Learn to Fly

The balloon ride had taken two hours. It was still dark when Fluttershy arrived in Ponyville. She checked into a motel near the train tracks that cost most of the rest of her money. She slept late and woke up to green-tinted light falling through her room’s window. There was a tree outside her bedroom window! Her life in Cloudsdale was behind her forever, now, wasn’t it? She took a shower, turned up her nose at the stale-smelling motel breakfast buffet, checked out, and headed out onto Ponyville common.

Grass! The sight of the grass overwhelmed her! There was so much of it! It was so... so green! She lay down and pressed her cheek against the grass, breathing in earth and plant smells. It was dry, too — she would never, ever miss the way clouds felt like a wet rug under her hooves.

“Are you, like, all right?”

Fluttershy looked up. A pink and purple earth pony filly with a blank flank was staring at her.

“She’s hugging the ground,” said her friend, a little gray and white filly in blue horn rimmed glasses.

“Still trying to get your land legs, huh, feather brain?” said the pink one. “If you need help finding it, the sky is up.”

Fluttershy stared at the two little ponies, unable to think of what to say. Tears welled up in her eyes. Oh, how she wished Rainbow Dash was here! She'd know what to say! “I… uh… um… oh you’re so mean!” Then she turned and ran.

“At this rate we’ll be getting out cutie marks in sick burns in no time!” said the pink one’s voice from behind her. “Bump, bump, sugar lump rump!”

Suddenly ground didn’t feel so safe any more. Fluttershy looked around her. There were ponies everywhere! Shopping at stores and open air stalls, eating at tables outside restaurants, or just walking and talking. Friendly smiles and happy greetings loomed as ponies began to notice her. But which ones were real, and which ones were traps? Any one of them could be as mean as those little fillies had been. Her heart began to pound. Even if they were friendly, they wouldn’t like her when they found out what a coward she was. She raced around, breathless, looking for a place to hide. The library seemed quiet, and it was built into a tree, which was cool, but the door was locked. She looked at the shops around the green. Sugarcube Corner. That sounded nice. She could have a cup of tea and something to eat and try to calm down a little.

“Oh my gosh!” said the pink shopfilly behind the counter. She seemed to be about Fluttershy’s age, maybe a little younger. “I can’t believe it! You’re here!”

Fluttershy looked behind her, to see who else had come in with her. Nopony had. “Are you… Are you talking to me?”

The shop pony nodded, and pronked up onto the counter, plump pink plot jiggling enticingly. “I saw you wandering around out there, and I thought, ‘I don’t know that pony, and I’ve only been here a month but I already know everypony in Ponyville, and if I don’t know you, you must be new here too, and if you’re new here too, we have something in common and we could be friends! Can we be friends? My name’s Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?”

“Fluttershy. And I just wanted a cup of chamomile tea, actually.” said Fluttershy, slinking over to a table and hiding behind the edge.

“I’ll get right on it! Where are you from? Are you from Cloudsdale?”

“Um, yes?” said Fluttershy, her voice muffled by the tabletop.

“I knew it! I mean, not all pegasi are from Cloudsdale, obviously, but you’ve got a Cloudsdale accent.”

“I do?” Fluttershy peeked up over the edge of the table.

“I’m from Rockville! My family runs a rock farm. They wanted me to stay there, but I was looking at a map one day, and I noticed there was a town called ‘Ponyville’.” Pinkie took a plate with a cup of tea and a chocolate chip muffin on it in her mouth and bounced over the counter with them. Fluttershy winced, envisioning tea flying everywhere, but when Pinkie set it on the table, it was barely rippling. “The muffin’s on the house. Anyway, do you know what they have a lot of in Rockville?”

“Um, rocks?” said Fluttershy, climbing up from under the table and lapping at her tea. It was good.

Pinkie slammed her hooves on the table, splashing the tea and making the plates rattle. “They have a lot of rocks! I hate rocks! But I love ponies! And I said to myself, ‘Pinkie, if there are a lot of rocks in Rockville, there must be a lot of ponies in Ponyville! We should go there!’ And I agreed with me! And there are a lot of ponies here! I mean, not a huge number, but more than there are in Rockville! So here I am! I really like working at Sugarcube Corner! Mr. and Mrs. Cake are the best bakers, and they’re teaching me to be the best baker! And they let me live upstairs! And I’ve made so many friends here!”

Fluttershy nodded politely, and tipped her tea up, drinking it as quickly as she could. This interlude wasn’t as relaxing as she had hoped it would be.

“I feel like I know so much about you already!” said Pinkie, leaning her elbows on the table and putting her head in her hooves. She grinned at Fluttershy.

“You do?” said Fluttershy, giving her a wary look over the top of her teacup. “But I haven’t said anything.”

“Yep! I know where you’re from and what your name is, and you’re really quiet and kind of shy, but really nice and you like chamomile tea without any sugar or cream, which is weird but whatever. I really like sugar! And caffeine. I love caffeine! I drink a lot of coffee. Do you like coffee? Anyway, you don’t wear any perfume and you want ponies to think you don’t wear makeup but you totally do, you’re just really good at using it so it doesn’t look like you do, but I can tell. And you don’t look like you exercise much, but it doesn’t seem like you eat much either. I mean, you have a big butt, but it’s like all the weight a normal pony would have is just concentrated back there, so I don’t think I’d call it fat. Also, you’re almost unbelievably pretty. And probably gay, because you were staring at my plot earlier. But that’s okay. I’m bi! And one of my sisters is totally gay, and my parents are both straight, if you can believe that. What a coincidence! You should try the muffin. I used to think I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain any weight because I have a really high metabolism, but I then I moved in over a bakery and boy was I wrong.”

“How much?” said Fluttershy, as soon as Pinkie stopped for breath. How could she talk for so long?

“Oh, well today so far I had six muffins, a whole coffee cake, a bear claw, ten cups of coffee…”

“No, for the tea.”

“Oh. Half a bit, please. Are you going to eat your muffin? The muffins here are to die for!”

Fluttershy fished around in her saddle bag and pushed two small coins across the table. “It’s been nice meeting you, but you’re scary and I’m going to run away from you now. Goodbye.” And she was gone in a puff of yellow feathers.

“You forgot your muffin!”

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

Fluttershy hunched under a bush along the side of the library, shivering. Everything was horrible. She was alone in a strange place and all the ponies here were crazy and she didn’t know what to do! The sky loomed over her from between the branches of the library, threatening to suck her up into it. Which she knew was irrational, but she still felt that way anyway. She could see Cloudsdale drifting away, just visible along the southern horizon. She hated Cloudsdale, but it was the only home she’d ever known, and it was floating away!

She had no job and no friends, and no place to stay, and not much money, and she was going to die. She started to hyperventilate.

“Are you okay?”

The green mare loomed over Fluttershy. Her orange mane hung in filthy tangles, and she smelled like dirt. It was one of those filthy, brutal earth ponies her tribalist uncle Tradewinds was always telling her about! She’d always thought he was just ignorant, but now she was going to be mugged and lesbian raped and she wished she’d listened to him!

“Your aura’s totally spazzing out. You need to center yourself.”

“Don’t touch me!” hissed Fluttershy, hooves milling up dirt as she tried to back into the bark of the library tree.

“It’s cool, it’s cool. I’m not going to touch you. But, can you breathe with me for a moment?”

“B-breathe?”

The green mare nodded. “I want you to breathe in slowly, okay?”

Fluttershy gasped in as much air as she could, and held her breath, her cheeks puffing out.

“That’s good. Now out, just as slowly.”

Fluttershy blew out so hard she blew the earth mare’s mane back from her face. It wasn’t filthy and tangled, she realized — it was in dreadlocks, a traditional earth pony style that some of them still wore. And she had flowers in her hair.

“That’s good,” said the earth pony. “Again.”

After a few minutes of this, Fluttershy began to feel a strange, empty sensation, as if nothing bad was about to happen to her. What was that called?

“Okay, so you’re a little calmer now,” said the earth pony.

Calm. That was the word. “I’m sorry. I’m a long way from home.”

“Do you need a place to stay?”

“Maaaybe.” She narrowed her eyes. Okay. The earth pony wanted to rape her in private. She had nice lips, though. Full, juicy lips that Fluttershy found herself wanting to nibble on.

“If you can find it in your heart to trust me, I’ve got an extra room back on my farm. And I can give you something to drink that will help you stay calm. And we can talk, if you want.” Tree Hugger’s serene, heavy-lidded eyes radiated concern. Possibly even sincere, legitimate concern?

Fluttershy didn’t buy it. She didn’t trust this pony. She was scary. But she was less scary than Pinkie Pie. And what other choice did she have, besides writing her parents to send her a ride back to Cloudsdale?

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll come.”

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

Rainbow Dash was having a lousy morning. Her dad had shaken out of bed at the crack of dawn on a Saturday, and dragged her down to the living room to reassure a sobbing Mrs. Shy tha, yes, she’d find Fluttershy. She acted cool about it, like it was no big deal, until she got back to her room to pack.

Then she locked her bedroom door and allowed herself thirty seconds flipping the sweet heck out. Fluttershy had a lot of romanticized ideas about the ground, but Rainbow knew they would eat her alive down there. She pulled out her Canterlot Geological Survey maps (the same ones the Wonderbolts used!), and set to work. She consulted the almanac for Cloudsdale’s current co-ordinates, and quickly determined that the only town of any size nearby was a place called Ponyville. Of course, Flutterbutt could have taken an airship anywhere, but Rainbow guessed she’d want to get to the ground as soon as possible.

Rainbow Dash grabbed her saddlebags, hugged her dad goodbye, and headed for Ponyville. With any luck, she’d be back for lunch.

She spiraled down through the clouds, drifting on the breeze, getting a feel for the terrain. The Wonderbolts handbook said that proper reconnaissance was essential to the success of any operation. There was so much green down there. Who exactly needed so many trees? Fluttershy liked trees. What if she’d gone down to be with the trees! She’d be lost instantly. Trees all looked alike! If they were lucky, they’d eventually find her body, bones picked bare by scavengers, only a few scraps of yellow hide clinging to them.

Rainbow Dash flew faster.

It turns out finding Flutterbutt by lunchtime was way optimistic. With a name like ‘Ponyville’ Dash had expected maybe a couple of shotgun shacks and a radish field or two; not a place that reminded her of family trips to Lebos.

There were little shops, and stalls, and galleries, and restaurants everywhere, and just way too many ponies. And none of them remembered seeing Fluttershy except the creepy guy at the motel — who wouldn’t tell her anything after she socked him in the nose for making a comment about Fluttershy’s butt — and the annoying pink pony at the bakery. It took Rainbow half an hour to get the facts out of her, and another twenty minutes to disengage. Also, the pink pony’s directions to the farm she thought Fluttershy had gone to were terrible. Especially from the air, where the landmarks she’d mentioned were obscured or invisible.

After getting lost repeatedly, Rainbow finally gave up and just tried going farm to farm. But it turned out there were a lot of farms around Ponyville. Who needed so many farms? Why not just get food from the grocery store like they did in Cloudsdale? Finally, she recognized a green and orange earth pony like Pinkie had mentioned seeing Fluttershy with. She didn’t like the look of her. Dirty. Hairy. Sullen, with heavy-lidded eyes. A brutish creature. Rainbow dropped down to inches above the treetops so she wouldn’t be seen, and found a secluded clearing to land in.

She moved quickly and quietly, belly low to the ground, darting between pieces of cover like she imagined a Wonderbolt would. The earth pony was watering her plants. If Rainbow could stay out of her sight, she could get in, rescue Fluttershy, and be out in minutes. The only problem was to find Fluttershy. She glanced at the farmhouse. Two stories. Fluttershy would probably be tied up in the attic, the bedroom, or the basement. Or maybe the kitchen; you never knew with earth ponies. If she snuck around to the back, she could sneak in through a second floor window and do a sweep of the whole building before…

Wait, was that her voice?

“So Tree Hugger would really appreciate it if you’d stop eating her dill plants. What? No. No. That’s not a nice thing to say.”

The voice was coming from a greenhouse about thirty feet away. The earth pony’s back was turned, so Rainbow risked a dash for the door. Fluttershy was inside, surrounded by tables full of baby plants, talking to a congress of beetles. When she heard the door open, she froze, and looked over. Her eyes widened, and she raced over to squeeze the air out of Rainbow’s lungs.

“Easy! Easy!” Rainbow said, gently pushing her back an inch or two.

“Rainbow, what are you doing here?” The enthusiasm in her expression when Rainbow had arrived was rapidly turning to suspicion.

Rainbow gripped her friend’s shoulders, and held her at leg’s length. “I was looking for you! What the actual buck, Fluttershy? Why did you run away like that?”

Fluttershy looked down. “Because if I’d told anypony what I was planning, they’d have talked me out of it. I’m not brave, so I had to be secret.”

“No, Fluttershy, you were brave. For once in your life, you’ve been super brave. You’ve also been super stupid. It’s a miracle you made it this far! You could have been killed!”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Killed by what, exactly?”

Rainbow waved her forelegs over her head menacingly. “By… by… um…”

A low, sultry voice came from the greenhouse door. “I want you to know that my farm is a safe space, and if we all respect each other’s boundaries, I think everything will be okay.”

Rainbow craned her neck around. The green pony didn’t look that threatening, closer up. She was sturdy, sure, but Rainbow though she could take her if she could get outside and get a height advantage. She looked pissed, though. Super-uper-duper pissed.

“Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, “This is Tree Hugger. She’s letting me stay with her for a while. Tree Hugger, this is Rainbow Dash.”

Tree Hugger’s expression didn’t change. “Hi.”

Rainbow scowled, and didn't say anything.

“She’s been so nice to me!” said Fluttershy, eyes nervously darting between the two of them. “She has a spare bedroom with its own door outside, and I’m helping her with her pest problems, and she gave me a tea that didn’t taste good but made me feel so much less afraid.”

“What exactly was in that tea?” said Rainbow, suspicious.

“Passionflower, lavender, and valerian,” said Tree Hugger. She waved one hoof in an inclusive, yet threatening sort of gesture. “So Rainbow. Can I get your buy-in for non-violent conflict resolution? I totally retroactively give you permission to go sneaking around my farm and harassing my guest, but, like… I don’t know. I like to think we can all do better than that, moving forward. It’s a shame when the level of discourse degenerates.”

Rainbow Dash sneered. “Oh, I love it when the discourse degenerates. I’m at my best then.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Rainbow! Tree Hugger! No!”

Both mares looked at Fluttershy, and at each other. Fluttershy stepped between them. Rainbow slumped. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. It’s just… Fluttershy’s my best friend. And she ran off without telling anybody. And I was scared.”

Tree Hugger glanced over at Fluttershy. “Is that true?”

Fluttershy nodded frantically, and put her hooves protectively on her friend’s withers. “Can she and I talk in private, please?”

✭☆✭☆✭☆✭

Fluttershy sat on the bed in Tree Hugger’s spare bedroom, hugging a pillow. She felt self conscious having Rainbow here. It was clean, but bare. She hadn’t had time to make it feel like home, except for a coffee mug full of flowers by the bed. The three animal husbandry books she’d brought with her looked lonely on the bookshelf.

Rainbow Dash checked the door to make sure Tree Hugger wasn’t hiding outside, pushed a chair over next to the bed, and sat on it backwards with her hooves draped over the back.

“So,” she said.

Fluttershy swallowed. “Are mom and dad and Zeph okay?”

“Yes, Flutters. Nopony has died in the twelve hours you’ve been away from home.” She felt the familiar tension in her chest that she always felt when she was alone with Fluttershy. She tried to ignore it. What had happened with Gilda had been bad enough. She didn’t want to ruin things with Fluttershy, too.

“So… um… did you need something? Not that I wasn’t missing you already, but you know, for you to come right down after me… it’s weird. It’s almost like…” She looked down and shuffled her hoof on the bed sheets.

“Spit it out, Flutterbutt.”

“It’s almost like you don’t trust me to be on my own. Like you were expecting to just scoop me up and bring me back to Cloudsdale. Also don’t call me ‘Flutterbutt’.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, almost like I’d expected to find you in the den of some sleazy earth pony herb farmer.”

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. “Tree Hugger is not sleazy. She’s very spiritual. And how did you find me, anyway?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I have certain skills. So. Are you ready to come home, though?”

Fluttershy’s grip on the pillow tightened. “No.”

“But why not?”

“Because I like it here.”

“How can you know that? You’ve been here for less than a day!”

“I’ve been in Cloudsdale my whole life, and aside from you and my family, I hate it. So far, the only bad things that have happened here are that I met two rude little fillies and…” She flushed. “I’m not going home.”

Rainbow Dash kicked her chair aside, and hopped up on the bed. “You’re not ready for this, Fluttershy! You’re scared of everything! You’re bad at meeting new ponies, and you won’t stand up for yourself!”

Fluttershy squirmed back until her rump squished against the headboard, and squinted her eyes closed. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, I understand you’re just trying to protect me, but I’m going to be staying at my new friend’s house for now, and you can’t make my change my mind.” She squinted one eye open. “I mean… if that’s okay with you?”

Rainbow Dash sighed, and flopped on the bed next to Fluttershy. “Faust, Fluttershy, what did she put in your tea?”

“Um, passionflower, lavender, and…”

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof at her. “No, no, I remember. So you’re not going to come back home willingly?”

Fluttershy shook her head, face set in a determined expression. Rainbow Dash ran through some mental calculations. She could easily overcome Fluttershy and be out the window with her before Tree Hugger came to help, but Fluttershy’s back-heavy weight and the extra drag from those amazing hips would make it hard to get back to Cloudsdale without a rest. Plus also kidnapping her might be considered just the slightest bit abusive. She sighed.

“Rainbow?” said Fluttershy.

“What?”

“Am I really your best friend?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?”

“I mean… you have so many friends. Everypony loves you! How can I be your best friend?”

“Because most of those ponies aren’t really my friends, Fluttershy. They just know that I’m awesome, and so being around me makes them look awesome, too. They talk trash, they stab me in the back. The flight school social scene is horse apples. You’re smart to stay out of it.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Um, it really wasn’t a conscious decision.”

“Maybe you’re too scared to be phony. Maybe you’re one of the few actually good ponies in the world. Either way, you’re always real.”

Fluttershy blushed, and changed the topic. “So now what? I won’t go. You don’t want me to stay.”

Rainbow shook her head. “I’m not going to make you come back home with me. But I’m going to stay in Ponyville for a few days.”

Fluttershy gasped happily. “You are?”

Rainbow nodded. “You know, just to make sure you get settled in okay.”

“Yay!”

Fluttershy tossed aside her pillow and wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash. They fell back onto the bed together, barrels touching. Rainbow’s hooves slid to the soft arch of Fluttershy’s belly. Their lips brushed together. Memories of kissing Gilda flashed through Rainbow’s mind — the thrill of being so close to her sharp beak, the tingling touch of her teasing, darting tongue. It had been amazing, but Fluttershy’s soft lips and lack of fish breath made this kiss a thousand, a million times better. Rainbow wanted to kiss her and kiss her, and never stop.

No. Fluttershy was too good for that. Rainbow leapt off the bed, heart thudding with terror and other feelings. “Okay then. I gotta find someplace to stay. Gotta go. Bye!”

“Rainbow! Wait! Where are you going? NO!”

But she was gone in a puff of blue feathers.