Higher

by sentinel28a

Let Her Fly

HIGHER
A My Little Pony Fanfiction
By Sentinel 28A

Rainbow Dash reached for the sun.

The pegasus shot upwards, wings whirring in a blur, carrying her higher and higher into the cerulean blue sky. Ponyville fell away below her, in moments going to a size she could cover with one hoof. Dash grinned. There was nothing better than this. The wind ruffling her coat and mane, the air both pushing at her and giving her lift, and the sun as bright and beautiful as the one who raised it every morning. Even the slipstream ruffling her muzzle and between her teeth felt, well, awesome.

One thing that Rainbow Dash was yet to conquer, however, was gravity. She was not lighter than air, after all. Twilight Sparkle would use complicated mathematics to explain lift coefficients and thrust-to-weight ratios, but all that Dash knew was that she could not go straight up forever. What came up sooner or later must fall. Dash felt her speed fall off; she knew she could go higher if she strained herself, but this was just for fun and there was no reason to push it. A moment before she would’ve stopped in a hover, Dash let gravity take over, curved over on one wing, and dropped over in a slow stall. She folded her wings back and dived, letting her speed build higher and higher. Now the ground rushed up at Dash, but she felt no fear. To onlookers—and as usual, she attracted plenty—it looked as if Dash was in a suicidal power dive, but she was in full control. She chose her moment, almost unconciously, let her wings out a little to slow her down, and pulled out of the dive with fifty feet to spare.

Now Dash roared over the ground so low her passage rippled the grass and blew away dandelions. She passed the crowd of onlookers, sending a quick wave to Pinkie Pie, who jumped up in down, and Fluttershy, who could barely watch. Her attention, however, was on a orange pegasus filly: Scootaloo sat in wide-eyed wonder as her idol flashed past. Dash threw in a barrel roll for Scootaloo’s entertainment and her own, then kicked upwards again. Out of the corner of one eye, she saw Scootaloo leap into the air in a vain attempt to follow her, but her stubby, undeveloped wings were still too small to give her more than a long hop. She’s getting there, though, Dash thought happily. Her protégé was working hard every day, and as soon as her wings caught up to her ambition, Scootaloo was going to be hard to beat. For everyone but Rainbow Dash, of course, but some things were a given.

As she headed skyward again, Dash knew she was more or less just wasting time. She wasn’t really trying to put on an airshow or impress Scootaloo, though that was a pleasant bonus. She was actually supposed to be training Twilight Sparkle, who was uncharacteristically late.

“Dammit,” Twilight Sparkle growled below earshot. She had overslept, which almost never happened—except when certain friends that would remain unnamed, like Pinkie Pie, kept her up most of the night with a slumber party. Of course Pinkie was up with the dawn, hopping out of the library in search of muffins and sugar, waking up Twilight when she accidentally slammed the door behind her. After only five hours of so-called rest, Twilight noticed she was running late for her thrice-weekly flight training session with Rainbow Dash…who was not the easiest of taskmasters.

Flying came natural to pegasi. It did not, however, come so easily to alicorns, unless they had centuries of practice, like Princesses Celestia and Luna, or tended towards perfection, like Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Twilight had neither trait, but she had a willpower borne of years of fanatical studying. Twilight found that all the books and studying she could do did not prepare her for actual flight. Certainly she had wowed the crowd at Canterlot on her coronation, flying upwards and doing loop-de-loops, but the crowd had not seen her nearly crash into the mountains at high speed, or fall flailing nearly to her death before she was rescued by Rainbow Dash and Luna. Nor did the crowd see her desperately trying to learn how to control her wings, or do anything more complicated than hover and fly in straight lines. Even that required concentration, whereas pegasi like Dash could do it as easily as walking—more easily, it seemed. Derpy Hooves was a better flyer than Twilight, even if she seemed incredibly random.

Making things immeasurably worse was that Twilight’s newly acquired wings seemed to have a mind of their own. She was trotting down the streets of Ponyville, headed for the glen near Fluttershy’s home where they practiced, and instead of a good steady pace that would allow her to make up the time lost, Twilight found her hooves leaving the ground until she would simply stop in place, hovering aimlessly as her wings decided it would be faster to fly than trot. This was worse than her wings suddenly deploying in sleep or at virtually any other time they wished, elicting gales of laughter from Rainbow Dash, who mercilessly kidded her about having ‘wingboners,’ whatever the hay that meant.

Twilight saw Dash climbing steadily upwards, then roll over and dive for the ground. Well, she thought morosely, at least Dashie’s having fun.

Rainbow Dash knew she was pulling out of the dive a fraction late; she hoped to level out twenty feet or so above ground, but it was more like five. Easy, Dash, she admonished herself, let’s not fly into the ground. That won’t look too good. Still, making a high-speed pass at five feet was, she estimated, about fifty percent cooler than the normal twenty. The ground flashed beneath her; behind her was a trail of loose grass, blown into the air by her slipstream. Dash left a trail across the ground. She thought about pulling up a bit, then grinned to herself. No, this was too fun. In fact, maybe she should drop to two feet—

Suddenly, Scootaloo was directly in her path.

Both filly and adult pegasi had made a mistake: Rainbow Dash was too low and too fast, and Scootaloo, in her exuberance, had trotted forward to get a better look at her idol. Dash was presented with a decision to be made in half a second: continue forward and collide with Scootaloo, or try and turn.

Dash exerted every muscle in her wings and body to throw herself to one side. At the velocity she was traveling, she still should have blindsided Scootaloo, but somehow, through magic, fate, or sheer determination, the most the filly got was a faceful of grass and blown off her hooves by the shock of Dash’s passing. Dash’s left wing brushed the ground and three blue feathers flew off, but she made the turn. Did it! Dash thought with a smile. That was something, a high-speed, low level turn. Let’s see Spitfire do that—

Then Dash saw the tree rushing to meet her. Her turn had taken her directly towards an outlying grove of the Everfree Forest.

There was no time, but Dash tried to make an even tighter turn. She failed. Dash felt branches slash at her legs and another hit her hard in the chest, before the main trunk blotted out her vision. Her last thought was This is going to be hard on Scoot.

Twilight was nearly at the glade when she heard a collective gasp turn into a cheer, then turn into screams of horror. She picked up speed, this time able to get her wings under control, fold them back against her body, and begin running. She saw a crowd of ponies running towards a line of trees, and rapidly caught up to them. The crowd slowed, then stopped, and Twilight forced her way through.

The first thing she saw was the broken tree. Something had hit it head on at high velocity, enough to almost snap it in half. Then she looked down and saw Rainbow Dash.

Dash lay on the ground, not moving. Pinkie Pie was already at her side, but Pinkie had stopped, unsure of what to do. Twilight saw blood streaming from Dash’s mane, then it appeared at her mouth in a pink froth. Her legs twitched in uncontrollable spasms, her breathing was rapid and labored. Pinkie glanced up at Twilight. “What…what’s going on?”

Twilight’s brain shifted into automatic. She was not a nurse, but she had read enough books to catalog Dash’s injuries: she’s got a concussion, maybe a fractured skull, and one of her lungs has collapsed. Her left wing is broken and she’s got a few cuts and bruises, but those aren’t dangerous. We need to get her to a hospital now, but we can’t move her in case her back is injured.

Twilight heard Fluttershy scream, the loudest she’d ever heard her friend do anything. “Pinkie,” Twilight ordered, “get Fluttershy out of here!” From her tone, Fluttershy was on the verge of utter panic, and it would give Pinkie something to do. Pinkie nodded once and quickly got between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Twilight spotted Derpy Hooves in the crowd. Derpy might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she could be surprisingly fast. “Derpy! Get Dr. Stable! Now!” Stung into action, Derpy flew off towards Ponyville General Hospital nearly as fast as Rainbow Dash herself.

Twilight bent down to her friend. “Dash! Rainbow Dash! Are you all right?” She noticed that Dash’s eyes were half-open, blank, one of them clouded over. She did not know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. “Speak to me, Dashie. Please.” There was no response. Think, Twilight! she yelled at herself. There must be something I can do. She reached forward a hoof, but then drew it back, knowing she couldn’t move Dash, not in her condition; it could make things worse. A healing spell, Twilight thought. She only knew the basics, but she could at least try. Twilight closed her eyes, concentrated, and her horn glowed with magical energy. She risked a squint, but other than straightening Dash’s wing slightly, the spell wasn’t doing much. Dash’s breathing was becoming labored. Twilight felt her eyes filling with tears and concentrated all the harder.

Rainbow Dash was dying before her eyes.

“Princess Twilight!” Twilight turned and saw Dr. Stable, along with two nurses. One of them, a stallion nearly as burly as Big Macintosh, pushed a gurney in front of him.

“Doctor,” Twilight said rapidly, “I think Rainbow Dash has a concussion, maybe a fractured skull—“
She was gently but firmly pushed aside. Stable knelt down and ran a quick, professional eye over the injured pegasus. He gave a slight nod to the female nurse, a unicorn, who used her magic to levitate Dash onto the gurney. Twilight stepped in to help, using her own magic to strap Dash firmly down. The stallion was then off, charging down the main road to Ponyville’s hospital as fast as was safe to travel. “Doctor,” Twilight asked, “will she be all right?”

“I don’t know yet, Highness. Please excuse me.” Stable ran off, but not before Twilight noticed that the doctor’s face was a blank. That told her the situation was quite serious. Pinkie Pie, consoling a near-hysterical Fluttershy, glanced up at her, a look of terror on her face. Twilight trotted over. Softly, she said, “Fluttershy? Can you make sure Scootaloo gets home all right?” She motioned towards the filly, who sat alone in the field, in shock. Fluttershy looked over, nodded, dried her tears with a swipe of a hoof, and walked over to Scootaloo. “Pinkie Pie, find Applejack and Rarity and let them know what happened.”

“Okie dokie,” Pinkie replied. “Where are you going?”

“To find Spike. I need to get hold of Princess Celestia, now. I think we’re going to need her magic.”

“Okay. I’m on it.” Pinkie ran off towards the Carousel Boutique. Derpy hovered next to her. “I’ll find Applejack,” the pegasus said. She hesitated. “Will it be okay, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight smiled. “It’ll be fine, Derpy. Thanks.” It would have to be. It had always been. As Derpy flew off, Twilight gathered her own wings and headed towards the library.

One harried letter—written so quickly Twilight could only spellcheck it once—sent off by dragonfire, and Twilight was off to the hospital, Spike in tow. They were not halfway there when Spike belched out a scroll. I am on my way was the only words on it. Celestia could cover the distance between Canterlot and Ponyville in less than an hour. Twilight instantly felt better; Celestia would know what to do.

Inside a waiting room were all five of her closest friends. Applejack was pacing, unable to stay still. Fluttershy was matching her pace for pace; while the earth pony was silent, Fluttershy—to Twilight’s surprise—could not stop talking. She was chattering about nothing, talking about apples, the hibernation patterns of skunks, what kind of snakes were dangerous and which ones were friendly, Angel Bunny’s salads. Her voice was so soft Twilight could barely hear it. Pinkie was also quiet, which was also unusual, working on a puzzle, her brow beetled in thought. Rarity was constantly dabbing at her eyes with a monogrammed hankerchief; she smiled when Spike ran over and hugged her. She put a protective hoof around her friend.

“Princess Celestia’s on her way,” Twilight said. “How’s Rainbow?”

Applejack looked up. “Haven’t heard nuthin’. They’ve been in there awhile.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s nothing to worry about,” Fluttershy said in her usual near-whisper. “She was in the operating room an hour when she broke her wing.” She was about to say more, but her voice broke. Tears began forming at the corners of her eyes.

Applejack noticed instantly. “Now sugarcube, you don’t worry. Rainbow’s a tough cuss. She’ll pull through this. Heck, she’s been through worse—I cracked her in the noggin plenty o’ times. I knocked her cold as a wedge three months ago. Thought I’d killed the dumbass.” Now it was Applejack who couldn’t stop talking.

“Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“I’m trying to figure out this puzzle, Twilight.” Twilight was not offended. Pinkie Pie was deeply worried; this was her way of dealing with it.

Rarity untangled herself from Twilight. She took her friend aside. “Twilight, Pinkie told me what happened—what I could make out, in any case. Is it really that bad?”

“It looked bad,” Twilight whispered. “I think Rainbow is really hurt. I think it’s going to be different this time. She’s not going to be spending two days in bed and be all right. I think we’re looking at a long stay. They might even move her to Canterlot.”

Rarity sighed. “And she’ll be positively insufferable in the meantime. When will Rainbow learn that she is pointed and not anointed…” Her voice trailed off as the doors to the operating room opened. Dr. Stable, his forelegs and torso swathed in doctor’s greens. He crooked a hoof at her, and Twilight trotted over. Her stomach turned to ice as she did so; if it was good news, Stable would be telling everyone. “Yes?”

Stable motioned her out of earshot. Everypony had stopped and was staring at them. “Princess—“

“Please, Doctor, it’s just Twilight.”

“All right…Twilight--”

She could not contain herself. “What’s wrong?”

Stable took a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash hit that tree at very high velocity. Pegasi bones are a little lighter than an earth pony’s or a unicorn’s—or an alicorn’s—but even the Princesses would be badly hurt by such a direct impact.”

“Rainbow’s run into cliffs before,” Twilight said.

“I know—I had to set her jaw once. But this is different. Rainbow hit the tree head-on. It did more than fractured her skull, unfortunately. That was bad enough, but there’s more, and it won’t be easy to hear.”

“Her lung?”

“No—that was a fairly easy fix. Your healing spell helped there. Rainbow’s breathing on her own. Her wings will heal well enough too—“

Twilight swallowed, knowing what Rainbow Dash’s greatest fear was. “Her spine…”

“Was cracked, but again, nothing very serious.” He held up a hoof before she could interrupt him again. “Twilight…Rainbow Dash burst a blood vessel. There was severe damage done to the brain. She’s suffered the equivalent to a massive stroke.” Stable bit his lower lip. Twilight knew that he must have done this many times before. “I’m so sorry, Twilight. We tried everything, but…” Suddenly he was looking past her. He bowed his head.

Twilight heard golden horseshoes clicking on stone. She turned and knelt in front of her mentor and friend. “Princess Celestia.”

Celestia’s face was open with sorrow. She folded her wings against her withers; from the slight sheen of sweat, she obviously had flown as fast as possible to get there. “Twilight.” She gave her student a brief hug, then turned to Stable. “Doctor. I heard what you said. May I go in?”

“Certainly.” He led her into the operating room. Twilight, glancing at her friends over her wings, followed. Stable did not stop her. He did ask that both princesses wash their hooves. His tone of voice said plainly: Celestia might be the ruler of Equestria, and Twilight a princess, but in his ward there were no rulers but Stable.

Twilight did not know what to expect. Two mare nurses stood watch over Rainbow Dash, but aside from the bandage around her head and the wrapped and stiff wing, Dash did not look all that different. Her breathing was slow, hesitant. Twilight found herself holding her breath as one breath went out, there was a pause, and another breath came in. A machine—a piece of pegasi magic—monitored her heart rate and her breathing. It looked very ragged.

Celestia stood next to the bed. She towered over it, her auroralike mane billowing past Dash’s skull. The princess closed her eyes and her horn glowed. Dash’s heart rate and breathing sped up, caught, and stabilized to normal. Twilight felt herself begin to grin like an idiot. It was going to be all right. Celestia, as usual, saved the day.

Her grin faded when she saw the expression on Celestia’s face. It was not her usual expression of quiet satisfaction, or even one of happy triumph. It was one of utter sadness. She and Stable exchanged a look, and Twilight knew that there would be no miracle today.

“It’s as I said,” the doctor said sadly. “We did all we could, but there’s too much damage. Rainbow—“ The doctor hesitated.

Twilight felt the ground collapsing beneath her hooves. She shook her head. “No. She’s still breathing. Princess, you’re making her breathe...” Her voice trailed off, and Twilight knew. Celestia’s magic was keeping Rainbow Dash’s body alive—but just the body.

“I am sorry, Twilight,” Celestia told her. “I thought…perhaps my magic could do something. But this is all I can do.”

“How…how long will your magic…”

“Indefinitely. But Twilight…it’s too late.”

Twilight forced herself to look at Rainbow Dash. You have to be still in there, Rainbow. You’re my friend. You’re the Element of Loyalty. We’ve taken on everything from Nightmare Moon to Discord. You can’t die. You’re breathing, your body is warm, I can feel it from here…

She turned to Stable. “There’s no hope? Nothing? Not a spell, or an artifact, or anything?”

“There is nothing more we can do, Princess Twilight.” He looked to Celestia, as did Twilight. Celestia hesitated, just for a moment. Then she turned away. For only the second time in her life, Twilight saw the most powerful pony in the world look lost.

With brutal logic, Twilight Sparkle knew what she had to do. “Somepony has to tell them,” she said, half to herself, half to Celestia and Stable. “I guess I volunteer.”

Twilight turned and walked out the door to the waiting room. She would be strong, as Rainbow Dash was strong. She would not cry. Rainbow would not cry. She stopped in front of her friends. Twilight tried to keep her expression blank. To her everlasting shame, Twilight knew her friends knew from her expression. She heard herself speak the words We have a decision to make and We have to let her go but they barely registered. Some disassociated part of Twilight’s brain knew that she was going into shock, but didn’t know how to stop it, or even if she should.

Yet the Elements of Harmony were in agreement.

They filed into the operating room, one at a time, until they surrounded Rainbow Dash’s bed. Applejack took off her hat and cradled it into the crook of her arm. She visibly fought back her emotions and failed. Rarity did not even attempt it. As Spike stroked her mane, she laid her head on Dash’s covers and cried. Fluttershy was on her hooves only because Pinkie was holding her up. Both of them were wracked by great heaving sobs. Twilight blinked back tears, but stayed resolute. It would be what Dash wanted.

Finally, Applejack looked up and met Celestia’s eyes. All silently agreed that it must be Rainbow Dash’s best friend that would make the final decision. She sighed. “Let ‘er go, Princess. Please, let ‘er fly.”

Celestia closed her eyes. The glow faded. Dash’s breath caught in her throat. For a horrible moment, Twilight thought she was going to watch her friend suffer. But then, Dash sighed, almost smiled, and her breath went out slowly. She settled into the bed. Her coat seemed to fade a little.

There was no second breath.

Applejack bowed her head and cried softly. Rarity and Pinkie bawled. Fluttershy buried her head in Celestia’s mane. They stood that way for a long while, then slowly, together, they left, until only Twilight remained. She leaned forward and kissed Dash’s rainbow mane. Then she stepped back and did what she thought Dash would do if their situation was reversed. She stood at attention, as she had seen the Wonderbolts do, and snapped off a salute Shining Armor would’ve been proud to call his own. She held the salute for a moment, then slowly brought her hoof down. She nodded at Dr. Stable, who had been silent the entire time. She nodded in thanks. There were no words to say and nothing more to do.

Rainbow Dash was dead.

Author's Note:

I didn't write this story for shock value or the feels, or because I get a kick out of knocking off ponies. It's a very personal story for me.

I realize it's not for everyone.

Comments

[Burning Skyway]

You are a leaf on the wind, let us watch how you soar...

[valentine]

The feels...

[Oddish]

Rainbow dash is my favourite pony. I hate seeing her die. But I still loved this story. I will add it to my favs and upvoted it as soon as I post this comment.

I really hope you say yes... Could you do an epilogue? Just to see how life goes on without her, how everypony is affected... Stuff like that. It would be really nice if you did. Anyway, loved this, but I still had a sad smile at the end, because it was so beautifully written.

[sentinel28a]

3617920

I'm not done with the story. This has just begun...and thank you for your kind words.

[fluttershykindness]

I was reading this aloud with my rainbow dash stuffed animal because as weird as it might be I read pony fanfics with her weird for a teenager. but hay I am unique
so any who I did not really read what this was about I kind of assumed twilight loves dash story which is cool with my little dashie ( reference) but instead of
my pony prefers so I got to the part about the tree and I was like so I put my pony away and told her do not follow me while I read it myself. I. DID NOT want her to become scarred from this fiction also I say

[robodude22]

You cannot believe how emotional words can make you. I just... god.

I don't believe that I'm about to say this next, but this is inspirational (in a bad way).

[Darksonickiller]

Remind me to give you my thoughts on this later cause im going to bed. I really I joyed this.

[Gamble]

Okay I read this and teared up but then I also thought to myself "Why is it always Rainbow Dash? Why not write some of this stuff about any of the others? I mean there are a couple of Death of Twilicorn fics out there, but to date I have yet to read a fic about the untimely death of say Rarity or a tragic near death character dissection of Fluttershy. Why is it always the Wannabe Wonderbolt and occasionally the Young Princess?

[kitsune119]

4017092
There the most likely to get into such situations, fluttershy wouldnt get in such situation and she would potenially have discord to save her depending on season and episode, pinkie would simple pinkie herself out of such situations,rarity is to much of a clean nut to be in such situations, though applejack would be the next likely choice do to her stubberness and pride