• Published 1st Apr 2014
  • 3,654 Views, 51 Comments

Finding Purpose - Archangel of the Silent



A week in Canterlot and a near-fatal accident may hold better things than expected for Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

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Flying Lessons?

"Thanks for flying with me, Dash. I'd probably fall right out of the sky without you here." As the two flew Canterlot's Royal Skyway, they looked down on all the people. This skyway was for royal purposes only, as the name would suggest. As such, it was quite high up and nearly deserted. They had been in Canterlot for six days, and they'd had a lesson each day for at least an hour. Twilight would be the first to admit she needed help, and Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Ponyville, if not Equestria, seemed like the perfect candidate. Plus, the cyan mare seemed more than happy to catch her when she fell, which was quite frequently. Admittedly, though, she was getting better.

"You're not that bad. Besides, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to use Canterlot's Royal Skyway, could I?" As she gazed into her friend's violet eyes, Rainbow Dash was stricken by a heartbreaking fact- in 6 days, she hadn't told Twilight how she felt. Soon, it wasn't even a possibility she'd get alone time with her. Despite the wave of sadness that had nigh overcome her, Dash forced a smile onto her face. "Besides, it's kinda cool hanging out with you." Hint, hint!

A thought creeped it's way into Twilight's head. Could she really feel that way about me? It was just distracting enough to cause Twilight to lose her focus. She lost all sensation to her body, her brain dedicating all of it's considerable processing power to the possibility of mutual feelings between the two ponies. Without that focus on the task at hand- flying- she suddenly started falling. Another thing Twilight needed to work on- not her focus, but her recovery. Over the course of all Twilight's lessons, Dash had been there to catch her if she fell, with the exceptions of low-altitude flying, where a fall wouldn't do any considerable damage. But this wasn't low-altitude- in order to ensure privacy and speed, that skyway was almost 75 meters up. As she always did when she fell, the alicorn panicked. And, same as always, when she panicked, she couldn't fly.

Rainbow Dash's reflexes weren't quite fast enough to catch her. She did, however, hear Twilight's screaming- it was hard to miss. Jolting down, she took quick note of the situation. She had about 200 feet to think of a solution. Fortunately, the pegasus was born to fly, and had earned her Cutie Mark for being a speed demon. Slicing through the air, she noticed the violet hooves flying through the air at alarming speeds- as long as Twilight was flailing about like that, any rescue from that side would have been impossible. She remembered Rarity doing the same thing at the Best Young Flier's competition in Cloudsdale- she had indeed knocked three potential rescuers unconscious. She, and the Wonderbolts, were only rescued thanks to Dash's quick action, and a Sonic Rainboom. With that though, she slid ever so slightly outward, getting level with Twilight. As she overtook the alicorn, she slid back underneath, on Twilight's backside. 150 feet, Dash thought to herself. She placed her forehooves on Twilight's backside. 100 feet. Lastly, she started to push up, hoping to save her friend. 50 feet. Suddenly, she noticed the most important part of the situation. No matter how hard she pushed, they weren't flying up. It was her last thought as the two hit the ground.

Twilight had sustained heavy injuries, remarking the pain as she was able to stand up. The worst pain of her life shot through her legs, up her back, and into her wings. She looked over at the small hole in the ground and caught sight of an unconscious pegasus there- Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow!" The words barely made it to Twilight. Quickly, she used her magic to lift the pony onto her backside, and began running. Running, she went. Running faster than she- or anypony she knew- had ever run, straight for Canterlot Hospital.

Canterlot Hospital, two hours post crash (46 hours to the good stuff.)

"How is she, Doctor?" Twilight had been pacing in the waiting room for two hours. She couldn't bring herself to sit down, not until she knew if her friend was going to be ok. Her legs were beyond tired, but until she could see Rainbow, she would not rest them.

"Broken wings are obvious. She seems to have fallen backwards. Immediately after hitting the ground, both hindlegs broke. Several broken ribs and lots of internal bleeding. It's unclear if she'll survive at this point, let alone wake up. Ponyville General sent over her medical records- it seems she spends a lot of time there. Looking over them, we've picked up an unusual increase in brain activity, specifically, REM sleeping. That's... well, extremely rare for coma patients."

"She's... dreaming." What about, nopony could even begin to fathom. "What are the odds?"

"Preliminary testing is looking better than earlier predictions. That being said, I'd peg survival at no more that ten percent. Waking up, around two."

"But... I never even got the chance to tell her." Twilight strengthened her resolve. If she couldn't wake up for herself, she'd wake up for Twilight, right? "She has to live, doctor. I'll pay for anything that needs to be done."

"Of course, Princess. Whatever you need. If you'd like, you may see her now. She's in the ICU, room four."

"Thank you, Doctor." Twilight almost ran down the hall to the room. When she arrived, she decided that if Dash woke up while she was there, she would tell her then. Knowing full well it would hurt, Twilight took a few feathers off her wing and laid them gently into Rainbow's mane. She winced at both the pain of taking them out and at the pain of lifting her wing. Only one was in a cast, but both were very sore. Doing this, a smile slipped onto her face. She remembered back to that Hearts and Hooves night, so long ago. Rainbow had come to the library seeking someone to talk to. That was, evidently, an anniversary of Dash's breakup with her first special somepony. Twilight did learn something from the experience, though- a bit of pegasus culture, a favorite subject of hers. Apparently, as she was told, when two pegasi feel close to each other, they would lay feathers from their wings into the manes of the other. Twilight was so happy she could do it now, too. After the fact, she began crying. As she let her head fall onto the chest of the pegasus, feeling her ever present heartbeat in her ears, Twilight whispered, "You have to wake up, damn you. Wake up so I can tell you myself."

Author's Note:

No idiots in the comment section, please. if you want to question me about rainbow's injuries, I ask you- DO YOU KNOW WHAT FALLING FROM 200 FEET WOULD DO TO A HUMAN? needed to address that. K? k. And Alexi, I know I wrote this for you, and you therefore want to read this 14,000 times, but you're screwing up my view count- I need to keep track of how many DIFFERENT people are reading this.