To Be a Mother

As Rainbow Dash finished pushing the last tuft of clouds together, she backed up and turned towards the other pegasus. The pegasus she had be thinking of, questioning many things on for the past few days. His white fur, red tipped wings, and red rings above his hooves. The cutie mark showing his one grand talent. A set of winged sandals. Though, the wings where made of thunderbolt shaped feathers.

"Hey. If you don't mind me asking, what does your cutie mark stand for anyway?"

"Oh, fast flying. I've still yet to find anyone who can beat me. I even had a race once with this earth pony. Nearly got me too. Till I broke the sound barrier. Boy, he could run. Said something about it being the result of too many electric shocks. I wonder why he is still alive."

"You...You say it like it's no big deal, you say it like no one can pass you!"

"Problem?"

"Yeah. Every day I train, I break the sound barrier with ease. How much trouble did you go through to break the sound barrier?"

"Take off at full speed, three meters after lift off, then everything around me starts slowing down. I choose not too, due to the nose bleed, my ears bleed as well, so do my eyes. Man, not something fun to happen to ya."

This stallion was talking about the more extremities of fast flying. Rainbow Dash could break the sound barrier with ease, but three meters after lift off is quite a short distance. He had wicked acceleration. And for your eyes, ears, and nose to all bleed from the sheer speed, thats not unheard of in Rainbow Dash's case. She's had it happen very rarely. But it was never much blood either.

Nevertheless, a challenging smile grew on Rainbow Dash's face.

"Oh, lemme guess. You want to challenge me, thinking your faster.", Red spoke.

"You know, not once have I even found  pony faster than I! Except for once, but I quickly passed her up. Maybe we're matched in speed! But what about stamina?"

"Well then. A race?"

"Mmm. Hold on."

Rainbow Dash thought for a few seconds, tapping her chin with her hoof and looking away.

"Yeah, sure, why not? I've got about...Say, twenty minutes to get to Fillydelfia."

"Thats across Equestria! How about we race there!"

"Oh, it's so totally on!"

"We start at...how about the edge of Ponyville? There, we'll announce who is the fastest pony!"

"Deal, you're on you white pixie!"

"Ok, Miss Rainbow Rump!"

The two quickly made their way towards the designated starting line and faced one another.

"Ok. Simple, we fly a straight shot there! Now, you see, there is a specific place I want to stop. Where in Fillydelfia are you to be?"

"Uhm...The company building which is HQ of Horseshoe designing."

"Really? They actually have that?"

"Yeah, I know. But they have it done nonetheless. It's basically engravings, but they are super detailed!"

"Meh. Ok, race is on!"

The two got back into the game and turned to face the direction towards Fillydelfia.

"Wait, do we have a referee? Ya know, to start the race so neither of us cheats?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh man. Totally forgot about that."

"Yo, Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie Pie poked her head out of a nearby flower pot, the dirt staying a perfectly cylindrical shape on her head.

"Yes?"

"Say, Ready. Set. Go."

"Ok! Ready! Set! Go!!!", the pink pony exclaimed

The two pegasi darted forward, reacting to the unusual starting declaration of the pink pony. But, nonetheless, Rainbow Dash noticed one thing immediately. She heard no sonic boom. Which means, he either lied, or is holding back. Rainbow Dash smiled and held her arm and legs together, making her the shape of a bullet. She flapped her wings harder and shot forward, passing him a with a rush of air which sounded much like the twang of a bow when shooting an arrow. He didn't accelerate though. He let her get a formidable speed up, then once she went ahead at a steady speed, he sped up as well, bursting the sound barrier with the ease he had said of earlier, jerking from his original spot to next to Rainbow Dash.

"You either lied, or are holding back! Which is it?", she asked.

He only smiled at her, then flew forwards faster, passing her, and with another blast, flew far ahead of her, gaining distance away from her. Rainbow Dash was delighted at this, this time breaking he sound barrier herself. She flew slowly ahead of him and even felt the shocking effects of the velocitile force which imposed her. She was speeding faster than that which sound went, after all. Then she felt a feather at her side. It was Red. His straight face and smile were a sight which astonished her. He was keeping such good pace with her, that she could neither slow down to make him go ahead, or speed up to get in front of him. Whatever she did, he was by her side. Then he saluted and shot forward ahead of her. She grimaced and gritted her teeth as she thought of the alternative. Nevertheless, she sped up as well.

She soon felt the effects of her own velocity. She had already passed up Red and was very far ahead of him, by about a mile, and continuing, but she felt the familiar trickle of blood. It shocked her that the pain wasn't felt till then, but she staggered a single flap and went into turbulence. After flapping the wrong wing again, she began spiraling, hit a tall tree, shattering the meter thick trunk, and then began her descent slowly. She no longer flapped her wings, she couldn't having been knocked out of breath and out of consciousness.

She had been flying behind him now, unmoving. He noticed the event and rushed towards her. Then as he rushed faster, not only did everything slow around him, but he slowed too, due to the over effect of what he was doing. If she crashed at that velocity, she would die. He slowly gained distance, closing the gap between them. Red reached out and as he hugged her, she slowly opened her eyes. The onrush of chaotic wind which was around her, forced Red into turbulence as well, though he didn't hit anything. He steered them against the currents, flaring his wings repeatedly to try and slow, but the wind behind them kept forcing them both forward.

Finally he took control over his own flight and began descending, slowly into the forest. It was a heavy landing, having never landed with another horse in his grasp. She tumbled first, then, dragging him down, made him tumble into a tree. Red hurriedly got up and ran over to the wheezing Rainbow Dash. She spit up blood to speak, coughing a lot more up afterwards.

"Y...y...you...Tha-an-nk, y-y-you...", then she slipped from consciousness.

The stallion had landed with his front right leg perpendicular to the tree, but it didn't break it, luckily. It just dislocated it. He gritted his teeth enough to feel them crack slightly as he stumbled over to Rainbow Dash. He turned her over onto her stomach and examined the large bruise over her back. Not a single bone was broken, or by the looks of it. She did give off a lot of blood through coughing, though that was normal when you were impacted with either enough air, or force when hit by something.

He checked his own hide, noticing the spatter of blood from an earlier cough she had given when he caught her. His ragged breaths finally ceased and he began nudging Rainbow Dash with his hoof, waking her.

"Wake up, you need to get up so you can help me get you to the hospital!"

"...Damn...", Rainbow Dash started.

"Don't talk, and especially don't try moving your back,. It might hurt when you get on my back, but after that, you might pass out."

"Did...Did I break my back?"

"Luckily, you didn't break a single bone, but you sure as heck did bruise your back pretty bad. We still need to get you to a hospital. It looks pretty bad with all the blood."

"...Y-yes.", she managed to finally say.

She slowly got herself completely on his back, with his assistance. Hoof with hoof, they held her there, the both of them. Red started flying again, but this time he was doing so with a much harder pace. His speed was cut in half, but other than that, he had no problems.

The sun was setting then, so he had to land nearly immediately. He couldn't fly in the dark at all without endangering the cyan mare which lay on his back in immense pain. Though, this landing was a lot less painful and much softer. He landed in a river, treading water to keep the dozing mare from falling under. She slowly fell into the darkness, watching very blankly as the shore and water subsided to darkness.

It was black, but there was no recurring dream, only a remainder of the last dream she had happened. This time, she was drowning. She had finally gotten out of the water, but she felt it on her skin. She felt it forcing it's ways into her lungs as she opened her mouth. Then, air rushed in. The water flowed out in an endless stream, exiting her lungs completely, but she hadn't the strength to continue breathing. She felt a sharp pain in her back, then a thump in her ears. She awoke, coughing up the remainder of the water she had in her lungs. Red, was above her, panting heavily. The cold water in Rainbow Dash's coat made her shiver.

"You...you almost drowned.", Red finally spoke.

"I...I wasn't dreaming then. Or was. I dreamt that I had gotten out of the water...then worse after that."

"Must've been when you slipped off. It's a deep drop at the very edge of the water. I thought you had a good death grip from fear when you fell unconscious, but you fell off, like you gave up. I dove back in, got you, threw you up, then climbed up myself. Had to perform CPR."

Rainbow Dash hadn't heard but half of it, still hazed by the near death event. She turned over onto her side, curled up and shivered hard.

"It's the hypothermia. the water is really cold, from a mountain spring up above."

Red wrapped his larger body around hers, but shivered heavily as she did. It was indeed cold. The wind had stayed up since the river ran pretty straight forward down the mountain. Red held her head close to his, trying to cover her exposed and more important areas with his large arms. Though, she shivered more than he did, nonetheless. Then, as he began slipping into the hibernative sleep that would follow if you don't get the needed warmth, he saw a few remaining visions of his own. Her yellow, blue, and red strands of hair sprawled over the grass, like a flower. Then darkness.

_____________________________________

Rainbow Dash was having the dream she had every night, though, something was different. No matter how hard she pushed on the chains that bound her, the tighter they became. She had been stuck in a room that was slowly, but surely, being pressurized, the pressure slowly rising, pressing against her body as it reached extreme heights. She felt the pressure press against her, slicing her skin open, receiving massive amounts of blood for efforts that flowed, going far past the amount that she held in her body. Suddenly, the chains released, the pressure began falling. The pain ebbed. It was like she was released from the horrible nightmare. Then she floated. The area around her roared with a distant flame that burned loudly. It was like being in a small town next to a power plant of the thunder strikes like in cloudsdale. But then everything around her was a mix of what looked like deep space, and dim colors like red, purple, blue, and white.

The sun slowly ebbed it's way up Rainbow Dash's body, warming her. She felt it in her dream as well, but she couldn't move. In her dream, she was suspended in an empty space less than a vacuum, but light traveled nontheless, through it. She saw the universe closely around her, and then herself. But she was much larger than what her blackened body was. She looked at herself, seeing the steadily flowing stream nearby, and the trees around her. She saw also, the red and white fur pelt on a large bump in front of her view. Then it all snapped out and she was dragged into a darker area, waking up and screaming.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Rainbow Dash!", Red tried to silence her.

She sat up, looked around and then, fear struck her. Her Wonderbolt costume was stripped of her, her goggles gone. She found neither. Red walked up to her slowly, waiting for the questions.

"Oh my god! What happened? Where am I? What do I do?"

"Listen, calm down my little cyan friend, we have a long distance to go."

"My...I can't feel any pain in my back! Am I healed?"

"No, fraid not. We could not have made the trip of the last mile to Fillydelfia. I had a single idea. But I regret it now. You seem to be flipping out, your speech is impaired. I guessed giving you the novacaine I use to sooth my aching teeth after fast flights, was a bad idea."

"You used a non-sterile needle?!?!"

"No. It was a little pen. All I had to do was put it to your neck.It injected two drugs actually. One numbed your body. The other made it to where your mind kept your muscles tense and alert, your nerves which attain to touch and feeling, are gone. For now atleast."

"How do you know so much?"

"I studdied with a cute nurse long ago."

"Oh, you think we could make the rest of the trip there?"

"Try standing."

Rainbow Dash looked at him, then began to do just that. She stood up, but fell over. She tried several more times over and finally gave up.

"It...It's no use, I can't."

"Because it's the novacaine."

"Then how do we even get back?"

"Easily. You can ride on my back, though, after that landing in the water, and you falling back in, once I dove in, something bashed my wing, plus, my right leg is still dislocated. So, I'd say thats not gonna happen before the novacaine wears off and the full pain of your heavily brusied back comes up."

"Rear up and slam your right leg into the ground by falling over."

"What?"

"I've done it before! I've dislocated three of my legs in my life. Rearing up, then landing on your shoulder will slingshot it back into place."

Red stared at her, "Are you seriously telling the truth?"

"Yes!"

"Listen, I'll trust you, but. If this doesn't work, I hold it to you to bring me back and help them fix my muscle severed arm!"

Red slowly leaned his front end down and pushed up with his left leg, pushing him nearly off the ground. Once standing bipedal, he turned as he fell over, landing on his right arm and shoving it back in it's socket. He screamed out in pain, but as it ebbed away slowly, he stood up, panting.

"Alright...It worked."

"Good. Now we have to get me to the hospital!"

"I know."

Red picked her up, placing her gently on his back to where she coudn't fall off, and began the way to Fillydelfia. But of all the things that just happened, one thing still left his mind wondering. He never had any novacaine, nor an emergency drug pen. How did that lie work?

The trek had begun. He started off on a non-existant trail through the woods. The path was never done, but luckily it wasn't thick brush that made their pasasage hard. It was the lack of light. It was very dim there.

"...You never had a pen, did you?", Rainbow Dash started.

He stayed silent.

"I'm right aren't I?"

"Yeah. You are. How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"I never gave you any novacaine, or any neuro activant. Atleast thats what I picked up in the newer studies of medicine.

"There's a little thing about that that makes me wonder. Did you ever even date a nurse?"

"I did. But not for long. For Celestia's Sake, I can't see anything to save my life!"

He stopped just in front of a tree, almost hitting it.

"And what questions me now, is what happened to my costume?"

"When you crashed into the tree, the splinters ripped it, the wind flow did the rest. You lost it a few seconds after. All that remained was the goggles, and those fell off in the river."

"Oh. Don't you have a flashlight or something?"

"I don't have my bags, and frankly, didn't have anything on me in the race."

"Oh yeah..."

She was just dangling on his back now, her arms hanging on his sides. Though, she slowly moved her front legs, reaching around his neck, hugging him.

"Thanks. For...for being there. For giving up the race."

"To save you? Hello! Why would I let anyone plummet to their death!"

"Well you'd be surprised. A funny story. Actually. Years ago, I decided I wanted to get myself a pet. Had a competition to see who would be my pet, so I had a final race. Whoever kept up with me, and finished the race with me won. I had a hawk, eagle, bat, and some other bird, also a tortoise racing for me."

The story, even though it was faint, kept Red's mind off his throbbing wing. It was sweet. Though he didn't miss a single thing, he notcied as she began slipping into sleep again.

"Something happened...Rocks fell. The birds flew ahead, finishing the race, but I was stuck. The tortoise came to my rescue, raising...the boulder off my wing. He also carried me across the finish line. I said...He finished with me, he's my pet. The other birds never went back for me...they just kept going."

"So, you have a slow pet turtle now? But you wanted a fast animal?"

"Yeah, we attached a propeller to his back. It's powered by magic imbued in a crystal. He flies alongside me most of the time."

"He sounds like a cute turtle."

"He's a tortoise...", she chuckled.

"Thats a cute chuckle, you sound like a totally different mare."

"It happens. Sometimes."

"Well, it's still cute."

"Thank you...You're not so bad yourself. You're strong enough to stop me from speeding within seconds, you saved my life, you are even carrying me. You're a good stallion. I think you and I make a good couple too."

He blushed at this, stopping to look back at the cyan mare. Her eyes were shut, a smile on her mouth.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, I mean, no one has been able to surpass me for a long time...", her voice fell.

"Rainbow Dash, you should get some sleep. I don't really know if anything is broken yet, but it sure sounds like you could use the sleep."

But she was already asleep, having slipped from consciousness right after the word "time."

Red continued on, rushing a little bit. Not only did he nearly die of hypothermia, but he was carrying a very weak mare on his back. Having survive hypothermia, was a happy thought, but it made him sad to see Rainbow Dash so badly hurt.

It was only a few minutes afterwards, but sure enough, he exited the forest. But even worse, he ran into a camp of dragons. All faced him, each licking their lips in hunger.

"Bristo! These look mighty tasty!", the blue said.

"Hah! You're right. That rainbow mane, though, makes her look like a dessert. She probably tastes sweet too, am I right lover boy?", the yellow laughed.

Red was too scared to move. Though, what came to his mind was the purple serpent. His golden, fashioned hair was a mess, some of it singed, the rest torn off. Though the purple and blonde mustache was perfectly fine.

"Whoa guys, wait. I know that you are trying to teach me to be an evil serpent and all, but I can't just let you guys hurt them. You see, I'd not have this rockin mustache if it weren't for that cyan one's friend. And if that white one is trying to help that cyan one, I'd not harm either. Really guys, she even looks hurt."

Red looked at the purpled serpent.

"Th-thank you! But, I really need help. Do you know the quickest way to the nearest pony city?"

"Yeah, that way lover boy.", the purple serpent pointed to a direction.

"Thank you. I'll tell Rarity of this. She'd be thankful for it too."

"I hope so, cause once she sees this hair, she's gonna flip. So who told you about me anyway?"

"Why, Rarity herself. We got to talking over mustaches and you came up."

"Well, tell her I said hi.", the serpent wave his hand, motioning for them to go away.

"Can do!"

Red nervously galloped across the clearing, each dragon eyeing him, except for the serpent, which layed back down. The last dragon stopped him with his tail.

"Wait. Before you go, got any gems?"

"Uhm. Not on me, but I do!"

"Aww. Oh well, you can go."

The dragon lifted it's tail and Red dashed forth, out of sight. He slowed down on his way and even stopped. Rainbow Dash fell off, but it wasn't because she was moving, she was trying to keep on his back.

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Dang it, I fell off!"

"No...It's my fault, I should have been a little gentler when running."

"Why were you running?"

"Dragons. They were all in a clearing that I came by."

Red helped her back onto his back and continued walking.

"Why didn't you ask one for a ride?"

"They're dragons!"

"Good point. You wanna race back after this?", she asked weakly.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I want to finish that race."

He stopped.

"You...You're not afraid?"

Rainbow Dash picked her head up, smiling at the blood stained white stallion.

"There was one thing I was told a long time ago. It was when I lost in a race to an old friend. She beat me easily, thanks to her large wingspan."

"So you're not afraid because someone told you not to be?"

"No...I was told, that if I give up because of one loss, then thats poor sportry. But if I get back up, I'm not only being a better person for doing it, it also means I'm determined. If you lose without any hope left, and give up, you really do lose. But if you get back up, stubborn pride kicking in, you can do even better. It takes a single choice to change your future."

Red thought for a second, then looked at the cyan mare again.

"But how are you able to speak without a whimper, a single moan of pain?"

"I'll tell you why. It's just pain. It doesn't mean that I can't be a Wonderbolt anymore, it doesn't mean I'll die. If anything, I'll be bragging about this in the future."

Red continued walking.

"So, you're a stubborn mare aren't you?"

"You've yet to see me stubborn, stallion."