Author's Note

I want to extend my thanks to Kiernan for assisting me with edits on both this alternative ending and the original story.

Additionally, the inspiration for the writing of an alternate ending was inspired by this anime scene shown in an Instagram reel

Alternate Ending

Closing her mind to what happened after, Rainbow rolled to her side. She looked at the clock on her bed stand. It was now thirty-seven days, eleven hours, and twenty-three minutes. A golden bronze medal on a decorative red ribbon just under the clock caught her eye. An award given to her by the captain of the Wonder Bolts. It was meant to commemorate her act of valor for saving a filly who had attempted suicide. A filly that was in a comatose state until recently, but is now resting under the turf in the Ponyville Cemetery.

The longer she looked at the ribbon, the redder her vision became. Rainbow threw the bedsheets off her body and snatched up the ribbon.

It was a little after seven in the morning when Rainbow Dash’s house came into view. Luna had paid a visit to Fluttershy in a dream asking if she could talk to and hopefully console her friend. Apparently, the sheer volume of nightmares Rainbow seemed to be suffering from were difficult for Luna to deal with on her own, and she’d asked Fluttershy to lend a hoof. On her way there, she had racked her brain to figure out the best way to bring up this sensitive topic.

Fluttershy would be Equestria’s biggest feather-brained liar if she said she hadn't noticed something was wrong. The two hadn't had a proper conversation since the one and only visit to Scootaloo in the hospital. She had spent days convincing Rainbow to visit the filly while she was still in a comatose state to show Rainbow she was doing well, at least for the time being. Acting in a supportive role, Fluttershy watched as Rainbow Dash struggled for over an hour just to open the door to Scootaloo's room, and even threw up at one point. It hurt seeing her friend that way but eventually Rainbow had overcome her demons and entered the room. However, she only stayed for less than ten minutes before swiftly exiting, having suffered a major panic attack.

It was the very next morning that Scootaloo passed.

Over the recent weeks, Rainbow had become increasingly avoidant and was rarely ever seen outside her home. Even more so after Scootaloo's funeral. Rainbow may not have been present at the proceeding, but Fluttershy could have sworn that she had seen a cyan pegasus watching from inside of a cloud that day.

Fluttershy glided to a halt outside of Rainbow’s door. Not a moment after she placed her full weight on the cloud, she heard a blood-curdling scream coming from inside.

“Rainbow?!”

She threw open the door with such force that it slammed against the wall as Fluttershy bolted inside. Rainbow's screaming was coming from deep within; somewhere in the back. Fluttershy didn't hesitate, rushing towards the cacophony to find out what was wrong.

When Fluttershy found Rainbow, she was tearing posters and newspaper clippings off the wall, ripping them to bits. At the sight of it, the timid pegasus was motionless; too afraid to move and was too shocked to say anything.

In the midst of the bedlam, Tank took the opportunity to bolt over to the safety of Fluttershy with the help of his makeshift magical helicopter.

Rainbow's screams continued on, her outburst not even close to finished. After ripping every paper within reach, she grabbed a hockey stick and swung it at every trophy, every ribbon display, every gold medal, anything that showed her past victories.

Fluttershy kept back, acting partially in service as a shield to Tank, but mostly just avoiding the wooden implement.

The hockey stick broke after a few more swings. The head flew off and shattered a glass-doored cabinet that had just been displaying her most prized awards.

Rainbow stormed over to the now-broken cabinet, gripped the back of it and used all her strength to pull it away from the wall. It had been secured with straps to keep it from toppling over, but in her rage, these were ripped right out, with some leaving holes in the wall, and others leaving holes in the cabinet. It toppled over and landed with a dull thunk on the soft cloud floor.

The fact that it stayed mostly in one piece seemed to upset Rainbow even more, resulting in her screaming harder. Grabbing a busted piece of a trophy, she threw it into the connected bathroom. The sound of the mirror shattering echoed through the whole house. She then grabbed a baseball bat and began to beat the backside of the cabinet repeatedly until the handle of the bat snapped clean off.

Neither Fluttershy nor Tank could do anything but watch as Rainbow continued to scream. It wasn't a rage-filled scream; none of these so far had been. Fluttershy recognized that each languishing cry was bursting with more pain, anguish, grief, heartache, and sorrow than what any scream in history ever had.

Fluttershy managed to push Tank out of the room, and as Rainbow was frantically searching for something, anything, to use as a weapon against what few trophies remained, Fluttershy saw her chance. She leapt onto Rainbow’s back and wrapped herself around her legs and wings.

In any other case, it would be very odd that Fluttershy could overpower Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was timid, weak, and didn’t like confrontation, and Rainbow Dash was a world-class athlete. Ten minutes ago, she’d even had the trophies to prove it. That Fluttershy could restrain her at all was unheard of.

“Rainbow! Stop!” Fluttershy tightened her grip around her friend and physically restrained her to the floor, preventing the imminent destruction of the trophy Rainbow Dash had set her sights on next.

“LET ME GO!! LET ME GO!! LET ME GO!!” Rainbow kicked, flailed, and screamed, but Fluttershy wouldn't fold. Even in Rainbow’s diminished state, Fluttershy was forced to use all of her strength to pin her in place.

The next few minutes passed like hours. Fluttershy was wondering if it would ever come to an end when her friend's shrieks and cries almost instantly died into an abrupt and haunting silence.

Feeling the sudden limpness of Rainbow’s body, Fluttershy risked releasing her hold and propped Rainbow up against the side of her bed. Fluttershy was about to ask if she was okay or what was wrong, but the words became lodged in her throat the moment she saw Rainbow's gaunt expression.

She had become rather skinny over the last month. Her once toned muscles had begun to noticeably start atrophying. When did she last exercise, or even eat?

What was the worst of all was that Rainbow appeared utterly oblivious to Fluttershy's presence. The only evidence that she was still alive was the slow, shallow and steady oscillation of her chest as she breathed. If not for that, Fluttershy would have been convinced that her friend was dead.

Anything she could possibly say in that moment in an effort to reach Rainbow Dash would ultimately fall on deaf ears. Instead, she quickly checked Rainbow’s bed for any shards of glass that may have found their way onto it. She picked up the bigger chunks and used her wings to brush it free of all the little ones.

Once she deemed it somewhat safe and relatively glass-free, Fluttershy hoisted Rainbow onto the mattress, laid her down, and waved Tank over. He was understandably hesitant, afraid of what might happen to him if he was too close, but regardless of his fear, he did love Rainbow Dash, so he hovered over, tentatively at first, and nestled in under her forehoof.

“Stay with her for the time being,” commanded Fluttershy. “If there's any change, come let me know immediately.”

Tank snuggled in as close as he could, knowing what his role was in this situation. With a slow, solemn nod, he took his place and held his position.

Rainbow was still as limp and as responsive as a ragdoll. After placing a comforter over her body, Fluttershy left in search of something to help clean up the wreckage in the bedroom.

That proved to be no easy task, as Rainbow's entire house was in a dire state of disarray. It used to be remarkably spotless and well-maintained, a source of pride for Rainbow, much like her trophies. Rainbow had decorated most of her rooms with gold medals, first-place trophies, plates, plaques, et cetera. The halls were lined with posters and newspaper articles about how awesome and amazing she was, and in her home gym, she kept a collection of second and third-place trophies, to remind her of where she needed to improve.

Now, it was just a filthy, broken mess, with belongings scattered everywhere. Some rooms even had sections that were beginning to disperse and vanish, returning to their original cloud-like state. As a result, there were large cracks, gaping holes, and various other openings in either the ceiling, walls, or floor. The kitchen was the worst by far, even more so than the current state of Rainbow’s room. It was almost impossible to walk due to the amount of garbage.

Why didn't she reach out for help sooner?

Fluttershy didn't even know where to begin and was at a complete loss on how to proceed. Now having taken a closer look and actually seeing the state of her friend's living conditions, Fluttershy could not, in good conscience, leave Rainbow in such unfortunate circumstances. She took a deep breath, instantly regretting it because of the smell, and began the task of tidying up as much as she could.

By 9:00 A.M., the majority of the rooms had received a moderate level of attention and necessary repairs. The kitchen, in particular, demanded significant time and effort due to the accumulation of trash bags against the walls, not to mention the dishes. They were a sarcastically glorious sight to behold. It would have taken much longer, perhaps even all day, for Fluttershy to make it this far had she not received assistance provided by her animal companions, primarily birds.

In all that time, as Fluttershy had cleaned and cooked breakfast, Tank hadn't come to find her. That was probably a good thing, though at the same time, if Rainbow hadn't seen any changes, that meant she was most likely still as unresponsive as when Fluttershy had left her.

Fluttershy grabbed a clean plate out of the cupboard and added the pancakes she’d made to it, dressing them up with a lot of different fixings. Sliced bananas, whipped cream, cream cheese, walnuts and a big dose of syrup. With that all placed on a tray with a plastic fork, plastic butter knife and a ceramic mug of grapefruit juice, she made her way back to Rainbow’s room to check on her.

She knocked before entering, “Rainbow? I made you some apple cinnamon pancakes…”

As she pushed open the door to Rainbow's room, her suspicions were confirmed. Rainbow hadn't moved.

Fluttershy entered the room, gently placed the tray aside, and proceeded to carefully adjust Rainbow's position, ensuring she was in an upright posture that would allow her an easier way to eat her meal. There was still no response or reaction from Rainbow as her breakfast was placed on her lap.

Fluttershy was ready to reach for the fork and knife to cut the food and feed her friend even if she had to forcefully shove it down her throat if Rainbow refused. However, she paused mid-reach and decided that may not be the correct way to handle this situation.

“Rainbow, this is where I'm going to have to give you some tough love. I'm... not going to spoon-feed you.” Hearing herself say that felt like a piece of her soul was crushed. “If you don’t want to recover, that's your decision. And…” she couldn't finish what she was going to say as the corners of her eyes beaded up with tears. “I just... I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore.”

There was no response from Rainbow Dash outside of her slow, rhythmic breathing. Tank looked between the two of them and then returned to his shell, but there was nothing from Rainbow.

Fluttershy redirected her attention to cleaning the last remaining room that was in need of tidying: This very bedroom. She was twenty minutes into the cleaning when Tank bumped into her to grab her attention. She turned and briefly looked at the tortoise then immediately at Rainbow Dash just in time to see the fork fall from her mouth and a moment later, her half-heartedly chewing her food.

Fluttershy let out a small sigh of relief at this small improvement. There was still a long way to go if she wanted to help guide Rainbow back to her old self, but it had to start somewhere.

There was a small shift in Rainbow’s eyes. When Fluttershy followed her gaze, it led her to a clock that had surprisingly survived when Rainbow was destroying everything in her room. When Fluttershy looked back, she saw her friend mumbling something, but it was nearly impossible to hear. She only managed to hear a number or two.

“…7 …ys, … 14 … … …1 … utes…”

With all the energy of a wet paper bag, Rainbow gave herself another small nibble of pancake.

Fluttershy felt that this may be an opportunity for her to convince Rainbow to open up a little more. “If it's alright with you… not that you have to… That is, I won’t be troubled if you don't, but… Could you maybe say that again, please? I didn't quite catch that… Of course, if you want to talk about something else… or anything really… you're free to do that, too, if it makes you feel any better…”

Rainbow appeared to chew at a slower pace than even Tank could ever manage, even if he made an effort, and then she eventually swallowed again. At that moment, tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Two seconds..." she uttered softly as her body shook and tears fell like rain.

Her words sounded as if they were too big to escape her throat; hurting with every letter that came out, as she continued.

"All I… needed,” she sniffled, ”was to be two more… stupid… measly seconds faster a-and..." That was all she could say before she cupped her hooves over her head wept and wailed harder than she ever had in her life.

Fluttershy set aside the whisk broom and dustpan and walked over to Rainbow Dash, embracing her in a big, warm, comforting hug. "I can see how much you're hurting because of what happened to Scootaloo. It hurts me as well. But I assure you that I will not abandon you.”

Rainbow didn’t answer back. Not with words, anyway. Her hooves flopped down by her sides, but her wings crept up and clung to Fluttershy’s elbows. It wasn’t quite a hug, but it wasn’t nothing, either.

"Shhh... It's okay. I'm right here," Fluttershy whispered, stroking Rainbow's mane. The gentle touch seemed to offer a lifeline in the storm of Rainbow's emotions.

Nearly ten minutes passed as Rainbow's sobs gradually subsided, replaced by deep, ragged breaths. Fluttershy held her tightly the entire time, offering silent comfort. Finally, Rainbow gave her a gentle nudge, signaling that she had calmed down a bit.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her raspy voice barely audible. "I must look pathetic, don't I?"

Fluttershy shook her head and rubbed her back. "Don't apologize, Rainbow. None of this is your fault. You're allowed to feel everything you're feeling. It's okay to not be okay."

Rainbow sniffed, her face hot and wet with snot and tears.

"Are you feeling any better yet?" Fluttershy asked softly, pulling her head back to look Rainbow in the eye. Her eyes were red and puffy.

Wiping a hoof across her eyes, Rainbow shook her head, a heavy weight settling on her expression. "No..." she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I'm cool with that." Another wave of sorrow washed over her face, threatening to bring more tears.

Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Well, I'm not. What else can I do for you?"

Rainbow's stomach rumbled unexpectedly, interrupting the heavy silence. She blushed, embarrassed.

"Do you want to finish your breakfast?" Fluttershy suggested.

Rainbow only nodded in silence.

"I'll make you some more. And while you finish eating, I can finish cleaning your room."

Rainbow looked around at what remained of the destruction she had caused, and then she shrunk with shame. "I'm so sorry to make you do this," she mumbled. “If you don’t want to–”

Fluttershy squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. Let's focus on taking care of you right now."

Fluttershy left to make another batch of pancakes, leaving Rainbow in her own thoughts. As she scanned the condition of the partially-cleaned room, she saw the trophy Fluttershy had prevented her from destroying.

The base was slanted and made of discarded wood she’d picked up for free. To compensate for the crooked appearance, the cup on top was a little lopsided, giving the cup an oblong opening. In the end, it was an overall nightmarish banana-shaped monstrosity. It was no surprise that Rainbow had never received an award in the art of trophy making, but it wasn’t for her, as she’d been the one to pick the words for the plaque.

Scootaloo

Ponyville’s Bravest Filly

It hurt for Rainbow to even look at, but differently than when she laid her eyes on any of her other trophies or awards. However, at this moment, she now had more trouble finding the strength to pull her eyes away from it.

Rainbow rolled out of bed and walked over to the trophy, kicking aside debris as she walked. She just stood there, staring at it, reading the words over and over until Fluttershy came back. Ponyville’s Bravest Filly. No truer words had ever been engraved on a plaque than these.

When Fluttershy walked in, Rainbow reached out and grabbed it. Even though Rainbow couldn't see her, she could feel her friend tensing up from across the room. Rainbow figured that Fluttershy must have thought she was going to try to break it again.

Instinctively, her arm moved to slam it into the floor. However, she successfully stopped herself from doing that, if only barely. Rainbow wasn't going to do it. No, she couldn’t go through with it, not like she had when she tried earlier that morning.

Rainbow held the trophy in a way so that she could see her own distorted reflection, her grip tightening around it. She then turned to look at Fluttershy, her eyes pleading for help. "I-I think… it's time I… visit Scoots and… and give her this… Right?" she asked softly. A storm of emotions was raging within Rainbow.

Fluttershy relaxed, understanding the situation. "You… want to do that today?" she asked gently, her voice filled with concern.

The thought of visiting Scootaloo's grave was a crushing psychosomatic pain, akin to a heavy weight settling in Rainbow’s chest. She hesitated to answer, her eyes filled with a mix of fear, determination, and a deep-seated guilt. It felt as if she were being torn apart from within.

Eventually, Rainbow nodded, the decision a heavy burden. The thought of facing the reality of Scootaloo's death was terrifying, made even more so by her inability to reach her in time. She had built walls around herself, a fortress against the pain, but now she was being forced to dismantle them, brick by excruciating brick. She felt like a failure; a protector who had failed to protect.

Fluttershy set down the plate on the dresser, one of the flattest pieces of furniture that hadn’t been overturned. When she reached the bed, she rubbed Rainbow's back reassuringly. "I'm here with you, Rainbow. We'll face this together," she promised.

A minute flicker of hope sparked within Rainbow. With Fluttershy by her side, perhaps she could find the strength to move forward. But first, there was something she needed to do to prepare. "I need to take a shower before we go," she said, her voice barely a whisper as she anxiously rubbed her shoulder.

37 days, 14 hours and 45 minutes.