One Minute to Impact

by Michael Hudson

Rating: teen
Tags: Spitfire, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Sad, Romance
Length: 4266

What happens when a mistake, one horrible mistake rips away all the confidence you once had in your relationship with your idol? What happens then, when you also have to spend the next few weeks with them afterward?

Rainbow Dash, third year Wonderbolt cadet, is putting on the show of her life, a performance that decides whether she stays in the academy or goes. After an unforeseen event, she finds herself having to combat guilt, fear, and having lost the relationship she had worked so hard to obtain with her idol.

Thank you Jayesixx for the amazing cover art!

Published 2014-03-23 17:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-23 17:00:02 UTC

The Accident and recovery

“One minute”

Rainbow Dash heard her role model’s voice, the sweet sound of Spitfire’s warning, with enough bark to cut through the wind rushing past her ears. Her eyes went wide. Here she was performing tricks for her future, while apparently jeopardizing it at the same time. She knew she had to reach the goal line and there would be only one way to do that in a minute. Of course, she had always planned this to be her finale anyways.

She was probably set anyways. But the Sonic Rainboom would make sure of that. Of course, her other tricks through the course had been just as amazing. Her high speed strut when the bell rang. The beautifully crafted rising staircase of cloud she made to get to the required altitude. Still, she hadn’t thought she’d used fifty-nine minutes already, especially since she was only through two-thirds of her superb routine.

“Oh well,” she thought.

She prepared for her finale trick the Sonic Rainboom. She had been planning to do it anyway, so she had most of the plan ready. She would bust through the cloud cover at hypersonic speeds, and land on a dime in front of the Wonderbolts. With how awesome she had been the rest of the time, she was certain to make it to her fourth year of training, maybe even become a Wonderbolt that instant.

======++++++======

“Twenty-one minutes! That must be a record for the academy with all she’s done.” Spitfire didn’t like having to shout at her old friend, but Soarin was too far away, and the winds would have drowned it out otherwise. Still, the higher altitude helped the trainees get better push with their wings, and if they couldn’t handle the currents up here they didn’t deserve to continue. Rainbow Dash though, with those tight corded muscles and beautiful blue wings, she laughed at the currents.

Spitfire started flying upward towards the low hanging cloud cover, the cloud cover that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. She had scolded the younger trainees who were supposed to have cleared the cloud cover. Fortunately, there was enough open space to allow them to see what everyone had been doing. Rainbow though had just flown behind these clouds, and she needed to see what she was up to. Wouldn’t do to let her sleeping away part of the hour.

“No Rainbow wouldn’t do that. This was too important,” Spitfire mumbled as she started her ascent.

With this of course being the test to see if you went onto the fourth year of Wonderbolt training. Cadets had to show their stuff for an hour, but could stop early and were rewarded bonus points then if the routine had been performance ready. She scolded herself about her miscalculations as the clouds were torn away. Rainbow would probably be done sooner going supersonic.

And then Rainbow Dash crashed straight into Spitfire.

======++++++======

Rainbow immediately knew where she was. She had broken enough bones, wings, and suffered plenty of concussions, to know. She was in the hospital, the smell annoying her as always. She let out a groan, raising a hoof to her head and laying ba-. Nope, not doing that. Broken wings always sucked, seeing as it was impossible to sleep normally. And then the sudden movements caught up to her as the blue pegasus’s head tried splitting open. A concussion as well.

Even with all this pain though, Rainbow smiled as familiar, smooth tones came to her, meaning Spitfire had come to see her. “Nice to see you aren’t dead Rainbow, of course not for lack of trying. Just happy you failed at doing me in too.” Rainbow furrowed her brow at that. Why would she say that?

Rainbow Dash finally opened her eyes. Standard light green paint was on the walls with buzzing overhead lights in the room. In other words, the same boring hospital room as everywhere else. But she didn’t see Spitfire in front of her. Odd.

“Kid, over here.” Rainbow turned to the right and her purple eyes shot wide open. There was Spitfire in front of her, a tired smile, the same one she used on cadets who had tried hard and didn’t quite deserve a scolding, but had still screwed up. A smile she had seen so many others get this year as Spitfire and Soarin were allowed to train them as themselves, instead of as drill sergeants. She had never gotten it herself though.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked, starting to get angry. Spitfire had a suspended leg, and there were bandages around her midsection. But the thing that told her that this was no accident was her left wing. It was broken. Spitfire was the best flyer in Equestria, probably the world. She would not have messed up and broken a wing.

Spitfire rolled her eyes, and part of the steel of the drill sergeant competitor entered her voice. “I got a few bruised ribs, and my hoof is broken, but that’s not a real problem. I’m just happy that somepony,” there was a strange amount of emphasis on this word, “didn’t end up completely shattering my wing.” Concern came into her voice, the edge giving way to a slightly higher pitch. “Are you okay, can you remember anything?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Wings hurt, but I can still get some movement out of them, so they’ll heal. As for the memory thing,” she hummed to herself in thought, “last things I can remember are hearing you yell ‘one minute’, and busting through the clouds in my Sonic Rainboom. Then I hit something.”

Rainbow Dash faltered, thinking about the soft, slightly furry, blue and yellow object she had been about to hit. In the moment her mind had told her to put on the breaks, that she couldn’t hit the object no matter what happened to her. But she did, and then the object fell with her at supersonic speed toward the ground. Rainbow glanced up, and then away, ashamed. “I.. I hit, you.”

“Yes, you did. I will give you the fact that you tried to stop and how that was why your wings were almost tipped off. But you got off easy. Just a concussion because your head was in my chest. Thats how my ribs got bruised, along with one or two broken. I had to try to make sure we didn’t hit the plateau, which is how my wing and hoof got smashed. Soarin barely made it in time to help us coast to the ground and not become streaks of fur on the ground!”

Spitfire had ended up yelling at her. It was more than the blue mare could take, and she turned onto her side, trying hard not to sob as she drifted off to sleep. That was how most of the first few days went. No talking, no friendly games, nothing. All Rainbow could do was think of what had happened. How close she had come to destroying her dreams, or worse. And the fact that she had done it to Spitfire only made her feel worse.

Then the books arrived. Spitfire got sent a few things from her home, while Rainbow’s friends had sent her the first few Daring Do books. It was a shame they couldn’t come visit, but this was the Wonderbolts. Not everyone was allowed into the hospital, seeing as they didn’t want people bothering their awesomeness. It was still depressing though, especially with the silence.

======++++++======

On the fourth day of recovery, something strange happened. Spitfire chuckled, the noise amplified by the silence. Rainbow glanced over, trying not let Spitfire see. Her yellow furred idol was totally into her book though. What was it though? Maybe it was some comedy novel? It couldn’t be as good as Daring Do though, right? “Um, Spitfire, mam?” Rainbow’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but just as Spitfire’s chuckle had, it was amplified throughout the all too quiet room.

The ice and fury from a few days was gone, but a flat monotone was now in her sweet voice. “What is it cadet?” There was emphasis on the cadet, and it stung deep. Ever since the third year had started Rainbow had actually managed to get some real time with the beautiful mare, and had never been referred to as cadet afterwards. Never. “I said, what is it?”

“What is it you’re reading?” Spitfire looked shocked for a moment, and glanced at the book. She then slowly nodded, and handed the book to Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve been wanting to start Daring Do and maybe now a good time. However, please don’t read the final chapter. It’s not finished, and highly personal.” Rainbow smirked handing her the first book in the series.

“That’s a shame, you haven’t experienced a good book without Daring Do,” Dash stated. Spitfire smirked back.

“I don’t know. That’s a history textbook and it’s about the fifth time I’ve read it. It helps for when I’m doubting myself as a flyer. I hope it helps you as it has been helping me.” Spitfire let out a small smile as Rainbow took the book from her idol. She had so many questions, but here was a book that gave Spitfire, the greatest flyer ever, confidence. Rainbow glanced at the title, trying to decide whether to read it or bother Spitfire about what caused her to doubt. Her mind was made up upon reading the title.

‘The journal and official record of the Wonderbolt’s Captains.’

Rainbow Dash dropped the book, but immediately picked it right back up, flipping through the pages. Here was a book that not only contained the secrets of the best of the best, but also their personal thoughts, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait to read it. Spitfire shook her head at the young blue mare. She knew she wasn’t that much older, but she was definitely more mature than her rainbow maned friend.

Friend. Spitfire smacked herself mentally, thoughts and hopes drifting back down. She had hated the young mare for days and Spitfire knew she was justified, that the girl could have had them both killed. Yet Spitfire felt bad, ashamed for lashing out. Rainbow Dash was a great flyer, and almost never screwed up, anymore at least. Maybe that was why she was willing to let Rainbow see such a personal part of her job.

For the next two days they started getting friendly again. They said “good morning”, exchanged pleasantries, but mainly read. Rainbow Dash sometimes just stared up at the ceiling after reading, seeming to imagine the tricks contained in the book. Spitfire had to admit, she was actually a little sad she hadn’t found the Daring Do series before. It also gave her a topic to try to repair their bond with.

Spitfire wished that she could recommend a tale in that old tome that might help poor Rainbow feel better about what had happened. At least Wing Snap had a few tales of almost losing her wings that could calm Spitfire, but none of them had ever almost killed themselves, let alone a good friend. Even with the thawing, Rainbow held back, scared. Spitfire thought she knew why this fact hurt so much, but she always suppressed it. Rainbow would never be able to become the best she could be if she accepted the fact that lay in her heart. She would get too kind, not push her hard enough to become her best

However, Spitfire smiled openly to herself as poor Rainbow let out a squeal of pain as her wings popped out from behind her. “Got to Nightstreak did ya? She took the journal part of that book of ours waaaay too seriously. Sure her sustained flight tricks help for long performances, but it gets just a little graphic in how she used them.” Spitfire couldn’t keep a straight face as she teased the poor mare.

Rainbow let out another squeal of pain as she struggled to push her wings down. The poor azure mare had done some serious muscle damage to her wings, something Spitfire had tried to use to ease her fears. It hadn’t worked, but at least those torn muscles gave Spitfire company. “I.. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Rainbow stuttered as she blushed, becoming almost a shade of purple.

“Oh really. Then I suppose you aren’t thinking of what exactly a timberwolf could do with his powers? Or whether that is the best way to stop a chimera? No! Well at least you get to see how us older mares finish dates.” Spitfire was loving this. The poor mare had gotten evermore flustered and irritated with each jab. Now she would burst and they would get into such an embarrassing, intimate, conversation that could bring them closer. Wait, could SHE handle that?

However, the angry burst never came out. The doors opened to their nurse, with Spitfire’s pain medication, something Spitfire remembered about as her ribs started to hurt from the chuckling. No! What would Rainbow think? Looking up into that beautiful face, the flustered face was gone. What had amused her and lightened the mood had disappeared. In it’s place was terror, and within those beautiful purple eyes; guilt, soul crushing guilt.

“Rainbow Dash, Wait!” Spitfire called helplessly after the poor blue mare. She was gone though, and Spitfire heard her slam onto the ground having probably tripped herself. The concussion had for the most part gone away, but Spitfire knew what moving after such a bad head injury could to a mare.

Looking down at the pills being offered to her, Spitfire felt like they might have done the exact opposite.

It took about half an hour for Rainbow Dash to be found. And even then she asked them to let her enjoy the sun and air that she had been missing so much. She didn’t mind the reading time, but being trapped in that hospital bed was driving her almost mad. I mean, she had gotten a wingboner in front of Spitfire, she had to be going crazy! Unfortunately, thinking about the event caused Rainbow to grimace.

Her wings had tensed again. She sighed to herself, a tear running down her face. Sure, Nightstreak had been very graphic about the guys she was with, but Rainbow knew what had really caused her reaction. She heaved, tears now streaming openly from her eyes. Why? Why couldn’t she want Soarin? Why did she have to be the weird mare who digged other mares?

After a couple hours of sobbing, trying to calm herself, make herself believe this whole mess wasn’t all her fault, she knew she’d failed. Still, she needed to return to the room, return to her idol, return to the broken ribs, the shattered hoof, and the bandaged wing. Rainbow wish she had come up with an answer to the question she had. Why, for the moment she had locked eyes with those deep pools of orange, had they looked so sad?

As Rainbow walked in, Spitfire flashed an awkward smile at the blue mare. Rainbow just crossed her front hooves, looking away from those wounds. Unfortunately, she knew she had to talk to Spitfire. So Rainbow slowly looked back at the yellow mare. Her orange mane was a mess, and for some reason the fur around her eyes was matted down, and darker. Rainbow rubbed the area around her own eyes, suddenly realizing she probably looked like a wreck too.

“I’m.. sorry,” She said softly. “I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just afraid that I wouldn’t be able to finish. You shouted ‘one minute’, and the Sonic Rainboom was the only way I was going to get to the finish plateau in time. I should have been ready to avoid obstacles. I’m sorry.” Spitfire let a sad smile onto her face.

“So now I’m just an obstacle?” Rainbow detected hurt in her voice, and immediately went to respond, but Spitfire slammed her hoof onto the bedside table. Rainbow went straight to attention, a reaction ingrained into her for the past three years. Confusion crossed Spitfire’s face though. “You’ve said that before, that I shouted one minute. I never said anything like that.”

This news caused Rainbow to collapse, to think she had imagined the event that had caused this terrible mess. Spitfire could hear her blue mare start sobbing, and immediately began to think of the event. She had to find out what Rainbow might have heard. Perhaps some pony trying to mess with her? No, everyone loved Rainbow, the jealous ones would have been weeded out out by now.

Think Spitfire! What had been going on? She had been watching the trainees, trying to see who might one day take her position as captain. She had been doing her calculations, trying to guess how long everyone’s routines would take. Soarin liked the game so they had always shared their guesses. Rainbow had gone behind the cloud cover right after sharing her inaccurate guess. The terrible cloud cover that had hid Spitfire’s fragile frame from her wonderful filly’s view.

Her head didn’t have time to process what she had just called Rainbow Dash, realization dawning on her. “My guess. Rainbow Dash, you heard my guess!” Rainbow looked up, glancing through her rainbow mane. So much pain was in those eyes, but Spitfire knew the blame could now be shared. “I was telling Soarin that you would use twenty-one minutes for your routine. The wind forced me to yell to him and you must have heard the tail end. I am so sorry that you had to blame only yourself this whole time, and… I feel even worse, seeing as I never truly forgave you. Will you please do me the kindness I couldn’t give to you?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her ears. She couldn’t believe what she did either, seeing as she immediately tackled the injured mare, crying into her chest. There was so much comfort, but also so much pain in there. She felt Spitfire sob herself, probably from pain. They were separated soon enough, the nurses trying to make sure Rainbow hadn’t injured Spitfire further. But that didn’t matter, because Rainbow felt a heavy weight on her finally lift.

The next week was a blur. The two had never been closer. Spitfire would tease her, and Rainbow would reciprocate. They would help each other plan pranks on the poor nurses that crossed the treacherous couples path. In fact, they even practiced focus techniques from both Daring Do and the old tome of the Wonderbolts’ Captains.

However, even with all this fun, when night came, both found nothing to talk about. Spitfire was scared, knowing she had caused this as well, and that Rainbow might hate her for the same reasons she had held a grudge against the wonderful blue mare. She even remembered when another student had to be saved and forced Rainbow to crash. Dash had only sprained a wing then, but still held a grudge against poor Cloudkicker to this day.

Rainbow however, couldn’t forget what had caused the two to finally talk about all of this. She had read all of the tabloids that spotlighted the stallions Spitfire had slept with, or at least the ones she had dated. That list even included a prince from Gryffendora. Man, that guy could fly! And here she was, the weird mare that had taken her out for weeks from the thing they both loved to do. How could that even compare?

Finally, two weeks had passed, and the doctor came bursting through the door. “Alright you two troublemakers, we finally get to put a stop to all of your tomfoolery.” The doctor looked ready for anything, which was a shame seeing as the two mares were merely reading. “All right then, let’s continue with the news I suppose. Spitfire, we want to keep an eye on your hoof for another few days, but you should get to go home soon. As for you Rainbow Dash, you get to go home early.”

The two mares glanced at each other, shocked. They had both expected to be released at the same time. Rainbow slowly got out of bed and trudged over to Spitfire. “Heres the book back. Thanks for letting me read it, and for the time we got to spend together. It was a lot of fun getting to be with you like this. I wish...” Rainbow paused, looking so hurt. Spitfire hoped beyond hope that Rainbow would make the first move, no matter how much fear was within her. “I wish we could be released together.”

Rainbow turned away, but Spitfire put a hoof on Rainbow Dash. She pulled out a bookmark as the blue mare turned back, sticking it into a part at the end of the book. “Don’t read past this, got it?” Rainbow looked at the book, and both opened their mouths like they were about to say something, but neither could.

“Now Miss Dash, remember to stay off your wings for a while longer. And don’t even think about doing another Sonic Rainboom until you’re fully recovered.” Rainbow Dash nodded, hating the fact, that for once in her life, she hadn’t taken the last step off the cliff.

“Come visit please.”

======++++++======

Rainbow Dash was getting ready to see Spitfire, packing some actual food for her. The hospital food could kill a pony if you ate it for too long. As she rushed around her house she knocked down one of her tables. Racing out of her kitchen, she saw the book. The book that Spitfire had entrusted her with, and now it was on the ground.

She immediately scooped it up and went to put it somewhere safe, but ended up hovering in the air staring at the book. All of these mares had been so brave. Nothing had stopped them, not monsters, jeering fans, and especially not fear. They had taken the greatest risks, painted the way to all pegasi could do now. They wouldn’t have let some thought that they were a freak stop them. No, they would have taken it, regardless of what other ponies thought.

She had a lot to get ready for now, including trying not to have a heart attack when she did it.

======++++++======

Spitfire was absolutely crushed leaving the hospital. She had cried each night, hoping to see her good friend take time out to visit her. The extra tests had made sure she would still be able to land properly, and without the help of a boot when she flew to steady her landings. They had also done one other thing. They had made her feel incredibly old.

Maybe that was why. She knew Rainbow had some attractive friends already. Why would she want an aged mare like her? She was over ten years older than the one she wanted, and even then, not the most attractive mare. Sure the sports magazines always had her pose, let her show her goods, but she was no model like Dash’s childhood friend Fluttershy. It was simply impossible.

Of course, so was what she thought she had just heard. Looking up, she saw the sky lit up with every color of her wild one’s mane. A streak of light came out from it, going from rainbow colored to a white funnel as it zigzagged earthbound. However, just as every part of Spitfire’s mood lifted, the years shedding from her mind upon seeing her young filly come to her, Rainbow Dash came crashing like a skipping stone past Spitfire.

“Rainbow!” Spitfire galloped over to the glorious blue mare, bruised and battered from the impact. She had seen Soarin get into enough to know she hadn’t busted anything, but her wings may have had the muscles within retear. “Do you know how stupid you are? Why would you do something so dangerous?”

Rainbow was given just a bit if courage after such a dismal performance by Spitfire sounding concerned, not angry or scolding. “I needed to impress you. Otherwise you might say no.”

“Say no! To what? You already cinched your fourth year before the accident. You are one of the best fliers I have ever seen, so you shouldn’t be trying to throw it away now.” Now Rainbow was scared. Spitfire was angry, but Dash knew that if she didn’t do it now, she never would.

“Will you go out with me?” The words came out. They somehow came out against how impossible it was. Spitfire looked stumped, but then bent down to Dash’s ear.

“Dash, I have secret to tell you. The chapter you couldn’t read was mine. For so long I never had anything to be ashamed of other than the lies the tabloids said. But then I found something that scared me more then anything else in the world, and committed the greatest sin a coach can.” Rainbow looked at Spitfire, confusion and fear filling those deep purple eyes.

“The first page of every captain’s chapter is a list of those they wanted to be captain after them. This reflects the record that it keeps. The other is of the ponies we wish one day to be mated with. I couldn’t let you see that, because I had done something no other wonderbolt had. The name Rainbow Dash is in both of my categories.”

The two mares just stared into each other’s eyes for a few minutes before nuzzling and walking off, leaning against one another.