A Mad Dash into Insanity

Back outside on the field, the rest of the ponies watched the Wonderbolts fly.

“Mmmmm, that Soarin is quite the stallion, wouldn’t you agree Applejack?” Rarity said dreamily as she watched Soarin glide.

“Nah, he ain’t really my type” Applejack replied "that pony won't last an hour under a plow" She said with a smirk

“Where’s Rainbow?” Twilight asked

“She was headed to the lockers, last ah saw her, but that was a while ago” Applejack replied

“We should go check on her” Twilight said “Come on girls.” And they made their way to the lockers.

“Rainbow Dash? Are you here?” Twilight called. There was no answer, just a muffled sound, it sounded like sobs, or was it a laugh?

“Is that Dashie crying?” Twilight asked “The poor thing must be distraught, oh Celestia, this was a bad idea”

“No wait” Pinkie Pie said “That’s laughter; I always know laughter when I hear it!”

The girls followed the sound to a row of lockers, and they froze when they turned the corner.

“Sweet Celestia!” Twilight shrieked

“What in the sweet blueberry hill of fucks happened here?!” Applejack said

Fluttershy fainted and Rarity made to vomit in the nearest trash bin

“Is that… Lightning Dust?” Twilight asked terrified at what she saw “Oh my holy princess, is that Spitfire?!”

“Where’s Dash?” Pinkie Asked, they turned their heads to where Rainbow lay laughing on the floor.

“Dashie! What… What the fuck happened here?!” Twilight shrieked.

Dash turned over, she wore an expression of terror mixed with rage, sadness and a sick kind of humour, she did not look like herself at all, but more like somepony else.

“Oh hey guys!” She said in an odd tone

Now the ponies were truly frightened. Everyone but Twilight and Applejack seemed to have completely lost their voices.

“Dash, I’m going to ask you again. What in the wide, wide world of Equestria happened here?”

Dash’s expression fell, she looked more like herself, she stood up and looked around, now Dash looked terrified. “Holy Clouds” She said “I… I… I…” She stammered

They looked at her bloody hooves. “Dash, did…” Applejack broke off “Did you do this?” She asked in utter disbelief

Rainbow looked around again, she looked like she was about to faint as well.

“I… I don’t know” She said “I don’t… remember…” her voice trailed off.

Dash truly did not remember, all she remembered was seeing Lightning Dust, attacking her, then hearing Spitfire admitting that it was she who caused Dash her accident. She remembered that something had been funny, but nothing else until this moment with her friends. “Did I do this?” She asked herself

“Rainbow, are you feeling ok?” Twilight asked, deeply concerned “how does your head feel?”

Dash rubbed her head at the mention, it did not hurt. All that hurt was her hooves, especially where the most blood was on them. Her heart skipped a beat as the revelation washed over her. She had done this.

Dash began sobbing uncontrollably. Harder than ever, harder than in the hospital even.

“I… I think I did!” She choked between sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m Soooorryyyy! I’m so, so sorry!!!!” she screamed through sobs. She fell to her knees and shrieked in her sobs.

The ponies looked at each other, nopony knew what to say or do. Applejack knelt down next to Dash and patted her shoulder gently. “It’s ok sugar cube, we’re here now, it’s gonna be alright”

It took a long time for Rainbow to calm down. She sat down, Pinkie Pie got her water, and Twilight helped her drink. Applejack continued to gently rub Dash’s shoulder in comfort. No pony spoke for a long time. Pinkie Pie locked the door to the locker rooms, just in case any of the Wonderbolts came in for the washroom or something and saw the mess. They needed time to figure this out before anyone came in here.

“Dash, you need to tell us what happened” Twilight said trying to keep her voice calm.

Dash just stared blankly at the wall, her eye lids a puffy red from the crying. Rarity mustered the courage to clean the blood from Dash’s hooves, and Fluttershy came to, but stood away from the crowd, positively mortified.

“I don’t know” Dash said. She tried to recollect her thoughts, but it was too hard, she had been so blind with rage after the encounter with both ponies.

“Just start at the beginning” Applejack told her.

“Well,” Dash began “I came in here to go through my locker, to get the stuff I left here on the day of the accident, I found my flight suit, mended and folded neat” She looked at Rarity who, despite the disgust of cleaning blood off of Rainbow, Smiled slightly and blushed “You’re welcome, darling” She said.

“I actually felt a lot better. Like, A LOT better. I was so happy to see my stuff, and so thankful you guys brought me here, it was amazing to see the Wonderbolts again. I was going to go back out to join you guys, ask Spitfire what options I had staying with the team on the ground, and then…” Her voice trailed off “…and then she came around the corner, I didn’t even realize she was here” She pointed at Lightning Dust, who’s tail was visible from under the towel Rarity had used to cover the bodies. She explained how Lightning Dust had been her replacement, and how she taunted her into a blind rage, and that was all she remembered. “I swear on my mother’s life I don’t remember attacking her, but I do remember calming down and finding her corpse here.” Dash explained. She went on about how Spitfire came in and admitted the accident was her fault. She remembered feeling sick as Spitfire explained her motive for sabotaging Dash’s big performance. She even recounted the story of Firestorm, showing her friends her picture from her compartment, but again her memory failed her as her rage grew towards Spitfire.

“I heard this voice in my head” Dash explained, “it was as if it was commanding me to do it, to… to kill Spitfire. I tried to fight it, but I guess I couldn’t, and I don’t remember what happened after that. I vaguely remember something was extremely funny, but then the next thing I know, you guys are here.”

Dash looked at her friends five dumbfounded faces. “You believe me right?” she begged, another sob forming in her chest. Applejack took off her hat and held it to her chest. “We believe you sugar cube” some of her friends smiled but they all still looked as bewildered as Rainbow felt.

“What do we do now?" Dash asked

There was a knock on the door to the locker room, “Hello? Anypony in there? Why is the door locked?”

“I don’t know” Twilight said “But we gotta go!” she strained with her magic and teleported them out of the locker room and into the throne room of Canterlot Castle.

“Well that was a grand entrance” Spike said lazily, he was sitting in the throne reading a Power Ponies comic.

“Spike! Take a letter” Twilight ordered and Spike pulled out a quill and parchment.

She dictated a letter to the Royal Guard to go in and clean up the mess in the locker room, and added that they call the Coroner of Equestria.

“What mess?” Spike asked “And what’s a coroner?”

“Nevermind” Said Twilight “Spike, can you give us a minute?” Spike held up the note and belched a puff of green fire, the note was sent, and he got up and left.

“How do we know the guards won’t say something?” Pinkie Pie asked

“They are under specific royal orders, they were trained to follow those orders, not ask questions” Twilight reassured. Being princess had its perks.

“Dash,” Twilight said solemnly “you… you need help” her voice began to break. The ponies all looked at Dash, who looked back blankly “What do you mean?” she croaked

Twilight took a deep breath. “there is obviously something bothering you Rainbow. And we don’t know what that is. But there are ponies out there who can help you. Much better than we could”

“What are you saying?” Rainbow said. She felt confused and upset.

“What she means” Applejack chimed in “Is as your friends, we are worried about you. That scene was horrifying in that locker room, ah can hardly believe that was you.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Rainbow yelled, she remembered the doctor talking to her after her CT scan results came in. she remembered what he said about the damage to her brain “…conditions like aggression, paranoia, psychosis and even schizophrenia have been seen in some cases…”

“It wasn’t me! It was my head! Remember what that doctor guy said?! It’s just my head, there’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Nopony said there was anything wrong with you, darling” Rarity said compassionately “But yes, the doctor did say you had some brain damage from your accident.”

“But it wasn’t my fault, it was Spitfire’s, that whole accident was her fault. She did this to me!” Dash felt herself getting more and more upset. She felt dizzy.

“Rainbow. Nopony blames you for anything” Twilight said in as calm of a tone as possible “All we are trying to say is that, as your friends we are worried about you, and that regardless what happened in the recent past, what you did back there was not right.”

“Twilight is right” Applejack added “We believe that you don’t remember what happened. And we just want what’s best for you.” She took off her hat and held it to her chest. “But right now, we think that what’s best for you is to get you help with whatever is troubling you. We will always support you, but we can’t provide you with the help you need.”

Dash’s head began to spin again. “What help are they talking about?” she thought to herself “They can’t be talking about…” her heart skipped a beat as she realized what they meant.

“there are ponies that can help” Twilight repeated “ much better than us, you’ll see. And we will support you every step of the way”

Dash knew what they meant “They think I’m crazy” she thought to herself. “and they want to send me away” She felt herself falling into a dazing trance.

The voice returned to the back of her head “you realize what they mean, right? They want to send you to the nuthouse.” Dash’s heart rate increased, she began to hyperventilate

“Trust us, Dashie, it’s for your own good” Fluttershy said

“Pfft. Like they know” the voice said in the back of Rainbows mind “They think you’re crazy and paranoid and a dangerous. They think your Mad Dash!” she felt her rage returning. The rational voice frantically called to her. “They are your friends, they just want to help!” But the dark voice was louder “They just want you out of their lives” She squeezed her eyes shut, her anger was rising fast, her trance ever more intoxicating.

“Rainbow, are you ok?” Twilight asked

“No“ Dash replied in a supressed voice “I am not”

Twilight looked at her friends, everyone was concerned

“Do you want to talk about it?” Applejack asked delicately

“NO! I don’t!” Dash said louder this time “What’s there to talk about? You all think I’m crazy”

“We think no such thing, darling!” Rarity said in disbelief.

“Really? Then why are you sending me to the nuthouse?” Dash snapped

“What do you mean nuthouse? Is that a place where they sell nuts?” Pinkie Pie chimed in

“Dash, that’s not what we meant” Twilight said “I just meant we wanted to get you counciling. What you did back there was wrong,” She tried to choose her words carefully “we just don’t want you to hurt anyone, and we don’t want you to hurt yourself”

“There it is” The voice said “they think you’re a danger to the public, they want to cage you up.” Rainbow was trembling, she couldn’t concentrate; the voice was overwhelming her thoughts.

“So you want me put somewhere? How do you mean, lock me in my house, lock me up like some wild animal, and get someone like Priscilla to come see me twice a week? To rehabilitate me?”

“Dash, please don’t take this the wrong way, we are getting you help” Twilight pleaded

Dash could not hold back any longer.

“it’s for your own good” Fluttershy said again

Rainbow acted on adrenaline, she bent her knees and whipped a kick with her hind hoof, and caught Fluttershy square in the face. She squeaked sharply as Dash landed the kick on her face, her muzzle shattered and blood flew, a single tooth was knocked from her mouth. Fluttershy was knocked unconscious as she collided with the ground.

“WHAT THE HELL, RAINBOW?!” Applejack yelled at the top of her voice, rushing to Fluttershy’s side. The rest of the ponies watched in horror as blood pooled around her. Twilight leaped to her side, she frantically searched for a pulse, and was relieved when she found out Fluttershy was alive. When Rainbow turned around and saw Fluttershy pooled in blood, she immediately came to her senses, her rage was replaced by terror, she ran up to her side

“No! FLUTTERSHY!” She screamed, tears in her eyes

“Rainbow Dash, you nearly killed Fluttershy” Twilight shrieked. She turned and backed away from her side, away from Fluttershy.

“No! I… I’m sorry, I…” Rainbow stuttered

“What in tarnation is wrong with you Rainbow Dash?” Applejack demanded “You flat out assaulted your best friend!”

“No! I didn’t mean to! It’s not my fault!”

Rarity fainted and Pinkie Pie was sobbing. Applejack was furious. “You’re crazy, Dash!” she yelled at Rainbow.

“I… I didn’t mean to!” Dash sobbed “Honest! I would never hurt her!”

“Oh yeah, like ya never meant to hurt Spitfire and Lightning Dust?” Applejack cursed

“That’s different!” Dash yelled “Spitfire caused all this and replaced me with Lighting Dust, its all Spitfire’s fault, I was angry! She destroyed my life! I don’t care what her reason was, this would never have happened if she hadn’t sabotaged me!” Her rage was returning “She doesn’t believe you” The voice tempted in her head.

“That’s enough yelling girls!” Twilight tried to intervene

“Twilight, you believe me right?” Dash asked, a choking desperation forming inside her now “You believe I would never hurt Fluttershy, do you?” Dash pleaded.

“Leave her out of this! haven’t you hurt enough of us today? Or throughout this whole ordeal?” Applejack scolded

“We were always there for you, supporting you all the way through this whole accident of yers. We understand it is a life altering experience nopony should go through, and we supported you every step of the way, and this is how you repay us?”

“Twilight. Do you?” Dash begged

“Uh…” she said

“You scared us Dash, and I’m not sure how we move on from here.” Applejack said, supressing the emotion in her voice.

Dash squeezed her eyes shut. “None of them believe you.” The voice said, she became increasingly more upset. She resisted the urge to strike.

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO!” Dash screamed now, she turned on Applejack, and dove hooves first at her, but she moved away at the last moment.

Twilight had seen enough, she needed to end this now. “Guards!” she yelled, and the throne room doors burst open with two Royal Guards stationed outside. One grabbed Rainbow, who tried to struggle free. The second one came and they effortlessly subdued Rainbow Dash between them.

Dash was white hot with anger “Kill them” the voice in her mind commanded “Kill those hypocrites! They don’t deserve you!” and she thrashed furiously about between the two guards.

Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, still crying, watched in horror as the guards dragged their friend out of the throne room.

Dash was still kicking and screaming against the two guards. The unicorn guard had enough and fired a submission spell at Dash knocking her unconscious.