“Well, I was movin' at the speed of sound
Head spinnin', couldn't find my way around, and
Didn't know that I was goin' down, yeah, yeah
“Where I been; well, it's all a blur
What I was lookin' for I'm not sure
Too late and didn't see it coming, yeah, yeah…”
“Then I crashed into you
And I went up in flames
Could've been the death of me
But then you breathed your breath in me
“Then I crashed into you
Like a runaway train
You will consume me
But I can't walk away…”
Crashed: Daughtry: Daughtry: 2006
Fluttershy’s Cottage:
Fluttershy, to say she was concerned about Rainbow right now, well that would be like saying Twilight could be a neurotic mess. Simply put, it was an understatement.
“Oh dear… Oh dear,” Fluttershy whispered as she opened the curtains just a tad, just to see if she could see Rainbow walking up the small footpath. Sadly, no such luck. The fact of the matter was, she knew something was wrong. She hadn’t been sleeping well, as evidenced by the bags under her eyes.
At first, it started out with Fluttershy not being particularly worried, as she knew Rainbow would probably need some time to herself. Fluttershy -Amongst others- had offered to try and help Rainbow through this as much as possible, but her wife had brushed her off, saying that she was completely and utterly fine despite all evidence to the contrary.
That she just needed some time to re-center herself, get her bearings straight. But that had been a few days ago, and now Fluttershy was starting to get really worried. Knowing her wife as well as she did, Fluttershy knew Rainbow had probably done something completely rash and rather stupid.
“No… No.” Fluttershy whispered to herself, choking on some of her own words. While she hadn’t spent as much time around Windy as Rainbow obviously had, she’d seen why her wife had cared for her so much, even if their relationship had started out… rocky to say the least.
“Keep chomping at the bit like that, and you’ll wear yourself out,” A familiar voice said as the sound of claws tapping against the floor, followed by a pair of hoof-steps made themselves known. “The egghead’s right. You need to just sit down and relax for a bit.”
Rainbow looked up, and her eyes widened as she saw a familiar set of white and lavender tinged feathers on a face she knew all too well with a sharp yellow beak at the end of it. But that wasn’t the only familiar face as well. Following her was a mare with Rainbow’s coat color, but with a short cropped scarlet mane style.
“Gilda, what are you doing here?” Rainbow asked in shock. “No, actually a better question is what are you doing here with my mother?”
“...No offense Dashie, but I was expecting a warmer greeting.” Windy said.
“Well, considering I haven’t seen you in the past… Oh, what was it, fifteen years since you walked out on me and dad and then just show up out of the blue you should have expected something like this.” Rainbow growled.
“Y-You have to understand,” Windy stuttered out, as Twilight quietly stepped out of the room knowing this was a personal matter and she had no business being here. “I was scared of your father, we all were! I… I just couldn’t take it anymore!”
“But you could have done a better job of protecting me, instead you just walked out!” Rainbow snapped.
“Listen, Dash, your mother…” Gilda began. “She’s here for a reason, and not just to catch up on old times.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” Rainbow grumbled.
“Dashie, you’re not going to like this, but Scootaloo’s adoptive parents…” Windy began, being careful not to say their real names as she knew Rainbow would get even more furious if she did. “They asked me to be their defendant in the court case.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped.
“...Please tell me you’re joking.” She muttered, hoping she’d fallen asleep from boredom and that this was all a bad dream.
“M-Maybe you’re just getting worked up over n-nothing. Yeah, nothing at all!” Fluttershy whispered, choking on her words somewhat. “M-Maybe Rainbow really does need as much time as she said she did to re-center herself, or s-something like that…” she continued. Windy had been nothing but kind, putting her all into helping Rainbow deal with Icy Winds and Last Drop even after she’d been officially taken off the case. Fluttershy smiled -A smile that was a mix of wistfulness and sadness- as she thought back to a time a few weeks ago, when Rainbow had been working hard on the case and Windy had suggested a spa trip for both her and her daughters.
Rainbow groaned as she set hoof in Aloe and her sister Lotus Blossom’s spa, clad in a bathrobe and Tank-themed slippers. This honestly went against every fiber of her being, stepping into a place that was very frou-frou, as she oh so delicately put it.
Fluttershy, although she knew perfectly well Rainbow wouldn’t take being called as such so well, thought she looked rather cute. Humorously enough, Pen-Pen had come along and was getting a hot stone massage on one of the tables by Aloe. Two small cucumbers had been placed over the penguin’s eyes and a towel over his head.
“Can’t believe you talked me into this mom…” Rainbow muttered as she slipped out of her bathrobe and slippers and with some reluctance, into a hot steam bath not too far removed from the ones popular in the Neighponese countries.
“Trust me dear, really relieves all of the stress,” Windy replied as she joined her daughter in the warm, refreshing waters. “Quite, quite refreshing. Celestia only knows I’ve needed this from time to time when working with particularly difficult cases. Gilda would have happily come along, but she had to stay behind and watch Scootsy.”
Rainbow gaped at her mother’s statement as Fluttershy meanwhile, took the chance to get her mane done by her brother, who’d taken up a full-time job at the place, Shockingly, he hadn’t actually been kicked out and seemed to have taken to the job with an enthusiasm. Apparently, if Aloe was to be believed, Zephyr actually liked styling ponies manes and relieving them of their worries of their daily lives just for a few moments in time.
Fluttershy was actually quite proud of her brother, he finally seemed to have found his place in life.
“Just a little like that?” Zephyr asked as he did his sister’s mane, while Lotus lent him a hoof with a hooficure treatment. Fluttershy nodded, as Rainbow turned to her mother in shock.
“Gilda, you’re honestly saying Gilda -Who, I might add, is even more of a tomboy than me- actually comes to places like this?” Rainbow asked in disbelief as she slipped into the waters and let out a sigh. She had to admit, it was rather warm and relaxing. All of her tired muscles began to feel at ease. Windy smirked as she saw her daughter practically ooze into the waters.
“And now you see why. Release all the muscle tension, opens up the pores in your skin underneath all of that fur of ours.” Windy explained, and a familiar scratchy voice agreed with her.
“Windy’s right,” Blaze said from nearby, and now Rainbow was really gaping at seeing another member of the Bolts here. “Seriously, been trying to convince my sis and all the rest of the Bolts to come down here and have all of their sore wings and that stuff dealt with, but they say they prefer the hot springs down by the Whitetail Woods. Go figure, right?” Spitfire’s twin sister continued with a small shrug.
“Well, to be fair, there’s nothing quite like a natural hot-spring,” Zephyr replied, still in the midst of styling his sister’s mane. “Plus, much, much cheaper as well…”
“Aren’t you trying to keep customers in this place, not persuading them to try rival treatments?” Blaze snarked at him.
“Pff! Hardly call one natural hot-spring a “rival treatment”,” Zephyr scoffed and then said in a deadpan tone, making air-quotes with his hooves. “Plus, natural hot-springs don’t offer the treatments this place does. Seriously, no seaweed wraps or hot stone massages, and let’s not even get started on the herbal bubble baths that Zebra popularized!” he commented before murmuring “...Really must get around to thanking her for that one day.”
Fluttershy let out a small cough, and Zephyr flushed and mumbled a quick apology before getting back to work.
“Okay, I suppose this place isn’t so bad…” Rainbow mumbled, continuing to slide down into the waters. “I mean, if Blaze likes it, and so does Gilda of all griffons…” she admitted before letting out a moan of pleasure as she continued to feel all the stresses of the past few days beginning to just fade away.
Windy just smirked, and rested her forelegs behind her head and shut her eyes letting the what the waters did for Rainbow, do for her.
“Just wait till you try the massages, dear,” Windy told her daughter. “Really does a wonder for the wing muscles!”
“I concur with that!” Blaze said in agreement. Then, someone got an idea.
“Oh oh!” Aloe piped up, wiping away a happy tear from her eye. “Can I have a picture, just for prosperity’s sake? Mother and daughter, reuniting and spending time together after so long?”
Rainbow groaned again and muttered something about gossipy frilly fashion horses sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong, but eventually relented and sighed out: “Fine…”
There was a flash as a camera shutter went off.
Fluttershy wiped away a tear from her eye as she picked up that very same picture off a shelf, showing that day. They’d all looked so happy, not even knowing what was to come. She sniffled upon seeing Rainbow so happy, one of the few times during those trying weeks she actually had cracked a smile.
Being reunited with her mother, and being around Scootaloo full-time, it had done wonders for her. She’d been willing to open up more, and get the courage to work up the nerve and speak to her mother and wipe away some of their shared painful past and actually apologize for all the bitterness she’d held towards her for all these long years.
But in one sweeping moment, it had all been swept away by a simple twist of fate. Fluttershy somehow suspected that Fate had it out for Rainbow at times, making sure there was always a balance. When something seemed to be looking up for her, whenever she got too happy… Something tragic had to occur. For example, Rainbow and Fluttershy having a blissful five-year marriage without much incident.
Then, Rainbow had to discover the loving parents she dropped her daughter off with were in actuality abusive -And there was no beating around the bush when it came to it- bastards. And when Rainbow was patching up her relationship with her mother and getting used to the idea of having Scootaloo around as a daughter full time, Windy had to die of a heart attack. It peeved Fluttershy to no end that someone high up seemed to have it out for Rainbow this much.
When she died, and went to Skyhaven, she was having some very choice words with those who dictated everypony’s fates, to be sure.
Fluttershy then had a thought occur to her. Gilda, how was she taking all of this? While she admittedly found her relationship with Windy quite odd to say the least, she could tell the two loved each other.
Picking up a pen in her mouth, and sitting down at a table with Angel Bunny watching her in concern, she began to compose a letter to the griffon.
“Dear Gilda:
“First off, I’m very sorry for your loss. Rainbow’s been taking it… (Oh, how do I put this?) hard. Few nights back, after she received your “Letter”, if I can even call it that as it was rather insensitive in my honest opinion, (Yes, I read it as well) I found her sobbing her little heart out into her pet turtle and holding him tightly like he was her only lifeline in the world at that moment.
“Honestly Gilda, I know you’re not very good with words, and I know you’re probably hurting even more so than Rainbow herself is, -Which is perfectly understandable given the situation- but you could have broken it to her a little more gently I think.
“I’m honestly beginning to get concerned about her, she’s practically vanished and hasn’t been to the house in days. Scootaloo’s starting to get very worried. I’ve seen her pacing back and forth in her room wondering when her mommy is going to come home. I don’t think she’s sleeping very well, and neither am I for that matter. We’re all very worried about Rainbow, and if you call yourself her friend, you’d start showing some care and concern.
“Please Gilda, I know we’re all hurting, but I need your help. You were Rainbow’s best friend, aside from me, growing up in Junior Speedster’s Flight Camp. Remember that? I do.
“I remember the day when you found out all those students and her teacher for Celestia’s sakes laughed at her when she got her Rainbow Crash nickname. You actually went out and punched them one by one severely risking expulsion -And I know how much you wanted to be in the Flight Camp and make friends, Rainbow told me herself- after you learned what happened. Thankfully, after the Principal learned what happened, her teacher got fired for poor conduct and the bullies put in suspension and you stayed in school.
“My point is, if we’re all hurting, we might as well shoulder this burden together.
“Sincerely, Fluttershy nee Dash.”
Sighing to herself, Fluttershy handed the completed letter to a homing pigeon and asked for it to find Gilda. She whispered a silent prayer as she saw the pigeon fly out a nearby open window hoping for it to reach its destination, before hearing a gentle rapping sound on the front door.
“Dear? Are you alright?” her mother’s voice asked in concern, and Fluttershy smiled in relief and sighed. Just what she needed right now, a little motherly advice of her own.
“H-Hold on,” Fluttershy stuttered out, before getting up from her chair and going for the door. With a gentle turn of the knob, she let her mother inside and was almost at once wrapped in a nearly bone-crushing hug.
“Oh dear…” Mrs. Shy said as she embraced her daughter. “Soon as I got the news, me and your father came here as fast as we could. How are you holding up?” she asked.
“As… As well as could be expected I-I suppose…” Fluttershy sniffled. “We’ve been taking this all very hard. I… I might not have been as close to Windy as Gilda or Rainbow were, but…”
“I understand dear, and it’s alright,” Mrs. Shy said. “That’s why we’re here, to help you as much as we can through your time of need…” she continued, before she let out a small “Oh!”
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.
“Your mother…” Fluttershy’s father said as Mrs. Shy fished something out of her saddlebags. “She’s started taking knitting classes recently, you remember that right?”
“Yes, I do…” Fluttershy smiled. Her mother had a love for art, and anything beautiful in all its many myriad forms, and quilting, sewing, and knitting was a special favorite of hers.
“Well, I managed to create this a short while back,” Mrs. Shy continued, fishing a beautifully hoof-stitched quilt featuring both Windy and Rainbow on it, with a rainbow shining after a passing storm cloud behind them. The care that had gone into it was quite evident, by the intricate needlework and sewing, getting every last detail of it right down to the manes of the two ponies on it, and the many colors of the rainbow with the hoof-stitched sun shining on it.
“That’s…” Fluttershy whispered, finding herself at a loss for words briefly. “Rainbow is going to love it…” she said, after regaining her voice before pulling her mom into a hug and saying: “Thank you…”
Mrs. Shy blushed. “Yes, well, I planned on giving this to them both, but…” she trailed off, and sniffled a little. “That sadly can’t happen now. Instead, only Rainbow will get to see it,” she sighed sadly.
“It’s the thought that counts,” Fluttershy told her mom.
“Yes, I suppose it is…” Mrs. Shy said. “I plan on knitting Gilda, the poor dear, a sympathy quilt when I get the time. Just something for her to remember her fiance -Here, Mrs. Shy had to suppress another sniffle- by,”
Both of Fluttershy’s parents then flushed red.
“Oh, look at us, standing around here at your house with the front door swung wide open!” Mr. Shy exclaimed. “We must be attracting so much attention!”
“Please, come in,” Fluttershy told them kindly, gesturing with a hoof for them to come inside. “I’ll start making a pot of tea, if you’d like.”
“Oh, now that would be grand!” Mrs. Shy said. “I know you’ve inherited your father’s tea-making skills, and it’s always a delight to take a sip of your work!”
Both parent and child flushed red as they walked back inside, with Fluttershy using her wing to pull the door shut. As Fluttershy began walking to the kitchen, both she and her parents heard the galloping of little hooves down a wooden staircase.
An orange form with a purple cropped mane flew into view and hugged her grandparents tightly sobbing as she did so.
“Hey Scootaloo,” Mr. Shy smiled before wrapping his wings around his granddaughter -He was going to have to get used to saying that- tightly. “It’s alright, we’re here now. Everything’s going to be just fine…” he said, in a soft comforting tone.
Scootaloo just sobbed again, and nuzzled into Mr. Shy’s sweater before she pulled away.
“Oh… Oh, I’m sorry! I… I got it all soaked from crying… Celestia, you must think of me as such a big crybaby, when I’m supposed to act all tough,” she muttered in shame.
“It’s okay, it can always be washed. Besides, we all need a good cry now and then, we don’t need to put up false fronts to hide our true feelings.” Mr. Shy said reassuringly as Fluttershy returned with cups of tea and she sat them down on a table, before pulling Scootaloo up into her lap on a couch.
“Listen,” Mrs. Shy began as she sat the quilt aside and drunk a small sip of her tea. “We didn’t just come here to offer sympathies. We’re here to offer advice if you need it.”
“T-Thank you…” Fluttershy whispered.
“First piece of advice I can offer you is this, give Rainbow time. Ponies handle grief in different ways,” Mrs. Shy said. “I know when my mother passed away, her husband barely spoke for a week. And me… I just stayed shut up in my room half the time remembering her, only coming down for dinner.”
“I… I remember…” Fluttershy said, thinking back to her very early foalhood days when her grandma passed. It was true, her mother barely ever came down from her room except when it was time for dinner.
“Just remember this, when Rainbow returns, and rest assured, she will return, no matter the state she’s in,” Mrs. Shy continued, with her daughter and granddaughter listening intently. “Just be there for her, offer her all the support she needs. Take it from someone who knows, she’s going through a hard time, and it will only get harder from here on in. The pain will pass in time, may take a little while, but for now, she needs your undying love and support. Do you understand?”
“Yes… Yes, I do,” Fluttershy nodded. “Thanks, mom.”
“That’s what I’m here for sweetie…” Mrs. Shy smiled. “Remember that.”