The house had a wind tunnel. It just appeared one day. Rainbow had been at the therapist that morning before school, and he told her mother that Rainbow should exercise more. Then her mother had a word with Apex, and by the time Rainbow got back from after-school activities in the evening, there it was. The tower they lived in had grown an entire pegasus gym, with the wind tunnel wrapped around the side.
It had no fans or rotors. It had no beginning or end. It was a giant loop around the building that accelerated air using something called electrostatic propulsion. And it was transparent. The whole thing was made of polymers more transparent than glass, so close to true invisibility it was hard to even realize they were there. Rainbow could see the whole city while she exercised. She could beat her wings, and watch the numbers go up, and pretend she was really flying.
“Perfect!” said the computer that monitored her heartbeat and the motions of her wings. It had her doing an exercise where she had to keep her heartbeat at the same rate for an hour. “Great form! Perfect!” Her commlink buzzed. “Uh-oh! Slow down!”
She lifted her wings to arrest her motion, like she was flying in the open. But in the tight confines of the tunnel, all she managed to do was catch the wind harder. It threw her backwards, and she scraped the tunnel's outer edge with her hooves. The wind abruptly died, and the lift she was depending on died with it. She rolled down the tunnel walls, ending up in an undignified tangle of limbs.
She picked herself up and took a moment to confirm she was undamaged. Then she checked her messages. There was a picture of her, taken through the glass. It showed her mid-flight, one hoof out, her legs behind her and her mane trailing in the wind. “You look like an ace flyer!”
After a moment, the cuff buzzed again. A picture appeared of her in a pile on the bottom of the tunnel. “Oops, sorry. :(”
“It’s okay,” Rainbow said out loud. “I was almost done anyway.” She walked along the tunnel floor, until she found the doorway back into the building. It opened when she came near it, and she stepped into the gym proper. It was a smaller space, occupied by weights and stretching posts and machines of all varieties.
One of those machines was Apex. He was her mother’s familiar. Like a lot of machines, he pretended to be a pony made of steel.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Dash.” He levitated a towel and a water bottle over to her, his artificial horn lit by glowing blue lines. “May I say, you were in exceptional form today.”
“Yeah.” She tossed the towel over her shoulders and chugged the water, moving towards the stairs leading up into the rest of the house.
“I should also inform you it is 12:57,” Apex went on, in the same slightly posh artificial accent. “It is time for you to take your medication.”
“I’m fine.” Rainbow Dash waved him away. “I’m feeling really steady today. I don’t need a mood stabilizer.”
“You are required to take your medication at 9 AM, 1 PM, 5 PM, and 9 PM. It is about to be 1 PM.”
“But it’s not 1 PM now, is it?” Rainbow snapped. “Is it? Huh? Are 12:57 and 1 the same thing?”
“If you do not take your medication on time, your mother has instructed me to call her so that she can come home.” Apex’s face had no ability to express. It was a blank mechanical mask. “Would you like me to call her?”
“I…”
Rainbow lifted a hoof to her head. Apex counted out three little pills, and brought her another glass of water, and she took them. “Yesterday, you complained of stomach pains after you took your afternoon medication. I have prepared some rice cakes and alfalfa which should prevent that. When you are finished, I have drawn a bath upstairs.”
“I don’t need a bath. I didn’t sweat that much. It was a really easy routine.”
“Your mother left instructions that you were to eat and bathe after your exercise was finished.”
She shook her head. “I’ll do it later. I want to go outside.”
“Ms. Fluttershy’s birthday party is in two hours, and you must complete your studying before you go. If you wish to go outside, there may be time after. But you must follow instructions first.”
“Apex, I’m fifteen, okay? I can judge how sweaty I am at any given time. I do not need to take a bath.” His blank steel mask stared back at her. “Apex!” Still, he didn’t react. She laughed a thin laugh. She crossed her hooves. “I don’t even like alfalfa.”
He turned to move upstairs ahead of her. “Then I will make something else. Do you still like honied oats?”
Rainbow did. So Apex made a plate of them, and when he put them in front of her, she ate what she was given. She did as she was told. The pills made her head feel funny. But at least she didn’t get sick to her stomach again.
After her bath, Apex blow-dried her mane and tail, and brushed them until they were smooth again. Then he brought a box of tail scrunchies for her to choose from, got a clip for her hair, and retrieved her glasses. She didn’t need them to see, but she was told that they made her look clever.
Her room was on the outer edge of the tower. Three of the walls were simple white plaster covered with shelves or decorations, or her autographed poster of Spitfire in the rain. The fourth wall was one enormous window, giving her a fantastic view of the city beyond. She could see the glittering towers, the aircars zipping past, and the little ponies on the terraces below. She could hear the festival that never ended.
The window didn’t open though. Her home was on the 180th floor of the tower. Somepony could fall. So instead, she shoved her desk up against it, so at least she could have natural light while she studied.
Her desk let out a loud, angry beep. A red light flashed. The gaze tracker had noticed she wasn’t looking at the textbook or her notes anymore, and an hour studying meant an hour studying. Not just sitting at her desk. She turned her head back to her book.
The desk beeped again. Her eyes weren’t moving left and right. She was just blankly staring at the page.
“That’s it!” Her hooves shook. She picked up the tablet she was reading from and hurled it against the wall so violently it shattered on impact. Plastic shards tumbled to the floor. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this!”
She stormed out of her room and down the main stairs. She met Apex going the other way. “Don’t you start!” she snapped at the machine. “I’m going outside. And if that means you need to call mom, then you call her. Because I can’t do this for one more stupid second!”
She stared Apex down, her face twisted into a snarl. He bowed his head to her, and stepped out of her way. The sound of a ringing commlink echoed around the house as Rainbow stormed through the living room towards the exit.
Then there was a distinctive mechanical click. A holo emitter in the wall came to life, and the floating image of Rainbow’s mother appeared between her and the door. “Rainbow?” she asked. “What’s wrong? Apex told me you needed me.”
“I’m done is what’s wrong! I’m done with the stupid gym, and with studying, and with… and. And just with all of this!” She snapped, beating her wings to hover as she shouted. It let her use all four hooves to gesture. “I can’t do this for one more stupid second so I’m going outside! And if you try to have Apex stop me I swear I will disassemble him so hard the toaster will get PTSD!”
“Woah, woah, calm down. I need you to listen to me, okay?” Her mother’s image reached out with an insubstantial hoof, light playing over Rainbow’s shoulders where it appeared to brush her. “The house is not a prison, and Apex is not your jailer. I don’t know where you got the idea he was going to lock you in.”
“I got the idea because you had him spy on me!” She spread her hooves wide. “Like you always do!”
“I asked him to check on you because I had to be in town. It’s important to me you get better, Rainbow. I only wanted to know how you were doing. If you were sticking to your plan.”
“Well, I’m not! I’m done with the plan! I can’t. Okay?” Her voice was becoming ragged. “I can’t!”
“Shhh. If you can’t, then you can’t. It’s okay.” He mother offered her a small smile. “I want you to get better. But if the plan isn’t helping, then it isn’t helping. And if you want to go outside, then of course you can go outside. Head over to Fluttershy’s early. Or… go flying. If you really need to.”
“Fine.” Rainbow drew in a sharp breath. “Fine. I will.”
“Okay. Just promise me something. Please?” The holographic image waited until Rainbow met its eyes. “It’s very important you keep doing the things that help you. It’s important to you, and it’s important to me because I love you. I know, you feel like you can’t do them. And if you really can’t, then you really can’t. That’s that, it’s nopony’s fault. We’ll make a new plan when I get home tonight.”
Her mother took a breath. “I just want you to promise me that you’ve really tried as hard as you can. That you’re not giving up.”
“Mom!”
“Just this one thing, Rainbow. Then you can go outside. Please, promise me?”
Rainbow looked down at the floor. “I promise I tried as hard as I could.”
“Okay.” The image of her mother smiled again. “Promise me you still want to get better?”
After a moment, Rainbow nodded. Her voice softened. “I promise I still want to get better.”
“Okay. If you promise me, then I believe you.” Her mother nodded. “Go outside. Do whatever you need to do to feel better. I’ll be home soon.” She reached out, and the hovering image seemed to cup Rainbow’s face with both hooves. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Rainbow said, and the image vanished. Rainbow hovered there for a time, neither moving nor speaking. Then she flew through the air where the hologram had been, and pushed open the porch door.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and all around her was the greatest city ponykind’s children had ever constructed. She could fly around the grand towers, each a work of art. She could land on the vast terraces and explore the hives of pony culture there. She could hurl herself into the guts of the Industrial Machine, or fall into the great crevices that went all the way to the molten planet core, certain that Celestia would not let her die.
Or she could just go to Fluttershy’s early.
But she didn’t do any of those things. She walked to the edge of the porch, and put a hoof up on the rail. It was a small porch. Her mother didn’t like being outside, and when Rainbow had been little and was learning to fly, she’d been terrified every time Rainbow went over the railing.
There was a little garden though, with three neatly tended beds of flowers. Apex tended it. Rainbow vaguely recalled she'd ordered him to build it at some point, but she’d forgotten why she did it. They never ate the flowers, and the garden wasn’t exceptionally pretty.
She watched the garden for a while. Then she watched the city. Then she went back inside, went up to her desk, and finished her studying. The desk let out a happy chime, and a green light lit up.
It was nearly time to leave for Fluttershy’s when she heard the elevator doors open downstairs. She pretended to keep reading as she listened for the sound of hooves on the carpet, then the sound of hooves on the stairs. She braced herself and tightened her shoulders.
Her mother knocked twice on the doorway behind her. “Knock knock.”
“Hey.” Rainbow kept her head down.
When it became clear that Rainbow wasn’t going to say anything further, her mother walked up beside her and rubbed her shoulder with a hoof. “You probably want to be alone right now, but… I’m proud of you, Rainbow. You did the right thing.”
Rainbow still said nothing, and still didn’t lift her head. After a time, her mother went on: “You want a hug?”
When she didn’t get a reply, she took it as a yes. She wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow’s shoulders and squeezed tight. Rainbow hugged her back just as strong, a soft squeak emerging from inside her throat. “Why does everything hurt?”
“I don’t know,” her mother cooed. “I don’t know. But you’ll get better, Rainbow. You will. You’ll make yourself get better. Like you did today. I could see how much it hurt you to keep going, but you did and…” It was her turn to squeak. “I am so proud. I know I said that already but I’m going to say it again.”
“Thanks.” Rainbow held the hug a moment longer, then she pushed herself away. “I should uh…” She quickly looked away, straightening her shoulders. “I should get ready. To go. I mean. To Fluttershy’s. She’ll be…” Rainbow laughed. “Really hurt if I miss her party.”
“You’re sure you’re okay to go?” her mother asked, and Rainbow nodded. “Alright. Go have fun. You can hang out with your friends as long as you want; don’t worry about your curfew or anything tonight. I know it’s a big day for you.”
“It’s a big day for Fluttershy. But, thanks.” She let out a breath. “I love you, mom.”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow.” A smile tugged at her mother’s face. “I know you do.”