Okay rainbow, four days have passed. Today you’ll get released. Today is the day you can finally start living normally again. No more hospital for me! Let’s see... What time is it. Oh, only fifteen minutes until visiting hours. Time was going faster now Rainbow got used to laying here. And finally she had managed to get some sleep. Only about an hour, but it still was sleep. As soon as I get out of here I’m going to take a nap on a cloud. Maybe I should try to get another quick nap now. However, then I’ll be sleeping when my friends come. No, I can not let that happen.
Let’s see... Oh, I’ve got one apple left. This care-package definitely was the best one ever. Even though it did not contain any cupcakes. But at least it kept me from eating my hospital food. I’m wondering what the gardener will think when he finds all that food outside of this window. Well, it’ll probably happen more often, that stuff is just disgusting.
Hmm, ten more minutes to go. Let’s see. What can I do to get ready to leave. I can’t pack my stuff yet, I don’t have a bag. It’s a shame Rarity had to stay home with Sweetie Belle. I should pay them a visit, just to wish her well. Stupid flu, apparently half of ponyville has it. Well, I think I’ll just stay up in the sky as much as possible, just to make sure I don’t get it as well and have to spend another week in here.
Spending my time in the air. Oh I’ve missed that. I hope the lack of exercise hasn’t taken too much toll on my wings. I guess they are quite a bit weaker after laying in bed for such a long period of time. It’ll take at least a month to get back into shape. I hate to admit it, but even walking small distances is tiring. Heck, I hope I don’t collapse as soon as I step out of this bed, that would be embarrassing.
Five more minutes. Okay, I can do that. Let’s see if I can hear them already. Nope, I can’t. Well, not strange, nurse Redheart is keeping everything really quiet outside of visiting hours. I think they really shouldn't do that. A bit more noise wouldn’t be bad. At least it would offer some distraction. And that little filly that got brought in yesterday, she just kept crying. With a little bit more noise I wouldn’t even have heard it. I’m wondering if she’s okay.
Hey, I hear something. One set of hooves, probably nurse Redheart. Then it must finally be time.
And she was right, it was nurse Redheart. The nurse entered her room and started talking. “Well, miss Rainbow Dash, your friends are here to pick you up. I just need to take some final measurements to ensure that you’re absolutely okay, and then you’re free to go.”
Impatiently Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, just hurry up please. I’m sick of this bed.”
The nurse looked at her. Her eyes had the way too familiar look. Rainbow already knew what she was going to say. “I understand that you’re a bit impatient, but we’ve got to make sure that everything is alright before we can let you go. Remember last time?”
She knew the nurse was right. If she had stayed in the hospital for another day, she probably wouldn’t have been laying here now. And even if she had gotten that plate against her head, she probably would have woken up a bit earlier. “Okay, okay. Can we please just go ahead?”
The nurse started taking measurements and mumbling. “Eye reflexes are fine, temperature okay.” She walked back towards the door, and then turned her head back to Rainbow. “You seem to be fine, just a little bit tired. I suggest you’d go straight to bed when you get home. Your friends are here to help you get there. I’ll send them in. Just be careful, we don’t want to see you back any time soon.”
That was a piece of advice that Rainbow did not need. No way she was going to do anything stupid and return back here. “Trust me, I don’t want that either.” Then nurse Redheart left the room.
Her friends walked in. They were all there. First was AJ, Rarity second. Then came Pinkie Pie with Fluttershy right behind her. Last Twilight walked in. She looked a bit strange.
“Hey there guys, coming to pick me up?”
“Ayup!” AJ looked around. “We didn’t think you’d wanna stay here any longer, n we couldn’t let ya pack all ya stuff by yourself, could we?”
Rainbow looked around through the room. There wasn’t really that much stuff around. Just some cards her friends had sent, and some other small things. Oh, and the entire Daring Do series. “All those things? It’s not that much. Just a couple books and cards, that’s it.”
Rarity laughed a bit. “A couple books? Dear, you’ve read the entire Daring Do series, that’s nine books!”
She was right, nine books. That was quite something for only four days. Especially since Rainbow hadn’t ever touched a book after flight school, until her last hospital visit. Well, the one before the last one actually, but the last one and this one could count as one. She still remembered the problems that book gave all to well. “Eeh, actually, I’ve read them twice. But well, let’s get this stuff packed and get out of here, I’m sick of this bed.”
“Okie dokie!” A trace of pink could be seen throughout the entire room. “Done!”
Wow, she knew that Pinkie was hyper, but this was just freaky! If Pinkie would have been a pegasus, Rainbow would have no chance in a speed competition with her.
“What’ve ya been eating Pinkie?” AJ exclaimed laughingly.
“Oh, mostly cupcakes. This morning I woke up, and went downstairs, and you’d never guess, there were cupcakes! So I ate a couple for breakfast. Then a little time later, I got hungry. But those cupcakes were soo goood, I decided to make some cupcakes! Extra sugar. And then I took a couple of those with the tea. But I baked quite some, so after the tea I had som—”
“Ah think we get it Pinkie, the extra sugar explains a lot!”
It was fun to watch Pinkie bounce up and down with all that extra energy, but Rainbow really wanted to get out of that bed. “Well, what are we waiting for, let’s get going!” She jumped out of her bed. A bit too quickly perhaps. Her right front hoof couldn’t hold, and she fell. Awkward...
“Howa missy, take it easy! Here, let me give you a hoof!” AJ rushed towards Rainbow.
“Thanks AJ, I guess laying around for a week or two isn’t exactly good for an athlete’s body.” I can’t even stand on my own any more. What’s going on? They started walking out of the room, but Twilight didn’t follow. She just kept staring out of the window. “Twi, are you coming? There are lots of other windows to stare out of.” Twilight didn’t respond. “TWI! Come on, I want to get out of here.”
Rarity walked back towards Twilight. “Go ahead, I’ll take Twilight along.”
What was going on with her? Every time they had visited Twilight had just been staring out of that window. It wasn’t too interesting out there, just the hills. Nothing else. “Well, okay.” Rainbow started walking again, Applejack close behind her. Pinkie was bouncing up and down carrying a bag, and Fluttershy followed with a smaller bag.
As they walked out of the hospital, Rainbow slowed down and started walking next to Pinkie. “Hey Pinkie, can you promise me something?”
“Sure, I promise you there’s no alligator on the way home.”
Rainbow stopped and looked confused at Pinkie. “Wait what? No, I mean can you promise me something, as in, —”
“Oh shoot, Gummy, what are you doing here? NO! I broke my promise! Noooo!” Pinkie cried out.
“Eeh, it’s okay Pinkie. I just want you to promise me specific thing.”
Pinkie stopped bouncing. “Sure, what do you want me to promise you?”
Rainbow felt a little bit uneasy asking this. She knew Pinkie had probably already prepared something, but she also knew that she had to ask her. “Well, could you promise me you’re not throwing me a party? It’s not that I don’t like your parties, I’m just too tired for one. And I don’t want something like last time happening again.”
Pinkies ears went down a bit. “Aaw, not even a small party? How about a get-together? Just us six! And Spike and Owlowiscious and Tank and Gummy and the other pets of course!”
Rainbow had to think for a second. Well, what could go wrong at a party like that? She would probably have to wear her helmet though, with Tank soaring through the skies your head wasn’t safe. “Well, I think that would be okay, how about tomorrow?”
Pinkie started bouncing again. “Okie dokie!”
They had already arrived underneath Rainbow’s cloud house. From here she would just have to fly straight up to get her stuff home. Just as she wanted to start carrying her stuff up she saw Rarity and Twilight coming. “Hey Twilight, you got out of that hospital? I thought you wouldn’t show up, seeïng that you’re addicted to that window!”
Twilight looked down at the ground. “Sorry Rainbow, I just —”
“Ah it’s okay Twi, I’m just teasing you. Hey, now you’re here, maybe it would be an idea if you’d take the Daring Do books with you to the library. I don’t think I’ll be doing a lot of reading any time soon.” Twilight was still staring at the ground. Something was wrong with that unicorn. She seemed worried.
It took Twilight a couple seconds before she realised somebody was talking to her. “Sorry Rainbow, I’ve —”
“No apologies Twi, just stop worrying”
Twilight sighed and looked up. “Hey, now I’m here, shall I take the Daring Do books with me to the library?”
Rainbow looked at Twilight and said: “Twi, that’s what I just asked. So, yes please. That bag is just books.” Pinkie walked up to Twilight and put the bag with books in front of her.
“Well, I think I’m going to carry my stuff up and take a nap, I’m worn out. Those hospital beds aren’t any good.”
Fluttershy looked up to the cloud house. She had been there a couple of times. She and Rainbow were the only ones who had ever seen it from the inside. Rainbow didn’t really like to get guests into her house. She would usually just meet them on a cloud nearby. “Shall I help you get your stuff up there?”
Rainbow already had the small bag in her mouth. “No fhank Flttrsh,” she dropped the bag again. “No thanks Fluttershy, I think I’ll manage. Thanks for helping me guys.”
“Aw you’re mighty welcome Rainbow, just be careful. Ah’ve got a lot of chores to do, ah don’t wanna have to see that hospital any time soon! See ya!” Applejack started walking back to the farm. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie said their goodbyes and started walking back to their own houses.
Just twilight remained. She was still standing there. Staring at the ground where Pinkie put the bag with books.
“Yeah... Rainbow Dash, I.. I think I need to... I’ll just be on my way. I’ll see you.”
“Okay, don’t forget the get-together!” Geesh, that pony has been acting strange lately... What could be going on? Well, let’s get this stuff up there. She took the handle of the bag into her mouth, and flew up to her house. Wow, it definitely feels good to be on the clouds again. Let’s just lay down before getting that bag inside. Just ten seconds. Ooh, I’ve missed this. I just... She had already fallen asleep.
“Are you miss Rainbow Dash?”
A brown colt was standing in front of her.
“Yes? Who are you?”
“Doesn’t matter, I’m here to inform you that you’ve been suspended from the weather team until further notice.”
“What?! Suspended? And who do you think you are to tell me that I’m suspended?”
“Messenger of the Cloudsdale National Weather Association.”
No... No this can’t be true...This isn’t true. First the crash, then the plate. It’s all just a joke, a really bad joke. It’s a lie! That’s what it is! It’s all just one big lie! My entire life is a lie! It has all been one big lie. Not a single truth. I... I can’t live like this. I just can’t. I don’t want to live like this. This isn’t even living. You can’t call this living... I would be better off dead. Everybody would be better off with me out of their way. I’m just one big burden. Nothing else. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a pain. I’m worthless! Just look at me! I can’t do this any more! I can’t... I have to end this. I don’t want to do this. Right now, I just want to jump off this cloud. Head first. Straight down to the earth. Straight down to my end. Just shatter into a million pieces. I can’t live like this any more.
She walked out of her house towards the edge of her cloud. I... I can't do this any more. I'm going to jump. She looked down over the edge of the cloud. It was a long fall, and would probably kill ber instantly. She closed her eyes, and jumped.
So then this is it? This is the end? I'm going too fast now, I can't back out any more. She sighed. This was going to be her last crash. The ground came closer and closer. Then she felt it. Her front hooves touched, and the rest would follow within a second.