Rainbow Dash groaned into her couch at the sound of someone knocking on her door. She thought she’d made it clear to everyone that she needed space for a while. She would still go and hang out with everyone and take care of her weather duties if needed but she really just wanted to be left alone to come to terms with things. She growled and rose to her hooves when the pony at the door had the audacity to knock a second time. Trudging to the door she steeled herself to keep from yelling at whatever dunderhead had decided that she needed to be helped. She threw the door open and froze.
“Fluttershy?”
A pony could be forgiven for not recognizing the yellow pegasus in front of Rainbow Dash as her friend Fluttershy. Her long beautiful mane had been unevenly torn and pulled at leaving an ugly teased mass that would make most ponies rush her immediately to a beautician. Her tail was similarly damaged with half its thickness appearing to have been burned off. Between the two, her body was riddled with cuts and bruises, none terribly serious except a deep gash on one foreleg that had been crudely bandaged. Overall she looked like she had been put through the ringer.
“Fluttershy? What happened to you? All that was left of your cottage was a giant scar in the ground,” Rainbow said as her eyes took in the extent of Fluttershy’s changed appearance before falling on the bandage on her leg. “Are you oka-” Rainbow stepped forward to help then flinched as the smell of burnt hair, flesh, and fresh blood from several different creatures struck her nose.
She suddenly noticed how many of the places on Fluttershy’s coat were bloody but had no associated injury nearby. The largest being a patch on the side of her chest that’s shape reminded Rainbow of the time a drunk pony had tackled her and then vomited on her before passing out. Rainbow’s eyes tracked up to Fluttershy’s face and finally seemed to notice the eyes there. The blue eyes staring back at her weren’t soft like she remembered. They weren’t firm like when she gave animals the stare, or even the cruel cold from her short stint as that minotaurs student. Fluttershy’s eyes seemed very nearly the same, except something in them Rainbow couldn’t identify had hardened and she ached a bit when looked in them.
Rainbow opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off by Fluttershy’s voice, scarily firm. “Please don’t say anymore yet.” Rainbow stopped midword, her mouth hanging open dully as she stared at Fluttershy, and the yellow pegasus took advantage of the opening to step in and kiss Rainbow deeply. Rainbow stood in shock for a long moment and Fluttershy took the lack of response as encouragement and pressed on in the kiss. Somewhere in the back of her stunned mind Rainbow noted that it was a very good kiss. Maybe a little better than she herself was capable of giving. Not much though.
Finally Fluttershy released her lock on Rainbow’s mouth and stepped back from the threshold to Rainbow’s home. Rainbow Dash just stared and tried to understand her mouth working futilely.
“I’m not very brave,” Fluttershy told her, “But I’m not a coward. And I always keep my promises. She made me promise that if we made it back we’d kiss the ponies we love whether they liked it or not. Now I need to go to the hospital. I’ll probably be there for a couple of days.”
Fluttershy turned and walked to the edge of Rainbow’s cloud before the colorful pegasus found her voice again. “Fluttershy,” she called, halting her friend as she spread her wings to leave, “What happened?”
Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at her friend and then turned back away, “I learned that some things can’t be cowed by scolding them. And that sometimes it’s the not-brave pony who gets to go home instead of the one who tried so hard…”
Rainbow started to ask what that meant but found herself talking to empty air as Fluttershy disappeared into the afternoon sky.