Lead Hearts and Feathered Wings

by maddox078

Reflection

Author's Note:

A fair warning to the readers: this chapter contains a mildly graphic scene, but nothing too much for the 'teen' rating. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading!

Rainbow Dash sat at the island bar in her kitchen, staring blankly into the reflections in her coffee of the dim overhead lights which futilely fought to stave off the darkness of the cold night outside. She'd been there for hours, the coffee now nothing more than bitter sludge that denied her sleep, the one possible means to escape her pain.

She had done nothing but reflect on the words spoken to her almost a week ago by her now ex-lover. It had perpetually enveloped her mind, eclipsing any concerns of hygiene or diet for days and showed no signs of waning.

In all that time she could do nothing but ask herself if maybe Fluttershy was right about her.

Was she really that selfish?

Did she take her for granted?

Rainbow's current bout with these queries continued to affirm her resolution that she held the moral high-ground. Fluttershy was blowing everything out of proportion, making Dash seem like the villain.

How could she expect Rainbow to not give 110% towards her life dream? This was her entire reason for being; she lived to fly, and everything else in life took the backseat. Fluttershy had known that since they were little fillies. So why the hell was she berating and abandoning her for doing just that?

The nerve of that cowardly mare.

Like Fluttershy had said herself, Dash was the one who paid the bills around there, while her child of a marefriend went prancing around the woods helping animals do what they could likely do on their own, like find food or shelter. Maybe she was better off without her anyway; if Fluttershy was actually right about Dash treating her like a chore, then maybe she really was one?

Her team, the "Rainbow Renegades," was scheduled to appear at an invitation-only aerobatics tournament in Baltimare a week from tomorrow, and Rainbow did not have time for things like this. She only pleaded with her mind to allow herself perfect focus in training during the upcoming week; to neglect the drowning sensation that had been enveloping her as of late.

The pegasus sighed deeply as her head dropped to the granite countertop, emitting a painful sound that echoed off the empty walls in hard admonition. She didn't know what all she could do right now, except play through her emotional fragmentation as if it were the physical pain of her training that she was so accustomed to. If only she knew how to handle this kind of strain.

Rainbow had never been a mare of particular affinity towards romance, but it was hard not to make a change in her attitude after everything that had come to happen between them. All those shared secrets and fears, the times they helped stand each other up; a history of two hearts all beginning that one harrowing night nearly four years ago.

It wasn't often the timid pegasus found herself wandering the streets of Ponyville after nightfall. But every once in a while Fluttershy forced herself to stray through town on a clear night, when the moon would act as a silver sun and the stars backlit the thin wisps of cloud into an exalted sterling fog.

Tonight was a night particularly rife with cosmic splendor, met harmoniously by a firm breeze that made the aged timbers of the Everfree sing ethereal songs that flowed amongst the web of cottages and cobblestone.

She had no real direction, the main purpose of her expedition was defiance against her fears and anxiety of the dark that attempted to keep her within the numbing walls of her home, away from the splendid vista above. So tonight she decided she'd walk to Carousel Boutique, on the other side of town from her humble cottage, then circle back and savor the euphoria of resting her hooves within the swaddling comfort of her bed with a little tea to lull her to sleep.

It was an odd state of amenity that beset her when she walked through the empty streets; she felt tense from the darkness around her that housed an infinity of fears, but simultaneously placid from the sensory splendor innate to these hours of the day.

As her hoofsteps fell in sedative synchronization, they carried on with the sounds of the wind off the surrounding houses. However, when she breached the nest of homes into a small open plaza she became grimly aware that there was another set of hooves sounding off behind her.

The gentle mare felt her heart race in terror.

She slightly quickened her pace to subtly check if she was indeed being followed, and felt the previous serenity give way to the sensation of her blood chilling when she observed the second set of hoofsteps now mimicking the elevated tempo of her own.

Her mind had little time to imagine the worst-case scenario for her, as a hidden voice gave newfound personification to the disembodied steps that had been stalking her for Celestia-knows how long.

"Hey cutie, why are you walking all alone? I think you need a little company."

A gangly-looking griffon now leaned on the terrified mare, establishing that it wasn't a pony she had heard at all. The unkempt griffon slithered a wing full of greasy feathers over her back as he leaned his mouth in to her ear once more.

"Can't say I've ever been with a pony before, but hey, there ain't nothin' unnatural about this, right sweetheart?"

A wicked grin of malice and lust seeped out from his dark heart upon the worn beak he now pressed against the mare's frozen face.

Let it never be known that Rainbow Dash, enemy of egg-heads everywhere, had a stark fascination with astronomy.

Truly, it was mostly just star-gazing, but she did make the effort to learn the names of the constellations and even a little of the physics behind the distant stars.

She loved resting on the field of silver clouds around her home, alone at night with her back to the ground and her heart to the sky. Up there she could get closer to the stars than anypony below, and she challenged Twilight's flimsy telescope to give any a better view than she now held.

But stars weren't the only thing she watched on nights like these. She knew that Fluttershy sometimes took midnight walks about town when the weather beckoned her from her home. Whenever Fluttershy spent an evening under the stars, she also spent the night under Dash's surveillance.

Rainbow couldn't blame her for wishing to explore the parallel world of the twilight, lit silently by the bright moon and sparkling stars that lay infinities away, but seemingly just out of hoof's reach.

As she always did on her nights under the dark blue sky, Dash checked occasionally to see if Fluttershy had also made the trek outside that evening. She never called out to the tiny yellow mare below; she didn't want to intrude on such a private spectacle. But she did keep a close eye on her to make sure she was safe.

No one was going to hurt her closest friend.

This night, by chance, Rainbow heard faint hoofsteps echoing from the maze of cottages below. The pegasus lazily rolled over onto her belly and peered her snout over the edge of her cloud. Sure enough, she saw a tiny yellow and pink blur far down below.

"Hey 'Shy," Dash called out sleepily to nopony in particular. Where was she going this time, Dash pondered. She continued watching her friend from afar, feeling slightly guilty at her voyeurism, but all the same enjoying a little pony-watching.

Fluttershy was taking aimless turns through the softly-lit streets, clearly more interested in the journey than the destination. Maybe if she asked, Fluttershy would let her join sometime. After all, they hadn't really had a meaningful conversation in a while, and lately Fluttershy seemed to be feeling-

"Hey who the heck is that?" Rainbow's thoughts were interrupted as she shot upright on her perch, narrowing her eyes in an alarmed glare. Staying at least a block behind Fluttershy at all times was a dark-winged individual. The figure clearly wasn't some innocent pony on a solitary walk of their own, Dash could see them stopping and peering out at the yellow mare from behind cover every now and again.

Rainbow immediately knew something was wrong. She flared her wings outward and bared her teeth in anger before launching off the clouds with her powerful legs. She had to get there fast, this pony was up to no good. Well, they wouldn't be for long at least.

Folding her wings in, the cyan pegasus screamed through the high-altitude nocturnal abyss, not entirely sure of whether the watering in her eyes was from the wind or fear for her friend.

Within moments she could make out the shadowed stalker, and saw it was a griffon. The perpetrator had approached her already and dragged her down a dead-end back alley, away from the shaming lights of the street. Once she was closer, she could see the griffon was.....'positioning' himself with the mare.

The timid mare made no sound, she merely stared at the wall in front of her in abject horror.

"Why aren't you making any noise, you stupid mare?" The griffon huffed out in frustration. She made no effort to reply; no crying, no yelling, nothing. The thug gave up and was about to begin his heinous act.

Without a moment's notice, an iron-shoed hoof erupted from the sky and smashed into the griffon's face, sending him careening back into the street before he could commit his crime.

Without giving him time to realign his vision from the dizzying blow, another cyan hoof wrapped around his fragile neck and slammed him into a nearby lamppost. Despite the nearby light, he saw only darkness now, consigned to the immense pain flowing through him like the blood leaking out of the vicious gash on his head.

A light across the street turned on and cast the illuminated shadow of somepony peering out their window at the scene before them. Without hesitation, they burst out the door and into the calamity outside. The beige candy-maker that emerged stared with wide eyes at the livid mare looming menacingly over a whimpering and bloodied griffon, and then at the yellow pegasus in the alley behind them, slumped over and unmoving. In panicked confusion she cried out.

"What the hell is going on out here?!"

The mare with blood on her hooves looked up and spoke laboredly, trying to diffuse some of her adrenaline-soaked rage so as not to terrify the new arrival.

"Call the police, NOW."

The candy-maker nodded and took one last moment to take in the scene before bolting back inside her shop towards the phone hanging over the counter.

Fifteen minutes later, the two pegasus friends were leaning on each other on the back of a police wagon, one heavy blanket wrapping the two together. Across the street from them the griffon was being questioned by the two officers that arrived a few minutes prior. He wasn't being cooperative, only staring down at the ground with a look of indescribable hatred marring his features like the newly acquired wounds on his head.

After a few more minutes of fruitless interrogation, the officers helped the mares off the wagon and loaded the aggressor in the caged back. Before departing, one of the law-enforcement stallions carefully approached the victim and her savior, a look of earnest concern about him as he knelt down beside the traumatized, shivering bundle of blanket and yellow fur.

"Miss, are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? Something like this is a very serious strain for mental health, and it is extremely important to have proper guidance in your recov-"

"NO......I-I just want to go home, please." The previously reticent mare spoke her first words before breaking down in shaking sobs.

Dash and the officer locked gaze. She spoke to him gently over the miserable bundle beside her.

"I'm not letting her out of my sight. When she's had a day or two to calm down from this and be more at terms with it, I'll take her to a therapist, kicking and screaming if I have to."

The stallion rolled the idea over in his mind for a moment before looking down at the quivering blanket below him. He knew she should be somewhere she was comfortable right now, so when he looked back up at Dash's eyes, he solemnly nodded in assent. Without another word he walked back to his partner and hitched himself up to the wagon.

Rainbow and Fluttershy watched as the vile creature in the back was hauled off into the darkness like the feral beast it was. Once it disappeared around the corner, Dash looked down at her friend, who was resolute in avoiding her gaze.

She knew words could only help so much right now, like trying to scrub disease out of the bloodstream. So she wrapped her quavering friend in her wings, trying to shield her from the empty night around them, then hugged her as tightly as she could until she felt the tears dry up against her shoulder.

The walk back to Fluttershy's place had been hauntingly mute. Dash kept her eyes peeled on every corner and alleyway, prepared to fight again if need be. However, they fortunately arrived at the secluded home of the pink-maned pegasus without further incident.

Fluttershy lingered outside the door and Rainbow quickly picked up that she was wanting to say something. She focused her gaze on the mare until it was returned. Dash placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder and smiled wearily at her before constricting her in another embrace. After a moment, she felt the gentle vibrations of a voice like glass speaking largely muffled words into her coat.

"Could, could I please stay at your house tonight? I-I know you've already done enough and I don't want to be a burden.....but I just can't stay down here on the ground. All this fear, I can't take it, I just can't. Celestia, I'm so scared, Rainbow!"

Dash looked incredulous at the request, making Fluttershy feel as though she truly had overstepped her bounds, until Rainbow finally spoke up.

"'Shy, you shouldn't even have to ask that, of course you can stay with me. What the heck kind of friend would I be if I left you alone after.....all this?"

There was no reply, Fluttershy merely buried her face deeper into the warm, soft coat of her friend. They remained in each other's grasp for an indiscernible amount of time.

At the end of it, Dash slowly pulled away and spoke with a whisper, "Come on, let's go home."

The pegasi began to trot briskly down the road until their wings managed to lift them from the earth and above the haunting shadows of the trees below.

After a brief flight up through the increasingly chilling air, they alighted upon the cloud steps of Rainbow's home before entering the front door. The main entrance opened to a small rotunda housing a few stone statues of previous Wonderbolts, situated on the wood floor that lay level on top of its cloud foundation.

Without a word, Fluttershy followed Rainbow as she walked through the open living room ahead and into the kitchen at the far end. Dash pulled two glasses from a cabinet and filled them with apple juice from the fridge. They each took a seat across from the other at a small table underneath an open window. The bright moonlight that filtered in through it created a deep contrast of shadows along the contours of the mares' faces.

Both friends drank greedily from their glasses in an effort to drown the words in their throats they were too afraid to speak. However, once the amber liquid had drained from each of their cups, it could no longer delay the inevitable conversation neither wanted to have but both knew they must. Rainbow decided to begin while transferring the dirty glasses to the sink.

"So...." She started before trailing off, leaving a hanging silence contested only by the dishes clattering in the sink. "H-how do you feel?"

The quiet friend shook her hung head slowly as the horror in her glistening teal eyes wrote volumes in response. Dash internally grimaced at the abject sight, its marring of her own resolve causing the concerned pegasus to sigh heavily.

"I'm so sorry Fluttershy, I'm not very good at emotional comfort, but know that I will fight tooth and hoof to help you through this. I won't let that monster's actions have the chance to scar your beautiful heart or destroy your faith in others!"

She continued speaking as she slowly walked over to the table again, never breaking eye contact with the pony sitting there.

"I am here for you always, both as an open ear and shoulder. You can stay with me as long as you want, but you have to promise me you'll talk to a therapist here in the next couple days......Please?"

She arrived at the table to a face that wielded its sad eyes and trembling lips to prick Dash's heart with a painful steel sorrow. But the woeful mare soon rose from its seat and wrapped her hooves around the mortal angel before her, crying softly as she gently nodded her head.

"I will...." She answered in superfluous silence, so that only the pony before her could hear the vulnerability in her voice. Dash gave a weary smile as she rubbed her friend's back gently and maternally.

"Hey 'Shy?"

The pair of previously sad eyes now looked up at her in childlike inquisition.

"How about we get you to sleep now, huh?"

Rainbow was answered with the tightening of the mare's hug before she let go, then nodded in agreement once more.

The lonely mare sitting under the revealing light in her empty kitchen broke from her dark abstraction. Though her mind had left the nightmarish recollection, the sorrow that pervaded it did as well, following her into the present.

Her head still laying on the cold countertop, Dash regretted not being able to painfully drop it again. She hadn't thought about that whole episode for some time now. Bearing the feeling it now left her with, she could easily see why.

Still, it opened her heart up in a way that revealed just how long it had been since she really felt anything like that. Her life since founding the team had been populated with nothing more than feelings of frustration or fleeting successes. Any degree of an intimate bond with anypony else, be it friendly or romantic, seemed to be entirely drowned out from the by-products of chasing her dream. It left her feeling less than equine.

In that moment, the years of denied emotion began to turn on her. Her brain was flooding itself with the backlogged feelings she had neglected, overloading her mind until a sense of despair spread like venom through her trembling body.

Being too much to bear, the poison started leaking from her in the hot tears that flowed quickly down her face. Memories also began coming back in agonizing waves. She was remembering the therapy sessions she sat in on for the months following the horrible incident, as well as the more personal type of therapy they began engaging in where Dash and Fluttershy would sit up late at night on the clouds outside Rainbow's home and talk about the things they feared and the events that created those anxieties. Rainbow had grown to feel that getting to truly understand a pony was a matter of seeing what left dents in their armor, rather than what made it shine.

But eventually their friendship was no longer about fear or pain; as time went on Fluttershy saw Dash keep her promise she made that painful night. Rainbow had been there for her like she said, from trying to make her laugh and be happy every day, to taking her in when she showed up at 3 A.M. after having a recurring nightmare of the ordeal.

Loyalty had indeed found a living embodiment.

All of that time spent together, and all of the personal knowledge exchanged between them had been secretly growing a new bond in their hearts. A bond neither of them had ever considered. Dash could still remember when she first saw it, that night when-

She groaned in frustration as she placed her hooves on her head, trying to silence her mind from replaying that painfully happy memory. She was getting nowhere with all of this thinking and mindless reflection, so she rose from her seat and left the cold, unappealing coffee on the counter as she laboriously stepped up the creaking stairs to their.......her bedroom.

She couldn't face all this right now, and probably not when she woke up either. But, her mind needed to rest and that might at least make it less unbearable. Fluttershy's pain had faded, so surely hers eventually would as well, right?

The defeated mare had no answers for herself as she flopped down onto her unmade, and now over-sized bed.

Sleep took her away quickly, but rested neither her body nor mind as she shook from vivid nightmares for the next six hours.

Comments

[Flowercrowns16]

This story is truly a piece of writing that should be stored in someone sacred.
I'd read, but it's making my heart ache a bit.
For people who like sadness and grim, read this!

Great job on writing!

~Phinox.

[maddox078]

4600585 Thank you so much, that really does mean a lot to me
But I do hope you finish it :p

[UfUnNyF1r3nd]

Moar pls!