Moving On

Moving On- Intermission

“I’m not in the mood, Dashie.” giggled an intoxicated Spitfire. “Well I am babe!” Rainbow Dash said, laughing as she pounced on the golden mare. As the two landed on the rather plain bed Spitfire began to playfully push the rainbow maned pegasus off of her, but Rainbow held strong.

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were laying in a hotel located just outside of Fillydelphia. They had spent much of the previous day partying to celebrate the end of another successful Wonderbolts tour, and now things were winding down as Spitfire invited Rainbow into her room for the night. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, Spitfire only invited her in to talk before they hit the hay and wasn’t looking for any ‘strenuous activity’.

“I mean it Rainbow!” she said rather sternly, removing the smile from Rainbow’s face. “Yer drunk Rainbow,” Spitfire pushed the pegasus off of her, “just get out, this party is over!” Spitfire was beginning to get angry. Rainbow’s frown began to change into a wicked grin as she forced herself back onto her obviously unwilling partner.

“I thought you knew the deal babe! I take what I want, WHENEVER I WANT!” the light blue pegasus was beginning to yell as she stared down her mate with a fire in her eyes.

“Rainbow?” a familiar voice said from behind the two intertwined pegasus. “I believe Spitfire said she would like you to leave.”

Rainbow turned around to see a scowling Soarin’. “Oh calm down big guy, you want to join in or something?”

“No, Rainbow. I want you to go. Spitfire said she isn’t in the mood, and we do have a busy day tomorrow. This party is over.” Rainbow stared angrily at the pale blue stallion, motionless over her mate, who was growing angrier with every passing second. “I. SAID. GET. OFF!” Spitfire bucked as hard as she could from the awkward position, sending Rainbow flying upwards.

“Nice try!” Rainbow said, her cocky nature returning a bit from her anger as she caught herself and hovered above the bed. “I know when I’m not wanted you slut, besides I have a cute little bitch for just such a situation! That’s right, I lied. You really think I’d stay with only you? You aren’t worth the time and you barely get me to finish, let alone please me you WORTHLESS WHORE!” Rainbow began to hover towards the door passing a much more angry Soarin’, “So much for a party, this wasn’t even close to worth the trip. Hope you crash in your next performance, and that goes for both of you,” she turned to the dark blue maned stallion, “I’m out of here.” With that she flew out the door and away from the hotel, party-goers still dancing outside the establishment as the party followed the Wonderbolts back to their temporary residence.

~~~~

A tear fell from the pegasus’s eye as she finally found herself unable to see city.

‘How dare she. I thought she knew the deal, I’m the one in charge and yet she cowered behind him like I was nothing.’ Another tear fell as her eyes regained their fire of rage, ‘How DARE he! I took Spitfire fair and square, and he just steps in and tells me she’s in charge?! I did the work. I saved her life. She belongs to ME! And it stays that way until I say she’s not worth it anymore.’ Her tears ceased as her last thought repeated itself in her mind.

‘They act like their lives aren’t worth it or something. They know the deal, I saved them, they are mine to do with as I PLEASE.’ her scowl deepened as she glanced around at the thin clouds around her. ‘Where was I going again?’ The pegasus glanced towards the ground in thought as she began to calm down from her previous ordeal. ‘Oh yeah. Fluttershy.’ A small grin came to her face as she doubled her pace towards the cottage of her oldest friend, and first possession.

~~~~

The young pegasus began her decent as the cottage came into view. ‘It must be getting close to sunrise,’ Rainbow absentmindedly thought as she glanced to the sky trying to perceive what time it was. ‘Flutter will understand. Or not, she won’t fight it much at least.’ she half laughed to herself as she gently pushed the door open, she did so enjoy surprising the timid pegasus.

Rainbow stopped as she passed the couch. Something felt... ‘wrong’. The house was quiet. Not the usual quiet of the peaceful cottage at night, it was much more so. On a normal night the pony who inhabited the dwelling would be ‘snoring’, if such a term could describe her soft sounds, quietly upstairs, her window open for a breeze which would usually give the house a feeling akin to the cottage ‘breathing’ in and out. The whole place seemed.

Still.

Empty.

Abandoned.

Abandoned...

~~~~

Years Ago

~~~~

Rainbow Dash sat crying on her doorstep as she listened to her parent’s talking just inside the modest cloud house.

“Hurry up honey! I want to at least start heading out before sundown!” a masculine voice said from the cloud house, a growing impatience in his voice. “It’s a long flight and I don’t want to have to spend the bulk of it in the beating sun! We leave now and we might arrive before morning.” A much softer voice could be heard in reply, “No worries, dear. I just wanted to make certain the movers had gotten everything. I’m ready now.”

The two fully grown pegasus opened up the door and nearly tripped over their daughter.

“Whoa! Oh, it’s you. Did you decide to come along? You finally get over your fear of flying?” a sickening twist was heard in the stallion’s voice as if he was holding back laughter at a joke he had made.

“I... I..”

“Can’t. We know,” the stallion continued as he turned back to his wife, talking with disgust in his voice, “I still don’t know why it couldn’t have been born to an earth pony somewhere? She’s such a waste of a beautiful pair of wings.”

With that the two pegasus began to hover out the door and towards the edge of the massive cloud that made up Cloudsdale.

“If you could just get over your fear of flying you might be ‘worth’ taking along,” Rainbow watched with blurry, tear filled eyes as her father smirked towards her as he spoke. “but no, you remain a waste of space.” His smirk grew to a full smile as he noticed the tears begin to run down the filly’s cheeks, “You act as if you’re surprised we’re leaving you? Ponies are things you ignorant little foal, and you’ve wasted my time long enough, why should I continue to ‘own’ you when I can simply leave? You’re too weak and scared to even follow!” he laughed as he finished his verbalized thought, bringing a sad chuckle from his wife. The two pegasus flew over the edge of the city together, leaving a crying filly in their wake.

“Their right...” the shaking filly said through sobs. “I’m just too weak... I need to be stronger. I need to..to..” The cyan pony wiped at her eyes and glanced back up to where her parents had flown off the edge. They were long gone and she couldn’t make them out in any direction. “fly...” she finished as she opened her wings and attempted to lift herself. After a few beats of her wings she found she had left the ground and terror quickly hit her. Wings locking up she fell awkwardly back down, landing harshly on her side. As she struggled back to her hooves she thought of how lucky she was she hadn’t made it any higher.

As the fear left her shaking body she let out a sigh for her millionth failed attempt to leave the ground and ‘go’ anywhere, it had gotten harder as of late. Now not only inability, but fear plagued her attempts to leave the ground beneath her hooves. ‘And I fail again, right when I ‘need’ to go somewhere.’ she sadly mused. The rainbow maned filly began to wander the city before she fell asleep in an alley, her exhaustion from attempted flight, and fighting off tears taking hold of her as she fell into a deep slumber.

~~~~

Present Day

~~~~

Rainbow’s eye twitched as she stared into the empty room. ‘How DARE she, how DARE SHE!’ The pegasus stormed up the stairs to find the room empty and quickly flew back down the stairs with a fire in her rose colored eyes.

“THAT BITCH!” she yelled as she kicked a shelf down, hot tears running down her face. “I protect her, I get her through flight camp and protected her from this Celestia forsaken town, AND SHE ABANDONS ME!?” the couch found itself laying on its back from a swift kick from the pegasus’s athletic legs.

The mare stopped her destructive wave as she heard a scurrying behind the overturned couch. She walked over to find Angel rubbing his head as he looked back and forth disoriented, having been woken up and hit with a couch without warning.

“YOU! Where did Fluttershy go?” Her voice was steady but dark as she approached the bunny who simply glared back at her.

~~~~

Years Ago

~~~~

The first few days had been hard for the now homeless filly. She was having trouble finding sustenance and instead spent her days pushing her wings further than they had ever gone before. She figured if she couldn’t eat, she could fly. ‘Take’ that skill from whatever ‘held’ it from her. Make it her’s. Sadly, her ‘training’ only resulted in her leaving the ground for a few seconds longer than before, always landing with a sick sweat across her body and a pounding heart. On the third day her hunger was becoming inconsolable. She was able to drink wherever, and whenever she pleased thanks to the cloud material of her home town, a simple squeeze and water (of varying quality depending on where in the city she chose to drink) would come to her. It was keeping her hydrated, but it did nothing for the growling beast in her stomach.

As the hungry pegasus sat on her haunches on the corner of a street she began to think more upon what her parents had said about her. ‘I’m not worth it....I’m too weak....I need to be stronger...’ her mind continued to dig deeper into the topic of her self worth until her stomach attempted to drown her out of her mind with another tremor of sound. The hungry filly sighed and pushed herself deeper into her thoughts.

~~~~

She thought of what her father had been for their family.

While he had hit Rainbow’s mother, the mare never showed anything but a deep love for their head of the house. Rainbow remembered how with each strike her mother would claim more and more love for her father, begging for forgiveness for her failures and promising to do more to make up for each mistake. Dash hated him for it. At first. Over the years she found her mother’s constant explanations for his actions begin to make sense, she was always saying things like, ‘He loves us very much, he saved me once and does it again everyday he brings us food and provides us with this shelter.’ or ‘ He is the head of the house, he’s only trying to protect us. We must respect him for his efforts and try our hardest to pay him back.’ Rainbow listened to her sad voice intently, these talks only came when her father was away and she loved the sound of her mother’s soft voice, even if it did shake as she spoke. Over the years the ideal stuck, as much as the rainbow filly disliked her father’s methods, she admitted he had the right. He provided for the family, he could do as he pleased.

Her mind took a swing back to more recent times.

“Are you ever going to fly? Our household needs money and you know you can’t hope to get a job around here unless you fly.” a strong voice said.

“I..I want to fly Dad... I just..”

“Can’t. I know, I know.” he sighed, “We can’t wait forever for you though, Rainbow. Here.”

Rainbow watched as her father put his head under her and picked her up, gently tossing her onto his back. “Hold on,” he said as he spread his wings and took flight, straight up through the sky until Rainbow swore the ponies below were just ants. “and...now!” the stallion said as he dropped himself down with a flap of his wings, startling the filly into letting go of his mane. “Fly!”

“NOOOOO, DAD!” the terrified foal screamed as she began to fall towards the cloud that made up her hometown. Every second its features becoming more prominent, and exponentially larger. Now she could make out the buildings, she recognized the area. She glanced back to her wings and pushed them with all her strength to open but they were frozen in place. Looking back down she noticed she could make out the pegasus’ features, she thought momentarily that she recognized one from her neighborhood. Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for impact while willing her body to move with all her might.

Suddenly she stopped.

Thoughts of death filled her mind as she began to shake in her new-found stationary position. “I-I’m dead....” she whimpered.

“No. But I’m not sure why not.” an angry stallion said from below her. The filly opened her eyes to see her father below her, having caught her apparently at the last second. “D-d-dad, I th-thought I was done f-for,” Rainbow said, tears streaming her face as her body relaxed from its tense state. They were both quiet for the remainder of their flight home.

As they landed the stallion dropped his daughter lightly onto the cloud and turned her to look him in the eye as he spoke. “You didn’t even try. I gave you the best chance I could and you didn’t even try.” his voice was full of contempt for his daughter. “You know what, I’m done. I’ve tried everything I can but you have proven time and time again that you are just a waste of my efforts. You won’t learn to fly, you know you can’t work around town without being able to fly and this town is too expensive for our family. We’re moving at the end of the week, and unless you can learn how to fly on your own by then you aren’t coming. We don’t need dead weight on the trip and I’m not looking to take something that I have no use for with me to this family’s new home.” Rainbow froze in place again. She watched as her father finished his speech, he spent another while talking of his disappointment. Explaining how the family worked, how she was proving herself to be a wasted effort unlike her mother, as he put it - “Despite her many, many flaws she at least TRIES to be of use to me.”

Rainbow Dash sat outside her house, facing where her father had stood. She remembered reaching up to wipe her face as it had become irritated and finding herself matted in dried tears. She spent the rest of that week unable to even attempt to fly, each flap of her wings propelling her mind back up to her fall.

~~~~

Rainbow looked down to the mass of clouds she sat on and sniffed back a tear. ‘I’m going to have to try. I don’t have him around anymore to provide for me, so I have to get better at flying, I have to provide for myself....but how?’ She glanced to a nearby food cart loaded with grapes and heard her stomach break through her thoughts once again.

‘But I’m so hungry...’ she whined to herself. ‘I have to survive... but I don’t have any bits... and I can’t fly well enough for a job to get any.’ It felt as if a storm cloud was hanging over her as she sat there staring at the plump grapes. Suddenly an idea came to her out of desperation.

The filly stood on her hooves and began to walk slowly along the buildings, approaching the cart that lay a few feet from the building itself. It was facing towards the middle of the ‘road’ which meant following her path would lead her close to the back side of the stand. As she found herself next to it she reached towards the succulent fruit, being careful to stay behind the owner  as he handed a customer their requested vines, and snatched a vine of grapes. She slowly turned around and took a step away before she heard the owner speak up, “Excuse me miss but-” Rainbow froze. Her mind raced as she watched a shadow form around her and only one thing made sense in the jumble of words filling her head. ‘Fly.’

The young pony’s wings extended as her body gained control again. They began to beat faster than she thought possible as the adrenaline in her system took hold of her. She flew as quickly as she could straight through the alleyways and across the road opposite them. She continued flying until she found herself on the other side of the city, out of breath and slightly sticky as she had squeeze the grapes into her fur.

She sat on her haunches yet again and began to focus on her breathing, slowly returning it to a normal rate. As the filly looked down she realized that the grapes were still in her possession which caused a smile to spread across her muzzle as she lightened her grasp on them and began to shove each grape recklessly into her mouth. After a few minutes passed she felt full and had resorted to licking at her hooves as she wiped the juice from her face and chest.

“Ahh...” she moaned peacefully. ‘I did it. I survived, and all I had to do was take what I wanted and.....’ her mind froze in realization for a moment before she hopped into the air and screamed “FLY!”. The filly quickly composed herself as she glanced around at the bewildered faces around her, a blush of embarrassment spreading at their stares. As the corner returned to its normal din of conversation, and eyes fell off of her, Rainbow returned once more to her victorious thoughts. ‘I’ll prove that old stallion wrong yet! I am worth it, he should have taken me with them when he had the chance!’ A cocky smirk took over the young filly’s face as she returned to her hooves and began to walk, no place in particular in mind.

~~~~

Three Weeks Later

~~~~

Rainbow Dash was doing well for herself. She ate at least twice each day, occasionally finding an open pie vendor to rob blind which would net her a meal large enough for multiple days. Her flying was getting much better, the initial leap in ability after her first attempt to steal had been retained as she began tying each flap of her wings with the adrenaline of being chased, and the adrenaline from her stained memory of the fall. It was working. Heads often turned to try and catch what the rainbow blur had been that just passed them, before they glanced to their belongings and realized what had just occurred.

Rainbow was now flying faster than she had before, grasping in her hooves a relatively heavy bag of bits she swiped from a customer as he brought it out to buy a new saddlebag. As she made a sharp turn around the corner she came in contact with something she didn’t expect, a young yellow pegasus who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn’t stop.

As the two fillies pulled themselves back to their hooves from their painful encounter they locked eyes, one pair full of terror, the other of rage. “Watch where you’re going!” yelled an angry and slightly disoriented Rainbow Dash.

“I..I..I’m sorry. I didn’t mean t-to..” The timid filly’s voice struck a chord of sorrow in the cyan pegasus’s heart.

“Oh, uh, it’s no big deal. I mean. I was kinda rushing and I didn’t really pay much attention to where ‘I’ was-” Rainbow’s eyes went wide as she began looking around frantically for the bag she was holding seconds earlier.

“Oh, you, umm, did you drop this?” the shy filly said raising the bag of bits that she had landed on.

“Uh.. yeah, I... Thank you” Rainbow said, grasping the bag in her teeth. The cyan pegasus leaned around the corner to glance towards the still angry stallion she had just swiped her latest prize from. He was shouting at the owner and had apparently decided that she was too quick to chase. Relieved, she sat down to count out her newest bounty.

“I’m Rainbow Dash by the way, what’s your name?” the cyan pegasus said as she counted her newly acquired bits.

“Oh.. umm.. I’m Fl...” she murmured.

“What was that?” Rainbow said half listening.

“Flutter--” she squeaked again.

“Could ya say that one more time?” the pegasus said satisfied with her counting and raising herself nearer the yellow filly.

“I’m Fluttershy...” she said just barely above a whisper.

“Well nice to meet you Fluttershy! Sorry to meet and run but I really should be heading off.” Rainbow said as she tucked the bits into her wings and began down the road.

As she took her first steps she heard a mumbled voice from behind her say “Oh... I guess that’s fine, isn’t like anypony wants to hang out with me anyway...” Dash turned around to see the timid pegasus hiding her face behind her mane as she looked to the ground with her big sad eyes.

“Oh... I suppose I could stay a while if you’d like to, uh, hang out?” Fluttershy’s face lit up at the offer as she gave a small smile to Dash.

Rainbow began to grow interested in this filly, she hadn’t made any friends seeing how the other foals made fun of her from being tied to the ‘ground’, unwilling or unable to float through the air as the other pegasus did.

Seeing somepony ‘new’ meant a chance. Even without a family, she could still have friends... right?

“Oh.. I’d love to!”

Suddenly becoming much quieter she continued, “Well... I mean, if you want to?”

“Well I offered didn’t I?” Rainbow said in a cocky tone as she hovered back over to Fluttershy and sat next to her. “Anything in particular you want to do?”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin in thought as she spoke, “Well... I’m not a very strong flyer, so I can’t really race, or whatever it is you were doing.” Rainbow blushed slightly as she realized the new secret she had to hold. “Uh.. yea, well no big deal! I’m tired of ‘racing’ anyway, hehe.” she nervously laughed as she finished.

“You want to just go for a walk then?”

Rainbow stood back on her hooves and nodded to her companion, “Sure thing, lead the way!”

“Oh, you mean, you want to go with me? Like... as a friend?” she practically mouthed the last words.

“Uh, sure! I mean, unless you’d rather walk alone?”

Fluttershy’s mood lightened at the idea as another smile spread across her muzzle, “Oh no, not at all! I haven’t any friends seeing how I don’t fly much and I’m...” a blush escaped onto the yellow filly’s face as she trailed off.

“No problem at all! I used to be a bad flyer too. I bet you can be a great flyer with some of my help,” Rainbow smirked as she continued, “but for now I’d love to walk with my new ‘friend’!” Saying the word felt like it lifted a heavy weight from her shoulders, she had accomplished yet another thing she had never before. The two began down the road, both happy to have new friends in each other.

~~~~

Present Day

~~~~

Rainbow Dash stood over a beaten bunny. He sat on his knees and coughed blood onto the floor before her.

“I said where is she!” the mare yelled as she slammed her hoof into the small creature’s side again, flinging him to the wall and leaving a sickening smear of blood as he slid down.

“Where is that ungrateful bitch! That whore?”

‘How dare she claim to be my friend, how could she’ Rainbow’s thoughts were starting to overtake her voice as she talked less and less as she beat the animal. While in a full rage against her lover, she couldn’t help but feel sorrow for being abandoned again, and by her first friend of all ponies.

“Where...where is she,” the pegasus managed as a tear fell down her cheek. Angel struggled to his paws and glared at her with knowing eyes. His thoughts likely filled with bunny for ‘This pony is crazy, deranged, and dangerous.’

Angel continued his glare at the now fully crying pony as an idea struck him. He tried to raise his paw to get the mare’s attention when an immense pain hit him and he fell to his knees in agony. As he collected himself he tried again with his other paw and slapped the mare across the muzzle.

Rainbow’s tears stopped instantly as rage came back to her, “What the hay do you think you’re doing!?” she yelled as the bunny simply stared at her and raised his paw to stop her. “Oh, so you’ll finally ‘talk’?” Dash said with a smirk as she wiped her eyes off and began to stare at the bunny expectantly.

~~~~

Rainbow Dash flew through the air once again. Her buzz was starting to leave her from the party last night, now her head was starting to simply hurt from overuse as thoughts and memories intertwined in her mind.

‘So she’s in Cloudsdale is she? Hiding out with her parents most likely.’ The mare’s cocky smile overtook her face as she felt the rush of victory having found what information she was looking for. It quickly faded as her thoughts continued to pool, ‘Why did she leave me? I thought we were friends? I thought we were more than friends?’

Rainbow’s eyes glazed over as she continued her uneventful flight towards her previous home. Her thoughts demanded more attention than the clear sky she flew through, and she accepted this fact as she dove into her mind, determined to figure out what had happened to her and her dearest friend.