Chapter: 13

by Chapter 13

[Fool's Paradise] Part: 7 (Scrapped)

Fool's Paradise
By: Rumble, Chapter: 13, Typoglyphic.

Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words. Yes, there was much the mare wanted to say, but nothing came forth. Her mind was blank. So much had happened so soon, overstimulating her to the point of complete shutdown. So many things had changed. It was hard to process. The pegasus fet another shift in her chest fluff, followed by another choked out sob. Directed on pure instinct, Rainbow ran her hoof through the source of the sob’s mane and whispered words of comfort.

A mare was crying in her lap; one that Rainbow had never expected to see cry, let alone comfort. Lightning Dust. Such an ancient name to Rainbow. It had been years since she had last seen the mare, and now, she was letting out her frustration and sadness into Dash’s own chest. It was awkward, yes, but the mare didn’t mind. She didn’t know why she was fine with this, even believing that she would have reservations on doing the same thing for the rest of her friends, but that didn’t stop her. For some reason, she wanted to be there for her… for her former friend. Dash bit back a wave of guilt. It was her fault this mare was so broken, wasn’t it?

As if by a sick joke, it began to rain. At first, it began with a light sprinkle, which grew into a complete downpour. Rainbow fidgeted as her fur began to mat with the falling droplets. A chill began to run up her spine. All of her told her to get out of the rain, yet the broken creature in her lap made such a thing seemingly impossible. Lightning didn’t stur. She didn’t move. She didn’t shudder. Nothing. It was as if the rain didn’t affect her in the slightest, or she was just so entrapped in her own emotions that the waking world fell upon her like color to the blind.

The sky blue pegasus questioned whether or not to just rough it out and wait for Lightning to signal that she was ready to move, but, ironically, the sound and flash of not so distant lightning made up her mind. Rainbow winced, then nudged the pony in her lap with her muzzle.

“Hey, Lightning, time to go,” she muttered softly, poking the mare in her lap with her muzzle.

Lightning stirred, but didn’t answer. Instead, she rose to her hooves with a sniffle, avoiding the other mare’s gaze. Rainbow, in turn, put a wing over Lightning to shield her from the rain, then motioned forward with her muzzle and began to trot forward. Lightning followed in step, her head still lowered.

At first, the pair headed for Lightning’s apartment, but Rainbow soon changed their course towards her hotel. It was a little farther, but she wanted the broken mare at her side to actually sleep somewhere nice for a change. And she wanted a hot shower once she got out of the rain. Although she was certain that Lightning’s apartment did have a shower, she shuttered at the thought of the water quality, and questioned if it even had hot water.

Around fifteen minutes later, the duo exited the downpour and into the fancy hotel lobby. They were drenched. So much so that, upon recognizing the pair, the mare at the front desk ran to one of the supply closets and gave each of them a clean towel. Rainbow thanked the mare, but Lighting remained silent. She hasn’t said one word their entire journey. This unsettled the Wonderbolt newby, but she still said nothing. What could she say?

The two made their way up the elevator and Dash guided her guest to her room. It was the last one on the hall, passed the rest of the other ‘Bolts rooms. Rainbow wasn’t entirely aware of the time, but she figured that they’d all, most likely, still be at the post-show meet-and-greet.

Rainbow opened the door and motioned for Dust to enter. She did, and made her way immediately toward the couch that sat in the middle of the room. She climbed on top of the soft material and curled up into a little ball, hiding her head with her mane. Rainbow watched the display with sad eyes.

She closed the door, a single question ran through her mind: What was she doing? She wasn’t good at the feel good crap. Heck, she wasn’t even always good at solving her own problems. More than she would like to admit, Rainbow and searched for answers at the bottom of a bottle and always came up with nothing. The mare shook her head, then turned to face her house guest. Lightning shivered softly on the couch, her body still tucked into a tight ball. Should she comfort her? Give her a hug? Tell her everything was going to be alright? All of that seemed trivial. This was a broken mare, not a sad foal. Words simply weren’t going to be enough. Yet, they were all she could give.

Rainbow bit her lip, then made her way over to the couch. She sat down as close as she could to the mare without touching her. Lightning didn’t even twitch. Rainbow tried to collect her thoughts. She had to say something comforting. Something that would tell Lightning that everything was going to be okay. She needed to tell her that everything was going to work out. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Thank you.”

Rainbow blinked. Those words had not come from her mouth. She looked down to see Lightning poking her head out from within the ball of her body. Her eyes were red, her cheeks matted from salty tears. She did not wear a smile, but it wasn’t a frown. Her face was neutral, but Rainbow could see her face flicker from one state to another.

“Thank you for… everything,” Lightning spoke. She shuffled uncomfortably, then rose to a seated position. She looked away. “I… I don’t really hate you. I want to, I want too so badly! But, I can’t. It’s all my fault -- everything. Everything bad that happens in my fault is my fault. I keep screwing up. I keep fucking up. I keep making the same mistakes.” She let out a shuddered breath. “I want it to be your fault. I want to blame you. It’d be so easy to blame you. And, for a while, I did blame you… and Spitfire… and everyone else.”

Rainbow held her breath. She wanted to interrupt, but knew that she needed to let the pony vent.

“I looked up to you. To them. To all of the ‘Bolts. They were just so… perfect. I thought that, if I could become one of them, then I would be perfect. I wouldn’t mess up all the time. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t…” She began to breath fast, but soon calmed herself with a single deep breath. “I wouldn’t be such a loser…”

Rainbow waited for more words, but none came. Only silence. She bit her lip, trying to think of what words to say. What could she say? The mare took a much deeper breath, then put a hoof on Lightning’s shoulder. “Look, Lightning… I don’t think you’re a loser. You just…” She searched for words. None came. Wasn’t this when she was supposed to just… say something inspirational that would make everything better? It was how it worked in the movies. Rainbow sighed. “I don’t know, Lightning. I… I don’t know your life before the academy, and I can only guess what happened afterward, but I can say this: you are not a loser. Honestly, I don’t even think that you deserved to get kicked out of the Academy. You did some stupid stuff, sure, but so did I. I didn’t say anything until it was too late. And Spitfire… I actually blamed her, at first. Before now. She was the one who pushed us. She encouraged us. She didn’t say anything until it was to late, too. But, now that I think about it, I guess I can’t blame her entirely too. It’s all of our faults. Mine, yours, Spitfire’s. We all kinda screwed up that day.” Rainbow took a deep breath. She was taking a lot of those. “The only problem is that you were the one who payed four all our failures. You were our fallpony. And that’s not right, but… what can we do now? I can’t erase the past. I don’t even know if I can make up for it. I can try. I will try. I… I’m sorry, Lightning. I was a terrible friend. I was a terrible pony. I should have stuck by your side. If I did, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe we both would have been kicked out. I don’t know.” She turned to look at Lightning, who had finally met her gaze. She gave her a soft smile. “I want to start over. As friends. As wingponies. As equals.”

Lightning looked like she was going to say something, but didn’t. Instead, she lunged forward and wrapped Rainbow into a sudden hug. The two fell from the couch from the force of the sudden embrace. Rainbow let out a grunt. Lightning didn’t let go. Rainbow was quick to recover, and soon returned the embrace.