Twisted

CHAPTER EIGHT

Rainbow Dash rubbed her head as she collapsed onto her bed. She stared up at the white ceiling and just lost track of time. Memories of the fun times she had with her friends were juxtaposed with the adrenalin rush and partying of her new "friends". Dash always told herself she was having the time of her life; but if that was true, then why did she have to tell herself that? Deep down something was missing. Rainbow sighed. Maybe she shouldn't have sent Twilight away. Still Twilight was just being lame like always. She heard Twilight's voice suddenly call out from the lounge.

                "Speak of the dragon," she mumbled to herself before sighing again. "I'm in here. Come on through."

                Twilight inched the door open and poked her head in, seeing Dash collapsed on the bed.

                "Hi Dash..."

                "Again? Are you fucking stalking me, I told you to leave!"

                "I came back..."

                "Why?" Dash demanded, needing to know why Twilight kept poking around. Twilight wandered over and sat beside her on the bed.

                "Look, Dash, I know me and you have never really been very alike. You're an athlete, I'm a nerd. You love to live dangerously, I'd rather curl up by the fire. But I need you to help Pinkie," she placed a hoof on he friends back, "it's her birthday today and I need you to go to her place and say hi. She's trying to change but she needs the support of her friends. I know you have problems too, and I want to help you. We all care for you and want to help you with your party addiction. But this is not for me, or you, this is for Pinkie."

Rainbow Dash instantly pushed Twilight away again, sending the purple mare sliding across her wooden floors, littered in old trophies, ribbons, and bottles of alcohol.

"I don't have any fucking problems! My life is the best fucking thing around at the moment. I'm going places, while you're still trapped in a memory of times past! You've gotta move on! Things are never going to be the same!" she shouted although her heart wasn't quite in it. The rainbow-maned pegasus began to feel her eyes water, so she pushed herself off of the bed, and looked away from Twilight. No weakness, Rainbow.

"I'll go talk to Pinkie. But it's not because of you, it's for her," Rainbow said quietly with defeat in her voice. Before Twilight could say anything Rainbow had launched herself out of the window and flown away.

Twilight leaned against the wall in Dash's room and started to cry. What her ex-friend said opened her eyes a bit. With her friendships failing and her magic lacking to what it could be, Twilight's life was falling apart. Oh, how she missed Spike. And Celestia. They never wrote anymore and it was lonelier than ever. Not even Shining Armor, who promised to keep in touch, contacted her anymore.

Twilight sobbed. Nothing she had done had gone right in the slightest, she was just trying to help and everypony was pushing her away.

"I guess nopony needs me any more..." she told herself between tears as she pushed herself off the floor and walked slowly towards the open window. A calm and cold breeze blew in her mane, frustratingly persistent in making the mare shiver. She peered out of the window and saw that everyone was happy. Fillies were playing in the park, mares and stallions were having romantic picnics together. Where was her laughter? Her joy? A stallion to comfort her? Nowhere. nopony wanted Twilight.

"Hey, Pinkie! You there? It's Rainbow Dash! I'm here for your, uh, birthday!" Dash said, opening the door and calling inside of the small home. It was filled with dust, dark, and a musty smell immediately filled Dash's nostrils. She coughed, looking around for Pinkie. She suddenly spied a handful of bright pink hair and an accompanying face. She was startled at the sight of her old friend, peeking out from behind the entryway into her kitchen. Her eyes were wide and her pupils were dilated immensely. Her once bouncy hair fell straight as a pin. A smile slowly stretched across her friends face, growing a little too wide for sanity. Dash took a step back, alarmed.

"DASHIE!" Pinkie squealed, running towards the blue pegasus and jumping onto her. Dash felt a crushing hug around her ribs and coughed once more, Pinkie climbing off immediately. Dash never thought she'd be scared of a friend. "I've waited so long for your arrival!" Pinkie added, ushering the mare into her kitchen and shoving her into a chair. Rainbow Dash immediately noticed that it was very dark, too dark to cook properly. Pinkie Pie eagerly pulled a very large knife from a nearby drawer and Dash yelped, jumping up in surprise.

Pinkie Pie was giggling to herself when she turned on Dash with the knife brandished. She placed a slice of cake on the table and put the knife in her sink. At least the dishes were done.

"Goodness, Dash! You are quite the frightened filly!" Pinkie laughed, lifting the plate of cake and handing it to her friend. Rainbow Dash backed a few inches away from Pinkie, who was clearly unstable, and took a bite of the cake. It was delicious, she discovered, but that only made her feel worse about Pinkie's condition.

"How's the cake? It's my birthday cake!" Pinkie added, looking at Dash with a grin. Rainbow suddenly noticed a thin cut above the mare's eye. Was that there before?! Rainbow took another step back nervously. Pinkie was Rainbow Dash's one weakness. She'd hang out with the others on occasion, but Pinkie and Rainbow used to tear the place up with parties and pranks. They were an awesome duo, and Rainbow had snapped at Pinkie pretty badly last time they met.

"Look, Pinks. I-I'm sorry about how we ended." In the back of Dash's mind her anger began to reawaken. Rainbow hated feeling vulnerable like this, and that made her angry. It was the same reason she had gone all angry last time. "I'd better go," she said softly and turned to leave. Pinkie nodded slowly, taking a step back.

"I forgive you, Dash!" she shouted as the pegasus opened the front door and took a step outside. Rainbow Dash's heart split in two as she closed the door and began to fly back home. What was wrong with her? She'd let her emotions take control. She thought that she'd learnt long ago not to let that happen. It felt good though, didn't it? An odd mix of sad goodness. No. She was just doing her duty as an ex-friend. Once again she felt drained and tired... but a good sort of tired, like she used to get after partying all night with Pinkie and her old friends. Maybe...maybe she should go back. See if Pinkie wanted to do anything. A party...like they used to have, not one of those heavy music drug-fests like she normally went to.

"Stop it! No, Rainbow!" Dash lectured herself, "You have to keep strong. You don't need them anymore. They just held you back. Look at you now, you do whatever you want whenever you like, ponies everywhere adore you, and look at Scootaloo! She's developing into an awesome flyer. You have all you've ever wanted!" Rainbow stopped flying and looked around her. Despite herself she had somehow managed up back at her house. She flew back in only to hear wailing noises coming from her bedroom. She poked her head in.

"You're still here?" she said brashly, then the miserable sight began to soften her up again. "Twilight, are you okay?"

"She'll be back soon!" Pinkie promised herself, picking up the knife and slicing the cake in swinging, arching motions. She couldn't wait for all of her friends to return! They'd love the cake! It would be so delicious! Something was wrong. Pinkie felt a sharp, stagnant pain in her foreleg. She was bleeding! Bleeding out!

Pinkie had never felt a pain so sharp! She quickly ran up the stairs, minding her gimpy leg, and yanked at her first-aid chest. It was empty. She screamed, noticing blood spilling out fast and furiously. She'd never been hurt like this! Oh, and how it hurt! She quickly began to run back down the stairs, but her foreleg gave out and she found herself tumbling down the wooden steps and crashing into the landing wall.

Pinkie's vision spotted. She knew that she needed to stay awake and banged her head once more in an attempt to keep herself up. No use. She fainted.

Twilight did not look back at dash, she kept leaning out the window.

"I...I'm going to jump Dash. Nopony needs me any more. I'm just a waste of space." she let out slowly, between tears. She was not really talking to Dash, more to herself. Tears streamed down her face and she could feel her nose beginning to plug up and get irritated. She had a headache from the crying, and felt so dehydrated. "Tell my brother I love him, tell Spike too, and tell the rest of our old friends to forget about me...even though I'm sure they already have." Twilight pulled herself up onto the windowsill and looked down. Giving her old friend one last smile before she fell backwards and into the breeze as she fell towards Ponyville.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted as the unicorn let go of the windowsill. Her wings snapped open and she lunged out of the window with a speed that made her usual pace reminiscent of Snails. The lavender mare fell through the sky towards the hard earth below at speed, but Dash was faster. Rainbow exploded forwards as something which she hadn't felt in months washed over her. Fear. Actual fear. She committed death-defying stunts on a regular basis, but she was never afraid. She pushed herself to the limit and managed to grab the purple mare with her forelegs. In a split-second she realized there wasn't enough space left to stop, so changed direction on a pinpoint and flew straight into a tree with a loud crunch. She fell to the ground with a gasp as she clutched her broken nose. Blood poured down her face and obscured her vision as she turned to see that Twilight was almost unscathed. She spat out a few teeth and smiled at Twilight.

"Just like old times." Dash laughed, spitting out blood.

Twilight couldn't believe what had just happened. She had never expected the pegasus to come after her, she didn't expect anybody. As she hit the floor she looked about for Dash, managing to see her smile. Twilight couldn't help but smile back, it was nice to see somepony happy to see her but Dash was the last one she expected. But Dash was hurt, she needed to get to the hospital.

"We need to go to Pinkie's place." Dash said, pushing her nose back into place with a loud crack.

Pinkie crawled across the floor, a blood trail followed her as she slumped at the bottom of her stairs and reached a hoof to the door-knob. She cried like a newborn foal as she stared up to where she wanted to get to. Immediately the door opened and Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash entered, eagerly shouting out her name. Twilight peered down and noticed Pinkie was already near the door, slumped over and covered in blood. She gasped, screaming to Dash.

"DASH! PINKIE'S HURT!"

Fluttershy searched aimlessly across town for her once dear friends. She had never felt more alone, not even as a little filly. As soon as she needed them most, they were gone. She entered Town Square, and noticed ponies all around talking amongst themselves. Everywhere she turned, she saw friendships and relationships. Lyra and Bon Bon, for example, were making out on a nearby bench. This wasn't unusual to see, the two were passionately in love. Fluttershy was so jealous, she wanted to be in love just once in her life.

Derpy Hooves and her family were also out that day, the cross-eyed mare's tail entertwined with her husband Doctor Whooves. Their two foals, Ditzy Doo and Sparkler ran around giggling. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were holding hands and sharing an icecream cone. Colgate and Carrot Top high fived, giggling about a private joke. But nobody paid any attention to Fluttershy. She was always alone.

The mare passed Sugarcube Corner, and an idea shone through her thoughts. Pinkie Pie was always kind and accepting, maybe she would be around! She entered the building, and approached Mrs. Cake.

"Hi there, Mrs. Cake. Um...is Pinkie around?" she asked softly, barely audible. Mrs. Cake smiled at her sympathetically.

"Oh Fluttershy, hun, I barely see Pinkie anymore. She goes by Pinkamena now, and she's well...changed."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Fluttershy murmured, bursting into tears. Mrs. Cake gave her a sympathetic look and patted her own the back gently.

"It's okay, honey. She'll be back to her old self in no time I'm sure. She does have a new place, you know."

Rainbow Dash soared through the air, ignoring her own pain, Twilight trailing behind on her own pair of wings as fast as possible. Dash was holding a limp Pinkie Pie and was headed straight for Ponyville's hospital. Twilight stared intently at the blood pouring from their friend, fearful for her fate. She prayed, ironically, that it hadn't been an attempted suicide. She struggled to keep up with Dash, but was fine with being a bit behind. She looked down at the blood when she saw a little yellow and pink pegasus below.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight hollered, and saw the head lift. It really was Fluttershy! "DASH, KEEP FLYING. I'LL GO GET HER!" Dash nodded and flew even faster towards the hospital. Twilight swooped to the ground below, landing next to Fluttershy in a flurry of panic.

"Fluttershy! It's so good to see you! I've been looking for you all over!!"

"I've been hiding in my cabin," Fluttershy quickly explained, eager to find out what had happened to Pinkie, "what's going on?"

"We found Pinkie bleeding out at home, it's her birthday!" Twilight shuddered, looking at Fluttershy with a bit of desperation. Fluttershy whimpered and looked Twilight in the eye.

"Let's catch up with them."

Twilight looked up in the air to see that Dash was already out of sight. The two friends took off into the air once more, Fluttershy not even bothering to ask where Twilight had received wings from.

Pinkie Pie was rolled away on a wheelchair, rushed to the nearest operating room kept open for emergencies as soon as Dash had rung the bell. She spat right on the hospital floors once more, the nurse behind her counter feverishly writing away.

"You crashed into a tree and broke your nose? Don't you want some-"

"This isn't about me!" Dash shouted, pounding her fist down, "This is about my friend! Is she going to be okay?"

The nurse shifted uncomfortably, tilting her head and finding herself short of words. Rainbow Dash understood that the prospects were uncertain.

Twilight and Fluttershy arrived then, flinging the doors open and arriving in the Intensive Care Unit. Twilight looked around for Pinkie, and saw only blood.

"Where's Pinkie?" Twilight demanded of Dash.

"They took her away. They don't know if she's going to make it. We just have to wait." Dash explained, spitting once more. Fluttershy stepped up to her friends and felt happy to stand by their sides once more despite desperate situations. Dash turned to her friends and led them away nearby chairs to wait. She clutched her nose, still spitting despite obvious health rules.

"Hi, Fluttershy." Dash laughed, and soon all three were laughing. Despite the grim setting, it was good to be reunited.