Fluttershy arrived on the scene to see a red mess of Pinkie Pie’s bakery. She quickly glanced about the room, her eyes finding their focus on one particularly disturbing sight; in the middle of the floor was Pinkie, not even recognizable with all the gashes and blood covering her limp form. She also noticed Rainbow Dash lying in the fetal position against a far wall of the shop, seemingly as far away as she could possibly be from the earth pony. Her fur was also stained dark red in color, but it was obviously not her own blood, it was Pinkie’s. But Fluttershy wasn’t concerned with Rainbow Dash at the moment. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew what had to be done right now. Her attention went to Pinkie, who was losing an enormous amount of blood at a nearly insuppressible rate. Fluttershy took immediate action and grabbed some towels out from under the kitchen sink and pressed them firmly against the four largest of Pinkie’s wounds. As she did this, she realized that Pinkie was still breathing, which was good.
“Rainbow Dash, would you please get help?” Fluttershy said in an atypically assertive voice, not looking up from her work. But all she got was a desperate and crazed mumble from the blue pegasus.
“Gi-giggle at the ghastly… Snortle at the sp-spooky.. He..Hehe!” Rainbow sang maniacally. This sounded oddly familiar to Fluttershy, as if she had heard that tune before. She realized that it was the song that Pinkie sang in the Everfree forest when they were on their way to find the Elements of Harmony.
However, Fluttershy had no idea what Dash was talking about or why she was singing that right now, and for the time being, she didn’t want to. She just wanted her to get up, stop being a fool and get help. “Dash, can you please get up and go get one of the other ponies?” Fluttershy pleaded. But all she got in return was more nonsense, and realizing that Rainbow wasn’t going to be of any help at all, she fixated back to Pinkie. She knew that she needed to stop her blood loss. NOW.
She tied the bloody rags about Pinkie’s body as best she could, and darted upstairs to find something she could use to sew her up, and keep her alive just a bit longer, long enough to get help. She went into Pinkie’s room, yanked open every dresser and closet and cabinet, then into Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s room and did the same, then into the bathroom, and the dining room and then back to the kitchen an-….
I'm in a bakery, She thought. There’s not going to be anything here that can help me...
No. NO. She wasn’t going to give up on saving Pinkie’s life. She opened the window of Pinkie Pie’s room on the top floor and shouted “HEY! Everyone! If you have ANYTHING that you can possibly sew with, bring it in here! NOW, Please!” Everypony looked up at her from the ground with confusion and surprise. “Do you need me to say it again? GO, Please!” She normally wasn’t this rude or blunt, but her friend’s life was in question. Nothing else mattered to her.
As all the ponies within earshot of her shouts went to grab something to assist her, Fluttershy dashed back to Pinkie’s miserable body, horribly disfigured and still oozing red life. The bleeding had slowed, but it wasn’t going to stop entirely until she could stitch Pinkie’s lacerations. She had one very large one on her neck, running from her jaw and around the right side to the base, just above her collarbone. THAT’s the one I need to take care of first, she thought. As she was about to re-adjust the towel to better cover the whole gash, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Fluttershy? Someone told me you needed something to sew with, and I rushed over. What could possibly be so urgent th-… Oh my goodness.” Fluttershy turned and met Rarity’s look of shock with a look of seriousness. “Give them to me, and then go try to calm Dash down. Please, thank you.” Fluttershy said gravely.
Rarity looked about the room, becoming sick to her stomach almost instantly. She gagged and turned to the side, letting out her lunch onto the floor near the entrance of the shop. She was appalled, for she had never seen something so terrible. After convulsing a few times, she caught her breath and walked with a grimace over to an impatient yellow pegasus. “He-here you go...” She held out her sewing bag at arm’s length to Fluttershy like it was a poisonous animal, not wanting to touch her blood-stained fur. Fluttershy about snatched it out of her hand and pulled it open, digging for a needle and some thread, while Rarity walked about the outer edge of the room over to Dash, not wanting to step in the red mess that covered most of the floor. Fluttershy found what she needed quickly and wasted no time. She took the first needle she found and put it between her teeth, bending it into a hook shape. After threading the needle, she pulled away the bloody rags with a wet sound and plunged the needle into the pink flesh at the edge of the largest wound, the one on her neck, and began working her way down. She grimaced as she did so, for she hated this kind of work. It was revolting to watch the needle to go under somepony’s skin. It just looked disgusting. But, this is what she had to do.
Rarity approached Rainbow Dash slowly. She had no idea what was going on, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be near Dash at the moment. She was acting quite creepy, mumbling deranged phrases, and even more disturbing, all the while she had an unsettlingly wide smile on her face.
“Rainbow Dash, a - are you feeling alright? You look absolutely off your rocker, darling.” She extended a hoof to touch the blue pegasus on the shoulder.
Dash lashed out at Rarity and swung at her head with her hoof. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” Dash snarled, scurrying farther away from Rarity and pressing herself against the wall. “I DON’T WANT ANY CUPCAKES! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!.. Just… Just leave me alone.. PLE- NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!!” Rarity was absolutely stunned. She had no clue what could possibly have happened, to Dash OR Pinkie, and she really didn’t want to. She went to touch the crazed Rainbow Dash again, but she struck Rarity in the face and screamed at her to get away, and that she didn't want to hurt her, too. “Ch-chortle at the creepy… Guffaw at t-the ghostly… HahaHa!” Dash began singing again, and retreated further into the corner of where the wall met the floor.
She didn’t want to hurt her, too…
At that moment, Rarity realized that this was far from any accident. The culmination of what had happened here hit her like a ton of bricks; Rainbow Dash had nearly KILLED Pinkie Pie, for whatever reason. This meant Rainbow Dash was incredibly dangerous.
She was a murderer.
With that thought, Rarity turned and galloped past Fluttershy with an “I’m going to go get the others!” She paused briefly and looked at Pinkie Pie. “For the love of Celestia, I hope she’s going to be alright…”
Fluttershy barely acknowledged Rarity as she exited, as her full concentration was on Pinkie Pie. She had completely sewed up the slice on her neck, and had moved on to another, nearly as large one on her right side, just below her front leg. She was about half finished, when it happened.
Pinkie stopped breathing.
Oh no… Oh no no no no NO! This isn’t happening! Fluttershy didn’t know CPR, and she wasn’t sure if anypony did. She had made it this far, she thought maybe Pinkie would live, she thought that she had a chance to see her friend alive and well again. The future wasn’t looking so bright, though. Fluttershy gave up the fight. She put her face in her hooves and did the only thing she had left to do; cry. “It was lovely knowing you Pinkie Pie... You… Were the best friend a pony could have.” She laid her hoof on Pinkie chest and said with a sob, “Goodbye.” As the tears coursed down Fluttershy’s face and neck, a purple hoof came from behind and rested on her shoulder. “You should go, I’ll handle this. There’s not much more you can do” Twilight Sparkle said flatly. Fluttershy turned and met her eyes with a look of hope. Twilight… She’s the smartest pony around! I bet she knows what to do. Knowing that Pinkie Pie’s life was in good hands, she raced out the door of the shop and headed over as fast as she could fly to tell Applejack, the only one who still didn’t know about this whole ordeal.
***
“Rainbow Dash did WHAT now?” Applejack’s jaw dropped to the ground. She looked upon Fluttershy’s blood-stained coat and didn’t know how to react to this news. “Well gosh darnit, I knew ol’ Dashie wasn’t all there in the head lately, she been actin’ stranger than a rattlesnake in a pickle barrel, but THIS?! I just can’t wrap my head ‘round this. You SURE it was Rainbow?”
“Well, I’m not ENTIRELY sure, but, you see, Dash was the only pony around, and, well, she was covered in blood and was lying in the corner and acting very strange when I got there. And she was saying that she didn’t want to hurt Rarity too and to leave her alone. So I think it was, but... I don’t know for sure…” Fluttershy looked down at the ground sheepishly.
“Well consarnit! Is Pinkie Pie alright? I mean, who’d ya leave her with?”
“Oh, I think she’s going to be okay. She’s with Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie stopped breathing, and I was about to give up, then Twilight came in, and I knew that she cou-” Applejack put her hoof over Fluttershy’s mouth. “You’re tellin’ me you left Pinkie in the same room with the girl that about killed her?” Applejack said in surprise.
“Well, you see, uh, we didn’t really get Rainbow Dash out, because she wouldn’t let anypony touch her, because she was acting crazy and saying that she didn’t want us to get hurt so we kinda left her there…” Fluttershy once more looked down onto the ground.
“Alright that’s enough talk” Applejack said and started trotting in the direction of the bakery. “I gotta see this for myself…..”
***
Applejack regretted that statement the moment she arrived on the scene. There was red everywhere; on the floor, on the walls, on Twilight and Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but most of all, on Pinkie’s motionless figure. AJ became sick at the sight, and nearly had to step outside, but thankfully, the wave of nausea passed quickly. By this time, half of Ponyville was gathered around Pinkie’s store, all wanting to get inside, all wanting to ask questions, and all wanting to know if the pink pony everyone knew and loved was going to be okay.
Rarity did her best to keep everyone calm, whilst Twilight tried to reason with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy tended to Pinkie’s wounds and got her ready to be moved. The ponies had decided that it would be best if Pinkie stayed with Fluttershy overnight, since there were no hospitals that were close enough to Ponyville to get an ambulance there until morning (other than Ponyville Urgent Care, but this was little more than a clinic and wasn’t qualified to treat such extensive injuries). AJ had offered to take her, saying that she had plenty of room in her place, but she agreed to the fact that Fluttershy was better at taking care of hurt critters and Pinkie would be better off with her. Applejack didn’t really seem to have anything to do, so she settled on helping Rarity control the crowd.
She walked outside where the mob greeted her with a barrage of questions, most of which she couldn’t even distinguish due to the excessive noise. She tried to answer one or two of the ponies, but quickly realized that any attempt to do so was futile, and that everyone would be better off if the crowd wasn’t there. Rarity had also realized this, and was trying to shout over the crowd, but with little success. Applejack leaned back on her hind legs and yelled. “Alright, lis’n up!” She echoed throughout the block. This got their attention almost immediately, much more so then Rarity’s quiet and reserved voice. “Pinkie aint doin’ too well if y’all didn’t figure that out already, and you guys bein’ here makin’ a buncha noise ‘n’ crowdin’ our space and such aint helpin’! So if you could all just head your little behinds back home and carry on with yer business and let us carry on with ours, this whole thing would be a heckofalot easier for everypony, thankyou!” The ponies got the message; they weren’t doing anything but causing trouble by standing around. They all wanted Pinkie to be alright, and they didn’t want to get in the way of that. They began to dissipate, and once they were gone for the most part, Applejack and Rarity went back inside to see if they could do anything else to help.
Twilight and Fluttershy had switched places; Fluttershy was finally getting Rainbow Dash to calm down and speak coherently (or at least not speak incoherently), and Twilight had brought Pinkie’s mattress down and had her on it, ready to move her to Fluttershy’s. This, is going to be difficult Twilight thought. She wanted to move her as painlessly as possible, and she didn’t want Pinkie to wake up (although that was unlikely, she had lost too much blood to even stay conscious). “Alright, Applejack, stay here with Rainbow. We don’t want her to do anything else stupid. Fluttershy and Rarity, you’re with me. Help me move this.” She reached down and grabbed the front of the bed in her mouth, and nodded at Rarity and Fluttershy to do the same.
“Whaaat?” Rarity exclaimed. “You want me to put my mouth on THAT? Oh, no no no no that’s simply not going to happen, I mean LOOK at this mattress, it’s covered in blood, EWWW! I can’t believe even YOU would do such a thing, Twilight. Absolutely disgusting!”
Twilight gave Rarity a stern glare, and said through the mattress, “Rarity... This isn’t about you, now get over here, help me and Fluttershy, and shut up.”
This surprised Rarity; she rarely heard Twilight be so stern. But, she understood the gravity of the situation, and with a grimace and a gag, she bit onto the corner of the mattress and began walking to the door of the shop in unison with Fluttershy and Twilight. She wondered how Fluttershy, the most gentle and sensitive of ponies, couldn’t be convulsing at this horror as well. However, Rarity had forgotten that Fluttershy has to deal with this kind of thing all the time, caring for sick and injured animals.
Applejack yelled after them as they walked out the door. “Hey! SURELY y’all aren’t gonna leave me alone with her? I mean, just a few hours ago she tried to kill a pony! Who says she aint gon’ try again?” She glanced back at Rainbow Dash, who was trembling softly on the other side of the room.
Twilight called back, her voice muffled by the fabric. “You’ll be fine, Applejack. I think Fluttershy got her calmed down for the most part. Grab one of those knives out of the kitchen and keep it handy, just in case.”
“Aww, fiddlesticks….” Applejack slowly turned to face the blue pony that had caused all this. She was lying on the ground with her hooves over her face and eyes, not wanting to meet Applejack’s. She approached the broken spirit slowly. “Uhh, hey Rainbow Dash… You feelin’ any better?” she said fearfully.
Dash sniffed. “No… No I’m not.” She pulled her hooves away from her face and slowly stood up. Applejack took a cautious step backwards as Dash slowly walked across the room, head hung low and the fur on her face stained dark blue from tears. “Do you have any idea how I feel? I tried to KILL another pony. I tried to kill Pinkie Pie, one of my best friends. That’s unheard of! I mean, I didn’t WANT to do it, but I just lost control, I couldn’t stop, the voice in my head, it was telling me to do it! Oh, if it wasn’t for those nightmares… NONE of this would have happened...” She dropped to the floor near where Pinkie lay moments ago and started crying again.
Applejack was confused. “Voices? Nightmares? Care to explain, hun’?” she asked sympathetically as she approached Rainbow carefully.
Rainbow sniffed again. “Well, I didn’t want to tell anyone, I thought the dreams would just go away on their own after awhile. Boy was I wrong; I guess I was just too proud to say anything about it… If I had known I was endangering anyone else, I would have told in a heartbeat!” She went on to explain the entire tale; her nightmares, how she stayed awake many a night because of them, how when she was offered the cupcake by Pinkie, she didn’t think, she reacted out of fear. How there was a voice from somewhere deep within telling her to kill Pinkie, and how she had no control over it whatsoever. It was almost as if the fear and anger inside her joined forces, and dethroned her good conscience. Applejack listened to her intently, absorbing it all and making sense of it.
When Rainbow was finished, Applejack could help but let out a few tears herself. “Well, shoot Dash, ya could’ve just told someone ‘bout all them nightmares you were havin’. That woulda been the right thing to do, instead of keepin’ it all inside and letting it mess with your head. What I think happened is all that sleeplessness and fear ya had built up weakened your ability to think straight, and before you knew it, you was outta your own control.”
“I know, that’s why I feel so terrible about everything. It shouldn’t have been like this, and I could have told someone about it and gotten help before THIS happened. I could have stopped it! But my pride got the best of me…” She stood up once more and began walking toward the kitchen counter. “I’m sorry, Applejack…”
“Aww, c’mon now, sugarcube, you aint got nothin’ to apologize to ME for.” Applejack gave a sympathetic smile.
AJ couldn’t see exactly what she was doing, but she saw Dash stand up on her two back legs and reached for the counter. “Yes, I do.”
“Dashie, what are y-”
Dash turned and revealed a large knife in her hooves. “I’m sorry, for this”.
Pinkie Pie’s only uncovered eye slowly pulled open, just enough for Fluttershy to even recognize that it moved, then closed again. The towels that had helped keep the fragile Pinkie together had been replaced by medical gauze, which Fluttershy kept around the house at all times for emergencies like this. It wrapped most of her form, from the medium-sized cut on her face and along the side of her head and over her eye, to an unsightly gash along her back and onto her rump. “Oh Pinkie, pleeaaase wake up” Fluttershy said in a desperate voice. Pinkie once again opened her eye to a squint, but Fluttershy wasn’t getting her hopes up, for this had been happening for the last hour or so. As much as she wanted to believe that she was going to be alright, Fluttershy just wasn’t so sure.
A single tear ran down the yellow pegasus’s face. “Oh, come on, Pinkie. If you can survive what happened to you back at the candy shop, you can survive anything!” Fluttershy said in a cheerful, optimistic voice. Twilight had put some sort of spell over Pinkie to keep her asleep while she recovered, so she wouldn’t be in pain. Twilight had called this sleep-state a “coma”, and told Fluttershy matter-of-factly that creatures that are in comas typically survive and make a full recovery. She had seen numerous birds, bunnies, skunks, porcupines, mice, squirrels and even ponies with life-threatening injuries come back from the brink of death and surprise everyone.
However, Pinkie’s wounds were far more extensive than anything Fluttershy had ever seen before. Whatever Rainbow Dash had done, it didn’t look survivable at all. If I hadn’t already been on my way to visit Pinkie in the first place…….
Fluttershy didn’t want to think about that. She didn’t want to be thinking about ANY of this. She wished this had never happened, that she didn’t have to see two of her best friends in such a fragile state. A broken-minded Rainbow Dash, and a broken-bodied Pinkie Pie. But, as much as she tried to pretend it wasn’t happening and stonewall these thoughts, the mere sight of Pinkie’s motionless figure forced her mind back to the reality of this, and the scene that was surely still back at Sugarcube Corner. The gore, the sight of Pinkie lying still in the middle of her cheery little shop, bathed in the very liquid that kept her alive… Then Rainbow Dash, curled into a pathetic little heap on the other side of the room, muttering insanity to herself, caked in blood as well.
Fluttershy shook her head to extinguish these horrible thoughts, and Twilight hugged her and said “It’s going to be alright. She’s going to be fine, Fluttershy.” Twilight pulled back and looked into her eyes and smiled. “You saved her life, Fluttershy. If it wasn’t for you, Pinkie never would have made it.” Rarity agreed. “Yes, you saved her, Fluttershy. You knew what you had to do, and you did it. Not bad for someone who’s never had a day of medical training, if I do say so myself.” Rarity smiled at her little joke.
Fluttershy understood that they were only trying to comfort her and make her feel good, but it wasn’t helping. She didn’t want to think about what might’ve happened to Pinkie if she hadn’t been there, and Twilight and Rarity just made her.
She looked down at her pink friend. It was almost disturbing to see Pinkie this utterly still, for she was usually NEVER still, always bouncing about so full of cheery energy. However, the polar opposite was the sight now; Pinkie was a statue except for her steady breathing. “Thank you Twilight, but I think I just want to be alone right now with Pinkie Pie. If, that’s alright with you, of course. I mean, if you want to…”
Twilight looked concerned. She wanted to stay here and keep an eye on Pinkie just as much as Fluttershy. But, she knew how sensitive the yellow pegasus was, and how she had a way with soothing any injured animal. “Well, I suppose that’s fine. Me and Rarity should probably go back over and check on Rainbow and Applejack, anyway. But we’ll be back within the hour to check on you.” Twilight made her way for the door, followed by Rarity. “We won’t be long, dear. Please, do keep her safe, Fluttershy.” Rarity said as she walked out the door of Fluttershy’s tree house.
***
The scene back at Pinkie’s house was worse than they had left it.
As Rarity approached the store, she heard yelling and screaming from inside. Though she wasn’t sure what was being said, the voices were unmistakably of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Twilight must have heard it too, because they looked at each other briefly, and broke into a run.
Upon arrival inside, they found Applejack on top of Rainbow Dash, who was bleeding a considerable amount from a cut on the side of her neck. She looked enraged and infuriated. Once again, she had obviously lost all control.
Applejack, however, had the upper hoof, as she wasn’t as weak as Dash from blood loss. She pinned the crazed blue pony against the ground, trying her best to avoid the knife in Dash’s mouth, swinging back and forth, mere millimeters from Applejack’s face. “Darnit, Rainbow! Cut that out before ya hurt me with that like ya did Pinkie!”
“If you let me GO, I WON’T hurt you!!” Dash snarled, craning her neck to try to gash Applejack with the knife. This time, one of her blows connected with the side of Applejack’s face, and she immediately loosened her grip and reeled back in pain. Rainbow rolled over and out from Applejack’s grip, trying to get away, but Applejack wasn’t letting her go THAT easy. She lunged after Dash and grabbed her tail in her mouth. Dash was expecting this, however, and twisted around and plunged the knife deep into Applejack’s front leg. This time, however, Applejack couldn’t ignore the pain. She let go and stumbled backwards, trying to wrench the blade from her arm.
Dash flew toward the door of the shop as fast as she could, but Rarity acted on instinct and jumped up in the air, intercepting Rainbow and putting her in a headlock. She dragged her down to the ground. “LET! ME! GOOO!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!?!” she screamed, and tried to free herself from Rarity’s grip. Rarity did the only thing she thought to do, and lashed out with her hoof and struck Dash in the head, just below her temple.
Whatever she did, it worked, because Dash immediately went limp and stopped screaming. Rarity also became silent and pulled back as she tried to accept what had just happened.
Rainbow Dash had tried to kill herself.
This day was becoming too much to bear. Rarity looked back at Twilight, who met her eyes with a look of sadness and concern. Her gaze quickly shifted over Rarity’s shoulder and to Applejack, who had managed to pull the knife from her leg and get back on her feet.
“Boy, thank goodness you two showed up. I woulda lost her.” Applejack limped forward over to the others, blood slowly oozing from the newly-formed wound on her right front leg where Dash had stuck the blade. “She dun near did it, she almost ended her own life… I just can’t believe it. If I was any slower, she woulda done it, too. She grabbed that knife and started to cut her neck, but I jumped across the room and stopped her before she could do much other than that there little scratch” Applejack nodded down at Rainbow. “Golly, this one’s a mess. First she tries to kill Pinkie, then herself, then me! I dunno ‘bout you Twilight, but I’d say that there’s only one thing we can do for this one… I really hate to say it, but, I’m afraid we’re outta options.”
Rarity and Twilight both knew what Applejack was about to say, and it was something absolutely unheard of. Something that hasn’t been done in hundreds of years. Something that nobody wanted to think about.
“I’m afraid we’re gonna have to tell Princess Celestia about this” Applejack said with a deep breath. “And Rainbow Dash is going to have to be put in prison.”
Rarity and Twilight’s hearts sank to their stomachs at just the mere mention on this. “No!” Rarity protested. “We… We can’t do that! There has to be another way!” Rarity was about start bawling, Applejack could tell.
“Aww I’m sorry sugar, but…” Applejack paused and stomped her hooves on the ground with a grunt. “There just aint anything else we can do with her! She’s crazy in the head, Rarity. There’s only one place for mentally unstable ponies; the dungeon.”
This brought more tears to Rarity’s eye. Applejack was right, Rainbow Dash was dangerous, to herself AND others. As much as she hated to accept it, she knew she needed to be locked up before someone else gets hurt.
Twilight glanced down and the unconscious pegasus and suddenly became very stern. “No, there may be another way. I’m no psychologist, that’s for sure, but I’m sure there’s something in the library about how to cure a broken pony’s mind. I can take care of her. I may be able to make her sane again. I can get the old Rainbow Dash back."
Applejack looked into Twilight’s eyes. “You sure, Twilight? I mean, ya saw what she did to me, and what she tried to do to herself. How in the name of Sweet Apple Acres are ya gonna keep her under control?”
Applejack had a point. Rainbow had tried to kill, or at least harm, three different ponies today including herself. Twilight wasn’t sure if Dash was in any condition to keep around the house alone with her and Spike. She might lose control again and lash out. I’d have to find some way to restrain her Twilight thought. Not the most housewarming thing one can do far a guest, but it was for the benefit of everyone.
“I’m just going to have to keep her tied to a bed for awhile, till she’s at least sane enough to not try to kill someone else. She may not like it, but it’s for her own safety.”
***
Rainbow Dash’s eyes flew open. She quickly looked around the dark room, and to her delight, it wasn’t that dreaded cellar that she had many a nightmare about, being brutally tortured, disemboweled and made into cupcakes. Taking in the room in detail, she noticed that there was nothing in the room that even hinted at any instruments of pain or torture. No sign of the balloons and streamers made of the internal organs of other ponies, that cart that had all of the scalpels and saws and knives on them was nonexistant, and Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen as far a-…
...
Pinkie Pie…
Rainbow Dash’s heart sank when she remembered what she had done to the earth pony, and slammed her head down on the pillow behind her. Oh, Celestia, what have I done? What’s gonna happen to me? What is everyone going to think? What happened to Pinkie Pie? Is she alright? Is she even ALIVE?! These thoughts reinvaded her mind once more, she had been thinking about this nonstop earlier. She once again had the urge to end her own life. She remembered that she had tried to kill herself, and that she was stopped by Applejack before she could. After that, everything was a blur. She couldn’t remember much, she just had a vague replay of what had happened. She remembered that she had gashed Applejack’s face and stabbed her with the knife in a fit to get away. This memory also made her sick. Everyone in Equestria is going to hear about this… I’m going to be the most hated pony in the entire country. She went to place her hooves over her face and start crying once more, but…
Her arms wouldn’t move. She tried again, but they were pinned firmly to her sides, and her legs and wings were pinned firmly to the bed.
“Oh, you’re awake!” Twilight sparkle leaned over her, filling her view, her face half-covered by a surgical mask. Horror filled Rainbow Dash as she thrashed and tried to pull out of the restraints, but she was getting nowhere anytime soon.
“Now Dash, you have to hold still, or this is going to be hard for both of us.” Twilight scolded. Rainbow Dash had heard that far too many times in her nightmares, and in the context of the current situation, these words only made her panic more and more. Realizing that she wasn’t going to be able to move, she looked into Twilight’s eyes. She was unable to read her facial expression because of the mask, and this only made the situation more ominous. She noticed a scalpel and surgical thread floating near Twilight, who was using her magic to control them. She had no idea what to do, other than just sit back, stop struggling and brace herself for whatever may come next in the gruesome routine.
It’s just another nightmare, Dash, you can do this. You’ve done this a hundred times before, you can do it again. She closed her eyes and felt a sudden sharp pain in her neck. Although, this pain was different. It wasn’t as vivid, so to speak, but it felt more realistic, like she was actually experiencing it. This terrified her. What if this WASN’T a dream, what if this was real? What if Twilight was going to torture and kill her for what she did to Pinkie Pie? Was this her way of getting vengeance?
Rainbow Dash let out a wail louder than she knew she could muster. She screamed and screamed for over a minute until her face turned a dark blue and she nearly blacked out. Twilight just looked at her with what seemed like, at least through the mask, a look of fear and sadness at once.
“Rainbow, please stop screaming.” Twilight pleaded. “You’re going to wake Spike up.” Dash looked into Twilight’s eyes with anger. “You think I CARE if I wake Spike up?! You’re going to torture me to death to get vengeance for Pinkie!” The pegasus thought about this for a moment, sighed and said “On second thought, please do. I deserve it… For everything that I did today; almost killing Pinkie, Applejack, and myself… Do whatever you want to me. I’m worthless anyway…”
Twilight raised one eyebrow. “Torture you? Kill you? No, Rainbow Dash. Why would I do that? That would just make ME a murderer. No, I’m simply trying to sew up this cut on your neck, the one that you made in your little, umm… Fit. Now hold still, or I’m never going to finish this. Oh, and you’re not worthless, by the way.”
Rainbow Dash was actually a bit disappointed. She would deserve anything that Twilight could throw at her. She deserved to be tortured and killed, for she had done about the same to Pinkie Pie. Words could not even begin to describe how awful she felt. She wanted to just give up the fight, and end the pain of guilt once and for all.
Twilight leaned back and studied her handiwork. “Well, that’s about all I can do.” She put down the tools and removed her mask, and looked benevolently into Rainbow’s eyes. “Listen Rainbow Dash, I know you feel terrible about that whole thing with Pinkie Pie, but it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t the Rainbow Dash I know in control at that time, it was the evil that is in the heart of all ponies. Such is the balance of nature. Good can only be prevalent for so long before evil musters its forces and seizes upon the heart - twisting friendship into war, loyalty into deceit, and kindness into unadultered hate. Whatever took control of you, Dash, it was NOT you. It was the evil inside you, lashing out because your good side was weak from the nightmares and your mind’s lack of rest. Applejack told me about your dreams, and I’m going to do anything I can to help you get over this, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight gave Dash a small, glassy-eyed smile.
Dash looked into her eyes, absorbing what she said, her mood rising all the time. Twilight couldn’t be more right. It wasn’t her thinking when Pinkie had offered her that tray of cupcakes, it wasn’t her thinking when she attacked Applejack to get away. However, it WAS her thinking when she tried to end her own life. But looking back as Twilight spoke these words of wisdom, she regretted the attempted suicide. As much as she regretted everything that had happened today.
Twilight then said, “So, do you accept my offer to help you? Do you want the opportunity to be Rainbow Dash again, the fearless pegasus, the fastest pony in Equestria? Or do you want to remain a broken shell like this, and try to figure out your problems yourself and be prideful, because that’s what got you in this situation.”
Dash noted the sudden severity in Twilight’s voice as she gave the second option. She thought about what she had said, and the answer couldn’t be more obvious. “YES!! Please, thank you so much Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight sighed. “Phew, GOOD. Because if you chose to not want help, we were going to throw you in Celestia’s dungeon!”
Both ponies laughed for a few seconds. Rainbow looked into Twilight’s eyes and smiled an enormous smile.
It was the first time Rainbow Dash had smiled in a long time.
***
Rainbow Dash swooped down at an incredible speed, weaving in and out of clouds faster and more agilely than anyone else in Equestria could even dream of doing. Ahead, she spotted an unusually large cloud, about the size of an average house. She smiled, and her expression intensified as she put her front legs ahead of her and became as aerodynamic as she could. With a twist, she increased her speed and torpedoed through the white mass, drawing it out as she went through it, and forming what looked like a long unicorn’s horn in her wake. It was an awesome sight, one of her new moves that she had invented to entertain herself and the citizens of Ponyville. She was done trying to impress the Wonderbolts. After everything she did for them, saving their lives included, and they still completely ignored her at the Grand Galloping Gala? Baahh, to the Everfree forest with them! She knew she didn’t need them, anyway.
In a mere three weeks, she had gone from a clinically insane, broken-spirited, and quite frankly a pathetic excuse of a pegasus, to the sound-minded, proud, and awe-inspiring Rainbow Dash that everyone in Ponyville knew and loved. Her recovery couldn’t have gone better.
The same, however, could not be said for Pinkie Pie.
While the blue pegasus flew through the air in a seemingly happy and carefree manner, her thoughts were all but peaceful. She was on her way over to see Pinkie Pie over at Fluttershy’s treehouse. She had been moved there earlier today from Luna General Hospital in Canterlot, where she had been staying for the last three weeks, the whole staff devoted and trying to get her back on her feet as best they could. Unfortunately, “as best they could” was far from what anyone considered good, and although there was only so much they could do, it just wasn’t enough. Rainbow’s malicious acts had damaged Pinkie internally beyond repair, and she was having many complications with her treatment because of this.
And she was also getting worse.
Twilight wanted Dash to visit today, because she was beginning to question how much time Pinkie actually had left. Last night, she had had a heart attack, due to long-term internal damage caused by Dash’s assault. She barely survived that, and early this morning, she had another, more severe one, again barely coming out alive. Twilight knew that Pinkie’s hours were numbered, so she requested that Pinkie be sent home, where she could finish her life where it started. In her hometown of Ponyville.
Dash knew that she only had a limited amount of time left to set things straight.
She arrived at Fluttershy’s, and was greeted by a nervous-looking Twilight Sparkle, who quietly led her inside the little house. Dash was nervous as well, for this was the first time she had seen the pink earth pony since the accident… She also knew it was to be her last. “She’s sleeping, upstairs.” Twilight whispered to Dash, who was slowly walking toward the upstairs guest room, where she found the rest of the ponies all gathered around the bed in the middle of the room. She approached this bed and looked down upon the poor, helpless pony that resided there. She still looked like a mess; though most of the bandages were gone, in their places were long, ugly scars, hairless streaks of skin that had meet the receiving end of the knife three weeks in the past. Pinkie still wore gauze over her left eye, for its function had too been lost in Rainbow’s fit of rage. Dash took in a deep breath.
“Hi, uh, Pinkie… Listen, I know this is kind of weird to hear me say this, after… Well, you know, bu-” Pinkie’s eyes sprung open and the largest smile Dash thought she had ever seen crossed her face. “RAAINBOOW DAASH!!” Pinkie leapt out from underneath her covers and onto Rainbow, hugging her and laughing her typical, happy-go-lucky Pinkie Pie laugh. “Ouch, that hurt.” She said, rubbing one of the bandages on her chest. “But who cares! I’m just happy that you’re here, I’ve been waiting such a long time to see you again! I don’t know why it had to wait this long, either, I mean Twilight kept saying that it wasn’t a good idea for me to see you or for you to see me, but I mean that’s just crazy! Why on Earth would it be a bad idea for us to see each other, just ridiculous! I’m just glad that you’re here now, we have SOOO much to catch up on…”
Pinkie went on like this for about another minute and a half before she became short of breath, and nearly collapsed “Woah now, Pinkie…” Twilight said as she helped her back into the bed. She said it in a completely unalarmed manner, but Dash could tell by grave the look on her face that Pinkie was having another heart attack, and her last moments were upon them.
The pink pony lay her head back against the pillow. “Sorry about that, Dashie, I think I just got carried away. I probably shouldn’t have done that, Twilight said I’m not supposed to get out of bed, but I just couldn’t help myself I was sooo happy to see you!” Pinkie giggled and smiled at Rainbow.
Dash couldn’t help but laugh with her. She was surprised, though, for Pinkie didn’t seem to show any sort of fear or anger about what had happened between them. It was like it had never happened at all. It did though, and with a yawn, Pinkie said. “Goodness, I’m tired! That’s funny, I’m usually not tired at ALL, and this came out of nowhere too! Why am I tired all of the sudden? Eh, oh well! ‘Night, everypony!” She turned over and quickly became silent.
Dash turned and looked to Twilight. “Go, she hasn’t much time left.” Twilight’s voice was trembling.
Rainbow turned and looked down at Pinkie once more. “Pinkie Pie… I’m sorry for what I did to you… For hurting you, for betraying you in such a way, and for THIS.” Tears began welling up Rainbow’s eyes. She leaned close to Pinkie and brushed a stray lock of pink hair out of her face. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you can. You’re the best a pony could have, and I couldn’t have been happier to have you as my friend all these years.” Dash leaned closer still and rested her cheek upon Pinkie’s, whose breathing was beginning to slow. “I wish that you could forgive me, Pinkie Pie… You’re my best friend, sister, and pony I’ve ever know. I just don’t know if you feel the same way after the way I treated you…” Dash kissed Pinkie on the cheek and pulled back to look at her face, one last time. “Please forgive me for this thing that I did to you. I love you, Pinkie Pie.”
Rainbow Dash could’ve sworn she saw a smile flash across Pinkie’s face as she took her last breath.