Rainbow gulped and turned her head around, trying to listen. “Is he gone?”
“Yes. Discord's gone, we did it!” Twilight said, excitement flooding her voice. “It's over, we've won! The world is saved!”
“About dang time,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “Though, ah can hardly believe we actually did it. He was so... an' we... well.”
“I never had any doubt,” Rainbow said with a snort as she tried walking. She started to stumble, but was caught by somepony. “We're way too awesome to fail now.”
“Yeah, easy there sugarcube,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “Fluttershy only barely managed tah catch yah. Let's get outta here while the gettin's good.”
“Right, err, coming,” Rainbow said as she was slowly led through the halls. Her friends kept talking about how great and wonderful everything looked, though she started tuning them out. It didn't do her any good to hear all those 'ohhhhs' and 'ahhhhhs'.
“Discord is finally defeated,” Twilight said as the air shifted a bit colder and the ground underhoof became softer. It seemed they were outside. “We need to stop them from fighting.”
“I'll go with you. We'll take my mother, too. Together, we should be able to make them all listen,” Rarity piped up.
“I'll come too,” Rainbow said quickly. There was a long, drawn out silence before she heard a cough.
“That's, uhh nice of yah, Sugarcube. But ah think yah'd best stay down here. Help us, errr, round everythin' up,” Applejack finally said.
Rainbow sighed. Of course, she'd just get in the way up there. “Yeah, of course. Let's... get to work. Gathering everything, I guess.”
“Come on, it'll be fun. Besides, the war's almost over! Before yah know it, you'll be in Cloudsdale. A bonified Wonderbolt, ah'm sure.”
Rainbow nodded. “Right. Once we get everything settled, of course.” At least the pain in her eyes had died down. She set to work. Unfortunately, that mostly involved Fluttershy pulling her along and standing around while the others did their jobs. She tried to at least stay out of the way.
------
“Rainbow?” a voice called out, waking her.
She slowly sat up, wondering what happened to the lights. After a moment the memories hit her and she let out another soft, gentle sigh. She really had to stop... thinking that. “Who is... Spitfire?”
“Right!” the mare said. Rainbow felt something touch her on either side of her face and then the bandages were slowly removed. There was a soft, gentle warmth across her face. “I'm just here to look at your bandages. I wanted to see how the wounds were coming along. I... oh.” There was a soft sound of disappointment in the mare's voice.
“What? How... bad is it?”
There were a few seconds of silence before another soft sigh. “I'm so sorry, Rainbow.”
Dread gripped her heart. “What... is it? Can't you... aren't you able to...”
“No. I'm afraid I can't. I... the damage is worse than I'd feared. It's not healing like we'd hoped.”
“B-but it's only been a few days. What if more time was given?” Rainbow asked, her voice tinged with begging.
“I'm afraid it will do nothing. I... don't think these will ever heal. The damage is just too severe.” She took a deep breath. “But you'll survive, I'm sure. You are still one of the saviors of the world. You're a hero. Ponies from all over the land would give a hoof to be like you, even if you are blind.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “Y-yeah. I am pretty awesome. I guess. Just... err... I... wanted to ask about--”
“Please don't,” Spitfire interrupted.
“What?”
“While I do appreciate everything you've done and I would gladly aid you in any way I can, in that I cannot.”
“W-what?” Rainbow asked, confusion filling her mind.
“I'm afraid there's no room in the Wonderbolts for you. Without the ability to fly, you just... you won't fit in. You can't fit in. All of our members are world class fliers, but like this you'd barely be able to fly in a straight line without hurting yourself.”
Rainbow went still, feeling tears beginning to well up in the husks of her eyes. “I... I wasn't going to ask a-about that. I... I wanted to know about... I-I've been working on sensing things t-through air bending. I didn't... I mean...”
Spitfire gave a nervous gulp. “O-oh. I see. I ummmm... I've never heard of such a thing. I'm sure it's imposs...” There was another soft pause. “I believe it would be the perfect thing for you to dedicate your time to.”
Rainbow nodded, though her heart wasn't in it. “Well... thanks for visiting me, Spitfire. I'd... like to be alone.”
“Of course, I'll... probably see you around sometime. Good bye.” There was the sound of clopping hoofs and the opening and closing of her door. After a few seconds there was talking outside the door, though she couldn't make it out. She slowly crawled out and carefully made her way towards it, listening as she went.
“--out of trouble?” Applejack asked.
“Don't worry about it. She was talking about some kind of air sensing thing. I thought it was silly, but at least if she's focused on that it'll keep her out of everypony's way,” Spitfire said.
“Ah yeah. That was mah idea. We needed her element but ah wasn't sure she'd be able tah summon it with her bein' so depressed. Ah jus' suggested she tried sensin' the world with air bendin'.”
There was a soft chuckle from Spitfire. “It's a little disappointing she believes in such a ridiculous thing. But so long as it keeps her out of trouble, I don't see the harm in her working on it. How goes the peace talks?”
“Great. Twilight has 'em all under control. Yah wouldn't believe how well that mare can micromanage. She's like some kinda machine.”
Rainbow just shuddered and made her way back to the bed, hitting her legs once and letting out a soft yelp. Of course, the entire idea of sensing things through air bending was stupid. She couldn't imagine why she'd ever thought it could work. She pulled the blankets over her head and buried her head into the mattress.
Things really weren't that bad, when she thought about it. After all, plenty of ponies lived their whole life blind. She was a hero, too. That meant she could spend the rest of her life being loved and cherished no matter where she went. Heck, she could probably get her own castle with an entire herd of servants to tend to her every need. So what if it meant she couldn't be a Wonderbolt? Couldn't fly around the world, showing off her air bending to fans?
Why did it hurt so much knowing that? She whimpered and buried her head even deeper. She didn't want ponies to take care of her, to have to spend the rest of her life lightly walking around so she didn't hurt herself. She wanted to fly through the air at breakneck speeds, the only thing stopping her from going faster being her own limits. To feel the air go by so fast it threatened to tear out her mane. Now such a thing would be suicide as she couldn't hope to avoid whatever was ahead of her.
She rolled herself into a small cocoon of grief and blankets before laying her head against the pillows. Fine, her life as an air bender and master flier were over. That was fine. She could still help, though. She'd try doing the... egghead thing. Twilight needed help with all these war things ending. She could be a useful member of the negotiations. After all, she'd been there from the beginning.
------
Rainbow now knew what it felt like to long for the sweet release of death. She tried to keep a smile on her face as Twilight just went on. And on. And on. She didn't even know what the alicorn was talking about anymore, some kind of trade thing. She wondered if the other ponies were as bored as her, she couldn't hear any of them snoring.
“Rainbow, you're doing it again,” Twilight said.
“Huh?”
“You keep tapping your hoof. Please, stop. It's distracting.”
“Sorry,” Rainbow mumbled gently.
“You don't have to be here if you don't want to. We can do this on our--”
“No, I want to be here. Really. Honest. I'm paying attention, see?” She folded her hooves on the table and made what she hoped was a serious expression. “Very attentive.”
There was another sigh. “Fine. Now, as I was saying, if we trade precious metals for...”
Rainbow tried to pay attention, she truly did. She listened with every fiber of her being. But it was just. So. Dull. It didn't help that Twilight had a tone that was just... guh. She could make their adventures sound boring and over analytical. She'd probably tell ponies about the temperature and the weather, rather than the awesome fight she had or the sonic rainboom. It made her want to grind her teeth.
“You're doing it again,” Twilight said, her voice tinged with annoyance. “You know what? How about we stop for today. We've made plenty of headway, so now is a good time.”
“But--”
“No, we're stopping. Fluttershy, can you help Rainbow back to her room?”
“U-uh... um... s-sure.” She felt a hoof on her leg, slowly guiding her to her hooves. As she was steered out of the room she listened intently. The others weren't even moving to get up, there was no sound of moving chairs or stepping hooves. She let out another soft sigh. They were so tired of her presence they were even pretending to end their meetings early. She strained her hearing as she walked further away and soon heard them talking again. “So, ummm, how are your eyes feeling?”
“Fine,” Rainbow grumbled. “They feel just fine.” The gentle burning was nothing compared to the feeling of uselessness and patheticness that surged through ever fiber of her being. She was a blind fighter in a time of peace. How was she supposed to be of any use now? She couldn't stand all these diplomatic talks. She wanted to air bend. “Can you take me to one of the practice grounds?”
“W-what? But you're hurt! You can't see and might break--”
“Just, please. Fluttershy. I need to.”
There was a soft pause, followed by a sigh. “Fine.” She was led through halls, up and down stairs. The pace was mind numbingly slow, with her friend asking her every few seconds how she was doing. She used to be the fastest thing alive, now she was reduced to moving at a snail's pace lest she hurt herself. When she was finally in the training grounds she slowly walked on her own, feeling out and touching the training dummies.
“I want to be alone,” she said softly.
“What? But what if you fall or hurt yourself?”
“Then I get hurt!” Rainbow snapped, before guilt hit her. “Wait, Fluttershy, I'm sorry. Just... I want to air bend without following any restrictions, okay? If you're nearby, I might hurt you.”
There was a pause. Finally, another light sigh. “Very well. I'll be outside.”
Rainbow waited until she heard the door close. She was alone, finally. She couldn't fly like she used to, but she could at least still bend. She was one of the best. She swung out a wing and a burst of wind shot forward and she was rewarded with the sound of splintering wood. She chuckled and then did another, more wood exploding. She then thrust both wings down and the sound of more wood shattering and being thrown across the room filled her ears. She had room, space, none of the dummies were left. She started flapping her wings harder.
She pushed her power out, beating and striking at the walls, roof and training equipment around her. She let out all her pain and grief, abusing the objects. So what if she couldn't see? She was still one of the best air benders in the world, she could do things most benders only dreamed of. Heck, there were plenty of them who would have given both their eyes to be as good as she was. She let herself flow, the wind pushing out as she danced in the wide open area, letting the cyclone out around her.
She felt every shift in it and began pushing harder, faster, losing her body in the flow of wind. She was in control, she had power. Skill. She was a fighter, a warrior. It didn't matter that she wasn't as smart at all those political things. She was still Rainbow, she was still--
There was a crash, barely heard over her winds. She stopped for a moment and then heard the screams. There were loud crumbly and cracking noise from all around, that the winds had hidden. She whipped her head about. “What's going on, who's--”
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy's voice finally came out as she heard the door open. “Get out! The walls are going to--”
Then there was a crash as the world caved in around them.
------
Rainbow woke days later, her entire body in pain. Her left wing hurt the worst, though her right was almost as achy. “W-what happened?” she groaned.
“She's up!” a new voice said. She soon heard hoof steps running.
“Rainbow, you're okay!” Twilight said, right before she felt a very, very painful hug.
“Ow...”
“What in tarnation were yah thinkin'?” Applejack snapped. “Yah coulda got yourself an' Fluttershy killed!”
“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, before gasping. “She was there, is she okay? What happened?”
“She's fine. She tried tah run in an' save yah, but the entire place jus' caved in on top ah yah both. You're lucky tah only have a few broken bones and a mangled wing. Fluttershy looked a lot worse.”
That made more dread fill her heart. “F-Fluttershy? What... what happened?”
“Lots ah broken bones. It'll heal, but she won't be able tah walk for at least a month.” There was another pause. “In a way, ah guess she did get off better than yah did...”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked. She was greeted by nothing but silence. “Applejack? What did you mean?”
There was a nervous cough. “They said, well...” Twilight mumbled softly. “You'll... probably never fly again. Your wings were... the bones were shattered. Compacted. They tried to heal what they could, but, well... you can't... fix all of that. You might be able to glide a bit, flap a little off the ground. But full flight will... likely be impossible. You can still make air currents, though.”
Rainbow went still, her mouth falling open. “I... I... W-what? But... flight is...”
“But you can't see, so it's not like you needed them, right?” Pinkie's voice suddenly piped up, in an encouraging tone. “Since you couldn't fly anyway, so it's not like you're really losing anything.”
“Pinkie!” Applejack snapped.
“I'm just trying to help her see the bright side.”
“That ain't a bright side!”
“Oh. Sorry,” Pinkie mumbled.
“Anyway,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. “After this incident, we've come to a decision. Rainbow, you're our friend and we care a lot about you.”
Rainbow felt another bolt of icy dread go through her body. “A decision? What kind of decision?”
“I just want you to know that we love you very much. You're one of our closest friends. But... you're kind of... we can't always look out for you like we need to. We love you, but we're very distracted and not able to give you the attention you deserve. So, err, well...”
“What?” Rainbow asked, her hooves digging into the bed. Even the pain in her wings was starting to seem trivial.
“We've talked to Fancy Pants and he's agreed to take you into the Earth Kingdom and keep an eye over you. There are plenty of servants there, so you won't need anything or get hurt. It won't be in the clouds, so you won't have to worry about falling off, either.”
Rainbow's mouth fell open. They were putting her in a home. Her own best friends were putting her in a home. How could they do this to her? She'd done everything to help them, given so much. Worked just as hard as any of them had. She didn't deserve this.
The tightening of her muscles sent more pain through her body. She thought about Fluttershy, in a similar bed, hurting and probably crying. Alone. Weak. She slowly nodded. “I... I see. I understand. If... that's what you have to do.”
There were a few sighs of relief. “That's perfect!” Twilight said happily. “Don't worry, we'll make sure to visit all the time, okay? You'll be tended to and out of our manes so-- err, I mean, you'll be tended to and safe, no need to worry about hurting yourself or... anypony else.”
Rainbow twitched and gave a slow nod. “Right... yeah. It'll all be fine.” It would never, ever be fine again. She knew that. “Can... you guys leave me alone for a bit? I'm really feeling tired.”
“Sure, of course.” She soon heard the sound of hooves walking away. She laid back down and let out a whimper. Her own friends were sending her away because she was just being a trouble maker. How could life possibly get any worse?