Rainbow Dash:

A month after the incident with the Sider everything kind of went back to normal. But there was something I was noticing. Fluttershy hasn’t been acting like herself. I just got done racing Synith who I left way behind, when I saw Fluttershy leaving her cottage. She had on her saddle bag and was walking toward Ponyville. Synith caught up to me breathing heavily. “I told you Rainbow I’m not feeling well.” She said sniffling.

“Right.” I said back not paying much attention to her. Fluttershy had been keeping to herself more than usual. I watched her as she hovered above the ground, soon taking off into the air. Synith finally caught her breath and leaned against me.

“Can I please have my necklace back? It was a gift from Twilight.” She said before sneezing. I was pulled back into reality and looked at her. Synith looked like she was about to fall right out of the sky. I looked at the little emblem that was hanging from my neck. “Please, I just want to go home and rest.”

“Oh right, sorry.” I said taking the light metal from my neck. She smiled and grabbed the necklace from me. She slowly flew away toward her home to rest. I have been acting a little different lately, Moon says it won’t last long but I’ve been having my doubts. Once Synith was out of sight I looked at where Fluttershy had went, but she was long gone. Something was up with that mare, I wasn’t the only one acting different.

Ever since the whole thing with my dad and mine’s siders, everyone has been a little on edge. Especially Twilight, mostly because of Ashura. He has been shutting himself out to everyone. I think the last time I saw him he didn’t have wings or even a horn, he was even missing his fedora. So I can say in the least that things haven’t been the same for a while now.

I took off in the direction Fluttershy had went. It didn’t take long for me to catch up to her; since she isn’t a fast flyer it was really easy to catch her. She seemed to be lost in her own world as I came up on her. “Fluttershy?”

“Whaaaaa!” Fluttershy screamed as she turned and fell out of the sky. I dropped down flapping my wings as hard as I could. If there was one thing about Fluttershy that rained true, is that she forgot she can fly and that she drops like a ton of bricks. I was able to catch her; there was no doubt, I was the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. I’ve proved that countless times. “Oh it’s just you Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, who’d you think I was?” I asked rolling my eyes. We landed on the ground and Fluttershy sighed with relief. She looked dizzy but she stayed on her hooves.

“I don’t like others sneaking up on me.” Fluttershy said with her soft voice. She was so innocent, it was literally hard to be mean to her.

“Fluttershy, I didn’t sneak up on you. I called for you a while back, and you didn’t respond.” She looked away from me. I felt like she was hiding something, but I wasn’t sure. Fluttershy was keen on keeping secrets. I knew that myself very well.

“Sorry Rainbow, I was just lost in my head.” She said offering me a small smile. Fluttershy looked as if she was trying to make the conversation quick. What exactly was she hiding?

“So where you headed?” I asked offering a smile. Looking at me and returning my smile, she looked happy all of a sudden. I never really read into Fluttershy’s action, mostly because she was always timid and shy.

“I’m just headed to Canterlot to see a friend of mine.” She said turning to walk away. I walked with her, and she seemed annoyed with my action.

“What friend?” I asked probably a little pushy.

“Just a friend.” Fluttershy said even more irritated. I wasn’t getting the clue, my closest friend has been locking herself away and I wanted to know why.

“Fluttershy.” I said holding her to stop her. She glared at me with irriation, there I got the clue that she was annoyed. Some detective skills I had. I looked her in the eyes and her mood softened. “Are you alright?”

“What? Why would you ask a thing like that?” Fluttershy asked looking away from me. That was my indication something was up. “I’m fine Rainbow Dash, I’m just going to visit a friend who is having trouble with her new pet is all.”

“That makes sense.” I said, it really did make sense and I did believe her, but there was something that just nagged at me. But I ignored it; I apologized to Fluttershy and left her be. I started to fly in the opposite direction, when I saw someone familiar. It was Synith, she looked rather lost. “Synith you alright?”

“Rainbow? What are you doing in my house?” She asked looking at me confused. I felt really bad now, making her race me when she felt this bad. Some friend I have been.

Fluttershy:

Rainbow was a little pushy as she asked me where I was going. She believed my lie, I hated lying to my friends. But this feeling has been eating away at me. I just wanted to deal with this alone, there is no point in burdening my friends on something so small. I know I should let them help, but I don’t want help. I don’t need help. The truth of the matter, was that I was going to visit my mother. Simple and harmless, I can keep that to myself.

But this feeling I have been feeling is starting to worry me. But it’s fine, I’m use to the feeling. I took off into the air and made my way to the train station. I was no Rainbow Dash, there was no way I could fly to Canterlot. My whole life I have been a light flyer, but that’s okay, all that matters is that I am me. I don’t have to prove anything to anypony. Even to myself.

“Fluttershy!” I heard when I arrived at the Train Station.

“Yes?” I asked looking around. But no pony seemed to be addressing me. I bowed my head feeling stupid. I guessed I was just hearing things. I got on the train and waited patiently on the long ride. I was careful not to crush the presents I had in my saddle bag. They were for my mom, what I thought she would like. But the truth of the matter was that I didn’t know my mom.

The Train came to a slow stop, I sighed and made my way off of the train. It was difficult at first, because the train was crowded. I didn’t want to ruin the presents I had for my mom. I was ignored when I asked the ponies blocking my path to move. But I was able to get off, but with a consequence. My bag had been crushed by the group. I sighed in irritation and made my way to my mother’s gravesite. The grave yard near the palace was empty as usual. There was a grieving family that was just leaving as I went in. I walked up to her gravesite, the same spot Princess Celestia showed me when she told me I had a mother.

“Hi Mommy.” I said to the stone that marked my mother’s grave. I remembered the picnic we had at Rainbow Dash’s parent’s gravesite. We had a great time there, everyone was there. But here, I would do this alone. Still was unsure why, but it felt wrong to bring others here. I wanted my mother all to myself, and that is how I wanted to keep it.

“Visiting your mom I see.” I jumped from the familiar voice. I turned around and saw Ashura in armor smiling at me. “Sorry didn’t mean to spook ya.”

“Its…its okay.” I said taking a breath. He must have been at the castle doing his duty. He has to travel so far just to check up on everything and give reports. It must take a tole once in a while.

“You alright? You seem upset about something.” He asked looking worried. He was always worried about others, stuck his nose in everything that seemed to bring others down. Always was there to lend a helping hoof to anyone in need. Why would some pony being willing to go to such lengths to help others.

“Just startled, I’ll be fine.” I said quietly.

“Sorry about that, really didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you heard me coming up, wasn’t being quiet for once.” He said with a chuckle. I smiled at him; I really just wanted him to leave. “Well I should be off, take care Fluttershy.”

“Bye.” I said looking back at my mother’s gravesite. There was a rose placed near the stone marker. It wasn’t there before, and I didn’t see Ashura place it. So where did it come from?

“Fluttershy!” I heard somepony yell my name, but when I looked around I was completely alone. When I looked back at the grave stone the rose that was laying on my mother’s grave was now black and withered. “All things die and wither away!”

“Whose there?” I asked scared out of my wits. I did not get an answer, I waited a little bit. A light breeze brushed through the air. I felt a raindrop fall on my mane, and then another. Soon the rain began to pick up, and I had to leave. I left the gift I had for my mom behind, not thinking about it as I ran toward the train station. I was soaked to the bone when I arrived at the stations. To make matters even worse, I would have to wait an hour for my train to come.

“You look a little wet honey.” I heard a stallion say. I looked in his direction, his coat was a light green. His hair was like my coat, and his red eyes were haunting. But there was nothing too strange about him, he was just handsome. The best feature I would say his eyes, they were simply just haunting, in a good way. I was too shy to say anything back to him, I looked away even quicker than I looked at him. “Did I upset you?”

“N…no.” I said quietly. He didn’t hear exactly what I said. I kept my face away from him, I could feel the disappointment coming off of him.

“I suppose that was a rather stupid pick up line.” He said with a nervous chuckle. I looked at him with confusion. He was hitting on me, this boy was hitting on me, right? I wasn’t sure what to do or how to feel. “I might have a towel in one of my bags.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that.” I said a little louder, making absolute sure he would hear me. He gave me a surprised look.

“No, it’s alright. I can’t just let a pretty girl like you sit here and catch a cold. Now I know one is in…uh hah found ya!” He said before pulling out a towel and nearly everything else he had in the bag as well. “Ah…here.” He said with a nervous chuckle as he hoofed over the soft cloth. I watched him picking up his things and stuff them in the bag. “Don’t worry everything is clean, I just can’t pack to save my life.”

“That’s quite allot of clothes stuffed into one place.” I heard myself say. He looked at me with a crooked smile.

“Moving really sucks.” The stallion said with a laugh. I smiled at him, using the towel to dry off.

“Where you moving too?” I asked quietly, he seemed to not hear me at first. But soon he gave me a confused look and smiled.

“Ponyville, it’s a small quiet town near the Everfree Forest.” He said trying to zip up his bag, he wasn’t having much luck with it. I went over and pushed down on the clothes, with the two of us we were able to close the bag.

“Actually I live in Ponyville.” He looked at me with a curious look, afterwords he smiled at me.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around town then.” He said laughing meekly, I couldn’t help but blush and feel awkward.

“Fluttershy, Run!” I heard but the boy hadn’t said anything, and there wasn’t anyone around us.

“By the way, my name is Ace.” I lightly smiled at him.

“I’m Fluttershy.”

Author's Note

Please, if you have no idea what is going on or what something is, it's because your jumping ahead of the game. Please do not read beyond hear until you have read two of my other stories that come before Better off Alone. The first is Twilight's Life and Future featuring Twilight of course, and the other is Orphan featuring Rainbow Dash..

Twilight: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/34503/twilights-life-and-future

Rainbow: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/83319/orphan