Thwack! With a frantic jolt at the sudden explosion of sound the cyan Pegasus tumbled from her fluffy cloud bed to the almost equally soft floor below. The prismatic maned mare panted and kicked out with all four hooves as she fought off the last vestiges of restless slumber. Even as she clambered to unsteady hooves that were firmly planted in the waking world, she felt a profound sense of wrongness that she couldn’t place. The sound of a sickening crunch was still at the forefront of her mind and it reared its ugly head as she tried to focus on the dream she had been having. As she attempted to connect the dots between the sound and sense of dread she felt, she was reminded of a few of the especially bad crashes she had taken in her years as a daring flyer.
It wasn’t a flying dream, though. Even the ones that end badly don’t make me feel like this.
Ugh, what was it…?
Judging by the stubborn tears that fought to escape from the corners of her eyes and dampen her light-blue coat, it had been bad. Nothing made Rainbow Dash cry, that was just a silly idea that she refused to give any merit. Sure there had been Tank’s hibernation, but that was different. She was losing the best pet ever for the winter.
As she focused on the dread that still felt heavy in her chest, she thought of losing. The Pegasus hated losing, it was just so uncool. What had she lost, though? Tank? Her chance at the Wonderbolts? Her friends?
The strange phantom-loss sensation continued to swell up in Rainbow’s chest as she climbed back onto four unsteady hooves and began moving towards the door. If she couldn’t remember it right now, she could just go for a fly, maybe then she would remember?
As she passed by the only pictures that adorned her home aside from her Wonderbolt memorabilia, a sudden flash of a familiar yellow mare suddenly struck her. The sight of the mare huddled in a darkened room with sorrowful eyes stole away Rainbow’s breath. A pang of dread wrenched an uncharacteristic yelp from her as her heart began to pound in her chest. Rainbow suddenly felt as if her throat was caught in a vice as she attempted to swallow.
Thwack! Cyan wings shot out to her sides as an icy blast of adrenaline coursed through her body and filled her with a situation akin to being submerged in ice water. She still couldn’t place the sound or what the flashes of memory meant but she knew one thing for absolute certainty. She had to go.
Rainbow didn’t even bother to find the door to her cloud home as she burst through the wall and scattered several small puffs of cloud into the open sky. Her mane whipped about behind her as she careened through the sky at a breakneck pace. On any other day the speed that she had reached in such a short amount of time would have her cheering and amazed at her own awesomeness, but today it wasn’t fast enough. No matter how quickly she reached her target, it would still be too late.
Being in the open sky had always made her feel light and free but as she sped towards the home of her oldest friend, Rainbow wanted nothing more than to be back on the ground. At the thought of the timid mare another crunch reverberated through her head. A mixture of panic and nausea buffeted the soaring mare’s stomach as images she had been trying to conjure up struck her and left her in a cold sweat.
S-shy…? Did… Did I?
The small cabin at the edge of the Everfree couldn’t have sprouted up in Rainbow’s view at a better time as she dropped from the air onto shaking hooves. A small thought struck the mare as she sat at the front door of her friend’s house. She knew she shouldn’t entertain such a silly possibility, but she couldn’t banish it from her mind.
What if it wasn’t a dream?
Deep down she knew that she couldn’t even entertain the possibility, but the slightest hint that she could knock on the door and not find Fluttershy inside prompted her to deliver a quick series of knocks to the wooden door. Without the feeling of the wind whipping around her, Rainbow’s mind began to wander and the beads of tears began to make themselves known again.
“C’mon Shy… Tell me I didn’t… I couldn’t, not you…” Rainbow’s hindquarters dropped to the wooden deck beneath her as she sat there in front of the yellow mare’s door. As her front hooves lowered themselves to the porch so she could lose herself in her growing despair, the front door cracked open slowly and a silken pink mane brushed over the sullen mare’s prismatic one.
“Rainbow? Cider season doesn’t start till next-” The canary yellow mare stifled a yawn with one of her hooves as she spoke, though her voice froze mid way through her words as she caught sight of her friend’s disheveled appearance. Rainbow Dash flinched beneath the gentle gaze of her concerned friend as she was given a onceover, but she didn’t care how she looked.
As soon as she heard the other mare speak her name, Rainbow had raised her head. It took her a few seconds of silence to really see the other mare before her, and a few more to ascertain her well-being. With a forced exhale the cyan Pegasus mustered up a grin as she ran a hoof through her multi-colored mane. “Hey Shy. My bad, I guess I jumped the gun again. Sorry for waking ya.”
Good. She’s fine. You overreacted and were completely uncool. Of course it was a dream. Happy now?
As Rainbow Dash turned to move down off of her friend’s front porch she was suddenly pulled into an embrace as her shy friend extended her wings and wrapped them around her. Despite having flinched at the physical contact something made her unable to pull away so she stood in silence. As Fluttershy hugged her close, Rainbow could feel her ignored tears as they tried to struggle for their freedom once again.
“Rainbow. Come inside, please?” Fluttershy’s soft voice reached her ears as she allowed her to slip from the embrace. The thought of lifting off had just occurred to the talented flyer, but the image of her friend sad and alone hit her more deeply than she would care to admit. With a sigh of defeat, the cyan Pegasus turned toward her friend and stepped through the open door into the comforting warmth of the other mare’s cabin.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading the first chapter! I hope that you're enjoying the story so far.
Nestled comfortably in her bed, the yellow Pegasus was sleeping peacefully in the early hours of the morning. A blissful smile revealed the nature of the mare’s dream as she nuzzled deeper into the pillow with a content sigh. “Oh Dashie~”
It wasn’t unusual for the rainbow-maned mare to make appearances in Fluttershy’s dreams, in fact she had been a reoccurring star in them since the first day they had become friends. The bravery and kindness the cyan mare had displayed by standing up to her bullies had seen to many dreams where she was saved by her new friend. The dreams may have changed from those of a starry-eyed filly afraid of her own shadow to those of a grown mare, but they never lost their fairy tale spark. The first occurrence of romance in one of her nightly adventures had brought about a giddy sensation in the mare when she was awoken by the morning’s birdsong. Rainbow Dash had never figured out why she couldn’t look her friend in the eyes for a week after without a crimson blush spread across her cheeks.
Sadly birdsong wasn’t what called her from Luna’s realm of dreams this morning as a series of rushed knocks jolted her from the embrace of peaceful slumber. For a few moments the canary-yellow Pegasus lay still in her bed as she attempted to recapture the memory of the dream before it could flee. Another series of thuds against her front door finally drew Fluttershy from beneath her covers with a wistful sigh.
As the gentle Pegasus made her way through her darkened cottage and reached the front door a muffled sob reached her ears. Worried at the thought that somepony could need her help or be in some sort of trouble prompted her to swiftly pull her large door open. A familiar warmth spread through her as she caught sight of her oldest friend only for it to lessen when she remembered the miserable sounding sobbing.
“Rainbow? Cider season doesn’t start till next-.” Fluttershy’s words stopped as soon as they had begun as the owner of the rainbow mane turned towards the sound of her voice. The sight of her friend’s unkempt mane and reddened eyes earned a worried grimace from the shy mare. Empathetic tears pricked at the corner of her eyes as she noticed her friend’s matted coat where tears had likely already fallen. Before she could put together a response to ask what had happened a grin forced its way onto the blue mare’s muzzle.
“Hey Shy. My bad, guess I jumped the gun again. Sorry for waking ya.” Fluttershy’s heart sank as her friend’s magenta eyes lowered to the ground and she turned and began to disembark before she had a chance to say anything. A sudden sense of panic washed over the shy mare and before she knew it her hooves and wings had wrapped themselves around her friend.
Don’t go, Rainbow…
“Rainbow. Come inside, please?” She felt the other mare bristle beneath the unexpected physical contact and for a second she began to worry that she had upset her friend. Despite the beginning of a struggle from the shaky Pegasus, she soon fell still and remained silent in her embrace. The thought that her protector would be so unwilling to be in her embrace hurt a little, but she refused to allow her friend to leave in such a state.
Her hooves and wings fell away from her friend and after a few more seconds of utter silence, the other mare let out a defeated sigh as she gave in. In the early morning the yellow mare smiled as she closed the door behind her friend, already focused on the task of helping the other mare feel better.
Author's Note
A bit of a smaller chapter this time, I thought that it might be nice to see things from a certain shy mare's point of view. As well as give you a chance to learn a few things about her relationship with her best friend.
In the early hours of the morning on the outskirts of Ponyville the door to the cabin closed behind the cyan and yellow mares. Safely within the familiar walls of her home, Fluttershy glanced at her shaken companion and another pang of worry struck at what she noticed. The normally confident and proud Pegasus she had brought in from the cold sported an even more messy mane than usual. Thin lines of damp fur where tears had slipped from her irritated eyes and streaked through her coat lay beneath each eye. The final straw that absolutely broke her heart were the few feathers on her friend’s wings that lay askew.
When she was sure that her friend could make it to the couch by herself, Fluttershy allowed the other mare some room and made a quick detour to the kitchen to prepare some soothing tea. All the while the shy mare found herself glancing at her idle friend who now sat motionless on the couch. Several times throughout the process of gathering cups and boiling water she felt a familiar gaze on her, though every time she would look to her friend those magenta eyes would be looking at something else in the room instead.
Questions danced on the tip of Fluttershy’s tongue though she struggled to reign them in so as to avoid upsetting her close friend. After a few minutes in relative silence the shrill whistle of the teapot rung throughout the cabin. She frowned empathetically as Rainbow winced at the sudden high-pitched sound that had harshly broken the silence between them. The yellow mare hastily removed the kettle from her stove as she poured the steaming liquid into each of the mugs. A smile found its way onto her face as her gaze fell upon the chipped mug that her friend would use whenever she was over. It had been the first gift that she had given Rainbow Dash and despite its cracks it would always bring a smile to her friend’s face.
“Umm… Dashie?” Fluttershy began quietly as she placed the mug of tea in front of her still friend. After a few more seconds of gazing off to the side the cyan mare turned her head and locked her gaze onto the mug of steaming tea. For a few moments a heartfelt smile crested her muzzle at the image of her own cutie mark emblazoned upon the surface. As she looked away to give a nod of thanks her smile fell once more.
“Rainbow Dash.” Despite the stern tone of her voice, Fluttershy reached out and wrapped her wing around her close friend’s back. A sharp intake of breath from the other mare made it seem like she was going to break into a fresh wave of sobs. Instead of crying, the cyan Pegasus finally spoke up, though her voice cracked with emotion as she forced the words out. “I-I-I… did something horrible…”
Despite previous attempts to avert her gaze from her friend, Rainbow’s pained magenta eyes met Fluttershy’s pools of blue. The yellow mare frowned as she began to piece things together as her friend’s eyes started to water once again.
Something horrible? What’s so bad that she would rush out here in the middle of the night to apologize to me…? ...Oh Dashie…
“Dashie. You didn’t do anything. You would never hurt anypony.” This time Fluttershy’s words actually drew fresh tears from the shaking mare as a sob rocked her unsteady body. Rainbow Dash drew away from her embrace as she turned to the side and began to shake her head.
“B-but… I hurt you, Shy. I-” Sudden sobs wracked her cyan friend’s body and cut her explanation short, her pain-drenched words brought fresh tears to the corner of the shy mare’s eyes. She wanted to tell her best friend in the world that she was fine, that it was obviously just a dream and she’d never hurt her in a million years but each time she parted her lips nothing came out to silence her friend’s sobs. Thinking only of comforting the other mare, Fluttershy closed the distance between them and pulled the weeping mare into a consoling embrace. She could feel Rainbow’s tears soaking into her coat, but she paid them no mind as her hooves gently stroked up and down the other Pegasi’s back.
“I-I’m fine, Dashie. You’re my best friend, and I trust you completely. I need you to trust me, okay? I’m right here, and I’m fine.” The canary-yellow mare’s voice shook as she teetered on the edge of an emotional dam as she craned her head to look into her friend’s eyes. Blue and magenta met once more as Rainbow Dash sniffled out a quieted response to the kind mare’s reassurance. “Uh huh.”
The two mares sat on Fluttershy’s couch wrapped in the silent embrace until each pair of eyes had dried. As the pink-maned Pegasus pulled away from her friend she gave her one last gentle nuzzle. It was still early in the morning when she extended a caring hoof to her best friend and caught the small flash of uncertainty that overtook the cyan mare’s tired eyes. “I won’t leave your side, Dashie, I promise.”
Rainbow Dash silently eyed her friend’s outstretched hoof with suspicion as if the gesture was something foreign. After a few silent moments and more than one glance from her hoof to her eyes she held out her own hoof as well. As their hooves met with a gentle ‘thunk’ a grateful smile slowly spread across Rainbow’s face. “I won’t leave yours either, Fluttershy.”
Author's Note
I hope you all enjoyed the story. It was my first real attempt at writing anything between some of my favorite characters. I'd love to hear what you think of my attempt, and I've got more ideas that I'll post in the future.
