Flying With Angels

by Garbo802

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Romance, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Gilda, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Adventure
Length: 29129

Rainbow has gone through a lot in life. But when she finally breaks, what will happen to Equestria?

Rainbow has gone through a lot in life. So many things had gone wrong over the years, and when the one thing she values most is lost, she looses herself in an abyss of despair. There comes a point when everypony gives in to their sadness, thinking they have nowhere else to turn. In those instances, it takes a lot to remind them that there is always another way, and that any tragedy can be overcome.

Published 2012-09-16 11:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-19 07:05:28 UTC

Prologue: Teach Me

Prologue = Teach Me

= = = = =

Scootaloo woke up with a yawn. The first thing she did was look at the clock on the wall. After taking a second to figure out which one was the long hand, she saw that it was just after seven in the morning. "No wonder I'm so tired," she said groggily. She wished she could just sleep the whole morning away, but she was not a very sound sleeper.

After another minute or so of complaining about how early her body had woken her up - on a Saturday - she pushed the blanket aside and got up. Scootaloo didn't have much of a morning routine. Being a pony, she didn't have to dress, and being herself, she didn't have to fix her mane. Her hairstyle was literally bed-head, but that was okay since it suited her quite nicely.

She walked downstairs to have breakfast, and once or twice nearly fell asleep in her cereal bowl. After a few bowls, her head started to clear a little, and then she remembered something that she had forgotten; something she had to do today. When she realized this, her attitude improved immediately. Excitedly, she gulped down the rest of her cereal, left the bowl in the sink for later, and ran of into town.

Of course, whatever reason she had for being alright with getting up that early must have been important. She was a young filly after all, and ponies love their sleep at that age. And not only had she gotten up at seven, but she had fallen asleep at nearly midnight. She had lied awake just thinking. She did this often, because she always seemed to has something on her mind. On nights previously, the thoughts in her head had been of her cutie mark, or rather her lack of one. But recently, there was something else bothering her. This being that, as hard as she tried, she could not learn how to fly.

When she said she couldn't fly, that didn't mean she was grounded. She now had the ability to hover, but she got too tired to stay aflight for more than a minute or so. And even that very limited ability had taken her a month to figure out. It was after that that she realized she couldn't teach herself how to fly. So she went to her only parent - her dad - for help. She had no mother around, and even her remaining guardian was not hers by blood. She had not been blessed with a good family situation.

Scootaloo was adopted from the Hoofington orphanage by Forrest Dew and his wife when she was about three. A year or so later, Her foster parents divorced, and her custody was awarded to Forrest Dew. But the house belonged to the wife, so he and Scootaloo moved to Ponyville. Not only was he not her true father, but Forrest Dew was an Earth Pony. And that was Scootaloo's problem. Normally, a Pegasi would have been taught to fly from a young age by their parents. Scootaloo lacked the strength and technical skill that most young fliers had at her age, so she was barely able to hover when most were already flying at advanced levels.

When she went to her dad for help, he made the decision he thought was best. He tried to have her enrolled in the closest flight school: Cloudsdale. But her chances of being accepted to a flight school would have been higher if she was trying for a less prestigious school. In fact, it was the most prestigious flight school in all of Equestria. So students were expected to know how to fly to at least a limited extent, which Scootaloo could not. And so her application was rejected.

The application had been returned one week ago, and Scootaloo had not been able to think about anything else since then. She couldn't teach herself how to fly, and she could not go to flight school. So how could she learn to fly? The answer had hit her last night, and it was that excitement that had caused her to get very little sleep.

So now Scootaloo was walking through town, and she decided to review her plan for the day. "Okay, I can do this. I just need to find Rainbow Dash, and ask her for help. I mean, she spends all that time doing nothing, so she has the time, right? But what if she wants Bits? Ehh, I'll worry about that later." she smiled to herself, confident that before long, she would be flying with the best of them.

= = = = =

It took Scootaloo a good part of the day to find the cyan-coated weather pony. And even when she did, it took her another ten minutes to get her attention. Of course, if she had known how to fly, it would've taken next to no time at all.

"Just another reminder that I need this." she said to herself. Rainbow Dash finished her downward spiral, and landed right next to her.

"Hey, can you make this quick, I have some weather stuff to get back too." she said

Scootaloo gave Rainbow an 'are you serious' stare in response. She knew as well as anypony else in town that she was not going to do her weather duty. Or at least, not on time. "Okay, fine," said Rainbow Dash. "I was going to blow off my work anyway. What's Up?"

"I just wanted to know if you uh ... you ..."

"Spit it out squirt."

"...If you could teach me how to fly."

Rainbow Dash just stared quizzically. "Teach you to fly?"

"Uh ... Yep." Now Scootaloo was starting to get nervous. It hadn't occurred to her that Rainbow might reject her request.

"What do you mean?"

"Huh?"

"Like, how much do you already know."

"I can hover for a few seconds, I guess."

"That's it?"

"Is that bad?" asked Scootaloo dejectedly.

"Kinda." Rainbow Dash said. "It would take a lot of work. I mean a lot of work."

At that, Scootaloo perked right back up "I'm okay with a lot of work, but I really want to know how to fly. Like, even more than getting my cutie mark."

"Hmm. Well, I don't know. Why can't you do it already? Are you not strong enough, or do you need to work on technique?"

"Well ... both."

"Why?"

"Um, right. It's just that ... My dad ... He's ... He's an Earth pony. And my mom isn't with us anymore."

Now Rainbow understood the problem. She had heard of this kind of thing before, but had never seen it for herself. Granted, Rainbow Dash's parents might as well have been earth ponies for all the teaching they'd done. But she pushed the thoughts of her frequently drunk and not present parents to the back of her mind, not wanting to think about them at the moment. "I know this might be kinda ... personal, or something like that. But was your mom a Pegasus?"

"Well, yes, but my real parents didn't raise me.  I'm adopted."

"Oh," said Rainbow Dash. "Adopted, and her foster parents divorced? Wow, that's about as bad as it gets." she thought to herself. After that kind of story, how could she turn this filly down?

"How much do you need. For training, I mean."

"Enough to get me into Cloudsdale academy."

"Oh. That's gonna be tough."

"I knew that coming in," said Scootaloo confidently. "I can  take this."

Rainbow Dash chuckled. She was only beginning to realize it, but Scootaloo reminded her a lot of herself at that age. Determined to do better, And confident, perhaps too confident, that she would succeed in the end. "Sure. I'll teach you."

"Really?!"

"Yep."

"Do I have to pay or anything?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No, nothing like that."

"Aw thanks," said Scootaloo. Although most ponies would give a hug in this instance, that wasn't how Scootaloo did things. Instead, she gave a light hoof punch to the side. Rainbow Dash was grateful for that, and returned the bump in spirit.

"So, when are we going to start?" asked Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash thought about that for a second. "How about ... Tuesday?"

"Sure, after school will work. Where should I meet you."

"Um ... I'll be at Sugarcube Corner."

"Sugarcube Corner. Got it."

"Well, I guess that's it." said Dash matter-of-factly. As she said this, she began to take off.

"Okay then, I'll see you in two days."

"Sure will."

"And thanks a lot."

"No prob." she called behind her, already well into the sky. Now she was flying away from Ponyville in the direction of the weather crew building, which floated right around where Fluttershy lived. On the way, she thought about the lessons she would be giving.

Rainbow Dash wasn't so sure about this arrangement. She knew Scootaloo defiantly had the drive; it was written all over her face. but Rainbow Dash was worried that Scootaloo might be too far gone to teach correctly. Not only that, but she would have to teach her every step of the way, which could be a long process for some. And considering Scootaloo's situation, she would guess that it would fall on the longer side for them. "I'm going to be in this for the long haul, aren't I? Oh boy."

Scootaloo, on the other hand, had no such concerns. "Wow. I get to have Rainbow Dash teach me how to fly. She's, like, the best flier in Equestria." She raised a hoof skyward in victory. "This is going to be sweet."

= = = = =

Scootaloo arrived at the Cakes' store on the scheduled day. And true to her word, Rainbow Dash was there. When Scootaloo walked in, Rainbow Dash was talking to Pinkie Pie. "Well hiya Scootaloo," said the pink pony cheerfully. "I heard Dashie's gonna teach you how to fly!"

"Yep!" replied Scootaloo enthusiastically.

"That's awesome! Well, I'll leave her to you. I bet you two'll wanna start right away." As she said this, she straightened out a few things on the counter, then walked  into the room behind her.

Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash, who had an interesting expression on her face, and was staring in the direction Pinkie Pie had left.

"So, you told her you were teaching me?" asked Scootaloo.

"No, I didn't." answered Rainbow Dash, still staring off to her right.

"Then how did she know?"

"I have no idea," she sighed and walked out the door, gesturing for Scootaloo to follow her. "Then again, when do we ever know with her?"

Rainbow Dash didn't say much after that. In fact, Scootaloo noticed that she seemed lost in thought, a bit detached even. Disliking the awkward tension, she decided to start up a conversation. "Are we gonna to get going right now?"

"Not quite. I have some food to get, but that's on the way."

"Where are we going?"

"The park."

"Why the park? There's open space all around here," said Scootaloo, gesturing in that manor. "This is a farm town after all."

Rainbow Dash stopped and thought about that one for a second. "I dunno. Just seems like the natural place. At least until you get up into the clouds."

"Wait, I'm going to have to fly up there?"

"Well, not right off. But soon, yeah."

"How long will that take?" Scootaloo asked.

"I have no clue." answered Rainbow Dash.

"Why not?"

They were nearing the market now, and when she noticed this, Rainbow Dash got aloft with a few quick flaps of her wings. "This'll be quicker if I just fly from stand to stand. Mind chilling here?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay," she said. Then she was a blur. And just after that she disappeared from Scootaloo's vision altogether. She turned her head to find the multicolor-maned pony. It took her a few seconds, but eventually she could see her hovering near the egg stand, apparently arguing over the price. Scootaloo noted that she stayed aloft throughout the entire conversation, a good ten minutes in length. When she was done there, she flew across the market to another stand Scootaloo could not see. Over the next five minutes, she saw her fly to a few more stands.

"How am I ever going to be able to fly like that?"'she wondered. "And how can she just stay in the air like that. She's, like, twice as big as me!" All of this almost made Scootaloo feel as if the goal of flight was impossible. But it also inspired her to want to be able to do that. "I mean, that is really cool."

Rainbow Dash finished off her shopping in the next five minutes, then flew back to where Scootaloo was waiting. The little filly didn't notice her right away, so she cleared her throat, jolting her from deep thought.

"Day-dreaming squirt?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," said Scootaloo, running a hoof through her mane in embarrassment. She quickly ran to Rainbow Dash's side, and the two walked to one of the many parks   In Ponyville.

"I didn't answer your question." noted Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, so why don't you know how long it will take?"

"You're a farther behind than you should be, and I don't know how long it will take to teach you the basic skills."

"That's it?"

"One more thing," Scootaloo didn't make a response, so Rainbow Dash continued. "The thing is, I've never taught anypony to fly before."

"Never?"

"I wasn't done!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Like I said, I've never taught it. But I got taught it, and well, I'm pretty sure I can figure this out as I go. But just because I'm new to teaching this doesn't mean this will be easy. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Also, Never interrupt me when I'm talking."

"No interrupting. Got it."

"And while I'm on rules, the last thing is do what I tell you for training. Don't slack off, or you'll never get where you want. And don't go ahead of the program. That's a great way to get hurt." Under her breath, too quietly for Scootaloo to hear, Rainbow Dash said: "Trust me, I would know."

"What was that?" asked Scootaloo.

"What was what?"

"You just whispered something at the end there."

"No, I didn't," she lied.

"Oh, okay then," said Scootaloo skeptically. "But we're here." Indeed they were. The park stretched out in front of the pair, a light breeze disturbing the leaves on the trees. Sunlight glinted off of the benches on either side of the main path, and birdsong could be heard in the distance.

"Okay, then let's get started." said Rainbow Dash. The two walked a bit farther until they were in a more secluded section of the park. "So, you said you could hover for a few seconds, right?"

"Yep, I can."

"How long have you been able to do that?"

"For a while. Maybe a month."

"And how did you figure it out?"

"I kept trying it for a few weeks."

"And eventually you were able to do it?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay, let's see what you've got." said Rainbow Dash, sitting down on a nearby bench.

"Um ... Sure," said Scootaloo nervously. She shut her eyes tightly and focused all of her energy on flapping her wings. When she got them up to top speed, she could feel them tugging her body up. She pushed off with her legs, and her body stayed off the ground. After about 20 seconds in he air, her wings started to feel some stress. After twenty-five, that stress became pain. And at thirty seconds she felt like she couldn't go on with it any longer. But she stubbornly managed to get her time all the way to thirty-five seconds, which was the best she'd done in a while.

Satisfied with her effort, she turned to Rainbow Dash.

"Hmm."

"Wait, is 'Hmm' good or is it bad?"

"'Hmm' isn't great. Your wing technique is completely wrong. You said you always use them to scooter?"

"Yep."

 "Well, I think maybe your scootering might have thrown that off."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Try it again, and don't do it like you would your scooter. Just try not thinking about it."

"Okay, I guess," said Scootaloo. She started flapping and pushed off as she had done before, but this time tried to not think about it.

Unfortunately, she failed in that attempt. She spent so much time trying not to think about it that she ended up thinking about it even more than before. She didn't stay up nearly as long.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "You thought about it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"You say that a lot," she commented. "Okay, Let's try a different approach. Try thinking about something else other than flying. Anything you want, just not your wings."

"Sure, I guess I could do that." Scootaloo started flapping her wings for a third time. Within a second or two she pushed off.

When she got up there, she still hadn't thought of what she was going to think about. She looked around her for something to focus on. He first thing she saw when she turned her head around to the right was her flank. Her blank flank. "That's it, I'll think about my cutie mark!" she thought. "I wonder if I'll get mine before Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle do. Not that it matters. I mean, we'll all get them eventually. What if we got them all that the same time. That would be really cool ..."

Watching smugly from the bench a few feet away, Rainbow Dash wondered why she'd ever doubted herself. "I knew I could teach this," she thought. "I mean, this is my favorite thing. And she looks up to me like some sort of hero or something, so that helps. Well, I kind of am a hero. I'm one of the elements of harmony after all."

Rainbow Dash stopped her somewhat egotistical train of thought long enough to acknowledge that Scootaloo was still up there. "Wow she's been up there for almost two minutes now. That's a lot better. Her technique is much more natural; her upward motion isn't pushing her down as much. She's moving them in larger circles too." Rainbow Dash kicked her legs back and put her front legs behind her head. "Let's see how long she can keep this up."

Scootaloo kept it up for just over four minutes. Once she noticed how tired her wings were, It took her out of her thoughts. Now she had reached her real limit. She stopped flapping her wings, landing on her legs, which nearly gave out on her. Panting, she looked around confusedly.

"Hey Squirt," said Rainbow Dash, getting up from her seat.

"How long ... was I ... Up there?" Scootaloo managed.

"Four minutes or so."

"What?!" Scootaloo squeaked.

"You heard what I said." Rainbow Dash ambled over to her side and put a hoof on her shoulder. "And I have to say, I'm impressed."

"Really?" Scootaloo felt like she was living in a dream. Rainbow Dash was impressed with her!

"Yeah. I wouldn't expect that from somepony just starting out. That's almost enough strength to get you into Cloudsdale, and we just started! I think you could be a great flier if you ... Well ... I'm no good at this inspirational stuff."

Scootaloo was so worked up by this point that she felt like she would explode. Maybe even twice. "I ... I ... I ..."

Rainbow Dash realized how awestruck she was making Scootaloo feel.  "Better not let her ego grow too big." she thought, grinning a little.

"But there's still more work we need to do."

Scootaloo snapped out of her awestruck expression. "Like what?"

"You need to keep improving on strength. Just find random times in the day and do this as long as you can. But don't try moving yet. That could lead to bad habits."

"Okay."

"As for technique, I think you'll be able to do it and think about it at this same time, now that you know what you have to do." Rainbow Dash stretched for a second, then started walking back into town. "I think we're done for today. Need a walk home?"

"Done? Already?"

"Well we don't want to use those muscles too much, or you might strain something. And whenever you hurt something, it gets in the way of training."

"Aww. Fine, we'll go," Scootaloo sighed.

= = = = =

"I have a question."

"Yeah Scoots?"

Scootaloo grinned at the nickname that Rainbow Dash seemed to be calling her now. It almost seemed as if she and Dash were friends now, but she couldn't be sure. "If getting into Cloudsdale Academy is so hard, then how come Fluttershy said she could barely even fly and she was there?"

"Good question. Fluttershy was never into ... well, normal flying. She was good at dance, and that's why she was there. Dance Always happens over ground, When she tried to fly without any clouds below her, she got scared. And even though she was there for something specific, she still had to do some basic flight training like everypony else."

"So she's afraid of heights?"

"Maybe, but I always thought it was the ponies watching that got her. But then again, ponies watched her dance too, and she seemed fine with that. I remember 'cause I went to one of those after we started being friends. But with the heights, I never asked her. That's kinda personal, you know."

"That's true I guess. Oh, this is my street right here." she said suddenly. They had almost walked past it while they were talking.

"You set from here?"

Scootaloo didn't want to leave Rainbow Dash because she was enjoying the conversation, but she didn't want to look like a scardy-pony who needed to be walked to their front door either. So she answered in the affirmative.

"Okay, see you next lesson."

"Friday, right?"

"Yep."

"Okay, bye Rainbow Dash!"

"See ya squirt," she replied. Scootaloo walked down the street until she got to a house three down on the left. Then she went in.

Seeing that her pupil was safely in her own house, Rainbow Dash took of for home. "Wow, living on the ground? I couldn't pull that off. I'll have to ask Derpy Hooves how she manages."

Within minutes, the shape of her cloud home could be made out in the distance. It became clearer as she closed the gap. She flew right into the door, which she always left a crack open. She wasn't worried about anypony stealing anything. It was worlds different front Cloudsdale, where most houses had three or four locks on their doors to keep out thieves. Nopony really did stuff like that in Ponyville, and Dash didn't miss the gunshots and sirens that often invaded the silence of night in her former cloud home.

As she thought about these things, she ate a quick dinner of leftover cheese and dandelion pizza, in addition to a protein shake that she blended up. After that, she did a quick core workout, but didn't leave the house since today was a off day from a flying. But then she remembered with disgust that she had a fartlek the next day. The constant speeding up and slowing down which that type of workout required was the one thing Dash despised he most in her training. Even vertical climbs didn't annoy her that much.

"Why do I make myself do those?" she asked herself in annoyance. It wasn't that Rainbow Dash made her own running schedule. Her flyer's magazine printed one in each issue, so she just took those numbers and doubled the distance. After a quick shower, she read through the last edition of Flyer's Weekly cover to cover, since she had never gotten around to it before.

Now it was getting dark outside, and Rainbow Dash needed to sit down to sort out the thoughts buzzing around her head. She went into a closet on the second floor and opened it. Inside was her junior speedster's uniform, proudly framed, and everything she'd had from both that and her short time at Cloudsdale Academy. She brought out a box that was on the bottom of a stack of three. Blowing off the dust, she balanced the box on her back and walked downstairs with it.

Once she got there, she sat down on the couch and opened it. Inside were team pictures, yearbooks, certificates, awards, and other papers. But what she was looking for was on top, so she had no need to look through the rest of those things.

She brought out a stack of papers that couldn't have been more than a quarter inch thick, owing to her abbreviated attendance at flight school. She took some of the papers from the bottom of the stack and started reading them. When she found something she wanted she put it off to the side.

After going through the entire stack, she took the papers she had taken out and started reading one of them. On top, there were words clearly marked in ink.

Cloudsdale Academy - Age Group: 1st years - Performance Results For: Final Exam

Rainbow Dash looked down the list until she found her own results that year. Her row read:

Dash, Rainbow - Ht. 2.4 ft. - Wt. 46 lbs

Sprint: 63 mph - A

Stamina:  2.43 miles in 5 min. - C

Climb:  2298 ft. - B

Dive: Failed To Hit Terminal Velocity within allotted distance - F

Form: Inconsistent. Geared Only Towards Speed - B

Hover: 3 min. 38 sec. - B

Overall Placement: 23/57

"Just like I thought," she sighed. Scootaloo definitely had quite a deal of natural ability. In fact, she was already better than Rainbow Dash's first year final exam. That was a shock, because even though Scootaloo was two years older than she had been, she had never done any training in her life.

"Maybe the scootering gave her some extra strength," Rainbow Dash thought. In fact, only thing that had kept her from flying all those years was a mental block, something which something Rainbow Dash could relate to. The thoughts took her back to her early years, a time she wished she could rewrite, or at least forget. But thankfully, the memory that came to mind was a pleasant one.

The first thing that came to mind was the exam that the results had come from. Back then, Scoring in the upper half of the class had been an accomplishment for her. But accomplishment or not, she had never been satisfied by it.

= = = = =

Rainbow Dash pushed the door open with one hoof, but didn't look at it. Her gaze was fixed on the ground below her, an utterly defeated look on her face. The door she had opened lead out of the Academy, the building in which she had just finished her final exam for her first year. Just outside the door, there was a pony waiting for her.

"Hey Dash!"

She looked up for a second to make sure the pony was who she thought it was. "Hi Sunbeam," she said, returning her gaze to the cloud under her feet.

"What's wrong?" her friend asked.

"The exam." replied Rainbow Dash

"Was it bad?"

"I was 23rd."

"You were? Why are you so upset, that's the upper half!"

"I don't know. I still feel like I can do better."

"Hey, you did fine," said Sunbeam, putting an arm around her friend. "Just because some of the class beat you doesn't mean you failed. Besides, I bet you were top ten in the sprint."

"I was eighth."

"See. That's good."

"I was fifth at the beginning of the year, Sunbeam."

"Well ... I don't know ..."

"Exactly. If I'm falling behind in the one thing I'm good at, then I'm not working hard enough." Rainbow Dash lifted her head in determination. "Which means I need to train harder."

"Train harder? You already do all the workouts they tell you to do, what more do you need?"

"Enough to make me the best in the class."

"The best in the class?" she asked quizzically. "That's a bit high, don't you think?"

Rainbow Dash turned to her friend, smiling now, any disappointment she'd had before replaced by a determination only she could muster. "Well, Probably, but you never know. I mean, It's not like we have somepony like your older sister in our class."

"Yeah, Spitfire really is something. Did you hear, she beat the climbing record for the entire school!"

"Really?"

"Yes. She flew up just over 26 miles. I think it was 26.2 or something like that."

"26 miles? That's impossible!"

"I know, right? It's so cool."

"But she's not even in her last year of school yet!"

"Yeah, exactly ..."

= = = = =

That chat had gone on for another five minutes or so, but by this time, Rainbow Dash's mind was already Drifting to another memory. It was the first day of her second year; the first time in her life when ponies noticed her for more than just her technicolor mane.

= = = = =

As Rainbow Dash turned around the last set of markers, she knew that the rigorous training - and frequent pain - she had endured over the summer had been worth it. She had pushed herself past the point of just pain, on some occasions flying through injuries that she had once considered sideline worthy. There hadn't been a day where something in her body didn't ache, but that sacrifice was paying off beautifully.

She now flew in a group much farther forward than her usual one, competing with ponies who had once left in the dust. With only the last 400 meter stretch left, Rainbow Dash did what she did best: sprint. She quickly put herself at the front of the group, with distance to boot. By the finish, she had a good 30 meter lead.

Many of the class leading flyers - the ones who were serious about flying - noticed Rainbow Dash's improvement, and the nicer ones congratulated her openly at the end of the trials. As the class sat down, the second year coach reviewed the results of this test compared to the year end exam, as well as the flight miles the class had logged over the summer, a task that everypony, no matter their forte, was required to do.

"Okay Foals, we have some standouts in our results, and the top flier list has changed dramatically since last spring. First, I would like to recognize the ponies who logged the most miles in summer training."

He cleared his throat. "The first place finisher is Gleaming Crystal, who logged 843 miles."

As the class stomped their hooves in approval, Sunbeam turned to Rainbow Dash. "Wow, that's a lot."

"That's more than I thought, I'll give him that."

"Not to impressed?"

"Oh, I am, It's still better than mine."

"Yeah, but I can't wait to see how they react when they announce yours."

"I know," said Dash. As the class quieted down, the instructor read off the next person's results.

"Our second best this year is Thunderclap, with 812 miles." once again, the class applauded their classmate's achievement.

"Next on the list is Crimson Streak, with 794 miles."

"Dang," said Rainbow Dash.

"What?" asked Sunbeam.

"Nothing. Just watch."

The trainer, whose face had been somewhat apathetic while he read of the results, now showed a smile. "Our next highest student will come as a surprise to all of you. I was surprised by this number too, so shocked i had her distance recorder checked for tampering." There was a murmur in the class at the mention that the next pony was female. It was highly unusual for fillies or mares to be ranked that high within a class. Of course, there are ponies like Spitfire who are exceptions, but in general, the entire top ten in a class, at least for endurance flying, was male, even though three quarters of the class was female. After waiting for the crowd to be silent, he trainer continued. "But after review, it appears that the device was left untouched." The stallion cleared his throat once again. "Finishing fourth in the class, Rainbow Dash flew 789 miles over the summer." The whole class started turning their heads en mass, looking in puzzlement for the filly the trainer had mentioned. Within a few moments, the whole class was looking at Rainbow Dash, who was basking in the awed attention.

And now, the trainer was trying, and failing, to silence the class.

"Nothing like this ever happens," said one pony.

"I don't care what that review says, there's no way a middle of the pack flyer did 700 miles." said another.

"I thought she was right near the back."

"Who's Rainbow Dash? I've never heard of her."

"You mean the one with the rainbow hair? Really?"

"Wow, she's going to be good this year."

"How could she possibly do that much?"

Sunbeam looked around at all the ponies who were now in a hubbub about her friend. "Wow, I know you said you did a lot, but 789 miles?"

Rainbow Dash, who had also been taking it all in, turned back to her friend, a look of giddy excitement on her face. "Yea, I know. This ... Is so ... Awesome!!" The cyan filly looked around her once again, knowing that all the hard work had been worth it. "Best day ever!"

= = = = =

Rainbow Dash woke up to the smell of old paper, a smell she generally managed to avoid unless she was visiting Twilight to pick up the next edition of Daring Doo. So why was she smelling it now?

She opened her eyes, and saw that she'd fallen asleep while daydreaming, and drooled all over one of the results sheets. She sighed, trying to rub some of it off with her elbow, with limited success.

"Whatever." continuing from where she'd left off, she picked up the results from her year two final exam. The bottom line read: 16/64. She picked up the next sheet, which read: 9/63. And the final sheet from her fourth year read: 4/66. That had been a proud test for her. She read some of the print up the page, which read:

Sprint: 134 mph - A - GRADE RECORD.

But despite setting the grade record - one that still stood as far as she knew - that year had gone catastrophically wrong. Two events happened that led her to drop out the next year.

Well, at least it had been really bad back then. By this point in her life she'd come to terms with that part of herself. Not that the teasing had been pleasant, but it had only served to push her even harder than before, just so she could prove everypony wrong. That push resulted in her making the Junior Speedsters team a few months later. It wasn't that she was barely talented enough for the team; she was one of the best there. But Normally, school dropouts were not allowed on the team. She'd had to prove herself worthy of the team not just physically, but mentally as well.

There were plenty of memories there, but Rainbow Dash ignored them. "I've had enough daydreaming for one night," she said to herself. She left the papers to be cleaned up later and walked up to her room for a nap.

= = = = =

Three Months Later:

"Alright, today we're going to learn how to break during a high speed dive." said Rainbow Dash. "We're going to climb up to about 2000 feet, then go into a dive. When we fly through those clouds over there, just stop like you normally would, but don't pull up until you've actually slowed down some."

"Why not?" asked Scootaloo, lifting off into the air, a skill which now required no effort whatsoever for her to pull off.

Rainbow followed suit, and the two started a lazy climb upward. "Well, the only time you would use this would be if you don't have time to pull up for whatever reason, like if there is thick fog and you didn't see the ground in time. If you do this right, it's about two times as tight as if you pull up."

"Oh, that makes sense," said Scootaloo. For the rest of the ascent, the two pegasi maintained silence. But when they got to about where Rainbow Dash wanted them to be, she gave a few more words of explanation.

"Okay, I'm going to do one first just to give you a better idea, even though I think you'd probably get it yourself. After, I'll climb back up to 500 feet where the place I want you to break is. When I stop there, you can do yours."

"Got it," said Scootaloo, a look of determination on her face.

"Oh, and one more thing. If you can't slow down soon enough, pull out. Just be cautious, this technique has a habit of being hard to pull of ..."

"Which is why you only use it as a last resort." finished Scootaloo.

"Right," said Rainbow. She shot Scootaloo a quick grin.  "See you back down there."

Scootaloo nodded in response. Rainbow Dash wasted no time going into a nosedive, quickly reaching her terminal velocity, at which point she tucked in her wings. It didn't take long for her to reach the clouds she had specified earlier. The clouds dissipated when she hit them, and she had a passing thought that she would have to replace them.

Rainbow Dash turned her body so it faced belly-down, and at the same time flared out her wings. When she slowed down enough she started flapping them as well, decelerating her even more.

When she was at about 300 feet, she came to a complete stop. She did a gradual half loop and climbed up to about where the clouds she had gone through were. She found the nearest clouds and moved them to that spot, making sure they were almost directly under Scootaloo.

As Rainbow Dash started flying a bit to the side, she saw that Scootaloo was coming out of a small loop and had already started coming into her dive. "Just can't wait can she," marveled Rainbow Dash. "I swear she's my clone or something."

At this point in their lessons, Scootaloo was easily good enough to make it into the academy, but they decided to continue the lessons until the next school year,  since Scootaloo still had normal school to finish up. Now instead of trying to get Scootaloo into the class, they were trying to make her one of the best, which seemed well within her capabilities. And this technique was something she technically didn't need to know until the year after next, but Rainbow had decided to teach it to her anyway.

Scootaloo had gone about a half of the way down in her dive, and was now approaching 1000 feet. Soon she would be at the clouds which were at 500 feet, plenty of space for her to bail of she couldn't pull it off.

From the side, she would have looked like a orange missile speeding down to the ground to lay waste to whatever lay below. Her body, now much more muscular than it once was, was streamlined against the wind, her front legs both tucked in. Although Rainbow Dash always preferred having both hooves facing forward, Scootaloo had her own way of doing things. Her wings were tight against her body, awaiting the quickly approaching cloud marker. Within a few seconds, she breached the clouds, which by the time her hind legs passed them no longer existed. She mimicked what Rainbow Dash had done, spreading her wings out to break her fall.

But suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her left wing, like it was going to fall clean off. She screamed, a sound could not be heard by anypony from this high up. In her confusion, her body started to juke wildly from side to side with only her right wing supporting her flight. Belatedly, she realized that she had to level out. She tried stretching out her wing, but when she did, the wind bent it back in a way it should not have been able to, sending a wave of unbearable pain through her body. As she blacked out, Scootaloo wondered if she would ever wake up again.

Rainbow Dash had realized well before this that something was wrong. She was now flying at top speed, hurtling towards the ground at a steep angle, struggling to speed past her terminal velocity in time to catch Scootaloo, who she now saw was spiraling wildly, apparently unconscious. In any other circumstance, she would've tried her signature Sonic Rainboom, a trick she always seemed to pull off under stress. But if she did, she risked damaging the houses in Ponyville below. Not only that, but the blast could kill more ponies than she would save by doing it.

She looked at the ground. It was only 200 feet away. She looked back to Scootaloo. She was still a ways away, but close to reaching distance.

"Okay, I can reach her, but I don't think I can pull out in time, and I can't use the breaking technique with both our weights." She realized that no matter how you sliced it, this was going to hurt. A lot. "Celestia, please let me get there in time."

The distance was closing fast. At about 50 feet, Rainbow Dash grabbed the spiraling filly, she started trying to pull up, but her fear was realized: she definitely wasn't going to make it. Both of them were not going to make it. In the last second before impact, Rainbow Dash flipped herself around so she was facing the ground instead of Scootaloo, taking the full impact of the landing.

She felt the initial impact, a pain that was so great her brain could not comprehend it. But by the second bounce, her vision was black and her brain was blank.

= = = = =

"And the last rule is do what I tell you for training. Don't slack off, or you'll never get where you want. And don't go ahead of the program. That's a great way to get hurt."

"Trust me, I would know ..."

"Trust me ...

... I would know ..."

= = = = =

"C'mon Dash, you can do this," she said, talking to herself in the mirror.

"Well, I know I can do it, but should I? I mean, Shooting Star said not to."

"But I'm not tired yet. Yeah, I can do this!"

Now done with her internal conflict, she donned her Junior Speedsters uniform, and took off out the window.

Five minutes later, she was soaring above the landscape around Wingberg, the location of the Junior Speedster's headquarters. Although moving away from Cloudsdale had been hard, she had gotten used to it over time, and knew the surrounding land like the back of her hoof. Not that she missed the school though, too many bad memories. But it seemed that all the good things about Cloudsdale were missing here, but all the bad things - crime, gangs and the like - were all too present.

It wasn't a very long dive to the ground from Wingberg, since the city was a few thousand feet lower than Cloudsdale, but she had been wrong about being tired. She felt like sleeping in midair. But she stubbornly carried on for a few minutes before turning back.

Those few minutes should have been the difference between her nearly falling fifty feet and becoming seriously injured or making it back safely. But as it turned out, it was only the difference between meeting or not meeting somebody new.

Rainbow Dash was woken up by a violent shaking. She whirled around to see who was attacking her, she saw only a griffon who was about her age, and she wasn't attacking her. All she'd done was wake her up.

"Where am I?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Outside Wingberg." answered the griffon.

"How did I get here?"

"You were flying around, but you feel asleep mid-flight."

"I did what?!"

"You started falling out of sky so I grabbed you and brought you here."

"You were following me?"

"I was curious. Nobody ever flies this late except for me."

Rainbow Dash turned to her new acquaintance. "Who are you?"

"'Name's Gilda."

"Well, My name's Rainbow Dash, but everypony just calls me Dash."

"Well, cool meeting you Dash. You want to fly back to HQ with me?"

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Oh, and thanks for saving me back there. I'm much happier waking up on the grass than in the hospital."

"Don't mention it," said Gilda. And so they flew back to the dorms together. Surprisingly, Gilda was only six doors down around the corner. Rainbow Dash wondered how she hadn't known about her earlier. "Oh well. I'm glad I know her now," she thought aloud. "Or else I'd be making some friends with the nurses at the hospital right now." She dragged herself into bed, and despite her repeated jokes about being in the hospital, had a fitful sleep full of nightmares about what would have happened if Gilda hadn't shown up.

Chapter 1: Fallen Angel

Fallen angel ripped and bruised,

think on better days.

Life is rude, treats you bad,

tears your wings away.

Raise your eyes to star and sky.

Believe in fly-aways.

Take your dreams, your broken schemes,

and sweep the past away

Fly, lonely angel.

Far above these streets of fire.

Fly, lonely angel.

Far away from mad desire.

Great White -=- The Angel Song

Chapter 1 -=- Fallen Angel

=-=-=-=-=

Rainbow Dash woke up in a world of darkness. The void in her vision caused her mind to reel. Why would it be dark? Was she blind, or was it nighttime? Or maybe the sun had burned out. She did not know. As she continued to ponder this, her mind slowly came out of the temporary delirium it had been in. Now with a clear mind, the explanation came simply. Her eyes were closed.

When she opened them, she saw an unfamiliar scene. The room around her was colored with white and light grey hues. There were some odd machines lining the walls, and the air smelled faintly of sanitizer. She was lying on a small bed with white pillows, white covers, and white sheets. It was just like a cloud in that manor, the only difference being that it was a mattress and therefore not nearly as comfortable.

She was about to ask if anypony was there, but she looked around and saw someone standing behind her.  She was about to ask what she was doing here, but a quick peek under the sheets answered that question. The presence of the bandages and the nurse said it all. She was in the hospital.

At this realization, the memories came flooding back almost as suddenly as crash itself. The final impact was very fresh in her mind. She remembered the world slowing down as the ground became larger in her vision. She remembered her wings, still flapping frantically to try to lessen the blow. She remembered the first impact, the crunch of her bones, and the pain coming from her back, her neck, her wings …

Frantically, Rainbow Dash threw the sheets off of her body, craning her neck to see her back, and more specifically her wings. It turned out as she had feared. The right wing was completely covered by bandages which wrapped all around her torso and completely immobilized it.

She turned to the nurse. "How long until this heals?"

The nurse did not answer her question. She said to wait for a moment, and then left the room. Within a minute she came back with a doctor, to whom Rainbow Dash readdressed her question.

"I'm not sure you will want to ..."

"Tell me!"

"I think it would be best to wait ..."

"TELL ME NOW!!"

The doctor sighed. "I must warn you Miss Dash, this will not be welcome news."

"Just tell me how long this will take to heal," she said forcefully.

“It won’t.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t really take in what he was saying, although her body went rigid and her face went pale when she asked her question. “What did you say?”

"I am sorry to inform you that the wing will not heal." he said in an even, professional tone.

Rainbow Dash just stared at him blankly, as if she expected him to say he was just kidding, that everything was fine, and that she would heal in a few days or so. But when this never came, she realized with a horror what this meant.

"Are you saying I'll ... I won't be ..."

"Yes. I'm afraid your days of flying are over Miss. Dash."

"No ... No flying?"

"There was too much damage on the crash. The bones will mend, but the parts of the wing responsible for motion are unsalvageable."

"There's ... There's nothing I can do? No physical therapy? Not even prosthetics?"

"No. I am sure you are well aware that prosthesis does not work with wings."

Rainbow Dash made no response. She stared at the ceiling, horrorstruck, her breath coming unevenly.

"We will leave you some time to be alone," continued the doctor. "I am truly sorry about your loss." After he said this, both he and the nurse walked out of the room, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her thoughts; her unimaginably horrible thoughts.

"No, no it's not true.”

“… It can't be ...”

“… It isn't ..."

By this time, Rainbow Dash was already tearing up. And those tears quickly turned into sobs. And those sobs into wails.

"No…”

“…No...”

“…It's not possible…”

“…I can't ... Fly?”

“Why did ... Why did this happen?”

“Why me?”

“Why?!”

Dear Celestia, WHY?!"

The last words were choked off in an uncontrollable fit of sobbing, and the only sound that could be heard in the room was her weeping. She was too shocked for words, her mind still unable to comprehend the possibility. The loss of a friend, the loss of a pet, none of those could compare to the sheer sorrow that engulfed Rainbow Dash. It was like the loss of a family member to her. Flying was one of the few comforts she’d had; one of the few things to distract her from all that was bad with her life. Other than her closest friends, nopony truly cared for or loved her in any way. But even that friendship could not surpass the love she had for flight. It had always been a constant; something that had never abandoned her. At least, not until now.

Futilely, Rainbow Dash wiped away the tears, only to have them replaced by reinforcements. There seemed to be no end to them, just as there seemed to be no end to the sadness she now felt, and would never escape from. "There's nothing," she said, sniffling. "No family. No flying. And no love." the last words echoed in her head, once again bringing back memories of a certain Griffon friend of hers.

=-=-=-=-=

"So, what you're saying is ..."

"I'm leaving, Dash," said Gilda. "We had a great run but ..."

"Why are you going?" Asked Rainbow Dash, a small tear rolling down one cheek. It continued down to her chin, where it fell to the ground between her front hooves. She hoped Gilda wouldn’t notice.

"It's complicated. I wish I could tell you, but it's private."

"Oh, okay," said Rainbow. "So, when are you going again?”

"In the morning. I already have everything packed up, so I'll get a bite to eat and be on my way."

"Oh. So this is the last time I get to see you."

"Well, you might see me tomorrow. But basically, yeah."

There was something Rainbow Dash wanted to say, but it was only in the back of her mind and the words never got past her lips. "Well, I hope I see you sometime,” she said, her tone wavering.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll see me again. Maybe not soon, but someday." she waved goodbye to her friend. "Right now I'm gonna get some sleep. Bye Dash."

She was about to open the door when Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted after her. It was as if that faint urge in the back of her head had been shoved to the front, and now it consumed her. "Wait!"

Gilda turned around. "What?"

Before she could second guess herself, Rainbow Dash hurled herself at Gilda and kissed her deeply. As it went on, Dash lost track of how long it was held, but it couldn’t have been more than ten seconds or so. When Rainbow Dash backed away, she saw a look of complete shock on her friend's face. Gilda stuttered. "I ... Uh ... Um ... I'm going. Bye." she ran out the door, slamming it behind her.

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything or try to follow her. She just sat there, equally awestruck at what she had just done, jaw slack in astonishment. "Did I just do that?” Up until that moment, she bad never thought of Gilda in that way, although liking those of her own gender was not new to her.

As she dragged herself to bed, tears began to well up in her eyes. She pulled the cloud sheet over her head, willing herself to forget what she had just done. And yet, she couldn’t. She lay that way for a long time, thinking about what she had done, and the friend she had lost.

=-=-=-=-=

That thought had stuck with her for a long time. And although it had taken a backseat for a while, it came back to the surface when she saw Gilda again, years later.

And this of course was when she visited Ponyville, and had the whole spat with Pinkie Pie. That visit had made Gilda look like a very mean and rude person, but that was not actually true. The anger Gilda showed was the result of her anxiety about seeing RD again, something that Dash had only realized after she stormed out of the party.

=-=-=-=-=

At first, Rainbow Dash had truly thought that Gilda was upset because she was jealous of Pinkie Pie being her friend. But the more she thought about it, the less it made sense. Gilda had never had any problems with Dash hanging out with other friends back at junior Speedsters, or even going on the occasional date with whichever mare or stallion she was dating at the time. And Gilda had never been this emotional about anything either. It had almost seemed like she was taking something out on Pinkie Pie, but Rainbow Dash had no clue what that could be.

After a while, her curiosity became too much, and she left the party early under the pretext of having to work on an addition she was making to her cloud home. Although it was true that the add-on was still unfinished, the matter of Gilda’s outburst was much more important.

It didn't take Rainbow Dash long to find her. After going to her house to see if Gilda was packing her things, she checked what had become Gilda’s favorite place to fly during her visit: Ghastly Gorge. At the moment, the griffon was flying at about the middle of the canyon. Rainbow Dash quickly redirected her flight into a dive, pulling up to Gilda’s left side, which was quite an accomplishment considering how slender the canyon was. Gilda acknowledged but did not speak to Rainbow Dash. Rather, she continued to focus on her flying. So through the rest of the twists and turns, Rainbow Dash was alone with her thoughts.

“What could she be upset about? Was I too harsh? No, that doesn't seem like the Gilda I know. What if she really is jealous? But that makes even less sense! What could it possibly be?”

Before long, they reached the end of the canyon, and landed a few feet away from the edge. The two were silent for a long time afterward, but in the end, Gilda broke the ice. "This place is really awesome."

"Yeah, it is pretty cool," replied Rainbow Dash, "but is that really why you're here? I mean, really?"

"Well, where else am I going to go?"

"Back to the party! I know my friends. They'd forgive you."

"Yeah, your friends," She said mockingly.

"Gilda, you can pretend Pinkie Pie is the problem, but I know that's not what this is about."

"Yes it is. I just don't like her, that's all."

"Yeah, good one. Nopony just dislikes Pinkie Pie. She's nothing but kind to everypony. And she never did anything wrong to you either."

Gilda’s stoic mask finally broke at this comment. Rainbow Dash saw an emotion on her face that she'd never seen: Fear.

"You talk about that pink one like she's the best friend ever, don't you?"

"What? Are you actually jealous of her? I thought you were tougher than that!"

"It's not that Dash, it's ... Well ..." Gilda was tripping over her words, her usual confidence having abandoned her.

"Spit it out," said Rainbow Dash impatiently.

"I'm upset at myself," said Gilda weakly.

"Why?"

"It's ... It's because ... Well, do you ... Never mind."

Rainbow Dash had never seen her like this before. It frightened her, but she knew she would have to keep digging if she wanted to get the truth out of her. "Gilda, just tell me what the problem is."

"... It's ... I'm too weak!"

"Too weak? What do you mean?"

Gilda had her eyes shut tightly. Whatever she was about to say, it was very hard for her. "Well, you remember the last time I saw you?"

"At the party?"

"Dash, you know what I mean."

"Oh, that." Rainbow Dash said sadly, remembering Gilda’s last day at Junior Speedsters. Inside, Rainbow Dash felt like bursting out crying at the memory. It still stung her deep down, but she had kept her emotions to herself in the time Gilda had visited for the sake of them getting along. And she did the same now. "Gilda, what’s the big deal? I already get you don't like me that way. You don’t need to feel bad.”

Gilda was fearful of how Rainbow Dash would respond to what she was about to say. But she knew it had to be said. "Well, that's the problem, see I ..."

"Wait, you do like me that way?"

"Well, kind of ... I mean, Yes, yes I do."

At that, Rainbow Dash’s façade broke, her pain and sadness manifesting itself as a different emotion entirely. “YOU WHAT?!"

Rainbow Dash somehow seemed to be looking down at Gilda, despite the fact that she was about a foot shorter. Gilda, on the other hand, was trembling in fear. But she managed to collect herself enough to speak again. "I love you, Dash."

Rainbow Dash took a step forward, well within Gilda’s personal space. "So you knew that when I kissed you?!”

"Yes."

"And you just ran away like you felt nothing, just because you were too chicken to say anything?!"

Gilda just nodded, too terrified for words.

Rainbow Dash stood that way for a few seconds, looking like she was going to explode. And then she did. "How could you?! Do you know what happened after that?! I was a wreck! I never dated anypony, I still haven't since then!”

“You know what? I don't care how long I've been waiting for you to say that! If you really cared about me, you would've said something back then."

"Wait, please. Rainbow Dash!!" Gilda shouted after her as she started to fly away. It was probably the first time she'd ever called her friend by her full name, but it seemed appropriate in this circumstance.

Rainbow Dash turned around long enough to rebuke her again. "No! Why don't you go break someone else's heart, you insincere … bitch!" with that, Rainbow Dash rushed off in the direction of her cloud home, her face set in a look of sheer hatred.

Gilda, on the other hand, just sat there sobbing. She sat that way for a long time, thinking about what she had done, and the friend she had lost.

=-=-=-=-=

Once again, Rainbow Dash woke up. The first thing she noticed was that the upper part of the sheet was damp from her tears. "So it wasn't a dream," she said to herself. For a moment, she felt like she was going to cry again, but she somehow managed not to. Not only that, but she found herself not thinking about the wing at all. There was something else she was trying to remember, something else from the crash. She forced herself to review the memory in her mind, trying to find what it was that she’d missed. It took her a while, but she finally realized what it was. Or more accurately, whom it was.

She looked around her for a bell or something she could ring, but didn’t see one. She wanted to get going right away, but she managed to stay in the bed. “The nurse will come by soon,” reasoned Rainbow Dash. Her assumption ended up being correct. Within five minutes, a nurse entered the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Can I walk?"

"Yes, but why?"

"I want to visit somepony."

"If you are referring to the filly who crashed with you, she’s is in a different hospital."

"Which one?"

"Ponyville's."

That made sense. Rainbow Dash had noticed that this place looked different than she remembered Ponyville’s looked like. "So where am I?" she asked, although she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Cloudsdale. You were brought here because we are better equipped for wing reconstruction."

"Oh," she said, now deciding to change topics. "So, I heard right when they said no more flying, right?"

"Yes."

Rainbow Dash fought back the tears that once again threatened to come out, with partial success. It was enough to keep her from sobbing, but a few tears still fell. "So what are they doing with my wing?"

"Well, when you were brought in, all the bones were shattered, so we are trying to repair it to make the wing cosmetically sound."

Rainbow Dash didn't remember what 'cosmetically' meant, but she inferred that it meant something like 'look right'. "What else?"

"Well, although the muscles are currently dysfunctional, we believe we can make it so it can flap in a somewhat normal manor again."

"But ..."

"Unfortunately, the wing would not be able to handle your weight for more than a few flaps before giving out again. Also, it would take two surgeries if you decide to go through with it, and we would have to wait until your wingbones heal."

"So I could have one last flight someday?"

"If you’re okay with the wing being amputated, then I suppose you could, although that’s not the reason we’re doing it. The repair is intended only for you to be able to flap your wing, and will also allow for other normal functions such as ..."

"Please don't say it,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “I know what you're going to say, so just don't say it."

The nurse smirked, showing a crack in her professionalism. "Fine, but I would try to avoid getting sexually stimulated until the surgery is done."

"Yeah, I'll do that," said Rainbow Dash sarcastically, thinking back to Cloudsdale academy and the mandatory health class. "But I’m not sure I want that ability back."

"Well, keep in mind that if you don't get the surgery, that would still happen to the other wing. And I don't imagine you'd want that to happen to just one."

"Oh, right," said Rainbow Dash, imagining what that would be like. “So I get wingboners, but I still can’t fly. That’s just great. So, what else got hurt?"

"Some broken ribs, a concussion, a shattered shoulder blade, and a few more things. But all of those are repairable with magic, unlike your wing."

"Yep, I know," she said. She figured they must ship a few unicorns up here every once and a while, which they could easily do since all but the lowest floor was solid instead of cloud.

"Is that it?" asked the nurse.

"One more thing: Why are you so much less ... Uptight ... than the other people who work here?"

The nurse chuckled. "I just think the rules are a little silly, that's all."

"Well, it's a lot better that way."

"I try," said the nurse. She was about to leave Dash alone in the room, but she called after her once again.

"What is it?" The nurse asked.

"Who's in charge at the hospital?"

"Well, there are quite a few people who fit that description." she said.

"Anypony named Sunbeam?"

"If by Sunbeam you mean the person in charge of aero-magical research, then yes."

"That's her,” she said, remembering that her flight school friend had always been interested in that subject. “Can I see her sometime? I haven't seen her since flight school, and I wanted to catch up."

"Oh, you were friends?"

"Yeah, but after I dropped out I never saw her again."

"Well, she has a very busy schedule..."

"Dang it." Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"... But right now would be the best time to see her."

"Wait, for real?"

"Yes. She has two hours off at this time of day, and she's a half hour into her off time right now. I could take you to her."

"Sure," said Rainbow Dash. "Thanks."

"It's the least I can do," said the nurse solemnly. Rainbow Dash didn’t respond to that comment, so the two walked out of the room.

=-=-=-=-=

The nurse, whose name was April Blueblood as Rainbow Dash soon found out, was now leading her down the narrow hallways of the hospital. It was much bigger than Ponyville's hospital, befitting the much larger population he city had.

"Any relation to the prince?" Rainbow Dash asked, referring to April’s last name.

"Maybe distantly, but too distantly for it to matter." She looked up at the sign at the hallway intersection. "Her room is three doors down on the right. I would knock first."

"Okay, thanks." Rainbow Dash continued on alone, laying three solid knocks on the door. A few moments later, a face Rainbow Dash recognized was outlined in the open doorframe.

She was much older than in flight school, but she still looked as she remembered. Her coat was a darker color than her sisters, a more orangish yellow, but still bright. Her mane was primarily light grey and orange, with some turquoise highlights that became less and less prominent to the end of her mane. The only difference from back then was that the grey in her mane and tail was darker than Dash remembered, but this was normal for ponies whose manes were lightly colored.

Sunbeam was the first to speak. "Rainbow Dash!" she pulled her into a tight hug, being careful to avoid the hard-to-miss wrapping around her chest. Rainbow Dash returned the hug in spirit, but soon broke it apart. Sunbeam smiled hugely, while Rainbow Dash only smiled slightly, still grieving over the loss of her wing.

Once she saw the unconvincing smile on her old friend's face, Sunbeam seemed to remember why Rainbow Dash was here, and how serious it was. Her face became much more solemn as she stepped to the side, saying: "Please come in."

Rainbow Dash did, and sat in the chair across from her desk. Sunbeam sat down soon afterward. "So, how are things going?" asked Sunbeam. "I mean, with the wing."

"You heard?"

"I saw your name on the patient list, and I was curious, so I looked up your injury. But how did you know I was here?"

“I didn’t; I just guessed. I remembered you always wanted to do this, and I figured you’d end up near the top.” Sunbeam smiled at the compliment, but didn’t say anything, allowing Rainbow to continue. "How bad is it exactly?" she asked.

"So, you’re here for answers?"

"Yep."

"I wish we could've met again under better circumstances, but I guess we'll have to take what we can get."

"Me too," agreed Rainbow Dash.

"Well, let's just say you're lucky to be alive right now, and even luckier that we developed the surgery we’re going to use."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. Is that something new? I didn't think it was possible."

"It is new. Only two months old actually."

"Am I the test subject?" asked Rainbow Dash nervously

"No, it's been used four times so far; you'll be the fifth."

"Oh."

"But In a sense, you are correct. This is the worst off wing we've ever tried to salvage. I'm sure that it will work, but I'm not sure it will stay that way permanently. There is a chance that it will degrade over time."

"Why?"

"That’s a complicated issue. We all have the ability to use magic, but in different ways. Unicorns can use it to affect and manipulate objects in the world around them. Pegasi can use it to fly on wings that would be far too small to hold us up otherwise. And the Earth Ponies use it to grow better crops even in worse conditions. These gifts also set certain trends: Unicorns tend to be the most intelligent, Pegasi tend to be the most skilled, and Earth Ponies tend to be the strongest."

The last remark earned Sunbeam a glare from the world class athlete sitting across from her, but she ignored it. "Although the gifts of unicorns and Pegasi are more obvious, they are also more vulnerable. Thus, when a unicorn's horn or Pegasi's wing is damaged, magic cannot be used to heal them."

"I don’t get why not,” she stated.

"Well, nopony truly knows why it doesn't work,” Sunbeam replied. “Even I don't, and I've researched the topic pedantically. No matter how much I try, there seems to be no math or logic behind it, and yet it always points to the same conclusion: They can't be healed because they are the conduit of the magic within us. Whether it is because the magic gets in the way of itself or another reason, I do not know.”

Rainbow Dash though about this for a while, but couldn't really think of a response. She bowed her head in defeat, and tears began to fall from her eyes. Until now, Rainbow Dash had not fully accepted the consequences of the accident. She had held on to the dim hope that she could pull through somehow, and by some miracle. But what Sunbeam said broke her resolve, not because it was proof by any means, but because it made perfect sense. As she started to sob, Sunbeam walked around to the other side of the desk and laid a hoof around Dash's shoulder to comfort her.

"I'm sorry," Rainbow Dash choked out. "It's just ..."

"Don't be sorry. I'd much rather see you like this than not see you at all."

RD looked up at her school-age friend with eyes flooded with tears. "Thanks."

"No problem." she replied. The two sat that way for a long time, Sunbeam leaning next to a distraught Pegasus mare that was spiraling down a figurative whirlpool of depression. The once confident and cocky pony was now only an empty shell of herself, and with no rudder, she started on the wild spin with only one end: hitting rock bottom.

=-=-=-=

A week later, Rainbow Dash was let out of Cloudsdale Hospital. The bones in her wing were not yet healed, but the doctors had decided to let her out once they made sure that they were at least healing in the right position. It had taken a week for them to be sure, as well as a minor surgery or two, but at long last, she was free.

Now she was taking an aerial chariot to Ponyville, something she'd never had to do before. She looked behind her to the open back of the chariot, and wondered for a moment if anypony had ever fallen out of one of these. It would be pretty easy, she reasoned; just accidentally leaning back would hurl you into the air and on your way down to the ground, where you would hit and this whole nightmare would be over.

Rainbow Dash shook her head quickly from side to side, trying to expel the suicidal thoughts within. When she looked around her she saw that not only had she been thinking about it, but her legs were bent, her body poised to jump out of the chariot. She mumbled something unintelligible to herself and repositioned her legs and body into a relaxed stance.

“C’mon Dash, you’re not going to kill yourself,” she said, trying to give herself a pep talk. “That’s weak”. Those last words were the true reason she did not want to kill herself: She was afraid of how ponies would think of her if she did it. These types of thoughts were ingrained in the Pegasus psyche, a remnant from the olden times of pegasi warriors and the honor codes they tended to follow.

“Besides, they would just catch me,” she reasoned.

The trip only took another minute or so, and when she landed, she wished it could've lasted longer. It had felt good to be in the air again, even if it wasn't with her own wings. On the other hoof, it also felt good to be in Ponyville. She breathed in the fresh air, something she had always admired about the small farm town. Up in Cloudsdale, the air was thinner with the altitude, lacking the richness and variety of smells that terrestrial air had.

As much as she wanted to cherish the air, she could barely have a breath to herself, as everypony in town came up to her and asked her about her wing. She told them the truth, and eveypony who heard offered his or her condolences. After answering two dozen ponies or so, it became too much, and she changed her response to: "Ask somepony else". She wished she could just fly overhead and avoid them all. She had never realized how crowded it could get in some parts of town, or how long it took to walk everywhere. By the time she got to the hospital, she felt like she’d been walking for hours, when in reality it had only been about fifteen minutes.

When she walked in, she was greeted by the front desk clerk. Oddly, they were not a mare as she remembered, but a teenage colt. He was an earth pony with a beige coat, amber colored mane, and blue eyes. “Must be new,” she thought.

"Hello, welcome to Ponyville Hospital, Ms. Dash. Is there an emergency?" asked the young stallion, looking past her face to Dash's bandage.

"No, I'm just here to visit."

"Who?"

"Scootaloo?"

A look of recognition arose on the colt's face. "Oh. She's here all right. She's in the last room on the left down that hall," he said, gesturing to one of the two hallways leading out of the lobby.

"Thanks," said Rainbow Dash, walking in that direction. “Finally,” she said to herself. “Somepony nice enough to shut up about my wing.”

She continued walking, her hooves clopping loudly in the empty hall. When she reached the end, she turned to the left, looking up at the room's number. "One. Of course, it's room one. It's like every damn thing reminds me of ..."

Suddenly, the door opened, interrupting Rainbow Dash's thoughts. She looked up, and could clearly see that the pony in the door was Applejack.

"Hey Dash! We was beginnin' to worry 'bout ya!" The farm pony pulled her friend into a tight embrace, then led her into the room. Inside, her friends - accompanied by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle - greeted her. Rainbow Dash scanned the faces in the room, but noticed that one important one was missing. “Where’s Fluttershy?” she asked.

"None of us have any idea where she is." explained Twilight Sparkle. “None of us have seen her, so we don’t know if she’s coming or not.”

"Oh. okay," she said, shaking off Pinkie Pie, who had hugged her the instant she saw Rainbow and now didn't want to let go. She walked around the group of her friends, and eventually saw the pony she had been looking for: Scootaloo. She had her eyes closed, which frightened Dash for a second. But she quickly realized that if her friends were this upbeat, nothing too serious could've happened to her. She couldn’t see the rest of her body, so she couldn’t see if anything was injured.

"How is she?" she asked.

"The doctor said she'd be fine," replied Rarity, who wore a concerned look, having noticed the bandage that adorned Rainbow Dash’s wing.

"Yep. She'll be all fixed up in a jiffy!" added an ever jubilant Pinkie Pie.

"The doctor said it'd take a week or two for her wing to heal up, then she'd be okay," explained Apple Bloom.

"But what about you?" Sweetie Belle asked, gesturing to the bandage around her wing.

"I heard you got the worst of it. Is that true?"

"Sweetie Belle, that's rude, bringing it up like that," Rarity scolded. "If she wants to tell us, she'll tell us."

Rainbow Dash looked around at her friends. All of them – even Rarity, despite what she had just said– were looking at her expectantly. As much as she herself agreed that it was incredibly personal, Rainbow Dash decided to take it like a Pegasi. Sure, she could just say she didn’t want to talk about it and her friends would be fine with that, but she didn’t want to give them any reason to worry.

"Yeah, I landed on the bottom. I saw that I couldn't pull up in time so I turned upside down so she would ..." but she couldn’t get the whole sentence out. Mentally, she cursed herself for faltering. She took another look at everypony’s face, and saw concerned eyes returning her gaze on all accounts.

"That's what we heard," said Applejack. "So ya did that to save her?"

Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. Normally, she would’ve flaunted the fact that she’d selflessly saved somepony else from death, but she didn’t feel like it at the moment.

"Well shucks, I'm mighty proud of ya. Ya coulda died, ya know."

"I know."

"But if you don't mind me askin', what happened to that wing of yours?"

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She knew she would have to tell everypony about it sooner or later, and although now was as good a time as she would get, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Seeing that she remained speechless, Twilight spoke up. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to be here for you."

"Well, I don't ..."

Mid-sentence, the door swung inward, and somepony else walked into the hospital room. "Sorry I wasn't here this morning. I had some things I had to do and …” upon seeing Rainbow Dash, the pony went rigid, staring wide-eyed in astonishment.

Rarity was the first to greet the new arrival. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” she asked, walking over to the mild-mannered pegasus.

Flutterhsy bolted towards Rainbow Dash just after Rarity reached her, leaving the fashionista dazed and confused. Fluttershy continued on her beeline, despite the fact that Twilight and Pinkie Pie were in the way. Rather than go around, she knocked the two out of the way, which sent Twilight flying into a nearby wall, and Pinkie sprawling on the floorboards.

"Are ya okay Twi?" asked Applejack, helping her up.

"I'm fine," she replied, looking back at the small dent that she had left in the wall. "Not a problem."

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was assailing Rainbow Dash with questions about her wing, some of which were very confusing to the less informed ponies in the room. "What does she mean what’s going to happen to your wing?" asked Pinkie Pie. "It only took a itsy-bitsy week for your wing to get fixed up last time. And they already let you out of the hospital, right?"

Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy. "You heard?"

Fluttershy nodded. "So it’s true?"

"Yep." Dash answered, her voice so low that Fluttershy’s was at least twice as loud.

"Oh, I'm so sorry,” she said, pulling Dash into a hug much like Applejack’s, only softer.

"Sorry about what exactly?" asked Twilight.

"Well, um, I guess I'll have to tell you about that. Well, I'm ... Uh ... It's just that ..." Rainbow Dash felt the little confidence she had slip away. She turned to Fluttershy, a look of pure helplessness on her face.

"Can you tell them, Fluttershy?"

"Are you sure?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, okay, I guess I'll try," said Fluttershy. She took a second to collect her thoughts and her nerves. "Rainbow Dash has a permanent wing injury that was caused by the crash. As far as I heard, all the bones in her wing were shattered and … well … she can’t fly anymore." she said, trying her hardest to be calm but still squeaking at the end of her sentence.

Everypony in the room responded at once, but not in complete unison.

“What?!?!”

"I can't believe it."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."

"Come again?"

Rainbow Dash bowed her head. "You heard her."

Nopony in the room had any idea what to say or do. But a late reaction from one of them broke the silence. "You What?!" All in the room turned to the source of the sound to discover that it was a wide-eyed, dumbfounded, orange filly sitting up in her bed.

"Scootaloo!" shouted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, running over to their friend. They tried giving her a hug, but she ignored them, getting up and walking over to Dash. For the first time, Rainbow saw what Scootaloo looked like after the accident. She had a splint that kept the joint of her wing from moving. It stuck out about half way up as a result, making her appear slightly lopsided.

After a painfully long silence, Rainbow Dash confirmed Fluttershy's statement herself. "I can't fly anymore," she said simply.

Scootaloo obviously understood what this meant, but she didn't want to believe it. "But It'll heal after a while, right?”

"Scootaloo, if you think it's your fault it isn't. I obviously pushed you ... pushed you too hard. I mean, that ... that technique was a little over your head." Rainbow Dash was fighting an uphill battle to keep her voice even and not start sobbing openly. So far, it seemed to be working, but she didn't know how long she could keep it up.

"Won't it heal though?"

"No," said Rainbow Dash quietly. "It won't."

Scootaloo's eyes closed about half way, and her stance became shakier. By the time everypony realized what was happening, Scootaloo was already falling over.

The nearest pony was Apple Bloom, but she didn't get there in time to catch her, and Scootaloo's body crashed to the floor, thankfully on the side which did not have an injured wing. Everypony stood in shock for a while, but Rarity was the first to come to her senses. "We need to get a nurse. Now."

"I'll go with you!" Rainbow Dash called after her, chasing her down the hallway.

=-=-=-=-=

The next time Scootaloo opened her eyes, she saw seven fewer ponies than she had seen last time. She was back in her hospital bed, and the only one sitting next to it was ...

"Rainbow? Is that you?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, but didn't say anything.

Scootaloo rubbed at her eyes, looking around the room. It was just as she had left it, "What happened?"

"You conked out when I told you ... Well, about my wing."

At the mention of her wing, Scootaloo made a whining sort of noise and turned away from Dash, pulling the sheets over her head. Confusedly, Rainbow Dash reached a hoof over to try to turn the filly back towards her. When she was met with resistance, she gave up. "Okay, what's up?"

From her sanctuary on the other side of the sheet, Scootaloo grimaced. Stubbornly, she remained silent, her eyes closed tightly. Rainbow Dash gave another few tries at getting her friend - for that is what they had become over the last few months - to respond to her. But despite her attempted patience, she snapped. "Are you even listening to me?!"

At first, all she was met with was more silence. But eventually, Rainbow Dash heard a sound, but not one she expected. It was a sort of sniffling, and she realized that Scootaloo must be crying. Instantly, Rainbow Dash regretted shouting, for in their companionship, Rainbow Dash often forgot how young Scootaloo was. She sighed. "It's not your fault," said Rainbow Dash quickly.

Surprisingly, Scootaloo responded this time. "Yes it is." she croaked out.

“Hey, I don't blame you. You did everything I wanted, but you weren't strong enough. That's all."

Scootaloo shifted a little under the covers, then flung them off, turning towards the pony sitting on the end of the bed. Rainbow Dash was met with the sight of a face wet from tears and eyes bloodshot from crying. Seeing Scootaloo in this state made Rainbow want to cry as well, but she held that urge back, instead putting a hoof around her shoulder. "I don't blame you, and if I don’t, why do you?”

"But I didn't do it right."

"So, you didn't pull off the trick. Well sure, maybe this one ended ... Awfully, but ..." Rainbow Dash did not finish her sentence, for she was barely able to utter those last few words.

"But I didn't do it!"

"Like I said, it's just a trick and ..."

"No, not that." Rainbow Dash plainly did not understand, so Scootaloo explained further. "I didn't do everything you told me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I ... It's just that ..." As had happened many times in this conversation, Scootaloo was at a loss for words.

"Hey, if you have something to tell me, you might as well."

"You'll just get mad at me."

Rainbow Dash made an attempt at a comforting smile, but she was unable to. Instead, she used her words, which had not failed her so far. "I promise I won't be mad," she said confidently.

Scootaloo wanted to believe that, but a nagging part of her told her that it wasn't true. Even so, she would have to tell her the truth about the crash. Even if it meant ending their friendship, she would never be able to live it down without telling her.

"When we started, you told me not to fly too much; not to fly more than you said to. But last week the training wasn't hard enough ... and I didn't want to insult you ..."

Rainbow Dash was listening to Scootaloo, but her eyes were distant, with a sort of glazed over appearance. Scootaloo stared into the twin pupils, and even though Rainbow Dash’s eyes were pointed straight at her, it seemed as though she was looking through her instead. It unsettled her, but she continued anyway.

"... So I started flying on my own. The day before ... before I fell, I went flying. But I hurt my wing. I didn't want to tell you, so I went on like it was normal. But when I did the breaking maneuver my wing couldn’t take it because it was already hurt."

Scootaloo had stopped looking at Rainbow Dash by the time she finished, and when she looked up she saw that despite her promise before, she wasn't happy. From the expression on her face, Scootaloo fully expected Dash to attack her where she lay.

Although she didn’t assault Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash did the only thing that could be worse: she stood up and started walking out of the room. "Wait!" Scootaloo called after her. She didn't make any reaction, now reaching for the doorknob.

"I'm sorry!" Scootaloo cried. "Please! I'm so sorry!!”

Rainbow Dash stopped. She turned her head back to the filly, an expressionless look on her face. It was as if all the emotion left in her body was gone, even the anger and the sadness. Scootaloo thought she would rather have the mare shouting at her in anger than staring at her as she was now. But just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, Rainbow Dash opened the door and ran out, and Scootaloo wished her friend was still there. She tried to hold back the tears, but one thought pushed her over the edge.  "At least, she was my friend."

As the tears continued to fall, she thought about her mistake and what it would have been like had she just listened to Rainbow Dash's advice. She feel backwards on the bed, and through her sobs, her words could only just be heard. "I wish it was me instead."

Chapter 2: Dark Horizons

         Deciding to take a break from her studying, Twilight looked out the front window of her tree home. Apparently, she had lost track of time, for it was now almost noon. She sat up to stretch her muscles, which she soon discovered were tight to the point of cramping. She groaned in annoyance. After stretching her legs and getting a satisfying pop out of her knees, she looked out the window once more, and was just in time to see Rainbow Dash run up to the door. Upon seeing that her friend was at the window, Rainbow Dash froze, her facial expression pausing with her.

The sight that greeted Twilight was one of a pony who seemed as if every feeling had been drained from their body. To put it poetically, it was as if the ‘Rainbow’ and the ‘Dash’ had both been sucked out of the mare, leaving only a black and white photograph with none of the personality left over. The image instantly imprinted itself in Twilight’s head, and would continue to haunt her for the next couple minutes.

It didn’t take nearly that long for Rainbow Dash to hide the expression. She now appeared to have the same cocky smile as ever and the same swagger as well. But despite the show, Twilight could tell that Rainbow Dash was forcing it, like a colt trying desperately to fit in ten late quizzes all on the last day of the semester.

Twilight didn't move from her position, so Rainbow Dash let herself in, acting as if nothing was wrong. But Twilight could tell that something was definitely wrong. Seeing Dash as she had in the window had unsettled her deeply, as if she had seen a real-life Bloody Mary. She turned to her Pegasus friend, who was now looking at the titles of the books as if she was interested. "Rainbow, what's going on?"

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight quickly, and for a second, she thought she could see that blankness in her friend's face again. But if there had been any doubt before, Rainbow Dash's voice gave her away. She spoke shakily, as if she were shivering from the coldness of her heart. "What do you mean? I'm fine. Really, I am."

"No you're not."

"I'M FINE!!" she shouted defensively.

Twilight was taken aback by the shout, a noise that practically shook the hallow tree, and could probably have been heard from outside as well. It was more than enough to alert Spike. He ran down from the third floor where he had been reshelving Twilight's personal book collection and came face to face with a fuming Rainbow Dash. He reeled back in fright, shirking away from the emotionally compromised Pegasus. "Um, Dash, are you okay?"

Rainbow Dash’s gaze softened. Something about seeing her friend and fellow jokester seemed to bring her back into reality, despite the fact that this was not the time for pranks or laughs. But as Rainbow Dash descended from anger, she fell into a depressed state. Her knees gave way from under her, and loud sobs could be heard reverberating through the tree where the other sound had only just ceased echoing.

Twilight was at a loss for words as well, let alone actions. But she put that aside in order to help her friend. When Dash seemed to run out of tears, Twilight saw an opening. But just when she was about to try it, Spike spoke up. "Dash?"

The Pegasus looked up through tear-clogged eyes, but was barely able to see through them. She lifted her head up a little, but just when the two thought she would recuperate, she flung herself back into her depression once again. Spike stepped forward, but Twilight stopped him in place with a hoof.

"Spike, I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"What do you mean? Do you want to just leave her like that?"

"Well no, but--"

"But nothing! She's one of our best friends Twilight; we can't let her sit like that!"

Twilight had to admit that Spike’s comment was true. And as much as she wanted to help Spike do this, Twilight had to admit that Spike was better qualified to try and calm Rainbow Dash down. He spent more time with her; time often spent pranking other ponies along with Pinkie. So Twilight stepped back a few hoof-lengths, gesturing for Spike to help her.

He paused for a few seconds, but then leaned down and tapped Rainbow Dash with an outstretched claw. She didn’t make a reaction, so Spike sat down next to her, and after a little while, nudged her again.

This time, Rainbow Dash's gaze stayed fixed on Spike, and so he asked her a question. "Is it okay if I ask?"

"I don't know." she forced out.

"That's okay. I can wait," he said patiently. "We can talk about something else. How is Scootaloo? We didn't really get to see her after she fainted."

This elicited a wail from Rainbow Dash. Admittedly, this phased Spike a bit, but he tried again after she stopped crying, which took a while. "Are you calmed down now?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, but didn't look at Spike.

"Good, 'cause we want to help. I know whatever it is must really suck, but you'll feel better if you tell us."

Twilight, who was now sitting back in a chair, took it all in. She'd never known Spike to be this mature before. Now if only he could be like that more of the time.

"I know," she said, catching your breath. "It's just that I, uh--."

"If you don't want to say it you don't have to."

Rainbow Dash gave Spike silent thanks. The only thing harder for her than thinking about it was saying it, and she was glad not to have to.

At this point Twilight intervened. "But you seemed fine yesterday at the hospital."

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, a few stray tears falling down her face. "That's just what I wanted you to think."

"And you couldn't hold it in anymore?" asked Spike.

Rainbow Dash nodded slowly. She knew she had the full right to tell them why it was Scootaloo's fault, but at the same time, it felt like betrayal. But Rainbow Dash needed to let this out; needed to confide in somepony. Twilight and Spike were probably two of the most trustworthy of the bunch, so she figured that if she was going to tell, she might as well now.

"Sort of."

"What do you mean?" asked Spike.

"Well, it was something Scootaloo said about the crash."

Twilight was now starting to understand what Rainbow Dash seemed to be implying. She thought over what she was going to say carefully, trying to find a way to put it easily. But there was really only one way to say it.

"Are you saying you blame Scootaloo for the accident?"

Rainbow was taken aback by the harshness in Twilight's words. So was Spike, as he turned to her in disbelief. "Twilight, what are you doing?!"

Twilight already had a plan in mind. Although what Spike was doing seemed to be working a little, Twilight hoped she would respond better to direct questions, which was a tougher approach. It was also a gamble; a big one. But this was not the time for delicacy.

"Rainbow, you're not going to get over this if you just shut the truth inside you. If you do blame her for the incident, you need to admit it to yourself. I can't stand to see you like this!" Twilight's eyes held a few tears of their own now, and she was struggling to maintain her composure.

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with an expression of understanding, but wasn't sure of what to do. She turned to Spike, looking for a second opinion.

"Dash, I think she's right. Holding things in is never the right way to go." Rainbow turned her head back to Twilight, then sat up. She closed her eyes, apparently sorting out what she thought. Not only that, but she had stopped crying. It appeared that Twilight's idea had worked.

Spike walked over to Twilight, standing beside her and looking at the now calm Rainbow Dash, who was at present sorting out her internal mental battle. It looked as if she were meditating, which was the last thing you would expect somepony like Rainbow Dash to do. "Wow. For a second there, I thought you were just going to make her cry again."

"I thought so too, Spike."

"Then why did you do it?"

Twilight grinned just a little at the question. "The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to push at her. It would be easy for somepony like Rainbow Dash to mistake your actions for pity. Considering her personality, I thought she would react better to more aggressive stimuli."

"Oh." said Spike, looking dejected.

Twilight nuzzled her assistant in an attempt to make him feel better. "Hey, your idea was good," she said reassuringly.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Thanks."

"No problem." answered Twilight. As she glanced back to Rainbow Dash, she was just in time to see the mare open her eyes again. Despite the fact that Rainbow was definitely calmer than before, her eyes were still bloodshot from the crying, and beyond that, told of the utterly broken spirit inside. But this was better than she had been when she came in, for she also felt relaxed and to a lesser extent, relieved.

"Do you want to sit down?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah."

As the two mares walked to the sofa in the corner, Spike caught up to Rainbow Dash and tentatively laid a hand on Rainbow Dash's neck in a gesture of comfort. Rainbow looked to Spike in admiration and silently thanked him.

=-=-=-=-=

As it turned out, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were not the only ponies talking about the recent events. Across town, Fluttershy and Applejack were seated on a sofa in Fluttershy’s cottage. Applejack had arrived there moments ago, seeking a friend to talk to. Fluttershy had also wanted this, but per usual had been too shy to pursue the matter with anypony else. Normally, she would not have hesitated to approach her friends, but in time like this, she tended to be even more anti-social than usual.

But this trait was different with Applejack. Applejack was the only pony that really understood her timidity, and was the only one who not only accepted it but welcomed it. Conversations with the farm pony always felt more natural than with her other friends.

Applejack felt much the same way around Fluttershy, but for different reasons. Fluttershy’s calm demeanor was comforting to her. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t enjoy the flamboyance of Pinkie Pie or the competitiveness of Rainbow Dash; she just liked Fluttershy’s attitude a little better.

Applejack was the first to speak her mind. “I’m afraid for RD.”

“Me too,” replied Fluttershy, softly petting Angel, who was napping against her flank.

“She seemed fine from that outside, but that one’s darn good at hidin’ things.”

“She usually is,” said Fluttershy nervously, “but not always.”

“That’s one of the things I’m wonderin’. Ya’ll have known her longer than me. Has anythin’ like this ever happened?”

“Yes; yes it has.”

“So what was it like?” asked the orange earth pony, leaning forward in anticipation.

“Back in flight school, Rainbow hurt her wing and couldn’t fly for a week or two. And by the end of it, she was a wreck. She had to have counseling and everything.”

Applejack shuddered. If she had reacted that badly before, how would she feel now? “That ain’t good at all. Do you think she’ll do anythin’ this time?”

“I don’t really know,” said Fluttershy. “She was younger back then. She reacted pretty well when she hurt herself that other time.”

“Which time?”

Fluttershy cracked a small grin. It was true that Rainbow Dash was constantly hurting herself, whether it be crashing into the ground, into trees, or into Twilight’s library. She needed to be more specific. “The time where she tried to steal the Daring Do book.”

“Oh, ‘Suppose she did, but that time, she knew she’d be out quicker than hogs to scraps. This time, not so much.”

“That’s the problem. Flying is her entire life; she doesn’t really have anything else. I’m not sure how she’ll deal with it.”

“Are you sure ‘bout that? I know she don’t have a special somepony, but what about family?”

Fluttershy didn’t want to meet her friend’s gaze, so she looked down at Angel instead. “So, she never told you?”

“Told me what?”

Fluttershy didn’t want to say it. She knew that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t want her to either, but she had to say something. She looked back up and met Applejack’s stare. She couldn’t resist those eyes. “I suppose you have the right to know. She’s your friend too.”

Hearing Fluttershy’s tone, Applejack wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to hear about it. Yet as it often happens, her curiosity was more powerful. “What is it?”

“Rainbow Dash’s parents were drunk for most of her childhood, and after she ran away and joined Junior Speedsters, she never saw them again. She had an Uncle and Aunt, but they both died when she was pretty young.  Her grandparents were all dead before she was born.”

“So yer sayin’ she don’t have a family?”

Fluttershy only nodded.

Applejack didn’t have a response to that. She felt terrible. “Wow. I mean, she was so happy all the time, I just didn’t figure anything like that had happened to her.”

“I wouldn’t think that either, AJ. Don’t feel bad.”

“I mean, I know what it’s like to not have parents around.”

“So do I.”

“I remember, sugarcube. But how does she have that big ol’ fancy house if she never had any parents supportin’ her?”

“Well, she’s a professional athlete, so she gets sponsorships and prize money from races she does well in. She also gets paid to do weather patrol.”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot.” She said embarrassedly.

Over on the counter, a high pitched screech could be heard. A noise like that would startle most ponies, but both Applejack and Fluttershy were accustomed to the whine of a tea kettle. Fluttershy started moving out of her seat to get it, but Applejack was already up.

“I’ll get that for ya, sugarcube.” As she passed by Fluttershy, she inadvertently flicked her tail up, brushing it across her face. Fluttershy couldn’t help but blush at this action. Her tail had smelled largely of apple cider, but the fragrance also hinted at wood burning stoves, hay, and a wide array of other smells. Despite how faint these were, it was an appealing smell all the same.

Soon, Applejack came back with two cups of tea, both of which were placed on a plate that was balanced in her mouth. Applejack handled the delicate balance well, and soon the tea cups were safely in the hooves of Applejack and Fluttershy. When Applejack sat down, she was looking right at Fluttershy’s eyes, and couldn’t help but admire them. It was as if everything about the Pegasus mare was pretty. Her eyes, her coat, and especially her mane. Applejack wished she could have looks like that.

“So what are we going to do for her?”

Applejack blinked once. She realized she’d spaced out. She was blushing, although neither Fluttershy nor she herself noticed. “I, uh, I don’t know. I mean, I’d expect her to stay home right now. I don’t think she wants to go around town and have to talk to ponies about it.”

“That’s true,” said Fluttershy. “Maybe I could go visit her tomorrow, if that seems like a good idea.”

Applejack nodded. “That does sound good. I wish I could go with ya.”

“Me too. Maybe I can convince her to come down and visit or something like that.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Applejack rose from her seat, grabbing her hat from the hook over the door. “Sorry to be leavin’ so quick like, but I’ve got some chores to finish.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy replied.

Applejack turned around as she was leaving the room. “But just one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“You said Rainbow Dash ain’t got nothin’ but flyin’, but are ya sure? I mean, she has us, right?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond immediately, but eventually, words came. “I know, but do you really think that’s enough?”

“I don’t know, sugarcube. I just don’t know.”

=-=-=-=-=

Within the next few minutes Spike, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were seated around a table. Like Fluttershy, Twilight’s first reaction in a time of stress was to make tea, and so each sat with a cup of tea. Rainbow Dash had insisted otherwise, but Twilight had gone ahead and done it anyway, which Dash was not glad for, since the warm drink did make her feel a little better. As she put the tea down she looked at the two across from her. Silently, she wondered how she had come across such great friends in this farming town. Although she was now a three year resident, she had meet all of her friends within the first couple months or so. Fluttershy she had sort of known from flight school but hadn't really gotten to know until she moved here. And within the first week or so she'd also met applejack, and the two had been great friends - and competitors - ever since.

It had been another few months before she met her other friends in the Nightmare Night incident. Although she didn't feel as much of a connection to Rarity as she did the others, Pinkie Pie was now one of her best friends. And of course, she had met Twilight and Spike, both of whom were her friends for different reasons. Spike had a humor that was only matched by her or Pinkie, and that connection was her main reason for them being friends. On the other hand, Twilight was her friend because they shared some common interests like Aeronautics and of course the Daring Do series.

As her gaze shifted from one to the other, Rainbow Dash realized that although Fluttershy and Applejack were probably her best friends, she couldn't pick two better ponies - or in Spike's case a dragon - to confide in.

Swallowing the last sip of tea, Rainbow Dash slumped back in the chair. She had taken Twilight's advice and had sorted out just how she felt about Scootaloo at the moment. The verdict in her mind surprised her, but at the same time calmed her immensely.

"So, did you figure out it out?"

Rainbow Dash looked over to Twilight, who had voiced the question. “Yes."

“And what do you think?”

“I do.”

"You do?!" Spike said in shock.

"I figured so." said Twilight, her tone comparatively calm.

"You thought so?" asked Spike in disbelief. "But that's terrible!"

"Spike, let Rainbow Dash explain herself. I don't think it's at bad as you think it is."

"Well, both of you are right, actually."

Not for the first time, Twilight was a bit confused. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it does get better than that. But it’s terrible too. I mean, I feel terrible." Nopony responded so she continued on her explanation. “The reason a blame Scootaloo is because it is mostly her fault."

"But I heard she failed doing some really hard stunt," Spike pointed out.

"Yes, but that's not why she couldn't pull it off." Rainbow Dash went onto repeat what Scootaloo had told her. Spike was awestruck. "Holy Guacamole!"

"So that's why her wing was so badly injured," realized Twilight. "The doctors couldn't explain it."

"So yeah, it is her fault. But at the same time, I don't hate her for it. I mean sure, she made a mistake. But I did the same thing when I was that age all the time." Rainbow Dash paused, thinking back to the memory of Gilda. But she did not want to talk about that right now, since it was a bitter-sweet memory. "And I probably could have done more."

"What do you mean?" asked Spike.

"When I was in Junior Speedsters, the coach always asked us how our wings felt. Everypony always told the truth, because if you got injured, your spot would be taken over and it would be hard to get back. If I did that every day with Scootaloo, none of this would've happened."

Twilight leaned forward in her chair, looking up at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, you can't keep thinking about the 'what ifs'. You'll drive yourself crazy."

As she said this, Spike stood up and walked over to her. "She’s right. Just try not to think about it."

"But that's really hard," Rainbow whined.

Twilight followed Spike's example and walked over to Rainbow Dash's chair, standing to the opposite side of her dragon assistant. "Rainbow, I know you can do this. Just remember, you've got us and the rest of your friends here for you. We'll get you through this."

"Well thanks a lot Twilight! Now I don't have anything to say!" said Spike, exasperatedly

Twilight chuckled a little at this, despite the seriousness of the situation. Even Rainbow Dash was smiling now. Rainbow wasn't sure if it was the support from Twilight, the joke from Spike, or both at once. But something had lifted her out of the dumps. The fire that had always drove Rainbow Dash on was all of a sudden lit once again. The determination was back, and the old Rainbow Dash with it.

"You know what? You're right. I can do this. My life's not over; I'm still alive!"

Twilight smiled. "Welcome back," she said.

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. "Well thanks for bringing me back. You too Spike," she said, giving him a spirited noogie.

"Hey, quit it!" shouted Spike light-heartedly.

Rainbow Dash now full of joyous energy, felt like running out of the library and soaring out into the late morning sky. But the only problem with that was that she couldn't fly. Her heart sunk a little at the thought, but she rebounded.

"Oh Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"I just remembered why I came over here."

"I was wondering that myself. I thought there must've been a reason for you coming. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow your balloon. I need to get to my house."

Twilight realized with a shock that she had never considered how Rainbow Dash would get back home. Nopony had thought about it. "Of course you can."

"Thanks Twilight, I'll bring it back when I'm not using it." As she said this, she ran out the door of the library.

"Wait, Rainbow!"

Rainbow Dash heard Twilight as she was rounding the corner, and walked back to the still open door. "Yeah, what?"

"Keep it."

"Keep what?"

"The balloon."

"Really? Are you sure?"

Twilight nodded. "Positive."

"Wow. I was going to ask for it before, but I figured that would be a little uncool."

"It's fine, really. You'll make better use out of it than me."

Rainbow Dash nodded, and after thanking Twilight a half-a-dozen more times, finally walked back outside.

Spike, who had been somewhat silent up until this point, now spoke up. "Bye Rainbow Dash!"

She chucked. "See you around Spike!" She turned the corner of the library and went to the back where she knew Twilight kept the contraption.

When she walked up to it, Rainbow Dash realized that once again, she needed Twilight's help. She had no clue how to get the thing off the ground. She turned back around to go into the library, but Twilight Sparkle was already walking to the back.

"I just realized that you don't really know how to get this thing running, or how to fly it." she explained.

"Yeah, I was just about to ask you that one.”

Twilight walked over to the balloon. "Well, the design is very basic as balloons go. I made it so I could fly it with little to no experience."

"Wait, you made this?!" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief.

"Well, me and Shining both built it, but I designed it." she said proudly.

"When did you build this?"

"Funny you should ask. She turned ten years old yesterday."

"Wait, I have to go up in this old thing with no way out if it breaks?!"

"Rainbow, you'll be fine. I do it all the time and I can't break my fall either."

"But can't you do a spell that slows you down before you land?"

"Yes, but if I went terminal it wouldn't make too much of a difference. There is a spell for nullifying all velocity, but it skirts the laws of physics, and those kinds of spells are nearly impossible, and largely theoretical under normal circumstances."

Half of what Twilight had just said went right over Rainbow Dash's head, except for the scientific terms that were associated with momentum, which she was very familiar with. But Rainbow Dash smiled anyway. "Maybe you should ask Pinkie how she does it!"

Twilight laughed at that one, and so did Rainbow Dash. When they finished, Twilight walked Rainbow through the procedure for starting the balloon up, most of which was getting the flame going.

"I usually start it with magic, but you can't do that. That means you have to wait for it to start up manually."

"That sounds like it’ll take a while," commented Rainbow Dash.

"Yes, it does take a bit. If you give her fifteen minutes, she'll be fine. Just find something to do during that time and you'll be set."

"Oh, okay."

"Since I'm here, I can start this up right now. I'll go up with you and teach you how to fly her."

"Okay, sure!" said Rainbow Dash. "It'll be so awesome to get back into the air."

Nodding in confirmation, Twilight skillfully lit the flame, and the balloon quickly filled with the expanding gasses, aided by Twilight's magic so it took only a minute or two. The two then stepped into the basket and flew off into the sky. Meanwhile, Twilight explained how to fly the balloon.

Although Rainbow Dash was trying to focus on what Twilight was saying, but a question was eating away at her thoughts. She spoke up, Interrupting Twilight's continued explanations. "Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you keep calling it 'her'?"

"Oh, the balloon? It's an old Unicorn tradition from back in the days of sea exploration. Crewmembers got familiar with

the boats and started referring to them as a lady, because during that era only stallions were allowed to captain boats."

"Yeah, Pegasi have always been ahead on the whole social equality thing," she said in a superior tone. "Back then we had just as many mares as stallions as warriors."

"Hey, we all learned eventually. On the other hand, the entire Equestrian navy was unicorns, which was mostly because Pegasi are too scared of open water to fly over it. If your kind had gotten their acts together, there wouldn't even have to boats!"

“Hey, it's not our fault we're awful swimmers. We can't be good at everything. Oh, and the gay rights movement; we started that."

Twilight rolled her eyes. There was one thing about Rainbow Dash she hadn't missed: the constant gloating. Her annoyance caused her to do something she rarely did in conversation: use a comeback.

"Well I bet you of all ponies are the most proud of that one." she said, smirking at her.

Dash, who immediately saw the comeback for the joke that is was, retorted. "Hey, I'm proud of being a filly-fooler," she said light-heartily.

"Filly-fooler? I though you went both ways?"

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help laughing at her comment. That whole sentence was so uncharacteristic of Twilight, who almost never used slang. "Well of course I do. It's more fun that way. I mean, there's more options. But I have to have a favorite, don't I?"

Twilight blinked. "You never told me you favored mares."

"Didn't think it was important," she replied. "Actually, you're the only pony I've told other than Applejack."

"You told Applejack? Why her?"

Rainbow paused for a second before answering. "She asked about it one time."

Twilight narrowed her eyes. She didn't think that Rainbow Dash was outright lying, but the pause had been rather suspicious. Twilight figured this meant that Rainbow Dash was telling her only part of the truth, but not wanting to be rude, Twilight didn't dig any farther.

"So, do you understand how to navigate the balloon?"

That sentence was more like Twilight. "I'm not too sure about some of it, but I think I can figure it out as I go."

"Okay, I'll trust you on that." she said. "We're only a few minutes away from your house."

"Oh, good." said Rainbow Dash. For the first time since they had taken off, Rainbow Dash took time to look at the sky around her. Indeed, it did relax her to be among the clouds again. It was where she was meant to be, and even if she couldn't fly through them anymore, she could at least be there to see them. It was nice, she thought to herself.

In no time at all, they were level with the cloud which made up Rainbow Dash's home's foundation. Twilight maneuvered the craft so it was over the clouds, and opened the door, allowing Dash to safely jump down to the soft, cotton-like surface.

After waving goodbye to Twilight, and once again thanking her for the ride, Rainbow Dash walked back to her house. Twilight, on the other hoof, lowered the balloon back to the library, since she didn't have any other way of getting back down to the surface. That meant that Rainbow Dash was stuck up in her cloud home for the rest of the day. Rainbow Dash was fine with that. Being stuck up her was better than being pestered down in town.

Walking up to her house, Rainbow Dash spotted her mailbox. Realizing that she had two weeks’ worth of mail to pick up, she walked over to it.

There wasn’t too much mail in there considering her usual load of athletics magazines, letters from fellow competitors, and the occasional fan mail. Thinking about these things hurt a bit, but she buried the feelings. She picked up the letters her mouth and walked back to the house, kicking the flap closed with her back hoof.

When she got in, she found the door unlocked as always and went in. She lied down on the couch and started leafing through the letters.

She didn't find anything important, or at least not at first. Nearer to the end of the stack, she found a letter whose envelope was solid blue, with a jagged line of yellow down the side. It took Rainbow Dash a second to realize what that meant, but when she did, she dropped all of the other letter and tore into the one still in her hooves,

As she read it, her eyes grew wider and wider, and her heart sank lower and lower. All the happiness that she had regained at the library left her as she once again sunk into despair. Choked with tears once again, she only managed one word. "No--"

=-=-=-=-=

It was midafternoon in the capitol city of Canterlot, and the sun hung at the apex of its course, shining its rays upon the surface of Equestria. And yet, there were some places where the sunlight couldn’t quite reach. These were not the places where you took a leisurely stroll, nor where you sat down to read a book. These places were occupied sparsely, because the only ponies who went there did so because they had to avoid something or somepony. The reasons behind this need for avoidance are sinister more often than not. But regardless of the reason, there are always ponies that have to keep to the shadows.

It was in this sort of place that a shadowed figure lay in wait; who they were or even their basic appearance could not be made out in the dark. What they were doing there was equally a mystery, but there was one thing that was clear: they were waiting. Within a few minutes, another figure passed by the alley. As they stepped into the light, it was apparent that they were a pony: a unicorn stallion with a grey coat and light purple mane. There was nothing about them that would raise any suspicion, other than where they were lurking at present.

The figure paused at the opening of the alley. After a few seconds, a sickly green light started to emanate from their body. The once faint luminescence became a blinding glow, and then cut off suddenly. What was left in the place was a completely different creature, with a form that could best be described as alien. To those who had been in Canterlot during the royal wedding, the beast would be easily recognized as a changeling.

The changeling knew that fact perfectly well, which is why he had made sure of the vacancy of the area before transforming. There had only been one pony in the vicinity, which had been dispatched easily, and was now laying unconsciously in an alley down the road.

Now fully transformed, the changeling walked into the alley. Only now did the figure in the alley reveal themselves. "What have you learned?" they asked.

The changeling assumed a bow; much like ponies did when approached by Celestia or Luna. And to this changeling, they were indeed royalty. "You grace me with your presence, my queen."

"Mannequin, I thought we were past this formality." said Chrysalis, smiling a little. "After all, you are my mate."

Mannequin swallowed. This was a fact that he often forgot about temporarily. He was still in awe that he had been selected for that honor. "Forgive me, but is only out of respect and out of habit that I do so."

"I know that." she said, waiting patiently for him to speak.

"Thank you," he responded. "And I do have some news for you."

"What kind of news?"

"News that could allow us to move forward."

On the inside, Chrysalis felt exuberant, but she contained her emotions. "What is it?"

"The Element of Loyalty is currently in a treatment facility with a damaged flying appendage."

Chrysalis looked at her fellow changeling with a look of confusion. "How does this fact help us, Mannequin?"

"I am sorry my queen, I did not make myself clear. As you know, that type has the purpose of flying and managing the weather. But many of them also use these abilities in recreational endeavors. As fruitless as they are, they tend to become emotionally attached to these activities. As far as we can tell, the pony's injury will keep her from participating in the sport they call flying. In my tracking of the Elements, I have seen that she does this even more than most. Thus, I believe that we could use this weakness to push emotional instability, and thus be able to capture her."

Chrysalis thought this over for a while, then spoke up. "This plan has promise. How do you plan to take advantage of this weakness?"

"As of yet, I do not know. But I have made sure to put agents on constant watch, as well as myself. If we see something promising, we will alert you."

"No need to alert me, I intend to watch her myself," she said confidently.

"You do? I believe that it would be safer for you to wait until we are sure of a course of action."

"Yes it would, but this is no time for caution." Chrysalis looked off into the distance, remembering her home as she had left it. "Our people are starving, and before long may die from that starvation. We must move forward."

"Yes, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis smiled. It was comforting to hear one of her own call her by her true name. Especially the one whom she respected the most. "I am confident your plan will be the one we've been waiting for. All we need the patience to see it through."

"And then our people will thrive one again." he finished.

"Precisely," said Chrysalis, walking over to him. "You have always been a magnificent adviser."

"Thank you."

"Now we must begin our planning," she said. "Let us return to our base." With that, Chrysalis teleported away with a green flash of magic. Soon afterward, Mannequin followed. After the light died out, the alley became dark and noiseless once again. All was silent. All was still.

Chapter 3: Mad Desire

As Fluttershy neared Rainbow Dash’s house, she became increasingly nervous. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if the normally jubilant pegasus would be anything like her former self, or if she would be too depressed. And that was assuming that she would want to talk about her crash. She could even be sleeping for all Fluttershy knew.

Fluttershy tried to put herself in her friend’s position, wondering what she would want to do if she somehow lost all of her animals, which were as important to her as flying was to Rainbow Dash. She had to admit to herself that she would not want to talk to anypony, and she could only hope that Dash would not feel the same way.

There were other things to worry about as well. Since she could no longer fly, Dash was no longer part of the weather team. Thus, the former athlete had no way of supporting herself. Her friends would have to help her find a job, Fluttershy reasoned. If they couldn’t, then Rainbow would need to get money from somepony else.

As the element of kindness, Fluttershy planned on giving her as much as she could, but she didn’t have much to give. All the money she earned was by helping people around town care for their animals, and those bits went to caring for her animals or herself. Truth be told, she barely had enough money for anything else. She did go to the spa weekly with Rarity, but Rarity paid for that. She often checked out books from the library, but Twilight never charged her for late books.

Of course, it would probably be those two who helped Rainbow out the most. Pinkie Pie had even less money than Fluttershy did because of the amount of party supplies she bought. As a result, she was essentially living paycheck to paycheck. Even then, Pinkie would not have been able to afford all of those parties without the assistance from the Cakes. Seeing it as an opportunity to drum up business, the couple catered all of Pinkie’s parties for free.

When it came to funds, her friend Applejack was uncertain. Although the Apple Family was one of the richest in Ponyville during the fall, that money had to carry them through the winter as well, and she had heard from her earth pony friend that the family had experienced a number of close calls. Yet despite this, Fluttershy knew that Applejack would help somehow, probably with foodstuffs, which was what Rainbow Dash needed the money for anyway.

Moving out of her daydreams, Fluttershy looked up to find herself no more than a nose or so away from Rainbow Dash’s house. She was startled, but at the same time somewhat amused by this.

“Good timing, I guess.” She circled around to the front of the house, and soon saw Rainbow Dash. She was on the roof.

Silently, the yellow coated mare wondered what her childhood friend would be doing on the roof. Rainbow Dash still hadn’t noticed her presence, and Fluttershy was about to call up to her when she noticed an important detail: a rope. It was a pretty ordinary piece of rope, undoubtedly enchanted as to not fall through the cloud structures of the house. What made it stand out was that it was around Rainbow’s neck.

“Oh, no no no no no,” said Fluttershy, lifting off without a second thought. She already knew what was happening, but the question still came out. “Dash, what are you doing?”

Rainbow had been staring into nothingness, unless you counted the horizon as a material object. The sound of Fluttershy’s voice brought her back into reality. And with this awakening came the most horrifying sight the easily-frightened pony had ever seen. She could only stare in awe as the insane smiled back at her. Smiled – with a noose around her neck and clearly ready to jump. It was not a cheerful smile either. It was the kind of insane smile that Fluttershy had once seen worn by Twilight. And yet, this one was much worse.

“Hey Flutters, how you doing?” Her voice did not match her expression. It was deep and malicious, and made Fluttershy fear that Rainbow might hurt her if she took another step closer.

“But I have to,” she whispered to herself.

“Can’t hear you, F-Shy!”

Fluttershy’s mouth dropped. There was no way that her best friend would say that to her. She of all ponies knew what that nickname had meant, knew the past that she was trying to leave behind her. Rainbow had not been there for that part of Flight School, but she had visited when she could, offering a shoulder to cry on when Fluttershy needed it. Rainbow Dash’s use of that insult felt like a hot nail being driven into her hoof. Fluttershy could feel the tears beginning to form, but she shook them and the insult off. She had to save Rainbow Dash; she had to stay strong. Fluttershy took a step forward.

“Don’t even think about it,” said the maniacal Rainbow Dash.

Trying desperately to remain firm, she took another step towards her. She was now about ten feet away from her target. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I said STOP!”

Another step resulted in much the same response from Rainbow, as did the one after that. But another step brought on and entirely different one. “If you don’t stop right now, I’m going to Kill You!”

Fluttershy whimpered. She had no way of knowing if Rainbow was serious. Yet, if she did not go forward, she would never be able to convince her not to jump. Dash was trying to get Fluttershy to back away out of reach to catch her. If Fluttershy gave in, Rainbow Dash might die. Although she could save the cyan pegasus before she could choke, it was just as likely that she would be killed by her neck snapping.

Fluttershy had no choice but to step forward once again. Usually, the pony brain has a fight or flight response to such a situation, but in this instance, Fluttershy could not use either option. Fight would be the action of jumping at Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy was not entirely sure she could catch her from this distance. And flight would result in the same end.

“Better yet, I’ll just kill myself,” said Rainbow in a joyful tone that did not match her words. “Do you really think you can catch me from there? You can’t fly to save your life, or mine for that matter.”

Suddenly, Fluttershy had an idea. If she could keep Rainbow Dash distracted by conversation long enough, Rainbow might lower her guard enough so she could be sure of catching her. She stopped moving forward, calling upon a confidence that she wasn’t sure she had. She knew she would have to put on a show for this to work.

“I wouldn’t be so sure Dash,” she said, trying to keep her voice at a somewhat normal-sounding level. “I can fly pretty fast when I need to.”

“Oh, so you can talk!” Rainbow Dash shouted in mockery.“It took you long enough. Now why don’t you tell me what you want so I can finish.”

“You know what I want, Dash.”

“Ask again and I’ll see if I want to.” Rainbow Dash casually bounced a portion of the rope up and down in her hoof as if it were just a toy, and not something she was attempting to kill herself with. She treated it with the same disinterest as the rest of her surroundings. Her apathy in the face of death only served to frighten Fluttershy more.

“I want you to get away from the edge and take that rope off,” the normally shy pegasus stated with uncharacteristic nerve. Rainbow Dash noticed the change.

“That’s a little confident for you. I’m impressed. I haven’t seen you like that since, well, I don’t know, Flight School?”

“Don’t go there,” Fluttershy pleaded, her tone losing some of its confidence.

“Why not, F-Shy? I mean, you’re the spitting image of your younger self. At least, before you lost it.”

“Dash. Please, I—“

“What’s the problem? You were the most popular mare in the school. All the cots wanted to go out with you. And If I remember right, you went out with quite a few of them.”

Fluttershy could feel her rage building as well as her fear. “Rainbow, this is about you, not about me!”

Rainbow Dash continued from where she left off as if Fluttershy hadn’t said anything. “You were really close with some of those colts, weren’t you? I remember one of them pretty clearly. What was his name again?”

“Stop it!” Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, her voice little more than a squeak.

“Oh, I remember now: Silver Comet. Yeah, I remember that party. I didn’t see you for most of it. As I recall, you were busy letting him rut the cutie marks off your flank.”

“Rainbow, I mean it!!”

Rainbow Dash’s snide comments continued, her voice unsettlingly even. “Maybe I should ask him about your confidence. Or maybe I could ask that foal of yours. Oh wait, I forgot, you had it killed.”

Fluttershy couldn’t take it anymore. She leaped towards Rainbow Dash in a fury. and at the same time, the maniacal pegasus sprung off the edge. As she fell, she closed her eyes, hoping to feel the tension around her neck, and with it, release from the nightmare her life had become.

=-=-=-=-=

Neither pony knew how it happened, but Fluttershy ended up under Rainbow Dash, who was standing neatly on her back. The blue eyed mare had calmed herself down, knowing that the situation was even more delicate than before. She had known that something like this would happen, but had not planned what she would do if it did. All she knew was that Dash was safe, at least for the moment.

“You know, I could just jump off, but I don’t really feel like it.”

For a second, Fluttershy was hopeful. “You mean you don’t want to kill yourself anymore?”

“No. I just want to wait until you get too tired so I can see the look on your face when I die.”

Fluttershy felt like she was going to vomit. If she let Dash go, she would be directly responsible for her death, and she would never forgive herself.

“Oh, you’re too shy to look at me. That’s more like you. You’ve been that way ever since you killed your baby. It’s pretty sad.”

“Rainbow, I know you don’t mean it. You’ve got to snap out of it!”

“Don’t you get it, you stupid cunt? I never liked you! You were popular! All the colts liked you! And now you won’t talk to anypony but me and your little bitch Applejack, just because you were too weak to raise your own mistake. You sicken me!”

All of this was too much for Fluttershy, and she was no longer able to hold back her tears. It didn’t help that Rainbow Dash only laughed when she saw her crying. It was not Rainbow Dash’s usual contagious, booming laugh, but an evil cacophony.

Before long, Fluttershy’s muscles began to weaken under the weight, her wings flapping at an increasingly slower cadence. Rainbow Dash could feel herself sinking to the sound of Fluttershy’s sobs, and in her present state, it was like music to her ears. She felt the rope touch to the bottom of her neck. She closed her eyes, exhaling the air remaining in her lungs.

“Almost there,” she said with a grin. Another dip from the pony below her, and she felt the rope tighten around her neck, making it hard for her to breathe. Rainbow Dash waited for a few seconds after that, hoping for the final dip that would leave her to her fate. But it wasn’t coming. Not only was she not sinking, but she was rising. She looked down in alarm to see another figure under Fluttershy assisting her. Rainbow had noticed that Fluttershy had been calling out for help ever since she had started crying, but Nopony should have been that close to her house. After all, Fluttershy’s voice did not carry very far.

Fluttershy was just as surprised as Rainbow Dash. Not only had somepony heard her last-ditch screams, but it was the last one she would expect to show up. But before she could think about it too much, Rainbow Dash decided she wasn’t going to let this happen. She jumped off of her back, but was quickly caught by the new arrival. No longer needing to hold up the weight, Fluttershy felt the adrenaline leave her body as she fell to the cloud floor below. She bounced once on the fluffy material, and then came to rest a couple feet away.

A few minutes later, Fluttershy heard a whooshing noise above her, then the soft noise of somepony landing on the clouds just to her right. She felt something sharp touching her side, and from her experience with birds of prey, she knew it was talon. She looked up to see Gilda; Rainbow Dash’s other childhood friend.

“What was your name again?” The griffon asked.

Fluttershy took a few seconds to catch her breath before responding.

“Oh yeah, Fluttershy, how could I forget? It's been a while, though”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything, so Gilda offered her a claw. Fluttershy took it and allowed Gilda to pull her to her feet. Fluttershy was still too weak to fly so the two walked towards the house. “Where is she?” asked Fluttershy.

“I tied her to her bedpost, but she’ll probably chew through the rope any second now.”

“Aren’t you concerned about that?” asked Fluttershy in alarm.

“No. If she bites though the rope, she can’t hang herself with it.”

“That’s true, I guess,” murmured the pegasus.

“All we have to do is keep her from getting to the knives.” Gilda was quite calm about the whole ordeal; she had an air of militaristic professionalism about her, which was contrary to her demeanor during her last visit to Ponyville. This comforted Fluttershy. The two entered the house, and found Rainbow on her way down the stairs. Gilda used her body to block the way. “Hold up, Dash.”

Rainbow looked down on the griffon with disgust. “Oh, well look who it is. What, do you think you can do a better job than F-Shy over there?” Fluttershy cowered away from the anitpathic pony above her in an attempt to distance herself from the insults. Gilda remained calm.

“Well, I don’t see you going anywhere.”

“I’ll just break through the floor, then.”

“I’ll catch you,” replied Gilda.

“Oh, right, I forgot,” said Rainbow Dash, scratching her hoof in her mane while trying to think of another way to kill herself.

“Dash, I heard what happened.”

“Oh, so the griffons do use spies. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

Gilda sighed. “Dash, I read it in Flyer’s Weekly. I still get that shipped out there you know.”

“Oh sure, now that I can’t fly I get famous. Fate’s a bitch.”

Gilda stomped a claw on the cloud floor to try to get Dash’s attention. It didn’t make much noise, but it worked. “Okay, I know this is hard for you Dash, but there’s no reason to bail out on life. There are some here who still want you alive, you know.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond immediately. But when she did, she seemed to have a change of heart. “Gilda, can we talk upstairs for a second? Alone?”

“Sure Dash,” she said, walking up to Rainbow Dash’s second story bedroom.

Fluttershy watched her go, and then watched the door close behind them. Almost immediately afterward, she heard a thud from inside the room. This was followed by more thuds, the sounds of somepony running, and finally, one loud thump. A few seconds later, Gilda opened the door of the room, carrying a motionless Rainbow Dash.

Before Fluttershy could ask what had happened, Gilda explained it to her. “She tried to ambush me. I kind of figured as much. Is there anywhere we can bring her to keep her safe? A jail, or something?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, we don’t have a jail, but maybe Twilight can help us.”

“Twilight. Who’s that?”

“She’s a friend,” she mumbled. “She’s good with magic.”

Gilda nodded, looking down towards the town of Ponyville, which was only a mile or so away. After a few seconds, she turned back to Fluttershy. “Are you okay to fly?”

Fluttershy nodded a little, but didn’t say anything. Her wings still ached, but she figured she could handle a glide down to the ground. The two soared silently into the sky, Gilda carrying Rainbow Dash in her front legs, a delicate balance that required intense concentration. She was able to spare enough concentration to speak with Fluttershy, however.

“So, what happened exactly?” asked Gilda. “I mean, what did she do to you? You seem pretty upset.”

Fluttershy grimaced, trying to keep herself from crying. “She said some things.”

Gilda understood what she meant. After all, she had once been on the business end of Rainbow Dash’s anger as well. Although Rainbow Dash was incredibly loyal, she did not like it when she deemed other ponies fickle. In these instances, she often reacted by lashing out at them for that perceived disloyalty. In the case of Gilda, Rainbow Dash had detested the griffon’s inability to say that she loved her. On the other hoof, she verbally attacked Fluttershy because she wouldn’t let her commit suicide. It did not help that, in both of these instances, Rainbow Dash was emotionally stressed to begin with.

Although Gilda was curious about the nature of what her onetime crush had said to Fluttershy, she knew that Fluttershy would only tell if she wanted to, and for that reason, the griffon did not say anything. The two continued to float along wordlessly until they reached the edge of town. Fluttershy then lead the way to Twilight’s library. When they got there, Gilda moved Rainbow Dash from her front legs to her back. Although Rainbow Dash had the lean build of a flier, she was still quite heavy; and yet through the flight, Gilda had shown no signs of difficulty. Fluttershy had no idea how Gilda had managed.

Fluttershy was not allowed much time to think of these things, for Gilda stepped forward and knocked on the door. Within moments, Spike answered the door. At first, Spike seemed confused.

“Fluttershy, who is this?” he asked.

Realizing that Spike had not encountered Gilda on her previous visit to Ponyville, Fluttershy answered. “It’s Gilda, Rainbow Dash’s friend, if you remember. She came to Ponyville a while ago.”

A look of recognition spread on Spike’s face as he turned to Gilda. He seemed as though he was about to say something, but at that moment, his gaze shifted to the pegasus who lay unconscious on Gilda’s back. “Wait, is that Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes, but there isn’t really time to explain,” said Gilda. “Fluttershy told me I could find somepony named Twilight Sparkle here. Is that true?”

Spike nodded. “What happened, though?”

“Dash tried to hang herself for some reason. I’m assuming it has something to do with the fact that she can’t fly anymore.” The stoic griffon turned to Fluttershy. “That is the reason, right?”

Fluttershy found herself shivering, despite the fact that it was a warm and sunny summer morning. “Um, I think so,” she said. “But it’s been a while since the accident, and she seemed alright the last time I saw her.”

Spike was speechless, but another voice came from inside the library. It was Twilight. “Spike, who’s at the door?”

“Um, it’s Fluttershy and Gilda,” said Spike uneasily.

Twilight did not answer due to her surprise. As quickly as she could, she galloped down the stairs from her bedroom, and came skidding to a halt in the door-frame. After taking a second to find her bearings, Twilight looked at Gilda quizzically, not believing that the griffon had returned after how badly her previous visit had gone. Twilight also noticed Rainbow Dash slumped lifelessly on Gilda’s back. Twilight stared at her for a few more moments, trying to take in what she was seeing. When she finally did, she stepped aside, sending the silent message for the pair to come in. Gilda was the first to go, followed closely by Fluttershy. Spike, who had moved outside to avoid being plowed over by Twilight, brought up the rear.

Carefully, Gilda laid Dash down on the same couch that the now comatose pony had sat at the day before, then sat down next to her. Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy took up different seats. The silence did not last long, and it was Spike that broke it.

“How is she?” he asked, staring at Rainbow Dash’s closed eyelids.

“She’s not dead; I made sure of that,” replied Gilda, leaning forward so that she could fold up her wings. “I know you didn’t hear before, but Rainbow Dash tried to kill herself this morning.”

Twilight’s face went very pale, as if she were trying to impersonate her mentor. She coughed into her hoof in an effort to regain her composure, which was not easy to do considering the circumstances. “But that doesn’t make any sense. I had her over yesterday, and she seemed fine by the time she left.”

Gilda looked equally as surprised as Twilight had. “She wasn’t depressed at all?”

“Well, she was when she got here. She’d just come back from the hospital. I’m assuming you know about the crash, correct?”

Gilda nodded, gesturing for Twilight to continue. “She was visiting with the other pony involved in the crash. She told Dash something that made her pretty upset. She came here wanting to use my balloon to get home, but when I noticed how upset she was, I had her talk about it. By the end of it, she didn’t seem sad anymore; Upbeat, even. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Gilda nodded once again, her eyes closed in thought. “You’re sure she wasn’t just pretending so she could get back home?”

“Well … I don’t know … she seemed pretty genuine to me. Do you really think she would do that just so she could commit suicide?”

“I don’t really know, but I don’t thin she would,” replied Gilda, bringing up a talon to itch at the back of her head. “Dash hasn’t ever had very good acting skills, so I doubt she could hold that sort of thing in.”

Spike and Fluttershy were listening in on the conversation pretty passively. Fluttershy was perfectly content to remain silent as she usually was, but at this moment, Spike decided to speak up. “But that doesn’t make any sense. If she wanted to kill herself, she wouldn’t need to go up to her house. She could have just bought a rope or something.”

If the circumstances were any different, Twilight would have been proud of Spike for thinking of that, and probably congratulated him on his observation. “Spike’s right; She probably just wanted to go up there because it’s her home. If something like that happened to me, I would want to be at home too.”

“Same for me, but that’s not the only odd thing I noticed. Assuming you’re correct, and she was fine when she left here, that would mean she changed her mind while she was at her house. We should probably check out her house and see what we can find there.”

“Good idea. Fluttershy, did you notice anything while you were there? Anything unusual?”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t see anything like that,” she said woefully. “I wasn’t really paying enough attention.”

“That’s okay. Gilda, can you go check on that?”

“Yeah, I can, but that’s not the reason we came,” said Gilda. “I’m afraid Dash will try hurting herself again. Is there anything you can do?”

“I’m pretty sure I can. Spike, can you get me our copy of the Obice Incantamenta?”

In his subdued state, Spike didn’t say much, as if he was attempting to use as few words as possible. “Shielding spells?”

“Yes,” answered Twilight.

Silently, the green-scaled lizard got out of his seat and walked over to the ladder. After pushing it to the correct area, he walked about halfway up and fetched the book Twilight needed. Spike handed it to Twilight when he returned, and the unicorn took notice of Spike’s apparent depression. She felt a parental concern for her assistant, but she knew that dealing with Rainbow Dash’s problems took priority, and decided to talk to him later. She brought her attention to the book that Spike had given her, flipping through the pages until she got to the page she wanted.

“Okay, we need something to keep her from moving her entire body … lemme see … oh, found it! This is somewhat difficult, but I’ll be able to handle it on my own. I think you should go check on her house now. The sooner we do it, the better.” Gilda nodded, and within moments, she was on her way to Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. Twilight then turned to Fluttershy and Spike, both of whom were having trouble dealing with the thought that Dash had almost died.

“Spike? Fluttershy?” The pair looked up at Twilight, but did not say anything. “Now, I know I’m asking a lot of you, but we need to round up everypony else, and I have to stay here in case Rainbow wakes up. Spike, how about you go get Pinkie and Rarity, since they’re closer. Fluttershy, you can fly over to Sweet Apple Acres and get Applejack.”

Fluttershy’s wings were still aching from the earlier ordeal, but she didn’t bring it up. Instead, she only nodded. Spike, on the other hand, seemed glad to be doing something. “What do I do if they aren’t home?” he asked.

“That’s a good question,” replied Twilight. She took a minute to think about it, and then inspiration struck. “How about this: Go to Rarity’s house first. I’m sure she’s still there. Then to go to Sugarcube Corner, and if Pinkie isn’t there, Rarity can help you look for her.”

Spike nodded, and then rushed out the front door. Fluttershy took a long look at Rainbow Dash before leaving for her task. Soon, Twilight found herself alone in the library, and for the first time since Gilda and Fluttershy had arrived, she allowed herself to shed the mask of confidence she had exhibited. Twilight had learned over time that this was something that many ponies expected of her, for she was a natural born leader. In most cases, however, she was much more nervous than she let on.

It was as Celestia had told her many times during her studies: Being a leader meant not only helping others overcome their uncertainties, but also having to overcome your own. Not only that, but you must often pretend you have all the answers, and that you are not afraid. Twilight glanced over at Rainbow Dash to reconfirm her feelings; She was definitely afraid. She couldn’t imagine what would drive Rainbow Dash to change heart so suddenly, and she was certain that the mare’s happiness had been genuine the night before.

Twilight walked up to the front window, and reflected in it, she saw a phantasm of Rainbow Dash wearing the hopeless, vulnerable expression she had seen when she first came. Although she knew it was her mind playing tricks on her, the apparition still unnerved her. She could see it in her mind’s eye as well, the image following her away from the window to haunt her no matter where she went, as if a precursor to some even greater evil. It’s voice was louder than ever, yet still little more than a whisper. It did not speak, but just the image portrayed words well enough.

You can’t help me, Twilight. Nopony can.

Trying to forget, the mare looked up in the direction of Rainbow Dash’s house. She hoped Gilda brought back some answers. Otherwise, she would have none, and that was a prospect Twilight dreaded facing.

=-=-=-=-=

It took half an hour for everyone get to the Library. Spike and Rarity had encountered some trouble finding Pinkie Pie, but eventually found her throwing a party for Roseluck, whose flowers had taken first prize in the Equestrian Flora Competition. The unicorn and dragon had arrived when the party was in full swing, but Pinkie Pie had dropped everything when she heard what had happened. Fluttershy and Applejack had been at the library waiting for them, as the pegasus had found her charge much more quickly. And finally, Gilda had arrived, carrying the explanation for Rainbow Dash’s attempted suicide: A letter of acceptance into the Wonderbolts.

Everyone had taken this news pretty hard. Spike and Fluttershy seemed the most perturbed, and neither of them had said a word since then. Pinkie’s hair, which had long since gone straight, somehow seemed ever straighter. There was no bounce nor zest in her demeanor, as if gravity only took hold on her when she was depressed. Rarity had gone on for a while about how tragic it was, as her typical coping mechanism for anything was to either talk profusely or mope. In this case, she chose the former.

Twilight, Applejack, and Gilda seemed the least affected, but all still worried about how the cyan pegasus would feel when she woke up. Twilight also felt strangely relieved to know the reason for Dash’s actions, as tragic as the reason was. Gilda was strangely reserved, which struck everypony as odd. She seemed to be a completely different griffon from the last time they had seen them. Although they all wanted to ask her why she had changed so drastically, it had not struck any of them as the right time for that sort of question.

Lastly, Applejack had been asking questions all the while, trying to piece together exactly what had happened. In the end, she got the full story, starting with Rainbow visiting Scootaloo and ending with Fluttershy and Gilda bringing her to the Library. Even after this task was done, she had more questions.

“Twilight, are you sure we shouldn’t take her to the hospital? How long has she been lying there?”

Twilight, who had been fidgeting with a quill on her desk in her thoughts, turned her attention back to the rest of the group. “I already checked for a concussion. She doesn’t have one, or any other problems, and the spell worked without a hitch.”

“Well if she’s all fine-and-dandy, why is she just lyin’ there?” asked Applejack.

Pinkie Pie was sitting in the chair across from Rainbow Dash’s body. Spike was sitting on the floor, leaning against her leg, and Pinkie was using one of her hooves to massage some of the scales on his head. Pinkie knew from her experience with Gummy that it was soothing, but Spike seemed too out of it to care. He hadn’t said a word since returning with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

“Spike, I’m going to get up, alright?” The pink pony’s usual flashy word choice had long since been replaced by a very limited vocabulary. In truth, none of her friends had ever seen her as sad as she was at the moment, and her usual outgoing nature seemed to be taking the greatest hit.

The baby dragon didn’t show any signs of recognition. When Pinkie got up out of the chair, he allowed his head to fall back onto it like a rag-doll. For a dragon who always seemed to be very interested in the world around him, this sort of detached behavior was almost as abnormal as Pinkie Pie’s. She shot him a quick look of concern before walking over to Rainbow Dash. She leaned over so her ear was right over the resting mare’s mouth.

Puzzled, Twilight walked over beside her pinkie earth-pony friend. “Pinkie, what are you doing?”

Pinkie looked up at Twilight and leaned back up, redistributing her weight equally on all four hooves. “I was listening.”

“Listening for what?”

“I don’t know,” she said plainly, “but I do know she’s sleeping. I can hear her snoring.”

Twilight leaned down as Pinkie Pie had done, and indeed, Rainbow Dash was sleeping.

“Maybe she didn’t get any sleep last night,” offered Gilda.

“Maybe,” said Twilight, looking over at Rainbow Dash. Just as she was about to turn away, she thought she saw a motion. She got the attention of everypony else in the room, and they all watched as Rainbow Dash slowly woke up. At first her face was blissful, but after looking around the room and at the ponies in it, she seemed to remember what had happened. Her expression darkened considerably.

Nervously, Twilight approached the just-awakened mare sitting on the couch. The other occupants waited nervously, their heads moving between the studious unicorn and the athletic pegasus. When Twilight came within a few steps of Rainbow Dash, she spoke. “Hey Rainbow, how are you?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t react, continuing to stare at the floor in apathy. She was not angry or sad as Twilight had expected her to be, but emotionless, like she had been in that split second at the window the day before. Twilight reached a hoof out to Rainbow, fully expecting her to nudge it away. To her surprise, the depressed pegasus allowed her to get closer. The librarian took this development another step further by sitting next to her, and once again, Dash did not react.

Twilight cleared her throat and gave herself a second to collect herself before she spoke. “Rainbow, we’re all really worried about you, and we would really like to know exactly what happened.” Twilight spoke these words as one would to a small foal; a condescending yet friendly tone.

Rainbow Dash shifted a little in her position, hugging her rear legs with her front ones, and at long last, she spoke. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Rainbow, I know it might be hard, but it’s not good to keep that sort of thing inside. You can take all the time you want.”

Rainbow Dash gave a slight sign of recognition before retreating her head in-between her knees. Everyone waited respectfully for her to compose herself. It took her five minutes or so, but when she was finally done, she looked around at everyone a second time, then back at Twilight.

“I tried to kill myself.”

Twilight was perturbed by the simplicity of the answer, despite the fact that she already knew this fact. She did not have a response, and neither did anypony else. Even Applejack, who was typically one of the most confident mares of the bunch, was silent. It was the last instance where anyone expected the most shy pony in the room to speak, and yet, Fluttershy did. Most had forgotten that she was even there, as she had sat in a far corner of the Library and kept to herself. But now she walked over to the rest of the group.

“Dash?”

The rainbow-maned pegasus looked up at her longtime friend. Tears began to well up in her eyes at the sight, and she buried her head in her legs again. Fluttershy knelt in front of her, nuzzling her legs until Dash’s head reappeared. Fluttershy smiled at her kindly.

“Fluttershy, can we talk … just the two of us?”

The kind pegasus nodded. “I think so.”

Twilight, who had just recently gotten up from Rainbow’s side, was skeptical. “Fluttershy, are you so sure that’s a good idea?”

“Twilight, do you really think she’s dangerous?”

“No, but I can’t risk that sort of thing. She might not want to do anything, but she’s not in control of her emotions. You don’t know what will happen.”

“Twilight, I can do this,” she stated firmly.

Twilight looked like she was about to say something, but in the end, she decided to trust her friend. Within a minute or so, everyone was gone from the room, although Twilight stood at the ready on the other side of the door in case anything went wrong.

Now that the room was vacant, Fluttershy re-asked the question.

“What I said to you before. I still … I remember all of it, and I … I …”

Fluttershy, seeing that her friend was about to cry once again, held her in a tight embrace. “It’s okay, Dash; It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay! I hurt you!”

Fluttershy, the tender of animals; the pony who was so often intimidated by such situations; the pony whose life had been forever changed by her foalhood mistakes, somehow found strength. “Yes Dash, you did. It hurt to remember … what I did back then, but it’s nothing compared to how you’re feeling. Right now, I just want you to feel better. That’s all I want; all we want.”

The broken mare nodded in understanding, her sobs echoing in the empty space of the Library. Fluttershy waited for her to subside before inviting the rest of her friends back in. Upon, re-entering, Twilight once again took charge.

“Okay, the first thing we need to do is figure out where Rainbow should go. Personally, I think it would be better for her to stay in her own house.”

Gilda, who had also been relatively silent throughout the ordeal, also spoke. “Are you sure about that? Bringing her back there after that kind of traumatic experience?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, it could cause some anxiety, but I don’t think she’s afraid of her house. I’ve noticed that she’s pretty attached to it. That could be calming for her.”

“She does like the house,” agreed Fluttershy, who was allowing Rainbow Dash to cry into her shoulder. “She built it herself. She’s always been very fond of it.”

“Okay, so we have that taken care of. Now, we’re going to need somepony to stay with Dash to help her through this. Fluttershy, do you think you could do that?”

Fluttershy shifted on her hooves nervously. She looked from Twilight, to Gilda, then back to Twilight. “Actually, I think Gilda would be better. She knew Dash even better than I did back when we were foals, and I have to keep watch on the animals.”

“I guess you’re right. Gilda, can you do it?”

Gilda’s stance straightened out of instinct, her body becoming rigid as if Twilight were a drill sergeant. “Yes, yes I can.”

“Good. And Gilda, I have another question.”

“What?”

“Why are you so different from last time? You don’t act the same at all, not to mention that you speak completely differently.”

“I don’t know,” said Gilda with a small smile. “I just changed, I guess.”

“Oh, okay.” Twilight decided to accept the answer despite how vague it was. She was still curious about it, but if Gilda didn’t want to answer, Twilight figured that it was the griffon’s own decision.

“Well, I think I covered it all. Gilda will bring Rainbow Dash back home so she can get some rest, since I’m sure she needs it. If anypony wants to go home, they can, but if you want to stay here, that’s fine as well.”

Needless to say, everypony opted to stay at Twilight’s, at least for a while. Nopony felt very secure about the situation, and the company of friends helped to alleviate some of their anxious feelings. Gilda set to her part immediately, picking Rainbow Dash up onto her back and walking out the door. Everyone had tried to say goodbye to her, but Dash didn’t seem willing to talk to anypony anymore, so they let her go in peace.

Gilda cleared the building, and after making sure the pony on her back would not fall off midflight, poised for takeoff. She was interrupted by the sound of someone’s voice coming from the library.

It was Fluttershy. “Gilda, I was sort of wondering if we could talk about something.”

“Sure. What do you want to talk about?” asked Gilda.

“About you and Dash.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Gilda with a sigh. Carefully, she put Dash down on her own four hooves. Dash’s ears perked up at the mention of her name.

“Fluttershy, what do you mean by Gilda and me?”

Although she had summoned enormous amounts of courage on multiple occasions, Fluttershy still felt squeamish talking about this topic. “Well, I know that you and Gilda have, um, feelings for each other.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened a little wider. “How?”

“I found Gilda after you had a fight at the gorge.”

“And I told her what happened,” finished Gilda, somewhat embarrassed about the memory.

“Oh,” said Rainbow Dash. She walked a few steps to the door and looked back. “Gilda, are we going? I want to go home.”

“Yes, we are. And you’re going back to your animals, right?”

“Yes. I just wanted to talk to you is all.”

Gilda nodded but did not say anything more. Gesturing for Rainbow Dash to get back on, Gilda moved her body as low as possible to the groud. After a moment’s hesitation, Dash sat down on her back. After taking a second to make sure she was balanced, Gilda took off flying. It was a much slower pace than her normal one, but still fast enough so that before long, the pair were little more than a dot if viewed from the ground. After a few minutes more, the griffon soon saw her destination approaching, and with it, a wave of apprehension. It was unusual for Gilda to second-guess herself, as she was confident by nature. Yet at this moment, she couldn’t help but wonder:

“What am I supposed to do?”

=-=-=-=-=

Immediately following Griffon The Brush Off:

Over the last few minutes, the wind had picked up, and the sound of it whistling through the gorge was deafening. Still, it was not enough to drown out the sounds of sobbing coming from the same direction. It had been many long minutes since Rainbow Dash had left the scene, and with it, left Gilda alone. Rainbow Dash’s harsh words hurt her deeply, and although she had stubbornly tried to keep her composure, she had failed. The spaces in-between her claws were caked with dirt as she gripped the ground with them, and her tears were almost enough to turn some of the surrounding dirt into mud. She sobbed and sobbed for minutes on end, no longer caring who might see or what they might do, although she would soon find out.

Gilda felt a pressure on her shoulder, and when she looked up to see what it was; she saw a pony she recognized. She was able to control her sobbing for long enough to remember who this pony was, but when she did, the floodgates burst even more heavily that they had before.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, was utterly confused. The last time she had seen Gilda, she had been on the business end of a growl terrifying enough to make her cry. At that moment, it seemed to her that this ‘friend’ of Rainbow Dash’s was only a rude bully, not someone whose feelings could be hurt like this. Now, she saw that she was utterly mistaken.

If Fluttershy had been any other pony, she might have left Gilda to suffer. But her element showed through in her response, as she decided to comfort the very griffon who had scared her earlier. She knelt down to her level and once again touched her with her hoof. Gilda felt the second contact, and once again, she lifted her head, and saw Fluttershy in front of her once again, but this time, Fluttershy spoke:

“What’s wrong?”

Gilda took a moment to stop blubbering before she answered. “Why do you care? All I did was shout at you.”

“Well, I forgive you.” At first, Gilda doubted this, but when she looked into the mare’s blue eyes, and somehow she knew that it was the truth.

“Really? Why?”

“Well, I think everypony deserves a second chance, and I figured if you’re this sad about something, that’s probably why you got so angry in the first place.”

Gilda was shocked by how correct Fluttershy’s guess had been. “I … uh … yeah, that’s right.” Fluttershy’s tone of voice was comforting, and Gilda found herself opening up to the pony she didn’t even know.

“Well, I came to Ponyville to visit with Rainbow Dash, which you probably know. It was pretty radical at first, you know, just chilling out with her. I almost forgot the real reason I came. I, um, I guess I’ll just say it. I love her. I doubt Dash ever told anyone about it, so you’re probably real surprised right now. So anyway, the main reason I came to Ponyville wasn't just to hang out; I needed to apologize, ‘cause back in Junior Speedsters, I did something really stupid to her.”

Inside, Fluttershy was quite surprised by the revelation that Gilda had feelings for a pony, let alone her best friend. Only a few minutes ago, Fluttershy’s mental image of Gilda was a heartless bully, and nothing more. But she could see how much more there was to her personality.

“So, what did you do?” Fluttershy asked in a calm, even voice.

“I was about to leave Junior Speedsters to go home. The night before, I went to say goodbye to Dash, and she just kissed me all of a sudden. I panicked. I mean, I knew I had a little bit of a crush on her, but I always assumed she would think it was stupid. So I never thought about what I would do if it happened, so I just ran off back to my bedroom like a coward.” At this point, Gilda had started crying again, but she continued to speak through the tears.

“I got up the next day, and I thought about going to fix it, but I was scared. I wouldn’t be able to go back home if I did, and the rest of the griffons would shun me if I got involved with another female, let alone a pony. I even went up to her door, and I was going to knock, but I just couldn’t!” Through her sobs, Gilda’s voice was growing constantly louder. “We could have been happy! We could have stayed in Equestria, and I would’ve been okay never seeing home again because we would’ve been together! But now I’ve ruined everything! She doesn’t even want to see me anymore! What am I supposed to do?”

Fluttershy did not have an answer to that question. Beyond not being very experienced in romance, Gilda’s dilemma would have been nearly impossible for anypony to solve. Since she had no reply, Fluttershy offered the only thing she could: comfort. Cautiously, she put a leg around Gilda. Gilda picked up her head briefly as a sign of thanks, and then continued to cry violently.

As the sun began to set, the pair could still be seen sitting on the edge of Ghastly Gorge, one with her face in the dirt, still crying, and another comforting her in the best way she could. Later, when the sun had nearly sunk under the horizon, the two made their way back to Fluttershy’s Cottage. The walk was mostly silent, but Gilda did say one thing:

“Don’t tell Dash, okay?”

=-=-=-=-=

Author's Note: The end of this chapter will change a little bit. I'm not quite done with it, but I've broken enough promises about finishing this chapter, and I just want it out there now. So if the end seems a little lacking (for now), just keep in mind that i wrote it at 1 AM.