//------------------------------// // Reconciliation // Story: Wings of Friendship // by DemonBrightSpirit //------------------------------// "Guh!" Rainbow Dash groaned as she struggled to get up onto her hooves. She'd landed on her injured shoulder that time. She gazed upwards once more to see the bottom of a sizable cloud—her home. Spreading her single remaining wing, she again leapt into the air as she wildly flapped her wing. She didn't get any higher than what her legs had propelled her. The flapping only served to maintain her altitude for a split second before she just starting twisting in the air and crashed back to the ground. This time, she landed flat on her back and knocked the wind out of herself. That was her thirty-eighth attempt, though she'd stopped counting long ago. Her wounds and fatigue were starting to inhibit her efforts. A dozen attempts ago she got two, maybe three times as high. The pain in her chest and gut were becoming a hindrance, and her shoulder was becoming unbearably painful. But she wasn't about to give up. Twilight didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her magic, and nopony else seemed interested in anything more than making her comfortable or feeling sorry for her. She couldn't stand that. Pulling herself to her hooves once more, she looked skyward. She didn't need to be comfortable or happy. She certainly didn't need pity. She needed to fly. Jumping into the air again she tried to flap her wing, but this time it locked up. She came straight back down landing on her hooves before collapsing to the ground in pain. "Augh!" she cried out as she tried in vain to grab her strained wing with her hoof, but she just couldn't reach. After a couple of agonizing minutes, the pain in her wing was again outshone by her strained wounds that had yet to fully heal. With her pain at a manageable level she reluctantly sat up. There would be no more attempts to reach the sky today. She had failed. But at least she had tried, which was more than she could say for most of her friends. Why in Equestria did they accept the fact that she wasn't going to fly again? Why couldn't they be more like Twilight Sparkle and Rarity? Those were the only two doing anything at all for her. Well, as far as getting her airborne, anyway. She had to admit that Fluttershy was doing a lot for her, and honestly she couldn't expect much else from the kindhearted pegasus. Pinkie Pie was trying to help in her own way, too. But she didn't need to be doted on like a sick foal or cheered up like…a sick foal. All she wanted to do was fly again. Why weren't half of her friends even trying to work on it? At least Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were doing something. Applejack pushed her to Fluttershy's cottage and she hadn't seen the farmer since. Rainbow Dash sighed as she looked up towards her cloud home. She hated to admit it, but she wasn't going to get up there on her own. Already she had tried her very best, and she never even came close. That left her fate in Twilight's hooves, and that was not a reassuring thought. The studious alicorn already admitted that her magic might not be enough. Dash's own attempts were a miserable—and painful—failure. What else could there be? Dash contemplated the matter for some time before the sound of hoofsteps finally tore her gaze away from her home. There she spotted Applejack walking towards her. She frowned and turned away as Applejack came to a stop in front of her. "I had a feelin' that I might find yah here," Applejack stated as she took in the sight before her. Judging from the dirt, grass, and bruises covering her, Rainbow Dash had been out here beating herself up for some time. "I'll have yah know that you gave everypony a good scare, runnin' off like that without sayin' a word." Not receiving a warm welcome from the grumpy pony, Applejack looked up as she sighed. "Didn't quite make it up there on yer own, did yah?" "It…it's impossible," she muttered. "I certainly couldn't get up there," the earth pony replied before extending a hoof and a friendly smile. "Why don't I see yah back to Fluttershy's instead?" Instead of taking Applejack's hoof, Dash got to her hooves on her own. Applejack seemed unfazed as she turned to lead the way. "What, you're not going to yell at me or insist on helping me?" Dash asked as she hobbled after Applejack. "I'm sure yah only done what yah felt yah needed to do. Can't nopony blame yah fer that," she replied. "And I know yah well enough that if yah need help you'll ask for it. Just tell somepony next time before yah take off like that. I know they'll respect your privacy if yah just ask for it." Finally somepony was treating her like she wanted to be treated…and it was making her furious. "You're not even going to ask if I'm okay or anything?" "I know the answer to that question," Applejack claimed. "You ain't gonna be okay until Twilight finishes that spell of her's. I'd have carried you if yah needed it, but yer keepin' up just fine. Great for somepony down a leg 'n' a wing." "Don't you even care at all about me?" Dash accused. And there it was: the end of Applejack's patience. In an instant her face was pressed against Rainbow Dash's. "How dare yah ask somethin' like that!? Of course I care! I've been worried sick about how yer doin' 'n' how yer takin' this whole mess!" she yelled before calming down a bit and pointing over to Rainbow Dash's house. "There ain't nothin' I'd like to do more than to get yah up there, but I can't. There's nothin' I can do to get you back in the sky no matter how hard I try. I hate it. You hate it. Everypony hates it, but that's the way it is." Breathing the rest of her ire out with a sigh, she set back to walking down the path. "That's uh…that's why I haven't been around to see yah as much I probably should," she sincerely confessed. "It-it hurts to see yah like this, sugarcube, knowin' there ain't a durn thing I can do tah help. I mean, I try to help Twilight with her magic spell, but there just ain't much I can do." She scoffed a bit at the notion. "I still say we should go make Discord change his mind." "What? Discord?" Applejack looked over her shoulder to see a baffled look on Rainbow's face. "Are yah tellin' me that nopony told yah about Fluttershy goin' to Discord to ask him to fix yer wing?" Dash's mouth fell agape just before she stumbled and fell down. "Oww…" she muttered. As she looked up, she found Applejack's hoof waiting for her. This time she took it as the hardy pony yanked her to her hooves. "Fluttershy faced Discord…for me?" Applejack nodded. "I can't believe nopony told yah," she said as she started walking a sluggish pace, this time side-by-side with Rainbow Dash. "When we heard yah lost yer wing we all tried to find a way to fix it. Apple Bloom and I went to Zecora's. I actually got a little excited about it when Apple Bloom told me that Zecora once fixed a chipped tooth she got, but Zecora said a wing was way out of her league." "But, what about Discord?" Applejack just shook her head a bit. "We all knew Discord definitely had the power to fix yer wing and Fluttershy volunteered to go ask him to help. But she said that she couldn't convince him to do it," she explained. "That's all I really know about all that. Though I also know that Twilight asked Princess Celestia if she knew any magic that could help; she didn't. Pinkie asked everypony she knew of, and that's pretty much everypony in town and then some. None of 'em had a lick of advice. I really can't believe nopony told yah about all this. Anyway, after all our ideas dried up Twilight came up with this plan of her's to make a spell specifically to fix it." Rainbow Dash pondered the implications a minute before her troubled mind set on the thing that mattered most to her right now. "How is that going? The spell I mean," she asked as she looked to Applejack. "Twilight doesn't seem to be too confident in herself." Applejack sighed. "It ain't goin' well, that's for sure. I was helpin' out Twilight earlier today and the wings Rarity made weren't good enough and neither was Twi's magic, but she still seemed to be optimistic about it. She's got a plan and she's determined not to give up. Rarity's workin' on improvin' her end, too." "Do you think Twilight will be able to make a wing that'll let me fly again?" "I know she's got some amazing magic, no question, but so far I ain't seen anythin' that'd make me think you're gonna fly any time soon," she admitted. "That's why I say we need to focus on Discord. He can definitely fix yah a new wing. We just gotta convince him to do it!" Rainbow Dash sighed. Applejack confirmed her fears about Twilight, but at least now she had a lot more insight on just how far her friends were going for her. She felt bad about assuming that her friends had just accepted her predicament. From what Applejack said it seemed like they really tried everything in their power to get her wing back. That fact made her feel both better and worse. Her friends were really trying, but even all of their amazing efforts couldn't fix her wing. "Oh! Rainbow Dash!" Looking up, Applejack and Dash spied Fluttershy floating down. "Hey, sugarcube," Applejack greeted as she motioned to Rainbow Dash. "I found 'er safe 'n' sound. Was just headed yer way." "Thank goodness," she breathed a sigh of relief as she landed in front of the duo. "I was so worried." "Fluttershy, why didn't you tell me you faced Discord to try and get my wing back?" Dash asked as the trio started walking again at a lazy pace. "W-well I couldn't convince him to help, s-so, I just…" the timid pegasus mumbled as her voice got so low and her words so disjointed that it was unintelligible. Dash sighed at Fluttershy's trepidation. "It's the fact that you tried that counts, Fluttershy. You should have said something earlier. I had no idea you girls tried so hard to fix my wing." Fluttershy blushed as she hid behind her mane. "I, um…b-but it really wasn't anything special," she claimed. "And nopony could fix your poor wing." She turned to see that Rainbow Dash was struggling to keep up even at their glacial pace. "Um… Do you want me to go get the wheelchair and bring it back here?" "I'm fine," Dash grunted as she forced a smile. Truth be told her stunt left her feeling not much better than the day she woke up in the hospital. Every step jolted her shoulder, eliciting a burning pain. "Sugarcube, you ain't got a thing to prove to anypony," Applejack insisted. "Let's take a break while Fluttershy gets that wheelchair." Surprisingly, Dash didn't protest. She just sighed heavily as she sat down. Only after Fluttershy took off did Rainbow sit back on her haunches so that she could place her hoof on her injured shoulder. "I know yah can get there on yer own, but I'd rather get yah there before nightfall." Applejack explained her insistence that Fluttershy bring the chair. Rainbow Dash nodded as she glanced over to the farmer. "I might've overdone it…a little." "How's the rest of yah holdin' up?" the orange pony asked. Dash sent Applejack a quizzical look. "Aside from my shoulder? Fine," she claimed. "No, I mean…" Applejack started before sighing. "You know we're gonna get yer wing back, right? You ain't gonna be stuck here on the ground with me fer too much longer. We'll figure somethin' out." "Everypony keeps saying that," Rainbow Dash muttered as her hoof traced slightly over to the spot where her wing once was, "but how do you know that? You said it yourself that Twilight's spell wasn't going anywhere." Applejack pondered it for a moment before responding. "Because that's what believe," she bluntly replied. "It don't matter if Twilight gets it right or not. If that fails then we'll try somethin' different still. We ain't gonna give up on yah, sugarcube. Even if yah don't believe in yerself or in Twilight's spell, you can still believe in us, right? We're yer friends and we ain't about to stand idly by as long as yer sufferin'." "I've, uh…I've been acting pretty stupid these last few days, huh?" "Yup!" Dash sighed heavily as she put her front hoof back on the ground. "Well, if you wanna get me back to Fluttershy's before dark we should get going," she said as she began to hobble down the path. "Tell yah what, RD," Applejack offered as she started to walk next to Dash, "As soon as yer all healed up we'll have us another Iron Pony competition." "You're on!" Rainbow accepted the challenge with a grin. The duo walked on for a short time before Fluttershy appeared running towards them. Twilight Sparkle was on her left and Pinkie Pie was on her right carrying the folded-up wheelchair on her back. As the group approached, Pinkie stopped on her front hooves as she bucked her flank up, sending the wheelchair flying at Rainbow Dash. It popped open midflight and somehow managed to properly scoop the pegasus up. "Rainbow Dash! I'm sooo glad to you're okay!" Pinkie enthused as Dash tried to reorient herself and figure out how she ended up in the wheelchair. "You had us sooo worried! We were there talking and Fluttershy was all like: 'where's Rainbow Dash?' And we were like: 'what!?' And then we looked and looked and couldn't find you anywhere!" As she reached the end of her enthusiastic story she hugged the rainbow pony. "Uh…yeah," Rainbow Dash started to apologize as she pried the pink pony off of herself. "I'm sorry about that, everypony. I was just… I was being selfish." "We're just glad you're all right," Twilight earnestly asserted as Applejack got behind the wheelchair and started pushing. After taking a second glance at the dirty, bruised pegasus she amended her statement, "You are all right… Right?" Dash nodded. "Nothing Fluttershy here can't cure," she claimed as she pointed to the shy mare. "Oh… Yes," Fluttershy replied. Drumming up her courage, she prodded Dash about the thing most plaguing her mind. "Um… Are you ready to talk about what the Wonderbolts said yesterday?" "No," Rainbow Dash immediately and harshly denied, but after a moment, she sighed. "You know what, fine," she allowed. "What got to me was what Captain Spitfire said. She said that…that I really had what it took to be a Wonderbolt. If this didn't happen," she said as she put her hoof where her wing was torn off, "I really could have been a Wonderbolt. I would have been a Wonderbolt, someday." Everypony fell into an awkward silence as Rainbow lamented her lot. Finally, Applejack spoke up, "Well, you ain't givin' up on that just yet are yah, sugarcube? Yah still got what it takes, I know that. Yah just need a replacement fer yer wing. That's all." "Yeah!" Pinkie enthusiastically agreed. "We all still believe in you!" Twilight nodded. "Speaking of which, I really should be working on developing that spell. Want to give me a hoof, Pinkie?" "Sure! I bet I'll be tons of fun!" Pinkie Pie bounced over as the two ponies walked down an adjacent path, waving their goodbyes. Unnoticed by the other four was Fluttershy who was hanging her head. She was glad that Dash was being more forthright, but why didn't' she mention Lightning Dust? That was by far the most important part. After all, everypony in Ponyville already knew she had what it took to be a Wonderbolt. That wasn't news. Lightning Dust kicking Rainbow Dash in the head and making her lose her wing—that was news. "Fluttershy, you doin' okay there?" Applejack prodded as she noticed the angry look on the normally demure pony's face. "Oh!" Fluttershy blushed as she put on a convincing smile. "It's…uh, nothing," she assured in a not-very-assuring tone. "If yah say so," Applejack allowed. Rainbow Dash didn't pay them much mind as she stared up into the sky. She wasn't going to get back up there on her own. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but after today she just had to accept it. Despite her strength and determination, this was just something she couldn't do on her own. Instead she had to rely on her friends to get back to some sort of normalcy. To feel the breeze in her mane and to see the world from above… The sky really was where she belonged. Finally tearing her gaze from the sky, she longingly sighed as she placed a hoof over the spot where her wing once was. I will fly again.