River
A lonely white cloud slowly drifted across the sky, following the lazy breeze that came from the Everfree Forest. Only a couple hundred feet below, a gorge cut itself from the rock. The Ponyville Dam rose from the surface of the river below, guarding the town’s reservoir of water. A platform for touring visitors extended halfway out over the river below the dam, offering a close-up view of the dam’s structure and sluice gates.
A bright multi-colored, albeit unkempt tail hung over the edge of the cloud now floating over the water. The tail twitched slightly, as an errant breeze subtly changed the direction of the cloud and it began to float away from the dam at a snail’s pace.
On top of the cloud, Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly creaked open. They almost immediately snapped shut again as the bright sun invaded her eyes. Turning away from her back and folding her legs back underneath her, she gently flared out her wings, stretching them in the warm sunlight. She opened her eyes again, now safely looking away from Celestia’s sun.
A bird’s eye view of the dam and viewing platform greeted her. A few visitors milled about, watching the dam work. She was technically supposed to be on duty, clearing this section of clouds for the day. And she had done so; save for her current bed. This particular piece of white cotton just looked too enticing to disperse with a quick buck. It was the end of her shift anyway. Work hard, snooze hard had always been her philosophy.
She particularly liked the sky above the dam on warm days such as this. The cool mist rising up from the river when the sluice gates opened kept the heat of being in the sun’s rays bearable, and the white noise was pretty relaxing as well. She silently congratulated herself on finding such a magnificent napping spot. Sometimes she thought that if the rainbow lightning bolt had not first claimed her flank, a picture of a soft pillow might have found its way there instead.
She stood up on the cloud, now fully stretching out all of her muscles and preparing to take flight. Gazing down at the platform she took note of a curious little colt staring in awe at the dam from behind the wrought iron bars of the fence keeping the patrons from an uncomfortable meeting with the water below. His mother stood nearby, watching him and talking with the father. A family of earth ponies, all enjoying an impromptu field trip.
Rainbow smirked as she watched the scene, pleased with the young colt’s curiosity and sense of wonder. She flapped her wings a couple of times, preparing her flight muscles then took to the air, dismissively giving her cloud a solid buck to disperse it into vapor.
A sluice gate opened below as she made slow descending circles over the platform, intending to land. As the sound of water rushing into the river below filled her ears, a not-altogether-pleasant odor filled her nostrils and she instinctively wrinkled her snout. The one drawback of settling over the dam was the smell of stagnant algae and flotsam that always seemed to gather.
Rainbow was just beginning to come in for a landing when she saw the colt leaning up on two legs against the iron fence, watching the water rush through the gate.
Suddenly, a sound much more horrific than the smell of river water hammered her ears. Like a wailing banshee that put the roar of a dragon to shame, the old iron fencing that previously held the task of keeping a young colt from the low-oxygen environment below-
Failed.
A piercing cry rang from the colt- almost matching the pitch of the completely horrified mother now a foot above him. Three feet. Six. Ten.
The platform stood approximately twenty feet above the water. Rainbow’s eyes tracked the soft brown mane of the young colt as he fell, her wings already powering her forward in a much steeper dive. A rainbow blur follower her tail as she rushed forward, already gauging her speed against the colt’s rapidly shrinking distance from the water’s surface. A fierce scowl formed as she realized even her great speed would not carry her there in time.
The colt’s body smacked hard through the surface of the water and his cry was silenced under the rushing waves. Rainbow growled in frustration as she bolted past the impact point only a second later. Her wings flapped powerfully to cut her speed and bring her to a hover. She quickly turned around to look downstream, watching for any sign of the young colt surfacing again.
“C’mon kid…” She said nervously to herself.
An uncomfortable amount of time passed, with Rainbow scanning the water. The surface was rough and broken with the untimely opening of the sluice gate, water rushing in a swift current downstream. Rainbow’s eyes zeroed in on what she thought was a flash of brown mane. It could have just as easily been a branch or other piece of flotsam, but she had to take the chance. She darted over where she had seen it and looked down into the rushing water, hesitating for only a moment.
She knew that once she entered the water, she would lose the ability to easily leave. The water would soak her feathers and make her too heavy to fly. She would have to find another way out.
Accepting the danger without a second thought, Rainbow took a stab at where she thought she had seen the flash of mane and tucked her wings against her body, diving into the water hoof-first.
Cold water shocked her nerves as she tried to open her eyes underwater. It didn’t do her much good, until her hind leg brushed against something soft in the rushing water. Doing her best to spin around in the water, she felt out with her hooves towards the object and came snout-first into contact with the colt’s flank. She quickly wrapped her forelegs around the colt’s small frame and used her hindlegs to kick towards the surface.
Her now completely soaked mane glistened in the sunlight as she broke through the surface and took a deep gasp of air after expelling the stagnant breath in her lungs. Her mane was plastered against her face, covering one of her eyes. She struggled to bring the colt’s head above water and stay afloat herself in the rough current. The brief moment she was able to get his head above water, she saw it roll limply to one side. She tried to look for a way to get to shore, but was interrupted by a thick log coursing down the river that rammed across the back of her head, sending her under again and seeing stars at the same time.
Unconsciously, her wings which had been tightly pinned to her sides loosened and got caught in the quick current. The weight of the water pulled them out and strained her muscles. Rainbow wanted to scream as her wings betrayed her, but fought the urge to expel the air in her lungs. The current dragged her down to the bottom of the river, only her left foreleg now wrapped around the colt’s chest as she tried to steady herself with her right. The rocky river-bottom cut and scraped along her hide, bruising her body, but laying waste to her delicate wings. The only consolation was that her body shielded the young colt from the blows.
With supreme effort, she managed to pull both wings in again back against her sides and eliminate the pressure on her muscles as well as the force keeping her against the bottom of the river. She planted her hooves solidly against a boulder on the bottom and pushed upward with all her strength.
Opening her eyes again underwater and looking towards the surface revealed the light of day shimmering just ahead. She grit her teeth and kicked hard towards it.
Finally breaking the surface once more she gave a hoarse cough as she again cast about for a way out. Just ahead, only a few feet away, a thick vine draped from the branch of a tree on the edge of the river. It hung just low enough that Rainbow gave one more kick and snatched it in her mouth.
The bitter taste of the vine filled her senses as she used it to hold her steady against the current, and to get the colt above water. She readjusted her grip on the colt with her right foreleg and used her left to grab onto the vine, releasing it from her mouth. The edge of the river was only a few feet away from here.
She shimmied her way towards the edge until she could feel soft mud under her hooves. She quickly found her footing and used the momentum to propel herself and the colt onto the grassy bank. The young colt flopped out of her arms and safely to her side, out of the clutches of the river rushing only a foot away. Rainbow breathed heavily, mouth agape, as her bruises and cuts announced themselves.
“Ow.”
She could bear any amount of pain though, now that she could wait for help to arrive. For the moment, she caught her breath in sweet silence.
Silence.
No breathing from the small blue lips no more than a few inches from her ear. Turning her body and bearing the brunt of another wave of pain from her protesting body, she held her face over the colt’s. His open eyes stared back into hers and seared themselves into her nightmares forever. Doll’s eyes.
Unblinking.
Unwavering.
Unliving.
“No. No no no no, no.”
Dripping hooves pried open the colt’s mouth and tilted his head back, ensuring that the airway was clear. She barely remembered some of the basic first-aid that Fluttershy had shown her once so long ago.
Rainbow fumbled with her hooves as she tried to position the colt’s body more conveniently. She covered his nostrils as she leaned over and breathed twice into the still body. Having put fresh air (well, semi-fresh air) into his lungs, she placed her hooves on his chest and began compressions*. Once, twice, thrice, fifteen times. Two breaths. Fifteen more compressions.
By this time, other pegasi who had been alerted and were searching the river came upon the scene and called out to the other searching ponies on ground. The colt’s mother rushed towards the scene, barely behind Death’s pale scythe that also sped towards them.
“Rainbow!” A familiar voice rang through her head as she began the fourth round of compressions, however she pushed it from her mind. Once again she was forced to look into the still blue eyes when she breathed again into his lungs. Preparing for the next breath, she was suddenly met with a spurt of river water and bile that covered her snout. A bout of coughing followed by a hoarse cry as if from a newborn rose from the colt’s body as his eyes squeezed shut. Shadows of nearby ponies entered her field of vision as a smile slowly graced Rainbow’s lips.
Pain broke through adrenaline-fueled veins and forced her back to the ground where darkness lit by a single pair of bright blue eyes overtook her.
Silence.
Sweet Silence.
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*Author’s Note: I have absolutely no idea how CPR works for an equine, or if it even exists. Thusly *don’s shades* Deal with it. (Or if you know how it works, enlighten me!)