The Storm
It was a nice day out, and Rainbow Dash could see Fluttershy with her saddle bags, down below her napping spot, gathering some sort of herb near the edge of the Everfree Forest. She hadn't spoken to Fluttershy in a few days, and was harboring a crush on the yellow Pegasus, so she decided now would be a good time to chat. As she started to descend towards the ground, she felt a breeze. She looked up and saw a massive storm front moving through the forest. Normally these storms stayed within the forest's boundaries, but, rarely, they would head into Ponyville proper, wreaking havoc. Rainbow wasn't worried, though, because it looked fairly far off.
Fluttershy saw her rainbow maned friend descending towards the ground. As soon as the other Pegasus landed, she said, “Hi, Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey, what's up?”
“Not much. You?”
“Not much. Hey, what are those herbs?” Rainbow Dash asked, honestly curious.
“I'm not sure what they're called, but I use them to relieve pain, when my animal friends get hurt. I also use them if I hurt myself.”
“Wow, you sure have a lot of that stuff.”
“Of course. This way I don't have to come back here for a while. If I dry them out, they keep forever.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Rainbow said, noticing that the wind had picked up a bit.
----
She and Fluttershy merrily chatted away for a while longer, before the winds had picked up to the point where it was undeniable that something was up. Rainbow flew up, and looked for the source of the winds, when she noticed the massive storm front she had seen earlier had been moving towards Ponyville at an alarming pace, and was now nearly on top of them. “Uh, Fluttershy, we should probably get moving.”
“Why? Is there something wrong?”
“Yeah, it looks like we have a big storm coming from the Everfree Forest. We should hunker down somewhere.”
“My cottage is nearby. We could head there.”
“Probably a good idea. Let's go,” Rainbow said.
They flew off as fast as they could, but the crosswinds made flying too hazardous after few minutes, and they were forced to gallop through the increasingly powerful winds. Rainbow got up right next to Fluttershy, and put her wing over her friend to protect her from the rain and debris. Fluttershy appreciated her friend's diligence, but didn't think she would need the protection, and, being fully aware that Rainbow had a crush on her, thought that Rainbow was doing it to get close to her. She didn't mind this, but made a mental note to explain to Dash that they were just friends as far as she was concerned.
Fluttershy wasn't wrong in her assumptions either, though that was far from the only reason. Rainbow Dash looked and saw several tree branches being torn away by the winds and thrown in every direction, including towards the two hapless ponies. They stopped when a large branch flew in front of them. Rainbow found herself wishing Twilight was there. She could have generated a magical barrier to protect them, but you work with what you have.
“Try to keep up, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, picking up her pace when disaster struck.
After hearing a loud snapping sound, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy turned to see one of the giant tree branches flying towards them, but they couldn't do anything about it, as the branch was too close and they were both grounded. It slammed into Fluttershy's side and Rainbow's wing, knocking both ponies off their hooves, and causing Rainbow to see stars for a second.
When Rainbow Dash regained her balance, she looked and saw Fluttershy laying motionless on her side, and wasn't sure she was still alive. She rushed over, against the wind, and found Fluttershy alive but unconscious, with a broken leg. Rainbow Dash looked at her wing and found it hanging limply at her side, obviously broken. She didn't feel any pain, but she attributed that to being in shock. She bit Fluttershy's tail, and started dragging her back to her cottage, a few dozen yards away. She knew that moving an injured pony was a bad idea, but she had good reason to believe that if she left Fluttershy out in the storm, she would die.
Dragging the poor Pegasus was harder than it normally would be, seeing as she couldn't use her wings, and even if she could, it would be too dangerous to, due to the crosswinds. Making it worse for the rainbow maned Pegasus was that, with the torrential conditions, and the fact that she didn't know if her friend would make it, every minute felt like hours. Making it worse was that she had to keep a constant vigil for tree branches looking to kill her or Fluttershy.
Eventually, after several more near misses threatened to kill the two of them, and after what felt like an eternity, she arrived at Fluttershy's front door. She bucked it open, having no time for common courtesies and pulled Fluttershy in behind her, laying her near her couch. Angel had a look of despair when he saw Fluttershy, and Rainbow realized that, as jerky as the white bunny was, he really did care about Fluttershy. Rainbow said, “Angel, if you can help me out here, I think Fluttershy will appreciate it.”
Angel gave Rainbow Dash a questioning look.
“If you want to help, get me a blanket, a board, and some tape. I'm going to make a splint for her leg.” As Angel ran off, Rainbow Dash looked in Fluttershy's saddle bag for her herbs. Fortunately it didn't look like any had fallen out, despite Fluttershy having taken a tree to the face. She also looked over the poor yellow Pegasus. Fluttershy's normally beautiful face was heavily bruised and swollen on one side, and her leg was broken above the knee. Her breathing was shallow but regular which Rainbow Dash took as a good sign, and her flank was unharmed, which Rainbow assumed was because her wing was guarding it. She quickly realized that spending time watching Fluttershy take care of injured animals was paying off.
“Thanks Angel,” Dash said, after receiving the stuff she had asked for. She set about straightening Fluttershy's leg, and wrapping it with the blanket, before using the board and tape to hold the leg straight. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it would have to do. “Can you show me your bathtub? I want to clean up.”
Angel pointed at Dash's wing, but she just said “I can't do anything about that right now. Either way, Fluttershy's worse off, and should be the focus of our attention. I just want to clean my wounds before taking care of her.”
Angel, realizing that this blue Pegasus had a point, led her up to the tub, where she spent several minutes looking over herself, and cleaning up. When she was done, she got out of Fluttershy's tub and went back down to her living room. Fluttershy was still out but her breathing had become deeper, and Angel had removed her saddle bag and cleaned several of her wounds. Rainbow climbed onto the couch and looked down at her stricken friend. Seeing Fluttershy in this state awakened a sort of motherly urge in Rainbow Dash, and she couldn't help but gently stroke Fluttershy's mane, while telling the white rabbit what happened. During this time, her wing started hurting badly, and she thought about the events of the day, feeling guilty about what had happened to Fluttershy.
----
Fluttershy woke up an hour later, obviously in pain. Rainbow Dash, seeing this, asked her, "Do you want some of your herbs?"
"If you don't mind."
Rainbow went over to her saddle bag and asked “Do you have to mix them in something, or can you just eat them?”
“Just eat them,” came the weak reply. “Four sprigs.”
“Okay.” Rainbow Dash grabbed eight sprigs of the herb, and put four of them in Fluttershy's mouth, before eating the other four herself.
Fluttershy slowly and methodically chewed the herbs, and after she swallowed them she asked, ”How bad are our injuries?”
“You have a broken leg, and your face is swollen like a beach ball.”
"What about you?"
"I broke my wing, but don't worry about it, Fluttershy. I'll be fine."
Fluttershy thought I must be in bad shape if Rainbow is more worried about my injuries than her broken wing. She said, “Oh, still your injury does sound pretty bad.”
“It is, but I have to prioritize, and seeing that a broken wing is less serious than a smashed face, you get priority. Also, while I'm up, do you want anything?”
“Apple juice, please.”
Rainbow went to Fluttershy's kitchen, poured some apple juice into a bowl and put a bendy straw into it, as she knew the poor yellow Pegasus was in no condition to get up, even to drink apple juice. She lay the bowl carefully in front of Fluttershy, who remarked, "this isn't very dignified."
"I could give you a glass, but I don't think you have the strength to lift youself up enough to drink it yet."
"No, that's okay, I'll manage."
As she watched her friend suck on her straw, Rainbow decided to get something off her chest. "Listen, what happened out there. It was my fault. I'm sorry," she said, obviously distraught.
"Why was it your fault?" Fluttershy asked, racking her memory to try to find out what happened.
"I saw the storm in Everfree, but I assumed it would stay clear. Even when the winds started picking up, I kept telling myself it would stay clear."
"Then, when we realized that the storm was going to hit us? I'm sorry Rainbow, I don't remember what happened afterwards."
"Well, when the storm was almost on top of us, we rushed back here, and I tried to get you to go faster, while protecting you with my wing. A large tree branch snapped off and hit us both. If I had been on the other side, you wouldn't have been hit," Rainbow said, feeling horrible about herself.
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known."
"I know, I know, but I can't help but blame myself," Rainbow said, then wanting to change the subject, she asked, “By the way, how are you feeling?”
“Well, I ache all over, I can't move my left foreleg, and I feel weak and dizzy. How about you, Rainbow? Be honest.” Fluttershy realized that Rainbow Dash was going to downplay her own pain, and do anything for her, because she felt guilty, and she loved Fluttershy. She didn't like that. She wanted Rainbow to help her as a friend, not a guilt stricken lover.
“My wing is useless, and I ache, but really, you shouldn't worry about me. You could have died.”
“I know, but I still worry about you. You are my friend,” Fluttershy said, still sounding a bit weak.
“I know,” Rainbow said, having gotten back on the couch and back to unconsciously stroking Fluttershy's mane.
Fluttershy, still in pain, but not wanting to make Rainbow Dash feel any more guilty, lay her head back down on the ground, and sucked at her bowl full of apple juice. She knew she was right to think that Rainbow Dash wasn't telling her the whole truth, but, with things the way they were, she thought it was better not to force the issue. She looked at her splinted leg and asked “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, with Angel's help. He also cleaned out your wounds.”
“Thank you both,” Fluttershy said, taking comfort in the rhythmic stroking of her mane, “So, what will we do when the storm clears?”
“I'll run down to town and tell them what kind of condition you're in. If all goes well, I'll get you some quick help.”
“Thank you, though you should focus on getting help for yourself first.”
“I will, but in the meantime you're my responsibility,” Dash said, still feeling guilty over what had happened, and wondering if the cottage would stand up to the battering the wind and rain were delivering.
“I know that, and I know that you love me and feel guilty about what happened, and that's why you want to get me help first,” Fluttershy said, emboldened by her frustration at her friend's worry and guilt.
Rainbow Dash was taken aback. “How did you...?”
“You made your feelings obvious, with the way you were looking at me, and how your behavior changed since the Best Young Fliers competition, though, really, everyone could see it when we were funneling water to Cloudsdale,” Fluttershy explained, feeling even bolder, and making an attempt to stand up.
“Well, I never was good at hiding my feelings, I guess. You sure you should stand up, by the way?”
"I'm sure. I feel much stronger now." She winced as she accidently put pressure on her broken leg. She decided to test her strength by flying.
At this point, a tree branch smashed through a window, terrifying both ponies and making them beat a hasty retreat to Fluttershy's basement, the yellow pegasus having regained most of her strength.
Down in the dark basement, Rainbow hesitated before she could bring herself to ask Fluttershy the one question on her mind. She knew Fluttershy didn't blame her for what happened, but she thought she would think that she was asking out of guilt. Eventually, she asked, “Well now that I know the secret's out, would you be my very special somepony?”
Fluttershy, who was now flying, but only just, though this did annoy her very much groundbound caregiver, and remembering the events of the day, briefly considered the proposition. She knew that she wanted to thank Rainbow Dash for all she had done to help her tonight, and a relationship would be a great way to do so, never mind that it didn't sound like a bad proposition after what Rainbow had done for her, but she didn't want to act like she was pitying her friend, or justifying her guilt.
When she decided, she drew the silence out for a bit longer to build up her confidence a bit more, before eventually saying, "Only if you promise that you will not let guilt drive you to do anything for me. Promise that you will help out for the sake of us and not your mistakes."
"I promise."