“Why in blazes is it so hot?!” Rarity moaned to the beautiful skies overhead, adjusting her wide hat. The shade under it could barely be considered shelter against this dreadful heat. It had been sunny for the past week or so, and even though everypony loved the light of the spring sun, it simply played havoc with her complexion. “This sun is going to ruin all the effort Aloe and Lotus put into our spa trip…”
“Well…I guess it’s about time we got some proper sun…right? Wasn’t it rainy, or windy, or storms all over for a month before this?” Fluttershy asked in her wispy tone. She'd agreed to walk with Rarity to Carousel Boutique; modelling was on the agenda, something Fluttershy was reluctant to return to, but it was to help out her friend, so how could she say no? "I actually prefer this weather over rain... the sun just brings everypony's spirits up."
"Yes, well dear, you don't live in a world where you have to worry about your materials melting in the backroom. This week has been relentless on my cloth; I can't even make foal's clothing with it!" Rarity says with an annoyed look.
"Was the cloth damaged at all...?" Fluttershy raised her eyebrow, her mind jumping to wild scenarios; Rarity's back room suddenly exploding into a scene straight from Tartarus from an unluckily-placed sunbeam on an especially flammable piece of fabric. Once the terror from that scene was spent, her mind shifted to another scene without time to breathe; rays of the sun hitting an open chest of gems just right to turn Carousel Boutique into the perfect place for Pinkie and Miss Scratch to throw a dance party; oh, the mess those two would make...
"No, dear, it simply shrank. I knew cotten and silk were susceptible to heat, but...well, this was simply ridiculous," Rarity rolled her eyes, a hissing exhale from her nose; yet another setback in her plans, and the deadline for her latest project was closing in. Getting a new shipment of materials would only cut off more time... she figured she'd be in for yet another trio of sleepless nights, rushing to get this done. Well, she'd be making ponies smile, so it wasn't all bad... right?
"Well...I'm sorry..." Fluttershy's lips moved, but Rarity couldn't be certain if a sound was ever made. She simply read her friends lips, wishing some of that brutish minotaur's lessons stuck from their last meeting.
"Oh, it was my mistake, Fluttershy. This is hardly anything for you to worry about; my work shines when it's made under pressure!" Rarity offered a smile to try and cheer her friend up, eventually succeeding in making the shy pegasus grin back; poor Fluttershy's always been slightly unstable with her emotions, she'd try and apologize for anything remotely bad happening to her friends as if it was her fault. It was troubling to say the least.
"Still..." Fluttershy mumbled, still stuck in a slump. Rarity sighed, looking forward down the street to her shop. She found it sported a fine new accessory; a gaping hole in the roof.
"Oh, what in the world?!" She shouted and broke into a run; if this was Rainbow Dash with another crazy idea involving flaming hoops and fifty feet of the fashionista's best silk, she was going to break something. Her teeth ground together in preliminary rage, and she opened the door with her magic; she'd make the lecture on the fly! C'mon, Canterlotian wit, make this speech singe with anger! "Rainbow Dash, Twilight and I have explained to you countless times! Use the front door!"
The shout, strangely, wasn't met with an answer. Rather, a lonely wing lay in the beam of light drawn through the roof, the body connected to it hidden by the shadows, "Did she decide to take a nap here after putting such a hole in my roof?! Why, I never!" Rarity stomped off towards the shaded Pegasus, steam screaming out of her ears. Fury enveloped her mind as it strove to create the scathing speech she had in store for her brash friend. Fluttershy, not wanting to interrupt her well-worded friend in her moment of red-sighted rage, simply moved along the wall to find a light source.
After a few moments of searching, the grand search for the light switch turned up nothing. "Um... Rarity, where... where do you keep the lights?" Fluttershy looked over at Rarity's illuminated form, the unicorn's face registering as something besides anger, something strange...
Was that surprise?
A few tense moments passed before Rarity registered the question, "Erm... r-right, hang on dear, let me get that..." Rarity answered, setting her horn alight with a simple spell, and the shadows curled away in fear, unable to cover their secret. She stared down at the lit, prone form of the Pegasus; yes, that is indeed Rainbow Dash, and her eyes are indeed closed... she tapped Rainbow's foreleg with a grimace, tilting her head. "Rainbow? It's time to wake up."
The pegasus refused to move. Fluttershy creeped over, looking at her friend lying on the ground. Her brow furrowed in thought; Rainbow never fell asleep during flight, or even after landing... is she hurt? "Oh, dear... do you think... she's unconscious...?"
"Well, it's possible... hang on, I'll go and ask Twilight, see if she has anything. I don't keep medical supplies around here," Rarity flicked her mane up and headed for the door, her friend not bothering to look up, "Be back in a moment!"
"Ok..." Fluttershy simply nodded, wincing at the sound of the door slamming shut. The shadows quickly stole their chance to cover up their secret; diagnosing injuries in the dark isn't very easy. Fluttershy frowned at this interruption, and moved around behind Rainbow. With a quick pair of shoves, Rainbow was pushed into the light. "Goodness, Rainbow... I didn't know you were so light..." She mumbled; somepony who worked as hard as Rainbow should be a bit heavier, shouldn't they? "I hope you aren't too badly hurt..."
With her patient fully illuminated in the small circle of light, Fluttershy started her amateur examination by checking Rainbow's head; if she passed out during flight, the first thing that would break through the roof would be her head. Fluttershy moved Rainbow's mane around, looking for any bruising or lumps, no such injuries readily presenting themselves. A few more tussles of the river of rainbow revealed something peculiar; a mark on her neck... several red marks to be exact, "This is... wait... are those... b-bite marks?" She whispered, her mind subconsciously creating scenarios that could cause her patient such injuries as she felt along the bite marks. They sliced rather deep, but what kind of creature could do this to Dash?
Hang on. Fluttershy squinted her eyes, pressing down into the neck a bit. She waited a bit, the sound of hoofsteps outside fooling her into a reaction. Her eyes slowly go wide as she realizes just what's missing.
Wh-where... where's her pulse?
Her mind immediately jumped to a horrific flurry of worst-case scenarios. She tried to quiet her mind by pressing her ear to the blue pegasus' chest; sometimes the pulse couldn't be felt through the neck! A faint pulse may not generate enough of a beat!
No pulse... she moved her hoof under Rainbow's left foreleg and lifted, trying to get a better position to listen for a heart beat. Nothing, no beating, no movement.
"No..."
A sudden gust of wind blew through the room as the door was nearly torn off, a panicked Twilight skidding to a halt on the wooden floor, "Fluttershy, we got here as fast as we could! Did you find any injuries? We've got a medical kit!"
Fluttershy simply shook, ear still against her friends' chest.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight raised an eyebrow and trotted forward, Rarity following close behind.
"What's wrong, dear? Did Rainbow hurt herself?" Rarity looks from Fluttershy down to her foreleg against Rainbow's chest.
"She..." A single tear dragged a path down from Fluttershy's eye. Twilight drew closer and gently moved Fluttershy's shivering form out of the way. She looked to the chest of the pegasus, then back to Fluttershy.
"Did something happen?"
Fluttershy simply took Twilight's leg in her hooves and placed it against Rainbow's chest. One very certain thing registered in the unicorn's mind.
Cold. Her chest was cold?
Her eyes immediately went wide in shock, the diagnosis, as well as the impossibility of it all, was far too clear to her; it just couldn't happen! She'd run into far harder things than Rarity's roof in the past!
"Twilight, Fluttershy, you're starting to worry me. Is something wrong?" Rarity braced herself for the possibly bad news, but when she saw her friends' eyes look back into her, she just felt like her heart was flushed into the briney depths of the Dragon Sea. Despite the hot weather outside, the coldest wind imaginable swept through the room as Twilight spoke.
"Rarity, she's... dead," the lavender unicorn strung together before Fluttershy exploded into hysterics, collapsing onto Rainbow. Loud cries quickly filled the Boutique, while Twilight and Rarity simply stared at each other in complete disbelief.
Rarity's bad week just got a whole lot worse.