Rainbow Dash was scrambling. After a series of missed rain showers over Ponyville the weather manager was in a rush to play catchup with a massive storm. Sweet Apple Acres was losing crops because of her mistakes and no bucking way was she going to let her best friend suffer for it. She and the other pegasi ponies were chasing the dark gray storm clouds into position, combining them with the leftover rain clouds. She was so caught up in her work that she didn't even notice the storm gray pegasus flying right into the grouping. Yelling to all the other weather ponies to get clear, Rainbow Dash yelled in her usual flamboyant attitude "fire in the hole!" She kick-started her cloud, setting off a chain reaction through the entire storm cell, lightening flying, rain pouring, the static raising the furs on everyponies' back as they flew away....

All except for one storm gray pegasus who didn't get the message.

The lighting flashed, thunder cracked, and a single pony suddenly saw his world go dark as he fell from the sky. The thud as he hit the ground just outside Sweet Apple Acres echoed ominously as cloud of dust enveloped the young stallion.

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The next morning Big Mac and Applejack walked out across their farm to survey the damage. She knew they desperately needed the water, but wished Rainbow Dash could just remember to keep the showers on schedule rather than giving it to them all at once. While effective, the storms had the nasty habit of breaking of branches, knocking apples loose, and knocking over the occasional tree.

Applejack stopped and looked around before speaking with her southern drawl, "Big Macintosh, why don'tcha head off an check the west orchard. Last storm took out half the apples." Big Mac just looked at her with a stern face before replying with as much as could be expected of him.

"Eeyup!"

He trotted off as Applejack kept checking the south fields before something caught her eye. It wasn't the broken branches or small rivers running between her beloved trees, it was something beyond the orchard. Just out of the treeline was something that shouldn't be. A small mound of dirt and grass... as she walked closer she saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks. A few gray feathers were scattered around what appeared to be a mangled wing just barely visible above the dirt. Applejack ran to the site and gasped. "Big Mac, get over here! Bring a cart!" A storm gray pegasus was laying in the hole. His dark blue mane was swept back across his head, the edges were frosted with an almost sky blue color. His tail was cut extremely short with the same frosting along the edges, just barely covering his cutie mark--a golden shield with a rose-red hue to it. His fur was singed in places and his left wing was contorted to an extreme angle, his right was buried under his torso. Applejack lifted a hoof to her muzzle, fearing the worst. Suddenly she saw it. A slight rise in the pony's chest.

"Big Mac, hurry! Ah think he's alive, but he's hurt real bad!" Big Mac showed up with the apple cart and the two earth ponies threw the pegasus onto the back. "Big Mac, we need to get him to the hospital, ahm gonna run ahead and let them know yer comin!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac bellowed as he started heading towards Ponyville Hospital.

Applejack was already halfway to town at a full sprint when she had to throw on the breaks. A pale yellow mare with a pink mane was backing her way across the road. "Ok c'mon little ones, that's it," she whispered to the ducklings that were following her lead. "That's it, you're doing great." Despite her talking to all of them, one could barely hear her voice.

"Fluttershy! Get a move on! Big Mac's comin' an' we need tah get to the hospital!"

"Oh my, come on friends!" Fluttershy tried to hurry the ducklings up. As they finally crossed the road the cloud of dust rapidly grew into view as Big Mac came rushing down the road.

"C'mon sugarcube, we need to get to tha hospital. Somepony's hurt real bad!" Applejack took off running without even waiting for a response from the timid mare. As Big Mac passed by Fluttershy caught a glimpse of the injured pony and immediately got a shiver running the length of her spine. As a pegasus she had a feeling she knew exactly what happened and flew off towards Rainbow Dash's cloud house.

"Nurse Redheart! Nurse Redheart! Ah need some help!" The brilliant white pony with a pink mane and red cross cutie mark looked up and saw Applejack running towards the hospital, an ominous cloud of dirt trailing a short distance behind. "Nurse Redheart, Ah found this pegasus outside the orchard. Ah think he's hurt real bad!" Nurse Redheart immediately called for the doctor and more hooves to come help as Big Macintosh pulled up. The medical ponies unloaded the unknown stallion and took him straight in. Nurse Redheart spoke with Applejack in her usually sweet voice, before going in, herself.

No matter the stress, that pony seemed able to calm a raging manticore with her soothing voice.

"Do you have any idea who he is?"

"No Nurse Redheart, ah have no idea who he is. Ah was checkin' the orchards for damage and ah saw him half buried in the dirt, wing stickin' up at a god awful angle."

"Ok, Applejack. If you and Big Mac want to wait around, I'll let you know as soon as we know his condition."

"Thank ya, Nurse Redheart." Despite having no idea who this stallion was, Applejack found her voice trembling with concern for the newcomer. Big Mac just stood next to her and wrapped a foreleg around his little sister's shoulders. Applejack was one of the most caring ponies he knew, and he knew exactly how this was affecting her. "He'll be ok, right Big Macintosh?" He just looked back at her.

"Eeyup."

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Fluttershy landed at Rainbow Dash's doorstep about the same time Applejack and Big Mac were getting to the hospital. Panting and out of breath, adrenaline rushing, she started banging on Rainbow's door, yelling for her. Or, at least in her mind she was. Rainbow Dash was just inside of her cloud home and heard a gentle knocking at the door and a muffled voice from outside. She trotted over to the door and opened it a crack. Looking out and seeing the timid mare in such a state she quickly opened the door. "Hey Shy, what's wrong?"

"Oh Rainbow Dash, I think there might be a problem. Applejack just took somepony to the hospital and they looked pretty bad... I think he may have gotten caught in last night's storm!"

Despite the sky-blue mare brimming with confidence, all the color drained from her face and her eyes got enormous when Fluttershy mentioned the storm. Besides the fact that as weather manager this was going to drown her in paperwork, the fact that she may have hurt somepony by her negligence was the worst thing she could imagine. Rainbow slammed the door behind her and took off for the hospital like a vampire fruit bat headed for Sweet Apple Acres after a long winter.

Fluttershy took off after her, albeit at a much slower pace. "Oh dear... I hope the poor thing is ok" she said sheepishly to herself.

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Rainbow Dash landed outside Ponyville Hospital and trotted into the waiting room, finding the burnt orange mare and gigantic red stallion waiting, their heads held low. "H-hey guys," said Rainbow Dash in a slightly ragged and subdued voice, still out of breath from her flight. "Any word how he's doing?"

"Nah sugarcube, Nurse Redheart ain't been back to see us yet. He looked pretty bad when ah brought him in though," Applejack replied sullenly to her best friend. An image of burned fur and that misshapen wing crept into her head.

"Which weather pony was it," Rainbow asked, trying to figure out how to break the news to one of her friend's family members.

"Uh... Rainbow? Ah have no idea who it was... Ah never seen him before in my life."

For the second time that day Rainbow's eyes grew wide. If it wasn't one of her weather ponies then who was the stranger? Fluttershy walked in, but before she could speak the doors opened and Nurse Redheart came out to speak with the ponies.

"The good news is he seems to be stable, unfortunately he's still not awake. If you want I can let someone stay with him until he wakes up, but I'd rather not crowd the room."

Applejack looked at Big Mac and before she could even speak he knew what was on her mind. "Eeyup."

"Ah appreciate it Mac, tell Granny ahll be back soon."

"Eeyup." Big Mac grabbed the cart and started to head back to the farm to finish clearing up the damage, as Applejack trotted back to the pony's room.

Rainbow Dash, the look of responsibility still painted on her face, asked Fluttershy to go tell Twilight what happened before slowly walking back to the room. The guilt she was feeling almost seemed to actually weigh her down.

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Six hours later, 18 hours after the storm began

Rainbow Dash lay curled in a ball on a chair in the corner, Applejack was resting sitting on the opposite side of the bed, her head having fallen onto the mattress. Both ponies were out cold.

A thin white sheet covered the storm gray stallion, his dark blue and frosted mane now cleaned up and falling gently over his forehead.

A slight noise woke Applejack from her slumber. A breeze from the open window was slowly filling the room with cool air. The sheet covering the pony wavered slightly. Applejack wrinkled her nose, "ahh shoot, mah mind must be playin tricks on me." Laying her head back down she heard it again. This time when she opened her eyes she was sure the sheet shifted slightly. The stallion was moving.

Slowly, weakly, but moving none the less.

"Psst, Rainbow. Hey, Rainbow!" Applejack tried to get the cyan mare's attention from across the room.... "ahh shoot, tha' stubborn pony wouldn't wake up if Pinkie set off her party cannon right next ta her." Applejack sat straight up, keeping an eye on the pony, just as his eyes started to flicker. As the pony opened his eyes she could see that they were a darker blue than any ocean she'd ever seen, and more brilliant than any diamond. A true royal blue that stood out even against his mane.

"Ugh...." the stallion grunted in frustration. His head was pounding, his ears were ringing, and his mouth tasted like he'd been munching on bits. But when his eyes opened he forgot all about the pain when he saw the jade green eyes of a brilliant orange mare with a blonde mane and cowpony hat staring at him. "Uhh... hi?" He said weakly. "Ummm... where am I?"

"Shhh, ya just hush now sugarcube, you're in the hospital. Y'all look like ya had a heck of a ride..."