The faint smell of a half-spent cigarette wafted in the cab of Rainbow Dash’s car while a rock station tried to claw its way through radio static. The heat vents that sputtered lukewarm air some of the time and cold any other were working to circulate the sickly odor, poorly. The howling of wind against the side of the vehicle, along with whistling from a window that could never fully roll up, reminded Dash of what she was doing.
Rainbow’s hands clung to the steering wheel like a corpse to their final possession. The cold stung through them like ten-thousand needles, and moving them in any way saw those pricked points jaggedly tear at every cell within. She couldn’t smoke the rest of that cigarette, both because her hands refused to relent their grip on the wheel, but also because Twilight had been telling her to quit since she started as a teenager.
A shock of guilt ran through her whenever she lit one, and the shame spread through her system like the warmth of the inhaled smoke. This was multiplied whenever she had to drive to a corner store and pull out her wallet with Twilight’s picture in it every time she bought a pack. Dash wanted to stop, but she couldn’t break free of habit’s claws on her psyche.
The wind bellowed on the side of her beat-up sedan, shifting its path on the lonely road, just freshly blanketed with the first snow of a blizzard. A black streak on a blank canvass of the countryside that was quickly being filled in. Rainbow knew not to jerk the wheel to correct it, as the car would tumble, and would certainly kill her. On the off chance she survived that, it’s the cold that would get her. The weatherman called for a white-out and everyone would be indoors enduring the storm. Only Rainbow Dash was dumb enough, and desperate enough, to drive in this weather.
And only the limp body of Twilight in the back seat, covered under a pile of blankets, would force her to such desperation.
Rainbow Dash had come home from a double shift at the gym to find her body splayed at odd angles, twitching on the carpet near the front door. An empty bottle of pills and a puddle from a spilled glass of water lay on either side of her, and were the only pieces of the story that had transpired. They were all that was needed.
Dash didn’t know why Twilight did it, or when, but she knew that without emergency treatment Twilight would die. And though it took what was left of Dash’s strength to get her in the backseat and wrapped in blankets, Dash did so for her. And though it hurt to breathe and even exist in the near-lethal cold, Rainbow Dash would withstand it for her.
Snow and sleet buffeted the windshield, which the wipers failed in clearing them from the glass, as Rainbow exchanged glances with the pile of covers in her rear-view mirror and the road. It pained her to look at the whiteness of it. The sky was white, the air was white, the road and the fields on either side of it were white, and her skin was getting pale to the point of it almost being white.
The flashing lights behind her, though, were red and blue. The piercing wail of the accompanying siren blurred as Rainbow’s focus turned to the static on the radio. Flashes of a guitar came through the static and brought a small, warm smile to her dormant mouth. Her eyes felt heavy, and the world started turning darker and darker. The voice that boomed from the police cruiser behind her felt far away and slipped further and further into the distance as Rainbow’s head slumped down onto the steering wheel.
The blare from the horn made Rainbow jolt up, and the thundering voice was now beside her on the icy road. “Hello-o-o-o? Why are you out during a level-3 storm? You got some kinda deathwish?” She couldn’t see the officer inside the vehicle, but the voice was coarse and masculine.
Rainbow replied with a sluggish glance and gave a pained jerk of her head to the backseat and weakly mouthed the word ‘emergency’, cringing as her chapped lips cracked.
“What?” The volume made Rainbow wince away from the window “Did you say emergency?”
Dash nodded, feeling the precise weight of her two-ton head. How easy it would be to lay back on the headrest.
The voice on the speaker cursed. “I’ll escort you to the hospital, slow down so I can pass you.” The blue and red spun in Dash’s vision as she struggled to put together what just happened. A few thoughts flailed about in her drying stream of consciousness. Was she in trouble? Was Twilight ok? Is he even allowed to do that? Twilight. She took her foot off the gas, allowing the cruiser to pass slowly in front of her. What a lucky break.
The road and the many degrees of exhaustion tempted Rainbow into falling asleep. The cold barely even bothered her anymore, and her shoulders released all their tension alongside her eyes stickily closing, making them hard to open again. How easy it would be to keep them shut like that, and just drift into sleep. The hospital was only a straight shot away, and a left turn once she was in town anyway.
So what was the harm in just… resting her eyes… for a short time...
“Do you gotta wear that everywhere you go?” Rainbow Dash groaned, flopping her head back in faux-exhaustion. Twilight, as part of her auto-immune condition, had to wear a high-grade face mask wherever she went. “I mean I get you hate the smell of smoke and all, but c'mon, you look like some kinda evil surgeon. Do they make ‘em any uh… Less evil surgeon-like?”
The two were looking at candles in a ‘froo-froo’ mall store, as Rainbow would put it. They had both gotten summer jobs and were anxious to spend some of their meager earnings. Twilight examined a pumpkin pie scented candle from one of the neatly arranged shelves and held it up to her tomboyish partner, who reluctantly removed the lid and took a sniff. “Yeah smells fine, whatever.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight started, putting the lid back on the container, “I told you before. I’m not an evil doctor, I’m a mad scientist.” A muffled giggle came from the nerdy girl as she pushed her glasses up.“ And besides, You need to quit, and this is just another, unintended reminder to do just that.”
“An egghead is an egghead, Twilight.” She wiggled her legs impatiently, dodging the jab about her addiction and maneuvering into another topic. “C’mon can we leave this store already? I wanna go to the arcade!”
Twilight ignored her rainbow-haired companion, who was now crossing her arms, and strolled to the counter, her container of pumpkin scented wax in tow. Twilight tossed a glance from the counter, a single raised eyebrow denoting her attitude. “What was it your mother said when she let us out?”
Rainbow pouted and her posture slumped. “...Be nice.”
“Sorry?” Twilight turned, a plastic bag hanging from her forearm having completed the transaction. She leaned into the now shrinking tomboy. “What was that? A little louder please.”
“To be nice to the neighbor girl! Sheesh.” Rainbow burst, looking everywhere but at the girl before her.
“Correct, though I’m more than just the neighbor girl you know?” She winked and patted the faux-fur, pin-peppered beanie Rainbow was donning. “Now come along, lab rat, we’re going to the bookstore.”
“Are you for real? Ugh!” Rainbow rolled her eyes and dragged her feet to follow Twilight out of the store and towards the store just across the way.
“Oh, you didn’t let me finish.” She placed the hand with a bag containing the candle on her hip. “We won’t be long in there, and then you can show me the hunting game you love so much, how’s that sound?”
Rainbow finally looked at Twilight, wearing a faint smirk that she failed to conceal. “Sounds like we better get going then.”
The pair couldn’t take their eyes off each other until an arm seized Rainbow Dash, suddenly snapping her towards whoever grabbed her. A forebodingly tall and rigid man with a greying mustache and eyes masked by sunglasses had her pinned in place.
“Alright, girl, you’re gonna give back what you stole or you’re gonna—”
“My name’s not girl, pig, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rainbow pulled against his grip to no avail. She tried digging her legs into the ground and strained to free herself without success. “Let me go!”
Twilight took a step forward, her hand reaching out, only to sheepishly pull it close to her chest. “Officer…” She eyes the name stitched to his chest, “Cold Steel if I may, what did you think my... My friend stole?”
“Not think, missy.” He tightened his grip but didn’t break his anonymous gaze. “We have her on camera slipping a bracelet into her pocket and walking out. She can give them back right now, and we can forget any of this happened. Or she can not cooperate and get arrested for shoplifting.”
Twilight’s eyes drifted down from the unflinching officer who kept her writhing companion in place. “Rainbow,” disappointment dripped from her voice, “Is that true?”
“No! Of course, it isn’t true! Why would I steal anything?” She growled through clenched teeth, her hat threatening to fall from her head, eyes locked with the pair of sunglasses.
“Then empty your pocket.” Twilight was scared of the shakiness in her tone.
Rainbow snapped her head towards her, the already existing rage building. “What? You don’t believe me, either?” Rainbow plunged her free hand into its corresponding pants pocket and flung the contents from it. A set of keys metallically crashed to the flat mall carpet, alongside a wallet and a concerning amount of lint. “See? No bracelet!” Dash jerked her head forward, eyes flashing with anger.
“Other one now.” The guard colorlessly ordered as passersby began to form a crowd around the scene.
Rainbow’s lips trembled as she stopped struggling and stood up straight. Her hand solemnly reached into her other pocket and produced an ornate bracelet composed of several different charms, which she placed in the guard’s waiting hand. “Thank you miss, that wasn’t so hard, was it? But if this happens again you can’t come back to the mall. Do you understand?”
Dash rubbed her arm, which was reddened where his fingers were. “Yeah.” Her usual fire turned to doused kindling and she couldn’t break her sulking stare from the ground.
“Alright, folks!” Cold Steel boomed. “Show’s over, don’t act like you’ve never done this before. Go on, scram!” The crowd slowly slid away from the scene as commanded, and the guard crouched close to Rainbow and put a hand on her shoulder, which was promptly slapped off. “You did the right thing, kiddo. You got off easy too, most kids would’ve been booted out of the store by now.”
Dash only glared in response. After a few tense moments for her, and an equal amount of awkward ones for the guard, he left. The rainbow-haired girl ran a slightly shaky hand through her hair, placing it back over her ear from under her hat, and sniffled. Twilight was immediately by her side, which prompted Rainbow to shake her head and swallow painfully. “Let’s,” she cleared her throat, “Let’s go to the bookstore, get you one on me, huh?” She playfully punched Twilight’s shoulder.
“You know you don’t have to steal like that.” Twilight took her turn to place a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, and this time, it wasn’t swatted away.
“I—” Rainbow let out a brief sigh, unable to look Twilight in the eye. “I don’t wanna talk about it. It’s done. It’s over. I learned my lesson, capiche?”
Twilight let a warm smirk come across her face, obscured by her mask. She wanted to press the issue more, but knowing her companion, this was as far as it went. And while Twilight loathed that Rainbow thought she had to steal for her, she couldn’t shake that her friend would be willing to. “You still wanna show me that hunting game after?”
Rainbow looked into Twilight’s eyes and found her happiness again, “No.” She flashed a cocky grin, “I wanna school you in it!”
Rainbow Dash drew in a long breath, catching a puff of hot air from the vent, granting a brief respite to the frigid air piercing her lungs. Her eyes were stuck shut in drowsiness, but the lights passing from the bottom to the top of her vision signaled she was under streetlights.
Dash felt rested, even if she didn’t sleep for long. She stretched back against the driver’s seat, and with each crack, felt better. The radio was now playing a steady stream of rock, and Rainbow nodded her head along with the guitar riffs, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel in perfect rhythm.
Dash opened her eyes just in time to collide with the police car.
Rainbow had always admired the way the sky was perfectly white during the winter. Any other season had either blue, or gray, or a warm yellow tint. Winter, however, was completely blank, and at night, the sheer whiteness remained but was somehow a darker white. Rainbow looked on in wonder as she flung forward, getting a clear view of the sky before being held harshly in place by the seatbelt.
Twilight was not so lucky.
Pain exploded through Rainbow’s arms as they rigidly held the wheel on impact, and as her back and neck revolted with the sudden whiplash, anguish erupted through her. Twilight had partially unfurled from the cocoon of covers and launched into the windshield, clearing the seats in her way. A spiderweb of cracks shattered across the glass screen.
Rainbow wanted to cry out, to reach out and catch her, but the seatbelt pinned her firmly in place. She could only watch through widened eyes as Twilight landed limply in the space just under the windshield. She hadn’t even heard the screeching of metal on metal, or see the police car sent forward into a light pole. Nor did she care when she saw him break through the front of it and tumble painfully into the snow on the lawn of the hospital.
The hospital! Dash was there! She scrambled to unbuckle her seatbelt, but the searing pain in her arms anchored them in place. Rainbow ground her teeth, digging to the core of her soul searching for the resolve, for some hidden wellspring of strength, to move. She had to move, she needed to get out of this car and save Twilight!
Warm tears streamed down her cheeks, each one draining a little hope. Memories flashed through her head of all the times they shared together. The first time Dash found Twilight on the playground, having skinned her knee, and took her to the nurse’s office. Their first kiss at the awkward junior high dance. That first magical night in bed together towards the end of high school. The day they got the keys to their apartment and moved in together and how Twilight spilled takeout on the carpet. The ring in the glovebox Rainbow bought, but never got the nerve to show Twilight while down on one knee.
Dash’s entire arm suddenly felt wrapped in frigid barbed wire as it inched closer to the red button by her side that would free her. Pain was much too light a word to describe the feeling coursing through her. It was at the same time a searing and stinging that came in waves, and a freezing, unrelenting gnawing. All the while, the sickening, guilting smell of a half-spent cigarette permeated. Rainbow’s hand could barely feel the button as her fingers connected with it.
Click.
Dash strained to open the door, and recoiled as the blizzard wind billowed in. Panting, exerting the strength only adrenaline could provide, she slid her hands under Twilight and lifted up, taking her into the storm outside.
Left. Right. Left. Right. Rainbow had to focus on every step, the sound of the wind howling in her ears, and the crunching of the snow beneath her. Each footfall felt like she was carrying the weight of the world in her arms, and to some extent, she was. Rainbow would be nothing without Twilight. The woman she became was better every day because Twilight inspired her to be.
Rainbow looked down at Twilight, and her mouth pursed to a thin line, which wobbled in a struggle to contain her sadness. “Don’t you die on me now. Don’t you fucking dare, you egghead.” She let the humiliating mucus run from her nose down the rest of her face, and the tears join it somewhere near her chin as more and more of her psyche shattered.
Her back hunched as her foot connected with the sidewalk near the entrance. A shallower path cut in the snow that led to her salvation. Another glance to the limp doll in her arms, and a pang of despair with each heartbeat. “I swear to God, Twilight. If we make it through this, I’ll never touch another fucking cigarette as long as I live.” She bent over more from her hunched form and kissed her forehead.
Rainbow threw the side of her body into one of the front doors of the hospital, sending it flying open with help from the wind. The woman attending the front desk looked as though she saw ghosts.
“What —? How —?” She stammered, shaking her head in disbelief.
“You!” Rainbow callously barked in as strong a tone as she could manage, “My girlfriend’s had an overdose, and you’re gonna get her treatment.” The tomboy glared daggers at the young attendant, who was frantically dialing on a telephone.
The world spun, and Rainbow nearly fell face first to the ground, but she instinctively caught herself on one knee. “There’s -!” Rainbow yelled through gritted teeth, pain and exertion clamping them shut. “There’s an officer who escorted…” She dizzily drew in a breath. “He… Car crash.” Her other leg fell to its knee. “Gonna… Die…”
Rainbow fell on her back, making sure to protect Twilight even in her last moments of consciousness.
Author's Note
Been sitting on this one for a while, and it's funny how you expect a story you wrote from a while ago to be terrible. I was pleasantly surprised with how nice it turned out, especially with a fresh revision! If I'm honest, part of me wanted to show you each scene Rainbow remembered at the end, but that would easily make the story thousands of words long, much bulkier and therefore less readable, and besides, that particular scene was meant to convey it flashing before her eyes and you as the reader 'adding water' to each memory, as it were.
Regardless, I'm very happy with this piece! There's more on the way, life comes at you fast, and sometimes it's more than I can handle. But I've got a good rhythm going and a list of ideas to execute on. I appreciate your reading my piece and whatever opinion you can offer in the comments! Thank you!
Ruby
