The Generosity of Loyalty

by Brother_William

The Accident

The Generosity of Loyalty

The day started like any other. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, this meant a lot of yelling at the weather team, who just couldn’t match her speed. As they struggled to keep up, none of the pegasi noticed the single unicorn sitting on a blanket atop the tallest hill in the area. With her sketchbook and pencil held firmly in her magic, Rarity was copying the interweaving contrails of the different pegasi as they flew about, arranging the clouds.

A certain trail uncharacteristically held her attention today, showing an abnormal amount of smooth curves instead of it’s usual 90 degree angles. Rarity wondered if this was an outward sign of something wrong with her friend.

Opalescence softly meowed beside her.

“I know, dear,” Rarity said, “But how would I approach her? You and I both know that Rainbow Dash hates showing her emotions, and ever since the Best Young Fliers Competition, we haven’t exactly talked much.”

Opalescence meowed again, this time rubbing her head against Rarity’s leg.

“Do you honestly think that would work?”

Before Opalescence could respond, a loud boom resounded through the air. Looking up, Rarity saw the expanding ring of color, but that barely held her attention for a second. Instead, she focused on the fact that the rainbow trail led from the center of the ring directly to the ground. Most of the pegasi were already headed to where the rainbow ended, completely forgetting the clouds that were supposed to be a rainstorm over Sweet Apple Acres.

Rarity was already halfway to the rainbow before she realized she was even moving, let alone galloping faster than she ever had before. Right before she got there, the second-fastest pegasi on the weather team was already up in the air, flying in the direction of Ponyville General Hospital.

The sight that greeted Rarity nearly made her pass out. Before her eyes was the result of a head-on impact with the ground at super-sonic speed. From what she could tell, nearly every bone in Rainbow’s body was broken, and if somepony didn’t do something quick, Rainbow could die from the pain of her injuries.

Channeling her magic, Rarity began casting a spell that would transfer the injuries of the target to the caster. Struggling against the pain, she continued to channel the spell, until only Rainbow’s wings were left. Even though she braced herself for what she knew was coming, Rarity still blacked out when her horn broke as she finished the spell.

When she came to, Rarity found that she couldn’t move even a millimeter. Opening her eyes, she had to shut them almost immediately from the harsh white light that flooded the room. Reopening them, she only had to blink a few times to adjust to the light, before she started to look elsewhere. Knowing that if she saw herself, she’d probably pass out again, Rarity instead focused on her surroundings. The room looked exactly like Rainbow’s from when she had been in the hospital for her broken wing. Or was it sprained? She couldn’t really remember, but at least she knew where she was now, though there wasn’t any doubt.

“Ponyville General certainly looks different from a patient’s view, rather than a visitor’s view,” Rarity laughed to herself.

The sound of her weak voice woke up Fluttershy, who had been sleeping on the floor at the foot of her bed, “Umm… Is a-anypony there?” she asked in her normal shy voice, before standing up and looking around.

“Fluttershy, Darling. Did you sleep on the floor?” the sound of Rarity’s voice made the timid pegasus jump.

Fluttershy turned around to see Rarity’s eyes staring at her with concern, “O-oh, umm… Yes, but… Nurse Redheart offered me the other bed, but I couldn’t take it. W-what if another pony arrived who needed it more, a-and they couldn’t wake me up?”

“You worry too much, Dear. Tell you what, as soon as I’m out of here, I’ll take you to the spa, try to get all that tension out of you. The relaxation could really do you good,” secretly, Rarity was glad that Fluttershy was here, because she wasn’t sure she could handle any of her other friends right now, especially the naturally loud Rainbow Dash. That, and, it was always easier to focus on Fluttershy than herself, because she just seemed so helpless.

Fluttershy, however, looked like she was getting angry at Rarity, “HOW CAN YOU WORRY ABOUT ME WHEN YOU’VE BEEN IN A COMA FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS?! DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU PUT ALL OF US THROUGH?!” Fluttershy yelled in her slightly-louder-but-still-quieter-than-the-average-pony voice.

“Three months? I hope Opalescence is ok.” Rarity said, desperately looking for something else to talk about, if only to keep her mind off of the fact that she had been pretty much dead for three months.

“Of course Opalescence is ok. You know that I take care of all the animals in Ponyville when their owners are away for extended periods of time,” Fluttershy was now somewhere between her normal self and her angry self, “I even brought her here a couple times to say hi to you. She never wanted to leave, so I had to use the Stare on her a couple times, the poor thing.”

“How is everypony else doing?” Rarity asked, hoping to keep the topic off of herself for once.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, “Twilight’s been holed up in the library for almost a month now, researching a way to mend all your broken bones without having to take them onto herself. Applejack has been regularly giving bits she earned working on Sweet Apple Acres to the Hospital to pay for your medical bills. And Pinkie has been coming by every day with ‘Hooray For Waking Up’ balloons and cupcakes, hoping that it’ll be the day you wake up.”

“What about Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy’s cheeks lit up with a blush, “She’s been laying in the bed next to you the entire three months you were in a coma. We were finally able to get her to get up and go outside for some fresh air earlier today, and she’s been out there ever since. It’s been about three hours since she went outside, so I don’t know if she’s even still around the Hospital.”

At that moment, there was a tapping on the window of the room, causing both of them to jump, though only Fluttershy visibly moved. Flying over to the window, she pulled the curtains aside to show Rainbow Dash hovering there. Rainbow gestured with her hoof to something behind her and quickly moved to the side. Spelt out in huge letters made out of pure white clouds were the words ‘Thank You Rarity’.

Tears welled in Rarity’s eyes as Rainbow Dash disappeared from view, headed toward the entrance of the hospital.

Author's Note:

For those of you that have read A Little Piece of Heaven, this is an apology of sorts, as well as my first attempt at writing romance. Please bear with me if things seem a little rushed. As I said, it was written while I listened to Classical Orchestra instead of Avenged Sevenfold, so the writing style might seem completely different from any of my other stories.

Comments

[Red Mare]

This is good. I can't wait for more. More I need more.

[Razalon The Lizardman]

Element of Loyalty + Element of Generosity = Element of Sacrifice.

Sacrifice entails the willingness to face near-certain doom if it means saving someone you care deeply for.

[Vinyl Mfing Scratch]

I really enjoyed this story. I can't wait for there to be a sequel

[ScatMan2001]

A little rushed, as you said, but it was good.
I liked it.
Hope to see more!

[Ossidius_Black]

That was fantastic, I loved every moment of it!

[askshadowthepikachu]

(Here from the self promo group.)
Very good story so far, it's very detailed. I have only one nitpick though. The scenes are paced a little too quickly.
But hey, I love Coma stories (and I'm actually writing one myself) so this gets a like and fav in my book.
EDIT: Did I forget to mention that Raridash is my favourite ship?