I smile and wave as I walk through Ponyville, greeting all the ponies that I have come to know as friends.
As I walk, I hear a sort of slithering behind me. I pause for a moment, listening carefully, before I shrug it off, deciding that it was probably just a snake.
However, as I keep walking, I hear it again.
And then, I feel It.
The world goes silent as I spin around, and see It.
And It gives me no time to react as It stabs me in the chest, rending a hole wide enough for my fist to fit through.
"I'm going to take what's mine now," It growls, before reaching into me through the hole It created, and tearing out the part of me I was meant to protect: Grendel.
And then, It's gone, as if It had never been there, and I fall to the ground, blood pouring from my chest and mouth.
I don't hear the screams. I don't notice the panicked ponies, nor do I notice the lavender unicorn, picking me up with her magic and teleporting to the hospital.
All I notice is the unending void.
Rainbow Dash
I grin as I wave at my adoring fans, each one of them loving me for how awesome my Sonic Rainboom was.
I look up to where Celestia and Luna is sitting, and I see that they're both having a very urgent chat with somepony. May as well not interrupt them to get some more well-deserved praise.
I continue out the gate into the lockers, and the Wonderbolts congratulate me on a job well done.
As they should!
I grin in self-admiration as I reverently peel off the Wonderbolts suit, and step into one of the showers, washing off my exertion and sweat.
I sigh at the relief the water brings me, as if it's washing away a knot I couldn't untie...
And then, I hear Celestia calling for me.
Without so much as drying myself, I sprint out of the shower, grinning at Celestia as I await her appraisal.
However, all I see is a sad, sad soul.
"Rainbow Dash," she begins, solemnly, making my charisma plummet, "Peter...Peter has been admitted to the hospital. There was an attempted murder."
My eyes widen. My world shatters. A thousand things flash through my mind, but only one thing sticks.
I could lose Peter.
And I'm out the door, pumping my wings as hard as I can, not really caring whether or not the exertion kills me before I get halfway to Ponyville.
As Ponyville comes into view, I feel the muscles of my wings finally giving out. I've flown this far before, so it's not a challenge. However, I've never flown this length so quickly, leaving multiple Sonic Rainbooms in my wake as I struggle to cover the distance in as little time as possible...
I feel the inevitability of my wings giving out as I near the hospital. Finally, when I'm about to slow down and land, they do just that, and I plummet towards the hard ground, too tired to decelerate my own decline...
"Rainbow Dash, what is wrong with you!? You could've died!"
I open my eyes, which I had clenched in anticipation of the final pain, and see that Twilight has grabbed me with her magic.
"Where's Peter?" I demand, struggling to right myself in the field of gravitational displacement. Twilight simply gulps, and I grit my teeth in frustration. "Where's Peter!?"
Twilight hastily places me back on my hooves, and leads me inside the hospital.
I rush to Peter's bedside, ignoring the astonished expression of the several ponies in the room. I stop by his bed, the tears the pressure of high-velocity flight had been holding back finally pouring forth as I sniffle and sob, holding his face every which way in an attempt to wake him up.
"Rainbow, darling, I-"
"Shut up," I spit at Rarity, hostility forcing its way out of me. I shake my head as more tears come forth. "Just...shut up..."
Rarity's mouth hangs open for a moment, but then shuts, the white unicorn standing back in respect.
"I could've saved you," I whimper to his motionless form. "I could've stopped this from happening, Peter...I should've been here..."
"Rainbow," I hear Twilight begin, "he's not dead. The doctor said he lost quite a lot of blood, but all it was was a punctured stomach. Nothing more. He's going to be fine, Rainbow. You had it much worse off than him when he carried you here."
I quiver, and shake my head. "But this is close enough!" I spit, my emotions falling to pieces. "This is close enough, Twilight! This is close enough to death for me!" I sob for a few moments, onto his shoulder. "I don't want to lose him..."
After a moment, everypony files out, leaving me to have some time alone with the tempest in my mind and heart, Peter, and, surprisingly enough, Fluttershy.
"Rainbow Dash," she says, gently. "I understand how you're feeling. I once came very close to losing somepony I loved very much. When my father was in the military, and I was just a foal, he...he went to war against the Diamond Dogs. He almost bled out on the field. Even though I knew he wasn't dead, I was crying like he was." She pauses, and I feel as if she and I share something that can never be broken. Oddly enough, I immediately know what that something is.
It's pain.
Unending, horrifying, terrible, pain.
"I'll go now," she says, softly, tears in her eyes as she turns to leave.
"Fluttershy," I say, my voice barely a croak as I stare down at Peter's face. I tear my gaze away from him for a moment to look up at Fluttershy, and I hold up my hooves as a signal for a hug. She smiles, and immediately obliges. "Thank you," I whisper.
"For what?"
I sniffle, and hold her tight against me. "For just being you," I whisper, feeling very attached all of a sudden. "I've come too close to losing Peter...I don't want to lose you, too..."
She smiles, and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. I return the courtesy, and after a few moments, I let go of her, and she excuses herself.
And I return to mourning my not-dead boyfriend.
A few hours later, a doctor arrives, and tells me all about the bed I can pull out to stay with him. I immediately pull it out, and lift Peter so I can wrap a wing around his shoulders. The doctor smiles, and then tells me what's going on.
"He's in a state of shock," he informs me, not even looking at his clipboard. "The shock of having a...meter wide hold torn in his chest has put him into a coma. We don't know when he'll wake up...It may be a day, but it may be a year."
I nod, and turn back to Peter, my chest filling with hope. He's not going to die anytime soon.
"I'll wait right by his side," I whisper, stroking his face with a hoof. The doctor simply smiles, and decides not to remind me about the fact that I have a job that I must attend to. I'm set upon waiting for as long as I have to.
And I'm never going to lose him.
Never.