“What’s wrong with her, doc? She’s gonna be okay, ri-”
“How did you eve get out of bed on that leg?!”
“…ght?”
“She has a pretty major concussion and a minor crack in the outer skill. In other words, she’ll be taking her sweet time in recovering. But don’t worry, she’ll be fine.
Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly recognize the doctor treating them, but he seemed nice enough, and he used big words like ‘concussion’, so he must know his stuff.
“And you’ll take your own time in recovering as well. That leg is not in good shape as you may have noticed.”
He slung the rainbow maned pony’s once limber and athletic body over his shoulder and walked her over to her bunk for their stay, gently laying her down onto it.
“I’ve heard stories about you, Rainbow Dash, and I think I should get this out of the way now. I’m not afraid to have security tie you down.”
She stared blankly at him.
“Stay off of that leg.”
“…Whatever…” She nodded with him and sighed deeply. For a little while she just lay there while he left the room, and then the nurses came in with their clipboards and fresh bags for the dangly thing by her bed that ran to her legs. It’s probably just water, they only put it there to make it look like it does something. Then they left with their usual speech about staying in bed and getting rest and to use the keypad controls to call for a nurse if you need one.
And while it took her a good ten minutes or so to stand again, she finally made it, and hobbled over to Fluttershy’s lightly breathing body. The cream coloured little filly just laid there, those fiery green eyes closed for the time being.
Rainbow Dash lay down and pressed up against her, putting her forelegs around her friend’s stomach that eased ever so slightly up and then shrank again with her exhale. She nuzzled into Fluttershy’s neck, that pink flowing mane hanging off the tip of both of their noses now.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes flashed open as her friend’s wings twitched and fluttered over and over into her hips.
“S-s-s-stop th-” she tried desperately through her uncontrollable laughter, “That tickles! H-hey! Cut it out!”
Her hooves snapped together on Fluttershy’s wings and the overpowering ticklish feeling left her. The wings were cold, and sweat ran down the feathers. Tears had formed in Fluttershy’s eyes, and the streaked down her cheeks, stippling the pillow beneath her with little blotches of wetness.
Rainbow shook her friend.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy didn’t answer, just continued in her spasms and let her tears fall into the pillow.
“Fluttershy!”
Those fiery green eyes opened again, but they didn’t seem the same. They were less aggressive--calmer, but somehow more fearful than ever before--and they seemed paler too, even though she knew even the though of such a thing was ridiculous to begin with.
The tears began to fall faster and faster still, and she began to whimper. She rolled over, and soon had buried her head deep in Rainbow Dash’s chest.
She held her crying friend tightly at the neck and wings, pulling her closer. She whispered tenderly into Fluttershy’s ear hanging limply by her head.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy, it was only a dream, it’s over now… It’s okay…”
“B-b-b-but it’s not over… The nightmare doesn’t end when I w-wake up anymore…”
“…It’s okay…”
“It’s all my fault...”
“Don’t do this, Fluttershy...”
“I should have helped them...”
“You know there was no saving them...”
“You don’t know that! You can’t know that! You can’t fucking know! How could you know?! W-we could have helped... We could have done something... but no! You had to fuck it all up and make us just sit there behind the glass! What does that help?! Oh yeah, ‘There was nothing we could do’, and, ‘They were already gone’, what do you know?! I’m fucking tired of all this bullshit! So I guess you are right, it wasn’t my fault, it was yours! This is all your fault! They died because of you! They might still be here today if you would have had the balls to go near them!”
“...You think I wanted this to happen? You think I wanted them to die? You think I wanted to just sit there and fucking WATCH?! No! I wanted to help, leave, even kill them myself, anything but just sit there like the little bitch I had to be! Do you even know what it’s like to have been the brave one, the strong one, the mean one, for your entire life, and then have to sit there with tears in your eyes and watch three of your best friends die?! Of course not! you were always the scared and whiny one of the group, this is nothing new to you! ...We already knew... We knew, Fluttershy... you can’t stop it once it’s started...”
“LIAR!”
Rainbow Dash had been with Fluttershy since only a few minutes after she had come into this world, but only this once had she ever been scared of the timid Pegasus. Now she feared for her life staring into those fiery green eyes.
Fluttershy dived onto Rainbow Dash and sank her teeth into the muscle of her right thigh, and those same teeth pulled. Hard. Rainbow Dash began to felt her flesh ripping away from her.
A searing pain burned through her nerves.
Rainbow Dash bucked twice on instinct. The First shook Fluttershy off her leg; the second landed hard on her forehead.
At first there was nothing she could do but just lay there for a moment or two, her heavy breath clinging to the fur of her foreleg as she lay there with her head on her hoof.
“...Fluttershy?” She bit her lip in agony. Blood streaked the floor under her friends ear. “Fluttershy?”
No response.
“Fluttershy, please!”
“...Shut-up, I have a headache...”