//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Flash and Crash Rainbow Dash 
// by forbritisheyesonly 
//------------------------------//

The more Rainbow Dash though about it, the more she realized that she was probably overreacting.  Maybe it was her concussion?  Maybe she was just bugging out about being grounded for so long.  Pinkie was always pretty affectionate and sensitive.  Yes, yes Dash was being silly.  It would have been weirder had Pinkie Pie not been crying as a matter of fact, Dash decided.  Or, Dash thought, maybe I am just seeing what I might want to see.  I like Pinkie a lot; maybe I just want to believe she cares about me more than our other friends.  Maybe I just want to be her favorite.  Pinkie Pie was certainly HER favorite.  She loved Applejack but she knew they would always be too good at being rivals to be best friends.  Twilight Sparkle was great, and Rainbow Dash loved reading Daring Do books with her, but she spent too much time cooped up in that library reading to keep up with the incredible Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy was a Pegasus who wouldn’t fly, and Rarity was always wanting to style her mane every four seconds.  Rainbow loved all of her friends but Pinkie was the only one that could be her BEST friend.  She was the only one who could keep up with her, without it becoming a competition.  Rainbow laid awake pondering Pinkie’s behavior from the day.  She finally concluded that it wasn’t even slightly out of the ordinary and that Pinkie would have treated any pony in Ponyville (or any of the outlying areas for that matter) in exactly the same way.  Rainbow couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that she wasn’t getting special treatment, but it was all okay.  She was here staying with Pinkie and everything would surely be great.  Rainbow Dash was really glad she had cleared up that little mystery for herself.  
She closed her eyes and finally drifted off into some much needed, albeit fitful sleep.  She dreamed that night of crashing into the room of each of her friends.  Twilight Sparkle had yelled at her and left her on the floor as she picked up her books.  Applejack had thrown apples at her head and laughed at her calling her Rainbow Crash.  Fluttershy had skittered away screaming “ALIAN INVASION, HIDE!!!!!”  Each friend had had equally sympathetic reactions.  When she crashed into Pinkie’s house Pinkie had sat in the corner crying as Rainbow Dash laid in agony.  
“My favorite pony in all of Ponyville is dead!” Pinkie was shrieking.  “She was my bestestie bestest friend in all of Equestria!”  
Rainbow Dash tried to call out to her, to tell her that she was okay but her throat closed up and nothing would come out except a weak gurgling noise.  The scene faded and Dash crashed into Sugarcube Corner again.  This time Pinkie rescued her but would barely look at her and just kept saying, “I wish one of my cooler and better friends would have visited instead.”  
Dash jolted awake in a cold sweat to see that the room was empty other than herself.
“Get ahold of yourself Rainbow Dash.  Why are you being so weird about this?” she said to herself. 
Dash shook her head to stop it from spinning from the dream.  Pinkie Pie has gone totally and completely out of her way to be nice to you because that’s the way she is and she is your friend.  Stop acting like an emotional little school filly.  Rainbow Dash was a little bit put out with herself for being so sensitive, even if it was just in her dreams, and maybe real life a little bit too. Celestia’s first light was just cresting the hill outside Pinkie’s window and Rainbow Dash looked around wondering where her friend was.  That’s when she noticed a tray set on the table beside the bed with a note on it.

“Hey Dashie!! I hope you slept well, and I didn’t want to wake you up, but I needed to go bake for the morning customers!  I brought up a batch of muffins, but you needed your rest so I left you asleep. You also looked so cute cuddled up all snuggly in the blankets!  (Dash had blushed furiously at this but was a little indignant.  Cute?  She was Rainbow Dash; she wasn’t “cute”).  I hope they aren’t cold when you get them.  Even if they are they will still be good! You can just pretend they are hot! – YOUR BESTEST FRIEND EVER PINKIE PIE!!

Dash put down the note and picked up a muffin grinning stupidly.  “See rainbow, Pinkie is a great friend,” she said to herself.  She munched into the muffin greedily.  It was a bit cold but still tasted absolutely wonderful.  It was a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips and chocolate drizzled on top.  Pinkie sure does love chocolate, Rainbow Dash thought.  She hadn’t eaten since breakfast yesterday she realized, and she ate the whole tray of muffins.  Her mind was starting to fill up with more and more that she needed to think about but the pain in her leg and wing was making it hard.  Her head ached and she just wanted to go back to sleep now that her belly was full.  The door burst open and four of her BFPs (best friend ponies) pranced in.  
“Howdy sugarcube! We knew yah was feeling a mite under the weather so we thought we’d come cheer yah up!”  
“Thanks girls.  I am so happy you came! I have been cooped up since YESTERDAY!  I am soooo bored.”
“We’re sorry Rainbow Dash.  Look, I brought you the newest Daring Do book.  This one doesn’t come out for another three weeks! I got it as a special favor from a friend in Canterlot after I heard about your accident.” 
“Awesome! Thanks so much Twilight! You are the best!” well aside from Pinkie Pie of course, she thought to herself.
“But Rainbow Dash, I thought that reading was undeniably, unquestionably, uncool??” Twilight teased her.  Then Twilight performed her best playfully over exaggerated gasp.  “Rainbow Dash, are you an egghead!?” Twilight held the book just out of Rainbow’s grasp.  
“You caught me Twilight I am an egghead and you are my queen, Queen Egghead Sparkle.”
All of the ponies laughed as they remembered Rainbow’s visit to the hospital when she learned reading could be fun.  (Rainbow had made many hospital visits during her life) Twilight handed her the book and Rainbow’s eyes got as big as saucers when she saw the title: Daring Do and the Curse of the Crystal Chalice.
“OHMYGOSH Twilight this is gonna be so cool!  Thank you so much.”  
Applejack had brought Rainbow some delicious Apple Fritters and Fluttershy and Rarity played a couple of games of Dash’s favorite board game, Battlesky, with her.  
Even Scootaloo dropped by to see if she could do anything for her idol Rainbow Dash. Rainbow entertained Scootaloo with stories of her greatest aerial accomplishments.  
“…And that’s the story of the time I saved The Hearts and Hooves Day Parade by protecting the procession from a puffy cloud of poisonous flying pony-eating Piranhas.” 
Rainbow did have a decided flare for storytelling.
Rainbow yawned and Twilight gave her an understanding look.
“We know you need your rest Rainbow, we will go so you can sleep.  I am sure we will all come back tomorrow after we get off of work. And you will let us know if you need anything.”
“Thanks so much girls!  You are all my very best friends!” 
The room was silent again as her friends left and Rainbow was once again isolated with her contemplations.  The visit from her friends reminded her that she didn’t need to be Pinkie’s favorite.  They were all friends, and they all loved each other, and that should most certainly be good enough for her.
The silence of course, lasted only a few moments as the door creaked open.  
“Dashie? Are you awake yet?” Pinkie Pie cautiously edged her head into the room.  Rainbow Dash was very tired and on other occasions she may have considered laying there, eyes closed, feigning sleep.  Dash, after all, napped more even than Feather Fluffer, who ran the pillow shop in Canterlot.  She was so relieved to have made her discovery that she decided to answer and put off sleep a few more moments.
“Dashie?”
“Yeah Pinks I’m up.”
“Did you get the muffins I left for you?”
Dash sat up at this.  She turned her head slightly sideways and stared at Pinkie.  Pinkie dropped her eyes and shuffled her feet. “I just thought you might be hungry and all…” the end of the sentence trailed off into mumbles.  
“Thank you so much Pinkie…for everything.”  Dash tried to put a lot of feeling into those words.  A lot of unsaid things that she wasn’t capable of saying needed to go into the look she gave Pinkie.  She wasn’t exactly sure what she was trying to convey.  Gratitude? No, it was something stronger.  Something Deeper.  It was something heavier that Dash could feel weighing on her, but she didn’t know what.  She would have to look really deep to find the words to describe what she felt, and right now it was all giving her a headache.  She wanted Pinkie to know how much she cared about her but she was trying to not slip into that other line of thinking again. 
Pinkie Pie clearly was not on the same page as Rainbow Dash, though. She slowly raised her eyes from the floor.  There were tears in them again.  Seriously? What is going on with her.  What..I don’t even??  
“Im glad you liked them.  I made them special for you.”
“Pinks, why are you crying?  I don’t understand what has come over you lately but you keep crying and I wish I could help make you feel better.  If you would just tell me or come give me a hug or something…” 
Pinkie grinned until her face was split in two.   She grinned that huge Pinkie grin that only Pinkie could muster.  “Dashie! Nothing is wrong with me! I am the same ole Pinkie as ever.  I have just been really worried about you and making sure that you are comfortable and not a Gloomy Gus in a rainstorm because you can’t fly!”  
Pinkie’s smile certainly was all the convincing Rainbow needed.  She did not want to look too deeply into this again.
“But why have you been worrying so much about me Pinkie? I know I am the most awesome pony you know but still…I am going to be fine you know”
“Because Rainbow,” Pinkie sighed, “Because I care about you so much ok.  I couldn’t bear to see anything bad happen to you.  It hurts me when I see you hurt.”  She wasn’t crying this time but her gaze was intense and it was boring right into Rainbow Dash.  
“I..uh..Pinks I,” Rainbow stammered.  “I don’t know what to say, thank you.”  
“Rainbow, I’m sorry, I, I didn’t mean to…well...whatever.” She was trailing off again.  “Let me change your bandages and you can go back to your rest.”  Now she almost seemed to be moping.  Something was going through that pink ponies head but Rainbow had no idea what.  Pinkie kissed her on the forehead and left the room. The more she thought about it the more her head hurt.  She could no longer just brush off Pinkie’s behavior as normal.  She was definitely off at this point.  Not in the ways that Dash had seemingly imagined earlier though.  Pinkie was not treating her any more specially than she would any other pony, but she was upset about something.  Rainbow Dash realized that she had to find out what was wrong and fix it.  That is what Pinkie would do for her.  Pinkie would want me to smile if I was feeling like a “gloomy Gus in a rainstorm.” She just hoped it wasn’t her fault.  She hoped that whatever was wrong wouldn’t lead to a decrease in attention from her pink friend.  She realized it may be a little selfish but who doesn’t love kisses from a beautiful mare.  Okay Rainbow no way you just thought that?! She is your friend.  She is not beautiful.  Well she is but you aren’t allowed to think that.  But why not? Was it so wrong?  A sharp throbbing pain in her wings brought her out of her insane internal ramblings.  
“ARGHHHH” Dash screamed like a banshee.  
Pinkie came running into the room.  “What’s the matter Dashie?” 
“It’s my wings I don’t know they are spazzing out bad.”
Pinkie jumped on the bed and started slowly massaging Rainbow’s wings.  She rubbed the bases with a careful strength.  Kneading gently and pressing firmly on the knots that were practically jumping through Dash’s skin.  Oh it felt so good.  Dash was suddenly very glad the bandages were there.  She felt her wings pressing firmly against the wrappings trying to extend out to their full length.  She couldn’t suppress her groans of pleasure as the intense pain was slowly massaged from her body.  Pinkie could probably hear them too.  After several minutes Pinkie jumped down and looked at Dash pointedly.  
“Did that help, is it still cramping?”  
“Umm no its all better now, thanks.”  Dash mumbled.  “I must have moved them wrong.”
She couldn’t believe she reacted the way she did.  Pinkie must notice her blushing at this point.  She felt pretty embarrassed but she hoped it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was.
“Dashie you poor thing.  I can do that for you every night if it would help.”  Dash considered this.  
“That would be awesome!”  Dash blurted.  Dash didn’t mean to seem so enthusiastic but it sounded wonderful.  She was definitely not going to turn down this offer.  “Where did you learn to do that anyway?”
“I am just naturally good at things like that?” Pinkie said with a wink. 
“You can do that for me every day forever if you want to Pinks.  That felt better than flying through a thundercloud, which feels a lot better than it sounds by the way.”
“You will have to fly me through one sometime! Well it has only been two days since your accident so you still should be getting some rest.  That concussion isn’t just gonna heal itself you know!  Sleep tight Dashie!”  
As Pinkie was leaving the room Dash called after her, “Pinkie Pie!”
“Yes, Dashie?”
“Thank you so much for everything Pinkie, you are the best friend a mare could have” She hesitated, trying not to seem too transparent. “You know you can always come to me if anything is bothering you.”
Pinkie looked at Dash with her brilliant Pinkie smile and said, “It’s ok Rainbow Dash! I will keep that in mind! Now get some sleep.”
Good, Pinkie may be mopey some of the time but she wasn’t mad at her at least.
Tonight she very easily fell into sleep.