Clackety-clack, clackety-clack!
The rhythmic sound of the train's wheels passing over the track's couplings echoed through the passenger car, producing a hypnotic effect that lulled the car's sole passenger into a dreamlike state. She could no longer guess how long she had been sitting there riding alone since boarding in Ponyville; she had succumbed to simply watching the scenery fly by. Close objects outside the train moved so quickly they appeared no more than soft, spectral blurs through the panes of glass. Just over the horizon, Celestia's warm and nourishing sun was rising again, casting golden beams around the edges of distant clouds. She turned to look behind her and saw the remaining few stars set against the deep royal blue of Luna's gorgeous night as the moon slowly set on the opposite horizon.
The yellow pony leaned over sideways and rested her pink coiffure on arm of the seat. Nopony else was in this particular car which made her feel very much at ease. It was bad enough that she had to travel alone on this journey; finding a car all to herself was a wonderful stroke of luck!
As she let her eyelids droop she looked around her little home-away-from-home. A dainty little purple tea set was set up for passengers on a shelf at the head of the car, along with some warm muffins for snacking on. The wisps of steam and their aroma made her hungry, but she was so tired she resisted the urge to unsettle herself from her cozy little spot. The car was decorated in the usual Equestrian-Victorian style, wood trim and rounded edges everywhere. The ceiling was a painted mural of ponies playing and dancing among the stars. It was all very comfy, and she slowly drifted to sleep.
A loud rustling at the door to the next car interrupted her brief respite all too soon, however, followed by the muffled squeals of an excited pony. When she turned to look at what was going on, she saw a flash of colors on the head of a sky blue pony through the door's glass window. It was some moments later that this pony managed to get the doorknob to work and flung the door open, racing over to the seated yellow pony with a huge smile that could brighten Tartarus.
“Omigoshomigoshomigosh! Fluttershy! It's really you!” she exclaimed excitedly as she bit the tips of her forehooves, her eyes twinkling at the welcome sight of an old friend. She immediately picked her up by her shoulders and brought her in close for a tight hug.
“Rainbow Dash? Ooof! Oh my… goodness!” Fluttershy cried out. “Imagine me meeting you here of all places!”
Rainbow Dash gently placed her back onto her seat and took up a spot next to her. “Yeah, I'm over in the next car. The ponies in there are a real bunch of live ones!” the sarcasm dripping from the end of her sentence. “So I got bored and started looking around and BAM saw you sitting all here by yourself in the next car. I just had to come over to see you and keep you company!”
Fluttershy looked demurely at Rainbow over her concern and offer. “Why, thank you so much Rainbow. It was kind of lonely in here.” Fluttershy didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings by telling her she was actually looking forward for some alone time to take a nap, but figured it might be nicer to have a friend along for the long ride.
“So Fluttershy, how many years has it been since we last saw each other? Ten? Twenty? I've completely lost track!”
She blinked her eyes and drowsily looked around the passenger car to ponder this question. The effects of just having been suddenly re-awoken were still prevalent, making processing of such questions difficult. “Oh, I don't know. At least that long,” Fluttershy replied. “Ever since you became Team Captain of the Wonderbolts we rarely get to see you anymore.”
“Yeah, about that… I'm really sorry I haven't kept in touch with you enough. Being Team Captain takes up a lot of my time, along with everything else.”
“Oh, I understand.” Actually, she didn't; but she didn't want to be critical right now. She was upset when Rainbow left to officially join the Wonderbolts and had been missing her ever since. “So what is it like being Team Captain?”
“It's totally awesome!” Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself upon getting to talk about the Wonderbolts, and immediately switched on her usual swagger, “Yep, yep, well… What can I say? Those guys eventually did see who the most amazing pony in all of Equestria was!” Fluttershy giggled and shook her head to herself while giving a bit of an eye roll to Rainbow's self-aggrandizing: That's just Dash being herself.
“In fact,” Rainbow Dash continued, “that's why I'm here – as Team Captain I'm traveling ahead to help set up our next airshow in Las Pegasus!”
“I'm surprised you simply don't fly from city to city for your airshows,” Fluttershy questioned. “Certainly you are faster than a train can travel, yes?”
“Yeah, that's true!” Rainbow exclaimed, puffing her chest at the compliment. “But – as you probably can guess, I'm not quite as spry as I used to be,” she admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her mane, “and anyway, I'm coming from Manehatten, and doing a cross-country flight like that is a bit tiring on these old wings.”
“That's wonderful, Rainbow! I'm sure you'll give the audience quite a display of aerial acrobatics.” Fluttershy smiled back at her but stopped when an uneasy realization suddenly hit her that she had tried to put out of her mind. “Um, Rainbow,” she quietly asked, “I'm kind of surprised you even travel to Manehatten anymore after that incident with The Mane-iac...” Her voice trailed off, unsure if this was still a tense subject to bring up.
“Hey, no worries!” Rainbow waved off Fluttershy's concerns. “We shouldn't have been scared of her anyway. I mean, a pony busting out of a comic book to do evil in our largest city? A comic book! Only in Equestria could such crazy, off-the-hook things like that happen!”
“Yes, well, she was plenty scary for me, even if she did only come out of a comic book...” Fluttershy didn't much like thinking about that day, since this was the one time one of her friends really did get seriously hurt:
The Mane Six and Spike had encountered her before when they were sucked into an enchanted Power Ponies comic book, but during this second meeting she had somehow managed to escape from her universe and took up residence in Manehatten. She trapped all of them once again using the Hairspray Ray of Doom, including Spike – she would not make the mistake of leaving him free again – and placed them in front of the usual method of offing enemies: a bomb with a timer. Meanwhile, The Mane-iac was preparing to use her latest doomsday weapon, complete with a ridiculously alliterative name – The Lean Beam of Ultimate Sheen. She had constructed it in one of the towers of the Hooflyn Bridge, and had it set up to fire like a ray gun – one that excited hair follicles rapidly enough to cause the flesh to melt off of anypony caught in its wide swath. Knowing what was at stake for the citizens of Manehatten, Rainbow Dash somehow managed to use her cutie mark to activate her Rainbow Power separately from the rest of her friends and broke free of the spray's hold. She scooped up the bomb that was intended for all of them and flew it right up to the Mane-iac, dropping it on her moments before its timer expired. Unfortunately, the weapon's firing sequence was already committed and the explosion caused it to release all of its energy at once in an uncontrolled manner, enveloping Rainbow in the resulting firestorm.
“She really almost made a terrible mess of things!” Fluttershy continued. “And what were you thinking Dash? Taking that bomb up there all by yourself?”
“Hey, she was about to melt the faces off thousands of innocent ponies with that ray gun mounted on top of the Hooflyn Bridge! There wasn't time to try and free the rest of you from her evil hairspray!” Rainbow chuckled a bit thinking back on that event, “Heh, at least I got to use a cool comeback on her as I dropped the very explosive she was planning on killing us with: 'Here, I think you dropped this back there!'”
Fluttershy giggled, “I never knew that part of the story.” Her mood dampened again though as she thought about the days after. “I guess because you were unconscious for so long after the explosion you must have forgotten to tell us. We were so sad seeing you in the hospital...”
“I know, I know. But hey, all in a day's work for Rainbow 'Danger' Dash, am I right?” She leaped into the air and flared her wings, a confident smile on her face. “Nopony messes with my friends!” causing Fluttershy to emote an embarrassed look. “Besides,” Dash continued, “That got rid of the Mane-iac for good.”
“And good riddance,” Fluttershy concluded.
Silence befell the passenger car while the two ponies took a break from their little chatty reunion, save for the sounds of the wheels on tracks passing beneath them. The haziness Fluttershy experienced earlier was returning, so she decided to get up and get a spot of tea from the set she had seen earlier.
“You have tea in your car, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “In mine they put out cider. That's another one of the reasons I like traveling by train – I mean what pony can pass up free cider?”
Fluttershy smiled, “Yes, I know how much you love cider.”
“You know it! So, since you say I haven't been keeping in touch enough, tell me what's been going on with you, Fluttershy? Still living in Ponyville? Still caring for your animal friends? Perhaps you've found that special somepony by now and had foals?” Rainbow asked, elbowing her in the ribs while giving her a goofy look.
“Oh, not really…” Fluttershy blushed hard, avoiding the question. “I've never been good at that sort of thing. And besides, caring for so many furry creatures had filled me with the love I would of gotten from having foals of my own!”
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow started, looking at her skeptically, “take it from a mom – it's not the same thing.”
“Well, maybe.” Fluttershy reluctantly agreed, thinking about Rainbow and Soarin's son: Chrome Streak – she had to admit the pair raised a real sweetheart of a pony!
“I guess in your case, I imagine Angel is a lot like that to you,” Rainbow continued. “But trust me, he's nothing like Chrome. On one hoof you have a caring foal who a pony helped bring into the world, and on the other you have a bunny that is evil incarnate! Does he still boss you around like he always did?” she cracked.
Fluttershy's expression immediately turned cold. It was bad enough of her comparing two lives whom she very much cared about, but to bring up Angel now was completely out-of-line.
“Rainbow Dash, I – I… Can't believe you just joked about that.”
Dash stopped grinning upon seeing how upset Fluttershy was and realized she had probably put her hoof in her mouth – again. “Hey, what's wrong?” pleading with her hooves, “I was only pulling your tail!”
“Haven't you heard?” Fluttershy answered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes:
“Angel is dead.”
Author's Note
9/22/15: Made a few edits to the Mane-iac's flashback exposition so it sounds less lame; will know if I succeeded in a month after I reread this chapter again with a fresh perspective. 
“Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash almost only breathing the syllables in her name, “I-I'm so sorry… I didn't know. I've been traveling all over with the Wonderbolts – I guess I really haven't been keeping up with things in Ponyville.”
“It was worse than that, Rainbow,” Fluttershy was still angry over her lack of consideration about Angel, and she used it to get things off her mind that now came bubbling to the surface. “You abandoned us! You left us all there thinking you could fly off and do it all on your own again!”
“What are you talking about? Fly off and do what?” Rainbow gave Fluttershy a confused look before reasserting herself and becoming slightly indignant, “And for the record, I never abandon my friends! It's true we saw a lot less of each other after I was fully involved with the Wonderbolts, got married, and had Chrome, but we still got together from time to time. I just don't remember you ever telling me about Angel!”
“No, no, no! That's not what I'm talking about,” Fluttershy sighed in exasperation. “I'm talking about–” Fluttershy broke off, the buzzing in her head was getting worse again. There was something she wanted to say but couldn't seem to find the thought she was looking for. “Oh, maybe I really don't know what I'm talking about…”
Rainbow sighed, “Look, I know I became a lousy friend, okay? Treated you all like Twilight treated her friends in Canterlot. But can you forgive me if we pick up where we left off? I promise I'll spend more time with you guys. Pinkie swear!”
“Okay…” Fluttershy accepted her apology. Even though she still hurt inside, she couldn't stay mad at her friend since she had missed her as much as she did Angel.
“I should have at least written you guys more often,” Rainbow added. “Y'know, it's too bad I can't take Spike with me on my airshows! I could send letters more often if I had dragon mail like Twilight, heh!”
“Yes, his ability to send messages to the other princesses does come in rather handy when he's out with us defeating monsters and bad ponies.”
“Keen gear! Spike is finally old enough to be part of the team, now?
“Yes, but even though he had some practice in that regard when we first fought Discord, he's still not comfortable being the replacement for your Element of Loyalty.”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash cried.
Yeah, what? Fluttershy thought to herself. Where did that come from?
“When I said it was cool he was with all of you, I thought that was as an addition, not as my replacement! How can Spike just 'take over' for me? Me!” She buzzed around the passenger car, exasperated. “You're saying Twilight just replaced me, without even a second thought?”
“Oh, um,” she paused, thinking back to that period for the first time in a while. “Actually, there was a lot of thought in it…” Fluttershy shrunk back seeing how upset Rainbow Dash was, but continued, “It didn't happen for a long time – the five of us tried being a team without you – we really, really, did! But it just didn't work very well… Eventually Twilight called a meeting and promoted Spike to the position. Because – um, next to you, Rainbow… He truly is the most loyal dragon anypony could ever know. His wings even grew in so he could even fly like you!”
“I don't care if he grew wings, two heads or six tails – how would Twilight replace me? You talk about abandoning friends, to me it seems like I'm the one who got abandoned!”
“Well, um…” Fluttershy stammered, trying to get her head straight, “We really didn't have a choice. You were gone, Rainbow,” Fluttershy then added, “I even held one of the torches for your pyre…”
Rainbow Dash was about to continue her rebuttal, but that last word registered as a non-sequitur: “Wait. What did you just say?”
Fluttershy was about to answer, but a flood of memories came back, causing her expression to go from one of discomfort to that of horror. “No, no, nononono! Please, Rainbow!” getting up and pleading with her friend, begging with teary eyes, “Make it stop! I don't want to remember that!” She shut her eyes and buried her head under her forehooves, falling to the floor, shaking.
“Hey, hey… It's okay. I'm right here, Fluttershy, see?” The fervor over her being replaced took a back seat upon seeing the utterly distraught look on Fluttershy's face. She pulled her into a close hug, trying to comfort her.
“Oh, no, Rainbow”, the tears streaming down her face as the mental haze finally lifted, “I remember now. You… die-d-didn't make it out of that that explosion in Manehatten. Some ponies found you floating in the water and took you to the hospital. By the time we were free of the Mane-iac's spray, it was too late. You were… already gone.”
“Um, I think you've been sitting on this train by yourself a little too long, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, trying to reassure her. “I'm right here, with you – now. And I feel peachy!” Rainbow released her and zipped around the car to show her she wasn't injured in any way.
Fluttershy wiped away a tear and replied, “I wish that had been true – I wanted it to be true for so long. I remember I had so many nightmares about that dreadful day, Luna even tried to help me recover…” She paused and looked out at the rapidly passing landscape, realized something and continued, “Rainbow Dash, what is the last thing you remember doing?”
“Well, that would be me sitting in the seat in the next car over being bored out of my skull, until I found you here, of course!”
“No, no!” Fluttershy implored, shaking her head, “I mean before you got on the train!”
“Oh, that's easy! Like I said I had just done an airshow in Manehatten, so I was waiting for the next train on the platform to travel to our next gig.”
“Was anypony else there with you?”
“Well, yeah, the ponies in my car were with me. Again, not the liveliest bunch, but they didn't act like they were dead or anything!”
“How about your husband, Soarin? Was he there? And Chrome? Did any of the Wonderbolts see you off for that matter?”
“Um, no – but I guess they were back at the hotel. I probably just flew from there to the train platform!”
“So that means you should be able to tell me every detail of every pony you flew over on the way from the hotel to the station?” Fluttershy looking straight into Rainbow Dash's eyes, recalling her friend's special gift, “Can you do that?”
“I – I…” Rainbow Dash froze and her pupils shrunk to mere dots as a sense of panic flooded in, not from the fact that she couldn't remember anything about her flight over the city, but instead from what she did remember: “Cloudsdale… It – it was – Cloudsdale where I last saw Chrome and Soarin. They weren't seeing me off on a trip to Las Pegasus. They were there to say goodbye to me before I flew off to Manehatten to join you guys. Joining you all to fight the Mane-iac…” Rainbow Dash muttered weepily, trying to fight back tears.
Fluttershy stroked Rainbow's soft polychromatic mane upon seeing the tears starting to flow down her face. “There, there. I'm sorry it hurts, but you needed to realize like I did we aren't on just some regular old train. We've both passed on, Rainbow, even though we didn't want to think about it. I didn't even want to think about your death, let alone mine; trying instead to forget instead of facing it head on. Sitting alone on this train with nopony to talk to had only made it worse.”
She looked around thoughtfully, “In fact, maybe this train is supposed to ease minds by making them forget the circumstances of them being here?”
“Maybe,” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly, sniffling a runny nose before continuing. “But if all of this is true, then what happened with you?” After asking this of Fluttershy, a horrific thought – one too terrible to contemplate – crossed her mind based on their proximity to one another on this train: “Oh please, for the love of Celestia, please don't tell me you were so sad you – you didn't…” Rainbow Dash began to tremble, pleading with her friend and pressing her hooves against her shoulders.
“Oh no, Rainbow,” Fluttershy reassured her and smiled. “I could never do anything like that. I have too many friends, animal and pony alike, who depend on me to be there for them. Plus, um, it's a bit too scary…”
Relieved, Rainbow carefully asked, “So what did happen?”
“There are still only fragments, but I do remember being sick, I remember looking in a mirror and seeing an old, withered pony with a gray mane staring back at me. I remember lying in my bed in Ponyville, friends and family streaming in to say their goodbyes that morning. Oh, it was such a beautiful morning, Rainbow! All our best friends – Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike, who had to stick his head through a window because he couldn't fit.”
Fluttershy smiled at that memory; he had tried in vain to squeeze into her cottage – it gave her a bit of a laugh that morning despite her deteriorating condition. “All of them there at my side, looking so very sad…” She started tearing up again, wishing she could have stopped their sadness that morning. “Even Celestia and Luna were there. They took time out from their duties of raising and lowering the sun and moon to say goodbye to me, leaving them at half-staff, just like they did for you.”
“You mean at my funeral.”
“Yes… But… I still don't think I really want to talk about it… Not yet, anyway.”
“I understand.” She wanted to press further, but she realized it wasn't just her own funeral she wanted to hear about – she realized she had missed out on all of her friends' lives. She didn't grow old with Soarin like she had wanted. And Chrome – her awesome, little Chrome – she missed watching him grow up. She suddenly felt very alone, a terrible emptiness eating at every corner of her soul.
“Fluttershy?” she asked weakly, wiping away the tears pooled in her eyelids, “I… I could use somepony to hold me right now – if you don't mind, that is…”
Fluttershy smiled and looked warmly into her glistening eyes, “Of course, Rainbow. How could I say no to the pony that saved my life?”
Fluttershy pulled Rainbow Dash in close to her, curling up and cradling her like a newborn foal in her forelegs and wrapping her in her wings, her friend's hooves pressing lightly into her neck. “Soon, now… I know you probably have lots of questions. I'll tell you everything you want to know; let's just rest for a bit first, okay?”
“Okay.” Rainbow Dash stopped, taken aback by the warmth of their embrace. Fluttershy is sometimes so much like my mom, she thought. Mom. Mother. The unconditional warm love of a mother to their foal. She finally understood how she could take care of all her animals, even ones like Angel, and still have enough kindness to spare for everypony. That's it. You should have been named Angel instead of that bunny, she chuckled to herself. Fluttershy is just like an angel…
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” she whispered. Thank you…
Author's Note
So here's the chapter with the big reveal, not sure how successful I was at keeping it under wraps. Originally this story was supposed to be a 1-shot, which is why I picked it first from my short list of story ideas I wanted to do. But as it went on, it became longer and longer, first two chapters and now three. Doing a story with a big twist is really hard to pull off well; if I had known it was going to end up as three chapters, I likely would have picked a more straightforward one to do first! 
Clackety-clack … clackety-clack!
The sounds of the wheels reverberated through the passenger car, producing the hypnotic effect the car's two passengers had experienced when they boarded. Now, however, they were both well aware of their situation despite feeling drowsy, and were simply resigned to the realization they were no longer alive – two souls headed into the unknown.
There was one difference Rainbow Dash had noticed – the tempo of the train's wheels had changed. They were no longer traveling as fast as before, but instead had slowed to pass through tunnels and around sharp bends. Glimpses of what looked like a gigantic tower with brilliant lights appeared out the car's windows on the distant horizon when it made turns that allowed its spectacle to be viewed.
Wherever it was they were heading, it wouldn't be long now.
Still snuggled close to Fluttershy, she had been giving thought to how she had been beguiled into thinking she was still alive. She came to the conclusion she had been replaying the aerial acrobatics shows the Wonderbolts had done prior to her fateful day in Manehatten – her own pride being partly to blame, that pride simply refusing to even consider the possibility she didn't survive the explosion of the weapon she managed to destroy.
She sighed, whispering to herself, “At least I got to go out a hero; you couldn't ask for a more honorable way to shuffle off the ol' mortal coil!” She paused and added a thought, I just wish it had happened later rather than sooner…
With her rapidly approaching fate unknown, Rainbow Dash had given thought to simply leaving the train and flying off; but abandoned the idea when Fluttershy told her she had no intentions of joining her in doing any such thing – her friend was concerned they'd end up in some kind of limbo if they did. The only thing she was sure of was she would not leave her again until they reached the end of this journey – together.
But the questions about the lives of the ponies she loved still lingered, and the need to know with a potentially unknown situation that laid ahead created a sense of urgency for her to get those answers now.
“Fluttershy,” she whispered, “are you up?” tapping her on her foreleg.
Fluttershy yawned, “Yes, I'm awake. What's going on?”
“Well, I kinda still want to hear about my funeral… You said earlier you'd tell me everything.”
“Oh, that…” Fluttershy answered reluctantly, still fearing the emotional pain digging up those particular memories might unleash. “Do you really want to know of such things? It's just, um… a bit ghoulish, don't you think?” she added, quickly thinking of an excuse to put it off a little longer.
For crying out loud, Fluttershy! What did they do that you can't talk about? Drop me in the Ponyville garbage dump or something? She couldn't help but laugh to herself at the absurdity of such a thought, and it lightened her mood a bit.
Rainbow pleaded with her, “Aww c'mooon, pleeease!” giving her friend a gentle poke in the ribs to try and loosen her tongue. “Look, all I really want to know is who was there, and did they give me full pegasus honors?”
“Oh, well – yes, of course!” her fears allayed by the specificity of the questions. “You certainly did get full honors, Celestia and Luna wouldn't have had it any other way. The Wonderbolts all did the Missing Pegasus formation, except… um, Soarin, of course, who was standing beside all of us…” Fluttershy looked down and couldn't help but get teary again remembering the sight of Rainbow's spouse sending off his beloved.
C'mon Fluttershy, hold it together… I don't want to start bawling again, too!
“So was my pyre the most awesome sight you had ever seen?” she hammed, trying to keep Fluttershy's spirits up.
“It was… Nice.”
“Nice? That's it?!”
“Oh, well, um… no – it was very impressive,” Fluttershy continued, “But I can't really say I enjoyed admiring it, knowing who was sitting in the middle…”
“Aww, Fluttershy, it's really okay!” she consoled her, waving off her concerns. “All of that is in the past!”
“Plus,” Rainbow Dash added, “you should know very well a funeral pyre is the most honored way for a pegasus to be sent off from this world… Uh, that world… Whatever,” she grumbled, forgetting again her situation wasn't quite as it appeared despite the familiar sights around her.
“Yes, I know. And I know how the traditional invocation goes: We commit this pegasus to the wind and sky, forever to fly, amongst their ancestors.” Fluttershy sighed, “But, as you know, I've always been somepony who's more fond of the ground…”
“Oh, Fluttershy…” Rainbow covered her face with her hooves and shook her head, “You requested an Earth Pony funeral, didn't you?”
“Um, yes… Yes, I did, Rainbow,” She said uncomfortably. “I hope you aren't – angry at me for not wanting to have it done the traditional way?”
Rainbow Dash smiled, “Not at all! Ever since I first met you at Summer Flight Camp, I always knew you liked having your hooves on the ground! So it makes sense for you to get a burial.”
An idea popped into Rainbow's head and she couldn't resist using it to further lighten the mood. “I mean, who am I to dictate what you do? After all – It's your funeral!” She broke out laughing, “Don'tcha get it? It's a figure of speech – taken literally?”
“Oh, haha. Yes.”
Wow, tough crowd, Rainbow thought.
“Um, in any case,” Fluttershy continued, “I'm hoping those last wishes were fulfilled. By being buried I'll be feeding all the plants and trees which in turn will feed many animals and provide shelter, all part–”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. The whole 'Circle of Life' thing. I get it.” Rainbow reached out and took Fluttershy's hooves in her own, “Look, we both know we have great friends. And I'm sure they honored you as much as it sounds like they did for me. Just from the way you were visited it seems like they did! Anyway, it probably doesn't really matter what they do seeing how it is we all seem to end up riding this train…”
A bit of an awkward silence followed due to the two of them once again being reminded of their situation. Rainbow Dash decided to break the silence, carefully asking some more questions that she hoped wouldn't upset Fluttershy too much, “So, erm… Do you know how Soarin was doing, y'know before you–”
“Oh, well, um… I'm afraid he's gone too, Rainbow,” Fluttershy answered. “He was a lot older than you, and well – you know…“
“It's okay. I kind of figured… Maybe he's somewhere in one of these cars, too?”
“Yes, maybe. We can certainly look for him if you want to!”
Rainbow Dash wanted ever so much to go right out and start searching, but she saw that enormous tower growing in size through the windows, knowing it was getting close. “Well, seeing how it is this trip is probably coming to an end soon, we might as well look for him after we exit. Presuming we can, of course…”
She fought back a few more tears, worrying again about what lay ahead and thinking of what life her love and flying partner had led after she was no longer with him, but managed to continue. “So, did he have a nice funeral, too?”
“Yes. I was there and it was nice, just like yours. Full Wonderbolt honors. Chrome lit the fire…”
Chrome! Rainbow Dash realized, “Fluttershy, tell me about my son! How did he turn out?”
“He turned out great, Dash! Just like his mother and father!”
Rainbow beamed upon hearing this, tears of joy welling up in her eyes that she could no longer hold back. “I'll bet he followed in his parents' hoofsteps and became a Wonderbolt, too, right?”
Fluttershy held back a giggle at the presumption, “Well, no, not exactly. He was actually more interested in the science of flight – flight dynamics, wing posture, that sort of thing – rather than actually taking up flying as a profession. After you were gone, Soarin and him even moved to Ponyville so he could enroll in Twilight's School for Gifted Ponies!”
“What!? You mean my son is an egghead?” Rainbow laughed at the irony: The universe, it seems, likes playing a good prank, too!
“Well, it's all good – there's no way I could ever be disappointed in him, and getting accepted into Twilight's school for all genius ponies is totally amazing!”
“It's actually even better – while he was doing his studies, and with guidance from Twilight, he came up with a new way to achieve a Sonic Rainboom – one that was larger than anypony else had ever seen! He even gave it a name – a Rainboom Cascade.”
“Really?! That. Is. TOTALLY AWESOME! I'll bet all of Equestria was cheering him on as he executed it!”
“Oh, well, actually… He didn't have you or Soarin's flight prowess, so he never got to do his theoretical Rainboom Cascade. Like I said, he enjoyed learning about flight more than actually doing it.”
“Oh… That stinks.” Rainbow's heart sank. If I had been there for him, maybe he would have achieved that dream of his?
“However…” Fluttershy eagerly continued.
“However?”
“His daughter, Rainbow Comet, at only the age of eleven, took his notes and data he had worked on for so long, and spent the next six years trying to make his dream become a reality.” Fluttershy paused to recall the moment, one that filled her with happiness, “One day, after the crowds had stopped bothering to gather to watch her make her attempts – when the conditions were absolutely perfect – she finally proved to the world all his theories were correct and executed a flawless cascade, painting the skies over all of Equestria with a beautiful colors!”
Fluttershy watched Rainbow Dash's eyes fill with tears of joy, “As you can guess Chrome named her after his hero – his mom. That's how much he loved and admired you, Rainbow. His daughter is every bit as much the flyer you were, and,” she let slip a small giggle thinking about her personality, “just as stubborn about never giving up!”
This made Rainbow Dash laugh, “If not more!” She proudly cried out her granddaughter's name, “Wow, Rainbow Comet! I can't believe it – I'm a grandma!” Rainbow wiped away another tear as she flashed a huge grin, regaining her composure, “Of course it only makes sense that my children and grandchildren end up twenty percent cooler than me!”
Fluttershy giggled over Rainbow recalling her famous line, and how strangely appropriate it was in this instance. “Yes, she is a true prodigy when it comes to flying. Her parents were extremely proud of her, as was her grandfather.”
“You mean Soarin got to see it, too?” Rainbow asked elatedly.
“Oh, yes. He was still around then. He retired from the Wonderbolts after you… saved us, to spend all his time raising Chrome. He bought a house just down the road from Applejack's farm.”
“Let me guess – so he could be closer to those pies he loved way too much!” she exclaimed heartily.
Fluttershy smiled, “Yes, you obviously know him all too well! Since they lived nearby, Chrome would often come visit me after school to hear stories of us girls' adventures together. I think it helped him deal with things.”
She paused for a moment to reminisce, “You know, just as much as he wanted to hear them, it was just as wonderful to me to recall those days. It almost made it seem like you were still with us…”
Rainbow Dash felt a little sad at hearing this. His time with Fluttershy could have been time her son spent with his mom, but she smiled remembering the warm, motherly love Fluttershy embodied. “I suppose if he had to have somepony to hang with besides me and his dad, I'm glad it was with you, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy blushed, “Thank you, Rainbow. He returned the favor a number of years later when he comforted me after Angel passed.” She paused for a moment to take a breath, “Your son was very special to me, too… he–” She was cut off by the loud blare of the train's whistle, followed by bells and a jolt to the car her and Rainbow Dash were in as it passed over a switch.
They looked over and trotted to the windows, pressing their muzzles against the glass like little foals to peer out upon the remarkable scene. Their train was slowly pulling into a station – the largest one ever beheld.
As they passed each platform, an uncountable number of ponies of all races and ages, milled and buzzed about on and over them, searching for loved ones. Mixed in with the ponies were an equally large number of griffons, flying about, also looking for ones they knew and loved. Farther up thousands of giant airships hovered overhead, streaming out dragons in numbers that would make the Great Dragon Migration look like a second-rate parade.
The platforms they passed as their car slowly rolled along extended into the distance as far as the eye could see. All these ponies, griffons, and dragons, exiting by the thousands from all direction; all of them arriving at the same time.
“This is incredible!” cried Rainbow Dash, turning to Fluttershy. The ponies she saw – she recognized famous faces from history, old celebrities from days gone by, and even one or two from her lifetime. For every pony she saw, her anxiety increased ever so more, and she collapsed back into the seat as her mind tried to comprehend the experience:
Everypony that ever lived, for all time, is here, all in one place! Whoa…
“Yes, it is quite a sight to behold…” Fluttershy muttered.
“Fluttershy, what's wrong?” Rainbow asked, noticing her friend's now crestfallen demeanor. “We're here – this is it – Pony Valhalla, or at least that's what I'm calling it for lack of a better term, anyway! Look at all the ponies, our friends and loved ones are out there, somewhere!” She wistfully looked back out on the crowds, hoping to see anypony else she recognized.
“I – I don't see any animals out there among those ponies…”
Angel… Rainbow Dash remembered.
She hurriedly began scanning the new arrivals before her, to see if there were any animals coming off the trains, but she saw nothing – until she turned to face the opposite set of windows in the car. That was when she saw what she was looking for – down below them, in the distance, was an exodus of animals and creatures of all species, even the aquatic ones contained in glasses and pitchers of water of all sizes – some of them ridiculously large. All of these creatures being levitated and gently placed down across a vast landscape of grass, river, and ocean.
“Fluttershy, look!” she said excitedly, “There are all your furry, feathered, and finny friends – somepony is taking care that they all make it here safely!”
Fluttershy shot over to the other side of the car and beamed at what she saw: Animals, insects, even mythical creatures, all being set up in habitats. Seeing how organized the procession was, she immediately thought about the Element of Magic and conjectured, “Twilight?”
Rainbow Dash scanned through the mass of moving beasts and strained her eyes to see where the magic was emanating from, and spotted the source and laughed loudly as she pointed Fluttershy's head in the direction she was looking, “Guess again, silly!”
There in the distance, she saw him – dressed in sunglasses and a navy blue police uniform, whistle in muzzle, and baton in claw. A creature made of an amalgam of several beasts – directing the entire menagerie.
“It looks like he cared about you enough to make sure not only the animal friends you knew made the journey safely, but all animals from all time!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I guess he's finally found his special talent – ferrypony for departed creatures. That's totally amazing!” The respect she felt for him was unexpected, and her hesitation at this moment of admiration caused her to think of and snicker at the possible consequences: “If he gets a cutie mark for that, I swear I'll rib him about it for the rest of eternity! Ha!”
Fluttershy wasn't listening to her joking and simply closed her eyes and sighed three words to herself:
“Thank you, Discord.”
With her mind at ease again, Fluttershy turned her attention back to the train station they were passing through. Beyond here existed low hills with farms, basked in the ethereal light from the stars above. The farms surrounded a ring of towns, much like that of the appearance and style of Ponyville, only larger. Within that ring, a city that dwarfed the size of any Equestrian metropolis. In the very center of all of this was the tower they had seen in the distance, now stretching into the star-filled sky with a seemingly impossible height and a beam of light projecting from the top straight up into infinity. Everything appeared crystalline, much like the Empire they had once protected from Sombra. Even the tower before them bore a resemblance to that Empire's castle, despite it being hundreds of times taller.
“I guess that's home now,” Rainbow Dash concluded. “All I can say is I'm getting anxious to get out there and start looking for our families and friends!”
“Soon, I think,” Fluttershy calmly replied, patting her hoof on her friend's shoulder. “Soon we'll all be together again, and it will be wonderful.”
“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash remembered, “What was it you were saying before you were interrupted by all that noise?”
“Oh, that… Well, when you asked earlier if I had any foals of my own, I told you I hadn't, right?”
“Right...” Rainbow Dash remarked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, even though I didn't give birth to one, Chrome and I were so close, he was like another Angel. It was like I was his mom, too!” Fluttershy took a breath before speaking her next words, “After Angel passed, he really was the only son I had. I guess I've felt really guilty about trying to be your replacement to him, Rainbow Dash, and was afraid to tell you what I had become to him...”
“Look, Fluttershy…” her voice cracking, “I already told you, you were best pony when it came to being there for him. You don't have to feel guilty at all! I was gone, there's nothing that could change that.” She flashed Fluttershy a pained look, “And yes, it really hurts.”
Fluttershy winced at that admission.
“But, the alternative would have been for Chrome to have no mom at all,” she explained, shaking her head sadly, “and thinking about that hurts even more!”
With that, Rainbow Dash launched herself into a deep embrace with her friend, and Fluttershy returned it in kind, tears running down both of their faces.
“Thanks, Rainbow. For everything!” Fluttershy uttered softly, her muzzle pressed tightly into Rainbow's neck and mane.
There could never be enough gratitude she could convey to her dear friend, who had finally been returned to her – returned to all of her friends. A pony who had courageously given them so much –
Their cutie marks.
Their friendships.
Their passions.
Their lives.
Author's Note
Well, this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected - almost twice as long! In fact, there is a whole section saved off to another file that almost became a 4th chapter that covers the reunions. But the tone of that section was more comedic in nature than the rest of the story, and it was going to require a lot more writing to bring in all of the characters. So I decided to jettison it from this story. (You can find the unfinished chapter in a link in the comments below if you are really curious.)
Thanks again for reading!
