"Excuse me, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep it down in here. There are tired patients. Now, who are you and who do you want to see?" The lady at the reception asked, looking up at her.
"I'm here to see Rainbow Dash — she was in some kind of traffic accident. I'm her…" — Adagio thought for a moment — "… sister."
"I see," the receptionist said. "In that case, you may see her, but please be very, VERY quiet. Ward 2, room 18. Next," she said, waving Adagio off.
Adagio hurried along the corridors, following signposts. She quickly found the correct room and pushed open the door. Stepping inside, she went from bed to bed, looking for Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash lay unconscious, staring up at the ceiling. Her face was pale, and the injuries covering her could be clearly seen, especially the amount of soaked blood through the many giant bandages that covered her cuts and bruises. Luckily they managed to get her here in time. Despite not looking as bad as she should, Rainbow was suffering from a major blow to the head.
Adagio saw rainbow-coloured hair poking out through some bandages and realized she'd found Rainbow Dash's bed. There were no doctors or nurses around, so she picked up the clipboard at the end of Rainbow's bed to try to figure out what had happened, but it was all gobbledegook to her. She put the clipboard down. She pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. She leaned towards Rainbow and took her hand, clasping it tightly.
Rainbow took short breaths. While she was saved from anything severe for now, she would've been screaming in pain if she had been awake during the time.
Adagio sighed. She blamed herself for the accident. She should have insisted that Rainbow stay longer. She didn't know why she cared so much — she'd seen many people come and go. But it hadn't bothered her… not since… Joan. She rested her head on the bed beside Rainbow's chest, listening to the sound of her breathing, tears forming in her eyes.
Rainbow felt the pressure on her hand long before anything else. Despite feeling weak, hurt and tired, she very slowly pressed down, squeezing back. She could just think - and she knew who it was.
Adagio felt Rainbow squeeze back on her hand. One of the machines by her bedside started bleeping. She looked around. She was sure a doctor should be here to see this, but she didn't want to leave Rainbow's side to fetch one. There was an emergency call button by the side of the bed, so she reached out to press it, never letting go of Rainbow's hand.
Rainbow stirred slightly, but still lacked any sufficient energy to respond to much else. She could hear footsteps, as well as the beeping of many machines. Dr Vital Spark rushed into the room.
"What's happening?" Adagio asked him.
He consulted the machines. "She appears to be waking up."
"That's good then, yes?"
He shook his head. "With the amount of swelling her brain sustained in the accident, we'd been hoping she'd remain unconscious for a while. If she wakes up, she's likely to be in a lot of pain."
"Well… there's medication for that sort of thing, right?"
Dr Spark shook his head again. "Not for her. According to her notes, she has allergies to all of the medications strong enough for her level of injuries. We can give her paracetamol, but that will barely take the edge off what she's going to feel."
The next thing Rainbow felt was the pain — even before she had the energy to open her eyes. It wasn't that bad at first, but she from the words she heard from Adagio and the doctor, she knew it was going to get worse. She squinted, a scared look forming. She wasn't ready for this.
Adagio noticed Rainbow's eyes moving. She leaned over her, and had flashbacks of leaving over her on Soarin's couch. "Rainbow… Rainbow, are you okay?"
Rainbow just managed to shake her head, which seemed to make the pain worse. She felt around and grabbed Adagio's hand, squeezing it again. She was shaking.
"Don't… don't try to move," Adagio said, vaguely aware that moving might make her injuries worse. She sat back down by Rainbow's side. "Surely, doctor, there must be something you can do to relieve her pain."
"It will fade in time," Dr Spark said. "The only thing I can suggest is to keep talking to her. Take her mind off things."
Rainbow sobbed lightly as they spoke, shivering. Her breathing changed from slow to extremely fast paced. Despite the pain, she continued to squeeze Adagio's hand. Doing this gave her the slightest feeling of comfort.
"It'll be okay, Rainbow," Adagio assured. She looked around but the doctor had left. "When will her family get here," she muttered. She remembered Rainbow mentioning a father.
+
Rainbow Blitz pulled up in his car, just finishing up a phone call. He hung up and turned off the car, taking out the keys and walking up to the front door, noticing that all the lights were off.
"She must be asleep," he said, as he entered, turning on the lounge room light. He placed his stuff down and walked upstairs to his daughter’s room to check on her.
She wasn't there.
"Rainbow?" he called, looking around the house. "Rainbow???" he called, running outside again. Then he noticed something else; her bike was also missing.
"She can't still be out, can she?" he asked. Okay, now he was worried. He quickly locked the door again, and climbed into the car, calling her number as he drove out.
Voicemail.
"Dammit, Rainbow Dash, where are you?" He asked as he took off down the street. It took him about less than a few minutes to reach the scene of the accident and his eyes immediately fell on the broken blue coloured motorbike which lay in front of a red car.
"Oh no." He parked his car and quickly rushed out, running to the nearest person. "Excuse me, what happened here?"
"An accident between a young girl on a bike and a man in a car. I'll never forget the colour of her hair, if you're interested. It was rainbow," a women said.
Rainbow... Blaze quickly rushed off and sped his way towards the hospital.
Rainbow Dash let out a tear as the pain increased — she didn't know how she was going to get through this. If she had the energy, she'd probably scream. It was enough to make someone want to kill themselves, but then, what would be the point of it all? She tried to distract herself which anything, but it didn't seem to be working very well.
Adagio stroked Rainbow's forehead. "So… can you remember much about the accident? What happened?"
"D–Don't… about that…" Rainbow said quietly, wishing that she could just fall asleep again. The pain intensified with every second.
Rainbow Blitz walked into the hospital. "Yes, Rainbow Dash's father. Thank you." He marched down the hall with the directions, eventually finding the ward. He walked in, then stopped when he saw Adagio.
Adagio heard the door open behind her. She turned around to see a man with hair the same colours as Rainbow's. Because of his age and the clear resemblance, she assumed he must be Rainbow's father. "Mr… errr… Dash?" she asked.
Rainbow Blitz nodded and walked forward. "Is… is she going to be alright?"
Rainbow Dash cried a little harder, gripping the edge of the bed and Adagio's hand. Really tight.
Adagio wasn't sure. "I don't know. They mentioned swelling on her brain, but I… I don't know if that's dangerous." Adagio put her other hand on Rainbow Blitz's shoulder to reassure him.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip hard as well, digging her nails into Adagio's skin unintentionally.
Rainbow Blitz nodded and sat down. "And, um, you are…?"
Adagio winced slightly in pain, but buried it. "I'm Adagio Dazzle. I'm a… errr…" Friend? Not really. Too early to say girlfriend… far to early. What was she?
In any case she was saved from having to answer when Dr Spark returned to the room. "Hi, you must be Rainbow Dash's father. A nurse told me you'd arrived. There's no easy way to tell you this, but Rainbow took a bad knock to the head in her accident and this has resulted in some swelling to her brain. Normally we'd sedate a patient in this state, but according to her notes she's allergic to just about every drug we could use. Swelling can make it hard for blood to reach all the parts of the brain, and cutting off blood supply can lead to cell loss and brain damage. However, the fact that she's conscious is a good sign."
Rainbow Blitz nodded again, taking in all the information. He seemed calm about it, but Blitz knew that freaking out wasn't going to make it any better, even if he was extremely worried. So, he just turned his attention to his daughter. And stared.
Adagio stroked Rainbow's hair affectionately. "If I know anything about your daughter, I know she's a fighter. She's not the kind of girl to give up easily."
Rainbow Blitz nodded. "You're right. Thanks."
Rainbow Dash released the pressure on Adagio's hand as the pain subsided, a small smile flickered on her face. At this, she opened her eyes, which normally would've been good sign if she could see more than blurry blobs. She blinked a few times, but wasn't sure if that was making it better or worse.
"Rainbow… you're awake again," Adagio said. "Your dad is here now." She felt the urge to hug Rainbow, but resisted because of her father's presence.
Rainbow nodded slightly and blinked again. At least the colours were becoming much clearer — she could definitely see rainbow hair and blue skin. She blinked again. Despite the tears in her eyes, she could see the lines. One more blink and everything was almost fine, but the bright lights in the room weren’t really helping.
She looked from Adagio to her dad, and, remembering the pain she was in before, she sniffed.
"D–Dagi… Dad… s–sorry…" she cried quietly.
"Rainbow, can you remember what happened?" her father asked.
He looked at Adagio. "I think right now it might be best if it were… just family?"
Although she never really wanted to let go, Adagio managed to get her hand free from Rainbow's clasp and turned to leave.
Rainbow's hand twitched and she could feel a tear fall as Adagio walked out of the room. Her stomach churned with feelings of sadness. But, to be honest, she wasn't exactly sure why…
"Rainbow… this is important," her dad said, taking Adagio's chair. "You need to think. Is there anything you remember about the accident? Anything at all? We need to get it written down so we can take it to the family lawyer."
Rainbow's forehead creased and slowly wiped the tears from her eyes, before looking up at her. "There… there isn't much to say. I was riding my bike, thinking deeply to myself. Most likely not… not watching where I was going. Then… then I heard shouting, and the sound of a horn beeping. I barely had time to work out what was going on before I… could see nothing but darkness." Rainbow closed her eyes tightly and blinked, squeezing out yet another tear.
Rainbow Blitz shook his head. "No, this won't do. Not watching? You'll need to leave that part out of your story. Can you remember any licence plates? Car makes and colours? Anything is useful."
Rainbow simply shook her head. What did he think? She wasn't watching, and that's what happened. Why was it so important that she had to have seen something?
"Well, I'm glad to see you're recovering. Just… don't rush yourself to feel better too quickly. This was a serious accident, and we need for it to seem serious to anybody in a position to… errr… punish those responsible. So don't go recovering too quickly, Rainbow." He stood up. "Anyway, now I know you're okay, I should go talk with our lawyer. I'll see that we're… I mean you're fully compensated for this."
Rainbow Blitz walked towards the door. "Should I send…" — he struggled to remember the name — "your friend back in?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yes, please." She frowned lightly at her father's actions, but didn't say anything.
Rainbow Blitz left the room and almost tripped over Adagio's legs. She had been waiting on the seats outside, legs crossed and outstretched.
"You… errr… friend… she'd like to see you again. Keep an eye on her for me, will you? I have some important things to do." Blitz strode off down the corridor.
Adagio hesitantly pushed open the door and walked over to Rainbow's bed.
Rainbow smiled when she saw Adagio and very carefully sat up against the pillows. She winced slightly, but decided it was worth it.
Adagio sat back in the seat she'd vacated earlier. She was glad to see Rainbow able to sit up a little. She was clearly improving quickly. She took one of Rainbow's hands in both of hers. "How are you feeling, Rainbow?" she asked. "I came here as soon as I heard about your accident."
"Fine, I guess… I don't know," Rainbow said. "I'm sorry this had to happen…"
"What are you apologizing to me for? It's not like you asked for this to happen."
"Well, no, but…" Rainbow sighed, "it was my fault. I'm the one to blame. I mean, sure, it's not like I knew the car was going to be there, but… I wasn't paying attention. I swerved out into the middle of the road and I caused it. If I was just—"
"Don't blame yourself, Rainbow. You were the only one that got hurt anyway. On the news, they said… it doesn't matter. Nobody else got hurt." Adagio clasped Rainbow's hand.
Despite Rainbow obviously still being in pain, and distress, Adagio felt happy. If you'd asked her the day before about whether she'd be happy in a situation like this, she would have replied, "obviously!" Her rival, lying in hospital, in pain… what could be better? But now she was happy for a different reason. She'd thought she was going to lose Rainbow, but that wasn't going to happen…
Adagio smiled and stroked the back of Rainbow's hand. "You're going to be okay, Rainbow."
"That's a relief, at least," Rainbow said, smiling, before letting out an unwanted yawn.
Adagio's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry," she announced. "Hey Rainbow, when was the last time you ate? We only had coffee back at mine, and we didn't eat anything at the Wonderbolts show. Do you want me to find that doctor and find out if you're allowed to eat?"
"Well, I don't feel hungry, but it might be good. It has been a while," Rainbow said.
Adagio let go of Rainbow's hand. "I'll be back in a few minutes.”
She walked out of the room and headed back to the main area of the ward. She caught sight of a familiar face. "Dr Spark!" she called.
Dr Spark approached. "You're… Ms Dash, right?"
"No, I'm her fr—" Adagio remembered her cover story of being Rainbow's sister. "Yes, I'm Ms Dash… but please, call me Adagio."
"Adagio Dash… lovely name," Dr Spark started, and Adagio thought it did have a nice ring to it. "What is it that I can do for you?"
"I was wondering… is Rainbow allowed to eat? I know sometimes patients are not supposed to."
"That's mostly before surgery," the doctor assured her. "Now that Rainbow seems to be recovering, we don't anticipate her needing any surgery."
"So she can eat?" Adagio asked.
The doctor nodded. "The hospital canteen does takeaway food," he added.
Adagio hurried in the direction he'd gestured, and soon returned to Rainbow's room with a selection of sandwiches — more than the two of them could possibly eat, but she hadn't know what would be Rainbow's favourites, so she just got a wide variety — along with a few chocolate bars and a bottles of fruit juice.
She laid them out on the table at the side of Rainbow's bed. "Take your pick," she said, smiling.
"Sweet! Thanks a lot!" Rainbow said, looking through the pile of plastic-wrapped sandwiches. She pulled a ham and cheese one, unwrapped it, and took a bite.
Adagio unwrapped the tuna mayo sandwich. After all these years in a human body, she'd still never lost the taste for fish. She started eating hers.
Sandwich after sandwich, Rainbow ate, occasionally stopping to have a chocolate bar and a drink. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. Eventually, she put down an unfinished sandwich and let out another yawn.
"You're tired. You need to get some sleep. Do you want me to go?" Adagio asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "Stay with me until I fall asleep please?" she pleaded.
"Of course," Adagio said. She looked around. There was nobody else in the room. "Would you like me to… sing to you?"
Rainbow nodded, smiling as she lay back down.
Adagio tried to think of a song she knew that wasn't about trying to manipulate people's minds. The only one that popped into her head was a lullaby from her native land. She stroked Rainbow's hair singing, "hush now, quiet now, it's time to rest your sleepy head…"
Rainbow closed her eyes and very gently and slowly drifted off to the sleep; the sweet sound of Adagio's voice still resonated in her mind.
Adagio waited until Rainbow had been asleep for a good five minutes before leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. At the last moment she changed her mind and kissed Rainbow softly on the lips.
She turned and quietly left the room to prepare some things for when Rainbow woke up.
Rainbow stirred lightly before opening her eyes and sitting up in the bed. She let out a morning yawn and blinked a couple of times.
Adagio had put up a couple of Wonderbolts posters on the wall near Rainbow's bed. There was a vase of fresh cut flowers on the table, and an orange pony plushy wearing a hat at the foot of the bed.
Adagio herself was in the arm chair, slumped over, and snoring quietly.
Rainbow looked around happily. "Sweet! This feels just like home." Her eyes rested on Adagio and she smiled. "Thanks," she said to the sleeping girl, the picked up the plushie at the end of the bed, squeezing it.
Dr Spark walked into the room to see Rainbow Dash sitting up in bed. "I'm glad to see you're looking a lot better. Nurse Redheart has been checking on you overnight, and she's told me that your recovery is unlike anything she's ever seen before. If it's okay, I'd like to check your vital signs now. And we'll get you an appointment with a physiotherapist this afternoon to see what they think is the next step in your treatment."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Alright. Uh, will I be alright to go to school tomorrow?" she asked.
Dr Spark frowned. "I wouldn't have thought so. You've still been in a major accident. We don't even know if you can walk yet."
Adagio became aware of voices nearby and began to stir.
Rainbow sighed. "Alright. Well, um, I can call my friends… right?"
"Of course," he answered, "though we don't like people using mobile phones on the wards. It can interfere with the equipment."
Adagio opened her eyes.
Dr Spark continued, "there is a payphone out in the ward. I can get a nurse to take you there, if you like."
Rainbow nodded. "Yes please."
Adagio became aware of her surroundings just as Dr Spark was leaving. She wiped a little drool from her chin. "Rainbow, you're awake! I was… I was trying to stay awake for you but, I guess I must have dozed off. Was that the doctor you were talking to?"
Rainbow nodded again. "Yeah." She grinned. "Thanks a lot for all of this by the way!"
Adagio yawned. "No problem. Your dad let me into your house to pick up some things. I got you a change of clothes and stuff too… it's in the drawer. I don't know if they'll let you change out of your hospital gown thing though."
At that point the nurse arrived, pushing a wheelchair.
"Thanks," Rainbow said, then looked to her right and let out another small sigh. "As expected. I didn't think it was that bad. I can't even feel any pain."
"Well," said Nurse Redheart. "You're still using the wheelchair until you've been seen by a physiotherapist. Hospital policy."
Adagio helped Rainbow get into the chair, and the nurse wheeled her out into the ward, with Adagio following not far behind.
Rainbow leaned forward, head resting on her hands.
They arrived at the phone.
"Do you want me to leave? Give you some privacy?" Adagio asked.
Rainbow nodded. "That would be best for now," she said, and waited as Adagio left. She quickly grabbed the phone off the wall and dialled Applejack's number, which she knew by heart.
Adagio went to talk to the doctors to find out when Rainbow's appointment was with the physiotherapist. They were still under the impression that she was Rainbow's sister, so told her everything she needed to know… it would be at 11am.
Applejack picked up the phone. "Hello? Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack speaking. How can I help you?"
"Hey, Applejack," Rainbow said, half-smiling. "It's me, Rainbow Dash."
"Hey, Rainbow, haven't heard from you all weekend. How was the show? More interestingly… how was Cloudy?" Applejack said, her smirk almost audible.
"Uh, yeah, about that… well, it's a long story…" Rainbow stopped and thought for a minute. "Cloudy didn't show up. Instead, I ended up going with Adagio, who somehow found out about it. I just decided to get it over and done with, but… things happened and… I went over to Adagio's place for a bit. On the way home… well… I, um… crashed and ended up in hospital." Rainbow bit her lip.
Applejack thought for a moment. "Adagio?! I… well, that's a surprise. But you're okay, I take it? Do you need anything? I can pop by your house and pick you up a change of clothes."
"No, it's okay, Adagio did that too." Rainbow looked down. "You see, um… we kinda, uh… well, we…" She struggled to let out the truth.
Applejack listened to Rainbow over the phone. "Rainbow, is there something you're not telling me?"
Rainbow bit harder down on her lip, her cheeks burning. "U–uh, well, it's…" She grunted in frustration and gripped the ends of her hair. "Ah! At the Wonderbolts we kissed and now I love—" Rainbow quickly placed her free hand over her mouth.
"You what?!" Applejack almost exploded. "You kissed that evil… demon… thing?!" She started pacing back and forth. "I… there's only one logical explanation… she must have somehow regained her powers… gotten you in some kind of trance…" She continued rambling.
Rainbow's mood suddenly changed from embarrassed to angry. "That's it? That's all you have to say?! I'll tell you this: I'm not under any damn spell! And Adagio isn't an evil demon thing! She's a human being just like all of us! You gave Sunset a chance! In fact, you were the one who taught me to give people second chances! What is so different about Adagio? I can tell you about Adagio; she's changed. She's more caring and she's nicer than YOU!" Rainbow yelled, slamming the phone down. After a few seconds of glaring at the phone, she gasped. "I–I…" She sniffed. "I…"
Applejack shook the phone and held it to her ear again. She tapped the screen, and listened again. "Guess she must've hung up…" She sighed. She had only been trying to be honest.
Adagio watched as Rainbow got more and more worked up and finally slammed the phone down. She could see Rainbow was upset but didn't know whether to try to comfort her. Still, there was nobody else around for Rainbow to talk to, so she supposed it would have to be her. She walked back to Rainbow and put her hand on her shoulder.
Rainbow turned around to face Adagio, tears forming in her eyes. She shook her head and hugged her, crying.
Adagio hugged Rainbow tightly. "What's happened?" she asked, not knowing why she was so upset.
"I–I… didn't mean to… yell… she probably hates me now… I just felt so angry all of a sudden, but I'm sorry… and…" Rainbow trailed off, still crying into Adagio's chest.
"Who? Who hates… you know what? It doesn't matter." Adagio wasn't quite sure how to deal with people getting emotional like this. "Should we… should I take you back to your room?"
Rainbow nodded, and sniffed again, moving away as she leaned back against the wheelchair. "I'm sorry…"
Adagio wheeled her back to her room, on the way noting the time on the clock. It was only about thirty minutes before Rainbow's appointment with the physiotherapist.
Back in the room, she helped Rainbow back into bed, blushing slightly when Rainbow's gown rode up her thighs and she almost got a glimpse of her behind. She pulled the covers over Rainbow and found a leftover unopened bottle of juice. "Thirsty?" she asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "Nah," she said simply.
"Must just be me then." Adagio opened the orange juice, and took a gulp.
Rainbow shrugged and looked up at the clock.
+
Adagio watched as Rainbow met with the physiotherapist. In her office, Rainbow practiced walking back and forth, holding onto a freestanding railing, with the physiotherapist taking notes.
"Rainbow, your recovery has been remarkable. I'm going to recommend a pair of crutches for you, but we should be able to discharge you from hospital this afternoon, provided your main doctor is happy with that."
"I hope so," Rainbow said. "Sitting around in the hospital all this time has been driving me crazy!" she said, before stumbling lightly, gripping onto the rail with her other hand. "Though, I think I'll take you up on that crutches thing."
The physiotherapist gave Rainbow Dash the crutches and Adagio led her back to the room, opening doors for her.
After Rainbow was back in bed, sitting up and eating grapes, Dr Spark came into the room. "So, how's my miracle patient feeling now?"
"Great!" Rainbow replied, grinning. "Well, better, anyway." She said, popping another grape into her mouth.
Dr Spark looked at his notes. "Well, I've just been reading over the notes from your physio, and she seems to think you're okay to go home now. Your head injury seems to have healed nicely. We could keep you in another night, but if you feel okay to go home, we can discharge you this afternoon."
"As soon as possible! I don't know how much longer I can stand it in here." Rainbow said.
"Okay, I'll send the nurse in with the paperwork," Dr Spark said, leaving the room.
Adagio turned to Rainbow. "Are you sure you want to go home straight away? You heard what he said… you could stay here another night."
"Definitely sure!" Rainbow said. "Why would I want to stay another night?" she asked.
"How are you going to get home? Should we call your dad, or… I still have Sonata's car in the car park?" Adagio offered.
"Either way. It would be better to get yours home then to call another in," Rainbow said, eating another grape. She quickly swallowed. "Wait… Sonata's car?"
"Well… she's officially the driver of the three of us. It's all because—"
Adagio was interrupted by Nurse Redheart arriving. "Ms Dash, I hear you'll be leaving us. I have these forms for you to fill in." She deposited them in front of Rainbow and offered a pen.
"Sure!" Rainbow took the pen and started writing, looking up at Adagio for a bit. "Uh, you were saying?"
"It's umm…" — Adagio looked at the nurse — "never mind. I can tell you later."
"Oh, okay." Rainbow said and continued writing.
Once Rainbow had completed the form, Nurse Redheart took the papers and left.
"You should probably change out of that hospital gown," Adagio suggested. She turned to face the other direction to give Rainbow some privacy.
Rainbow nodded and stood up, pulling off her gown as she reached for her clothes.
Adagio rambled over her shoulder. "Anyway, the thing with the car. Yeah, I was kinda banned from driving about thirty years ago. I'm a perfectly safe driver, it's just there was this whole incident with the officer and the goat and the bridge… you don't really want to know." Adagio didn't peek.
"Uh… yeah, you may be right," Rainbow said, sitting down to pull up her pants. "Ow!" She winced as the fabric rubbed past her scratches. "I probably should've chosen the skirt."
"Sorry, when I chose the clothes, I wasn't really thinking about that. I just choose the kind of stuff you usually wear," Adagio said, still not peeking.
"It's fine," Rainbow said, pulling on her shirt. "Okay, done."
Adagio turned around. It was good to see Rainbow looking kind of back to her old self again. She passed the girl her crutches. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Rainbow nodded, holding the crutches close to her as she hopped along after Adagio. "Ugh. So slow."
Adagio held the front door of the hospital open for Rainbow, standing to the side to let her through. "Don't worry. I'm an immortal being. I'm never in any hurry," she joked.
"Oh yeah." Rainbow said, forcing a laugh. Inside, however, her heart sank. An immortal being… she will live on forever… while… I… Rainbow thought, looking down as she walked.
Adagio led the way to Sonata's car. She opened the door for Rainbow Dash and helped her inside, before closing the door, stowing the crutches in the boot, and dashing round to the driver's side to climb in. "Where to, then? Your place?" she asked.
"Actually…" Rainbow knotted her fingers together. "Can we go back to your place for a little bit? I… don't want to go home just yet. I'm sure my dad will understand," Rainbow said, emphasizing 'dad' in quite an annoyed tone.
"I… was that… ?" — Adagio wondered how best to ask if that's who she'd been arguing with on the phone, but decided it was best to let it go — she didn't want to interfere.
"Yeah, sure," she said, and turned the key in the ignition, sparking the engine to life. "I can treat you to another of my perfectly made coffees."
Rainbow grinned, lighting up. "Sweet!" she said.
As she drove, Adagio tried to take Rainbow's mind off the accident. "So, how are things going at school now? I've heard via the grapevine that you're preparing for some kind of contest against Crystal Prep."
"Yeah," Rainbow said. "It's pretty intense, since we're really serious on winning! But, uh… I guess I can't ride motorbikes with crutches. And this had to happen after my song too…"
"What so— nevermind."
Adagio turned a corner onto the main street, driving past the scene of Rainbow's accident. There were skid marks visible on the road.
Rainbow peered out the window, her eyes widening slightly. She gulped. "I hope that never happens again. I may have been out, but for a split second I knew I was absolutely terrified when I came back to my senses while riding."
"They say that if you fall off your horse… errr… bike, then the best thing to do is get straight back on," Adagio said, trying to comfort her. "Of course, that would be if you still had a bike to get back onto. I imagine it got pretty wrecked."
She rounded the next corner, going past the school.
"Oh… yeah…" Rainbow said sadly. "And it was new too." She shook her head and turned away from the window, half smiling. "Thanks, Adagio."
Adagio took the second left after the school, turning onto her street, and soon pulled up in the driveway outside the house. She hopped out of the car, retrieved Rainbow's crutches from the boot, and then helped Rainbow out of her side.
"Here we are then… home sweet home… I wonder if Sonata and Aria are back yet."
"Probably. It's been a while," Rainbow said, heading up the path. "Imagine the looks on their faces when they see me, with you," she added, laughing a little.
Adagio pushed open the door to the house to see Aria and Sonata's overnight bags sitting in the hall. They'd obviously returned recently. She pushed them out of the way to make room for Rainbow.
Turning to her right, she saw them both in the kitchen, standing by the oven and looking tense — obviously the sound of an opening door had interrupted an argument. A smell of fresh tacos wafted out from the room.
Aria turned to face the new arrivals. "Well, look what the cat dragged in!"