Under a mother's wing

     A sharp pain pierced through Rainbow Dash's mind, slowly feeling returned to her sore limbs. "Uuhh," she moaned softly, eyes fluttering open. Standing over her was a purple alicorn mare, her horn was alight with a pink aura, a damp rag floated over and began to wrap around Dash's face

     "OUCH!" she cried, the liquid on the towel burned her skin. Twilight jumped back in surprise, wings unfurling, "Oh! Sorry I didn't know you were up!"

"What the buck are you doing Twilight!?" Dash shouted, tossing the towel off her face and rising from the bed.

"I was applying healing ointment to your head injury!" she shouted back at her. A fuzzy memory surfaced, 'Ya....that' Rainbow groaned inwardly.

     "I don't need that" she said confidently. Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Im not sure that a good-"

"Thanks for the help anyway Twilight,"  Dash cut her friend off. Wanting to save herself the embarrassment she opened a nearby window in preparation to leave, "but I have to get back on the job, see ya later" The moment she spread her wings Rainbow's vision began to blur, causing her to stumble slightly

      Twilight rushed over to her friends side, keeping her steady with a hoof, "Rainbow Dash you are not leaving till I help you Not only do you have a concussion but since when do you run into storm clouds.......is something wrong?" Dash sighed, there was no getting out of this, "Ok, I'll tell you, just get me over to the bed" Guiding her over to the bed Twilight used her magic to pull back the sheets, allowing Rainbow to climb inside.

     "So tell me, what's on your mind?" Twilight asked, pulling the sheets back over Dash.

"Well last night I had this dream...." she began, the warmth of the bed comforting her, making the pain subside slightly. For what felt like an eternity Dash laid there telling her story, sparing most of the sappy details, "Then this black hole opened up and-"

"Hold that thought" Twilight stopped her, leaving the bedside for a moment she returned with another damp towel. "Oh no, I don't think so. Im not putting that on" Rainbow glared at her. "Do you want to get better?" Twilight asked, slightly exasperated.

"Yes"

"Well this ointment is the only thing that can get rid of your concussion quickly, Im sure even a pony like you understands that......unless" she paused, a smirk crossing her face, "you cant handle it."

     Rainbow snorted, this sounded like a challenge, "Give it to me" she demanded; snatching the towel out of Twilight's aura with a hoof she placed it right over her forehead, the pain was intense.

"See, not so bad' Twilight remarked.

"Ya, easy enough for you to say" Dash managed to get out through gritted teeth.

"Im no expert on dream magic but I may know why you had that dream" Twilight began, getting back on the subject.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash asked, she started to get up, Twilight held her down with a hoof.

"Don't get up yet, but yes, from what you told me you are afraid of failing. More specifically, failing Scootaloo. Is there would be a reason you are afraid of such a thing happening?"

     Dash thought for a moment, 'I haven't spent a lot of time with Scoots in a while, is that it?'

"Me and Scootaloo haven't hung out in a while." she told Twilight. Before her friend could respond the door at the end of the room flew open, Spike came running in, "Twilight! Princess Celestia sent you a letter," he produced a scroll from behind his back. Without a word Twilight levitated the paper in from of her face, reading it quickly. "Thanks Spike, sorry Rainbow Dash the princess needs to meet with me. You should be able to take that towel off now, we can talk about this some other time."

     Closing her eyes, a bright light radiated from Twilights horn, building in intensity until there was a loud "CRACK!" and she was gone. "Some things never change," Dash muttered, throwing the towel away and getting back on her hooves. As she turned and left the room Spike came running up from behind. "So..." he started, trying to make conversation, his small voice echoed off the high ceiling. "You where out for quite a bit."

"How long?" Dash asked, her voice exposing some mild concern.

'Umm, a few hours, I don't know."

     Throwing back the thick velvet curtains Rainbow Dash watched the sun sink behind Ponyville. "NO!" she cried, Spike jumped back in alarm. Tossing the window open Dash dove out and unfurled her wings, speeding off toward the town. 'I can make it, I can make it' she repeated over and over again, the streets around her getting narrower and narrower until she reached the edge of town.

     Drawing in her wings, Dash landed perfectly in front of a small building. A sign in the dirty window read 'Cloudsdale Weather Team Outpost'. Opening the door she was met with a simple room, the Cloudsdale flag hung proudly behind a counter. Reaching behind her ear Dash retrieved a time card, "Whew, its still there" she told herself aloud. Trotting over to the corner of the room, Rainbow deposited the card into a wall mounted device, it punched the time.

     "Ahem" came a gruff voice, her heart dropped.

"Hey Mr. Cloudlifter," Rainbow said awkwardly, turning around. A large male stallion with a brown fur coat stared down at her, his tired eyes obscured by the grey mane that stuck out from under his weather factory hat. "Late again I see," he huffed, 'Do you remember what I said would happen if you were late again Ms. Dash?"

     "No, you cant! Im the best pony you have on the team, I can clear the sky faster than anypony else," Dash sputtered, she began to panic. Cloudlifter continued, unfazed by her pleas, "You can clear the sky faster than anypony else but you only do it if you want to do it. I cant have employees on their own agenda while they are working on my time, they give the factory and Cloudsdale a bad name. Im sorry Ms. Dash, your fired."

        A mixture a fear and rage boiled up inside Rainbow, 'He- he fired me! The best flyer in Equestria no less! Oh he'll regret this, soon the business will suffer and they'll come crawling back to me' Without a word she galloped out of the building, flying off toward home with the dying light of the sun as her guide.

     Dash muttered a string of curses to herself as she landed at her cloud house. Upon entry she instantly went over to a small coffee table and sat on a cushion. She stared unblinkingly at the collection of papers in front of her, words like 'Final Payment' and 'Foreclosure Warning' burned holes right through her. "How am I going to pay these off now?" she asked herself aloud. For as long as she could remember Dash had been in tough financial position, spending all her money on Wonderbolts training had left her unable to pay for her house.

     Rainbow sighed, "Im sorry, Im so, so sorry. I failed myself.....and I failed you." she picked up a picture of her mother off the table. A beautiful white Pegasus with a red mane and rose colored eyes was smiling back at her, a single tear splattered against the frame. "No" she spoke, strength back in her voice, "I will not give up!" she was up on her hooves again, standing proudly as if to impress some unseen crowd. "All I need to do is get a job," she declared, shouting it out to the world, yet no pony ever heard it.