Midnight looked around frantically, as he heard howling in the forest not far from himself. The trees seemed almost like they were slowly closing in on him. The pegasus tried to push the rock off of his leg, but stopped when it started hurting even worse. He looked at where his leg went under, and tried not to be sick as he saw a dark red liquid slowly spreading around it. "I-is somepony there?" He called out, to which the only response was more howling.
------
Soarin dove into the forest as he started searching for the missing colt, ignoring both creatures and plants, as his single determination was to find Midnight.
He came into a clearing with a strange hut, adorned with a couple of masks from the Shaman Lands. The Wonderbolt captain landed and approached the door, tapping his hoof against it in hopes that the resident would have seen Midnight Shadow.
The zebra was coming back from the South, out of breath. She saw the pegasus before he saw her, "I see that uniform over your coat. If I am right, a Wonderbolt?"
Soarin turned to look at her, "Yes. I'm looking for somepony."
The zebra looked back where she came from, "A small blue pegasus ran that way. Where he is now, I cannot say."
"Thank you, ma'am," Soarin responded, "Do you know what he was running from?"
"I did not mean him harm, you see," She told him, "But I fear that he was running from me."
Just then, the timberwolves howled in the same direction, and Soarin took off, afraid for the colt's life.
------
Midnight's eyes widened as he stared at the glowing amber eyes in front of him. The smell of a timberwolf's breath was nauseating. The wooden creature stepped out, growling hungrily at its easy prey.
Midnight frantically struggled to get away from under the rocks, ignoring the pain and the sight of his blood. He looked back towards the timberwolf in fear. He saw the sap dripping from its fangs as it lunged at him. Midnight screamed as the creature started to bite into his neck, before it was shattered into pieces. The pony now standing in front of him was the Wonderbolts' captain, Soarin.
The colt started to cry, looking up at his rescuer. Soarin started trying to comfort him, "You're safe now, Midnight. I'll get these rocks off of you."
Then the blood loss caught up, and Midnight's vision faded. The last thing he heard was Soarin trying to keep him awake.
Soarin turned around and kicked the rock off of the colt. As he turned back to Midnight, he was nearly frozen in place by the sight of his leg. The dark red liquid did nothing to hide the shattered bones, or the torn flesh. The pink muscles contrasted harshly with the blue coat of the unconscious pegasus. Shaking off the urge to vomit, Soarin picked him up and took off, leaving the forest behind as he rushed upwards to Cloudsdale.
Thundercloud flew to catch up with Soarin, "Sir! What's happening?"
Soarin didn't look at the cadet, but he responded, "I found him, but he's hurt. Go get the others and tell them!"
"Yes sir!" The cadet turned and flew off to regroup the others.
------
"He's coming around..."
"Get Mr. Ticket!"
"Midnight, are you okay?"
The first two voices didn't really register with Midnight's memory, but the stupid, yet obligatory, question clearly came from his mother. His eyes opened one at a time, with a "derped" expression, before he shook his head a bit, "Mom, I was in an avalanche... Could somepony stop that bell?"
"The ringing in his ears will subside momentarily, Miss Lining." The nurse standing by his bed told her, as Golden Ticket rushed in, along with Soarin himself.
Ticket was the next pony to ask the obvious: "Is he alright?"
Midnight looked at his father, "Hi, Dad..."
Doctor Syringe Point shook his head a little bit, "Now that everypony is in here, I'm going to say this now. We've done the best we can regarding Midnight's injured leg, but he'll never be able to walk properly again." He looked at the colt, "It's only fortunate that you're a pegasus. If it weren't for your wings, you'd be fully crippled for the rest of your life."
Midnight's face fell, and he looked to the ground. "S-so... I can't walk anymore..?" He looked like he was beginning to cry.
"I'm sorry." The doctor said, "But it looks that way. It would have been best if this never occured. Even if you'd have been brought in sooner, it wouldn't have made a difference."
Only Midnight himself noticed the shimmer underneath the cast and the bandages around Midnight's flanks.
His eyes lit up. "You know what?" He started, "I'll just have to become a better flyer to make up for it! I'll be the best flyer around! Just you wait! Mom, Dad, I'll make you the proudest parents ever! Mr. Soarin, I'll be a better flyer than any other Wonderbolt! I'll even--Ow!" He recoiled as his leg shifted, "I..I'm hurt up kinda bad, aren't I, Doctor?"
The doctor smiled a bit, "The pain'll stop in a few days, Midnight."
------
Doctor Point pushed away Ticket's hoof, "The bill's been taken care of, Mr. Ticket. Fortunately, Midnight was the only pony who was hurt as a result of that storm. The storm was apparently caused when the maintanence pegasus missed a valve in the wind generator, and the whole factory started malfunctioning. That pegasus has paid for the hospital bill."
Ticket nodded, "Thank you, Doctor Point. What's the maintanence pony's name?"
"He said he wasn't ready to face you." The physician responded.
"I see..." Ticket said with a slow nod, "In that case, I'll wait for him to approach."
------
Soarin stopped in his tracks at Midnight's statement.
"I'm gonna grow up to be like you!" He said excitedly, bright lights in his eyes.
"Why me, Midnight?" He asked, out of curiosity.
The colt grinned at him, "You're the captain of the Wonderbolts, and you came to find me after the avalanche."
"What else was I going to do?" Soarin asked, "I wasn't going to leave you alone in the Everfree Forest."
"You're still a hero," Midnight said.
Soarin smiled and left, knowing that he was a hero in a colt's eyes. There was a loud noise and Everypony looked out the nearest windows as an unexplained rainbow formed nearby.