Losing Air

Rainbow Dash flew. The ground was so far below her she could only barely make out the buildings that made up Ponyville. She could see the patterns in the land where various crops and orchards were spread. Her eyes lingered over Sweet Apple Acres turning her thoughts to her orange friend. Although she would never admit it, lest she get roped into helping her friend with the hard labor, she admired what her friend did for her family and the community. The orange earth pony was as fiery as Rainbow herself, the competition between the two could attest to the fact, but that didn't stop her from always helping whenever anypony needed her.

Rainbow cast her eyes out to look for the homes of the rest of her friends but, even though she knew their exact locations, she was too high to make any of them out clearly. Over there was Fluttershy's smudge and that odd shape was probably the Library where Twilight was no doubt studying another boring book. The blue pegasus smiled as she thought of her friends. A calm washed over her which was no doubt aided by the absolute tranquility of her current location. There was barely any noise up this high, only the soft sounds of the wind as she cruised lazily through the air.

She stopped flying and perched atop a cloud that was floating by and settled in for her afternoon nap. Her smile faltered as she thought of the Wonderbolts knowing it was only days now before she would receive the letter. She had done everything needed to determine if she would be a member. Her graduation at the academy with honors had done a lot toward her favor but when one of the current uniformed pegasi had stepped down the competition for the spot had still been fierce. She was up against a wide range of pegasi with a myriad of skills so it wasn't a clear cut thing.

Rainbow was the faster flier in Equestria. It was no longer a boast but a provable fact. She was the only pony in recent history able to pull off the legendary sonic rainboom which meant that there was no-one else who could take her in direct speed. The problem was that speed was only one aspect of being a Wonderbolt. She trained hard at everything she could think of to make her a better candidate – agility, maneuvering, strength training, anything she could do to give her a leg over the rest.

She had given it her all and, even though she had convinced her friends that she was a shoe in, she was still worried that it might not have been enough. She looked at the sun and realized half an hour had already past and she hadn't even gotten the nap she had wanted. Grumbling to herself she sat up and stood on the cloud. She sighed before running through her stretch routine, shivering in pleasure at each crack her bones made, twisting herself at unusual angles. This was one of the best parts of the pegsus' day, feeling her muscles grow limber, as she prepared for the exercise to come.

Rainbow walked to the edge and looked over at the ground below to estimate her height. From here she could hit a sonic rainboom easily before getting anywhere near the town. Too many times her practice had led to the destruction of property and she didn't fancy another afternoon of missed training to clean up a mess. She considered for a moment that she probably shouldn't push herself too much and risk an injury, but that thought was quickly squashed. The rainboom was hers and hers alone and there was no way, after a challenge was issued, she would drop it.

The blue pegasus breathed deeply and unfurled her wings. The air caressed her feathers and everything felt right in the world. This is what she lived for. Rainbow closed her eyes and jumped straight down.

After few beats of her wings to gain speed she let gravity take over. Her body naturally compressed into a tight arrow that shot through the sky toward the ground below. The wind was tearing at her eyes but she squinted and kept pushing herself to go faster. She felt the build up around her muzzle as air in front of her compressed into a cone that surrounded her form. She could feel herself about to break past the limit and a grin spread across her face.

She didn't see the bird until it was too late.

They collided in the air and Rainbow was knocked off her flight path. She shook her head, disoriented, and opened her wings to slow her decent to the quickly approaching ground. As soon as she tried to catch the wing a sharp pain went through her back and she went into a spin. She was out of control as the ground came up and for the first time in her life she knew she was going to die. She managed to slow her spinning by extending one wing but couldn't get the purchase on the air to slow her descent.

She made a last ditch effort and aimed for the trees on the edge of the Everfree forest hoping the canopy would catch her fall. The moment before she hit the trees she woke.

Rainbow opened her eyes slowly. She blinked a few times attempting to clear the artificial fog from the drug induced sleep. Waking properly she took a few moments to sit and listen to the sounds of the room. All she could hear was the harsh beeping of the heart rate monitor behind her head and the soft snores of someone sleeping to her left. She took a breath and lifted her head slowly to get a better look at the extent of her injuries.

Her front hooves were in casts and her chest was bandaged tightly preventing her from seeing the cut underneath. She could feel it though, even through the drugs, that and the one on the back of her head. It was a dull throb that seemed to pulse in time with the beeping behind her. She sighed and looked to her left at the form sitting in the chair next to her bed.

Twilight was twisted at an angle with her head and one of her hooves on the bed itself. The chair had been pulled from against the wall so she could sit right beside Rainbow. The cyan pegasus smiled at her friend as she slept, feeling grateful for having a friend who would be there like this for her. She went to lift a hoof to wake her friend when she discovered she could not lift either of them.

Looking down she saw the restraints on each of her legs with a larger band covering her stomach. She was confused for a moment before the reason for the restraints came back to her.

'You will never fly again.'

Rainbow sunk back down into the bed as the beeping behind her increased its tempo. It felt as if she had taken a step back from her body and was looking out her eyes through a telescope. She quickly adjusted her breathing, slowing it down, taking in as much air as she could. She needed to calm down before she had another panic attack. She had gotten them a lot as a filly after her dad had died but only one other time since moving to Ponyville had it happened.

The pegasus thought about the young fliers competition and almost gagged. Thinking about anything involving flying right now was out of the question. But what else was there? Flying was everything to Rainbow. Her passion, her job, even her home – none of it was possible without wings. She needed to do something to distract herself. She needed to get out of this bed.

Twilight woke as the bed shook.

“Five more minutes, Spike,” she said, groggily.

“You're not at home, Twilight.”

Twilight sat up with a start. She shook her head to clear it of the drowsiness she still felt and took a few seconds to remember where she was. Once she got her bearings she looked up at the pegasus in the bed. Rainbow was awake but Twilight couldn't see her eyes as she was currently staring at the wall opposite to where her friend was sitting.

“Rainbow?” she asked tentatively.

“I need you to take off these restraints,” her blue friend said to the wall.

“I don't know if I-”

“I'm not crazy, Twilight, and I'm not an animal. Take them off me.”

Twilight grimaced at her friends tone but complied. She used her magic to undo each of the straps on her friends legs and body. Once they were all off Twilight stood from her chair. Rainbow looked down at her front legs as she raised them into the air slowly. The joints popped from the added weight of the casts which caused Twilight to shudder.

“How do you feel?” she asked, immediately feeling foolish for letting the question leave her mouth. Rainbow sighed and ignored the question.

“How long am I in here for?” she asked, looking at her friend for the first time. As Twilight looked into her friends eyes she was surprised at the anger she saw there. She knew she wasn't the cause but it was hard to think straight when one of your best friends looked like she wanted to punch you in the face.

“Your cuts are already healed. The combination of magic and modern medicine has made the process only take a few hours. The bones will take a little longer but not much. You should be able to walk around on them by tomorrow at the latest. You were lucky they were only fractures otherwise it would have taken days to heal.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed at her friend. “Yeah, lucky, that's what I am.” She shook her head and once again looked at the wall.

Twilight sagged as she watched her friend. She was at a loss – what could she say to her? There was nothing she could say that would matter to her friend at the moment but she had to try. For Rainbow's sake.

“Look, Rainbow, I know this is big but we can-”

“Shut up Twilight.”

Twilight stopped talking. Bile rising in the back of her throat.

“What do you want me to say?”

Rainbow turned to look her friend in the eyes.

“Nothing, I want you to leave.”

Twilight was stunned. She couldn't move for a few moments as Rainbow stared at her.

“Get out!” Rainbow screamed suddenly, causing Twilight to jump. “You think I care what you think? You're just an egghead, you know nothing about what I'm going through, you couldn't possibly! You barely even know what it is like to have friends. We're just an experiment to you. Stop pretending that you care and just leave me alone.”

Tears filled the purple unicorns eyes as she stood from her chair and walked to the door. She turned back to Rainbow before stepping through it.

“I know you can't see it now, but your friends are here when you need them,” Twilight said, before walking through to door and into the hallway. She walked slowly down the hallway taking nothing in as her mind ran over what just happened. She felt physically ill. It was as if Dash had slapped her across the face. She knew, in her head, that her friend was not acting rationally. That due to the trauma she had just gone through she was expected to act out. It was all perfectly reasonable and made complete scientific sense to Twilight.

Then why did it hurt so much?

She found herself outside the hospital and in the daylight. She was about to head home when she remembered she had promised Applejack to let her know as soon as Rainbow was awake. She really didn't want to see anyone right now but a promise was a promise and her friends deserved to know. She was closest to Carousel Boutique so she went in that direction to let Rarity know what was going on. The bell chimed as she entered the shop.

“Will be just a moment!” Rarity's voice called from the storeroom out back.

“It's just me, Rarity, take your time,” Twilight called back.

Twilight walked to the racks to look at her friend's stock as she waited for Rarity to finish. She walked through the rows of clothing taking the time to actually look at the things she saw so regularly that they had become part of the scenery. As she looked at the designs, really looked, it struck her how talented her friend was. She always knew Rarity was an amazing designer but to look through her pieces was like a journey. No two items were the same and not a single one of them was garish or bland.

Judging from the rest of the items in the store Twilight realized her perceptions about Rarity's style were completely wrong. She had seen her friend design for pop stars, fashion shows, and even dresses for her friends for the Gala but they were all usually so, well, fancy! It was obvious in retrospect that most of the fashionista's clothing would not be designed with formal events in mind. While everything Twilight had seen was made for showing off the things on the racks were different. They were beautiful while remaining subtle.

The purple mare's breath caught as she saw a simple blue dress with stars across the hem. It looked similar to her gala dress but much more toned down for casual wear. Twilight got tears as she looked at the dress, realizing that she knew practically nothing about one of her closest friends passions all because of assumptions she had made.

Was is like this will all her friends? Was it like this with Rainbow?

“Sorry I was so long darling I was having some trouble with the fabric rolls in the store room.” Rarity stopped walking as she saw Twilight. Tears were streaming down the purple mare's face. Rarity rushed over to her friend and wrapped her arms around the mare.

“Twilight what is it? Is it Rainbow?”

Twilight sobbed and shook her head. She sniffed and wiped her eyes dry before looking back up at Rarity.

“Sorry, it's nothing, I'm being silly.” Twilight said, smiling at her friend. “Rainbow is awake; I just left the hospital. I thought I would come let you know, and also ask you for a favor. Could you possibly let the other girls know? I've not had much sleep these past two days so I'm a bit tired and was going to head straight back to the library for some rest.”

Rarity smiled and nuzzled Twilight. “Oh darling of course. I'm so sorry I've not been back to the hospital sooner but I have been rather busy here, and with Rainbow Dash in the coma I didn't really see much point until she woke. I will leave right away to tell the others and head to see Rainbow now. You go home, get some rest, we will be fine.”

“Thank you, Rarity, I appreciate it,” Twilight said, with a smile. “Oh, before you go though, this dress?” Rarity stepped forward to look at the dress her friend was pointing at.

“Ah yes the summer range. That is based slightly off your gala dress in fact, I hope you don't mind?” Rarity said, looking at her friend hopefully.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “Of course not, Rarity, it's your design! I was actually wondering if I could buy it. I don't have the bits on me right now but could you put it out the back for me and I will come back another day for it?”

Rarity gave her friend a stern look. “Don't be silly, Twilight, you will take the dress now.” At the look on the purple unicorn's face Rarity raised a hoof. “And I will not hear another word about it. I trust you for the bits so don't worry about rushing back to me either. If there is ever anything in this shop you like, don't hesitate, you just let me know.”

Twilight hugged her friend. It was just another thing to add to the list for toward making more to to spend with her friends. She spent so much time in her library, nose in a book or hooves in her lab, that she was worried about all the things she was missing.

First things first though – she needed to sleep. She took the bag Rarity offered her with the dress inside and left the store for the short walk home. Twilight entered the library as a green mare was leaving. The mare wore a grin and a set of saddlebags that were overflowing with books. The purple unicorn smiled at her as she walked past and into the library where Spike was standing just beyond the doorway.

“Twilight, you're back!” Spike said, running up to his adoptive sister. “Is Rainbow okay?”

Twilight looked down at her assistant. Did she take him for granted too? “She will be, I think, we just need to be there for her. You look like you are doing okay here by yourself? That pony that just left looked happy.”

Spike beamed under the praise. “Yeah! There haven't been a huge amount of customers but I've spent enough time rearranging this place to know it pretty well by now. I was even able to make some recommendations!” her assistant said, with a grin. Twilight looked down at him with a smile.

“Do you mind doing me a favor and holding the fort for another few hours until we close? The past couple of days have been hectic and I need to get some sleep,” Twilight asked. The dragon nodded quickly and reassured her that everything was under control. She headed toward the stairs and walked them up to her room. Putting the bag down next to her cupboard and, using her magic, she set the dress on a hanger. Rarity would have her hide if she let it sit in the bag all night.

She threw herself into the comfort of her bed and thought once again of Rainbow. The look in the pegasus' eyes as she ordered Twilight out of the room was ingrained in her mind. She didn't know how exactly, but knew that, no matter what, she would do everything in her power to help the pegasus in her time of need. She lay for a time, thinking about her friend, before drifting off into a fitful sleep.

Rainbow seethed as her friend left the room. Who was Twilight to look at her that way? The pity in her friend's eyes disgusted her in a way that almost made her physically ill. She didn't mean to snap at the unicorn but Rainbow couldn't stand to be in the same room as anyone who would treat her like a charity case. She is Rainbow Dash – the fastest flier in Equestria! There are things people are meant to feel when they see her. Wonder, awe, excitement, even jealousy. What she saw in her friend was something she didn't want to see from anyone ever again.

After a few minutes she calmed down and realized that what she had just experienced would be how she was treated by everyone from now on. She had to get out of this damn hospital before she went crazy and attacked some poor nurse or something. After about fifteen minutes a doctor came in and explained to her pretty much everything Twilight had. She would be free to go the following day if everything went to plan with her bones. It couldn't come soon enough for Rainbow. He left, promising her some food would be arriving soon. It was only after he mentioned it did Rainbow realize how hungry she was. A few days of food through a tube wasn't really the same thing as eating a decent meal.

After a few minutes the food arrived and she dug in. Typical bland hospital fare that was barely discernible from cardboard but Rainbow barely noticed. Once her stomach was satisfied she looked around the room for something to do. On her bedside table was a bag with what looked like a pile of books inside.

'Probably something Twilight left here by mistake,' Rainbow thought, as she reached for the bag. Even if they were egghead books it would still give the pegasus something to do besides stare at the wall. As she opened the bag she noticed it was the entire Daring Do series. She stared open mouthed for a few seconds before realizing Twilight must have had them brought over for her.

Tears came to Rainbow Dash's eyes as, for the first time since she woke, she thought of Twilight without the anger. The mare had looked disheveled from a lack of sleep or even basic hygiene. It occurred to Rainbow that she had probably been there since she was admitted. Of all of her friends it had been Twilight who had waited by her bedside. It had been Twilight who had gotten her something to do for when she woke so she wouldn't be bored. It was Twilight who had told her everything about why she was in the hospital.

It was Rainbow who had thrown everything Twilight had done for her back into the unicorns face. Rainbow was disgusted with herself. She had, once again, allowed her emotions to get the better of her and driven away one of her closest friends who had obviously dropped everything to help her.

The blue pegasus shook her head and resolved to apologize to Twilight the moment she could. She just hoped that she hadn't hurt her friend too much with her pigheadedness.

At that moment the door burst open followed by a spray of confetti that coated the room in a layer of paper squares. Rainbow was shocked only for a moment before Pinkie Pie jumped into the room with a large banner trailing behind her. It took only seconds for the banner to be affixed from one corner of the room to the other. It read: 'Welcome back from your coma Rainbow Dash'. The pink pony stood at the foot of the bed with a smile on her face so big it looked like her teeth took up half of her head. Rainbow gave a short laugh.

“Hey Pinkie,” she said, smiling at her friend. The rest of her friends followed and Rainbow braced herself for the onslaught of sympathy and pity that she knew was coming. She knew her friends were only there because they cared about her but she couldn't really change the way she felt about that kind of thing. Having Pinkie there to distract her was great as the pink earth pony never looked at her any differently. Rarity schooled her face well but Rainbow caught the unicorn every now and then staring at her with a solemn expression. Applejack spent most of her time in and out of the room, getting things for the others, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Fluttershy was quiet, as was to be expected, but every now and then when Rainbow caught her eye there was something else in there that the blue pegasus could not put her hoof on.

The girls stayed for about an hour before the doctor came back to run some tests on Rainbow Dash. Visiting hours were coming to a close so most of the girls said their goodbyes and left. Fluttershy was alone and lingering in the doorway. Rainbow knew the timid pegasus wouldn't get the confidence to say what she wanted without some prodding so she sighed and resigned herself to the task.

“Hey, Fluttershy, you've been weirdly quiet this whole time. What gives?” Rainbow said. Fluttershy looked at her friend as tears started streaming down her face.

“I'm so sorry, R-Rainbow Dash, this is all my fault.” she said, breaking down and crying on the floor. Rainbow was confused.

“What are you talking about?”

Fluttershy tried to catch her breath between sobs. She looked up at her friend on the bed. “Did they tell you I was the one to find you?” she asked. Rainbow Dash nodded to her friend.

“Of course they did, Fluttershy, if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be alive. How could this possibly be your fault?”

“Because I passed out! When I saw the blood I just dropped to the ground. I have no idea why, it's never happened to me before, I swear! I brought you here are soon as I woke. I think if I had have gotten you here sooner you might still be able to fly. I'm the reason you will never fly again.” Fluttershy stood and walked over to her friend. “I'm so sorry, Dash, I'm so, so, sorry.”

Rainbow sat stunned. She knew in her head she shouldn't blame Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus did everything she could and it is not as if she decided to faint. Something in the back of her mind though wanted her to latch on to this. To give in and blame Fluttershy. To hate her with everything she had just so she could have something to fixate on. But that would just be the same mistake she had made with Twilight. She sat for a long time with Fluttershy sinking closer and closer to the floor before coming to a decision.

“Fluttershy, can you do me a favor and press that red button there.” Rainbow said, indicating the switch to her left. Fluttershy nodded and walked to over to press the button for her. After a few minutes a nurse appeared and Rainbow asked her to get the doctor who had done the surgery on her wing. The nurse nodded and left. About ten minutes passed in silence when the doctor arrived.

“You wanted to see me Ms. Dash?” the doctor said.

“Yeah doc I have a couple of questions. When you were doing the operation was there ever a possibility of saving my wing.”

The doctor frowned as he looked at Rainbow. “Now, Ms. Dash, I understand that you would be upset but I assure you we did everything we could. From the moment of impact there was nothing that could be done to save your wing. The nerve damage was too extensive. I'm sorry but there was nothing we could do.”

“So even if I had gotten here sooner?” she asked.

The doctor was confused. “Sooner? Ms. Fluttershy here brought you in as soon as she found you. I don't understand.”

Fluttershy chose this moment to speak up. “Sir, I'm sorry, but I fainted. When I saw Rainbow I fainted and I think that if I had gotten here sooner then you could have-”

“Is that what this is about?” the doctor said, relief running through his face. “Ms. Fluttershy I think you misunderstand the amount of time you would have been unconscious for. When exposed to a great trauma it is extremely rare for someone who has fainted to be out for longer than a few seconds. The longest I have ever heard is a minute. Also as I said, the damage to Ms. Dash's wing was done on impact with the ground. Even if we saw her the moment after impact there is nothing we could have done.”

Relief flooded through both Fluttershy and Rainbow's faces as the doctor left to continue his rounds. Fluttershy jumped forward and hugged her friend tightly getting a groan of pain from her friend.

“Oh, gosh, sorry Rainbow,” Fluttershy said with a blush. “And thank you, for doing that I mean. I would have thought you would have been angry with me.”

“I wanted to be,” Rainbow said, looking up at her friend with a sad smile. “I really wanted to be, to have someone to blame for all this, but I don't think it is that easy. I said something to Twilight earlier that I regret and I didn't want the same thing to happen with you. I thought I would get all the facts for once before coming to any conclusions.” Rainbow smiled slightly. “Hey, maybe the crash finally knocked some sense into me?”

Fluttershy smiled at her friend and gave her another, gentler, hug. “Is there anything you want me to do before I go?” she asked.

“Yeah, if it's not too much trouble, could I get you to ask Twilight to come and see me when she can?”

Fluttershy smiled at her friend and nodded. She left shortly after and Rainbow sat thinking for a time. She didn't know what she was going to do now. Flying was her life. 'Guess I'll just have to take things one step at a time,' she thought. Reaching over with her mouth she grabbed the first Daring Do book in the series. She had read it many times but just needed to lose herself in it to clear her mind.

It wasn't long after when the book fell to side of the bed. The only sounds in the room were the gentle beep of a heart rate monitor and the soft snores of an exhausted pegasus.

Twilight took a deep breath as she prepared to open the door to Rainbow's hospital room in front of her. She had woken that morning fully rested after sleeping right through the afternoon and night. As it was a Sunday and the library was closed she wasn't surprised to find Spike gone when she woke. There was a note that he had left mentioning that Fluttershy had stopped by a few hours after Twilight had gone to bed and that Rainbow wanted to see her when she woke. She was about to rush out when she caught sight of herself in a mirror and decided a shower first was the better option. After cleaning herself and filling her stomach she made her way over to hospital. The walk had given her time to think of what she was going to say, but standing here in front of the door her mind was as blank as it had been when she woke that morning.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten to calm herself, and opened the door. Rainbow was sitting up on her bed with casts no longer on her arms. As Twilight met her eyes the pegasus on the bed grimaced. The purple mare sighed stopped at the foot of the bed and waited. They stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Rainbow coughed.

“Look, Twi, I'm sorry about what I said. I was being stupid, and scared, and I treated you like absolute crap. I understand if you’re still mad at me but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry.”

Twilight stood before her friend with her jaw almost touching the floor. In all her time spent as a friend of Rainbow Dash she had never heard the cocky pegasus give an apology on that level. The fact that she had been expecting more anger from her friend made the whole thing have double the impact it would normally have had. Twilight picked her jaw up, quickly ran over the her friend's side, and wrapped her arms around the pegasus. Rainbow sagged in relief and returned the gesture.

“I was so afraid you were still mad at me,” Twilight said.

Rainbow smiled. “I was afraid you wouldn't want to talk to me again. I said some pretty awful stuff, Twi.”

Twilight pushed back from her friend and gave her a smile. “You were upset. I would never hold anything against you that you said while you were in that frame of mind. I'm just glad you are here now and talking to me. I really do want to keep you as a friend.”

“I know. I really am sorry Twi. I know you care about me, about all of us, I just lashed out. Are you sure you can forgive me?”

Twilight smiled a genuine smile for what felt like the first in a long time. She nuzzled Rainbow for a moment then stepped back. “No matter what, you are my friend. Whether you hate me today or love me tomorrow – nothing can change that. I know I'm new to the friendship thing but trust me when I say that I care about you, Rainbow, and I doubt there is any force on this planet that could make that change.”

Rainbow sighed. “I know that Twilight. I know you’re always here for me. And I know that you were here for me non stop until I threw you out. The girls filled me in. Thanks, Twi, for everything.”

Twilight felt a warmth on her face as Rainbow spoke. “Well I couldn't leave you here alone. Like I said you guys are all the best friends I've ever had. You mean so much to me that I couldn't even think of doing anything else. I know you would do the same for me.”

Rainbow smiled and switched the conversation to lighter topics. They talked for a time about nothing. Idle gossip and unimportant things and Twilight got a sense to déjà vu from the day before. At least Rainbow was awake this time. The doctor came in to run some tests and decided, must to Rainbow’s disappointment, to keep her for one more night to ensure no unnecessary stress was placed on her bones.

The two mares talked until the sun got low in the sky and it wasn't long before they were both dozing. Morning Glow, a middle aged mare from the nursing staff, brought in some blankets and lay them over the sleeping form of Twilight who had curled up into her usual chair. She had spoken to the purple unicorn a few times since she had arrived at the hospital. Once you had been working in health care for as long as she had you understood when the term ‘visiting hours’ did not apply. As she was leaving she stopped to look back at the two and sighed.

“Young love,” Morning Glow said, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.