She'll Never Leave My Side
She's always been there for me.
Ever since the time we first met - barely four I was, a toddler on the first day of kindergarten - until now. Rainbow Dash has always been by my side, from the very beginning.
I know she always will be there, to stand up for me, to keep me company, to embrace me into her arms when I'm sobbing or scared, I know she won't ever leave me to stand alone and confront the harsh reality of life.
She'll always be there, no matter what.
In fact, have it be possible to hold her loyalty and fidelity in a jar, there would be no words. Her allegiance towards me and our closest of friends, is one of a kind, and I look to her with great admiration, and well, love. She is the person I am closest to, bar none of anyone else I hold dear to my heart.
Our first meeting was slightly chaotic, seventeen years ago, but my memory recalls it as if it were yesterday. A dear memory, that brings back nostalgia (and some pain), every single time.
I was on my front lawn, as I was having a tea party with my stuffed animals, telling them all about my first day at "big school". I remember her, a cute tomboy she was (and still is), little and scrawny, with plastered knees and ruffled hair, even back then, playing soccer with her older brother across the road.
Then suddenly, without warning, the ball came hurling toward me, my head, and for a kid that hadn't yet seen five years, it was powerful kick. So powerful that a bruise formed on the side of my head, and swelled up almost immediately.
I was knocked out, if only for a few seconds, but I vaguely remember Rainbow Dash running toward me, and her brother sending for help.
They both later got into trouble for it, despite my best efforts at convincing her dad that I was okay. He apologised, both to me and my parents, as I insisted (as politely as possible) that I was fine.
When I later saw Rainbow in school the next day, she had seem to have become determined to be my friend and to make it up to me, so we sat together and played that day. Then the next, and the next day after that, and before the end of kindergarten, we were the best of friends. It was special to me, because she was my first friend, and one of the few friends that I have ever made, and she's stuck by me ever since.
I still miss those days of carefree childhood, the long days of fun and innocent play, and safely happy nights, that seemingly lasted forever. With my best friend Dash by my side, I have never had to confront danger or fear alone, we were together. It was all that mattered.
Many find it odd, unusual maybe, that near polar opposites could attract and form bonds tighter than knots of steel. It would be understandably cogitable of course, for people to wonder that friendships as unique and strong as mine would come from such places.
Rainbow Dash is loud, energetic, sporty and outgoing, a tomboy with a heart belonging only to those she loved. She is reluctant, unwilling, to open up to others, her dad and I always being her first choice of a confidant. Headstrong and loyal, as she is. Despite everything people say she stays true to herself.
Though not flawless, regardless of whatever she thinks, there is not a single thing I would change about her.
I am very different.
I for one, care very much for what other people think; for me, anxiety is no stranger. My shy awkwardness around other people has very much become my defining personality trait, and I have never really figured out if it was a good thing.
It is also extremely difficult for me to make friends, my social anxiety has always been around me like a barrier, glass that I am unable to break. It is one that only shatters when I am around my dearest animal friends, when I am one with nature's creatures it is only then I am truly free.
I have never been known as loquacious; nor even friendly, and had it not been for my six best friends, I probably would never have stopped needing therapy for mute selectiveness. For them, I am truly glad and extremely grateful, for without I don't know where I'd be.
When it comes to differences, friends are the best thing in the world. Difference not only makes a friendship special, but we become stronger when combined. Our flaws and weaknesses compared to anothers' strength, only help to build the foundation of such special bonds, one to last throughout the ages.
I hadn't really made any other real friends after Rainbow Dash until high school, so when we left Cloudsdale Junior High for CHS, I started to realise I could no longer be able to keep clinging to her for support. I had to fend for myself, and my first year of high school in particular was not one I will forget for a good while.
Gilda was well known as a bully, her reputation was spread far and wide across the school, and though she only stayed for a year, climbed to the top of the ladder of popularity without breaking a sweat.
I was unfortunate enough to have become one of her 'victims', during her time in Canterlot High, if only once, but the mere memory of her hardening stare, cruel laugh, and sneers were enough for me to remember, to this day.
It was after Home Ec, my last class of the day, and I had made vegetable soup carried in a plastic container.
I was the last out of the kitchen, and as I closed the door and simultaneously turned around as I walked, I bumped into Gilda herself. My container's cap fell off and the soup splashed all over her and myself.
The look of horror that crossed my face as I slowly looked up to face her was no match for the rage she was about to rain down on me, and I prayed silently for my untimely death to be quick.
As I slowly backed against the wall, dropping my bags and books she almost literally pounced on me, sheer anger and disgust audible in every word of speech she uttered, crude and foul. Had she not been interrupted, I don't doubt she would have stopped at simply verbal abuse.
I was on the verge of bursting into cries of helplessness and mercy, as tears silently trailed down my face in anguish. That was when I suddenly heard Rainbow Dash's voice, clear and sound, and at that precise moment, I could have kissed her.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
Gilda spun around mid-sentence, only to realise that in the matter of seconds it had taken Rainbow Dash to cross the hallway, she had now come nose to nose with her, something so frighteningly challenging almost putting her off for a moment.
"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do? Tell on me? Get me in detention? Hurt my feelings?"
Gilda eyed up her unlikely opponent with a sneer. Rainbow Dash stepped forward, a glowering fire in her eyes.
"Are you really as stupid as you look to want to find that out?"
She took another step forward, a surprised Gilda unconciously stepping back.
"Because I definitely won't stop there."
Though Gilda was clearly bigger in size, anyone who saw Rainbow Dash in that state with half a brain would know exactly when to flee. Rainbow had a reputation of her own, though she had only been in the school for a few months, she was on just about every sports team and did Karate with Applejack, but I only knew her by name at that time.
"You. Do not. HURT MY FRIEND!"
Rainbow Dash bellowed with such force that Gilda momentarily flinched, before glancing back at me with disgust and turning. Doing her best to look annoyed, she left me, not without managing to kick what was left of the contents of my soup container onto my face, before bolting.
"OI!"
Rainbow Dash began chase, but I grabbed her sleeve and shook my head.
"It's ok, Dash."
"You're not ok."
"Dash, don't cause any trouble for me, please?"
She sighed and helped me up, pulling off her sweatshirt for me to clean myself off with as we walked out of school, Rainbow carrying my bags whilst I shivered beside her.
I wasn't bothered by anyone else for a long while after that, once rumours had spread and Rainbow Dash was known not be messed with, and I was always around her. One exception was Sunset Shimmer, though I do not wish to speak ill of her anymore. Since her redemption, she has worked hard to prove her sincerity, it is all now in the past.
We flew past high school together, as our friendship with Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset and Twilight formed, and grew stronger and stronger.
Despite each going our separate ways in the end, we kept in touch. Sunset still visits the animal shelter with me every week, we all go to Applejack's for Octoberfest, and Rarity's business is sky rocketing, quite the businesswoman she turned out to be.
Me and Rainbow Dash ended up going to the same college, Dash earning a sports scholarship to where I was studying a year later.
We lived in the same flat, and as close as best friends could get, we bonded closer than ever possibly perceived. Bullies in college are hardcore and smart, but with Rainbow, I knew she'd always be there for me.
She always has. Always will.
One day when getting back to our apartment block I was carrying the groceries, and I saw a little puppy out on the road, all on his own. I dropped my bags and came over to him, picking him up and cradling the whimpering creature in my arms.
I heard Dash shout out my name as I slowly walked back to my shopping, eyes only for the frail puppy in my arms. She shouted out my name a second time. I paid no heed. Then she screamed out for me, as she shoved me out of the way of the fast incoming vehicle.
Many describe those moments as seconds that seemingly pass like hours, as one stands rigid in helplessness and watches as everything spins out of control. I frequently recall her actions to protect me that one last time everyday.
But when I screamed out for her, it was already too late. I watched her die.
There was nothing I could do while the ambulance was on its way, so I only sat next to her, holding her hand as she spent her last few minutes in excruciating agony. She whispered in my ear, and I nodded, gulping down my tears.
"It's not... Your fault... You saved... Him..."
I motioned for her to conserve her energy, as I tried to staunch her wounds with strips of my shirt to prevent further blood loss. I was desperately clinging onto mere hope that she would survive.
Then when she finally stopped breathing, I didn't cry. In shock or in pain, I didn't cry until hours later the next day at her funeral. When I saw her coffin, and pictures of her as a child. When I thought back to years before. When I said goodbye to her one last time.
When I realised that she was always there for me. And I realised that she forever will.
She's always been there for me.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed! My first fic, out there!
I know the pacing in this rather went askew, as I was more focused on finishing it, rather than taking the time to edit much myself. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. 
