Firefly gasped for breath and Skylark raced after her as they moved through the streets of Manehatten. They didn’t pay any attention to anypony other than themselves, for they needed to get home as quickly as possible.
They pumped their hooves hard and fast as they sped their way through the city, weaving in between ponies with a full grown mare to take care of. Rainbow Dash lay sprawled across their backs, her limp form breathing shallowly as they raced their way back to Firefly’s home.
“Come on!” shouted Firefly, not addressing anypony in particular. Her voice quivered and her form shook as her nerves were the only thing helping her run. “We’re almost there!”
Ponies were beginning to thin out as they made their way through the neighbourhoods. Those that did manage to get in the way of Firefly and Skylark jumped to the side. The urgency emanating from the two fillies-plus the sight of Rainbow Dash in her tattered uniform-made anypony who did question their reason to quickly lose their doubts.
The ground rushed past them as they continued to pass street upon street. The longer it took them, the faster, Rainbow Dash seemed to be breathing, and the more she seemed to shrivel up inwards. As if she were being eaten from the inside out.
Not a moment too soon, they broke into Acreview Lane, Firefly’s street. They burst the last 200 metres to her house and Firefly quickly but carefully let Skylark take Rainbow Dash’s form. Running up to her front door, she tried the knob, only to find it was locked.
“Ter!” shrieked Firefly. “Aunt Terra!”
She could hear the comical crashing and banging of pots and pans as she heard hoofsteps stomping quickly to the door. As if no time at all had passed, the door swung open to reveal Ter with a cooking apron. With her orange hair tied back in a bun and a look of surprise and confusion, Ter looked down at the filly.
“Firefy?” Ter asked, her eyes widening. “You only ever use my full name when you really need something and you weren’t supposed to come back for a couple hours…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes floated to behind Firefly, and Ter spotted exactly the reason why behind the trembling filly. The image of Skylark shakily supporting Rainbow’s weakening existence was all she needed.
Her face hardening in determination, Ter nodded. “Firefly, help Skylark move Rainbow to the couch. I’ll be with you shortly.” The mare then burst off, rushing into her room.
“Come on, Sky!” Firefly cried and she tucked herself under Rainbow once more.
“Oh thank goodness,” Sky huffed, “I thought I couldn’t hold her any longer!”
Firefly glanced apologetically to her friend as they moved into the house and Firefly kicked the door closed behind her. “Sorry!”
Soon enough, they were able to roll Rainbow onto the couch on her back. Carefully, Firefly and sky unfurled her wings into a more comfortable state so they weren’t compressed to her sides. With one last thought, Firefly gripped Rainbow’s hoof in her own. Sky chose to stand watch, glancing nervously to the hall where all the rooms were.
“Come on, Rainbow,” Firefly whispered, “Hang in there. You can do it.”
Ter came barreling out of her door, her hair tidied up more neatly with no hairs sticking out of place and gloves draped over a box on her back. The box was made out of metal, a red cross brightly portrayed on it, and Ter had adorned a face mask on herself.
“Aunt Ter?” Firefly asked, and Ter cast her eyes at Firefly.
“Firefly, I’m going to need you to step away while I check her vitals,” ordered Ter softly. “I’ll answer any questions you have later. But not right now.”
Firefly stepped back, and Ter dove right into her work. Setting the box down, Ter got her gloves on. With a loud click, the box opened and Ter began to dig through it’s contents.
“What’s she doing?” Sky whispered to Firefly.
Firefly couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “I have no idea; before today I thought she was the blandest earth pony aunt to ever live.” The two fillies continued to watch Ter work.
Neither of them could identify what was inside the medical box. Various medical paraphernalia were being organized onto a fresh towel by the mare with such precision that it would seem she had done it a million times over. As the contents of the box were all taken out, Ter brushed it off to the side and she picked up a strange y-shaped tool. What Firefly knew to be called a stethoscope.
“Checking vitals,” Firefly could hear Ter say to herself. “Analyze heart rhythm, airways, breathing, and circulation... “
Ter placed the flat end of the stethoscope onto Rainbow’s chest. Ter’s gaze hardened as she found something that Firefly could not understand. Placing the instrument away, Ter began to place her hooves underneath and on Rainbow, each time her hooves disappeared from their view, she checked them. Firefly bit her lip and Sky fiddled with her hooves.
“No bleeding, no signs of swelling or disfigurement…” Ter muttered, just loud enough for the fillies to hear. Realizing exactly what this meant, she widened her eyes, her tone increasing in strength. “By all physical accounts, she’s alright!”
Firefly cocked an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
Ter turned to Firefly with a look of disbelief. “It means that her injuries are purely magical. Whatever this is…” Ter carefully took a sample of Dash’s blood and pinged it, staring at it with as she brought it up to one eye. “It is eating Rainbow Dash from the inside out.”
Firefly and Skylark gasped. “Is she dead!?” Skylark immediately inquired, putting a hoof to her mouth in the process.
“No.” Ter shook her head. Quickly moving to her organized medkit on the towel, she began to check labels and shake bottles. “But at this rate, she may very well soon be.”
Firefly rushed to Rainbow’s side, unable to understand her sudden feeling of attachment to the rainbow-maned mare. “B-but, I’ve only known her for two days, and not even!” Firefly cried, grabbing hold of Rainbow’s hoof. “She saved me and Skylark. We have to do something!”
Sky looked somewhat split, not sure what to say. “Firefly… What’s gotten into you? First, we meet this random stranger that basically doesn’t know anything around us and then you let her crash at your place. When she leaves and comes around a few days later, here we are now, trying to save her. What gives?”
Firefly turned her head, her eyes forlornly looking away as she held Rainbow’s hoof a little tighter. “I… I…”
“We can talk about this later, Firefly,” said Ter as she now had a needle prepared, “Right now, we’ve got a pony that needs medical attention.”
Watching as Ter gently tore Rainbow’s hoof from Firefly grasp, Ter propped the hoof over Rainbow’s chest. Feeling around a bit, Ter finally found what she was looking for and placed the needle in that specific spot. Injecting whatever it was that was inside the syringe, Ter grimaced.
Firefly couldn’t meet her friend’s questioning glance.
“Firefly, listen to me,” Ter said, pulling the filly’s hooves into her own. “Whatever is happening right now, to Rainbow Dash, to anypony, is not your fault. It is not. Your. Fault. Okay?”
Firefly nodded.
“And you need to promise me that you will take good care of Rainbow Dash when she eventually comes to stay with us, mhmm?”
Firefly nodded once more.
“Good,” Ter remarked. Tucking away the needle into a biohazard bin that hadn’t been there a second before, Ter turned to address both fillies.
“Because we need to get her to the hospital now.”
“Why?” Sky asked.
Ter looked over Rainbow’s decaying body, the medicine she had applied already taking it’s toll in slowing down whatever magical process had begun in Rainbow’s body for a short amount of time.
“There’s not much else for a doctor like to do in helping a Class-M magical injury.”
As a heavy silence filled the air for a moment, Ter continued.
“An injury that is supposed to be impossible.”