Rainbow Dash looked around her. Before her was the magnificent city of Cloudsdale, her primary home for many years. It seemed like just another ordinary day, the pegasi were flying around the city as per usual and the weather was being controlled as the schedule directed. However, something just didn’t sit right with Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on what the cause of this was, but she never got the chance to find out. A loud shriek almost directly below her and what had seemed to be a gunshot had rung through her ears, breaking her train of thought. Rainbow Dash looked around to see if anypony else had heard the shriek and the gunshot. But to her surprise, no one had paid any attention at all to either.
Unsure if it was a fragment of her imagination or not, Rainbow Dash flew down towards the ground at breakneck speed just to make sure that nothing was wrong, and that she was hopefully just hearing things.
Halting to a stop just below the ground, Rainbow Dash immediately saw what was the worst possible occurrence – there was indeed a pony that had been shot. Just milliseconds after realizing there was a wounded pony in front of her, she took a good look at who the pony was.
Her discovery shocked her. It was her worst nightmare come true. No, worse than her worst nightmare. For the wounded pony that was on the ground in front of Rainbow Dash was none other than Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie Pie was badly wounded, the impact of the shot caused her to slump down to the rough patch of grass below her. The first horrifying thing that caught Rainbow’s eye was the bullet-sized hole in Pinkie’s chest. Her coat was covered in her own warm blood, more and more oozing out by the second. Rainbow Dash realized that at this rate, she would die of blood loss in a very short amount of time.
“Oh my Celestia, PINKIE!” Rainbow Dash screamed in fear.
“Rainbow Dash…” Pinkie responded weakly.
“Pinkie… Pinkie… WHO DID THIS TO YOU?”
“I don’t... I don’t know Dashie… I was just going to pay a visit to Cranky… when out of nowhere… a unicorn-stallion wearing a balaclava walked up in front of me… At first I smiled… at his costume… but then he suddenly pulled out a pistol and fired it straight at me…” Pinkie Pie’s voice was growing weaker by the second.
"I WILL find whoever did this to you, and I SWEAR to Celestia that they will NEVER experience happiness again!!"
Rainbow Dash was now screaming in a blind fit of rage. What was probably her very best friend was lying on the floor in front of her, wounded and dying. This very sight of this could have sent anypony insane. Quickly realizing that now was most certainly not the best time to lose herself, Rainbow Dash cooled herself down and lowered her tone.
“I will find who did this to you Pink, I promise, I don’t care if I have to search the whole of Equestria for him, I will find that fucking son of a...”
Rainbow Dash got a hold of herself once again and paused for a moment, summing up her options. She could lift Pinkie onto her back and fly down to Ponyville Hospital, but not only was that much too far away, but flying whilst suffering from a severe case of blood loss would cause a death nine out of ten times.
Deciding that wasn’t possible, Rainbow Dash thought a bit harder. She could always get a unicorn to teleport her to PVH, but that was incredibly dangerous if the unicorn wasn’t incredibly skilled. Twilight was always an option, but she had been sent up to Canterlot for the evening for an audience with the Princess.
“What great timing…” Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
Ruling that option out, Rainbow Dash went for the last, obvious option left. Call in an ambulance.
“Pinkie, I’m going to get help. A nurse pony. An ambulance. Whatever it takes. Don’t move, I’ll be back as soon as possible”
Pinkie smiled faintly. “It’s not like I can really go anywhere… Dashie… besides… any hospital is way too far from here, you wouldn't even be able... to make it to Zecora’s in time… I’m sorry Dashie, but Celestia has chosen that I must go to the afterlife...”
“No. No Pinkie. It’s going to be okay. You’ll be okay. I swear Pinkie, you’re going… to be okay…”
“I’m super sorry Dashie, but… there’s no surviving this one… I just can’t make it past…”
“No Pinkie, You can. No matter what you think, you can make it… you can make it… you can…”
“It’s okay… The last thing I’ve ever wanted to do for the super duper longest time is smile… with my best friends… Dashie…
…Dashie”
Those words rung through Rainbow Dash’s ears like a bell. Tears streaming down her cheeks, Dashie continued to reassure Pinkie, but in her mind it was hopeless. Even the fastest of fliers wouldn’t be able to reach her and get her to a hospital on time, the amount of blood loss Pinkie had suffered was almost impossible to survive.
“No, Pinkie it’s okay, help is on its way, and you will live. It’s going to be fine. Please. Please live… there’s so much we haven’t done together… so many moments we haven’t yet shared… so much I have to tell you…”
By this time, Rainbow Dash was bawling her eyes out. Normally she would consider this as ‘uncool’, but her reputation was the last thing she was worrying about at the moment. Pinkie laid in front of her, almost dead still, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“D… Dashie… It’s okay... I’ll always be in your heart… No matter what… I’ll be there for you…”
“Pinkie… but… I…
I…
I love y-“