Rainbow's Choice

by Metaphor

Chapter 6

The violent sound of retching echoed around the floating cloud home like a pea stuck in a tin can. Rainbow sat next to the toilet, her head limply supported on the rim and her hooves gripping the side of the bowl like her life depended on it. Four mornings in a row, four! Why did life hate her so much?

Slowly she raised her head. Her eyes were red and swollen from interrupted sleep and dark bags were starting to form under them. Her ears drooped and her rainbow coloured mane stuck out in all directions like she’d been the victim of one of her own rainblow-drys. She moaned quietly and gave a few coughs before raising a hoof to her chest and trying to steady herself. Her mouth was bone dry despite the copious amount of water she had been drinking.

She looked down at herself and glared. Although it was virtually unnoticeable to anypony else she could definitely see some changes in her physique. Her usually flat and well-toned stomach was definitely bigger than it had been before. Rainbow hadn’t noticed it over the last few months but now that she looked at it she could notice the difference. It was only two week since she had found out she was pregnant but it felt like an eternity.

So far she had been able to deal with everything this unwanted nonsense had thrown at her but right now she felt like dying. To make matters worse today was a day she had been dreading since the previous week, her second hospital check-up appointment. Part of her mind was saying don’t bother; just go back to bed and try and get some sleep. The other half, however, knew exactly what would happen if she missed it. Doctor Stable wasn’t a pony who just let things slide. Last week she had been a few minutes late and he had chewed her out for at least five minutes before she had even gotten inside the hospital.

It wasn’t only the doctor though, it was the tests themselves. Rainbow had always been a very sensitive pony in terms of touch. She couldn’t bare having her hoofs touched and normally only accepted hugs from ponies she knew. It made her feel vulnerable, putting somepony else in charge…she didn’t like it.

She gave a short sigh and sat back from the toilet. She didn’t feel any better despite her previous activities and doubted she would for some time. Breakfast was certainly out of the question! Even the thought of food made her feel nauseous despite the hunger pains drifting through her body. What had she done to deserve all this pain and suffering? Hoisting herself to her feet she took a brief glance at herself in the mirror and then left the bathroom. She stumbled a little, bumping into the bathroom doorframe and giving a light grumble.

“Better get this over with…” she murmured to herself as she gave the side of her head a gentle rub.

It wasn’t long before Rainbow was on the ground, walking slowly towards the Ponyville hospital. She had decided against flying, a first for her in a long while. She had tried of course, part of her ‘nothing can stop me’ attitude. And yet here she was. She was glad her home was out of the way, the last thing she needed was for somepony to start asking questions about why she was riding clouds to the ground.

It was then that a poster caught her eye, tacked to a nearby tree. Rainbow stopped to look at it; the Iron Pony Competition. An image of her and Applejack was proudly plastered across the centre of the poster; each pony staring at the other with a steely determination in their eyes. Rainbow remembered posing for that photo, it seemed like a whole lifetime ago. And yet the competition was now only three days away…three days.

Rainbow felt a knot of rage building in her stomach; she wouldn’t lose! Whatever happened she wouldn’t lose! The competition had grown since the previous year, a massive event that was now going to be covered by the media. It was quite a grand occasion for Ponyville; a town that had, frankly, been passed over as just another ordinary village. It wasn’t grand like Canterlot, nor was it sophisticated like Manehatten or a tourist trap like Las Pegasus. But this event could really put Ponyville on the map. She couldn’t let everypony down! Scootaloo hadn’t stopped talking about the competition for weeks now, the Rainbow Dash fan club had been practicing a chant since before Winter Wrap Up. Rainbow smiled slightly, they didn’t know she knew but it made Rainbow feel incredibly proud. She knew that getting too big headed was a foolish thing; her friends had taught her that when they had posed as the mysterious Mare-do-well…but she couldn’t help herself from time to time even so.

A twinge in her back brought her back to reality as she shifted her weight. She looked away from poster and set off again towards the hospital. Well there was only one thing to do and nopony was going to persuade her otherwise. She was going to be the best pony any pony could wish to be. She was going to be talked about on every street corner and be twenty percent cooler than anypony else.

As she finally arrived at the hospital Nurse Redheart was there to greet her. The medical pony gave her a friendly smile and waved her in. Rainbow tried her best to look perfectly fine; a task she almost pulled off apart from the occasional wince.

“Take a seat Rainbow and I’ll be right with you,” announced Redheart as she opened a door to one of the examination rooms.

Rainbow walked in, heading to the far side where the examination table sat. Slowly she hoisted herself onto it and waited. This was one of the worst part, the waiting. The room was painted in the usual medical green colour, the walls decorated with the usual medical style posters and charts. A clock sat on the wall, its hands slowly ticking off the seconds one by one. Rainbow hated this. She hated this room. She hated the pointless posters she had read a million times over. She hated the stupid plastic flowers sat in their stupid polka dotted vase. Most of all though she hated the thing inside her.

“There we go,” came a call from the door as Nurse Redheart entered the room, “Just had to clear a few bits of information with reception. Doctor Stable is unavailable today, minor emergency to deal with, so I’ll be conducting your tests on my own today.”

“Fine!” replied Rainbow bluntly as she folded her forelegs, “Let’s just get on with it.”

“Miss Dash you really should be happier about all this. You’re going to be a mother!”

Rainbow didn’t reply, instead choosing to glare at the poster opposite her. Redheart sat down next to the examination table and started flicking through a list of records.

“Now then, let’s get these questions out of the way first shall we? Have you been sleeping well?”

“Fine, no problems.”

“Ah…hah…any further sickness? Pains, aches or dizzy spells?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

Redheart put her notes down and levelled her gaze at Rainbow, “Miss Dash I know that’s not true. I could see you wincing with every step you took when you arrived and I also noticed that you didn’t fly here today.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me ok!”

“Very well, lie back I need to conduct a few tests.”

Rainbow did so, lying back on the table and staring up at the ceiling. Redheart approached her side, for a moment just observing the blue Pegasus before moving her hooves up towards her face. She quickly placed on either side of Rainbow’s left eye and gently pulled her eye lids back.

“Hmm…reddened eyes and the start of shadows…have you had any disrupted sleep?” she asked.

“N-no….”

“Ah…hah,” replied Redheart her tone completely unconvinced as she moved down Rainbow’s body, “Dry lips too, open wide now.”

Rainbow did so reluctantly, Redheart taking a moment to examine the inside of Rainbow’s mouth before moving on.

“Signs of dehydration…you’ve obviously not been eating right either? Are you sticking to the diet information we gave you last week?”

“Well…kind of…” replied Rainbow as the look on her face started to grow more irritated.

Redheart shook her head, “Miss Dash this is very serious! If you don’t look after yourself it could have terrible consequences on your child…”

“I already told you!” interrupted Rainbow, “I’m not going to have this child! I’m aborting as soon as I can, speaking of which you said you’d have more information on that for me today.”

Redheart took a deep breathe, “Yes, yes I do…but with your current attitude I don’t even think I should tell you.”

“Tell me right now!” demanded Rainbow, slamming her hoof on the side of the table as she sat up.

“…We still can’t proceed for another week…”

“Another week! That’ll put it AFTER the Iron Pony! What do you expect me to do about that?!”

“I expect you to look after yourself properly! In your current state I wouldn’t recommend the procedure anyway, it’s a very complicated piece of surgery and if you aren’t in perfect condition it could have long lasting effects for you. You’re obviously dehydrated and hungry. I can tell you’ve not been sleeping properly and the way you were wincing would indicate you’re suffering from cramps and muscle fatigue. Your physique doesn’t help either, you’re so highly strung that it’s causing everything to tense more than normal and…”

“Oh so this is my fault now?”

“I’m not saying that Miss Dash. I’m saying that if you want to go ahead with the procedure you have one week to start following the rules or we won’t be able to do anything. Now lie back down, I have to check the foal.”

Rainbow gave a brief snort and then flung herself back on the table and resumed her earlier activity of staring at the ceiling. In the meantime Redheart retrieved the scanning machine and applied some gel to Rainbow’s midriff. Rainbow didn’t bother to look at the screen.

“Hmm,” mused Redheart as she moved the probe back and forth, “Still too early to tell the gender. It almost looks like…”

“What?”

“…oh its nothing,” finished Redheart as she removed the probe, “Everything looks fine.”

“Good, can I go now? I got things I need to do,” asked Rainbow as she made a move to sit up.

“You can go yes…but I recommend you take it easy for a while, certainly until your physical condition improves.”

“Improves? I’m the best athlete in Ponyville! What’s there to improve on? Oh I know what this is! You think Applejack is the best don’t you, should have figured! Well I’m going to show everypony I can still win! I’m not going to let Ponyville down.”

“Miss Dash, you’re not still thinking of competing this week are you?” gasped Redheart, the nurse pony looking visibly stunned.

“Competing? No. Winning? Oooooh yeah! Now if you’ll excuse me!”

With that Rainbow flipped herself off the table, gave a small groan and headed out the door. As she did she almost collided with Nurse Sweetheart, the plump pony having to jump back as Rainbow made her exit. After watching her leave for a moment Sweetheart stepped into the room to find Redheart sat in a chair looking thoroughly dejected.

“Oh dear, another bad examination?” she asked softly.

“I’m afraid so…” replied Redheart as she looked up, “…it’s like nothing I say even registers in her head.”

“Is she still wanting to go ahead?”

“Yes, and she’s even going to compete at the Iron Pony.”

Sweetheart was silent for a moment before giving a sigh. She looked around the room, her vision finally fixing on the still active scanning machine. The screen was frozen on an image, seemingly taken by Redheart during the scan. Sweetheart blinked and looked again, crossing to the machine to get a better view.

“Well I’ll be…” she said finally.

“You notice it as well?” asked Redheart.

“Have you told her?”

“I nearly did but I don’t know if it will make a difference or not? She didn’t even look at the screen herself. How can she be so detached?”

Redheart gave a small sigh as a tear began to form in the corner of her eye. Sweetheart quickly walked up beside her, throwing a hoof round her shoulder.

“Come on now, let’s get you some tea.”