Shadowblade's Revenge

When she gained consciousness, she was no more alert than she was when she was out cold. She winced as she tried to sit up, but she just couldn't move. She moaned in agony and rubbed her sore head, feeling the bump there from her concussion. She struggled to even keep her eyes open. She wanted to live to see the light of day again. She tried to recall what happened after the fight, but she remembered nothing. She only remembered the kick that the last one standing threw directly at her head. With effort and pain she slowly sat up. She looked around, barely conscious. She couldn't recognize where in Equestria she was. Maybe she wasn't in Equestria at all. Maybe she wasn't even alive. After a few minutes, she realized she was in a cave - a large, dark, cave. The ground was damp, and the cave was completely empty. She was the only living thing in there. All alone. She sat and listened to the sound of the strong winds that blew outside of the cave. She gazed at the moonlight. She'd been gone for a week. She would do anything to be back at home, but she wasn't at home. She was completely lost. She had little strength left, but she stood up on all fours, listening to the echoes in the darkness. She began to trudge out of the isolated cave on her broken legs and into the desert aimlessly. Determined to get home, she wasn’t going to stay in that cave for one more minute. She remembered her crash to the ground after her failed stunt and waking to find a bunch of stallions with knives standing in front of her. She remembered every detail about the dozen jerks she fought. Those miserable stallions fought her and left her like this for no reason whatsoever. But she wasn't one to go down fast, and fought them off for a good long time. She had a natural fighting ability - or at least that's what she'd always thought. She thought of her friends, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack. She ran her hoof through her tangled rainbow colored mane and wondered if they worried about her. Part of her knew they would; they were the best friends a pony could have. But after all she'd been through, her mind wasn't straight; the other part of her said that her friends weren't the slightest bit worried and worse, didn't care what happened to her. Rainbow Dash kept walking, intent keep going until she reached Ponyville. But at her physical condition, she couldn't go much further. Her injured legs couldn't handle it anymore. Rainbow's broken body gave up on her as she fell to the desert floor. She completely blacked out.

Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth uneasily in Pinkie's room at Sugarcube Corner.

“She's been missing for a week now.” Twilight said. Her friends shared her concerns. All of them kept to themselves, and there was silence in the room for several minutes. Even Pinkie Pie was quiet. Fluttershy stifled a cry.

“Oh, I hope something horrible hasn't happened to her!” Fluttershy said, almost silently. Pinkie Pie had absolutely no idea where Rainbow was. She could just be on a vacation, but Pinkie suddenly felt very worried about what could have happened to her. She started freaking out like never before. “OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH WHO KNOWS WHERE IN EQUESTRIA SHE IS?! SHE COULD-” “Alright Sugarcube, calm down. Ah’m sure RD’s fine. What's the worst that could a' happened?” Applejack said shakily. She was as concerned as the others, but she wanted to stay on the bright side rather than think about the long list of possibilities of what really could've happened to her.

“AJ's probably right. Rainbow's - just taking a vacation.” Twilight said, her voice as unsure and shaky as Applejack's. “You don't know that.” Pinkie said in an unusually quiet voice. Rarity agreed.

“Pinkie's right. Rainbow wouldn't just leave us without a word. As much as I’d hate to say it, something must have happened to her.” She said sadly, but still with the flare of drama she uses in most of her words. The five friends looked at each other in more silence. Pinkie Pie stood and walked downstairs, coming back up a few minutes later with some cupcakes. This time it wasn't to cheer everypony up. She began to nibble on one nervously. Twilight spoke.

“I don't know what to do about it. I've told Princess Celestia about it and she said she'd send out search parties.” She sighed. Pinkie Pie muttered glumly, “Woohoo. Parties.” Pinkie, more than the others, was obviously not herself.

“Well, if the Princess doesn't get any results, Ah say we go look for 'er. Who cares how long it takes?” Applejack said. The others nodded. Pinkie stuffed the remaining cupcakes into her mouth. The idea of actually finding Rainbow Dash instead of sitting around made her ecstatic. All of the sudden, Spike rushed into the door, holding a scroll.

“Ah, Spike! Read that scroll. Has Celestia gotten any results?” Twilight said. Spike replied, “Well, no, actually. Here's what it says:

My dearest Twilight,

I am sorry to report that none of my patrols were able to find your friend, Rainbow Dash. However, I have high hopes that she is somewhere alive and safe. I'm sure she will be found eventually if not soon. I am truly sorry that she has gone missing but I am doing all that I can and will continue doing so. I wish you the best of luck in finding her or whatever you choose to do.

~Princess Celestia

“I sure hope we find her.” Spike finished. The five friends glanced at each other, all with the same thoughts inside their heads.

“Well, no time to waste. If we're going to search for Rainbow we better start soon.” Twilight decided.

“Can I come?” Spike asked.

“No, I'll need you to stay just in case Rainbow comes back.” Twilight replied. Spike was hesitant, but he agreed.

“Alright.” All except for Pinkie Pie went down stairs and out the door, headed to their homes to get anything necessary for their quest.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She looked around. She was still in the desert, and she guessed it was mid-afternoon. The sun shone brightly as Rainbow stood up, still very injured. Two figures were approaching.

“Oh, not again.” She muttered weakly. She heard voices. They were mare voices.

“Wait. Do you see that pony all alone over there?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, shouldn't we go see him, or her?”

“I thought we were trying to get home. Dunno about you, but I don't really love being lost in a desert.”

“Are you saying we should leave that pony all alone?”

“Okay fine, but this better not take too long.” The two mares came closer.

“Hey dude, are you okay?” One asked. “No.” Rainbow answered hoarsely. She didn't know what else to say. The ponies finally came close enough to Rainbow so she could see them. “What happened to you?” One questioned.

“I got in a fight.” She answered. “Aw, man, how'd you get in a fight?” The other asked. “I don't really remember.” Rainbow said, still in lots of pain. One introduced them both. “Well, my name is Octavia, and this is my friend, Vinyl Scratch.”

“I'm Rainbow Dash.” Dash said. “Man, you look awful. Is anything broken?” Vinyl Scratch asked. “Legs, a couple ribs, and my wings. Probably more but I’m not sure.” She answered immediately. “And you're still walking?” Octavia asked, puzzled. “Hardly.” Rainbow said. The three walked north. “How did you guys get lost?” Rainbow wondered. “It was Octavia's fault!” Vinyl said abruptly. “My fault? If you hadn't yelled at that taxi driver for losing his directions, than maybe he wouldn't have kicked us out.” Octavia protested. Rainbow nodded, stifling a laugh as she listened to the two friends argue. A few seconds later, she was silent with a dead serious look on her scarred face. Vinyl noticed right away. “Whoa, what's wrong?” Rainbow held up a hoof to silence her and whispered, “Look behind you.” Vinyl and Octavia turned around. The three were now facing twelve stallions. “Oh, not you again!!!” Rainbow yelled. “Hey look boys, it's that lame mare we beat up yesterday.” Said one. They pulled out their knives. “Why are you doing this?” Octavia said, putting on a brave face.

“That’s classified information.” Another answered. “Come on guys. We can take ‘em.” Rainbow said. “Hah. Sure. Us, only the strongest men in the army.” One said. “We’ll see about that.” Dash challenged. The three mares raised their hooves, preparing to fight as the stallions closed in. Rainbow Dash started the fight with a swift kick to one of the stallion's chest. The rest was total chaos. The mares stood back to back on their hind legs, punching recklessly and dodging the stallions' knives. By the end of the battle, the stallions were on the ground, not dead but too injured to be able to do anything ever again. Rainbow of course was still injured, but luckily none of them had taken much damage. “Is everypony alright?” Octavia asked. “Yeah.” Vinyl answered. “Not much worse than before.” Rainbow replied. They walked away from the bloody mess from their successful brawl. They were off the find a way home. Little did they know that they were only two miles away from Canterlot.

The five friends left Ponyville with high hopes that they would find Rainbow Dash. They decided to go to Canterlot before searching elsewhere. (Which was a smart idea on their part, considering that Rainbow was two miles away from there.) Twilight was in the lead, Fluttershy was in the back. Applejack ended up taking the back just to keep watch to make sure no one was behind them. Of course it took lots of convincing Fluttershy that it was safer in the middle, because after the past week she figured anything could happen. After they reached Canterlot, the search was pretty easy. However, the 200 other stallions that began to chase Rainbow presented a huge battle. Pinkie spotted three figures walking around in Canterlot. She was able to make out a certain rainbow colored mane. “LOOK! IT'S DASHIE!” She yelled with excitement. The others immediately followed Pinkie's line of vision, also to see Rainbow Dash and two other ponies. “Who are those two?” Twilight wondered. Applejack shrugged. The five dashed over to their location, but not fast enough. Rainbow had told Octavia and Vinyl Scratch to evacuate everypony from Canterlot while she held off the 200 stallion army. Rainbow charged at the stallions, still on her broken legs. Her friends followed her, trying to catch up with her. Applejack was almost to Rainbow, but it was too late. She had already impacted the group. The others fought madly. The 6 had been in fighting experiences before, so they were no strangers to battle. One stallion held a knife high up into the air. He had Rainbow Dash on the ground. Just as he brought his knife down to stab her, a pair of strong legs bashed through his skull. He fell to the ground. “Ya alright partner?” Applejack asked, helping Rainbow up. She shook her head viciously. They continued fighting. Fluttershy wanted to run away. “Fluttershy! You can fight! Do it for Rainbow!” Pinkie yelled, barreling herself ferociously into one of them and wrestled with him, which was very successful. Fluttershy started to fight. Twilight stood back to back with Rarity. They were two deadly punching machines, and also using magic to their advantage. After it was all over, Twilight sighed at the sight of Canterlot. They scanned the area for Rainbow. Pinkie, again, was the first to find her. “DASHIE!!!” Pinkie Pie's horrible scream told the others her location. They ran over to Pinkie as she grabbed Rainbow's limp body. They all stood there, speechless at the sight of Rainbow Dash, who had pretty much drowned in her own blood. There was a long, mournful silence, which was stopped by Pinkie Pie when she heard an agonizing moan. “Dashie?” She said hopefully. “Hi.” Rainbow managed to say. “Oh, thank heavens you're alright.” Said Rarity. Twilight was shocked at her injuries. “Oh my gosh, Rainbow, you look horrible! ” She said. “We best be gettin' ya to a hospital, sugarcube.” Applejack said. So she carried Dash on her back to the nearest hospital. Luckily the only damage done to Canterlot was on the streets. They rushed in immediately. Some doctor guy saw them walking in and said, “Hello, what can I do for you today?” Twilight replied. “We've got a very injured friend here.” “Oh my. That's very severe. Do you have any idea what’s broken?” The doctor asked. Rainbow answered in a hoarse voice. “Legs, ribs, wings, and I'm sure most of my other bones.” She tried to sound tough but her voice was much too shaky. Fluttershy cried. She just sat there and cried. Rainbow Dash was put on a hospital bed and rushed into a room. “

Oh m-my I f-f-feel so bad f-for h-h-her.” Fluttershy managed between sobs. “Relax, Sugarcube. Rainbow'll be alright.” Applejack said, trying to lift Fluttershy's spirit. “She had me scared there when she was unconscious.” Said Rarity. “Me too. I'm really glad she's okay.” Twilight agreed. Pinkie stared at the floor, in silence, completely lost in thought. “Pinkie, ya alright?” Applejack asked. “What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine.” She replied uneasily. Before anyone could say anything else, the doctor came out. “She'll be fine. But she most likely won't be able to fly again.” He said. “Rainbow, not flying again? That's basically her whole life gone!” Twilight said. “OH NO! OH POOR DASHIE, NEVER FLYING?” “Alright, hold yer horses. He said 'most likely'. He didn't say she'd never fly again, We just gotta hope she's gonna recover well.” Applejack encouraged. Fluttershy was about to speak, but failed. Several hours passed, then Rainbow walked out of the room, covered in bandages. More white on her than rainbow kind of creeped her friends out. “GAAAH! It’s a mummy!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “Hi guys.” She said. “Is it okay to hug her now?” Pinkie asked. “No. She’s far too injured.” The doctor replied quickly. “Maybe two or three weeks from now. If she is lucky she will recover in that time.” “Three weeks? I can't wait that long!” Pinkie complained. Silence filled the room. Fluttershy was still crying, but then everyone else shed a few tears. Even Rainbow found a few tears streaming from her eyes. She wouldn’t want to ruin her tough pony reputation, so she stopped herself immediately and said, “Who needs all this sappy stuff? Can we just get ice cream?” Her friends smiled and nodded. The six friends were out of the door, out to enjoy the wondermous taste of ice cream.