Rainbow Dash shot up from her chair, opting instead to pace back and forth. Her tense muscles were hurting, and her flared wings showcased several feathers pointing in unnatural directions and a few more missing. Her eyes, framed by dark circles and a bruised face, were fixed on a closed sterile-white door. As the taste of blood filled her mouth, she forced herself to stop biting her lips.

"I shouldn't have put her through that. It was dangerous, and I knew it, I thought she could – I just, should have thought..."

A nurse emerged from the door, and Rainbow was upon her immediately.

"Is she okay!?"

The nurse said she would be, told Rainbow to relax. Got her to sit down on a sofa, pulled out paper and a pen. She just had to ask some questions.

– Were they related?

Rainbow was pretty much her big sister.

– But where they actually related?

Not really, but...

– What had happened?

It was an accident.

– What had happened, exactly?

"I messed up. I should have known, I... UGH, stupid stupid stupid!" Rainbow thought.

Just an accident. They had been flying and lost control.

– She could fly?

Just barely, Rainbow had helped her.

The nurse jotted a few more words, then gave Rainbow a curt nod. "That would be all. You may talk to her if you want; she's awake."

Rainbow Dash entered the room. In a white bed with white linens lay a mess of orange and purple covered with white bandages.

"Hey, squirt." Her voice almost cracked, and she swallowed. "H-how you feeling?"

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo lit up. She made to sit up, grimacing, but Rainbow was over in a heartbeat and held a hoof against her shoulder.

"Just, relax, okay?" Rainbow smiled, but it felt unnatural. "How are you?"

"The doc said I broke a bunch of stuff, but it doesn't –" She stared at Rainbow bruised face, sunken-in eyes, and drooping ears. "Wow. You look waaay worse than me."

"Don't worry about me, okay?" Rainbow insisted. "You're not in pain?"

"Not at all." Scootaloo shrugged, frowned when she realised doing so hurt, and gave a sheepish smile instead. "They gave me some pills. I feel pretty great, actually. Honest."

Rainbow smiled briefly, then turned and blinked away some tears. It was windy outside. The grass billowed and the trees creaked and swayed in time to the gusts of air flowing through their small town. Leaves danced in the air, and a soft, sideways morning rain pattered against the window.

"Should have known better..."

"You should maybe get some sleep, you know?"

"I'm all right, Scootaloo." Rainbow sighed. "It'll be fine."

They went quiet, until Scootaloo broke the silence with a giggle.

Rainbow looked back, and was met with dreamy eyes and a big grin. Rainbow raised a tired eyebrow, but couldn't help a faint smile herself.

"What?"

"I know I'll have to stay here for a while, and it'll be aaages before I can walk right –" she rolled her eyes, "– buuut it was pretty awesome."

Rainbow's smile faltered.

"No," she thought. "No, no, it wasn't."

"I mean, the weather was perfect – well, at first." Scootaloo chuckled. "And you were so cool! Looping and diving and doing tricks all over the place!

"And when I messed up and fell, you swooped down and caught me and everything!" Scootaloo grinned larger than ever. "Sure, we crashed anyway, but you totally saved me!"

"It was my fault in the first place!" Rainbow couldn't say anything.

"So all this stuff?" Scootaloo waved a bandaged leg around, before looking back at Rainbow. "Totally. Worth. It. We'll have to do that again!"

Rainbow bit her lip, hard, and tasted blood again. Scootaloo's young eyes, eager and full of hope and worship, bore straight through her.

"Yeah, squirt." She swallowed. "Of course we will."