Chapter 5.
“W-where’s…is…Rain-rainbow…Da-ash?” The eyes of Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie went wide, each with looks of concern and apprehension. Twilight glanced between her friends before answering Anon’s question.
“She’s…not here.”
“Why…not?” Wheezed the bed bound human. Twilight was at a loss for words as she wracked her mind trying to find the right thing to say.
“We, uh, just thought it was best that she not be here right now, Anon,” answered Applejack, picking up the slack.
“I don’t…understand.”
“Well, it’s just that with what happened, we uh, thought it would be best if she wasn’t here,” explained Twilight.
“But…I need…to…thank her,” Anon struggled to get out. All the mares went rigid.
“Ah’m sorry…ya wanna THANK her?” Questioned Applejack incredulously.
“She f-found me…I…would’ve…died if…she didn’t find…me….” Twilight didn’t know what to say. No pony in the room did. They just stared at each other unsure of what to say next.
“So…where is s-she?”
Rainbow Dash sat on the couch of her cloud home staring blankly at the floor, absentmindedly petting her tortoise Tank as he tried to comfort his distressed owner. Though he tried to distract the pegasus from whatever was bothering her, she continued to be trapped in her own thoughts.
“What have I done?” she muttered under her breath as her mind traveled back to the events of a week ago.
After Twilight berated Rainbows ignorance and carelessness, the unicorn teleported both herself and the injured human away to the hospital, leaving Rainbow alone to process everything that had happened.
“I…I’m sorry….” She had said with nopony to hear but herself. She still didn’t understand what had happened. Lightning was supposed to be harmless, but from what Twilight had said, apparently she had indeed explained to Rainbow something to the effect of Anon not having the same magical insulation as a pony, rendering him more vulnerable to lightning based injury than the average Ponyville citizen. And that explanation had flown right over Rainbow Dash’s head.
“Gah!” The prismatic pegasus shouted as she brought her hooves to her face. “Why am I so STUPID!” She cried out. “STUPID STUPID STUPID! You would’ve known better if you just paid attention!” Sobs started to wrack her body as the guilt set in full force. Rainbows head felt as though it were on fire.
‘Am I a bad pony? I didn’t mean to hurt him! It was an accident! I didn’t mean to!’
Rainbow stood in that spot, rooted to the ground. For how long, she didn’t know. It felt like hours had passed as she stewed in her own misery, but in reality it was likely only a few minutes.
‘It doesn’t matter if it was an accident. I hurt Anon. I hurt a friend! I have to make sure he’s okay!’ Resolving herself, Rainbow spread her wings and took flight, heading straight for Ponyville Hospital. She arrived in less than a minute, quickly landing and bursting through the door. She galloped up to the front desk so quickly that she startled the receptionist.
“Ah, good morning mis-“ before the mare could finish, Rainbow cut her off.
“Anon, Anonymous the human, where is he?” Questioned Rainbow urgently. Not being a stranger to the urgency displayed by some ponies in the hospital, the receptionist responded calmly.
“Ah the human, yes I remember seeing him brought in. He was in…quit a severe condition,” she replied grimly. “He was taken to the Emergency Care Center, so he’s likely in being treated as we speak.”
“Is he going to be okay?” The receptionist opened her mouth to reply, but stopped to consider her choice of words. “I know the doctors are going to do everything they can.” That wasn’t good enough for Rainbow but she knew it was the best she was going to get. Noting the pegasus’s distress, the mare behind the desk offered her some sympathy.
“I know it’s scary but don’t worry the doctors know what they’re doing. If you want I can direct you to the ECC waiting area.” Rainbow Dash just nodded silently. “Okay, just head through those doors, and straight down the hall past all the doors and you’ll find it on the left,” instructed the medical pony pointing her hoof strait to her right.
“Thanks,” and with that, Rainbow followed her instructions. Upon reaching the waiting room, Rainbow saw none other than Twilight Sparkle, who was pacing back and forth enough to leave a groove in the tile floor. Rainbow wordlessly approached, the sound of her hoof steps drawing Twilight’s attention. Twilight stopped in her tracks as both mares looked stated into each others eyes. Rainbow looked anxious while Twilight expression was unreadable.
“How…is he going to be okay?” Questioned the pegasus. Twilight paused, closing her eyes to think before she responded.
“They aren’t sure.” Faced with such dreadful uncertainty, Rainbow sat on her haunches and stared at the floor. “What where you thinking Rainbow Dash?”
“I…I didn’t…I wasn’t thinking, okay? I didn’t know it would hurt him! I thought lighting was harmless!”
“After I explained to you and the girls that Anon didn’t have any magic? You know that without magic, lightning would be even more dangerous for ponies than it is for humans?!” Twilight explained in an accusatory tone.
“Yeah, you explained it in all those big egg-head words that you knew I wouldn’t understand!” Retorted Rainbow, her frustration and guilt building up inside her.
“So it’s my fault you nearly killed Anon?” Rainbow reared back as if she’d been slapped in the face.
“I-I didn’t say that Twilight! But I didn’t mean to hurt him, okay! You know that I wouldn’t do that to a friend!” The tension in the air was palpable as the two mares stared each other down with tears in their eyes.
“I know you didn’t mean to, Dash,” responded Twilight as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “But you still did. You were incredibly reckless, and now Anon has to pay the price.” Rainbow opened her mouth to reply, but ultimately decided against it, instead dropping to her stomach, putting her hooves over her eyes.
“I know…I’m so stupid!” Her body became wracked with tears as she finally broke down. She lay on the floor of the hospital waiting room, crying her eyes out as the guilt continued to build.
Despite how angry Twilight was with Rainbow, she couldn’t bare to see a friend in such a state. She made her way over to her friend and sat down next to her, placing of hoof on her wither.
“I know you didn’t mean for this to happen Rainbow. But I can’t mince words with you, Anon is SERIOUSLY injured. But right now we don’t know how bad. The doctors, they aren’t used to dealing with this sort of injury. We won’t know how bad the damage is until after his surgery. Until then, I think you should go home.”
“I can’t do that!” Exclaimed Rainbow as she wiped the tears from her eyes, and lifted herself up. “It may be my fault, but I’m the Element of Loyalty, and I’m not going to leave a friend when he needs me!”
“I understand Rainbow, but there’s nothing you can do right now. And honestly, because of your involvement, I think it’s best that you keep your distance for the time being. I need some time to think about how to handle this.”
“Handle this? I don’t understand.”
“Anon is the only human in Equestria Rainbow Dash. That means that according to the Sentient Non-Pony Administration Bureau, he’s not only considered an endangered species, but he’s also under the diplomatic protection of the crown. Princess Celestia will want to know about this, and I need to think about how to explain everything.”
Anxiety returned in full force for Rainbow as the true gravity of the situation became ever more apparent for her.
“B-but there has to be some way for me to make it up to him! There has to be some way I can make this better!” Twilight put a hoof on Rainbows wither.
“I…I don’t know if that’s possible Rainbow Dash. We don’t even know if he’s going to….” The unicorn looked to the floor, more tears gathering in her eyes. Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat at the implication. “Just go home Rainbow Dash…please….”
Rainbow Dash gave a silent nod, and turned to leave, making her way out of the waiting room. But before she left, she turned back to her friend.
“You’ll…you’ll tell me what happens right? You’ll let me know if he’s okay?”
“Of course Rainbow.” The pegasus nodded, before leaving, making her way out of the hospital. As she stepped into the outdoors, she looked up to the sky above. The sun was shining bright, and the sky was nearly cloudless. But to Rainbow Dash, the day couldn’t have been any darker.
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This chapter is everything I could have hoped for, considering the situation. Still, I wonder how well Tia will take it.
Straight, not strait.
11560506
He we go again
Well, if Rainbow Dash is hurt now, when she finds out about Anon's condition, she's going to be completely devastated. And as if that wasn't enough, turns out that she has attacked someone with diplomatic protection. Things get worse and worse.
11560506
Not well
11560510
Oh boy.
11560506
Although I’m certain some ponies in canterlot nobles *cough* blue balls *cough will probably be secretly thrilled, since he now probably could send some to “take care of him”
Damn, I thought Rainbow was just going to be in trouble for recklessly harming an innocent creature, but an endangered species with diplomatic immunity? I wasn't certain at first, but now, she can forget about joining the Wonderbolts. Curious how Celestia will handle this. Rainbow may be an Element of Harmony, but she can't just get off scot-free. At the very least I know she won't be imprisoned, never know when the Elements will be needed.
11560510
And to boot he doesn't remember that she shot him. He thinks that she found him and got help.
There’s a few ideas what could happened to Anon and Rainbow in the story.
Wait where is Fluttershy? I haven’t noticed her yet.
For questions about how Celestia might handle this, the answer is simple: She can't.
Anon is an endangered species, yes, and has special legal protections. Anon is under the Crowns' diplomatic protection, yes, and has special legal protections.
Rainbow Dash bears the Element of Loyalty. It doesn't matter what legal protections Anon has; Rainbow Dash's importance and necessity to the safety of Equestria is absolute.
Yeeesh next chapter ain't gonna go well for anon and dash
Celestia wont do anything drastic though like banishing her or turning her to stone.
Dash is one of the holders of the elements
Thats just how it is
11560612
that... kinda reminds me of the weird (and in my mind STUPID) Rule about some military having a permission to destroy ANYTHING they think is a threat to humanity, just because THEY SEE IT (or just think of it) as a THREAT, no matter the result. Alien, human or other; they see it, they have the RIGHT to kill it.
Or something like that, i dont remember it all correctly. i just remember hearing about it somewhere.
11560620
Not exactly the same: In this case, it has been shown more than once that there are threats out there that only the Elements of Harmony work against.
It would be more akin to asking, "What's to be done with atomic weaponry?" and the answer being, "Nothing, because we have already encountered threats from beyond the Earth that can only be countered by atomic weaponry."
With regard to Rainbow’s Element status, I think it might be appropriate for her to at least offer, of her own free will, to give that up. After all, she’s the nominal holder of Loyalty and yet she’s just crippled a friend because she simply couldn’t be arsed to pay attention at one key moment -- regardless of whether her little magic gemstone would still accept her or not, it’d be kind of in character for her to no longer feel worthy of it after an experience like that.
So no one's gonna tell him Dash's the reason he's there?
...Well, ignorance is bliss I guess.
Also, all y'all saying Dash has some protection since she's an Element? Yeah, she can be replaced.
A reminder, if you will
:
cdn.twibooru.org/img/download/2020/7/18/1381946.png
11560612
Except if she does nothing and the Element bearers go along with it it will go against what some of them represent which makes for a good chance of the Elements no longer working for them. This was one of the main reasons Discord messed with their minds the first time and was a theme in some of the now canon comics as a way to deal with them.
11560603
The wishing flower was a unique specimen. It was something from an era long before canon that was preserved in magical stasis, because it contained a powerful magic but nopony could work out the nature of that magic. It was only discovered to be a wishing flower by complete accident, and by the time it was discovered to be such, the last charge it held had to be used to reverse a wish made previously. I think it can be safely rationalized that it was either something Discord made on a whim, or a species that Grogar destroyed.
11560717
Now that’s a great reply. I forget it was Starswirl who gave the flower to Twilight in that episode right? I can’t see Discord being the one to make those flowers since he is the spirit of chaos that by just his nature he won’t be able to make a flower that grants wishes. Maybe, I could see him been the one to invent the Poison Joke? Groger being one to destroy those flowers would make sense because they would be a threat to him because ponies would easily be able to defeat him with those flowers alone.
I won’t mind a Rainbow Dash adventure searching for those flowers without Starswirl since like you said this story takes place long before they even learned about those flowers since it was introduced by Starswirl himself.
I wonder… would Discord be able to fix Anon or at least make his life easier? He is the spirit of chaos so not sure if his magic would work on him unless it has to be a certain amount of power to even affect Anon. I have a feeling this story will focus more about what it means to take care of someone who is disabled then looking for a solution to heal or fix Anon.
Edit: Huh, I wonder what Poison Joke would do?
I can practically feel the gavel swinging downward for Rainbow.
And I just realized something that others may not have realized, just because the Mane 6 weild the EoH doesn't mean they are irreplaceable. I feel that may have been something even the writers of the show were blind to. Rainbow is probably the worst bearer of the group. Her loyalty is blind and as Discord's ultimatum trickery revealed, Rainbow chooses Cloudsdale when push comes to shove. Tribalist very accurately describes one of her core aspects. And it has been shown multiple times she thinks pegasus speed makes her superior to ponies of other tribes athletically and even bleeds into other things because she can do stuff faster.
Theway her parents saturated her in praise since fillyhood was toxic for her development which led to a stunted maturity, state of mind, & a wreckless ego. True, she did make some improvements over the series, but they only helped in others excusing her worst qualities. She's even shown speciesist mentality where she's quicker to assault or speak rudely to non-pony creatures, which at times has caused a problem or put others at risk.
This story is a fine example of Rainbow behaving true to form but with it finally showing the odds have finally caught up to her and now consequences are being placed upon her head.
11560568
While I am sure that some of the nobles, like Jet Set and many others, are like that.
But when it comes to Blueblood, I've always liked it when his traits have been explaind as his metod to weed out gold diggers and other ponies who would try to raise their status by assosiation with him.
And the reason for him to befriende other nobles is to be a form of early warning system for Celestia (and now Luna). Like an under cover agent who is to be percived as an disatisfied noble.
Thus when Blueblood "brags" about how he cheats the tax system and other things, they know how and who to look out for.
It makes me feel that BB have more than 1one dimension to him.
But that is just me head Canon for BB.
11560603
My first tought was that RD's punishment would in some form be to take care of Anon as his personal nurse... that would end up in the (maybe also reverse?) 'Nightingale effect'.
But considering the lack of a 'romance' tag.....
11560729
I don’t really believe they would be replace that easily since they weren’t chosen for being perfect, rather they were picked by Harmony because they can grow into the Elements by the challenges they will face that many others probably won’t be able to handled. Sure, the writers didn’t really expanded that and really they should done more situations for each Element to really test and grow their character to become more of that Element which there’s plenty of great episodes of things like that.
This story has the perfect life lesson for Rainbow Dash to grow better as the Element of Loyalty, because she is rash and naïve which at this time she and the others aren’t perfect and haven’t grown as heroes or better ponies as of yet. So, they need to face hardships that will build them into stronger characters.
But you are right, she and the others can be replace for others if they keep following a path that rejects their elements for too long. This story doesn’t seem like that rather it’s an ultimate test of loyalty for Rainbow Dash to learn from by taking care of Anon and other ponies or creatures who are in the same ship like Anon. I do hope this opens Rainbow’s eyes to the fact the world isn’t perfect and there are ponies who suffer being paralyze or other things that would give her more a purpose becoming a wonderbolt to fly for those who can’t. Who knows maybe she’ll learn about why Scoots can’t fly soon.
11560715
That's for Harmony to figure out, not Celestia. Politically and legally, there's nothing to be done: Rainbow's importance to Equestria is absolute.
11560620
Wasn't that that one Russianbadger EDF video?
Wow accident or not Rainbow did just break the law. Though I'm more curious how that guilt and shame are going to torment her more when she learns that Anon doesn't know it was her fault he is now paralyzed from the neck down for what might be forever when he thanks her for saving his life because from his point of view she was there to help him not the reason he is now hurt and bedridden. I am curious how this will effect RD and how long before she cracks and tells Anon the truth? How crazy will her guilt and shame make her? What will happen when Anon finds out the truth? Finally how broken will RD be at the end of all this?
I'm guessing it is going to be really bad.
11560731
True. But you have to admit though he didn’t have to be a jerk to two of the mane 6
11560725
Bringing Anon into contact with Poison Joke wouldn't be a good idea even if he wasn't crippled. While it's difficult to work out any point of commonality to the effects we've seen from it in canon, the closest I've come to it is that the 'joke' it plays messes with the feature of the victim that they're best known for. The 'jokes' are never an objective good thing, it's just that sometimes, like with Fluttershy's in Filli Vanilli, the effect can be put to use if considered creatively. Honestly, it could just have no effect at all, given that Anon has no magic. That's a big gamble for a net 0 reaction at best, and if it did anything at all it'd be worse than putting salt on a wound. Like, someone digging their hand into a wound, worse.
I foresee an even more awkward situation than I was originally expecting when Anon finally sees Rainbow again. If they don't tell him it was her fault, he's going to be so grateful she 'apparently' saved his life. I'm curious if she discovers his ignorance, whether or not she'll attempt to keep him in the dark about her actions before she finally caves and lets him know the truth.
When I read this, I thought back to Nightmare Moon's first appearance, when she swept the royal guards aside like nothing with her lightning attack. But I guess a lightning spell cast by an alicorn might be in a whole different ball park from Rainbow Dash's "prank".
11560874
That is a possibility for Rainbow Dash to not tell him it was her fault throughout the whole story and the M6 waiting for her to tell the truth. That would be a really big test of loyalty
11560729
I've wondered about that - as everyone here should know, there are tons of stories dealing with the death of one of the Mane Six, but I've never seen one dealing with the issue of what they'd do about a threat normally requiring the Elements of Harmony.
If Anon forgives Rainbow Dash for crippling him for life, his dedication to his friend will far outway Rainbow's and he should become the new bearer of the Element of Loyalty. Then they can just strap his ass into a wheelchair when they need to friendlaser some great evil and they can give RD an appropriate legal punishment without worrying about her needing to wield the element.
11561078
Huh, I can't recall any story that's done that either. Plenty of AU story lines with different Bearers, but you're right. That's a weird fact.
Good catch on that.
11560781
... oh snap, you are right! So THATS why it was so memorable xD
Well then, Everyone seems to be taking this relatively well. Good.
welp rainbow dash is going to jail
11561057
True, a true test of loyalty and its definition. Maybe Rainbow'd originally consider it more loyal for her not to tell him, as it would make it easier for her to look after him, if that is what she intends to do. That'd likely lead to Anon seeing himself as a burden upon Rainbow in that scenario, which would just make his situation that much more depressing in the long run. But then again, revealing the truth could make him even more miserable. To know that one of your best friends caused you such harm would be such a torture.
11561859
Man, now I hope we get that scenario in this story because that would be a good read instead of him knowing right away.
11561139
Forgiveness can lead to healing both parties. It would lead for both Anon and Rainbow Dash to have peace even though Rainbow will have to take responsibility of her actions she and anon needs peace of healing more then anything and not anger, anxiety, depression, and etc which I highly expect that both of them will be going through a rough mental process for awhile.
Intriguing, I await more.
I’m enjoying this this so far, I’m not sure if that’s the best choice of words but, and I can wait for the next part.
How come no one came up with this Sentient Non-Pony Administration Office? I have never heard of anything similar in any fic and it makes all the sense in the world!
Poor RD
11560603
If all else fails DIscord might be a decent last resort, though who knows what he'd do to him? Probably nothing harmful, but who knows if it'd be helpful, either.
11772592
Granny Smith ya no necesita esa operación de la cadera.
Discord hizo que la baja probabilidad de no ponys terrestre ocurra entre los Cake.
Discord tiene la habilidad de ir en contra de la vida.
= }