Rainbow dash had a new life now. She travelled all across Equestria and signed posters and saddlebags and did fundraising for hospitals and gave interviews to some of the biggest magazines and performed five days out of every week. Her pictures showed up everywhere, on billboards for everything from cabbages to carriages, in articles by the score. Paparazzi followed her in droves, trying to catch her doing anything improper, anything scandalous. She was the Wonderbolt’s Golden Girl, the mare who could do no wrong, who could perform death-defying acts of aerobatics or heroics, depending on the need.
And in all those articles and pictures, she sounded happy, she wore her trademark daredevil’s grin that melted the knees of many a mare or stallion. She looked like she was enjoying the high life, like she was on top of the world. She was living her dream, after all. But Fluttershy knew her better than many, and she could see different. Rainbow Dash’s eyes were never quite up to par with the rest of her face, never quite smiling. Fluttershy saw the weary slump in Rainbow’s posture after driving back a pack of Timberwolves in Trottingham, however slight it had been. A good three quarters of her job involved reading body language, and she and Rainbow went back to Flight school. And Fluttershy knew exactly why Rainbow wasn’t happy, she knew the reason. It looked back at her in the mirror every morning when she brushed out her hair.
All those months ago, back when they were together, back when everything was right with the world, when Fluttershy felt safe and warm and loved, and back even before that, Fluttershy knew that it would have to end. Rainbow Dash had abandoned a life on the clouds to join her in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash had given her the honors during Hurricane Duty after working so hard herself, and Rainbow Dash had planned on declining the position of her dreams when the letter came in. Because Rainbow Dash loved the sky, and she loved Fluttershy, and the two could never really be reconciled.
Dash had been prepared to do anything for Fluttershy, for weak-willed, weak-winged, trembling Fluttershy. But Fluttershy knew what Dash didn’t, what Dash couldn’t know. Because Rainbow Dash loved the sky, and she loved Fluttershy, but in the end she loved the sky more. Because Rainbow Dash was a pegasus through and through, and she needed the freedom that the skies would give her. She needed the adrenaline-fueled dives and spins, she needed the wind roaring against her ears, she needed the crowds of adoring fans. She needed to be a Wonderbolt, to be a part of the greatness she had dreamed of as a filly.
So Fluttershy had told the worst, most important lie of her entire life, had told Rainbow Dash that she didn’t need her anymore, didn’t want her anymore, didn’t love her anymore. And now she read the papers and looked at the billboards and occasionally asked to see the letters Rainbow sent Pinkie, when she was feeling brave enough. Because Rainbow Dash had a new life, and Fluttershy no longer had any place in it, with nopony but herself to blame.