Today's the day, the little grey filly thought, peering over the cloud's edge. It was a long ways down, a drop that seemed to stretch ever further before her eyes, as though the scenery below was being sucked into a tunnel. She became scared as her vision began to blur, but a after a quick shake of her head everything returned to normal, though she was still visibly shaken. Don't fail me now eyes, she scolded herself. Today is the day. She bit her lower lip. I hope. Truth be told, everyday seemed to be "the day" for Ditzy, and so far, every day had not been "the day," the day she finally joined the other young fliers, touching the air and soaring through the sky. She got excited just thinking about it.
Ditzy backed up from the edge, breathing in through his nose and out her mouth in a last effort to calm herself, and spread her wings and gave them a flap. They cut through the air easily, and a smile began to break across her face as she finally launched herself into the air. The cool air washed over her, brushing her cheek lightly like a mother would her foal, encasing her body like a blanket and flowing through her wings with ease, causing her smile to grow wider. She gave her small wings a flap and pushed her forelegs forward the way she saw the older pegasi do it, enjoying the way the wind ruffled her feathers and tousled her light golden mane. Today really was the day. Her cheeks began to burn from smiling so hard and her eyes began to water.
Curse those eyes. They always found a way to betray her and always at the worst time. Just as they had on the cloud's edge, they began to mock her now. The clear blue sky before her suddenly blurred, and the smile on her face disappeared just as quickly. No, she thought. No. No no no no NO! Not now! Why now? She tried to shake her head, but her body shook as well; her wings hit the air wrong and she could feel herself falling. Through her blurred vision she saw a cloud formation and, desperately trying to tuck her wings the way her instructors showed, she forced herself in that direction and hoped for a safe landing. She hit the cloud in a puff of vapor and hoped no one saw her.
Then she heard the laughing, the all too familiar laughing, and her heart sank. "Look at Derpy Hooves thinking she can fly," she heard a young colt say, and the laughing increased. The filly kept her head down, not wanting to give these bullies the satisfaction of seeing her tears, but the shaking of her body, small as they were, gave her away. "Aww, is wittle Derpy crying?" the colt asked in mock concern. More laughing. The filly kept her head down and her eyes closed.
"Um, excuse me?"
The filly perked up her eyes, but dared not lift her head. The laughing stopped, but there was still stifled giggles. "Check this out boys," the lead colt said. "Klutzershy's here to stand up for Derpy!" There was what sounded like a squeak, which only caused more laughing. "A klutz and a fool. They make a cute couple. Of losers!" There was another squeak and more laughing, but this began to fade, which Ditzy hoped meant they were leaving. She lifted her head and locked eyes with "Klutzershy."
She was a gangly yellow-coated filly with long legs, wings that seemed too large for her body, and a bob of a pink mane that partly covered cyan eyes. She awkwardly and timidly made her way over to Ditzy and sat down in front of her, seemingly looking everywhere but her eyes. "My name is Fluttershy," she said softly, focusing on a cloud formation off in the distance. "Are you okay?"
Ditzy stared at the filly in confused awe. Did she actually care? This wasn't some kind of trick? She bit her lower lip. "Dit...Ditzy," she forced out, struggling to make her mouth work properly. "Ditzy Doo." She looked down. "Not Derpy. Never Derpy." When she felt tears beginning to form she forced her eyes shut; this wasn't the first impression she wanted to make.
"They bully me too," Fluttershy said, forcing Ditzy to look up. The other filly was looking at her now, smiling softly. "I'm not a very good flier either," she continued, a faint blush breaking out across her cheeks. "You're better than me. At least your wings are the right size."
Ditzy shook her head. "Wings easy," she said quickly. "Wings don't betray me. Eyes do." She finally had someone to talk to, and she was ruining it. Her speech wasn't very good to begin with, and it only grew worse the more excited she got. "Eyes hate me. I hate eyes. They don't do what I tell them." She suddenly felt embarrassed saying all this, but she couldn't stop. "Was flying good. Flying like mommy and daddy, then eyes take that away. One looks left, one looks right, now I can't see straight, but I want to see straight because I want to fly and I thought today would be the day I would actually fly and...and then..." She choked on her words and dropped her gaze. "Can't talk but want to talk and need to talk but making fool of self."
The yellow-coated filly placed a hoof on Ditzy's shoulder and shushed her, trying to calm her down. New tears began to run down Ditzy's face, tears that Fluttershy brushed away with her hoof. "We all make fools of ourselves sometimes," she said slowly, looking for the right words. She lifted Ditzy's face up and locked gazes again, staring into her amber eyes.
It was all too strange. Ditzy stared into those cyan eyes, searching, looking for any sign of betrayal, of trickery. But she found nothing of sort, only warmth and kindness and perfect eyes that stared straight. She bit her lower lip, trying her best to hold back any more tears. "Why?" she asked, confused. Nopony had ever bothered speaking with her before, let alone comfort her. She wanted to be angry, but couldn't find any reason to hate the gentle soul in front of her.
Fluttershy smiled. "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness."
Ditzy stared at her in awe. She could feel her eyes start to drift apart but she forced them to keep straight. "I've...I've never had a friend before," she said slowly, purposefully. Hopefully. She didn't want to ruin this. Not now.
Fluttershy's smile widened and suddenly pulled Ditzy into a hug, not tight, but comforting. Ditzy was shocked at first, but found herself enjoying it, feeling a happiness she hadn't felt since arriving at Summer Flight Camp. She suddenly realized that tears were running down her face, but she didn't care. These tears she would let free.
She wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy...around her friend...and stared off into the clear blue sky, a huge smile breaking across her face.