Rebuilding a Rainbow

Spitfire was a strict mare when it came to training the future Wonder Bolts, so she expected each and every one of them to be on time for training. But, she was also a pony and felt sympathy for Rainbow Dash after what she had been through, so she tolerated her being late for a couple weeks. By now it and been two months since the mare returned, and she figured she had given her enough time to get her life back on track, so she should be showing up to training on time. It just so happened she hadn't been showing up on time still. So, Spitfire took matters into her own hooves and flew from Canterlot to Ponyville in order to give a speech to Rainbow and hopefully change her late habit. So, there she was at the mare's front door, where she was knocking and waiting to be let in.

Rainbow didn't answer her door which really aggravated the fiery maned mare. “Not only can she not show up to practice on time but she can’t seem to figure out how to open her Celestia dammed door,” She grumbled and started to knock harder on the door. “Oh this is just ridiculous.” She complained and began pounding on the door, clearly ticked off. Not only did she have to waste the little free time she had to fly down here and snap her cadet into shape, she was also being ignored by said cadet and was not pleased about it. “I quit!” She grumbled to herself and was just about to turn and take off when she heard a familiar voice, screaming back at her.

"What could you possibly want that was so urgent, you had to continuously knock!?!" The voice screamed, which made Spitfire snap around quickly where she was greeted by Rainbow’s soaking wet, messy appearance.

The cyan mare seemed as ticked off at Spitfire as Spitfire was with her, but her expression quickly fell when she realized just who she had yelled at and started apologizing to the Wonder Bolt.

Dash was not even trying to fix her appearance or her house’s structure as she lead Spitfire in and to the living room because something more important had come up, getting her boss to accept her apologies. “ You've got to believe me Spitfire I did NOT mean to, wait your gonna want to fly here the floor is kind of missing,” Rainbow said nervously as Spitfire glared back at her. “So as I was saying I am SO sorry Spi…” She began again, once the two of them had flew over the missing part of her floor, but was stopped by an orange hoof, which jammed it's self into her mouth.

“Listen Cadet, neither of us has all day, so I’m going to make this short, understand?” The rainbow maned mare nodded and the other continued. “Good, now as you may have noticed you have been incredibly late for many weeks now and I just cannot tolerate it anymore. So, I have decided to sacrifice my own time to come down here and get you back on schedule.” She explained, then removed her hoof from Dash’s mouth. “Now why is there missing pieces of floor and ceiling in your home?” She asked, with a clearly confused face.

Rainbow quickly explained the whole situation and apologized a few more times to Spitfire in the process. The Wonderbolt seemed to understand fairly well and lounged on the couch as the Cadet got back to readying herself for the practice. “That was horrible.” She sighed and returned back upstairs, this time to a filled bath tub. “Take two,” she mumbled and got into the bath tub to wash up.

Before Spitfire knew it a cleaned up Rainbow Dash was standing in front of her, in her training uniform and all ready to head off to practice. “Ready.” She smiled and went to sit on the couch but was quickly shoved back to her hooves by her boss.

“Yeah I know, now no time for slacking, let’s go.” Spitfire said and was out the door in an orange blur.

“Coming,” Rainbow called after her hopping into the air and letting her wings take over from there. She sighed, as soon as she knew Spitfire wouldn't notice it and then took off at full speed after her. The other mare’s surprise drop in had not gone well, she could tell and that meant a hard day of practice was ahead of her, probably couldn't keep up with because she really wasn't in shape anymore. This was because, since the kidnapping she hadn't really been in the mood to do anything, flying being no acceptation. This meant that she was having an extremely hard time keeping up with everyone else in practice, and with the bar raised today, she knew she would stand no chance. She would be at the bottom of a class she used to speed way ahead of.

They were back at the training head counters fairly quick, for the distance traveled and Rainbow was exhausted, but hiding it well from her boss. “Rainbow! You’re here early!” Called a very familiar sounding voice, one she could not mistake for anyone else’s, it was definitely Soarin.

“Haha…Yeah I am.” She said with a faked laugh, since she didn't have the energy to force a real one out. He caught onto this quickly, but seemed to ignore it and instead quietly scanned the mare over.

“Looks like you've had a rough day,” He commented after his scan over of her and she nodded quietly.

“You can’t even imagine.” She added and turned to follow after Spitfire, but she had seemed to disappear and in her place stood Surprise.

“Aw Dashie, you look so sad.” Surprise said, with a sad face.

“I'm not sad," Rainbow replied, standing up a little straighter. "A-and, i'm not tired either!" She added, then walked off before another word could be said to her.

“I think she still isn't over the whole kidnapping thing.” Soarin said, glancing to Surprise once Rainbow was gone.

“That must suck!” Surprise said loudly. “Maybe I should visit my cousin and have her throw her a BIG get better soon party! They are like best friends anyway and Pinkie sure wouldn't mind throwing another PARTY!” She laughed and glanced to Soarin who seemed to not be too sure on the whole idea. “Oh come on you big grump! There will be pie there.” she added with a  smirked, which caused the dark maned Wonder Bolt to cheer up immediately.

“That is a great idea Surprise!” He shouted with a smile.

The white mare smiled back and said, “Then I’ll get on it now, Pinkie always loves my visits!” She then leaped into the air and sped off for Ponyville, leaving Soarin to fantasize about the pie that was in his near future.

Rainbow was drawn to the break room since she knew no pony stayed in there if they could help it. If you were training as hard as these athletes were and as often, you would understand that the less time spent in that room, the more time you could spend napping on the clouds, which used to be the Cyan mare’s favorite part of the day. She wasn't doing much napping anymore, actually she wasn't really sleeping more like tossing, turning and then being blinded by the sunlight with an occasional nap every here and there.

Just as she had expected the break room was empty once more and she smiled at the solitude. Ever since the kidnapping she didn't really want to be around other ponies as much because it frightened her though no pony knew, nor did they dare to ask her. She sat on the barely used couch and spread out, glancing up at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of others training. She couldn't explain it but since she was a filly the sound of wings flapping, any wings seemed to put her at ease, which is probably why she usually flew to clear her mind. She had tried this her first few weeks back but the vision’s continued to haunt her, so she stopped and stayed hidden away, afraid of the world and what it would do to her next.

“You should keep your mane like that, I like it.” A voice called out, suddenly knocking her out of her thoughts and off the couch, all as she let out a yelp. The voice chuckled and then came closer as the owner of it lifted her to her hooves once again. “I scared the crap out of you!” It bragged as a blueberry scented pastry hit her nose and she opened her magenta eyes to begin defending herself.

“I was NOT scared, just practicing my landings so I wouldn’t break a wing or something,” she said quickly, and glared at Soarin’s goofy face.

“Well then you’re gonna break a wing,” He said flatly and chewed on, finishing up his small snack.

“I guess so,” Rainbow replied with a nervous smile, embarrassed that he caught her in her lie. “What do you want anyway?” She asked, regaining her spot on the couch.

“Well I was going to hide some of my snacks for the day in here, since no pony is usually in here, but then I saw you and was like wow! She looks really good with that long hair, so I complimented you.” He said, turning so that she could see his saddlebags full of snacks.

“O-oh, um..thanks I guess.” She smiled, still embarrassed, though she was laughing inside her head. “I haven’t had Rarity fix my manecut in weeks!” She thought as Soarin flashed her one more smile and then headed over to some cupboards to put down his snacks.

Soarin had safely stashed his snacks away and was now concentrating on the mare lounged across the couch in front of him. He sighed as he scanned her features over; noticing what had become different about her appearance in the past few weeks. He did like a few of the changes such as the longer mane simply because it made her look more feminine but then there were the other changes like the dullness of her mane and tail that he didn't like. He pulled his eyes off her and then leaped into the air, letting his wings carry him to fly over her and catch her magenta eyes with his green ones.

“You didn't scare me that time.” She mumbled, looking away from him and to the wall where they would project movies if needed.

“I wasn't trying to,” He said and fell to the ground. “I was just trying to break you out of your stare at the ceiling.” He defended himself, looking back to her.

“Well it worked.” She replied and glanced to the clock. “But, now I have to go,” she added, getting to her hooves and heading out of the room, so she would be on the training field in time.

“Okay, bye!” He called after her and then exited himself to lounge on the clouds where the others that were off duty did.

“Rainbow you are slacking again!” Spitfire hissed from her spot in the air and Rainbow grunted frustratingly .

“Well sorry, again!” She hissed back and Spitfire flattened her ears angrily. “I’m not even supposed to be here right now and I’m exhausted!” Rainbow screamed on, motioning the air around her to show the mare that she was the only one here.

“I was trying to do you a favor, to catch you up to the level the other Cadets are on but you obviously don’t deserve it!” She yelled back and took off calling, “I’m done!!!” After her.

The cyan mare sighed and fell to the ground with a thump, tiredly. “Ugh…” She moaned, but peeled herself off the ground to fly to the exit and then home.

“Where you going Rainbow?” Soarin asked as he jumped into her path and she flew into him.

“Home!” She yelled, still angry from her time with Spitfire as tried to push back him but couldn't.

“I have strict orders from Surprise to keep you here. So stop being all mad over Spitfire, and stay awhile.” He said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and yelled, “Why don’t I just get a dam room here then?!” She then took off down the hallway, ranting on to herself. He chuckled and watched her walk off, then turned to walk in another direction.

Spitfire flew past Soarin and through the doors to where party planning was going on. She looked to both Pinkie and Surprise who were hanging streamers together and said “You two owe me BIG time for putting up with a tired Dash for so long.” The cousins glanced to each other and then chuckled. "Wait, what's so funny?" Spitfire asked, bringing both the laughing ponies' attention back to her.

“We don't owe you anything! Our Pinkie promise was that Surprise and I owe you one if you could keep Dashie busy until the party and you didn't!” Pinkie explained as she giggled on and Surprise nodded in agreement.

Spitfire rolled her eyes and said “Whatever, it doesn't matter. Soarin is on Rainbow Dash duty now,” she explain

"I am?" I didn't know you quit, i just thought you two were taking a break from training," Soarin said with a chuckle, but the other ponies didn't seem to find that too funny. "What? I'm pretty sure she's not going to find this place anyway. She's probably off taking a nap somewhere, Spit did work her pretty hard."

Surprise shrugged and said, "We're almost done anyway, just go get her," as she and Pinkie finished hanging the streamer they were working on, the last one.

"Okay," Soarin responded and then took off to find Rainbow again.

“Soarin!”  Rainbow snorted as Soarin pulled her across the floor by her tail.

“If you would have come, I wouldn’t have had to pull you.” He said, muffledly, because he was still holding her tail in his muzzle as he spoke.

“Well maybe if you told me where I was…” Rainbow began to say but stopped as Pinkie yelled, “Surprise!!!” and squeezed her so hard she lost the air she was holding in her lungs.

“P-Pinky a-air!” She coughed, trying to breathe as the pink mare giggled and let her go.

“Oh sorry!" She said with a chuckle. "I always forget that you can’t breathe when I do that!” She yelled through some more chuckles and released Rainbow as the DJ began to play music.

“Pinkie no one can breathe when you do that to them,” Twilight said flatly before greeting Dash.

She greeted Twilight back and then looked to Rarity, who was all giddy as she looked at her. “Is she okay?” She asked, still watching Rarity.

“I am better then okay after seeing that you have finally decided to let your mane grow out. It. Is. Gorgeous!” Rarity responded and started to pet the mare’s mane.

Rainbow quickly pushed her off of her mane and rolled her eyes. “I have just forgotten to get it cut recently, it is NOT growing out.” She responded.

She then heard a soft voice say, “But it looks so nice like that,” and looked to see where it had come from to spot no other than Fluttershy, smiling back at her.

“ahm' gonna hav' ta agree with them there Dash,” Applejack added in and Rainbow sat in defeat.

“Fine, you guys win,” She sighed and they all laughed then took off to begin partying. Rainbow didn't move with the others, not really wanting to go in a place so crowded with ponies but was soon pushed into it by Pinkie and Surprise.

It was a long night for Rainbow Dash, to say the least. She felt surrounded the whole time and didn't like the fact that everypony there kept her stopping her to chat. She put up with it for a little bit and even flashed them all a big smile, but eventually she gave up and decided the only way to escape it all was to nap. So, she closed her eyes to drift asleep as her friends partied on.

She fell asleep quickly; from the pure exhaustion of the work out she had today and slept soundly even though she was having nightmares once again. They were nightmares of the kidnapping that always seemed to be able to creep into her mind, even with Luna’s frequent interference.

Suddenly, she was jolted awake by a loud mare screeching in her ear. “AH!!!” She screamed and jumped back, landing once again on the ground.

“Dashie are you okay?” The voice asked, coming closer to inspect her and she nodded. “I’m fine Pinkie, just practicing my landings so I don’t break a wing in practice tomorrow.” She said, quickly defending herself as she opened her eyes for the first time to see Soarin giggling as he watched the whole scene and ate a pastry.

“You sure do that a lot.” He said and chuckled some more, but Dash didn't find it the least bit funny and only rolled her eyes as she picked herself up off the ground.

“Well I noticed you were sleeping a looooong time ago but I thought; hey why not let her catch a few z’s?  Maybe it will make her feel better. Sooooo, I left you alone but it’s time to wake up Dashie the whole party is over!” Pinkie explained, talking quite quickly as usual.

Dash nodded understandingly at Pinkie's explanation. “Yeah, yeah Pinkie I’m going and you should go t….” She began, but stopped mid-word as she glanced from Soarin to where Pinkie was before and found no signs of her. Instead of looking around she just shrugged, since it was Pinkie and knowing her she could be anywhere by now. She then began heading for the door, Soarin following behind her so that he could head home as well, now that he had finished ‘helping’ Pinkie to properly dispose of the left over pastries.

“Bye Soarin.” She yawned and then hopped into the air to take flight but noticed that the sun had already set and it was pitch dark outside. She froze immediately and fell like Fluttershy used to as a foal back to the ground, too scared to go any farther now that she knew anypony could be lurking in the shadows.

“Um…Rainbow, you okay?” Soarin asked, noticing her sudden fall to the grounnd, but she didn't respond. “Rainbow! Equestria to Rainbow!” He called on, still receiving no answer. So he flew around her to look at her face and read her clearly scared expression. “What are you doing Rainbow? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or huh?” Before he could finish what he was saying Cyan hooves were wrapped around him, clinging to him for safety. “What are you…Dash come on this is weird…” He protested, awkwardly as he tried to pry the mare off his chest, with no success. “How about I fly you home?” He asked.

“Yes, please.” She said, in a voice as soft as Fluttershy’s usually was, but she still refused to let go of him.

“Let’s go then.” He sighed, as he gave up on prying her off of him and then started to fly off crookedly, since flying with a mare strapped to your chest was not easy.