Drought

CHAPTER 2

Dash awoke in a hospital bed. The pain was still intense, but less painful than when she was… were was she? Dash was disorientated by the bright lights,

  and she looked around and saw the wheezing, wooden and glass medical equipment surrounding her, and a there was a needle in her arm leading to a morphine drip. She pressed a green button with a little white arrow on it,  and the pain faded. A nurse walked in. She was a light white in color, and her cutie mark was a syringe full of blue liquid.

Her name tag said “Pierce Mercury”

She looked surprised to see Dash's eyes open.  Oh! You’re awake! Im Pierce Mercury, I took care of you when you where asleep. Your name is Rainbow Dash, am I right?”

Dash blinked, and scratched her head.  “Oh.. um.. what.. Yeah, my friends call me.. um. Pinkie…No! Dash! They call me Dash”

Mercury smiled. “Oh, i'm sorry for asking you so many questions at once. We should take it slow, you have been asleep for 2 days, after all.

    Dash  eyes widened.

She felt worried, what if people found out and thought she was weak? “you didn’t tell them that im sick, did you?”, she asked nervously.

“No, its you’re choice if you want to tell them, but I personally recommend that you should. They are you’re best friends, after all, and they have a right to know.” Dash considered this.“Yeah, I will tell them, eventually, I know.. So, what do I have? Is it just.. I dunno, like, a really badly torn muscle? It doesn’t hurt, though! Im fine, I’ll start work again tomorrow, i'll probably get over it. Just like, a cramp from sleeping funny or something.." She new it wasn't.

Mercury’s face fell.

Slowly, she said “No, Dash, you won’t be working for a while. I’m so sorry Dash, but you have CMRS.”

Cutie Mark Rot Syndrome. It’s what happens when one stops doing what their supposed to be spending the rest of their life doing for too long, The Mark starts to rot, but in the prosses it damages the veins and nerves in the thigh. After about 4 weeks, it causes a muscle spasm that causes fatal brain damage. Usually only lazy ponies got it, but this case was purely Celsestia's fault. She felt angry. She had spent 8 years as a PE working herself to the bone just to get CMRS.

Mercury nodded, as if she knew what she was thinking“Do you understand what I have said?”

“Yes, everypony knows what It is. Lightning Dust died of it a couple years back.”

“Yes, we know, we had her here. She would hardly let us give her morphine, with that big ego, and all.

Dash remembered, and chuckled slightly

“Yeah”

That day Dash was let out, but she had to carry a morphine bottle and syringe around with her in a satchel. They drove her back home, and on the way, Dash stayed silent, looking at the mountains and wondered how many times she would look at them again.

She went through the dorm and into her room.

Dash fell back on her bed, and started crying. 4 weeks minimum, a month maximum. What was she to do? After 3 weeks dose herself up on enough morphine to make the the spasm as painless as possible? She didn’t know. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves. They where soaked with tears. She couldn't cry. Crying was not going to help. What else could she do..? Then she had idea. Twilight was still doing science and magic and egghead stuff like that, why not see her and tell her about it? She was bound to know something stood up, and made her way out the door. She was greeted a few times, but stayed silent until she found the small path that led to Twilights house.

When she arrived at the door, she was nervous. She wouldn’t go shouting it off to the world, would she, if she didn’t want them to know then it would be an awful thing to do right? She wouldn’t tell AppleJack, She  pretty much always told the truth, her element being honesty and all that. She knocked on the door.

The door opened, and it was Spike. He was almost taller than her now, and apparently he could control his wings, if only slightly.

“What is it”, came spikes voice, sounding only slightly  deeper since she last saw him.

Dash put on a serious voice, hoping that he would let her in, to let him know that it was urgent.“I’m here to see Twilight.”

“Do you have to? like, right now?

“Yes! Let me in!”, she said angrily, not wanting to stay still, because it seemed to hurt when she stood still for a long time, then again it hurt when she ran.

Spike looked surprised about that sudden burst of anger, but shrugged it off. Dash noticed she was becoming more irritable, and wondered if it was an effect of CMRS. She walked into the house, and Twilight was reading a book called “Alchemy, Level 4, stage 7” She looked up.

“Oh hi Dash, What’s the matter?”

Dash took a deep breath, then“Can I speak to you in private?" Dash hoped she would, and not ask about anything.

Twilight looked confused, her eyes narrowed for a second, Dash's tone of voice told her it was important. “Sure”

They walked away from spike and into the lab, where potions boiled and gave off odd smelling gases.

Dash lowered her voice.“Ok Twilight, I’m going to have to make you promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to say, this conversation doesn’t leave this room.”

Twilight shrugged.“If you don’t want anyone to know, then I promise not to tell anyone”

         Dash smiled, and said thank you.“Ok, I have just come back from the hospital. I have Cutie Mark Rot Syndrome. Look, you see this infection? That’s it.”, she said, showing her the dark ring around the mark

The look on Twilights face was visible when the words took effect.“Oh, i'm.. so sorry.I..” Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes, but she forced them down, trying to stay strong.

Dash didn't want too much of a big deal made out of it, or she might cry in front of twilight. “Yeah, yeah, its fine. All I want to know is, is there anything that can at least.. extend my life? You always acted like you knew everything, so you must at least know something…? Looking sad, Twilight shook her head, trying not to cry.

Dash felt panic rise inside her. “Anything at all, no matter what, OK? I don't care what, anything! ”

Twilight thought for a moment, picking her brains, then an idea showed on her face.“Well there is.. but its very… “What?”

“The only known thing that could possibly extend your life is.. liquid  refracted light.”

Dash was confused. “In English, please, im not an egghead like you.”

“Well, liquid rainbows, you know, splitlight, that stuff that people sell on the street and crazy ponies drink.. Producing them are   even more illegal and dangerous than using them but… Dash! Please, we could do this if i can help you live longer.. ill do anything.."

Dash was surprised. Twilight was known for her goody-goody attitude, but now she was suggesting that they do something incredibly illegal. But, it was dangerous. "But, what if somepony gets hurt or worse?"

Twilight was looking frantic.  "I have the proper equipment. We'll use your bathroom as the lab, and i'll keep a constant eye on everything. Look, on my shelf, under T, is just the book we need. Get it on the way out. Please,   Dash, i don't want you to go, i would do it  for any of my friends, so i'll do it for you."

They could hear Spike knocking on the door.

"Lets continue this conversation at a later date, ok?"

They exited the room.

Twilight put on a fake half smile. “And that’s why you should just use bleach to clean that ink stain! Don't mix it with ammonia, though!"

Dash played along, hoping Spike wouldn't ask anything. “Now I know! Thanks!”

Spike laughed. "That was it? you have an ink stain? Really?" He sighed.

On the way out, she looked under T. sure enough, she saw what she believed to be the right book, titled “THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT REFRACTION”

She wasn't really going to do this, right? She didn't know what twilight was capable of. May as well. As quietly as possible, she took the book, slipped it into her satchel, and walked out the door.

When she arrived at home, she opened the book. Oh great, she thought. Egghead stuff. Soon enough, she found out she would need a long term light source, a refracting method (Everypony knew that splitlight manufactures used powdered glass and radium from watches for that.) Dash found her old watch, carefully removed the glass, then used a pin to scrape out the glowing blue substance, keeping it as far away as possible, into a small ziplock bag. She put it in a cupboard. She then replaced the glass on the watch, so she wouldn’t draw suspicion. She then found a small picture of her as a little girl winning the flying championship, she removed the class covering it, then put it in a mortar and pestle, and powdered it. Good. Check For two ingredients. She read through the book more until something caught her eye: “Artificial rainbows essential ingredients are Dark matter, Oxygen and nitrogen. The Dark matter should be mixed with purple mercury, ammonia, and phosphorus." Where the hay was she gonna find dark matter and purple mercury? maybe Twilight would know. Suddenly, her thigh tensed up. The world started spinning, and the turned black, her whole body in agony.

She woke up on the floor, when the sun was setting. The pain was incredible,, and she felt sick. She gave herself a shot of morphine. She started to cry again, half because she knew she would be dead soon, half because she didn't know what she was getting herself into. The slightest mistake either one of them made and they would destroy a fair chunk of the town, not to mention radiation. She climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

1:23am

There was a knock on the door. Dash could hardly sit. It came again, and she looked around the white room, confused. Then a voice said "Twilight" and then she got up. She opened the door, and Sure enough, there was Twilight. She looked stressed, her main tangled, dark rings around her eyes, and was carrying four heavy bags, and levitating two large gas canisters. How she got these over here without being seen was a mystery. Twilight pushed past Dash, and she followed her to the bathroom.  "Have you got any ingredients?"

"Yep, powdered glass and radium paint."

Twilight looked surprised. "Radium? What?! Do you know how dangerous that  is? where is it?" She looked around with a worried look on her face.

Dash knew she was looking to stupid."The kitchen closet.."

"Where your food is!? Look, ill get it and you unload these bags, ok?" Twilight looked both amazed and sad at how stupid Dash had been. Maybe she should let Twilight do most of the work.

She set them down and walked out.  Rainbow Dash opened the bags. Inside, there where test tubes, beakers, pipets, chemicals, test tube racks, cleaning products, scalpels, pans, bunsen burners, gas masks, and pretty much everything you would want for a lab. Twilight returned carrying the glass and the radium, and then levitated two pairs of heavy gloves and hazmat coats, and gas masks out of a bag.

    "Put these on." Dash did as she said. The coats where heavy, and made movement difficult as they both set up the lab, putting the bunsen gas stoves and science glass on the ground, and getting ready.

Twilights face had stayed indifferent the whole time. She addressed dash directly.

Twilight sat on the floor looked up, and said  "all right, are you ready?"

Dash forced a smile. "Yep, lets do this."

"Ok, so  you're  gonna want to mix that radium with the glass to start the refraction project. heat up this beaker full of fertilizer solution, and start mixing this in to create  color matter…

They put on their huge strange looking gas masks, with big visors and filters that wheezed nosily, and set to work.

And they went on through the darkness. Gasses rising into the air, pots of toxic chemicals boiling down to concentrate, using the tanks of gas Twilight bought to keep a flow of oxygen and nitrogen on the pots,  beakers,  test tubes and all the solutions at once  to simulate natural conditions. At one point, a beaker burst into flames and they used a wet towel to put it out, narrowly avoiding blowing themselves up, but it still left a mark on the floor. As they mixed chemicals, burned them and melted them down into white hot goop, they seemed to not get anywhere, at least until Twilight produced a small pot, then put the remaining concentrated chemicals into it. she then got the radium and glass and mixed it in, the radium and the glass casting strange shapes around the room. Without a word, twilights horn began to light up, and the black liquid began to boil. Then it turned red. Suddenly, Twilight slammed the lid on the pot.

  "Get a beaker.  Quick!" Dash  did so, and when she did, Twilight used her magic to levitate them both, pouring the small amount of liquid into the beaker.  To their surprise, There was a loud  bang, and an affect that looked like a sonic rainboom. Twilight clamped a cork in the top and shook it. Rainbow Dash looked closely. The liquid changed color, slowly at first, but as she shook it, different parts of the liquid changed color, until they where all different. And then… splitlight.  The liquid substance gave off a colorful vapor, and twilight gave it to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight  Im going to.. clean up the mess i made. Go into your room, take off the lid, and just.. i don't know, drink it

Dash took off the gas mask and suit, then hung it in the closet, near her old dresses.

In her room,  Dash looked at the mixture in the test tube. It was beautiful, and reminded her of old times. But it was.. strange. It seemed like too much of a rainbow to be a rainbow. Unnatural. Fake. She took off the lid, Which, to her surprise, popped of and sent a cloud of vapor in a stream, like a champagne bottle. she tasted it, and tipped it down her throat. She coughed, and suddenly exhaled, and the vapor came out through her mouth, floating around the room. Suddenly she felt relaxed, happy, and like she could finally have a restful sleep, even though the time was nearly 4:00. A smile crossed her face, and she fell asleep.

The next morning, Rainbow Dash felt great. She looked at her Cutie mark, and some of the fur had already grown back. The rainbow in the lightning bolt had come back a little. She got out of bed, and went into the bathroom. she looked at her face in the mirror, and it was flawless. She opened a draw, and saw it was full of last nights equipment, all cleaned, of course. There was a note by the sink.

Coming back tonight. Destroy this note after you have read it, hope you are well, don't tire yourself out!

? Well, only Twilight could have left that note… Dash doubted Twilight had ever done something this  illegal before, if anything illegal! Dash also wondered where she was getting all the bits to buy these chemicals, and how would they get bits? Dash knew the obvious way to profit from this, but that was an awful idea. But then again.. Rainbow Dash knew that, rainbows or not, she was gonna die within about 5 years. To get the bits to make these last few years the best? Well.. it was up to Twilight whether she should or shouldn't But for now, she didn't want to stay inside. She felt better than she had in years, and she wanted to fly. Not too high, not into the clouds, just take a quick trip to the Sugarcube Corner, pick up some cupcakes, maybe say sorry about the way she had left the party. Maybe she'd try pull off a sonic rainboom, no, what if she passed out in the middle of it? That could kill her. But she shot out the door, and flew over the town. She hadn't felt this awake, this alive for 20 years. She remembered days, when her massive ego was somewhat justified by her amazing flight skill, working up in weather maintenance, keeping the sky clear. But now she was… what, refracting artificial rainbows with twilight in her bathroom? Its funny how things change, she thought to herself. She had a nagging fear that someone would find out, and they would end up in jail for 10 years, for refracting, and she could only imagine how disappointed Celestia would be in Twilight, even though she hadn't written to her in years. It was incredible what she was doing just to extend her life for a few years. She thought of what Twilight must be going through right now, and she hadn't even said "thank you."

Twilight was in the hardware store, picking up what they would need. Apple fertilizer for purple mercury, glass slabs to crush up, some cheap watches for the radium paint… The list went on. You needed a lot of chemicals to produce a small amount of artificial rainbow, so this operation was going to cost a lot.  She picked up a larger cooking pot, as they were to start producing it in larger quantities. Last nights liquid rainbows were weak, as she was not prepared, and came with some chemicals she picked up in the lab at home. She had read up on rainbows, and it was apparent that you should sip the liquid through a straw, or inject it if you were taking it medicinally. This book was written  in the days of natural rainbows, when all one had to do was have a good reason to be prescribed to it. Twilight picked up some random products to make what she was buying less obvious. She bought it to the grey goat at the counter. "That'll be 397 bits, please." Twilight nearly choked on the price, but she still emptied her purse. it was worth it, after all. Her and Dash were never that close, but now keeping dash alive was worth more than 397 bits. She put carried them out to the carriage outside, and loaded them in the back. She had been trying not to cry for a long time, but now she couldn't help it. What was she going to do when Dash died? How was she going to afford buying all this stuff every week? And what would she do if they where caught illegally producing rainbows? She wiped her tears away. She couldn't do this now. She was going to the next shop to buy a geiger counter to measure the labs Mr p/h (Micro rads per hour). Then she had to study, buy books, and try to keep a low profile. If they studied hard, they could, possibly, create pure rainbows, better than the natural stuff, which was about 96 percent pure. If they made 100%, it could extend Dash's life to a normal lifespan, maybe longer. The problem was, it would cost thousands. Where was she to get that much?

Meanwhile, Dash was having the time of her life. It was like the chemical had woken her up, had made her like she once was. She flew down onto the roof of the  Sugarcube Corner, and dropped down in front of the door, and burst in. Pinkie was baking cookies

Pinkie jumped when she saw Dash. "Oh, Dash! you look great? what did you do, drink coffee? I don't like coffee that much, though i do when  i'm  tired! Sometimes i drink it at parties, hey speaking of parties, why did you flip out two days ago,

Dash smiled. "Yeah, i was sick but i'm fine now! Sorry for making a mess at your party, but im feeling great today! I bet i could do a double rainboom, no i could do that whenever i want to, more like a triple rainboom!"

Pinkie sniffed the air, then looked at Dash.  "You smell funny, like that  oily smell at the hardware store, and the potions  Twilights house."

Dash realized she should have showered the chemical smell off this morning. She smelt sweet and burnt, like corn syrup and used fireworks, and her hair was a mess as well. Splitting  was no clean business. Even through a hazmat suit you still got the smell all through your mane. Dash suddenly felt worried, and stuttered out an excuse. "Yeah, i was cleaning the bathroom last night.. So, uh, how have you been doing?" Pinkie seemed convinced.  Oh, great too! Im putting  avocado in the icing to make it more healthy! AppleJack says i serve too much junk food at parties, so i figured i try making these! want some? Hey, why is your satchel on backwards?" Dash had done this to cover up the decay around her cutie mark, Dash thought of another excuse. "I think it looks cool." Pinkie giggled. "It looks kinda silly! Hey! maybe i should wear mine like that as well!" After eating some cupcakes and some rather good icing samples, Rainbow Dash felt like she should go to Twilights house, and see what she was up to.

When she arrived at the door, this time Twilight came to the door, her mane looking even more out of place,  just looked at her and said "Oh, yeah, come in. Spikes not home." This was odd, usually spike was always home. When Dash walked in, she found a massive pile of books waiting for her. TS:"Books.Read.Now. We have a lot of work to do." Dash was freaked out by the massive piles of thick books. "What!? im not-"  "yes you are. i just spend 397 bits on chemicals, and we are going to make the most of them."