Rainbow Dash awoke to the beeping of her heart rate monitor. The hospital was busy in the mornings, patients and doctors coming in and out. She looked outside the window. The sky was blue, scattered with puffy white cotton candy clouds. How she longed to just jump out of bed and zoom around in the air. And then she realized, Oh right. I'm sick. And I'm dying.

There was a knock on her door. It was the doctor.

"How do you feel, Miss Dash"

"Perfectly fine," she replied.

"Miss Dash, you have a option here," the doctor continued, "You can stay at the hospital where there will always be people to take care of you, but you are also free to spend your last days in the outside world. "

"I'll leave you to make that decision. You can come by my office and tell me when you've made the choice,"he said

That left Rainbow Dash thinking. If she chose the first option, she would always be taken care of. Always safe. But she would always be trapped here. If she chose the second option, she would be able to do whatever she wanted. She might not make it to the hospital in time in case something happened, but she would be free. Free. The word echoed in her mind. She imagined herself blissfully soaring through the skies, nothing but the blue skies and fresh air around her. In that moment, she knew what she was going to pick.

Rainbow Dash climbed out of bed, swung open the door of her room and walked to the doctor's office. She knocked on the door.

"It's Rainbow Dash. And I will not be staying in the hospital. "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, a pony with a lavender coat and a purple and pink mane named Twilight Sparkle was having some difficulties. Twilight had been in the Canterlot library all morning, but had not found anything. Her library was nothing compared to this one. It was much bigger and had lots and lots of books.

Twilight sat at a desk, flipping through Diseases: A synopsis of each and every sickness and infection. Tumors. Fevers. Colds. Diabetes. Pneumonia. There were lots and lots of diseases that she had never seen before, all with explanation, treatment and even history.

"I have the results from my scientific team."

Twilight turned around. It was Princess Celestia. She was holding up a piece of paper with her magic.

"I'll leave you to read that on your own. If you wish to keep it, you may."

After the princess left, Twilight began reading.

"We have observed the sample given to us, under all our best microscopes, but we were not able to see anything. However during our research, the lights went out and your sample was glowing. When we went to look at it, the light was so bright it pierced our eyes. We have to say that this is the strangest thing we have seen ever in our research."

And then it was blank. Twilight was extremely surprised. The royal scientific team was the best in Equestria, and had all the best equipment. Most of the time, their reports were detailed with exact facts. This was quite strange.

She put the paper away and kept reading the book on diseases. There must be a way, she thought to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash was enjoying her time outside the hospital. And she did not regret her decision one bit. She was flying to the Wonderbolts' Headquarters. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air.

Rainbow Dash landed inside the headquarters.

"Hey, ready to do some flying? We're just waiting for Soarin to get here," Spitfire greeted her.

"Yeah. Um... But before that, I need to tell you something..." Rainbow pulled Spitfire into a corner.

"I'm only going to be able to stay in the team for one more month or so..."

"Why? Is everything okay?" Spitfire inquired.

And so Rainbow told the whole story of going to the fashion show, collapsing, waking up in the hospital, only having one more month to live, and her decision to live outside the hospital.

Spitfire had a look of sympathy on her face. "Are you feeling okay? Can you still fly?"

"I'm perfectly fine. I can still fly as good as ever," Rainbow assured her.

So they went back with the rest of the team. Soarin was here, and they were ready to begin their training.

Spitfire began,"As you all know, the Wonderbolts will be participating in the Equestria Games next month!" Everypony cheered. "That means we need to train as hard as ever. However, I feel like you've done enough work in the past two weeks, so today we'll do something a bit more fun. Today will be a simulation of the Equestria Games, so expect everything to be as it would be in the games. I will be the judge, and Soarin will be controlling the timer system. We will be flying five kilometers. Let's get flying!"

All the Wonderbolts flew to the racetrack. The racetrack was just like one on the ground, the lines drawn with cloud-making machines. Spitfire stood on a cloud at the side with a whistle. The racers, including Rainbow Dash, stood at the starting line.

"Let the race...BEGIN!" Spitfire blew the whistle and Soarin turned on the timers.

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could. Even though she knew this wasn't a real competition, it felt like one. Just like when she usually competed, she was only focused on herself in the air. Nothing else around her mattered. In that moment, all that did was that she tried her absolute best.

After a while, she was flying so fast she could hear the wind blowing past her ears. Then she felt a barrier before her. The sound barrier. I can do this, she thought to herself. She pushed and pushed until she felt like she couldn't go any faster, and suddenly, it broke. A magnificent rainbow exploded behind her, painting colors across the sky. A sonic Rainboom! I did it! She felt the same way she did that day she got her cutie mark.

But now was no time to celebrate. It was a competition. Rainbow flew and flew with the last bit of her remaining energy. Finally, she saw it. A red ribbon, a black and white checkered frame. The finish line. She had done it. She had won.

Rainbow sat next to the finish line, panting. Spitfire passed her a cup of water. She happily took it. The second was Fleetfoot, and she did not know who the third was, because they had covered their face. As the third removed their flight goggles, Rainbow saw her face. Fluttershy?

"Fluttershy! You're in the wonderbolts now? I never knew!" Rainbow exclaimed

"Yup. I worked as hard as ever to get in. I just got the notice yesterday. Of course, my animals are still my top priority. This is just a little something to do on the side," Fluttershy replied.

They walked along with the rest of the pegasi to the "Award ceremony". As Rainbow stood at the top with a blue ribbon, Fluttershy and Fleetfoot next to her, her friends in the "audience", all her problems vanished form her mind. And then she felt something she hadn't felt in a really long time- pure happiness.

Author's Note

Again, any comments, feel free to tell me. I would also like to know if anyone would make a cover art for this story. You will be fully credited. Please contact me if you are interested. In addition, expect one chapter to come out every week or so, and each to be around 1,000-1,500 words. Thanks!