Flying beneath shining stars and above clouds of silver, she soared gracefully amidst the peaceful nighttime sky, feeling the cold wind rustle through the feathers in each of her wings. She surveyed the darkened landscape below habitually, as she had always done, making notes of all the scenery and any events that may be taking place beneath her from the skies above. The rolling green plains surrounding Ponyville were empty and dark, and the town below glowed warmly from all of the lights. The moon above her shone down with a peaceful light, and the sun had long since fallen below the horizon.
Nopony seemed to be out at this time of night, but that was what she loved most about her nighttime flights. It gave her space to think and collect her thoughts, reminisce on memories, or just clear her mind from the troubles of the day. But tonight, she didn't think much about what had happened that day. She couldn't remember much anyways. Instead, she dreamed. She manifested cheerful scenarios in her mind about saving somepony heroically, or beating up a bad guy. Or becoming a Wonderbolt.
Her dreams always drifted towards that, ever since she was just a filly. She had spent years of her life fantasizing about it, and as she grew older, they became both more fanciful and realistic as time went on. She worked hard, trained diligently and above all else, she had the heart and determination to become a Wonderbolt. Everypony knew it, including her. Without a doubt, it was an eventuality. An inevitable end to the culmination of all her hard work and perseverance. It was only a matter of time until her dreams would finally be fulfilled.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning and resounding thunder struck powerfully from above her seemingly from nowhere, startling her and causing her to lose her balance and veer slightly right and downwards as she tried to regain her balance. She tried to lift her right wing up to recover, but suddenly the wind was gusting hard all around her in every direction. Her mind raced at the sudden terror that came into her heart. What's going on? The winds picked up and she was suddenly falling through a thunderstorm as lightning crashed in every direction around her, causing the cloudy gray skies to glow briefly as they did. The air grew colder and wetter as she struggled in agony to save herself. Panicking as she plummeted helplessly through the dark and stormy skies towards the ground, she flailed her wings and hooves in a desperate attempt to regain her balance, but it was to no avail. She dropped out of the darkened gray thunderclouds and could see the ground. Her eyes widened in horror as it approached rapidly beneath her.
With an ear-shattering thud, she smashed forcefully into it and her vision sharply faded to black.
Rainbow Dash flailed helplessly underneath the covers of her bed, crying out in a perceived agony from crashing into the ground. A few agonizing moments passed, her heart beating so hard and rapidly that she could feel the blood pulsating in her extremities. Her body was frozen stiff from shock and her eyes widened completely staring up at the ceiling above her, her mind in a state of daze and confusion. It was at this moment that she remembered the countless nightmares every night for the past several days, every one of them similar to the last. All of them started and ended the same; a cruel self-inflicted punishment brought on by her own subconscious.
As her heart still beat rapidly as she tried to calm herself down, a nurse rushed into her room in the dead of the night and flipped on the light switch. "Rainbow Dash, are you okay?"
Rainbow Dash propped herself up from the bed with her wing, untangling her hooves from the blankets on top of her. "...yeah," she replied with a deep sorrow in her voice.
The nurse sighed deeply. "Is it the dreams again?"
"...yeah," she repeated once more, this time more quietly.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
She pondered for a brief moment, but nothing came to mind. There was nothing anypony could do to help her now. She felt hopeless. She replied with a barely audible 'no' as she stifled an urge to cry. Not wanting to talk about it to this pony, Rainbow Dash pulled the covers over herself with her one good wing and pushed her face into the pillow, her tears absorbing into the soft, silky fabric.
The nurse frowned again and flipped the lights off before walking out of the room. "You have some visitors coming tomorrow," she said through the crack of the door before slipping out of the room completely. "I'm sure they're very excited to see you soon."
I know, thought Rainbow Dash. It had been several days since the incident occurred, but she wasn't in any shape to have visitors until just now. The doctors had tried their best to reconstruct her wing, but it was simply too badly damaged to fully repair. She wondered for a moment if maybe there was some way she could ever get it back to its former state, but quickly gave up on the thought. Who am I kidding, she thought to herself, half my wing isn't even THERE. A sob welled up in her throat as she looked at her right wing. Tattered and sliced from the incident mere days ago. She had broken and fractured bones before, but this wasn't something a Pegasus could come back from. The doctors had told her that she could get a prosthetic, but it wouldn't ever be as good as the real thing. She wasn't being pessimistic either. This was as real a tragedy as it could get, short of dying of course. She would never be able to fly nearly as well as she had before, and she would be partially disabled for the rest of her life.
She would never become a Wonderbolt.
Rainbow Dash awoke to the sounds of hooves knocking against the door. She hadn't slept much for the remainder of the night and into the early morning for fear of having another nightmare. Tired wrinkles formed underneath her eyes and her mane was mangled and frizzy, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting out of the hospital and flying alone amidst the clouds.
"Your visitors are here, Ms. Dash," said the nurse, rather courteously.
Twilight and Applejack walked cautiously into room, followed quietly by Fluttershy. Dash noticed that Twilight was trying to hide her wings from view by standing near Applejack's flank, as was Fluttershy, but it was normal for her to be in the back anyways. She wasn't sure if she appreciated the thoughtfulness of her friends or if it just made her feel worse that they felt it necessary to act a certain way around her as if she was some sort of emotional wreck. I am an emotional wreck, she rationalized herself. She noticed that nopony else came into the room. Where was Pinkie Pie and Rarity? That's it? Where's everypony else?
"Sorry it's just us, sugarcube," said Applejack, as if reading her mind. "The others were mighty busy, but are gonna come by sometime soon, I promise..." She stopped talking for a moment and looked back behind her at the door. "But there is one more pony here to see you as well."
Dash let out a weak 'who?' and immediately felt embarrassed at herself.
"She'll come in when she's ready," said Fluttershy, gently.
"The poor thing," added Twilight. "She said she wanted to come along, but she's been so nervous and dreadful."
I'm right here, thought Rainbow Dash. Who is the pony in the hospital right now? The creaking of the door interrupted her train of thought as a small orange filly squeezed through the opening near the floor. Scootaloo.
"Hi...Rainbow Dash," said Scootaloo weakly. Her eyes gazed briefly at her for just a few moments and then darted back towards the floor. It was obvious that seeing Rainbow Dash in such a wretched state made her feel much sadness. A complicated mixture of emotions welled up inside Scootaloo. Of course, she felt sadness and empathy for the blue pegasus, but she was so much more than that to her. Rainbow Dash was her inspiration, her aspirations and her dreams all rolled up into one amazing pegasus. It was old news at this point that Rainbow Dash would never be able to fly the same again, but only her immediate friends were given updates on her well-being as the days went by.
Knowing her idol would never fly the same again felt like her own dreams had been taken away from her.
"So," said Twilight after several seconds of silence, "how have things been going?"
Twilight Sparkle, never been the best pony at making small-talk in depressing situations. Rainbow Dash replied with an 'okay' and nothing more.
"We brought you some cider," said Applejack as she set it on her bedside table. "Fresh squeezed just this mornin'."
Dash eyed the cider with deadpan eyes. "The doctor says I can't have exotic food or beverages for another day or so until I'm better."
"Oh," said Applejack. "Well, it'll be there waitin' for you, I guess..."
"I brought you this," said Twilight. Rainbow Dash already knew what it was before she had taken it out. "It's Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet, your favorite," she said with a small smile.
"And I brought you this tea," said Fluttershy. "It's not too exotic, I think...so it should be okay..."
She looked at the three gifts placed on her bedside table and then to the three ponies and Scootaloo. "Thanks, everypony. I really appreciate having friends in times like these."
Hooves knocked on the door once more and another nurse came into the room. "Hello, everpony. Sorry to say this, but it's time for Ms. Dash to do her daily exercise routine. You can come back later this afternoon." The ponies shuffled their way towards the door.
"Get well soon, sugarcube."
"You'll be alright in no time. Enjoy the book!"
"Everything will be okay, you just need to stay strong."
The door closed behind them, but Scootaloo remained where she stood when she entered the room. "Can I talk to Rainbow Dash for a few minutes?"
"Sure thing," replied the nurse, and she promptly left the room and closed the door behind her.
I can't do this, thought Rainbow Dash. I can't stay strong in front of Scootaloo. It took every ounce of effort not to tear up when her friends were in the room trying so hard to cheer her up with their gifts and encouraging words, because she knew every word they said behind a veil of doubt. She had tried to believe them, but there simply was no way she could.
Scootaloo walked to Dash's bedside and looked up at her.
A few more seconds of depressing silence was too much for Rainbow Dash. "Thanks for coming to visit, Scoot," she blurted out, trying to stay strong. Looking at her eyes, Dash knew exactly what Scootaloo felt. Disappointment. "Looks like I won't be flying again anytime soon," she continued.
"Hasn't stopped me," she said with cautious optimism, unsure how Rainbow Dash would respond. "If there's anything you taught me about being a pegasus, it's that you never give up."
A lonely, single tear welled up in Dash's eye. Even when she was depressed and broken beyond repair, the little filly still looked up to her. She wasn't filled with disappointment at all, Dash realized and felt stupid for ever thinking something like that.
"You're my big sister, Rainbow Dash. You'll always be."
There was no stopping the full force of emotion that welled up in Dash's body. She felt her throat tighten and her face immediately became hot and flustered. And then the tears came streaming down her face and onto the soft sheets of the bed.
"I brought you a gift too," Scootaloo continued, and jumped carefully up onto the bed and nestled her body against Rainbow Dash.
The two ponies laid together in the stark white hospital room filled only with the small sounds of Rainbow Dash's sniffling. She put her mangled wing over Scootaloo and held her tight.
At least one pony's dreams can still come true
