"...and I've waited for four hours, Rainbow! Four! Hours! I was rolling around in the awesome snow fort I built, looking at the sky to see if you were coming, and suddenly everypony says they're going home!"
"Yeah... about that..." Rainbow began, but was interrupted by the filly's loud, languid groan.
"And everypony was asking me if you're coming! Like how in Equestria would I know? I'm sure you have a good reason that you broke a promise for coming to her number one fan's snowball battle, don't you?"
Scootaloo tapped her hooves insistently, staring at her idol as the cyan mare fumbled with her words, trying her best to smile. The filly's face was contorted with the black veil of disappointment; one which Rainbow herself had feared.
"Look," the pegasus began, cursing herself for forgetting to bring her earmuffs to brace herself against the filly's tirade; one that she was glad it was finally over.
"Fluttershy had a little mess to clear up, and I was trying to help, okay? She told me she would take over the moment she finishes her side, but she never came back."
"Well, what's so important about that?" the filly asked again, her wings humming like a bee as she hovered to Rainbow's side.
"I'm sure it's nothing big, right?"
"I have to take care of a pony in the hospital." Rainbow answered, chuckling as Scootaloo's eyes widened as if it was the fervor of having her Cutie Mark for the first time.
"I know right," she muttered, shaking her head.
"How can a pegasus like me take care of a patient when she has so much better things to do, like training for the Wonderbolts, for example?"
"Well... is the pony that you were taking care of... fun?"
"Fun? Puh-lease!" she scoffed.
"Fun is the last thing that the pony would ever dream of having!"
"But he must have some sort of a hobby, doesn't he Rainbow Dash? Doesn't he?
The filly's curiosity was almost overwhelming, she thought to herself; she was practically begging for an answer, seeing how her eyes were sparkling with the need of her reply.
"Well..." Rainbow began.
"He does have an interesting hobby..."
"Really? Tell me, tell me, tell me!!"
"Okay, okay, squirt! Geez...." the cyan mare exclaimed, letting out a terse laugh.
"He has a talent in painting. In fact, I've seen him paint a few pictures when I was taking care of him. To be honest, I'm a little impressed by it, probably because you don't realize it was a painting until he finishes it."
"So he has a special way of painting, eh?"
Scootaloo suddenly stopped to ponder, murmuring in deep thought, before clicking her hooves.
"You have a special way of flying too! That means you two must be perfect for each other!!"
"Hey now, don't get the wrong idea, kid," Rainbow broke in as the filly giggled with glee, frenziedly and rhythmically hopping about the snow cloak of the meadow at her biased conclusion.
"After all, I have to take care of him only for a day. It's not like I'll be there every single time of his life or something."
"Sure~!" the filly replied sarcastically, earning a raised eyebrow from her idol.
"Who knows? One day, he might help you paint your tail!"
"Alright, come here you-!"
Scootaloo laughed loudly, her scarf tossing wildly about down the snowy fields as Rainbow zoomed after her. Her determination to catch the little filly grew once she blew a raspberry in front of her face, the older mare letting out a snort of laughter as well.
"You can't get me, Rainbow!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
Oh, now she wants to challenge her! She smiled to herself: everypony know's what happens when somepony challenges her.
"You wanna do this your way, huh?" she shouted back, speeding towards the filly.
"Not on my watch!"
The filly screamed with delight as she finally felt Rainbow's weight on top of her, the two rolling down the yuletide slopes of the hill before smashing into a snow pile, popping out of it with the fluffs of white trapped in their manes.
Scootaloo immediately rattled her head free of snow, before pouncing onto the cyan mare, the two of them tossing each other about in the snow. Their laughs echoed throughout the nearly empty plains, though it wasn't long until another voice joined in their fun.
"What are ya guys laughin' about?"
"Apple Bloom!"
The orange filly immediately yanked her friend down into the snow, the two of them now rolling around the plains as Rainbow helped herself up, gazing down with an entertained expression before they finally stopped, erupting into a fit of jovial giggles.
"Whatcha doing here, AB?" Scootaloo asked with an excited flutter of her wings.
"Are you here to see Rainbow do some of her awesome tricks?"
"Nada, Scoots," Apple Bloom replied, turning to the other pegasus as she spoke:
"M'ah sister said that you and her have t'a talk. Ah dunno what it is about, but she did mention somethin' about-"
"Sledding!!" was the only thing Rainbow had as a reply, her look of distress and shock showing as the two fillies exchanged confused stares among each other, before the cyan mare zoomed off without another word.
Apple Bloom's frantic protests fell onto deaf ears, as Rainbow Dash had already sped off, leaving an air-sawed rift around the rime and frost covering the range around Sweet Apple Acres as she neared the doctrinal family barn.
Speeding past the door, her eyes contorted into the size of needle heads once she spotted the glazing wood and the whitewashed boards of the seats, the sheer glimpse of it forcing her wings to veer around. Her magenta eyes soon spotted the mare, who could only let out a "Whoa Nelly!" and duck the moment the pegasus started to gyrate through the air like a drill, before plunging into a mound of hay.
The blackness and ticklish sensation of straw tips at her skin immediately shifted away the moment Rainbow felt herself being hoisted into the air, before being plumped onto a haystack. Her foolish grin met the irk twitching of her friend's ears and the querulous pair of crossed hooves, the brim of her signature hat shining like the tip of a razor blade.
"Uh..." she muttered ruefully.
"Sorry...?"
"Ah'd reckon AB called ya here?" her friend asked, wandering back to the sled. In her hoof held a tattered, sooty kerchief, its use recognized only when Applejack started to wipe the glossy wood of the vehicle with it, polishing its surface free of the unwanted pilgrims of dust.
"Yeah, she did," the cyan mare replied, pattering excitedly on her hooves like a hysterical canine.
"So which hill are we going? Are we going to that tall one just over the farm? Or that one with the crazily long drop that some ponies say that you can feel your eyes fly off your face?"
"Well, RD," Applejack began, stopping only when she caught her friend's last sentence.
"Seriously?" she quipped, her face turning a slight shade of lime green, before shaking her head, "anyways, about sleddin', we ain't goin' no hill."
"Great! That place sounds great! So where is this... 'No Hill'? Is it somewhere close?"
"Ya more rustled than Winona when Ol' Macintosh forgot ta fill her dog bowl again!"
With a dismissive shake of her head, the farm mare toss the rag onto the wooden seats of the sled, leaning against it with her hooves crossed.
"Ah'm sorry 'bout this, RD, but when Ah said we ain't goin' no hill, it oughta meant we ain't goin' nowhere, pardner."
"WHAT?!"
Rainbow leaped into the air, her wings stiffening immediately and vehemently as the words replayed in her head. She gritted her teeth, her breaths turning short and exasperated as she tried to fix the different pieces of the puzzle together.
"What do you mean?" she blurted out with a crestfallen rasp. "You cancelled the sledding? But I thought we were going to ride down the hills like... how do you say it? Screaming like hillbillies on a bunch of hoohah?"
"Sledding ain't an option, RD. Not anymore," the orange mare declared with a dutiful look.
"Somethin' came up with Fluttersh'ah and you. Ah'm sure ya know the rest, don'tcha?"
Fluttershy. The one mare that she wanted to interrogate.
"What does she want?" Rainbow groaned appallingly, though her friend could only give a shrug.
"Beats me, though she did mention somethin'. A tad bit about some special pony..."
No. Bucking. Way.
Rainbow's face scrunched up into the darkest, most horrendous frown that the farmer had ever seen from her. Her head was practically banshee-screaming at her, her wings trembling to just take off and leave her friend in shower of hay. The only consequence she could've gotten from that was a black eye and a sore flank, but at least that was only minor stuff: she had been through worse before.
To explode her head over some random stranger that doesn't even have the guts to open his mouth and speak, much less even look her in the eye... that would've killed her brain on the spot. And she is not going to risk it again!
"Forget it!" she snapped at Applejack with a dismissive shrug.
"Just tell Fluttershy I'm busy today."
"With what?" her friend shot back, her eyebrow raised.
"The only reason Ah have ta cancel sledding is 'cause ya have to do whatever Fluttersh'ah wants you ta do! So ya tryin' ta tell me that ya have other plans instead of sleddin' around the hills?"
"But, Applejack-"
"Trust me, sugarcube, when Ah say Ah know somepony backin' down when Ah see one."
Her friend just looked away, being the stubborn mare she was. Applejack sighed, placing her hoof onto her shoulder as she spoke carefully: "Ah know ya want some excit'ment fer the week, but sometimes ya have to understand when somepony needs yer help, RD, and Fluttersh'ah really needs a little helpin' hoof right now."
"Don't get me wrong, AJ. I want to help! I tried!" Rainbow professed, her shoulders slumping.
"It's just...... I can't. I really can't."
"Well, what's so hard about helpin' her?" the farmer pony asked, guiding her out of the barn whilst she wrapped a green scarf around her neck.
"Ya can explain it to me on the way ta the hospital."
And, with a defeated sigh, she did. The pegasus told her everything that happened yesterday: how she met Tessa... Tazer... the patient, in the hospital after Fluttershy asked her to help out with the paintbrush, how he painted things for nine hours, all the while with her watching when she could've waged war with Scootaloo in their snow forts.
Her friend listened observantly at every phrase she said throughout their journey, wandering down the snow-covered path. The pristine structure of Ponyville Hospital soon rose from the horizon of snow, the two mares stopping at the front door.
"So, this er...... Tallahassee pony," Applejack began whilst peeling her scarf off.
"Ya mentioned he's special, huh? Whadaya mean by that?"
"I'm not really sure. Fluttershy said Nurse Redheart was the one that called him a special pony."
Hesitantly, Rainbow pushed the doors wide open, the two stepping in the welcoming warmth just in time to see a bunch of nurses scurrying hurriedly towards the stairs, their agitated expressions only enticing each mare's curiosity.
"What in tarnation's goin' on here?" her friend asked.
The pegasus could only shrug, her gaze glued at the hurrying bunch of pale-colored mares. It sometimes made her wonder why only these kind of mares were chosen as nurses, though she shook the thought off immediately.
The group ran up the stairs, prompting the two of them to follow as well. As they reached the first floor, the sounds of shouting and arguing rang around the corridors, with the loudest being a high-pitched wail screeching through their ears. Their eyes met the yapping nurses and shouts of a few doctors, before Applejack spotted a familiar face among the torrent of white.
"Fluttersh'ah!" she called out, waving her hoof in the air. The butter-colored pegasus instantly turned at that, her expression worn out and her breathing aggravated. Her mane was frazzled and tangled, the sweat that ran down her troubled cheeks only displaying the amount of pressure she was under.
"What happen to ya, sugarcube?" Applejack asked once she flitted over. "Ya look more wrangled than Granny Smith when she's dealin' with them Flim Flam Brothers!"
"He... he's so..."
Fluttershy scrunched her cheeks up, turning it into a flurry of red with her hooves clenched and her wings ruffled up. Her friends braced as she gasped in loudly, breathlessly and, as usual, softly wailing out one word:
"Stubborn...!"
"Well, ya no need to be worked up from that, Flutters," the farmpony replied.
"Stubborn ponies need a minute er two to understand. Just give that pony some time!"
"But I tried! I tried to be patient! I tried to be... to be...... everything...!"
"See what I mean, AJ?" Rainbow scoffed, earning a disgruntled look from her friend.
"Even Fluttershy can lose her head talking to this guy."
"But he would listen to me before that!" the yellow mare justified, harshly yanking at her pink mane.
"I... I can't... I just......!"
Fluttershy's eye started to twitch, her ears drooping dejectedly and, to her friends, dangerously. Applejack immediately trotted towards her side, her concern evident as she guided the trembling mare towards the stairs, before turning back towards Rainbow.
"Ah'll help Fluttershy let out some steam before she goes... you know... all beers and skittles. In the meantime..." she stopped for a moment, shooting the cyan mare a sharp, persuading stare, "ya have to help them doctors and nurses out with that pony of yours."
"He's NOT my pony."
"Suit yerself, pardner," was her response, before she and Fluttershy descended back into the lobby, leaving their friend to listen to the dispute of the voices from the patient's room.
With a hefty sigh, Rainbow trotted towards her undesired destination, stepping through the open door. To her surprise, the usually mild-mannered doctors and nurses were squabbling against each other on their varying and, safe to say, medical methods of anesthetics and sleeping pills, yet their objective was the very same: to coax the now quivering Taciturn at the corner of his bed to have his daily injection.
That was his name, her mind clicked. Taciturn Bleach!
"Hello?" she called out to one of the doctors, though he was too busy fussing with another of the nurses to care. She tried again with a few of the nurses, before shaking her head with defeat. Obviously, the lot of them had not followed the always-important 'Keep Quiet' rule of the hospital.
"Tassee?" she chirped his name or, at least, part of his name. It never seemed to matter, as the stallion turned to her immediately, though his gaze immediately deflected after that.
"Remember me? The awesome Rainbow Dash?"
There was a gradual nod. That was a good start, she told herself.
"Ya know, you really need to get your guts up," she continued, attempting to nudge him in the shoulder. He seemed to know she was going to do that, as he suddenly leaned away before the tip of her hoof could even touch him.
"Wow..." Rainbow muttered, loud enough for him to hear.
"You also really need to solve your social issues."
Pondering for a moment, it wasn't long before her hooves finally snapped together with a plan. Hastily, she dug into the drawers, digging through all the variety of papers and craft tools stashed inside, before her eyes lit up with delight.
She pulled it out, waving an ornate paintbrush: the very same one that she had gave him yesterday, over him. His eyes started to glint like a voracious dog sighting a piece of meat, though he pretty much crept forward reluctantly instead of lunging straight towards her, much to her relief.
The sight of Taciturn trotting slowly towards Rainbow Dash, lulled by the sight of his gift, immediately captivated the remainder of the squabbling ponies in the room. They could only look in awe as their patient grasped the paintbrush gently, stroking its silky bristles as he stared into blank space. The smile that eventually grew on his lips soon after could only be met by the dropping jaws of the hospital staff, yet it was only a while before Nurse Redheart stepped forward, holding a syringe in her hoof.
"Rainbow," she called to the cyan mare, who turned in slight surprise.
"I need you to help Mr. Bleach relax. It will only be a moment."
Rainbow gave her an understanding nod, before kneeling down to the reserved colt with a grin as the nurse edged towards his other side, guiding the side of his hoof up to the tip of the syringe.
"This might sting a little," the cyan mare assured. Surprisingly, he only let out a quiet, muffled yelp instead of the expected yell as the needle penetrated his skin, the fluids that it contained rushing into his system.
"Thank you, Miss Dash," Nurse Redheart said with a friendly grin, withdrawing the syringe.
"Aw," the pegasus said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "No biggie, Nurse Redheart. Just helping you guys out of a ditch, that's all."
"Miss Dash, is it?"
Rainbow turned at the other voice, watching as one of the doctors went up to her. She had never seen his face in the hospital before, what with his elegantly stern expression and his surprisingly waxen, grayish-bluish curtained mane. Unlike the rest, he flaunted elegantly in the doctor's coat that he had wore over his azure coat, despite him being oblivious to it.
The gleaming, golden tag that was clipped on his suit pocket caught her eye, the mare silently muttering out its ordered words in her head:
Lead Psychiatrist
Canterlot Royal Hospital
Dr. T. Martingale
"I'm the supervising doctor for our patient, Taciturn Bleach," he explained.
"It's urgent that I discuss a matter with you concerning you and him."
"M-Me?" she stammered, directing her hoof towards herself.
"And... him?"
The doctor gave a nod, humbly ushering her towards the door.
"We'll continue in the office. Now, if you may..."
Rainbow blinked for a moment, before stepping out of the room, following a stranger whom she only knew of his name and profession, down the sterile passages of the hospital. She wouldn't have done it and instead brushed him off if not for his serious expression and his slightly demanding and convincing tone.
She could feel Taciturn watching her leave, which was confirmed the moment she peered behind her shoulder. For once, his black pupils finally stared back at her, though it immediately diverted away.
Concerning she and Taciturn, the doctor said. The thought of it was a little dissatisfying to her and, by Celestia's bridle, she hoped it would be something worthwhile.
She never expected what had happened next.
"So you're saying he moved to Ponyville... so he could have a better place to stay?"
"Canterlot is too congested for a frail pony such as him," Doctor Martingale explained.
"I have requested the Princess's thoughts upon this, and she had recommended Ponyville. She mentioned of the openness of both the environment and the townsfolk, as well as its short distance from Canterlot, just in case the patient falls into anything severe."
Rainbow nodded understandably at that.
"Though," she quickly replied, "I don't get it. Why bring me into this?"
The doctor gave her a small smile, though there was a sense of amusement behind it.
"Taciturn requires exposure to the outside world, which is impossible due to his nature. It's necessary for patients with such conditions to understand that there's more to the world than just their own selves. He's been making remarkably good progress ever since he was diagnosed with autism, though it had never significantly improved until... well... now."
The mare wanted to ask about autism, though the last words of his sentence stopped her halfway.
"Wait," she began, her face starting to turn white.
"What do you mean 'until now'?"
"It seems, for some reason, our patient had established a connection with you, Miss Dash."
Rainbow's jaw dropped the moment he said that.
"Wh... no... wait.... hold it! Me?"
"For some reason, Taciturn has taken a keen interest in you. I could say it for myself, having been his doctor ever since he was five, and I had never seen him so interactive with other ponies before."
Interactive? She questioned the use of that word. You call silently painting interactive, she wanted to yell at him.
"So what are you suggesting?" she retorted, "that he and I should hang out more often? That he and I should do some paintings all over Ponyville?"
"That's where the problem lies."
With a cough (a 'better safe than sorry before you get murdered' cough, she assumed), Doctor Martingale rustled through his files, before pulling a document out, spreading across the worktable as he spoke:
"I understand your personality, Miss Dash. You're one of the mares always seeking for adrenaline, for a world of action and adventure. Whatever Taciturn saw in you, I'm blind to it, but if it's the only solution to treat his condition..."
"What do you mean?" she asked, her heart steadily sinking to the floor.
"Whatcha gonna do?"
A long sigh came after, before he gave one request; the very one that made her turn whiter than the snow-covered fields outside:
"Would you be Taciturn's guardian?"
"G-g-g... guardian...? Guardian? GUARDIAN?!!"
Rainbow's wings flared up at the incredulous question, her rage palpable once she slammed both of her hooves onto the wooden table, the brutal display knocking over a cup of pens and pencils across the floor.
"Who do you think I am, doctor?" she hissed at the other pony, "I am the Rainbow Dash! I'm preparing for the Wonderbolts, not sticking as a guardian to some... weird creep!"
"I understand this is abrupt," Doctor Martingale tried to calm her down.
"But you must see it from his perspective. It can help him in his development!"
"No, doctor!" Rainbow snarled back.
"But please...! He's a sick pony in need of dire attention! Whatever connection he had with you might be important for his future, Miss Dash!"
"For the third time, doctor, it's a no! N and an O! Got it?"
The pegasus crossed her hooves defiantly, plumping back onto the office chair. With that, Doctor Martingale could only sigh with frustration, brushing his frazzled mane back to its original appearance.
"It's hard for me to say this, Miss Dash," he tried again, the very words forcing out another sigh from her.
"But it's for the sake of Taciturn. I know it will be hard, and I know it sounds ridiculous, but he can learn better from ponies he can connect with than with those he never wanted to talk to. Plus, he might bring something magical into your life. I would know, seeing that I've nursed him for the past seventeen years."
Rainbow glanced back up again, wrenching her snout up at the stallion's pleading face. The last sentence of his caught her attention, and it was true: Taciturn can do some very amazing things. Alright, maybe just a few.
"Please..." he added. Were his eyes watering, she asked herself in surprise and merriment. There's no way this stallion would try to resort to groveling to solve the job. She had heard other ponies groveling beneath her hooves before, and if there's one thing she hates along with bleach, it's all these sobs and wails.
She sighed at the decisions laid out before her. A: she dropped it off with a loud, mocking 'Forget It' into the doctor's face, and will zone out any requests to return, which will earn her a title for being the biggest meanie in Equestria, or B: she becomes the patient's guardian, have him move in and probably waste the rest of her life watching him paint.
Oh, why did she have to go through this irritating pain? It was always Twilight who would select the better option, and it's all because of the egghead's judgment. Giving out a deep sigh, she quickly made the more promising choice, at least, in her opinion.
"Here's hoping you won't get screwed, Dash," she muttered to herself.
"Here's hoping..."