//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: I Always Wanted to be Like You (Rewritten) // by Cheezy805 //------------------------------// I Always Wanted to be Like You ‘Rainbow Dash, are you sure this is safe?’ The timid, yellow mare flapped her wings a little stronger to push a cloud into place. ‘No, but I know it’s gonna be awesome!’ The cyan Pegasus easily pushed two smaller clouds into place, immediately turning to gather more. ‘Well, um, o-okay… if you say so, Rainbow. I trust you’ ‘It’s alright Fluttershy, this is what a month of practise was for!' She turned in the air and looked into the timid mare's eyes before continuing. ‘You know the plan. We have the lightning cloud ready, I just need to kick it to start the storm. When the storm begins, I fly around the cloud, picking up speed and spinning it, then fly up and come crashing down in a sonic rainboom, and if it works, rainbow lightning!’ She thrust her hoof into the air to emphasise her words. ‘Well, okay,’ concluded Fluttershy. Little did either of them know that there was another Pegasus, a mere filly, watching from the ground. She was leaning on the handles of a scooter and holding an unbuckled helmet in one hoof. Scootaloo had always come to watch Rainbow Dash when she went out of Ponyville to perform stunts. She thought of Rainbow as something of a mother, or maybe even sister, and was willing to support her in anything. Whatever Rainbow was to the young filly, she was a hero. Besides, her tricks are pretty awesome, she thought to herself as the other pegasi pushed the last clouds into place. Scootaloo was standing at the base of a thick tree so as not to be seen by either Pegasus in the sky. Rainbow caught her watching once and told her off, saying something about not wanting her to get dangerous ideas. Taking clouds from the weather factory wasn't entirely legal, but Scootaloo didn't need to know that. She had better hurry up with this trick, Scootaloo thought to herself. I’m meant to be meeting the other Crusaders in half an hour! A pair of cyan hooves came into contact with the giant cloud and the air vibrated with a loud thunderclap. Uh-oh, this could be dangerous… more dangerous than normal... Rainbow began circling the cloud, easily 50 times the size of both Pegasi together, and it slowly started rotating. After she had it going a little faster, she flew up far above the clouds, and without even losing speed, swung around in a 180 to face straight down. After a few seconds of propelling herself down, all Scootaloo could see from below was a blue blur. What's she doing? The young filly could hardly see Rainbow Dash underneath the white cone around her. This'll be epic! The white cone pulled impossibly tight. As it began to bend around Rainbow and reform at the back, the front broke and Rainbow went flying forward, propelled by the multi-coloured explosion behind her. No! It went off too early, thought Rainbow Dash. I need to pull up!! Rainbow began to turn up and away from the hulking black cloud in front of her, but before she could avert the course a mere foot, she hit the cloud. She didn’t come out the other side. Scootaloo stared in shock. Her mouth fell open as her thoughts whirled. Where is she? No, it can’t have- nothing has gone wrong before! ‘RAINBOW DASH!!’ she screamed up at the cloud The cloud began to glow white and then quickly changed to glow like a rainbow, before beginning to expand outwards. Fluttershy flew over to the cloud, scared to get too close. ‘Rainbow? Can you hear me? Rainbow Dash!’ she said, barely audible over the now roaring wind and crashing of invisible thunder. ‘I have to be strong…’ she said to herself before pointing straight at the mass of clouds and flying at top speed. When she began to close in on the cloud ball she also began to encounter resistance, then suddenly hit what felt like an invisible wall a yard from it. ‘What? No! Rainbow, you need to get out of there!’ she shouted, at what was a normal talking level of sound for most ponies. ‘Rainbow, please! Please!!’ she squeaked frantically, tears of fear and helplessness beginning to stream down her cheeks. --- Inside the cloud, Rainbow dash was barely clinging to consciousness. She could faintly hear a voice outside the cloud she was in. Whatever was going on outside didn’t matter, it was getting hot in there! The reason Pegasus-ponies can stand on clouds is because their bodies are light enough, and fragile enough, to rest on them. This means that where a normal pony could simply walk through a cloud, a Pegasus would have to fight their way through it; almost as though it was as thick as cotton-candy, but as strong as stone. Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice was yelling to get out; to leave the cloud while she could. That voice was quickly snuffed out by pain as small shocks hit all over her body. The cloud was building pressure, condensing around her… but, was it? It seemed to be condensing, but perhaps it was just building power… Rainbow thought back to her days at the academy, learning about how clouds work and how pressure works inside them. When pressure builds in a cloud of this size, it means… Ugh, it means… Ahh! Her thoughts completely melted away as the pressure increased so much that she could swear her body would be crushed… then the pressure mysteriously disappeared and the world cooled again. --- The cloud was swelling at a faster rate now. Lightning was cracking through here and there and the whole cloud was humming with unseen power. If Rainbow didn’t get out of there soon, anything could happen. Fluttershy was just about to try flying at it again, more out of desperation than anything, when it exploded. A ring of rainbow light flew out of the cloud, the most powerful rainboom Equestria had ever seen, and the clouds were completely eradicated; turning to raindrops almost immediately. Scootaloo ducked behind her tree and Fluttershy flew as fast as her wings would carry her away from the explosion. --- Rainbow Dash suddenly realised that a huge pressure was lifted. She was in the middle of a blinding light, and she was falling. The cloud had seemed to explode around her and she was falling slowly to the earth. In the suddenly cool air her mind cleared somewhat. Oxygen returned to her lungs and a small, pulsating throb was taking over her body, numbing her mind with a tremendous headache. Rainbow’s natural instincts took over. Without her urging, her wings began to flap and she felt her descent slow. Before she had flapped her wings more than four times, she felt pressure return to the air and heard an ear-splitting boom behind her. She felt lightning strike her directly between the wings. Unimaginable pain shot through her body, along with a huge blast of adrenaline. Rainbow froze. Every muscle tensed and contracted, and she was paralysed. She was still falling. So this is it, she thought to herself. Her thoughts shifted to Twilight Sparkle and her other friends. What would they say if they found out she was performing such dangerous stunts? Rainbow, you really shouldn’t. The voice of Twilight rang out in her mind. I’ve read so many books on weather accidents caused by exactly this that I’m surprised you haven’t been wounded yet. Murphy’s Law dictates that something eventually will. Are yeh kiddin’ me, Rainbow? Ah ain’t a smart pony, but Ah know the difference between a stunt and a deathwish. If Ah ever catch yeh doin’ somethin’ this dangerous near Applebloom, you believe me, I’ll tan yer hide. Well, Rainbow, I am rather a fan of your stunts, because they always create such beautiful colours, but, honestly, why ever somepony would try anything that dangerous is beyond me! If you were injured… ah, I can’t imagine what we would do. Well, for one, the town would become to dreadfully dreary with loose clouds everywhere, nopony can clear clouds like you. Well, um, I don’t think you should do something so dangerous, but, um, you know, whatever you want to do is fine, I guess…. You should do whatever makes you happy, so long as you don’t hurt yourself… um, if that’s okay… Are you kidding me? Yes that would be so cool! We could have a rainboom party! You’re like our own set of fireworks, and it makes you happy to do it! Anything that makes anypony happy is worth doing, at least once! Now for this rainboom party we’re going to need streamers and balloons and cake and guests and music and… Her thoughts returned to her own voice. What of the fillies? They look up to me… Scootaloo, especially… Everypony… I’m sorry. I’m not ready, yet! I never became one of the Wonderbolts! I nearly had my chance, but now I won’t ever make it… Suddenly a set of hooves wrapped around her midriff and tugged tightly. What is that? Rainbow thought to herself. She tried to turn and look, but was still paralysed. Fluttershy had flown back as fast as she could. She was trying her hardest to hold Rainbow, and they were slowing. Not fast enough. The ground was only 300 feet away. Fluttershy began to slip. No, I have to hold on! I have to save her! I can’t let go. 200 feet. Fluttershy’s wings began to burn. She wasn’t used to carrying anything more than woodland creatures, and trying to carry a falling Pegasus was too much for her wings to take. 100 feet. They were still going too fast. Maybe if she could find a soft place to land, she could land safely with her friend. There! A lake was visible 40 yards or so to the north, and the Everfree Forest was just off to the south. In between them, nearly below, there was a patch of soft mud. She wasn’t sure if she could make it, but she had to try. Abandoning her attempts to slow, she began to try to push Rainbow and herself more toward the puddle. They began to pick up speed again, but were definitely angling toward the mud puddle. Just a little farther… Crack. They had hit the puddle, but it wasn’t deep enough to slow them much. Rainbow was barely breathing, and Fluttershy couldn’t move her wings enough to lift herself, let alone another pony. But what was that crack? Oh no… oh no, oh no… Rainbow’s leg was bent at an odd angle. She had hit the ground wrong and Celestia only knew if her leg was broken or merely dislocated. She seemed to be breathing, but barely. Suddenly, an orange Pegasus came speeding out of the Forest on a scooter, helmet left behind in her frantic hurry. ‘Fluttershy!’ she called out, too shocked to think of anything more to say. ‘Scootaloo! Quick, you need to help! I can’t fly Rainbow back to town; we need to get her help!’ ‘On it, ‘Shy,’ said Scootaloo. ‘I’ll have her back to town before you can say “help”’. The small Pegasus was actually scared out of her wits, but she was putting on a brave face for Fluttershy’s sakes. Or maybe she was trying to convince herself everything was better than it seemed… ‘No, you mustn’t! She has to be taken slowly. I don’t know how hurt Rainbow Dash is, and we can’t risk you hitting a bump and hurting her more’ ‘Oh. Right. Well, what do I do?’ ‘Help me lift her onto the scooter and then you can steer her on it. I’ll stand next to her, holding her on, while you push it.’ ‘Okay, Fluttershy’ Scootaloo said, her voice slightly breaking. ‘I hope she’ll be okay…’ --- ‘Has anypony seen Rainbow Dash around? There are more clouds out today than usual,’ asked the town’s librarian. ‘I haven’t seen her. Knowing her, she’s probably either lazing around or off training to become one of the Wonderbolts’ said Rarity, putting particular emphasis on the word “Wonderbolts” as though it was a joke. ‘Yeah, I suppose…’ Twilight had organised a picnic for all her friends. She had found a nice spot in Ponyville Park, right near the Everfree Forest so they could hear the birds. Only Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie had showed up so far. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were missing, but Applejack had said she would be a bit late because of all the extra apples she and Big Macintosh had to buck that season. She heard a disturbance in the forest, followed by a yelp, and cantered over to the forest to see what the sound was. In her peripheral vision she saw Sweetie Belle and Applebloom over a ways with a picnic basket of their own. I wonder why Scootaloo isn’t with them… When she reached the forest, she saw Fluttershy and Scootaloo trying to lift an unconscious, and bleeding Rainbow Dash onto a scooter. ‘What are you doing? What happened?’ Asked Twilight, an obvious note of panic in her voice. ‘Rainbow was practising a trick and I didn’t tell her to stop and something went wrong and then she fell and I tried to save her, but I couldn’t help much and then she hit the ground and it’s all my fault!’ Fluttershy said all of this very quickly, in an increasingly high voice, before finally breaking down and sobbing. ‘Twilight! Please help, we need to get her to the hospital! It’s taken us forever to get through the forest!’ ‘Fluttershy, it’s alright. I’ll take it from here, Scootaloo,’ said Twilight. She levitated Rainbow from the ground as gently as she could and then began to trot as fast as she could back into town, Rainbow levitating in tow. ‘Twilight? Did you find out what that sound was?’ Rarity said before gasping. ‘Is that Rainbow Dash?! Oh my goodness, what happened to her! Twilight?’ Twilight completely ignored her. She had to get to the hospital. She didn’t know what happened, but she knew it was serious. Time spent in the forest might already be taking its toll. Pinkie Pie had disappeared the instant she saw Rainbow Dash’s body. What felt like hours later, although it was mere minutes, Twilight arrived at the clinic. She used magic to open the front door and carefully lifted Rainbow Dash inside. ‘Somepony, help! Rainbow is hurt! Somepony, anypony!’ she shouted. When she got no response she carefully put Rainbow down on a medical bed near the corridor and began to run. Eventually she heard voices from one of the many rooms around. ‘Vait, vait, it gets better! Vhen ze patient voke up, his skeleton vas missing and the doctor vas never heard from again! Hahaha!’ She heard a second booming laugh from a much deeper voice. Turning into the room, she saw a white pony with a comically oversized syringe on his flank next to one of the biggest stallions she had ever seen with a sandwich on his hip. ‘Anyvay, zat’s how I lost my medical license. I vas lucky to have it reinstated here in Ponyville!’ The stallion suddenly stopped laughing and stared at the doctor. Twilight tapped her hoof impatiently on the doorframe. ‘Vot vos noise?’ he asked. The doctor turned around to see Twilight with a frantic expression on her face. ‘Yes? Can I help you?’ ‘My friend! There’s been an accident! She’s in the front room, and nopony’s there, and she needs help, and you were the first person I could find, and… come on!’ she said frantically, gesturing for the doctor to come to the front desk. ‘Vhy vas zere nopony at the desk? Surely you did not need to come to find me?’ ‘I don’t know! I shouted for help and nopony came, come on, now, please! Hurry!!’ ‘Mein Gott, hat dieser Idiot nachlassen WIEDER?’ Twilight looked at the doctor in shock. She had spent time studying different languages, and he had just insulted somepony in a Germane dialect... ‘I apologise. Nurse Redheart has been slacking off for a week now, and this has happened four times. Please, show me to your friend’ --- The rest of the group arrived, bar Pinkie, to see what had happened. Applejack had seen Twilight rushing through town with something big and blue, then the rest of her friends running a few minutes after with the Crusaders not far behind, but gasping for breath. She had followed the rest and gotten the basic story from Fluttershy, who was near-impossible to understand through her tears and sobbing. After a while, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had come in (they couldn’t keep up with the fully grown mares) and Scootaloo had told them what she had seen. Fluttershy was able to add in a few points through the story, but she wouldn’t have been able to tell the whole tale herself. ‘Well, Ah have t’ git back to th’ farm. It’s nearly Applebuck Season and Big Mac can’t do all the work himself. Someone come ‘n’ git me when we can see her.’ ‘Oh… alright, Applejack…’ said Twilight. ‘I’ll be sure to come and get you myself when she comes out of the theatre.’ Applejack left, and the CMC’s had fallen asleep. Pinkie was still nowhere to be found. --- After what felt like an eternity (four hours), Doctor Hoovington came out of the theatre. ‘Vell, she is alive, but I do not know vhat vill happen. She is in vhat ve call a “coma”. Do you know vhat that means?’ Naturally, Twilight answered. ‘It means that she is in a state of semi-permanent sleep that she might not wake up from. Her body is so damaged that her mind had to nearly shut off to save energy. But… she could still wake up, right?’ ‘Only time vill tell,’ said the doctor. ‘You may go and see her, but I do not know vhat good it vill do to such young fillies. She is in a bad state,’ he finished, glancing at the Crusaders. He told them to go to the last room on the left when they wanted to see her, then went to fill out a form at the front desk. ‘Just a moment…’ said Twilight, then teleported out with a flash of violet light. ‘Huh? What was that?’ said Sweetie Belle, waking up with the other two Crusaders. Twilight reappeared a minute later with a shaken-looking Applejack. ‘Okay, sugarcube. Please never do that again. Ah’d like to walk next time.’ Applejack looked around the room at the others and the doctor walking quietly back to his office. ‘But Ah guess this is important enough to excuse’. The eight walked together down the hallway and into the room indicated by the doctor. They were greeted by a closed curtain and a slow beeping. ‘Are you all ready?’ asked Twilight to the rest of the group, but especially the Crusaders. ‘I would prefer otherwise, but Rainbow is important to you, too, so I’ll let you come with us if you want’. They all glanced at each other, then nodded their assent; Scootaloo a little bit slower than the rest. Twilight pulled back the curtain. There was Rainbow. She was lying on her side, unconscious, with an oxygen mask to her muzzle and several needles sticking out of her foreleg. Her chest was being slightly depressed by bandages, possibly some fractured ribs… it’s horrible to see her like this, thought Twilight. Dash’s lower right foreleg was in a cast. So it was broken, not dislocated. Oh, Rainbow… thought Fluttershy. Scootaloo almost immediately gasped and ran from the room sobbing. She couldn’t bear to see her hero in such a state. So full of life normally, but now… broken… Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other quickly and followed. Rainbow Dash’s left wing was folded against her back, but her right wing was still extended, parts wrapped in gauze and bandages. Fluttershy began to cry softly, and Rarity put a reassuring leg around her, offering a tissue. Their friend was comatose, and they didn’t know if she would ever wake up.