//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: A Dash of Overreaction // Story: The End of the Rainbow // by Charles Spratt //------------------------------// Chapter 6: A Dash of Overreaction It had been over a week since Rainbow had felt her superstitions of being a bad luck charm, and in that time she slowly felt her superstitions melt away, eventually reaching the point where she felt that she had been wrong about the whole thing in the first place. When neither she nor Fluttershy were busy, they were usually spending almost every moment together. Sometimes, they could be seen rough housing and laughing in town, sometimes they flew in the air and talked, and other times they just sat down at a cliff near the western ocean and just watched the sunset. They had many moments, and all of them made the two of them grow closer, to the point where they were practically sisters. They felt that it would last forever. So did this last forever? Did it end with the two of them together until the very end? Well... One morning, about two weeks after the superstition issue, Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy’s cottage, as always. When she got there however, she instantly felt something different. There was a very thick atmosphere over this area. Why that was there, Rainbow wasn’t sure. All she knew was that the building itself gave her some unease, as if one thing was vastly different, changing the whole feel. Rainbow sat down and thought for a moment, before it suddenly hit her: At this time of the day, Fluttershy was usually cleaning house with her animal friends, singing while she did so. This time however, there was no singing that could be heard, or much of any noise at all, really. Rainbow looked in through the window and saw that her house was an absolute wreck. Several plants were knocked over, there was dirt everywhere, and the entire place looked even messier than Rainbow’s house, which was saying something. Rainbow knocked on the door and waited. Two minutes of nothing happening passed by. She knocked again, clearly in a state of concern for Fluttershy’s safety. Once again, she heard nothing. Rainbow called out for Fluttershy, at which point she listened carefully. She barely heard a faint voice wheezing. She flew up to the 2nd floor window, where Fluttershy’s bedroom was, and saw all of Fluttershy’s animal friends were gathered around something. She tried to see what it was, but couldn’t see anything due to the bear that was blocking her view. She knocked on the window, which caused Angel bunny to hop over and open it. Rainbow flew in and saw what the animals were gathered around. It was Fluttershy, who looked incredibly ill. She had red spots all over her body, her eyes were shut, and she had a thermometer in her mouth that read 105 degrees in her mouth. “FLUTTERSHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!” yelled Rainbow, who was clearly panicking. Fluttershy opened her eyes slowly, and glanced over toward Rainbow. When she saw her, she let off a small smile and said, “Hi, Rainbow Dash” in a voice that was clearly in pain. “Wha… What happened to you??” Rainbow asked “Well, according to what I’ve been able to read, it’s a combination of the pony pox and the feather flu.” Fluttershy said, sounding like her vocal chords had gone rusty. “How did you get those two diseases??” asked Rainbow Dash in panic, since those two diseases were pretty rare. “I have no clue… I just got home after yesterday’s sunset watching, when I suddenly felt like I was boiling and freezing at the same time. I immediately got into bed, and when I woke up, I was like this. I’m just glad my animal friends were able to help me out.” Explained Fluttershy “With everything except the cleaning apparently…” said Rainbow under her breath “Speak up, Rainbow. I didn’t hear that.” “Uh, nothing. It’s not important anyway. Have you called an ambulance?” “No, I haven’t” “We’ve got to get you to the hospital, pronto!” “Ok then, Rainbow Dash.” Said Fluttershy, who clearly lacked the energy to argue Rainbow immediately flew to the hospital and alerted the staff to Fluttershy’s condition. Upon hearing that, they immediately got a sky ambulance en route to Fluttershy’s cottage. They got there, loaded Fluttershy up, and left. Rainbow watched the whole thing, and for the first time in her life, felt like she was powerless against everything in the whole world. Over the next week, Rainbow visited Fluttershy to a nearly obsessive degree, hoping that Fluttershy would make it out okay. Over that week though, the results were about the same each day. No matter when Rainbow Dash visited, the result was the same; Fluttershy’s condition was neither getting better nor worse. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if this weren’t a combination of two semi deadly diseases that were incredibly dangerous when combined, as they both got stronger from whatever medication the other disease was weak against. Every visit also played out the same way as well. Each time, Rainbow would ask Fluttershy, “How’s it going?” Each time, Fluttershy would reply with, “About as good as when this whole thing started.” Rainbow would nod her head, and then they’d usually do something together, like play cards, tell stories, or just be with one another in quiet inflection. It felt a bit like before the disease, with the one added disadvantage of there being a possibility that this could end forever at any moment. When she asked the doctors about how it was going, their responses were always the same: “She’s getting slightly better. It’s not a ton, as these two diseases are vicious together, but she is recovering, albeit slowly.” Even after hearing that, Rainbow didn’t exactly burst with confidence. After about a week and a half of this, Rainbow visited as normal, only to find that Fluttershy wasn’t in her bed! Her heart rate monitor wasn’t connected to anything, but was still releasing a tone, so it was obvious that Fluttershy had left there recently. Rainbow put two and two together and realized what must’ve happened. She crashed through the window and flew at top speed to the cliff where they’d watched the sunset in the past. Once she got there, she just lied down on that cliff, looking out at the sea. A storm had started brewing above her, but just like with the Rarity storm, she didn’t mess with it, as she was sure the pegasi in this area had a good reason to set up a storm there. What that might be was anyone's guess, but that wasn't among her biggest concerns. Her biggest concerns were about what to do now. She just lied down on the cliff edge, watching the stormy November ocean down below. She flashed back to the Mane six. There were so many moments that she shared with them. Joining the 'egghead allegiance' with Twilight. Helping and being helped by Fluttershy all throughout her childhood. Racing in the Running of the Leaves with AppleJack. Creating a rainbow sculpture out of ice with Rarity. Enjoying the most epic party in all of history with Pinkie. All of those moments meant so much to her, but now they're gone, never to return. "I never left my friends hanging..." Rainbow said quietly to herself, in a voice that was clearly trying not to crack into a state of endless sobbing "Why did they leave me hanging??" Suddenly, Rainbow flashed back to the CMC. Those little fillies may not have been as close to Rainbow as her friends, but they still had quite a few shining moments together. She would never forget their routine for carrying the flag back in the Equestria Games, nor would she forget the way Scootaloo looked up to her. Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow like she was her hero, until Scootaloo died. That led to Rainbow flashing back to AppleJack's funeral. Scootaloo was begging Rainbow to not die. Despite not being sure if she could keep that promise, Rainbow Dash promised Scootaloo that she wouldn't be going anywhere. "I'm still here... why aren't you?" said Rainbow Dash softly. Rainbow then watched over the ocean for a couple more minutes, weighing everything that had happened over the past year so she could determine what is next. Eventually, Rainbow stood up, bowed her head, and said in a very sad tone of voice, "I'm the Element of Loyalty. I've always been there for my friends when they needed me most. Who do I have left to be loyal to? My friends, my parents, my biggest fan... They're all gone. There's nothing left to be loyal to... There's nothing left..." When Rainbow said that, she felt an odd tingle from the tip of her tail that was working its way up. Rainbow, however, didn't care what it was, and as a result, remained standing there with her head drooped down and her eyes clamped shut, all while shedding a single tear. That tingling, as it turns out, was her color just fading away to gray. When Rainbow finally opened her eyes, she saw that she looked like she did back when she was corrupted by Discord. She didn't care, however, and just slowly walked down to the shed near the beach. She entered and asked the pony at the register if he had any rope. He did. Rainbow bought some and left, walking slowly back up to the cliff. She then proceeded to use the rope to tie her wings down, making sure it was just as tight as it was in the Running of the Leaves. When she'd finished, she took one look back at the way she came, and one look at the ocean's horizon. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't convince herself that she shouldn't do this. Her dreams, her career, her awards, all of them meant nothing to her anymore. She closed her eyes, shed a few more tears, and jumped off the cliff into the freezing water below... If only she had waited just a bit longer... For you see, there was one thing that Rainbow was wrong about. She thought that everyone near and dear to her had died. In reality, she still had one friend left. That friend was none other than Fluttershy. Here's what happened: It had been ten days since Fluttershy had been brought in. About an hour after Rainbow had left her on that day, Fluttershy suddenly felt her fever just fade away completely. She informed a nearby doctor about it, who came in and was able to confirm that the Feather Flu had gone away! With that gone, all the doctors had to do was use the medication for the Pony Pox. They used it on Fluttershy and waited. After about twenty minutes, Fluttershy noticed her spots vanish and felt her voice return in full force. She immediately flew out of bed in joy! The doctors ran a few tests on her and confirmed that Fluttershy was in perfect health once more. They then let Fluttershy go home and get some sleep in her own bed. Fluttershy flew home and decided that she would wake up early tomorrow, fly to Rainbow's house, and surprise Rainbow Dash as she left home for the hospital. She considered doing it right then and there, but when she looked at the clock, she saw it was 11:20 at night. No doubt Rainbow would be sleeping at that hour, causing Fluttershy to decide to do it early tomorrow. The next day, Fluttershy woke up at 5:53 and flew over to Rainbow's house, arriving at 6 o' clock. She went in through the open window and walked up to Rainbow's bedroom. Once she opened the door, she saw that the lights were on and Rainbow's bed was empty and unmade. Once Fluttershy saw that, she figured that Rainbow had already left for the hospital. She flew to the hospital as quickly as she could. Just as she entered the hospital, she heard the sound of shattered glass. She immediately rushed to her ward and saw the window in it was broken. Looking off into the distance, she saw a faint rainbow trail in the distance. Judging by the direction of the trail and where the broken glass had landed, Fluttershy deduced that Rainbow was heading for the cliff where they watched sunsets together. Why she was heading there was beyond Fluttershy's knowledge, but the point was that Fluttershy knew that she had to let Rainbow know that she was still alive and well. She immediately flew off toward the cliff, as a storm began brewing behind the rainbow trail. After about half an hour of flying through intense lightning storms, Fluttershy came within seeing distance of the cliff. Even so, she was still too far away to see anything aside from a small grey speck. She pulled out a pair of binoculars that she had brought with her (probably for an activity with Rainbow Dash) and looked at the cliff edge. When magnified, she saw Rainbow Dash, who was grayscale and tying her wings down. Fluttershy lowered the binoculars for a second so she could see where she was going, then she looked through again. What she saw when she looked through those binoculars again broke Fluttershy's heart. She saw Rainbow taking one last look back toward the way she came. When Fluttershy saw her eyes, she noticed something was missing. And by something, she saw everything missing. Her eyes, which used to show courage, compassion, brashness, pride, and enough of an ego to boost all of Canterlot to the skies, now seemed almost completely empty. It was clear from her eyes that Rainbow felt that she had nothing left to live for. Those eyes looked like they were helpless, with nothing that could help them. Anything she'd been doing up to this point clearly meant nothing to her anymore. Suddenly, the reason Rainbow was grayscale made perfect sense: she was so defeated that the color in her life had just vanished, both physically and metaphorically, not unlike Twilight’s color during the Discord incident. Fluttershy then figured out why Rainbow Dash had tied her wings down, and she started panicking. "DON'T DO IT, RAINBOW DASH!!!" yelled Fluttershy at the top of her lungs. Unfortunatly, right when she yelled that, a lightning bolt ended up firing, completely blocking out her voice. Rainbow closed her eyes, shed a few more tears, and jumped off the cliff into the freezing water below. Fluttershy screamed a panicked no, and soared off the cliff after her, doing everything she could to try to catch her before she hit the water. She was just a bit out of grabbing distance when Rainbow hit the water. Fluttershy wasn't about to give up though, and dove into the icy water after her. At this point, the storm had gotten really intense, causing the waves to become gigantic, as well as making the water feel even colder. In fact, it was so cold, that it prevented Fluttershy from flying out of the water, due to her wings not being as well protected against cold weather as the rest of her. She had no choice but to fight the storm waters and try to find Rainbow. After two minutes of getting buffetted by the waves, Fluttershy spied Rainbow Dash about twelve feet away, bobbing up and down like a cork. Dash's eyes were still shut, and her head was the only part of her that wasn't completely submerged. Fluttershy swam over to her, grabbed her, and pulled her to the shore, all while fighting the storm. It took a few minutes, but she finally got to shore with Rainbow Dash in tow. She layed her out and immediatly looked over her. Rainbow was unconsious, and was incredibly cold to touch. Fluttershy immediatly started performing CPR on Rainbow, because Fluttershy knew there would be no way in Tartarus that she could fly Rainbow to the hospital in time, even if she could fly. As she worked, she periodically yelled things like, "RAINBOW!!! GET UP RAINBOW!!! PLEASE GET UP!!!!!!!!!!" After two minutes of this, Rainbow ended up coughing up some seawater. Her eyes may not have opened up yet, but Fluttershy knew she was making progress. She had to keep it up. After another minute of this, Rainbow's eyelids slowly opened up. Her eyes looked around for a moment before settling on Fluttershy. Once she saw her, Rainbow smiled a weak smile and said, "Hey there, Fluttershy..." "RAINBOW!!!!! YOU'RE BACK!!!!" yelled Fluttershy in glee, as she softly hugged Rainbow Dash, as to not choke her again. Rainbow lifted her right arm and returned the hug. Once that hug was over, the duo split apart and looked at each other. Right away, Fluttershy could see Rainbow's eyes were a bit better. They were still incredibly sad, but they at least had those elements that her eyes tended to have back now, even if they weren't that big. "Rainbow, I was so worried about you..." said Fluttershy, who was trying to keep her tears of joy at bay "I missed you too Fluttershy." replied Rainbow, who by this point had gotten enough strength back to sit up, "I missed all of you" "All of us?" "Yeah. All of my friends. I can't wait to see them again. Do you know where they are?" Fluttershy tilted her head, trying to make sense of what Rainbow just said. She eventually said, "Rainbow, it's just me. All of the others are still dead." Rainbow tilted her head in confusion, and said, "Yeah, and so are we." "Rainbow, we're not dead" "Fluttershy, you died in your hospital bed last night. I jummmmmmmmmm--fell off of a cliff. We aren't alive." "Umm, I never died last night." "Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Rainbow "I ended up getting cured last night. I was planning on waking up early and surprising you at your house. Unfortunately, you weren't there. I went to the hospital and saw you heading for this cliff. I followed you and saw you jump off. I went after you and eventually saved you. That's what happened." explained Fluttershy Rainbow stared at Fluttershy for a moment, then looked around at the sky, which was still stormy, but seemed to have calmed down somewhat. She then looked back at Fluttershy and hugged her, releasing another lone tear. Fluttershy once again returned it. During that hug, Fluttershy suddenly shouted, "Rainbow!! Your color is returning!!" Rainbow looked back and saw that Fluttershy was telling the truth. The color in her tail was slowly returning! After a minute, Rainbow was fully colored once again. She had hope for life once more. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, and said, "Fluttershy, I'm sorry I did this. If I hadn't jumped to conclusions, then you wouldn't have had to go through this mess. I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow for a moment, then started crying tears of joy as she gave Rainbow another hug, while saying, "I forgive you Rainbow. I have no doubt that you felt hopeless, but suicide is never a good solution. Even if you had successfully commited the act, you wouldn't have seen our friends." "Oh yeah, I forgot about that" said Rainbow in a cracked voice, clearly trying her hardest not to cry. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten that suicide goes to a different place then regular death. "Just promise me that you will never try anything like that again, Rainbow. I can't stand to lose you. You're more than my best friend, you're practically my sister." Rainbow thought about what Fluttershy had said for a moment. The more she thought about it, the harder it hit home; Fluttershy was practically her sister. They had grown up together, and they always had one another’s back. She couldn't let anything like this separate them if she could help it. "I will Fluttershy. I guarantee it!" said Rainbow Dash "Well, if nothing else, this was a good lesson for you, Rainbow Dash." "Yeah, I guess it was. From now on, I promise to look before I leap!" said Rainbow in a confident voice. At this point, the sun had started to come out. The duo looked up and saw a rainbow had formed over the ocean. The pegasi sat down on the beach and watched that rainbow, hoping that their future would be just as bright as the rainbow in the horizon… To Be Continued...