"DAAAAAAAAAASH!!!" Fluttershy screamed as her wings suddenly disappeared.
What had been a casual flyover with Rainbow Dash turned into a mishap.
Rainbow Dash, not far from Fluttershy, heard the scream.
Why isn't she using her wings? Rainbow thought hesitantly as she turned around.
To her horror, she saw that those wings didn't exist anymore.
She dove after Fluttershy, but the yellow mare was accelerating faster than she was.
Fluttershy fell and she was looking up at Rainbow, who was closing in on her.
Rainbow pushed herself to go faster and faster. She strained as she broke the barrier and a trail started behind her in a sonic rainboom. Normally, Rainbow would be excited, but she was desparately trying to help a friend.
Fluttershy glanced to her left, then to her right. She could see the mountaintops 'slowly' rising.
Dash was going as fast as she could, but, knowing how close the ground was, she knew it was inevitable, but still, she tried.
Faster and faster both ponies plummetted. The wind in Dash's eyes stung her immensely, but she flew on.
Fluttershy saw something in Rainbow's eyes, and she knew that look. Helplessness was engraved into Rainbow Dash's eyes as she dove, the rainboom still trailing after her.
Rainbow Dash's dive was slightly altered by a passing breeze, nothing much under normal flight, but in this dive, it made her veer off course.
As she struggled to get back into trajectory, she started pumping her wings to see if it would accelerate her more.
As Rainbow was nearing Fluttershy, she gave one final pump and streamlined herself as much as possible, hoping to maintain the speed.
Everything was turning grey around the edges for the visions of both mares,
Rainbow was almost to Fluttershy as she said her last words,
"Reach for me..."
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"I, Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria, couldn't catch up," she said. "I was going so fast that I even pulled a rainboom while I tried to speed up."
"It's okay, sugarcube. Ya tried yer hardest." Applejack tried to comfort.
She and the rest of the living Mane Six were gathered.
"But my hardest wasn't good enough!" Rainbow shouted in grief. "I know I could have saved her." Tears started welling in her deep magenta eyes.
"Maybe if I had turned around faster, or never asked her to fly with me, maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe...maybe..." Her ears flattened as she said this, "Maybe I could have told her..." She stayed silent for more than a few seconds.
"Told her what?" Twilight asked.
"That...that I loved her..." Rainbow said, her tears now flowing freely down the sides of her cheeks. She turned her head up to look at the cherry blossoms. The biggest tree was the one that Fluttershy would have wanted to be buried near.
It was sadly beautiful, being able to watch the blossom's petals fall from the branches, and coming to rest on the ground.
Spring was Fluttershy's favorite season, and Rainbow could see why. The dirt road on which they came was surrounded by the same cherry blossom trees, standing as silent sentries to Fluttershy's final resting place.
"I remember the first day the cherry blossoms bloomed, this year." Rainbow said, her voice cracking more than usual. "Fluttershy had me over at her cottage. It was raining outside hard, so we couldn't enjoy it. Instead we were having a cup of tea as we sat in each other's company.
"She wondered why I couldn't schedule the rain until after all the petals fell off. I responded, 'Because the fields are unusually dry, and the Apple family needs the rain.'"
Everyone present stayed silent. Even Pinkie Pie with a now straight mane.
Rarity trotted slowly to the crying Rainbow Dash.
"I...I don't know how that happened. Why did Fluttershy lose her wings so suddenly?" asked Rainbow to no one in particular.
"We don't know, either," Rarity said softly.
Everyone noticed that Pinkie Pie's voice lost its excited edge as she spoke. "At least you're alive, though, Dashie."
The Element of Loyalty was broken at this. Immense waves of sadness gripped her in a cold and unrelenting grasp as she started sobbing.
"I shouldn't have let up for a second." She said between the sobs that rattled her body. "I was so close, but I had to try to stop. I should have kept going, even if it meant death for the both of us." She wiped some of her tears.
"What kind of Element of Loyalty am I if I don't want to die for a friend? I should have died with her. I should have crashed as hard as she did if I really wasn't able to save her."
"We should get going," Pinkie said somberly. "As much as I'd like to, we can't stay forever."
"Just leave me. I'll catch up with you later." Rainbow finally responded.
The trio walked away, leaving Rainbow Dash, as she wanted.
Fluttershy's headstone was positioned next to the old cherry blossom tree. Rainbow Dash walked up to both.
"Hey, Fluttershy." Rainbow started sadly.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough. Sorry about letting that breeze get to me. Sorry that... I didn't tell you sooner..." she trailed off.
She spoke up again. "If there is a pony heaven, I hope you're up there." Her gaze wandered to the clear, blue sky. "I hope you can forgive me, someday."
She cried for a bit more at the grave, every tear making an individual impression in the dirt. She looked again at the headstone. "Fluttershy" it said. There were three butterflies like her cutie mark underneath her name.
"Why didn't they let me go? As injured as I was, I still would have gone. I don't care if they would have had to wheel me there in a gurney or something just to be there..."
That would have been a bit of a stretch, but had the doctors at the hospital agreed that she could do it, she would have.
"Just one more time. I really wish that I could see you one more time. I don't care if it's in pony heaven, or in my dreams, or in real life; I just want to see you again...."
She missed Fluttershy, but that goes without saying. The group of friends she had felt incomplete to her. This would lead to greater problems than just that. Who would be the next Element of Kindness, if any? If there was a threat, how would the Elements be useable?
Sorrow, again, reverberated through Rainbow Dash's mind as she thought these.
Straightening herself, she wiped her tears for one last time, and flew off slowly to catch up with her friends.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
That night, Rainbow lay in her cloud bed. As she gazed around her room, she couldn't help but think of what happened, again.
Her tears would stain her pillow as she cried herself to a restless sleep.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Am I... dreaming? Rainbow Dash asked herself as she walked in nothingness.
There was no floor, no ceiling, and no ending where she was. She could feel the ground, but couldn't see it. The only color close enough to describe what she saw was white.
As she walked a bit longer, she saw the prone form of ...Fluttershy?
She ran as fast as her cyan hooves could carry her to her friend's still form.
"F-Fluttershy..?" Rainbow said as she approached.
Fluttershy mumbled something from her position.
"...Come again?" Rainbow asked, not hearing what Fluttershy said.
"Slow." The yellow mare sat up from where she was.
"... What?" Rainbow didn't understand.
"You weren't fast enough."
"Fluttershy... Why...?"
"Because you did this to us." Rainbow heard Fluttershy's voice coming from another angle.
as she turned, she saw her friend in the state that she was from the crash. Broken and bleeding.
"But...but..." Rainbow was near wordless.
"You claim yourself as the 'fastest pegasus in Equestria." Fluttershy's voice, coming from yet another angle, had a deep shade of malice to it.
"You couldn't catch up."
"I...I'm sorry. I couldn't."
"No matter how hard you tried, you still couldn't catch me like you did with Rarity at the Young Flier's."
No... No... NOOOO!" Rainbow screamed as she started galloping away. She knew that mainly these Fluttershys (Fluttershies?) were only revoicing her doubts.
Rainbow tripped on nothing and the Fluttershies closed in on her, surrounding her in a seemingly near-unbreakable wall.
"Weak."
"Slow."
"Doubtful."
"Arrogant."
The many Fluttershies closed in insult after insult. Rainbow covered herself with her hooves, preparing for the worst.
As the space became less and less, the insults started blending together.
As the group was almost on Rainbow, a loud voice shouted.
"ENOUGH!" it said.
Rainbow opened her eyes to see that no more Fluttershies surrounded her. Only Princess Luna was standing in front of her.
"Princess!" Rainbow said, surprised.
"Do not worry, my little pony. Those nightmares are gone."
"I-I... Thank you." Rainbow said to the Princess of the Night.
"It is nothing more but our duty to protect our subjects from these nightmares." Luna said.
"The real Fluttershy is waiting for you. Do not keep her waiting any longer than needed."
How is this possible? Rainbow thought to herself.
"Thank you again, Princess Luna."
"You're welcome. Now go."
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow woke again.
In the cherry blossom grove... that we buried her at? Rainbow thought.
Fluttershy was sitting on her own headstone, gazing into the falling petals.
"Oh. Hello, Rainbow." Fluttershy said, not breaking her gaze from the trees.
"Fluttershy..." Rainbow stood, awestruck.
Fluttershy shifted her gaze to Rainbow.
"Please... walk with me." Fluttershy said.
"Sure."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
"And then Princess Luna made the bad you's disappear, and I finally woke up here."
"Wow..." Fluttershy said, mulling over Rainbow's story.
"Yeah. Wow."
As Rainbow finished, they were, again, at the same tree.
"Rainbow... I-"
"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy..." Rainbow said as she lost her composure.
Rainbow let herself fall on her rear legs, ears flattened, looking at the tear-stained dirt.
"What do you have to be sorry about?" Fluttershy asked her.
"I wasn't fast enough. I tried, but I couldn't. I... I..." Rainbow trailed off as Fluttershy embraced her with her forelegs.
Returning the embrace, Rainbow cried all but harder.
"I know you did, Rainbow."
"It's not fair! Why..? Why did you have to die?"
"You didn't do anything wrong. You tried your best to reach for me."
There it was again. Fluttershy's last words.
"You don't need forgiveness from me."
After a period of silence, Rainbow spoke up again.
"Fluttershy..."
"Yes?"
"Can you come back with me?"
Fluttershy smiled sadly.
"This was what you wanted, right? To see me one last time?" She asked Rainbow.
"Well... yes, but I want you to come back with me..."
"As much as I'd love to, I can't,"
"Why? Can't Twilight find a spell to bring you back, or maybe Zecora can make something to..."
Rainbow trailed off again as Fluttershy raised her hoof.
"It's impossible, Rainbow. I'm sorry it has to be this way."
"I wish it didn't." Dash said.
"I wish that you could. I wish you're alive."
"But I am, Rainbow."
Dash looked up at this.
"What do you mean?"
"In your thoughts and memories, I'm still alive. Those many ponies that we helped, I'm still alive. I may be dead, but I will live on in memory."
"That's not enough."
The sound of waving branches filled the air.
"Why does it have to be like this?" Rainbow said.
"I'm sorry, again, but it has to."
More silence.
"Will I ever see you again?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't think so. This was what you wished for. Seeing me one last time."
"But..."
"I'm sorry, but you must return to your world." Fluttershy said sadly.
A simple wooden door appeared on the old cherry blossom.
"You need to go back."
"...Alright." Rainbow said finally.
As Rainbow opened the door, a shining light came from it.
"I'll miss you, Fluttershy."
Author's Note
It was really hard to write this through my tears. I had hoped that I was not as emotionless as I used to be as I wrote this. And I'm not.
For all you Flutterfans, like me, sorry that I killed off the best pony.
