//------------------------------//
// Waking up 
// Story: Inside 
// by StarlettSkies 
//------------------------------//

Inside; Chapter 1.

Black. That was all.  A never ending plane of darkness as far as the eye could see. Not that you possibly could see anything. However, a Pegasus, as it seemed, floated in the pool of black.
Its mane wafting sadly through the invisible breeze, feathers looping uselessly by its side. Its legs seemed to be dead as they to hung miserably from the pony. However her eyes were very much alive, glowing radiantly however searching frantically in a blur of rose pink.
This was Rainbow Dash.
Her mind was ablaze. Where she was and how could she get out were the only things on the cyan pony’s mind. As much as she tried, her entire body would refuse to even twitch to her command. She was slowly exhausting herself and it was only after what could’ve been hours of attempting to move did she accept that there was no way of getting her body to work.
Calming herself down, she looked around at her surroundings, or lack thereof.
“Where am I?” She contemplated. Instead of using her mouth to attempt to speak to anyone who might be in this hell hole she eventually resourced to talk to herself. Or, well, think to herself.
“No, wait...” She thought. “Why am I here? A-am I dead? Did I die?!” She was just about to start off on a frantic, panic-fueled train of thought when she noticed something in the distance. Rainbow could make out four legs, a head, a tail... It was a pony! However ,it was too far away to be able to make out whether it was a pegasus, unicorn or earth pony. Regardless, Rainbow was already celebrating the fact that at least there was somepony else here. The pony was floating further and further towards Rainbow, and she could also make out that the pony was in the same limp-like state as she was but it was something else that made Rainbow Dash abruptly stop celebrating. The pony looked exactly like Rainbow Dash. The same coloured mane, the same cyan coat, everything!
“What?! What the heck is this?! Who is she? Why the heck would she try to pose me?!”  Went Rainbow’s rage-induced internal monologue. Now anyone with common sense would come to the decision that this impostor was a pegasus, but as the strange pony floated closer, Rainbow noticed that there were no wings flanking her side, but a unicorn’s horn on her head.
The pony was now inches away from her. Dash looked furiously at this faker however when Rainbow’s sight crossed track with the unicorn’s eyes. Something shook her to the bone. Her eyes were not a radiant magenta. No. They were a sickly dull amber. Not only that, but they stared sightlessly at the scared Pegasus.
It was as if the unicorn was dead.
Rainbow’s fury quickly dissipated, quickly replaced with worry as she searched the unicorn’s eyes for any sign of life.
Nothing.
Rainbow was inexplicably grieving for the unicorn. She never knew this pony, nor did she want to! So, why was she crying over it? She’s masquerading as her, for Celestia’s sake! Her questions were harshly interrupted by the dull, lifeless unicorn grabbing Rainbow by the hooves and pulling her closer. The unicorn’s eyes remained dull but her words dripped with venom.
“Rainbow Dash...” The unicorn spat out. Rainbow Dash was confused by her words however she was abruptly over come by a sharp knife like pain all over her. Her body suddenly switched into action as she screamed with agony. She grabbed her head and shook it for all the good it would do. But predictably, non came out of it. Her vision suddenly became blurry as the hospital room ceiling partly came in to view. She fully opened her eyes. Her screaming turned into croaky squeals and eventually stopped as her realization came into tact.
It was just a dream.
However, the pain was still a reality, but this time more focused inside her head.  Her eyes were at pinpoint and her breathing was increasing at an alarming rate. Did she really wake up?
Why was she in the hospital? As the questions piled up in her mind her heart beat sped up massively. Rainbow snapped out of her current state and yelped lamely as the door slammed open and six ponies rushed into the room, all of them shouting incomprehensible words.
One of them was a yellow pegasus and she was... crying? She, out of all of them came in the fastest. Heck, if the door wasn’t already open slightly she probably would have crashed through it. However she didn’t slow down. She tackled Rainbow Dash and, still hovering centimetres above her, hugged her. Rainbow was both scared and confused by what just happened. She was about to say something but the yellow Pegasus beat her to it.
“Rainbow Dash!... thank... goodness... you’re... okay!” She managed to sob out.
Rainbow examined the crying Pegasus. She had an elegant pink mane, aqua eyes, and three pink butterflies as a cutie mark.
“F-Fluttershy?” Rainbow croaked. She spoke the words without thinking. As she examined the ponies that weren’t suffocating her through hugs, she slowly started remembering who these ponies were.
“Hey... guys.” Was all she could manage to say as the air in her lungs thinned out from Fluttershy, practically crushing her wind pipe.
“Uh... Fluttershy. I think you’re maybe hurting Rainbow a bit.” Said Twilight whilst trotting over to Rainbow’s bedside.
Fluttershy opened her weepy eyes in wide realization. For a few moments she remained motionless. However, after an awkward moment of silence, she quietly murmured her apologies and soundly hovered back down to the floor. Rainbow looked at the ponies after gaining her breath back. All of them looked like they’ve been crying, except the brown furred colt, who looked as if he’d just seen a puppy fight off a dragon.
“Rainbow Dash.” He began. Still with the look of awe imprinted on his face. “I’ve heard of miracles but the hit to the head that you took, well it... you” He was cut off by Twilight.
“It should’ve killed you!” She exclaimed. “How in Equestria are you still alive?! We were amazed that you were in a coma before but-”
“Wait! I’ve been in a coma?!” Dash’s reaction was understandably high-pitched, but nevertheless embarrassing “For how long?”.
Pinkie spoke next. “Dashie...y-you’ve been in a coma for 2 weeks now! The doctor told us just a few moments ago that you if it went on any longer, y-you might n-never wake up.” The usually loud and happy party pony stuttered out.
Rainbow looked around the room at the six ponies desperately searching for any signs of them disagreeing with the pink pony, however they all nodded in unison.
Her ears flattened against her mangled fur, her eyes shrunk and her mouth melted into a nervous frown.
“Oh...” she muttered.