Love Them While You Still Have Them

by FictionFreek

Chapter 5

“Eleven days, plenty of time” Fluttershy assured herself as she flew towards Rainbow Dash’s home. She was still under a deadline that Applejack was able to get her. She was sure eleven days were more than enough for her to ease her way into getting Rainbow to open up to her. “Here goes nothing.” said Fluttershy as she knocked on Rainbow’s door and then waited for an answer. Part of Fluttershy’s plan required her to leave a few hours later than she normally would.

“Who’s there…” said Rainbow in an ‘as if I don’t already know’ tone of voice.

“It’s me, Rainbow, I was wondering-“

“Let me guess, you still think I’m hiding something and are trying to get it out of me?” was Rainbow’s spot on guess. As much as Fluttershy hated to hear Rainbow was still in denial, she had to follow her plan.

“Not anymore, you were right; I was just being silly thinking that something was wrong. Obviously if something was bothering you you’d tell me, I mean, you trust me, right?” Rainbow felt like something grabbed her by the chest and started to pull.

“O-of course I trust you, Fluttershy.” said Rainbow trying to keep herself under control.

“That’s good to hear.” said Fluttershy as she put up a cheerful tone. “So there’s actually another reason why I came over. I was wondering, when was the last time we hung out?” Fluttershy felt her stomach lurch when she said ‘hung’ but continued on. “Just the two of us I mean.”

Rainbow thought this over, she and Fluttershy have been friends since they could walk, but recently they haven’t spent much time together. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?” Rainbow said through her guilt.

“I was wondering, maybe we could spend the day together like we used to.” Fluttershy waited a full minute waiting for an answer. What she heard felt like music to her ears, it was the subtle click of the lock to Rainbow’s door.

“That does sound good.” said Rainbow as she opened the door; it was the first accomplishment Fluttershy has made since Rainbow’s return from Canterlot. It was a short-lived victory for Fluttershy when she saw what Rainbow looked like.

“Dear Celestia, it’s only been two days since I’ve seen her, Rainbow, how much are you trying to hold in!” Rainbow’s mane was always messy, but the way it looked now would probably cause Rarity to faint at first sight. The bags under her eyes were blacker than a starless night, and her eyes were so bloodshot it was hard not to notice.

“I can’t let anypony else see her like this…” Fluttershy had originally thought a day in town would work, but if they did that then everypony would know something was wrong with Rainbow.

“So, what do you want to do?” Rainbow asked snapping Fluttershy out of her train of thought.

“I, uh…I thought that maybe we could go to your usual spot and you could show me some of your new stunts, if that’s okay with you.” Rainbow looked away as she rubbed her foreleg.

“Um, I don’t really feel like trying any stunts right now…how about we grab a bite to eat in town?” this was the first time Fluttershy had ever turned down an offer to show off, it was concerning, but Fluttershy couldn’t try to bring up the real issue, not just yet.

“T-that sounds great, but maybe you should wash your eyes, where you cutting onion?” said Fluttershy as she gently touched Rainbow’s cheek.

“Onions?” Rainbow asked wondering what Fluttershy was talking about. “O-oh right, yeah onions…should probably have worn some goggles.” Rainbow chuckles as she backed away from the door. “I’ll be right back, come in if you want.” said Rainbow as she made her way to her bathroom to see how bad she looked. If she didn’t know it was her reflection, Rainbow would have thought there was a ghost in her mirror.

“Geez, I look horrible…” Rainbow was never one to care much for her appearance, but today she looked like she had just come back from spending several sleepless days in the Everfree forest. “I’ll be out in a bit, going to shower first!” said Rainbow as she cracked open the door slightly so Fluttershy could hear her.

“Okay.” said Fluttershy as she closed the door. Fluttershy walked up to the door to the bathroom placing her ear close to it until she heard the sound of the shower. She wasn’t sure how long Rainbow would be in there, but while she waited she made her way towards Rainbow’s bedroom. The first thing she noticed was the helmet placed on the shelf next to Rainbow’s bed; it looked like it was recently cleaned. On the side was the sticker of Rainbow’s cutie mark that she placed there years ago.

“I remember when you put this on it.” said Fluttershy as she reached to grab the helmet but stopped short. “No, I can’t just touch it…” Fluttershy thought to herself as she backed away from the helmet.

“You know, your stickers are still there too.” Fluttershy turned to see Rainbow standing at the door; she looked a lot better now.

“T-they are?”

“Yeah, take a look.” said Rainbow as she motioned her hoof to her father’s helmet. Fluttershy hesitated at first but then grabbed the helmet and looked inside. After they got their cutie marks, Rainbow’s parents took her and Fluttershy to a store that custom-made stickers. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy got several stickers of their cutie marks. After they placed their stickers on several surfaces, Rainbow and Fluttershy wanted to pick a special place to put their last ones.

Rainbow wanted more ponies to see her cutie mark than just the ones in Cloudsdale. So one day she took Fluttershy to the room where her father kept his armor. Without hesitation she slapped her last cutie sticker on the helmet. It took some convincing but Rainbow got Fluttershy to do the same, only the shy Pegasus decided not to have hers be too visible.

On the back wall inside the helmet, Fluttershy could see the butterfly sticker she placed there years ago. The sticker hadn’t faded thanks to a spell that Rainbow’s father had placed on them so they would never come off. ‘This way you’ll know that I’m always thinking about you’ Rainbow’s father told them after the spell was placed. Fluttershy could feel her bottom lip quiver slightly but after a deep breath she composed herself again.

“I still find it hard to believe he kept mine.” said Fluttershy as she placed the helmet back where it was.

“He knew how much it meant to you, and you know how much you meant to him.” said Rainbow as she placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“And I’m supposed to be the one trying to cheer you up.” Fluttershy thought to herself as she smiled back to her friend.

“Yeah, so, ready to go?”

“Yup; maybe we can catch a movie too.” said Rainbow as she and Fluttershy walked to the front door. Once outside of Rainbow’s home, Fluttershy was first to take to the air, but was surprised to when she turned around.

“What’s wrong?” asked Fluttershy as she noticed Rainbow standing on the edge of the cloud.

“I uh, why don’t we walk into town, this way we can we can talk longer on the way.”

“It’s not that she just doesn’t want to do stunts, she doesn’t want to fly period…” Fluttershy thought to herself. She knew how much flying meant to Rainbow, she knew how much joy it brought her she raced as fast as she could. And she also knew who thought Rainbow how to fly in the first place.

“I’d like that.” Fluttershy finally as she and Rainbow touched down to the ground before making their way to town.

---

The walk to town was better than Fluttershy could have hoped. She didn’t bring up anything about Rainbow’s father; instead they talked about anything some of the happy moments they had together. As they conversation progressed, Fluttershy could see Rainbow relaxing, this is what she wanted, for Rainbow to feel at ease. By this time they were already in town trying to find a place to eat.

“So, um, do you want to eat something at Sugar Cube Corner? Rainbow stopped to think about it for a moment. She knew Pinkie was probably there, and there was a fair chance that the first thing she’d do is try to cheer her up or something. She couldn’t blame Pinkie for being who she is, but she didn’t want somepony bringing up what happened, especially after seeing that Fluttershy finally understands that she’s fine.

“Nah, I’m not really in the mood for sweets.” said Rainbow as she looked around town to find another place. “How about we eat at Alabaster Castle?” asked Riainbow as she pointed at the fast food restaurant. Fluttershy wasn’t too big a fan of fast food, but she figured it wouldn’t kill her to eat some now.

“Okay, why not?” said Fluttershy as she and Rainbow walked into the restaurant. It wasn’t too busy inside, but there was a fair amount of ponies eating at the tables.

“Get us a table while I get in line. What do you want to eat?” asked Rainbow.

“Oh, anything’s fine I guess.” Rainbow nodded and walked up to the short line while Fluttershy found them a table to eat at. Once she found a table and sat down, Fluttershy thought to herself on what she would do next. Rainbow seemed rather comfortable now, a lot better than she was before they got to town. She wondered if bringing up her father now would ruin that, but she a simple question couldn’t hurt that badly, right?

“Here you go.” said Rainbow as she placed the trays of food on the table using her wings. “You like hay fries, right?” Fluttershy nodded as she pulled her tray of hay fries, hay burger, and apple soda closer to her.

“Just ask if she misses him…” Fluttershy thought to herself as she began to eat from her fries. It seemed like a simple yes or no question, there was no need to go into detail about it. She would just as her and regardless of what her answer was she’d drop it for a while. Fluttershy found it a little hard to swallow, but she guessed it was due to the fear of Rainbow getting mad.

“Rainbow, do you mi-“ Fluttershy couldn’t seem to finish her sentence. “Mi-“ something was wrong, why couldn’t she say it, and why couldn’t she breath?

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow raised her brow to her friend wondering what she was trying to say. She then dropped her soda when she saw Fluttershy start to choke. “Fluttershy!?” Rainbow yelled catching the attention of everypony in the restaurant. Rainbow looked into Fluttershy’s mouth, but she didn’t see food stuck in her throat. No, in fact it was her throat itself causing her to choke.

“Your throat is swelling up!” yelled Rainbow wondering what could have caused this.

“What’s wrong?” Rainbow turned to see one of the employees has walked up to them.

“What do you fry your hay fried in!?” yelled Rainbow as she walked up to the employee.

“P-peanut oil!”

“What!?” yelled Rainbow as she grabbed the employee by his shoulders shaking him furiously. Rainbow pushed the colt back and rushed to Fluttershy and dug into her saddle bag searching through the pockets.

“Where’s your Epipen!?” Fluttershy shook her head still trying to breathe, her hooves around her neck as if she was trying to grab on to something that was wrapped around it and she was trying to remove it. Fluttershy’s struggle started to lessen at time passed on, Rainbow couldn’t find her Epipen and was starting to panic; she couldn’t do anything but watch her best friend die right in front of her.

“Hey!” Rainbow turned to see a Unicorn mare throw something at her. Once she caught it she noticed it was an Epipen. Without any further thought, Rainbow pulled off the top and quickly stabbed it into Fluttershy’s thigh. A few seconds past and Rainbow feared that it was too late, but then Fluttershy’s body jerked upwards as she finally filled her lungs with air. Fluttershy enjoyed the feeling of air filling her lungs long enough before the world around her faded into darkness.

---

Fluttershy felt weak, very weak, she tried to open her eyes but she couldn’t find the strength to do event that. There was something on her snout, it felt lie plastic and she could feel air running from it into her nose. She could hear a beeping sound next to her, it seemed slow but tranquil.

“Luckily she got the injection just in time, but she was without oxygen for a while. We need to make sure that she didn’t suffer any kind of brain damage as a result.” Fluttershy could hear somepony talking which followed by what sounded like crying. Fluttershy tried again, this time she was able to open her eyes slowly. Her vision was blurry; she blinked several times before everything around her came into focus. She was in a room with white walls, there were machines around her and she was on a white bed.

Fluttershy looked across the room to see nurse Redheart holding something that was crying in her shoulder. She could see the rainbow mane and cyan colored fur “R-rain- bow?” Rainbow Dash and Redheart turned to Fluttershy.

“You’re awake!” yelled Rainbow as she ran up to Fluttershy’s side. Rainbow made sure to hug her lightly, as much as she just wanted to pick her up and hug her tightly, but she knew Fluttershy was too weak to do that. Nurse Redheart placed a hoof on Rainbows shoulder motioning her to step back for a moment. Nurse Redheart used a small light and checked Fluttershy’s pupils; she seemed to have taken no damage.

“Try not to talk, you’re still recovering. You suffered from an attack caused by your peanut allergy. Your friend flew you here after you received an injected by an Epipen somepony in the restaurant had.

“H-how long…” Fluttershy said weakly unable to continue her sentence.

“You’ve been out for almost an hour. Rainbow Dash flew you in; we ran some tests to make sure you were okay before putting you in this room. She was insistent on not leaving your side until we were sure you were okay.” Flutershy looked back at Rainbow giving her a thankful smile, but Rainbow was having a hard time keeping eye contact with her.

“How long will she have to be here?” asked Rainbow as Redheart checked Fluttershy’s charts.

“Well she was having some difficulties breathing on her own, so she’ll have to stay for a few days to let them recover. As soon as she’s able to breathe without the assistance of the machine then she’ll be free to go.” Readheart concluded as she placed the chart back. “You can stay if you want but again, try to keep her from talking too much for now.” Redheart said to Rainbow before leaving the room.

The room fell silent once they were alone, Rainbow sitting next to Fluttershy’s bed but looking at the ground. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what Rainbow was thinking, but she didn’t like the look in her friend’s eyes.

“It’s all my fault…” Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide as Rainbow continued. “I wanted to eat in Alabaster Castle, and I bought you hay fries…”

“N-o…” Fluttershy’s inability to talk correctly seemed like some kind of curse, she wasn’t even sure Rainbow heard what she had been able to say.

“You almost died because of me!” Rainbow began to cry.

“It’s not your fault, please, you didn’t know!” Fluttershy thought to herself wishing she could scream to the high heavens at this moment. As to why Rainbow began to blame herself Fluttersh didn’t know, but she knew it wouldn’t end well if not fixed quickly.

“I can’t…I can’t go through something like that again.” Rainbow continued as she got up from the ground. “Everypony that’s close to me is starting to get hurt…I think it’s better if I just wasn’t around them.” Rainbow turned around and walked up to the window to Fluttershy’s room.

“No, somepony stop her, please!” Fluttershy looked around until she found the ‘call nurse’ button and began to press it as if a life depended on it, and she feared that it did. As soon as Rainbow opened the window, Redheart ran into the room.

“What’s wrong?” she asked looking to see if Fluttershy was okay.

“S-stop, her.” Fluttershy said as she pointed toward Rainbow, but it was too late, she had already jumped out and begun to fly away. Redheart ran up the window to see the rainbow trail left behind start to fade away.

“Is everything okay, if she in trouble?” asked Redheart as she walked up to Fluttershy’s bed. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to do, should she tell Redheart that Rainbow might be in danger of hearting herself, or should she keep quiet?

“A-Apple-jack” Fluttershy said finally.

“You want me to call for Miss. Applejack?” Fluttershy nodded “Okay, I’ll inform her that you’re here.” Redheart continued as she walked out of the room. Fluttershy was left alone in her room, tears streaming down her face as she prayed that she hadn’t made the wrong decision.

---

“This ain’t good…” Applejack arrived not long after she was informed by the hospital that Fluttershy was there. It took a while but eventually Applejack was filled in by what happened, and she could feel the tension building. She knew that if Twilight found out about this she’d take action then and there. And Applejack was starting to think that she should have let Twilight take charge from the beginning.

“It’s my fault, ah should have let Twilight go through with her plan…Ah’m sorry, Fluttershy.” said Applejack, but Fluttershy shook her head.

“N-no, I should have…tried harder.” lucky for Fluttershy her voice was starting to return, though she wished that it had done that when she needed it to.

“What could you do when she wouldn’t even open the door…” said Applejack, she had been pacing the floor since she arrived. “Ah, ah have to tell Twilight.” said Applejack as she stopped in her tracks.

“No, I still…have time…” Fluttershy tried to plead.

“Ah’m sorry, Fluttershy…but I think we’re out of time. We did what we could, no it’s time to give it to Twilight before it’s too late.” said Applejack as she walked to the door. “You did your best, Fluttershy, that’s all that matters. Just focus on getting better, we’ll take it from here.” Applejack ended as she walked out of her room once again leaving Fluttershy alone.

“Did I…did I really give it my best…?” that’s what Applejack may have told Fluttershy, but the yellow Pegasus could only think that she could have done more.

---

A feeling of defeat washed over Applejack as she exited the pony hospital and started to make her way to Twilight’s home. She thought Fluttershy could do it, no, she knew Fluttershy could do it, but one uncontrollable event sent her chances crashing down. Sure Fluttershy would be out in a few days, but she wasn’t sure Rainbow could wait that long. It was over, she couldn’t help her friend, and she couldn’t do anything but pass on the responsibility to somepony else.

“Yo, Applejack!” Applejack looked up into the sky to see Cloud Kicker descending towards her.

“Oh, howdy, Cloud Kicker. I’m in a bit of a hurry, is there something you needed?” said Applejack trying to hide her uneasiness.

“Well, I was just wondering if you know what was up with Rainbow. She hasn’t been to work in a few days and it turns out she one some kind of medical leave, but the boss won’t tell me anything. Then a few minutes ago I saw her flying out of the pony hospital crying, is she okay?” Cloud Kicker asked with a worried expression. Applejack wanted to tell Cloud Kicker that everything was fine, that Rainbow was going to be taken care of, but for some reason she didn’t. Applejack looked around making sure she and Cloud Kicker were out of anypony else ear shot.

“Can ah trust you to keep a secret?” Cloud Kicker looked around before touching down to the ground in front of Applejack.

“How serious is it?” Cloud Kicker wondered.

“First ah need your word that you won’t tell anypony else about this. And you can’t go changin’ you mind afterwords.” Cloud Kicker looked confused, but Rainbow was her friend, she was worried if something was happening to her. Cloud Kickers expression went serious as she nodded her head.

“I won’t tell a soul, now please, tell me what’s wrong.” Applejack filled her in about what happened to Rainbow’s father, she felt like she was stabbing Rainbow in the back because of it, but she didn’t have any other choice. Applejack continued to fill her in until Cloud Kicker knew everything she did.

“I…whoa…” was all Cloud Kicker could say completely in shock to think that Rainbow had been in such a dark place. “So what can I do to help?” she asked hoping that she could help at this point.

“Ah need you to keep an eye on her if ya can. Make sure she doesn’t fall over the edge so to speak…” Cloud Kicker knew what Applejack meant and it made her stomach tie in knots.

“How long do you need?”

“At the rate Fluttershy’s recovering, three days.”

“You got it.” said Cloud Kicker as she began to walk away from Applejack.

“One more thing.” Cloud Kicker turned to look at Applejack once again. “Ah’m taking a big risk by not telling the rest of my friends about what happened today. If for whatever reasons you think Rainbow is in any danger, I need you to get to her by whatever means you think is necessary.” Cloud Kicker and Applejack stared at each other seriously for a few seconds before the Pegasus nodded and flew off towards Rainbow’s home. Applejack sat down as she watched Cloud Kicker fly away. Applejack bowed her head grabbing her Stetson with her hoof and placing it against her chest.

“Please, please don't make me regret this decision.” said Applejack as she looked up into the clouds.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

No Rainbow Dash don't do it! Whatever you're thinking isn't the answer!

[LeopardCay]

PINKIE!? WE NEED YOUR 4TH WALL BREAKING NOW. RAINBOW IS SERIOUSLY ON THE EDGE.

[DarkSeqvus]

You might want to edit the last sentence, there, FictionFreek. I think you put the wrong name.

[FictionFreek]

2892970

Um...thanks...

[DazzlingHeart]

XD My playlist started playing "Fluttershy's Lament" as I was reading this chapter

Oh playlist, you have the best timing :3