• Published 5th Jan 2012
  • 7,960 Views, 231 Comments

Deeper Than Friendship - JustaninnocentPony



Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's friendship is slowly reaching a new level, but will it work?

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For The Best

Chapter 12
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Twilight smiled widely, trotting happily down Ponyville’s main street. It was a perfect day for what she had to do. The sun was out and shining brightly, the birds were happily chirping in the air and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Perhaps it was Celestia’s way of letting her know that she supported her plan, and wanted her to have the best-looking day possible to execute it. She had healed some of her wounds that morning with magic and felt much better; and it was then, as she was bandaging her hoof again in the bathroom that she knew what she had to do. If she was ever going to gain her friend’s trust and respect again, she’d have to start by apologize for what she had done, and promise to make amends for it. After all, what good was going to come from her hiding in her house, fearing her friend’s opinions of her forever like she had done earlier that morning? No good at all, that was for sure; the only way she’d be able to make up for what she had done was to first apologize to the very ponies she had did it to. She had decided to start with Fluttershy, seeing as she had already somewhat forgiven her for the actions and would probably help her apologize to Dash as well. So, it was set in her mind, and she’d gladly make her way down to the shy pony’s cottage, in hopes of salvaging their damaged friendship.

The purple mare followed the road until she reached the dirt path leading out of town and towards the Everfree Forest and Fluttershy’s home. Following the trail happier than any other pony in her situation would be she almost felt just like her overly excited pink friend, who would rarely ever let something like this get her down without a fight in the first place. Speaking of, what was Pinkie even up to at this hour? Most likely buying supplies for a party of some random origin or busy baking cupcakes and all sorts of tasty treats in her oven, warm and happy within the smiling and welcoming confines of Sugar Cube Corner. Come to think of it, Twilight had never felt this happy or excited to so something in her life, not even as a filly. She had made a mistake, a huge mistake, and she was certain that like a bad spell gone wrong, there was always a way to undo the damage while leaving minimal bruising. It almost seemed a bit out of her normal behavior, but she had spent the better part of the morning considering it, convincing herself to take the chance and right her wrong, and that’s exactly what she planned to do now.

Before she knew it, the lavender unicorn had reached the outskirts of her shy friend’s house, and she was just a threshold of trees away from completing her first objective. But something quickly stopped her in her tracks; no, not something, somepony. Above in the sky a streak of rainbow sped away, but something was… off about it. Rainbow Dash usually came from and went to Fluttershy’s house during the day, as she had noticed in the past, but this departure seemed different from the rest, more rushed and messy, like the flier wanted to get out of there as quickly as her wings could muster. Twilight tried to look more closely, but she could barely see the rainbow maned mare from her standing position on the ground. Although, she could almost see a glistening object falling from her eyes, and more. The magical apprentice stared onwards with worried curiosity until the blue Pegasus with her streaking rainbow mane and tail was nothing more than a disappearing speck in the similarly colored cloudless sky.

***

“Common Fluttershy! Come out, please,” Rainbow Dash softly pleaded through the locked and bared door of her marefriend’s cottage “I know it was bad but you know as well as I do not everyone in Ponyville is like that!” She continued. There was no response from the other end of the wooden barrier, as she put her ear up to the door the only thing the flier could hear was a soft, squeaky sobbing. This only fueled the fast-growing fire in her heart, she was hurt herself, physically and mentally, angry beyond all belief, ready to snap some unlucky pony’s head right off their neck. They did this, those piece of crap citizens filled to the brim with unwavering prejudice, still stuck in their ways from the olden times and afraid to look upon new ideas and cultures that even differ in the slightest from their “norm”. It was because of them that she was afraid in the first place, it was because of them why her snout, like many other spots on her body right now was a bloody and bruised mess; but most of all, the thing that was almost driving her to the brink of homicide was what they did to her love, her marefriend, Fluttershy…

What if she was never the same? What if the shy, delicate yellow mare never left her house again? She could have been scarred for life by this experience, too deeply cut to even speak. Dash didn’t care about the hate that had been thrown at her in the slightest; she was used to stuff like it. Hay, it was because of her tom-boyish attitude and her brightly multi-colored chromatic mane that for the majority of her childhood and even today ponies were quick to judge her as a “Filly-Fooler” and mock her as such. But Fluttershy, she never dealt much with that level of hate before, sure she had been bullied like other foals, but she had seemed to take that rather well with the blue mare’s help. This however, this was different, that yellow pony had seen the once kind faces of Ponyville, some of those faces even belonging to her friends turn against her, showing the dark side of their personalities. Dash could emphasize, it probably felt like a stab in the back to the poor mare. But regardless of all of this, regardless of her festering and blistering anger, what was she supposed to do now? Taking a deep sigh, the mare leaned forward towards the door again, trying to string together the right combination of words in her head, the right thing to coax Fluttershy out.

“Fluttershy… I know what you must be feeling right now, and I don’t blame you,” Dash paused for a moment, contemplating her next words. Fluttershy leaned forward a bit from her lying position on the couch, listening in closer to the mare’s staggering voice through her tears “I know it must have been a recall to the old days as a foal, when you were always bullied, always harmed and I couldn’t be there every time it happened. And…” Dash began, her voice staggering “Now it’s my fault this happened. You were pelted with rocks and stones by your friends, the very ponies you’ve given nothing but love and kindness too, and it’s all my fault” she continued, her tone uneven and pained. There was a long pause following her last sentence, and Fluttershy became worried that the mare might of left already, something paining her too much to continue.

“Dash…?” The mare asked in a hushed voice that was barely audible through the thick door. Rainbow heard it though, her ear pressed lazily against the wooden barrier. There was another long pause, and the yellow mare was about ready to go check her door when the next set of words came through the house in invisible waves.

“Fluttershy… do you love me?” Dash asked, her voice half pained and half curious. Fluttershy, already up and halfway to the door stopped in her tracks, suddenly taken aback by the question. What kind of thing was that to ask? Of course she loved her!

“Of course Dashie! I mean, what reason would I have not to?” The shy mare asked with curiosity. Dash could feel a single tear coming down her cheek now, for she knew what she had to do. It was necessary though, necessary for her sake…

“Fluttershy…” Dash began, her voice heavy

“Y-yes Dashie?” Fluttershy could began to feel more nervous by the second, fear scratching at the walls of her heart over what was going to happen next.

“With… everything that’s happened after that first night, that confession I made and how you played along, with your birthday and how Twilight reacted to us… You could have died back there”

“But I didn’t” Fluttershy interrupted, making no attempt to hide the nervousness in her voice.

“But you could have” Dash shuddered, suddenly remembering her vivid dream “And how today went in general, before we were even pelted with rocks I saw them giving us dirty looks Shy’”

“C-cut to the point”

“I think” The blue mare grimaced, sobs already making their way through into her voice and tears already coming down in great rivers from her stung eyes “I think we need to…” Dash stopped, taking deep breaths. ‘I can’t do this’ she thought ‘but I need to…’. With a deep sigh and a few more tears, she finally let the final words leave her mouth, with it letting loose the tight grip she held on everything that had been dear to her that past month, all for the sake of the very one she loved.

“We… need to break up” she finished, already regretting the words. Jaw open, dead still and dead white Fluttershy stood only inches away from the door. Her hoof was nearly touching the doorknob, going on autopilot, ready to open the door to have a more face-to-face conversation with the mare on the other side before coming to dead halt. She couldn’t do anything; she couldn’t move a single muscle in her body as she stared at her hoof, and then the doorknob, and then her hoof again. She didn’t know what to say, what to do, she wasn’t even sure if she had heard right. Was that it then, had she heard wrong? Was it just a little joke to lighten the mood? The filly in her began to giggle innocently, that must be it. It was a joke and they were going to get through this together, hoof in hoof like they always would, right?

“You’re kidding, r-right Dash?” What came out of her mouth wasn’t the same innocent filly, instead the more shocked and mortified adult, hoping to everything good in the world that this wasn’t happening to her. Her more realistic side taking over, she could feel warm streams of liquid pouring down her face “Right?” her voice wavered heavily, as if the wrong answer was going to send everything in her world into an bottomless pit of no return.

Standing on the opposite side of the door, Dash could only imagine what the poor pony looked like on the other side; and the thought made her heart clench tightly. Fluttershy’s wavering voice of disbelief only made it worse, making more hot streaks of tears to come down in great waves from her eyes. She almost reconsidered at that point, wanting to play the whole thing off as a joke. Dash gulped, Fluttershy would pull through this, and the pain would be more bearable this way, for both of them…

“I’m sorry Shy’… It’s best this way,” Dash said lightly, her voice dark and firm. She could almost see Fluttershy vigorously shaking her head no through the door, tears coming from her eyes in disbelief.

“No, no, no, no, no! No it’s not best this way, Dash don’t go! Please!” Fluttershy exclaimed, sobs in her voice butchering the words more than normal.

“I’m so sorry! I love you!” Dash replied, sobs making their way through her voice as she turned around, running away with tears glistening in her eyes. Literally nearly throwing the door off its hatches, Fluttershy barreled through the front entrance of her house to the outside world just in time to see a blue flank departing in the distance. She began to gallop, spreading her own wings in preparation for a take-off, soon being halted by a searing pain in her right side. She slowed down, craning her head to examine the source, a rock had been thrown there, how she missed it at first the mare didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.

“Celestia Damn It!” She cursed, tears coming from her eyes in strands of physical and emotional pain. This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, she could fix this! But no matter how hard she tried, it was obvious that there was no way she was going to fly, especially not as fast as Dash could, with her side hurting like it was. She collapsed on her flank, clouds of tears filling up her vision as she saw the blue streak turn into a spec, which then vanished into thin air.

“I love you too…” She whispered, closing her eyes tightly.

***

“Fluttershy! Are you okay?” Twilight gasped with concern as she hurried to her friend’s side. The cream colored Pegasus seemed to not hear her, or didn’t want to hear her as she continued to stare at the ground beneath her hooves. Twilight cocked her head in confusion, was something wrong? “Fluttershy?” she asked again in a soft tone, laying a hoof on the mare’s shoulder lightly. The yellow pony turned to her, opening her eyes to reveal several tears that had reddened her eyes and stained her coat. Twilight frowned, mouthing an understanding ‘Oh’. She pulled the crying pony into a tight hug, but she still seemed motionless. A moment later she felt two hooves squeezing her tightly accompanied with the sound of soft, but noticeable sobs. Patting the pony’s back, she looked down sincerely and asked in a soft voice “What’s wrong?”

Sniffling, Fluttershy took a deep breath, as if what she was about to say was going to be more of a surprise to herself than to Twilight.

“She…left me…” Her voice was barely a whisper, and as soon as she finished she began crying again into a stunned Twilight. They broke up…?

But I thought they were going to be together for a long time… Was this my fault?

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry,” Twilight replied sincerely, holding the pony closer to her. If this truly was her fault, then she had messed up worse than any other time in her life. Letting go of the thought, Twilight forwarded another question to the still sobbing mare “Want to tell me what happened?”

Pulling back, Fluttershy wiped her eyes of hot tears, only to have them replaced by new ones. Mustering all of her remaining strength she took a deep breath, and began to explain.

END