One Last Trick
Rainbow Dash sits in a corner, sniffling. The noise of the hospital is nothing more than a low drone, emanating from a crack beneath the door. I lie in bed, still immobilized, still processing the implications of my lost memories.
There are no fragments. No dreams. No bits and pieces to mull over. Just a blank emptiness, a void, a rift in my memories. I had stepped through the door, and then I woke up in a hospital bed. I know something must have happened, but I can't find even the slightest trace of it. It was just gone.
"M-maybe we should pick this up in the morning," I stammer, looking towards the mare in the corner.
She sniffs, and nods. "Y-yeah, I'll, uh, I-I'll see you t-tomorrow." She sluggishly walks out of the hospital room, depression and sadness evident in every limb she drags along, leaving me alone again. My only company for the rest of the night is the soft white light over the sink, and the quiet beeping of my heart monitor.
Sleep does not come easy these days.
The morning is bland, served with bland food and a smattering of bland nurses in bland outfits saying bland things. The world is dull and monochrome, a muted yellow caused by the last rays of the morning sun pouring through the window. Once again, Rainbow Dash doesn't show up when I thought she would. This time, however, there is no accompanying commotion.
It's nearly lunch when my world is finally released from it's existential boredom by her arrival. Her existence is muted, and low-key, but it does nothing to impede the incredible gamut of colors flowing behind her.
"Hi," I mumble.
"Hey," she replies, sitting down next to the bed. A long silence follows. Eventually, she speaks again. "So, uh, what's up?"
I grimace. "Amnesia, apparently."
"Can you eat solid food yet?"
"Well," I consider, "The nurses said I might be able to start eating some bread and maybe a small daisy sandwich soon."
Rainbow Dash taps her chin with a hoof, and then turns towards the door. "I'll be right back."
A few minutes later, I'm enjoying the first daisy sandwich I've had in over a week, if you count the days I was out cold. Rainbow Dash is finishing off a helping of hayfries she managed to procure from the cafeteria. It's nice to eat solid food again, even if I only have one hoof to eat it with. It's almost enough to make me forget about how miserable I am.
Almost.
"So…" I begin, swallowing my food, "Did the nurses say when I'd be able to, y'know, move again?"
My inquiry is met with a sigh. "They've got screws holding your broken leg together, so those will take a couple months to heal by themselves. The last time I broke something major, they had me in physical therapy pretty quick, but you had a lot of internal damage, so I think they're just waiting for the rest of you to finish healing before they let you move around."
I groan, and Rainbow Dash looks at me with concern. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just looking forward to being bored out of my mind."
She giggles. "Yeah, I know how that feels. I guess we don't have much else to do except talk then, huh?"
Finishing off the last of my sandwich, I lean back. "Well, I've run out of things to talk about. Unless you could fill me in, that is."
She raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well," I continue, "you were with me at the restaurant, right? You might as well just pick up where I left off with what you remember."
"Hmmmm…" Rainbow Dash taps her chin with a hoof. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, should I try to explain what happened to you?"
I shake my head. "Nah, just talk about what you were doing, from your perspective. You aren't me, so don't try to be. But maybe I can piece together what happened from your memories."
"Well… that makes sense, I guess," she says, "Just uh, stop me if I start rambling, okay?"
I snicker in response, and Rainbow Dash clears her throat to begin...
Prism Glider graciously holds the door open for me with a wing, and we steps into the establishment. I've been here before, to make the reservation, but it still strikes me how… high-class the whole thing was. I gulp, and hope I haven't completely jumped the horn with this. This was not what I normally did. In fact, I don't think I'd ever taken a stallion on a proper date, not even back in Ponyville. Usually, I'm too preoccupied with trying to figure out if they're actually worth banging.
The problem with being a girl looking for a warm body to share is that a lot of stallions will knock you up and hang you out to dry. Gotta be careful about those guys. Better to go for the nice ones, the ones who actually respect you and are willing to humor a couple fantasies of yours instead of just using you like some kind of toy.
Now, Prism Glider, he's pretty hot. He's fast too, which really turns me on. But he also makes my heart flutter in ways I don't understand. That flutter keeps me grounded. It keeps me from leaving. It makes me do things I don't understand. What is it?
My goal at any stunt flyer meetup is to get laid. That is the whole point, my modus operandi. Fly around, impress ponies, have fun, go to a party, get drunk, get laid, wake up with a hangover, then go home. It's simple, it's fun, and I'm good at it. So why am I taking him on a date to a fancy restaurant? Why am I inside a cafe, trying to romance a nice stallion? Why do I feel so drawn to him?
We're seated on the second floor, near the balcony. There is a pleasant breeze that just barely reaches us, bringing the warm scent of the setting sun with it. Words come out of my mouth. He responds in kind. Our lips are moving, but I'm not paying attention. Instead, my gaze is drawn to his pale mane, a wispy bundle of unkempt hair that seems lighter than air, draped over his shoulders. Then, my gaze moves to his wings, snuggled up against his sides, with delicately preened feathers reflecting a few errant rays of sunlight.
Then, I look at his eyes. Those wonderful wells of shimmering blue, portals into a caring soul that craves adventure and speed. Eager and excited and thrilled and nervous and maybe slightly confused—
"Rainbow Dash?" asks Prism Glider, knocking me out of my reverie. Apparently, at some point, I had forgotten to actually speak.
"Oh! Uh, heh, um, what'd you just say?" I fiddle with my hooves, trying desperately to hide how flustered I was. Cool ponies don't get flustered. "I was uh, distracted. Yeah. Sorry." I lean against my hoof, trying to look casual. Then I remember I was in a fancy restaurant and putting the knee of your foreleg on the table is bad manners, so I go back to just sitting there, looking awkward.
Prism Glider smiles, and I want to melt into a puddle. "I was just asking what you were planning on getting."
I silently curse at myself. I'm Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash doesn't get flustered like this! "O-oh! Right, um, I was going for the Hayseed Manehattan Salad, with, uh… dressing on the side."
"Mmmmm," he nods, "I was probably just going to get a fried turnip with a steamed roll. You think that sounds good?"
I hate turnips. "Um, yeah, totally!"
"Well then," he continues, setting his menu down on the table, "I guess we've got food out of the way. Do you have any new tricks you've been working on recently?"
The conversation quickly falls into familiar territory, as we trade ideas and thoughts on various stunt ideas, pausing only to let the waiter take our orders. The food came and went, and I eventually find myself prodding at an empty plate. There is only a faint red glow on the horizon, now, a shadow of Celestia's sun finishing the last legs of its arc across the sky.
I take a deep breath. If I'm going to push this further, I need to make my move now.
"So," I begin, leaning forward, "care for a few drinks on the balcony?"
This time, Prism Glider is the one trying in vain to hide a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. "Uhm, now?"
I raise an eyebrow, and it almost kills the whole seductive mood I've been trying to set. "Well, yeah, what else are we gonna do? Besides, the bar is up there and I want cider."
Prism Glider blinks. "Oh, uh, yeah, of course, haha!" He gets out of his seat and takes a moment to stretch his wings. I steal a look at his sleek, well-toned muscles, and those beautiful feathers decorating his wing—
"So… we were going then?" Prism Glider is waiting patiently for me by the door. I let out a small squeak and start heading towards him.
I don't know what compelled me to invite him up to the balcony. As I trot towards the open doors, a klaxon blares in my mind: Reaching dangerous levels of mushy! Sappiness rising to critical levels! This is all ridiculously uncool, but the object of my affection doesn't seem to mind. Is he actually enjoying himself, or is he just eager to get under my tail? Does he notice how much I want him under my tail? I shake the errant thoughts out of my head as I ascend the short staircase outside the doors, leading up to a delicately lit platform suspended above the cool evening air.
The cider was sharp and rich, leaving a faint burning sensation as it trickled down my throat. I didn't always trust expensive places with actually having high quality spirits, but so far my friend's recommendation has paid off in spades. The night dissolved into a blur of cocktails and cider, and some awful form of dancing I'm glad I can't remember clearly. An hour or two later, Prism and I are giggling and cuddling in a corner, having had far too much to drink.
Gazing up at the stars, a blunt question bubbles up inside me, and the alcohol in my system lets it slip out into the open, naked and exposed.
"Why do you like me?" I ask.
He ponders the question for a moment. "You just seem so… real. Everything feels more alive with you. It's like the rest of the world is just a dull, boring gray, and you're this brilliant explosion of color. Even the sun and the sky are just pale forgeries of the vivid colors that fly with you."
I giggle and set down my wine glass, gazing into those wonderful eyes of his. "You were practicing that one, weren't you?"
He smiles sheepishly. "Well, y'know, maybe a little bit."
I am just tipsy enough to grab his hoof, just tipsy enough to lean in under the star-studded sky, just tipsy enough to close my eyes. Our lips meet, under a silent moon, nestled softly against each other. It was everything I had ever dreamed of. It is every silly fantasy I'd had about falling in love come true, here, on this one night.
It is perfect.
The door to the hotel room flies open and two pegasi stumble through it, wrapped in a drunken embrace. Our lips meet in a passionate kiss as our tongues entwine, turning the bedroom into a scene so sappy it'd make any schoolyard colt gag in disgust. It probably would have made me gag too, but I am too drunk to care.
I let him spin me towards the bed, landing on top of it with a soft thwump. The impact makes the pillows jump around, as if they know what was coming next. I could already feel something pressed against my belly, and I know I want it. The small part of my rational mind still working was too drunk to object to what we were about to do.
We share another sloppy kiss, and as our lips part, I look down at his throbbing—
"Uhhhhhh", I blurt out, interrupting Rainbow Dash's tale.
"Oh, uh, sorry," she replies, blushing. Her wings are stiff, and she seems quite flustered. "I was really into whole story telling thing."
I raise an eyebrow. "It sounded more like I was in you."
Rainbow Dash fiddles with her hooves. "There was, uh, definitely a sequence of events along those lines."
I bite my lip. To say that this is awkward would be like saying Princess Celestia enjoyed the occasional sip of tea. What was supposed to be a precious, intimate moment shared between us is now a description of two strangers going at it like drunk rabbits. It's like being trapped on the other side of a window, forced to watch scenes from a different life play out in front of me. It was a lifetime that has been stolen away from me, lost forever.
"Uh... was I... was I any good?" I ask after a long pause.
"Oh yeah, you were great, first we—"
"No details, please," I interrupt, coughing nervously. "This is weird enough already, describing it only makes it worse."
"Well, um," Rainbow Dash fidgets. "Things happened, and then we fell asleep..."
I wake up first. We're lying side-by-side, and his forehoof is across my chest. I've woken up like this dozens of times before, but for some reason, this time feels... different. Before I let myself get sucked into mushy-mushy land, I shake off the feeling and get out of bed. I stumble over to the bathroom, rubbing my forehead and wishing I could rub the hangover away.
Closing the door, I hit the shower, the clean white room quickly filling with steam. I gingerly step under the rush of water and let the warm liquid cascade over my face. My head still hurts, but the pain has been washed away, reduced to a dull throb I barely notice as I pick up some fur conditioner.
I'm not like Rarity, I don't actually care about keeping up appearances, but it's a really bad idea to do death-defying stunts when there's dirt stuck in your wings. Being a Wonderbolt means having complete and total control over every stray feather in your wings. Letting them fill up with grime is a surefire way to throw off your aim by a hair, and that makes a lot of difference when you're a hairsbreadth away from the ground.
My mind wanders in the warm wetness of the shower. The things we did last night. The love we shared. I'd gotten laid plenty of times before, but something about this feels so much more... real. Like I'd been flying through a huge storm cloud for my whole life, only to burst out the other side and finally glimpse the sun rising above.
I sigh and turn off the water. Another ten minutes are spent drying off my coat and mane. By the time I get out of the bathroom, I half expect Prism to be up and about already. Or, well, maybe just up, considering how plastered he was last night. However, the room is still silent upon my return. My eyes wander over to the doorway.
He's still asleep.
I could do what I usually do and just leave. It's easier that way. They know it was a one night stand and they don't usually bother me again. I get laid and they get to tell their friends they boned the fastest mare in Equestria.
I never wanted a clingy stallion, anyway.
My hooves trot mechanically towards the door and I reach for the doorknob, but freeze. For a long time, my hoof hovers there, and a thousand confused thoughts rush through my mind. Eventually, I lower my foreleg, and realize something.
I… I don't want to leave.
Something draws me back. Something keeps me in that room, doing stretches until he wakes up. He smiles, happy to see me, and my chest tightens. Even though he is clearly hungover, the first thing he does is look for me. How close did I come to making a terrible mistake? Is this a mistake?
What the hell am I doing?
"Shower's free," I mention. He wordlessly stumbles out of bed and wobbles his way into the bathroom. The hiss of water follows quickly, and I occupy myself with wing-ups. Alright, Rainbow Dash, I think, you're not in Ponyville anymore. What're you going to do with this guy? Eight... Nine... Ten... This wasn't in the plan. You gotta think of something to do. Fifteen... Sixteen... Seventeen... I wonder if there are any stunt groups still practicing? Maybe way out in the forest, without any ponies to bother them. Yeah, that sounds good.
A short while later, Prism Glider trots out of the bathroom, still padding droplets of water off his wings.
"Hey, wazzup?" He flashes a grin at me, followed by a grimace, as he holds a hoof to his head.
"Well," I say, smirking at him, "I guess that hangover is still hanging around, eh?"
"Oh Celestia," he moans, "that pun was so bad it made my head feel even worse."
I triumphantly trot over to him and drape a wing over his back. "All in a day's work, colt. Now let's go get some breakfast and flush that headache out of your system. Can't fly very well with a hangover, now can we?"
"Fly?" he asks, "we get sloshed and rut like rabbits and the next morning you want to fly again?!"
Rolling my eyes, I lead him over to the door. "Come on, stop whining. I thought you were a real stunt flyer."
He chucks his towel to the floor and snorts. "Okay, Wind Princess, you're on."
Breakfast is quick, and before long, we take to the skies, heading west towards the majestic Redhoof forest.
Wind tears through my mane and roars in my ears, its turbulent flow battering my wings. I've lost track of how far up I am a while ago, but given how thin the air is getting, I'm probably somewhere near the stratosphere. Up here, far beyond the reaches of gravity, I can dance above the tallest of cumulonimbus clouds.
Oxygen is becoming scarce, and temperatures have plummeted to below freezing. A special layer of fur dissipates the wind chill and keeps me from freezing to death. Still, flying this high takes much more effort, even with lungs that adapted to high altitudes eons ago. An earth pony or a unicorn would need an oxygen mask and a really big jacket if they managed to get up this high. Most are content to leave the outer fringes of the atmosphere to the children of the sky.
I am not alone. A light blue pegasus with a white mane trails behind me, struggling to keep up. Even with his pegasus lungs, Prism Glider is gasping for air, the low-oxygen environment transforming a difficult flight into an impossible one. He's already started leveling out, far below where I am, unable to follow my relentless climb. Normally I'd keep going, relishing the freedom of being alone in the stratosphere, higher than any other pegasus dared to go.
This time, however, I feel something pulling me back, pleading with me to slow down. I slowly turn around and let my wings carry me down a steep descent, until I join him. Poor guy is still trying to catch his breath.
"How do you… fly that high?" he asks. "I can't even … breathe up here!"
"Practice!" I call out, tumbling out of the sky as I snap my wings to my barrel and dive straight down. He attempts to follow, albeit at a more leisurely pace, and together we loop and roll our way to the clouds below.
My wings flutter as I gently settle on to the soft cloudbank, and I hear Prism Glider land beside me. The skies are abandoned here, filled with empty clouds that silently float on the trade winds. There isn't another pair of wings for as far as the eye can see—at least, not on this cloud layer. I take advantage of my opportunity and settle down next to Prism Glider as he continues trying to catch his breath, leaning against him and nuzzling his neck in a rare display of affection.
If he is surprised, he doesn't show it, but I can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down nearly as quickly as his breathing. We lie there together for a while, letting fate carry us across the sky, until I finally get bored of being sappy and give him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Ready for another round?" I ask, grinning at him.
Prism Glider groans and rolls his eyes. "Again? Girl, you are just unreal. We've been at this for almost two hours!" He pauses and looks down at his hooves. "...Besides, I like it up here."
"Aw, come on man," I tease, grinning at him, challenging him, daring him to refuse.
"Just one last trick."
For a moment, he hesitates. The universe teeters on a pin, suspended in a moment of indecision. Finally, he nods, and a future I will never see turns to dust.
"Yeah, sure, but just one more, alright? I'm pretty beat."
I laugh and smack him on the shoulder. "Alright, alright, just one more, but I go first!" He doesn't get a chance to respond before I flip off the cloud and plummet towards the ground. I corkscrew in midair, catching a thermal and looping around before throwing myself towards the trees below, only to U-turn back up at the last moment.
Hovering halfway between the clouds and the forest canopy, I wave to Prism Glider, who leaps off the cloud. He's pretty far away at this point, so it's hard to see what's going on, but he seems to be doing a classic rocket dive, similar to what I had ended with. He hurtles towards the ground, faster and faster, slicing through the air like a winged bullet. Only when he's a few hundred feet above the ground does he flare his wings.
My breath catches in my throat. I can't quite place it, but something seems off about his approach. I squint, the distance between us straining even my superior pegasus eyesight, trying to pinpoint what's making me feel so uncomfortable.
Then, I see it. His wings aren't properly extended, jutting out from his sides at a strange half-angle, wholly insufficient to do a full reversal, or even to land properly. A single heartbeat thuds in my chest, and in that moment, a terrible thought flits through my consciousness. There could be only one reason his wings were at such an odd angle.
He's going too fast.
The thought barely has time to register before my wings are open, and in a fraction of a second, I'm hurtling towards the ground faster than I've ever gone before. Prism Glider is performing a textbook rendition of the emergency brake maneuver, desperately trying to slow himself as much as possible without ripping his own wings off. Wind whips through my mane, and my wings burn, but I can't feel them. All I can feel is an empty hole in my heart, growing larger with each passing second.
I made a mistake.
Prism Glider is coming in way too steep, plummeting towards the forest below. Time slows to a crawl, and the air struggles to get out of my way. I punch through it with my forehooves, ripping through it like a razor blade. I feel an electric charge lick at my fur, and an enormous burst of color momentarily blinds my vision. A Sonic Rainboom ripples out behind me, but I keep accelerating, keep trying to go faster.
I'm not going to make it.
He's only moments away from smashing into the canopy, his wings straining behind him in a last, desperate attempt to pull up. I'm much too far away, and there's no room for me to swoop underneath him. I'd need several extra seconds to pull that off. Seconds that I don't have.
What have I done?
I try to catch him anyway. In that moment, I probably broke every air speed record in Equestrian history, but it doesn't matter. I have all the talent in the world, and it still isn't enough. Three seconds later, he clips the edge of a tree and is thrown to the side, smashing through countless branches as he tumbles through the air. He crashes into another tree before dropping out of sight.
My heart skips a beat, and an incoherent scream of anguish escapes from my throat. I pull up, knowing that I can't catch a pegasus cartwheeling through a forest without smashing into them and killing us both. He is gone. I can't save him.
I've failed.
For a few precious seconds, I curve around the crash sight, my mind blank. I'm completely incapable of forming any coherent thought. Instead, my mind is a furious jumble of shock and despair. Angrily, I shake my head and barrel towards the canopy, trying to calculate his trajectory.
He isn't dead yet.
Expertly flitting through the branches, I land on a soft patch of grass, but he's nowhere in sight. My chest is pounding, and I know that with every passing moment, the stallion that took my heart gets closer to losing his own. No pegasus can walk away from a crash like that, not even me.
I lock my gaze on to the broken tree branch he ran into, then mentally carve out a trajectory through the forest. I spot a few broken branches along the way, and use them as anchor points for my imaginary arc. If my gut is right, he should be right over here… I leap over a large bush and flap my wings, gliding towards the edge of a nearby clearing. My hooves land on pine needles and moss, as I quickly scan the area for—
Is that…?
I scream. There are no letters in the Equish alphabet that can accurately describe the shriek that echoes through the forest. It is a noise forged from anguish and despair, the sound of a pegasus whose life has been torn apart.
Laying motionless on the forest floor is Prism Glider, crumpled into a bloody heap. His left wing has been completely torn off, and there are small red spurts coming out of the stump. His right wing is a ruined mess of broken bone and torn muscle. As I gallop towards the body, I notice blood flowing down one of his hind legs.
Without thinking, I stomp a hind leg on the wing stump to staunch the bleeding. For a few precious seconds, I stare at his mangled body in a daze, making incoherent sounds of disbelief, before the rational part of my brain kicks in, imploring me to do something.
"H-help! Help! Somepony Help! A-anypony! Help!" My cries for help reverberate through a silent forest, oblivious to the dying pegasus beside me. For a few crushing moments, I wonder if anypony else can even hear me. What do I do? Who do I call?
"Hello?" Another voice carries over the forest floor, bouncing off the tree trunks and into my ears. "Where are you?!"
My head snaps towards the sound. "Over here! Come quick! Please! He needs to go to the hospital!"
"I'm coming!" A few moments later a light purple pegasus with a yellow mane bursts into the clearing, and a second dark blue pegasus follows closely behind. The moment the first pegasus lays eyes on Prism Glider, she turns to her companion. "You're faster than me. Get to the clinic and call for an ambulance."
Without a word, the dark blue pegasus nods and rockets into the air at speeds that would have impressed me had I been paying attention. The other pegasus hurries over and starts giving me instructions.
"Okay, keep your hoof where it is, and don't move him. If you see something sharp embedded in him, don't take it out." She starts circling around the downed pegasus, inspecting him. "One of his legs looks dislocated, and—shit!" She ducks down and starts fiddling with something.
Meanwhile, a pool of blood is growing beneath Prism's body, soaking the dirt beneath my hooves. "F-fuck, there's so much blood. There's so much blood!"
"I'm—I'm trying to stem the bleeding, just… just hold on!" the other mare calls out.
"Celestia there's so much blood… so much blood… so much..." Tears stream down my cheeks, and I realize I'm crying. I see the other mare slowly pick herself back up, holding her hooves against something. "Is h-he gonna m-make it?" I ask, my voice cracking.
She looks at me, and her eyes are filled with terror. "I-I don't... I don't know."
The floor almost drops out from under me, and I lean over Prism Glider's broken body, running a tender hoof through his bloody mane. "S-stay with me, buddy," I half-whisper, half-sob, "stay w-with me. Y-you just gotta… k-keep going for a little bit longer, o-okay? The ambulance'll be here s-soon, just stay w-with me."
He doesn't respond. He's out cold and probably bleeding to death. Instead, I nuzzle his cheek and listen to his shallow, ragged breathing. I can almost hear his heart, weakly trying to pump blood through his battered body. It seems to be getting weaker.
I try not to think about it.
I stay there for what seems like hours, pressing my cheek against his as though I might be able to ward off death itself with my presence alone. In reality, it's probably only a few minutes before I hear an approaching carriage. There is a flash of light, and suddenly I'm standing on a bare patch of dirt. Every square inch of foliage has been vaporized in a fifteen foot circle around me, and an emergency carriage barrels down from above.
It lands a few feet away from me in the newly created clearing, and a white earth pony mare with a pale brown mane hops out of the back, followed by a jade unicorn mare with a green mane. I start to move away, to give the medics room to work, but I am interrupted by a frantic shout.
"Don't let go of that wing stump or he'll bleed to death!" orders the white earth pony, as she grabs a tourniquet in her mouth and leans down to the wing stump I'm still standing on. Only after she has securely fastened the band around the stump does she give me a nod, and I gingerly lift my hind leg.
Meanwhile, the unicorn is applying what look like cauterization spells to various small cuts, and applying a bandage of some sort to Prism Glider's forehead to stem the bleeding. I'm so focused on the unicorn's healing spells I almost don't notice that the earth pony has finished applying the tourniquets and is now taking aim at Prism Glider's right shoulder.
Before I can react, the earth pony lands a powerful buck right on his dislocated foreleg. It snaps back into place with a sickening pop that sounds like it would have been excruciatingly painful if he had been conscious.
"Is there any more immediate cauterization required?" asks the unicorn.
The earth pony pokes him with a hoof a few more times before cursing. "Damn it, we have to get him to the hospital. Cancel immediate first aid, we'll do it in the carriage. Get him in there and get over to the hospital now!"
Without a word, the unicorn expertly immobilizes Prism Glider and levitates his body into the waiting carriage, and both medics quickly follow.
I dash up to the open doors and barely manage to open my mouth. "Wai—"
"Are you a friend or relative?" interrupts the earth pony.
I start to nod. "Y—"
"Get in here right now or I'll leave without you."
I wordlessly obey, scrambling into the side of the ambulance as the doors slam shut behind me.
The earth pony is already on the other side of the cabin, speaking through a small opening. "Get us off the ground! Full speed!"
I feel a lurch as the carriage lifts off the ground, and then—nothing. A faint blue shimmer seems to sweep across the carriage, and I notice that the unicorn's horn is glowing.
"Gravitic stabilization field enabled, do we need—"
"Yes! Clear the skies from here all the way to Manehattan!"
The unicorn hesitates and looks over at her partner. "Manehattan?"
The earth pony grimaces. "You heard me right."
The unicorn nods, and levitates a magical crystal out from the wall. "Emergency flight alert! This is a code 220 incident! Rapid response carriage designation Niner Bravo Bravo carrying a critically injured pegasus! We are traveling at maximum speed and cannot deviate from our flight course! Repeat! This is a code 220 incident!"
As the unicorn hangs up the crystal, the earth pony starts talking while applying a bandage to the stallion's hoof. "Give me a full body scan, highlighting all trauma with a severity greater than four."
The lights are dimmed, and the unicorn begins to weave an extremely complex looking spell matrix in front of her horn. A few moments later, a shimmering light envelops Prism Glider's body, and a wave of magic washes over him. Slowly, an incredibly detailed hologram of Prism Glider floats upwards, hovering above his prone body. Various internal organs are visible through the translucent material, and a glowing yellow hovers around his right foreleg, his right hind leg, and his wings. A fainter orange glow is also visible in other areas.
"Luna's tits," whispers the unicorn, staring at the hologram she just summoned.
What particularly stands out is his remaining wing. The entire limb is glowing an angry yellow.
"It's... It's just shattered bone and shredded muscle. I don't think we can fix this."
"Buck, I was right. We can't deal with this kind of trauma at the clinic. We have to go to Manehattan General Hospital." The medic steps towards the head of the carriage again. "Highlight all trauma above level three and start cataloguing injuries."
The unicorn nods, and her horn glows once again. The yellow fades to a dull white, and the faint orange glow intensifies. The unicorn levitates a clipboard in front of her and starts scribbling on it as she calls out injuries to her partner as the earth pony shouts through the window again.
"His blood pressure is dropping way too fast, he has three fractured ribs, his right hind leg muscle has been almost completely severed, his right foreleg has a small fracture and suffered trauma to the ligament from being dislocated, his left hoof has a large bar crack, he has two puncture wounds near his stomach, and a foreign object has partially perforated his liver. Internal bleeding is minimal, but his internal organs have been subjected significant blunt trauma. We need an IV ASAP."
An involuntary shudder runs down my spine as I listen to the nurse rattle off Prism Glider's injuries. Please don't die, I think, staring at the motionless pegasus laid out in front of me. Please, please don't die…
The earth pony has already inserted an IV into Prism Glider's foreleg, and begins patching up his injuries with antiseptic and gauze. Things seem to quiet down for a moment, and I slowly manage to work up the courage to ask the medics something.
"I-is it much farther to the hospital?" I squeak, almost sounding like Fluttershy. "The one in Manehattan, I mean."
The earth pony flashes me a rare smile. "It's an extra fifteen minutes, but I think we've got your friend stabilized. If we can just make it to the—" She freezes, and her smile vanishes, almost taking my heart with it. A hoof that had been pressed against Prism Glider's neck is now moving around frantically. "Jade? Jade?! I don't have a pulse! I don't have a pulse!"
A split second later, the hologram starts pulsing an angry red. "He's lost too much blood! His blood pressure's gone off a cliff! The minute we are on the ground this stallion needs a blood transfusion!" cries out the unicorn, grabbing a mask from a nearby cabinet and attaching it to Prism Glider's muzzle.
"Tell me that when his heart's beating, Jade!" The earth pony has already started CPR, straddling the stallion faster than I can blink, pumping his chest with her forehooves. "Come on, buddy, stay with me, stay with me. Are you ready?!"
Jade is sitting perfectly still with her eyes closed, and a bright light emanates from her horn. "Ready!"
The earth pony immediately gets off Prism Glider and holds up a hoof. "Clear!"
A magical aura surrounds the stallion, and a split second later his entire body convulses as an electrical charge surges through it. The earth pony immediately checks for a pulse. "Nothing. We'll try again in three. Is that oxygen mask secure?"
Jade re-adjusts the mask as the other medic quickly straddles Prism Glider again and continues doing chest compressions. I'm still staring at the scene in shock, my battered heart so bruised and beaten that it doesn't know what to feel anymore.
"Hey, miss? Miss?"
I almost don't notice the earth pony start talking to me. "Hu-wha? What is it?"
She huffs, still doing impeccably timed chest compressions with expert precision as she talks to me. "This is your friend, right?"
I nod vigorously, desperately hoping what comes after won't involve the words next-of-kin.
"Then talk to him. Keep talking to him. It doesn't matter what you say, just talk to him and maybe he'll wake up."
I blink and look at her, confused. "You really think that'll work?"
Without missing a beat, the medic looks straight into my eyes. "Miss, when somepony's heart has stopped, I start believing in miracles."
I shudder, and shakily nod my head. "I… um… hey Prism Glider? It's me, Rainbow Dash. If you can hear me, please don't let go. Don't give up. You never gave up before, so don't start now. I know I've only known you for a few days, but it feels like weeks. I know you're a fighter, Prism Glider, I know you don't roll over and let ponies step all over you. Your heart is bigger than that. Stronger than that. So wake the hell up already and stop making me worry, alright?!
"You're a stuntpony! Stuntponies don't let life pass them by and they sure as hell don't give up on it! We have a code! No stuntpony ever has to practice alone! No stuntpony is ever left behind! So—so… so don't leave me behind. Don't make me fly home alone. Don't give up on me. I can't do that, Prism Glider. I can't fly home from this hospital without you. I won't! I won't let you die on me, not now, not ever!
"We—we're gonna become Wonderbolts together, okay? We're gonna perform stunts together in the Royal Canterlot stadium, and hang out with all the other Wonderbolts, and ponies will come from all over to get our autographs. We'll fly from here to the Crystal Empire, just the two of us, riding on thermals and twirling through the clouds. We'll fly across the whole continent and set a new airspeed record, and not once will we leave each other behind. You hear me? We'll always be together! Don't you dare leave me now!"
I pause when I notice the earth pony dismounting Prism Glider again. She holds up another hoof and looks over at the unicorn, who nods. "Clear!" she shouts, and another lance of electricity is sent through Prism Glider.
I hold my breath as the medic checks his pulse, hoping that the angry red glare of the hologram is somehow wrong, or delayed. The medic shakes her head and starts doing chest compressions again, and I am left to my own thoughts. What if they can't restart his heart? Did I ever tell him how I felt? How many of our days spent together had I taken for granted?
I'd become so absorbed in my own thoughts, I forgot I was supposed to be talking until the earth pony finally spoke up again. "Keep talking, girl, you're doing great."
I give her a tiny nod, trying to pull myself together. Tears threaten to escape from the corners of my eyes, and every shove the earth pony makes is like another punch to my gut. Slowly, my mind starts to realize the very real possibility that the last thing Prism Glider will have ever heard was me saying "I go first!" As I start going backwards through my memories of the past few days, I realize that I never once told him that I loved him.
"I… I love you, Prism Glider," I choke out, trying desperately not to cry. "I never got a chance to tell you, but I love you. You see? You can't die, not like this, not now. You gotta wake up. You gotta wake up so I can tell you. Please, just wake up! Please don't die! Don't leave me like this! Don't make me fly alone again!"
Tears are streaming down my cheeks now as I lean on the bedside with my forehooves, staring desperately into Prism Glider's closed eyes as his body shudders from the impact of each chest compression. "Please wake up! W-wake up Prism Glider! Come back to me! I'm s-sorry about everything! I'll d-do anything to get you back! A-anything! I just want to be with you! I don't want to be alone again!"
Like clockwork, the earth pony gets off Prism Glider again. "Clear!" she shouts, and a third jolt of electricity is sent through his body. I wait with bated breath, but the hologram remains a stubborn crimson.
The earth pony begins chest compressions again, and I feel like somepony has stabbed me in the chest. He might not make it to the hospital. I might never get to see his eyes ever again.
I blink through my tears and start begging Prism Glider to come back to life. "D-don't leave me! Don't d-die on me! Please come back! C-c-come baaaa—ha—ha—aaack…"
It's no use, and my words dissolve into incoherent sobbing as I slump to the floor, weeping. My life is falling apart, like a castle of glass slowly collapsing all around me.
"Come on girl, keep it together!" says the earth pony, never seeming to tire from the constant chest compressions. "I've seen ponies walk away from worse than this! We are not giving up on him, even if I have to keep pumping his heart all the way to the goddamn hospital!"
Her words are like a lifesaver, thrown into an endless ocean of despair. A silk thread ties it to a raft, braving the harsh waves of reality that threaten to sink it. Upon that thin strand of hope, I hoist myself up, and stare at the limp pegasus as his chest is wracked by compression. I look at him with wretched eyes, and let out a quiet prayer.
"Come back to me..."
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5906574 So.....the title of this chapter is One Last Trick.Confirmed ending or no?
Edit:Just finished reading it and I do believe the wait is worth it.At least a wait better than HL3
5913990
While this is a climactic chapter and a crucial turning point, the story hasn't been set to "Complete". Rainbow Dash still has to reach the hospital for the flashback to come full circle. That would still only complete the first arc of the story, though.
5914007 Oh, so it's almost over?
5914014
No, it means the first arc of the story is about to come to a close. We still haven't even gotten to Prism Glider's recovery.
Crash in the woods, huh? I thought he got shredded by skyscraper windows.
I have waited for this chapter for so long, and it was so worth every pico second of it.
The words for this story... holy shit, I love it.
5914071
That was one theory that had been bandied about in the comments. (Which I'm pretty sure I contributed to.)
My personal likely theory had been him attempting a sonic rainboom, possibly at Dash's urgings, and it ending in catastrophic failure. Oh well. This is more mundane but still makes sense and works well.
Anyway, Hop, was good to read this and here's to hoping the next one comes out... a bit sooner than this!
A good narrative, good delivery, interesting characters and interaction.
Have a like good sir. I happily await more.
5914355
Nightwalker raised this point and I plan to address it in a later chapter. It has to do with temporary spells and magical leylines.
So Awesome
Mah eyes are leaking!
Well then, that happened. The question now is, of course, what now? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
5914383 That's cool. I can't wait to find out what becomes of Rainbow Dash and Prism Glider. Please continue this story quickly, because I don't think I can wait another minute for the next chapter!
Where's my Kleenex?
5914783 I got half a box for ya, I used the other half.
Aww Jesus, that's some bad injuries. Rainbow's words in the ambulance were heart wrenching, and beautifully written. I very much like you as a writer.
Not sure what to say that wont just be redundant, but that was really rather powerful. The date went at a smooth and well established pace and it helped having it from Rainbows perspective. Always a danger in first person stories to effectually establish a believable chemistry from both sides of the relationship, and it was carried out in this chapter in a way that seemed reasonable (e.g. amnesia.) Allowing the reader to look into both sides of why they liked one another. Really just very good all round.
Ps. Man if that's based partly on real life, I really don't want to know how awful that must have been.
Oh, wow. This chapter was amazing. It was so amazing that I had to stop for a second and imagine myself in a similar situation... as Prism Glider (I have not actually been injured like that, so I could literally only imagine). I don't know why but I did and... just wow. Wow. It got me right in the feels. I can't wait until the next chapter is released. I just have one question:
Does he make it?
I mean, you could be pulling the whole, "He's actually dead and everything he's seeing is a weird version of his life flashing before his eyes" or something like that. I doubt it but it is a possibility. That has a 5% possibility of being true.
This is great, don't know if I'm happy that I couldn't wait any longer to read this or if I should've waited till the end to avoid the wait. Regardless I'm immensely glad you made this and waiting for more is going to be tough.
Um, dayum. Wasn't quite expecting my feels to be played with tonight, but it happened anyways. I just found this fic today and I could not stop reading it. Great freaking job on this story. I've really enjoyed it so far and I hope you keep writing!
Damn. You just actually managed to move a emotionless person like me with this, that is not a easy feat.
5915300 Trust me man, I HAVE been in Glider's position, it's no less fun than being forced to watch.
Well, you no longer have 666 likes.
You're welcome.
In all seriousness, though, I'm not usually one for Mane 6 shipfics, particularly if they're with an obscure character or... *shudders* an OC, but this is really well-done.
Congrats on getting featured, btw. Please write more, I died a little inside when I saw there was no 'next chapter' button
How can you do this to us, man!
either way, awesome chapter!
Her goal at stunt flyer meet ups is to get laid?
...thank you for ruining this version of Rainbow Dash for me. Good Bye.
Good Luck with the fic it was superbly interesting until that part.
5915300
You calculated the odds? Can I see the working? Please
Awesome chapter btw...Well, as in awesome writing. Not the whole ponies getting ripped apart kind of "awesome".
Nice. An update of this story. It's really an interesting way to ship someone with Rainbow Dash. I will be interesting to see the recovery for both of them. RD must feel pretty guilty.
Will we see some other ponies of the mane6? (like just to check on RD)
And now I remember why this story is on my favorites; very well done. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
5916024 The odds are a reference to an anime I was recently marathoning called "Death Note"... That's all the math I was able to do.
5914464 So sorry for the super late reply.
Thanks for the laugh.
5916488
Some people can!
Aw. I was hoping there was really some trick to predicting what authors would write
Wow. Just... wow.
This was pretty intense. The wait was absolutely worth it - the darkest chapter so far indeed. But in the end, he made it.
Really well written - the emotion, the anguish radiates form this like from an exposed plutonium shard.
Probably gonna take a while for a new chapter still, but I can't wait. Your quality of writing keeps improving with every update, so from what I've seen so far, any further chapters will be even better in terms of writing.
The worst, at least physically, is over. Now for the mental adjustment. Still a long way to go.
5915738 "This version"? What are you talking about? "This version" of RD is meant to be relatively accurate. She's still got the personality, and don't you tell me that RD's a virgin because there's really no way in hell she is. The fame that comes with being the fastest flyer in Equestria as well as her affiliation with the Wonderbolts - and c'mon she's probably really hot by pony standards anyway - would put her in the crosshairs of hundreds of stallions.
Not that she'd mind
In any case, if you thought this was going to be some heartfelt snowflake romance, then you're wrong (mostly). This is a tale of two ponies dealing with a fateful injury, and how they both overcome the consequences of it. This could've been any other stallion and any other mare, and just because you're pissed that it happens to be RD here doesn't mean the fic is ruined.
Good day, sir.
i haven't cried in 2 whole years, that end scene had me in tears
5916568 Well if you find out, would you mind sharing the secret with me? I love math and knowing really smart things so I would just love something like this!
5916692 First, I never said this fic was ruined, I said this version of RD has garnered my hostility. This version meaning the RD in THIS FIC. Not the story itself. The story is fantastic and I never stated other wise.
Second, if this was any oc stallion or mare I wouldn't be reading it in the first place.
Third, RD doesn't have to be a virgin but she doesn't have to be highly promiscuous either. (Nice way of saying a whore)
And finally, considering it has a Romance TAG it is a safe bet that this story would be about a ROMANCE!
Good Day To YOU Sir!
5917651
Naturally, I love sharing things.
I dislike mathematics, but I like knowing very smart things too haha. Unfortunately a majority of them come co-related...At least in some way. Graphs, and all that jazz. Probability distribution, statistics....urgh, trigonometry...and the likes
But yeah, I'll share the secret if there is one...
5918932 You know, there probably is one. And I think I might have an idea over how it goes. I imagine it as something like this:
A = The Author
(The plot of the story * The style of A + the negative of (Common themes used by A - Ideas that A has already used)) / 100 =___% (<-- It'll be a decimal but if you multiply by 100 you can add the percent sign)
Or you know I could be completely off and have to go rethink my life but hey I don't mind being wrong every once in a while.
...I'm gonna test out my math really quick.
(1*4.5+ -(5-13)/100
(1*4.5+ -(-8))/100
(1*4.5+8)/100
(4.5+8)/100
12.5/100
.125 or 12.5%
...My math may have been off... don't ask me how I got my numbers. I made up fake number systems with the tags and ideas and I think I was just being really stupid with this. Oh well.
5919294
A more accurate analysis would be to analyse the number of negative endings in other stories by the same author and apply the lower-bound of the p-value from the resulting statistical distribution to get a reasonable guess at the likelihood. However, I don't have enough stories of this format written for there to be a statistically significant dataset, so...
hey, i'm gonna re-draw this picture by pencil. Send me the source link please.
5919810
If you hover your mouse over the image, there's a "Source" link that will take you to it.
5919294
5919440
Okay well I'll definitely test these out after my exams, but for starters, start writing stuff so I can test them out in June
5914023 Okay, that means there's going to be like at least twice the current amount of chapters in the finished version of this story, if I did my math right.
5914023 Hold on to your butts people!!! We got a whole 'nother half coming our way and it looks like a fully armed armada of FEELS!!!!!
Charged through this story last night and this morning. Just barely finished before work. It is enthralling. The simple, complete tragedy of it is done so very well that it just grabs your heart and won't let go. You mentioned that part of Prism Glider's experience here is based on personal experience. It shows.
This chapter does show us that Rainbow wasn't directly involved with Prism's accident, as the possibility that he'd been caught in a sonic rainboom would have had her (since she mentioned in an early chapter that she didn't know how that would effect a neaby pony), but her blaming herself for egging him on is perfectly understandable.
This rather poignant line just speaks volumes of her regret.
Wow. That was greatly written. Just... wow.
Just on a side note: The defibrillator is not to be used when the heart doesn't beat. It is only used when the heart is not beating correctly. That's at least the status quo in Europe when it comes to rescue training. If you need some help in that topic I'd gladly offer my knowledge.
5923687
A lot of the time, when a heart "isn't beating", it's actually in some kind of fibrillation state, which still has no pulse. The medic could have simply said his heart had stopped for the benefit of Rainbow Dash, and not actually meant it literally.
What is this? A Wing Loss™ fic that does not involve
Rainbow DashRainbow Dash losing her wings? This is practically unique and one of a kind!Interesting story so far, if a bit maudlin in places. Entertaining nonetheless. I shall be tracking this with interest. Intense interest at that. Cannot wait to see where you take this.
As a side note, this song popped up on my playlist during my marathon shotgun reading session:
Seems quite apropos.
I never did get a chance to view the last couple pretends for this fic, and I do apologize for that.
In all honesty though? This story has been absolutely terrific to read. I can't wait to see what you've got in store for the followup to this, given that Prism now knows what happened to him and how Rainbow truly feels about him...
Whether or not he does get his memories back, it's all laid bare at this point. Let's see what comes next.