Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema sat inside Cocoa Bean’s shop, sitting across from each other at one of his tables and snacking on some chocolate he had brought out for them. The both of them were being fairly quiet and not really looking at the other. Cocoa Bean had noticed the odd atmosphere and wasn’t bothering them. Rainbow Dash took a bar of bittersweet chocolate and started chewing it bit by bit while Anathema took a sip of hot chocolate and started tapping her hoof on the table. They’d been in here for over an hour now just doing this and things like it without really talking.
As soon as she was finished with the chocolate, Rainbow Dash deeply breathed in through her nose and then right out, finishing by staring at Anathema. The doctor, for her part, stared right back at her. Both mares stared down the other, both stubborn and defiant with neither one of them wanting to be the first to look away.
“So-” Rainbow finally started after too long of a silence. “You wanna tell me why you have a death wish?”
“I don’t have a death wish. I have a desire to save the ponies of Pinetree Warren,” Anathema answered.
“And it’s just that the only way to do that is to kill yourself.”
“Sacrifice, Rainbow Dash. If as a doctor I need to sacrifice myself for the sake of my patients, then I will.”
Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the table and stood up. “Well I don’t accept that! I don’t accept that one bit! You don’t even know if you can do it or if it’ll work at all!”
“Rainbow Dash...”
“And if anyone tries it it should be me! I can fly, I’m tough, I’m resistant to the spores and everything!” Rainbow glared at her. “You can bet I’d be willing to sacrifice myself too to save ponies in need. You don’t need to do this!”
Anathema shook her head and continued to stare down Rainbow Dash. “This isn’t your village to sacrifice yourself for, Rainbow Dash.”
This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow grit her teeth. “So what?! So what, so what, so what?! Does that mean it’s okay for you to just go out and die?”
“Better me than anyone else,” Anathema replied. “I’m the only one who can do it. I’ll put on as much protective clothing as possible to last longer before it starts to reach my body. And with my inability to feel pain I’m going to be the only one who could force her way further through the spores, you know it’s true. I’ll be loaded up on medicine too to try and make myself as resistant as possible.”
“But you’re still going to-”
“I know, Rainbow Dash. There’s no coming back from it. Even if I drank some of the potion while I was out there, it still wouldn’t save me,” Anathema sighed. “But I’ve already made my decision. This is the way it has to be. You said it yourself, you’d sacrifice yourself for other ponies if you had to. I wish there was another way too but there isn’t. It has to be done.”
“You make it sound like I’m just going to let you do it, but I’m not. There’s no way I’m letting any pony die on my watch!” Rainbow angrily shouted. “I-I’ve already seen enough of that.”
“I hate to make you see more, but I don’t want anyone else to die on my watch either. I’ve helped put so many ponies in coffins over this disease already, Rainbow Dash. If I can stop that I will. If I can make sure no one else in this village has to see a loved one die, I will. Just like how I wish I could go back in time to before Turnip’s family died and save them too,” Anathema sadly said to her.
“Ughhh!” Rainbow grabbed her mane in her hooves and pulled. “This isn’t fair! There’s gotta be something else we can do, we just haven’t seen it yet!”
“You were already one miracle. We can’t hope for two,” Anathema shook her head.
“You should have some more faith in me then… hold out hope for a way for us to get through this without losing anyone,” Rainbow grit her teeth.
“I’m sorry.”
“Shut up,” Rainbow Dash bitterly refused any apology for the moment. She grabbed another bar of chocolate and took a big bite out of it. “We’re not done talking about this yet. Any of it. Not by a long shot.”
Anathema gazed down at her hot chocolate for a moment and shifted in her seat. She chewed on her lip for a moment and seemed to be thinking of saying something before giving up. “Fine. Let’s enjoy our snack here first.”
“That’s right,” Rainbow said. “Then maybe we’ll see if Ardent Elm can help us out. Maybe he’ll know some protective spells or some other way to deal with the plague.”
The mood in the chocolate shop really didn’t improve any and the two still barely talked or looked at each other. Cocoa Bean kept bringing out new snacks for them in an attempt to liven things up but it didn’t do much other than cause them to slowly chew some more. Rainbow could tell that Anathema just wanted to leave. She wanted to finish things with Rainbow Dash entirely and go marching into the forest. But at this point she had to know that Rainbow wasn’t going to be letting her out of her sight at all. The magical potion was left at the auditorium, Rainbow was not going to let Anathema convince her of this sacrifice and let her go get it.
Anathema finished drinking her hot chocolate and put the empty mug back on the table. “I’m ready to go if you are. It’s obvious nothing else is going to get done by us talking here.”
“That’s fine by me,” Rainbow said.
“Let’s go back to my cabin first then. After that we can visit Ardent Elm,” Anathema said and stood up from the table.
“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said and got up too.
“Thank you for the food, Cocoa Bean. It was as great as always,” Anathema smiled to the baker.
He was startled a bit by the sudden acknowledgment from where he was standing behind the counter. He awkwardly forced a smile and waved to the two of them. “O-Oh, well thank you too, Doctor.”
The two mares left his shop and started walking through Pinetree Warren back on the way to Anathema’s cabin. Rainbow Dash had a hard frown on her face but Anathema had a much more neutral expression as she quietly looked around at the other homes and buildings. It was still so empty in the village, but she could imagine that finally being different soon. She could picture things being back to normal with smiling ponies and happy families going outside and enjoying their time together. More than anything, Anathema wanted things to be able to return to that.
When they made it back to her cabin, Rainbow held the door open and watched Anathema go inside before following her in.
“What? You planning on locking me in here?” Anathema asked her.
“The thought occurred to me.”
“You’re being silly, Rainbow Dash. And you’re living in denial.”
“You’re being defeatist,” Rainbow poked her in the chest. “I-It’s like you’re giving up all over again. The alternative is too tough for you to face so you don’t even care if you die. What about the ponies who are going to miss you?”
“It’s not just about that and you know it. It’s how I’m still the only one who can do it,” she closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “And it’s still better me than anyone else.”
“No it’s not...” Rainbow frowned.
Anathema rolled her eyes. “Agree to disagree. I’ve made my peace with what needs to be done, Rainbow Dash. And yes, it does need to be done. We shouldn’t be wasting time like this. Ponies are still suffering, they’re still in danger right now.”
“I know that. I know it,” Rainbow Dash groaned and started pacing back and forth over Anathema’s messy floor. “But… there’s… we’ve...”
“Rainbow Dash...”
“Shut up!” Rainbow glared at her again. “We’re still not done talking about this. I-I don’t care if I can’t think of something right now, this is one thing you’re definitely not going to out-stubborn me on. Got that?”
Anathema sadly looked at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, Rainbow Dash. I understand that perfectly well.”
Rainbow frowned at her. The way she said that was kind of weird. “Well… good.”
“Let me freshen up a bit in the bathroom, then we can go talk to Ardent Elm like you suggested,” Anathema said and stepped by the pegasus to use the bathroom.
Rainbow Dash ended up wandering over to the bed and sat down on it with a sigh as she heard Anathema run the water in the sink. She hated this and she hated not being able to come up with a real answer or response of her own. But she wasn’t letting Anathema die on her watch. She had already failed and lost Barnaby earlier, she almost lost Larkon too on the other side of the world. This was part of her adventure and she was trying to make it so no one would suffer or die again. That was one of her goals, that was what a Rainbow Dash adventure should be, right?
“Not dying on my watch...” Rainbow Dash mumbled, staring out the window.
The faucet turned off and Anathema came out of the bathroom. She walked over to Rainbow Dash and waited for her. Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over at her before jumping off the bed.
“Hey, so we’re heading out then?”
Anathema just stared at her.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Something up?”
“I just...” Anathema started and then stepped forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a warm hug.
Rainbow Dash was surprised but quickly smirked and returned the hug. “Heh, I’m pretty used to giving hugs, you just needed to ask. Didn’t think you’d be up for something so mushy though.”
“I just have to thank you, for everything,” Anathema said as she hugged Rainbow Dash tighter. “And to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for-”
Rainbow didn’t finish that sentence as she felt a sharp pinprick in her front right leg. She pulled away from Anathema to see the doctor holding a spent syringe in her magic. A numb sensation was running up her leg and Rainbow Dash started to feel light-headed. The doctor in front of her put the syringe away back into her coat and reached forward to tenderly rub Rainbow’s shoulder.
“A-Anathema...” she muttered, teetering about on her hooves.
“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”
The floor and darkness came to meet Rainbow Dash all at once.
Less than an hour later and Doctor Anathema was standing at the northern edge of the forest, in full view of the green spores of death. She wore a double-wrapping of clothes around her entire body, had shoveled medicine and anti-biotics into her mouth, and she carried the bottle of magical potion upon her back. And she felt… calm. Peaceful. Right. It was like she had been born to do this, not just as a doctor but as herself.
Doctor Swab wasn’t happy. Neither were the nurses or volunteers. But they had seen how resolute Anathema was and knew how important what she was doing was. In the end they hadn’t offered up any resistance. Swab gave her a tearful hug and that was all.
A letter she had written for Rainbow Dash and put on her nightstand contained the last words she would share with another pony.
Anathema began to walk towards the green haze, keeping her eyes forward and centered on the heart of it. No one else could do this. It had to be her.
Strangely, she felt a smile come onto her face and she picked up the bottle with her magic, carrying it in front of her. All these years I’ve spent hating my lack of pain, and now it’s only because of it that I can do this.
The inside of the auditorium was completely quiet as Swab and all of the various nurses and volunteers had been gathered for the day to watch over the patients. Anathema had told them that they might need every hoof ready. Right now Swab went up and down the rows in a fugue, only barely conscious of what he was actually doing. That was until most of the patients started to shiver and writhe around in their beds. He and his helpers watched as the green spots on dozens of ponies flaked away and vanished over the span of just minutes. Ponies formerly at death’s door sat up and looked around, and Doctor Swab began to cry.