End of Courage

by 576-Belligerent-Coil

Part 2: Words Unspoken

It’d almost been an entire week since the last time Twilight saw Rainbow Dash. The first few days, she hadn’t been too worried. She figured Dash just needed some time to cool off. But after five days had gone by with no sign of the pegasus, she began to worry. She asked around Ponyville to no avail; it was like Rainbow Dash had simply dropped off the map. All week, she’d been thinking about how—if – she should go about finding the mare. As much as she wanted to, she knew she’d never be able to; Dash was at home in the clouds, a locale altogether unknown to unicorns. Eventually, though, she thought of a way to find Dash—she’d have to talk to Fluttershy.

Oh come on, Twilight! You can do this, she thought to herself as she approached the secluded cottage. You come here all the time, right?

She slowly approached the door, preparing to open it. Inside, she heard a familiar sound. Fluttershy was inside crying. No, no, no, no, no, you cannot do this!

In spite of herself, she opened the door. “Hi, Fluttershy! How are you?” She very nearly facehooved herself as the words slipped out of her mouth. Her nerves were alight as she looked around, trying to locate her friend. “Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you home? Fluttershy?!”

She heard the crying pick up a little bit. It was coming from upstairs. She started to climb to the second story apprehensively and heard Fluttershy shift in her bed.

“Go away, Twilight! I don’t want to talk to anypony right now!”

“Fluttershy, I can help you through this… I know what’s going on!” Twilight reached the master bedroom and opened the door. As she surveyed the room, she got the impression it’d never been lived in before. Where did Fluttershy sleep?

…this is Fluttershy’s house. Of course she doesn’t sleep in the master bedroom.

She sighed and continued down the hallway, opening the door to what would normally be considered the guest room. What she found inside was a bit troubling. Fluttershy was on her bed, wrapped tightly in a bathrobe. She looked up for a second, burying her face in her pillow the second she laid eyes on Twilight.

“I told you to go away… I’m sorry… please, Twilight?”

Twilight walked over to Fluttershy’s bed side and lifted the crying pony’s head off of the pillow. “C’mon, Fluttershy… I know what happened, and I want to help.”

“Oh, so now Rainbow Dash is just going around telling everypony about our personal lives? Isn’t that just wonderful. I’m sorry, Twilight… I just don’t want to deal with how insensitive she is any more…”

“Insensitive? She got kicked out of Cloudsdale for you. That’s one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard, even if it was a bit on the stupid side. And, yeah, she could have handled the whole cru—“

“Wait a second, Twilight. Do you even know what happened?”

“Of course… when you two were in flight school, you had a crush on her, and she wasn’t int—“

“She didn’t tell you!” Fluttershy looked a little bit relieved. “I knew she wouldn’t do something like that…”

“No, she didn’t tell me anything after that,” she quickly decided against admitting Rainbow Dash was in the process of finishing the story, “...but I think you should.”

Fluttershy stared at the floor and kicked at her sheets a little bit. “Oh, Twilight… I don’t think I can talk about something like that…”

“Fluttershy, you’re one of my closest friends… and Rainbow Dash is, too. If something’s coming between you two, I want to help you both.”

“You won’t leave until I tell you what happened, will you?”

“No, I won’t. So please, just tell me what happened after you and Rainbow Dash left Cloudsdale.”

“Alright, Twilight. I guess it can’t make things any worse…”

***

I didn’t know much about what happened to Rainbow Dash after I flew away from Cloudsdale. For a while, I just assumed she stayed up there. I knew she hated it, but I thought her parents would have made her stay. Either way, I didn’t want to know where she was. I was still upset, even though I moved all the way to Ponyville. It always felt like no matter how far I went I couldn’t escape that place. I managed to find some comfort in the animals around Ponyville. They needed my help, and I needed their company. For the first time in a while, I was really happy.

One day, when I was out shopping for Angel, I saw Rainbow Dash at the market. She was talking to the yellow-maned pegasus who delivered our mail, so she didn’t see me. I couldn’t think of what to say to her, so I tried to hide behind a newsstand until she went away. That didn’t last long. The owner thought I was trying to steal from him, so he pushed me out of my hiding spot—and right into Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” she said, “I’ve been looking all over for you! I just moved to Ponyville a few days ago, and Derpy told me that you lived outside town! Weird stuff, right? What’re the chances?”

“Heh… yep, that’s pretty odd, alright…”

“Hey, sorry about what happened in Cloudsdale, Fluttershy. You know I didn’t mean what I said, right?” Just then, my heart skipped a beat.

“Oh, um… of course, Rainbow Dash… I figured you were just mad…”

“Yeah, I was. Can you believe the nerve of some ponies? Thinking we were dating…”

And then my heart stopped altogether. “R-right… who’d get an idea like that?”

“Hey, maybe we should hang out some more later. I gotta finish clearing out the sky before it gets too dark. You know how they love to have the moon on display this time of year.”

“Yeah… I’ll see you around, Rainbow Dash…”

After she moved to Ponyville, I couldn’t really keep to myself very much. For a while, all she wanted to do was catch up. We talked a lot, then… I told her how I opened up a home for lost animals, and she told me about how she got a job with weather control. At first, I was surprised that she had a job like that until she told me about how she got expelled from Cloudsdale. I felt absolutely horrible. I tried to make it up to her, but she wouldn’t have any of it. All she would say is that she hated the place anyway and was glad she got expelled.

I wasn’t sure at first, but eventually I could tell she really was happy in Ponyville. She introduced me to Rarity, who introduced us to Pinkie Pie, who introduced us to Applejack… eventually, we were all acquainted, but I never really got to know the other ponies until you came along, Twilight. It’s like we were just waiting here for you to bring us all together.

When you finally got moved in and all of us started spending time together, I guess I started coming out of my shell a little bit. The more we learned about friendship, the more confident I got. I felt so strong when I was with all of you, but when I was alone with Rainbow Dash, I would always get overwhelmed with the feeling that I didn’t quite measure up. Maybe it was Cloudsdale that did it to me; maybe she was just too much for me. Either way, I could never manage to tell her how I really felt. I started to forget about those feelings, and got comfortable with the way things were.

A few weeks ago, though, that changed. I was trying my hardest to cheer for Rainbow Dash before the competition in Cloudsdale, and I was watching her practice. I followed her every move. She had so much power, so much control… and even though she’d never admit it, so much grace. And then, all of those old feelings came rushing back to me. I remember how I felt about her as a filly. I remembered what I loved about her. That moment, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to tell her that what I felt in Cloudsdale was real. But how could I?

Eventually, I decided I’d have to just say it like it was… subtlety hadn’t really helped me much in the past. I didn’t want to risk ruining our friendship, but I didn’t know how much longer I could keep hiding from her. So I found her after she was finished with work and asked her if she’d walk me back to my cottage.

“Sure,” she said. “It’s been a while since the last time we hung out.”

When we set off, I tried to act normal, but my body wouldn’t let me. I was stiff and my stomach was in knots. Rainbow Dash must have noticed, because she bumped into me and smiled a little bit.

“Lighten up, Fluttershy. It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” I said back. I knew this was the moment. “Rainbow Dash, do you ever think about Cloudsdale? About… us?”

Rainbow Dash stopped short and stared at me blankly. “C’mon, Fluttershy. You’re not still worried about a silly little crush, are you?”

“Oh, so that’s what you think this is? A silly little crush?” I started to storm off back to my cottage.

“But Fluttershy…!”

“Forget about it, Dash.”

“Fluttershy… don’t walk away from me like that! Come back!”

I clenched my teeth and tapped into what little courage I had left. “No.”

And then I left.

***

Twilight was well and truly speechless. This is not the Fluttershy I know, she thought to herself.

“Oh, Twilight… do you think I did something wrong?”

Twilight shook her head. She was still trying to process the sudden change in her friend. “No, I think you did the right thing. You told her how you felt. That was the only thing you could have done, right?”

“If I’d just stayed quiet, none of this would have happened, though. If only I could have held back my emotions, just a little bit…”

“Fluttershy, you did the right thing. It’s not healthy to keep everything bottled up inside you. Right now, I’m just trying to figure out how to fix this whole situation.” Twilight shook her head gently, trying to shrug off the overwhelming feeling of helplessness washing over her. She remembered what she came to Fluttershy’s house for originally. “Well, before we can do anything, we need to find Rainbow Dash. I haven’t seen her since she came to me that night, and I’m starting to get worried.”

“Oh, my… she’s missing?” Fluttershy’s expressiveness was deadened by a week’s worth of crying, but Twilight saw the worry behind her teal eyes.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Twilight said quickly. “We’ll find her. How far away could she have gotten?” Twilight repeated that sentiment to herself, trying desperately to believe it herself. She glanced out Fluttershy’s window, seeing the rolling expanse that was Equestria. In a week’s time, that pony could be anywhere in the entire world. “…how far could she have gotten…?”

Comments

[576-Belligerent-Coil]

Okay, guys. Next chapter's up. It's significantly shorter this time around, and that trend may continue. Not sure as of now how long the whole thing is gonna be, but...

Take it as it is!

--576 Belligerent Coil loves you!

[501st Party Brigade]

ARGH! why must you stop there? I want more lol.

Keeping hooves crossed for happy ending.

[Yuriegh]

Short chapters :( oh well as long as you keep em coming! good job so far!

[576-Belligerent-Coil]

Man alive, guys, am I sorry I haven't updated this yet. I've had so bloody much on my plate as of late (it's getting close to finals), so it's probably going to be a while before I'm ready to put the next part up. Bear with me, everyone... I will finish this story!

EDIT: As my roommate pointed out... I DIDN'T SIGN OFF!

--576 Belligerent Coil was here!

[576-Belligerent-Coil]

Minor grammatical fix. Stupid finals, making me unable to proofread.