~10 Years Ago~

"Twilight? Hello! Earth to Twilight!"

"Now you cut that out, Rainbow. You know the doctor said she'll wake up when she's durn well ready."

"Oh come on, AJ. I do that every day and she hasn't woken up yet, why should I..."

Twilight started to open her eyes, but immediately closed them against the harsh glare of the florescent lights above her. Her head started to throb. Where was she? What was going on?

"Twilight, sugar, are you ok?"

Shading her face with her hand, Twilight forced her eyes open, blinking a few times until they adjusted. She saw two figures sitting on the foot of her bed. One was a tall, tan girl with bleach-blonde hair who was wearing a worn-out old Stetson; the other, an athletic-looking African-American girl whose black hair was in a ponytail with the end dyed all kinds of colors. Twilight's brain supplied the name AJ for the first girl and Rainbow for the second.

"Twilight?" AJ asked again with a concerned edge to her voice. She put her hand on Twilight's knee. "You remember us?"

"We're your friends," Rainbow said. Twilight sat upright at the word friends.

The car crash. How could she have forgotten? She must be in the hospital.

"Oh girls, I'm so glad you're ok!" Twilight exclaimed, grabbing AJ and hugging her as her memory came flooding back. "Where are the others? Are they-"

"They're fine," AJ assured her, pushing her back onto the pillow. "You're just the last one to wake up is all. All of us got knocked unconscious fer a while, but the airbag in that durn car almost killed you."

Rainbow handed Twilight a file folder. "Here's the accident report. We knew you'd want to see it."

Twilight flipped open the folder. Inside, along with pictures of her totaled car, were reports of who had been in the car when it crashed. The driver had apparently skidded off the road and into a tree during a rainstorm. Twilight shook her head when she read who the driver was. Diane. Of course, she thought. Twilight had been friends with a girl named Diane since elementary school. She had ADHD, liked to do crazy things "just for the fun of it," (the most recent one was dying her bangs pink) and was weirdly attracted to shiny objects. Of course, Twilight didn't blame her for the crash. She remembered that they had been driving down a steep hill in the rain, which in retrospect probably wasn't a smart idea no matter who was driving. Twilight was listed in the report under her given name, Tiffany, which she absolutely despised. The name Tiffany just screamed "ditzy." Twilight was a self-proclaimed egghead and proud of it. Rainbow had much the same problem, as her name was actually Rachel.

The door swung open as she was reading and a young woman in a pristine white pantsuit strode into the room, inspecting her nails and talking on her cell phone. "And do make sure you keep the thermostat at 83.4 degrees. Kittens get very cold very easily and I won't have my little Opal getting sick."

AJ cleared her throat.

The other woman turned to AJ and held up one finger. "No, I am most certainly not kidding you. Don't you make me call your office. You know I will!" With that, she snapped the phone shut and wandered over to the bed. "Twilight, darling, I'm so glad you're awake! I would have been to visit sooner except my manicure ran late and the pet-sitting service sent someone new to look after Opal; you know how she doesn't like strangers. The others will be up to see you soon, they're picking up lunch in the cafeteria. Are you feeling all right?"

"Better that I was when I got here." Twilight smiled, attempting a joke. "How are you, Renee´?"

Renee´ beamed. "Much, much better than when I got here," she replied. "I just got a cast taken off my arm and my first manicure in absolutely forever. See? They have a new shade of purple at that place down by my shop..."

Rainbow and AJ shared a look and rolled their eyes. They both knew Renee´ could go on for hours about nail polish colors. Rainbow had once been subjected to a half-hour long lecture on the difference between "Raisin in the Sun" and "That's Just Grape." Thankfully, before Renee´ could tell Twilight what color her nails were this time, Diane burst into the room, brandishing a Chick-Fil-A bag and yelling "LUNCH!"