Being quiet isn't a bad thing, but Rainbow Dash doesn't know this when she meets Fluttershy.
Apparently no one else does, because for the five years they spend in the same class, Dash has never seen her make a single friend, or lose a single bully.
By the third grade, Rainbow Dash decides it's about time to break a record.
She ends up breaking a few rules and a girl's frail nose as well, but go big or go home, right?
At home, she gets a Serious Talk about not resolving things with violence, why would she ever lash out like that, it must be all that TV.
It goes on for about a half hour before her dad’s funny in-between remarks – “Your mom nose these things, Dashie.” – finally tip her mom’s patience, and they send her up to her room – grounded for a week from TV – and argue in hushed tones until Dash falls asleep.
She can't hear what they're saying – she never really can, they just don't want her to – but somehow it doesn't bother her tonight.
She hasn't told them at all about defending Fluttershy's honour, because she's sure they'll find a reason to argue over that, too. And she doesn't want fighting for Fluttershy to ever be a bad thing, because right now, she feels like a superhero, right out of TV.
The truth is, no one would have a broken nose or suspension if Fluttershy didn't – well, not fit in, maybe.
Spitfire confirms this when Fluttershy tries to apologise to her, but she does so in a way that hurt, so Fluttershy decides maybe it's a better idea not to bother Rainbow Dash with her sorries at all.
Besides, when has anything Fluttershy ever said do any good?
By early June, Rainbow Dash looks like a street fighter.
Well, her favourite teacher said something like that, and it sounds cool, so Dash sticks to it.
He also told her how disappointed he is in her, how he knows she's a good student and if anything is bothering her she can tell him, blah blah blah, but Dash’s heard that a hundred times by now and it completely goes over her head.
She's doing the right thing, she knows that, and she also knows the adults won't understand, not even Mr. Doodle. Heck, even Fluttershy doesn't seem to get it much – she's avoided Rainbow Dash since the first fight – but hey, it's way lame when the hero’s all happy-happy in her opinion anyway.
After kicking sand into two dudes’ eyes gets her cleaning the chalkboard for the last week’s recesses, she decides that next year, she's going to try and actually be friends with Fluttershy.
She's lost most of hers anyway – no one wants to get involved with a rebel, but that's their loss – and maybe, if all that boring lecturing about being friendly has any truth to it, it's probably, maybe worth it to try.
Besides, it would be awesome if she could prove to her dad that people can have friends and family, because being right is pretty cool and maybe then he wouldn't get so upset about that guy her mom's always with.
Fluttershy enjoys her summer – the first two weeks, because that's all she gets before her parents send her to Summer Camp, where she'll get the chance to play with lots of kids her age. They tell her it's going to be tons of fun, and her Cub Scouts elitist older brother backs them up.
It won't be, Fluttershy knows already, but her parents always try to do what's best for her – they're super nice and thoughtful, but maybe no one else is because it's hard to be. But the quiet voice in her head says they have to be responsible for her; it's not their choice and that's a bad thing – so she doesn't say anything.
It gets worse the moment she sees Rainbow Dash hanging from a tree branch, scruffy-looking and brazenly reaching for another branch far out of her reach.
It's by far the worst when she watches Rainbow Dash swing off the branch and miss the next one, fall on her feet, and carry the momentum into a run, barreling the two of them into the ground.
“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash mutters, sounding dizzy but exhilarated.
And it's the first time Fluttershy can remember hearing that from another kid.
She's barely able to breathe under Rainbow Dash’s weight, and she has rocks and roots pressing against her back – her dress must have dirt all over it now! – but hearing someone else apologise to her so readily makes Fluttershy feel bubbly-warm inside, and she likes that.
She doesn't know if it's a good thing, but as she takes Rainbow's dirty hand and gets hauled on her feet, she wonders if this is how something new, something good starts – loud and proud and friendly.
It's dangerous, letting go of her safety net of silence, but so is Rainbow Dash.
Summer camp sucks, and Fluttershy does too at most things, but Rainbow Dash grins the entire summer.
Yeah, getting stuck with the turtle always in her shell means they lose all the tag team games, but whatever, she's still having the time of her life.
Fluttershy listens to her, and Rainbow Dash is pretty sure she's the only one who ever will: adults are old and deaf, Mr. Doodle included, and parents are nice but busy dealing with parent stuff. Friends like to play all the time, and that leaves no time to talk about things that aren't cool, like feelings and blegh.
But Fluttershy listens to all of it, and she doesn't make Dash feel like a doofus for going on like that. She tells her that it's fine if she wishes she were smarter – they could work on that, it just takes practice – or that it's normal to be scared of growing up – the world is big, but they'll both grow big, too.
Fluttershy may seem super weak, but Dash thinks if she can turn dumb worries into good advice, she's at least great support, and every soccer team needs a strong goalie, right?
Part of Rainbow Dash says she shouldn't be calling Fluttershy weak at all, but that's the same part that tells her to eat her vegetables, and nothing that likes Brussel sprouts is on Dash's side.
So they spend summer hanging out – they're in different tents, but Dash drags Fluttershy out and they climb trees and hide from councilors and stuff – and losing all the games, and Dash wishes it would never end.
But it does, too suddenly for Dash to plan for, and she finds herself without anything to say for once to Fluttershy outside of the buses.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy says, her head hanging and her long bangs covering her face – Dash can't figure out how she manages to keep her hair so clean when there's so much of it.
Rainbow shrugs. “No prob,” she mutters instead of thank you, this was awesome, will we still be friends when we go back to school.
And neither of them says goodbye when the councilors call them to their separate buses, and Dash thinks the outdoors is stupid and full of dirt that gets in her eyes.
She was alone before, but now Fluttershy feels miserably lonely.
She spends the rest of her break as she would every year, with her parents taking her to fun places and her brother fretting over her hair, but none of it is as exciting as hiding in the trees eating half-rotten apples.
Somehow, she doubts anything ever will be.
She realises she's scared of going back to school, and it's all Fluttershy’s fault.
When her parents ask her why she's acting differently, she seems sad, did something happen at camp, she just says she's tired.
It's an excuse she learns to use for the rest of her life.
But summer passes, and so does her excitement to see Fluttershy again – she's just some boring girl, it's not like there aren't cooler people to hang with. And if the thought leaves Rainbow Dash with a tight feeling in her chest, she blames it on too much running around.
So when school begins and they're in the same class, Rainbow Dash sits with Spitfire instead of Fluttershy, and she doesn't exactly know why except that she's mad at Fluttershy for not trying to be friends, either.
Brussel-sprout-voice tells her she's being dumb, but Brussel-sprout-voice is dumb, so how would it know?
Fluttershy doesn't even know why, but her quiet voice tells her this is somehow her fault anyway.
True or not, Fluttershy spends the fourth grade miserable.
Summer this year doesn't get filled up with Summer Camp and Fluttershy, so instead Dash wastes her days with video games inside.
Her parents don't like it – she's pretty sure they're planning something, because most of the time they're quietly writing things down and lately they've both been trying to spend more time with her.
Somehow, she finds herself thinking about school. Which sucks, because summer is for forgetting school. But she especially thinks of Fluttershy.
Well, it's Fluttershy's fault anyway: if she wanted to be friends, she would have said something about it at least once.
But if she didn't, if she's not trying to be friends, then that's that, and Dash should be happy hanging with the cool kids anyway.
But that didn't go as planned: apparently reputation sticks, and the cool kids marked her as the enemy when she repeatedly attacked them for attacking Fluttershy.
The more Dash thinks about it, the more she finds out that this is all Fluttershy's fault.
It's sometime midsummer with these things coming back to her head – she really hates all this thinking – when her parents both ask to speak with her.
Fluttershy misses Rainbow Dash, and she thinks that's why she's out in the park telling that to the squirrels.
Well, it's more than that: when Fluttershy was younger, she loved talking to animals. During preschool, when she missed her parents and didn't want to be there, she would hide herself among the trees and pick up beetles and feed her snack to birds.
That's when the mean comments started – if Fluttershy can talk to animals and not people, then she's an animal and shouldn't live with people – and she elected to stop, even if the teasing didn't.
Now, she finds herself back with nature, and it's peaceful and full of melancholy, and she figures she's going to get made fun of regardless of anything she will ever do in life, so she sticks to it.
Part of her wishes Rainbow Dash was here to see her bravery, and part of her thinks that this bravery is Rainbow Dash.
It's sometime midsummer – with these thoughts finding her up in a tree putting bread in a bird’s nest – when Rainbow Dash kicks the trunk hard and frightens her gutless.
Rainbow Dash's throat is sore – from shouting, from not crying, and from talking things out with Fluttershy.
But her head feels lighter, and the tightness in her chest is gone and now she can breathe, which is something she won't take for granted anymore.
Also, apparently Fluttershy was always her friend, why would she ever think otherwise, she's just bad at talking and Rainbow Dash knows that more than anyone.
Rainbow Dash isn't sure she does, but she's just glad everything is working out. Except for her parents still being her parents, but Fluttershy says divorce isn’t like that at all. They're just not going to be together anymore, but parent are always good to their kids so Rainbow Dash should trust in that.
Well, Rainbow Dash trusts Fluttershy, so that's enough, right?
And she knows now that sometimes she has to step up and take responsibility – if Mr. Doodle were still her teacher, he'd be so proud of her – so she asks Fluttershy where she lives and says she'll visit, just like she did when they were in different cabins.
Fluttershy tells her that it's a lot farther and that they should just ask their parents to drive them, but when Dash reminds her that her parents are busy splitting up, Fluttershy gives in and walks Dash to her house.
“Hey,” Dash says when they've walked in silence for, like, way too long. “You and me – we're never gonna get divorced, okay? ‘Cause I don't wanna go through this again.”
Fluttershy gives her a sidelong look and says nothing for just a moment too long, and then smiles. “We’ll always be friends, Rainbow Dash.”
And she wants to make it official – like with marriage but not with all the lame paperwork and a ring – so she holds out her pinkie finger. “Promise?”
Fluttershy hooks her long pinkie around Dash's, and she looks happier than she did all year. “Promise.”
Fluttershy walks the forest trail beside Rainbow Dash, and wonders if they just got married, technically.
Because the happy movies always start with friends and end with marriage, but it seems like a different feeling somehow. Like, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy never get each other gifts, and they don't look at each other all weirdly with background music playing.
But they do hang out alone in trees, and make promises not to get divorced, so Fluttershy decides it's somewhere in the middle: they're best friends, for life. And then some.
That fills her up with something warm and fluffy, and she feels so light on her feet she challenges Dash to a race. She has the advantage – she knows where they’re going – so when she squeaks, “Three, two, one, go!” in one breath, she speeds ahead.
She turns back to see Rainbow Dash grinning and gaining speed, and she tries to keep the lead, but she knows what's coming.
Still, with the wind blowing hair in her face and the trees speeding past her and the inevitable loss ahead as Dash pulls up beside her, she's laughing.
They both are.
Summer doesn't suck anymore, Dash decides, and hanging out with Fluttershy is cooler than she remembers.
Maybe because they’re older now – a lot changes in a year, so Dash has learned – or maybe because they know what it's like to be without each other, and neither wants to go through that again.
It's even cooler when they secure a secret base: a circle of pine trees in the forest halfway between each other's house – Fluttershy says this makes the travel time fair – right by the creek, where the algae smell keeps people away.
It's got lots of wildlife for Fluttershy – who Rainbow Dash now decides is some sort of Snow White, all the evidence fits, maybe Dash is the seven dwarfs in one – and the trees are hard to climb but that's the thrill of things for Dash.
There's too much paperwork and awkward silence at home, and even if there's a lot of silence outside with Fluttershy, it's a lot more comfortable to be in. So she spends her days out now, and her parents say that she should be home more often.
That's weird, Dash thinks, because earlier they wanted her out. Parents just can't make up their minds on anything, including each other.
But kids can, and Dash has already made up her mind on Fluttershy, and how they’re going to stick through all the tough things life throws at them, together.
“And we won't be bad at being parents, right?” she asks Fluttershy one day when she's feeding a porcupine and Dash is lying in a pile of pines.
“Parents, or adults?”
That makes Dash stop and think. Parents have kids, right? Fluttershy would make an awesome mom, but Dash doesn't know if she could be a good parent if hers couldn't show her how.
Brussel-sprout-voice says that's mean, they're trying their best, and recently Brussel-sprout-voice has been sounding more like Fluttershy, so it's harder to argue with.
“Adults, I guess,” Dash decides finally, and seeing Fluttershy care for the critter family makes her add, “but we can have a bunch of pets, like a little pet place or something.”
And Fluttershy's eyes light up like a TV in a dark room, and it fills Dash up with a fluffy feeling that she decides is lame and cool at the same time.
Fluttershy leans over and grabs Rainbow's arm and asks, “Really?”
Like she would lie to Fluttershy, Dash wants to tell her, but instead laughs and says, “‘Course, dummy.”
Sometimes Rainbow Dash does things that hurt Fluttershy – like forgetting a lot of the things Fluttershy's ever said to her, or making a comment she doesn't realise hurts Fluttershy in a sore spot – but then she does something to make it ten times better and Fluttershy feels bad for being so sensitive about it in the first place.
Like how Rainbow said all spiders were “ugly little gross things” right in front of Jim the Spider. It hurt Fluttershy for some reason – she didn't like her arachnid friends being so misunderstood, but maybe more than that she didn't like that Rainbow Dash was the one misunderstanding – and maybe that showed enough for Rainbow to come two days later having saved an ant hill from some rowdy kids.
Kids Rainbow Dash fit a lot better with, Fluttershy knows, so it was doubly relieving to see her do what was right in the face of that.
In any case, it's really a never-ending circle, where, if Fluttershy isn't guilt-ridden by just existing, she's hurt on the inside.
That's where Rainbow Dash comes in, like a wolf that befriends a gazelle; Fluttershy in turn is the voice of reason, and she takes a lot of comfort in knowing that Rainbow trusts her.
The rest of elementary school goes like that: helping Dash with being shuffled in the middle of a divorce – she tries so hard to be strong about everything – rendezvous at the Secret Base – they started growing small strawberry plants, and they have a secret stash of junk food buried under the biggest pine tree's roots – and getting teased, if not mostly ignored and outcasted by the others.
But that's okay; actually, it's more than just okay. It's a guilty thought, but Fluttershy enjoys having Rainbow Dash to depend on.
Sometimes, she wonders if she'll lose Dash; to another, cooler person, or just to the way life goes.
She hates the thought, especially when it feels more like a promise.
There aren't many high schools to choose from – it's a small town – but Dash still has to dig her feet in the ground to go to the same one as Fluttershy.
She's living with her dad permanently now – switching between them really sucked, and she doesn't like her mom's new husband anyway – and when he suggested they should move, there's nothing uptown, she'll enjoy the change in scenery, she had to come up with a hundred reasons why they had to stay.
None of them were Fluttershy – out loud, at least: Dash has mentioned her, but she avoids saying too much, just out of habit.
Besides, her dad wouldn't understand staying for someone else.
She's not all that bitter, for the most part: Dash is actually pretty okay with her parents’ split now. They seem happier somehow, and Dash has learned that people don't always work out, and that's just fine.
Fluttershy's taught her a lot, even if she's still begrudging to admit it.
But now they're a few days before high school, and it fills Dash with excitement: extracurriculars, bigger gyms, and new teachers that don't have their prejudgements of her.
Part of her is still afraid – she's used to her old school, and everyone knows not to bother her and Fluttershy – but things will work out, because they know better now.
It's with that sort of nervous excitement that Dash walks to the Secret Base to meet Fluttershy – she's there already, waiting for Dash – and they head off together to their new high school.
And hey, Dash thinks as she lists off all the things they're going to do right this time to Fluttershy, if they can stick it through a divorce and a crappy school experience, they can stick it through anything.
Author's Note
So begins something we know the end of; but in friendship, it's the journey.
