My ears twitched at the sound of breathing. I wasn't sure if it was mine or someone else's. I breathed in deep to make sure.
I turned my head to get a glimpse of my surroundings; I couldn't see anything but darkness. Is this what it was like to be dead? But if I was dead how could I hear myself breathe? A sharp pain in my left hind leg only confirmed I was still alive. Maybe I was asleep? That's when I jerked my head upright, not being able to recall ever going to sleep, I wasn't being able to recall anything for that matter. Like, where I was, what I was doing, how long was I out, or what happened to knock me out in the first place. So many questions were racing through my mind; I started with trying to figure out where I was. I glanced around, wincing in pain at every turn of my neck. I was shocked at what I saw; I could only assume I was sitting outside of what used to be The Rainbow Factory. Steel beams and fires plagued crushed rubble and the area of cloud the factory was sitting on. A busted pipe protruding from the debris spewed bright colors into the sky, but soon evaporated into nothing once they touched the cloud surface below.
I began to run my hoof across my front leg, checking for any injuries that could need immediate attention, while still looking around at the razed factory. When suddenly my hoof stuck in something, I glanced down to see what it was. My eyes widened with fear. Strange black goo had covered most of my foreleg and nearly my entire hoof. I checked myself over to see if any more of the substance was on me. To my surprise, black splotches dotted my back, left hind leg, and most of my tail. I shook my foreleg furiously trying to free it from the goo. But to my dismay it held steadfast. I ran my other hoof down my leg, trying to scrape it off. But it just wouldn't come off. I decided that the goo was nothing more than an annoyance and left it alone for now.That's when I began to think.
What if somepony was trapped under the rubble, and I was just standing here flailing around, leaving them to die?
I soared into the air and headed for the nearest pile of debris. I began to dig in, pushing steel girders and broken planks out of the way. I cringed when I found nothing but empty hard hats and work boots. I flew over to the next pile, then the next, then the next. For a good hour I searched the rubble and found nothing but the same thing, empty hard hats and work boots.
How was I the only survivor? What could have happened here to cause such a mess? I suddenly felt angry. The anger began to rise inside me until I felt like I would erupt. The same questions kept repeating in my mind, how could I be the only survivor? What happened? The more I asked these questions, the angrier I became. What had happened that I couldn't save any of them? I just wanted to fly head long into the nearest thing and smash it to pieces. I couldn't believe all those ponies were gone. Out of nowhere a sharp pain shot up my side, snapping me out of my thoughts. I tried to ignore it, thinking it was probably a sore muscle from the apparent catastrophe that had occurred. Then the pain turned into a burning sensation, starting from my left leg and ending at the edge of my hoof. I glanced back to see what it was, remembering the strange black goo. This stuff was burning me! The burning sensation grew stronger and stronger. It was nearly too much to bear.
"I've gotta get home fast!" I thought, "before this stuff burns a hole through me!"
I bolted through the cloud surface below and flew as fast as I could to my house. I needed to wash this stuff off as fast as possible.
I charged through my front door, not even bothering to close it behind me. I raced to the bathroom and began to run the water, all the while trying to keep moving, as to not focus on the searing pain in my leg. Getting the water to a cool temperature and high enough water level, I jumped in. To my surprise, the burning sensation nearly completely subsided the instant my leg was submerged. I shrugged and began to scrub my legs and hooves anyways, just to make sure all of the goo was washed off. Once I was sure I had completely washed the goo off, I hopped out of the tub. I looked myself over once more, just to be safe. It seemed just a bit too easy to get rid of. Something that caused so much pain and discomfort washed away like mud. I decided to keep an eye on myself, just to make sure it was gone for good.
For all I knew it could pop back up, covering my whole body like Poison Joke. Once I had checked and double checked to make sure the goo was gone, I drained the tub, headed out the door and flew towards town.
Once in Ponyville, I realized how much havoc the factory demise had truly caused. Ponies were running everywhere, screaming about giant explosions and fires of all sorts of colors. I needed to find Twilight and tell her about what had happened that morning. The moment I began to walk towards the library, a voice called out behind me, "Rainbow Dash!"
I turned to see who it was, sure enough it was Twilight.
"Rainbow Dash, I'm so happy to see you're okay, " Twilight stated, giving me a big bear hug.
"Um... thanks," I sputtered out.
"You've been gone for hours; where were you and did you see what happened to the factory?" Twilight asked. I guess I hadn't told her I was going to the factory. I wonder if I told anyone I was going. Why would I go there by myself, did the workers need help with something? And why wasn't Twilight worried about anypony else? And why didn't anypony fly up to the factory to help everypony out. There were so many things I needed to figure out. Twilight is the smartest pony I know. If anyone could figure this stuff out, it would be her.
"Let's head to the library," I instructed her, "we'll talk there."