//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Recovery // Story: The Long Road to Normal // by scifidude47 //------------------------------// They took about two and a half minutes to get up the steep hill. They kept trotting silently, with Fluttershy still on Iron Wing's back. when they came upon a small creek, he set her down and nudged her back into consciousness. "Fluttershy? Fluttershy you've got to wake up..." Iron Wing said as he lightly nudged her with his hoof. She didn't move for a while, but eventually she woke up. "Am... Am I dead?" She asked. "No." Iron Wing responded "Is Rainbow ok?" "Yes." "Am I ok?" "I think so." "Are you ok?" Iron Wing paused for a moment. "I don't know." Fluttershy just sat there and buried her face into his chest, which muffled her wailing and kept her tears off of the ground. Rainbow dropped the pistol, tired of the taste of metal in her mouth. She then trotted over to Fluttershy. "Hey... 'Shy... it's ok..." She said, trying to calm her down. After her crying subsided, she lifted her face, sniffing and wiping the leftover tears away. "Does my mane have blood in it?" She asked in between sniffles. "A little bit." Iron Wing responded. "Do you think that the water will wash it off?" "It'd be cold." "That's ok." She got up and shuffled over to the water to clean the blood and dirt out of her pink mane. She instantly shot out of the water after her scalp touched the surface. It was freezing cold, but she slowly dipped her head back in. Iron Wing ran his hoof across her mane in the water to loosen the bits of dirt away. When the condition of her mane could be considered decent, Iron Wing lifted her out of the water. "Does it look better?" "Yes." "Not perfect though, right?" "No, I'm sorry." "That's ok." "I don't have a towel, but you can use my sleeping bag to warm yourself up in." "That's ok. I don't want you to be cold too." "Please? I don't want you to get cold either." Iron Wing pleaded. "A-Alright then." Fluttershy responded softly. Wait, where is it? Iron Wing thought. Oh no.. no.. no... He left it in the cart. He forgot the cart at the cottage. It'd be too dangerous to go back now. "I forgot to bring it with me. I'm sorry." "Oh... that's fine." Fluttershy responded, hiding her disappointment well. "Hey, do you mind if I talk to you in private for a moment?" Rainbow interrupted. "What about Fluttershy?" "If she needs us, we'll be in calling distance." She responded simply. "Well... ok. Fluttershy, if you need us, just call. ok?" "O...ok..." She responded. They trotted a good distance away into a part of the forest with more dead plants. Rainbow flapped her wings once to get over stumps in her way, while Iron Wing just walked around them, as he was less willing to fly in times like these. When Rainbow stopped, Iron Wing did as well. "So, what do you ne-" Before he could finish his sentence, Rainbow smacked him with the back of her hoof, leaving a sizable imprint on his muzzle. He could taste a slight hint of blood in his mouth. "What in Equestria do you think you're doing!?" Rainbow yelled at him. "I'm trying to help you tw-" "After all the stuff you put us through, all the times you yelled at us, and after all the times you came home drunk, after you KICKED US OUT, you expect us to come with you!? Forget it! I'd rather be eaten by cannibals than suffer a fate like that!" Iron Wing rubbed his muzzle as she talked, then responded. "I didn't want you two to die!" "Could've fooled me!" She spit back at him. "I just want to help you!" "WHY!?" "I just do!" He said as a small tear began to form in his eye. He turned around and wiped it before she could notice, though. She kept yelling at him, and he kept trying to talk peacefully with her for several minutes until she came to a decision. "You know what? I don't care if you take Fluttershy with you or not. I'm leaving!" "NO!" Fluttershy responded, who had been hiding behind the stump of a tree as they argued. She galloped up to Rainbow with tears in her eyes. "What are you trying to prove? Why are you trying to leave!?" She wailed. Rainbow stood where she was, stunned by her sudden appearance. Iron Wing did the same. "I... I..." Rainbow stuttered. "I won't have any friends left if you leave..." At that point, she'd let her floodgates down and sobbed upon the dirt. Rainbow hugged her as one would hug their sibling and finally spoke back. "Ok... I'm not leaving. I'll stay." She glared back at Iron Wing. "So long as the past doesn't repeat itself."