//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Old memories // by TheSourceCode95 //------------------------------// The sound of shattering glass against the wall was not loud enough to cover up the screams. Screams of fear, screams of pain, screams of horror. No matter how hard she screamed, it was all in vain. Glassware flew around the chamber, followed by the plates of the dinner that they had not finished yet. And even though she tried, she could not escape. Never could she escape. Running was no use, hiding wasn’t an option. As she saw him grabbing the last plate on the table, she tried to dive away. But she was too late. “Noo!” she screamed. “Hi there Rainbow Dash! Welcome back to Equestria!” Pinkie bounced up and down. “Wow Rainbow, you’ve sure made a biggie this time. What were ya even tryin’ to do? If I needed to get a tunnel I’d get myself some shovels.” Applejack said. She had been pacing around in the hospital since she came in. Even still she did not seem to be able to relax. “Ugh, I don’t know, I think it was not the best idea to try a corkscrew right after a triple loop... Ouch, my head seems to agree. How long have I been gone? I mean, last thing I remember I was still in the air, not in here...” “About six hours, “ nurse Redheart said as she walked in. “You’re lucky though, it could have been a lot longer. It seems like you’ve just got a minor concussion. A lot of pegasi would have been knocked out for way longer after a crash like this.” Six hours. Six hours she had been knocked out. That crash definitely wasn’t one of the lightest, but still. Six hours seemed quite a lot of time. But well, that was the risk of being the most awesome pony in all of Equestria, and she was willing to take that risk all four hooves. But still, six hours. Usually when she crashed she was able to walk away, or at least within a couple of minutes. And this stunt was not the trickiest one she had ever done. But still, it managed to knock her out for six full hours. Six full hours of not being able to fly in the clea- Her stream of thoughts was interrupted as nurse Redheart started to speak. “Well, it seems like you’re okay, but unfortunately we can not let you go just yet. Concussions always have a risk of coming with loss of memory. We will have to keep you here for the night. It’s probably best if the rest of you leave, miss Dash needs her rest.” Rainbow had been in the hospital for some minor injuries like this one before, and she knew she was in for a long night. Slowly the night passed by. There wasn’t much sleeping involved, as she had predicted. She would be woken up every two hours to answer a couple stupid questions, like her name, her color, her cutie mark and that kind of stuff. Even though nurse Redheart had explained to her that it was to make sure there was no loss of memory, it still was pretty annoying. But slowly time passed by, and eventually she wasn’t woken up by the nurse, but by a single stream of silver sunlight, breaking through the curtains. Hmmm, how late would it be? Judging by the stance of the sun, she figured that it still had to be pretty early in the morning. Probably earlier than she usually woke up. But hey, what would she expect, those hospital beds aren’t exactly as comfy as a nice cool cloud. Oh, the memories of flight did not help her. What did she long to the fresh, clear blue skies. Even though she had only been in here for one night, she was sick of it. This hospital was really not the best place to be. It was hot, there was no fresh air, and she the air in here made her want to throw up. Oh, how long would it take for her to get released from this place? As she looked up on the clock, wait... Clock? Oh, right, they had a clock in here. She wasn’t used to those things. Up in her sky there were no places to put clocks. She always just looked at the sun to determine how long it was until Celestia would bring her sun down again. Clocks were useless, she thought. Of course, when somebody says something like ten more minutes, then they were useful. But otherwise, she hated clocks. She once tried having a watch. Biggest mistake ever. She really tried, but she just couldn’t stand being bound to something like that. Everything suddenly becomes a lot more stressful when you’re bound to such accurate timing stuff. Nope, that was something for eggheads like twilight, who had their day planned out till the very last second. Then nurse Redheart entered. “Good morning miss Rainbow Dash, how was your night?” “Just great. You know, being woken up every two hours really helps when you’re trying to sleep.” “I’m sorry miss Rainbow, but I’ve already explained to you why we do that. And you might not like what I am going to say now. The second time we woke up, you were unable to tell us the color of your coat.” “So what? I can now, it’s the most awesome blue you’ve ever seen!” “That might be, but still. It causes for some concern. We are not yet sure if you didn’t lose any memories, so to speak. We have got to make sure that doesn’t happen. If it does, we might need to take a closer look.” “So you’re saying I’ve got to spend another night in here?! Nooo...” “Now relax a bit please, miss, I’ve not yet said that. The only thing I’m saying is that you’ve got to be woken up and asked a couple of questions the next three nights. Now we would not mind keeping you here if you don’t have a place to go to with somebody who could take care of that, but I guess we could better let you discuss that with your friends. If you’d like to see them, that is.” “Of course I want to! This place is sooo boring... Any idea when they will be here?” “Hmmm, I think right now.” Twilight Sparkle said as she walked into the room, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike. “Hey guys! Thanks for coming by! You’ve got no idea how boring laying here is... I don’t think I’d be able to stay here much longer without anything to do.” “Why of course dear, why wouldn’t we come to pick up our friend from this place?” Rarity said. She still did not feel very comfortable around a place with this little fashion, even though the gowns really did match the curtains. “Hey guys, did you hear what the nurse said? About me having to be woken up? I’d hate to be a trouble to any of you, but I could not stand this place another night. I’ve already read all the Daring Do books they’ve got around here. And where’s Pinkie?” “Pinkey seemed mighty busy, ah think you’ll see here pretty soon. And yeah, we did kinda hear what the nurse was talking about yeah. You know, ah wouldn’t mind you sleeping over at our place. We don’t have a bed free at the moment, since our cousin is staying at our barn, but we might have a couple haystacks you seem to like quite a bit. So, whaddaya say, wanna come hang out on the barn?” “That’d be awesome, AJ, thanks a lot. Nurse Redheart, when do you think I can leave?” “Well, you seem to have recovered pretty well. If you don’t have a headache I’d see no reason to keep—” A trail in all colors was seen as Rainbow flew out of her bed and through the hospital, into the open air. Even though it was a relatively short stay, she had more than enough of that hospital for the rest of her life. She hoped never to have to get back in there anytime soon. Finally, fresh air. She flew high up into the sky, did a couple loops and started going back down again as she saw her friends coming out of the doors of that terribly boring place. “Ah, sorry guys, I just really needed to stretch my wings. You know, even though it was only one night, it seemed like forever in there.” “We understand sugar cube, just try n’ take it a lil bit slower next time. Y’almost gave miss Redheart a heart attack back there... Now what were we talking about before you decided to fly out of there? Oh, right, you’re staying over at tha barn tonite, I should probably hit some hay into a pile then.” “Thanks a lot for allowing me to stay tonight, AJ. I think I’m going to fly a couple rounds and see how Tank is doing. Thanks guys!” A soft voice tried to say something, but Rainbow was already gone. High up into the sky, feeling the wind blowing through her mane. This is what she loved to do. This is how she was supposed to live. Not laying down in some sort of thing they call a bed down there. You almost can’t sleep on those things! No, just give her a cloud. Those are way better than beds. Haystacks were fine with her too, even trees. But those beds, she’d never get used to them. No matter how often she had to sleep in that hospital, she just could not sleep in those things. “Let’s see, what are we going to do,” she thought to herself. She really felt like flying all day, but she also wanted to see how Tank was doing. And she hadn’t seen her pink friend, Pinkie probably didn’t even know she was out of the hospital just yet. “Well, let’s do a quick fly-by past Sugarcube Corner, and head home to see Tank after that. That way I can stretch those babies and let Pinkie know I’ve been released from the hospital.” She flew up high into the sky. As she passed through a small cloud she felt the damp and cooling effects of the small droplets of water. Clouds were a strange thing. Even though she could lay on them and sleep, she could fly right through them or make them disappear just as easily. She never really thought about that before, and didn’t think about it for long. She had reached her desired height, and started rocketing down back towards the ground, heading for Sugarcube Corner. As she flew faster her trail became clearer and clearer. She knew that if she went fast enough to do the Sonic Rainboom, her trail would be visible for about a day. She wasn’t going to go that fast though, she did not want to leave a trail throughout the streets the entire day. Probably just a couple of minutes, so she was sure Pinkie would see it. When she was only about 3 feet of the ground, she pulled up and went straight through the street, right past Sugarcube Corner, and back up again. The trail of rainbow colors was probably clear enough to hold for about ten minutes. As she looked back, she saw her bouncing friend looking up, smiling like always. She smiled back, and then took off into the direction of her cloud house, towards Tank. That poor guy has been alone for about two days now. Even though the trusty tortoise did not need to be fed every day, probably only once every five days, she still did not feel good for leaving him there on his own. In a matter of seconds she was at her home. She landed in front of her door. This house was not the best cloud house she had ever seen, but she made it herself. Stamping all the clouds into the right shape, and making it stay there had been a lot of work, but it was worth it. She opened the door. “Hey Tank, I’m home!” she yelled. “Tank? Where are you?” She became a bit nervous. Would that tortoise have flown off? Meh, probably not. He was probably just somewhere slowly walking towards her. She started looking. “Tank?” She looked everywhere she could think off, but did not see her pet. “Tank? Do you hear me? Tank?” She looked and looked, but could not find her trusty pet. Tears started forming in her eyes. Where could that tortoise have gone?