Newbie Dash (Alternative)

She wakes up in the medic tent. There’s a strange pressure around her left foreleg, and when she opens her eyes to look down, she sees bandages holding an IV in place, a bag of saline hanging above her on a standing hook. She’s laying on a little hay bed, a medic pony nearby is writing something on a notepad.

“Rainbow? Can you hear me?” Twilight asks, being the closest to the Pegasus.

Dash is glad to note that her hearing was finally functioning again. “Yeah. What happened?” She asks. Her head hurts, as does practically half of her body.

“Y’all fainted on us.” Applejack says, thoroughly worried.

Dash winces at having been seen so weak. “Sorry.”

Rarity tuts. “Ugh! Don’t apologise for that! But darling, is everything alright with you?”

Dash looks down to her bandaged up leg again in shame. “I guess I might have overdone it a bit with the training.” She looks up again at her friends. “But I only had the last two days to learn the routine and get to their level!” She defends.

The others share a slightly angered glance.

“That was pretty mean of them…” Fluttershy remarks. The others nod in agreement.

Dash sits up, glad to note that she felt a lot more stable now. “Yeah, well, what’s done is done, and anyways, I did pretty well, all things considered.”

Rarity frowns. “What things, darling?”

Twilights eyes widen and she picks up Dash’s currently discarded Wonderbolts suit with her magic. The tag inside has Dash’s cutie mark on it. She gasps in horrible realisation.

“Twilight, what is it?” Rarity asks her fellow horned friend.

The alicorn ignores her question, and regards Dash instead. “Rainbow, did you stop eating to fit into your outfit?” She asks seriously.

Her eyes widen. “No! Of course not!” After all, she had eaten every day, and it’s not like she hasn’t cut back on meals like this before.

“Then how come you just fainted, sugarcube?” Applejack asks next.

Standing up and flaring her wings, Dash defends, “I just told you guys, I’ve been training a lot lately. That’s all, I swear!”

The element of honesty frowns at her friend. She could always tell when someone was lying. But, as long as Dash really was okay, and there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened earlier, she would live with the lie. “If you’re sure… just.. listen to yer body in the future, Dash. Yah really scared us.”

Folding her wings against her sides, she gives her friends an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Pinkie Promise?” The pink party pony asks.

Dash nods confidently. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Twilight clears her throat. “Speaking of cupcakes, I’m sure there’s something here for us to eat.”

“Oooh! Yes! You guys have to try the cotton candy here!” Pinkie exclaims.

Dash winces, both at the volume and at the idea of eating something so unnecessarily unhealthy. What she needed was protein, not things that would make her fat all over again.

The medic pony steps between the friend group. “I have to check you over before you can go. But at least this can go, now.” He says, pointing to the IV that’s still connected to Dash’s bloodstream.

Dash nods to him, then regards her friends. “Uhm, you guys can go on ahead, I’ll find you when this is done.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, darling. We will wait for you, of course!” Rarity insists, and the others ‘mhmm’ in agreement.

“We’ll wait right outside for you, sugarcube.” Applejack promises, and most of the girls exit the tent to give them more privacy. All except for Twilight.

“Can I help you, Miss?” The medic pony asks her.

“I’d like to stay, if that’s okay.” She replies formally.

The medic pony looks at Dash questioningly.

“It’s fine by me.” She replies.

The medic pony shrugs and simply starts working on unraveling the bandages. Dash tries to stay still, but has to look away when the catheter was removed from her vein. A small bandaid is the only reminder that something was not quite right with Rainbow Dash.

“Now, let’s check your vitals again.”

After getting her blood pressure taken, the medic tuts. “Your blood pressure is still a bit low, so take it easy for now. We don’t want you to pass out again.”

I could gladly live without a repeat, too. She thinks to herself bitterly.

“I’ll make sure she’s okay.” Twilight reassures the stallion, though her focus lays on her friend.

To her surprise, Dash puts on her Wonderbolt suit again. “So, can I go now?” She asks impatiently.

He nods. “Yes, you’re free to go.”

Without further ado, Dash makes her way outside, even picking up into a trot as she reaches her friends, though the minor exertion already made her feel weak and dizzy all over again.

Twilight follows her, and the group then walks around the event area. They repeatedly point out and offer Dash all sorts of sweets that are on offer, and every single time they watch this look of utter disgust taking over their athletic friend.

“Rainbow, you have to be hungry after that performance..” Twilight points out worriedly.

“I…” she struggles to find the right words. But she doesn’t know how to explain that yes, she is hungry, and yes, she normally loves all these foods, but the idea of eating any of them makes her feel physically ill. She could feel her blood sugar and blood pressure plummeting again. She knows she needs to eat something, but there was absolutely no way she could eat any of this… fattening stuff.

She sidesteps dizzily when her senses start to fail her again, and Twilight stabilises her with her magic, being more prepared this time around.

“Dashie, you promised!” Pinkie cries.

“ Pinkie! ” Applejack scolds. “We have to get ‘er something tah eat, right now!”

Twilight lessens her hold to allow Rainbow to sit down.

“We tried! She wouldn’t eat anything!” Pinkie argues, still close to tears.

“Not if it’s a sugary treat.” Twilight realises, and looks around frantically. Finally she spots what she was looking for. “Be right back!” And she runs off, returning a moment later with a basket filled with freshly picked apples. She levitates one right in front of Dash, who has to blink away the blurriness once again.

Everyone waits with bated breath as Rainbow hesitates, to the point where every pony thought she was going to reject even that. Twilight takes an apple for herself, eating it just for show. Dash watches her for a moment, then she finally takes a bite, chews, and swallows it.

The other girls were immediately relieved.

The more Dash ate, the more she was becoming aware that something is not right with herself. Instead of her body being grateful for being fed, she quickly felt uncomfortable and her stomach was heavy. She had to give up after barely eating half of her apple, too nauseous to the point of genuinely feeling like she might be ill if she continues.

“What’s wrong?” Applejack asks the Pegasus when it becomes clear that she was not going to finish it.

“I don’t know.. I just feel a bit nauseous.” She tells her friends, a confused frown on her tired face. “Thanks though.” She offers the rest of her apple to Pinkie Pie, who happily chomps the whole thing in one go.

“But darling? You hardly ate anything!” Rarity speaks up.

“Maybe I just need a nap?” Dash offers. After all, she is still feeling deeply exhausted, and now she knew that her body wasn’t craving food, despite majorly under-eating for the past few days.

“Do you want me to fly you home?” Fluttershy offers. “It would make me feel better if I knew you got there safely.”

“Sure.” Dash croaks, rubbing at her tired eyes. If she’s honest, her wing muscles are sore and feeling just as weak as the rest of her.

The girls watch the two pegasi flying off.

“The poor thing. She looked so worn out.” Rarity tuts.

Applejack hums in agreement, before looking over to their alicorn friend, who looked like she was thinking about something. “What’cha thinkin’, Twi?”

The Princess of Friendship looks like she wants to say something, but then shakes her head at herself. “I think I’m just reading too much into things again.” She laughs nervously.

“What do you mean?” Rarity asks, throwing her a worried look.

“GUYS! We haven’t done her ‘You just flew your first ever Wonderbolt show’ party yet!” Pinkie interrupts. “No wonder she’s so down in the wumpy-dumps!”

Twilight playfully rolls her eyes at that.

Maybe it really was that simple. After all, it’s not like Dash would have to perform anytime soon again, and after a good night’s rest, she is sure to get her appetite back, and everything would go back to normal.