The extra mobility that she had received since the last pony had showed up was quite dashing. The door had been mysteriously unlocked since just before the arrival of that last strange pony -- or maybe because of that strange pony? And this meant that she could peek out the door at the goings on, or maybe sneak over to where they kept the books -- yeah, she preferred fashion, but romance would do in a pinch (on her last trip she found this darling romance book that she would try reading later -- having something to do with a forlorn lover waiting by the sea for the love of her life -- Francesco or something. It reminded her of someone, very personal to her.)
Over the course of the afternoon she could see a parade of unicorns coming and going, with various expressions -- some happy, some angry, some belligerent, and some positively charitable (even Twilight's Rarity passed down the hall with the some of the others.) Maybe this had to do with her little Rarity? (she could hope.) Nevertheless, she still had yet to see Twilight. She did feel lucky though, on the other hand, that she'd also been lucky enough not to see the doctors again (though she had to keep at least one eye open for the nurses -- since they were out in force since her last escape.)
She sighed, still no word on little Rarity, and she was beginning to run out of magazines. She might start one of the books Twilight gave her. though (the one she was thinking of starting was about the fashion history of some place called Manehattan -- she wondered, though, if it was, at all, related to Manhattan.)
As about that point she could see Twilight flying by in a huff. She looked concerned, her face frowning direly -- had something happened to little Rarity? Or worse yet, Minty!? Rainbow was secretly hoping the mint pony would have been dropped off around the time that old angry doctor first showed off (even though she could be a nuisance from time to time.) She supposed they must have doing yet another checkup on the poor pony.
The concern in Twilight's face, though, quickly started to melt, as her features began to become flustered. She was angrily ranting something to herself about 'blowing somepony's horn off.' She shook slightly, and her ears were twitching randomly -- and was it Rainbow Dash, or were her eyes dancing around wildly, and blinking at odd intervals?
"Darling!" Rainbow asked, as loudly as she dared -- hoping Twilight would notice. Twilight though didn't seem to notice.
Rainbow sighed. Maybe she's lost her thoughts again. "Twilight, darling! Is something the matter?" She asked, slightly more loudly. Twilight still didn't seem to notice though -- walking slowly down the hall towards the stairs, shaking her head vigorously.
Rainbow contemplated shouting again. She began to breath in, ready to start shouting -- her concern growing by the second, childish and unladylike, though it was. She didn't get the opportunity, however, as her decision was made for her when the orchid earth pony nurse with the mulberry mane started to walk by (Sweetheart was her name, if Rainbow recalled correctly.) And she was pretty sure that none of the nurses or doctors wanted her head sticking out into the hallway, and away from her specially made bed.
Rainbow galloped back to her bed, as fast as she could, and threw herself under the covers. On the other end of the door, she could hear the nurse muttering. "Well gee: I swear I left this door locked! Good thing Rainbow didn't seem to notice -- she can be a little fast and loose with the rules, if I recall correctly." The nurse said, muttering to herself from behind the door (thinking about another Rainbow Dash.)
Rainbow waited there, with baited breath, as the nurse began to turn the knob. Would the nurse notice the damage to her inhibitor? Or would she get lucky this time?
The nurse didn't appear to notice, as she stuck her head into the door, smiling honestly. "Why hello Ms. Dash! Staying out of trouble I hope!" She said, speaking in a comforting manner. "Hopefully you have enough reading materials!" She said, blinking -- remembering all the shenanigans the last time a Rainbow Dash was here.
"Why, of course! Darling! And I have more then enough to read for the day, thank you darling!" Rainbow said, with an honest smile -- not wanting to tell the nurse she'd been wandering around, or that she had been trying to locate all the odd ponies she'd seen running around. She did consider asking about her friend Minty, and that darling foal Rarity -- who she was still convinced she should know nothing about.
"By the way Ms. Dash." The nurse said, breaking the news to the cerulean earth pony. "The doctors have decided to assign your friend Minty to the other bed, in this room." She said, with a smile. "Hopefully this will help with some of your homesickness!" She said, with a comforting smile. "And hopefully prevent you from needing to get out of here!" She said, winking at the events from earlier in the same day.
********
Rainbow sighed. Apparently Minty would still need a couple more weeks in the hospital, despite her miraculous recovery (the doctors were still marveling that she was still breathing after her accident -- let alone how quickly she had recovered.) Naturally Rainbow, of course, wasn't supposed to go anywhere until her condition improved -- with or without her green friend's recovery.
She normally found the green pony to be kind of childish, but her antics were very helpful today in keeping the clouds at bay. She had apparently started to plot some kind of a makeup Christmas (in January) -- and was already talking about putting up a eight foot candy cane (and making a new Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane.) She was also making plans for all the gifts she would give everyone -- this time she was determined not to 'give everyone dumb old socks again' (though Rainbow suspected she would, considering how much she loved those things -- though she had, on the other hand, given Pinkie advise, as she recalled, about how 'you can never have too much of something you love!')
Unfortunately, her patience was beginning to wear out -- not so much with her green friend's antics, but with the fact that she was almost out of reading materials yet again! She did still have that romance book, but it was pretty much it -- that and the history of high fashion (which sounded much more dashing than it actually was, and even so she was about 90% finished already.)
She sighed -- she was certain the nurse had successfully locked her in, and she was none too happy. She was certain she heard the door lock, quite some time ago, to prevent her from wandering -- of course, this didn't prevent her mind from wandering. Was she just imagining the three times that strange pony was wondering about? And why was she convinced that three drastically different looking ponies were the same pony? Was she crazy, or was something fishy going on? But even if she wasn't crazy, how did she keep running into them, and why her? Why not the doctors, or the patients? Why -- ?
Rainbow shushed her green friend, who was still plotting 'how to make up for messing up Christmas'. For some reason she swore she swore she heard the door being unlocked. She slowly walked over to the door, walking on only her back two legs (a nervous habit she suffered sometimes), and reached out with her front leg, her hoof distorting around the doorknob slightly. She would --
"What are you doing Rainbow Dash?" Minty said, with an innocent smile. "You planning to go on a walk?" She asked, with a smile. "Wait... Wait... Wait... wouldn't that be hard with us all locked in?"
"Why darling!" Rainbow said, with an anxious smile. "I thought I heard someone open the door, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy." She said, wondering if she was, indeed, crazy.
"Ok!" Minty said, with a vacuous smile. "Makes sense to me and -- " She said, thinking about it for a second. "Wait! Why would someone open the door, when we are both supposed to be locked in here 'for our own safety'?" She said, starting to mull over the situation. "Wouldn't that go against what they wanted?"
Rainbow sighed. This would be difficult to explain and -- "Hey! Darling! The door is open!" Rainbow said, with joy -- as the door knob turned with ease. She could go back to her favorite pastime of watching the day's goings-on. Except the thought once again occurred to her. Why would the door be open?
Minty, following Rainbow's example, celebrating herself "Perfecto!" She shouted, stopping herself in the middle of a musical montage -- that she couldn't perform due to her wounds. "But wait? Why would the door be open?" She asked, apparently curious as well.
"I'm not sure, Minty darling!" Rainbow said, her face filled with concern. "I think it has to do with these sighting I've been having of a mystery pony." Rainbow said, fully expecting to see the pony the moment she opened the door.
"A mystery pony, huh?" Minty said, the wheels in her head spinning again. "Hey! Puzzlemint likes mystery's right?" She asked Rainbow honestly. "She does right?" Minty said, frowning with uncertainty.
"Why of course, darling! But what does that have to do with our mystery pony?" Rainbow asked, wondering where her friend's thought train got derailed again.
"Well I thought a mystery pony would be the perfect gift for Puzzlemint for Christmas! Especially if it's a stallion!" Minty said, with enthusiasm. "Hey! What if we teamed the two of them up for a puzzle hunt? I mean, she loves mysteries!" She said, breathing for a second, growing ever more certain that this would be the perfect gift for her puzzle loving friend. "She would have a ton of fun! And she could help us figure out who the mystery pony was! " Minty said, thinking of the possibilities.
Rainbow sighed. Her overeager friend had a point. It would be very nice to have a smart pony like Puzzlemint here -- especially considering her love of puzzles and mysteries! Sadly Rainbow was pretty certain that they would have to do without!
In any case, Rainbow gulped. She'd have to open the door sooner or later, and maybe her mysterious friend wouldn't be around this time. She gulped again, putting her hoof back on the knob and slowly turning it using her invisible palms -- the door squeaked open. Her heart beat wildly as she slowly looked out the door -- luckily this time the hallway was empty. "Perfecto darling!" Rainbow said, to herself.
"Perfecto!" Minty said, once again, joining her friend's enthusiasm.
Unfortunately her joy was short lived as she saw the one pony she wanted to see the least trudging down the halls. It was the angry old doctor (Stable was his name, she thought) -- and he looked positively horrid.
This was bad! He'd see her for sure and then he'll probably follow through with that threat to tie her to the bed and --
He just passed by, completely unaware of what was happening nearby. He just continued to walk, shaking his head -- sobbing slightly. He was followed, close behind, by a very concerned looking doctor Stethoscope.
"I wonder what the matter could be?" She thought to herself. What could be distracting the doctors so? Once again she, instinctively, began to worry about little Rarity -- but not just her, all her friends, especially her disaster prone green friend, the next bed over. Could something have happened to make the grumpy old Grinch actually look sad? She stood there contemplating it (probably longer then she should), when she saw that Time Turner pony walking down the halls. It was definitely Time Turner this time, no doubt in her mind. But what was he doing wandering around here? Weren't visiting hours over, and who could he be visiting.
The pony seemed to be wandering the halls for some reason -- glancing around nervously. When asked by nurses (the doctors had all disappeared for some reason, she didn't know where they went, or why -- just that they all went racing downstairs a few minutes before -- with various amounts of panic on their faces), his answer was always the same: "I'm just here to fix the clocks in the hospital, ma'am. Make sure they are running on time!" Of course he said it in the most darlingly suave way possible -- it made even her knees wobble slightly.
But Rainbow was determined, she was going to confront him this time confab it! She just had to step out and confront him! "Excuse me, darling! But for some reason I've got the strange notion that you've been in and out of here all day, could you please tell me --? " She asked, as the pony started to sweat, and gulp slightly.
"Well you see -- " He said, his voice suddenly sounding oddly English. He, however didn't have time to finish his 'explanation' before --.
Another headache, and more strange lines. She suddenly found herself pulling on an invisible string to pull down an invisible bucket -- thus bowing an invisible Rainbow. She looked over her shoulder as her mouth let go of the invisible rope -- causing the invisible rainbow to come undone, forcing her to run after the invisible bucket. "Please be careful Raz darling! Watch where you are stepping! You know how delicate a rainbow can be!" She said, sitting on her plot -- her legs going straight out criss-cross-apple-sauce style.
'Razzaroo' spoke for only a second, unheard by anyone but the rainbow earth pony. Predictably, green shot out from everywhere again. Rainbow could only hope that the magic burst would still resolve itself -- despite the fact her inhibiter was damaged. Fortunately it did, but not before shattering off her neck in the most un-rainbowy sound imaginable.
"Ehem!" Nurse Redheart said, none too happy! "Ms. Dash! What are you doing out of your room, and away from your bed and --" She said, beginning to notice the shattered remains of a very old antique earth pony inhibitor sitting all around the fashionable pony. She grimaced slightly, putting her serious face on. "Ms. Dash! This is not acceptable! The doctor sequestered you to your room for your own safety!" She said, ushering the earth pony back into her room. "And that inhibitor was not just extremely old and very valuable -- but one of a kind! We'll be lucky to find another relic like it anywhere in Equestria!"
Rainbow sighed. "But darling, could not we simply just make a new one?" She asked, formally. "I mean, darling, you certainly made some blue prints, or something -- right?"
The nurse shook her head. "There's nothing else like it in Equestria, and the knowledge of how to make them was lost! While we did make specs, we don't have many ponies that would be qualified to make one! The good news is that we managed to find somepony that can, indeed, make a new one. The bad news, Ms. Dash, is he lives all the way out in Vanhouver, and we will be lucky if he can be here this week!" She said, her most serious face showing. "Let alone the time necessary to make one!" She said, sighing -- she hated to get tough with the patients, but sometimes one must use a heavy hoof with stubborn patients like Rainbow Dash (yeah wrong Dash, but give her a break -- they both look really, really, similar.) "Ms. Dash! Do I need to tie you to your bed to keep you out of the hallway?" She said, reminding the more adult of the two Dashes not to act like her speedster counterpart.
"I'm sorry, darling!" Rainbow said, with a sigh. "I've just been seeing the most mysterious ponies, that I recognize for no discernible reason, and --" She said, trying to explain -- she didn't know why, but she felt she had too. Maybe it helped to as a cry for help.
The nurse, though, simply shook her head -- either in disbelief or misunderstanding. Could she transfer away from Ponyville, and all the Dashes?
********
Rainbow looked at the door, as she had done so many times today -- she longed to go back watching the hospital's goings-on's, however, the nurse made sure to lock the door on her way out; and as such, Rainbow was stranded in her room (she was already hoping that weird Time Turner pony would turn back up soon, and help her out of here.) The good news was that she had ample reading materials for the purpose of making it through the day (counting the romance novel she managed to apprehend earlier that morning.) Hopefully tomorrow Twilight would come by with some more books -- and maybe some materials she could make fashion with. If she was lucky, even this Ponyville's Rarity might show up too! Rainbow felt just horrendous about leaving the fashionable Rarity hanging -- hopefully the unicorn managed to finish that order without her!
Rainbow sighed slightly as she finished her second to last book: 'the history of fashion in Manehattan' -- which she had just made it to the part on something called the 'neighties' -- had been a lot more interesting then she had initially imagined. "Apparently this Manehattan is as much a fashion metropolis as Manhattan is, darling!" She said, with a smile (but naturally nothing can hold a candle to Paris -- she suddenly felt angry at her dream: how dare her friends get her hopes up for fine French fashion, and then pull it back in front of her!) --
"Oh wow!" Minty said, with enthusiasm. "I don't know why, but it reminds me of that Raggedy Ann and Andy scratch and sniff story that Pinkie likes so much!" She continued, grinning slightly. "You know the one where they end up making friends with a Snitznoodle -- whatever that is -- and eat air sandwiches YUM!!!" She said, thinking about food suddenly (despite the fact that she had just eaten.) The good news is she seemed to be satiated as the energy peaked around the late evening.
Rainbow Dash sighed, finally reading that story. Her only book left was the romance novel (and she didn't see another interesting book in the whole bunch of books that the hospital kept on that cart of theirs when she checked earlier.) But as it's said: 'idle hooves are Tirek's playground!' (or something like that.) And her mind began to wander. I wonder how Twilight and that poor darling poor little Rarity are doing? She asked herself, as the door slowly but surely went click again. "Hmm... I wonder what darling keeps doing that?" She asked herself, checking the door -- it definitely opened again. "I wonder what my chances are of opening the door and running into one of the fifty Time Turners I keep running into today?" She asked herself.
In the end, however, curiosity got the best of her -- as she slowly opened the door. And, to her misfortune, playing out before her, was the old adage 'speak of Tirek and he will come' (or something similar, these strange ponies and their odd colloquialisms!) Twilight began to walk down the hall with the angry doctor. She didn't look angry, but Rainbow could tell she hid both dying agitation and growing apprehension (she didn't know why though! It was like she could just taste Twilight's thoughts and feelings -- it was eerie, in its own way!)
Rainbow really badly wanted to know what was going on -- but knew that she shouldn't ask while that angry doctor was walking around (at least not if she wanted to keep her mobility.) So naturally, she did the only thing she could: She sighed! She was definitely having trouble concentrating on her book through the growing worry -- was it her or was feeling oddly empathetic all of a sudden? And was it just her or was she worrying about that little unicorn again? Why was she so convinced something very bad was happening to the child? Had she gone psychic or something?
After a few minutes she could hear a pair of doctors shouting very loudly down the hall. Was it possible that came from Rarity's room. "Oh dear!" She thought to herself, narrowly avoiding another magic burst. The shouting had to have come out of Rarity's room! "That darling, Rarity, must be in trouble!" She thought to herself. "I've got to check on her!" She said, racing towards the door again.
Furthermore, to add to her anxiety, she opened her door to see Twilight being dragged away by the ear. "You're lucky I don't call the guard!" The doctor chastised her. "Have you ever considered what you just did!? You could have done irreparable damage!"
Rainbow knew it would work poorly, but she just couldn't live with herself if she didn't ask. "Excuse me, doctor darling!" She said, sliding her muzzle and face out from within the door that she had opened a minute before. "Could you tell me what happened? Is that, darling, Rarity ok?" Rainbow asked, with apprehension. "Please let that doctor darling be in a mood to answer my question, instead of asking his own!"
The doctor just shook his head -- her one track mind turning to her disregarding of his orders. "The door was locked for a reason! And you are supposed to be in bed!" He said, starting to become agitated at more than just the reckless princess. "And from the appearance of it: you've already broke your inhibitor!" He said, looking at the lack of the inhibitor around her neck. "And I won't have you breaking your bed too! We'll be lucky if we can even find another!" He said, with dismay. "Though the artisan promised to rush, we still might not get it for a couple more days -- even if he got it done tonight!" He said, shaking his head again.
Rainbow sighed, is this where he executed their threats of forcing her to stay in bed? Will she be even denied the ability to visit the tiny bathroom that had been attached to her room?
The doctor just shook his head. "You're just lucky I'm in a foul mood!" He said, with a scowl. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see this; if, and only if, you just go back to bed!" He started to walk away with the princess. "You're lucky I'm more angry at princess smarty pants over here!"
Rainbow, however, stood firm. "What happened to that poor little darling, Rarity!" She said, her lip beginning to quiver. "Is the darling ok? I just suddenly got the most dreadful feeling that something horrible had transpired, darling!"
The doctor scowled, looking at the princess. "We'll see!" He said, frowning competitively. "Princess 'smart plot' over here may have broken her!" He said, looking at Twilight before turning to Rainbow Dash. "Why is it nopony wants to follow simple instructions anymore!?" He asked, stepping back so that he might look at both Rainbow and Twilight, with consternation; before he, once again, started hauling the princess down the hall.
Rainbow moaned silently, she wasn't going to be able to read that romance book at all was she!? The good news, though, was that a sudden a feeling of relief began to wave over her. Had something good finally happened? Or had she finally gone nutty?
As she looked out the door again, she could see Nurse Redheart galloping down the hall at high speeds. Had something bad happened? Rainbow still couldn't tell, though, whether or not her serious expression was a good one or a bad one. But as she was contemplating this fact, Twilight and the doctor returned. Wasn't the doctor throwing her out? And why were her emotions beginning to go crazy? What was going on? And how had she managed to avoid the 'Eye of Nurse Redheart'? And what was the chance she was going to --?
She started to ask, stopping when she could, once again, hear knocking on the door. And a voice calling out to her. "Rainbow!... Rainbow!!!... Are you there?"
Rainbow was certain this was probably that strange Time Turner again (he was probably to disappear again as soon as she opened the door!) But she was completely in a state of mind to take a risk. "One minute, darling!" Rainbow said, opening the door -- which had remained unlocked since it mysteriously unlocked itself a few minutes earlier.
"Do you wish to see how your friend is doing? Time Turner asked smiling mischievously -- well she thought it was Time Turner anyway! The stallion definitely looked like Time Turner -- down to his symbol (the locals called those things cutie marks, apparently) -- except for the fact the pegasus turned earth pony was now a unicorn! The unicorn's mane was cut short and combed into some kind of a ridiculous mop top. Furthermore, he looked like a pony who had been prematurely aged, and was wearing the most delightful bow tie and suit coat.
"Excuse me, darling!" Rainbow said, with apprehension. "I know I sound crazy, but you remind me of four other ponies that have visited today!" She inquired, with a sigh. "Please tell me that you are not going to just up and disappear on me again, darling!" She said, practically begging him to tell he what she wanted to hear.
The doctor put on an uncertain expression -- like she asked a question that he really, really, didn't want to answer. "There's no time to explain now." He said, dodging the question brilliantly. "Come with me please!" He said as he beckoned down the hall. "If you are worried about your friend, then we'll only have a short window to see her!"
Rainbow nodded uncertainly. Had something truly catastrophic happened, or was Time Turner talking about the short breaks between nurses and doctors? She nodded dutifully, closing the door behind her as she left the room. "I shall be back in just a moment Minty, darling!" Rainbow said, formally. "Just wait patiently! I just want to check on a darling friend of ours!" Minty would've nodded, if she could (the doctor's had her pretty bandaged up.)
"Ok!" Time Turner said, beckoning down the hall. "Follow me!" He said, as they approached room number forty seven.
"How much farther is it, darling?" Rainbow asked with apprehension. "You said it would just be a little while some time ago!" Thinking of the fact that a pony she swore she never met had just let her across a rather large hospital floor.
"Just a little further." He said, starting to trot more quickly.
"Is something the matter, darling? Or are you just trying to lose me?" Rainbow asked, starting to feel her competitive side reemerge.
The doctor smiled. "And we are here!" He said, motioning at a door. "Would you do the honors Dash?" He asked, chivalrously.
Rainbow gulped, as she opened the door slowly. Peering inside the room she could immediately see two doctors, Nurse Redheart, Twilight, and a tiny pink unicorn filly with a rainbow mane and tail, and a heart and rainbow symbol. She knew already which pony it was, and used every ouch of her strength not to shout her knowledge. The little unicorn was undeniably her friend: Rarity!
But ecstasy was quickly tempered when she noticed the foal's condition (that and the fact she had never met the pony or her kind before!) She turned to that odd Time Turner pony and asked the question at the top of her mind. "Is Rarity ok, darling?" She asked, unsure of what he was trying show her. "And will she be ok, darling?"
"You'll see." He said, pointing his hoof at the pony as best he could. "Just watch." He said, hiding a smirk.
Rainbow frowned. Was she being mocked? And if not then why was this pony smiling at her?
Inside the room, the nurse was looking some kind of medical doohickey. She looked at the machine's beeping display for a few moments before her face turned upward sharply."Excellent!" She said, a smile beginning to make itself well known from her face. "Her condition appeared to be stabilizing!" She said to the doctor -- who countenance also started to immediately improve.
"This is excellent news!" The doctor said. Turning to the nurse for a moment to share a self gratified smile. " -- "
Even Twilight joined in on the mirth as she turned to the doctor, a smile of her own shown across her face as the filly's eyes began to flitter. "Shh..." She said, holding a hoof near to her mouth. "She seems to be waking up!" Twilight said, apparently not wanting to scare the foal who would probably be disoriented, or something.
Rainbow turned to Time Turner, crying with joy slightly. Why was she even crying? She didn't even know this pony, right? These thoughts seemed to be countered by her own words. "Oh this is great news, darling!" She said turning to Time Turner -- or at least a decent facsimile. "Cheerilee will be so happy!" She said, suddenly realizing that she was talking about another pony she never met before, yet could remember clearly -- Cheerilee, a purple unicorn, one of the Rainbow Quartet, and little Rarity's mentor. And the strange memories caused the green to appear again. Everything! The memories jus wouldn't stop! Was she about to d --
"Where do Rainbow's come from?" Phantom Minty half sung (remember she was back at the hospital room. So this definitely couldn't be her!)
Rainbow felt dutifully required to explain her knowledge -- in song. "They are made... well, somewhere... I imagine it's not here!" She sung, feeling uneasy as she did so. Didn't she have this conversation at some point before? And why did her head hurt so much? The green kept growing, till she could feel the magic burst starting. What had she done to deserve this? Were her memories all tainted? It wasn't even fair she didn't even know if these memories were even real!
To her left the strange Time Turner unicorn frowned significantly, before grabbing a strange device in his mouth (it she didn't know better she would have sworn it looked like a screw driver), and began to wave it at her head. After a moment of sharp pain -- the migraine and associated field of green just vanished, as quickly as it had appeared.
Rainbow stood there in astonishment, her mouth dangling slightly. "Darling!" She said, turning to the unicorn standing next to her. "How did you do that?" She might be it! This would be the treatment for her condition that she had been looking for! Maybe she could finally get out of here and back to the boutique and --
Like that her moment of ecstasy was over. "Introoder!" Shouted a grey earth pony filly nurse with a long black curled mane. "Rainbow Dashshs hash left her room again!" She shouted, trying to get a hold of the orderlies. "And the intruder helpedth her to escape!" She shouted, as a few more nurses barreled down the halls.
Despite the circumstances the young nurse kept a smile on her face. "I'm going to escort you back to your room Ms. Dash!" She said, with a bemused expression before turning to a couple of, rather large, minotaurs. "Orderlies, could you please escort --? " She asked, before being interrupted with the fact that the intruder had suddenly vanished -- and was nowhere to be found.
Rainbow sighed. She was once again being escorted back to her room. She guessed that she would either be tied to her bed this time, or put under strict surveillance. And that was so not dashing!
The nurse turned to the orderlies. And speaking as sternly as she was able. "Escush me gents, but could you keep an eye on Ms. Dashshs Room to make sure she stays in there? Thanksh!"
The orderlies nodded, with one shepherding Rainbow Dash down the hall, and the other one going to get a few books from the cart.
Rainbow supposed she might keep her mobility but would, apparently, not be going anywhere unsupervised for a while.
********
Rainbow sighed. The bed was undeniably less comfortable then her cloud themed bed at home, which was as soft as -- well a cloud! She resisted the urge to punch the pillow in a feeble attempt to fluff it. As that behavior would be positively un-dashing. At the same time she found it hard to blame herself: whatever it was that Time Turner had done was now wearing off, and that was causing her magic bursts to resume. And now with every burst her bed had began to creak and groan uncontrollably. Rainbow worried that the nurse was right when she said the bed would break if it wasn't for the inhibitor. And to make matters worse she couldn't sleep with these dreadful migraines.
So she decided to see if she could do the one thing they would still let her do: look out the window. How many more days would it take before their specialist could make a new inhibitor so she could finally start sleeping again?
Sometime around 1:00 am a dark blue nurse with a white mane, and a gold cross cutie mark nurse came in. "Good evening Ms. Dash!" She said, warmly. "By the looks of things you're magic bursts have been giving you some trouble." The nurse said, grabbing something out of her saddle bag.
Rainbow looked at the ring. It looked like a sight for sore eyes: "Is that another inhibitor, darling?" She asked, with a smile. "But I thought -- " She said, stopping when the nurse held a hoof to her mouth.
The nurse smiled. "Apparently we managed to get it much earlier than we expected. I suppose you would like me to try it on now?" The nurse said, holding the object near the earth pony's neck to see if it would fit. After a few seconds she nodded. "Ok this might hurt for just a minute!" She said, as she began to attach the ring to the earth pony's neck.
Rainbow grunted, wanting to shout as the object, did indeed, hurt for a second. The good news is that the pain began to subside along with her migraines. She might be able to sleep anyhow. Despite the fact that the bed here wasn't anywhere near as soft as her bed back home.
After a few minutes she finally managed to drift off to an uneasy sleep (though she would talk to the doctors in the morning about getting a cloud bed like the one she had back home -- especially if she was, indeed, going to be here a while).
In her waking moments she would have expected another odd memory with her friends Sweetberry, Scootaloo, Cherry Blossom, Pinkie, Toola-Roola, and Coconut Cream (or whatever they called themselves in her dreams.) Instead, she wasn't even sure she was herself.
Inside a room was a bug pony filly, sobbing violently. Her cerulean mane covered her face as she sobbed into it. "Why!... Why did they do this to me!" She sobbed, beginning to shake one of her hooves. "I thought they were my friends!"
Rainbow looked on, sadly. What could she do? What could she say? "Maybe Chrysi simply needs to hash things out with her friends!" She thought to herself, the sound of her thoughts booming off audibly for all to hear. "Maybe all they need for her to yell at them! I know how much good it always did me!"
The young filly's eyes darkened and her face took on a deservedly dark tone. "Maybe I should teach them a lesson about friendship!"
Rainbow stepped back, shaking violently.
"Is this what you really think?" Said the voice booming behind her. "Is this how much you value friendship?" She turned around to find a blue eyed red pegasus with a fiesta colored rainbow mane.
For some reason it cut her to the quick. "No! I assure you I had no idea Sky Runner! I just thought they would talk it out! I had no idea what she had planned for them!"
The pegasus looked at her wrathfully. "And my sacrifice? Does it have the same value to you?" She said, her voice booming. "Do you approve of your niece stealing her friends freedom and their consciousnesses?" Thunder boomed brightly in the background, obscuring her view of the pegasus. "What did they ever do to her worthy of this?" The light slowly dimmer revealing the pegasus again, but this time she looked horrifying to say the least. It looked like -- well she couldn't even describe it! Like she had gone to war, and never returned.
"No! I would never approve of it! I would never condone the conversion of her friends --!" Rainbow said, in horror. As if pleading with her friend. "They did nothing worthy of that fate!"
"And yet what she did was worse still!" Said a voice booming behind her. She turned to find a silver unicorn with a purple mane and a red stream traveling down said mane. She was surrounded by an orange earth pony with a blond mane, a yellow earth pony with pink hair, and a pink pegasus with blue hair. "Take a close look! This is what your cousin did to her friends!"
Rainbow shrieked as she looked at their deplorable conditions. They looked worse off than Sky Runner was.
"You did nothing to stop your monster of a niece! And now look at us!" They moaned, looking like they had been in the ground a while. "Is this what you think of friendship! -- "
"Or are you no better than they are?" Moaned a white pegasus with blond hair, looking old and prematurely aged. "I fared better then my friends, but remained scarred for life! And this was her compassion because of how 'kind' I had been to her! Why did she do this to us!? And why was I the only one who returned! She was our friend! Why'd she do this to us?! It didn't even matter whether or not we were in our right minds when we did so!"
"I'm sorry!" Rainbow wailed, hiccupping slightly. "I had no idea! I swear! I'm so sorry!!!"
Behind her a regal voice boomed. "ENOUGH!!!!!"
She looked around to find what made that sound, but in the end she saw nothing. The horrible scene continued around here.
"I gave my life for you Princess Auroras! And how do you repay me!!!" The pegasus ghost moaned, with an unearthly voice.
"ENOUGH!!!" Shouted the regal voice, unheard. "Enough! Please!!! Stop!" The voice begged, becoming ever more desperate.
"Please no! Please! I'm sorry!" Rainbow shouted, waking up with a start.
********
"Tough night?" Celestia asked her sister, chortling slightly at the look of her rumpled mane, and the fact that the princess of the night looked more fatigued than usual. "Canterlot get attacked again? Or, maybe, have the nobles finally found out about your little night court?" She asked, hiding another chuckle behind her hoof.
Luna snorted. "Thou wouldst think it funny? Wouldst though not?" She said, scowling at her sister. "Hast thou other jokes for us to laugh at?"
Celestia just about fell over laughing, she only talked in Old Equish when she was upset, or addressing her subjects. "Let me guess, trying to find another pet again?" Luna looked at her with agitation. "Or maybe the monsters give you grief and --?"
Luna looked at her sister, looking ever more exasperated, before inhaling slightly. "SILENCE!!!!" She barked, invoking the Royal Canterlot Voice (the whole works including smoke, fire, and wind). "Dost though think it amusing that thine sister hath lost her touch? I canst hear our subjects now: 'Oh Celestia never loses her touch! Not like that Luna!' Mark mine words! They shalt talk about me behind mine back!"
Celestia looked on sadly -- this was unusual. She had definitely seen her sister this upset before, but never about failing at her work (as she recall her sister's original fall was because of her feeling like her work wasn't being respected) "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, looking solemnly at her sister. "Maybe I can help?"
"What doth there be to talk of!" She said, looking down -- her hoof rubbing against the table slightly. "Sister, we art losing our touch!" She moaned. "We couldst not banish the nightmares! We couldst not enter our little ponies dreams."
Celestia chuckled. This was the most absurd thing she had ever heard her sister say. "You think you're losing your touch because of one bad night?" She smiled, shaking her head. "And Faust knows that I've had a bad day or three over the years!"
"No!" The alicorn of the night responded. "Not just one night!" She said, looking on distantly. "I've had this problem nearly every night since Hearth's Warming Day!"
Celestia sighed. Maybe her sister had a point. "How many of our little ponies has this been occurring to? Why did you not mention this earlier?"
Luna sighed. "We hoped that we couldst deal with this on our own! We wert reminded of father in his final days." She said, swallowing her tears lest she cry like she did back at their old castle when she was separated from the nightmare that she had borne all those years before. "Two plus a new one last night." She said, shaking slightly.
"Well: tell me about last night? What happened?" The older of the two sisters asked.
The younger sister nodded, taking a deep breath before repeating verbatim the odd occurrences of the night before. Her first stop was Ponyville -- the bearers home town of all places -- she had been there almost every night since Hearth's Warming Day, and yet somepony's nightmares continued, unabated. She'd been trying to get into their dreams but remained unable even to enter -- let alone intervene. This time she was going to get in if it was the last thing she did!
The dream continued to play itself out -- apparently a pony in the hospital (it made sense). So naturally she attempted to dream walk in -- only to find out that her entry was aggravatingly barred again. But she was not going to let go of the issue, the stronger the nightmare the easier her entry would be, and the nightmare was reaching a crescendo -- and at just the right time she might be able to force her way in (sad that she had been reduced to this, she normally entered with such ease. Normally she only showed up so rarely in dreams because of the fact that she was only one pony.)
"We shalt intervene this time Tiberius -- so help us Faust!!!" She shouted, to her pet possum (who remained in the waking world), as she started pushing against the seemingly impenetrable walls of the dream. As she expected, the pony trapped within was begging for help, and the walls finally started to budge (it didn't hurt that the princess was throwing every last ounce of magic she had at the problem.)
Inside she could see a white unicorn with a rainbow mane, blue eyes, and a rainbow colored star cutie mark. She was standing before six zomponies, and a very sick looking pegasus! Each one of the ponies took their turn to yell at the white unicorn, who sobbed uncontrollably.
It was time for her to step in. The problem is that she remained unable to intervene, and remained incorporeal.
"Why'd she do this to us! It didn't even matter whether or not we were in our right minds when we did so!" The old shriveled white pegasus moaned.
The white unicorn began to cry uncontrollably, starting to hiccup.
Luna could sense a familiar relationship between the white unicorn and the red pegasus. Was this nightmare due to some kind of hidden guilt? No! she didn't sense foul play. Did she fail to do something she felt she should have? Furthermore Luna could sense the white unicorn felt guilt towards the other ponies. Why? In any case it was time to step in.
"ENOUGH!!!!!" Luna shouted, powering up her horn to blow away one of the nightmares. To her horror the nightmares remained, and her presence was barely noticed.
The nightmares continued to rebuke her, as the unicorn continued to sob.
"ENOUGH!!!" She shouted again, channeling her magic again -- this time no pony even noticed.
She tried again and again, each time becoming more and more desperate.
She began to beg the dreams."Enough! Please!!! Stop!" Becoming ever more desperate.
In the end the unicorn awoke. She was defeated again. Curses.
"So Luna, you spoke of another pony?" Celestia said, with concern. "Do you know who it was?"
Luna shook her head. She didn't know. "All I knowest sister is that the nightmare comes from Appleloosa. We sensest the nightmare forces at work, but we canst not find any traces of them."
Celestia looked on with dismay. "Are you sure? We destroyed the nightmare forces last year once and for all, when we banished the nightmare from Rarity."
Luna shook her head. "I knowest not, I beleivest it's not the same nightmare. But I can sensest it's malevolence."
Celestia scowled: first exploding skies, then her old friend Cheerilee appeared from nowhere, and now the nightmares reemerge suddenly. Was her Equestria finally coming to an end?