Rainbow Dash felt consciousness returning to her slowly. The first sensation she felt was that she was warm and lying on something soft. Her eyes slowly opened and began to bring the blurry world surrounding her into focus. She could make out five brightly-coloured shapes surrounding her and she smiled. She blinked several times which mostly cleared up her vision, but it still seemed like the world was a bit fuzzy.
“Rainbow Dash, you’re finally awake!” Twilight said “You’ve been asleep for almost the whole day”
“Hey guys” Rainbow replied “What am I doing here? Why is my vision slightly fuzzy?” she asked.
“Ya don’t remember?” Applejack asked. She seemed rather surprised, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite figure out why.
“Not really, I remember…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as her memories poured back; her waking up in the cave, escaping and getting cut, and finally her friends arriving to save her. “Oh… right… Now I remember…” she said absentmindedly. She tried to sit up more in the bed, but groaned in pain as her side screamed in protest. The cyan mare tentatively peeked under the sheets of the hospital bed to be greeted by the sight of a mass of white hospital bandages adorning her body.
“Careful Rainbow, the doctor said your side is going to take a while to heal. Oh and your vision is probably a little fuzzy from the painkillers they gave you” Twilight said. Gathering her courage, she continued “He said that… well… it might be up to a month before you’re able to leave your bed”
Rainbow Dash groaned as she thought about how long a month would be. “I can’t stay here for a month!” she protested.
“Ya can’t do much else though” Applejack pointed out, quickly cringing at her choice of words.
Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack, who seemed to shrink under her gaze, but the pegasus pony’s expression quickly melted away to be replaced by one of resignation. “Yeah, you’ve got a point” she said in a defeated tone, sliding slightly farther down in the bed.
“Aw now don’t be sore Sugarcube, ah didn’t mean for it to come out that way and ah’m sorry”
“But you’re right, I can’t do anything” Rainbow replied “I have to lie in this bed and do nothing for a whole month!”
“No you don’t silly!” The bubbly voice of Pinkie Pie eased a little of the tension from the room “You can read, um… I know! We could throw a PARTY!” she squealed.
“Um, Pinkie? Remember Nurse Redheart’s reaction last time you suggested that?” Twilight mentioned casually.
“Oh shoot, I forgot about her” Pinkie admitted, scuffing the floor with her hoof.
Rainbow Dash smiled “Thanks Pinkie, even though the party idea won’t work out, I haven’t read the last few books in the Daring Do series yet” she said pointedly glancing towards Twilight who smiled and quickly departed for her library. She returned a few moments later with a small stack of books.
“Here Rainbow, these are all the books in the series that you haven’t read yet” Twilight said cheerily, placing them on the bedside table.
Rainbow Dash eyed the stack of books, noting its size would not be sufficient to last her a whole month. She let out a small, almost-silent sigh and replied “Thanks Twi”
Something must have alerted them to her feelings though, because they all looked at her concerned and Twilight asked “What’s wrong Rainbow?”
“Well…” she didn’t know how to proceed, but she tried anyways “I don’t know that I can make it a whole month without flying” she said quietly.
The voice that replied came from a corner of the room which had been quiet since she had awoken, it came from Fluttershy. “Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, if you ever need anything just let us know” she said reassuringly, smiling kindly.
“Thanks Fluttershy, if I need something I’ll be sure to let you all know” Rainbow Dash replied, smiling and blushing a bit.
“We’ll always be here for you dear” Rarity chimed in.
Rainbow noticed that Twilight was whispering something to Applejack. Applejack’s face turned a bright shade of red and she mumbled something back, looking rather embarrassed. “Um, Sugarcube ah kinda forgot to tell ya somethin’” Applejack said, looking down at the floor “When you came outta your house and we were tryin’ to get ya to clear the storm up, ah um… acted kinda foolishly” she admitted “ah shouldn’ta let myself get so carried away… ah’m sorry Rainbow” she finished, looking up into Rainbow Dash’s eyes to see a look of complete forgiveness there.
“It’s all right Applejack. After all, you’re the one I have to thank for being alive” The pegasus replied smiling.
“Well shucks Rainbow, it was the least ah could do” Applejack replied, blushing.
Nurse Redheart entered the room and said “Come along my little ponies, Rainbow Dash needs to rest now” as she held the door open for them. They all said their goodbyes for the day to Rainbow Dash, and left for the night.
Now that Rainbow was finally alone, she realized that she was exhausted. She tried to turn onto her side, but was met by a sharp pain so she remained on her back. Closing her eyes, she smiled softly as the darkness of sleep began to envelop her and draw her towards dreams of a more pleasant variety than those she had been having recently.