Rainbow Dash
The impact was harsh but swift. Rainbow had closed her eyes just before she collided with the stony walls of the cave. Her head was the first thing to hit, and it shot a bolt of pain throughout her body. The hit was hard and the momentum of the two mares carried them an extra couple of feet. After they hit what she could only guess was the ground, the grip around her chest was released and she couldn’t feel the weight of Fluttershy under her anymore. She came to a stop after skidding a few more feet. Her vision was blurred and there was an intense ringing in her ears. Even so, she didn’t need these senses to know the cave was collapsing after their collision. She could feel the vibrations of hundreds of tonnes of rock crashing down on top of them. Didn’t have the fight in her to try and run to safety, her head felt like it had shattered. Suddenly missing the tight grip around her chest, she called out “Fluttershy,” weakly, before closing her eyes.
When she eventually awoke, her skull felt like it was made of thousands of bits of shattered glass. Her eyelids felt like they were tied to weights. In the settling dust Rainbow Dash heard a small whimpering, but, coupled with the ringing in her ears it was near impossible to tell whether or not it was real. Rainbow Dash blinked slowly trying to remember what happened. She’d crashed. She sucked in a long breath, drawing in the dust making her cough, which didn’t help the pain in her head. The heavy rumbling had ceased, which she hoped meant the cave was stable now. She stood shakily to her hooves. All her muscles ached, especially her wings. She tried to spread them, but was stopped almost instantly by a sharp pain on her right side. Rainbow hoped that it wasn’t what she thought it was, but as she peered under her wing, she could already see the blood collected on her bottom feathers. Her right side had been raked by the stone walls, a large gash sneered from under her wing. Luckily it wasn’t bleeding too bad so she tucked her wing against it tightly, gasping sharply at the touch. The sound echoed across the cavern, eerily.
The ringing noise began to recede and the whimpering noise she thought she heard earlier grew in volume and clarity and in one horrifying moment she put the pieces together. She wasn’t alone. She’d brought her friend down with her. Fluttershy. “Fluttershy!” she called ignoring the pain it caused in her skull. She swung her head around, searching madly for her friend. As she searched the dark cavern she found her worries had come true. The cave exit had collapsed. They were trapped in a prison of jagged rock. Thin beams of light sneaked through the rocks and danced across the still settling dust, giving her just enough light to navigate and find her bearings.
Piles of fallen stones littered the floor all across the cavern. She couldn’t see the entirety of the cave, the little light they had could only reach so far. There was no sign of her friend. “Fluttershy!” she called again. The whimpering sounds echoed around the cavern so it was difficult to find exactly where it was coming from. In the dim light, shadows loomed around the cave, and in her still swimming vision, some appeared to be moving and for the first time in a long time she felt truly scared. Scared, not only of the things that may have lurked in the dark but for her friend whom was nowhere to be found. Her heart pounded faster. If anything happened to her...
She continued to scan the room, and her eyes eventually landed on a small glimpse of yellow. She refused to let the pounding in her head slow her down as she sprinted towards a rock pile. A few yellow feathers jutted out from between the jagged bits of earth. She was buried. She let out a horrified gasp and, without hesitation, Rainbow Dash attacked the rock pile, tossing stones across the cavern.
None of them were very large, thank Celestia for both herself and Fluttershy, buried underneath them. Slowly she uncovered the whimpering yellow mare; each stone lifted renewing her vigor. She would save her friend. She pushed the last stone off, revealing the trembling mare, eyes shut tight, laying on her right side. Her open mouth let out the sounds that had echoed across the cave. Her chest heaved with quick and heavy breaths. Her bottom lip was split, and a small trail of blood trickled down her cheek and for a moment, relief settled over her for finding the mare relatively unharmed. But then her eyes settled on something that made her stomach churn. Wings were not supposed to bend that way.
Fluttershy’s left wing was bent at a very wrong angle. A very painful angle. Rainbow desperately fought the urge to retch at the sight of it and tried to find a voice. “Fluttershy, are you okay?” she asked stupidly, unable to think of anything else to say. She already knew full well what the answer was. Her eyes flew open and flew about the cavern at the sound of her voice, eventually settling on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow turned so she could only see her right side. She didn’t want her to see her injured as well.
“W-what happened?” she asked, her soft voice quavering.
“We crashed Fluttershy,” she said, her words slightly choked. What had she done to her friend? “It’s all my fault,” she whispered. “It’s all my fault, I’m sorry.” Her eyes stung from the tears trying to force their way out but she fought them. She had to be strong, for her. A small beam of light reflected off Fluttershy’s teary eyes. “My wing,” she groaned and winced. “It hurts.” The statement shook Rainbow dash at her foundations. It was so simple, so soft, so emotional. She was in pain and Dash couldn’t do anything about it. It broke her heart. A single tear rolled down Fluttershy’s face. “Your wing i-it’s broken.” Dash told her. She was quite surprised by her resilience to the pain. Rainbow had cried a lot more than she would like to admit when her wing had broken, and that was only a fracture.
“Is it bad?” the yellow mare whispered. Rainbow Dash could only nod, unable to bring herself to look upon the injury again. Her friend grimaced “Oh it hurts.” She repeated. It was tearing dash apart. She wanted to take the pain away, to stop it, more than she’d ever wanted anything. She would give anything to experience Fluttershy’s pain herself, and be spared having to listen to her suffer. The tears were winning, she forced her eye’s closed to hols them back. Fluttershy gritted her teeth and took several deep breaths before speaking again. “Rainbow Dash,” she said softly. Rainbow looked over to her, at her large green eyes. “I need you to set the bone.” Images of Fluttershy screaming and crying flew into dash’s mind. “No I-I can’t-”
“It’s easy,” she said, her voice losing its quiver and sounding a bit more like the tone she took when speaking to animals. “Like pushing a puzzle piece into place.” Fluttershy was trying desperately to keep her calm she could tell, but her own chest constricted at the thought.
“Fluttershy I-” Rainbow dash stammered trying to get out of it. She couldn’t bring herself to cause her more pain than she already had. But Fluttershy cut her off.
“Dashie,” she stared at her with those eyes another tear slid down her face “Please.”
“I... I...” She already knew she’d been defeated. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again. “I know how to do this; I can walk you through it. But first I need you to get my saddlebag off.”
Rainbow Dash had never performed a task so carefully in her life. She gently pulled the straps, eventually working the lightly packed bag around her wing, without touching it. “Now I need you to roll me onto my back. Gently please.” Rainbow Dash treated her like thin glass as she rolled her. Despite starting on her side, it took her two minutes to finally get her on her back. She winced as she was finally rolled into position. Her voice had lost most of its quaver, now she was in vet mode, focused and aware. “Good. Now I need you to get on top of me.” Despite the context of the proposition, the suddenness of the statement and the thought of doing such a thing made her heart skip. “Why?” she asked, though certainly not complaining. “Because,” she answered “It’s going to hurt and I’m going to try to get away. I need you to hold me down.” The rainbow mare swallowed loudly and stepped over her friend, so that she was facing her broken wing.
She wondered whether or not it was luck that her angle put her injured side opposite to Fluttershy. No, if she had any luck, they wouldn’t have been there in the first place. For assurance she pressed her own wing against her own wound, she didn’t need Fluttershy to worry about her too. “Okay, now I need you to empty my saddle-bag and tear off the strap. Rainbow did as instructed. Fluttershy watched her patiently. “Give me the bag.” Once it was given to her she grasped it with both her hooves. “You have to tie the strap around the broken area once it’s set. Tightly.”
“Why do you need the bag?”
“I’m going to need something to bite down on.” Rainbow was speechless at this pony’s bravery. Her usually timid friend, who had to be coerced into even talking to another pony, was staring extreme pain in the face, and barely flinching. And it was in that moment she knew she would never forgive herself. Not only for getting them into this mess, but for causing her best friend so much pain she had to be held down against her will and biting down on a saddlebag. What kind of friend was she?
“I’m ready.” The yellow mare said, her voice finally betraying her fear, the quiver returning. Rainbow gave her the best smile she could pull together, though it was more uncomfortable than reassuring, so she stopped. She slowly lowered herself down, pressing her own body against her friend’s. The connection made her breath catch in her throat. She could feel her warmth against her. She felt every breath, every beat of her heart. She still knew where she was, still remembered what she’d done, but for just a moment as she pressed herself against Fluttershy, a sense of home filled her mind. But reality pushed the feelings away as quickly as they came, and she was returned to her cavernous prison. Her own breath felt laboured, and she hoped it was just the prospect of what she was about to do, not the secret she hid under her wing. She was lying diagonally across her so she could reach the break. She stared at the injury. The feathers were askew and the sight of the wing made her lunch want to come up. She couldn’t do this. She was about to say as much, but Fluttershy spoke first. “I know you can do it Rainbow. I trust you.” They locked eyes. Fluttershy’s were watery and Rainbow knew hers probably were to. Under any other circumstance the amount of time they gazed at each other might have been awkward, but not now.
Dash’s resolve was steel. She nodded at her injured friend to let her know she was ready. Fluttershy nodded back and put the saddle bag in her mouth. She closed her eyes and as Rainbow leaned forward she could tell she was scared. It wasn’t her eyes or her breath; she wasn’t even shaking, much to her surprise. But the closer rainbow brought herself to the wing, the faster her heartbeat became. The break was just above the base of the wing, where the feathers began. She placed her hoof at the base of the wing, for leverage, which cause Flutter she to squeak slightly into the saddlebag. It was now or never.
She wanted to say something. Something she’d wanted to say for a very long time, something she wanted her friend to know before she caused her such excruciating pain. But the words came out wrong and stuttering, so she stopped herself. Instead just said, “You’re a very brave pony Fluttershy.” Her voice cracked. Fluttershy nodded, and then shut her eyes tight. She felt her chest against hers, felt her pounding heart, it was what she’d always wanted. And she would’ve given anything to be anywhere else.
She leaned in close to the wing and gently closed her teeth against the other side of the break. The beating on her chest was impossibly quick; she needed to do this now. She could only hope one day her best friend would forgive her. Against every muscle and every instinct she pulled the wing to set it. The scream that erupted from Fluttershy was terrible, and the saddle bag between her teeth did little to muffle it. It was earth shattering, soul shattering. Rainbow heard it in every fiber of her being. Fluttershy’s body forced against her trying to push her off, but Rainbow pushed her back down, feeling the beginnings of tears in the corners of her eyes. Rainbow felt Fluttershy’s hoof beat against her back. At first she thought that she was trying to hurt her back and strike her, but the beats stopped and Dash realised she was pulling her into a crushing embrace, squeezing dashes body tigher against her own. Tears fell from her own eyes as she committed the deed, it was taking too long, but there was still more to go.
Three pulls. Three pulls to set the bone. Three times she caused her best friend unimaginable pain and had to hear her cries. Finally, she felt it snap into place, and she couldn’t have pulled again even if it hadn’t. The final blood curdling scream still bounced across the walls of the cave. And then silence. Rainbow couldn’t stop trembling. What had she done? She turned to see her friends eyes closed and the trails of the many tears that had run down her face. Instantly her mind took to the worst possible thought. Had she just killed her? Had she just killed her best friend? No, her chest was still rising and falling against her own albeit much slower. Her heart still beat faster than she thought possible. No she was just unconscious. She had caused her friend to pass out from pain. What kind of friend was she? Her tears returned with full force, resting her head on Fluttershy’s chest.
She wrapped her wing in the strap and repositioned herself so they could be parallel, while still keeping her chest against her. It was the one comfort she could find in this damn cave. Her body was so warm, so soft. Black shadows loomed around the cave, monsters in the dark, waiting to take her away. They could for all she cared, she deserved it. Just as long as they left Fluttershy. Ponies like her didn’t belong in caves. Fluttershy’s breath was still swift and heavy, dash finally noticed the bag, still lodged deep in her mouth. She leaned forward to pull the bag from her clenched jaw. She locked her own teeth around it and removed it from her friends’ mouth. As she did so, she noticed the amount of spit Fluttershy had put on it. She felt heat rush to her face as the damp saddle bag hung from her mouth and she placed it on the ground. She stared down at the mares face again.
Her mouth hung open slightly sucking in shaky breaths and letting them out. Her mane was messy and covered in dust, large clumps hung over her face. As if on instinct she began running her hoof through her mane, removing the dust and restoring her signature wave. The damp air in the cave wasn’t helping the process. But the action and the feel of her mane on her hoof kept her calm, and distracted. It did nothing to stop her guilty tears. Her hair was so soft. Her eye moved down and lingered on her face, dotted with tears. Rainbow moved her muzzle closer to her face. Each soft breath she let out washed over her face covering her in warmth. Despite having lunch only a few hours ago, her breath smelled sweet, like a tea of some kind.
With tenderness she never knew she had she moved in closer and gently rubbed away her tears with her muzzle, still caressing her mane. She was very soft. Rainbow liked being so close to her. But she wanted her to get up, to give her a sign that she was okay. When she moved her face away, she could feel the wet tears tickling her nose. The sleeping mare's beating heart had slowed and for a few moments, Dash could’ve sworn both of theirs were beating in unison. And she stood there, not moving, hardly breathing, and waiting. Waiting for any sign, any movement. After twenty minutes she was still standing there. The calm that had ensued after everything that had happened earlier gave everything a dreamlike feeling. Except the events that day had felt more like a nightmare.
Suddenly, the yellow mare let out a small, delicate moan. And then almost startlingly Fluttershy’s eyes flew open and struggled to make sense of what was happening. She focused again on Rainbow's eyes and looked at her with a surprised look. “Rainbow Dash?” She said uncertainly. “Fluttershy!” Rainbow squealed, forgetting for a moment where she was and what she’d done, more happy than she could ever recall being. And in that moment, such ecstatic energy coursed through her, consequences no longer held meaning. The cave was gone, Fluttershy was fine, it was just her and her friend. She finally summoned the courage to do what she’d dreamt of doing since she could remember.
She closed her eyes and swiftly leaned in pressing her lips to Fluttershy’s. Her lips were even softer than her face. She’d finally done it. Ever since they were young fillies, Rainbow had wanted this. For a horrifying second as she kept their lips pressed, she felt no return from Fluttershy, her lips remained still. But the second ended and Fluttershy leaned into it and kissed back, and Dash could feel the blush rising to her face. She was new at this, Rainbow could tell. Her lips moved with fervor but clumsily, but that just made it all the more special. Fluttershy wanted it too. Dash's wings extended at her sides.
Finally they pulled away from each other slowly and opened their eyes. Rainbow Dash’s heart pounded as she locked eyes with the yellow mare, and saw her own feelings reflected in them, a warm smile displayed on her soft lips, eyes still a little watery. Before her courage left her, she finally said the words she’d wanted to say for so long, and wanted to say every day for the rest of her life. “I love you, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy's smile lightened the cave. The yellow mare opened her mouth to say somthing, but her face swiftly turned to one of shock. For a moment Rainbow Dash thought she might've done something wrong, that she made a mistake. But she realized Fluttershy wasn't looking at her, but at her right wing. Her right wing, that she'd extended in the heat of the moment. Her right wing with cyan feathers, dripping crimson blood to the dark cave floor.