Dust flew up where the two ponies hit the rocky ground and the warm air distributed it over the pair’s coats and manes. Rainbow Dash lifted herself a few centimeters off of the ground to look over what had happened, but found that her front right leg wasn’t supporting her weight very well. In fact, it was trapped under another weight- her friend, Twilight Sparkle. The light purple pony was not moving, and Dash could not feel anything moving with her trapped right leg.
“Twilight, you alright?” The rainbow-maned pony asked. “My leg is stuck under you-” she grunted as she pulled her leg out from under the princess’s mass. She stood up and attempted to put her weight on her front leg, but as soon as she did stabbing pain shot through it. Dash pulled her leg back up quickly and made a mental note not to use her leg and to get it checked out by Fluttershy later.
Her attention turned back to Twilight, who she prodded with her muzzle. “Come on Twilight, you’re alright. Let’s go to Fluttershy’s and get patched up.”
But Twilight didn’t respond. In fact, at closer inspection, it looked like she wasn’t breathing. “Twilight?” The pegasus’s heart began to pound in her ears. Was Twilight okay? Was Twilight really hurt? Was Twilight…
“Come on Twilight! This isn’t funny!” Rainbow began to scream. “I play pranks all the time… but this is crossing the line!” She limped around the alicorn in a circle while the pain in her leg began to manifest. “Twilight!” She pushed Twilight’s limp body with her muzzle. “Get up! Please!”
After a few minutes of exasperated yelling, Rainbow finally collapsed in a heap onto the princess’s body and began sobbing. Loud blubbering filled her ears as she made the realization that her friend was… was…
Dash screamed until her lungs begged for her to stop. She slammed her hooves into her head. Then she did it again. Over and over. This was her fault. This wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t made Twilight go so far over the edge. Why had she done that? Why had she made that mistake? Why was she so stupid? Tears streamed down her face as she repeatedly smacked herself.
Finally she was exhausted. She hiccuped as she laid next to the purple princess’s corpse, rocking gently back and forth. Eventually she fell into a fitful and dreamless sleep.
-~-
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Are you sure she’s alright?”
“She’s breathing really heavily…”
Her eyes opened slowly and Rainbow Dash saw three of her best friends around huddled around her, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy. They were all staring at her worriedly. “Oh, hey guys. You would not believe the crazy dream I just had…” She rubbed her pounding head and found that the leg she was using to comfort her head was also hurting. The blue pegasus looked at her leg and saw that it was covered with awful looking bruises and appeared a little flatter than usual.
Fluttershy gasped. “Oh dear!” She gently grabbed Dash’s leg and cradled it. The rainbow-maned mare winced, but did not say anything. “Your leg- I think it’s broken! I hope you’re not hurt anywhere else…” She quickly looked over Rainbow Dash and stopped when she saw her right wing. “Your wing looks like it might be hurt too. Can you move it?” She asked.
“Let me try-” Dash let out a small squeak as she raised and lowered her wing. “I can move it, but it hurts pretty badly.” All of the ponies around her looked like they felt sorry for her. “Come on guys, I’ve been hurt worse than this!”
“Sugarcube, we all know better than that.” Applejack began to speak to her. “We know you’ve been hurt worse than this, but…” She sighed. “I don’t quite know how to put this…” The blonde mare glanced to something Dash had pushed out of her mind.
Twilight!
“Rarity went to get a doctor,” Applejack explained, “but I’m worried that its-” She breathed in deeply as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. “Its too late…”
Pinkie Pie burst out crying and screaming. “It’s not fair!” Fluttershy trotted over to comfort her, but the pegasus’s nurturing helped very little. “She was so young! She had so much to live for!”
Rainbow Dash realized that she was laying next to Twilight, who was pale and cold. She teared up and began to hiccup. The events that had taken place just earlier all came flooding back to her and overwhelmed her senses. No longer could she hear Pinkie’s screaming or Fluttershy trying to calm her down, nor could she hear the ambulance ponies arriving to collect her and the deceased princess. All she could see was what had happened earlier all playing out in her mind, all the mistakes she had made magnified tenfold.
-~-
After arriving in the hospital and being settled in, all Rainbow Dash could do was criticize herself. Why had she decided to start off so hard? Why had she forced Twilight into doing that? Why had she been so dumb? The pegasus pony began hitting her head again.
The nurse came in and Dash quit smacking herself. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” The nurse joyfully said. “I’m here to take your vitals. Just let me put this thermometer in your mouth and take your blood pressure then we’ll be finished. I’m Nurse Syrup, how are you feeling today?” She asked.
“I’m gooff,” Rainbow replied, lying to not cause any commotion. The thermometer in her mouth made it difficult to say anything clearly.
Nurse Syrup removed the thermometer and read the reading out loud. “37.8 degrees celsius! Looking good!” She un-velcroed the blood pressure machine and wrote down the readings from the two devices. “I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling good, because your friends will be in to see you as soon as I’m out! Have fun!” The nurse walked out of the room and closed the door.
The rainbow-maned pony yawned and laid back in the hospital bed. She admitted that she was awfully tired after having her wing and front leg wrapped up. Plus the stuff that happened earlier was exhausting her mind, and she would love to take a nap…
But as soon as she began to close her eyes, the door opened and four ponies shuffled in. First Pinkie Pie came bouncing in, then Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.
“Heya Dashie!” Pinkie called out. “How you feeling? Did the doctors try any weird experiments on you? Did they give you a bunch of shots? Did they hurt? Huh? Huh?”
Dash laughed at the pink pony’s excitement. “No Pinkie, I’m fine. They didn’t do any of that sort of stuff. They said I’ll be getting out the day after tomorrow if all goes well.” She responded.
Rarity smiled. “That’s magnificent! We all know how much you hate being cooped up.” Everyone nodded and made sounds of agreement, “Is there anything we can bring you to make these next couple of days easier?” She asked.
The blue pegasus tilted her head. She wanted anything to keep her mind off of the… incident…
“A book or two would be awesome.” Rainbow Dash decided. Her face felt hot as she began to think about how Twilight was the one who got her to start reading in the first place. She swallowed hard to try and keep in the tears.
Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright Rainbow, we all miss her.” The earth pony’s own voice was cracking, “You can let it out, we’re all here for you.”
All four of the visiting ponies gathered around Rainbow Dash and embraced each other in a group hug. Each of them had tears streaming down their faces. The room was filled with the sounds of various degrees of sobbing, weeping, and blubbering.
Just as the huddle disassembled and the friends recollected themselves, the doctor trotted into Dash’s hospital room. “Oh! I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I can wait a bit longer if you need me to.” The doctor calmly stated.
“No, it’s fine.” Fluttershy explained between quiet sniffles. “We can leave, you need to see Dash anyway.” Everyone nodded in agreement once again. All the visiting ponies gave their goodbyes and shuffled out of the room.
Pinkie Pie suddenly burst back inside, causing Rainbow Dash and the doctor to jump. “I know you need your rest, but I’ll be visiting tomorrow! Everyone else said they’ll be busy, but I will visit! Pinkie promise!” She held up a hoof, and was gone before the pegasus pony could respond.
Rainbow Dash let out an uncomfortable laugh. “You’ll have to excuse my friend doc, that’s Pinkie Pie, she’s so random sometimes.” She shifted in her bed, but winced when she put pressure on her hurt wing. “Ouch… I guess I forgot about that.” She laughed a little again.
The doctor laughed too. “It’s good to have friends that help you forget about your troubles. I’m Dr. Osteo, and I’ll be helping you out the next two days you’re in here.” She explained. “My magic will help your broken bones heal, but you’ll have to put in some effort to ensure that they heal correctly so that they work well when you’re not in the hospital anymore.”
The unicorn doctor began using healing magic on Dash’s leg, which felt warm and caused the what little pain she had to cease. She laid her head back and closed her eyes.
-~-
During the next morning, Pinkie Pie held up her promise and came into Rainbow Dash’s hospital room. “Morning Dash! How’s it going?” She bounced up to the pegasus and propped her elbows on the corner of the bed. “I brought you some of those Daring Doo books that you like.”
“Hey Pinkie, thanks. I’m feeling pretty bored today. I can’t wait to get out of here!” Dash answered. She propped herself up on the pillow and stretched. “It feels good to nap a lot, but I prefer to sleep in my own bed, you know?” She laughed.
Pinkie giggled, “Don’t you normally take naps on clouds or in trees, silly head? But yeah, I know what you mean.”
The two chattered back and forth the entire visitation time. Rainbow Dash was pleased to have someone to talk with so that she didn’t get quite so bored. But she felt exhausted after a while and just wanted to be alone, but didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings by telling her to leave. Eventually the doctor came in and it was time for the party pony to depart.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” The earth pony chimed as she walked out and closed the door.
-~-
The next afternoon Rainbow Dash checked out of the hospital and was greeted by all of her friends outside. “Welcome back!” They all cheered and gathered around Dash in another hug.
“Hey girls!” The blue pegasus greeted. “It’s so awesome to be out and to see all of you! But, to be honest, I’d love to go home and relax for a while, you know?”
Everyone nodded. “We understand.” Fluttershy stated. “You still need your rest.”
“But be sure to come out and see us soon! We all missed you!” Applejack added.
Dash began to hover in place. “Of course Applejack! I’ll come to Sweet Apple Acres as soon as I feel up to it. See you guys later!” She took off speedily towards her house in the clouds, away from all of her friends.
The flight home felt short. From the time she took off to the time she landed, instinct rushed over Rainbow Dash. All she felt was the wind whipping through her mane and against her coat. All she could hear was the air rushing into her ear canals. Dash’s conscious mind was dull while the primal urge to fly edged her forward.
Arriving at home, she almost couldn’t remember how she’d even gotten there. “Oh yeah, I flew.” The pegasus reassured herself out loud. She dropped her belongings from the hospital by the front door and flopped onto a couch. “This is the life!” The rainbow maned mare yawned as she laid back and got comfortable. Gaping her mouth open again and letting out another loud yawn, Dash felt very tired. “I guess I forgot how much flying takes out of you.” She yawned one last time, stretched, and quickly fell asleep.