Four Weeks Later
“Darn it, not again!” Dash groaned as she burst into the kitchen. Wafting away the smoke, she grabbed a fork with her teeth and pried the long-forgotten toast from the toaster. Two charred slabs of toast fell onto a plate, small crumbs of carbon breaking off as they did so.
It stung her pride just a little to admit that she’d managed to burn toast, but what was she supposed to do? Just sit there and wait for it to be done? She had better things to be doing than that.
A quick glance at the clock only confirmed Dash’s fears. “And now I’m gonna be late. Great.”
Rushing into the bathroom, she quickly toweled down her damp hair from a recent shower and threw the towel on the floor. A quick brush of the teeth later, Dash glided into her bedroom and threw her duvet lazily onto her bed.
Satisfied with her morning preparations, she gave one last look around the room and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be, just to be sure she was ready. Her eyes then fell onto her calendar.
“That’s over a week now,” she mumbled quietly to herself.
Without a second glance, she launched herself through the bedroom window and flew towards the Ponyville weather control headquarters. She could get there on time if she just flew a little faster than usual, which wouldn’t be hard. She only had to make up for seventeen seconds of time.
Cutting it close, Dash.
It had been many years since Dash had started working on the Ponyville weather team, and since then she’d been promoted to leader of the team. Which was good; it usually meant she just had to deal out orders and occasionally send a mail to Cloudsdale requesting more clouds.
Dash’s thoughts were interrupted as the familiar sight of Ponyville’s weather control headquarters flew into view. It was a small building, based on the ground in case of unpredictable weather or catastrophes.
“Morning, Dash,” a voice called from next to her. “Cutting it pretty fine, aren’t you?”
Dash whipped her head around to see the familiar sight of Thunderlane flying parallel to her.
“Could say the same to you,” she called back.
“You know me.”
“Time spent waiting is time wasted,” Dash said with a nod.
“Truth,” Thunderlane answered, smiling a toothy grin.
The two of them descended towards the building and landed with a few graceful flaps of their powerful wings. As the pair walked inside, Dash noted the time on the clock with satisfaction.
It was nine o’clock exactly.
“Timing,” Thunderlane murmured with a quiet chuckle.
“You know it,” she whispered back as they approached the front desk and signed in. The two then walked into a large room filled with other weather ponies. As soon as she walked in, Dash was handed a file.
“Today’s schedule,” Flitter informed her.
“Thanks,” Dash said as she took the file and flipped through the pages. The weather schedule was as monotonous as ever: clear the cloud cover from the night before in the morning, sparse clouds at noon, clear skies in the afternoon before finally preparing the cloud cover again in the evening.
“Alright,” Dash announced authoritatively. “Same as usual. Flitter, Cloudchaser, I want you covering the town centre. Honeydew, I want you on Everfree duty. Thunderlane, you’re with me.”
“Again?” Thunderlane complained, his eyes darting between Dash and Flitter.
“You got a problem with that?” Dash growled. “I can always stick you on Everfree duty if you want?”
Honeydew perked up hopefully.
“…Fine, I’ll stick with you then,” Thunderlane huffed.
Honeydew deflated again in disappointment.
“Good. Alright, everypony, you’ve got your orders.”
None of the ponies in the room were fazed by her rushed attitude. They were already used to it by now; she did this every day.
With that done, Rainbow Dash exited the room and trotted hastily outside.
“Yeesh, I hate being in that tiny building,” she complained, stretching her wings.
“How come I never get to be with Flitter?” Thunderlane pouted.
“Because I know you two will spend more time smooching than actually getting any work done.”
“Hey!” Thunderlane protested. “That’s not all we do! And it’s not like you really need my help.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, but you’re still with me, buddy.” Dash smirked, flaring her wings. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Thunderlane rolled his eyes and flared his wings, and the two of them took off into the sky.
Both of them circled up to the massive expanse above Ponyville, looking at the large blankets of clouds that had kept all the heat near the ground the night before.
“Leave a few clouds over near those patch of trees, will you. I wanna use ‘em for a few tricks.”
“More tricks?” Thunderlane rolled his eyes. “I suppose you want me to watch?”
“Watch and be awed, my friend,” Dash replied. “I’ve been cooking these ones up for a few weeks now.”
“Uh-huh. Let’s get these clouds out the way before we start talking tricks.”
“Whatever you say.” Dash sighed in disappointment.
The two of them separated and began combing through the skies. Within minutes, the entire sky as far as the eye could see was clear of clouds. What would have taken any other pony hours to do took the pair only a few minutes. They both touched down where they had begun.
“Huh, and here I thought we were gonna break a record.” Dash narrowed her eyes at Thunderlane. “Guess who’s fault that is.”
“Hey, I tried my best, okay?” Thunderlane raised his hoofs up defensively. “I probably could’ve done better with Flitter.”
“Oh, shut it.” Dash sighed, rolling her eyes. “Where’d you leave those clouds, anyway?”
“Right where you told me to, duh.” Thunderlane grumbled, pointing to to the clump of trees she had pointed out earlier.
Dash flew over to investigate, and sure enough, there were several clouds behind the tree. She touched their soft surfaces, testing each in turn. They were firm and moderately packed with water. They wouldn’t be too hard to move into position.
“Good.” She rubbed a hoof under her chin and inspected where the best place to position the clouds was. If she wanted to pull off the particular trick she had in mind, she was going to need at least three in a line… maybe another one above to help direct the air currents.
She glanced down at where Thunderlane was crouched on the ground, watching her with a bored expression on his face.
“Wipe that look off your face and prepare to be amazed!” Rainbow Dash announced and began to position the clouds.
“Uh-huh. I’m just gonna watch from this cloud.” The stallion pulled another cloud from the pile and plumped it up before hopping back to rest on it. “Some clouds are just meant for sleeping on,” he mumbled.
With the clouds in place, Rainbow Dash flew to the ground and began stretching her muscles. She cracked her neck and wings and licked her lips.
Into the air she flew, lazily circling around the three clouds. Slowly, however, she began to pick up speed. The clouds began to spin slowly and drift apart, but she promptly pushed them back into place. They began to compact closer and closer together until their soft bodies were packed tightly. The wind whipped past her mane, making her eyes water. She should have really brought some goggles for this stunt.
Too late for that now.
She shook the thought off with a few more kicks to the clouds to ensure they stayed together. Slowly but surely, she reduced the size of the circle she flew in, and the large mass of water vapour spun around faster and faster.
It looked reminiscent of one of her tricks at the Young Flier’s competition, but she knew better. This was going to be way more awesome.
The cloud was turning into a rapidly swirling cone.
With a flourish, she angled off from her creation, letting it spin away into the atmosphere. Sunlight glinted off the white surface before it dissipated. However, Dash paid the spectacle no mind. She knew that Thunderlane would be impressed, though. He didn’t show it, but she knew he liked her tricks.
Pushed by the sheer force of the wind gusting her away, she span in a downwards spiral towards the ground. She gritted her teeth as she controlled her fall. It was difficult to avoid the overpowering wind, and it was even more difficult to make this part look graceful.
As she neared the ground, she twisted upwards sharply, spreading her wings as wide as she could. The wind caught under her wings, causing a sting of pain from her protesting muscles. Her flight slowed sharply and evened out, but the ground was still approachingly uncomfortably fast. She flapped her wings a little, despite her aching muscles. A sharp pain traveled up her wing and she yelped in surprise.
C’mon, wings!
She pushed harder, slowing her descent. Finally she was flying horizontal and she breathed a sigh of relief—until she flew head first into a tree branch. The branch whacked her straight in the face.
Rainbow Dash had very little time to react. She tucked her wings in as she fell through the thick canopy. Leaves and bark clawed viciously at her fur, cutting and scratching the soft flesh underneath. Brambles tugged at her feathers and pulled at her mane.
Suddenly she collided with a tree trunk, sending her spinning around in a circle. The wind was knocked out of her and she collapsed to the ground.
“Oof!” she wheezed as she fell against the ground.
Her ears were ringing. She tried to breath in, but found her lungs simply wouldn’t accept any air. No matter how much she tried to suck in air, she couldn’t breathe in. Dash tried not to panic; she’d been winded before, but that didn’t make her feel any better. Her head burned and she hurt all over. She wrapped herself up into a ball.
“Dash?” a voice cried. “You’re okay, right?”
She could barely hear it over the ringing in her ears, but she could tell Thunderlane’s voice when she heard it. She tried to reply, but all she could manage were some incomprehensible wheezes.
Darn it, breathe!
“You’re hurt!”
No kidding.
She felt a hoof pulling over until she was staring up at Thunderlane. Sunbeams shined through the leaves, and she winced at the brightness. She turned her head away and rolled onto her side.
Still her lungs wouldn’t accept any air.
“C’mon, Dash! Speak to me!” Thunderlane said, picking her up and waving a hoof in front of her face.
Oh c’mon, lungs!
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Thunderlane looking around in a panic, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“Listen. I’ll go get help.”
“—Lane.”
A small amount of air filled her lungs, and she gasped his name.
“You can speak!”
Rainbow Dash filled her lungs with more air and tried to answer.
“Well duh—” she was interrupted by a fit of coughing that racked through her entire body, reminding of all the cuts and scratches.
“Dash, you need to go to hospital.”
She tried to laugh, but all she managed was a painful splutter. Her breaths came in short gasps and her head hurt, but the last thing she needed was a hospital.
“No,” she breathed. “I’m fine.”
“Trust me, you don’t look fine.”
“Just… lay me down… for a second.”
Thunderlane did as she asked and laid her down on the grass again. She curled up in a ball, her lungs still refusing to accept any more than a few mouthfuls of air.
“I’m going to go find somepony…”
Rainbow Dash tried to focus on what he was saying, but she was starting to get a major headache. The ringing in her ears completely blocked out whatever Thunderlane said next. She grunted in response to whatever it was.
She wasn’t sure what happened next. Her vision got really blurry and the next thing she knew she was being picked up and moved. She didn’t have the strength to protest.
~
White.
Lots and lots of white.
If this is a hospital, somepony is going to pay.
Rainbow Dash peeled open her eyes fully and tried to focus her blurry vision on her surroundings. After a few seconds, her suspicions were confirmed: she was lying on a bed in a large hospital. Two doctors stood talking just outside her room.
Thunderlane is so getting Everfree duty this time!
She moaned and rolled over. Why did it have to be a hospital? She hated hospitals. All they meant was being grounded and needles, and the smell of antiseptic that permeated everything made her feel sick.
She was vaguely aware that she was covered in bandages and one of her forehooves and a wing was in a cast.
My wing? Not again!
She growled in frustration. There was no way she had broken her wing. She would have known if she had.
“Hey!” she called, her voice cracking slightly. “Patient trapped in here. Some help, please!”
The two doctors outside her door looked over at her.
“One moment, Miss Dash,” one said.
How does he know my name? I’ve never even spoken to him before.
He smiled a toothy smile, though. He’d probably seen her on a previous visit. The two doctors walked off down the corridor, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they were just ignoring her or something. She glanced at her bedside table and spotted a glass of water, and greedily she gulped the whole thing down.
A few seconds of silence passed and Dash tried to resist fidgeting. She glanced around her room, but there didn’t seem to be much to do. All that was really in her room was two thin, green hospital beds. The other bed was unoccupied. She wished her friends were here to talk.
“Ah, Rainbow Dash. It seems we meet again,” a voice said as a familiar stallion walked into the room.
“Doctor Stables,” Rainbow Dash replied.
Doctor Stables nodded and trotted over to her bed. “It seems you’ve had quite the tumble. Thunderlane tells me you flew straight into a tree—”
“Well he would.” Dash rolled her eyes.
“—but you don’t appear to have hurt yourself too badly. Can you sit up, Miss Dash?”
She begrudgingly obliged, sitting up onto the bed.
“What’s wrong with my wing?”
“You’ve not broken it, fortunately, but you did sprain it. It’ll be a few days before you can fly with it again. Could you look at my ear please.”
“A few days!? How am I going to last that long?”
“I’m sure you’ll manage, but please focus, Miss. Dash.”
Rainbow Dash realized that Doctor Stables was holding up a light to her eye and waiting to begin.
“Right, yeah,” she apologized.
“Good. Okay, my right ear first.” He shone the torch into her right eye for a few seconds.
Dash held back a grumble; she could feel the light burning her retina.
“And now my other ear.”
He switched eyes, just to ensure that Dash was equally blind in each eye.
“Excellent. No head trauma. It seems you came away from this encounter remarkably unharmed.”
“Well, what’s up with my hoof? And what’s with all these bandages?”
“You had several minor wounds when you arrived from the tree branches scratching you. Unfortunately, some of them were in very awkward places, so we had to use bandages once we disinfected the cuts. You should be able to remove them by the end of the day.
“As for your hoof, you’ve suffered some trauma to the joint, but it’s otherwise undamaged. You should be able to walk on it again after a good night’s rest.
So a few days of no flying? Well, at least this ain’t as bad as last time.
“Other than that, you’re a perfectly healthy pegasus. Just try not to fly into any more trees—” Rainbow Dash scowled at the comment. “—and you’re free to go, Miss Dash.”
“We’re done?” she gasped. “I can go?”
“Unless you have anything else you want to get checked out while you’re here, you can leave right now if you like.”
“Great! I’ll—” Rainbow Dash cut herself off.
Should I tell him about that? I mean, it’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to tell doctors.
“Please sign your name here,” Doctor Stables continued. “And make sure you get a good night’s rest.”
“Umm, yeah thanks,” Dash said. She took a nearby pen in her mouth and signed her name before getting up from the bed. She walked slowly towards the door, but turned around before she got there. “Hey, Doc?”
“Hm?” He looked up from the papers she had just signed.
“Well, this is probably gonna sound kinda dumb… er, how do I say this?”
“Is there something you want to get checked out?”
“Yes!” Dash said, walking back towards him. “Well, no, not really checked out. I mean, it’s just that…” She searched for some way to say what she wanted to say without sounding strange, but she couldn’t see any solutions.
“Miss Dash?” Doctor Stables pressed.
“Listen, um, I was supposed to be in heat last week… and that’s kinda not happened?” Inwardly she cursed herself for phrasing it as a question.
“Well, that can be caused by a number of different reasons: pregnancy, stress, weight loss, a change in medication, a change in your work hours, among others.”
Rainbow Dash racked her brain for any way that any of those reasons would apply to her. None of them seemed to add up, though: she didn’t take medication, she was as fit as she could be, and there wasn’t any way she could be pregnant; she hadn’t exactly been active in the bedroom as of late.
Except with Spike.
She smiled at the thought. She could rule that one out as well. Spike was a dragon, so that wouldn’t work. She toyed with the idea that she was just stressed, which would make an excellent excuse for a holiday.
It’s been a while since my last holiday…
“Whatever the cause, it’s not usually a good thing,” the doctor continued. “I would like to take a blood sample to check your hormone levels." He walked over to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a pair of rubber hoof-gloves and a small plastic packet.
"B-Blood sample!?” Rainbow Dash gasped in horror. “As in with needles? Wait up, Doc, we don’t need to go and do that, do we? I mean, isn't there anything else we can do?" She began to get nervous, already regretting her decision to mention her heat cycle at all. The last thing she wanted was a needle coming anywhere near her again.
Doctor Stables simply rolled his eyes. “Well you can give me a urine sample instead?” he offered.
“Bu-but,” she stammered, swallowing hard to stop herself babbling. She didn’t like the sound of either option. “Can’t you just find another way to get the blood? One that doesn’t involve a… needle.”
“I’m afraid not. Needle or urine, Miss Dash. I’m going to need a sample in order to diagnose you.”
Rainbow Dash glanced at the needle again. It wasn’t a big needle, but it was still sharp, ready to pierce through her fur and into her flesh. The mere sight of it made her skin crawl, and she broke out into a cold sweat.
“Err, what’s the urine sample like?” she asked, fidgeting with her hooves.
“It’s quite simple.” He took a pot from the cupboard next to him. “You just take this pot here, go into the bathroom—”
“Okay, that sounds way easier,” Dash interrupted, snatching the pot from his hoof.
“Okay, well the public bathrooms are right over there—” He pointed down through the door and across the hallway. “—and I’ll be waiting here.”
“Right. Gotcha,” Dash mumbled, trotting off awkwardly to the bathroom and balancing the pot on her one good wing.
Great, so not only have I busted a wing, but I’ve also gotta swallow my pride.
She sighed as she entered the bathroom.
Well that’s just peachy.
~
A few minutes later, and Rainbow Dash left the bathroom. The white walls stung her eyes again. She could feel a headache coming on.
“Are you done, Miss Dash?” Doctor Stables asked as he trotted out of her hospital room and into the corridor.
“Er, yeah,” she replied.
“Excellent. Just take a seat in your room and I’ll get back to you in a few minutes with the results.”
“Awesome.”
Dash blew a tuft of hair out of her face, watching as Doctor Stable trotted down the corridor with the sample. She could hear the quiet grunts and soft murmurs of the other patients. It was another reason why she hated hospitals. She trotted back into her room and hopped onto the bed again. She lay down her on her back and stared up at the ceiling, letting her mind wander.
She hated being cooped in a hospital, and she hated waiting.
I should have escaped when I had the chance…
The sound of voices and hoofsteps interrupted her short reverie, however.
“Is she alright?”
“Can we see her?”
“She hasn’t broken a wing again, has she?”
Rainbow Dash smiled as she heard the familiar voices of her friends.
“If you come right this way, I’m sure Miss Dash will explain everything,” another pony replied impatiently.
She craned her neck to look through the door and saw Nurse Redheart leading several ponies down the corridor.
“Over here!” Dash called as the nurse led them into her room. Twilight Sparkle was followed in by the rest of her friends. Even Spike had turned up.
“Please try not to disrupt the other patients,” Nurse Redheart said sternly, shooting Dash a warning glance.
“Dashie, you’re alive!” Pinkie Pie gasped, skipping over and embracing her in a crushing hug.
“Yep, still breathing,” she gasped through the solid embrace. “Or at least I was…”
“What’s with all these bandages?” Applejack asked. “Ya broken your wing again?”
“No, the doctor says I’ve just sprained it. The bandages are just for a few cuts and bruises. I’m feeling fine.”
“Thank goodness,” Rarity said. “We were worried you’d hurt yourself badly again.”
The rest of her friends nodded in agreement, but the comment stung Rainbow Dash’s pride a little. “Hey! I don’t always crash and hurt myself.”
Everypony in the room except Dash glanced at each other.
“With the way Thunderlane made it sound, we thought you were knocking on death’s door,” Spike said.
“Trust Thunderlane.” She sighed. “What made you think that would be a good idea?”
“Well what’s important is that you’re alright,” Twilight said diplomatically. “I’m sure you’ll be out of this hospital in no time.”
“Actually, I can go right now,” Dash replied. “If you guys had come any later, you’d have missed me.”
They all looked at her. “Yer okay to go?” Applejack asked, looking at her suspiciously. “Why’re ya still here then?”
“Err, just a test,” she said quickly. “It’s no biggie.”
“What kind of test?” Twilight asked.
Inwardly Dash cursed. She should have known a test would perk Twilight’s attention.
“Just a blood test,” she lied. “They just want to make sure I’m not ill.”
“Huh,” Twilight murmured, “that’s unusual.”
“Maybe Dash just has some serious illness that causes her to crash all the time?” Spike suggested.
“Hey!” she protested, shooting him a deathly glare. He chuckled at her, but didn’t meet her gaze. He was still avoiding looking at her.
“Nah, it’s just clear that RD over here is just losin’ her touch,” Applejack said smugly.
“Losing my touch? What do you mean by that?”
“Maybe she just likes us visiting her in the hospital?” Pinkie chipped in.
Rainbow Dash harrumphed and folded her hooves, blowing the tuft of her mane out of her eyes again.
“Well I don’t see why I needed to be interrupted from apple bucking because Miss Ditzy Doo over here can't fly anymore,” Applejack chortled.
“Girls, maybe we should talk about something else?” Fluttershy suggested softly as Rainbow Dash audibly ground her teeth.
“Agreed,” Rarity said quickly. “And we’re all very happy that you’re okay, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity turned to glare at Applejack, “Aren’t we.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Hey, I’m just sayin’ that this ain’t the first time, and it sure as sugar ain’t gonna be the last.”
“I don’t always crash,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “You all just overreact. I’m fine.”
“How about we all sit down?” Twilight suggested, pointing to the seats dotted around the room. “We could be waiting a few minutes.
There was a moment of silence before the tension broke and they all nodded and retreated to the chairs. They moved into a loose circle. Spike and Fluttershy sat next to Dash, and Twilight and Applejack sat furthest away.
“Well since we’re all here, how ‘bout you tell us what you’ve been working on, Twi?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as the spotlight moved away from her. Meanwhile, Twilight beamed excitedly and prepared her speech.
“Well, after that whole ordeal with changelings attacking the Crystal Empire, I’ve been researching into just how changelings work. They feed on the love ponies share, and yet there doesn’t seem to be a single benign changeling in Equestrian society, which is certainly odd…”
Rainbow Dash let the words wash over her. She wasn’t really listening; she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Spike was watching her.
“You okay?” she whispered quietly to the dragon sat next to her.
He blinked in surprise before recovering. “Er, yeah. Never been better. Why do you ask?”
“You just look a little… uncomfortable.”
Twilight hadn’t noticed their quiet conversation and was continuing her lecture on the possibility of changelings living in Equestrian Society. Everypony was listening intently to her, although Fluttershy’s ear had twitched: a telltale sign that she could hear the pair.
“I’m fine,” Spike whispered back.
“Look,” Dash sighed, “I know you’re still caught up about what happened—” Spike scratched his arm nervously. “—but it’s totally cool. You don’t have to feel awkward or anything.”
“I know…” he murmured, although he didn’t seem convinced.
“Hey, we agreed we’d forget about it, right?” Dash replied. “So just forget about it.”
There was a short pause, in which Dash heard Twilight talk about how changelings manage to taste and consume emotions, before Spike replied.
“Okay,” he said softly.
“What’re you two mutterin’ ‘bout?” Applejack said loudly, making Dash jump a little.
“Huh?” Dash replied. “What do you mean?”
“You two were talkin’ while Twilight was. Ain’t plannin’ another evenin’ of passion, are ya?”
Heat rushed to Dash’s cheeks and she swallowed as quietly as she could manage. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t ya try playing innocent with me.” Applejack chuckled. “We all saw you and Spike flyin’ away together at his party.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Dash spotted the dragon in question shift uncomfortably.
“Hey, it’s not like that!” she complained. “We just had a little too much to drink and nothing happened.”
“Ya sure? Looked an awful lot like somethin’ happened to me.”
“I’m afraid I won’t lie, Rainbow Dash, but that was the way it came across,” Rarity added.
“Yeah, well, so what?” she growled, her cheeks burning fiercely. “It’s not like it means anything.”
Rarity glanced at Spike, and Dash followed her gaze.
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Spike protested, raising his arms into the air, “I don’t even remember what happened.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, placing a hoof on her face. “It didn’t happen,” she growled, shooting Spike a glare, “remember?”
Spike flushed sheepishly. “Right, yeah. Nothing happened. I remember nothing happened.”
None of their friends looked convinced in the slightest.
Yeesh, when did Spike become such a bad actor?
“Well whatever you got up to,” Rarity said, “I’m sure it can remain part of your private lives.” The unicorn glanced at Applejack. “In other news, did I tell you that I managed to pin down that contract for Minty Fresh’s opening for his garden party in Manehatten?”
“A party?” Pinkie gasped.
“Wow, that’s amazing, Rarity!” Twilight gushed. “You really are an amazing dressmaker.”
“Oh, you flatter me, Twilight,” Rarity replied modestly.
“No questionin’ it’s true, though,” Applejack added with a wink.
Rarity couldn’t hide the beam on her face. “Well since I’m making the dresses for the big guests, I’ve been invited myself, and I’m allowed to bring a few guests along with me…”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy breathed.
“We’re going to Manehatten?” Pinkie exclaimed.
Rarity nodded. “Only if you’d like to go, of course.”
“Are you crazy?” Pinkie demanded. “Duh, of course we’ll go to Manehatten with you!”
“Pinkie’s right, Rarity,” Twilight said. “If you’re going to this party, then we’ll be there to support you.”
“And maybe also go to some of the clubs,” Rainbow Dash added.
“Quite,” Rarity grumbled, wrinkling her muzzle.
“Will RD here be okay to go to Manehatten?” Applejack asked, pointing to all the bandages covering the pegasus’ body.
“For the last time, I’m fine!” Rainbow Dash huffed. “It’s just a few scratches. I’ll be out of these by tomorrow.”
“Hmm, ya sure yer not gonna crash again?” Applejack teased.
“This again?” Dash complained. “How many times—”
“Rainbow Dash can fly fine,” Spike interrupted. “C’mon, quit teasing her.”
“Changed yer mind now?” Applejack chuckled. “A true stallion defending his mare.”
Spike blushed furiously. “Very funny, AJ. You know it’s not like that.”
“Well ya could have fooled me,” Applejack muttered, a sly smirk dancing across her lips.
“How long did the doctors say they would be with this blood test?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Er, ten minutes or something,” Dash replied, glancing at the clock. They’d been talking for almost fifteen minutes.
“I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Fluttershy said quietly.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “No idea.”
“Maybe Doctor Stables found Dashie so breathtaking he had to go take a breather?” Pinkie suggested.
Chuckles broke out between them.
“What?” Dash protested. “Are you serious? He’s like several years older than me!”
“Well you’re some years older than Spike,” Rarity pointed out. “Look what happened there.”
“Aw, c’mon, Rares!” Dash groaned.
Rarity suppressed a giggle. “Oh, Rainbow Dash. I’m only teasing.”
Dash’s retort was interrupted as Doctor Stables trotted back into the room. He wore a steely frown, but otherwise his expression was unreadable.
“Miss Dash, I have your results. It would be best if I could speak to you privately.” He glanced at her friends around the room.
“Oh, don’t worry, we can wait outside,” Twilight replied.
“It’s fine, just let me hear it,” she sighed impatiently.
Doctor Stables’ frown deepened, but he nodded all the same.
“Very well,” he replied. “Your tests came back positive.”
“Miss Dash, you’re pregnant.”