Love in the Adjacent Corner
A My little Pony fanfic
Written By: Miponiski
Chapter 1

Bang! The walls fell to the ground. It was the single most-deafening sound that made all later sounds not worth hearing, even if it was possible to. After burning for some time now, the fiery inferno made the air itself sweat with a great intensity. It was all over, she thought to herself, everything was in that house. The emitted light off the bright fire was blinding in itself, but its unyielding power shook the core of all that dared to look away, and shatter the good nature of those that choose to watch it feed.

Fire Fighters attacked the fire with hoses from several angles, but hope inevitably had to fade. The flames stubbornly refused to dim without taking the house down with it. The home was at the utter mercy of a merciless destruction. After the house was brought lower than its owners knees, the fire willingly receded; not from the Fire Fighters, or their hoses. It was the absence of dreams for it to destroy, that gave the fire no more purpose of burning.

A Fire Fighter approached Fluttershy; solemnly informing her that the entire property was lost. Fluttershy was still trying to wrap her head around the event. Fluttershy looked at the Fire Fighter and asked, "How did the fire start?"

The Fire Fighter tried to share sympathy, but other than a soft tone in his words nothing in the expression of his sincerity gave her any comfort. "The fire started from the outside. We don't know from what exactly, but the dry lawn must have drawn the fire to a straight path toward your house."

Fluttershy regretted asking. It filled her mind with self-pity. Ever since her husband abandoned her with a filly, she was behind on her mortgage payments, and she felt that the best way to responsibly take care of her bills, was to reduce her expenses on all non-necessities: restaurants, heat, and water for the lawn. A tear of guilt slid down her cheek as she absorbed the blame.

After the Fire Fighters left, Fluttershy sighed with grief. The fire was an afternoon's ambush. It came so quickly that she only barely made it out with her life and her filly's. Nothing with less than four legs, and an instinctive reaction to escape danger, could have possibly survived that fire. But, at least nopony was hurt.

Fluttershy knew that her whole way of life was about to change, doubtfully for the better, but at least she still had her life and her daughter's. Fluttershy wrapped a single hoof tightly around her filly's shoulders to comfort her. Fluttershy knew her filly was just as confused if not more than what she was, but Fluttershy didn't speak a word—she just didn't know what to say.

The moment of silence didn't last long. A blue pegasus with a multi-colored mane flew down to see the aftermath of the situation. Fluttershy recognized the pegasus almost instantly, but had not seen her since the days when they were both fillies. "Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy muttered; curious to know why of all days was it today that she was reunited with an old friend.

"Whoa! Fluttershy, is that you? Its me: Rainbow Dash. We used to go to flight school together in Cloudsdale."

Fluttershy needed no reminder of who the pegasus was, and how they knew each other. For the years they've been apart, Fluttershy has yet to find a friend as close as she was with Rainbow Dash. Truthfully, Fluttershy wasn't the best at making new friends, but she cherished the memories of the one's she had. "Of course I remember you," she answered.

"I never would have thought that burning house was yours," said Rainbow Dash. She clearly had no intent of being offensive, but it completely lacked in any sensitivity.

"I know," Fluttershy replied with a depressing sigh that was just a little to subtle for Rainbow Dash to pick up on.

"Dang! That was one hell of a fire. Your house didn't stand a chance."

Fluttershy replied with the same depressed sigh as before. "I know."

"But I can't believe that you live here in Ponyville too."

"Well..." Fluttershy looked at the smoldering pile of rubble that use to be her home. "I use to live here anyway." Talking about a challenging event to process made it harder for Fluttershy to keep her composure. Her eyes begun to water, and soon even a pony as vain as Rainbow Dash would have had to notice Fluttershy's sorrow.

"Hey Fluttershy? You okay? Oh my gosh! Who is this little guy?" Rainbow Dash only just noticed the little filly leaning against Fluttershy's leg. "Is this your filly? She's adorable!"

Rainbow Dash was completely distracted by the filly, and forgot all about her original question. Fluttershy answered hesitantly. "Well... Yes this is my daughter Lantana." When Rainbow Dash pushed her face into the yellow filly's personal space, Lantana shied back.

"Damn she's a little thing! She's shy like her mother too. A unicorn though, huh. I can only imagine that gene came from her father. Who is the father anyway?" Rainbow Dash was caught up in the excitement of meeting an old friend, and completely disregarded the tragedy Fluttershy and her daughter have just experienced. At this time Rainbow Dash's attitude seemed a little inappropriate and obnoxious. Rainbow Dash continued, "I don't think either of us even had our cutie-marks when we last seen each other. I can't believe I'm seeing you all grown up for the first time! This is so exciting!"

Fluttershy didn't share the same excitement. Normally, she would have, but today, more dramatic events overpowered her feelings of excitement. Fluttershy quietly murmured, "Yes its... exciting."

"Sure a shame what happened to your house though. Of all days too. There's suppose to be a storm tonight. I hope you have a place to go that's either indoors or above the rain. What are you going to do?"

Fluttershy's gaze dropped into the ground. She answered with a hopeless weep. "I don't know."

Rainbow Dash was finally starting to experience some empathy for Fluttershy. "You're welcome to spend a few nights up in my cloud. It's not that big but it will keep you above the rain."

"That's very kind of you, but Lantana won't be able to stand on the clouds: She's a unicorn, and of course I can't leave her." Fluttershy was glad that Rainbow Dash was trying to help her through a difficult time, but she couldn't accept Rainbow Dash's offer. Only pegasi can walk on clouds, and for a filly without wings, a cloud is an unsafe place.

"Well if you need anything I can help with," Rainbow Dash answered, "I'm more than willing to. In fact, I'll see if there's something I can do to make sure the storm goes around your house... well property I mean." Fluttershy let Rainbow Dash return to her whether duties by giving a sincere thanks. Then, Rainbow Dash flew off to do her job.

Once alone with her filly Fluttershy tried to comfort the little one—promising she would find a way to make everything work out alright. Fluttershy had no idea how she could support such a promise, but she would give her life to keep it. The little Lantana noticed Fluttershy's fear, even though Fluttershy tried her hardest to stay strong for the filly.

Night came, and Fluttershy was still unsure of what to do as when the fire started. She could hear the storm rage in the distance. It created a feeling of warmth just knowing that Rainbow Dash was thinking of her by altering the storm patterns for her sake, but as heart warming as the intent was, the night was still cold.

The gusts of wind came often, and chilled its way down to the bones of the homeless ponies. The two ponies lied on the cold ground by what was once their home. Lantana snuggled as close into her mother's ribcage as she could. Fluttershy kept a hoof wrapped around the filly's shoulders to help keep her a little warmer. Later in the night, Rainbow Dash returned to check on the two ponies.

"You okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. She had much more sympathy in her voice this time than the previous encounter.

Fluttershy didn't want to seem desperate, but it wasn't in her heart to lie to an old friend. "We're managing," she said.

Rainbow Dash pulled a blanket out from her saddlebag. "I wish I could get you a warm place for the two of you to stay, but since you can't sleep in the clouds like me... Anyway, I have some extra blankets for you. It should be dry the rest of the night. I also managed to borrow an extra pillow from one of the other weather ponies."

Rainbow Dash threw the blanket over the two ponies leaving only their heads visible. Fluttershy felt the warmth of the blanket instantly, and was touched by Rainbow Dash's compassion. "Thank you," she said, "After all this time we've been apart, I'm glad that you're still just as kind."

Rainbow Dash was flattered by the compliment, "Well... It was nothing. To get the other weather ponies to help out with the storm I had to agree to cover a couple extra shifts for them. I'm going to be working double shifts for the next few days, but it was no problem at all. Anything for a true friend like you Fluttershy."

Rainbow Dash's hospitality made Fluttershy, for a brief moment, forget about the hardships of her current state of life. She smiled at Rainbow Dash, and for a second, had an expression on her face of complete bliss. Fluttershy thanked the blue pegasus again. "Thank you so much."

Before Rainbow Dash left, she made her same offer as before. "If there's any thing I can help you with, I'm more than willing to."

Author's Note

Thanks for giving this story a chance. Don't forget, it's never too early to leave a comment! Your opinions help me improve my writing for future projects.
This story has been a very fun write and I hope it is a fun read. Your feedback is always important to me.
Just some background: This story was originally just a free write about a house destroyed in a fire which later became this fanfic. At the time I wrote it, I was trying to capture the emotions from forest fires around where I live that had been destroying homes.