The Rainbow That Never Was

“Leave her alone!” The small blue pegasus pony yelled in a determined voice. If there was one thing that she couldn’t stand, it was ponies who picked on weaker ponies, especially when that pony was Fluttershy. Cowering behind Rainbow Dash was the stick-legged pegasus, and standing tall in front of her were the bullies, the ponies she longed to put in their place.

“Ooooh, what’re you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?”

Oh how she hated that name, it had followed her like a malicious kitten since she was young. Hardly able to resist letting a punch fly right then and there, Dash let fly a retort, “Keep making fun of her and find out!”

     The three ponies were lined up side by side on the start line, itching to get the race on. Rainbow licked her lips in anticipation as the gathered crowd waited patiently for the race to start. ‘This’ll be easy, against these two losers, there’s no way I can lose!’ She thought to herself, snapping back to the task at hand only seconds before Fluttershy waved the checkered flag, signaling that the race had begun.

     Rainbow Dash threw herself forward, giving a powerful flap of her small wings, and the race was on! She felt a slight bump as she passed Fluttershy’s cloud, but her mind was on the race, and she focused on keeping up. This race wasn’t going to be the most difficult thing she’d ever done, but it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk by any means; If she took these two lightly she could easily lose the race.

‘I need to pull ahead as soon as I can, get an ear-’ the thought was interrupted before it was even finished when Rainbow heard a scream. Quickly, she whipped her head around to see who it was coming from, and to her horror, she saw Fluttershy. She was screaming. And she was falling. Making a split second decision, she pulled a beautiful U-turn, rushing towards the plummeting pony. This race may have been important, but she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t save her friend.

Looking back to see what all the commotion was about and seeing nothing but the blur of a retreating rainbow, one of the other racers let out a grating laugh. “Hah! Looks like Rainbow Crash is chicken!” He barely managed to finish the sentence before he ran headlong into a cloud.

The crowd watched with mild confusion as Rainbow Dash became a blur to their eyes - but in the wrong direction. She ignored the occasional jeering question from the crowd as she raced downwards, pushing herself to her limits. Even as she folded in her wings and dropped, she had a terrible feeling she couldn’t make it in time. Watching the flailing yellow limbs below her, tears welled up in her eyes. Her friend was falling to a certain death, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Just as she was about to give up hope some part of her that had been previously been silent spoke up, ‘Is this really it? are you going to let your best friend die, just like that?’ She blinked back the tears, her face once more a mask of determination as she sped like a majestic rainbow bullet. “NO!” She yelled, in answer to her own mental pep talk. She tucked in everything she could, feeling speed like she’d never felt before, but not enjoying it; how could she right now? She constantly was gaining air on Fluttershy, but she could see that it still wouldn’t be enough. She could only see one way out of this situation. Rainbow opened her mouth to yell, praying she was close enough that Fluttershy would hear her.

Fluttershy’s eyes were clamped tightly shut, her screams having died away long ago, to be replaced by an almost silent sobbing. She didn’t know much about the ground but there were two things she did know. The ground was very hard, and she was falling very fast. She knew what happened when something very fast hit something very hard and she horrified to even think about it. ‘Well, there are worse ways to go...” She thought dejectedly, but for some reason, she had a large amount of trouble thinking of one right now. “Fluttershy!........... wings!” Her eyes flew open as she heard the snippets of voice from above, and her ears perked up sharply.

Rainbow inwardly celebrated. She knew she was close enough to get through to Fluttershy now, although it appeared that she hadn’t heard her completely. She yelled again knowing that they were running out of time, “Fluttershy! Open your wings! You have to fly!”

Fluttershy blanched when she heard the whole of Rainbow’s plea. ‘I have no idea to fly, and now probably isn’t the best time to be learning!’ She thought, and was surprised at how angry she was about it, especially at a time like this. “Please! J-just try! You have to try!” This time she heard a catch in Rainbow’s voice. As she looked back, she could see a trail of tears streaking off of her friend’s face, and they just kept coming, no matter how hard Dash tried to stop them. Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the wind whip through her hair. She tried to be as calm as she could, her breathing steady, but she could still feel her heart pounding in her chest. She imitated the way Rainbow was currently falling, and she felt herself drop like a rock. The feeling of the wind blowing against her face was far from terrifying... in fact, it was exhilarating! Now she understood why so many ponies loved to fly, it was different than anything she’d ever imagined.

Dash continued to drop, looking down in hope as she saw Fluttershy pull herself in tight, dropping just like she was. “You can do it Fluttershy.... I know you can...” She whispered quietly to herself. Her eyes widened as she saw Fluttershy’s wings begin to unfurl, and she held her breath, knowing everything was out of her hooves now.

Fluttershy extended her wings slowly, not used to the unfamiliar feeling of the wind blowing through them. She thought back to the countless times she’d watched Rainbow Dash practicing, and she tried to remember how she would come out of a freefall. As she extended her wings, she slowly pulled out of her dive, wobbling, as she glided slowly. Now that she tried flying, she was amazed to find how breathtaking it really was.

Rainbow Dash let out a yell of victory, seeing Fluttershy pull out of her free-fall no more than twenty meters from the ground. ‘She’s actually flying! I can’t believe it!’ She thought ecstatically, making a beeline for Fluttershy. Not sure how long the flimsy pony would be able to continue flying for, she quickly caught up, and Fluttershy turned to her, “I’m flying! I’m actually flying!” Fluttershy missed a beat and fell, but was quickly caught by Rainbow Dash, who gave her a quick grin as she began to fly upwards.

“Yeah.... you sure were.”

     Rainbow let out a sigh of relief as she alighted back up on the clouds, Fluttershy shakily stepping off of her back. Dash was exhausted, both mentally and physically. This ordeal had been unexpectedly, the most taxing she’d ever dealt with. The race was the furthest thing from her mind at this point, as ponies began to gather around the two fillies. most of them looked at her with a look of awe, having expected the meek yellow pony to be done for when she fell..

“Th-that was a nice job out there, Rainbow Cra- I mean, Dash.” Dash turned to see the two bullies from earlier, looking, in what Dash assumed was a first for them, somewhat respectful.

“I was just doing what I thought I needed to.” She said with an air of superiority to her voice, which she was quick to try and cover up, “But Fluttershy here, she’s the one who really did a good job, she actually flew!” At this, all of the gathered ponies went suddenly silent, and focused their collective gaze on Fluttershy. This pony, who couldn’t fly to have her life had, well, flown to save her life!

Fluttershy cowered under the gaze, but Rainbow was quickly by her side, “It’s alright Fluttershy, you did something pretty great down there, you’ve gotta expect some attention.” “W-well.... If you say so...” Fluttershy stood up slowly, still not making eye contact with any of the ponies, but she wasn’t fainting, and that’s more than could’ve been said had she been put in the same situation a day before.

“Y’know Fluttershy... I think you could be a really great flier someday, maybe even as great as me!” Rainbow Dash said, nudging Fluttershy in the side.

“R-really?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

“Of course! You and me, we’re gonna be the greatest fliers in all of Equestria!” Fluttershy wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that prospect, but she was getting the feeling that she might rather enjoy it, after all that had happened today. Looking over at Rainbow Dash, she caught something out of the corner of her eye.

“R-rainbow Dash! Y-y-your flank!”

“What’s wrong?!” Dash turned her head quickly, looking back at her previously blank flank. Now, where there had once been nothing, there sat a white twinkle of light that dissolved into an array of colors at its edges; it was somehow inspiring simply to look at. “Wow.....” Rainbow Dash sat awed, admiring her new cutie mark. “Fluttershy... it’s because of you that I have this. Thank you.” She said sincerely, causing Fluttershy’s cheeks to flush red.

“Oh, it was n-nothing.” She replied with an awkward grin. She could tell, things were going to be a lot different for her now, ‘I think I could get used to this whole “flying” thing.’ She thought to herself as her and Rainbow walked away from the crowd.