Dash No Harm
Rainbow Dash's hooves scraped across the pebble-strewn floor as she trotted into the open barn. Instead of bales of hay, there rested bundled stacks of sapphire shards, as well as canvas bags full of crystalline filaments. Stretched across the floor beneath soft lanternlight was a series of cots—over a dozen total, and they housed weak and malnourished equines in various states of recovery.. Two crystal stallions, three glowing mares, and a unicorn filed from patient to patient. Rainbow Dash made straightway for the lattermost pony.
As she drew closer, she heard Imre's voice speaking in a soft tone. "You have a kidney infection, but nothing I can't fix. The ponies of this town have some remarkable medicinal herbs, which is pretty snazzy for a bunch of walking lightbulbs." Imre finished tipping a wooden bowl full of steamy broth into the equine's mouth. After he helped the pony swallow, she set the bowl aside and placed a wet washcloth on his forehead. "What's important is that you rest. I'm educated in taking care of ponies, not basketcases."
"It's... it's incredible..." The stallion sputted and wheezed. His eyes were heavy, and yet a tranquil smile hung off his weary features. "The ponies here... they're all so nice..."
"Yeah, well, you're no longer in smack-and-gruntville," Imre droned. "The most these ponies care about is digging up rubies, not the guts of stallions or—well—other stuff that stallions have to offer. You'll be safe here, buddy."
"Thank you so much..." He murmured, falling into blissful slumber as the medicine took effect. "You are... you are an angel..." The pony was silent.
Imre took a deep breath. Wincing, she stood up—only to bump into a colorful figure to her side.
"Now, how's that for some flattery?" Rainbow Dash remarked with a grin.
Imre blinked at her. Swiveling about like a gliding ice sculptor, she made for the far end of the line of cots.
Rainbow's blue brow furrowed. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and trotted after the unicorn. "Okay, look at it this way. You're a skilled healer, way more skilled then these crystal huffers here. Erm..." She smiled nervously aside. "No offense."
The other mares and stallions waved back and merely chuckled.
"Still, the farmers' good spirit alone isn't enough to cure everything." Rainbow Dash skipped a hoof or two to catch up with Imre's movements. "If I didn't force you to come along like I did, I'm pretty sure a lot of these recovering ponies here would be dealing with more than infected kidneys. Or else, they wouldn't be dealing with anything at all, cuz—y'know—they'd be dead."
Imre reached a table full of supplies and fished around for fresh wash cloths.
Rainbow sighed, her one good wing deflating under her slab of armor. "Really?! Is this really how things are gonna be from now on?! You don't need to thank me, y'know, but the least you can do is say 'hello.'"
"I have a limp now, thanks to you."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Huh?
"From punching me in the chest," Imre clarified without looking. "If you really wanted to knock the wind out of my lungs with your hoof, you should have aimed at my ribcage. What did you think I was, a simian?"
"Err..."
"Now I have to deal with what could very well be an incurable sprang of the left subclavian muscle—"
"Hey! Believe me!" Rainbow momentarily frowned. "I was this close to smacking you in the muscle you use the most!"
"Lemme guess, my mouth?"
"If you hadn't switched it with the opposite end of your body at the time, then totally!"
Imre sighed long and hard. "Look, I have work to do..."
"Imre..."
"You brought me here, so I might as well make the best out of it—"
Rainbow Dash stretched a hoof out and rested it on the unicorn's shoulder. "You're doing more than enough. These ponies are gonna live longer lives 'cuz of you."
"Pffft. You're the one who brought 'em here."
"Because of you." Rainbow Dash's eyes glared heavily. "It was you who helped me lead them to a place where they could flee all the crap that went down in Searo's Hold."
Imre stared blankly at her. "Really? Cuz I recall myself being the one who—"
"Yeah yeah yeah—before you went psycho on me. That's besides the point!" Rainbow smiled hopefully. "Why are you such a friggin' puzzle, girl? I mean, look at you! You're—like—a machine of good will and stuff! You were made to help other ponies feel better! Why's it that you gotta have such a huge flaw?"
"You mean my acquaintance with Roarke?"
"Sure, why not? Ahem." Rainbow leaned forward. "I'm talking about your stupid tendency to throw yourself into the proverbial woodchipper as if your life doesn't matter! But it does, Imre! You've just been spat in the face so often by so many pigheaded metal mares that you've... I dunno... started believing in all of their lies or something!"
"If only it were that simple..."
"What is it, Imre?" Rainbow forced the unicorn to face her directly. "Spit it out, girl! Right here. Right now. What's so terrible... so horrible... so oh-my-goddess-gag-me bad about your past that you can't stand to face it... to face a new life and a new chance at freedom?"
Imre glared as she said, "You're not gonna let it rest, are ya?"
Rainbow smiled proudly. "Element of Loyalty, personified."
"More like Element of Pain-in-the-Flank."
"Whatever. Dictionaries are for losers. Talk to me."
Imre's nostrils flared. She stared towards the ground and muttered, "Let's just say that... I-I have family issues..."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Is that it?"
Imre snarled, "What the heck did you want?! A long, dramatic tail about being cursed by the moon or something?"
"Er..."
"Once a month, my neck grows twenty inches, and I run into the forest to eat squirrels out of their nests."
"Oh come on..."
"They call it the 'Curse of the Rodenting.'"
"What I meant, Imre, is that we all have family issues, one way or another—"
"Even you?"
Rainbow Dash froze in mid-speech. She shrugged. "Sometimes... uhm... 'family issues' includes a... er... lack of a family..."
"Pffft. Right..." Imre turned around.
"What I was trying to get at..." Rainbow Dash stepped in her way. "...is that you may think you're alone, but you really don't have to be, y'know? Is it really so bad to try something new? Something that might... I dunno... give you something to hammer away those issues?"
Imre's ears drooped slightly. "Like what?"
"Friendship!"
"Snkkkt-HAH! Haha—ahem..." Imre cleared her throat and leaned back against a wooden post. Quick as lightning, she was deadpan again. "You don't say..."
Rainbow Dash stared, her mouth agape.
Imre raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I dunno... that's, like... the first time I heard you laugh. Ever."
"Hmmm..." Imre stared down at the floor. "Don't get used to it."
"Imre, you can hate me all you want. I don't care. If it helps you move along with stuff, then good." Rainbow stared at her evenly. "But at least you'd be moving somewhere."
"Don't I know it..." Imre stared back, her eyes laced with lethargy. "One way or another, I'm always running away from something. We've been over this."
"I'm starting to discover that the marathon is a bit less freaky when you've got other ponies to share the jog with," Rainbow Dash said. "It's like an astronomical Running of the Leaves. You just lean on..." She paused in mid-speech, her eyes lost in the distance as a painful grimace ran through her features.
Imre cocked her head curiously at that.
Rainbow cleared her throat and resumed. "You j-just lean on each other, and you work out a way to the finishing line. Soon, you'll stop thinking about the destination, and dwell only on the race itself."
Imre's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure of that?"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but she lingered. Her ears drooped suddenly to match Imre's. "No," she said.
"Really..."
"But..." Rainbow gazed back up with a soft smile. "I'm willing to try it out. Cuz... I have faith, y'know? So much faith that I'm willing to risk my very own neck to find my friends up north."
Imre groaned. "You're still obsessed with them, huh?"
"Dang straight." Rainbow sat back on her haunches. "Cuz I believe—no..." She took a breath. "I know that they will help me get through this journey I'm on, and I wanna get them through theirs. I have faith in them, Imre. And... darn it all..." Her features once more took on a chiseled frown. "I have faith in you too. You may be stubborn, dry, and annoying... but beneath it all is a good pony who deserves another chance at life. I really, really want to help you, just like you want to help others. Now, don't you dare deny that we got something in common there."
The unicorn stood silent, her breaths even, contemplative.
"So... talk to me, girl." Rainbow Dash leaned her head to the side. "What do you think?"
Imre took a breath and trotted past her. "I think you need to pick another spot to sit."
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?" She turned, and in so doing heard a rattling sound. Glancing down, she saw that she had blindly plopped down upon a pile of unwashed rags and bedpans. "Oh, sonuva—"
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and that was the day Dash picked up 100 STD's from sitting in the bedpans of former sex slaves
...eew... xD
Heh heh heh...ew.
Eurgh. Rainbow needs to be more attentive...
This pretty much sums up Dash in this story.
Deep, heartfelt discussion, touching moments with a bitter pony (making her laugh was nice), even throw in a bit of depressing Dash thoughts (when she trailed off for a moment).
Then she sits in dirty bed pans.
Yep. That's Dash.
Well then Dash, you've just got 20% ... sicker. Eh? Eh?
It sucks, I know. 
Family issues? Looks like Imre is wrapped more tightly in Nightshade than we first thought
That part was hilarious for all the
wrongright reasons.Oh dashie... When are you going to learn to look before you sit?
Oh, I totally want that. I've never read anything like that before...
I smell an incoming exposition dump. Either that or a scene change.
dashie your the only Pegasus that can pull off a sonic rainboom, save four ponies, and pull of a perfect 90 degree turn all while moving at about mach 5.....yet you didn't see a pile of used bedpans?
Err indeed.
Oh, and back story time!
Okay, that was hilarious (and more than a little gross).
I'm really getting more and more intrigued with Imre and her past. I'm also increasingly convinced that her past somehow involves Nightshade. Perhaps she was a doctor for Nightshade, came to regret working for them, and went to the front line to try and redeem herself. Of course, there's also the whole "family issues" thing. Wouldn't it be a stinker if her mom was Madame Nightshade? I'm probably getting ahead of myself again, but it's fun to speculate.
Oh, you.
Nummy.
Typical Dash. Delivers a kickass, inspiring speech only to sit in a pile of dirty rags of former sex slaves. At least she means well.
love this dynamic, it is tragic yet funny.
You got a little something on your everything there, Rainbow...
Eeee-yuck.
Dirty laundry and shit. There's a Horatio one-liner in there somewhere.
fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/101987.png?1367781624
War time doctors are always fascinating characters, I don't know why. On first glance, one would expect an angelic helper to have an angelic personality. On second glance, the bitterness and sarcasm so often present in their personalities would just be a natural protective reaction against all the horrors they have to go through. Maybe that's why they always end up being the biggest badasses.
Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse. While we are quoting Hippocrates: "Quae medicamenta non sanant, ferrum sanat; quae ferrum non sanat, ignis sanat". What herbs cannot cleanse, the blade will cleanse; what the blade cannot cleanse, the torch will cleanse.
Whoa I haven't read any of this series yet, but I noticed something
(wholly sh**)
Now ain't I a smart alack.
The first series austraeoh has all 1 word chapters.
The second series Eljunbyro has all 2 word chapters.
And this innavedr has all 3 word chapters.
now before Dashie goes to kick some ass and save some ass, she has to wipe her ass now.
And now she needs to go and talk to Roarke.
honeytiger's dictionary is 4 inches thick...
Always watch your step in triage. You never know when you'll step into a connection with someone (somepony) else. Or bedpans.
Carnivorous equine...giraffe....Equiraffe!
run for the hills!
or the trenches.
them thar necks dont bend
2623436
*ahem* read the comments (as was pointed out almost immediately I think in chapter 1-4 of this one)
The beauty of this story is the chapters are frequent and short enough that you can usually read all the comments, and it allows you to savor each chapter a little more.
Though I think more embarassing was the pony who forgot Pilate was blind.
2623957
At little small, don't you think?
A Message from MASH -
Argh...not.....again........z..........zzzzz..........(I'm seriously sorry for this.)
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So I like how this chapter references Rainbow's own journey as well as the Running of the Leaves. Nice touch. I also like that Rainbow actually hasn't forgotten about her eastward journey - she still intends to finish it. That makes me happy! Beyond that - did she really get through to Imre? I don't think we can know for sure until the next chapter. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Oh, this story.
I can't tell you how happy I am that I found it, and that its still going. Also, nice to see the minor Appledash reference with the Running of the Leaves leaning thing (they look like they're leaning on each other in the episode, anyway). I can't help but think that if this whole epic is going to be as long as your page makes it out to be (and I'm still reserving judgement on that) if Dash'll find a way to bring the rest of the Mane 6 back, one at a time. It could totally happen. Maybe. Eh, I need sleep. Until tomorrow!
Oh god. That part about the Running of the Leaves.
Nice heartfelt discussion.
AppleDash reference.
Dash gets sick.
-Spirit
Rainbow, you sure do spend quite a lot of time helping others. I just hope you don't try helping others too much so that you can't help yourself when the time comes.
Until then, Rainbow, keep flying east.
Oh god the Running of the Leaves with AJ. Poor Dashie
Thankfully IC gives us this to help lighten the mood again
4788786
lol
Ah, Dashie, yah blew it. You had this wonderful, spirit lifting speech going for you and you just—
yah blew it
Dash, check where you sit next time. That can't be good for your regrowing tail.
Fic-canon accepted.
But seriously, I'll be very surprised if Imre isn't associated with Nightshade Industries after all that wangst we just got from her.
Equine anatomy checks out - They Did The Research.
A combination of heartwarming, sad, and Foreshadowing all in one paragraph. If Rainbow gets through her journey, she definitely will be a very different individual then when she comes out of it.
XD ...ew
So I like to do crossed overs in my head of stories I have read/seen.
One cross over was having the TV show Twilight and Spike get sent to this time line by TV Discord as a 'gift' of a final adventur before taking over for Celetia and Luna. And at the end of Twilight and Spike's adventures with East Bound Dash, Twilight arrange with Discord for Rainbow to meet a certain 2 ponies. Namely Rainbow Dash's parents from the TV show meeting the East Bound Dash, and they spend a day together. And as they part way East Bound Dash sees Wonderbolt Dash greetings her parents. She salutes her and then the portal closes.