Ranma drifted in and out of consciousness in a hazy world full of pain, fever dreams, and ponies…

“Get those sutures done so we can finish bandaging her! She’s still losing more blood than she’s taking in!”

Ooh… she had heard that one before. Must have been a pretty nasty fight. And the ponies were doctors. Good to know. So sleepy…

“How can we be out of manticore antivenin already? Ponyville is right next to the freaking Everfree Forest! We should have barrels of the stuff on hoof! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THE REST WAS SHIPPED TO CANTERLOT CENTRAL?’ Who authorized that?”

Well, that didn’t sound good… Wonder who was poisoned? Or had Akane tried to cook again? Bah… too tired… sleep sounds good…

“Damn it, not again! BREATH! BREATH, DAMN YOU! DON’T YOU WANT TO LIVE? Then BREATH! Oh thank Celestia her heart kept beating that time…”

Rainbow Dash trotted in place as she waited impatiently at the pharmacy counter in Canterlot Central Hospital. She had made record time on her way here, completing a normally one hour rush flight in just under half the time, but she took no pride in that, as she feared that she hadn’t been anywhere near fast enough.

Poor Wild Pony had lost a lot of blood by the time they got her to Ponyville General Hospital, having gotten raked by the manticore’s sharp claws several times before she had driven it off, and had been stung two or three times during the fight as well. The doctors were having a lot of trouble keeping her alive, having apparently run out of the special antivenin that Wild Pony needed to clear the manticore venom from her system.

The jerk behind the pharmacy counter wasn’t helping much either, having skimmed over the order before calling in a nurse to handle it, and then just sitting there looking bored, reading the packet of papers that came with it before placing them in a fresh folder, scribbling something on it, and filing in in a cubby on the wall behind him.

“Hate to break it to you, Honeypot, but you may as well relax and catch your breath. According to the doctors working on her, the patient had already been resuscitated at least twice by the time they sent for you. If they were able to keep her going, they probably had to do so at least twice more in the time it took you to get here in the first place, what with the flight taking a whole hour even for a fast courier. Sorry to say this, but with the amount of manticore venom in your friend, it would have been kinder just to let her die…”

POW! The clerk was knocked out of his chair, having been struck in the face by the sky blue Pegasus

“I dare you to say that again!” the furious, rainbow maned pony was practically climbing over the counter while shouting. “What kind of medical professional are you! Wild Pony is a hero, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do my best to save her after what she did! I cut your so-called fastest time in half on the way here, and with Celestia as my witness, I’ll cut that by half again on the way back if I can! Rainbow Dash doesn’t leave anypony hanging, not like some creepy, uncaring jerk like you!”

Just then, a unicorn nurse returned carrying a packet. “Here’s the rush manticore antivenin order for Ponyville General…”

“‘Kay, thanks! Love you! Buh-bye!” And with that, Rainbow Dash snatched the packet from where it had been floating in the air and zipped out the door right between the arriving guards.

“What happened?” one of the guard Pegasi asked as his partner took off after the apparent perpetrator.

“What happened,” the nurse clarified, “was Mister Sensitivity here telling a high strung pony that her friend, who she was picking up an order for, was probably better off dead. I would have hit him after that!”

“I don’t want to hear it, jerk! And don’t think that I won’t report this!”

“Okay,” The guard pony stepped between the two. “If you can both calm down, I think I really need to get the whole story here…”

Rainbow Dash flew on, accelerating faster, ever faster, ignoring the guard pony she was rapidly leaving behind.

Bitter tears poured from her eyes as she flew faster than she ever had in years. Even faster than she had only a few, impossibly long, minutes ago…

So much for her dream of joining the Wonderbolts. Not with an assault and running from the law on her record. She’d be lucky if she managed to keep any position at all on the Weather Team after this stunt.

Faster and faster still, she flew, her wings bluring as a friction cone formed before her…

But how dare he say that Wild Pony was better off dead? She was a hero! Like one of the epic legends, right out of the freaking ancient past, able to fight off monsters all by herself and saving the day! She saved Fluttershy’s life, damn it!

The friction cone sharpened as Rainbow Dash she flew faster than almost any time she ever had before…

Wild Pony deserved better than to die in pain on the operating table! And Rainbow Dash would be damned herself if she didn’t give her all in doing her part to save a hero’s life!

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

“Whoa…” Thunderlane gawked in awe at the multicolored shockwave originating in the sky between Ponyville and Canterlot. “That was a Sonic Rainboom! She’s been trying to do that again for years!”

“YEAH!” Bulk Bicepts hoof-pumped. The over-muscled white Pegasus stallion ducked his head into the hospital lobby to check the clock there. “Rainbow Dash is making great time! She’ll make it there with over a quarter hour to spare! That. Is. AWSOME!”

Cloudchaser tilted her head. “Wait… I see her contrail… She’s not on her way to Canterlot, she’s on her way back already!”

“By Celestia! At that speed…” Thunderlane did some quick mental calculations. “Quick! Form a Cloud Crash Cushion! She’s coming in too fast to stop! Cloudchaser, keep an eye on Rainbow Dash! If she drops or tosses the package, go for it and take it in for her! Move, ponies! Move, move MOVE!”

The Weather Team barely had time to finish forming a serviceably large Cloud Crash Cushion in front of the hospital when the rainbow streak hit it at nearly full speed, tossing a small blur to the side at the last second before she hit, practically obliterating the emergency crash structure.

Cloudchaser didn’t even take the time to check, as she had spun in place the very instant she caught the package and flew into the hospital with her precious cargo.

“Clear the clouds!” Thunderlane yelled “We need to find the captain now!”

The remaining bits of condensed cloud were swiftly dispersed, revealing a short, shallow impact trench in the snow, at the end of which lay their unconscious Weather Captain, a bit scraped and bruised, and with her right wing twisted at wrong angles.

Fortunately, a pair of paramedic ponies had already come galloping out of the hospital with a stretcher…

“Less than three quarters of an hour there and back…” Thunderlane muttered in awe. “Captain, you’re something else!”

Rarity entered the waiting room and quickly made her way to where Fluttershy and Applejack were sitting. She and Applejack had grown somewhat closer in the past few years since they day Fluttershy had found that statue in the woods. Where they had been mere acquaintances before with a mutual connection through their friendship with Fluttershy, the events of that day had been the start of an awkward but valued friendship.

They still didn’t quite understand each other’s chosen lifestyles, but they respected one another enough to keep their occasional quibbles about each other’s perceived faults more or less at the level of playful banter, rather than hurtful sniping. Most of the time.

“Fluttershy, Applejack, darlings, I came over as soon as I heard! What’s this about Fluttershy’s statue coming to life and fighting off a manticore?”

“S’all true,” Applejack stated, placing a hoof over her heart. “Turns out she was somepony by th’ name of Wild Pony who’d been turned ta stone sometime before Fluttershy here found her.”

“I didn’t know," the pale yellow Pegasus murmured, her quiet voice laden with guilt. “It never occurred to be that she might have been petrified. I should have suspected… tried to get help for her…”

“Don’t you fret none, Fluttershy. T’weren’t none of us caught on to that possibility. Even the pony Rarity called in from Canterlot thought Wild Pony was just a statue, an’ she was an art expert.”

“Applejack is right, Fluttershy,” Rarity responded dryly, “If even an expert fails to suspect that Wild pony was not actually a sculpture, then none of us, least of all you, can be held accountable for also failing to consider that the statue you found might have been a victim of petrification.”

“Point is, Fluttershy, there weren’t any way for you to know, so don’t you go beatin’ yerself up over it. ‘Sides, y’ heard what she said to y’ after th’ fight. She was raht grateful that y’ found her and kept her company an’ all.”

“Apparently so. Can’t really ‘magin what that must have been lahk, bein’ unable to move all those years. Unable to even blink. An’ all alone with no pony to keep her company until Fluttershy came along…”

The three mares sat quietly for a while before one of the hospital nurses entered the waiting room.

“Over hear,” Applejack waved. Turning back to the shy pony, she lay a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Now buck up some, Sugarcube. The nurse pro’lly just has some news, is all. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, or nothin.’”

“Wild Pony was in post-op under observation while we waited to make sure she’s stable. We just moved her to her assigned room, and came to see if you wanted to visit her, since she was asking after you.”

“Okay… umm… If it isn’t any bother, do you suppose that Rarity and Applejack can come along? To visit Wild Pony, I mean… If that’s alright…”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” The nurse assured Fluttershy. “Now, if you’ll just follow me, I’ll take you straight to her room…”

Wild Pony was vaguely aware that her thoughts were muddled. In part, she had no doubt, due to the timed painkiller feed connected to the tube leading from her main I.V. bag. There was a button at the end of a wired remote left next to her right fore hoof if she wanted a dose early, and she had been assured that it had been set up so that she couldn’t activate it any sooner than the minimum interval allotted so that she couldn’t overdose. Still, she tried to hold off as long as possible, letting the timer take care of it on its own just so long as the pain wasn’t unbearable.

It was hard enough dealing with the jumbled mess the Cat-Hoof left of her psyche when it… Well… Wild Pony still wasn’t sure just what it had done. Just that it had reached deep and pulled everything it could up to the surface in hopes that something would enable it to win the fight and save Little Mother from the bat-cat thingy. Being drugged further out of her mind wasn’t helping matters any.

For one thing, despite the evidence of her body, Wild Pony had the strangest feeling that she was actually supposed to be another species. Some sort of nearly hairless monkey or ape. And… male? But somehow sometimes female instead? And water was involved somehow.

It was easy enough to do, considering that she was quite used to ignoring the part of her that thought she was a cat.

Usually, anyway. Wild Pony suppressed a shudder as the mental image of a red furred kitty rolled across her mindscape, playfully batting at loose strands of thoughts, memories, and who knew what else…

“Is there anypony out there?”

Wild Pony’s eyes went wide as she slowly looked left, then right, but failed to find anypony else in the room with her…

And then music started from everywhere and nowhere at all. A slow, almost hypnotic rhythm…

“Hello… (hello… hello…),
“Is there anypony in there?
“Just nod if you can hear me,
“Is there anypony home?”

Who was singing? Who? Who? And where was that music coming from? There was literally nopony else in the room at all!

“Come on (come on)… now,
“I am hearing music in my… head.
“While I‘m singing out loud in this… bed,
“Why is this happening to me?”

Wild Pony’s eyes widened again in shock, as she realized that she was the one singing!

“Relax (relax, relax)…
“I just need some basic information… first,
“Such as where and how much it… hurts.
“What does this button do?”

She honestly had no idea why she pressed the button she had found at the end of a cord near one of her hooves as soon as she had seen it

“There is no pain, I am receding…
“I guess that released the Happy-Juice…
“I feel my mind is drifting loose…
“My lips move, but I’m not sure of what I say…”

And then a chorus of Wild Pony’s own voice joined her own, freaking her out even more!

“When I arrived I was not a pony…
“I stood upright and had arms and hands…
“Then I transformed once again…
“I can’t explain, you would not understand,
“This is not how I am!”

Well that cleared things up a bit. Maybe. Actually no, it didn’t. As muddled as her memories were, that last refrain just confused the issue further…

“I~I~I have become… Comfortably numb…”

Ooooh, That felt niiiiiiiiiice! And the accompanying guitar solo was kind of trippy in a good way…

“I~I~I have become… Comfortably numb…”

“Okay (okay, okay)…
“I think that I can feel my stomach churning,
“And the room is tilting while its turning,
“And its making me feel a little sick!”

“Can I stand up (stand up, stand up)?
“I do believe it’s working… good!
“That’ll keep me going for the trip,
“Come on it’s time to go.”

Wait… what trip? Where was she going? Why had she gotten up? The nice comfy hospital bed was back that way!

“There is no pain, I am receding…
“This medication is really good…
“My wobbling stride resembles dancing…
“I‘m fairly certain I‘ve gone insane…”

Oh, look, the hallway had other ponies! There was Little Mommy, and Hat Pony, And Marshmallow, and… Wild Pony had no idea who the forth pony was, but she was sure that she was nice too…

“When I was a foal, I had a fleeting wish,
“Made upon the first star in the sky…
“Time went by, but hope lived on,
“I cannot put my fore hoof on it now,
“The Foal has grown, the dream is gone.”

The new filly was trying to guide Wild Pony gently back into her room, but her own hooves skidded backwards on the floor as the heavily bandaged mare kept trotting aimlessly forward.

“I~I~I have become… Comfortably numb…”

And there was that strange, trippy instrumental section again! At least it looked like she wasn’t the only pony who hear it. Wild Pony felt better about that. Hat Pony had taken the new pony’s place in trying to guide the singing pony back into her assigned room.

The music faded away about the same time Applejack got Wild Pony back to her bed.

“Hi~i!” the heavily medicated pony greeted. “I’m feeling mush better now! I think I’ll go for a walk! Walk… walk, walky walk…”

“Uhuh,” the farm pony snorted. “Ah think y’ should put a rain check on that thought ‘till y’ actually are better, Sugarcube.”

“Now there’s a thought,” Applejack agreed. “Now if’n you’d just get in th’ bed behind ya… No, no! The. Bed! Not the floor! Rarity, Nurse Redheart, could y’ give me a hoof here? She’s gone as limp as a cat…”

“How the Hay?” Applejack looked up into the corner of the room where a now very apparently terrified Wild Pony had wedged herself against the ceiling.

“Cat? Where? Bad kitties! Evil kitties! There’s one, in my head, playing with things it shouldn’t, but I don’t know how to make it go to sleep again. No no no, kitty! Mustn’t play with the~”

“Heyaaaaaah! The Magical Musical Thing!
“Heyaaaaaah! The Magical Musical Thing!

“The Magical Musical Thing, that makes a pony just want to sing…”

And then the music came to a sudden, almost screeching halt as Wild Pony shoved both of her fore hooves into her mouth. At which point she fell, as she was no longer bracing herself in place.

Fortunately, Rarity caught the falling filly with her magic and placed her gently into the hospital bed, tucking her in. “There you go, Dear, nice and snug. Now do take your hooves out of your mouth. It’s rather unsightly…”

“Oh you poor dear…” Fluttershy came over and started stroking the bandaged pony’s crimson mane. “Are you afraid that the Heart Song will start up again if you take your hooves out?” At the chestnut mare’s frightened nod, she gently continued. “Oh, you silly filly… No pony has to sing a Heart Song if they really don’t want to. Now please take your hooves out of your mouth… there you go!”

The Pegasus grew wide eyed herself and looked at the other three mares in the room, who just stared, equally shocked at the childlike tone of the plea. Then Applejack shook her head, stood firm, and waved a hoof encouragingly toward Fluttershy.

“Of… Of course, Dear. I’ll keep the mean nasty kitties away. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“Okay…” Wild Pony yawned, her heavy lidded eyes almost closed already. “Little Mommy?”

“You’re much better than my real mommy… she never came to save me from the kitties when Daddy kept throwing me into The Pit…”

“There there,” Fluttershy kept stroking the resting pony’s crimson locks, her own hear breaking at the revelation. “You’re safe now… I’m here… No pony is going to hurt you…”

“I love you, Little Mommy…” Wild Pony murmured, almost asleep already. “I wish my real Mommy was like you…”

The four other mares in the room just looked at each other as the bandaged filly drifted off to sleep, still being stroked by Fluttershy.

“I know it ain’t raht an’ all,” Applejack fought to keep the fury she was feeling out of her voice, “but raht now Ah hope Wild Pony spent a passel o’ years as a statue! ‘Cause if’n what she just said has any bearin’ on her actual life, then there are two ponies Ah reckon are better off back in the distant past!”

“She… she sounded so young… she must have only been a little filly when it happened… and her own parents! I simply cannot imagine!”

“It’s… it’s… probably just the medication,” Nurse Redheart stated shakily, as she checked the machine and gathered the separated I.V. tubing from the floor. “She was just dosed right before we arrived.” Checking the patient, she nodded. “Good, the needle stayed in. I’ll be back shortly with fresh tubing and a new bag, but I’ll have to let one of the doctors know that she may be reacting poorly to the pain-killer.”

“Oh no, not at all. It should be quite safe at these doses. She just seems to be unusually susceptible to the side effects. Although I never heard of it causing anypony the break out into a Heart Song before.”

“It would almost have to be,” Rarity commented, “the theme was entirely different.”

“Ah thought y’ said y’ came as soon as y’ heard? Fluttershy’s call for a medic afterwards was a maht bit louder than even that Heart Song…”

“…” Rarity pouted for a moment, then sighed and, in a resigned tone admitted, “I was hiding under the bed covers with Sweetie Bell, okay? She… We… were quite frightened, and took a while to calm down, even after it was all over.” The things she did for her sister. Not that she hadn’t been a bit unnerved herself, but better to let them think that they were both scared completely out of their wits than let them know that her younger sister had become so terrified that she had lost control of her bladder. On Rarity’s favorite bed sheets too, but she couldn’t blame the poor dear for that, anymore than she could blame Wild Pony for her… episode.

Cloud Eastwind was exhausted by the time he reached Ponyville. He had flown as fast and as hard as he could while chasing the Courier all the way from Canterlot Central Hospital, and had managed to do so in just over an hour, which was pretty darn impressive for an armored pony who wasn’t a rush delivery courier. However, any pride Eastwind may have had in his personal accomplishment was overshadowed by the fact that the particular courier he was chasing has crossed the same distance in mere minutes! A mere fraction of the time the best couriers usually took to do so!

Fortunately, the destination of the mare he had been chasing was pretty obvious, and hadn’t deviated in the slightest from what her supposed mission was.

Which was pretty damn convenient for the courier as it was readily apparent that she had crashed on arrival.

Not particularly surprising, given the sheer speed she had been traveling, Eastwind mused as he landed as gently as his exhaustion allowed and tried to catch his breath. She wouldn’t have had enough time to slow down after accelerating that much.

Once the Guard pony had caught his breath, he took a few more moments to study the scene. Something had managed to bleed off the courier’s speed considerably before she hit the ground, as the impact trench was short, shallow, and (most importantly) not bloody. Most likely a Cloud Crash Cushion had been set up by the local Weather Team, either before hand, or after they had noticed the speed that their courier was returning at.

From the hoof prints and wheel tracks, it looked like she had been taken into the hospital.

As he went into the building, Eastwind hoped that the pony was okay, because he had little interest in actually arresting the courier despite having gone through all that effort chasing her all the way from Canterlot. He understood that she was under the pressure of having to complete a time-sensitive turn-around due to some sort of medical emergency. One which the curier herself felt worth the risk of injuring herself in order to complete it in the shortest amount of time possible.

While it was likely that the clerk she had struck would press charges (he seemed the type: self-important, insensitive, and petty), Eastwind doubted that the charges would stick as long as the courier’s mission had been due to an authentic medical emergency.

No, he was here to get the facts first, find out what had happened, who was involved, and… well… everything!

Traversing the lobby and passing a small crowd of ponies that seemed more anxious and worried than injured, Eastwind approached the check-in station. “Excuse me, but was a blue mare with a rainbow mane and tail brought in about an hour ago?”

“Well, she seems to be sleeping peacefully enough,” the Doctor Stable commented as Nurse Redheart got the patient set up with a new I.V. drip. “Now, I have to ask, are any of you willing to house wild Pony and help her with her bandages once she’s let out of the hospital?

“Good, then we’ll discuss who she will be staying with later, once she’s both conscious and clear headed enough to actually make a choice. In the meantime, since you are all potential volunteers, please clean up in the bathroom right over there, then watch as Nurse Redheart assists me in changing Wild Pony’s bandages and show you how to check and take care of her wounds and what to watch for.”

The three ponies quickly washed up, then took their positions around Wild Pony’s bed as indicated.

“I have to warn you,” Doctor Stable began as he and Nurse Redheart carefully undid a section of bandages, “it is almost certain that she popped some stitches with her antics earlier. This will be a risk for a while, but it shouldn’t happen as long as she’s careful to restrict her normal range of movement until she’s healed enough stitches and sutures are ready to come out. At that time, there will be a regimen of stretching exercises for her to follow to help her regain as much range of movement as possible. I highly recommend making use of the Ponyville Day Spa. Lotus Blossom and Aloe are accredited physical therapists as well as beauticians and should be able to help keep the visible signs of scaring to a minimum.”

“Oh dear…” Rarity’s face took on a pale greenish hue as she gazed on the ruin that had lain hidden beneath the bandages. Applejack and Fluttershy, both used to taking care of injured animals, only showed minimal distress.

“Old bandages should not be reused,” Nurse Redheart stated as she carefully disposed to the ribbons of yellow and brown stained material in the appropriate bin. “Always change her bandages in a clean environment if possible, and always, always apply fresh, clean bandages. Never reuse the old ones. This is to help keep the risk of infection to a minimum.” The three fillies nodded.

“How extraordinary!” Doctor Stable exclaimed, drawing everypony’s attention. “She’s much further along in her healing already that I would have thought possible! Some of the most minor wounds have disappeared already - I can only find where they are by the stitches we closed them with! And the other wounds look like they’ve been healing for days or even weeks already instead of merely hours!”

“Good? I dare say yes indeed,” the doctor declared. “Almost impossibly so. It’s almost as if… yes… yes… That is almost certainly it! It is most probable that Wild Pony’s magic has inverted itself somehow! This is extremely rare, but not unheard of. However, it does mean we will be strapping her to her bed except during in hospital therapy until she is ready to be released.”

“Because, with the rate her metabolism is forcing itself to heal her body, any other pain killer than what we had her on will burn right out of her system far too soon to be any use at all. On the other hand, at this rate, she should be past the need of it by late tomorrow morning, dinnertime at the latest, and any scarring should be very minor indeed.”

The rest of the process went by very quickly and efficiently, with each new section of Wild Pony’s body uncovered revealing similar signs of rapid healing.

“There, all finished, and looking much, much better than anticipated! Now, as her potential hosts and caregivers, would any of you be willing to stay here with her for a while? While the medicine we’re using right now to kill the pain is safe enough for her, we are going to have to strap her down while she is under its effects. Unfortunately, as I said before, anything else we could use would also be less effective as a pain killer because she would burn it out of her system too quickly. Your main job would be to comfort her and assure her that the restrainsts are for her own good, not to keep her prisoner or anything. So, please assure her that the restraints will be off during therapy, and off for good once she’s weaned off of the medicine and clear headed.”

“I… I’ll stay here. And keep her company, I mean. I think she needs… I mean, I think she would want me to…”

“Y’ know… Ah reckon you’re raht,” Applejack nodded at Fluttershy. “Listen, Ah need to check in with Granny Smith an’ Apple Bloom, an’ let ‘em know Ahm alraht, just in case Big Mac hasn’t had a chance to get home himself yet. Then Ah have t’ get caught up on takin’ care of th’ animals ‘n’ all. Ah’ll try an’ be back later with a care package, but it’ll be a while. Maht even have t’ be tomorrow.”

Cloud Eastwind checked to see if the report he had prepared was secure in the satchel he had procured from the town hall. No sense in having taken the opportunity get it done while resting up before the flight back to Canterlot only to risk losing it during the trip.

The guard Pegasus had talked to the Ponyville Weather Team, the medical staff, and even went out of the way to talk with some of the more notable witnesses, so he was pretty sure he had a fairly comprehensive report about what was turning out to be a bigger incident than he had originally thought.

Whoever the strange new Earth Pony, Wild Pony, was, she sounded like she had come straight out of the distant Age of Legends. And given that she had been found as a statue in the Everfree Forest, she may well have been originally born in that bygone era. Her name didn’t seem at all familiar, but then again, from what Eastwind heard from the locals, Wild Pony seemed to be a young adult, so she might have disappeared before getting her chance to make a lasting impression on history.

This investigation was getting past his pay grade, so now it was time to turn in his initial findings and pass it up the chain. He could only hope that things turned out well for the Ponyville Weather Team captain, Rainbow Dash.

The door opened, and a gurney was rolled in by a pair of orderlies. On it lay a barely conscious Rainbow Dash.

“Oh my goodness! What happened?” Fluttershy asked quietly as the injured Pegasus was helped into the other bed.

“Heh… I’m alright. Mostly,” Rainbow Dash tried to wave off her friend’s concerns. “Got a bit dinged up when I got back from Canterlot. Nothing too serious. Just some bumps and bruises…”

“Cracked ribs, mild concussion, multiple fractures and dislocated joints in your right wing…” Nurse Redheart read off the chart, used to Rainbow Dash’s antics by now. “What in Celestia’s name did you do this time?”

“Nothing much,” Rainbow Dash replied, the pride in her voice belying her modestly. “Only ran into the biggest Cloud Crash Cushion ever at just under the speed of sound is all. Didn’t exactly have time to slow down after doing that Sonic Rainboom on the way back from Canterlot.”

“So you’re the reason we got the antivenin order from Canterlot Central so fast,” Nurse Redheart commented. “You saved her life, you know.”

“Now you should know the drill already,” the nurse addressed the bedridden Pegasus sternly. “You’re grounded until your injuries are cleared up. All of your injuries! No flying until a doctor clears you this time!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Rainbow Dash waved a fore hoof dismissively. “I gotcha. No flying until I’m all better.” Putting on her ‘cool-face’, she looked out the window and muttered quietly to herself as the nurse left the room, “Not like I’m going to have much of a reason to fly after what I did today anyway…”

Turning her head back, the Pegasus sniffed and tried to keep tears from forming in her eyes as she looked at the scarlet maned mare resting peacefully. “Totally worth it.”

Fluttershy came over to see what was upsetting her friend. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Fluttershy…” the blue Pegasus sniffed again, failing to hold back her tears this time. “My dream is over!” Wrapping her arms around Fluttershy tightly, she bawled openly, “I’m never going to be a Wonderbolt!”

Fluttershy hugged her friend back and comforted Rainbow Dash as she told her story. Rarity, after a moment’s thought, came over and sat on the other side of the friend of her friend, and hugged her as well. They continued holding Rainbow Dash as the heartbroken mare cried herself to sleep…

A Wild Pony in Equestria

by Tangent

Trauma Drama