Author's Note

This has to be the worst chapter ever, I don’t even know anymore…

In my defense: if Twi has the frigging audacity to tell Rainbow that maybe she should become a Wonderbolt (rather than Dash), just because she knows their history and can fly (in Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3), then I guess it’s not too far fetched for her to lose her cool when repeatedly confronted by, and obsessing over, one of her worst fears, and being (inadvertently) shrugged off.
Get used to them having arguments for a few chapters, Bookhorse can’t be the perfect protégé all the time. Hurt ponies hurt ponies, and all that.

Chapter 41

The next morning has a little surprise for them. The many balloon copies that Pinkie had made of the friends have all sunk one after the other — all, except for Rainbow’s, strangely enough. It defies all logic, but that morning, the mini Rainbow Dash balloon figure has now finally deflated and sunk as well — and landed perfectly on the seat of her own throne, just to make it even more intriguing.

“Huh. I completely forgot about that.” Twilight comments, all of them looking at it.

“How’d it even stay up there for so long?” Rainbow asks, looking up at the ceiling. Her balloon had stayed so far up until today, that they’d all just forgotten about it. They’ve had much bigger problems to deal with than a balloon figure that seemed to defy gravity.

“What was it that Pinkie Pie said, again?” Spike asks, picking up the deflated, wrinkly collection of the colourful balloons. “She’ll come down when she’s ready?” He turns to Twilight, wondering if the pink party pony somehow has more psychic abilities than they were previously aware of.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Spike. It’s just a coincidence.” The bookworm waves him off.

“How else do you explain this, then, Egghead?” Rainbow asks with a smirk. “Yours should have stayed up the longest, logically, but that came down with the others, days ago.” She points out. “Face it, it’s a sign.”

“I still don’t think that you’re ready for this.” She grumbles.

“But you’re letting me do it, anyway.” Dash remarks questioningly.

Twilight only sighs, not wanting to talk about this. She couldn’t outright tell Dash that she’s afraid- absolutely terrified of losing her. What good will it do if she tells her that she’s convinced that Rainbow will die, and there’s nothing she could do to prevent it?

They’re like polar opposites when it comes to decision making.
Twilight thinks first, reads five books and creates lists, and checklists, and checklists for the checklists, and only acts once she has enough solid ideas on what to do.
Rainbow acts first, and thinks later. Maybe. If she’s still alive by then.

Twilight couldn’t imagine a world without the loyal, brave, funny, brilliant, and at times utterly ridiculous pegasus.
One could blame it on the two of them spending so much time together, or that deeper connection they seem to share as Celestia pointed out, but whatever the reason, Twilight feels like Rainbow is her closest friend from their group (after Spike, obviously).

It’s perfectly normal to feel just a bit closer to some of your friends than the others. She just has to hope that Rainbow feels the same way, and will finally feel comfortable with sharing her thoughts and feelings with her. Because if she doesn’t, and instead relapses and decides that she could handle it on her own, then she won’t be the only one to die.

Twilight is absolutely 100% sure that part of her would die, too, if this god-forsaken illness beats them, after everything.

This isn’t just your battle, Rainbow. I just wish you could see that. She thinks as she watches the pegasus pointedly pushing the glowing pill away from herself at the breakfast table, making it clear that she hasn’t changed her mind over night. She will at least continue to take the vitamin pills that Twilight created, to hopefully prevent any deficiencies.

To make matters worse, Tank is now refusing all food for over 24 hours.
They’re all pretending that they don’t know what’s soon to come, and with the worst possible timing ever, too.

Rainbow feels fine for most of the first day, which is to be expected. Twilight still monitors and writes down her vitals every hour on the hour, wanting to catch it early if something were to go wrong.

Apart from a slightly elevated heart rate since lunch, Rainbow drinking more and more water, and seemingly waiting impatiently for the next meal, there’s not much to report throughout the day.

Twilight keeps checking on her during the night, much to Rainbow’s annoyance. That is, until Twilight shows her the way her vitals are evolving, meticulously written down on an ever growing list. Her metabolism is slowly but surely getting faster. Now they just have to hope that it doesn’t go into overdrive.

Her heart rate is slowly getting higher as time goes on, as is her temperature and feelings of hunger and thirst. Rainbow doesn’t need any clothes inside the castle, feeling perfectly cozy despite the dropping temperatures outside, and she still claims to be absolutely fine as she willingly eats a bowl of oats in-between meals, too hungry to wait for lunch to be ready.
Twilight won’t let her go outside for more flying time though, not when her autonomous nervous system could go completely haywire at any moment.

It only really begins in the evening of the second day, when Rainbow suddenly freezes in the middle of dinner, the loud gurgling noises from her belly making the others immediately focus on her, much to her dismay. She has to abandon the meal and repeatedly rush to the bathroom for the next hour.

Day 2
8 p.m.
Heart rate 112bpm
Blood pressure 135/84 mmHg
Temperature elevated

Twilight writes down the notes, more or less forcing Rainbow to drink yet another glass of water, to try to get her rehydrated after the sporadic bouts of indigestion.

Rainbow’s room has become a bit of a hospital room. The remedies from Zecora, sugarcubes, jugs of water, buckets and towels are always at the ready.

“I think you should have some of Zecora’s potions. I don’t like how fast it’s all climbing.” The alicorn tells her worriedly.

“Is anything dangerously high?” Rainbow asks.

“Well, no, not yet. But-”

“Then no.”

“Rainbow. It’s possibly going to escalate during the night if we don’t act now, and I’d rather avoid the severe complications!”

“Urgh, fine.”

Twilight knows that Rainbow is just grouchy because she’s not feeling too great right now, and is getting annoyed by how often she’s had to get up to go to the bathroom all day. Which is definitely understandable, but also to be expected.

She follows the instructions that Zecora had given her about dosage and application, and gives Rainbow the glass. “I don’t know if it tastes bad, but you’re allowed to drink water afterwards if it helps.”

“I know. I was there when she explained everything.” Rainbow points out snappily before taking the glass and downing its contents.
If she’s experiencing any symptoms like headaches, nausea, body aches or fatigue yet, she is not telling Twilight about it, and masking it to the point of appearing absolutely fine.
Maybe she’s trying to tough it out, to prove Twilight wrong. That all of her worries are unfounded. That she could handle this.

Mind over matter — but how long could she truly keep it up?

The potions worked a little too well, causing Rainbow’s vitals to drop back down to normal, healthy levels, but she is now back to freezing despite clothes and lying curled up under her blanket.

When she refuses to let Twilight check her vitals again, simply because she’s ‘freezing to death’, the alicorn quickly makes up her mind. She joins the pegasus on her smaller bed, cuddling close to her and cocooning her shivering form with her wing.
The difference to the last time they did this, is that she also squeezes one of her fore-hooves in-between Dash’s, pressed up against her chest, so she could at least keep track of her heart rate at all times, since Rainbow has had a few extra systoles the last few times she’d checked, and Twilight wants to make sure that they don’t evolve into something more serious.

What she hadn’t planned for was the possibility of falling asleep, herself. The alicorn wakes up roughly two hours later with a cyan wing in her face and an extremely hot body next to her.
She immediately jumps up and pulls away the blanket, removes the clothing from Dash’s burning hot body with a flash of magic, and she could practically feel the heat radiating off the pegasus.
Even Tank, who never really leaves her bed anymore, has woken up because of the sudden heat coming from his owner. The cold blooded reptile must be very confused by what is happening.

Twilight knows that pegasus ponies (and perhaps alicorns, too) have a reflex that opens their wings up and maybe even flaps them a bit when they’re overheating, to get a bit of the insulation away and help themselves cool down — even if they’re not even lucid, so she couldn’t take it as a sign of Dash’s current awareness.

“Rainbow. Rainbow, wake up, please.” She says, trying to rouse the pegasus by gently shaking her. All she gets are soft moans amongst her very rapid breathing rate, and no real reaction. A wave of cold panic runs down her spine, and she has to push away the fear that this is it, this is how it ends.

Wasting no more time, she grabs the bucket and towels with her magic, dumps the rest of the water from the jug into it, wets the towel, and starts trying to cool Rainbow down.

It thankfully doesn’t take too long before Dash starts to struggle and weakly protest against her ministrations, becoming more and more aware of her surroundings again. She even starts to very slowly flap the wing that she isn’t currently laying on, reflexively trying to cool herself down with the soft gusts of wind on her now damp coat.

They manage to get her temperature down, though Rainbow is still very much out of it. Seemingly her entire body is horribly sore and she’s feeling too weak to hold the glasses with the remedies and water up on her own. Twilight wordlessly helps her out.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand what’s going on when Rainbow winces at every tiny movement. Her body is extracting the glucose from her muscles, which is needed to keep her brain functioning. Twilight more or less feeds her a couple of sugar cubes, with a whisper of “trust me.”

The next challenge is getting Rainbow to the bathroom. The pegasus could hardly lift her head up from the pillow, there’s no way she could keep herself up on the toilet without falling or maybe even passing out.

“I’m going to have to help you, one way or another.” Twilight says matter-of-factly.

Their solution is for Twilight to get her there safely via levitation spell, then continue to hold her steady with her magical hold until she’s done, Twilight waiting outside in a halfhearted attempt at some semblance of privacy.

“This… is humiliating…” Rainbow complains breathlessly as she’s gently levitated back to bed afterwards. Any kind of exertion is seemingly too much on her body right now.

“It was to be expected.” Twilight shrugs. “And nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Dash only sighs, and falls back asleep whilst Twilight checks over her vitals again.

It’s hard to tell which of the two is more exhausted the next morning.
Twilight once again wakes up with an open wing in her face, but it’s not because of a reflexive response to her body overheating. Rainbow is simply dreaming, this time, the upper wing joint repeatedly flexing and bending, as though it isn’t really sure how it needs to move in order to fly.

The alicorn has witnessed the blue wings twitching or moving in some way as the pegasus slept, many times now. From what Spike tells her, Twilight apparently does the same with her horn — giving off little sparks, depending on her dreams, but thankfully never casting any real spells. There’s some theories about the full extent of pony magic being shut off during sleep, like the ties to the brain are temporarily cut off, which helps prevent dangerous accidents, and allows for the magic to replenish uninterruptedly during sleep.

She checks Rainbow’s stats again, glad to finally write down healthy numbers again, without the need of herbal tinctures to bring them down. She hopes that this means that the worst is now behind them.
It will still probably take at least a few days for her body to really get the hang of things, so the alicorn is going to keep a close eye on Dash still.

The pegasus suddenly stirs, giving a long stretch as she tries to loosen up her still tight feeling, sore muscles.

“Good morning.” Twilight says from behind her, utterly relieved. She makes no move to get up yet.

“Did we do it..?” Rainbow asks hoarsely.

“We did.” Twilight confirms. She magically fills up Dash’s glass with water before levitating it to her lips on autopilot. “How are you feeling?”

After drinking a good amount, Rainbow replies, “could be better… but could also be a lot worse.” She places it back on her nightstand.

“Symptoms?” Twilight asks curiously.

“Mmph. Just tired, and sore…” She admits. “I know it’s probably the biggest irony ever, but I’m starving. What time is it?”

Twilight checks the alarm clock that she’d brought along with the emergency supplies and her notes. “Just after seven. I can go and get you something, so you can rest a bit longer.”

“Nah.. I have get up.” Rainbow says, and with that, she slides off the bed.

“No, wait!” Twilight tries to warn, but she’s a moment too late. Rainbow just collapses, as if her legs don’t even have any bones. Twilight jumps down and checks on her. “Rainbow?”

“I’m fine… just got dizzy…” comes a weak, annoyed mumble. That’s putting it mildly, as she feels too lightheaded to even tell up from down at the moment, her wings half opened parallel to the floor in an attempt at regaining a sense of balance.

“Your blood sugar and blood pressure are probably still low.” Twilight remarks. She offers her some more sugar cubes, which Rainbow chews without putting up a fight.

Shortly afterwards, the pegasus stubbornly gets up on unsteady legs again, tensing up her leg muscles to keep standing while she waits for the black vision to pass. She feels dangerously close to fully blacking out, in a way she hasn’t felt in so long, and honestly thought she would never experience again.

Twilight doesn’t want her to push it if her body can’t handle it yet. There’s nothing wrong with needing help and not being 100%, considering what her body has been through — not just last night, but the past years. “Maybe I should just-”

“I can do this.” Rainbow cuts off the worried alicorn. She finally manages her first wobbly steps, feeling her confidence returning with every determined step. She may not be able to walk in a perfectly straight line yet, but she’s more than capable of walking unaided.

Now more than ever before does she feel the need to prove herself — to Twilight and herself, equally.

Twilight is always right by her side, but lets her try by herself. No matter how many times or how low she falls, there’s still some fight left in her. She marvels as she watches her insanely resilient friend safely reach the bathroom without help.

“Hey, how’d it g- whoa…” Spike pauses in front of the dining table when he sees the two eating breakfast, looking like they’ve fought powerful enemies all night long. “That bad, huh?” He asks sympathetically.

“I don’t remember much.” Rainbow admits. She only remembers being almost painfully cold, then feeling like she was being burned alive, and then just pain all over her body and horrible fatigue.
It’s all a hazy blur, and she has to wonder how aware she’d been in those moments.
She just hopes she hasn’t said or done anything weird or embarrassing to Twilight.

“There… have been some complications, but I’d say we managed to get through it.” Twilight informs him.

“You know, even though it definitely wasn’t fun, I still feel like it was the right decision.” Rainbow says, before finish off her bowl of oats.

“Really?” Twilight asks sarcastically.

The pegasus sighs. “Okay, look… when we almost got eaten by that crocodile in the forest, it was like a wake-up call for me.” She gets confused but curious looks. “If I’d had my normal metabolism then, I would have been able to fly the whole time and probably notice it much sooner, and gotten us both out, way faster.”

Twilight just blinks for a moment, thinking that over. It’s true that Rainbow is not as attentive with the pills, as she normally is. (At least when she’s flying, anyhow.)
She doesn’t have the crazy energy that allows her to process things incredibly fast and gives her the power to fly faster than any other pegasus. Energy, which at times rivals Pinkie Pie’s, and crashes just as fast.

“It was like a sign. Or the final straw, if you want.” Dash continues. “If I’d still been taking two of those pills, we might not have made it out alive. I didn’t fully realise just how much they’ve been affecting me, until it mattered.”

There’s an unspoken 'I would have failed to protect you' hanging in the air.

“What about before that?” Twilight asks softly. Spike grabs a couple gems from the cupboard before sitting across from the two at the table.

“Hm?”

“You got the idea to quit them when the Gala tickets arrived.”

Dash sighs. “This will probably be my last time seeing the rest of the Wonderbolts before the year is over, and my first time attending as one, myself. I just want to be back to normal for that.”

“'Back to normal'?” Twilight raises a stern eyebrow. There never has been a normal, apparently, for the pegasus. Not a healthy one, anyways.

“Okay, bad choice of words.” Rainbow excuses. “But you know what I mean.”

“No, Rainbow. I’m afraid I don’t.” The alicorn replies with her forelegs crossed in front of her chest. “I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you. Not about this.”

Rainbow frowns for a moment, then regards her with a hurt look. “You said yourself that you trust me. In the forest.”

Twilight groans. “Yes! Because I can trust you to keep me safe. What I can’t trust is you keeping yourself safe!”

“I don’t understand what that’s even supposed to mean.”

“What I mean is that I know that I can blindly trust you to save Equestria, but I cannot trust you not to put your own life in danger!”

“I have no intentions of relapsing ever again!” The pegasus snaps, leaning forwards in her seat with her wings flared.

“It doesn’t work that way!”

Spike helplessly looks back and forth between the two as this simple conversation suddenly completely escalates.

“Well maybe it does!” Rainbow argues. “I can handle it, now. I know that I can do this.”

Twilight facepalms. “You really have no idea how dangerous this all is, do you?! Or is this just another game to you?!”

Oh boy… Spike winces.

“Wha- No! How can you even say that?!”

“Because you’re not ready!” Twilight finally shouts. “And I don’t want to sit here and watch you die, just because you’re too stubborn to see that!”

Rainbow can only stare at her with her jaw dropped, unable to form a coherent thought of what to say to that. That, and she’s pretty sure that her heart is about to break through the bones of her chest with how hard and fast it’s beating.

There’s a moment of silence that no one dares to disturb, their laboured breathing the only noise filling the room. Spike hardly dares to breathe, feeling like he’s being held in a chokehold by the sudden tension in the room.

Rainbow is the first one to break the silence, not looking at anyone as she says, “I think I have a pretty good idea of how serious it is, after almost falling to my death.” She folds her wings to her sides and seemingly deflates, sitting with her shoulders hunched and her head low.

It’s true.
Rainbow Dash is a pony who learns best through actions rather than listening to lectures. She’s aware that she hasn’t taken all of this very seriously at times, but she definitely does not need a further wake up call to hammer home that this disorder is no joke.
She just tries not to show how scared she feels sometimes, knowing that this voice that was once her friend, only wants her dead.

“I know I’ve messed up before, but I am taking this seriously now. I want to beat this thing and finally get my life back.”

“You won’t even say the name.” Twilight quietly points out. “That alone is telling me that you’re not there yet.”

“Eating disorder.” Rainbow says without hesitation. “There, happy?”

They both glare at each other equally.

“I just don’t want to say it, because I don’t want it in my life anymore.” The pegasus defends calmly, despite feeling lightheaded and a bit like there’s a pressure building up in her chest, about to explode.

“Whether you like it or not, it’s going to be a part of you, forever. The way it always has been, apparently.” Twilight argues.

“I know that. I just don’t want it to rule over my life anymore-” She’s cut off by her belly’s loud protesting. “Ugh, not again…” she whines and without further ado, stumbles off towards the closest bathroom.

Once Spike is alone with his sister, he immediately turns to her. “Twilight, what are you doing?!” He demands, because this is so unlike her. “We have spent the last six months getting her stable, drying her tears, helping her get through the night, supporting her in any way we can, and you’re about to ruin all of that! WHY?!”

“Because I’m scared!” She yells back. “I’m absolutely terrified that the same thing that happened to Celestia’s student is going to happen to Rainbow!”

“And how exactly is telling her that she’ll fail and die, going to help that?” He asks, because this has to be the most illogical thing he has ever witnessed Twilight doing. “What she needs now, more than ever before, is us having faith in her.”

“I know…” She laments. “I just wish that she’d waited with her decision to go off the pills. It was just so sudden… I still feel like I’m not prepared for this at all.”

“You, not prepared for something?” Spike deadpans. “Have you seen the scrolls and lists on your desk?”

Twilight rolls her eyes. “And I still feel like I’m not prepared. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“It tells me that you’re freaking out about the absolute worst case scenario, when it’s completely unfounded.”

Her left eyelid twitches. “It’s not completely unfounded!!!”

Spike points to Dash’s empty bowl.

“That doesn’t mean anything. For all we know, she could be deliberately throwing up right now.” Twilight grumbles. “It honestly wouldn’t surprise me…” she adds miserably, but never gets to finish it with the 'and it would be all my fault' that dies on her tongue before she could say it, because:

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” Dash’s sarcastic voice makes her eyes snap open. The pegasus is standing in the doorway for a moment, then changes her mind about coming back into the dining room and simply goes back to her own room instead.

“Rainbow, wait! I didn’t mean it like that!” Twilight calls after her, but she knows that it’s futile. She buries her head in her forelegs. “Oh… What have I done…?”

Spike only sighs. “I’ll talk to her.” He decides, hoping that he could somehow turn this all around.

“Spike…” he turns to look at her, a tear-streaked face looking back at him. “I really didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know.” He replies softly. It’s obvious that both of the ponies’ nerves are laid bare and on the fritz, and he could sort of understand why Twilight just exploded like that. But his main priority right now is to make sure that Dash is okay — both physically and mentally.

He finds the pegasus on the bed, watching Tank trying to dig through the bedding, and Spike notices the way she’s rubbing at her shoulder again.

“Hey…” he greets awkwardly. “How are y-”

“I’m fine.” Dash immediately replies.

He snorts softly. “Too fast.” He climbs up on the bed, throwing the still digging tortoise a confused look.

“I’m always fast.” Rainbow points out, her eyes never leaving her pet.

“What’s he doing?” Spike asks, still watching the tortoise.

Dash sighs. “It’s time.” She gently runs her hoof over his shell, causing him to stop pawing at the bedding and look up at his owner.

The dragon grimaces, understanding at once what is going on. “Already..?” He asks. It feels like it was just yesterday when Fluttershy brought him here.

“Weeeell… I did prolong it last year. Turns out he’s not supposed to only dig into the ground when the snow is already covering it.” Dash sheepishly admits. “I’ll let him go later today…” She promises as she looks into the beady eyes.

Spike lays a hand on her shoulder at those words, knowing well enough that it’s not an easy decision for her to make. Barely ten seconds later, he sees tears welling up in her eyes, before she’s squeezing them shut in an attempt to stop them spilling over.

“I thought it would be easier the second time around.” She forces out. “I knew it was going to happen, and I still don’t feel ready to be without him.”

Spike can’t suppress smiling at the irony of it. “You know, Twilight pretty much feels exactly the same way about you.”

That gets him her attention.

“What are you talking about?” She asks, and hears hoof-steps approaching, until a certain lavender alicorn appears in the doorway.

“He means that I would prevent winter from coming to Ponyville, if it meant that you’ll be alive and well.” She explains softly as she comes inside. “And I’m sorry for yelling at you like that. I’m just afraid of losing you — very, very afraid — and when you made the decision out of nowhere, it just…”

“Threw you off? Made you feel like you lost all control?” Rainbow asks knowingly with a smirk.

“…Yes, exactly!” Twilight exclaims.

“I told you: it’s not your fault we’re both obsessive, perfectionistic nutjobs.” Dash replies easily. “I get it. Well, kind of.” She motions for Twilight to get up on the bed as well, with Spike making more than enough room for her.

“I still need to learn to accept it when something unexpected happens, that it’s not my job to try to take full control over the situation.” The alicorn says, before taking up the now free spot right next to Rainbow. “That also means that I need to trust you to make your own decisions. That’s my problem, not yours. If you feel that you’re ready for this, then the only thing that I should be doing is help you achieve it.”

The girls finally hug it out, in absolutely no rush to separate.

“I’m sorry for being so insensitive and putting you on the spot like that. I know you hate it when any of us fight.” Twilight adds, still not letting go of the pegasus. She tries very hard not to check and feel how many ribs and other bones she might be able to feel, painfully knowing that Rainbow is bound to lose at least a bit of weight until everything stabilises.
This battle is still far from over. In a way, it feels like it’s only just begun.
“I guess the part that scares me the most is how you’re not scared at all.” She admits.

“Of course I’m scared, but I figured that it would help you calm down and worry less if you saw that I’m confident that everything will work out just fine.” Rainbow replies. “I wasn’t lying when I said that I feel ready, but that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid of failing. I’m just trying to take each day as it comes, and deal with it when things get tough.
I want to beat this, Twilight. Not just for me, but for all of you guys.”

The pegasus could practically feel the alicorn sagging in relief.
“I guess I’ve been worrying enough for all of us combined.” Twilight jokes ruefully. “I should have just talked to you about this a lot sooner…”

“Not talking about your feelings and worries will only hurt you both, and all that.” Rainbow mumbles, causing Twilight to chuckle and finally pull away.

“Look at you, teaching the Princess of Friendship about friendship.” She jokes with a genuine smile.

“And what would a Princess of Friendship be without her friends?” Spike asks.

“A lonely, stuck-up bookworm, who thinks that knowledge is the only thing in the world that matters.” Twilight mutters dejectedly.

Rainbow slings an arm and wing around her shoulders and back without hesitation. “Good thing you’re not getting rid of me that easily, then. What a boring life that would be.”

They all laugh, until first Spike, then Twilight, notice that Rainbow’s wings are trembling, the feathers practically vibrating.

“Are you okay?” They ask almost simultaneously, all joy forgotten.

“Y-yeah.” Rainbow replies, folding her wings and pressing them tightly against her body to try to get the tremors to stop. It doesn’t help. “No… They just started doing that, I don’t know… I-I don’t feel so good…” She suddenly realises, now that she could focus on her body again.

Twilight grabs her hoof to check her pulse, followed by checking her temperature. She pours a dosage of Zecora’s potions into the glass she’s been using for the medications, then levitates it and the water glass over to them, makes Rainbow drink both, then tells her to lay down.
The tremors are beginning to affect Dash’s legs as well now, as it became noticeable when she’d tried to hold the glass by herself.

“What’s going on?!” Spike asks worriedly when Twilight still doesn’t say anything about her findings.

“It was too much stress.” Twilight informs him seriously, wrapping the blanket around the shivering pegasus. “She’s crashing.”

Spike gulps at the news. “What can I do? I want to help.”

Twilight thinks for a moment, eyeing the last few sugar cubes. She turns to her number one assistant. “Do you remember where we put the cider?” He nods. “Fetch me a bottle, with a straw. We need to get her blood sugar stabilised.”

“On it!”

Whilst he’s gone to fulfil his task, Twilight has to get Rainbow to chew and swallow the sugar cubes before she possibly loses consciousness.

“You’ll feel better soon.” She promises her.