Authors Note: Nerdy-ass fact of the day! Many of you might belive that Rainbow Dash's "Sonic Rainboom" is what happens when she breaks the sound barrier. This is not so. According to studies of flight, the Mach Cone that appears around RD when she goes into the transition phase between "Just Flying" and "HOLY SWEET CELESTIA, A SONIC RAINBOOM!" is angled in such a way as to show that she is close to Mach 5, whereas you only need to be going at Mach 1 to break the sound barrier. Upon causing a Sonic rainboom, she instantly accelerates to Mach 10. In other words, she goes from "Jet Fighter Fast", to "How the Hell did she not explode from G-force" fast. I'm just gonna assume she's magical or something for this story. Just a little ditty to those who didn't know. Anyways, ONWARD TO THE CHAPTER!

I sat up, beads of sweat running down my forehead. I looked around the room, and I quickly realized I was in Flutershy’s cottage, as I had been for the last month and half. More specifically I was in Fluttershy’s bed, as she didn’t have an extra bed and wouldnt let me sleep on the couch. I stretched out my forelegs, still breathing heavily. Fluttershy wasn’t in bed right now, likely making breakfast. I got out of bed and checked my wing. It looked fully healed now, all signs of it ever being broken at all gone. I stretched it out to just to be sure. It felt great. It’s nice to see that my wing was able to heal in just over a month. But then again, it seemed a rather slow compared to normal. Either way, I can get around to racing Rainbow Dash… And now Pinkie Pie can throw me that party. I hate parties.

I have been staying under the radar for the last month and a half, so I’m excited to be able to go into town again. Not to say that my stay with Fluttershy was not pleasant. It was quite nice. Every day, I would wake up, and she would have breakfast ready. We would eat, I would clean up. I did the chores, and she would care for the animals. She would shop, and I would pay for the groceries. She would return, and we would talk, and have lunch. I would then wash the dishes while she relaxed. If she wasn’t with her other friends then we would sometimes play board games. Once the sun began to go down, I would make dinner, and she would settle the animals in for the night. After we ate, I would again wash dishes while she got ready for bed. I would then shower and join her in bed (There was not any intercourse involved), and then we repeat.

I left the room, rubbing my eyes. I entered the kitchen to find Fluttershy preparing the morning meal. She spun around when she heard me approach. She gave me a warm smile which I returned. She always could brighten me up with that smile.

“Good morning, Mr. Sleepy head. How did you sleep last night?” she said. I finished dispelling the drowsiness from my mind, my smile returning to a frown.

“Horrible. I had a dreadful nightmare,” I answered her. The mare's expression became one of empathy upon hearing this. Before I could say anything in my defense, her nurturing nature had kicked in.

“Do you need to talk about it?” she asked, seemingly worried. I shook my head in response. She frowned momentarily before beginning to set the table. Seeing this as a chance to test my wing, I flew across the room, scooping up the two plates before spinning around and placing them in one swift movement. A new smile then crept across Fluttershy’s face.

“I see that your wing is doing better. How does it feel?” I folded my wings, landing in my seat. Stretching my forelegs and yawning, I grinned widely with an amount of pride. This was the first time she would see me flying since we met.

“They feel marvelous. I must thank you for housing me after all this time and supporting me through this hardship. It means a lot to me.” And that was no lie either. I have come to see Fluttershy as a good friend, which is quite a feat, as I have had very few standard friends in my life, let alone good friends.

"Well of course I did! How could I not? You were just like any of my hurt woodland friends when you arrived at my doorstep that night. It's in my nature to help. If I didn't get a cutiemark in animal care, it would certainly have been for medicine." I chuckled at the thought, my mind drifting towards mental images of Fluttershy in a nurse outfit. I shooed the inappropriate thought out of my mind before continuing the conversation.

"Nonetheless. You saved my life Fluttershy. Not only that, but you welcomed me into your home warmly and without hesitation. It is a level of hospitality I have never before experienced, and I am forever grateful for your kindness." Fluttershy blushed at this, waving me off with a hoof.

"Oh, stop it Red Storm. Anypony else would have done the same for you. In fact, I bet some mares would love to have such a handsome prince fall at their doorstep." She caught her remark, but too late. I raised an eyebrow at her statement but let it slip. I shouldn't worry myself of such things.

The rest of the meal was silent. I ate quickly, and waited for Fluttershy to finish before I washed the dishes. The second that the last dish was washed I took out the window into the skies. The wind in my mane felt wonderful, as even though I manged to keep my sanity, being grounded for a month and a half was truly torture. I flew straight up into the sky, and when I looked down, I saw Fluttershy peeking her head out the window that I flew out of. I smiled for a moment before flapping my wings again and picking up speed.

I felt the wind rushing through my mane, my tail whipping from air resistance. But I went faster still, pushing my wings harder and harder. I never felt so good to be in the air. I felt a tingling sensation as I reached Mach 1, breaking the sound barrier. A huge BOOM sounded as I flew past that point, before going faster still. I did a loop, before turning right, and as I did, I saw Ponyville below me. The several ponies saw me and pointed, but it mattered not to me anymore. I can fly again, and thusly I didn’t have to hide anymore. Nopony could catch me if they wanted to now. I flew around in circles, and then did some more loops, before finally turning around and heading back.

Upon landing back at the cottage, I found that Fluttershy stood waiting on her front lawn. She was clip-clopping her hoofs in ovation for me, impressed at my aerial performance. She was awfully happy to see me recovered and so high in spirits.

“Did you have a nice flight?” she asked me as I made my way over to her. I gave her an enormous foalish grin before saying:

“Yes! I had SO much fun just now. I don’t think you realize how GOOD I feel right now!” I jumped up, doing a back-flip, to show my excitement. Suddenly, before either one of us can say anything else, we hear loud BOOM before a certain blue Pegasus lands behind me, causing a spray of dirt on impact. I cringed, shielding Fluttershy with a wing from the earthy rain. Clenching my teeth, I remembered my promise to Rainbow Dash. Still, she had astonishing response time. Did she have nothing better to do?

“Looks like somepony is feeling better,” she said with a smirk. “I saw your little aerial performance from across town in my house, and heard it before that. You still game?” I cracked my neck and grinned madly before saying in a rather unnerving tone:

“Ah, but of course my dear, sweet, Rainbow Dash! Let the games begin! AND MAY THE BEST PEGASUS WIN!” Both mares smiles turned into looks of confusion and grotesque as I spoke. Just as suddenly as it happened, the feeling passed, and I was left just as confused as them.

“Oh… oh my! Did I really just do that? I... I'm not sure where that came from...” I began to rub my temple with one hoof as the two mares stood, not sure what to say next. Rainbow Dash leaned over to Fluttershy and whispered:

“You let that guy live with you?” Fluttershy replied:

“He’s never done that before.” I stopped massaging my head and looked up at them.

“I’m standing right here you realize. I can hear you,” I said, frowning. Both picked themselves up again, still looking slightly worried. Rainbow Dash spoke first:

“Well, uh… I guess we can meet at town square for the race later… I guess. Only if you want to. You know, race,” The normally brash mare sounded more like Fluttershy for a moment, before returning to normal, “I also thought you should know, I got my Wing Power Average up to 31.4! I can’t wait for our race later!” I blinked. ’31.4? That’s almost twice her last average. And she was already fast. 31.4 WPA is almost enough to reach Mach 2. I’m genuinely impressed.’

“Alright, you’ve got a deal. Town square, at high noon? So the Sun won’t be in our eyes while we fly.” She nodded before taking off, leaving a small crater from the Gs in the process. A gust of wind proved her to be at around 20 Wing Power, just from take-off. As she broke the sound barrier flying off, I looked over to Fluttershy, who now looked scarily indifferent. Realizing the implications of my actions, I continued my apology to her:

“I’m again very sorry for that. But that was a one-time thing, I promise. So don’t worry about me, ok? I'm alright.” She stood for a moment, pondering her next action, before giving in and breathing:

“Ok.” As we both headed back inside, I heard a voice behind me call out:

“Wait! Hold on for a moment!” I spun around just in time to see a grey Pegasus fly into a nearby tree. I ran to their aid, just to watch them fall from the branches onto their face. I then noticed it was a mare. Fluttershy began to make her way over, but I gestured to her to just head inside. As I helped the grey Pegasus to her hooves, I also became aware of the fact that she wore a Mail Pony’s satchel, and that she had a wonderful mane. To be honest, she had to be one of the most attractive mares I had ever seen. Then she opened her eyes. The mare was wall-eyed. ’Close, but no cigar.’

“Oh! Hello there! Sorry about that, I sometimes have trouble flying. You know, my eyes being like this. Anyway, a spooky mare told me to give this to you.” She handed me a letter from her satchel. I looked at her quizzically.

“The mare wanted to make sure that you got it. She gave me a very detailed description of you and everything! She even paid me triple in advance for me to get this to you. So here it is. Also, I’m Ditzy Doo. I don’t believe we’ve met. And you are?”

“Red Storm. Perhaps we should plan a meeting in the near future…” I said absent-mindedly, most of my attention on the letter. She didn’t seem to notice and said:

“That sounds great! I have more letters to deliver, but I will look for you when I’m all done! Bye!” She flew away, and as I waved, I opened the letter with my teeth. Inside was a small piece of parchment. It read:

Hello Red Storm. It’s been 12 years, has it not? I’m looking forward to seeing you again real soon.-W

I bit my lip. A flood of mixed emotions pulsated through my body.‘She’s alive? It’s been so long… how did she even find me? I suppose I cannot be surprised. This may be good or bad news, but all I can do now is wait and see.’ And with that, I walked back inside, letter tucked under my wing.

Author's Notes:

In case anyone was wondering, I was planning on depiciting Ditzy as rather intelligent, just with qwerks. You know how it is.