//------------------------------// // Denial and Isolation // Story: The Rose Colored Rainbow // by Write Holiday //------------------------------// "Ughh." Rainbow Dash opens her eyes, tired and groggy. "H-hello?" "Rainbow!" A pony hugs her while she is in the bed. "Um, who is this?" They let go. "Oh, hey Twilight. What happened?" "Well, you were hit by a rock and passed out. But don't worry, you're perfectly fi-" Fluttershy walks over and puts her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. She tears up and walks to the wall with the others. "Um, Rainbow, you might want to take a look." Fluttershy hands her a mirror. Rainbow looks in it, shocked and speechless. The doctor who did the surgery walks in. "You see Ms. Dash, we-" "What did you do to me!?" She screams, a mess of emotions. "Why do I look like, this!?" In the mirror, a grey, dull Rainbow Dash stares back at the mare. Her mane is compiled of different shades of grey, but her coat is a constant light grey. The only color is in her eyes, which still contain their vibrant Rose color. "We have been researching a new spell found in the catacombs of the Canterlot castle. It was found in a book by StarSwirl the Bearded, and it says how to heal a pony with an excessive amount of blood loss. We have practiced it on multiple occasions, but you were the first living Pony to have it done to them. Both luckily and thankfully, it worked without almost a single hitch." The doctor finishes. "Almost?" Rainbow asks. "Well, according to the spell, it should have saved your mane's color and kept some of the tint on your coat, but you had lost so much blood that we had to sacrifice it all. Thankfully, your eyes had been saved, but it was either the eyes or the back half of the mane. We figured you'd prefer the eyes. But the important thing to focus on here is that you are still with the living. You have the rest of the day to move back to Ponyville, and we were glad we could help." The doctor walks out of the room, overly proud of his work. "So, I'm like this? Forever?" She looks at the others. Applejack walks towards her. "Well, unfortunately sugar cube. But like the doc. said, you're alive. It could have ended a lot differently, but you're here with us." She put on a plastered smile. "And plus Dashie, now you have eyes that could look like they glow in the dark! You're going to be the life of every party!" Pinkie Pie says, hoping her happiness will rub off to Rainbow. "And the animals will have more of a connection with you, since your bright colors won't be hurting their eyes." Fluttershy says, trying to be encouraging. Rainbow looks at all of them, feeling a bit better about the future. She looks over at Twilight who is facing the wall, quietly crying over guilt. "Thanks you guys, I appreciate the support." She gets up, a slight smirk on her face. She walks over to Twilight and only taps her back with her wing. "It's not your fault egg head, don't be hard on yourself." She says with a bump of jokes in the sentence. Twilight turns right around and hugs her, crying and saying silent apologies under her loud sobbing. She let's go and Twilight walks away. Rainbow follows her out the door, and flies back to her house. Once inside, she slams the door shut. "WHY ME?!" She yells to the celling, being as loud as she can. "What did I do to deserve this?! All I did was fly, have ponies jaw dropped form my sonic-Rainboom, and now? All it'll be is a dark cloud made of circles!" She paces back and forth, done yelling. Tank walks over, but slowly backs away from the look in Rainbow's eyes. "You still have your color. Nothing ever happenes to you, but to us ponies? Everything happens to us. Everything!" He backs up and walks back to the bed room. Perhaps this is just a dream, she thinks to herself. Maybe if I just wake up, I'll be all better. She pinches herself, but nothing. She punches her gut, but only bends over in pain. There's no way this is real, there's not a single pony in Equestria that would rather take another's color and life away, rather than to just let them die. Is there? Do they really exist? No, there's no way. It's all just a big misunderstanding. I'm sure the after affects are only temporary, not permanent. Just here for a week or two and then poof, they're gone. But what if it is permanent? What if I'm like this forever? I can't go out in public like a statue. How will I ever join the Wonderbolts? Or even fly ever again? I can't let the others be ashamed by the way I look, it's absurd! I have to stop being friends with them, I can't hurt the image of a princess. Or any of the others for that matter. But how? I can't say that I hate you all and go away, can I? What if I don't stop being friends, but stop seeing friends? It would save a lot of issues. Just as Rainbow was making a twentieth pace, the door opens. She flies behind the couch. "Rainbow? Are you here?" Fluttershy steps into the dark house. "Rainbow Dash? I brought you something." She keeps looking around but doesn't see her. As she goes to leave, she sees Tank. "Oh! Tank, do you know where I can find Rainbow Dash?" He points down. "Oh, good idea. I'll just put these down for her when she gets back, thank you." She then leaves before he can tell her where she is. When the door closes Rainbow walks over to see what she left her. She unravels the plate and on it are a dozen cookies with a note. She reads it out loud. "Dear Rainbow Dash, we hope you are doing well. We made you these at Sugar Cube Corner, hope you enjoy. Signed, all your friends." She throws the paper. "What?! They don't think that I can handle this? Well I'll show them!" She storms out of her house.