Rarity smoothed Fluttershy’s mane as the mare wept into her shoulder, tears streaming down her face as she regarded the somber and silent Twilight Sparkle who stood close to Rainbow Dash, trying to reconcile the stunned mare as the cyan pegasus gawked with near a vacant expression at Nurse Redheart’s revelation, while Applejack had long left the room for some fresh air to process the information.

“Is there nothing you can do?” Twilight inquired in Rainbow Dash’s stead, looking hopefully upon the lacklustre expression of Ponyville’s resident nurse. “There must be something we can do. Some kind of spell or a potion…”

Nurse Redheart sat back in her chair shaking her head, clopping her hooves together before her as she sympathetically looked on to the distraught group of friends. She really wished she had better news, but the sad fact was Rainbow Dash was going to die and there was nothing nopony could do about it.

“I’m sorry-” Nurse Redheart began, but was cut off by a weeping Rarity struggling to string her words out into a coherent sentence.

“Th-th-th-there has to b-b-be something… anything!”

Releasing a deep sigh, Nurse Redheart regarded the still silently staring Rainbow Dash with a cold professional despite the emotional turmoil of the other mares. “All we can do, is make you as comfortable as we can. Which, with modern day medical and magical practices, will almost guarantee the remaining time you have left will be painless.”

Fluttershy looked up from Rarity’s shoulder, her eyes red and bloodshot. “Th-this can’t be happening… r-right?”

“How long does she have?” Twilight interjected as she placed a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, wiping her eyes with the other hoof, while trying her best to hold her composure not because she was now a Princess and felt it her duty, but instead it was for her friends. She wanted to show some kind of level head to try and calm them; remaining emotionally strong so that they could rally together and cope with this terrible ordeal.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop her own tears from falling.

Nurse Redheart glanced down to her desk. “I’m sorry, but not very long. Unfortunately we caught it too late. The symptoms are very few and death can come quite suddenly to those who contract the disease… but if I had to guess, judging by how much it has spread, I’d say a week, maybe two. I don’t see you making it to season five.”

“A week…?” Rainbow Dash choked. “But I… I have so much I want to do...”

“H-how could this happen? What i-is it that has done this to her?” Rarity whimpered, the question drawing all eyes upon the nurse who shifted nervously in her seat.

“Chickenitis is a very rare disease and it can only be contracted when in close contact with a minor character that may or may not be orphaned due to the ambiguity of his or her parentage that can become a future plot hole or plot point.”

“What’s going to happen to me?” Rainbow Dash swallowed hard. “I have to know.”

Nurse Redheart stood up from the chair, walking now like a bipedal mammal as she crossed her hooves behind her back, pacing back and forth behind her desk. “Your wings will eventually become useless and your cutie mark will eventually disappear."

Rarity gasped.

"You will eventually fall from your role as part of the mane six to a side character, often used for comic relief and nothing more. From there, you will fade into obscurity as a background character where your appearance will never be the same from day to day. You might wake up one morning having no wings, while the next day the colors in your mane might become mismatched, until eventually… you are killed off and replaced with a poor imitation.”

“Sweet Celestia…” Twilight bit at her lower lip as she drew Rainbow Dash in for a hug. “What a… what a terrible disease… how could something so cruel exist?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at her friends, struggling to smile. “It’s okay guys... I’m okay with it. At least I have the chance to say goodbye to all my friends before I… before I…” She sobbed into a hoof, “it’s better than not being able to say it, right? I’m going to say goodbye in time, right?” Tears flowed down her muzzle as she looked to them all.

They nodded back to her, coming together for a warm embrace.

_____________________

Three days later, Rainbow Dash was found dead on the toilet at her cloud home, seemingly from a cardiac arrest after straining that bit too much. Fortunately, she did not experience many of the symptoms of Chickenitis, but she had the chance to spend her last remaining days on Equestria surrounded by the love of her friends and family.

Many happy memories were made in those short days. Pinkie Pie threw the best farewell party Rainbow Dash had ever seen and Twilight Sparkle even managed to gift her a signed copy of every Daring Do novel in existence, including losing her virginity to Big Macintosh on the very same night, though Rainbow Dash eventually admitted that his penis was not as great as everypony was making it to be. He had problems getting it up.

Rainbow Dash’s funeral was grand and funded by Princess Twilight Sparkle, who vowed during a moving speech that no other pony would come to meet the same end that had taken away one of her best friends.

Personally leading the inquisition to purge the disease from existence, they eventually found the source where Rainbow Dash had contracted it; tracing it back to a filly named Scootaloo, whom had indeed been in quite abit of contact with Rainbow Dash many times throughout the series. Seemingly immune herself, Scootaloo was medically tested to be a confirmed carrier and swiftly detained.

Scootaloo was later euthanized and her body was later incinerated to prevent any other pony from contracting it and suffering the same fate as Rainbow Dash. However, the disease was also found in numerous other minor characters (most of whom were fillies and colts), all of which were captured and detained within an a safe encampment, where they were burned alive until there was nothing left.

Twilight Sparkle later wrote an award winning biography on Rainbow Dash, though later was arrested for conspiring with several executives at Hasbro for a brand new toy line to be released with their latest Equestria Girls movie, where she marries Flash Sentry and becomes a superhero cheerleader.

Author's Note

Like, hate, flame!

Who do you want next to die? And how?

Pinkie Pie - choking on a cupcake?

Fluttershy - eaten by white rabbits that may be related to a certain white rabbit from a Monty Python movie?

Diamond Tiara - crushed by a falling Sugarcube Corner sign?

So many choices, but what's on your mind?