May 18th (Thursday)

"AGGGGHHHH!" I woke up screaming from a nightmare. It had been about Rainbow and I falling to our deaths after being struck by lightning.

It took me a second to realize where I was: a hospital room.

"No." I whispered to myself.

I looked around for the nurse button and found it to my right. I slammed my fist on it, desperate to figure out if my dream was real.

A few moments later, or what felt like hours to me, a nurse came in. She was an earth pony with a pink mane and a white complexion.

"It's good that you are finally awake. Your name is Thunder Map, yes?" She asked me.

"Clap." I corrected her.

"Sorry, the only pony that we could find who could even recognize you couldn't remember very well." She explained. Pinkie. It could only have been her.

"Why am I in here?" I asked her.

She bent down to get into a cabinet before answering. "The ponies who found you think that you fell out of the storm that happened almost two weeks ago." She explained.

She was about to say something else, but I didn't hear it. I had already ripped the IV out of my arm and ran out the door in the patient's dress.

I ran through the corridoors trying to find Rainbow's room. I kept passing patients and staff who gave me weird looks.

I didn't care, I had to find Rainbow.

It felt like forever before I stumbled onto her room.

Sitting in it with her, was a pegasus mare and the biggest stallion I had ever seen.

I hesitated at first, scared of the stallion, but eventually worked up my nerve and went inside. I walked over to the bed, ignoring the other two.

"Rainbow. Rainbow, wake up." I told her. She wasn't hooked up to an IV and I couldn't see anything wrong with her, but she was covered from the neck down by a blanket, so I couldn't see much of her anyways.

"Dash is not feeling well. You should let her sleep." A deep voice told me.

I looked up to see the pegasus and earth stallion looking at me. As I looked at them, I noticed the pegasus had a crutch near her, and that they were fairly close to each other, like they were a couple.

"Are you two some of Rainbow's friends." I asked them while looking back down at her.

"Yes, we are." The mare said. She was quite.

"Is she alright?" I asked them. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I felt guilty, angry, sad, and uncertain. I had caused this.

"She is fine. She is just resting." The stallion told me.

"Are you the one they found with her?" The mare asked me.

I just nodded.

"You have been out for almost two weeks. Dash woke up a few days ago." The stallion told me.

I sighed. There was nothing I could do for her right now. I pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat down.

"You should eat something." The mare suggested.

"I'm fine." I waved off her concern.

And so I waited. And waited. It felt like an eternity had passed before Rainbow woke up.

She turned her head towards her friends before she noticed me.

"Morning guys." She said sleepily.

She sat up in bed and stretched. I noticed her bandaged wing and my guilt surged.

The stallion looked at me and Rainbow turned her head.

Before she could say anything, I stood up and hugged her. Albeit, a bit awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry for what happened." I apologized. I knew it wouldn't make up for what I did, but it was a start at least.

Rainbow seemed startled. She pushed me away and I lost my balance, flopping into the chair.

She had a look of pain on her face.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked, standing up again.

"No, it's just... you've never hugged me before." She said.

"Oh, that. Sorry, it's just that I was excited to see that you were mostly okay." I explained to her.

She looked behind her towards her wing and laughed. "This? This is nothing. I'll be out of here in a week." She boasted. I couldn't help but smile. She was okay. For the most part.

When I was content that she was okay, my own body started to become really sore. My hands and wings clenched up, and my muscles felt like lead.

I flopped back down on the chair and heaved a sigh.

"Did you just come out of your coma?" She asked me as a joke.

"Yes." I told her. She seemed to pale a little bit at my answer.

"You shouldn't be here then. You should be back in your room, resting." She ordered me.

"I had to see you first." I explained. Did she just blush a little? No, I was just too exhausted to see clearly.

"Do you want me to call a nurse for him, Rainbow Dash?" The mare asked.

"I think that would be a good idea, Fluttershy." She answered.

Fluttershy pressed a button that was right next to her and a few moments later, a nurse came in.

"So that's were you got off to." The nurse said once she took me in.

Apparently, this hospital didn't have many nurses to spare.

She helped me stand up, and along with the stallions help, started walking me back to my room.

"Sorry I ran off, I just had to-" I started.

"To see your marefriend?" She finished.

I was startled. "No, she isn't my marefriend. Just a really old friend." I emphasized.

"Could of fooled me." She responded. She turned and smiled at me.

"Dash is lonely. I can see it in her eyes." The stallion said.

I was surprised he picked up on her feelings. Rainbow wasn't easy to read when she wasn't in an extreme.

I looked down at the floor, remembering the stallions Rainbow had had over the years that I knew of. The way the stallion said it, conjured pictures for me.

There was Sprinkle Cake when she was sixteen. They had been a cute couple and had been together almost two years before he had to leave for some unforseen reason.

Next was Apple Orchard. He was Rainbow's first adult stallion. They had met when they were both twenty. During the first heat that they had been together, she told me they had mated. I was glad for her. She had finally experienced the magic behind it, just as I had a few years before her.

Third was Cinnamon. I never knew his last name, only that it hadn't ended well. He had begun with Rainbow, then had collected four other mares for a herd. Then he left her, simple as that. I had had to comfort her for three whole days before she pulled herself together. I'd hated that stallion ever since.

The latest, Creme'd Patty, had been with Rainbow when she was twenty-six. They had a steady relationship going before something happened that she wouldn't even let me bring up in passing comments. I didn't know what had happened between them, but it must have been pretty bad. She hadn't talked to anypony in a week after they broke up.

Since then, she hasn't been with anypony else seriously. Well, as far as I knew. So it would make sense that she was lonely. However, Rainbow didn't dwell on things. Especially her own emotions; so she would have had to have been reminded about it for the stallion to pick up on it. And it was unlikely that he would just bring it up out of the blue.

So what had reminded her?

I racked my brain while I was hobbled to my room. The stallion helped me get comfortable in my bed while the nurse fetched some food for me.

The stallion stayed for a bit then left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't think of anything that would remind her of being lonely, other than Fluttershy and the stallion; but, she wouldn't really want to be around them if it made her lonely whenever she saw them together, and she looked absolutely fine and happy when she woke up. It didn't make any sense. Was there something simple I was missing?

My thoughts were interrupted by the nurse walking in. In her hands, was a tray with some breakfast looking food on it.

I didn't pay much attention to it or the drink as I consumed them. There was a lot of food, so I felt pretty full when I was done.

The nurse took the eating utensils and tray, and left.

Once more, I set my mind on the problem. Why I was so focused and adamant about solving it was a mystery to me. Great, now I had two problems: why would Dash feel lonely around me and her friends; and two, why was I so hooked on the first problem?

My head felt like it was going to explode with frustration. I eventually passed out.


A/N: Everyone who is following this story is not going to like me haha. I'm done writing it. This is the second to last chapter. As is the standard now, this will be the last A/N of the story, letting you guys finish out the story without having to listen to me babble. And once again, my own little stupid quote that I made up, will be at the end. I hope you all enjoyed the story, as short as it is, but it felt like the right time to end it. I always knew that the story would end with what it ended on, it just came sooner than I had expected (or planned). There was quite a lot that I had planned for this story that just never came to be. So this marks the second time ever where I had ideas in my head for a story yet they were never implemented. Oh well. See ya on the flip side.
P.S. I will be taking a break off of writing since I have a REALLY busy schedule for the next few weeks. I'll probably begin posting again sometime after school is over or maybe a little before.