FlutterDash--Pilot

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash trotted through the garden surrounding the shyer pegasus' house. "Hey, Fluttershy! Where are you?"

A squeak to her left made Dash fly over to one side of Fluttershy's house, where she discovered her friend struggling to escape from a tiny wooden house that was obviously meant for some kind of small animal. Angel Bunny was holding onto the filly's front hooves, straining to remove her from the miniature doorway.

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, flying to her and helping the yellow filly escape from her wooden confinement. "What are you doing in there?"

"I—ah!" Fluttershy squealed as she popped free and tumbled on top of her liberator. She fluttered off of the squashed Rainbow Dash, blushing as she helped her friend up. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. You see, Angel Bunny lets me spend the night in there with him whenever I have a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Rainbow Dash frowned, studying her timid friend. Fluttershy had nightmares?

She nodded. "Yes. Sometimes I get so scared in the night that I can't stay in my room by myself."

"So you crawl into this bunny house?"

Fluttershy blushed, nodding again.

The blue pegasus frowned. She didn't like the idea of Fluttershy being too afraid to sleep by herself. Of course, she hated anytime the filly was afraid, which caused her to complain sometimes about the yellow pegasus's cowardice. It wasn't that she harbored any contempt for Fluttershy; it was just a defense mechanism so nopony would know how much it really bothered her. But nopony was around now, so she trotted over to her friend and set a comforting hoof around her shoulders.

"Hey, you don't have to squeeze into that little bunny house when you're scared, you know. You can come and sleep at my place. I have plenty of extra room."

Fluttershy glanced up at her curiously, and Rainbow Dash smiled down at her steadily, comfortingly. Slowly, the shy filly smiled.

"T-thank you, Rainbow Dash."

The rainbow pony smiled and gently squeezed her shoulders. "Hey, no problem." She flinched subtly as her voice cracked. "I-I just don't want you to get stuck in there again." She chuckled nervously.

Thankfully, Fluttershy didn't notice Rainbow's discomfort, smiling gratefully up at her. "That's really nice of you."

A small silence ensued as the two continued to smile at each other, then Rainbow Dash hurriedly removed her hoof from Fluttershy's shoulders and coughed awkwardly, looking away.

"Um, did you come see me for something?" the yellow pegasus asked quietly, looking up at her friend.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash had completely forgotten why she had come down to see the other, more grounded pegasus. "Oh, um, I'm running out of Tank's favorite food…" A lame excuse, really. The tortoise just ate fruit, which she could get at the marketplace. But Tank preferred the food Fluttershy gave him, so Dash came down every so often to pick up some of Tank's favorite mixes.

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh! Of course! How is Tank?" she asked, trotted away toward the back of the house where she kept her garden.

"He's doing great. I'm teaching him how to do tricks with his heli-shell." It was the name Dash had given to the helicopter-like attachment to Tank's shell she'd given him so he could fly with her.

"That's wonderful!" Fluttershy giggled, picking out some fresh cantaloupes and strawberries. "I'm so happy that you have such a great pet, Rainbow."

"I wouldn't even have him if you hadn't insisted on my letting him compete." Rainbow Dash smiled proudly, now half wishing she'd thought to bring her tortoise with her.

The yellow pegasus blushed, gathering some grapes to add to Tank's fruit salad. "Oh. I'm sure you two would have ended up together even if I hadn't intervened. It's just how things worked out."

"Are you kidding?" The blue pony trotted along behind her as Fluttershy took the fruit into her cottage to prepare them. "I thought that tortoise was pathetic when I first saw him. If you hadn't convinced me to let him join the contest, not only would I not have my awesome pet, but I'd still be stuck in Ghastly Gorge."

Fluttershy blushed as she began to cut the cantaloupe into smaller pieces and tossed the bits into a bowl. "Oh, we would have come to help you. We had already started to worry by the time the turtle—"

"Tortoise."

She blushed. "Tortoise, right. By the time Tank showed up carrying you."

Rainbow smiled. "Well, I'm glad you guys care about me."

"Of course we care about you, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy squealed, almost loud enough to compare to another pony's normal speaking voice. As soon as she realized how loudly she was speaking, she stepped backwards and flinched slightly. "I-I mean, you're one of our very best friends. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You?" the blue pony raised an eyebrow.

Fluttershy stammered. "Ah-I-we. We don't know what we'd do without you."

Rainbow Dash smiled gently, suppressing the growing warmth that was rising in her chest as she realized what Fluttershy had said when she slipped up. "Thanks, Fluttershy. I don't know what I'd do without you, either." It was true. And she didn't even try to hide what she'd said.