Obsession and Regression

2

Thus the Rainbow-maned Pegasus was passed back and forth among her friends for months. Ever since her injuries while in their charge (followed by the white-collared Social Worker's very stern warning), Dash's friends were extra cautious in watching her and thus she remained incident free as a result. The Social Worker came and went, giving them all high marks as she went from Rarity, to Fluttershy, to Pinkie, to Twilight, to Apple Jack back to Rarity with little deviation. If anypony was sick, her friend could be persuaded to have Rainbow for one day more... they helped each other out time and time again while taking care of their friend, never looking at her as a chore. This was the Magic of their Friendship.

There was no visible improvement in Rainbow Dash, other than occasionally laughing at Pinkie's humor, and yet there was also this... odd behavior which first popped up while Twilight was watching her:

Again on the floor, Rainbow had managed to get to the same section, but this time she got hold of a book and was smashing it repeatedly into the ground while Twilight cataloged with Spike. The purple Unicorn slowly cantered up to her friend and took the book from her. She looked at the title:

"Daring Doo and Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?" She looked into Rainbow's detached gaze. "Rainbow... do you want me to read to you?"

No response. Not even a glance or a twitch.

Twilight still read to Rainbow... just a chapter, watching her carefully. She continued to stare off into space looking vacant, but Twilight remembered this incident. When in good health, Rainbow had gone to that section dozens of times... she even casually flew there backwards once while talking to Twilight, she knew the way that well.

This behavior was not a one-time occurrence and continued on through each of Twilight's friends. At Apple Jacks she stamped her foot over and over while resting in her chair during a walk; at Rarity's she managed to get her hooves on a length of mascara and pounded in into the floor; at Fluttershy's a pencil into the dirt, and at Pinkie's she pounded a crayon into the carpet... not one pony knew what was going on, but they knew to keep an eye on her.

* * *

Apple Jack was so used to the routine of what to do while watching Dash that she actually managed to get a few hours of work in a day. She talked to Rainbow, who was in the corner, about the sacrifices every pony was making for her while in the barn hoisting a bale of hay. She noticed the cyan Pegasus playing in the dirt. It almost looked like she was drawing, though she wasn't looking at what she was doing.

"Well, that's nice to see," she said, looking down at the scratches in the dirt. "Let's see what you got there..."

She had drawn shapes which looked like... letters!

"It can't be," said Apple Jack, doing a double take.

Some were backwards, some were upside down, but they were definitely letters:

"u... oyK Na... HT," Is what it said, once the Pegasus finally stopped. Utter gibberish as far as the farm pony could tell, but that didn't matter. The collection of letters was bizarrely spaced and some were larger than others, but certainly it was a collection of letters. Coming out of the nearly catatonic Pegasus was something to celebrate.

Scooping Rainbow up into her wheel chair, Apple Jack rushed with her Twilight's hoping the letters would still undisturbed by the time they got back.

"Twilight, Twilight!" Apple Jack exclaimed outside of the library. "Come quick! You won't believe what Rainbow just did!"

Though she was in the middle of research, she didn't question Apple Jack. Coming ALL THE WAY from Sweet Apple Acres meant something big must've happened. She left Spike to tidy up while she galloped all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres with her two pony friends.

"What" *gasps* "did she do?" Twilight asked while they raced.

"Letters!" Joyously replied the farm pony.

* * *

When they got to the barn, Twilight took one look at Rainbow's message and her eyes widened.

"I... don't believe it." She said, her voice losing it's volume in the excitement.

"What is it? What does it mean?" Asked an antsy Apple Jack.

Twilight took in a deep breath:

"Were you talking about anything when you found her writing this?"

"Yes, the hard sacrifices we've all had to make... and how we'd do it again if we had to."

"She's communicating," replied the Purple Pony, looking up at her Rainbow-maned friend. "Set her on the ground again, so she's comfortable."

Apple Jack did as instructed.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said, approaching her friend. "Do you know who I am?"

Rainbow, while looking off into space, wrote again in the dirt...

"sE...y"

"Apple Jack," Twilight said, turning to her friend. "Rainbow Dash is in there. We were right the whole time!"

Apple Jack held back tears:

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent!" Twilight pointed back at the first message. "If you read it backwards and disregard the odd spacing and capitalization you get--"

"Thank you!" Apple Jack yipped.

"Precisely." She gestured in front of herself. "Down here she wrote 'Yes'... she does know who I am."

"Rainbow." A lone tear ran down Apple Jack's cheek. "Are you really there?"

Still looking off to the side, Rainbow wrote into the dirt.

"S...e..Y. j...auo...yEv... ol I"

The orange farm pony looked to her learned friend:

"I got yes from that, Twilight, but what does the rest mean? It's too scrambled!"

"Brace yourself, AJ... She's saying 'Yes. I love you, Apple Jack.'"

Tears welled up in Apple Jack's eyes and she broke down on the spot.

* * *

Twilight spent hours interviewing Rainbow Dash during which the rest of the Mane 6 was assembled in the barn by Big Mac. They were asked to bring pencils, pens and pads of paper with them of varying types, anything that a pony could use to take notes. Pinkie Pie actually brought a vintage typewriter. Voices murmured curiously to find out out what was up.

Twilight had figured out so far that Rainbow could not see, which might explain why she'd hurt herself so many times. She could very stiffly move both her arms, her right arm better than her left, and she could control her left calf and ankle. She couldn't speak, obviously but was completely aware of everything being said around her from the moment she faded away... and wrote about something that deeply disturbed her purple friend who was asking her about her hospital stay at the time:

"!tr...uh .sre...ll..ik... nia...pOn.... gn.... i ts...eT"

"Testing with no pain killers!" Cried Twilight Sparkle, shivering at the thought knowing they'd not only given her friend a Spinal Tap but CUT HER OPEN to examine the tissue around the injection sight. "That must've been awful."

".Saw"

The 5 tried different mediums of stationary. Rainbow couldn't hold pencils or pens well enough in her hoof anymore.. she'd drop them when trying to write. They then tried the typewriter:

"How's this, Rainbow? It's Mr. Cake's old typewriter!"

The Pegasus typed stiffly and slowly with one arm:

"good" was the one word reply, no punctuation or capitalization.

Rainbow started typing slowly on the keyboard, keys clacking intermittently, as she looked towards the ceiling:

"thank you so much fo r everything girls youre thebest friends ive everhad"

"Rainbow, I'm going to ask you a very tough question now..." Twilight said, intensely. "Has there been any improvement at all since you first got afflicted by this?"

Rainbow slowly typed out her answer:

"yes i ca n hear better andmove better"

"Then there's a chance with help you may get even more function back!"

* * *

The girls spent all day and night talking with Rainbow. Though physically she was in bad shape, her face near lifeless save the random smile or twitch and her eyes drawn off to the side, she was still exactly as they remembered on the inside. She recalled many small demonstrations of kindness done by her friends -- some instances so small they were not even remembered by ponies that did them. The way they kept her spirits up by talking to her, the foods they gave her to eat, the gentle yet methodical ways they kept her clean and warm. She knew she was hard to get in and out of the bath. She thanked Rarity and Fluttershy for making the dress she would probably never be able to see. Later on that evening Big Mac fetched Spike so that they could all see what had become of Rainbow, and his jaw dropped:

Wide-eyed, he asked the stiff, rigid Pegasus with the olde-timey typewriter in front of her:

"Rainbow Dash? A- are you really doing this by yourself?"

Slowly she typed:

"yeah spike. sorry i never took you swimming like i said i would"

"That's okay, Rainbow... that's just... fine." At this point, Spike rested his head in Twilight's shoulder and started crying, too.

The only tear-free pony was Big Mac, stoically keeping it in with a proud smile on his face.

* * *

With everypony gathered around, Twilight took a letter before they left:

Dear Princess Celestia...

I have the most wonderful news: though her body's been weak and catatonic, we discovered today that Rainbow Dash can not only write letters but she can also type! After setting her up with a vintage typewriter, we've been talking to her all night! Thank you so much for believing in us and giving us your letter of recommendation...

Twilight's letter went on to describe what events exactly had led the 5 to these conclusions and where they got the equipment from Rainbow was now using. It also delved deeper, into the first few weeks of having their Rainbow-maned friend as a charge... the accidents, trials and tribulations were summarized in a few short words, with Rainbow adding her own thoughts here and there. Twilight made sure to add where this wonderful ability of their rainbow-maned friend was observed. At the end, the Mane 6 all signed the letter and Spike sent it off... to get an almost immediate reply:

Dear Faithful Student Twilight and Friends,

You have done wonderfully by your friend and more than justified my faith in all of you. Apple Jack, your sharp eyes caught Rainbow's attempts at communicating -- if you were not paying attention, no pony would know for sure whether or not Rainbow Dash would ever improve. Your constant vigilance has given each of your friends hope and has shown Rainbow just exactly how much you care about her. Tomorrow I will be sending a Canterlot aide with a modern typewriter to present to the Pegasus as a gift.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

* * *

The very next afternoon the Mane 6 all waited eagerly at the train station. Even Rainbow was there, smiling, but staring off into space with the old typewriter in her lap, making the group hard to miss. While she didn't look it, she was very excited. They all were.

Earlier that morning Twilight had received yet another letter from the Princess detailing the time of the Aide's arrival, what her looked like, and a few other traits. Though his train seemed to take forever to get there, everything was running perfectly on schedule... it was only a matter of time before they'd be seeing the young, mustachioed chestnut Pegasus...

He arrived on time, with just one small piece of carry on luggage in a black, zip-up bag...

"You must be the Mane 6!" He said enthusiastically as he approached the group. "And you must be Rainbow Dash! My name's Dark Mane, and I've got something special for you!"

Carefully, he opened the smaller bag as Twilight used her magic to levitate Rainbow's old typewriter away. He set a smaller typewriter made of titanium in her lap. It felt much lighter and had considerably larger keys.

All of Rainbow's friends went "oooh" and "ahhh" as she typed... her face nearly impossible to read:

"herwgelhg.." she slowly typed, the text much larger than that on the other set.

Her friend's smiles all started to sag once they saw the gibberish appearing on the paper. She paused for a moment, stretching her arms and hooves. With more speed and precision than she had been using on the other vintage typeset, she started again:

"I likethis one better than the other." It said as she hit the return key. "This is AWESOME!"

Her friends immediately cheered.

Dark Mane smiled, making his exit into the crowd, he disappeared... still hearing their excited voices. He was happy they were happy, but that was not his victory to celebrate. He simply moved on to the next assignment...