I had a restless night of sleep spent drifting between dreams of a past I had lost and an uncertain future. The more I tried not to think about it, the more my mind wandered back to the accident. I had once been Scootaloo, yet now I wasn’t. It felt like an important part of myself was missing, but the same time, I was Dash now. Would I still be me if I was suddenly Scootaloo too?
I shook my head and sighed and felt Pinkie roll over in the bed. She had insisted on spending the night with me in case I needed anything. It was silly to think I was their Dash—they all knew I was a fake, yet they treated me the same, like a friend they had known all their lives. They seemed worried that I might die a second time by choosing to go back to being Scootaloo.
It wasn’t a decision I was prepared to make—not until I had all my memories. I decided to roll out of bed and stretch. My wings ached from all the tossing and turning, and the sun was barely cresting the horizon. A joint in my shoulder popped, and soon I was cracking all my stiff joints. It felt good to loosen up all my stiff muscles.
Pinkie heard me and got out of bed herself. Amazingly, her mane was still as curly as the day before while I, on the other hoof, had a horrible case of bedhead and had to run a comb through it. It’d still get messed up when I flew, but at least it wouldn’t be a tangled mess of colors.
“How’d you sleep, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.
“I’m not Dash. . .”
Pinkie walked over and smiled. “I know, but I miss pulling pranks with her and—are you gonna see if Twilight can reverse it?”
I looked at her and saw her eyes misting up. The part of me overwritten to be loyal was tugging at my heart. I couldn’t just leave her, or the others, and make them lose Dash again. All I had as Scootaloo was my aunt and the Crusaders anyway. “I don’t know, but I think I want my memories as Scootaloo back first. We’ll see from there.”
She smiled and hugged me. “Okie dokie lokie! We’ll go get your memories back, and if she tries any funny business I’ll hit her in the face with an apple pie!”
“Apple pie?” I laughed deeply. “That must be an alicorn’s only weakness?”
“Of course! It’s super sticky and messes up their mane.”
“Oh, Pinkie Pie, you’re so random.” I walked over to the window and looked back. “I’ll race you to the library.”
“You don’t stand a chance,” Pinkie said.
“Oh yeah? Well then—one, two, three, go!” I jumped out the window without hesitating and flew down towards town.
Twilight’s library sat towards the middle of Ponyville. With the sun barely up, there weren’t many ponies out and about. I couldn’t see Pinkie or her helicopter anywhere, and the hot air balloon was tied up outside the library next to the house of the only pony in town with a hot air balloon cutie mark.
I landed on the doorstep with a smug grin on my face and knocked on the door.
“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll get it.”
My smile vanished as the door opened and Pinkie smiled. “I win again!”
“What?! How—You—” I looked back up to the cloud in the distance that was my home, then back at Pinkie. I poked her in the nose to be sure she was real, and then pinched myself.
“Haha! I’m not a changeling, if that’s what you’re thinking. Then again, maybe I am a changeling but they erased my memory so I wouldn’t remember, and now they’re going to use me to assassinate the Elements of Harmony, and I’ll have to start with you, so I’ll drug you and drag you down to my—”
“Pinkie, is that Dash?” Twilight shouted from inside.
“Yeah, Twilight!” I shouted back. “Can we talk?”
“Of course! Come in! I was just making tea!”
I shuddered at the mention of tea before walking in past Pinkie. There was just something wrong with tea. I couldn’t place my hoof on it, but I was fairly certain I didn’t like tea for some reason.
Twilight came out and offered me and Pinkie a cup. Despite my unease, I found myself unable to refuse it. There was something commanding about the way she asked me if I wanted tea. I shook my head, wondering if she had used some kind of spell on me too. Was there anything that would explain her odd behavior, or had she really lost it?
“How’s the tea?” Twilight asked.
“Super!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Eh, I prefer less frou-frou drinks.” I took another sip of the bland green tea.
Twilight giggled. “I, uh—I’m sorry, Dash. I made you drink tea every time you visited. I guess that’ll be a hard habit to break. What brings you two by?”
“Well, two things really.” Pinkie looked over to me and smiled to boost my confidence as I spoke. “First off, I want you to take me to Scootaloo. You said you didn’t kill her, so you must have her off in a hospital or something. Second, I want you to restore my memories.”
Twilight frowned, and as she relaxed I saw the bags under her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept, but quickly regained her composure—no doubt a trick Celestia taught her to help her appear more regal. “Dash, I can take you to see Scootaloo. I have your memories so I can restore them now. I took them from Scootaloo as part of the spell, and I can restore them like I did when Discord took over. . . but are you sure?”
“Yeah. I know you want me to reconsider and stay as Dash. To be honest, I’ve grown pretty attached to the five of you. I want to have Scootaloo’s memories to remember who I was and see for myself why I chose to become Dash. Maybe then I can forgive you for the can of insanity you opened up.”
Twilight smiled. “Okay. Just—I’ll just need a minute.”
She turned and walked away, wiping something from her eyes. She returned a few moments later with the Element of Magic on her head, and levitated the Element of Loyalty to me.
“You’ll need to put your Element on to facilitate the process,” Twilight explained.
I snapped the necklace around my neck and felt it tingling. I looked down as it glowed a dull red. “Isn’t it supposed to be brighter or something? I seem to recall it being a lot more. . . awesome or something.”
“It hasn’t been the same since the swap. Whatever binds the Element to Dash is still in her body, but the loyalty—the soul of Dash—I couldn’t recreate. If I’d let her die, it could have been decades before the Element found a new host, and I couldn’t stand to lose you. . . not yet. Now that I’ll live thousands of years, I need time to adjust to the thought of watching all my friends die one by one.”
“That’s a rather depressing way to look at it,” I said.
Twilight sighed and looked at Pinkie. “You haven’t lost somepony close. Pinkie lost an aunt, Applejack her parents, and yet they’ll see them soon when they pass away. . . It’ll be millennia before I die and get to see you girls again.”
“Come on, Twilight. Cheep cheep, chirp chirp, cheer up, cheer up, cheer up!” Pinkie chanted.
Twilight chuckled once. “Sorry. You wanted your memories back and here I am depressing everyone. Just close your eyes, and trust me.”
I looked at Pinkie who gave me a knowing nod. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and closed my eyes. I flinched as I felt a horn touch my forehead, and the world exploded around me.
I saw myself rocketing through the sky. A rainbow contrail and a blue speck, exploding through a thunderhead in a spectacular display. At least a hundred ponies had come out to see my self-proclaimed one-mare stunt show.
As I watched I realized something was wrong. I couldn’t be watching myself. I wanted to look down at my hooves, yet seemed to be in some sort of dream or memory, and could only watch.
My memory was coming back and I knew what was going to happen before it did. There was a loud roll of thunder, a flash, and a sickening crunch as Dash hit the ground. I was running towards her, wings buzzing, not believing what I just saw. It had to be part of the stunt, some trick. She’d fly off and finish the Sonic Rainboom when we least expected it.
There was a crowd of ponies gathered around Dash when I got over there. They tried to hold me back, and the sheer mass of their bodies huddled around her almost prevented me from getting in. I was small enough to crawl between legs and squeeze through.
Applejack and Rarity were doing their best to keep the worried ponies at bay. Pinkie flew by in a flash towards town to get help. I stumbled into the clearing around Dash with my eyes wide in shock.
There, on the ground before me, was my idol. Both her forelegs had been mutilated in the crash, with her leg bones snapped in two and sticking out of the torn skin. Fluttershy was tying strips of cloth around them to slow the blood loss. Dash took pained breaths and only one side of her chest was rising.
I could see Twilight kneeling over her. “Please, Dash, don’t move; you’ll make it worse!”
Her horn glowed and Dash stopped twitching. Twilight kept her immobile while she and Fluttershy tried their best to keep her alive. I had walked closer than I thought and felt warmth at my hooves. Looking down, I saw strands of violet and green hair in a pool of bloody red dirt.
Already I could see the weak breaths fading as blood pooled in the ground and large bruises formed. Before I could reach out and hug her, a nurse burst through the crowd. Twilight, Nurse Redheart, and Doctor Stable got her onto a stretcher and raced off towards the hospital with her.
I don’t remember how long I was there or what happened next. My next memory was of waking up at Applejack’s house, sharing a bed with Apple Bloom. I was too stunned to move, to think. I just sat there for what felt like days as I struggled to grasp the death of my hero just weeks after being taken under her wing.
I opened my eyes once the memories had finished. Twilight had started restoring Scootaloo’s memories to me in reverse order from the moment I agreed to become Dash, through the crash, and back to a time when my parents were alive. I could remember agreeing to help Dash in any way possible. Next I looked at my legs in disbelief, noticing for the first time the faded scars under my blue coat of hair. Now I could remember seeing myself—no, Dash—broken and bleeding after the crash.
I was crying, both from reliving the death of my hero, and from seeing my parents again. I had watched them die again, and the pain nearly made me try to tear Twilight off me. Then I was a foal again, staring into my parent’s loving eyes.
I felt Pinkie lifting me up and hugging me and Twilight too. I looked at her and realized we were both crying like fillies.
“You—all those sad memories of mine, you saved them for me?” I asked.
Twilight was still crying and just nodded. I tried to imagine what it would be like for her to have the memories of Dash crashing from two different viewpoints, or her realizing only after using my filly body to save Dash how much pain I had suffered in my life as Scootaloo. The burden of that sorrow had to weigh heavily on her.
“I didn’t know you felt so much pain at her loss, or mine,” I said.
“I’ll always have those memories, Scootaloo. . . I’m sorry, I failed you both.”
I hugged her. It is what Dash and Scootaloo would have wanted. I now had two sets of memories in my head from two different lives, and yet they seemed to weave together. From the little filly and her idol to the fiercely loyal Dash and the filly she had taken under her wing. We were one and the same now.
I felt something burning against my chest and looked down. The Element of Loyalty was glowing brightly and part of me knew it was working properly again. I could feel the loyalty for my friends inside me; not because I’d been programmed to be loyal, but because I genuinely cared for them. I was hurt just as much as Twilight or Pinkie for their loss, and knew what I had to do.
“Thank you for doing this. I’ll stay as Dash, I think it’s for the best. . . after all, you’d be a real mess without me.” I chuckled and lifted her chin up to see her smile.
“Do you still want to see Scootaloo?” Twilight asked. She rubbed her cheeks off and straightened out her mane.
“It’ll be a little weird, but, uh. . . I sorta feel like I need to say goodbye to my old life to move on.”
“She’s in Cloudsdale Hospital under the name of Morning Mist, Room 302, unless they’ve moved her. I didn’t want anyone accidently finding out what I did, so I hid her there. We can go and visit together, but she’ll never wake from her coma. She is you now Dash, and you are her.”
“I guess that’ll have to do. We can figure out later how to tell everypony what happened. I might need a little space for a while to figure it all out though. I’ll have to visit my aunt in the nursing home—she could barely remember my name as Scootaloo. At least I can keep her company as Dash, even if she has no clue I’m her little niece.”
“I’ll come too! I bet she’d love a surprise party,” Pinkie said.
“I’m sure she would,” Twilight said.
The door to the library opened and we turned to see Spike standing there with a scroll in his claw. He immediately looked away from the three of us, as if he was ashamed to see us huddled and crying.
“It’s okay, Spike, haven’t you seen a grown mare cry before?” I asked.
“It’s. . . Twilight, I shouldn’t have read it but I was at the farm and got curious. . .” Spike walked over and handed her a letter from Celestia. The royal seal was broken.
Twilight nervously looked down at it, her eyes going wide in fear. “What is it? Does she know?”
Spike just gulped and scraped a foot across the floor.
Twilight unfurled the letter, quickly reading it. She did little more than begin to weep and drop the letter. I picked it up and read it for myself.
Dear Twilight,
Applejack sent me a letter telling me what you have done. I am disappointed in you, my student. You took an innocent life in an attempt to save a pony whose time had come. I am on my way to Ponyville to reverse the process. After restoring Scootaloo and letting Dash pass away to restore the natural order, you will return with me to Canterlot for no less than one year. It has become apparent you need further supervision to come to terms with being an alicorn.
If you see Dash, put her to sleep and await my arrival. Have the Elements ready, I should be there shortly after you receive this letter.
Your ruler,
Princess Celestia
Twilight looked like a beaten puppy, the kind you’d find in a city like Manehatten that had been used and abandoned. I knew she didn’t take failure well, and always strived to please Celestia. This was probably the first time she had truly disappointed her, and not just blown things out of proportions.
After Pinkie read the note, she broke the silence. “I’m so sorry, Twilight. I’ll get the girls, I won’t let her take you away!”
Twilight whimpered something about losing me again and I couldn’t take it anymore. She looked up at me, her horn blinking on and off as she tried to summon enough conviction to carry out her mentor’s order.
“Twilight, it’s okay. She won’t put me back,” I said. “I think—no, I want to be Dash. After all this, I just don’t see how I can go back. You’re my friend, and I would always remember how horrible you felt, how you all felt, that I left you.”
“B-but she’ll be here a-any second, and s-she is the princess! She’ll f-force you back!” Twilight said.
I smirked with the cocky grin I’d often envied of Dash. “Hey, you leave that to me. Just buy me some time, alright?”
I rubbed my hooves on the floor and braced myself for launch. I then leapt into the air and rocketed out the window upstairs, headed towards Cloudsdale. Celestia may be a princess, but nopony in Equestria was faster than me.
As the wind tore at me I saw a golden chariot landing near the library. She was too lazy to even fly here. I wondered if she could even get close to the sound barrier, or if she had spotted me.
It didn’t matter. I felt the familiar feeling of the air pressure around me changing. Threads of color began to unravel at my hoof. It was both beautiful and painful as the tip of my hoof spearheaded a mach cone.
Part of me was afraid to break the sound barrier, but another part assured me we could do it. It had done this a dozen times and I found myself smiling. As Scootaloo I had dreamed of this moment; the moment when I would fly as fast as Dash.
I laughed as the spiraling colors at the tip of my hoof lengthened. The air grew silent, which I had not expected. Sonic Rainbooms were usually really loud. I looked back and saw the signature Rainboom spreading across the sky. That was when I realized every single pony in Ponyville, Celestia included, would have heard it.
I was traveling faster than sound—that would explain the deafening silence. The wind still sliced through my feathers like razorblades, and I flew towards Cloudsdale. My wings were burning, yet I knew I could keep this up for an hour before collapsing from exhaustion. I had trained hard, and somehow knew at this speed Cloudsdale was only a few minutes away.
If things as Dashaloo didn’t work out, I could always get a job as a mail mare. I bet ponies would pay big bits to have packages delivered in ten seconds flat.
I screeched to a halt when I realized I had reached Cloudsdale, and nearly ran straight into one of the large outlying cloud arches. A sudden wave of deafening sound caught up with me, startling me into folding my wings against my side. It was the loud Sonic Rainboom that had chased me all the way from Ponyville.
I opened my wings back up to slow my fall, and saw dozens of Pegasi looking at me in shock. I gave them a smirk and saluted, then flew off towards the hospital. I landed at the front doors and trotted inside.
“Good afternoon, Dash, can I help you?” The nurse at the front desk asked.
“You know me?” I asked.
“Of course, you’re the only pony that can pull off that Sonic Rainboom, despite the Mayor of Cloudsdale literally begging you to stop doing it in the city limits.”
“Oh, uh, well. . . I’ll work on it. I’m, uh, here to see a friend. Morning Mist, room 302 right?”
The nurse looked down at a clipboard and flipped through a few pages. “Yep, but visiting hours are over in thirty minutes.”
“That’s fine, it’ll only take a minute. Just want to say hi.”
“Well, the stairs there go up to the third floor, it’s on your left.”
“Thanks!”
I trotted over and started going up the stairs. My heart was still racing from the flight over and likely wouldn’t slow down anytime soon. By now, Twilight had spilled her guts to her teacher. I couldn’t begin to imagine what punishment Celestia would give Twilight for essentially taking Scootaloo’s life.
My heart continued racing as I walked down the third floor corridor, and closed the door to the room behind me. My heart skipped several beats as I breathlessly stared at myself.
I was outside my body, and yet inside it at the same time. I was Dash, and I was the orange filly lying on the bed. Scootaloo—I lay there with a breathing machine hooked to an endo-tracheal tube, and a feeding tube in my stomach. IV’s were placed in my arms, slowly hydrating me and delivering medications. Dozens of sticky leads were placed on my shaved chest, monitoring my heart beat.
The machine beeped a slow rhythm as my sleeping form lay in the bed. I slowly walked over to myself and looked down. My under-developed wings had atrophied to the point that they looked like little more than a Nightmare Night decoration. My legs were all skin and bone, and my stomach no longer had that pudgy layer of fat from eating too many of Pinkie’s cupcakes.
I knew what I had to do, but I couldn’t fathom actually doing it. I couldn’t go back to this—thing—that lay before me. I wasn’t Scootaloo anymore, nor was I Dash. I was something else, I was the best of both ponies. The girls needed me, and so did the Crusaders. I could be there for everypony. . . but not as Scootaloo.
There was only one way to ensure Celestia did not put me back in this body.
I walked over to the wall and began unplugging machines. This caused several loud alarms to sound. I quickly went over and started hitting buttons trying to turn the alarms off. I finally gave up and just yanked the breathing tube out of Scootaloo’s throat. I then picked her pillow up and held it over her face.
I hugged her as I smothered her. “Goodbye,” I whispered. There were tears rolling down my cheek. The slow throb of her heartbeat against my chest vanished as she faded away.
I placed a hoof on her chest and felt she was gone. I held her there in my arms and lost track of time. The next thing I heard was the door opening behind me, and without looking, I knew who it was.
I smiled.
She wasn’t nearly as fast as me, and now Twilight would not have to lose me again.
If I could favorite this twice, I would.
3065707
Make a new account, bitch.
Copy paste from what I wrote on Google Docs:
Okay, so, what can I say? I can say that you managed to make my eyes wet while I was both not paying 100% attention to the chapter and listening to brutal death metal. Well, technically, I didn't, as the one song of the album that doesn't have any guitars decided to play. And oh my god, was it fitting the mood! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHNOwjnrQnM
Applause to you sir. You once again created an ending to a story that just makes me want to break free and fill this room with eye fluids.
You wanted opinions on the ending in general, and I can tell you one thing: As an open ending it's perfect. However, you could benefit from writing an epilogue eventually. And of course not because I want you to close the wound you've just cut into my soul with that ending. cough cough :V
Tears hath been shed.
This ending, it leaves me conflicted...
I loved the idea that Scootaloo was the scapegoat, but this ending...I can't explain it, Maybe RD should have died with Scootaloo back in her body. That idea feels more canon or something...I dunno i'm not good writing things down, more of a speaker...
But other then that, the concept of this story is what I enjoy, I like those amnesia types and "who am i?" plots, which has been very well done here...
I'm not writing to the best of my ability to say how much i loved this so ima just gonna give it a score or something...
8.2/10
Keep up the good work, i'll be sure to follow you...
Be very, very proud. I cried so hard I felt like gouging my eyes out.
I love it. but if I may be so bold how about a little something for what Celestia does or tries to do to Twilight? If not I still enjoyed it nice work.
what about a oneshot sequel?
ermahgerd, a ternus berl!
!!
omigosh awwwwee...I like the ending, but im guessing that was celestia at the door.
I think it's a nice ending but I think there should have been one last chapter with what would happen when she confronts Celestia. Still I liked this overall
Scootaloo just committed suicide!!!!!!!!
Would you kindly take some tea, Dashaloo?
I DIDNT EVEN CRY!
You had me close there, though. Intriguing concept and Im glad to see you stuck with it.
A very powerful ending to a great story. I kind of want an epilogue to see what happens next but it's not really that necessary, The ending as it is speaks for itself, though I also want to know what Celestia was planning with Twilight. Seems like it could make an interesting story on its own.
Anyway, I think I'm rambling. I just really enjoyed this story
Shit, Bad End.
Dammit, if only Celestia had gotten their faster she could have prevented Scootaloo from killing herself/Dash (damn that's confusing).
She was right earlier, Dash would NEVER have wanted to give up her own life for her sake.
Does Scootaloo go on trial now for murder? Or is it suicide? What happens to Twilight, does she go on trial for quasi-murder? Or is it euthenasia? Malpractice? What the hell happens now?
I feel sick.
3065858
Is is really suicide if Dash did it to Scootaloo's body? I mean, was it Dash or Scoots that killed Scootaloo?
Have a brainbender everypony.
-C.Storm.
(P.S. Dang, man. You hit me in the feels with this story. Excellent work.)
3065763
I've considered an epilogue or sequel... not often you get to see Celestia discipline Twilight like a disobedient little filly. And I doubt she's happy with Dashaloo either.
3065755
I am very proud to make Pinkie cry.
3065743
Yay, I like amnesia too. Wait, what were we talking about?
3065825
You guys really want to see Celestia spank Twilight.
3065836
"I'm Rainbow Fucking Dash, whatcha gonna do about it, Tia?"
Age regress you to a filly.
Wait wha—NOOOOOO!!!!!
3066065>>3065858
That's the most important question here... Was is suicide, murder, or perhaps just putting the withered husk of Scootaloo out of her misery?
3065860
TEA FOR EVERYPONY!
3066033
Close? Then I'll try harder next story...
3066049
You know... I don't think I've seen a story where Celestia actually teaches Twilight to deal with her immortality, and rule, etc...
3066056
Twilight's don't kill Scootaloo's, Scootaloo's kill Scootaloo's.
(I imagine Twilight might get dewinged, if that is possible, and Dash kicked off the weather team for killing herself? Except, to prove in court Scootaloo killed herself, one would have to prove Scootaloo is dead... but Scootaloo is in court to stand trial, and clearly alive. I don't think Equestrian Law covers this situation.)
3066136
I'm going to go with murder, since it was kinda a body-swap first so the person in the body wasn't the person doing the killing. Definitely not the last one, otherwise you could have said the same thing about killing off Rainbow Dash by swapping back.
Given the above, she'd probably be tried for murder.
Someone murdered someone else. I am still a bit confused as to what exactly happened, but that much is clear. If it was a mind swap then Scootaloo killed Rainbow Dash. If Scootaloo was sacrificed to save Rainbow Dash's life with magic or whatever then Rainbow Dash killed Scootaloo. And even if "Scootaloo" is in court to stand trial and clearly alive the court will have been informed as to the events that caused the trial to occur in the first place so her presence would be irrelevant to the actual proceedings. And even if Equestrian Law doesn't yet cover this exact situation that hardly means that nothing can be done about what happened. Otherwise people could just do horrible yet incredibly bizarre things and get off scott-free. New laws will have to be made and/or old ones adapted to fit this strange situation.
I think the closest you can get to a "Good End" at this point is to have Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash/??? put on trial for murder, and Twilight at the very least turned back into a unicorn (and probably put on trial for malpractice or something on top of that). Basically, this was a Bad End for everyone involved. Again, if a mind-swap was used then Rainbow Dash is actually dead and we are left with a Scootaloo just deluded into believing she is Rainbow Dash (and despite wanting to "remain Dash" for the sake of Dash's friends, deep down they will know that Dash is actually dead). If some kinda magic sacrifice thing was used to restore Dash at the cost of Scootaloo's life, then Scootaloo is dead and Rainbow Dash just killed her.
I think I cried, but that might just be a side effect of sneezing one's brains out
3066136
Yes!
That or ZombieLoo, as Celestia raises Scootaloo from the dead. Celestia's Confrontation with Dash and Twilight would be interesting.
3066065 3065858 3066136 She considers herself to be Rainbow Dash, and did it not to help Scootaloo but to 'help' Twilight who broke the laws already, and RD is defying Celestia her princess and ruler. So it's murder, and that is how it would be ruled in a court.
3066136
lol
This ending leaves me kind of speechless...
I'm somehow torn in two, I feel like Dash/Dashaloo acted too reckless and pulled the plug on Scootaloo too soon, yet i can't help but feel that Dash acturly did the right thing at the right moment.
Fabulously written all the way through from beginning to end... I am in awe.
Yet, i feel that your leave us with an unresloved climax at the end, ofcuz some stories are sepposed to end like that... but i can't help but feel that this story needs an epilogue of some kind, where we have Dash stand up against Celestia for Twilight...
or something saying it-all-worked-out-in-the-end kinda thing, set half a year in the future from chapter 8 or something...
Fabulous story, I really liked it.
Even when it was Dark, it had a sort of bittersweet ending.
Its a good story and I'm happy you finished it.
3066136 It would also be an interesting scene to see everyone's reaction to what Dash did to ......herself? But seeing Celestia jump down Twi's throat would be an interesting change of pace.
Why didn't the nurse come running when the alarms sounded?
Sir, there is only one proper response to this ending.
calitreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/citizen-kane-clapping-gif.gif
OH MY GAWD MY FEELS HURT SOO FUCKING MUCH
3066056
Well, yes and no.
Would Dash have wanted her to give up her life for hers? No. But on the other hand, that wasn't exactly Rainbow Dash's choice, now was it?
As for murder: it isn't illegal to pull the plug on a vegetable, and in this case, the vegetable was pulling the plug on herself with her own consent. So it isn't murder, and if anyone has the right to make the choice, it is Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash. If the brain is dead, the person is dead, regardless of the state of their physical body. And there is no point of keeping the body alive at considerable expense when you know there is no hope of recovery.
In any case, it can't be undone at this point - she is both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. As the story points out, she isn't really one or the other, she's a more gestalt entity. Scootaloo really died when Twilight did the body switch. Putting her "back" wouldn't fix anything, because the damage has already been done - the original Scootaloo is no more.
3066185
Fun fact: This is how just systems work, because no just system allows for ex post facto laws. If there is no law against it, then it is legal. If you like ex post facto laws, then you are for injustice. There's a reason that the US explicitly banned them via the Constitution.
However, in reality she didn't do anything wrong. A brain-dead body with no hope of recovery isn't a person anymore, it is a bunch of meat you're keeping alive artifically. It isn't a person anymore, so you aren't committing murder. A person is defined by the mind, not the body. If the mind is gone, then the body is just so much meat.
In this case the mind is in a different body, so the old body has no reason to exist anymore. Celestia would be in the wrong putting the new gestalt entity in Scootaloo's body, as it should be the entity's choice. And the entity chose Rainbow Dash's body.
I just don't understand the non-logic people use when it comes to vegetables. People are so attached to meat.
This reminds me of a joke, actually:
What is the hardest part of a vegetable to eat?
The wheelchair.
Anyway, if there is any question here, it is this:
No one would complain that Dash would be wrong in saving Scootaloo from being crushed by an avalance, even if it cost her own life. No one would complain that Scootaloo would be wrong in doing the same for Rainbow Dash.
Why is her sacrificing herself in a medical procedure any more wrong than that? Is it because it is a conscious choice? Is it because one of them has already "lost"?
Well darn, that was sad. Not sad enough to make me cry, but sad nonetheless.
*claps slowly then fast* wonderful....just wonderful love the ending this is the best story you have writton a like,fav,follow,the whole nine you are awesome keep it up making awesome story's like this
I knew it wasn't going to be as easily resolved, when Dashaloo accepted her new role.
Oh, Celestia, you lawful good paladin, you!
3066799 Couldn't have put it any better myself. But still: Beautiful ending.
3066136 That ending just called for a squeal and or epilogue. You do realize that, right?
3066859
I find myself generally in agreement with you. I think too many people confuse a coma with brain death. They're not the same. Scootaloo gave her "life" willingly for Rainbow Dash. Just as you said, its not really that different than if Scootaloo had died saving Rainbow Dash from an avalanche. However, I think some people are leery because Scootaloo is probably under the age of legal medical consent and because of Twilight's behavior throughout the story, which casts kind of an ugly shadow over it. While Twilight ultimately had good intentions, and while reshaping Scootaloo's mind into Rainbow Dash might be morally defensible, her repeated lying and manipulations are uncomfortable. Her obsessiveness led some commentators to question if Scootaloo had refused, whether she would have gone through the procedure anyway. For me though, it was the presence of changeling body parts in the lab that was most disturbing. Where did she get those?
So wait... Did Rainbow see Celestia, Pinkie, or who at the end???? GAHH
Headache.
3067055
Probably a changeling.
I doubt they parted with them willingly.
As for Scootaloo and the age of consent - this is true, though I'm not sure if Equestria has laws about such things (I have to imagine it will now though ). I dunno though - if she has no legal guardian but herself, and given that it is arguable that she is still alive, merely in a different body, I'm not sure how easy it would be to claim that a crime actually occurred.
More or less, if the only "victim" involved says it wasn't a crime, and they are still walking around (and in a better body than they were beforehand - she can do the rainboom now, after all)...
I mean what are they going to do, take away Twilight's nonexistent license to practice medicine? Does Equestria even have formal medical licensing laws? (Again, if they didn't before, they probably will now. Thanks Twilight ) Medical malpractice is mostly a civil matter, not a criminal one, and given that the only person with standing to sue has decided she is okay with it, there's not a whole lot to be done on that front.
Though honestly given Celestia's reaction, it seems unlikely she is going to be charged with anything at all other than a year long "I am very disappointed in you Twilight Sparkle." Really I don't think there's a whole lot Celestia can do about it at this point but yell at Twilight and Rainloo, and explain exactly why, to Twilight, that the whole thing was wrong.
Of course Twilight's friends aren't going to want to let Celestia take her away, even though this was a pretty serious breach of medical ethics.
Though I'm not sure if it was actually morally wrong in the end, especially given that Scootaloo isn't precisely dead (though it is arguable that who she once was is), that she DID give consent (though can an eight year old girl really give informed consent to something like this?), and that the resulting entity is happier as Rainbow Dash than she would be as Scootaloo.
The real issue is not wanting people to be pressured into something like this. It seems likely, given Scootaloo/Rainbow Dash's reaction, that she wasn't, that she really did want to do this, but...
If I were Celestia, though, this would definitely be one of those spells that you don't let most anyone learn. Assuming, of course, that it doesn't require you to have so much power that it is impossible for normal ponies to do it in the first place. I certainly wouldn't advertise its existence.
3067130
Celestia. She couldn't beat Dashaloo to Cloudsdale :)
3067161
I love reading these debates, and it's even better that I'm not the one debating because I have horrible debate skills. I pretty much agree with everything you said.
And in the US medical system, a child can't consent to any procedure. All we can do is help them if they have a life-threatening condition, but some legal guardian/parent/etc... has to come give the go ahead for any non-life saving intervention.
So, was her aunt mentally sound enough to decide that for Scootaloo? No way. Was Scootaloo old enough to understand the reprecussions of what she chose? I doubt it (Plus, Twilight gave her drugged tea before asking consent, so it's clear it was gonna happen regardless.)
Who knows, I may do a little Rainloo / Dashaloo story for fun. I like seeing Twilight punished, and I can't think off the top of my head any story where she ever actually dealt with the consequences of her actions... (well maybe Dollhouse, but avoidance isn't really dealing with consequences.)
3067055
She had to try several other things in her panic to save Dash, including "acquiring" changeling bodies "for science." That, plus the fact she put sedative in the tea she offered Scootaloo before asking for her consent, and it's pretty clear I painted Twilight in a very dark light indeed.
Never drink Twilight's tea. That is the morale of all my fics featuring Twilight.
3066981
Yes. Still getting past my writer's block though. This is a huge start, but I'm still very sluggish on Dollhouse 2. I've taken a few story trades to "get writing again" and hope to be at full strength doing daily updates soon. I have plenty of stories, I just need that little "oomph" to get writing every day.
3067454 I know how you feel.
3067454
Dang, I forgot the part about the drugging the tea. Alright, now it's morally indefensible.
...this was weird. Way OOC too.
Huh, I was expecting something a lot more Grimdark. Especially given your record with other fics.
I got no idea about the ethical/legal implications of Scootadash killing Scootaloo, and I doubt a jury would either, so she'd probably get off. As for Twilight's punishment, de-aliorning her would be too extreme, given Luna attempted to commit planetary omnicide and she's still in charge. It would only show Celestia's blatant hypocrisy and nepotism.
I'm extremely glad they talked you out of it, as that would have rustled my jimmies (primarily due to improper story tagging and the shark jumping) and caused me to unfavorite it.
Still, I can't help but feel disappointed in the story. Those first few chapters were awesome. The paranoia. The secrets. The guessing. The questioning that what Dash was telling us was actually true and not the babblings of a brain damaged pony who was losing her mind. Then it all evaporated. It went from Dash losing her mind to Twilight losing hers. The [Grimdark] creeped in and only further spoiled things. The big reveal only made me look back at those early chapters and sigh at what could have been. All in all, it was a good story, but, had it followed through on those early chapters, instead of following the "Twilight can't cope with immortality" route, it could have been great.
There were a lot of moments in this story that should have had a strong emotional impact on me, but didn't. Thunderlane being stood up and the
epilogueending are some examples. I felt more tension in the linethan the line
My opinion is that the story ran through its plots too quickly. We're given little time to react to each issue before it is resolved and we're whisked away to the next problem. The scenes generally felt underdeveloped to me.
Honestly, I think the story would have been far more exciting from Twilight's point of view. In this story, Twilight is a recently-coronated Princess who has to deal with the fact that she's going to outlive her friends, the ponies her life is arguably centered around. She watches one of her friends nearly die and reacts very strongly to it, leading to her committing a morally ambiguous action to save her friend. Then, she has to deal with the aftermath.
From Rainbow/Dashaloo's point of view, Twilight just seems extremely OOC. In Twilight's view? She's risked everything for her friend, and is watching as all of her attempts to salvage their lives are slowly being undone and there's nothing that she can do to stop it. Then she can have her issues with immortality resolved.
Instead, we got:
There's pretty much no resolution given for her problem.
I'm a little disappointed by this story. The potential was definitely there, but I can't say I like the execution.
Sorry if I'm sounding way too scathing, I don't mean to be.
Yeah definitely needs an epilogue. I'd like to know what happened after this to Dashaloo and Twilight and all. Hell, I think Dashaloo MIGHT have acted a bit too hasty regardless. I can imagine that when she found the full connection to the Element of Loyalty, Celestia MIGHT have admitted she was mistaken and not have put Scootaloo back to her body regardless as to Twilight doing the wrong thing to begin with but now...Dashaloo killed her old body and Twilight still did something wrong as well as Celestia...that's a lot to reconcile all at once. I'd like to see some aftermath set some time later.
but I was fairly certain I didn’t like tea for some reason.
They'd have to be INSANE to accept Tea from Twilight now.
And it's horrifically cruel that Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were told Scootaloo 'moved away.' That's something you tell a child ABOUT THEIR PET, NOT THEIR FRIEND!!!
I shook my head, wondering if she had used some kind of spell on me too.
I wouldn't put it above her to put in some failsafe after seeing Scootaloo's mind REJECTING these modifications over and over.
Whatever binds the Element to Dash is still in her body, but the loyalty—the soul of Dash—I couldn’t recreate.
You're an idiot Twilight. What made you think this insane scheme was going to work? RD was the element of loyalty, not Twilight.
And Applebloom and Sweetie Belle lost a friend! No one gives a damn about them though.
And I do not like this ending.
Liquid pride has been shed.
Congrats RD, you just committed murder of a filly. You're going to be spending the rest of your new life in a dungeon. Congrats, Twilight lost you anyway, moron.
3066859
I am pretty sure it is, at least without consent. You can't just go run into a hospital and start pulling out someone's life support. It is especially messed up in this situation since said vegetative state was apparently reversible.
Except she wasn't pulling the plug on herself, she was pulling the plug on someone else. I still not quite clear if it was Scootaloo-with-RD's memories or RD-with-Scootaloo's memories, but either way the other one died. I am pretty sure that's murder.
3067161
But they aren't. The victim is still dead. We have someone else with the victim's memories.
Banishment or imprisonment.
And/or try one or both of them for murder, strip Twilight of her alicornhood since she clearly isn't fit for it, and possibly have her sent to a mental institute.
If so, that's just too bad. Seriously, if my friends fucked up that badly of COURSE I'd want them to be tried for their crimes.
No.
Twilight's actions were ridiculously fucked up and she needs to answer for them.
3067454
Yeah, considering just how fucked up Twilight's actions were she probably needs to be sent to a mental institute.
Also, question about her immortality issues:
What the hell happens NOW with regards to the afterlife? Will there end up being two "Rainbow Dashes"? How would she explain her actions to the real Rainbow Dash? You think that Rainbow Dash would forgive her for doing that to Scootaloo? How would she feel about Twilight effectively trying to replace her with a copy (and by effectively killing Scootaloo to create said copy to boot).
Best possible ending at this point: Celestia fixes the problem as much as it can be fixed (removes RD's memories from Scootaloo or vice-versa depending on which of them is actually in the living body and swaps or alters bodies appropriately), strips Twilight of her alicornhood, and sends Twilight to a mental institute.
EDIT: Actually if she is lucky Scootaloo's body isn't quite too dead to save and she can still pull of exactly what she had intended to do in the first place.
I don't know if anyone has said this yet... But the ending seemed somewhat psychotic!
Smothering your...old...body is not the most mentally secure way you could have done it. I was just expecting a heartfelt, tear-jerking goodbye to a comatose sctootaloo, but instead she murdered her old self. Creepy as hell.
3066859well said. I agree with you.
3067130 celestia
Sigh yet another great story ruined by the last chapter (my opinion, at least)