Dash soared over the roof of the hospital, angling just enough to fit her wingspan through the diagonal length of the window, and glided into the ward. Once she’d cleared the bed, which was just a blur in her peripheral vision, she touched down, swinging her weight around behind her so that she was facing the way she’d come. A deafening squeal echoed through the ward as her hooves slid along the tiled floor.
With a smile smugly tweaked to the side, Dash prepared to behold that beautiful mixture of surprise and childish glee that appeared on Derpy’s face whenever she made such an entrance, and to receive the warm greeting that she was now sure of, never the less enthusiastic for its twice daily occurrence. Upon hearing nothing but an angry
“NO FLYING IN THE CORRIDORS, FOR HAY’S SAKE”, and seeing nothing but a crisply made hospital bed, Dash’s face drooped in disappointment and her heart seemed to sink down to the pit of her stomach.
Could she have gone home? Wouldn’t she wait for me? The Doc said that she could leave today, but I thought that she’d still be here... What happened? Did I say something? Was I too brash? I know I messed up with that tuba; why did I think it a good idea to send her a tuba?
Lost in thought, stressing out, Dash hadn’t heard the Doc’s hoofsteps until he was standing right beside her.
“Looking for Derpy, Rainbow? I’m afraid you’ve just missed her. She left this morning; we gave her the all clear.”
Heart now well and truly around her hooves, Dash nodded and mechanically turned back towards the window. Maybe she’d drop by Derpy’s house, all casual-like, and ask how she was. Maybe she’d write to her... to someone, anyway, and swing by the Post Office later to drop it off, just as Derpy was coming off-shift.
Just as she was preparing to take off through the window, Dash was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder, and turned to face the Doc, who was smiling apologetically.
“Uh, Rainbow, maybe don’t use the window. Hospital policy, you know how it is. No flying in the corridors and all that.”
“Right, yeah, got it. I’ll just go out the doors, then”.
Head low, Dash began to walk toward the curtain dividing Derpy’s ‘room’ at the end of the ward. She felt... odd. Heavy. Upset. Just the thought of seeing Derpy had made her feel so light inside. Her hospital visits had become the highlight of each day; she hadn’t realised just how much Derpy had meant to her. She was coming to the realisation that the little mailmare had touched her heart.
It doesn’t mean anything. She was probably busy. She had to be somewhere, or something. Anyway, Dash, what makes you so special? Why would you think that she’d stay for you? Why-
Ripping the dividing curtain across, she was suddenly stupefied as a raucous noise assailed her ears: horns, party poppers and-she could just hear it- a tuba? Bright streamers erupted from either side of her, and a cloud of pink obscured her vision.
“Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? I bet you were! ‘Cause you came in, and your face was all like ‘I’m so sad, I bet all of Ponyville’s lakes could be filled with the tears my soul is weeping’! And I was all like, SURPRISE! And your face was all like, WHAAAAAT? It was priceless!”
Rainbow was unable to change the shape of her face from an expression of gobsmacked surprise, but as Pinkie Pie continued to babble excitedly, she could make out the faces of her friends and various denizens of the hospital: Applejack over near the wall, next to a huge barrel of cider; Rarity conversing with Filthy Rich; Nurse Snowheart, holding a cup in one hoof and tending to a pot plant with the other; Mr Greenhooves, shredding it on the dance floor and enjoying his new hip to its fullest capacity.
“Wow, Pinkie, this is really amazing- wait, how did you get a dance floor in here? And why didn't I hea-“
Dash was cut short by Pinkie sliding out of her field of view, one hoof over her mouth, displaying an obnoxiously prolonged wink.
“Shh....”
She was spared from the mental confusion of figuring out just how Pinkie had managed to disappear and then reappear, instantly, on the dance floor a good ten wingspans away, by the awareness of another being beside her.
Startled, Dash turned to see the cool grey face and sweet golden brown eyes of Derpy, shining with excitement. Her bandages had been taken off, and there was a tuba round her neck. Leaning in, she whispered, giggling, into Dash’s ear,
“Thanks for the tuba, I love it! Um, I’m sorry about the party, when Pinkie heard that I was getting out of hospital she couldn’t be stopped from throwing one... at least I managed to talk her out of the jumping castle, that could have been even worse...”
Relief flooded through Dash’s entire body, cooling her down from the inside out, and her face split in a broad grin, for the first time breaking the mask of shock that it had been frozen in. Instinctively, Rainbow swept her up in a bear hug and swung her in a huge arc, barely avoiding some nearby nurses.
Looking into Derpy’s eyes as the scenery blurred, holding her tightly, Dash leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed her squarely on the lips. The taste of Derpy flooded through her, like a shot to her system. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears; everything else had been dulled. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, spiralling out from on the point where their lips touched.
Thus it was in slow motion that Dash felt her centre of gravity swing away from her body, felt herself began to fall towards Derpy. Twisting mid-air, she reversed their positions so that it was her body that slammed into the tile floor, jarring from the impact, and it was Derpy’s warm body that fell into her arms.
Opening her eyes again, slightly dazed from the consecutive collisions, Dash saw Derpy’s face just a few featherlengths away, her adorable eyes peering concernedly into her own. The loud beat of the bass speaker shook the floor underneath them as Rainbow hugged Derpy closer, and with impeccable timing (as is always the case in such situations) yelled,
“WILL YOU BE MY SPECIAL SOMEPONY?” into Derpy’s ear just as the music sputtered into silence.
Instantly becoming aware of the ring of ponies around them, Dash’s ears twitched as the full awkwardness of the situation sunk in. It really didn’t help that, while nopony near them was speaking, from the left it was easy to hear a shrill
“NO BASS CANNONS IN THE CORRIDORS”, complete with angry huffs of protest from Vinyl Scratch.
The awkwardness deepened.
Derpy’s eyes widened, and it was possible to make out the sound of a shattering record.
Dash was praying for some terrible event to threaten Ponyville so that everyone would look away, or at least somepony would say something. Where was an Ursa when you needed one? An Ursa Minor destroying the main street of Ponyville would definitely distract attention from her intensely blushing face, right?
Finally, just as the final vestiges of her soul were being consumed by mortification, Dash heard a quiet
“Yes. I would love to be your special somepony.”, coming from the warm bundle in her arms.
Despite in the previous moment being intensely sensitive to the stares of those surrounding them, suddenly Dash found herself unable to care much as she received an urgent delivery of a small bundle of enthusiastic, adorable and delectable kisses, care of Ponyville’s favourite mailmare.
The music began again in the background with an epic drop and the sound of an unfortunate somepony being thrown out of a window by an epic onslaught of wub.