Butterflies

by Ghosttown Brony

Pain

Fluttershy

Just like that the magic ended. The thrill and excitement and happiness that had coursed through her at Rainbows sudden advance disappeared, replaced now by terror.

“Rainbow!” she gasped.

“Fluttershy, I’m fine, relax.” The blue Pegasus replied in a cautious tone. She gentaly placed her hoof on Fluttershys chest, an attempt at a reassuring gesture.

“You’re not fine Dashie, you’re bleeding.” She attempted to get up, forgetting the chest still pressed tightly against her own. The Pain in her wing returned with a sharp bite. “Take it easy,” Rainbow said, the way a mother might say to her foal. “You passed out for a really long time.” The light Rainbow had carried in her eyes since they kissed went away, and a look of guilt came to her face. “Fluttershy, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did this to you.”

The yellow mare was shocked by how swift she was to take blame for it. After all, she was the one who grabbed her when she tried to leave. “Dashie,” she began to say but was quickly cut off.

“No Fluttershy, this was all me.” She stared into her eyes with deep intensity. Her magenta eyes were rimmed with red. She was about to cry. “I was in such a rush to get away, over something so stupid, and I wound up hurting you.” Fluttershy could feel each shaking breath against her body. She wanted to say something, she didn’t want to let her take the blame, but like always, she couldn’t find any words. “The way you screamed when I...” she didn’t finish. She shut her magenta eyes tight; a single tear rolled down her cheek and hit Fluttershy on her nose. It tickled.

Still unable to find her voice, to tell her it wasn’t her fault, Fluttershy could only do the easiest thing that came to mind. She pushed her own face up as far as she could and locked lips with her friend once again. She could tell from the way her heavy breaths paused, it was Rainbow’s turn to be surprised. But her recovery was quick, and Fluttershy felt her lips moving with hers. The only lips she had ever been familiar with. Rainbow Dash was her first kiss.

The flurry of emotions that coursed through her was very confusing. Her very first kiss had been shared with a mare. She’d never really given much thought to kissing, let alone which gender, but she’d always wondered what that feeling she got in her chest whenever she saw her rainbow maned friend was. Every time they locked eyes, she felt like somepony was standing on her chest, and she had to fight to keep a blush from creeping into her face.

The kiss held a good distraction from her injury for a while, but slowly the ache returned to Fluttershy’s wing and she became unable to ignore it. She pulled away gently and tried not to give any indication of her pain. She didn’t need Rainbow to feel any worse. She’d done a really good job patching up her wing, but the pain was still definitely there. That however, was a hurt that only time, could heal, unlike the large gash Rainbow was keeping concealed under her wing.
When she opened her eyes again, they found a blushing blue face staring down expectantly at her. With a start, she remembered what Rainbow had said to her after the first kiss. She’d gotten such a shock from Rainbow’s state, she’d completely forgotten. Instantly, she felt racked with guilt, how could she have forgotten that? Luckily the words came much faster to her now, and breathlessly, she blurted out,

“I love you too.”

The smile that came to Rainbow’s lips was extremely gratifying, and she let herself get lost in one more kiss. It made it easy to forget, when their lips connected. Easy to forget the pain in her wing, easy to forget where they were. The world seemed to just fall away in the mare’s embrace. It was like a drug. Heat crept up to her face and the longer their lips lingered, the better the feeling got. But Rainbow was hurt and they couldn’t spend the rest of their day's kissing in the cave... no matter how much she wanted to. So when their lips finally parted for the third time, Fluttershy broke free from her thoughts of romance and dreams, and started thinking like she usually did, like a vet.
“Rainbow Dash,” she said quietly, yet commanding. “I need to take a look at your cut.”

She thought that Rainbow would have fought a little harder to stay and kiss but she seemed far away now, and the happiest Fluttershy had seen her in months. The blue Pegasus slid off her chest and lay down on her uninjured side. She found a large rock jutting from the floor for her to rest against. Only when she was off did Fluttershy realise how cold the cave was. Suddenly she longed for her warm cyan blanket again. No, I have to focus

The pink maned pony was taken aback by how difficult it was to keep her mind straight. It's so cold in here She slowly and shakily got herself up to her hooves. Rainbow had changed her trance-like stare into one of concern, and Fluttershy noticed the blue mare shift slightly. The sudden change in blood flow worsened the throbbing her wing but she ignored it. Then suddenly the throbbing turned into a fire and a small cry escaped her. Quick as a whip, Rainbow Dash was right beside her.

“You alright?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine.” She said, trying not to grit her teeth. She wanted the blue pony to hold her, proect her, cover her once more. But even as they stood there, the slow, pattering sound of blood dripping from the tip of her cyan feather bounced all across the cave.
She had Dash lay down again after a few more assurances that she was ok, and she began her examination. “Rainbow, I need you to lift your wing a bit.”

Rainbow Dash did as she was asked, and stopped when it was about half unfurled.
“It hurts too bad if I lift it any higher.” She said with a grimace. But the height she had lifted it to was more than enough for her to get a good look at the damage. She tried to stifle a gasp but it didn’t work. The wound was gruesome. Half a foot of rent flesh directly under the base of her wings. Luckily, it wasn’t deep enough to see bone, but it cut into the muscle. Somehow the blood was minimal but even as she stared, small trails of blood began to flow down her blue body. The area where she had kept the bleeding at bay with her wing had stained her fur purple.

“Rainbow Dash!” she said “This is much worse than I expected. I-I can’t treat this!” She knew that she had absolutely nothing in the way of medical supplies, but she hadn’t expected the size of the cut. She was surprised by how calm Rainbow Dash was though, still just staring up at her, waiting for her to tell her what to do. “There’s nothing we can do here, you need a hospital, an actual doctor.” The stress of the sight of this injury, coupled with the intense, unwavering pain in her wing made her feel very light headed. She had to sit down. This was serious, a cut like that in this environment would undoubtedly get infected, and that could cause a lot of issues.
Death wasn’t such a farfetched possibility.

No, she couldn’t think like that. And she definitely couldn’t tell her that. She took a few deep breaths to collect her thoughts and calm her racing heart. “Ok,” she breathed, even her small voice echoed across the cave. “There’s nothing we can do aside from keeping pressure on it and covering it from infection, so I need you to keep that wing closed, until we can get you to a hospital.” She put her hoof on Dash’s wing and pushed it gently down, pressing it slightly against her body, to show her how much pressure to put. Rainbow winced slightly as the wing connected with her gash. She brought the same hoof up to her own forehead, trying to organize her thoughts. “You also need to take things easy, any strenuous activities poses a risk of widening the cut. So no running.”

Rainbow continued to stare for a minute before she put the pieces together. “Wait, you’re saying that I can’t fly until we get back to town? We have to walk there like this?” she asked pointing at her injury.

“I guess so.” Fluttershy said meekly. A groan of frustartion escaped the colourful pegasus. For the first time since they had gotten trapped, Rainbow seemed almost aggravated, which was understandable. The idea was very unappealing to her as well.

They had flown to the edge of the Everfree forest. The flight had taken almost two hours at Rainbow’s breakneck speeds. Even if the walk wasn’t through miles of tree and hill covered terrain, it would take several days. Add to that the fact that they would have to take it very slow to avoid worsening their hurts, the trip would be far from short. “Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow said, rising to her hooves.
“The less time we’re stuck here the better.” Some of her old brashness returned to her voice.

She had expected her to be more concerned with the fact that she couldn’t fly. Flying was her life, wasn’t it? If she didn’t know Rainbow as well as she did, she would have assumed it was just her tendency for speed taking over again, not wanting to be cooped up, not wanting to sit around, but Fluttershy knew better.

She had figured it out a while ago, but Rainbow was terrified of the forest. She was ok with it in large numbers, but she never entered it alone. The one time Fluttershy had talked her into a picnic at a beautiful little clearing a small way into the forest; she had been really antsy, jumping at the smallest noises, she didn’t even finish eating. She never pointed it out to her, knowing it would be a huge slight on her pride. But as terrified as she was, she knew staying was far worse than just getting out as fast as possible. And that was something Fluttershy could definitely agree with.

She had no objections to getting out of this cave. She stared a few feet back, to where Rainbow had nursed her wounds, and shared a kiss. She wanted to remember what it looked like, as much as what it felt like. It was a moment that would never come again, so she wanted to capture it in her mind’s eye, to be able to replay it. Then she lifted herself up to a standing position. Both ponies looked to the entrance. The small beams of light that shone through the cracks, made it very tempting to try and unblock the exit, but it would be a slow process and extremely unsafe.

She looked back to Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have the same idea on her mind. So they turned to the back of the cave. The light didn’t reach far enough back to see, but she could tell the cave continued for at least another ten or fifteen feet. Dash started to walk towards the back of the cave. Fluttershy followed slowly, a little apprehensive to approach the darkness, but if she thought of it like she was just following Dash, it wasn’t so scary.

But soon they were no longer walking towards the darkness, but part of it. When it started to become difficult to see the pony in the lead, Fluttershy moved a little closer. And a little closer. And closer, until they were practically touching. Then soon they were touching, for the darkness had swallowed them completely, and the vibrant colours of the mare to her became practically invisible. Fluttershy’s heart began to thump wildly; her only solace was knowing who was beside her.

Suddenly something warm touched her back and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She sucked in a sharp gasp and she heard a voice beside her. “Relax it’s just me.”

Fluttershy began to recognise the tickle of feathers on her back, and realised the warm thing was Rainbow Dash’s wing. The pain in her own injured wing subsided a bit as she became aware of her side rubbing up against Rainbow’s. The warmth she had felt underneath her, when light existed, returned to her. She felt a flush creep into her cheeks.
She’d never been so close to another pony. She had truly meant what she said, that she loved her, but this was completely foreign to her. She had never acknowledged her feelings before, why would Rainbow feel the same way towards her? She wanted big things, she wanted to be a wonderbolt, for everyone to know her name. All Fluttershy wanted was to live quietly, surrounded by nature, in her little cottage. She just wanted the simple life. They lived on different levels, figuratively and literally.

They were friends, that was as far as it went. But now she knew Rainbow’s true feelings. She loved her. Fluttershy couldn’t imagine why, but this beautiful mare loved her, and she loved her back. What did this mean now though? She felt like she should say something. She was in love now right? Shouldn’t she be swooning, or at least talking to her friend.

There it was again, that word, friend. That’s what she’d always called her, but now the title didn’t seem fitting. Her fillyfriend? Her special somepony? She started to get frustrated, thrown so far out of her comfort zone, not only physically but mentally. But she fought it back because whenever she got frustrated she usually started to cry. Though tears were nothing new to either of them, she felt that there had been enough of them for one day

So instead of focusing on what she didn’t know, she focussed on what she did. She knew without a doubt that she loved Rainbow Dash, the way a mare loves a stallion. She knew that if she had to be trapped and stranded far from civilization, there was nopony she would rather be with. And she knew that she didn’t want Dashie to die. It was hard to get her romantic thoughts out of her head, so she had just stopped trying. But even harder to forget was the sneering gash hidden under Rainbows other wing.

She felt her face warm and thought she was blushing again, before realising that the warmth was only on her right cheek. Fluttershy rubbed her cheek against Rainbow’s affectionately. “Do you really love me?” asked Dash softly, sounding almost afraid of the answer.

“Yes.” The yellow mare whispered back. The sounds of their hoofs echoed around in the darkness, making it sound the cavern was bustling with other ponies. She didn’t know how long they had been walking, it was black and each step was taken slow. Fluttershy closed her eyes, or at least she thought she was closing her eyes, in the darkness it was near impossible to tell.

She heard Rainbow sigh with satisfaction, right before both ponies hit their head on a wall they couldn’t see. As of yet they had met no obstruction, aside from the occasional stray stone to trip them. “Ow!” they both winced, but compared to the injuries they had already sustained, it felt like nothing and they both gave a small chuckle.
She could hear Rainbow tapping the dark wall with her hooves. Then she started moving towards the left, Fluttershy followed closely, partially out of fear of getting lost, and partly because she really wanted to keep their bodies together. The warmth and subtle connection felt almost like home to the yellow mare, and she wasn’t eager to give it up.

But suddenly the task became much less difficult, when the vibrant colours of Dash’s rainbow mane became visible once again. The light was still dim, but no dimmer than the entrance to the cave. Once again the ponies could see the jagged black rock that surrounded there world. As they continued it became brighter, and Fluttershy could see the beaming smile Rainbow Dash was giving her, and she returned it full heartedly. Even though there was no chance of losing each other now, Rainbow Dash still kept Fluttershy close under her wing, and Fluttershy had no intention of moving out from under it.

The narrow passage of the cave suddenly opened up into a very large cavern. Fluttershy became aware of all the plant life surrounding them and looked up to see the source of light. Sunlight spilled in through a wide hole at the top of the large room pressed tightly against a near sheer stony wall. And with that, their brief, hopeful smiles quickly fell, as they saw the roof of the cavern was at least fifty feet from the floor. That was quite a long way, for ponies who can’t fly.

Author's Note:

So my schedule has gone completely haywire, and because of that, my chapter submissions are just going to come at random for the time being. But here is the third chapter (Finaly)! I apologise in advance, my editor has suddenly dissapeared off the internet and I can't contact her to help me, so there will probably be even more mistakes than usual, yay! As always, I love to hear you're feedback, and any advice will be much appreciated. And finally, yes, alternating perspectives between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy is most likely going to continue throughout the story, though I find it much easier to write from Rainbow's perspective. Anyway, hope you guy's enjoy!

Comments

[BronyLance57]

I just remembered this story this morning. I'm glad to see it update. I know a lot about hectic schedules so no biggie. Whatever happens happens I guess.

[Zombificus]

Ah, ye olde hektik skedule, bane of all the authores in the worlde. I know the feeling.

Nice chapter, interesting to see how they'll get out of this one. Maybe Fluttershy will use The Stare on a passing Dragon/Griffin/Alicorn-Princess/Other Winged Creature and get them to take her and Dash to the nearest hospital.

[The Queen Baby]

It was nice getting some of Fluttershy's perspective. How will they get out now?

[There At The Close]

good job with the characterization. It seems so..REAL...
~Wywint

[spoiledspoon]

anyway who’s reading this in 2021