Evaporated Promises

by Test4Echo

Rating: teen
Tags: Spitfire, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Sad, Nurse Redheart, Drama
Length: 3349

Rainbow Dash had it all ahead of her. Then her whole world dried up in an instant.

It was the zenith of her life aspirations. Rainbow Dash had finally achieved the status she always craved: becoming a true Wonderbolt. Not some trainee, not a reservist, but a fully fledged, bona fide Wonderbolt! So what if she had a bit of a crazy night after that first show? She deserved it! However, why is her whole body feeling like it's been put through the wringer? Why can't she move?

And what's that bloody beeping?!

Written for the Dialogue-Only Contest.

Thanks again to Everfree Pony for the editing.

Cover art by ZetaMad.

Published 2024-06-14 22:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-06-14 22:30:01 UTC

Dried Up Dreams

"...Wh-Where am I? What's that—

"Oh no—"

"Well, somepony decided to finally wake up. How's the crater feeling today? You—"

"'Crater?' What's going on? Where'd you take me? Why's my throat so dry? Why can't I move m—AGH!"

"Yeah, that's what happens when you try to stretch something that's been shattered into a million pieces. Maybe try waiting for the nurse to finish what she was going to say before you decide to just jump into the action and hurt yourself more?"

"Oh, ha ha, Redheart. You've seen me in here enough to know I can take anything. That time I stubbed my hoof? No big deal! When I got ten splinters in my nose? Piece of bucking cake! Just give it to me, now!"

"...Are you really sure you want that, Dash?"

"Well, I'd also like to have a cupcake and maybe also Princess Celestia come down and proclaim me the coolest pony around, but I can't have everything, can I? Although... now that you mention it. How'd I end up in here? I was in Cloudsdale last night. Ponyville General doesn't—"

"You're right, we don't cover for Cloudsdale. Surprisingly, your brain appears to still be functioning."

"Hey! I'm lying here in this stupid bed, that beeper thingy is this close to making me snap, my head is pounding, and I can't move a Celestia-damned muscle! What gives?! You're not normally so... so... what's the word?"

"Acerbic? Vitriolic? Caustic? Scathing?"

"Snarky!"

"That will work, I suppose."

"Yeah! What gives?! Your bedside manner is usually so—"

"My bedside manner should have gone to bed ten hours ago, Dash. I actually had a nice, pleasant evening with a friend. I was in the middle of a truly wondrous, glorious slumber that I hadn't had in ages, then I got the call from Doctor Heartfelt. Do you know how sleep deprivation affects a pony? I can give you the intricate, impressive details from my current experience."

"...Sorry..."

"...It's... not your fault, Dash. I'm still a little sour from being dragged in here at the last moment, because of some hokey hotshot that had a little too much to drink."

"Wait, that's why—"

"Use those brain cells, Dash. I—Oh, Princess Twilight! Get her out of my mane, please. I'll just leave you two in peace! So I can have a bit of it myself."

"Thank you, Nurse. I appreciate you looking after my friend."

"Not a problem! Please make sure it's the last time."

"Twilight? Where's everypony else?"

"Rarity's sewing a blanket or something for you to keep your 'athletic chic' while in here. Fluttershy said she's seen enough grievous injury with her critters. Pinkie is planning... something: around wing exercises, I think? Applejack... is ostensibly tending to the farm. When I asked her why that would impede her from coming, she said there were a lot of chores and I could handle this, but I get the feeling—"

"She didn't want to see me, right? Figures. I wouldn't want to see me, either."

"That's not it, Rainbow! You're her best friend! Do you know how hard it is for me to see you like this? I fought Tirek to an impasse, but it was less terrifying than this! What do you think she feels? Or Pinkie? Or anypony else?"

"I don't know! Maybe I would, if somepony could tell me what's going on and why everypony keeps treating me like I'm made out of ice!"

"I tried telling you, but somepony interruuupted!"

"I heard that, Redheart!"

"Rainbow, look at me. What do you remember about last night?"

"I... was in Cloudsdale. A bunch of us Wonderbolts went out to celebrate me becoming a full Wonderbolt, and then... Agh! Think! And then..."

"It's dark, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Rainbow, you tried flying home last night. From what I was told, it was probably one or two in the morning... Dash, you slammed into the ground on your way back. Probably only a minute or so outside of Ponyville on hoof."

"Pfft, big deal. I've walked off plenty of crash landings before."

"At mach point five?"

"W-What?"

"I don't have all the details, and I probably am doing a terrible job at actually telling you all this but... but you impacted the surface at a velocity of approximately a hundred and fifty meters per second, transferring around four point five kilonewtons—"

"Ponish, please."

"—You went super, super fast—"

"Heh, as always."

"Rainbow, please, let me finish."

"Fine, fine. Celestia, my rump feels like it got run over by one of Pinkie's dessert carts."

"You were flying home from Cloudsdale, from that party that you and the Wonderbolts had because you became a full member, yes. From what I was told, they tried to get you to just bunk in the barracks for the night, or even sleep in Spitfire's Mom's guest room, but you wanted to go back home."

"Okay, so?"

"Rainbow, you probably drank half the crew under the table. I don't know how you were still moving, let alone flying."

"Okay..."

"So, when you did go, you managed to get close to Ponyville before you crashed, thank Celestia. Imagine what would have happened if you landed somewhere in the valley between here and Cloudsdale. Nopony—"

"Yeah, yeah, just give me it straight. Why am I decked out like this?"

"...You shattered parts of your spine, both your hindlegs have compound fractures, your right forearm was dislocated and broken in three places, your left's fetlock was completely smashed, you collapsed a lung—"

"So, pretty bad."

"Yeah, 'pretty bad'. You also bent and twisted your left wing, and effectively... let me just check the x-rays they have over here... vaporized a portion of the bone in your right."

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that I injured my wings?"

"Uh, yes? You did more than injure them. You basically pulverized them."

"Oh, no. No, no no no no no no! This can't be happening! It's not happening! This is just, just a nightmare! I'm probably just, you know, passed out at the bar, and this is some nightmare I'm having while the cider works its way through! Yeah, yeah! I'll wake up, have a killer headache, maybe puke it out a bit, and then I'll be all better, and—"

"Rainbow, this isn't a dream. This is real."

"Nope! Not listening! This is all my wasted noggin dreaming this!"

"I'd like to tell you otherwise, but this is real, Rainbow Dash. I can pinch you to prove it."

"Nope! Just going to—AGH! What the buck, Twilight? That... hurt... I... What? This happened? Really? I just—"

"Looks like Rainbow Crash has earned her name again! How's it going, Crash? Oh! Princess! Sorry, didn't notice you since I was too awestruck by Crash's crazy burnout!"

"Captain Spitfire..."

"Hey, did you know that she almost completely wiped out at our latest practice? I got—"

"Really? Really, Spitfire? Can I die of any more embarrassment?"

"We can certainly try, Crash!"

"Ugh!"

"Might not be the best idea to crack jokes right now, Captain."

"Please, Princess, just call me Spitfire. I mean, you outrank me, so you can call me whatever you want. Just don't call me 'late for dinner,' heh."

"I really don't think that Rainbow Dash is up to listening to corny wisecracks."

"Yeah... really not."

"Aw, and I just wanted to tell Cr—Dash that she should be happy she's not in a full-body wing and hoof cast, drinking through a straw. She's just eating mushed peas, instead. Way better."

"Captain..."

"All right, all right, ya got me. I'll keep a lid on the jokes."

"Thank you."

"Thanks, Spits."

"That's a new nickname, Newbie. What? We best buds, now?"

"Ugh..."

"Okay, I wanted to check up on ya. It's not the easiest waking up in a hospital, you know? Especially when your whole world is on fire, right?"

"Are you really—"

"You don't say, Spitfire? Anything else that you want to help me figure out again? It's not like I can't even move without—AGH!—without feeling like I'm going to turn into dust."

"It's called disintegration."

"Whatever!

"At least tell me if I'll be able to fly again? Okay? I just need to know! I have my first practice next week and—"

"You ain't going anywhere anytime soon, Dash. Not in that getup."

"'You aren't'—"

"I wasn't finished, Princess!"

"But, I will fly again, right? Right? I-I can't be grounded for the rest of my life! W-What will I do?! I gotta be able to fly again! The docs here can work wonders, right? I'm sure that with enough time—Celestia, that hurts to say—it'll all work out. Right?

"Right?"

"It'll take a long time, Rainbow. And... it might not happen the way you want."

"Okay, but what about steroids? I know those are banned for the 'Bolts, but maybe if it'll help with fixing the bones, we can make—"

"That might help with the muscle and your one wing, but it won't bring back bone that is no longer there."

"O-Okay, well, magic! You know all kinds of magic! You have friends back in Canterlot! You gotta know somepony who is an expert in fixing broken wings!"

"Starting to reach a lot, Crash."

"Captain, not helping. But no, Rainbow, I don't think that will provide you the results you desire, either. Yes, I know ponies, and Princess Celestia knows even more, but even the best bone healers don't have a perfect success rate. Healing magic and deep wounds and injuries like yours can have... complications."

"Like?"

"Like a bone setting the wrong way and then growing into your chest, potentially skewering your heart. Or a slight incorrect angle on the healed bone requiring a complete refracture. Or growing mane hair in the wrong—"

"I think I get the idea, Twilight..."

"Wow, and you said I was the one not helping."

"Because at least I am telling the truth and not trying to hide behind poorly timed jokes."

"What? You're dissing on my sense of humor? I'm mortified! If I wasn't serving under ya, I'd probably whack you with KP duty for the month because of the disrespect!"

"Ugh, can we stop fighting? I just want to scratch my bucking rump. It hurts like Tartarus and is itchy."

"Oo-o-oh! So ya finally noticed, huh Dash?"

"Honestly, Captain, can we just stop with the—"

"...Noticed what?"

"Well, uh, when the night got a bit longer, you and Soarin' might have... well, you know... gotten a bit heavy with the play, if you catch my drift. Young ponies, booze, you know how that goes, right?"

"W-W-We did... what?! No, oh no no, I can't have—"

"Seriously, Spitfire, did you have to do that?"

"Well excuuuuuuuse me, Princess! I just wanted to try and lighten the mood again! But I can see that my talents aren't appreciated. Didn't realize that you woke up in the wrong book section today."

"That's not—fine, whatever. Rainbow, breathe. You hurt all over because you crashed into the ground at mach point five, like I said."

"Oh, whew! I thought for a second my career could be over because I might become a mo—"

"Yeah, let's just move on."

"Fine, I can take a hint! I'll just keep my mouth shut and look pretty. Not like I don't do that already for the 'Bolts."

"Thank you. Rainbow, apart from being here, you should be thankful that you're still breathing at all. I don't know how you pulled through. Any normal pegasus would have been splattered across a twenty foot diameter impact crater, but you were still... recognizable."

"Gee. Thanks."

"I think it's something with the Elements or the Tree of Harmony's magic. Because you embody the Element of Loyalty, some of that magic must remain inside you at all times, and must have made you extra hardy. Or something."

"So that's how I survived my Sonic Nukeboom when Applejack asked me to take out that one barn?"

"Possibly. I have a theory, but I can't really ever test it. I think that because you were cognizant, practiced, and were focused on a single point of impact on your body, most of that magic concentrated on your front hoof, where you hit. It cushioned the actual inertia transference, and you walked away unscathed."

"Uh, I think it might be the cider, or the crash, or whatever, but Ponish, please?"

"Bookhorse is saying that the fancy Element magic is inside you and that you focused it last time on one thing, so you turned out okay. When you were wasted, you couldn't really focus on any of that. Catch it this time?"

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that, but yes, that's what I was trying to explain."

"S-So, because I was... drunk, I wasn't prepared for the crash, and... and now..."

"You're in a full-body wing and hoof cast—"

"You're recovering."

"And... I'll be able to fly again?"

"...I don't know."

"B-But, I have to fly! I-I don't know what I'd do without feeling the air whooshing past me! W-Who even am I if I—"

"Look, Dash. I get this is tough. I get it. Truly do. You think that you're the first new Wonderbolt who got a little too excited, and then Fate cut things short before they could even start? I've gone to these things dozens of times before, and none of them are easy—"

"Really? Because you fooled me and Rainbow."

"—But just because it happened to you, doesn't mean it's the end! There were a few who got back into the air. Might not have flown with us, but whatever. A couple even returned right as rain! So, you know, when you get out of rehab in half a year, there'll still be a spot for ya in the 'Bolts."

"On the team?"

"...Dash. Gonna be straight with you. This ain't the worst, catastrophic injury I've seen in my career. It ain't the best, either. Can't predict the future, so only Celestia knows how well you'll heal. But, us Wonderbolts, we look after each other, all right? No matter what happens, there'll be a spot for you with us! Could be behind a desk, but I can always use some help with doing paperwork, and there's always bossing new rookies, too!"

"Oh...

"N-No, I won't let that happen! I-I'll do anything to get back in the air! I'll stop eating Pinkie's cupcakes! I'll tell Zephyr that he's actually not so bad! I'll even make apple pies for Soarin' for the rest of his life! I just need to be able to fly again!

"Maybe if I beg Celestia enough, she—"

"Okay, and I think that's my cue to go, Princess. Sorry about setting her off again; guess my attempt at lightening the mood fell flat.

"Uh, probably shouldn't have said that."

"It's... fine, Spitfire. And please, just call me Twilight. I'm the Princess of Friendship, after all."

"Ri-i-ight! Will do, Twilight! Anyway, see ya around, Crash! I'll bring the others by when they're not practicing!"

"—or if I dream enough for Luna to see—"

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Huh? What?"

"Spitfire left."

"Oh.

"I'm not ever flying again, am I, Twilight?"

"I honestly can't say. I may have wings, but I'm an alicorn! We have the magic of all three races going through us, and I'm the Element of Magic to boot! I can't make my durability attest for yours."

"Gee... thanks. Makes me feel soooo great, Twilight."

"But that doesn't mean that it won't happen. Pony bodies are pretty amazing, after all. Every creature's body is! The lymphatic system, the mending capabilities of—"

"Okay, cut down the nerd talk."

"R-Right. Well, anyway, I don't know what will happen. The doctors here are talented, and they'll do all that they can to get you back on your hooves. And, uh, in the air. Heh, after all, you are the local Wonderbolt and a source of pride."

"So I'm just a trophy to them?"

"N-No! I didn't mean that! But... they just want to make sure that you heal as best you can!"

"Yeah, sure. I might as well post an ad for my Wonderbolt uniform: 'Used Wonderbolt uniform, never worn.' I'll never fly again. I know it."

"Don't say that!"

"I'll never fly again."

"Rainbow Dash! That's the attitude that will guarantee that you never heal correctly!"

"Come on, Twilight, you think that I don't know what two borked wings feel like? Sure, they may be broken now, but this ain't like any normal break, you know? I can just... feel it. Gah! I feel it in my bones."

"It's just the effects of shock wearing off. Probably Nurse Redheart or somepony else needs to give you more painkillers. Must be running out."

"No! It's not that. I can just tell, okay, Twilight?! When you've been flying for as long as I have, you just know!

"You just know..."

"Rainbow Dash?"

"...I'm scared, Twilight. I-I don't know... w-what I'm going to do. I-I always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, and n-now? I-I-I..."

"Ssshh! It's okay! I-I don't know what it's like. I-I probably never will, but I'm here for you. All of your friends are."

"Yeah, and see where that got me. Glad to see so many are here."

"They're processing it, just like you are! Heck, I'm probably going to eat a tub of ice cream and read a thirty-volume trashy romance novel series tonight when I'm done with Starlight's lessons."

"Heh, figures. Egghead.

"...I suppose... I could take up new hobbies. Maybe help at the new library... or something. Be an egghead like you."

"Ha! See? There's a bit of the Rainbow Dash I know!"

"You sap."

"Guilty as charged. I may not know all the answers, Rainbow, but I do know that we're your friends, and we'll do all that we can to help you out. Life-changing events can happen to anypony, and... well, it just means that we'll all have to find a new normal."

"'New normal.' Right. Like being a grounder for the rest of my life."

"Try to look on the positive side. And you never know if the physiotherapy will work or not. You have to do your best."

"Got ya covered, Twilight. I already did."

"You have to keep doing your best, no matter how hard.

"Now, I would like to stay longer, but I left Starlight with another friendship lesson, and I have to make sure that she doesn't go overboard."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Well, maybe with the last lesson she went a liiiiiittle too far and thought that my analogy about pets and their relationships with us meant that by turning ponies into animals, she'd bond with them easier. She maaaaay have transformed a few ponies into newts before I stopped her, heh."

"Yeah... that soooooouuuuunds like Starlight. Wow... Didn't think I'd be this beat."

"That would be because I just gave you more painkillers, Dash. So that I can finally pass you off to somepony else and get some sleep."

"Harsh... vibes, Redheart. But, heh, thanks. Did I ever tell you that your mane looks funny?"

"Ugh."

"Rainbow, stay focused for a second. Okay? Good. I'm going. I'll make sure that one of our friends visits you later today. Just, sleep and get better, okay?"

"Sure thing, Twilight. Sure... thing."

"We'll all get through this. Together. After all, what are friends for?"

"Yeah... what... are friends... for?"

Author's Note

Missing my usual sign-off in the story this time, but I wanted to keep to the challenge. This was a fun one to write, since the whole idea of dialogue-only is not something I'd normally think about doing, but now I have a few other concepts floating around that may get penned up sometime. This is an interesting way to flex them writin' muscles! :rainbowdetermined2:

Anyway, like I always do, I want to thank Everfree Pony for their help with editing. Even if it was dialogue, it still needed a bit of tightening up.

Also, this is my twenty-fifth story on the site. Woot!

Until next fic!
T4E