Chapter 9
INFINITY
Fluttershy stared at the sun setting over the forest. The ancient ruins crumbling around her seemed an appropriate metaphor for how her life has crashed to pieces around her not even three years ago.
The figure beside her placed a comforting hand on her back.
"Hey. You okay?"
Fluttershy glanced into her friend's yellow eyes. Those eyes used to creep her out, but she'd gotten used to them over three years. The man grinned sheepishly at her.
"What? Is my hair messed up or something?" He ran a hand through his distinctive skunk-striped black and platinum hair.
Fluttershy giggled.
"No. I was just- thinking."
"Ah." He glanced down. "About what?"
"You know- um- before all this happened."
She blushed.
Discord glanced at her.
"Yeah. Me too."
"Do you- umm-"
"Do I have the nightmares? No. I don't dream. But I've heard you in your sleep."
The nightmares.
Fluttershy wished she could call them that.
But they were all too real.
No, they weren't nightmares.
They were memories.
Rainbow Dash grabbed her arm.
"Fluttershy! We have to go! Something's wrong!"
Fluttershy squealed and pulled her blankets up around herself.
"Dashie! I'm not dressed yet!"
Rainbow threw a sweater and a pair of jeans at her with uncharacteristic force.
"Get dressed then! We have to go!"
Fluttershy nervously swung her legs out of the bed, holding her blankets over her chest and pulling her pants on with one hand.
Rainbow snorted.
"Come on, Fluttershy! It's not like we've never seen each other naked!"
Fluttershy muttered indistinctly, but quickly pulled on a tank top. Before she could grab her sweater, however, Rainbow grabbed her hand.
Fluttershy had never seen Rainbow scared before. But here she was. Shrunken pupiled, flared-nostril, sweaty-palmed terrified. Rainbow was holding Fluttershy's hand far too tight, but Fluttershy didn't cry out. Instead, she gently squeezed back, to let Rainbow know she was there and she wouldn't leave her.
No matter what.
They burst out the door. A Magii in a blue uniform that Fluttershy had never seen before (The man or the uniform) joined step with them.
"That's your marefriend?" he said quietly, his eyes flicking back and forth as they speed-walked towards a navy-blue miitary scout car with a strange insignia on the door.
"Yeah. This is Fluttershy." Rainbow said, squeezing her hand possessively. Fluttershy didn't complain, keeping her head down and her mouth shut.
The man straightened his hat on his blue and black hair, then opened the car's back door for the two of them .
They climbed in. Fluttershy glanced at the open back to see another man , this onewearing military fatigues, manning a machine=gun mounted directly over them.
'Um, Rainbow?" she whispered. "What- What's going on?"
Rainbow Dash stared at her.
Then, wrapping her arms around her, Rainbow buried her head against Fluttershy's shoulder and began to cry.
Fluttershy meeped, unsure how to handle this situation. Rainbow was always the one that stayed strong.
Tentatively, she began to stroke her friend's rainbow-dyed head. "Umm, there, there. It's going to be okay."
"No, it's not." Rainbow sobbed. "Fluttershy, I saw the library burning. Twilight's dead. I think Applejack and Rarity are too."
Fluttershy froze in shock.
"Wh-wh-what?"
"They're dead, Flutters. I just know it."
"Wh-what about Pinkie?"
Rainbow's head shot up. Hatred burned in her eyes.
"She was with THEM."
"W-with who?"
"The Imperial soldiers. Pinkie had a flame thrower. She's the one that burned the library, and the boutique. The soldiers shot Applejack. I saw it, she just… crumpled."
Fluttershy was stunned. It was too much to take. She couldn't evenjn begin to understand, to wrap her head around it.
All her friends… Gone.
Just like that.
"No… What if.." Fluttershy tried to deny it. She found that the words stuck in her throat. She couldn't speak. Soundless tears trickled down her cheeks, splashing onto Rainbow's hand.
She'd already lost Discord.
Why?
Why, in the name of Celestia, why did this have to happen to her? What had she ever done to deserve this?
There was a deafening deep THUD, and Fluttershy screamed as the car suddenly was flipping end-over –end, then hit the ground and polled. The crunch and tear of metal scraping and crunching surrounded her. She was thrown forward, and she felt her head slam into something warm and soft, then a warm sticky liquid splattered on the back of her neck. She was nearly deaf, the explosion still ringing in her ears.
The car came to a stop- miraculously upright- and Fluttershy slumped.
Her hearing slowly came back. She could hear a man yelling "Run for cover! Run for cover!" another crying out for help, and a familiar voice coughing and choking.
Rainbow Dash!
Fluttershy turned to her companion.
Rainbow's entire front was splattered with blood, and she was coughing up yet more.
Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror.
"No… No…" she whispered. She was immediately dulled to her own injuries.
She knelt over Rainbow, stroking her hair, gently pressing on her chest and stomach to try to figure out what was wrong. Rainbow whined quietly when Fluttershy laid her hands on her lower abdomen.
Injured organs and internal bleeding.
Fluttershy's tears fell thick and fast as she mentally pronounced her best friend and lover's death sentence.
"It's going to be okay, Rainbow." She sniffed. "Everything's alright. I'm here."
Rainbow Dash's purple eyes stared at her, going in and out of focus.
"F-Fluttershy…"
"The ambulance will come." She lied, her tears splashing on Rainbow as she gently probed her midsection. "It'll all be okay."
"It- It hurts so bad…"
"Miss Fluttershy!"
It was the man from before.
"We have to go! We've dealt with these ones, but there'll be more!"
Fluttershy snapped.
"I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE HER HERE ALONE!" she screamed, and the man took a surprised step back.
"Yes, ma'am." He said softly, removing his hat and backing away quietly.
Fluttershy gently leaned over Rainbow and kissed her forehead.
"Do you remember the time we got lost in Manhattan during Hearth's Warming?" she whispered.
"Yeah…" Rainbow croaked. "We had to get a hotel room with your credit card…"
"And you got me so drunk, I couldn't see straight." Fluttershy giggled. "And when we got on the bed, I fell asleep on top of you before you even got my shirt off."
Rainbow chuckled. "And then you woke up at 2:30 in the morning and hurled all over me."
Fluttershy smiled, and slid herself into the seat next to Rainbow Dash.
"We'll have to go again some time."
Rainbow smiled and lay her head on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"Yeah…."
They sat there for a few minutes before Rainbow Dash finally took her last breath.
To Be Continued…