The haunting scream of pain, piercing the veil of night. A torrential gale of agony bursting forth from the forest. For within the woodline, the wings of a fantastic flier have been unceremoniously clipped.
~
They could hear the pained sobbing as it echoed down the sterile corridor. They knew not the reasons why, but their Element of Loyalty could always expect the same of them.
An honest opinion of the situation has been sealed behind the blinding punch of shock.
Kind words are held at bay with the sight displayed before them.
Any semblance of laughter has been torn completely away.
There will always be magic, even if it's formed by the painful agony of loss.
The only generosity here was shown by the tears that began to flow.
The only sound besides her own was a steady beep emanating from her bedside as she wept. Every fiber of her being ached with grief as her very soul began to tear itself apart. Her thoughts were an ever growing mess of questions without answers.
One step forward, followed by four others as they brought themselves closer to the reality before them. They didn't need to hear a single word to know the results. Their friend. Their prismatic maned flier. Their very own Rainbow has been grounded.
The seconds it took for one to finally speak seemed like an eternity. But finally, a voice, though cracked and restrained finally managed to break free from the restraints of fear.
"I'll never fly again."
Four simple words was all it took to seal her fate in stone.
~
The orange mare slowly made her way back home. The weight of the recent news bearing down on her harder than any work she had ever done on the farm. Her family didn't know it yet, and she knew they too deserved to know what had befallen a piece of their lives.
She saw them sitting quietly on the porch. Her little Apple Bloom in quiet innocent curiosity. Granny Smith forlorn in maternal concern. And Big Macintosh, silent and stoic spoke only through his eyes as he watched his sister ascend the steps.
"So how's Rainbow doin'?" Apple Bloom, ever the optimist was the first to speak. Applejack didn't know what to say at first. So instead, she brought her little sister into her arms and held on as though she too may get hurt. "AJ, is she ok?"
"No," was all she said before she began to weep once more. The image of her bedridden friend flooded her mind once more. "No, sugarcube she ain't." It took all she had to coax her next words into being. "They had to take her wing." With that, she hugged the filly even tighter as the tears dripped silently down.
"But... She's Rainbow Dash! They know how much she loves flyin' don't they? Why would they take her wing?"
"There weren't no other choice, Apple Bloom," she explained in a whisper. "No other choice..."
Big Macintosh without any word or warning slowly descended the steps and began walking toward Ponyville.
"Big Mac? Where ya goin'?" Apple Bloom asked from her sisters embrace.
The massive red stallion simply looked back over his shoulder then pressed on down the road. It was all they needed to see to know exactly where he was going.
~
Big Macintosh carefully pushed his way through the doors of the hospital and made his way up to the reception desk.
"Miss Rainbow Dash?" He asked to the mare behind the counter.
"Last door on the right," the lavender earth pony stated as she pointed down the hallway. "She should be asleep right now, but you're free to go check on her." The mare offered a comforting smile but it slowly receded as he turned and forged onward down the hallway.
She had cried herself to sleep. That much was obvious with how puffy her eyelids had gotten. Yet the sight of her in this condition hadn't altered his thoughts in the slightest. And it was with this image that he decided that this was where he belonged.
All through the night, the stallion remained by her bedside. A taciturn sentinel keeping careful watch as nurses and doctors periodically made entrance to conduct their checks. Some never noticed him, others gave him an odd look but shrugged it off and continued on their way.
A few hours passed after dawn and a nurse brought in a tray of food for Rainbow, she set it by the bedside and took a seat next to Big Mac. “I’m so very sorry for your friend, she must be absolutely heartbroken.”
Big mac said nothing, but rather looked at the mare then back to Rainbow Dash. Everypony knew he was a stallion of very few words, so it was all she needed to know what he was thinking.
“If you need anything, please, just ask. We’re here for the both of you and we’ll do whatever we can.” She offered a sympathetic smile, it wasn’t much, but she had hoped it would help.
“Eeyup.” With that, she left the room leaving Big Mac to watch over Rainbow.
Not soon after, Rainbow Dash woke up to see the tray in front of her and Big Mac sitting by her bed. She wanted to ask why he was there but couldn’t bring herself to speak. The events of last night were still fresh in her mind and even though she wanted it all to just be some terrible nightmare, she knew all too well that it wasn’t the case, so she opted to simply stare at the wall and say nothing.
Once more, nurses came and went. The tray was taken and replaced with a new one at noon and then again in the evening. Some ponies from the town came in to see her, but left shortly after she remained immobile and reticent. Some offered consolation to Rainbow, some to Mac. For them, it was a tragic mishap, but not one that would make any profound effect on their life. Some left flowers and cards, but in the end, they just took up space and became nothing more than bittersweet decorations.
Nurse Redheart had shown up at sunset to check on Dash before she went home for the night and saw yet another untouched tray of food. “She hasn’t eaten anything all day. Poor thing.” She looked to Big Mac and realized that he too hadn’t eaten anything, he hadn’t even moved the entire day. “Big Mac, are you hungry? I can bring you something to eat.”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?” She asked. “You must be starving, I haven’t seen you eat a thing all day and we don’t need another pony hospitalized just because he doesn’t want to eat.”
“Not until she eats first, ma’am.”
Nurse Redheart sighed and began to leave. “Very well. Take care of her, she’s going through a really tough time, so she’s going to need somepony their for her.”
He offered no response.
“Goodnight Big Mac.”
The next day came and went just as the last had. Visitors coming in and out, trays of food being brought in and leaving untouched. It wasn’t until sometime in the middle of the night that anything had happened to break the flow of events.
“Big Mac, what are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash sat up and looked at him and he moved closer to the bed, just within arms reach of the mare. He still said nothing although his thoughts spoke volumes. “You don’t need to be here, I’ll… I’ll be fine.”
This was just enough to elicit a response. “Miss Dash, you ever seen the sun rise on a cloudy day?”
“Well, yeah. But that doesn’t explain anything. Why are you here?”
“The sun will always rise, despite some clouds blocking its light.” He explained. Though cryptic, his words were clear and simple.
“What are you saying?”
He went silent again for some time. “Miss Dash, every day since the day Ah first met you, Ah’ve had the pleasure of watching ya fly around. Ah’ve watched ya spin and flip through the air like a leaf in the wind.” He gazed into her magnificient magenta orbs for a minute then resumed. “Seeing you, up there in the sky. That’s always been the best part of my day. What would you do if the most beautiful part of your life was struck down and torn from ya?”
“I… I don’t know,” She whispered softly.
“Ah’d do whatever Ah could to bring it back,” He stated simply. “An until you’re back in all your glory, Ah’ll be here waiting.”
“Big Mac, they took my wing, I’ll never fly again. I’ll never be the pony I used to be.”
“Guess Ah ain’t goin’ anywhere than.”
“Big Mac, no. You gotta go help out on the farm, you can’t be here just watching over me for no reason.”
“Way ah see it, Miss Dash. This is a mighty bit more important than a couple chores. An seein’ as how you ain’t eaten nothin’ since ah got here, Ah reckon I ain’t leavin’ till ya do.”
She knew it to be true. Though she felt hungry, she didn’t want to eat. The only thing she wanted to do was disappear altogether. but she couldn’t, and even if she tried, her friends would find her and do everything they could to bring her back. “You don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine, I just need… I just need time to think, that’s all.”
“You can think all you like, Ah ain’t leavin’ till Ah’m certain you’ll be alright.”
“Fine,” she muttered solemnly then rolled over with her back turned to the stallion.
~
The next morning, Rainbow Dash made an effort to eat, which pleased both Nurse Redheart and Big Mac greatly. If she was eating, she was getting better and although the psychological damage would never truly heal, she was making progress.
It continued like this for the next week. Visitors coming by, eating a bit more here and there and the constant reminder to Big Mac that he could leave at any time even though he never did. She never said it, but she was truly grateful for him to stay there with her. On her eighth night in the hospital, she made the decision she needed to talk about it. The nurses had been kind enough to supply Big Mac with a cot to sleep on, so it was no surprise that Dash was able to wake him up without leaving the bed. It took some prodding, but his eyes finally opened and he looked up at Rainbow Dash studying him.
“Ya’ll need somethin’ Miss Dash?”
“Yeah, I kinda do…” she layed back down and stared at the ceiling “Big Mac, I need to thank you. When I found out they had taken my wing…” A tear began to slowly fall down her face “When they took my wing, it broke me. I was so scared, everything I had worked for had been torn away and thrown away like some foals plaything.”
He said nothing, opting to listen instead.
“That first night, after everypony had left, I wanted to end it all. To just find a way to leave this place. Forever.” She turned to look at him, a small glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You saved me from myself Mac, I don’t know if I could have gone through with it, but you being here kept me from even considering it. So thank you.”
Fear. It was the first time she had ever seen such a complex emotion make its way across his features. She sat up and locked eyes with him. Trying to read his thoughts, be it in vain. So Big Mac did the only thing he could think of. He got up, and brought the rainbow maned pony into his tight embrace. He felt it instantly, the deep shaking breath before she began to cry. As she buried his muzzle into his fur, he could only think about what would have happened had he not been stubborn enough to stay and watch over her. He knew he had to keep it from all the other ponies as she had chosen him to confide in. And though he wished to chastise her for ever thinking of such a thing, he knew better. It wouldn’t do any good, she was still there with them and that was enough bravery in itself to give anypony hope.
All through the night, she sat there in his arms drifting between mourning and giving her appreciation. When she finally managed to fall back to sleep, he laid her down and took the liberty of covering her up. The stallion had shed some tears of his own, be it in silence. As strong as he was, the recent events had taken a toll on him as well. Seeing the mare he had always admired from afar so close to the edge of suicide broke his heart. To think that such a strong beautiful pony like her could have been so close to giving up was far too much for him.
“Ah love ya Rainbow Dash. Please, don’t ever say anything like that again,” he murmured as he watched her sleeping. Even in sleep, she looked to be in pain, and that was just enough for him to know that he couldn’t leave just yet.
