At first, Rainbow Dash couldn't hear anything. Not only that, she couldn't see anything either. As far as Rainbow Dash could tell, she existed in a black void. She was aware, but cut off from the rest of the world. Gradually, muffled sounds entered her limited realm, echoing as if coming from very far away. As Rainbow Dash listened, the sounds became more clear, and she was able to make out words.
"If you'd like, you can go back to whatever you were doing and I'll send for you when she wakes up," said a female voice.
"Nah, I just know that the second I leave, she'll wake up. That's how the universe works," a male voice said dismissively.
"She doesn't look like any pegasus I've seen before. Do you think she could be one of Discord's?" asked the female voice.
"One of Discord's vile abominations? I think not. Discord could never create something so beautiful as her," said the male voice. "More likely she comes from beyond the forest. Perhaps she's a messenger from King Radical."
"You're an interesting mix of pessimism and optimism. You think she'll wake the second you leave, but you refuse to consider the possibility she's one of them."
"Pessimism and optimism has nothing to do with it. Experience is my guide, and it tells me if I leave she'll wake up, and that Discord is incapable of creating nice things."
"Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Can you watch her for a minute while I go fetch some Mountain Dew? I imagine she'll be quite thirsty when she wakes up," said the female voice.
"I can fetch the Mountain Dew. It would be best if an actual doctor is nearby at all times."
"Very well, I'll keep an eye on her."
Rainbow Dash heard hoof steps clack against a hard floor as if leaving. For a moment there was silence again, until she felt herself start to rush up towards a light that had suddenly appeared.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, and observed a most unusual sight. She was in a room with white walls and a white floor, like the rooms in hospitals. A nearby table covered in medical equipment reinforced the idea that she was in a hospital. Rainbow Dash herself was lying in a bed with a metal frame, and standing above her was a creature unlike any she had ever seen before. The creature looked as if she belonged to the same species as Dr. McNinja and Gordito, except her skin was much paler and she wore a green formal looking dress with a nurse's smock over it. Additionally, she had long brown hair adorned with a variety of colorful flowers and a nurse's cap on top.
"Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw that Rainbow Dash had awoken.
Before Rainbow Dash could even open her mouth to say something, the creature jumped up, rushed to the door of the room, and stuck her head out.
"She's awake!" she called out.
"See? I told you! The second I left the room!" The male voice called back.
"Are you still getting the Mountain Dew?"
"Yes, I'm still getting the Mountain Dew! Just hang on for a second!"
The flowery-haired being turned back to Rainbow Dash and smiled warmly.
"He'll be back in a moment," she said. "How's your wing feeling?"
Rainbow Dash glanced at her wings and was surprised to see that one of them was in a cast. The sight triggered a dull ache in it, along with a faint throbbing pain in her head. Evidently she had crashed, although she couldn't seem to recall the details of it.
"Feels well enough I guess." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "My head hurts though."
"The Mountain Dew should help with that," the nurse said.
The minute the words left her mouth, a white unicorn entered the room while magically levitating a glass of some strange yellowish-green liquid. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in surprise. The unicorn was much taller than the average stallion, just an inch shy of being the same height as Princess Luna. He had a rainbow colored mane, and oddly enough, his horn was the same color as well. To top off the list of curiosities, he had no sign of a cutie mark on either of his hindquarters, despite the fact he looked to be about the same age as herself.
"Hi there," he said when he saw her.
Rainbow Dash had so many questions, she didn't know where to begin. So she simply went with the most recent one to appear in her mind.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Hm? Oh, right, sorry, introductions. This is Flora, our court physician," said the stallion as he pointed a hoof. "As for me, my official title is Prince Rainbow Sparkle, but I actually prefer to be called R.J. What's your name?"
"Rainbow," said Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, yes, my name is Rainbow," R.J. said impatiently. "But what's yours?"
"No, I mean, my name is Rainbow too," Rainbow Dash said. "Rainbow Dash."
"Really? I didn't know that Rainbow was a girl's name too," R.J. said.
"I didn't know it was a guy's name," Rainbow Dash said.
"Well, looks like we both learned something today." R.J. grinned. Then, remembering he had the glass of yellowish-green liquid, he said, "Oh, this is for you."
The glass floated towards Rainbow Dash, who stared at it in a mixture of confusion and repulsion. She had flown over and rested on top of mountains many times throughout her life, and she knew very well that mountain dew was not that color.
"Um, is it alright if I have some water instead?" she asked.
Both Flora and R.J. looked at her blankly.
"Water?" R.J. said with a raised brow.
"Uh, yeah, water," Rainbow Dash said slowly. "You know, the stuff that comes out of a faucet?"
"Um, that would be Mountain Dew," R.J. said.
"Comes up in a well?" Rainbow Dash tried.
"Mountain Dew."
"What rivers are made of?"
"Mountain Dew."
"Comes down from clouds?"
"Mountain Dew, or chocolate milk if you go far enough south."
"The liquid you pour on plants to make them grow?"
"Mountain Dew."
"We plants like Gatorade as well," Flora said.
"You're a plant?" Rainbow Dash asked, greatly confused.
"I'm a dryad, or a tree spirit if you prefer," Flora said. "I take it you're not from around here?"
"No, I'm from Eques–" Rainbow Dash started to say before Flora suddenly screamed.
The dryad had fallen to her knees, and was clutching her right hand with her left. Tears were in her eyes, and blood was seeping out from between her fingers.
"What happened?!" R.J. demanded to know.
"Suh– suh– someone shot me!" the tree spirit sobbed. "Someone shot one of my limbs!"
Bewildered, Rainbow Dash glanced around. No one else was in the room, the door was closed, and the glass in the only window was still intact.
“From where?!” she wondered as she continued to search frantically, fearful that the shooter might strike again.
“Not here, someone must have shot her tree,” R.J. growled. “And I know exactly where it is.”
********************************************************************
"Rainbow Dash!" Gordito called out for the dozenth time since his arrival in the forest of pizza trees. Gordito scanned the forest from his vantage point atop Yoshi, but to no avail. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found. Several other voices echoed his cry as they too searched about for the missing pegasus.
"Any luck?" asked Rarity as she appeared from behind a tree.
"No." Gordito sighed. "I take it you haven't found anything either?"
"No... she did go through the portal didn't she?"
"Yeah, right before we saw ourselves come out of it."
"Yes, that really was..." Rarity drifted off before she noticed something. "Wait a minute, what happened to your guns?"
Gordito glanced down and saw that, to his alarm, his gun holsters were vacant.
"What?! how did I lose them?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "They can't just fall out, you have to–"
Click.
Gordito's breath caught in his throat as he felt warm metal press up against the back of his head. It was one of his revolvers, still warm from when he had fired up into the trees earlier to give Fluttershy a chance to speak. Rarity stiffened as Gordito's other gun, enveloped in a multicolored glow, levitated up behind her head as well and engaged its hammer.
"I hope you have a very good explanation for shooting an innocent tree," a voice from behind Gordito said coldly.
Although he was confused by the statement, Gordito felt a cold dread wash over him nonetheless. He knew that voice. He had only heard it twice before, but there was no mistaking the identity of its owner.
It sounded exactly like Sparklelord.