Equestria : After the Loss

"SQUIRT, I'M HOME!" I limped into our tight apartment, roughly kicking the door closed behind myself. As I trudged to the small "living room" to flop down on the couch, I realized my roommate wasn't home, though she'd managed to clean up the place again. If it were just me living alone everything would be a complete mess, but since Scoots lived with me, she kept the place pretty tidy. She said she would always do as much as she could around the apartment because I let her stay rent free. I appreciated it, but I would've let her stay regardless. It's not like she had anywhere else to go.

And besides, Twilight took good care of the seven of us, so it's not like I was hurting for funds. Scoots insisted though, and I wasn't about to force her to be a slacker like me. It's not like I was lazy all the time, just when I was done with work. Like right now.

I limped to the "kitchen", trying to unfurl my wings even though I knew they weren't there. Wing stretches had become instinctual for me years ago. I'd probably still be trying to do them until I was dead, even if I didn't have any.

Opening the standard mini fridge that came with each room rental was a bit more difficult with sore shoulders. Power was a big issue for Ponyville, so we had to keep any sort of appliances or devices that required electricity to a minimum.

It was kind of annoying to get used to at first, but I usually just curled up with a Daring Do book when I had the time anyway, so, no big deal. I grabbed a bowl of... well I don't want to call it food even if that's what it served as. It was a green paste that tasted like... not great.

Another invention of the Lights, it was a mixture of vitamins and minerals that every creature needed to survive. Efficiency was Twilight's middle name, I was sure of it. The paste was all substance and no style, but at least it did it's job well. Nobody was starving in Ponyville.

As I moved back to the "living room" I carefully laid down on the shoddy couch, tossing the bowl of "food" on the small coffee table in front of the sofa. The apartment was beyond cramped, like every other one in the building. I couldn't help but think about my old home in the sky whenever I was forced to do things in the apartment. It felt like another life, to have lived in the sky. What I wouldn't give to go back to the past, to sleep on a cloud again. I guess it really is true. You never know what you've got til it's gone.

Me and the girls would've stayed in Twilight's castle, but soon after the Loss we realized just how much work needed to be done around town. The castle became a workplace of sorts, almost every room being converted into some sort of research and development lab except for Twilight's and Spike's. Come to think of it I think that's when Starlight first started staying with Twilight.

Anyway, now, no matter who you were, you were stuck with one of these stuffy little apartments. Consisting of one small bedroom, one small bathroom, a small kitchen area, and a small living room, the apartment was... small. Twilight's blue-print for practicality and cost effectiveness was used throughout the entire city, once Ponyville had been populated beyond it's capabilities.

It doesn't matter how comfortable it is, right now we need to do what we can to accommodate everyone.

She'd made a tough decision. We could've just turned creatures away, worried about our own, but the Princess of Friendship just couldn't watch others suffer like that.

For any creatures of a reasonable age she had a separate area of the city built to hold them until she was sure they were deemed... safe to move into the city proper.

Fillies, colts, and other younglings were a different story. Once they started showing up at our doorstep, some of them by their lonesome, she refused to do the same to them. It's not like any of us would've objected. Kids are kids. Thankfully, it hadn't costed us yet.

And that's how these dumb skyscrapers got started.

We can't keep building outwards. We're already pushing up against the Everfree, and unless we plan on taking back Canterlot we can't go too far in that direction either. It'd be more efficient to build upwards.

It sounded ridiculous at first... but we all knew Twilight was much smarter than the rest of us, especially with how much she started looking into stuff like that. If she was pushing so adamantly for it, then it was most definitely for the best. While we lacked no room for any displaced creatures now, the environment was a far cry from the beautiful nature of old Ponyville.

I slowly moved to start eating when the opening of the front door announced the arrival of my roommate.

"DASH, I'M HOME!" the door slammed shut. 'YOU'RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THE DAY I HAD! SWEE-" Scoots' eyes widened in horror as they focused on me. "Dash, what happened!? You're all banged up and... your wings...?"

"You might wanna take a seat, Squirt," I sighed, sitting up with a groan. "It's a long story."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"No way," Pinkie's eyes opened in what looked to be disbelief, an emotion she didn't show much anymore. It was obvious from her state of shock that she knew this Moondancer pony. "Why would she do something like this?"

"That name... it sounds very familiar," Rare's face scrunched up as she tried to recall where she'd heard it before.

"She's one of my old friends from Canterlot," Twilight lumbered over to my side, Rare and Aj allowing her to take their place by my side. She looked even worse now than she had a few hours ago. Her eyes were much more bloodshot and her mane looked like it'd been put in a blender. I wasn't sure how she was keeping this up, but I was certain she couldn't go on like this for very much longer.

We'd all already talked to her about taking it easy countless times before, but that had been especially difficult for her even before the Loss. With everything the way it was now, she wouldn't stop. She'd never stop. "How are you doing, Rainbow?" she laid a hoof on my forehead, probably checking my temperature.

"I'm fine, Twilight," I offered her a reassuring smile. The last thing she needed right now was more things to worry about. "Just a little tired." I would've postured a bit more, but I didn't want to lie to her right now. I needed her to understand how important rest was.

"Dash, I-" her lower lip quivered as her head fell. "I'm so sorry." So that's why her eyes looked so red. Her tears fell to the floor as all of her friends stared on in silence.

"Twilight..." I sighed. Of course she'd blame herself.

Darn it...

"RAINBOW!" my friends shouted at me, but I ignored them all.

In spite of the pain, I forced myself to sit up with a very audible groan. Yeah, something was off with me. My back felt really strange and I couldn't move my wings at all, but that wasn't important right now. She was.

"Rainbow, you have to take it easy," Twilight was panicking now, moving her hooves to force me back down, but then thinking better of it and instead just waving them in front of herself. "You have to-"

"Cut the crap, Twilight," I let out a shaking breath as I finally found a somewhat tolerable sitting position.

"R-Rainbow!?" she looked at me full of hurt.

"How many times have we told you the exact same thing?" I stared into her eyes, my demeanor a bit colder than I would've preferred, but necessary for the current situation.

She looked taken aback for just a second before her gaze shifted between each of us, one mare and a dragon at a time. The girls gave her awkward, if not overly concerned, smiles. Spike scratched his head and looked away uncomfortably.

"You really are looking quite dreadful, darling," Rarity spoke up first. Twilight drooped at the honesty thrown at her.

"Ya have seen better days, Twi," Applejack agreed with the ivory unicorn.

"You need rest," there was no compassion or concern in Pinkie's statement. She just told the truth and nothing else.

"It's just... we really care about you, Twilight." Even Fluttershy chimed in over the radio, despite not being physically present. "And you're..." She stopped talking, unable to continue.

"This isn't like before, Twilight." Spike crossed his arms looking more than a little annoyed. "You may not realize it, but you're a lot more important now."

Starlight just stared at the lavender mare, as if to say 'I told you, Twilight'. She was obviously beyond tired herself. Any form of worry or pain Twilight felt affected her just as much, if not moreso. But at the very least, Starlight knew she had to take breaks every now and then, knew she had to get some rest sometimes. Twilight though... Twilight...

"I-I-" she looked... anguished. Her eyes darted frantically between the lot of us, her expression growing more and more desperate by the second. It was easy to see the truth hadn't had the effect I'd hoped. Just as she took a shaking step away from me, a step that expressed all the fear and uncertainty she was feeling, I grabbed her and pulled her into myself. "Rainbow!?" she gasped.

I didn't do things like this, at least not in front of the others. Too cool for school and that whole mess, but right now one of my best friends needed me to be loyal and I would never let her down.

"We love you, Twilight." I squeezed her tightly, fighting against my own embarrassment. She was trembling and it made my heart ache all the more. "Please!"

"I'll..." she nuzzled into me, her tears coming harder now. "I'll try." The others joined us in our embrace.

(A few hours later)

Twilight was looking a bit more lively after her nap and I was feeling much better after mine as well. I was actually able to sit up now without any pain, as long as I was allowed to lean on a few pillows.

Currently, they'd all come back to the operating room. I wasn't sure why it was crucial I stay here, but I could venture a guess. I still couldn't feel my wings. Something was wrong... but I wasn't scared. For some reason, I was abnormally calm. Twilight just might have pumped me full of more painkillers, but I couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

"I don't really get it either," Twilight sighed. We were back to discussing Moondancer and why she'd decide to attack our home. "Honestly, I would've expected her to join us, not attack us." The look of utter bewilderment on her face was troubling, but at least she didn't look like she was about to keel over at any moment. She was leaning on Starlight though, which was honestly pretty adorable now that I thought about it.

Because my job required so many things, my eyes had been enhanced to record whatever they viewed. Twilight didn't have cameras set up everywhere... not yet at least, so I let them mod me further. It helped a lot when we needed info, especially at times like these. A feed of what I saw was constantly sent to Fluttershy and recorded around the clock.

Everyone had watched the recording of my fight and were pretty much caught up. Now we were just trying to decide what to do. If Moondancer was one of Twilight's friends, then that complicated things.

"Well, that clearly ain't happenin' any time soon," Aj interjected. The orange pony was sitting next to Rare, her marefriend. They were a cute couple too. They'd been together for years now, and their relationship only looked to be getting stronger as each day passed. "If she's got tech that strong and a grudge against ya, Twi, we might be in fer more trouble than we think."

Aj's unsettling remark caused a tense silence to fall on the room. She'd said she was "testing", which could mean so many different things it was almost not worth thinking about at all, but it could also mean she was evaluating us and our defenses for something much worse...

"You don't think she'd do something more... aggressive, do you, darling?" Rarity asked our leader what we were all probably thinking. I know I was. If we were about to be invaded by some crazy unicorn with even crazier tech, we needed to be ready.

"I... I don't know," Twilight shook her head, deflated. "If she does, we'll-"

"Be ready!" I declared confidently, drawing the spotlight onto myself. "I won't let anything happen to any of you." I steeled myself. It wasn't a lie. They would stay safe, even if I had to die to protect them.

"Dash..." Starlight looked so grateful for just a moment before her entire demeanor changed. I knew that expression. That was the face of a mare with life changing news.

"RD..." Applejack spoke up, her expression no brighter. "We got some bad n-"

"Your wings are gone," Pinkie stated evenly. Now there was a face that betrayed no emotion. Chilling.

"PINKIE!?" Fluttershy's shout along with the crackle of metallic screeching in our heads almost made everyone except the pink pony and Twilight double over in agony.

"Little loud, Flutters," I rubbed my temple once I'd recovered from the throbbing migraine a bit. The other girls were nursing their own discomfort.

A quiet "S-sorry," was all the yellow pegasus could manage to whisper back.

"She needs to know," Pinkie said so bluntly I thought her sister Maud might've somehow come in and taken her place. "She deserves to know." Everyone else simply dropped their heads, apparently ashamed for some reason. I couldn't fathom why.

It's not like they were keeping something from me for selfish reasons.

"I figured," I chuckled mirthlessly drawing confused gazes. "I can't feel em, haven't been able to since I first woke up.," I looked at Twilight, determination filling my soul. "I don't care. No matter what it takes, I'm gonna protect all of you, with or without wings."

They stared wide-eyed and mouths agape, as if I'd just said the most ludicrous they'd ever heard. All of them except the Lights. They just looked at each other, Twilight jerking her head in my direction. With one of the longest breaths I'd ever seen a pony take, Starlight looked my way.

"Rainbow, there still might be something we can do," the others turned their stupefied faces to the lilac unicorn. "I've been working on something... It might be able to give you back your wings, but..." she bit her lower lip and looked at Twilight.

"Star," Twilight smiled back, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Everyone here trusts you. You just have to have faith in yourself."

The smile that spread across Starlight's face, paired with the crimson tinge on her cheeks, gave her all the confidence she needed to continue.

"I didn't want to bring it up until I was completely sure it was ready," her eyes drilled into mine. "But I'm fairly certain I can make it work. 75/25 at worst, Rainbow, it's your choice."

"What does failure mean for me?" I had to know what I was putting on the line. If it was something small then I'd-

"Death."

Crap...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Shi-" the orange mare's eyes widened in terror once she noticed the look of anger on my face. I don't know where she'd picked up that kind of language... I mean sure, I could sometimes curse like a sailor if I got pissed off enough, but never in front of her. She was supposed to be better than me, and I intended to make sure she was and stayed that way.

"Shoot, Dash," she quickly changed her tune. "That sounds... horrible," she'd been hanging on every word. "What are you gonna do? About your wings, I mean."

I scratched my mane roughly with a hoof. Could I live again without my wings? I could still do things now, just not to the same degree as before... not even close. Was it worth it?

I wasn't so sure. I didn't want to die, not anymore at least. Even if it was without my wings, I wanted to take care of my friends. I wanted... I wanted to be a boon not a burden to them, but...

"What do you think I should do, Scootaloo?" I stared at her, hoping that there'd be something there, something I could use to motivate myself, to lift myself up.

She was taken aback by my question, her eyes widening before narrowing in concentration as she looked down at the floor. She was quiet for a minute. I'd give her as much time as she needed.

"I think," she lifted her head, a brilliant smile on her face. "I think you're the bravest most loyal pony I know, Dash. You always have been." I felt the corners of my mouth lift. "I know you'll do the right thing, no matter what it is."

I couldn't fake my usual tough guy act and pretend her words hadn't stirred something in my heart. I clenched my teeth, doing the best that I could not to look weak in front of the mare who'd always idolized me.

"Thanks, Scoots," I covered my mouth with a hoof and looked away from her. "You're right," I felt my confidence rising, her faith in me reinforcing my original decision. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do."