Every Tear...
“So, what are we going to do?” the blue pegasus asked.
“I don’t know… watching something on TV?” the other pony said quietly.
Fluttershy was invited for a sleepover by her friend Rainbow Dash. She didn’t know why she was asked. Normally Rainbow doesn’t like sleepovers, she prefers being alone. Fluttershy could see, something was bothering her friend. She wasn’t acting like herself lately.
“TV?” Rainbow repeated, grabbing the TV guide. “Seriously, the whole program is bad. There’s nothing.”
“Don’t you have any movies here?”
“Well, yeah... I got the whole seasons of ‘Game Of Ponies’, but believe me – You don’t wanna watch this if you can’t stand blood” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy winced. “I guess you’re right” she said quietly. If there is one thing Fluttershy disliked, then it would be violent scenes in movies. Too bad, Rainbow liked such things. But she’s glad; her rainbow maned friend took into consideration the fact.
A growl was heard and Fluttershy blushed lightly. She was hungry, but didn’t dare to say anything.
Rainbow looked at her. “Hungry, eh? Let me get you something!” With that the pegasus rushed into the kitchen.
Fluttershy wanted to say something, but she knew it was useless. She sighed and looked around. She was in Rainbow’s living room, which was really big. The whole house, which was made out of clouds, was big and Fluttershy wondered why her friend was living here alone. The only companion Rainbow had was her pet.
Then something caught Fluttershy’s attention. She turned around to see a shelf which had a small photo on it. Beneath the photo laid a crimson flower. Fluttershy stood up and walked to it to get a better look at it. She didn’t know why but she felt like there was something special about it. When she arrived she finally got a better look at it.
On this photo there was a small filly. Her coat was light blue; her mane was colourful just like Rainbow’s, but it was darker. Her amber eyes were full of joy and happiness.
Fluttershy was confused. She knew Rainbow doesn’t have any siblings. The blue pegasus never talked about her family. So who was this filly?
A sudden crack let Fluttershy wince. She turned around and looked at the open door to the kitchen. She swallowed. “Rainbow Dash? Are you alright there?” she asked with a concerned tone.
“Yeah, everything’s cool. Just dropped the dishes. Let me clean that and then you can eat!” Rainbow yelled from the kitchen.
Fluttershy smiled. “Alright.”
She stood up and walked back to the table. After a few moments Rainbow came back with some sandwiches. “Here you go”, she said with a smile.
Fluttershy smiled, too. “Thanks” she said while grabbing one. She enjoyed the taste of them. While being hungry you always enjoy the taste of food.
A few minutes of silence passed while both pegasi were eating their sandwiches and Fluttershy remembers the photo.
“Rainbow Dash?”
“Yes?”
“I have a question… um, if you don’t mind…”
The rainbow maned pony smiled. “Ask me. I won’t bite you.”
Fluttershy lifted her hoof and pointed to the photo on the shelf.
“That filly… Who is that? I never saw her.”
The smile on Rainbow’s face quickly turned into a frown. She took another bite of her sandwich, chewed and swallowed it. She sighed.
“My little sister.”
Fluttershy was surprised. “You have a sister?!”
“… I had.”
“Why didn’t you ever mention her? I’m sure, if she came to Ponyville she would quickly be friends with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! Why did I never saw her?”
“…She’s dead.”
This shocked Fluttershy hard. All of the colour vanished off her face and became pale. A sudden feeling of guilt came over her when she looked at Rainbow. Her magenta eyes stared to the ground. The lack of emotion on her face made Fluttershy even more shocked.
“Rainbow…” she whispered softly.
Rainbow jerked her head up and looked at her with a painful smile. “Whatever. Are you finished?” she asked while pointing to the empty plate in front of her friend.
Fluttershy just nodded, too shocked to say something. The way Rainbow was acting made her even more shocked. How can Rainbow be so pejorative? Well, her little sister is dead. It’s always horrible when somepony you loved is dead, but Rainbow was acting, like it was nothing at all. A sudden realization came into Fluttershy’s mind. What if Rainbow just wanted to forget what happened? Was it too horrible?
Rainbow grabbed the empty plates and brought them into the kitchen. Fluttershy stood up and followed her, before she stopped at the door. With sad eyes she watched her friend putting the plates into the sink.
When Rainbow turned around she had a confused look on her face as she saw Fluttershy just standing there.
“Fluttershy? You alright?” she asked.
Fluttershy remained silent. The confusion on Rainbow’s face quickly turned into concern. “Fluttershy?”
She walked over to her. When she lifted her hoof to put it on Fluttershy’s shoulder, she was quickly grabbed into a hug by the yellow pegasus.
After a few moments Fluttershy pulled away. She looked into Rainbow’s confused face.
“What was that for?” the cyan mare asked.
Fluttershy didn’t respond to that. “Rainbow, please tell me… What happened to your sister?”
Rainbow frowned. “I don’t wanna talk about it” she said. Fluttershy winced by the cold tone in her voice. She never witnessed Rainbow being like this. But she wouldn’t give up.
“Tell me, please…”
“Can’t you hear right?! I said I don’t want to!” Rainbow yelled. The sudden outburst made Fluttershy wince again. Tears filled her eyes and soon the silence was broken by her sobs.
Rainbow looked at her, realizing what she just said. “I-I’m sorry, Fluttershy… I didn’t mean to yell at you…”
Fluttershy could hear the sadness and the guilt in her voice. She looked up, facing with her friend. “It’s alright…” she whispered softly, sobbing once more. She wiped away the tears and smiled. “You don’t have to tell me, if you didn’t want to… I can understand…”
Rainbow smiled too, but Fluttershy could see the pain behind it. She really wanted to know what happened, but she didn’t want to torture her friend any longer. She would have to wait for her chance to find out the truth.
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The time went by and both pegasi began to feel tired. They found something to do – Rainbow found some old movies from their fillyhood to watch. Sure, the movies were made for little fillies, but they were beautiful. They had so much wonderful memories.
When the last movie ended, Rainbow yawned. “Let’s get some sleep…” she said while standing up. She turned off the TV and walked into the bedroom, followed by a tired Fluttershy.
When they entered the room, Rainbow jumped into her bed. “So comforting…” she smiled.
Fluttershy made her way into the guest bed, which Rainbow had prepared for tonight. It was right next to the other bed. She yawned and laid down.
“I always liked those cloud beds. They’re so fluffy” she said smiling.
“I know. Why do you think I’m always chilling on clouds?” Rainbow chuckled.
“Because you’re lazy?”
“Every awesome pony needs time just to chill out. I have plenty of it!”
Fluttershy laughed quietly. “Yes, you have.” She let out a yawn. “Good night, Dash.”
Rainbow turned off the light. “Good night” she responded.
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Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open. She looked out of the window, it was still dark. Normally she slept through. Why was she awake?
Then she heard a sob. She turned around to see Rainbow lying in her bed. Her mane was messy, just like the blanket. Her eyes were closed, tears streaming down her face.
“No…” she muttered, her left foreleg twitched. Her whole body quivered violently.
Fluttershy was shocked by the sight of her friend being like this. She must have a bad dream…, she thought.
“No…!” Rainbow muttered one again, this time sobbing uncontrollably.
The yellow pegasus couldn’t stand it any longer. She flew over to Rainbow’s bed and sat down beside her, shaking her a little to wake her up.
“Rainbow Dash” she whispered.
But it didn’t work. The rainbow maned pegasus was still caught in her terrible dream.
Fluttershy shook her now violently. “Rainbow Dash! Wake up!” she cried.
With that Rainbow’s eyes shot open. She breathed heavily while her body was still quivering violently.
Fluttershy quickly grabbed her into a hug. “It’s alright! It’s alright…” she said softly, tears filled her eyes when Rainbow threw her hooves around her and pressed her face into her shoulder. The cyan mare sobbed violently and Fluttershy felt her shoulder became wet. Fluttershy’s heart hurt by the sight of her like this. Normally Rainbow was a stubborn mare, always searching for a chance to proof herself as awesome. She always described herself as the fastest flier in Equestria. She was fearless, not letting anything making her seem weak.
But now there’s nothing left of that. She was lying here, crying. Her daredevil shell just broke down. The wall, she managed to build around her heart, was falling apart.
Fluttershy closed her eyes. It hurt too much to see her like this. So broken. She patted softly on Rainbow’s head, trying to calm her down.
“It’s alright, Rainbow… It’s alright…” her voice cracked. She held Rainbow closer to her, now crying too. She didn’t know why she cried. She didn’t know why Rainbow cried…
“N-Nothing’s… alright” Rainbow said between sobs. “She… She’s dead… A-all because… because of her stubborn sister!”
Fluttershy didn’t have to think what Rainbow was talking about. She held her closer, tears streaming down her face. “Please Rainbow… stop crying… Calm down… please…!”
“W-Why are those dreams hunting me?! I keep seeing it… I see it all! The blood… it’s everywhere…!” she cried and let out a scream of pain.
Fluttershy cried silently. She always thought she would know everything about Rainbow.
She was wrong.
“Calm down, Dashie… Tell me what happened. I’m sure it will help you. Keeping it won’t help you, you know” the yellow mare said with a soft voice. She pulled her away softly and placed her hoof under Rainbow’s chin and lifted her head to see into her magenta eyes. “Stop crying… Ok? It hurts to see you cry,” she said while wiping away Rainbow’s tears.
Rainbow sobbed once more and looked at her. Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Tell me.”
The cyan pegasus sighed, trying to hold back her tears. “Alright,” she said, her voice still cracking.
After managing to stop crying she sighed again and began to tell the story, which was bothering her so much. The story that causes her so much pain every night, when she dreamed about it.
“It happened before we met, Fluttershy. My sister was three years younger than me. It always hurts thinking about her. Thinking about her name: Ink Shade. It was her birthday. We were celebrating at my aunt’s house, where we lived, since our parents died. My aunt was away, buying the food for lunch. Ink Shade and me were preparing the room for the party, we had a lot of fun while doing it. Until there was a knock on the door. We expected our aunt being there… Why have I just opened the door?! There was a unicorn. We didn’t know why he was here, since unicorns can’t walk on clouds without that spell Twilight was using. I asked him, who he was, but he didn’t respond. He just stood there. Then Ink Shade came. She seemed happy to see him. She said he was the nice pony she was playing with the week before. Well, I didn’t trust him. To me he seemed like a rapist. I told him to leave, but he just stepped forward. I became aggressive. I shouted at him and was about to kick him in the face, but Ink Shade has flown in front of him. She was facing me and told me, I was overreacting. Oh, why haven’t I punched his face?! Then it would be me, who’s dead! Not her! Anyways, I had an argument with her, while the strange unicorn just stood there. Then his horn glowed… He levitated Ink Shade into the air… And… made her scream in agony. I tried to make him stop, but he just kicked me away. I watched in horror as the blood was dropping out of her mouth. Her eyes were losing all of its life as her body became limp. The unicorn threw her in front of me. I stood there, not believing what just happened. Her beautiful amber eyes… were empty. Lifeless. I couldn’t do anything, I was too shocked. I wasn’t aware of him, as he stepped directly in front of me. I looked up and saw him grinning. I thought he would kill me, too. But he didn’t. He turned around and left our house, leaving me and… my dead sister behind…”
Rainbow stared to the ground, her eyes wide open. Tears filled them again.
Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she just heard. While hearing the story, tears were running down her cheeks. She felt like the ground was quivering under her hooves. Her heart hurt. It was like she shared Rainbow’s pain. She felt like she had witnessed such a horrible thing, too. Her head hurt. She wanted to say so much. She wanted to stop the pain Rainbow felt.
“What about… that unicorn? Didn’t the police search for him?”
Rainbow nodded absently. “I explained his look. They caught him. He’s still in prison for the rest of his life.”
Fluttershy just looked at her friend. There were so many words she wanted to say, but she knew no words could help. She grabbed Rainbow and hugged her again. It was a deep hug, but this time, no one cried.
They remained a few minutes, before Rainbow pulled her away. “Thanks, Fluttershy.”
Surprised the yellow mare looked at her. “For what?”
“For being there, when I need you. Sometimes you’re more loyal, than I could ever be. Thanks Fluttershy… Thank you so much.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Hey, you know…”
With her soft voice she began to sing:
A true, true friend helps a friend in need,
A friend will be there to help you see…
Rainbow smiled and joined the song with the softest voice, she could manage:
A true, true friend helps a friend in need,
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend...