Cushy. Fuzzy. Itchy.
Rainbow Dash’s senses slowly returned to her, beginning with her sense of touch.
Dry. Swollen. Bitter.
Antiseptic. Hint of unshowered ponies and smoke.
Light. Not blinding, but bright.
Beeping off her side, rhythmic and steady.
Oh, and there was pain. She had forgotten about the pain. Rainbow dash groaned, trying to roll onto her side. The sudden movement sent pain shooting down both wings, which were spread out below her, constrained out by a cast and secured by straps to prevent excess movement.
“She’s awake!” Rainbow snapped her head towards the source of the high-pitched voice, immediately regretting the sharp motion.
“Ow! Oh, hey Pinkie… Pie…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as realized the futility of talking while Pinkie fired off her planning of the ‘Rainbow Dash Waking Up’ party in her signature rapid staccato. During her exposition, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ walked into the room, similarly opting to wait until Pinkie was finished before speaking.
“…best party ever!” Pinkie collapsed onto the foot of the bed, as if the upcoming party was so amazingly fantastic, the mere description of it was too much for a pony to handle. Twilight waited to see if Pinkie was truly finished before she began. Twilight, satisfied that the exuberant pony was finished after a few seconds of silence, turned back towards Rainbow Dash.
“So, what in the hay happened back there? I mean you father was obviously didn’t approve of you becoming an athlete, but you didn’t have to burn down the entire party!” Damn that purple, inquisitive pony. Did she have to have answers for every mystery she came across? Rainbow’s eyes flickered between Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Applejack shook her head, they hadn’t told the other two about RD’s past yet. Twilight noticed the glances, narrowing her eyes, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle that she had spent the last few days assembling. “Your father abused you, didn’t he?” She said slowly, at last.
“What? That’s crazy? Ow…” She blurted, perhaps a little too loudly, a little too abruptly, simultaneously scooting away from the uncomfortably logical purple mare, instantly causing pain to shoot across her body again.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. You’ve been acting strange lately, Rainbow Dash. You’ve been purposefully avoiding even the mention of your father, let alone the party. You go tearing through town like a wrecking crew without a word of apology or explanation. I’ve seen you less and less lately, and when I do, you’re always slouching and slumping. You’ve been acting like you’ve been rehashing everything that has happened to you, except it’s all come rushing back at once. How am I doing so far?” Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all biting their lips, hoping that this set of inquiries wouldn’t push Rainbow’s brain further than it had already been stretched.
“Honestly Twilight, do you think that Rainbow Dash’s mother would have known about that and stopped it? Don’t be ridiculous,” Rarity spoke up from the back, causing the trio of ponies who knew the truth to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Rainbow Dash is fine, just worn out from her extra shifts as a weather pony.
“And that’s another thing, where was your mother? I saw your father, but I never saw your mother at the party.”
“Nothing! Nowhere, she’s fine! Uh, she was home… sick! She got sick with the flu, and had to stay… home,” Rainbow Dash blurted.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight was unconvinced. “So when I get back to the library this afternoon and do research, I won’t find anything?” she pressed.
“No, you—I—you’ll find—argh!” She snapped her hooves to her head, as if the questions caused her physical pain.
“What happened to her Dash?”
“Nothing! She’s home resting!” Each word caused seemed to cause physical pain to Rainbow Dash.
“Dash, what happened?”
“She’s home, waiting for my father’s return!” It was obvious that this conversation was wreaking havoc with her psyche. She forced her eyes closed, contorted her face, and shielded her head with her hooves, trying to block an unseen attack.
“Hey Twi, maybe we should go,” Applejack tried to intervene.
“No! Something’s wrong here, and I want to help!”
“Please, Twilight, can we go outside?” Fluttershy ventured.
“Not until Rainbow Dash tells me the truth! Is that really so hard?”
“She’s dead!” All eyes turned towards the bed-ridden pony, the volume and anger left everypony in the room speechless. Twilight immediately felt guilty for pushing so hard.
“Rainbow, I didn’t mea-”
“My father, sister, and my mother went on a trip out west, and had to stay in a motel. My worthless, abusive—” Twilight’s posture fell as her worst predictions came true. “Yes, you heard me right—abusive father got drunk, and knocked over a lantern. Burned the place down, with my mother and sister inside! Are ya bucking happy? Congrats, the ‘Oh So Smart Twilight’ figured out the ‘big mystery of Rainbow Dash.’ You ought to get a prize, bringing my only secret to light. I’ve got an idea, let’s tell all of Equestria how bat-shit crazy Rainbow Dash is! See what happened in her past? Let’s flaunt it to the world! Sounds fantastic! See that one part of her that’s sacred, the one part she never lets see the light of day, because if it ever gets out it’ll drive her insane? Let’s toss it into the open and walk all over it! Are you happy that you got to do all this? Good! Now get the buck out!” She slammed herself onto her back, ignoring the shooting pain. The other five just stared her in shock and horror. Twilight gulped.
“Rainbow, I wasn’t tryi-”
“Did I stutter? Get the buck out!” She yelled, the whole room reverberating with the volume of each venom-laced word. The entire hospital went dead silent, the only noises from the various electronic medicinal equipment. The five stood stock still for a second, before silently filing out of the room. “And stay out!” She yelled at their retreating forms. Twilight turned to Applejack.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I didn’t know, all I wanted to do was help!” She pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Twi. Even we didn’t know about her mother. She just told us about her father.”
“And why didn’t you tell us about him? Wait, what do you mean, ‘we?’” Rarity walked up.
“Were you three keeping this a secret from us? Why?” Rarity chastised the yellow Pegasus and two earth ponies. Fluttershy’s sorrowful expression told volumes, even though nopony said a single word.
- - - - -
Rainbow Dash fumed in her hospital room, partly at Twilight for being so nosy when she obviously didn’t want to discuss it, but mostly at herself for shouting her secrets to the world. Now everypony knew her better than she would have liked. As much as she liked being friendly with people, she had always used her athleticism as a shield, a barrier, something that only she could do so that she was never too involved with anypony. She didn’t want to get to close of friends, let alone a romantic partner, in order to avoid discussing this; and she had just shouted it to the world.
It was oddly freeing, in a way. It was finally off her chest, she could finally rest. She could finally sleep. Blissful slumber, how she longed for its soothing embrace.
“Hello, daughter.” Dash’s eyes snapped open, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
“What are you doing here?” She said, straining to reach her opponent, realizing with some fear that the straps that secured her wings also kept her from moving.
“Finishing what I should have done years ago,” he said calmly, picking up a scalpel from a nearby table. “I wouldn’t make a noise, if I were you.”
“And why the-gurk!” she quickly found herself struggling to breath, as he slammed all his weight down on his legs, and consequently on Rainbow Dash’s windpipe.
“Shush now, don’t you cry, mama’s never gonna sing another lullaby!” The scalpel shone in the pale hospital light.
Rainbow Dash bolted upright screaming, the pain from her wings bringing her back to reality. Drenched in sweat, she glanced around the room, looking for her father. He faded away, as did the terror from the nightmare.
She let herself gingerly back on to the bed, taking care not to disturb her wings too much. Still soaked in perspiration, the cloth below her stuck to her backside in an irritating fashion, and no amount of squirming could loosen the offending fabric. Despite being about a half minute behind the outburst, a group of three nurses charged into the room to ensure that Dash was ok—and more importantly—still alive. No amount of protesting or waving could move them away from her bedside for the next half hour. The only upside of the situation, was that she could finally get some answers from the staff.
“So, uh, where’s my father?” she finally ventured.
“Oh, we don’t know,” a nurse she recognized from her last visit to the hospital said.
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know?’ Don’t you have the room number written down?” she said, flabbergasted.
“We do, for sure. But he only was knocked unconscious, unlike you. We checked him in, but he checked himself out maybe eight hours ago. Lucky for you, he decided not to press charges for aggravated assault.”
“Lucky for me? Why did he even have the option to press charges?”
“Well, by all accounts you attacked him with a flaming torch first.”
“Typical.” Dash’s brows furrowed angrily. “He would always find ways to maintain the advantage. Was anyone else hurt?”
“A few ponies were treated for smoke inhalation, but nothing serious.” Finally, the dreaded question.
“How long until you let me out?”
“Well, that’s a tough question.” Here we go. “The knife wound is healed to the point where you could leave, but
couldn’t do any strenuous activities. The burn on your leg is pretty severe, you’ll want to stay for another day or two to make sure that is healing in a timely manner before you go. When your mane caught fire, it burned a significant portion of your neck, and you ought to be very careful about that. Your wings are going to heal it good time, if it was just those you could leave now. Your hooves however, that will take a bit.”
“My hooves?”
“Witnesses say you brandished,” she paused, searching through a stack of papers on a clipboard. “a ‘flaming plank/axe thing.’ Holding that for so long gave you fourth and third degree burns on portions of your hooves.”
“Fourth degree? I thought there were only three degrees of burns.”
“A common misconception. While third degree burns destroy the entirety of the skin affected, fourth degree burn damages the muscle and tendons underneath, often severe enough to expose the bone, as it was in your case.”
“But they don’t hurt at all. Is the bone really exposed?”
“The painless feeling is because all the nerves were destroyed. The pain comes later. And yes, but the bone is only exposed in a small area.”
“So, is this going to limit me at all?”
“Define ‘limit.’”
“As in ‘will it hinder my athletic abilities.’ Could it stop me from going pro?”
“Well, you’ll certainly have to do some significant amounts of rehabilitation. And while walking may be impaired a little, you should regain most of your capabilities. In time.” Dash groaned, leaned over to grab a book. She fumbled for a few seconds, dropping the book on the ground. Her dexterity was certainly—and dishearteningly—limited. The nurse smiled sweetly and put the book on Dash’s bed.
It took Dash longer than she wanted to admit to clumsily open the Daring Do novel to the correct page and start reading. It was a struggle to separate the individual pages in order to continue Daring’s adventure. She was relieved when a purple glow flipped the page for her, before she realized the source. She snapped a glare at the door, to where an apologetic Twilight stood, staring and pawing at the ground uncomfortably.
“Dash, I just wanted to say I was sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. Nopony did. And that’s how I would have preferred to have kept it, but somepony had other plans.” Twilight looked even worse after the mild scolding.
“Can you ever forgive me?” Rainbow thought about it for a second.
“Come over here for a second,” she said, motioning with a bandaged hoof. Twilight walked slowly across the room, looking like she had received an ‘F’ on an exam. Dash tensed up, then relaxed. “Fine, you’re forgiven. I thought about hitting you, but you look like you’ve punished yourself enough.”
“Really?” Twilight’s muzzle grinned from ear to ear, at the sound of the unexpected outcome.
“Yes, really.”
“Oh, thank you!” She wrapped Dash in a surprise hug. “I felt so terrible about unintentionally forcing you to admit to what your fa-” she stopped mid-word, catching the steely glare from Rainbow Dash at the unwelcome subject.
“Let’s change the subject.”
“So what’s the plan, now? You’ve already fought your father, are you going to bring him to court?”
“There is no plan. And that’s not a subject change.”
“No plan?” Twilight seem genuinely surprised. For a pony who was always planning and scheduling, not having a plan for the day or a portion of your life seemed so foreign. Celestia knows, she hadn’t lived a day in the recent years without having every single day planned out.
“Right.”
“There’s always a plan.” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Not this time. He would have me dead to rights at court—I did assault him.” Rainbow Dash sounded resigned to a horrible fate, like a prisoner who knew there was no escaping the electric chair or a traitor walking towards a firing squad.
“No, now I go my own way and he goes his. And if we meet again, I kill him.”
“That’s not much of a plan.” But at least she had some sort of plan to fall back on, even if it was a barbaric one. That made Twilight feel a little better; things weren’t entirely foreign.
“I’m pretty sure I just said that.”
“Oh, I know!” Twilight said, brightening. “When was your last vacation?”
“No idea.”
“Well, there you go! Whenever you get out of here, all of us will go on a vacation! That is, if we can get Rarity to stop being angry at Fluttershy, Pinkie, and AJ. She was so upset that they didn’t fill us in on the situation. We could have helped!”
“No, you couldn’t.”
“I beg to differ,” Twilight said, suddenly very self-confident, “I’ve read plenty of books on therapy. I’m sure I could at least have talked to you about it in some fashion.”
“Your definition of help and my definition of help are very different.”
“How do you define help?” Dash laughed mirthlessly.
“You could have lent me a knife or some other weapon. Better yet, do you know any way to travel in time?” Twilight stiffened, as if trying to avoid the subject.
“I’m sure I don’t need to lecture you on the butterfly effect,” Twilight said sternly, after a long pause.
“The butterfly wuzzahwhat? You know what? Never mind. I’m sure it’s a bad idea.” Dash said, dismissively.
“Well, I’m going to go make plans!” Twilight said, suddenly excited. “I’ll be back when I can!”
“You do that! I’ll be here! You know, reading…” Dash yelled at the rapidly retreating unicorn. She brought her book up to her eye-level again.
“Hey there, sugarcube!” Damn, it was going to be hard to finish this story. She set the book back down, redirecting her attention to the country pony, obviously coming in fresh from a hard day’s work. Very obviously.
“Jeez, Applejack! Haven’t they heard of showers at Sweet Apple Acres?”
“No,” she said in her deep southern drawl, “have you ever heard of working for a paycheck? Look at you, laying around all day with a book! And they call you an athlete.” Rainbow Dash laughed, immediately feeling the muscles in her back spasm painfully.
“Ow, ha ha ha, don’t make me laugh. How’s everypony doing?”
“On the farm, or in town?”
“Both.” Applejack thought for a moment.
“Applebloom got an A on a recent history report. Big Mac started dating some mare from town. Rarity is still peeved at me. Fluttershy hasn’t come out of her house sense you yelled at us a day or two ago. Oh, and Cheerilee started a function to help cover some of your medical costs.”
“That’s nice of her,” Dash said.
“Ain’t it?” she said, before abruptly changing topics. “You really need to go check on Fluttershy, she thinks you’re furious at her.”
“I can’t do much of anything right now,” Dash protested.
“I know that, but when you are able to get out of here, at least for an hour or so, you should drop by her cottage and talk to her. Nothing we can say will get her to believe us.”
“Alright, will do. Oh hey, Twilight’s planning some sort of vacation thingy. You should talk to her, and make sure she doesn’t schedule us all to go to an egghead convention, or something.
“I’ll do what I can, but no promises. If she gets in one of her ‘must learn everything moods,’ ain’t nopony in the universe that can stop her.”
“Just try. For my sake. Oh, and AJ?”
“Yes?”
“No farming conventions, either,” she said with a grin.
“Now that ain’t fair!” Applejack said in mock protest. “Now you get some rest, Dash. You’ll need every bit of it to heal up from those wounds.”
“Yes, mum!” Dash called out to the retreating Applejack. She snuggled down into the sheets of the hospital bed, finally able to absorb herself fully into Daring Do.