//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash's one true destiny! // Story: Rainbow Dash gets married // by Pink Rocket //------------------------------// White hooves clacked against the hospital's vinyl flooring, as the purpled maned unicorn made her way towards the patients ward. The passing doctors and nurses stared queerly at the trotting unicorn whose smile came dangerously close to exceeding the limits of it's anatomy. She had been given good news, or... good news for her at least. Not that visiting her cyan colored friend in the hospital wasn't always a pleasure, no no. It always was, but this time it was special. Because this time... It was bad. Really bad. Even though it 'being bad' were the only details, Rarity could hardly contain her excitement. The urge to sprint down the corridor like a maniac was strong, though probably not the best idea. A swift canter would had to do. She'd be there soon enough. Besides, whatever horrible predicament her friend had ended up in, imagining it on the way would be a fun pastime. For all she knew, her friend could've broken her face beyond repair - to - her being fully cast and forced to eat out of a straw. Seeing as she's an idiot, the possibilities were endless. Rarity squeed in excitement, as she saw the door that held the contents of her curiosity. The unicorn paused outside the door and after taking a deep breath, she continued on into the room, putting on her best expression of compassion and sorrow that she could managed behind all her excitement. And there she was... Rainbow Dash. Lying comfortably in her bed, with all her friends gathered around her. There were no broken bones... No horrible disfigurements... Nothing. Rarity could feel her heart sink as she observed her friend lying there casually without a single scratch on her. It was a painful sight, but she could only blame herself for keeping such a positive outlook on life. Life wasn't fair, and it never will be. She knew that. Holding back a sigh, Rarity made her way towards the friends, joining them in concern for their 'supposedly' sickly friend. "Rainbow Dash, darling! Are you alright?", Rarity began, "I got word something horrible had happen to you and came here as quickly I could managed!" And was severely disappointed... Rainbow Dash didn't answer immediately. Instead she just sat quietly, looking almost as disappointed as Rarity was feeling. Though with such high expectations, seeing Rainbow Dash 'grumpy' did nothing to cheer her up. Whoever took a shit in her cereal, was nothing compared to the floater Rarity had in hers. Within a moments passing, Rainbow Dash looked up at her friends, letting out a sigh. "I've got some bad news guys. I'm sick." A loud gasp emitted from her friends as they all began questioning whether this 'eye rolling phenomenon' was a biological possibility. Rarity cleared her throat and began anew. "Pardon me for saying so, but you look right as rain to me." "Yeah, you don't look sick at all." Pinkie Pie agreed. Rainbow Dash sighed and after a short silence, she continued, "Look guys, I was at my pony physical today and it turns out..." Rainbow Dash paused again and the suspension in the room started to grow unbearable. Rarity herself noticed that much like her friends she was holding her breath as an unnatural silence began to present itself. "I've got the pony cancer." As Rainbow Dash finally spoke, the unnatural silence was beheaded by the shocking outbursts and cries from her friends filled the room in it's stead. Among the horrified gasps that were emitted from her friends, a loud scream from one of them echoed out in a particular fashion. The friends gave strange looks towards the unicorn who had practically guffawed at the cancer announcement, but her quick action to hide her ginormous smile between her hooves and only showing off the tears that had begun pouring from her eyes, removed any suspicion. Rarity wanted to faint. Was it her birthday already? If so, Celestia could not have delivered a finer gift! This truly was a marvelous occasion. Simply delicious! Thoughts of excusing herself for a brief dance in the corridor began to aggress Rarity's mind as she found herself lost in the blissful moment. Fluttershy was quick to embrace her tear eyed friend, and Rarity just as quick to accept it. She didn't mind burying her wide grin in the pegasus pink mane as she tried her best to add a sob or two between the subtle chuckles that managed to slip out. The rest of the friends were all shocked and devastated by the news, and not before long they broke out a series of dumb questions about, whether she was alright, feeling okay, planned to donate her dead body to science, etc. All pointless question. What did it matter anyway? It weren't gonna alter the beautiful fact that, Rainbow Dash was going to die. "H-How long do you have left?" A tear eyed Fluttershy asked her sickly friend. The question sparked Rarity's interest as well. How long did she have left? How long would she be forced to wait before getting the opportunity to dance on her grave? It couldn't be too long, right? ...Right?! Rarity could feel her heart grow heavy with anticipation as her rainbow maned enemy sat silent in her bed. For all she knew, Rainbow Dash could have months or maybe even years before the cancer would unzip it's fly. "Not long," She finally said, sighing deeply "The doctor said I have less than a week." If there was ever a moment where Rarity had wanted to borrow Pinkie Pie's party canon, this was without a doubt the moment. Because in less than a week, Rarity would behold the most beautiful piece of art in history: Rainbow Dash's gravestone. Rarity found her face quickly retreated to the safety of Fluttershy's mane as she let out every squee of glee and exhilaration that had forced their way up her throat. The comfort of secretly laughing in the mane of her friend didn't last long as Fluttershy was eager to join the 'all too unnecessary' group hug that everyone was giving Rainbow Dash. As ponies moved in to press their bodies tightly against each other, Rarity found herself caught in the stream and ended up uncomfortably close to her sickly friend. The hug was long and awkward and Rarity was certain that somepony was enjoying this hug a little more than a friend should, but before she could who make out her molester, the hug had ended. "Gosh, Rainbow Dash.", Twilight said, "I don't know what to say. I can't believe you only have a few days left to live." "Yeah, it sucks.", Rainbow Dash sadly agreed, wiping away an invisible tear, "I can't believe somepony as awesome as me is gonna die without even fulfilling my one true destiny." Rarity rolled her eyes as she prepared her mind for the inevitable 'Wonderbolts' rant. Not that she had anything against them, no no, in fact she quite enjoyed their shows. But who didn't? What could possibly be more entertaining than to watch pegasi putting their lives at risk doing stunts that, even if never actually happened, had the possibility of ending in a horrible and bloody death? All that was required was one little mistake... As Rarity was caught in her mental state of watching imaginary pegasi crash and burn, the friends looked sympathetically at their cancer-ridden companion, who continued her moans of self pity. "Now I'll never get married! My one true destiny is ruined!" "Don't be sad, Rainbow Dash!", Fluttershy said consolatory, "I'm sure we can figure something out." "Yeah!", Pinkie Pie concurred, "If we all put our noggins together, there's no way-" "HOLD ON!" Rarity snapped as the uttered words from her friend had finally been processed, "You want to get married?! YOU?! That's your one true destiny?!?!" Complete silence followed the hysteria as eyes, shocked and horrified, all turned towards the loudmouthed unicorn amongst them. Rarity herself could do nothing but gawk at her friend with an immoderate perplexity. Had she heard correctly? Was there really something more than hot air that filled the endless void in her friend's head? "Well... Yeah?", Rainbow Dash eventually said, breaking what almost seemed to be an hour of silence, "Doesn't every filly?" "Uh.. Why, Y-Yes. Yes, of course!", Rarity said after clearing her throat, quickly trying to regain her posture, "It's every filly's dream." Rarity put on a smile. A smile so undoubtedly casual that if anyone would have called her out for shouting out in public like a complete maniac , they'd be the ones consider crazy. She couldn't deny of course, that behind her smile, she stood very confused. But even more so... uncomfortable. "I've always dream about getting married one day. That'd be the best thing ever!" Rainbow Dash spoke softly, with a deep blush and a stupid grin on her face, shyly looking down on her hooves. Rarity could feel how a bad feeling started to grow in her stomach. She knew exactly where this was going... "But I guess it's too late now..." Rainbow Dash sighed deeply, fiddling about with her hooves, "If only I had a couple cool and awesome friends who would be willing to help me fulfill my long life dream by quickly arranging a wedding in extremely short amount of tim—" "Yes! That would be a blessing I'm sure." Rarity quickly retorted as began directing her friends towards the door, "Anyways, we shouldn't bother you any longer! I'm sure you need all the rest you can—" "Hey, wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash rudely interrupted. Damn it. "Do you think maybe... you guys... could plan my wedding?" The question was shy and innocent and a short silence quickly followed, as pony brains started to process the level of squee that would soon overload their brains. Rarity swore she could hear the whistles of a boiling kettle right before a pink rocket burst out of her grasp. "Of course, we'll help you plan your wedding!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she embraced her sickly friend. The others weren't far behind and soon another group hug took place as ponies began talking into the mouths of each other. Rarity slowly moved on to partake in the celebration, emitting a small sigh of despair that quickly drowned in cheers and yayz of her friends. It was expected that Rainbow Dash would request some kind of 'last wish' after her cancer announcement. She was gonna kick the bucket after all, so her wanting some sort of farewell party featuring all her stupid idols and... whatever other interests she had, was obvious. But the fact, that Rainbow Dash didn't want that and instead demanded something that actually took both time and effort to arrange, pissed off Rarity greatly. Not only would she miss out an event where she could secretly celebrate her friend's death, but now Rainbow Dash would actually wind up getting married. And before her! Something that was completely unacceptable! This was no gift from Celestia... No... It was a punishment, disguise as one. A punishment that no pony could walk away from. At least not with their friends and business relations intact. She was either gonna help her dying friend in her last moments or be viewed as a heartless monster by society. She was prisoner, forced to plan her enemy's wedding and the cancer was her ball and chain. Rarity could feel her blood boiling behind her 'smile of excitement'. An act that started to wear on her. Her face did not enjoy doing false portrayals of emotions and with the recent set of mood swings she'd experienced in last 20 minutes, she was at a breaking point. Rarity took a deep breath and decided to let go of her thoughts and tune in on Pinkie Pie's rambling instead. "-and then we'll have the biggest cake and the grandest, most super spectacular decorations! It'll be great‼" "Ah hate to be a party pooper, but all of that sounds mighty expensive.", Applejack dubiously pointed out, "Are you sure we can get a hold of enough money to afford all of that?" "Relax, AJ!", Rainbow Dash reassuringly said, "If you need money, we could just sell my house or something! I mean, it's not like I'll be needing that anymore." "I'm sure Princess Celestia wouldn't mind helping out with the finances as well.", Twilight Sparkle happily added, "It's thanks to me- I mean... us, that her kingdom is safe and sound." Crazy was not a word Rarity would use to define herself, but she could not deny that clinging sounds of cash registers rung lucidly in her ears. Perhaps this wedding would have it advantages after all, and taking advantage of a business opportunity wouldn't be such a bad thing. Rainbow Dash was obviously gonna need a wedding dress for her wedding and who better to provide it for her than one of her dearest friend? "Alright! Pinkie Pie! You and AJ will take care of all the food and decorations, right?" "Yeppers! You can count on us!" But it couldn't be any old rag, no. Absolutely not! She was going to need the best! And what would be the point in having a grand 'high budget' wedding, if she wasn't gonna spend 50% on looking her best? "And Twilight! You sure, you and Fluttershy got all the invitations and music covered?" "Absolutely! We'll get it done and ready for you as soon as possible!" And the time! Oh, the time it would take to make something so grand. It was obvious she was going to need complete solitude for the next couple of days to finish it in time for the wedding. Otherwise she might not be able to make it, and it would be a shame to end up wearing a indemnity considering her policy about refunds. "And Rarity..." Rainbow Dash finally said as she began fiddling nervously with her hooves. She was blushing intensely, a clear sign of her nervousness in asking the greatest designer of Equestria to handle the most important aspect of her wedding. "I-I guess, I got the most important question for you.." "Say no more!" Rarity sincerely intervened, "I already know what you're going to ask, and the answer is; Yes, I would love to." "R-Really?" "Of course, dear. Besides, who else could possibly be better suited for this than me?" Barely before Rarity had managed to finish her sentence, she found herself getting crushed by the tight embrace of her squeeing friend. Rarity was very certain she'd never seen Rainbow Dash this enthusiastic about a dress before. Was she really this excited about her wedding or had that indecisive chromosome finally picked side? "Yes! I knew you loved me!" Rainbow Dash cried out in exhilaration. Oh, it's not you I love, dear. It's your money. Truly a wonderful parting gift that I'll be sure to make an effort in remembering when you're dead. "Alright! You all got your tasks!" Rainbow spoke out, with her brash and usual enthusiasm, "Now let's get this wedding up and running because in next couple of days..." My life will be perfect! "Me and Rarity are gonna be happily married!" The cheers of her friends filled the room as Rarity felt every muscle in her body turn to stone, worrying if she'd crack during the forceful hug of her very-very-soon-to-be-wife. She felt horrified, terrified, shocked and utterly confused. But in the midst of all the cheers and congratulations, Rarity could not express a single emotion that she felt. All she could do was grin... nervously... as one question occupied her mind: What just happened?