"Life is like dots. You can focus on a black dot on a white piece of paper, which just makes it seem bigger. The same thing happens if you focus on a white dot on a piece of black paper. It's the perspective of how you see life that really changes it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow, that dress really is amazing," said Twilight, in awe.
"Well, Wha'dya expect outta Rarity, she is the best designer in Ponyville," Applejack replied.
Today was Rarity's fashion show, and the six friends couldn't afford to miss her big day. Models strode past the stage, showing off Rarity's beautiful designs. Her months of hard work finally paid off. Rainbow Dash was usually not a big fan of fashion and all that stuff, but she would do anything to support a friend. She is, after all, the element of loyalty.
"LET'S ALL TOAST TO CELEBRATE!!!!"
Pinkie Pie bounced back with six glasses of apple cider.
"To all of Rarity's hard work!"
Glasses clinked, the ponies drank, and went back to their chatting and laughing. Ponies everywhere were enjoying themselves. It was all happy, all was well.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash realized she didn't feel so well. The world started spinning, sweat came from her back, and she started shivering. Her cider fell from her hand, leaving glass shards everywhere. Everything went black.
Fluttershy was the first to notice something was wrong.
"Hey, um, guys, is Rainbow okay? She doesn't look so..."
"Oh, don't be silly darling, of course she's-"Rarity turned around, and saw Rainbow Dash lying unmoving on the ground.
The fashion show turned into a mess of chaos. Twilight was the only one one could keep calm, so she called the ambulance to take Rainbow to the hospital. I hope she's okay, was the thought of everypony there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*beep* *beep* *beep*
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. Where was she? And what were the beeps? Those question were quickly answered by her friends.
"What-What happened to me? Where is this?"
"You collapsed at the fashion show. We were all so worried " said Rarity. So this was what happened. And she was obviously in a hospital.
"I'm afraid you all need to leave for a couple minutes. I need to talk to Miss Dash alone,"said the doctor.
Once her friends left, the doctor began. "So, Miss Dash, I'm sure you would like to know why you collapsed."
Rainbow nodded.
"Miss Dash, you have a disease caused by an extremely rare bacteria."
"So what?" Rainbow asked,"I'll be fine after a bit of rest."
The doctor continued, "I'm sorry to have to break it to you... You're dying, Miss Dash. You have around one month left."
Rainbow Dash's heart sunk like a stone. One month? That was all she was going to get? She was dying, right at the most successful point of her life? She had just gotten into the wonder bolts, her lifelong dream. She was so happy. Everything was going so well for her. Until now.
Her five best friends entered.
"What did he have to say?" Twilight asked.
"Um... I have a rare disease. I have one month left to live... One month left with you guys... " For the first time in her life, tears fell from her eyes. She was going to have to leave everything. Her family, her friends, the wonderbolts, her home, her life was all going to be gone.
For a while, the six friends just sat together. No one talked. It was the longest time they had ever spent together without talking and laughing. Even Pinkie's curly hair had lost its usual energy and turned straight. It was, surprisingly, Fluttershy who finally broke the silence.
"Uh... I think we should go... She's going to need the rest..."
So they left, leaving Rainbow Dash wondering. What am I going to do? What's going to happen to me? The list of questions and thoughts went on and on, and she finally drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Twilight, It's past midnight. You need to go sleep," said Spike.
"No, I am not sleeping and I will not until I find a way to cure it! There has to be a way, somehow, somewhere! Rainbow is dying, Spike. Sleep is the least of my worries. "
Twilight Sparkle went back to her books. She could not and would not just let Rainbow die like that. She had to try. But she simply could not find a book with anything related to the disease. Even in her book One Thousand Diseases of Ponykind and Their Cures, which had never failed her before, had no mention of Rainbow's disease. She had a sample of the bacteria she collected from Rainbow's bedside, but she had no way to observe it. After looking through all her disease and medicine related books, but without success, she had an idea.
"Spike! Get up! Now! I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia."
Spike reluctantly got out of his basket. "Okay, Okay..."
Twilight began:
Dear Princess Celestia,
You most likely already know this, but if you haven't, here's the news. Rainbow Dash has contracted a very rare disease and has one month left to live. I have spent all my time looking through my books, but have not managed to find any mention of the disease. I was wondering if you had any knowledge of the disease, and if I could use the Canterlot Royal Library sometime.
I have attached a sample of the bacteria involved. It would be nice if you could get your scientific team to do some research on it as well. Thanks a lot!
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Spike breathed the letter, and after a while the princess's reply came back. Twilight was surprised that Princess Celestia would be up at this hour. It said that she heard the news but did not know of the disease. She has already sent the bacteria sample to her research team. And that Twilight was welcome to use the library anytime. Twilight replied back, saying thank you and that she would be coming tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, for both her and Rainbow, there was nothing to do but wait and see what happened.
Author's Note
So, that's the first chapter... Thoughts, ideas and comments are welcome. Constructive criticism is accepted. But if you just say "it sucks", I don't know what to fix. Please be helpful!
Rainbow Dash awoke to the beeping of her heart rate monitor. The hospital was busy in the mornings, patients and doctors coming in and out. She looked outside the window. The sky was blue, scattered with puffy white cotton candy clouds. How she longed to just jump out of bed and zoom around in the air. And then she realized, Oh right. I'm sick. And I'm dying.
There was a knock on her door. It was the doctor.
"How do you feel, Miss Dash"
"Perfectly fine," she replied.
"Miss Dash, you have a option here," the doctor continued, "You can stay at the hospital where there will always be people to take care of you, but you are also free to spend your last days in the outside world. "
"I'll leave you to make that decision. You can come by my office and tell me when you've made the choice,"he said
That left Rainbow Dash thinking. If she chose the first option, she would always be taken care of. Always safe. But she would always be trapped here. If she chose the second option, she would be able to do whatever she wanted. She might not make it to the hospital in time in case something happened, but she would be free. Free. The word echoed in her mind. She imagined herself blissfully soaring through the skies, nothing but the blue skies and fresh air around her. In that moment, she knew what she was going to pick.
Rainbow Dash climbed out of bed, swung open the door of her room and walked to the doctor's office. She knocked on the door.
"It's Rainbow Dash. And I will not be staying in the hospital. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, a pony with a lavender coat and a purple and pink mane named Twilight Sparkle was having some difficulties. Twilight had been in the Canterlot library all morning, but had not found anything. Her library was nothing compared to this one. It was much bigger and had lots and lots of books.
Twilight sat at a desk, flipping through Diseases: A synopsis of each and every sickness and infection. Tumors. Fevers. Colds. Diabetes. Pneumonia. There were lots and lots of diseases that she had never seen before, all with explanation, treatment and even history.
"I have the results from my scientific team."
Twilight turned around. It was Princess Celestia. She was holding up a piece of paper with her magic.
"I'll leave you to read that on your own. If you wish to keep it, you may."
After the princess left, Twilight began reading.
"We have observed the sample given to us, under all our best microscopes, but we were not able to see anything. However during our research, the lights went out and your sample was glowing. When we went to look at it, the light was so bright it pierced our eyes. We have to say that this is the strangest thing we have seen ever in our research."
And then it was blank. Twilight was extremely surprised. The royal scientific team was the best in Equestria, and had all the best equipment. Most of the time, their reports were detailed with exact facts. This was quite strange.
She put the paper away and kept reading the book on diseases. There must be a way, she thought to herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash was enjoying her time outside the hospital. And she did not regret her decision one bit. She was flying to the Wonderbolts' Headquarters. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air.
Rainbow Dash landed inside the headquarters.
"Hey, ready to do some flying? We're just waiting for Soarin to get here," Spitfire greeted her.
"Yeah. Um... But before that, I need to tell you something..." Rainbow pulled Spitfire into a corner.
"I'm only going to be able to stay in the team for one more month or so..."
"Why? Is everything okay?" Spitfire inquired.
And so Rainbow told the whole story of going to the fashion show, collapsing, waking up in the hospital, only having one more month to live, and her decision to live outside the hospital.
Spitfire had a look of sympathy on her face. "Are you feeling okay? Can you still fly?"
"I'm perfectly fine. I can still fly as good as ever," Rainbow assured her.
So they went back with the rest of the team. Soarin was here, and they were ready to begin their training.
Spitfire began,"As you all know, the Wonderbolts will be participating in the Equestria Games next month!" Everypony cheered. "That means we need to train as hard as ever. However, I feel like you've done enough work in the past two weeks, so today we'll do something a bit more fun. Today will be a simulation of the Equestria Games, so expect everything to be as it would be in the games. I will be the judge, and Soarin will be controlling the timer system. We will be flying five kilometers. Let's get flying!"
All the Wonderbolts flew to the racetrack. The racetrack was just like one on the ground, the lines drawn with cloud-making machines. Spitfire stood on a cloud at the side with a whistle. The racers, including Rainbow Dash, stood at the starting line.
"Let the race...BEGIN!" Spitfire blew the whistle and Soarin turned on the timers.
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could. Even though she knew this wasn't a real competition, it felt like one. Just like when she usually competed, she was only focused on herself in the air. Nothing else around her mattered. In that moment, all that did was that she tried her absolute best.
After a while, she was flying so fast she could hear the wind blowing past her ears. Then she felt a barrier before her. The sound barrier. I can do this, she thought to herself. She pushed and pushed until she felt like she couldn't go any faster, and suddenly, it broke. A magnificent rainbow exploded behind her, painting colors across the sky. A sonic Rainboom! I did it! She felt the same way she did that day she got her cutie mark.
But now was no time to celebrate. It was a competition. Rainbow flew and flew with the last bit of her remaining energy. Finally, she saw it. A red ribbon, a black and white checkered frame. The finish line. She had done it. She had won.
Rainbow sat next to the finish line, panting. Spitfire passed her a cup of water. She happily took it. The second was Fleetfoot, and she did not know who the third was, because they had covered their face. As the third removed their flight goggles, Rainbow saw her face. Fluttershy?
"Fluttershy! You're in the wonderbolts now? I never knew!" Rainbow exclaimed
"Yup. I worked as hard as ever to get in. I just got the notice yesterday. Of course, my animals are still my top priority. This is just a little something to do on the side," Fluttershy replied.
They walked along with the rest of the pegasi to the "Award ceremony". As Rainbow stood at the top with a blue ribbon, Fluttershy and Fleetfoot next to her, her friends in the "audience", all her problems vanished form her mind. And then she felt something she hadn't felt in a really long time- pure happiness.
Author's Note
Again, any comments, feel free to tell me. I would also like to know if anyone would make a cover art for this story. You will be fully credited. Please contact me if you are interested. In addition, expect one chapter to come out every week or so, and each to be around 1,000-1,500 words. Thanks!
