//------------------------------// // The Funeral // Story: On Rainbow Wings // by Acespadez1134 //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash wandered around her house not sure what she was trying to do. She walked into her bedroom and glanced at the black dress Rarity had made for her to wear today. She walked over to the dress and picked it up with a hoof, feeling the light fabric as it slid over her hoof and back onto the bed. She looked up at the nightstand next to her bed to see a picture frame face down on the stand. She slowly walked over and picked it up and looked at it sadly. Rainbow Dash was giving happy orange filly a hug with one leg around her neck. She felt a familiar feeling crawling up into her throat as her vision started to become blurry, “Scootaloo,” she started to shake as her emotions began to take over again. She sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled the picture against her chest and started crying, “Scootaloo, why did you…” “Rainbow Dash?” A voice called from the hallway. A stallion that looked similar to Rainbow Dash peeked his head into her room. When he saw that she was crying, he hurried over to her and wrapped his hooves around her, “it’s ok baby,” he whispered to her softly as she howled loudly, burying her face into his chest. Rainbow Dash hiccuped several times as she choked back the tears before she attempted to speak, “Daddy, I… I don’t know if I can…” she wrapped her front legs around her father as her voice got stuck in her throat. Her father stroked her mane softly, speaking to her in a soft voice, “Dashie, I understand how you feel, but how would you feel if you didn’t go?” He extended his front legs to hold her out in front of him. He placed a hoof under her chin and lifted her face up so he could look into her tear filled eyes, “how would you feel for the rest of your life if you never got to say goodbye?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide for a moment then closed again letting more tears fall onto picture that now lay on her lap, “but why does it have to be so hard?” Her father pulled her back into a hug, not only to comfort his daughter but also to try and hide the tears that now started to cloud his vision as well, “I don’t know baby,” he waited for a few moments while she calmed down, “do you want me to wait for you to get ready?” Rainbow Dash shook her head as she wiped the tears from her eyes, “no, Fluttershy will be stopping by soon to go with me,” Her father kissed her on the head, “ok, I’m going to finish up getting ready and head down to the funeral to be with your uncle,” he kissed her again before exiting through the door, leaving her to get ready. Rainbow Dash glanced at the dress again then looked back to the picture on her lap. She took it and set it on her nightstand. She looked at it for a few moments before returning her attention to the dress and started to fight her way into it. Spectrum was adjusting his jacket in front of a mirror when a knock on the door took his attention away. He walked over and opened it to find Fluttershy, wearing a black dress of her own, “oh Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash is upstairs getting ready.” Fluttershy shifted uneasily, “oh… um… how… how are you holding up?” Spectrum pulled Fluttershy into a hug, “this isn’t going to be easy on anypony, but right now Rainbow needs more support than I do.” he let her go but pulled her back into a tight hug when he saw she was beginning to tear up. Fluttershy was unable to hold her tears back. Unknowingly mimicking Rainbow Dash, she buried her face into Spectrum’s mane. He knew deep down inside that she would not be the only one. After a few minutes, she pulled herself away and wiped the tears from her eyes. Spectrum placed a hoof against her cheek and smiled softly. She gave him a weak smile in return and nodded at him. He walked by her, extended his powerful wings and took off into the air. Fluttershy watched him disappear into the gray sky before turning to walk into the house. She climbed the stairs to Rainbow Dash’s room and knocked on the door. She didn’t wait for an answer before opening the door. “Rainbow Dash?” She called as she poked her head into the room. Fluttershy’s mouth fell open as she caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash standing in front of a mirror wearing her new dress, “Rainbow Dash you look beautiful,” she breathed in awe, as she walked into the room. Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy sadly and then back to the mirror, “maybe, but…” Rainbow Dash found that feeling start to build back up inside of her throat again. Sensing a problem Fluttershy walked over to her and helped her finish up with some odds and ends of her outfit. After a little bit of makeup, Fluttershy took a step back to allow Rainbow Dash to look at herself. Rainbow Dash looked up at the mirror, taken back at the mare looking back at her. Fluttershy walked up next to her, “are you ready?” Rainbow Dash nodded slightly, “as ready as I will ever be...” They left Rainbow Dash’s house and took off into the air. Rainbow Dash started to descend early causing Fluttershy to become confused, “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” They both touched down on the edge of Ponyville and began walking towards the cemetery, “I just don’t feel like flying right now.” Fluttershy saw that this was hurting Rainbow Dash more than she thought, “Dash?” They continued to walk in silence until Rainbow Dash looked up to see that they arrived at the funeral, faster than she would have liked. She glanced around noticing that everypony in Ponyville was there. A loud cry caused Rainbow Dash to look her right and notice Applejack and her siblings just got back from saying their goodbyes. Applebloom was being carried by Big Macintosh, crying loudly into his mane, “I… I DON’T WANT HER TO GO.” Applejack grabbed her sister from her Big Mac’s back and pulled her into a tight hug, “I know Sugarcube, nopony wants her to go but…” “THEN WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO… TO…” Applebloom’s cries were drowned out as she buried her face into Applejacks chest. Applejack was unable to answer as she was now crying as well. Big Mac wrapped the two of them in a large hug. Rainbow Dash looked away and closed her eyes as she started to feel tears building up. She opened them to see Sweetie Belle standing in front of Rarity. Sweetie Belle started to shake when Rarity bent down and pulled her into a hug, “but Rarity I will ruin your… your…” she was interrupted by a strong nuzzle as Rarity pulled her into her mane. Trails of mascara streamed down Rarity’s face as she tried to comfort her sister, “I don’t care about that, Sweetie Belle.” Rainbow Dash felt alone as she lifted her head up. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the casket, “what about me?” She started to sink down to the ground as a mixture of sadness and loneliness hit her all at once, “I… I… can’t do it,” she buried her head into her hooves, “I can’t.” Her sobbing was interrupted as powerful hooves lifted her up and cradled her like a filly. She looked up into her fathers sad face, “it’s ok Dashie,” using his powerful wings he lifted himself and Rainbow off the ground and hovered her over to the coffin. Rainbow Dash looked down at the beautiful orange filly that was lying inside the coffin surrounded by yellow flowers, wearing a sweet smile. Rainbow could have sworn that she was asleep; she looked so innocent. Rainbow Dash was set down and Spectrum placed a comforting wing over his daughter. Rainbow Dash smiled weakly at Scootaloo, “hey kiddo,” she said as her voice cracked, “I’m…” She couldn’t think of the right words as tears fell onto the bouquet that Scootaloo held in her hooves. Everypony was now watching Rainbow Dash. Applebloom had fresh tears rolling down her cheeks as she silently watched Rainbow slowly break down. Sweetie Belle looked back but couldn’t hold her gaze instead turning back her sister to bury her face back into Rarity’s mane. Fluttershy moved up behind Rainbow and sat down as she placed a hoof up to her face as tears started to fall to the ground. Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie walked over to Fluttershy and wrapped her in a hug allowing her to cry on Twilights shoulder. Rainbow Dash pulled herself together enough to continue on, “I’m sorry that I never got to spend more time with you.” Rainbow Dash felt another wing wrap around her making her look up into her uncles face. He gave her the best smile he could muster, “it’s alright Dashie, just let it out.” Rainbow Dash leaned against her uncle’s side, “SCOOTALOO, I’M SORRY FOR TAKING THE TIME I HAD WITH YOU FOR GRANTED,” she sniffed as everyone started to feel the emotion coming from Rainbow Dash, reducing several to tears, “I… I DON’T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE,” she sniffed a little and her voice dropped. She leaned over and planted a kiss on Scootaloo’s head, “but I will because I owe you that for putting up with me and my ego.” Fluttershy lifted a hoof, “Rainbow Dash!’ Rainbow Dash continued, “know that I will become everything that you said I could be, not for me but for you,” she raised her head to look up at the sky as she started to break down again, “DO YOU HEAR ME SCOOTALOO?!” she dropped back down onto the coffin dropping her head close to the ground as she couldn’t look at her anymore, “goodbye Scootaloo, you have giving me the strength to fight on, but for now allow me to be selfish one more time and have this time to prepare a life without my number one fan, no my best friend and sister.” Rainbow couldn’t say anymore as her uncle and her father both wrapped her in a tight hug. her uncle took a shaky breath, “she would have tried to apologise to you for making you so sad.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes tightly, “if she would do me the honor I would grab her and never let her go again.” Everypony slowly left leaving Rainbow Dash, Spectrum, Fluttershy and Redline. They all waited while an earth pony closed the coffin and two others slowly lowered it down to her final resting place. Redline turned around and slowly started to walk away. Spectrum looked up at him, “hey Red,” he trotted over to his brother, “will you be ok?” Redline looked at him, his expression telling Spectrum what he was going to say, “I don’t know Spectrum. It’s one thing to lose the love of your life once but…” he dropped his gaze, “but for it to happen twice is harder than you can imagine.” Spectrum pulled his brother into a hug, “do want me to bring you home?” Redline looked up at Rainbow Dash as she was crying again into Fluttershy’s mane and shook his head, “no, I will manage somehow Spectrum, but Dashie needs you. She was far too young to know about the loss of her mother. This will affect her for a long time and she will need the support.” Spectrum looked back at his daughter, “you're probably right,” he looked back at his brother, “just take it easy for now. I will come by and see you later tonight.” Redline nodded and with one last hug he turned and walked out of the cemetery. Spectrum walked over to Rainbow Dash who looked up at him weakly, “let’s go home,” he helped Rainbow Dash up and started to lead her out of the cemetery. He looked back at Fluttershy, “you coming Fluttershy?” Fluttershy lowered her head and ran up next to him. He wrapped a wing around her pulling her closer to him. He lead the away from the cemetery giving a quick second glance back at Scootaloo’s grave, “goodbye sweetheart.” Rainbow Dash looked up at him sadly, “you say something dad?” Spectrum looked down at her, “just getting one last goodbye in,” he pulled both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash into a tight hug, “you two ok to fly?” They both nodded, “alright then you to go ahead of me. I’ll be right behind you,” they both nodded again and took off ahead of him. He gave a weak smile and took off after them.