Rarity never missed a Wonderbolts show. She wasn’t exactly a pegasus, but she did have a television, quite a large one at that (after all, being a famous Canterlot fashionista allowed such frivolities). Admittedly, the alabaster unicorn was not too fond of sports or physical exertion in general, but she was fond of something—or rather, somepony—else. Just as Rarity had finally worked her way to the top, Rainbow Dash had accomplished her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. Before the cyan pegasus had left for training, each of the remaining Element bearers had promised their close friend never to miss a show, and the violet-maned mare was no exception. Though Rarity and Rainbow Dash had not been the closest when they first met, being so different, they were as close-knit as anypony else in the group now.
The alabaster unicorn smiled slightly as Rainbow Dash appeared on her large screen. She was the leader of the Wonderbolts now, as the others, of course, had gotten older and retired. Traditionally, the rainbow-maned pegasus ended with a sonic rainboom, but tonight apparently it was different. As soon as the show began, each of the five pegasi dove straight down, the camera following them flawlessly. Soon the two ponies at the end of the ‘V-formation’ fell back, and then the remaining ponies beside Rainbow Dash also fell. The cyan pegasus pushed forward with all her might, her grinning lips blowing back from the force. Tears flew from Rainbow Dash’s magenta eyes as she became enveloped in a glowing cone, then shot off, a boom echoing from Rarity’s giant speakers loud enough to push the unicorn back into her couch. Rarity cheered to herself as a gorgeous sonic rainboom graced Rarity’s TV screen.
But something was wrong.
Rainbow Dash broke formation.
The cyan mare’s legs curled inwards, and her eyes flashed open. Looking more closely now, Rarity could clearly see the dark circles around her friend’s eyes. With a horrified scream, the pearly unicorn realized that Rainbow’s body was so tired she couldn’t keep herself in formation, let alone pull herself upward to keep from crashing into the ground. Screams flew from her sound system. Not wanting to see what happened next, the alabaster mare snapped the TV off and panted for a few moments, terrified. With a determined look drawing in her eyes, Rarity stood up, shrugging off her robe and donning one of her prize-winning cloaks. The unicorn ran to the street, frantically calling over a pegasus-drawn carriage.
“To Cloudsdale,” she said urgently. Her carriage took off.
The Wonderbolts’ Emporium was in chaos. Everypony was focused on a medical carriage—the medical carriage that, of course, held Rainbow Dash. Rarity couldn’t get through, unless—
“I am Rarity, and I am the most famous fashion designer in all of Equestria. I demand to be let to see our fallen Wonderbolt!” Rarity commanded, instantly clearing a line through the crowd. She had her carriage pull her towards Rainbow Dash, and soon she was beside her fallen friend. The unicorn’s first thoughts were that her friend was dead. Soaked in blood and laying eerily still, both front legs bent at awkward angles, a bone sticking through one of them. The cyan pegasus’s eyes were open, locked in an expression of horror and fear. However, even with tears streaming from her eyes, rendering her almost sightless, Rarity could see Rainbow Dash twitch. And the unicorn broke down into sobs, so grateful her friend was alive.
“Thank Celestia…” she murmured, stroking Rainbow’s blood-stained hair back from her face. As the medical carriage flew off, Rarity cleared her eyes and demanded that her drivers follow the cyan pegasus. Trusting her drivers to follow her fallen friend’s path, Rarity lost herself in her thoughts. That idiot pegasus, I bet she hasn’t slept in days. She should know to take better care of herself. Do her teammates make sure she gets any rest?! I am going to have to give a serious talking-to to some very irresponsible ponies, because obviously they cannot do the job they must! It wasn’t long, though, before Rarity ran out of angry thoughts, and simply collapsed into heart-wrenching sobs.
When Rarity arrived at the hospital, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy were already there. “Girls, thank Celestia you’re here,” Rarity cried, first embracing Twilight and then Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash has made quite the mistake and bashed herself up quite a bit, but she’s breathing. I went to Cloudsdale myself.” The two mares broke down and hugged the alabaster unicorn tightly in turn.
“Applejack’s on her way, Rarity,” the mulberry unicorn informed through her tears, “and Pinkie Pie’s currently irritating the buck out of all the nurses to get us inside.” Just then, the pink earth pony trotted out of the hospital, mane deflated. In a second she was sobbing and embracing her alabaster friend.
“Dashie’s…uhuhu…gonna be okay, right?” she murmured through her tears.
“Yes, Pinkie, Dashie is going to be just fine,” Rarity answered softly, patting her friend’s back with her hoof. The pair stayed like that for a short while, before the pastel-yellow pegasus broke the silence.
“Pinkie, can we go inside?” Fluttershy asked quietly, bordering on silence.
“Yeah, Fluttershy,” the bright-colored earth pony answered. “Dashie’s in the third room on the left. Twi, will you wait out here with me, so we can meet Applejack when she gets here?” The indigo-maned mare nodded, and Rarity and Fluttershy went inside.
The pastel-colored mare almost fainted when she saw Rainbow Dash.
“Oh my, that’s a looooot of blood…” Fluttershy whimpered, turning her eyes away. The alabaster unicorn took a hoof around her friend’s neck as she cried.
“Dash is going to be all right, Fluttershy dear…” she murmured in the pegasus’s ear. “She’s stable,” she added quickly, though the unicorn had no way of knowing so.
From then on until Applejack arrived, time flowed in a blur for Rarity. Doctors came in, doctors went out. Nurses took Rainbow Dash out to wash and operate on her, nurses brought a bandaged, though clean, Rainbow back. Fluttershy slept, Fluttershy awoke. Twilight Sparkle came in to check on them, Twilight left. Pinkie Pie came in, Pinkie left. It was all a blur, and Rarity did not sleep.
“What in tarnation did that idiot do to herself this time?!” Applejack’s voice punctuated Rarity’s blurry world. The burnt-orange earth pony had arrived. The doctor currently in the room was available to answer the question.
“Ms. Dash is in an unfortunate condition. Both her front femurs have been broken, as well as three of her ribs, one of which has punctured her lung. Her kneecaps have shattered, and she has a massive concussion to the front of her cranium. Her wing bones are also quite battered, but they are unbroken. She is a very lucky pony compared to what could have happened.”
“Ah’m goin’ to kill that buckin’ pegasus someday!” Applejack screeched, stomping her hoof on the floor and soon collapsing into wracking sobs. Fluttershy shrank back then drew forward and wrapped her hooves around her friend.
“Is…she going to live, doctor?” Twilight Sparkle asked uneasily.
“Yes, Ms. Dash is going to be just fine, now that we’ve operated.” An immense sigh of relief followed by sobs of gratitude and many “thank Celestia”s proceeded. “She won’t be flying for another few weeks, and she needs quite a bit more sleep, but she’s in good hands with you five,” the doctor added, before taking his leave. Everypony hugged one another and dried the last of their tears. There was an uneasy silence for a few moments.
“Ah hafta be gettin’ home soon, girls. Ah realize Rainbow has really messed ‘erself up this time, but it’s applebuck season an’ all…” Applejack said uneasily. Rarity smiled warmly.
“It’s perfectly all right, Applejack. You go on home. Leave the worrying to us, dear,” Rarity comforted, embracing her earth pony opposite. Everypony said their goodbyes and then settled back into Rainbow’s hospital room. However, one by one, each pony left. Fluttershy had to get back to her animals. Pinkie Pie had babysitting to do. Twilight had astronomy lessons from Princess Luna. But Rarity stayed. The alabaster unicorn had nowhere to go, so she stayed.
You are such a stupid pegasus, Rainbow Dash. You go and push yourself beyond where you can go, and then you go and do something you know you can’t. Don’t you know what would happen if you had died, you idiot?! I would have been crushed. We all would have been crushed! We love you, Rainbow Dash! I love you! Rarity shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts. Love Rainbow Dash? She couldn’t. Not only was she another mare, but she was brash, foolish, stubborn, and stupid. She brushed off how other ponies cared for her. Sure, she could care, but she couldn’t love. With these thoughts in mind, the alabaster unicorn dozed off, hooves slouched over the metal frame of Rainbow’s hospital bed.
“Ms. Rarity?” a voice queried. The violet-maned unicorn shook herself awake, pausing to notice how hideous her mane looked. A doctor stood behind her, brandishing a clipboard.
“Yes?”
“Visiting hours are over. You best be getting home.”
“Thank you for informing me, doctor.” Pulling herself up from her slouched position and stretching, the unicorn took one last look at Rainbow Dash, only, well, Rainbow Dash wasn’t present. Rarity gave the doctor a worried glance, one which he shook off with a smile.
“Ms. Dash is ready to leave the hospital. Thanks to the healing spells of some of the best unicorns on staff, she is ready to return home. She should be on her way out at this very moment. It was only because she insisted I let you sleep that I have waited until now to awake you.” With a small, gracious smile, Rarity thanked the kind doctor and took her leave.
“What do you mean?! I can’t pay for this!” It was Rainbow. Racing to the cyan mare’s side, Rarity realized her friend was faced with an absolutely terrible crisis—her medical bill was far larger than she had expected, and even on the Wonderbolts’ salary she couldn’t afford to pay it. Must have been the unicorns’ healing spells, the alabaster unicorn thought.
“Oh, hi Rarity!” Rainbow exclaimed, embracing her friend all too suddenly, then wincing harshly with pain. With a sigh, the violet-maned mare pushed the pegasus away and withdrew her wallet from her cloak. With her glowing blue magic, the unicorn withdrew her credit card and passed it to the clerk.
“Put it on my card, it’s no trouble,” Rarity said modesty, tugging her cloak around her.
“Rarity, I’ll pay you back, I promise, I can get the money; it’s okay, you can’t just donate that much money. I mean, I get that you’re the Element of Generosity and all, but really… Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod thank you for doing this, I promise I’ll pay you back—” Once Rarity was finished, she replaced her wallet in her cloak and sharply cut Rainbow off.
“Rainbow Dash,” she growled, then sweetly added, “let’s talk about this later, okay? It’ll wear you out to talk now. For now, come back to my place. I insist you stay the night.” Rarity departed, Rainbow running, er, half-limping, alongside, trying to get a word out of her.
“Rarity, I’m fine. After all, I’m out of the hospital; you seriously don’t have to take me back to your place. The Wonderbolts’ housing isn’t far, I mean, really Rarity…” However much Rainbow Dash attempted to get the alabaster mare talk to speak to her, Rarity kept silent until, one carriage ride later, the pair arrived at her apartment. With the cyan pegasus still blathering on, the pearl-white mare tucked her cloak into her vast closet, lit a half-dozen scented candles, and faced her friend.
“Rainbow Dash! Silence yourself!” Startled, Rainbow shut her mouth for the first time in at least twenty minutes. Not wanting to anger her friend further, the cyan mare stood still, waiting for Rarity to speak. The unicorn took a deep breath.
“You are the stupidest, most foolhardy, stubborn, and irresponsible pony I have ever met! How much have you been sleeping?!” Rarity shouted, and as the rainbow-mane stuttered, she continued her tirade. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. You haven’t been getting enough. Your eyes are lined with dark circles! You clearly did not have enough energy to pull yourself out of that sonic rainboom, or even fly, for that matter! Rainbow Dash, you have been pushing yourself too hard, and I will not tolerate the continuation of such irresponsibility!”
“Rarity, I’m not dead! Clearly I knew what I was doing!” Rainbow finally made out. Rarity gave the cyan pegasus a stare not even Fluttershy could pull off and snapped back.
“Well, I’m glad you know how to crash! You are so thoughtless and irresponsible it makes me want to slam my head against a wall! Did you not think of whom you might worry, who might mourn you if you died, sacrifice sleep and their own time if you were injured?! Did you not think of Applejack, your greatest friend and rival? Of Fluttershy, your fillyhood friend? Did you not think of Pinkie Pie, whom with you have shared countless pranks? Did you not think of Twilight Sparkle, who I’m sure was one of the unicorns who helped heal your injuries? Did you not think of those who love you?!” With a single, shattering stomp, Rarity’s joints buckled and the pony’s body shook with sobs as she sat, voiceless and tired.
Rainbow Dash took on a stunned look as she wrapped her hoof around her friend’s shoulders. Tears streamed from the pegasus’s eyes, as if unsure where to go but out, Rarity noticed. Pushing her body closer to the rainbow-maned mare, needing to feel the warmth and hear the beat of her heart, the alabaster unicorn continued to sob as pegasi tears stained her violet mane. The pair stayed like that for a while, eventually sobs fading to silent tears. Rain began to pound the fashionista’s windows.
When all tears that could be cried had been, Rainbow spoke up, quietly, not wishing to startle her friend. “I’m…sorry, Rarity. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble…” Deciding excuses were best left for the others, Rainbow sighed. “I should have known you and the girls would worry about me. I mean, just because we don’t see each other as often doesn’t mean we’re any less close, and I bet you all haven’t missed a single Wonderbolts show.”
“For now on, Rainbow Dash, will you come see me after the shows…? I realize I said a lot of cruel things just now, but I just want you to be safe. You are the most loyal, strong, and beautiful, aside from myself, of course, pony I know, and everypony would be greatly saddened to see you leave this world behind.” Rainbow gave a small gasp.
“You…think I’m…beautiful?”
“Why, of course dear. Your mane is positively the most unique in all of Equestria! Your figure’s honestly quite stunning, and the fact you train so much truly accents it. In fact, I find it quite infuriating you refuse to wear dresses more often and don’t so much as comb your hair in the morning.” Rainbow blushed, and though it was barely visible in the candlelight, Rarity smiled.
“Really?! I mean, that’s like a compliment from me, on how fast somepony is!”
“Rainbow Dash, not so loud…” the alabaster unicorn hushed. She liked it, the quiet, the quiet of only two ponies. Rainbow quickly lowered her voice, but the enthusiasm in her voice stayed.
“Seriously?” The pound, pound, pound on the windowpanes slowly faded into a gentle rush, and the candles glimmered with a peaceful shine, scent washing over the two ponies as they sat together: Rainbow’s head on Rarity’s, the gorgeous unicorn’s body tucked under the shadow of her friends. It just all seemed so natural to Rarity, perfectly natural, and judging by the cyan mare’s calm demeanor, she hadn’t even noticed how close they were.
“I love you,” Rarity said, though it was not meant to be aloud, and the mare quickly clapped her hoof over her mouth.
“Well, yeah Rarity, you and all the other girls too. I mean, thanks for saying it, I need—”
“No, Rainbow Dash, not…like that…by Celestia, I did not mean to say that…” The alabaster unicorn made to walk away, half expecting the cyan pegasus to shrink away, recoil, or maybe even spit in disgust. But that was not what happened. As Rarity walked away, her companion just sat there.
“Since when?” To the pearly mare’s relief, there was no scorn—nor curiosity—in the pegasus’s voice. It was just a question, and Rarity was grateful for it.
“Well, do you remember your…second sonic rainboom, darling?”
“Yeah, ‘course. What’s that—” Rarity swiftly cut her friend off.
“You opened my eyes that day… Your actions were so stubborn and thoughtless, recklessly abandoning your own sense of self-preservation to try and save me, ME, who had been pulling you down all day due to those gorgeous wings Twilight had given me. I mean, they were quite beautiful…”
“Rares?” The pearly-white unicorn turned back to Rainbow Dash, a question mark written upon her face. The cyan pegasus was surely going to reject her, right this instant.
“Yes?” she asked her friend nervously.
“Was it you that made the others come to Cloudsdale to cheer me on?”
“Well, I was the one that insisted you were quite nervous, Rainbow Dash, but is that what you mean?”
“Yeah…” Rainbow trailed off, then, as if scared of what might follow, added quickly, “You seem to have this way of seeing into other ponies’ minds. When you were first making those Gala dresses, I was so vague. Yet it ended up just like I wanted. It was some kind of miracle, let me tell you.”
“A horrendous miracle,” Rarity muttered, and the both of them laughed, easing the tension between the two ponies greatly.
“I can still see the look on Hoity Toity’s face!” Rainbow Dash cackled, promptly causing another eruption of laughter. The alabaster mare turned around to face her cyan friend, still laughing. Quickly she straightened her face into a serious expression and waited for the pegasus to stop laughing, which took a couple of minutes and greatly strained the unicorn’s patience.
“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, once a puzzled Rainbow had focused on her close friend.
“Yeah, Rares?”
“Is it all right with you that I…love you…that way?” The mare was silent for a few minutes, longer than the pearl-white unicorn had ever seen her think about anything, and this was both greatly worrying and exciting for her. She was worried because Rainbow might be thinking of a kind way to break her feeble heart, and she was excited because, well, the brash pegasus might actually be considering a relationship. Once that thought crossed her mind, however, Rarity could not quell the hope.
“Rarity…you can really push my buttons sometimes, with your weird perfect ways and refusing to get dirty even every once in a while, but I might—this is a big ‘might’, I get it—might just,” Rainbow struggled out, then took a deep breath and finished quickly, “like you the same way, just a little.” Rarity held in her gasp as her friend struggled to push out more words. Rainbow Dash was not an expert in love as the perfectly-manicured unicorn was, but clearly she had more to say, and the unicorn was anxious to hear it. “You’re really pretty, and you’re tough when you need to be, and you’re supportive and kind and protective…which is really cute if you think about it…and you’re just generous… I mean, it is your element and all…also it was kind of fun saving your life. Hehe.
“What I think I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure how…um, how exactly I feel about you…but…um, but…I’d be willing to give this a try if you’re game.”
This final statement was quickly followed by the mare rushing over to her unicorn friend and kissing her. Rarity, shocked, quickly fell in with Rainbow Dash’s actions and kissed back passionately and only withdrawing when she felt out of breath.
“Yes, Dash dear, I would love to try and make this work,” Rarity exalted. It was the first time the unicorn had called her friend by that name, but since she was her marefriend now she could use a little pet name.
“Dash, I like it,” Rainbow said and grinned, and then promptly passed out to her marefriend’s horror. Should have let her rest first. I’m ever so sorry Dash, the unicorn thought, brushing back a few stray rainbow-colored hairs from the pegasus’s face.
