Pennies
Pennies
(Continuation of Window)
Twilight took the clipboard in her magic. “Everything’s in order?” She asked shortly.
The stallion standing in front of her nodded shakily. “Y-yes, you highness, but I have to ask you to reconsider. What you’re proposing - it’s practically science fiction! The technology and magic are still in their infancy. There are no guarantees this will work at all, and the cost to you is-”
“Pennies,” Twilight grunted. She dipped a quill into a pot of ink and brought it to the board. “The magic has showed great promise; I studied the papers on it personally. I’m well aware of what it’s capable of, and this should be well within its capabilities.”
“Perhaps, but-”
“That’s enough.” With a flourish Twilight’s name was signed. “Schedule the procedure immediately. Your earliest convenience. Throw around my name if you need to - just get it done, doctor.”
The doctor nodded hesitantly. “Of course, Princess.” He hurried out of the room, forms tucked under his leg, and Twilight all but fell into a chair.
She looked the only window in the small office, and was reminded of what she was doing - and why. “It’s gonna be okay, now,” Twilight murmured, reaching out to a mare who wasn’t there. “Everything will be okay.”
The door opened. Twilight stepped inside. Rainbow sat with her back to her, staring out her window.
“Rainbow-”
“I told you not to come back,” she growled. “I told you I didn’t want to see you anymore.”
Twilight winced at the razor sharp words, but steadied herself with a slow breath. “Rainbow, please, I need you to come with me.”
Turning, Rainbow lifted a single eyebrow at the alicorn. “They’re letting me out?” she asked skeptically. “I thought I wasn’t getting out until I ‘wasn't a danger to myself’.” She emphasized her air quotes.
“Are you?” Twilight asked, biting her lip nervously.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “My life,” she said. “My choice.”
Twilight sighed. “That’s a ‘yes’ then…” she shook her head sadly. “No, Rainbow, you’re not being released. It’s… something else.”
“Then go away,” Rainbow snorted. “I don’t care.” She lifted her gaze to the sky out her tiny window.
“I have a way to give you your wing back.”
Rainbow’s head snapped around. “What?”
Rainbow groaned, eyes opening slowly and being assaulted by glaringly bright fluorescent lights. She lifted her hoof in an attempt to shield her face.
“Sorry; I’ll turn them down,” a voice from her side called. “I was reading.”
“Twilight?” Rainbow called groggily. She blinked hard, her vision a blur that seemed to refuse to focus. The lights dimmed. “Where-”
“The anestesia is still wearing off, you’re going to be a bit hazy for a while, and it might take a minute for you to remember everything,” Twilight answered. Her voice sounded… different. Groggy. “You’re in the hospital.”
Rainbow tried to sit up, but found her muscles unresponsive. “Hospital?”
“The procedure went well,” Twilight said. “We don’t know for sure if the nerves took root properly, but so far it looks promising.”
“Nerves?” What-” Rainbow grunted, lifting a hoof to her head and massaging her temple. Slowly her vision cleared enough for her to make out the ceiling tiles above her. She rolled her head to the side, a lavender blob sitting on a chair right up against the edge of her bed. She gasped. “The surgery. Did- did it-”
Twilight smiled, reaching out and placing a hoof atop Rainbow’s. “Yes, Rainbow; it worked. Look.”
Swallowing nervously, Rainbow grasped the hem of her blanket hesitantly. She closed her eyes and took a breath ebfore ripping the sheat off her. For a moment she kept her eyes closed, scared of what she’d find beneath the blanket.
“You can’t see them if you keep your eyes closed, silly,” Twilight chastised with a giggle.
“Them?” Rainbow echoed. “I only lost one-” she stopped dead, her eyes wide open and staring at the feathery appendage where once there was a stump.
“I know, but if we didn’t do both you’d be lopsided; flying would be hard enough, never mind your stunts,” Twilight explained, grinning as she reached out and ran her hoof through Rainbow’s new feathers.
Rainbow’s jaw worked uselessly, watching Twilight’s hoof. “Twilight, why-” she looked up, and Twilight met her eyes with a tearful smile. “Twilight!”
“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Twilight said insistently. “You can dye them so they won’t stick out so much.”
“D-dye them!?” Rainbow shouted. “Twi, that’s not - I don’t care about that!”
Twilight frowned. “What’s wrong, then?”
“Twilight!” Rainbow screamed. “Your wings!”
Twilight glanced over her shoulder, where once the alicorn had wings were now merely bandaged stumps. She gave the pegasus a confused look. “Rainbow, I told you we couldn’t grow you a new wing. Of course they had to come from somewhere.”
“But- but-...” Rainbow trailed off, looking down and running a hoof over her lavender feathers. “Twilight, I can’t- I didn’t want this, I-”
Tilting her head curiously, Twilight reached out to grab Rainbow’s hoof in her own. “Of course you do, Rainbow. I-”
“Take them back,” Rainbow demanded. She pulled herself out of bed using Twilight’s hoof, nearly collapsing as her numbed legs struggled to support her. Twilight caught her, pulling her into an embrace the pegasus feebly fought against. “You take them back right now, Twilight. You never said I’d be taking your wings. I never would have-”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” Twilight admitted sadly. She squeezed her tighter, burying her muzzle in locks of rainbow mane. “I knew you’d never do it if you knew. But don’t you see? You have your wing back. You can fly again, Rainbow - you haven’t lost anything.”
Rainbow tried again to pull away from the hug. “But what about you? I can’t fly knowing you can’t anymore, Twilight. I can’t take that away from you.”
“You never took anything. I gave them to you.”
“Don’t you get it!?” Rainbow yelled, her voice cracking. “Everytime I fly. Everytime I see you, I’ll know what I took from you. I’ll be reminded every day what you lost because of me. How can you expect me to live like that?”
The corner of Twilight’s lips pulled down. “What would you have me do, then? Sit by and watch you waste a way? Turn a blind eye so you could kill yourself? What do you want me to do?”
“I-”
“I would have given anything to help you, Rainbow Dash. Do you understand? Anything. And in the end, all it cost me was my wings?” She scoffed. “Pennies. I could save you for mere pennies. How could I not take that deal?” Rainbow shuddered in her hooves, and Twilight knew she was crying. “I haven’t lost anything, but I got you back.”
“Twilight,” Rainbow sobbed, forcing what little strength she could into her limps to cling to the alicorn ever tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay,” Twilight whispered soothingly, a smile forming despite the beading tears in her eyes. “We’ll be okay now.”
Twilight’s wing’s flapped weakly, and for the first time in a very, very long time, Rainbow felt the wind in her feathers.
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I'm not crying, you're crying!
9786964
NO! I’M not crying, you’re crying!
There may be others, but I only caught the one. There should not be an apostrophe in "wings" in the final sentence.
Other than that, it's fine.
It just lessens the impact of Twilight donating her wings, since, by her own admission, her wings do not really mean a whole lot to her. Thus it really is not all that significant of a sacrifice on her part.
A more dramatic ending might have been if Twilight had to sacrifice her magic to restore Rainbow's wing, since Twi's magic is as integral to her self as Dash's wings are to her's. (Of course then you have a situation where no one can be happy. Either Dash can never fly again and Twi is upset because Dash will not let her fix her, or Dash is upset because Twi gave up her magic for her and Twi can never use magic again.)
Twilight DID give up flying with her beloved, the joy, the discovery, and possibly some Pegasus magic...
Plus, I imagine it hurt like Tartarus.
But this saved Rainbow NOW. Rainbow needs flesh-and-blood wings. She needs magic. SHE needs to be the one doing the flying.
Twilight, on the other hand, gave up quite a bit. But she didn't spend her whole foalhood flying, either. And if anyone was going to invent some sort of steampunk jetpack or metal wings, it'd be Professor Twilight Sparkle, Ph.D.
But, seeing as neither of those things would be good enough to fix Rainbow, she took a more... biological approach.
It seems to have been quite effective, and, with her loved one on the long road to recovery, she might just build those metal wings, and thus, make Equestria a better place.
I give it a "my back aches and I don't have wings" out of "d'aww, angsty yet fluffy ponies!" .
As Abraham Lincoln put it once, "Four out of Score, would read again sometime."
11638922
15-year-old you gave 39-year-old me a bunch of entertaining stories to enjoy. Thank him for me, won’t you? I only watched MLP for the first time after seeing Jenny Nicholson’s video on bronies and Bronycon on YouTube. Never thought I like it. Certainly never thought I’d be seeking out mlp fan fiction to scratch that itch, but here we are.
There’s just something about this world and these characters… I’m honestly quite bored with all the heroics and adventure arcs, but I could read these slice of life vignettes forever! And I will… when they involve Rainbow and romance. Yikes, what have I become?!!
This two-parter was quite excellent, Kodeake. Nits I picked with your (earlier) earlier work no longer apply. Really well done. I’m sad the Twidash collection I’ve been enjoying has now been exhausted, but I’m glad I get to leave on a high note.