//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 : Dawn of a new day // Story: Never Let Me Go // by Argenti Luna //------------------------------// In her own little corner of the world, a Rainbow haired girl sat atop a hill, sitting in blissful silence, her eyes glued to the horizon witnessing the beauty of a rising sun. This was Rainbow Dash the star athlete of Canterlot high and captain of the soccer team. While everyone you asked would usually tell you she was a competitive hothead always moving fast with the aim of going faster. There was always that secret side of her that could enjoy the quieter and slower things like this sunrise, it reminded her of someone she knew. She watched as the streetlamps shut off around the park as the sunlight did its job bringing light into the world. The secluded girl took a few deep breaths smelling the freshness of the air, pulling out her phone and taking a selfie with her back to the sun, allowing the light to bend and outline against her curves and muscles perfectly while still having enough light to show the smile on her face. She quickly sent it to the person she considered her best friend. Although recently things had gotten slightly more complicated and it was safe to say Rainbow Dash was feeling some external pressure attempting to keep them away from each other, to keep her away from all of her friends. The athlete sighed putting her phone away and began her run back home, the world around her was peaceful with soft flowing streams; the sounds of birds and the sight of blades of grass dancing in the wind shimmering as the sun’s rays reflected against their dew covered tips. It was certainly a spectacle and the aspiring athlete could appreciate that, but right now she was in her own world psyching herself up as she rocked out to the music playing in her ears inspiring her to run as long and fast as she could. It was important to her that she always pushed herself to the limit, she needed to keep improving if she had any hope of getting a sports scholarship especially with the new soccer season coming up. All the major colleges would be sending scouts that she needed to impress if she ever wanted to take a career up in the sport she loved. Of course, she couldn’t win games alone and as team captain, she was already thinking of different strategies they could use to get the upper hand on their opponents. Last year crystal prep won the trophy and this year it’ll be Canterlot high or else my name isn’t Rainbow Dash she thought to herself fuelling her determination and pushing herself as hard as she could to pick up her pace and before she knew it she had run through the park and several blocks reaching her front door checking her phone to see how long it had been since she sent the photo. “10 minutes I'm getting faster.” Rainbow feeling proud of herself opened the door and strode into the home, her first sight being her parents arguing in the kitchen. This had been a common occurrence the past few days they would start arguing over something and Rainbow would go out for a run hoping they had finished by the time she returned, but this was the first time she’d come home to them already arguing especially this early in the morning. It wasn’t that they were bad parents, in fact, they were incredibly supportive even about the fact that Rainbow Dash had come out as a lesbian, it’s just while her mother supports her with love and kindness complementing her on how well she performs. Her father chooses a more demeaning approach picking at her faults, leaving her to consider him more of a coach than a father at times. The moment the pair realised Rainbow was stood in the doorway they immediately went silent going back to what they were doing in, avoiding even acknowledging that they had been arguing in front of Rainbow Dash. “There’s my superstar, I’ve already made breakfast, so you just take a seat,” beamed Windy Whistles, Rainbows mother. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and slid into the nearest chair trying to avoid making eye contact with either of the pair attempting to salvage the situation as it didn’t need to be any more awkward than it already was. She watched as her mother started making up the plates before moving her eyes towards her father hidden behind a newspaper well at least what was left of one over 80% of it had been tossed into the recycling bin leaving just the sports section in his hands. “Here you go eat up,” said her mother encouragingly handing her a plate piled with food full of protein and energy. Upon receiving his breakfast Rainbow’s father Bow Hothoof dropped his paper to one side looking down at the plate with a primitive hunger in his eyes before playfully punching Rainbow in the arm. “Yeah eat up champ you’ll need all the energy you can get in order to ace it out there on the field today.” He looked at her for a moment full of pride before his nose perked at the scent of food pulling his attention back to his breakfast. Rainbow Dash smirked as she began to eat knowing full well she didn’t need any of this to ace it, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t accept a chance to be even more awesome. The remainder of breakfast carried on in a similar fashion with the topic of the conversation being based around Rainbow Dash and her abilities to play soccer along with the anticipation of the upcoming season. “So, have you got a new midfielder yet since Merry left the team?” Bow asked his stare locking onto his daughter. Dash wasn’t paying attention she was too busy smiling down at her phone replying to a text she’d received from her friend in response to the picture she had sent. “Dash!” Bow loudly growled gripping at her attention causing her to look up from her phone towards her dad. “Huh, what did you say? I was replying to Shy,” Rainbow responded awkwardly rubbing at the back of her neck. Bow sighed repeating himself with frustration in his tone, “I said have you found a replacement for that traitor Merry?” Rainbow was shocked by the harshness of his words towards someone he’d never even met. “She’s not a traitor, she simply wanted to try other things she was good at soccer, but she just didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of the team, you can’t blame her for that.” Bow grinned in a way that filled Rainbow with dread, she knew that grin, that blasted grin. He leaned back in his chair looking Rainbow up and down before turning to her mother, his wife. “See I told you she was far too loyal, the girl goes and ditches the team right before the season starts, meaning if she isn’t replaced by someone competent it'll lead to the teams downfall, I can’t think of a more selfish thing to do,” he paused for a second turning back to look at his athletic daughter. “Yet our daughter the team captain still defends her, it makes me wonder if its loyalty or stupidity.” “That’s enough Bow,” Rainbows mother snapped, her eyes glaring straight into his as she prepared to give him an earful at how that was completely out of line. As her lips opened she felt her voice cut short as she witnessed Rainbow get up from the table and head straight for her room. Rainbow didn’t usher a word or give any indication what was said had hurt her, all that could be seen was the fire raging in her eyes. Her parents sat in silence Windy’s eyes locked on her husband annoyed and stunned that he could say something so foul to their daughter. Bow looked over in her direction not a strain of guilt or worry on his face at the potential consequences of his actions. “You done staring at me I just stated the obvious, not my fault she feels some sort of loyalty to anyone that gives her the time of day, just like that girl whose more mouse than girl, I know they’ve been friends for years but I thought she’d ditch her when she realised she was a coward using her for protection.” Windy waited for the sound of Rainbows door closing, taking a deep breath trying to contain her frustrations, rising up from her chair to gather up the dishes, “SHE is your daughter and that friend of hers has a name too, its Fluttershy and she’s a lovely and sweet girl, don’t know why I have to tell you this you were the one who always suggested she came over for sleepovers and that she was welcome anytime.” Bow raised an eyebrow before getting up and grabbing the things he needed for work, “Yeah I said those things years ago when nothing Dash did really impacted her life but we are talking about her future as a soccer player she needs to focus 100% on this season if she hopes to get scouted, and if that Fluttershy or anyone else is going to keep distracting then that aint a future she’s going to have, maybe you should check your morals because that’s not sweet.” Windy sighed shaking her head, “Sometimes I wonder who the angsty teen is supposed to be in this house. You should go to work and think about how pathetic you just sounded.” Bow grunted grabbing his coat and storming to the door, “I see I'm the only one who actually cares about our daughter’s future,” and with that, he left slamming the door shut behind him. Sending a shaking vibration rippling through the house and leaving behind a stunned Windy and an upset Rainbow Dash who at this point was sat in her room with her back leaning against the door questioning if it was something she did wrong. Minutes ticked by and Rainbow hadn’t moved from her spot against the door her mind rushing with newfound doubts about whether or not Canterlot high even stood a chance this year with or without a midfielder when a knock came at the door and her mother's gentle voice called, “Rainbow darling can I come in,” the annoyed girl delayed any response for a few moments finally coming to the conclusion that she should get up and let her mother in. Doing so caused Rainbow much surprise as her mother stood there tears welling in her eyes as she moved into the room wrapping her arms around her daughter “I'm sorry about your father I know his work is stressful training all those athletes in his gym, but he has no right to speak about you or your friends in that way.” Rainbow was stunned to see her mother in this way especially not over something her dad had started, “Mom don’t worry its chill, you know how dad can get I’m really not that bothered, trust me.” Rainbow spoke with the confidence she was renowned for clear in her voice, but this was her mother and she knew her daughter. “You know you can drop the tough girl act with me it's not like you don’t drop it for Fluttershy sometimes.” Rainbow smirked, “Whatever you say, Mom, it’s not like I even get to hang out with her anymore because as Dad says, friends just get in your way.” “Yeah I know, maybe you should try changing that.” “I guess we’ll see, I’d rather avoid dealing with Dad, but I’ll be alright I’m Rainbow Dash, after all, now I need you out so I can get ready.” “That you are, and alright I’ll leave you to it,” Windy replied regaining her cheer as she was encouraged out of her daughter’s room leaving Rainbow Dash alone to herself. She took a few steps falling back onto her bed, taking a moment to relax this morning had been way out of the ordinary and definitely not cool. A few quiet minutes passed before she checked her phone seeing the notification that Fluttershy had replied during the arguing. Rainbow looked down at her phone admiring the wallpaper of herself and her band the Rainbooms all together on stage as best friends. She pushed a few buttons bringing up the text seeing it was from that familiar name Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s morning had gone far more peacefully than Rainbow’s, she had woken up to the little pitter patter of rabbit feet as her pet Angel Bunny had woken up early and begun to hop about in its cage making just enough sound to stir the sleeping girl. This girl was Fluttershy the animal lover and the gentle soul of her friends. She very calmly arose from her bed heading straight over to open his cage letting him run about of his own free will before moving back to where she came from. She crawled back into bed curling up into a ball and wrapping the blanket around herself making a cuddly cocoon, closing her eyes and drifting into her own tiny form of hibernation looking to grasp onto even the smallest bit of extra sleep. Sleep precious sleep, Fluttershy repeated to herself as she slowly slipped back to into her dream. After some time had passed Fluttershy couldn’t help being dragged out of her sleep to the sound of fabric ripping, at first Fluttershy had cast it off as nothing assuming it was all in her head before once again the sound was heard. Her eyes shot open remembering that somewhere in her room a little white bunny was hopping around getting itself into trouble. She quickly threw herself out of bed searching around frantically for the rabbit keeping her ears perked listening desperately for a sign to pinpoint the bunny’s hidey hole. *Vriip* She heard coming from a low point of the room throwing herself down to the floor, peering under her desk and bed when she caught a glimpse of light coming from under the bed that was reflecting off the rabbit’s eye. The pink haired girl slowly started to scoot over crawling under the bed to try and negotiate the item away from the rabbit. “Angel bunny I don’t mean to be rude, but would you mind maybe giving me that, please.” The Bunny looked at the girl almost as if it understood what she had said but didn’t seem to want to listen anyway causing Fluttershy to grow a slight frown out of sadness and frustration at the stubborn bunny. A bunny who took notice of this frown, rolling its eyes which is rather unnatural for a rabbit, but this was angel bunny and Rainbow Dash would argue that he was no normal bunny, no one could figure out when it had occurred, but Angel had become a little more human after interacting with Spike from the other world. Sunset had assumed some of the equestrian magic must have rubbed off onto him but Fluttershy couldn’t see any difference he was still a cute fluffy bunny with his own personality like the rest of the animals she knew. Angel let go of the item causing Fluttershy to quickly snatch it away in case his moment of sympathy faded crawling back out from under the bed and spreading it out in front of her to see what it was. To her surprise, it was a jacket but not one that she could remember ever wearing curious as to where it came from she pressed it to her face hoping to pick up the scent of whoever had worn it last. She took a breath in through her nose smelling a mix of sweat and vanilla, her mind raced to wonder who it could belong too and why it was under her bed when her phone vibrated causing her desk to shake slightly startling her and breaking her concentration. She hated leaving people waiting in case they thought poorly of her, immediately picking up the phone to check the notification seeing it was a picture message from Rainbow Dash. “I wonder what this could be about, probably wanting me to check over the answers for her homework,” she giggled to herself quietly as to not bother the bunny hopping around her feet. She eagerly opened up the picture. What she saw was a stunning image of a rainbow-haired girl wearing tight sports clothing with the sun hitting the back of her body bending around her form to show her curves and defined muscles. Fluttershy blushed her cheeks turning a crimson red and pressing the phone against her mouth to hide it, she looked down at the rabbit that was now hopping on and off her feet. “Oh, angel what do is say, do I compliment her, the sun or the nature around her. I don’t even know?” she slid down onto her knees letting the rabbit hop up onto them where she sat stroking it for a while before typing her response. *What a pretty view* The shy girl sat still for a moment anxious to how her friend would respond, for minutes she sat there looking at the screen for any indication that her message had been received. The frown from before returning to her face casing Angel to push itself into her stomach in an attempt to comfort her. “Don’t worry angel I know she’s busy with her own things, I’m probably not the only one who got that and I’m more of a hindrance anyway always relying on her to protect me.” The gentle girl let out a long sigh, putting her phone down and went back to the matter at hand, discovering who the jacket belonged to. She was hesitant to check the pockets as it was rude to snoop through someone else’s things but felt it was necessary to figure out who it belonged to pulling out a piece of paper and unfolding to see it was maths homework from a few weeks ago with notes scribbled across it about different plays in soccer and a few doodles that could be recognised as handwriting belonging to Rainbow Dash. “So, this must belong to Rainbow,” she said to herself picking up the jacket and smelling it again now instantly recognising the smell as her daring friend. She ran her hand across the fabric immediately realising what the sound she’d heard that morning was as her hand slipped into a hole about the size of an orange in the sleeve causing her to instantly panic. There was no way she could give this back to Rainbow Dash damaged, what would she think of her having let her jacket get ruined. A tear began to form in her eyes worried that this would cause her friend to think less of her, it was bad enough they didn’t get to talk all that much now with Rainbow dash being busy with sports. The last thing Fluttershy wanted to do was give her another reason to avoid her. She sat petting Angel for a while only stopping when her stomach began to rumble startling the pair resulting in her to let out a small giggle lightening her mood. Fluttershy got up and put Angel back into his cage with half a lettuce for his breakfast and headed downstairs into the presumably empty kitchen, opening the fridge and rummaging through pulling out a few items to put into a salad, closing the door to see her mother sat at the table scrolling through her Phone. The sudden appearance of another human scared Fluttershy resulting in her arms losing their grasp on the food she was carrying letting it all fall onto the floor causing quite the scene. Panicked the flustered girl quickly picked it all up and placed it on the counter awkwardly looking over in the direction of her mother who had witnessed the whole thing her hand placed over her mouth in an attempt to hide her smile as to not further embarrass her daughter. “Sleep well?” Her mother spoke up in a calm voice startling her daughter again. “Y.. yes, thank you,” Fluttershy sheepishly replied turning to prepare her breakfast. “You seem more tense than usual, this behaviour around others I can understand but with me is different what’s bothering you, sweetie?” “Angel Bunny tore the sleeve off one of Rainbows jumpers that were under my bed,” Fluttershy silently squeaked out tears welling up in her eyes. “Sorry I didn’t quite catch that,” Her mother said kindly motioning for her to repeat herself. Fluttershy took a gasp of air, “I let Angel Bunny out this morning and fell back asleep, when I woke up I couldn’t find him so looked under my bed and he had something in his mouth, so I got it off him and I realised it wasn’t mine it was something Rainbow Dash must have left here ages ago and he’d chewed a hole in it so I can’t give it back.” Fluttershy mother stared wide eyed in disbelief, “That everything?” “Um yes,” The shy girl replied hiding her face behind her hair. “Well that’s alright bring it to me, and I’ll see if I can’t patch it up,” Her mother replied remaining calm as to not worry her daughter further. “Oh no, I could never impose upon you like that, you are busy yourself…” “it's not an issue sweetie, go and get it for me and I’ll take a look,” she said interrupting Fluttershy mid-sentence. Fluttershy smiled a weak smile and walked out the room reaching the stairs out of her mother’s view and bounding up them a feeling of excitement replacing the sadness inside as she grabbed the jacket and hopped down the stairs mimicking angel bunny stopping at the door and slowly walking back into the kitchen and handing it to her mom. “That was fast, did you run?” Her mother smiled laughing softly to herself. “No.. my room isn’t that far from here,” Fluttershy whispered diverting the question. Her mother pushed her hand along the sleeve of the jacket looking and measuring the hole created using her fingers to wondering how best to go about repairing it. Fluttershy stood watching getting tingles down the back of her neck from the situation and the potential thought of being able to give it back to Rainbow, seeing the happiness on her face for returning it fading into a dream world of her being spun around by Rainbow them both laughing at the reunion of the jacket. “Okay I think I can fix this I’ll go see if I can sow it back together now and I’ll get it back to you before you head out for school, you get back to your breakfast and make sure you clean up after yourself when you’ve finished.” “Oookay,” Fluttershy said sheepishly going back to work, watching her mom walk out the room with the jacket in hand waiting until she was fully out of sight before doing a little celebration to herself. She quietly went about doing her morning routine eating her food and getting dressed and washed, preparing her bag and checking Angel was okay in his cage and had all the necessities when her phone buzzed in her pocket seeing that Rainbow had replied to the earlier text getting them into a conversation over text. Rainbow: Yeah one of the benefits of a morning run. Fluttershy: You must see so many animals while on your run. Rainbow: I’ll see the occasional squirrel or bird flying around but not normally, I just hear the birds not see them. Fluttershy: Oh, that is a shame they can be so pretty and uplifting to see. Rainbow: Yeah I guess but you’re the animal person so I might not get the same kick from it. That explains why I think about sports when I run rather than look at the surroundings. Fluttershy: Yes, I remember that the soccer season starts soon. Rainbow: Yeah it’s pretty exciting I assume you’ll come to my games with the others like usual. Fluttershy: I’ll try my best for you. Rainbow: Thanks, I know I can count on you all to be there, but anyway, what are you up to. Fluttershy: Oh, I'm just petting angel, how about you? Rainbow: Eating breakfast while doing my best to ignore my dad XD. Fluttershy: I Kinda know what that’s like he’s always complaining about the animals that come into our backyard x3. Rainbow: You always do such cute emojis even when laughing. Fluttershy. Oh, I don’t know about that :3. Rainbow: Swear you are doing this on purpose now XD. Fluttershy: I'm not it’s just the emotes I always use :3. It was here the back and forth texting stopped which caused great confusion to Fluttershy who at this point was thinking that it was going so well, and they were going to have a conversation again although inside she knew it would be like the rest where they talk once every week or two the rest of the time she’s busy with her sports. Her eyes saddened at the thought of them drifting apart they were always the best of friends but now they were growing up and getting busy with their own things, it’s not like Rainbows life plan was to protect her from bullys. She thought back to the past to when they were in middle school Fluttershy was backed into a corner on the playground with three boys stood around her picking on her for her small and weak appearance. When a voice called out challenging them to bully her instead, Fluttershy could remember it so clearly she was stood there like a knight, her knight, who was arriving in her time of need to protect her scaring away the bullies and stretching out a hand. “Hi, I am Rainbow Dash who are you?” Fluttershy remembered how she was frozen in place just lying on the floor looking up at the hand that was being offered to her and anxiously placed her hand against it with the brave girl pulling her up and waving her hand in front of her face. “I asked for your name,” Confusion and worry growing on her face as to why the girl would not respond to her. “I didn’t scare you did I?” Fluttershy froze even more than before no one else other than her parents had ever been concerned about how they had impacted her they usually just picked on her, this girl was different, and she must try and be brave like her. “I'm flut…” her voice fell off into a whisper causing the tiny young Rainbow confusion. “I didn’t catch that dude.” Fluttershy steadied herself taking a deep breath trying to grow her courage “Fluttershy” she said again quietly but loud enough for the other girl to hear. “Well hi Fluttershy, do you maybe want to be friends?” Fluttershy’s eyes lit up in hope she’d never had a friend before and here she had a girl come and defend her from the bullies and now offer her friends what kind of dream was she living. “I would very much like that.” And with that, her attention was brought back to her current surroundings the memory still fresh in her mind as she smiled at the happy moment. they’d been best friends from that point onwards, well till at least a few weeks ago when she started to feel like Rainbow had been drifting away from her, but it wasn’t her place to ask those kinds of questions and invade on her privacy. All of a sudden a noise echoed from her pocket as her phone vibrated against her hip as a song performed by the band she and her friends were in started to play. Fluttershy recognised it as her ringtone pulling out the phone, answering it and meekly placing it against her ear. “Hello, Fluttershy speaking." “Hey, Flutters its Dash, you free to talk for a bit.” “Yes I'm free right now, you sound upset is something wrong.” “Yeah yeah I'm Rainbow Dash everything is perfect with me, my dad is the problem.” “Oh is he still putting pressure on you.” “Still putting pressure,” Rainbow laughed, “He’s been adding more and more with each passing day since this year started.” “Maybe he’s just trying to push you to try harder.” “I do try my hardest, he makes me feel like that’s not enough and I'm not a good enough sports player because I'm too soft.” “Rainbow you are the strongest girl I know, how you could feel soft?” “Not physically soft Flutters mentally soft.” “Oh,” Fluttershy went quiet unsure how to respond to a comment like that. “He basically said I'm stupid for not thinking Merry was a traitor.” “Merry was the girl who left the team right?” “Yeah Shy, that’s the one.” “Well I don’t think you are stupid for being okay with her leaving the team it shows how good a friend you are and how mature you can be.” “Me, mature tell me another joke shy,” Rainbow laughed her smile being heard through the call causing Fluttershy to smile and giggle too. “You know,” Rainbow added, “I feel like it’s been ages since we just hung out together.” “it’s been a good while,” Fluttershy replied sadness growing in her voice, “But it’s okay I know you are busy training and working with your team it's okay,” she quickly added covering her tracks. “Yeah, I’m sorry I should make time for you and the other girls how about this morning I remember Pinkie saying she was going to be there early want to meet up with the gang a little before school starts so we can chill since I’ll be busy with training after school.” “I’d very much like that it’ll be nice to see all the girls before I have to go into class might give me the energy to survive maths,” Fluttershy joked causing the pair to laugh together. “Alright, Shy I’ll see you later.” “Bye Bye Rainbow.” The call ended with a beep and Fluttershy was left with a joyous feeling at the opportunity to hang out with all her friends, and with Dash being there it was like a cherry on top of the ice cream. She dashed downstairs and sat a while watching Monkey life a program about a group of monkeys living in the jungle and the shenanigans they get up too. After a while, the front door opened and in came a tired looking man who gave Fluttershy a kiss on the forehead before slumping down onto a couch across from the one Fluttershy was sat on and watched the TV his eyes visibly heavy. Like the meeting point of the house Fluttershy’s mother also then came into the lounge wishing her husband good morning and handing Fluttershy the jacket. “I’ve patched it up it’s a little rough on the edges, but it’ll suit Rainbow’s style, so if anything she will consider it an improvement,” her mother laughed to herself at the thought of her saying it looks “way cool” in a typical Rainbow fashion. “Thanks, mom it means a lot,” Fluttershy smiled folding it up neatly and placing it into her bag. “What’s this, what’s what,” The slouched man, Fluttershy’s dad said in a loud and sleep heavy tone. “Oh, it’s nothing dear Fluttershy just found Rainbows jacket in her room and Angel took to chewing it so I patched it up so she can pass it back.” “Ahh, I told you that rabbit causes more trouble than he’s worth,” Her dad responded satisfied with the answer he’d been given. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was rolling her eyes at the comment about Angel and moved across to the side as her mother sat down beside her. “You know Fluttershy I do wonder what an item of Rainbows clothing is doing under your bed, something you want to tell us,” her mother said teasingly intentionally joking to fluster her daughter. “Oh, I don’t know she probably took off when we were all over here studying a few weeks ago and it found its way under there,” She responded blushing at the implications of the questions. “You sure you won’t find any other items of clothing up there,” Her mother replied laughing aloud now more obviously teasing. “That’s enough,” her father commanded, “That’s not something to joke about can’t even imagine her having an interest in girls.” “You’re right dear my apologies,” Her mother replied before turning to Fluttershy and lowering her voice to a whisper, “You can love whoever you choose Sweetie, your father and I will get used to it if it's unconventional. But any way you best be getting off to school.” Fluttershy gathered her things and headed out the door the sounds of her parents talking behind her.