Chapter 2: Broken Wings and Dreams
She was perched on a cloud over the Everfree forest, not caring where she drifted as she let her anguished screams out in time with her sobs. The tall tree had been a pain to climb up, and even then she had to glide awkwardly using her good wing to reach the cloud she now cried on. I really blew it this time. There’s no way they would let a mare on the team who broke her wing doing a simple dive. Rainbow Dash sat in the cloud, which was slowly turning red from all her blood, tears pouring down her face as she berated herself. Now I can barely fly at all! I am so stupid, doing a dive that steep! Now I won’t ever get into the Wonderbolts! Another anguished scream ripped from her throat as her wing throbbed painfully, though her scream was noticeably quieter.
Ever since she was a filly, Rainbow Dash had loved diving and going faster than anypony else. Speed was her addiction, just like Pinkie’s addiction to sweets, and Twilight’s to books. The few days she once spent in the hospital were almost unbearable, being unable to fly. She had a lot longer to wait to fly again this time. The pain was just adding salt to the wounds of losing her chance, her dream of being a Wonderbolt. There's no way I can possibly go back to Ponyville now, but she knew she had to. Broken wings don’t fix themselves after all.
She shot up when she heard the flapping of wings near her, wiping away her tears and putting on a tough face. There was a pegasus flying towards her, yelling out her name as he sped to her cloud. Dash hid her pain from the pegasus as he landed, but then unleashed it all in a torrent of tears as she tackled him in a hug.
“Woah woah woah, I come to save you, and you tackle me Dash?” The stallion chuckled to himself awkwardly, returning Rainbow’s hug hesitantly.
“I’m…s…..sorry….Cuts, but….I…c….can’t be a W…..Wonderbolt anymore!” She admitted with a wail. “I broke my wing during a tryout! There’s no way they would accept a pony that did something as stupid as that!” Words out, she began to sob uncontrollably into his mane. Normally, she would be mortified to do something like this in front of another pony, but Wind Cutter had been her friend since her filly years, even longer than Flutter Shy.
000
She was sitting in the empty classroom, crying to herself. Those ponies are just jerks , she thought fiercely, So… why does what they say hurt me so much? Flight school was out for the day, Rainbow was the only pony there now. This day had been the worst she has ever had in Flight school. Worse than her first day, when she bucked a teacher in the face after she tried to stretch out Dash’s wings.
It started off with her being late to school, as usual. As she darted between the pegasi on the cloudwalks, she accidentally bumped into a businesspony. Muttering an apology, she tried to move around him, but he stuck out a hoof and grabbed her. “Whoa there little filly, I want a word with you!” The anger in his voice had scared her, reminding her of her father’s when he was angry. Cowering against the cloudwalk, she endured 10 minutes of his yelling at her. Getting yelled at in public was more embarrassing than crashing; at least crashing could still manage to look cool. With tears in her eyes, she galloped away from the still-yelling businesspony, fluttering her small wings to give her extra speed.
Rainbow stopped right outside her classroom, making sure the tears were gone before she opened the door. Opening the door slowly, she walked into the room. And promptly had a bucket of water dumped on her. The class burst out with cruel laughter, 3 colts louder than the rest. It was obvious that they had planned it, and put the bucket there when the teacher’s back was turned. Rainbow shivered, drenched in the ice-cold water. The droplets on her face hid her small tears as she clopped slowly to her desk. Sitting down, she heard a loud pffffffffffffft noise. The class roared up again in laughter as Rainbow pulled a whoopee cloud from under her. The teacher locked her eyes on her, and pointed a hoof outside.
Out in the hallway, the teacher was red-faced in anger. “Not only do you come into my class and pour water on yourself to make a scene, you then make rude noises during my lecture.” The teacher was practically shouting now, “You are the worst schoolfilly I have ever seen! Every single day, you come in late, or without your supplies, or who knows what else happens. I am fed up with it young filly.” The teacher stamped a hoof. “You have detention for a week! And no flight practice for a week too!” The teacher looked at her sternly, daring her to say something back. “Now go to detention!”
Rainbow Dash, knowing that the teacher wouldn’t take her reasons, turned away sniffling and headed towards the detention room.
She found herself inside the door with its cracked window. Pushing the door open, she resigned herself to a few hours of boredom. She saw another stallion sitting in the corner, a hat pulled over his face. Laying her head on her desk, she made sure the stallion was asleep before letting the tears flow silently. She stopped crying when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “You too huh?” The stallion that was in the corner drew her into a hug. "I'm Wind Cutter." She cried out her sorrows into his mane.
000
As she sobbed into his mane, Wind Cutter felt the sting of being friend zoned. He knew that he could never be for Rainbow what she was for him. He knew her feelings for him were nothing more than friendship, border lining being siblings. However, he knew that if he really loved her, he would make sure that she stayed happy. He would never hurt her, or allow anypony else to hurt her, lest they meet his rear hoof kick at the speed of sound.
Ever since that one day in flight school, the two of them became fast friends. However, Wind had always wanted it to be more. He always admired Rainbow’s ability to keep going after others would have stopped long ago. Her personality was another obvious point to liking her. She was always unafraid to tell people how she felt. It got her into many fights that Wind had to help her out of, lest she get attacked by more angry ponies than she could handle. He had no doubt that she could fight, but he knew everypony had their limits. More than once he saw her limping home with cuts on her face. The ponies that did it weren’t seen outside of the hospital for weeks after it happened.
Right now, he knew she needed this. Her stress had a terrible habit of building up and then being released all at once. That was just how Rainbow was, holding in her emotions until they exploded outward, kind of like his feelings for her had come out. At least she took him seriously when he told her, though the rejection still stung him. He still had that day fresh in his mind.
Four months ago, Wind had approached her after she finished a race. Rainbow’s mane, beautiful as always, was slicked back with the speed that she had flown. The competitors didn’t stand a chance against Rainbow. She trotted over to him, giving him the usual hug. Wind felt his heart swell, both from her winning and her hugging him. He pulled her away from her usual crowd of fans, shushing her when she tried to speak. When they were alone, he looked into her eyes, and saw confusion mingled with curiosity. His mind blanked and he did the only thing that came to his mind, he kissed her. Rainbow’s eyes widened in surprise before she pushed him away, saying that she didn’t feel for him the same way. After a few weeks, they managed to get over the awkwardness though it still remained in Wind’s mind.
That memory still haunts him, coming up whenever he hugged her or watched her race. He knew that she wouldn’t be with him, but he could be there for her. He never tried to pretend, or even imagine a life with them together. That would just ruin the life he had with her now, as a friend. So he sat there, hugging her until her sobs died. Feeling relieved, he moved her slowly off his body.
She fell limp towards the edge of the cloud, eyes closed. Catching her with a hoof, Wind shook his head. That silly filly must have passed out from blood loss. Growing concerned, he placed her on his back, and leapt from the cloud and into a tree. He crashed into the branches, barely keeping her on his back. Just like her, over exhausting herself and then leaving me to carry her home, Wind thought with a sigh, jumping off the tree branch he landed on. He set off at a trot towards Ponyville.