Under the Moon
Chapter 1

RAINBOW DASH'S POV

I was flying when I opened my eyes.

I could feel the wind as it flowed through my feathers, ringing in my ears.

Night had only just started to fall, giving me a perfect view of the stars beginning to form above me. The air was warm as I flung myself higher into the sky, picking up speed as I spun through it. My laughter fell behind me as I pulled into full speed, leaping higher into the air. The stars were almost at my reach by now. All I wanted to do was reach out a hoof and grab for the nearest star as the night swirled around me.

Had I been paying attention, I would have realised that that goal was impossible, but for some reason I carried on. My limbs were beginning to ache as I pumped my wings harder than I had ever tried. The wind ripped at my coat as the stars neared closer and closer.

I let out an involuntary yelp as the wind became cooler against my skin. Soon it felt as though tiny shards of glass were cutting into me. My skin burned but still I flew harder. I wanted the stars, the freedom of night.

The darkness was nothing compared to the unbearable brightness of the stars that suddenly fell so close. I pulled my head away as the impossible light burned my eyes.

I let out another cry of pain as the icy winds finally broke me apart.

My wings locked up as the pain consumed me.

Then I was falling. Nose diving into oblivion. I didn’t feel the pressure of the air, didn’t hear the ringing in my ears. There was only pain.

I sat bolt upright.

My breath came out in hard hurried breaths as my eyes darted around me. I blinked, rubbed at my eyes and blinked again. There was something wrong. All I could see were blurred swirls and patches of assorted colours.

I panicked.

I pulled my forelegs out in front of me and reached out for something to touch. My hind legs were encased in a cocoon of cotton sheets and it took all of my waning strength to kick them away. My wings flapped helplessly at my back as I tried to push myself into the air.

I pulled myself maybe an inch into the air before something yanked hard at my foreleg and pulled me back into the soft cushioning at my back, it must have been a mattress, but it was definitely not my mattress. I’d know my bed from anywhere; I was very familiar with it after all. But then again, this bedding felt familiar too. The scratchy kind of material that you can only get used to when you spend as much time at the hospital as I do.

I frowned. Had I hurt myself? I shifted around to make sure. Nope, I didn’t feel any pain anymore; just the steel coolness of whatever had yanked me down from my attempted escape.

Suddenly, something to my right moved. To me it was just a blurry mass of brown and beige and a splodge of orange from somewhere behind. The orange splodge moved closer to me. I felt the breath hitch in my throat. Even though I had the vaguest idea that I knew where I was, the silence of the orange splodge sent shivers down my spine.

It stopped in its tracks after a few seconds and then… it let out a heavy sigh.

I blinked again and the orange splodge became clearer, more pony-shaped, broad shoulders, taller than me. I guessed it was a stallion, but the shape was still too unclear to make it out for sure.

“That’s amazing.”

Deep voice, yup, he was a guy. I didn’t understand what he was talking about though. I’d been in this situation before, banged up my wing, broken my leg, it happened all the time. However, not once had anyone ever told me that whatever was wrong with me was, amazing.

I wanted to snap back at the stallion, but the strangled squeak that came out instead said otherwise. The stallion began to chuckle and I did all in my power to stay down under his humour of the situation. I was blinded for Celestia’s sake, that wasn’t a ‘laughing matter.’ I blinked a few more times and rubbed angrily at my face. This was just getting pathetic. Why in the hay couldn’t I see?

“Rainbow Dash, are you with me?”

Now I thought about it, the voice did sound familiar. I couldn’t place a face to the voice… literally, but it didn’t stop me from trying.

“Wh-” I stopped myself to clear my throat, only to gag on the awful taste in my mouth. It was almost metallic. I swallowed before carrying on, “Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me?” The voice sounded worried.

“I can’t see you.” I tried spelling it out for him, hoping he’d figure it out. Seriously, if he was my Doctor, he wasn’t a very good one.

“Ah.” He started chuckling again. My jaw tensed instinctively. If there was one thing I hated, it was when ponies laughed at me when I was down. It was the reason I protected Fluttershy’s honour all those years back. She had to be protected from jerks like that.

“Your eyes will adjust… you just need time.”

“For what? What happened?” My wings were flapping at my back again more or less out of my control. I was nervous and when I was nervous I usually flew around to blow it off, but I couldn’t very well fly when there was something on my arm stopping me from doing it! I tugged my foreleg again and heard a metallic clanking following my movements. “What’s on my arm?” I practically yelled.

“It’s for your own protection, please, try to calm down.” The stallion had moved away slightly. He was afraid. I smiled, good.

“You… you don’t remember what happened?”

I shook my head, confused. Was he talking about whatever stunt I’d failed to do? It hadn’t been the first time this had happened. I was prone to getting a little disorientated after crashing into something, especially head first.

I don’t think I was meant to, but I heard him mutter something under his breath.

Just like the others.

It was followed by the sound of a quill scratching against paper.

I froze up.

If I’d done a stunt wrong it was my responsibility. If somepony had gotten caught in the crossfire… I swallowed rapidly and rubbed at my face a little harder. No, no, no. I couldn’t have hurt somepony, could I?

Rarity, Pinkie… Fluttershy? Celestia knows how many times I had managed to bump into her on one of my experimental flight tests. “D-Did somepony else get-?” I knew my voice was trembling, but I had to know.

The Doctor stumbled over his words, “Well… we’re calling it, um, post-traumatic stress at the moment. We… we… we’re not entirely sure ourselves what happened exactly…”

“What do you mean?” I asked icily. If anypony was to know what happened, it’d be the Doctors in charge, “How did you find me… us?”

“Rainbow Dash, please…”

“NO!” I yelled, making myself jump in the process, “Listen to me! What happened? Why am I here? Who did I hurt?”

“You?” The Doctor asked. He sounded more worried than ever, “R-Rainbow Dash… what was the last thing you remember?”

That caught me off guard. I straightened instinctively as I thought back. “I uh…” I rubbed the back of my mane with my hoof awkwardly, “I guess… I remember being on a picnic… with my friends.”

“Do you remember the date?”

I shook my head.

The Doctor’s voice hitched, “Do you remember the time of year it was?”

“I uh… S-Summer?” His tone was starting to scare me, like he was angry that I couldn’t remember… whatever it was that I couldn’t remember.

There was a brief silence between us and throughout it I was sure I was about to have a full out panic attack.

No. I had to be strong; I had to be brave. It was all I had left.

Then, he cleared his throat.

“Rainbow Dash… I… I assumed that you would have remembered, considering-” he cut himself off and cleared his throat again, “A lot has happened in the past few months…”

“Months?” I hissed. I could feel my breathing pick up again.

“I’m afraid… I’m afraid Rainbow Dash… that your last memory may have been from almost a year ago…”

“A…” I was starting to feel dizzy. If my vision had been any better I would’ve bet things would have been swimming before my eyes. “A year?”

“My… I didn’t realise… I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash…”

There was movement again in the corner of my vision. By now I realised it must have been the door into my room.

“Doctor Stable?” A mare’s voice… a voice I recognised. I felt a wary smile spread on my face.

“N-Nurse Redheart?” I asked, staring at the pink and white outline of a pony. I glanced back at the orange stallion. Doctor Stable. Of course, he had treated me plenty of times. Why couldn’t I remember his name?

If Nurse Redheart had heard me, she didn’t act as if she had, she just spoke faster, “Subject A is awake.”

I frowned, “Subject A?” I felt a warmth rise in my chest, “You’ve labelled us?”

Doctor Stable was quick to diffuse the situation, “Ah… yes, well… Rainbow Dash, you’ve been under a lot of stress. I promise you, if you try and get some rest, I’ll come back later, okay?”

“But-” It was too late. He was already following Nurse Redheart out of the door. “WAIT!” I yelled, only to cough on the taste in my mouth again. For Celestia’s sake, what was wrong with me? What had happened? Why was I here?

I had tried to do what Doctor Stable had said, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get back to sleep. I guessed it was probably because I’d been sleeping for… well, I wasn’t sure how long. I just had to assume it had been a long time.
I just lay on my side and tried to focus on the grey blur that was the silver cuff around my hoof. After a while, the cuff took a clearer shape and not much longer after that, I was able to make out the rest of the room. What had been outlines became shapes and what had been shapes became actual objects.

“Yes!” I whispered to myself, hoof bumping the air silently as I lifted myself back up. The room was one that I was very much used to. A private hospital room with dull blue walls and white tiled floors. It wasn’t furnished with much, just a little bedside table with a candle lamp and a mirror on the wall to my left. There was also a machine near the door. It looked like it had been unhooked a while ago, but the more I focused on it, the more I began to worry. The machine was a heart monitor; I’d seen them before about the hospital. But… heart monitors weren’t used on many patients, just the ones who were seriously-

I shook my head. There was no way it had been used on me. Whatever had been wrong with me… it was fine. I was okay.

Wasn’t I?

Out of curiosity and an inkling of fear, I started checking myself over.

I frowned as I looked closer at my coat. I had a hospital gown on, but my forelegs were still visible. My normal cyan colour was… duller. I was sure of it. It might have just been my eyes but I couldn’t be sure. I frowned and flexed my wings. At least they felt fine. The rest of my body felt alright too. Nothing hurt, nothing ached. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what had been wrong with me in the first place.

Then, there was the cuff. I wiggled my arm around just to hear the chains clank. It was long enough for me to sit up, but anything more than that and I’d have to drag the whole bed with me. I briefly considered that as a possibility before brushing it off. There were bigger worries on my mind than not being able to move.

As I lay in the scratchy hospital bed I tried to run over the last memory I had and every time it was the same one. We’d been on a picnic in the park, everypony was there. I’d been playing catch with Pinkie and Spike, Twilight had been reading from the corner of my eye, Applejack was playing with Winona and Fluttershy and Rarity had been chatting calmly side by side, probably discussing their next spa trip. I wrinkled my nose at the thought.

But, wait… there had been something else.

“C’mon Rainbow Dash, you’re throwing like a girl!” Pinkie giggled, beckoning me to throw harder with a challenging wave of her hooves.

It had been a warm summer afternoon. There was a decent breeze making its way through the park, ruffling our manes and making the air smell of daisies.

I rolled my eyes and jumped into the air, “You asked for it!” I growled playfully. I threw my foreleg back with the ball balancing dangerously on my hoof and gathered as much momentum as possible. I leant back along with it, positioning Pinkie directly in my sights; I was just about to lob it at her when-

*BURP*

A green flame streaked through the space between me and Pinkie. I dropped the ball behind me, almost toppling over with it, “Damn it Spike, that was gonna be my most super cool throw yet!”

“S-Sorry.” Spike said apologetically as he gathered up the scroll that had fallen at his feet. He scanned the text quickly before his green eyes widened in surprise, “Uh, Twilight, I think you might wanna read this.”

“Not just now, Spike, I’m studying.” Twilight said, clearly not interested. I rolled my eyes, sometimes Twilight took that little dragon for granted.

“B-But Twilight…”

“Fine.” Twilight magically closed her book and lifted herself onto all fours. The scroll in Spike’s arms lit up with a pink glow and gently floated out of his grasp and in front of Twilight’s line of sight.

Out of natural curiosity, I crept over behind Twilight’s shoulder. I knew Pinkie had done the same. Applejack was trotting towards her and Fluttershy and Rarity were looking expectantly in our direction.

Twilight read through the letter, then read through it again. A frown formed on her face as she rolled the scroll back up. I glanced towards Pinkie but her shrug proved she hadn’t had time to read the letter either. Twilight sighed, “Well girls, it looks like-”

“R-Rainbow Dash?”

My eyes snapped open to meet the gaze of one nervous looking Nurse Redheart. She had her eyes positioned downward as if for whatever reason she wasn’t able to meet my gaze.

I blinked in surprise, “Yes?”

She was trembling slightly as she looked up to meet my eyes only to look away again. She trotted over to my bedside; every step seemed to have been rehearsed. She had a saddle bag on her back, something a lot of the nurses wore when they were dealing with medications. I felt my wings bristle with the sudden fear that coursed through me. Was she going to inject me with something? I might have played it cool in the eyes of danger, but one thing I couldn’t stand was needles. Those things just creeped me out.

Carefully, Nurse Redheart twisted her neck towards the saddlebag and gently pushed her snout into it. She rustled about for a few moments before producing a small silver key between her teeth. Her eyes remained downcast as she placed the key into my cuff and carefully unlocked it.

“Now you’re awake, you won’t be needing the restraints any more.” She said quietly as she placed the key and cuffs into her saddle bag.

I raised an eyebrow, “Am I free to go?”

She jumped at my question and quickly shook her head, “No.”

I frowned. In the short moments she had been in the room, I noticed that her pink mane was unruly and unkempt, her coat had lost its sheen and her bright blue eyes now had dark bags under them. She was jumpy around me, something she’d never been in the past. We had spent time together in the hospital, I knew her. The Nurse Redheart that stood in front of me seemed like nothing but a stranger.

“Why not?” I asked.

“I-It’s not my place to say.” And with that she turned around and galloped out the door, closing it on her way out.

This was just getting weirder and weirder.

Still, I wasn’t going to waste my opportunity to move.

As soon as I was sure Nurse Redheart was gone, I quickly got to my hooves. I flapped my wings excitedly, dove off the front of my bed and gently glided onto the floor. The freedom was amazing. I was practically shaking with an energy that was just begging to be used.

It would have to wait. First thing was first… I wanted to put the mirror to good use. After all, there had to be something wrong with me.

I trotted over to the mirror, carefully making sure I was just out of its sight. I didn’t want to catch a glimpse too soon, especially considering I didn’t know what I was going to see.

I had to at least have a battle scar, after all. I smiled at the thought. A scar would give me heaps more stories I could tell Scoots, not all of them had to be truthful but I knew they’d all be awesome. I was the master of story-telling, all the fillies and colts would gather ‘round to hear some of the tales I could cook up.

Still, I had a niggling feeling in my stomach that what I saw might not be as awesome as a scar.

The way that Nurse Redheart had galloped out the room… the way that Doctor Stable had called me amazing. There was something that was being kept from me and I was determined to find out just what it was.

That was what gave me the strength to side step in front of the mirror.

What I saw made my jaw drop practically all the way to the ground.

First of all, no, I wasn’t imagining it, my coat was definitely duller, but that was nothing compared to the rest of my appearance.

I didn’t have any scars, not even a small one across my cheek or over my eye. Although my eyes weren’t exactly normal either.

My eyes weren’t so much a bright rose as they were a dull cloudy grey. In fact, the grey seemed to spread all over my eye, not just the iris. It was like a rain cloud had found its way inside of me.

As well as that, the stripe of my rainbow mane that had once been orange was now as grey as my eyes. I moved my head from one side to the other and watched my tangled mane mingle with the new colour. Huh. Not what I expected at all.

“It’s no battle scar,” I said slowly, feeling a grin spread on my face, “but it’s still pretty awesome!” I pressed a hoof against my reflection and took a few steps back, admiring the new sheen to my coat, “I think I could get used to this.” I admitted to myself, tilting my head to one side to admire my new eye colour one last time, “I wonder what happened…”

That’s when something in my reflection caught my eye. I lifted my hind leg and turned to glance at it. Yup, not my imagination, there was a little grey paper band around my hoof. I carefully picked at it with my teeth, but it wouldn’t budge. Pretty sturdy for paper.

I sighed and glanced towards the door. Nurse Redheart had left in such a hurry; I doubted she’d locked my door like Doctor Stable had done when he had left. Whatever was going on, he didn’t want me knowing just yet.

But that had never stopped me before.

I flew over to the door and gave the handle a gentle tug. I was rewarded with it cleanly opening into a thin lime green hallway. I winced at the bright colours, but moved into it anyway. There wasn’t much in the hallway, in fact, I doubted more than two ponies could walk through it side by side. Still, there were a bunch of doors dotted across the sickly coloured walls.

“Other patients?” I wondered aloud. My stomach knotted with the thought of it.

Just like the others.

There were others that had been injured like me. Whatever had happened, maybe I’d be able to remember more if I saw the others that had been in this accident or whatever it was that had happened.

I tucked my wings to my sides, deciding flying in such a small space wasn’t the best idea and set off towards the first door. There was a small glass window just above the handle like with my room. I lifted myself onto my hind legs and leant my weight against the door. The room was just like mine except the bed was on the other side of the room. The sheets were the same sickly green, but there was a definite pony-shaped form underneath. I frowned and tilted my head, trying to get a better look. The mass of green sheets shifted for a moment and a delicate piece of pink mane poked through.

My heart tightened.

“Fluttershy?”

She didn’t respond. I didn’t expect her to, but I still felt put out by the silence. She was sleeping; I could see the sheets crease every time she took a breath. I let out a small sigh. If whatever had happened had concerned Fluttershy then was it possible that… that…

My legs carried me forwards without my better intentions. I galloped to the next door to see another mass of sheets, except this time the entire head was exposed. A beautiful alabaster coat with delicate purple curls, still perfectly preserved despite her sleeping state.

“R-Rarity.” I had barely muttered it before I was off to the next door, this time I saw a boisterous puffy pink tale in the spot where a head should be.

Pinkie Pie!

I began to move forwards again, only to realise that the next door was open. A raised angered voice with a southern twang made itself known from beyond.

“Ya’ll better stop lyin’ to me or Ah swear Ah won’t be afraid to buck ya'll into the next room!”

Applejack!

I galloped forwards, sliding to a halt just before I met the door. I took a gulp of air before carefully peeking inside the open door.

Doctor Stable was standing there solemnly with a shaking Nurse Redheart at his side. Applejack was missing her hat; her blonde mane was covering most of her face as she snarled powerfully at the Doctor in question. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud of her reaction. Just like me, she wanted the facts and nothing else.

But there was something else… all four of her hooves had been tightly secured with silver cuffs and even though I couldn’t see it, I was pretty sure there was something around her midsection as well.

I snorted. For our own protection? What a load of horse crap.

Suddenly, I realised what I’d done. My snort hadn’t gone unnoticed. Applejack’s head snapped in my direction, a stern look that soon softened when she met my nervous eyes.

But Applejack didn’t look the same either. Even though she’d softened there was something… wild about her behaviour, the way she was shaking under her restraints. And of course, there were her eyes…

Her once sombre green eyes were now a piercing bright yellow. As bright as the stars. I blinked in surprise, unable to keep my mouth from opening in shock.

She’d changed as well… I just didn’t know how much.

The moment her eyes met with mine, Doctor Stable had turned in my direction as well. My hooves scrambled about themselves pathetically as I made a mad dash back the way I came. I galloped as hard as I could; feeling tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. I skidded back into my room and slammed the door shut. I buried my face in my hooves and closed my eyes. I wished this was all a dream, I wished I’d wake up back in my house, in my room, in my bed.

As I lay there, whimpering like a baby, none of my wishes came true.

Author's Notes:

Just an idea I had, if you like it I'll continue.