Rain Lily woke up in her room. Patches of her mane were missing, her whole body stung furiously, and she could tell she'd been out for at least a couple days by the way she reeked.

Her mouth was drier than a lump of salt. Her belly moaned out loud, protesting its emptiness.

Rain lily sighed.

She wished she could ignore it and escape back into unconsciousness.

The little filly slid out of bed and began creeping toward the kitchen, hoping nopony would notice her. Attention was the last thing she wanted right now.

She made it all the way to the cupboard and reached up for a glass before she heard an excited squeek.

"Rain Lily!"

Screw Ball had found her.

"You're awake!"

The cross-eyed little mare raced into the kitchen and wrapped her friend in a warm, tight hung, making Rain Lily scream in discomfort at her sore, bruised skin being touched.

Screw Ball jumped back.

"Oopse...Forgot about that. Sorry."

Rain Lily flicked her tail, flinching a little.

"No worries, Screw Ball. Please don't tell anyone else I'm awake, though, okay?"

Screw Ball tilted her head.

"Why not? They'll all want to know you're okay!"

Rain Lily shook her head.

"I don't want to show my fave again. Not yet. I'm going to go ahead and assume I trashed the garden-"

"Yep!"

"-Scared my mother senseless-"

"Yep!"

"-And got our guests in trouble."

"Just Apple Jack. Your parents really like Fluttershy, though! She's been nursing you pretty diligently these last couple days. Right now's the first time she's slept since you got hurt."

Rain Lily's gut twisted with guilt.

"I'll have to apologize later for making her stay up."

Screw Ball shook her head.

"No, you won't. She insisted."

"I'm still going to apologize."

"You better hurry, then."

"How come?"

"She and the others are leaving after she wakes up. Last night, she said you'd probably be conscious again by this afternoon and that your parents could take over from there. Your parents told her that it'd be best if all of them left after that, seeing as they've caused you a lot of stress in the last few sessions."

Rain Lily panicked. She actually wanted to see what she could learn from Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash! They were easier to be with than the other guests!

"But they shouldn't have to lave!" Rain Lily protested, "I's been my fault all along for pushing to far, not anypony else's! Well...Except maybe Apple Jack. I'm not sure which one of us is at fault for that one."

Screw Ball frowned.

"But you seemed so unhappy in the other lessons-"

"I didn't like those ponies. Auntie Twilight is too smart-I feel really, really dumb around her, Pinkie Pie is too hyper-that makes me uncomfortable, Rarity is okay, but I can't do magic with her anyway, and Apple Jack is downright mean!"

Screw Ball just stood there for a moment.

"Tell your parents?"

Rain Lily shook her head.

"They won't listen."

"Oh. Then I don't know what to tell you."

"I don't know what to do..."

A soft, sleepy voice startled the two fillies.

"Oh, good! You're awake. Are you feeling okay?"

Both fillies spun around to see the yellow pegasus smiling in the doorway, the bags under her eyes blatantly visible and very uncomfortable looking.

"Yes, Fluttershy," Rain Lilly began awkwardly, "Thank you for nursing me. Screw Ball told me about how you stayed up. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Fluttershy smiled.

"Don't you worry. It was no trouble at all!"

The yellow mare yawned, proving her statement wrong.

"Though, I guess my friends and I have to go now. Your mother allowed us to stay long enough to say goodbye. I'm sorry we didn't get to do anything together this visit, Rain Lily. Maybe if you ever visit Ponyville, you can stop by my cottage for a little while? I'd enjoy that very much."

Rain Lily nodded sadly.

"I wish I could've hung out with you and Rainbow Dash...I'm sorry."

Her cheeks felt hot and her eyes stung a little. It was all her fault that they had to go so early. Her and her stupid problems.

She was cursed.

Were there any other fillies she'd ever heard of with a heart defect AND a panic problem?

You're very lucky to be alive, ponies used to tell her when she was little, Most ponies with your heart condition don't last long. Having another problem to boot? There must be a very special reason you're here. Someone up there must really love you!

But they were wrong. The dead ones were lucky. Someone up there must really hate her to keep her going through panic attack after panic attack, a whole chain of disappointment and embarrassment that equated to her life.

Tears began rolling down her cheeks, right there in the kitchen in front of two guests.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, "Was it something I said? I'm so sorry-"

"No!" Rain Lily interrupted. "It's not your fault- how could it be? It's my fault! It's always my fault! It's my fault you have to go, it's my fault I can't do any of the amazing things y-your friends have tried to show me, and it's m-my f-fault that the garden is ruined, and-and-"

She couldn't keep talking. The gasps were cutting in too often for her to speak coherently. She could hardly see past the river of tears in front of her pupils.

She put her head down and charged out of the kitchen, threw open the front door, and took to the skies.

"Wait!" She heard Fluttershy calling, "Please! You aren't well!"

She looked back to see the kindhearted mare far behind, struggling to catch up.

Rain Lily put on an extra boost of speed, not wanting to be caught. Suddenly, Screw Ball was on her tail.

"Rain Lily!" She screamed, "Slow down! You aren't all better yet! Please, Rain Lily!"

The angry, embarrassed, teary-eyed little filly ignored her friend, flapping all the faster to leave the cross-eyed pegasus behind, flapping furiously for a few more seconds.

Then, the sky behind her looked clear.

Rain Lily slowed a little. She had to stop and rest-soon. She was exhausted, and nearing that dark peak she never wanted to reach again-especially not so soon.

"GOTCHYA!"

Rain Lily squealed in pain as a foreleg squished her still-sore little body close to Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"You should know better than to run off when you're hurt, kid! Fluttershy's having a fit back at your place!"

Rain Lily squirmed, yelping.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

Rainbow Dash loosened her grip a little.

"Sorry. Forgot you were still sore from-HEY!"

The cyan mare almost stopped flapping in surprise as Rain Lily shot out of her grasp and began to plummet back down to the unforgiving ground.

"CRAP!"

Rainbow Changed direction, going into a full-on nose five to catch the falling filly.

Then, Rain Lily pulled up, taking off in the direction she'd been heading before. She was beginning to twitch, and even from as far behind as she was, Rainbow Dash could see little sparks starting on the filly's horn.

She tore off after the little runaway, quickly gaining on her. She estimated how long it would take to catch up completely.

'Seven...Six...Five...'

She grinned.

'Four...Three...'

Almost there.

A few more flaps.

'Shit.'

Rain Lily was fast. Even though she was now twitching and withering a little as she flew, she could still pull a little father ahead whenever Rainbow Dash got within about four yards of her.

"That's it! Look, kid, with your condition, you can't afford to fly this fast for this long! This chase ends now!"

Rainbow Dash went into full speed, squinting against the wind. A familiar barrier of air was forming against her outstretched hooves.

'We're going really, really fast...'

"Rain Lily, STOP FLYING!"

Rainbow Dash screeched against the wind. She strained her ears at the reply.

"I can't...!"

Terror gripped the mare's heart as she saw the filly in front of her, engulfed in a glowing, sparking, menacing coat of magic.

Then, the first rainboom.

Rainbow Dash didn't phase as a sonic boom tore through the air, shaking the mountains over which they were flying. She gained more and more speed until she did her own.

Two consecutive sonic rainbooms. What a sight it would have been if the stakes were lower!

Rainbow Dash followed the filly's rainbow streak, ignoring the one that she herself emitted.

If that didn't get Rain Lily her Cutie Mark, she had no idea what would.

She grinned, looking ahead in hopes of spotting the filly before her wings quit and she fell out of the sky.

'I've got to congratulate her once I'm done wringing her little neck!'

Meanwhile, Rain Lily was in searing pain.

Her wings ached. Her flanks heaved. Sweat rolled off of her matted pelt, lost to the wind.

Had she just caused an explosion?

She'd heard a loud noise, and then another.

Were both her fault? Or just one?

Or was it somepony else?

She wished she could stop.

Would her horn ever stop glowing? Her own magic-would it ever stop shocking her? Pulling her forward? Forcing her to keep flapping her exhausted wings, keep straining her stinging little lungs?

She fought to crane her neck, hoping that she hadn't lost Rainbow Dash.

She couldn't see behind her flying mane.

She screamed, but the sound didn't even reach her own ears.

She was going faster.

Then, Rain Lily felt as though she'd just run into a brick wall. She heard a horrible noise, then saw a flash of light, then everything was dark.

She sensed that she was still moving very quickly, at least compared to the things around her.

Sounds were deeper than they should have been, and each noise seemed to take a lifetime.

Then, another wall.

Her whole body felt as though it had been raked across a cheese grater, then bathed in salt, and then lit on fire.

Suddenly, she stopped flapping.

Exhaustion had finally won, and she plummeted down, down, down into the dark canopy below.

She hit branch after branch, got tangled in several vines, and continued to take a beating until finally, she landed.

In a patch of brambles.

Unable to move, or breath, or think, Rain Lily quickly faded into the bliss of unconsciousness.

'The Everfree Forest,' she thought as darkness swamped her, 'And I don't have a map to get out...'

~END FLASHBACK~

Sorry this is taking so long.

I'll try to hurry it up after this.

Yeah, so if you were wondering about the ~END FLASHBACK~ Part, every chapter up until now was catching up on past events.

From here on, it will be taking place AFTER the very first blip in Chapter One, where rain Lily woke up all beaten down and lost in the Everfree Forest all alone.

After this, things might get a bit confusing. Fair warning.