Fluttershy sat in the shade of a tree. It felt so nice to be at rest and cooled off after playing with her friends all day. Even though she was the most introverted of the group, words could never describe how happy she was when she was around them. Especially Rainbow Dash.
Her mind wandered to the cyan mare. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Rainbow Dash all day. Fluttershy was surprised that she didn't notice all day. But after some mild guilt came and went, she decided to go and find her and see what she had been doing all day. She got up and left the comfortable shade of the tree to Rainbow Dash's house, or cloud, one or the other. As she walked, Fluttershy noticed something else about Rainbow Dash's behavior as of late, she had seemed a bit more down lately, a bit more downtrodden.
As Fluttershy made her way to her friends house, she couldn't help but grow more concerned for her friend. It wasn't like her to miss out on a day as nice as this. Once she got to Rainbow Dash's house, she gently knocked on the door.
"Hello?" Fluttershy asked in her timid voice.
There was no answer. Fluttershy tried the door. To her surprise, it was unlocked and came right open. Against her shy nature, she decided to look around for a bit. After all, she would never steal anything from anyone and both she and Rainbow Dash knew it, so she saw no harm in at least looking around for a bit. She checked every room in the house she could find and still no sign of Rainbow Dash.
As Fluttershy was just about to give up on the house and search elsewhere, she forgot one room:
the bedroom. Fluttershy made her way upstairs and to a door that had police tape attached in an "X" on the door for decoration. Fluttershy peaked inside the room to find that it was also empty. However, one object caught her eye though. A red lock box sitting on Rainbow Dash's bed.
Fluttershy, against her better judgement, and the fact that she was telling herself that she had already trespassed enough, walked into the room and up to the box. It had a sort of fur on it, like a jewelry box, but it had no lock hole or anything on it. Fluttershy's curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box. What she found startled her. Inside the box, she found two items. One was a pair of flight goggles, like the goggle's she uses when she trains. The other item was a revolver, with 4 bullets loaded into the cylinder. Fluttershy immediately closed the box and turned to leave, but she stopped as she saw Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway.
"Hey Shy" Said Rainbow Dash in a casual tone, as if she saw nothing.
"D-d-Dash, I-I'm sorry for-" Rainbow Dash stopped her.
"It's fine Shy, my home is your home, remember?" Rainbow Dash said smiling.
She walked into the room and sat down next to Fluttershy."Well, uhm, I just wanted to ask, where were you all day?" Asked Fluttershy. "Oh nowhere, just out and about, you know." Said Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was unconvinced that her cyan colored friend was telling the whole truth, but curiosity took hold of her again. She really wanted to know why she was keeping the goggles and the gun in that box. It may have seemed trivial, but she just couldn't shake this funny feeling in her gut that something was off about that. After a few minutes of silence, Fluttershy spoke up.
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah Shy?" said Rainbow Dash.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you have those things in the box over there?"
"Oh! That! Um, just don't worry about it Shy, just something I have in case of intruders." Rainbow Dash said, trying hard to look as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Intruders?" Fluttershy said. "There hasn't been a home invasion here in Cloudsdale since, well, ever!"
"Look, just don't worry yourself about it." Rainbow said.
Fluttershy persisted. "But I want to know, just tell me."
Rainbow Dash gave up trying to hide it, knowing full well how persistent Fluttershy could be when she really wanted to know something.
"The gun is for-" Rainbow Dash hesitated for a second, but continued. "In case I ever want to commit suicide, okay?" Rainbow Dash finished, than looked away.
Fluttershy was shocked. Suicide? Rainbow Dash of all ponies?! She had always pictured Rainbow Dash as a beacon of self-confidence. Why would she ever contemplate something like suicide?! All of these thoughts were rushing inside of Fluttershy's head, but she focused on one thing at a time. Tears were already forming in Fluttershy's eyes just at the thought of Rainbow Dash committing suicide.
"B-but why? Is it my fault?" Fluttershy asked, voice quivering.
Rainbow Dash looked back at Fluttershy. "No Shy! You're no where near at fault for any wrong doing!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Than why?" Fluttershy asked again, on the verge of breaking down.
Rainbow Dash sighed, her own voice starting to quiver as well. "Sometimes, it's just all too much." she said, tears already coming down her cheeks.
"With all the problems that we have to solve, all the things that have always tried to tear us apart, us risking our lives on a regular basis, sometimes, it's just all too much."
Fluttershy wrapped her arms around the now weeping Rainbow Dash to comfort her as she continued.
"Just having the gun there, knowing there's a way out,it helps, you know?" she said through her sobbing.
Fluttershy stroked her friends multi-colored mane. Rainbow Dash kept sobbing into Fluttershy's arms, letting loose all the sadness, frustration, and anger that had been building up for months. After Rainbow dash had calmed down enough to where she could speak again,
"What are the goggles for than?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow Dash looked at her and said "My last flight."
Fluttershy gave a small "oh" and continued to stroke her friend's mane, while letting her own tears fall freely at this point. They sat together, weeping together, for about an hour. They than broke the embrace and looked at each other. Fluttershy than took on a much more stern voice.
"Dash, are you crazy?! Do you have any clue what that would do to anyone? Do you know how bad you would hurt everyone? How bad you would hurt me?"
Rainbow Dash was surprised by her yellow friend's burst of assertiveness.
"Nah, you'd all be fine." Dash said morbidly.
"No, we wouldn't! We would all fall apart! I don't know what I'd do!" Rainbow Dash was touched.
"I like you a lot!" Fluttershy said.
"I guess y-you could say that I-I really like you..."
She paused for a second while Rainbow Dash embraced her, already touched by her affectionate words.
"I love you." Fluttershy muttered quietly.
That last statement made the tears fall from Rainbow Dash's face once again. They both layed down on the bed and wrapped each other in a tight hug, one not letting the other go as if their lives depended on it. Fluttershy put her hoof on Rainbow Dash's cheek and gently kissed her.
"I love you too, Shy." Rainbow Dash said quietly as she feel asleep in Fluttershy's arms.
Soon Fluttershy wiped the tears from her friend's face and slipped into sleep with her.
