By Blood or Choice

by Krickis

Rainbow Dash is the best. She's consistently at the top of her class and is the envy of all her peers. Things only get better when Fluttershy finally starts visiting Cloudsdale again after being gone for months. Except she must not be good enough yet, because they still don't notice her.

Everything faded away. Cheers, wind, other ponies. None of it existed. All that there there was in the world was speed, so the pegasus pushed herself to go faster. Two laps to go and the course blurred into the surroundings, but she wasn't worried. Even though she could barely make anything out at this speed she trusted her body to take care of everything. It was second nature to her. If she thought about it, she wouldn't have been able to tell if any others were even still in the race. They definitely hadn't passed her, but maybe they dropped out. Either way didn't matter, she would finish what she started.

"Time." she said as she skidded to a halt.

"Five minutes twenty-eight seconds." a light red stallion said. "Impressive."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I can do better."

"Yes. You can." Gale Force said. "Don't sweat it, it's just practice."

Dash bowed her head. "Sorry Coach. I'll be ready for the real race"

Gale Force chuckled. "You know, it's still the best time of the day."

"Doesn't matter. I can do better. I will do better."

"I know Dash. Go get yourself a drink and take five. We're running some drills after, and I don't want you overdoing it."

Dash walked away feeling defeated. Nopony had beaten her time. Nopony except herself. No matter how much she pushed herself she hadn't been able to pass her old times. Her best now was hardly better than her worst a couple months before. She could have done that track in four minutes, easy. Now it was over five? She was letting herself get distracted.

"Wow, Dash. I could hardly see you up there." a soft voice said as the butter yellow filly it belonged to walked up to her.

"Fluttershy?" Dash stared dumbfounded. "Where the buck have you been?"

Fluttershy smiled and hugged her friend. Dash hugged her back quickly before double checking that nopony was watching. Thankfully they were more concerned with their lessons.

"I live in Ponyville now." Fluttershy said. "It's, uhm… it's a long story."

"We've got to catch up." Dash said. "Can you come back at five? I'll be done with practice and we can hang."

"Oh, uhm… actually I have to get back. I have a job now." Fluttershy said, looking discouraged.

"Lame." Dash said. "Hold on, I'll see what I can do." She flew back to the coach and waited for him to finish timing a colt.

"Five minutes, forty-two seconds. Great job Windfall." he said. The dark green colt beamed victoriously. Windfall was consistently the runner up to all of Dash's records, and he seemed confident that he was going to pass her soon. Gale Force turned to Dash. "Ready for more?"

"Actually…" she scratched her neck. "My cousin just got in town, and she's leaving in a few hours." Dash looked towards Fluttershy. Thankfully Fluttershy had dropped out of flight school while they were in a different class, so even if Gale Force had seen her around he didn't actually know her. She just hoped none of the other ponies blew her cover.

"And you want to ditch practice." Gale Force said. He frowned but Dash knew he wasn't really upset. Despite seeming very serious he really was soft at heart, which made Dash reluctant to do anything to let him down.

"I'll come by early tomorrow. By the time you get here I'll have been running drills for an hour, and be ready for more!"

Gale Force grinned. "You bet your flank you will. Go on, but be careful. Windfall's catching up to you, and he's getting faster everyday."

Dash turned to the overconfident colt. "Yeah, catching up to me in his dreams. I've got this." She flew back to Fluttershy, making a show of kicking up a cloud in Windfall's direction as she went. "Let's go, I made time."

They exited the course and wandered downtown, stopping at their favorite ice cream shop. To Dash's surprise Fluttershy paid for them both.

"I can't believe the old man actually let you get a job." Dash said. Fluttershy looked down at the table. "So what's the deal with not telling me you were moving? I've been worried that… I mean, I kinda wondered where you've been."

"Oh, uhm…" Fluttershy sipped her milkshake. "I didn't really…" She sighed and put her head down.

"Fluttershy?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Fluttershy asked, suddenly bolting upright.

"Of course." Dash said. "What's up?"

Fluttershy leaned across the table and spoke even more quietly than usual. "I ran away from home."

Dash grinned and had to stop herself from yelling. "That's bucking awesome. So you're living on your own now?"

"Yeah." Fluttershy said. "Ever since the, uhm, race."

"The race?" The last time she'd seen Fluttershy was before a race against some bullies, but she didn't know that was the last time she lived in Cloudsdale.

"Yeah. I, uhm… Well, I fell. All the way to the ground." Fluttershy looked ashamed and Dash could see why. Even a weak flyer should be able to correct a fall before hitting solid ground. "But then I found all these animals, and the mayor gave me a job looking after them. I have my own house, and… he's nowhere around." Fluttershy's expression turned hard as she mentioned him. Her father, Stormy Skies.

"About damn time." Dash said, taking a bite of her sundae. "So what's it like living on the ground? Pretty weird, I bet."

"Oh no, it's nice." Fluttershy started to tell her about the animals, which Dash really couldn't see the appeal of but listened anyway since it was important to her friend. When she was done Dash told her about her upcoming track race, which Fluttershy politely smiled through.

"So what's the plan?" Dash asked as they left the ice cream shop.

"I, uh, don't have one." Fluttershy said. "I really just wanted to see you."

Dash snickered. "No homo?"

Fluttershy's ear twitched. "Oh, yeah."

"Well, let's head to the outskirts. I've got this great trick I want to show you Nopony else can do it!" Dash led the way to a desolate field of clouds. She hadn't been able to pull off the sonic rainboom again yet, but now that Fluttershy was here she'd find a way.

An hour later and all she had accomplished was making herself look like a foal. "Sorry, practice must have really taken it out of me today." she said.

Fluttershy smiled encouragingly. "It's okay. You can show me next time. I've got to get home, but I'll come visit soon. And maybe you can come see me some time?"

"Yeah, for sure!" Dash said. "Maybe after the race though, I've got to keep working on my A-game until then."

Fluttershy nodded. "Of course. I know you can do it, and I'll be there when you win!"

"Thanks Shy. I'll see you later." Dash waved.

Fluttershy awkwardly reached out a hoof toward Dash then retracted it, waving back. "Right. Bye." She took off, gliding toward the ground.

Dash thought about how cool it must be to live on your own. No parents to tell you what to do, no worries, staying up as late as you want, eating whatever you wanted to. That must be the life.

She walked into her house to find the lights were still off. "Mom, dad? I'm home." No answer. She checked the fridge for a note. They were supposed to leave a note when they would be working late, but it didn't surprise her when she didn't find one. They had been working late almost every night for months and never thought to leave a note for her. She sighed and opened the fridge, pulling out some ingredients for a sandwich. She was tired of making sandwiches and just as tired of eating them, but she still did both. She carried the plate to her room which was already full of dirty dishes. She ate in silence and collapsed, unsure what to do with the rest of her evening. Parents were the worst. Who needed them? She did alright for herself. This was the life.

---

Dash scanned the audience. She didn't see them, but they said they'd come. They knew how important this race was to her, so they would come. She probably just couldn't find them in the crowd, no big deal. Standing on the sidelines she didn't have a great view of the stands anyway.

"Looking for your marefriend?"

Dash spun around to stare down the green colt. "She's not my marefriend."

"What's the matter? Lover's quarrel?" he laughed.

"You're one to talk. You probably had to suck off Coach to even make the team." Dash said.

Windfall shrugged. "You're just jealous I get to have all the mares I want while you're tied down to one."

Dash grinned. "'Cause I'm so sure mares are just lining up to sleep with a fifteen year old runner up."

"I prefer fastest stallion." Windfall said leaning against the railing overlooking the track. "Seriously though, good luck out there. Not that you'll need it since we're on the same team. Not like anypony else can give you any real competition."

"Yeah, you sure lucked out when you got placed on my team. We'll wipe the floor with them." A whistle blew. "Well, that's my cue. Just don't let the head start I win us go to your head. We both gotta carry this team."

"You got it." Windfall said. They bumped hooves and Dash flew to her place on the starting line. The race was split into five parts. Dash was racing the first leg and Windfall was doing the last one. The three racers in between weren't as good as them, but they weren't too bad, so Dash was sure between Windfall and herself they'd be able to make up for any shortcomings.

From the field Dash had a better view of the crowd. Her parents weren't there. She sighed, not sure why she expected anything else. There was one filly waving to her though. Fluttershy looked like she was cheering but couldn't be heard over the rest of the crowd. Dash grinned and waved back. She could at least put on a show for one pony. She glanced back to where she left Windfall, but he wasn't there. She wasn't surprised, he probably already took his place towards the end of the course.

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. Even though he was part of her team Windfall didn't matter. His part of the race was beyond her control. She imagined Fluttershy cheering her on for a second, then put that away too. She'd race better with her friend watching her, but she couldn't focus on that. Only speed, nothing else mattered.

The whistle blew and she was off. Distantly she was aware of the other racers, all behind her, but she focused only on flying. As always her body knew when to turn, when to rise, when to fall. As she moved on autopilot the reality hit her that only now, flying high above everypony else, was she actually positive her parents weren't there. She hadn't even realized she was still looking for them, but there was no denying they hadn't come.

She shook it off. She needed to focus. Putting forth an extra burst of speed she reached the end, passing the race to the next pony. Only then did she survey the competition. She finished first, but not by enough. She was supposed to do more than just win, she had to help carry her team. With nothing else to do about it now she flew into the stands where Fluttershy was sitting.

"Way to go Dash, that was incredible!" Fluttershy said as she sat down.

"Thanks, Shy." Dash said, putting on a grin she didn't really feel. "You, uh, didn't happen to see my parents around at all, did you?"

"Uhm, no…" Fluttershy cast her eyes down. "But maybe they're around somewhere. We could, uhm, look for them."

Dash shook her head. "No, they didn't come. It's cool."

"Aww, it's okay Dashie." Fluttershy pulled Dash into a hug which the athlete quickly pulled herself out of.

"Hey, don't go all gay on me. I said it's cool."

"Oh… right, okay." Fluttershy looked away.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go check in with my coach. After everything's done we can hang unless you gotta get back home."

"No, I've got some time." Fluttershy said.

"Awesome, see you in a bit." Dash flew off to the sidelines where Gale Force would be waiting.

As she walked up he glanced at her before looking back to the race still underway. "What happened out there?" he asked.

"Uhm… I won?" Dash said, annoyed at his tone.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Do you know why I decided to put you out first?"

"Early head start?" Dash guessed, although she already knew that was wrong.

"You're a wildcard lately. I didn't know what to expect from you. Every other team put their slowest racer first so the faster ones could get the job done under pressure. It should be you in the last leg, not Windfall. But I can't rely on you to be on the top of your game lately. You're faster than Windfall, but not by much, and I know I can count on him."

Dash clenched her teeth. This wasn't fair! "But I still won!"

"Against the slowest racers." Gale Force reiterated. He shook his head. "What's going on Dash? Is everything okay at home?"

Dash was taken aback by the sudden personal question. "Yeah, everything's fine. Why?"

Gale Force turned away from the race, giving her his full attention. "Something's clouding your mind. I can see it when you race, you start off great but then something always distracts you. You know you can talk to me about anything."

"I'm fine." Dash folded her forelegs.

"Well, if you change your mind-"

"I won't."

Gale Force waited a moment, keeping eye contact with Dash's glare. "Fine, take a seat with the others."

She sat down as the fourth racer returned, looking crest fallen. As if the look wasn't enough she confirmed that they had fallen behind. Everything was down to Windfall now.

From the sidelines they could see everything. Dash noticed every mistake Windfall made, even if he was closing the distance. 'It should be me. I could do better.'

But even the second best flyer on her team was better than the best of any other, and Windfall pulled ahead in the final stretch, winning the race. Everypony cheered, including Dash. It wasn't her victory like she wanted, but it was a victory for her team. As Windfall flew back everypony offered their congratulations. Dash just waited until they were done.

"Windfall, you need to tighten up those sloppy turns." she said, frowning.

"Yeah, but at least I didn't almost hit another racer." he answered, narrowing his eyes.

After a moment both ponies laughed and bumped hooves. "Nice flying out there." Dash told him.

"You too." he said.

As if winning wasn't already good enough Gale Force pulled out a stack of pizzas. "Who's hungry?"

As everypony else raced to him Dash hung back. "Actually Coach, I was gonna go out for ice cream with my family."

Gale Force nodded. "More for us then. Have fun Dash, but remember what we talked about."

"Will do, Coach." Dash said, flying off. She quickly found Fluttershy and the two made their way out of the field, the occasional pony stopping to congratulate her.

At the ice cream shop Fluttershy treated them to extra large sundaes in honor of Dash's victory, and Dash recounted the whole tale as if Fluttershy hadn't just seen it all. She was already taking care to embellish the details just enough to show how awesome she really was.

"Dash, Fluttershy. Mind if I sit with you?"

Dash wheeled around to see Windfall, nopony else was with him.

"How do you know Fluttershy?" Dash asked. Everypony on the team knew Dash hung out with her but she always made sure to only ever refer to Fluttershy as 'my cousin' since even though it had been almost a year Fluttershy was still a runaway and some ponies might still be looking for her.

Windfall took a seat next to Dash. "Well, I was in Junior Speedsters with you two. Never knew you were cousins though." He winked, making it clear he didn't buy the excuse.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but we don't hang out with faggots." Dash said.

"I'll keep that in mind if I run into any." he said, taking a bit of Dash's sundae. "Yourself excluded, of course."

Dash punched his shoulder and took her ice cream back. "At least get your own dessert."

"Fine." he said, standing up to wait in line.

While he was gone Dash looked at Fluttershy. She had her face in her hooves. "Shy? You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine." she said. When her head popped back up she was smiling.

"Sorry for Windfall showing up, I wasn't expecting him to. He's alright, but we can leave if you don't want to hang out with him. Or tell him to get lost, or whatever."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, it's okay. I don't mind."

Dash doubted that but left it alone. When Windfall returned he had a sundae even bigger than the ones Fluttershy had bought them.

"You know those are meant for the whole table to split, right?" Dash asked. She didn't know if she would finish her own, and Fluttershy had begun to pick idly at hers too. There was no way he was getting any help.

"So? I got this." he said with a cocky grin.

Dash grinned as well. "Fine. Eat it. Eat the whole thing, without throwing up."

"No problem." he said, taking his first spoonful. "But how about we make a bet with it?"

"What'd you have in mind?" Dash asked.

"If I win you come to practice in a dress." he said.

"Fine, but if you lose you wear a dress." Dash countered.

"Fine." he shrugged.

By the time he was half done he began to slow down and Dash started gloating about the bet she was sure she'd win. Three quarters through and he started to look queasy, although they had the attention of several other ponies, all egging him on. Soon Dash began to panic as spoonful by spoonful the ice cream disappeared into the bottomless pit of his stomach. As he took the last bite several ponies cheered but Dash just hung her head. Tomorrow was going to bucking suck.

"Done." he said as he dropped his spoon into the bowl. He definitely looked nauseous, but held everything down. Dash had no choice but to admit defeat.

She looked at the melted remains of her own unfinished sundae. "Fine, you finally found something you're better at than me. Being a glutton."

Windfall smiled. "Call it what you want, but I can't wait to see you in that dress."

---

Over the following months Fluttershy continued to visit regularly. Eventually Gale Force stopped letting Dash run off every time she showed up, but as she kept making the trip Fluttershy grew more confident in staying later, so she would stay to watch Dash practice. Although she was too shy to make any new friends with the rest of Dash's class most of them were generally friendly with her, affectionately calling her their unofficial cheerleader. Even when three bullies from their Junior Speedsters class, Hoops, Score, and Dumb-Bell, finally graduated to the more advanced class, they generally left Fluttershy alone, preferring to make fun of Dash.

After class Dash and Fluttershy kept going to their usual hang out, occasionally accompanied by Windfall. In practice he was getting closer and closer to Dash's times, which were improving again, albeit gradually. In turn she pushed herself harder every day to put more distance between herself and the forest green colt, or rather, the forest green stallion these days.

And then one day it happened. "Time." Dash said, coming to an uneasy stop.

"…four minutes, twelve seconds." Gale Force said.

Dash was irritated even before she realized. Yesterday she had been faster. The day before that, too. Every other day this month had been faster. Any second now Windfall would chime in about how close he was getting, and Fluttershy would be telling her about how great she was, either oblivious to the slow down or indifferent.

But nopony said anything. Dash looked at Windfall, who looked kind of embarrassed. Dash was growing more irritated. It wasn't that bad of a time. "What?"

"Uhm… I got four minutes seven seconds." Windfall said, not meeting her eyes.

"You… did?" Dash looked around, waiting for somepony to correct him. She hadn't lost. He was just messing with her. It was impossible, nopony was faster than her. But nopony said anything. Nopony could bring themselves to look her in the eye.

Eventually Gale Force clapped Windfall on the back. "Congratulations. Good show out there."

Dash took a step back. Finally Windfall stepped up to her. "Hey, you did good." He smirked, but didn't really look like he meant it. "Soon I'll be able to beat your best times."

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Dash realized what she agreed to and shook her head, attempting a cocky grin. "I mean, yeah right! That'll never happen."

As everypony stepped up to congratulate him he seemed like he would rather they just pretended it never happened, at least at first. But it didn't take long for him to start smiling and soaking in the attention. 'Life at the top.' Dash lamented, sitting off to the side.

"It's okay, Dash." Fluttershy said, sitting next to her. "Everypony has off days."

Dash sighed. "I dunno. I just… I could of done better, I know it. I just couldn't focus."

Fluttershy pointed to Windfall who was now really living up the praise, as if Dash needed a reminder. "Look at how happy he is. Windfall's your friend, and you know he works just as hard as you on his flying. This is the best he's ever done, and you're still faster on any normal day. Is it really so bad to share the spotlight, just a little bit?"

Of course it was. She had to always be the best. The only way to get noticed again was to bucking earn it! But Fluttershy wouldn't understand, so instead she forced a smile. "I guess you're right. Windfall deserves this."

Fluttershy nodded and smiled, happy her friend had come to terms with this. Dash was ready to ditch this place. Practice had run late, so at least she had an excuse to go straight home and not have to worry about Windfall wanting to hang out. Unfortunately that meant Fluttershy would be leaving soon too…

"So, uh, I guess it's probably about time for you to get back home, huh?" Dash asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Oh, uhm, actually my friend said she'd check on the animals in the morning, so I could, uhm, stay the night. If you wanted…"

Dash stopped herself before she started grinning with excitement. "Yeah, that sounds cool."

Fluttershy smiled as Dash made her way back to her team. Gale Force gave a pep talk about how proud he was of their improvements and how much they'd dominate in their next match. He reminded Windfall to keep practicing and not let one day go to his head. Fortunately he didn't say anything directly to Dash. The last thing she wanted was another reminder.

After he let them go Dash made her way to Fluttershy, but was stopped by the last pony she wanted to talk to. "Hey Dash, a few of us are heading out to grab some burgers. Since Fluttershy's gonna be heading home you wanna tag along?" Windfall asked.

She was not about to endure a meal with him gloating the whole time. "Nah, Shy's staying in Cloudsdale tonight. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, alright. Later then." Windfall said.

As he was walking back to his friends Dash heard one of them say "Told you she wouldn't come. Probably busy making out with her marefriend."

Dash clenched her teeth. On a good day the age old accusation that she was gay from anypony but Windfall would still infuriate her. Today wasn't a good day. "She's not my marefriend." Turning around Dash saw the three ponies she knew would be the ones to start shit, Hoops, Score, and Dumb-Bell. Gale Force was nowhere in sight, or else they wouldn't dare.

"Why don't you just own up to it Rainbow Crash?" Hoops asked. "We all know it. Nopony really believes she's your cousin."

Score snickered. "Honestly though, why don't you admit it? I mean, I could understand before, but she's gotten pretty hot lately. I wouldn't mind showing her what a stallion can do."

Dash closed the distance and was in his face before anypony could stop her. "Shut the buck up! Don't you bucking talk about her like that!"

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelled from somewhere behind her, but she barely heard. All she was focused on was Score quivering in fear, despite his friends around him.

Windfall pushed her back. "Chill out, Dash."

"Buck you!" Dash said, turning away.

"Yeah, fly away Rainbow! Not too fast though." one of them said.

"Shut up, Dumb-Bell." Windfall said. Dash's muscles tensed, ready to spring at any moment. She forced a breath, reminding herself it wasn't a big deal, that Fluttershy was watching her and she couldn't fight anymore.

"You think she's slowing down 'cause she spends all her time making out instead of practicing?" Score asked. Apparently Dash hadn't intimidated him enough, or he just thought his friends would be enough to save him.

"Oh I don't know." Hoops said. "I bet she's doing more than making out. I mean, I heard her parents don't pay any attention to her, so slipping a mare into her bedroom is probably pretty easy."

Even though Windfall moved to block her Dash spun around, flew past him, and with as much speed as she could get in the short distance brought her hoof into Hoops' face. Windfall tried to get from between them but Dash knocked him off. While she did Hoops got up and was lunging at her, but she quickly turned her back and bucked him in the chest. She turned to see Score think twice about approaching.

"Rainbow Dash!" Gale Force yelled. Dash turned to see him walking over from his office, Dumb-Bell in tow. Dash considered throwing one more punch before he could stop her but stood down. Before addressing her he checked on Hoops. "You okay?"

"Ye-Yeah, just a little winded, Coach." he said, but had difficulty standing.

Gale Force turned to the others. "Dumb-Bell, take Hoops home. Dash, Score, Windfall. I want all of you in my office. Now!"

Dash glanced at Fluttershy, who was staring horrified at the scene. With her conscious weighing her down she walked into the office. She pulled up a seat as far away from the others as she could, Windfall sitting between her and Score.

Gale Force sat down and stared at the three of them, letting them panic for a minute about what was going to happen. He started with Windfall. "How's your eye doing?"

Dash took a good look at him for the first time. Sure enough his eye was red with some purple already showing through. "It's fine. It probably looks worse then it feels, and it was an accident anyway." Yet another thing for her to feel bad for, and him trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal just made her feel worse.

Gale Force looked at him skeptically. "Somepony accidently punched you in the eye?"

Windfall looked around, not sure what to say. "Well, I kind of jumped into the middle of things."

"Hmph." Gale Force let them sit in silence for a while more, occasionally moving his gaze between the three of them. "Okay, so one of you tell me what happened. I wasn't gone five minutes when you started tearing into each other."

Score was uncharacteristically quiet, either afraid of what Gale Force would do about his role in everything or afraid of what Dash would do for telling. No point in hiding it though, she might as well get it over with. "Hoops said something I didn't like so I hit him. Windfall tried to pull me off so I hit him too, then I kicked Hoops in the chest. Score and Dumb-Bell didn't really do anything."

Gale Force looked at the other two. "Is this true?"

"Yeah." Score said. "Hoops was talking about how Windfall did better than her today and she was just in his face all of a sudden, no warning or nothing." Dash rolled her eyes. Nice to know even when she was willing to take the fall they'd still kick her while she was down.

Gale Force barely reacted to the accusations, just idly glancing at Dash, who was staring resolutely at the ceiling fan. "Alright, Score, you're free to go. And since I know you'll tell them all about this meeting as soon as your gone, you can tell Hoops and Dumb-Bell that I haven't decided on punishments yet and that goes for everypony involved, not just Rainbow Dash. And so help me if I find out you hung around here until I let Windfall and Dash go..." Score didn't waste a moment to get out the door.

Gale Force looked at Dash, who was still ignoring him, before turning back to Windfall and sighing. "So Dash wants to be miss martyr and pretend everything's her fault, and Score thinks I'll believe Hoops isn't an antagonistic brat." Gale Force ignored the look Dash gave him. "I also doubt that Score and Dumb-Bell are completely innocent here. So with the distinction of being friends with all four idiots you get to tell me what really happened."

Windfall looked to Dash. She glared a warning to him: 'Don't tell him anything.' He sighed and frowned his response: 'I'm sorry.'

"They were talking about Fluttershy." Windfall said.

"Shut up, Windfall." Dash warned.

"They were egging her on, Coach." he said, ignoring her hostile tone. "She told them to stop but they kept saying things to get under her skin."

"I said shut the buck up!" Dash said, rising.

"Rainbow Dash! If you do not sit your flank back in that chair you can consider yourself off the team." Reluctantly she sat back down. After another bout of painful silence he addressed Windfall again. "Go on, get out of here. I don't want to see you hanging around either."

Dash didn't look to see him go but heard the door nonetheless. It was just her and Gale Force.

"Dash, what's going on? I'll be the first to admit you've got a temper, but normally you keep it in check better than that. Is this about the times today?"

"No." Dash answered without looking.

"Then is it because of what they said about Fluttershy?"

"No." Dash clenched her teeth, but kept staring at the wall.

Gale Force sighed. "Is this about your parents?"

"No!" Dash stared at him defiantly. She could feel herself almost rise from her seat but forced herself to stay seated.

"You know I went to school with your dad. We used to be pretty close." Gale Force said, leaning forward in his chair. "Fell out of touch a long time ago, right about when you were born. He's become quite successful since then. He must get pretty busy with work."

Dash didn't know how long she'd be able to keep from… she didn't even know what she wanted to do. "Everything's. Fine."

Gale Force held her stare for a while before shaking his head. "I don't know what else to do with you, Dash. So here are your options. You can tell me what's going on with you, or you're suspended from the team."

Dash stood up and slammed her front hooves on the table. Gale Force didn't even flinch. "That's not fair! I work harder than everypony else! I'm the best flyer you've got!"

"Dash, when you're on top of it you're the best flyer your age I've ever seen, and that includes me and your dad when we were younger. Quite frankly, if you aren't a Wonderbolt in five years it's because you're letting whatever's going on infect your mind. Which is why my decision remains. Talk to me about it, or you're suspended until after the next race."

Dash just stared, moving her mouth and not speaking. Finally she pulled herself away from the desk. "Fine. Your loss."

Gale Force rested his head on one hoof, using the other to wave her away. "Get out of here."

She didn't hesitate. She was out the door and flying to the sidelines before he finished his sentence. Everypony was gone. Hoops, Score, and Dumb-Bell she could live without seeing ever again, but she did want to apologize to Windfall for hitting him. Or yell at him for getting in the way, she wasn't sure which. But what she wasn't expecting was for Fluttershy to be gone. She hadn't even realized how much she was counting on her friend's support.

Dash sighed and flew off, making her way to her house slowly. She wondered if Gale Force was planning on telling her parents about the fight. Normally he was pretty cool about leaving parents out of things, but she actually hit somepony this time. Well, two ponies, but Windfall would probably cover for her. Even if Gale Force didn't want to tell her parents she knew Hoops would probably tell his and they'd want to talk to her parents about it. She wondered if they even cared that she was fighting again. They barely even cared when she was a filly and used to beat up any colt that said she couldn't do something because she was a girl. Eventually they struck a deal that if she didn't fight anymore they'd put her in Junior Speedsters flight camp, but she was pretty sure that was just because they were tired of hearing from the other parents.

Arriving at home Dash was unsurprised to find it empty. She walked in and laid on the couch, too exhausted to even bother going to her room. It was only once she laid down that she felt the full effects of the day, which had already been long before the fight. She rolled over, her face in the cushion, and fell asleep.

She was jolted from a deep sleep by a knock on the door. Glancing out the window told her the sun was already setting and judging by the silence following the knock there was still nopony home. She grumbled as she got up and ignored the 'don't open the door when you're home alone' rule her parents started when she was five and still occasionally reminded her of eleven years later, because they had no concept of their daughter growing into a mare.

Dash opened the door to find Fluttershy, much to her surprise. "Shy? I thought you went back to Ponyville."

"Oh, uhm, well… I went to the ice cream parlor with, uhm, Windfall. We… we thought you'd figure out we went there." Fluttershy said. Dash was used to Fluttershy tripping over her words with other ponies, but she usually didn't have a problem talking to Dash. She also had her hair half in front of her face which almost made it unnoticeable that she was blushing.

Dash decided if she wanted to talk about whatever was on her mind she would and stepped aside to let her in. "Yeah 'cause that makes so much sense." she said, grinning.

"I'm sorry, I should have waited for you…" Fluttershy said.

"Nah, it's fine. I needed that nap anyway. Want some real food? I'm starving."

"Oh, sure."

Dash led the way into the kitchen, where she stared into the fridge to try and decide what kind of sandwich she was going to make today. Fluttershy pushed her out of the way and started pulling stuff from the cabinets nopony ever touched, like spices and stuff. She hummed while she worked, serving them both a hearty stew, which was delicious even if all the vegetables came from cans.

"I didn't know you could cook." Dash said. After the day she had not having to eat another sandwich felt like its own small victory.

"Well, I always did a little bit, but lately I don't have a choice. It's better than eating sandwiches every day." Fluttershy said, grinning.

"You know, I could say something about that, but this is just too good to argue." Dash said through a mouthful.

Fluttershy giggled, politely eating hers in small bites and waiting to swallow before speaking. "So, uhm… did you get in much trouble?"

"Yeah, I've been suspended." Dash said.

"Oh. How long?"

"Until the next race, or until I talk to Coach about my parents." Most ponies would tell her to just talk about it, but she knew at least Fluttershy would be sympathetic.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault, really."

"What are you talking about?" Dash asked, swallowing and wiping her mouth with her foreleg. "I'm the one who threw the punch"

"But if I wasn't there they wouldn't have said anything…"

"Alright, so it's partly their fault for saying shit, and it's mostly my fault for reacting to it. None of that is your fault." Dash said, although the yellow pegasus still slouched with her head on her hoof.

"But they only said any of that because… because…" Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly.

"Shy, it's cool. Let's just drop it, alright?" Dash said, which Fluttershy nodded in agreement to. She decided the safest way to keep off the topic was to remove herself from the conversation entirely. "So you're finally making friends in Ponyville?"

"Well, one friend at least. She's a unicorn named Rarity." Turning the attention to Ponyville seemed like a good idea, since now she was smiling.

"A unicorn? Don't unicorns all think they're better than other ponies 'cause they can do magic and stuff?" Living in Cloudsdale Dash had only ever met other pegasi and one griffon back in Junior Speedsters.

"Oh, she's not like that at all. She's so nice, she's always making things for other ponies. She made me that dress I wore the other day." Fluttershy looked so happy while she talked about her friend that Dash might have been worried she'd been replaced, except she knew nopony could ever replace her. "Actually, it's Cloudsdale ponies that always think they're better."

Dash's first impulse was to declare Cloudsdale the greatest city in all of Equestria and if anypony had a problem there was no way it was them, but before she said it out loud she realized that would probably just prove Fluttershy's point. "Really? What do you mean?"

"Well, even though Ponyville was founded by earth ponies lots of pegasi and unicorns live there now too. All different types of ponies from all over Equestria live there. Cloudsdale just has pegasi, and no other kind of pony can ever visit. So everypony here just makes assumptions about how other ponies are."

Dash grinned. "Like thinking all unicorns are full of themselves?" Fluttershy nodded. "Yeah, makes sense. That's pretty cool, actually. A town with all types of ponies."

Dash kept Fluttershy talking about Ponyville so they wouldn't get back to the topic of what happened earlier. Eventually Dash's dad came home, followed by her mom. The two were exhausted from work and as she had expected were indifferent to Fluttershy spending the night, although her dad did comment about her being a little old for slumber parties.

"I told you, she lives in Ponyville now, remember? It's kinda late for her to fly all the way back home now" Dash said.

"Oh yeah. Okay then, have fun you two. Don't stay up too late." Rainbow Blaze said, leaving her rolling her eyes as she walked back to Fluttershy. It's not like she talked about many of her other friends with them. It's not like she had many other friends to talk about these days. They could at least remember that her best friend had moved to a whole different town.

"It's cool, you can stay." she said. "It's getting pretty late, you ready to turn in?"

"I think that's a good idea. I know Rarity said she'd be fine, but I don't think she has much experience with animals, so I'd like to get back early." Fluttershy said.

Dash led the way to her bedroom, where she threw herself on the couch. She had somehow thought having a couch in her room would be the coolest thing whenever she had friends over, but then she never ended up inviting friends over. "You can take the bed, I'm fine on the couch."

Fluttershy stood in the doorway shaking her head. "Dash, it's your bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

Dash grinned and put up her hooves. "Fight me for it."

Fluttershy giggled. "Fine, you win." She climbed into the bed and spread out, taking up less than half of it. "You know, we could both fit easily."

"Gay." Dash said, drawing out the word.

Fluttershy gave her an annoyed look. "There's nothing gay about wanting your friend to be comfortable in her own house."

Dash laughed. "There is about sleeping with another mare though. You coming on to me Shy?"

Fluttershy threw a pillow at her and turned away. "You're like my sister, don't be ridiculous."

Dash kept the extra pillow, putting it behind her head. "Alright, but you didn't even try to deny you're gay. Something you're not telling me there, Shy?"

After a few moments of silence Dash sat up to see Fluttershy facing away from her. "Shy? Hey, I was just messing with you. I know you're not really gay."

The yellow and pink lump on her bed breathed deep but didn't look at her. "It's okay Dash, I know. I… I'm going to get some sleep. Goodnight."

Feeling like a huge jerk but not entirely sure why, Dash fell onto her back. "Yeah. Goodnight, Shy."

---

Dash walked into the ice cream shop. It didn't take long for her to spot her friend, she was wearing a hat with a brim big enough to make her stick out from a mile away.

"What's with the hat?" Dash asked as she walked over to the table. "It's a bit much."

"Oh, uhm… I kind of thought so too…" Fluttershy said. "But Rarity made it for me, so I, uhm, wanted to wear it."

Dash grinned. "Whatever works for you, but you look ridiculous." She walked over to the counter and bought herself two scoops of ice cream. Looking back and noticing Fluttershy didn't have anything yet she doubled her order.

"So how was practice?" Fluttershy asked as Dash set down the dessert.

"Alright. Everypony's still being a stuck up bitch, but you know, whatever." For some reason after the fight with Hoops everything changed. Ponies kept looking at her differently, especially the mares. Usually she only ever had a problem with stallions who were intimidated by the fact that a mare was better than them, but lately all the other mares gave her a wide berth. And while she would have thought the mess that was Hoops' face the next day would be enough to deter ponies from talking about her sexuality lately the rumors had doubled. All of that would have been bad enough except Windfall was hardly speaking to her, although he insisted he didn't care about the black eye. The only good thing about that whole experience was that Hoops didn't want to admit he got beat up by a mare so nopony had come to talk to Dash's parents.

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy said. Even though it had been over six months Fluttershy was still apologizing for that day. Dash rolled her eyes and didn't even bother to remind her it wasn't her fault.

"So what's new in Ponyville?" Dash asked. Despite barely seeing each other these days the answer was always the same.

"Not much. Still the same peaceful town as always."

They caught up for a while before Dash noticed a few mares from her class walk in. She absentmindedly waved, but they stopped in their tracks and stared, whispering to themselves. Dash rolled her eyes and was going to ignore them but she overheard one of their comments. "Dash I understand, but Fluttershy? No way, she's too nice to be gay."

Dash stood up. and was going to confront them when Fluttershy got in her way. "Please, Dash, just leave it."

Glaring at the three mares she just sat down. "Fine. But what the buck was that about?"

Fluttershy idly played with her hooves while she avoided answering.

Dash had just been thinking out loud, but Fluttershy seemed to know more than she wanted to say. "Fluttershy? Do you know what their deal is?"

"Uhm…" Fluttershy hid behind her mane, making it abundantly clear she knew exactly what was going on.

"Spill it."

Fluttershy looked up and bit her lip. "It's just, well… you're not gonna like it."

Dash shook her head and gestured to where the three ponies were glancing at them. "I already don't like it! Just tell me what they're whispering about."

"Well… after the day I slept over your house somehow a rumor got spread that we were, uh, dating." Fluttershy hid away again.

Looking back to where the other mares were Dash wondered if somepony had seen Fluttershy leave in the morning or something. "But that doesn't make any sense. I mean, they're idiots, they always thought we were dating." It had been almost two years since Fluttershy started visiting Cloudsdale and the rumor had long since been old news.

Fluttershy shook her head. "They always joked about it, but now it's like… everypony is convinced that we actually are."

Dash leaned back. "I guess that explains the way everypony's been acting. Is that why you stopped coming to see me practice?"

"I, uhm… I didn't want to make things harder for you." Fluttershy said. Although she didn't say 'I'm sorry' when she looked up it was written all over her face.

"I thought you just got sick of watching me."

"Oh no." Fluttershy sat up straight. "I really do love watching you fly, Dash."

"Then don't worry about those idiots!" The mares shot Dash a dirty look before getting up to leave. "I don't care what they think, I just…" Dash stopped short realizing how sappy she'd look finishing with 'I just want my friend.' Fluttershy tilted her head to the side. "Nothing, I just don't care what they think is all." The rest of the afternoon didn't improve, despite both ponies trying to make the most of the day. Eventually the evening rolled around and they went their separate ways. Dash stopped to get some take out on the way home since she knew better than to even hope for a family dinner anymore. She ate her dinner quickly and turned in early, planning to get an early start in the morning.

Saturday meant no school, but the track team still met in the morning. Dash arrived before the sun was up, hoping to catch some ponies before Gale Force showed up. Unfortunately he was already there setting things up, so she was forced to pretend she wanted extra practice training, one on one.

By the time they Gale Force let them go Dash was already exhausted. Inspired by Dash's fortitude he seemed to push them extra hard, which gave everypony yet another reason to give her the cold shoulder. At least at the end of the day nopony stuck around, which made it easy to single out one of the girls from the ice cream shop far enough from practice that she wouldn't have to worry about anypony interrupting her this time.

"Summer Rain. Need to talk to you."

The mare turned to her and didn't even attempt to hide her disgust. "What do you want?"

Where to even begin? She decided 'to smack that stupid look off your face' was probably not going to wind up getting her answers. "Why are you talking shit about Fluttershy?"

Summer Rain rolled her eyes. "I'm just repeating what everypony already knows. Maybe if you don't want anypony to know you're a faggot you shouldn't be so obvious?"

Dash clenched her teeth. She wanted to lunge at the bitch, but she was saving violence for a last resort. "I don't bucking care what you say about me. But do not call my friend a faggot, or I will make you regret it. Where did you hear that from?"

Summer Rain sneered. "Why should I tell you?"

Dash looked around. Nopony in sight, she'd take her chances. She just had to make sure not to leave any bruises this time. She threw her body into Summer Rain's and knocked her on her back. Jumping forward she landed over the other mare, with her right hoof inches from Summer's head. She bent down low enough that she could feel Summer's shaky breathing.

"Because if you don't I will buck you up. And unlike Hoops you don't have any friends around to save you."

"F-fine, Score was t-telling everypony, after your f-fight with Hoops."

Dash lingered for a moment, making sure the image of red eyes staring into her face was something Summer Rain would remember for a long time. When she did get up she did it without a word, flying into the sky.

She scanned the area, no sign of Hoops. She didn't know where he lived, but she did know where they hung out a lot, so she made her way to the gym and hoped he'd be there.

She checked the basketball court and the football field, no sign of Hoops or Score. They probably were too tired from class to want to do any more exercise. Figuring she'd have to wait until the next day she checked the weight room anyway, and was happy to see Dumb-Bell working out.

If Score was telling ponies Fluttershy was gay the Dumb-Bell and Hoops were in on it too. Unfortunately she had the least chance at winning against Dumb-Bell in a fight. Outside where she could fly circles around them she could probably take all three at once, but in here his brute strength could overpower her with no effort.

"Dumb-Bell." she said, stepping over to the stallion.

He set his weight down and grinned at her. "Rainbow Crash. Looking for tips on how to build a little muscle?"

"No, I just have a question." She shifted her grin into a glare. "Why the buck are you telling ponies me and Fluttershy are gay?"

He shrugged. " Uhm, because you are gay?"

Dash bit back her anger. "I want to know where you're getting that from, because I'm not gay and neither is Fluttershy!"

"You know I really don't care that you're gay. You screw up in practice enough that I don't need to take easy shots at your sexuality like Hoops."

Dash facehoofed. "I thought they just called you Dumb-Bell because the weights, but sweet Celestia you really are stupid too! I'm not gay!"

He just shrugged. "Whatever. I didn't tell anypony you're gay anyway. Hoops and Score did."

Dash tapped her hoof on the ground. "But if Hoops and Score so much as sneeze you're there too, so I want to know why Hoops and Score are telling ponies Fluttershy's gay."

"That's just what we heard."

Talking to Dumb-Bell made Dash want to bash her head into a brick wall, which would probably amount to something more resembling an intelligent conversation than this. "From who!?"

"Windfall."

"That's a bucking lie! Windfall wouldn't say that!"

Dumb-Bell grinned. "Sorry, but it's true. And as much fun as it is making you run around in circles I want to get back to my workout, so I'll just spell it out for you. He wants to get in your head. Think about it, he told us the first day he beat your time. All the attention got to his head and he figured out a way to make keep beating you. Nopony's stopped talking about it, you keep messing up in practice, he keeps getting better. It's actually worked pretty well for him."

He didn't. He wouldn't. But the more she thought about it the more sense it made. Aside from one freak accident, how else could he hope to beat her? He used the only weapon he knew would cripple her: Fluttershy.

She left Dumb-Bell without another word, flying through Cloudsdale to Windfall's house. Whenever they had to work on partner routines they'd work at Windfall's house, so at least she wouldn't have to wait to confront him.

She rapped angrily on the door and shifted her weight between her legs. After a moment his dad answered the door. "Is Windfall home?" She tried to keep any sign of threat out of her voice.

Without saying a word he walked away, calling out "Windfall, that mare from school's here to see you."

Windfall came downstairs and smiled when he saw her, making it likely that she was doing a good job hiding her anger. "Hey, Dash, what's up?"

"Wanna show you something. Mind if we go for a walk?"

"Sure." He walked outside and followed her down the street. She turned a few corners and didn't answer where they were going. Eventually she saw a back alley and threw him in it.

"Dash what are you-" He was silenced as she pushed him against a wall.

"What the buck is wrong with you!?" She swung her hoof in his face, catching him in the cheek and letting him fall to the ground, where she kicked him in the ribs. "I thought we were friends you…" Instead of finding an insult she reared back to hit him again but he lunged at her and pinned her to the ground.

"What the buck are you talking about?" he yelled as Dash struggled to get out. "I haven't done anything to you!"

Dash pulled her head back and slammed it into his, her vision going blurry with pain. But she got up and stumbled over to him. She reached back a hoof and brought it down against him repeatedly, not bothering to figure out where she was hitting him.

Windfall eventually managed to grab her foreleg between his own and brought his shoulder into her face. She'd probably have a black eye and blood poured down her nose as she took a step back. "You… you bucking…" She took a few ragged breaths and surveyed the stallion. All in all he was far worse off than she was. Many of the punches had hit him in the face and he was clenching his chest. "Fluttershy's not gay!" she managed, pointing a hoof at him, before using it to wipe blood from her muzzle.

As he stared at her his legs gave out and he collapsed against a building. He didn't speak as he kept trying to catch his breath.

"Did you really… say all that stuff… just to screw up my flying?" Dash said through her own heavy breathing.

Windfall spat a wad of blood on the ground. "No."

"The why'd you do it?" Dash asked, realizing for the first time Dumb-Bell might have made the whole thing up.

"I… I bucked up." Windfall said. He attempted to shift his weight, grimaced, and gave up the effort. "I didn't mean for it to get like this. I, well I guess she probably told you, but I asked her out."

"You did what?" Dash wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or yell at him, or why either response felt appropriate.

Windfall attempted to smile, to horrific results. "The day you fought Hoops. After Coach let me go I wanted to wait for you, but I didn't want to get in more trouble. Also I didn't know how long Coach would keep you, and I didn't want to leave Fluttershy alone." He paused to spit out more blood. "I convinced her to come to the ice cream shop with me. I thought you might come by after."

Dash couldn't help but smile. "I should of known that was your dumb idea."

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty dumb. But anyway, while we were there I was kinda thinking it felt almost like a date. And maybe you really are too straight to notice, but Fluttershy's pretty hot."

Dash glared. "You're not exactly making me want to forgive you."

"What do you want me to say? She's beautiful? Fine, she's bucking gorgeous. Point is I asked her out, and she turned me down."

"She actually turned you down?" Dash smiled. She would have expected Fluttershy to make some excuse about needing time to think it over, then ask Dash to break the poor sap's heart.

"Well… she clearly wasn't interested anyway."

Dash groaned. "You're a bucking idiot, you know. You know what she's like, what were you expecting? She can barely talk to ponies when they're not putting her on the spot like that."

"Yeah, well, maybe I would have tried again or something, but Score saw me there and asked about it. And I, well… I know it's horrible and you can hit me again for it if you want, but I couldn't tell him I got rejected. I made some comment about you two, thinking he would take it as nothing since they already thought she was your marefriend. But I guess since I said it they thought that actually confirmed the whole thing."

Dash shook her head and walked over to him. To his credit he did nothing to stop whatever was coming. "You really are a dick. That was way uncool." She offered a hoof to help him up, which he took.

"I'm sorry." he said as he almost fell over, catching himself at the last minute.

"I didn't hit your legs, stop being a bitch." Dash said, causing him to stand a little straighter. "Here, lean on me. Let's get you home."

"Isn't there somewhere else we can take me?"

"You got any bits for a hospital?" Dash asked skeptically.

"No."

"Then no."

They began the slow walk back to Windfall's house. Along the way they got stares from everypony they passed but nopony stopped them.

"You know, if you wanted to ask out Fluttershy you should've told me. I probably could of given you some advice." Dash said.

"Yeah, or just punched me." Windfall said.

Dash laughed. "Yeah, or that."

"Anyway, it wasn't really something I had planned out. I mean, yeah she's attractive, but she's kinda quiet for me, and I don't know how much we really have in common." Windfall said. "Besides, I really have my eye on another mare."

"Really? Who?" Dash asked. As long as she'd known Windfall she never knew him to be really into anypony.

"What? And have you laugh at me? No thanks."

"I won't laugh!" Dash said. "Okay, I'll totally laugh, but so what? Tell me anyway."

Windfall just smiled. "I'll tell you some other time. You know, when you didn't just hand me my flank. My ego's kinda looking like my face right about now."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that by the way. I mean, you deserved a good smack, but I went way overboard."

"It's okay. I probably should've just told you two after I bucked up and definitely shouldn't of been saying shit like that in the first place. So if you want to call us even I'm fine with that."

"Deal." Dash said.

They hobbled along in silence for a while before Windfall spoke again. "So I promise I'm not trying to start shit, and I really don't care what the answer is, but what is up with you and Fluttershy? I mean, you two are total opposites."

"I dunno. I mean, she's my best friend, I've known her most my life, but it's also like… it's more than that I guess." Dash remembered what Fluttershy had said when she spent the night at her house. "I guess we're like sisters."

She was pretty sure whatever Windfall was doing with his face was supposed to be a grin. "That's… that's pretty cool, actually."

"Yeah." Dash agreed, smiling to herself.

Although the walk to the alley had only taken a minute the walk back took much longer. Eventually though they found their way to Windfall's front door. "You can just leave me here." Windfall said.

"No way, I gotta explain that it was my fault. That way hopefully you won't get in too much trouble." Before Windfall could protest Dash opened the door.

Windfall's dad was the first to notice them. "What in Celestia's name happened to you two?" His mom turned around and stared at them open mouthed.

"We… had a bit of a disagreement." Dash said.

Windfall's dad came over to help him move, but he managed to stand on his own. "Go get yourself cleaned off, then we can see how bad it is." he said, then turned to Dash. "A disagreement."

Dash told a short version, about how somepony was spreading rumors and she thought it was Windfall's fault, but they cleared the whole thing up and were friends again. To her surprise, despite her son's condition Windfall's mom helped towel off Dash's face, then directed her to a sink to wash her hooves. She took care to fly to it so she didn't track blood all over the place. Once she was cleaned up Windfall's mom gave her a glass of water which she drank slowly, the cold stinging her mouth a little.

Windfall came out while she was finishing the story. In a way he looked better without all the blood, but it had covered up how swollen his face already was. It was also clear he'd have a nasty bruise on his ribs, but there didn't seem to be any serious damage. Dash waited in the kitchen while Windfall and his parents moved to the other room to talk. She occasionally heard his dad speak up to say things like "I knew she looked feisty!" and "You sure know how to pick 'em." but nopony was yelling, or even sounded too angry. Eventually Windfall came in alone.

"So how'd you make out?" Dash asked.

"Grounded for a month." Windfall said, taking the seat next to her. "They give you a hard time?"

"Nah, they seem really cool actually." Dash said, taking a sip of water.

"So what do you think your parents will do?" Windfall asked.

"Probably not much."

"Now that sounds cool."

Dash sighed. "No, it isn't." She turned to face him. "You know how everypony thinks my parents are never around, and I try so hard so I can impress them and they'll notice me again? Well they're right. That's why I hit Hoops that day. The way he was talking about Fluttershy pissed me off, but it was when he brought up my parents it just kinda hit close to home."

Windfall shook his head and slouched in his chair. "That sucks."

"Yeah, it does." Dash finished her water. "I think that's the real reason me and Fluttershy are so close. Her family sucks too. I guess we just need each other."

Windfall gave her an impassive expression, which still looked ridiculous with the swelling. "Gay."

"Shut up." Dash said, punching him in the shoulder causing them both to laugh, despite their injuries.

---

Dash probably could have hidden it from her parents, but they noticed the black eye. Turned out they did care that she was still fighting and threatened to pull her out of flight school. That night she went to her room and found she just didn't care anymore. While she loved flying she could do it without flight school. She'd learned everything they could teach her years ago and now she only kept working at it to be the best. Except she was the best. For as long as she'd been in flight school she'd been the star pupil, and it still took a black eye to get her parents' attention.

Dash took advantage of being grounded to sleep in. No point in waking up early for class. In fact once she woke up she decided she could get used to sleeping in until noon regularly.

Although she wasn't supposed to leave the house there wasn't anypony home to stop her, so she went into town for lunch. She went to the pizza place that Gale Force would buy pizza from to share with the team after every race. It wasn't the same on her own, but she wanted to enjoy it one more time while she was technically still part of the team.

By the time she was done it was about time for practice to end so she flew over to the track and sat on the sidelines to watch everypony finish up. Unsurprisingly Windfall was nowhere to be seen. Gale Force noticed her but ignored her in favor of focusing on the rest of the team, which suited her fine. She realized in years she'd never really watched the other athletes she'd trained with, and wondered how much better the team could have been if she had. A lot of ponies made simple mistakes she could have helped them with if she had ever cared about anything but her own personal achievements.

Once everypony was finished Dash flew over. "I hope you don't expect me to count this as you showing up for class." Gale Force said.

"No Coach, I just want to talk."

Gale Force looked at her noticing her eye. "Alright, come into my office."

Following him Dash noticed all eyes on her as she walked past. She grinned confidently as everypony whispered. She noticed Summer Rain in particular giving her a look that might kill a lesser pony.

As Gale Force closed the door behind them though everything faded away leaving only her and the coach. She knew this would be hard, but she'd made up her mind.

"So I'm guessing this has something to do with the black eye?" Gale Force said as he sat at his desk and gestured for her to sit across from him.

"Sort of." Dash said, sitting down herself.

"And I'm guessing that also has something to do with why Windfall didn't show up today either?" Gale Force frowned.

Dash rubbed her neck. The more she had time to think about it the more she regretted everything that happened with Windfall. "Yeah, that would be my fault."

He sighed. "So you want to tell me what happened?"

Dash grinned. "Not really. Whatever story he decides I back one hundred percent."

Gale Force couldn't help but smile at that. "Okay, we'll leave that be for now. So what do you want to talk about then?"

Dash took a deep breath. This was it. "I'm dropping out."

"You're what now?" He wasn't smiling anymore.

"I'm sorry coach, but I thought this through." Dash said, resolutely meeting his eyes. The least she could do was stand proud and tell him her decision to his face. "I realized I don't want what I thought I wanted, and what I do want, well… it's not here."

Gale Force folded his forelegs. "And there's nothing I can do to stop you?"

"No sir."

"Well then, I hope you have a plan at least."

"Sort of." Dash said. " I… I have the start of one anyway."

Gale Force leaned back and didn't say anything for a moment before smiling. "Well, that's not exactly reassuring is it? But you know, your dad said something like that to me around eighteen years ago, when he told me Firefly was pregnant. I might not know exactly but I can imagine what your relationship with him is like, so I'm not too sure if this is the type of thing you'd want to hear, but you're a lot like him."

Dash bowed her head. "It's kinda weird. You know him so much better than I do."

"You know, he grew up dirt poor. Used to bring him around my place just to get a good meal in him from time to time. Firefly was right around your age when she got pregnant, maybe a little younger. I didn't know her as anything other than Blaze's marefriend, so I can't speak for her, but your dad was determined that you'd never have the life he did. He was seventeen when he moved out, got married, and threw himself in a career to pay for you and your mom. I'm not making excuses for him not being around, but he was doing the best he could at what he thought was the most important thing for you. I think if you can learn from his mistakes you'll do alright."

Dash grinned. "You know, I think you were right. I probably should have talked to you ages ago."

Gale Force grinned back. "Oh, I was definitely right. But I think you figured out what you needed to on your own, eventually. I'd wish you luck in whatever you're planning, but you don't need it. You'll be the best at it. You don't have second place in you."

Dash nodded. "Thank you, Coach."

"But you know, if it takes longer than you think to get your plans off the ground I'm always here if you need anything. My offer to talk still stands, and if you need bits, well, I could always use an assistant. Work on the attitude and the job's yours."

He stood up and opened the door. As Dash stood up to walk out he held out his hoof to bump hers. Instead she threw a foreleg around him in a hug.

"Thank you Coach. For everything."

"Heh, don't mention it. Now get out there and give 'em hell."

Dash saluted "Will do!"

She flew off with him waving goodbye. In a way the hard part was over. She still had to tell her parents, but these days Gale Force had become more of a parental figure than her actual parents anyway, even if he did give her a whole new perspective for her parents. She thought about spending the rest of the day roaming Cloudsdale but found she really just wanted to go home. She passed the remaining daylight hours cleaning her room, which she hadn't done anytime in recent memory.

As usual her dad came home first, but she waited for her mom to come home before talking to them. She went downstairs to find them sitting in the living room, both of them looking dead tired.

"Mom, dad? I need to talk to you." Dash said.

Rainbow Blaze rubbed his eyes. "What's up Squirt?" He sounded exhausted but still smiled as he talked.

"I, well… I want to move to Ponyville."

Rainbow Blaze and Firefly exchanged looks. "But… where is this coming from, Dashie?" Firefly asked.

Dash bowed her head. There were so many reasons she had to do this, how could she ever explain it? When it came down to it this was just what she knew she had to do. "I just… I want to see more of the world than just Cloudsdale. Maybe Cloudsdale really is the best place in Equestria, but it's not all there is. Ponyville's not that far, and I can stay with Fluttershy." Technically she hadn't actually asked Fluttershy, but she'd be welcome. She hoped.

Firefly looked like she was holding back tears. "This is just so sudden. Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

Dash bit back tears herself. She had thought she'd be ready for this. "I just… you're never around. I'm sorry, but I can't talk to you about what I want when I never get to talk to you at all."

At that Firefly did start crying, but she mostly held herself together, a few silent tears escaping. Rainbow Blaze wrapped a foreleg around her shoulder. "You're too young. How about we talk about this after you graduate flight school?"

"I'm seventeen, dad. The same age you were when you moved out."

Rainbow Blaze frowned. "I left to build life for us, and I spent it making sure you'd never have to do the same thing."

Dash looked down, away from her parents. "I know, dad. And I'm really grateful for everything you've done. But I need to learn to stand on my own, and figure out what my role in life is supposed to be."

Blaze looked like he might argue some more, but Firefly had already grabbed her daughter in a hug. "Promise me that no matter what, if things don't work out you'll come straight home. I know you're just as stubborn as me and your dad but please, never be ashamed to come home. Even if you don't find what you're looking for you'll never be a failure to us."

By now even Dash was blinking away tears. "I know. I promise, mom, I'll come home if things don't work out."

As they broke apart Rainbow Blaze pulled her into another hug. "Well you're not going to be homeless. You can tell Fluttershy you'll only be staying there long enough to move into your own place, because tomorrow me and you are going house hunting."

Dash shook her head. "Dad, please don't-"

"I know you need to make it on your own, and as much as I respect that I'll be damned if we can't give you a headstart. Consider it something I need to do as you're father. We'll pay for the downpayment and first three months. By then I expect you'll be able to support yourself."

"Thanks dad." Dash said.

He ruffled her mane. "You'll be alright. You are my daughter, after all."

Dash grinned as she stepped back. "Well, I need to get going if I'm going to make it there tonight."

Firefly's ears drooped. "You're leaving already?"

Dash looked away. She hadn't expected her parents to get so emotional. This was supposed to be easier. But that's why it was so important to leave now, before she could change her mind. "I'm sorry, I just…" She didn't know what she was going to say, but she didn't have to worry about it as she was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up to see both her parents wrap her up in a group hug.

"I love you, Dashie." Firefly said.

"We both do." Blaze added.

Dash nodded and swallowed back her tears. "I love you both too." They pulled away and her parents nodded. She flew upstairs and grabbed her bag. She had been so excited for this earlier, but now… 'No, I have to do this.'

She walked down the stairs slowly, noticing every detail and every memory in the house. She was surprised at how many things she could remember, memories that had lied buried for years. When she got back downstairs both her parents were waiting, smiling encouragement. Dash smiled back, even as she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. She wanted to say something, but couldn't think of any more words, so she just walked to the door. As she opened it and walked out she looked back to see her parents still smiling through their own tears. She shook her head, wiped her eyes, and closed the door.

"Goodbye." she said to nopony in particular and took to the air.

Dash knew where Ponyville was, but only so far as she'd seen it on a map. She regretted never taking Fluttershy up on visiting her new home, but she'd always been busy with flight practice. Well, now Fluttershy was number one. She'd put Dash ahead of her for years, now it was time to turn the tables.

It was well into the night by the time Dash finally saw Ponyville. It was much less impressive than she'd imagined, though she supposed this must be some small outskirt area. There were only two building around, and a lot of what she assumed were trees based on some pictures she'd seen. She descended slowly, putting her hooves on the ground almost cautiously. She stared at the dirt moving it around with her hoof. She inspected her hoof and was surprised to see it covered in dust. She flapped a wing, moving around a bunch at once, and watching it float through the air. She bent down for a closer look and regretted it as some of the dust got in her eye.

"It's just dirt."

Dash jumped into the air and hovered as she turned around to see an orange mare with a blonde mane and a weird hat grinning at her. She slowly descended, feeling a little embarrassed by what must have been a ridiculous display. "Yeah, I'm from Cloudsdale. We don't have dirt there."

Now that she was on the ground she noticed the other mare didn't have any wings. It looked… odd. Wings were such a natural part of a pony it was like seeing somepony with only two legs. "Well in that case welcome to Ponyville. Although ya ain't exactly in town yet. Name's Applejack, and this here's Sweet Apple Acres." She gestured around her and Dash realized this must be a farm, which meant what she had thought was a second house was probably a barn.

"I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm looking for a friend of mine, a pegasus named Fluttershy. You wouldn't happen to know her would you?" Dash offered her hoof before realizing it was covered in dirt. Applejack didn't seem to mind and bumped it anyway.

"Yellow coat and more pink hair than anypony should know what to do with? Yeah, I reckon I've met her." Applejack said. She turned around and walked toward the farmhouse, gesturing for Dash to follow. "Come inside and sit a spell. I'll get you a drink and give you some directions to her house."

Dash could immediately see what Fluttershy had meant. In Cloudsdale most ponies agreed that earth ponies were all rude because they were jealous that they couldn't do magic or fly, but Applejack seemed alright.

As they walked a creaky voice spoke up. "Did you figure out what was goin' on with that loony pony, Applejack?"

"She's not loony, granny, she just never seen dirt before. She's visiting from Cloudsdale."

An elderly mare stepped out from what looked like the living room. "At this hour? Isn't it a little late for company?"

"Not visiting us, she's looking for that pegasus Rarity brought over the other day. She's just stopping in to catch her breath before heading out again." Applejack said. She led Dash into the kitchen, where Dash sat at a small table. She looked around and noticed how full the place was, how homey everything looked. While the rustic look was far from Dash's personal taste she would have given anything to have grown up in a house like this.

"Here, Sweet Apple Acres specialty cider." Applejack said, setting a glass in front of Dash.

She eyed the drink skeptically. It smelled kind of like apple juice, but it was much darker, an ugly brown color that didn't look appetizing at all. Not wanting to offend the pony helping her, however, she took a drink. Her eyes went wide as she set down the cup. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted." She downed the rest making sure to get every last drop.

Applejack laughed and refilled her glass. "I'm glad you think so, but try not to drink it so fast."

Dash nodded and drank her second cup much slower, savoring the flavor. While she drank Applejack gave her directions to Fluttershy's cottage.

"Course you could skip all that and fly there if you wanted. Should be off that-a-way." Applejack pointed to the East, slightly Northward. "If that fails ya, feel free to come on back here. Barn's open, not the fanciest place to lay your head, but it's not so bad. I've taken more than a few naps there myself, and it'll get ya out of the elements. In the morning if you're still around I'll take you to Fluttershy's."

"Thanks, but aren't you worried? I mean, you don't even know me." She'd never get an offer like that in Cloudsdale.

Applejack scrunched up her face as if studying the newcomer, then smiled and waved a hoof. "Nah, you seem alright, even with the black eye. 'Sides, you're friends with Fluttershy and that girl couldn't hurt a fly."

Dash smiled. "Fluttershy was definitely right. This place is way more friendly than Cloudsdale."

"We do what we can. But it's already quarter past ten, if you wanna catch Fluttershy while she's still awake you best get going."

"Right. Thanks again." Dash said, standing up and walking to the door.

"No problem. Come on by in the day sometime, or stop in to see me at the market and let me know how everything's going for ya."

"Will do." Dash said, waving goodbye as she took off. She opted for the direct route since it was already late.

It didn't take her long to fly to the cottage. She was a little disappointed that the direct flight path didn't take her by the town, but there'd be time to see her new home later. Besides, she'd be able to have Fluttershy show her around, which would be better than taking a peek on her own anyway. Approaching the door she noticed all the lights were off. 'I really hope this is the right place.' She glanced around, noticing some sort of weird fluffy thing staring at her from one of those round tree things that were only as tall as a pony. 'Yeah, 'cause there must be a ton of cottages on the outskirts of town.' She reached out a hoof and knocked on the door.

Seconds stretched into minutes as she waited. Maybe it was the wrong place? Maybe Fluttershy was asleep? No, she was too light of a sleeper, she'd wake up. Dash knocked a second time and still waited. She was about to head back to Sweet Apple Acres when she heard Fluttershy on the other side of the door. "Uhm, who is it?"

"It's Rainbow Dash. Uh, can I crash here tonight?"

Before she had even finished the question Fluttershy had already opened the door and was beaming at her. "Of course, come in!"

As they walked inside Fluttershy turned on a light. "I'm so happy to see you, but why are you here so late?" She turned and noticed Dash's black eye. "Oh my goodness, what happened to you?"

Dash tried to say it was nothing but Fluttershy's gaze melted the smile off her face. Reluctantly she told the whole story without leaving anything out. Asking about the rumors, confronting Windfall, the talk they had after the fight, her parents finding out about it, quitting flight school, telling her parents she wanted to move to Ponyville, even meeting Applejack. It felt good to get it all out, even the parts she wasn't proud of. But when she was done Fluttershy looked horrified.

"You… you gave up everything… because some ponies thought you were gay?"

Dash shook her head. "No, there was a lot more to it. I mean, ponies have been calling me gay since as long as I can remember. I guess it did piss me off that they were calling you gay too."

Fluttershy didn't look any better. "So you dropped out of school and left your home because some ponies said I'm gay?"

"Seriously, there were a lot of reasons." Dash said, baffled that Fluttershy was hanging so much on one detail.

"But that is why you got into a fight with one of your best friends."

"Well… yeah I guess so." She grinned and shrugged. "But even he said he deserved a smack for it. I'm not gonna sit there and let ponies insult you like that, Shy."

Fluttershy shook her head and fell onto her couch. "You… Dash, you shouldn't do things like that."

"I know, I was dumb. But hey, me and Windfall are cool now! So, that's what counts right?" Dash asked hopefully.

Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves. "You should go back to Cloudsdale. Tell everypony it was a mistake."

"Not a chance!" Dash said. "I mean, if you don't want me here that's fine, I'll go stay with Applejack tonight and tomorrow I can see if she'll let me stay until I get my own place, but I've made up my mind, I'm sticking around."

Fluttershy looked up. Dash was shocked to see tears on her face. "It's… It's not that… it's… I just…"

"Fluttershy, don't cry." Dash sat near her and tentatively wrapped a foreleg around her. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to this much hugging.

Fluttershy looked up at her. "You… you shouldn't sit so close to me."

Dash grinned and scooted away. "Since when do you care about doing gay stuff like that?"

Somehow Dash said the exact wrong thing because Fluttershy's few tears exploded into full blown bawling. "I'm sorry…" she said repeatedly through sobs.

Dash sat bewildered. Apparently hugging was a bad idea and whenever she talked things got worse. Usually when Fluttershy cried there was somepony Dash could hit for causing it, but she doubted it would help either of them very much if she began punching herself. She couldn't sit there doing nothing while her best friend was such a wreck, but nothing was the only option she had left.

Eventually the worst of the tears subsided and Fluttershy wiped her eyes. Dash wanted to ask for an explanation but was afraid to say the wrong thing. Eventually Fluttershy spoke up on her own. "I don't deserve a friend like you."

Taking a risk Dash asked "What do you mean?"

Fluttershy sighed. "You're going to hate me. Once you know you'll never want to see me again."

"Okay, that's probably the dumbest thing you've ever said." Dash said. "I mean, you're my best friend, Shy. I won't hate you, ever."

Fluttershy smiled a little. "Thanks Dashie, but you only think that because you don't know."

"Alright, so tell me. Then I can prove I'm right by not hating you." Dash grinned. "Because I'm awesome, so I'm always right."

Fluttershy took a deep breath. "One day me and Rarity were talking, and she asked what kind of stallion I liked. And I couldn't tell her, because I didn't know. Then when I thought more about it I realized I didn't know because I don't like stallions at all."

"You don't… like romantically you mean?" Dash asked. Fluttershy nodded. "So then… mares?"

Fluttershy turned her head away. "I don't know. Maybe. At least a little."

Dash facehoofed. "I'm officially the biggest jerk in the world." She scooted closer to Fluttershy, and pulled the other mare up so she could hug her again. "I'm sorry, Shy. For all the stupid shit I said."

Fluttershy sat limp, not returning Dash's hug. "Dash, I'm… you shouldn't…"

Undeterred Dash kept holding her. "Hey, I don't give hugs often, you better take it while you can get it."

Slowly Fluttershy put her forelegs around Dash. "You… you don't hate me?"

"No, of course not." Dash grinned and pulled away, but kept one foreleg around her friend. "Hey, I was right! I'm so awesome."

Fluttershy giggled then looked away sadly. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to stay here anymore."

Dash tapped her chin. "Hmm… I could sleep in a barn, or hang with my best friend ever." She shrugged. "Yeah, I think I'll stay here."

Fluttershy looked almost happy but still seemed scared, like she was expecting Dash to change her mind at any time. "You… really want to stay friends?"

"Hell yeah!" Dash said.

"But… but you don't like ponies like… like me." Fluttershy looked like she might cry again.

Dash shook her head. "You wanna know why I said all that stuff? Because the first time I ever heard the word gay it was some stupid little colt using it as an excuse for why I was faster than him. I didn't know what it meant so at the time I just thought it was an insult. It didn't help that adults got all weird when I asked about it. And then even when I did know ponies still kept calling me gay as an insult. I was dumb for going along with it, I knew better, I just… didn't really think about it I guess. It's not a good enough reason, and… I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Fluttershy smiled. A real smile, with no other feelings mixed in. "Of course I do, Dash."

"You know, the only reason I even went by Dash was because I always thought Rainbow sounded gay. That was dumb, and since I'm starting over in Ponyville anyway, I think I'll start going by Rainbow instead." She nudged Fluttershy. "Well, you can call me whatever you want though."

"Alright. Rainbow." Fluttershy giggled.

Something occurred to Rainbow. It was probably best to get it into the open now while they were being all emotional. "So that night you slept at my house and you tried to get me to sleep in the bed. You really weren't coming on to me, right? Totally cool either way, I just want to make sure we don't have anymore secrets from each other."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Sorry to hurt your ego, but no I wasn't I don't think of you like that."

"Cool 'cause I lied, that would actually be really weird. But not because you're a mare or anything." Rainbow said.

Fluttershy looked kind of hurt. "Then why?"

"Because well…" Rainbow rubbed at her neck. This was about to get super sappy and she'd probably have to deal with another hug. "Alright, so like I said there were a lot of reasons why I decided to move to Ponyville, but the biggest is 'cause I realized something. Maybe my parents aren't as bad as I always thought they were, and I'll always love them because they're, you know, my parents. But they still weren't ever really there for me, except financially. I've been trying to impress them for years, but for what? That's something I've been thinking about a lot lately though, the real thing that hit me was yesterday after my fight with Windfall. He asked me why we were so close and I told him we were like sisters, but that wasn't really right. Because really, you're not like my sister, you are my sister. My parents might be related to me by blood, but we're related by choice, and that's just as important. Instead of trying to get them to notice me, I want to stay close to the family that's always been there for me."

Fluttershy threw her forelegs around Rainbow. 'Called it.' After realizing that the hug wasn't ending on its own any time soon and was dangerously close to the sentimental tear zone she pulled herself away. "Alright, enough with the sappy stuff. You were asleep when I got here and probably have work in the morning, so let's get to bed."

"Okay." Fluttershy stretched out on the couch, pushing Rainbow off. "The bedroom's upstairs. I'll sleep down here."

"Yeah, no. Not happening. Couch is mine for as long as I'm here." Rainbow said.

Fluttershy put up her hooves. "Fight me for it."

Rainbow laughed. "Fluttershy, not that I think you could ever look intimidating, but you look way too happy to pull that look off."

Fluttershy scowled and took a few swipes at the air, which caused Rainbow to double over in laughter. "Okay, never mind, that's even worse!"

Once she calmed down Rainbow got up and walked up the stairs. "Goodnight, Shy."

"Goodnight Dash."

Opening the door to the bedroom Rainbow looked around, noticing the bed was almost as big as hers. She walked back to the stairs. "Hey, Shy. Your bed's pretty big. Wanna just split it?"

Fluttershy's head popped up from the couch. "Uhm… aren't you worried that's kind of… gay?"

Rainbow waved a hoof. "Nope. I think I can safely say I'm done worrying about stuff like that. I left that part of me back in Cloudsdale."

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Thank you for reading ^_^ I hope you enjoyed it, and even if not please let me know what you thought.