Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, a soft groan of annoyance escaped her throat, when she managed to focus her eyes she could have a better view of her surroundings, it didn't take long to identify that place, it was a place where on several occasions there were Gone, one of the many rooms of the Ponyville hospital.
The prismatic mare manages to get up to sit on the bed, with another groan rubbing her head to relieve her tenuous headache, the most recent memories are blurred, but she can imagine how she came to this place, surely an accident occurred in some practice flight.
"At least, I think I didn't break anything this time, let's see my wings."
She thinks to herself.
Even rubbing her head out of annoyance closes her eyes as she slowly starts to move her wings from top to bottom, she makes a small grimace as she feels a slight pull on her back.
"for some reason bother my spine, but I think it's fine, although, my left wing feels strange, what happened?"
With that think she Turning her head and opening her eyes, the pegasus stretches her left wing to examine it in more detail, as soon as her eyes make contact with her feathered extremity these are enlarged and her face reflects a mixture of surprise and fear.
Her wing, which was once in a cyan tone comparable to the color of the sky, now glowed with a soft yellow color, after watching the vision for a few seconds, gives a loud cry and jumps from the bed falling to the ground, begins to creep In circles as if trying to escape that sight, it takes a couple of seconds to assimilate that what she is seeing is effectively a yellow wing attached to her body, HER wing.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Her cry is heard all over the place.
The door of the room opens abruptly and her two unicorn friends, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle enter the room to see Rainbow shaking and babbling as she looks at her wing.
"Rarity go for the nurse!"
The Celestia student sends her friend dressmaker, she nods and hurriedly walks down the hall.
Twilight leaves about Rainbow "Rainbow! Rainbow tries to calm you down!"
"My-my-wing... my-wing!! what's the matter?!"
"Rainbow! Look at me! You have to calm down!"
Rainbow Dash just kept breathing hard as she continued to stammer the same questions.
"Rainbow, Rainbow look at me... it's okay, everything's fine."
Slowly, very slowly, Rainbow Dash seems to calm down. A bit.
"Tw-Twi... Light... Wh-what... what ... why ...?"
"Calm down, I'll ... I'll explain you everything okay? Just, try to calm down."
Shortly after Rarirty and nurse Redheart arrive in the room, among the three make the pegasus calm down and climb back to bed, the nurse begins to examine the body of Rainbow to make sure it has not suffered any damage.
Rainbow keeps a lost look for a moment before turning and seeing her friends.
"Girls... what... what happened to me?"
Both unicorns look at each other insecurely how to respond.
Twilight is the first to do so.
"You... You had an accident Rainbow."
"A terrible accident, during one of your practices." The dressmaker ends.
"what happened?"
"Applejack told me, you were practicing a new trick, but you got out of control and you crashed." Her purple friend responds.
"But my wing!" Look at her yellow wing "why are it like this?"
Both remained silent for fear of responding, the nurse went to check the back of the pegasus and decided to answer the question.
"The accident you suffered was quite serious, you have been sleeping for 3 days already."
"3 days?!"
"Fortunately, the doctors were able to take care of all your injuries, so you are almost healed, however, the worst damage suffered by your left wing."
"… what…?"
"After the crash, your wing was destroyed, and there was no medical or magical way to save it, we had no choice, but to amputate it."
At the declaration Rainbow Dash froze, the image of her wing being torn from her body made her shudder and want to burst into tears, yet the biggest question in her mind overshadowed those thoughts and forced her to ask.
"But... if my wing... then..." look at the yellow wing.
"... your wing could not be saved, but one of the doctors proposed to try a transplant, after surgically cutting your broken wing, this was replaced by the wing of a donor."
"A... donor... but, a wing, perhaps, I have the wing of some dead pony?"
"No, it was necessary that the transplanted member was still in a semi-vital state, had to resort to a donor who was alive."
"What?! But... it's a wing, what pony could have-"
Her sentence is cut short by noticing the facts. A wing of soft yellow color, only knew a winged pony that had that fur.
"... Flutter ... shy ..."
The silence completely envelops the room as the acrobat looks intently at her new wing, the image of her timid friend flooding her head and a whirlwind of emotions flooded her, falling heavily on the bed.
"... ... where are the others?
"Applejack is working on the farm, and Pinkie takes care of the twins." Replies Twilight remarkably worried.
"... and Fluttershy?"
"At her home, resting ..." says Rarity, equally worried.
"... leave me alone for a moment, please."
Without a word, both unicorn and the nurse give to Pegasus an understanding look. And withdraw from the room.
Already being alone and without witnesses, the acrobat allows a few tears to escape her eyes.
~ ~ ~ Shy Flutter ~ ~ ~
Walk.
It was not unusual, in fact, it was an activity as normal as breathing, something that ponies, and many living beings did daily, land ponies, unicorn ponys, and even pegasus ponys who still prefer the skies could also use the walk as mobilization Coming down to the ground, simply putting the hooves in front of others and moving in one direction, yes, it was so normal, it was not at all something strange or out of the ordinary.
"... then ... why do I feel so weird?"
This question hovered over the head of the multicolored pegasus, she supposed that it was the fact that walking was not something she used to do, of course, she used to walk around the city when shopping, sometimes hiking or jogging. She would get warm from their practices, and could not fly well indoors, so every tent and house had to keep her helmets on the ground. Yet it was the first time she had spent so much time joining her helmets to earth, usually after a moment of walking she would always spread her wings to catch the flight, or at least remain detached to the ground for a few centimeters, but in its present state even That could be difficult.
It was not long before the doctors gave her discharge and Rainbow was able to leave the hospital, however, everyone told her that her, "new wing", might present certain problems when flying, since her body had to get used to the new member as well. The yellow wing had a much lower muscular strength than its companion cyan, so there could be a destabilization in flight and a feeling of tiredness and pain if forced too much.
For this reason is that the chromatic pegasus should be content with a few hours of smooth flight at day, until she can accustom her body and strengthen her new wing in a way that could withstand their customs.
Needless to say, it was a huge annoyance for the acrobat, everypony knew it, everypony knew her, she was Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus of Equestria, future star of the Wonder Bolts, the speed, the flight, the adrenaline, characterized her, not being able to move freely through the firmament was a sentence of madness for her.
Besides... that being unable to fly, there was no way to distract her mind from the thoughts that consumed her.
She looked at the yellow wing, couldn't help but turn and notice how it contrasted with the rest of her body, its color, shape, strength and endurance, it was so soft, so light, this was not her wing, was the wing of her best friend.
"Fluttershy ..."
A whisper followed by a deep sigh escapes her mouth as she thinks of the animal lover.
The shy pegasus had not come to see her in the hospital because she had a lot of work at home with her animal friends, Rainbow understood it, and in fact, She partly gave thanks to that, she would not admit it in public, but the brave pegasus... had Fear, she didn't know how to face her friend now, just imagine, see on her back, the least remains of what was once a wing, was frightening in many ways, not to mention that she didn't know how to talk about it with the timid pegasus.
Still, there were so many things she wanted to ask, which meant she wanted to know, and it was obvious, that sooner or later she would have to face her friend face-to-face, she was not going to let a fear as ridiculous as this ruin a friendship that had existed for years, and which had overcome even more difficult challenges.
"I have to do it, I have to, this will not ruin our friendship, no, I must do it now, I can't be afraid of Fluttershy! nor what will happen, I will not lose my best friend for a stupid fear, charge!!"
With her wings unfurled she was about to take off, ... when her brain reminded to her of the issue that was supposed to trigger this situation, a closer look at her new wing and an uneasy sigh sentencing her destiny, walking to her friend's house.
~ ~ ~ Shy Flutter ~ ~ ~
She didn't know if it was walking, the fear of talking about the subject, or her eagerness to get answers, but the trip seemed to have lasted much longer than he was supposed to, even so, there she was, standing in front of the door Of the animal lover's dwelling, she raises her hoove with an intensity of touch but remains paralyzed, swallows and feels drops of sweat slip on her forehead denoting her nervousness, her heart beats fast and in her mind so many thoughts are formed that. She just doesn't get to spin anything to a conclusion, she slaps her cheek and shakes her head to push away all those ideas.
"just do it!"
With that self order knocks the door a couple of times and stands still in its place, the seconds feel like hours while waiting for any response of any kind, her body tenses when she hear the door lock being opened, see that this opens with a small slit through which she sees a pink and yellow speck, next to a celestial eye peeping out, a soft voice is heard almost instantly while the door opens a little more.
"Oh, Rainbow ... it's... it's you, am ... nice to see you."
"He-hello Flutter, it's also ... nice to see you ... yes ..."
"Um, can I help you with something Rainbow?"
"Oh I just, you know, I came to see how my friend was, huh, can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah um ... just ... just give me a minute."
Seeing the door close and hearing the sound of the insurance bother her a little, after a few tense moments prepares to call again, but before she can do so the door opens quickly, her surprise is not made wait at the moment to see Fluttershy wearing a pretty simple dress of celestial color.
"Come in, well, if you want."
"Um, yeah, thanks ..."
The chromatic pegasus observes in a disguised way as the dress hides the back of her friend, including her wings, or... her wing, in this case.
"Um, are you okay? I mean ... how's your recovery?"
"Ah? Oh well! Yes, well, the doctor told me that I shouldn't force much... my flight... but well, it goes well, yes... "
"I'm glad to hear that, I'm sorry ... I didn't go to see you at the hospital... Mr. Grizli was annoyed with Mr. Squirleen and well, they made a real disaster in the chicken coop and other places, although they already apologized for that."
"Don't worry, I know your animal friends can sometimes cause you problems, you don't need to apologize."
"Uh ok, am, do you want some tea or cookies?"
"Tea break, but the cookies would be fine."
With that the shy pony goes to the kitchen while the sprinter waits for her sitting on the couch, in a moment Rainbow feels a glance over her and to the flip sees the personal mascot of Fluttershy, Angel the bunny, a rather inappropriate name for the little animal, his bad temper is known to Rainbow who often wondered how and why her friend endured him and even more, because she had given that name, usually the rodent and the pony would not pay much attention, because none pleased the other, but the intense and unfriendly look on the part of the rabbit was puzzling and bothering.
"what?!"
The little animal changes his gaze slightly and instantly Rainbow realizes that he is seeing her wing, the wing that was Fluttershy, this makes the sprinter change her look from annoyance to discomfort, the rodent points with his paw in a way Accusing, then points to the kitchen, where her owner is currently finally making a gesture as if cutting something, the message was too obvious for the pegasus.
"I...!"
Her voice dies instantly because she can't find what to say, she turns her eyes to the ground and this get wet, the bunny looks at her without changing his expression for a moment, but then turns and jumps away, Pegasus keeps her eyes down and although She tries, she can't help letting out a few tears.
"Rainbow, I have the cookies."
The cyan pegasus quickly wiped her eyes and looked at her friend smiling.
"Great, thanks Flutter."
The shy pony left a plate with cookies on the table and sat down next to her friend, both begin to eat the cookies in silence.
"you like them?"
"Sure, they're delicious."
A faint silence is present, Rainbow looks to her left side, gently extends the yellow wing and arms of value, turns to the right to see her friend but before she can speak, a robin appears fluttering near them to the Instead he pits something upset.
"Oh, sorry Mr. Robenski, I forget to give you your food, Rainbow, will you excuse me for a moment?"
With that the yellow pegasus stands up and walks to another room, the bird flies and lands in a bird house hanging on the wall, Rainbow watches as Fluttershy drags with her front legs a small step-shaped staircase, puts the ladder next to the wall and with her mouth takes a small rate measurement rate which loads in a pouch of bird seed, climbing on the ladder and using the wall to lean poured the contents of the rate into the food container, the Robin begins to eat and Fluttershy turns to see how around there are other birds waiting in their houses to be fed.
Rainbow feels a strong pressure on her chest to see her friend sigh and go down the stairs, the shy pony tries to move the ladder but her friend Cyan stops her, the shy pony is surprised but before she can ask anything the sprinter takes the rate between her hooves and the load with more seeds, with a soft flutter rises and pours the seeds into the container of one of the Birds, returns to reload the rate and repeats the system for each bird house of the place, when each bird has been properly fed the chromatic pony descends giving back to her friend.
"Um... thank you Rainbow, that was... it was kind of you."
"... yes... it was nothing..."
There is a silence between them, Rainbow keeps her face down and her gaze on the floor, Fluttershy tries to smile and approaches.
"Um Rainbow, there are still cookies, let's go-"
"Fluttershy ..."
"… Oh, yes?"
"… take off your dress."
"Um, why? just-"
"Please... I... I need to see, what happened."
"... you... you know what happened..."
She turns to look at her. "But... I need to see it."
Fluttershy looked away from her friend, but when she saw her eyes, full of guilt and supplication, she felt the need to fulfill her request, so being careful not to hurt her back, she removed the dress from her body, exposing her soft right wing, and next to it, wrapped in a white band, denotes what is left of her left wing, a very small piece of what was once part of her body.
Rainbow kept her eyes fixed on that point, a mixture of emotions swirled in her head, pain, sadness, despair, disgust, and most of all, guilt, the multicolored pegasus felt her body heavy, as if a ton of rocks had fallen on her, her legs begin to tremble for work Which costs to hold that weight, her eyesight becomes blurred because of the tears that try to leave his body.
"... Rainbow..."
"... Fluttershy... why...?"
The question remains unfinished, but both know what was meant, silence envelops them for a moment, Rainbow awaits some response, and Fluttershy tries to find a way to give it
"... because, I know how important it is to fly for you, and... I'd hate it if you couldn't."
"But flying is important to you too!"
All pegasus love to fly, even if there are pegasus like Fluttershy, who prefer life on land, there is no doubt that every pegasus loves to be able to rise and to cross the skies, to be able to feel the wind to blow, to move freely without any physical tie.
"I love to fly, but you love it too! I know... and now..."
"Maybe... but, Rainbow, flying is much more important to you than me."
Deny with force. "No, not... even... Fluttershy!"
"It's ok Rainbow, you know I like walking, it's not really a big change."
At this point the acrobat could no longer contain her tears and these ran freely through her cheeks.
"You are a pony Pegasus! Pegasus we need to fly! It's our essence, it's what we are! IT'S OUR MAGIC! And you just... you gave it up... for me... Fluttershy... because of me... because of you ..."
Fluttershy hug her tightly "Rainbow! ... if I gave up flying ... it was because you love it."
"You love it too."
"... yes, it's true, but Rainbow ... flying is best for all pegasus, but for you, it's more than just that."
She turns away a little and looks at her friend who doesn't stop shedding tears, takes her from her chin and makes her look up so they can see each other.
"Flying is your life, and your dream, you have always wanted to belong to the Wonder Bolts, to be the best flying of all Equestria."
"... but…"
"I... I already have my life here, with my animal friends, although I like it-... although I love to fly, not having wings, will not change anything in me."
"it's not true…"
"... maybe not... but, if you... if you couldn't fly... I don't want you to lose your dreams, Rainbow."
"But Fluttershy... your wings are too important."
"No more than our friendship, Rainbow, you've done a lot for me since we met, you were my first friend, and you're the friend I love most, don't tell Rarity I said that."
The sprinter couldn't help a slight laugh at that comment, and the animal lover smiled a little at the sound.
"I don't want to see you lose your dream Dashie, your whole life depends on flying, it's part of you."
"It was part of you too."
"... a little... yes, I will miss flying, but Rainbow, I would miss much more to see you fly, to see you practice, and to see how you become the best flyer of all."
The pegasus cyan could not but hug her friend, a gesture that was instantly responded.
"You're the best friend a pony could have."
"You too Rainbow."
They stand back and look at each other with big smiles, the acrobat cleanses her face and gives a rather distressed look.
"This is... too much, I... I don't know, how to thank you enough."
"You don't need to thank Rainbow, but if you really want..."
"Yes! I want it, really! Ask me for what you want!"
"Very well, then, I want you to fulfill your dream, go and show to all Equestria that Rainbow Dash is the best flying of all."
"Flutter... yes! I'll do it, I'll be the biggest, most coller and fabulous pegasus I've ever seen!"
"Yay"
~ ~ ~ Shy Flutter ~ ~ ~
Nerves, anxiety, emotion, a little of fear, and a lot, a lot of determination, all that and more was what Rainbow Dash felt inside of her at that moment, from her current location could hear the cries and cheers of all the ponies in the Stadium, shouting louder every time, she supposed, she saw one of the aspirants do some maneuver or overcome an obstacle, it would soon be her turn, the day she had been waiting all her life, today, in front of all Cloudsdale, was the final test, in order to become a Wonder Bolt, several managed to get here, but only a few managed to be skilled enough, fast enough, agile enough, to overcome this last race against time, overcome obstacles, and demonstrate their ability to Flying, stretching her muscles, Rainbow prepares physically and mentally for this.
"I can't fail, I can't, I'm so close."
A panting shared by what seems the whole public catches her attention, in her mind immediately appears the idea that the aspirant had failed in some way, that thought didn't help her nerves.
"Focus Dash! You've waited for this for all your life, you're fast, you're strong, you're amazing! The Wonder Bolts, and all Cloudsdale-...! No, all Equestria! Will see what you are capable of."
Her self-confidence worked, half-way, there was still fear and doubt in her head, no matter how strong she always showed herself in front of everyone, she couldn't deny that she was full of panic, images of absolute victory mixed with images of catastrophic failure, that prevented she from clearing her head, as she walks from side to side trying to focus her thoughts, she sees a mirror in the corner of her eye, and in this is reflected in profile, the uniform covers almost her entire body, but does not hide her Yellow wing, all her thoughts are erased from her head and are replaced by memories.
"... I want you to fulfill your dream, go and show to all Equestria that Rainbow Dash is the best flying of all."
Her shy friend's words echoed in her memories, and with them, the memories of what they had lived ever since.
Since that day, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had strengthened their friendship even more than they already were.
In time, Rainbow had her new wing become accustomed to her body and flight style, although she had to take it calmly until she was a hundred , Did not prevent her from helping her friend with her animals, helping her to reach high places, catching fugitive chickens escaping from the corral, or spotting some wounded animal in the vicinity of the village or the forest, Rainbow was happy to help her in What she needed.
With a soft but constant program of exercise, her new wing managed to become stronger and more resistant, to the point of being able to withstand the speed and movements that characterized the pegasus, even when she took the shy pony with she.
"That your wing is attached to me, does not mean that you can't use it"
That phrase had been said to she on one occasion, when the yellow pegasus was showing the nostalgia of being able to fly, since the pegasus cyan had been dedicated to give her laps in the sky, at first it was a little difficult and they had to go calmly, But eventually got her wings to take both ponys on a more dynamic flight, although of course, always within the preferential standards of her shy friend.
Remembering all those experiences make her smile and regain confidence, she is not alone in this challenge, her best friend is by her side, the left to be more exact.
~ ~ ~ Shy Flutter ~ ~ ~
Her moment arrives, she breathes deeply and while she waits for the sign on the starting line, she watches among the crowd, it doesn't take her work to distinguish her friends, encouraging her with energy, mentally thank Twilight for having used that spell again that allowed ponys to walk In the clouds, and also hoped not to have to save Rarity from being like a pony's bun.
"although I sure would give me extra points hehehe."
Her gaze focuses on her oldest friend, the yellow pegasus had covered herself with a light green dress to cover her back. That depressed her a little but understood that she didn't want to show her physical condition.
The support of her friends always gave her the strength and confidence she needs, and with a confident smile, she knows she will do it again, standing in position stands and looks at her right wing, doing the same with the left wing, which once looked weak and delicate, now boasts power and strength, it's time, and Rainbow is ready.
A sound is heard all over the stadium, a sound that signals the start of the test, a sound that shoots all eyes on the track, and shoots the adrenaline of the cyan pegasus throughout her body, knowing exactly what to do, and so she did, she spread her wings.
~ ~ ~ Shy Flutter ~ ~ ~
Flying along with her heroes, a pegasus melts in the sky, her flight leaves a beautiful and amazing rainbow wherever she crosses, everypony knows who it she.
Because Who doesn't know Rainbow Dash? The fastest pegasus of Equestria, the best flying that exists, representation of the loyalty, undisputed star of the Wonder Bolts. Everypony knows her amazing mane of rainbow color, her intense fur coloring of the sky, the same color of her right wing, and the soft yellow color of her left wing.
