Greetings. I am Vultarian01. Happy Halloween. I went as myself for Halloween and everyone died. :)

*crickets*

Whatever. Anyway I'm here to gove you all a treat. Not one that is sweet, but one that is sweat! You get it? Cuz wrestlers are sweaty... I just made you lose your urge to eat that sucker, didn't I? Yeah, I'm the Halloween jerk. Jerk Skellington. :I But anyway, here is the newest chapter of CCPW you've been waiting for for so long. Danke.

Disclaimer: I do not own MLP or any of its respective characters. I also do not own any balls... because I'm a woman. Enjoy.

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Chapter 48

Sunday, October 25, 2:16pm

"Achoo!"

Fluttershy sniffled. She buried her numb hands in her pant pockets. It was cold out. Not too surprising when you were walking during the fall seasons. But this day was exceptionally chilly. The forecast predicted that the weather in Canterlot was going to dive into the low sixties for a few days, which was pretty cold when you lived this far down south in Equestria. The wind also did not help much to Fluttershy's ears either as they were turning pink at the tips. Maybe she should have followed the example of the people passing her by in their jackets, mittens, and earmuffs instead of going out wearing only her yellow sweater, blue jean pants, and short ankle shoes. Yet, looking at her friend, at least she thought to wear some protective clothing.

"Brrr! Feels life a refrigerator out here! I should have brought my fruit punch jug with me. Then it would freeze and I would have this HUGE popsicle to last me hours!" Pinkie Pie said, strutting beside Fluttershy in her usual pink outfit.

Then again, when you're Pinkie Pie, carrying light didn't mean much when you already have enough energy to burn and maintain optimal body temperature. But it probably didn't matter too much when it was also a surprisingly sunny day with clouds moving in the sky. The sunlight wasn't enough to penetrate the cold air, though, so Fluttershy stuck to sticking the lower half of her face in her sweater.

"I don't think its cold enough for that, Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy informed, wincing against the wind fluttering her hair.

As they walked, Fluttershy observed Pinkie Pie happily taking in her surroundings, looking around with aimless interest at everything and anything that seemed to come into her line of sight. Yesterday, Pinkie Pie found out about how Fluttershy was going to Rainbow Dash's house, so Pinkie insisted that she tagged along. Truthfully, Fluttershy wanted to go by herself, but she couldn't find it in her heart to say no to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie had been trying to get on Rainbow Dash's good side for the past week, trying to make her talk in any way she could. Of course, Rainbow Dash kept insisting that she wanted to be left alone. Fluttershy guessed that Pinkie was going with her just so she could make another attempt. Fluttershy was fine with that. It's not like she didn't understand. Pinkie Pie was just as much Rainbow's friend as she was. How could she refuse, really? Fluttershy just hoped Pinkie Pie wouldn't get carried away.

Fluttershy gazed down the sidewalk, following the street signs to make her way to her destination. They should be there if they go down the next couple of streets. That's how she remembered it anyway. Living outside of the city limits, Fluttershy usually had Camershy take her to Rainbow Dash's house, but he worked on Sundays. It takes an hour to get to Rainbow's house by foot, while it only takes a little over twenty minutes by vehicle. What was also bad about walking was that, halfway there, you had to go through a few shady parts of the concrete jungle in the south-eastern areas of Canterlot. That place was what you would call the armpit of the city. It was mostly populated by lower income citizens, and a few independently owned businesses. It had a bad reputation for its high rate of robbery and, admittedly, Fluttershy took that into account when letting Pinkie Pie come with her. Fluttershy didn't want to walk by herself; not in a place where mugging was a common occurrence.

"Thank you for letting me go with you Fluttershy. I hardly ever come to this part of Canterlot." Pinkie Pie said as she observed the rundown buildings.

"Sure, Pinkie Pie," said Fluttershy, "It's nice to have someone to walk with, but you didn't really have to come with me. I'm just going to have a short talk with her."

"Well of course I have to come along, silly! I can't just sit down and do nothing while my best friend is cooped up in her house like a hermit, all alone with nobody to speak to. What kind of friend would that make me if I just left her?" Pinkie Pie stated, waving to a group of hooded, scary-looking young men who merely nodded in response.

Apparently, Fluttershy's suspicions were correct. Pinkie Pie was still oblivious to Rainbow Dash's wishes. Then again, Fluttershy was practically doing the same thing, so she had little room to judge. "I guess you make a good point."

"Besides, you're going to need me if you want to speak to Dashie." Pinkie Pie said, not appearing to have noticed that Fluttershy said anything. She was busy giving a nearby hotdog vender a friendly wave. He returned the gesture, and Fluttershy wasn't sure if she was more disgusted by; the fact that he's selling what might be disease-ridden, expired meat, or that half of his teeth were gone when he smiled.

"Pinkie, I appreciate you wanting to help, but I'm sure I can handle it on my own-"

Fluttershy was interrupted mid-sentence when Pinkie Pie suddenly put her in a strong headlock and pointed towards a street leading to a group of well kept, well-fenced houses. "Hey, we're almost there!"

Pinkie Pie was right. Past a few more old buildings, the scenery changed from the large, grim buildings and cracked sidewalks to a long, outstretched street of homes. The houses looked like they had been cleaned often, and were also spread out short distances from each other, contrasting the earlier buildings that they saw which were crammed together in an unappealing way. The lawns were freshly cut, devoid of litter, and the streets were so clean that you could probably eat off it, giving the neighborhood a high-middle class ambiance despite it actually being a lower-middle class part of Canterlot. The living conditions were pretty good for the low property value placed on it, so finding a guaranteed place to live here was a difficult task with slim chance for success. It was nothing short of a miracle that the Rainbow's even got one of the cheapest houses in the area.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie continued their way down one of the sidewalks through the somewhat barren street. There was hardly anyone out; maybe because of the weather. The few that were outside had protection, and were going on about their day. They eventually came to the end of the road with it going into a curved, three- way intersection. Fluttershy and company went down the curved road on the left, and a couple of blocks down, they could see a cherry red Mustang. They made their way up the narrow walkway, mindful of the uncut grass brushing against their ankles. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie finally made it to the front door. The lights were on, so someone was still there. However, it was only now that Fluttershy realized that she felt very nervous.

Fluttershy hugged herself, shuttering from both the cold and the butterflies in her stomach. "Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I'll just talk to Rainbow Dash later."

No sooner than those thoughts appeared in her mind, Pinkie Pie started knocking furiously at the door.

"Oh geez…" Fluttershy thought to herself tensely. Oh well. Guess it has gotta be now.

There was no answer for a while. Pinkie Pie made a few more knocks at the door, but still no answer. Fluttershy gulped. Maybe they weren't home? But that can't be right. The car was in the garage and the lights were on.

Suddenly, the two heard a noise from the other side. Undoubtedly the sound of footsteps. The door handle jimmied for a second before it opened slowly. The person at the door was Rainbow Dash. She was wearing her usual outfit, but she seemed to had come prepared for the cold, dawning a light purple hoodie. Fluttershy gulped, preparing for Rainbow Dash to tell her to go away.

But, unexpectedly, when Rainbow Dash looked to see who was banging her door she lit up, her eyes shimmering. "Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy! I-" Rainbow Dash suddenly froze. Her expression changed from excited to apprehensive fairly quickly. And, before either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie could even blink, Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and hardened her face into an ugly frown. She looked away. "… What are you two doing here?" she asked icily.

Fluttershy didn't quite prepare for that. What was that all about? Fluttershy had a pretty good guess, though. But, before Fluttershy could answer Rainbow Dash's question, Pinkie Pie jumped into the fray.

Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie greeted.

Rainbow Dash groaned, obviously not happy to see her. "Pinkie, I told you a billion times that I'm not in the mood…"

Pinkie Pie didn't listen. "But you haven't talked to any of your friends for a week! Come on, enough's enough. You need to stop being such a grump and bring back the Dash to your Rainbow! Now let's turn that frown upside down~!" she sung, stretching Rainbow Dash's cheeks upward into a forced smile. Rainbow Dash pushed Pinkie Pie's hands away. Pinkie Pie held her hands up, her smile fading quickly.

"I said I'm not in the mood, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said in a low voice. Rainbow Dash then turned to leer at Fluttershy, making her shrink slightly. "And why are you here?" she asked curtly.

Fluttershy stumbled around her mind for the words she thought she had rehearsed. "I…w-we…um…"

"We came here to tell you how everything's been going sense you were gone. You know, give you the deets? Keep you in the loop?" Pinkie Pie said again, nudging Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"Yeah, well I'm not interested. Guess you two came out here for nothing." Rainbow Dash deadpanned, leaning against the door post.

"But... But, don't you wanna know what happened yesterday?! Octavia flew out of the ring and broke her ankle!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed urgently.

This looked like it caught Rainbow Dash off guard because she quickly stood herself up and looked at Pinkie Pie with confusion. "What?"

Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously. "I know, and when she landed it sounded aweful. And you couldn't BELIEVE how loud she was crying. She was calling for her mom and everything. Or mum, as she put it." She informed.

Rainbow Dash tried not to lose her composure, and she eventually calmed down. She went on to address Pinkie Pie again. "W-What happened? What'd you do?"

Pinkie Pie thought for a moment. "Well, Vinyl was like 'Oh my God, should we call her an ambulance?!' and I was like 'We can't call her that! Octavia isn't an ambulance!' and then she was like 'No, I meant she needs an ambulance!" and then I said 'Well, the ambulances are probably at the hospital,' and Vinyl Scratch said 'Then call the ambulances from the hospital!" and I told her 'You can't call them, silly, ambulances can't answer phones like a person,' and then Vinyl Scratch showed me her... manicure? I think? I don't know why she would show me the one finger, though. Guess the other fingers had blood on them or something."

That sudden detail threw Rainbow Dash off guard again. "Wait, did you say blood?!"

Fluttershy heard loud footsteps quickly approaching the door. There was a tall shadow forming from the light inside the house, and the shadow grew closer until Rainbow Blaze stepped out. "Hey, what's with all this noise, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked before looking down at the two girls. "Pinkie? Fluttershy?"

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie greeted.

Fluttershy gave Rainbow Blaze a small smile. "Hello."

Rainbow Blaze looked past the two and scanned the road. As he did that, Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow Dash had once again reverted back to her unapproachable demeanor, crossing her arms and looking at the ground.

"Did you two walk all the way here?" Rainbow Blaze asked. Rainbow Blaze probably thought Camershy would have brought them here as he usually did. He should have known that though. Guess he forgot.

"He's at work today, and really wasn't any trouble. I-we just came here to talk." said Fluttershy.

"Yeah, I heard something about blood. Something happen?" he asked curiously. Evidentially, the other parents seem to have yet to tell him about the events that transpired yesterday. Fluttershy was hoping to speak about it to Rainbow Dash personally, but now it looked like she had to fill him in too. Would Rainbow Blaze have even let her talk to Rainbow Dash, though? She was still grounded, and Fluttershy was not one to undermine anyone's authority. Yet another thing that Fluttershy should have taken into consideration. She started to mentally beat herself up.

"Yeah, there was loads of it! Bon Bon accidentally kicked Vinyl Scratch in the face, and the stuff was pouring out of her nose like a water hose! Then Bon Bon got a bloody lip after getting punched in the face-"

Fluttershy put a hand over her friend's mouth, not wanting to overwhelm the poor man. "It's a little more complicated than that. Uh, may we come in, please?" she asked politely.

Rainbow Blaze let out a long breath. "Sure, Fluttershy, you can come in. You can tell me what happened, alright?"

Not like she had a choice anymore. Fluttershy smiled and nodded. "I would like that, thank you."

"Great! Thanks a bunch, Dashie's dad! Now, outta my way cuz Pinkie's COLD!" Pinkie Pie yelled, dashing right in between the two Rainbows and through the front door. Rainbow Blaze groaned as he went back inside to make sure Pinkie Pie doesn't accidentally cause collateral damage.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were left outside. They both stood there with an air of serious discomfort, but Fluttershy used this brief window of time to ask Rainbow Dash how she was doing. Rainbow Dash didn't answer. Rainbow didn't even make eye contact. She simply acted as if no exchange had ever taken place before sullenly walking back inside her house. Fluttershy wasn't too surprised at Rainbow Dash's weak response, though. She was kind of expecting it since Rainbow had not talked to her since her match with Twilight.

Fluttershy followed Rainbow Blaze into the living room. Pinkie Pie was already bouncing on the couch and looking around with aimless interest once more. Fluttershy didn't know why, though. Pinkie Pie had seen the layout plenty of times. But, looking around for a moment, there were some noticeable differences. The living room was very clean. More often than not, there would be some discarded pizza boxes or some other kinds of plates on the small table between the couch and the television set, but it was wiped clean and the television set looked like it had not been used for a while. Very odd. As Fluttershy moved to sit next to Pinkie Pie on the couch, Rainbow Blaze pulled up two chairs, one for him and the other for her daughter. They sat on opposite ends of the table with Blaze trying to get comfortable and Rainbow Dash crossing her arms and saying nothing. Eventually, Rainbow Blaze asked how everything was going with Canterlot Carnage Pro Wrestling. Fluttershy begun the retelling of the events of this afternoon and it was becoming more clear that Rainbow Blaze was regretting ever asking. He started off with a bewildered look and slowly changed until he was holding his face in his muscular hands. Even Pinkie Pie was starting to get depressed. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, still showed no interest despite looking just as concerned before they entered the house.

"Shit… you gotta be freakin' kidding me!" Rainbow Blaze exclaimed, "Dammit, there's going to be hell to pay for this…" he mumbled before taking his cap off and scratching his head.

"Octavia is probably at Canterlot Central Hospital right now. We wanted to call an ambulance for her, but she insisted that her uncle drive her there instead. I don't know how anyone else is doing though. I'm sorry." Fluttershy said, looking over to Rainbow Dash who was still not giving her any attention.

Rainbow Blaze looked irritated by this. "Hey, Dash. Show some sensitivity, one of your friends is in a hospital."

Rainbow Dash grunted, and Rainbow Blaze was about to say some more. But, he glanced at Fluttershy and shut his mouth. He instead slid back into his chair and looked at the ceiling. "Here I thought this was going to be such a good idea… "

Pinkie Pie nodded her head sadly, understanding the disappointment behind Rainbow Blaze's words. "This stinks."

Fluttershy gripped the side arm of the couch. "We're so sorry about this, Mr. Blaze. We didn't want this, honest."

Rainbow Blaze sat up from his chair and put his cap back on. "I believe you, Fluttershy. You don't have to worry about that. But since all this crap just happened, I'm going to assume that the other adults and I are going to have to talk about this."

"We're so sorry…" Fluttershy said, not knowing what else to say.

Rainbow Blaze held up his hand to her. "No, Its fine," he assured before putting his hand down and slouching, "I can't believe this. I was hoping you guys would have a good time. I was one hundred percent behind you guys from the beginning, you know that?"

"Yes we do." Fluttershy said. Rainbow Blaze was very willing to give her and her friends some good tutorial on wrestling moves, skills that they picked up surprisingly quickly. Regardless, he intended for them, like any other sport he coached, to have fun with it and do their best. But the past few weeks have obviously nowhere near anything that resembled "best".

Rainbow Blaze went on. "Even when you let more people in, I was like 'hey, more people means more competition', but I guess I was a bit dumb for thinking that."

For the first time in a while, Rainbow Dash spoke. "All this wouldn't have happened if we didn't let Sunset in."

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise. More that she broke her silence rather than her talking about Sunset Shimmer, though. Regardless, they both fell deafly silent at her poignant words.

"Hey, I don't want to hear about it!" Rainbow Blaze ordered sternly to which Rainbow Dash only rolled her eyes with a "pssh". Rainbow Blaze sighed again, and this time he spoke to Fluttershy. "So, how are you handling all this?"

Fluttershy was hesitant to answer. She glanced over and saw that Rainbow Dash wasn't turning her body away anymore. But Rainbow Dash wasn't making any eye contact either and her arms were still crossed, her body language indicating that she was still cutting herself off. Fluttershy frowned and looked back at Rainbow Blaze. "I'm doing okay."

"Good, good." Rainbow Blaze said, nodding solemnly. The room was very quiet for a few minutes before he started talking again. "I appreciate you two coming over to tell me this. Come on. I'll take you two home." He said, getting up out of his chair.

Fluttershy felt a surge of urgency as she tried to speak up. She was afraid to ask, but she had to give it a shot. "Mr. Blaze, I was wondering…"

"NYO!" Pinkie Pie yelled at the top of her lungs, lunging herself at Rainbow Blaze. Fluttershy watched in surprise as Pinkie's arms firmly constricted around his waist, her body weight pulling him down. She looked straight up at him, serious urgency etched on her face. "We can't go yet!"

Rainbow Blaze looked down at her, clearly bewildered. "What the heck, Pinkie! Let go!"

Pinkie Pie shook her head. "NO, I wanna show you something!"

"What?!" Rainbow Blaze asked, looking very uncomfortable.

"I want to show you some of my wrestling moves I've been working on! I think I know what my finisher is, and I want to see if I can do it!" said Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Blaze looked at Fluttershy, probably wanting to know why she was acting this way, but Fluttershy honestly had no idea what Pinkie was doing.

"I don't know, it's pretty cold outside…" said Rainbow blaze, looking like he was trying to find an excuse.

"You'll warm up after a few moves. C'mon, pleeeeease?" Pinkie Pie begged, quivering her lip and watering her eyes.

Rainbow Blaze gave Pinkie Pie a tired look. "You're not goin to let go of me until I agree, are you?"

Pinkie Pie didn't say anything. She just smiled and stuck her tongue out.

"… Fine, just let go of me." He conceded.

"Yeeey!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she unwrapped her arms from the man, and started pushing him towards the sliding door leading to the trampoline outside. "Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Hey, quit shoving!" he said as he staggered forward.

Fluttershy watched as Pinkie Pie hurried Rainbow Blaze out of the room. She turned from the couch and saw that he and Pinkie Pie were just about to walk through the door. But, before Pinkie Pie went outside, she turned around, gave her a sly grin, and winked. Fluttershy was perplexed as to why Pinkie Pie would do that, but then she turned around and realized that she was alone. With Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy smiled to herself. She won't underestimate her friend again.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but Rainbow Dash immediately stood up from her chair and walked back into her room.

"I knew this wasn't going to be easy." Fluttershy thought to herself with a tired sigh. She got up from the couch and went to follow Rainbow Dash to her room. The door was closed. Should she open it? She didn't want to just barge in. But, on the other hand, she needed to talk to Rainbow. Making up her mind, Fluttershy turned the door knob. It was unlocked. She slowly opened the door and entered the dark room.

Closing the door behind her, Fluttershy took a look around. She remembered the last time she entered this room she had to be mindful of where she had to step because of all of the things Rainbow Dash scattered across the floor. This time around, it looked like it got the same treatment as their living room. The floor was clean and everything was put up. Rainbow Dash probably made her clean her room as part of her grounding. Speaking of which, she looked up and Rainbow Dash was on her bed. She was lying on her side facing the window. She didn't speak.

Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy said. Rainbow Dash didn't answer. Fluttershy moved closer to the bed. "Rainbow?" Still nothing.

Fluttershy slowly sat on the side of the bed, listening to the mattress creek as she did so. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were now back to back. The room was quiet and dark with the only source of light being the sun shining through the one window. Fluttershy waited for a few heavy minutes to collect her thoughts before she began to speak. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't visited your house in a long time. I probably should have been a lot better at that. Visiting you, I mean."

Fluttershy gripped her knees. Rainbow Dash didn't stir.

"I come by here now and again, but the only times we ever seem to hang out are when we're either at school or with the rest of our friends. We hardly visit each other's houses as much as we used to." Fluttershy looked back at her friend again. Still no response.

After pausing for another minute, Fluttershy found her train of thought. "We sure had fun back then though, didn't we? In middle school you would come and play with me and my critter friends for hours. Remember that one time where I showed you this stray puppy that I found wandering my back yard? He was covered in fleas and trash, so we both gave him a bath. You wanted to name him Firefly," A smirk slightly rose from Fluttershy's mouth, "I wanted to find Firefly's owner, but I didn't know how to find them, and my papa was at work at the time. That's when you took Firefly, put him in your bike basket, and rode off without me. You yelled at every random person, asking if they knew who Firefly belonged to. I was going to suggest missing dog posters, but you insisted on doing it the "faster way" as you put it. We eventually did find the owner after twenty minutes, but if they hadn't had been so close we might have been searching for hours; maybe even longer. But you were determined to bring Firefly home. You sure did love him. No matter how many times he bit or peed on you." said Fluttershy, somehow managing a small, nostalgic giggle.

Rainbow Dash remained silent. Fluttershy frowned and sunk her shoulders.

"… I'm sorry. I hope you don't think I said that just to make you feel bad. I just didn't know how to start off. You probably don't care about that, though. You probably want to know why I'm really here. I came to apologize."

Fluttershy didn't see it, but Rainbow Dash's ear twitched.

"I know I should have said sorry before, but you weren't willing to listen. After my match with Sunset Shimmer…ended, you, Twilight, and Sunset Shimmer were getting into a heated argument. All of your faces were red, and as much as I tried, I couldn't make any of you listen to me. I know you and I have our differences about Sunset Shimmer, but the things you said… they scared me. I know Sunset Shimmer did bad things to us in the past, but still… I didn't think that you would go this far with it. I expected everyone to be mad at Sunset from the beginning, but we all said some pretty mean things to her. And yet… hearing things like that from you, Rainbow Dash… was frightening," Fluttershy felt her eyes getting wet, "So, I snapped. I attacked you because I couldn't stand to hear you speak like that. I couldn't stand you acting like such a… bully. I know she was a bully too. But, we aren't any better for treating her the same way."

"I was acting like a bully that day too, though. I hurt you when I could have just asked for more help. I was getting so emotional that I couldn't control myself. I just let the feelings control me. I didn't even put up a fight." A tear rolled down Fluttershy's cheek. "But… I also wanted to come down here to tell you that Twilight and I aren't your enemies. I know you feel betrayed, but we just wanted to do the right thing."

"… I remembered when my momma died. I was devastated. I cried every night for what seemed like months because she wasn't there to tuck me in anymore. When I got older, I asked my papa who crashed into momma. He didn't give me an answer. But what he did tell me was that it was an accident. That it was nobody's fault. I was upset with him. I wanted to blame someone, and never forgive them as mean as that may sound. But, I knew if I had done that, I would have only made myself angrier," Fluttershy said as she looked over her shoulder, "You remember this story? I told you after our graduation from Canterlot Middle School."

Rainbow Dash did not even give her a reaffirming nod. Fluttershy sighed.

"Sorry… I shouldn't have brought that up. I just wanted to tell you that I still care about you, even if you don't think so yourself. I can't force you to like Sunset Shimmer. But, I hope that we can all talk about this after you feel better," Fluttershy turned away from her friend, and stood up from the side of the bed. "Pinkie Pie can't distract Rainbow Blaze forever. But, that's all I wanted to say to you, Rainbow Dash. I guess I'll leave you alone now…"

Fluttershy took a step for the door, but a hand grabbed her wrist. The grip on it was tight. Tight enough to leave a mark, even.

"No… Stay…"

---

Rainbow Blaze remembered Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends wanted to know how to wrestle. It wasn't but a few short months ago that they approached him with the offer of showing them the ropes. They knew a good bit about professional wrestling moves through research, courtesy of Twilight, but they confided in him that they were a little lost on how to perform the moves properly. Rainbow Blaze wasn't surprised they would ask him, being the used-to-be part time trainer of his wife, Rainbowshine. They were very insistent on learning, and he had no intent on turning them down. Partly because both his daughter and his wife would be hounding his case. It wasn't always easy, being the only man in the house. You could get out-voted every time. Regardless, he did teach them the fundamentals and a bit of in-ring psychology. They were surprisingly quick learners. Rainbow Dash caught on the quickest, naturally. But still, they were all pretty good. Too bad Rainbowshine wasn't there. She would have had fun with it.

Pinkie Pie walked over to Rainbow Blaze and helped him to his feet. "So…?"

Rainbow Blaze rolled his neck and did a few arm stretches. "Not too shabby. Guess participating in gymnastics for even a single year can teach you how to do some crazy stuff. You got any ideas for a name?"

Pinkie Pie moved a few leaves from the trampoline before sitting down. "Not quite yet. Maybe it'll come to me later."

Rainbow Blaze walked over to Pinkie Pie and sat down next to her, leaning back with his palms holding himself up against the trampoline's woven polypropylene fabric. The rectangular trampoline was fairly large, taking up about half the backyard. This was where he taught Dash and her friends how to perform some basic moves. The girls also have been using this trampoline for practice when they weren't using the ring they built at that abandoned building. The trampoline was no wrestling ring, but it served them well. And the high fences also shielded them from unwanted eyes, but nobody really bothered. As far as everyone else knew they were just listening to girls bouncing up and down, having a good time. Heh. He should have rethought that more carefully. But when he thought about it, it does sound kind of perverted when you proclaim you've been wrestling around with teenage girls half your age.

Rainbow Blaze shook those thoughts out of his head and looked at the back door of his house that lead out here. "Hey, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie's head rocked to the right. "Hmm?"

"You didn't just bring me out here tow show me that move, did you?" He wasn't very good at reading a situation, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that he was wanted inside his house.

Pinkie Pie stared at him with an unreadable expression before, abruptly, bursting into laughter. "Of course not!"

"I thought so," Rainbow Blaze sighed. He let his back and head fully rest on the trampoline. He looked up at the sky. "So...when do we go back in?"

Pinkie Pie laid down next to him. "When Fluttershy and Rainbow Bash finish talking. I'd give them another thirty minutes or so." She asked the question so nonchalantly. Pinkie Pie giggled again. "I accidentally said Bash instead of Dash."

Was it really as easy as she made it out to be? "How do you know they'll talk, though?"

Pinkie Pie blinked, gazing at one of the clouds that passed over her. "They will. If anyone can get through to Rainbow Dash, it's Fluttershy."

Rainbow Blaze didn't glance in Pinkie Pie's direction. He just looked at the clouds like she did. When she adopted Rainbow Dash four years ago, he remembered her telling him stories about how she and Fluttershy spent so much of their childhood together. They knew each other since they were seven and they were practically inseparable back then. At least, that's what Rainbow Dash told him after he had first met Fluttershy.

He and Pinkie Pie continued to stare at the sky some more, Pinkie Pie pointed at one of them, claiming that it looked like a clock wearing headphones. He wasn't listening. After a while, he felt Pinkie Pie poking at him to get his attention.

"What?" he asked with not much enthusiasm.

"You looked bummed. What's the matter?" Pinkie Pie was staring at him quite intently. He usually saw her smile when she was trying to cheer someone up, but the look on her face indicated that she was being quite serious.

"… I wish Rainbowshine were here." He admitted plainly.

"Why?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"She's a lot better at this than I am. Being a father."

"No she isn't." Pinkie Pie quickly interjected.

Rainbow Blaze turned his head at her. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you're the father and she's the mother." Pinkie Pie said plainly, her expression softening.

Rainbow Blaze rolled his eyes and looked back at the sky. He tried not to give off an expression that indicated he was embarrassed. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know. I'm just lightening the mood. So, why are you so frowny, you bum?" Pinkie Pie asked again.

Why did she need to know? It wasn't any of her business. But he did bring it up himself. He might as well just talk about it. "I'm not used to this authoritarian kind of thing. Dash and I usually get along, and she hardly breaks any of the house rules, so I'm not used to being the parent that punishes her. But, after she attacked Sunset I honestly didn't have much choice but to ground her. I should have done it a little more calmly, but I guess I was just that upset with her. Rainbowshine would have fixed this by now. Leave it to me to make things worse. Now Rainbow Dash hasn't talked to me all week and it's been pretty depressing to be honest…"

Pinkie Pie looked up with her hands behind her head. "She deserved it."

Rainbow Blaze looked at her. He was surprised that she would be so blunt.

"I don't know a lot about being a dad, but I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt her feelings. Dads are supposed to punish their kids if they do bad things. I'm not sure if you did what you did right, but it doesn't seem that bad. Besides… there are a lot more bad things a dad can do to their children."

"Give me some examples?" Rainbow Blaze asked.

Rainbow Blaze looked at Pinkie Pie for an answer, but she didn't respond right away. She looked like she was thinking about something, but then something derailed her train of thought. "Hey, Rainbow Blaze! Look at that cloud; it totally looks like a dolphin wearing sunglasses while sowing a dress!"

Rainbow Blaze tried to get Pinkie's attention again, but it looked like she was just too distracted. Guess the discussion was over. Oh well, he didn't want to talk about it too much anyway. At least he felt a little better having shared that with someone other than Rainbowshine. He looked up to where Pinkie was pointing. "No, that looks more like a snake with night vision goggles riding a motorcycle."

---

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat side by side on the bed. Rainbow's head was sulked down, her rainbow hair hiding her puffy eyes and scrunched up, sad face. But even the gorgeous rainbow that covered her face couldn't mask the unmistaken sounds of her gentle sobs. Fluttershy did nothing to disturb her. Fluttershy only had to hold Rainbow's hand and let the rain drizzle for a little while longer. Fluttershy held the hand tight though her wrist was still hurting from when Rainbow Dash grabbed it. Fluttershy didn't care. She bit the bullet and let it hurt.

Eventually Rainbow Dash's sobs stopped and degraded into short breaths and broken coughs. Sniffing a little, Rainbow Dash let go of Fluttershy's hand and wiped the hair out of her face. She looked like she had gotten control of herself again and began to wipe away her tears. Rainbow then tried to make a calm expression that just ended up looking more distraught.

Fluttershy went to take Rainbow Dash's hand again, but she used both of her own hands and cradled it gently. "Do you feel better?"

Rainbow Dash took in some air through her nose before nodding. "Y-Yeah... I'm… g-g-good…"

Fluttershy let go of Rainbow Dash and wiped her own eyes with her hands. "You need something…? A tissue?"

Rainbow Dash hugged her stomach and evaded Fluttershy's eyes with her own. She gave a soft nod. In response, Fluttershy went to grab some tissues from the bathroom and came back. Rainbow Dash looked like she composed herself a little more, putting on a much stronger face, but not masquerading any pain. She got two out; one for her, and the other for Rainbow Dash. After Rainbow blew her nose, she continued to speak.

"I… I'm s-sorry you had t-to see me like this… I look like a loser, don't I…? A crybaby loser…" Rainbow Dash sniffed.

Fluttershy scooted closer to Rainbow Dash. "No, you're not a loser. It's okay to cry."

If what Fluttershy said cheered Rainbow Dash up, it didn't show. Rainbow Dash choked briefly before continuing on. "You hate me now, don't you…?"

"No, I don't hate you! I won't hate you, and I never will hate you!" Fluttershy said, trying to add as much force behind her words as she can before grimacing.

"… I don't except your apology…." Rainbow Dash whispered.

Fluttershy frowned. "Huh…?"

"I don't except your apology… I don't deserve it…"

"Rainbow Dash-"

"Let me talk," Rainbow Dash interrupted Fluttershy, "I could have hurt you…"

Fluttershy winced. "No…"

"I wasn't thinking straight… I know that's not an excuse, but I really was out of line. When you and Sunset Shimmer were fighting, and I was cheering you on, I wasn't really that confident. In fact, I was kind of scared. I was yelling stuff like 'Don't give up!' and 'You can't lose!' In the back of my head… that felt more like begging than cheering. I didn't want you to lose. I couldn't stand the idea of you getting beaten up by her again. All I had to hear was you begging Sunset Shimmer to stop for me to lose myself. But, while I was attacking Sunset, I was also neglecting you. I didn't even think about how high up you were when I tackled Sunset. It was just like Twilight said. If you had fallen the wrong way, you could've… c-could've…" Rainbow Dash put her face in her hands, shoulders trembling.

Fluttershy didn't really think about that. It may have been a passing thought, but she was too concerned for everyone else to even think about it. Was she really that close to potential death because of Rainbow Dash?

Rainbow Dash opened her hands so she could be heard, but she still hid her face. "But I didn't listen to Twilight. I was just screaming my lungs out trying to justify what I did. I even yelled at you; the person that was just trying to stop me from making things worse."

Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash's hands and held them in hers once more. "Rainbow Dash, please don't be so hard on yourself. It's true I tried to stop you, but I did it in such a mean way. That was wrong of me"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No… I guess I needed to get my butt whooped. You were right, I was being kind of a bully… No, I was being a legit bully. A lot of the things I did to you were really uncool. I shouldn't have gone off on you guys, and I shouldn't have been avoiding you." Rainbow Dash started to well up again. "I shouldn't have been such a bitch…"

Fluttershy put a firm hand on Rainbow Dash's shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. Rainbow Dash paused, as if she didn't know what to do, but she did slowly wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and shuttered broken breaths on her shoulder. It had been a long time since Fluttershy felt such a feeling heavy woe from her long time friend. Rainbow Dash was usually the one coming to Fluttershy's aid, the one to tell her that she would have her support, but now she was in need of the same thing. These despairing weaknesses weren't the kind of things that you would never have expected to exist from the egotistic and congenial athlete from a first glance. But, even Rainbow Dash had her limits, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. She couldn't deny that she couldn't be able to stay mad at her friends forever. She couldn't ignore how lonely she was. Even when Rainbow Dash made mistakes, Fluttershy always told herself that there was no one perfect person. A special person from beyond the grave had passed down that wisdom to her. Fluttershy would always be in Rainbow Dash's corner, just like Rainbow had always been in hers.

The two kept their embrace for a long time in the dark room. The silence was soothing, and the only sounds that were made were the occasional sniffles and hiccups of the two girls wrapping their arms around each other, not wanting to let go. After what felt like an hour of silence, they started to whisper to each other.

"Now are you feeling better…?" Fluttershy whispered.

"I thi-ink…." Rainbow Dash whispered back with a broken cough.

"You want to talk about this to the rest of our friends?" Fluttershy asked.

"… I do, but… I feel like they won't listen to me… Twilight won't anyway…" Rainbow Dash whispered.

Fluttershy gently stroked Rainbow's hair, trying to calm her down. "Dashie, they're your friends. They'll listen to you. I promise. We'll all talk this out like best friends should. Even Twilight will listen. Okay?"

Rainbow Dash gradually broke the hug. She moved her hair back behind her ears and wiped her eyes. "Oka-ay…"

Fluttershy helped Rainbow Dash to her feet and grabbed another tissue for her. Rainbow took a few minutes to blow her nose and strengthen herself to make a small smile. "… Thanks, Fluttershy." She said, giving Fluttershy a light punch on the shoulder.

Fluttershy winced weakly. "Ouch…"

Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a surprised look, but then she suddenly started laughing. "Seriously?! You can take a clothesline, but not a light tap?! You're seriously weird sometimes."

Fluttershy giggled, feeling better now that Rainbow Dash was smiling again. "That's what friends are for…"

Rainbow Dash chuckled before looking herself in the mirror. "Heh… I look like hell, don't I? I better go wash up…" she said as she walked past Fluttershy and headed for her door.

Fluttershy nodded silently and turned to look herself in the mirror too. Her eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying. Her hair was also in disarray, so she could make due with a little washing up too.

"But, uh…"

Fluttershy turned her attention from the mirror and saw Rainbow Dash opening her door with her face as red as a tomato. It could have been from her breakdown, but she couldn't mistake the color of Rainbow's cheeks for anything other than a bush.

"Don't tell anyone that I was crying, okay? I still have a rep I need to keep." Rainbow Dash smiled.

Fluttershy chuckled and wordlessly left the room with Rainbow Dash to go wash their faces, exhausted from the experience.

---

Okay, so I'm not actually a woman and you want to know why this chapter took so long, right? Well, I won't lie. I honestly don't have much confidence in my writing anymore. Not saying that this wasn't hard to write. It's the fact that even though I did my best on this chapter, I still feel like my work is crap. And other life stuff happened, but really I was just trying to get this chapter as perfect as possible. You may think this is a fine chapter, but I kinda feel like it could've been better. That was the main reason why writing this was so hard. Hopefully the next chapter will not be as difficult, and that I can have more confidence in it. But I'm not holding my breath.

So, IF you were thinking I was quitting, I said I would tell you myself if i was quitting. But I'm not. Even though this fic isn't good, I still like it enough to keep trying.

With that out of the way, I'm going to go to my backyard and be with my family around the fire, eating food and burning stuff like an arsonist. So, until chapter 49, arevoir.