Dash was as stiff as a board, nothing processed inside her mind as yet another blow of cruelty and some sick, twisted fate was thrown on her. Pregnant, the one word She thought she would never hear in a million years. Minutes, and maybe hours passed with the blue pegasus completely unable to do anything but stare at the one word her mind was drawing for her. Pregnant. She could feel movement but it hardly picked up in her mind. It wasn't until what seemed to be hours later that she became aware someone was speaking to her.

"Can you hear me, Miss? Hello? Is anypony in there?" The English-accented voice that Rainbow had begun to grow familiar with spoke. Dash made no reply of any kind.

"Well... I don't know how long they are going to let me keep you alive... It's not cheap to run all this equipment, you know... I need a sign, Miss. They tell me you are dead, but I know you are still in there." There was a pause like he was waiting for a response. The doctor sighed.

"If you can't do something by the end of the week... I have to let you die... That's six days from now." Rainbow was now confronted with a completely new threat to her life; nopony knew she was still alive.

"Are you kidding?! Come on! Please!" Dash screamed into her mind as she became aware of a machine breathing for her.

"Well? I may as well tell you whats wrong with you..." The doctor began hesitating for a minute. She heard him pick up a clipboard over the sound of her own breathing. "To start the list, you broke both your back legs and you are blind. I left your mouth stitches in, because your jaw is fractured. I'll take them out when we fix it properly. That should be tomorrow if you make the night." He paused a minute and continued "You have seven broken ribs, and a flattened lung as well. You also seem to be suffering from well over three hundred bee stings... Your wings are pretty much destroyed and need a lot of work of their own. Lastly, your neck is broken in two places, and your back in three." He paused again. "It's a miracle you are alive at all!"

She lay back, trying to sort through all the life-changing information she just received "M-my wings? I won't be able to fly?" Everything else didn't seem to mean much to her brain, and she had to keep reminding herself that being blind and broken would have stopped her anyway.

"Now then, miss, if you could manage something, a tail twitch or a nod, anything at all" She tried to move but nothing obeyed. The only response was of pain and suffering.

"Well?" The doctor sighed. " I must be off. Not like you can hear me anyway... But if you can, please, don't die on me" She heard him leave and the door close.

She was alone again, the sound of her heart monitor and breathing machine and her own mind were all she had.
"Great... Come on Dash... You can do this, just do anything!" She lay in her bed, completely unresponsive. After what felt like years, She could hear a door open.

"Oh you silly little filly... Survived the forest, did you?" She plunged into terror the voice familiar, yet completely unknown to her. "Scared? You should be... You are such a lucky pony, did you know that? Surviving all I put you through..." The deep voice continued, as Rainbow suddenly wanted to be anywhere else in the world. In the background, the heart monitor began to rise like a balloon.

"NONONONONONONONO! PLEASE! SOMEPONY HELP ME!" She begged in her mind.

"Nopony can hear you 1632... And why would they want to? You'll be dead by morning, anyway..." This latest statement made every fiber of her explode in fear. She distinctly felt a hoof on her. "So tell me, 1632, how do you feel?" The voice said in a mocking tone. "Oh, come on now, it's important, don't keep your mouth sealed." He laughed. "That's right. You can't talk, can you?"

She screamed into her mind as a hoof caressed her face. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! PLEASE! I DID EVERYTHING YOU ASKED! I- I WAS A GOOD FILLY!"

"Oh, that you were! My favorite, in fact... It's a pity we had to dump you... Think of all the things we could have done with more time!"

"Please! Wh-what do you want from me?" She begged as she lay paralyzed.

"What do I want? Well... You are supposed to be dead. But, seeing as you are not, you could complete our last experiment." Dash felt a hoof on her belly. "Don't fail me, 1632. You know what happens when you fail..."

"P- please... I-I can't! I-" She was cut off.

"Spare me the details... You wouldn't abandon your own child, would you? I thought you were supposed to be loyal, or something." The heart machine was going nuts by now, and She was in a death sweat. "See you later, my little lab rat" The voice walked away, and the door closed, only to be instantaneously blown back open.

"Miss! What in the Captain's mane is wrong?!" The accented doctor spoke. By this time, She was in a full-blown seizure, and the heart monitor was beeping so fast that it was almost constant. "Listen to me, girl! If you or your child is to have a chance, you need to calm down! You are giving yourself a heart attack!" The doctor yelled, as he tried to snap her out of her seizure. Ten sickening minutes passed, and She faintly heard more ponies around her.

"okay... She is stabilizing, Doctor" A female voice spoke.

"Good. We were foolish to leave her alone. From now onward, there must always be somepony with her. Understood?"

"Yes, Doctor" The female replied.

"I'll go first. The rest of you are dismissed." The doctor said, pulling a chair over. She heard the rest file out, and the door close. "You scared me, miss... If I hadn't come to check on you, you would most likely have died." He breathed a sigh. "Stay alive, okay? If you can't do it for yourself, do it for your baby..." She mentally cringed at those words. A baby signaled the end of her life as she new it. As she was trying to think things over, a thought came to mind.

"Who is the father?"

Author's Note

everyone go yell at my editor for being slow and forgetful :F