"... Calling all units... Send an ambulance..."

My mind was drifting back and forth from reality. I attempted to straighten myself out, but was only met with excruciating pain. I hissed in pain and began coughing when I tried to catch my breath. My body felt numb but drenched in pain all at the same time.

I forced my eyes open. Blue and red lights flashed on and off brightly, yet everything still seemed so blurry. My arms remained around my stomach, clutching onto my shirt tightly. It was hard to move. Sitting up proved to be a real challenge. My head ached madly as I brought my head up. I was too weak. My body fell limp to the floor.

There were muffled voices, and soon footsteps. Some hands gently pulled me by my shoulders and feet. I was transferred from the floor to what I assumed to be a stretcher. More voices. Too... Distant to make out.

My breath slowed, and I blacked out once more.

Fluttershy's POV
"You're welcome! See you all tomorrow morning!" I said to the other volunteers. They cheerfully waved bye to me. I smiled and pulled my cell phone out as I exited the animal shelter. I noticed I had several missed calls from the girls, and one text message from an unknown number.

I checked the text message first.

New Text Message
From: Unknown

I warned her.

Attached to the cryptic message was a media file. I anxiously opened the file and found a picture of what looked to be an unidentifiable teen laying curled up in a ball on dirt. Their face was covered entirely by a black hood.

My hands trembled. No... It couldn't possibly be -

My phone rang in my hands causing me to jump and scream in fright. The caller ID belonged to Applejack. I quickly picked up.

"H-Hello?"

"Oh, thank Heavens you answered... it's... it's Dash. You need to get to the hospital," she said urgently. My breath got caught in my throat. My chest felt as if it was being stabbed. "Fluttershy?"

"I need a ride," I said in a shaky voice. She asked me for directions and soon, Sunset Shimmer arrived in her own motorcycle - a beautiful orange and red one too. She looked at me worriedly.

"Hop on... it's bad..." I did as she told and the entire ride there was tense. Quiet. We shared a mutual panic - one that couldn't be described with words. Tears couldn't fall. My heart was beating triple the amount it's supposed to.

-

"Out of our way! Where is she?" Applejack demanded the receptionist. The woman flinched and almost looked fearful.

"I'm sorry, she's in the ER. You'll have to come back tomorrow. Miss Dash is in critical condition," the woman responded professionally. Applejack slammed her fists on the desk, startling the receptionist further.

"My goodness, would you please stop that?!" Rarity said to Applejack loudly. She grabbed Applejack's hand and led her out of the sliding doors of the facility. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Spike, Scootaloo, and Sunset all remained in the waiting room anxiously. I tapped my foot impatiently, and began chewing on my lower lip anxiously.

"Who would have done something like that to her?" Twilight spoke quietly then covered her face with her hands. Sunset wrapped her arm around her and kissed the top of her head. I approached them and handed them my phone with the text message on display.

Sunset looked at the photo, mortified. Twilight, Scootaloo, Pinkie and Spike looked over at the photo, jaws dropping. Sunset's eyes filled with malice, "Gilda. She's definitely behind this. Who else would have texted Fluttershy that threatening message?"

She handed me back my phone and stood up, arms crossed tightly. Her fists were balled tight enough for them to turn pure white. Her guess may me be the only reasonable and possibly correct guess. Pinkie Pie, however, shook her head.

"You have to remember, I was the one who called the police. Two guys took off with Rainbow Dash's bike. Gilda wasn't there. I described both of them to the authorities..." Pinkie Pie said solemnly. Her bright curly pink hair seemed more deflated than usual. Her usual happy crystal blue eyes no longer shone with optimism. A few tears fell from her face. I immediately wrapped her up in a bear hug.

Her crying ceased, and she hesitantly returned the hug just as tight. I rubbed her back in circles, "I promise we're going to get to the bottom of this one way or the other."

I pulled away, and saw a faint spark of hope cross Pinkie's eyes. She weakly smiled and thanked me for the kind gesture. I nodded and sat down beside her. Soon, Applejack and Rarity both returned inside the facility and took their seats beside me.

Applejack was no longer fuming, but looked distraught instead. Rarity held Applejack's arm close to her and leaned her head against her shoulder. Her make-up was smeared beneath her eyes. She sighed heavily.

For the next several hours, we all waited until the doctor finally arrived let us know of her condition, "Miss Dash was obviously viciously attacked by someone. We got a few x-rays to check on her. Apart from a plethora of cuts and bruises, she did unfortunately break a handful of ribs. The fracture was so bad it may have even punctured her lung had the attacker not hit her again in that area... She also suffered head trauma, which explains why she kept falling into and out of consciousness. Thankfully, the trauma wasn't as severe as we first thought."

We were silent, unsure of what to say. She must have been in so much pain... And we weren't able to be there for her.

"She'll be in the hospital for a while. For now, I will allow you all to see her. Please be mindful of any loud noises," the doctor looked at Pinkie Pie with a raised eyebrow. She nervously chuckled and blushed a light shade of red. He nodded at us and gave us her room number.

We calmly walked down the hospital corridors before finally arriving at Rainbow's room. I was the first to see her... The built up mixture of emotions flooded out of me, and soon I was a bawling mess.

Her hair was disheveled. Her upper lip was split from the left side and had been sewed back together. The bridge of her nose was covered by a bandaid. Fresh purple bruises outlined her face and spread down to her arms... The sight of it itself made me sick to the stomach and made me wonder how bad the rest of her body looked.

I grabbed her hand as gently as possible, treating her as if she was a glass figurine. She was so fragile, yet so strong to have made it out barely okay. Rainbow Dash remained unmoving, with the exception of her chest falling and rising with each breath.

Everyone else circled the hospital bed staring at her and the wounds. Applejack's jaw clenched tightly before she stepped out of the room. Rarity went after her.

"I'm going to the gift shop in the second floor to get her some gifts for when she wakes up... Anyone want to come?" Twilight said sadly. Both Sunset and Pinkie nodded. Only Scootaloo and I remained beside Dash. Pinkie rested her hand on my shoulder and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze before they disappeared.

I looked back at Rainbow and lightly caressed the side of her face. She stirred lightly. Her eyes were fluttering, she was struggling to open them.

"Stop, Dashie..." I whispered to her and held her hand once more. The fluttering stopped. The heart monitor beside us began beeping a little faster than before. "Don't you dare try to wake up. You're supposed to be resting, Dashie..."

I felt her hand give mine a light squeeze before going limp once more. I silently cried to myself. I scooted the chair closer to her bed and rested my head on the same pillow she was using.

Scootaloo walked to the opposite side of the bed and hesitated on touching her sister's arm. She withdrew her arm and instead stood beside her silently, "We're going to get them, Rainbow... I promise."

"You don't have to hold everything in, Scootaloo..." I said to her in a hush. She looked over at me, pain etched into her irises. She wiped away at her wet eyes and sighed.

"I-I know... It's just... She was so strong to make it through this... I doubt she would want me to be crying for her -"

"Scootaloo. If you're hurting, it's okay to let it out. Holding it in will only hurt you more," I said, cutting her off. She stared at me for a few seconds then soon broke down into tears. I stood up from my seat and hurriedly went to Scootaloo's side and held her tightly.  She returned the hug and her cries grew slightly louder. "It's okay... Dashie wouldn't want you to be in this much pain."

I held her closely and brushed my fingers through her violet hair slowly, attempting to calm her down. When she did, I pulled away and put my arm around her shoulders. For a split second, I could have sworn I saw Rainbow Dash flash a small smile.