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Fluttershy awoke with a start. She had that dream again, the one with Rainbow Dash. She would just be sitting with all her animal friends, when suddenly Dash would come and make fun of her for being such a loser, taunting her for spending all her time with animals instead of other ponies. She didn’t know why she had dreams about this, Rainbow Dash had always been nice to her. Sure she didn’t talk to Fluttershy very much, but when she did she was always polite. Fluttershy stumbled out of bed and combed her messy mane. All around her cottage birds were chirping, little critters were scurrying around, and a small white bunny was staring blankly at her from across the room. Fluttershy fixed breakfast for all the animals, and then went to greet the brand new day.

As she stepped outside, Fluttershy noticed it was cloudy outside. “That’s strange,” she said to herself, “I thought it was supposed to be a sunny day today...”. She looked above at the dreary gray clouds, surveying the sky. Just then, she spotted a rainbow coloured streak fly through several clouds, doing fancy tricks like loop-de-loops and spins. As Fluttershy admired the show, the object in the sky made a sudden turn, and dove down toward the ground, coming to a rest a few meters from her. Fluttershy squeaked as a bright blue pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane came to a rough landing beside her.

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy with a confident smile on her face. “Hey Flutter! Just wake up?” Fluttershy blushed heavily. It was so rare that Rainbow Dash would talk to her this openly, especially when they were alone. Of course she enjoyed it when it happened, but she never knew quite what to say. “Um... yes,” she began, “It sure is, uh, cloudy today...”. Rainbow Dash looked upwards with annoyance. “Yeah, some cross-eyed gray pony managed to ‘accidentally’ bring a giant bushel of rainclouds over Ponyville in her sleep last night” she said. Fluttershy smiled weakly at the thought that she was managing to hold up a conversation with such a cool pony. “So, um... Is that why you’re out so early? To clear the clouds?”

Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to Fluttershy. “Yeah, unfortunately...”. Suddenly her face brightened. “Hey! I’ve got an idea! You’ve got wings! You could help me get rid of them!”. Fluttershy took a couple steps backwards. “Oh, um... I don’t know if that’s such a good idea”, she said nervously. Dash approached the nervous yellow pegasus. “C’mon! It’ll be a blast!”. Fluttershy briefly looked around for an excuse not to. Not because she didn’t like Rainbow Dash, but because she was afraid she’d make a fool of herself. After finding nothing, she caved in to the offer. “Uh... OK Rainbow Dash...” She said in a quiet voice. Dash whizzed into the air. “Great, c’mon!” she called back. Fluttershy nervously spread her wings and jumped into the air, following Rainbow Dash’s path.

By the time Fluttershy managed to catch up to Rainbow Dash, Dash had already cleared away several large clouds. Noticing Fluttershy approach, she turned her head towards the pegasus with a grin on her face. “Gee Fluttershy, you are slow! I managed to clear away seven clouds while I was waiting for you, you could never clear away clouds as fast as me flying like that!” Fluttershy blushed deeply in embarrassment, but Rainbow Dash didn’t take notice. Suddenly, Dash’s face brightened again. Seeing this made Fluttershy nervous with the thought that Rainbow Dash might have just got another brilliant idea. Rainbow Dash flew right up close to Fluttershy. “Hey! That’s a great idea, let’s have a race to see who can get the most clouds cleared!”, she said. Fluttershy stared in shock at the very idea of racing against such a fast pegasus. Rainbow Dash prepared herself by doing a couple of loops, then came to rest back by Fluttershy. “Ready?” she began, “threetwooneGO!”

Rainbow Dash took off in a sudden flash, knocking Fluttershy off her balance. The startled pegasus attempted to regain her stance. Already in the distance, Rainbow Dash called back to Fluttershy. “You’ll have to be faster than that to beat me!”. Fluttershy straightened herself out, and focused on a nearby raincloud. She flew at it with all her might and kicked it with her hind legs. The cloud dissolved at the sudden impact. Fluttershy enjoyed the feeling of breaking apart the raincloud. It was invigorating. Wanting more, she went out to find another. Spotting one a few meters away, she flew at it and kicked it. It too dissolved at the impact, so Fluttershy went off to find another, and another, and another, feeling more invigorated with every kick. After a few minutes of cloud kicking, Fluttershy realized she couldn’t see Rainbow Dash anymore and began to worry. “Dash? Rainbow Dash?” she called out into the distance, but no one answered. Fluttershy flew around frantically calling for Rainbow Dash, but to no avail. Exhausted, she collapsed on a nearby cloud.

As Fluttershy nervously looked around, looking for some sign of Rainbow Dash, she began to worry that something might have happened to her. Fluttershy cringed at the thought. She had always liked Rainbow Dash, the way she was always so brave about danger, how confident and cool she was, how pretty her mane was... Suddenly, the cloud Fluttershy was sitting on burst in to pieces as Rainbow Dash whizzed through it. “Ha! That’s forty-nine!” she said, “How much did you get, Fluttershy?”. Fluttershy almost fell to the ground at the surprise entrance of Rainbow Dash.

After managing to beat her wings back into pattern, she thought about how many she had managed to break. “Um... five?” she guessed. Rainbow Dash flashed Fluttershy a confident smile. “Gee Fluttershy, you are a pretty pathetic excuse for a pegasus” she joked. Fluttershy hung her head as she floated there. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I tried...” she said, feeling sorry for herself. Rainbow Dash figured she may have gone too far, and with her hoof she gently picked up Fluttershy’s chin and looked her in the eyes. “Listen Flutter, it’s no big deal, I was just joking! Hey, I’ve got an idea, how about I teach you how to fly fast like me? C’mon, it’ll be fun!”. Before Fluttershy had time to react, Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the hoof and flew higher into the sky with her.

Rainbow Dash put on her best teacher impression she could. “Alright class,” she began, “Today we’ll be learning learning all about how to fly like the world-famous Rainbow Dash! First off we’ll be learning how to properly glide, do I have a volunteer to be the first to learn?”. Fluttershy giggled at the impression. “Me! Me!”, she said, trying hard not to laugh. As professionally as possible, Rainbow Dash pointed toward Fluttershy. “Ah yes, the pretty yellow pegasus with the flying caterpillars on her hip! Come on over!” she said. Fluttershy flew over, smiling widely. Rainbow Dash took hold of her. “Alright, I’m going to get us going, then let go. When I let go, simply spread your wings and feel the wind under them, you’ll do great!” she said to the newly cheerful pegasus. Without warning, Rainbow Dash took off at high speed, holding Fluttershy beneath her. Fluttershy began screaming, but as they continued on, her screaming turned to laughter. She had never gone this fast before, and it felt amazing. She wished this would never end, she wished Rainbow Dash would never let her go...

Rainbow Dash looked down at her. “I’m going to let go now, OK?”. Fluttershy frantically stared back at her. “What? No, don’t let go!” she squealed. Rainbow Dash let go of her, and Fluttershy went careening off toward the ground. Rainbow Dash yelled after her. “Your wings! Use your wings, silly!”. Right, she had forgotten all about those things. As Fluttershy spread her wings, she felt them catch the air immediately. Fluttershy glided through the air at high speeds. Her eyes were watering against the wind, it was incredible. Rainbow Dash flew up beside her. “You’re losing momentum! Remember to pump your wings! Great, that’s it!”. The two friends continued flying around, kicking any clouds in sight, playing games and laughing, wasting away the day together. It wasn’t long until the sun started to set.

They landed on a nearby hilltop at Sweet Apple Acres, both their eyes in tears from the wind and laughing. As the laughter died down, they sat on the hill and stared into each-other’s eyes for a moment,  until Rainbow Dash quickly looked away. “Thanks for your help today, I had a lot of fun” she said, staring into the distance. Fluttershy continued to look at Dash. “Yeah, um... anytime” she said. Rainbow Dash looked back at Fluttershy, looking nervous. Fluttershy had never seen Dash look nervous before, it was strange.

Rainbow Dash looked away again and spoke. “Fluttershy, I’m really sorry we don’t get to hang out as much. I want to talk to you a lot more, but you’re always so quiet, and I never know how to talk to you...”, she said. Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I’m sorry Rainbow, I wish I was as open as the other ponies...”, she said slowly. Dash put her hoof to Fluttershy’s chin, staring back into her eyes. “No, no, no,” she said, “don’t be sorry, please! I hate to see you sad... I like you”. Rainbow Dash gasped at the words that had just come out of her mouth. Fluttershy stared at her friend in disbelief. Did she just say she liked her? How could someone as cool as Rainbow Dash like someone as boring as her? Rainbow Dash put her face in her hooves. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry... Oh no, I just ruined our friendship, didn’t I?”. Fluttershy looked at her friend. “No, no you didn’t,” she said, “I... think I like you too Rainbow Dash... A lot”. Rainbow Dash looked back up, tears in her eyes. “You do?”. Fluttershy leaned forward and nuzzled her friend. “Of course I do”.

The two friends held hooves and watched the remainder of the sunset, and fell asleep cuddled up together on top of the hill in Sweet Apple Acres.

The End.