Fluttershy turned over, paying no heed to the dreary gray tapestry of sky that hung outside her bedroom window. All she cared about was the fact that gray sky meant rain, and rain hopefully meant a rainbow afterward. She loved rainbows; they were the few things she looked forward to these days. One of the last remnants of Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut. No, not today. She wouldn't cry today. But it had been six months and still hurt like it was yesterday. She opened her eyes again, clutching at the wedding ring that adorned her neck, held there by a fraying purple, blue, and pink ribbon. Rarity had made one for each of them on their wedding day, a symbol of their love. Even now the colors seemed duller.
Turning over she reached a hoof out to Rainbow's side of the bed expecting to feel the presence of a sleeping mare but, to her disappointment, her hoof made contact with the empty sheets.
"Fluttershy?"
The yellow pegasus snapped out of her thoughts, looking up as an orange filly stepped inside the room, carrying a smaller filly with a light purple coat, and a cyan and pink mane.
Fluttershy forced a half smile, sitting up and patting the space next to her for the two foals to sit down.
"Mama," the smallest chimed happily, crawling towards the mare as she was set on the bed.
"Storm Blossom woke up and wanted to come in here," the orange filly stated coldly.
"Thank you Scootaloo. You take such good care of her."
"Only because you've given up."
Scootaloo's statement struck Fluttershy in the chest.
"Scootaloo-"
"Don't start," the filly held up her hoof, voice holding icy emotion. "You've lied to me enough; I'm not having it."
"Baby, It's harder than it looks. I've tried to get better, honest."
"Yeah for like one day. Then the next it's 'leave me alone. I want to stay in bed and sulk for the rest of my freaking life'"
"Scoot-"
"NO!" Scootaloo burst with seething anger. "STOP CONSOLING ME WITH YOUR EMPTY PROMISES! SOMETIMES-" she clenched her teeth. "Sometimes I wonder if you love me anymore."

Poison tears began to seep from her eyes. "You only adopted me 'cause Rainbow wanted to after all."

Fluttershy felt a sharp spear rip through her being upon hearing those words. "Baby, you know that's not true."

"Is it?" Scootaloo peered back up at the yellow pegasus through hot tears. "Cause I sure as hay am starting to believe it."

She then left the room without another word, Storm crawling to the end of the bed as she watched her go.

"Scoo!"

Fluttershy laid back down, ignoring the filly's calls. It was Rainbow's idea to adopt Scootaloo after all, which was why Fluttershy felt like pushing her away. She reminded her too much of Rainbow, and Storm...was Rainbow's flesh and blood. It was all too much. It constantly felt like Rainbow was tormenting her, yelling about empty promises, shaking her now like a filly.
"Mama," Storm said desperately, barging into Fluttershy's shoulder again.
"Fluttershy, I was thinking," Rainbow sat on the bed, staring at Fluttershy who was folding some sheets.

"Yes dear?" she looked up from her work, acknowledging the other mare.

"You know, I kinda wanted Scootaloo to have a playmate. I didn't have any siblings growing up, so I thought-"

"We'd have a foal?"

"Yeah, well if you're up to it I mean-" the cyan mare nervously rubbed the back of her head.

Fluttershy smiled. "I would like that."

"Really? Oh I mean-yeah. Heh. But how will we be able to?"

"We can head over to Twilight's tomorrow. Maybe she'll know."

Rainbow smiled. "You're the awesomest mare I could ask for, you know that?"

The yellow pegasus sighed.

"What?"

"Why don't you ever say it?"

"Say what?"

"You know."

"Ugh, this again?! I told you, 'I love you' is waaaaaaayyy to sappy for my taste."

Fluttershy chuckled before pecking her on the cheek. "Well then, I'll say it. I love you."

Fluttershy's thoughts shattered as the sound of knocking resounded throughout the cloud home followed by the door opening and Twilight's voice asking if the pegasus in question was home.
"Where else would she be?" came the sarcastic tone of Scootlaoo before the door shut and the clopping of hooves neared Fluttershy's bedroom.
"Hello Fluttershy," the Princess greeted upon entering her bedroom. She only got a half mumble in response as the pegasus still faced the window.
"Twi!" Storm beamed, crawling towards the end of the bed again. Twilight smiled fondly at the filly, patting her on the head before acknowledging her mother again.
"How are you doing today?"

Another half mumble; Twilight sighed.

"Look Fluttershy, you've gotta stop beating yourself up for what happened. There's nothing you could've done."

"I could've used that time spell to tell her not to go flying that day," Fluttershy's voice was cold and hollow. Twilight sighed.

"We're not going through this again. I couldn't use that spell because that's tampering with life and death. It was a fixed point which means it was supposed to happen."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Fluttershy screamed in desperation as she jolted up, startling the two other ponies in the room. Twilight immediately tried to correct her previous statement.

"I didn't mean it like that. What I'm saying is that while I'm a Princess, I'm not a god. Tampering with life and death is morally wrong and you know it."

The pegasus laid back down. "I want you to go."

"Fluttershy-"

"I said go."

"Just listen to her," Scootaloo appeared in the doorway, wearing a stone faced expression. "She never listens to anypony anymore."

Twilight turned to acknowledge the filly before turning back to Fluttershy. "Look, I'm just as upset as you are. Rainbow was a dear friend to all of us. She wouldn't want you to torture yourself like this."

Fluttershy just waved her off as she left, followed by Scootaloo after retrieving Storm from the bed.

Silence cloaked the house once again after the Princess's departure. Twilight was wrong. If Rainbow didn't want this, why did she go ahead and die like that?

A crack of thunder resounded from outside, striking Fluttershy with an idea. Maybe...just maybe Rainbow was still out there, flying around lost. Maybe the body they recovered wasn't her, and the wild cloud that spun out just knocked her into a patch of fog? Or another cloud? A flurry of possibilities began to flood her mind at once.
Struggling to stand, the pegasus stumbled over to the window before unlatching it and flying out.

Author's Note

So yeah, my first fanfiction! Hope you enjoyed it ^^ This is going to be a two parter so keep an eye out for the second chapter. Constructive criticism is welcome ^^