Days became weeks, weeks became months. My friend Fluttershy was something that I came to recently, something to put my mind off of. It seemed to be the only thing I did, even putting off work and other important events to spend time with her. She didn't exactly have a job, so it was necessary for me to take care of her from time to time. That's what friends do, right?
I suppose so.
That was me. Rainbow Dash. The one and only Rainbow Dash was beating her wings so hard and rapidly, that they started cramping. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to slow down. But I wouldn't. I couldn't. The rain coming down from above had seemingly taken quite an effect on my coat. I was drenched, my tears sort of mixing in with the water and rolling down the side of my face as I pressed on.
In the amount of time that was given I had time to think. My mind seemed to be a jumbled up mess, screaming out different opinions and decisions all at once. In the corner of my head, I could see the faint face of Twilight Sparkle, shaking her head disapprovingly.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
"What in Celestia am I doing..?"
My thoughts began to become things that I was reciting out loud. There wasn't anypony outside to call me insane, only the thousands of opinions that raced in my head. The storms seemed intense, but not as intense as the circumstances given. Upon arriving at a grassy hill, I saw the silhouette of a mare. Of course, I only knew one pony that would be out right now..
"Fluttershy, what are you doing?! You'll kill yourself!"
"I'm.. You said that you'd.. come here.." a soft voice replied.
"Are you stupid?! It's too cold to be outside!"
"You.. came.. didn't you?"
As I approached Fluttershy, I gave her a slight frown. We had planned a picnic here, but I thought she would have left when the storm came. I was an hour late. Fluttershy wasn't the element of loyalty, but at the time, she seemed more loyal than even myself. "Look, when we plan something like this.. you do realize that I won't be here when a storm like this hits?"
"I.. I'm sorry..." was the only thing she had to say, but I understood her embarrassment.
"Don't move. I'll get you home, alright? You've been outside in the cold for so long, and I wouldn't want to risk anything."
The mare simply nodded. I started to lift up from the stomach, throwing her over my back. I was a fast flier, but I wasn't exactly that strong. I thought it'd be faster if I flew there. Slowly and steadily, I made my way over to Fluttershy's cottage. It was kind of far away, so this made room for a bit of conversation. I didn't try to get carried away in conversation, but that's what I did.
"So, how have your.. animals been? You have a lot of them." I simply said, trying to get a conversation going.
"Well, I--" she was cut off by a sudden burst of lightning. She screamed, but I thought it was one of her normal little outbursts. I kept flying, disregarding Fluttershy for a brief moment.
"Fluttershy?" I queried, bringing my attention back to her again.
There was a weight released from my back. Fluttershy had fallen off. By sudden instinct, I looked down and readied myself, putting my hooves downwards.
"Hold on, I'm coming!"
My wings were under a bit of strain from the flight before, but that didn't stop me from flying as fast as my body could withstand. By my own standards, it was pretty slow. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, not something that I could break the sound barrier with. Miracles don't happen every day.
No, this was the opposite of a miracle. It wasn't every day that you're struck by lightning.
When I was feet from the ground, I heard a loud thud. I was too late. She hadn't been caught by butterflies, and her fall wasn't broken by any clouds. I was the only person that was able to save her. It was all my fault. I failed. My best friend was about to die because of me.
After she had slammed onto the ground, a scream followed.
This wasn't a soft scream. It was louder than Fluttershy had ever screamed in her entire life. Screaming so loud that I didn't even know that her vocal chords were even able to reach that volume. A voice echoed in my head. It was my own voice. The same voice was repeated over and over again, as if it was mocking me.
This is all your fault. This is all your fault. You did this. You made this happen. This is all your fault.
When I landed, I picked her up again and started flying. This time it wasn't to bring her home. There was still a chance to save her, but even I wasn't capable of such. I was bringing her to the hospital. I had blamed it on myself the entire way, and it was true. It was all my fault. I could have carried her by ground, and she wouldn't have fallen. I could have.. flew slower, maybe.
Maybe I should have not gone there in the first place. If I wasn't there, none of this would have happened. "Nonsense!" a voice said in my head. "If you weren't there, she would have been out there for hours, and would have probably caught a cold!"
"It.. was an accident.. all.. my fault.. I'm.. sorry..." a faint voice muttered through separated breaths.
We sat there, looking down at the tile. I probably shouldn't have brought up his parents, all I did was make him even more sad than cheer him up. I shouldn't have said anything, actually. I should have never gotten close to him, and I should have never dropped Fluttershy.
".. I'm stupid." I simply said to break the silence.
"Yeah, you probably feel like a real jackass right now, don't you?" he replied with a smirk.
The colt started laughing a bit. I didn't laugh until I realized that it was a joke, but my laugh was more forced and exaggerated. After the laughter stopped, we returned to an awkward silence in the waiting room. When I looked around, I realized that we were the only ponies there aside from the clerk.
"I'm sorry for bringing up your parents." I broke the silence again. This time it took him a few moments to respond.
"It's alright. You didn't know. My name is Brownfinder. What's your name?"
"It's Rainbow Dash."
"Hey, I guess that explains the color in your mane. Are you gay, or something? Dyed your hair?" the colt laughed.
"No. It's natural."
We resorted to silence again, as our eyes slowly drifted toward the tile. This time it wasn't me who broke the silence, it was the clerk talking through the microphone.
"Brownfinder, please report to room 102. Your parents are waiting for you." This sentence was repeated a few times, before the speakers make a click, and what seemed to be a static noise stopped.
".. Will you come with me?" the colt said. I didn't even know that he was talking to me until he tapped my shoulder.
"Well, I'm kind of waiting for my frie-" the colt cut me off mid-sentence.
"Please?"
I could only look down at Brownfinder in pity, patting his head. "Fine, I'll go with."
I followed the colt into the door that he pointed at earlier, somewhat forgetting about Fluttershy. It seemed like my new friend had cheered me up a bit. I could hear faint beeping noises as we got closer to room 102. The beeping noises got more and more prolonged until we opened the door.
Two unconscious ponies laid there, along with a loud, never ending beeping noise.
Fluttershy seemed a bit unconscious when I ran through the doors of the hospital, other than a few subtle noises.
Who am I kidding? She was completely unconscious.
I slipped through the reception room with my best friend thrown over my back, giving a slight glance to the people that I passed by. It wasn't where I wanted to be. Hell, I would have done anything to just go back in time and prevent all of this from happening. I would just have to manage. I proceeded down the tile, sticking close to the shadows like a changeling and looking up to the mare at the counter.
"Okay, you'll have to sign here, and then you'll have to wai--"
I cut her off, giving her a cold glare.
"My friend needs me alongside her, not in a few minutes! I'm not going to sit in the waiting room while my friend dies!" I exclaimed. I swear I could hear a faint high pitched noise from Fluttershy when I mentioned the word 'die'.
"You wait here. She goes in. Okay?"
We exchanged a moment of silence, before I delicately placed her on one of the mobile hospital beds. After they dragged Fluttershy away, I had a few moments in the waiting room to think to myself. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. All of my tears had already dried up, so all I felt was emptiness when I sat myself down. I tried to blame other things for the accident, but it eventually all went back to me.
A dark depression loomed over me as I thought more and more about what I had done. The others around me seemed a bit depressed too, but I didn't care much for them. I was selfish. But hey, who wouldn't be? My best friend just fell several feet down from the sky, I should at least be a little bit selfish. As selfish as I may have seemed, might as well try to cheer up the ones around me.
I scooted over to the one next to me. It was a brown colt that didn't have his cutie mark yet, and he looked really down. Like something had crushed him, and he did something wrong. Like he couldn't stop blaming himself, even though the ones around him tried to reassure him and tell him that it wasn't his fault. He was exactly like me.
"Hey there, you alright? You seem a bit.. out of it." I said with a pushed out, high pitched voice.
"I'm fine, leave me alone. My parents told me not to talk to strangers." he replied.
"Where are your parents now?"
The colt pointed to the door past the clerk. The door to the emergency room. I slowly nodded.
"Oh."
