I'll Be Right Back, Fluttershy
Pinkie Pie sat on her bed. Her eyes stung and she had a pounding headache. She fell back onto her bedding and sighed as she sunk into it.
"I hate being sick, Gummy. I want to go outside and see my bestest friends!" she yelled out, her voice unusually nasally. Her toothless pet alligator just stood still on the polished hardwood floor, his face expressionless as always. She lazily slid off of her bed and approached the window.
"Don't feel bad, Gummy. I know how hard it is having me be too darn sick to play with you," she reassured her pet with a slight giggle. She looked out and saw Applejack approaching the entrance to Sugarcube Corner.
"Huh? What's Applejack doing here on such short notice?" the pink mare quietly asked herself.
"What kind of question is that, Pinkie? She probably wants to buy some delicious sweets!" she responded to her own question, pounding on her head with her bright pink hoof. She then jumped up into the air, startled by her own sneeze.
"Too bad I can't go say hi, I don't want to be getting anypony sick," Pinkie sighed. She went and sprawled across her bed,
"Ahhh, maybe a nap will get my mind off things," the earth pony whispered, settling into her sheets.
Pinkie Pie felt a hoof shake her awake, so she drowsily opened her eyes,
"Huh?" she sat up and sniffled. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw Applejack staring at her.
"Who- huh- whaaa?" Pinkie stuttered,
"Applejack, what are you doing in my room? Y-you know I'm sick." Pinkie Pie said, Applejack didn't reply, she only looked at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie saw a gleam of devastation in Applejack's eyes. Pinkie recognized the look and she knew it couldn't have been good.
1 Hour Earlier
"Uhm, Rainbow Dash, can I ask a favor please?" Fluttershy cried up to a white, fluffy cloud which was holding the weight of a cyan pegasus pony. Rainbow Dash rolled over and looked at Fluttershy,
"Uh, sure! But what's the favor? Nothing too drastic?" she asked half jokingly. Fluttershy
nervously prodded at the ground with her hooves,
"Well, uh- uhm, I was just wondering if I could have some flying lessons?" she asked Rainbow Dash who was now flying towards Fluttershy. “You know, I can fly and all, but I can’t go a very high height or fly a distance. I want to improve my flying, and I would like to learn some tricks too.”
Rainbow Dash looked on at Fluttershy for a few moments and then darted into the air, a rainbow blur following close behind her.
"Sure!" she agreed, clearly excited. "Awesome! I've never taught anypony how to fly better before!" Rainbow Dash claimed, a huge smile spread across her face. Fluttershy smiled too,
"That’s wonderful, Rainbow Dash! Thank you!" the timid, yellow pegasus exclaimed louder than she would normally speak. Rainbow Dash was still positioned in mid-air, a slight breeze tugging at her mane. She flew straight ahead, Fluttershy following directly behind her.
"So, I know you're not the best flier and everything but I didn't think you minded anymore, what happened?" Rainbow Dash commented.
"I did mind for your information, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy replied, squinting her eyes in anger. Rainbow Dash looked back, surprised at Fluttershy's unlikely outburst.
"Oh, sorry." Fluttershy apologized dimly, slowing down and flinching. Rainbow Dash looked at her and laughed, it was enough to let Fluttershy know Rainbow Dash wasn't offended and forgave her.
"You have to keep up the pace, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called, allowing Fluttershy to oblige and fly faster.
They arrived at a large clearing where the morning sun shone brightly through the tall trees. Fluttershy recognized it as the place Rainbow Dash practices most of her tricks in her free time. She knew this because sometimes she allowed her friends to watch.
"I'll be right back, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said, disappearing into the thick brush that surrounded the clearing before Fluttershy could ask what she was up to. The pink maned pegasus thought she heard a faint scream but just ignored it, thinking it could have been an animal or a bird.
"Rainbow Dash has been gone for a long time, but I'm sure she's alright," Fluttershy later conjectured. But her worries got the best of her and she crept through the brush. She looked around a bit and spotted a bright blue lump on the ground a short distance away. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes and looked again. She shakily flew over to it and found it to be one of her best friends.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy screeched and shot quickly to Rainbow Dash's side. That allowed her to get a better look at the pegasus. She was clearly unconscious, not to mention injured. Her body was bruised in some areas, she was scratched severely, maybe from sharp tree branches and she had a few wounds that gushed small amounts of blood. All of Fluttershy's instincts from taking care of sick animals kicked in.
She gently laid her hoof on Rainbow Dash's neck and felt a slight pulse. She immediately used her nose to roll Rainbow Dash on her back and tried to lift her. She was used to carrying small animals but certainly not ponies. She desperately used all of her strength to lift her friend onto her back and strived to stay on her hooves as she made her way back to Ponyville.
Fluttershy screamed out loudly and anxiously at first glance of everypony. She could feel Rainbow Dash's breathing getting slower and slower.
"Please! Somepony, help!" The yellow pegasus let out a sigh of relief as a mare she recognized as Mrs. Cake approached.
"Oh dear! What happened?" she spoke as she looked at Fluttershy struggling and barely able to hold up Rainbow Dash's weight.
"Please, just help me get her to the hospital!" Fluttershy wailed. To her relief, Mrs. Cake helped carry Rainbow Dash but she felt like she was breaking with worry.
"Fluttershy, is she going to be alright?" Mrs. Cake queried, a concerned and worried expression masked her face, thinking the mare knew. But Fluttershy's eyes began to tear up.
"I-I'm not so sure..." Fluttershy whimpered.
Fluttershy waited outside the hospital room. It's okay, she'll be fine, no need to worry, Fluttershy! Fluttershy bit her lip as a doctor approached.
"Fluttershy, is it?" the doctor questioned.
"Y-yes?" Fluttershy responded.
"Your friend was very lucky to make it."
"Yes!" Fluttershy squealed, thinking that her friend lived.
"But.." the doctor continued. In that moment Fluttershy lost all hope.
"She still had very severe injuries and we've tried everything we can. I'd give her a few hours at least," he said, standing up. Fluttershy gasped as tears started streaming down her face.
"You can come see her if you'd like." he offered, opening the door. Fluttershy slowly walked in and looked towards the hospital bed. She saw Rainbow Dash lying on the bed, facing the wall. The crippled flier had several bandages wrapped around her limbs, not to mention several wires attached to keep record of what was going on in the body and a respirator. Rainbow Dash was breathing very slowly and the heart monitor showed that her heart pulse was at a low rate.
"Rainbow?" Fluttershy shook while approaching the bed. Rainbow Dash rolled on her back and groaned in absolute pain.
"Fluttershy?" she asked quietly, the mare’s voice slightly cracking.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy cried, leaping to the side of the hospital bed. Fluttershy watched her friend tearing up herself.
"How did you crash?" Fluttershy asked,
"I d-don't know, I sorta just blacked out.." Dashie said. “I-it was all a blur... I was flying and th-then I just blacked out.”
"I don't want to die, Fluttershy!" she moaned, beginning to sob. Fluttershy would have hugged her friend or atleast put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her but she knew how much pain she was in and didn't bother.
"Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash...I’m sure you won’t,” Fluttershy said, trying to reassure her friend but then broke.
“I-I’m sorry, Dash! It’s all my fault!”
"N-no, it was m-my fault, Fluttershy!" Dash flinched in pain from raising her voice. Fluttershy shook her head and looked down to see her own tear splatter on the ground.
~
"Is she alive?!" Pinkie Pie jumped out of her bed and galloped out the door at full speed, the wind whipping at her face.
She arrived at the hospital in no time, the earth pony had almost forgotten about Applejack who she had left in the dust. Pinkie bashed through the door into a hallway. The party mare spotted Fluttershy almost immediately and ran up to her. Fluttershy was on the cold ground in front of one of the rooms, staring at a wall with a blank face, but it was clearly shown that she used to be crying.
"Is she in here?" Pinkie Pie wondered loudly pointing her left hoof towards the hospital room Fluttershy decided to sprawl out in front of, Fluttershy just weakly nodded and covered her face with her hooves. Pinkie Pie bit her lip.
"Fluttershy? Will I want to go see Dashie?" Pinkie Pie inquired the yellow mare, taking a slight step away from the door. Fluttershy didn't reply, she just began to weep. The ‘cheerful’ earth pony just chose to look at the hospital room.
"No..." Pinkie Pie whimpered. Dash was lying on the bed, lifeless it seemed. Pinkie Pie approached her, she was clearly dead but Pinkie wouldn't believe it.
"D-d-d-d-dashie?" Pinkie stuttered wildly, sobbing. “Y-you’re not dead, a-are you...?”
Rainbow Dash laid on the bed with no response. Her eyes were closed and her body didn’t make a single movement. The earth pony watched the patient for several long moments, struggling with her own breathing. She didn’t see motion of any kind coming from the one she knew as her best friend. Pinkie finally broke down and bawled violently, Fluttershy coming to ease the also hurt pony.
“D-do the o-others know?!” Pinkie battled to require this question through her sobs.
“AJ is looking for everypony else...” Fluttershy shivered as she spoke and gasped for air multiple times. She was overwhelmed with the thought of RD’s death her fault, but fought the urge to cry.
“I came as soon as I heard!”
The two mares heard an awfully familiar voice sound from behind them. Pinkie whipped around and gulped as soon as she saw a pink flash. Shortly after, Twilight Sparkle dissolved from the teleportation spell and trotted quickly into the room. The party mare wondered how she was going to explain this to Twilight.
“Did Applejack find you?” Fluttershy quietly asked between her sobs to Twilight who was now stiff, staring at the hospital bed and the unmoving pegasus laying in it,
“She’s okay, right?” Fluttershy and Pinkie stared at Twilight, not sure how to tell her.
“Right?” Twilight queried again. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nervously exchanged glances. Both mares spotted each other tearing up once again.
Twilight took this as her answer. She kept on a brave face and approached the bed, fighting the urge to avoid it. The bookworm wrapped her hooves around her lifeless pegasus friend and closed her eyes, tears freely falling from them.
~
Applejack then crept into the room. She fell silent as she placed her hat on her face, which soon fell down. Twilight turned and headed for the door without a word. She heard the soft cries of her friends fade as she slowly exited the hospital, when she bumped into another pony.
“Ow! Watch where you’re going!” said Rarity, taken aback by the incident. She looked up to see who this ‘clumsy’ other pony was. It was not who she expected, or guessed. Instead it was a light purple coated unicorn with a purple mane and tail that had streaks of dark pink running through them. The dressmaker farted for a bit before regaining her senses.
“Oh my! I apologize for that, Twilight. I didn’t know that was you!”
“It’s okay, Rarity. I would understand the reason on why you did that.” Twilight told her companion in an unusual way. Twilight seemed like she was hesitating to say that, but said it softly. Slight tears seemed as if they were painted on the library owner’s pale purple cheek.
Rarity was about to question this but she felt like there was no need to. After all, she could find out why later.
A little purple dragon walked in the room shortly after he heard Twilight come home.
“Hey, Twilight...how’s Rainbow Da-” he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Twilight sitting in the center of the library, weeping.
“Oh no,” Spike murmured, he approached the scene and walked to Twilight’s side.
“Tell me she’s okay,” Spike begged, Twilight looked at him with bloodshot, tear-filled eyes, glazed over with hurt. Spike didn’t know Rainbow Dash that well but he knew Twilight did and she was one of her closest and only friends.
“S-s-she’s not,” Twilight whimpered.
“It’s okay, Twilight. Nothing is your fault if you think it is,” Spike comforted the distraught unicorn.
“Y-you’re probably right. But I-I could’ve seen her before she died completely! I could’ve talked to her!”.
“I was too caught up in my stupid studies to even know my friend was dying!” The purple unicorn then shoved her head in her hooves, continuing to bawl.
A few hours later, Spike heard the cries got quieter and seemed to have stop.
~
“Twilight?” a purple dragon asked.
“Yes, Spike?” his caretaker replied, sniffling now and then.
“Are you fine now? Have you calmed down?” Spike questioned.
There was silence before Twilight answered.
“I guess so.”
"I just wonder why Rainbow died or what caused her death. I know sooner I will have to live on, though,” Twilight continued. Spike then walked over to and hugged Twilight.
“I think you should go to bed now, Twi, get some rest,” the baby dragon suggested,
“You need it." Spike then turned towards the stairs, while Twilight followed with her head hanging low. Her head hurt, not to mention her throat from previously crying so hard.
Twilight approached her bed and slipped under her covers and rolled over. She knew she was gonna have an awful time sleeping tonight but she was prepared. The unicorn closed her eyes. She began thinking about her friend and how her fate came too early.
AUTHORS NOTE:
I decided to write this because I saw how sad fanfics could get and I've never written a sadfic before. I've also never read a fanfic that focused on Rainbow Dash's death and I thought maybe I could try writing one! If you don't like the fanfic nobody is stopping you from hitting the dislike button but please don't post pointless comments, that may also be with one word.
(ex. LOL, story sucks, my cat can write better, you're horrible, first)
~Kaya
Remember, we aren't stopping you from giving constructive criticism. Pointless comments are alright but some people dislike that, and find it annoying.
//S