Look Up...at where we left
Far in the distance, I could see the outline of Cloudsdale. I could only just make out the towers that made up the weather factory on the east side of the city. If I looked close enough and thought hard enough, I could picture a busy day in Cloudsdale. Junior Flight Camp would be going, as usual, young pegasi would be laughing as they zipped through hoops of cottony cumulus. Fillies would be smiling and giggling as they mastered different relays and got paired with their friends in race teams. Fluttershy and I were far too old for JFC, but memories of the camp were still enjoyable ones. It was at JFC that we had both gotten our cutie marks and I had created a friendship with Fluttershy. I looked ahead of me and saw Fluttershy adjust her satchel. Her small wing beats sounded through the otherwise silent sky. Her long pink mane blew gently in the kind breeze. Thank Celestia it was a nice day. If the conditions had been bad, flying all this way would've been downright torture.
"Oh! Look!" Fluttershy called from ahead. She picked up speed as a little blue and gray bird led us below the clouds. Fluttershy stuck out a buttery yellow hoof. "Ponyville!"
Sure enough, there it was. A sprawling town that spread through the valley and covered the sides of the hills with quaint cottages and colorful shops. From above, I could see hundreds of happy ponies going about their day. On the far side of the town, on the crest of a hill and all the way down it, I could make out beautiful patches of apple trees bursting with plump red fruits. At the center of the orchard, I could see a beautifully painted red barn with a few ponies carting wagons of apples around and into it. I turned my head down the orchard hill to see a train station. A lovely candy coated train puffed into the station and was greeted by swarms of travelers. I could make out the tall steeple of a frivolously decorated purple building. Ponies in elegant hats went to and fro around this one. I turned and saw a delectable looking bakery. Painted and roofed to make the whole building look like an immense cupcake. A red schoolhouse where little fillies were jumping rope and swinging. A spa, a joke shop, a jeweler, a post office, and pretty much everything to make a great town. All around it was the infamous Everfree forest. Shrouding the ground from my view with thick forestry and vines. I had to admit, Ponyville didn't look half bad.
"Oh. Isn't it just beautiful!?" Fluttershy exclaimed. She twirled in the air and smiled brightly at me. I frowned a bit despite the beauty of Fluttershy and the town. "Oh. Rainbow are you alright?" Fluttershy flitted over to me and wrapped a hoof around my shoulder.
"Yeah," I muttered. I wrapped my hoof around her buttery yellow neck and she gave me a slight squeeze. I smiled and turned my head to hide my blush.
"Y'know," She said softly. "If you don't like it, Cloudsdale would love to have their blue bolt back." She said with a sad smile.
"No," I said. "I-I love Ponyville. I just miss Cloudsdale a bit." I said puffing out my chest. Fluttershy giggled. I blushed again. This wasn't good, my face was heating up.
"You didn't have to follow me you know?" Fluttershy whispered.
"I wanted to!" My voice grew louder to hide the tremor in my throat. Fluttershy giggled again and pulled ahead.
"Lemme show you your house!" She called.
"Awesome!" I called, as I adjusted my satchel. Fluttershy had thought I had come to Ponyville as her friend. I had. But I also just needed to be with her. Even if that meant leaving cloud utopia behind. But I had to admit, Ponyville didn't look half bad.
"Wow." I breathed.
"I know! Isn't it awesome for you!?" Fluttershy exclaimed.
My eyes grew larger and larger as I took in the grandeur of this floating mansion that I could now call mine. I tall cloud tower protruded from a large cottony cloud spewing rainbows onto the ground below. It had a beautiful cloud archway that led to a large wooden door. Fluttershy excitedly pushed it open. My jaw hit the floor as I took in the interior. Collums covered the walls of the circular entryway, and giant spiraling staircases led up the sides of the tower. The floors shone so brightly that I could see Fluttershy's excited expression behind me. I shot up into the air and bolted around the entire house. Room after room of beautifully sculpted clouds. Hallway after hallway floored with shimmering blue glass. Couches and chairs as soft as waterbeds lay draped with blankets stitched from wisps of clouds. Windows with sills studded with shimmering stones gave me 360 views of Ponyville and the beautiful crystalline sky. I loved it.
"So? Whaddya-"
"I LOVE IT!" I called, cutting off and startling Fluttershy. "It's amazing!" She smiled that smile again. The smile seemed to dim all the beauty of the cottony cloud rug and shimmering floor.
"It's a pegasus suite." She explained. "When Ponyville heard about your racing rep, they set it up for you."
"Wow." I said. "that's amazing!"
"The moving chariots come in about an hour. One for you and one for me. They have most of the stuff that we didn't carry." She then plopped down on a fainting couch. After a moment of me awkwardly staring at her, she rose. I blushed when she caught my eye. "Wanna explore Ponyville?"
About an hour later, Fluttershy and I were laden with bags of quills, books, taffies, cupcakes, and apples. Lots of apples. Apparently, the farm I had seen earlier was called Sweet Apple Acres. It was run by an earth pony named Applejack and her earth pony family. Fluttershy and I had traipsed around Ponyville, going into every shop, window eating at every cafe, and looking at every vendor at the open air market. The place that had looked like a cupcake was run by the cake family and Pinkie Pie, who was out making the icing, we didn't see her. The purple house with the fancy hat ponies was Rarity's boutique. It was technically closed, according to her younger sister Sweetie Belle, but the filly let us look around while her sister was upstairs making more hats. Then, at the market, we met Apple Bloom and Granny Smith who gave us plenty of apple merch and about 15 extra pounds of free samples. Applejack was out with her older brother Big Mac out at the farm so we didn't meet them. Now, we were on our way to Fluttershy's new house. I could see why she would choose Ponyville. It was her style.
"Here it is!" Fluttershy squealed. She rushed ahead as I turned the corner to see her house.
The path we were on split into two and the one on the left continued up a slight incline. A bubbling little brook trickled by under a little bridge. Flowers and grasses lined the path that led up the hill to her house. Little saplings grew here and there all around making the perfect place for this Pegasus. The house itself was carved out of some sort of shrub like tree. It had beautiful curved windows that sported window boxes growing flowers and peas. Birdhouses were hung everywhere and little critters dashed about. I flew into the house through a little red door and was met with the most perfect little cottage ever. A giant moving crate lay open in the middle of the entry way and Fluttershy dashed back and forth up and down her set of stairs, in and out of doors, and making her place look like it belonged to her. I dashed to the crate and began to help her arrange her home. Only twenty or so minutes later, we were sitting on her bed after hauling it upstairs. Fluttershy leaned back and smiled. I smiled back.
"This is perfect." She said.
"Yeah." I agreed quietly. Then she reached over and wrapped her hooves around me in a big hug.
"I'm glad you came here with me." She whispered into my ear.
"I'm glad i did too." I said. If only I could tell her really why I did.
from one farm girl to another...wait we're not farm girls!
The sun had just risen over Ponyville as I rolled over and saw it through my window. Celestia's magic was incredibly appreciated by me this morning. The growing shafts of light struck the shimmering blue glass floors and lit the walls and ceiling of clouds with a beautiful rainbow of pinks and oranges. Slowly the colors shifted as the sun peeked out more and more from behind the hills surrounding Ponyville. Pinks faded to blues as the day began. I rolled out of bed and stretched. I had slept well that night after our long journey. I greeted the day with a yawn and trotted out of my newly furnished room, down a shimmering stone studded cloud staircase to the kitchen. I whipped up some breakfast, mainly consisting of all the apples we'd gotten, and sat on a balcony watching Ponyville wake up. Honestly, watching Ponyville in the morning was quite fun. From my cloud mansion, I could see doors opening, vendors popping up, and ponies beginning to scoot about their lives. I decided to go on an early morning flight to see Fluttershy. I took off from my rainbow waterfall and zipped over Ponyville enjoying the un-trafficked air. In Cloudsdale, a bunch of fitness nut ponies went on early flights and you had to dodge a million of them. Here, the air was free. The breeze was cool as the sun parted from the top of the hills behind the apple orchard. The wind stirred my mane and untangled it as I flew around the cottony country clouds.
"This isn't that bad," I said to myself, thanking Fluttershy for choosing Ponyville.
By the time I got to Fluttershy's, animals were scurrying around under-hoof everywhere. Bunnies darted this way and that, birds flitted from birdhouse to birdhouse, all sorts of critters played in the backyard, and I could hear Fluttershy's soothing voice coming from a chicken coop.
"Oh Pimento, I know. It's okay. Barry didn't mean to knock you over okay?" I couldn't help but giggle when I saw Fluttershy rise from the chicken coop shaking her head at a little mouse that darted by. "No more apples." She said to it sheepishly.
"Hey, Fluttershy," I called, trotting over to her and the mouse.
"Oh. Good morning Rainbow." She waved a hoof at me. "Clearance just reminded me that I was going to go to Sweet Apple Acres to go pick up that bushel of apples I ordered yesterday. Care to join me?" She asked with a smile.
"Of course."
"Ah. The air is so much cleaner than it is in Cloudsdale. Isn't it?" Fluttershy asked as the cool breeze ruffled her feathers and made our manes twist and shake.
"Yeah." I quietly agreed. "I watched the town wake up when I flew over here," I said with a small smile. "I think I could grow to like this little town." I blushed and grew increasingly aware of the scent of apples as Fluttershy gave me a funny look.
"Wait, but if you didn't think you would like it here then why did you come with me?" She asked, growing more puzzled as I turned my head to hide my cheeks that now matched the deep red of my mane.
"Uh- look!" I called. "The farm!" Thank Celestia for the location of the barn. Fluttershy shrugged and followed me down to the path leading to the doors. A muscular earth pony was waiting by the barn. Her coat was a peachy color that shone in the early morning light. Her mane was a silky yellow color and her head was half covered by a brown cowboy hat. Standing next to her was a big red stallion who was probably two times the size her. He had a thin orange mane and matching tail. When he saw us coming, he darted inside and came back out toting a bushel sized crate of apples. When we reached the front of the barn, the peachy mare came forward and stuck out her hoof.
"Howdy ya'll. Name's Applejack. This here is Big Macintosh and we run this here orchard." Fluttershy and I both shook her hoof. "Welcome ta Sweet Apple Acres." She said with a smile as she gestured to the acres of apples around us. "I trust that ya'll met Granny and Apple Bloom down at the market yesterday?"
"Yeah," I said. "I'm Rainbow Dash and this is Fluttershy." We both waved. Then Fluttershy took a small step forward.
"I'm the one who ordered the apples." She said meekly.
"Wait a minute." Applejack squinted. "You two must be them two Pegasi that little Bloom was ravin' bout yesterday."
"Yeah," I agreed. "We just flew in from Cloudsdale."
"Well button me up 'n call me weddin' gown, ya'll come on in an' have some cider. Granny just finished makin' some."
The cider was delicious. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. Fluttershy definitely thought so too. We were both on our fifth cup when Applejack announced that there was only a cup full left.
"How 'bout we give it to our little lady'ere?" Applejack said with a sly smile. Both me and Fluttershy lit up. "Aw you silly tumbleweed, Ah meant the purty one." Applejack said with a wink as she filled Fluttershy's glass. Both mine and Fluttershy's jaws hit the floor. Fluttershy blushed and looked down at her cup, I looked up and scowled at Applejack.
"Thank you," Fluttershy said meekly with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"Aw, it's nutin' sugar cube. in fact, if ya love it so much, you can come on down here later and have s'more with me." She winked and leaned in. "And ditch the rainbow riot 'ere." She whispered to her. My face grew red and boiling as I heard these words.
"Um, I-" Fluttershy stammered. I stood up. If Applejack was going to try to make a move on Fluttershy, then I would have to have something to say about it.
"Clearly, you think that Fluttershy is one of those ponies who thinks it's funny to punch jokes at other ponies. But no! Fluttershy hates that! She is the kindest pony I've ever met. She loved it when you called her pretty but not at the expense of me not getting what I wanted. She's not a stupid farm pony like you." I scowled at the peachy pony as her face grew a completely new shade.
"Excuse me." Fluttershy grabbed my hoof. "Thank you two soooooo much." She said with a hasty laugh. "I'm sorry...um, I'll come back later for the uh apples." With that, we darted outside and took off. Once we were off the ground I turned to her.
"I'm sorry I-"
"Rainbow, it's okay. I just hate seeing every pony get mad. I-, thank you." She smiled at me and everything was okay. That smile just made everything perfect. "How about we go back to that bakery and see if we can meet that Pinkie Pie pony."
