Broken Wings & Fractured Dreams

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

It was a dark and gloomy day. Huge dark storm clouds hung in the sky adding to the depressing atmosphere hanging over the small town of ponyville. All around ponies were running around frantically and erratically as if an Ursa Major had hit the town. Unicorns and earth ponies were running around in circles while dozens of pegasus flew through the skies.

All heading in separate directions, each with either a determined or scared expression. All except one, a blue pegasi who was flying faster than the rest, looking everywhere. Her rainbow mane blowing all over the place due to her speed, she had a job to do and she was determined not to fail it.

‘Where are you... What’s going on? No it doesn’t matter, I have to find her.’ Rainbow thought, all while keeping a brave face on. She flew all over town scanning the crowd of ponies that were running around looking for a specific pony. She searched the main plaza, the parks, alleyways, anywhere of significance she could think of, but her search was fruitless as she came no closer to finding who she was looking for. ‘Come on think Rainbow there has to be somewhere I haven’t thought of looking..... maybe, it wouldn’t hurt to check.’

She then shot off in a blur of colors heading for the outskirts of the town.

******

On top of a hillside just outside ponyville a small orange pegasus was laying on the grass her head buried deep within her hooves, tears soaking into her fur, but it didn’t matter to her as she could feel the first few drops of the rainstorm pelt her coat. ‘Life... It didn’t choose fairly for me. Do I deserve this?’ Scootaloo thought as she lifted her head to look at the dark and rainy sky.

She laid there for what felt like eternity, her mind reeling with depressing thoughts. “Scootaloo! Scoots, kid. Where are you!?” A voice shouted through the wind. Scootaloo looked around her to see who was calling her, she knew the voice, but didn’t want to be seen by its owner.

She looked around for a more secluded place where she could go before the pony shouting her name found her, but she wasn’t able to move fast enough as she heard something land behind her. She turned to see that it was the pony she admired more than anypony else. She saw the look of worry on her face. “Scootaloo, where have you been? The whole town has been looking for you for hours! Everypony has been worried sick, we thought you had gotten hurt or that something bad had happened to you.” Said Rainbow as she moved closer to the small pegasus.

Scootaloo looked at her soaked mentor, she could see her muscles flex and her wings expand as far as they could. To Scootaloo she looked magnificent like a Goddess in the rain and this only furthered to crush her to the core. “What do you want?...” The young pegasus asked bitterly. Rainbow could see something in her friend’s eye, but she couldn’t tell what it was. “Scoots... Come home, it’s raining and you’re gonna freeze out here. Actually why are you out here?” Rainbow asked while trying to look sympathetic.

“Just get outta here Dash... Somepony like you wouldn’t understand what I’m going through.”

“No. Tell me what’s going on, I don’t leave my friends behind.I”

“See those wings you have? Use them and fly away, you’re really talented at that.”

Rainbow extended her left wing and looked at it, confusion in her eyes. She moved beside her friend and hovered her wing above her. “There, that’s a good use for my wing. Now you’ll stopped getting soaked.” Dash said while smiling.

Scootaloo couldn’t help, but smile. Even she couldn’t be mad at Rainbow Dash, no matter how much she tried she just couldn’t force her hero to leave. “Dash... I’m sorry, but you just wouldn’t understand...” Scootaloo said while looking at the wet grass beneath her.

“Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll try to help you anyway I can. If I can’t then will find somepony who can.” she said while trying to reassure the small filly. “You can’t help me, nopony can,” Scootaloo answered dejectedly, “And you wouldn’t be able to understand how I’m feeling even if I told you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean how would you be able to understand me given all your accomplishments and all the others things you’ve done,” said Scootaloo a faint bit of resentment in her voice.

“You were the winner of The Best Young Flyers Competition, also known as one of Ponyville’s best athletes, and as the only pony able to perform the Sonic Rainboom. Yet all I can do is barely even flap my wings, and even then i can’t do that correctly.”

“Oh...,” Rainbow said as it all came clear to her. “I see... Scootaloo, you shouldn’t worry over this, you’ll learn to fly soon. We all learn in our own time, some just learn a little later that’s all.” Scootaloo turned to face the blue pegasus. “That’s easy for you to say! Greatest flyer in all of Equestria with no worries at all, the element of loyalty. Hero of Equestria! And what am I!? Nothing! I am nothing, I shouldn’t of been born, nothing, but wasted potential!,” Scootaloo shouted, her breathing speeding up.

“Born a pegasi, but forced to live as an earth pony, and even without their skills! I am useless!” Rainbow Dash sat perfectly still, looking at the filly, but she was stunned. She couldn’t believe such a young filly was bottling up all this emotion, but worst of all... She felt guilty for not noticing it sooner.

“Scoots you have the ability to fly, you’ll learn soon enough! I promise you this and if it doesn’t happen... Then I’ll give up my dream of becoming part of the wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash said firmly. She looked up to sky to see the rain had stopped pouring down and the sun was starting to rise.

“Well, how about we see if I really can fly” Scootaloo said tauntingly.

“What do you mean?” responded Rainbow Dash a bit worried by the filly’s tone.

“We’re going to see if I can actually fly?”

“How?,”

Scootaloo slowly walked to the edge of the hillside, and looked down to see how big of a fall it was. Rainbow got worried as she saw her inch closer to the cliff, afraid of what scootaloo might do. “Scootaloo, what are you doing? Come back here it’s dangerous.”

“It shouldn’t be dangerous for a pegasus that can fly.”

“You can’t possibly be thinking about jumping, are you?” responded Dash a bit scared of what the filly was implying.

“Like you said Rainbow I’ll learn soon enough, and what better way to learn than to jump off a cliff. Either I’ll learn to fly or the world will be rid of one useless pegasus.” she answered grimly as she stood near the edge.

“Don’t do it Scootaloo, you don’t need to do this to see if you can fly or not.” said Dash clearly scared of what might happen, “There has to be another way to see if you can fly or not.”

“No, this is the only way I’ll be able to see if I was meant to fly or if I’ve been cursed to never soar through the skies in my life.” she said as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do.

“You’re wrong ther-”

Whatever Rainbow was going to say was cut off as Scootaloo threw herself from the cliff. Rainbow barely had time to react as she quickly ran to the edge, and jumped right after her in hopes that she could catch her before she hit the bottom.

Scootaloo was falling at high speed towards the ground, her mane blowing around her face, but for the first time in her life... She felt free. She felt like a true Pegasus, she felt like Rainbow Dash. She started to flap her wings confident that she would soar to the sky, but they didn’t take her up.
She tried with all her might, but it only caused her wings pain and soon enough fear took over. The ground was coming closer, she wasn’t far from it, but she could hear something behind her. Rainbow Dash was behind her, her wings flapping like never before and she praying for a sonic rainboom, but at this height it would never happen.

‘Scootaloo... Please Celestia no, let me reach her!’ Rainbow Dash thought as she got closer to the free falling filly. Scootaloo was an inch away from the ground when she felt something hit and a loud thud. She could feel herself sliding across the ground, but she didn’t feel the ground itself she felt something else.

Dust surrounded her when she came to a stop and she quickly noticed what it was she felt, she was wrapped in the embrace of her hero. She lay on the floor, her wings twisted and bleeding. Her coat filthy from the dirt she hit, with small pebbles stuck in her fur. Scootaloo was unharmed and stood up, she looked into her friend’s eyes and could see she was in great pain.

“Dash... Why?... Why did you do that!? I wasn’t worth it!” Scootaloo said, shaking her hero. Rainbow Dash coughed up blood and smiled at Scootaloo. “Not worth it... You are worth so much more... Wings or no wings you are still Scootaloo, the filly I love. Please Scoots... If you do anything let it be this, please believe in yourself, you are worth my life.” Rainbow Dash whispered weakly.

Scootaloo could feel her eyes starting to water up, but she tried to keep it together. “Dash... Don’t die on me! Don’t die, I need you please! Dash please don’t leave me all alone again!” Scootaloo shouted into the morning air as her hero slipped into unconsciousness. “Love you Scoots, continue my legacy kid.” She whispered as her vision finally stopped.

As the sun reached its highest peak in the sky Scootaloo’s cries could be heard throughout the air, she hugged her friend’s body and whispered “I’m sorry... I’m so sorry.”

Chapter 2

The sounds of wheels scraping across a floor could heard, the smell of blood in air and the cries of a pony in the distance. A blue pegasus tried opening her eyes, but they felt heavy; all she could do was squint through her eyelids. She could feel herself moving, she tried looking around, but all she could see was bright lights. It was making her nauseous, she tried to speak, but couldn’t find the strength.

She could hear a muffled cry and the mumbled talk of others nearby. She came to a halt and tried to speak once more. “Ugh... Where am I, where’s Scoots?” Dash said, remembering the earlier events. Somepony gasped and she felt somepony hugging her. “Dash! I thought I was going to lose you, I’m so sorry. I swear I’ll never do anything stupid as that again!” The orange pegasus cried, not caring if anypony saw her tears.

“Uhh...Scoots, is that you?,” She said as she tried to move her head so she could look at who was holding her. As she tried to turn she felt a sharp and intense pain throughout all of her back. She tried moving again only to have the pain come back just as strongly as before. “What happened to me, and where am I?”

“You’re in the Ponyville General Hospital, Miss Rainbow Dash,” Said Nurse Redheart as she stood next to the Rainbow’s bed reading several charts and graphs that were hanging at the foot of the bed.”You’ve been in a very serious accident your lucky your friend here managed to get help in time or your injuries might have been more severe than they already are.”

“What do you mean?” Responded Dash a hint of anxiety and fear mixed in her voice.

“Well you crashed into the ground at a very high speed, not to mention you landed on your back so it was unavoidable that you’ve hurt your back and wings in the process. Chances are you might have experienced some form of permanent damage, but we’ll have to wait for the results of the tests to come back before we’re able to determine that for sure.,” Said Nurse Redheart as she put down the the clipboards, and started to leave. ”For now you’ll stay here, until we’ve determined the extent of the damage, and try to avoid any kind of major movement for now.” She finished as she left the room, and made her way down the hall.

“Wait... I’ve lost my wings?,” Dash whispered in a hoarse voice as she tried to flap her wings, but quickly stopped as a sharp pain struck her. “Ugh” She tried to reach round to grab her wing, but found she couldn’t even do that. “I can’t do anything... What about my dream?” She lowered her head in defeat and laid back down on the bed.

Scootaloo stood there, angry at herself and feeling guilty for what she had done to her friend. “I’m sorry Dash, I never meant any of this, you should’ve just let me fall!” Scootaloo said, trying to hold back her tears.

The hurt pegasus slowly turned around on her bed to face the upset filly. “Let you fall... No, I made the right decision. No, I’ll be fine just watch! I’m gonna get better and soar the skies once more. After all I’m the one and only Rainbow Dash!” Dash said firmly. Scootaloo smiled, it felt good to see her hero still be the same pony, but it crushed her inside because she knew the truth. A truth that would destroy Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ll be back to normal in no time!” Scootaloo shouted with excitement. Scootaloo could feel her stomach twisting. ‘I have to do it...’ She thought, still keeping the smile. Dash started to yawn and could feel her eyelids getting heavier. “Sorry kid, but I’m gonna catch some sleep. Its been a busy day.” Rainbow Dash laughed as she said the last lines, causing her a little more pain.

*****

Rainbow woke up the next morning feeling very tired and sore all over her body. As she tried to get up she felt a sharp pain along her back that forced her to lie back down. It was at this time that she noticed her surroundings. She noticed that she wasn’t in her cloud home, but instead was lying in hospital bed with green covers, in a sterile white room that was nearly empty except for a chair in the corner and a window that allowed a small of sunlight in. All she could hear was the sounds coming from the several different machines that she was hooked to.

“So it wasn’t a dream....I’m really never going to fly again.,” She thought grimly “No, I can’t think like that I’m Rainbow Dash the greatest flier in all of equestria. I’ll probably only be here for a couple of days then I’ll be back soaring through the skies in no time.” She thought optimistically, but deep in the back of her mind she knew this wasn’t true.

For a while all she did was lie there and listen to the constant beeping of the machines as they monitored all of her different bodily functions and made sure they were stable. After that became unbearable she looked out the window trying to find something interesting to keep her attention for a while. She felt just like she did the last time she had hurt herself, and was forced to stay in the hospital. The difference from that time was that she could at least move around, now she was forcibly bedridden as any small movement would cause immense amounts of pain.

Just as she felt that she wouldn’t be able to take lying there anymore she could hear a familiar voice coming from down the hall. A smile crept onto her face as she realized who the voice belonged to.

The door swung open and she laid eyes on a purple unicorn who looked quite stressed. “Rainbow!,” She cried out, running to her hurt friend. “I just heard what happened, are you alright!?” Rainbow Dash sat up slowly and leaned against her pillow which took her a longer time to do than normally. “Twilight... Relax, I’m fine. Just a bit hurt, but umm where are the rest of the girls?” Dash asked with confusion.

Twilight moved beside Rainbow and sighed. “Pinkie... She was acting all nuts so they refused to let us all up at the same time, not that I blame them. I think Pinkie would be to much handle in your current state.” Twilight said firmly. “So are the others with her?” Dash asked.
“Yes, they’re all down there waiting on the news, but speaking of news... What exactly happened? I didn’t find out, Scootaloo just came to each of us and told us you were in the hospital, but she never explained why.”

Rainbow lowered her head and tried to figure out what to say next. Her head swimming with many thoughts. “Ugh... I crashed when I was looking for Scootaloo, I flew through a cloud, but didn’t realize I was near a cliff and hit it. Knocking me out and well I guess I must of landed on my back from a great height...” Rainbow said, but she didn’t look at Twilight.

Twilight stood there, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “You... Rainbow Dash crashed into a cliff...,” Twilight said slowly like she was trying process it. “You really crashed?” Rainbow nodded, but still didn’t look at her. “That’s the whole story, nothing more, nothing less.” She responded.

‘Why am I even lying?... Out of loyalty or shame?...” Rainbow thought as she laid back down. “Well if you say so Rainbow, Scootaloo seems pretty beat up about it. She seemed so down when she told us, well... After all the kid does look up to you a lot,” Twilight said with a worried tone.

“Well, besides that have they told you anything about your injuries yet?” asked Twilight

“Oh, that... They told me that they won’t know for sure until they get the results from the tests, but they said that there’s a chance that I might suffer some sort of permanent damage.” answered Rainbow a bit sadly.

“What!? Are you sure? Is there anything we can do? Maybe i can get the princess to do something? There’s probably a spell tha-”

“Twi, calm down! There’s nothing we can do besides wait for the results; and besides it’s me we’re talking about, I’m sure it’ll be fine, and I’ll be out of here in no time.” Rainbow answered cheerfully trying her best to calm her down. Although Twilight could tell that was more to ease her own fears than anything else.

“Ok, if you say so Rainbow, but I must leave now. I’m sure Spike is going insane with hunger,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes and trotting towards the door. “Now you take it easy Rainbow... We don’t know what we’d do without you.” Dash looked over to Twilight and smiled. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be back in the skies in no time! All I gotta do is relax...” Rainbow groaned.

Twilight giggled, waved goodbye and left. Leaving Rainbow alone with her thoughts and noise of the machines. She laid back down on the bed slowly. ‘I’ll make it out of here... Just gotta wait... But for how long and will I still be good as I was? Ha, just wait Scoots... We’ll be flying together in no time.’

Chapter 3

A few months later

“Come on miss Dash. It’s time for your exercise.” Nurse Redheart said, looking into Rainbow Dash’s room. Rainbow groaned and reached for the two crutches beside her bed. She stood up slowly, using the crutches for support. Wobbling a little she began moving towards the door, Nurse Redheart standing outside patiently.

“Ah miss Dash, are you ready to proceed?” She asked as Rainbow Dash stepped out into the plain white hallway. “You got it doc, but umm what are we doing today?” Dash replied, looking a little confused. They began walking down the hallway together.

“Well seeing as you’ve been here for a few months now, and you have been getting better. We decided to put you on an exercise regime to hopefully speed the recovery up, but sadly... We can’t risk doing anything with your wings at the moment, I’m sorry.”

“Oh... Well at least I get to do something. It get’s kinda boring sitting in bed all day.” Rainbow replied, but trying to hide a smile as she said her lie. She was thinking back to the Daring Do book currently hiding under her pillow.

Both of them continued their walk in silence at a slow pace due to Rainbow’s condition. The hospital was surprisingly quiet, she expected the halls to be filled with noise, but all she could see was white and the lights above her. She tried looking into the wards beside her, but they were all covered with curtains blocking sight inside.

“Here we are miss Dash. If you wouldn’t mind stepping inside please,” Redheart said while holding another white door open. The pegasus nodded and hopped inside, Nurse Redheart put a leaflet on the door before shutting it behind her that read ‘Occupied’.

Rainbow looked around the room, she could see weights, bars standing side by side, and multiple exercise machines. “So would you like to have me supervise your workout, or would you rather do this alone?”

Rainbow Dash turned to face the nurse. “I’d rather do this alone, I have something i need to prove...” Dash said with a look of determination on her face. The nurse nodded, but left with confused face.

Rainbow turned away from the door to hear it shut behind her. ‘Okay... Time to do this.’ Rainbow thought while moving towards two dumbbells that lay on the floor beside a seat. She took a seat and reached for one of the dumbbells. It weighed heavier than she thought it would, but regardless she began lifting it up and down slowly with her right hoof.

She was only a minute into it and already she had begun to sweat and could feel herself weakening. She decided to put the dumbbell down and move onto something else. She laid her eyes on the bars standing side by side. She assumed it was to get exercise her back legs, you had to hold onto the bars with her two front hooves while trying to walk on her back ones. She equipped her crutches once more and made her way towards them, a little slower than normal due to the dumbbells taking their toll on her.

She reached the bars, dropped the crutches and leaned her hooves against the metal. Slightly shaking because the support wasn’t good as the crutches. She gulped and starting moving forward on back hooves slowly, concentrating very hard and trying to keep a steady pace.

Rainbow could feel her muscles start to strain, sweat was running down her face and her eyes were scrunched together in pain. She was determined to make it to the end, she was nearly there, ignoring the pain, but eventually the inevitable happened.

Her grip slipped and she fell to the floor with a loud crash and she landed on her back. She screamed loudly and turned to her front, trying to relieve the pressure on her wings. The mare tried to stifle her scream so nopony would find her, but in her attempts to be more quiet she drew tears.

She lay on the floor, shaking and quietly screaming in pain. ‘Am I really this weak!? Is this what I’ve become!? I was the number one flier in all of Equestria, now look at me!’ Rainbow thought, now curling up into a little ball on the floor. Twitching from the state she was in.

‘Why can’t things just go back to the way things were... I’d give anything for that... In the end... Did I make the right decision, was it really worth it?’ Rainbow stopped crying and laid perfectly still, shocked by the thought she just had. ‘What?... How could I even think such a thing, of course it was! Of course Scootaloo was worth it... Right?”

“Ah, miss dash is everything alright i heard a noi-MISS DASH ARE YOU ALRIGHT”, Nurse redheart quickly moved to rainbow’s side when she saw her spread out on the floor.

“Y-yea, I’m fine just slipped, and lost my balance thats all.” said rainbow as she slowly started to stand up, trying to hide the pain she was still feeling coursing through her back.

“Right, well I think that should be enough for today we don’t want you to make your injuries any worse than they currently are,” replied Nurse Redheart as she helped her to her hooves and started to lead her back to her room, ”Besides you seem to have a visitor today as well.”

“Huh, really who is it?” Rainbow quickly perked up at the thought of someone coming to visit her,’It’s probably pinkie coming by to tell me about another one of the parties she’s thrown.’ she thought as they made their way through the white hallways and got closer to her room.

They soon made it back to Rainbow’s room, and after Nurse Redheart had made sure she was comfortable she started making her way to the door and before she left she said “ I’ll tell your visitor that they can come in, and see you now.”

Rainbow decided that this was the best time if any to continue on the Daring Do book while she waited for her visitor to come. After about 10 mins rainbow heard the sound of somepony in the hallway, followed by the sound of knocking on the door.

“Come in”

“Hey, Rainbow how’ve you been?” asked Twilight as she walked in.

“Oh, you know just sitting here, dying of boredom like the last time I was here.” Replied the pegasus with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, please unlike last time you didn’t have a huge selection of books to keep you entertained.” Countered twilight with a smile.

“Haha, real funny twi, but I’m nowhere near being as much of an egghead as you are, I prefer to read stuff thats actually entertaining, unlike you who likes to read about how equestria was founded and boring stuff like that.” Responded rainbow

“Hey, that stuff is actually very interesting. We could learn a lot from how equestria was founded and governed, and speaking about reading. Have you finished the last Daring Do book I lent you so i can bring you the next one?”

“Nearly, I’ve got about two chapters to go and I should have them finished by tonight. I still can’t get over how Daring Do managed to escape from the temple while clutching the Alicorn Amulet. I swear that pony has some amazing moves on her.”

“Ah yes. The Alicorn Amulet chapter, if you enjoyed that then you’ll love the next book!”

Rainbow covered her ears with her hoofs and started shouting “LA LA LA LA LA, NO SPOILERS!” While shaking her head. Twilight simply sighed and stopped Rainbow’s movements with her magic. “Dash, don’t move so fast, you’ll hurt yourself,” Twilight said.

“Alright, I have to leave. Princess Celestia wants me to study for a test in the morning, sorry this visit didn’t last longer, but I think Pinkie is coming to visit you tomorrow.” She said as was trotting towards the door. The both exchanged farewells once more and then Twilight took her leave.

Not long after the purple mare had left another took her place. Nurse Redheart entered the room and cleared her throat to catch the attention of a tired Rainbow Dash. “Nurse? Ugh, what’s up? Please tell me it’s not another test today.” Said Dash, groaning into her hooves.

“Sorry, but it is. Come on time to move Miss Dash. Today we’re going to take more scans of your bone structure in our X-ray machine to we can see how well your bones have been healing.” Redheart said in monotone expression like she has said those words a million times. Rainbow Dash groaned as she slowly climbed out of her bed, and grabbed the walking stick next to her bed.

“Once, you're ready to go tell me, and we can continue to the radiology room to perform the x-rays.”

“Kay, just give me a sec nurse.” replied Rainbow as she finally managed to get the crutches onto her front legs.

“Okay, then follow me then.” said Nurse Redheart as she made her way in the opposite direction from where they went last time.

After a while of being led down the hallway Rainbow got tired of the uncomfortable silence, “So where exactly is this X-ray room?” the anxiety clear in her voice.

“It’s not far we just need to go a bit further down to the patient elevator since you can’t go up or down stairs with your injuries. We’ll then take the elevator up to the 3rd floor where all the specialized testing rooms are.” replied Nurse Redheart not even looking back at Rainbow throughout their whole walk.

“Ok, here we are.” She said as they arrived at a metal grate that was about the size of two doorways side by side. Next to it there was a small metal panel with an up or down arrow on it. Nurse Redheart pressed the up arrow, and after a couple seconds Rainbow heard the sound of something moving behind the metal grate, there was a small ding followed by the grate opening to show a small area that could probably hold about four or five ponies.

“After you Miss Dash.” Said Nurse Redheart as she nudged Rainbow into the small area. After they were both in nurse redheart pressed the third button on another panel on the inside. After this the door closed and then Rainbow suddenly felt the elevator start moving upwards startling her a bit.

There was another ding and then the doors opened to show a hallway with a bunch of doors with different symbols on them. Nurse RedHeart led her to a door that had the picture of two bones crossed in an X.

She opened the door and to reveal a room with a bed in the center. Above the bed was a giant machine that looked like a camera. There was also a window that showed another room and a door that seemed to lead to it. From the window she could see a bunch of computers and control panels.

“Ok, then if you’ll please lie down on the bed, the doctor will be here momentarily.” Nurse Redheart told Rainbow as she walked into the room behind the window. Rainbow lay down on the x-ray table and stared up to the machine hanging above her. She stayed perfectly still, continuing to stare at it until the doors behind her swung open.

“Ah, Miss Dash, is it?” Asked a stallion unicorn, he had a dark coat, with slightly gray hair. He looked rather old with bags around his blue eyes. Rainbow Dash nodded without looking at him.
“So are you ready then? Please stay perfectly still.” Rainbow Dash tensed up as she heard the machine come to life.

******

“Okay, thank you for that. We’ll have your scans to you in the next few days for the meantime you’re welcome to rest in your room.” The doctor said with a small smile on his face. Rainbow sat up on the table and sighed. ‘Well... That was boring.’ she thought while grabbing her crutches. She smiled at the Doctor and left the room, while he went into the back room.

“Excuse me, Nurse, but do you have the scans we just took, I’d like to take a look at them.” He said to Nurse Redheart who was standing over a white table looking at some pictures on the table. “I do... You may wanna look at these right away.” She said with a blank facial expression.

The Doctor lifted up one of the scans and begin to examine it. Suddenly his facial expression changed to nothing and the light his eyes gone. “For Celestia’s sake... Damn it.”

Author's Note

Sorry, for the long wait, been really lazy to finish this. Hopefully we can get the next one out a lot sooner. As always leave your thoughts and comments below.

Chapter 4

Scootaloo made her way among the tree’s of Sweet Apple Acres orchard slowly making her way to the spot where the treehouse the Cutie Mark Crusaders used as a clubhouse was located. As she made her way there the events of that day played constantly in her mind especially the image of seeing her hero lying broken and bleeding on the floor. The thought that she had caused it, and that she was to blame for Rainbow’s current state weighed heavily on her heart and mind.

She had been so lost in thought that she almost didn’t notice that she had already arrived at the clubhouse. She could see that the lights were on, and she could also make out the sound of two ponies talking and laughing. “Well, it looks like Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom are already here. I wonder what they’ll want to do today.”, she wondered as she started to make her way up the ramp that lead to the entrance of the clubhouse.

As she got closer to the door she could clearly make out what the voices were saying, and could tell that they were arguing about what they were going to do today.

“How about lava divi-wait....no that’s a horrible idea. Maybe we could try to get a cutie mark in gardening?”, said a voice from inside which she guessed was Sweetie Belle

“Nah, Roseluck’s still mad about tha last time we messed with her garden.” responded another voice this one with a slight southern accent, confirming that it was Apple Bloom

“Oh, yea.... how about Cutie Mark Crusader Scientists? We can use the stuff Twilight has in her basement.”, said Sweetie Belle

“Hmmm, yea that sounds like ah great idea, we just need to wait for Scootaloo to get here, an then we can head over.”, responded Apple Bloom excited for another chance to earn her cutie mark.

At the sound of this Scootaloo allowed herself a smile, even though she blamed herself for what had happened to Rainbow, crusading had been one of the only escapes she had. While crusading she was able to forget about all her troubles, she was able to enjoy spending time with the others, and pretend like she didn’t have a care in the world. Knowing what lay in store for them today Scootaloo pushed open the door and walked in before letting it swing close.

Hearing the creak as it swung open both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned from where they were sitting at the small table covered in lists of the many of their previously failed attempts at obtaining a cutie mark. Seeing that it was the their fellow crusader they both got up to greet her, and to tell her about the days plans.

“Hey, Scootaloo!”, chirped Sweetie Belle

“Hi, Scootaloo we’ve been waiting for ya, we’ve already have an idea for what we’re gonna do today.” said Apple Bloom as she got closer to the pegasus “We’re gonna go over to the library an use the stuff Twilight has in her basement an see if we can get ah cutie mark in science.”

“That sounds great, c’mon let’s hurry and get going then.” responded Scootaloo.

“Hmmm I wonder what a science cutie mark looks like?”, asked Sweetie Belle as the trio made their way out the door, and into town with the town’s library as their destination.

*****

The trio soon reached the outer edge of the town, and slowly started to make their way to the center of town where the town’s library resided. They were talking amongst each other mostly discussing exactly what they were going to try to do once they got to the library.

“First of all do you think Twilight’s gonna let us use her stuff?”, asked Sweetie Belle as they got closer to the library.

“Don’t ya worry, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it.”, answered Apple Bloom as the library started to come into sight.

“Look we’re almost there, c’mon girls let’s hurry up!.” said Scootaloo as she broke into a small run.

“Wait, don’t leave us behind.”, yelled Apple Bloom as her and Sweetie Belle started to chase after their fellow crusader, but as they got closer to the library they could see that the lights were off, and that there was no sounds coming from inside.

The three stopped outside the door to the library, and knocked on the door waiting to see if either Twilight or Spike would answer the door. When nopony came to the door they knocked again to see if there was any kind of answer.

“It looks like nopony’s here, I guess we’ll hav- Hey! Apple Bloom what are you doing!”, yelled Sweetie Belle as Apple Bloom started to open the door and head inside.

“You can’t just go into somepony’s home when their not there.”, she said as her fellow crusader walked inside.

“It’s a library. We can go in if we want, remember Twilight just lives on the second floor of the building. As long as we don’t go upstairs we’ll be fine.”, responded the yellow filly as she stuck her head out and motioned for her fellow crusaders to come inside.

“Well, I guess you do have a point.”, said Scootaloo as she also walked into the library.

“I dunno you, it feels wrong to just walk in without anypony here.” said Sweetie Belle uneasily.

“Cmon it’ll be fine, I promise you Twilight won’t mind as long as we don’t make ah mess.” said Apple Bloom as she tried to coerce Sweetie Belle to go into the library.

Reluctantly the unicorn filly slowly made her way into the library, while Apple Bloom closed the door behind her. They all looked around the library for a bit trying to see if they find a reason why no pony was there, but once they found nothing they decided to move on to the reason for the trip to the library in the first place.

“Alright so where does Twilight keep all the sciency stuff anyway? I don’t see it anywhere.”, asked Apple Bloom as she looked around the library.

“I think I heard Rarity say she keeps it in the basement. She was complaining about how she was spending too much time down there?”, responded Sweetie Belle looking up from the small stack of books she was looking at, at one of the tables.

“Ok, where is it then?”

“Ah, think it’s through here.” responded Apple Bloom as she opened a door that revealed a stairway heading downwards. “Yea, I think this is it, cmon lets go check it out.” she said as she slowly started to make her way down the stairs.

The other two quickly follow after her, and then the three start to follow the stairs further down hoping to find the object of their goals at the bottom. After a short climb down they manage to get to the bottom where they find a medium sized room filled with dozens of different weird devices that fill up the room, along with a set of different sized bottles and other glass containers filled with different types of liquids.

“I wonder what kinds of things all this stuff does?” said Sweetie Belle in awe as she scanned the different machines that filled the room wondering what each did.

“How about we find out.” said Apple Bloom as she walked up to one of the machines and starts to press the different buttons on it hoping that one of them would make it do something. When nothing happened she moved back looking disappointed that nothing had happened. “Maybe there’s a book on how to make them work.”

“I’ll go look you, girls stay here, and see if you can figure it out.” said Scootaloo as she started to make her way back up the stairs.

Once she got back up to the main part of the library she started to look among the bookshelves hoping to find a book or something that would tell her, or explain to her how to make the stuff downstairs work. “Cmon there has to be a book about that stuff around here somewhere.”, she thought as she slowly started to make her a way a bit deeper into the book shelves.

As she searched among the different titles trying to find something that could help her, she heard the sound of the front door open causing her to stop and hide afraid she would get into trouble if she was caught.

“Oh, I’m going probably going to get into a lot of trouble if they find me here, I’ve got to make my way back downstairs and warn the girls.”, she thought as she slowly started making her way back to the door leading to the basement when she couldn’t help but start to overhear the conversation that the two ponies were having.

“So Twilight darling, what did you need to talk about that was so urgent?”, said highly elegant voice that Scootaloo could tell belonged to the towns resident dressmaker Rarity.

“Oh, Rarity it’s just terrible. I just have no idea what to do?” answered a slightly panicked voice that came from the resident librarian.

“Well, first of all you need to sit and calm down, then you can tell me what’s on your mind,” replied Rarity as she made her way to one of the tables and sat down on one of the cushions laying next to it.

Twilight unsteadily made her way to the table and sat down across from rarity, and took a few breaths doing the best to calm down.

“Alright dear, now that you’re a bit more calm will you please tell me what’s going on?” asked Rarity curiously as she saw that her friend was still slightly agitated.

“Well, it has to do with Rainbow Dash.” answered Twilight once she was calm enough to think clearly.

At the sound of Rainbow’s name Scootaloo quickly stopped trying to make her way to the basement, and started to instantly pay attention to the conversation they were having.
“Wait, what did she say? Did something happen to Rainbow Dash!?,” she thought as silently tired to get closer to see if she could listen in on the conversation more clearly.

“Well, you know about her accident right? The one she got into on the day Scootaloo went missing?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, how could I forget that dreadful day. Poor Rainbow got hurt saving Scootaloo, I still remember how she was afterwards, the poor dear kept blaming herself for it.” responded Rarity frowning as she remember the events of that day.

“Yeah, well I decided visit, and ask her doctor how she’s coming along, but when I asked him he told me they had run tests on Rainbow to see the extent of the damage her fall had caused her.” Twilight falls silent and starts to look at the table before continuing, “When I asked what the results were he told me that the crash caused extensive damage to her spine, and most of her lower back, along with some damage to the nerves and muscles as well.”

“What does that mean? How will that affect Rainbow?” asked Rarity with a hint of worry in her voice.

“Well the doctor said that because of all the damage that there’s a chance that Rainbow might not be able to walk, and that she’ll never be able to fly ever again.” responded Twilight before placing her head on the table and covering it with her forelegs.

This caused a gasp to come from Rarity before she covered her mouth with a hoof, letting the information slowly process through her mind. After a while she cleared her throat and said, “Tha-that’s horrible news....does Rainbow know any of this yet?”

“No we decided to tel-” the rest of Twilights answer was cut off as the two ponies suddenly heard the sound of something bumping into a bookshelf followed by the sound of books hitting the ground. The two mares headed to where the sounds came from, and when they got there they were greeted by the sight of a small orange pegasus sitting on the floor eyes wide with shock.

“Scootaloo? What are you doi-” whatever else Twilight said Scootaloo didn't hear as she quickly got up and ran to the door. Pushing it open and running as fast as her tiny legs would allow her, not caring where she was heading, tears flowing from her eyes, and with only one thing repeating in her mind.

“She’ll never be able to fly again.” she thought, and she knew that she was the one to blame.

Author's Note

Well there you have it, after almost half a year of waiting the next installment has finally arrived. I apologize for not getting this out months ago, but I didn't have any motivation to write, the fact that I'm watching Supernatural on Netflix doesn't help either. Anyway I want to thank you all for waiting it out this long, and hopefully it doesn't take half a year for me to finish the next chapter. Anyway's I hope you enjoyed the results of two late nights with little to no sleep.