My Little Pony: Friendship is a Miracle

The sun began to set gently over the Equestrian skies while the moon slowly ascended to its place. Ponies everywhere were going home to relax for the evening and others headed outside to enjoy the wonders of the night. High above the town of Ponyville, two friends in particular were heading home to wind down.

“Did you see how awesome that triple backflip corkscrew was, Aramis!?” Rainbow Dash asked, excitement clear in her voice.

Aramis adjusted his grip on her neck as they flew, “Yeah...it was pretty awesome, I guess...” he answered disinterestedly.

Rainbow Dash squee’d in acknowledgement, still riding out the adrenaline that pumped through her veins, not paying particular attention to how he answered her question. Within moments, the two had set foot at the small “front yard” of their luxuriously designed cloud home, the white clouds appearing as though they had been painted with a blend of orange on one side and midnight blue on the other.

He dismounted her and passively walked up to the door, opening it without sparing a second glance at the transition of day, something the two did together almost everyday. Rainbow Dash looked on with a worried glance and contemplated what to do.

“I could go in and follow him...but maybe he’s just going to the bathroom...or maybe he’s not in the mood...” She thought outloud. The more she thought about it, the more obvious it became that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her current train of thought.

Shaking her head as if to clear her confusion, Rainbow Dash zipped in through the open window and caught up to Aramis just as he opened the door to the bedroom they shared. Before he could even lie down on his bed, Aramis was suddenly tackled face first onto the cloud bed, his face dampening slightly from the force.

“What the hell, Rainbow Dash...” Aramis grumbled, clearly annoyed with her as he laid on his side, facing the wall.

Rainbow poked his shoulder, “What’s wrong, Aramis? I thought you were having fun back at the field while I practiced my tricks.” she asked in a surprisingly softer voice.

He sighed deeply, “I did...it’s just that there’s some stuff on my mind.”

“You wanna talk about it?” Rainbow asked.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I just need some time alone, Rainbow.”

“Bu—”

Rainbow stopped herself short when Aramis stood up and walked out of the room. Tilting her head in confusion, she followed him until Dash saw him staring out the kitchen window, the same forlorn expression on his face.

An idea popped into her head, “Hey, Aramis! You up for some grub?”

He scratched the side of his beard in thought, “Maybe...I’m not really that hungry to be honest though.” Aramis’ stomach chose that moment to betray him, letting out an angry growl of discontent.

Rainbow Dash laughed, “Not really that hungry my flank!”

The young man settled for looking away indignantly, as though it would save his pride.

Walking into the kitchen, Rainbow Dash opened the fridge and pulled out a bag of hay fries along with two bottles of Dragon-ade. She also took two veggie burgers out of the freezer. Without question, Aramis turned on the stove, placing olive oil on two separate pans. He began waiting for them to heat up.

Several minutes passed before he heard the quiet pop of cooking oil which Aramis took as a cue to place the veggie burgers on one pan and dump the hay fries in the other.

He went over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a couple of plates, then opened one of the nearby drawers and grabbed a fork. Carrying the entire arrangement with practiced ease, he quickly placed everything down in a orderly fashion without missing a beat. Rainbow Dash saw the whole thing and muttered, “It still looks cool watching you do that...”

Aramis rolled his eyes, “Learned it when I was a waiter.” and with that he went to check on the simple meal which was just about done cooking. He opened a cabinet next to the stove and looked around blindly with his hand until it caught hold of a mesh, “Found you, damn basket.” he muttered.

It was a simple bowl with a mesh design on which he placed two paper towels before scooping out the fries onto it. He then fetched two buns out of another cabinet, placing them on the laid out plates before bringing the pan containing the burgers and using his fork to place them inside their waiting buns. Once that was done, he placed the pan in the sink and walked back to the table, easing into his chair as Rainbow did the same.

They each took some hay fries and placed them on their plates, then began eating in earnest. Dash quickly wolfed down her burger and plowed through her fries, taking the occasional swig of Ponyade. Aramis went at a much slower pace, such that he was only halfway done with his burger and had gone through a quarter of his fries when Dash reached for another helping of fries, which were also consumed in short order.

Rainbow watched as Aramis ate the remainder of his food, a blank look on his face, eyes lost in thought. She waited until he had finished his meal and began sitting quietly before she couldn’t take the silence.

“Aramis, what’s wrong?” She asked, genuine concern in her voice.

Aramis grunted softly, “Can’t you just leave it be?”

Rainbow Dash stood her ground, “Not until you talk to me about it. It isn’t healthy to bottle up your feelings like that!”

He laughed a bitter, hollow laugh, “What would you know about that? You seem to do fine always saying what’s on your mind.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to object, but closed it after a moment and closed her eyes, hanging her head, “No...No I don’t...”

Aramis looked up, eyebrow raised in surprise, “What are you talking about?”

The blue pegasus let out a shaky sigh before speaking again, “There’s some stuff I never told anypony...not even my best friends...”

Aramis sat up a little more, curiosity piqued, “Can you tell me?”

Dash let out a single chucke and looked at him, “Only if you tell me what’s wrong with you.”

Aramis waved his hand, “Ladies first.”

Rainbow let out another sigh, eyes gaining a faraway look to them. She sat in silence for a moment, staring at the table. She sniffed once and began talking.

“When I was a little filly, I had almost no friends. I was bullied all the time, names, insults, and sometimes...it got physical. The other colts and fillies would laugh at my mane and tail, saying I was stupid because I couldn’t decide on a color.” An angry, bitter look washed over her features before a soft smile managed to push to the surface,  “Fluttershy was my only friend, but back then it was more like we were bully buddies. We’d fall back on each other for comfort when the bullying got really harsh.”

Rainbow smiled slightly, “Then, one day, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I challenged the bullies to a race, and that’s when I pulled off the Sonic Rainboom.”

Her smile faded and she stayed silent for a moment before continuing.

“It only got worse from there. Yeah, I got really popular because I was the first pegasus in a long time to do a Rainboom, but it seemed like I got another bully for every fan. At first, all they did was call me names and things like that, but then somepony got the idea to set me up as...as a filly fooler.”

Rainbow closed her eyes, and Aramis noticed a few tears escaping and sliding down her face.

“A fillyfooler? What exactly does that mean?” Aramis asked.

Dash tried to keep from trembling as she answered, but failed horribly, “T-that...I-I liked other mares...” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“They cornered me in the locker room and forced me to...make out...with another mare. They took a lot of pictures and made sure that just about everypony in Cloudsdale saw them. At that point, I guess my parents just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Dash began sobbing, tears flowing more freely.

“They left me...” She finally collapsed and started bawling, cries interrupted only once in a short while by stuttering chantas of “They left me”’.

Aramis gazed upon her with a sad look before standing up and walking over to her seat, wrapping her small body in his arms, “What those bullies did, what your parents did, what everypony involved did...there is nothing in this world that can forgive them for it...b-but, you persevered above it all. You had the strength to make it somewhere...something I didn’t have the capacity to do for myself...” he cradled her gently, running a hand through her soft, short locks of prismatic hair.

Carrying her crying body in his arms, he walked the short distance to their room and sat down on his bed, rubbing her back as she cried, “I didn’t have the misfortune of suffering something like you did, but I also lost everything I had. Back where I use to live, my parents started falling apart...Dad just became a monster and mom couldn’t deal with it anymore so they divorced.” Aramis was quiet for several minutes, absentmindedly rubbing her still shaking form.

Dash broke out of her sobs long enough to raise her head and look at Aramis from the crook of his arm with tear-filled eyes, “Wha...what’s a divorce?” she asked with a weak voice.

“It’s when two married people decide to split up,” Aramis answered, too lost in thought to notice Dash’s horrified expression, “I wanted to stay with mom, but my dad wasn’t hearing any of it. Tried to force me to stay...by the time I managed to leave, I had found out my mom ran off...”

The young man sighed deeply before continuing, eyes misting up at the thought, “Before I ended up here with Graham, I never found out what happened to her...”

Rainbow’s tears began once more, now coming out of pity for the unfortunate human sitting next to her, “Aramis... I’m so sorry...”

He rubbed away her tears gently with his thumb, “It isn’t your fault Dashie...I honestly have Graham to thank I’m even around. He and I were both in the same boat. I only had two people who truly cared about me...Graham and Gypsy. They’re all I have to live for...and now, I’ve only got one of them...”

Aramis let out a sniff, exhaling deeply before he began again, “And now we’re stuck in Equestria. I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore...I don’t know why I’m doing ANYTHING. I just don’t know anymore, Dashie...” he simply couldn’t take the pain and began to weep into Rainbow Dash, nuzzling his face into her chest as they both cried on his bed, holding onto each like a life raft.