//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Revelations // Story: Wingbury Academy // by Chesterfeather //------------------------------// “Fight! Fight!” You are encircled by ponies at the wingball field, their chanting saturating the air. Standing mere hoofsteps away is Rainbow Dash. Scraping the cloud below her with a forehoof, she emits a low, steady growl. You swallow hard. Coach Cloudmane is nowhere in sight. You scan the crowd for help—anything at all—but find no friendly faces. Even seeing Fluttershy here would be a relief. At least I wouldn't be alone. Rainbow Dash steps closer and flares her wings. Her gaze doesn't quite meet your eyes; she stares right through you. As her chest rises and falls with each rapid breath, you realize you're in way over your head. I can't fight her, but if I run away, I'll never live it down for the rest of my days at the academy. If I thought things were tough now . . . “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” she says. “Look, please, I don't want to fight,” you respond. “Good. The easy way it is,” she says, grinning. She takes a swing at you with her foreleg as you step back. Her hoof narrowly misses, but her action feeds the crowd, amplifying their cheering. “Yeah! Kick his flank, Rainbow Dash!” “Come on, fight!” “Buck his face in!” Despite the crowd's jeers, Rainbow Dash doesn't follow up. She maintains a fighting stance, waiting for you to make the next move. Why doesn't she keep going? Maybe she's just putting on an act . . . That's it! I bet she doesn't want to fight at all. “Stop!” you plead. “I'm sorry. Let's just talk about this.” You don't match her aggressive posture, but instead stand calmly before her. Absorbing your words, Rainbow Dash takes a half-step back, softening her stance. Rosewing's voice calls out, “Don't be a wimp, Dash! Hit him!” Rainbow Dash looks back at her, at first frowning, but then returning to face you with a renewed snarl. She jets forward, swinging at you once more, this time striking a rough blow across your right eye. The crowd erupts with noise, consumed by the sight. You stagger and raise a hoof to your injured right eye, peering at Rainbow Dash with your left. Instead of holding a smug look of victory, she hangs her mouth open, a look of horror plastered across her face. You slowly draw your hoof back down to see it stained red. Suddenly, a sharp whistle is blown from the distance. Almost instantly, the crowd of ponies disperses, pegasi flying every which way, leaving you and a stunned Rainbow Dash. “Oh, no. Why did I . . .” Her eyes become glossy. She looks at her hoof—the one that struck your eye—then kneels down with all four legs, shivering. “I'm going to . . . kicked . . . no, worse . . .” she mutters, her voice breaking up. Coach Cloudmane rushes over, spitting the whistle out of his mouth. “What's going on here?” he asks. “By Celestia, you're bleeding!” Rainbow Dash gazes at you, her eyes tracing the wound above your eye. She whispers to herself inaudibly. How am I supposed to handle this? “It's, uh, it's all right, coach.” You offer a weak smile. Crossing his forelegs, he nods toward you. “How the hay did this happen?” Trembling, Rainbow Dash stays quiet, trading glances between you and Coach Cloudmane. Her wings are held half-open. As you meet her eyes for a split second, your throat tightens. “Sorry, coach,” you shrug, trying to swallow the lump in your throat. “We were practicing a coordinated tackle and, uh, I wasn't paying close attention.” What am I saying?! “I can't have my finest fliers falling to injuries, especially with the season so close. You two need to be more careful.” “Sorry, coach.” “Sorry, coach.” “Good,” Coach Cloudmane says, sighing. “Head up to the infirmary and get that cut patched up.” With that, he flies off toward the gymnasium. Rainbow Dash takes a careful step toward you. “Why did you lie?” “What?” “I hit you. Why did you cover for me?” Uh, why did I? “Don't sweat it, rainbow-mane.” She gives you a gentle look, a hint of a smile creeping along her face. When her eyes wander to your cut, she grimaces. “I hurt you pretty badly. You should get that looked at—I'm no good with first aid.” You chuckle, bringing a foreleg to your neck. “I don't really know where the infirmary is.” She looks off into the distance, sighing softly. “All right. Stop number two on the Wingbury tour: the infirmary.” You crack a smile for but a moment. “You're not going to ditch me again, are you?” She turns to you with a weak frown. “No.” She lifts into the air and motions you to follow. For the first time, you see her fly at a slow, steady pace. As you coast behind her, you keep to yourself, locked in rumination. Why did I save her? She didn't deserve it. She deserves even worse, considering everything she's done. Okay, sure. If she got cut from the team for fighting, it'd be a lot harder for us at wingball. She is the fastest pony I know. So, yeah. Yeah, that's it. I saved her to secure my athletic future. I need a scholarship, after all. Celestia knows my grades won't do it. So, I saved her to win at wingball. Well, no. That's a silly reason. Then why— “Hello? We're here.” Rainbow Dash hovers before you, waving a hoof in front of your face. “Oh, sorry. Thanks for bringing me here. She looks away as she lands, pawing at the cloud underneath her. “Well, see you,” you say. “Hey.” Rainbow Dash walks closer to you, still looking elsewhere. “Thanks. For doing what you did.” “No worries, rainbow-mane.” “No, I mean it. You're really nice. I don't know why you did this for me, but I won't forget it. That makes two of us . . . if I believe you. “You won't forget it? Even if we're around other ponies? Even if Rosewing tells you to cave my face in? What then?” Rainbow Dash places a hoof on your shoulder. “I . . .” She does not smile, but she looks directly into your eyes. “Just, uh, stay away from her, okay? Then everything will be fine.” “What? Why?” “She's, like, the coolest pegasus at Wingbury. Everypony knows that. If you're not in with her, then she just makes your life hell. Trust me, I know. That's why I—” You shrug her hoof off your shoulder. “You know what? I don't care if I'm in or not. You shouldn't either. I think she's the most uncool pegasus at Wingbury.” Rainbow Dash, jaw open, says nothing. “You know what else, rainbow-mane? I used to think you were the coolest around. You helped me on my first day. You even followed me to make sure I was okay. Even after everything you did, I thought you were a nice pony underneath it all. Maybe that's why I lied about this.” You point out your bleeding cut. “But now, after all that, if you still don't realize . . . I think you're even worse than Rosewing.” You march into the infirmary without looking back. ---------- “This might feel a little uncomfortable, hon. Just hold still for me, okay?” The nurse runs a needle and thread through your wound, stitching it together. “I don't know how you ponies play that wingball. All that tackling . . .” she trails off, tutting. “If you play well, you don't get tackled.” “That's what they all say, hon.” After the procedure, you are asked to rest for a while. As you wait, another pegasus is brought to the examination bench next to you, but the curtain hides your view. The nurse trots over. “Sweetheart, are you okay? We're going to get you help.” You don't hear any response. The nurse flies over to the receptionist. Straining, you can just barely make her words out. “She needs to go to a proper hospital. Make the arrangements.” Left alone for a moment, you try to make something out from the silhouette behind the curtain, but to no avail. “Hello?” you call out. You can hear whimpering. “Are . . . are you all right?” Between choked sobs and sniffles, you hear the pegasus say your name. Fluttershy?! You quickly draw the curtain back. Before you lies Fluttershy, cringing in pain, her wings discolored and twisted. Your mind becomes blank as an invisible weight crushes your chest. With a matted mane and reddened eyes, she stares blankly ahead. “D-Did you help her f-find me?” “What?” “G-Gilda. She said you sent h-her over.” “I-I didn't—” “She said you f-felt so bad that I hated flying, that she'd take . . .” she chokes on her own words. “Sh-She'd take care of my wings, so I wouldn't have to worry about fl-flying at all.” “No! I never—” A loud commotion just outside breaks the moment as two uniformed ponies arrive with a stretcher. Tears run down her face as they secure her, face down. Just as she is carried away, Fluttershy turns to you one last time, peering at you from the corner of her eye. “How could you?” she cries. ---------- This was all my fault. Eyes shut tight, you fly blindly through the skies above the academy, soaring in circles. You beat your wings as quickly as possible to release every ounce of your energy while mired in thought. This happened at the greenhouse. I let it happen. I should have followed Gilda. No, I shouldn't have said anything to her in the first place. You look down. From your vantage point, the entirety of the academy is within view. Figuring you should take things one step at a time, you head for the greenhouse to retrieve your saddlebags. You descend sharply, landing before the greenhouse doors. What happened here?! As you enter, you are greeted with a horrifying sight: everything lies utterly destroyed. Snapped and broken plants are strewn about the ground. Pots and other containers are shattered. You step carefully as you survey the destruction. “Hey, who's there?” an angered voice yells. You freeze. “Came back to finish the job, you monster? I swear I'll knock you off of Cloudsdale for what you did!” Well, that voice is familiar. You cock your eyebrow. “Rainbow-mane, is that you?” Rainbow Dash's figure appears from behind wrecked foliage. “Oh. Hi.” She floats toward you, a sorrowful frown across her face. “What's going on here?” She lands gently and walks toward you. “I thought about what you said. I guess I've been hurting a lot of ponies lately.” You remain silent. “You know, I wasn't very popular last year. I just kept to myself—I didn't really care about anypony, minding my own business. One day, I met this really nice pegasus. Her name was Fluttershy.” Your muscles stiffen. “We became fast friends. She was the sweetest pony I ever knew, but other ponies kept picking on her. Especially Rosewing . . . I hated Rosewing so much.” Rainbow Dash grits her teeth. “I started standing up for her, but they just picked on me too.” I've heard this story before . . . “Well, before the year ended, things got messed up. Rosewing started acting all nice to me, and I started hanging out with her. As long as we picked on other ponies, they left me alone. But, when we ran into Fluttershy . . .” She hangs her head low. “I-I tried to tell her to stay away from us. I mean, if we didn't see her, she wouldn't be a target, right?” A small tear forms below Rainbow Dash's eye. She gives out a long sigh. “I guess, in the end, I really just cared about myself. And when you told me all that stuff, well, you were right.” Rainbow Dash kneels down on her haunches. You rest your foreleg on her shoulder. “It's all right,” you say softly. “After you left, I knew I had to see Fluttershy and make things right. But when I got here, she was curled up in the corner . . . and Gilda was . . . but her w-wings . . .” Rainbow Dash chokes up. “I know, I saw her at the infirmary.” I know everything that happened. “That's why I'm here. You brought her over, right?” She nods softly. “And Gilda?” Rainbow Dash swallows hard. “She left right when she saw me. We need to tell somepony about this.” “We will. Right now. Let's go.” You lift her up gently from the ground, and she pops into the air, giving you a watery-eyed smile. You both walk toward the exit when you hear another voice echo throughout the greenhouse. “Look at that, it's the fillyfooler and the transfer. A two-for-one deal! This is gonna be easier than we thought.” A pack of five griffons, led by Gilda, emerge from the greenhouse doors. Waving her claw in the air, Gilda shoots you a wicked grin. “I already made sure the cream-puff wouldn't say anything. Now I need to shut you two up.” “Gilda!” Rainbow Dash hops into the air, her wings flapping rapidly. “You can't—” “We're gonna mess you both up real good. Those ground ponies will never even know you used to be pegasi after we're through.”