Chapter 6
Love Heals All
Rainbow Dash woke up with Pinkie Pie clutching her tightly. She smiled and rubbed her friend's head for as long as she could until she felt the urge to go to the bathroom. With some effort, she managed to wriggle out of Pinkie's grasp. After she'd relieved herself, she went back to the bedroom to continue stroking her friend's straight mane while humming a tune. She lightly kissed her on the forehead.
"I'm gonna try to exercise," she whispered. "Or at least gauge myself. But I won't be far away. I'll stay just as close as I can. When you wake up, I'll still be nearby."
With that she quietly left the bedroom and went downstairs. Fluttershy was already up, getting out pots and pans for breakfast.
"Good morning, Rainbow," she greeted her friend. "Did you sleep well?"
Dash nodded. "Best night's sleep I've had in a while."
"Really?" Fluttershy sighed in relief. "Good. I wasn't sure how good those beds would sleep put together and I'm not used to having company. I was worried. I just really hope Pinkie slept well."
Dash couldn't help but chuckle. Sometimes Fluttershy was a little too kind for her own good. "I'm sure she did. Now, what can I do to help with the morning routine?"
Fluttershy saw to her animals while Dash got the cooking started. When breakfast was almost ready, Dash went to get Pinkie. Just in time.
"D-Dashie?" Pinkie's voice said, trembling and quiet. It got louder and more scared as she called out again.
"I'm here," Dash told her with a gentle smile as she entered the room. "Come on, breakfast is ready."
They went back downstairs and ate.
"Just so you girls know," Dash told them as they ate, "I'm gonna try to exercise. If just to see how my back hooves are doing. And later I'm going to try going swimming if I have time."
"That sounds nice," Fluttershy told her.
Pinkie just nodded.
After breakfast, Dash went outside and started walking in a wide circle as Fluttershy and Pinkie watched. It felt perfectly normal. After a few minutes she broke into a trot in a long line and went back and forth. Again, it felt fine. She took a breath and braced herself before breaking into a canter. She managed to reach one end of the imaginary line and was halfway back when she tripped. Before she could hit the ground, a figure caught her. She looked up expecting Fluttershy, but instead saw Pinkie holding her tightly.
"Thanks, Pinkie," she told her gratefully.
"Oh dear," Fluttershy remarked. "Does this mean your back hooves—"
"They're better all right," Dash told her. "I just tripped. I would've made it if I hadn't. It felt a little funny, but it didn't hurt. I think I'm ready to literally be back on my feet. Then I can be active again. I think it's almost time for the Running of the Leaves and I want to be there if I can."
She paused to catch her breath. She looked up at the sky. How she wished she could zoom and whoosh among the clouds again. But that was lost to her forever. Now she'd have to settle for being the most athletic thing on four legs and take whatever thrill she could get from that. She took a breath before getting up. She continued to jog for a while until her back hooves did start to hurt. She was happy with how it went. With any luck, she'd be in peak condition in time for the Running of the Leaves. She checked a calendar when she went in. It was next week.
"You think you'll be better by then?" Flutershy asked in concern.
"Don't know," Dash replied with a shrug. "But I'm sure going to try! Even if I have to quit about a quarter of the way in, I need to know I gave it my all. That I tried to get that feeling back that comes from being athletic."
Fluttershy put a front leg around her. "All that matters is that you tried your best. Just like you've always done. Well, almost always."
The rest of the morning and into lunch passed by with the three ponies doing chores. Though Pinkie did her silently and mechanically. No hyper energy, not jokes, no chatter. She just did some work with a melancholy look on her dark pink face. The rest of the time she just laid around looking like she was half asleep.
It was after lunch when there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Fluttershy asked.
"Twilight and Rarity."
The two unicorns were let in, both wearing saddle bags.
"Hi girls," Fluttershy greeted them. "Can we help you?"
"Actually," Rarity replied, "we've come to help you ladies out. I came to fix that tear in Rainbow's jacket." The light blue aura appeared around her horn as some needles and thread came out of her bag.
"And I have a present for Pinkie."
Pinkie let out a gasp and her eyes widened. "For me?" she asked breathlessly.
Twilight nodded with a smile. Her horn's aura appeared and something levitated out of her saddlebag. It was a beat up old pony doll.
"Pinkie," Twilight said. "This is Smarty Pants. She was the closest thing I had to a friend when I was a little filly." She smiled lovingly at the doll. "And now I want you to have her." The doll levitated to come at a stop in front of Pinkie. "This way, no matter what happens, you'll always have a friend. At least one will always try to be there, but just in case we have our hooves full, she can take care of you until we're there."
Pinkie looked at the doll curiously as she took in her front hooves. She stared at for a minute. Then she hugged it. "Thank you," she told Twilight in a quiet, grateful voice as she cradled the doll.
Dash took off her hoodie and let Rarity take it to fix while Fluttershy changed the bandages on midsection. She'd never had much interest in sewing and fashion, but she had to admit there was something about the way the glowing needle and thread seemed to move as if they were alive to fix the tear in her hooded jacket.
"Sorry about th—"
"Quite all right, darling," the white unicorn told her. "You already apologized beforehand. And even then it's perfectly unstandable. If one of my creations is to be damaged, I much prefer it to be done helping a friend." She looked to Pinkie. "How is your head, dear?"
Pinkie thought about it before shrugging. She looked at Rarity intently.
"R-R-Rarity?"
"Yes, Pinkie darling?"
"Could you…could you please give me a mane cut? And dye my coat, mane and tail a different color? Or at least sneak me into the spa to do it."
Her four friends looked at her in shock.
"Why?" Dash asked, echoing everypony's thoughts.
"You're not afraid of reprisal, are you?" Twilight asked. "Because most ponies have accepted the truth by now."
Pinkie shook her head. "It's not that. But if I ever go back into town again, I don't want anypony to recognize me. I don't want to see the looks on their faces, whether they're sad, scared, or angry. It will take everything for me to face them again. I don't want to make them struggle to face me. To remind them of what they lost…
"And…I don't want to be able to look at myself anymore." She hugged Smarty Pants tightly and sniffled. "I never want to see my reflection again…"
Dash approached her and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Pinkie nodded.
"But I like see the real you," Dash told her with a smile.
"We all do," Fluttershy added with nods of agreement from the other two.
"Heck," Dash said with a chuckle, "I'm hoping we can get you back to your old look before long."
Pinkie stared at her in astonishment. "A-After what I—we, did to you—"
"Not 'we'. 'It'. It took my wings. Not you. When-when I remember what happened—I'll be seeing the spirit itself, or a bad Pinkie Pie costume, or a Pinkie puppet. But it won't be you. So please don't go change how you look unless it's back to the look we all love. Okay?"
Pinkie stared at her before putting a front leg around her. "I'll think about it…"
"Take your time," Rarity told her encouragingly. "It's a big decision. And can be a lot work that can be rather annoying. Though whatever your decision, we'll stand by you." She embraced Pinkie.
Pinkie repeated "Thank you." As she hugged her back.
Twilight also hugged her before the two unicorns left. Dash went outside with them to see them off.
"You should know," Twilight told her quietly. "There's going to be a memorial service for the victims in a few days, if you want to come. I was going to tell you all inside, but I didn't want to upset Pinkie."
"Good idea," Dash replied with a sigh. "I want to get her back to her old self…but I don't think I can. She was forced to do torture and murder ponies she saw as friends. And they died thinking it was really her…" She sighed even deeper. "All I can do is try to be there for her like how she's always been there for us when we needed some cheering up."
"That's all any of us can do," Twilight told her reassuringly as she put a hoof on her shoulder.
"You okay, Twilight?" Dash asked, seeing the tired look in her friend's eyes.
"It's nothing," the purple unicorn told her. "The investigation just had me up all night. I'm going to take a nap, then do some research on being possessed. Though I may have to get some books from the royal library in Canterlot."
They exchanged goodbyes and Dash went back inside.
Pinkie kept to herself, quietly playing with and talking to Smarty Pants. Dash felt a wave of relief seeing her do something besides moping. It wasn't the same as Pinkie being her chatty, energetic self, but it was a start.
There was another knock on the door.
"It's Scootaloo," a young voice called out. "Is Rainbow Dash there?"
"Sure thing, kid," Dash chirped as she headed to the door.
She opened the door to see the younger pegasus along with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.
"Hi girls," she told them with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"I was hoping we could have another flying lesson," Scootaloo said hopefully.
"We're here to watch and cheer," Sweetie Bell added.
"Uh-huh," Applebloom said with a nod.
"Always good to have a cheer squad," Dash said approvingly. "I was in the mood for some exercise myself."
They went out back. With Fluttershy and the other two members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheering them on and giving their thoughts. Rainbow remembered something from their last training session and got some rope. She tied it around Scootaloo's waist, held the end in her mouth, and took off as fast as she could while Scoot flapped her wings fast and hard, jumping as she ran after her. Each jump sent her a little higher until—
"WHOA!" her two friends shouted as she went into the sky as high as the rope would let her.
They and Fluttershy cheered as Scootaloo stopped flapping to soar through the air. She laughed and whopped at she went through the air at varying altitudes until Rainbow Dash had to stop. She tried to come in for a landing, but veered wildly. Before she could crash, Dash ran and jumped up to catch her for them to fall into some bushes.
"You okay, kid?" the cyan pegagsus asked.
The younger filly looked at her with a big smile. "That was awesome!"
"Yeah. It was, wasn't it?" Dash replied with a laugh. She gave her a light noogie. "I'm proud of you, Scoot."
The younger pegasus' face lit up as if she'd just been given everything her heart desired and more. She embraced Dash tightly, repeating a jubilant "thank you" over and over as her little wings continued to flap in excitement.
"You're welcome!" Dash told her with another laugh. "Now could ya mind not squeezing so tight?"
Scootaloo let go all together. "Sorry. I just got carried away."
"I understand," Dash told her. "I remember how it was the first time I flew. That was-was one of the best days of my life."
She could still remember the exhilaration of the first time she flew as her parents flew on either side of her in case she fell. The feel of the wind in her mane, the rush of performing dives and loops for the first time, the sheer freedom of having the endless reaches of the sky to fly through…
Before she knew it, there were tears running down her face. She quickly wiped them away.
"Rainbow?" Sootaloo asked in concern.
"I-It's nothing, kid," Dash told her as she tried to calm herself down.
Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something else, but Applebloom's voice called out before she could say anything.
"Ya'll okay?" the little earth pony asked as she, Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy approached them.
"We're fine!" Dash called to them as she finished getting rid of the tears. "Let's just keep that our little secret, okay?" she asked Scootaloo with a smile. "I don't wanna spoil your big moment."
The younger pegasus hesitated before smiling. "Okay." She ran to her friends. "Didja see, didja see?! I flew! I finally flew for real!"
The quintet of ponies talked, laughed and cheered Scootaloo's accomplishment as they went back to the cottage. It was just before they went in that Dash thought about Pinkie. But the pink earth pony was out of sight. Probably in hiding. She was mulling over whether to find an excuse to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders to leave when Scootaloo asked for something to drink.
"Okay," Fluttershy replied. "I'll get something for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle too. Would you girls like a snack too?"
They said yes. While they were eating, Dash told them she had to check on something upstairs. She quietly called Pinkie's name. She found the pink filly looking out the window where they'd been playing and practicing.
"Hey," Dash asked quietly. "You okay?"
Pinkie turned to her, her eyes shining and a smile on her face. She nodded. "Yes. Hearing all your laughter and cheers gave this-this wonderful feeling I never thought I'd be able to feel again. Thank you."
Dash felt a great feeling herself at seeing her friend smile again. She hugged her.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash? Would you like some berr—"
The two fillies turned to see Scootaloo, who looked back at them. Not in horror, but curiosity.
"H-Hi Pinkie," she said, looking unsure how to act.
Pinkied looked back at her in great surprise. "Y-You're not scared of me?" she asked in a whisper.
The young foal shook her head. "No. Not after all the times we've played and you made me laugh. And I saw that thing when Princess Celestia chased it. Then she told us what happened. I know it wasn't really you who hurt Rainbow and did those terrible things." She held out the berries in her hand. "Want some?"
Pinkie stared at her in fascination. Then with a sudden rush of movement, she scooped her up in her front hooves. She kissed her all over her small face repeating "thank you" over and over (which gave Dash a feeling of déjà vu). A minute later, a curious Applebloom and Sweetie Belle appeared. Again there were wide eyed looks and anticipation to see what would happen.
Applebloom ran up to Pinkie and embraced her.
"Ah knew you'd never hurt a foal!" she said. "Ah just knew it! It must've so horrible for ya..."
Sweetie Belle joined in the hugging too. "We're so happy it wasn't really you. A lot foals are. You were always there with games to play or cheer us up. You were forced to do the things you did. We understand."
Pinkie's smile grew bigger and she was crying tears of joy. "Thank you. All of you so much. You have no idea what this means to me."
"Probably a lot," Scootaloo ventured.
"Just so you know," Sweetie Belle added, "no matter what happens or what anypony thinks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are very happy to have the real you back."
Pinkie looked at them pleadingly. "C-Can we please play together sometime?"
The three fillies smiled and nodded. She actually laughed as she hugged them tightly. Dash and Fluttershy smiled bright at seeing that the Pinkie they knew and loved so well might be coming back sooner than they'd hoped.
