//------------------------------// // The Accident // Story: Butterflies // by Ghosttown Brony //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash “You know, I think this might be even more boring than last year’s migration.” The rainbow maned pony said with a huff. She knew her friend wasn’t listening. Fluttershy continued to stare into the valley where thousands upon thousands of butterflies created a long line as they migrated south for the winter. The multitude of colour that the butterflies brought was the only appeal for Rainbow Dash, but even that charm lasted only a few minutes before getting old. They’d been there for three hours. Fluttershy barely said anything the entire time, despite Rainbow's attempts at striking up a conversation. She was completely engrossed by the thousands of insects flying past and from their perch on a high up cliff they could see all the “action.” The valley stretched on for miles from the South to the North. Her friend had explained to her with great enthusiasm about why the butterflies liked to travel by the canyon. Something about protection from predators, she wasn’t paying any attention. The most fun Rainbow Dash had yet that day was eating the picnic they’d packed, when Fluttershy tore herself away from the binoculars for a couple minutes, and they could actually talk. But now they just sat on a crumb covered blanket, one watching intently, the other wanting to leave. But she wouldn’t. Despite being ultra boring, she’d been planning on hanging out with Fluttershy for a long time but they had both been so busy lately. A forest fire had injured and misplaced a ton of animals and Fluttershy had been up to her ears with work. Rainbow had been practicing hard for the next course at the Wonderbolt Academy in a few weeks, and could barely find enough time to sleep. If feigning interest at the butterfly migration was the only way they could hang out than Rainbow Dash could suffer through it. For how long though... “Fluuuuttershy,” The yellow mare turned upon hearing her name. “I’m bored.” She said Fluttershy giggled “Come on Rainbow it shouldn’t be much longer.” She smiled reassuringly. Damn why did she have to use that smile. So Rainbow Dash sat down beside her friend again and waited. For another hour. Still the migration went on and on, with no signs of stopping and Fluttershy remained still, simply watching. Rainbow Dash felt like exploding. Her need to get moving was stifled only by the look of utter contentedness on the yellow mares face. Somehow she was actually being entertained by this. Her eye’s rarely shifted away from the thousands of insects that were causing Rainbow such distress. Her beautiful blue eyes. Why wouldn’t they lock with her own? No,she violently pushed those thoughts aside. Rainbow figured it was only a matter of time before thoughts about her surfaced; they always did when she spent a lot of time with Fluttershy. She wished she didn’t have to fight off the thoughts, that she could just tell her how she felt, but Dash knew she couldn’t think of her in that way, it could mess up everything. She wasn’t even sure if Fluttershy was into mares. She told Fluttershy that she was a long time ago, and she was surprisingly alright with it. But if she told her about her feelings for her, deep feelings, she might leave her, and that was a thought she couldn’t bear. Best friend is just as good as fillyfriend, she told herself again and again. Fluttershy was a friend that’s it. Her very good friend. Her very attractive friend... Damn it. Vainly, she kept trying to find things to distract herself, the shapes of the clouds, the height of the surrounding hills, but somehow her train of thought always landed on Fluttershy. After running out of things to look at, she found herself just staring at the pegasus. At least she could have that. Her yellow coat, her wavy pink mane, the curves of her body. She was the epitome of beauty in Rainbows eyes. If she leaned just right, she could see the sunlight bounce off her. Maybe I could move in just a bit closer... Rainbow Dash quickly snapped out of it, and turned away from her. She was loseing control of herself fast. She had to fly; she had to clear her head of her conflicts. Aerial acrobatics weren’t a permanent solution, she knew, but it was the best one. She faced her again, trying to play it cool. “Fluttershy, how much longer?” she asked, her voice breaking on the last word causing her to cringe a little. The other pony blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and Rainbow was gifted with a stare by those eyes. “I’m not sure,” she said, soft as always, “It should have ended a while ago.” “What!?” Rainbow exclaimed, casting a glance to the end of the valley where the bugs were coming from. From their hilltop perch, they could see for miles, but there was still no end in sight to this parade of butterflies. “Listen, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said slowly. “You know I love hanging out with you, but this is just too much, I think I’m going to have to bail.” The look she got this time seemed almost horrified. “No please don’t go Rainbow,” she pleaded “I’ve been waiting to spend time with you for a while now.” “Then why don’t we just go back into town and have dinner or something?” The blue mare offered. “But if we go back our friends will want to join us too, and I was hoping to spend a day with just you.” Rainbow Dash felt her face warm up, and saw her friend’s flush as well after she realised what she’d said. But this just brought up more torturous thoughts in Rainbow’s mind and she knew if they spent anymore alone time, she would say something she’d regret. “We can hang out at the cottage tomorrow I promise. It’s not you, it’s the butterflies,” she said extending her wings. But as she took off she was stopped by a hoof pressed against her own. Fluttershy flew next to her, her saddle bag hung losesly across her back. “Rainbow Dash please. Look over there, i can see the last of them, ten minutes and the migration will be over.” Sure enough, after a glance back the butterflies finally seemed to be thinning out. "Ten minutes Rainbow. Please." She was shocked by how desperately she wanted her there, and she liked it more than she could care to say. But as the two hovered in the air, gazing into eachothers eyes, Dash could feel the words upon her lips and found herself staring at Fluttershy’s. Her heart raced and she knew she couldn't hold it any longer. she had to go. “I’m sorry.” She said, with as much meaning as she’d ever spoken, but her attempt to get away was foiled yet again by a foreleg interlocked with her own. Still the mare held her, and Rainbow’s compulsion to kiss her yellow friend frightened her to the point of wordlessly trying to flee again. But this time was different. She beat her wings hard but a down force of wind caused one wing to stop before the other, and the weight of the yellow mare tossed her into a hard spin. Instead of going up she shot down wards into the valley. Fluttershy let out a terrified scream, but Rainbow Dash stayed calm and tried to correct. The spinning continued, but she told herself no matter what, she wasn’t letting go. There was no way Fluttershy could get her balance back before crashing herself. The blue mare fought desperately but without avail, her control was gone, thrown completely off by the weight on her foreleg. no matter how she flapped or turned her wings, the speed of their spin and deceleration increased. Now Fluttershy was grasping her in turn, squeezing her around her chest, still letting out petrified shrieks. They fell straight through the trail of butterflies, and she knew they were close to the ground. Without any thought but keeping her friend as far from the rocky floor as possible, she gave the hardest flap of her wings that she could manage and the last thing she saw before tumbling into darkness was a cave opening on the cliff face, coming to swallow them. The last thing she heard was the pained screams of her best friend. The last thing she thought; Dear Celestia, let her live.