As The Feathers Blow Away
Rainbow Dash landed on a cloud and frowned.
Wasn't quite the softest.
But it was still a napping station and she needed her rest.
Or she wanted to rest.
Maybe both.
Dash yawned, too lazy to look for another 'bed' and laid down.
Before closing her eyes, she peeked over the edge of the fluffy white cloud and stared at Ponyville from afar.
It was about a mile away and she could barely make out the forms of Canterlot in the distance.
The reason she had decided to sleep away from her town was that the clouds around Ponyville were black and wet.
It wasn't her work day and she was way too sleepy to help the others on her 'lazy day'.
Rainbow then looked on the other side of the cloud and saw a waterfall running down the right side of the 'dragon mountain'. At the bottom, was a crevasse.
It looked quite easy to climb onto and the cyan pegasus made a mental note to propose Applejack to climb it one day.
The second sleep took over, she noticed a tiny figure at the bottom of the mountain.
She closed her eyes and drifted into the dream world...
"Rainbow Dash!"
What an annoying voice! It was waking her up...
"Rainbow Dash wake up!"
There it was again.
It was penetrating her soul, forcing her to awake from her slumber.
Rainbow Dash sat up in a grumpy way.
"Are you awake yet?"
"Yes!" Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh, recognizing the voice of her sister.
"I can't see you! Wait, let me get closer!"
A small warning erupted in Dash's head as she remembered where she was.
"Closer to what?" she asked, taking a look over the top of her cloud, alarmed.
The sight before her left her speechless.
Scootaloo had somehow managed to climb up to the top of the waterfall and was on the edge of the cliff next to it.
She was hovering half over the emptiness of the cliff and staring at her with big, hopeful eyes.
"Scootaloo!" suddenly yelled Rainbow Dash, panicked. "Get away from there!"
The orange filly jumped when her big sister yelled and instinctively folded her wings.
Time seemed to freeze as she immediately fell, her back legs only brushing the edge of the cliff.
Her cry of terror freed Rainbow from her stupefaction.
She jumped off the cloud and rushed towards the orange falling mass falling freely in the crevasse.
She flapped her wings as hard as she could, going as fast as she could and putting as much power in every flap she produced.
The pleading eyes of the one she loved were filled with horror.
Faster...
Scootaloo was still screaming and uselessly flapping her wings.
The orange filly was staring at her sister, tears in her eyes and a terrified expression on her face.
The ground was getting closer behind her and Rainbow's terror grew.
"Come on..." she whispered. "COME ON!"
Her feathers were almost ripped away from her wings as she pushed them to the limit.
The situation made her briefly think of when she had performed a sonic Rainboom.
But that had been a happy moment.
And this was nowhere near happy.
Scootaloo's ear piercing screams had turned into sobs as she too could feel the ground getting closer.
"Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!" she yelled, looking directly in the eyes of the one she admired the most in the world.
But her words were lost in the sound of the wind.
Rainbow just saw her lips moving again.
"I'm coming Scoots! I swear to Celestia I'm coming!"
The ground was so close that if she would have looked, Rainbow would have seen a skeleton of an unfortunate pony who had fallen too.
But she didn't see it for her gaze was focused on her little sister only.
Rainbow Dash was crying.
The ground was close.
Scootaloo was crying.
The ground was closer.
Scootaloo murmured something and a hint of acceptance appeared in her eyes.
Rainbow didn't hear what she said.
The ground was even closer.
Scootaloo closed her eyes.
The ground was so close that-
Thump
The sobs of Scootaloo immediately stopped.
Rainbow Dash's eyes opened wide in shock.
She slowed down at the last moment, falling to the floor and stumbling to her hooves.
A few of the feathers she had lost gently fell next to her.
Rainbow stared at the unmoving mass of the filly in front of her.
"S... Scoots?"
Her voice seemed cracked, sickened and desperate.
The cyan pegasus took a step forward. Then another. And another until she was directly standing almost above her little sister.
"Scootaloo..."
The filly didn't answer.
Rainbow noticed blood. Lots of blood.
She noticed the way her little sister's legs were stuck in a weird position.
She noticed her still body.
She noticed a smell.
The smell of death.
Rainbow gagged and threw up, turning around at the last moment so that the coat of the orange filly wouldn't get dirty.
It all had happened so quickly...
I was too slow. I was too slow. I... She's dead.
The last few words she thought made her snap and she screamed.
The scream echoed through the crevasse, making it sound like a thousand souls were yelling at Rainbow.
The cyan pegasus took Scootaloo in her arms, sobbing.
She stared at her unmoving eyes.
They used to be so alive.
The last thing she had seen in them was acceptance.
Rainbow Dash closed her own eyes and brought the body close to her face, nuzzling it.
The mouth of the young filly was curled up in a smile, as if she knew something funny right before her death.
A few feathers came off the young filly's wings and blew into the distance, mixing with Rainbow's and disappearing like Scootaloo's life had.
Rainbow let go of her body and took a few steps back, finally realizing what her sister had thought of in her last moments.
Her lips curled up into a sad smile matching Scootaloo's.
"Yep... You're right Scoots..." she turned her back to the limp body and took a deep breath to calm herself. "You did fly after all..."
Author's Note
Hope you cried ;)
