Steel's Chapter Dump

It feels strange... a hospital really shouldn't feel this ominous, right? The white walls signifying purity, all the doctors wandering about, fixing ailment and injury with their magic and skills. It should all bring hope and pride, right?

To come here is to be offered a chance to recover... to discover that one of your friends is well and truly... well...

"No, no... now isn't the time to think about that... stay strong, Rarity. Fluttershy needs you to be, if no one else," Rarity whispers to herself, a look thrown back to her near-comatose friend; a spirit like that shouldn't suffer such an emotional bomb.

Ponies walking by look to Rarity as if she were a ghost; did news really travel that quickly? They either pulled their eyes to the side in shame, or gave a sympathetic nod to the mare as they went passed. The simple acknowledgement causes Rarity's stomach to flip, keeping her eyes fixed to the floor. Her hoofsteps sounded hollow, as if she were walking through plaster, rather than across tile.

"Still hard to believe... though I doubt I'd get over something this quickly. Hmph, and to think... the only things that troubled me this much were Rainbow crashing in through my shop, and the weather playing havoc with my mane," She smirks; what cruel fate should befall the invincible pegasus... well, as they say: misery loves company.

The double doors give way to a gentle shove of her magic, the lobby within view, as well as all those eyes. They all simply stare at her, as if expecting some form of news. Rarity shakes her head, and they all move their eyes to each other; so few ponies, four or five at best, yet the air of sadness feels like a million pounds on the unicorn's shoulders. She walks through the lobby, head held high and eyes fixed on the door; strength at this point was her greatest ally, if only to hold back the ever-growing tsunami of emotion in the depths of her mind.

It, thankfully, isn't a long walk to Carousel Boutique, though the weight in Rarity's mind isn't what pushes her forward, it's the eyes. The eyes belonging to everypony staring at her... all staring with some sense of knowing what transpired. Twilight didn't tell anypony, did she? No, she couldn't have... the town would be in a panic. Those knowing eyes, though... they feel like a disease burrowing into her stomach.

With a heavy slam of the door, she stumbles into the center of the Boutique and simply collapses, Fluttershy rolling off her back as she falls into her depression. She barely manages to keep her wails to a volume that can be contained within the walls of the shop, simply allowing her tears to flow.

"What happened to you, Rainbow?!" she shouts at her drawing board, though it may as well have been a pile of orange jelly in the muddled, wet world shown by her tears. "Why did you die? How? How could a pegasus as arrogant as yourself succumb?!" she pounds the floor out of rage, a flame borne of the tide crashing against her sanity. Her horn lights up in response, and a chair flies across the room; thankfully nothing of value was struck, besides the wall which now sports a rather wide crack...

A knock at the door causes Rarity to freeze, her heart skipping a beat; who could possibly- wait...

Was that humming on the other side of the door?

"Weird, Rarity usually leaves the door locked," A voice from the other side; foallish, light... oh no...

Rarity quickly picks herself up and wipes her eyes, her eyes darting about the room; Fluttershy! Rarity quickly picks the poor pegasus up and near tosses her into the couch, slowing her down before she hits the velvet cushions. Quick Rarity, reasoning, reasoning! She's uh... t-taking a nap, she wanted to stay for a while after the spa! Yes, perfect!

The door opens to reveal the barely lit Boutique, and a smiling Rarity sitting in the ray of light from the hole in the roof. The short unicorn furrows her brow and walks in, looking around. Ok... Fluttershy's here, and there's a hole in the roof, and her sister seems to be freaked out about something, if that psychotic smile was any notice. "Uhhh... Rarity?"

"Yes?!" The quick response jerks Belle back like a lasso; ok, freaky, very freaky.

"Are you... ok?" Belle backs away to the door, squinting her eyes at the crazy unicorn in the middle of the room. Maybe she should go get Twilight...

"Fine, fine, perfectly f-fine!" A sniff quickly follows.

"So why do you look so... creepy?" Belle raises an eyebrow, still unsure of whether to cross into the lair of a psycho-mare; she's seen what Twilight can do when she goes crazy.

"Er, well, y-you can see why something would trouble me!" Rarity points up at the new window in her roof, "A c-certain Pegasus put a hole in my roof!"

"Fluttershy?" Belle raises an eyebrow, looking over at the supposedly sleeping form of Fluttershy; could she really put a hole in somepony's roof? For some reason, Belle doubts it.

"No, of course not," Rarity sniffs, a shiver running through her legs, "R-Rainbow did it."

"Ahhh, yeah, that make sense. So where is she? Shouldn't she be helping you fix it?" Belle walks inside, looking around; at least they'd have a skylight now.

"No, s-she went home, flew off after me and Twilight gave her a lecture."

Were her eyes red?

"That... so...? Rarity, are you ok?"

"Yes, perfectly fine, Sweetie!"

"Not when you're looking from here. Have you been crying?"

"N-No..."

Belle sits down, sliding her saddlebags off. "You have been. Your eyes look the same as mine after I cried for a while."

Rarity looks away from the filly, staring at her drawing board. "I haven't been."

"Yes, you have," Belle taps her sister on the cheek; yep, coat's damp.

"I haven't been! I just... needed to have a shower, that's all."

"C'mon, stop lying to me, sis. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"I know there's something wrong when you can't even look at me!"

Rarity turns back and stares Belle right in the eye, her own eyes shaking. "Nothing."

Belle stares back, eyes squinting. A rustling from the couch catches the sisters' attention, and they both turn to see Fluttershy rising from it. A cloak of pink hair hides her face from the other ponies as she makes her way to the door, every step as slow and deliberate as dredging through a swamp.

"...Fluttershy?" Rarity moves around her sister, managing to take a step before Fluttershy raises a hoof. She shakes her head and lowers it, wordlessly speaking volumes to her friend. Rarity simply sits down and watches Fluttershy make her exit, the click of the lock as the only sign to the door ever being closed. "Fluttershy..."

"... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, sis," Belle looks over her shoulder at Rarity, "If Fluttershy acted like that after it... then I don't wanna know what happened."

"The sad part is, Sweetie Belle," Rarity blinks away a few tears, "You will end up finding out eventually..."

What word could describe Fluttershy right now? The way she stomps through the street as if her hooves were lead, the way her face hides behind the mask of her mane, unwanting to see the light of reality, the way her head is hung low like a pony on the gallows. What single word could describe what ponies see moving through the streets of their town?

Is there such a word? If there is, then it rests on the tip of Fluttershy's tongue, never taking that final step into recognition, yet always there in the back of her mind, giggling as it teases. Nothing passed through the pegasus' mind as she made the slow trek home, simply protecting herself from the images, the words... that doctor.

She knew something was weighing her down, making every step painful, every thought a stream of black through her mind. Any thought that turns to that multi-colored mane, that deafening sonic boom, that raucous, confident laugh, it all just melts into a disgusting poison in her Fluttershy's stomach, causing her to retch every time it came up. What did she want? Need? What's eating at her right now, and what can be done to make it all just stop?

Stop the country, stop the world, stop Time itself... to make the world simply freeze solid so she wouldn't have to suffer this dreaded feeling any longer. To wish all that is horrible... think of the ponies that would be affected. They wouldn't fall apart though, they would never feel pain such as this.

"What are you doing, Fluttershy...? Wishing that on everypony," she whispers to herself, a volume barely even audible to herself.

Her mind remains blank for the rest of the trip home, a long trudge through the muk of what occurred. She opens the door with a shove from her forehead and walks inside. Everywhere around her, there's silence. Complete, deafening silence, despite the multitude of birds, raccoons, badgers and squirrels. All eyes lock to their caretaker as she makes her way to her room.

Even Angel simply stares on in silence, moving back slightly as Fluttershy passes.

Silence. Maybe that's what she needs... silence. The silence of her bedroom, of a house full of guests that respect their host enough to know when to stay quiet.

She climbs onto her bed and sits down, staring at the covers under her. Brushing a hoof through her mane, she moves the worn mask to reveal bloodshot eyes, tears still flowing from them. How long has Fluttershy known that rainbow-maned speed demon? That ever-present sign of motivation in her life, all the way from Flight School to Ponyville. Always holding her up when she was down, always defending her when she was being bullied... and she only returned the favor once with that dragon.

For a pony to know that they'll never get the chance to pay another pony back for all that was done in their life... it feels like a betrayal. Fluttershy, sadly, is no different in her thoughts, the same thoughts currently suffering a tide of black wishes and dark feelings, spreading through them all like a virus. C'mon, what does she have left of her friend? What does she have that still reminded her of that pillar of strength?

Fluttershy looks about her room, wiping her eyes occassionally to get that look of drowning out of her sight. Nothing beyond a picture of her friends sitting on her nightstand could be considered a memorium of her friend. She takes it and places it in her lap, staring into the magenta eyes of the pegasus who stood up for her for so long. Tears fell from her chin onto the spotless glass, muddling the faces behind it. All she has is a picture?

She has a book from Twilight's library, "101 Ways To Make Animal Food"; not very helpful, but the techniques shown are interesting. She has a scarf from Rarity, sewn specifically for Hearth's Warming Eve, along with her spa visits with the fashionista. The crazy parties and infectious giggle were given to her by Pinkie; who couldn't start laughing when she managed to faceplant into a pie after bouncing off the walls? Nothing from Applejack, but that's to be expected; the two never shared much in conversation.

What hits her hardest is her lack of things that belonged to Rainbow, a pony she'd known for most of her life. She simply stares into the pool of tears that once contained a clear image of Dash and everypony else, then closes her eyes and retreats to the things she holds closer than anything: her memories.

"Harder!" A shrill cry echoes through the sky, sounding more annoyed than supportive. Fluttershy flaps her wings as hard as she can, but barely gets up two feet in a single beat. "C'mon, Fluttershy!"

"I'm trying, Dash," Fluttershy pouts, looking at her friend; who knew launching into the air was so hard?

"Yes, I know, but you need to try harder. Watch me again," Dash stamps her hoof into the cloud before standing up. She spreads her wings and moves them above her back. "I'll do it slowly, so pay attention."

She slowly moves her wings down, keeping them stretched and spread as far out as possible. She completes the movement with a quick flick of her wings back above her back, keeping them in towards her sides. "Alright, what'd you see from that?"

"I saw that you, um... kept your wings out as far as you could... and moved them down," Fluttershy nods sagely at her analysis; it makes sense!

"Right. I kept my wings above me as far as they could go, then moved them down, spread as far as possible. Now, what are you doing that's different?"

"I'm, um... well..."

"Do it again, and copy me."

Fluttershy nods, standing up and spreading her wings. She moves them back and above her, then moves them down. Her wings move in as they move below her back, then stretch back out as they come down to her legs. She blinks, doing the motion again, and watches her wings. "Huh?"

"There's the problem. Something up with your wings?" Dash raises an eyebrow as she walks over to her friend, stretching out a wing and moving it.

"I-I'm not sure... can you please not do that...?" Fluttershy winces as her wing is brought down past her back, forced to stay stretched out by Dash.

"Weird. Do you fly a lot?"

"N-No..."

"Ahhh. Your wings aren't getting a proper workout then."

Fluttershy looks down at the cloud, folding one of her wings and pawing the cloud below.

"Well, how about a quick fly around then?"

"Um... b-but I'll just... slow you down..."

"I want you to try and keep up with me anyway. I'll go slower this time around," Dash lets go of her friend's wing, walking around to her front, "Remember what you learned in Flight School?"

"Rhythm is everything."

"Right. Keeping a consistent beat of the wings will keep you in the air. From there, it's all pitch and pause, right?"

"I-I think so..."

"Then let's go."

Dash lifts herself off the ground and ascends, the sun burning away her color until she's nothing but a black silhouette staring back at the shy pegasus on the cloud. As the world begins to bleed away, Fluttershy ascends toward the rainbow mane and magenta eyes, every flap beating in her mind like a drum, every beat of her quickening heart like punch to the chest.

Every foot of distance lost between her and Dash like a vile knife in the leg...

Everything moves without constraint in her eyes, swimming like a soup made of reality itself. Nothing pieces together into a clear picture, except for the vivid colors of the picture in her lap.

"Why, Dash...? Y-You stayed beside me all this time... always pushing me forward... why did you have to leave?" Fluttershy sniffs, shivering. Tears cease running down her cheeks, trying to comfort Fluttershy by blurring her sight of the harsh future before her, "Why did have to leave...? Leave me, leave us all behind..."

That picture was all that remained; the picture and her memories. No more overconfidence, no more supporting hoof, no more raspy laugh as Pinkie told a joke...

She turns her eyes to a window, the forest outside a mess of green and brown. The blue sliver of sky seems to strike through clear as day, and gears turn in Fluttershy's head. She would need a lot of help, but maybe she could have something of Rainbow's... something that would help her remember.

Her cloud house wouldn't have a resident anymore... moving out would be quick. Images of a sunrise over the city of Canterlot, shadows receding in the massive valley below move through her head, the sky painted red and pink in a beautiful rendition of Celestia's glorious Sun. Sleeping on a cloud again would be a liberating experience, and Luna knows how much Dash talked about another great nap she had on those clouds dotting the sky.

The only problem, or rather, the only things to take care of, were her animals. Who would take care of them if their caretaker left for a new home? Could Rainbow's house be moved over the Everfree? If it were to hang over her cottage, then the animals would all be a quick flight away, and carrying out her care for the animals would be just as easy as any other day.

Something that belonged to Dash, and being able to take care of her animals still.

For the first time since that hospital visit, a smile grew on Fluttershy's face; the sky looked so inviting when she thought back to Dash's lessons... maybe flight would be something to try?