//------------------------------// // An Apple a Day // Story: Origins of a Rainbow - A Dashie Tale // by Shorty Sparkle //------------------------------// (Hey guys, I just wanted to let you all know that I now have a Twitter where I will post when I am writing and when I send it off to my editor and all of that. I also will be posting times that I can hang out and actually talk to you guys. So follow me at Shorty_Sparkle on Twitter.) An Apple a Day Dash awoke to the sound of talking from the other side of the camp. It sounded like an argument between the newly arrived griffin and Spitfire. She twisted around on the ground she had been sleeping on and rose to her hooves. All it took was a quick look at the damage that had already been caused by the battle between the mare and griffin. Rainbow staggered over to her friends feeling a little bit weaker than normal. Her legs feeling as though they weighed a hundred pounds and her wing felt terrible. She turned her ears to hear what the argument was about. “She is in no shape to fly there and your talons will just poke her already damaged wing. We have to walk so she doesn’t get hurt alright!” Spitfire had screamed at Gilda. “We won’t get there and out of this forest by nightfall if we walk! And you mares already know just what happens at night,” Gilda huffed. “So you listen to me… I will carry her and get us there without an issue.” “I won’t listen to someone I just met yesterday! You may have saved our lives but that doesn’t mean you get my trust.” Rainbow Dash had just enough of the arguing and spoke up before things got more heated. “Girls.” The two looked away from each other in surprise at the now awake mare. “Gilda is right, we have to keep moving or we will get stuck in this forest.” Spitfire opened her muzzle to protest but stopped when Rainbow shot her a glare. “Spitfire, you know very well that we have to trust somepony that just saved our lives. You ask that of everypony you save as a wonderbolt so this is no different. Now if you would be as great as to catch me.” Gilda jumped up at the last statement and ran over to Dash who had started to fall. Gilda caught the mare before any damage was done and set her down. Immediately after she walked over to the supplies and started packing everything up. “What exactly are you doing?” Spitfire interjected before Gilda could get much done. “We have to leave or she is going to die. That burn is bad and she needs to go to a doctor and fast! I am not about to let her die so if you want to help that would be great. Otherwise, I will take care of this myself.” Spitfire stamped her hoof to the ground and huffed. This griffin would be unbearable for quite some time wouldn’t she. Spitfire knew she was right though and began packing their things. This would be a long and hopefully quiet trip. --- The trip had been anything but quiet and Spitfire was getting closer and closer to murdering the griffin now flying to her right. The only thing that filled her ear for over an hour was complaining and criticism. “Man, Rainbow Dash is so heavy!” or “Why don’t you fly faster?” And even “Your flying techniques are all wrong!” are the phrases that plagued the flight. Luckily, Spitfire could see the town off in the distance. It looked exactly how it looked last time they came through here. The final leg of the flight consisted of Gilda trying to find the Hospital and failing horribly. If Rainbow Dash wasn’t at risk then Spitfire could have let the griffin fly a good hour or so. However that wasn’t the case and Dash did need the help. “Blasted! Where is this place you ponies call a hospital? I can’t find it anywhere for Pete’s sake.” Spitfire facehooved as they flew right over it and grabbed the griffin before she could fly too far away. “Hey Griffin, you just flew over it.” Gilda looked down at the massive sign on the building that said ‘Celestia Memorial Hospital’ and let out a deep and disappointed sigh. “I knew that!” She shot into the hospital before Spitfire could respond. The inside of the place looked almost like a morgue. Bloodied ponies lay around and waited for their turn at treatment. Spitfire gulped and set on an extremely serious face. She ran up to the counter and addressed the nurse at the head. “Can I help you right now ma’am?” She was chewing on a piece of bubble gum and wearing strange looking glasses. How cliché was that? Spitfire didn’t let up her resolve at the obviously uninterested mare. Instead she strengthened it. “Hello, I am Spitfire from the wonderbolts and this mare here-“ Gilda flew over with Rainbow Dash still in arms. “was badly hurt in the Everfree Forest. I need her to get immediate medical attention.” The nurse stared at the mare and started chuckling. “You want to get first in line do you? Well maybe you should come up with a better excuse then trying to act like Spitfire. You look nothing like her you ditz.” The nurse was about to collapse on the floor she was laughing so hard. Spitfire just gave a look of confusion to the nurse billowing with laughter on the other side of the desk. Gilda had also started laughing realizing that the nurse thought Spitfire was faking it. Flustered from the arguing she already had with the griffin combined with the extremely rude nurse sitting there made her break. “I am honestly not in the mood to deal with your little game you intolerant mare! I have been flying for an hour straight with this extremely annoying griffin and now you are being extremely ignorant. I should have you know that I can in fact have you fired from your job in less than fifteen minutes because I am in fact Spitfire!” Her breath was heavy now with all the screaming and she felt like she was going to be sick. No, she knew she was going to be sick. Her face went green and she bolted to get to the restroom. Gilda, who was now very much so serious after being called annoying, decided to take over. “I am in no mood to agree with her, but she is telling the truth. She actually is Spitfire.” The nurse just shot an angry look at the griffin. “If you think I am going to put you ahead of these ponies,” she gestured to the ponies in the waiting room. “Then you have got something else coming. They need a doctor just as much as she does!” Suddenly one of the doctors, a mare, came out from her office to see what the yelling had been about. When she saw the griffin, and more importantly, Rainbow Dash she nearly fainted. “Dear Luna Aidy! Let me take care of this!” The blue mare rushed over while calling for a stretcher. “Make sure you are careful! Don’t injure her further!” Rainbow Dash was wheeled to the doctor’s examination room where Gilda lost track of her. A short period later a small filly, this one a deep crimson red, came up to Gilda. “Excuse me, you know Miss Rainbow Dash?” Gilda shot a look at the mare. Immediately she regretted giving the poor filly such a mean look. Seeing the cast on the tiny filly’s wing was hard to see. She realized her friend may end up with the same fate. “Yeah, I know Dashie, what about it?” “Well, Miss Rainbow Dash saved me and my brother from a fire a few days ago and because of her I got out with only this,” she wiggled her now casted wing. “I wanted to know if you could tell her thank you for me. Oh, and give this to her please.” The little filly reached her head to her saddle bags and pulled out a small teddy bear and handed it to Gilda. “Tell her it is from Mustang ok?” Gilda nodded, she hated the mushy love stuff but she had to admit, this was extremely sweet and sad. She made a mental not to ask Rainbow and Spitfire about that later. However, her pang of sadness was replaced with one of jealousy. She looked down at the bear and realized that she never got any sort of thing like this. A short period of time later Spitfire came out of from the restrooms looking like someone had bucked her in the face. She walked over and sat down next to Gilda. “Are you alright?” Gilda asked; she had to admit that the Pegasus looked like crap. “I am fine, just leave me alone.” She sighed and then her head shot up. “Never mind, not fine! Uuuugh.” The mare shot up and made another run to the bathrooms. “Wow, that is amazing, both of the mares I pick to fly with get bed ridden on the first day. This is going to end amazingly.” She felt the tired and found herself falling asleep; before she knew it, sleep had engulfed the exhausted griffin. --- She woke with a start as Spitfire shoved a hoof into her side. “Come on Gilda! Wake up already. We can see Rainbow now so let’s go.” Gilda stirred around and got out of the seat. A quick bit of stretching and she was walking down a corridor. This hallway was much cleaner and had less crying. “So, I see you are done throwing up.” Gilda chuckled as the mare shot a menacing look her way. “So what was that about anyway?” Spitfire looked down at the ground, obviously embarrassed about the whole ordeal. “Probably that stuff that we had last night.” Gilda shot a suspicious look to the mare. Something else was going on but she couldn’t exactly put her finger on what it was. They finally reached room 343, the new room for Rainbow Dash (that is until they could find a place to stay). They opened the door and walked in to their friend who was already arguing with the doctor. “I want to get out of here! We have things we need to do and I don’t want my friends stuck here!” The doctor was physically holding the mare down and trying to get her to stay in one place. “Please, Miss Dash, we need you to stay in bed for at least a day and I know you have no place to stay.” Gilda felt a hoof tap her back. She turned around to see a red stallion with a bright blonde mane behind her. A look at the stallion’s cutie mark brought a single jug with three Xs on it. She moved out of the way for the strange stallion. “Hello, yes I may be able to help with a place to stay.” Rainbow Dash and the Doctor stopped arguing to look at the intruding stallion. “And who do you think you are?” They asked together. The stallion let a large smile cover his muzzle. “Well Miss Dash, I am the stallion you and your friends came to see. My name is Apple Cider.” --- BUM BUM BUUUUUM! Cliff Hanger. Anyway, yeah I decided that why not give my all time favorite podcaster a chance at the lime light. The next chapter will be a lot of fun as the great Apple Cider gives his amazing story of being rescued by the wonderbolts gang. So stay tuned for that great chapter. I also decided that 13 chapters may or may not happen. Now, I don’t mean I will be cutting it short. It is either going to be 13 chapters long or LONGER so yeah. It all depends on how many chapters I decide to put into the story. Alright well, thanks for reading this far into my author’s notes and be sure to give a like and favorite to my story. Anyway, I have a lot of plans for the future so stay tuned and make sure to give a watch to my page. And follow me @Shorty_Sparkle on Twitter. See you guys next chapter!