Twilight Sparkle paced around the hospital lobby. Her mood was clearly visible. Her eyebrows were creased, bottom lip bitten, and her eyes shifted about. ’It’s okay,’ she thought. ’Maybe she’s just… Just taking the scenic route.’

Twilight appeared in the lobby of the emergency wing of the hospital. If the linoleum floor already had a large scorch mark in the middle of it, then the custodial staff needed a stern talking to. The unicorn clerk snapped to attention as she saw a mangled black shape. On instinct she slammed a button on her desk, and before Twilight could even say help, 3 doctors were already bursting through the doors. They were two unicorns who gingerly took the black mare from Twilight’s magical grasp, encasing her with their own. The third doctor was not a unicorn, but in fact an oddly familiar tan earth pony. He appeared to be using some sort of magical device that Twilight could not recognize. The clerk behind the desk had given Twilight a clipboard of medical documentation and submittal forms for emergency situations. The doors flew open once more as 2 rather muscular earth ponies wheeled in a gurney. The two unicorn doctors levitated the unconscious onto the gurney, while the clerk instructed Twilight on how to fill out the forms. The tan stallion, ’Time Turner was it?’, shouted an order that the purple unicorn did not expect to hear: “Patient requires immediate surgery.” She wanted to grab a glance at the mayhem, but the clerk shoved herself in front of Twilight’s view. She tapped her hoof against the clipboard, but Twilight could only hear a high pitched whine as the shouting turned to silence. She hastily filled out half the documentation which was enough for the clerk as it was yanked from her magical grasp. The last thing Twilight saw was the clerk handing the clipboard off to the tan stallion as he walked through the doors.

Twilight sat there for a moment. She slowly rose up and made her way to the doubled doors. Looking through the thin window, she could make out a long hallway with doors on either side. She placed a hoof against the door, when the world around her came back.

“You can’t go in there ‘mam,” said the clerk not looking up from a tabloid rag. Twilight let out a sigh. She heard the sound of a clock and looked for it. The clock was hanging above the doors to the emergency center. 5:20.

“When did I get here?” she asked aloud.

“About five minutes ago,” the clerk answered flat. The voice echoed in Twilight’s head. Was she really in here for only 5 minutes? It felt like more of a life time, but when she tried to recall the events leading up to this point, she could not. She was only briefly distracted by this, however when she realized, that Rainbow hadn’t arrived yet.

Twilight glanced back up at the clock. She stopped as all her attention was pointed at it. The long hand clicked. 6 minutes had passed and Rainbow was nowhere in sight. ’Where are you Rainbow Dash?’

Suddenly, the doors flew open as the pegasus in question burst through the doors. She stopped in the air as she returned the purple unicorn’s gaze.

“Where have you been? What took you so long?” Twilight winced as she spoke the last statement she didn’t want to say.

“Hey!” Rainbow replied in annoyance. “I flew through all the other areas of the hospital before getting here, so don’t badger me!”

“I’m not badgering you,” Twilight said in a commanding voice. “and it didn’t occur once as you were flying to check the Emergency Wing?”

“I’ve only ever been to the hospital here once. When I broke my wing, Remember?” she stated as calmly as she could. “Even then, I was stuck in my bed for most of it.” Rainbow floated to the ground. “Where is she anyway?”
Twilight bit her bottom lip again, and looked away.

“Did we make it in time?” Rainbow Dash showed a look of dread.

“I… I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “One of the doctors said that she required immediate surgery though.” Her smile she put on did not improve Rainbow’s mood.

“S-surgery?” Rainbow sputtered. The tension hung in the silent air as Twilight nodded. “Surgery… is good, I guess…” she mumbled half-heartedly.

Rainbow took a seat in a plastic chair. It was probably designed to be the most uncomfortable chair in existence. The polychromatic Pegasus didn’t care. Her head was downcast. Twilight approached cautiously. Twilight phrased her words carefully.

“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash,” she said taking a seat next to her friend. These were obviously not the most appropriate of words as the Pegasus didn’t move an inch. “I won’t leave your side for a single moment.”

Rainbow looked up. "Really?" her voice cracked.

"Of course." She placed a reassuring hoof around her shoulder. "What are for friends for if they can't be there for each other?"

Rainbow returned the gesture. After the day she's had, she needed all the support she could get.

"Alright, now get off me," she said gently brushing off Twilight's embrace. "You'll get my coat all sappy." Twilight chuckled, happy that she got her friend to smile.

"Really?" Twilight said raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Then maybe you could tell me how this all happened." Before Rainbow could respond. "This time though, do you mind going less than 900 miles an hour?" Twilight laughed as the pegasus remembered. She started from the beginning...

Twilight was an excellent listener during the entire lenth of the story. At first, her face showed curiousity but as the story went on, it slowly shifted to a crossed expression.

"...and that's when I came to you," Rainbow finished putting forth a sheepish smile.

"Rainbow," Twilight said flatly.

"Yeah?"

"I have a few questions that need answering." Rainbow gulped.

"Uh... okay," she said twidling her hooves.

"First," Twilight began. She inhaled as if she were going to say something, but bit her lip, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in frustration. "... when you were warming up for the race, did it ever strike you as odd that your "competitor" was shaking?"

"Not really," Rainbow said scratching the back of her head. "I thought she was nervous. After all," she flexed her foreleg. "I would be nervous if I went up against me."

"Okay..." The purple mare opened her eyes again. "Second: why did you race her in the first place?"

"She challenged me."

"Did she say it?"

"No, but Cloudchaser said that she was talking big in the locker rooms all last week," Rainbow said defensively.

The unicorn's gaze shifted to one of confusion, but the aggrevation in her voice carried through. "Well..." Twilight's voice trailed off.

"Twilight, I'm just as confused as you are," Rainbow sighed. "How could somepony whose talent is pulling off a Sonic Rainboom NOT know how to slow down, let alone land!?"

Twilight paused. Did she hear that right? "Wha...?"

"I didn't mention that?" Rainbow said looking at Twilight shake her head. "That's what I heard anyway..."

"From who- wait, let me guess," Twilight started. "Cloudchaser, right?"

"Yeah, and if you think about it," Rainbow said looking back in thought. "It makes sense."

"How do you mean?"

"Did you get a look at her-" Rainbow cut off realizing the dumb question. "Uh... nevermind. Let's just say that I saw what her talent was."

Twilight reflected on the information she absorbed setting a silence between the two. The idea of somepony else being able to pull off a rainboom was always a possibility, but to have a talent in making them was another kind of improbability. The receptionist at the desk had been eavesdropping on the two mares. She slid the tabloid down onto her desk, and pulled some paers out of a box labled "In." Taking a clipboard and pencil, she approached the mares clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me," she said flatly. "I assume the pegasus that came in was your friend?"

Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah..."

"Mind filling out these medical forms?" She levitated the clipboard of papers to the pegasus. "It's not that we don't have the information required, but more along the lines of some formalities," she stated shifting her eyes between the two. "Such as previous medical conditions, preexisting trauma..."

"Uh... I kinda just met her..." Rainbow Dass looked at the clerk's bemused gaze.

"Can you at least give me her name?"

"Yeah, her name's Monochrome." The pencil floating in her magic scribbled the name onto the clipboard.

"And yours?" she questioned without looking up.

"Rainbow Dash." The paper tore off and disappeared in poof of magic. The clerk went back to her desk sighing in her wake. Twilight glanced at the clock. It was 5:30. She was content to wait by her friend for however long it would take for them to finish.

Three and a half hours later...

Rainbow Dash was circling the lobby in impatience while Twilight was barely fending off her own.

"What's taking so long?!" Rainbow Dash finally shouted.

"These things take time," Twilight assured. Rainbow threw her hooves up frustration groaning. She had been bored before, but not like this. The pegasus was not used to staying in place for such a length of time. Although the aerial pacing helped relieve that itch to fly somewhat, she still craved that feeling of the wind in her mane. There were the unanswered questions rattling around her brain. Then, there was the worry that the surgery—
NO! She would not die. She is still alive. She just had to be! The doctors were just taking their sweet time about it.

Rainbow's train of thought was suddenly lost. Floating in the air, she turned to the only friend with her. Twilight had just stood up, stretching the pins and needles away.

The purple unicorn took a few tentative steps towards the pegasus. "Rainbow?"

Dash, fell to the floor. "Yeah?"

"It's getting late, and..." Twilight averted from Rainbow's gaze.

Sudden guilt of having dragged her friend into this finally set in the peagasus' mind. "It's alright, Twilight," Rainbow sighed. Twilight looked at the rainbow maned pony. "You need to make sure Spike hasn't eaten all the ice cream, right?" Rainbow's eyes were half lidded in understanding.

"Thanks, Rainbow," she said giving her friend a hug before trotting out into the night. Rainbow stood there for a few moments longer before going back to sit down. She waited another ten minutes, before the Emergency wing doors opened. A petite earth-pony nurse who was exactly the same color-scheme as Pinkie-Pie. She held a clipboard, which she scrutinized, and wore saddlebags.

"Miss... Rainbow Dash?" she called out into the empty waiting room. She looked around, much to Dash's surprise, intently. Silence followed as the pony called out again, "Rainbow Dash?"

"Uh... right here?" Rainbow said cautiously lifting a hoof.

"Oh!" she said with genuine surprise. "You can see your friend now," she said placing the clipboard in the saddlebags. Rainbow Dash shot up and landed directly in front of the nurse with relieved look of anticipation. "This way," she said way too cheerfully. Rainbow followed.

She was lead down hallway after hallway, before finally stopping at a door labled 042. She reached for the doorknob, but was stopped by the pink nurse.

"I must warn you," she began taking a cheerful and serious tone, a tone once thought impossible by Dash. "She is on some very high medication." The nurse released Rainbow's hoof. They exchanged looks for a moment before they stepped inside. Rainbow's heart sank.

She could hear the repetative heart moniter of the life support. Next to it was an IV, with a long, plastic thread leading to the pure black pegasus, lying belly down on the bed. Her hind legs faced the wall with each leg jutting out from the body. The wings were splayed with needles and bandages alike sticking out. They hung from the ceiling by metal clamps and twine. From what she could see, the body was covered in stitches with one long stitch going down the spine of the back. There were solid casts around all legs brilliant white standing out against the black fur. A metal neckbrace held her head up and in place bringing the rainbow pegasus' eyes to her face. From this side, half her mane was shaved with another long stitch in a crescent shape swapping between metal strips and thread in a sick and twisted manner.

What lie on the bed was a broken pegasus body.

Rainbow Dash never understood what the phrase "taking the wind out of your sails" meant until that point. Her breath was caught in her throat, unable to escape. Her hooves felt magnatized to the spot with wings and legs quivering under their own weight. Rainbow felt a scratchy lump materialize in the back of her throat.

"If you need anything, or something goes wrong..." Rainbow was snapped from her stupor. She glanced about regaining her surroundings. She turned her attention to the pink nurse. "...just ask!" The nurse finished.

"Thanks, uh..." Rainbow drolled awkwardly.

"Nurse Joy," the nurse finished. The pegasus nodded as the earth pony left.

Dash turned to the room. She saw a chair nearby and quickly took a seat. She looked at the endless night sky, her mind swirling with mixed emotions.

Monochrome felt a wave of dizziness first. It was as if she just came out of a twister. Her eyelids felt like they were glued shut. She squinted open and pain surged through her body. A high pitched whine droned in her ears as she did. She shut both eyes tightly waiting for the sharp needle-like pain in the back of her head to fade. When it did not, she tried once more making her eyes water. She saw color, but it was mostly bright, white light. As her pupils constricted tothe light, she saw greys anx beiges blob together. In the middle she saw a blue form. Straining her vision, she focused. Sound returned as she took a ragged breath inward.

She saw a familiar shape. A shape she knew and dreaded seeing again. 'Buck me, I can't die even if somepony helps me,' she thought as her heart rate increased. The Rainbow pegasus straightened once as the heart moniter increased. Silence permeated the room.

Rainbow was the first to speak up. "Uh... hi."

Monochrome stared at her. Rainbow Dash gave a sheepish smile. She did not do this sort of thing.

"Well, I guess I can cut to the chase," she said, figuring that the black pegasus was just as bewildered as she. "You're in Ponyville General, and uh... you just got out of surgery..."

Monochrome's hearing faded as he mind began panicking. She had nearly died, again nearly killed another, again. This time, though, she was alone. Nopony was there for her. Nopony to make the world go away. Nopony to make her feel safe. Her thought process was halted by sound returning again.

"... my friend, which kinda brings me to what I wanted to know," Rainbow Dash said feeling confidence slowly return.

Monochrome focused as best as she could.

"Why didn't you slow down?" Mono's heartbeat increased slowly, but Rainbow Dash payed it no heed. "I mean, it's just basic stuff and I know it's a rainboom-" her chest tightened as her eyes were on the breaking point. "-but if you're a pegasus that can do it, then you should now how to stop!" Rainbow Dash, back at full confifdence had anger return to her that hadn't shown up at during the event. "If you did it just to show off and you don't know how to control yourself at the speed, then I have to assume you were just trying to show off! It was reckless and stupid!" She was at a mild hover. "Challenging me to a race just to prove that you're faster?! Do you know how many ponies could've died if you crashed!?"

"I know..."

"And don't get me-"

"I! KNOW!!" Monochrome said between gritted teeth. Her erratic breathing only increased as her anxiety was released. She said in a hushed tone, "Don't you think I already know what I've done?"

Rainbow glared at her.

"And you think," she continued, her voice getting louder with every word. "That I?!!!! CHALLENGED YOU?!" Tears streamed from her place through a crazed look. "I NEVER WANTED TO RACE TO BEGIN WITH!!! I HATE RACING! I HATE MY JOB! I HATE THAT I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" she shouted as the heart moniter went crazy. "BUT MOST OF ALL!!!" Monochrome took one breath in as the shrinking form of Rainbow Dash backed into the chair.

"I HATE MYSELF ! I SHOULD BE DEAD FOR WHAT I'VE DONE!! I SHOULD BE SHOT, HEAD CHOPPED OFF AND MOUNTED ON A PIKE!!! I HATE THESE!-" she paused to rip her head from the metallic brace. Her casts cracked open as they extended to her wings as she torn open the stitches. pain flooded through her adding to the ongoing storm of self-loathing passion. "I HATE THESE STUPID, MOTHERBUCKING, DAMNEDABLE THINGS!!" Her eyes were ablaze with untold rage in the next statement. "I WISH I WOULD JUST DIE!!!"

Rainbow fell numb as the words sunk into her. The world around seemed to fade away. She didn't feel anything. She watched as three muscular ponies burst in attempting to restrain the mad pegasus on the bed. She didn't hear what was said, which was probably good. She found herself escorted out, by who she did not see. Her mind felt like it was going to burst out of either total shock or wild confusion. The words said by Monochrome kept repeating in her head like a record skipping. Her eyes tilted downward at the floor seeing through them and sat in the hall for an undiscernible amount of time. One thing was clear to her though:

For the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash did not want to fly ever again.

Author's Notes:

New chapter, finally!
The reason why I added Time Turner (or Doctor Whooves) is that the Doctor shows up at any crisis or emergency. I also wanted to make a pun on the whole "Doctor Doctor" thing.

Pretty heavy chapter, if I must toot my own horn. I didn't want to rush, but I don't feel there is a lot I can still say. It's like wanting to tell someone what they got for christmas. I can't stand it! >_<