Fluttershy puttered around her little cottage, a bowl of carrots balanced upon her head for Angel Bunny. It was Saturday, so her kindness classes at the school of friendship wouldn't be in session today. This would give her plenty of time to care for not only Angel, but her other animals as well. Being a teacher in Twilight's school of friendship was very nice, and she loved the students, but having a day off was just the thing.
The strange thing was, one of the other teachers had been absent as of late...and Fluttershy was beginning to worry. Rainbow Dash, the school's teacher of Loyalty, was usually always in attendance, minus the false mission Discord had send them on, and riding the wild blue yonder in Las Pegasus with the Golden Horseshoe gals. Other than that, she'd never missed one of her classes. Until now that is...
Placing the bowl of carrots before her rabbit friend, Fluttershy came to a decision. She'd waited long enough. Rainbow's excuses of extra Wonderbolts practices were becoming ridiculous, and she knew that something else had to be going on. “You stay here and enjoy your carrots, Angel. I need to go check on Rainbow...I haven't seen her in so long, and I'm worried something might have happened to her.”
Angel nodded sagely, then turned to his bowl of carrots, devouring them ravenously. Fluttershy took wing and flew out her front door in the direction of Rainbow Dash's cloud home.
***
Fluttershy landed on Rainbow's front porch, skidding to a stop when she spotted the large number of storm clouds surrounding the structure. Being a pegasus herself, Fluttershy's worry increased tenfold. One bad day for a pegasus could lead to a single raincloud, while a great many saddened pegasi could cause an entire storm. It was very rare for one to cause this many all at once...unless...
Fluttershy gasped, and rapidly knocked on the door. Something was very wrong. “Rainbow Dash? It's Fluttershy! Are you home?” Silence greeted her, and her ears drooped. She knocked again, a bit more forcefully this time. “Rainbow, if you aren't coming out, I'm coming in!” Raising her right hoof, she pushed the door open.
She'd been in Rainbow Dash's home plently of times, and she'd seen it in various states of
uncleanliness just as many times. But this...this was a vision straight out of tartarus. The dishes in the sink had flies buzzing around them, and there was moldy food left out on the counter. “Oh...my...Celestia...” Fluttershy whispered, raising a hoof to her mouth in shock. Without another word, she zipped upstairs to Rainbow's room, not bothering to knock this time. What she saw brought heartbroken tears to her eyes.
It was clear she hadn't left her room in almost a week. Empty cider bottles were scattered everywhere, and the shades were closed. But that was nothing compared to how Rainbow herself looked. Her rainbow mane and tail were messy and completely filthy, and she wore her robe and Tank slippers. The robe was stained by so many unidentifiable stains that Fluttershy couldn't tell what color it was supposed to be.
Rainbow's eyes were open, but she was only staring at the wall. For a pony who usually never seemed to stop moving, the pegasus was almost too still.
“R-rainbow? Are you alright?” Fluttershy whispered, carefully stepping around the crushed soda cans and flattened pizza boxes that covered the floor of the room. Rainbow continued to look at the wall, blinking slowly, as if she hadn't heard her friend speak.
Sighing, Fluttershy walked over to the curtains and, with a swift movement, parted them to let in the daylight. That got a reaction out of her.
“Ugh, Fluttershy, I had those closed for a reason,” Rainbow groaned, grabbing her pillow and putting it over her face. Fluttershy shook her head, smiling gently. “I get the feeling you've been in here for over a week, and that you haven't been truthful about where you've been all this time. You told Twilight that Spitfire needed you for extra Wonderbolt practices, but I'm seeing so much garbage in here, and downstairs, that I don't think you've left this house at all.”
“Doesn't matter...” Rainbow muttered through the pillow, “It's all horseapples..” Rainbow's body seemed to tense up and curl in on itself, and she moved the pillow to place it under her head. It was hard to miss the wonderbolt emblem stitched onto the pillowcase. “You try and do your best, but it doesn't matter. None of it bucking matters!” As she finished speaking, Fluttershy heard the first real flash of emotion in her friend's voice; it was an emotional break that many other ponies would miss. But not Fluttershy. She knew Rainbow Dash better than anypony else did. Rainbow played the part of a brave and fearless mare, but in reality, she was a big softy. Something had rocked her friend to her core, and fluttershy intended to find out what it was.
Sitting herself on the floor by Rainbow's bed, fluttershy smiled sympathetically. “I haven't seen you this upset since you were kicked out of flight camp...what happened? I won't tell anypony else if you don't want me to.”
Rainbow didn't even flinch. Her eyes were dead and lifeless. Fluttershy knew,in that moment, that her initial assessment had been incorrect: it was worse than flight camp. Back then, Rainbow had at least cried. There was nothing now.
Rainbow muttered something under her breath that she couldn't here. “What's that, Rainbow? I didn't here you.” Another whisper. “Oh, I'm sorry Rainbow, I still didn't here that.”
“She kicked me out ok!” Rainbow snapped, with such force that Fluttershy toppled over. “Spitfire kicked me out of the Wonderbolts!”
Fluttershy froze. “What! But why?” Rainbow Dash sighed, looking at the stitching on the carpet of her bedroom floor, and then at one of the cloud walls. “There was an...incident. And...it was my fault.” She shuddered. “I didn't realize...I couldn't have known...the sky seemed clear...”
“What are you talking about Rainbow? Why exactly did you get kicked out?” Fluttershy was so confused. What had happened that could've cost her so much? She worked so hard to get a place in the Wonderbolts. How bad really was it?
Finally, Rainbow did cry. It was only a sniff, and some obvious moisture in her eyes, but it was there. “I...I hurt somepony.”
Fluttershy moved to her side. “Knowing you, I'm sure it was an accident.” She whispered. “Who did you hurt?”
Rainbow's tears fell more urgently. “It...it was Soarin...we were trying out a new formation, you know, for our next performance.” Wiping a hoof over her eyes, she continued. “We were just starting...and he was right next to me...I...I slammed into him...and he fell.” She crumpled to the floor, sobbing. “He'll never fly again Fluttershy! His wings are shattered from when he hit the ground.” Placing her hooves over her eyes, she muttered, “So yeah, none of it matters. Spitfire said she couldn't have anypony so reckless on the Bolts and I can't ever go back.”
Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears too. She knew how important being a wonderbolt was to Rainbow. For most of their foalhood, she'd spoken of nothing else. How cool they were, how she dreamed of being one of them. Now, all of her friend's dreams were shattered, and there was nothing she could do to make this better. There was no “try again” senario that she could present her with to encourage her. As far as Rainbow knew, this was the worst her life could become. Still, she had to try.
“Oh Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry!” She said, drying her eyes. “I know how much this meant to you. Believe me when I say I understand how hard this is for you.”
Rainbow only shook her head, and then looked at Fluttershy dead in the eyes. “No Fluttershy...I don't think you do. And I don't think the others would either.”
Fluttershy gasped, her ears drooping again. “How could you say that?” Why would Rainbow say something so irrational? Now she really didn't know what to say...or what to do. In fact, she was so hurt that she was starting to wonder why she bothered trying to help at all, which was a new feeling for her.
“Fine, Rainbow.” She said, sweetly but stiffly. “I won't bother you if you don't think I'll understand. But, I'll be at my cottage if you need me.”
And with that, she lifted herself from the floor, and turned to go. She thought she heard Rainbow say something else under her breath: “I'm sorry for being so useless, and such a horrible pony...”