Guilt

Rainbow didn't know how long she had been flying for. All she wanted to do was to get away from the scene of the crime as fast as possible. She ignored the nearly painful pull of the winter air, persevering through the strong gusts of wind that threatened to make her slow down. Even as her wings felt like giving up, and snow made its way into her eyes, she kept going and wiped away the water with her still hurting hooves.

The physical torment of speeding so quickly in sub-zero temperatures was sure to affect her later, but the pure adrenaline was enough to keep her going. The image of a bloodied and battered Angel was still fresh in her mind.

She didn't dare look back. What if Fluttershy was chasing after her? She imagined her friend, with a look of pure hatred and betrayal on her features as she shot straight toward Rainbow Dash. The terrifying picture only served to add to her panic and paranoia.

Blindly following the general direction of where her house was, she finally made it to her cloud home at what must've been a record speed. She burst through the soft door, not caring if winter made it's way inside. She tumbled into her living room, only stopped by the harder cloud walls.

She finally paused her frantic flight, letting her wings fall back to her sides as she succumbed to the exhaustion. She collapsed onto her couch and huddled into herself, clutching a pillow to her chest.

The pillow was unexpectedly soothing to her hooves, so she kept stroking it until the fabric had worn away significantly. The stuffing inside felt even nicer.

Finally feeling like she had regained the ability to breath properly again, she sat up and threw the ruined pillow in the air, letting out a scream as all the feathers flew around her. "AAHHHHHHH!-" She muffled herself with the couch, stuffing her face in between the two cushions.

She stayed like that for a while, letting out screams that dwindled with each passing second. Stopping when her voice began to hurt, she looked up to spot Tank staring at her from across the room.

Immediately, she swooped over to pick him up and took him with her up the stairs. She went through the entrance to her room, unceremoniously crashing onto her bed. Tank bounced next to her.

She suddenly grabbed the tortoise by the sides, words flying out of her mouth. "TANK! Oh no, what do I DO?!" Her voice cracked at the last syllable, "I, I did something HORRIBLE!"

She continued to clutch Tank, holding him close to her as she started crying. In response, Tank held up a leg to her face, as if telling her to calm down. He hoped she would understand as he slowly patted her cheek.

Getting the message, she held him back so they could properly see one another. Dash had fresh streams of tears running down her face. "T-Tank...?"

The tortoise gave her a gentle smile.

Rainbow sniffed, "Oh, Tank. I know you're worried about me, but I'm f-fine..." She nearly began sobbing again, and she had to tightly shut her eyes to keep her emotions in check.

When she saw him give her a knowing look, she sighed. "Okay, I'm not fine. But..." She gazed into his eyes, contemplating whether she should tell him or not. Her mind drifted to the accident, and she realized something. Angel was Fluttershy's pet. If she told her own pet how she crushed another's, how would that make him feel?

An overwhelming sense of shame came over her, and she felt disgusting. Placing Tank down on the ground as if she didn't want to get him infected, she sent him the most remorseful apology she could muster. "Sorry Tank, but I can't tell you. I just wanna be alone right now..." She turned away from him, trying to ignore the pangs of guilt that kept stabbing through her heart.

Tank stayed for a little longer, waiting to see if she would need him. She kept to herself though, so he decided to leave her. The tortoise gave her back a concerned look, before climbing down the stairs.

Fluttershy didn't waste any time in rushing to where Angel was. She wanted to turn away from the grotesque sight, but she couldn't. Not when her beloved pet was suffering like this.

She tried futilely to calm her rapid breathing, gently turning him over so she could see the injuries done to the front. She nearly started heaving when she saw Angel's crushed face. Freshly inflicted cuts littered his face in the most brutal scene she had ever seen, even with her extensive time spent caring for wounded animals.

The rest of his body looked like it had been relentlessly torn apart by some outside force, but she wasn't thinking about what happned to him. She noticed one of his eyes completely encased in red, possibly permanently damaged. His other eye, however, was relatively alright as it stared up at her...

"Angel! You're alive?!" She wanted to embrace him, before realizing that it would only crush him more. Instead, she picked him up and brought him downstairs to her other animals, most of whom were gathered at the bottom.

They had heard Fluttershy's screams and were alarmed, hoping nothing had happened. But when they saw Angel, they began making worried noises that only grew louder as some of them wondered if he was dead. Fluttershy didn't think to gather order in the room at first, as she too was panicking quite a bit.

She kept glancing at Angel, never directly looking at him as she felt like she could drop him out of shock at any minute. She was at a loss for what to do, before she realized that the room was in total dissorder. Figuring that she would need some help, she yelled for them to all stop.

It took a while for all of them to actually end their freakouts, but once they saw the urgent look in their caretaker's eyes and the careful but firm way she held onto her pet, they stopped fidgeting.

Fluttershy had to take a deep breath to be able to speak properly, "Okay, I know it looks very, very bad right now," She took another shaky breath, "But I need every creature here to calm down. He'll be alright once he's patched up..." Even she wasn't sure of herself at the moment, but it was important for at least her animals to feel relieved.

She recalled seeing the bunny's dented head, and winced. It was impossible for her to do this alone. "I need to take him to the vet's, so please, please stay put for the time being." All the animals looked at one another with uncertainty, but Fluttershy didn't have any more time to waste. She had to get help right away.

She brought a scarf for Angel, but nothing else as she went out the door and tore through the winter winds.