Rainbow Dash now awoke in the same room, the world was again cold and gray, and the shadow on the wall appeared right away. But this time, it darted straight at her, and embedded itself into her body, evaporating into Rainbow Dash’s very skin and made her feel an awful cold, and the world seemed to spin away from itself. The very space around her seemed to revolve slowly around itself, and made her feel dizzy, she knew that she was in a dream, no, a nightmare. But after what seemed like forever, the room ceased its spinning, and everything seemed to rearrange itself right before her eyes. Rainbow Dash rubbed her eyes in awe of what events were unfolding; every single thing in the room was moving itself into a new position and even picking itself up and moving about the room without a care in the entire world. But eventually it all came to a stop, and when Rainbow Dash blinked once more, she memorized the structure of the room, there was something about it that struck her as familiar, but she couldn’t seem to put her hoof on it. But when a familiar group of six entered the room along with a small baby dragon being held up by Twilight’s magic, and an owl greeting them at the door, she knew what was happening. This wasn’t just a simple nightmare; it was a recurring memory that haunted Rainbow Dash ever since it had happened.
The girls aligned themselves in the middle of the room, all huddled around a small space with a group of pillows where Twilight put down Spike lightly onto the pillows and shed a few tears for her hurt assistant. All of the other mares huddled around Spike, all of them except Rainbow Dash; Rainbow Dash stayed back, no tears forming in her eyes, just a look of pure shock at the small baby dragon, not wanting to believe what was happening was real. Rainbow Dash had tried to pull a prank on Spike while he was coming out of the Carousel Boutique, so she brought over a rain cloud, to be truthful, she grabbed a single cumulonimbus cloud, the ones that are specifically for the strong storms that Ponyville has to use to make up for any past scheduled rains that may have gotten skipped over by accident. But as she was told by all of the other weather pegasi, she was never in any circumstance, ever supposed to use these clouds for the sake of her little ‘pranks,’ but they knew that she wouldn’t listen to her, so they devised a plan to keep Rainbow Dash out of the storm cloud storage area. They put a complicated lock on the door that would need a key if she ever tried to unlock it and guess the wrong combination, which she did every single time. Until today, Rainbow Dash had finally cracked the combination and opened the large storage room revealing a large amount of enormous dark gray clouds. A sinister smile emanated upon her face as she grabbed one, closed the storage hangar, and reset the lock back to zero so that she wouldn’t arouse any suspicion around the Cloudsdale.
The whole town was still asleep, and she was able to easily sneak the large cloud out of the city limits without even so much as a single pegasus noticing her up to her usual pranking antics. But she didn’t know what strong and raw power that she was holding in her hooves, there was a reason that they told her not to mess with those precise kinds of clouds, they were more powerful than anything that Rainbow Dash could have ever imagined, and to her, it was the perfect basis to the prank of the century, or maybe even the prank of the millennium. This thought bounced around in her head as she moved over the still sleeping Ponyville, to a Carousel Boutique which the lights were actually out instead of being left on by Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle. But Rainbow Dash put the cloud in position and awaited for the little shop to wake up, and Spike to leave the impromptu sleepover with the Cutie Mark Crusaders to where she could kick the cloud that would let out a large crack of thunder and maybe even scare little Spike into getting the hiccups again.
In Rainbow Dash’s mind, there was absolutely no downside to using this larger storm cloud to scare Spike, in her mind, all that would come from using a larger storm cloud, is an even more hilarious reaction from the violet and green-scaled baby dragon. When the sun started to rise, a light came from the boutique, and this made Rainbow Dash get excited, she readied herself to kick the cloud when she saw the dragon come out of there, but he wasn’t coming out of the house and she was starting to get impatient and agitated. She just wanted for Spike to come out already, she’d already been waiting for over five hours to prank this little guy, and she didn’t want to wait any longer to set her pranking plan, and hopeful prank war, into motion. But finally, Spike poked his head out the door and started to pull his belongings out of the door, and Rainbow Dash kicked the cloud as hard as she could and not only did a large crack come from the cloud, but a large column of lightning shot out of the cloud, at first Rainbow Dash thought that it was the coolest thing in the world and would scare Spike silly for sure. But then she noticed the direction the lightning was heading, she didn’t notice that Spike was holding a large metal rod that Twilight had asked him to pick up from Rarity before it started pouring down rain and Spike had to stay at the boutique until morning, which he didn’t mind because he could be around Rarity for his entire life if he needed to be.
But Rainbow Dash’s face changed as the lightning shot from the cloud and sent it right on a direct course to the metal rod that Spike was holding, and seconds later, Spike shook violently and fell to the ground with a thud. Rainbow Dash shot down to Spike and picked up his little lifeless body, the scales had protected him from and burns that he would’ve gotten, but they didn’t protect against the massive amounts of electricity that coursed through his veins and ultimately fried his heart and brain until it all shut down. Spike was still moving his chest, as an involuntary reflex, but Rainbow Dash just stood over him with shock in her eyes, still not wanting to believe what had just happened, and that she was the one who had caused it to happen. No tears escaped her eyes, but her heart immediately broke at the sight of the small dragon lying lifelessly in her arms, she waited to see if the baby dragon would open his eyes, but no such thing happened. His eyes were shut and the motion suggesting that he was still even remotely breathing, ceased, symbolizing that his brain was so far gone that it couldn’t even control involuntary contractions in the muscles. Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her eyes, what started as a simple little prank, not meant to hurt any pony, has turned into a total nightmare as her friends approached the scene and saw a lifeless violet-scaled baby dragon lying in Rainbow Dash’s arms looking peaceful, as if he was only sleeping. But Rainbow Dash knew differently, she knew that it was her precise actions that had stopped the little baby dragon’s life so abruptly, and she felt horrible about it.
A dark cloud hung over all of the six, both figuratively, and literally as the large dark cloud just hung eerily above them, the smell of burnt flesh entered their nostrils, a reminder of what Rainbow Dash had just caused. Twilight came trotting up to the cyan mare and the lifeless baby dragon with tears in her eyes as she took the baby dragon with her magic and held him up to her, hugging him and shaking him trying to tell him to wake up, but it was hopeless, they all knew that there was no way for Spike to wake up from such an event, and Rainbow Dash knew that she single-hoofedly killed one of her best friends in all of Ponyville, whether that it was an accident or not, Rainbow Dash felt the most horrible pain in the world as she saw all of her friends huddled around Twilight and Spike all having tears in their eyes as well, crying over a fallen friend, the one the most hurt Being Twilight herself; Spike was her most faithful assistant, and one of her very close friends in all of Equestria besides the mares. But then all eyes turned to Rainbow Dash as they started walking to Twilight’s home in the library, all of their eyes looking at Rainbow Dash with such spite in their eyes that made Rainbow Dash feel like she was out casted, which was exactly what they were trying to do anyways.
The walk to the library was the longest walk of Rainbow Dash’s life, and all the eyes of Ponyville were on her, and she knew why. They all knew that it was her who killed Spike with the bolt of lightning that she accidently released from the cloud that struck little Spike’s metal lightning rod and ultimately made him shake violently and fall to the ground, dead, with a sickening thud of his bones breaking as he fell onto the cold, hard ground. Once they finally got to the library, Twilight arranged pillows in the center to where she would put Spike. Three elegantly designed pillows that Rarity had made for him for helping her find the gems to finish her final dress, were arranged in a triangular pattern as Twilight put Spike down onto the pillows and stood over his body and sobbed over the death of her closest friend and most faithful assistant in all of Equestria. But eventually, all eyes returned to Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t crying, but only wore the same face that she had when the incident first happened, and they knew, that it was her that caused Spikes’ death, and they didn’t even want to look at her, so with that Rainbow Dash flew out of the room faster than she’d ever flown before, but still, not a single tear was shed by her, but a pain embedded itself into her chest, the guilt of the situation ate at her until she finally stopped flying, and fell to the ground.
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Rainbow Dash woke up with a fast and exasperated gasp as she felt the jolt of pain caused by her moving so suddenly. But out of the corner of her eye she spotted a familiar lavender unicorn that was smiling at her near the right side of her bed, tears filling her eyes as she saw Rainbow Dash wake up. Twilight embraced Dash in a swift hug, just as Pinkie had earlier that day, but Twilight’s hug was stronger, her arms were wrapping around Rainbow Dash and not wanting to let go if it meant that Rainbow Dash may never wake up again. But eventually the unicorn loosened her grip and just stared at the broken Pegasus, she used to be free, happy, and put a smile on all of their faces the way she approached every challenge with arrogance and her own little twist on ‘rules.’ Nonetheless, Twilight always loved this arrogant mare as if she were her very sister, and since she’d been in Ponyville, the only mare she could really talk to was Rainbow Dash, and that lightened both of their hearts to see one of their best friends right in front of them, no matter how grim the circumstance was, they would love each other like family until the very end.
Rainbow Dash wore a slight baffled look on her face, it was still dark outside, and just a couple hours ago the hospital had locked up for the night, and every pony that wasn’t in the hospital bed, was asked to leave until visiting hours returned the next day. Rainbow Dash’s voice was still raspy, but she spoke as if she had never had before, with empathy in her voice, “Twilight? H-how’d you get in here? Every pony was supposed to be cleared out hours ago, and to tell the truth they were, Pinkie was here and we only stopped talking because Nurse Redheart told Pink she had to up and leave. Though I think that if they would’ve asked me, she could’ve stayed overnight to make sure nothing like this morning happened to me again.” Twilight’s face changed as Rainbow Dash said ‘nothing like this morning happened to me again,’ her face changed to a look of concern. Rainbow Dash sighed lowly and took in a large, raspy, deep breath, “This morning, I wouldn’t have woken up, I had some like, heart arr—Cardiac arr—Okay, I up and had myself a heart attack. Darn medical terms and their complication to say, but no matter, I’m alive, I shouldn’t be alive, but I am. But I still can’t help but feel there’s just guilt hanging over my head, these dreams and nightmares are haunting me, but the worst part is, that dream, no, that memory has returned Twilight… The one about Spike, I had finally rid my mind of that dark day, and now it’s back just to remind me that I’m about to die, and tell me all of my wrongdoings and make me so overwhelmed with guilt, I won’t want to wake up.” Rainbow Dash finished grimly.
Twilight put her hoof over Rainbow Dash’s lips, making her stop talking, her bringing up Spike’s death made Twilight’s fragile heart shatter once again, but she smiled back at Rainbow Dash with tears in her eyes; she lost too many friends, and she wasn’t going to lose another today. “Rainbow Dash, we forgive you for what happened to Spike, it was a mishap when planning a prank. I mean, I wish Spike was still here, but he’s in a better place now, no pain, no anger, no hate, and he’s in a much better place now, ponies, dragons, griffons, pegasi, unicorns, and even the past generations of alicorns are all there comforting each other in the afterlife. Best of all, they’re always watching over us, seeing how we cope with their deaths, and don’t you understand Rainbow Dash, they want us to live our lives like normal. Sure, it will be very hard to forget our very best friends, sure we may have some trouble readjusting without them, but they want all of us to be happy, and they will patiently wait for us in the afterlife. No matter what struggled we go through, they’re watching over us, no matter what we do, they’re always watching over us, and even as the very world crumbles below us, they will be there to greet us when we die. Don’t harbor on the past, the guilt may eat at you, but that’s inevitable for any pony, but Rainbow Dash, you are strong, you can pick yourself up and push through all of this, the world only does this to you if you let it, your mind only harbors in the past because you can’t control it, but you can learn to control it Rainbow Dash, and then you can be happy again, and go back to work in Ponyville being the best weather mare, and filly flyer in all of Equestria once again.” Twilight said, seeing tears rolling down Rainbow Dash’s eyes, making her smile grow larger and embrace her friend in another hug, in an attempt to comfort her cyan coated pegasus friend.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but look down, “Twi’, did you hear the news about ‘Shy?” she asked grimly, Twilight noticing the change in her face.
“No, is she okay?” Twilight asked back.
Rainbow Dash shook her head softly, “Unfortunately not, the doctors told me and Pinkie that she passed away just the other night, he had a rather, blunt way of putting things though.”
Twilight just stared back at Rainbow Dash in shock, “Oh my… Fluttershy is gone huh? Well you didn’t have the best way of putting it either Dash. But I suppose that every pony has their time sooner or later, even if the emotional toll can be more than some might be able to bear…”
“You know I’m not good with breaking news to any pony, this is exactly why I kept my distance from any real bad accidents, and Kind of why I didn’t become a policemare like I wanted to. Besides, my record wouldn’t allow me to anyways; I have a record that could stretch circles around me faster than I could ever hope to fly away from it.” Rainbow Dash admitted, “You don’t seem to be taking a huge hit from this…”
“I can assure you, I’m hurting a lot more than I’m letting on right now, I’ll probably go home and start bawling my eyes out.”
“Yeah well, I’m not really feeling too hot anymore, but the only thing that I can assure you is if I do pass away, I’ll pass away peacefully. I feel that Death is knocking on my door, and soon enough I’ll have no choice but to let him in.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at her friend, and saw the tears in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks; she was purely saddened by the look of her usually peppy, generally nerdy, and otherwise eccentric about magic lavender unicorn friend crying like this, so she wiped her hoof across Twilight’s cheek in attempt to wipe the tears off of her friend’s face and cheer her up. “I’m not going to try and sugarcoat this for you Twi’, you know very well how much pain I’m in right now, and every pony in all of Ponyville knows how much pain I’m in.” Rainbow Dash coughed violently as Twilight patted and rubbed her back to try and aid her breathing till Rainbow Dash finally stopped coughing to continue her thought. “Trust me, I don’t feel like I’m going to be making a recovery anytime soon, but Twilight Sparkle! Not a single letter to the princess is just not like you! You shouldn’t stop doing what you love and what you need to for me; it makes me feel worse than I did before, it makes me feel like I’ve taken away something that defined you, something that you looked forward to doing every week, and I’m sure the princess ain’t too happy about the letters stopping either.” Rainbow Dash said jokingly, making Twilight roll her eyes at her just like she used to when she was still able to walk. “But all joking aside, you don’t need to change things around in your own life just because I was too much of an egotistical maniac to care what happens to other when these ideas come into my mind. I couldn’t live with myself if all of this is influencing what you mares do in life, and I’d like you to bring Scoots here tomorrow, I’d like to talk with her a little bit, she just needs a little encouragement from yours truly, and after that, I’d like a piece of paper, and an interpreter to write down something for me.” Rainbow Dash said as she cleared her throat and wiped her eyes, making Twilight stare back at her mystified.
Twilight sighed, “Okay Rainbow Dash, just what in Equestria exactly are you getting at? I mean, I thought that you were confusing before, but your behavior now just mystifies me, I mean this has left me just left me completely and utterly baffled at this huge step for you. I never thought I’d see the day when you’d be the one to change your ways.” Twilight said, making Rainbow Dash ducked her head down slowly, and just awkwardly smile back at the lavender mare.
“I guess you can say I’ve done a lot of growing up since I’ve been in that coma. I guess I was in a coma, maybe I was just asleep for a long time. Anyways, that long of a time really gives a pony time to think, and I did think, I did the most thinking I’ve ever done before. I completely tore apart my very existence to find who I really am inside, and I’m not even done thinking, these dreams, these memories are the old me. Tough as nails, and more stubborn than a drunk at a bar, but after looking into my own mind, I saw what made every pony so angry at me. I disobeyed rules, made fun of other ponies, I was all around arrogant, I was all around ignorant, and if any pony had a problem, I wouldn’t listen. But no more, if I’m going to die, then I’m going to die a new mare, the old Rainbow Dash is no more, now all there is, is the new 20 percent cooler Dashie!” Rainbow Dash announced, making Twilight smile and giggle at her again, until they both heard hoofsteps coming from the hall, and they were approaching pretty fast like some pony was late to something really important, or Rarity got into a pile of mud.
“Oh no! Some pony’s found out I’m here! And we were just getting to talk to each other too! I’m sorry Dash, I can’t be found sneaking around, it’ll tarnish my perfect reputation here in Ponyville you know?” Twilight said, her voice having a whiny quality to it as she looked around for a way to leave without being discovered. She immediately facehoofed herself when she realized how she’d gotten in there in the first place.
“No, it’s fine really, and you never actually told me how you really got in here anyways Twi’.” Rainbow Dash said with a wink and giggle.
“Teleportation, a unicorn in distress’ very best friend, and greatest asset,” Twilight replied
“Heh, alright, now you go on and get out of here, I’ll take the fall for this, I think I can convince them that I’ve been conversing with myself.” Rainbow Dash said as an eruption of light engulfed the room and a nurse bursted frantically in through the door with a baffled look on her face.
“We heard you talking Ms. Dash,” the nurse said to Rainbow Dash with both concern in her voice, and upon her face.
“I was talking to myself, don’t worry, I’m done now I just needed some pony to talk to, so my mind made me one, I’m sorry, I know that I should be quiet now.” Rainbow dash replied.
“Okay, just try not to talk to yourself out loud, it’s rather… uhhh… as you say… distressing? I mean, the doctors don’t know who you’re talking to and it makes us all think that the incident has maybe destroyed part of your brain.”
Rainbow Dash shot an angry scowl at the nurse, “What exactly is that supposed to mean!” Dash yelled defensively, “My brain is just fine thank you very much!”
“Oh no! I meant no offense in the statement, but we think that trauma to the head can cause ponies to hallucinate and sometimes talk to themselves, and we started to fear the worst since your injuries were of such severe magnitude.” The nurse yelled back making Rainbow Dash chuckle lowly.
“I’m just yankin’ ya’, I’m fine really, just really bored in this room you know?”
“Yes, I understand, if you’d like we can have some entertainment brought to you if so you’d prefer to be done.”
“Alright! That’d be awesome, and I’ll try to keep the conversations up in my head then, I appreciate you for checking up on me, but I’m fine, honestly.”
“Yes, right anytime Ms. Dash,” the nurse said as she closed the door behind her and left Rainbow Dash lying up in the hospital bed.
“You seriously owe me big time for this Sparkle, now the nurse thinks I’m a loon.” Rainbow mumbled lowly to herself as she returned humbly to sleep.
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Author's Note: This is more an emotional novel than an all out tears rolling sad-fic, it's supposed to pull at your little heartstrings a bit, but it isn't supposed to make you cry. I wrote it this way to show more emotion, and the dream sequences will not be a part of this fic after this chapter. Thanks for reading