• Published 15th Feb 2020
  • 1,199 Views, 16 Comments

Behind the Flight Goggles - Crystalline Waters



Rainbow tries her hoof at writing a story...about her fellow Wonderbolts.

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Sister Story (Rainbow's Chapter, Part 2)

The group whipped around, seeing Rainbow standing at the doorway to the office.

"Dash! Uh, did you need something?" Spitfire asked

"I was coming to ask if you were done sorting the mail, Surprise was getting antsy. Why were you all-" Rainbow broke off and looked down at their hooves. They had turned so fast they dropped the letter, and it was now directly in Rainbow's sightline.

"Um, Dashie, before you say anything, it isn't what you think..." Soarin began

Rainbow stepped forward, looked down at the letter, picked it up, and shoved it under her wing.

"Really guys?" Rainbow asked softly

"We're sorry Rainbow, we just wanted to make sure you're okay." Spitfire said, and Rainbow's eyes watered.

"I-" Rainbow looked down. "I'm not okay."

"Rainbow..." Soarin pulled her in with a wing, and she cuddled into him. "You should have just told us. You didn't need to write and tell someone else."

"I'm sorry." Rainbow whispered, then glared at him. "But that doesn't give you the right to read my letters!"

"Spitfire and Fleetfoot did it, I wanted to wait for you to come to us on your own!" Soarin exclaimed, and Rainbow turned to look at the two mares.

"We're sorry, but we were right to do it, otherwise you wouldn't have told us how you felt." Spitfire said, stepping forward and nosing her. "We won't do it again, anyway."

"Well, I'm only a little mad." Rainbow said

"Why a little?" Fleetfoot asked, and Rainbow smiled softly.

"A.K already told me all this stuff. She arrived in town earlier than expected and when I told her her letter hadn't arrived yet, she gave me a summary of what it said."

"Well, it's nice to know you had someone to talk to about this, anyway. And that she encouraged you to come to us." Soarin nuzzled Rainbow gently.

"A.K Yearling'th in Ponyville?!" Fleetfoot asked, turning. "Thpitty..."

"Fine Fleet, we'll talk about it." Spitfire wrapped a wing over her and kissed her cheek. "Silly mare."

"Actually, since we didn't have practice today I was going to casually mention it and bring you there anyway. I thought it would make a nice apology for getting you so worked up about that little misunderstanding." Rainbow added

"Well, then you're forgiven. Now let'th go!" Fleetfoot took off and shot out of the room in a blur of ice blue and white.

Spitfire, Rainbow, and Soarin looked at each other before bursting out into laughter, and following. They caught up with Fleetfoot just outside Ponyville, but as they made to follow her down, Rainbow stopped them.

"A.K's not in Ponyville right now, she's at my place."

"She'th what?!" Fleetfoot cried in excitement.

"But isn't A.K Yearling an Earth Pony?" Spitfire asked

"Uh, yeah, she's using a cloudwalking spell." Rainbow answered, not meeting Spitfire's gaze. "Come on."

Rainbow led them down and opened the front door, then they stepped in.

"A.K?"

"I'm here Dash, what do you need?" the mare stepped out from the hallway, wearing her classic cloak, hat, and red framed glasses. Fleetfoot's eyes widened.

"This is Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot. They wanted to hang out, and I mentioned you were here. Fleetfoot's a big fan."

"Oh, hello." A.K Yearling said warily

"You know, it's weird you're wearing your cloak." Spitfire remarked

"I just didn't feel comfortable with it off."

"Ms Yearling, we saw your last letter to Rainbow, we just wanted to thank you for helping her." Soarin said, as Rainbow slipped under his extended wing.

"It was no trouble, anything for a friend."

"That's good to hear." Spitfire smiled, then her eyes flicked past to the kitchen. "Did Dash cook you anything yet? You had to have been on a long trip to get here, Miss Do."

"Rainbow Dash!" A.K snarled, glaring at her.

"I didn't say anything!" Rainbow cried

"I figured it out myself, Daring." Spitfire replied.

"How?" Rainbow asked

"For starters, A.K looked very comfortable on the clouds, not like an Earth Pony who's never touched them before. Secondly, it's strange that A.K Yearling has the exact same coat, mane, and eye coloration as the main character in her books. Third," Spitfire pointed down at A.K Yearling's flank, "That cloak doesn't do a very good job of covering your cutie mark."

A.K Yearling muttered something under her breath, then reluctantly unclasped her cloak. It fell away to reveal an olive green adventure shirt, and her green-and-gold compass rose mark.

"Woah." Fleetfoot gasped

"Yeah, I'm Daring Do, all the adventures in my books are real, so on and so on." Daring Do turned with a sigh towards Rainbow Dash. "You think I'd learn by now to stay away from you, seems like every time my identity is revealed you're either the cause or the one that brings them to me."

"Come on, you can't exactly run from your own sister." Rainbow trotted up and nudged her gently.

"Sister?" Soarin asked

"Fraternal twins." Daring told him, then glanced at Rainbow. "Now, we were going to talk more about what you said in that letter?"

"Yeah..." Rainbow sighed.

"We should probably hear this too." Spitfire said. Rainbow flicked her tail towards the couch, and they all sat down.

"Rainbow, you know I'm not actually a professional in these kinds of things, not by a long shot. But I am your friend-and sister-so I want to help you." Daring said, and Rainbow nodded. "Look, Rainbow, I think...you have Atypical Depression."

"And that is...?" Spitfire asked, as Soarin drew Rainbow against him with a wing.

"I looked up a lot of the different kinds during the Blood Curse episode, so I could properly write what kind was going on with me at the time. So, I have a pretty good definition of it." Daring said

"That and you read Encyclopedias for fun." Rainbow muttered

"Atypical Depression," Daring continued, as though she'd never been interrupted. "Is depression that goes away temporarily when you experience a positive event. It's hard to pin down because you don't always seem depressed to others, or yourself. But it's still there."

"Wouldn't she have symptoms if that were the case?" Soarin asked, as Rainbow nuzzled up to him.

"Yes, there's a list of them, but not everypony who has Atypical Depression will have all the symptoms, and even then they could be hiding them or not recognize them for what they are." Daring replied "It's mostly things like insomnia, sleeping more than usual, disordered eating, assorted aches or pains in the body, that sort of thing."

"Hmm." Spitfire hummed and scanned Rainbow's appearance. "I have noticed when I check in on the 'bolts after Light's Out, somepony's usually pretending to be asleep or reading."

"Has Rainbow been trying to avoid you?" Daring asked

"Why would she do that?" Fleetfoot asked

"Spitfire's the Captain. It's her job to provide constructive critiques to you all. But one of the symptoms of Atypical Depression is a feeling of rejection and sensitivity to criticism." Daring answered

"Now that you mention it, she does usually ask for Soarin to be the one giving her reviews of her training. I thought it was because they like each other but...he is generally nicer than me when he's offering up critiques."

"I thought you wanted me to give them to you so we'd be closer." Soarin whispered

"That is why!" Rainbow said, voice rising unnecessarily.

"Rainbow, calm down." Daring warned

"You calm down Daring." Rainbow snarled "I don't have Aty-whatever! I'm just stressed out lately. I'm not messed up or crazy, I'm normal!" She yelled, and Daring blinked, startled.

"I never said you weren't-" Daring began

Rainbow ignored Daring and stormed past her, kicking over one of the side tables as she went. Soarin ran after her, followed by Spitfire and Daring. Fleetfoot stayed behind, and wrote something down.

Something is definitely wrong with Rainbow. She won't listen to us and is clearly upset. I think Daring's* right. She is depressed, and probably in denial. We just need to figure out how to get her to admit it so we can help her. Because from the way she was talking, she thinks being depressed means that you're messed up in the head or something. She's wrong.

*Should we use Daring's name? I don't think so personally, Spit, Soar, let me know what you think.

Fleetfoot stowed the papers and then ran after them. Soarin and Spitfire had their ears pressed to the door of Rainbow's bedroom. Daring was muttering to herself, then she stepped forwards.

"I have an idea. Let me talk with her." Daring said, and they stepped out of the way.

Daring paused in front of the door.

"Rainbow, can we talk?"

"Go away Daring."

"Rainbow, we want to help."

"I said GO AWAY Daring." Rainbow cried.

"Okay, that's it." Daring growled.

"What are you going to do?" Fleetfoot asked in a low voice.

"I know how to get her to come out." Daring replied. She knocked on the door. "Rainbow, your friends are out here with me. And if you don't open this door, I am going to yell your full name for them to hear."

Rainbow remained silent, then, she spoke again.

"I don't care anymore." her voice was quiet and muffled, as though she had her head on something.

"Oh, you will." Daring said

Daring took a deep breath, then pounded the door with her wing.

"Rainbowella Alexandria Dashilina! Open this door right now, do you hear me?!" Daring demanded

"Wait, Rainbowella?" Spitfire asked

"Her middle name's Alexandria?" Soarin spoke

"Dashilena?" Fleetfoot echoed

"Daring!" they heard Rainbow yell.

"Rainbow, you left me no choice. Please, come out." Daring said

Rainbow was silent for a long moment. Then, they heard hoofsteps and the door opened. Rainbow had tear streaks running down her face and her eyes were lined. Soarin leaned in and hugged her, drawing her in close with a wing.

"Dashie, you are not crazy, you're smart, and awesome, and the best, most loyal friend any of us could want. If you don't feel okay, we're here to listen. But you have to promise to listen to us and hear us out. Okay?" Soarin asked, and Rainbow hugged him back.

"Okay." Rainbow sighed.

Then, Rainbow reached over and pulled Soarin in, making him gasp softly. She pressed her mouth to his in a kiss, and he held still, startled. However, he recovered and broke it, then nuzzled Rainbow gently.

"Well, guess we can't call it a crush anymore." Spitfire teased. Rainbow blushed, then looked over at Daring.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm sorry I told them your full name. No hard feelings?" Daring asked, smiling softly.

"None at all." Rainbow then smiled mischievously. "Darling Alexia Do."

"Darling Alexia?" Fleetfoot snickered, and Daring turned red.

"Rainbow Dash!"

-------------------------------------

Don't worry about Rainbow. She's doing a lot better now that she told us the truth about how she feels. Thanks to her unnamed friend, we realized what was really going on with her. And her real name, but to preserve Rainbow's dignity we're not using it. Rainbow Dash is one of our best friends. We don't know what we'd do without her. Rainbow has admitted that she's cut herself on occasion and Soarin helped her find a therapist to talk about it with. We also discussed the matter with Rainbow's other friends. They had no idea what was going on with her and were very grateful we managed to help her.

Rainbow is more than just a great flyer and a former Element bearer. She's a real pony with feelings under all the tough exterior she puts out. Rainbow takes the saying 'best hoof forward' quite literally, and sometimes forgets that she is just a pony too. That's part of what was making her feel that way. Rainbow is kind, strong, brave, loyal, and yes, a great flyer. But more importantly, she's our friend. And we care about her. Rainbow is, to myself and Spitfire, a sister. And to Soarin...well, let's just say they're (unannounced) special someponies.

"I like it." Spitfire said. Soarin was nearby with Rainbow, cuddling with her.

"I don't get why you want this for my chapter." Rainbow murmured

"The whole point in writing the book is to show what we're really like under the flight suits. This is a perfect way to show that." Spitfire replied.

"I guess so." Rainbow sighed, and Soarin kissed the top of her head gently.

"It's okay Dashie. Fleet and Spit won't make it sound too dramatic-because it really isn't. Okay?"

"Yeah." Rainbow nuzzled up against him, lying her head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Come here Fleety." Spitfire said, sitting down beside the nuzzling couple and extending a wing.

Fleetfoot stacked the papers neatly and stashed them facedown. Then, she flew into Spitfire's embrace, snuggling up to her marefriend.

Author's Note:

Hi, so I know this chapter was a bit more serious than the others. I just want to put this in: depression is not a joke, it's real. If you feel like you need help, contact people who can help you and listen to them. The source where I found the information on Atypical Depression is here.

The next chapter will hopefully come out soon and most likely be different from this one. Also, yeah. Those are my versions of Rainbow and Daring's full names. Rainbowella Alexandria Dashilina and Darling Alexia Do.

~Melody Song