The next day…
The train from Canterlot was making its way back to Ponyville; it was early so only a few ponies were riding. Two of them sitting alone in one of the cars were Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. The cyan Pegasus sat in silence holding on to her father’s helmet; she hadn’t said a word this morning. She had hardly even eaten since she found out what happened to her father the day before. Twilight knew she couldn’t do anything alone, if there was ever a moment when Rainbow needed all her friends to be there, this would be it.
She told this to Princess Celestia; that all her friends should have been there to console her in her time of grief. But the Princess had her reason, she knew about Rainbow Dash’s pride and how much it meant for her to keep it intact. She felt that if too many ponies she knew were there with her, she would not have been able to bring herself to cry in front of them. Although she didn’t enjoy watching her little ponies cry, she knew it wasn’t healthy to keep emotions bottled up. But now that she did cry letting out her emotions for over an hour, Twilight knew that it wasn’t enough.
Losing a father is not something everypony can bounce back from easily, especially if they were close. Twilight could tell just by Rainbow’s reaction that they were as close as a father and daughter could be. They had left Canterlot almost two hours ago, the train was going to arrive in Ponyville any minute now and she still couldn’t think of something to say. She just wanted to be able to start a conversation, to be able to get Rainbow Dash’s mind off her father, even if it was only for a minute.
“Rainbow I—“ Twilight reached a hoof towards the Pegasus, but as soon as she moved Rainbow Dash flinched and tightened her grip on the helmet as if somepony were going to try to steal it from her. Twilight quickly retracted her hoof quickly, she mentally kicked herself; of course the helmet means a lot to her.
“I’m Sorry, Twilight” Rainbow said softly “I know you want to help me, but I don’t know if you can…” Rainbow placed her forehead on the helmet and closed her eyes. Twilight didn’t take it personally; she probably would have said the same thing in this situation, though she believed she would have taken it a lot worse. Still, she knew Rainbow was right, she didn’t know how she would be able to help her, but she knew where to start.
The train was only five minutes away from Ponyville, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were getting ready to un-board. Twilight watched as Rainbow placed her father’s helmet inside her saddlebag, it was a surprise to her; she didn’t think she’d see her let the helmet out of her sight. Up till now she had held on to it like her life depended on it.
“Hey, Twilight,” this was the second time Twilight had heard Rainbow say anything today; she was glad to hear her voice.
“Yeah?”
“The others already know, don’t they?” Rainbow looked back at Twilight who could only react with a guilty smile. She had Princess Celestia send Spike a letter detailing what had happened and to meet them at the train station. Right now she would guess they were waiting for them to arrive so that they could give her as much support as they could. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was starting to have second thoughts. Rainbow gave her an annoyed look before letting out a sigh.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow, I should have known better…” said Twilight as she looked down to her hooves. A few seconds later she felt a hoof on her shoulder, looking up she saw that it was Rainbow Dash.
“It’s fine, I know you’re just trying to help…” she said before turning and walking away. Even though she forgave her, Twilight still felt horrible for not thinking that Rainbow wouldn’t want the others to know just yet. She could only hope that her plan would help her cheer up, even if it was just a little.
The train came to a halt; the sound of the whistle could be heard. Rainbow Dash and Twilight made their way towards the closest door and exited the train. Sure enough the rest of their friends were waiting for them to arrive, they all had a look of sympathy in their eyes, and Rainbow hated it. Of all the things she wanted her friends to feel for her, sympathy was the one and only thing she couldn’t stand. She understood that they meant well, but she hated to be felt sorry for. She didn’t want to be seen as weak by anypony, that’s why she always kept her image of being one of the toughest ponies in Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie was the first to walk up to Rainbow Dash, her hair had clearly lost some of its puffiness, and a frown was on her face. Pinkie stopped short in front of Rainbow, she wanted to give her a hug, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted one. Rainbow knew this; she also didn’t want to see the pink pony looking down. Rainbow extended her hoof and was immediately hugged. The others joined soon after, though she didn’t think it would have helped, Rainbow had to admit that it felt nice.
“Rainbow, I’m so sorry, I know this must be difficult for you.” Rarity was the first to break the silence.
“Thanks, Rares…” said Rainbow.
“He was a great pony, Rainbow” added Fluttershy.
“Yeah…he was…” Rainbow could feel it, it was going to happen again and she couldn’t let it happen in front of them, not all at once. Gently, Rainbow shrugged them off of her and began to walk away from them.
“Rainbow?” was all Fluttershy could say before the Pegasus took off at full speed. Her friends watched as she disappeared in the distance.
“Come on, we should go after her” said Twilight as she began to run forward.
“No” the others turned around to face Applejack “Not just yet, and definitely not everypony at once.”
“Applejack what are you saying, you want to leave her alone like this, who knows what she’s going through!” Twilight said angrily.
“Ah do!” yelled Applejack as she stomped her hoof on the ground. Guilt suddenly rushed over Twilight, she was so focused on Rainbow’s problem that she completely forgot that Applejack had already been through this before.
“Applejack, I didn’t mean--”
“It’s okay, Twilight, Ah know you mean well, but only somepony that knows what she’s goin’ through can help her.” Twilight wanted to say something, but she knew that Applejack was right; she doesn’t know what it feels like to lose a family member. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were in the same boat as her, they both still had family members around, and Pinkie also had the Cakes which were like second parents to her.
“I suppose that leaves you and Fluttershy,” said Rarity; however she then noticed that something was missing. “Fluttershy?” Rarity and the others looked around, but Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.
“Looks like she’s already on top of this” said Applejack.
“What do we do now?” asked Pinkie.
“We wait, Pinkie, Rainbow will open up to us eventually, but only when she’s ready to. We just need to remind her every now and then that we’re here for her.” said Applejack as she and the others began to leave the station.
“Applejack, if you don’t mine me asking…well…” Rarity felt a little uncomfortable, she didn’t want to reopen any wounds that Applejack may have.
“Ah’m pretty sure Ah know what you’re goin’ to ask, go ahead, it won’t bother me” said Applejack with an understanding look.
“How does it feel, to lose a close family member?” she herself could only imagine, but she knew that it could only be much worse when somepony actually has to live through it.
“It aint the best feelin’ in the world Rares, Ah’ll tell ya. When you first find out, your whole world just comes to a stop, it feels like somepony grabbed your heart and ripped it right out.” Not the best image to run through one’s head, but they weren’t in a position to say if that was an exaggeration or not. “At first you don’t want to accept it, you think that it’s all just a joke or some bad dream, but that doesn’t last long. When you realize that you’ll never see them again, it hits you like a train. You’ll spend every moment thinkin’ about them, and that only makes it worse. Eventually you just get angry at everythin’. What did they do to deserve it, what did ah do to deserve this. Questions you ask but you’ll never get an answer to” Twilight placed a hoof on Applejacks shoulder. It wasn’t just because she was starting to feel uneasy, but because it was starting to get to somepony else.
Twilight motioned Applejack behind them, looking back she saw that Pinkie was sitting on the ground, her hair had become even more lifeless, and her usual shade of pink has grown darker. “Ah’m sorry, Pinkie, I didn’t think you’d take it this hard.” said Applejack as she gave Pinkie a hug, it seemed to help, but not by much. Pinkie Pie wasn’t the only one that was taking this hard, sure it was Rainbow who lost a parent, but the others couldn’t help but wonder, “what if?”
Up in Rainbow Dash’s cloud home, screams and the occasional sound of something breaking could be heard. One would think something horrible was happening to her if they didn’t know the truth. Lucky for her, at least in this context, Rainbow’s home was secluded enough that nopony could hear her crying. Or at least she thought nopony could hear her, she didn’t know that right outside her door was her longtime friend Fluttershy, and she’s been sitting at her door step waiting. She knew Rainbow needed to let it all out first, and although it pained her to hear her friend hurting, she had to let it happen.
She wasn’t sure how long she had waited, but eventually the house fell silent. Fluttershy waited a few more minutes just to make sure Rainbow wasn’t going to start over. When she was sure that Rainbow had finished, she knocked on the door. But there was no response. Fluttershy waited another minute and knocked again.
“Go away!” Rainbow yelled from inside, it was pretty much the reaction Fluttershy was expecting.
“I can’t do that, Rainbow,” no response “Please Rainbow; I know what you’re going through, just talk to me!” Fluttershy continued. Fluttershy never knew her father, but she did have a mother that loved her greatly. Over a week after she gained her cutie mark, Fluttershy was told that her mother was flying during a storm and had been struck by lightning, she died on impact. Anypony would have taken that news hard, but Fluttershy was always fragile, and the news was almost too much for her to bear. Psychologists did what they could to help, but in the end there was only one pony that helped her through it, and she was going to be there for her now.
Rainbow stood by the door, she knew Fluttershy was right, but she wasn’t like her, she couldn’t open up to Fluttershy like she could to her. “Just go home, Fluttershy, I’m fine…” she lied, but there was a door between them, there was no way she could see it in her face.
“You didn’t sound fine a couple of minutes ago…” Rainbow slammed her hooves on her head, now she knew Fluttershy had heard her episode.
“I’m not opening the door, Fluttershy, just go home!” Rainbow got up when she didn’t hear a response. She began to turn around and walk away; she figured that Fluttershy had taken the hint.
“Okay, but I’m coming back later to check on you”
“Don’t, I won’t open the door then either!” Rainbow yelled as she stomped her hoof on the cloud floor.
“Then I’ll keep coming back until you do” Rainbow could hear Fluttershy’s wings flapping as she flew away from her home. After letting out a sight, Rainbow Dash laid flat on her stomach, her hooves covering her face. She didn’t want this; she didn’t want to be felt sorry for. She just wanted to move on from this, for things to go back to the way they were. And more importantly, she wanted her father back.