Chapters Prologue: A Night by the Forest
On a peaceful night, dark and quiet, in the early summer, the moon gave only the most sparing light. A gentle mist covered the fields of Equestria. Ponies across the land slept. The town of Ponyville lay quiet in its vigil on the southwestern edge of the Everfree Forest. And yet, while all others slept, the door of one small cottage opened. A Pegasus stepped out, careful not to wake her home's many tenants, walked slowly to the edge of her fenced in yard, and sat in the bench she had put here for just such nights. Fluttershy had loved the gentle hush of a summer's night by the forest since her first season on the ground. Even a forest like the Everfree, as full of dangerous creatures as trees, held a reverie at night; a soothing, shifting lull that calmed her usually highly fragile nerves. Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy closed her eyes, and let the night fill her.
After a few moments of this, the yellow Pegasus opened her eyes, and turned to look fondly at her home, so different now than it had been when she'd first laid eyes on it. Back when it had belonged to an elderly pony mare, whom most simply dubbed 'the crazy old witch by the forest'. Fluttershy smiled gently, admitting that the dear old mare probably had been a bit crazy. But there had been more to Whispering Hedges than most of the ponies in this small town knew. Wild she had been, but also unfailingly kind, taking in a lost filly new to the world beneath the clouds. Eternally patient, teaching Fluttershy how, and what it meant, to care for her animal friends. Compassionate, when the news came to them that the search for Fluttershy (after her fall) was being led not by her parents, but by the only classmate of hers who had ever bothered to defend her.
Remembering that little incident momentarily broke the young mare's warm recollections. She huffed in mild irritation at being interrupted, and began tucking all those bad feelings away, like she had countless times before. Then she recalled a conversation she had had a few days ago. Rarity had sagely advised that while dwelling on such things wasn't healthy, neither was hiding from them, and pretending they hadn't happened. And so now, in the dead of night, Fluttershy sighed in resignation, immersing herself in the memory of that fateful summer.
~{F}~
Cloudsdale, ten years earlier
Cloudblossom walked into the kitchen-slash-dining room of their cloud-home timidly, bracing herself for the inevitable argument she was about to cause. Her husband sat at the table, facing away from the doorway, almost reading today's paper after a delicious home-cooked dinner. Only almost, though, as he gazed at it more to keep up the appearance than out of any real interest. He felt justified in saying that the news of the day was rarely worth the time it took to hear over the radio, much less read oneself.
“Sweetie?” he heard called softly from the entrance into the room. He sighed inwardly, knowing full well that his wife's tone meant that she was going to ruin his previously good mood.
“Yes, dear?” he replied in what he thought would be an even tone.
“Cirrius, honey, we need to talk.” She said, gaining a small mote of confidence from knowing that this was for their daughter.
“Well, I'm all ears now.” he prompted, turning to watch her sit in the chair opposite him. He then noticed that she was carrying a pamphlet with her. She placed it on the table, turning it towards him and pushing it across the table into his reach.
“What's this?” he asked in a chilly tone. It was plain from the design on the flier that it was an advertisement for a nearby summer camp.
Cloudblossom decided that it really wouldn't help her case to drag things out, so she got right to the point.
“It's a summer flight camp being held at the Junior Speedsters' training course. They're offering training sessions for kids who may want to try out at the start of next school year.”
Cirrius gave her a cold look of disbelief. “And you think our Daughter -who is afraid of her own shadow and won't even get out of bed without all four hooves on the floor first- would be up to joining a flight camp with what I can only imagine would be the best and brightest fliers in her age group?”
His wife shifted nervously, knowing that he was probably right. Still, she knew it would do their little filly some good to get out and make a few friends her own age. Maybe they could inspire her to flight, where her parents could not.
“Sweetie, I'm worried about her. She's hardly got any friends, and we haven't made any progress trying to teach her ourselves. Maybe if-”
“'Maybe if' What?” He exploded suddenly, slamming his hooves onto the table and scaring her. She jumped out of her chair, knocking it over. “Maybe if we let some 'professional' take her she'll be right as rain? Maybe they can get our little chicken to fly?? Maybe THEY can be better parents than US!?”
During his tirade, he stalked around the table, smacking it again a few times for emphasis. Cloudblossom slowly backed away into the corner of the room, till she had nowhere to go and he was barely out of reach.
He stopped there, never raising his hoof to strike. Not that he ever did, he made very sure that he never crossed that line. Not with his wife, and never with his daughter.
Silence reigned for a few moments as Cloud never flinched, never cowed, just stood in the corner, resolutely staring in defiance. Those moments stretched.
“Fine.” The silence was broken.
“Fine?” The mare questioned.
“Yes, fine. She can go.” He relented, looking away slowly before returning to hi chair at the table.
Silence again took over, until Cloud slowly came over to him, put her hooves across his shoulders, and gently nuzzled his cheek. “Thank you.” She walked out of the room to go sit in her favored chair in the living room and calm her nerves. She had been dreading that conversation for days, and it seemed to have worked out better than she'd hoped.
Just out of sight, around the corner and at the top of the stairs, sat a gangly yellow filly with a pink mane, listening intently as her doom was spelled out and ensured.
Fluttershy was going to Flight Camp
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Chapter 1: Flight Camp: Dawn of the First Day
Fluttershy lay curled up in her cozy bed, blissfully ignoring the rising sun for just a few more minutes. Her inner peace was soon shattered, however, as her mother sang up to her. “Fluttershy, sweetie, wake up! Today’s the big day!”
Fluttershy’s sleep addled mind struggled briefly to recall what was so special about today. Several moments passed before it called up the reminder that today was Monday, and the first day of Flight Camp. Fluttershy was also reminded that she was of the personal belief that Cloudblossom was far too cheerful about the end of her daughter’s life. Oh goodness…uhm, did I just think that? I would never say such a thing out loud. Instead, she replied “Coming!” so softly that if Cloudblossom hadn’t raised Fluttershy herself, the hushed reply would have gone unnoticed.
The tall-for-her-age filly climbed gingerly out of her bed, shook her mane out, and made for her vanity desk, promptly tripping over her covers that had slid to the floor with her. Determined not to be brought low so early in the day, she stood carefully, so as to not tangle herself anymore than she had. After replacing her blankets and straightening them on her bed, she climbed onto the stool in front of her mirror, slid her brush onto her hoof, and faced her reflection.
She then screamed, threw her brush at the menacing dark shape in front of her, and fell off her stool, landing on the floor with a thud. Now shaking in her purely metaphorical boots, she mentally kicked herself for - once again – being frightened by the large stuffed dragon that her cousin Waveform had won her at the Summer Sun Festival games several weeks ago. She peeked at the cracked mirror nervously as her mother started up the stairs.
“Honey? Fluttershy, are you alright?” came her mother’s concerned voice.
“I’m fine, mom…” Fluttershy sighed heavily as she flopped back in exasperation. “Just wonderful… “
~{F}~
After a pleasant breakfast, and no further mishaps, Fluttershy and her mother had left the safety of home and caught an air bus across town to the Junior Speedsters Flight Academy, where the camp was set up.
Before them lay the administrative building, where the mare and her filly had been not two weeks before, to register the reluctant camper. It was a short, flat building which contained only a few offices. Beyond that and off to the right, the primary school building stood tall and proud. This was where classes were held during the school year. Opposite that, to Fluttershy’s left, the dorms looked much more welcoming. During the year students with moneyed parents, or who lived too far to travel here every day, lived in these dorms. Over the summer, however, the dorms were given over to use by the camp, and though Fluttershy herself wouldn’t be staying here, many of her fellow campers would.
They walked around the first small structure, Fluttershy growing more nervous by the second, until they rounded the corner and were greeted by the sight of the central courtyard and the looming Stadium beyond.
The square was expansive, and currently full of eager colts and fillies, all dragging their parents to and fro attempting to find friends they knew were going to join them. Fluttershy recognized a few classmates of hers, but none who she would claim as a friend, if they even knew her name at all. That’s okay. she thought, If they don’t know me, if they don’t recognize me, they can’t make fun of me. It’s safer that way.
Her mother, of course, had other plans. As Mommy-dearest made a beeline for a familiar face (and the familiar filly attached thereto), Fluttershy reflected on the inconveniences of having parents, namely their inability to pick up on discomfort and reluctance. She did follow, in the end, but did her best to hide behind her mane and act like a shrubbery. It didn’t work, however, as she came to realize that despite her best efforts, Golden Feather was glaring fearful death at her from behind her father. Fluttershy backed up, till she was well behind her mother, and at least mostly out of sight, as the parents talked about their recent experiences at work. Or whatever it was that grown-ups talk about…actually, Fluttershy really wasn’t paying much attention to them, instead focusing on escaping the fear and anger rolling in waves off of her classmate.
Golden stepped around both grownups, and tilted her head in a clear request to hold a private conversation, away from the prying ears of meddling parents. Curious, though still nervous, nodded her agreement, and followed a few steps away. They hadn’t spoken since the...incident, and other than receiving glares from the other filly from across cafeterias and classrooms, and giving morosely apologetic glances in return, they had almost completely ignored each other in the year-and-a-half since. Fluttershy had never spoken to anypony about that day, and from the fact that her mother had never confronted her about it (and was happily trading cubicle gossip with Golden’s father), it could be assumed that Golden hadn’t either.
~{F}~
In the little filly’s room at East Cloudsdale Elementary, Fluttershy was washing her hooves, getting ready for lunch, when the door opened to admit another filly, Golden Feather.
“Oh, hello Golden. How was spring break?” Not that they were friends, per se, but Fluttershy liked to be polite when possible. And not awkward. She tried to avoid awkward whenever possible.
The other girl stiffened slightly, then slid into a scowl. “Hey Fluttershy, how about you mind your own bees-wax? It’s rude to butt in.”
“Oh, umm…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Didn’t mean to what? Snivel like a baby?” Golden was clearly looking for any leverage to empower herself.
And Fluttershy saw it all. Her defensive stance, the sudden shift from the friendly (if slightly aloof) attitude she usually held, the mad scrabble for control over the present situation, and a hundred other things Fluttershy knew, but couldn’t put words to. She saw, and somehow knew what it meant. That Golden’s parents had fought almost all break, fought over her, and that they were now looking at separating. But she couldn’t hold that against her, would never use it.
But over the next week, Golden took her unwillingness to fight back as an excuse to ramp up her attacks, until one morning she had backed Fluttershy into a corner in the same bathroom where it had began. She pushed and prodded, both physically and verbally, until Fluttershy had lost her temper, and unleashed a monster.
~{F}~
The minutes that followed were still a red haze, but she did remember that the tables had turned so quickly, and so hard, that they’d flipped onto Golden, then shattered and staked her to the far wall of that tiny restroom. Golden had fled crying wordlessly, and the guilt had kept Fluttershy home from school for three days, a sobbing wreck. But she’d never told anyone what had happened, and she’d returned eventually, to endure the hatred she knew she deserved
“Truce?” Golden’s voice interrupted.
“Huh?” Fluttershy replied intelligently.
“I said, ‘truce?’. Like, you stay away from me, I stay away from you, and we pretend like nothing ever happened?”
Now Fluttershy was confused. “I thought that’s what we were doing?”
The other filly narrowed her scowl. “That was in a big school, and we haven’t been in the same class since then. This is kind of a small camp, so avoiding you will be way harder.”
Again, just as before, Fluttershy saw it all. It was a curse, she’d long since decided. Golden was afraid of her, probably thought she was psychic, and was terrified that she’d do it all again.
Instead of bringing it all up again, trying to apologize, she decided that if Golden was willing to make any kind of peace, she could, and would, do the same. “Deal.” The fillies shook hooves and returned to where the grownups were still chatting.
Golden was the first to interrupt them. “Daddy, I think I see Flitter and Blossomforth over there, I’m gonna go say hi!” She then quickly bounded away, eager to enact her plans of avoiding her she-hulk classmate. Her father bid both mare and filly goodbye, and followed.
Perhaps this camp won’t be all bad after all. Fluttershy thought to herself.
Chapter 2: Who Really Needs to Fly, Anyway?
The next hour went about as expected. Introductions were made between the coach, four counselors, and seventeen campers. The ground rules were laid out, and consequences for breaking said rules. It all went by at a drag, and still was much too fast for Fluttershy, who sat in line dreading the inevitable. She felt herself try to sink into the clouds beneath her when Head Coach Perfect Spiral, an immensely built mare who - in Fluttershy’s personal opinion - was way too high strung to be teaching children the delicate art of flight, blew her whistle at an ear-shredding pitch and volume.
“Now, all you little fillies and colts, line up behind Counselor Hooves-” A grey mare sporting a blonde mane, camp jersey, and unfocused eyes waved a hoof and gave the crowd a goofy smirk “-as I call your name! once that’s done we’re going to march calmly to the stadium and test your abilities one by one. Then we’ll begin putting you all in squads under a counselor. Now, then…Cloud Kicker! Blossomforth!” Coach Spiral’s gruff voice continued on for some time, calling up each camper one by one. The order seemed completely random, at least certainly not organized by name, as Fluttershy was placed near the end of the line, between -who else?- Golden Feather in front of her, and a cyan filly with an unruly mane streaked with every color of the rainbow, whose name was ironic even by pony standards.
The unfamiliar filly sauntered up behind Fluttershy, strutting as though she expected to own the place by simple merit of her own attitude. Fluttershy tried to ignore her, hoping that her shrubbery impression might do her a bit more good this time.
“Hey, name’s Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?”
So much for blending in Fluttershy thought dryly. Perhaps trying to blend as a plant in a city made of clouds was a plan that needed revising…either way, there was nothing left but be polite and hope to make peace early. “I-I’m Fluttershy“ Well, easier said than done…bravo Flutters This was going to be a good day for her sarcastic side, Fluttershy could tell.
“Umm, sorry? Didn’t quite catch that” Rainbow prompted.
“I said, I’m Fluttershy…” Truly a Herculean effort at communication, maybe next time try to drop the entire sentence?
“One more time? I think I almost heard you on that one.” The blue filly’s patience was clearly beginning to wane.
Fluttershy cleared her throat agitatedly, and tried again. Once more, with feeling perhaps? “Sorry, I’m Fluttershy”
“There we go, see? Nice to meetcha Fluttershy. Say, you look a bit older than the rest of these chumps, what are you, like a returning champ or something? Well prepare to have all your old records thrashed, 'cause I'm the fastest flier to ever grace this camp!” The younger filly struck a pose, both sleek and proud...
Definitely too full of herself to take anything out on others...and she's kinda funny. Returning champ? Hah! Fluttershy was taken slightly aback at her brash nature, but something about this pony said that she'd be a loyal friend, something Fluttershy was in desperately short supply of. Best to head off that competitive nature now, yes? “N-no, this is my first year here too, and I'm definitely not a champ at anything.” Except tripping over my own hooves, maybe... but Fluttershy kept that last bit to herself. They'd all get front row seats to that spectacle soon enough, in any case.
While the two fillies had been talking (or stuttering, in some pony's case), the rest of the line had filled out. Behind Rainbow Dash, a pair of colts were doing...whatever it is colts do...rather energetically. Somehow it involved quite a bit of making each other sound like idiots. Fluttershy foresaw those two being an issue when she finally had to attempt anything resembling coordination. For now, however, they simply laughed boisterously to themselves while the line of campers was finished and ushered into the stadium.
Inside the stadium walls, the campers gasped at the sight before them. The stadium floor had been mostly cleared away, leaving nothing but stray wisps of cloud between the campers and the ground so far below. The stadium itself was full of obstacles, platforms set in staircases, and rings arranged in interweaving courses indicated by colored ribbons tied to them.
None of that was important to Fluttershy, who was still stuck staring all the way to the ground.
Coach Spiral started calling names down the list, and each young flier would take off, following a simple course of rings. The blue course was the only track set entirely over solid cloud cover, and as such was dubbed the 'beginner' course. Not all were entirely successful, but most made their way through the course with varying scales of ease. Once they were done, either by finishing the track or by touching the cloud floor, the camper was assigned to a counselor and sent to stand with their group.
After the third or fourth success, Fluttershy's nerves kicked into overdrive. It wasn't until Golden Feather was gearing up to start that Rainbow finally noticed Fluttershy was shaking like a leaf on Tornado Day.
“Hey Flutter, you okay?” Fluttershy shook her head.
“What's up? Nervous?” A quick nod.
“Pfft, why? This track is like, kid's stuff!”
The only response was a nearly inaudible squeak, barely heard over the cheering gang of fillies who must have been Golden's friends. Ugh, more of this... Rainbow thought. Can we please be past this phase now? Instead of a verbal prompt, she simply gave an expectant stare, and waited.
“I can't fly.”
Still hard to hear, but much better than trying to get her name...maybe this filly is warming up to me. “See? I'm not that scary!”
The actual message of the reply took a few moments to register, however... “...Wait, WHAT!?”
Rainbow's outburst earned a silencing glare from her new-found friend. To the surprise of both of them, it worked. She continued in a much more secretive volume; “What do you mean, you can't fly? You have wings, right?” The quaking pony next to her nodded. “Hay yeah you do, and anything with wings can fly, right?” Her volume began to find its way back to normal full-excitement levels.
Fluttershy's voice started to come back to her as well, encouraged despite her attempts to argue. “I-I've heard stories about birds who can't fly that live on the ground”
“Pfft, as if!” The blue filly scoffed. “Haven't you heard about all the crazy stuff that lives on the ground? Bears and wolves and lions and stuff that'll eat a pony up in one gulp? And that's a pony! No way a bird that couldn't fly would be able to live on the ground! So there's no such thing, which means you can fly, 'cause everything with wings can fly!”
“You're right!” Fluttershy hopped up, suddenly emboldened by borrowed courage. “I can fly!
“You will fly!”
“I WILL fly!”
“You can do it!”
Coach Spiral called Fluttershy's name.
“I CAN DO IT!!!” And with that, Fluttershy took off at record speeds!
...Or she would have, had she not forgotten to lift her front hooves off the ground. Instead, she was left to skid forward several hooflengths on her face. Once again Fluttershy: well done. You've outdone yourself spectacularly in a shining example of grace and ineptitude. Fluttershy's sarcasm was truly having a field day today, and who could blame it? The silver lining here was that even at face value, clouds really are just water, and so despite being fatally embarrassed, she was unharmed.
“Okay, okay, pick yourself up and try again” Coach's voice lost some of its edge at this point. It may have been to soften the edge that the campers' laughter had taken.
And Fluttershy did try again, really, but with her Rainbow-instilled confidence now shattered, she barely made it to a hover less than a hoof off the ground. Much too low to even reach the first ring of the course.
And there they were, the two colts from earlier, laughing to each other and pointing at her. Not that she was more than two pony's lengths away from them, but they didn't even bother trying to keep her from hearing them immediately come up with a nickname to suit the moment. 'Klutzershy'. An oddly detached part of her mind was mildly impressed that they'd come up with something that eloquent on the fly. Golden Feather's gang of friends quickly tried to take up the chant of 'Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can't hardly fly!', only to be silenced by Golden herself, plus a few counselors for added weight. Still, in less than thirty seconds, the entire camp was armed to the teeth with enough figurative ammo to tease Fluttershy to Tartaurus and back, and she knew she could never risk trying to fight back.
"Alright, everypony, that's enough !" Coach Spiral picked her voice back up to Drill Sergeant level, attempting to rein in the situation. "Fluttershy, you'll be with Counselor Hooves." The camper in question nodded morosely and made her way over to where the grey mare from earlier was standing with a blonde maned, lavender coated filly Fluttershy had never met, but was immediately sure had not taken part in the...'festivities' a few moments previous.
As soon as Fluttershy had made her way safely to her post, the Coach called the next flier. "Rainbow Dash, you're up next!"
The exuberant filly immediately stopped her glaring at the two colts next to her, tensed in preparation to pounce, and took off. Where Fluttershy's takeoff had failed in every way, Rainbow's execution was nearly flawless. She zoomed, banked, dipped and swerved through each and every ring as if she'd been doing it all her life. More impressive still was her speed. She zipped through the course like an arrow with a mind of its own, clearing the last ring in a matter of seconds.
Her technique for breaking, though, needed some work. Still hurtling at top speed, Rainbow quickly lost control of her direction and careened straight down into the cloud floor. All that could be seen of Rainbow was her rear end sticking out of the ground, and the sight left the whole camp in giggles. As the nearest counselor went to help the tiny speedster right herself, Coach Spiral once again restored peace with a quick bark.
As soon as her head was free, Rainbow quickly shook herself free of any cloud wisps and looked around nonchalantly. “I meant to do that.” she stated as calmly as possible.
“Sure you did, Rainbow Crash .” the tan colt, who was next in line, taunted. “I'll bet you just love eating cloud, it's the perfect snack for a loser like you!” His friend added, quick to not be left behind.
Rainbow was in their faces in a flash. “Say that again, chickenhead, I dare you!”
“I said that's Enough!” The coach's voice came thundering across the square, stopping all three in their tracks. “I will not tolerate bullying in this camp. Ever! Do I make myself absolutely clear?” Every colt and filly in the area, and at least one of the counselors, nodded their heads fearfully. “Good. Rainbow, you'll also be working with Counselor Hooves. Hoops, you're up.”
As the tall, tan, and annoying colt began his run, Rainbow stalked over to where Fluttershy was sitting, and plopped herself gracelessly next to the yellow filly to watch the colt in contemptuous silence. She felt a small bit of satisfaction when he finished his lap a half second slower than she had, and when his cohort proved even slower, she was mollified enough to shoot Fluttershy a quick grin. Her cocky attitude quickly turned apologetic when she realized that Fluttershy was staring at her somewhat coldly.
“I told you I can't fly...” she muttered resentfully.
“But I-” Rainbow's rebuttal was quickly cut off.
“Of course you can fly, silly, you just need a bit of help.” Both fillies turned around, startled at having been snuck up on by their assigned counselor.
“Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you two.” she grinned sheepishly. “Here, let's start with proper introductions first, right? I'm Counselor Hooves. Seriously, though, call me Derpy; being a counselor is intimidating enough without it being shouted at me from all sides.”
“Rainbow Dash! But you knew that already.” The cocky grin returned at full force.
“Fluttershy.” Still subdued, but audible at least.
“I'm Cloud Kicker.” The lavender filly spoke up at last, with only the slightest trace of nervousness.
“It's nice to meet you all. Now, before we get into things for real, I'm going to give you all a warning.” Derpy was suddenly serious, or as serious as she could be with one eye boring into them while the other seemed to be extracting the secrets of the universe from the mountain below them. “There will be no bullying on my watch.” She gave Fluttershy a pointed half-stare, which the filly was quick to shy away from fearfully. “That includes beating yourself up over silly mistakes. Nopony is a perfect flier when they first start out, and everypony screws up sometimes. Even the Wonderbolts run into stuff, so don't you kids start kicking yourselves when you're down, okay?” By the end of her speech, the older filly -Fluttershy had realized that she was only a few years older than the rest of the camp- was back to her goofy smile, and her three charges were beginning to relax.
All three nodded in quick agreement. “Alrighty, then! Let's get started!”
