It was a cloudy morning in Ponyville. But these weren't normal clouds. They were storm clouds. Everypony seemed to have something to do, particularly a cyan pegasus mare. She was Rainbow Dash, one of the, if not the ,fastest pony in Equestria. She was so speedy, she could make a Sonic Rainboom. But today, she was to busy to make a Rainboom. She was attempting to clear the clouds before a storm appeared. She gracefully sped around clouds in an attempt to round them up, but it was no use. As soon as she formed a lump of clouds, they would spread out once more. Rainbow growled, yelled, and snapped at the clouds as if they could understand her.
"Why won't you stay put in one bucking place?" she screamed.
Obviously, she got no response. As Dash continued her one-sided argument, the clouds rumbled,signaling a storm was coming. Dash,being so involved in her duties, had completely forgotten that she had promised to teach Scootaloo how to fly "the Awesome way." She had compromised to meet with Scoots(her nickname) that exact morning outside the city hall.
Meanwhile, outside city hall, an orange pegasus filly was beginning to worry that her lessons wouldn't be that day.
"Where in the hay are you, Rainbow?" Scootaloo murmured to herself.
Overhead, storm clouds rumbled in response. Suddenly, Scoots heard something in a nearby bush. She decided to investigate. As she neared the bush, somepony's head popped out of the bush, causing the filly to jump in surprise.
"Muffins!" the gray bush Pony exclaimed in a dazed voice.
She turned her cross-eyed face to look at Scootaloo.
"Do you have any muffins?" asked the grey pony.
"Sorry Derpy,I don't have any muffins, but you should ask Pinkie Pie. She's in Sugarcube Corner." replied the filly, while pointing to the bakery's direction with her orange hoof.
"Okayyy, thanks." Derpy hovered above the orange filly and flew away.
As soon as the grey mare left, more thunder was heard. Scootaloo gently fluffed her feathers. It was certainly getting chilly. Then, it began to rain. Tiny drops of water fell all over Ponyville, causing some ponies to look for shelter from this wretched rain. Scootaloo shrieked as a raindrop fell on her in the flank. That blank flank. That HORRIBLE blank flank. That flank that had caused Scootaloo and her friends to get mocked at. She began to miss Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. She sighed sadly as the warm memory disappeared, replaced by the cold feeling of rain. Nevertheless, she refused to move until Dash arrived. Suddenly, lightning striked,causing the few ponies outside to gallop to safety from the rain,which began to feel like stones. Scootaloo trotted under a tree, waiting for Dash.
Meanwhile,back in the sky, Rainbow was seriously struggling with the clouds, which were absolutly refusing to budge. This was beggining to anger Dash.
"How embarassing! Challenged by a bunch of clouds and loosing. What kind of example is this to Scoota-" Dash froze in midsentence.
She remembered Scootaloo and their lesson plans. She could imagine the filly sitting amidst the storm. This caused Dash to just hover there for 5 seconds. However,that was enough time for a powerful gust of wind to snatch Dash. She then realized what was going on, but it was too late to do anything. Dash got tossed around the clouds like a mere ragdoll. Each crash she experienced felt like a thousand boulders being thrown at her. Suddenly, she heard something to her left. A loud SNAP!! She struggled to turn her head and saw that her wing had been painfully torn off by the wind. Dash closed her eyes and began to scream. As she opened her eyes,she saw a figure darting through the wind.
"Is it another pegasus?" she thought.
The figure came more into sight. Dash realized it wasn't a pegasus. It was her own wing. Rainbow began to scream after noticing she was loosing altitude. She desperately began to flap her right wing in vain. When she was about 15 feet from the ground, she closed her eyes and braced for the impact.
BOOM!!
Dash had fallen near a tree in front of city hall,scaring an orange filly that was sitting nearby.
Scootaloo darted to where Dash was and began to shake her.
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Wake up! Please wake up!" The orange filly began to sob.
"Scootaloo? Is, that, you?" Dash murmured as she attempted to open her eyes.
"Yes,Yes. What happened? Where's your left wing?"
Dash remembered her left wing, tossing and turning through the air. She also realized her right wing was folded in a painful angle.
"C-call Twilight, a-ask s-somepony for h-help." Dash replied,every word being painful to even say.
"It's a good thing you ran into Fluttershy," Twilight told Scootaloo while stroking the orange filly's mane, "Any later and who knows what could've happened."
Scootaloo nodded sadly. Her round purple eyes were flooded with tears.
"I feel really miserable," sobbed Scootaloo, "I feel like it's all my fault."
"Oh, but it isn't, right Twilight?" assured Fluttershy.
"Indeed it is not. Do not trouble your mind with such thoughts," Zecora said, trying her best to comfort Scoots.
The zebra sorcerer had been called for by Fluttershy's animal friends. Zecora hurried as fast as she could to Twilight's library home. The zebra had bandaged Rainbow Dash and was feeding the injured pegasus a brew she had cooked up.
Rainbow Dash was barely conscious and could barely speak. The stump that was once her wing was tightly bandaged. The cloth that was bandaged around the stump was soaked in red. Her other wing was obviously useless, as it was now twisted in 180 degrees. The cyan mare had also fractured some bones.
After discussing a bit, Twilight and Zecora came to an agreement.
"Well, Scootaloo, Rainbow may have a chance to live," Twilight said calmly to the filly, " but Zecora has forgotten a special plant needed to make Rainbow heal. If you can retrieve it, Dash will be up in no time!"
"But take heed young one," Zecora added ominiously, " if not brought in an hour, the deed may not be done."
Scootaloo inquired what this plant was and where to find it.
"It's called the Everfree Rose and can be found in the heart of Everfree forest," added Twilight, "very few have it. They say it looks like a regular rose, but instead of red and pink, it is colored in dark blue with small white dots."
"I'll get it!" Scootaloo shrieked excitedly, " Sweetie Belle and Applebloom can come too, right?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The heart of Everfree?" squeaked Sweetie, " You must be insane."
Only Sweetie Belle was allowed to go. Applebloom was in a family reunion somewhere in Appleloosa.
The two brave fillies cantered through the town. It had stopped raining and was now only a slight drizzle. Pretty soon, they were face-to-face with the forest.
"Um, fillies first?" squeaked Scoots.
"Come on Scootaloo," shrieked Sweetie,"You asked me to join you, so join you I did. We might even get our cutie marks!"
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Explorers. Yeah, it does have a ring to it!"
