Newbie Dash (Alternative)

When Rainbows comes to, she finds herself lying in a hospital bed, an IV bag hanging above her head, a bandaged wing that’s been restrained to her body, and a sense of deja vu.
The difference to last time is that her wing is folded in the bandages, instead of stretched out, and she isn’t a 100% sure if the Wonderbolts standing next to her bed are real or not.

She stares at them for some time, her head feeling way too fuzzy as to form a single coherent thought.

“What were you thinking?!” Spitfire eventually snaps. “Changing the routine at the last minute without consulting me. If it hadn’t been for the princesses, you’d be dead now!”

Rainbow gulps. Definitely real.

“Wonderbolts look out for each other. We can’t be a team if we don’t work as one.” The leader continues to lecture.

Dash prepares herself for the moment they tell her that she’s out of the ‘Bolts.
But instead…

“Now that that is out of the way…” Spitfire trails off with a grin directed at their team mates.

“That trick was totally EPIC!” Fleetfoot exclaims.

“Yeah, I wish I could pull off something like that!” Soarin says in awe.

Spitfire clears her throat and comes to Dash’s bedside. “Good thing that we’re on break until spring, so your wing should be healed up by then.” She backs up again. “That is, if you still want to fly with us.”

Rainbow throws her a dumbfounded look. This was unexpected, to say the least. “You’re not gonna throw me out?”

“Throw you out?” The Wonderbolts chuckle. “Are you kidding? You’re the best flier we’ve ever had! We were waiting for ages for a spot to finally open up.”

Rainbow blinks, unable to process the idea that the coolest flight team in all of Equestria wanted her. Not just allowing her in because her name was the next on the list, but actually wanting her.

“I just thought.. I mean… after I kept messing up during training, I just wanted to prove to you all that you hadn’t made a mistake in putting me on the team.” Dash explains, struggling to focus.

“Mistake?” Soarin asks dumbfounded, as if he had never heard such a word before. “Never! Ever since you saved us at the Best Young Fliers Competition, and pulled off that incredible trick, we knew that we had to get you on the team someday.”

“And you taught us a lot over the years, Crash.” Spitfire adds.

All the fuzzy feelings were immediately diminished when she said that blasted nickname, and they notice her whole demeanour changing from disbelief to distraught.

“What’s the matter?” Fleetfoot asks.

“‘Rainbow Crash’ was the loser at Flight Camp who could barely get off a cloud.” Rainbow grumbles sternly. “I’m not that pony anymore.” She says, although it’s not really clear if she’s saying it to herself or the other pegasi.

The ‘Bolts share a confused look.

“Well, of course you’re not. You’re one of us.” Spitfire offers. “And we all have our — moderately demeaning — nicknames, that refer to mistakes we made as a Wonderbolt.”

The others nod.

Rainbow frowns. “So I should be glad you don’t call me ‘Rainbow Blob’?” She asks disheartened.

The other athletes are confused. “What are you talking about?” Spitfire asks.

“You know; because I couldn’t even fit into my own suit?” Rainbow clarifies, utterly humiliated.

Fleetfoot steps forward. “Listen… if this is about the jokes I made, then I’m truly sorry.”

“We have all been there at one point or another.” Spitfire says seriously, and the others nod. “And besides that, it would hardly be appropriate. For one, we don’t do these nicknames based on our appearance, only the silly moments that just happen during practice. And two: you’re literally the thinnest of us, and could honestly do with putting on a bit of weight, if you know what I mean.”

Rainbow is completely stunned by this.

“Get some rest. We already stayed longer than the staff wanted us to.” The leader says, and they all take their leave.

Dash is alone for all of two seconds before her pony friends, plus Spike and Scootaloo, enter.

“Oh, we’re so glad you’re okay!” Rarity says in greeting, and they all spread out around the bed. The others all seem to have something on their mind, even Pinkie isn’t bouncing around.

“Do you remember what happened?” Twilight asks softly, though her voice sounds raw, like she’s been crying.

Rainbow tries to remember. “I was flying… we were going through the second routine.” She could vaguely remember her wing hurting and flying blindly, thinking to herself that she just needed to keep going a bit longer. Just a little longer. Then… nothing.

“You did a Sonic Rainboom!” Scootaloo says, “and I took a picture of it!” She shows her the polaroid. “Look! I mean, it’s not nearly as awesome as it was to watch it in person, but it’s sooo cool!”

Rainbow stares at the image, mouth agape. “I’ve never seen it like that before.” She says. Of course, technically she gets the best view whenever she pulls it off, but being able to see the whole of it from afar is an incredible sight on its own.

Scootaloo pulls it back to herself. “I need it for my presentation tomorrow, but after that, you can totally keep it!” She says with a grin.

“That would be- wait,… you still want to do that hero thing.. about me?” Dash asks in disbelief. She could vaguely remember the filly saying something about some kind of hero presentation, when she’d upset her with her outburst.

“Well duh, of course!” Scoots scoffs. “I mean, hellooo, you’re the coolest pony in all over Equestria.”

“No, I’m not.” Rainbow says instantly without thinking, causing everyone to look at her in shock. Pinkie’s dramatic gasp threatens to rupture her lungs.

“I know I said I’d find somepony else to do my hero report on, but I didn’t actually mean it. You told me that there’s more to it, and I didn’t listen. I may not fully understand what’s going on, but you’re still my sister and you were always there for me when I needed it. So allow me to return the favour.” The filly says seriously.

Struggling to comprehend what’s been happening since she woke up, Rainbow barely manages a “th-thanks.”

The others throw Twilight a knowing look, and Applejack announces, “come on y’all. I think these two have some things to talk about,” she turns to Scoots, “and I better bring you home.”

As they take their leave, Rainbow suddenly realises that Fluttershy hadn’t been here with the others, but couldn’t figure out why that was important, and then she’s alone with Twilight, who starts asking more questions.

“How are you feeling?”

Such a common question, and yet, it truly leaves the pegasus wondering. How is she feeling?
She tries to sit up, disliking laying there like a patient, but quickly finds that she has barely any strength left and gets horribly dizzy immediately.

“I guess I’ve been better…” she decides, eyes screwed shut and holding a hoof to her forehead as the world continues to spin inside her head.

“There’s something you need to know…” Twilight hesitantly broaches, which grants her a half opened eye directed at herself. “I asked them to check out your heart, and I think we know what happened.” She takes a deep breath to steady herself, and has Rainbow’s full attention now.
“The doctors found out that the muscles of your heart chambers are thinner than they should be, which means that it needs to work much harder to do its job. When you did the Sonic Rainboom, the extreme physical exertion, plus the added pressure from your speed, became too much. Your heart didn’t have the strength to get the needed amount of blood and oxygen to your brain, so you lost consciousness.” She explains, then sighs. “It’s a miracle you even managed to pull it off, and got away with only a pulled muscle in your wing.”

Even with her fuzzy brain barely able to process anything, Rainbow could understand the gist of what happened. Or rather, what is happening. “That’s bad.. right?” She asks, a bit worried that she may have done irreversible damage to herself.

“Yes. But you’re extremely lucky: they said that you didn’t do any permanent damage to your heart, and that it should recover and get strong again, if you eat right and stick to only light exercise for now.”

It sounds so easy. But when you’re struggling with an eating disorder, it feels like being told that you’re about to go to jail for an unknown length of time.

Twilight seems to know what’s going through her friend’s mind. “I know that it won’t be easy for you, but it’s really for your own good, and we’ll all be there to support you.”

Rainbow’s eyes stay downcast. “To be honest, I think exercising is going to be very far down on my to-do list.” She lays back down, resting her head on the covers. “I really don’t feel well...” She finally admits, closing her eyes, and it’s possibly the most heartbreaking thing Twilight has ever witnessed the prideful pony say.

It was as if she just witnessed the last bit of fight leaving her. Like a once enormous flame has just been extinguished, leaving a cold, dark emptiness in its place.

For once, the Princess of Friendship was at a loss on how to comfort her friend. And there’s an even bigger issue at hand: Rainbow is supposed to stay in the hospital for a few days, for observation. And Twilight knows that she’s unlikely going to touch any of the food they serve here. But the pegasus also didn’t seem able to handle the travel back to the castle in her current state — neither by walking, nor teleportation.

As if reading her mind, Rainbow suddenly asks, “how long do I have to stay here?”

“Technically, a couple of days.”

Dash looks at her in puzzlement. “What do you mean ‘technically’?”

“Well.. they want to keep you here, make sure there are no bad after effects.” Twilight sighs. “But you have to eat.”

All at once, she understood. “Oh.. right… of course…”

“I would offer to take you home and keep an eye on you, but I fear that you’re in no state to leave that bed right now, much less travel across half of Ponyville.”

“It’s fine.” Rainbow decides. “It’s only a few days at most, anyways, right? I can totally do this.” She says, sounding the total opposite of convincing. Before Twilight could say anything, Dash yawns and curls up into a ball. “I really need to get some sleep until lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this tired before…”

Twilight gently tucks the blanket over her with her magic. The staff will keep Dash here until the IV bag is finished, at the very least. After that… they’ll just have to wait and see. “I’ll let you get some rest. I’ll come back later.”

For the first time in a long while, Rainbow has a ‘dream’. She’s in the Canterlot Castle with Luna.

“How are you feeling, Rainbow Dash?” The princess asks.

“I’ve been better.” Dash replies honestly.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Rainbow sighs. “It’s my own fault, anyways. I never should have tried to perform in the first place.”

“I fear that this is partly my fault as well. I’ve been cancelling your dreams.” Luna confesses. “I’d assumed that allowing you to fully rest would be more beneficial. But in hindsight, maybe if i had just talked to you one more time, it could have prevented this.”

She casts a spell that shows her memory of the show, how Dash’s friends come running, shouting for help. She’s a bit surprised by Applejack’s obvious regret and worry.

Then, she gets another view of her Sonic Rainboom, and can’t help a ‘whoa’, along with the audience’s awe. But then she watches herself just plummeting, and the cheers turn into screams. She could barely make out Twilight yelling “I can’t slow her down!”, then memory-Luna jumps into action, and the memory fazes out with a bright flash of their combined magic.

Rainbow feels lightheaded, now knowing what had happened. No wonder Spitfire was mad, and she feels horribly guilty for scaring her friends, and everyone else witnessing it, like that.

“I’m so sorry for ruining the day like that.” She apologises. After all, today was supposed to be the celebration of the two sisters reuniting. Not the near death of an Element of Harmony.

“Miss Dash~” A nurse singsongs in the waking world.

“I fear our time is up.” Luna remarks, slowly being pulled away. “Be strong, my little pony. I shall see you tonight.”

Rainbow startles awake, only to find a food tray being placed in front of her.

“Lunch time!” The nurse says cheerfully and takes her leave.

Rainbow gags at the mere sight. It was the same nasty grub that they apparently always serve here. Not only did it look and smell disgusting, but she also had absolutely no idea what is even in this stuff. For all she knew, they could be giving her poison, to make her ill and keep her here longer. Or it could be some fattening mixture of high caloric, very unhealthy foods.

Since Twilight is so meticulous about making sure that Dash is getting everything she needs, in the absolutely perfect amounts, she has learned that she could trust what the alicorn serves her. She knows every gram, every percentage of what goes into those meals and even the snacks.

In her mind, it was safe. This hospital food is anything but. She may have told Twilight that she’d eat, but actually having it in front of her is a completely different story.

“Never mind. Urgh! I can’t do this.” She whines, shoving the food tray away from herself. That’s when she realises that the IV has been removed, a little bandaid now in the needle’s place.

The white bandage around her wing and torso suddenly feels strangely tight, to the point of restricting her breathing, so she briefly checks that no one is coming into her room in the next few seconds, and makes quick work in unwrapping them. Once she’s free, she rips off the little bandaid as well, just for good measure.

She gets off the bed dizzily, but finds that she’s a lot more stable now. She also feels oddly puffed up and swollen, bloated like a water balloon, but she couldn’t really focus on it, because her first priority right now is to get out of this hospital.

Checking the window, she finds that she’s in luck. Her room is on ground level, so she opens it and easily jumps out, and starts her journey back to Twilight’s castle.

Rainbow quickly regrets removing the bandages. At least when her wing had been tightly held in place, the sore muscle didn’t have to tense up at every movement. Now she has to grit her teeth at the stabs of pain that shoot through her wing at every step.

Halfway across town, a good distance away from the festivities still going on, she startles half to death when a pegasus suddenly swoops down, right in front of her.

“Heyyy Rainbows!” None other than Zephyr Breeze greets her, brushing a hoof through his hair as though to impress her. “I’m sure you’re happy to know that I saw the amazing, incredible show that you put on for me, earlier. But just between me and you, you didn’t have to fall for me like that. A bit too dramatic for my taste, ya know?”

Like always, her brain and body completely freeze up at his utterly ridiculous thought process and drawn conclusions regarding her actions, so she just stares at him in complete disbelief.

She snaps out of it when he suddenly squishes her face, then playfully pokes her belly. “Have you gotten more pudgy since I last saw you?” He asks, then shrugs. “Hm, oh well. Now there’s just more of you to love. Isn’t that right, Rainbows?” He raises his eyebrows seductively.

“W-what?!” She exclaims.

Completely ignoring the horror on her face, he wraps an arm around her neck. “Hey, I don’t know about you, but Ah am hungreeey! Let’s go get some lunch, it’ll be our very first date- Do I look okay?” He asks, using both hooves to touch at his mane.

The moment she’s free, she makes to fly off without thinking. Barely even opening her wings, she’s quickly reminded that she’s injured and can’t fly for at least a few days, probably a week. She cries out when the pain in her wing, which was already bad enough, even spreads out into her back for a moment, completely immobilising her.

Zephyr remains ignorant of her plight and also lets out a yell. “Auwh! I like the enthusiasm!”

When he makes to wrap his arm around her neck again, Rainbow finally slaps him away. “Stop it! I’m not interested in you!”

Unfortunately for her, it is very difficult to seem threatening when your opponent is a full head taller than you, and she couldn’t fly up to be on eye level. Or fly away, like she desperately wishes she could do right now.

He laughs. “Oh, Rainbows. You crack me up. You don’t have to hide your feelings for me!” One moment he brings his head close to hers, pursing his lips, as if going in for a kiss, and the next moment, he’s surrounded by a purple aura and shoved a pony length away from Dash.

“She told you to leave her alone.” Twilight scolds, her face an angry scowl.

Rainbow has never been so happy to see her. And she’s also never seen the alicorn so mad before.

Twilight steps protectively between her friend and the stallion, relinquishing her magical hold. Right in that moment, they hear Fluttershy’s angry shout.

“ZEPHYR BREEZE!” The normally timid pegasus is seemingly equally as infuriated as Twilight. “I can’t believe you sometimes! I turn my back for one second and you go and harass Rainbow, after I told you crystal clear to leave her alone!”

He still doesn’t seem to get the message. “Alright, alright, chillax-”

“I will not ‘chillax’, you apologise right now!” She bellows, gesturing to Dash.

Zephyr sighs dramatically. “Sorry, Rainbows.” He opens his wings, throwing his sister and Twilight a haughty frown. “Maybe next time.” He mutters and finally flies off.

“Uurgh.” Fluttershy groans, facepalming. Then she lands next to Rainbow. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I told him to keep his distance if he wants to stay with me. I left the room for one second and he was gone.”

“It’s fine…” Rainbow replies. “It’s not your fault. I just don’t get what he sees in me.” She says honestly.

“Don’t think like that. You’re amazing and brave and strong.” Fluttershy tries to comfort her.

“And apparently ‘pudgy’.” Rainbow snaps without thinking. She looks pointedly at Twilight, because the alicorn had promised her to tell her if she was getting too big.

“You aren’t. What he was referring to is water weight, probably because of the saline. It’s temporary, I promise.” Twilight explains factually.

Hearing that it apparently wasn’t just a strange, wrong perception of his, only stresses her out further. “Is it very noticeable?!” Dash asks, looking left and right for a mirror or nearby lake.

“No.” Twilight shakes her head. “In fact, you look much healthier right now.”

“‘Healthy’ as in ‘fat’?” Rainbow can’t help asking.

Fluttershy lays a gentle hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “No, Rainbow. Healthy like me, or Twilight. We aren’t ‘fat’, right?”

That helps calm her down a bit.

“No.” Rainbow says. It’s still difficult to convince the devil in her head of that fact, but she could remember that time Twilight had stood next to her in front of the mirror, and been able to see that she’d been skinnier than the alicorn.

She also realises now why the bandages had been so tight all of a sudden, if her body had stored the water from the IV. Being a somewhat knowledgeable athlete, she also knows perfectly why that happened: not eating enough protein as of late, and not drinking nearly enough to keep hydrated, so now her body had no other choice than to keep the extra fluid trapped in the cells. And, as Twilight had said, it was just temporary.

That doesn’t mean she’s not feeling horribly self conscious about it, but at least she’s not alone.

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Twilight asks. “And where are the bandages?”

Rainbow laughs sheepishly. “I wasn’t a big fan of the hospital food.” She looks over at her aching wing. “And when I woke up, the bandages were too tight, probably thanks to the water retention. So I took them off.” She explains.

Twilight playfully rolls her eyes. Her parents were right about one thing: Rainbow really does deserve a price for being the worst patient. She doesn’t say it out loud, though. “Are you okay to walk, or should I teleport us back to the castle?” She asks, regarding both pegasi friends.

“I’m afraid I have to get back to my cottage, make sure Zephyr doesn’t eat the salad bowls I made for the animals…” Fluttershy grumbles. “I’ll try to be there tomorrow.” She says before flying off.

Rainbow frowns. “What’s tomorrow?” She asks Twilight, who becomes nervous at the mention.

“Oh,.. you see, I invited your parents over tomorrow. You know, to talk things out.” Twilight explains.

Rainbow balks at the idea. “You what?!”

“They need to learn how their way of raising you has created more problems rather than fix them. You feel like you can’t trust them with serious topics, that’s not the way a healthy relationship works.” Twilight tells her sternly. They start to head back to the castle, continuing to talk as they walk.

“But, you’re not gonna tell them about…” Rainbow trails off.

“I won’t tell anyone anything that you don’t want them to know.” Twilight promises, although it saddens her that Rainbow would rather keep such serious problems a secret from her own family.

After all, today alone could have went very differently. Instead of asking Dash’s parents for a meet-up, they could be discussing funeral plans right now. And Rainbow is still far from out of the danger zone.

Twilight feels her heart sinking when she realises another thing. “Who was that pony, earlier?”

“Hm? You mean Zephyr?”

Twilight nods.

“He’s Fluttershy’s little brother.” Dash explains.

“Has he always been… like that?” She knows that Dash and Fluttershy have known each other since they were very young. She wonders how long Dash has been dealing with such harassment.

Dash sighs. “He was a bit clingy when he was a colt. But it wasn’t until he hit puberty that he became annoying. At first I thought he was just joking. We didn’t think much of it. But you saw how he is, now. He’s always touching me and won’t leave me alone anymore.” She grumbles in disgust. She throws Twilight a nervous look. “Don’t tell Fluttershy, but he’s one of the reasons I moved to Ponyville. I just couldn’t take his…. What he does, anymore.”

The confession makes Twilight’s heart ache for her friend. She decides to bite the bullet. “Did you ever tell your parents about it?”

“About what? That the brother of my best friend is hitting on me?” Dash asks dumbfounded. “What good would that do?”

“They could have told him to back off. Or make sure that he wasn’t invited in your house, for example.” Twilight offers, watching her friend scanning the sky left and right as they walk past the town centre.

It pains her to think that Rainbow has been dealing with this pretty much by herself, never confiding in anyone who could have helped. To feel so helpless, and worth so little, that she never sought help.

“You should see Fluttershy’s parents. They only believe his side, and think that I’m the one who has a crush on him.” Dash complains, gagging at the mere thought. “If her parents don’t see the problem, how do you think my parents would react? They would probably start planning a wedding if they knew.”

Twilight throws her a disbelieving look at the last part. “I don’t think they’d go that far.”

Dash sighs. “Maybe not that far, but they’d probably be overjoyed at the idea that their oh-so-amazing daughter is attracting such attention. I’d rather skip the title of ‘best crush-magnet’, or whatever they’ll come up with.” She says, and can’t help checking the sky again, afraid that Zephyr might make another attempt. The way he keeps ignoring her telling him to back off, and her current inability to escape or fight back, is making her afraid of where he might take his strange attraction to her.

Today had been the first time he’s ever tried to kiss her. His behaviour has long passed a silly crush. He’s ignoring all her boundaries and she really doesn’t like it. She feels ill if she so much as sees the guy, or if some pony mentions his name.

They eventually make it back to the castle. Twilight re-bandages Rainbow’s wing as per the pegasus’ request, and they eat lunch together, which takes Dash a long time to finish, thanks to Zephyr’s comment on her current physique.

Despite being utterly exhausted and unable to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds, Rainbow couldn’t relax. Knowing that Zephyr was currently residing with Fluttershy, and thus being way too close for comfort, leaves her on edge.

She follows Twilight into her study, asking if she could stay with her. In reply, the alicorn created the most comfortable pillow and blanket fort for the pegasus to sleep in, whilst being in close proximity.
“You can sleep. I’ll keep you safe.” Twilight promises her, long after the pegasus had finally fallen asleep.

It didn’t take her long to find a specific spell, which lets her put up a forcefield that only keeps out Zephyr Breeze, prohibiting him from entering her castle.