Author's Note

Hello, this is just shy of the word count requirement, but I still wanted to write it. Currently I'm having trouble with my arm, so this is just an in-spirit entry of sorts.

Only the Feathered

“Fluttershy, you awake?” A voice whispered in her ear. Fluttershy opened her eyes, her vision blurred. Rubbing against her was a soft pallet of colours, yet she recognized the smear's voice.

“Dash?” Fluttershy whimpered, attempting to stand as a searing pain scorched through her hoof.

“Woah, woah, take it easy!” Rainbow Dash quickly caught her.

“My hoof really hurts.”

“Yeah, it'll feel like that for a while, but hey, at least we got away from those things,” Dash replied, hovering in front of Fluttershy.

“What things?” Fluttershy groaned, her head spinning. She tried to recall what she had done to her hoof, but the last thing she remembered was researching the toxicity of the vegetation alongside Rarity. Then Applejack had pushed them into the dense foliage.

“Ou- the snakes,” Dash stuttered.

“I'm friends with snakes.”

“I know, I thought I was too, but they, some of them bit us in the back. You don't remember that do you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The last thing I remember is Applejack pushing me into a bush, and Rarity too. Are they here?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Uh, no, they're not here with us right now.”

“Where are they?” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Applejack went with Twilight and Pinkie Pie, remember? It's probably best if you don't,” Dash muttered, folding her wings as she laid on the ground.

“Dash, what's happening, why aren't they here? Why does my head hurt so much?” Fluttershy questioned, struggling to look up at Dash with weary eyes.

“I'm, I'm not sure, but you're probably hungry, right? Some strength should return to you after you eat,” Dash responded, Fluttershy's stomach growling in return.

“I'm a little hungry, but I still want to know where our friends went.” Fluttershy raised herself up on three hooves, carefully holding her hurt hoof up, finding it already bandaged.

“They, they,” Dash fumbled, “Rarity! They went looking for Rarity,” Dash responded. Even though she couldn't see her face, Fluttershy could tell that something was amiss. The multitude of animals she had worked with had taught her that much. “Here, you should eat.” Rainbow Dash placed something in front of Fluttershy.

“What's wrong,” Fluttershy inquired, looking at where she hoped Dash's eyes were.

“I, I don't much like snakes. It's hard to see whether they really want friendship.”

“I didn't know that you didn't like snakes, you never told me. You know that Tank is a reptile, just like snakes, right?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Not like these snakes, come on eat.” Rainbow Dash knelt down beside her and started eating. Fluttershy leaned down, the food smelled intoxicating, it was somewhat familiar, but overshadowed by a flowery scent she couldn't quite place. She couldn't make out what it was, but its swirling colours reminded her of a bright wintery day. After what had to be an eternity, she followed Dash's lead and took a bite.

“What, what is this?” Fluttershy squeaked as the impeccable taste flooded her hazy senses. Its texture was soft but somehow chewy, and yet she couldn't recall anything like it. “It's so good!”

“You're the one who found it, right before you hit your head,” Rainbow Dash resounded.

“I don't think I've ever had anything like this,” Fluttershy whispered.

“It's a first for both of us, this, is something we'll never have again. You said it was pretty rare.”

“I did?” Fluttershy yawned.

“Yep, you said that each one of these were unique, the chances of finding another exactly like this are near impossible,” Dash replied, lying on the ground next to her.

“Dash.”

“Yeah, Flutters?”

“Why are our friends looking for Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, but she was already losing consciousness as Dash answered.

Fluttershy awoke with a start, her belly growling ferociously. She looked around, both her head and vision a lot clearer. She didn't see Rainbow Dash, and promptly flew up a smidge, barely hovering above the ground. Not too far away something blue stuck out of the flattened ferns. Fluttershy crept over, telling herself to be brave like Dash was.

Lying practically on top of the ferns was a cyan feather. It matched the sky, its tip faded into crimson. A little bit of dark red beside the feather caught her eye, she had seen it on countless injured critters before. A few droplets of blood were next to Rainbow Dash's feather.

Fluttershy sniffed Rainbow Dash's feather, hoping she could follow Dash's scent through the heavy vegetation. Rainbow Dash smelled close, surprisingly close. Fluttershy followed her nose to a patch of thorns, noticing a few more of Rainbow Dash's feathers caught in them.

Fluttershy leaped over the thicket, landing in a small clearing. Rainbow Dash's ears flicked back, her hooves covered in dirt. She rapidly glanced back, before turning fully around. “Fluttershy, you're finally up, and you didn't need me to wake you this time!” Rainbow Dash grinned, she sounded almost proud of her.

“Da- Dash, what are you doing?” Fluttershy shook.

“You said that burying food scraps that can't be eaten would be good for plants, right? We don't want this shady island to stop thriving.”

“Wow Dash, I didn't know you cared so much about the ecosystem,” Fluttershy resounded, quickly covering the ground between them.

“Well, I figured I might as well. How are you feeling, still dizzy?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“No, I don't feel dizzy anymore, guess I just needed something to eat. My hoof still hurts a bit though,” Fluttershy replied.

“Well then, I suppose we should find something to eat, until we find the others,” Dash responded.

“Rainbow Dash, why are we separated?” Fluttershy inquired, brushing through the thick foliage as she followed Rainbow Dash.

“I think we split up because Rarity was missing, you know she probably found some super special fabric thing and ran off. Aren't these trees nice? They're blocking out so much of the sun,” Rainbow Dash replied, diving under a low hanging branch.

“It is very cozy, but it feels off. I can't hear any of my little animal friends. There were so many when we first arrived, I remember that. Where'd they all go?”

“Maybe they're all hiding?”

“Why would they be hiding, should we hide, too?” Fluttershy asked, she flew up to a nearby tree. “Hello, any cute animals home?” She knocked on the side of the tree. A few muffled squeaks came from inside, but nothing dared to come out and greet her.

“Do you think they're scared of something?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying up next to Fluttershy.

“I'm scared of whatever they're scared of,” Fluttershy whimpered, drifting to the ground.

“Don't worry, you have Rainbow Danger Dash the Element of Loyalty, Wonderbolt capable of the Sonic Rainboom!” Rainbow Dash declared, spinning upward. The light dulled her coat, the vibrance of her mane overshadowed by the surrounding leaves.

“What about our friends, is Rarity alone with a monster on the loose?” Fluttershy squeaked, covering her face with her wings.

“Rarity is a powerful unicorn, as long as she doesn't get anything on her hooves she'll be fine,” Dash assured her. Fluttershy didn't speak another word, holding her hoof as she hovered behind Rainbow Dash. An eerie silence continued with them, every sound that broke it caused them to both jump.

They didn't stop until the light filtering through the trees became a soft orange. A couple thorns managed to snag their feathers, and Dash had almost tripped over a tree root. A cheery melody caught Fluttershy's ear, and she eagerly glanced around.

“Do you hear that!” She exclaimed, her voice even quieter than the birdsong itself. Fluttershy searched through the canopy, and soon spotted a large grey shape weaving among the trees. It was a large bird, and a species she had only seen on this island before she hit her head.

Her happiness rapidly drained as the strong bird stopped flying. The bird fell limp in Rainbow Dash's jaws, her faded mane flowing as she caught it. Fluttershy froze, wings glued to her sides. She found that Dash was right in front of her, her coat practically matching the bird. Rainbow Dash held the bird out to her, some kind of smile glazed across her face. Fluttershy found she had hooves again, and she ran. Only when she had turned around did she start screaming.

Fluttershy panted, head spinning. She couldn't think of what to do, yet she kept running, balancing as best she could with three legs. Eventually, she found that she couldn't run anymore. Fluttershy glanced about, she didn't know this place, she didn't know any of the island. Tears leaked from her eyes, and she tried desperately to recall any event that had happened after she landed in the shrubs.

The only memory Fluttershy recovered was that strangely familiar scent. She looked around again, the speckled moonlight caused every feather she saw to shine. It illuminated a few of Rainbow Dash's fallen feathers, and most of her own. Fluttershy walked past each one, noting how each one seemed to be more colourless than the last. The pattern kept going, whether it was her own feathers or Dash's. The pattern seemed to break when a vivid feather caught Fluttershy's eye. She darted over to the bright feather, unease spreading through her once again.

Gleaming in the moonlight was not a feather, but instead a shred of Rarity’s pristine mane. It was obviously dirty and slightly unkempt, but there was no denying it wasn't Rarity’s. Fluttershy sniffed the shred, but the scent was too faint to even pick up on. Fluttershy's heart leaped into her throat as she started trying to piece together what was happening. Only when she started hearing voices did she realize she had somehow started following the scarce shreds.

The voices were all coming from the other side of an exceptionally massive bramble bush. Fluttershy crept next to the thorny wall, just close enough to hear the conversation on the other side.

“No, no, no, we can still make this work!” A pony frantically said on the other side.

“Twilight, we only have half the Elements, how are we supposed to make this work?” Another pony said, this one slightly faster and higher. Fluttershy guessed that it was Pinkie.

“We just need to find Rarity, then the other two will eventually come to us!” Twilight replied.

“Sugercube, Rarity’s gone.” Fluttershy immediately recognized Applejack’s voice, and her heart sank.

“That's not right, she's somewhere on the island.”

“Twilight Sparkle! You have to accept the fact that Rarity perished because of you!” Applejack declared.

“No, no, you've got it all wrong. You see, I saved us all. I gave us more time to figure out what's happening,” Twilight replied.

“It's been three months and thirteen days since I lit our bonfire in the shape of Nightmare Moon. It'll be fourteen in a few hours. Shouldn't we be in more danger?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I agree with her, do you really think our friends would hurt us?” Applejack huffed.

“They hurt Rarity,” Twilight mumbled.

“They didn't mean to though, and Rarity would've recovered just fine.”

“How do we know that?” Twilight cried, “How can we be sure?”

“You have faith that everything will be fine, now I don't even know if I trust you,” Applejack answered. Fluttershy could hear hoovesteps gradually increasing, and she caught a glimpse of an orange coat pushing past the briars.

“Twilight, I hate to say this, but maybe you can't fix things right now,” Pinkie added, hoofsteps recceeding.

Fluttershy could see Applejack now, standing outside the wall. A sorrowful sound graced her ears, the sound of crying. Lulled in by Twilight’s wounded cries, Fluttershy found herself carefully creeping closer to try and comfort her. A chill went down her spine as her eyes met Applejack’s. They shared a long moment of silence, long enough for Fluttershy to realize she could see her reflection in Applejack’s eyes.

Her golden coat was pale, and her mane was nearly grey. Her stomach twisted, but she remembered what had happened. Applejack had pushed her and Rarity out of the way of one of Pinkie's Party Cannons. The bush they landed in gave Rarity a small scratch, drawing just a speck of blood. That night she tore Rarity’s ear, yet it was still mostly intact when she realized what she had done. She didn't have time to utter a word after, Rainbow Dash had carried her away before Rarity could even scream. The last thing she did was fall from Rainbow Dash's hold, panicking so much she couldn't think.

“Fluttershy, get out of here,” Applejack pleaded, her voice as quiet as could be. Fluttershy opened her mouth, yet no reply came out. She cautiously backed up, once Applejack was no more than a blur hardly visible within the trees she spread her wings.

Fluttershy flew low to the ground, stopping just shy of a resting shape. Rainbow Dash lifted her head as she landed. “I've got bad news,” Rainbow Dash started, showing Fluttershy a scroll tucked under her wing. “It's not just us.”