Depression is Tragic

by artistwithouttalent

Nopony Dies: Gonna Fly Now

Fluttershy thought about it. It’s not like she was doing very well before the accident, and all the time off probably hadn’t sharpened her skills. But working with Bullet really put her on edge; he made fun of her just as badly as Mach, and he was just as responsible for Dash being in prison. Still, it’s not like anyone else would be coming along, and she wasn’t really busy.

“OK, Bullet. Let’s get to work,” she finally sighed.

Bullet smiled. “Cool! Let’s get to it.”

•••

She looked down again, and found herself, once again, locking her wings shut and screaming at the top of her lungs as she plummeted to the cloud floor.

Bullet sighed in frustration. He did truly care about her, and wanted to see her pass the flight test, but for some reason, Fluttershy seemed to have the worst case of acrophobia ever.

Fluttershy bounced off the cloud floor harmlessly and trudged over to Bullet, head hung low.

“I-I’m sorry…” she began, on the verge of tears.

“No, no, it’s alright,” Bullet said quickly.

“NO IT’S NOT!” Fluttershy burst out, sobbing, and once again Bullet offered his shoulder.

•••

Once Fluttershy had calmed down enough to speak, she began to apologize again. “I’m sorry about that,” she said, head still hung low.

Bullet nearly laughed. “You don’t need to apologize for crying,” he said, “it’s been a difficult time.”

“Yeah,” Fluttershy replied glumly.

“OK. I’ll tell you a personal story,” Bullet began, “but you have to promise not to tell anyone.” He said these last words with a hitherto unused edge. “Understand?”

Fluttershy was slightly intimidated by his new voice but managed to keep a straight face.

“Okay,” she said, and sat down.

“When I was younger, I was just like you. I loved the feeling of heights, until I looked down. I would always freeze up, my wings would snap shut and I would fall. After a few times of this routine, my dad sat me down, as I am you right now, and he said to me, ‘Son, you have to remember something above all else when you’re flying.” And I said ‘What?’ And he says, ‘You’re a pegasus! You have wings and can bounce off of clouds, no matter how fast you’re going!’ and to demonstrate, he shot up real high, and closed his wings. He landed fine. What you have to remember is that you have wings, and you can use them.” Bullet paused, walked over to her, and lifted her head up. He smiled as he finished, “’That’s how you got up there to begin with.’ He said that to me, and I never unintentionally fell again.”

“Okay, Bullet.” Fluttershy said. “I’ll try.”

With that she took off, and glided high above the clouds. She enjoyed the feeling for a while, and then looked down.

She felt her wings beginning to close, but as they did, Bullet’s words echoed in her head.

“You’re a pegasus! You have wings and can use them!”

As she began to fall, she tried to open her wings. The breeze kept them shut at first, but as soon as they opened a crack, the wind whipped them open and she swooped up just before she hit the cloud floor.

“I DID IT!” she screamed as she soared up. “I RECOVERED! WOOOH!”

Once she reached her previous height, she looked down and found, much to her amazement and delight, that her wings did not reflexively close. She looked down again, and nothing happened!

As she landed softly on the cloud, Bullet charged at her and wrapped her up in a hug.

“You did it, Fluttershy!” Bullet cried as they hugged.

“I did!” she replied, and for that moment, little else mattered to her.

•••

Fluttershy snapped out of her reverie as her name was called. She leapt into the air and began clearing the clouds, thinking about the events of the last few days. She and Bullet had more training seesions and she had become a decent flyer; not very good, but good enough, so they both believed, she could pass the flight test. The written exam had been easy, mostly asking pedantic questions over things like who has the right of way at a crossflock. She focused as she flew through the hoops, and produced a nice time: not very good, but good considering other relevant facts. As she exited the last hoop and reached the indicated height, she took a deep breath.

And closed her wings.

•••

She instantly felt the all-too familiar feeling of falling, and it came as a shock to find that the fear she associated with it came back as well. As she saw of the other cadets, she heard Bullet’s words again:

“Fluttershy, use your wings!”

It took her a moment to realize that those words came from Bullet then and there. After struggling for a few moments, she managed to open her wings right before she hit the cloud floor. She soared up into the air and alighted next to the judge’s table

The judge looked up through spectacles and said, as she stamped Fluttershy’s card,

“Cadet Fluttershy, pass!”

Fluttershy felt a huge sense of relief, right before she was mobbed by the crowd of cadets.

“You did it, Fluttershy!” they yelled.

“I did,” she replied contentedly.

•••

As she sat waiting for her parents, she noticed that a certain colt was sitting beside her. As they sat, he was the first to comment.

“Nicely done on your flight test,” Bullet said, somewhat distant.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy replied. “Thank you for all your help.”

“Don’t mention it,” he replied, looking ahead.

As they sat, silence broke out again. It seemed like ages before Fluttershy broke it.

“You know, you never did give me a straight answer,” she finally said.

“A straight answer to what?” Bullet asked, looking at her for the first time in the conversation.

“When you offered to train me, I asked you why you offered,” she replied.

“I told you, it was because I was sorry!” he said, rather exasperated.

“That doesn’t sound like much of an answer, if you ask me,” Fluttershy nonchalantly replied.

“Alright! It’s because I like you!” he yelled, before immediately covering his mouth and blushing. This got Fluttershy’s rapt attention.

“It’s because I like you,” he said, more calmly. Fluttershy noticed he was shaking, almost on the verge of tears himself.

“You like me?” Fluttershy replied, awed by what Bullet had just said.

“Yes, I do. I always have,” he said, as he began to cry. Fluttershy flew over and comforted him.

“Then why did you make fun of me?” Fluttershy asked, in an oddly soothing way.

Bullet sniffled and replied, “Because I had to. Mach was my friend, but he always had this attitude about weakness. He felt he had to stomp it out, so he made fun of the weaker fliers. As his friend, I had to maintain appearances.”

Fluttershy was somewhat miffed by his response, but wanted to support him now.

“Then why did you stay his friend if he forced you to do things you didn’t want to?” Fluttershy asked calmly.

“Because he was the only friend I had. Growing up, it was always me and Mach. He’s been my friend for as long as I can remember. When things happened with my mom and dad, Mach was there for me,” he replied, sniffling.

“So why haven’t you told me this until now?” Fluttershy asked.

Bullet calmed down a little more and answered, in a lower, less upset, but still vulnerable voice, “Because I was afraid you wouldn’t like me.”

“That’s silly, Bullet! Of course I like you,” Fluttershy replied consolingly.

“You-you do?” Bullet asked. “Even after all the nasty things I’ve said to you?”

“Sure. I know now that you didn’t mean them,” Fluttershy said, and she bent over and gave him a hug. Bullet, awestruck, limply wrapped his arms around her in return. Once she released him, he finished.

“Besides, haven’t you heard what they do to foals who fail their flight tests?” Bullet asked.

“Nooooo,” Fluttershy replied. “What happens?”

Bullet sat for a moment, thinking. “Never mind, it’s just some rumor. Besides, I wouldn’t want to upset you."

“Oh, come on, Bullet! You build it up like that and expect me to forget it?” Fluttershy cried out, frustrated.

“No, I don’t expect you to forget it,” Bullet said, “that’s the problem. I like you for who you are, Fluttershy; you’re the nicest pony I know. This is just a rumor, and I don’t want to upset you.”

At that moment, as she was about to respond, she suddenly found herself receiving a peck on the cheek. She looked over at a beet-red Bullet and smiled. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

“There,” she said, “now we’re even.”

“So,”Bullet replied, after an embarrassing silence, “does this mean you’d be willing to go out with me?”

“I thought the kiss answered that question,” she replied.

Comments

[artistwithouttalent]

Sorry it took so much longer to get this new chapter out; college is nice but the workload sucks.

[Diamond Sparkle]

How sweet,Fluttershy kisses.

[artistwithouttalent]

144787 I really made the comma mistake? Probably a one-off thing; I generally tend to be decent with grammar. As for the adverbs, I'll try to cut down on them; it's just the way I've been writing. Thanks for the tips.

[SirMrDrPwn]

D'AWWWW