> In Stitches
>  by flanigomik
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Things were dark, very dark. Then there was an explosion of color. Rainbow Dash could feel her legs held spread out and tied off. Her vision faded to blackness again. Another flash of vibrant color danced in front of her eyes. A bottle of clear liquid was dumped onto her face, making her scream at the top of her lungs. The vision faded back to blackness, everything mute. Again, there is a colorful explosion of pain. She could feel herself starving, and then a harsh pain in her wing. She screamed as she felt sections of her wings leave her body, blood flowing down her back. The vision didn't fade this time. Time still passed; hours and hours of it. She stood on her back legs, tied in place, starving and cold. She felt a hoof hit her face and the blackness came back in force.
For a while, nothing happened, and then the rainbow of pain returned. Fresh cuts, hundreds of them, dotting her lips and the edges of her mouth. A thick cord strung between them, holding her mouth closed. She could feel her spine sticking out, pressed against her skin. She could feel every rib in her body against her chest. She was starving. Her time was coming to an end. The suffering was coming to an end. Dash heard a voice. The first one she had heard during this long time of torment. She was far too tired, too broken to make it out. The ropes holding her forelegs gave way in unison, and her face connected with the floor. Another color explosion, then blackness. She wished her nightmare would end, that she could wake up, but the horror show pressed on. It tore at her mind, filling her with pain and sorrow.
She could hear a cart. It was drawn by at least two larger stallions, and by the weight of their steps, she guessed they were earth ponies. Every inch of her was on fire, like she had just been beaten for six hours straight. She could hear something being lifted. She tried to scream, but only drew blood from her bound mouth. The stretcher carrying she was taken down a distance from where, she suspected, was the back of the cart. She could feel the ever-present bonds around her hooves, digging into her. Then things changed. She felt herself lifted, as if by a unicorn’s magic. She prayed that it was a friend, that she may be safe. The magic changed, it wound itself up like a spring and, with no warning, released. She screamed into her mind as she could hear air sailing by her ears, feel the vertical acceleration and then down. She pleaded with her dream; pleaded that she would wake up in her fluffy cloud bed before she hit the ground. No such luck. She touched down hard, she bounced and rolled. Something caught the bonds on her fore hooves and tore them free. She rolled and fell for what seemed like hours, although it may have been minutes. She tumbled over a ledge and smacked into something very hard. There was a bright light in front of her eyes, and she knew no more.
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash awoke, and the nightmare was finally over. She let out a relieved breath from her nose.
"It's over" she thought "Oh; thank Celestia, it’s over." She opened her eyes. No light came, nothing came. She blinked a few times; still nothing. Terror filled every vein of her existence. She screamed out but the sound was only in her head, her lips sealed by some unknowable force. For the second of many times she could taste blood. The feeling of something flowing over her tongue awakened a roaring, angry stomach which, 'til now, was forgotten. She screamed again into her mind trying to move her limbs, and finding them to be unresponsive. Another shrill cry echoed around her head. She began to roll, having lost her balance on the rock. Her limbs burned with every little movement that she made. She painfully tumbled down the side of a jagged cliff face, bringing rocks and material of all shapes and sizes with her. She was hit over the head with something that dazed her and, for a moment, she forgot where she was.
The next thing she could remember, she was dangling from the rope tying her back hooves together. She had never felt so much pain in her life. She tried to remember how all of this happened, but the last thing she could remember was falling asleep in a tree on a hot summer day in Ponyville. Remembering her pain, she felt tears flow dripping off her face to the ground below. It wasn't the image itself that caused her pain, but trying to remember anything at all. The only things clear in her mind were from the back of the cart onward. Everything else was a clouded haze.
"Why? Why me?" Rainbow Dash asked herself as she felt the blood going to her head. "What did I do? Is this my fault?" An answer never came. Instead, Dash felt herself somehow getting lower, as if her bonds were giving way. She could hear a loud snapping noise from above. Whatever was holding her in the air was quite definitely giving way. She cried to herself getting ready for the inevitable. The branch gave way. She could feel the limbs of trees scraping over her body; hear the snap of twigs and the rustle of leaves. With a hard jolt, she stopped. However, she was not on the ground like she expected. On the very tips of her front hooves, Dash could feel the ground. It was soft, not a hard sheet of earth like she had come to expect, but like a bed of pine needles. She, although still blind, found that she had more control of her body now. Her fore hooves were responding to commands even if only a little. All that she wanted now was to be on the ground again, to be able to recover, even if just a little. She tried to lift herself up to untie the knots holding her in the tree, but the rope had other plans. She heard another loud snap and she fell to the ground on her back. She lay on her back with tears in her eyes as her mind, out of exhaustion, gave out. Dash was dead to the world, sleeping on the forest floor.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash didn't sleep well. She woke up in a panic several times and, in doing so, she lost her bed. She wandered, unable to sleep anymore, in search of almost anything at all. An hour ago she had awakened stiffly huddled on the hard ground by the base of a tree. With much effort and her little remaining energy she had struggled to her hooves. She had taken a very carefully placed step and her body had almost given out under her weight. She continued to take small steps, edging in, what she guessed was, a straight line. She had just started to grow confident on her hooves when her face was rudely introduced to a tree. She had almost lost her balance, but she recovered, stumbling back a bit. She snapped back to the present, she was starting to get hot. Her thirst was killing her, literally, and by now she had a mighty headache and was getting weaker with every step she took. Her ears flicked. She stopped. There was a new sound reaching her ears, and to her it sounded like-
"Water!"  She almost screamed it to herself. She changed directions, rapidly running into all manner of things, from trees, to rocks, to bushes. The sound was closer now, not a roar like a river, but definitely a creek. Her strength started to fail. She needed water. She slowed as her face got familiar with yet another tree, and stepping around it, her hooves came in contact with liquid. She bent her head down to drink, only to discover to her dismay that not a single drop could get past her lips. She screamed in frustration, into her mind letting tears splash into the water around her. She began to think, trying to come up with a way to get the liquid life into herself. She let a breath out through her nose, a sigh of defeat coming with it. Something was coming to her though, a thought, something Pinkie did once. It was hard to think. The thought was deep in her mind and bringing it up was causing her significant pain. The thought began to play in front of her blind eyes like a movie. She watched as Pinkie Pie jumped out of a shallow puddle, far too small to hold her, and squirted water into Her face. She remembered how mad and grossed out she was but now it seemed like the only thing left to try. She bent her head down to the water and paused about an inch away.
"Now, how do I do this...? I hope it doesn't hurt."  She brought her snout down to the water and dipped it in. The cold water bit at her bound face. She had run out of adrenaline and her injuries were starting to add up. She continued down, setting her nose to the water and bracing for whatever may come. She took a hard breath in, pulling the water with it.
"It burns! OH, CELESTIA, IT BURNS!" She pulled back from the water, choking into her tied mouth, making it bleed more. She continued to choke and, while doing so, lost her balance falling into the middle of the stream.
"NO NO NO!" She screamed into her mind, and then She was swept under the water, flailing downstream into unknown territory.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	 The water picked up speed and grew louder. The stream was now a broad, fast moving river. Dash was clinging to a log for dear life; she had been pulled down stream for what seemed to her to be a lifetime, almost drowning the whole way there.
The log was big, maybe it was even a whole tree. She was far too tired to even try to climb any higher onto it, so she held onto it with a death grip as the cold water made her shiver. The water started to slow down, and in a few minutes it was no longer audible. She hoped that the water would get shallow enough for her to walk away.
She took stock of her situation.
"Legs? Check. Nothing new broken? Don't think so..." She moved everything she could think of, checking for breaks, when something landed on her foreleg. She stopped, blindly imagining a flying monster, and began to panic. For a long time she was still with the thing going up and down her water-soaked coat. She became aware of a buzzing noise from her right. There was something over there, for sure. She was scared; the current was trying to push her towards the unknown sound. The small creature took wing, clearing her body with its own small buzzing. To her horror, it landed on the end of her snout. She closed her blind eyes to protect them from this threat sitting on her nose. She slipped, just a little, but enough to startle the creature. She screamed into the depths of her mind as the creature dug a stinger into her snout at the same time, making her lose grip on her life raft.
"OH NO! NO! NO! NO!" She thought to herself as she slipped under again. She flailed to the surface and waved her forelegs around madly searching for something to grab. Her legs hit something. She swung again and again, trying to get a grip on the papery object. The object gave way with a roar of buzzing. Suddenly She could feel dozens of needles piercing her skin making her body light fire with pain.
"Bees! Oh, Celestia, BEES!" She dived under, desperate to be away from the thousands of angry attackers. The undertow caught her and propelled her along the bottom at high speed. She was running short on air, her lungs starting to burn with need. She pulled at the water, trying to get free of its ice-cold grip. Her face came into contact with silt and mud. Her lungs were now on fire. She would need to breathe, to take in the water. Her head broke the surface and she inhaled a breath so loud it literally roared. She tread water as best as she could manage, her breath slowing but not the roaring. It wasn't her at all. It sounded like falling water. The sound kept drawing nearer, the water racing to meet it. She made a face.
"A waterfall... Why me?" She braced herself. She knew these would be the last few seconds of her life. She listened to the approaching roaring, and it made her sick. She almost hoped it would kill her so that this could all end. She got mad at herself. Her friends would miss her if she did something like that. They were probably coming for her, even now. She decided to try to stay alive as long as she could. She tried to swim to the shore with all her remaining strength, the sound of falling water almost on top of her now. She ran out of time and howled in her mind as she went over the falls.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dash lay still, completely unable to feel at all. All she had now was her mind. "Am I dead? Is this it?" She tried to do anything at all and got nothing in return. "Yeah... I'm dead... I can't even feel anything... What happens now, then?"

"Remind me again, Doctor, why we are here?" 

"I told you, Cogsworth, we are looking for the flower."

"We have been looking for your stupid flower for two weeks now. You can't even tell me what it looks like!" She listened as best as she could. She was numb, and only had her ears. "Great... I'm dead, and now I am crazy, too..."

"That's because I don't remember exactly... I told you... I'll know it when I see it."

"Ugh... You know this is pointless, right?"

"It is not... You'll see, Cogsworth, you'll see..."

"Yes it is... Hey... Doctor, what is this?"

"What's what?"

"Over here, In the bush. You see that? Is that hair?" She could hear leaves moving. Now she knew she had lost it.

"Hmm... I don't know, Cogsworth... Rope, maybe? Give it a pull."

"Okay..." She could feel burning at all points of her subconscious, everything screaming in pain, and almost every bone feeling broken. She knew there could be voices in her head, but not that she could feel them.

"it's really heavy... Can you give me a hand, Doctor?

"Come on... It's a rainbow-colored rope, do you really need me to get my hooves wet?"

"Well, I don't know... all I could see was a bunch of muddy-colored yarn in the water."

"Well, pull the bush to shore! You can do that with a water weed, you know..."

"Oh, just help me..."

"Fine." She could feel movement, as if the whole world was being dragged around by her tail. She screamed inside her mind. If there was such a thing, she was sure this was pony hell.

"What do you think it could be, Doc?"

"Don't know... Try to untangle it."

"What do you think I have been doing?"

"Hmmm... Looks like you were right about it being made of hair... Synthetic maybe?"

"What, you think there is a wig stuck in the bush, or something?" She listened to the two imaginary voices laugh, and then could hear sticks snapping. Something touched a piece of bone sticking from one of her wings, leaving her screaming into the void again.

"OUCH! There is something sharp in there, alright... Jeez, great, I'm bleeding."

"How do you manage these things, Cogsworth?"

"You know wha-" at that second, her body twitched. "What on earth?! Did you see that?"

"Is there something in there? You've got a knife... Cut the bush open!" Dash could hear more twigs breaking, and leaves being thrown away. 

"Doctor, I think there is an animal in here."

"An animal? What kind of animal has rainbow hair?"

"Nothing I know of."

"Is it alive?"

"If it came down that waterfall? Not a chance. It has to be eighty feet, at the least."

"Well? Pull it out! Let's see what we've got here."

"You aren't honestly going to experiment on a dead creature, are you?"

"'Why do you always suspect me of something nasty?"

"Because you often do something nasty." She could feel hooves on her body. They slid over her body painfully touching her many broken bones. She was completely limp, unable to even grunt. The hooves clasped under her chest and begin to pull.

"WHY!? DEAR CELESTIA, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" She screamed to herself as she could feel broken ribs pushing into her insides. Her body made no movement as she was lifted clear of the shrub and promptly dropped.

"Doctor! It's a pony!"

"WHAT?! What is a pony doing down here?!" At the sound of her discovery She tried everything she could think of to signal them to her life. She couldn't move at all. Rainbow Dash had never, even once in her life, felt so completely helpless. Her stomach roared out, and she knew she was dead now. Nothing would help her.

"Was that you, Cogsworth?"

"No, I thought it was you! You don't think it's still alive, do you?"

"Well, check it." She could feel a set of hoofs touching her body again, looking for life signs.

"By the heavens! It's alive, Doctor! Quick! We have to help it!"

"It's alive?! How is that possible?"

"Look at it! It was left for dead!" She could feel herself being lifted onto a back, and then the galloping of hooves. every single bump made She feel like she was being stabbed hundreds of times over. She felt the two ponies slow to a stop, and at this point she was in far too much pain to make out words. The two ponies had a quick exchange with another voice, and she blacked out.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dash felt very light, all around her, a mind-numbing whiteness. 
"Where am I?" She thought as she looked around. There was a faint mumble in the background, like voices in the distance. "What on Earth is happening to me?" 
Colour was creeping into the whiteness, drawing a blurred image. She wasn't sure if she could see, or if she had lost her mind. The colors faded in. She could see ponies running back and forth, hurriedly to and fro, from a pony on a table. 
"What on Earth? Who is that?! What is going on here?!" The ponies all around the table were wearing white doctors coats and had face masks on. She watched, trying to understand what was happening in front of her as an erratic beeping sound entered her mind. "What is that sound? Is it a hospital? Am I dreaming about a hospital?" She could make out a device of some sort attached to the pony. 
"What is that thing? Wait... Twilight has one of those in her basement. what was it called?" 
The heart monitor was all over the map, reporting very low one second, then very high the next.

"She's slipping! Quick, doctor! We can still save her!" An echoing voice called out. The pony, on what She now saw was a bed of sorts, had her chest cut open, and doctors running around with more tools than she knew they had.

"I know! Get more blood, I'm not letting her die now!"

"Her mouth is sealed! I can't get a tube in Doc!"

"We don't have time, give her a trach'!"

"What on Earth am I watching, here?" She thought to herself as she almost floated, watching the frantic doctors doing everything they could to attempt to save the light-blue pony on the table. "I hope she makes it... Hang on, is this even real?" She tried to make up her mind for a few moments. "I don't know, I'm nuts, probably. I'll roll with it." She watched with interest, as parts of the pony's body were hacked, slashed, and sewn together, her guts explored by the frantic doctors. She watched because there was nothing else to see. She couldn't look away. She seemed to be moving closer. She could see into the pony's chest, where there was a mass of bones and organs. "Oh, dear Celestia. I think I'm going to be sick." She said, to nopony at all, feeling like everything she had ever eaten was about to come up. 

Rainbow looked away from the body and was trying to see around the rest of the room, but there really wasn't much to see. "Come on... there has to be SOMETHING else to see, here... Why am I seeing this, anyway?" She tried hard to remember what she was doing to bring on this dream, but it seemed that everything was a haze before now. 
"Come on, Dash... Think, what were you doing a few minutes ago?"

She continued to think hard, getting nowhere as the voices began to muffle, and were soon followed by her sense of sight blurring. Everything faded, until the sound of a heart monitor flat-lining was the only remaining sound. "Wow... I'm really tired... Maybe just a quick nap. Not like anything is happening." Rainbow's eyes fluttered, and her vision began to blacken around the edges. "Just a quick nap," she yawned, "Only a few minutes." the sound of the dead heart monitor cut deeply into She as she slowly passed out, everything going black.

Her reality exploded back, as over a thousand volts arced through her body. The heart monitor jumped to life, and failed again. There was another high-voltage zap, and She arched her back before falling back to the bed and the monitor failed a third time. She felt like her mind was being cooked on hot rocks, every inch of her screaming out in pain. A fourth shock came, and the beeping remained low and constant.

"I think we did it..." A voice she could barely hear reported.

"I hope so, Doctor..." She twitched the slightest bit. "Hang on. Doctor, I think she is awake!"

"That can't be right, we haven't even finished putting her back together! Put her out. If she is awake I can't even begin to imagine what she just went through. Check her life signs first... let's see what kind of a chance she has."

"Yes, Doctor Monocles. What are you going to do?"

"I am going to see if she really is awake." The doctor spoke, as his voice drew closer to her face. "Hello? Can you hear me? Are you awake?" the pony spoke in his English accent.

"She's not going to be able to talk with that tube in her neck, Doc. even if she could, her mouth is sewn shut" The distinctly female voice replied.

"Why, thank you, Captain Obvious..." His voice turned back to her. 
"I want you to do anything you can, ok? Signal to me that you can hear me." There was an air of doubt as She tried her hardest to find something she could do. 

"Um... Doctor?" The nurse spoke in a very shaky voice.

"Oh, what is it now? You sound worried... Is something wrong?" She could feel concern in his voice, and began to wonder what the nurse could possibly say to make her life even more miserable.

"Some of the blood work has come back... And, well..." She could barely make out a clipboard changing hands, followed by the doctor reading under his breath and taking a gasping breath. "That's not possible, is it?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Look at her! She's beaten within an inch of her life!" She heard papers shuffling and braced for whatever news it was. "Hey... If you can hear me in there.." The Doctor paused "You're pregnant."
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Dash was as stiff as a board, nothing processed inside her mind as yet another blow of cruelty and some sick, twisted fate was thrown on her. Pregnant, the one word She thought she would never hear in a million years. Minutes, and maybe hours passed with the blue pegasus completely unable to do anything but stare at the one word her mind was drawing for her. Pregnant. She could feel movement but it hardly picked up in her mind. It wasn't until what seemed to be hours later that she became aware someone was speaking to her.

"Can you hear me, Miss? Hello? Is anypony in there?" The English-accented voice that Rainbow had begun to grow familiar with spoke. Dash made no reply of any kind.

"Well... I don't know how long they are going to let me keep you alive... It's not cheap to run all this equipment, you know... I need a sign, Miss. They tell me you are dead, but I know you are still in there." There was a pause like he was waiting for a response. The doctor sighed.

"If you can't do something by the end of the week... I have to let you die... That's six days from now." Rainbow was now confronted with a completely new threat to her life; nopony knew she was still alive. 

"Are you kidding?! Come on! Please!" Dash screamed into her mind as she became aware of a machine breathing for her.

"Well? I may as well tell you whats wrong with you..." The doctor began hesitating for a minute. She heard him pick up a clipboard over the sound of her own breathing. "To start the list, you broke both your back legs and you are blind. I left your mouth stitches in, because your jaw is fractured. I'll take them out when we fix it properly. That should be tomorrow if you make the night." He paused a minute and continued  "You have seven broken ribs, and a flattened lung as well. You also seem to be suffering from well over three hundred bee stings... Your wings are pretty much destroyed and need a lot of work of their own. Lastly, your neck is broken in two places, and your back in three." He paused again. "It's a miracle you are alive at all!"

She lay back, trying to sort through all the life-changing information she just received  "M-my wings? I won't be able to fly?" Everything else didn't seem to mean much to her brain, and she had to keep reminding herself that being blind and broken would have stopped her anyway.

"Now then, miss, if you could manage something, a tail twitch or a nod, anything at all" She tried to move but nothing obeyed. The only response was of pain and suffering.

"Well?" The doctor sighed. " I must be off. Not like you can hear me anyway... But if you can, please, don't die on me" She heard him leave and the door close.

She was alone again, the sound of her heart monitor and breathing machine and her own mind were all she had.  
"Great... Come on Dash... You can do this, just do anything!"  She lay in her bed, completely unresponsive. After what felt like years, She could hear a door open.

"Oh you silly little filly... Survived the forest, did you?" She plunged into terror the voice familiar, yet completely unknown to her. "Scared? You should be... You are such a lucky pony, did you know that? Surviving all I put you through..." The deep voice continued, as Rainbow suddenly wanted to be anywhere else in the world. In the background, the heart monitor began to rise like a balloon. 

"NONONONONONONONO! PLEASE! SOMEPONY HELP ME!" She begged in her mind.

"Nopony can hear you 1632... And why would they want to? You'll be dead by morning, anyway..." This latest statement made every fiber of her explode in fear. She distinctly felt a hoof on her. "So tell me, 1632, how do you feel?" The voice said in a mocking tone. "Oh, come on now, it's important, don't keep your mouth sealed." He laughed. "That's right. You can't talk, can you?"

She screamed into her mind as a hoof caressed her face. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!  PLEASE! I DID EVERYTHING YOU ASKED! I- I WAS A GOOD FILLY!"

"Oh, that you were! My favorite, in fact... It's a pity we had to dump you... Think of all the things we could have done with more time!"

	"Please! Wh-what do you want from me?" She begged as she lay paralyzed.

"What do I want? Well... You are supposed to be dead. But, seeing as you are not, you could complete our last experiment." Dash felt a hoof on her belly. "Don't fail me, 1632. You know what happens when you fail..."

"P- please... I-I can't! I-" She was cut off.

"Spare me the details... You wouldn't abandon your own child, would you? I thought you were supposed to be loyal, or something." The heart machine was going nuts by now, and She was in a death sweat. "See you later, my little lab rat" The voice walked away, and the door closed, only to be instantaneously blown back open.

"Miss! What in the Captain's mane is wrong?!" The accented doctor spoke. By this time, She was in a full-blown seizure, and the heart monitor was beeping so fast that it was almost constant. "Listen to me, girl! If you or your child is to have a chance, you need to calm down! You are giving yourself a heart attack!" The doctor yelled, as he tried to snap her out of her seizure. Ten sickening minutes passed, and She faintly heard more ponies around her.

"okay... She is stabilizing, Doctor" A female voice spoke.

"Good. We were foolish to leave her alone. From now onward, there must always be somepony with her. Understood?"

"Yes, Doctor" The female replied.

"I'll go first. The rest of you are dismissed." The doctor said, pulling a chair over. She heard the rest file out, and the door close. "You scared me, miss... If I hadn't come to check on you, you would most likely have died." He breathed a sigh. "Stay alive, okay? If you can't do it for yourself, do it for your baby..." She mentally cringed at those words. A baby signaled the end of her life as she new it. As she was trying to think things over, a thought came to mind.

"Who is the father?" 
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Day three, the young mare I and Sir Cogsworth brought back is stable today. After last night's scare I have been with her all night. She is still unresponsive at the moment but she is alive and seems to be healing a bit. We are going to remove the stitches from her face and set her jaw properly. If she remains unconscious I will start her on a tube feed, she is on an IV at the moment but it's not honestly enough. She has been starving now for some time" the doctor finished his speech and Dash could hear the click of some sort of mechanical recording device shutting off.

"Now then miss... If you heard any of that we are going to try and put you back together." the doctor stated. "I'm going to move you on your bed to another room ok? you'll be fine..."

Rainbow could feel her bed become mobile. She heard the sound of a door opening and the creaking of wheels on a wooden floor. She could hear at least two ponies walking with her one on her left and one pushing. "what is going to become of me? I hate my life sometimes"  


She felt the bump as another door squeaked open. "Ok, here we are, first lets get your jaw working."

"Doctor you are aware she can't hear you correct?" a young sounding female stated.

"I know. More likely than not she can't hear me. But if you remember I was in a coma for a week that one time... I could hear everything, so why not her?"

"What ever you say doctor. Are we ready to start?" Rainbow could hear some metal equipment jingling.

"Yes. I'll cut the stitches, you set her jaw." the doctor said as his voice drew closer to Dash.

"Yes doctor." the nurse replied.

She felt hooves on her face. "If you would be so kind, now would be a great time to start her on some pain killers.

"Right away doctor." She felt a hoof leave her face. Moments later things quite suddenly stopped making sense to her. She could hear voices, ponies she knew others she didn't, dozens of them.

"Ok lets cut them then." a floaty pink voice said.

"What? P- Pinkie? I- is that you?" Rainbow vaguely felt metal touch her face.

"Ah don't know about this doc, that there is pretty broken" a southern voice announced.

"AJ? You are here too?" Dash thought, suddenly hopeful.

"Silly Dashie. Of course we aren't here!" she laughed "you are so funny when you are high."

"Wh- what? What do you mean?" she thought as she started to become more loopy than a fruit loop.

"Ah always said you were a little nuts hon...." the voice of her friend replied.

"I'm not crazy! Why do you keep saying that?" she shouted at the voices within her own mind.

"Well you are talking to yourself aren't you Dashie?"

"No I'm..." She stopped "I am... aren't I?" 

"See Dashie? How else could we hear your thoughts?" she giggled.

"What in Celestia's name is happening to me?" Dash thought with her mind swirling.

"Ah think they drugged you Rainbow..." Applejack stated flatly.

 "Why is this happening to me?" She groaned. Time passed, and the voices in her head were quiet. "Great. now even the voices are done with me." Rainbow lay still her drugged mind becoming bored. There was nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to do. She sighed to herself. "I'm going to die here... I just know it." 

Rainbow heard a light mumbling. "Drugs" she didn't catch it all "days ago."

"Doc- she live?" she heard a female say she was pretty sure was the nurse.

"Don-  know- day fiv-"

The next sentence came across loud and clear. "Should we pull the plug?" Rainbow's heart stopped cold. The meaning of those words flooded into her mind. They were talking about giving up. They were talking about letting her die. 

"No! Please! I'm alive! PLEASE! Come on Dash do something!"  she screamed into her mind and tried everything she could think of to get her desperate plea out. The ever present beeps of her heart began to get closer and closer together.

"Doctor..." the nurse said nervously.

"I see it... get the paddles ready" he stated "I want to see what she does"

The fear of death continued to swell and pile up in Rainbow's mind. She screamed one last time, ready just to give up, as loud as she could into the depths of her mind.

"Mmnnnnn..."

"Doctor! Did you hear that?" the nurse stated with surprise in her voice.

"I sure did... She's alive." he said with an air of successes.

"What should-" she was cut off.

"Get the others. Everyone. This mare is top priority now understood?" the doctor said excitedly.

"But-" she was cut off again.

"Understood?" he repeated somewhat sternly.

There was a pause. "Yes doctor" Dash hear the door open and close.

"Now then miss... I know now you can hear me... I will not rest till you wake." The exhausted Pegusi gave into her exhaustion, falling asleep, she was safe now. Safe locked in the depths of her own mind, and whatever else may be lurking there.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The ice came fast and cold, within seconds submerging a cyan mess once called Rainbow Dash up to her neck. She tried to struggle but was restrained by something heavy on her wings. She braced herself, knowing what was coming. The sound of a large paper bag being torn open echoed around her blind head, it was the sound of pain and misery, of salt. She whimpered in her pain, it was the best she could manage with her mouth tied.

"Ah... 1632, Are you going to behave next time? Or am I going to need to increase your punishment?" the voice of her faceless kidnapper asked.

She stood still trying not to shiver, not wanting to give him the dignity of a response. "Well then. You there, go get us a crate full of fire ants! Oh and muzzle subject 1633 then bring her here as well."

"Yes sir" she heard a voice call followed by the sound of wings flying away. 

"Time for another experiment 1632. We’ll get to see how effective giant fire ants are alongside salted ice burns, and we may also learn how many fire ants it takes to kill a pony. You had best hope it is more than one crate." she could hear the sick twisted happiness in his voice. Every word he had said only brought more fear into her now driving her to the point of trembling again.

"What’s the matter? Cold? Or are you just as cowardly as you look?" She could almost feel his smile as he crushed her soul "oh here comes our ants." he continued with some level of excitement. There was a quick exchange between her captors; she missed most of it as she was trying not to freeze.

"You know? It was really nice of you to give us the farmer and the Alicorn, such a special treat, now we can do all sorts of experiments... I can't wait to see what makes Alicorns tick." She swallowed hard. "Wh- What? Th- They have Twilight? A- And Applejack? And it's my fault?" The cyan mare wept bitterly from her blinded eyes. Loyalty has lead her friends to hell. She collapsed into the ice, not caring about the pain in her wings or the chill of her surroundings. Not only was she a dead mare but she brought her friends with her.

Her sorrow was cut short by unbearable physical pain in the form of hundreds of well shaken ants. She screamed into her sealed mouth and slammed her blind eyes closed trying to protect her face. "Heh. I really hope you aren't allergic to those things... watching you whine and squirm brings so much joy to my day. It really is quite amusing."

Rainbow heard a bit of a scuffle. "Aww... how cute... your friend over here is trying to help you. Isn’t that nice of her 1632?" he paused and she heard someone get beaten to the ground. "By the way she lost, I know you aren't very good at seeing." he laughed loud and strong like a maniac. "But don't you worry... I’ll make sure she gets a good long beating for failing you..." he finished menacingly. 

"Sir. May I make a suggestion?" the unknown voice from before spoke.

"Lay it on me my fine gentleman." the voice of the devil himself spoke.

"Why not take her muzzle off and break a few bones... let 1632 hear her punishment?" he replied.

"Oh! I like the way you think. You sir have just earned yourself a promotion." he stated like it was office work.

"Why thank you sir. Does this include a pay raise?" he replied 	

"Depends how well you do. Go ahead... hit her as hard as you can... I want to see the look on her friends face" She could feel the breath in her nose. Fear ran all through her body and she begged to go deaf. It didn't happen. A heavy crack sounded within the room followed by the sound of a pony collapsing shortly after a blood curdling scream ripped out throughout the building. All of this happened in less than a second and everything faded away. All feeling and all pain the scream continued without pause, drilling its way into the depths of her mind.

***

"It’s ok! Shh! please! Calm down... you are going to give yourself heart failure" the voice of the nameless Pegasus spoke. "Just be calm... it was a dream... you are safe... I won't let anything hurt you..." it took an hour of such talk for her to finally calm down.

"Ok, I can't really ask you want happened. I assume you had a nightmare. Can you move at all?"  She tried again for the third day in a row to move for the doctor and caused the smallest twitch in her front right hoof. "Was that you? Can you do it again?" she tried again and repeated the pitiful action. "Wonderful! You have no idea what this means! I KNEW you were alive! WOOO!" he was cut off as another pony entered the room.

"Doctor! What’s with all the noise?! Did something happen?! Is her heart failing again?!" the stallion exclaimed in a worried manner.

"Guess who owes me five hundred Renz?" the doctor almost shouted excitedly.

"No way... she is moving? I thought you said she has a broken neck!" he replied in disbelief.

"She does. Having a broken neck doesn't mean you can't move. This is why I am the doctor and you aren't. Now pay up!" the doctor demanded.

"Prove it!"

"What?"

"Show me. I don't believe you." he said flatly.

"Fine. I will." he stated sounding almost offended. She could almost feel him next to her. "Come on miss... do it again please." She sat still not happy of being bet over.

"Doesn't seem to be moving to me Doc." he said in a relieved tone.

"Come on miss... there is so much on the line here. You could make us rich ponies..." he begged.	

"See? You were wro-" She moved her foreleg a whole inch just to spite him. "No... You are kidding! but that's like a whole weeks pay!" She smiled in her mind liking being able to influence the world again.

"you bet the money. you brought it on yourself. now pay up." he triumphantly said.

"fine! jeez!" She heard a bag of coins hit the floor.

"I want the rest of it by tomorrow!" the doctor shouted as the door slammed. "thanks miss... you just covered my costs for keeping you alive."

that threw a wrench into Rainbow's mood. "hang on; this doctor who found me dead in a lake is PAYING to keep me alive? out of his own pocket?" she thought feeling like a burden.

"I was just about ready to start selling off some of my things too. you are important to me. I don't really know why but something told me I couldn't just let you die. we only have two days’ worth of medical for strangers just because it is so expensive. anyways glad to see that my faith in you was well placed" he finished

"well now I feel like a sack of air... why go through all this for me?" she thought. she felt someone take her hoof.

"ok. let's try something. I’m going to ask some questions and I want you to squeeze my hoof ok? once for no twice for yes. squeeze twice of you are up to it ok?" he said sounding hopeful.

She weakly squeezed his hoof twice.

"good! let's get started then. are you in pain?"

two squeezes

"did someone hurt you?"

"nooooooo I just did all of this to myself" she thought and gave two squeezes.

"did you see who it was?" he asked

one squeeze

"can you feel everything?" he said as he touched each of her six limbs.

she almost screamed as his hoofs touched her wings and gave two very fast squeezes.

"sorry... ok, you can hear and feel correct?" he said calmly

two squeezes.

"can you smell at all? here try this." she heard something shift and felt something touch her nose. "can you smell that?"

she was still for a few moments. "A rose? where did he get a rose that quick in a hospital?" she thought and gave two squeezes.

"good. have you been having nightmares?" he questioned.

she gave two squeezes.

"ah... that explains a bit. tell you what, we have an experimental drug that hasn't been fully tested yet, we aren't sure if it is fully safe but it can give sleep without dreams. would you be interested?" he said.

"not fully safe? what is that supposed to mean?" she thought  "well it would be nice to actually sleep for once... and I am pretty much dead as it is at the moment so it's not like it could really get worse" she gave two squeezes.

"ok. we'll start you on that tonight. for now I just want you to rest. sound good?"

she gave two squeezes.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There was no sound, no light, no pain or any other sensation to be felt. The only thing telling Rainbow she was even awake or much more existent was a very faint squeezing of her hoof. 

"What is going on? Are the sleep drugs wearing off?"  She thought as she squeezed back ever so lightly at the hoof. 

There was a sudden explosion of color in front of her eyes and the whole real world came painfully crashing down on her. She squeezed the hoof hard enough to break bone and screamed, to her surprise, out loud.

"Captain be damned! She's still alive!" Shouted the doctor's voice and she screamed again.
The pain was unbearable, nothing in her whole time of captivity was this painful. She felt as if her whole body was being torn apart. There were no thoughts, all she knew was exploding pain.

The doctor spoke and she hardly heard. "I'll make it short. You are in labor! Come on! One more. You are almost done!" 

She screamed again and could quite clearly feel a wailing object leave her body. The pain started to die down, if only a little, to where it was bearable. Rainbow took a pained breath slowly starting to calm down.

"Okay... Shhhh... You are okay. Just breath. Can you hear me?" The doctor asked with a wailing cry sounding in the next room.

With a noble effort she brought herself under control reduced to only crying and whimpering. "Wh- what j- just h- happened to me?" She thought with every inch of her body burning. She could hear a light sobbing and gasping of a female and realized she still had a hoof in a death grip which she let go.

"Well done. I have some explaining to do to you miss..." He said sounding like he was getting comfy for a speech. "First off you are a very tough mare, we were sure we had killed you. You see, when we put you to sleep it turns out you were allergic to the drugs. You went into shock and stopped breathing then your heart stopped and you were dead. When we brought you back you were unresponsive. In fact, the only reason you are still alive is because I wouldn't let them kill your babies... " He paused for a moment. "Anyway you have come back to us again. As you can probably tell we still fixed you up while you were out. Your mouth works and you seem to have quite a set of lungs. I'll bring your babies in as soon as they are cleaned up. So far as I can tell they are both healthy. Can you speak?"

She kept panting and whimpering to herself not able to stop crying.

"Okay... I guess that wasn't a fair question right now was it? I have a little of the first pain killer around still, the one you didn't react too, would you like some of that?" He asked the blue wreck turned mother and in reply he got a simple nod.

After a minute she became very floaty and happy. Things were funny again and all her pain drifted away.

"Miss? Can you hear me? Still there?" He got a slow nod in response. "Good.... whew... I want you to keep as still as possible okay? You have been through a lot and your body needs to heal. Yoo hoo. You still listening?" He said watching her head bob back and forth.

She nodded but more or less flopped to one side making little noises and more high then she has ever been.

"Erm... right. Ah! Here come your children." She felt two squirming lumps placed on her. "They really are adorable. and the one has your mane too. two fillies. they really are adorable miss... erm. What is your name anyway? Can you tell me?"

She continued to flop about and cooed at the to children.

"I'll take that as a no then. Here. I have a better way of putting you to sleep." Through her high she felt a hoof push into her neck and she passed out.


***


Rainbow Dash felt a sharp poke in her side. "Miss? Are you awake yet?" The doctor spoke calmly.

She whimpered and groaned feeling more sore than ever.

"Good. So it occurred to me while you were out that English may not be your first language. Are you able to understand me okay?" He questioned eagerly to which she nodded slowly.

"Okay. Good. Are you able to answer some questions?" She nodded again feeling a headache coming on. 

"What is your name?" He asked with some urgency.

"Ra-" She sputtered her voice almost gone from lack of use.

"Here, drink this," Remembering her blindness he added, "It's water"

She drank as the liquid was held to her mouth and choked on it a little. The water flowing through her felt amazing on her dry sore throat but also succeeded in awakening her hunger causing it to growl.

"Miss? Your name?" He said with a hint of urgency. "Rachel? Rae? Rafaela? Raina? Raisa? Ramona?"

She coughed more and was having trouble making words. "R- R- Rain" her voice gave out again.

"Rain? Is that it?" He asked sounding unsure to which she shook her head.

"B- b- bow" She struggled before going into another coughing fit.

"Rainbow? Is that it? " He asked hopefully.

"
Close enough" She nodded weakly.

"Rainbow... odd name... I guess it suits you pretty well though"

"Odd? How is that odd?" She thought somewhat concerned and just a tad scared.

"Just so you are aware. I have someone looking over your kids. You'll get them back when we get you out of here" He said trying to comfort.

"... Kids?" She thought "W- Wh- What k- kids?" She said hoarsely. She could almost feel the doctor's expression change. "Oh Celestia. Please. I can't be a mother! I can't!"

"You gave birth to two fillies two days ago. They are quite cute. We are not quite sure who the father is. Do you know?" He asked.

A chill ran up her spine and she did her best to keep her cool trying to suppress the nightmares. The gap felt like it spanned hours in which time she was sure the doctor was writing everything.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Are you hungry at all or anything?" With that statement her stomach seemingly deflated making a loud sound of hunger. "Right. I'll call someone to get that for you." Rainbow sat and listened but hardly heard the doctor who's name she couldn't remember talk to someone over some sort of contraption.

"I'm a mother. How do I take care of kids? How do I feed them? What do I do? Will I ever see them?" She kept panicking at a mile a minute trying to keep from screaming.

"Okay food is on the way. Can you sit up?" He asked. She didn't reply but he was guessing the answer is no. "I'll help you then... Is that okay? Just nod if you need too."

She nodded not really sure what she was agreeing to as she was still having a freak out.

"Okay. Nice and slow" She felt hooves on her and she yelped and screamed from soreness and pain as she was helped upright. "There. That wasn't too bad."


"Speak for yourself jerk!" She thought "O- ow..."

"Sorry. You are clearly quite sore" He stated.

"No really?"

"Can you move your forelegs?"

"How many miracles do you want in one day?!" She thought. She felt his hooves on her again slowly helping her forelegs up. They responded to her commands but felt very heavy and were very sore. Before she could complain about it she was suddenly met with a heavenly smell.

"Oh look at that. Your breakfast is here. Ready to eat?" He asked and she could feel his smile.

"Y- Yes pl- please."
	
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Eating didn't go well at first. Patient was mostly unable to keep food down. After about twenty minutes she became more agreeable. Total food intake for today is one smoothie. Making progress on movement and speaking." The doctor finished his narration and Rainbow heard a click. Like he had said she did have quite a hard time keeping anything down. Partially due to how fast she was drinking. The long wanted fuel of life was just too good to take slow.

"Your stomach feeling okay now? Just nod if you need too." He said comfortingly. 

"B- Better." She weakly said.

"Try not to wear yourself out now alright?"

"Yeah. Whatever." She thought feeling more than worn out already.

"So. Is there anything you want to know?" He asked seeming to just want to get her talking. There was something on her mind. Something in fact that was bothering her a lot.

"W- What do y- you want from me?" She asked

"What do you mean?" 

"W- Why a- are you h- helping me?" She said nervously waiting to learn about whatever exploit she was now enslaved to.

"Because it is the right thing to do Rainbow. I'm not getting paid to watch over you. In fact i'm getting billed for it. But that isn't the point. You are a pony i am a pony. and i won't let someone die when it is within my power to save them." He finished leaving Rainbow feeling both confused and touched that someone would care so much.	

"Th- That's i- it? I- I don't h- have to d- do anything?" She asked thinking there had to be a catch.

"The only thing you have to do is stay alive alright? Can you do that?" She was silent. "Rainbow?" She looked like she was having a hard time understanding getting her life back for nothing but eventually nodded.

"Good. Look. I have no idea what you have been through but i can promise i will never do anything to hurt you alright?" She nodded again. "You haven't met a nice pony in quite a long time have you?"

"N- No... I- I h- h- haven't..." She said feebly.

"How long was it?" He asked sounding sorry.

"I- I lost count." She said weakly.

"What is the last number you remember?"

"F- four h- hundred and fifty... Days" She could almost feel him recoil.

"How are you sure?" He asked not really wanting to know.

"Th- That's how o- often they f- fed me... I- I think" She heard the doctor sniffled a bit and she couldn't get it out of her head that he must be crying for her.

"That's... Horrible Rainbow. You tell me if you need anything, anything at all and i'll get it for you okay?" He said determined.

"H- How d- do I look r- right now? B- Be honest." She nervously questioned.

He sighed "To be honest you look like hell. Your mane is about nine feet long in places and three in others. Your tail is about the same. Your wings are broken off at random places on both sides. Your eyes are obviously glazed over and you have a lot of mussel damage. Thankfully it seems that all your internals have healed and are doing well but you still have a lot of damaged bones. However you should be able to walk today. Once you can walk i'll get someone to help clean up your hair and get all the crap out of your fur."

She thought for a while all that info taking a bit to sink in. "H- How bad a- are my wings?" She finally asked

"I don't know much about Pegusi, there are only three in town, but if i was to hazard a guess... I don't think you will be flying again. You are blind anyway." He said rather somberly.

She was hit like a tonne of bricks. "N- Never again?" She thought with tears beginning to flow.

"I'm so sorry, I really am. tell you what. When we get you out of here i will see if it is possible to do something about them. First you need to walk though." He said trying to comfort.

"I have t- to walk?" She thought "I have to walk. I will. I came here in worse shape I can do it now." She looked up blindly. "I'll d- do it."

"Do what?" He asked sounding slightly confused.

"Walk. H- Help me up." She said building determination.

"Now?" He said sounding surprised.

"I was in w- worse shape b- before was I not?" She said her resolve strong.

"Err... I guess. Okay, let's get you up."

She felt him gingerly put his hooves on her. "Tuck your wings as best as you can." A few painful moments later her destroyed wings were pressed to her body and he helped to roll her. "Okay give me your right fore hoof and i will help you down." She obeyed her stiff limbs slowly responding to her demands. She felt him guide her leg down, slowly stretching out sore muscle after sore muscle. It seemed like it was miles away but eventually she felt a floor beneath her. 

"Okay that's one ready for the next?" He asked

"Y- Yes" She provided her other fore leg and they repeated the painful process.

"Now the back two okay?" She nodded and he slowly let her back right leg touch the floor followed by her left in another minute. When she came free of the bed her legs gave out but he caught her. "Are you sure you are ready to be up?"

"I- I- I'm f- fine!" She stated with her whole body burning and protesting in pain. She slowly stood back up her legs holding her weight reluctantly "See?"

"Okay. You are doing good. Hold still." She obeyed and she could feel wires and things being pulled out and off of her. "There. when you are ready we can start walking alright? If you make it to the front door you can leave okay?"

"Got it." She said determined to meet her new goal. "Let's go."

He kept his hooves on her as she took a few unstable feeble steps. She tripped a few times walking then suddenly stopped. "Something wrong?" He asked sounding worried.

"I h- have no i- idea where I a- am" She said every word still painful. "O- or where I a- am going"

"I guess you are right. Do you want me to lead you?" He offered.

She bit back what little pride she had left. The thought of being lead around was embarrassing enough. Actually needing was worse. "F- Fine." She said lowering her head a bit.

"Okay. Just follow me. I promise I won't let you hit anything."

"Jee thanks."  She thought starting to follow keeping her head down. He lead her to a door which she heard him open. 

"How old are you? Roughly." He asked.

"O- Older than e- eight teen." She said trying to hide her pain. "Wh- Why?"

"It's a little hard to tell right now but you seem to be a fair bit bigger than our mares. Speaking of... Where are you from?" 	

"P- Ponyvill." She said suddenly completely unsure where she was.

"Never heard of it." He said sounding interested.

"What?! Wh- Where in Equestria am I?" She said suddenly feeling isolated.

"Never heard of that ether. Is it a country?" He asked his interest building.

"Where am I?!"

"At the moment? We are docked at my home town, Fort Chaitanya. The past few months however? Flying about between towns searching out supplies to keep you alive."

"Flying? I have been in a bed for the whole time" She thought "F- Flying?"

"Yes. In a class 2 air ship" He said proudly.

"A- A what?" She said feebly.

"You are kidding right?" She wasn't. "I'll explain later alright? Just keep coming. We are almost out of here."

There was another voice in the hallway that suddenly sounded from only a few feet away. "Hey doc!" He said something else but it was drowned out by a panicked scream from Rainbow who promptly dropped to her knees and was suddenly met by a huge jolt of pain.

"Oh Celestia! Please d- don't hurt me!" She screamed trying with little success to scoot away.

"Shhh. Rainbow! It's okay. Nobody is going to hurt you." The doctor said calmly.

Twenty minutes passed before she was able to think again. The only pony she trusted at her side the whole time. 

"It's okay, stop crying Rainbow. You are safe. Come it's a short walk to my place. I'll take care of you there."

Still shaking trying to hold what little pride she had left she stood. "P- Please... L- L- Let's go."

"Alright. Come along. I'll make sure nothing else startles you."

She followed as best as she could sincerely hoping he couldn't smell what she had just done. All around her were indistinguishable whispers that seemed both in her head and actually real.

"Okay. Here is the door. There are a few steps alright?" He said as he began leading her upwards. There were twelve in all it was easier that she would have expected and she was met by a strong wind at the top almost throwing her into another panic fit.

"W- W- Where am I?" She said sounding extremely scared.

"Safe. I'll explain later." He reassured still leading her. She felt wood creaking under her feet and guessed she was going down some kind of ramp. "Just keep coming. It isn't far now." Quite suddenly her hooves hit dirt making her jump a little.

"Come on. Grow up. I- It's d- dirt. Get a hold of yourself" She thought.

"There. We are on the ground. Just a short walk now. Ten minutes. I promise."
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"The walk home was a long one. Three hours spent jumping and yelping every time she touched something other than dirt, even worse were the meltdowns caused by ponies speaking. We finally arrived at night fall and just entered the house five minutes ago. On conclusion of this log I am making dinner." There was a click again. Rainbow hardly heard it. She was still standing exactly where he had left her.

"Would you like to lay down Rainbow?" He said not getting an answer "Rainbow?"

"Wh- Wh- What?" She replied still trying to regain a shred of her dignity.

"Would you like to lay down? There is a couch here."

"Y- Yeah. O- Okay." She said sounding like a train wreck.

"I'm going to put my hoof on you okay? Don't freak out." He calmly stated.

"A- Alright." She felt his hoof touch her side and she tried her hardest not to but still did jump.

"Okay. Just follow me alright?" She obeyed and he slowly lead her to a couch. "Slowly now okay. One hoof at a time." It took a while but she eventually made it down. "There. Are you hungry or anything?"

"S- Starving..." She said without exaggeration.

"I see. I'll be right back alright? Just rest now."

"O- Okay" She said almost glad to be alone after embarrassing herself so much. She heard him leave the room. "Come on. Get a hold of yourself. You scared those fillies into tears with all your antics." She thought trying to keep her moral up. "Okay. You are in some random nice guy's house. For some reason he has put his own neck out to keep you alive and seems intent enough to keep you that way. Just keep yourself fed and you should be fine. Right. Let's try to keep from going insane while we are at it."  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hoofs approaching.

"Here I am." She jumped. "I brought you something to eat, well, drink I guess." He said bringing a straw to her lips. "Not so fast this time alright?"

"G- Got it" She did her best to restrain herself as she took in the slushy liquid.

"There. Keep it at that rate. You are doing great." She would never in a thousand years admit it, but his nice words really felt good on her broken soul. Her ears suddenly perked. Somebody else was in the room.

"Wh- Who's there?" She shakily asked with her breathing quickening.

"That would be Rachel" He said sounding a bit worried.

"H- Hello" Said what sounded to be a very nervous young mare.

"H- Hi" She found herself a lot less scared than she was expecting. "Maybe I'm getting better?" She relaxed and she could almost feel the tension in the room dissipate.

"So... I guess this is your wife?" She said sounding slightly bummed even though she wasn't entirely sure why.

The doctor laughed. "No I'm not married. Besides, Rachel here is young enough to be my daughter, she's seventeen."

Rainbow felt her cheeks warming into a blush and guessed Rachel's were probably doing the same. She coughed unconvincingly. "R- Right"

"She's out of school for the summer and I hired her to help around the house. She'll also be looking after your kids for the moment."

"Wait. They are HER kids?! SHE is the one you were writing about?!" Rachel said sounding hugely shocked and surprised.

Rainbow stood to her feet on the couch quickly and quite painfully. "So what i- if they are my kids? Something wrong with that?"

"Oh calm down. You are going to hurt yourself. It's not what she meant. Rachel is sort of... an admirer of you. Since the first time I mentioned you in a letter home she has wanted to know everything."

She could feel her cheeks glowing again and sat back down. "O- Oh" She said not entirely sure how to react.

"Anyway, she is probably the best one to take a shot at figuring out your mane. It's kinda a disaster" He said "I just have some chores to do in the mean time okay?"

"A- Alright." She replied

"Off I go then." She heard his heavy hoofs leaving.

It was awkwardly quiet for a few minutes. Finally Rachel spoke.

"Sooooo... you are Rainbow?" She asked trying to start a conversation.

"That's me."

"Umm... want me to fix your mane?" She said sounding unsure of what to say.

"Sure" She said resigning herself to grooming.

"Okay. I'll be careful." She felt claws, not hooves in her mane.

"Y- You aren't a pony..." She said nervously.

"No, I'm a dragon." She said "Are you afraid of me too?" She asked sounding sad.

"No. I used to be friends with a little dragon. Are ponies normally scared of you?"

"Yeah. Most ponies won't even look at me. They hide their kids when I pass."

"That has to hurt. Are you okay?"

"Seriously?" She said stifling a little laugh.

"What?" Rainbow asked.

"You have gone through some kind of hell and you are asking ME if I am okay?"

They laughed together, and it was better than she had felt in months.
> chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Over the next three hours Rainbow and her new friend laughed and giggled till the pain in her sides was more than in her wings. Most of the time was spent telling dark and ironic jokes while the other half was spent talking about her kids and the future.

"Anyway, your mane is looking a lot better now, your tail too" Rachel said still giggling a bit.

"Thank you so much, you are a great friend." She said really meaning it.

"Awww thanks Rainbow. But aren't I your only friend?" They both laughed at the dark humor.

"No. I have doctor what's his face too... What was his name?" She laughed.

"Monocles, Doctor Monocles." She stated seeming to find it funny.

"Oh right right right. What is wrong with your names here. I mean seriously, It's kinda weird." She asked.

"Weird how?" She demanded faking an offended tone.

"Well, they are so short and as far as I can tell have nothing to do with you."

"And Rainbow isn't a weird name?"

"Dash, Rainbow Dash." She finally corrected now that she was speaking proper.

"Oh." She said sounding like she just hit a brick wall.

"Most people just call me Rainbow anyway. Not really a big deal." She smiled.

"Okay then. Why didn't you say that earlier though?" She asked.

"Well. It hurt too much to speak to correct it before."

"It hurt? Does it still?"

"To be perfectly honest, everything hurts right now. I feel like every bone in my body is on fire. Everything hurt. And I am starting to think it always will."

"You poor thing. Why didn't you say anything?" She asked sadly.

"I'm a big girl. I just have to deal. It's not nearly as bad as it was when I was found." She said trying to sound proud.

"You shouldn't have to hurt though. He could get you something for the pain."

"It's okay. Seriously. I'll be fine." She said lying to herself.

"Okay okay. If you are sure you are fine."

"I am." She said trying to not sound fake.

"Soooo... Are you hungry?" She asked trying to restart the conversation.

"Starving."

"I'm guessing that was literal?"

"Yeah. I don't know if I will ever be full again."

"Do you want me to get something for you?"

"Yes please."

"Will you be okay by yourself for a bit?" She asked.

"I'll live." The pegasus replied.

"Okay. I'll be back in a bit."

Rainbow heard the Dragon get up and leave. It was the first time she had been alone in a while. She took in what she could of the room. She was on a cushy object the doctor had told her was a couch. She could smell wood burning and could hear the crackling of a fire. The room was warm and the quiet. When she had walked in she had taken 40 steps to the couch so she guessed it was a big room. She started to draw a picture in her head. 

She was in a large room. There was a door on the far side from the couch and a door somewhere behind her that the Doctor and Rachel had used. There was a fire place to the right of the first door and a table somewhere in front of her that the Doctor had put a glass on. Under her was a couch which she guessed was almost in the middle of the room based on how far the Doctor had walked.

She listened closely. There had to be something else she could here, or maybe smell. There had to be more information she could gather. The fire was covering most other sounds but she was sure she could hear something else. She listened harder. she could hear something moving around slightly. It sounded like fabric. There was nobody around that she could hear but the sound was still there.

"What is that?" She said to herself.


She lifted her head and tried to figure out her new companion. Try as she might she couldn't pick out what it was. A few minutes passed and Rachel returned.

"Something the matter Rainbow?" Rachel asked.

"I can hear a rustling sound. What is it?"

She giggled. "It's the curtains on the windows. Their open."

"Oh" She blushed. "Come on. You should have gotten that."

"Don't worry about it. I brought you some food." She said.

"Thanks." And with a pause added. "Can... Can you help me? I'm blind."

"I know.. It's okay Rainbow. I'm here to help. You don't need to be embarrassed."

"Well? Can you help me out then?"

"Sure." She felt a straw lifted to her lips.

She drank in the cool tasty liquid, little lumps of fruit passing over her tongue that would eventually bring back her strength. She took it in slowly and in a few minutes was finished. Her stomach begged for more but she knew there was a reason it had to be slow.

"There. How was that Rainbow?"

"A lot better then what I used to eat." She said and she could hear the heavy hoof steps of the Doctor returning.
"Which was what?" He asked making her jump a bit.

"You don't want to know." She said "Please don't make me say it."

"Well I kinda need to know to help you recover."

"Of course you do. Fine."  She sighed. "You sure?"

"Yes Rainbow. It's important. I need to know so I can tell if I need to be worried about food related disease or something."

"Well?" Rachel asked sounding interested herself.

With a complete deadpan she said "They would give me a dead pony once every two weeks and it was up to me to make it last. Blood is a precious thing when it makes up most of your water intake." She showed her teeth, some of which in the back were ground down to points.
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow laid her head back down. She smirked to herself, she could feel the ice in the air. 

"You wanted to know."

There was silence, just silence. She lay there feeling satisfied in their shock and horror. It was probably twenty minutes before Rachel finally spoke.

"O- O- Oh..."

The doctor cleared his throat. "R- Right... I... I um.." He paused. "Have to run tests for... everything I guess."

They stood quietly for a bit. "Right, well, I'll go get that ready" He left and Rainbow was sure he muttered something to do with 'a freak show' under his breath. Rachel was still standing there silently.

"I- I-" she paused. "Rainbow..." 

Her smirk faded and she could hear tears dripping. Next thing she knew she felt arms around her and a powerful hug.

"You poor thing! What in the world did they do to you?"

As much as it hurt the hug was comforting and she couldn't bring herself to push the dragon away right now. "I- I'm fine alright? I'm safe now right?"

The dragons arms suddenly retracted. "S- sorry. I'm probably hurting you."

"It's okay. You aren't hurting me."

The hug returned and the tormented blue pegasus snuggled into it. Years had passed since anypony had cared about her problems like this. Rachel was going to be a true friend.



*************


Rainbow awoke stiffly. All the movement the day before now left her hardly able to move at all. "owwwww..."

"Rainbow? are you awake?" asked Rachel

"Do I have to be?"

"Your kids want mommy."

"R- Right. I have those."

"Are you ready for them?"

"Not really.." She said with a sigh.

"I want to ask... But I am afraid to hear the answer."

"Ask away."

"Well... who is their dad?"

She sighed "I honestly have no idea. I was never" she paused "I never... did anything... that I can remember anyway. I remember someone shoving something into me... But it wasn't like that."

"Then how-" she was cut off.

"They said they had implanted me or something. That it would be a scientific marvel if something happened. I don't remember much though." She was aware of the doctor returning but didn't care too much.

"They inseminated you?" she jumped at his voice.

"Y- Yeah... something like that. I don't really know what it means though."

"Well it means ether you had someone else's kids or they were afraid to rape you..."

"Great, more complexity. Am I their mother or not?"

"Well I could find out but-" he started.

"But what?! Are they mine or not?" she shouted. 

"It would involve a lot of needle work"

"Oh just do it... Please?" She said suddenly going submissive and blushing. "S- sorry."

"It's okay. What are you going to do it they aren't yours?"

"Well. Raise them I guess. What else can I do?" she felt like he had a retort but kept it to himself.

"Alright. Can you walk?"

"More walking? I hate life."  She flexed her limbs. They were all sore and incredibly stiff but they responded. "I- I think. Why?"

"Well I'll take you over to my" He paused looking for the best word "Place of work."

"Fine... How far is it?" She said with hesitation.

"Just down the hall and down some stairs. I promise." He spoke comfortingly.

She forced herself upright and off the couch almost collapsing. "I- I got it" She seethed in pain slowly righting herself. She stretched out as much as her sore body would let her. "Th- There, let's go."

"Okay. Do you want to be lead or follow my voice?"

There was a pause in which everyone could feel Rainbow's pride being crushed. "Just lead me. I'll break my neck on my own."

"It's okay Rainbow" She felt his hoof on her. "Just follow me"

"I'll go watch the kids I guess." Rachel said.

"Thanks Rachel. It means a lot to me."

"Any time Rainbow"

She began to follow the doctors touch and bumped into a door frame lightly. She added fifteen steps to the door to her floor map. She kept trying to build in this manner till her guide stopped her. "There are stairs here. Can you handle?"

Her pride dropped another fer notches. "Can you carry me?"

"Yes Rainbow." She felt him pick her up and start down the stairs. She started to cry but she wasn't sure if it was from pain or having all her independence stripped from her.

"S- Sixteen steps. right." 

"Are you okay Rainbow? You are crying" He said concerned.

"Oh why did you have to notice?" 

"Rainbow?"

"Y- Yeah, a- all good here." She said as he set her down. She stumbled again but stayed upright.

"Alright, keep coming."

She followed keeping her head low and bumping into this and that lightly. She heard him push open a door and take her in. "There is a bed here, I want you to get on alright?"

"Okay. What are you going to do to me?"

"Just some needle work. And some shots. Is that okay?"

She sighed "Yes." She paused "Has to get done anyway right?"

"Pretty much. Might figure out a way to make you hurt less too."

She groaned a little and felt her way to the bed. Feeling it over she was sure it was a hospital bed. She pulled herself up with a pained gasp and flopped on top. "Is this what the rest of my life will be like? Always crippled?"

"It's hard to say Rainbow. I'm sorry. Would you rather I put you out for this?"

"Go ahead maybe I'll wake up in a different nightmare."

She lay still waiting. A needle pricked her side and she passed out.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow shot awake. She opened her eyes and looked around. Everything was okay. She was on her cloud bed and she could smell someone making breakfast.

"Mmmm... That smells great" She thought as she got out of bed making it behind her. Something was bugging her in the back of her mind. Something was going horribly amiss. She could hear soft singing from the kitchen.

"Hang on... I live alone." She listened, it sounded like Fluttershy. She cautiously snuck into the kitchen. "Hello? Who is in here?" She turned the corner and there was Fluttershy with her back to her cooking and singing in a somehow chilling voice.

"Oh Celestia, it's just you" She said sounding relieved. "You can't just come in here Fluttershy. You scared the hay out of me."

Fluttershy did not respond still working on the counter, her icy voice still singing. Looking at the side of her face however she could see her lips were not moving.

"Um, F- Fluttershy? Your uh... Kinda creeping me out." She said. Rather than a response she could see a dark red liquid running off of the counter. The icy singing continued to come from her without her moving. She took a step backwards.

"Don't move Dashie, I'll be right there." The singing continued as she spoke her voice more icy than the singing around her.

"Y- You are really scaring me Fluttershy. N- Not funny anymore alright? Y- You can stop now." She took another step back and was flung into a wall. Before she could recover knives were thrown into her wings. She screamed in agony.

"What did I tell you about MOVING!" The singing raised in pitch and was now like blades of ice in the fires of hell. 

She did her best to fight through the pain she met her friend's gaze and then was stuck. She was using the stare. There was no denying it, no resisting it. It cut into her and made her afraid and she couldn't look away. She felt like her eyes were melting. Her vision blacked out and she panicked and screamed. She could hear laughter of Fluttershy then only the singing.


"1632... You know I always loved that number. Too bad nobody loves you..." Said her former owner.

"NO! PL- PLEASE! N- NOT AGA-" She could feel her mouth tied shut painfully.

"Shh, no words now, only.... Nightmares..." He said before laughing sickeningly.

"PLEASE! CELESTIA SAVE ME!"  She screamed in her mind.

"Oh look at that, you had your babies..." She could hear two crying fillies. "They look so much like you. And your apple picking friend. Cute." She heard the sound of two objects hitting the ground and the crying abruptly ended.

"PLEASE CELESTIA! LUNA! ANYONE! SAVE ME!"

She heard screams, laughter, things breaking and what sounded to be a tornado going through her house. Then nothing. The knives in her wings vanished and she dropped. She could hear someone walking. It sounded quite heavy.

"Rainbow Dash? Is that actually you?" A soft female voice spoke. It was familiar but she couldn't pin it in her current state. Two hooves picked her up and the cords vanished from her mouth. "What has happened to you? Where are you?"

"Wh- Who a- are you?" She fumbled between sobs.

"Come on Rainbow, look at me." The voice spoke.

"I- I- can't, I- I'm blind! P- Please d- don't hurt me, I- I- I'll d- do what you say!" She said hysterically.

"Rainbow, it's me, Luna..." She said sounding horrified.

"L- Luna?" She repeated the name from so far in her past it didn't have a face or much meaning anymore.

"What has happened to you? Where are you?"

"I- I don't know..." She cried.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"H- Hurt... L- Lost... B- Blind..."

"No you aren't." She said not fully understanding what she meant.

She felt her vision restored. She looked up. In front of her was a tall black Alicorn. "Y- You..." She said memories flashing back to her. "LUNA!" She yelled with sudden recognition. She jumped up and hugged the Alicorn. "I knew you guys would come save me! A- Are you going to take me home?"

"Rainbow... I'm so sorry... I can't, I don't know where in Equestria you are. You have been gone for almost three years. We though you were dead. Not even our most powerful magic could find you."

Her spirit was crushed. "So close..." She thought shedding tears. "I don't think I am in Equestria."

"Where are you? How did you get there?!"

"I don't know..."

"Are the others with you too?"

"Others...?"

"Apple Jack and Princess Twilight."

"N- No..." She said in a tiny voice "I'm all alone... I- In some strange pony's house."

"It is worse than I feared then... Are you safe?" She said trying to keep the shattered pegasus' spirits up.

"I th- think..." She said "H- He hasn't hurt me..."

"At least you are safe. I have to go. Your dream is growing weak" She said hurriedly and starting to fade away.

"Wh- What?! No! Please don't go!" She pleaded her voice rising. She shot upright and screamed. "LUNA!" She could feel a pony and a two legged creature jump.

"What's wrong Rainbow? Are you alright?" The doctor asked in alarm.

"You okay Rainbow dash?" Rachel asked sounding worried.

She flopped back to the hospital bed and cried. "P- Perfect."
> Chapter 15 (finally)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow, what's wrong? Talk to me... Did you have a dream?" The dragon spoke trying to understand what happened to her new friend.

"Nobody can help you Rainbow till you tell us what happened" The doctor said.

She sighed. "I had a dream that I was home in my house. One of my best friends was there making breakfast" She paused in tears.

"Thinking of home must be-" The doctor started but she cut him off.

"She turned around and started stabbing me. A- And then m- my captor was there... T- Taunting me... I heard him kill my kids... Th- Then he told me nobody loves me... That n- nobody c- cares" She broke down in sobs.

"That's... That's horrid..." Rachel said rather stunned.

"I want my kids... I want to hear them safe in my hooves" 

"I can go get them for you" The dragon offered.

"Please do..." She said almost desperately now.

"Alright. Just hang tight okay?" She said as she darted up the stairs.

"Got any other bad headaches to give me doc?"

"Well it will take a while for the results to come back but at the moment it looks like you are clean." He said trying to be upbeat and uplifting as possible. 

She lay back on the bed sorry she had moved in the first place her body full of pain.

"How are you feeling right now?"

She sighed "Really?" She waited a moment "I feel like somepony fed me to a manticore..."

"A what sorry?" He asked sounding clueless.

"A manticore.. Seriously? next thing I know you are going to tell me pegusi are extincted."

"Well they almost are. You are one of the few I know of existing..."

"You are kidding right?"

"Not at all"

"Oh where the hay am I?"

"Why? Are there more where you are from?"

"Thousands, maybe even millions!"

"Now you are screwing with me"

"No. Really! There are."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Are you sure you didn't like freeze me and wake me up in the distant future or something?"

"Now why would you ask that?"

"You said we flew here in some kind of... Ship, you are trying to tell me you don't know what a manticore is and you say the pegusi are almost extinct... What do you think?"

"Well? We did, I don't and they are."

"Maybe you could just knock me out and I will wake up somewhere where things make sense."

"I don't think it works that way..."

"Thanks tips" She heard the dragon break out laughing.

"You two are the perfect couple!" The dragon said.

"Sh- Shut up..." She said and she was sure she was glowing a bright red.

"How long were you listening Rachel?"

"Not long. I just heard you two arguing and thought it was so cute! Anyway, I have your children Rainbow" She said and Rainbow could hear baby noises.

"Can I hold them?"

"Are you strong enough?" Asked the doctor.

"Come on. Don't mock me now. Bring them here" She said sounding embarrassed already.

"Here you are" Rachel said as she lowered the squirming fillies into her arms.

"My babies" She said suddenly feeling like they were the most important things in the world. "I had a dream that he...."

"Hurt them?" The doctor asked

"Yes... It was horrible"

"Maybe there is something I can give you to block out your dreams" The doctor said wondering.

"NO!" She said so loud she could feel the fillies jump. "I- I need to dream..." She continued sounding timid even to herself.

"Oooookay... I figured you would want to get rid of them." He said sounding slightly confused.

"I- I just..." She paused. "Need too"

He sighed. "As you wish Rainbow."

"Why are you crying?" The young dragon asked.

"I'm never going to get to see them." She said with tears in her voice.

"See who? Your friends?" She asked

"No" She said slowly cradling her fillies "I'll never get to see my kids..."

"Oh... That is kinda sad isn't it."	

"You seem tired Rainbow. Perhaps you should rest." The doctor stated trying to change the subject.

"Yeah. Maybe I should."

"I have a bed for you if you like."

"Yeah, alright, take me."

"Okay. I'm going to touch you. Just follow me." She felt his hooves on her. "Just follow me" He said calmly.

Rainbow followed to the best of her ability staying close to his hoof. She kept walking for seemingly hours up four sets of stairs and down a bunch of halls.

"Alright. This will be your room"

"Thank you. It means a lot."

"No problem. Rachel will look after your kids. Have a nice night alright?" He said and left.

"Okay... No pressure... Just find the bed and lay down" She thought to herself. She slowly walked about the room following the wall. She passed a window and then finally found the bed. "Here it is" She yawned as she sorely climbed on top and laid down.

She was out the second her head touched the soft pillow.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Warm. That’s the only thought that went through Rainbow’s mind. The calming warmth that was the bed that surrounded her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and welcomed the soft vanilla light that greeted her gaze.

Rainbow realized that she was in a small bedroom. The blank walls were painted a calming yellow, reminding her of Fluttershy’s butter fur. She stepped off the bed and felt felt her hooves sink into the fluffy carpet underneath her. In one corner, she noticed an open chest filled to the brim with plushies and other stuffed animals.

Something seemed familiar about the plushies to Rainbow. Walking towards the toy box, she investigated. She snatched one of the toys from the pile and realized it was her friend Applejack.

‘Huh?’ She thought as she squinted down at the mini Applejack. ‘since when have there been Applejack plushies?’

Rainbow was surprised to find a string attached to the plushie’s back. Curious, she gave it a light tug.

“Howdy thar partner!...***” Applejack’s voice buzzed from the toy.

‘Huh.’ Rainbow brought the toy close to her ear. ‘I could have sworn I heard something else in there.’
Setting down Applejack, Rainbow looked back into the box, finding four plushies that replicated each of her other friends. With a small sense of excitement, she pulled them out and began to pull their cords.

“Oh, you look fabulous Darling…***”

“Aint no party like a Pinkie Pie party!...***”

“I’ll be your friend. I mean, if that’s okay with you…***”

Rainbow sighed. She was so happy to finally hear her friends voices once again, even if they were through stuffed dolls. A small smile now on her lips, Rainbow picked up the last plushie of her Alicorn friend, Twilight Sparkle. Before she could pull the cord, however, a loud wail startled her.

Snapping around, she realized the wail came from a foal crib she had failed to notice before.

“Mama!” The foal’s voice cried soon followed by a second.

“Mama!” They both cried in unison. An unfamiliar sense of dread coiled around Rainbow’s heart. Her babies were crying! They were hurt! She needed to get to them NOW!

Dropping the forgotten Twilight plushie, Rainbow ran to the crib. Inside she saw two squirming lumps underneath the pink covers. Without hesitation, the worried pegasus ripped off the blanket hoping to comfort her two foals. She was instead met with an inky blackness.


The black liquid sloshed and bubbled as the wails morphed into bellows of laughter.

“Oh, 1632,” A familiar voice echoed from the growing ooze. “You were too late to stop their cries.” The black sludge slipped through the bars of the crib, spilling onto the carpet. “So I put an end to them myself.”

“AHH!” Rainbow screamed when slimy tendrils shot at her from the ooze, causing her to stumble back. She was unaware that her back hoof had stepped on the soft Twilight plushie until it screamed out.

“Run Rainbow! Don’t let it catch you!!” Twilight’s hysterical screech was enough to convince Rainbow to fly out of there.

As soon as her wings snapped open they were immediately tugged back by the sticky tendrils.

“No!” She screamed, desperately trying to run towards the door that had somehow moved far away. Her attempts were in vain as she felt herself dragged back to the bulging black mass that had now consumed half of the once-calming room.

“Please please please,” She begged only for her words to be cut off by a thick oily branch of ooze as it forced itself down her throat. The last thing she saw before the blackness consumed her were the five plushies staring at her with tears leaking from their button eyes.


Suddenly, Rainbow’s vision went black. The suffocating sludge was all around her; sliding down her throat, burrowing deep into her nostrils, wedging itself beneath her eyelids.

It was strange. Although she knew that her wings had been snapped from her back, she felt no pain. Although she heard the sickening squelch of her eyes being scooped from their sockets, she did not writhe. Was this it? Was she just going to be forced to listen to her body being mutilated without feeling the pain it caused. Despite her situation, Rainbow felt relief that she wasn't going through the toll of agony that should have came when her pelt was ripped from her muscles. Her relief ended when the needle came.

Rainbow screamed when a large needle dug itself through her exposed side and her torn hide. It was stitching her body back together with carefully measured laces, tightening her flesh until it fit snug against her body once again. Although there was no pain, Rainbow could feel the icy tip of the needle as it continued to her wings then her mouth and finally her eyes. She tried to open her eyelids but found that she no longer had them. She couldn't move and everything was black. She just wished it would stop, and then it did.

Out in the blackness the terrifying voice spoke up.

“Well, 1632,” It chuckled. “You seem fit to join the rest of your friends now.”

The blackness around her shifted, causing Rainbow to shiver.

‘What did he do to me?’ she feared.

“Oh,” The voice rumbled as if reading Rainbow’s mind. “You should look at yourself 1632. A fine outcome from this little experiment if I do say so myself.”

The black ooze slid away from Rainbow’s form, revealing herself in front of a large mirror. She would have gasped if she could because staring back at her was her reflection.

Her reflection was a small Rainbow Dash plushie.


She wanted to scream but her mouth was stitched into an eternal smile. Although she couldn't scream she could still cry and tears began to leak from her button eyes.

Suddenly she was lifted into the air and stuffed into the toy box along with her other friends. With one last laugh the chest slammed shut leaving her and her fellow plushies in the dark.

Rainbow’s heart broke when she realized that her friends had tried to warn her the entire time. Every time she had pulled their cords they had told her in hushed voices but she was too deaf to listen.


They had warned her to run.


> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Rainbow! Snap out of it!" The doctor almost screamed trying to break her out of her panic. She continued to just flail and shriek as time passed. Almost an hour later she started to come down from her panic attack just trembling, scared out of her mind. As the hours slipped by her panic finally subsided, she could only cry.

"Rainbow... It's okay, you are safe... We are here" The young dragon spoke.

After a long silence she spoke "I- I- I need a h- hug" The mutilated mare whimpered.

Without hesitation she felt herself wrapped in the arms of the dragon. "It's okay, we're here... I'm here" nothing was said for a long time, finally, trying to regain what little dignity she had left Rainbow pushed her away.

"I- I'm fine... I'll be alright..." She said

"You sure?" The doctor asked sounding  far from convinced.

"I'm FINE!" she said not even believing herself.

"Okay. Are you hungry?"

She sighed and hung her head. "I'm a monster..."

"Now why would you go say that Rainbow?" Rachel asked.

"I want something" She paused "Alive..." There was an audible cringe in the air.

"Like... like a mouse or something?" The dragon inquired.

"Yeah. That would work" She said sounding ashamed of herself.

"Hey, it's alright okay? You don't have to be ashamed." The doctor said

She could hear one of them leave, it sounded like the dragon. She re-entered a few moments later with a loud squeaking. "I found one" she said

"Y- You guys can go..." She mumbled feeling horrid

"Go on doctor. I'll stay with her." The dragon said in a trembling voice.

"Alright. Call me if you need me" He left, sounding a little rushed as if he wanted to be as far away as possible.

Rainbow slowly lowered her front legs off the bed, working up the strength to stand. It took a minute but she was upright. "There... give me the thing."

The dragon drew close shrieks coming from the trapped mouse. she reached out for Rainbow's hoof placing the mouse in it her hand trembling a bit. 

"Are you sure you want to be here?" She asked

"Y- Yes R- Rainbow. do what you have to" she replied

With that she slammed her hoof down, the squeaking stopped. She could feel Rachel shaking a bit. She laid down, feeling her way around the bloody corpse. After a while she dived on it taking the ruined mouse in shredding bone and flesh alike with her filed teeth. She eventually swallowed feeling sickly satisfied and guilty at the same time. There was a long silence. "When you are forced to have something so many times... you start to get addicted to it." She said trying to justify her blood lust.

"Here. Let me clean all that blood off you." She replied drawing close sounding a bit scared.

"Alright.... Thank you" She said as the dragon brought a cloth to her face.

The door opened and she jumped. She felt like something was wrong, like Rachel was communicating silently with someone.

"Wh- What? Who is it?"

"Just me Rainbow" The doctor replied making her jump, his voice sounding grim.

"Wh- What's wrong?" She asked nervously

"Well.... How do i put this..." he replied

Starting to get worried she asked "I- Is it my kids?"

"No... No.... It's you." He replied gravely

"What's wrong with me?"

"Your kidneys quitting, they are shutting down... you are effectively dying inside out"

She was quiet a long time. "How long do i have then?"

He sighed "Well... unless i cut you open and remove a bunch of things, probably wire you up... Maybe a week?"

Her head dropped and she cried bitterly "I don't want to die, not after all this."

"I don't plan on letting you. you just have to trust me." He said sounding only about 70% sure of himself.

"What do I have to do?" she cried.

"Stay alive."

****************************

A day passed. Rainbow lay on her side on the hospital bed, trembling a bit.

"Okay. Now we have another problem" He said sounding like he was thinking out loud.

"Wh- What is it?" She asked just waiting to get told something horrible.

"Every time I put you out you ether wake up screaming or just don't wake up." 

"Wh- What are you trying to say?" She said not really wanting to know the answer.

"Well. We COULD do all this with you... Awake." He replied as if he was just throwing it out there.

"You want to cut me open and tear things out of me... with me awake?" She questioned sounding horrified wondering if he was completely serious.

"Well it is ether that or nightmare land for a few hours." He replied flatly.

She just laid there quietly for a few minutes weighing her options. "Fine. Cut me open, I can deal with it." she said.

"Are you sure?" He asked

"Just shut up and do it! Before I change my  mind."

"Take this." He said giving her something feeling like a block of wood.

"What is this?" 

"Something to bite down on."


"come on Rainbow. you got this. you can do it. what would your friends think if you chickened out now? She thought about it for a moment longer and placed the object in her mouth.

"R- ready when you are" He breathed.

She nodded slowly. Bracing herself for the pain. 

"Stay still alright?" She only had a second to absorb the command before she felt the blade of a knife enter her body. She screamed out, her teeth digging into her piece of wood. Everything became a blur. There was nothing but white hot fire from the entire length belly and the pain in her jaw, the taste of wood in her mouth. She wasn't aware of what was happening or even how long it had been happening. She became aware of something resting along the back of her spine and some sort of mechanical humming. She could feel three warm fleshy things coming out and two cold metal things going in. It was getting to be too much, she was feeling like she was going to black out. She could feel a hot torch being brought along the edges of the wound then a needle going in and out, strong cord pulling her mutilated body back together. He finished up and the agony very slowly began to die from world ending pain to just life shattering.

"Th- There. Done. How are you holding up?" He asked

She didn't reply and just whimpered.

"It's okay. You are okay." As he was talking she felt something heavy set next to her and a strong jolt from her side. Around this point her mind gave out. Nothing got into or out of her head except the searing pain as she stared off into the void of her blindness.

> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rainbow? Can you hear me?"

The pain had moved down the scale a few notches and was just within bearable again. She continued to just stare out at nothing completely quiet, completely still.

"Rainbow? Answer me... Please."

She pondered her life, thinking about everything that had happened, how she got lost in the woods, how she had been found, how some stallion and a dragon were taking care of her. So many unanswered questions, where were her friends? Did Luna tell them she was alive? Had that... monster been caught yet? She started to feel angry. "He had better been caught."  She thought "And if he isn't I'll catch him."

"What? Rainbow? What are you talking about?"

"Oh I'll catch him. And when I do, I'll gut him like the filthy pig he is." She thought getting progressively angrier at her anonymous attacker. "I'll let him scream, let him beg for mercy in my hooves as I tear this and that out of him and I'll laugh as he pleads 'please! I'm sorry!' and then when I am finally done with him, I'll take him into the forest and leave him to die just like he left me..."

"RAINBOW!" the dragon's hand connected with her face, rudely pulling her out of her trance.

"Ouch! Wh- What was that for?" She hissed.

"I- I- Yo- You I-" She stopped and collected herself " You were saying horrid things, I... I just couldn't stop myself"

She froze "Did... Did I just say all that... out loud?" She hid her head in shame. "You... You weren't supposed to hear that." After a few short seconds she found herself locked in another warm hug.

"It's okay. I swear... If I ever met the colt I'd... I'd... Ugh!" She said quite upset herself.

"It's not okay. What would everypony think if I sunk to that level?"

"I wouldn't blame you."

"I... I don't think I could live through being the end of another one"

"A- Another one?" Before any more could be said the doctor walked in

"Oh good! I was getting worried you wouldn't come around" He said " How are you feeling?"

"Oh fantastic, thanks for asking!" She thought "Like somepony gutted me." She replied with a bit of cheek.

"I can understand that." He said " Has there been any more bleeding Rachel?

"Not in the last hour or so." She replied.

"Good, and how is her battery doing?"

"Battery?! What battery?" Rainbow thought moving a bit and feeling some kind of cable attached to her.

"Erm" Rachel said as she fiddled with something next to her "33% it says"

"Darn it's draining fast... How much has the other one charged?" He asked

"U- Um... mind if I ask what the hay you two are talking about?" Rainbow asked almost positive she didn't want to know.

"Well that is a bit of a long story." He said sounding in thought.

"Wh- What did you do to me?" She asked

"Weeeeeeeeell-" He was cut off

Growing slightly impatient "What. Did. You. Do?" She repeated much harsher than she meant to.

"To put it simply, I was doing some work for a chemical research plant and they had me design some filters for them. The filters are designed to take impurities out of liquid. Two of those filters are now in you." He said sounding proud of himself.

"Y- You wha?" She said completely lost for words on the procedure he just described.

He continued not really hearing her "Problem is when I designed them power was no problem, you on the other hand are running them constantly and burning through a battery every two hours or so."

"Oh... So what do I do now?" She said sounding like a lost filly.

"I have a friend with a mobile lab set up, he's going to bring it up and see what we can do to get you back together. Maybe fix your lungs too." 

"Wh- What's wrong with my lungs?" She asked feebly.

"I removed one of them, it was pretty far gone. Starting to rot even."

"Well that explains my chest pain I guess" She thought.

"Any other questions?"

"Am I going to live?"

He sighed "Rainbow, as long as I live I promise to do everything within my power to keep you alive."

She lowered her head back to the bed and noticed it wasn't the hospital bed. "where am I?"

"Back in your room, do you not remember?" He asked

"I really don't"

"Probably for the best. Anyway, I have to go meet my friend out front."

"You do that... I'll just lay here I guess"

"Okay, I'll be back soon" He left leaving her alone with the dragon. There was a long pause.

"S- So... You were saying before..." Rachel asked

"Look, Rachel... I have done some horrid things... You really don't want to know"

"I... I understand."

"Thank you Rachel" She said looking off into the blackness. "can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"What color are you?"

"Red. Same shade as your mane actually."

"Really? I had you as purple in my head for some reason." She was quiet for a while again trying to paint her imaginary purple dragon red. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course I can."

"Can you get me some water?"

"Alright. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I'll be fine."

"Be back in a minute then" She got up and left.

"Okay Rainbow. We don't have long here" She thought as she checked herself over. She lifter her legs one at a time to make sure they were working. Her back right leg exploded in pain. "O- Okay. That hurts." She thought waiting for it to die down. She felt around the bed finding something hard to her right. She felt her way around it, it was about a foot wide, eight inches tall and about eight inches deep. "This must be the battery" She could feel a cord attached to it. "Where the hay does this thing connect to me?" She followed the cord, discovering it was about six feet long. Her hoof hit the back of her head, the cord seeming to plug right into the base of her skull. "O- Oh my..." She thought unable to even think of the words. She laid flat, now aware of the cord laying on her neck as it snaked away to her battery. "My battery? There is a phrase I thought I'd never use" She started feeling herself over again, looking for anything else crazy. she found a long stitch running from one end of her chest to her hind right leg. "I swear at this rate they are going to run out of pieces of me to put back together" She thought to herself with a grim chuckle. She heard the dragon returning "Darn it" She shifted about trying to make it look like she hadn't been examining herself.

"I got you some water" She said

"Thanks." She said and she felt a glass set next to her. She fumbled around for it eventually picking it up and drinking. She could hear hooves in the hall. "Is someone coming?"	

"It's probably the doctor coming to get you"

"Great. Knowing my luck he's going to tell me I need brain surgery or something"

"You'll be fine" She said with a chuckle.

> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





"Did I miss something?" The doctor asked as he walked in making Rainbow jump much to her body's protest.

"Nope, her battery isn't going to last much longer though. Should we change it out?"

"What is it at?"

"20%"

"That'll last 45 minutes at least. Bring the other one just in case"

"You aren't going to make me walk are you?" The mare whimpered.

"I know Rainbow, but it's for your own good" The doctor replied

"Fine, help me up"

***

Getting up was painful, worse still was the walk. She had refused to let Rachel carry her battery instead holding the handle in her jaw while limping along. The trip took half an hour, but it felt like much longer. 

"Are we almost there?" She asked through the handle.

"Front door is right here."

"We are going outside?"

"My friend has his lab set up in the back of a trailer."

"Wh- Who is he?"

"His name is Cogsworth"

She stopped. She knew that name, why did she know that name? "Do... Do I know him?"

"You should! He was the pony that helped me drag you out of the lake."

"I... I think I remember that."

"He hasn't seen you since though, the sky lords had him off on some quest."

"The who?" She asked

"Later. Come on."

She started to walk again her hooves hitting dirt.

"Is that her?" An unknown but familiar voice called out making her jump yet again.

"Yes it is my friend, try to keep it down though, she doesn't like new ponies all that much"

"Well? Bring her in. Lets see what we can do here."

"This way Rainbow." He lead her to a ramp and into what sounded like a wooden trailer, there were all sorts of bubbling noises and whirs and hisses.

"Alright, bring her up on the table" He said trying to keep his voice gentle.

"Rachel, can you watch the kids?" He asked as he helped her up.

"Okay, see you guys later then" She heard the dragon wander off and a distant door close.

"So how have things been Cogsworth?"

"Well I can say I owe you quite a bit of money."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"You'll never guess what I found." He said and there was a sound of something being picked up.

"The flower! You found it!"

"You have no idea what I had to do for this thing."

"I want to hear all about it. Later though."

"Right. What needs to be done"

"Well we have to figure out a mechanical lung and some kind of power source that doesn't drain so fast." 

"Well it wouldn't be cheap but we could get a magical ion battery from the lightning catchers."

"An ion battery? You want to put an ion battery inside a pony?"

"Better than having her plugged into a wall or carrying that thing the rest of her life"

"True." They continued back and forth for a while but Rainbow zoned out, listening to all the other noises around her, she only snapped out of it when she felt her wings touched.

"OUCH!" She yelped. Recoiling away.

"Sorry miss, just trying to see what i can do about these." He replied

"B- Be careful... They hurt. A lot."

"It looks like it. Just hang tight alright."

"Yup. On it." She said now quite board. She could hear them talking but wasn't listening. She would pick up bits and pieces that sounded like they planned to fill her with new bones or something. She would feel them poking at her every now and then and did her best to just ignore them. She heard some loud beeping, one of them was holding a device right were her wings connected to her body.

"Strange. I have never seen a magic signal like that in a pony before."

"Magic? Why would I have magic?"

"I would expect it has to do with flight" The doctor purposed.

"Seems solid to me" Cogsworth replied.

"Doesn't matter why you have it, it means your body could recharge a M-Ion battery on it's own." He said sounding excited.

"I actually happen to have one here if you are willing to use and IOU" Cogsworth said.

"I think that will do fine, I'll get the logic controllers and what not together"

Rainbow was bored again, she continued to listen to the beeps and noises of her surroundings. "Come on. There has to be SOMETHING I can do here." she thought. She found something sticky on the corner of the bed and started to pick at it.


***


"Come on Rainbow, time to go" The doctor said trying to get her attention.

"Wait what?" She asked

"Time to go back to the house."

"I thought you guys were doing some kind of procedure or something."

"Oh no no no. Not today, we have to make sure your body accepts your new filters and wiring first"

"Then why did I come out here?" She protested

"To take measurements for parts and whatnot."

"Great. How long will I have to wait then?" She groaned

"Probably a few weeks or so, depends on how well you do." He said mater of factually.

"So you mean to say you are just going to leave me how I am?" She asked

"What's wrong with that?"

"I don't know, how about needing to be stuck to a battery 24/7  to stay alive?"

"Oh no no no! We built you a wall charger!"

She was completely dumbfounded. "He's joking, he has to be joking" She thought "Okay, I'm done. Take me home so i can sleep off all this garbage."

"Ooooo... someone is getting a bit bitter" Cogsworth said.

Rainbow jumped right off the bed in shock and the two strong earth ponies caught her.

"It's okay Rainbow. You know him." The doctor said slowly "you are safe"

"I'm fine! I- I was just getting up is all." She said trying to recover her pride.

"You sure you are okay?"

"Yeah... Can you take me back to my room now? And no, you are not carrying anything for me" She said stubbornly.

"Oh alright, follow me"

With that, Rainbow picked up her battery and started for home.
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The days dragged. Wake up screaming, panic for an hour, change battery, eat, feed fillies, lay around, get poked at every now and then, eat, feed fillies, lay around, change battery, eat, feed fillies, sleep, repeat. A whole month passed of nothing but this and Rainbow was sure she was going to lose her mind. Finally she gave up. 

"Okay. I am absolutely sick of this garbage." She thought to herself. She was alone and bored beyond belief. "Let's see. Legs" She moved them all one by one, her back right was still sore but everything checked out. "Okay. Good... Cord." She checked her cord making sure it wasn't tangled around herself. "Okay, good to go" She slowly worked towards the edge of the bed and stepped off one leg at a time. Out of reflex she grabbed her battery like she had at least a hundred times now and carefully set out. She took nine steps and pushed the door open and placed her foreleg against the wall following it along. She walked for what seemed like an eternity bumping into this and that. Eventually a smell caught her. It was strong like soup and made her mouth water.

"Mmmnnn... I like the smell of that." She thought following her nose and the edge of the wall. After a while she found an opening and her hooves began to fall on tile. She could hear water boiling and someone humming to themselves. She followed the wall in eventually finding a table and setting her battery down on the wood making the hum turn into a shocked yelp.

"R- Rainbow! What are you doing here?!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Well you guys kinda have had me locked in a room for weeks on end and I was just soooo bored."

"You could have hurt yourself! And how could you scare me like that!? I could have burned myself!"

"Aren't you fireproof?" She asked making the dragon take a long pause.

"Sh- Shush..."

She burst out laughing and Rachel joined her shortly.

"Okay... You have to admit, that was funny"

"Kinda was i guess." she replied embarrassed

She heard hooves walk in. "Having fun wandering about?"

"I knew where I was going!"

"I was just coming to get you, I figured I'd see what you were up to first though."

"You were following me?" She exclaimed hoping she hadn't done anything dumb.

"Sure was, now then, we have everything together. Ready to go under the knife again?"

"What is it with you and cutting me open every time I start moving?"

"coincidence?"

"Ugg. well I don't have all day, lets go." She said actually somewhat happy to be going anywhere other than her room.

"Alright, want me to lead you?"

She thought for a moment "Better to just roll with it then hurt myself again I guess" 

"Well?" He asked

"Fine..." She replied grudgingly.

"Great!" He began to lead her through the house for a while. And she followed boredly.

"So... What am I being volunteered for today?" She asked.

"Do you want the full list?"

She rolled her eyes knowing at this point she was going to hear it ether way. She waited for him to start like he always did, secretly wondering how many of the words she would actually understand. It never came, she started to feel dirt again. "We are going farther than normal" She thought getting just a tad nervous. The dirt shifted to cobbles as her hooves hit the road she hadn't touched since she came. "Uh... where are we going?"

"To the docks" He said.

Now she was nervous "Wh- Why?"

"Well...." He paused trying to word it as to not spook her  "Since you moved in... EVERYPONY has been talking about you. We are taking you to the docks cause we actually had to import a full hospital to deal with you."

She stopped talking and she could hear other ponies and hushed voices. She was trying to process just exactly what it was he said. "d- don't panic. didn't hear anything. just keep walking. k- keep walking" she thought starting to tremble a bit. she continued in her state of light panic until she noticed it was now wood under her feet and the winds were kicking up.

"Almost there, do NOT trip okay?" He said sounding dead serious.

"R- Right" She replied feeling the wood slope up into a ramp. The wind stopped suddenly like she had been led inside "Wh- What now?" She asked.

"Okay, hop up on the bed alright?" He said leading her hooves to it.

She clambered up still trembling and she could almost FEEL ponies staring at her.

"Okay. We are going to put you to sleep here alright?"

"O- Okay.." She whimpered and she could feel a needle entering her side.

"I'll count from five" He said "Five. Four.... Three....... Two-" And with that, it was lights out for the mare.
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		There was a bright light. Rainbow winced and rolled off her bed standing up. She shook her head as her eyes adjusted. Everything was grey and muted except for one colored object sitting on her bed which was surrounded by ponies in surgical equipment. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She watched this and that being taken out of the object on the table. "Oh wow... is THAT me?" She looked it over again. The only thing identifying it as her was her hair and patches of visible fur. "Okay... Well this is boring." She thought. She looked around the room. The walls and floor were just black, no texture to them, except for a small trail from the door to the bed which was a non descriptive wood. She walked to it. "So why can I see this?" She thought about it for a minute. "This is the path I took into the room" She looked down the hall out the door. Everything was still black except for objects she had actually touched which were just grey. "OUCH!" she shoulder checked and could see the doctor ponies digging around in her head. "Will you guys be careful?" She said out loud, continuing on. She followed her trail out to the wooden ramp and looked out. There was two thin strips, each with muted, grey ponies along it just standing there leading up a hill."Huh... looks like I can see everything I have touched or heard." She deduced. She walked around, looking at this and that. There was one thing out of place, right in the center of the black area. It looked roughly like an earth pony and it was completely black rather than grey. "Now what is this?" She walked up to it. On inspection it seemed to be trying to phase in. It had the rough body size of a large stallion but looked female. "What are you supposed to be?" She thought looking it over as it slowly grew a tail and mane. She reached out to it, feeling drawn to touch it. Her hoof came into contact with the pony and her vision exploded into sparks and she collapsed to the ground holding her head. 

"Rainbow? Is that you?" a soft female voice spoke.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!"

"What's wrong?" The voice asked worriedly.

"A lot of things..." She replied standing up and cringing at the pain in her head.

"Where is your body Rainbow?"

"Wait what?" She thought. "You are going to need to clarify... My head hurts."

"Where is your body" She said sounding quite serious.

"Back there somewhere. Why?"

"Because you are dead. And hopefully we can save you." she said

"WHAT?!" She said her eyes shooting open and turning to face the dark blue Alicorn. "What do you mean I am dead?"

"Do you want to live?" she asked not answering the question.

"Of course I want to live! I have kids!"

"You have kids?"

"It's a long story. What do I need to do?" She said sounding quite concerned.

"Take me to your body."

With that Rainbow turned around, walking back towards the ramp now worried sick feeling like something was digging through her head.

"You don't look so well" The Alicorn noted

"If what I saw was real they are tearing me apart at the moment"

"Hopefully your body is still alive."

Rainbow said nothing more just walking back down the hall to the room. She entered and walked to the table where the doctors were working in there slow muted greyness.

"What have they done to you?" The Alicorn asked looking completely shocked.

"They are trying to fix what that... Monster did to me..."

"They have you torn apart!"

"I see that... How do I stay alive?"

"You have to stay in this room. Stay awake then enter your body when it is stable."


***


She watched them work for a while. There was a bucket full of organs, bones and flesh. She watched as metal bones replaced a good amount of her own. It was too much to take in and she looked away. Time passed and other than just stare there wasn't much she could do. She started daydreaming about little nothings and was suddenly pulled out when her wings exploded in pain she felt like metal bolts were being driven right through them and she screamed. "WHY ME!" she screamed at the world expecting an answer. There wasn't one. Eventually she got used to the pain. She watched as metal extensions were fused to her broken wings.


"Oh just put me back together already!" She fumed angrily getting sick of it all. She heard someone vomit and spun around to look for it. "L- Luna? You..." She paused looking over the sick Alicorn "Are you okay?"

"N- No. Dear Celestia what have they done?" She said sounding sick.

"Saved my life... Have you figured out where I am yet or are you just providing commentary?" She asked annoyed.

"I am sorry R- Rainbow. I do not know where you are..." She replied slowly.

"some help you are" she thought to herself. She glanced over her mangled form. They were finally starting to stitch her up most of the team now working on her head. "Well, see you later I guess Luna..." She said as her world started to black out again, reality taking hold.

"I hope we'll meet again soon" She replied

She felt herself awake again inside her body. "Okay... It's gunna hurt. Don't scream. Play it cool" She thought waiting for herself to rejoin the land of the living. She felt a jolt of electricity surge through her body and she screamed out as completely overwhelming pain filled every ounce of her existence.
> chapter 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*************
Audio log 021
*************

My name is Rainbow Dash. Have you ever woken up, not sure if it is morning or night? How about waking up feeling like every fiber in your body was torn apart in a rock grinder? Welcome to my life.

~Dash

***


Rainbow awoke. She tried to scream but her mouth would not move. She tried to flail and panic, her body would not comply. It hurt too much to even think. Everything everything was on fire. The feeling lasted a lifetime, two maybe. She whimpered a little.

"There you are. Stay quiet okay? You are healing. Your modifications are taking and your body is holding." The doctor spoke quietly.

She just whimpered in reply. She slowly became aware of something cold against her back. She tried to think about what it could be but the pain was just too much. She passed out.


***


Awake again. This was the twelfth time, or maybe it was more, she wasn't sure any more. The pain was only just bearable. She tried her hardest to keep it together this time, trying to be strong. She checked her points, moving each limb one by one. "F- Front legs.." She thought moving them both very much to her body's protest. "Ch- Check." She let her broken body settle, not even trying her lower legs. She tried to analyze where she was. Something hard and cold was under her back. She could feel a bed around that. She tried to move her forelegs to find more but the pain stopped her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Wh- What the h- hay have you d- d- done to me?" She asked weakly.

"Well... That's quite the list" He breathed. "Short list?"

"Long list." She replied.

"Okay. Well we opened you up and removed your temporary kidneys. We replaced them with a smaller, more efficient version. We made a new lung for you. We realized your bones couldn't hold that much weight though... It was a fairly complicated procedure to get them out without damaging you more-" He was cut off.

"Wait wait wait wait... You pulled WHAT out of me?" She asked sure she heard wrong.

"Well what we did is we pulled out your ribs intact. We separated your spine, vertebra by vertebra, from your spinal cord and took that as well. Your back hips were pretty damaged so we pulled them out too." He finished.

"Don't I need those?" She asked more than a little concerned.

"Of course you do. We replaced them with new ones made of High-Entropy metal Alloy. It is as strong as titanium and light as aluminum. Your body is actually lighter than it used to be." He paused waiting for her to say something, she didn't. "After that we fixed in your new organs and re-secured your body to your bones. We also implanted some protective plates, almost like internal body armor. Whoever tries breaking your back will have a bad time. We also implanted a new rechargeable battery inside you. You have some kind of gland that assists in flight by producing magic, the battery we put inside you takes magic and converts it to an electrical current. We did some work in your head as well. We tried to keep from messing around in there too much. We implanted some logic chips designed to allow your nervous system to interface your brain to your new parts. We also threw in a cutting edge flight computer. In addition to that there is some testing equipment that means we don't need to inject you anymore. No more needles, no more drugs. It's all inside you now and can be done remotely. That also means we don't need to give you anti-rejection meds. Oh and we also gave you an audio recorder, so you can keep a journal. Just say 'audio log' an start talking"

"Great..." She said still processing everything. "Why would you give me anything to help flying?" She asked sounding upset and feeling inexplicably hopeful.

"Well" He baited and Rainbow could feel his smile.

"W- Well what?" She asked

"A local pegusi, about the only one in town lent his wings to us. We brought in a flight engineer and a black smith who were able to reconstruct your wings using his as a template. Now before you do anything i'm going to tell you you are tied down."

"WOOHOO!" Rainbow shouted remaining still on the bed not wanting to fight bonds. She laid back and smiled. It didn't mater that she couldn't see to fly. She could fly, she had her wings.


***


*************
Audio log 005
*************

Have you ever had something you love, something you can't live without? Have you ever had that thing taken away from you. Had to feel the depression of never getting it back? It happened to me, I lost my wings. Today they were given back to me.

~Dash


***


A few days passed, the smile never leaving Rainbow's face. "When can I get moving?" She asked eager to not be in a bed.

"Well... You should be down a few more days... You have been doing pretty well though... We can try."

"YES!" She exclaimed.

"Slowly okay?" He said and she could feel his hooves on her side like a million pin pricks. 

"C- Careful okay?" She hissed in pain slowly working onto her side and getting a leg over the edge and onto the floor. She hissed again as her joints burned and she lowered another leg now half off the bed.

"Almost there Rainbow, a little more..."

She pushed off the bed, standing with a wide smile. She felt like something was spreading from her head outwards. It felt cool as it slowly worked over her body the fire like pain became a dull throb. Her grin grew and she laughed a little.

"How do you feel?" The doctor asked

"Better than I have in years." She replied spreading her wings with a metallic sound like a sword leaving a sheath.

"What are you going to do now?" 

She thought about is seriously, sheathing her wings. "Raise my children" She said finally happy with life.