Fallen Rainbow

Storm Clouds: Sequel

It was a somber day for all, for today was Dash's funeral. Everypony sat through her funeral. Giving flowers, and retelling memories they had of her. The rest of the mane six all went to the funeral, all except FlutterShy. A week later, when there was still no sign of her, the 4 decided to meet up and discuss what to do. Once everypony was gather, a heavy silence fell over the group."I'm very worried about her, ever since Dash's death, I haven't seen her at all. Do you think she blames herself?" Rarity finally asked. "Ah honestly don't know Rares. Ah mean, she was the one who tried to save her, maybe she feels that she's the one to blame." AppleJack replied. "I do hope she's okay..." PinkiePie murmured. "She might be taking it worse than us, she did know Dash for years before we all met." Twilight inquired. "Can we go visit her?" Pinkie asked. "I think that would be a splendid idea! I for one, think we should go right now!" Declared Rarity. Murmurs of agreement were heard throughout the rest. They all got up from Twilight's table, and headed for the door. Their hooves dragging slowly on the wood. "Do you think she'll be okay..?" Asked a saddened Pinkie. "I certainly hope so.." Twilight whispered. The walk to FlutterShy's was a long one, it seemed to take longer than it usually did, but finally they all saw the cottage rise up over the hill. The home looked deserted, with only a few animals hanging around and no lights on in the home. "Well, here we are.." Twilight said. They walked up to the door and knocked. After several moments of no answer, they tried the doorknob. It was locked, and when they shouted, they heard no reply. "FLUTTERSHY?" Twilight yelled. After waiting several more minutes and still hearing nothing, she decided to use her magic. The door creaked open once she was finished and they stepped inside. Everything had a thin layer of dust on it, looking as if it hadn't been used for quite some time. "FlutterShy? Are you there?" Rarity yelled. "Everypony be quiet! Ah think ah hear somepony!" AppleJack said. Sure enough, Aj did hear somepony, it sounded like sobbing and was coming from up the stairs. "Come on!" Twilgiht said the the group. When they reached the stairs, they were a bit hesitant to go up them. "Maybe only one of us should go up there..? She might not want to see a ton of ponies in her room at the same time. She might be frightened and bolt, even if those someponies are her best friends." Rarity said sadly. "You do have a point.. but who?" Replied Aj. "I can if you girls want.. I dont think Pinkie would be a good candidate, she's having enough problems of her own." Twilight said. Upon hearing her name, Pinkie came out of her daze and looked around at them. "I'm sorry.. I just.. I agree with Twilight. I don't even feel cheery myself.." Pinkie sadly revealed. She looked at the ground and started crying softly. "It's okay sugar cube, we all don't feel very good at the moment, and if you don't want to go, you don't have to." Aj said, then turned to hug the crying mare. The two sat there for a while, while Twilight went up to find FlutterShy and try and comfort her. "FlutterShy?" Twilight asked softly. She peeked into the first room she came up to, and saw no crying mare. "FlutterShy? You there?" She called a bit louder. "GO AWAY!" Came a shaky reply from the room on the far right. "FlutterShy? I'm coming in!" Twilight proceeded to the door and opened it softly. Inside, she saw a shaking mass of pink and yellow in the corner, with a small bunny next to it. "I SAID GO AWAY! I DON'T WANT TO TALK!" Sobbed the mare. "FlutterShy.. it's okay, I'm here for you. Do you want to talk about it?" Twilight softly asked,while slowly walking towards FlutterShy. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT! IT REMINDS ME THAT I FAILED TO SAVE HER! THAT SHE DIED BECAUSE OF ME!" FlutterShy screamed at her. "It's okay FlutterShy, it wasn't your fault." Twilight tried to comfort, but only seemed to cause more distress to the already sobbing FlutterShy. "YES IT WAS! I FAILED TO CATCH HER IN TIME! I FAILED TO FLY FAST ENOUGH! I FAILED HER! AND SHE DIED BECAUSE I WAS TO SLOW!" FlutterShy started sobbing even harder, and fell to the floor, shaking. Twilight walked over to her and pulled her into a hug, which she took greatly and cried into her shoulder. Finally, after an 20 minutes or so of this, FlutterShy calmed down a bit. "It wasn't your fault Shy, she was plummeting to fast for any of us to catch. And even if you had caught her, I don't think you would've made it either. You two were so close to the ground, if you had caught her, her momentum would've kept you two going. I'm glad that at least one of you lived, instead of loosing two of my best friend's in the same day." "Yeah, but I wish it would've been me who died! I wish I could've taken her place! It feel horrible knowing that I could've saved her, but didn't!" FlutterShy cried back. "Don't say that, if it had been you who died, don't you think she would've blamed herself? Would you want her to blame herself for your death?" Twilight asked softly. FlutterShy sniffled, "I.. I guess not.." "And do you think Dash wants you to sit here all sad?" "N-no.." "The come with us Shy, we're your friend's, let us comfort you. Dash wouldn't want you sitting here all alone, grieving by yourself. We all miss her, and we can all grieve together." "B-but.." FlutterShy sniffled, "What if the rest a-are mad a-at me? I think I would be mad at myself knowing that I could've saved her.." FlutterShy shakily asked. "They're not mad at you, they know that it is not your fault, and they to, want to comfort you. So won't you come with us? We can share all the happy times we've had with her, if you want to, of course. FlutterShy thought for a moment, then finally nodded. The duo shakily got to their hooves and trotted downstairs. Everypony looked up to see FlutterShy and Twilight coming down. Rarity looked at Twilight questioningly, who in return, nodded back with a small smile. Rarity and Aj breathed a sigh of relief. "So, wanna go to the library? Or do you girls want to go someplace else?" Twilight asked, looking at everypony. "The library sounds fine, Twi." Aj replied, and got nods of agreement from Rarity and PinkiePie. "Let's go then." With that, the 5 were off to the library to discuss the happy memories they had with Dash. The walk back was quiet again, with everypony clustered around FlutterShy giving her smiles of encouragement. They finally got to the library and sat around the table while Twilight prepared some tea. Once everypony was settled in and had a steaming cup in front of them, they began. AppleJack started first, then Rarity, PinkiePie, and Twilight. When it got to FlutterShy's turn, she looked like she was about to cry, but held it in and said, "The one memory, I have that I remember the most, was when Dash came to pick out a pet." She smiled fondly, remembering on how insistent she was. With that, she shared that memory and with each passing moment, her smile grew bigger. When she was done, everypony nodded happily, well remembering how Dash wanted a "cool" pet and ended up with Tank being her favorite. Everypony was enjoying themselves, and it finally came to say their goodbyes. When everypony had left except for FlutterShy and Twilight, they sat down together. "Twilight..?"

"Yes, FlutterShy?" "Do you mind if I.. stay here for tonight? I don't really want to go back to my lonely cottage tonight.." "Sure! Make yourself at home and I'll bring you some more tea!" And with that, Twilight and FlutterShy spent the night and shared the special memories they had with Dash.