Rainbow Dash finally comes clean to Fluttershy on the secret of why she feels such a responsibility to her fellow pegasus. It's not simple friendship; it's not plain loyalty. It's something altogether more shadowy.
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- Member Since 20th Apr, 2012
- offline last seen Yesterday
Loganberry
Hold your ground but do not be unkind. (Ponyphonic, "Shy Heart") He/him. Ponyfic Roundup reviews every Wednesday.
Loganberry
Joined 20th Apr, 2012 ·
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*yawn* huh what?
2378489
Er... your point being?
2379692 wasn't very good
2379785
Ah, okay, it was a bored yawn? Fair enough. I don't personally agree, but then I wouldn't -- and of course your opinion is as valid as anyone else's. Thanks for stopping by.
That's quite beautiful. It's sad but not too sad - which I'm glad for because you already have great skill in emotive writing, so a really sad story could be a dangerous weapon in your hands. :) I'm undecided about the abrupt ending, however - on the one hand it feels incomplete, and on the other, it creates a kind of lingering unease which fits well with the mood of the story.
I'm glad you're writing again, however, looking forward to more!
2385097
Thank you! I'll come clean, though: most of this was written last year. For reasons you'll understand, it was put on hold for some months. Originally it was indeed going to be slightly longer, with a slightly less abrupt ending. That would have been my ideal, but everything I tried seemed more to dilute the story's emotional punch than make it feel more complete, so in the end I decided to stick with having it break off like this.
As for the sadness... as it happens I do have an idea for, as you put it, "a really sad story". The trouble is that I'd have to hurt a character I like very badly, and I may not be strong enough to go through with it any more. Still, I do expect there'll be something else ponyish from me in due course, even if not that.
I've had this thought myself. That Rainbow Dash actually failed Fluttershy in the "Cutie Mark Chronicles" flashback, in terms of Rainbow's own actions.
Now to be fair to Rainbow Dash, she probably assumed that Fluttershy would just open her wings and catch herself before she hit the ground. However, she didn't check to make sure that Fluttershy was ok. And Fluttershy wouldn't have been ok if her power to communicate with animals -- a power about which neither of them yet knew -- hadn't emerged in that moment of crisis.
Rainbow was a small filly at the time. It's not unsurprising that she didn't think it all the way through. Even today's Rainbow Dash is brash and inclined to act without thinking out the implications. In "Fluttershy Is Free," which is as much about their relationship as best friends as it is about Fluttershy's dark secret, Rainbow Dash in her own thoughts summarizes her normal approach to problems as "fly fast or hit something." Rainbow is a good Pony, but she is not a conscious moral philosopher, she just operates on instinct and does what she thinks is right.
As "Return of the Elements of Harmony" shows, that can lead her astray, when there's a conflict of loyalties.
I wonder how Rainbow Dash resolves this guilt, or if she ever can? Is this one of the motives that drives her to keep on protecting Fluttershy, even as Fluttershy is developing into somepony who no longer really needs Rainbow's protection?
The one thing I do know is that they love one another, so maybe Rainbow Dash can learn to forgive herself? It's obvious Fluttershy has drawn the opposite lesson from this, that somepony cared about her even when she was a little filly, and does still.
4085154 I'll freely admit that you seem to think these things through more deeply than I do. (That's intended as a compliment, by the way.) The original plan was to have a little more near the end, in which Dash's guilt would be at least partially resolved. Real life intervened at the start of 2013 and I didn't feel I could do it any more, hence the abrupt ending the story has now. Although I almost prefer it with the question left unresolved.
Oh yes, Fluttershy and Rainbow love each other, I don't think there's any doubt about that. "Hurricane Fluttershy" in particular makes that impossible to deny. I don't think they're a couple in the usual shipping sense, but a romantic friendship is another matter entirely.
I've added "Fluttershy is Free" to my to-read list; it looks intriguing. Might be a while before I get round to it, since I've neglected ponyfic for a long time and my queue is big!
What did fluttershy sing?
4140560 That's deliberately left up to the reader's imagination...
4140601 i see
i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png
4288997 Thank you very much!
4289376
You're very welcome!
Very nice! I enjoyed it, just one question.
Why'd she start to sing?
4332596 Thank you! As to your question: leaving that unanswered was deliberate. One possible answer is that Fluttershy thought that song might be a way to get through to Rainbow, but there are plenty of other possibilities.
4333033
Ah. I kind of imagined her singing "So Many Wonders" to how she was happy she fell that day.
4333238 Ooh, that's one I hadn't thought of! But that just shows my point: after thinking about it for some while, I felt that not tying things up entirely neatly was the best way to go. And thank you for the +fav, too.
4333380
Yeah, good point! And you're welcome!
*Added to Read Later list*
4721785 Thanks! I hope you enjoy it when you get round to it.
Introspective Rainbow is not something a lot of people care to bother with, but it's always a good read when they do.
i12.photobucket.com/albums/a224/Tifi78/Pony/flutter-yay.gif
4735764 Mmm; it's a bit like serious Pinkie in that regard, I suppose. It's one reason I like "Height" so much: that story really takes us inside Dash's mind in a way that few fics I've read have managed. But going back to this story... I'm not usually the greatest at writing Rainbow Dash; this is one of the times when it really did work. I guess that may be why it got approved for Twilight's Library. Not really my usual ponyfic writing style, either, but it seemed to suit this particular setting.
And thank you very much for the +fav; much appreciated!
I feel like this could have been a liiiiiiiiittle longer, to just discuss the topic a bit more and let it sink deeper, but all in all, I loved it.
6100962 Funny you should say that... this should in fact have been maybe 500 words longer. It stops abruptly because my personal life got in the way (I suffered a completely unexpected bereavement) and I couldn't get back into the right frame of mind to write much more. So actually I agree with you. Glad you liked it anyway, though.
That was intense! :O
8774506
Yeah, it has its moments. Even though it's old, the concept remains my headcanon for that particular moment.