Twilight walks out of the Therapist's, happy and clear minded. Rainbow Dash follows her, a bit more depressed than happy, but none the less better. Twilight heads to her home, while Rainbow heads to Sugar Cube corner. "Pinkie?" She asks, feeling horrible.
"In here!" A voice calls. Rainbow walks in the back room to find the pink pony scurrying through old boxes.
"Hey Pinkie. I just wanted to apologize, I don't know what got over me and it was completely uncalled for. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, and I'm sorry." Pinkie turns around, dust covering her face and front hooves.
"Oh, well that's ok Dashie, I forgive you. Want to help me find my old high school photos?" This completely caught Rainbow off guard.
"Sure." They search through dust and old pastries that have gone bad. They find the year book from when they all graduated, though they haven't met Twilight at the time. Pinkie and Applejack graduated with them since they both skipped a grade, and rarity was with Fluttershy and Rainbow. Rainbow is still shocked that both her and Fluttershy passed flyers school, and then went directly from there to grade school and passed with out a hitch.
"Oh, look at this one!" Pinkie points out the high school mare's hoofball final game. It was the championship, and Rainbow was the captain. In their final game, the first three quarters went scoreless. Each team was equally matched, and their coaches were as ruthless as could be. In the last quarter, Rainbow had run past the defense and into the other team's zone, winning the game.
Rainbow sighs. She looks at her old self, how she used to be so agile, so fast on hoof, so brave, so, colorful. She looks at her own hoof now, nothing but grey shows. Everything she is now has completely lost it's color. What if she had looked like this during the last game? Would she still have been able to win it for the team? What if she didn't want to be fast and go for engineering instead? Would the incident have ever even happened? Pinkie sees her near tears and closes the book. Rainbow jumps. "Oh, sorry Pinkie. Kinda got lost in my own thoughts there."
"It's ok. Thanks for helping me find it. Do you want anything while you're here?"
"No, no I'm good, thanks though." They say goodbye and Rainbow walks around Ponyville. Keeping an eye out for color, not that that's an issue of course, but just looking at all of the vivid colors in the world around her. As she walks on, ponies step out of their houses and just stare at her, mouths wide open, watching her walk. Yeah, keep staring, she thinks to herself. I'm sure you're all shocked that I look like this now, but it's not my fault. I could have done more probably. I could have kept my wing straight, could have avoided the water on my way down. But instead I did what I thought was best, was safest. It probably is my own fault, not Twilight's, mine. If I can't save myself from a simple issue, how will I save my friends? Will I even be able to make my sonic rainboom anymore?
"Rainbow Dash! How good it is to see you again." Rarity steps out of her house, just heading out.
"Oh, hey Rarity." She replies, faking a smile.
"How have you been my dear?"
"Fine, I guess I'm getting used to looking like, this." She says, hesitating.
"Wonderful. I'm sorry, but I have somewhere I must go. Have a good day Rainbow Dash." She trots away, hurrying to where ever she's going. Rainbow is glad, she isn't in the mood to talk about cloths or her problems.
Continuing her walk, she begins to feel worse and worse. She really is the only one that looks like this, all grey yet rose eyes, she's like a deformed, old rainbow. A Rose colored rainbow if anything, and this rainbow is ready to disappear. To just walk away and never return, carrying out her life forever as a lone soul who is darker than the night and faster than light. Just as she decides that this would be the best idea, she sees Fluttershy tending to some local ducks and geese. This makes her want to stay, it would hurt Fluttershy the most if she were to leave, them being best friends out of the group. She sees Rainbow looking over and perks up. Rainbow walks over. "Hey Fluttershy."
"Hello Rainbow, how are you?" Fluttershy asks, feeding the last baby duck before sending it off with the rest.
"I'm, well, I..." She trails off. She is near crying, sick of lying. "I'm not fine Fluttershy, I'm not at all! This, all of this, is my fault. I messed up my own life forever, and I shouldn't be complaining. I'm sorry for everything that I've put you all through, I shouldn't have to be an annoyance to you. I'm sorry Fluttershy, I'm so sorry." She flies off, a ray of different shades of grey following her. Fluttershy calls after her, but Rainbow ignores it and keeps going.
She gets to her house, closing and locking the door. She runs up to her bedroom and flops down crying. She looks over and sees Tank backing up, but pulls him towards her. She cries into his shell, holding him close. "Rainbow? Are you home?" Fluttershy asks through the door.
"Go away!" She replies, not wanting to talk to any of her friends.
"Look, Rainbow, I know this is hard, I really do. But you can't blame yourself, no one could have done anything to change what happened."
"Yes we could, and you know that! You all know that! What if I had said no to her, huh? What if I had taken better care during the practice? What if-"
"What if you don't let this go? Then what will you be? You'll be too far gone and worried about how you look, rather than who you are. You need to let this go, and accept that what has already happened, it already happened." There is silence for a good two minutes before the door swings open.
"You're right Fluttershy, you're right. Come on in, I have a lot I'd like to talk about."