Rarity sat quietly alone pondering the events that had just transpired. Why did Rainbow Dash kiss her? That question kept popping into her mind but Rarity knew the answer. Rarity wasn't a dumb pony and hindsight is a magical thing. It all made sense, Dash had been showing up more and more frequently the last couple of weeks. It seemed her visits were becoming more and more regular, and then the strange letter that morning, the unbelievable lie, her overall strange behavior. While Dash's antics were silly it was a common theme in several romance novels that Rarity had read. Making up lies and pretending to enjoy oneself just to be near somepony.
The realization that Dash probably had a crush on her was painful. Normally Rarity would be flattered to know that others found her attractive, but it's always different with friends. To her knowledge the only other close friend she knew who had a crush on her was Spike but that didn't bother her too much considering how young he was. With Rainbow Dash it was different. While Dash could act immature at times and wasn't great with emotions she was old enough to know what her heart wanted. And that broke Rarity's heart.
Rainbow Dash had left in such a hurry that she didn't give Rarity a chance to say anything. Rarity wasn't even sure that had Dash stayed whether she would have been able to conjure up anything to say anyway. "What am I going to do Opal?" asked Rarity to her feline companion. "I can't image how hard it was for Rainbow Dash to express herself in that way. She's not very open about her emotions and she took a huge step but... I don't feel the same."
A tear rolled down Rarity's cheek. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt one of her friends.
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"Idiot!" yelled Dash to herself. "You've messed everything up! She probably doesn't want to even be friends any more! I'm such a fool."
Dash was flying as fast as she could with her eyes shut tight trying to suppress her emotions. She didn't want to stop out of fear that she'd have to talk to somepony. She just needed sometime to be alone and collect her thoughts but fate doesn't always give you what you need.
As Dash was berating herself she didn't see the other mare in front of her. The yellow maned mare had her head poked in a bag of mail searching for the next letter she had to deliver. Dash reopened her eyes and caught sight of the grey mail mare. "Derpy look out!!" shouted Dash as she tried to divert her path. While she was successful in being able to dodge the other pony at such speeds her brief moment of relief from not colliding with Derpy was broken by a sharp pain in her right wing. She plummeted.
"Are you okay Rainbow Dash? Should I get help?" a voice asked as a dazed Rainbow Dash.
"What happened?" asked Dash while she started to stand up. She could feel a sharp pain coming from her right wing. As she was pulling herself up her front left leg gave out under the pressure causing Dash to yelp in pain.
"You clipped your wing on that tree and crashed really hard. Here let me help you up." said Derpy as she offered Rainbow a hoof up. "I think you should see nurse Red Heart. That wing looks pretty bad."
"I think my leg might be broken," winced Rainbow Dash as she got up. Leaning against Derpy for support the two Mares made their way slowly to the Ponyville hospital. This wasn't the first time Rainbow Dash had hurt herself and ended up in the hospital but with the days previous events this was shaping up to be the worst day of her life.