"Fluttershy, Fluttershy you there?" Rainbow Dash called as she patrolled the outside of her marefriend's country cottage.
It was late in the winter afternoon, the bright sun shone down with a radiant light that betrayed the fact it offered very little warmth and a fresh blanket of fluffy, white snow coated everything. Birds brave enough to emerge in the bitter cold chirped in the naked branches of the frosty trees, and a soft wind blew at the puffs of vapour that emerged from the tip of Rainbow's chilled muzzle every time she exhaled. It wasn't really the time for anypony to be outside, despite how pretty it all looked. Even Ponyville's toughened weather pony and resident Wonderbolt had been driven to wear a warm scarf, thick hat and boots in order to prevent the chilling air and deep snow from biting at her.
Still that didn't stop her hooves from going numb and her shivering nose from turning a rosy red as she trotted around the cottage for the second time. She'd been out here looking for Fluttershy, her marefriend, but that latter fact was hardly anything new. The pair had known each other for most of their lives, and they'd been close friend for the majority of that time too. Even so, it had come as a shock to both of them when it became evident both were secretly harbouring feelings for one another. To anypony who didn't know them it must have sounded ridiculous, the shy, timid mare and the brash and bold weather pony becoming an item. In truth, Rainbow had never thought she'd have even had a chance to be with the mare she'd loved since they were fillies either, yet here she was. Or at least she was here.
Rainbow had come around to Fluttershy's cottage just as she always did every evening, only today she’d arrived to find her marefriend had strangely disappeared. At first she thought nothing of it, Fluttershy always went off to make tea or take care of some of her animals, it was something she respected to say the least. But when she'd been around the house a few times and still found no sign of the butter yellow pegasus, she became slightly concerned. That concern mounted as she made her way around the snowy cottage one last time, then it finally faded as she glanced her marefriend sitting on a small cloud just above, a similar set of warm clothes shielding her from the cold. With a sigh of relief, Rainbow beat her wings lightly and quickly made her way up towards Fluttershy.
"Hey Fluttershy, what are you doing out here?" She began with a small laugh as she landed on the cloud beside her marefriend.
Taken slightly off guard Fluttershy tensed, only to relax as she felt the loving presence of Rainbow Dash settle on the cloud beside her. She looked around at her cyan coated marefriend with a small smile, the look on her face somewhat apologetic.
"Oh, sorry Rainbow. I just... well..." She began, then her words trailed off as her head sank slightly.
Rainbow Dash's own head cocked to one side in slight confusion as a perplexing expression spread across her face.
"Hey, are you alright?" She asked with a hit of concern, placing a forehoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"Oh yes I'm fine Rainbow really, I just... I was just thinking about some things." Fluttershy responded, somewhat sheepishly.
Rainbow edged closer, stopping only when the warmth of their bodies touched and she could wrap comforting a wing over Fluttershy's back. This time the yellow pegasus seem to melt against her as she relaxed, the warmth of Rainbow's feathers like a soothing pyre of relief in the chilling cold sky.
"You know if there's anything wrong you can tell me, right?" Rainbow assured her, looking down as Fluttershy curled up against her like some long lost puppy.
Despite everything, she couldn't help but notice how adorable her marefriend looked like this, not to mention the warmth of her fluffy yellow fathers and the softness of her breath as it escape her muzzle in small puffs of white vapour. The cloud shifted under them, even now, in the dead of winter, its cold surface was still far more comfortable than any normal bed.
"I know Rainbow, but nothing's wrong really. I was just looking out of the kitchen window, I saw the view and well... I just had to come out and see it." Fluttershy admitted, pointing a hoof to the slowly setting winter sun as its golden light spared across the shimmering white landscape below.
In the town of Ponyville looked like it had been taken right off the cover of some hearths warming card. Thick snow clung to every roof, warm light shone out from every window and smoke trailed from the chimneys. Above the pink clouds glimmered like great fluffy lumps of cotton candy, the beams of sunlight breaking through in great shafts of golden light. In the distant light of the winter's twilight the floating city of Cloudsdale loomed high above the frozen horizon, its factories dead for the day as its grand architecture shimmed in the fading glow. It was that last sight that caught Rainbow's eye for the longest, and a wave of nostalgia coupled with fond foalhood memories flowed back to her as she watched the city slowly float across the sun set sky.
"It sure is a great view, still doesn't explain why you had to come out here in the freezing cold to see it though." Rainbow Dash stated with a small laugh.
Yet her words were hardly a joke, in fact they were quite the opposite, and as they met Fluttershy's ears she looked up at her marefriend with a soft smile.
"I know it sounds strange but..." She paused and thought about her words carefully, razing a forehoof to her muzzle. "It reminded me of allot of how things used to be."
"You mean when we were foals or...?" Rainbow asked in slight confusion.
"No not exactly, it just made me think about all that we've done together. It made me think of Twilight and the others too, but it especially reminded me of you." Fluttershy finally admitted, a small blush appearing on her face, forcing Rainbow to try and discern whether that cute look was down to the cold or slight bashfulness.
"Well I can't say I mind being compeered to something so pretty." Rainbow said, admiring the view a little more as she thought about that way, even if she assured herself that only Fluttershy could lead her to sound so sappy.
It wasn't hard to see that Fluttershy assumed exactly that as she looked back up at Rainbow, and the cyan pegasus smiled confidently.
"Only for you Fluttershy." She said with a loving simplicity.
"I can't say I mind that either, Rainbow." Fluttershy responded, leaning up to plant a small kiss on her marefriend's cheek. "There's hardly anypony I've been more fond of thinking about after all." She added happily.
"I think that feeling's mutual Fluttershy. I mean I'm pretty sure I've been in love with you for most of my life so..." Rainbow began, but then she paused.
"But then what?" Fluttershy asked as it became her turn to show confusion.
"Well I never really imagined that I'd ever have anything like this with you. I mean I think that's what I had in mind that first time I met you, but then the rainboom, you moving down here and all that other stuff." Rainbow elaborated, somewhat shamefully.
Fluttershy sat up sharply and nuzzled her marefriend's neck softly as Rainbow seem to drift away into thought, then Fluttershy finally spoke.
"I know what you mean, you were about the only thing I missed when I left Cloudsdale, outside my family that is. Then when you moved down to Ponyville I felt like I might have another chance, but you were always so busy and I was so scared you'd have forgotten me I just couldn't." She confessed weakly.
"As if I could forget you Fluttershy." Rainbow assured her bluntly. "Still, I guess we owe Twilight allot more for bringing us back together then huh?"
"Oh yes, of course." Fluttershy responded, then she gave a little laugh. "It kinda makes me feel a little silly now though."
“Yeah, sitting here it makes me feel a little stupid too, I should have been the one to speak to you a log time ago. I can see it now, Equestria's bravest pegasus afraid to even talk to the filly of her dreams for years." Rainbow Dash added, opening her hooves wide as she called out the latter part of her sentence like some sort of bright headline.
Fluttershy gave another small giggle at her marefriend's bold statement, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but join in as she saw how adorable she looked. Then Rainbow sighed as she watched the final beams of the winter sun sink down over the horizon. The thought of Fluttershy's words spun in her mind as the imagined what she saw in the image, what about it made Fluttershy think about her? Then her thoughts allied and her head rose as an idea hit her, backed up by a small lifetime's worth of memories.
"You know what you reminded me of Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked softly, looking down over her marefriend, as a curious look spared across Fluttershy's face. "Every time I think of you this image comes to mind.” Rainbow admitted with a small blush, then she looked back up to the sunset as the cold winter wind started to blow and soft snowflakes began to fall.
"I see this pond in the middle of summer. It's covered in flowering lilies and in the middle there's a small island with a big willow tree on it. I know it sounds weird, but I used to think of that tree every time I couldn't work up the courage to talk to you. I don't know why, it just made me think of you."
At Rainbow's slightly hesitant confession Fluttershy sat up and looked into her glistening, cherry red eyes as a small smile curled across her muzzle.
"I can't think of anything else I'd rather to be compared to." She told Rainbow with the utmost sincerity as she pressed her muzzle to hers and the two fell silent as they shared a long loving kiss.
"Well, one thing's for sure." Rainbow stated happily as the kiss parted.
"Oh, What's that?" Fluttershy asked curiously as she leaned back.
"I don't think either of us are a afraid to talk to one another anymore." Rainbow finished jokingly, and Fluttershy smiled weakly as she blushed.
"No, I guess not." She responded, then shivered as a chilling wind blew past the cloud.
Rainbow leapt up and wrapped her wings around her shivering marefriend in an effort to stave off the bitter chill, then looking down over Fluttershy she added.
"Common let's get you back inside, I think the view of a nice warm fire will be just as good."
"It will be with you there." Fluttershy responded lovingly, and as they took off back towards the snow cover cottage, Rainbow Dash couldn't agree more.
Author's Note
Just another short story I threw together in an effort to write about as many ships as I can. I think I should start writing more that don't include Rainbow Dash though, she's been in almost every one.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
