Chapter 1

By Rainbowflash

RAINBOW DASH

"It was too, hmm. How do I put it gently? simple. All you did was trot around at high speeds and though –somewhat- impressive, it's not what we were looking for. "

Rainbow Dash looked at the filly before her. This one pony determined her destiny, and right now, it seemed her fate was taking a turn for the worst.

Her momma always said things happened for a reason. She didn't think it applied right now. She didn't think it ever applied at all. Nothing good came out of her death. Nothing good came out of her dad developing an abusive personality after Firefly's death. Nothing good came out of her sister's hurtful words. Nothing good came out of failing this.

The yellow mare standing before her looked Rainbow in the eye.

"You failed the Wonderbolt's tryouts. Maybe next year." Spitfire turned and called for the next pony to come to the audition arena.

Rainbow shot straight up into the air. She pushed through the flap in the clear roofing that opened to the sky. It was raining. How fitting, She thought. But Dash didn't care, if she was covered in rain, then nopony would know the 'coolest pony in equestria' was crying.

Cyan colored hooves broke through the cloud door of a cloud home 50 feet above Ponyville. "Hehehehe, they have noo idea that their flight team would be at LEAST 20 percent cooler with me!" She chuckled crazily, "They don't! Hahaha Stupidfire and Soardumb. They don't know! They.. don't... kno-wwwww!" She started wailing. "She was glad she was so high up. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to be depressed. She was sick of all the pain. The last bit of sanity inside her snapped. She wanted to be…dead. All there ever was. Pain, pain, pain, pain. Her mother's death, her father's abuse, her sister's words, her secrets, her failure.

I don't deserve to be Twilight's friend or Pinkie's friend or Fluttershy's or Rarity's or Applejack's. I'm worthless. I can't even make the Wonderbolt's tryouts! If my dad knew, he'd hit me and my sister would call me worthless and weak and I would have made momma disappointed. I can't do this! With a final wail she broke a hole through the floor of her cloud house. Looking over the edge, a tear slipped over her face and plummeted down the opening. She was ready. She stepped forward, and dropped, leaving a rainbow streak behind her.

THUNDERBOLT

Thunder Bolt was walking back from the Sweet Apple Acres stand after purchasing apples for his grandma to cook with. Just months after the Best Young Flier's competition, his loss had been difficult. He did it for his Granny. Her back legs had been paralyzed, and he was planning on selling the gold crown and use the money for surgery. When he had run out shouting, "Let's do this!" He had thought he would have won. But a different pony had done a Sonic Rainboom AND saved the Wonderbolts. . The same pony that he saw falling from a cloud home, halfway to the ground. She had seconds to pull up. She didn't. She crashed.

He almost flew off. A pony just died. He was not planning on getting involved with this. He was crouched down; ready to shoot up, when he heard a faint whisper.

'Mommy, come back… Get up! Why wont you talk to me?" A wing twitched, "Daddy, stop! Ow! Nononono!" She was sobbing unconsciously. "Comet, why? It's not my fault! I'm not worthless!" Then, she stopped moving. Thunder looked at her. A wing was bent at an odd angle. A long cut went from he ribs to he back right hoof. Her muddied mane was caked with blood from her forehead.

Suddenly He had a flashback. His mother was sleeping in the sun, his father next to her. He was chasing a rainbow butterfly. Then a * crack * rang out, and a scream erupted from the edge of the forest they were picnicking by. Once he got there, he was gone. It was his parent's death all over again. He made the mistake of rescuing them too late.

He was not going to let it happen to her.

He dropped the bag of apples and sprinted/flew to the wounded Pegasus. He hoisted her onto his back and galloped off to the hospital. He ran and ran and ran.

He would NOT be too late this time.

*Beep...beep...beep* the sound monitoring the filly's heart woke Thunder from his sleep. He had been there all night, except for when he had returned to the scene and taken the apples to his Granny, who was (still) sleeping, same as when he left, and explaining the events that had occurred obtained permission to return to the mare whose life he had saved.

When he got back to the ER, she had been cleaned up as much as possible. Her mane had been rinsed out, What he thought was a simple brown mane due to mud was in actuality a gorgeous rainbow mane. Her bangs had been almost completely trimmed, revealing a gash on her forehead. She was muttering still.

"Mommy… when will I see you again? Don't leave me with Daddy and Comet!" Her ears flattened.

A nurse came in and looked at the brown pony. "Are you her boyfriend?" She asked.

"No. I just found her like this on the way home from the apple stand." Thunder Bolt said quietly.

"Well in that case, thank you. If you hadn't brought her in when you did she would have died from blood loss. She had cuts on her flank, her head, and her wing was completely ripped out of its socket. You saved her life." The Nurse said, "By the way, my name is Red Cross, head ER nurse. Buzz that button by her bed if you or her need anything."

"Thank you, I promise to take good care of her. Err- what's her name?" He asked the white nurse with a red '+' cutie mark.

"Rainbow Dash." She said, and left.

"Rainbow Dash…" He rolled the name over his tongue a few times. "That's a nice name…. He said before drifting off to sleep.

10 YEARS AGO - RAINBOW DASH

Rainbow ran out her door, beating her puny blue wings as fast as she could. The twelve year old filly was still a rough flier, and being bruised and broken all over didn't help.

"Come back here you worthless piece of horse dung! I'm not finished with you!" Rainbow's dad, Aced Storm, yelled after her with a broken beer bottle under his hoof that was covered in blood. Just not his blood.

She kept going, running and flying, shifting when she felt to much pain in one particular spot. One wing was cut from her tip to the midway point, and the other was missing chunks of feathers. Her hip had a circle from the bottle stabbing her, right here her cutie mark would be. In fact, her cutie mark was what the whole fight was about. 'Why don't you have your cutie mark yet' and 'I had my cutie mark when I was your age' and 'even if you had one it probably be ugly because that's the only thing that you're good at being.' Rang through her head. Insults… that's all she ever heard since Firefly died. Over the most pointless things too.

She just wanted it to stop. An idea on how to was all she needed. In the distance she saw Moonrise Mountian. With a grimacing smile, she limped off.

THUNDERBOLT

ThunderBolt woke to a small whimper from the white bed. The mare's mane was fluffed up from tossing and turning, and she had kicked the blanket down to her feet. He smiled and using his teeth gently pulled the sheet up to her shoulders again. She shuffled, then went back to sleep with a quiet, 'goodnight mommy.'

10 YEARS AGO - RAINBOW DASH

At the top of Moonrise Mountain, she looked over the edge. The tallest mountain in equestria, the plunge she was about to take was over 11,000 feet. But maybe it would take away the pain. Maybe. She limped up to the edge, closing her eyes. A vision flashed in her mind. Her father hitting her for the first time. *flash* her sister screaming at her for being too ugly *flash* her mother smiling at her.

She cried out, "Mommy, help me!" she saw her mother's face, but not in her mind. A semi-transparent Firefly stood next to her, restored to full youth.

"It's not you're time to join me yet." Firefly said in her honey-sweet voice, "Rainbow, I love you, I know what Comet and your Father are doing, and they will be punished as time goes on. You're only twelve, you have your whole life ahead of you. Live on as if I was always there, and I am. I'll always love you most, my beautiful Rainbow Dash." A gust of wind blew, and she was gone.

Rainbow screamed, "Don't go mommy!" But it was useless. The smell of her mother, warm and sweet, passed by her nose. She slammed her good hoof down. From here on out the promised to live for Firefly. Her mother would want her to.

THUNDERBOLT

ThunderBolt was outside the hospital, stretching his wings. I should go check on Granny Cloud, He thought. He crouched, and flew half a mile in fairly clear skies to a small cloud home not ten feet off the ground. The door clicked open.

"granny! I'm hhhhoommmeee!" ThunderBolt yelled.

"Boltey? Is that you?" she said in an old creaky voice.

"Yes Granny." ThunderBolt grinned. "I brought you some hospital mints! Your favorite!"

"mmmmmmm sonny! Thank you kindly!" She smiled at her grandson. "How's that Rainbow Dash you rescued?"

ThunderBolt was puzzled, "H-how do you know her name?"

She grinned a toothless smile, "Well, you said she won the Best Young Fliers Competition, and to win she did a Sonic Rainboom! She's practically famous! You rescued a semi-celebretiy!"

"ehhh... Oh granny! Look at the time! I need to get back to her!" He wanted to be there when she woke up from her coma.

3 days later

APPLEJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, RARITY, PINKIE PIE, FLUTTERSHY

*boing, boing, boing* Pinkie Pie bounced through the rather unlively hallway.

"Pinkie Pie! Stop it now! Ah'm sure that them nice folks in this here hospital don't apriciate your shenanigans!" Applejack snapped, then looked at Twilight Sparkle. "Anyways, where in the name of Celestia's mane are we going?"

"To hand out these gift cards to people who have a life threatening disease or injury." twilight said, "For one free-"

Pinkie Pie interrupted her "-cake at Sugarcube Corner, compliments of Mr. And Mrs. Cake, and PINKIE PIE!"

"Exactly." Twilight said. "There's nine rooms to visit."

"Oh dear, poor darlings." Rarity said, her gorgeous eyes darting around the bright hallways.

"I-I don't want-t to.. you know.. EEEP!" Fluttershy started to say before ducking under a chair. The five stopped.

"fFluttershy, come out sugarcube. They needed five people and none of us could find Rainbow." The tan country pony soothed.

"Yeah! Where is Rainbow Dash?" Rarity said, "she's missing out on this exquisite opportunity!"

"She's bound to show up somewhere soon.."

RAINBOW DASH

Magenta eyes opened. A bright light shone in Rainbow's eyes, causing her to blink. "Mommy," she muttered, "I'm sorry. I don't want to be in heaven yet. Take me back home!"

"Wish granted." She turned her eyes toward the tan Pegasus that was smiling at her from the dark corner.

APPLEJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, RARITY, PINKIE PIE, FLUTTERSHY

"Aww! Wasn't that THE saddest thing! The poor darling wasn't even three years of age!" Rarity said after talking to a small foal filly who had been burned in a fire.

"It w-was... T-twilight, how many more l-left?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Two, a older mustang who is in a coma. His name is.. Uh... Electric Boom, and a filly our age admitted yesterday. She was found by a colt on the way home from an apple stand. All we know is her initials are ''R.F.D" Twilight replied.

"Our age! Oh the poor thing... Ah' hope she ain't gonna' die" Applejack shook her head. "That's so darn young to pass on."

"OKAY! Here we go! Electric's room.."

Inside on a white, clean bed was grey male pony resting on a bed, his breathing rough and hard every time. His family sat on a bench, tear stains on their faces, and large black circles under their eyes.

"Our greatest apologies, but we would like to give you this gift card to a free cake at Sugarcube Corner. We wish you all luck and the strength to get through this." Twilight smiled, nodded, and nosed everyone out of the room. 'That was akward' Twilight thought.

"One room left, it's in a different wing. Let's go." Twilight said, and headed to the other side of the hospital.

RAINBOW DASH

"Do I, like, know you?" Rainbow Dash blinked, adjusting to the light. "You look, familiar.."

"You might... I was number 7 in the Best Young Fliers competition." He smiled, looking at the filly whose life he had saved.

"The one who yelled, 'let's do this!' and ran out?" She laughed a weak chuckle.

"Yes.. That was me." he wasn't sure wether to laugh or be embarrassed.

"You're blushing." she said quietly.

"I am? Oh, yeah, I guess I am.." he said, putting his head down.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, I mean, who wouldn't blush in the presence of the amazing Rainbow Dash!" she grinned, puffing her cyan chest out. ThunderBolt noticed an almost healed scar, but decided that he shouldn't say anything if he wanted to keep his leg.

"I'll keep that in mind." he smiled at her lopsided posture.

"you better! Oh and dude-that-ran-out-yelling, I never caught your name." Rainbow raised her eye brow quizzically.

"Thunder Bolt. But you can call me Thunder, Bolt, TB, or my friends call me Leeroy Wingkins."

She looked at him as if he were crazy, "Leeroy Wingkins. Where the hay does THAT come from."

"Oh, some video they saw."

"Okay.. Leeeeeeeroy..." she stretched out the e's, causing them both to laugh, Rainbow's more of a weak chuckle.

Red Cross walked in. "Good morning. Miss Rainbow Dash. Just on time. Drink a little water, take that pill, and then this sedative here," the white nurse held up a long syringe, "will cause you to sleep for about eight hours, your body has internal injuries, and you moving won't help."

"Ookayy... Fine!" Rainbow smiled mischievously.

"Take the pill." The nurse said impatiently.

Rainbow took the pill and drank the whole cup of water.

"Thank you. Im going to inject this shot into your front leg, and you have five minutes to make a call. Here's the hospital phone," she pointed to a small box on the nightstand, "I suggest you call your family."

Rainbow tried to hide it, but thunder could see her cringe at the word, 'family'

"There we go." She slipped the needle into the rainbow maned pony. "Remember, five minutes." Then, like she came, she left.

Rainbow grappled at the phone, 'Only the Library and Carousel Boutique have a phone. I'll call Twilight first.' she spun the dial. The phone rang. Nopony answered . "Nononononono! Stupid phone!" She dialed Rarity's place. "pickuppickup!" Again nopony answered her call. She sunk into the bed with a sigh. Her eyes fluttered, and she fell asleep thinking, 'Where are they?'

APPLEJACK, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, RARITY, PINKIE PIE, FLUTTERSHY

"My heavens! Why must they place the ER rooms so inadequately! That had to have been at least a quarter mile walk!" Rarity moaned.

"Ah swear, that Rainbow woulda' loved to have shown off with her hibbityjibbity flyin skills. What was we thankin, not bringing her? Why if she is just sleepin', I shud kick her in the Cutie Mark!" Applejack said.

"I-I'm sure she h-has a g-good reasons, Applejack, meep!" She ducked down.

"Yer right sugarcube, Ah'm mighty sorry." Applejack said.

"Who wants to come in with me?" Twilight asked.

"I-I will.." Fluttershy replied quietly.

"Let's go.!" Twilight said as she walked in.

This room was empty, except for a lump under the blankets, a brown pony their age, and a nurse. Twilight listened in on the conversation going on between then two ponies still awake.

"I didn't tell her this when she was awake, but her lungs were punctured by her ribs, so she might die. Even if she lives, one of her wings might not be able to be used again." The nurse whispered. Twilight heard Rarity whisper from the doorway, "Imagine if that happened to Rainbow Dash! It would be absolutely disastrous!"

"Is there not anything we can do? Flying IS her life! She can't do anything without her wings!" He whined.

"I know ThunderBolt, but I'm sorry." with that, the red maned nurse left.

"Ehem, excuse me. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Fluttershy. We would like to give you this coupon for a cake at Sugarcube Corner." The unicorn dipped her head into her saddle bags, pulling out a pink coupon."

"Thanks. I'm sure Rainbow will love it." he said, directing his eyes to the bed.

"R-rainbow? As in.." Twilight hoped it wasn't HER Rainbow.

"Dash. Rainbow Dash."

Twilight's eyes widened, and she looked at the bed. The only thing visible was a rainbow tail hanging out of the covers and a sky blue scarred nose poking from under the pillow that was covered in blood.

"Guys! I found where Rainbow Dash is!"