Rainbow Dash stood on the very edge of the cloud, looking out over the horizon beyond and the ground far below. “Deep breaths,” she muttered to herself, taking a big inhale before letting it out slowly. “Just… think of that thing Twilight always does.”
She breathed in again, a hoof to her chest, before casting the hoof—and the breath— out, hoping her anxieties went with it. For the time being, it seemed to do the trick, but she took a few steps back from the edge.
It was already taking everything to fight her Pegasus instincts to spread open her wings in anticipation of flight. She was both scared of flying away from this predicament yet again, and of losing what her wing was currently clutching for dear life.
“You got this, Dash,” she said as she turned about face. Before her stood a simple domicile, lined with a rainbow fence with a small shed out back. There were dozens of ones like it all over Cloudsdale. “Just like visiting them any other time.”
She strolled up to the house’s front door, awkwardly stepping on the cloudy terrain of Cloudsdale as she went. Pegasi were meant to fly here, so the clouds were unkempt and uneven, used for nothing more than foundation for perches.
Rainbow was dressed to impress. She’d made sure her Wonderbolts flight jacket was spotless and pressed, the prismatic emblem of her cutie mark on the collar polished until she could see her face in it. Her shorter mane was swept back in her best attempt to keep it tamed.
Once she was on the front porch, it took another cast out ritual to steady her nerves before she could raise her hoof to the door. Thinking better of it, she lowered it and knocked a little more softly than she’d first intended.
The seconds she waited ticked out to the thrumming pulse in her ears – each one a chance for her to take flight and be on the other side of Cloudsdale by the time the door’s knob was touched. But she forced herself to wait. For once, the patience she had learned over the years didn’t seem strong enough.
Finally, her ear twitched at the sound of movement on the other side of the door, and a friendly green Pegasus opened it with a warm, welcoming smile.
“Rainbow Dash, it’s so good to see you,” Mr. Shy said, standing to the side. “Please, come in.”
Rainbow swallowed and flashed him the best smile her nerves would allow her. “Thanks, Mr. Shy. Is… Mrs. Shy home?” she asked.
“Oh, she’s out in the garden.” Mr. Shy shut the door and Rainbow Dash followed him into the kitchen. “Can I get you anything?”
“No thanks,” Rainbow replied, not believing her gut would let anything into its unstable core. “I was hoping I could talk to you… both of you. I-If that’s not too much trouble.”
Mr. Shy’s eyebrows raised, and a look of concern crossed his muzzle, but he nodded. “Of course. Let me just go get her.” As he disappeared out the backdoor, Rainbow’s heart raced.
Anxiety returned once more, worry over her careful plans coming asunder. This couldn’t go wrong, not this time. Not when she’d come this far. She was able to cast out her wriggling emotions once—but whether it did any good she couldn’t tell—before Mr. Shy returned from the garden with his wife.
“It’s so good to see you again, dear,” Mrs. Shy said, adjusting her glasses. “Is everything alright?”
“Did… did something happen to…” He trailed off, not wanting to finish the statement. He wrapped a leg around his wife instead.
Rainbow shook her head. “No, Fluttershy’s fine.” The words relieved Dash in the moment. She was fine. “I came to ask you about… something else.”
The Pegasi parents tilted their heads as she unfurled one wing and set the object it held on the kitchen table. As it sat there, Rainbow mused at how it had all come into focus.
She’d come across the reference years ago in a Daring Do book, about the explorer helping a couple recover a precious treasure needed for them to wed. When it turned out to be just a dumb feather, Rainbow Dash had rolled her eyes and finished the book without regarding it as much more than romantic garbage.
Sometime after that, she’d been reading up on Pegasus history at the Cloudsdale Library as part of her studies for the Wonderbolts. Her brow furrowed at one passage about Pegasi courtship rituals, and only then did she glance back over the Daring Do story. Sure enough, they were Pegasi.
Laying on the Shys’ kitchen table was a blue feather, a rich shade of azure belonging to a sapphire. It didn’t belong anywhere near Ponyville or Cloudsdale – instead belonging to a tropical species of love bird in the river basin A.K. Yearling frequented. Any blue feather would’ve sufficed, if Rainbow Dash had been any other pony.
“Mr. and Mrs. Shy,” Rainbow said, puffing out her chest as she stood a little taller. “I would like to ask your permission for your daughter’s hoof in marriage.”
She wasn’t surprised at the confused looks she got – the ritual was antiquated at best. The feather was only step one of two, the second being the consent of the parents. In modern times, the process was often overlooked entirely – vows and rings meant more than ancient history. And again, it would’ve worked fine, if Rainbow Dash were any other pony.
“I don’t… understand,” Mrs. Shy said.
“Wait.” Mr. Shy looked from the feather, to the proud Pegasus who had presented it. “The blue feather of marriage?”
“Yes, sir.” Rainbow Dash kept her mentality to that of an official Wonderbolt hearing – respect at the forefront.
Mrs. Shy blinked. “That old Pegasus ritual? Why, I haven’t heard about somepony doing one of those in years,” she remarked.
“I wanted to do something special, something that meant something,” Rainbow explained. “Fluttershy isn’t just any Pegasus to me – we’ve been friends for years. I’ve always stood up for her, and she’s always supported me. No matter how quiet she is, I hear every one of her cheers. She’s the strongest, bravest pony I know – she’s stared down giant dragons and even the lord of chaos without flinching. There’s no pony else in the whole world I’d want to have as my wife.”
The Shys were teary-eyed at her speech, with Mrs. Shy removing her glasses to wipe away a tear. Mr. Shy walked over and set a solid hoof on her shoulder – she flinched under the touch.
“You didn’t have to do this, Rainbow,” he said. “But I’m glad you did. It shows you’re committed. And if you’re this committed to ask for permission, then I know you’ll be this committed to our Fluttershy. If it’s consent you want, we’ll gladly give it.”
Behind him, Mrs. Shy nodded as she replaced her glasses, a happy smile spread across her muzzle. Rainbow felt a thousand clamping nerves unwind around her heart and she relaxed as such.
“Thank you, Mr. Shy. I promise to make Fluttershy happy and—“
She was cut off when she heard the front door open. Mentally, she prepared herself for Zephyr Breeze. Rainbow smirked at the thought of Zephyr getting bent out of shape once he realized Rainbow was instead interested in his big sister, but it quickly faded.
When she turned around, her eyebrows raised when she realized it was Fluttershy standing in the entryway. She seemed partially surprised to see Rainbow Dash, but it wasn’t a total shock – the Pegasi knew each other’s families very well.
“Hey Rainbow Dash,” she said quietly, glancing between Rainbow and her parents. “What are you doing here?”
Rainbow Dash swallowed, glancing at Mr. Shy, who nodded. As he walked over to his daughter, Rainbow took the opportunity to snatch up the feather in her wing and hide it again. Nerves bubbled renewed.
“Dear,” Mr. Shy said softly, setting a hoof on her shoulder. “I think Rainbow Dash has something she wants to ask you.”
He stood to the side as Rainbow Dash approached, legs wobbling. She cast out her ideas for the ideal proposal – Wonderbolts fly by or a quiet meadow, in front of a crowd of spectators or just the two of them. It had to be now.
As Rainbow got down on one knee, Fluttershy covered her mouth to silence her gasp, cheeks flaring as pink as her mane. The kneeling Pegasus unfurled her wing into one hoof and offered it—and the blue feather—to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, all my life you’ve always been there for me, as a supporter, as a friend, and as a role model to always be brave no matter what. There’s no one else I’d want by my side for the rest of my life, so… will you marry me?”
Fluttershy locked up, and Rainbow Dash made out the signs of flight-or-fight in her body language—and pacifist Fluttershy rarely fought. In the span it took Rainbow to blink, the flustered Fluttershy was out the door and in the air.
“Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow called after her. She clenched the feather in her teeth, flared open her wing, and shot out of the Shys’ house like a sonic boom.
Fluttershy had either been exercising or following in Rainbow’s hoofsteps – Rainbow Dash found her on a cloud bank halfway between Cloudsdale and Ponyville. As she touched down next to her, the panting Pegasus shied away.
“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Rainbow removed the feather from her mouth and scooted closer, but Fluttershy kept space between them.
“You… you asked my parents?” Fluttershy asked, her breathing controlled but the rapid rise and fall of her chest betraying a frantic heart.
“Well, yeah. It’s what the proposal ritual said to do,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Ritual?” Fluttershy finally risked a glance up at her, her muzzle as red as the streak in Rainbow’s mane.
“Yeah, it was some old Pegasus tradition I read about.” Rainbow looked out over the horizon, hoping the lack of focus on her scared friend would calm her further. “You went out and got a blue feather, asked the parents’ permission, and then proposed. It hasn’t been done in ages though – not since Flash Magnus’s time, at least.”
Fluttershy blinked, then looked out on the horizon herself. “So… why’d you do it then?”
Rainbow huffed and turned to Fluttershy, taking one of her hooves in both of hers. Fluttershy maintained eye contact with anywhere else but her.
“Because, Fluttershy,” Rainbow began, her voice soft and crackly. “I didn’t want to do it like anypony else would. You mean too much for that. Especially for something as big as this.” She swallowed. “I know you. You probably think you aren’t good enough for a Wonderbolt, but I’m telling you you’re wrong. I’m the one who’s unworthy.”
Fluttershy glanced up at her as her voice cracked. Rainbow used one hoof to wipe angrily at her eyes.
“You know how many amazing things you did? You’ve taken on monsters and won. You tamed the lord of chaos for crying out loud! You’re one of the five other ponies the princess of all Equestria trusts to help her run it – and to top it all off, the shyest mare I’ve ever known is her best friend… and mine.”
Rainbow Dash bowed her head. Fluttershy smiled softly, scooting close enough for their foreheads to rest together. “You’re right,” she said in a low voice. “At first I thought I wasn’t worthy, then I began to think I’d never be enough. But you’re right, I am worth it.” Their eyes met. “I’ve had good friends, amazing friends, tell me I’m worth it, but only one has been there from the beginning. And you never gave up on me.”
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash croaked. “Will you marry me?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes.”
Their muzzles raised and met in a kiss both as passionate as a summer storm and gentle as a butterfly’s wing, letting it linger for a precious minute before pulling apart.
Their cheeks equally flushed, Rainbow offered the blue feather to Fluttershy, who took it in her own hoof and examined.
“It, uh…” Rainbow cleared her throat. “Belonged to a tropical love bird, down in the Tenochtitlan Basin.” She grinned sheepishly when Fluttershy frowned at her. “Hey, I asked nicely and he let me have it.”
Fluttershy nodded and her eyes returned to the feather. “It’s beautiful. I’ll have to make a necklace out of it,” she said. She looked back up at Rainbow. “You know, any old feather would’ve worked.”
Rainbow smirked, her pride returning. “Please, you aren’t any old Pegasus,” she scoffed, before pulling Fluttershy into another kiss.
Author's Note
Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 7/3/20
I was semi-inspired by a story themoontonite wrote (that she will hopefully publish soon when its done), while also taking inspiration from growing up with the Harvest Moon franchise (before it became Story of Seasons).
For those who don't know, in order to marry someone in the Harvest Moon games, you have to propose to them with a blue feather. I thought it'd be a neat proposal tradition for Pegasi, and who knows, it may show up again in a future story of mine.
The song I listened to for this story was "Weight of the World" by NerdOut.
-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher, Equestria Enthusiast
