Chapter 4 Despair

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“So how's the process of the time machine going?” asked Celestia, who was across from Twilight and her assistant.

“Oh, it's nearly complete, or at least it would be if someone would give me the chance to experiment with it,” smiled Starlight.

Twilight chuckled apprehensively. “I'm just not sure about nuclear power; it seems dangerous,” Twilight shrugged.

“Oh, come on! Nuclear is the cleanest source of energy we have today, other than the sun, which is nuclear itself, by the way,” argued Starlight.

Celestia giggled. “Well, it seems you two have come a long way.”

“Pardon my young assistant; she just gets excited,” replied Twilight. Starlight rolled her eyes, causing Celestia to giggle once more.

“Twilight, it's always good to see you and your friends.”

“Thank you, Auntie! I always love having lunch with you,” she smiled back. “It reminds me of when we used to do this growing up.”

“Yes, how is your mother?” Celestia asked.

“It’s like a dream to have her and my brother back in my life. Yet it feels incomplete without my whole family.”

“Yes, I understand that,” sighed Celestia. “I miss your father too,” replied Celestia before she sipped her own drink.

Twilight nodded, but it wasn't her father she was talking about. However, Celestia knew nothing of her relationship with Mr. Ghost.

“Now if only I can discover what happened to the last mayor. I half expect him to have just run away like the coward he is. Mr. Ghost was always something terrifying.”

“Umm, let's change the subject,” Twilight told Celestia, not wanting to hear one more bad thing about her oldest brother. Most of the city never knew how heroic he actually was in the end. Only those in Chaos Vill ever had any idea who he truly was.

“Well, why not let Starlight try her experiments?” asked Celestia to the surprise of Starlight. “Wha—uh, thank you, Mrs. Kang.”

Celestia giggled once more.

“It's dangerous; I don't know if...”

“Oh, come on, Twilight! Where would we be if someone doesn't take a risk every once in a while?” Celestia encouraged.

Twilight took a moment to think about it, but finally gave in.

“Oh, all right, but the experiment must be out of town. You can take the new machine and head out past the mountain; I'll have the old machine moved to my apartment to make room for the power stove until then.”

“Really? Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Starlight screeched with excitement. “I won't let you down!”

“Okay, okay, just finish your lunch before you go, all right?” Twilight smirked.

“So, Twilight, if I may ask, do you know where Miss Breeze is?” asked Celestia.

“Hmm... Fluttershy? Oh, she left over a year ago, actually. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it's nothing. I just got another missing person report on her from her family, and I know you were friends with her, so I thought...?”

“I don't know what happened to her. According to my friend Rarity Shine, she ran off with her boyfriend and never returned. But none of us ever met him and don’t know what really happened.”

“Boyfriend, eh?” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Well, I’m sure everything will be all right.” Celestia finished her drink. “This was a nice lunch; let's do this again next week. Oh, and do be sure to bring your other friends along. I'm glad you're doing so well, Twilight."

“Thank you, Auntie.” She smiled and gave her a hug goodbye.

As the two mares watched the mayor leave, Starlight whispered in Twilight’s ear, “Your aunt sure is amazing.”

“Yeah, she kinda raised me after my parents disappeared. I'm thankful for her,” sighed Twilight happily. “Well, come on; that time machine isn't gonna finish itself,” she smirked as her assistant skipped along with joy and excitement. “I'll call Dash.”

Dash’s phone rang, waking her up with a jolt. She yawned as she saw who it was. She was in the back seat of her truck. “Hello?” she moaned.

“Hey, Dash, I need your help. After talking with Celestia, I have decided to let my assistant go with her plans, but I need to move my old time machine out of the way to make room, and it won't fit in my car. Mind picking it up and dropping it off at my old place?” Twilight asked.

“Uh, sure, Twi, but I can't today. Hey, I actually won't be in school either. I, uh,” she sighed. “I took a little road trip, and I'll be back by the day after tomorrow, probably.”

“A road trip?” Twilight repeated inquisitively.

“Ahh, don't worry! I'm fine; I just needed some fresh air,” she told her as she looked at the address again. “I'll be back soon.”

“Hmm, okay. I'll have my brother move it instead. Thanks, Dash.”

“No prob.”

She hung up the phone, scratched her head, and then jumped into the front seat of her truck, taking off again.

Dash Rainbow drove out to what seemed like nowhere up a mountain road. Finally, after over a year, she found a lead on her missing friend. She then took off in a van, not bothering to tell anyone where she was going or how long she’d be gone. She did, however, keep the trailer on her car.

She just had to be the first. She had to know. Why? she muttered to herself while watching the road. Why did you just leave us, leave me? she thought. A memory surged to her mind as she kept heading that way.

A young, tall, skinny filly was being picked on for her looks in the schoolyard of an elementary school.

“Haha, look at you, skinny; you'll never be pretty,” said a jerk of an orange, bulky pony.

The little filly—or tall filly—was shaking her head, trying to hide under her mane.

“And look, she's a year older and she's still here! I bet she's dumb too,” said another. “Isn't that right, dummyfly?”

Fluttershy, in a rather high-pitched, cracky voice said, “I wasn't held back; I started school late.”

“Haha, did you hear her voice? She sounds like a dude the way it cracks!” a female dog interjected.

At that point, the little filly was about to cry.

“Hey, Dash, what do you think?” asked the dog.

Dash was lying back, soaking up the sun, wearing shades. Even as a young filly, she was cool.

Dash raised her glasses and looked at the pitiful thing. Dash had to admit she was kinda dorky looking, and being a bit older than everyone else was weird. Her voice also had that strange guy-like tone to it at the time, but then again, a lot of guys there sounded like girls.

Fluttershy stood waiting for the next insult to be thrown her way. She expected it to come from Dash. But Dash, though, decided to take pity on the new girl. She finally stood up and walked over to her with a look of boredom.

The little filly didn’t look up, just stared at the ground, looking like one more insult was gonna make her cry. But to her surprise, the blue pony—whom she thought was gonna be another bully—asked her for her name instead.

“Um, I'm Fluttershy.”

“Say that again.”

“Fluttershy.”

Dash cleaned out her left ear. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Fluttershy,” she finally said loud enough to hear. She was trying to keep her voice down because she didn't want the bullies to laugh at her voice again.

“Fluttershy? Huh, that's a cool name. Mine's twenty percent cooler, but yours fits,” she said. She then turned to the others. “And guys, bullying the new girl is NOT cool.” She then lowered her sunglasses. “She’s now my friend, you got that?”

This action surprised Fluttershy. She never expected someone to be so nice to her. She then followed the blue filly as she walked back to her spot, leaving the bullies surprised that the coolest kid on the block actually let the new girl follow her.

Dash still drove the car into a little woodland town as she thought to herself. The town was called Everfree, located smack dab in the Everfree Forest. It was a little country town, with log cabins and a cottage feel to it. Every building was made of wood logs and had a timberjack aesthetic. Many of those who lived there wore either timberjack clothing or Amish-like clothing—something AJ would have liked more than her. But her mind wasn't focused on the town or the people. It was on her missing friend.

“You were always following me around, Flutters. Even though you were older, you were always like a little sister to me. So why?… Why would you just leave without saying goodbye?”

She then pulled up to a sheriff's office and got out of the car. A little bell rang as the door opened.

She went to the front desk. “Hi, I'm looking for a friend of mine. She went missing a while ago; here’s a photo of her bike's number. Someone said they saw her here.” She showed the lizard at the desk the photo of both the bike and her.

“Yeah, I’ve seen her around. She lives in town, not too far from here. Let me get you the address. Why’d she leave anyway?”

“That I don't know, but I’m here to find her.”

The lizard looked at her. “And you’re sure your friend wants to be found?”

“I don't know, but I’ll find out…”

The lady narrowed her eyes. “Listen, hun. If she came to this town, she didn't want to be found.”

Dash looked away from her.

The lizard handed her the address. “This is a little town. Any fighting, and the sheriff will be on you, ya hear?”

Dash took the address and headed to her car. She drove up to a little apartment building not too far from the center of the town.

To her amazement, sitting in the driveway was Discord's bike.

She looked around and saw someone on the side of the porch, but she couldn't make out who it was. She decided to get out and ask around for Fluttershy. She slowly walked up onto the porch.

“Hey, excuse me! Have you seen a mare with...?” Her eyes widened as she stood stunned.

The mare in front of her turned around slowly and faced whoever was talking.

There she was. Her mane a mess. One strand flowed down in front of her face, a look of someone who'd been through a lot in her teal eyes. She wore a white tank top, blue jeans, and had her signature fake leather jacket around her waist. She seemed a bit skinnier, like she hadn't been eating well. A cigarette was in one hoof, and she blew out smoke from her mouth. Her eyes looked tired, but she still somehow had a young, pretty girl look to her.

“Fluttershy,” Dash said slowly, in total shock.

The mare took another puff of her cigarette before answering. “Hi, Dash.”

“Fluttershy, what happened to you?” Dash walked closer to her.

“You look like you haven't slept in days,” she said, shaking her head. “And what's with the cigarette? I...” Dash was bewildered by her appearance.

She gave a sad laugh along with a dreary smile. “How've you been, Dash?”

“I...” Dash began, but the look on Fluttershy’s face still had her confused.

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?”

“Why wouldn't I be?” she said, her face reflecting a distant look.

“You don't seem okay.”

Fluttershy took a moment before she spoke again. “How's Twilight and the others?”

“They, um... they're doing good.”

“That's good to hear,” she softly spoke before lowering her head and taking another inhale of smoke.

“Fluttershy, I, uh... I came to, well, to tell you we need your help.”

She took a moment before she answered, just smoking her cigarette. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, yeah, it is. So gather your things and...”

“Stop,” she softly said, her movements sluggish.

“Stop what, Flut...”

“I'm not coming back!”

“Fluttershy, you have to. We need your help with—”

“DISCORD’S DEAD!” she said with a louder voice. “I have nothing to go back to.”

“Fluttershy—”

Just then, something ran into the open screen door of the house.

Dash turned and saw a little gray filly who could barely stand, sitting in a diaper in the doorway. Another one then tackled the other, this time a yellow foal.

Her eyes widened at the sight.

“Ma-ma,” the yellow filly made a noise that sounded like she was trying to say “mama.”

“Discord, get off your sister,” she told the baby. She then took another inhale of her cigarette while Dash stood in more shock as she put two and two together.

“I, uh... I knew you two were friends, but I didn't know you were so close.”

“No one did,” she sighed.

“Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy turned around and looked out at the forest by her place, her back to her friend.

“He would have loved it, you know. He dreamed of just getting away from the city, living near the forest, building a cabin...” She chuckled. “I'm living his dream, ya know. This is what we wanted to do, just the two of us. A baby was not expected, let alone twins.”

She set her elbow on the railing and leaned against it. “He would have been happy here.”

A moment of silence filled the air before Dash tried again.

“Fluttershy, listen—”

“No, you listen,” she turned to Dash, moving quicker than she had that entire conversation.

“I’m a single mother with two kids to feed. All I want is to focus on them and move on with my life.”

“Fluttershy, I'm sorry, okay? I can't imagine what it must feel like...”

“And I hope you never do, Dash.” She shook her head slowly. “I hope you never know what it feels like to have someone you love with all your heart die, leaving you with nothing but an empty pit in your stomach. I miss you all, but I am rather busy at the moment, so if you don't mind...”

“But Flutter...”

“Goodbye, Dash.”

She said this with such a straight face. There was no anger, no sadness, no emotion of any kind on her expression. It broke Dash’s heart to hear such a thing. Dash's mouth opened to say something else, but nothing came. She could do nothing to help her friend. She just turned around slowly and headed back to the car.

Fluttershy watched as she left, standing with the same expressionless look until Dash was halfway down the road.

Dash could see in her rearview mirror Fluttershy watching her. At least she now had her answer as to why she left that night.

Author's Note

Yeah hope I didn’t make any my one cry with this one.