The Problem With Jewelry

by bahatumay

Chapter 8

Somepony screamed. It might have been Applejack. She wasn’t sure. She was aware of herself running and scooping up the pegasus’s lifeless body. “Rainbow… oh, Rainbow…”

As her anguish converted to rage, Daring Do darted over. She grabbed Rainbow Dash and rolled her over onto her side; and then it converted into confusion as Daring Do grabbed Applejack’s hooves and placed them over Rainbow’s ribs.

“Hooves there. Push,” she ordered.

“What?”

“Push!” Daring barked.

Shocked into compliance, Applejack pushed.

“Keep doing it. Faster and deeper,” Daring instructed, turning around and flying towards her saddlebags. She dragged them back next to Rainbow Dash’s motionless body, and tore them open.

“What are-?”

“It said she had to die,” Daring explained, digging desperately through her supplies. “Didn't say how long she had to stay dead. Keep going!”

Applejack kept pushing. Daring Do found what she was looking for. She pulled out a long, thin needle, sucked some of the vial up, and jabbed it into Rainbow Dash’s heart.

“Keep going,” she whispered. “Come back, Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack kept pushing. “She’s…”

“Not yet!” Daring Do spread her wings and flew.

With no other option, Applejack continued pumping.

It felt like hours, though it may have been just minutes. Daring Do returned, dragging behind her a cloud. She must have formed it from the little stream from before. She formed it into a ponyshoe shape, and held it over Rainbow’s chest. “Clear!” she ordered. “Stand back!”

Applejack retracted her hooves and Daring slammed the cloud. A thunderbolt erupted from the cloud and hit Rainbow in the chest. Rainbow’s body twitched, but she made no other movement.

“Keep going!” Daring insisted.

Applejack continued pushing. Rainbow Dash still wasn’t responding.

“No!” Daring Do shouted, pulling out more vials. “It does not end this way!” She filled another needle and drove it into Rainbow Dash’s chest. “Keep going. Stay with us. Stay with us!”

It seemed like it was a lifetime; but Rainbow’s body may have twitched. Applejack watched breathlessly for any more movement.

“Don't stop! If you're tired, I'll switch!” Daring shouted.

Applejack continued. Minutes stretched on into what felt like hours. Daring Do pushed her hooves away, taking over. Applejack rocked back, head still reeling.

Daring Do looked at her. “Take over,” she ordered. “I’m going to shock her again.”

Applejack obeyed, pushing on Rainbow Dash’s ribs as Daring Do reformed her cloud. “Clear!” she called before she shocked her again. Rainbow’s body twitched once more. Applejack began compressions again.

And then Rainbow groaned and weakly reached up to push Applejack’s hooves away.

“Rainbow?!” Applejack’s eyes were wet. “Rainbow!”

Rainbow groaned again. Her eyes flickered open. She squinted, recognizing the pony there. A goofy, if weak, smile flitted across her face as she reached up to touch her. “Am I in Elysium?” she whispered.

Applejack grabbed her in a tight hug. “Don't you ever do anything like that again!” she whispered, almost crying on the outside from relief.

“Do what?” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow, you died!”

“I did?” Rainbow blinked. “Oh, yeah. Yeah. I did.” She looked over. “Daring? Where are you going?”

Applejack spun around, and sure enough, Daring Do looked like she was trying to sneak away.

She gave her a shaky smile. “Wouldn’t want to… overstay my welcome, you know.”

“Overstay your-!” Applejack sputtered. “You killed Rainbow Dash! And you just wanna walk out?”

“It was only temporary!” Daring protested, hooves up placatingly. “I brought her back, didn’t I? I mean, I was eighty percent sure that would work.”

“Eighty perc-!”

“And it worked!”

“Yeah, that was pretty awesome,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing herself to her hooves and proudly buffing a hoof against her chest. “Noble self-sacrifice for the good of the whole world. Definitely worth a mention in the novel.”

“Worth a whole lot more than that,” Daring agreed. “I’m thinking you on the cover, yes; but the altar is hidden so there’s no spoilers.”

“Oh, yeah. I hate spoilers,” Rainbow agreed. “But the griffons need to be there.”

“Just the first one on the ship,” Daring said. “Griffone doesn’t deserve to be on there because he kinda went down like a little-”

“You put my heart through the wringer and you’re chattin’ about what’s going on the book?!” Applejack nearly shrieked.

Daring Do shrugged. “If I’d told you what we were going to do, you’d’ve fought against it.”

“Yeah, I would have! Rainbow is my life! Seein’ her dead; I didn’t know what to think! I didn’t know what to do! I’ve never imagined life without her because she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I don’t even want to think about what it’d be like with her gone! So yeah! I’m pretty mad!”

“Applejack…”

Applejack glanced back at Rainbow Dash. She could almost swear that tears were welling up in her eyes, but that would be ridiculous. Right?

“Applejack, that’s…” Rainbow swallowed. “That means a lot to me, that you’d say that, like that.” She stepped even closer and silently flicked her tail over, crossing it with Applejack’s. “Thank you.” She leaned in close. “And I love you, too,” she whispered.

Daring grinned and took another step back. “Sounds like you two need a little… alone time. Tell you what. We’ll rendezvous at the river in an hour or so, and I’ll hitch a ride back with you to Ponyville. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “All of that, pretty good.”

Daring Do saluted, tightened the straps on her bag, and then quickly flew off, leaving behind a grayscale contrail.

The two ponies watched her leave in silence.

Applejack finally broke it. “She’s not going to make it past the cave-in by herself, is she?”

“Not for a while, anyway,” Rainbow answered flippantly. “But I think we can let her discover that on her own.” She leaned in and pressed the top of her head against Applejack’s shoulder. “There's something else around here I want to explore first.”

Comments

[Mark Crazeer]

no! basic CPR to undo a death by sacrifisial ritual?!? no! That would not work that spell was an instakill she was as clinically dead as one can be no potion or medical attention can undo that. the only thing that could have undone that was a resurrection ritual witch is way you always bring a spellcaster/cleric/unicorn/Twilight on suicide missions. unless what was in that vial was the physician's cure that would not work. i expect the reccurection ritual to need both pegasus earthpony and unicorn magicalcomponents to work. i will say it again as i have not made my quintessential D&D refference yet so *ahem* YOU CAN NOT USE A HEALING POTION OR A MEDICAL ROLE TO SAVE SOMEONE FROM AN INSTAKILL SPELL OR FROM THREE FAILED DEATH SAVING THROWS IT. DOES NOT WORK. AT THAT POINT THEY ARE DEAD NOT DYING!!!!!

[The Yaoi Mistress]

well, she was dead for a while, so it counts, at least legally.