A shattered heart
By Alex
Chapter one: Unforeseen repercussions
Authors Note: Well, I'm sorry for the extended time of release! I had multiple cases of writers block, which took a while to break through. I did it though, and i hope you enjoy it! Oh, and this is my first semi sad story, so please tell me how I did.
Rainbow lay next to her marefriend, smiling as she slept. ‘I can’t believe it has only been 4 months. That day was the best day of my life…and she has made me so happy.’ Rainbow’s thoughts trailed as fluttershy awoke. Smiling at rainbow, she planted a quick kiss before heading downstairs to make breakfast. Rainbow strolled downstairs, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow said walking over to the kitchen. “Whatcha cookin?”
“Nothing really, some oatmeal. How did you sleep?” Fluttershy responded, playfully nuzzling Rainbow as she walked into the kitchen. Rainbow couldn’t help but blush a little.
“I slept like a log. How about you?”
“Me too!” Fluttershy looked away as she answered. She hated lying to Rainbow, and normally she wouldn’t, but she couldn’t tell her what was really going on. Luckily, she had a pot of slowly bubbling oatmeal to look after so it wouldn’t be so obvious. The two sat down and chatted, eating their oatmeal before Rainbow had to leave for weather duty. They said their goodbyes and Fluttershy shut the door.
As she shut the door, a single tear started to roll down her cheek, followed by more, and more until it was like an out of control stream. She ran into the garden, surrounded by the many birdcages and other various animal cages before she finally began to cry. She looked to the ground, seeing four little planks sticking up from the ground. She was sobbing now, trying to hide it in case anyone was listening. As she looked at the makeshift graves for her birds, she missed the delightful chirps. A dull, painful silence fell over the garden, as all the animals looked at their mother with worry. None of them intervened, they didn’t know how to.
“What am I doing wrong? Please? I need help!” she choked on her words between muffled sobs. “Why is this happening? I start to get happy cause of Dashie, and now all my little animal friends are…” she trailed for a moment, not wanting to say the words, “…passing on.” As she said those words, her heart sank to a new low. She heard a loud cough, a thud, then silence. Another bird had moved on. She couldn’t contain herself and was now sobbing openly.
After about 5 minutes of sobbing, Angel bunny was the one to react first. He walked up to fluttershy, placing a paw on her mane and gently stroking, trying to calm her down, to no effect. Fluttershy tried to control her sobs, now sobbing in short bursts rather than extended periods. She flew to the cage where she heard the thud, picked up the bird, checking for a pulse. No vital signs. She started digging a little hole, placed the bird in, and buried the bird. She wrote the birds name on a plank, and stuck it in the ground. She was becoming more worried that Rainbow would find out. All it would take is a stray tear and Rainbow would try to investigate.
After sitting in the garden, staring at the little grave, she wiped the tears from her face and flew to her bedroom. As she reached the bedroom door, she thought she heard a crash from the garden. Not wanting to go through any more emotional turmoil, she lay in her bed, and began drifting into a dull, dreamless sleep.
****
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” an energetic ball of pink fluff yelled. “How’s the weather?” she was giggling as Rainbow turned.
“Oh, Hey Pinkie Pie! Weathers nice from up here, how is it for you down there?” they were both laughing at the joke.
“It’s fantastic as always, thanks to you getting up early! How’s Fluttershy?” Pinkie knew she was walking into a social minefield, but she needed to know.
“She’s good, why?” was Rainbow’s only response.
“Just curious! Hey, want to come pranking? Or we can go have some sweets at sugar cube corner! Or we can go visit Applejack at sweet apple acres! Maybe we can go see Rarity!” she said, not drawing a single breath in-between sentences.
“Nah, I’m going to go back to Fluttershys cottage. I got some things I need to talk to her about. Between you and me…” she leans in closer, causing Pinkie to do the same, “I think she…BOOOOOOOOO!” Pinkie laughed as she hopped back from the fright. Rainbow was laughing as well.
“Okie-dokie-loki!” was Pinkie’s response as she bounced away.
*****
Rainbow bounced into the air, flapping her wings with grace as she flew to her friend’s cottage. As she neared the cottage, she crashed into one of the loose branches. She plummeted to the ground in the garden, seeing an unusual sight. Five little mounds of dirt, with planks behind each of them. She read the names on the planks, and edged back in shock.
“B-but these are all the names of Fluttershys birds! That means…oh no” she said as she darted into the cottage. She searched around and found no sign of Fluttershy. She went upstairs and heard faint sobs from behind the bedroom door.
“She…She’s crying?” rainbow asked herself, before sneaking away. Rainbow decided it would be best if she slept on the couch, as she didn’t want to disturb Fluttershy. Rainbow had a single tear rolling down her cheek as she fell asleep.
*****
“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked, worried.
“My birds keep dying! I don’t know what to do!” Fluttershy responded, sobbing into Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
‘What do I do? How do I help her? How do WE help her? How do YOU help her?’ Rainbow cringed and looked back at Fluttershy, who now looked like Rainbow Dash.
“How are you going to help her? How are you going to bring it up? Or is the brave Rainbow Dash scared?”
“I-I’m not scared! And another thing, what makes you so sure that it’s the birds?” Rainbow said to herself.
“Oh don’t be so stupid, it’s the birds, and you know it. Now go and help her, or if you’re too scared…” the Rainbow
Dash said, bucking Rainbow in the face, “Run”.
*****
Rainbow was jolted awake and looked around. The door to the garden was open, and Fluttershy was lying in the garden. Rainbow leaned towards the door and heard something that made her heart sink. Fluttershy was sobbing audibly, looking at the ground. Rainbow sighed. ‘OK, Rainbow, it’s now or never. Go help her.’
“Fluttershy…” rainbow sighed. Fluttershy slowly turned to face her marefriend, not ashamed of it anymore.
“Rainbow dash…I’m so sorry you have to see me like this.” She said, wiping tears from her face.
“Fluttershy, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Well…my birds keep dying, and…” Fluttershy said, choking on her words, and tears streaming down her face. Fluttershy was about to continue talking when rainbow put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, and pulling her in for a close embrace.
“Don’t worry, we will figure it out. And if you ever feel sad, come get me, no matter the time of day.” A tear was streaming down Rainbow Dash’s face as she continued. “No matter the reason, come look for me. I will always be there for you.” She was crying now but she sniffled and started talking again. “I want you to be happy, and I will let you cry on my shoulder whenever you need it.” They held each other, crying, for ten minutes before Fluttershy broke the silence.
“Thank you.” Fluttershy looked up, and began leaning towards Rainbow Dash. Without hesitation, Rainbow leaned in and kissed her mare friend. “I need to go to the vet and find out what’s wrong. Please stay here and watch the animals for me?”
“No problem, Fluttershy. Get back soon.” Rainbow said. Fluttershy blushed and was off.
*****
Fluttershy trotted into ponyville, searching for the veterinarian pony. She checked the animal clinic, the center of Pony ville, and a few of the vet pony’s hang out spots. The veterinarian pony was nowhere to be found. She started asking around ponyville, and everyone gave her the same response. Every time she got the answer, her heart dropped a bit. She decided she would try one more time.
“Excuse me, uhm, Berry Punch?” fluttershy asked. ‘Please oh please tell me you know where he is.’
“What-oh hey Fluttershy! What’s up?” Berry Punch responded.
“D-do you know where the vet pony is?” Fluttershy asked nervously. ‘Please don’t be drunk!’
“Who, Kakashi? Yeah, he is over at the lake!”
“OK, thanks Berry!” fluttershy exclaimed, running towards the lake.
Fluttershy arrived to the lake and was greeted by a magnificent sight. The day of running was slowly drifting into night and the stars just started to shine. The star’s light reflected off the water, and the moon bathed the lake bed in a crisp white light. Fluttershy looked around to see Kakashi, the vet pony. He was looking out onto the lake, not paying attention to Fluttershy.
Kakashi was a green earth pony, his mane a darker green. It looked a lot like the colors of a leaf. As Fluttershy approached Kakashi, his cutie mark came into view. It was an unusual cutie mark, a spiral with a point and a tail. With his green coat, it looked an awful lot like a leaf. No one knew what the cutie mark meant, but everyone knew that he was the best veterinarian. Fluttershy went to Kakashi when she could not figure out what was wrong with an animal.
“Uhm…Kakashi?” fluttershy asked.
“Ah, Fluttershy! What can I do…for…you?” Kakashi asked, seeing a look of sorrow on Fluttershys face. “Please don’t tell me…your birds?” Fluttershy looked up, a tear streaming down her cheek. Kakashi sighed and kicked the tree he was sitting next to. “Well, in terms of what is happening, I don’t know that much. Even Princess Celestias phoenix is being affected! It is a phoenix, so it just arises from the ashes, but it still pains Celestia to see that. I have found a way to slow it down, but it still takes the birds eventually.”
“Really?! What is it?” Fluttershy asked, trying to mask her excitement about a possible cure.
“Well, you need to separate your birds,” He began, “when they cough, they release the virus. As long as no birds breathe it in, they should be fine. Also, give them this pill.” He handed a small bottle filled with blue and yellow pills to Fluttershy, and began speaking again. “These pills slow the replication rate of the virus. Remember, this just slows it down. I am working on a cure, I will need time though. Until I get a cure, just follow my advice. Keep the birds separate and give them those pills. Come to the clinic if you run out.” Kakashi sighed. “Oh and Fluttershy? Don’t be so down, it’s not your fault that they’re dying. You did nothing wrong.” Fluttershy nodded and headed back to the cottage.
****
Rainbow was fast asleep on the couch when she heard a knock at the door. ‘It’s probably Fluttershy; I wonder what the vet said.’ Rainbow thought as she walked slowly towards the door. Instead of Fluttershy, she saw…somepony in a cloak. The cloak was covering the pony’s face and body. The pony simply handed Rainbow a bottle with a note on it.
“The solution to your bird problem is in the bottle. Give to birds with food.”
Rainbow simply looked at the pills as the cloaked pony left. The pills were red and green. As the cloaked pony left, she kicked another bottle to Rainbow Dash. It had more of the red and green pills. Fluttershy was trotting towards the cottage, shouting at Rainbow.
“Hey, Rainbow! Who was that?” She asked.
“I don’t know, she just gave me this bottle.” Rainbow responded, handing the bottle of pills to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked at the bottle rainbow handed her, then at the bottle Kakashi handed her. Her gaze turned up to Rainbow Dash, who looked back at Fluttershy with confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go talk to Kakashi!” Fluttershy exclaimed, trying to leave but being stopped by Rainbow.
“Fluttershy, it’s late. Why don’t you wait until morning? Come on, let’s go to bed.” Rainbow responded, smiling at Fluttershy. Fluttershy simply nodded, and flew into her room. Rainbow followed, and lay down next to fluttershy.
“I love you, Rainbow Dash.”
“I love you too, Fluttershy.” Rainbow responded, kissing Fluttershy, and then letting sleep overtake the pair.
*****
END OF CHAPTER ONE