It was just around the block. She walked by a brown male earth pony. He was wearing a strange hat.
“Good Morning, Fluttershy” He said while walking by. “Who was that? Who did they know my name? Huh… Maybe things just get around quickly here? It is a pretty small town.” She thought, but then shook her head, It wasn’t important. She kept walking until she bumped into yet another pony.
“Oh, sorry about that. You alright?” The other pony asked.
“O-oh, yes, I’m fine.” Fluttershy finally took time to notice who she was talking too. A purple unicorn that seemed to have a young sleeping dragon on their back. He was carrying a few bags of stuff without any effort, in his sleep. “Wow… dragons are strong.” Fluttershy thought.
“Anyway, My name’s Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” Twilight asked.
“Fluttershy.” She responded
“So, where are you going?” Twilight seemed overly interested in Fluttershy.
“The Library.”
“Golden Oak?”
“Yep.”
“I’m going there too, let’s go together.” Twilight suggested. Fluttershy was alright with that.
“Okay.” Fluttershy and Twilight start walking toward the huge tree that is the library. Fluttershy looks at the dragon. He was purple with green spikes sticking out from his tail to his head, his tail ended in a triangular spade. He had five fingers on each hand and he even had wings. Green butterfly wings. “For a dragon, he’s just so adorable.” Thought the yellow pegasus.
“Wanna know why I’m going there?” Twilight asked.
“Not really…” “Sure.” Fluttershy replied.
“I was sent by Princess Celestia, I’m her student. I was sent here to study the magic surrounding the Everfree Forest.” Explained the purple pony.
“The P-princess?!” Fluttershy was startled by what the other pony said.
“Yep. I was noticed. There was this test with a dragon egg… it was too see how I’d react to failure. She told me I succeeded and took me in about a week after that.” Twilight told her compresed life story.
“Dragon egg? Is he…?” Fluttershy pointed at Spike.
“Yeah, he’s the fairy dragon that I had to try and hatch… It was probably for the best that I couldn’t. Could you imagine what would’ve happened if I hatched him then and there?” Twilight confirmed.
They continued walking for a little while, they had a friendly conversation. They got to the giant tree that is Golden Oaks Library. “Well, here we are.” Stated the violet unicorn with a dragon on them.
“Yeah… well, now that I know where it is… I g-guess I’ll be on my way then.” Fluttershy has started to escape.
“Oh, okay, bye, Fluttershy.” Twilight then noticed a white rabbit tugging at her tail. “Oh, hi there, little guy. Did you want something?” The rabbit then held up a piece of paper with red scribbling on it. It looked kinda like “Ie-p /|e” For obvious reasons, Twilight just thought it was cute. And went into her new home. The rabbit left the area. There seemed to be water dripping from their face. It’s fine, it must just be normal for bunnies.
Back at Fluttershy’s house: “Ah, now I can relax again… that was more than enough excitement for a while.” Fluttershy thought to herself. She planned on just lying in her chair for a while until the Celebration starts. This plan didn’t last very long since, even if she didn’t notice, it was already 11:24 CST(Canterlot Standard Time), other people noticed.
“Knock, knock, knock” came from the entrance. “Who is it?” Fluttershy almost shouted.
“It’s Dash.” Rainbow replied.
“Come in.” Fluttershy said next. Rainbow Dash then opened the door and walked in, for once she wasn’t flying.
“I came to tell ya that the Celebration’s in about half an hour.” Fluttershy looked at Dash sleepily… then woke up in a slight panic.
“Ohh, I don’t know if I can make it there in half an hour!” Fluttershy was panicking a little.
“Oh… what would everyone think of me if I was the only pony in Ponyville not to show up… I’d be-” Rainbow slapped her best friend right across the muzzle.
“Fluttershy. You have wings. You were the best flyer of your class. This is nothing.” Fluttershy got out of her chair, nodded and had a face that oozed pure willpower, because determination can’t be used without it being called out on being a reference to something completely unrelated.
They dashed out the door and flew to the town hall. They made with with more than a lot of time left to spare… maybe Fluttershy was over exaggerating… just a bit.
“Uhh… it’s 11:26…” Rainbow said, looking at the clock.
“... At least we aren’t late?” Fluttershy ended the event with an adorable embarrassed face.
Author's Note
And finally, here is Chapter 2 of this story... I'll see you in another 6 months for Chapter 3.