Dawn of a new Day

by Furor

Chapter 2

There was a knock on the library door and Twilight looked up from the textbook Nurse Redheart had given her. “Coming,” she called, stood up and walked over to the door and opened it. She was greeted by a friendly smile from Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, there,” the pegasus said.

“Hi, Rainbow,” she replied and smiled as well. “You're early.” It was Saturday afternoon and they had set the time for their first session to 5 pm, but the watch hoof had just barely passed the 4 o'clock mark.

“Yeah,” Dash said with a shy smile, an absolutely adorable sight to the unicorn. “I guess I couldn't wait.”

Twilight chuckled. “It's okay. Come on in.” She stepped back and towards the couch in front of the fireplace, followed by Dash who had closed the door behind her. “I didn't want to start until the library closed, but I don't think there's going to be another customer showing up today.”

“Can't you close the library anytime you want?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. “I suppose I could. But that wouldn't be fair, now, would it? It's my job after all.”

“Twi, it's the weekend,” Dash insisted with a small laugh. “Most ponies don't even work on weekends. You need to learn to relax.”

Relax when you’re coming over? Twilight thought. “So, do you want to start right away? Or do you want me to explain what I'll need to do?”

“If you think I'll understand it.” Twilight had an unsure look on her face, but Dash only chuckled softly. “Don't worry, I'm not offended, really,” she continued, to which Twilight gave her an apologetic smile. “I know you live for this stuff and I actually don't care about all that magic and science or whatever it is, as long as it works. It is gonna work, right?”

“Oh, yeah, totally. I've got it all under control,” she said hastily and bumped her chest with her hoof. I'm making a foal of myself in front of her, she thought

Dash just gave her an amused smile. “So what's the plan?”

Twilight was irritated. “I thought you didn't want me to explain …”

“No,” Dash cut her off and waved a hoof. “I mean the general plan. Like a schedule?” she proposed at the helpless look on Twilight's face.

“Oh, you mean why we need several sessions.” The pegasus nodded at her. “Right. We haven't talked about that, yet.” She pulled her blackboard that had been standing off to the side in front of the fireplace and flipped it over. The front side was now showing a series of anatomical drawings on the top half, which might as well have been hieroglyphs to Rainbow Dash, as well as a list of planned events with dates behind them. “The book from Nurse Redheart only described the procedure of regrowing various body parts and organs. Muscles, bones, skin and such. Its descriptions are very detailed and I copied some of the anatomical drawings from other books. But it's only a reference book; I had to devise a plan for your treatment myself.”

Twilight cleared her throat and pointed at the first date on the list. “Today is the first session. It's not going to be that straining for us, since I'm just going to assess the damage and try to … secure the … imprints of your wing, so that it will still be … fresh next week.” She was again struggling to find words a laypony would understand, but only got a blank stare from Dash. Twilight sighed. “Today you're just going to lie on the couch, while I do some magic and fiddle around in your head a bit.” Twilight felt a shiver run down her back at her last words. That was not how she wanted to say it.

“See, that I understand.” Dash smiled happily at her. “But that fiddling in my head part? It sounds a bit dangerous.”

“Don't worry, Rainbow. I'll be gentle,” she said with a coy smile. She knew she could not really do any damage, not that she would ever try to.

“Alright,” Dash said with some hesitation, “I trust you.”

Twilight's heart sped up at those words and she took a deep breath. She returned her attention to blackboard. “Like I said, it won't be that exhausting and shouldn't take long, either. About 15, maybe 20 minutes.”

“Okay. And after that?”

“After that? Well, I've made some dinner for myself. You're invited … if you want to, that is,” she said, now looking at the ground.

“Uh … sorry. I already made plans with Pinkie.” Dash looked irritated. “But I can stay next time,” she added with a friendly smile.

“Yeah, of course.” Twilight kicked herself mentally. Stupid filly, she told herself. But, hey, she said ‘yes’ to next time. Could have gone worse.

“But I actually meant what's gonna happen next week.”

“Oh, right. Well, next week we're going to need dinner afterwards,” she laughed. “The second session next weekend and the third one in two weeks will require the most energy from us. We will regrow the bone and muscle tissue first, together with the skin layers and coat on it. And in two weeks we'll add the feathers,” she finished with a smile towards Dash.

“Is it gonna hurt?” Dash asked with a streak of worry on her face.

“No, I'll make sure of that.” Twilight gave her a confident smile. “You don't even have to do anything, really. Your body will do all the work for you.”

“Seems easy enough. But why are these sessions all a week apart?”

“Well today's exercise won't need that much magic from me or any energy from you, so theoretically we could continue tomorrow.” She saw a shimmer of hope in Dash's eyes. “But I haven't read up on the therapy that far yet and didn't really have enough time to prepare. A wing is a lot more complex than a small dragon scale. I'd just feel safer if we waited.”

“And what about -” Dash started.

“I'm too busy on workdays,” she interrupted the pegasus. “And using that much magic on two days in a row is not safe. I'm really sorry, Rainbow. You'll have to wait a week before we can continue.”

Dash sighed before lifting her head with a comforting smile. “You don't need to apologize. I should be thanking you, actually, for doing this.” She drew the unicorn into a hug. “So … thank you. You're the most awesome friend.”

Twilight's eyes went wide and her heart went wild at the pegasus' embrace. She wanted to say something, but found herself unable to. Instead she just returned the hug and enjoyed the short time she was that close to Dash.

Dash let her go and they stepped back onto all four hooves. “You still haven't told me about the last session.”

Twilight tried to compose herself. “Hm?” she asked in her slight daze.

“The last one on here,” Dash said and pointed at the blackboard. She stepped closer to it and began to read the note Twilight had written for the fourth session. “What's it say? 'Refinement & checkup'?”

“Oh,” Twilight exclaimed. “Yeah. We might not need that one, but it's better to be prepared for it. If we do, I'll tell you about it.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Dash turned around to her. “Now … let's do this?” she asked with a grin.

“Let's do this.” Twilight returned the grin.

“What do you need me to do?”

“You just lie down on the couch and try to relax.”

“Alright. Anything I can do to help?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, happy thoughts about what you lost are supposed to help,” she offered. “Try remembering how you used your wing.”

“Relaxing and thinking about flying,” Dash exclaimed. “Nothing easier than that.” She saluted Twilight and jumped onto the couch. “I was born for this.” She stretched herself and assumed a comfortable position, her eyes closed and a bright smile on her lips.

Twilight giggled like a little filly at that action and the adorable display of the happily smiling Rainbow Dash on her couch. She moved closer to the couch and sat down on her haunches in front of it, her head now near Dash's, only slightly higher. She tried to calm down, closed her eyes, took deep breaths and began to build up energy in her horn. “Try not to fall asleep, please,” she said quietly to Dash. With one last deep breath she delved into the cyan pegasus' mind.

Twilight had practiced this spell on Spike before Dash had come by. The baby dragon's mind was fairly organized. She had found sections about food, memories, friends, one entire section for Rarity and what seemed like a catalogue of most of the books in the library. She had wanted to become familiar with interfering with someone else's thoughts and get a feeling for moving around in another mind. But none of her work could have prepared her for what she found in the pegasus' head.

Rainbow Dash's head was a mess. Seemingly random thoughts were surrounding her as Twilight floated through the vast space her own mind created to resemble Dash's. Images, shapes, smells and memories were moving past her. Most of them were connected to flying – she could see clouds and the sun, feel the wind brushing through her mane and tail and surges of adrenalin from the high speeds her friend preferred. Then she saw what she was looking for. There, behind a huge memory of a sonic rainboom, she saw a glowing thread of Dash's soul. It looked like a magnified nerve ending to Twilight, only the bright cyan color of it breaking her analogy. As she followed its length the threads branching off of it made the whole system look like a cluster of countless nerves to her.

Thankfully, the pegasus was thinking about flying and hopefully concentrating on memories of her lost wing, because those strands of her soul connected to flying were lit up, seemingly having a glowing liquid pumped through them as auras of light were showing on their surface, travelling in pulses along them. Nonetheless, those that did light up made up more than half of what Twilight could see of the network. Rainbow Dash was a born flyer, nearly every single fiber of her being had to do with flying. Not finding the glowing lights particularly helpful, Twilight focused on the threads and studied the thoughts flowing through them. She found that the one she had been following was mostly about weather – clouds, rain, thunder and lightning.

It would be so easy for her now to find out what Dash thought about her, if she could possibly return her feelings. No. That was not why she was in here. She would not forgive herself for abusing her position and betraying Dash's trust like that, even if the pegasus would never know about it. She had a mission and needed to carry it out. She randomly examined nearby glowing veins and moved on through the network. Eventually she found a thread connected to Dash's memories about her body and followed along its path. Eventually she found the part of it she was looking for. She saw the lights reach a particular point in it, pass it, but glowing weaker after it. She moved close to that point and saw small tears and cuts in its vicinity, the glowing liquid seeping out through them and evaporating into the empty space between the strands of Dash's mind. Twilight stopped and looked along the thread towards its end. It was darker than the others. Where they had a bright, lively color, this one seemed dry, the memories at the ends of its branches beginning to fade.

She returned her attention to the damaged part. At first Twilight did not know what to do, but then she remembered that this was not really Dash's mind, only a representation of it. So it probably did not matter if she knew what she was doing. All that counted was the thought. She concentrated on the cuts first, healing them one by one with her magic. Next were the wider tears showing along its length. She willed each of them shut, pushing the fabric of whatever these veins were made of together and sealing them with a flare of her magic. She circled the formerly damaged area one last time, scanning for anything she could have missed, and looked towards the end of the thread again. The lights did not fade anymore and the color was beginning to lighten up again. The memories regained their … opacity? Twilight thought. She would have shrugged if it was possible for her to do so in this place. With one last look at the massive network of cyan blue – her favorite color – Twilight closed her ethereal eyes and faded out of the imaginary world.

Twilight took in a deep breath as she regained control of her physical body again. She opened her eyes and saw that she was still sitting in front of the couch and Dash was still lying on it with her eyes closed. Her eyes traced along her own body to make sure that nothing was missing and prodded various parts of it with her hooves. Eventually she put her hooves to the ground again and looked up at Dash. “Rainbow,” she said. “Dash, wake up.” She tapped the pegasus on her head.

“Hm? What?” Dash yawned. “Oh.” She stretched again and began to sit up. “You're done already?” Apparently she had almost been falling asleep. A look at the clock told Twilight that she had been combing through Dash's mind for roughly 20 minutes. Dash looked down at her side and a look of disappointment entered her face. “I don't see any difference,” she said towards Twilight.

“I told you I'd just be repairing the damage in your mind, so that your memories would still be fresh in the next session,” Twilight explained.

“So that's what you meant.” Dash traced a hoof along the stump at her side. “Hey,” she exclaimed, “the scar is gone!”

“You're welcome.” Twilight gave her a bright smile.

“I was beginning to like it actually. A bit. It looked kinda badass, hehe.”

Twilight chuckled softly. “Well, sorry, Rainbow. It had to go.” She stood up and examined the stump. “Do you feel anything different?”

Dash also stood up and jumped off the couch. She wore a thoughtful look before raising an eyebrow and closing her eyes. She flapped her remaining wing once and her lips formed a smile.

“Uhm, Rainbow?” Twilight stepped closer to the pegasus. “What is it?”

“It … it's weird.” Dash opened her eyes and looked at Twilight with a surprised expression. “I know my wing is gone.” She turned her head towards her former wing. “I can see it's gone when I look, but,” she closed her eyes again and faced forward, “when I don't look it's like it's still there. I can still feel it, somehow.”

Twilight sighed out of relief. “Yes, I should have warned you. I sort of refreshed your memory, made it seem to your mind like you've never lost it. It sounds to me like you now have a … phantom wing.”

They both chuckled at that name. “A phantom wing, huh? Sounds awesome.”

“It doesn't feel awkward?”

“No.” Dash paused for a moment. “Well, yeah it does, but I guess if I don't really pay attention to it I can feel like I was before.” She gave Twilight a wide grin. “Thank you.”

Twilight did not understand why Dash was so happy about an illusion, but her stomach tingled nonetheless at the sight of the joyful pegasus flapping her wing once more and she returned the smile. “You're welcome.”

“Oh, I can't wait to tell Pinkie. Was there anything else?” she asked, eager to return to her pink friend.

Right. Rainbow has no reason to stay now, does she? Sometimes Twilight cursed the pegasus' insensitive nature, but she could not hate her for it. Oddly it was one of the reasons why she fell for Dash. She always spoke her mind without the restraints politeness would have put on her. Twilight wished she could be that rash, simply shout her secret into the world. But she couldn't. She was too afraid of what might happen. She had only told her secret to one of her friends, the one pony she knew she could trust to keep it. But other than her, nopony knew about it.

“No,” she said and smiled at Dash. “I'm already a bit tired.” Twilight pretended to yawn. Over the last few months she had become quite good at feigning behavior and emotions. “I think I'll just have something to eat and then go to bed.”

“Okay, so …” Dash looked a bit unsure of what to say. “See you next week?”

“Oh, you don't have to come over just for the sessions. You can come by whenever you want.” Twilight hoped Dash would take that offer. The thought of seeing the blue filly more often made her heart jump. “Anytime, I'll probably be here.” It's not like I have much else to do, really.

“Oh, right. Yeah, I might just do that. There's really not much I can do here on the ground.”

Twilight laughed quietly. “As if you would do much in the air.”

“Hey, what's that supposed to mean?”

“Well, what were you doing all day, every day? Every time I ran into you, you were either sleeping on a cloud or in one of AJ's trees.”

“I did my job well enough,” Dash said, faking hurt pride. “You can't blame me for being the fastest at it. Just means more time off. And more time to practice my stunts.”

“Hehe. Sure.” Twilight loved watching the weather pegasus from afar, practicing her stunts. “But it's still three weeks until you can probably fly again.” She started walking the pegasus to the door. “You better find yourself a hobby.”

“Oh, I think Pinkie Pie will keep me busy enough.” Twilight opened the door for her and she trotted outside. “Thanks again, Twi, for doing this.”

Twilight gave her a warm smile. “Anything for a friend,” she said and watched Dash leave, become smaller and eventually turn around a corner and disappear. She closed the door and turned back to the now again empty room. She looked at the couch and the place Dash had lain only moments before, trusting her with the most precious thing any pony has. She sighed deeply and looked at the kitchen door. She did not feel like eating and doubted that that would still change today. She just felt like lying on her bed and wallowing in all too familiar melancholy. She slowly made her way towards the stairs.

She could not blame the blue pegasus for not knowing, for not thinking that Twilight would feel a slight pain in her chest every time she called her a 'friend'. She wanted to be so much more than that, but had only herself to blame for it. There had been many times, many opportunities at which she had been alone with Dash and she could have told her. Opportunities like today, but still not quite the same. Today had been different. Rainbow was coming to her for help; she was exposed and still vulnerable, even if she did not show it to Twilight.

She could have told Dash about her feelings today, but it felt wrong for the unicorn to do so, leaving aside that she would have probably been too scared anyway. Dash was trusting her with her life's passion and to force this onto her at such a time? Twilight could not do it. Yet she felt that she was growing closer to the pegasus. Maybe when this was over and Dash was her old self again they would be close enough that she could finally open herself to the brash mare. But that was still a long way ahead of her. All she wanted to do now was what she usually did in the evenings - thinking about Dash while imagining the things they would do together if only she were brave enough to tell her and lucky enough for the pegasus to give her a chance.

Comments

[Menoshe]

Ah, the dual-mind bit?

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[Shumiry]

This is... really good actually! I love the writing and the internal struggles, the characterizations, just all around awesome! Hope it stays this way! Please keep writing, I'll keep reading.

[Kenseirabbit]

im enjoying this a lot its my first twi-dash shipfic and i you are doing quiet well in my opinion cant wait to see what you offer in the future

[ChaoticHarmony]

Very nicely written chapter! Liked by me, and you have a new stalker

[Norden Guard]

this is good.
i dident think i was going to like it at first but now i love it