I suddenly heard a loud wail arise from the crowd. I smiled in pride. Obviously they think I’m going to hurt myself! Just wait and see! I then flew up to the highest that I’ve ever been and shot downwards. My wings flapped with such speed that they melted into a blur in my vision. My goggles heated up with the extreme heat from the friction that I had to rip them off in order to see. I could feel the sound barrier about to be breached and I extended my hooves. The final step was about to be performed and I was officially going to become a Wonderbolt!
Suddenly, I heard a shout of warning from the audience.
“Rainbow Dash! Look out!” I looked to my right and saw her. Lightning Dust?! I thought in terror. She was coming straight at me! I tried to stop, but I was going way too fast in order to do that safely. She was getting closer! I started to panic when I saw something at the end of her hooves glimmer in the sun. Then I heard her shout, “WHERE’S YOUR LOYALTY NOW, RAINBOW DASH?!” Then she hit me. I couldn’t even describe the horrible pain that coursed through my body as her hooves hit me right in the side. My wings gave way and we started to tumble out of the sky, leaving a trail of rainbow mixed with my blood. She cackled as we fell like a mad pony and she continued to hammer me in the side with her metal hooves. Only when we were 20 feet from the ground did she open up her wings to save herself from the crash, but I had no time to open mine. My body slammed into the earth and I let out a weak and pain-stricken groan.
“Loyalty saved you with Nightmare Moon,” Lightning Dust ranted. “Loyalty saved you with the Shadow Bolts, loyalty saved you with Discord, loyalty saved you with Chrysalis, loyalty saved you with Sombra,” she paused in order to take a breath. “But it won’t save you now!”
I tried to sit up, but my wing that had been hit screamed in refusal and I lay limp on the ground. She smiled at my weakness and menacingly trotted towards me.
“You took away my future!” she screamed insanely. I winced as another jolt of pain streaked through my body. “Now I’m going to take away yours!” She then leaped on me, striking me all across my body with her metal hooves. I screamed in protest and pure pain, but she continued to hit me. I could feel and hear my bones cracking and I could taste the blood that poured into my mouth, but more than anything, I could feel my wings being brutally attacked. With one final blow to my head, I finally lost consciousness and slept in my own blood.
“Is she going to be OK, doctor?” I heard somepony ask.
“I’m not sure,” another responded. My vision was slowly coming back to me as I saw a brown and purple silhouette start to form. I slowly turned my head and saw more shadows of different colors: white, pink, yellow, and two different shades of orange.
“Look, y’all! She’s wakin’ up!” the shadows got closer to look at me.
“Rainbow Dash?” My vision was getting better as I made out their faces.
“Twi-Twilight?” I asked. Finally they faded into view and I saw all of my friends gathered around my bed. I could hear the beeping of the IV near me and I saw the doctor scribble something down on his clipboard. Pinkie Pie’s mane was flat against her neck and her eyes were filled to the brim with tears.
“Dashie, are you alive?” she asked me with sorrow in her voice.
“Yeah, Pinkie, I’m fine.” Her mane did not return to normal, but she did manage a smile. Everypony around me then sighed with relief and all reached down to hug me gently. I winced at their touch, but I didn’t want them to see that I was in pain.
“Alright, everypony, get back! I won’t have you making Rainbow Dash’s injuries any worse than they already are. Now everypony out!” the doctor shooed them out of the room with one final goodbye from each of them. Then another pony trotted in.
“I’m sorry, sir, but visiting hours are over,” the doctor stated.
“Please, doctor, I have to see her!” the visitor pleaded. I recognized him instantly.
“Soarin’!” I shouted for him and extended my forelegs out to him to the best of my ability. I wanted to hold him and to feel his strength and courage. Soarin’ shoved past the doctor and embraced me. The pain was unbearable, but I was so happy to see him. Then I felt him shudder in my grasp and I could hear him gasp in despair. I released my hold of him and looked into his eyes which were now wet with tears.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him. I naturally expected him to be sad for me since I was in a hospital, but it was something else. Something in his eyes told me that something wasn’t right. He got up from my bed and wrenched his gaze away from me and to the doctor.
“Are the rumors true, doctor?” I heard him try to whisper. His sobs only magnified his words so that I was able to hear their private conversation. Then I saw the doctor give a slight and sad nod of his head. Soarin’ then gasped in horror and collapsed onto the floor in heaving sobs. I tried to raise my head up to see him, but immediately stopped.
“Soarin’!” I called out to him, straining to see. “What’s wrong?” The doctor then helped Soarin’ to his hooves and escorted him out of the room. “Soarin’?” I called after him. The doctor then closed the door and remained behind so now it was just him and me. He sighed and ran one hoof through his tattered mane. Then he slowly walked over to my bedside and held my hoof with sympathy.
“Rainbow Dash, I don’t know how to tell you this, but your injuries were very severe.” I removed my hoof from underneath his and glared at him with confusion and annoyance.
“You think I don’t know that?!” I immediately wanted to take back my words, but then realized that they were well deserved.
“Rainbow, your injuries will heal, but not enough to repair your wings,” his eyes clouded with emotion and I removed my gaze from him. What was he saying? I then looked down at my side and saw my wing covered in blood-stained bandages. I took the bandages in my hooves and slowly untwined the covering. What I saw below made me gag and I quickly re-covered it. I refused to let tears come into my eyes! I would not let
him see my panic!
Then I dared to ask him, “What do you mean, doc?” The silence in that moment was deathly and I could even hear the slight wind blowing outside my window.
“You’re grounded, Rainbow Dash,” his words pierced my soul. “You’re grounded.” He repeated those terrible words and then he left the room leaving me in my own agony and despair. I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore; they cascaded down my face and soaked my bed sheets and pillow. My stitches re-opened as I writhed in my bed out of pure rage and misery, staining what was left of my beautifully blue coat. I slammed my hooves repeatedly into the sides of my bed and hollered insanely. The door to my room opened again and numerous doctors barged in, securing my hooves down onto my bed and injecting me with a needle. The last sight that I saw before I lost consciousness, was the victorious face of Lightning Dust cheering me towards the gates of hell.