Love Conquers All

A dark coated unicorn colt sauntered through the halls of the hospital, twilight Sparkle was at his side. Star Shine had told her that he wanted to visit Rainbow Dash in the afternoon in order to see if she was alright, so Twilight decided to tag along. He felt his mare's head nuzzle against his side, he smiled. He had the Element of Magic right where he wanted her.

"Have you heard anything about her condition, dear?" The evil colt inquired.

"Only that she has some pretty bad burns...Fluttershy didn't tell me anything else." The mare sighed and hung her head. Fluttershy had been the only one allowed in Dash's room yesterday due to the fact that she was the only pony on Rainbow's emergency contact list. She was Rainbow Dash's oldest friend after all.

"I do hope she's not hurt too bad." His feigned sympathy didn't go unnoticed by Twilight, who simply smiled softly and nuzzled his neck lovingly.

"You're too sweet, Star Shine." Twilight looked up. "Room 16. Here we are." The door had the name 'Rainbow Dash' on the card next to it, along with numerous flowers and balloons from guests yesterday. The residents of Ponyville were overly eager to give their condolences and hard earned bits to one of their own. In Star Shine's mind, it was a sign of weakness.

Twilight carefully opened the door. Laying on the bed was Rainbow Dash, she was laying on her stomach so her wrapped back and wings didn't come in contact with the bed beneath her.

The slow steady sound of a heart rate monitor and an IV drip filled the room. Twilight went to the chair next to her fallen friend and sat down, her hoof went to Dash's and stroked it.

"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight spoke softly, as if her voice could break her friend even more. "Rainbow Dash, it's me, Twilight. Star Shine and I are here to visit you." The pegasus' magenta eyes fluttered open.

"Ugh...Twilight..?" Every letter struggled to come out of Dash's mouth, her own drug addled mind made finding words nearly impossible.

"Yeah, it's me..." Twilight smiled widely. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired...these drugs are making me really sleepy.." Anypony could tell from her voice that they had her on quite a bit of morphine for the pain. Whether or not all of it was needed was still to be seen.

"Hold on, Dash...I need to go talk to your Doctor." Twilight got up, she obviously was going to scold the doctor and give him a piece of her mind. "Star Shine will keep you company, don't worry..." She gave her coltfriend a peck on the cheek and left the room.

Star Shine strode over to the chair and sat down, shutting the door with his magic along the way. He grinned at Dash. "Hello Rainbow Dash."

"Hey....you." The mare closed her eyes again. This made Star Shine frown, he wanted a captive audience. So his magic gripped the IV tube and stopped the drip. This caused the injured pegasus to grunt and frown.

"You are pathetic, you know that?" Star Shine snarled when the pegasus still kept her eyes closed. So, he raised his hoof and brought it down on her burned back, which caused Dash to cry out in pain. now that I have your attention.." He gripped her head with his magic and turned it to look at him. "You don't deserve the power you wield, you don't deserve to be an Element of Harmony." Star Shine dug out the gem from his saddlebag and immediately connected his magic to it. It was much easier than the night before.

"S-S..."Dash couldn't even get a sound out, the pain was excruciating from her back, and without the constant flow of painkillers, it started to worsen.

"In fact, i'm going to rid you of that little burden...and of your pain. Do not worry." he grinned as a translucent stream of magic emerged from the gem and snaked its way through the air and onto Rainbow Dash's forehead. "Goodbye, Rainbow Dash..."

--

Pinkie was sitting in a cell in the Ponyville Police Station. She had been charged with kidnapping, which had been enough to sour her mood. In her mind, she was just helping an injured friend, she told them that...but the cops didn't believe her.

She heard the door to the cell open. Her ears perked up and she raised her head. She didn't expect who she saw standing there, though. The white coat which usually shone was dull against the dim prison lights. Her piercing blue eyes glared daggers at the earth pony.

"Rarity..?" Out of all of the ponies that could have visited her, Rarity wasn't even in her top 10. "What are you doing here?" This was truly peculiar.

"Pinkie my dear, I want to give you a chance to explain yourself before this...snafu goes any further." Rarity was giving her a chance at redemption, and she wouldn't refuse that offer.

"Okay Rarity, what do you want to know?" Rarity's horn glowed once more and a piece of green fabric floated from her saddlebag. Pinkie immediately recognized it as Dash's dress. "I-I...Urm..." Pinkie wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

"I will ask how you acquired my dress later, but I have a much better question."  Rarity pointed to a spot where Pinkie sewed the torn dress. "Where did you learn to sew like this? There are very few earth ponies that can sew, let alone sew this well. Explain. Now." Pinkie had to contain a giggle. No matter how serious the situation could be, Rarity could always sniff out the most trivial problem and make it bigger than the one at hoof.

"I grew up in a place far away from any stores, Rarity. We had to learn to patch up what little clothes we had on our own." Pinkie's eyes seemed to stare off into a far off place, a place nopony should have to go. The pink mare shook her head and smiled. "Guess I still got it, huh?"

Rarity put the dress away. "Now, Pinkie Pie. Can you please tell me how this dress came to be in your possession?" Pinkie nodded.

"But you have to Promise not to tell anypony." Rarity went through the motions of the most sacred oath one could make. "Okay...well...I-I guess it all started because I have a crush on Rainbow Dash..."

--

Soarin strode through the hallway of the hospital with the utmost urgency. He had heard from a pony in town that Rainbow Dash was in the hospital from an injury. How severe, nopony would tell him. As soon as he had asked the nurse what room Dash was in he was pointed and told the way...being famous had its perks.

His head darted back in forth, he was looking for Rainbow Dash's room. Room 16 the nurse had said. He spotted it just up ahead. Soarin spread his wings and gave them a flap to launch himself over to it, he leaned against the door but found it resistant.

"What the..." He took a step back and looked at the door. Hospital rooms weren't supposed to be locked, heck, the door didn't even have a lock on it. He brought his shoulder down and lurched at the door, hitting it with a solid thud. It didn't budge. "C'mon!" Soarin rested his head against the door, which caused it to click open.

"Having fits, are we?" Soarin looked up and saw a smug looking unicorn standing in front of him. Soarin already didn't like this guy, he gave off a bad vibe. Why had he been in Rainbow Dash's room? Was he her friend...or something more?

"Yeah....I guess." Soarin trotted past the colt warily and sat at Rainbow Dash's bedside. The unicorn left the room rather quickly after that.

Rainbow Dash did not look good. Her back and beautiful blue wings were bandaged, and her overall colors seemed a bit less...bright. More than that, she just looked frail.

"Rainbow Dash...? Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?"