Rainbow Dash, tosses in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent and rolling almost to the point that she falls off of her cloud.  She's fallen asleep on the fluffy thing above Ponyville, only being roused by the unmistakable sobbing of Fluttershy as it echos through the still night air.  She stirs a little, fluttering her eyes open and yawning, taking her time to come back into consciousness before she realizes that Fluttershy had just flown home, alone... crying.  The pegasus doesn't even hesitate to kick her cloud into oblivion and fall, letting the chilly night air caress through her mane before snapping open her wings, tilting up and flying as fast as she can, taking to the sky an instant before she reaches building-level.  She flies toward Fluttershy's tree, worried about the pony, and trying to fight off the predisposition that Twilight had broken her heart just now.  Even if that were true, Dash wouldn't want to believe it, so she wanted the whole story first.  

It doesn't take long for the fastest flier in all of Equestria to arrive at Fluttershy's home.  She lands a few yards away, trotting as she slows down and stopping just short of the door.  She lifts up her foreleg, thinking about what she's doing, but only hesitating for a moment before knocking three times.  No answer.  She knocks again, looking into the side window and scanning around the living area for Fluttershy; nothing.

She feels that it's her duty as a friend to help, so she flies up to the bedroom window and hovers directly outside it.  She looks inside and sees the troubled pegasus sitting on her bed, hunched over and holding one of several dolls in her hooves, looking blankly through it.  Rainbow Dash cringes at the sight, recognizing the bizarre coping mechanism from the last time she had her feelings hurt back in Flight School; she taps her hoof on the window to get her attention.  

The exhausted pegasus looks over her shoulder through the window and locks eyes with Rainbow; the cyan pegasus can see the misery behind Fluttershy's gaze and feels almost crushed just to look at her like this.  Fluttershy stands up and sniffles a little, walking over to the window and opening it up slowly, shivering from the cold air as it rushes in to greet her first, "Y-yeah?"  

"Gee, Shy, don't get so excited or you might faint..." Dash says jokingly, just trying to lighten the obviously dark and tense mood.

"S-Sorry..."  Tough crowd... Rainbow thinks to herself, switching from a joking tone that she's used to into the uncharted territory of gushy friendship and helpfulness.

Dash tilts her head to the side and gives her a genuinely concerned look, "May I come in?  You look like you could use a friend..."

Fluttershy sniffles again, nodding her head and stepping aside to allow the pegasus in through the window, promptly shutting it and walking back over to her bed.  

"So what happened at the restaurant?"  Dash asks, trotting up and sitting next to Fluttershy on her bed.  Fluttershy is the only pony that Rainbow Dash would do this for, they've just known each other far longer than any other ponies, and as such share a special kind of friendship.

"T-Twilight embarrassed me in front of everybody..."  Fluttershy says quietly, not crying because of the event itself, but just that the unicorn would be so inconsiderate of her feelings.  She doesn't hold it against Twilight, but she does feel like she can't trust her quite as much, and no wound could hurt more than that to such an intimate and emotionally charged pony.

"Well that doesn't sound too bad... Innit your marefriend's job to embarrass you from time to time?"  Dash replies with a gentle chuckle, feeling awkwardly immersed in the emotional tension.

"You just don't get it... She didn't think about how I would feel... She's moving too quickly and isn't being as considerate as I thought she would...  I'm worried that she's just... desperate...  Only trying to get with me because I'm the only one she has..."  Fluttershy says as she hugs one of the hoof-made dolls, reverting to her childhood sentiments to calm herself down.  

"Well... no offense, Fluttershy, but isn't that how you two got together in the first place?  I'm not saying it's a bad situation, but you both kind of are desperate..."  Dash rubs the back of her neck as she speaks, knowing this can't end well, but that it's still something that needs to be said.

Fluttershy just tilts her head down; not one to snap back, she just lets the words stab at her heart, knowing they're true but still wounded from hearing her best friend say them.

"Listen, Shy... Twilight is a great pony: she's smart, nice... she's got that cute nerd-filly look that I know you like... but most of all she's loving.  She doesn't always show it, but she's loving... I've seen her and spike together and she treats him like a son.  And don't even make me bring up that Owl that she's got living in the library with her,"  Fluttershy lowers the doll into her lap, still avoiding eye-contact with Dash, but listening intently.  Dash puts her foreleg around Fluttershy's shoulders and gently hugs her, "Maybe she's desperate... and maybe she doesn't even know what she wants... But instead of flying off and abandoning her you should have talked it out.  Set some boundaries for yourselves... It seems to me like you dove right into something that neither of you were really prepared for, and though I admire the ambition in that... I can't say it was a smart idea... I for one don't believe in 'true love',"  This grabs her attention...

"You d-don't?"  Fluttershy seems almost shocked, figuring that Dash was just holding herself out for someone she thought she could be together with forever without even trying.

"Nope... I never have... I've always seen 'love' as work... something you gotta compete in, something you have to actively build and work on.  If you give up for even a second then it falls apart, and I'm still single because I haven't found anybody who's a hard enough worker to really stick with it the way I would want them to.  I think you and Twilight should try to work this out because I know Twilight would be able to put in the work.  The question here is whether or not you're willing,"

"I... I want to be with her so badly..."  Fluttershy starts to cry a little again; Dash just keeps her stoic disposition and continues to explain how she feels.  

"Well...  You have to start working for it, Shy...  Put in the effort; next time she screws up don't just fly away crying...  Talk to her about it... Let her know that she hurt your feelings, and let her explain herself and learn from her mistake... If Twilight can do anything she can learn..."  

Fluttershy sniffles again and hugs her doll, hiding her face from Rainbow Dash.  Not in denial, but in shame... Dash is right, and Fluttershy knows it.

"You two make a really adorable couple, you know that?"  Dash says, switching from negative to positive lights to shed on the pegasus, knowing that she's mortified with herself, "I'm honestly a little jealous... I wish I could be as cute as you,"

The pink-maned pegasus smiles a little, putting the doll down and looking up at Rainbow Dash, "You're really jealous of me?"

"Pfft, not right now I'm not... You have a chance to be happy and you're about to let it slip right through your hooves... I wouldn't want to be in your position if my life depended on it...  But I do envy what you can have if you just put in the effort.  So as soon as possible you need to get off your plot and go talk to Twilight,"

Fluttershy wipes a tear from her face and leans over to hug Rainbow Dash, nuzzling her head into the cyan mare's shoulder, "Thank you... you're absolutely right, thank you so much,"  

"Woah! Heh, you're welcome Fluttershy... I'm happy to help,"  Dash slowly hugs back, still not used to the intimacy of the moment, but accepting.  Deep down she does feel a warmth in her heart that she always gets whenever she helps her out; Fluttershy hasn't ever been without need of a helping hoof, "Now then... I think maybe you should get some sleep, get up early and talk to Twilight tomorrow... I didn't quite see what she was up to, but no doubt she's no better off than you were just then... I wish you luck, but I've got someplace I gotta be,"

"I understand... Thank you again, I'm sorry I'm such a mess..."  Fluttershy says, breaking eye contact and pulling away from the hug.

"No need to apologize for that sweet-cheeks.  You've always been kind of a mess; that's why I'm here!  To help clean you up when you need it,"  Dash says with a wink, standing up and heading back toward the window.  

"Yeah... I guess that's true... Hey, I have a door you know..."  Fluttershy responds, watching her closely as she approaches the window.

"Yeah but this is faster... G'night Fluttershy!  I've gotta get up bright and early tomorrow for the snowstorm!  Hope you and Twilight can get together before it hits Ponyville too hard,"  She gives the window a gentle kick to open it up, perching on the sill and stretching her wings.  With one last look over her shoulder she bolts out of the window, leaving enough force behind her to pull some papers off of Fluttershy's desk and scatter them on the floor.  With a sigh the yellow pony picks them up and stacks them back where they were.  

She thinks about how great of a letter this could make to Celestia... but decides to actually go talk to Twilight before she does anything that silly.  To end the day she sets the alarm on her antique clock and slowly slides into bed.  A mix of fear and sadness still resides inside her heart, but they're nicely diluted by a new reservoir of confidence that everything will be just fine.  

As the yellow mare drifts off to sleep she can feel one last vision pass through her mind: Her voice of courage sitting patiently and nodding in approval of her plan.  

Sweet dreams, Co-pilot.  She'll come around, as long as you stick to your word,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash flies slowly away from the tree-home, thinking intently about what she had told her.  She ascends to the cloud ceiling and looks down upon the sleeping town of Ponyville, only a few lights still remain, none of which belong to her friends.  The pegasus finds a small cloud and wrestles it beneath her, propelling it over to Sweet Apple Acres, figuring she could practice what she preached and catch AJ when she got up to do her morning chores.

It'll start out as a friendly warning about the snow, and then I'll just pick it up as we chat from there... Shouldn't be too hard... I got this!  She reassures herself, getting her ego thoroughly stroked before bed.  The rainbow-maned mare slumps down on the cloud, spreading herself out and taking up the entire thing for herself; she stretches her wings and wraps them around her as best she can to help keep warm in the frigid night air.  Thoughts of the happy couple that she may have saved pass through her mind, making her unconsciously smile and wiggle on the cloud.  

Life is good... and I'm the best friend ever...  She dozes off with these final words echoing in her mind's ear, helping her find peace and relaxation in rest.  Something poor Twilight hasn't known all night.