Darkness.
That was all Rainbow Dash can see.
"Hey girls! I think she's waking up!" yelled a distant voice.
She suddenly sees a bright white light engulf her view as the shapes of various ponies looking down from above take form. Her vision clears as the forms slowly turn into her five friends, Twilight's coltfriend Time Turner and Spitfire.
"She's okay!" yelled another voice.
Dash suddenly feels herself laying on a bed, the sounds of a heartrate monitor beeping becoming louder and a surge of pain flowing across her entire body.
"Dash? Can you here us?" asked a voice, sounding like Twilight's.
Dash tries to get up, but felt too weak and in pain to even move, she then slowly opens her mouth to talk. "What...happend?" was all Dash was able to muster, her voice dry and hoarse.
"You were in a coma." said a new voice, Dash sees a doctor troting up to her bed and pushing aside her friends. "You sustained multiple fractures to your right wing, broke several ribs, broke your left foreleg and sustained a mild concussion." explained the doctor.
"How...?" was all a confused Dash could say, she has no clue on how she ended up this way, all she could remember was taking off with the Wonderbolts to begin their show and then everything was a blank afterwards.
"You took a turn too fast and you probably passed out from the excess g-forces, we tried to save you, but it was too late, you hit the solid ground hard." answered Spitfire, looking sad.
Dash looks around to see all of her friends feeling the same way. "You were clinicaly dead for three minutes, before the doctors revived you." explained Twilight.
"I...was dead...?" mused Dash, still feeling weak.
"Of course yo' died! We were worried sick when we saw what happened." stated a remorseful Applejack.
Suddenly, everything started making sense to Dash, as she finally remembers the reason she lost her focus; she was thinking about how Applejack stole Soarin from her. "YOU!" yelled Dash in an angry voice, using her good foreleg to accusingly point to Applejack. She then rolls out of the bed so she can beat her up, but collapses on the floor from the combination of pain, injuries and muscle atrophy. "HOW COULD YOU!" continued Dash, using all of her strength to crawl towards the orange mare.
"How could ah what?" asked a confused Applejack, feeling pity for her pegasus friend slowly crawling towards her, her left foreleg in a cast and sling, her right wing in a cast, bandages wrapped around her chest and a bandage wrapped around her head, covering up her rainbow mane.
"YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME YOU TWO-TIMIMING APPLE BUCKER!" screamed an angry Dash, before collapsing on the floor from exhaustion. Twilight, feeling sorry for Dash, levitates her from the floor and back onto the hospital bed.
Applejack immediatly realizes who she's talking about, but before she could say anything she notices that Dash now asleep again, apprently from overexherting herself.
"It's best that you all leave now, she has just woken up from a three day long coma you know." explained the doctor. Everypony except the doctor leave the room, all of them depressed.
The next day...
"So, how did the night go?" asked a nervous Time Turner at an angry looking Rainbow Dash.
"You and I both know that Twilight sent you to check up on me." growled Dash, laying down on the hospital bed and facing away from him. Time Turner tries to come up with something to say, until he gets an idea.
"Hey Dash, do you know what I like to do whenever I need to get my inner feelings out?" playfully asked Time Turner. Dash says nothing. "I draw!" suddenly, Time Turner pulls out a sketch pad and pencil. "I find drawing and sketching to be very therapeutic, especially painting." continued the brown stallion, trying to cheer the pegasus up.
Dash doesn't budge AT ALL. Time Turner gives up and leaves his sketch pad and pencil on the night stand next to the hospital bed. "I'll just leave these here in case you get bored." nervously stated the stallion before trotting out of the room.
After hearing the door close, Dash gets up and just looks at the sketch pad. "Me?...Draw?...Yeah right!" mused a skeptical Dash.
At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack is in the fields, sitting under an apple tree and thinking about Dash, and how she ended up hating her. Her thoughts are interrupted when she sees a familiar pegasus stallion land in front of her.
"Soarin, what is yo' doin' here?" asked a confused Applejack. She then sees Soarin with a very solem look on his face.
"I think it was my fault that Dash ended up in the hospital." bluntly stated Soarin. "If I hadn't told Dash that I was going on a date with you, she would'nt have lost her focus and crashed."
Suddenly, everything became clear to Applejack, why Dash crashed and why Dash suddenly hated her, Dash had a crush on Soarin as well and felt betrayed. "Stop blamin' yo'self Soarin! It was just as much mah fault, had ah told Dash that ah had a crush on yo', she'd have probably taken th' news better." explained Applejack, trying to make Soarin feel better.
Soarin says nothing for a full minute before finally saying something. "I think it's best that we no longer see each other." stated the stallion, trying to hold back some tears.
"WHAT!" yelled a shocked and confused Applejack, her heart breaking.
"You heard me! Our relationship destroyed your friendship with Dash and sent her to the hospital, doctors told us that there's a chance she'll never fly as fast as she used to without risking permanent damage to her wing." explained a sad Soarin. He then turns around to take off, but is immediatly grabbed by Applejack who then kisses him passionatly on his lips, they kiss for a full minute before parting.
"Ah love yo' Soarin!" said a sad Applejack, looking into his eyes. "I know." responded a sad Soarin, he then takes off and flies off towards the horizon, leaving Applejack alone as tears roll down her cheeks.
The next day...
"Dash, are you okay?" asked Rarity, sitting next to the hospital bed, watching her friend focused on what she's sketching. "What are you sketching?" asked a curious Rarity.
"A landscape." was all Dash says without emotion, never taking her eyes off the sketch pad.
"Look darling, I know what the doctor told you about your prognosis was hard to hear, but that doesn't mean your dreams of joining the Wonderbolts is over." explained Rarity, trying to make her friend feel better.
Dash stops sketching, and puts down the pad and pencil. "It is over Rarity, how can I be a Wonderbolt if I'm just going to be mediocre flyer for the rest of my life!" snapped the pegasus. "Flying at high speeds and being the best flier was the reason I got my cutie mark!"
"But that doesn't mean you to need to give up on your dreams!" rebutted Rarity.
"I didn't say I was giving up on my dreams Rarity! Just getting new ones!" snarled Dash.
"New dreams? You...have new dreams?" asked a skeptical Rarity. "And what new dream is that!?"
Dash picks up her sketch pad and shows her one of the drawings she did. For the first time in a long time, what Rarity sees leaves her speechless.
"Mackie...are you okay?" asked a concerned Fluttershy to her coltfriend Big Mac, they are both sitting at an outdoor cafe, taking in the autumn color of the trees, but Big Mac looked distant and with his mind somewhere else. Big Mac hears her and quickly snaps out of his thoughts.
"Oh, ah's fine sugarcube." lied Big Mac, he's a horrible liar, but Fluttershy doesn't seem to notice.
"Thank you for taking me on this date, I really needed a reason to leave that hospital and to stop worrying about Dash for awhile." meekly explained Fluttershy.
"Oh Big Mac! What a surprise!" greets a familiar voice, it is the last voice Big Mac wanted to hear right now.
"Oh Big Mac look who's here! It's Cherilee!" gleefully pointed out Fluttershy. "What are you doing here?" politely asked Fluttershy to the other mare.
"Just came to return this." Cherilee reaches into her saddlebag and pulls out a yellow feather. "I found it while changing the sheets to my bed." she then hands the yellow feather to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy immediatly realizes that the feather is hers, one of primaries in fact. "This look like the feather I left you over six months ago." said a confused Fluttershy to Big Mac.
"That's because it is! Big Mac must've dropped it when he came over to my place several days ago." explained a cheerful Cherilee. Big Mac starts to sweat bullets.
Fluttershy begins to put all the pieces together, but refuses to believe the result. "What where you doing at Cherilee's place Mackie?" asked the concerned pegasus. Big Mac was too scared to answer, so Cherilee decides to answer for him.
"We had sex!" blurrted the Earth pony mare, "Twice!"
"Huh-" was all Fluttershy says before feeling the whole world collapse around her, suddenly a blank look fills her face as she just sits there in silence, like a statue.
"Wow," stated a surprised Cherilee. "I think I broke her."
"Why?-" blurrted Big Mac giving a dirty look to Cherilee.
"You gave me severe grief when you dumped me, and it's only fair to give grief in return, maybe this will teach you a lesson in treating your marefriends like ponies instead of toys that you throw away whenever you feel like." and with that, Cherilee walks off, never looking back.
Big Mac just stares angrily at her as she walks off, only to be interrupted by sounds of crying.
"How could you Mackie...How could you?" muttered Fluttershy through her tears, facing him.
"Ah didn't-" Big Mac tried to explain before being interrupted.
"I LOVED YOU AND LEFT MY FRIENDS FOR SIX MONTHS FOR YOU!" yelled Fluttershy, looking extremely angry. "AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! BY HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH HER!"
"But-" was all Big Mac was able to say before being punched in the face by Fluttershy, causing him to fall back and hit the ground.
"I'm sorry..." stated Fluttershy, crying and looking sad. "...but I don't want anything to do with you anymore, goodbye MacIntosh." and with speed rivaling Rainbow Dash, she flies off towards her cottage, the sounds of her crying echoing across the land.
Big Mac just lays on his back on the ground, starting to cry. The one relationship he wanted so desprately to work out is ruined, and he'll probably never have that chance now. He then feels something light land on his chest, he looks down at his chest to see the yellow feather Fluttershy gave him months ago there.
It is going to be a tough winter.