Chapter 16: Towards Revival
Hawk Tail bit on a mouthful of long iron screws as he worked on a raptor cage. He’d taken one of the old cages out of storage for two new peregrine falcons he’d received from Mymis, and it needed a bit of work. After all, peregrine falcons were some of the most highly prized raptors for mail delivery, and they needed large and comfortable cages. While one of the falcons could simply take Ricky’s old cage, at least until Hawk got the raptor back, the other would need someplace to stay. Rather than buying a new cage from town, he was trying to restore an old one to its former glory. Unfortunately, the cage was too cramped for a falcon, and it needed to be expanded if he was going to make it work.
Spitting out the screws, Hawk picked up the side of the cage and held it up to the light. Thankfully, there wasn’t too much rust on the old iron; it’d held up remarkably well in the shed, all things considered. He’d just need to widen the boards that held the iron bars together some and he could screw the thing back together. It wouldn’t give the best view of the outside for the raptor, but it would be good enough.
The front door opened and shut with just the tiniest click of the latch, and quiet hoofsteps disappeared along the carpet into the interior of the house. Hawk Tail thought nothing of it, instead focusing on his work as he pried a plank of half-rotten wood off of the iron bars and positioned a fresh one in its place. Lanner, who was closer to the door, raised her head long enough to stop making cooing noises with the two falcons perched on her curled wings to see a rainbow tail disappear around the corner. When the door to Rainbow’s bedroom clicked shut, Lanner sighed and stared sideways at Hawk Tail. “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk! Rainbow’s being all up in her feelings again!”
Hawk sighed and set aside his tools. He arched his back over the back of the chair, popping the vertebrae in his spine several times. The chair moaned against the hardwood floor as he pushed it back and stood up, stretching his wings over his head before setting off towards Rainbow’s room. Lanner watched him walk across the living room, then went back to making kissing faces with the falcons perched on her wings.
“Don’t aggravate them,” Hawk said as he passed.
Lanner rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I at least show the birds some love! They get bored staying in the post office all the time.”
Hawk stopped and leaned against the wall for a second, shaking his head. “Lanner, you know we can’t keep all the raptors in the rookery and move them back and forth to the office every day. Besides, the birds like cages, so long as they’re taken out often.”
“Thankfully these guys have me to rescue them.”
“Don’t you have to feed the fledglings around now?”
The gray mare sighed and stood up, the falcons perched on her wings opening their own for balance. “Alrighty guys, let’s go see your brothers and sisters!” She blinked. “Or would they be more like adopted kids?”
While Lanner pondered that philosophical question, Hawk Tail approached Rainbow’s door and knocked on it. “Rainbow?”
Nothing answered him. Frowning, Hawk knocked again. “Rainbow, are you okay?”
“…Yeah…”
Worried, Hawk flattened his ears against his head. “Oh… Okay. Do you mind if I… I mean, can I come in?”
“…Yeah…”
Gently pushing down on the latch, Hawk opened the creaking door and stuck his head inside. While the curtains were open and a gentle breeze flowed through the bright room, Rainbow Dash herself seemed anything but. She sat with her back to the door, wing drooping at her side, and her chin resting in her forehooves. Her coat was still speckled with dirt and mud from her run earlier that day, and a twig poked out of the prismatic strands of her mane. She didn’t look at Hawk as he entered, and her ears barely flicked at the sound of him shutting the door behind himself.
“Rainbow?” Hawk whispered, pacing around the bed to sit by the mare’s side. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she whispered back, and even though she tried to keep them away from Hawk, her eyes betrayed her. Her blue eyelids were puffy and fought to keep the glistening moisture on her lashes from dripping down her cheeks. Sniffling once, Rainbow turned away, trying to hide behind her mane so Hawk couldn’t see her face.
Hawk pursed his lips and touched Rainbow’s shoulder with a hoof. “What happened?”
Rainbow bit her lip, started to say something, and then collapsed against Hawk’s side. She shook like a leaf. Hawk started but quickly wrapped the mare’s shoulders in an embrace, hugging her against his side while she trembled. His mind struggled to think of anything to say, anything at all. He tried to say something to console her, but his tongue seemed paralyzed. All he could do was hold Rainbow close and try to comfort her that way.
Thankfully, it seemed to be enough. After a few minutes, Rainbow stopped shaking, and she started breathing easier. Rubbing her back, Hawk helped the mare sit up and ignored the wet spots on his fur as she sniffled. Doing his best to make eye contact with the mare, Hawk leaned forward and rubbed her back with a wing. “Tell me what happened.”
It took a few seconds for the words to get there, but Rainbow managed to swallow down her anxiety. “I r-remembered something. Somepony. Applejack… she was my best f-friend.”
“Really?” Hawk asked, equal parts excited and nervous for Rainbow. “That’s fantastic! …Right?”
Rainbow shakily nodded. “Yeah… I was running with Wrangler today and it jogged my memory. Heh… running… jogging…” She sighed, and her shoulders collapsed. “It was when we ran the Running of the Leaves together. Applejack and I were close. Really close. She was competitive… I was competitive… she liked sports… I liked sports… it goes on and on.”
Hawk nodded. “That sounds great. Wonderful, even. Did it… I don’t know, help you remember how you got here?”
Rainbow shook her head, and she drew herself a little closer. “N-No… it’s just… all black after a point. All I know is something bad happened. Something terrible…” she shuddered and stared at her hooves. “Like what happened to Twilight.”
She turned to him, and her eyes searched his for any sign of comfort. “Hawk?” she asked, beginning to shake again. “What if… what if what happened is my fault?”
Hawk blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” The words died on her tongue, and she sighed and fought the urge to hug herself. “I don’t know what I mean. What if I can’t remember what happened to them because it’s something I did? Something I was responsible for?” She trembled again, then repeated herself. “What if it’s my fault?”
“Rainbow…” Hawk murmured, drawing the mare back against his side. “It can’t be your fault.”
Rainbow sniffled. “How would you know? You don’t know who I was before… I don’t know who I was before.”
A small smile appeared on Hawk’s lips. “True, but if she’s anything like the Rainbow Dash I know, then it wouldn’t be her fault. She’s too awesome to do anything bad to her friends.”
Rainbow shook her head. “You couldn’t know that,” she whispered. “Maybe it was just an accident... but I know.” She looked at Hawk Tail again, her ruby eyes brimming with tears about to fall. “But they’re gone, Hawk. Gone! And...” she hiccuped and hugged her forelimbs close to herself. “They’re gone and it’s all my fault!”
The mare only writhed, tears streaming from her eyes. “They’re gooonnneeeee!!!” she wailed. “Gone, and it’s all my fault!!!”
Hawk practically jolted as the memory of Rainbow wailing on the walk back to his house struck him. He regarded the sniffing mare next to him, who was trying so hard not to fall apart,with pity. She’d lost so much, and nopony knew why, least of all herself. And to have happy memories come back to slap her in the face and remind her of it...
Shutting his eyes, Hawk Tail drew Rainbow’s head to his chest and held her while she cried into it for a second time.
Minutes passed, and with them, Rainbow’s tears, until the two pegasi were simply holding each other in serene stillness, looking at the world outside through the window. The house was dead quiet, save for their breathing and the occasional small sniffle from Rainbow.
A small sigh and one last tremor of her body preceded Rainbow Dash moving into a sitting position. Sitting up straight, she worked out the knots in her shoulders and good wing. Her ruby eyes flicked to Hawk, and her cheeks twitched a few times as a smile tried to manifest on her lips. “Thanks, Hawk. You’re… you’re pretty cool, you know.”
Hawk Tail shrugged. “I try my best. I figured I’d take lessons from the most awesome mare I know.”
“Please, now you’re just kissing my flank,” Rainbow teased. Sighing, she sniffed one last time and shook her mane loose, pulling it all over one shoulder how she liked it. “Seriously… thanks though. It’s all just overwhelming. As if being grounded’s not enough.” She shot her broken wing a dirty look and even went so far as to poke it a few times with a hoof, wincing ever so slightly each time. “Stupid thing… Seriously.”
“Just give it a month or two and you’ll be good as new,” Hawk said. “Lanner’s real good at fixing wings up. Every once in a while the raptors will get in fights, and then she has to play nurse for them all. It’s a good thing she’s such a wing specialist, though; River’s Reach doesn’t have a pegasus doctor, so pegasi usually come see her for any wing problems they might be having. Trust me, you’re in good hooves.”
“So I’ve heard time and time again,” Rainbow said. “Well, it’s not like I can push myself now and break it again anyway. It’s a little hard to get airborne like this.” She sighed. “But still… thanks. You make me feel so much better, and…” The mare winced at her own words and looked away. “Crap, now I feel like a broken record or something. I-It just scared me when I suddenly had that flashback, and it was so real and vivid it was like I was there, but I guess I was there before, and—mmf!”
Hawk stopped her with a hoof to her lips. “Rainbow,” he said, a gentle gleam in his eyes, “it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Just know that me or Lanner or anypony will be more than happy to listen to you if you ever need to let something out.” He offered Rainbow the most sincere smile she could ever imagine, and she smiled back at him. “You’re not alone. Okay?”
Rainbow nodded. Then, stifling a yawn, she twisted her body and face-planted her pillows, groaning. “Unnnnnghhhhh… My head still hurts from running into that tree…”
Hawk Tail chuckled. “You ran into a tree?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow answered, her voice muffled from her muzzle buried in her bed. “I was running with Wrangler, and when I had my ...incident in the middle of it, I guess I didn’t stop running.” She rolled onto her back, careful to roll across her good wing, and blew her bangs out of her face. “I probably have a bruise or something of my forehead.” She raised an eyebrow. “Do I?”
Hawk raised an eyebrow of his own and shifted so he could get a better look at Rainbow’s face. “I didn’t notice anything earlier,” he said, leaning closer to the mare. She watched him expectantly, though he did his best to smile and brush it off. Placing a hoof on Rainbow’s forehead, he gently moved her bangs out of the way. “I don’t see anyth—ack!”
Rainbow’s forelimbs flew like lightning, hooking around Hawk Tail’s chest while she released the ferocious battle cry of a manticore kitten. The stallion squawked as he was dragged down to the bed and locked into a crushing bear hug, and no amount of struggling on his part could free him.
“Aww, c’mon, Hawk,” Rainbow purred, rubbing her face into his chest fur. “Don’t be like that! Just relax!”
“Help!” Hawk yelped, still trying to no avail to separate himself. “Lanner! Anypony! I’m being violated!”
Rainbow squeezed again, and Hawk’s grinning muzzle was suddenly buried in pillow. “Don’t be such a baby! Take it like a stallion!”
Wheezing, Hawk tried to stand up, but Rainbow clung to him like glue. Her forelegs kept his wings pinned at his sides, and he couldn’t get his hooves under him to generate any sort of leverage. Gasping, he finally collapsed onto the bed next to Rainbow and weakly wrapped his forelegs around her shoulders.
“Okay…” he gasped, patting her on the back. “I surrender already! You win! Yeesh!”
Rainbow squeezed him one last time and buried her face in his fur, nuzzling his chest. When she finally slackened her grip, she craned her head back enough to look Hawk in the eye and smile. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” she said, a coy glint in her eye.
“Do what?” Hawk chuckled. “Attack me and pin me down? Totally uncalled for.”
“Please, you were asking for it,” Rainbow retorted. The tip of her hoof played with the primaries on Hawk’s wing, separating one from another as she listened to the quiet zipping sound of the barbs fraying against it. Then she sighed and rested her head on Hawk’s chest. “Hawk?”
“Yeah?” Hawk responded. His hoof began absently stroking through Rainbow’s mane, playing with the varying shades and tracing where the crest met her neck.
“Thanks... for being there,” Rainbow said in a quiet voice. “I… I don’t wanna think about what woulda happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
Hawk shook his head. “You’re a tough pony…”
“Hawk, I didn’t wake up for like what, three days?” Rainbow asked. Her ruby eyes focused on his through her eyelashes. “I coulda drowned, or been eaten by a bear!” She poked his ribs a few times with a blue hoof. “A bear, Hawk!”
Hawk snorted and answered her with a shake of his head. “There’s hardly enough meat on your bones to make a good bear snack.”
“Yeah... well... shut up!” Rainbow half-shouted, half-giggled as she slapped his shoulder with a hoof. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “But I didn’t. And it’s thanks to you that I didn’t. And you’ve put in so much time and effort to care for me when I’ve been sick and scared and… and I just don’t know why a stranger would ever do something like that for a random pony in the middle of the forest.” She blinked at Hawk. “Why did you do it?”
Hawk shrugged. “Because what else are you supposed to do when you see somepony lying half-dead in the wilderness?” He tapped his hoof to his chin. “Although I wouldn’t really call it the wilderness...”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and pressed her muzzle into his chest. “Whatever. It’s still outdoors. At least I didn’t crashland in a desert or anything.”
“That could’ve been interesting,” Hawk said. “I don’t think you’d survive out there.”
“What makes you say that?” Rainbow countered. “I’d figure it out. Don’t doubt me.”
“Oh yeah? Where would you get water from? Or food?”
“Uh... an oasis... thing?”
Hawk shook his head. “Total goner,” he teased.
Rainbow scrunched her muzzle and pummeled his chest with half-hearted jabs of her hoof. “You shut up. How about I bring you along with me and we’ll see if you fare any better.”
“Oh?” Hawk asked. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I could figure things out for just the two of us.”
“I’m sure,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head. Then she sighed. “I’m sure,” she repeated, quieter and more sincere this time. “I’d believe in you.”
Hawk smiled and brushed Rainbow’s mane with a hoof. “I’d believe in you, too, Rainbow,” he said. “You’d figure it out.”
Nothing more was said. Nothing more needed to be said. The two ponies simply laid together, forelegs wrapped around one another, as the summer sun slowly began to trace its way down towards the western horizon, casting long shadows over the resting pair.