Chapter 13: That Face in My Mind
Chapter 13: That Face in My Mind
……
……
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……………………………Dash!
……bow Da…………… ………… ………Rainbow Dash! Wake up!
………
…Thank you, Twilight. Thank you all…
Wake up!
Gods, is she alright?
Move! Move! Step aside! Give me space to work! And no touching!
…Twists and turns are my master plan…
What about you? Are you alright?
I’m fine, Hawk! I’m fine! Just…
I’m sorry.
No, it’s fine. I’m sorry.
…A weighty choice is yours to make. The right selection or a big mistake…
What’s she mumbling?
I don’t know, none of it makes any sense...
Don’t worry. Simply mind flirting with the Everafter. Will do best to stabilize.
…If a wrong choice you choose to pursue, the foundations of home will crumble without you…
What?! What do you mean? She can’t be dying!
Never said she was dying. Said her mind was flirting with the Everafter.
I don’t see the difference!
…Nice try! Ponyville’s your problem, not mine...
What was that jump?! Dawn, what are you doing!
Helping.
…If you can’t catch her, Discord wins! …
Oh, there’s the turbulence. But so close. One last pull…
Hang on, Rainbow Dash!
Don’t lose her!
…last rope! Make it count! …
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……
…
“Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow’s bloodshot magenta eyes flickered at her name. The world before her was a hazy blur of painfully bright lights and shifting colors. She groaned and closed her eyes again, feeling a soft pillow gently supporting her head. A terrible headache threatened to split her skull in two, and she groaned again and ground her teeth together.
But as she closed her eyes, those haunting, terrifying visions and voices started to come back to her. She whimpered softly as memories and faces flashed across her mind’s eye before disappearing into the darkness of her subconscious again. Trembling, she rolled onto her side to clutch at her pillow, but cried out as a sharp stab of pain went through her wing.
The mare jerked up and opened her tearing eyes, only for a bleary brown shape to fill her sight. Strong hooves touched her shoulders and gently held her down as she writhed in pain. Soon, a sparking orange light joined the fray, bathing Rainbow in its aura, and the pain left her to be replaced by a smooth numbness.
“Just lie down, Rainbow,” she heard Hawk Tail say. Blinking and repeatedly rubbing at her eyes, she was finally able to focus on his face. Behind him, she could make out the familiar contours of her room at Hawk’s house. His red mane was slick with sweat and there were bags under his eyes, but his lips were pulled back in the smallest hint of a smile. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”
The orange shape of Dawn sniffed. “She wasn’t actually dead. Wouldn’t let that happen. Much too skilled for that. Simply had a touch-and-go with the curse in your mind.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash mumbled between pained gasps. “How’d that go?”
Dawn shrugged. “Challenging, no doubt. Nearly lost you on multiple occasions. Never would lose you though. But still, your mind is… fascinating.”
“My… mind?”
Seeing Rainbow struggle with her deadened limbs, Hawk Tail carefully wrapped his hooves around her shoulders and helped her sit up. She flashed a grimace at him as thanks, to which he returned his own small smile.
Dawn, meanwhile, began to pace back and forth in front of the bed. “Yes, well, when you had your little ‘accident’, the curse that was keeping your memories sealed momentarily lost its hold over your mind. In response, it tried to shut your mind down and get hold of it once again. Interesting curse; it moves and acts like its alive; definitely not like one I’ve seen before.
“Thankfully, I was watching your little show from a distance. Fascinating act, particularly the sonic explosion near the end. Wouldn’t have pushed it that far, though.” She waved a hoof at Rainbow’s left wing, which was bound in a cast and sling. “Reasons obvious enough. But, irrelevant. Or maybe not. It is likely the pain and the near-death experience triggered the life review process—what most refer to as seeing their life ‘flash before their eyes’. The life review process is so strong that it was able to shake the hold the curse had over you, allowing you to remember things.”
She stopped pacing and suddenly pivoted to lean towards Rainbow Dash, practically bumping noses with her. “What do you remember?”
Rainbow Dash jumped back, wincing as her broken wing bumped against the bed frame but thankful for Dawn’s sedative spell. “What do I remember?” she echoed, blinking.
“Yes, before the curse could reassert itself over your memories, I tried to disentangle it,” Dawn said. She examined Rainbow’s face for a few seconds, then, seemingly noting her discomfort, took a few steps back to give her space. “Much like the first time I attempted to rectify your memories, in fact, except now I knew what I was dealing with. Thought I could pry it off the rest of the way; came close, too, but the curse became much more aggressive.”
“Aggressive?” Hawk Tail asked. “How does that even work?”
“If I knew more about the kind of curse used, then I could tell you,” Dawn said. “However the spell was cast is beyond my abilities to replicate and then reverse engineer. But when the curse became more aggressive, it tried to tear pieces of Rainbow’s mind out with it. Her identity, so to speak, or as much as she’s recovered in her time with us.” She shook her head and went back to examining a few diagrams and formulae on a clipboard she’d rested on the nightstand. “Had to abandon removing the curse for your own health. Was however able to sweep a few loose bits away from its reach before backing out. Which brings us back to the question,” she cast Rainbow a sideways glance, “what do you remember?”
Rainbow closed her eyes and thought for a few moments. The voices and faces flashed by again, and even though she felt her heart pounding, she could at least recognize what was happening and try to calm herself. Concentrating, she began to pick out little details. “I remember… a castle,” she said, furrowing her brow. “And a maze. And this…” she shuddered as she heard his cackling. “This awful, evil laughter. It creeps me right out.”
She didn’t realize she was shaking until Hawk Tail put his hoof on her shoulder. “Anything else?” he asked in a gentle voice.
The cerulean mare paused, her breath catching in her throat. She remembered a face, clear as day. For whatever reason it filled her with wonderful, blissful happiness and a terrible, crushing sadness. What’s more was that she could remember the face’s name. It stood out as clear as the rose streak in her cropped indigo mane.
“Twilight,” Rainbow whispered. Just saying her friend’s name moved something inside her, but she wasn’t sure what. “I remember my friend, Twilight Sparkle. She was probably—no, definitely the smartest pony I knew.” Her eyes flicked over Dawn, and she smiled some. “You remind me a lot of her, Dawn. Like, a lot.”
Dawn paused for a moment, then nodded. “Delightful. Would certainly hope to meet one day. It’s tough enough as it is to find another intelligent mind to hypothesize with in this town.”
“Thanks,” Hawk muttered, rolling his eyes but smiling all the while.
“Twilight was one of my closest friends,” Rainbow continued. “I mean, we didn’t really see eye to eye on a lot of things, ‘cause she was kind of an egghead and loved to read all the time, but she was definitely the glue that held our circle of friends together.” Some feeling of warmth caused her to smile, even though at the same time she felt like curling into a little ball and crying her eyes out. The worst part was she had no idea why.
“Do you remember any of your other friends?” Hawk asked, his expression starting to shift to one of concern as he watched Rainbow’s hopeless struggles against her inner turmoil.
Rainbow bit her lip and stared at the thin covers she held draped across her abdomen. She knew them; their names were on the tip of her tongue. All she needed to do was remember them. It shouldn’t have been too hard; she just had to imagine their faces.
She clopped her hooves together. There it was! She could see them now. There was… well, she may have been a little blurry, but there was also… but she definitely remembered… was her coat green or pink?
Finally, Rainbow hugged herself close. “No,” she murmured. “I can’t remember any of the others. Just Twilight.”
Both Hawk Tail and Dawn shared a glance, and Hawk Tail nodded. “It’s alright, Rainbow,” he said. “We’ll work on it some other time.”
“Wouldn’t want to cause mental relapse,” Dawn added. Hawk shot her a dirty look, letting her know just how much her comment was appreciated.
Rainbow happily welcomed a change in subject. “What I wanna know is what happened and why I’m not a splat on the ground somewhere.”
Hawk Tail reached out behind him and pulled a chair over to Rainbow’s bed. “Well, after your colorful explosion thingy—”
“Sonic Rainboom.”
“Sonic what?” Hawk asked, not really sure he heard Rainbow clearly.
“It’s a Sonic Rainboom,” Rainbow answered matter-of-factly. “It’s the hardest stunt ever to pull off.” She smiled a bit. “I’m the only one in the entire world that’s fast enough to do it.”
“Really?” Hawk asked, skeptical. “How do you know?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I just do.” Hawk looked to Dawn to see if she bought it, but to his surprise, she seemed to. Dawn caught his stare and nodded.
“Saw the whole thing. ‘Sonic Rainboom’ achieved by breaking the sound barrier. Resulted in the ‘boom’ part of the name, as well as the ‘sonic’ bit.” Her eyes flicked up and down Rainbow’s figure, taking a particular interest in her wings—or at least the uninjured one she still had. “Quite an extraordinary feat to do so. Sonic barrier roughly six hundred, seven hundred miles per hour at that altitude. Most pegasi can only top out at a hundred miles per hour in a dive such as that. Maybe two hundred. Varies.”
The stunt flyer smirked at Hawk Tail. “Told you.”
“Oh. Well.” Hawk Tail’s eyebrows bounced once. “Anyway, after your Sonic Rainboom, you just started falling. Lanner and I could see that you were barely conscious; I guess that was when your wing broke,” he added, gesturing to Rainbow’s bound wing. “We both got airborne to try and get to you, but you were too far away and falling fast.”
“That still doesn’t really answer my question though,” Rainbow said.
“I’m getting to that; sheesh. Well, like I said, we were too far out to get to you in time,” Hawk continued. “But just before you hit the ground, Flurry caught you and managed to soften the blow a little.”
“Flurry?” Rainbow gawked. “What was she doing out there?”
“She was getting her ice sculpture for Jubilee Day and was just bringing it back to town when she saw you fall. So, she unhitched herself and divebombed you to catch you before you could hit the ground.” He smiled a little. “She took the brunt of the fall for you, but she came in at an angle so she was more or less okay. Just a few scrapes and bruises. The first thing she asked was if her sculpture was fine.”
Rainbow blinked. “Jeez… where is she? Or… err, how is she?”
“Flurry sprained a leg in the crash landing, suffered mild brush burning to her left side, and is nursing a concussion,” Dawn answered. “Other than that, perfectly fine. Have her taking it easy right now, and confined to the ground. Don’t want her flying with a concussion; bound to become disoriented and fly into a building.”
Hawk nodded. “She’s with Lanner right now in the other room. My poor sister’s rather pissed at you for getting yourself into this mess, you know.” He patted Rainbow on the shoulder. “So this time when the doctor says no flying and take it easy, you should listen to her.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow muttered. “Lesson: learned.”
“You want to talk to her?” Hawk Tail asked. “I’m sure she’d be happy to know you’re awake now.”
Rainbow rubbed her head as if it would somehow make her headache go away, but even when that failed she still nodded. “Yeah, sure. I want to at least say thanks for saving my hide.” She paused. “How long have I been out for?”
“About a day at this point,” Hawk said. “You were in bad shape when Flurry caught you, I guess because of that curse thing, and after Dawn tried fiddling with it you’ve just been out. Until now that is.” He smiled and gently nudged her. “It’s good to have you back, though. At least this time you’re not panicking and reclusive like when we first spoke.”
The mare flashed a weak smile. “Yeah, well this time I’m not like a blank slate or anything. I at least remember all you guys.” She shrugged. “I guess that’s more than what I could say the last time I crash landed.”
Dawn all the while kept flicking her gaze between the two pegasi while maintaining her cool distance in the corner of the bedroom. Suddenly her eyes fluttered several times in a rapid succession of blinks, realization written on her face, and she moved towards the door. “I’ll fetch Flurry. Will probably go back to my house then. Much work needs to be done.” She paused next to Hawk Tail. “You should come see me when you’re finished here.”
Hawk blinked. “Uh… why’s that?” But Dawn was already going through the door, and she shut it with a soft click behind her.
Rainbow Dash looked around the room and pursed her lips. Eventually, her eyes settled on Hawk in a sideways glance. “Thanks for taking care of me… again…” she said. “I seriously owe you one or two or five.”
Hawk Tail smiled and brushed her mane with a hoof. “It’s nothing. It’s just what friends do.”
“Heh, I guess…” The mare flicked her eyes towards the other side of the room. She was silent for a while before finally speaking up. “Hey, Hawk?”
The stallion jumped like he’d been hit and drew his hoof back. “Uh… sure? What’s up?”
Rainbow hesitated, her lips unable to articulate anything. She licked her lips and tapped her hooves together, not making direct eye contact with Hawk. Eventually, she asked in a quiet voice, “Hawk… thanks.”
“For what?”
“For being so nice to me.”
Hawk Tail’s body tensed, and for the longest time he wasn’t able to do anything except stare at Rainbow’s face. Her eyes slid in their sockets, their gaze sweeping across the covers to the bed until they sheepishly met his. Both ponies blinked and looked away, and Hawk lightly coughed into the crook of his foreleg.
“It’s just that…” he stopped, trying to reorganize his words. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“But why you?” Rainbow asked. She looked away, and a teasing smile pulled on the corners of her lips. “If you keep this up, ponies will start to talk.”
Hawk managed a weak smile. “What, you don’t like me taking care of you?”
Rainbow shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I’m just… I mean, I know Lanner too. She’d happily watch me for you if you needed to do something. So I just wanna know…” She wrung her hooves together and bit her lip. “Why?”
The brown stallion was at a loss for words. His heart palpitated in his chest, and even though his mouth opened several times, he couldn’t force any words out. Rainbow was watching him through her prismatic bangs, her chin tilted downwards as if she was worried she’d said something she shouldn’t have.
“Rainbow, I…” He breathed, unable to force the rest of the words out. He stopped and gathered his thoughts, prepared to try again, when the door opened.
“Knock knock!” Lanner chirped as she poked her head through the door. Rainbow and Hawk quickly turned away from each other, a touch of rose coloration in their cheeks. Seeing Rainbow was awake, the gray mare squeaked and threw herself onto the bed. “Rainbow Dash! You’re awake! Ohmygoodness this is the best thing ever!”
“Ack!” Rainbow coughed with the sudden flop of pony on her chest. Gritting her teeth, she barely managed to suppress a hiss of pain. “It’s… good to see you too, Lanner. Just… please watch the wing… or the chest…”
Lanner’s ears flattened against her head, and she slid away. “Sorry…” she mumbled, fidgeting with her hooves. That lasted all of a second before she was bouncing again. “But you’re alive and you look great! When you did that explosion thingy and went bwooooooooosh and started falling towards the ground, we all thought you were a goner. But Flurry here saved your life!”
The small white mare was just making her way through the door when Lanner pointed right at her. She wore a bandage wrap around her head, which wouldn’t have stood out against her white fur were it not for her ice-blue mane. She seemed the faintest bit disoriented, but she still smiled when she saw Rainbow awake and looking at her. Flurry reached a shaking hoof out and rested it on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Hey, glad to see you’re up.”
Rainbow winced under the slight pressure and the shaking in Flurry’s foreleg. “Yeah, it feels like I died a second time. Not a feeling I’d like to revisit.” She rolled her eyes, but they narrowed in concern. “How’re you holding up? Hawk told me that you saved me after that stupid stunt I pulled.
Flurry chuckled. “Yeah, I was nearby when I saw you start falling. Had to drop everything just to catch you a few feet above the ground. After that, I kind of took the tumble for you.” She tapped the bandage around her head with a hoof. “Don’t really remember much about the whole thing, honestly. I think the ground knocked it out of me, but I remember enough to know that you owe River’s Reach a new ice sculpture.”
The stunt flier laughed and ran a hoof behind her mane. “Yeah, I’ll just go and whip one up for them. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Flurry shook her head. “You chisel off your own hoof?”
“Knowing my luck, I probably would,” Rainbow muttered. Then she brightened. “But at least you’re up and walking and don’t have any broken bones, right?”
The white mare nodded. “Yeah, but Dawn said I’ve got a concussion. It’s still a little hard to think straight, honestly.” She screwed her face up and blinked a few times. “It feels like my brain’s underwater, but I’ll recover.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled and slapped her on the shoulder. “It’s tough being awesome, ain’t it?”
Flurry sighed and leaned against the doorframe. “So that’s what it’s like to be you, huh?” The corners of her lips pulled in a teasing smile. “I think I’ll pass then.”
“Baby,” Rainbow teased. “But seriously, it’s cool that you guys are doing well. You’re all great friends.”
Lanner fluttered her wings a few times, grinning. “You’re a great friend too, Rainbow. And your stunts and stuff were awesome! While they lasted, at least.” Then the doctor half of Lanner took over and she frowned. “But seriously, if you try flying again before your wing’s all healed up, I’m going to sew them to your sides until you stop flying long enough for them to fully heal.”
Rainbow had no doubt by the look in her eyes that she was serious.
But the gray mare was already moving on. “The king thought your show was awesome, though! Well, at least until the part where you nearly died. But the king! Can ya believe that?”
Rainbow blinked. “Really? It was that good?”
“Rainbow, good doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Hawk said. “You were amazing.”
“Just work on the landing next time,” Flurry added, winking.
The four of them laughed for a bit, sharing little stories about Jubilee Day and everything that’d happened since then. Rainbow learned that the king had tried to talk to Dawn and Flurry to thank them on Rainbow’s behalf for saving her life, but Dawn had panicked and fled before he could get close. They had to convince the king and the gathering crowd to back up a bit before the jumpy mare would come close enough to work on Rainbow Dash again.
What was more, though, was that the king had offered Rainbow Dash a personal reception in Mymis when she recovered and if she felt like accepting it. From what Hawk told her, the king was so impressed with her airshow that he wanted to meet her himself.
“He said whenever you’re feeling better, if you wanted to sail down the river to Mymis, he’d be more than happy to host you at the castle for a night or two,” Hawk said. He smiled and nudged her shoulder. “Somepony’s moving up in the world.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I’d rather ride my wings up in the world than a boat, but whatever.” She smirked at everypony present. “But yeah, that’s totally cool and stuff. I mean, once you impress the king of a country, there isn’t much higher to go, right?” Her cocky smile was broken by a cough and a tired yawn. “Heheh… although there’s always another day to seize, right? I think I’ve done enough of that these past few.” She yawned again and flashed everypony a weary smile. “I’m gonna get some shut eye. Fighting magical curse thingies certainly takes a lot outta you.”
“I can imagine,” Flurry said. Reaching out with a wing, she hooked the edge of the door and pulled it open. “Taking a nap doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea, actually. Or, at least trying to.” She gave a little shake of her head. “It’s been a little hard to sleep for me. There’s flashing lights under my eyelids whenever I try, but I figure the exhaustion will help me deal with that sooner or later.”
Lanner patted her on the back. “Have you tried counting sheep?”
The snowy mare rolled her eyes. “Like that actually works.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Right,” she muttered. Raising an eyebrow, she added, “You realize it’s like impossible to think straight when you have a concussion?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Lanner singsonged as she walked them out the door. “I haven’t slammed my head into anything hard lately.”
“That’s because you got it done and over with when you were dropped on it as a foal.”
“Ha ha. Good one,” the young mare muttered. “It was so funny I almost forgot to laugh.”
“I try,” Flurry said, smirking.
Lanner’s response was a kick that left Flurry hissing in pain.
“Ack… medical patient here?”
Lanner shepherded her to the door. “It’s all in your head, girl. Just relax.” She stopped just long enough to peek her head back through the doorway and flash Rainbow a smile that was equal parts cheer and death threat. “Get some sleep and rest, Rainbow! You need it.”
As her swishing blue tail disappeared out the door, Hawk Tail stepped up next to Rainbow. “Is there anything I can get you?” he asked. “A glass of water, maybe?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Nah. I’ll be fine. I just…” She yawned, stretching her jaws and blinking heavily. “I just need to catch some… some shut eye.”
“Alright,” Hawk said, watching the mare close her eyes with a faint smile and slide deeper into the embrace of the straw mattress and downy pillows. “Sleep well.”
“You too,” Rainbow murmured, probably out of habit, as it was close to noon and Hawk didn’t have plans on sleeping any time soon. With one last pat on the shoulder, Hawk Tail turned to leave, before Rainbow’s small voice stopped him. “Hawk?”
Hawk stopped, watching Rainbow as she shifted under the covers. “Yeah?”
“I’m… glad I didn’t forget you,” she murmured. Her ruby eyes cracked open, but Hawk wasn’t sure if she could even focus on him, she was that tired. “All of you guys. You guys are probably the only thing that keeps me going anymore.”
The stallion smiled faintly. “You mean a lot to us, Rainbow.”
That got a small hint of a smirk out of the blue pegasus. “Heh… I bet. But you’ve got other ponies. All I’ve got… is you.”
Hawk Tail stood there, silently, for the longest while. Words formed in his mind and then just as quickly ran away. By the time he finally found what he wanted to say, the steady rise and fall of Rainbow’s chest was all he needed to see to know she was already asleep.
“Thank you, Rainbow,” he whispered. Shedding one last sad smile at the sleeping mare, he quietly slipped out of the room. The door slid shut behind him with a soft click, and then nothing more.
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This was amazing!!
I really loved this chapter, one thing that I noticed though is that, each of the ponies Hawk, Lanner, etc, it seems that they would be like this alternate world's version of one if the mane six, like Hawk would probably be Fluttershy, and his sister would be Pinkie and so on. Anyways this was an awesome chapter and I can't wait to see more keep up the fantastic work 
Oh my god it updated! I swore I thought I wouldn't end up seeing another chapter of this until after Summer Lands was finished but omg here it is!
Soooo....wondering just how much Discord is behind all of this...
The story!
It lives!
Also, good chapter.
YAY I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I SAW THE UNREAD CHAPTER
Woo! Update!
I haven't caught any errors here, so good job on that one!
4565153
I don't know. I'd say that she is fortunate enough to have found ponies so much like her friends, I mean:
Dawn -> Twilight (intelligence that is bothered by ponies who haven't even got common sense)
Flurry -> Rarity (same dedication to work)
Lanner -> Fluttershy (imagine her with more self-confidence)
Wrangler -> Applejack
Not sure about Pinkie Pie, but there's some definite shared attributes going around.
Some interesting details in that scattered flashback, makes me wonder if as an AU this splits off at The Return of Harmony. It does seem to imply that something terrible happened to at least Twilight.
And that invitation from the king, hmn. For some reason I'm expecting Dash to show up in the capital to be greeted by a statue of Celestia and Luna's triumphant defeat.
4569495 Dun, Dun, DUUNNN!
T
>Glass of water
I see what you did there.
4569063
Laughter hasn't shown up at this point, but they all share similar elements.
Sonic Rainboom might potentially activate something and/or alert someone.
That was kinda predictable.