The Darkest Kind of Kindness

The morning light cascaded down into the room of the young Pegasus filly that it belonged to. Young Rainbow Dash woke up excited for a new day and eagerly flew down the stairs to greet her parents. She ate a hasty breakfast at the table and flew off to the school that awaited her. When she arrived she talked to a friend of hers, a young filly about her age that she knew quite well. Their friendship was one that bloomed from the very first time they met and had kept them together for over two years of schooling, even if the yellow mare didn’t appreciate the gryphon named Gilda that was attending their flight school as a transfer student. The day was particularly uneventful not even their flight coach had them do anything that day, presumably because he wasn’t feeling well.

When the young filly returned home she ate a quick dinner and sped back into the town wasting no time to talk to her parents about her day, she had already told them about her late afternoon plans. She eventually arrived at a candy shop that she was fond of and didn’t care to be seen inside of. The Outside of the shop was fairly plain it was made of dense cloud that was an off white due to the amount of steam the ovens produce. The inside of the shop smelled of sugar and every delectable treat that a young pony could ever dream of consuming while still only teasing you with a faint taste. Rich fudges, creamy caramels, gooey marshmallows, and most importantly Rainbow chocolate bars were all lined up in the glass case near the counter. Those Rainbow bars were the most delectable candies around, and they were produced with liquid rainbow as an ingredient, giving them a slightly spicy flavor while making the candy taste like pure heaven.

Rainbow tried resisting the urge to drool but she found herself failing at that. Eventually she managed to stop staring at all of the delicious treats and decided that today was the day that she was going to buy a couple of Rainbow bars for her playdate with Fluttershy instead of the other treats that she usually gets. The cashier looked down at the filly when she walked up and he smiled politely when she asked for a couple of Rainbow Chocolate bars. The cashier was a light brown Pegasus stallion with a light caramel colored mane and tail. His cutie mark was a trio of brownies and he wore a red vest with a nametag that read Mr. Fudge.

Rainbow quickly handed him the shiny golden bits and flew off towards the park where her friend was going to meet her. The young filly arrived at the park just in time to find her friend sitting under a tree. The tree was a particularly old one that had grown just under Cloudsdale and had a park made around it. The bark on the tree was a light gray and the bark was pretty rough, just rough enough to make a good back scratcher, but not too rough. Fluttershy was sitting under a particularly shady part of the tree were a little bit of Lichen was beginning to grow on the ancient beast. The name Posey was carved into the tree just above her head almost completely obscured by the fillies pink mane. Rainbow walked up to Fluttershy and tapped the other young filly and shouted “you’re it!”

The two fillies ran around the park playing until it started to get dark and then they started to part ways again; however, the young filly had to give her friend a chocolate bar before she left. What kind of friend would Rainbow Dash be if she forgot the candy that they both agreed on bringing....? Again.

The chocolate bar was a simple gesture that meant almost nothing, but her friend looked at the title and grimaced a little, almost as if she didn’t want it. Rainbow asked her friend why she didn’t seem to like her gift, it was the most delicious piece of candy in all of Cloudsdale, maybe even Equestria.

“Th-thank you really, but this brand of chocolate isn’t my favorite anymore. I get a lot of this brand at home and-well…I’ve been trying to st-stop eating so many.” The butter Pegasus stuttered.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped when she heard what her friend had to say, but the filly knew that was the truth behind why Fluttershy looked at the candy funny. When Rainbow Dash turned her back Fluttershy ripped open the package and crammed the whole thing down her throat when nopony was looking. A look of utmost guilt and shameful satisfaction was plastered on her features, but the bar was gone and that was all that mattered.

Rainbow Dash had witnessed her friends unsightly ravaging of the sweet confection when she looked back to make sure Fluttershy was fine. Rainbow Dash was surprised by her friend’s love of the sweets and wondered if Fluttershy actually ate anything before going to the park, but Rainbow crossed that idea off of the list. Fluttershy was the daughter of the Stallion that ran the Cloudsdale weather company and food was definitely not an issue there. Maybe Fluttershy just didn’t want her to know how much she liked the chocolate bars. Rainbow Dash looked at hers and unwrapped the piece of candy. It was a dull brown with a hint of rainbow swirls throughout it. She tentatively took a bite and the flavor of the sweetest chocolate that she had ever tasted graced her taste buds.

That candy bar was heaven on earth and the spiciness of it only added to its greatness. It was sweet and spicy and it blended together in all the right ways. The thick fudge-like bar was quickly consumed as every last bit went down Rainbow dash’s gullet. She felt happily full after that amazing experience and was severely disappointed when there was nothing left of her treat.

(_o_============================================_o_)

The next day Rainbow Dash went to school and she was, admittedly, nervous. Today was the day that the coach would have her practice flight routines along with the rest of the class, but that’s what worried her. She wasn’t the best one when it came to navigation and she got teased for it constantly, but she knew that with enough practice she would stop crashing into things, at least a little bit. She felt almost safe in the fact that Derpy was an even worse flier but that just made her feel guilty. Rainbow Dash would never admit it, especially to Gilda, but she secretly liked Derpy as a friend and they even played sometimes when Rainbow Dash wasn’t around anypony else.

The air was fairly clear that day and the clouds had been pushed out of the way allowing Rainbow Dash to easily pull off all of her practice flights with time to spare. She almost laughed at herself for having worried over such a simple task, but it wasn’t her that had the problems. Her friend, Fluttershy, fell off of the highest point of the training field and was now being ridiculed by the class bullies. Something stirred inside her when she looked at them teasing her friend, she had to do something, but what? It wasn’t cool for somepony to just make fun of somepony else when they could have gotten seriously hurt. The idea finally struck her like a bolt of lightning, making her wonder why she hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Rainbow Dash, as bold as she was, challenged those bullies to a race in a vain attempt to fight for Fluttershy’s honor. With how well she did during the practices she was surely going to have these bullies beat. The race was quickly prepared and the young filly was surprised when another group of ponies joined in including Derpy. The race started quickly and she flew as fast as she could causing the whole world to zip by at amazing speeds. Unfortunately Rainbow Dash veered off course and unknowingly knocked poor Fluttershy off the cloudbank.

Rainbow Dash corrected her path and began to speed up in order to catch up with all of the other contestants. She faintly heard what sounded like Fluttershy screaming but it was drowned out by the crowd of other students that were cheering for the racers. The bullies finally began to get closer, and she eventually passed them allowing them to stare at her in awe as she began to approach the speed of sound. The barrier began to stretch to its limits trying to keep the cyan colored Pegasus at bay. Rainbow cheered internally when she passed up the bullies but things suddenly began to get much faster than what she was expecting.

Rainbow felt like she was going to be shook apart and her whole body began to vibrate as if she were experiencing an earthquake. Then suddenly there was an earsplitting boom and suddenly the vibrating stopped and a prismatic trail of pure Rainbow color was being left in her wake. It almost like a shockwave had expanded out from her body in all directions and was now forming the prismatic band that was following her.

When rainbow Dash looked back to see what had happened, she saw a thing of absolute beauty. A ring of rainbow colors that was expanding outwards as its polychromatic beauty filled the eyes of all who beheld it causing all of the ponies that had gathered around the race to gasp. A rainbow that hadn’t been there before was following allowing her to paint the sky with its divine beauty, she was in complete awe at the thing that she had made. Then she suddenly realized that in the midst of all this beauty there was still something in store for her that was even better, her cutie-mark. She was filled with incredible amounts of joy as she witnessed her special talent. Suddenly the crowd gasped in horror when Rainbow Dash began to move carelessly. Unfortunately she hadn’t realized that Derpy was just ahead of her and the two collided in midair causing a resounding crunch to echo through the air and a few panicked screams were heard as the two plummeted to the ground. Both mares were suddenly put into a tailspin and they crashed into a nearby building causing a sickening crack to resound through the air.

Derpy slammed into the building face first causing a cascade of glass to fall on both her and Rainbow Dash while managing to crack the buildings foundation. Rainbow Dash was slightly luckier and crashed into the building with her back and wings taking the full brunt of the impact. She still managed to smack her head off of the wall and fall to the ground on top of Derpy as the glass from the broken window tore into her wings though. Derpy gave a muffled cry when Rainbow Dash landed on her, but it was soon blocked out by the scream of pain that pierced the air when a large glass shard nearly severed Rainbow Dash’s left wing.

Rainbow Dash got up and shook herself off despite feeling like she had just broken several ribs, “That was amazing,” she thought. “How did I even do that thing with the Rainbow? Ugh! That’s not important! I need to get a doctor or something!”

She looked around, searching for her friend and noticed that she was missing. There was also another filly that had disappeared, it seemed that the race was larger than she had anticipated, and that two groups of bullies had raced. The other filly that Rainbow Dash had crashed into was bleeding profusely and rainbow began to hyperventilate at the sight.

“No! Ditz-er I mean Derpy! Please tell me you’re alright! Please tell me that I didn’t kill you!” The weeping Pegasus begged.

“R-Rainbow Dash? Why is your head bleeding?” The disoriented Pegasus got out before fainting. Rainbow then realized that something sticky and red was dripping onto her snout and that they were both bleeding. Rainbow Dash began to suddenly feel very light headed and the world began to spin around her and fade into an inky blackness. She landed face first on top of Derpy’s chest and she swore she could hear somepony crying before her hearing faded away.

When Rainbow Dash woke up she was lying in a hospital bed and her parents walked over to her and quickly hugged her and let her know how worried they were. The filly barely remembered what had happened but she knew that her friend wasn’t in the room with them. After a very short explanation she learned that her friend was missing and they still hadn’t found her. Another young filly was found after the race, but she was dead when they found her. Apparently that young filly had fallen to her death and if she had survived the fall she bled out and died. Rainbow Dash felt sick, her friend was missing and a young filly was found dead, maybe her friend was dead too. But she still clung on to the hope that her friend might be found, her friend was a Posey after all.

The other filly from the race that she had collided with had been a young pegasus known as Ditzy Doo, or Derpy as the bullies and most other ponies called her. The collision had knocked Ditzy out just like it had herself, but Ditzy had been damaged beyond repair. The filly already had trouble seeing due to her eyes, but now she was suffering from mild brain damage along with a concussion, Rainbow looked at the unconscious filly and at the dried blood that coated the bandage around her head. The doctor told them that he was afraid that Derpy may never wake up again.

Rainbow felt week again, this time out of sheer terror about what she narrowly missed, and guilt for having damaged a friend like that. If they had crashed any harder they both could have died. The doctor asked her about what had happened at the race and she gave the best description that she could have given and the doctor smiled sadly.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Outside of the emergency room the doctor looked at the parents of Rainbow Dash and cleared his throat, “I-uh… I just hope that you take the bad news well.” The doctor stuttered.

“What do you mean? I thought that you said she was recovering?” Rainbow’s father asked nervously.

“We’ll…you see. Not everything is going to heal properly…I just hope you don’t take the news too seriously.”

“Well spit it out already! What’s wrong with our daughter!?” Rainbow Dash’s mom screamed.

“Mam…please don’t panic your daughter is going to live…but…she will never be able to fly again.”

“No! You’re wrong! Our daughter will fly again her wings didn’t even look that badly damaged. She’ll become a Wonderbolt like she always dreamed about…a-and we’ll all be happy for her.” Rainbow Dash’s mom stated while in obvious denial.

“Misses Dash. The damage to your daughter’s wings were severe. She suffered multiple internal lacerations from the splintering of her wing bones. The shredded muscles were patched first to stop the bleeding but the bones in your daughter’s wings are almost completely shattered, they will never heal. The left wing was already removed because it was hanging on by only a small thread of skin, the rest of it was completely detached from her body. I’m sorry Misses Dash I truly am. It always pains me to see a pony get crippled in such a way.” The doctor stated miserably.

“You know nothing! Without wings she’s useless! Nopony in Cloudsdale will let her walk around without getting beat to a bloody pulp! Our daughter will never be accepted here again!” Rainbow Dash’s mother screamed.

“Please Misses Dash calm down.” The doctor kindly asked.

“Calm down! How do you expect me to calm down when I have a crippled daughter that is going to be ridiculed wherever she goes!?”

The doctor looked at the spot where Rainbow Dash’s father should have been but the stallion had slipped back inside the room to talk with their daughter. The doctor looked back at the fuming mare before him and swallowed what little amount of courage that he had left.

“Please…I know that you are scared for your daughter especially when you are so closely tied to the Poesies. The only thing that I can recommend is to remove her wings to prevent life threatening infections and move to an earth pony town. Treat her as if nothing is wrong and let her live life as an earth pony. The pegasi will forget about her and she will be accepted by her new community and if you want to there is a multi-tribal school here in Cloudsdale that she can attend. The factory will leave her alone because she never failed the flight test and the factory only uses pegasi in their ‘work’. Please Miss Dash listen to me, I was hired to help you because of your ties to the factory and I’m giving you the only option that will save her life.” The doctor stated.

“But she will always remember being a Pegasus, she will never be happy with that looming over her head.” Rainbow Dash’s mother cried.

“There is a simple spell that unicorn doctors can perform to alter her memories, she will never remember having wings and any memories of flying will be like a faraway dream that she had. She will remember others close to her flying her places and Cloudsdale will be nothing more than her first home. I wish there was something else that we could do, but this is the only way to save her.” The doctor sadly noted.

“I wish we never knew about the Factory or what goes on in there…but if I didn’t know then my daughter would die in there. D-do it Doctor…save my child a-and make her forget about being a Pegasus…I just hope that we can explain the cutie-mark to her.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll just be a memory of a normal ground race, she will probably strive to be the fastest runner instead of the fastest flier. Hopefully she finds a job that is suitable for her. After she recovers more we will be able to transmute her magic into earth pony magic. I know what you’re thinking Misses Dash but healing broken wings is something that we are certain in and the Princess herself developed the machine for the magic transmutation process.”

“I-is it really easier to turn her into an earth pony than fix her wings?” Rainbow’s mother asked.

“Unfortunately. Even the Princess can’t heal that kind of damage, especially when one of the wings have already been removed, I’m sorry. From now on…Rainbow Dash is now an earth pony. It will be as if she never was born a Pegasus. The only thing that will remain are the scars were her wings used to be. At least she didn’t get hurt as badly as that, Ditzy, filly.”

“But that filly still gets to keep her wings doesn’t she.” Rainbow Dash’s mother said sadly.

“Well yes she does get to keep them. However, there were severe lacerations all along her legs and most of her ribs were broken. She also had a punctured lung and one of her kidneys ruptured. Several of the vertebrae in her back are cracked and there are deep lacerations in all of her muscle tissue. The mare is lucky that we were able to stop the bleeding in time but her head also received quite a bit of damage as well. Her skull is cracked down the middle but is almost completely intact, some minor brain damage was detected though. We are also unsure if she will ever wake up from her coma.” The doctor sadly stated.

“Why are you telling me this? Shouldn’t her parents be receiving this information?”

“Well you see her parents died almost two years ago during a mysterious fire and this young mare has been living with her grandparents for a while now but they are currently out of town for a different medical emergency that occurred. They told me before they left that until they got back that since you are the cousin of her mother that you would be able to help if she wakes up.”

“Wait. My cousin is dead? She had a child? She was married!?” Rainbow Dash’s mother said.

“I’m afraid so. Didn’t your family tell you?”

“No. Ever since I befriended Fluttershy’s mother, Dame Fragrant Posy, we’ve been disowned. Most of our family doesn’t tell us anything anymore.”

“Well I think that it’s time for you to go back inside with your daughter and let her know your decision before she forgets that you even made it. It helps the workers here feel better when their patient knows what is going to happen to them.”

“If it helps you sleep at night.”

(_o_============================================_o_)

When Rainbow Dash was finally released from the hospital she had a large amount of bandages wrapped around her torso and she was completely wingless. The Pegasus made earth pony just looked at the clouds that she was standing on and was confused.

“Hey! Dad!” The cyan mare said.

“Yes Rainbow Dash?”

“If I’m an earth pony why can I walk on clouds?”

“Don’t you remember? We know some nice unicorns that use a cloud-walking spell to let you walk on them.” Rainbow’s dad lied.

“Oh! Yeah I think I remember that?” The pseudo-earth pony said as if it didn’t feel right.

Rainbow Dash was sent to a new school that was for all pony tribes and not just pegasi. She began to learn how earth ponies tended the soil and the ground and was being taught how to farm. Rainbow Dash didn’t like the hard work too much and she swore that she was the worse one in lass when it came to this stuff. After a week Rainbow Dash was taken back to the hospital and her Pegasus magic was transmuted into earth pony magic using an expensive machine that was equally expensive to run. Rainbow Dash was told that all it did was gauge her magic and she didn’t question it.

After the procedure she had a cloud-walking spell placed on her for real this time so that she wouldn’t fall through the cloud layer. The next day Rainbow Dash wanted to go out and search for Fluttershy but she needed to wait for school to end. Rainbow Dash actually enjoyed her lessons more this time and she began to improve dramatically in growing things. She seemed to be exceptionally good at running and watering things though, but that was why she had her cutie-mark right? There was lightning because she was fast and there was a cloud because she was good at watering the crops. At least that what she thought it meant.

The events that led to her getting her cutie-mark were still a little fuzzy, but she still remembered putting Ditzy in the hospital. Instead of a Sonic Rainboom nearly killing the two she only remembered some weird race that involved a watering can. The race was going rather well, Rainbow Dash was clearly the fastest runner there but an accident occurred. When she was distracted by getting her cutie-mark and both her, and Ditzy tumbled off of a nearby cliff after Rainbow dash slammed into the pegasus. The events may not have been as cool as reality but Rainbow Dash still felt guilty about having hurt Ditzy.

Rainbow Dash vowed that she would make it up to Ditzy whenever she got out of the hospital. The next day arrived and then a week passed and Fluttershy was still nowhere to be seen. The absence of Fluttershy troubled her, not only had the other dead filly been confirmed as Ditzy’s friend at the race, but Fluttershy could have also fallen. Rainbow shuddered at the thought of Fluttershy being dead, especially if it was her who knocked her off the cliff. She looked out at the night sky through her window, while lying in her bed hoping that Fluttershy was safe, and that maybe, she too, was looking at those very same stars.

(_o_============================================_o_)

It wasn’t until the Rainbow’s cutie-mark party that Fluttershy finally showed up, and with her family no less. Rainbow was ecstatic when her friend finally arrived and they talked about what happened at the race. Fluttershy was confused when Rainbow Dash mentioned a land race until she noticed that her friend’s wings were missing. After Fluttershy was called away by Rainbow Dash’s parents and briefed about what had happened the young filly just looked sad. When she came back to where her friend was at the filly was bragging about how awesome her plant watering skills were.

Fluttershy just smiled and said, “I know that you take pride in your farming abilities, but please be more careful when challenging others. That is if you don’t mind of course.”

“Come on Flutters, you’re talking to the fastest earth pony to ever live. I don’t even need to challenge other ponies to know how awesome I am.” The snarky earth pony replied.

The next day Rainbow’s parents went out to visit some family member’s in Manehattan, leaving Rainbow Dash alone for a day with her teacher as a babysitter. The flower that Rainbow dash was taking care of was beginning to develop a bud, but that only interested Rainbow Dash for a short period of time. Being a born racer plants grew too slowly to entertain her for long, or anypony for that matter. Evening came and Rainbow Dash went to bed early hoping to see her parents again soon. The next day came and Rainbow Dash talked to Fluttershy on the way to school.

Normally Rainbow dash would walk to school and let Fluttershy attend her all Pegasus school and then the two would usually meet up later after their lessons were over. It surprised Rainbow dash when the butter yellow Pegasus walked up to her and asked her to talk. Rainbow Dash looked at the Pegasus before her and noticed that her eyes were all puffy and red as if she had spent the entire night crying. The pink maned Pegasus’ resolve slowly weekend and she cried, she hugged Rainbow Dash as she slowly sobbed into her coat.

“Fluttershy what’s wrong? Who hurt you this time I’ll make sure they regret it.” The polychromatic mare declared.

“It’s nothing,” the filly sobbed. “I just heard some news from my parents who were doing business in Manehattan, they thought I should be the one to tell you the bad news.” Fluttershy tried choking back her tears but they refused to slow down.

“Fluttershy, what happened? What do you need to tell me? I’m sure it’s not that bad.” The snarky earth pony said.

“Rainbow Dash… Y-your parents are d-d-dead. They suffered a tragic accident and my family members were the only ones that were around that could send the message to you.” Flutterhsy stated in between sobs.

Rainbow dash felt sick and the world spun around her as she fainted. When she finally woke up she was in the nurse’s office at her school. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen and was presumably in class at her own school after having taken Rainbow Dash to the nurse’s office. She held back her tears and went through the rest of the school day without incident. Rainbow Dash’s school teacher let her stay with her until she was allowed to be put under different care but rainbow Dash hardly felt that it was necessary.

That night Rainbow cried for the first time, mourning the death of her parents. The next day was a Saturday and there wasn’t any school, which was good for Rainbow Dash, since she had stayed up all night crying. By the time that she went downstairs she was deathly tired and her eyes were red and swollen from the amount of crying that she had done. The teacher was a little nervous when Rainbow dash left her house but Rainbow Dash paid her no mind, she needed to be away for a while.

Rainbow Dash just sat in a field under Cloudsdale, and stared at the pale blue sky and the darkness that lay beyond it. She felt empty inside, somehow it was as if the death of her parents had torn out her heart and ripped it to shreds. The Pegasus that had helped her get down there was sleeping under a nearby tree, allowing rainbow dash some level of privacy. She cried again and this time she actually tried to fight back the tears, but they wouldn’t stop coming. Her face burned with the heat that was coming from her cheeks as her salty tears slowly slid down her face as she tried to hold them in.

The next day came and she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, they were kind but they couldn’t replace the hole that was left by her parents. School was relatively pointless to her now, and she did only the bare minimum to get by. Fluttershy was worried about her behavior, but Rainbow dash always insisted that she was fine, and that she didn’t need any help. It went on like that for a moth until she finally managed to move on and accept what had happened.

(_o_============================================_o_)

The funeral procession was a simple matter, Rainbow’s parents were laid in their coffins, each coffin bearing the pony’s cutie-mark on the side. It was the only decoration that her family could afford to put on the coffins after the magic conversion. Rainbow Dash walked up to each individual casket and hugged the necks of her parents for the very last time. They felt cold and lifeless; however, she almost believed that maybe they could still be alive, that maybe they weren’t actually dead, that maybe they were just sleeping. She knew better though, their hind quarters had been crushed by a falling girder near a construction site and they died of blood loss. The only part of their bodies that wasn’t damaged was their upper body.

When the accident happened a girder was being lifted up to the top of the building and the cables broke. The girder plummeted to the ground and obliterated the hindquarters of both ponies. The company had called an ambulance and the workers tried to save them, but both of Rainbow Dash’s parents were dead by the time the medical ponies arrived. The company didn’t go under too thorough of an investigation because it was freak accident. It was just a case of too much weight being lift on a rope that couldn’t quite handle the load that was being exerted on it anymore. The company employee that was controlling the crane when it happened was at the funeral.

That pony was a stallion named Girder and his mane and tail were a rust red color while his coat was a pale blue. His cutie-mark was that of a crane lifting up his namesake. He was only at the funeral because he felt guilty for what had happened, and he felt glad that he had come out to the viewing. No other pony besides the immediate family of those two pegasi were even there, it was as if no one even cared about them. He noticed a young filly that was in tears and he felt like a knife had just stabbed him in the heart. He wondered why there weren’t very many ponies there, surely these two ponies weren’t hated, what could they have possibly done?

After talking with their family for most of the viewing, the worker realized that most of the other family members had disowned them for being close to the Posies, and those that didn’t disown them were either there, or unable to attend. The rest of the procession continued without a hitch, and the two coffins were lowered into a hole at a local Ponyville cemetery where most of their other family members were buried. The dirt was slowly poured into the holes and a single tombstone was erected for the two pegasi. It proudly displayed the names of Rainbow Dash’s parents and the day that they died.

The worker noticed that the young filly seemed to be the one that was taking it the hardest and that she hadn’t stopped crying since they had been introduced. There was nothing he could do about it though, he was just a construction worker with no ties to their family, except for the fact that he was the one who had been controlling the crane on that fateful day. He left that cemetery feeling sorry for the young earth pony who had just watched her parents get buried before she was even eleven years old.

The worker went home and prepared himself a cup of coffee and put about three cubes of sugar into it, and he thought about how hard that ten year old filly was taking things. He settled down onto his couch and relaxed, allowing himself to get comfortable before he took a sip of his drink. It was a little too sweet, but he hardly cared, he had been at a funeral all day, and he comforted what little amount of the family had showed up. Suddenly a knocking was heard at his door, he grunted as he got off of his couch and walked over to the door.

“I wonder who that could be.” He said to himself, “I’m not expecting anypony today.”

He slowly made his way to the door and looked outside his window. Outside there was a rather tall looking stallion who was dressed in a completely black suit. The stallion outside knocked again, this time the whole house shook from the sheer force. When the worker finally opened the door he received a guest that he was definitely not expecting.

“Hello my good stallion, I am Thundering Posey, a friend of the Rainbow family. I just decided to drop by and offer my sincerest apologies for any hate being flung at you, it was not your fault that you dropped those girders on poor miss Rainbow Dash’s parents.” The massive stallion announced.

“Uhm… Wait did you say Thundering Posey? As in the owner of the Cloudsdale weather corporation?” Girder asked.

“The one and the same. Now I am here to humbly invite you on a tour of the prized jewel of my corporation, the Rainbow Factory, not just a normal tour, but a VIP tour. You will get to see what goes on behind the scenes and see how rainbows are made up close.” Thundering stated.

“Uh… thanks for the offer but why should I get a tour? As you said I accidentally killed that young fillies parents.” Girder countered.

“That is exactly why I’m inviting you. You see if I give you a tour of my factory then ponies will see that I have forgiven you for the death of Rainbow Dash’s parents, and that I do not blame you for the events that happened on that dreadful day. My daughter Fluttershy was so torn up about the death of her friend’s parents that she hasn’t been eating regularly and most of the community believes that you willfully murdered them. I am here to offer you amnesty and a way out of this situation that you are in.”

“B-but…nopony believes it was my fault or that I murdered them.” Girder frantically stated.

“Hmm… Well the Cloudsdale paper seems to think differently. It’s all over the front page, Construction Worker Murder’s the Parents of a young Filly who is Associated with the Heir to the Cloudsdale Weather Company… Ooh… It’s worse than I thought. Not only will you be convicted of murder, but you will also be seen as a pony who is striking out against the very foundation of Cloudsdale itself. Everypony will hate you, unless you take up my offer and allow me to clear your name my good sir.”

“Are you threatening me Mr. Posey?”

“My dear boy if I were threatening you I would have made it much worse. I am simply here to help out my fellow Cloudsdale residents. So what is your decision? Do you accept or do you decline my offer.”

The terrified stallion looked up at the huge yellowish Pegasus that towered over him. Thundering Posey had to at least be as tall as Cadence or maybe even Celestia and he wasn’t in bad physical condition either. There was no way that he would win a fight with this giant of a stallion or even possibly run away from him, so he did what he had to do.

“I… I accept your invitation Mr. Posey.”

“Excellent, if you will please follow me I’ve got my carriage already prepared for our departure.”

(_o_============================================_o_)

Fluttershy was sitting in the carriage waiting for her father and the construction worker to return. She slowly doodled in her sketch pad making sure to color in all of the flowers first, and then just scribbling in the sky and grass like most ponies her age.  She smiled as soon as she noticed the two leaving the building and heading towards the carriage.

“Uhm… Mr. Driver, if it would be okay with you, could you please set out the refreshments for our guest.” Fluttershy asked sweetly.

“Certainly my dear.”

The driver got out of the front of the carriage and set up the drinks and snacks that would be consumed on the trip to the factory. Fluttershy thanked the stallion and patiently awaited the slow walking stallion and her father.

(_o_============================================_o_)

The worker seemed a little uneasy but he followed Thundering Posey, it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter anyways. As he approached the gold rimmed carriage he took note of how big it was. Princess Celestia could have easily fit inside along with Nightmare Nebula and Cadence. The carriage itself was made of the finest wood he had ever seen and unlike most carriages, this one was solid black in color. The door to the carriage was opened revealing the daughter of Thundering Posey inside.

“You know it was my daughter that suggested that I take you to my factory.” Thundering Posey said as he began to draw closer to the carriage.

“Really, she suggested a tour of a factory?”

“Indeed, she seemed quite convinced that it was what you truly needed to turn all of these lies around.”

“Well, that’s very nice of her.”

“Quite! My daughter is one of the nicest ponies in the whole world. I dare say that there is nothing more important to her than helping others.”

The worker finally found himself inside of the carriage as it pulled away. The interior was nice and cozy, with a couple of glow crystals in the ceiling of the carriage. The inside was relatively fancy just like the outside, with jet black leather cushions and an interior that was an assortment of various shades of red and gold. Fluttershy looked up at the stallion and asked him a few questions that he immediately answered.

The questions that she asked were trivial and easy to answer, they were questions like: when were you born and what is your favorite color? She made it very clear that her favorite color was red, and that her favorite foods were apples and hay fries. The worker almost laughed at how tiny she was compared to the size of the seats that were built to accommodate a pony the size of an alicorn. He laughed with her and they told each other jokes on the way to the factory, allowing each other to enjoy the ride.

“Here Mr. Girder please have a drink of some juice.” The yellow filly offered.

He gladly accepted it, having talked so much to the curious filly had left his throat parched, and he was in desperate need of refreshment. He took a quick swig and instantly noticed that the juice had a peculiar flavor, almost like a mix between raspberries and a certain something that he couldn’t quite place. It perplexed him but he finished his drink and continued to talk to the filly.

“Mr. Worker, if it’s alright with you, I believe it’s time for you take a nap.” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Huh…What do you mean, if you are insisting that I look tired…I …assure you…that I…am not.”

After that little speech everything for the stallion faded to black as he fell unconscious because of the sleeping powder that had been in his drink. He felt confused as he drifted off but all he heard was Fluttershy say.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you never have to deal with those bad ponies ever again.”

Then everything went dark.

(_o_============================================_o_)

The day after the funeral Rainbow went back out to the field where her parents were buried and stared at the cold lifeless stone that marked their position. She hated that stone, its foul shape and rough edges. The very fact that it was on top of the place where her parents were resting seemed almost sacrilegious. She looked at it and traced the words that were etched into the rough surface of the stone and turned away feeling no better than before. Staring at that grave wasn’t going to bring her parents back.

“I failed you guys.” she cried, “I barely spent any time with you unless it was a family gathering and I never told you guys that I loved you unless I was going somewhere. How could I have been so stupid?! I’m consider loyalty to be the best value in a pony but what does that mean when I’ve betrayed my own family with my neglect.” Tears readily flowed from her cheeks as she contemplated the very fact that she knew what neglect was, and remembered that it was a vocabulary word that week and that her teacher had told her what it meant. She managed to stop the tears and just stared at her surroundings and then she looked back at the grave.

The fields around rainbow dash were filled with flowers of every color, yet no flowers ever adorned the grave of her parents unless she put them there herself. Did the rest of her family just not care about them? She cried again, this time letting the tears freely flow over the grave of her parents. She hugged the grave almost as if it were her parents themselves, but it wasn’t. She left feeling slightly better, but also feeling very hungry. She hadn’t eaten normally in about a week and she was feeling it now. Her stomach gurgled in protest as she was flown back home by Fluttershy to her aunt and uncle in order to get some lunch.

She ate some daffodil sandwiches for lunch but still felt hungry, and her stomach gurgled as a testament to the fact that she still needed something to eat. After a larger lunch than Rainbow anticipated she went to visit Fluttershy who was taking care of a sick bird that she had found outside of her house. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy as she hummed, noticing something a little off about the young mare. Maybe it was her coat that was stained with a couple drops of blood, or the fact that she seemed to be eating the bird, or something next to it. Rainbow just stared at her while she snacked on whatever it was that she was eating and began to feel a little uneasy.

Rainbow scolded herself, “How could I be unnerved by Fluttershy she wouldn’t hurt a fly, and that blood just means that the bird is bleeding. There’s nothing to be worried about, it’s not like she’s actually eating the bird. There are probably just a couple of flowers growing next to it…unlike the grave of my parents,” Rainbow said under her breath, eliciting a small tear as she said it.

“Hey Fluttershy what’s going on!? I haven’t talked to you much for a couple of days now so I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to hang out or somethin’.” Rainbow blurted out after having mustered up the courage to speak.

The yellow Pegasus nearly had a heart attack when Rainbow announced herself. It was almost as if she wasn’t expecting anypony to come near here, Rainbow noted. Fluttershy quickly recovered and turned to Rainbow Dash, hiding the bird from view in the process. She was licking her lips when she turned causing Rainbow Dash to feel a little nauseous, as images of Fluttershy eating a dead bird flooded her mind.

“Oh! Hello Rainbow Dash I didn’t think that you would come outside after eating lunch so early. Why do you look so pale? Oh please tell me you’re not sick again.” The butter Pegasus said to the cyan earth pony.

“What? No, I’m fine. It just sorta’ looked like you were eating that bird over there, but that’s crazy. Not even Derpy would do something like that.” Rainbow dash said nervously.

Fluttershy giggled, “Wow, I guess it did look like that from another pony’s point of view. I was just examining that poor birdie over there and I happened to notice some daisies growing nearby. They are my favorite snack, so I just helped myself to the flowers.” ,As if to prove herself Fluttershy pointed to a small patch of half eaten daisies.

“Whew, that’s a relief. For a moment I thought that you might have went crazy. But it was just my imagination getting the best of me. So do you want to head over to the Wonderbolts’ show with me? My aunt and uncle bought me a ticket and said I could invite any of my friends.”

“Oh…I’m sorry Rainbow Dash but I’m a little preoccupied right now. But if you wait a little bit, if that’s okay with you of course, I will be ready in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Just make sure you’re over at the Cloudoseum by seven, you don’t want to miss the show.”, and with that Rainbow ran off while Fluttershy waved at her, while completely missing the fact that there wasn’t a bird behind Fluttershy anymore.

The show was fantastic and Fyre Fly was doing great, she was Rainbow’s favorite Wonderbolt after all. Fyre Fly was pulling off all of the big stunts and Rainbow just watched in awe as she performed. Flips were only the warmup and rolls were an easy thing to replicate, but the complex tricks came right after that and they left the crowd in a daze. Rainbow Dash knew that she could never become a Wonderbolt, but sometimes she joked with Fluttershy about making an earth pony division.

The tricks went on for hours as the Wonderbolts sped around the track and eventually it was time for the big finale. The last trick stared when two pegasi let down a large basin of water on a cloud in the middle of the Cloudoseum. Fyre Fly slowed down and dove in then she flew back out, after having allowed her whole body to get soaked, much to the delight of a large number of stallions and a select few mares. What happened next was amazing. Fyre zipped around the Cloudoseum as lights were turned on allowing the light to catch the water that coated her body. Suddenly Fyre was a gleaming comet that was flying around the stadium, and the little droplets of water that fell off of her caused tiny rainbows of color to flash briefly into existence.

Rainbow watched this part completely amazed by the display of colors and speed. She watched as Fyre flew past and seemed to wink at the cheering polychromatic earth pony. With that Rainbow accidentally flung her Fyre Fly doll into the arena, and it was seemingly lost to the fields below. After the show Rainbow Dash was so excited she didn’t even notice that her favorite toy was now missing.

“Oh-my-gosh! Oh-my-gosh! Oh-my-gosh! Did you see that performance! Fyre Fly was amazing! I can’t believe how amazing that was only a Pegasus like Fyre Fly can be that awesome at tricks.” Rainbow Dash, shouted, almost in a completely ignoring the fact that the rest of them were there.

“Well at least, somepony appreciates my work.” Fyre Fly said smoothly, “It’s not every day that a fan of mine tosses me a doll either.” With that Fyre Fly proceeded to produce the doll that Rainbow Dash had tossed at her. “So who should I make out the autograph to?”

“Uhm… Rainbow Dash! My name is Rainbow Dash!” The excited filly yelped.

“Okay, to Rainbow Dash, my biggest fan, from Fyre Fly. Here you go.”

Rainbow Dash happily accepted the signed doll and waved at her idol as they slowly walked away from the Cloudoseum.

(_o_============================================_o_)

It was incredibly sunny, the warmth of the very sun itself infused the very being of Rainbow Dash. Her parents were there, and they were smiling at her. She laughed and played with them in the endless expanse of fields that surrounded them. The flowers that they had for lunch were their favorite kinds and they talked with Rainbow about how her school work was going. She didn’t want to tell them that she was getting a D in math but she couldn’t lie to her parents.

They weren’t particularly pleased with the news, but they smiled and reassured her that everything was going to be alright. They played in the field together for another three hours and then they flew her back home. She was with her parents again, she was finally happy again. They made it back home and they talked nonstop about her signed Fyre Fly doll and the show that she had seen. The day slowly drew to a close and with it her time with her parents. They tucked her in and kissed her forehead, letting her know that she was still loved by them as she slowly began to drift away.