All pegasi have a special bond with the sky, everypony knows that. Everypony also knows our bond differs from pegasus to pegasus. We all fly obviously, but some of us live in the sky, never even touching the ground, some work there preparing the weather and making deliveries, some play there performing breathtaking stunts and amazing tricks, and some just use it to get around. Others own it. The weather changes at their command, the clouds move to their will, and nothing in the sky can dispute their mastery of it. But of all the pegasi in Equestria, I believe I am the one who holds the strongest bond with the sky.
I can almost hear my spa partner’s disbelief. If I was ever to say this outloud, I can picture her response with perfect clarity. “Darling,” she would say, raising a perfect eyebrow. “Whatever do you mean? My dear Fluttershy, you live on the ground. In fact, you barely fly at all. If I was to go by your last statement you do none of those things. You live on the ground, your animals live in the dirt and trees, for fun you go to the spa and have tea parties, and when it comes to getting around you prefer hoof or carriage. And you certainly don’t own it. So how can you say you have the strongest bond with the sky?”
And I will just smile, and say in reply, “because I am the only pegasus who fell in love with a storm.” What do I mean by that? It’s not that I love storms, no, I find the noise of the lightning and thunder very unpleasant. It’s not that there is one particular storm that I hold fond memories of, though there are quite a few, times when I was cuddled up with my Angel and my lover in my cottage.
No, it’s that my lover is a storm. Ponies think she’s a pegasus, the greatest pegasus alive even. They admire her toned muscles, her prismatic mane, as she blazes through the sky, shattering long held records, and performing legendary stunts. They line up to watch her shows, they chant her name as she flies out into the stadium. They ask her how she does what she does, they track her training, they drive her onwards, never realizing that none of it’s necessary. She does what she does because it’s a part of her nature to do so. She roars with the power of thunder, moves with the speed of lightning. She feeds off their awe, for it is her given due as a being of wind and speed.
So, she isn’t literally a storm then. No, she’s not. But if there were ever a pony who is a storm in living flesh, then it’s my beautiful Rainbow Dash. She performs such amazing feats, all without seeming to notice what she’s doing, or even why it’s amazing in the first place. Everypony knows of her Sonic Rainboom of course, but few remember that she did it by accident. All of attempts to do it in training failed, it was only when she stopped thinking about it, and acted to rescue somepony dear to her that she broke through her doubt and succeeded. And that’s just the most famous example. I’ve seen her order clouds with a word, shake off injuries, and of course, face down monsters fearlessly. For what does a storm have to fear from the claws and fangs of the dangerous beasts of this world?
She doesn’t think like a pony either. Not just lacking a fear of death, or her being her own worst obstacle when it comes to flying. No, it’s in how she acts in the sky and on the ground. In the sky? She’s perfection, poetry in motion. She flies with perfect awareness of where everything is. She can race through a forest, or a tornado with ease. She bounces off monsters, dodges the darkest spells, moving with an elegance and grace a dancer would envy. But on the ground, she’s distracted. She can’t focus on anything, she can’t remember things about her very dearest subjects. She’s fidgety, impatient, and even clumsy. Life on the ground is too slow, too boring to hold her attention.
But the biggest difference is in her eyes. None of my friends realize this about her, except maybe Twilight. But she was never the best at social cues, so I’d say there’s a good chance she still hasn’t noticed. On the ground, her eyes are dull. No, that’s the wrong word. Her eyes are distant, maybe bored. She’s dreaming of her next adventure, planning her next stunt, living in the future. But in the sky? Her eyes are alight with a flame that demands my attention. In the sky she lives in the moment. She takes everything in, exults in it, and uses as fuel to drive herself further. It’s why she loves her shows so much, why she oh so willingly throws herself into the most dangerous of battle or adventure. It’s not what she lives for, no, she only lives when she’s experiencing it.
And that’s why my heart almost stopped that one stormy night. When she came into my cottage, her blue fur soaked from the rain she had summoned, water droplets shining like diamonds in her rainbow mane, catching the light from the fireplace. She gazed into my eyes, and to my shock and utter delight, I saw that wonderous flame in her gaze. I trembled, shocked by the sheer intensity of her attention and she proclaimed her love in the truest Rainbow Dash manner. She didn’t try and woo me with flowery speeches or grand gifts. No, she wrapped her hooves around me, and kissed me. She gazed at me with those glorious eyes, silently vowing to love me for the rest of my days. I kissed her back, promising the same, and well, let’s just say some things are better left to the imagination and the pages of Rarity’s novels.
And since that day, I’ve had a bond with the sky unrivalled by any of my fellow pegasi. I’m still the same weak flyer, but when I fly with her, I know the wind will carry me to my destination. When it rains, I know the waters will fall gently on my home. And when I’m in danger, I know the sky will shatter with the storm’s fury when my lover catches up with whomever would dare try and harm me. I’ll admit, sometimes it’s hard. She never stays for long, travelling Equestria for her shows. And even when she’s in town, she can’t bear to stay for long in my small cottage, preferring to sleep in the sky among the clouds. But as any pegasus would tell you, trying to contain a storm will only cause it to explode in fury and force.
It’s not a relationship most ponies would recognize. They feel lovers need to be together, to settle down and start a family together. That a bond needs to be formalized to be considered permanent. That it needs to be declared, glorified. That it needs dates, presents, and the small compromises that make up domestic life. That somehow, if a pony does not do these things, their love is transient. They are only dating, or even just sleeping with each other. No, most ponies wouldn’t understand our relationship.
But then again, most ponies don’t fall in love with a storm.
Author's Note
So that's that. A little whimsical thought that I had to put into words. I hope you enjoyed. I know there are certainly inaccuracies between the show and what Fluttershy is thinking, but that's deliberate. The goal wasn't so much to be technically correct as it was to portray her thoughts about a pony she loved.
Like I said in the description I also set this down as a bit of a challenge for myself:
24 hours to write: I got one day to write this. If I didn't finish, I would delete the file.
No going back: I could edit things slightly, but generally I just wrote. No going back and adding in other thoughts, or deleting thoughts. I was trying to get that chain of thought and I feel this was the only way to do so.
1st person: I never write in this style. So this time I had to.
1 Character: A lot of my stories are all outward action. How the characters interact and speak with the world around them. This time it's supposed to be all internal. A daydream in every aspect of the word.
