Chapters "Good morning Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy's delicate voice said, while Rainbow Dash's body continued to lie limply on the cloud in the center of the white room. "OK then, I guess we will miss meeting the Wonderbolts then." Fluttershy teased, her voice echoing softly of the floor.
"What! We're going to miss the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash yelled in panic shooting up out of her bed and falling onto the floor. Her heart was beating as fast as it ever had been. She looked up with panic in her eyes. "Are we late?" Dash asked, her voice rising in pitch slightly in the middle of the question.
"No, we have plenty of time before we have to get going, it was just a trick to get you out of bed." Fluttershy responded, her voice high as she shook silently.
"Well as I see it you owe me something in return," Dash said as she walked up to Fluttershy. Her eyebrows were furrowed as her hoofsteps echoed of the new wooden floors. The pink maned pegasus slowly backed up, afraid for her life. She closed her eyes as she hit the wall and Dash continued the approach. 'She's so cute when she's scared,' Rainbow Dash though to herself. She was only a step from crushing Fluttershy, her neck flexed slightly and she pried open Fluttershy's lips with her own.
The pink pegasus eyes' flew open as she realized what Dash was doing. Her hooves wrapped around Rainbow Dash eagerly as their tongues slowly invaded each others mouths.
After what seemed like mere moments Dash slowly, yet strongly tried to push Fluttershy of. Their mouths separated they smiled at their silent exchange. "Are you satisfied?" Fluttershy asked, the edges of her lips turned upwards.
Dash stood there for a minute before what Fluttershy had said registered with her. "Very," she simply replied grinning from ear to ear. "But we really should get going huh?"
"If you want to, then sure," Fluttershy responded cheerfully.
Fluttershy's face turned from a smile into a distorted expression, her eyes closed and she fell to the ground clutching her stomach.
Dash ran up to her and helped Fluttershy back onto her feet. "What happened?" Dash asked, her usual cool demeanor completely absent from her voice. Fluttershy's face soon recovered from her bout and her delicate eyelids slid open.
"Ya, just a bad stomach cramp, now I'm ready," Fluttershy said getting up and walking around the house. Dash just stood there in shock by how sudden Fluttershy had been hurt, but she had to ignore it for now, she said she was ok.
"You already dropped off Angel and the others right?" Dash asked, as she gathered up some supplies from a drawer.
"Ya, Pinkie has them," Fluttershy responded in earnest as she stood by the front door waiting for Dash to finish up.
Only thirty seconds later they stepped outside together, their wings around each other. They looked into each others eyes once before taking off. Rainbow Dash smiled as she felt the wind blow gently through her mane. 'Wow, I can't believe it's finally happening. I'm finally going to train with the Wonderbolts,' Dash thought as she realized exactly how much she owed Fluttershy. The rainbow maned pegasus found herself looking at Fluttershy without even meaning to. Her mouth opened wide and a boisterous laugh sprang forth.
"What's so funny?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ow, I was just thinking about how just six months ago this would never be happening. We would never feel the way we do now, and we wouldn't be on our way to Canterlot like this." Dash said, her mind finally coming to terms with what had happened a full six months ago.
She really thought Fluttershy was going to die. But it wasn't her that saved Fluttershy, no if anything, she had made it harder. Fluttershy had saved them both from certain death. 'It truly is amazing what someone can do if they love something enough.' Dash commented to herself.
Snapping Rainbow Dash out of her state, Fluttershy poked Dash's side gently and pointed forwards. Directly ahead of them, lay Canterlot.
The large building's soon loomed far overhead. When they landed they found that the streets were made of a strange kind of stone that when you stepped on it, they didn't make as much sound as usual. Ponies were walking all around the street and from store to store. A majority of the ponies had on a nice white shirt with a black overcoat and either a tie, or a bowtie. All across the stores numbers and letters flashed in seemingly random order.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy slowly backed into each other in an attempt to get away from the scene. They turned around quickly as their flanks collided and smiled at each other. Dash put her wing over Fluttershy's delicate frame and their hooves hit the floor as they walked quickly out of the strange scene.
After a minute or so of walking they arrived in a place in Canterlot where ponies were actually laughing and smiling. Unlike the bleak world that they had just come from, here ponies wore their suits more informally. As they headed through street they saw a large bell tower shooting out of one of the stores. It said on it that they still had a full six hours to kill before they were set to meet the wonderbolts.
Rainbow Dash turned Fluttershy towards her and said, "Well I know how to spend that time." She leaned in towards the pegasus and placed her lips gingerly on Fluttershy's. As soon as she did so, somepony walked into them and pushed them apart. Behind him the black pony yelled, "freaks!"
Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other with confusion, back in Ponyville you could see whoever you wanted, even if they were a filly. "This place is weird," Rainbow Dash said before she continued, "maybe while we are in public we shouldn't kiss?"
Fluttershy nodded quickly before putting her own wing around Dash. Like that they walked towards the store with the large grey bell tower. Outside hung a ornate, gold sign, that showed the image of a fancy clock. Most of the store's front was taken up by two large panes of glass; behind which were many different forms of clocks. But the one that stuck out the most had a graceful design etched into it; a small wooden clock that seemed to have a fissure down the middle of it. On each side of the fissure were two unicorn filly's trying to get to each other, but in the background a large amount of ponies were holding them back.
One look at each other told them they were thinking the same thing. Fluttershy and Dash quickly turned around only to find a small crowd had stopped what they were doing and looked at the two pegasi with disgust, or even disgrace. 'Why is everypony staring at us like that?' Rainbow Dash asked herself until she remembered their wings were hung over each other. With embarrassment she quickly snapped her wing back to her side and looked at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was turned towards Dash, her eyes shined slightly as a single small tear fell to the ground. Dash smiled reassuringly and led her quickly through the street. They rounded the corner and Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, but before she could say anything Fluttershy asked, "why?"
Dash blushed brightly and said, "I'm sorry Fluttershy, I just think while we are here, we should not let our feelings be seen in public very much."
Fluttershy's eyes closed and she nodded her head slightly up and down. "Can we please go to the hotel for now?" Fluttershy asked, something in her voice was terribly of.
Smiling Rainbow Dash took off with Fluttershy directly behind her. They flew high into the sky and soon they saw the hustling and fancy streets left behind as they approached their simple hotel. The streets were soon covered in muck and filth and they looked at each other worried. "I didn't know when they meant the simple side of town that it would be this messy," Rainbow Dash said out loud.
They landed silently and apprehensive in front of a large grey building. The walls had lots of small holes in them indicating a pest problem, and the walls themselves were very rough and old.
Walking inside they saw a cramped lobby with a single desk. Behind which a pony sat, she was playing with her blond mane and talking busily on the phone. Her hooves were kicked up on the desk and she frowned at the two new pegasi that had entered.
"How may I help you," she said, obviously not interested in their response.
"We're here to check in, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said.
"Here, now you can leave me alone," the pony said throwing Rainbow Dash two keys and waving them of.
"Well that was... unpleasant," Fluttershy said.
"Ya but at least we can rest now without being judged," Dash responded as they gladly stuck one of the keys in the door assigned to them. The door swung inwards and revealed their room.
Directly to their left was a door which led to a restroom. The toilet's bowl was extremely dirty and the seat was half missing. The shower's walls were green. The bed however was even worse. When Dash flopped down on it, they heard it creak loudly and a swarm of bugs ran out from underneath.
"This is not going to be fun," Dash complained as Fluttershy looked towards the floor. The rainbow pegasus looked at her girlfriend and asked, "what's the matter, it won't be that bad..."
Fluttershy's expression distorted instantly, into one of pure pain. Her eyebrows scrunched and her mouth opened wide. From between her lips, a torrent of blood came up. Fluttershy laid there, blood gushing forth from her mouth for a full two seconds before it stopped.
Dash ran forward quickly to check how Fluttershy was. She leaned down and nuzzled Fluttershy's neck, feeling for a pulse. There was complete silence for a moment before a single loud heartbeat came from Fluttershy.
Fluttershy's breaths came in quick and labored gasps as she was laid down softly on the bloody soiled blankets. Rainbow Dash frowned at her and wondered, 'how did she get like this?' But she couldn't think of anything that she had done weird recently. 'Maybe it was just a bad stomach bug?'
"Don't worry Fluttershy, you just rest for now. Don't worry about anything at all other then getting better. I will leave the room for a few seconds to find some ice, OK." Dash told her friend. Fluttershy nodded slightly.
"Go ahead," Fluttershy said, her voice was heavy and sounded gargled.
Rainbow Dash shut the door behind her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she flew down the hallway. A unicorn stepped around the corner and Rainbow Dash ran flew straight into him.
They both tumbled to the ground and the unicorn remained silent as Dash got up, quickly apologizing and flying down the hall again towards the ice room. The unicorn stood up steadily and smiled, his eyes were red and his mane was green. His coat was a plain light blue and on his flank he had an eye.
After another minute of searching Rainbow Dash finally found the Ice room and grabbed a bucket next to it. The bucket was filled with grey water. The smell it gave off was absolutely repulsive, yet there were no other buckets around in the small room. She dumped the water into the rusted iron sink across the room and quickly proceeded to filling the bucket to the rim with ice.
Rainbow Dash's wings beat the air furiously as she attempted to get back to the room with the heavy bucket of ice. But she couldn't seem to move her wings fast enough. Instead she relied on her legs. The bucket swung back and forth as she held the metal handle in between her teeth, leaving a disgusting metal taste.
Rainbow Dash ran head first into the door, she looked up at the bed as she said, "I'm back Fluttershy." But Fluttershy wasn't there.
Dash's heart skipped a beat as she saw this fact. Her head flew from side to side in an attempt to try and find Fluttershy but she was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow Dash walked up to the bed and put the bucket down. Her head drooped as she sat heavily on the bed. Her own heartbeat was all that could be heard for a full minute before A creaking came. A pegasus in a blue and yellow uniform walked out of the restroom.
It was Fluttershy in her wonderbolt outift. She saw Rainbow Dash staring and blushed brightly running up to Dash she smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you enter, thanks for the ice, but why?" Fluttershy asked curiously as if she was fine.
"Because a few minutes ago you were puking up blood, you shouldn't even be walking!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Fluttershy simply smiled slightly before turning back to the bed.
"I am fine really you silly filly, now go get into your uniform or else we'll be late to bill's remember? The bar, the Wonderbolts?" Fluttershy said kindly, before tossing Rainbow Dash her own uniform.
"Oh right, I almost forgot," Dash exclaimed as she gave a quick kiss to Fluttershy on the cheek. "Thanks for reminding me." Her head lowered as one by one she focused on getting her hooves through the tight outfit. After a few minutes of struggling with the fabric she smiled as it finally slipped on like a glove made just for her. 'I guess it really was just a bad stomach bug, she seems so much better now.' Dash thought.
Soon they were walking down the hallway towards the main entrance. However around the same corner came the unicorn from earlier. He smiled at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before saying, "hey you two are wonderbolts aren't you?" They both nodded eager to continue moving. The unicorn said, "Well my name is Postim, and I heard there is a storm coming, I suggest you stay here for the night."
"Sorry we have to meet the wonderbolts at a bar in a few minutes so bye." Dash said as she dragged Fluttershy past the old, yet strangely friendly unicorn. They walked out of the main doors and with one powerful kick took of into the sky. They followed the directions they had gotten a month ago from the mail exactly and landed. In front of them was a ordinary grey building. Above the door hung a low-lit red neon sign that said, Bill's. So as not to delay the inevitable any longer they opened the door.
They entered a warm bar that smelled strongly of drinks. So much that it was almost overpowering. Inside many plain wooden tables were filled with ponies. each table pursuing their own thing, but as soon as they opened the door everypony stopped and looked at them. A loud bang came from a table near the door as one pony's hoof was brought down violently to the table.
After a moment of interest the patrons all went back to their own pursuits. Some were playing cards, while others were arm wrestling or just drinking. At the back of the bar were seated four pegasus ponies. One was Soarin and another was Spitfire. The two familiar Wonderbolts smiled at Dash and Fluttershy before waving them over.
"Hey Shy, hey Dash," Soarin said casually before downing a shot. He clucked his tongue twice before continuing, "I'm glad you gals made it, sit down and have a drink. Waitress, another round over here, plus two more please!" Soon a skinny waitress approached levitating a small tray with an assortment of bottles and glasses on them. After magically pouring all of the drinks she left the group to talk among themselves.
Dash picked up the shot eagerly, hoping to impress her new comrades, she downed it and shook her head strongly. Fluttershy smiled at the drink and sipped it up quickly. Everypony's head turned towards her as they raised their eyebrows at her lack of reaction to the strong drink.
"I may not look like it, but I used to drink a lot, sometimes to drown my feelings, and sometimes for celebrations." Fluttershy explained.
"I never took you as a drinker, Shy," Dash said as she shook silently in her seat with laughter.
The rest of the night was spent drinking and talking. The seconds faded into minutes, and the minutes into hours.
"We do this every night, then we practice in the morning, stop for lunch, practice some more, and then repeat." Spitfire explained, "Oh ya by the way, these two colts are named Swoop, and Zap.
The two colts smiled and raised their hooves when they're names were called. Zap was a kind looking bright blue pegasus with a yellow mane and two black lightning bolts crossing as a cutie mark. Swoop on the other hand looked much more serious. Even though he was thoroughly drunk his mane was still neat and orderly. His dark green coat barely had a hair out of place and his bright green mane seemed to shine. His flank was covered by his uniform.
"Anyways, you guys will meet us here at 10 in the morning tomorrow OK?" Spitfire continued.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded as they both downed yet another drink.
"Cool, but I think we've had enough to drink for tonight, let's go to my apartment to celebrate with cake and stuff!" Spitfire shouted to the group as they each pushed away their chairs.
Soarin began to walk of but he accidentally tripped over himself and fell onto Spitfire. Before he knew what had happened they were on top of each other with their lips touching. A loud crack echoed through the bar as Spitfire blushed. Zap had just punched Soarin in the side of the face leaving a large red mark. Soarin laughed at the unexpected blow and wheeled around kicking Zap so hard he flew back a foot and landed on his flank.
Before anypony could intervene they walked up to each other and asked simultaneously, "Same deal as usual?" They both nodded in unison and walked out of the bar. Once outside of the bar they walked up to a attractive unicorn pony holding two suits. They put them on and it turned out the suits were actually leather jackets.
They walked up to a chalk line on the street and crouched down. The same unicorn walked a few hoofsteps in front of them and faced them. A crowd was gathering and the two pegasi were getting ready to race. The unicorn shot a few loud sparks out of ehr horn and the two pegasi were of with lightning speed.
Only then did Rainbow Dash notice how close Spitfire was. Spitfire leaned in slowly but Dash pushed her away. "You know me and Fluttershy are together!" She shouted at the intoxicated pegasus, who simply pointed at Fluttershy smiling at Dash.
Fluttershy said, "go ahead, I will have some fun too." as she started kissing Swoop passionately. Dash turned back to Spitfire and their lips touched softly at first but then became harder. It almost felt as if Spitfire's lips themselves were hardening.
She woke up with a flash on a wooden table. The smell of alcohol was still strong in the air. Somepony was shaking her saying, "Hey Dash wake up," It was Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash's head spun as she looked up. All of the Wonderbolts were looking at her.
As soon as she recovered they started to laugh. "You drank to much I guess then!" Spitfire laughed as she got up. "I guess we really should call it a night huh? See you tomorrow." Without saying a word more the Wonderbolts smiled and got up and walked out of the door.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy struggled to get back to the hotel often falling straight out of the sky. Finally they decided to walk. Their walk was cheerful enough, since the streets were mostly abandoned they finally were able to put their wings around each other. Luna's moonlight showered them, and the stars above them made them smile. It was cool but not cold, it was a perfect night.
Rainbow Dash smiled at the temperature but found herself lost. "Hey could you stay here for a second while I go on ahead and look for directions?" she asked to Fluttershy who sighed loudly and nodded.
Dash walked forwards and rounded a corner stumbling slgihtly from having drank to much. She looked around but the street was abandoned.
From behind her a rough and desperate sounding voice came, "do what I tell you to or I will kill you. Wow, I got a real nice one this time boys." Three colts walked out of an alleyway nearby and the pony behind her put a blade up to her neck before pushing her forward.
"She is a nice pick, good job, she will be fun..." one of the colts said.
Another colt nodded staying silent.
Only then did it dawn on Dash what they truly wanted from her, her heart froze and she tried to scream before one of them put a hoof to her mouth. In response she bit down hard. The hoof shot away but in return the blade on her neck cut in slightly before releasing the pressure so as not to kill her. One of them lifted up her tail before he stopped and her tail dropped back down.
Rainbow Dash's eyes were shut tight now. Behind her she heard a loud bang as something impacted metal. Her eyes shot open as she felt the blade disappear from her throat. Dash fell down panting heavily as she looked around her. All four of the colts were in various painful positions, knocked completely unconscious. She stood there not knowing what had happened as Fluttershy ran around the corner to the alleyway.
"Are you OK?" Fluttershy yelled loudly in the rainbow pegasus' ear.
"Ya, did you do that?" Dash asked curiously as her hoof gestured towards the ponies.
"No, now let's leave before we find out who did," Fluttershy said pulling her along.
Dash's hoof slowly went up to feel her own head. It was pounding as if she had been trampled by stallions. Her mouth felt as if she hadn't drank anything in a entire day.
The memories of last night slowly came back to Dash but they were all blurred, until the incident. 'Who did do that then?' Dash asked herself remembering that Fluttershy had said she didn't do it.
Dash's eyes shot wide open as she sat up searching frantically for Fluttershy who was sitting on the opposite side of the bed. With a quick glance she saw the pink pegasus looked OK.
"Good morning Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said amused. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine," She said before Dash could even ask.
Dash laughed loudly at her pre-emptive response. "You know me almost to well," Dash said towards Fluttershy.
Fluttershy leaned towards her and said kindly, "I think there are things I still don't know about you." Her lips brushed softly against Rainbow Dash's ears. "However unless you want to be late for the Wonderbolts, getting to know each other better will have to wait," Fluttershy's voice was filled with happiness.
Dash's mind flashed back to the day before, how bad Fluttershy was injured, what had happened? "Hey Fluttershy before we go, you have some explaining to do. First of why are you acting as if that incident yesterday never happened?"
Fluttershy's eyebrows raised up and she asked, "what incident?"
"The one with all of the blood." Dash said as she started describing it, the entire time Fluttershy looked at Dash sincerely.
"Um, Rainbow Dash, I think you might have had a nightmare." Fluttershy responded, her hoof pointing at the previously bloody bed, it was clean. The bucket of ice was still there but Fluttershy had no clue why Dash had brought it with her.
"But... it was real, I know it..." Dash muttered as she started to doubt herself. "I need to go for a walk real quick, alone." Without saying anymore Dash left Fluttershy in the room alone as she walked through the small hotel and emerged onto the street. She didn't even know where she was going, her hooves seemed to carry themselves along a winding path.
She soon found herself along a familiar street. Ponies were staring at Rainbow Dash and her haggard look, from not having showered that morning. They all wore suits, except for her, but she didn't care. She found herself for the second time, staring at a large clock. It was the clock store again. Inside of the glass the clock that had caught her attention the last few days had been replaced with a ordinary clock.
Not having much better to do, and seeing she still had an hour and a half before they had to meet the Wonderbolts, she walked into the warm store. Inside it seemed like there were hundreds of clocks and watches. A warm voice rang out as she entered, "well hello again."
Dash looked up and found a light blue unicorn looking her way. His red eyes seemed to look into her very soul, his hoofsteps echoed of the hard wooden floors as he silently approached Rainbow Dash. "How may I help you today?" the colt asked amused about something.
For some reason Rainbow Dash trusted this colt, even though she had only seen him twice before. She felt as if she owed this unicorn something, yet couldn't put her hoof on it.
"So, how was your meeting with the Wonderbolts?" he asked.
"It was good except afterwards some really bad ponies tried to..." Dash went silent and started to blush immensely.
"I understand, so then, how did you get out of it?" He asked with evident curiosity.
"That's the strange part, somepony came and beat up the other ponies." Dash said looking of in the distance. "What's even weirder is that this morning my girlfriend, Fluttershy said that she didn't remember a really bad injury from yesterday."
"Those are very strange situations, maybe you should just ignore it for now and count your blessings? Oh and by the way if you don't go soon you will be late for your appointment." The Unicorn said kindly as a candle flickered slightly.
"Thanks for the advice, and the reminder," Dash said as she ran out of the store and took of towards the hotel.
"Hey Fluttershy, you ready?" Dash said as she ran into the room to find Fluttershy waiting in her Wonderbolt uniform again.
Fluttershy nodded as she gave Dash her own uniform. After five minutes of struggling Dash and Fluttershy took of down the hallway. Once outside they stretched their wings as they took of to soar high above the city of Canterlot. Dash looked down as they passed over the alleyway from last night, laying there, were the ponies from yesterday. She didn't notice the night before, but there was blood all over the walls.
Ignoring the now uneasy feeling in her stomach Dash and Fluttershy arrived at the bar. Outside somepony was selling apples. Quickly Fluttershy threw a few bits at him as she took an apple and bit in eagerly.
On the sign above the stand it said, 'real Sweet Apple Acre apples.'
After finishing, Fluttershy leaned over and put the core in the trashcan nearby. She nodded indicating she was ready and Dash nudged the door open with her forehead.
This time the bar was a lot more empty. Only a few ponies were here, the largest group were the four Wonderbolts sitting at the same table as yesterday.
"Good to see you again, you ready?" Soarin asked as he walked up to the two ponies followed by Spitfire, Zap, and Swoop.
"Yep," Rainbow Dash answered excitedly.
Fluttershy nodded without saying anything and they walked out of the bar together.
"Try to keep up," Soarin shouted as he took of, his tail swaying in the wind, all of the others followed before Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash even knew what was happening.
They finally kicked of and flapped their wings hard to catch up with the Wonderbolts. When they finally did manage to catch up, the Wonderbolts went straight up sharply.
After about half an hour Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were flying steadily with the four others. They could perform turns so fast it would make their own heads spin. Soarin nodded slightly and the group began to slow very quickly.
"Ok, time for lunch," Soarin said as he made a 180 degree turn and sped towards bill's.
Inside of the empty bar, on the Wonderbolts table were six delicious looking sandwhiches. As Soarin walked to the table he passed the bar and threw a small bag of bits towards the bartender, thanking him.
"That was so good!" Dash exclaimed as she sat back having finished her sandwich. It had mayo, ham, tomatoes, and even a dab of mustard, exactly how she liked it.
"I'm glad you liked it, now time for more flying," Spitfire said as she followed Soarin and the others outside.
The rest of the day was spent flying fast and pulling sharp turns. At the end of the day they, again, returned to bill's. "You two aren't bad, not bad at all," Swoop mocked.
Spitfire quickly slapped Swoop and said, "they're not drunk, so they wouldn't go for somepony like you." Everypony in the bar went silent until a loud "OHHH" came up from the bar in unison.
"Ya whatever Spit, hey waitress one shot." Swoop responded waving the waitress with a bottle over. She quickly put down the small glasses and started to pour small shots into each before passing them out to the assembled Wonderbolts.
"To our rookies!" Zap yelled as he held up his shot glass only to have it be met by empty glasses. He turned and laughed before downing his own.
Five days passed that way. They would wake up, practice, eat, drink and then go have some fun. Then in the morning they would do it all again. And then finally it was Sunday.
"Good morning Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said cheerfully as she opened the blinds to let in Celestia's bright sun.
"Ugh," was Dash's only response as she sat up and jumped out of the bed. "So where do you want to go?" Dash asked as her mind flashed back to the clock store. "Actually I have a nice place," Dash said before Fluttershy could answer.
Without explaining Dash wrapped her wing around Fluttershy and walked with her towards the store. As soon as they walked onto the fancy street a businesspony walked into them seperating them before giving them both a dirty glare. "Oh yeah..." Dash said as she remembered why they hadn't gone back, but that unicorn had just seemed so nice.
Dash smiled as she turned the final corner and she walked towards the store. Fluttershy's eyes shifted to the large stone clock on top of the building. A small bell chimed as they opened the door, a warmth greeted them. It felt almost like home, much more like home then their hotel room anyways.
"Oh, well hello again, this is your girlfriend?" The light blue unicorn asked Rainbow Dash kindly.
"Ya," Dash replied, "This is Fluttershy, Fluttershy this is... Uh what's your name?" Dash asked embarrassed.
"My name is Postim, remember?" Postim replied amused.
"Oh ya, this is Postim," Dash said blushing slightly at her memory troubles.
Fluttershy looked the Unicorn straight in his red eyes. They didn't waiver or move, they just stared emptily into his. "Um Fluttershy are you ok?" Dash asked her as she shook Fluttershy slightly.
Fluttershy blinked twice before looking at Dash, "Oh, yeah, I guess. Can we get out of here, we don't need a clock do we?"
"No, we don't. Sure we can go." Dash said knowing something was wrong.
As soon as they were out of earshot Fluttershy said quietly, "I think I met Postim before, I know I haven't but it feels like I did."
Shrugging Dash led Fluttershy to their favorite place in Canterlot, Bill's bar. The bar was unusually crowded today, but this time nopony turned to look at Dash and Fluttershy. They were recognized by a few of the colts and fillies and exchanged brief yet pleasant greetings with them as they went to sit by their table. None of the Wonderbolts were present at the time.
Fluttershy grabbed a shot glass and clinked it against Dash's glass before they drank in unison. After two more drinks they decided it was to early to get drunk. When they went to walk outside Postim was standing there. But Fluttershy didn't seem to notice him anymore. He looked Dash straight in the eyes, a single tear fell from his eye and he disappeared into thin air as he pointed to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was on the ground, everypony was looking at her. A single wet guttural scream came from her as her body twitched violently. She went still until a spout of blood came from her open mouth. This time, Dash knew it was real, all to real.
Dash ran up to Fluttershy's limp body. The fresh blood covered the sidewalk and made it difficult to walk on normally.
Dash's head bent down low as she nuzzled Fluttershy causing some more blood to gush forth from her mouth. "DAMN IT!" Dash shouted at nothing in general. She felt Fluttershy's neck gently and sure enough there was a pulse, but obviously Fluttershy was not OK.
Gently Rainbow Dash put Fluttershy on her back as another torrent of crimson fluids spilled forth, staining Dash's pristine coat. Soon Dash was nothing more then a blue dot as she raced along the streets, not being able to use her wings thanks to Fluttershy on her back.
A large white building soon loomed over them and Dash ran past a few ponies exiting on crutches. Her hooves stopped moving against the floor as she skidded to a quick stop, Fluttershy however kept going and landed on the floor. Dash sprinted as fast as her feet could carry her over to Fluttershy as she called out loudly and strongly for a doctor. The floor beneath Fluttershy was already becoming more red as a steady yet small stream of blood poured from her mouth. It gave of a strong pungent smell, like that of rusting iron.
A doctor ran through the halls loudly and stopped next to Dash with a gas mask on. Pushing Dash aside he grabbed Fluttershy with magic and ran through the halls towards to lightweight plastic, swinging doors. Above them, it said emergency room. "Don't worry, we will handle her." The doctor said as a nurse blocked Dash from going inside.
"I'm sorry, but it may take a few hours," the nurse said as Dash walked away slowly. She wouldn't stand there for that long, she would get answers. As soon as she had exited the hospitals doors her wings beat once causing a small gust of wind to blow discarded papers everywhere as she headed towards the clock shop.
"You better have some real good answers for me right now!" Dash yelled as she ran into the store. Inside, the Unicorn had his face in his hooves. At the very back of the store the clock that she and Fluttershy had seen when they first arrived in Canterlot was chiming loudly. It's design broke Dash's heart, the two ponies, not able to get to each other by some strange barrier.
"I'm sorry, I tried to warn you, I tried to make you leave, I really did..." Postim said in between loud sobs. "But you wouldn't go, you couldn't take the hint."
"What do you mean!" Dash yelled frustrated at the riddling Unicorn.
"When you saw your friend hurt like that... That was me, I made you see that, also back in ponyville as well. If you had been smart you would have forced her back with you to Ponyville and stayed there. You would never have come here!" Postim yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Let me tell you what happened. One day I was visiting ponyville, it was like any normal visit. Until I saw you and Fluttershy walking in the town square towards Sugarcube corner. It was about three months ago. I saw a vision, as I often do, of the future. But this one was different, it seemed more concrete then any other, it seemed unchangeable but I had to try. So I tried to cast spells on you that would make you force Fluttershy and therefore yourself to stay in Ponyville. But it failed due to the power of your love." Postim explained before taking a quick breath to calm himself. "Do you remember that apple that Fluttershy ate?" Postim asked.
Dash's head nodded lightly.
"Unfortunately, that specific apple had a very dangerous spell cast on it, or I should say the byproduct of a growth spell. This apple was targeted by the spell itself because of it's great size and health. It was dumb misfortune that caused this, but it happened nonetheless. The growth spell that poisoned the apple was cast by one Twilight Sparkle. She was helping AppleJack get more apples this year, only this spell accidentally put all of the left over magic and negative traits in the apple that Fluttershy ate.
In a nutshell, Fluttershy is being killed by the magic now inside of her." Postim summarized as he went quiet leaving Dash alone with her thoughts.
"So, is there a chance of Fluttershy living?" Dash asked, depressed.
"Yes," Postim said before continuing, "the magic inside of her is doing nothing good, the magic needs to be extracted, but by now I assume the doctors have figured this all out. The rest will be a very shaky recovery. She may not live even if the doctors do everything correctly. There is one thing that is certain though. She will need to go back to Ponyville, and if you want to be there, you will have to quit the Wonderbolts. I am sorry, but she needs you."
Dash nodded slightly and before running of said, "Once you get to ponyville you will have to come see me." Her wings beat with a nonrythmic pattern. Her breathing was heavy and frantic as she tried to get back to the hospital as fast as she could.
Inside of the hospital she found that they had indeed figured out what Postim had said and had removed the magic. However it had done severe internal damage.
The doctor came out and said to Dash, "I am sorry we tried all we could but she is in critical condition. You may see her, but please be careful." With that the doctor unicorn stepped aside allowing Rainbow Dash into a nearly empty room.
There, laying on a bed with her eyes watching Rainbow Dash, was Fluttershy. Her chest seemed to have been cut open and there were, what seemed like, twenty different needles sticking into her. Each delivering a different colored substance.
"Flu... Fluttershy..." Dash said as her hooves took her towards the injured pegasus.
"It's good to see you again Dash," Fluttershy responded and a kind smile appeared on her face.
Dash leaned forwards and touched Fluttershy's soft, delicate lips with her own. Through their lips it seemed a spark jumped. They smiled at the new feeling and like they had done so many times before, invaded each others mouth's. Their tongues touched softly as they snaked around each other. The moment seemed to last forever but it had to end. This time it was Rainbow Dash that drew away first. "You have to get your rest," Dash said before continuing, "Fluttershy... I love you, please, do whatever the doctors want, just please, don't die. I can't lose you."
Dash's heart felt as if something heavy was pressing down on it as she realized that she might lose Fluttershy anyways. Out of the corner of her eye came a single forlorn tear. A nearly silent splash was heard soon followed by more. Dash couldn't remember the last time she had been in this much pain, it was unbearable.
A hoof touched the top of her head softly, it was Fluttershy again. "Thank you, I needed that Fluttershy," Dash said in between soft yet strong sobs.
"Ms. Dash, you will have to leave the room for now, I'm sorry." A voice behind Rainbow Dash said.
"Wait how do you know my name?" Dash asked as she turned around. Behind her was Doctor Card, the kindly doctor from Ponyville.
"Before you ask, I was here on official business when I heard about this and decided to come and help." Doctor card said delaying the obvious question. "Now please leave, we have work to do," he said as he gestured towards a nurse and another doctor behind him.
Dash walked up to Fluttershy and gave her a quick kiss then turned. Without any words she walked out of the room, a steady stream of tears flowing from down her cheeks.
Dash sat there, out in the hallway just thinking about everything that had happened since they had arrived in Canterlot. After an hour she finally realized what she had to do.
Dash walked outside and flew to the bar. Inside, as she expected, she found the four Wonderbolts. Her step this time was uneven as she contemplated what she would say.
"Hey Rainbow Dash, what's the matter?" Spitfire asked seeing Dash's head bent towards the floor.
"Um, well it's complicated. The short form is, me and Fluttershy both need to leave the Wonderbolts, I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash said as gasps came up from around the bar.
"Why?" Soarin asked calmly.
"Fluttershy is in the hospital, and she might not make it, even if she does, I doubt she'll ever be in fit condition to fly as she used to. As for me, I have decided, and I can't believe I am saying this. I would rather be with Fluttershy, then be a Wonderbolt." Dash said calmly, yet in her heart she knew it was what she should have done all along.
"If that's what you want then who would we be to stop you?" Soarin said as Spitfire nodded, but Zap and Swoop just look at Dash in disbelief.
"Wait your seriously abandoning us, the Wonderbolts, for some random injured filly!" Swoop screamed at Rainbow Dash as he pushed himself out of his chair.
"Random filly?" Dash asked as she took a step towards him, "what do you mean, random filly?" She took another step.
"I mean, why would you want her when you can have someone like me!" Swoop shouted back. Everyone went silent except for Rainbow Dash.
"You're just like the rest of this place, everyone judges us. Just because were two fillies doesn't make our love is any less real!" Dash yelled as she continued walking towards Swoop. "And do you know what I think of this place, and it's ridiculous ideas?"
Swoop's eyebrows furrowed strongly as he turned around and raised his legs to kick Rainbow Dash.
Dash jumped strongly of the ground and came down in front of Swoop, "this is what I think," Dash said. She reared up and kicked the pegasus straight in the chest. The force of this kick sent swoop into the air about five feet before he landed hard on a wooden table causing it to break.
"Now if you will excuse me, I have some place to be," Dash said angrily as she walked past the injured pegasus and exited the bar for the last time. The entire bar was still in silence.
Back at the hospital Dash sat there waiting, it was done and she didn't regret it one bit.
A full six hours later Doctor Card came out of the room and smiled at Rainbow, "Ms. Dash, there is good news," he said. "Ms. Fluttershy's odds of survival have improved dramatically."
"So what are the odds?" Dash asked excitedly.
Doctor Card's face dropped as he obviously hoped Rainbow Dash wouldn't ask. "About... 25 percent," he said before going silent once more.
"So what now?" Dash asked.
"Well we plan on moving her to Ponyville where we have more Unicorns equipped to deal with this." Doctor card stated as Rainbow Dash looked him in the eyes.
"I don't care what you do to her, what you do to me, as long as she survives this." Dash said to him.
He smiled and stepped aside indicating she could go in.
Fluttershy was still in the bed but the needles had been removed. Dash smiled at her healthier appearance and walked silently to Fluttershy's side. "How are you?" Dash asked, extremely concerned.
"Good, at least now that you're here," Fluttershy responded kindly.
"You know they are bringing you back to Ponyville right? Also, I quit the Wonderbolts." Dash stated.
"You quit the Wonde... thank you Dash" Fluttershy said as Dash leaned towards her. "I love you, and I will do anything for you."
"Then do this for me, survive," Dash told her before leaning in and kissing her passionately.
End of chapter 4
Beginning of prologue
"Fluttershy, you will be ok, got that," Dash reassured Fluttershy as she laid in the bed in the Ponyville hospital. Two days ago she had been transported there. It had gone without a hitch and until today she had been doing fine.
That morning Dash had been woken up by the doctor who told her that Fluttershy was awake and had cold sweat and was shaking slightly. As soon as Dash arrived Fluttershy seemed to cheer up immensely and her shaking stopped. But the sweat was still coming.
"I know I will, just please don't leave me," Fluttershy pleaded with Rainbow dash.
"Fine I won't leave you, I promise," Dash responded kindly.
"Thank you," Fluttershy said as her head fell back onto the pillow and her eyes closed, her mind slipping back into the unconscious void yet again.
Rainbow Dash smiled and knew she wouldn't wake up for a while so she called to the nurse. "Could you please go get Twilight Sparkle?" she asked when the nurse had arrived who quickly nodded and left.
About ten minutes later Twilight walked into the room surprised at the turn of events. She ran up to Fluttershy but Dash blocked her from touching Shy.
"What happened Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked as Dash kept her from the pink pegasus. "Let me through!" she yelled in frustration finally giving up.
"Do you remember helping Applejack make her harvest better this year with magic?" Dash asked, poison evident in her voice.
"Ya and?" Twilight asked intrigued by the direction of the conversation.
"well all of your magic had a side effect, on a single apple. An apple that Fluttershy ate! It's your fault she is in this mess, and you will help me. Or so help me, I will make an ursa major look tame compared to my fury!" Dash yelled towards Twilight, her hooves striking the ground and her nostrils flaring.
Twilight fell silent as the seconds stretched into a full minute, "I will try," she said.
"For your sake I hope you succeed," Dash replied loudly as Fluttershy stirred slightly in her unnatural sleep.
"It will be difficult, however I'll see if there's a spell I know." Twilight said as she turned away and ran out of the hospital to the library.
Fluttershy's eyes opened as she drew a labored breath. "Rainbow Dash," she said in her silent voice.
"Ya Flutter?" Dash answered grabbing her hoof softly.
"I love you," Fluttershy said with a tiny smile.
"I love you too," Rainbow Dash responded grasping her hoof tighter.
"You and I both know this, if I'm left this way, I will die." Fluttershy said without any fear in her voice.
"We don't know that!" Dash responded loudly and desperately. However she did know it and after a few seconds she nodded. "But you can't go, I love you to much to just let you go. Twilight, she's finding a spell right now to help make you all better!" Dash told Fluttershy eagerly.
"I know you don't want me to go, that is why I will keep fighting, not for me, but for you." Fluttershy said her hoof loosening slightly. "But for now, I must rest," Fluttershy said, "I love you Rainbow Dash..." Her hoof went limp as her head fell back and she fell into a coma. Her eyes still open.
Dash leaned in and closed each eyelid carefully before kissing Fluttershy lightly. She was alive, she could feel it, but for how long?
Currently I am working on the third part of this trilogy. It is called Stone of the Body and the first two or so chapters are done and will be uploaded, and hopefully approved, soon.