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// Plausible Deniability? 
// Story: The Long Ride 
// by Truffles 
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“Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash almost only breathing the syllables in her name, “I-I'm so sorry… I didn't know. I've been traveling all over with the Wonderbolts – I guess I really haven't been keeping up with things in Ponyville.”

“It was worse than that, Rainbow,” Fluttershy was still angry over her lack of consideration about Angel, and she used it to get things off her mind that now came bubbling to the surface. “You abandoned us! You left us all there thinking you could fly off and do it all on your own again!”

“What are you talking about? Fly off and do what?” Rainbow gave Fluttershy a confused look before reasserting herself and becoming slightly indignant, “And for the record, I never abandon my friends! It's true we saw a lot less of each other after I was fully involved with the Wonderbolts, got married, and had Chrome, but we still got together from time to time. I just don't remember you ever telling me about Angel!”

“No, no, no! That's not what I'm talking about,” Fluttershy sighed in exasperation. “I'm talking about–” Fluttershy broke off, the buzzing in her head was getting worse again. There was something she wanted to say but couldn't seem to find the thought she was looking for. “Oh, maybe I really don't know what I'm talking about…”

Rainbow sighed, “Look, I know I became a lousy friend, okay? Treated you all like Twilight treated her friends in Canterlot. But can you forgive me if we pick up where we left off? I promise I'll spend more time with you guys. Pinkie swear!”

“Okay…” Fluttershy accepted her apology. Even though she still hurt inside, she couldn't stay mad at her friend since she had missed her as much as she did Angel.

“I should have at least written you guys more often,” Rainbow added. “Y'know, it's too bad I can't take Spike with me on my airshows! I could send letters more often if I had dragon mail like Twilight, heh!”

“Yes, his ability to send messages to the other princesses does come in rather handy when he's out with us defeating monsters and bad ponies.”

“Keen gear! Spike is finally old enough to be part of the team, now?

“Yes, but even though he had some practice in that regard when we first fought Discord, he's still not comfortable being the replacement for your Element of Loyalty.”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash cried.

Yeah, what? Fluttershy thought to herself. Where did that come from?

“When I said it was cool he was with all of you, I thought that was as an addition, not as my replacement! How can Spike just 'take over' for me? Me!” She buzzed around the passenger car, exasperated. “You're saying Twilight just replaced me, without even a second thought?”

“Oh, um,” she paused, thinking back to that period for the first time in a while. “Actually, there was a lot of thought in it…” Fluttershy shrunk back seeing how upset Rainbow Dash was, but continued, “It didn't happen for a long time – the five of us tried being a team without you – we really, really, did! But it just didn't work very well… Eventually Twilight called a meeting and promoted Spike to the position. Because – um, next to you, Rainbow… He truly is the most loyal dragon anypony could ever know. His wings even grew in so he could even fly like you!”

“I don't care if he grew wings, two heads or six tails – how would Twilight replace me? You talk about abandoning friends, to me it seems like I'm the one who got abandoned!”

“Well, um…” Fluttershy stammered, trying to get her head straight, “We really didn't have a choice. You were gone, Rainbow,” Fluttershy then added, “I even held one of the torches for your pyre…”

Rainbow Dash was about to continue her rebuttal, but that last word registered as a non-sequitur: “Wait. What did you just say?”

Fluttershy was about to answer, but a flood of memories came back, causing her expression to go from one of discomfort to that of horror. “No, no, nononono! Please, Rainbow!” getting up and pleading with her friend, begging with teary eyes, “Make it stop! I don't want to remember that!” She shut her eyes and buried her head under her forehooves, falling to the floor, shaking. 

“Hey, hey… It's okay. I'm right here, Fluttershy, see?” The fervor over her being replaced took a back seat upon seeing the utterly distraught look on Fluttershy's face. She pulled her into a close hug, trying to comfort her.

“Oh, no, Rainbow”, the tears streaming down her face as the mental haze finally lifted, “I remember now. You… die-d-didn't make it out of that that explosion in Manehatten. Some ponies found you floating in the water and took you to the hospital. By the time we were free of the Mane-iac's spray, it was too late. You were… already gone.”

“Um, I think you've been sitting on this train by yourself a little too long, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, trying to reassure her. “I'm right here, with you – now. And I feel peachy!” Rainbow released her and zipped around the car to show her she wasn't injured in any way.

Fluttershy wiped away a tear and replied, “I wish that had been true – I wanted it to be true for so long. I remember I had so many nightmares about that dreadful day, Luna even tried to help me recover…” She paused and looked out at the rapidly passing landscape, realized something and continued, “Rainbow Dash, what is the last thing you remember doing?”

“Well, that would be me sitting in the seat in the next car over being bored out of my skull, until I found you here, of course!”

“No, no!” Fluttershy implored, shaking her head, “I mean before you got on the train!”

“Oh, that's easy! Like I said I had just done an airshow in Manehatten, so I was waiting for the next train on the platform to travel to our next gig.”

“Was anypony else there with you?”

“Well, yeah, the ponies in my car were with me. Again, not the liveliest bunch, but they didn't act like they were dead or anything!”

“How about your husband, Soarin? Was he there? And Chrome? Did any of the Wonderbolts see you off for that matter?”

“Um, no – but I guess they were back at the hotel. I probably just flew from there to the train platform!”

“So that means you should be able to tell me every detail of every pony you flew over on the way from the hotel to the station?” Fluttershy looking straight into Rainbow Dash's eyes, recalling her friend's special gift, “Can you do that?”

“I – I…” Rainbow Dash froze and her pupils shrunk to mere dots as a sense of panic flooded in, not from the fact that she couldn't remember anything about her flight over the city, but instead from what she did remember: “Cloudsdale… It – it was – Cloudsdale where I last saw Chrome and Soarin. They weren't seeing me off on a trip to Las Pegasus. They were there to say goodbye to me before I flew off to Manehatten to join you guys. Joining you all to fight the Mane-iac…” Rainbow Dash muttered weepily, trying to fight back tears.

Fluttershy stroked Rainbow's soft polychromatic mane upon seeing the tears starting to flow down her face. “There, there. I'm sorry it hurts, but you needed to realize like I did we aren't on just some regular old train. We've both passed on, Rainbow, even though we didn't want to think about it. I didn't even want to think about your death, let alone mine; trying instead to forget instead of facing it head on. Sitting alone on this train with nopony to talk to had only made it worse.”

She looked around thoughtfully, “In fact, maybe this train is supposed to ease minds by making them forget the circumstances of them being here?”

“Maybe,” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly, sniffling a runny nose before continuing. “But if all of this is true, then what happened with you?” After asking this of Fluttershy, a horrific thought – one too terrible to contemplate – crossed her mind based on their proximity to one another on this train: “Oh please, for the love of Celestia, please don't tell me you were so sad you – you didn't…” Rainbow Dash began to tremble, pleading with her friend and pressing her hooves against her shoulders.

“Oh no, Rainbow,” Fluttershy reassured her and smiled. “I could never do anything like that. I have too many friends, animal and pony alike, who depend on me to be there for them. Plus, um, it's a bit too scary…”

Relieved, Rainbow carefully asked, “So what did happen?”

“There are still only fragments, but I do remember being sick, I remember looking in a mirror and seeing an old, withered pony with a gray mane staring back at me. I remember lying in my bed in Ponyville, friends and family streaming in to say their goodbyes that morning. Oh, it was such a beautiful morning, Rainbow! All our best friends – Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike, who had to stick his head through a window because he couldn't fit.”

Fluttershy smiled at that memory; he had tried in vain to squeeze into her cottage – it gave her a bit of a laugh that morning despite her deteriorating condition. “All of them there at my side, looking so very sad…” She started tearing up again, wishing she could have stopped their sadness that morning. “Even Celestia and Luna were there. They took time out from their duties of raising and lowering the sun and moon to say goodbye to me, leaving them at half-staff, just like they did for you.”

“You mean at my funeral.”

“Yes… But… I still don't think I really want to talk about it… Not yet, anyway.”

“I understand.” She wanted to press further, but she realized it wasn't just her own funeral she wanted to hear about – she realized she had missed out on all of her friends' lives. She didn't grow old with Soarin like she had wanted. And Chrome – her awesome, little Chrome – she missed watching him grow up. She suddenly felt very alone, a terrible emptiness eating at every corner of her soul.

“Fluttershy?” she asked weakly, wiping away the tears pooled in her eyelids, “I… I could use somepony to hold me right now – if you don't mind, that is…”

Fluttershy smiled and looked warmly into her glistening eyes, “Of course, Rainbow. How could I say no to the pony that saved my life?”

Fluttershy pulled Rainbow Dash in close to her, curling up and cradling her like a newborn foal in her forelegs and wrapping her in her wings, her friend's hooves pressing lightly into her neck. “Soon, now… I know you probably have lots of questions. I'll tell you everything you want to know; let's just rest for a bit first, okay?”

“Okay.” Rainbow Dash stopped, taken aback by the warmth of their embrace. Fluttershy is sometimes so much like my mom, she thought. Mom. Mother. The unconditional warm love of a mother to their foal. She finally understood how she could take care of all her animals, even ones like Angel, and still have enough kindness to spare for everypony. That's it. You should have been named Angel instead of that bunny, she chuckled to herself. Fluttershy is just like an angel…

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” she whispered. Thank you…