Rainboom Gone Wrong

by Serrarch

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 5596

After saving the town from a near disaster, Rainbow Dash is up to trying the Sonic Rainboom again.

Rainbow Dash just saved Ponyville from one of Derpy Hooves' more dangerous accidents, and now she's feeling cocky enough to attempt another Sonic Rainboom, despite the weather. When the stunt goes horribly wrong and causes a mess so great it could tear apart her friendships, Rainbow's guilt gets the best of her as she attempts to mend the damage she has caused, and make things right with her friends again.

Adventure and Sad tags are for the later chapters. I'll be updating as regularly as I can. Criticism is definitely welcome, seeing as how this is my first fic. Thanks for taking the time to read it, if you do!

Rating has been changed to Teen. Probably not obvious why just yet.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-21 05:59:09 UTC

Ch. 1 Savior of Ponyville

Chapter 1

Derpy Hooves, who had been called to the weather team for today, had put a little too much thunder into a storm, causing it to go out of control, and leaving Ponyville’s Weather Captain Rainbow Dash with the responsibility of cleaning up her mess. Seeing that the storm cloud was headed towards Ponyville, she knew she couldn’t just let this one go. The runaway storm was already gaining speed with every cloud it barreled through, and Dash knew this was going to be a challenge, even for her.

Rainbow Dash maneuvered around the abnormally large and dark culmus, using her speed and at one point her bare hooves to try to aim it away from the town, but she couldn’t change its trajectory, and she soon figured out it was heading directly for the town hall. As the dreadful cloud, now more closely resembling the color and thickness of smoke, approached the town, Rainbow Dash glided daringly just above it, dodging minor outbursts of electricity every couple of seconds. The citizens of Ponyville panicked immediately at the sight of the largest storm cloud they had ever seen moving towards the town’s center.

Hearing the mass terror starting to break out, Rainbow Dash barrel-rolled over the side of the storm cloud and was directly underneath it one fluid motion. Unsurprisingly to Rainbow Dash, the citizens’ screams below began to change to a loud and hopeful cheering. Even Fluttershy, who was hiding underneath a lettuce stall in the market gave her loudest “yay” that she could muster, before the violent crack of a bolt of lightning caused to her squeal and retreat under the wooden stall next to a light green coated earth pony who was just as frightened.

Rainbow Dash looked below to her onlookers, and shouted what was probably some generous boasting, but it couldn’t be heard over the growl of the cloud above her. Realizing this, she decided to focus on the task at hand. As soon as she looked forward however, she found herself in a terrible daze and her body was unable to react to the sudden stop in movement as she made a Rainbow Dash shaped impression in the roof of Sugarcube Corner, causing her to yell out in both pain and surprise, “What the hay? Who put that wall there!?”

The storm cloud was surging through and around every two-story or taller building in town, but it seemed nothing could slow its progress towards town hall. Panic befell the ponies of Ponyville once again and even Dash was now scared herself, knowing the situation just got much more dangerous. With no time to spare to survey the damage already done to her wings and body, Dash took off from the roof of the sweet shop and accelerated as fast as her wings would let her.

The pain in her wings was so intense that Dash was audibly screaming in the moments she took to stop biting her lip, for fear of putting holes in it. Her eyes began to burn as well and she wanted desperately to close them, but her focus was too set on the looming disaster still over a few hundred feet ahead of her. The air began to form a sharp cone around her, and the pull on her blowing mane was powerful enough to lift her head slightly and force her eyes shut due to the agonizing pain. She was gaining on the storm quickly however, and barely caught up to it not a moment too soon, as the threatening storm cloud was nearing its destination.

She finally bolted through the electrical storm as it nearly collided with the clocktower of the town hall, the now very thin cone of air around her aching body protecting her from the surely lethal currents of electricity inside. It dissipated in a burst of black and yellow, the force from the near-explosion shaking the foundations of the building and finally putting Dash over her threshold of pain, causing her to fall unconscious while still in the air. As she decelerated, though only slightly, she careened towards the ground. The dive-bombing momentum would surely be enough to end the brave pony’s life.

Having witnessed the bursting of a freak storm cloud, and realizing the single pegasus falling from the sky was unconscious, Twilight knew she had to act to fast. She dropped the books and alchemical ingredients she had levitated from the market and focused a burst of magic to try and slow the pony’s descent. She screamed something unintelligible that had to be the word “no” as she felt her magic miss the sky blue pegasus. She focused even more magic in the tensity of the situation and this time blasted the ground below Rainbow, turning it to an extremely deep, but soft basin of mud, somewhat large in diameter. After hearing the impact, which sounded more like a thud than a splash, Twilight ran to the crater she had made as fast as her hooves would carry her, dug Rainbow Dash out with her magic, and lay her softly on the solid ground beside her as she hollered out.

“Oh my gosh! Are you alright Rainbow Dash!?” yelled Twilight desperately. A crowd had formed rather quickly as many ponies were already on their way to the scene at town hall. “Rainbow, please say something! Anything!” Instead of listening for a heartbeat or checking for a pulse, Twilight grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and started to violently shake her. Luckily Nurse Redheart, who had appeared quite suddenly from the mud hole, ordered a few nearby colts to restrain Twilight as she began to work, hastened by the almost inaudible breathing of the new patient.

“Wh-Where am I?” Rainbow Dash muttered softly. Before she even opened her eyes, she could tell by the uncomfortably firm bed, and unnecessarily clean smell, that she was nowhere near her home in Cloudsdale. Realizing the last thing she remembered was chasing a freak thunderstorm, she bolted upright. “The storm! Ponyville! What happened!?”

“Whoa there, settle down Dash. Everythin’s alright,” Applejack spoke warmly from across the room. “Glad ta see you’re okay.”

“Dashie! You’re awake, you’re awake!” Pinkie Pie, along with the rest of Rainbow’s closest friends, was there as well, and as excited as ever. “Oh my gosh, you were so amazing how you chased down that freak storm cloud!”

Yeah, Rainbow thought. I was pretty amazing.

“But then you started falling and I was all like, ‘Oh no! Rainbow’s falling!’ but then I saw Twilight there and she was so magically magical that she used her magic in a flash to save you, and I was all like, ‘Yay! Twilight is saving Rainbow Dash!’ but then I saw her freaking out when she pulled you out of all the mud and I was like, ‘Oh no! Dashie’s hurt!’ so I grabbed Nurse Redheart who just happened to be running by and I threw her over for Twilight to catch! I don’t think Twilight knows how to play catch, but it’s okay because Nurse Redheart landed in some big mud puddle and went to help you and bring you here! So I went and got Twilight and everypony else and we all stayed here until you got better!” As Pinkie finished her recount of the events, she beamed a huge smile at Rainbow Dash, who was more confused as to how Pinkie Pie told that story without once stopping to breathe, than how Pinkie Pie threw another pony across town square.

“You really gave us all a good scare. But the doctor says you’ll make a full recovery,” spoke Twilight. Fluttershy remained silent as she smiled towards Rainbow Dash, and Rarity began her own rant.

“Oh Rainbow what were you thinking chasing after that terrible storm all by yourself? You could have died! And not to mention the condition you were in when we finally got you here! You were all covered in mud, darling, it was simply dreadful!”

“Well ah’m mighty glad she did get rid a’ that storm. Town hall might have been in pieces after a doozy like that,” Applejack interjected.

“Well of course I’m grateful dear. What you did was truly superb,” responded Rarity.

“You were very brave,” Fluttershy quietly added with a nod.

“Wow, thanks everypony,” Rainbow Dash finally spoke, enjoying the amount of attention she was getting. “Especially to you Twilight, who knows what would have happened to me if you weren’t there to save my flank!”

“Oh, it was no problem at all, Rainbow. I’m just happy you’re okay,” said Twilight, blushing slightly. The six friends exchanged smiles for a few moments before the doctor came in and ordered the others to let Rainbow rest for a while.

What a day, Rainbow thought to herself blatantly. I gotta remember to never let Derpy on the weather team again. Ever. Although it did feel good to go that fast again, and saving Ponyville all by myself just goes to show how awesome I am. I wonder if I can finally pull off a Sonic Rainboom on command? Yeah, of course I can pull it off. I can do anything after a stunt like that! I think I’ll even do one tomorrow! Though Rainbow Dash knew full well that there was a quite windy downpour scheduled for the next day.

Ch. 2 The Sonic Rainboom

Chapter 2

“A whole week? Are you insane!?” The doctor had finally broke the news to Rainbow Dash, preparing himself for quite some time after having been warned by Twilight and Rarity of Rainbow’s expected reaction. As the word “week” had left the colt’s mouth the doctor had to step back as the sky-blue coated, rainbow-haired pony was suddenly standing upright on the now unkempt white hospital bed glaring him down, making him feel as though she was about to pounce and attack.

“Uh...y-yes Rainbow Dash. I’m afraid I can’t have you flying with your wings in that condition for at least 7 days. If you’d like to stay, I’m sure I could--”

“No, I’m not staying in a boring old hospital for a week! I’m already caught up on the Daring-do series! Seven days is just way too long to go without flying. How will I even get back to my home in Cloudsdale?” Rainbow stated her case loud enough for other ponies in the hall to stop and peek into the doorway. As she stomped down with every sentence, the bed became less and less stable.

“Rainbow Dash, please calm down. I’m just--”

“I am calm!” With yet another pound of her hoof, Rainbow Dash found herself on the floor rather quickly, as the front wheels of the hospital bed had popped off, one shooting out into the hall, tripping a rather confused looking Nurse Redheart, while the other hit the doctor square in the jaw. Rainbow’s wings attempted to extend instinctively to try and stop her from the fall, but were halted by a sharp pain that traveled from Dash’s shoulders all the way to the tips of the her wings. While still lying on the ground, she muttered, “Fine. So I need to wait a bit. But I’m not waiting a whole week! That’s just ridiculous!”

Caressing his jaw to try and ease the pain the plastic wheel had caused, the doctor tried once more to convince Rainbow to just take things easy. “Rainbow, if you strain your wings too much you’re going to seriously hurt yourself, and you may not ever be able to fly again,” he warned intelligently, even shaking his hoof at her. Picking herself up, she responded blatantly, now avoiding the argument as if she had already won it.

“So am I free to go, or what?”

“Yes, fine. Just please be careful,” the doctor pleaded.

“Yeah, whatever,” Rainbow responded casually. She trotted to the entrance of the hospital, not even stopping at the reception counter on the way out. A nurse opened the door for her and she stopped just outside the door to take in the beautiful sunlight and its warm glow. Wait. Sunlight? Warm glow? Uh-oh, Rainbow thought, realizing the intense downpours were scheduled for today.

Walking through Ponyville, she did notice that significantly less ponies were outside than normal, confirming that she wasn’t crazy for expecting the bad weather. She also knew, as captain of the weather team, that it was her responsibility to fix whatever wasn’t happening. Ignoring the pain that immediately shot through her body whenever she moved, she extended every feather in her wings a few times, out and then back in, before taking off. Her rainbow mane blew through the wind comfortably as she breathed in the subtle breeze of the updrafts around her. She sighed out, satisfied to finally be off the ground after being cooped up in that uncomfortable, non-cloud bed. Occasionally she would wince at the pain building in her wings. Her body was telling her to stop flying, and it was presenting a much better case than the doctor was.

Coincidentally, as she winced at her agonizing wings and turned to face the ground while flying over the Ponyville park, she saw Cloudkicker relaxing under a tree with Blossomforth. Both pegasi were supposed to be in charge of today’s weather. Well, Derpy was too, but she had been given the day off. Today, and many days to follow. Rainbow glided down to them, unable to flap her wings anymore for the pain was becoming simply unbearable, and landed perfectly on three hooves, raising the other to brush off her chest cooly. “So. Decided to take the day off, have we?” she demanded with a smirk and an eyebrow raised.

“Oh! Uh...Hey there, Rainbow Dash. W-weren’t you supposed to, y-you know, be in the hospital?” stuttered Blossomforth. Both she and Cloudkicker were wide-eyed and red in the face, obviously caught off-guard by Rainbow’s appearance in the park.

“We were just...um--” Cloudkicker began, before Rainbow interrupted.

“Don’t even start with one of your stories, Cloudkicker. It’s cool, gals, really. But there were supposed to be some downpours today, in case you completely forgot about the schedule. Or do I have to do everything myself around here?” Rainbow was quite good at making other ponies feel guilty, having spent many a painful hour with Rarity at her boutique.

“Right! We’ll get right on it!” The two pegasi chorused together, before flying off frantically to fix the weather before getting demoted, or worse, getting stuck being weather partners with Derpy Hooves.

______________________________________________________________________________

Thunder roared, water poured, and lightning scorched the ground below. Rainbow asked for a downpour, not a hurricane! Oh well, at least Cloudkicker and Blossomforth finally got their act together. They were probably over compensating. Rainbow’s mane was soaked, causing it to look much straighter than normal, and hang down below her chest. She had a stern look on her face, playing out the scenario in her head.

Okay, so there’s a real heavy storm, my wings are aching, I’m soaking wet, and wind speed is probably way too high to be flying normally. Perfect! I’ll fly up above the storm, bolting through one of the biggest storm clouds, and I’ll catch my breath on the top of an altocumulus. Then I’ll fly as high as my wings will take me, and just a bit higher, then nosedive down, using the momentum to bring up my speed. By the time I break through the clouds again, I should be about to do an awesome sonic rainboom. Then I’ll turn so that I’m level to the ground, and fly to the edge of Ponyville and make the most spectacular rainbow ever while clearing away the entire storm! Everyone will look out and see me, Rainbow Dash, the coolest, most radical pegasus ever, and cheer me on! What could possibly go wrong?

“Okay, Rainbow Dash,” she addressed herself, “Nothing but pure awesome from here on out!”

She took her stance for a full 5 seconds, giving her flank a slight preparation-shake, and vaulted abruptly off of the ground, the pain in her wings already exceeding what she had originally expected. She ignored that pain, as it would only distract her from her awesome. Lightning flashed around her. Rain beat down on her face and stung her eyes. Winds pushed her from side to side. But she wasn’t stopping. She was too determined to prove to everypony, and mostly herself, that she could do this. With a sudden rush of adrenaline, most likely brought upon by the immense pain now fully coursing throughout her body, she gained a massive burst of speed and was entering the thick barrier of storm clouds at speeds a pegasus should not be able to achieve while flying straight upwards, opposing the force of gravity.

Blinded by the thick, smoky, and damp darkness inside the storm clouds, Rainbow had to rely purely on her instincts to move through the cumulonimbus safely. Though she wasn’t directly struck, she could feel the surging electricity all around her, but convinced herself that she wasn’t afraid. She told herself what she was doing was either really stupid, or really brave, but either way it was seriously cool.

She finally burst through the top of the thunderhead, into the abnormally serene and clear skies above. So far everything was going according to plan. She stopped to rest on a high, soft cloud, but only for about thirty seconds before she convinced herself her adrenaline would wear off if she waited any longer. Without even flapping her now barely-responsive wings, she dove off of the cloud, stuck one hoof forward, squinted her eyes, put on her best smirk, and gained speed as quickly as her perfectly aerodynamic equine body could.

Before she even broke the storm cloud barrier a second time, the now familiar cone of air began to roughly form around her. At this she closed her eyes so as to stop the burning, and better focus on gaining speed. She gave herself a slight push with a single flap of her wings, barely noticing the pain, and caused the cone to narrow out until it was almost hugging her very form. She tried one more flap, but her wings wouldn’t move. She flexed her shoulder muscles again. Nothing. Her wings weren’t responding at all. Suddenly, before she could react, her one hoof in front of her shot to her side, and her rainbow mane was lost in the blur of light spectrums behind her. An immense burst of lights of all colors shot from behind her, clearing away any storm clouds that had drifted higher than the others.

She knew she had to turn, and fast. A collision with the ground at this speed wouldn’t give her the time to pray, much less try and stop. But she couldn’t focus. She couldn’t believe it. She actually pulled it off! She was so ecstatic her wings finally shot out from her sides in an extremely delayed reaction to the instructions they were given earlier, now completely ignoring all physical feeling and pain.  The pure velocity at which Rainbow Dash was descending forced her wings back to her side and pinned them there immediately, but it was enough. Rainbow instinctively used this to push herself sideways. She made the ninety-degree turn just a few feet above the ground, but of course she had no clue where she was. She tried to open her eyes once, but the force of the wind on her eyelids was too immense to allow it.

What was that? An impact? Hardly, as she blew right through whatever she had collided with. A powerful six-colored beam still travelling in her wake as she flew at unparalleled speeds. Another collision. Where was she, anyways? She no longer felt the rain shooting into her side, and knew she had flown too far, but she couldn’t steer herself away. Now that the disbelief of her successful stunt had worn off, she knew she had to stop. She tried desperately to move her wings again, and was greeted by the most intense pain she had ever felt. Fearing she had just broken her wings, she became frantic. Screaming and attempting to flail her hooves in any way that she could, but the velocity was too much, restricting her movement.

Entire minutes later, though the pain had made it feel like hours, she felt herself decelerate, the stunningly powerful rainbow behind her mane and tail finally catching up to her. She slowed down to a somewhat more casual flying speed, though still gliding straight through the air, with her unresponsive wings pinned to her sides. She slammed into the side of a very thick oak. She had slowed enough that the impact with the tree hadn’t knocked her unconscious, but only gave her one hay of a headache. She lay at the base of this tree for quite some time, all the pain she had seemingly been escaping was finally catching up to her. Her wings, in particular, were searing with agony. Even the still air around her felt sharp to every movement she attempted. She decided, at last, to not move at all. She rested at the base of the tree, hoping nothing carnivorous would find her in such a pathetic, uncool state.

Before she drifted into a very much welcomed sleep, she worriedly thought of what happened back in Ponyville. What had her sonic rainboom caused? What did she crash through? And where they hay was she, anyways? Would she ever be able to fly again after what she put her wings through? So many questions, and so much pain, but without the ability to find the answers she seeked, she lay there in her impression in the dirt. Her mane even messier than normal.  Her sky-blue coat covered in the dirt from the landing. Her eyes unable to open. Lethargically, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Ch.3 Picking Up the Pieces

Chapter 3

Branches, leaves, pieces of furniture, and even a few small animals struggling to move lay on the ground in a wide, grassy area atop a small hill. What was once a cottage door was now a pile of scattered wooden shards in front of where an entranceway used to be. Fluttershy looked in a speechless, mangled expression that relayed horror, terror, and awe at the damage that had befell her once beautiful home. She was frozen in place, her body just as unsure as her mind of what to do. For a moment, she had even forgotten to breathe. Still not moving, her eyes began to water and tears began dripping down, slowly at first, onto the ground. Some tears even found themselves in her mouth, which was still agape at the terrible scene before her. She finally made a sound. The first sob stemmed to more. Fluttershy was now on the ground, face in hooves, crying violently. What would she do? Her home, nay, her animal friends’ home had been destroyed. She would never have the bits to rebuild after so much damage.

"Spike! Wake up, now!" Twilight practically screamed as she frantically ran around, trying to salvage every book she could while charging in aimless directions. "Something disastrous must have occurred during that storm yesterday!"

"Ughhh," moaned Spike. Without even opening his eyes, he rolled over in his bed and gave Twilight an almost rehearsed response. "You're overreacting. So what if a few books got shaken off of the shelves, I'll just put them back later." This halted Twilight's panic at least, as she stopped, turned to Spike, walked over to his bed, and dropped the abnormally large pile of books she was levitating on top of the baby purple dragon.

"Spike, this is an emergency!" She spoke harshly.

"Ow!" Spike jolted to the side as a book landed on his tail, somehow dodging all but that first one. Reflexes that could only have been brought upon by years of having books thrown at you. "What the- What was that for?!" He demanded. Twilight simply gave him a raised eyebrow, and shortly returned to panicking around the library, instead of using her moment of sanity to organize and expedite the cleaning process. Spike slowly looked around the library, noticing that almost no books were on their shelves, other than the ones Twilight had just put away. Something else was missing too, but he couldn't quite place his claw on it. "Hey Twilight. Does the library seem, different somehow to you?" Twilight gazed at the little dragon with a bewildered visage before continuing her work, completely ignoring Spike's lack of observation. Then it hit him.

"The wall! Hey Twilight, what happened to our wall?!" Spike asked alertly.

"The storm must have gotten out of control,” spoke Twilight, her thoughts catching up to her. “I’m going to head around town and see if anyone else got hit too bad, stay here and try to make a dent in all of this mess.”

“Will do,” replied Spike with a salute, and he started diligently cleaning. Twilight ventured out into the town, immediately noticing dozens of frantic ponies galloping around, cleaning debris and fixing broken parts of buildings. It seems this side of the town took most of the damage from whatever happened during that storm, but there is no way just that storm did all of this, Twilight thought to herself. She trotted through town, aiding anypony she could, and asking if anyone knew what happened. Nopony seemed to know anything, and everypony had suspected the storm had just gotten out of control again. Everypony but Pinkie Pie that is.

“Twilight! Twilight!Can you believe it!?” The pink pony was jumping up and down, and had a big smile on her face despite the calamity all around. “She did it! She did it!”

“Whoa, Pinkie, calm down. Believe what? Who did it? Did what?” Twilight had to repeat herself a couple of times until Pinkie Pie finally explained.

“Well, my tail started shaking, my neck twitched, my nose itched, and my front hooves clapped together last night during the storm! And when I came outside this morning half of Ponyville had been destroyed! You know what that means!”

“No Pinkie, I don’t,” spoke Twilight in a somewhat annoyed tone. She still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure she should be trusting “Pinkie Sense” at all, much less in a situation like this.

“You don’t? Oh! Well, at the best young flier competition Rainbow Dash won last year, Rarity’s magic wings that you gave her disappeared and the Wonderbolts went after her, but she knocked them all out before they could save her so Rainbow flew down really, really fast. Right then, my tail started shaking, my neck twitched, my nose itched, and my front hooves clapped together and I was really worried because that had never happened to me before! I mean, there were times my tail shook and nose itched, or times that my neck twitched and my front hooves clapped together, but never all four at once! Right after that, Rainbow Dash did an amazing sonic rainboom and saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts! So last night when my tail started shaking, and my neck twitched, and my nose itched, and my front hooves clapped together, I was like ‘Hm. When has my tail started shaking, my neck started twitching, my nose started itching, and my front hooves clap together before?’ And then it hit me! My whole house shook and I knew Rainbow Dash had to have just done a sonic rainboom! Silly Twilight, you should really pay more attention!” Pinkie smiled at Twilight for a moment after her speedy explanation before trotting away to Celestia knows where. Twilight stood there and stared forward for a few moments with a bewildered expression. Could Rainbow Dash had really caused all of this damage with a single sonic rainboom? She refused to believe such a ridiculous thing and proceeded in her search for answers.

Rainbow Dash had returned to town. Surprisingly the town was not in disrepair. Many ponies gathered around her as soon as they caught sight of her, giving her praise, asking how she pulled it off, and some even just cheering her name. She proudly strutted forward and was about to begin a speech about how amazing her thunderstorm-intensified sonic rainboom was, but she abruptly woke up.

Still in a daze, Rainbow shakily tried to stand, and ended up leaning against the large oak tree she had crashed into before. Her wings were still too painful to even extend fully, much less fly anywhere. Stranded in an unfamiliar place, she took in her surroundings. Flat land, mostly covered in tall, thin trees. Birds, and small rodents running about. A snake here or there. She could hear the rushing of a cool stream somewhere nearby, but was unable to discern in which direction. She noticed a lack of plants along the ground, which was mostly dirt and brownish-green grass. She observed the dent in the tree she had made. It seemed as though a large boulder would have had to have hit the tree to make that size crater in the bark. With a sigh, she began to walk back in the direction of Ponyville, assuming it was the direction the indentation in the tree was facing.

Rainbow’s head hung so low to the ground, it was a wonder it wasn’t dragging through the dirt. She had a terrible feeling about what she might have crashed through during that sonic rainboom, and her headache didn’t help. Every now and again, she would attempt to stretch her wings, always being met with the same pain that told her to not even try.

Crack!

Rainbow Dash stopped abruptly, and her head darted from side to side, searching for the source of the sound. “Hello? Anypony there?” she called. She heard a slight rustling of leaves which confirmed that she was being followed, but by what she couldn’t tell. Pretending not to care, she continued forward, now at a light trot, rather than walking speed.

Crack!

This time she didn’t look back, but rather increased the pace at which she was moving. She was almost to steady running speed when she heard the footsteps behind her moving faster than hers. She began to gallop and yell back, “Leave me alone, whatever you are!” She refused to look behind her. She felt a tug on her tail as something grabbed it and she fell forwards, her hooves picking up but her body not able to move forward. She quickly kicked back with her hind hooves at whatever was grabbing her tail, and rolled to the side, only catching a glimpse of some large beast before she extended her wings and launched herself forward into a gallop with a powerful flap that was so painful it could have made her pass out right then, had it not been for her adrenaline rush.

The moon hung high in the sky. A waning crescent. Rainbow Dash had long outrun whatever was chasing her earlier today, and made steady progress throughout the forest, which seemed to be getting thicker. Rainbow began to worry if she’d gone the right way. The pain in her wings, and the hunger in her stomach was telling her she’d better get home soon if she wanted to get there alive. She had found a small clearing to rest in for the night. Her head darted to face any and every forest sound. She was extremely uneasy in her vulnerable state, and was getting barely any sleep throughout the night.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t expected morning to come so early. She admired how the sun’s radiant light reflected off of the apples in the trees. Apples! Finally some food! Without thinking she extended her wings as if to float up and merrily begin picking her newfound means of survival, and float up she did. She didn’t feel a thing, and didn’t realize this until she was almost finished with her third apple, still floating in the air. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and re-opened them to find herself lying in the ground in a still dark forest, with a familiar pain coursing throughout her body. She looked up into the trees. No apples. She sighed and moaned as her stomach grumbled. Lethargically, she stood, and began walking again, now scanning the area for something, anything, to eat.

It was a little after noon before she found some apple trees. Much to her rejoice, she wasn’t dreaming this time either. Critters had become more of a frequent sight, and some even seemed friendly to Rainbow. She threw rocks and sticks, and apple cores from previous successes, at apples in the trees to get them down, as her wings wouldn’t even extend anymore. She needed a doctor, and soon.

Newly rejuvenated by the food, Rainbow Dash trotted forward at a decent pace. Soon, the forest began to thin out, and she ended up walking right into a large meadow of apple trees. She immediately recognized Sweet Apple Acres, and bolted forward, practically screaming with happiness at the fact that she had finally made it back. She ran over to the Apple family’s home, only for nopony to answer the door, as they were all in town helping clean up the messes. Perplexed, Rainbow decided to move on, heading to town, and hoping things weren’t as bad as she thought. Either way, she knew she was going to be in huge trouble.