Chapter 1 - Up to Speed
“Rainbow Dash can you sign my autograph!?”
“Rainbow, over here, what are your thoughts for the future on being the captain of the Wonderbolts for a second year in a row?”
“Rainbow-”
“Rainbow-...”
This was the life.
It’d been a good three years of training and practice, but she finally did it. She’d shown her stuff to them, gave it all she had, and they finally let her in… finally letting her become a part of the main formation. It was all the better when Spitfire congratulated her and let “someone else who’s skilled” to take up the leadership role within the group -- letting her be captain.
She’d finally managed to accomplish it after so long, becoming part of the Wonderbolts’ main formation, taking the spot of captain in no less than a year, and having Spitfire and Soarin’ as her wingmare and man. It was a dream come true.
Walking down the carpet that was laid out for
Walking down the carpet laid out for her into the entrance of the stadium, Spitfire and Soarin’ flanking her, she smiled as she signed photo after photo, notepad after notepad from her fans. So many were wavering towards the entrance, mares and stallions alike hollering and begging for an autograph from her, The One and Only Rainbow Dash. One of the best flyers in equestria.
“Chase your dreams, don’t let anything stop you from going after them.” Finishing up with scrawling her signature on the bottom, she handed the poster of her back to a kid among the many screaming fans.
“Here you go, kid.” She flashes the kid a small wink as she then makes her way further along the carpet, smiling all the way as her fans begged for her attention. Crossing into the entrance and into a small tunnel, a small ring echoed through the corridor. Pausing, she waits for the sound again.
“Did either of you just hear-”
“Hear what?” Soarin’ asked, walking past her and out onto the cloud-platform waiting for them.
“Nevermind…” Following after him, she took a spot in front of them, then pulling down her goggles as she heard the ring once again, followed by a beep.
The stadium then lit up as they all took notice of the trio standing on their platform opposite of the others, the announcer barely being heard above the cacophony of noise.
“Fiiiiillies and Gentlecolts! Today, we have a special performance today from the Wonderbolts with the team’s current captain, Rainbow Dash, providing Cloudsdale a free show for the beginning of their new season! Let’s give them a warm welcome, shall we?”
“...-Miss Dash-... -Important…”
She glances around the stadium as it once again goes abuzz with a countless amount of cheering from every seat therein. “Can you hear that?”
“The cheering? Of course we can, why wouldn’t we?”
“No, before the cheering.”
“The announcer? Yeah, we heard ‘em.”
“Not… y’know what, just forget it.” Shaking her head, she takes few steps back, just in front of Soarin’ and Spitfire as they get ready to start their show. “You guys remember what we’re doing for this?”
“Didn’t run your asses ragged for nothing those past few weeks, so of course we remember.”
Pulling her own goggles over her eyes, she flares her wings up slightly as she lowers herself, waiting for the announcer to signal for them to begin.
“Rainbow Dash, this is the third time we called, your daughter is in the Hospital.”
“My daught…”
Her eyes shot open in an instant, herself bolting upright on the couch as she took to scrambling over the side, tumbling onto the floor as she rushed over to the phone, which rang once again. “Sorry, just kinda woke up…”
The doctor on the other end of the phone didn't sound very happy “miss dash you are aware we have called you three times before this correct?”
“yes im very aware of it” Rainbow groaned “now whats this about my daughter being in the hospital?”
The nurse on the other end of the line cleared her throat, a slight hesitation evident from her. “Your daughter, Ace, she’s been in our care for the past couple of days. When she first came here, she was in a critical state, having lost a large amount of blood from multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, which, managed to rupture a couple of her internal organs as well as suffering from a concussion from what we can guess was from her collapsing from her wounds.”
“Self-inflicted…?”
“She’s since had surgery, but has been in ICU since yesterday, after the surgery. She hasn’t been showing signs of waking up anytime soon.”
“And you -- you thought that it would be a good idea to tell me this now…!?”
“We just didn’t have the time and we’re sorry for that… we’ve had a surge of emergencies happen over the past several days, with a lot of calls coming in and out of here, as well as keeping your daughter’s condition stable. It’s been hard to keep up with what needs to be done; calling you, I’m afraid, just didn’t occur to any of us at the time.” The nurse gave out a tired sigh on her end.
It was her turn to let out a drawn out sigh, sinking down against the wall as she felt her mood hit an all-time low. “...Just… is she going to be okay…?”
“It’s too early to say, Miss Dash, but we’ve done all we can for her at this point, and for you, to keep her alive. At this point, waiting is the only thing we can do.”
“Okay… I’ll… I’ll be over soon to see her.” Hanging up on her end, she chucks the phone away from her, resting her head and arms atop her knees, quietly staring at the opposing wall.
“Ace… what happened to you…?”
