Flight at Night, Full of Plight
She had first heard the news earlier that morning, in the wee hours of the night that Rainbow Dash enjoyed the most, since no one could interrupt her while she slept.
Oh, how wrong she was.
The rainbow-maned pegasus sighed as she exited the institutional building on the edge of town. Walking a few steps, Rainbow unfurled her wings and kicked off of the dirt and into the sky.
Miss Dash? Sorry to disturb you, but I have a message for you from the Ponyville General Hospital…
There were only two things that Dash loved more than sleeping; one of them is flying, and the other...well...Rainbow flew mostly for the thrill, but also to get away from….everything. Sometimes, it was exhausting just being Rainbow Dash. She needed to be loyal to everyone: to her family, to her friends, to her.
We’re sorry, Miss Dash, but there’s nothing we can do. If we had discovered the tumor earlier, then perhaps we could have done something. All you can do is comfort her in her last moments. I am truly sorry…
...Rainbow? You...you came!
Gliding through the air, Rainbow stared down at the town of Ponyville, the windows of all of the buildings darkened, save one. A light in the top window of the Ponyville General Hospital. A light located in the children’s section.
Rainbow...What’s wrong with me? I feel f-f-fine, really! They just w-w-won’t let me leave...They s-s-say there’s something wrong with my win...wings. But...I’ve never been able to f-f-fly anyways!
“I’m sorry, squirt. I’m just so...so sorry!” Rainbow shut her eyes, trying to prevent any tears from escaping, “What was I suppose to do?! To say?! That you were about to die?”
R-R-Rainbow? What’s it...What’s it like to fly?
What do you mean, Scoots? Why’d you want to hear that from me, when you’ll find out yourself one day?
I dunno...I ju-just thought it’d be n-n-nice to hear it from the o-o-one and o-o-only Rain...Rainbow D-D-Dash! T-The g-g-greatest f-f-f-flyer ever…My...my h...er...o...
Scoots? Scootaloo?! Scootaloo, wake up! Please...wake up!
“You’ve been through a lot in one day, haven’t you, dear Rainbow Dash?” A voice spoke up from beside the cyan pegasus, snapping her out of stupor.
“...Huh…?” Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at the source of the sound, squinting through her haze-filled eyes. She inhaled sharply when the figure besides her materialized into a familiar face.
Princess Luna.
“I received news of your loss from the Hospital. I give you my sorrows, Miss Dash, for I knew young Scootaloo well; had I known, I’d surel-”
“‘You surely would have helped’, right?” Rainbow snorted and sped up, distancing herself from the alicorn, “That’s what the doctors said, too. But guess what? Saying what you could have done doesn’t change what happened, does it? DOES IT?!”
Despite Rainbow’s best efforts to lose her trail, the moon princess easily caught up the the younger mare, “I know how you feel, Rainbow Dash, although you may not believe so. And if there is one thing that I learned helps a grieving a mind, it’s talking to a friend. So what happened?”
“What happened? You know perfectly well what happened! Scoots died, and there was nothing I could do to stop it! I should have known that a filly her age should have been flying by then...I shoulda seen the signs…! ”
“But how could you have known? It was not your fault, so don’t beat yourself up over something you could not prevent.”
“But she barely even started living yet! No cutie mark, no flight experience...she had her whole life ahead of her, and she thought that she would get to see it! Do you know why? No one - not even me, her big sister - could tell her what would happen! She didn’t want to know if she was gonna be okay, no! All she wanted to know was how it felt to...to fly.”
“Well? What did you tell her?”
Rainbow halted in midair, her wings flapping weakly in attempt to keep the tired, depressed pegasus airborne, “I...I didn’t get the chance to answer.”
Luna’s gaze softened as her horn glowed cobalt, causing a nearby cloud to float over, “Here, sit; you look exhausted.”
The rainbow-maned mare quietly nodded before laying down on the wispy formation, “Heh, thanks, your Majesty…”
“Please, call me Luna,” Luna settled down on a cloud of her own before continuing, “Now Rainbow...What would you have said?”
“Hm?” Rainbow was already nodding off, “What do you mean…?”
“I mean...What is it like to fly? Even though Scootaloo has left us in this world, I have no doubt that she is still watching over us, waiting for your answer. ”
“Really? You think she can hear me…?” Rainbow looked up at the sky, dotted with starry pinpoints of light, her eyes shining, “‘What’s it like to fly’...? That’s what you wanted to know, eh, squirt? But that’s just the thing; you already knew. Flying is whatever you want it to be; for me, it always felt like pure happiness and freedom. But you already knew about those, Scoots; whenever you did a trick on your scooter, or hung out with your friends...You were happy then, right? You were able to be happy with how you were living, despite not being able to fly like everypony else. And...and that made you ten times the pony I’d ever be...Thank you, Scootaloo, for being a part of my life. I’ll...I’ll never forget you, little sister…”
“Rainbow?” Luna looked to the pegasus beside her, and smiled when she saw her curled up, asleep, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned, “I see. I suppose I will see you in the future, Miss Dash.”
Silently, Luna took off into her night sky, heading back towards Canterlot. Celestia would be waking up soon, so her moon would need to set once more. Suddenly, a bright glow emanated from above the alicorn, causing her to look up into the night sky for the source. When Luna spotted it, she laughed in joy and increased her speed.
“You really were listening, weren’t you?”
That night, a new constellation appeared, one that ponies from all over Equestria would be talking about for weeks.
A bluebird without wings.
Author's Note
Entry to Equestria Daily's Writer's Training Ground #004: Rainbow Falls
