Chapter 1

Twilight sat rapt as she listened to Starswhirl the Bearded's lecture about teleportation but couldn't shake the feeling something was off, nor could she get the incessant beeping sound out of her head. She started to focus on the beeping more as slowly the room faded along with the lecturer's voice. As things began to swim in her head she felt herself blink a few times before her head was split with an ear shattering squeal and she saw a rainbow streak fly through a door at the far end of the room she found herself waking in. The first thing she noticed was that she couldn't talk and there was something in her mouth, the second was that the beeping sound next to her was a heart monitor.

Moments later a nurse appeared, “Miss Sparkle, I am so glad to see you're awake, please hold a second while I take out the endotracheal tube.” As she began to work on taking it out and checking her over, Twilight remembered her name after some careful thought.

“Nurse Redheart, what's going on? Why am I in the hospital?” Each question was was met by the same answer, “Wait for Miss Dash to return and she will answer your questions.”

As Nurse Redheart left Rainbow Dash came in and sat next to Twilight and placing a hoof on Twilight's hoof. “How do you feel Twi? Do you remember anything at all about why you're here?”

“Not really Rainbow, care to enlighten me as to what led to me waking up in a hospital? And how long I have been out for that matter?”

“Twi...” Rainbows lip quivered a bit, “there was a lab accident  and...” Rainbow slowed as she saw Twilight's eyes grow larger, “you, me and Applejack were caught in it, I, being the amazing and awesome pony I am, recovered the quickest.”

“Okay, how is everyone else? Are they here in the hospital too? How long have I been here, and why do you look so different?” She was referring to the fact that Rainbow Dash seemed slightly taller and more well built, like a pony who had been working on a farm for a while. “Do you think you could go and get everyone else so I can see them and talk with them a bit?”

Rainbow chewed her lower lip as though in thought for a second before telling Twilight, “Twi, you have umm been out for a while and the others are off in -umm- Canterlot, yea that's I they're in Canterlot, with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for hearts and hooves day.”

“Hearts and Hooves day, but that was...” Twilight trailed off for a second, “Dash how long have I been here? Because Hearts and Hooves day should have been last week and if it's tomorrow then I must have been here in this bed for at least a year, Dash please, how long I have been in the hospital?” Rainbow fidgeted as she felt twilight's stare but couldn't bring herself to tell her that it had been 8 years since the accident and instead told her that she was right and it had been a year. As she finished this she felt Nurse Redheart shoot a piercing glare at her as Horse MD walked in.

“Hello Twilight, I am Horse MD and I have been taking care of you since your accident. It's great to see you up again, do you have any headaches or pains? Do you feel any nausea, disorientation or are you having any problems with your memory?”

“No Doctor Horse I don't, I mean I guess my head hurts a little and I feel a little sluggish, but if what Dash told me is true, then I guess I should expect it since I have been bedridden for around a year. And well I really can't remember what happened to land me here for a year.” She noticed Horse MD flinch a little as she said that, but then he continued.

“We have sent a message to Princess Celestia and her sister Luna,” Horse MD was interrupted by a blinding flash as Luna and Celestia appeared in the room and nearly collapsed on top of Twilight as they joyously hugged her as hard as they could.

“Verily I am most pleased to see you have awakened young Twilight, today is indeed a most joyous occasion.” Luna said in between her tears, Celestia merely held Twilight tight as she silently sobbed and thanked the Cosmic Matriarch that Twilight had awakened.

“As happy as I am to see both of you, could someone tell me what is happening, I woke up here just a bit ago and no one seems to want to be straight with me.” As the two alicorns disentangled themselves from Twilight and shared a look they noted she seemed to be getting perturbed. Twilight was indeed getting a little perturbed, she didn't understand what accident everyone was talking about or why everypony was so glad to see her up or why everypony seem to be so vague about so many details. No one seemed to want to tell her about her friends and whenever she brought up how long she had been there everypony seemed to fidget a little.

“My dear Twilight,” Celestia began, “do you not remember what happened in your lab, the explosion-” She was cut of as Twilight sat almost straight up only stopped by Rainbow and Horse MD.

“What explosion, did it hurt anypony?” as she said that she saw everyone in the room visibly flinch, “Oh no who was hurt? What exploded?” When she tried to use magic to help herself up, a migraine made itself known to Twilight, it felt like her head had been split in two and it caused her vision to double and swim, causing her to fall back nauseated and in extreme pain. “Nnnngh...” was all Twilight could muster as she squeezed her eyes shut and took several deep breaths. Celestia gently put a hoof on her chest and began weeping anew as everyone else averted their eyes.

“My dear Twilight, the liquified rainbow in your lab caused the explosion and along with... other injuries, your magic may forever be unusable again. Try not to panic there is a chance we can restore some of it, but you will never have the control or power you once had.” Twilight stopped nursing her horn, now looking at it with a mixture of worry and sadness. She asked for everypony there to leave and tried to absorb the bitter truth. That she would never be the magician that she once was. After the last of the occupants left, she began to sob quietly, trying to believe everything that she'd been told.

The next day Twilight awoke to Rainbow Dash by her bedside holding a Daring Do book in her lap as she slept. She gently sat up and looked around to see that she had been moved to another room with a window that she could see the moon outside through, she smiled, thinking it must have been Luna's idea. She began to think back to what she could remember, she had called Applejack over to help her with her experiment on liquid rainbow and talk about what had happened between them on hearts and hooves day, Dash had come barreling into the basement and then, nothing until she woke up here in the hospital, and even those details she was unsure of. Had Dash really come barreling in? Was she the one who called Applejack? Where was Applejack for that matter? Why was Rainbow Dash the only pony here? Twilight and Applejack had started dating this time last year, so why was it that she awoke to find Dash rather than Applejack, reading a book while she slept on?  It didn't make sense to her, something was off, and for some reason the more she thought about it the worse she felt almost as if her memory  was trying to tell her not to dwell on the matter. She mulled this over until she fell asleep, still watching Dash, holding a copy of what looked like 'conciliation'. Over the next week, she spent the time drifting in and out, trying to catch up on reading with whatever she could get her hooves on, none of which was any form of news, which further piqued her curiosity.

Two weeks after she first woke up, Twilight awoke one morning to hear a voice, it sounded like Doctor Horses', but she couldn't be sure,  “Rainbow Dash we need to tell her, she deserves to know how long it's really been, she deserves to know why no one but you and the princesses have come to see her. We can't keep her in the dark much longer, it's not right.” Twilight wasn't sure what they were talking about and she felt she wasn't supposed to hear that conversation. Perhaps she should say something so they knew she was up, but then she was infinitely  more curious as to what they were talking about. Rainbow came trotting in slowly looking over her shoulder at who she assumed was Horse MD. When Rainbow Dash turned her head and saw that Twilight was awake, she immediately perked up.

“Hey Twi I just got permission to take you out, I was thinking we could hit Sugarcube corner and get some cupcakes, maybe see Pinkie while we're there.” Dash seemed a little down so Twilight decided it couldn't hurt.

“Well if it's okay with Horse MD and Nurse Redheart I guess that sounds okay, but are you sure? I just woke up and they usually want to check up on me first thing when I get up.” Rainbow Dash just smiled and told her it would be fine, they could check her over when she came back and walked over to Twilight with a wheelchair. “Ummm do you need help getting in the chair, I mean if you want I can help.”

“I should be fine Rainbow, it's not like I lost my legs or something.” Rainbow grimaced a bit but held her composure, as twilight slowly removed herself from the blanket, “I mean do I really need a wheelchair to get around.” As Twilight put her hooves on the floor and tried to stand, she saw the room spin and found herself on the floor. It wasn't that she was dizzy, it was more like her legs hadn't supported her at all. She tried to get up but could only make her front half rise. She looked at Rainbow, who still hadn't moved from where she was, quizzically looking at her back legs. She gasped in horror as she looked at her left side, there was large scar on her flank that had even taken one of the stars of her cutie mark, her right side looked fine but the top of her flank had another scar. She knew enough about biology to know a broken spine when she saw one. "Rainbow, could you leave me along for a bit. I... just leave me alone please."

Rainbow was about to offer Twilight some help into getting back into bed, not that it was needed, she had already retreated into herself again.

Rainbow Dash silently left the room.

As she closed the door she could hear Twilight begin to sob. She thought for a second about going in and helping her back into bed before she sank to the floor. She thought to herself, poor Twilight she must be so confused and all I can think about is trying to make her happy. I am the only one who stayed in town, I need to tell her. She looked at her back where her wings once sat and shuddered at the stump that was left of one and the mangled remains of the other one. Would I have left like the others did if I had my wings still, if my dream hadn't been shattered like our lives on that fateful day. As she sat outside Twilight's door thinking to herself she saw Pinkie approach. “Hey Pinkie hows the bakery and the twins?”

“Things are good Dashie, Mr and Ms Cake are out of town so I am in charge of it, so how is she doing in there? Have you told her anything yet?” Rainbow cast her head down and shook it slowly from side to side. “Well silly you should, you said you would be there for her when she woke up soooooo,” She advanced towards Rainbow and kicked her through the door, following her in with a trill of, “let's get in there and cheer her up.” She quickly bounced over Rainbow and over to Twilight, flipping her onto the bed while shouting, “WELCOME BACK TWILIGHT! How were the dreams? Were they pleasant? I remember a dream I had yesterday about this giant cupcake made entirely from chocolate milk." Twilight just stared at her before breaking down into tears of laughter.

“What are you talking about Pinkie? Really that's the first thing you say to me?” She looked over at Rainbow Dash and motioned her over. “You know, Dash here was about to help me over to sugar cube corner, if it's truly been a year then I'll bet your baking has improved some if it could at all.” Pinkie started bouncing around.

“Really? Oooh I have this new carrot cake recipe with a banana frosting I know you'll love it, lets go.” Rainbow walked over silently and began helping Twilight into the wheelchair, and almost dropped her as Twilight's hoof came close to what was left of her wings. Rainbow looked back sheepishly before apologizing and quickly reaching down to help Twilight up again.  “Rainbow don't drop Twilight, we don't want her going back to sleep again silly.” Pinkie quipped in before she bounced back and helped Rainbow get Twilight into the chair.

“Dash, why did you move like that when I tried to brace myself on your shoulders? Did you get hurt in the lab accident too.” She was looking imploringly at Rainbow Dash who could only sigh.

“Twilight, let's not talk about that now, lets get you some Pinkie Pie cupcakes and talk about the last year.” Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash a little funny when she said this but didn't say anything, it bugged Twilight to no end. They then proceeded out of the hospital and onto Sugarcube Corner.

As they made their way to sugarcube corner, everypony they met stopped them to give Twilight congratulations and condolences, neither of which were accompanied by a reason, which served to irk Twilight further. She met a lot of ponies who looked familiar but she couldn't place any of them. Twilight noticed that all the faces she could place looked older, and not just one year older. She also noted that some ponies seemed to avoid her or look at her with disdain. Once they got to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie darted into the kitchen and began making her cupcakes for the other two, while Rainbow and Twilight looked for a table. Rainbow noticed Applebloom sitting at a table on the other side of the room so she chose a table as far as she could from her. Once Applebloom noticed the lavender mare she got a quizzicle look and began making her way to Rainbow and her friend, Rainbow tried to wave her off without Twilight noticing and failed completely. As Applebloom got closer she gasped as she realized who it was, “Oh by Celestia's wings, is that you Twilight, is that really you?” Twilight stared for a second before asking, “Umm do I know you? I consider myself fairly well informed about the ponies around, though I have been out of the loop for a year now and I imagine some ponies may have moved in while I was out of the loop.” Applebloom paused for a second before getting teary eyed and grabbing her in a massive hug, “It's me Twilight, Applebloom. Sister to Applejack.” She choked up as she introduced herself to Twilight who was thoroughly confused.

“Applebloom? It's only been a year how, could you have possibly grown so much in just one year? You can't be little Applebloom” Twilight was trying to grasp what she was seeing, Applebloom looked like she was in her teens now at least, she had a cutie mark that looked like it meant construction.

“Twilight really, it's been eight years-” she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash jumping up and trying to shush her only to fall into Twilight's lap. Twilight saw Rainbow Dash's back for the first time since waking, and she was hardly prepared for what she saw. She gingerly brought her hoof up and touched the stump, tracing the mangled wing with her eyes as her mouth silently moved in horror and sorrow.

“Twilight, please calm down I can explain, just don't panic. Applebloom why did you have to blurt that out?” She was interrupted by Twilight's panicked scream as everything finally sunk in. The reason details were vague, the reason no pony wanted to let her see the paper or tell her how long she had been out.

“Rainbow your wings! Applebloom your growth! What- what did that accident due? Have I really been in a coma for eight years?” She began to wheel herself slowly backwards as the panic set in. “What did I do to you Rainbow? What have I done to Ponyville? And my friends?”  She suddenly spun the wheelchair around and took off towards the library, the last place she hoped she'd find safety and comfort.

“Twilight no come back! We can explain. Please don't go to the library.” Rainbow took off galloping after her as Twilight booked it to the library in tears. When she finally caught up she expected to see Twilight in hysterics but instead found her sitting limp in her wheelchair, staring at what had become of the library.

She opened and closed her mouth for a moment before the words materialised. "Rainbow, what is that? What happened to the library?" Both she and Rainbow looked at where the library was, and Rainbow read out what now occupied that space. "Here we commemorate honest Applejack. She gave everything to her friends and this town. May we never forget her last acts and forever remember her for teaching us that honesty is not always about telling the truth but an action truer than any words can ever say." Twilight slumped back, Rainbow barely hearing her request. "Take me back to the hospital Rainbow. Please."