Gifts from a friend

by Element of Malice


A gift for Rainbow Dash

Spitfire looked Rainbow Dash, up and down. “Crash, I thought I made it clear that you're only allowed to wear the authorized Wonderbolts uniform for this exercise. What do you have to say for yourself?” She was referring to the gizmo attached to Rainbow's back and wings.

“Permission to speak freely, Ma'am?” Rainbow asked, unable to contain her excitement for much longer.

“Granted.”

The words erupted from her mouth like a breaking dam. “I just got this in the mail today. The letter it came with called it a 'flight enhancement vest' and, all morning long, I was testing it out. It doesn’t get in the way of my flying. It helps out like you wouldn’t believe! And--”

“Get to the point, Crash. We don’t have all day!”

“Can you maybe make an exception this one time? Please? I promise it’ll be worth it!” Rainbow begged with a toothy grin.

Maintaining her stoic demeanor, Spitfire sternly looked at Rainbow Dash. “'Like, I wouldn’t believe'? Who sent it?”

“No idea. The letter just said they were ‘A Friend’.”

“Okay, I’ll consider it. But only if you can impress me.” Spitfire looked at the training course. “Penalty if you fail: the entire squad does one hundred extra laps before and after training for the next week. Except for you, of course.”

Hearing that, everyone glared fire and brimstone at Rainbow, already scheming up what they would do if or when she failed. Of course, Dash took the glares in stride and offered a confident salute. “I won’t let you down, ma'am.”

“Why the holdup? Let’s see a demonstration, Crash. Ten seconds a…go...” 

Before she had the chance to finish the sentence, Rainbow dashed through the entire course with stunning accuracy and speed, landing in front of her instructor with a wide grin.

Spitfire lifted her shades, then looked at her watch and back to Rainbow Dash. “Okay, I’ll need another demonstration. I think I blinked.” 

The rest of the squad looked at Rainbow with loosely hanging jaws. They were already familiar with her speed but what they saw left them both flabbergasted and speechless.

“On my mark….” Spitfire grabbed her stopwatch. Waving her hoof down, she signaled Rainbow Dash to repeat the demonstration. Her eyes could barely keep up with the rainbow streaking cyan blur as Rainbow Dash zipped through the course for a second time. She returned and stopped the stopwatch faster than her instructor.

“1.7 seconds?! Color me impressed. You blew the previous record out of the sky. Spread ‘em out. I want to see how this thing works.” Spitfire wondered if there was some way to replicate the flight enhancement vest, maybe to give to the rest of the team.

Rainbow Dash eagerly spread out her wings and let Spitfire look them over. “What are these?” Spitfire asked, poking at one of the many things she was referring to.

“That. I can feel it sending light electrical shocks through the muscles I need to fly and maneuver. So, it’s using my natural strength to increase what I can already do.” She knew that because she had taken a brief moment to skim over the easy-to-read manual provided to understand how to put it on, what it did, and why. 

“You said it was a friend? I wonder if they’d be interested in making more of these. They’d be well compensated for it.”

Without warning, yet expectedly, Rainbow Dash started shaking as a muffled squeal of delight escaped her throat.

“Something tells me you want to do a Sonic Rainboom,” Spitfire said, looking even less enthused than previously. 

Rainbow looked at her instructor, whimpering like a puppy, which finally caused Spitfire to relent, though more out of pity than succumbing to the cuteness.  

“Only because I'm curious to see how fast you can do it. Then we need to get to practice. I'll allow you to use that vest only if it doesn't become a distraction or start causing problems.”

Smiling with excitement, Rainbow Dash launched skyward. In no time, she arched at the peak of her signature stunt and shot straight down without pause. Rainbow Dash reached the speed needed to pull off the Rainboom far faster than she ever had before. She only traveled a third of the way to the ground instead of the usual half. However, despite the increase in speed, for some reason, Spitfire didn’t see the usual trail of color that Rainbow built up when performing her trick and immediately felt something was off.  

When there was no boom, Spitfire finally noticed the pegasus desperately trying to pull out of the stunt.

Concern crossed Spitfire’s face, lifting her sunglasses for a better look, “Something’s wrong. Cloud Chaser, Soarin, cover me!” 

Rainbow Dash had already shot past the runway platform by the time the three took flight. Diving as fast as they could, they hear Rainbow screaming for help.

“Open your wings!” Cloud Chaser shouted over the noise of rushing wind and Rainbow’s cries of terror.

“I… can’t! This stupid... It's not letting me!” Rainbow struggled against the electrical shocks locking her muscles in place, preventing her from unfurling her wings. “Please hurry! I don’t want to die!”

Droplets of Rainbow Dash’s tears hit Spitfire sunglasses. “Hang on! We’re almost there!” Contradictory to their word, the ground was rapidly drawing nearer as Rainbow got farther from her rescuers’ thanks to her previously gathered momentum. 

To their disappointment, Soarin and Cloud Chaser called it early and began to slow their descent. Spitfire held her speed a little longer but regrettably blinked right as Rainbow hit the ground.

Despite slowing down herself, Spitfire still hit hard, feeling the impact spiking through her right front leg to her shoulder. She face-planted into the dirt and rolled over, her shades lost a lens, and her cheek was bleeding through a scrape, but she swiftly got back on her hooves.

Without hesitation, Spitfire ignored her own pain and hastily limped over to Rainbow, hearing her taking sharp rapid breaths. Spitfire was relieved she was still breathing but could tell the injuries on her were severe. 

Her body was twisted and bent in all the wrong places, her wings snapped, and blood was leaking from multiple spots, staining her normally vibrant mane with red. Dash herself was barely able to let out a small cry of anguish.

“Hey… hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Rainbow, Rainbow, hey, look at me, look at me! Dash! You’re going to make it through this!”

Looking back at the two pegasi that accompanied her, Spitfire barked at them, “One of you get medics down here immediately!” Cloud Chaser left to fulfill the given order while Soarin stayed behind.

 Spitfire turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Help is coming, don’t worry. You’re going to be fine, Dash. Whatever you do, don’t close your eyes. That’s an order!”

Rainbow sputtered and choked past the liquids filling her lungs, but she managed to cough up the words. “Yes… Ma'am…” Her chest then stopped moving, and her body went limp.

As ordered, her eyes remained open.

“Dash! Hey! Not on my watch, cadet! Stay conscious!” Spitfire smacked Rainbow's face repeatedly, trying to rouse her. When that failed, she quickly changed to chest compressions in a desperate attempt to keep Rainbow stable until the paramedics arrived.

Spitfire couldn’t shake the feeling that it was too late.