1. Rainbow Dash's Loss
"Nice going, 'Klutzershy'! They oughta ground you permanently," Dumb Bell called to Fluttershy from above.
“HA! My baby brother can fly better than you!” Hoops laughed as she regained her balance, wings tight to her sides. She considered never flying again, simply galloping home and hiding under her cloud bed, never to be seen outside her home again.
“Leave her alone!” shouted Rainbow Dash, landing quickly between Fluttershy and her tormentors, wings flared.
“Ooh, what are you gonna do, ‘Rainbow Crash’?” Hoops teased.
“Keep making fun of her and find out!” she shouted, her voice cracking as she challenged him.
Dumb Bell scowled at Rainbow Dash, ignoring Fluttershy for the new target. “You think you're such a big shot? Why don't you prove it?”
“Whaddya have in mind?” Rainbow asked.
“A race. If I win, you have to change your name to ‘Rainbow Crash’ for the rest of flight camp.”
“And when I win, you say sorry to Fluttershy and tell everypony here I’m the best.”
“Deal.”
With a few minutes to set up their race that spanned the smaller training ground, the students lined up a few extra rings and laid out the course since the adults were only around for rollcall, meals, and basic technique classes. Rainbow Dash, Hoops, and Dumb Bell lined up.
Fluttershy held the checkered flag, their classmates sat in the sidelines on fresh formed cloud benches; excited to watch a race between Hoops and Rainbow Dash. Hoops might have been a jerk, but he was a good flier. Rainbow Dash was arrogant and new, and they wanted to see if her wings were as fast as her mouth.
Fluttershy hesitated but swallowed a lump in her throat and waved Rainbow Dash over to her, lowering the flag. "R-Rainbow Dash, I really appreciate this, but you don't have to go through with this. Really, I'll be fine. I'm used to the way I'm treated, it's my life."
"No way, Fluttershy. You're not gonna be teased anymore. I've seen these bullies bug everypony, and it's time they ate some nimbus."
Rainbow Dash turned and returned to the starting line with haste.
Hoops smirked to Rainbow Dash once she was beside him. “You're going down!”
“In history, maybe. See you boys at the finish line,” Rainbow said, taking a starting position. Fluttershy raised the checkered flag and let it fall, signaling the start of the race. Rainbow started at top speed, right out off of the line, leaving the a faint rainbow contrail behind her. She took the first five turns with little to no effort and let her mind wander.
Turn your wings, angle your back. Bend with the turn. Forelegs out front ‘cause it’s cool, oh yeah. Easy. And that dumb feather, Dumb Bell, just crashed. Loser. I can do this, I can't let Fluttershy down, don't lose, Rainbow. She's counting on you, it's only her pride and your honor on the line, what's the worst that could happen if you did lose? What if I lose? What if I let her down and she hates me, the others make fun of me, and I'm a laughing stock? What if-
Hoops shoulder checked Rainbow Dash from the left, knocking her into a different flight path and out of her thoughts.
“Hey?!” she yelled at him as she recovered. She shook her head and growled as she began to chase him down. However, her self doubt had affected her speed, which proved not to be enough. Hoops passed the finish ring seconds in the lead, then he hovered several lengths away, waiting for her to finish with his forelegs crossed.
Rainbow looked down at him and felt her heart beating: Hoops was gloating, a massive smug smirk on his face that she knew would end in her being teased and mocked, again.
"Rainbow Crash! Rainbow Crash! Rainbow Crash!" her classmates chanted as she stopped racing just before reaching the finish ring and hovered in place; Hoops’ body was encircled by the ring as she looked at him.
Her eyes watered and she turned to flew away as quickly as she could, the sound of jeers and childish mocking following behind her. She had to get away, so she went below the cloud layer. The ground got closer and, for the first time, she smelled the nature of earth. It made her smile, even though she still sniffled about what had just happened.
"I can't believe I lost to that punk. If that stupid Fluttershy wasn't such a crummy flier I never woulda lost. I hate her. And I hate him. Next time I see Fluttershy I'm gonna pluck her primaries," she grumbled and reflected on the events of the last half hour in a few seconds. "No, that's not fair. I started the race for her, if anything, she should be plucking my primaries. I have to tell her I'm sorry," she said glancing to the clouds high above, "once I'm feeling better."
Seeing the tree tops, she leveled above them and began to glide as several birds joined her in a small flock. I see what the appeal is to the ground. It smells nice, and there are these critters too. Maybe when I graduate I can guard a huge city and be the best captain in its history, and the city will have trees all over with birds.
Smiling as her tears dried in the warmer air that was lightly licking her face, she took a deep breath and began to flap her wings in a steady pattern, increasing her speed and leaving the birds behind. She angled her wings to take her into a slight climb and closed her eyes.
It feels so much warmer here than up there. I wonder why. And it smells so nice. Maybe from those huge green things down there. It’s nice here, and best of all; there aren't any jerks calling me 'Rainbow Crash.'
She opened her eyes and began to scan the ground, looking at the new critters scurrying between bushes and trees. I'm gonna touch the earth finally. For the first time. It's right there: just go to it.
She found a large tree, large enough for her to land on one of its branches and rest her wings.
This isn't so bad. I can see living in one of these things, she joked to herself. I think they're called beads. No, she shook her head and began tapping her chin as she thought, not cheese, um, knees, fleas, deeds, trees? Trees! That's it. And they have leaves. That rhymes, trees-leaves.
She beamed a smile as she began looking around, identifying what was around her. "Butches are those green things that those small critters are going into over there. Rocks are those gray lumps on the ground. Glass is that stuff all over the ground.
"I don't see why they said not to come here 'til we passed the junior flight test. It's really nice here. I-I think I wanna stay, I can be awesome here without some stupid flight test, I’m a good flyer. Flock flight school," she said with a firm nod, "or, maybe not.”
I think I have to think about this a lot.
She rested in the tree until she calmed herself completely. She opened her wings slightly then glided to the ground. Grass blew around her hooves as she broke the fall with a gust from her wings.
So, this is what the earth feels like? The glass is really soft, I wonder how it tastes. I should teach I'm so smart, she thought with a smirk. It's so soft and kinda wet, like a rain cloud, but not. This is so weird, she thought as she stiffened her body as she had in the skies.
Falling to her side she expected a light puff when she landed on the ground, but instead Rainbow thudded heavily onto the ground; a shout of pain left her before she knew what hurt her. As she rolled onto her belly, she looked at a rock that had hurt her, then Rainbow looked at her side and saw a puncture where a drop of blood was saturating her coat.
Okay, this place is a little more dumb than I thought. Maybe I should live here. All I do is crash, I even crashed onto a rock falling over.
Lowering her head, she felt her confidence slipping away. What kind of awesome pony gets hurt their first time doing anything? she lamented as a bird began cawing nearby. My first race, my first lay on the ground. What else?
The bird’s call repeated over and over.
"Shut up, stupid bird!" she shouted as she picked up a rock in the frog of her hoof and threw it in the bird's direction. Her emotions turned to rage quickly as she took to a hover.
"SHUT UP!" she screamed as she flew around trees and over shrubs, bushes, and critters to the noisy bird with teeth bared and the idea to buck it out of the tree. I'll get that bird, teach it not to-.
Stopping suddenly in her flight, she stared at the sight before her. "Fluttershy?" she said softly.
Sh-she fell? Looking up she could barely make out the clouds they were racing from; then her gaze traveled down to the broken yellow filly before her. She felt dizzy just before her wings gave out and the world went dark.
She felt the cool ground under her and the warm sun on her coat as her eyes fluttered open, quickly focusing on the sight in front of her. Fluttershy's primary feathers twinged slightly and Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. Jumping to her hooves again, Rainbow screamed Fluttershy's name and reached out to touch her and froze.
Fluttershy was laying on her side but twisted unnaturally. All her legs seemed to be broken, with some bones visibly jutting under her skin, her wings were both broken; one of them almost torn off. Blood from her wounds had seeped into the ground and was drying under her; matting her coat to the ground as she breathed short raspy breaths in her pained sleep.
"Fluttershy, I'm so sorry. This’ my fault," Rainbow said, quickly backing up, "You started the race, and I felt myself bump you, but I didn't know you fell. I thought you were there cheering me on from the starting line. I'm so sorry. Help? I have to get help.
“Help! Anypony!? IS ANYPONY THERE?” she screamed so loud her voice cracked, and she began to cough. Not waiting to compose herself Rainbow opened her wings, and with a small jump. She flew up and looked around to see no other ponies nearby. I have to go home and get help. Please, be okay Fluttershy, she thought as she aimed to her training area in the clouds.
Flying into the clouds, Rainbow's classmates began chanting her nickname again as she approached the cloud layer. "Rainbow Crash, Rainbow Crash, Rainbow Crash."
"Hey Rainbow Crash, nice to see you finally made it back," Hoops said smugly.
"There's no time,” she turned in a circle looking for any adult. “Help!" Rainbow called, startling the other youth as a teacher came over lazily from behind a cloud, expecting another tattle tale.
"Okay, what’s the deal? Can't stand losing, Rainbow Dash?"
"FLUTTERSHY FELL TO THE GROUND! " she screamed as she closed her wings and forelegs to her body and fell backward into the clouds. “Hurry, follow me!”
She heard an adult shouting orders as she opened her wings and began pumping them, flying faster to earth. Slowing at the canopy, she lowered herself to the ground and looked up to see several Pegasi in pursuit.
Adults dove expertly fast, following Rainbow as she landed next to Fluttershy and touched her lightly with her left forehoof. "Help is on the way. Please be okay, Fluttershy, I'm so sorry."
Within a few seconds the pegasi stopped inches from the ground a body length away and surrounded the broken filly, pushing Rainbow Dash back and calling out medical terms Rainbow didn't understand. Rainbow stood behind trying to see the action while her heart ached in confusion, guilt and sadness.
Rolling Fluttershy onto a litter, they quickly, flew back up to the clouds leaving Rainbow and the two tormentors behind. The colts looked at her with confusion and fear in their faces until Dumbbell said a new nickname. "Rainbow Kill."
Rainbow gasped and began backing up as Hoops said it. "Rainbow Kill."
Glaring at her they both slowly began chanting her new nickname as they stomped toward her in cadence. "Rainbow Kill. Rainbow Kill. Rainbow Kill.".
She burst into tears and ran away, wings tightly to her sides. Running as fast as her legs would carry her, she eventually ran into a large tree as her vision blurred from welled up tears.She fell, still sobbing, as she curled into a fetal position. Leaves from the tree she'd collided with floated slowly to the ground around her breaking light into shadows that danced across her trembling body.
No pony followed her. Nopony called her name. She listened to nature around her as best she could between sobs. She was alone now.
After she was all cried out, Rainbow got up and began to walk ahead for several lengths until she looked at her left hoof and saw blood on it. She screamed at the sight and rubbed her leg along the grass until it was clean; stained green with chlorophyll instead. She began dragging her hooves again, away from where Fluttershy was taken back to the clouds, back to the life they’d never have.
Looking blankly ahead, she processed the events of the race until she found Fluttershy. The turns, the confidence, the pain, sorrow, the loss.
Hours passed wherein the sun set, the moon rose in the sky, and Rainbow thought of Fluttershy lying in the grass and wept again; chokes wracked her chest as she slowly dragged her hooves, moving her ahead to the unknown.
Rainbow looked at the mare in the moon and sighed. "I guess I am Rainbow Crash. Rainbow... ‘Kill.' I'm never going back there, and I can't. I killed my friend. There’s only one thing I can do: I’ll punish myself so they won’t have to. I’ll do it for her, for Fluttershy, for my friend."
She looked around as the moonlight cast its light through the canopy. Eventually, she exited the forest and saw a large tree with what seemed to be a broken window on its side. Walking around it she noticed a broken door hanging from its hinges and concluded this was a pony's home, once upon a time.
"Cottage," she said softly remembering the word, "like the cheese.”
She opened the door and didn't jump away as the door came loose off its hinges from years of rot; it grazed her back and pulled feathers from her right wing, but she ground her teeth to avoid screaming in pain.
Looking inside the cottage, she grunted at the dirty area in front of her. A broken clock on the wall, a torn and ripped couch, and damaged furniture decorated the inside. A run of stairs carved out of the tree itself led upstairs and dust layed a thick blanket over everything.
This is perfect for me.
Ambling to the broken couch; she climbed up, laid her head down, and coughed as the mold and dust escaped their fibrous home, filling the air and her lungs with each short, sharp breath.
She began to sob herself to sleep as the air temperature fell and her stomach began to ache with hunger.
Years had passed and she still lived in the broken cottage. Ponies in the nearby town of Ponyville knew of her and would trade with the 'hermit of the Everfree,' often out of pity for the young pegasus filly who had grown up before them. She never flew and only traded mushrooms or fauna from the edges of the Everfree Forest, thus her nickname.
Her coat was dirty and matted with filth from mud to feces. Her entire coat and mane were a ragged mess and the smell was enough to keep even the strongest stomached pony’s at leg’s length; only her hooves showed her original cyan color as they were scrubbed clean by the grass and rocks on the path she took.
She would accept handouts, but rarely smiled and never spoke. The only creature to visit her was a white bunny she aptly named, Bunny. The bunny would stay by her as she sat in the darkness of her home and shared her food with him, and vice versa. He was company she liked, and that was all she needed; a listening ear while she spoke broken sentences and a comforting hug while she cried.
Rainbow was sleeping soundly on the couch when there was a knock at the door. Visitors were rare but not unheard of to her home; they were, however, not welcomed in.
Another pony leaving me a basket of bread or something. She climbed off the couch and slowly walked to the door.
The broken door that had grazed her back when she first arrived was still there; she had taken a few days to reattach it to the frame years ago. I like this door. It's sturdy.
She opened it slowly to see a yellow mare missing a wing before her. The mare’s pink mane was styled short. She wore a professional dark brown dress coat with black buttons and a white ruffled shirt under it. Glancing lethargically at the mare's missing wing for a moment, Rainbow looked into the face of the mare standing in her doorway.
"H-hello? Are you Rainbow Dash?" the mare asked with a soft voice. Rainbow didn't respond or show any facial changes to the question. She had given up a name years ago and often forgot her own. "Can, can I come in?"
Having a visitor that wanted to enter the ruined home did invoke a slight response in Rainbow as an eyebrow moved up slightly. Rainbow nodded once, then turned to head back to the couch. As Rainbow Dash walked, the yellow mare saw hints of rainbow colors in the quiet mare’s filthy tail.
The yellow mare gasped as she looked at the broken furniture and layers of dirt in the chamber. Mud was tracked heavily across the floor from the door to the broken couch Rainbow was climbing and preparing to lay on: Her head slowly laid to rest on an old square red throw pillow she had traded for years ago.
Dust settled around her as she looked lazily at the mare in front of her. Whatever this mare is donating, I hope she just drops it and leaves, and doesn't try to talk to me like the others. I only talk to little friend bunny.
She lives here? Was Fluttershy's only thought as she looked around and settled her gaze on Rainbow.
"Rainbow Dash, my name is Fluttershy," the mare said, standing tall and proudly speaking with confidence.
Rainbow sat up quickly and felt her eyes watering, just as they had thousands of times before. Taking a deep breath at the thought of this mare being the filly she believed she had killed years ago, all Rainbow could do was whimper and make a sobbing noise as she looked at the pony before her in more detail.
Pink mane and yellow fur. One of her eyes was white and blinded with a faded blue iris, while the other was aqua colored. Could this be her? No, she died before me in glass. They took her, disposed of her, when I banished myself.
Lowering her head again, Rainbow stayed sitting but looked at the pillow beside her. The impression of her head etched into it from hours a day, weeks and months laying on it.
"Rainbow Dash? I remember you. You were my friend. You stood up for me when other ponies were mean to me. That day, the day I fell, the day you vanished; you were fighting for me." Rainbow didn't respond at all, a tear leaving her eye made her eye twitch from dirt entering. Rainbow tried to blink it away, making it worse. "I looked for you after I got out of the hospital, but no pony in Cloudsdale had seen you since.
"Ponies looked for you, but after a few weeks you faded into distant memory to almost everypony except your parents and me." Rainbow looked at Fluttershy still with tears leaving her wincing eyes. "Your parents miss you still," I don't think I should talk about her family anymore, stay on topic. "It took me a long time to find you with my aides. I left Cloudsdale last month to look for you."
"Wh-wh-who are you?" Rainbow finally said, her voice raspy and cracked from years of misuse and abuse from her home.
"I-I'm Fluttershy. You were my friend; you remember right?"
Rainbow began to sob and closed her eyes; she ignored the stinging pain. "A-are you a dream? I-I-I can't have this nightmare again. Please, Celestia, don't make it happen again," Rainbow said as she let her face fall into her pillow, stifling her crying and freeing a puff of dust that speckled the air around her.
Walking closer to Rainbow, Fluttershy spoke again restraining a cough; her voice breaking came out as a strained sob. "Rainbow, it is me. I never had any idea you were here and in such a shape. Nopony did. Please look at me," she asked, almost pleading, as she felt her heart breaking at the sight of the once confident, healthy filly, now a broken mare before her.
Rainbow’s ears perked and she lifted her head. "Fluttershy? Is it, is it really you? You, you not die? Because, what I did? Pushing you off cloud, during my race?" she finished dejectedly.
"No, I lived. I always wanted to find you. That's why I left Cloudsdale and began looking for you, even though every pony said I was a fool for trying."
Rainbow raised her head higher and wiped her eyes, squeaking as the stinging intensified for a moment, then smiled a little. "Fluttershy? You real?"
"Yes, and I'm here to see you and help you, if that's okay."
Sitting up again, Rainbow moved off the couch and walked over to Fluttershy, stopping just before her to sniff in her direction. Looking at Fluttershy, Rainbow’s eyes darted across her face, back, wing and legs. Trying to make sure she was real. Raising a foreleg, she poked Fluttershy's chest and pulled it back quickly, looking at her hoof in disbelief, and then smiled her first smile in weeks.
She pulled Fluttershy into a hug as tight as she could, just as she began to cry. The dirt from her coat smudged Fluttershy's clothes, but neither cared as Fluttershy hugged Rainbow and stroked her back. The scent of months of filth and dirt in Rainbow’s mane and coat made Fluttershy's nose sting and she scrunched her muzzle. She looks sick and weighs as much as a filly. Celestia knows what else is wrong with her.
"Rainbow, I'm so glad to see you. I am so glad you're alive too. I had started to lose hope over the past few weeks without any luck. But, I found where I landed and that Ponyville was nearby after doing a lot of research and asking a few of the right questions." Time passed and the shadows crossed behind them as her aides checked on Fluttershy and the crying noises.
Rainbow finally stopped crying after a few minutes but held Fluttershy tightly until her weakened muscles began to cramp. Finally, they broke the hug. "Rainbow, can you come with me to my room at the inn, to wash up and talk? I would like that a lot. Would you like that?"
"I-I don't talk much good. I- I don't wash," Rainbow said with a very raspy and hoarse voice, then cocked her head to the right and looked at Fluttershy. "What a 'inn'?"
"Rainbow, you don't know what an inn is?” Fluttershy asked and then answered. “Well, it's a place travelers can spend the night, safely."
I like that idea. I like to be safe. It's scary here sometimes. And cold. And sad. Rainbow leaned closer to Fluttershy, enough to let her bad breath add to the menagerie of odors to assault the yellow mares nose. "Where is you, place?" Rainbow asked firmly with a bit of pleading in her eyes.
"You've lived in Ponyville for all these years and don't even know the town?" Fluttershy asked. Shaking her head slowly, Rainbow then pointed to a worn wicker basket, with a broken handle, that sat by the door with some old flowers and fresh mushrooms in it. "You mean you only go to town to trade? You live here alone, in this rotting tree? What if you get hurt in here?" Fluttershy asked with her heart in her throat.
Rainbow shrugged and looked at the ceiling casually. Looking up Fluttershy gasped at the sight of a hole between the floors and a branch sticking through the ceiling. It was broken off, and part of it laid by the fireplace, but it was easily large enough to have skewered a pony in the room. Fluttershy backed out of the room cautiously, back outside. "Rainbow, I need you to come with me, sweetie. Okay?"
Rainbow nodded and followed Fluttershy out of the doorway and into the sun and winced as the daylight hit her eyes. "I-I remember you being coward. Happened?"
"After I healed enough, I went to nursing school. It was a lot of work, but since I couldn't fly I had to do something," she noticed Rainbow wince at the mention of her injury, "I studied psychology and medicine after that. I found it helpful for me to help ponies that were hurt and sad." Rainbow began to follow Fluttershy down the path to her aides, two brown stallions with short military cut manes and large bodies. "These are my aides-" Fluttershy began the introduction.
Rainbow Dash froze in her tracks and gasped, then gritted her teeth, charging the closer of the two. Rushing into one of them with all her might she fell to the ground. She began coughing and holding back tears as pain in her frail body took hold, pinching muscles and nerves in her legs, back, and joints. The stallions shared a look of concern and pity as one of them picked her up onto his back. The other went beside Fluttershy as they all began to walk back to town with Rainbow Dash softly sobbing the whole way back to the inn.
Entering Fluttershy's room, Rainbow looked around and perked up a little. Her ears moved around, a slight smile crossed her muzzle and her tail swished, raining specks of dirt across the entrance. She hadn't seen creature comforts for a very long time. "Real bed? Good smells. Am I in pasture beyond? Have I died finally? Is reward for banish self?" she looked at Fluttershy hopefully.
The stallions looked at each other, then at Fluttershy with concern. Fluttershy nodded to the bathroom where the Stallions deposited the messy mare in the shower then left as Fluttershy entered. Turning on the water, Rainbow began to cry again for reasons known only to her damaged psyche as Fluttershy adjusted the temperature. She flipped a switch and the shower began.
Sitting on the edge of the tub, Fluttershy took a scrub brush on her hoof and, with a bottle of soap, began cleaning Rainbow Dash while softly singing foals songs.
Two hours, six bottles of shampoo, and a lot of sweat later; Rainbow was cleaner than she had been since the morning she ran away all those years ago.
"There she is. The most beautiful mare in Equestria has reemerged from her cocoon. How do you feel?"
Rainbow looked at her coat and smiled, she couldn’t remember it being that color and she liked it, but there were a lot of blemishes she didn’t care for. Rainbow took a deep breath in feeling the warm, humid air fill her lungs, then she coughed very roughly; spitting thick phlegm into the drain, just as she had several other times during the shower.
"Getting cleaned inside and out? That's great. You're going to be better in no time."
Rainbow looked at Fluttershy with a little joy and reverence at her kind words. Smiling back at Rainbow Fluttershy let out a sigh. She's mentally still a filly, and her body is in terrible shape: Malnutrition, she's emaciated so much I can count her ribs and vertebrae; she has healed sores, cuts, and scars, too. She's been through Tartarus and lived. She doesn't even have a cutie mark yet! I've only heard of a few cases of ponies not having one as an adult, but to see one in real life...
"C'mon, let's get you a real meal," Fluttershy said happily.
Rainbows ears perked up and she smiled widely at the thought of a real meal, her stomach clenched and she winced at the sudden pain. She didn’t know what to expect, but grazing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
"Alright, let's get some food in you. I want a sandwich and soup, would you like one too?" Rainbow nodded enthusiastically. "Then would you be okay to go with me to the hospital, to look at your injuries?"
Rainbow shook her head then nodded, then a confused look crossed her face. "I will go, after food."
Three sandwiches, a bowl of soup, four glasses of juice, and a bite out of a napkin later; Rainbow fell asleep at the table snoring loudly, the occasional whinny escaping her to the delight of the other restaurant patrons. Fluttershy paid the bill, one of her aides picked Rainbow Dash up onto his back, and they all left for the hospital.
With a distended belly, Rainbow Dash woke up in a hospital bed smiling with another burp. "Rainbow Dash no, eaten that much, in much years. Where is bunny? I want, see Bunny and, tell about food. Good food, thank you," Rainbow said with a beaming smile, looking at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy chuckled lightly to see the joy and positive change in her friend's demeanor.
Talking in the third person, imaginary animals, terrible grammar. This is going to take a lot of time and effort, but I'll do my best to let her know it's all going to be okay.
"So, Rainbow Dash. The doctors looked you over and healed your injuries the best they could. You have to take these pills and vitamins to build up your strength. You're very malnourished, and it'll take a few days to get out, but you should be flying in no time."
Rainbow stopped smiling and shifted in her bed. "I, don't fly no more."
"I-I don't understand; you love to fly."
"No, not since banish self. Flying, hurts, friend," she replied wincing and turning her muzzle away from Fluttershy.
Fluttershy didn't know what to say so she placed a hoof on Rainbow’s bed and smiled. This is going to be interesting.
Fluttershy was in a small conference room with three local doctors and a psychologist, all listening to her post her case.
"We can't let her go back to that cottage in the shape she and the tree are in; it's a death trap, and she will die in there. Doctor, is there any place she can stay in town while she recovers?" Fluttershy asked.
"We have many places and ponies she can stay with, but we have to know the details of her life while she was a hermit," the psychologist said.
"We have an idea of her medical history from the scans I took. She is relatively healthy now, save for what we had to cure and heal, and she will recover nutritionally soon as well."
"However," another doctor added, "her wings have atrophied, closed to her body, and it looks like one of the bones has fused with another resulting in her being unable to extend her right wing fully at this time."
"To add to the list, her voice is permanently damaged from the environment she was living in," the third doctor interjected, “there’s no fixing years of abuse to her voice without major and risky surgery.
"If she wants to fly again, we'll need to break the bones in her wing and reset them. We can't do that without consent, usually. However, in this case, if you're willing to take guardianship, you will have legal authority over her care."
"You'll be given a house to rent, at full price, for as long as you need it," the psychologist finished, giving her a skeptical look.
Smiling, Fluttershy nodded to the four before her. "Money is no object to my family, and I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Helping her will count towards my masters degree, and I can use her treatment results in my thesis to the medical academy. Not only that, she and I are both the results of traumatic injuries, caused by the other. While I am damaged physically, she took the emotional and mental factor. I believe I may be the only one that can help her."
The psychologist stared at her for a moment. "Miss Fluttershy, you have our blessing to attempt rehabilitation. We will be watching you and your progress. If you show signs of failure, we will have to commit her to Lighthoof Mental Asylum for treatment."
"But, that's outside Manehattan."
"You're very knowledgeable it seems."
Fluttershy scoffed at the snide comment. "I will succeed, and when I do, I'd appreciate an apology."
Smirking approvingly at Fluttershy, the doctors and psychologist nodded to her.
"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy called as she entered her room at the inn. Rainbow Dash was laying on the bed on her stomach with her head on a pillow she had taken from a nearby chair.
She looks like she did on that couch in the cottage.
“Are you ready to go to your new home with me? I can't wait to show you your room."
Rainbow crawled to the edge of the bed and placed her forelegs on the floor and smiled. "My own room? Made from clouds?"
"No. It's an earth pony’s house I will be renting. Are you ready? I don't want to rush you."
Standing on all four legs now, Rainbow puffed her chest. "I'm ready... for my own room. Is it in tree?"
"No, I'm sorry. It's a regular house in town, until I find us something more suitable, maybe I’ll fix up this old place I found." That'll help with your progress and assimilation back into society.
"Oh. Okay." Rainbow followed Fluttershy out of the inn and into the bustling burg she could now call home. "I get a home!" she called out, beaming to a town that was ready to welcome her.
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This is interesting. Fluttershy not being saved by butterflies, Rainbow Dash is a hermit, her wing is messed up, and humble? I haven't seen this before. Hopefully this is updated quickly, or else I might forget about it, like I have many times before with other stories. And this is a long comment.
interesthing i aching for more
Hmm. I'll be watching this story.
This is a very interesting story so far. I'll have to keep my eye on this one!
Ah, an Equestria without Rainbooms...
Pinkie Pie will never be happy, and by proxy Cheese Sandwich can't become a nomadic party pony.
Twilight Sparkle won't have a magic surge that turns her parents into potted plants and hatches Spike.
Rarity won't know why her horn dragged her to a dumb rock.
And Applejack will stay in Manehattan.
Or maybe not... destiny can be funny like that.
5912376 meh.
IDK either.
I make it up as I go along...
The start with rainbow and Fluttershy seems to have been quite the curve ball...
Let's see where my imaginations go next.
Maybe you're right about some, maybe not.
Its as much a guess to me as it is to my readers.
hmmmmm a cottage gets reminded of mmc YEEEEEEES XD
5912729 MMC?
5913276 magical mystary cure XD
5913409 Oh yeah! Derp
(Better supersexyghotmew95 ?)
lololol
5913469 you said derpy but didnt use derpy XD
5912398 you did a great job!
I still have five more ponies and a resolution to complete... :) Thanks.
This is so good, I'm just blown away!
IDK what it is about dark Rainbow Dash stories, but I love them.
I think it might be because she has such a strong personality. And seeing how authors can brake/subdue it is an interesting thing for me to read and explore for myself.
Anywho, I'm only on the first chapter and you've already got me sucked in. Can't wait to read the rest!
Also, I like what you did with Fluttershy and the fall. It's like without the rainboom, EVERYTHING gets fucked up. I also like that you gave her a life changing injury. Makes the fall seem more traumatic and a little bit more real.
It's so sad but so cute!
What are you doing to me!?
5911879
As the first commenter on my first and beSt story, have you finished it and what did you think?
5912376
long time later. But did you finish the story and what'd you think?
Ha! Hilarious number of views x) 666 the last time I looked at it
Day 1: first chapter is done. Music playlist made on my phone to listen to while reading. Must finish reading story before finale comes out.
This is a Twilight's Reviews review.
Since this is a multi-chapter story, I'm going to correct any mistakes I see in each chapter if there are any and voice my opinions in the end.
I think you need a comma before "but".
You need a comma after "slowly".
Comma after "but".
Comma after "water".
A comma after "belly".
Even though the terrible grammar for when dash speaks is intentional, it irritates the crap out of me AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Update feb, 13, 2021: i’m back, and the terrible grammar from dash still irritates me to no end, I actually managed to read until the end of the chapter, and I think i’ll come back after a week if I remind myself to read the next chapter, this is awesome.
Depending on how emaciated she is this is actually very bad, people who are starving... their stomachs shrivel up... give them too much food and they fan eat themselves to death. You gotta carefully monitor what they eat.