//------------------------------// // Guilt Takes Its Toll // Story: Friendship is Forever // by pabrony //------------------------------// "MOM! NO!" shrieked Thunder Dash as her head shot straight up. She was drenched in a cold sweat, hooves cold and clammy and her heart felt it was going to burst through her chest. Her breathing was extremely heavy as her eyes darted around her, trying to remember where she was at until one of the nurses came out to the waiting room to check on her. "Are you alright Ms. Dash?" the nurse asked quietly. "Um, yeah, sure," Thunder Dash panted. "I, uh, just had a bad dream. I'll be fine, thanks." "Ok. If you need anything at all, ring the bell on the desk," "Thank you, ma'am," Thunder Dash replied with a weak smile. As the nurse left the waiting room, Thunder Dash wiped her face off with her left wing, took several deep breaths and laid back down. "Ya hungry there, sugarcube?" said a familiar voice. "Applejack?" said Thunder Dash, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "What time is it?" "I reckon it's 'bout eight o'clock," Applejack told her. "Yer dad came by th' farm last night an' asked me Ah could bring y'all something fer breakfast." "Thanks, Applejack," Thunder said. "But I'm not hungry this morning." Applejack stood there with a bewildered look on her face. In the twenty years of her life, Thunder Dash never once turned down any of the Apples' cooking. "Y'all ok there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked with concern in her voice. "Y'all ain't never turned down mah homecookin'. Even those times when y'all were sick as a dawg, ya always downed mah food." "I'm fine Applejack," Thunder said. "I'm just not hungry. I'm gonna go visit mom in a few minutes." "A'ight then. Jus' take the food back with y'all so that ya got somethin' ta eat fer whenever ya do get hungry." "Okay..." Thunder Dash said reluctantly. "Who else is coming by today?" "Fluttershy will be by as soon as she returns from Cloudsdale. Twilight an' Flash will be by sometime 'round lunch. Rarity an' Pinkie pie will be here after they git done with work. I'll be back sometime later this afternoon after all the chores are done." "Did my dad say when he and Sunrise will be here?" "Yer dad said that him an' Sunrise would be here sometime b'fore lunch, but he didn't give me a specific time." Thunder Dash and Applejack gave each other a hug and said goodbye. After Applejack left the hospital, Thunder Dash went to sit with her mother, abandoning the breakfast in the waiting room. A voice just barely louder than the heart monitor filled the room about an hour later. "Um, Thunder Dash?" Thunder Dash looked toward the doorway and answered, "Hello Fluttershy. Applejack told me you would be here soon." "I was in Cloudsdale this morning telling Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts that Rainbow Dash is in the hospital," Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice. "Has her condition changed?" "Unfortunately not," Thunder Dash whispered as her eyes released a few tears. "Are you ok? I heard you stayed here last night." Thunder Dash just nodded as she looked at Rainbow in tears. "I was, um, wondering if I could ask you a question?" Fluttershy asked, nervously rubbing her forehooves together. "I guess so," Thunder Dash replied as she stopped sobbing. "Can you tell me how Rainbow Dash got hurt? Everypony else is wondering what happened." After Fluttershy finished asking her question, something inside Thunder Dash snapped. She looked at Fluttershy with rage in her eyes as she hopped off the chair onto the floor. "Thun... Thunder D...Dash?" whimpered Fluttershy as Thunder slowly stalked toward her. "Wh... what d... did I say?" Fluttershy backed away from Thunder Dash until she was in the corner of the room. Fluttershy then became terrified when she got pinned against the wall with a hoof to her throat. "It was a stunt that went wrong," snarled Thunder Dash quietly. "Nothing more. She misjudged her distance as approached the ground. That's it. I suggest you leave... NOW!" Thunder Dash then released the terrified Fluttershy, who immediately bolted toward the waiting room with tears covering her face. "Don't worry Mom," whispered Thunder Dash as she returned to the side of the bed. "I promise I won't tell anypony what really happened yesterday." About an hour later, Thundercloud and Sunrise entered the waiting room and immediately took notice of the butter yellow pegasus cowering in the corner. They looked at each other and then trotted over to her quickly. "What happened to Rainbow, Fluttershy?" Thundercloud asked, fearing the worst. "It... it isn't Rainbow D... Dash," Fluttershy said between sobs. "It... it's Th... Thunder D... Dash. She... she's gone c... crazy." The two pegasi stallions stared at her in shock for a moment, until Sunrise spoke up. "Uh, Fluttershy? What do you mean 'she's gone crazy'? What happened?" Sunrise asked, bewildered. "I only asked her... wh... what happened to Rainbow," Fluttershy sobbed. "And.. and then she... she backed me into the... the corner and..." she paused to swallow hard before finishing, "...pinned me against the wall by... by... my neck and told me to... to leave." When she finished, Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves and began crying harder. Sunrise could see that Thundercloud was becoming furious, so he wasn't surprised when Thundercloud turned to him and said, "Sunrise, will you do me a favor and see if your parents left the castle yet?" "Mind if ask why?" "I would your mother to bring her communication book with her. I worry that we might need Sunset Shimmer's help with Thunder." "No problem, Pops," Sunrise told him. "Are you going to talk have a talk Thunder Dash now?" "No. I'll stay here with Fluttershy to keep her calm until you come back." "Sounds good," Sunrise replied as he left the hospital. About forty-five minutes later, Sunrise returned with his parents, Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry in tow. "So what happened that you wanted me to bring the book I talk to Sunset with?" Twilight asked. "Well, mom," Sunrise began, "Thunder has been acting really strange since yesterday morning. Something is bothering her, she won't tell us what and we think it's got something to do with what happened this morning." "What happened this morning?" Twilight asked with an inquisitive look on her face. "I think Fluttershy should be the one to explain that," Thundercloud interrupted. Fluttershy began explaining to Twilight and Flash about Thunder Dash pinning her to the wall as Thundercloud quietly slipped away to his wife's room to confront his daughter.