The next day had arrived following your big clean up of the Golden Oak library. The day went by incredibly slowly, but the process was sped up thanks to Twilight and Spike's help.

Before long, you had the whole place cleaned, and you were ready to call it a day.

For some reason, you couldn't get to sleep. It took well over an hour until you eventually drifted away into your own subconsciousness.

Thankfully, your dreams didn't seem to have too much of an effect on you anymore. They still happened, but they no longer startled you like they used too.

You were awoken once again by the warm sunlight heating up your dark coloured coat. Since your coat was a dark grey colour, it absorbed light and heat much more easily than other colours, meaning you were much more susceptible to heat.

You got out of bed and showered as quickly as possible, before rushing down the stairs to greet Twilight and Spike.

"Hey, guys!" you said, quickly, as you rushed passed them both. Twilight was sat on her desk, and surprisingly Spike was beside her, helping.

"Buy, guys!" you added, swinging the door open. They didn't even get to turn around to look at you before you were already out of the house.

You didn't get far however, as Twilight dragged you back inside with her unicorn magic.

"What's got you in such a hurry?" Twilight asked, smirking, as she turned around in her chair.

"I'm going to see Rainbow." you said, trying to escape the grasp of her magic.

"Don't you need to work today?" Spike asked, seeming a little skeptical.

You remembered one day when you had finished your work, Granny Smith had told you that you were allowed a Friday off once every season. What better time to use it than now?

"Nah! I get one Friday off every season!" you explained, still clawing to escape Twilight's magical grasp.

"Ok, then!" she said, as she released her magic sending you flying out of the open door. You understood why she was concerned about you heading out so quickly, as she knew about your past. If somepony from Equestria showed up on Earth, you'd probably do the same thing too.

"Have fun!" you heard Spike call after you as you took flight. Usually, that sudden release of magic would have sent you falling over, but thanks to your wings, you were saved from the embarrassment.

You quickly flew over the town of Ponyville over to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, where Fluttershy's house resided.

You had never fully appreciated the surroundings of the small cottage, not even when you were here for the entire day. The small stream that flowed past her front garden gave the place a magical atmosphere, even more so than the rest of Ponyville.

The dark alpine trees of the Everfree Forest cast a great shadowy border along the side of her garden, contrasting the light appearance of the rest of her house. The grand trees of the dark forest dwarfed the small cottage, but in a way, it only amplified the magical atmosphere.

Finally done with you admiration of the surroundings, you gently landed on the grey brick bridge and walked up to the front door. You had mostly been flying everywhere for the duration of yesterday, so it felt nice to stretch your legs with an uphill walk.

Upon reaching the door, you gave it a few gentle knocks, much like you did yesterday. Before long, Fluttershy answered, seeming a lot more cheerful than yesterday.

"O-Oh, Hi, Storm!" she said, smiling sweetly as she took a few steps out of the doorway, "Are you here for Rainbow Dash?"

You nodded, happily, before she moved back into her house to allow you entry.

"I've gotta get go into Ponyville to get some things for my animals, so could you stay with Rainbow please?" Fluttershy asked, closing the door behind you, "I mean- If you wouldn't mind..."

"I don't mind. That's why I came here!" you replied with a smile, causing her nervousness to dissolve.

"Thank you. Rainbow's upstairs still." she said, gesturing towards the staircase once again.

"Is she any better?" you asked, deciding it best to know whether she was feeling any different before rushing into her room.

"I think so, yes. She's still not feeling like her usual self though..." Fluttershy explained, sadly, as she picked up a bag from a drawer as slung it over her wing.

You didn't respond, but instead looked up the staircase with a somewhat worried look on your face. As far as you knew, ponies getting illnesses from other species was a new thing in Equestria. You had no idea what this illness could be doing to her, whether it seemed harmless or not.

"I'll be back soon, ok?" Fluttershy said to you, sternly. You didn't question her sudden boldness, as you knew she was quite serious when it came to other's safety. Especially her friends.

"Ok, see you soon!" you said, attempting to seem as happy as possible. Fluttershy smiled back, before walking out the door. You were almost expecting the door to slam, as Twilight tended to do so with her magic, but instead it quietly crept shut, barely making a sound.

Now that Fluttershy had left, you diverted your attention back to why you came here.

Rainbow Dash.

You walked up the stairs slowly, anticipating the same mare that was drained of her colour last time you were here. You couldn't help but remember how the rainbow colouring of her mane seemed almost dull. It was as if her mane had been put through a black and white printer.

You reached the door, and cautiously opened it, but what you saw surprised you. Rainbow was sleeping, just like you had expected her to be, but the colour had been regained.
The dull grey shading of her mane and coat had been replaced with their usual vibrant colours. Her snoring and breathing seemed far less raspy than it was last time, now seeming consistent.

You walked into her room, attempting not to wake the sleeping Pegasus, and sat down in a chair across the room from her bed.

You sat their for a few minutes, but nothing really happened. Rainbow continued to snore, with the occasional movement of her legs under the covers.

The thought of how creepy you would look if she suddenly woke up hit you, so you decided you should probably find something to do.

Cautiously, you got up from the wooden chair, and began slowly moving around the room, looking for something to do. The room seemed pretty baron. There was barely anything to do, not even a book lying around that you could read.

To be honest, you weren't really surprised. It was a guest room after all.

This was exactly how your room in the Golden Oak Library looked before you took it over.

Finally, after searching the whole room, you turned your attention towards the wardrobe that had been built in to the wall of the house.

You carefully crept over to it, and placed one hoof on the doorknob. Slowly, you turned the handle, and a faint click emerged from inside.

Before you could open it and relieve your boredom, however, you heard movement behind you. That movement was then followed by a yawn. Which was then followed by a-

"Oh, hey!" you heard from behind you. You turned around, slightly disappointed with yourself for waking her up.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" you asked. Rainbow was sat up and was seemingly readjusting her pillow. It was good to see she could sit up without support.

"Nah. This is when I usually wake up." she said, before slamming her head back down into the pillow.

You had a feeling she was just saying that to make you feel better, but you weren't gonna say anything. Honestly, you appreciated it.

"So are you feeling any better?" you asked, walking over to her bedside. She was staring blackly at the roof, but turned to look at you as soon as you approached.

"You bet I am! No dumb illness is gonna keep me down!" she bragged, before leaping into the air and flapping her wings.

A look of pain dawned on her face, before she crashed back down onto the bed with a grunt of discomfort.

"Woah! Are you ok?" you asked, your voice full of concern. Rainbow reached a hoof around to her wings, and rubbed them gently.

"Yeah, sorry. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't fly yet." she admitted, attempting to get a look at her aching wings.

Despite seeing how upset she was over temporarily losing her ability to fly, you saw this as an opportunity to lighten the mood.

"Welcome to the club. I couldn't fly for a full week when I first got here!" you said, jokingly. She didn't seem to see the joke however.

"What do you mean when you first got here?" she questioned, looking at you with squinted eyes.

"When I first got to Ponyville, I mean." you added, trying to stay calm whilst correcting yourself. Even now, you still tended to forget that you were still trying to hide your past.

"Well, yeah, but I'm Rainbow Dash!" she boasted, looking back up to the ceiling as if deep in though, "I have to fly!"

You could see how much this was affecting her, so decided it would be best to try comforting her. You pulled the chair you were previously sat on over to the bed, and sat down.

"You know you're gonna be able to fly again soon, right?" you reminded her.

"I know, but it's sooooo boring!" she said with a sigh, her forelegs stretching out above her head. Her stretched out legs fell down onto the bed beside her head, as she continued to stare blankly at the roof.

"If you're bored I could go get a book from the library or something." you said, wanting to help in any way you could. You remembered there being quite a few Daring Do books being left on the shelf.

Rainbow didn't answer, but instead sat up, her gaze looking directly out of the window.

"I've got a way cooler idea..." she said, not moving her eyes from the window. You traced her gaze to see what she was looking at, only to be met with the dark trees of the Everfree Forest.

She turned to you, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Let's go on an adventure! Just like Daring Do!" she exclaimed, moving out of the covers cautiously. You looked at her blankly, not knowing wether to agree with her or be concerned.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, you can't fly!" you reminded her, knowing the dangers of the Everfree Forest. Despite her illness, she seemed to be walking fine. Maybe it was just her flying that was affected now.

"What're you, chicken?" she asked, turning her head towards you. She had already opened the guest room's door, not waiting for your answer.

That same mischievous grin was plastered on her face, taunting you. That alone was enough to convince you.

"Fine. Let's go." you muttered, shaking your head slightly as you placed a hoof on your face.

You could hear an excited 'yesssss' leave the cyan pony's mouth as you finally surrendered to her idea. Even though she was ill, she seemed strangely confident in herself.

As you were walking through Fluttershy's quaint cottage, you thought you could see Rainbow's smile change. Out of the corner of your eye, it looked like her expression changed from one of mischief, to one of happiness.

Nevertheless, it felt strange actually walking with Rainbow for once. Typically she tended to hover beside you rather than walk with you.

As you approached the ominous trees of the Everfree Forest, Rainbow Dash's face twisted into one of anxiety. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the huge dark green trees that were towering over her. She clearly wasn't used to being grounded like this.

"Ya know, Storm? That book sounds like it'd be a lot of fun!" she said, nervously. She had begun to turn around, before you unintentionally stopped her.

"And i'm the chicken..." you joked, in an attempt to get back at her. You had turned around to follow her, relieved that her mind had been changed, when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

"Yeah, you are!" she exclaimed, turning back around towards the forest, "And I'm gonna show you just how not scared I am!"

Crap, you though, as you realised you had just destroyed the one chance you had of not going into the forest.

Rainbow marched towards the forest, a look of determination on her face. Without saying a word, she disappeared through the shadowy layer of bushes.

"Wait up!" you called, following through the same darkened bushes that Rainbow had previously passed through.

Emerging on the other side, the forest seemingly became a lot less dense. The canopy still prevented the majority of sunlight from entering, however, shrouding the entire forest with darkness.

"So, you got any ideas of where to go?" you asked, immediately noticing the lack of a path. Rainbow turned her head in your direction, a smirk on her face.

"Nope!" she said, faintly laughing to herself.

She turned back around and began walking deeper into the forest, ducking under rogue branches and brambles. Despite being aware of the threats that lurked within these trees, you followed her. You knew that if anything did attack, she wouldn't be able to fly away from it.

A few minutes passed, and nothing adventure worthy had happened. You could even hear Rainbow groan with boredom at the lack of excitement.

"This is a lot less fun than I thought." Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. You where about to suggest going back, when you noticed something not far to your left.

A small, blue orb of flickering light had appeared, not far ahead of you. It was floating, flickering as if trying to communicate with you.

"Rainbow, what's that?" you asked, confused as to what the flickering ball was trying to do.

"I dunno, but it looks pretty boring." Rainbow said, already starting to journey into the other direction. You saw that she was leaving you behind, but you didn't care. Something about this flickering orb compelled you to follow.

And follow you did. You slowly walked towards the orb, but before you could reach it, it began moving away at a speed equal to you.

"Hey, Storm! Where are you going?" Rainbow asked, worriedly. She sprinted over to you, but you didn't take your eyes of the orb.

"I'm following it." you whispered, trying not to disturb anything the orb might be doing.

"It's something to do, I guess." she replied, with a sigh. The flightless Pegasus begun walking beside you, also fixing her attention on the orb.

Fixed within your trance, neither you or Rainbow noticed the flickering light lead you into a circle of trees. Brambles and thorns that would surely cut you to shreds formed a wall around you, meaning the only way to leave was to go back the way you came.

Suddenly, the orb vanished, exploding into a puff of blue dust.

"Where'd it go?" Rainbow asked, seemingly disappointed.

Before you could respond, your thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumbling. Not far from you, a mound of grey rocks was rising into the air, sending lumps of earth and tree roots flying in all directions.

Much to your disbelief, the rocks had taken the form of a human, with hands and feet.

"What is that?" you asked, backing away from the stone creature.

"It's a golem," Rainbow said, also backing up. You could hear her gulp faintly, before she began sprinting in the opposite direction.

"Run!" she commanded.

You didn't need to be told twice. You turned away from the creature and began sprinting as fast as you could, trying not to pay attention to the terrifying thumps of its footsteps.

As the two of you neared the one exit from the thorny encirclement you had been trapped in, the golem lifted a separate boulder from the ground, and hurled it through the air.

To you surprise, however, it went straight over both of you, and instead landed in the one place you didn't want it too.

It had blocked your one escaped.

"Oh, shit!" you shouted, as the boulder impacted the ground.

"Storm! Reckon you can take him?" Rainbow asked, worriedly, looking around for an alternate way of escape. Usually she probably would've attempted to take the beast down herself, but without her wings, she wasn't confident enough in herself to even try.

You didn't answer. Instead, you surveyed the area in search for a way of defeating the creature.

You didn't find any.

You saw only one way out of this situation. You just hoped you were strong enough to pull it off.

"Nope. But I have a plan!" you said, beginning to hover above the floor.

"Are you seriously about to leave me here?" Rainbow asked, dodging out of the way of an incoming boulder. You had to act fast; she couldn't keep dodging forever.

"I wouldn't even consider it." you said in response as you hovered above her. Your forelegs wrapped around Rainbow Dash, holding her by her stomach.

"Woah!" Rainbow cried as you lifted her from the ground. To your surprise, she was quite light.

The golem roared with fury as a third boulder came soaring in your direction.

"Storm! Look out!"

Mere seconds before the boulder would have knocked you from the sky, you moved to the side, barely evading it. Finally getting used to the added weight of Rainbow Dash, you saw no reason to stick around.

You flew upwards towards the dark layer of canopy above you, listening to Rainbow's muffled screams and the golem's roars of rage.

Before long, you broke through the layer of leaves. The sunlight burnt your eyes slightly, as you had been submerged in darkness for quite a while. The flight back to Fluttershy's was gonna take at least 5 minutes, as you couldn't exactly go fast with Rainbow bound to your chest.

While she was more than used to being in the air, she wasn't used to not having control of her flight. She was scared of you dropping her, as she knew full well that she wouldn't be able to save herself if you did.

Thankfully, her fears were short lived, as before long you dropped her down onto the ground outside Fluttershy's front door.

"I'm..." Rainbow began, looking down to the ground, "I'm sorry for... that."

She nodded her head in the direction of the Everfree Forest, and you knew exactly what she meant.

"Well I'd say we learned a very valuable lesson today..." you said, half jokingly.

"What, that you're cool as hell?" she said, with a smirk. As much as you tried to resist it, you felt yourself blush slightly as she said that.

You attempted to begin a new sentence, yet every attempt ended after the first word. Upon hearing Rainbow laugh, you finally decided to stop.

"I feel pretty tired after all that. Let's go inside!" Rainbow said, opening the front door.

"Yeah, and let's hope Fluttershy's not back yet!" you added, causing her to laugh again. You had to admit, the fly back here had made you feel pretty tuckered out too.

The two of you went back to the guest room, and Rainbow groggily slid into the covers of her bed. She placed a hoof under her head, smiled at you warmly, and closed her eyes.

You took a seat in your usual chair beside her bed, trying not to disturb the slumbering Pegasus. Even though she seemed well today, she was still ill.

After a few minutes of silence, the light snores of Rainbow Dash had begun to echo around the room. You smiled to herself as you watched her sleeping, before feeling yourself start to succumb to the dream realm.

"Storm?" you heard a quite voice say. At first you thought it was a dream, before you realised you weren't dreaming. You weren't even asleep.

Your eyes shot open and you jumped off of your chair, hoping you didn't wake Rainbow Dash. You quickly left the guest room and rushed down the stairs, wondering who had called you.

It was Fluttershy. Of course it was. You were literally in her house.

"O-oh, hey, Fluttershy!" you said, somewhat surprised at yourself for forgetting you were in her house.

"Hi, Storm! How's Rainbow doing?" she asked in a soft, caring voice. She placed a bag of shopping down on the table, a few carrots rolling out of it.

"Oh, yeah, she's fine! Nothing dangerous happened!" you explained nervously, rubbing the back of your head. You were trying your best not to make eye contact with her, "she's actually sleeping now!"

"Then I probably shouldn't disturb her..." she said, seemingly to herself, as she moved a few of the carrots onto a cutting board for later use.

You didn't feel right being here after what had just happened in the Everfree Forest, so you wanted to get out as soon as possible.

"I'm gonna go now! I've got... Um..." You hurriedly thought of an excuse that you could use to get out of this situation, "Work! Yeah, I've got work!"

Immediately you turned towards the door, your hoofs naturally moving in its direction.

"Oh, ok! Well, thank you for staying here, Storm!" Fluttershy thanked you.

"It's no problem!" you replied, quickly, as you swung the door open. She didn't have time to say anything back, as you where already long gone.

You did plan on going back tomorrow, but for now you were just glad that Fluttershy didn't know about your 'adventure' in the Everfree Forest.

You sighed with relief as you glided through the air. It had been a while since you had felt relaxed, but you were glad you could feel it now.

You found the nearest cloud, and sat on it, embracing its cushiony surface. It felt like a bed, but far more bouncy.

Your head and chest lowered down, and your legs sprawled out to your sides. You had never tried resting on a cloud before, but you understood why Rainbow loved it so much. The way the sun shone down on you and warmed your fur was a relaxing feeling like no other.

It was almost relaxing enough that you considered staying there for a whole day...

"I've got nothing else to do," you said to yourself as you shuffled into a more comfortable position, "Why not?"

Author's Notes:

Well that was a long chapter. The longest chapter yet, actually!

I haven't had that much action in a chapter since the Prologue. I don't have much experience when it comes to writing fast-paced physical fight scenes like that, but I'm hoping to get better at them.

Thankfully, Rainbow will not be flightless in the next chapter! I wanted to use her illness as a way to see how Rainbow would handle herself if she was an Earth pony, and it ended up pretty interesting.

As always, I hope you liked reading it