First published
What would you do if you've never truly lived your life?
How would one tell between a dream and reality?
I'll add tags as I go. Writing this was a completely new experience.
Pre-read by: Undead Equestrian Writer, Dreadnought, DeejayShuffle, lunarderpy1, Dire Hawk, BattleScarredPony, and German Empireball.
Cover art by me using a stock RD cutie mark and a crapton of filters in PDN. (Sorry, no crazy gradients this time!)
Not to be confused with a much, much older story by the same name. The author of that one hasn't been on for a pretty long time, but better safe than sorry. 
Blue:
The color of a winged horse pertaining to many colors.
Flight:
A common ability of the inhabitants of Equestria. Mainly reserved to the subspecies Pegasus.
Dreams:
A mental experience created by the mind using preexisting stimuli and memories.
Rainbow Dash:
A filly who never had a chance at life.
Shattered Rainbow
Rainbow Dash sliced through the air, the wind tumbling through her feathers as she flew alongside the Wonderbolts. They were performing a show for Princess Celestia herself, and it was quite clear that everypony was enjoying the act. After all, it was the anniversary ceremony marking Luna's return to her sister's side. From the sidelines Rainbow spotted her friends, each one of them watching in awe as the pegasus sped forth.
As a final salutation to the Princess, Rainbow separated from the rest of her team, opting instead to soar almost vertically, her wings flapping faster than she had ever pushed them. This was her chance to truly prove herself. Not just to the Wonderbolts, but to Equestria. As the rest of the Wonderbolts began landing and starting their after-show activities, Rainbow only continued to rise. Fewer and fewer clouds obstructed her view as she climbed higher than she had ever gone. Soon enough, the mare had found herself staring down at the miniature scene below, grinning cockily as she mentally prepared for her final act.
A quadruple rainboom.
All at once, her body rocketed downwards, plummeting faster and faster as she folded her wings in to streamline herself. The whispering sounds of the wind filled her ears, and the air graciously tore through her mane as it was strewn free in the air.
One rainboom.
Two.
The ground drew closer and closer by the second, and as it did so, Rainbow rapidly changed her trajectory, opting to instead glide for the rest of the way.
The cheering of the crowd pushed her onwards, and though the increased drag from the redirection had slowed her, she continued to gain momentum.
Three rainbooms.
Four.
A burst of color streamed through the air from all sides, the telltale sign of Rainbow's trademark move. The wind billowed through her wings as the shockwave died down. As the colors began to fade, she began to angle herself upwards again, reaching higher and higher once more. It wasn't part of her practiced routine. Every part of her brain screamed to stop, to turn around and land to ease her aching muscles. But at the same time, another part screeched in return again and again to push further, higher. Faster.
Reach for the skies, and touch the stars.
A tightening in her chest told her that the air was growing thin-- even for a pegasus. And yet she flew higher.
The shallow air billowed through her mane, though second by second, it began to wane. Even against her mind's protest, she somehow only continued to gain momentum.
The voice in her mind continued its pleads for her to stop, but even then, she pushed her wings onward, flapping faster and harder than they had ever done before.
At last, her lungs began to feel as if they were alit with flame. There simply wasn't enough oxygen left to breathe. Her breathing intensified, her lungs trying with all their might to draw in more air by the second. Soon enough, however, a soothing sensation began to wash over the mare, who had finally stopped to enjoy the fulfillment of the strange urge to soar higher.
But then, the sensation turned to dizziness. Dizzyness to downright nausea. Her mind began to become fuzzy, and all over she had become numb. She felt her wings seize for the final moments of consciousness, and she plummeted.
And then she woke.
For Rainbow, it wasn't much of a surprise. With her routine crashes, it wasn't too uncommon for her to wake up in a hospital room, a bandage wrapped about her head or wings. On a couple of occasions she ended up with a cast, but that hadn't happened for years.
What was strange was the fact that this wasn't any old clinic, but Cloudsdale University Hospital, one of the best available to pegasi. Confused, she turned to face the window. It was indeed CUH, and judging by the vast, sprawling network of skyline infrastructure that was presented before her, she was in the Intensive Care Ward.
She had been admitted to the hospital on multiple occasions before, with ailments ranging typically from sprains to the occasional broken bone. She racked her mind in attempt to remember any time from before she was admitted.
Streams of foggy memories passed through her mind, and yet she still couldn't remember the last time she had been awake.
For minutes, Rainbow stayed silent, her brain attempting to process what could've brought her there.
Crash? Late night drunkenness?
Her mind continued to race as she attempted to trace her memories. She had been performing for Celestia, with the Wonderbolts. The show was in memorium to the return of Luna. She had been picked to lead the show, and along with her stunts, she had performed a final act.
"Quadruple Rainboom," she whispered, remembering the lack of control that had taken her. It had truly been a terrifying experience, to simply stall in midair and drop like she did. Moreso even then Tirek, or the thought of Tank's loss.
A light chirp distracted her from her thoughts.
She turned back to face the wall in front of her. It was lined with various medical devices, blinking and beeping in sync with each other as they monitored her vitals. The room was already growing dark with the sun vanishing beneath the horizon. Rainbow's eyes set upon a calendar hanging on the wall.
How long had it been? Hours? Days?
Rainbow squinted at the calendar. Her vision was still blurred from her rest, and she could only make out the month, in large, block letters.
She couldn't tell particularly however, but judging by her patient tag on her foreleg, she'd been there for far longer than a couple of days. Even longer than the couple of months she had assumed it to be from the calendar.
It had been nearly seventeen years since she had been admitted.
Rainbow sat puzzled in her bed, staring down at the tag for several minutes. She didn't move, nor did she speak.
How could it be seventeen years?
A brief rap on the door startled the mare, breaking her staredown with the patient tag. A recognisably yellow mare walked into the room, a stethoscope hanging about her neck.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow whispered to herself, watching the mare head over to the monitoring devices in the corner.
Fluttershy's ears perked at Rainbow's voice. She turned to face the pony she had watched plummet as a filly. At the sight of Rainbow being awake, her eyes widened. She promptly rushed from the room.
Fluttershy burst into the main office in a flurry, sending papers flying with the gust of wind created by the door. "Rainbow Dash's awake!"
Several ponies raised their brow, including the patients.
"Are you sure?" The receptionist asked, "That mare's been in a coma for years now. I doubt that she'd wake anytime soon." she opened a nearby filing cabinet, and revealed a folder. "Seventeen years," she continued, "Admitted to the CUH for traumatic brain injuries, a shredded wing, and multiple fractured vertebrae." She looked back up from the file at Fluttershy.
"Once again, are you sure?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, she's awake!" she repeated, "Come see!" She turned and was about to run back to Dash's room, but instead met Rainbow Dash herself, dragging herself along on a chair, followed by various medical devices still tethered to her.
"What's going on?" Rainbow asked, "Fluttershy, where are the girls? I want to see Twilight."
"Twilight?" Fluttershy repeated softly, "Twilight who?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, TWILIGHT WHO?!" Rainbow screamed. She recoiled immediately after hitting herself on the IV rack.
Fluttershy frowned. "Rainbow, I don't know of anypony named 'Twilight'. You've been in a coma for years now following the crash. What are you talking about?"
Rainbow's eyes widened. "Y-you mean..."
"Yes, Rainbow, you've been here since you were a filly. I personally flew you here when you crashed."
Shaking her head, the cyan pegasus began mumbling, "No... it can't be true, all those years--"
"Never happened? Yes. That's true."
Rainbow recoiled, surprised at Fluttershy's tone.
"If... if it was all a dream," she began, "then wouldn't Luna have come to tell me?"
"Luna?" Fluttershy questioned as she moved Rainbow to a wheelchair, "Who are you talking about?"
Rainbow shrugged in frustration. "Idunno, isn't she the Princess of the Night?!" she said, "Like, the one who watches over you guys' dreams? The Mare in the Moon? Y'know?"
"Oh! The Mare in the Moon!" Fluttershy exclaimed, "You're talking about her?"
Rainbow nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah... she's a myth. Nopony's ever confirmed her existence, not even Queen Celestia."
"Wait, QUEEN Celestia?" Rainbow snorted, "What happened to the whole 'Princess of Equestria' thing?!"
Fluttershy shook her head slowly as she began carting Rainbow Dash back to her room. "After Celestia's mother died, she took on the role of Queen. Parliament's been under her leadership for the past few years now."
"Wha--WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash yelled in confusion, "QUEEN? MOTHER?! PARLIAMENT?!"
"Shhhhhh..." Fluttershy shushed the panicking mare, "It's alright, it'll take some time for you to adjust now that the stimulant drugs aren't needed."
Rainbow shrunk down in her wheelchair in her horror. "Stimulant... drugs?!"
Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Stimulant, hallucinogenic, it's all a matter of how you refer to it and how it's used."
"You mean--"
"Yes, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, cutting off her patient, "Those dreams were likely a byproduct of drugs that were injected into your bloodstream in attempt to hasten your mental recovery." She paused for a moment, before continuing, "Though, it did take seventeen years or so until now..."
The duo remained silent as Fluttershy arrived at Rainbow's room.
Rainbow watched silently as Fluttershy went to and fro about the room, tending to the various monitoring devices currently attached to Rainbow.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow timidly asked, "Are we still friends?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "We were friends a long time ago," she began, "but... after you fell, and I caught you... I began to try every way I could to bring back the mare that stood up for me."
Hearing Fluttershy mention the race caught Rainbow's full attention. "So you remember?" she asked, gleefully hoping for any sort of return.
"You're not the same little filly I struggled to fly back from the ground, Rainbow." She glanced back at the bedridden mare. "Those dreams of yours-- you're still the same, but you're almost unrecognizable now."
"What about my parents?" Rainbow asked yet again, "Do they know?"
Fluttershy nodded, sitting down beside Rainbow. "They know," she replied, "but they've moved on quite a while ago. When they were told that you may never wake up, they were crushed..."
"And?"
"They had another foal, to... replace you. Spectral Glider, if I remember correctly. I haven't seen the filly for a while now though."
Rainbow's eyes focused on the lone window in the room once more. After minutes of silence, she began to speak again. "Fluttershy?" She asked, "Will I ever fly again?"
Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Rainbow, have you looked at your wings yet?"
Rainbow quickly whirled around, her eyes setting in horror upon the stump that was once her right wing.
"With enough funding, I might be able to get you a prosthetic."
Rainbow nodded in disappointment. "Aww..." groaned, "That sucks..."
A quiet buzz surprised her.
"What was that?!" she suddenly yelled, wincing in pain immediately afterwards from the sudden movement.
Fluttershy paid no mind to rainbow as she calmly walked to a shelf beside the door, where she took hold of a flat, dark, boxy-looking device.
"It's a smartphone," Fluttershy replied, handing the device to her patient, "They were invented a couple years after you fell."
Rainbow's eyes widened as she watched Fluttershy press a button on the side. Immediately, the 'smartphone' blasted the mare with light. Once again, Fluttershy took almost no notice as she swiped her hoof multiple times.
Rainbow shifted in her bed, attempting to see the device up close. Fluttershy silently refused Rainbow, and nudged her back down.
"You've got an interviewer wanting to see you at four," Fluttershy said, never taking her eyes off the phone's screen, "would you like to meet with them?"
Rainbow nodded.
Swift Strokes adjusted his glasses as he set a notepad on the table beside Rainbow's bed. "Miss Dash, am I right?" He asked, glancing towards the bedridden mare.
Rainbow nodded, shifting under the covers.
Swift Strokes nodded. "Now then, is it alright if I ask you a couple questions?"
Once again, Rainbow simply nodded.
"What were your first thoughts when you woke up?"
"Um..." Rainbow began, "I remember that I was really confused, like, I was all 'How did I get here?' and stuff like that. It just felt kinda weird."
Swift nodded, jotting down the notes.
"I heard from Fluttershy that you've been living a so-called 'dream life' while you were in your coma. Could you explain it to us?"
Rainbow's ears perked. "I-I'll try," she replied, "it's just kinda hard for me to think about it right now." Her eyes fell upon her patient tag again, tracing the numbers on her admission date. "Well... in my old life, I never crashed. I just felt a bit of turbulence. During the race I had against Hoops and Dumbbell, I also pulled off a sonic rainboom."
Swift raised his brow, but didn't comment. Instead, he signalled her to continue as he finished writing.
"I remember that it was Fluttershy who fell, but... I kinda abandoned her, 'cause I wanted to finish the race. 'Yknow?" Rainbow paused, staring out the window at the rolling expanse of fluffy clouds. "She fell all the way to the ground, but she made it back because she was caught by some butterflies, according to her."
"And?" Swift pressed, flipping to a new page, "Go on."
"And so, when her parents flew down to bring her back up, she forgave me, since I was trying to prove her bullies wrong. She told me that she fell into a small town that Cloudsdale was floating over called 'Ponyville', and that there were a lot of nice animals. She then showed me her cutie mark, which she got after she found out that she could talk to animals." Rainbow abruptly stopped, sighing as she turned back to Swift Strokes. "But it's probably not like that in real life, is it?"
Swift Strokes shook his head. "No, Dash. Fluttershy got her mark in pony anatomy at school the year after you crashed. She's been in the top of her class, too. In fact, that mare's actually been interning here for the past three months!"
Rainbow sighed, rubbing her head with both hooves in attempt to sink into the reality that she now lived.
"Miss Dash?" Swift questioned, gazing up from the notes, "Would you like to continue?"
"I... I will," Rainbow replied. "Um, where was I again?"
"You were talking about Fluttershy, according to you."
Rainbow nodded. "And so after that, my parents and I decided to move to Ponyville out of fear that I would be next to fall." Her lip began to tremble ever so slightly as she pressed on. "I... met a lot of other foals down there, during school and stuff... We'd play tag a lot of times, but we'd usually play pranks on each other. We lived for a while near Sweet Apple Acres, where I met Applejack. She was pretty hardheaded at times, but--"
"Did you say Sweet Apple Acres?" Swift cut in, "I don't believe I've heard of them for years now."
"You mean it exists?!" Rainbow gasped, "Does Applejack still live there? Whaddabout Granny Smith? Big Mac? I mean, sure, AJ might've decided to stay in--"
"Rainbow." Swift deadpanned, "Sweet Apple Acres is a large-scale plantation company that now specializes in the manufacturing of farming machinery. They haven't done any farming for years now."
Rainbow sunk in defeat, allowing her blankets to consume her. "But what about Applejack?" she asked softly, "What about my friends?"
She bolted back upright, flinging a blanket corner aside. "WHAT ABOUT PINKIE PIE?!"
"Listen, Miss, but Fluttershy and I can do nothing but assure you that your friends do not exist, and they never have.
A glistening wetness began to make its way into Rainbow's eyes.
Following the conference with the reporter, Rainbow had returned to her new habit of staring out the lone window in her room. It had quickly grown dark in the hours passed, and if she squinted, she could barely make out the vast cityscape of Canterlot below. As she watched, she didn't notice as Fluttershy entered the room with a clipboard.
"Rainbow?" She began, "You're cleared to leave tomorrow morning."
The mare left the room without another word, while Rainbow subconsciously processed what she had just said.
Leave. Tomorrow. Free.
"Wait!" Rainbow suddenly burst as she tumbled from the bed, "Fluttershy, wait up!"
She raced from the room as fast as her legs could carry her, into the vast expanse of hallways and corridors of the hospital. Immediately, she found herself lost. Though, without her wheelchair holding her back, she was able to quickly search the halls for her supposed friend. The mare turned a corner, and found herself face-to-face with Fluttershy.
"Oh, Rainbow?" Fluttershy exclaimed as she saw her patient, "What are doing here?"
Rainbow's gaze dropped to her hooves. "Um... I was just wondering..." she began, "I was friends with you in my dreams. Do you think that we could be friends now too?"
Fluttershy smiled. "Of course, Rainbow. After all, I've been ordered to stay by your side while you recover out in the real world. I'm sure that you'd like somepony to stay by your side."
"Thanks," Rainbow replied, "I needed to hear that. At least I know that I've got one friend still."
"But what about your family?" Fluttershy suddenly asked, "Aren't you going to stay with them?"
"I'm not sure if I'm ready to see them for real, after all this crazyness I've been through recently. I mean, seriously, I pretty much woke up from my own life, don't forget."
Fluttershy shrugged politely. "I remember. Though, I've heard that your mother and father are coming later today to see you."
"Really?" Rainbow replied, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
The yellow pegasus chuckled. "I was actually on my way back to your room to tell you just that," she replied, "I forgot to bring you the news, and I didn't really expect that you'd come to me instead."
Windy Whistles nervously shifted in her seat as she waited alongside her husband to see their daughter awake--for the first time in seventeen years. Within those years, she had birthed their second daughter, Spectral Glider, who was currently enrolled for next year's first grade of flight school.
The filly was rather stunted for her age, being quite slow compared to her older sister. In addition to this, she hardly, if ever, joined any groups with other foals, be it in school, or simply in parks and events.
However, with the foal's current fidgeting, it wouldn't be hard for one to say that she was, at the least, the embodiment of excitement.
Rainbow sat back down in her wheelchair with a wince of pain. "Are... are you sure that they're ready to see me again?" She asked, her eyes pleading for an answer as she gazed towards her caretaker.
Fluttershy remained silent as she folded her patient's bedsheets, opting instead to lightly nod, her mind focusing elsewhere at the moment.
"What if they disown me?!" Rainbow asked, "What if they don't want a flightless pegasus in the family? Wha--"
"Shhh..." Fluttershy reassured the nervous mare, "Trust me, Dash, they won't."
Fluttershy gently nudged the door open with a hoof, guiding Rainbow's wheelchair into the hallway. To Rainbow, this was all an entirely new experience, and nearly surreal in nature. For Fluttershy, however? This was simply another day at work...
As the waiting room door drew ever closer, a new feeling began to develop inside Rainbow-- a nervous, sickeningly anxious brew of emotions fluttered about her mind. After all, who was she to say that her parents would be the same?
Fluttershy noticed Rainbow's thoughtful stare. "Would you like to push the button?" she mused, tracing Rainbow's line of vision towards a comically large handicap access button on the wall.
Rainbow Dash didn't reply.
"Suit yourself." Fluttershy shrugged, opening the door.
A cool blast of air hit Rainbow's face the moment she entered the room. Humongous windows lined each wall, allowing for the golden sunlight to illuminate what the mare had expected to be a yellowed, lanky, smelly room. Her eyes flew about the room in a hurry, scanning the faces of the various ponies until she found the ones she loved the most.
"Mom! Dad!" Rainbow cried in joy. With a painful grunt, she attempted to raise herself from the wheelchair, only to fall flat on her face with a wail.
Windy Whistles gasped, rushing to her daughter in fear. "Are you alright?" she asked softly, lifting the mare with a hoof. Bow Hot Hoof nudged the wheelchair closer, much to a panicked Fluttershy's protest.
"Yeah, mom..." the mare replied, "Thanks."
“Would you like something to eat, ‘Dash?”
“No, dad. I’m full.”
Bow Hot Hoof stepped into the dining room, where his daughter quietly sat. Plastered across the table were countless newspaper clippings of Wonderbolts achievements and openings throughout the years.
Rainbow silently shuffled the papers to the most recent articles, an unblinking stare gazing down upon each word that passed her eyes.
Fluttershy, former Wonderbolt trainer, leaves show biz for medical institute upon hearing of friend’s potential recovery.
She trained the Wonderbolts?!
Rainbow flipped the page, presenting to herself names, events, and ponies that she never knew existed.
The Wonderbolts held a charity fund for me? she thought, her eyes skimming the relevant article.
What else is there that I don't know yet?
After what seemed like hours of pouring over events of the past, the mare was shaken back into reality by a loud crash from outside.
"MAIL DELIVERY!" shouted a strikingly familiar wall-eyed mare, dropping the letters onto the floor as she pulled herself from the newly-created hole in the wall.
Smiling, Rainbow gently picked up the envelopes littering the floor. At least one pony was still the same.
"Hey-o, Derps!" Rainbow cheered, helping the pegasus from the wall. Another burst of various packages and letters fell to the floor as she did so.
Derpy frowned. "Do I know you?" she asked, leaning down to scoop up the dropped mail, "I think I do, but I'm not completely sure if I know, so I'm asking if you know so that I can kno--"
"Flight competitions." Rainbow answered, "You used to constantly take first, remember? And then... well, I might've overtaken you..." she looked down to her stump that was once a wing. "Not that I'll be doing that anymore..."
Derpy gasped. "Dashie?!" she exclaimed, gripping the mare in a tight hug, "I thought you were dead!"
"'Dash?" Hot Hoof called, rapping lightly on his daughter's bedroom door, "You awake?"
A loud crash emanated from within, sending the panicked father hurling into the room.
"RAINBOW!" he burst in fear, before finding himself catching his tongue. Before him were two mares-- his daughter, and the mare who he had once pushed Rainbow to challenge. Not that the rivalry mattered anymore. His daughter was busy in a pillowfight.
By the time Derpy remembered that the rest of her delivery rounds were still unfinished, the sun had already begun to set.
Rainbow chuckled to herself as she sat in the middle of her now well-worn pillows, picking out occasional bits and pieces of pillow-stuffing from her fur and feathers.
And by the time the sun had long-since vanished from the horizon, Rainbow had already laid on her bed.
Slowly but steadily, she felt her eyes begin to droop.
And yet, the familiar feeling of sleep wasn't there. Rainbow turned to her side, sinking her head into the pillow.
Is this what sleep is really like? she thought silently, drawing the covers over her eyes.
But no! her mind suddenly shouted into the silence of the night, You slept soundly before, in the hospital!
Rainbow Dash stared blankly into the dark abyss of nothingness, having drawn the covers off her face not too long before. Her mind was now occupied with its internal debate, and yet she was far too exhausted to care.
At some point or another, the mare had finally realized that she had fallen asleep. Not by will, but by need. And now, far too early in the day for anypony else to possibly be stirring, Rainbow lay awake.
It felt strange. Rainbow had lain in the same bed for each year of her life, and yet now, even in the same bed, everything felt different.
The mare had been discharged from the hospital, albeit flightless due to her clear lack of a wing. The first thing her parents had done the moment she was allowed to leave was to scoop up the mare, and bring her home.
Rainbow’s eyes flitted across the strange, bare walls of her foalhood bedroom. The deep blue glow they seemed to emanate so early in the morning felt almost disturbing in some way or another. Even more upsetting to the mare was the lack of the Wonderbolts memorabilia that had seemingly kept her company every night for years prior. The mare shuddered as she drew her blankets closer.
“R...Rainbow?” a meek voice squeaked from behind the door, followed by light knocking. “Are you awake?”
Silence.
The knocking grew louder.
"Hello?"" the voice called again.
Rainbow groaned, lifting herself onto her hooves and trudging towards the door. For a moment, the mare froze, a flurry of thoughts entering her mind.
What would she think of suddenly having an older sister?
How would she react to me missing a wing?
How cool does she think I am?
Rainbow Dash smiled to herself as the final question passed through her, before being abruptly interrupted by the door before her rattling yet again from a brief rap.
“Are you sleeping, Dashie?" The sleepy voice of her mother called faintly from behind the door, "Your sister wants to play with you.”
Rainbow shook herself from her stupor, pressing a hoof against the door’s handle. “Um... no, mom. I’m coming ou--”
A blue blur struck the mare the moment she opened the door, knocking her down.
Rainbow grimaced as she pulled herself up, followed by Spectral Glider, who struggled to free herself from her current predicament.
“Mmfh.”
"Come on," Spectral Glider whined to her sister, "I wanna fly again!"
Rainbow groaned, squatting down yet again for the younger sister to scamper onto her back.
"Wheee!" the filly giggled, stretching out her tiny wings as her sister ran about the yard, "Look mommy, I'm touching the sky!"
"Yes, dear." Windy Whistles chimed from the doorway, "Don't forget to give your sister a break though, I'm sure she's getting tired by now."
Spectral paused for a moment, taking in her mother's words before glancing down at the panting Rainbow Dash. "Oh." She began, "O-oh yeah."
"Thanks." Rainbow deadpanned as the weight on her back finally lifted off, "I should probably take a nap or something. Right, mom?"
"Uhuh-yeah." Windy called from within the house, clearly distracted, "You go on and do whatever. Just take Speccy with you."
Rainbow glanced down at the filly in question. She appeared to be around Scootaloo's age, taking a few years given how the latter had been long-since enrolled in elementary, while the former was only beginning.
Then, an idea formed in her mind.
"How about another round of flying..." Rainbow began, "Real flying."
"Easy does it," Rainbow murmured, watching as her little sister leapt from the makeshift platform of yard toys, "Yup, just flap-flap your wings just like that, sis."
Spectral Glider hovered ever so cautiously, her tiny wings almost buzzing at their current speed.
"Alright." Rainbow nodded, "Try flying a little higher now."
With a grunt, the filly began flapping her wings harder than she thought she had ever done before. And lo and behold, slowly, slowly, she began to rise.
Spectral's face brightened with glee. "I'm doing it!" she squeaked, "Look!"
Rainbow smiled as her sister wrecklessly struggled to maneuver mid-air, quickly tumbling back to the ground in the moments immediately after.
Just like Scootaloo...
As the day drew to a close, Spectral Glider's flying slowly, but ever-so-steadily improved. She had gone, in a single day, from barely managing to lift herself, to gently hovering-- and to an extent, the slightest bit of actual flight. Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash felt proud.
"Dinner!" their father called from the door, breaking the filly's focus. Immediately, she plummeted face-first back into the soft clouds that made up the yard.
A tiny puff of the aforementioned clouds shot up for an instant as she snorted in annoyance.
"Hey," Rainbow said calmly as she pulled her sister from the ground, "It's alright. We all fall sometimes, remember?"
Spectral nodded quietly.
As the two sisters made their way back to the door, the elder turned to the younger.
"Sis?" Rainbow began, "Can you promise me something?"
Spectral hesitated for a moment. "Yeah?" She soon answered, unsure of what would come next.
"When you can fly better--" Rainbow continued, "Can you touch the sky for me?"
The filly grinned, and the two entered the house.
Windy Whistles awoke to a light knocking at the door.
"Honey?" she groaned to her husband, flopping towards the stallion who was presently snoring rather loudly.
And snore he continued. At least, until a light, playful jab into his side startled him.
"Huh?" Bow Hot Hoof yawned, "What is it, Windy?"
The knocking began again, slightly stronger this time. Yawning a second time, Bow crawled lazily out of bed, stumbling towards the direction of the door that the noise emanated from. He ran a hoof through his mangy tangles of bed-hair, and opened the door.
Only to find Celestia herself, the recently-coronated Queen of Equestria, holding a gift-wrapped package. Gasping in surprise, Bow instinctively bowed towards the Queen, murmuring "Your Majesty," as he did so, welcoming her in.
Celestia shook her head slowly and chuckled. "There is no need for formalities at the moment," she began, "I've only come to see the mare who slept her entire life."
"My queen," Bow began meekly, "If I must so correct you, my daughter has only been in a coma for the past seventeen years or so."
Nodding, Celestia glanced about the inner structure of the building.
"And in return," Celestia replied, "I must ask where the sleeping quarters of this mare are located."
Bow pointed a hoof towards Rainbow's room.
"Rainbow Dash?"
Celestia peeked into the room of the sleeping mare, noting the hoof-drawn posters and newspaper clippings that plastered the walls, seemingly created hastily as if meant to replace something. Equally strange was the slip of paper on a nightstand that depicted a Rainboom in all the colors of a crayon box. She set down the small
"Are you going to do something," Rainbow Dash deadpanned sleepily, startling the Queen, "or are you just gonna continue looking at the drawings I made with my sister?"
Clearing her throat, Celestia composed herself, and floated up the gift box, setting it on the bedsheets.
"It recently came to my attention," she began, "that you're the mare who claims to have lived an entire life in a dream. Am I correct?"
"Y...yeah?" Rainbow said slowly, split between eyeing the box and answering the Queen.
Celestia smiled warmly. "Would you like to discuss it?"
Rainbow shook her head. "No, Prince--I mean, Queen. I'll be fine."
"Very well then." Celestia nodded, "In the meantime, enjoy your gift. I must leave now."
Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. "Where?" she asked, taking the present in her hooves.
"This isn't your business, Rainbow Dash."
As the rest of Rainbow's family bid farewell to the Queen, Rainbow slowly opened the gift, her eyes widening in awe at the glimmering prosthetic wing within the opened box.
For the umpteenth time, Rainbow Dash leapt off the same platform her sister did the day prior, only to be met with the return of unceremoniously flopping to the ground--again. Gritting her teeth in irritation, Rainbow glared at the prosthetic that hung limp from the wing-stump it mounted to.
"Maybe try jumping higher?" Spectral Glider called from the sidelines, "Ooh! Or flap harder like I did!"
Rainbow groaned at her sister's remarks, and unmounted the device. "It's no use," she sulked, "The thing's probably just meant to make me feel normal again, anyways."
Spectral shrugged. "I'm just trying to help you like you helped me!" she exclaimed, "I just want you to be happy!"
Rainbow sighed, and picked up the prosthetic with a hoof. "Fine," she began, "We'll try again tomorrow or something, alright?"
Before her sister could answer, a new voice caught the mare's attention.
"Hello?" the voice called distantly from the front of the house, "Anybody home?"
"Coming!" Windy Whistle's voice chimed as she opened the door, "Oh... oh my."
Windy Whistles stared at the strange pair that stood in the doorway. A young girl-- a "human", as she heard the race being called, and a middle-aged stallion. The girl wore a dirtied but otherwise tidy labcoat that appeared two sizes too large oner body, accompanied by a large backpack that seemed to nearly outweigh its carrier.
As for the stallion, he appeared to be an aging unicorn with a bland tannish coat, and was currently in the midst of cleaning the lens of his spectacles.
"Oh... oh my." Windy began, holding a hoof to her mouth, "First the queen herself visits us, and--..."
"It's alright," the girl began, "you just barely said something about Celestia stopping by, right?"
The stallion nudged the girl in the arm. "Gadget!" he whispered, "Manners!"
"Um... right." the girl-- Gadget, remarked, "Now, as I was saying, did you see Celestia anytime recently?"
Windy nodded slowly. "Y...yes?" she started, "Why do you ask?"
"Moooom!" Rainbow shouted as she galloped through the hallway, "Who is it? Is it Fluttershy?"
As she turned the corner to the doorway, she froze at the sight of the duo.
Gadget's eyes widened upon seeing the mare, but nonetheless began speaking again.
"Um..." she began, "Could you repeat that again?"
Windy lightly sighed, readying herself to repeat her words. "Celestia visited us earlier," she began in mild annoyance, "but I'm not gonna tell you any more until I know what you're doing on my doorstep."
"Well," the girl replied, "For starters, we've been trying to find her for the past few days in hopes of maybe opening some sort of trade agreement with our home."
Windy raised a brow in curiosity.
The girl turned towards Rainbow. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" she began, "Element of Loyalty? Wonderbolt? Savior of Equestria alongside your friends?"
Rainbow frowned. "No... I'm none of those..." the mare said sadly, "I honestly don't know what I am anymore..."
"Rainbow!" Windy suddenly snapped, turning towards her daughter, "Don't put yourself down like that! You're a wonderful young mare, crippled wings or not!"
"Helloooo?" Gadget called from behind Windy as she hugged her daughter, "Like I said, do you have any idea where Celestia might've gone? Or is she still here?"
Standing up, Windy turned back to the girl. "No," she stated, "Celestia was here a few hours ago to visit Dashie here, but she left within minutes of entering."
"And she gave me a present, too!" Rainbow chirped, flaring her wings to show off the mechanized prosthetic.
This time, it was Gadget's turn to raise a brow. She turned to the older stallion and nudged him with an elbow, whispering into his ear.
The stallion nodded, and took a step forward. "Allow me to introduce myself," he began, "I am Professor Delmar, Macrophysicist, Theoretical Physicist, and Astronomer." he winced a moment after receiving another bump from the girl, "And as of late, Unprofessional Chemist and Restaurant Dishwasher."
Gadget nodded at the Professor. "So," she began, "back to the topic. Celestia isn't here anymore, right?"
Both Rainbow and her mother nodded.
"As for Rainbow Dash," she continued, turning her head to focus on the mare, "in this universe, from what I've taken after hearing your breakdown earlier, you are not the Element of Loyalty, nor have you ever performed a sonic rainboom, and I take that you haven't ever met any of the ponies that I will now list, right? Let's see... there's Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie..." she turned towards Rainbow. "And of course, there's you as well, but--"
Rainbow Dash froze in shock as the young girl that stood before her listed the names of the ponies she once thought of as friends, before she had awoke to find that some didn't even exist. She lunged at the girl, tackling her to the ground as the girl cried out in surprise.
"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" she sobbed hysterically, "IT WAS A DREAM, WASN'T IT?! A DREAM!"
The girl groaned as she struggled to pull herself from beneath Rainbow, but appeared otherwise unhurt.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" Windy exclaimed as she rushed out, "Rainbow's been a bit... compulsive at times."
The girl stood up with a smirk. "I know." she replied calmly, "Now then, could you maybe at least point in the direction you last saw Celestia heading?"
Windy shook her head. "She wouldn't say," she began, "None of us know."
Gadget's smirk dropped. "Well," she said, turning to Delmar, "I guess we failed."
"Actually," Windy suddenly continued, "If you really insist on knowing where she's heading... when she left, I saw her heading back down to the ground. And as of now, Cloudsdale is floating quite close to Ponyville."
"Thanks!" Gadget cheered, turning to leave. She abruptly paused, however, and walked back towards Rainbow Dash, pulling a small, silvery disc from her backpack.
"Keep it," she began calmly, "If you really think your dream was real."
The human girl and the stallion set off into the distance. Windy Whistles rushed back into the house upon hearing a loud crash from the backyard, leaving Rainbow Dash alone, the strange object resting in her hooves.
Rainbow Dash lay on her bed, her eyes staring unblinking upon the silver disc that the human girl had given her days ago.
If you really think your dream was real... she thought, turning the disc back over again.
Nothing but more reflective surface. And a smudge.
She turned the disc back over and continued watching her reflection in the rainbow-hued disc.
The past few days had been largely nondescript, save for occasional murmurs about Celestia that she had largely ignored. She still spent her days playing, and training, her younger sister, but as of late, she had caught herself more and more simply staring at the disc, as if it held the answers to all of her questions, as if it just took a careful eye to delve into its secrets.
"Dashie!" Spectral Glider cried in fear as she burst into the room, "Didn't you hear? Celestia's gone!"
"Huh?!" Rainbow exclaimed in shock, turning just as her sister tackled her.
"You were there when daddy was reading the news!" Spectral pouted in return.
Missing. Celestia. Disc. Girl. The thoughts swirled in Rainbow's mind as she took it all in.
Did the girl have anything to do with Celestia's disappearance? the argument began in her mind,
No, she certainly hasn't. She's far too young to do something like that.
But what about the old stallion accompanying her? He sure seemed suspicious.
Suddenly, Rainbow's eyes widened as she reached her next connection.
And they were asking about Celestia, too...
Rainbow leaned close to her sister, who was at the moment, playfully braiding the mare's tail.
"Hey sis..." she began quietly, "Do you think you can sneak down to Ponyville with me?"
Spectral crinkled her muzzle. "No." she objected, "And you can't either, Dashie, your wing is gone!"
Rainbow smirked as she pulled the open box that held the prosthetic from under her bed.
"Yeah, but I'm still here."
In the days leading up to the two sisters' journey towards Ponyville, Rainbow Dash, together with Spectral Glider, pushed themselves harder than ever before. The former struggled at first to even flutter, but the latter soon found herself buzzing about --literally-- with excitement.
Within a couple days, they vanished from their home as a scheduled storm rolled by underneath the floating city.
"Shh." Rainbow said as she and her sister tiptoed from their respective rooms. "Don't wake up mom and dad."
Spectral nodded, following closely behind her older sister as they neared the door.
Quietly, the two carefully left the house, Rainbow making sure that the lights were turned off before leaving. Soon enough, the sisters found themselves peering over the edge of the city limits, towards Ponyville far below them.
Rainbow turned to her sister.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yup!" Spectral squeaked in excitement, "This is fun!"
Rainbow nodded, and signaled with a hoof for her sister to follow.
Rainbow was the first to leap from the city limits, and though she was now weighed down by the rather flimsy prosthetic, she made do with what she had. Behind her followed her sister, and the two spiraled down to Ponyville.
From the corner of her eye, Rainbow spotted the tops of nearby apple trees. She made another signal to her sister, and the two turned towards the rather small plantation.
She smiled as they neared the treetops, remembering her lazy days of sleeping atop them in her supposed dreams.
"Sis," she began quietly, "Ever slept on a treetop before?"
Spectral Glider shook her head.
Rainbow Dash landed on a tree with a heavy thud. "Come on!" she continued, rustling some leaves with a hoof, "Try it!"
Reluctantly, Spectral landed carefully on the same tree, warily looking around every so often.
"Whatcha nervous about?" Rainbow grinned as she laid back, "We have plenty of time to find Celestia."
"I..." her sister stammered, "Aren't we in somepony else's home?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe. Though technically we're just on their land."
As the two talked quietly over whether or not they should stay the night on the treetops, two simultaneous events happened:
Not too far away in a faded barn across the plantation, the lights flickered on.
Secondly, far above in the home of the sisters, a sleepy mother stumbled her way towards Spectral's room, curious on why the filly hadn't jumped into her parents' bed.
"Come on," Rainbow teased, "It's soft! See?" she continued, smothering her face in a branch of leaves.
Spectral gave one last nervous glare, and proceeded to faceplant in the treetop, crying out in pain as she smacked herself with an apple.
"AY!" A faraway voice screamed, "WHAT'RE Y'ALL DOIN' ON THIS HERE PROPERTY OF THE APPLE FAMILY?!"
"Uh oh." Was all Rainbow said before lifting from the tree. She turned to Spectral, who was still rubbing her forehead with a hoof.
"Go." Rainbow mouthed, before a loud bang echoed through the trees.
Spectral watched in horror as her sister flailed towards the ground.
Rainbow grunted as she slowly lifted herself from the ground. She glanced at the now-shredded prosthetic that hung limp at her side. Luckily, it was the prosthetic, rather than her, that was now riddled with holes.
"STAY RIGHT WHERE YA ARE!" the voice began, a flickering light shining on Rainbow. "Dangit, how many agents do them Flim-Flam brothers even have?"
As the two figures drew closer, Rainbow quickly recalled their faces from memory. Or at least, one of their faces.
"B-Big Mac?" Rainbow stammered, blinking at the stallion in the light of his lamp. She turned to the second pony, but her face was almost entirely masked behind a bandanna. She turned back to Big Mac.
Big Mac glared in return.
"Now then," the first pony began, "Who are ya, and just what the buck are you doin' on our property so late in the night?!"
"I... I was just looking for Celestia..." Rainbow said meekly, "Please, just listen to me! I'm already crippled, y'know!"
Big Mac rolled his eyes. "Well, we are. Now stop actin' like this is some sorta drama show and tell us why yer lookin' for the Queen."
"She heard that Celestia was gone!" Spectral Glider shouted from the treetop.
Reacting to the voice, the first pony immediately aimed the shotgun towards the origin of the voice.
"NO!" Rainbow cried out, "THAT'S MY SISTER!"
Spectral stuck her head out from the leaves and grinned cheekily, waving at her sister with a hoof.
The first pony sighed, and lowered the weapon. "Alright," she sighed, "Ah never was the sorta pony ta hurt a filly. Come with me, y'all."
The masked mare turned towards Big Mac and nodded. In turn, the stallion followed suit. Rainbow sat in the middle of the dusty road, listening to the rustling leaves as her sister slinked down the tree.
"Come on." Big Mac stated flatly without turning towards the sisters, "Mah sister wants ta talk to ya'll."
"So tell me," the masked pony began as she tossed a bag of hay in the corner, presumably for the sisters to rest on, "What're ya two doin' out here in th' middle of the night? Besides findin' the queen, ah mean."
Rainbow shook her head. "Not much else." she replied as she looked towards her sister, "That was pretty much the entire point of the two of us sneaking out of the house tonight."
The mare nodded slowly. "Aaaaand when ya say that ya sneaked outta the house, I'ma assume that your ma an' pa still think y'all are sleepin'."
Both Rainbow and Spectral nodded nervously.
"Well," the mare continued, "at least neither of y'all are any o' them Flim-Flam agents. Those gosh-darned ponies get on my nerves far too often these days."
She turned and extended a hoof to Rainbow. "Ah'm Apple Bloom, by the way. Nice to meetcha... erm..."
Rainbow didn't respond, and instead continued to absentmindedly shake Apple Bloom's hoof.
"That's my sister, Rainbow Dash!" Spectral Glider replied for her sister, "She was sleeping in the hospital before I was even born!"
Apple Bloom nodded. "So ah assumed, given yer sister's antics. She the filly who fell from the sky?"
"Whuh?" Rainbow suddenly replied, breaking from her daze. "Uhm... yeah. By the way, where's Applejack?"
The earth pony frowned at Rainbow's remark. "That's the second time somebody's asked about this Applejack gal. Ne'er heard of her. And ah'm an Apple myself, y'know. We tend to know each other quite well."
"Dangit." Rainbow muttered under her breath, turning away from Apple Bloom.
"What was that, sugarcube?"
Rainbow quickly swiveled back, holding the tattered remains of her prosthetic in her hooves. "Uh, nothing! Do you think you could maybe... fix my wing for me? I think we'd probably better go home now."
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Sure we can. Sorry 'bout that though, just be glad that ah didn't hit anythin' else."
Rainbow squealed happily, and quickly unmounted the prosthetic, handing it to the mare.
"Mac!" Apple Bloom said, turning to the stallion in question, "Grab me some scrap from the canning building, would ya?"
"Eeyup." Big Mac replied, turning to leave the building.
"So," Apple Bloom mumbled under her breath, inspecting the damaged prosthetic all the while. "The rumors really are true, aren't they?"
Rainbow raised a brow. "What rumors?" She replied curiously, fidgeting on the crate she sat on. She glanced silently to the window for a moment, a frown crossing her face as she glimpsed the early hues of the upcoming sunrise- she'd have to return home soon, and preferably before her parents woke.
"Th' Queen's returned." Big Mac answered for his sister, wandering in with the day's newspaper, "Says here that she's mighty excited 'bout some sorta trade deal or somethin' like that."
Apple Bloom paused for a moment, a thought entering her mind. "Ay, ya think the trade's gonna be for th' whole of Equestria, or just Celestia-the-whatever-the-hay-we're-at?"
Big Mac simply shook his head, shrugging.
"Um, hello?" Rainbow cut in, breaking the conversation, "What about my wing? I kinda need to get back home for my mom and dad find out. Same goes for lil' Glider here."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes with a mischievous smirk. "Don't worry. We Apples ain't just some farmin' family, y'know."
Rainbow and her sister soared through the air. The latter hummed a cheery little tune, while the former kept her mind focused on her flight. After all, even after being repaired, the mare couldn't bring herself to fully trust the patchwork of metal covering the prosthetic. As they arrived at their yard, Rainbow caught a glimpse of the bedroom lights shining through a window, her eyes widening in fright as she frantically thought up an excuse for being out.
"Quick," Rainbow commanded to her sister, herself fluttering into the air yet again, "Pretend that I've been helping you with flying again or something."
"Oka--oh no!" Spectral gasped, pointing a hoof towards her sister's prosthetic, "Won't mom and dad see the broken wing?"
"Shh." Rainbow hushed, before turning to face the window. "ALRIGHT, TRY AGAIN NOW," she yelled, "HOLD YOUR WINGS STEADY THIS TIME, OKAY?"
The mare smiled as she was met with no response. The light must've been from one of her parents forgetting to turn them off after using the bathroom again, she supposed. Nothing to be particularly worried about. She turned back towards her sister with a wide grin. "Do you wanna go see Celestia?" She began, nudging Spectral with a wing, "'Cause I bet that if mom and dad are still sleeping, we could fly off and talk to her for a quick sec before coming back. Nopony would even notice!"
Spectral Glider frowned, kicking at the ground with a hoof. "I don't know, Dashie... I still think we should stay at home. You almost got hurt by the cowgirl pony and her brother earlier, remember?"
"Aww, don't be such a sissy." Rainbow responded with a playful punch, "C'mon!"