The dawn rose beautifully that day, peeking out from behind the hills in the distance to gently touch the curtains of Big Mac’s bedroom as the roosters started their usual morning chorus. Not that they really had much of an effect as the only remaining member of the Apple family had already risen a good hour beforehand.
Big Mac stood outside the door of the house surveying the beauty of dawn’s first light and the receding of the night as Princess Celestia provided them again with the promise of a beautiful morning. He looked back at the house and felt a pang of loneliness, he missed Applejack and Applebloom. He sighed and looked back towards the hills, he knew they would be back soon, but that didn’t make the pain any easier to bear. Heaven knows he loved them and he sure as hay wanted them to come back. He knew that they would be having a good time visiting cousin Braeburn up in Appleloosa, but all he felt was an empty feeling of sadness. He missed the friendly banter with his sister, and dang it if he didn’t miss Applebloom’s huge puppy dog eyes that could make her do anything the cunning little filly wanted.
“Aw hay, I guess ah gotta start on tha day...sure don’t feel like it tho...” he muttered to himself as he surveyed the new day that was breaking over his family’s orchard. “Hmm? What’s that?” a slight whistling sound had started off in the distance above the rising sun at the far end of the orchard. Bigmac squinted against the brightness of the sun and saw a blue streak diving straight towards the ground from a great height. The blue streak sped towards the ground as a thin white cone started to surround the diving Pegasus pony. “Ah guess Rainbow must be practicing early today” Mac mused, watching as Dash built up speed as she dived towards the ground, the white cone around her stretching and threatening to snap her back into the orange rays of the sunrise she was diving into. The cone of air rippled and exploded outwards shimmering as it caught the rays of the sunrise and bursting into a myriad of rainbow colours as the cyan Pegasus suddenly accelerated towards the ground, her mane a rainbow trail billowing out behind her as she sped downwards. Seconds before she hits the ground she pulls out of her dive and speeds between the trees of the orchard, the trees bending in the direction of her path from the draft of her flight.
“Ah wonder how the hay she pulls that off ev’ry time?” Big Mac chuckles as the rainbow weaves its way through the paths of the orchard, “At least she stays away from the un-harvested trees, Celestia knows what she do ta those apples!” he laughs turning back towards the house to make a start on the day.
*CRACK* *CRASH* *SNAP* a series of sickening sounds rang out over the orchard shattering the peaceful mood instantly.
“Wha the hay?” Big Mac span around at the sound of the sickening crunch from the east orchard, and was confused as he saw...nothing? “Ah must be imagining thangs again”
Wait...didn’t Miss Dash’s Rainbooms leave rainbow trails? Why wasn’t there one past the east orchard? He didn’t need a degree in fancy mathematics to figure that one out.
“Aw Horsefeathers!” he poured all of his energy into his muscled legs praying it was enough to propel him to the eastern orchard in time!
As he bolted towards the orchard he could feel his heart thumping as his mind raced, taking in the scene of destruction all around his as he neared the crash site. a tree had fallen along Dash's flight path and the poor filly had collided with it at full speed, the ground directly in front had been gouged out as she had collided with the ground and bounced into the sturdy trunk of a nearby tree.
"Celestia help me." he breathed, his flanks shaking from the exertion of his all out sprint, she looked like death.
Her hind legs were clearly broken and one of her wings was hanging limp from her side, blood poured from several lacerations to her body and head and tainted the light blue fur that coated her beautiful frame, her eyes were open and her pupils were tiny as the shock and pain nearly broken her mind. Her chest moved only slightly, struggling to keep herself conscious Big Mac could see the raw animal panic that was racing through her eyes as he rapidly cleared the distance between himself and her.
"Miss Dash! Now don't ya go fainting on me!" but he was too late, her eyes closed and her head dropped as her body slid from the tree branch. he leapt forward catching her broken body before it landed upon the soil once more.
"MISS DASH!" He bellowed trying to awake her, but she was out cold, "AW HAY WHAT DO AH DO NOW!" his mind raced as he thought of the only options left to him, he needed to get help, he could fix cuts and scrapes, but nothing of this magnitude. If he didn't get help soon she would die, of that he was certain.
"SOMEPONY HELP ME! HELP HER!" he roared to the sky praying that his outburst would be heard by someone...anyone...
And somepony did.
"Umm... excuse me?", Big Mac snapped around at the sound of the tiny voice in the glade behind him, "I heard you yell...and i started running...but then i heard you cry for help" the small voice almost brought tears to Big Mac's eyes as he observed the tiny yellow pegasus before him. he had never seen her before but whoever she was she could help.
"Ah need your help, she's hurt real bad. Ah can't fix anything like this." he moved aside as he said so and the yellow pegasus was able to finally see what it was he had been yelling about.
"RAINBOW!"