Longing For Harmony

Fluttershy couldn't remember a time that she slept better.

Even though she was in a state of deep sleep, her subconscious was still active.

'I'm so relaxed. I always thought that there was something wrong with this bed. But I think there was just something wrong with me instead. Always so antsy and worried that I'd end the day feeling miserable and unable to sleep right. Because I swear, right now, this bed is so soft, it's almost like I'm flying. I don't even want to get up. I want to stay here forever. I should just freeze time right now until I'm well rested enough to continue again.'

Fluttershy would have reached for the pouch she thought she was still wearing, but couldn't find it. Maybe it had fallen off, over the side of the bed.

'Hm. Well, that's okay. I think I'll have had enough sleep by the time the morning comes anyhow.'

Her senses were otherwise filled only with complete darkness, and silence. The only indication she was even alive aside from the floating comfort filling her was the steady sound of her heartbeat, gradually more noticeable every time.

'It really feels almost like I'm flying. But... Wait...'

She tried to turn over in her bed in her sleep. But nothing was beneath her. And she moved... Slowly. Like something was surrounding her. Holding her, pulling her back. Not a blanket or covers, which she started feeling around for.

'Cold somehow. What is this?'

The serene peace that invaded the very fiber of her being gradually shifted into a dull ache. There was no discernable mattress or even ground of any sort. She experienced a new feeling; sinking, slowly, steadily.

'I don't understand. Am I gliding? Did I go out flying in my sleep and now I'm trying to find my way home?'

The volume of her own heartbeat grew. Fluttershy felt something filling her ears. Her nostrils. Her mouth.

'This is starting to scare me.'

She couldn't breathe. The ache throbbed, spreading out further throughout her vessel. It grew sharper, heavier, unforgiving. Her skull was pounding, it felt full and heavy, as if something were weighing it down. Her esophagus and lungs started to fill.

'Please don't let this be something bad. I'm just dreaming. I need to wake up.'

She forced her eyes open... And nothing was different. She was drowning.

'Celestia -- NO!!!'

Fluttershy desperately tried to thrash her limbs and wings, anything to bring her closer to the surface. It was daytime -- she could see the surface illuminated by sunlight far above her -- but the glow kept shrinking. No matter how hard she pushed, her wings wouldn't budge -- restrained. It was only just now that Fluttershy noticed a rope similar to Applejack's securely fastened around her torso.

'B-but Applejack would never hurt me -- why is this happening?!? This can't be real, it can't!!!'

She turned her head to look behind her, noticing that the other end of the rope -- much, much longer than what Applejack used -- had been just as handily tightened around a large boulder severely outweighing her. Fluttershy's panic increased drastically.

'SOMEPONY HELP ME! PLEASE!'

She opened her mouth to scream, only to take in more water, her voice unheard above the surface, greeted only by the gargling shriek of her fear-driven effort. She continued to fight in futility, struggling to wedge free from the rope or tug it loose or snap it off her. Fluttershy's pain intensified, slowly but surely. Hellish agony permeated every cell in her body, only increasing with every deafening, rapid heartbeat surging and pounding in Fluttershy's ears. She was drowning. She was dying.

Her hoof stretched out towards the surface, reaching for a nonexistent savior who would not come to rescue her.

'Please, not yet! I haven't gotten to help the rest of my friends! I don't want to leave without getting to make them happy!'

Fluttershy would cry if she was able to. Her whole life was flashing before her eyes. Growing up in Cloudsdale, going to Flight School, moving to Ponyville, meeting her friends. Too much of it was lived in vain. Too many failures, disappointments, too much heartbreak, and not enough peace, comfort and joy.

'It can't end like this!'

Her frantic train of thought started to imagine what would happen next. She saw her drowned, bloated carcass washing ashore, maybe found by some unfortunate foals playing nearby. She saw her animals alone and dying without anypony to care for them while she was gone without anypony realizing it. She saw her friends completely forgetting she was even around until they found out she died.

'PLEASE --'

Blackness and silence closed in again as the excruciating torment came to a head. Her heartbeat became slower. Fading into nothingness. One more brief, fleeting moment, and she would be gone.

Fluttershy's body hit the ground with a loud thud.

There was silence. Darkness.

Her continuous sobbing was stifled by the noises trapped in her throat. She shuddered uncontrollably, unable to remember a time she felt so afraid, and cold. Sniffling and wiping her teary eyes to clear her blurry vision, Fluttershy noticed that it was still dusk, maybe an hour or two before sunrise. She noticed that the pouch was where it was before; still around her neck. To her, every dream might as well be a nightmare, but this one felt way too real. The same way the roller coaster felt way too real.

The initial belief of being at her life's end with the feelings of terror and anguish and suffering slowly melted into shock and cantankerous rage. Fluttershy got back on her hooves, stomping her way across the house so hard that it immediately awoke all her animals, who were visibly frightened -- that wasn't her concern right now. The deafening thuds almost suggested that the wooden floor would split open from the sheer impact of each clop. Her furious gaze bore into the dark lavender genie, who was still only just now awakening.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?" she roared.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Vesper's disposition was surprisingly calm at her accusations, maybe even apologetic. He simply composed himself, meeting Fluttershy's eye level.

"Do what? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

This only angered Fluttershy further. "Don't play any games with me!!! You planted that experience in my head!!! You made me genuinely believe I was drowning to death!!!"

"Oh, that," Vesper responded with a dejected sigh, sounding more sad than uninterested. "I'm afraid I can't plead guilty to that. It sounds like you had a really... Vivid nightmare... I'm not doubting that it probably felt very real, but I honestly didn't do it, unless I was somehow unaware or did it on accident, which I doubt. However, you're more than welcome to do as I've explained before, and cast me out of your life if you think I've somehow made you unsafe."

Fluttershy was trembling, seething with fury, which began to gradually boil down out of sheer bewilderment. If he apparently felt guilty about it, then why wasn't he admitting responsibility? Was it really and truly an accident, by some sick, twisted coincidental circumstance? She turned her head away, the tears coming back in full force.

"If I ever... Feel anything like that again... This is going to be the last time. I swear it." she nodded softly, and trotted away, trying to compose herself, the overwhelming rush of mixed emotions draining her.

Soon, the sunrise appeared. Fluttershy watched it fill her room through the window. After the incident -- or, accident? -- with Vesper, she resolved to go back to bed in an attempt to brush it off. She wasn't able to sleep again. She wasn't sure if it was the fear of another nightmare, or the animals being scared, or her anger towards the genie, or anything else. But it did help a little just to lie still there and calm down for that long, however short it was.

The time after she left her bed again would be spent apologizing to all the animals and working to calm them down in turn. She meant to do it right away, but was so flustered she was worried she'd snap at them and make it worse. Fluttershy's pent-up outbursts were rare, often resurfacing at inconvenient or embarrassing times, but this one was justified; she nearly died. Or, she felt like she nearly died.

But out of every "sorry" and cheer-up deed and embrace shared between the pegasus and each of her individual creatures, not one would be bestowed upon the ethereal colt that had only just recently entered her life. She only shared a few glances with him, catching a mutual exchange of sorrowful and pained looks, and couldn't bring herself to take it any further. Not right now.

Common sense would dictate that she immediately throw him out just as he offered himself to be. And yet, there was something in the way he insisted on his innocence without a second thought, yet simultaneously showed sympathy nonverbally, that confused Fluttershy, kept her from acting or deciding. Was he telling the truth? Could this somehow be an accident? Could he maybe not have even been involved at all? Fluttershy recalled how unbelievably fatigued she was when she retired last night; had she fallen into such a deep sleep that her dreams maybe experienced a higher intensity than normal, a ludic transition? There was no telling.

The occurrence felt so complex and bewildering that she had to set it aside for the rest of the day. Now was the time to resume her efforts for the sake of her friends. Something to take her mind off it. Something she meant to do for a while in the first place.

Fluttershy used the sands within the pouch to freeze life in it's tracks once again, and flew from her house. She had already got to work on Pinkie Pie; who should she go to now? Rarity? Twilight Sparkle? Somehow she feared that she might ineffably run into the whole 'Panacea Crystal' mess all over again with them; something she wasn't ready for after what just happened. Before she could go any further, the next choice presented itself to her from above; Rainbow Dash, held still in the process of starting her daily work on the clouds hanging over Ponyville.

Part of the conversation she and Pinkie had yesterday indirectly hearkened Fluttershy back to her youth in Cloudsdale, just as her recent nightmare did the same.

'Ugh. Just remembering all that would be even WORSE than Rarity or Twilight lecturing me again.'

Even so, she found herself oddly stuck in place as well. Not beyond her physical control, but something within beckoned her to speak with Rainbow Dash next. She shut her eyes, her mind a boiling mess of frustration with questions that had no answers.

'I might as well get it out of the way. At least I won't have to remember those things later. If it gets to be too much, I can just stop, or start over.'

Sighing to herself, Fluttershy reluctantly flew to Rainbow Dash. She rested a hoof on her shoulder from behind, and closed her eyes as she concentrated on the sands once more.

The cyan mare was just about to move a cloud when she suddenly felt a touch. It startled her; she hadn't heard or seen anyone coming, and she was only further confused seeing who it was. "Fluttershy?!? What're you doing here?!? Don't you know I'm busy? I can't mess around, I have to get my work for the day done before I can hang out with anypony!"

Fluttershy merely pointed a foreleg down at the immobile residents of Ponyville, which Dash instinctively looked at. Her eyes widened. "Whoa, what's going on? Did some unicorn have an accident or something?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "It's a long story. I can control this, so, you don't have to do your job right now, if you don't want to."

Rainbow Dash was immediately relieved. "Aww, great! I got hardly any sleep last night, I was feeling so cruddy when I clocked in today! Thanks a million, pal. Gotta catch a few z's before I can really get anything done."

"That's not what this is all about, Rainbow. I was... Hoping I could talk to you. About something important." Fluttershy bit her lip and lowered her ears, hoping she hadn't dashed her friend's hopes of resting more.

"Huh? Sure, I guess. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I was hoping we could talk about --" Before Fluttershy could go any further, Rainbow's eyes gleamed at a sudden realization, and she silenced Fluttershy with a hoof to the mouth.

"Hold on a sec. You mean time's stopped right now... And we can do anything?"

Fluttershy tilted her head to the side in bewilderment. "Well, yes, I mean, I guess so..."

Dash's face twisted from fascination into malice. Without warning, she bolted off from her spot on the cloud down towards Ponyville, weaving her way through the streets. Fluttershy was alarmed.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!!!" She followed to the best of her ability, exerting all available effort. She wasn't used to flying as quickly nor as vigorously as Dash had on a daily basis.

'Great. Just great. I discover a magically significant artifact with the power to control time itself, get an earful from my friends, have a strange genie move in with me, have a near-death experience that I'm not even sure was real, and now one of my friends is heading to Celestia-knows-where at breakneck speed. What could possibly happen next?'

To Fluttershy's confusion, Rainbow only slowed to a stop at Sweet Apple Acres, halting in front of a frozen Applejack, who looked like she was begrudgingly harvesting apples.

"Take THAT, Applejack!!!" Dash screamed as her hoof crashed across the earth pony's face.

Fluttershy gasped in horror.

"And THAT! And that! And that, and that, and that --" Rainbow was using the full extent of her karate training, unrestrained, ramming hooves along Applejack's jaw, plowing into her diaphragm, striking against her ribcage. "-- and, THAT!!!"  She roared with a final uppercut that sent Applejack soaring towards the soil, falling on her back loudly. Dash panted heavily, raising another shaking, angry hoof, preparing to strike again.

"Rainbow Dash!!! What in Celestia's name are you doing?!?"

She must have forgotten all about Fluttershy, since she slowed to a complete halt at the sound of her voice, looking embarrassed, ashamed, and shocked.

"F-Fluttershy! I -- I didn't mean to -- I just --" her eyes squinted shut as she started to lose all control again, pent up emotions unfurling uncontrollably. "Ooooh, I've just had it with that pony!!! She'd never stop giving me dirty looks and judging me for that thing! It was an accident! I didn't mean to knock those twenty dozen apples out of that one cart! Then I tried to cheer her up with an apple juice prank that I didn't know would stain Apple Bloom's brand new dress, and challenged her to another race -- which I WON, she just didn't want to admit it -- and after all that I was as nice as I could be, and she STILL won't stop letting me hear about it! It's been WEEKS, Fluttershy! WEEKS! I thought Applejack and I were friends, but the way she keeps treating me I feel like we're not friends at all, and I'm so sick of it, I'm SICK OF IT!!!"

Rainbow Dash had tears streaming down her face. She was out of breath. She couldn't look Fluttershy in the eye, or even look at Applejack at all.

"... So that's why you just... Kicked the apples out of Applejack?..." Fluttershy murmured, as if she were afraid that she was going to get pummeled next.

Rainbow started to regain her breath, releasing an exhausted groan of defeat as she hung her head, a few sobs barely audible. "Look, I never wanted to hurt Applejack -- or anybody -- but I kept trying to say sorry, and she'd never listen to me, and I just couldn't help myself. I would never have done that if... I mean... If time's stopped, it's not like she's going to feel it later, right?" she finally looked back at the fallen Applejack.

All of her teeth had fallen out of her gums. A small pool of blood started to slowly seep into the dirt from the corner of her mouth. Rainbow flinched, her mouth agape and her face even redder than it was earlier, and Fluttershy was equally disturbed.

"I... I don't think it quite works that way, Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow Dash's tears flowed further, and she sniffled as she laid down next to her wounded friend. "Oh, Applejack... What have I done to you?..."

Fluttershy grimaced uncomfortably. She looked at her pouch unsurely, and focused her efforts; within moments, Fluttershy was back in the air, and Rainbow Dash was right in front of Applejack just before the assault, completely unharmed. Rainbow blinked in disbelief, staring down at her shaky front hooves, and then turned back to Fluttershy. An unbearable silence passed, and Rainbow hung her head with a relieved sigh.

"Oh, thank you, Celestia... I thought I wouldn't be able to take that back..." Rainbow sniffled and turned to Applejack again, unable to see her without tearing up even more. She embraced the immobile, oblivious mare, sobbing into her mane.

Fluttershy lowered herself onto the earth as quietly as possible. She slowly approached Rainbow, cautious of her still highly emotional state. "... This is why I wanted to talk... I kind of... Noticed that we've all been having problems... You're okay with that, aren't you?... Talking about it, I mean..."

The shuddering Rainbow Dash was wordless. After another long, uncomfortable silence, she nodded yes in reply. She eventually forced herself to part from Applejack, inspecting her face as she pulled away, as if to check that her injuries were truly and wholly undone. Then she looked at Fluttershy, her eyes so red from crying that they were nearly impossible to distinguish from her normal, rosy iris.

"Please follow me, Fluttershy. There's something I want to show you."

With every beat of their wings, Fluttershy's heart rate steadily increased, nervous and curious all at once. Rainbow was leading her to the very same hill that she first discovered the Panacea Crystal at. Did she know that Fluttershy had found it somehow? Did she maybe even find it before her, and now was wondering where it had gone? Nothing seemed to suggest this, although Fluttershy was still feeling nervous.

Rainbow finally softly landed on her hooves at the very top of the hill, releasing a deep breath as she closed her eyes and hung her head, her ears lowered.

"This is where I go when I can't be around everypony else. It's... It's a good place to be alone."

Fluttershy didn't speak, but only watched, and listened. Somehow she was able to sense that it was what Rainbow wanted. Was this the 'emotional bleeding' Vesper had told her was now visible to her? Perhaps, but she wasn't sure.

Rainbow Dash waited a few moments, to rest, or reflect, before her wings softly beat again, lifting her slightly in the air. She grabbed the nearest cloud, pulling it closer to them, and starting to work on changing it's shape and darkening it's color.

"My job is always to work on how the day looks, along with all the rest of the weather ponies. But, too many times -- no, all the time -- I never feel the way that they tell me the weather needs to be. It's always 'bright and sunny' when I don't feel 'bright and sunny' at all, or 'really cloudy' when I'm actually feeling alright for once, and it 'rains and rains' when I finally feel so good that I want to go see all my friends. I have a hard enough time trying to tell them how I feel, like Applejack, and to make a living I have to lie to myself. So, I go here a lot, since it seems to be the one place I can make at least one little cloud honestly reflect what I feel like. Like a mirror."

Rainbow patted the cloud a few times the way somepony would prepare a pillow, causing a light drizzle of water to steadily fall beneath it. She then looked off into the distance, which Fluttershy realized was referencing another part she hadn't looked at before.

"I think my favorite part about this place is the waterfall. I guess it's because... Because I feel like it's crying for me. Not crying for me, like sad just because I'm there, but, doing me a favor. I have to hold it all in during the daytime around everypony, and it only finally spills out when I'm alone in my house in the clouds at night, echoing through them, unheard by anypony. And yet in those rare moments when I can come here and I feel like I have to cry, but I can't, even when I'm too tired to even make rain, I have this waterfall here instead, catching up for me."

Rainbow Dash slowly stepped off the cloud, lightly floating until she trotted in front of Fluttershy.

"I've never shown or even told anypony about this place before. But I'm showing it to you, because I know that you're somepony I can trust. You'd never tell anypony about anything that would hurt my feelings, or anypony else's feelings, either. I guess... I guess I just needed to come here and cool off for a while, instead of... What I did to Applejack. I never have nearly enough time to be here in the first place, so... Just being here a little longer will help, and then I'll be perfectly fine."

Fluttershy was visibly concerned. "Rainbow Dash, I... I feel concerned after seeing what happened back there. I think... Maybe... You might need to talk about your problems a little more. If that's okay with you, that is. It doesn't even have to be with me, it can be with anypony you want..."

"Pfft! Are you serious? Me? Look at me! I'm Rainbow Dash! I have a house in the sky all to myself! I have my own fan club! Heck, the Wonderbolts even acknowledged me! I've won the Cloudsdale Young Flier's Competition multiple times in a row by now! What problems could I possibly have that are more important than everypony else's? Believe me, Fluttershy, you've given me a lot more attention than I deserve. I'm just a selfish braggart who's making a mountain out of a molehill. I completely overreacted with Applejack."

Fluttershy flinched. "... Don't you think you're minimizing your own feelings? Even if other people might not think your problems aren't important, that doesn't mean they're not important to you, or that they're not real..."

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Oh, right! Next time the Cloudsdale Flier's Charity For Terminally Ill Foals looks my way, I can just tell them, 'I'm sorry, I can't go because Rarity jokingly called me a name that I didn't like'. Really, Fluttershy, I know you're a little oversensitive, but there's always, always somepony out there in the world who has it worse than you. Much worse. Only problems I have are first world problems. All that emo, wangst stuff. Sticks and stones."

Fluttershy paused for a moment. "Does that make feelings any less real, regardless? How does another person's pain make your pain not hurt? Pain is pain, it's not a contest. It doesn't matter if it's a little pebble, or a really big stone, they'll both sink when they're in water. You can still help and care about others, it's just hard to give things that you don't have. How can you help anypony else if you don't get help for yourself?"

Rainbow Dash was silent. "... But... But... I'm the Element Of Loyalty... How can I live up to that if I don't give everypony all I've got because I'm?..." A sobbing sigh freed itself. "Even when I try my best, it's still not good enough?..."

Fluttershy looked away, trying to figure out how to respond. "Everypony's personal best is different at given times, Rainbow Dash. Maybe your best today isn't as good as it was yesterday, or it's better than what your best will be tomorrow. It depends on your circumstances. That doesn't mean that you're not trying your best, or giving everything you have. Nopony's perfect."

Fluttershy flew herself up onto Rainbow's cloud, smiling warmly at her. "Being the Element Of Loyalty doesn't mean you have to give up everything in your life all the time just for everypony else. It means that loyalty is the best part about you -- you're always loyal to everypony you care about. Sometimes being there for somepony is just as simple as caring. Letting them know that you're thinking about them."

Rainbow shuddered, slowly calming down. "I'm... I'm not used to talking about my feelings, or even thinking about them... It's not something I was ever taught, raised, or shown how to do. I guess that's why I've felt hurt, and confused a lot. Even by other ponies and my friends, like you. It's left a hole in me, all my life, and I kept trying to fill it any way I could. I wanted somepony to notice me. To care about me. But I was never able to do that by just being myself, like everypony says you should... So it felt like the only way I could get all that was through entertaining them. Impressing them. With my flying."

She looked over to Fluttershy. "Please don't get me wrong... That's not the only reason I do it. It's something I really enjoy. I just figured it would be nice to be able to do that if it was also something I happened to like doing, you know? But -- a lot of the time, I thought that's all they cared about. That I could fly this and that way, and do these and those tricks. They weren't interested in me as a person, just as this, thing, that they wanted to look at whenever  they were bored. But I kept doing it anyways. It was the only way to get what I thought was an acknowledgment of my existence. It was the only way I knew how."

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes again. "You know what I've always wanted? More than anything in the world, Fluttershy? To be number one in just a single person's life. For that person to always accept me no matter what I do. Even when I make a mistake, or get confused, or say something I don't mean. Somepony who'd still treat me the same way at the end of the day, so at least I'd always go to sleep knowing at least one person cared about me. But no matter where I go, or what I do, or who I meet, it's like I'll never be able to find that."

She chuckled softly, another tear rolling down. "It sounds silly, but... Sometimes... Sometimes I would think of, or even try, flying as high up in the sky as I possibly could, past the clouds, even past the moon -- whether I ever made it that far, I have no idea -- because I thought such love could only exist out of this world. Out of Equestria. I didn't care where it was or how strange or different it felt -- heck, sometimes I'd dream about it, like being some crazy place where other ponies were giants and it was run by two-legged hairless monkeys -- but as long as I could find it, I felt like it'd be worth it. It's not that I don't care about you guys, or that I wouldn't miss you, but, it just hurts so much..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head, hunching over. "Because... Because all those feelings of failure, disillusion, and disappointment hurt more than any break, scrape, or bruise I've ever had trying to learn to fly. But it never mattered, because there's always somepony who can fly faster, or cooler, or longer. All that time I spent trying to really mean something to somepony, anypony, not just for all those tricks and stunts I can do, but for all of me, the whole package."

She finally opened her eyes, looking at Fluttershy again. "And so, I was wrong. Sticks and stones can break your bones... But words can kill you." She slowly buried her face in her hooves. "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. I didn't want all of this to blow up on you."

Fluttershy softly embraced Rainbow Dash. "It's okay. I don't mind at all. I'm glad you've decided to share this with me. It takes a strong person to truly show how they feel. I... I know that I accept you no matter what. And so do Twilight and the rest of our friends, I'm sure. But maybe we don't always do the best job at showing it, or you just don't feel like we do... Still... I know at least one person really, really does for sure, but it might have been hard to see... Can I please take you to her?"

"What's going on, Fluttershy?" Scootaloo was entirely bewildered, glancing from pony to pony, all frozen in place. A familiar pegasi's silhouette soon dawned on her from the sunlight.

"Hey there, squirt," Rainbow Dash greeted her with a grin.

"RAINBOW DASH!!!" Scootaloo couldn't contain her exuberance. She leapt at the cyan mare, embracing her tightly.

Rainbow Dash chuckled, playfully rustling Scootaloo's mane with her hoof. "I heard somepony tell me that you've been wanting to find the time to get some flying lessons from yours truly. Well, thanks to our pal Fluttershy here, we have literally all the time we could ever possibly want. And maybe along the way, we can find you that cutie mark you've been wanting so badly. How do you feel about that, kid?"

Scootaloo's eyes beamed. "No way, really?!? That would be AWESOME!!!"

Fluttershy felt her heart leap at Scootaloo's boundless, energetic bliss. She had been reunited with her idol, and Dash had found the one she was looking for.

They spent what Fluttershy was sure were entire days training, practicing, and playing together, the whole time out in the warm glow of a seemingly eternal sunrise. Rainbow Dash had taught Scootaloo everything she knew, helping her get the hang of gradually being higher and higher in the sky, always right by her side to help her out, and catch her whenever she fell. They also tried many different activities that Scootaloo thought she'd want to get her cutie mark in, trying again and again; faint disappointment would always hit Scootaloo each time her flank remained barren, but Rainbow Dash never failed to reassure and encourage her, immediately cheering her up. Fluttershy always tagged along to help however she could, but she mostly watched; Scootaloo and Dash had formed a bond that felt like little and big sisters, or even mother and daughter.

Finally, after what felt like almost an entire week of such rigorous activity, Scootaloo had given up on trying to find her cutie mark. She was able to fly extremely well, thanks to her persistence and Rainbow Dash's scaffolding and guidance, but it didn't matter to her anymore. As far as she was concerned, her life would never be complete without her cutie mark, and if she wasn't able to get it after all this time and trying all these things, she might as well give up. She buried her face in a foreleg, crying uncontrollably. Rainbow Dash had been at her side the whole time, somberly enveloping Scootaloo in her wing as if it were a blanket.

"D-Diamond Tiara and S-Silver Spoon were right... I'll never be g-good at anything..." Scootaloo lamented.

Rainbow Dash was trying hard not to show the heartbreak she felt sympathizing with Scootaloo's pain, and the fears of inadequacy she knew all too well. "Hey, there..." she murmured softly, warmly.

"Let me tell you something, Scootaloo. I can just see how hard all this has been for you. You always support your friends, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, even though you don't have the same kind of family support that they do, kind of like how Fluttershy and I are. You always treat everypony else how you'd want to be, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. You do it to your elders, even if they don't give back the respect you deserve. I know that it's easy to want to give up when it hurts this bad. I never thought I was going to be good enough when I was a little filly, but look where I am now. Not only am I living a life I enjoy, but I have good friends who treat me as nice as I try to treat them, like Fluttershy. Just like you do."

Scootaloo sniffled, peering up at her hero.

Rainbow Dash gently caressed her mane as she smiled at her and continued. "You've always been there for me, Scootaloo. Always cheering for me, being there for me, supporting me, caring about me. Even when I make mistakes. Even when I say things I don't mean to say, and do things I don't mean to do. You see me for who I really am, and all I try to be. I'll never forget you, and everything that you've done for me. You are my hero. And you want to know a secret? It doesn't matter how long it takes you to get your cutie mark -- even if it takes all your life -- because even without one, you're still the coolest pony I know. And I will always be proud of you."

Scootaloo smiled through her tears, profoundly moved by Dash's confession. She bawled, hugging her close to her again; this time through tears of joy. Rainbow Dash was crying, too.

After their activities spent in frozen time were over, Rainbow Dash had thanked Fluttershy for everything this opportunity had given her. Even though she agreed to keep Dash's favorite secluded place a secret, Rainbow Dash had additionally asked Fluttershy to talk to Applejack about what was going on between them and resolve things. She agreed; Fluttershy felt it would be best to talk to Applejack next, anyhow. Fluttershy felt accomplished. Not only did Rainbow Dash start to feel better, but they were able to greatly help out Scootaloo as well.

As exhausted as she was, the whole ordeal had given Fluttershy a lot of time to think. She ultimately decided that, in spite of her initial suspicions, and the odd coincidences surrounding the awful drowning nightmare she had a week (or night?) ago probably wasn't Vesper's fault. After all, if Vesper really wanted to, could he not have interrupted her along with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo at any time and attempted to cause them harm? He was a genie -- she wasn't sure what the extent of his powers were, but surely he could pose some kind of threat, if he really wanted to.

"Your friend Rainbow Dash reminds me of a pegasus that I met many, many centuries ago. He swore up and down that he was able to fly around Equestria in a single day. He would eat full, healthy meals, get plenty of rest, and then give it a try as often as he could. So many hours in, he would get too tired, and his wings would fail him. He'd be forced to stop trying and glide to the nearest surface that he could. He'd curse his bad luck, rest, wait for the sun to rise, and try again. He never did end up flying around Equestria in a single day, but that wasn't the point. He had never realized that what he wanted to do so badly was completely and utterly impossible."

Fluttershy froze. "... Are you saying that it's impossible for me to help all my friends?..."

Vesper frowned. "... In all honesty... I don't know..."

"Hey, look everypony! It's Blank Flank again!"

"Can you believe it? If I were THAT pony, I'd paint my flank to save myself the embarrassment!"

"Haven't you ever accomplished anything in your life, Blank Flank?"

"They're going to etch 'Blank Flank' on your headstone when you get old and pass away!"

"How come even after all this time you still don't have a cutie mark, Blank Flank?"

The pegasus calmly trotted by, ignoring the insults as best as possible. It wasn't meant to be shown, but they still hurt more than anything.

They only became completely unavoidable once two more pegasi got in the way.

"Well, what do you know? Blank Flank still has the guts to come out in open daylight where everypony can see! Let's fix that, shall we?"

The bullying pegasi's cohort laughed cruelly, reeling up on hind legs to kick their target down.

Skylar was caught completely off guard, catching the brunt of the blow and skidding across the ground. An ash gray pegasus with a cyan mane and tail, he was in his early twenties. He still didn't have a cutie mark.

Being without supposedly any talent for the entirety of his life had gotten him far more ridicule than he cared to remember. It was unheard of to not get a cutie mark no later than the end of puberty, and in rare, worst case scenarios the very end of adolescence; so far, he'd been without one for the longest time in recorded history, and every doctor's diagnosis as to possible reasons weren't promising. He was the clumsiest and most accident-prone weather pony in the business, able to get only just enough done to make a living and provide necessities for himself.

"Gosh, fellas, why don't you leave him alone already? Don't you think he's just about had enough?" A frustrated mare's voice called out in annoyance. She was one of the hardest workers in Ponyville, an earth pony who toiled mostly for the benefit of all.

"Uh oh, look out! Blank Flank's got a friend to back him up!"

The mare raised a brow in irritation. "Do you really want to reckon with the force of a buck that's gone clean through entire trees?"

At this, the bully pegasi started to back off, although one gave Skylar a last kick to the belly before running off and laughing. The mare chased after them, but they got away before she could do anything. She started to help Skylar back onto his hooves, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Gosh, Skylar, why don't you up and stand for yourself once in a while? If you keep letting those other ponies walk all over you, they'll never stop. Sometimes you gotta fight back."

"I can't, Auburn," Skylar replied as he began to brush himself off. "I've made it my rule to always show kindness to everypony else, especially if they're unkind in return. If they act in some way that's hurtful to others, it's usually because they, themselves, have already been hurt. Who am I to add onto that, whatever it is? For all I know, my retaliation could be the final straw for them."

Auburn shook her head softly. "Whatever you say." Auburn had chocolate brown fur with a red mane and tail and fiery orange eyes. She sported a black cowboy hat, and her cutie mark was a house; she, along with her father August, were the premiere carpenters in Ponyville, the most depended on for building homes.

Sometime later, Skylar and Auburn were alone together in a cabin. Skylar had taken on the task of starting up the fireplace, while Auburn had been reflecting in her thoughts as she stared out a nearby window.

"There's something I have to tell you..." she spoke softly.

"... Okay. What is it?"

"I've noticed, sometimes, I haven't always been the best to you that I possibly could be. You're my best friend. I should treat you better. You have such mindful, considerate views on things. On how to interact and deal with people. And I've scolded you for them. But you were right. And I know sometimes I let my problems get the better of me, and I take them out on you."

She walked closer to Skylar. "I just want you to know, if I ever act upset towards you for anything, or do something hurtful... It's not about you. It's never about you. You've always respected how I feel. You've always listened to me, understood me, accepted me, cared for me. Just please... Always remember that. No matter what I do or say, it's never about you. Okay?"

She embraced the pegasus, closing her eyes. "Even if you get old and die without ever getting a cutie mark... You'll still be the best colt I've ever known."

Fluttershy opened her eyes.

Even with how tired she was, even after everything that had just happened, she had yet another strange dream that somehow felt so real. Only, she wasn't in it. Who was Skylar? Who was Auburn? If they lived in Ponyville, surely she must have seen or heard of them before. Or was it all just a dream?

As she started to get up, she lamented Skylar's lack of a cutie mark, and everything it had cost him. How old would he be without one? What if the same thing happened to Scootaloo?

Then she remembered what Auburn told him. "It's not about you."

'I only wish somepony could have told Rainbow Dash that a long time ago. Maybe she wouldn't have suffered so much without that acceptance she always wanted.'

But the last thing... The strangest thing... That kept boggling her mind is what Skylar said about being kind, even to unkind ponies.

'That reminds me so much of me...'

She approached Vesper yet again, who looked somber, attentive, as though he knew exactly what had gone on; and yet, somehow, he remained innocent.

"That pegasus in my dream... Is he the one you told me about? Who tried to fly around Equestria in a single day?"

"... No. He isn't."

"But since you've been gone I've been lost inside

Tried and failed as we walked by the riverside

And I wish you could see the love in her eyes

The best friend that eluded you lost in time

Burned alive in the heat of a grieving mind

But what can I say now?

It couldn't be more wrong

Cause there's no one there

Unmistakably lost and without a care

Did we lose all the love that we could have shared?

And its wearing me down

And its turning me round

And I can't find a way

Now to find it out

Where are you when I need you?..."

• Anathema's "Are You There"