Rainbow was too familiar with that white ceiling.
Ponyville was too small to have a proper hospital, but it did have a clinic. It had originally been a house much like most others in Ponyville, and was still easily mistaken for one at first glance: the only external sign was its all-white paint, and the sign hanging over its door: red-on-white staff with a snake twisted around it, a representation of the doctor's cutie mark, allegedly earned by squeezing the venom out from a badly poisoned pony. It was not far from the train station, so the most severely injured ponies could be ferried to Canterlot's hospitals after the clinic stabilized them for transport. Rainbow Dash was quite familiar with the clinic's layout, from what some ponies said was too many visits. All treatment areas and patient bedrooms were on the ground floor, so injured ponies could be carried in on stretchers without having to navigate stairs; this left the doctor's quarters and living area, along with tool and drug storage, crammed into the upper floor.
And the ceilings were a shade of white that Rainbow Dash found mildly oppressive, but instantly recognizable. Thus it was that, upon opening her eyes, she knew exactly where she was. Perhaps she had woken up like this too frequently.
This time, though, there was irritating synthetic whine, a monotone she could not quite place. She struggled to place it - didn't that machine beep? - and turned her head toward the sound. She recognized the box, but where it used to display a line broken by jagged ups and downs, now it just displayed a flat line. Figuring it must be broken, she pulled off the leads connecting it to her...
...or tried to. Her limbs refused to move. Glancing down at her body, she found her once-beautiful sky-blue coat was now charred black. Even her wings were void of feathers, and she no longer felt her mane on the back of her neck.
So she was a little crispy, and would not be flying any time soon. That did not matter. Twilight needed her.
She focused on getting her legs to move. At first it felt like she was sliding her legs into her legs, like her body was one big glove, but eventually they responded. Peeling off the sticky circles that attached wires from the machine to her skin, she tumbled out of bed, landing on her belly. Her body was stiff and unresponsive, but apparently the doctor had given her one of his potent anesthetics, for she felt no pain. While struggling to get upright, she noticed she had left ash on the bed where she had rested. Leaving a trail of ash would not do - she was no Rarity, but neither was she a total slob - so she shook herself to dislodge the char covering her, and to reacquaint herself with some of her muscles. That done, she managed a slow trot out of the room.
Across the hall was another bedroom, this one with many ponies inside. Rainbow stopped to try to peer through the crowd to see the patient; she could only glimpse a mane striped in pastel colors, but the stars twinkling in it identified Celestia well enough. For a moment she wondered why Celestia would be recovering here, and considered if maybe Celestia was just visiting the patient, but that mane was definitely in the bed and her being the patient would explain the crowd.
Aside from herself, only two other ponies were in the hall: Fluttershy, lying asleep across two chairs with one of the most miserable expressions Rainbow had ever seen, and Pinkie, gently stroking Fluttershy's mane. Pinkie must have heard Rainbow emerge, for she chose that moment to look up and grin at Rainbow. "I knew it," she whispered. "Everypony said I was in denial but I knew you wouldn't let Twilight down."
Rainbow had a hard time forming a response. But this was Pinkie Pie she was not-quite-speaking to; Rainbow chalked that up to Pinkie being Pinkie, though that did not feel like the entire truth.
Pinkie looked at Fluttershy and continued to whisper, "Fluttershy cried herself to sleep, you know. I...I didn't want them upset for nothing. I told them to have faith. They wouldn't believe me. But you'll show them, won't you?" She looked at Rainbow again. "Twilight's in the forest. Just go outside and you'll see. But...please, promise me. Once you've saved her, stick around. Fluttershy needs her longest bestest friend. We all need you. Whatever's driving you to Twilight, let it drive you to all of us. Pleeease, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow realized what was off: Pinkie's smile was forced, a fake that looked just plain wrong on Pinkie now that Rainbow recognized it. In Pinkie's eyes Rainbow saw fear - of what, Rainbow had no idea, but whatever could shake Pinkie's eternal cheer had to be quite terrible. At an even further loss for words, Rainbow simply nodded.
"Thank you," Pinkie exhaled, and Rainbow could see some of the joy return to Pinkie's eyes. "Fluttershy needs to rest a bit more, and Applejack and Rarity are convincing the guards it was just an accident. I'll lead them to you when they're ready." She pointed to the front door. "Now go on, Twilight's waiting for you."
Still unsure what Pinkie was talking about, Rainbow headed out the door and looked toward the Everfree Forest. A bright column of light - white at its core, fading to Twilight-lavender at its sides - blazed straight up out of the woods as if it had always occupied that portion of the sky, going as far up as Rainbow cared to look, already as big across as a house and slowly growing.
Rainbow's mind snapped back to her last memory before waking up. Twilight had suddenly started glowing again, looking like she was about to explode. Rainbow tried hugging her with both wings and her whole body, hoping she could through sheer willpower contain the Twilight-explosion in close enough to a Twilight shape that Twilight would survive. It hurt like nothing Rainbow had ever experienced before; judging by her current condition, she had been burned alive and must have fainted from the pain. Rainbow grimaced: letting mere pain knock her out was something she might never live down.
Hugging Twilight must have worked, because Twilight was obviously still alive, and venting power through that column. It also marked her location, so Rainbow headed for the light.
Walking was lame.
Rainbow knew that intellectually, but rarely had a chance to become acquainted with just how lame it was. Anywhere she could walk she could fly, and often much faster unless she was holding back to keep pace with her friends. Even in confined places like tunnels and caves, so long as there was enough room to flap her wings, she could fly. Sometimes if she was in the middle of a lot of ponies she would walk, but in those cases it was about being part of a crowd, and speed really was not an issue. She still remembered a few incidents as a foal where she had tried to fly right up from sitting in a crowd, only for her wings to bump into the ponies next to her. There had been a few times where her wings had been clipped, or otherwise she was temporarily unable to fly, but they rarely lasted long.
Maybe Twilight could fix her wings, after she helped Twilight.
That thought drove her forward. Few ponies saw her as she trudged through town. For some reason, every single one of them looked at her with the same wide-eyed expression. None of them screamed, but at least two simply fainted. Rainbow knew she was awesome, but soon decided that ponies fainting just from gazing upon her awesomeness could be a problem. (Rainbow tried not to refer to her own qualities as "magnificence" ever since Trixie had ruined that word.)
At least it meant nopony tried to stop her from getting to Twilight.
She tried running, but it took willpower just to get her legs to walk correctly. At least it was some motion, but she wondered why she felt so stiff. It only mattered because it kept her from reaching Twilight faster, but Rainbow figured the time it would take to figure it out would exceed the time it would take her to reach Twilight by walking. So, she kept walking.
Walking was seriously lame, Rainbow decided as she finally reached the edge of the forest.
Finally, after far too long - over ten minutes, not that Rainbow kept track but she figured it was somewhere between ten and fifty - Rainbow came into sight of Twilight. Now things would get tricky.
What had once been a densely wooded area was now blasted clear. The light column expanded from a cone emanating from Twilight's horn; everything underneath it was down to short stumps or bare dirt. Twilight herself was a miserable lump of glowing alicorn, lying down and sobbing. Rainbow knew she would go blind if she looked too closely at the glow, and she could feel Twilight's power radiating like a force of nature. To approach beyond the edge of the clearing was, Rainbow suspected, to get ground into nothing.
But Twilight needed her.
Desperation sparked plan after plan. Rainbow was not even a unicorn; magic power was beyond her - aside from the magic of her wings, currently unusable. There were no convenient artifacts in sight. Twilight could not simply shut off her power: that was the whole problem in the first place. Her power completely filled the area, leaving no niches or cracks through which to tumble and dodge even if Rainbow's body had been up for acrobatics. And no other ponies were nearby...
"What in the HAY?!?"
...had been nearby, Rainbow corrected herself as she turned around and saw Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy approach, lead by Pinkie Pie.
"Rainbow Dash," Applejack continued, "that, uh, IS you, right?"
Rainbow tried to reply, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. So she just nodded.
"Hehe, tooold yooou," Pinkie giggled. "Rainbow Dash wouldn't even let THAT stop her."
Rarity gave Pinkie a flat look. "Much as I admire your faith in her, you do have to admit, this is a bit much."
Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "Nopity nope! Not for her it's not!"
Finally Rainbow found out why her voice was not working: no air was in her lungs. Had she forgotten to breathe since...she thought for a moment...since waking up at the clinic? Putting that thought aside, she inhaled and spoke. "Whaaat'sss the prooobleeem?" Rainbow frowned: her voice sounded a bit raspy, as if something was in her throat, but her reflexes were not prompting her to gag or cough. They, like her pain sense, were still silent.
Fluttershy hovered up to her and landed by her side, being careful not to look in Twilight's direction. "You, umm, kind of...died."
Rainbow blinked. "Ohhh." That would explain a few things. She patted her chest and found no heartbeat. Dying was cooler than fainting from pain, she supposed. She could live with that on her record.
Pinkie grinned. "Yeah! I knew you'd be back soon 'cause Twilight was still out here so it wasn't like it was time for your goodbye party! Now don't forget your promise!"
Rarity blinked. "Her...promise? Wait, did she promise you she'd survive and THAT was all it took? Twilight said something about how you'd invented a promise magic..."
"Nah." Pinkie hopped up next to Rainbow and kicked a leaf into the clearing, noting how quickly it burnt and withered to nothing. "Well, not before she died. When I saw her walk out of her room I made her promise she'd stick around for each of us. It wasn't quiiite a Pinkie Promise, but I'm not sure crossing a stopped heart still counts. Don't tell her she could still weasel out of it, alright?"
"The thought had not crossed my mind." Choosing not to comment that Pinkie had just told Rainbow herself, Rarity frowned at the leaf's sudden fate: her coat would be ruined in the blink of an eye were she to cross the threshold, though she supposed she would not survive to suffer the indignity of looking like Rainbow's current state for more than a minute or so. "So, Rainbow Dash, I assume you have a plan?"
"Naaap ooon iiit."
Applejack blinked. "Come again?"
Rainbow tuned her friends out, letting her mind drift. She could feel her connection to her body slipping, and knew instinctively that if she let go entirely there would be no coming back, that her soul would go wherever the souls of the dead pass on to. But so long as she had some connection, she could dream, and in her dreams...
"Well done," came Luna's voice. "Now Twilight, let me guide you through mend...you're not Twilight."
"No kidding I'm not the egghead." Rainbow's mental voice was as clear and unraspy as ever, not hobbled by details like having to actually speak.
"But...how? Did Twilight teach you this technique?"
"Ha! No, I figured it out on my own," Rainbow retorted. "I figured you could speak in daydreams if there was really a reason to. So here I am, half-asleep, half-awake. Think you can help me fix the mess Twilight's gotten herself into?"
Luna took a few seconds to reply. "I sense there is something else..."
"Okay, okay, I'm only half-alive too. Well, apparently not even half. Doesn't matter. You gonna help me or not?" Rainbow imagined herself shooting Luna an annoyed look.
"You would risk what existence you have left just to contact me in this manner?"
"Duh." Rainbow mentally shrugged.
"And there will be no talking you out of it. Very well, we have no time to debate. I shall aid you. Unfortunately I am required to remain in Canterlot while mine sister recuperates. Apparently Twilight was unaware of how fast Tia sped to her aid, and her signal accidentally hit Tia. Were it any other pony, they would be dead, but mine sister has many protections. I shall handle sunset today; Tia should wake and fully recover with the dawn tomorrow. But I can use this link to target spells. Give me a moment to prepare a shield for you."
Rainbow turned to face Twilight, still tuning out her friends' yammering. She did notice their voices raise in alarm as she began stepping toward Twilight, but at the same time her vision went dark blue - no, she was suddenly seeing through a blue aura: Luna's shield, which now took the brunt of Twilight's power. Rainbow experimentally stepped into the clearing and checked her body, which did not seem to be suddenly withering away, though the shield in front of her constantly flared and cracked and regrew.
"Hurry...brave pegasus...I can not long maintain..." Luna's voice carried her strain clearly.
Rainbow moved forward, as fast as her legs and the shield would allow. It took a full minute to cross the clearing and reach Twilight's side; by then, Rainbow had slunk low and was crawling to stay under the column of light.
"Good. Now...underneath her horn, where it meets the skull. You will find a notch. You need to seal it."
Rainbow looked close. The shield blocked out most of Twilight's glow, but it was all Rainbow could do just to make out the general location of Twilight's horn. "What kind of seal?"
"Symbolic. Anything will do, so long as Twilight's soul accepts it. Is there anything nearby that would work?"
Rainbow grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I know just the thing. Can you make the shield skin-tight?"
"I can, but it will not last long." Luna molded the shield, contouring it along Rainbow's form. Sure enough, it began withering away faster than it regenerated. "Whatever you are planning, make it quick."
Wasting no time on words, Rainbow ducked her head forward, mind picturing Twilight's form and aligning it with what details she could distinguish through the glow, mouth homing in on the base of the horn.
Twilight's magic vanished in an instant, leaving just a purple alicorn.
"I can see from here. The beam has stopped. Rainbow Dash, is Twilight recovered?"
Rainbow looked at the alicorn in front of her, who was now saying something and then their friends ran up and were shouting words back but the part of Rainbow's mind that processed those words was busy dreaming though it sounded like they were discussing something urgent. "Yeah. Yeah, all's cool again."
Luna dismissed her shield. "Then wake and rejoin your friends."
Meaning and sense returned to Rainbow's mind as she followed Luna's command - or tried to. Now that Twilight was safe again, Rainbow did feel tired. Maybe a rest? No, she had promised Pinkie she would stick around. But just staying put was difficult; she could feel her body slipping away.
Twilight's horn glowed, just the normal glow of a normal spell, and she was saying something. Rainbow focused on her ears just in time to hear Twilight babble, "...only mostly dead, basically a ghost possessing her own body, but she's fading fast. I don't know why she's acting like she can't hear us, but I can restart her heart. Stand back, everypony."
Rainbow had been hit by lightning before. She knew the sensation. This was smaller but more precise, and then she felt her heart beating. And something in her throat - she coughed, clearing the ash in there. And then PAIN EVERYWHERE HER EVERYTHING HURT-
Rainbow was too familiar with that white ceiling.