Mass Effect: Element of Kindness

by CommanderApplejack


Recovery

Chapter 122

Recovery

Leave the suit on and let the Element do its thing. 64%

Shining trotted into the hospital with a set of saddlebags filled with some takeout food. He’d been bringing the food over to the hospital for days as Fluttershy wouldn’t leave Dash’s side and no doctor was brave enough to make her leave. It also hadn't helped that she'd agreed to Garrus remaining on the Normandy to support Shepard as Jack needed a couple of days to recover herself and they were on a tight timetable for some of the recruitment

Rainbow over the course of a few days had improved vastly, beyond what any of the staff had considered possible. Though there had been some tense moments while they tried to clean up some of the worst mess they could reach through the suit’s medical ports, the element flaring up on multiple occasions while doing so and sending Rainbow's vital signs all over the place.

Walking into the room where Dash laid, Shining found Fluttershy asleep on her chair next to the bed. Not wanting to rouse the yellow pegasus, Shining quietly trotted to the little table next to the bed and placed the food he'd brought on there. Stepping up to Dash he lit his horn and cast the spell to replenish the pegasus’s wellspring as he’d done for days…

...only this time Shining found it to be completely full. 

The monitoring equipment immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, blaring alarms as the values spiked to dangerous highs once again. Fluttershy immediately shot up to see what was happening as she noticed Shining standing over Rainbow. “What did you-”

At that moment Rainbow sprung from the bed, pushing over various pieces of equipment before collapsing on the floor at the foot of the bed and looking around in confusion.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy exclaimed as a set of doctors came running into the room, the newcomers looking astonished at the fact Dash was awake already.

“Shy? What… where are we? Why can I barely feel my legs?” Rainbow asked poking her legs in absolute confusion.

“Well, we’re on the Citadel at Huerta Medical center,” Fluttershy slowly said, coming closer and wrapping a wing around Dash. “You hurt yourself… Badly.”

Rainbow stared into nothingness for a bit before frowning. “Did we get him?” she growled, looking Fluttershy in the eyes.

“You definitely did,” Fluttershy said, a slight smile on her face in an attempt to comfort the other mare.

“Good, my memories are… foggy at best,” Dash groaned, screwing around with her legs again, “So what did I hurt this time?”

“If I could interrupt, we’d like for you to go back into the bed miss Dash,” One of the two nurses pointed out to Rainbow as they’d recovered from the shock somewhat.

“I guess...” Rainbow grumbled, slowly getting onto her hooves and climbing onto the bed. “Though that still doesn’t tell me why I’m feeling so numb.”

Fluttershy looked over to Shining who motioned for her to tell Dash what was wrong. The two doctors proceeding to reconnect the knocked over machines in the meanwhile. “You got hit by a really powerful bolt of energy, your fur and skin under the bodysuit is pretty much completely gone. Either we got you out of the suit or left you in it, both had a chance of being fatal.”

“Though the recovery you’ve made over the last five days is beyond remarkable. You've got someone up there looking over your shoulder,” one of the nurses cut in. “The doctors estimated you’d be out for at least a month with how it looked. Even longer for the recovery.”

Rainbow though didn’t even hear what the nurse said as she tried prying at the suit, finding it to be completely stuck on. Her breathing accelerated along with the beeping sound that indicated her heart’s beats per minute.

“Rainbow I-”

“I need to get out of here,” Rainbow simply stated, jumping off the bed again, much more landing on much stabler hooves this time, darting for the door as the two nurses protests fell on deaf ears. The pegasus rushed into the hallway, surprising some more hospital staff as she darted past in search of an exit.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Dash paused for a moment as it wasn’t Fluttershy’s voice that called out to her but Shining’s. 

“I need air. Outside.” Dash pointed at the window which overlooked the green plants and gleaming buildings of the Presidium. Not waiting for an answer she turned and ran through the doors which were marked exit, ignoring some of the other shouts behind her as she exited the hospital. Opening her wings Dash shot into the air at immense speed, briefly gaining altitude before diving towards the large basins that ran all throughout the middle of the Presidium and soaring very close over the water’s surface.

Rainbow’s entire body felt weird as the undersuit tugged at her body in weird ways as it followed and warped under her muscle’s movement… She hated every second of it. Pushing her wings even harder, a spray of water shooting up behind her as the vacuum in her wake pulled it up from the reservoirs.

Why me? Why would she do this to me? Rainbow’s eyes teared up from the immense speed she was reaching. But what could she have done differently...

Rainbow roared in frustration as she pulled up, landing on top of the hospital’s roof as she finished lapped the presidium ring in minutes, and just looked out over the shuttles that were going about their business.

“Tough day?” Rainbow jumped at the voice and found a female, hooded, black-clad human sitting next to her, dangling her legs over the edge of the roof.

“Pretty much,” she replied, settling down again but not lowering her guard completely. “Not every day you hear your skin melted off and are stuck in a suit.” Rainbow lowered her head and looked down at the armor that now encased her, her eyes drifting towards her flank as she made another realization. “I don’t have a cutie mark anymore...” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. “N-no that can’t be!”

Right as she was about to panic she felt a hand on her shoulder, the human looking at her from under the darkness of her hood. “Does that change who you are?”

Rainbow was lost for words as she tried to find a reply to that question. 

“Does the loss of your mark change you in there?” the human prodded at the main plate of her armor. That got her thinking, the answer being fairly simple.

“No.”

“Then do not let it weigh you down, your friend did not mean anything but the best for you.”

“Wait how did you...” By the time Rainbow looked up the human had already disappeared into nothing, leaving her completely alone on the overhang as C-Sec shuttles were approaching the overhang. “...Ah, crap.”