Appledashery

by Just Essay


Win Some, Lose Some

Inside the waiting room of Ponyville Central Hospital, Rainbow Dash sat in a chair, her lower legs dangling while her upper limbs tapped impatiently against the hoof-rests. She winced with folded ears when yet another salvo of coughs went off no less than three seats down from her. The place was a quiet den of misery, with various residents from all across the county having shown up to be examined for one ailment or another. They writhed and grimaced in little pestilent clusters, creating a chorus of cleared throats and wheezing noises in between sterilized cinderblock walls. A lone aquarium full of lazily drifting fish did little to soften the daily tension of the place.

Rainbow’s ruby eyes bounced between two things: the clock and the front desk. Nurse ponies in white uniforms milled about the reception, answering pages and scribbling pens across folders full of medical notes. Every now and then, a mare in uniform would trot out and read out loud somepony’s name from her folder. Everyone would tense up in their seats, then slowly deflate as the one lucky patient limped into the corridor beyond to meet up with the appointed doctor.

Rainbow sighed. She pulled out her container and rolled it around in the crook of her hoof. The lone pill inside rattled in a rhythmic fashion, matching her twitching eyes.

In the peripheral of her vision, Rainbow made out a little colt squirming five seats away from her, next to his shivering mother.

Grumbling, Rainbow glanced up at the clock. What the little hand told her was of very little comfort. She glanced back down, noticing the colt three seats away. She glanced at him. He pretended to be looking straight forward.

Wary, Rainbow tilted her head back up to the clock again. Seconds ticked by. Half a minute. Something moved beside her. She looked to her left.

The colt was two seats away, facing forward.

Rainbow’s fuzzy nose wriggled. She looked to the reception desk--she jerked back to the left.

The colt was seated next to her, staring unabashedly at her head. “Hi,” he said, blinking.

“Uhhh…” Rainbow Dash blinked back. “H-Heya, kid…”

He looked at her. He smiled. “You’ve got a colorful head.”

Her brow furrowed. She brought a hoof up and brushed the bangs aside. “Jee… thanks…” She smiled genuinely, though it was a fractured thing. “...I think.”

The colt giggled, then squinted. “Is it contagious?”

Rainbow’s eyebrow raised.

From a distance, a door squeaked open. ”Ahem! Ms. Rainbow Dash?”

She slumped forward and fell out of her seat. “Whoah--!” Thud!


Nurse Redheart sighed heavily. She looked up from the clipboard and gazed at Rainbow with mixed worry and aggravation. “With each of these visits, it all boils down to the same thing, Rainbow Dash.”

“But this time it’s different, doc!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, sitting on the edge of the examination room’s bed with her saddlebag lying on a nearby chair. “I’m learning to stretch it out! The medicine’s working!”

“No it’s not!” Nurse Redheart held up a graph showing a red arrow shooting progressively downward with each passing month. “At least, not as well as it used to be.”

“But--”

“Your body is acclimating to the chemicals, Ms. Dash,” Redheart said as she trotted around the bed, flipping the sheets to show even more drastic data. “Giving you more frequent dosages isn’t going to solve anything. More than likely, it will only accelerate your resistance--”

“But I’m not asking for you to make it more frequent! Don’t you get it?” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, floated over to her saddlebag, and pulled out the container. “See? Look it!” She grinned a crescent moon while rattling the lone pill around. “It’s been a month! One month and only now am I coming back to see you! Ehhh?” She pointed at the container for emphasis. “Ehhhh? I still got one of them suckers left!”

Nurse Redheart looked at Rainbow, at her container, then back at her face again. “Rainbow…” She spoke in a low tone, her face sad, yet compassionate. She reached a hoof out and slowly lowered the pegasus’ forelimb gripping the container. “Finding a steady rate at which you could ingest the medicine and not gain extraordinary tolerance for it might have worked months ago, but we both know that it’s impossible now.” She gulped and added breathily, “Not after what happened in late October--”

Rainbow Dash instantly winced and spun about, hovering about as if she was pacing in midair.

Redheart spoke louder, “Not after you took that extra large dosage! An entire month’s prescription in a week?! Ms. Dash, what were you thinking?!”

“So maybe I wasn’t thinking…”

“Clearly you weren’t!” Redheart frowned. “You’re lucky to be even able to move your muzzle, much less your legs--”

“Look, I needed to be at the top of my performance for that week, okay?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. She instantly winced and waved two forelimbs. “I’m sorry, Doc. I know you’re only trying to help me, but… b-but I’ve got a reputation to live up to!”

“That may be important to you, but while you are under my care the most important thing I’m concerned for is your health. Everything else takes a backseat!”

“Oh please, Doc--”

“And I’d rather ponies cast judgment about the ‘legacy of Rainbow Dash’ once we’ve assured they’ve got a healthy, living, breathing Rainbow Dash to write songs about!”

“My body’s tough! Just like its spirit! Just… just give me more of the pills. Okay, Doc?” She smiled. “I’m being patient with it! I’m… I’m not gonna take too much of them again! I’m past that, Doc! I’ve changed! Recently, I’ve… I’ve…” Rainbow Dash rubbed her temple, wincing slightly.

“Hmmm?” Redheart craned her head to the side. “What is it?”

“I’ve… I’ve got a lot of things on my mind…” Rainbow Dash shuddered, but gave the nurse a heroic smirk. “I’m improving in a lot of ways.”

Redheart merely squinted.

“Really!” Rainbow gulped dryly and gave a firm nod. “I am!”

With a sigh, Redheart trotted forward and stared up at her. “Ms. Dash, please, stop flying.”

The pegasus blinked.

“Please. Humor me.” The nurse pointed at the checkerboard tile floor. “Stand here.”

Rainbow bit her lip. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat, tossed her mane back, and levitated down with briskly flapping wings. Wincing slightly, she planted one hoof down, then two more, and finally all four. Her legs wobbled once, twice, then stood straight as tent poles. She looked up at the nurse, smirking.

“Heh… Heheh!” Rainbow leaned back. “And here you thought I was as lame as a waterlogged cactus--HOCRAP!” She fell back like a hippopotamus slipping on ice. The sound her flank made impacting with the floor was positively thunderous. “Ow ow ow ow ow…”

She was still wincing by the time Redheart squatted down to her level. She tilted the pony’s face up by her fuzzy blue chin and murmured, “The pills cannot cure what is inherently genetic, Ms Dash, but there is a way to stop the inevitable. Time has brought with it new innovations. There’s no reason to fear… well…” She put on a gentle smile. “...what happened to your father.”

Rainbow Dash shivered upon hearing that. She avoided Redheart’s gaze.

The nurse continued. “We… we’ve spoke about this before, Ms. Dash.”

Rainbow finally looked at her. Ruby eyes sparkled with fear and apprehension.

“The procedure is costly, but at your rate of income, you could easily afford it in less than--”

“No!” Rainbow Dash growled. With a single flap of her wings, she shot up to the ceiling, looming above the mare. “For the hundredth time, I ain’t doin’ something that stupid!”

“It’s a proven technique, Ms. Dash,” Redheart said, standing up calmly. “Nothing stupid about it. The procedure can assure you a life free from both medicine and infirmity--”

“At the cost of awesomeness, you mean!” Rainbow’s wings flapped harder, and she inadvertently smacked into the ceiling. “Ow!” She rubbed her head. “Grrrr--Just give me the medicine and let’s be done with this checkup!”

“As your physician and--I would like to think a trusted friend--I simply cannot allow you to punish yourself by stretching your body so thin!” Redheart held a hoof up, pleading. “We’re talking about a way to improve your livelihood for the rest of your days! You’re young yet! If we treat you sooner, then you’ll have a full life left to live!”

“Living is one thing.” Rainbow Dash hovered until she was eye to eye with the mare. “Winning is another thing. I can do this, doc! Just… let me do it around this new regiment of mine! I’ll be okay!”

Redheart sighed out her nostrils, her face pale with exasperation and ennui. “Can you at least explain one thing to me?” She gulped and said, “What is so significant about this that you must keep it a secret?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and turned towards the side, gazing past her saddlebag parked on the chair. “Who… wh-who said I was hiding it?”

“Do your friends know?”

Rainbow was silent.

“What is it that… th-that you fear so much about losing, Ms. Dash? What… is so precious to you to put yourself through this?”

The mare quietly closed her ruby eyes, hugging herself.