The Fire in Her Eyes

Chapters

Just a kiss...
...just one kiss.
What if she...
...is just scared?
Why did she give...
...me the key to her soul?
Through the hospital...
...and into my heart.
The Magic of Love...
...will keep us together.
From Loyalty... and Kindness.

Just a kiss...

Fluttershy was fast asleep in her cottage, not a single worry flowing through her mind. She was in a land where everything was perfect. The trees swayed in the gentle cooling wind, animals of all species and sizes pranced around happily. Her lips curved to a slight smile as she looked over the plains, seeing how happy all of the animals were. She walked among the field of animals, wishing that she could have this back at home where everything was real. She knew that this was all a dream. Fluttershy had had it many times before, but she always felt as if it was missing something, or rather, somepony.

She continued to walk among the animals, her smile slowly disappearing. She knew who it was that she wanted to have and love, but it was something she never thought would work out. This mare, she was the most beautiful thing Fluttershy had ever seen. She was elegant, yet she had a certain spunk about her that drove her crazy, but she loved it at the same time. She was driven to get what she wanted done, and to say the least, she could get anything done in ten seconds flat. That always amazed Fluttershy, how Rainbow could always do something with such speed and yet with great precision for the task. Rainbow was a one of a kind mare, and she was the somepony she wished she could have. But she knew that it would never work out between them, no matter how much she would have liked it to.

Fluttershy continued to walk to the end of the pasture, where the long blades of grass swayed in the breeze. She looked up to the sky, looking for a rainbow. She saw nothing but blue and various puffs of the white clouds. She sighed and laid down in a tall patch of grass, hoping to hide from the animals that she once had admired and loved. All she wanted now was to be alone. Alone, with her.

She looked down upon her own hooves as if they had let her down in some way. To her, they had. They let Rainbow go and slip through her arms, and even when Fluttershy had wanted to tell her of how she felt, she couldn't help but shy away from it. She didn't even really understand how she felt, but she knew that Rainbow was her love. Fluttershy loved Rainbow Dash, and even though the feelings that swam in her mind at the though of that mare confused her, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed a life she wished she had.

She reached her hooves around her own body, pretending to hug and hold Rainbow Dash. She wanted to be able to look into her beaming eyes, and see the fire that burned deep within. All she ever wanted was a kiss, a single, passionate kiss with the mare that embezzled her thoughts. She didn't care if Rainbow didn't have the same mutual feelings towards her, but all she wanted was that one kiss.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, letting tears flow down her cheek and into the grass. She just laid there, whimpering at how pathetic she was for never taking action and letting her friend know of how she felt. They had no secrets, or at least that was she said. It wasn't like Fluttershy to lie to her best friend ever, but she didn't know what Rainbow Dash would do if she found out about this, or even how to bring it up in any conversation. She started to sniffle, her nose slightly runny from her crying. To make what had seemed to be dreary enough thinking of someone she had wished to live with, someone she wished to love, and to be loved, a light shower of raindrops came across the field as it gradually grew a bit darker.

The dark clouds hovered above her, as if they knew of the sadness that she was experiencing. She gave a slight look up towards the clouds, an expression of 'Why?' temporarily sitting upon her face as she looked back down to her hooves. She curled into a ball to keep warm as the rain became steadily stronger, and the wind became chilled.

She closed her eyes tighter than she had ever before. She wanted to lock out the rain, the cold, and she just wanted this dream to be over. It was once filled with joy and happiness, but now it just led her to depression. Fluttershy strained her mind, trying to end the dream as she heard a slight 'POOMPH' from above her. She looked up, expecting to see somepony kicking at the clouds. All that she was greeted with was more rain to wash the tears from her face. Lowering her head once more, she caught a glimpse if a rainbow out of the corner of her eye. She turned in excitement, hopping up off the ground and into a low hover. The rainbow seemed to be getting closer, and it seemed as if the clouds were steadily parting as the rainbow advanced. It had to be her, it had to be Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow raced past Fluttershy, the clouds tearing at her hoof with a rainbow following close behind. Fluttershy smiled, the mare she had envisioned was finally here to hopefully settle her mind. The clouds were now cleared, destroyed by the pony that flew through them just moments before. Rainbow Dash came back in the direction where Fluttershy was, gliding at a steady pace. She came to a slow stop, hovering just above Fluttershy.

'I kinda, have... uhm, something to tell you... if tha–,' Fluttershy said as rainbow stuck her hoof to the young mares mouth to keep her from talking.

'There's nothing you need to say, I already know.' Rainbow replied, a slight smile on her face as she looked upon the wet pony.

This was the moment that Fluttershy had always waited for, and Rainbow Dash was slowly advancing towards her, closing her eyes and slightly parting her lips. Fluttershy blushed heavily, and moved the hoof from her mouth to embrace the kiss. Her lips were getting close, and she could feel the warm breath on her own lips as –

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Fluttershy jumped up in her bed, a cold bead of sweat dripping from her forehead, her wings stuck in an outstretched position. She was expecting Dash to be floating in front of her face, but to her dismay, all that she saw was her room. Nothing out of the ordinary, just her normal cottage. She slowly removed the sheets that covered her body, as she slowly got out of bed to see how dark it still was outside. She parted the tan cloth curtain just a bit so she could see out into the yard, where the sun was just coming over the far horizon; giving the sky a beautiful orange glow.

She turned her head to each side to stretch before sprawling out on the floor in an attempt to loosen any muscles that had tightened overnight. With this stretch, she had also found that it often helped rid her of her wing 'problem', and it did as her yellow wings came to an easy rest at her side once again. She looked out the window again, hoping to see the rainbow mare hovering just outside of her bedroom window. She looked intently out the window, hoping. But what she wanted never came, drowning Fluttershy's hopes once again.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

She looked back into her doorway, where a young Angel Bunny stood. He was tapping his foot and pointing downstairs, implying that it was time for Fluttershy to feed him and the rest of the animals.

'Oh, but Angel, it's far too early to eat, you'll get hungry before lunch time,' Fluttershy said, her voice quiet but with some authority.

Angel stomped his foot against the floorboard once again, forcefully pointing downstairs. He was determined to win. He wanted to eat, and he wanted to eat now.

'Oh... OK, I guess if you are hungry I can give you some food now maybe,' Fluttershy said in defeat, hopping off her feet and flapping her wings to glide downstairs with grace.

Angel stood with his chest puffed out, arms crossed and an accomplished smile stuck upon his face. He followed Fluttershy downstairs as she readied him a small bowl of salad for his morning meal. She flew around the room, filling various bowls with their meals as many animals waited patiently to be fed. Fluttershy finished in a decent amount of time, and she stopped next to Angel, admiring all of the animals that she was taking care of. Angel thumped on her leg, giving her a glare.

'Uhm, no... I didn't dream about her again,' Fluttershy told him, before he shot another glare back at her.

'Well... maybe I did, and uhm, I still don't know if I should tell her about how, you know... I feel,' She told him, slightly looking away, her face turning a slight hue of pink.

Angel thumped her leg again, this time a little harder while pointing out the door. Fluttershy knew what he meant, and even if she didn't want to go and tell her, she knew she had to. It was time to, and she couldn't bear keeping a secret from one of her closest friends.

'Alright, I think I'll go tell her... after all I think that, well... I should tell her.' She slowly walked towards the door, trying to stall the task ahead.

She stopped and looked back as she reached her wooden door. She looked at Angel who sat there, his arm extended towards the door, directing her to keep on going and tell Rainbow Dash how she really felt. She opened the door quick, hoping to get out of the small bunny's sight and be able to do this at her own pace.

As she left the cottage, her face came into contact with another mares, and she could easily tell that it was her from the colorful rainbow mane that flowed from her head. Their lips locked, much to Fluttershy's initial dismay, as she embraced the sudden kiss and let her eyes close. They seemed to be locked in the kiss deeply and passionately for what seemed like forever, parting when the time seemed right. Fluttershy smiled as she pulled away, but then the impact of the situation finally came to her. The real Rainbow Dash stood in front of her, her eyes wide open and her mouth still creaked open from the kiss. She held a letter in her left hoof, a cyan feather taped to the seal.

'Oh, no... I'm so so sorry...' Fluttershy told Rainbow, slightly slinking away, hiding behind her pink mane.

'I um... Well, I uh, have to, uh, go, bye!' Rainbow said frantically, rushing away in the embarrassment of the sudden kiss.

'No! But, uhm... wait?' Fluttershy said quietly as she watched her fly away at supersonic speeds.

She noticed a small blue feather out of the corner of her eye, and tweaked her head to examine it closer. The cyan feather was attached to a sealed envelope addressed: To Fluttershy. She carefully opened the letter with her hooves, slowly pulling the paper out with her teeth. She put the letter on the ground carefully reading what Rainbow had written.

'Oh, no...' She muttered to herself, 'I didn't know that you felt that way Dashie.'

She sulked her head, hiding far behind her mane to where she could just see where she was walking out of the corner of her eye. She picked up the letter, holding it and the cyan feather close to her heart.

'I promise, Rainbow, I will fix this... I hope.'

...just one kiss.

*2 hours prior to the kiss*

Rainbow Dash paced back and fourth in her home, the clouds below her feet making a poomph sound with every step. It was early in the morning, early enough to where the sun had not yet risen over the horizon. If anything, she was supposed to still be asleep until it was at least noon. Her thoughts weighed heavy on her mind, and she just had to tell somepony about what she was feeling. Rainbow Dash wasn't even sure of what she felt. Love? Or was it just liking a mare?

She knew that the feelings that ran around her mind were deep, true emotions. But she just couldn't come to herself and accept the fact that who she had come to love was a mare, and one of her closest friends. Fluttershy was one of the most beautiful creatures she had ever laid her eyes upon. Any time that she was near her Rainbow's heart beats a hundred times faster, and butterflies filled her stomach. Her voice sent shivers down her spine; her sweet, calm, and quiet words echoing through her mind. Rainbow cared so much for Fluttershy, and she knew that Fluttershy cared deeply for her as well. It was just weird, or at least that was what she thought, that she may actually love her with everything in her heart. At times when she and Fluttershy were alone, she wished deeply to embrace her and give her a gentle kiss to tell her of how she felt.

But she was scared. She was scared to give her heart to anypony, ever since her heart was broken during Flight School. She gave everything to him, and he was her life. She thought that he was the one, the one that she may be able to grow old with. She knew at the time it was a silly thought, but she just wanted it to be true. He was her everything, he was what she lived for. He was that, until she caught him one day holding hooves with another mare. She didn't confront him, but she spent days in her room curled up in a ball, tears flowing from her eyes. After that, she gave that colt a swift beating for what he did to her, nothing to major but enough to knock the wind out of him. And ever since he shattered her heart into a million different pieces, she has feared love and attachment. She didn't want to hurt somepony by not caring enough, and she didn't think she could survive another heartbreak.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself to know that her friend would never try to hurt her, she didn't want to feel rejection. She didn't want to be rejected by the one she may actually love.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts as if it was an Etch-a-Sketch. No matter how much she shook her head, she couldn't stop thinking about her. No matter what she did, no matter where she went, she thought about Fluttershy. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing that she was always in her mind, it was knowing that Fluttershy wasn't hers. She wanted Fluttershy to herself.

Rainbow stopped pacing around the room, her head drooping and her ears falling flat on her head. She realized that her and Fluttershy could never be together, even if that was what she wanted. She knew Fluttershy liked colts, it was just something that she 'knew'. A lone tear formed in the corner of her eye, sliding down her cyan cheek and onto the floor where she stood. She felt as lonely as the tear, nopony to hold, only making its way down with nopony to save it. She thought back to the times when her and Fluttershy sat on top of the hill behind her cottage, watching the sun as it fell below the horizon, leaving behind streaks of purple and orange. She remembered those days. The days where they would just sit there, and Fluttershy would talk about her day as Rainbow listened. There would even be days when Fluttershy would break down into tears for no reason, claiming that she was alright no matter how much Rainbow Dash would question whether or not she really was. After every moment of bonding on that hilltop, they would hug; each pony squeezing the other one tight before letting go of each others embrace.

Some of the times, Fluttershy would look at her, eyes glistening from the sunset. The orange and violet hues stemming from the horizon falling perfectly among her face, shrouding her in a radiant glow. She was exceedingly beautiful at these times, and Rainbow Dash often wished she had a camera to capture such images. Rainbow had attempted a kiss with her at one point, slowly leaning into Fluttershy before backing out and turning it into another meaningful embrace. She always wanted to give just one kiss.

She lifted her head, a slight smile sneaking its way onto her face. She would enjoy that kiss, if she ever had the chance to give or receive it. An idea popped into her mind, and she flew towards her desk in a flash. It was covered with magazines, the front pages mostly composed of pictures of the Wonderbolts. With one swipe of her hoof, she pushed all of the magazines off the desk and onto the cloud layer. She searched through her mess of drawers, flinging paperclips and random papers around the room until she found her bottle of ink and a quill. She carefully looked through the piles of paper, looking for a blank piece that had not been crumpled or torn. Her eyes narrowed as Rainbow Dash dipped the tip of her quill in the ink and began to write.

Dear Fluttershy,

She started and continued to write. Within ten minutes, Rainbow had written a full page of her deepest and truest emotions, letting her know of everything she had to say; including the Flight School incident. She re-read what she had written, biting down on her lip knowing she was giving so much information to such a delicate pony as Fluttershy. The tip of the quill hovered over the last paragraph she had written, contemplating on how to end a letter she had put so much of herself into.

Love,

Rainbow Dash

P.S. I know you like colts, and that's OK. I just wanted to tell you because you have been my longest and best friend.

She was confident that she had made a fool of herself. One hundred percent sure of it. That didn't matter though, she knew how much this would mean to Fluttershy. Fluttershy always loved it when Rainbow poured out her emotions to her, as she had done a few times before on those hilltop evenings. She always cared about what Rainbow had to say, and she always seemed to know what to say. She always made Rainbow Dash feel like she was accepted in some way, no matter what any other pony thought, and Dash always loved that about her.

She folded the letter in thirds, carefully putting it into a perfectly white envelope, licking the glue seal gingerly and with love. Rainbow took her hoof and ran it along the seal, making sure it was closed to keep anypony else from seeing its top secret contents. She nervously smiled as she turned the envelope over.

To Fluttershy

She titled it, pressing her lips to the word 'Fluttershy'.

The sun had started to show its glow above the horizon, slowly converting the dark night sky to shades of magenta. She took a moment to admire the beauty if the sunrise, and how much it reminded her of the times with Fluttershy watching the sunset. Fluttershy's eyes made their way into her mind, the fire of kindness and love burning deep within her very existence. She hoped that Fluttershy understood how she felt, although she knew that her friend would love her no matter who or what she was. After all, they were the best of friends. Rainbow Dash turned her head to look at her wings, reaching her head back and pulling a single feather from her wings, letting a slight yelp escape her throat. She took a single piece of tape from the dispenser that lay on the floor, taping the feather to the back of the letter.

Rainbow Dash trotted to the door of her house, the letter held in her hoof. She opened the door, a small squeaking noise coming from the hinges. Dash slammed the door closed behind her, jumping into the air and gliding towards the surface of the earth and in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.

The sun was starting to get closer to coming over the horizon, and she knew Fluttershy would be up soon to feed all of her animals, so she would have to make the drop-off of the letter quick if she could. She glided towards the small cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, most of her animals still sound asleep in their pens. In an attempt to keep as quiet as she could possibly be, Rainbow Dash stopped at her mailbox, opening it and placing the letter inside. She closed the mailbox, keeping her hoof on the lid. She sighed heavily, not sure if this was the right thing to do. She thought of what she would do if Fluttershy was in this position, and she knew what had to be done.

If Fluttershy was giving Rainbow a letter such as she was, Fluttershy would deliver the letter to the door. She wouldn't leave it in the mailbox, she would make sure it made it to her door. So take it to her door she would.

Rainbow Dash started to walk towards the dimly lit cottage, the cobble stone on the bridge partially damp from the morning dew. She stopped to stare at the steadily flowing stream below the bridge. She looked down over the rail and into her own reflection, her face painted with nervousness.

'Just breathe in... and out... in... and out...' Rainbow muttered to herself in attempt to calm her nerves. 'Fluttershy is probably still asleep, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. It's going to be OK.'

She took a final breath deep into her lungs, exhaling slowly. Rainbow Dash set her eyes straight ahead, meticulously scanning the cottage for any signs that Fluttershy may be awake. Her feet continued to move ahead, step by step, even though her mind was telling her to run away and hide in the safety of her home. But she continued up the pathway to the front door, her hooves making a less that audible clicking with each and every step. Rainbow Dash lifted her first hoof up onto the first step, followed by the rest of her hooves. She felt as if butterflies would come flying out of her mouth if she even dared to open it; her belly was filled with them.

She stopped right in front of the door, looking down at the letter she held in her hoof. She made sure the feather she ripped from her wing was still attached to it. One deep breath later, she extended her hoof to place it though the mail hole, when the door of the cottage flung open.

A bright yellow colored mare came bursting out of the home, colliding with Rainbow Dash. Dash lifted her head just in time to meet Fluttershy, pressing their lips together from the impact. She just stood there as she felt a spark move from Fluttershy's lips, a surging warmth pulsing through her body. She felt Fluttershy's lips slightly part as she fell deeper into the kiss. Dash opened her mouth slightly, some of Fluttershy's sweet breath flowing over her lips.

Fluttershy pulled away, and all that Dash could do was just stand there in awe at what had just happened to her. Had Fluttershy... actually kissed her? The letter fell from her hooves and it fell in a zig zag motion towards the ground. Her breath was gone, all of it taken from her body by the surge of excitement from the kiss.

Rainbow's mind finally came back into reality, processing what had just happened. She glanced towards Fluttershy, who was now slinking back behind her mane, obviously embarrassed. Dash tried to say something to her, something to say that she loved her. Something to let her know how she really felt. She wanted to tell her, but what she had wanted to say was drastically distorted by her mouth.

'I um... Well, I uh, have to, uh, go, bye!' Rainbow said, bolting away towards her home in the clouds, leaving the stunned Fluttershy in front of her cottage.

Rainbow Dash bolted inside her home, slamming the door without hesitation to keep anyone from following her inside her home. She didn't think Fluttershy would follow her up to her home, but she placed her back against the cool, cloud door, spreading her forelegs out to make sure the door would stay shut. She was breathing heavily, a smile planted on her face as she heaved her chest in and out. Her back slid down the door and she sat on the floor, her hooves out in front of her.

She raised a single hoof to her lips, feeling where Fluttershy had kissed her. They were still tingling, and she enjoyed the feeling of this... love. Dash smiled at the thought that they might actually have a chance to be together; she thought Fluttershy had actually moved deeper into the kiss. So that had to mean that she felt the same way towards her, right?

Rainbow Dash reached towards her floor with her other hoof searching for the letter. Not feeling it anywhere around her, she promptly sat up and began a thorough search of the space in front of her door, both inside and out. She searched and searched, even though the letter obviously wasn't there.

'Fluttershy...' she mumbled to herself, opening the door to her home and looking off in the direction of the cottage.

What if she...

Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage, the day teeming with a new brightness. The mare she had hope loved her with the same passion loved her back. She could have burst at the seams from being so tremendously overjoyed at the news, but she couldn't help feel a bit of remorse for the kiss. Sure, she had enjoyed it with every fiber of her equine being. The feeling of her lips still rested heavily on her lips; it almost felt as if they were still there. Something here didn't make sense though. Fluttershy replayed through the events in her mind, a slight 'squee' after re-enacting the touching of their lips, the flow of her breath, and the look in her eyes in her mind.

'If Rainbow really does love me... then why... did she run away?' Fluttershy asked herself aloud, setting it on repeat in her mind.

All Fluttershy could ask herself was why. Why would she just fly away? Why was the only question she could ask herself. She took the letter in hoof, placing the cyan feather in her own mane as a reminder. She flapped her wings a single time, thrusting her body into the air. Fluttershy gracefully flew through the air, over the various animals that were feasting on their breakfasts. She glided up her staircase, the grain of each stair seeming to be embedded with an image of Rainbow Dash. A smile threw itself across Fluttershy's face, her mind filled to the brim with the cyan mare.

She arrived at the top of the stairs, slowing slightly to turn into her bedroom. A profound 'SQUEE' escaped her mouth as she threw her entire body onto her mattress. Fluttershy landed heavily, grunting as she bounced on the squeaking mattress a few times before coming to a rest. The air that flowed through the room seemed to be filled with an aura of joy; everything in the room seemed that much greater in her eyes at the moment. The sun was brighter, and the flowers perkier than they usually were. All her emotions, the love in here heart burning furiously and the joy in her soul shining bright, stemmed from the feather that was buried inside of her mane. She lifted her hoof to touch the feather, a slight spark shocking her as she touched it, Fluttershy retreating to hide behind the footboard. It was nothing more than that of a simple static shock, but it was enough to startle her.

Fluttershy climbed back onto her bed, grasping the cyan feather between her hooves and bringing it closer to her eyes to examine it. The thought that it may have just been an elaborate prank ran through Fluttershy's mind, but for some reason she just knew that it couldn't possible be a prank. From the way Dash had acted earlier, she was more scared and embarrassed more than anything. If it would have been a prank of any kind, she would have stayed around and been barely able to keep any sort of composure. But why. Why did the feather give her a slight shock? It didn't matter if it was a prank or not, she was obsessing over one of the smallest gifts that Rainbow Dash had ever given her. Her heart was wrapped around this gift, and no matter how small or insignificant any other pony thought it was, it was the thought and love that Dash had put into it. Dash was never one to part with her wings, they were everything to her. Her life, her personality, and who she was made to be. For her to take a part of something that was everything and give it to somepony, she must really care.

'She cares...' Fluttershy mumbled, tears of joy forming in the corner of her eyes.

Fluttershy closed herself into a tight ball, a content grin forming on her lips. Her eyes closed as she thought back to the most cherished moment in her life. She brought her hooves closer to heart, the cyan feather emitting a shallow aura of light. As she brought it closer, the aura slightly grew brighter. The contact with her breast stunned her and drew the breath out of her lungs. She lay there as the feather transferred its love into her body, her mind suddenly rushing through the times that Fluttershy and Rainbow had spent together. The images flew through her mind faster than light, but she was still able to see the detail of every image as it passed by, almost as if it was a movie playing out before her. The realization of the affection Rainbow held for her sent a wave of energy coursing through her body, Throwing her eyelids open as she took a deep breath in, filling the void in her lungs. Everything started to become clear as the actions and words of Dash became more and more understandable. She loved Fluttershy back, but why had the bravest mare in all of Equestria failed to tell Fluttershy about her feelings? Even though Dash wasn't one to talk about feelings or any of that 'mushy' stuff, she never backed down from anything. Never.

'Is... she scared?' Fluttershy asked herself in a low melancholy tone.

Her mental state dipped momentarily to depressing thoughts of how Rainbow Dash must have felt if she was, in fact, scared. She never thought that such a brave pony could ever be scared of love. It meant showing emotion and letting that pony into her heart. It even meant letting her guard down to let that pony in.

She wasn't always like this, Fluttershy thought to herself. She was brave and never let anything get in her way in Flight School... Her mind went back to the letter that lay on the mahogany nightstand by her bed, faintly remembering something about flight school in the letter. Fluttershy sat up on the edge of the bed, pulling the feather away from her heart and setting it next to her on the bed. She picked up the letter, scanning it for anything that had to do with flight or Flight school. Half way through the page, she found it.

She found the source of Rainbow's every fear and what made her so scared to love again. It was Flight School, just before her and Fluttershy had become friends.

Fluttershy sat alone on a puff of cloud as she watched all of the other fillies fly around and play with one another. She envied them. She envied how free that they were being able to fly where they wanted. She envied their friends, because they actually had some friends. Fluttershy just sat where she was, a sandwich in her hooves. She leaned her head forward and opened her mouth to take a bite of the hay-fry sandwich as a pair of young fillies whizzed past her, knocking the sandwich out of her hooves. It fell onto the cloud on which she sat, bounced slightly and fell off of the cloud, plummeting towards the earth far below her. Fluttershy stared off of the cloud, her eyes beginning to water as she was on the brink of a tear fest.

Just as she let a tear drop from her eye, she heard a low OOMPH as a brown colt came tumbling through the air in her direction. Fluttershy ducked just as he passed over her head, landing head first in a cloud behind her.

'Oh... my... Are yo – ' She tried to ask the colt before being interrupted by a streak of rainbow.

Fluttershy sat there, hiding behind her mane as the rainbow streak tackled the colt. He let out a groan of pain with the initial impact. However, he was not ready for the barrage that Rainbow Dash would soon release on him.

'WHY!' Rainbow called out.

'Ple – ACK – ase – NGHN – stop...' the colt managed to get out as Rainbow released her fury onto him, kicking and punching relentlessly.

'Can... you please stop that? You're hurting him...' Fluttershy asked quietly, the rainbow pony ignoring her. 'Please... YOU'RE HURTING HIM!'

Rainbow stopped her hoof mid air as it was coming down onto the colt, staring back at the pony who had spoken up. Fluttershy was now standing on all four hooves. She soon realized what she had said, and fell in refuge behind her pink mane.

While Dash was distracted by the actions of the yellow filly, the brown colt managed to escape her wrath due to the help of his friends carrying him off.

'Do you KNOW what you just did? YOU let him GET AWAY!' Rainbow yelled at Fluttershy. Fluttershy tightened up and sank her head, the flowing pink mane completely blocking her sight.

'You... YOU... l-le-let hi-him...' Dash said towards Fluttershy, her voice dripping with sadness.

Fluttershy cringed, the sound of the ponies voice hinting of betrayal. She used her hoof to part her hair back around her ears to see a small rainbow pony sitting on its haunches where the colt had been. Tears were streaming from the ponies eyes it continued to bawl. Fluttershy studied the pony for a few moments before deciding to comfort Rainbow Dash. She hopped off of her cloud, emitting a small 'EEP' when she descended to rapidly. She struggled to regain her flight, ascending back up to the cloud that Rainbow Dash sat on. Her hooves were to her eyes while she wailed, and all that Dash could have wanted was for all of this to be over.

Fluttershy landed on the cloud Dash sat on and walked over towards the troubled pony. She slowly approached her, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder before embracing her in a comforting hug.

'He... he and her... why...' Dash mumbled, tears streaming down the sides of her cheeks while a line of snot began to run from her nose.

'Shhhh... it's ok, it's all going to be OK. Just quiet now...' Fluttershy told her in a soothing, motherly voice.

Rainbow Dash continued to cry in Fluttershy's embrace, letting the tears and sorrow flow from her body. Fluttershy felt that she had made a new friend, even if it wasn't under the best of circumstances, at least she was there to help. If it wasn't for her, what would be of the colt now? She didn't want to know what would have happened to him if she hadn't intervened, but she was at least happy she could care for something in pain; somepony that was in pain.

Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, remembering how much pain Rainbow Dash had been in that day. That was a day that she wished that she could forget, but she couldn't. She made a dear friend that day, and even if it was the worst possible day in the world, she wouldn't forget something that held a special place in her heart. She glanced back over the page, reading part of it aloud.

'I saw him holding hooves with some other pony,' she read.

Fluttershy remembered that Dash was crying about him that day, and since this was in flight school... That was when she lost faith in emotion and trust in anypony, no matter how much they were there. He was the pony Dash thought would be there until the end. She thought that he was the one, but he broke her heart into a million different pieces, irreparable even through the expanse of time.

'She doesn't need to be scared... I never want to leave her... but what if she only likes me?' Fluttershy asked herself, a lone tear sliding down her cheek. 'She may have written me a letter, but what if it was only meant as a like letter?'

She looked out the window towards Ponyville, the Ponyville General Hospital in view. She watched it and the surroundings carefully, knowing Dash's tendency to accidentally get hurt. She just stared towards the hospital, wishing Dash safety wherever she was now.

But the question remained in her mind.

What if?

...is just scared?

Rainbow Dash stepped back from her doorstep, letting a heavy sigh escape her lungs. She walked towards the window, gazing out into the endless abyss that lay beyond the horizon. The sky was always there, no matter when or what happened. It was the one thing that Dash could always count on in life. She needed someone to count on, not just something such as the sky.

It was there as an emotional barrier between her and her friends for the most part since Rainbow would normally soar across the sky whether she was sad or angry, happy or nervous. It helped her cope with almost everything she had felt. When she was flying, she started to gradually think of Fluttershy more and more. Flying couldn't solve all of her problems or fill the hole in her heart. She knew that, but she just didn't know when the day to find the one to fill the void of love. All she ever wanted to be loved, but since Flight School she had never wanted to open her heart to any other pony. Something deep within her sub-conscious told her to stray from any such thing that may call for that, and that was why she always seemed uncaring for any of the 'mushy' joys on life. But to her, they weren't joy or happiness, but rather a deep resonating feeling of regret and heartbreak.

Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear her mind and looked towards the floor, a tear forming up in her eyes. She didn't know what to do, or even what she was really feeling. All she knew was nothing. She didn't have the faintest idea on how why she felt the way she did. The feeling plagued her mind and shook her body; she was scared.

She kicked a hole in the cloud layer that was her floor and dropped straight through it. She found herself hovering far above the lake that lay below. The water slightly sparkled as the small waves crossed its surface.

Rainbow Dash jetted towards the lake, a hoof ahead of her leading the way as she gained speed. Her wings beat at a consistent rhythm that slowly grew faster as her body gained velocity. The wings attached to her body started to ache with a mild pain, but she continued to push on. From the corner of her eyes, a mixture of tears and watery eyes made a small stream down the side of her face. The eyes that shone of loyalty and love became clenched shut as she neared the lake below her.

'I don't want to hurt you... You deserve much better than me. I... just don't know anymore. I wish you knew that... I am scared. Scared to hurt you and leave you alone.'

A mach cone began to form around her front hoof as she came closer to breaking the sound barrier and making another sonic Rainboom. That wasn't what she was after with the speed. She was in a game to end it, speed bringing her utter demise. The cone began to conform around her body, closing in tighter. Her body knew she was on the brink of a sonic Rainboom, and her instinct to go just that much faster kicked in.

She opened her eyes at the last moment, her mind racing in thought as another wave of tears flowed off of her cheeks. In the final moment before the impact, her mind raced through the memories of her and Fluttershy, and how much fun they had in their years as friends. It was never that she had felt alone with Fluttershy at her side. She had always had that sweet mare there to care for her; and she never realized that Fluttershy felt the same way that Dash had. She loved her. She truly loved her for who she was, not for being the fastest flier, or even an awesome pony. She loved her for who she really was.

A small stream of rainbow formed behind her as she reached optimum velocity, achieving the sonic Rainboom just before impacting the water. Her body launched into the surface, instantly becoming as hard as rock from the immense amount of speed she had collected. A plume of water shot up straight into the sky, while her body got tossed across the surface of the water as if it was a skipping stone. The lake had practically emptied from the water Rainbow Dash had sent up into the sky, but it came crashing down on top of her, with just as much force as the impact. She had felt bones break and shatter as she skipped across the surface of the water, but none of that mattered anymore. All that she was thinking about now was how she had let her best friend down. How could she have been so selfish to pull such a stunt to take her own life when another pony cared for her so much? She had let everyone down that she had loved.

How could I have done this... she thought. I have everything anypony could want, and even more. I am leaving them all with nothing. Nothing on where I went. Not a valid reason, but how selfish I was. And now I am sinking to the bottom of a lake. I really so not deserve to be loved...

The pain from her sustained injuries became intolerable as she sank deeper into the lake. Water began to trickle into her mouth as she lost all connection with reality. Her eyes began to roll back into her head. Before her eyelids shut, she saw something, or somepony coming straight towards her. The pony had a yellow colored mane, and the coat seemed to be a gray color. There wasn't any way to be sure if it was really a pony or not; she could have been easily hallucinating it. She didn't care whether it was a pony or not; and she let her eyes close.

'I'm so sorry Fluttershy...' she mumbled as the last of the air in her lungs bubbled to the surface.

Rainbow's mind came back to its senses, expecting some sort of searing hot pain to plague across her body. That feeling never came, however. She slowly opened her eyes, only to be looking into a vast expanse of pure black. There was no color where she was except for her own bright rainbow mane and cyan coat. She lifted her head slightly, looking over her body expecting it to be covered in bandages. But where she expected bandages, there was none. There was just simply nothing here, not even another pony. It was almost as if she was floating in limbo.

Signals flowed through her nerves down to her legs, telling them to move. She wanted to move. But she couldn't, it was just like she was paralyzed. She realized now that she didn't have feeling in any of her extremities besides her head. Rainbow started to panic as she came to a realization that she may actually be dead and that she may have actually left Fluttershy and all of her friends.

'Rainbow...' a soft voice called out behind her. 'Rainbow...' it called out again.

She knew the voice. It was very familiar, the eloquence of the voice ringing through her mind as she tried to place the pony to whom it belonged. It was almost as if it was caring for her, as if it loved her and was actually glad to see her.

'Fluttershy?' Rainbow asked as she rotated her head to look in the direction from where the voice had came.

'Yes,' Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. 'Now you can go, just as you had wanted. You can leave the world and everything behind.'

Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow Dash's immobile body, gently brushing over her back with a hoof. Dash hadn't expected to feel anything, but where the hoof had gone, there was a warm tingling sensation. Fluttershy slid her hooves under Rainbow's body, lifting her body afloat with the power of her own wings.

'Its OK now, Rainbow. Its all over.'

'NO! I don't want it to be over anymore!' she cried, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. 'I want to stay now!'

'You already knew you wanted to go, so now I will help you.' A heavenly light broke the darkness ahead, filling it with a warm glow. 'Don't be afraid now, this won't hurt.'

Fluttershy started to slowly approach the light up ahead, Rainbow laying limp and crying frantically in her hooves. She looked up towards Fluttershy, hoping that she wouldn't take her into the light. She had wanted to go before, but now it was different. Something inside of her had clicked and now she just wanted to live. She wanted to live, and be with her.

'Please... don't take me into the light. I don't want to die! I know that now. Just please believe me!' she asked Fluttershy, but she continued to fly forward with a straight face. 'Please! I don't know what I wanted, I was just scared. I didn't know what to do. I want to live. I want to! I don't know what I would do if I lost you... Just please Fluttershy. I love you.'

She stopped in dead in the air, her wings being the only thing that was moving. Fluttershy's face kept the same expression, and the light had become so close that the warmth coming from it was almost uncomfortable.

'Do you really love me, Rainbow Dash?' she asked, looking towards her with an antagonizing glare.

Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh. 'Yes, I do. I'm sorry for what I did. I was just... scared.

'Then you can go back, Rainbow Dash, but it is always best to face that in which you fear, rather than run from it.'

Fluttershy dropped her hooves, letting Dash fall into the endless abyss. She began to fall faster as she tried to call to Fluttershy, but her voice was mute. She still had no control over her body, so it flipped in a rag-doll style through the air, before impacting a wet surface below her. Her mind blackened as she lost connection with the dream.

Rainbow cracked open her eyes, her body searing in a white hot pain. She could feel herself moving somewhere and water splashing over her muzzle. She was moving somewhere even though she couldn't actually move her legs. She felt the sand passing by her body, slightly massaging her bruised and broken body. She cracked her eyes open to the point where her vision was blurred. She couldn't muster up much energy to do much, or even blink.

Through the pain that seared her body and the water that was in her lungs, she knew she was lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for whoever had come into the water to save her, she surely wouldn't have been here. Through the her blurred vision, she had a moment of clarity to see the cutie mark of who had saved her before blacking out once again. The flank of bubbles swam in the dark and dreams of unconsciousness.

Why did she give...

The hardwood floor beneath Fluttershy's feet chilled her hooves as a sense of dread fell into the surrounding air. Muscles in her body began to tighten. Her room grew hotter, and Rainbow came across Fluttershy's mind. Her grace and power was always a factor that she had enjoyed with Rainbow Dash, but this image of her seemed to be different. It was as if Dash was on the brink; about to let go of reality and all of its connections. Fluttershy scrunched her eyes together and grit her teeth, trying to keep back a volley of tears.

She didn't know why she wanted to cry, or why she even felt like there was something tragically wrong with Rainbow. Something in her heart just told Fluttershy to worry about her even though her mind told her that everything was alright.

Fluttershy was alone in her room, the bed made neatly, the curtains swaying in the gentle breeze that was flowing through the windows. She knew that there was nopony else here, but she had a feeling like someone was watching her. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see if anypony was actually standing behind her. She cracked her eye open slightly, turning her head just enough to look behind herself. Her lower jaw dropped as she turned in a flurry if pink and yellow, racing over to the rainbow figure that lay on her floor.

The image of Dash was terrifying to Fluttershy, her body was battered and bruised and looked like she had been doused in hundreds of gallons of water. Fluttershy extended her hoof, slowly reaching out towards the pony that lay on the hardwood floor. As her hoof grew closer, she could feel the beating of Rainbow's heart in her own. The hoof rested upon where her heart was; it still beating strong. Fluttershy closed her eyes for a moment just to let the feel of her heartbeat resonate through her hooves and into her body. The enjoyment of being able to know her heart still beat was glorious for her, but the fact if this hallucination was real – that would mean Rainbow would be hurt somewhere. She would be somewhere, hurt and unconscious near water where she could possibly drown.

Fluttershy began to panic as she felt the heartbeat that echoed through her body come to an abrupt stop, and when she checked for the mare that once lay in her room, now was only a damp messenger bag laying on her floor. She was shocked to see what had replaced the fabled mare of her dreams, mainly because there was only one pony on all of Ponyville who had this type of bag. The resident mailmare, Derpy Hooves. It just all seemed off to Fluttershy; Rainbow Dash unconscious in a puddle of water with injuries, and Derpy somewhere nearby. Fluttershy had nothing against Derpy, she thought she was a nice pony and all, but she was not the type to be around Rainbow Dash. She would much rather be around a flier than a mailmare. Not to mention her lazy eyes, those also did tend to freak out Dash a bit when she was around her.

The hoof that had touched her body was slightly damp from touching Rainbow's body. Her eyes became locked on her hoof . She knew that Rainbow was in trouble, but she had no idea where to even start to look. Out of the corner of her teal eyes, a faint cyan aura could be seen.

The glowing aura caught her attention, and she swiveled her head to face the glowing feather that rest on her nightstand. Her eyes were wide at the sight of the feather emitting its own light; she had never seen such a thing before. Fluttershy was scared of it, but at the same time she wanted to get closer and figure out why it was glowing. Was Rainbow on the other end of the glow? Did she give the feather to her just as a gift, or something ever more meaningful and special?

Fluttershy's hooves made a slight click noise with each step she took as she inched closer to the feather; never breaking eye contact with its mysterious forces. Inching closer to it, the glow became slightly brighter with each and every step. As she finally reached the letter, the entire room was engulfed in pure black instantly, startling Fluttershy. She looked around to her left and right, but there was nothing in this void but darkness. That was until her eyes fell upon a rainbow mane across the darkness, and it was undoubtedly Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy could hear her sobs as they echoed, and she felt the need to be by her side and comfort her with everything that she knew to be true.

With a powerful thrust of her delicate wings, she was airborne and heading in the direction of Rainbow Dash. Her body was gaining speed and she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body as she came nearer to Dash. She could almost smell her, but then an invisible was constructed itself between the two ponies, letting sound in but not out.

'Rainbow!' Fluttershy yelled many times, worry and sorrow dripping from her voice.

She tried to call to her, but it was to no avail. She could see and hear her best friend and the mare she loved crying but 10 feet out of her reach. The mane of Rainbow Dash was partially matted and dripping with water, and Fluttershy had the urge to just stroke it with her hooves. That was one thing that Dash had always enjoyed when she was stressed or injured. Sometimes all a pony really needed was a caring hoof to glide through their mane. Fluttershy didn't know why she liked it, but she knew that that Dash needed that now more than ever. Her hoof extended to reach for her mane, but was stopped by the barrier in front of her. She sunk her head low at the though of being helpless when her friend was in such dire need of help and compassion, but she heard Rainbow speak those four words she had wished to hear for sometime.

'I love you, Fluttershy,' Rainbow murmured in her weak and broken state. 'I love you.'

Fluttershy let a smile escape her lips, and she closed her eyes for a moment to let those words sink into her mind. 'I love you.' The moment came when her eyes opened, and she was standing in front of her window, staring out over the fields with the feather in hoof. Her eyes glanced back down at the feather, when she noticed how oddly shaped it was. There was something different about it, but she just couldn't place her hoof on what it was exactly. The magic flowed strongly through it, but she just couldn't figure it out. Fluttershy had seen what Dash really felt, saw her current state, and it almost felt like she was looking into her soul. Fluttershy lout out a small gasp, finally realizing the importance of the lone feather that had been given to her.

It was more than special, it signaled an undying love to whomever it was given. It was the signal of devotion to that pony, and for a pegasus it was practically considered a marriage proposal. Fluttershy knew the importance of what she was holding, and what may have come of it. Had this feather been plucked from the pegasus before his or her time, there was no telling what could happen to the pony. Mental instability, emotional distress, and sometimes could drive a pony into insanity.

Fluttershy gave a slight smile to the feather, but that smile quickly faded to sorrow as she placed the feather into her mane. Rainbow needed her help more than ever, and since she had pulled such a stunt to give Fluttershy a signal of such affection, she felt that it was up to her now to go and find Dash no matter the cost. Her mind was still reeling at the thought of being given such a gift. She couldn't help but wonder why Rainbow would give it to her since she knew what could come of it. Why her, of all the ponies in Equestria, why did she deserve Rainbow's...

...Soul feather.

...me the key to her soul?

'Bubbles...' Rainbow Dash muttered. 'Bubbles...'

Derpy Hooves stood over Rainbow Dash, not understanding why she kept saying bubbles. Mail floated calmly across the lake as Derpy did her best to attend to the injured Rainbow Dash. She could feel that there was something different about Dash, but she just couldn't place her hoof on what was missing. It couldn't have been that important, Derpy thought to herself. It can't be that important if I can't find it... she trailed off, looking at the underside of Rainbow Dash's wing. Near her chest, there was a fairly large blank spot that was often referred to as the “Soul Feather”. To anypony, it was just said to be a myth but they were still advised not to take it out because of what could possibly happen if a pony did remove it.

'You stay here Rainbow Dash! I'll go get help!' Derpy said to her as she took off towards the Ponyville general hospital.

'Please... No...' Dash coughed, a searing hot sensation of pain shooting through her body.

A groan escaped her as she endured the pain and tried to keep the tears forming in her eyes from escaping. It didn't matter of what was happening to her and how much pain she was in, there was no room to be a wuss and begin to cry. There was only one thing that she could do in her current situation, and no matter how much Dash wished she could do something, she could only lie there and try not to move. Nearly every bone in her body felt like it had been broken or bruised. Never in her life had she expected this to happen, but then again she had never expected to tell Fluttershy how she really felt.

More fatigue was washing over her body; the fight to stay awake becoming harder with every coming second. Eyelids became heavier and heavier and Dash didn't have enough energy to keep them open any longer. Her eyes closed, all sense of reality slipping away from her in the process. After what seemed to be an eternity, voices began to stir around her. Somepony else was here with her, and with the last of her strength, she summoned the word 'help', but only her lips moved, no sound escaping.

A hoof slipped under her body, pain shooting across wherever the hoof touched. At first it was only one hoof, then multiple others joined. The ponies around her lifted in unison, placing her on a cold plastic surface. Straps came down across her hooves and her body, securing her to the backboard. A foam neck support came down over her face to prevent any extra damage. As soon as she was secured, she felt the sensation of flight flow through her aching body.

Rainbow Dash cracked open her eyes, the world around her an inconsistent blur. She tilted her head as much as the neck-brace would allow her to in an attempt to get a better look at the ponies that carried her. Everypony around her had a pink mane, and a yellow coat. Dash looked again at each pony, and this time she was sure of what she was seeing – each pony around her seemed to be Fluttershy.

A rhythmic, monotone beep echoed through her ears, irritating her mind enough to wake her. Her eyes opened wide, darting around the new room she had been transferred to. The arms and legs that she had once taken for granted now had no feeling in them, and any attempt to move them was a failed quest. The only thing that she thought she had feeling in was her head and neck, presumably the only things that she could control anymore. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a pink mane covering a pony in the far corner of the room.

'Fluttershy...' she croaked, her mouth parched. Dash attempted to call to her again, 'Fluttershy...' but no action was invoked by her calls.

Rainbow Dash just sat there in the hospital bed, hooves laying at her side and legs outstretched in front of her. There was an IV giving a steady stream of medicine into her body, which could have most likely explained why there was no pain to be felt. Eye contact was kept with Fluttershy, and her eyes began to flow a river of tears. Her mouth stood agape, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't come to say it. Sobs of fear and sadness permeated from her, Fluttershy finally turning towards her.

'Rainbow Dash... Its nice to see you again,' she said, Rainbow simply nodding a slight smile crossing her face. Fluttershy looked over to her side, grabbed a pillow as white as clouds, and stood up from where she was. 'I just can't stand to see you like this, Rainbow. I'm really, really, sorry.' Fluttershy began to walk closer to her, fluffing the pillow between her hooves.

Dash began to panic, her head turning rapidly from side to side hoping to see someone who could save her. She needed someone to save her, it was all that she needed. Fluttershy came closer and reached her bedside. 'I'm so sorry...' she muttered one more time before placing the pillow over her face. But nothing happened even with the panic that Rainbow had exerted.

Rather than cutting off the air supply, the pillow had sent her somewhere new. She stood in a cottage room, a yellow pony clutching a cyan feather to its chest standing directly in front of her. Both just stared into the eyes of one another, unsure of what to do in this situation. Fluttershy started by slowly raising her hoof, followed by Rainbow Dash moving hers. Both hooves came up slowly, inching towards the other. They got closer, and with that each pony's heartbeat increased dramatically. The hooves came to a close, completing the lost circuit and emitting a blinding blue light from the cyan feather. Memories rushed through Rainbow's mind; memories of her past with Fluttershy and what had made her love her in the first place. It was all there, from Flight School to the times up on the hill watching the sunset.

These memories were considerably different than that of which she remembered; last she remembered, she saw Fluttershy in the memories instead of looking upon herself. A lone memory broke free from the strand, floating into Rainbow Dash's vision as a mirror. She was looking upon herself because she was in Fluttershy's body, not her own. She had taken a copy of Fluttershy's memories and had been able to experience everything from her perspective, and she realized that Fluttershy was just as nervous about everything as she was.

It wasn't all that new to her by now, but she came to the realization of what she had finally done. She had nearly committed suicide over the fear of rejection, and the fear of the unknown. What would any relationship be if there was never the unknown, the risk, and the willingness to give everything for that special somepony?

Lights passed by one by one as Rainbow Dash was pushed down the hallways of Ponyville General Hospital, Derpy flying by her side to make sure that Rainbow Dash would be safe in the hooves of the doctors. Doors opened and closed as they got farther into the center of the hospital. Derpy had to eventually be left behind, a choice that had to be made for her, even forced upon her. Just before Derpy was taken from the side of Rainbow Dash, she said four words that made Dash's will to live much stronger.

I'll go get Fluttershy.

Through the hospital...

Fluttershy sat on her haunches, her mind still recovering from what had just appeared in front of her. It didn't make much sense that this could have happened, but then again no pony really knew the full effects of a Soul Feather. Most of the time, pegasus didn't bother with it because of its unknown and mostly undesirable affects. She could feel Dash's pain in her own body, but it wasn't painful in a sense. Fluttershy knew that she was hurt, and she knew exactly where in Dash's body. But what worried her sick was the fact that she had no idea where Dash could possibly be. Then again, in that hallucination, or whatever it was, it faintly looked like there was a hospital bed in the background. Fluttershy hopped to her hooves, looking out the window towards the Ponyville General Hospital. The sun was beginning to set behind it, so she could barely make any discrimination between the hills and the hospital itself.

That didn't matter to her though, Fluttershy knew that she had to do this for Rainbow Dash. Since she had made a leap of faith and put herself out there to Fluttershy, even though it was somewhat indirect, Fluttershy knew that it was her duty to help her no matter what. Fluttershy bolted out of her cottage room, the door flying open and sending Angel Bunny flying straight into the wall. She didn't even notice what she had did to Angel. All she cared about now was getting to Dash and being by her side. Flying past all of the animals in her home, she threw the front door open, nearly tearing it off of its hinges.

Various animals took off in a flurry of nervousness and fear; some thinking that the 'new' Fluttershy had come back. To their comfort, the 'new' Fluttershy hadn't come back, but something was apparently wrong. She never flew that fast, especially around any of her animals because of her fear of accidentally knocking one over and injuring them.

Fluttershy dashed through the sky, the golden blaze of the setting sun glimmering over her body and giving her a heavenly glow. The way that she was flying showed grace, yet it showed determination to get to Dash, no matter what she had to do. Flying was harder than she thought it had been in this light, the sun shone directly into her eyes, partially blinding her and highlighting the fire that burned within. There was a small black dot ahead of her, and it seemed like it was getting gradually bigger with each moment she continued to fly. She squinted her eyes, trying to distinguish what in the hay was coming at her. It got closer and closer, and before long she noticed it resembled a pony. But by the time she had decided to move out of the way, her decision was in vain.

The two ponies collided, sending both of them careening into the ground and into a large bed of flowers. Fluttershy opened her eyes, stood up and dusted herself off. At least where I crashed was pretty, she thought to herself, looking on at the flower field around her. About twenty feet away, another pony rested in another patch of flowers. That mare kept trying to stand, but kept falling over. Fluttershy noticed the color of her hair, and saw, for a brief moment, her cutie mark.

“Derpy?” Fluttershy called out.

“Oh hi Fluttershy. OH Fluttershy! You need to come with me, Rainbow Dash needs you!” Derpy said to Fluttershy, finally regaining her balance and pulling her yellow mane out of her face.

“What's wrong with Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked aggressively, charging over to where Derpy stood.

Derpy pulled back at Fluttershy's changed demeanor, “Uh... she's in the hospital... I found her when she was drowning and saved her.”

Fluttershy embraced Derpy in a tight hug, giving her a brief kiss before making haste towards the hospital. “Thank you for saving her, Derpy. It means a lot.”

Derpy stood there blushing, “It... it was no pr-problem Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy turned her head to look back at Derpy, who was still standing in the field of flowers, her mane flowing slightly in the wind. She hadn't expected to daze her that much, she just did it as a thank you. She just hoped Derpy knew it was just a thank you and nothing more.

She continued to fly, but at speeds greater than she had ever been able to achieve before. Fluttershy would arrive at the hospital in no time, but she just hoped that Rainbow Dash would be awake when she arrived.

By the time Fluttershy had arrived at the hospital, the sun had already fallen over the horizon. She stood outside of the front entrance, staring into the violet aura in the sky that reminded her of the times with Rainbow Dash on the hillside. A small smile snuck its way onto her lips, but she remembered why she was here, the smile fading back into nonexistence. Fluttershy took a deep breath, and opened the cold glass doors that lead into the hospital. The tile was a frigid white, the walls a light hue of blue, probably using the calming effects of the color to their advantage.

Fluttershy walked up to the counter, a white coated mare behind large glasses staring at her. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“Well, um... yes. I need to see Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy told her matter-of-factually.

“Sorry, no can do. She should just be getting out of surgery, and visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow,” she said coldly, ruffling through various papers on the desk.

From behind the desk, Fluttershy noticed a rainbow colored mane slipping into a patient room. “Rainbow...” she mumbled.

“Sorry, wha–”

She was abruptly cut off by Fluttershy flying directly over her head, darting towards the room that she had seen the mane disappear into. Fluttershy flew around corners at record speed, the secretary at the front counter shouting at various warnings to her. But she didn't care, she just wanted to see her mare and make sure that she was safe.

She came around the corner expecting to see Rainbow Dash, but there was nothing there. Not even a pony, just an empty storage room. Fluttershy's mouth hung open, muttering inaudible phrases. It didn't make sense to her, she would’ve sworn she had seen Rainbow being rolled into the room on a gurney. Fluttershy's mind finally reached a breaking point, and she fell back onto her haunches. Sobs and tears flowed from her as she just sat in the room and cried, some nurses and interns looking onto her with questioning faces.

“Excuse me, ma'am, would you please come with me?” a brown haired colt asked her, holding his hoof out to her. He wore a hospital uniform, so Fluttershy assumed that he only intended the best.

She took his hoof and stood up, both of the ponies walking into a conference room just around the corner. The doctor held the door open for Fluttershy, and she walked in and took a seat upon one of the upholstered chairs in the room. A large table took up a large space in the center of the room, chairs lining each side of it. Her eyes were kept looking down, her face evidently showing distress.

The doctor reached out a hoof towards Fluttershy, who flinched slightly at the greeting. “Name's Mind Eye, and don't worry, I won't stick a needle in your eye.” He let out a small chuckle.

Fluttershy glanced up at the doctor, who had a warm smile on his face. She reached out a hoof, grasping his and shaking it. “My name's Fluttershy...” she said quietly.

“Ah, yes. I've heard of you. One of the Elements, nice to meet you Fluttershy. First things first, I just wanted to let you know that Rainbow Dash is doing just fine.”

“Oh, well that's fantastic! But how did you know I was here for her?” Fluttershy asked, looking up at Mind Eye.

“She's been mumbling your name all day, so you could only assume that she wants to see you. Ill take you to her –” he said before being interrupted.

“You know where she is? I really need to make sure she's doing OK!” She said, hopping out of her chair, excitement and worry flowing in her voice.

“Yes, I do know where she is. But before we do go and see her, there is one thing that I need to ask you about.” He slid a picture over to Fluttershy, who hid behind her mane. “I take it you know what this is."

...and into my heart.

Rainbow Dash awoke to the constant sound of a monotone beep, her mind still reeling over the events that had transpired over the last day. Even though the tone rang in her head, making her migraine that much worse, the pain and the heart monitor let her know that she was still alive. She was in a single patient room, the walls a sterile white, with various instruments lining the walls. To one side of the room, there was an A/C system pouring cold air into her room. On the other, there was a metal door with a small wire reinforced glass window in the center.

She leaned her head back onto a soft feather pillow, clenching her eyes shut in an attempt to purge her mind. Dash pulled her leg up to rub her face, but the leg felt... different. There was a large bandage wrapped around it, but it seemed much heavier that it had been before. She shrugged the feeling off, touching her hoof to her face. It was much harder than she had remembered, and also seemed to be chilled. Now that she had began to think about her leg, the entire thing felt the same way. It felt like her bones were cold, a sensation that she had never felt before. She continued to examine her leg, not noticing anything else out of the ordinary.

A white mare entered the room, looking down at a clipboard she was holding in her hooves. Not wanting to be seen awake, Dash did her best at faking sleep. She closed her eyes lightly and let her hoof drop down to her side, nearly making her scream in extensive pain. The nurse shot her a quick glance, thinking she had heard some sort of commotion coming from Rainbow Dash. She looked back down to the clipboard and walked over to Dash's bedside, changing her IV's and altering some information on the papers she had been holding. The nurse glances at Dash before talking, noticing that her eyes were cracked open just enough to spy on her.

“Ms. Dash, there is nothing wrong with being awake.”

Rainbow Dash continued to play possum, hoping that the nurse would be fooled by her acts. She tried to fool her, but there was no sign that the nurse that was letting up.

“I know you're awake, and since you are Ms. Dash, I need to ask you a few questions,” she told Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow huffed in defeat, sitting up in her bed. “Ugh, whatever. Just ask –” Dash said as she screamed in agony, accidentally putting all of her weight onto her bandaged leg.

“Ms. Dash, you need to be more careful with that leg. You don't want to loosen any of the plates in there,” the nurse told her.

“Wait, plates? Why do I have plates in my leg? It's not like I plan on eating it anytime soon,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The nurse glanced at Dash, not amused with her tone. “Not those kind of plates. Metal Plates. You have pieces of metal in you leg to make sure that it stays together and upright. Its going to be painful for a few months, but you'll be able to get back on it eventually.”

“That is is awesome!” Dash yelled, throwing her hooves into the air without thinking. “Ow...”

“Your leg may also feel cold, but that is just normal. Now I need to ask you a few questions, if that is OK with you.”

“Yeah, shoot doc.”

The nurse flipped through the pages of paperwork, pulling out a pencil and preparing to write. “So, how are you feeling Ms. Dash? Any headaches or pain?”

“My head hurts, and so does my body a little bit,” she told her, rubbing her own ribcage.

“OK, that means that the painkillers should be working just fine, so that's ok,” the nurse old her. “Do you mind if I ask something a bit more personal?”

Dash looked down, contemplating on what the right thing to do would be. She opened her mouth to speak, but only air came out. Her mouth opened again, this time a voice breaking the silence. “Yeah,” she sighed, “go ahead.”

“So, you are in a relationship with somepony, right?”

She blushed heavily, “No. Well, yes, but not really... so no?” she said questionably.

“That may be your problem there, Ms. Dash. Ever since you removed your Soul Feather, it seems that you haven't been entirely yourself. This could have been caused by your confusion over whether or not you are a couple, or at least that is what is implied,” she told Dash, flipping through some more papers and taking notes.

“There's just one thing about my special somepony though...”

“Go on,” the nurse insisted.

“Well, it's kinda a mare.”

The nurse looked at her with an awkward smile, not sure what to say to Rainbow Dash to make the situation feel exactly right. She took a moment to think, shuffling through some more papers before standing up.

“I'm not exactly a psychiatrist, Ms. Dash, but I do know someone who may be able to help you with how you're feeling.”

Rainbow glared at her angrily, “I don't need help with how I'm feeling! I know exactly who I am!” She yelled at the nurse.

“Tell me then, Ms. Dash, why was it you acted the way you did?” she retorted back, leaving Dash baffled and speechless.

She continued to walk away from Dash, leaving her mouth agape. The nurse left the room, and just as it had been before, the room fell into a silence only broken by a constant beep. Dash laid her head back and shifted her body to attempt to get into a more comfortable position, but it was to no avail. Her mind was full of thought, teeming with activity although it had wanted to sleep. It had tried to be cleared multiple times, but each time she did that, it seemed like more was added to her already packed mind. She wanted to rest, but she just couldn't. It was like she needed someone here, someone to lull her to sleep as her parents once did with stories of ancient kingdoms and adventures. But there was one story that had always stuck in her mind, that was the story of the love between a Prince and his Princess.

A little blue filly flew into bed and under her covers in a split-second, her father following not far behind her into her room. Wonderbolts posters hung from every surface in the room, showing a major obsession with the flying group. Action figures lay strewn across the ground, the father nearly crushing them as he carefully waded through the toys. He grabbed a stool and dragged it over next to the fillies bed, tossing the toys off of it. The cyan filly fidgeted in her bed, getting ready for another story time that she always impatiently awaited.

“So, Dashie. What story do you want to hear tonight?” the dark blue colt asked her, his silver hair gleaming in the light.

“I want to hear the one about the feather! You said you'd tell me that one over a month ago!”

“I guess I did,” he said in a defeated tone. He started after taking a deep breath and putting his mind to a narrating voice. “Once, in the far outstretches of Equestria, even before the reign Celestia, there was a young colt who watched over the his own little village, taking care of his friends and family and protecting them from any dangers that came their way. He lived to protect those he held dear, but there was one who he longed to be with since he was a young colt.

“He saw her everyday, looking upon the mountainside where her castle sat peacefully throughout the ages. He lived everyday thinking about this beautiful mare, and eventually there came a day where he could no longer stand to keep his love a secret. He devised a plan to let the Princess know of his love, but under anonymity.”

“What's anon...onin...imity?” Dash asked her father.

“It means that she wont know who sent it, only the pony who sent it will know its true owner,” he explained to her, continuing on with the story. “He wrote to her, explaining his undying love and longing to be with her. He wrote the letter in an elegant stroke of penmanship, sealing it with wax a kissing the seal, leaving this imprint among the letter. Before the seal dried, he plucked a single feather from his wing, pressing it into the wax.

“He delivered it under the protection of night, leaving it at the front of the castle for the guards to find and deliver it to the Princess. He headed to his home, sneaking in and quickly falling asleep under the lunar light. What he had not expected, however, is the bond that the feather had created between the two of them. The Princess had received the letter at about the time of his departure, and flattered by the words of the elegant colt, she stuck the feather in her mane. She told her guards to search the nearby villages for anypony who had that same colored feather, while she slept with the feather still stuck in her mane.

“They both dreamed that night, but it wasn't of sunny fields and pretty flowers, but one another. They met each other for the first time in dream, the beauty of each pony captivating the other. They stood in silence throughout the dream until morning came, when they awoke. Memories of their counterpart flowed through their minds, creating a bridge that let each others emotions and feelings flow outwards. The guards returned from their search unsuccessful, but the Princess had her own idea of where he may have been. For her, it was almost as if he was speaking to her directly and telling her where his tiny village was.

“The Princess arrived in his village one day, each pony bowing to her. All, but one. He stood determined to finally speak to her, no matter what the consequences or repercussions may have been. He walked through the crowds, his hooves shaking with each step towards her. His heart started racing, and a small bead of sweat began to form on his forehead. He approached her, kneeling in the dirt, and letting forth his feelings. 'Princess,' he said, 'I am in love with you; I have watched you from afar and I have had dreams of you ever since the night I had left my feather at your gate. If anything I have done has offended you, I will take any punishment deemed necessary.'

She then spoke after processing his words in her mind. Her voice was that of a thousand angels, echoing beautifully through the village. 'Sir, I may not even know you rightful name, but your words have captivated me beyond belief. I have seen you, as well, in my dreams and I would feel best if you could come with me and live in my palace, next to my side as the King of our land.' He turned back towards the crowd, who looked onto him with eyes worrying of abandonment. He turned back towards the Princess, 'I'm sorry, your highness, but I cannot simply leave my village. This is where I need to be, they need my protection. But thank you for your offer, I am truly humbled.'

He turned to walk away, back towards his home before she spoke again. 'Then that shall be, my love. By those means, I do request to stay here with you.' He turned back, running towards her. 'We can make accomodations,' He told her pressing his lips to her, giving her a deep kiss.”

“Ewwww!” Rainbow said making a gag face.

“And then they went on to live together, happily ever after and rebuilding the village. The end,” he said speedily.

“Daaaaaaaaaad!” Dash whined, “That's not the end of the story!”

“I know it isn't, but the rest is a story saved for another night. Just remember,” he said, pulling her wing out slightly and pointing, “that we all have this feather that can let us connect with the ones we love. Just remember, that it isn't understood what can happen when you do give somepony your Soul Feather, so be sure they are the one that you truly love before you even think about it. Now, to bed with you!” he said, tickling Dash.

“G'night, Daddy. I love you,” she told him with a warm smile.

“I love you too, Dashie,” he said as he left the room, blowing out the candle and closing the door.

Dash wiped the tears that she had leaked from her eyes, remembering that that was the last story her father had told to her as a filly. That was the most memorable story that he had ever told her, and that was why she had given it to Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash felt as if she was the one, the only one in the world for her. She sighed, thinking that Fluttershy may not actually be the one. Dash shook her head. NO! Fluttershy is the one, she told herself. She sniffled and wiped the mucus from her face on her hoof. The door swung open as a brown colt walked into the room, followed by a pink maned, yellow coated pony.

“Fluttershy?” she asked, more tears flowing from her eyes.

The Magic of Love...

Sitting before Fluttershy on the table rested a picture of a dark blue feather. She looked down at it with confusion streaming across her face, not knowing what this feather had to do with her Dashie. Her eyes glanced back up towards the doctor, the need to see Dash burning deep in Fluttershy's eyes.

“Well, uhm, I don't know what this is,” she told him. “What does this have to do with Dash?”

“This, ma'am, is a Soul Feather. More specifically, her father's Soul Feather.”

Fluttershy let out a small gasp. Dash had never told her anything about her father, except for the fact that he had only been there for a small part of her life when she was a filly. The one thing she had always remembered, as Dash had told her, was the stories.

“But she didn't know her father very well,” she told to him skeptically, scared about venturing into Dash's personal affairs.

“Well, for whatever reason, she was carrying it. She had it tied under her wings, presumably to keep it safe.”

Fluttershy glanced back at the picture, her mind trying to wrap itself around why she had her father's feather. It wasn't like Dash, even from the deeper side of her that she did know, to keep something like this to herself. A tear formed in the corner of her eye, somewhat distraught over the fact that she had kept something like this to herself. She brought a hoof up to her face, wiping the tear away. After all the things they had gone through together, she thought she knew everything about Dash. It just turned out that her past ran deeper than she had imagined. What if it wasn't that she kept the secret from her, but rather she refused to let her father play a part in her life once again?

“Miss Fluttershy, now if you would please follow me,” the doctor called to her with a hoof motion out of the room.

They walked through the sterile hallways, some doors left wide open and others locked shut. Some of the ponies that Fluttershy saw took all of her willpower to keep her from attempting to help the ponies groaning in pain.

“Its OK,” she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes for a moment. “The doctors here are helping them...”

“You say something?” the doctor said, turning his head back to Fluttershy.

“Oh, uh... no...” she told him quietly, following his every step.

The image was burnt into her retinas, the serene blue of the feather sitting heavily on her mind. It was just so blue... it was almost as if it had been freshly plucked. But she knew that Dash hadn't been anywhere in a matter of weeks, she had been by her side for most of that time. What if the old tales about the feather was right and they were actually a passage to the soul, and they actually held the equivalent magic of that pegasus? That could explain why it had stayed blue over time, because judging by how long it has been since she had mentioned her father, it had to be at least a minimum of ten years old.

The brown colt stopped abruptly in front of Fluttershy, and being lost in thought, she ran directly into his flank and nearly toppled the both of them. She let out a small squeal, smiling as they both regained their balance. He shot a glare back at her, insinuating that she needed to be more careful about what she did.

“This, is her room,” he told Fluttershy, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. “But, please try and keep calm in here. She may not be feeling too well. And even if she says she is, be careful around her, her body is still extremely fragile.”

Fluttershy took a step forward towards the room, but as soon as her hoof crossed the threshold, a splitting headache rang through her mind. Her eyes clenched shut in reflex, unaccustomed to the severity of the headache. She stood there, the pain growing worse by each second, her head feeling as if it would burst like a melon below a hoof.

“Fluttershy?” she heard Dash call to her, the voice slightly rasped.

Her head darted upwards, looking towards Dash's voice. There she lay, wrapped heavily in sterile white bandages, and IV's slowly dripping their cocktails of medicine into her body. The slow and steady beep of the heart monitor echoed in the room. Next to Rainbow's bed was a few beautifully upholstered wooden framed chairs, a dark blue pony sitting in the chair next to Rainbow Dash. Her mind raced back to the moments before with the picture; the mental color matching that of the colt who sat next to her lover.

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy mumbled out, overjoyed to see that she was alright. “Who is that sitting in the chair?” she asked.

The doctor glanced at her with an eyebrow raised. “Miss Fluttershy, there is nopony in here but us.”

Fluttershy looked back to Rainbow Dash, who had a smile plastered upon her face. Not speaking, but merely moving her lips, she mouthed the words 'Dad'.

Fluttershy looked on towards him, Rainbow's father giving her a small nod and a smile cracking across his lips. His hair gleamed in the light, the silver glowing beautifully and coming together perfectly with his dark blue coat.

“Doc, can I please have a minute with Rainbow Dash?” She asked with an exuberant amount sweetness in her voice.

“Well, I do need to do some tests first, but –”

“I asked for some time alone with her,” Fluttershy scolded back with a demeaning look in her eyes.

The doctor curled back in a mild fright before speaking. “Well, uh, they can wait til' later...” he said to her, rushing out the door.

Now that they were alone, Fluttershy let a small sigh escape her lungs and break the silence that entrapped the room. The silence set in once again, Fluttershy sitting back onto her haunches and hiding behind her flowing pink mane. The smile that Rainbow had on her face began to disappear as sobs began to come from Fluttershy, becoming louder and louder. Small tears began to form in Rainbow's eyes, tears of worry about Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, giving a slight cough to clear mucus in her throat. “Is there something wrong?”

“Why...” Fluttershy whispered under her sobs, “Why...”

“What do you mean, 'why'?” Rainbow asked, her voice soaked with worry.

“You know what... Why haven't you ever told me about him?!” she yelled at Dash, pointing towards her father, who still sat calmly in his chair. “I thought that you trusted me...”

“But I do Fluttershy... It's just... complicated...”

“I thought you were loyal...” Fluttershy told her coldly, standing and turning towards the door. Rainbow's jaw dropped at the painful insult, her eyes welling up.

“Wait,” a deep voice called, Fluttershy turning with a confused look plastered on her face. “I'm not really here, if that makes any sense to you. I haven't been here for years, but I have. Many years ago, before leaving to serve the Royal Guard, I left Dash with my own Soul Feather. That is why I am here, the power of her love and yours, into the piece of my soul I had left with her. She believed that I hadn't left, even though everything told her that I did. Ever since then, it has been hard for her to talk about me.

“But now, I am here and I wish to let you know of the effect you have had on her. You made her the mare she is today; the loyal mare she always will be. You were there for her when I couldn't and I do thank you for that. It pains me to see you both looking the other way, when the signs of your love are so clear. Take what you can, while it is still here. Love while you can, while they are still in your life.”

The silver haired colt stood from out of his chair, walking over to Fluttershy. She stood there in awe, expecting him to be just some hallucination that her mind had made. But he was really there, and he was walking closer to her. He came closer, eventually stopping just in front of her face.

“You may not understand everything in life, but always believe, and never stop,” he said to her with a smile, continuing on his way.

The moment of contact between his body and that of Fluttershy's induced a massive splitting headache for Fluttershy, sending her to the cold floor clutching her skull. The pain only lasted for a brief moment before it went away as soon as it had come. She stood back onto all four hooves, looking up towards the mare she cared so much for. Why did she just say those cruel things to her... was it the stress? She didn't know, but she felt absolutely terrible for what she had said.

“R-Rainbow?” she asked, “I'm sorry... That was really mean of –”

“No,” Rainbow interrupted, “I should be sorry. You have always been there for me, and I have acted like the secret of my dad was too much for you. I just... didn't know how to talk about it...” she told her, breaking down into sobs and placing her face between her cold hooves.

Fluttershy walked over to Rainbow's bedside, staring down on her with a warm, caring smile. She took Rainbow's head in one hoof before speaking to her. “Don't be, I should have understood you Dashie. You are the one I love, and after all, we all have secrets. I love you, Rainbow Dash, and I always will no matter what happens.”

Fluttershy gingerly pressed her lips against Rainbow Dash's, the two engaging in a warming kiss through each others embrace. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, pulling away and placing a loving kiss on Fluttershy's forehead.

“Our love will always keep us together...” she spoke with a sweet tone, a smile held on her lips.

...will keep us together.

Rainbow Dash kept Fluttershy close to her chest, the rhythmic beating of her heart playing in unison with her own. It was a moment that she had never wanted to end, and it was now that she finally had the one mare she loved in her embrace. Her mind rested easy, and she could easily die happy now, although she would prefer not to. Rainbow gave Fluttershy a gentle nudge, signaling her to get off the bed. She adjusted herself, opening up a space on the bed and patting a hoof right next to her. Fluttershy climbed up next to her, nuzzling Dash and stretching her wing over her to keep her warm through the night, or maybe it was just another excuse to touch her. Either way though, Dash didn't care about much else in the world as it was right now. All she cared about was her Fluttershy.

Both mares promptly fell asleep in each others warm, loving embrace, the night coming down over the hospital and taking them into the sands of a deep slumber. Rainbow slept peacefully, a smile on her face and eyes darting about under her eyelids as she dreamt of flying with the Wonderbolts, the crowds cheering her on as she performed mind boggling stunts. For once in the past few weeks, she actually had a chance to sleep and have sweet dreams accompany her through the slumber. It felt... warm. It warmed her that she had been able to dream once again, the wishes of her imagination coursing through her body once again.

She reached her hoof out and felt for the mare who was supposed to be lying right next to her. But her hoof only felt the coarse sheets, and the warmth of where she had been before. Her eyes cracked open, searching the room for the mare who had been laying next to her moments before, but her line of sight was obstructed by tufts of red and orange hair. Dash lifted her hoof and batted the hair out of her eyes. Just as the hair left her vision, she could see the end of Fluttershy's tail leaving the room, disappearing out the door.

Rainbow threw the cover off of her body, but noticed that it wasn't all the same as when she had gone to sleep. Her leg was no longer wrapped in a bandage, and there weren't any leads stuck to her hooves to keep a tab on her heart rate. And even stranger was the fact that she no longer had any IV's sticking out of her leg, and she surely would have noticed if somepony had pulled a needle from her veins, and there would have at least been a bandage somewhere on her body. Even the ugly scar that spanned her leg had somewhat healed up, and hair had partially grown back over it.

She hung her legs over the side of the hospital bed, expecting some sort of pain to shoot through her legs. But it never came, they just hung there like any normal legs would, aching to move from a standstill position. Dash placed her hooves firmly on the ground, making sure she could keep her balance after all that had happened. She stood on all fours, keeping a decent balance even though she felt a bit tipsy. Taking one hoof after the other, Dash walked towards the door at an alarmingly slow pace, much slower than Dash had wished she could go. She tried to walk faster, but ended up tripping over her own legs in the process, sending her face first into the cold tile floor.

Dash glared at the door, and determined to follow Fluttershy where ever she was going, she pushed herself off of the floor and dusted off her cyan coat; making her way back to the door. It cracked open, a magenta eye peeking out from the shadow of her room. The door slowly opened little by little, Rainbow Dash exposing more of herself each time she did so. But everything still seemed off for some reason. For one, she felt no pain in her body, she wasn't covered in bandages, and she had seen no hospital staff as of yet. There was always a doctor here and there, or at least a nurse somewhere near. She stuck her head out the door, looking to the left and panning her head to the right, partially looking for Fluttershy and wondering where the staff had all gone.

The same segment of her wonderfully kept pink tail skated around a corner to the far left, Rainbow's eyes barely catching a glance of it out of her peripherals. She tossed the door open, hobbling in the direction that she had seen her Fluttershy disappear. Dash walked faster, but still with a slight gimp as if it was that she had forgotten completely how to walk in any given matter. She peeked her head around the corner, the halls empty except for the various gurney’s laying against the wall and a janitor's cart resting in the middle of the hallway. It all seemed to be brighter now that she had left her hospital room, which now that she actually took time to think about it, it was rather dark for a normal room. She passed it off just as bad lighting, when a sweet sound flowed through her ears and collided with her eardrums.

Fluttershy's squee of joy echoed through the hallways, inducing a small smile to appear on Rainbow Dash. Dash followed the squee's down the hall, the brightness of all the lights around her still gaining luminosity, as if they were mini-suns. She held a hoof over her eyes so she didn't go blind under the beating light, although her hoof helped her very little in that. Walking down the hall, she noticed the floor below her was beginning to change. It wasn't the same tile floor that it had once been, but it was rather changing to grass as she continued on her path. Dash looked back to see what was happening to the halls she had just passed through, and they were gone. Where they had once been was replaced with vast amounts of blinding light, causing dash to squint to the point her eyes were nothing but slits.

The light got to the point where Rainbow could no longer withstand the ferocity of the light beating down on her cornea's. Dash fell to the ground, the light draining what energy she had. And with what little energy she had left, she curled into a fetal position, covering her eyes in an attempt to salvage her vision.

Tears began to roll from her eyes as they burned. She didn't know why this was happening to her, as if she hadn't already been through enough pain and suffering through the last few weeks, and to top it off she didn't know where she was. She had followed Fluttershy, trusting that she was going somewhere safe, or at least as safe as it could have been for a hospital.

But for her, it was all to no avail to protect her eyes as they burned, the pain building up inside of her, reaching levels that she had never before experienced. But there was one thing about the pain in her eyes, is that that wasn't the only sensation she had flowing through her body. Her coat had an insatiable itching sensation that bit lightly at her body as she rolled in pain. A cool wind passed over her body, smelling of pine and fresh grass as it wicked at the sweat building all over her body, cooling her bit by bit. The pain became too much for Dash to handle, and she heard the voice she had been looking for, calling to her and trying to console her. The burning in her eyes subsided and she felt a cloth of sorts come down over her face, darkening the world around her.

“It's okay Rainbow... Shhh... It's okay,” Fluttershy told her, “Wake up... Wake up...”

Rainbow sat up in a hurried fashion, a blanket flying off of her face and the sun's unrelenting light penetrating her already burning corneas. She closed her eyes tight and held her hooves firmly in place over them, keeping any bit of light from them. Tears streamed down the side of her cheeks as muffled sobs escaped her; her breathing sporadic and heavy. She sat there, trying to calm herself down, but wondered at the same time why it was so damn bright and why her bed felt so much like grass...

She removed her hooves from her eyes, but held them close to her face as a barrier from the light. Her eyes opened to slits, allowing the world around her to be seen to where the pain was at least tolerable. She wasn't in the hospital anymore, which was where she had expected to be. At least that was where she remembered being last. And right in front of her, was Fluttershy. Hiding behind her mane with a worried expression of care and love. She made way over to Rainbow and held her tight to her chest, shielding her from the sun with her wings as Dash dampened her coat with tears.

“Fluttershy...” Rainbow spoke quietly, “I had the weirdest dream... it was just so... real. ”

“It's okay... You are safe now,” Fluttershy told her with a small grin, pressing her lips against Dash's forehead, letting out a subtle kiss. “The dream,” Fluttershy asked, “Was it about us?”

Rainbow nodded under the protection of her wings, not wanting to speak anymore than she wanted to open her eyes.

“It was real...”

From Loyalty... and Kindness.

“... It was real?” Rainbow sputtered, pulling her body in tighter under the protection of Fluttershy's outstretched wings.

“Yes... it was Dashie,” Fluttershy told her, tightening her grip on Rainbow's body, trying to comfort her.

Rainbow Dash continued to curl under the darkness that Fluttershy was providing her, her eyes still burning, but with less intensity than they had before. The task ahead for Rainbow would be painful, but she knew that she had to do it eventually whether she would have wanted to or not. Dash opened her eyelids slowly, more and more light steadily entering her corneas. It burnt as the light flowed through her magenta eyes, but she pressed on in hopes that what she had dreamt was actually real after all. She stopped her flow of tears in an attempt to look tough for her Fluttershy, but that was an effort in vain as water began to flow forth once again, flooding what vision she had and cooling her eyes.

It took at least half an hour before Rainbow Dash was able to get her eyes opened, and even most new born foals had their eyes opened in a shorter amount of time. She didn't care about anything in the world around her, except for the mare that stood over her, protecting her from the beating midday sun. Dash had adjusted her eyes the best that she could have, and she prepared herself to endure the consequences of the actions she was about to enact. Clenching her eyes shut as tight as her eyelids would allow, Dash reached up with her hooves and gently pushed the wings that had been held over her head down to their compact position at Fluttershy's side. Forcing her eyelids up, Dash saw the face of an angel right in front of her, muzzles almost touching one another. Fluttershy's eyes shone bright and cyan, reflecting Dash's own coat and the natural color of her eyes. The fire in her eyes let Dash know that she was still in love with her, and she could only hope that Fluttershy saw the same in hers.

Through the corner of her eyes, Dash could spot a cyan feather laying behind Fluttershy's ear, resting in her flowing pink mane. She brought a hoof up to her face and wiped her eyes to clear her vision, a slight stinging coming from the contact with her sore eyes. Squinting, she noticed that it wasn't just any cyan feather, but it matched the exact hue of her own feathers, and it even looked like it was her own Soul Feather...

“Is that... Feather...” Dash stuttered, confusion wiping over her face. She spread her own wings, checking the spot where her feather should be, but it was replaced with air. “How...”

“Well... Uhm, you gave it to me, remember?” Fluttershy asked her with nervousness flowing in her voice.

“To be honest Fluttershy, I don't remember much of anything right now. Dear Celestia... My head is killing me...” Dash said to Fluttershy with a groan, bringing a hoof to massage her head and closing her eyes. Fluttershy could be heard, along with a small rustling sound as if she had extended her wings.

With a muffled squeal through her teeth, Fluttershy reached down to her own wing and found the exact feather that Dash had given her, and gave it a swift pull. Ignoring the pain that resided after she pulled the feather from her wing, she made her way to Rainbow, and lifted her head with a hoof. Dash's eyelids slowly came open, the eyes glaring back at her with a fire fiercer than those in Tartarus. With a gentle hoof, Fluttershy parted Rainbow's hair, and stuck her own feather in, giving it a slight weave to ensure it wouldn't fall out. Rainbow Stared at her, awestruck that she had given her feather, even though she could not remember much of anything, besides of what she had dreamt.

Fluttershy pulled her in closer, bringing their lips together and locking in a soft, warming kiss that sparked their hearts to burst in their chests. The embrace of the two ponies who had found their true love over again lasted ages in their minds, lasting only mere minutes in the reality that they wished to never return. Rainbow was the first to break the embrace, a tear falling from her eye. And before Fluttershy could give her any sympathy or even speak, Rainbow had tackled her to the ground and held her tight, practically breaking ribs.

“I know I love you Fluttershy... But why can't I remember anything?” She asked, looking up at Fluttershy with a worried look pressed on her face.

“The doctor said you would have a hard time remembering anything...” Fluttershy told her while wrapping her hooves around Rainbow Dash. “But he also said it will just take a bit of time before you are back to normal, if that's okay...”

“Anything with you, Fluttershy, is alright with me,” Dash told her, a small smile across her lips. “But don't you go acting crazy on me now that I have your feather,” she joked.

The sun began to fall below the horizon, the moon slowly coming into view behind them as Celestia lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon and stars. Fluttershy gently nudged Dash off from on top of her, and pulled her to the top of the hill where they had talked many times in the years before. They both sat down, Rainbow Dash leaning over and snuggling up onto Fluttershy, a sheepish grin appearing on her face. They watched the sunset together, and kept warm together. They watched as each star came into the night sky, together. For once, they were together, as each had always wanted to be.

Dash rolled her eyes up to look at Fluttershy, who stared out into the night sky and enjoyed its eternal beauty. She didn't notice Dash looking up at her, but she could feel her heartbeat slowly getting faster as she came to speak.

“You know, Fluttershy, I've always been too scared to do this on my own...” she told her, standing up and playfully pushing her over on the ground.

Fluttershy toppled with a small squeal and laugh. “Do wha –” She tried to speak before being interrupted by a pair of soft, loving lips being pressed against hers, locking them in another embrace. But this time, Fluttershy was the first to break it for a mere moment. “I love you, Rainbow Dash.”

“And I remember loving you, Fluttershy.”

FIN