"Yeah. I don't wanna live with this. Now that she's dead, she might as well be gone, right?" Rainbow argued.

"Very well. Come to the library, we'll see to you."

"There we go. She's coming along." Rainbow heard a voice, but it was coming from far away. She was surrounded by darkness save for a single dot of light. She clung to it with all her force as it steadily grew, eventually leading her to a blurry library.

"Uh? Whazzgoinon?" she mumbled, trying to get a grip on reality. The picture before her just refused to focus.

Suddenly, a smiling face came into her vision, bearing down on her from above as she laid stretched out on something soft. She knew this pony, her lavender coating, her ruler-straight mane. Her name was Twilight Sparkle. "Welcome back, Rainbow. You've just... agreed to help me with a new spell. There might be some side effects, including loss of memory and, um, some crossed eyes, but I assure you, what's bothering you is only temporary."

Not the pony to simply give up, Rainbow quickly collected herself and gave her wings a powerful flap in order to return to where she belonged, above the ground. At least that had been her intention, which was rudely interrupted by her face coming to closely inspect the floorboards. She decided that walking was a better idea for the moment, pleased to see that it was possible without too much effort. She wobbled over to Twilight. The letters in the book her friend was reading were fortunately still comprehensible, though she felt that she had been a faster reader sometime earlier.

"Say, it's normal that I can barely remember a thing, right?" Dash asked as casually as possible.

"I'm almost sure that it is. Most of the effects you're experiencing right now will go away over time. Although you may need to relearn some too. Why don't you start with checking back on your friends? Given your earlier flight performance, I'd say you could use a ground-acessible place to sleep for the first time. Unfortunately, I really don't have room right now, so you might want to ask around while the Sun's still up."

"Got it." Just as she contemplated her options, a stinging headache appeared, though it had vanished just as soon as she could react to it. "So it's you, well, you're down, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, or Fluttershy. Did I miss anypony?"

"I don't think so. Be careful out there, alright?"

"Will do. See ya!" Rainbow called as she trotted out the door.

Briefly put, the problems hadn't just gone away. Still, the past few months had been good on Rainbow Dash. She had recovered most of her earlier skills, and while some things were still in improvable condition, amongst them her eyesight, she was able to all in all live a happy life without burden.

The weather forepony had been surprisingly understanding, allowing her as much time off as she needed to get back on track. She'd gladly taken it as a chance to recover surrounded by her friends, but she'd been equally glad on the day when her wings would finally carry her again and she could reclaim the skies. Occasionally, she would be struck by an odd headache, but she could imagine worse.

She paused for a moment to inspect her work of the day. There was scheduled to be a small rainstorm coming across Ponyville starting above Sweet Apple Acres, so she'd been gathering together clouds to assemble that. Looking back on it, she'd have to pat herself on the back if that was in any way possible. The cumulus had grown to an imposing size, already lightly rumbling and tumbling, avid to drop its load regardless of who or what it'd hit.

It was almost perfect. Almost. It needed only a tiny bit more, like the puff of cloud Rainbow had just spotted floating over a small group of trees. She sprinted to it, eager to end her work. Once she had reached it however, another idea came to her mind. She hadn't slept too much that day, her eyes were aching, and that cloud looked softer than anything she'd ever seen. Surely, she could afford a few minutes of break time.

After a refreshing, but all too brief relaxation period, Dash had her meditation broken as a rogue wind from the storm she'd created had torn up her cloud bed and sent her spinning downwards. This was not a big issue, of course. She could remember having done similar maneuvers in earlier times. Her wings didn't quite seem to be as quick to recall as there had yet been no need for it, but she'd be able to execute it just fine, she just had to remember the exact movements.

Seconds later, she'd stabilised her rotation and was about to pull out of the dive, though she paused before doing so. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen something. It was too far away for her eyes to still make out clearly, but there was a distinctive glint coming from the ground, reflected by some bright stone, perhaps marble. Any other pony would shrug it off as a shiny and return to work, but somehow, the glint reached deep into her mind. So far that she remembered what it was and why it was there. Why she'd tried and failed to escape it.

Rainbow Dash inhaled, closed her eyes, and folded her wings back together.

Author's Note

Was this really the right choice?