Realities (Cancelled)by AthanixChapters~~Prologue~~Chapter 2: Sortin' out...Chapter 3: Comin' around...Chapter 4: Seein' through...Chapter 1: Wakin' up...~~Prologue~~~~Prologue~~ Dear Darcy, Hope you get better. That was quite the accident. You were knocked out cold! The five of us visit you at the hospital everyday! You have been in the hospital for quite sometime now. The doctors said you might be out for along time. So we left you a present! Get well soon! Your Friends! "Any thing else gals?" I said. "No sir-ee." "No." "None that I could think of." "Nope!" I set down the paper on the table. Darcy had been out for a while now. It had been an entire week since the car accident. She had Paula and Faith in her car when that SUV front ended them. Rachel, Abigail and I couldn't believe our eyes as we quickly turned around our car around to help them. Paula had somehow squeezed her way out of the car and even Faith had made her way out of the twisted metal. ~~~~~ I looked around. Faith was already calling 911 on her phone and reporting the accident, who ever was in the crashed SUV must of fled the scene because their car was empty. I turned to see Rachel and Abigail scramble out of my car and onto the street. It was only the five of us standing there in the night. "Oh my god! Darcy is still in the car!" I said pointing towards the car. The rest of my friends all turned to face the driver seat. There was Darcy, her head lay motionless with a large red streak down the airbag. Seeing this Abigail quickly ran over to the drivers side door with the intention of saving a friend. "Someone! help me get the door open!" Abigail said as she grabbed the door with her two hands and furiously tugged at the it. Even for a girl who worked day and night on a farm, the door seemed like it didn't even notice her trying to pry it open like a can of beans. "It won't...- Budge...!" She said with a strained voice. I turned my attention to Faith who was trembling so violently she put earthquakes to shame. She was clutching her phone with both hands as she feebly spoke into it. "Y-Yes? Yes, We on the corner of M-Merrit and Ap-p-pomattox, Front end crash. M-Me and my friend managed to get out but there is someone still st-stuck in the car..." Faith said. She nodded a slowly and looked at us with a sobbing face. "They said they will be here as soon as they can. They already sent an ambulance over here." "Abigail, stop! You might hurt yourself!" Rachel suddenly said. I turned to see that Abigail had stopped pulling at the door. Reluctantly she stepped away from the door. She had the look of anger all over her. As if she was channeling all that anger, she ran at the door and kicked it as hard as she could. It left quite a dent as the car hopped into the air. The car shook slightly as it made contact with the ground again, rocking back and forth until coming to a stop just a little bit from where it once sat. We were all silenced by what Abigail had done. Just then the door swung open and Darcy's unconscious body fell over and onto the street. "Eeep..!" Faith squeaked. "Quickly!" I said "Help me pull Darcy out onto the shoulder of the street." I said as I carefully pulled Darcy's body out of the car. With help from Abigail, We carried Darcy out to the shoulder of the road. Paula came out of no where with a pillow and blanket. "I knew we would need this for something!" "Thanks Paula." Where did she get these? That didn't matter right now. We lay Darcy down on the ground, her head against the pillow. I could see the red and blue lights flickering against her face. "Hold on Darcy." I said "Help is on the way." ~~~~~ Dear Dashie, Hope you get better. That was quite the accident. You were knocked out cold! The five of us visit you at the hospital everyday! You have been in the hospital for quite sometime now. The doctors said you might be out for along time. So we left you a present! Get well soon! Your Friends, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Any thing else gals?" I said, "No sir-ee." "No." "None that I could think of." "Nope!" I set down the paper on the table. Dash had been out for a while now. It had been an entire week since the crashing accident. The she had Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy watching from the ground when she crashed right into that tree. Rarity, Applejack and I couldn't believe our eyes as we quickly turned around to help them. Pinkie had somehow squeezed into the tree and even Fluttershy was flying up to help Dash down. ~~~~~ I looked over at Fluttershy, distress written all over my expression. "Quickly Fluttershy, go get some help down in Ponyville." I said. There was a bit of hesitation from her, but knowing what was at risk she flew down the path to Ponyville. I looked up to see Pinkie with Dash on her back. Dash was slumped over Pinkie's back as the mare carefully made her way down the tree and onto the ground. Rainbow Dash was out cold and wasn't moving much, red the dominate color of her mane. "You should of seen it! Rainbow Dash was all like whoosh and zoom! She was flying all over the at amazing speeds! But then when she rolled over and turned towards us some crazy bird came out from behind a cloud and nailed her straight in the face!" Pinkie said as she bounced around with an unconscious Rainbow Dash flopping around on her back. "Dashie had to pry the thing of her face so she could see, but all she saw when she got the bird out of her face was this huge tree!" Pinkie said as she ran over to the large oak and gave it a firm tap. "That's nice Pinkie... Now come over here so that we can get Rainbow some help." I said taking Rainbow Dash of of Pinkie and laying her gently on the ground. Pinkie had been bouncing around everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Dash didn't- Pinkie Pie came out of no where with a pillow and blanket and offered it to me. "I had a feeling we might need these." She said with her muffled voice. She placed the pillow on the ground as we lay Dash on top of the pillow. We covered her with a blanket as I could hear the light flapping of Fluttershy's wings from down the path and the hoofsteps of someone following her. "Hold on Dash." I said. "Help is on the way." ~~~~~~ ~Athanix, Peace Chapter 2: Sortin' out...Chapter 2: Sortin' out "Hey, hey Darcy..! Wake up...!" Said a familiar hushed voice. "Ugh... Five more minutes..." This was met with snickers and giggles from around the room. "Darcy, if you don't get up this instant I'm am never letting you out with your friends ever again!" Another voice said with a tone mocking a mother speaking to her child. I grabbed my pillow and tossed it in the direction of the voice. I opened my eyes to see Rachel trying to protecting herself with her arms as the pillow flew across my bed. But out of nowhere, Paula showed up and caught the pillow before it reached its target. "Oh my gosh, do you know what this means Darcy?" She said as she eyed me with a questionable look. I wasn't going to like this... "Uh..." "Pillow fight!" With that my friends all picked up pillows that they had beside them and threw them right at me. I tried to cover my face but it was hopeless. Abigail nailed my right on the side of my head. I shot her a mean look and at first she was a little shocked to see my face, but her expression was quickly replaced with a small laugh. This made all of my other friends around me start to laugh to and soon after, I joined in the laughter as well. "I can't stay mad at you guys! You guys are my best friends in the entire world!" I said as I smiled warmly at them. They all returned the smile with one twice as big. It's true, I can't stay mad when I have friends like this who really cared for you. After we all calmed down a bit Abigail spoke up, a bit of shame on her face. "I should actually get going now Darcy, coming all the way to the hospital is quite a long drive. I best be going if I hope to make it back to the farm by sunrise." Abigail said as she tipped her hat and walked towards the door. "See ya'll later!" I looked out the window. It was quiet and dark. The moon was full and was shining as brightly as the stars around it. I turned back and faced my four friends who were carefully watching my every movement and expression searching for any signs of discomfort. Faith spoke up next in her usual soft voice. "Yeah Darcy, I am volunteering at the animal shelter tomorrow and I need to be there early..." Ah Faith, always looking out for others. "No it's okay Faith, I know you love to take care of the animals." I said. With that she smiled lightly and walked towards the door. "I'll make sure to visit you tomorrow Darcy. Bye." "It's not like I am going anywhere else right?" I said with my usual edge. Faith just smiled again and walked out the door. I turned to face the rest of my friends sitting there. They all looked a bit tired, but Rachel though look the most distressed out of the three. She will never shut up about it if she misses an order for her job. The last time she did she- I cut myself of trembling at the thought. I should just let them go. "I know you all have other things to do than watch me sleep for half the day. You can go, I'm fine." Hearing this Rachel immediately sat up and began to speak in her normal over the top fashion. "Oh my goodness, Thank the lord! I knew you would understand! I am so behind on work i need to- Oof! Hey! What was that for Tia?" Rachel said. Tia just shot Rachel a look and turned to face me. "I'm sure what Rachel meant to say was that she is happy to see that you understand. Me and Paula have work tomorrow too so I think we should also go." "Yeah, but don't worry Darcy! We will come and visit you as soon as we can!" Paula said as she reached over and gave me a big hug. What kind of friend would I be not to return the loving gesture. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug to match. Paula responded by squeezing me harder until I could feel some of my ribs touch one another. "Uh... Paula..." I said faintly. I could barley breath. "I would give you anything in the world if it made you feel better Darcy!" I would feel my face pale as I spoke to my friend. "Some-... Air would be nice...!" She just looked at me with a big smile and let go. "Bye!" She said as she skipped out of the room with Rachel and Tia giggling as the walked out behind her. As they were making their way out a nurse in a bright white dress walked into the room with a small wooden clipboard. She looked over at my friends and then turned to face me. "You friends really care about you. They have been here all day hoping to talk to you again." The nurse said as the set down her clipboard and small bag she was holding. Slowly she pulled out a long tube of plastic. I cringed at the sight as the nurse pulled out a particularly large needle. "Now I just need to inject you with some of this, doctors orders." She said slightly squeezing it to insure that it was working correctly. I was always terrified of needles. One of the first times I got my shots I squirmed so much that the tip actually broke of the syringe. All that was sticking out was a thin metal needle. Nothing to serious, minus the everlasting mental scars. I hated needles with ever ounce of my being, especially the big ones. But this one put those all to shame. This needle was huge... I felt my body go limp as I closed my eyes and fainted. Just thinking about it touching my skin made me pass out. ~~~~~ I woke up, my mind was a little foggy as I could only remember a bit of my latest memories. "Ah you woke up, good thing to. I can't administer the medicine if your asleep, that would be bad." Said the nurse. I turned over to greet her and she smiled lightly at me holding the needle in mid air. "Oh great... This again..." I muttered. Ponies... The nurse just gave me a look as she turned her attention to me again. "Oh, your not fond of needles. I can see that, but don't worry though, this won't hurt a bit." She said. 'Pfft, that's what they always say, but it all ways hurts like heEELLLL!! AAUUGH!! My thoughts were cut of as the nurse slowly injected me with the medicine. I felt a warm tingling coursing through my veins as it circulated through my body. "You have been talking in you sleep Miss..." The nurse quickly glanced at her clipboard. "...Miss Dash. The doctor heard you talking to someponies. He didn't quite catch there names but he heard one for sure. Faith was it?" The nurse looked at me quizzically as if she was expecting an answer. I didn't know what to say. "Don't worry Miss Dash, it is quite common that patients do not remember anything they dream of in their hallucinations." She said. I lay back in my bed as I tried remembering the events from 'my dream'. It was really fuzzy now. All I could remember is the sounds of my friends voices and the pillows that were thrown at me. Was it really a dream? Slowly, I peered over my covers and onto the side of my bed hoping that there would not be anything disturbing the checkered black and white patterns on the floor. But to my dismay, there lay five white pillows on the ground cutting large white shapes into the tiles. The nurse must of caught on and spoke up. "Ah yes your friends were here just moments ago. I saw these pillows on the ground." "Déjà vu..." I said quietly. The nurse just looked at me for a moment and then gathered her thoughts and spoke to me. "Did you dream about that?" She carefully asked me with a raised brow. I turned to face her and nodded slowly. This seemed to confirm her thoughts as she nodded politely back at me. "It isn't unusual for ponies to dream about things they remember. It quite common, most of us do it." She said. The thought hit me hard. Was I dreaming that up...? Did it not really happen...? "Well that medicine should stop the hallucinations for a while." She said as she walked out the door. "Feel free to walk around if you like. It would be good for you. You have been sleeping all week you know." With that the nurse walked out the door, leaving it open and I was by myself again. Thoughts were racing around my head at blinding speeds. 'Hallucinations...' I thought to myself. 'Was I dreaming of that...?' I tried thinking of my friends, but is was hard. The medicine must have been through my head and washed those memories through and through by now. I pulled my covers down and took a good look at myself. My body was a bright cyan and my tail was every color in the rainbow. 'Except violet.' I though to myself. I moved my shoulders over so that I could stretch out my wings. I observed them carefully and smiled widely. I had always loved flying. Being high in the sky, looking at all the places I knew and loved from a full perspective. But what I loved more that flying was going fast. I remember going to a Blue Angels airshow once. I own a Cessna 210 Centurion that I flew around from time to time, but the Blue Angels were something different. They were so awesome! How they did all there stunts with such speed and grace. Someday, I was going to become a Blue Angel and I would fly among the greatest fliers in the world. 'I wonder if I can fly.' I though. I didn't know what to do at first. I tried moving the muscles on my back hoping that that would work, but it didn't. I just tensed up my back a bit and my wings stayed motionless. I tried thinking about flying next. I thought about myself hovering in the air right above my bed. I felt my wings move as I gradually lifted myself out of my bed and into the air. 'Holy crap this is awesome!' This was such a great feeling. Although I don't remember flying with my wings, it felt strangely natural. I looked towards the window. It had already been boarded up with a large piece of plywood. 'So that really did happen.' I thought to myself. I looked out to the door on my right. It was still wide open just waiting for me to come through it. I felt a smile creep along my face as I eyed the doorway. 'Challenge Accepted.' I thought of myself flying towards the door, but instead of rocketing out the door and down the hallway my wings threw me backwards as I felt back into the table next to my bed snapping the legs in two. I glanced at my side looking for any bruises. The little pink cupcake that sat on the table was now smashed against my side. I carefully used my new hoof to wipe the cupcake off my side. As I flicked the remaining pink frosting of my hoof I glanced down to to see if I missed any. I looked down to see that I had a little cloud with a rainbow colored lighting bolt coming out of it etched onto my sides. 'A tattoo...?' I brushed that thought aside though as I made my way though the door and down the hallway. I still hadn't gotten use to walking on four hooves because I must of fell over them at least a thousand times by the time I made it to the main lobby. This was met with confused stares from the ponies that were sitting patiently around me. "Miss Dash..? Is it..?" Said the clerk at the front desk. "The doctor said it would be okay for you to leave the hospital. Would you please check out?" She pulled out a clipboard and pen from under the desk with her mouth and scribbled her signature in a couple places before she set the clipboard on the desk and nudged it in my direction with her nose. She pointed to a line at the bottom of the sheet of paper. "Please sign here and you will be good to go." I looked at the pen. Reluctantly I brought my hooves up to the purple pen trying to grab it using both of my hooves, but the damn thing kept slipping out of my grasp every time I picked it up. "Wouldn't it be easier to use your mouth Miss Dash?" The clerk said. She was giving me a weird look. I looked around the room. Every single pony in the room was looking at me funny. "Oh yeah, I forgot... Must be that uh, medicine that I was given..! Doc said it would uh, make me all loopy." Yeah, I think I will just go with that. The clerk just looked at me for a moment before she politely nodded. She now looks like she has dealt with situations like this before. I looked down at the pen. Slowly I reached for it with my mouth grabbing it with my teeth. I began to write my name out. 'What the hell is my name again?' I though to myself. I almost wrote down 'Darcy' but quickly stopped after the first stroke. 'No, no, no. What did that pink pony call me?' I could hear the familiar voice shout out to me. 'Rainbow Dash!' I was pretty sure that was my name. Quickly I moved my mouth around and scribbled my name onto the paper, even adding my own flair to it. Strange, writing with my mouth was much, much easier that trying to write with my hooves. "Thank you Miss..." She looked at my signature on the clipboard. "...Miss Rainbow Dash. Have a nice day." She said as she placed the clipboard back under her desk and took out some papers in which she then started scribbling some things down. I looked around, no one was staring at me anymore. I sighed in relief, even though I loved the attention, I hate it when people, err... ponies, stare at me like that. It was really uncomfortable. I saw the door behind me and carefully made my way over there. I was about to open the door and take of into the sky when I heard the voice of a small child behind me. "Hey! Rainbow Dash!" I turned around to be greeted by a small orange pegasus with a short purple mane. "Rainbow Dash! I heard you were in a really bad accident! Hows the fastest flier in all of Equestria?" It said to me. Fastest Flier in all of Equestria? Fastest Flier in all of Equestria?!?! That was a pretty nice title. I looked down at the little filly. She was eyeballing me, waiting for an answer. "Uh...." What do I say? "It's me! Scootaloo!" "Uh......" The orange pegasus just smiled at me kindly. "Yeah you hit your head hard. I am not surprised to see you don't remember me." Okay this was weird. I need to get out of here. "Uh, I really need to get going, uh..." "Scootaloo!" "Uh, Scootaloo, I need to go, uh, practice my new stunts!" I said thinking of the Blue Angels. "Yeah! It will be awesome!" I said as I shot the little pony a look of fiery determination. This only seemed to peak the ponies interest as her eyes widened at the thought of what I might be doing. "Oh, oh can I come!?" The orange pegasus said. Oh this is bad, I don't want this little girl walking around with me. How am I gonna get some peace and quiet? I searched my head for some excuses as I looked down at the little filly. I noticed right away that there was a small cast on one of the back legs of the small pony. "I'm going to be flying around real fast and, uh, I don't want you to break your other leg." The filly looked at her good leg and her ears drooped down. It broke my heart because she looked like she was about to break into tears. 'Oh boy, another four seconds of this and I will be bawling my eyes out.' I thought to myself. Immediately after he thought the Scootaloo's ears perked up again as she looked at me. "I can just fly the entire time!" She said beaming with pride. 'Oh great, they just don't give up now do they. If I'm going to get some me time then I need to go all in.' "I don't want you to get hurt Scootaloo. I know you want to come with me, but some of my moves are really dangerous and you can get really messed up in the process. You don't wanna end up like me in the hospital for a week do you?" I said in the kindest voice I could possibly muster. The little filly looked up to me feebly smiling, her eyes all misty from her tears. "Al-..right-... I gue-..ss-.. you're right.." She said. I was barley holding on here. With each sniffle tugging away at my heart strings I just wanted to hug the poor thing. Why not? I hugged Scootaloo as hard as I could and I folded my wings around her. She looked up to me now. Smiling at me. I smiled at her too, holy crap, it was so cute I could just die. "Scootaloo?" Said a voice. I looked up, a pegasus dressed in a bright white shirt came up to us. "The doctor will check out that leg now. Please come with me." The nurse said. Scootaloo looked up to me and hugged me back. She was gripping me like there was no tomorrow. I was the first to break the silence. "Go on Champ, I want you as good as new when I see you again okay?" "Okay Rainbow Dash!" She said as she broke the embrace and followed the nurse down the hallway. "See you later Rainbow!" She shouted down the hallway. "Bye Scootaloo!" I shouted back. Holy crap, I would not keep my cool if I had to do that again. I turned to face the door, it was now wide open and I could see outside. I pulled myself together as I slowly got up of the ground and made my way out the door. Cringing at the light from the sun, I brought my wing up above my eyes so I could take a look around. Around me were ponies of all colors just walking around minding their own business. I smiled to myself. I stretched my wings and took to the sky. I felt absolutely great. The wind whipping around my hair, err... mane. I have never been so happy in my life. I looked down on my surroundings; I could see the hospital in the distance. It was surrounded by small homes on all sides. Nothing to unusual. I observed the sky around me taking in the beauty of it all. There was barley any cloud in the sky and they few that were floating around had ponies nestled in them. 'Holy crap, that looks awesome. I think I'll do that too.' I thought to myself as I flew over to a nearby cloud. Slowly I landed on it. I reeled back in surprise for a second before I plopped myself onto the cloud. It was soooooo plush. I though as I could feel my eyes get heavy as I dosed off. "Even if this is a dream. I think I can get used to this." I said. ~~~~~ Author's Note: This was a fun chapter to write and I really like writing this. I also think its *too much** of a coincidence that the Blue Angels have the same team colors as the Wonderbolts. And how they are both Aerial Performers. Just saying...* Again, thanks for reading! I am open to comments, suggestions, and opinions. I am open to critique in general. I take everything to heart and I really mean it. <3 ~Athanix, Peace. Chapter 3: Comin' around...Chapter 3: Comin' around... I woke up to a blinding light. It shone down on my and pierced thought my eyelids demanding my attention. Wow, the sun must be right up to my face. I extended my arm so that I could block the suns rays. I reached out and touched something... 'HOLY...!' I quickly pulled back my arm and frantically shook it trying desperately to ease the pain. It felt like I had just touched a hot iron fresh from the kiln. "Oh, That looked like it hurt." said a voice. "Try not to touch the lights. Here, let me move them away from you so you can sit up." The intense light died down as I opened my eyes again. There was a man in a white coat carefully pulling back a large lamp with an assortment of large light bulbs on it. "Thanks for warning me..." I grumbled slightly as I stuck my finger in my mouth, realizing what had just happened. He just looked at me blankly and began to speak. "Well, we kind of didn't expect you to be up for a little bit. We were actually hoping that we could run some tests on you while you were asleep." Run tests on me while I sleep? "What are you talking about?" I said as I shot the doctor a dirty look. The doctor seem unfazed as he looked at his clipboard. "Well we detected high extremely high levels of activity in all six layers of your neocortex. That is actually quite interesting because it says here that you were administered an anti-hallucination drug. That alone should of shut down most of your subconscious thinking processes. We wanted to do an MRI so that we could examine you as you were asleep. Can't really do it now since your awake..." The doctor said with a look of slight disappointment on his face. He quickly brushed that aside as he began scribbling down some notes on a note pad. I was administered a anti-hallucination drug? "Wait Doc, you can't give me that drug when I'm sleeping." Oh shoot...- The doctor kept writing as he spoke to me. "The one that came in that needle?" "Yeah." "Of course we can give it to you while you sleep. It's not going to have any different affects on you." He tapped the pen tip on his chin a couple times before scribbling some more notes down. He looked up at me and smiled lightly as he spoke. "Who told you we couldn't do that?" "Well, uh, I had a dream about someone telling me I couldn't," I said. Would this guy believe me? He looked up at me with a raised brow. "Dreams?" He flipped through his notes. "Yeah, there was a nurse that came up to me and told me that she was glad that I was up because she couldn't 'administer the medicine while I was asleep'," I said mimicking the nurse's tone. I glanced over at the doctor. He was going to need a new pen soon with the amount of writing he was doing. "Anything else?" "Yeah..." I said recalling what had happened. "Everyone I meet were, uh, I don't know how to explain it..." How was I going to explain it to this guy? If I told him everyone in my 'dream' were ponies he might think I am crazy! He must of noticed my expression as he calmed me. "No need to worry..." He glanced down at his clipboard. "...Darcy. We are not going to throw you in an asylum or anything. If you tell us I'm sure we can figure this out. Believe me, I know what you have on your mind isn't as crazy as some things I have experienced." With that he smiled and waited for my response. I hesitated for a bit, but figured since I had nothing to lose. I might as well tell him. What could possibly go wrong? "Well... Everyone in my dreams were ponies. It was really weird, some of them were unicorns and pegasi..." He just nodded and gestured me to say more. "Anything else?" "Well, some looked and sounded a lot like my friends..." He stopped and looked at me, now this seemed to get at him. "Hmm, that is odd. But not unusual... I mean you dream about stuff you remember, am I right?" He said. I remembered things from my dream so vividly though. The window, the pillows on the ground, the Sun. 'Scootaloo...' You dream about things you remember. What do I remember...? As he clicked his pen closed and with a one swift motion he ripped the top most piece of paper and crumpled it up before he threw it over his shoulder and into the trash can without even looking behind him to check if his makeshift ball had made it into the can. "Like it? I have been working on me aim." "Uh, what was that you just threw away?" He just looked at me and smiled politely. "Oh that was your release form, but I see that you might need a little more time here. You seem to be a little off." He said. "No offence... We only want to ensure your health." He said smiling in the nicest way possible. I know he didn't mean to offend me, but seriously?! 'Oh you are a little crazy so we aren't letting you out until you are right in the head!' "Well we better get you back to your room. You have a friend waiting for you." He said as he gestured me to the door. I got up slowly off the bed I was in, It was when I put my hands down on it to help myself off when I noticed something. "Holy crap..." The bed was extremely plush. "I know right?! We just got these new tables for our MRI's. It helps the patients relax so we can get accurate readings. It just like sleeping on a cloud!" He said. The last sentence floated around in my head for a while before I mad my way to the door. "Yeah..." "Okay your room isn't far from here. It's the fifth one on the left." He pointed to one of the doors. I nodded politely as I started to walk down the halfway. Whoa... I must of hit my head really, really, REALLY hard. Everything was so vivid, so believable, so real... Each time I woke up, I felt like have been dreaming and everything I experience only tells my that my last dream was just that, a dream... 'Dream within a dream. How confusing...' I thought to myself. I was still wearing my Blue Angels shirt, it was a deep blue like my highlights with cyan sleeves that I rolled up. On the front was the official logo for the Blue Angels. I turned around to look at my back. Nothing was there. 'Aww...' Having wings was so liberating... I let the door swing open, it was quiet. Just a little to quiet for my taste. To be honest I was half expecting a Pink pony screaming 'surprise!' as I was hit with a barrage of party favors. Okay, that might of been a random though, but some part of me tensed up and got ready for it. It wasn't going to take any chances with a wild pony embodiment of a party hard friend. I walked into the room. Tia was sitting quietly reading a rather large book. It looked like she didn't even hear me walk into the room. "Hey Tia, you reading the dictionary again? You look like your around 'o' for 'obsessive'. That part is the best." I said with my usual amount of edge. She just looked up at me with a blank expression which made me feel a bit uncomfortable. "No Darcy... This," she said as she closed the book. "is the encyclopedia of mental disorders." I facepalmed. "Not you too! I just had the doc down there call me loco in the coco!" I said as I rolled my eyes around. Tia rolled her eyes too as she looked at me. "Well I was looking up what you might have. I was the one who told the doctor that you were tossing and turning in your bed." She said. "The final straw was when you started crying. So I called the doctor over. He said he wanted to run an MRI since you should be out cold. I don't want to see you crying like this." She looked at me with the familiar expression of genuine concern. "Are you okay..?" I flashed back to the images of Scootaloo. 'See you later Rainbow!' I must of spoke my mind because Tia just looked at me funny. "Rainbow..? It hasn't rained for days, Darcy are you okay?" I shook my head scattering my thoughts. "Uh, yeah! It's nothing really." I bit my lip. Could I tell Tia..? "It's okay Darcy, you can tell me what's wrong. I promise not to tell anyone else." She giggled lightly and spoke again. "I am not going to judge you, I really just want to help you out." I didn't know what to do. Sure, she wouldn't think about me differently, but what about the rest of my friends? What would they say about me. I looked around the room, no one else was there, Tia was just sitting there in a small chair in the corner of the room with a couple of books on her lap, patiently waiting for a response. "Well Tia... It's kind of hard to explain..." I began. "Every time I fall asleep..." I looked at her. She was sitting there still concerned and was listening attentively to me. "Every time I fall asleep. People turn too, uh, ponies..." I closed my eyes fearing the look in Tia's face. I didn't want to see her expression whatever it might be. But instead of a gasp of shock coming from the corner of the room I felt a hand on my shoulder, loving and kind. I slowly opened my eyes to see that Tia was now standing next to me, hand on my shoulder, trying hard to help me. "Nah, it's okay Darcy." She said as we sat on my bed. "Tell me more." I began to tell her about how many of the ponies I encountered resembled people I have seen. How many things that happen here happen there too. She just shook her head as she processed the information. "...But Tia, The more things change... the more things stay the same... I just don't know what to do." I said as I finished speaking blushing furiously. Tia didn't say anything for a while. She just sat next to me with her hand on my shoulder. "Darcy, as your friend, I think I know how I can help you." She stood up off the bed and walked towards her small pile of books that she left on the seat. Slowly she pulled out the book on the bottom of the stack and flipped it open as she began to skim the pages. "What's that Tia?" "Ah, here it is!" She said. She didn't even notice me talk to her. I swear, Tia and her books... Gently she put her hand back onto my shoulder and gestured me to lie down on the bed. She looked at her book once more then turned to face me. "You don't want to have dreams about ponies anymore?" Tia said to me. I thought for a bit. What was she planning. Would she erase my memories? I thought of my winged pegasus counterpart for a while. I would never be able to be free like that... No, it had to be like this. I wanted to live a normal life. I had a family who friends who cared for me. I still had a long life to live. No, it had to be like this. I have so much I want to do in life. "Yes, I'm sure." She just smiled at me. "I know you can get through this Darcy. I know you are-" Just then Tia was tackled to the ground with a loud Thump! "Oh my God! Darcy, are you feelin' okay! The doctor said that you were about to get your brain checked! And when we came in we saw you and Tia and we though that-" Abigail immediately put her hand up to Paula's mouth muffling her words. "We heard everythin' Darcy. Are you okay?" Abigail said as the others stepped inside. Faith and Rachel came close to my bed and knelt beside me. They were all now around my bed, a comforting smile on all of their faces. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. "I am so lucky to have you guys... I don't know what I'd do without friends like you guys." Paula just came up and gave me a big hug. "It's okay Darcy! We are your friends, and that's what friends are for!" I looked at the others in the room. She was right, it broke there hearts to see me like this. Slowly I released Paula and i turned to face my friends. "I am going to see this through for you guys... I can't stand to see you like this." Tia just smiled as she began to flip through the pages of her book. "When you fall asleep you will recall your life as is and I want you to tell those ponies that they aren't real. Now if I do this right while your asleep then you shouldn't be having these dreams, okay?" She said. I nodded my head slightly. Recall my life so far? I tried remembering the events before the car crash. It was very hazy now. I could only remember the sudden impact and the blinding lights... "Alright Darcy." Tia said. "I'm ready." I nodded again as I rested my head on the soft pillow and pulled the cyan covers up. It was hard at first... but I... eventually... fell... asleep... ~~~~~ My mind slowly drifted back into a state of consciousness. Gradually my senses came back to me... My sense of hearing was the first to return. I heard the wind screaming past my ears at deafening levels of sound. My sight came next, I was rocketing towards the ground at amazing speeds. What the hell was going on?! And finally my sense of touch came back. I felt the wind rushing past me trying to pull me back. My hair was blow back all the way as I fell. I started to tear up as the air battered my eyes relentlessly. I could feel myself going faster and faster. The ground rushed up to me, but suddenly... I turned up and I rocket into the sky. My body shaking slightly as the adrenaline was pumped through my veins. I remembered this... I always loved to skydive... But why haven't I opened up my parachute? Why did I come straight up? I looked behind me and I was in pure shock. I opened my mouth to gasp but quickly closed it fearing that if it was open any longer it would detach itself from my face. Behind me was a giant rainbow. It shimmered in the light of day and only lengthened as I rocketed across the sky. I felt a little tingling sensation on my flank as I looked straight ahead. There was a finish line with a checkered banner handing above it and many small ponies with wings sitting on clouds beside it. I couldn't stop myself, I tried to stop but I just kept on going. I couldn't control my actions. I went blind for a moment as I went through the banner. The banner ripped and I could see again. My eyes were met with the familiar view of my little white room. "So Dash did you tell those 'humans' they weren't real?" I sat up straight and opened my eyes wide and faced my friend. There sat a purple unicorn, her horn glowing with magic. "Dash are you okay?" The unicorn looked genuinely concerned. 'no, no, no, no, no..!' "No, no,, NO, NO, NO!!" I shouted. This can't be happening again! The unicorn's horn quickly flickered off as she looked at me with fear. "Rainbow Dash?! Are you okay?" She started to bring up her hoof to put on my shoulder, but I angrily swatted it away. "No! You aren't real!! You ponies aren't real! I'm dreaming!! I'm dreaming!!!" I flew out of the room and through the door. My mind was racing as I flew down the hallway. This was met with surprised looks from ponies everywhere. I turned sharply around the corner only to be stopped by a little pink mare. I had bumped into her and spilled a tray of new cupcakes that she was holding in her mouth onto the ground beside us. "Dashie..?" "No my name is *Darcy! Darcy!!!*" I screamed. The pink mare was in shock. She started to tear up as she looked at me. Her normally curly hair fell lifeless and flat. I felt something crack within me. It broke my heart to see this. No... No it didn't... This wasn't really happening...! "No, you are just a figment of my imagination! Your not my real friend!" I screamed at the pink filly. This struck her hard, her pupils shrunk and her eyes were on the verge of breaking out in tears. I heard a familiar quiet voice "Rainbow Dash...?" It was shaky and uncertain. I looked over and I saw Faith standing there crying. I blinked the tears out of my eyes and my friend turned into a trembling yellow pegasus with a light pink mane. I couldn't bear to see anymore of this. I flew in the opposite direction of the two mares, not even bothering to look back. I just passed up the door to my room when and turn the corner when a white unicorn and orange pony blocked the hallway. "Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation has gott'n in to yew?! I can hear yew from all the way down the hall!" "Rainbow Dash! Dearie! Please calm down! We are your friends!" I turned back around, the pink and light yellow mare were on the other side of the hallway, blocking my path. "Rainbow Dash... Please listen to us... Think about what your saying..." The yellow pegasus calmly. The pink mare next to her was a mess. She was all shriveled up and crying. They were slowly walking towards me. I stepped back, I looked around. I found myself in my room again... "Rainbow Dash... Why are you doing this..." Said a voice behind me. She sounded like she was in a mixture of shock and terror. "Because you aren't real..." I responded flatly still looking at all the ponies in front of me. "But we are real! We are your friends! Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie!" "No! You aren't real those aren't your names Tia!" There was a silence in the room. I turned around to speak to the voice face to face. "Those aren't your names! Your real names are Tia, Faith, Rachel, Abigail and Paula! You aren't my real friends, you are just made up!" The purple unicorns teared up and tears ran down her face. "Think about what you are saying Rainbow! We are your friends! Remembered how we vanquished the forces of evil with the power of our friendship?! Twice!" I couldn't take it anymore, I spun around. The other ponies were slowly encircling me as trapping me with in the room. I frantically looked for a way out. The window still had that piece of plywood on it. I stretched out my wings and poured all my willpower into bursting through the thin piece of wood. I felt the wood crack and splinter as I sailed out of the window and into the night sky. "Rainbow Dash...!" They called out behind me. I didn't look back, I flew out as far away from the hospital as I could. And I kept flying until I couldn't even see the lights on the horizon. I was deep in the forest when I finally decided to stop. Carefully I lay back in a near by tree and closed my eyes. After a bit I opened them. I was still sitting there. ~~~~~ Author's Note: A pretty fun write as usual. Not many mistakes, although I am going to say that when going once over the story I caught me spelling 'Tia' as 'Twi' Like a billion times... :( Again, thanks for reading! I am open to comments, suggestions, and opinions. I am open to critique in general. I take everything to heart and I really mean it! <3 ~Athanix, Peace. Chapter 4: Seein' through...Chapter 4: Seein' through... I was still sitting there. I closed my eyes again and violently rubbed them until it hurt. I wanted to wake up. But when I opened them again I was still sitting there. I sighed deeply. "Ugh, somebody pinch me..." Reluctantly I rolled over on my side and got off of the tree branch I was sitting in. The sun shone down on me casting a shadow down the path. My shadow was that of a proud young pegasus. And as the wind swept past my mane and tail and the shadow responded by moving accordingly. I began to walk down the path. I didn't know where I was going and I didn't want to know where I was going. I just need some time to think... The image of remembered the five mares that tried so hard to care for me just like my friends would have. I looked around the forest hoping that there would be someone I could talk to. But all I heard was the wind gently rustling the leaves of the forest. Not a single soul to be spoken of. I took a good look at myself. My mane and tail were a tangled mess, all matted and sticky from tree sap. 'Oh boy Rachel is going to kill me...' I though to my self. But that thought was quickly swamped by the images of the white unicorn that resembled my friend so much. I shook the images from my head. 'Was this really happening?' I thought of the things I said before I flew out into the forest as far away as I could from the ponies that were only trying to help me. 'You ponies aren't real! I'm dreaming!!' 'No my name is Darcy!' 'Your not my real friend!' 'You aren't my real friends, *you are just made up!'*** Those last words stung. My mind was confused, it couldn't make sense of what was happening. These ponies resembled my friends in every way. I didn't know what to do. But my heart knew exactly what was going on. I had hurt my friends deeply. 'No! I would never do that to my friends. But I had. I remembered what I had said to all of them. They all cared for me and were doing everything in there power to help see me through without needing to be asked. Just like great friends would do. They would put everything aside to come help me. But I shunned them, I deemed them imaginary, fake, not my real friends. I felt a small tear roll down my cheek as I cried softly to myself. My crying was interrupted when I heard something in the bushes jump out onto the path. "Rainbow Dash?" I looked up and faced the voice. There standing in front of me was a small orange pegasus. I turned away covering my face with my wings. I couldn't let her see me like this. "Rainbow Dash? Are you okay? The others told me that you flew out into the forest by yourself. I came out to look for you." I didn't say anything, even if I did want to say something I was sobbing freely now not even trying to hold back the tears. With out warning I felt arms wrap themselves around me and hug me tightly. "I can't to see you like this Rainbow Dash! Please come back!" I looked behind me. The filly had me in a death grip trying to bring me back to reality. She looked up at me with misty eyes. I didn't know what to do. My mind was telling me that Scootaloo wasn't real, but my heart wanted me to believe in her. I shook my thoughts again. I need to think about what was going on. I needed to be alone. I shook the filly off of me and I stretched my wings and took to the sky. I didn't look back, I knew it would just crush me to see the little pegasus there crying her eyes out. So I flew out in the direction I was originally going in and flapped my wings harder and harder gaining speed. I flew down the path until I was out of the forest, but I didn't stop there. I just kept on flying, rocketing down the path at blistering speeds. I loved the feeling of going this fast. It took my mind of all of my troubles for a bit. For a moment I felt like I didn't have a care in the world. I just flew around in the sky slowly making my way down the path now. I was doing tricks too, rolling over on my back. Soaring high in the sky before diving towards the ground. I was surprised on how quickly this all came to me. I didn't remember flying before, but if somepony was watching me they would think I was born to do this. I continued down the path keeping high in the sky, right above the clouds. In the distance I could make out some movement coming in my direction. Silently I flew over to a cloud and crouched low. I blocked the sun with one hoof as I squinted and peered over the edge of the cloud and out into the distance. There walking down the path were five ponies. And I recognized every single one. Quickly I fell back into the cloud. Did they see me? I needed to find out. I punched the cloud a bit. My hoof sunk into it but the cloud was solid. Carefully I brought myself up off the cloud and gently guided it to some of the lower lying clouds in the sky next to the group of mares. The parts of my heart that hadn't broken up from the encounter with Scootaloo crumbled into dust as I gazed down at them. There they were walking down the path talking to one another with looks of concern on there faces, but what really ate at me was the sight of the normally cheery pink pony slowly walking behind the group. Her mane still flat against her, the same look of extreme sadness on her face. I peaked over the cloud to listen in on their conversation. "I hope Rainbow Dash is okay... She looked like she was really hurt and confused..." The purple unicorn said. "Yeah. I wonder what's gotten into 'er. Did yew see how she was yellin' at Pinkie Pie?" An orange pony said as they looked back at their sobbing friend. "Poor thing. Dash said that she wasn't her real friend. I cud hear it from all the way down the hallway. Pinkie hasn't been the same ever since." I fell back into the cloud again. The sight just ate away at my very being! I had said those things and now look at her. She was barley keeping it together. I looked ahead, we were coming up to the forest again. And I looked away as soon as I saw Scootaloo sitting next to the tree I was sitting in earlier, weeping to herself. I just sat back and listened to the conversation unfold. My mind was starting to take the blows that my heart were to weak to withstand. "Dearest me! Scootaloo is that you over there? Come over her sweetie! You poor thing! What happened?" All that answered her was the sobs and sniffles coming from Scootaloo. The crying died down as she began to speak. "I saw R-Rainbow Dash cr-crying here. I asked her why but sh-she didn't say anything! She just looked at me with a sad look on h-her f-face before she flew down the p-path!" Scootaloo said as she then continued crying. Remembering those recent memories must of been so hard for her. I heard a soft calming voice come from below me, trying desperately to calm the filly. "It's okay... Rainbow Dash is just confused right now... She just needs some time to think... She just needs some time to figure out who she is..." I closed my eyes again. Those words struck me at my very core. I turned over in the cloud cleared my mind. I wanted to escape this, I wanted to wake up. ~~~~~ I opened my eyes after a while and I found myself in the hospital bed again. Slowly I pulled back the covers to reveal my tattered jeans and light blue socks. Had I woken up from that terrible dream? I looked to my side, the little pink cupcake that had been placed there earlier was still sitting there untouched. It still had the little name tag on it. ~Darcy I reached over to grab it, but as my fingers made contact with the cupcake it vanished leaving a small pile of dust that blew away in the wind. I pulled my hand back surprised. Suddenly the door swung open and I barley caught a glimpse of someone in pink running past the door. Quickly I got up and ran to the door to see what It might of been but as I turned the corner the figure in pink had already rounded the corner down the hallway. I ran down after the figure, but as I rounded the corner no one was there. All I saw was a small girl standing at the end of the hallway. She was crying, I tried running to her side to comfort her but it as if every time I took one step forward, I only ended up two steps back. I eventually stopped running after her when a group of familiar looking girls came and gestured the little girl around the corner. I frantically ran towards them pouring all my of my will into making it down the hallway. I almost made it to them but a young woman in pink stepped in front of me blocking my path. Her light brown hair lying flat against her head hiding her face. "What do you think you are doing?" She said to me. "I'm going to my friends!" I screamed at her. "Those aren't your friends." She said as she moved her hair to the side of her face revealing her face. I was terrified. It was a mixture extreme anger and sadness. She stared at me peering deep into my soul. "You said so yourself..." I fell onto the floor and onto my knees as she walked around the corner. I didn't get up, I just sat there alone. One by one the lights around me turned off leaving one right above casting a long shadow down the hallway. I looked at the shadow. It too was on its knees, but slowly it brought itself up and walked into the shadows leaving me alone in the hallway. Now I was truly alone.For a moment I stopped crying. Thinking about what had happened. I didn't want this. I wanted everything to change. I wanted everything to go back to what it used to be like. The final light went out, leaving me in the dark. ~~~~~ No authors note! :( Please comment though! I am open to suggestions and critique! I take it all to heart! Chapter 1: Wakin' up...Wakin' up My head was pounding fiercely and my body ached as my mind tried piecing itself back together. I felt bandages wrapped tightly around my head and hair. All my thoughts were a blur. What happened? All I remember was Paula saying 'Hey look Darcy! Here comes a car!' Then all I could see the towering SUV crashing straight into us. I felt it collide with our car head on. I hope Faith and Paula got out okay... I slowly opened my eyes and cringed at the searing light that flooded my vision. The curtains where fully drawn back and the sun shone down and lit up the room with it warming rays. I looked around and to be perfectly honest the room was quite small. The floor and walls were all white and an eerie low hum came from the lights above me. I looked to my side further examining the room I was in. There on the table next to me lay a little pink cupcake with my name on it. ~Dashie Wait what? My thoughts were cut of as I heard a familiar voice scream at me through the door. "Hey everyone! Dashie is getting up! Hey Dashie!" That voice it sounded so familiar, and Dashie..? I turned to face the voice and I swear I heard my jaw greet the floor. There standing in the middle of the room was a small pink pony. I put my hand up to my head trying to make sense of what I was seeing. How hard was I hit? "Oh my gosh Dashie! We thought you would never wake up! You've been out for like ever now! Like an entire week!" The pink pony said. "Eh, what...?" "Silly! Don't you remember? You practicing that new stunt, and you flying around really, really fast until you hit a tree and were out for a while. So me, Applejack and some stranger got you over to the hospital and you have been out ever since!" Wait, What? Who? Applejack?! I brought my hands up to my eyes so I could rub them until I could see straight, but where were my hands? I know I pulled my arms out my blanket, but what I saw I was not prepared for. My hands were replaced with bright cyan hooves. Hooves?! What the hell!? Just then I heard the sound of someone else walk into the room. Five other ponies stepped into the room and stood by the pink mare. Well two unicorns, a pegasus and a orange pony to be exact. A look of genuine concern adorning each of their faces. "Nice to see yew finally woke up sugarcube." Said the orange earth pony. "We thought you might never wake up!" "Yeah, we were so worried about you..." "Yeah Rainbow, that was quite the accident. You should be more careful." "My word Rainbow! You mane is all a mess!" My mane? I looked up to look at my hair and lone behold there was my rainbow colored highlights. Yet, it seemed different. I moved my hair around and to my surprise my highlights seemed to have spread all over my head. What the hell!?!? I turned over to my guests. I know I have heard their voices before. "Paula, Abigail, Faith, Tia, Rachel? " I said. Those were the voices of my friends. This was met with confused looks from the ponies. They all looked at me with genuine concern. "What kind of names are those?" The pink pony said to me. "I've never met any pony with a name like that before!" She quickly hopped up and down in front of my bed. "We can totally throw a party for those ponies!" I looked at her as she was now bouncing around the room with pure happiness. What the hell kind of dream is this? "Whoa you can't be real! You guys are ponies!!" I blurted out, whatever the hell was going on, someone better wake me up! "Your at the hospital Rainbow Dash. We brought you here so you could be taken care of." I wasn't going to take anymore of this. I tried getting up out of my bed and I tried to run out the door. I had almost made it to the door, but I stumbled and fell flat on my face as balancing on two legs with the body of a pony was more difficult that I thought it would be. "Now Rainbow, let's not due anything to crazy. The doctors said you were really hurt and you needed to get some rest." The purple unicorn said. "That's right darling, now let's just get back into bed before you hurt yourself again." No, No!! This was one messed up dream! I pushed myself up off the ground and slowly made my way to the door. Walking on all fours was a little difficult but in time I got a hang of it and made my way to the door. I was only inches away from the door when it was enveloped in a light purple aura and then slammed shut. I spun around to see that the the horn of the lavender unicorn glowing with a magical energy. "Dash, This is for your own good." She said as I felt the a warm tingling around my body as I was slowly lifted out of the air and back to my bed. The purple unicorns aura had surrounded every inch of my body. I struggled, I tossed and turned, and I could feel the magical bonds slowly weakening. Knowing this I doubled my efforts to escape my ties. "Rarity...! Help me get Rainbow Dash back to her bed..!" With that I felt an renewed strength grip me as my bonds tightened. "Don't worry darling! We will have you better in no time at all!" The white unicorn said. "No..! No..! This can't be happening..!" I was about to get to my bed when something unexpected happened. I felt something on my back extend out. I strained myself to look over, and there on my sides were wings. Wings!? I must of hit my head REALLY hard! With my new pair of wings I flapped as hard as I could to aid in my escape. I didn't know exactly how to fly thought, but I just thought of me flapping my wings as hard as I could and like I was born with them they responded to my will. "Ra-rity..!!" The purple unicorn said as the wind generated by my wings was pushing her back. Finally the the purple unicorn lost her balance and flew back and hit the door. I felt my bonds weaken considerably as I flew back into the window behind me and broke right threw it. I felt the sharp glass shatter behind me as I fell towards the ground. My hair danced around in the wind as I saw the ground quickly approaching. In fear I flapped my wings in a futile attempt to escape the fall, but to no avail. "Quickly Applejack, catch Rainbow!" The yellow pegasus said. "Already on it!" The orange pony as she whipped a lasso around. She jerked her head forward and I saw the lasso chase after me. It whipped in the wind as It made it's way around my one of my back legs. "Go' 'er!" Said the orange pony as she yanked her head back. The noose tightened around my leg and I felt it as It grabbed me in mid fall. I looked down, I was still a good three stories off the ground. I looked up at the rope, it had already started to fray at the edges. It must not be strong enough to hold me. One by one each of the fibers of the rough rope were snapping. "Oh no!" Said the pink pony. "Rainbow Dash!" I felt the rope snap as I plummeted towards the ground. Rainbow Dash?! My thoughts were cut off as I closed my eyes and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then suddenly my eyes opened and I looked around. I sat up straight and brought my hands up to my face. Sweet Jesus, hands! As I pulled down the covers to examine the rest of my body. Tattered jeans and a pair of feet. I turned my attention to the room. The sun was shining high in the sky filling the small room with light and the familiar electric hum of florescent lights loomed overhead. I looked over to the side of my bed to be greeted by a familiar pink cupcake. ~Darcy 'Déjà vu.' I though. Suddenly the door swung open as I saw a familiar friend in pink run into the room. "Oh my God Darcy! Hey gals! Come on in! Darcy is awake!" I turned to see my friends walk into the room. No ponies to be spoken of. "Wow Darcy you have been sleeping for a really long time now." I looked over at the calender. 12/19 Holy crap! An entire week?! "Whoa I have been out for an entire week?" "Yeah the doctor said you might not wake up. But you are a tough gal. I knew you would wake up." I looked over to my friends. Abigail had her light blond hair up in a ponytail as per usual. She smiled warmly at me. "I'm surprised you ain't tired or anything Darcy." As if on cue I yawned. I was feeling a little tired. "Now that you mention it Aby, I am a little..." I didn't finish my sentence as I lay back into my bed and pulled the covers over myself closing my eyes. "Sweet dreams..." Said all of my friends. ~~~~~ Author's Note: This is quite an interesting write for me. I am enjoying this a lot as well as my other story. Really excited with where I want to go with this. Comments, suggestions and critique are all welcome! I take it all to heart! ~Athanix, Peace. On a side note, I did the cover. Let me know how I did on that too! Alright bye for real!
~~Prologue~~~~Prologue~~ Dear Darcy, Hope you get better. That was quite the accident. You were knocked out cold! The five of us visit you at the hospital everyday! You have been in the hospital for quite sometime now. The doctors said you might be out for along time. So we left you a present! Get well soon! Your Friends! "Any thing else gals?" I said. "No sir-ee." "No." "None that I could think of." "Nope!" I set down the paper on the table. Darcy had been out for a while now. It had been an entire week since the car accident. She had Paula and Faith in her car when that SUV front ended them. Rachel, Abigail and I couldn't believe our eyes as we quickly turned around our car around to help them. Paula had somehow squeezed her way out of the car and even Faith had made her way out of the twisted metal. ~~~~~ I looked around. Faith was already calling 911 on her phone and reporting the accident, who ever was in the crashed SUV must of fled the scene because their car was empty. I turned to see Rachel and Abigail scramble out of my car and onto the street. It was only the five of us standing there in the night. "Oh my god! Darcy is still in the car!" I said pointing towards the car. The rest of my friends all turned to face the driver seat. There was Darcy, her head lay motionless with a large red streak down the airbag. Seeing this Abigail quickly ran over to the drivers side door with the intention of saving a friend. "Someone! help me get the door open!" Abigail said as she grabbed the door with her two hands and furiously tugged at the it. Even for a girl who worked day and night on a farm, the door seemed like it didn't even notice her trying to pry it open like a can of beans. "It won't...- Budge...!" She said with a strained voice. I turned my attention to Faith who was trembling so violently she put earthquakes to shame. She was clutching her phone with both hands as she feebly spoke into it. "Y-Yes? Yes, We on the corner of M-Merrit and Ap-p-pomattox, Front end crash. M-Me and my friend managed to get out but there is someone still st-stuck in the car..." Faith said. She nodded a slowly and looked at us with a sobbing face. "They said they will be here as soon as they can. They already sent an ambulance over here." "Abigail, stop! You might hurt yourself!" Rachel suddenly said. I turned to see that Abigail had stopped pulling at the door. Reluctantly she stepped away from the door. She had the look of anger all over her. As if she was channeling all that anger, she ran at the door and kicked it as hard as she could. It left quite a dent as the car hopped into the air. The car shook slightly as it made contact with the ground again, rocking back and forth until coming to a stop just a little bit from where it once sat. We were all silenced by what Abigail had done. Just then the door swung open and Darcy's unconscious body fell over and onto the street. "Eeep..!" Faith squeaked. "Quickly!" I said "Help me pull Darcy out onto the shoulder of the street." I said as I carefully pulled Darcy's body out of the car. With help from Abigail, We carried Darcy out to the shoulder of the road. Paula came out of no where with a pillow and blanket. "I knew we would need this for something!" "Thanks Paula." Where did she get these? That didn't matter right now. We lay Darcy down on the ground, her head against the pillow. I could see the red and blue lights flickering against her face. "Hold on Darcy." I said "Help is on the way." ~~~~~ Dear Dashie, Hope you get better. That was quite the accident. You were knocked out cold! The five of us visit you at the hospital everyday! You have been in the hospital for quite sometime now. The doctors said you might be out for along time. So we left you a present! Get well soon! Your Friends, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Any thing else gals?" I said, "No sir-ee." "No." "None that I could think of." "Nope!" I set down the paper on the table. Dash had been out for a while now. It had been an entire week since the crashing accident. The she had Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy watching from the ground when she crashed right into that tree. Rarity, Applejack and I couldn't believe our eyes as we quickly turned around to help them. Pinkie had somehow squeezed into the tree and even Fluttershy was flying up to help Dash down. ~~~~~ I looked over at Fluttershy, distress written all over my expression. "Quickly Fluttershy, go get some help down in Ponyville." I said. There was a bit of hesitation from her, but knowing what was at risk she flew down the path to Ponyville. I looked up to see Pinkie with Dash on her back. Dash was slumped over Pinkie's back as the mare carefully made her way down the tree and onto the ground. Rainbow Dash was out cold and wasn't moving much, red the dominate color of her mane. "You should of seen it! Rainbow Dash was all like whoosh and zoom! She was flying all over the at amazing speeds! But then when she rolled over and turned towards us some crazy bird came out from behind a cloud and nailed her straight in the face!" Pinkie said as she bounced around with an unconscious Rainbow Dash flopping around on her back. "Dashie had to pry the thing of her face so she could see, but all she saw when she got the bird out of her face was this huge tree!" Pinkie said as she ran over to the large oak and gave it a firm tap. "That's nice Pinkie... Now come over here so that we can get Rainbow some help." I said taking Rainbow Dash of of Pinkie and laying her gently on the ground. Pinkie had been bouncing around everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Dash didn't- Pinkie Pie came out of no where with a pillow and blanket and offered it to me. "I had a feeling we might need these." She said with her muffled voice. She placed the pillow on the ground as we lay Dash on top of the pillow. We covered her with a blanket as I could hear the light flapping of Fluttershy's wings from down the path and the hoofsteps of someone following her. "Hold on Dash." I said. "Help is on the way." ~~~~~~ ~Athanix, Peace
Chapter 2: Sortin' out...Chapter 2: Sortin' out "Hey, hey Darcy..! Wake up...!" Said a familiar hushed voice. "Ugh... Five more minutes..." This was met with snickers and giggles from around the room. "Darcy, if you don't get up this instant I'm am never letting you out with your friends ever again!" Another voice said with a tone mocking a mother speaking to her child. I grabbed my pillow and tossed it in the direction of the voice. I opened my eyes to see Rachel trying to protecting herself with her arms as the pillow flew across my bed. But out of nowhere, Paula showed up and caught the pillow before it reached its target. "Oh my gosh, do you know what this means Darcy?" She said as she eyed me with a questionable look. I wasn't going to like this... "Uh..." "Pillow fight!" With that my friends all picked up pillows that they had beside them and threw them right at me. I tried to cover my face but it was hopeless. Abigail nailed my right on the side of my head. I shot her a mean look and at first she was a little shocked to see my face, but her expression was quickly replaced with a small laugh. This made all of my other friends around me start to laugh to and soon after, I joined in the laughter as well. "I can't stay mad at you guys! You guys are my best friends in the entire world!" I said as I smiled warmly at them. They all returned the smile with one twice as big. It's true, I can't stay mad when I have friends like this who really cared for you. After we all calmed down a bit Abigail spoke up, a bit of shame on her face. "I should actually get going now Darcy, coming all the way to the hospital is quite a long drive. I best be going if I hope to make it back to the farm by sunrise." Abigail said as she tipped her hat and walked towards the door. "See ya'll later!" I looked out the window. It was quiet and dark. The moon was full and was shining as brightly as the stars around it. I turned back and faced my four friends who were carefully watching my every movement and expression searching for any signs of discomfort. Faith spoke up next in her usual soft voice. "Yeah Darcy, I am volunteering at the animal shelter tomorrow and I need to be there early..." Ah Faith, always looking out for others. "No it's okay Faith, I know you love to take care of the animals." I said. With that she smiled lightly and walked towards the door. "I'll make sure to visit you tomorrow Darcy. Bye." "It's not like I am going anywhere else right?" I said with my usual edge. Faith just smiled again and walked out the door. I turned to face the rest of my friends sitting there. They all looked a bit tired, but Rachel though look the most distressed out of the three. She will never shut up about it if she misses an order for her job. The last time she did she- I cut myself of trembling at the thought. I should just let them go. "I know you all have other things to do than watch me sleep for half the day. You can go, I'm fine." Hearing this Rachel immediately sat up and began to speak in her normal over the top fashion. "Oh my goodness, Thank the lord! I knew you would understand! I am so behind on work i need to- Oof! Hey! What was that for Tia?" Rachel said. Tia just shot Rachel a look and turned to face me. "I'm sure what Rachel meant to say was that she is happy to see that you understand. Me and Paula have work tomorrow too so I think we should also go." "Yeah, but don't worry Darcy! We will come and visit you as soon as we can!" Paula said as she reached over and gave me a big hug. What kind of friend would I be not to return the loving gesture. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug to match. Paula responded by squeezing me harder until I could feel some of my ribs touch one another. "Uh... Paula..." I said faintly. I could barley breath. "I would give you anything in the world if it made you feel better Darcy!" I would feel my face pale as I spoke to my friend. "Some-... Air would be nice...!" She just looked at me with a big smile and let go. "Bye!" She said as she skipped out of the room with Rachel and Tia giggling as the walked out behind her. As they were making their way out a nurse in a bright white dress walked into the room with a small wooden clipboard. She looked over at my friends and then turned to face me. "You friends really care about you. They have been here all day hoping to talk to you again." The nurse said as the set down her clipboard and small bag she was holding. Slowly she pulled out a long tube of plastic. I cringed at the sight as the nurse pulled out a particularly large needle. "Now I just need to inject you with some of this, doctors orders." She said slightly squeezing it to insure that it was working correctly. I was always terrified of needles. One of the first times I got my shots I squirmed so much that the tip actually broke of the syringe. All that was sticking out was a thin metal needle. Nothing to serious, minus the everlasting mental scars. I hated needles with ever ounce of my being, especially the big ones. But this one put those all to shame. This needle was huge... I felt my body go limp as I closed my eyes and fainted. Just thinking about it touching my skin made me pass out. ~~~~~ I woke up, my mind was a little foggy as I could only remember a bit of my latest memories. "Ah you woke up, good thing to. I can't administer the medicine if your asleep, that would be bad." Said the nurse. I turned over to greet her and she smiled lightly at me holding the needle in mid air. "Oh great... This again..." I muttered. Ponies... The nurse just gave me a look as she turned her attention to me again. "Oh, your not fond of needles. I can see that, but don't worry though, this won't hurt a bit." She said. 'Pfft, that's what they always say, but it all ways hurts like heEELLLL!! AAUUGH!! My thoughts were cut of as the nurse slowly injected me with the medicine. I felt a warm tingling coursing through my veins as it circulated through my body. "You have been talking in you sleep Miss..." The nurse quickly glanced at her clipboard. "...Miss Dash. The doctor heard you talking to someponies. He didn't quite catch there names but he heard one for sure. Faith was it?" The nurse looked at me quizzically as if she was expecting an answer. I didn't know what to say. "Don't worry Miss Dash, it is quite common that patients do not remember anything they dream of in their hallucinations." She said. I lay back in my bed as I tried remembering the events from 'my dream'. It was really fuzzy now. All I could remember is the sounds of my friends voices and the pillows that were thrown at me. Was it really a dream? Slowly, I peered over my covers and onto the side of my bed hoping that there would not be anything disturbing the checkered black and white patterns on the floor. But to my dismay, there lay five white pillows on the ground cutting large white shapes into the tiles. The nurse must of caught on and spoke up. "Ah yes your friends were here just moments ago. I saw these pillows on the ground." "Déjà vu..." I said quietly. The nurse just looked at me for a moment and then gathered her thoughts and spoke to me. "Did you dream about that?" She carefully asked me with a raised brow. I turned to face her and nodded slowly. This seemed to confirm her thoughts as she nodded politely back at me. "It isn't unusual for ponies to dream about things they remember. It quite common, most of us do it." She said. The thought hit me hard. Was I dreaming that up...? Did it not really happen...? "Well that medicine should stop the hallucinations for a while." She said as she walked out the door. "Feel free to walk around if you like. It would be good for you. You have been sleeping all week you know." With that the nurse walked out the door, leaving it open and I was by myself again. Thoughts were racing around my head at blinding speeds. 'Hallucinations...' I thought to myself. 'Was I dreaming of that...?' I tried thinking of my friends, but is was hard. The medicine must have been through my head and washed those memories through and through by now. I pulled my covers down and took a good look at myself. My body was a bright cyan and my tail was every color in the rainbow. 'Except violet.' I though to myself. I moved my shoulders over so that I could stretch out my wings. I observed them carefully and smiled widely. I had always loved flying. Being high in the sky, looking at all the places I knew and loved from a full perspective. But what I loved more that flying was going fast. I remember going to a Blue Angels airshow once. I own a Cessna 210 Centurion that I flew around from time to time, but the Blue Angels were something different. They were so awesome! How they did all there stunts with such speed and grace. Someday, I was going to become a Blue Angel and I would fly among the greatest fliers in the world. 'I wonder if I can fly.' I though. I didn't know what to do at first. I tried moving the muscles on my back hoping that that would work, but it didn't. I just tensed up my back a bit and my wings stayed motionless. I tried thinking about flying next. I thought about myself hovering in the air right above my bed. I felt my wings move as I gradually lifted myself out of my bed and into the air. 'Holy crap this is awesome!' This was such a great feeling. Although I don't remember flying with my wings, it felt strangely natural. I looked towards the window. It had already been boarded up with a large piece of plywood. 'So that really did happen.' I thought to myself. I looked out to the door on my right. It was still wide open just waiting for me to come through it. I felt a smile creep along my face as I eyed the doorway. 'Challenge Accepted.' I thought of myself flying towards the door, but instead of rocketing out the door and down the hallway my wings threw me backwards as I felt back into the table next to my bed snapping the legs in two. I glanced at my side looking for any bruises. The little pink cupcake that sat on the table was now smashed against my side. I carefully used my new hoof to wipe the cupcake off my side. As I flicked the remaining pink frosting of my hoof I glanced down to to see if I missed any. I looked down to see that I had a little cloud with a rainbow colored lighting bolt coming out of it etched onto my sides. 'A tattoo...?' I brushed that thought aside though as I made my way though the door and down the hallway. I still hadn't gotten use to walking on four hooves because I must of fell over them at least a thousand times by the time I made it to the main lobby. This was met with confused stares from the ponies that were sitting patiently around me. "Miss Dash..? Is it..?" Said the clerk at the front desk. "The doctor said it would be okay for you to leave the hospital. Would you please check out?" She pulled out a clipboard and pen from under the desk with her mouth and scribbled her signature in a couple places before she set the clipboard on the desk and nudged it in my direction with her nose. She pointed to a line at the bottom of the sheet of paper. "Please sign here and you will be good to go." I looked at the pen. Reluctantly I brought my hooves up to the purple pen trying to grab it using both of my hooves, but the damn thing kept slipping out of my grasp every time I picked it up. "Wouldn't it be easier to use your mouth Miss Dash?" The clerk said. She was giving me a weird look. I looked around the room. Every single pony in the room was looking at me funny. "Oh yeah, I forgot... Must be that uh, medicine that I was given..! Doc said it would uh, make me all loopy." Yeah, I think I will just go with that. The clerk just looked at me for a moment before she politely nodded. She now looks like she has dealt with situations like this before. I looked down at the pen. Slowly I reached for it with my mouth grabbing it with my teeth. I began to write my name out. 'What the hell is my name again?' I though to myself. I almost wrote down 'Darcy' but quickly stopped after the first stroke. 'No, no, no. What did that pink pony call me?' I could hear the familiar voice shout out to me. 'Rainbow Dash!' I was pretty sure that was my name. Quickly I moved my mouth around and scribbled my name onto the paper, even adding my own flair to it. Strange, writing with my mouth was much, much easier that trying to write with my hooves. "Thank you Miss..." She looked at my signature on the clipboard. "...Miss Rainbow Dash. Have a nice day." She said as she placed the clipboard back under her desk and took out some papers in which she then started scribbling some things down. I looked around, no one was staring at me anymore. I sighed in relief, even though I loved the attention, I hate it when people, err... ponies, stare at me like that. It was really uncomfortable. I saw the door behind me and carefully made my way over there. I was about to open the door and take of into the sky when I heard the voice of a small child behind me. "Hey! Rainbow Dash!" I turned around to be greeted by a small orange pegasus with a short purple mane. "Rainbow Dash! I heard you were in a really bad accident! Hows the fastest flier in all of Equestria?" It said to me. Fastest Flier in all of Equestria? Fastest Flier in all of Equestria?!?! That was a pretty nice title. I looked down at the little filly. She was eyeballing me, waiting for an answer. "Uh...." What do I say? "It's me! Scootaloo!" "Uh......" The orange pegasus just smiled at me kindly. "Yeah you hit your head hard. I am not surprised to see you don't remember me." Okay this was weird. I need to get out of here. "Uh, I really need to get going, uh..." "Scootaloo!" "Uh, Scootaloo, I need to go, uh, practice my new stunts!" I said thinking of the Blue Angels. "Yeah! It will be awesome!" I said as I shot the little pony a look of fiery determination. This only seemed to peak the ponies interest as her eyes widened at the thought of what I might be doing. "Oh, oh can I come!?" The orange pegasus said. Oh this is bad, I don't want this little girl walking around with me. How am I gonna get some peace and quiet? I searched my head for some excuses as I looked down at the little filly. I noticed right away that there was a small cast on one of the back legs of the small pony. "I'm going to be flying around real fast and, uh, I don't want you to break your other leg." The filly looked at her good leg and her ears drooped down. It broke my heart because she looked like she was about to break into tears. 'Oh boy, another four seconds of this and I will be bawling my eyes out.' I thought to myself. Immediately after he thought the Scootaloo's ears perked up again as she looked at me. "I can just fly the entire time!" She said beaming with pride. 'Oh great, they just don't give up now do they. If I'm going to get some me time then I need to go all in.' "I don't want you to get hurt Scootaloo. I know you want to come with me, but some of my moves are really dangerous and you can get really messed up in the process. You don't wanna end up like me in the hospital for a week do you?" I said in the kindest voice I could possibly muster. The little filly looked up to me feebly smiling, her eyes all misty from her tears. "Al-..right-... I gue-..ss-.. you're right.." She said. I was barley holding on here. With each sniffle tugging away at my heart strings I just wanted to hug the poor thing. Why not? I hugged Scootaloo as hard as I could and I folded my wings around her. She looked up to me now. Smiling at me. I smiled at her too, holy crap, it was so cute I could just die. "Scootaloo?" Said a voice. I looked up, a pegasus dressed in a bright white shirt came up to us. "The doctor will check out that leg now. Please come with me." The nurse said. Scootaloo looked up to me and hugged me back. She was gripping me like there was no tomorrow. I was the first to break the silence. "Go on Champ, I want you as good as new when I see you again okay?" "Okay Rainbow Dash!" She said as she broke the embrace and followed the nurse down the hallway. "See you later Rainbow!" She shouted down the hallway. "Bye Scootaloo!" I shouted back. Holy crap, I would not keep my cool if I had to do that again. I turned to face the door, it was now wide open and I could see outside. I pulled myself together as I slowly got up of the ground and made my way out the door. Cringing at the light from the sun, I brought my wing up above my eyes so I could take a look around. Around me were ponies of all colors just walking around minding their own business. I smiled to myself. I stretched my wings and took to the sky. I felt absolutely great. The wind whipping around my hair, err... mane. I have never been so happy in my life. I looked down on my surroundings; I could see the hospital in the distance. It was surrounded by small homes on all sides. Nothing to unusual. I observed the sky around me taking in the beauty of it all. There was barley any cloud in the sky and they few that were floating around had ponies nestled in them. 'Holy crap, that looks awesome. I think I'll do that too.' I thought to myself as I flew over to a nearby cloud. Slowly I landed on it. I reeled back in surprise for a second before I plopped myself onto the cloud. It was soooooo plush. I though as I could feel my eyes get heavy as I dosed off. "Even if this is a dream. I think I can get used to this." I said. ~~~~~ Author's Note: This was a fun chapter to write and I really like writing this. I also think its *too much** of a coincidence that the Blue Angels have the same team colors as the Wonderbolts. And how they are both Aerial Performers. Just saying...* Again, thanks for reading! I am open to comments, suggestions, and opinions. I am open to critique in general. I take everything to heart and I really mean it. <3 ~Athanix, Peace.
Chapter 3: Comin' around...Chapter 3: Comin' around... I woke up to a blinding light. It shone down on my and pierced thought my eyelids demanding my attention. Wow, the sun must be right up to my face. I extended my arm so that I could block the suns rays. I reached out and touched something... 'HOLY...!' I quickly pulled back my arm and frantically shook it trying desperately to ease the pain. It felt like I had just touched a hot iron fresh from the kiln. "Oh, That looked like it hurt." said a voice. "Try not to touch the lights. Here, let me move them away from you so you can sit up." The intense light died down as I opened my eyes again. There was a man in a white coat carefully pulling back a large lamp with an assortment of large light bulbs on it. "Thanks for warning me..." I grumbled slightly as I stuck my finger in my mouth, realizing what had just happened. He just looked at me blankly and began to speak. "Well, we kind of didn't expect you to be up for a little bit. We were actually hoping that we could run some tests on you while you were asleep." Run tests on me while I sleep? "What are you talking about?" I said as I shot the doctor a dirty look. The doctor seem unfazed as he looked at his clipboard. "Well we detected high extremely high levels of activity in all six layers of your neocortex. That is actually quite interesting because it says here that you were administered an anti-hallucination drug. That alone should of shut down most of your subconscious thinking processes. We wanted to do an MRI so that we could examine you as you were asleep. Can't really do it now since your awake..." The doctor said with a look of slight disappointment on his face. He quickly brushed that aside as he began scribbling down some notes on a note pad. I was administered a anti-hallucination drug? "Wait Doc, you can't give me that drug when I'm sleeping." Oh shoot...- The doctor kept writing as he spoke to me. "The one that came in that needle?" "Yeah." "Of course we can give it to you while you sleep. It's not going to have any different affects on you." He tapped the pen tip on his chin a couple times before scribbling some more notes down. He looked up at me and smiled lightly as he spoke. "Who told you we couldn't do that?" "Well, uh, I had a dream about someone telling me I couldn't," I said. Would this guy believe me? He looked up at me with a raised brow. "Dreams?" He flipped through his notes. "Yeah, there was a nurse that came up to me and told me that she was glad that I was up because she couldn't 'administer the medicine while I was asleep'," I said mimicking the nurse's tone. I glanced over at the doctor. He was going to need a new pen soon with the amount of writing he was doing. "Anything else?" "Yeah..." I said recalling what had happened. "Everyone I meet were, uh, I don't know how to explain it..." How was I going to explain it to this guy? If I told him everyone in my 'dream' were ponies he might think I am crazy! He must of noticed my expression as he calmed me. "No need to worry..." He glanced down at his clipboard. "...Darcy. We are not going to throw you in an asylum or anything. If you tell us I'm sure we can figure this out. Believe me, I know what you have on your mind isn't as crazy as some things I have experienced." With that he smiled and waited for my response. I hesitated for a bit, but figured since I had nothing to lose. I might as well tell him. What could possibly go wrong? "Well... Everyone in my dreams were ponies. It was really weird, some of them were unicorns and pegasi..." He just nodded and gestured me to say more. "Anything else?" "Well, some looked and sounded a lot like my friends..." He stopped and looked at me, now this seemed to get at him. "Hmm, that is odd. But not unusual... I mean you dream about stuff you remember, am I right?" He said. I remembered things from my dream so vividly though. The window, the pillows on the ground, the Sun. 'Scootaloo...' You dream about things you remember. What do I remember...? As he clicked his pen closed and with a one swift motion he ripped the top most piece of paper and crumpled it up before he threw it over his shoulder and into the trash can without even looking behind him to check if his makeshift ball had made it into the can. "Like it? I have been working on me aim." "Uh, what was that you just threw away?" He just looked at me and smiled politely. "Oh that was your release form, but I see that you might need a little more time here. You seem to be a little off." He said. "No offence... We only want to ensure your health." He said smiling in the nicest way possible. I know he didn't mean to offend me, but seriously?! 'Oh you are a little crazy so we aren't letting you out until you are right in the head!' "Well we better get you back to your room. You have a friend waiting for you." He said as he gestured me to the door. I got up slowly off the bed I was in, It was when I put my hands down on it to help myself off when I noticed something. "Holy crap..." The bed was extremely plush. "I know right?! We just got these new tables for our MRI's. It helps the patients relax so we can get accurate readings. It just like sleeping on a cloud!" He said. The last sentence floated around in my head for a while before I mad my way to the door. "Yeah..." "Okay your room isn't far from here. It's the fifth one on the left." He pointed to one of the doors. I nodded politely as I started to walk down the halfway. Whoa... I must of hit my head really, really, REALLY hard. Everything was so vivid, so believable, so real... Each time I woke up, I felt like have been dreaming and everything I experience only tells my that my last dream was just that, a dream... 'Dream within a dream. How confusing...' I thought to myself. I was still wearing my Blue Angels shirt, it was a deep blue like my highlights with cyan sleeves that I rolled up. On the front was the official logo for the Blue Angels. I turned around to look at my back. Nothing was there. 'Aww...' Having wings was so liberating... I let the door swing open, it was quiet. Just a little to quiet for my taste. To be honest I was half expecting a Pink pony screaming 'surprise!' as I was hit with a barrage of party favors. Okay, that might of been a random though, but some part of me tensed up and got ready for it. It wasn't going to take any chances with a wild pony embodiment of a party hard friend. I walked into the room. Tia was sitting quietly reading a rather large book. It looked like she didn't even hear me walk into the room. "Hey Tia, you reading the dictionary again? You look like your around 'o' for 'obsessive'. That part is the best." I said with my usual amount of edge. She just looked up at me with a blank expression which made me feel a bit uncomfortable. "No Darcy... This," she said as she closed the book. "is the encyclopedia of mental disorders." I facepalmed. "Not you too! I just had the doc down there call me loco in the coco!" I said as I rolled my eyes around. Tia rolled her eyes too as she looked at me. "Well I was looking up what you might have. I was the one who told the doctor that you were tossing and turning in your bed." She said. "The final straw was when you started crying. So I called the doctor over. He said he wanted to run an MRI since you should be out cold. I don't want to see you crying like this." She looked at me with the familiar expression of genuine concern. "Are you okay..?" I flashed back to the images of Scootaloo. 'See you later Rainbow!' I must of spoke my mind because Tia just looked at me funny. "Rainbow..? It hasn't rained for days, Darcy are you okay?" I shook my head scattering my thoughts. "Uh, yeah! It's nothing really." I bit my lip. Could I tell Tia..? "It's okay Darcy, you can tell me what's wrong. I promise not to tell anyone else." She giggled lightly and spoke again. "I am not going to judge you, I really just want to help you out." I didn't know what to do. Sure, she wouldn't think about me differently, but what about the rest of my friends? What would they say about me. I looked around the room, no one else was there, Tia was just sitting there in a small chair in the corner of the room with a couple of books on her lap, patiently waiting for a response. "Well Tia... It's kind of hard to explain..." I began. "Every time I fall asleep..." I looked at her. She was sitting there still concerned and was listening attentively to me. "Every time I fall asleep. People turn too, uh, ponies..." I closed my eyes fearing the look in Tia's face. I didn't want to see her expression whatever it might be. But instead of a gasp of shock coming from the corner of the room I felt a hand on my shoulder, loving and kind. I slowly opened my eyes to see that Tia was now standing next to me, hand on my shoulder, trying hard to help me. "Nah, it's okay Darcy." She said as we sat on my bed. "Tell me more." I began to tell her about how many of the ponies I encountered resembled people I have seen. How many things that happen here happen there too. She just shook her head as she processed the information. "...But Tia, The more things change... the more things stay the same... I just don't know what to do." I said as I finished speaking blushing furiously. Tia didn't say anything for a while. She just sat next to me with her hand on my shoulder. "Darcy, as your friend, I think I know how I can help you." She stood up off the bed and walked towards her small pile of books that she left on the seat. Slowly she pulled out the book on the bottom of the stack and flipped it open as she began to skim the pages. "What's that Tia?" "Ah, here it is!" She said. She didn't even notice me talk to her. I swear, Tia and her books... Gently she put her hand back onto my shoulder and gestured me to lie down on the bed. She looked at her book once more then turned to face me. "You don't want to have dreams about ponies anymore?" Tia said to me. I thought for a bit. What was she planning. Would she erase my memories? I thought of my winged pegasus counterpart for a while. I would never be able to be free like that... No, it had to be like this. I wanted to live a normal life. I had a family who friends who cared for me. I still had a long life to live. No, it had to be like this. I have so much I want to do in life. "Yes, I'm sure." She just smiled at me. "I know you can get through this Darcy. I know you are-" Just then Tia was tackled to the ground with a loud Thump! "Oh my God! Darcy, are you feelin' okay! The doctor said that you were about to get your brain checked! And when we came in we saw you and Tia and we though that-" Abigail immediately put her hand up to Paula's mouth muffling her words. "We heard everythin' Darcy. Are you okay?" Abigail said as the others stepped inside. Faith and Rachel came close to my bed and knelt beside me. They were all now around my bed, a comforting smile on all of their faces. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. "I am so lucky to have you guys... I don't know what I'd do without friends like you guys." Paula just came up and gave me a big hug. "It's okay Darcy! We are your friends, and that's what friends are for!" I looked at the others in the room. She was right, it broke there hearts to see me like this. Slowly I released Paula and i turned to face my friends. "I am going to see this through for you guys... I can't stand to see you like this." Tia just smiled as she began to flip through the pages of her book. "When you fall asleep you will recall your life as is and I want you to tell those ponies that they aren't real. Now if I do this right while your asleep then you shouldn't be having these dreams, okay?" She said. I nodded my head slightly. Recall my life so far? I tried remembering the events before the car crash. It was very hazy now. I could only remember the sudden impact and the blinding lights... "Alright Darcy." Tia said. "I'm ready." I nodded again as I rested my head on the soft pillow and pulled the cyan covers up. It was hard at first... but I... eventually... fell... asleep... ~~~~~ My mind slowly drifted back into a state of consciousness. Gradually my senses came back to me... My sense of hearing was the first to return. I heard the wind screaming past my ears at deafening levels of sound. My sight came next, I was rocketing towards the ground at amazing speeds. What the hell was going on?! And finally my sense of touch came back. I felt the wind rushing past me trying to pull me back. My hair was blow back all the way as I fell. I started to tear up as the air battered my eyes relentlessly. I could feel myself going faster and faster. The ground rushed up to me, but suddenly... I turned up and I rocket into the sky. My body shaking slightly as the adrenaline was pumped through my veins. I remembered this... I always loved to skydive... But why haven't I opened up my parachute? Why did I come straight up? I looked behind me and I was in pure shock. I opened my mouth to gasp but quickly closed it fearing that if it was open any longer it would detach itself from my face. Behind me was a giant rainbow. It shimmered in the light of day and only lengthened as I rocketed across the sky. I felt a little tingling sensation on my flank as I looked straight ahead. There was a finish line with a checkered banner handing above it and many small ponies with wings sitting on clouds beside it. I couldn't stop myself, I tried to stop but I just kept on going. I couldn't control my actions. I went blind for a moment as I went through the banner. The banner ripped and I could see again. My eyes were met with the familiar view of my little white room. "So Dash did you tell those 'humans' they weren't real?" I sat up straight and opened my eyes wide and faced my friend. There sat a purple unicorn, her horn glowing with magic. "Dash are you okay?" The unicorn looked genuinely concerned. 'no, no, no, no, no..!' "No, no,, NO, NO, NO!!" I shouted. This can't be happening again! The unicorn's horn quickly flickered off as she looked at me with fear. "Rainbow Dash?! Are you okay?" She started to bring up her hoof to put on my shoulder, but I angrily swatted it away. "No! You aren't real!! You ponies aren't real! I'm dreaming!! I'm dreaming!!!" I flew out of the room and through the door. My mind was racing as I flew down the hallway. This was met with surprised looks from ponies everywhere. I turned sharply around the corner only to be stopped by a little pink mare. I had bumped into her and spilled a tray of new cupcakes that she was holding in her mouth onto the ground beside us. "Dashie..?" "No my name is *Darcy! Darcy!!!*" I screamed. The pink mare was in shock. She started to tear up as she looked at me. Her normally curly hair fell lifeless and flat. I felt something crack within me. It broke my heart to see this. No... No it didn't... This wasn't really happening...! "No, you are just a figment of my imagination! Your not my real friend!" I screamed at the pink filly. This struck her hard, her pupils shrunk and her eyes were on the verge of breaking out in tears. I heard a familiar quiet voice "Rainbow Dash...?" It was shaky and uncertain. I looked over and I saw Faith standing there crying. I blinked the tears out of my eyes and my friend turned into a trembling yellow pegasus with a light pink mane. I couldn't bear to see anymore of this. I flew in the opposite direction of the two mares, not even bothering to look back. I just passed up the door to my room when and turn the corner when a white unicorn and orange pony blocked the hallway. "Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation has gott'n in to yew?! I can hear yew from all the way down the hall!" "Rainbow Dash! Dearie! Please calm down! We are your friends!" I turned back around, the pink and light yellow mare were on the other side of the hallway, blocking my path. "Rainbow Dash... Please listen to us... Think about what your saying..." The yellow pegasus calmly. The pink mare next to her was a mess. She was all shriveled up and crying. They were slowly walking towards me. I stepped back, I looked around. I found myself in my room again... "Rainbow Dash... Why are you doing this..." Said a voice behind me. She sounded like she was in a mixture of shock and terror. "Because you aren't real..." I responded flatly still looking at all the ponies in front of me. "But we are real! We are your friends! Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie!" "No! You aren't real those aren't your names Tia!" There was a silence in the room. I turned around to speak to the voice face to face. "Those aren't your names! Your real names are Tia, Faith, Rachel, Abigail and Paula! You aren't my real friends, you are just made up!" The purple unicorns teared up and tears ran down her face. "Think about what you are saying Rainbow! We are your friends! Remembered how we vanquished the forces of evil with the power of our friendship?! Twice!" I couldn't take it anymore, I spun around. The other ponies were slowly encircling me as trapping me with in the room. I frantically looked for a way out. The window still had that piece of plywood on it. I stretched out my wings and poured all my willpower into bursting through the thin piece of wood. I felt the wood crack and splinter as I sailed out of the window and into the night sky. "Rainbow Dash...!" They called out behind me. I didn't look back, I flew out as far away from the hospital as I could. And I kept flying until I couldn't even see the lights on the horizon. I was deep in the forest when I finally decided to stop. Carefully I lay back in a near by tree and closed my eyes. After a bit I opened them. I was still sitting there. ~~~~~ Author's Note: A pretty fun write as usual. Not many mistakes, although I am going to say that when going once over the story I caught me spelling 'Tia' as 'Twi' Like a billion times... :( Again, thanks for reading! I am open to comments, suggestions, and opinions. I am open to critique in general. I take everything to heart and I really mean it! <3 ~Athanix, Peace.
Chapter 4: Seein' through...Chapter 4: Seein' through... I was still sitting there. I closed my eyes again and violently rubbed them until it hurt. I wanted to wake up. But when I opened them again I was still sitting there. I sighed deeply. "Ugh, somebody pinch me..." Reluctantly I rolled over on my side and got off of the tree branch I was sitting in. The sun shone down on me casting a shadow down the path. My shadow was that of a proud young pegasus. And as the wind swept past my mane and tail and the shadow responded by moving accordingly. I began to walk down the path. I didn't know where I was going and I didn't want to know where I was going. I just need some time to think... The image of remembered the five mares that tried so hard to care for me just like my friends would have. I looked around the forest hoping that there would be someone I could talk to. But all I heard was the wind gently rustling the leaves of the forest. Not a single soul to be spoken of. I took a good look at myself. My mane and tail were a tangled mess, all matted and sticky from tree sap. 'Oh boy Rachel is going to kill me...' I though to my self. But that thought was quickly swamped by the images of the white unicorn that resembled my friend so much. I shook the images from my head. 'Was this really happening?' I thought of the things I said before I flew out into the forest as far away as I could from the ponies that were only trying to help me. 'You ponies aren't real! I'm dreaming!!' 'No my name is Darcy!' 'Your not my real friend!' 'You aren't my real friends, *you are just made up!'*** Those last words stung. My mind was confused, it couldn't make sense of what was happening. These ponies resembled my friends in every way. I didn't know what to do. But my heart knew exactly what was going on. I had hurt my friends deeply. 'No! I would never do that to my friends. But I had. I remembered what I had said to all of them. They all cared for me and were doing everything in there power to help see me through without needing to be asked. Just like great friends would do. They would put everything aside to come help me. But I shunned them, I deemed them imaginary, fake, not my real friends. I felt a small tear roll down my cheek as I cried softly to myself. My crying was interrupted when I heard something in the bushes jump out onto the path. "Rainbow Dash?" I looked up and faced the voice. There standing in front of me was a small orange pegasus. I turned away covering my face with my wings. I couldn't let her see me like this. "Rainbow Dash? Are you okay? The others told me that you flew out into the forest by yourself. I came out to look for you." I didn't say anything, even if I did want to say something I was sobbing freely now not even trying to hold back the tears. With out warning I felt arms wrap themselves around me and hug me tightly. "I can't to see you like this Rainbow Dash! Please come back!" I looked behind me. The filly had me in a death grip trying to bring me back to reality. She looked up at me with misty eyes. I didn't know what to do. My mind was telling me that Scootaloo wasn't real, but my heart wanted me to believe in her. I shook my thoughts again. I need to think about what was going on. I needed to be alone. I shook the filly off of me and I stretched my wings and took to the sky. I didn't look back, I knew it would just crush me to see the little pegasus there crying her eyes out. So I flew out in the direction I was originally going in and flapped my wings harder and harder gaining speed. I flew down the path until I was out of the forest, but I didn't stop there. I just kept on flying, rocketing down the path at blistering speeds. I loved the feeling of going this fast. It took my mind of all of my troubles for a bit. For a moment I felt like I didn't have a care in the world. I just flew around in the sky slowly making my way down the path now. I was doing tricks too, rolling over on my back. Soaring high in the sky before diving towards the ground. I was surprised on how quickly this all came to me. I didn't remember flying before, but if somepony was watching me they would think I was born to do this. I continued down the path keeping high in the sky, right above the clouds. In the distance I could make out some movement coming in my direction. Silently I flew over to a cloud and crouched low. I blocked the sun with one hoof as I squinted and peered over the edge of the cloud and out into the distance. There walking down the path were five ponies. And I recognized every single one. Quickly I fell back into the cloud. Did they see me? I needed to find out. I punched the cloud a bit. My hoof sunk into it but the cloud was solid. Carefully I brought myself up off the cloud and gently guided it to some of the lower lying clouds in the sky next to the group of mares. The parts of my heart that hadn't broken up from the encounter with Scootaloo crumbled into dust as I gazed down at them. There they were walking down the path talking to one another with looks of concern on there faces, but what really ate at me was the sight of the normally cheery pink pony slowly walking behind the group. Her mane still flat against her, the same look of extreme sadness on her face. I peaked over the cloud to listen in on their conversation. "I hope Rainbow Dash is okay... She looked like she was really hurt and confused..." The purple unicorn said. "Yeah. I wonder what's gotten into 'er. Did yew see how she was yellin' at Pinkie Pie?" An orange pony said as they looked back at their sobbing friend. "Poor thing. Dash said that she wasn't her real friend. I cud hear it from all the way down the hallway. Pinkie hasn't been the same ever since." I fell back into the cloud again. The sight just ate away at my very being! I had said those things and now look at her. She was barley keeping it together. I looked ahead, we were coming up to the forest again. And I looked away as soon as I saw Scootaloo sitting next to the tree I was sitting in earlier, weeping to herself. I just sat back and listened to the conversation unfold. My mind was starting to take the blows that my heart were to weak to withstand. "Dearest me! Scootaloo is that you over there? Come over her sweetie! You poor thing! What happened?" All that answered her was the sobs and sniffles coming from Scootaloo. The crying died down as she began to speak. "I saw R-Rainbow Dash cr-crying here. I asked her why but sh-she didn't say anything! She just looked at me with a sad look on h-her f-face before she flew down the p-path!" Scootaloo said as she then continued crying. Remembering those recent memories must of been so hard for her. I heard a soft calming voice come from below me, trying desperately to calm the filly. "It's okay... Rainbow Dash is just confused right now... She just needs some time to think... She just needs some time to figure out who she is..." I closed my eyes again. Those words struck me at my very core. I turned over in the cloud cleared my mind. I wanted to escape this, I wanted to wake up. ~~~~~ I opened my eyes after a while and I found myself in the hospital bed again. Slowly I pulled back the covers to reveal my tattered jeans and light blue socks. Had I woken up from that terrible dream? I looked to my side, the little pink cupcake that had been placed there earlier was still sitting there untouched. It still had the little name tag on it. ~Darcy I reached over to grab it, but as my fingers made contact with the cupcake it vanished leaving a small pile of dust that blew away in the wind. I pulled my hand back surprised. Suddenly the door swung open and I barley caught a glimpse of someone in pink running past the door. Quickly I got up and ran to the door to see what It might of been but as I turned the corner the figure in pink had already rounded the corner down the hallway. I ran down after the figure, but as I rounded the corner no one was there. All I saw was a small girl standing at the end of the hallway. She was crying, I tried running to her side to comfort her but it as if every time I took one step forward, I only ended up two steps back. I eventually stopped running after her when a group of familiar looking girls came and gestured the little girl around the corner. I frantically ran towards them pouring all my of my will into making it down the hallway. I almost made it to them but a young woman in pink stepped in front of me blocking my path. Her light brown hair lying flat against her head hiding her face. "What do you think you are doing?" She said to me. "I'm going to my friends!" I screamed at her. "Those aren't your friends." She said as she moved her hair to the side of her face revealing her face. I was terrified. It was a mixture extreme anger and sadness. She stared at me peering deep into my soul. "You said so yourself..." I fell onto the floor and onto my knees as she walked around the corner. I didn't get up, I just sat there alone. One by one the lights around me turned off leaving one right above casting a long shadow down the hallway. I looked at the shadow. It too was on its knees, but slowly it brought itself up and walked into the shadows leaving me alone in the hallway. Now I was truly alone.For a moment I stopped crying. Thinking about what had happened. I didn't want this. I wanted everything to change. I wanted everything to go back to what it used to be like. The final light went out, leaving me in the dark. ~~~~~ No authors note! :( Please comment though! I am open to suggestions and critique! I take it all to heart!
Chapter 1: Wakin' up...Wakin' up My head was pounding fiercely and my body ached as my mind tried piecing itself back together. I felt bandages wrapped tightly around my head and hair. All my thoughts were a blur. What happened? All I remember was Paula saying 'Hey look Darcy! Here comes a car!' Then all I could see the towering SUV crashing straight into us. I felt it collide with our car head on. I hope Faith and Paula got out okay... I slowly opened my eyes and cringed at the searing light that flooded my vision. The curtains where fully drawn back and the sun shone down and lit up the room with it warming rays. I looked around and to be perfectly honest the room was quite small. The floor and walls were all white and an eerie low hum came from the lights above me. I looked to my side further examining the room I was in. There on the table next to me lay a little pink cupcake with my name on it. ~Dashie Wait what? My thoughts were cut of as I heard a familiar voice scream at me through the door. "Hey everyone! Dashie is getting up! Hey Dashie!" That voice it sounded so familiar, and Dashie..? I turned to face the voice and I swear I heard my jaw greet the floor. There standing in the middle of the room was a small pink pony. I put my hand up to my head trying to make sense of what I was seeing. How hard was I hit? "Oh my gosh Dashie! We thought you would never wake up! You've been out for like ever now! Like an entire week!" The pink pony said. "Eh, what...?" "Silly! Don't you remember? You practicing that new stunt, and you flying around really, really fast until you hit a tree and were out for a while. So me, Applejack and some stranger got you over to the hospital and you have been out ever since!" Wait, What? Who? Applejack?! I brought my hands up to my eyes so I could rub them until I could see straight, but where were my hands? I know I pulled my arms out my blanket, but what I saw I was not prepared for. My hands were replaced with bright cyan hooves. Hooves?! What the hell!? Just then I heard the sound of someone else walk into the room. Five other ponies stepped into the room and stood by the pink mare. Well two unicorns, a pegasus and a orange pony to be exact. A look of genuine concern adorning each of their faces. "Nice to see yew finally woke up sugarcube." Said the orange earth pony. "We thought you might never wake up!" "Yeah, we were so worried about you..." "Yeah Rainbow, that was quite the accident. You should be more careful." "My word Rainbow! You mane is all a mess!" My mane? I looked up to look at my hair and lone behold there was my rainbow colored highlights. Yet, it seemed different. I moved my hair around and to my surprise my highlights seemed to have spread all over my head. What the hell!?!? I turned over to my guests. I know I have heard their voices before. "Paula, Abigail, Faith, Tia, Rachel? " I said. Those were the voices of my friends. This was met with confused looks from the ponies. They all looked at me with genuine concern. "What kind of names are those?" The pink pony said to me. "I've never met any pony with a name like that before!" She quickly hopped up and down in front of my bed. "We can totally throw a party for those ponies!" I looked at her as she was now bouncing around the room with pure happiness. What the hell kind of dream is this? "Whoa you can't be real! You guys are ponies!!" I blurted out, whatever the hell was going on, someone better wake me up! "Your at the hospital Rainbow Dash. We brought you here so you could be taken care of." I wasn't going to take anymore of this. I tried getting up out of my bed and I tried to run out the door. I had almost made it to the door, but I stumbled and fell flat on my face as balancing on two legs with the body of a pony was more difficult that I thought it would be. "Now Rainbow, let's not due anything to crazy. The doctors said you were really hurt and you needed to get some rest." The purple unicorn said. "That's right darling, now let's just get back into bed before you hurt yourself again." No, No!! This was one messed up dream! I pushed myself up off the ground and slowly made my way to the door. Walking on all fours was a little difficult but in time I got a hang of it and made my way to the door. I was only inches away from the door when it was enveloped in a light purple aura and then slammed shut. I spun around to see that the the horn of the lavender unicorn glowing with a magical energy. "Dash, This is for your own good." She said as I felt the a warm tingling around my body as I was slowly lifted out of the air and back to my bed. The purple unicorns aura had surrounded every inch of my body. I struggled, I tossed and turned, and I could feel the magical bonds slowly weakening. Knowing this I doubled my efforts to escape my ties. "Rarity...! Help me get Rainbow Dash back to her bed..!" With that I felt an renewed strength grip me as my bonds tightened. "Don't worry darling! We will have you better in no time at all!" The white unicorn said. "No..! No..! This can't be happening..!" I was about to get to my bed when something unexpected happened. I felt something on my back extend out. I strained myself to look over, and there on my sides were wings. Wings!? I must of hit my head REALLY hard! With my new pair of wings I flapped as hard as I could to aid in my escape. I didn't know exactly how to fly thought, but I just thought of me flapping my wings as hard as I could and like I was born with them they responded to my will. "Ra-rity..!!" The purple unicorn said as the wind generated by my wings was pushing her back. Finally the the purple unicorn lost her balance and flew back and hit the door. I felt my bonds weaken considerably as I flew back into the window behind me and broke right threw it. I felt the sharp glass shatter behind me as I fell towards the ground. My hair danced around in the wind as I saw the ground quickly approaching. In fear I flapped my wings in a futile attempt to escape the fall, but to no avail. "Quickly Applejack, catch Rainbow!" The yellow pegasus said. "Already on it!" The orange pony as she whipped a lasso around. She jerked her head forward and I saw the lasso chase after me. It whipped in the wind as It made it's way around my one of my back legs. "Go' 'er!" Said the orange pony as she yanked her head back. The noose tightened around my leg and I felt it as It grabbed me in mid fall. I looked down, I was still a good three stories off the ground. I looked up at the rope, it had already started to fray at the edges. It must not be strong enough to hold me. One by one each of the fibers of the rough rope were snapping. "Oh no!" Said the pink pony. "Rainbow Dash!" I felt the rope snap as I plummeted towards the ground. Rainbow Dash?! My thoughts were cut off as I closed my eyes and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then suddenly my eyes opened and I looked around. I sat up straight and brought my hands up to my face. Sweet Jesus, hands! As I pulled down the covers to examine the rest of my body. Tattered jeans and a pair of feet. I turned my attention to the room. The sun was shining high in the sky filling the small room with light and the familiar electric hum of florescent lights loomed overhead. I looked over to the side of my bed to be greeted by a familiar pink cupcake. ~Darcy 'Déjà vu.' I though. Suddenly the door swung open as I saw a familiar friend in pink run into the room. "Oh my God Darcy! Hey gals! Come on in! Darcy is awake!" I turned to see my friends walk into the room. No ponies to be spoken of. "Wow Darcy you have been sleeping for a really long time now." I looked over at the calender. 12/19 Holy crap! An entire week?! "Whoa I have been out for an entire week?" "Yeah the doctor said you might not wake up. But you are a tough gal. I knew you would wake up." I looked over to my friends. Abigail had her light blond hair up in a ponytail as per usual. She smiled warmly at me. "I'm surprised you ain't tired or anything Darcy." As if on cue I yawned. I was feeling a little tired. "Now that you mention it Aby, I am a little..." I didn't finish my sentence as I lay back into my bed and pulled the covers over myself closing my eyes. "Sweet dreams..." Said all of my friends. ~~~~~ Author's Note: This is quite an interesting write for me. I am enjoying this a lot as well as my other story. Really excited with where I want to go with this. Comments, suggestions and critique are all welcome! I take it all to heart! ~Athanix, Peace. On a side note, I did the cover. Let me know how I did on that too! Alright bye for real!
